《Purple Flames》


 1-1: Intrusion

    Annabelle Lee found herself waking up on a cold stone floor, with a lingering headache. How had she gotten here?


    It took a bit of time for her to remember. She had triggered the alien mothership''s self-destruct sequence, and then she attempted to use a wormhole to escape back to Earth. But now she was in... a cave?


    No. Not a cave. A cave wouldn''t have iron bars blocking the exit. This was a prison.


    Annabelle slowly got to her feet, and began to analyze her situation. The stone in the room appeared to be mostly unworked, likely part of an existing cave. Outside, she saw a pair of guards, equipped with medieval-era equipment: leather armor, a sword, and what appeared to be a crossbow. Meanwhile, all she had on her was rags. Wait, when did she put those on?


    "Hey!" she yelled at the guards. "What the hell is this place?"


    The guards looked at her, but didn''t respond. Maybe they didn''t speak the same language. Something was off here. Her first suspicion was that she was thrown back in time, and could be causing a temporal paradox just from existing.


    But despite that theoretical risk, Annabelle didn''t care. She wanted to leave, and if she had to do it over the dead bodies of everyone in this prison, she would.


    First though, she tried reasoning. "I don''t belong here. Let me out, now."


    The guards continued to ignore her.Maybe it was because she was in her early twenties, and didn''t look very intimidating on a first glance. Sure, she had potent abilities, but they didn''t know that.


    "Final warning. Either you let me out, or I''ll kill you and let myself out."


    That appeared to get the attention of one of the guards.


    "As long as you remain in that cell, you cannot kill us. I''m not stupid enough to open the cell door." Hey, at least they spoke the same language.


    "That''s not going to stop me," Annabelle said.


    With the guards clearly unwilling to budge, she decided it was now time to use her psychic powers to force the issue. She took a few seconds to focus herself, pushing aside her headache.


    As she began to manifest her psychic ability, she was surrounded in an aura of purple energy. It was the sort of visual indicator that she would normally subconsciously suppress, but in this case intimidation would likely work in her favor. As predicted, the guards panicked.


    Unfortunately, her first idea of blowing the door off wouldn''t quite work. She could generate a kinetic shockwave powerful enough to bring down a solid wall, but the shockwave would pass straight through iron bars, and unless the bars were very rusted, applying telekinesis directly to them to tear them out would take quite a bit of time and effort. So instead, she seized control of the annoying guard''s mind.


    The other guard was too distracted by her show of power to notice his buddy drawing his sword and stabbing him through the back. However, he did manage to get off a scream before he was taken down, drawing attention that Annabelle did not need right now. Now, she would have to fight them off and unlock the cell door at the same time. Luckily, that was one thing she was quite effective at.


    The controlled guard handed the key to her, and she began unlocking the door herself as more guards came in to react to the threat.


    There were four guards coming in, two from each direction. One mind-controlled grunt, with the advantage of surprise, would maybe take down two of them. So Annabelle decided to assume direct control of her thrall.


    Normally, mind-control simply changed the target''s allegiance, rewiring them to work for someone instead of against them. But with more effort, Annabelle could essentially assume direct control of the target, controlling their body as if it were her own. This would come at the cost of fine control over her own body, but she''d have enough time to unlock the door after the imminent threats were dead.


    This wouldn''t have been that much of an advantage, if not for a fact she had gleaned off of her thrall''s mind. Their crossbows were actually repeating crossbows (or ''bolters'' as they called them), capable of firing up to five shots from a clip before needing to reload. They had to be pumped in between each shot, but the design easily supported firing as fast as the weapon could be pumped. Her modern firearms training might just find a use here.


    The guards that rushed in saw a dead body on the ground, and immediately drew weapons. However, in the time it took for them to react, Annabelle''s guard slam-fired three shots to his left, dropping the two guards coming from that side. Her thrall then took a bolt in the back from one of the guards on the right, while the other charged in with a sword.


    Annabelle pushed her thrall through the pain, pushing his body to its limits. He spun around, blind-firing the remainder of his clip in the direction of the crossbow-wielder before using the crossbow to deflect the other''s sword swing. He then stepped in past the swordsman''s guard, stunned him with a well-placed sucker punch, and threw his body into the path of a second crossbow bolt to take him out. The thrall grabbed that guard''s sword and charged. He took a third bolt as he charged, but Annabelle managed to keep him on his feet just long enough to slash the last guard''s throat open before he collapsed from his wounds.


    With all of the guards nearby taken care of, Annabelle finished unlocking the cell door and walked out. Even with those guards disposed of, it would only be a matter of time before more showed up. She needed to find the exit as soon as possible.


    **********


    Raiks was shaken awake by guards, dragged to his feet, and taken to the warden''s chamber. The guards shoved him to his knees in front of the warden''s throne. The warden himself was wearing a black mask and cloak, aiming to intimidate both the prisoners and his fellow guards into following his orders. Raiks was fairly certain that the real reason the warden was intimidating was not his personal appearance, but the fact that his quarters doubled as his personal torture chamber.


    "So, it has come to my attention that you are planning to escape. I can''t let that happen."


    "We both know this place is inescapable," Raiks said. "Any attempt would be a waste of time." He had verified that, and given up on the effort. Any escape would require outside help, and even that would be a difficult proposition.


    "You''re smarter than that," the warden responded. "You were trying to kill yourself to escape."


    Not really. Yes, Raiks had considered the idea of suicide, and hoping that some of his contacts back at base had the bright idea to try and resurrect him. However, there were a number of flaws with it. Even if Daraken hadn''t set this prison up to steal the souls off of anyone who dies (which, admittedly, might conflict with the null-magic field), and Julia could somehow resurrect him without a body to go off of (normally a body was necessary to resurrect), the rebels would need to know of his death in order to make the attempt. But yes, if those flaws were mitigated, it could work.


    "I wouldn''t commit suicide unless I was absolutely certain it would work. Though given that you''re actually afraid of it working, I probably should have done it already."


    "Well, it''s too late now," the warden said. "You see, my objective is to keep you alive. I don''t have to keep your body intact." He shouted out an order to his men. "Tie him down."


    Raiks made a desperate effort to escape, more for show than anything else, but he was soon overwhelmed, beaten, and dragged on top of some sort of crude operating table. His arms and legs were strapped down, and the warden grabbed a long knife off of the rack nearby. He then ordered his guards out of the room, leaving him alone with Raiks.


    "So, which limb should I remove first?" The warden asked cruelly.


    "You should just slice my throat open," Raiks responded. "I''m going to run out of blood before I run out of limbs."


    The warden paused briefly at that remark, before replying. "You know you''re too tough to just die like that." He was right, too. Due to his combat experience, Raiks had significantly more durability than a civilian, and a bit more strength and dexterity as well. While losing a limb in combat could easily be lethal for a normal person who didn''t get immediate medical attention, he could likely stay alive.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    He pointed his knife around for a bit, eventually decided on Raiks'' right arm, and began sizing it up, apparently figuring out where he should start cutting. After almost a minute, he finally got down to business, and began to cut into the shoulder joint. Raiks tried to stay stoic, but the pain rapidly became too much, and he broke down and began to cry out in pain. Of course, this did not bother the warden in the slightest.


    Then, Raiks heard a boom from outside. And then another one, followed by some shouting. Even the warden was confused, and he looked up from his work.


    "What. Is. GOING ON!" The warden stormed towards the door, not even bothering to remove his knife from Raiks'' shoulder. Another boom echoed through the dungeon, and the warden pulled out his spiked chain, his favored instrument of torture, before opening the door.


    In a move that the warden should have seen coming, an attacker slammed into the door right as it opened, knocking the warden back and blowing the door wide open.


    Raiks'' rescuer was a woman, too thin to have raw muscles, and too young to have the experience to compensate. Raiks wasn''t sure how she had managed to slam the door open, but she had.


    She levelled a stolen bolter at the warden, and slam-fired a whole clip into his chest. But though the bolts did embed in the warden''s cloak, they appeared to cause no damage; Raiks suspected the warden had some armor hidden under his robes, and slam-firing bolter shots (as opposed to pumping multiple times to store enough kinetic energy for a powerful shot) did nothing to help punch through it.


    "Whoever you are, you made a big mistake," the warden said, before whipping his spiked chain forward in a series of wicked swipes. Outside of raw intimidation, the main advantage of a spiked chain was its wide arc and the ability to wrap around weapons and shields. Though a spiked chain was ineffective against even light armor, it was devastating against unprotected flesh. Raiks'' rescuer was driven back by the flurry, firing off one more shot from her bolter before the spiked chain wrapped around the bolter and dragged it out of her hands. She attempted to take cover behind the door, but the warden whipped the chain around the door and into her belly, then pulled the barbs out, tearing out chunks of flesh with it.


    The would-be rescuer fell to her knees, clutching at the wound. She muttered a curse, as the warden advanced on her. "I do not know how you defeated my guards, but it will never happen again." But then, something changed. A purple aura sprung up around her head, bright enough to tint the entire room. The warden panicked, taking a few steps back, forgetting that the safest place to be against an enemy mage was melee range.


    "You are a monster," the intruder said. "You torture people for fun. You don''t belong in this world."


    The warden swung his spiked chain overhead, but before it could make contact, it was caught in midair by a telekinetic force, and then ripped out of the warden''s grasp. The warden, terrified, staggered backwards.


    "DIE." She turned to face the warden, arm outstretched. A stream of energy projected out from her head, down her arm, and into the warden''s head. The warden suddenly clutched at his head as he came under some sort of mental attack. After a few seconds of agony, his head exploded, splattering blood andbrain matter across the entire room.


    "Did you just-" Raiks managed to say.


    "Yes."


    **********


    Bad move, Annabelle thought. The more you interfere here, the more involved you get in a situation you shouldn''t even be a part of. But in all honesty, did this detour really matter? She was already stranded here whether or not she interfered, and she was already causing quite a bit of chaos by plowing her way through the prison''s guards. And even though Annabelle''s goals were normally self-centered, one thing that she could not tolerate was torture. She vividly remembered what the Ascent Foundation had done to her in the name of ''research'', and could not bear to have anything like it happen to anyone else. If it meant tearing down an entire evil regime, so be it.


    Although detonating the bastard''s head with a psychic overload might have been the wrong call. Not only did she burn off much of her energy, but she lost the chance to take control of a high-ranking enemy leader to disrupt their defenses. She was already getting an exertion headache.


    Annabelle untied the man on the table, who introduced himself as Raiks Strike-Hammer, general of the Resistance or something. Not exactly pertinent right now. His dark skin was bloodied and scarred to the point where he seemed to be keeping himself alive by sheer willpower alone.


    "I''m Annabelle Lee, and given what''s going on here, I feel inclined to rescue you. Can you stand?"


    Annabelle expected that answer to be a no, but Raiks struggled to his feet. Then, he pulled the knife out of his shoulder. Annabelle expected a spray of blood coming from the wound, but though there was some blood, it was far less than she expected.


    "I''ll live, if we can get out of here." Maybe he actually was keeping himself alive on raw willpower. Annabelle was doing something similar, using telekinesis to stem the bleeding from the wound across her chest.


    Behind her, she heard footsteps, as reinforcements streamed in.


    "I think I can take care of them."


    Annabelle stepped out of the room and unleashed a telekinetic wave down the corridor, knocking the guards off their feet and sending them flying. Some of them were out cold from impact, but others started recovering, getting back on their feet. She then took over a guard in the back, and he shot down three enemy soldiers with bolts to the back before switching to his sword.


    A few guards managed to get up and charge Annabelle. Without moving a muscle, she fired a bolt of kinetic energy into each of them, crushing their chests and taking them down. "Who''s next?" she taunted.


    The remaining guards decided they didn''t want to be next, and ran.


    Raiks stumbled out of the room, saw the pile of dead bodies, and asked, "How?"


    "Magic." was Annabelle''s first response, even though it was technically psionics. Sure, the physics behind it were somewhat understood, but according to Clarke''s law, if it was indistinguishable from magic, it might as well be magic. Especially to a society that didn''t even know what guns were.


    "Yes, I know that," Raiks responded. "But there''s supposed to be a field in place here that nullifies magic. How did you get through that?"


    Wait, what? So apparently actual magic existed in this world, and the countermeasures to it didn''t work on psionics for some reason. Or maybe it was affecting her, just in a different way. She felt like she had much less energy than normal, and was starting to get a backlash headache much earlier than normal.


    "How about we escape now and worry about that later?"


    "What about the other prisoners?" Raiks added. "We can''t just leave them behind."


    Annabelle considered it. If she freed the other prisoners, this would be a far bigger mess than just freeing one individual. But it wouldn''t exactly be harder (given that a significant portion of the guards were already dead), and given that this wasn''t actually Earth minus a thousand years, it had no risk of causing a temporal paradox. And, screw whichever evil empire this was.


    "Okay."


    They unlocked the cell doors of a few prisoners. Raiks handed each of them keys, and ordered them to go free others. Oddly, after the last engagement, the guards were nowhere to be found, and did not interfere. Soon, every prisoner was free to roam the halls, and some of them grabbed weapons off the bodies of guards.


    They soon found out why the guards had retreated. The only exit to the dungeon, the only route to the surface, was incredibly well fortified. An antechamber was set up between the surface entrance and the dungeon exit, and it was designed as a deathtrap.


    "There''s too many of them out there," Raiks said. "The only entrance into that chamber is a locked gate, which we will have to somehow open while under sustained fire from every guard still alive. Even if we get through, we just get funneled into a killzone, with bolts raining down from high ground onto our position."


    A group of freed prisoners were gathering behind Raiks and Annabelle, hoping that one of them would come up with a plan to get through the chokepoint. Annabelle considered the issue, and figured out a solution fairly quickly. It would probably burn up most of her remaining energy, but it would be worth it.


    "Raiks, how large is that chamber?"


    "Do I look like I know that? The warden didn''t give me specifics when he was boasting about his security measures."


    Annabelle sighed. "Well, let''s hope this is enough."


    Annabelle launched a brilliant purple orb through the gate and into the room, where it stopped in the middle of the chamber. The guards most likely looked at it in shock, just before it activated, creating a spatial vortex. It was one of her signature techniques, rapidly shifting space inside an area to break apart and shred anything caught inside it. It was incredibly draining to do, but almost nothing could withstand it for more than a second. The cavern shook from a combination of the pure destructive force of the vortex and the deafening noise it created as it cut through the air. Inside the cavern, the guards discovered the true meaning of the word killzone, being torn to shreds in an instant as space itself was torn apart.


    The vortex lasted for twelve seconds before dissipating. As soon as it faded, Raiks rushed in, with Annabelle trailing closely behind.


    When Raiks got to the gate, there was no opposition. When he pulled the gate open and walked in, he was shocked by the destruction. As Annabelle followed behind him, she surveyed her work. The vortex had turned an impenetrable defense into an inescapable death sentence for the guards caught inside of it. In fact, given its power, Annabelle realized she was lucky she hadn''t brought down the chamber entirely. Chunks of stone were gouged out of the ceiling, floor, and walls, and the room was covered not just in the gore that remained of the dead guards, but also in dust and debris.


    Annabelle also felt her backlash headache, building rapidly. Backlash and energy drain from psychic exertion took a few minutes to fully take effect, so in a few minutes, she would likely be in agony (and also unable to use psychic abilities for a while). It was possible for a psion to pull off incredible feats in the span of a minute or two, if they were willing to suffer devastating headaches and/or blacking out when they were done. Well, other psions blacked out. She would just tough out the headache.


    Although her energy had drained faster than expected. Normally, she could do a bit more before her energy was gone. Maybe the prison''s ''null-magic field'' had had something to do with that. After she reached the surface, her headache seemed to lessen significantly. Maybe the field was affecting her, just not to the level of completely nullifying her ability.


    But she didn''t really have time to dwell on that, because she quickly realized there was another problem.


    "Out of the frying pan, and into the fire."

 1-2: Sanctuary

    The entire area surrounding the prison was a desert, with nothing but sand in every direction. The sun was high in the sky, and the heat was almost unbearable after just a few minutes of exposure.


    After all, what better way for some despot to secure their prison than by making sure escapees have nowhere to go?


    "I should have known," Raiks said. "Of course Daraken wouldn''t just put a prison somewhere civilized. Why wouldn''t he put it in the middle of the desert, to make escape impossible and rescue unlikely?"


    Annabelle knew something was wrong with the situation, but couldn''t quite put her mind on it. She was in a bit of a daze from psychic backlash, though it seemed to ease after she went out into the daylight.


    "We''re doomed. What can we do?" One of the prisoners said.


    Despite the impossible odds, Raiks kept the situation under control. "Head back into the prison. Salvage whatever you can." A few of the prisoners raised their hands, and Raiks added "If you have a better idea, bring it up with me." Most of the prisoners retreated, but a few of them stayed behind, apparently the older and wiser ones.


    Annabelle remembered what she wanted to say. "Wait. How is this ''Daraken'' ignoring logistical issues?" As far as she could tell, there was no way to get food, supplies, manpower, or prisoners to the prison, not without crossing several miles of nigh-inhospitable desert.


    "That''s simple," one of the prisoners said. "This is a portal receiver." He pointed at a circle of stone, with runes laid around its edges, and an indentation at its center.


    "That much was obvious, Gary," Raiks said.


    Annabelle wasn''t sure if she was hearing things correctly. Maybe the headaches were getting to her. She decided to sit down and rest.


    **********


    It was a smart tactic, Raiks decided. With portal technology, secret bases didn''t have to be anywhere near the areas they were supporting. It was the principle behind their own Sanctuary''s protection, so it was natural that Daraken would use similar tactics for his own secret base.


    "Look," Raiks said, "It''s fairly obvious that we aren''t going to be able to just walk out of here. Gary, can you potentially utilize the portal receiver."


    "It''s a receiver, not a generator," Gary explained. "We can open portals to it, but it can''t open portals by itself."


    "Alright, so we can''t use the circle to teleport out. But can we contact Sanctuary? Their portal generators should still be available, so they should be able to extract us."


    "That depends on the long-term effects that the null-magic exposure has had on us," Gary said. "At minimum, it will take a day or two for our mages to regain enough power to send out a message."


    Can we even hold out for that long?Raiks pondered. They might be able to pillage supplies from whatever supply drops were being sent, but Daraken had almost certainly established a way to detect a prison break and a contingency plan to wipe them all out as soon as it was detected. Even with Annabelle''s apparent power, surviving an organized assault from the Black Legion would be a tall order. And Annabelle was only semi-conscious right now.


    Unless, of course, the Resistance somehow managed to find them before Daraken did.


    Behind him, he heard the faintest of rustling, just barely enough to register to him. He spun around on a dime, and instinctively reached for a weapon that he didn''t have. He managed to spot the source of the disturbance, a "shimmer" from stealth equipment.


    "Whoever you are, I see you."


    In front of him, a man literally decloaked. As he threw his cloak back, he changed from an indistinct outline to reveal a small figure. Despite barely standing four-and-a-half feet tall, Raiks knew from first-hand experience that he was still one of their best operatives.


    "So, this is unexpected. The diviners said something would be here, but I wasn''t expecting... this."


    "Something big happened, Darius. I think we''ve found a way to level the playing field."


    "What?" The man said.


    Raiks pointed to Annabelle, who was currently still in a bit of a daze. "She was the reason we escaped. I don''t know who she is, but her abilities- she outright bypassed Daraken''s null-magic field. She killed most of the guards in the prison herself."


    "Null-magic field..." Darius muttered. "That''s why this place has been so elusive..."


    "Get us out of here first, think about it later. If you were able to find us, Daraken can as well."


    Darius stepped back, and whispered a message to an invisible third party. Raiks knew that he was sending the message through Sanctuary''s magical communications systems, telling them to open a portal. After a few tense minutes, the portal appeared, an elliptical portal a hundred meters away from the prison''s entrance. Even though there was a portal receiver, they couldn''t risk Daraken having secondary magic applied to it that would alert him.


    Most of the prisoners didn''t need orders to figure out that the portal meant safety, but Raiks gave the order to run through anyways just to be sure. Even though he should have been the first to go through the portal due to his importance, he stayed behind to make sure everyone else went through first. As he looked around, he saw Annabelle seemingly in a daze.


    "Hey! Get up! Move!" Raiks yelled. Annabelle staggered to her feet, and began walking towards the portal.


    "Wow, you guys already have wormholes." she said, still in a daze. She was briefly confused by the shape of the portal, but stepped through it, followed quickly by Raiks.


    At the other side of the portal, they emerged into an antechamber. This antechamber was the last line of defense against any potential intrusion from Raiks. Before rebels returning from a mission were allowed entry into the main base, they had to pass through a null-magic area, which would hopefully dispel any arcane trickery that one of Daraken''s minions would use to access the base.


    Whether it was coincidence or something else, Annabelle collapsed into unconsciousness halfway through the null-magic field. Raiks and another rebel stepped in to carry her.


    Up ahead, the resistance''s current operatives were rushing to aid the new arrivals. Sanctuary''s infirmary would be overloaded, and their supplies would be pushed to their limits, but they now had something they had been lacking for the past year: hope.


    **********


    Annabelle woke up in the middle of what looked to be an infirmary. After making sure that she was in a safe area, she lowered her defenses. She had woken up in bad situations so often that she was ready to fight practically the instant she woke up. It was a bad habit when in the vast majority of cases she wasn''t in danger, but it had saved her life at least once.


    One of the infirmary''s staff came over to her. He looked more like a priest than a doctor, robes and all. "Good, you''re up. Do you need anything?"


    "Can I have some food?" Annabelle asked. "Other than that, I think I''ll be fine."


    "Are you sure? The way you collapsed earlier..."


    "Primarily due to overexertion of my powers. I only needed a quick rest to recover." Although, she usually didn''t pass out completely. Crushing headaches, sure, but she normally prided herself on being tough enough to stay up even with her energy depleted. She made a note to be very wary of null-magic fields in the future.


    "You also had significant blood loss when we recovered you."


    That could also explain it. She had been suppressing the injury for some time, but as soon as she burned off the remainder of her energy with a vortex, she had nothing left to keep from bleeding out. And the backlash headache probably drew her attention away from the bleeding.


    She pulled down the sheets and looked down at her chest. But she couldn''t see any sign of the injuries. And she didn''t feel like she had any blood loss either.


    "What the-" she tried to say.


    "I healed your injuries while you were out."


    Right, magic. Of course.


    "Are there any side effects to this magic?" Annabelle said. ACP''s alien-tech medical equipment was capable of doing similar things in the short-term, bringing critically wounded soldiers back up into fighting shape in under a minute, but the healing came with dangerous side effects (such as depletion of key nutrients in the body) that necessitated up to a week of rest after the fight was over. If healing magic didn''t have side effects, then it would revolutionize combat.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "No."


    "Then, I''m fine. Can I have my food please?"


    "Alright," the priest said. He left, and came back a few minutes later carrying a tray of what passed for food in this realm. Namely, a glass of water, a few slices of bread, and an apple. It wasn''t anywhere near the quality of modern food, but it was edible.


    While she ate, she put her mind to figuring out exactly where in the universe she was. Somehow, she had gone from fighting off an alien invasion powered by technology to maybe stopping an evil overlord in a world dominated by magic. Of course, that would be if she didn''t just leave and figure out how to get back home, or even just wake up and find that this was all a dream (even though all evidence pointed to otherwise).


    "I was wondering when you would wake up," Raiks said, interrupting her thoughts. He had walked in while she was lost in thought.


    Well, she might as well get some more information before making a decision. "So, as you''ve probably guessed, I''m not exactly a local. In fact, I''m fairly certain I came from a whole other world."


    "So then how did you end up in the prison?" Raiks asked, incredulously.


    "I don''t know." Annabelle responded. "Maybe Daraken wanted to change up some sort of power dynamic here by abducting me, or maybe it''s an unbelievable coincidental error with teleportation." The latter seemed more likely, but the odds of a teleportation error sending her to another planet were so absurdly small that it was practically impossible.


    "Interesting..." Raiks said.


    "So, I''d like at least a little bit of background information on who Daraken is, what abilities he has, and what he has done."


    Raiks thought for a moment, then beckoned for her to follow him out of the building. Annabelle pushed herself to her feet and followed him out into Sanctuary.


    **********


    Sanctuary itself was not as pretty as she imagined it to be. It certainly wasn''t the sort of brilliant fortress of good that the name implied. It was built on a grassy island, with buildings laid out across several blocks. The buildings seemed to vary in quality, with some being built solidly out of bricks, others constructed out of wood, and a few that seemed to be little more than tents. It had just enough to be functional, and not much more.


    "So, the healing magic on this world seems incredible, compared to the standards on my world," Annabelle said, trying to strike up a conversation. "As long as someone doesn''t die outright, you can restore them to full health in no time."


    "Even if they die, in some cases," Raiks added. "Our lead healer, Lunima, is capable of resurrection."


    Wait, what?


    Raising the dead was one thing that simply wasn''t possible on Earth (even after stealing enemy technology), but if the commander of the resistance acted like it was possible, it was probably possible. And if resurrection was possible, then it would lead to a paradigm shift in combat. If nothing else, soldiers that weren¡¯t afraid of death were much less likely to flee in battle.


    "Speaking of magic," Annabelle asked. "What is it, exactly?"


    Raiks sighed. "It''s an unusual form of energy that can change reality in any number of possible ways. The healers from the church of Helios primarily use it to heal injuries and support allies, but wizards are capable of utilizing any number of spells, as long as they take the time to research and develop them. With enough study and practice, they can do almost anything. Most mages make it a bit simpler by specializing in one field of study, such as geomancy or illusions, but I wouldn''t count on that against Daraken or his apprentices."


    So, the magic system on this world was incredibly broad, and probably dwarfed Annabelle''s abilities in potential scope, though hopefully not in power.


    "We''re here," Raiks said. They had arrived at Raiks'' command post. It was a relatively plain building, but whether that was due to not caring about form or to make it harder to target for an attacker in Sanctuary was unclear.


    Raiks brought Annabelle over to what appeared to be a blank table at first. Then, with some arcane command word, he activated the table''s magic, creating a holographic map. "The realm we fight for is called Garnoth. The inland areas consist largely of barren desert and dry forests, with the few cities being established around natural water springs. Most civilized areas are located in coastal regions, where there is sufficient water to grow crops. The exception is Fiora, the capital city almost dead center in the middle of the continent, and the hub of Garnoth''s main portal network.


    "Daraken, true name unknown, began as a humble apprentice to the College of Magi in Fiora. By some twist of fate, he was gifted with a truly prodigious intelligence, and the ambition to match. He advanced through the ranks far faster than anyone before him, and in just a few years he had set his sights on becoming an archmage. But though he had the aptitude and ability, the council denied him.


    "Daraken bided his time, progressing his abilities further. Then, two years after he was initially turned down, about twenty years prior to now, he struck. The council, for all of their skill in the magical arts, was out of practice, unprepared, and caught out by an elaborate ploy of Daraken''s. In just over an hour, Daraken eliminated the Council, and with no one powerful enough to stop him, he began an aggressive campaign of expansion.


    "However, he was not quite thorough enough. One of the archmages, Aurim, somehow managed to survive. By the time Daraken finally discovered his survival, he had already established the wards around Sanctuary. Because of his work, this resistance exists."


    "But it didn''t really do much, did it?" Annabelle interrupted. "I mean, how exactly could this resistance stand up to him?"


    "Daraken is surprisingly inactive. Most of the time, he remains in his tower, doing some sort of research." He zoomed in on Fiora, bringing up a holographic map. Most of it looked like a normal medieval-era city, with the exception of the massive tower in the middle. It was so tall that the top wasn''t even visible on the holographic map.


    "That tower is so tall..." Annabelle whispered, a bit amazed. It seemed taller than even the tallest skyscrapers on Earth. "But if he''s a strong wizard, he probably doesn''t need to leave his tower for long to wipe out a whole army."


    "Yes, the threat of his arrival has significantly limited our options," Raiks admitted. "Right now, Daraken controls almost all of this continent, with three exceptions." Raiks changed some mode on the map, showing an overlay of territorial control. Daraken''s land, almost the entire continent, was given a black overlay.


    He pointed to the north first. "This section of the continent is the Lost Jungle, home to a tenacious bunch of native orc tribes, as well as some other surprises. We''re not sure what exactly is there, but we do know that it is very dangerous, courtesy of information from the gods theselves. Daraken hasn''t gone there, and neither will we."


    So basically, Vietnam. Even if it wasn''t as dangerous as claimed, it wasn''t worth getting involved there when ''native orc tribes'' probably didn''t have anything useful to outsiders.


    Then, he pointed to a dot in the southeast, and a small country surrounding it. "This is Dustreach. It and the surrounding region are protected by the high temple of Helios. Daraken may be incredibly powerful, but he''s not quite powerful enough to take on a god and live, so he''s allowed that area to remain independent."


    Lastly, he pointed to the southwest, where unclear borders were shown. "This is The Needle, an isthmus leading to distant lands. Now that Daraken controls most of this continent, his Black Legion is pushing outward across the Needle to raid distant lands. From our most recent intel, their primary military base is outside the city of Arexia, here." He pointed to a city almost at the midpoint of the isthmus.


    "Where is Sanctuary on this map?"


    "Well, Sanctuary isn''t on the map because no one knows where it is, and-"


    "How does no one know where this place is? You''ll all in it!"


    "I don¡¯t know the specifics of how the magic works. All I know is that this place is impossible for Daraken or any of his minions to find, and that we can only access it through the use of portals. Whenever we leave this place, the wards remove any memories that could be used to identify Sanctuary''s location." He then continued his previous train of thought, stating "At one point, we were actually posing a threat to him, significantly slowing his expansion. But his power and influence grew faster than ours did, and soon we were forced to turn from direct confrontation to guerilla action."


    Raiks sighed before continuing. "The last time we attempted a major operation, about one year ago, was the point when I, as well as a significant chunk of the resistance''s forces, were captured. If you hadn''t come in, this resistance would never have recovered."


    "So what''s the plan now?" Annabelle asked.


    "For now? Wait. We need time to recover and regroup. Our recovered forces need immediate medical attention, and our resources are stretched thin caring for them."


    "Once we are back at full strength, I suggest we launch a head-on attack against Daraken¡¯s tower, and cut the threat off at the head."


    "I¡¯ve seen Daraken in action. Even in the field he¡¯s comparable to you, if not stronger. In his home turf, a tower that he¡¯s had decades to enchant with traps and defenses, inside a city guarded by hundreds of soldiers, an assault now would be suicide."


    "Right." Though Annabelle had several techniques that could likely end the fight in an instant if she got in range, she trusted Raiks¡¯ judgement here. Though they would likely ultimately need to defeat Daraken in a final confrontation at his tower, they would need to develop a strong plan of attack first.


    "I suggest putting agents on the ground in Fiora to scope out the defenses and arrange for an assault in the future."


    "I¡¯m well ahead of you on that front," Raiks replied. "Unfortunately, our agents haven¡¯t had much success."


    Right, Daraken would likely make it very difficult to infiltrate.


    "For now," Raiks suggested, "You should take this time to train."


    Annabelle disliked training, but she realized it could be highly beneficial. She came from a modern world where guns were the only weapon really necessary, and though the ''bolters'' that this world used were somewhat similar enough to guns that she could pick up and use them fairly effectively (albeit after compensating for slower projectile speed), she didn''t have any skill in melee combat. She could think up a few tricks involving telekinetic maneuvers in close combat, but she''d need to master the basics first.


    She also made a note to check for memory manipulation the next time she left Sanctuary. She was fairly certain she wouldn''t be affected, but she wasn''t entirely sure, having only tested her mental resistance against psychic attacks previously.


    **********


    The Blacksite had failed to send a status update twice in a row. This warranted investigation, if nothing else than just figuring out who forgot to maintain communications and punishing them. The problem is that the nature of the Blacksite meant that it was a significant pain to investigate the situation.


    Daraken ordered his second-in-command, Circe Fire-Spear, to investigate. She opened a portal to the Blacksite and went through, alongside a small squad of bodyguards.


    A few minutes later, Daraken got a message back through the magical equivalent of radio. "The prison, it''s-it''s-" she stammered, before finishing by saying "The prisoners are gone."


    Naturally. Daraken made a prison that was literally impossible to escape, and then they found a way to escape anyways. Assuming that every prisoner in the Blacksite was now back with the Resistance, they had successfully upgraded themselves from completely irrelevant to a minor nuisance.


    But how? He sent a message to Circe, requesting a more detailed investigation.


    About half an hour later, he got a response. "If I had to guess, I''d say the antimagic failed, or was overwhelmed. The destruction around the last line of defense is the stuff of epic magic." She elaborated on the destruction, so terrible that everything in the room was turned into blood and gore.


    As if to test this, Daraken attempted to scry on the prison''s entry point, but was still blocked by the null-magic. So either it was a temporary lapse in the defenses that was gone now, or something else is at play.


    This warranted concern. There was a new threat, with unknown magic capable of shredding an entire room that was specifically designed to ward off magic. But Daraken was secure in his tower, to the point where even he would have trouble beating his own defenses. The Resistance would not be able to assault him any time soon, even with the help of an unknown factor.


    He could wait until the nature of this threat was exposed. They would inevitably have to expose their new ally publicly, and once they were visible, Daraken would be able to develop an attack plan to defeat them.

 1-3: Training

    "So, what do you know?" Varia said, brandishing a practice sword. From what Annabelle had heard, Varia was usually outmatched by whoever she was training, so she was probably going to enjoy being able to clobber a rookie for once.


    "I''m not sure," Annabelle responded.


    Varia lunged forwards suddenly. Annabelle managed to barely parry the first stroke, but the second stroke disarmed her effortlessly.


    "Clearly, not much," Annabelle quipped.


    Annabelle just used a bit of telekinesis to recover her weapon, and lunged in, only to be countered easily. She continued her assault, but her trainer parried every move effortlessly.


    "Alright, here''s what I think," Varia said. "You''re trying to use brute force, and you aren''t built for brute force." Even without telepathy, Annabelle could sense Varia''s disdain for her.


    The trainer began to demonstrate basic techniques, and Annabelle spent the next few hours going through drills. Thankfully, though she wasn''t very strong, she had enough endurance to not be completely exhausted after the training session concluded.


    Then, after getting dinner, she retreated to the Resistance''s library, hoping to gain more information about magic. Maybe, if she was lucky, she might even be able to start casting spells herself.


    She picked a book titled Arcane Fundamentals I, (the first of a 7-book series), skipped through the table of contents, and reached the first page.


    It was nothing but gibberish. Okay, not quite gibberish, but close enough. Apparently, mages used their own system of writing, for seemingly no reason.


    Annabelle saw a nearby mage snickering, and confronted him.


    "Why are all of the books on magic written in a different language?"


    "You''re the third idiot this week who thinks he can walk into the library and become a mage in a week."


    "I''m already a mage," Annabelle claimed. She manifested a purple orb of psychic energy in her palm to prove it.


    "Well, this is interesting. You might be one of those rarities that spontaneously gains the gift without study. But even then, you should still be able to read mage writings."


    Annabelle considered ripping the necessary information out of this mage''s head. There were a few others in the library, so she would either need to lure the mage into a secluded area or hit him hard and fast before he could react. And, she suspected he''d have a decent amount of mental resistance, almost certainly enough to alert everyone before being beaten. And, once she extracted the information, she''d need to seamlessly edit their memory to leave out her pilfering without them getting suspicious. It was doable, but quite risky.


    Or, you could just ask. He''d probably say yes.


    "I come from a distant region," Annabelle claimed. "I learned differently. Why is it that the books here are in a different language anyways?"


    "Magescript has a light innate enchantment that resonates with those who have the gift of magic, translating theory into function in a more effective manner."


    "I might be able to translate it into something I can understand, but in order to do that, I''d need to briefly merge minds with you."


    The mage backed up a bit. "I''ve got a better idea. The mage began an incantation, and waves his hands around a bit. Annabelle was busy trying to figure out whether or not the weird magic hand waving was actually a core part of the spell or just for effect when the spell''s effect hit her mind.


    She almost blocked the spell''s effect on instinct, but realized that it was really only a surge of information. Namely, enough information to translate Magescript. It turned out to be surprisingly easy to translate, once you know which symbols matched which normal letters. She was now quite certain that the whole language was made up for the sole purpose of making magic harder for non-mages to understand.


    "Now, I¡¯m supposed to only use that on those who intend to become apprentice mages, but you¡¯re already a mage, albeit one who can¡¯t read our language."


    "Where I''m from, we don''t have a secret language just for magic-users." Primarily because the Earth equivalent of a magic-user had just been invented in the past year, but still. "It seems like you''re keeping everything secret to seem more intelligent than you truly are."


    "Just read your damn book." The mage stormed off, clearly irritated.


    Annabelle read the first chapter of the book, titled Birth of a Mage. It seemed to detail how, exactly, mages gained their powers.


    Every arcanist gets their powers from an Epiphany, an event that awakens their ability. The exact trigger for an Epiphany varies. For most wizards, an Epiphany is triggered after a year of research and study in the College, or a similar institution. However, there are also sorcerers, rare individuals who gain an Epiphany at a young age and develop powers spontaneously. Those who awaken through that method tend to have more raw power, but their lack of training limits the scope of their abilities.


    The Epiphany is not a certain event. A few unfortunate individuals never gain any Epiphany, no matter how much they attempt to study. Further, approximately 25% of all who do gain an Epiphany suffer from a Burnout, a traumatic event that renders them forever unable to develop magic. However, for everyone else, the Epiphany rewards them with access to the power of magic, as well as an instant understanding of Magescript.


    The exact nature of the event is unknown. All that is known is that an individual that gains an Epiphany briefly blacks out, and then re-awakens after a short period, with no memories of what happened to them during the Epiphany. Various theories have been put forward as to the nature of the Epiphany, but none have been confirmed. As a quarter of those who gain an Epiphany fail to gain magic, the current belief is that the Epiphany is some form of test.


    So, if she tried to learn magic, it would take a year just to gain even the most minor magic, and that was if she didn''t fail the test outright. Compared to how much she had been able to develop her psychic abilities in a comparable time-frame, it didn''t seem like a worthwhile career path.


    Annabelle returned to her quarters, mildly disappointed. It turned out that she wasn''t going to develop magic powers herself, and the best she would be able to do in that regard would be taking control of an enemy wizard in combat.


    She would just have to settle for being the strongest psion known across two worlds.


    As she slept and thought about the events of the day, Annabelle came up with an idea. If she applied telekinesis in the right way, she should be able to swing a sword with enough force to deliver a devastating blow, overwhelming an opposing warrior¡¯s defenses. However, if the force wasn¡¯t applied correctly, it could easily cause her to rip her arm out of its socket. And, if she was in a position to use it, she was in close proximity to an enemy who was likely more skilled than she was in a straight swordfight.


    **********


    Annabelle almost overslept her next training session. She blamed the shorter day here. This planet seemed to rotate faster than Earth, enough to reduce each day to twenty hours. While the natives were used to it, she would need some time to adapt.


    Still, she had enough time to get out there to test her theory.


    After a few warmup swings against a wooden practice dummy, she put her experiment into practice. She focused some of her telekinetic energy around her sword, and as she swung forward, she pushed with telekinesis as well, accelerating the blade to a high speed.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    She hit the dummy hard enough to jar her grip, leaving her sword stuck in the wood. As she shook her hands out to recover, she realized that she would need a better grip on her weapon if she wanted to hit hard without disarming herself.


    Before she could try again, Varia arrived. "So, the mage is actually serious about being a foot-soldier."


    "I don''t exactly want to be defenseless in close combat," Annabelle responded. "I''ve got pretty limited reserves, so I need a backup plan in case they run out."


    "Never heard of a mage running out of energy," Varia commented. "But still, let''s begin."


    After her remark, Varia got into the day''s training. This session seemed to be significantly more difficult, but Annabelle pushed through. At the end of the day, Annabelle had managed to grasp at basic techniques, and had actually managed to disarm her opponent in a sparring round. She retired to her quarters, thoroughly exhausted.


    The next day, she managed to wake up early enough to take an hour to work on her own techniques. After taking a few minutes to exercise her psychic abilities and swordplay, she came up with a new approach.


    Instead of just trying to put all of the force into the weapon, she instead distributed the telekinetic force throughout her whole body. changed her swing from a wild slash to a powerful but controlled blow, allowing her to land a hit without losing control of her weapon. She made a few runs of it, and almost managed to slice a target dummy in half.


    During her later sparring sessions, she decided to pull a surprise on Varia with her new ability. As she engaged in a series of parries, she activated her ability and then swung hard. Varia, completely unprepared for the strength of her blow, was disarmed easily, but before Annabelle could stop herself, her wooden practice sword smashed through her block and nailed Varia in the head, hard enough to launch her airborne before she landed in the sand.


    She didn''t appear to be moving, and Annabelle went from joy at pulling off her technique to panic from a potentially lethal training accident. Sure, killing was nothing new, but she did realize that it would be hard for the Resistance to trust her after such an incident. Even considering resurrection potentially being a possibility.


    But before Annabelle could even figure out how to help her, Varia recovered, and got back to her feet as if nothing had ever happened.


    "Sorry," Annabelle said.


    "Cheater," Varia muttered. "As much as using powers in training can get one over on your trainer, that isn''t the point of this exercise. So, can we get back to playing fair?"


    "There''s no rules in a real fight." However, Annabelle knew she was ultimately right, and finished the training session the hard way.


    **********


    Three days after his rescue, Raiks led the resistance''s council for the first time in a year. He watched as the other members of the council streamed in.


    The first member to arrive was Turb. He appeared oddly young for a wizard, which Raiks attributed to illusions. He was a bit brash, and at some points seemed to lack wisdom but his magical aptitude was enough to qualify him as leader of the Resistance''s arcane assets. Raiks still wished for the presence of Aurim, but the last archmage had died from his age sometime after the creation of Sanctuary.


    Next came Derrin Fire-Spear. The old man was Raiks'' second-in-command, and had been forced to take command after Raiks was captured. He had been picked as the second-in-command primarily due to his low tolerance of risk; he could be trusted to leave the resistance in one piece when he took charge. He ran the lesser operations of the resistance, mainly scouting, spying, and infiltration.


    Then, the Hammerblade brothers, Faris and Varn, arrived. The two dwarves were the quartermasters, and they were probably the two most important members of the resistance. The magical items they created were crucial to the success of the resistance''s operatives.


    Like most dwarves, they were completely bald, and their skin was tough and heat-resistant, adapted to handle the heat of forges and underground environments. When Annabelle had first heard of them, she thought the dwarves had beards for some strange reason, which was a laughable idea. Beards were a liability in a forge.


    Lastly, Lunima arrived. She led the infirmary and the church of Sanctuary, and was one of two priests in the resistance with the ability to resurrect the fallen dead. She looked like a mess from all of the long hours she had put into rehabilitating the Blacksite''s prisoners, and seemed to be struggling just to stay awake.


    Missing was the soldiers'' representative. The men under Raiks'' command were given the choice of appoining one of their own to the council meetings to give the council the perspective from the ground level. But, given the reorganizing they were doing, they simply didn''t have anyone they were willing to send.


    Once he was sure their representative was not arriving, Raiks began the meeting.


    "Since my capture, this resistance has turned from an actual opponent to such an incredibly weak force that I suspect it only survived due to its meaninglessness."


    Derrin raised an objection. "I tried my best, sir. We didn''t just lose you, we lost almost a quarter of our soldiers and two-thirds of our equipment in that mission."


    "You don''t need to give excuses," Raiks said. "It was my fault for launching that operation, and my fault for joining the mission personally despite the bad intel. In that bad situation, you did the best that you could."


    "But that''s in the past," Raiks continued. "Right now, we''ve been given a second chance. One that I intend to take every advantage of."


    "I think we should look at the reason for this ''second chance'' first," Lunima interrupted. "Can we trust Annabelle?"


    Raiks considered that. "Her motives are unclear, yes, but for now she''s working on our side."


    "How do we know she isn''t Daraken''s double agent?" Derrin said.


    "Preposterous," Raiks said. "As far as I can tell, Daraken was outright ignoring us after my capture for not being relevant. Why would he waste resources to reinvigorate his only enemy, just for a chance at potentially destroying them later?"


    Derrin was going to object, but wisely dropped the objection.


    "Although, Annabelle is a wild card," Raiks continued. "She''s not on Daraken''s side, but I''m not clear on her motivations. Or, for that matter, her capabilities. For that reason, I don''t feel comfortable sending her into the field just yet."


    "A wise decision," Lunima said.


    With that out of the way, Raiks continued with his original points. "Right now, we''ve got a massive influx of soldiers, but little if any equipment for them. We need a large amount of supplies to support this. Turb, what have you found?"


    Turb, who had been given orders earlier to look for targets, listed out some results. "I''ve found three locations. The thing is, they were easy to locate with just simple divination. Too easy, I''d say."


    Turb did a few motions, and pulled up a map on the command table. "The first site appears to be an isolated supply stash, in the middle of a forest. I say ''appears'' because given the fact that it''s out in the middle of nowhere and seems effortless to seize, there''s no reason for it to exist outside of trying to bait our forces."


    "Either that or it could be a hermit," Lunima tossed out. It wasn''t a serious comment, but it could be true all the same.


    "Or it could be a secret stash," Derrin added.


    "If it was meant to be secret," Turb replied, "it wouldn''t be so easy to find. Unless the wards failed..."


    "We could very well ignore this," Raiks said. "But I believe Darius should be able to scout the site out safely. I''ll send him alone to the area."


    Turb switched to another section of the map, highlighting a second target. "This watchtower is just outside the Lost Jungle. It''s in a bit of a grey area, but it''s only lightly defended. We could probably get away with a snatch-and-grab."


    "I wouldn''t touch it," Derrin said. "Whether it''s a defensive position, or a staging ground for an assault on the jungle, we should leave Daraken alone with dealing with them."


    "I agree," Raiks said. "We don''t want another enemy."


    Turb attempted to defend his choice, stating "We would not be launching a direct attack against the Jungle''s denizens. If we happen to open up a line of attack that they take advantage of, the threat is Daraken''s to deal with, and we would be able to utilize the opportunity."


    Raiks considered the proposition. In theory, giving the Jungle''s denizens an open opportunity to strike would give Daraken another enemy. But in practice...


    "It. Is. Not. Worth. The. Risk." Raiks said. "At best, it''s a minor inconvenience to him, one that takes a few minutes of his time. At worst, he could use the attack to convince the orcs to join his forces. For all we know, Daraken could be holding negotiations there, and us interfering could give him an enemy to direct them against."


    Though, he would later tell Turb to keep an eye on what was going on there.


    Then, Turb revealed the third target. The map homed in on the city of Furion, a large coastal city on the eastern edge of Daraken''s domain. "This city is plagued by a corrupt ruler. Out of all of the resources devoted to the city''s defense, he''s taken much of it for himself. He''s probably traded half of them away to traders in the Otherlands, but there''s still plenty left to take. This action has also left the city''s defenses understaffed, underequipped, and low on motivation."


    Derrin brought up an objection. "If we hit here, Daraken''s cleanup and recovery will eliminate the corrupt regime, bringing in more effective rulers."


    "If he hasn''t dealt with the corruption by now, it isn''t significantly impacting him," Raiks said. "The benefits for us from the raid on him will outweigh any effects he might gain by rooting out corruption."


    "Also," Turb added, "the corruption here is bad enough that clearing out all of the corruption would be costly for him. Even if he simply kills everyone he appointed, he''ll still have to find others to control the town."


    "What resources are available?" Faris interjected.


    "There¡¯s a large supply of crystals," Turb said. "As well as a few magic items bought using said crystals."


    "Good," Varn said. "We could use some extra enchanting catalysts." Raiks still wasn¡¯t sure on the details of how that worked. He originally suspected the Hammerblade brothers were making that up to get more money, but they were able to prove that, somehow, the primary currency of the realm was also incredibly useful in enchanting. Admittedly, they didn''t exactly have a purpose for money anyways, since most of the Resistance would fight without pay to stop Daraken as long as they had food, shelter, and combat equipment.


    "Alright, that settles it," Raiks said. "We''re launching an operation in Furion. Turb, I''ll need details on its defenses."


    With that, the discussion changed from discussing targets to planning out the assault.

 1-4: Missions

    Darius arrived through an entry portal eight kilometers away from Daraken''s suspected trap, in the middle of a dry forest. The dry forests of Garnoth had an unusual ecology, with the stone-like trees having deep, interconnected root systems, leaves year-round, and incredibly slow growth. This created stable soil, but sucked the little water remaining in it into the trees, resulting in very little other vegetation.


    Eight kilometers would be an hour''s march for most (more, in fact), but Darius enhanced his speed greatly through his enchanted boots. His boots greatly enhanced the force of his jumps and reduced the force of gravity on him. With long jumps leveraging that enchantment, he could cross large distances incredibly quickly. He reached close proximity to the site in just thirty minutes, and then slowed down to utilize stealth for the final approach.


    As he peeked out from behind a tree, he found that the divination report was accurate. In a clearing, there were chests full of supplies and crates full of food laid out around a central pile of multicolored crystals and gold. But where was the trap?


    He cautiously approached the clearing, scanning for an enemy threat. At the same time, he whispered a message into his communicator, relaying the information back to Sanctuary. They began the process to open the portal, and the portal would be fully opened in about five minutes.


    But of course, this wasn''t just an open target. No one just left a cache of supplies in the middle of a forest. Almost as soon as he stepped into the clearing, he heard the distinctwhooshof short-range teleportation behind him, and turned just in time to see one of Daraken''s apprentices.


    Daraken''s apprentices had the same fashion sense as him, wearing a black longcoat full of pockets for various spellcasting odds and ends, and wielding a staff as their primary weapon and casting implement. However, though Daraken showed his face the few times he appeared in public, his apprentices nearly always wore masks. Maybe it was so they could keep a secret identity while still moving around in public and studying at the College.


    The mage''s staff glowed purple as he made a short incantation, and he fired several arcane bolts, seeing straight through Darius'' cloak of concealment. Darius quickly dove behind a supply crate, and as the missiles homed in on him, they slammed into the supply crate instead of his body. Before the mage could cast another spell, he popped out of cover, threw one of his daggers at him, then stepped off the craft and leaped towards him. Mages were powerful, but if caught in close combat they could easily be prevented from getting a spell off.


    The mage dodged his initial dagger throw, and then wildly swung his staff as Darius landed a few feet in front of him. Darius ducked the mage''s clearly-telegraphed swing, stepped in, and stabbed the mage in the gut, before calling his thrown dagger back to him to hit the mage in the rear before he recovered it.


    The mage retaliated with a burning palm strike, hitting Darius with a flaming burst that blew him backwards and set him on fire.


    Darius quickly rolled to put the fire out, giving the mage time to cast another arcane bolt. Darius tried to get to cover, but didn''t reach it fast enough, and his body shook as the bolts slammed into him. He had picked up a bit of toughness from his experience, but he wouldn''t be able to take another hit.


    At least, not without healing. He grabbed a healing orb off of his belt and broke it in his fist, absorbing the healing energy. Healing orbs were a recent concept, one designed to be practical to utilize in combat. Not only were they smaller than potions and easier to carry, but breaking one took a bit less than a second, compared to the long process that it took to pull out a potion, uncork it, and chug the whole thing.


    Then, as his body began to mend, he threw himself forward on all fours, practically launching himself at the mage, and knocking him down on impact. The mage struggled to escape his attack, as he stabbed him over and over until his body disintegrated.


    Wait, disintegrated? He realized that he had been tricked by a decoy a few seconds too late, as a spell overcame him and stunned him with a mental assault.


    The mage took the time to gloat over his victory. "Your Resistance has pulled off something that should be impossible: they used magic inside of an antimagic field. Your arrival gives me a very convenient way to figure out how. Now, give me your secrets."


    His gloating successfully stirred up his memories of Annabelle. Darius tried to suppress them, but the mage managed to read off his surface thoughts. He struggled to resist before he got anything else, and managed to activate one of the wands on his belt, hitting himself with a dispelling burst. It temporarilly disabled the magic in his own equipment, but it also disrupted the magic of the spell the mage was using to breach his mind.


    Even without his augmented speed, Darius was able to take down his surprised opponent, tackling him to the ground and then stabbing one of his knives straight into the mage''s eye. When that wasn''t enough to kill him, Darius finished him off by slashing open his throat, resulting in a spray of blood. Then, a few more slashes to key arteries, just to make sure.


    With the primary threat dead, Darius felt somewhat safe in calling for the portal to be opened. Because instant teleportation without portals was limited by range and accuracy, Daraken himself would probably be the only individual capable of teleporting in for a second wave attack, and he wouldn''t deem this sort of endeavor worthy of his time. They''d only get the logistics personnel, after all.


    Still, Darius remained nervous until the portal opened a few minutes later, and reinforcements stepped through to assist in transferring the supplies to Sanctuary.


    **********


    At the same time as Darius'' mission, Raiks commanded a team of four: Scars, the Resistance''s strongest berserker, Robin Heartseeker, their best archer, Alicia, and Gamma, a defensive warrior. Even though his team was significantly outnumbered, they could make up for it with a massive edge in skill and ability. In fact, there were good odds that they wouldn''t even need his assistance.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Still, he was observing the battle through his command table. One of its most useful capabilities that Turb had developed through it was the ability to be linked to an overhead scrying eye, which allowed Raiks to observe a battle without ever having to leave Sanctuary. When combined with the Resistance''s magical commlink tokens, it would allow Raiks to control the fight without ever leaving Sanctuary.


    The plan was simple: break in, use shock and awe to scare off the guards, load everything in the mayor''s stash into bags of holding, then bail out.


    Furion was not developed enough to have stone walls like a more major city would, instead relying on a wooden palisade for protection. Thus, all that was needed to blow a hole through it was an explosively-charged arrow fired from Robin''s longbow. Though longbows were much more difficult to use than a bolter, in the hands of a master they had much more range, enough to shoot over 200 meters to detonate in the wall, and could achieve a greater fire rate and impact velocity.


    The explosion blew a hole in the palisade, and the guards took a long time to respond. The team rushed the hole, and almost reached it before a few dazed guards peeked out to engage. Two of them fell to Robin''s sniper fire, and the third managed to fire a single bolter shot into Gamma''s shield, before Scars bull-rushed him and then caved his head in with an overhead smash from his axe.


    The breach point had a building in front of it protecting the team from ranged attacks, and Raiks advised the team to take cover behind it until Robin joined up with them inside the city. The team had to cross several blocks of the city to reach the treasury, and would then have to evacuate back to the extraction point a mile or so outside the city.


    In the time it took for Robin to move from his sniper position to inside the city, the guards formed an organized response, forming two wings that advanced on the team''s position from either side. However, this was exactly what Raiks was looking for.


    "Scars, breach the left flank. Alicia, support."


    Scars waited a few seconds, giving Alicia the chance to empower him with divine energy, significantly increasing his size, strength, and toughness. Then, he went all-out, turning into a close combat monster. Though the guards immediately opened fire on him with bolters, his armor and divine enhancements meant he took minimal damage, and he then smashed through the entire formation in just a few swings of his axe. The rest of his team followed behind, finishing off anyone fortunate enough to survive Scars''s assault.


    With one side of the pincer maneuver dismantled, the other half of the enemy guards were not in a position to engage effectively. Before they could engage, the team broke out in a run towards the city treasury, and Robin slowed the guards down further by discouraging their pursuit by sniping off anyone who peeked out.


    Raiks spotted a problem with this strategy, however. "I''ve spotted a shield wall up ahead. Gamma, hold the rear."


    Ahead of the formation was an elite squad, a dozen heavily armored soldiers in a shield wall, with a bolter-equipped squad behind. Scars, in his rage, attempted to charge the spearline, only to nearly get himself impaled. He staggered backwards, and only managed to stay up due to Alicia''s healing.


    At the rear, Gamma broke off to stall their pursuers, fighting more than a dozen to one. He used his tower shield to block incoming fire, waited until most of the enemy squad had consumed their ammo, and then returned fire with his own bolter, taking down four enemies with five shots. However, one guard held his fire and managed to hit him in the shoulder when he fired his own burst, and the group spread out as they reloaded, forcing him to fall back to avoid being flanked.


    "Robin, blast that shieldwall," Raiks ordered. Scars wisely decided to take a step back (not just because he was still being healed), as Robin drew his second explosive arrow and fired it at the feet of the shieldwall. The shieldwall scattered just a second before the explosion scattered the group, and before the dust cleared, Scars re-engaged, smashing two spearmen with one hit and then ignoring the rest of them to smash through the bolter group. Robin and Alicia switched to melee weapons and followed him in, preventing the spearmen from regrouping to surround Scars.


    Gamma managed to retreat far enough to have buildings covering his flanks, but the enemy squad adjusted their strategy again, with half of them switching to swords to engage him in melee. He took down a few more after reloading, but was then forced to drop his bolter and switch to his sword.


    However, his disruption action was successful in giving the rest of the squad the time it needed to win their battle, allowing Scars, Robin, and Alicia to clear out their forces and turn to support him. The guards, seeing how they were outmatched, now surrendered, dropping their weapons and putting their hands up.


    Another group of guards arrived from the other side of the city, but they surrendered as well.


    Then, at the city hall, the mayor, Nemora, stormed out of a door, and yelled "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?" He was wearing ornate robes adorned with an excessive amount of jewelry, and was carrying a magic staff like it was a fancy walking stick.


    As it turns out, wizards were surprisingly common among the wealthy of Garnoth. All it took was a a few years and a large investment of money, and anyone could get educated and gain knowledge of the arcane arts (at least if they didn''t fail the tests and drop out). However, knowing arcane arts and being able to use them in combat without getting destroyed were two different things.


    "We are seizing the treasury of this town to bolster the Resistance," Alicia said. Robin, noticing the potential for danger, nocked an arrow to his bow, prepared to take the mayor out instantly if he did anything stupid.


    "These. Treasures. Are. MINE!" Nemora screamed. "YOU CANNOT HAVE THEM!" Robin raised his bow and fired, but the mayor triggered a spell embedded in the staff, and a semicircular wall of crystal spikes popped up out of the ground, blocking the arrow.


    "Take cover!" Raiks called, recognizing the spell that was about to hit his team. Gamma moved forward to cover himself and Alicia with his tower shield, and Robin ducked down to allow the blast to go over his head, but Scars did neither. Thus, when the crystal barrier erupted in an explosive burst, throwing shards of razor-sharp crystal in all directions, Scars was eviscerated.


    Robin''s crouching position caused him to suffer minimal damage as the shrapnel from the explosion shot out in an upwards arc, and immediately after the blast, he shot an arrow into the mayor''s leg to cripple him, then followed up with a second shot, straight to the heart.


    "Scars''s down, moving to stabilize," Alicia called out, as she moved in to apply emergency aid.


    Now, with their lead warrior down and their healer busy, the team was two against dozens. The guards could easily have chosen to pick their weapons back up and overwhelm them. But instead, they were cheering.


    "You have deposed Nemora," one of them, likely a captain, announced. "Daraken did nothing about his corruption, his malicious behavior. But you stopped him. We now pledge our support to you."


    "Commander, we appear to have taken control of this city," Robin said.


    That wasn''t part of the plan.


    "Why did you fight us?" Alicia asked. "We could have done this with only one casualty on either side."


    "Fear," some of them admitted. "We didn''t know this was what you were doing," others said.


    "Raiks, I''d like approval to attempt to heal any guards who are still alive," Alicia whispered. "And, potentially, to have additional healers brought in."


    "Granted," Raiks said. He sent a message to Lunima to send two extra healers into the field as well. If they were fast enough, they could probably save a majority of those that had been brought down.


    But there was a reason that taking the city wasn''t in the plan. Soon, they would have to go on the defensive.

 1-5: Re-Evaluation

    As a result of the recent capture of Furion, Raiks was forced to call an emergency council meeting. Faris and Varn were too busy utilizing the new supply of resources to attend, but Turb, Derrin, and Lunima were still present.


    The soldier''s representative for this meeting was Alicia. Raiks would have summoned her to the meeting anyways for her input, but she volunteered instead.


    "Alright, here''s the problem," Raiks said. "We took territory without a plan to control it."


    "How is that a problem?" Alicia wondered. "Worst-case scenario, we just leave the territory and let Daraken retake it."


    "Yes, we could just take the smart course of action and leave this place alone," Derrin suggested.


    "On one hand, that does mitigate the risk to us," Raiks said. "But on the other hand, by leaving a territory that was quite literally given to us, we show to Garnoth that we are cowards, that we cannot stand against Daraken. That will significantly impair our ability to gain support."


    "All due respect, sir," Lunima said, "but I do believe the whole ''territory control'' business is seen as a formality more than anything civilians care about. To them, a change in ownership of their city means nothing more than their taxes going to someone else, and maybe some miscellaneous services being added or discontinued."


    Daraken, despite his ambitions and quest for power, didn''t actually pass any of the costs for his ambition onto his people. Cities under Daraken''s rule remained mostly independent entities as they had for the years before, and in exchange for the taxes that he imposed on each city, he utilized his Black Guard to protect them. It made it especially frustrating to gather popular support against him when the Resistance didn''t have grounds that a peasant could easily understand for their opposition to what seems like a perfectly just ruler. His true ambitions were kept in the shadows.


    "The way I see it, we have three options," Raiks said. "Option one, we send our forces, establish a permanent presence, and attempt to hold the area against his assault."


    "The problem with that," Derrin countered, "is that we might stop a few of Daraken''s attacks, but then he''ll commit enough forces to wipe our entire resistance off the map, and we''ll lose the city and anything we put there."


    "Yes, that''s why it''s the worst option," Raiks continued. "Option two, we abandon the area, and let Daraken recapture it at his leisure. But, we''re giving up the resources we''d get from the area, as well as proving that we can''t even hope to contest with his forces directly."


    "Option three," Raiks finished, "is that we challenge him, put our forces there, but retreat once he sends a significant opposition against us. He''ll be forced to react, and if he sends an overwhelming force against the area, we won''t lose anything, and might even have an opportunity to counterattack."


    "He won''t send an overwhelming force, not at first," Derrin said. "Remember, to him, we''re still an irrelevant rebellion, taking control of an irrelevant border region. He''ll most likely send a few token assault forces to keep us busy and allow him to pretend to be addressing us."


    "However," he also added, "if his opinions did change, he could disguise a group of elites as a minor force. That was what caused the disaster that resulted in Raiks being captured." It could be done either by having elite troops (with their enhanced physical attributes) wearing the equipment of regular Legion infantry, or by having a few mages use illusions to disguise as regular infantry (the method he had used to capture Raiks).


    "Yes, that is a problem we may need to deal with," Raiks said. "We''d have to make sure he can''t get us with a sneak attack. I''m not concerned about a fake weak attack as much as I am with a sneak attack through disguised agents."


    Raiks'' mind briefly blanked out, but he quickly recovered. He didn''t pay too much attention to it.


    "On a similar note, how would we make sure his infiltrators can''t access Sanctuary through the portal we''d be using as our exit plan?" Alicia asked on a tangent.


    "Sanctuary is capable of stopping an infiltration," Turb said. "He''d have to get his infiltrators past the null-magic zone surrounding the portal in order to have a chance of doing anything useful, and we can lock the gate to the portal chamber. They''d need magic to blow down the gate."


    "Right," Lunima said, a bit doubtful.


    "As we were saying," Derrin said, "we need to figure out when exactly our forces should retreat. If we get ambushed by an elite force, it could be too late to retreat."


    Wait. Raiks'' mind was disrupted again, and now he suspected someone was infiltrating his mind. He quickly recalled a technique he had read about for defending against mental attack, and fabricated an alternate persona to present to the attacker.


    Wait, how did you know? Raiks picked up a mental message sent by the intruder, and quickly used that to figure out who was contacting him.


    He responded, though he wasn''t quite sure how.Annabelle? What are you doing?


    I''m bored, so I decided to practice on how to read minds without letting the target know. You know, stuff that could be useful in espionage,Annabelle replied.Plus, I want to know what''s going on.


    This is supposed to be a confidential meeting,Raiks replied.


    Daraken doesn''t exactly have a way to get that information out of me. He has no way to hold me for more than a day or two, and even if he could, he would not be able to get anything out of me. Not in a million years.


    Raiks wasn''t entirely convinced. Even if she wasn''t lying, she wasn''t exactly demonstrating loyalty either.


    "Raiks? Are you okay?" Lunima asked, taking Raiks out of the telepathic conversation.


    "Yes, yes, just... distracted," Raiks said.


    "As we were saying," Derrin continued from a previous conversation, "our forces should be concentrated on ranged firepower. We can block portal access around the city to force enemies to approach, allowing us to take them down at a safe distance, and if we are outmatched, giving us time to retreat."The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Good idea, as long as we can deal with stealth attacks," Raiks responded.


    "I''ll have some of the diviners focus on the area. A sneak attack that would threaten our whole force should be notable enough to be detected."


    Annabelle sent another message.I don''t know how elite his elite forces are, but if I was part of the defense, they probably wouldn''t be elite enough to beat me.


    When this meeting was done, he was going to have a word with Annabelle. Though she did have a good point¡­


    "We know Daraken can counter and disrupt divinations," Raiks replied. "But I think there''s another option. We can have Annabelle as part of the defense."


    "She is an unknown factor," Lunima said. "We don''t know how well she could perform in a defensive operation."


    "Neither does Daraken," Raiks countered. "Daraken hates risks. If Annabelle''s present, Daraken will be much less willing to send non-disposable assets when they could be easily destroyed, or worse, converted to our side. Her existence alone will weaken the attacks Daraken is willing to use."


    He realized something else. If Daraken needed information about Annabelle before he could follow through with his attack, Annabelle shouldn''t fight unless necessary.


    "Furthermore, I believe that when she is deployed, she should be deployed as a reserve asset, to put further pressure on Daraken. He''ll want to see Annabelle using her abilities, but to do so he''ll have to commit a large amount of assets to the fight, and risk us gaining control over some of them."


    The council spent a few more minutes debating exact details, but in the end, they decided to follow Raiks'' idea. A garrison would be sent to Furion to fortify it against attack, with Annabelle present as a lynchpin in reserve. It would give Daraken an interesting dilemma, forcing him to figure out how much to commit to expose Annabelle''s capabilities without losing too many key assets to her potential.


    As the meeting concluded, Raiks searched outside for Annabelle. She had to be nearby. However, he didn''t expect her to sneak up behind him.


    "So, you want to talk to me?" Annabelle asked, as if she was innocent.


    "Where were you?"


    "I was on the roof."


    Note to self: station guards on the roof of the headquarters, so they can watch the whole area, rather than just having them stand outside the doors for effect.


    Raiks was almost afraid to rebuke her for fear of retribution, but he had faced mages in combat before. Granted, most of them were weaker than Annabelle, and his encounter with Daraken himself had not gone well at all.


    "Okay, Annabelle. I don''t care what abilities you have, or how powerful you are, right now you''re part of an army. I expect you to follow the rules of this force, the same rules that I would expect anyone to follow."


    Thankfully, Annabelle didn''t become aggressive. "The problem is that I know more about my abilities than the rest of your council does. I wanted to make sure you had something useful in mind for me, where my abilities could be useful to your force."


    "So you''re saying you should be part of the leadership council?" Raiks said. "Completely bypassing the chain of command?"


    "It''s something you should consider," she replied. "You do have that open slot for a ''soldier''s representative'', after all."


    "The intent is to have the representative be different each time to minimize the amount of information one individual possesses," Raiks said. "I will admit that your situation is unique enough that I may open a spot for you. But I am going to make one thing clear. If you are not invited to a council meeting, do not spy on it in any way. Do so, and I will make you regret it."


    Would he remove Annabelle from the Resistance in such a scenario, though? Then she might be more likely to spread those secrets, and they would be out a key asset. Raiks hoped it wouldn''t come to that.


    "Fine," Annabelle said.


    "Now, soon you will be assigned to guard duty in Furion. You will be assigned as a reserve asset, and are not to engage unless you either receive a direct order or are personally threatened."


    He expected complaints for that plan.


    "That sounds like a good idea," Annabelle said. "I''ve got limited reserves, at least for my best combat powers, and if there''s no need for me to use them, I''d rather save them."


    Raiks hadn''t thought of that reason. Then again, he understood her power only a little more than Daraken did.


    "What, exactly, are your capabilities?" Raiks asked.


    "I think you''ve seen a majority of them," Annabelle replied. "I have telepathy that I can use to communicate, or as a vector for mental attacks up to and including mind control. I also have versatile telekinetic abilities, which I often use for blasts of kinetic energy, and to enhance my movement. That''s how I got to the roof just now, and how I dropped down without creating any noise. And, I can create the vortex of destruction you witnessed previously, though it burns most of my energy to do it."


    "So no secret tricks you''re not telling me about?"


    "None that are significant. Except maybe this one trick that can detect invisible attackers within a small radius around me, if I''m aware of them and actively spending resources to spot them. And an odd case where I got a premonition that let me evade an attack that would have killed me, but that could have just been luck."


    "Anything else?" Raiks asked, one last time.


    Annabelle considered for a few seconds. "I tried to teleport once. I suspect that''s what brought me here. I don''t plan on doing it again."


    **********


    The next morning, Raiks received a message from a different source: Julia, the high priest of Helios. Unlike Annabelle''s telepathic communication (which was a direct transmission of thoughts and ideas), it took the form of a spoken message, sent across a vast distance.


    Julia said. "Meet me in Dustreach, urgently. Annabelle''s arrival has disrupted fate."


    Unfortunately, she was rather cryptic. Apparently, whatever key information she held could only be disclosed personally. Even though she had been wrong before, it was likely at least worth paying a visit.


    Officially, Dustreach and the temple of Helios were neutral to the Resistance. Unofficially, they provided some assistance, but not to the level of being a direct threat to Daraken. This primarily took the form of sending some of their priests to Sanctuary to provide healing, but sometimes it took the form of prophecies that often failed to hold true.


    He decided that Annabelle and Darius would come along as well. Julia might be interested in seeing her first-hand, and Darius would hopefully be able to keep her out of trouble.


    **********


    While the Resistance had taken over a meaningless border province, Daraken had gathered crucial information on their new secret weapon. His stray supply cache, though an obvious trap, was just too good of an opportunity for them to pass up, so they had sent a lone scout to check on it. Though his apprentice waiting there had been slain, he still managed to get crucial information out of the Resistance scout first, information that he passed on to Daraken through a mindlink.


    The escape at his blacksite had been the result of a psion, named Annabelle Lee. Her powers were exhausted in the escape, but she claims the null-magic field disrupted them.


    A psion? All of his research had shown them to be nothing more than myths and legends (or at best something that gods had spent considerable effort defeating in the distant past), but now his plans were coming to ruin because of one.


    He unfortunately didn''t know anything about her actual abilities, having arrived after the deed was done. Even though the second-hand report claimed she was exhausted after the prison break (showing a potential limit weaker than his maximum capability), it could have been due to having to spend additional energy to overcome the null-magic field. And, he still wasn''t sure how the escape had been performed, or what she was capable of.


    Or, for that matter, how she had ended up in his prison in the first place.


    He would not take direct action against her. Not until he knew exactly what she was capable of.


    He spent the next hour channeling powerful divination magic, viewing into various potential futures. He found that in all of them, Annabelle would be in Dustreach tomorrow night, with little backup. It would provide the perfect opportunity to eliminate her. Or, at the very least, learn more about her capabilities.

 1-6: Mysteries

    Annabelle stepped through the portal, and arrived in a central hub in the city of Dustreach. Their arrival portal fit almost perfectly into a recession in the wall, and she saw several other recessions in the walls nearby. One of them had what appeared to be another portal in it, to an unknown destination.


    As she had passed through the portal, she had detected a subtle mental attack, which after a brief analysis turned out to be memory manipulation. That would be one of Sanctuary''s wards acting to conceal any clues of Sanctuary''s position. Acting almost on instinct, she shut down the line of attack before it could do anything. She had been slightly worried her mental resistance wouldn''t work against magic, but this proved her defenses would still be applicable here.


    "Raiks? I thought we were the only group who had those portal gates. Why is there a whole portal hub here?"


    "Most major cities have them," Raiks said. "This city''s status as a temple city draws visitors in from distant lands."


    Annabelle watched the other portals as the trio exited the chamber, but saw no arrivals. When she exited the arrival building, she surveyed the city. Even though it had a god''s protection, the city was still heavily fortified, with a stone wall circling the outside of the city, and stone wall encircling the temple grounds. The temple itself seemed highly out of place, with its walls apparently solid gold. It was probably either just a gilding of the walls or a magical enchantment, but even so, it was an odd decision, and an indication that the temple probably had way too much spare time on their hands.


    Raiks led her and Darius towards the central temple, until they came up to the inner wall''s gate. The guard was confiscating weapons, but no one in this group was carrying anything. Honestly, it wasn''t an effective security measure: even neglecting her natural infiltration potential, any mage could just sneak in and then start throwing fireballs. Granted, it was hard to check for mages (at least if they were smart enough to not obviously dress like mages).


    "So what are we doing here, anyways?" Annabelle asked as the group moved past a group in prayer. Raiks shushed her for violating some sort of rule, so she repeated the question using telepathy, startling Raiks, but not getting a response.


    Eventually, they reached their destination. Raiks told them to wait at the door, and walked in. Annabelle waited patiently for about a minute before deciding to sit down. Darius remainded standing, and looked at her curiously.


    "I suspect we''re going to be here a while," Annabelle said. "Might as well have a chat. So, how did you come to be a part of the Resistance?"


    "The Resistance found me in a jail in a town they were raiding. They offered to free me in exchange for me joining them, and I took the deal. I don''t regret it."


    "Why did you end up in jail?"


    "I stole the wrong thing. I am, or at least was, an expert thief. With my small size, I was able to evade detection and get away with stealing valuable items. But then I stole a wizard''s staff, and realized too late that he had a tracking spell on it. I''m honestly lucky he didn''t kill me on the spot.


    "Anyways, after my recovery, I took the role of lead covert agent in the Resistance," Darius continued. "I''m probably the best infiltrator this resistance has, especially with my ability to unlock magical items."


    "Your what?"


    "Many magical items are designed to have their use restricted. For instance, that mage''s staff, in the hands of anyone that he didn''t willingly give it to, would just be a fancy stick. It''s normally a difficult process to remove those restrictions, but I''ve found a way to do it much more easily."


    "Interesting," Annabelle said, even though it wasn''t that interesting. Sure, it was a highly useful ability, but it was also the boring kind of useful ability.


    "So, what''s your story?" Darius asked.


    Annabelle considered whether or not to give out her true origins. All anyone knew here was that she materialized out of nowhere, and the potential problems with exposing her true origins for Daraken''s divinations to pick up on (such as giving an Archmage an invitation to invade Earth) were not worth any potential benefits. She decided to be about as vague as she possibly could be.


    "I was a random civilian in a world under attack by a powerful invading race. Then, I got captured by a third party, the Ascent Foundation, taking advantage of the war. They-"


    She suddenly realized that she had just almost disclosed the existence of something incredibly dangerous. She rapidly backpedaled.


    "They wanted to awaken an innate power I possessed, then enslave me to become a human weapon. The good news for them is that, after torturing me for a month, they succeeded. The bad news for them is that I resisted their brainwashing, and my new powers were easily enough to obliterate them. I destroyed their base, the same way I devastated Daraken''s prison a few days ago."


    In reality, she had discovered her powers before she had been kidnapped, and had kept them a secret as much as she could (though it didn''t stop them from finding her). Although the torture was responsible for them being as powerful as they were, her efforts to adapt and escape, their main goal was attempting to find a way to replicate her powers.


    "Their base was in the middle of a major city, and its destruction immediately drew the attention of the military. They offered me protection and a chance to finish off the organization responsible for my abduction, so I took the opportunity to join them."


    "I fought with them for about a year, destroying the Ascent Foundation, and later being a key asset in the fight against the invaders. At the end of the war I was the core of a final mission, a direct assault against their headquarters and leadership. We managed to destroy their defenses, and I finished the job with my own powers. As their base fell around me, I attempted to escape through a portal back to my own world, but somehow ended up here instead."


    Darius seemed barely able to understand what she had just said. She had, after all, left out significant bits of context, including the fact that said invaders were aliens, their headquarters was an orbital mothership, and that Earth''s technology base, even before they began reverse-engineering alien technology, was far above that on this world.


    And she had left out something even bigger. The Ascent Foundation''s research had succeeded. She knew how to create a psychic amplifier, a device that would allow anyone to harness their own psychic potential. Of course, the materials used in their construction likely did not exist here (due to being a combination of highly refined metals, plastics, and a few alien materials that humanity never figured out how to replicate), and it normally took a few months of training to get combat-useful powers, but there was a reason why the technology was going to remain classified after the war ended.


    **********


    Raiks met up with Julia on the other side of the door. After exchanging greetings, she led him deep into the temple''s inner sanctum. Hopefully they were far enough from Annabelle that she wouldn''t be able to read off anything they were saying. They sat down on opposite ends of a table.


    Raiks noted that the high temple of Helios was almost too ornate. To the point where he wondered how they actually helped people. Everywhere else, Helios'' temples were somewhat minimalist, but at their High Temple, they had gilded iconographics on almost every wall, even in the inner chambers that shouldn''t even be seen by the outside world, a waste of resources for no practical gain.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Julia herself was garbed in ornate robes, denoting her place at the head of the temple''s leadership. She disliked the temple''s love for gold almost as much as Raiks did, but part of that might have been due to the fact that she had to wear a lot of that gold herself. It probably weighed about as much as a heavy suit of armor.


    "Annabelle is a dangerous anomaly," Julia declared. "But one that is on our side, for now."


    "So you think she might turn against us?" Raiks asked.


    "Potentially. She doesn''t hold any particular loyalty to you. But my divinations are coming up blank on her."


    "Your divinations aren''t working on her?"


    "For the most part. But there is one thing, a prophecy."


    "Right, one of those things that usually ends up completely misinterpreted. Or, in one case, completely wrong."


    "Both Annabelle and Daraken should die on the same day," Julia said. "Otherwise, disaster will occur."


    "That''s- unusually simple, for a prophecy." They were usually more than complicated.


    "It seems that in this case, Helios ditched the formalities."


    Raiks thought that over. It made some sense. If Annabelle''s only known motivation at the moment was eliminating Daraken, she might end up just taking over after his death, or doing something else undesirable. But on the other hand, if she died early, Daraken would have little left that could truly oppose him.


    "I can see why," Raiks said. "Although, is that really all you brought me here for?"


    "Unfortunately, no." Julia sighed. "I know Daraken''s true objective. He aims to ascend, to become a god. With that power, he would be unstoppable."


    "Ascend? How?"


    "I do not know. Helios himself is unwilling to disclose information on that regard. All that he said on the matter was that Daraken is still a bit off from completing an ascension. A few months at most, but likely less given his schemes."


    "That is a serious threat. If he becomes powerful enough to oppose Helios-"


    "Which is why I wish to send you additional aid, both in manpower and in supplies. As much as I can, without being overt."


    "That would be much appreciated." Raiks began a discussion into what resources the temple of Helios could provide without being drawn into the war. He did, at one point, propose that they just declare war outright, but Julia declined the offer. Even if Daraken was unwilling to directly engage Dustreach, he would still have multiple means to isolate and starve out the city.


    "Although," Raiks said, "If the threat is truly as dire as you claim it to be, why do you not join the war actively?"


    "It would be ineffective," Julia claimed. "We can defend this city, but we are not equipped to launch an offensive operation. Even if we were, we would be taking forces off this city, and as soon as the city is exposed, Daraken will strike."


    Suddenly, the building shook, as if it was under attack.


    "What was that?" Raiks said.


    He recognized the signs of Julia receiving an instant message. "That would be a rogue mage that''s been plaguing us. Hopefully we can take her down this time."


    "I brought Annabelle here," Raiks admitted. "Does that change things?"


    There was a second explosion.


    "You- what?" Julia said, shocked. "Why?"


    "I thought you would want to see her."


    "You''ve probably made things worse." Julia leapt to her feet and rushed in the direction of the explosions. Raiks followed behind her.


    *****


    An explosion echoed across the temple. Annabelle immediately jumped to her feet, and was about to reach for a weapon before realizing she didn''t have one. Well, not a physical weapon, at least.


    "I''m presuming this isn''t normal, right?" She asked.


    "Our orders are to stay here," Darius responded.


    Another explosion occured, maybe a bit further away than the last one.


    "Then again, this isn''t exactly something he planned for," he admitted.


    "If I had to guess, the problem is most likely an utter lack of countermeasures against mages," Annabelle said. "How do you confiscate weapons when someone literally is a weapon?"


    "Whatever it is, it''s not our problem to solve."


    "That sounds like explosives," Annabelle said. "Or some magical equivalent. Guards armed with swords aren''t going to be able to handle it."


    "The clerics of Helios can handle this problem," Darius countered.


    "I doubt medics would be much better than guards in a fight," Annabelle replied.


    Before Darius could object further, Annabelle was already running towards the explosions. He followed behind her, somewhat reluctantly.


    As she rounded a corner, she saw a streak of light in front of her, and ducked back, just as a bolt of energy flew past her. The bolt impacted the wall behind her, then detonated in a fiery explosion. She was slightly stunned by the shockwave and lightly burnt by the flame, but it wasn''t significant damage.


    "The next one''s landing at your feet," a voice said from behind the corner.


    "Bring it," Annabelle retorted. She popped out of cover, spotted her enemy, and threw up a telekinetic barrier just in front of her opponent just as she launched a second fireball. It was a trick she had originally learned to blow enemies up with their own grenades.


    As she expected, the mage''s fireball detonated on the barrier, in an explosion that she thought would take down a squishy wizard in one hit. Unfortunately, when the dust cleared, her opponent seemed unharmed. Not just that, but she was now levitating several feet above the ground.


    The sorceress appeared to be underdressed, at least by medieval standards. By modern standards, her clothing was surprisingly tame. She was wearing a bright red sleeveless dress that barely reached her knees, as well as elbow-length red gloves.


    She managed to figure out that throwing impact explosives around wasn''t a good idea, and switched to firing streams of flame out of her hands. Annabelle was forced back behind the corner again, and then took a few more steps back due to the heat of the fire.


    The stream of fire stopped briefly, as the sorceress flew up high around the corner. Annabelle knew that she had no way to evade her next fireblast, so instead of attempting to flee, she forced herself to jump through the stream of flame, rolling when she landed. She used a telekinetic burst to ward off most of the flame as she jumped through it, then fired a blast of kinetic energy, staggering and knocking back the sorceress.


    Before the sorceress could recover, Annabelle moved to finish her off, initiating telepathic contact and attempting to seize control of the sorceress'' mind. The sorceress put up a significant resistance, but Annabelle knew she was winning. She would just need a few more seconds...


    Then, she was blindsided by a devastating blow. A punch hit her so hard that she was blown backwards, sliding along the floor for several meters before she managed to roll back onto her feet, in a bit of a daze. She looked back at her attacker, and saw a giant, brutish man wearing common clothing that seemed too small for him. Above her, the sorceress was even worse off than she was, having taken the wrong end of broken telepathic contact. She was barely conscious, but her magic kept her levitating in the air, as if she was weightless.


    Annabelle pushed herself to her feet, and noting her lack of weapons, prepared to attempt to fight hand-to-hand. Of course, any training she had went out the window when the thug charged her at almost superhuman speeds. She barely got her hands up to block before she was kneed in the chest, and as she staggered backwards the thug spun around and hit her with an elbow in the gut.


    She rolled to the side, dodging a punch that went straight for her head. Then, a thrown knife hit the brute straight in the chest. Annabelle looked behind her to see Darius, with one of his knives in hand.


    Where did those blades come from?Annabelle asked Darius


    I hid them,he responded offhandedly. Apparently the Church''s security, in addition to not stopping mages, couldn''t even confiscate weapons properly.


    The brute was somehow not even fazed by the knife in his chest. He calmly ripped the knife out and threw it to the ground. The hole from the knife seemed to closed itself, and Annabelle couldn''t see any blood. Annabelle had seen Raiks shrug off a knife wound and keep going, but this brute seemed to take no damage.


    Then, he rushed Darius. Darius maneuvered to put the thug between him and his blade, and then triggered something on his knife, causing it to be pulled back to him and hit the thug in the back, again to little effect. Then, he leaped with an augmented agility, jumping straight over the thug as his momentum carried him out of reach. At the same time, Annabelle attempted to incapacitate him with a psychic attack, but came up against an incredibly strong defense (almost as strong as the psychic defenses of the alien leaders), doing nothing but drawing the thug''s attention. It didn''t make sense, brutes were supposed to be weak against mental attacks!


    The thug went after her, even as Darius used the same effect to pull the knife out of his back. She made a futile attempt to fight him in hand-to-hand, slipping left of the first blow, and then delivering a right hook into his face. But the brute stood completely firm, then hit her with a roundhouse kick, sending her crashing into the wall with a massive thud. She went limp soon after, partly to avoid being beaten to death and partially because she had multiple broken bones.


    Darius did better in the engagement, and she saw him evading the thug''s hits and landing several counterattacks with his thrown knives, but the thug showed no signs of slowing down. It was only a matter of time before the thug landed a hit, smashing his light frame into a wall. He rolled away from a follow-up hit and get up to his feet, but was still clearly dazed.


    Annabelle made another attempt at seizing control of the sorceress, hoping to use her to eliminate her minion. But then, she called off her minion of her own accord.


    "Silence, stand down!"


    Apparently, her minion was named Silence, because he stood down. Darius noticed this, and backed off as well.


    "Well, this is a bit awkward," she said. "I''ve accidently stumbled into a new ally."


    She descended to the ground, and introduced herself.


    "I''m Lorso Razo, and my friend calls himself Silence. And you, if my guess is correct, are a psion."

 1-7: Explanations

    Annabelle was still badly wounded, and was too busy analyzing the damage to her own body to respond.


    "Here, let me heal you," Lorso said.


    "Wait, what?" Darius said incredulously. "Mages aren''t healers!"


    "Normally, yes. I''m an exception." Lorso responded. She called up a small orb of fire, then threw it at Annabelle. It hit her before she could react, creating a small burst of warmth. Once she realized she was not, in fact, on fire, she sensed that she was recovering from her injuries. Her broken bones mended themselves in a matter of seconds, and soon she was back on her feet.


    "Why does your healing bolt look like a fireball?" Annabelle asked. "That''s almost certain to lead to a friendly fire incident."


    "My healing isn''t the conventional form used by the priests of Helios, but it works just the same."


    "But you shouldn''t be able to heal at all!" Darius exclaimed.


    "Wait, I''m confused. According to what I''ve read about magic, it''s capable of just about anything. Why would healing be off the table?" Sure, it might be complicated to regenerate the numerous complex components that made up a body, but apparently a random sorcerer had figured it out.


    "That''s the result of a divine conspiracy," Lorso claimed.


    "Divine conspiracy," Darius said, incredulous. "What, Helios doesn''t want mages-"


    "Yes, Helios wants his followers to be the only ones capable of helping people. Mages have the physical capability to perform healing magic, but any knowledge of how to do it has been suppressed."


    "I find that hard to believe," Darius replied. "Where''s the evidence?"


    "We can talk about that later." Annabelle interrupted. "I want to know how you know about ''psionics''." Her abilities had been called psionics by almost everyone on Earth, but no one called it that here for some reason.


    "Psionics are a term used for an unusual and incredibly rare ability that is similar to, yet distinct from, magic. Most people think psions are a myth, and until I encountered Silence, I did too."


    "I mean, I''m not even from this world," Annabelle said. "I''ve heard my abilities described as psionics at my home world before, but we might not even be talking about the same thing. How is his ability to have the strength of ten men related to my abilities?"


    "Your abilities both come from the same source, though their applications differ."


    The group heard shouting a distance away. Response teams were closing in on their position.


    "We would both like to join you," Lorso said. "For multiple reasons."


    "We''re with the Resistance," Darius said. "I''m not sure if you''re the type we''re looking for. Especially given your attack on our ally."


    "Attack on aneutral faction," Annabelle corrected. "Darius, the two of them are a very strong pyromancer and a powerful warrior. Having them on our side certainly wouldn''t hurt."


    "Unless they betrayed us," Darius muttered.


    "Even if you''re with the Resistance, you''re still in danger," Lorso added. "Especially after meeting me. You need me on your side."


    Annabelle opened a telepathic channel to Lorso. Not only would it be faster than talking, but it would be private.


    What danger?Annabelle sent to Lorso.


    The reason psions are a myth is because gods hunt them down,Lorso replied, without delay. If they decided to end you themselves, even your Sanctuary would barely slow them down.


    She almost scoffed at the idea, but then she remembered something.


    My commander, Raiks, has had a private discussion with a church leader about me. Could they be plotting my death?


    I would consider it likely. Although, the fact that they had such a discussion at all likely means that Helios considers you useful enough to not wipe out with a bolt of divine lightning.


    So, after she defeated Daraken, she might be the next target.You said that I would want you with me. Do you have any way to prevent divine wrath?


    No,Lorso admitted.But I''m your best bet at finding a way to avoid divine wrath. Silence is also a psion, and even though he''s been aiding me in raids on Helios'' temples, Helios hasn''t wiped him out. There has to be a reason.


    Annabelle thought on the situation for a few moments. "So, I can probably get you into the Resistance along with me, but you won''t like how I have to do it. And Darius, please just trust me. It''s going to work out."


    Darius opened his mouth to raise an objection, but nothing came out.


    **********


    Raiks and Julia turned the corner and came upon Annabelle, Darius, a sorceress (given by her unusual choice of apparrel and the fact that she was levitating above the ground), and what appeared to be a street thug trying to look respectable.


    "Okay, I want an explanation, and I want it NOW," Raiks said.


    "It''s not my fault, " Annabelle complained. "I was going to wait as ordered, but then this witch over here started creating explosions and all sorts of havoc, and I was forced to intervene. I subdued them using mind control, and now I believe they could be key assets of the Resistance."


    "These individuals are under the jurisdiction of the temple of Helios, " Julia said. "They must face punishment here."


    "Look, I don''t want them either," Raiks added. "I''m not sure how long your control would last."


    Raiks received a telepathic message from Annabelle.She''s willing to help us of her own accord, or at least help me, due to something involving research of psionics. I''m not even controlling her right now, it''s a bluff.She sent a few more details from her earlier conversation in an attempt to convince Raiks. Apparently this ''Lorso'' was a mage who knew how to perform healing magic, at range.


    Annabelle questioned Julia. "So, what exactly are you planning to do with her? And why is she more important to you than she is to our forces?"


    "We''ve had encounters with this sorceress before, " Julia responded after a bit of a delay. "Lorso Razo is a blasphemer who has defiled our temples and stolen our texts multiple times before, and every time she found a way to slip our pursuit. If she leaves with you, she will find a way to escape and come back to create more mischief."


    "If I control an individual for long enough, I can eventually destroy their original personality, leaving a subservient ally that doesn''t need any further control." Could she actually do that, or was she just maintaining the bluff?


    "Raiks, are you really dropping to this low?, " Julia said. "Perverting minds, letting individuals escape justice, just to win a war?"


    Raiks considered the situation, and unfortunately decided on the side of necessity. "You yourself said that Daraken is attempting to become a god. What if Lorso is key to stopping him?" Annabelle and Darius seemed slightly stunned at the revelation.


    "How could she be-" Julia tried to say.


    "She probably knows more about the gods than you do." Annabelle declared, suddenly inspired. "Or, at least, more than you or your god are willing to disclose."


    "Outrageous," Julia countered.


    At this point, Lorso spoke up. "Do you know how Daraken plans to ascend? Did your god deem even his closest mortal ally worthy of that information? I doubt it."


    "Alright, now shut up, " Annabelle said, pretending to be in control of her. "You see my point? It''s more important that we stop Daraken than that we put one sorceress in prison, and her knowledge will likely be important to that."This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Julia conceded, partially. "Fine. I''ll concede that some of her information could be useful. You have one night. Interrogate her, get as much information as you desire out of her. But you may not leave this city, and in the morning, I expect her return."


    Raiks accepted the deal. He wasn''t sure whether or not he would keep its terms.


    **********


    Julia cleared a large room for the group in the temple''s guest housing, just outside the boundaries of the temple itself. They held a meeting in one of the rooms, with Darius scouting out around the area in case Raiks decided they needed to make a quick getaway.


    "So, I''ve basically had to call on pretty much all of my favor with Sanctuary just to get us to here," Raiks said. "I''m willing to consider just bailing on her and retreating to Sanctuary. But, unless you can somehow convince me that Lorso is worth more than our current favor in Dustreach, that''s not going to happen." This was more trust than Annabelle really deserved here.


    "She''s not the only important person here," Annabelle said. "Her... associate, Silence is another anomaly. He has superhuman strength, speed, and durability."


    "So? Anyone can have superhuman strength, speed, and durability if given the right magical enhancements, or even just a lot of training. Also, given his lack of speech or weapons skill, he''s probably not that smart either. The Resistance already has several berserkers, and they can at least communicate with allies and use weapons."


    "He''s not stupid," Lorso said. "It''s just a... quirk that he has."


    "Really?"


    "He has natural telepathy," Annabelle said.


    "How did you-?" Lorso exclaimed.


    "I can sense the telepathic messages between the two of you," Annabelle said. "Also, I''ve apparently annoyed him and now he''s telling me to shut up."


    "And his lack of weapons training?"


    "He''s strong enough to kill with his bare hands," Lorso claimed. "He''d likely break any weapon he tried to use."


    "Okay, I stand corrected on the intelligence part," Raiks said. "But that still doesn''t make the two of you worth more than the aid of Helios."


    "Would they really cut off their aid, however?" Annabelle countered. "I believe the fear of Daraken rising to become a god would outweigh temporary outrage at losing the ability to deliver justice to two individuals."


    "That may or may not be true," Lorso admitted.


    "What crimes, exactly, are you wanted for?"


    "A lot of things. It''s a long story."


    "We have all night, " Raiks said. "And we are after information."


    Lorso took a long time to consider her story, before she finally began. "So, like most sorcerers, my abilities manifested at a young age, in the form of pyrokinetic abilities. My old family wanted nothing to do with someone with those powers, so they sent me off to the College to train and hone my abilities."


    Wait, the College still exists?Annabelle asked Raiks.


    Yes. He''s technically in charge, but it''s one of the few things he really doesn''t interfere with. We''ve recruited just as many of the graduates as he has.


    "The problem is, the College doesn''t exactly take kindly to sorcerers. In their eyes, while they had spent years of study to get their abilities, I had done nothing to deserve them. They begrudgingly allowed me to stay, but I still struggled to understand the theories."


    "At one point, I had a moment of inspiration. From what I had read on the topic, healing was impossible with the arcane arts. But yet, magic from the priests of Helios had most of the same fundamental properties as the magic practiced by the mages in the college. In an attempt to improve my reputation with the college, I left to try to see what I could research about the topic in Dustreach. Maybe, I might be able to let them replicate it."


    "When I got there, I realized that though their archives were supposed to be limited to members of their own clergy, their defenses weren''t capable of handling a mage breaking in. I managed to raid the temple''s archives, grabbed three books that looked relevant, and flew out before they could stop me. Then, once I was safely clear of pursuit, I opened the books."


    "I think one of the books was warded, and when I opened it, it released a blast of flame that burned most of the skin off of my hands. Oddly, my future attempts at healing the damage proved ineffective, so I ended up having to conceal the injuries with gloves. Later analysis determined the damage to be the result of some sort of divine curse, one that they couldn''t figure out how to lift."


    "But the books were unharmed by the burst of flame. I spent the next few days studying them, and discovered that healing effects could be created with any form of magical gift. In fact, the energy requirements for healing and for fire were close enough that with a bit of effort, I was seemingly able to replicate a healing burst, testing it on a small critter or two."


    "Eventually, I brought the stolen books to the College, along with a demonstration that healing was possible through arcane magic. Most of the mages were unable to replicate the feat, and some even questioned the source of my research, but one of the higher-ups in the College met with me. He said that he knew where the books had came from, and that he desired more information from Dustreach''s archives. With his support, I made multiple raids on the temple of Helios, until one raid went wrong. I was forced to fight my way out, and though I escaped, the archives were severely damaged in the fire."


    "That''s not that much to actually be wanted for," Annabelle said. "Just stealing books?"


    "Stealing information, accidental arson, and political hatred, " Lorso replied. "I suspect there''s at least some personal grudge at play here. They are, most likely, seeking my execution as soon as possible."


    "Execution? Seems a bit harsh," Annabelle said.


    "Well, they don''t exactly have a prison, at least not one capable of holding mages. So what do you think they would do to get rid of a sorcerer known for constantly outmaneuvering them?"


    "Right..."


    "So, if your last mission went wrong, why did you come back?"


    "Well, I found Silence, realized he was a psion, and wanted to seek some sort of information on his abilities. The College didn''t have much information on psionics, but the Temple of Helios did."


    "How did you first encounter him?" Annabelle asked.


    Lorso and Silence looked at each other for a few seconds. "Silence requests that I do not share that information, and I believe he has good reason to do so."


    Raiks considered the information that had been gathered. This duo were, in fact, lawbreakers, and Helios likely had good reason to arrest them (maybe not enough to execute, but they didn''t have a prison that could handle a rogue mage). Especially given that she had spied on Helios and delivered sacred information to someone who was most likely an associate of Daraken (if not Daraken himself). But on the other hand, she seemed perfectly willing to divulge that information to anyone.


    He started with a question that Julia had not been able to answer. "We are currently attempting to stop Daraken''s efforts to ascend. Do you have any clue how he would accomplish such an objective?"


    Lorso had to think about that. "Potentially. One thing I did discover is that a god''s power is heavily based on the amount of souls that reach the afterlife. Thus, he most likely needs a significant amount of souls to successfully ascend. But I found nothing about how he would actually acquire those souls, or how he would use them."


    "That''s more than Julia was willing to say, " Raiks said. "Though I''m not sure if that''s even something we can exploit."


    "What, exactly, is a soul?" Annabelle asked. "According to the science of my world, souls don''t exist. Are they incorrect, or do people from my world not have souls?"


    "It''s likely they lack the proper means to detect a soul, " Lorso said. "Unless specifically harnessed by an effect, a soul is intangible, doing almost nothing for its owner."


    Annabelle seemed to have a moment of inspiration. "Wait. The energy for my psychic abilities has to come from somewhere. Since studies into my ability weren''t able to figure out where the energy was coming from, could it be coming from my soul?"


    "That''s the most common theory, " Lorso said. "It is known that psions get their power from a non-divine power source, and according to the church''s literature, they are considered to be blasphemies due to using their own soul in an unknown manner."


    Blasphemies? Julia had stated that the risk with Annabelle was primarily due to her raw power and potential threat, but did she have a deeper motive?


    "And they really thought the power just came from our brains..." Annabelle muttered.


    "Thank you for the information, Lorso, " Raiks said. "Even though much of it may not be relevant to us. But, as much as Annabelle would wish your support, I unfortunately do not see much of a case for allowing you to join us."


    "You can just say I slipped loose, again. Now, if you''ll excuse me, I''m leaving." With a short incantation, she activated her flight spell, and was just about to leave when Darius walked in and interrupted.


    "That''s a bad idea. The building''s surrounded by guards. If you tried to leave in the middle of the night, they would shoot you down."


    "It''s better odds than trying to leave in the morning."


    "That depends on how they come to collect you, " Annabelle said. "I have a fairly good chance of being able to take control of their commanders to reverse their orders down the whole chain of command. Especially if Julia herself arrives."


    "What part ofshe is not joining usdid you not understand, Annabelle?" Raiks almost shouted. "Especiallyif it involves any form of mind control or other mental attack on the leader of our only major ally."


    Annabelle just stared back at him with an incredulous expression. Raiks realized that she didn''t have very much leverage over the psion if she decided to force the issue, and Annabelle knew it. But why was she so desperate to force the issue?


    "Think about it this way. Right now, we have a dozen healers and crusaders in our ranks, and the ability to recruit more. But if we let these two escape to join us, we''re giving up that aid. What makes these two worth more than the others?"


    Annabelle struggled to come up with an answer. "First off, the discovery of flight on my world revolutionized warfare. Being able to attack from above opens up a massive array of potential attack options, and negates many threats from the opponent."


    "Flight is an uncommmon power here," Raiks admitted. "It would pose an unconventional threat, yes. But without armor, she''ll be vulnerable to anyone armed with a bolter. Even with those, Daraken currently possesses both airborne forces of his own, and long-ranged weapons that could counter an airborne assault." Although, she might be able to pose a threat to an unprepared hostile force, and the risk of her presence in a battle could force Daraken to adapt his entire defensive scheme.


    "Secondly, she''s both a powerful pyromancer and an adept healer. That has to count for something, right?"


    "It''s a cool trick, but not that practical," Raiks countered. "Unless she could figure out how to do both at the same time, or heal any allies caught up in her fire attacks."


    "I might actually be able to do that, given time to research," Lorso claimed.


    Annabelle decided to contact Raiks through telepathy, and he hardened his mind in case she was about to try mind control.According to her, I''m in danger from potential divine intervention. She has a way to help with that problem.


    If a god was seriously interested in your death, you would be dead already,Raiks sent back.And given what I know from Julia, you''re not at risk of being smited from above.At least, not yet.


    I''m still not quite willing to take the risk. Thankfully, I believe that I can find a way to get her back to Sanctuary without losing the support of Helios.


    Fine. But if you ruin our alliance here...Raiks wasn''t sure what he would actually do to her, but the ambiguous threat seemed to be enough.


    The discussion seemed to be over, and they went to bed. At least, Raiks did. If Annabelle was right, Lorso and Silence would probably be in Sanctuary (or in a safe area where they could be extracted from) by morning.

 1-8: Assassin

    Annabelle realized her original plan had a lot of flaws. It seemed simple to use mind-control to confuse guards, but as she pondered it while trying to sleep, she realized that there were a number of things that could go wrong. A guard might resist her mind-control long enough to warn everyone. She could only control one guard at a time, and might face a situation where she would need to control multiple to successfully fool the others.


    She finally went to sleep, and hoped she would come up with a better plan in the morning. She knew she had enough tools to pull it off, she just needed planning time.


    **********


    Sometime in the middle of the night, she woke suddenly. Her defenses immediately went up, her mind geared for eliminating any potential threats. She wasn''t sure how she knew, but she knew something was wrong.


    The immediate point of interest was that the place was completely silent. Not just quiet, but literally silent. She couldn''t even hear her own breath or heartbeat, nor her own panicked whisper.


    The next thing she noticed was being stabbed in the chest by an invisible attacker.


    Her immediate response was a pulse of telekinetic energy, flinging her bedsheets into the air and sending whatever had attacked her into the ceiling. She felt the vibrations of something being slammed into the roof hard, but she couldn''t hear any sound.


    It made perfect sense. By combining an invisible assassin with a spell that dampened sound in the area around them, they could sneak into almost anywhere undetected, remain undetected even during a pitched battle against their target, and prevent their target from calling for help.


    She rolled off of the bed and staggered to her feet. She clutched at her wound, and felt blood oozing out of it. She could survive a wound like this by using telekinesis to keep her blood in her body (at least until she could get the wounds closed properly), but only if she could eliminate the assassin quickly to avoid having to split her attention.


    Annabelle next utilized an unusual technique she called Starsight. She expanded a field of telekinetic energy across the room. But instead of using that energy to manipulate matter, she sensed the distortions in it from contacting solid objects, identifying the location of solid matter nearby even when it was invisible or behind cover. Essentially, it was the sense of touch, expanded over everything her telekinesis could contact. It wasn''t perfect, but it was accurate enough to tell her the position of the assassin and let her dodge out of the way of an attack.


    She also sensed a blunt object nearby, pulled it to her hand with telekinesis, and then swung at the sassin. But the assassin rushed underneath her swing, and slashed her across the side of her abdomen. She backstepped, just in time to avoid getting her face cut open. Annabelle could sense that the assassin was using a single blade, either a long dagger or a short sword.


    Annabelle dodged out of the way of another strike, only to have the assassin outmaneuver her and deliver two quick stabs in the abdomen before pushing her away. In response, she released an uncontrolled psychic burst that seemed to stun the assassin. At this point, even if she won, she would probably desperately need healing.


    As the assassin was vulnerable, she readied a counterattack, winding up for a swing supercharged with telekinesis. She swung forward, throwing all of her energy into a swing that should have been enough to destroy his skull.


    But her improvised weapon shattered on impact, causing minimal damage. The assassin recovered, dashed in, and slashed open her throat. She rapidly began to lose blood, but still the assassin did not relent.


    She released another telekinetic blast, and managed to launch the assassin out of the window. Then, she fell to the ground, her body unable to support itself due to injuries. As the assassin climbed back into the room, she desperately fought the bleeding with telekinesis, but she knew it was a losing battle, even before the assassin got back into the room to finish the job.


    Is something wrong?It was a telepathic message, one that she did not initiate. That could only mean one person.


    I''m wounded, and there''s an assassin about to kill me,Annabelle told Silence. She then sent warning that the assassin was invisible, alongside a mental image of the assassin''s approximate position.


    Silence then proceeded to burst through a wall and slam into the assassin at a sprint, grabbing him by the neck a wall.


    He was followed by Lorso. She wouldn''t die, not today.


    **********


    Lorso was awakened by a message from Silence. She experienced a bit of confusion upon awaking, as she had apparently gone deaf.


    Engaging assassin. Annabelle wounded. Please respond.Silence repeated.


    Lorso realized that there was a hole in the wall between their room and Annabelle''s room. She also noticed that Silence had grabbed an invisible enemy and was now in the process of pummeling them to death. He had been stabbed multiple times, but shrugged off the hits and kept up the assault.


    She then noticed Annabelle lying on the ground, in a pool of blood. Heedless of the ongoing fight, she rushed to render aid. She attempted to launch a bolt of healing fire as she approached, but the spell fizzled.


    The assassin managed to slip out of Silence''s grasp with a short-range teleport, but doing so broke his invisibility. The now-revealed assassin leaped out of the window, and sound returned to the room with a start, just before Silence leaped out of the window in pursuit.


    Lorso breathed a sigh of relief. Though silencing effects did not render incantations impotent, it did make it significantly harder to pronounce them correctly. She began pumping healing magic into Annabelle, stabilizing her.


    "Annabelle, what did you-" Raiks said, as he walked in. Then, he realized what was going on. "Status report. Now."


    "An assassin went after Annabelle," Lorso said, in between whispered incantations. "Silence is pursuing the assassin, I''m making sure she lives."


    "Is that why she-"


    "Sent out an uncontrolled psychic burst?" Annabelle said. "Probably. I''d say I should have had more control over it, but it seems to have woken everyone up in time to save me.


    The assassin''s blade is poisoned,Silence told Lorso.Slow-acting mental shock poison. I can resist, but Annabelle is at risk.


    "Raiks, I think she''s been poisoned," Lorso said. "I''m not sure I''ll be able to deal with it, and it might kill her if we don''t get more skilled help."


    Raiks sighed. "You aren''t even that good at healing, are you?"


    "My healing expertise is limited to conventional physical injuries," Lorso admitted.


    "Can you at least figure out what sort of poison is being employed?" Raiks asked.


    "Slow-acting neurotoxin," Annabelle replied. "I know this because it''s attempting to destroy my mind at the moment. I can stall it, but I''m not sure for how long."


    "Why would Daraken employ a poison that kills slowly?" Darius said, sneaking into the room. "Instead of something lethal?"


    "I don''t think Daraken is responsible for this attack," Lorso replied. It was possible Daraken did this, but he wasn''t the only one with a motive here. The particulars of the poison used seemed to point to a more unusual method of disposal. "It might be Helios'' doing. We should bring her to Sanctuary."


    "I doubt that," Raiks countered. "And even if it is true, how would we get her to Sanctuary? Yes, we''ve kept the portal open, but this room is about as far away from the portal hub as you can get, and we''d be crossing about a kilometer of ground to get there, risking an attack anywhere along that route. We''d have more security staying in here and waiting for reinforcements."


    "I could fly out to the portal with her," Lorso offered. Maybe, she could exploit the unexpected situation to get to safety. Especially given the walking distraction that was Silence.


    Raiks considered that plan for a few seconds. "Unnecessary. I''ve already contacted the Resistance, reinforcements should be arriving."


    At the same time, Silence reported back to her.Assassin subdued. Surrounded by guards. Guards unfriendly.


    That might be due to the fact that you''ve slammed him through a roof,Lorso replied, sensing some of the situation around her ally through the telepathic link.Don''t fight them. Return to the inn.She remembered something at the last second.And bring the assassin too, so he can be interrogated.


    She relayed that information to the rest of the group.


    "The guards should back off once we explain ourselves," Raiks said. "And maybe pay for the destroyed buildings."This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Here''s the thing," Lorso said. "As far as I can tell, this is a plan by the church of Helios to eliminate Annabelle. They have her survive the initial attack, die from poison later on, and then claim that she was unwilling to return when they bring her up for resurrection."


    "You are paranoid and wrong, " Raiks replied. "Helios would never do something like that. Earlier today, Julia said that she was not a threat."


    Lorso thought otherwise.


    "But is this really the sort of attack that Daraken would sponsor?" Lorso countered. "Firstly, he would be unlikely to risk even indirect action in Dustreach, not when it threatens neutrality. Secondly, if he was attempting an attack, he would be aware of the fact that a slow-acting poison would be rendered impotent by the massive array of healers available in the temple of Helios, and he would have picked a different means of attack. Or, given the capacity for resurrection, not even bothered."


    "This could very easily be one of his side-plots," Raiks countered. "Something that can''t be traced back to him, that he doesn''t expect to succeed. Further, he''s been known to use devices that trap the souls of those that die, and could have given one to the assassin."


    "But then, why would his assassin deliver a slow-acting poison that might not kick in until after his defeat, by which point any such device would be discovered and destroyed?"


    The group heard footsteps, as guards marched up the stairs to their room. In the heat of the moment, Raiks made a snap decision. "You know what? I''m probably going to regret this, but you''re actually making a bit of sense. And, given your actions to save her life, I think you deserve to be a part of the Resistance. Get Annabelle to the portal. We''ll stall the guards."


    "What about Silence?" Lorso asked.


    "Have him create a diversion on the ground for us."


    With a quick incantation, Lorso''s activated her flight, and she began to hover above the floor.


    I don''t think you can carry me,Annabelle sent to her.Can you share that spell?


    Yes,Lorso responded.But you''d have to control it. Normally it isn''t that hard, but in your condition...


    I''m not out of this yet,Annabelle sent back. She climbed up to a standing position, an action that seemed to take quite a bit of effort from her.This poison''s trying to destroy my mind, but I''ve got enough willpower to resist it. And if I''m correct, flight only requires mental power to control.


    Wait, you can just resist a poison with mental fortitude?That''s not how poisons generally worked.


    Partially. My mind''s impossible to break, but the neurotoxin is also attacking my ability to control my body. I''m already having trouble controlling my limbs, and I''d like to get help before my lungs stop working.


    The footsteps were getting louder, as the guards marched up their floor. Lorso repeated her incantation and touched Annabelle to give her the power of flight as well.


    She paused for a second, seemingly to comprehend her new abilities. Then, she dove out the window and took flight.


    "Wait up!" Lorso cried, as she went out the window in turn to follow her. She didn''t trust her to get to the portal without passing out.


    "Hey! Back off!" She heard from in front and above her, as Annabelle appeared to have drawn the attention of a group of bolter-armed guards.


    The guards refused to back down, so Annabelle launched several orbs of purple energy at them. They exploded in bursts of force, knocking them down and scattering their formation.


    I''d recommend not killing these guys if we can help it,Annabelle communicated to her.This is a mess of a situation, and it''s going to be hard enough to deal with the fallout without us having killed Dustreach''s defenders.


    The two of them flew towards the city''s portal hub. They encountered no further resistance, until they released the portal room.


    There, they encountered an arrayed group of several dozen soldiers, lined up and barricading the entrance.


    "Lorso Razo, you are charged with the crimes of blasphemy, destruction of Church property, attempted murder, and resisting arrest. You are hereby sentenced to summary execution." The guards raised their weapons, poised to fire if she made any movement whatsoever. She contacted Silence, but he was too far out to help in time.


    "Under what court, assholes?" Annabelle countered, in a desperate bid to stall. "Those charges are entirely unjustified." Even though, they were mostly justified.


    "These charges are justified by the will and guidance of Helios. No trial is necessary, and no trial can be done."


    "You''ve been duped!" Annabelle exclaimed. "Daraken merely used us as a distraction to allow him to sneak his operatives straight in the temple."


    Inside the portal room, a team of Resistance soldiers rushed through the portal. Half of the guards turned their weapons to face them.


    "He''s trying to turn us against you," Annabelle continued. "Creating confusion, causing a diversion at a key moment."


    The guards seemed to waver.


    "It''s true!" One of them suddenly announced. "Helios has spoken to me! Daraken''s agents are ransacking the temple at this very moment!"


    That ploy from Annabelle should have failed. But in the heat of the moment, none of the guards questioned why Helios would speak to a random guard. Maybe they truly didn''t want this fight. The guards scattered, rushing back to the temple.


    With the guards diverted, the two of them were able to head through the portal to Sanctuary. As their flight was disrupted by the null-magic in the antechamber, Annabelle almost collapsed, barely pushing herself through the field, and then immediately switching back to flight as soon as she left it.


    She reached the Resistance''s healers. Though they were also priests of Helios, hopefully they wouldn''t be party to any plots against her.


    **********


    Raiks opened the door, just in time to prevent one of his new guests from kicking it down. These seemed to be the Crusaders of Helios, elite warriors gifted with divine blessings and strength. They were wearing heavy plate armor, and were wielding longswords and holy symbols. In any other situation, they would be allies, but today they were on opposing sides.


    He wasn''t actually sure whether the assassin was Daraken''s or not. He was still fairly certain that Julia would refuse to take part in a scheme to kill someone when the prophecy stated that it would result in disaster. It was, admittedly, more likely that Daraken was thinking a whole level above all of them, setting a false flag operation designed specifically to spark a war.


    However, by having Lorso join the Resistance, it not only gave them additional assets, but also ensured that Lorso did not remain on the field as a rogue asset. Yes, the Temple of Helios planned to execute her in the morning, but she had the power of flight and would have a good chance of escaping and continuing to pose a threat to them. And, she could potentially feed more information to Daraken in such a scenario.


    "Where is she?" the lead crusader demanded.


    "We came under attack," Raiks responded. "One of Daraken''s assassins. My best operative was mortally wounded, and Lorso volunteered to escort her back to sanctuary."


    The crusader was angered by this, shoving Raiks backwards and forcing himself into the room. Darius remained concealed in a corner, even as a glowing holy symbol held by one of the trailing Crusaders lit the room up as bright as daylight.


    "You were not to allow her to leave under ANY circumstances. This is trickery!"


    "There were extenuating circumstances. Due to the direct attack against one of my assets, I was forced to change plans." Then, as he pointed out, "This may not be Daraken''s only attack. Your priority should be protecting the High Temple."


    "You speak lies!" the lead crusader said. "Daraken wouldn''t dare."


    "Daraken achieves his victories by doing things that no one expects him to. He would very much dare, especially if he expects this sort of reaction."


    "We are not the only defenders of the Temple," the lead crusader replied, with a foolish confidence. "Now, as your Resistance has stolen one of our prisoners from us, you will be taken prisoner in turn."


    "That would be a declaration of war," Raiks threatened.


    "You started the war when you sided with the blasphemer."


    Raiks sighed. It seems as if a fight was his only option. He was lucky he had smuggled his signature weapon in with a bag of holding, just in case an unusual situation happened. And as a test for Dustreach''s security measures, which had just been proven to be entirely ineffective.


    Raiks'' signature weapon was a customized Arcane Bolter, with little resemblance to the normal bolter design. Rather than having an ammo clip and using elastic tension to launch bolts, an Arcane Bolter loaded bolts from a built-in extradimensional storage space (or, if no bolts were available, was also capable of conjuring them), and fired the bolts with bursts of magical energy. His version was a battleaxe, with the weapon handle serving as the Arcane Bolter''s barrel. It could be used as a hybrid weapon, effective both in melee and at range.


    He drew his axe from his belt and swung it into the lead crusader''s head. The crusader''s helmet kept his head from being split open by the axe blade, but Raiks still hit him hard enough to stun him. Raiks took a quick step back, levelled the arcane bolter, and fired a shot point-blank into the crusader''s chestplate. The crusader staggered backwards from the force of the hit, and seemed to be wounded as well.


    Darius attacked the second crusader, boosting himself off of the wall to give himself enough momentum to drive his blades through the armor. It was enough to wound, but not to kill, and the crusader threw Darius off of him and delivered a sweeping strike with the longsword that Darius barely managed to block.


    Raiks changed the ammo type of his arcane bolter, and fired a scatter blast (more of a shotgun blast of pellets than an actual bolt) into the first crusader''s head. Even though his visored helmet took most of the hits, the blunt force of the entire blast, combined with a few pellets going through the eye slits, were enough to knock him down and incapacitate him.


    As Raiks loaded a third shot, Darius threw a knife into the knee joint of his opponent, disrupting his advance, and then lunged. Unfortunately, his stab glanced off armor, and the crusader shoved him back and slashed him in the chest. He recoiled backwards, found himself against another wall, and rolled to the side to dodge a swing. The second crusader was too focused on him to notice Raiks, and Raiks took advantage of that to fire a bolt straight into the side of his head, dropping him.


    Two more crusaders entered the room. The third was in the middle of an incantation, and Raiks closed his eyes just in time to shield them from the bright flash that was emitted. He was only slightly dazzled by that burst, but Darius was blinded by it, rendering him temporarily unable to fight.


    The fourth crusader dropped down to attend to the second crusader, as Raiks engaged the third in close combat. The main advantage that his weapon had in melee was that it could score a hit any time its handle was lined up with his opponent, but the crusader managed to lock blades with him and prevent him from doing that for several tense seconds. The stalemate was only broken when Darius recovered and leaped into and off of the crusader feet-first, slamming him backwards and allowing Raiks to get a clear shot. He sent a bolt straight through the crusader''s knee, crippling him. But at the same time, the second crusader was already getting back up, and he joined the fourth crusader to engage him.


    They couldn''t win this fight, not against infantry who could cross-heal each other in the midst of the fight. But they could disengage. Raiks switched ammo to fire an electric field bolt, designed to release an unpredictable burst of electricity that was especially effective against metal armor. As soon as he shot the bolt into the floor, he rolled backwards out the window. He landed hard on the ground two stories below, but recovered quickly. Darius followed him. One of the crusaders managed to reach the window and grab his cloak, but he was then forced to let go when electricity coursed through the room. They would be disabled for a bit, but they would live.


    On the ground, Raiks saw more guards, part of the encirclement of the building. It was quite unusual that Julia would go to this much effort to prevent a known ally from leaving.


    But even as they prepared to fight their way through the guards, Silence returned, still carrying the assassin''s body over one shoulder.


    As a guard spotted him and called out his position, Silence slammed into him with incredible speed, knocking him down with an elbow strike while moving forwards to take down more. In just a few seconds, the guards were more concerned with his assault than they were with keeping track of Raiks and Darius. The two of them took the opportunity to run.


    He got a message from Sanctuary. Resistance forces had taken control of the immediate area around the portal, and were moving to meet up with him.


    They would get out of this mess, at least. But at what cost?

 1-9: Recovery

    Darius went into the portal room. After he scanned it for potential threats, he beckoned Raiks to follow, before passing through the portal.


    But when Raiks got to the portal room, Julia suddenly appeared in front of him.


    "This is a disaster," Raiks admitted.


    "Is that so?" Julia replied.


    "I was forced to enlist the aid of heretics to evacuate a key asset."


    "Helios has changed his mind. Daraken is the bigger threat, and Lorso will be allowed to live as long as she helps defeat him."


    So apparently, they had somehow managed to get a god to change their mind on a key issue, rather than being punished for defying them. Annabelle and Lorso had played a dangerous game, and somehow forced a god''s hand.


    "Public opinion will still shift against us," Raiks said. "We still engaged this city''s defenders in open combat."


    "And Daraken is to blame," Julia said, planning a cover story. "He manipulated Lorso into aiding him and raiding our temple, and nearly sparked a war between us and the Resistance that opposes him. Tonight, she confessed and promised to work to end the threat."


    Wait, did she know that Lorso was aiding Daraken, or was she just making something up that happened to be true?


    "Good idea," Raiks said. "Make him answer for scheming around your cities."


    Raiks pulled out a spare communicator from his belt. These simple devices were primarily utilized to allows Raiks to communicate with his allies in the field, but their access to the Resistance''s communication network could easily be modified.


    "Take this, in case we need to communicate further. If Daraken launches an attack against you, or you find out more about his schemes, I want you to be able to warn us."


    "I''m not here to accept it," Julia said. Her body became transparent, revealing itself to be a simple projection. "And I already have ways to contact you, if necessary." Julia then reconsidered. "Although, there is no harm in an alternate communications channel."


    Raiks planted his communicator in a nearby bush, hiding it so that Julia or one of her associates could pick it up later.


    Then, he went through the portal to return to Sanctuary, and met Annabelle and Lunima in the Resistance''s infirmary. Lorso was standing at the far end of the room.


    "Yes, Raiks, she''ll live," Lunima said as soon as he walked in. "Though it will take a few days to clear the poison from her system, and ensure there''s no permanent damage."


    "There won''t be any permanent damage," Annabelle claimed.


    "As long as you stick with treatment, that will be correct," Lunima said. "I''m not sure how, but your mind seems to have resisted any mental trauma from the poison. But even if your mind wasn''t impacted, there''s still serious nervous system damage that needs to be fixed, and it''s going to take time to fix it."


    Annabelle sighed.


    "Alright, but can I at least interrogate the asshole who did this? I know Silence took him alive."


    "Why would you-"


    I can get information out of someone without them even knowing,Annabelle told Raiks.Only surface thoughts, normally. But if I''m willing to get aggressive, I can break into their memories and extract anything useful.


    "Alright, I stand corrected," Raiks said. "As soon as Silence comes back with the assassin, you can interrogate them."


    Just after he said that, Silence rushed into the infirmary and threw the assassin''s body into a bed.


    "Alright, now we can-" Annabelle said, before realizing something. "There''s no mind in his body. It''s brain-dead."


    "When I said bring him in alive," Raiks told Silence, "I did not give you permission to hit him in the head so many times that his mind stopped existing."


    I know how to be nonlethal. I did not kill him. Silence claimed, startling Raiks. He still wasn''t used to having messages beamed straight into his mind.


    So, maybe it was a kill-switch on the assassin, designed to keep him from being interrogated if he failed and was captured. Or maybe Silence was lying.


    "Would your resurrection, or something similar, be able to restore his mind?" Annabelle asked Lunima.


    "If the soul was willing, we could restore it. But I doubt this assassin will be willing to return only to be interrogated and held prisoner."


    "Even though he''d likely just get converted into our assassin," Annabelle said.


    "Alright, no permanent mind-control," Raiks ordered. "I know we could use extra assets, but it''s just wrong."


    "Worse than killing them outright?" Annabelle countered.


    Raiks didn''t have an answer, and made a compromise. "If you get in a situation where permanent mind control might give us a major advantage, clear it with me first. Do not do it without my approval."


    "Since his body is still fully functional, I could currently take control of it. But without his memories or knowledge, it wouldn''t be very useful. If there''s no way to bring back his mind, his body should be destroyed."


    Raiks called for two others healers, and ordered them to take the body away, strip-search the assassin, and then have him incinerated. He didn''t expect the search to find anything, but it was worth it to check.


    "Now that that''s out of the way, I would like to talk to Annabelle and Lorso in private." Lunima complied, and left the room, while Lorso stepped up.


    "What? Are you going to send me back?" Lorso asked, with a bit of sarcasm.


    "No, though you are lucky that is not the case. Helios himself has forgiven you, and I believe it is only because he considers Daraken the bigger threat."


    "I''m glad he''s figured out his priorities," Annabelle snarked.


    "You aren''t taking this seriously," Raiks said. "Even if he has forgiven you, we''re still going to take a massive public relations hit for this. I had been willing to allow you to extract Lorso in private, without a scene, but we''ve engaged Dustreach''s guards in open combat."Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    "Unless you blame it on Daraken''s interference," Annabelle replied.


    "Even then. For most of the populace, he''s considered a benevolent ruler, and we''re considered a rogue group of outsiders." Although if Julia was going to corroborate, it might be a bit more convincing, at least for those that supported Helios.


    "Wait," Annabelle realized. "If Helios has only forgiven us due to the threat Daraken poses, there''s a decent chance that as soon as Daraken is stopped, we''ll be next in his crosshairs."


    "That is a possibility, yes," Raiks admitted.


    Helios had stated that Annabelle and Daraken had to die on the same day, or else disaster would occur.


    "Now, I''d like to know what an angry god can do. Clearly, they can''t just kill people with bolts of divine lightning, or Daraken wouldn''t have gotten anywhere near ascension."


    "That''s a big unknown," Lorso said. "I don''t know for sure, but I have a theory."


    "Well, explain the theory, then."


    "There are more gods than just Helios," Lorso explained. "Most other gods have a lesser presence, at least in the mainland of Garnoth but they still have a presence. Maybe, the gods have created an agreement limiting each other''s involvement, to avoid a destructive cascade."


    "Mutually assured destrution?" Annabelle asked.


    "Yes. If Helios did something like obliterating a mortal he disagreed with, other gods might see that as leverage to kill people they dislike, such as supporters of Helios. That could easily escalate into a divine war that would leave the world uninhabitable, a result mutually detrimental to the gods. So, it''s better for them to agree to limit their interference to communicating with and empowering their followers, as long as it means no escalating conflict."


    Annabelle paused for a few seconds, likely to take in the information. Annabelle and Lorso glanced at each other for a bit.


    "So, any threat to me would come from Helios'' mortal allies," Annabelle said. "Which might make a play against the Resistance to get to me. Raiks, what would you do in such a situation?"


    Raiks had composed a plan for a hypothetical war with Dustreach and the High Temple of Helios two years ago, but it was significantly outdated. And, the war would end poorly for Helios. Dustreach wouldn''t be able to reach Sanctuary (except possibly with a massive amount of divine guidance), and if they launched an offensive war against Resistance territories in Garnoth, they would lose popular support.


    But would he support Annabelle in such a war?


    "I hope it does not come to that," Raiks said. "But if it did, I would protect you the same way I would protect any other member of the Resistance facing an external threat." He wasn''t sure if he was telling the truth or not.


    **********


    "So, you''re looking to join the Resistance?"


    Darius was in Arexia, the largest city on the Needle, and the city that currently supported the Black Legion''s military outpost. He was here to meet Xerxes, a potential future resistance operative in the city. It took most of the day to track him down, but he eventually managed to meet with him and guide him to a resistance safehouse in the city for a private meeting.


    "Yes."


    "And what skills do you bring to the Resistance?"


    "I''m a master illusionist," Xerxes said, as he demonstrated his abilities by changing appearance, changing from human to elf. "I can change my appearance at a whim, outsmarting enemies with ease."


    "That would be potent," Darius said. "But it also makes it difficult for us to trust you, for obvious reasons."


    "So, I assume you''re going to want me to prove my loyalty?"


    "Yes. We know that Daraken has a large complement of apprentices, and we need to be sure you are not one of them."


    Proving loyalty was normally a simple process: take the new arrival through Sanctuary''s null-magic field to clear out any illusions and potential mind-control, then interrogate them with a truth-detection spell. But he wasn''t going to elaborate on those measures just yet. And though Xerxes'' true form would be revealed by the null-magic field, his magic might be able to fool truth-detection magic.


    "I''m not with Daraken, I can assure you," Xerxes said.


    "If only such a statement was all we needed." Darius started with a simple question, one that would weed out anyone with a bad cover story. "Who are you, and why do you wish to fight Daraken?"


    Xerxes jumped straight into an answer. "I come from a land in the Outer Regions that is soon to be threatened by Daraken''s advance."


    "Which kingdom?" He had a quick answer, but it was a vague answer.


    "I do not wish to disclose that."


    "Are you an agent of a foreign government?" Granted, it wouldn''t be a deal-breaker to get an agent from another power joining their forces, but it could result in a conflict of interests if that power turned hostile.


    "Yes. At least formerly. I''ve been given authority to act as a free agent to disrupt Daraken any way I can, and I believe joining the local Resistance will be the best way to accomplish this."


    "That could result in a political entanglement," Darius said. "What if your government asks you to betray us?"


    "They would not do so," Xerxes claimed. "And if they did, I can and will ignore them."


    "What about after Daraken''s defeat?" Darius asked. "Would you use your position in the Resistance to try to get favor in the future government of Garnoth?"


    "No," Xerxes said, after a bit of hesitation. "Although, after my mission is accomplished, I may return to my home."


    "I still don''t trust your loyalties," Darius said. Even though he couldn''t pick up any obvious signs of lying, it was quite possible for an illusionist to conceal their tells.


    "I believe I can prove my loyalty by aiding one of your operations," Xerxes claimed. "You have plans to assault the Black Legion base outside this city, correct?"


    "I cannot confirm or deny that." The answer was yes, but he needed to be careful with what he disclosed.


    "I''m pretty sure you do," Xerxes continued, "even if they''re plans you don''t expect to be able to utilize. Imagine how much more effective those plans would be when you have illusions on your side."


    "What can you do?" Darius asked.


    "I''m glad you asked," Xerxes said, as he disappeared. Darius, suddenly wary, drew one of his daggers, and his dispelling wand.


    A dozen Resistance members (or at least good fascimilies of Resistance members) appeared around him.


    "I can create a small army of illusions," Xerxes boasted, his voice seeming to emanate from every one of his images. "I can create entire attacks where none exist."


    "Attacks with no physical substance," Darius countered. "There''s only so far that you can go with images before the enemy realizes that they''re not a threat."


    "I know my limitations, and I know how to work around them," Xerxes replied. He felt something touching him from behind, turned to see a person attacking him, and tried to strike back, only for his attack to pass through the image.


    Suddenly, Darius felt a surge of fear, as several images jumped forwards. Even though they shouldn''t be real, he still panicked, leaping to the side. The images passed through each other, reoriented, and were about to charge again when Darius fired a dispelling burst from his wand, breaking most of the images, but Xerxes himself remained invisible.


    "I can also manipulate minds, inducing fear, spreading terror. If I was working for Daraken, I would have captured you by now."


    Darius considered that a fairly impressive display, and he admitted that he probably would have lost had Xerxes been one of Daraken''s apprentices, due to having let his guard down. But though the "If I was working for Daraken, I would have already brought you down" argument was convincing, it assumed Daraken wasn''t willing to plant a long-term agent in the Resistance''s ranks.


    "Alright, you''ve proven to be useful. Soon, you will be able to prove your loyalty."


    Xerxes cancelled his invisibility, and re-appeared in a human body, albeit a different form from the one he had first used. Darius was fairly certain none of the faces he had seen were Xerxes'' true face.


    "When I contact you next, I will have an operation planned, and I will expect you to use your abilities as directed to ensure the success of that operation. Succeed, and you will join us in the Resistance."


    "I will not disappoint you."


    **********


    Annabelle knew she was in grave danger.


    Lorso had stated that gods would normally be unwilling to interfere in mortal affairs, but she had also told Annabelle privately that gods, plural, hunted down psions due to seemingly posing a threat.


    If the gods are agreeing to hunt down psions like me due to posing a threat, wouldn''t they make an exception in their agreement for me and any other psions?


    Yes,Lorso had responded.So, in your case, the normal limitations against divine intervention might not apply.


    Based on that, the only reason she wasn''t dead was because the major god found her useful, and the other gods didn''t know about her. As soon as her usefulness was at an end (or potentially sooner if another god took a close look), she would likely be wiped off the planet.


    Her best bet at survival would be to find a way to get off this planet after Daraken died. Or maybe even before, given that she''d likely burn most of her energy in a final battle against him and might not recover fast enough to escape before divine intervention struck. She had arrived here with a wormhole. If she could figure out how to replicate it, she just might be able to escape in time. But even if she managed to create a controlled wormhole, how would she navigate back to Earth? The stars in the sky were completely different on this world, and even if she had an astronomy degree, she probably couldn''t figure out which one of them was Earth''s sun, even if they happened to still be in the same galaxy.


    At least she had plenty of time to figure this out while she was stuck on bed rest. But it seemed hopeless.

 1-10: Defense

    Two days after the incident in Dustreach, Daraken decided to take advantage of the situation to attack Furion. Or he would, in an hour. Turb was unfortunately not able to determine the composition of the attacking force, or their threat level.


    Raiks knew that any attack would be taken out of the Black Legion''s main camp in the Needle. Even though they were on the other end of the continent, portals would completely nullify the distance factor. The only reason they weren''t using them to raid the Outer Regions was a lack of terrain knowledge, and maybe a desire for contiguous territory.


    But taking forces out of their base left it more vulnerable to a counterattack. Darius and a few others were in the process of organizing a raid on the Black Legion''s headquarters with the aid of a new contact in Arexia, and the perfect time to attack would be when a sizable chunk of their assets were deployed into a field operation.


    Raiks had decided to build the defense force in Furion around ranged combat. The backup plan was to retreat, and it would be far easier to retreat from a ranged firing position than to retreat from the midst of a melee brawl. The core of his formation would be a dozen bolter-wielders and four archers, capable of raining a barrage of arrows down on any attacking force. Each of the archers were given several explosive arrows, to use against concentrated enemy formations, as well as some other trick arrows.


    They would be supported in this by two field healers, and by Bouldos, a dwarven mage specializing in earthbending and stonecraft. Over the past few days, he had undertaken a project to replace Furion''s wooden palisades with durable stone walls, and was currently almost complete. Even if the walls were not enough, he would have other means to slow down the attacking force.


    Lorso and Silence were the most recent addition. Raiks still had his doubts as to whether the duo could be trusted, but they filled in some gaps in his current forces. Lorso could bombard enemies from the air and take advantage of an unprepared attack team, or provide additional medical aid to injured teammates. Silence, as a brawler, didn''t fit well with the ranged strategy, but he was tough enough to stall enemies if they did get in melee range, and fast enough to get out of trouble on his own if he was about to be overwhelmed.


    Unfortunately, Annabelle wasn''t ready to return to the field yet. She claimed she was fine, but Lunima said otherwise, and Raiks trusted the healer''s knowledge more than a soldier''s eagerness.


    He activated the command table, giving him an overhead view of the city and the area around it, and waited.


    **********


    A portal appeared, two kilometers distant from the city due to interference. The portal was massive, and the reason for that size quickly became apparent when the beast stepped through it. A Blade Wyvern was leading the attack.


    The Blade Wyvern was a brutal land predator, a distant relative of the dragon that had vicious impaling tentacles instead of wings. It looked like a giant red-scaled monitor lizard with two tentacles jutting out in between each of its limbs. It had a tongue that could reach out and grab its prey, and its tentacles were sharp enough to rip through armor and slice men clean in half. They were somewhat intelligent, and incredibly difficult to domesticate and train; according to intel, this was one of three tamed Blade Wyverns that the Black Legion had obtained from a city in the Otherlands, through either trade or conquest.


    Platforms were mounted on top of the wyvern, carrying about a dozen men. It was also carrying an unusual arcane focus on its back, a glass sphere hovering above a pedestal, operated by one of Daraken''s apprentices. Further, it was supported by a throng of undead skeletons, marching in front of the beast, armed with various melee weapons.


    Raiks ordered his forces to organize on the side of the city that the attack was coming from. At the same time, he gave the go-ahead to Darius to begin his operation. As the results of that operation were irrelevant to the battle at hand, he did not monitor Darius'' force further.


    The monster advanced at a speed far slower than what it was capable of, being forced to match speeds with its far slower skeletal guards. At about half a kilometer from the walls, the Blade Wyvern stopped entirely. The enemy apprentice channeled energy into the arcane focus, and it began to glow with a yellow light.


    It''s a siege weapon,Raiks realized, even before the focus discharged a bolt of energy towards Furion''s new walls. A burst of yellow light emanated from the impact point. It seemed to have no effect at first, but then the wall crumbled and collapsed. Thankfully, none of his soldiers were dumb enough to stay on that wall, and they dashed off of the collapsing section to escape harm. Bouldos attempted to repair the damaged wall section, but the stone collapsed again each time he moved it back into place. Bouldos claimed that whatever had been done had rendered the stone unuseable.


    It fired another blast into the walls, blowing another hole. Then, the skeletons charged forth. It was a simple strategy: destroy the walls to leave the Resistance vulnerable to melee, then send troops that were resistant to projectile weapons. If it succeeded, Daraken would avoid having to commit a giant monster, and could avoid causing collateral damage.


    "Lorso, see if you can take that siege weapon out from the air. Everyone else, get off the walls and prepare for close combat." He couldn''t risk anyone being caught in a collapsing wall segment, and he didn''t want to know what the weapon''s effects would be on a human target.


    Lorso launched herself high into the air, and threw a fireball towards the Blade Wyvern. The fireball detonated against a magical barrier, having no effect on the Blade Wyvern or its riders.


    The wyvern''s siege weapon attempted to fire on Lorso, but missed the small airborne target by a wide margin. The mage operating the weapon left his position, and engaged Lorso himself. A bolt of black lightning arced from his hands, and shot across several hundred meters of intervening distance to impact Lorso.


    She was briefly stunned, and knocked into a freefall which she quickly turned into a controlled dive. She briefly engulfed herself in flame (or, more accurately, a self-healing burst that looked like flame). The mage fired off another lightning bolt, but Lorso blocked it with a jet of flame, before retaliating with another fireball that was blocked by the magical barrier around the Blade Wyvern.


    As the skeletons moved into range, Raiks advised his soldiers to aim for fully-charged shots to the head, the only part of the skeleton that could reliably be hit by an arrow or bolt at range. A few of the skeletons were brought down by ranged fire, but they were still mostly unaffected by the barrage, and closed in on the two gaps in the wall.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Luckily, Raiks had more than just archers and crossbowmen.


    On the left flank, Silence stepped forward to engage the skeletons. Skeletons, despite being resistant to piercing or cutting, were quite vulnerable to blunt force, a fact that Silence took full advantage of to dismantle the skeletons that approached the chokepoint. He was hit several times by their weapons, but pushed through the injuries, seemingly unconcerned.


    On the right, Bouldos collapsed a section of the wall onto the breach, crushing half a dozen skeletons that pushed through and isolating several more on the other side. While the skeletons in the back climbed over the new rubble, the isolated ones in the front were overwhelmed by focused fire, and barely even got to melee range before they were brought down. Once the skeletons managed to climb over the wall, Bouldos then launched the rubble backwards, destroying even more of the skeletons, and buying enough time for Silence to rush over to that flank to finish off the survivors.


    After the skeletons were defeated, the Blade Wyvern advanced, but this time at speed. Despite its relatively short legs, it was able to rush forwards at an incredible speed, and with enough momentum that it could most likely shatter whatever section of the wall it hit.


    Silence, in response to this, picked up a large chunk of rubble and chucked it at the Blade Wyvern. The anti-projectile shield around the Blade Wyvern flared up to block the hit, but the impact force still hit the beast, staggering it and slowing its charge.


    "Silence could use a few more rocks," Lorso said. Raiks relayed the order to Bouldos.


    Bouldos used his abilities to create several more large rocks for Silence, and he picked up the largest one. He seemed to struggle just to pick it up at first, but then, as the Blade Wyvern recovered and resumed its charge, he found his strength and threw the boulder into the shield. The wyvern saw the attack coming and braced, and again the force of the boulder was deflected off of the shield.


    "I''m going to need to synchronize attacks, " Lorso said, likely more for the benefit of Raiks than for actually communicating the plan with Silence. She levitated up from behind one of the walls, and began charging a powerful attack.


    "She''s vulnerable, " Raiks commented. "Bouldos, see if you can give her some armor, without causing her to drop out of the sky."


    Bouldos prepared to throw a stone shield up in front of Lorso, as soon as the enemy mage attacked. But even though the mage could have taken a clear shot at Lorso, he instead retreated behind the arcane focus, and began channeling energy into it for another blast.


    Silence hefted a third rock, then hurled it at devastating speeds. The rock seemed to be moving as fast as a bolt from a bolter, as Silence pushed himself to his limits.


    At the instant that the rock impacted the shield, two things happened. Lorso released her charged attack, in the form of a beam of concentrated fire aimed at the Blade Wyvern''s arcane focus. But, the mage operating the arcane focus fired the weapon, straight at Silence. The shield was shattered by the rock''s impact, allowing Lorso''s beam to score a direct hit that melted the weapon and its operator, and caused the Wyvern''s other riders to bail out. But the damage was already done.


    Silence began to struggle to stay upright, and it seemed that his willpower was the only thing keeping him up.


    "He was hit by a matter-disruption weapon," Lorso said, relaying information from Silence. "If anyone else was hit they would be goo right now. He can survive it until it wears off, but another hit will be lethal."


    The Blade Wyvern, now wounded and bereft of a gunner, charged forward in a rage, heedless to the safety of its former passengers. It was heading straight towards Silence, and it would be nearly impossible to deter. Silence staggered backwards, but Raiks could tell he likely wouldn''t be able to make it to safety in time.


    "Slow it down, any way you can!" Raiks ordered.


    Lorso called up a wall of fire, but the wyvern charged straight through it, taking minimal if any damage in the process. It wasn''t a true dragon, but its scales could still shrug off heat.


    Next, Bouldos slammed his staff into the ground, causing spikes to blast up underneath the wyvern. It was impaled in multiple points, and slowed briefly before it broke through the spikes and continued forward.


    The team''s archers opened fire, launching two volleys of explosive arrows at the wyvern''s head. The wyvern''s momentum caused it to barrel through, but it was briefly dazed, giving Bouldos the opportunity to turn the sand underneath it into quicksand to trap it.


    With the beast immobilized, Raiks ordered the remainder of his team to move forward and focus on its leg joints. Though dragonscales were incredibly resistant to damage, there were gaps in the scale coverage around the joints, enough to allow several shots to penetrate and stick in. Lorso, who had briefly disengaged to check on Silence, returned to the air, and began charging up a second fireblast against the Wyvern.


    The wyvern, enraged by its injuries, let out a massive roar that managed to cause Lorso to lose her spell. Then, it began to drag itself free from the quicksand. The archers each fired shock arrows, delivering electrical currents that disrupted the Blade Wyvern''s movement, but that only delayed its escape.


    Thankfully, they had slowed it down enough for Silence to get to safety. Lorso disengaged from the fight to heal him.


    "Fall back!" Raiks ordered. "Fight it in the city, it''s too large for the streets!" Also, they would be closer to falling back through the portal, if they proved unable to defeat the beast. Though by fighting it in the city, they would cause collateral damage...


    Collateral damage which would be on Daraken''s head. At least, if their propaganda campaign went well. Daraken had already been publicly shamed for sending an assassin into Dustreach, so this would put further pressure on him and garner more support for the Resistance.


    The Blade Wyvern managed to lurch forwards and fire out its tongue, grabbing a soldier with the tip. The soldier was pulled back towards the Blade Wyvern, and then it rapidly impaled the man multiple times, tearing him apart. The wyvern swallowed the remains, before shaking itself the rest of the way free from the mud trap. It rushed forward towards the stone walls, and pushed in through one of the breaches, collapsing the wall around it as it pushed through.


    As the resistance forces fell back, one archer decided to stay behind and attempt a daring maneuver against the Blade Wyvern, despite the objection of Raiks. He scaled up a section of wall that was still standing, and waited for the Blade Wyvern to approach him. When the Blade Wyvern closed in and reared up in an attempt to grab him with its tongue, he jumped down, and fired an arrow straight through the wyvern''s eye. By combining the power of his fully drawn bow with the downward force added from the drop, his arrow was able to penetrate the wyvern''s protective inner eyelid. After taking the shot, he landed with a roll to the side.


    The wyvern acted like it was only mildly inconvenienced by the loss of an eye (which, to some extent, it was, given the regenerative abilities of dragons). However, the arrow then disintegrated into ash. The bleeder arrow was a surprisingly effective arrow, disintegrating shortly after impact to remove the blockage the arrow created on the victim''s blood flow. But though the spray of blood was impressive, it wasn''t a killing blow like the archer thought.


    The wyvern stabbed the archer through the back with a tentacle, almost killing him. But Lorso hit him with a bolt of healing flame, stabilizing and letting him escape. The Blade Wyvern shot out its tongue, and Lorso lit it on fire, causing the Wyvern to recoil.


    Raiks realized that there was another threat on the field. Behind the Blade Wyvern, back at the breached wall, a group of Black Legion soldiers were climbing into the city. He had thought they had been eliminated after their mount was destroyed, but they had chosen to dismount and continue on foot. If they didn''t take down the Blade Wyvern fast, they would be facing two threats at once.


    Despite the numerous injuries the Blade Wyvern had sustained, it was still fighting, and it had a squad of Black Legion soldiers rushing in to support it. They could likely still win, but they would take significant casualties in the process. He was considering delivering the order to retreat, but decided that the casualties would be worth it if they could hold the fight here.


    Then, the second phase of Daraken''s attack began.

 1-11: Covert Operations

    Annabelle was startled by a sudden explosion inside Sanctuary. Either this was some failed wizard''s experiment, or this was the third time her headquarters was under attack.


    Unfortunately for whoever was launching this attack, she was at full strength. She was still being held in the infirmary for observation, but she knew it was an utter waste of time. She just didn''t feel like it would be worth it to force her way into an irrelevant battle.


    But even though she had willingly stayed off the field, she wasn''t going to just sit there when an enemy was directly threatening their base of operations.


    She practically leaped out of her bed, and rushed out the door wearing nothing but a nightgown. The infirmary''s staff were surprised by this and shouted at her to stop, but they did not pursue. Good for them.


    As she rushed towards the combat, she heard several more explosions. Or more precisely, gunshots.


    She arrived to find a single intruder, lightly armored and carrying a pistol, along with a small sword in his off-hand. He had dispatched two opponents who had attempted to engage him, and took down a third right in front of her, blasting him with a point-blank shot. In a world of swords and crossbows, a gun was a game-breaking advantage. Especially one that had a multi-shot magazine.


    Luckily, it seemed that his gun was out of ammo. He quickly went to reload, sheathing his sword to pull an ammo clip off of his belt, but Annabelle disarmed him with a well-placed telekinetic burst, knocking his gun to the ground.


    The intruder lunged towards his dropped weapon, and Annabelle attempted to mind-control him. He resisted her initial assault, and as she attempted to work through his mental defenses, he had enough time to grab his gun and finish reloading it.


    He turned around, aimed his gun, and fired. Or, well, tried to fire. Annabelle managed to catch the signal his brain sent to his trigger finger, and blocked it just before the shot went off. Then, she finished her assault, and took control of his body.


    Then, she analyzed the condition of the downed soldiers nearby. The one that had been shot in the head was dead from brain damage, but the other two were unconscious but alive. Annabelle quickly used her telekinesis to attempt to stabilize them by stopping their bleeding. Normally, she couldn''t use telekinesis inside another person''s body (if she could, she would be stopping enemy''s hearts or mulching their brains rather than firing blasts of kinetic energy at them), but when the target was willing, unconscious, or mind-controlled, whatever innate defense stopped that from happening lapsed.


    That would hopefully buy enough time for healers to arrive. Speaking of which...


    "I need a healer!" Annabelle shouted. "Two down, one deceased!"


    **********


    An intruder had slipped through the portal, into Sanctuary.


    The base''s null-magic fields and defenses were capable of stopping any intruder coming through the portal from getting very far. But the portal generators themselves, as magical objects, could not be protected by magic nullification. Thus, the intruder''s first move was to disable the generator with a explosive powerful enough that Raiks heard it from his command center. Raiks ordered a second generator to create a portal to Furion, but it would take several long minutes for the portal to arrive. The troops in Furion would be stranded.


    The guards would lock the gate to that room, and the null-magic field would nullify any explosives that the intruder could potentially use to break through. It was concerning that he had managed to slip in, but Raiks could focus his attention back on the main battle.


    The Blade Wyvern was climbing over the buildings of the city. It was too wide to fit through some of the streets, but its feet were capable of sticking to walls and vertical surfaces. According to rumors, Blade Wyverns were native to mountainous areas in the Otherlands, where they used their climbing ability to maneuver around cliffsides and ambush prey.


    But buildings weren''t as durable as solid rock. The roofs struggled to support the Wyvern''s weight, and in a few cases, collapsed underneath its foot, slowing it down. Further damage was caused when it jumped between roofs.


    Its overhead attack angle made it nearly impossible for the Resistance''s soldiers to engage it. But Raiks knew that its strategy had a weakness. He ordered his soldiers to hide in the buildings.


    The Blade Wyvern''s tentacles were long enough to reach into buildings, but it lacked the ability to sense anything within those buildings.


    For a tense minute, the Blade Wyvern lumbered across the rooftops, finding nothing. Then, it started to sniff out its prey, and sensed two soldiers in an adjacent building. It leaped across to that roof, and the building shook under its weight.


    Its tentacles reached around in front of it, passing through a window. The tentacles probed the building. Raiks couldn''t adjust his overhead view to track what was going on inside. If the tentacles found the soldiers, they would likely be shredded and/or impaled.


    That was when Lorso and Silence struck.


    While the beast was fishing around in the building, Lorso had an opportunity to blast its back with a concentrated beam of fire into its back, melting its scales. The Wyvern retracted its tentacles from the building and raised them in her direction, a futile attempt to swat her out of the air.


    Then, Silence flew in (having apparently been given flight by Lorso) and body-slammed the Wyvern, with enough force to throw the Blade Wyvern off the roof and into a street that was too narrow for it. The Wyvern struggled to get onto its feet, but Silence leapt into the air, used a brief burst of flight to get more height, and then dropped on the Wyvern''s head, fist-first.


    The Blade Wyvern was knocked out, falling unconscious. But Silence didn''t stop there. He climbed over the Wyvern, grabbed one of its tentacles, and snapped off the blade. Then, he rammed the blade through the Wyvern''s eye socket, and pushed it deeper, into its skull.


    Its former riders continued to advance, but now they were outmatched.


    Raiks heard several more loud pops coming from the portal chamber, almost but not quite the sounds of further explosions. What was going on?


    **********


    It only took a minute for a pair of healers to come running, and Annabelle let them take over. The two critically wounded soldiers were stabilized, and regained consciousness. Then, the healers picked up the dead body and brought it back to the infirmary, where he would hopefully be resurrected.


    "What is going on here?" Raiks shouted. He had arrived on the scene with a pair of bodyguards. He raised his weapon, which looked like a gun with an axe blade on the front, and his bodyguards did the same.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Annabelle realized that her psychic aura was by default invisible, and reactivated it, showing a stream of purple energy linking her mind to the intruder''s.


    "Ah." Raiks lowered his weapon, slowly. His bodyguards followed. "New question: why are you disobeying Lunima''s orders?"


    "As I said before, I''m perfectly fine," Annabelle countered.


    "Right," he replied, with a bit of sarcasm.


    "And, I stopped an intruder from potentially dealing severe damage to Sanctuary."


    "Wait, how did he get through our gates?" one of Raiks'' bodyguards asked.


    Annabelle looked over towards the portal rooms. They each had a gate that could be locked to stop intruders. All but one of them, which had its hinges blown off.


    She made the intruder surrender his weapon to her. "I think this has something to do with it," she said. "It seems that Daraken has used his intellect for something other than magic."


    "What do you mean?"


    Annabelle, on a hunch, walked into the null-magic field, aimed the gun at a wall, and pulled the trigger. The gun fired, embedding a round bullet into a wall. She then quickly walked back out of the field, before it could significantly drain her.


    "Where I come from, this piece of equipment is called a gun. It isn''t magic in any way."


    "How does it work?" Raiks asked.


    "It uses an explosive powder, or gunpowder, to propel projectiles out of the end of the barrel at high speed. There''s a more complex explanation, but I''ll save that for the artificers."


    "Just the invention of a nonmagical explosive weapon is already a serious threat to our operation. Do you know what the composition of this ''gunpowder'' is?"


    Annabelle tried to remember, but she unfortunately realized that being proficient in using guns did not mean she was proficient in inventing gunpowder. She might know the ingredients, but not the exact mixture. Especially when modern guns used more modern and complex formulas, and this world''s equivalent of those ingredients might be completely different. "Somewhat. I used weapons like this, but I wasn''t one of the chemists that made them. But I might be able to get the information out of this infiltrator."


    "If you say so," Raiks said warily. He turned to his bodyguards. "Escort these two to the prisons. And keep an eye on Annabelle."


    Following standard procedure, the men bound the prisoner''s hands, and put a hood over his head to blind him. Even though the prisoner was currently under Annabelle''s control and would be unlikely to be able to bring information back to Daraken, it didn''t do to take chances.


    **********


    After their assault, Darius and his three associates regrouped at their extraction point, a portal hidden inside an abandoned warehouse in Arexia. Xerxes met up with them just before they entered.


    Xerxes had created a massive illusionary assault mixed with just enough real force to be threatening, drawing off enemy attention. While the enemies engaged his fake army, Darius and his team were able to sneak into the enemy camp and set explosives. They were found out partway through, but were able to fight their way through for long enough to set charges on all of the key targets.


    When the charges were detonated, they took out half of the enemy camp''s barracks, their supply depots, their headquarters, and most importantly, their portal generators. Though Daraken had generators in Fiora that could send supplies to his army and route troops to where they were needed, the lack of a fixed receiving point would result in inaccurate portal placements (that would not be deployable inside their camp), but more importantly, it would leave their portals vulnerable to disruption. It would be a significant delay to their operations.


    They returned to one of the Resistance''s safehouses in Arexia. The Resistance had previously managed to smuggle a portal receiver in here to create an anchor point for insertion and extraction. When they arrived, their exit portal was already open.


    "Hold up," Xerxes whispered. "The portal''s fake."


    "Wait, what?" Darius said, a little bit too loudly.


    "Not just that, there''s- it''s an ambush!"


    Xerxes'' observation came just a little too late, as crates stacked around the warehouse disappeared, revealing a dozen elite Black Legion soldiers, led by an apprentice of Daraken. The team turned to flee, but another half-dozen soldiers blocked the door. They were all heavily armored, and wielding glaives.


    "Did you really think that the primary military base of the Black Legion wouldn''t be using divinations to detect signs of a future assault?" The apprentice of Daraken gloated. His voice seemed familiar, but Darius couldn''t place it.


    "I see that Daraken hasn''t taught his apprentices to not waste time gloating," Darius responded.And he''s probably lying, as well. If they knew about the attack beforehand, they would be stopping it as we performed it, not catching us at the portal. It''s more likely that after our attack, they divined our extraction point to catch us before we got away.


    "All I''m after is information," The apprentice said. "About Annabelle."


    "Why do I find that hard to believe?" Darius replied.


    The apprentice ignored his statement. "Give me everything you know about Annabelle now, and I''ll let you return to your Sanctuary. If you don''t, we''ll have to take you into custody and interrogate you until we get the information. Neither of us wants that to happen."


    Darius considered his options, while continuing to stall. "We don''t know that much about her either. If Daraken''s looking for a threat assessement, we don''t know enough to help him with that."


    "So she''s just as much of an unknown to you as she is to us, " Daraken''s apprentice said. "How do you know she will remain on your side?"


    Darius thought about reponding, but then decided not to.


    "I suspect you know more about her than you''re willing to disclose. You''re coming with me." The apprentice gave a signal, and the soldiers moved in.


    "You weren''t going to let us go anyways," Darius replied.


    He whipped out his fireball wand, pointed it behind himself, and had the spell fizzle as the apprentice counterspelled it.


    "Take him alive," the apprentice ordered. "Kill the rest."


    Darius pulled out one of his knives, and threw it straight at the apprentice, followed by a fireball. The mage dodged the knife, but it caught him off guard and prevented him from counterspelling the fireball. The explosive blast knocked him to the ground and scattered some of the soldiers.


    Behind him, the rest of his team engaged the Black Legion soldiers. Xerxes amplified their number with his illusions, then incapacitated a few soldiers with a fear blast, while the rest of the soldiers took advantage of the opportunities he created.


    He jumped high into the air, eyed the mage''s body on the ground, and threw his second knife at him. The mage managed to blink away before his knife hit, but Darius recalled his first knife and threw it straight at the apprentice''s heart.


    He missed the heart, but still got a major artery, as shown by the blood spurt.


    "You''ve already lost," Daraken''s apprentice stammered, even as he began to collapse from blood loss. Darius looked back at the rest of his team, and saw them being overwhelmed. More black legion soldiers were streaming in to replace those that they took down, and there were only five of them against dozens. They were starting to get surrounded, and once that happened, they wouldn''t last long.


    Darius aimed his fireball wand at one of the walls, and was about to blow open a hole to escape when he was paralyzed. It was a spell from the apprentice, his last before he collapsed. His body, unable to move, fell to the ground.


    He couldn''t see what was going on with the rest of his team, but what he heard did not sound good. The fighting began to die down. He would die here.


    No. Darius wasn''t sure how, but he somehow resisted and broke free of the paralysis effect. But he was still on the ground, and several soldiers were surrounding him, waiting to strike the moment he moved.


    With a mental command, he activated a charm on his belt as he rolled onto his feet as four orbs of electrity appeared around him. The soldiers immediately moved to attack, but the orbs shot out into the first four attackers, electrocuting them and cancelling their attacks.


    Then, he jumped, and shot his fireball wand at the ground underneath him. The blast underneath him threw him upwards, giving him the momentum he needed to launch through an upper window while also scattering his pursuers. It also hurt like hell, causing severe burns and shockwave trauma.


    He landed hard outside the warehouse, but quickly mended himself by breaking a healing orb, repairing both the damaged bones from the hard impact and the burns from blowing himself up. Then, he fled into the depths of the city, outrunning the few soldiers that were still outside the warehouse. Arexia was the second-largest city in the known world (second only to Fiora), and Resistance operations in the city had identified multiple locations for secondary hideouts. He would be able to hide here for quite some time.


    But the rest of his team wasn''t so lucky. Maybe Xerxes had escaped as well, but the other members of his team were dead. Even if he got out of this, that would be a serious hit to his infiltration potential in the future.

 1-12: Interrogation

    "So, are you willing to just hand over the information, or will I have to extract it from you the hard way?" Annabelle asked the prisoner. "I''d rather not have to dig it out of your brain, but I will if I must."


    "You''re an idiot if you think I''d just hand over information to you," the prisoner said. "If you want it, try and get it. I probably won''t have what you''re looking for."


    "Really. So, you were just handed a unique piece of equipment and just informed that it ignored null-magic fields?"


    "Information is need-to-know. That was all I needed to know."


    Of course. Daraken wouldn''t give out more information than necessary, especially to an operation that was likely a one-way trip. But even disregarding the possibility of a mistake, there was still information that could be extracted.


    "Where were you given this weapon?" Annabelle asked.


    "I''m going to choose not to answer that."


    "Really. You hold absolute loyalty to Daraken, even though he''s used you like a pawn? This was a one-way trip for you, you do realize that?"


    The prisoner refused to answer. Talking clearly wouldn''t get anything out of him. Time to move to the next step.


    Annabelle initiated her psychic interrogation. She began to slowly infiltrate into the prisoner''s mind. Even though taking control of an opponent was fast, extracting non-recent memories took more time. Rushing the effort could even result in the memories being destroyed.


    She focused on his most recent memories, looking for everything he knew about the weapon. However, she was interrupted when the prisoner began screaming.


    "What are you doing?" One of Annabelle''s escorts shouted. He moved right up to her, trying to interrupt her effort.


    "Being distracted by you, " Annabelle replied. "He''s faking it."


    "Prove it."


    She broke contact with the prisoner (as the rest of the group could see by her aura fading away), but he continued to scream in imaginary pain. She had to admit, the infiltrator was a really good actor.


    "We don''t torture people for information."


    "There is little difference between what I am doing now and what I do any time I seize control of a foe. He''s just being a crybaby about it." And, she wouldn''t torture anyone. It was ineffective for getting information, and even if it was, it didn''t deserve to be.


    The prisoner slowly quieted down, and Annabelle restarted her efforts. At the very least, the prisoner had made it take slightly longer to interrogate him.


    Just so you know,Annabelle sent to the prisoner,the fact that your crying wolf gambit didn''t pay off means that I can now do whatever I want, and they wouldn''t believe you if you cried out in pain.Luckily for him, he wasn''t evil enough for her to use pain induction on. Causing pain was actually not very effective at gathering information, and at best was moderately useful for dazing opponents in the middle of a fight, if they weren''t capable of just pushing through it. Much more efficient to just directly attack their mental function.


    Still, the thought of it spooked the prisoner and weakened his mental defenses, helping Annabelle break through to get into the valuable information.


    Her initial hunch turned up no results. The infiltrator had been handed the weapon in Fiora, and as he had said, was given no information about the weapon other than how to fire it and the fact that it ignored antimagic defenses. He had snuck into Furion through a civilian portal, and snuck through the portal to Sanctuary while the Resistance was busy fighting the Blade Wyvern.


    So what else could she get out of the prisoner? She aimlessly searched through his memories while attempting to think of a more useful thing to research.


    So, we meet at last.A mental message, coming from the prisoner''s mind, but not from the prisoner himself. There was some sort of telepathic link between him and another.


    Excuse me, I''m busy trying to extract memories out of this prisoner''s brain. Would you kindly wait until I''m done before interrupting?Annabelle readied herself for mental combat, preparing a burst attack.


    That would be my agent, Annabelle.Wait, was this-


    Daraken? Yes. I am the enemy your ''Resistance'' wants to destroy. But they are misguided.


    So this is the part where you try to seduce me to join your side,Annabelle remarked.


    If we cooperate, we could both achieve our goals.


    Are you sure about that? My current goal is destroying you.


    On what premises?Daraken asked.Because supposedly, my ascension to the divine ranks would result in the destruction of everything in the known world? That is just propaganda spread by the church of Helios.


    So you aren''t seeking to become a god?That wasn''t even her main point of contention, but the more she knew about Daraken''s motives, the better.


    No, I do seek ascension. But when I do ascend, I will not commit genocide.


    And why wouldn''t you?Annabelle questioned.


    Daraken hesitated for a moment.Yes, if I killed everyone on the planet, I would gain a large supply of souls, and an immediate power boost. But I would render this world impotent in the long term. If I did not interfere, I would still collect everyone''s souls when they died from old age, and would maintain a stable population that would continue to provide souls into the future.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Sure,Annabelle replied.But even if you''re saying the truth, you''re still an evil bastard.


    In what way? I merely do what I must to achieve my goals. I''ve even improved life for everyone here.


    Your closest minions were torturing members of the Resistance for their own amusement. That is unforgivable.


    Daraken went silent for a time, before finally responding.That was not my doing. I had specifically instructed him that the use of torture was not effective.He then added,If he were still alive, I would kill him myself.


    So, the actions of that monster were against Daraken''s wishes? Even though she could see a ring of truth in it, she still didn''t quite trust him.You still sent an assassin after me.


    A logical response to an unknown threat is to eliminate them. I would have done it to anyone who had managed to cause a major setback to my plans and was then foolish enough to linger in an insecure area.


    Even so, she didn''t want to join someone who would kill her the instant she was no longer useful. Even though that was arguably the situation she was already in with Helios.I''ve already chosen my side. I''m not going to betray them.


    So be it,Daraken declared. Suddenly, Annabelle picked up on a mental intrusion. A quick analysis detected thought disruption. Not quite mind control, but mind manipulation. Daraken was intending to charm her with magic to make her more willing to listen to his arguments.


    I''m sorry, was that supposed to do something?Annabelle taunted.


    As expected, mental defense comes with mental power.That was generally true. Others that Annabelle had trained in psionics had shown a greater resistance to mental attacks. Annabelle''s own mental resilience was an anomaly, though.


    But Daraken didn''t let up on his assault. Instead, he shifted attacks. He attempted to implant a suggestion that the Resistance had tortured prisoners themselves. Though the compulsion aspect of that attack was effortlessly blocked, Annabelle was almost convinced by the premise. Then, she reminded herself that there was no evidence for that, while there was evidence of-


    The next assault was a conventional mind blast, aiming to shatter her defenses in her moment of indecision and mental weakness. It might have worked on someone else, but her defenses held.


    "What''s going on?" one of the escorts asked. Annabelle realized that her aura was acting weird in response to Daraken''s attack. Her purple stream of energy was being corrupted by reversed streams of multicolored energy coming from the prisoner''s mind, where Daraken was staging his attacks.


    "I''m busy," Annabelle replied, as Daraken launched another mental attack. "Save the questions until I''m done." Telling them that she was in a direct duel against their arch-nemesis in the middle of their Sanctuary would probably result in unnecessary panic. Yes, if he succeeded, he would probably win the war here, but he wouldn''t succeed.


    Is that your best?Annabelle taunted.Come on, you''re an archmage and you can''t mind-control one person.


    That got Daraken to hesitate. He was smart enough to know she was baiting him. He dropped his attacks entirely, and Annabelle pursued back into the prisoner''s mind.


    Or, rather, the empty husk that was left of the prisoner''s mind. It was the same empty mind she had sensed in the brain-dead assassin. This attacker had a similar killswitch, but it had waited until now to activate. The assassin''s body slumped over.


    "Well, this isn''t good," Annabelle said out loud.


    "What did you do?" One of the guards demanded.


    He didn''t have any useful information for you anways,Daraken stated.But his mind made excellent bait.


    Annabelle was hit by a sudden attack, stronger than all of the previous attacks combined, blasting her from multiple angles. For a brief instant, she actually thought it would break her mind, but then she fought back and resisted before any serious damage could result.


    "I was engaged in a mental battle with Daraken," Annabelle admitted. "I defended against it, but he killed his own agent to prevent me from extracting information from them."


    "Here? In Sanctuary? If he can get into Sanctuary-"


    "It was a sustained mental link between Daraken and his agent," Annabelle replied. "I could only be attacked because I opened contact with his agent."


    Annabelle stormed out of the room in a huff. This interrogation had accomplished nothing of use, and if not for her mental resistance, Daraken would have been able to win the war then and there.


    Then, as soon as she calmed down, she realized that something had bypassed her defenses, and embedded itself inside her mind.


    She immediately stopped in her tracks, and spent the next minute analyzing the threat.


    From her analysis, she concluded that she had been cursed. Or hexed. Or whatever the term was.


    As far as she could tell, the anomaly in her mind was an inactive payload. There was a barrier around it, that could be shattered at any time to release whatever was inside it. Likely at a key moment, giving Daraken the edge he would need to kill her and win the war.


    Did she dare to poke it, figure out what exactly the payload was? No. Not until she knew more.


    But she could infer some things by its application.


    Firstly, it was likely intended to be a secret weapon. She clearly wasn''t intended to know of its existence. If it was intended to be used as leverage, Daraken would have made it obvious that he had leverage over her.


    Secondly, it was unlikely to be an instant death effect. If it was a kill-switch, he wouldn''t make it a hidden payload, he would trigger it immediately.


    Wait, no, that wasn''t right. It could easily be a kill-switch set to trigger mid-fight. If it detonated in Sanctuary Lunima would likely have a chance at resurrecting her, but if it detonated in the middle of a fight, especially one where Annabelle was expected to be a key asset?


    But still, if it was intended as a payload, that must mean it wouldn''t go off for some time. Thus, she had time to figure out what it was and how to beat it.


    For now, with her first plan to get information on Daraken''s firearms failing, she decided to head to the dwarves to see if they could reverse-engineer the weapons.


    Then, she would investigate this curse further.


    **********


    As soon as the initial danger was over, Raiks mobilized Resistance assets to repair the damage to Furion.


    One piece of good news was the Blade Wyvern''s corpse. It was such a major find that Faris found it worth the risk to leave his workshop and head out into the field to analyze the material that could be harvested. Though the Blade Wyvern was not a true dragon and lacked the magical affinity of one (not counting the siege weapon that had been strapped to its back), dragon hide was still incredibly resilient, and its claws and tentacle tips could make incredibly effective weapons.


    Further, there was only one death in the whole fight, and Lunima would be able to resurrect the man (though it would take her most of the day to regenerate his shredded, half-digested body to a state where his soul could return to it).


    Though the civilians in the town had had the common sense to evacuate to the far end of the city to avoid being eaten by the Wyvern, several houses were left in ruins, as a result of the Blade Wyvern trying to force itself through city streets too narrow for its bulk. The town''s morale suffered as a result; though it was Daraken who escalated the conflict and caused the collateral damage, his agents still managed to push opinion against the Resistance, blaming them for bringing the conflict to this town. To salvage the situation, they had Bouldos remain to provide aid and help in rebuilding the city, and promised compensation as soon as they gained the funds for it.


    But he didn''t have time to oversee the recovery operation, as he received a message from Darius. The news wasn''t good; his team had been taken down, and he was pinned down in Arexia and would likely be captured within a few days. The Black Legion camp had been successfully destroyed, but that had forced the Legion to take over Arexia to gain new living space, and they now had the city on lockdown.


    Could they mount a rescue operation? It was unlikely, to say the least. Raiks was about to call a war council to discuss potential options, but realized that half the council was busy: Faris was harvesting Blade Wyvern parts, Varn was involved in researching guns with Annabelle, and Lunima was busy resurrecting the dead soldier.


    He left Derrin in charge of the forces in Furion, and retired to headquarters to think of his next move.

 1-13: Cursed

    Annabelle walked in on Varn as he was in the middle of forging a sword. She tried to interrupt him, but was shushed and told to wait until the blade was finished, as the process couldn''t be interrupted.


    Annabelle wasn''t sure, but it seemed like Varn wasn''t taking the normal precautions for working in the forge. Whether this was due to his skill or due to an innate resistance to heat, she couldn''t tell. It was probably a combination of both.


    After what seemed like an eternity, Varn was finally ready to tackle Annabelle''s project.


    "So, what is Raiks'' weapon?" Annabelle asked. She pulled out the gun and placed it on the table. "It looks almost like this on a first glance."


    "That would be an Arcane Bolter," Varn explained. He walked back into the armory, grabbed an example piece, and dropped it on the table. It looked almost like a gun, with the notable lack of a magazine.


    "As the name implies, it uses magic to store and propel bolts." He grabbed three crossbow bolts, and fed them one by one through what seemed to be solid metal at the back of the barrel. The bolts disappeared into the weapon, and he lifted it up and fired three crossbow bolts into a nearby wall, without any sort of clear launching mechanism.


    "Now that I''ve seen that, I''m wondering whether this project is even useful," Annabelle said. "How difficult is it to make one of those?"


    "Very," Varn answered. "We only have a half-dozen of them. If we had a nonmagical equivalent, we could produce them for our entire force, rather than as a special weapon for our elites."


    Well, at least this wouldn''t be completely useless.


    "So, gunpowder is a nonmagical explosive compound, composed of sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter," Annabelle explained. "At least, that''s the simple type. I''ve heard of more complex iterations that are more effective, but I''m not sure on their compositions." The more complex iterations were smokeless powder, designed to be more powerful and not produce smoke.


    "We have sulfur and charcoal." Varn replied. "But what is saltpeter?"


    "Ummm..." She dug through her memories. "I think it''s a fertilizer. Or at least a potential fertilizer."


    "I''ll ask around, see if I can source some of it," Varn said. "But I don''t have any of it right now."


    "Once you get saltpeter, you should be able to get the right mixture with a bit of experimentation," Annabelle said. Then she realized that could be dangerous. "Safeexperimentation. Remember, you''ll be trying to make an explosive."


    "I''ve dealt with explosives before," Varn replied. "Admittedly, the magical variety. But I''m still tough enough to withstand a small explosion." Apparently even though dwarves lacked the stereotypical beards, they still had the rest of the usual dwarven traits, including high durability.


    Without any gunpowder, Varn wouldn''t be able to make a gun-type weapon without the aid of magic. Annabelle sighed, and was about to leave the armory when she realized something.


    Daraken hadn''t invented rifling, the technique of adding spiral grooves to a gun barrel to spin bullets and improve accuracy.


    "Wait, I''ve got an idea."


    "What would that be?"


    "Well, it''s not so much an idea as an innovation. By adding spiral grooves to the barrel of a gun, or maybe an Arcane Bolter, it spins the projectile and improves its accuracy."


    "Is that so?" Varn replied, doubtful.


    "Well, yes. Although I''m not sure how the aerodynamics work out, I know that it does work."


    "After I acquire the necessary ingredients, I''ll consider that for future development," Varn said. "But improving accuracy won''t help until there''s a projectile to improve the accuracy of. So, unless you have another idea, I think you will be no further help to me today."


    Annabelle left Varn''s workshop, and walked over to Turb''s tower, adjacent to the library. It wasn''t much of a tower (especially when compared to the ludicrously-oversized tower that Daraken lived in), but it was still the tallest building in Sanctuary, standing five stories tall. Annabelle wasn''t in the mood for climbing stairs, and looked for an alternate entrance.


    There was a window on the top floor. Annabelle launched herself upwards with a kinetic burst, then corrected course in mid-air with a second burst to let her grab the edge of the window. She needed to apply a third burst of self-telekinesis to haul herself through the window, where she saw various ritual circles and arcane implements, along with a very confused Turb. His staff was pointed at her, as if he was going to blast her with a fireball.


    "What are you doing?"


    "I believe I have been cursed. I need you to analyze the curse and see if you can break it."


    "Did one of those aspects of the curse prevent you from climbing the stairs like a normal person?"


    "No," Annabelle admitted. At least, she thought so. She was fairly certain she made that decision under her own free will, and that she would know if she was being compelled to not climb stairs. Not to mention that that would be a relatively stupid curse for Daraken to apply, even if it would keep her from climbing up his tower.


    "First Lorso, and now you," Turb muttered.


    "What was Lorso doing up here?"


    "Probably trying to steal my books. She fled when I confronted her."


    Did Lorso really believe that Turb would have books that the College and the Resistance''s public library didn''t?


    "Now, what are the terms of the curse?" Turb asked.


    "Terms?"


    "Curses leave an imprint on their victim''s mind that informs them of the exact effects of the curse, and the means to break it."


    "Well, I''m not getting any of that." Annabelle paused to consider reasons. "In fact, I suspect that this ''curse'' was intended to remain hidden. So, either Daraken''s smart enough to have figured out how to remove the signs of a curse, or this isn''t actually a curse and I got my terminology wrong."


    "Why do you think you have been cursed?"


    "I was using my telepathy to interrogate one of his operatives earlier today, and sensed something unusual sent into my mind. I think Daraken left it in his agent''s mind to spring a trap on anyone trying to interrogate his agent." She left out the fact that she had fought against Daraken in a mental battle, even though that would probably become public knowledge soon.


    "I''ll take a look." Turb raised his staff, and began a long incantation. The crystal on the end of his staff began to glow white, and several streams of energy emanated out from it before forming into white rings of energy that encircled Annabelle.


    Then, Turb realized what he was facing.


    "Oh dear. This is not good."


    "What is?"


    "It''s a Curse of Eternal Slumber," Turb explained. "But trapped."


    Annabelle had a brief image of herself turning into Sleeping Beauty. And this wasn''t a fairy tale, where eternal slumber was merely a plot device to let a Prince Charming rescue the princess. Odds are she would wake up in a containment chamber of Daraken''s, or be killed in her sleep and not wake up at all.


    "Normally, such a curse would activate instantly, and would put its victim into a state of bodily stasis until the curse was broken. But Daraken''s found a way to bind it to a trigger condition and hide its nature."


    "So, at any point in the future, Daraken could put me into a permanent sleep?"


    "Not permanent," Turb elaborated. "There''s ''only'' enough energy to put a person to sleep for a hundred years."


    That wasn''t much better. Not only would Daraken likely succeed at all of his goals well before she awakened again, but she would probably never get a chance to return to Earth and meet with her old friends.


    But she couldn''t seriously be defeated by it, right? She had enough willpower to resist anything the Elders had thrown at her, and every other trick Daraken had tried. Problem was, she wasn''t sure.


    "Can you remove the curse?"


    "Potentially. I''m going to need to consult my books." Turb ended his analysis spell, walked downstairs, and Annabelle followed him into a small library. He grabbed a book, titledGrand Curses, and quickly flipped through it to the requisite page. Annabelle tried to sneak a peek at the pages, but couldn''t make sense of anything.


    "Damnable Daraken," Turb muttered, "breaking all the rules. The curse is supposed to be applied to something that the target eats, not as a mental countermeasure. And it''s supposed to have an immediate onset, not a triggered onset."


    "I get it, Daraken cheats. But what about removing the curse?"


    "That''s where it gets... complicated," Turb said, without lifting his head out of the book he was studying. "As it is right now, all I can do to the dormant curse is activate it early."


    "I may be able to resist it, if it is triggered early," Annabelle offered. "But if I fail to resist, then what?"


    "The curse has a condition which, when met, will dispel the curse. At least normally, I heavily suspect Daraken has gotten rid of that, or set that condition as ''when I says it ends''. I cannot determine the curse''s condition while it is inactive."


    "I hope that''s not the only option," Annabelle said.


    Turb seemed to chuckle. "For lesser curses, a simple countercurse will negate it, something far simpler than discovering the conditions of the curse and making them come to pass. But with higher-level curses, using a countercurse will result in side effects. In this particular case, the side effects would most likely be serious mental trauma from being woken abruptly and ripped out of stasis."


    Well, she could resist mental damage. Probably.


    "So, I see two options. One, I can accept that I''m at risk of being incapacitated at any time and stay away from any further field action. Or two, I can take the risk now. Trigger the curse. If I fail to resist it outright, use the countercurse, I can likely resist the backlash."


    Turb considered her proposal, and came up with a third option. "I have a way to mitigate the potential risk." Annabelle followed him back to the top floor, where he unveiled a crystal ball.


    "This is the Experimental Orb, one of Aurim''s most prized artifacts. It was designed to make even the most risky of experiments safe to perform."


    "Let me guess, it lets you see the future so you get the results of the experiment before you perform it." Annabelle reasoned that since it was a crystal ball, it had to do something related to seeing the future.


    "Close guess, but not quite," Turb said. "It''s a bit more limited than that. When I activate the Experimental Orb, it will begin to show an image of an alternate reality where I conduct the planned experiment, in this case attempting to nullify the curse, while we remain in our current reality and safely observe."The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    He activated the orb. As Annabelle and Turb stood and watched, they saw an image appear in the orb where they walked forwards into the center of the room. Annabelle always felt a bit weirded out when she was looking at herself in a camera, and this was only slightly different.


    "Alright, let''s begin," Turb''s voice said from inside the orb. He began a quick incantation, and his staff glowed green for a split-second before releasing an invisible emanation.


    In the orb''s reality, Annabelle saw herself double over. She seemed to be resisting the effect, but barely. She explained as such.


    "I can resist the effect, but I can''t nullify it," Annabelle explained. "As soon as I sleep, if not sooner, it will go into effect."


    "Should I engage the countercurse?" Turb asked.


    Annabelle almost consented, before she suddenly had an idea.


    "After I test this."


    Inside the orb, Annabelle initiated a telepathic contact with Turb, making her aura visible for the aid of her viewers.


    Then, her purple aura was overtaken by a red stream of energy for a split-second, before Turb collapsed.


    Turb deactivated the Experimental Orb.


    "So, you''ve found a way to redirect the curse into another individual," Turb said. "And messed up the test in the process."


    "You cancelled the test too soon," Annabelle complained. "Now I don''t know if I transferred the whole effect to you, or simply split it between us."


    Turb agreed to a second test. It went exactly the same as the first test, but wasn''t cancelled after Annabelle attempted to split the curse. After she did so, she was able to confirm that the curse''s effect was merely split, not cancelled outright.


    Still, Annabelle now saw this curse as an opportunity.


    "Alright, that''s a setback, but I still think this curse can be used to our advantage."


    Annabelle explained her plan, and worked out a potential plan of attack. If she could pull through, she could pull this off.


    **********


    After finalizing the plan, Annabelle went to Raiks'' command center to attempt to gather the resources and allies necessary for her mission.


    "Hey Raiks, where''s Darius?" Annabelle''s plan required finding a way to sneak into the city unnoticed, and Darius was the member of the Resistance most adept in stealth operations. Getting his assistance would greatly increase the odds of this mission succeeding.


    Raiks sighed. "He''s currently stranded in Arexia, and about to be captured."


    "Wait, what?"


    "The Black Legion sprung a trap on him after his mission. The rest of his team was taken out at the extraction point, and though he managed to escape the initial ambush, he''s trapped in Arexia. The Black Legion''s locked the city down, and it''s only a matter of time until he''s captured. The only good news is that his plan went off perfectly."


    "Why can''t you just open a portal and get him out?" For that matter, what was keeping them from opening portals directly on top of key objectives.


    "In order for a portal generator to work, it needs either a large open space at the opening point, or a portal receiver to anchor to. Darius'' original extraction used a receiver hidden in Arexia, but it was discovered and destroyed. We could potentially put a portal right outside the walls, but he wouldn''t be able to get to it."


    Well, that would put a wrench in the plan. But maybe, she could still pull it off.


    "I''ve recently discovered something that could potentially take out the entire Black Legion, if I can get into the city to utilize it."


    Raiks laughed. "Really? You might be able to get some of them with your vortex, but the rest will overwhelm you."


    "This is something different. I can guarantee that if I can get into the city, I can take out every Black Legion soldier in it."


    Raiks doubted her, and Annabelle knew herself that it was a risky plan. She wasn''t even sure if she could pull it off. But, if it succeeded, it would deliver a devastating blow to Daraken''s army.


    "You gave me a detailed rundown of your powers earlier. You did not mention such a capability before."


    "It''s not quite my own capability. It''s more of an¡­ unusual interaction with between my abilities and a particular magical effect. Turb figured it out."


    Raiks was still skeptical. "And what sort of unusual interaction would that be?"


    Annabelle was a bit reluctant to explain it. "I-I had an encounter with Daraken''s mind while attempting to interrogate the prisoner. You''ve heard by now, right?


    "Yes. I can''t fault you for the encounter, but you were lucky to resist his attack."


    "He had no chance to succeed with a conventional mental attack against me. However, he managed to slip a curse onto me using his own man''s mind as bait."


    "That doesn''t sound like a good thing."


    "I went to Turb to investigate the curse as soon as I could. Originally he was going to find a way to remove the curse so that it would not become a liability once triggered, but in the process of investigating it, I discovered a way to weaponize it instead."


    Annabelle explained the details of what her attack could accomplish.


    "I''m going to have to call the council for this."


    Raiks used the Resistance''s communicators to open a channel with all of his advisors, calling for a special meeting. Annabelle followed him into the council room, and waited for the rest of them to arrive.


    **********


    After about twenty minutes, the entire council was there for the special session (although a soldier''s representative could not be summoned on such short notice).


    "Currently, Darius is pinned down in Arexia, and is about to be captured," Raiks explained. "Annabelle believes she has a plan that will not only let Darius escape, but also destroy the Black Legion stationed there as well. However, as Turb has explained, her plan is incredibly risky, relying on her capability to subvert the function of a curse Daraken has placed on her."


    "This would be a high-risk operation," Derrin said, "If we succeed, we cripple Daraken''s entire military, but it we fail, we lose our best asset. Turb, will this plan work?"


    "I have analyzed several test cases, and Annabelle has proven capable of resisting the curse and spreading it''s effects," Turb explained. "However, I could not perform a large-scale test."


    "And what if this is bait?" Lunima said. "What if Daraken expects her and prepares an ambush for her arrival?"


    "Daraken planned for this curse to be a secret," Annabelle said.


    "He''s been known to play meta-strategies before," Derrin said. "Giving us ''hidden'' information that we believed because we thought he didn''t want us to know, even though he intentionally leaked it."


    "That would require him to accurately predict my level of aptitude in mental combat." Annabelle realized that he had tested her mental fortitude. "Wait, he could have used his earlier attacks as a benchmark."


    "So it''s true, then," Varn said. "You did engage Daraken in a mental battle when you interrogated the prisoner earlier today."


    "Yes. I believe we were very lucky I was the one who made contact, and not someone who would be vulnerable to his attacks."


    Turb had an idea. "Wait. Let''s assume Daraken knows that Annabelle knows there is a curse on her. That doesn''t necessarily invalidate the attack."


    Annabelle realized where he was going. "The curse is intended to remove my threat to Daraken, by giving him the potential to incapacitate me at a moment''s notice. If we don''t know about it, he knocks me out at a key moment to turn the tide of a battle. From his perspective, if I discover it, he might expect me to defect or leave to avoid the curse. At worst, he''d expect Turb to find a way to remove it. But he has no reasonable way to suspect that I can reverse the curse against his army."


    "Assuming that you are capable of it," Turb clarified.


    "I can pull it off," Annabelle claimed. Yes, she hadn''t done the precise technique before, but it was within her power to do it, and she had a penchant for pulling through under stress.


    Though, was it truly worth it? Annabelle''s plan was a significant risk. And, it would make Daraken''s defeat, and more importantly Helios'' disposal of her, more imminent.


    "You''re doubting your own plan," Raiks noted.


    But on the other hand, Daraken had made this fight personal. Even if it was true that his overseer wasn''t under his control, he had still done nothing to stop him. And Annabelle couldn''t just ignore an enemy who had sent an assassin against her and then stuck the magical equivalent of a collar full of explosives on her.


    "The curse inversion will work," Annabelle declared. "But in order to maximize its effect, I''ll need to get to the center of the city."


    "That''s going to be difficult," Derrin said. "The city is locked down. No one''s allowed in or out until Darius is captured."


    "Could I use stealth magic to make it to the walls?" Once there, she could launch herself up them easily and get in position to attack.


    "There are Harpies patrolling the air."


    "Harpies?"


    "Daraken''s airborne scouts. They have magically-enhanced eyesight that can see through invisibility and illusions. They''d spot you well before you reached the city."


    "Well, in a worst-case scenario, I could always let them capture me." Annabelle could easily create havoc after being captured.


    "Odds are Daraken would have you killed on the spot instead of captured," Raiks replied.


    "Right," Annabelle realized. Yes, Daraken''s curse was non-lethal (potentially implying that he wanted her alive), but it would still be a huge risk.


    It took several more minutes of discussion before Raiks made his proposal.


    "If you were disguised as a diplomat, you''d be able to get up to the gates without suspicion, and they might even let you into the city outright."


    "Diplomats don''t usually travel alone," Lunima replied. "She''d need accompaniment."


    "Lorso and Silence should be able to fill that role," Annabelle realized. Since they didn''t need to rely on weapons or armor, they wouldn''t even need to smuggle any weapons in.


    "That¡­ could work." Derrin said. "Although, I''m worried that Daraken might know what you look like."


    "Daraken hasn''t seen my face," Annbaelle said.


    "And yet, he was able to send his assassin after you. That means he either knows what you look like, or knew where you were and could scry on you to find out your identity."


    "Which means that I could be identified on sight."


    "We might have some solutions for that," Faris interjected.


    "We have some magic items that would greatly aid an infiltration," Varn added. "Including one particular item with a shapeshifting effect that the Harpies won''t be able to see through."


    So, with the initial plan resolved, they spent the next hour hashing out the details, after sending someone to fetch Lorso and Silence. In the morning, Annabelle would execute a mission that would end in either her death or the destruction of most of Daraken''s army.


    **********


    Xerxes had managed to elude death. When he was about to be struck down, he used a spell to turn invisible and teleport away while leaving an illusion of himself to be struck down. Rather than remaining inside the active battle (where, even with invisibility, he wouldn''t be safe), he had then teleported into an empty crate in the warehouse.


    The sounds of fighting continued around him for some time afterwards, before stopping. Then, it seemed to transition to a search. Illusions didn''t leave bodies behind, and they probably wised up to his tricks. But though they did poke his box to confirm it wasn''t an illusion, they didn''t open it.


    Eventually, the search seemed to dissipate, and he finally dared to peek out. Thankfully, he didn''t exit straight into a group of guards. Judging from the lack of light, it was now night-time. Cautiously, he stepped out of the building, and considered his next move.


    Harpies were flying overhead. They could sniff out invisibility fairly easily, but disguise illusions were still fairly effective as long as they didn''t have to pass close inspection. He quickly disguised himself as a nondescript commoner as he moved forwards.


    What could he do? He had no way to communicate with Sanctuary, having not formally joined them just yet. Even if he could, the communications might end up tracked, giving away his position.


    He retreated to one of the Resistance''s safehouses, a secondary meeting point Darius had given him in case things went bad. He saw multiple groups of Black Legion soldiers marching through the city, though none noticed him. But when he got there, he spotted Black Legion forces searching it out, led by a Harpy. He almost walked in on them, and was lucky to not be detected.


    The Black Legion seemed to be actively searching for someone. And they wouldn''t just go to this much effort to catch Xerxes. No, Darius had likely managed to escape, and they were hunting him down.


    In that case, it was time to throw off the search. With a silent invocation, he blasted the lead Harpy''s mind with horror. He didn''t outright suffer a heart attack from the stress, but he immediately screamed and fled out into the air, leaving the rest of the group in disarray. Xerxes followed up with an invisible burst of magic missiles, almost killing one of the grunts.


    Two moves were enough to break the morale of that group. They immediately scattered and ran for cover, but with their Harpy coverage briefly lost, Xerxes was free to turn invisible and move to outflank. Another grunt fell to a magic missile, and then a third fell when he walked up behind him, touched him with his palm, and delivered a necrotic drain that left him little more than a husk.


    "I''m not going down without a fight," Xerxes taunted. "And you definitely can''t win a fight against me." He flickered visible after draining one soldier, before vanishing again. The soldiers drew their weapons and desperately looked around them, with the occasional wild slash in the hopes of scoring a lucky hit. Xerxes merely drew back. Though the frightened Harpy would likely return with reinforcements soon, his goal was to cause a distraction, not to kill a few faceless soldiers.


    Still, as he retreated, he unleashed horror on another of them, and this time achieved the intended result of causing a heart attack. That mess should throw them off.


    But as he fled the scene, a Harpy spotted him, and dived down onto him. He countered with a staple of mages, a dispel. A Harpy''s wings were not enough to support their weight, not without a secondary enchantment to reduce the force of gravity on them. With that enchantment disrupted, the Harpy lost control and was forced into a controlled dive. However, his position had been exposed, and now the rest of the active Harpies were being scrambled against him. Thankfully, it appeared only six of them were close enough to dive against him.


    Xerxes concentrated on the run, weaving together multiple illusions. As soon as he rounded a corner and onto a main street, he finished the spell. Half a dozen illusionary decoys sprouted out from him and fled in all directions, while he retained his invisibility. Though Harpies could spot invisible opponents and illusions, they saw both as transparent images. Thus, though they could easily tell both Xerxes and his decoys as altered images, they couldn''t tell which one was real. He reversed direction, while most of the Harpies chased his images. Unfortunately, one remained on his tail.


    The illusions held for half a minute. As soon as they ended, Xerxes dispelled the Harpy still on his trail to drop him, and ducked into an alley before the Harpy could continue his pursuit. Several harpies flew past his hidden position, but none spotted him.


    Now that he was out of pursuit, he could take the time to rest. Even though elves like him didn''t need sleep, they did eventually need rest. However, it took him much less time than a human needed to sleep, and more importantly, he remained fully aware during that time. While he waited and rested, he had time to think of his next move.


    Maybe,he realized, /fear is an optimal strategy. If I can spread terror with no known cause, their morale would suffer. Keep it up for long enough, and the Harpies might just refuse to patrol. Then, we can leave the city under invisibility.


    He disguised himself with illusion again, left his concealed position, and began to roam the city. Every so often, he looked up, picked one of the patrolling Harpies at random, and assaulted them with a nightmarish terror. A few unlucky Harpies, those with the weakest wills, dropped out of the sky, either from a heart attack or from panicking and forgetting how to fly. The others were shaken, and though they stayed airborne, they began to spread fear across the entire force.


    By morning, the amount of Harpies in the air had been significantly reduced. Unfortunately, they hadn''t cleared out entirely; it seemed that some of them were either willing to ignore the perceived haunting or were more afraid of their supervisors than of him.


    Spreading fear was effective, but not effective enough. Unlike Darius, he had an easy way out of this mess, going back where he belonged, in the shadows. But though it was the easy way out, it wasn''t the right way out. He had to make sure that Daraken and his legion were as weak as possible by the time his own nation entered this war.

 1-14: Defenses

    Annabelle''s team arrived at the Needle through a portal almost fifteen kilometers from Arexia, distant enough that the portal wouldn''t be noticed from the city. They were disguised as diplomats of the Carcos Tribe, a nomadic tribe in the Outer Regions that, according to intelligence reports, was considering negotiations with Daraken''s empire. They would give the Black Legion their horses (which were unheard-of in Garnoth) in exchange for protection from the Legion''s advance, and aid against their own enemies.


    Annabelle was carrying a bag of holding that took the form of a purse. Inside it was her weaponry (an Arcane Bolter and a sword enchanted for superior durability and sharpness), as well as five healing orbs (like potions, but not totally impractical to use in combat).


    She was also wearing one of the Resistance''s most powerful magic items, the Agent''s Aegis. The magical amulet had two effects. Firstly, it created a field of magical force that could deflect and absorb incoming attacks, compensating for the fact that Annabelle couldn''t wear armor with her disguise. And secondly, it could alter her form with what could best be described as magical plastic surgery. She had used it to make herself appear a bit older (as she was a bit young to be a plausible diplomat), and had been mildly creeped out by the amulet''s magic physically reshaping her body. It couldn''t change her physical capabilities, but a disguise would prevent her from being recognized on sight by the guards.


    "I hope we don''t have to walk very far in these costumes," Lorso said. "I''m already overheating."


    Unlike Garnoth''s mainland, the Needle was a cooler, grassy region. It had almost the same climate as Sanctuary, in fact.


    "Probably just because it''s heavier than what you usually wear," Annabelle snarked.


    Unfortunately for Lorso, it was a fairly long walk. It took three hours for the trio to reach Arexia on foot, and Lorso complained most of the way. Meanwhile, Annabelle practiced with multi-target telepathy.


    Annabelle knew it was possible. The Elders had at several times used city-wide telepathic broadcasts. If her plan was to have any chance of success, she would need to do something similar.


    Normally, telepathy was a single focused channel, picking a specific mind to interact with. But she had previously created a telepathic burst that seemed to affect everyone near her, even if it only stunned them.


    She first attempted to replicate the uncontrolled psychic burst she had done earlier. It was surprisingly hard to get herself to do it in a controlled environment, but she quickly figured it out and released a minor blast, enough to get attention of Lorso and Silence.


    But she needed more control. She created a message and focused on it as she released another psychic burst.


    What are you doing?Silence asked her.


    Attempting multi-target telepathy,Annabelle replied.Did you get my message?


    No,Silence sent.But I think I know the technique you''re trying to develop.


    Don''t you only communicate with one person at a time?


    Normally. But I-Silence hesitated.I can create a wider network.


    Hello, Lorso,Silence sent out, as he created a three-way communications channel.


    Why are you-Lorso replied, in the same network.


    We''re working on telepathic stuff. Feel free to ignore us.


    It''s not like you''re in my head or anything...Lorso grumbled.


    Silence decided to drop the connection to Lorso, at least temporarily.


    How did you do that?Annabelle asked.


    I forge stable links, one at a time,Silence explained.I create connections that do not break after my focus is lost.


    Though it wasn''t exactly what Annabelle was looking for, it would still be a useful technique.How do you do it?


    Silence explained how he did it, and Annabelle only partially understood his explanation.


    She told him to drop his telepathic channel, as she attempted to copy his technique, using him as her target. If it worked as he said it did, once she established it, it would linger when she took her mind off it, rather than dropping the instant she stopped using it.


    She opened a channel, as if she was about to send a message, but instead of going through the channel, she attempted to reinforce it first. But all she managed to do was cut herself off instead.


    She made another few attempts, and thought she had gotten it on the last one, making a stable channel, but it ended up breaking up when she simulated a loss of focus. She would have given it more attempts, but she needed to save her energy for the upcoming fight.


    Besides, a large series of stable links would take far too long to establish. A wide-scale telepathic burst was her best bet.


    **********


    As they approached the city, they saw the Black Legion military camp. Or at least what was left of it. As the reports had stated, much of it was in ruins, and the remaining buildings were deserted. They appeared to have left a large amount of supplies behind, and Annabelle was surprised to see no one scavenging through the camp.


    Well, of course they aren''t scavenging,she realized.The city''s on lockdown, and the Black Legion wouldn''t let people go out to steal their stuff.Even so, why wouldn''t they bring their supplies with them?


    They walked past the ruined camp and arrived at the city gate. Five guards were on duty, with one of them appearing to be the captain. Here, Annabelle''s abilities would be tested.


    Sure, she could boost herself over the stone walls, and go loud from the start. But then they would be fighting an enemy on the defensive, in their own territory. However, if Annabelle''s team could infiltrate first, the Black Legion would have difficulty responding to the threat, and they could start the assault at their headquarters. And, they would be able to get Darius to join them.


    "Halt!" a guard wearing the red-striped helmet of a Black Legion officer announced. "State your business."


    "We are a diplomatic mission from the Carcos Tribe, seeking an audience," Lorso announced.


    "You come at an unfortunate time," the officer replied. "The city is under lockdown until fugitives can be captured. No one is to enter or leave until the situation is resolved."


    Lorso sighed in frustration. "So, we wait. But for how long?"


    So, now what?Annabelle sent, using Silence''s telepathic channel.


    Poke around, see what you can do. I''ll keep them busy,Lorso told her.


    "Leave." one of the grunts ordered. "We cannot allow visitors until this lockdown is resolved.


    "We were attacked by bandits," Lorso claimed. "They stole our horses, our food, and most of our supplies. We barely made it here, and I don''t think we have the supplies to go elsewhere."


    While Lorso argued with the guards, Annabelle went to work, analyzing the defenses. Using her telepathy, she attempted to skim the surface thoughts of the guards. She couldn''t get much more without alerting them, and even thought-reading could be detected if one of the guards was wary or strong-willed.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "We don''t care. Just leave our sight," that grunt continued.


    Another guard offered to let the group stay in the military camp outside the city, but Lorso ignored them to retaliate against that guard.


    "Inhospitability towards diplomats is a grave sin." Lorso declared. "If you do not allow us entry, you''ll be facing our armies."


    "Wait. I think we can work something out," the officer said. "Just, just give me a few minutes."


    What do I do? I''m not qualified for this.The officer''s thoughts were racing.


    "You have five minutes," Lorso declared.


    "Excuse me for a bit." The captain left, along with the misbehaving grunt and one other individual. Annabelle briefly considered controlling one of the remaining guards, but the odds of having one guard silently kill the other were too low to attempt.


    However, though she didn''t sieze control of one of the guards, she did continue to skim surface thoughts.


    What is the point of this uniform switch? It''s messed up the chain of command, and probably caused a diplomatic incident.


    Annabelle was now glad she had analyzed the situation, instead of opening by simply mind-controlling the highest-ranking enemy. If Daraken had managed to execute that trap...


    Alright, Lorso, I am fairly certain the ''officer'' here is a grunt disguised as one. I''m not sure where the real commanding officer is, though.


    That''s interesting,Lorso replied.I think I''ll try to push him around until he breaks.


    After a few long minutes, the ''officer'' returned, along with the non-misbehaving grunt. "I apologize for this inconvenience. I have reported the guard''s actions to my superiors, and have sent for my captain. He will be arriving shortly to clear you for entry."


    "What exactly is your purpose when you can''t even solve a simple problem without having to go up the chain of command? Shouldn''t they have just stationed a higher-up on the gate in the first place?"


    The officer began to waver, but attempted to save face. "My captain is busy with this manhunt. He was not aware that you would be arriving."


    On a hunch, Annabelle decided to read the surface thoughts of the guard that accompanied the escort back.


    I need to do something. If I let this decoy continue to appear to be in charge, we''ll lose face in this key negotiation. We might even start a war.


    So, that man was the true commanding officer here. She sent a quick message to Lorso, then went into action.


    With an invisible psychic effort, she pushed forth a new course of action. While outright mind control could work, Annabelle would need to maintain it until she either found a way to kill off the officer or could handle the alert the officer would raise. However, a more subtle influence would likely go undetected, especially when it was an action they likely would have performed anyways. Her target''s will was weak, and he was easily influenced.


    "I believe," Lorso retorted, "that Daraken should make a concession in our agreement. Namely, you should be stripped of your rank for incompetence."


    "You dare?" The decoy reacted, suddenly becoming aggressive. "If you did not have diplomatic immunity, I would order you shot where you stand."


    "Bring it!" Lorso shouted.


    Lorso, no fire,Silence warned. Annabelle looked back at Lorso, who had shifted into a combat stance. She seemed only a few seconds away from blasting the gatehouse with a fireball.


    I was bluffing,Lorso claimed.


    "Alright, that''s enough!" Annabelle''s target shouted. "You aren''t in command, I am."


    The decoy decided to object. Annabelle had a slight panic, as if she had suggested the right course of action to the wrong person. "Excuse me?"


    Her target turned towards the group. "I apologize for this incident. Daraken, in his infinite wisdom, decided to place this man as a decoy, making him dress as an officer for reasons I cannot fathom. He has no real authority."


    The decoy glared at his superior, but decided to back down, thankfully. If he had gone berserk, Annabelle''s team would have been correctly suspected of mind control, but for the wrong reasons.


    "Even so, I will expect compensation for his actions," Lorso demanded.


    "I will start by opening the gates," the true officer replied. "I will escort you to an inn, and provide you with room and board free of charge, while I inform our own diplomats of the arranged meeting."


    He motioned to the other two guards, who moved to each side of the gate and pulled it open to let Annabelle''s team get through, then closed it. The officer began to lead them to an inn.


    They arrived at the Lizard''s Eye Inn. Annabelle didn''t expect much based on the title, but it was a surprisingly upscale establishment. It seemed the Black Legion spared no expense for their diplomatic allies. The three of them immediately sat down at a table and ordered food and drink. The officer dropped a coin purse on the table, then left to return to his post.


    Small problem,Silence interrupted.More guards.


    Annabelle took a glance around them, and saw four Black Legion guards entering the establishment. They weren''t making any efforts to blend in. Annabelle tensed up for a moment, before realizing that having a group of guards keep friendly diplomats out of trouble wasn''t out of the ordinary.


    They shouldn''t be a concern for now. I''ll deal with them later if necessary.


    "So, " Annabelle mentioned to Silence, "what do you think of our chances?"


    Silence, naturally, didn''t respond.


    "Will he actually aid us against our foes, or will he just use this alliance until he tires of it, then merely add us to his empire?"


    I''m not going to reply to that, you know.


    Just trying to keep up appearances,Annabelle replied.Give the guards something to report on.


    "I''m not sure," Lorso said. "Seems like he doesn''t care about us."


    "That was just a misunderstanding, and you know it. Although, he seems a bit scatter-brained."


    "I don''t know. Maybe he doesn''t trust us. Maybe he''ll agree to an alliance, then backstab us when our guards are down."


    Annabelle finished eating, then commenced the next stage of the plan.


    "I''m going to go clear my head, " Annabelle announced. She walked out of the door of the inn, and wandered the city, seemingly at random. After she left, she took a glance behind her to find that two of the guards were tailing her. After all, she still needed protection.


    She led the guards halfway across the city before she get rid of them. She took control of one of the guards.


    "Hey, I''ve got something to show you, " Annabelle''s thrall said to his partner. "Come over here, quickly." The other guard was reluctant, but as Annabelle''s thrall ran into a nearby alleyway, his partner had no choice but to follow. There, her thrall drew his blade and slew his partner, before turning the blade on himself. Annabelle had to take direct control of his body to get him to override his own survival instincts, but she still overpowered him.


    Eventually, their deaths would be discovered, but by then, it should be too late for the Black Legion to do anything about it.


    Then, she reached her destination, one of the Resistance''s safehouses. The Resistance had three safehouses in the city, and Darius was likely to be hiding in one.


    She came across a large collection of dead guards. This safehouse''s cover had been blown. Darius was unlikely to be in the area, and had likely been captured.


    Their prison would also be at their main fort. If Darius had been captured, any prison break would just be part of the main assault, and with the Black Legion''s penchant for torture, he likely wouldn''t be in any fighting shape.


    Suddenly, Annabelle felt someone grabbing her from behind, putting a knife to her neck. Almost on instinct, she used a telekinetic burst to break her attacker''s grip and get clear. Then, she turned around and saw an indistinct form, seemingly camouflaged with the surrounded environment.


    Darius, it''s me, Annabelle.


    You don''t look like-


    I''m in disguise. I''m not sure why you''re here, though. This place is exposed.


    Darius realized that pretty quickly, and lowered his weapons.The Black Legion probably expects me to evacuate after I kill a patrol. They''ve sent a few small patrols to follow up, but I managed to hide from all of them.


    That was a surprising strategy. It was probably banking on Daraken or his subordinates overthinking their search plan.


    Why are you here?Darius asked.


    Annabelle sent him the plan.


    This is a risky plan,Darius sent.But, the reward could be a crippled Black Legion.


    Just wait for the signal,Annabelle told him.


    She left the safehouse (after Darius checked to make sure they weren''t being tracked) and returned to the inn. She also had Silence modify their telepathic network to include Darius as a member, and he modified the connection between Darius and Annabelle to facilitate it. Annabelle still wasn''t sure how he did it, even after analyzing what he did.


    When she reached the inn, she saw Lorso talking with a Black Legion commander and her retinue.


    "There you are," the commander said. "You went missing, and the guards that were supposed to keep you safe disappeared. We were worried about you."


    Were they worried about her as a person, or as a potential threat?


    "Daraken is now ready to receive you. Follow me to the citadel."


    Wait, in person? Surely, Daraken wouldn''t receive any diplomats in person. If he did, they were likely in serious trouble.


    They followed the commander and her troop towards the citadel. It was originally designed as a defensive emplacement that the city''s populace would retreat to for a final stand in a siege, but after Arexia surrendered, they seemed to put up no resistance to the Black Legion using it as a general military headquarters.


    "Wait, are we sure this isn''t a trap?" Annabelle said loudly, right as they reached the citadel''s gate.


    "If they wanted to kill us, " Lorso replied, "they would have attacked us sooner. Why would they go through this whole process to invite us in, when they could have easily had us executed as soon as we arrived?"


    "That isn''t exactly reassuring."


    "We are not in the business of killing diplomats, " the commander said. "They''re more valuable alive than dead, after all."


    "Also not reassuring. But, I guess we don''t have much other choice."


    Thecommander signaled to open the gates. But as the gates were opened, an alert came out. A Harpy flew down from the sky, shouting an alarm. "The fugitive is rushing this position. He''s going to kill the diplomats!"


    Annabelle and Lorso feigned fear, while Silence stepped in front of them to act like a bodyguard. The guards turned outwards, preparing to fire on Darius the instant he appeared.


    They were not ready for their surprise attack.

 1-15: Invasion

    Annabelle saw a fireball shoot out from a rooftop. Though she couldn''t see Darius, she knew he fired the blast from his wand. It was aimed in front of the guard formation, keeping Annabelle out of the blast radius.


    Annabelle covertly utilized a telekinetic blast to launch the soldiers in front of her forwards towards the impact. The explosion killed them all, and the lack of any visible aura prevented her from being the suspect.


    Above, four Harpies dove towards Darius. Annabelle picked one of them and seized control of him.


    Then, she used a combination of the Harpy''s instincts, her own direct control, and some remote telekinetic maneuvering boosts boosts to have him kill two of his brethren, bisecting one with a boosted glaive swing and stabbing the other in the throat.


    The last one managed to reach Darius, but he dodged their downward glaive swing. Annabelle then telekinetically slammed the Harpy downwards into the roof, and Darius finished her off before she could get up. The enemy still had no clue it was her doing.


    "The gate''s open!" A soldier yelled. "Get inside, now!"


    Annabelle, Lorso, and Silence rushed through, alongside the Black Legion commander. As soon as they were through into the courtyard, the gate closed behind them.


    Now, it was showtime.


    "Are you sure he can''t scale the walls?" Annabelle asked. She knew that Darius could scale it, but did they know he could?


    "I know he can," the commander replied. "I''m counting on it." She drew her weapon, a spear with a folding handle and a glowing red tip.


    Then, she aimed the spearpoint at Annabelle, and blasted a beam of fire out of the staff.


    Annabelle was taken by surprise. Her Aegis kicked in, and a magical barrier manifested around her, shielding her from the blast. She still felt some of the heat, but any serious damage was prevented.


    "Plan Alpha," The commander ordered. "Take that one alive," -she pointed at Annabelle- "kill the others."


    So, they had known she would arrive, and had set a trap for them.


    Well, there was no point in hiding her identity. She gave a mental command to the Agent''s Aegis to revert her back to her original form, and tried to ignore her shifting flesh as she gave her ultimatum. She also surrounded herself with a glowing purple aura for effect.


    "I am Annabelle Lee," Annabelle declared. "I give you one chance. Surrender now, and you will live. Fight us, and you will die."


    She wasn''t sure if anyone listened. To add to her point, she demonstrated on the enemy commander. She made a pointless hand motion for effect, as she slammed the commander into a nearby wall with an incredible telekinetic force. Then, with her other hand, she grabbed her Arcane Bolter out of her bag of holding, aimed it, and fired several shots into the commander as she recovered from the impact.


    Beside her, Lorso shot into the air, and surrounded herself in an aura of fire. Her clothing burned off, only to reveal her usual short dress and gloves underneath it.


    I feel like that''s why you were overheating earlier,Annabelle sent.Wearing two layers of clothes.


    This dress is enchanted to be fireproof,Lorso replied.Otherwise I''d end up naked after every fight.


    Lorso engaged the soldiers on the citadel''s walls, blasting them with fireballs and fire beams.


    Meanwhile Annabelle saw the Black Legion commander get back up. Silence immediately jumped on her, grabbing her by the neck and slamming her head into a building. But she held onto her spear, folded its handle to reduce its length, and stabbed Silence in the chest. The spearpoint went through like a hot knife through butter, and Silence jolted backards.


    The... spearpoint is superheated,Silence told the group.It melted my defenses.


    Wait, Circe''s here?Darius realized.


    Circe?Annabelle asked.


    Circe Fire-Spear, Daraken''s second-in-command and lead military advisor. Known for having a spear that is essentially a pyromancer''s staff modified for her use. If she''s here personally, it means Daraken''s success is practically assured.


    How so?


    Daraken wouldn''t risk his second-in-command unless he was assured of success.


    Daraken doesn''t know his trap''s going to backfire,Annabelle replied. Or maybe he did know, and knew that she would fail.


    Circe then hit Silence with another fire beam. Annabelle quickly stepped to the side of Silence and fired several bolts at her to force her to evade, but she still inflicted serious damage. Silence slumped over, dropping to one knee.


    I need to support Silence. Annabelle, Darius, take the walls.


    Can you give me flight again?Annabelle asked.


    I''d need to touch you to bestow it.


    Never mind then.She didn''tneedmagic to get height, after all. Though it would certainly give her a significant maneuverability edge.


    She jumped, and channeled telekinesis to throw herself into the air in a ballistic arc.


    Just after she went airborne, the curse struck. Annabelle''s entire mind was overcome, and for a brief instant, it was all she could do to resist.


    Did you really expect this to work?a voice said in Annabelle''s mind.I''ve analyzed all possible futures. You succeed in none of them.


    Annabelle didn''t respond, and instead fought back the curse''s effects, keeping it contained. She managed to push it out of her mind just in time to brace for impact. She landed hard, but she landed on the walls.


    She was slow to get up, which gave the soldiers an opportunity to fire on her. Her Aegis flared up, and blocked most of the incoming bolts, but one got through, penetrating her skin and puncturing a lung. Did Daraken even want her alive?


    The curse throbbed in the back of Annabelle''s mind. Though she had managed to replace the arcane energy sealing it away with her own psychic effort, it required constant focus to maintain. If she lost focus, she would fall.


    So far, everything was going according to plan. She had forced Daraken to use his curse, and now all she had to do was turn it against the city. But, she underestimated the difficulty of that maneuver. She needed a significant amount of time to focus to hit the entire city with a telepathic burst, and she couldn''t concentrate on that until the nearby threats were eliminated.


    She manifested a kinetic barrier to block further fire, then took down enemy soldiers with a combination of Arcane Bolter fire and throwing them off the walls with telekinesis.


    Near the gates, Darius climbed over the top of the walls and took out the remaining soldiers with a combination of stabbing and knife throwing, then fired a barrage of homing magic bolts past Annabelle and into a group of approaching Harpies.


    Right, Harpies. Annabelle sent orders to the Harpy she had control of to join the battle in the air, but he had slipped out of her control when she was distracted.


    Annabelle ripped the bolt out of her chest with one hand, while switching her Arcane Bolter out for a healing orb out of her bag with the other. She gasped for air briefly, before slamming the orb into her chest, shattering it and causing its healing magic to close the wound.


    She then jumped back down into the courtyard, landing with a small shockwave as she nullified her impact force.


    To her left, a fully-healed Silence ripped Circe''s spear out of her hands, then snapped her neck. Lorso dropped down to pick up the spear, which began to glow red-hot in her hands.


    Yeah, try to burn my hands off. I''m immune to fire, my gloves are immune to fire, and my hands don''t feel anything anyways.Lorso was still surrounded in an aura of fire, but was clearly unharmed.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    I can fix that problem,Darius offered.


    Except it''s not a problem.


    Lorso raised her new staff to the sky, and fired a red burst of magic upwards that coalesced into a wall of fire. Or, more accurately, a ceiling of fire, covering the entire courtyard from above. The Harpies would not be able to get through.


    A hole briefly opened up in the wall, as Darius used one of his wands to dispel a section for long enough to slip through.


    Finally, a chance to focus. Annabelle focused inward, focusing the energy necessary for a psychic burst capable of distributing Daraken''s curse across the entire city. But the more she focused on gathering energy, the less she was able to protect herself against the curse. A bit of it slipped through her defenses, and she lost focus on the burst to defend against it.


    She made another attempt, but the same thing occurred. She couldn''t unleash a psychic blast while suppressing the curse at the same time.


    Your resistance is impressive,Daraken said in her mind.But you cannot defeat this curse. I am the strongest archmage, and even I will need several hours to dispel this curse later. You will not be able to resist for much longer.


    What do you want?Daraken was almost certainly intelligent enough to not waste time gloating, so he had to have something to gain. But Daraken did not reply. Maybe he was just trying to intimidate her and make her defenses waver.


    On the other side of the citadel, a door slammed open, and a stone golem marched through. Behind it stood an apprentice of Daraken (judging by the black coat, mask, and magic staff), accompanied by a division of heavily-armored elite soldiers.


    Lorso immediately jumped into the air and launched a fireball with one hand, followed by a fire beam from her spear/staff. The apprentice countered both attacks easily, intercepting the fireball with a blue bolt of magic that caused it to disappear, then countering the beam with a magical barrier.


    Then, the ceiling of fire above them dissipated, leaving them vulnerable to the Harpies from above.


    Something dispelled it,Lorso claimed, even though the apprentice didn''t seem to do anything. She continued to assault the apprentice, but he effortlessly blocked Lorso''s barrage before retaliating with a blast of black lightning that almost knocked Lorso out of the sky.


    Silence charged forwards and engaged the golem. The golem had a size, strength, and durability advantage, but Silence had an edge in speed and skill. He outmaneuvered the golem''s sluggish blows, and each of his own chipped away at its body. But the infantry moved up to support him, and their polearms let them strike around the golem to hit Silence several times and drive him back.


    Darius drew another wand and fired magic missiles at the Harpies, attempting to fend them off. But though he brought down one, there were at least a dozen more above them, and they began to dive in.


    Her allies were failing. Annabelle needed to do something, somewhere, to turn the tides.


    She launched a mental attack against the enemy apprentice. As she expected, he had a significant amount of mental resistance, and she couldn''t seize control of him without a significant fight.


    However, as much as it would be fun to take control of an enemy mage, Annabelle had a simple way to end the fight. She opened a tiny hole in her mental defenses, letting some of the curse''s energy slip out, and then propelled it through the telepathic channel and into the apprentice''s mind, shooting a stream of red energy into him. He immediately fell unconscious, just before Lorso blasted him with a beam of fire. Oddly, the beam burned his coat to ash, but left his naked body unharmed.


    Focus the harpies,Annabelle ordered. Silence was overmatched, but he was the toughest member of the team by far. He could hold his own on the ground and keep the soldiers and golem at bay, but the rest of them weren''t going to last very long unless they took the Harpies down.


    The Harpies dove down to engage. Lorso shot towards their formation and overcharged her personal fire aura, turning it an explosive nova that blasted five Harpies out of the air.


    Darius and Annabelle used knives and Arcane Bolter shots to take down three, and Annabelle slammed two more into the ground. But one of the reached her, impaled her straight through the shoulder with her glaive (punching right through her Aegis'' defenses), then ripped the blade out as he returned to the air, leaving a massive wound. A spray of blood shot out from the wound, which Annabelle immediately stopped with a kinetic barrier.


    The plan was to take her alive? Why were they-


    The wound almost distracted her enough to cause her to lose control of the curse. She caught it just before it overcame her, but lost focus on her kinetic barrier, letting another burst of blood spray out.


    Daraken must have planned for this. It was a lose-lose situation. Either she attempted to suppress the wound and fell to an unblocked curse, or focused on the curse and lost enough blood to black out.


    Luckily, she still had access to healing. She attempted to draw a healing orb out of the bag with telekinesis, before remembering that the bag''s magic didn''t respond to psionics. She struggled to reach a hand in, but managed to pull out a healing orb and slam it against her chest again. It wasn''t enough to close the wound entirely, but it did significantly reduce the bleeding, enough to keep her going until Lorso could patch her up the rest of the way.


    At least, if Lorso didn''t die herself. She was currently engaged in an aerial duel with two bow-equipped Harpies, and seemed to be losing. The Harpies managed to dodge her attacks, and Lorso had several arrows in her from their attacks.


    Silence was impaled through the back by a Harpy''s glaive, but he turned it into an opportunity. He leaned back, ripping the glaive out of the arms of its wielder, then ripped it out of his back and used it as his own weapon. His wild swings were unable to cut through the soldiers'' armor, but with his strength they still hit hard enough to knock them down, clearing openings that he was able to follow up on.


    Darius was the only member of the group who seemed to be uninjured, using his fighting expertise to evade Harpies and bring them down with his knives.


    The Harpy that had struck her earlier dived on her again. With one arm, she fired a single Arcane Bolter shot, a shot that the Harpy dodged.


    With her other arm, she quickly drew her sword out of her bag of holding (which looked a bit odd, given that the sword was longer than the bag), and then used a kinetic boost to dash upwards, catching the Harpy by surprise with a sword swing that hit hard enough to split her skull open.


    She took a glance around, and saw that most of their enemies had been defeated. Silence was now one-on-one against the golem, and even with his injuries he was still winning. There were only five Harpies in the air now.


    Four, after Lorso blasted one of the archers with a beam of fire from her staff.


    But then, the other archer landed a headshot on her.


    Annabelle felt the hit through the telepathic network. Her consciousness faded, and she fell out of the sky.


    Time seemed to slow for Annabelle as she realized what had happened. She was dead, and would likely require potent magic to bring back. Unless¡­


    Annabelle acted on desperation. She caught the body with telekinesis, preventing it from being splattered on impact. Then, she dropped her sword, grabbed her third healing orb, and hurled it at Lorso''s body. Her aim was off, but she corrected its course with a quick telekinetic shift, and it impacted.


    The headshot was lethal, at least by traditional terms. But souls existed, and according to everything that she had heard, they could be used to resurrect someone who had died, if they were willing. Maybe, if she restored Lorso''s brain fast enough, her soul wouldn''t have enough time to leave her body.


    She had seen something similar happen with the Elders'' praetorian guard. A headshot dropped them, but they were loaded with nanobots, and if the rest of their body was not obliterated, their head would regenerate and they would reanimate. She thought it was the Elders seizing control of empty shells that no longer had a mind in them (similarly to how she could control the body of the brain-dead assassin earlier), but maybe they weren''t empty shells after all.


    If that''s true,Annabelle realized,then we killed half a dozen soldiers through inaction.They had stolen the aliens'' regenerative nanobots (and had somehow managed to modify them to work with human physiology, albeit with some side effects), but never thought to use them on soldiers that died to headshots. Maybe it wouldn''t have worked, but they should have at least tried.


    But this time, it worked. Lorso regained consciousness, and she began to stir. A Harpy noticed this and attempted to finish her off before she could get up, but Silence dashed over to her with an incredible speed and hit the Harpy with enough force to gib him. Annabelle thought she saw a yellow psychic aura around Silence''s fist as he delivered the blow.


    Then, the curse overcame her. In her rush to save Lorso, she had dropped her barriers for an instant too long. Her body collapsed, and everything went dark as her senses shut down.


    But she did not lose consciousness. Similarly to how her body was affected by the neurotoxin even while her mind resisted, even as the curse locked down her physical body, her mind was unaffected.


    For anyone else, this would be a fate worse than death, conscious but perceiving nothing for an indefinite period. But she still had psychic powers.


    Now that the curse had already struck, she had no need to split her attention. She focused a massive amount of energy, and then released it in an uncontrolled psychic shockwave.


    As it emanated out from her body, it took the curse with it. Annabelle snapped back into her body, as a red and purple wave emanated out in all directions, encompassing the whole city.


    A Harpy fell out of the sky, landing with a thud. Luckily for her, the stasis prevented her from suffering the broken bones that such a fall would normally deliver.


    The curse had enough energy to put one person in stasis for a hundred years. But after Annabelle''s blast, the effect was now spread out across at least tens of thousands of people. They would likely only be in stasis for a few hours, maybe a day or two at most.


    Somehow, Darius, Lorso, and Silence had avoided the effects. The stone golem was also unaffected, but given that Silence had smashed its limbs apart while Annabelle was in stasis, it could barely even move and posed no threat.


    I leveraged the telepathic network to shield the others,Silence explained.I pulled the effect off of them and onto myself, and then resisted the effect myself.


    Doesn''t explain how you resisted it.Annabelle said. Silence didn''t elaborate on his defenses.


    "So, it is done," Darius said. He opened a communications channel to Sanctuary. "The operation is complete. We have successfully put the entire city to sleep."


    "I don''t have an entry point," Raiks replied. "I''ll have to make the portal outside the city."


    "Doesn''t really matter. There''s no opposition left."


    "Understood. The portal will be opened in five minutes."


    Annabelle felt the start of an exertion headache. She had spent a massive amount of energy releasing the psychic blast, and more in the previous fight. But it was done, and she would have plenty of time to recover.


    -Incoming lethal threat. Sniper. Dodge.-


    Annabelle received the premonition, and dodged on instinct, throwing herself to the side, barely dodging a high-speed projectile. If not for the premonition, she would have been obliterated. Even with it, the projectile still hit the ground hard enough to cause a small explosion, blasting her to the ground.


    She looked up, trying to spot the source of the orbital strike, but couldn''t see anything.


    "Get inside!" Annabelle ordered, as she jumped to her feet and made a dash for the citadel. The others weren''t far behind.


    She attempted to contact Sanctuary to warn them of the threat, but got no response. Something was jamming their comms.


    There was only one plausible culprit.


    Daraken was here.

 1-16: Endgame

    Daraken thought his plan was foolproof. Even if Annabelle was powerful enough to wipe out his entire army, his curse would shut her down. Nothing could resist it.


    But she had. At least, at first.


    Daraken was hesitant to intervene. He was in the process of imbuing a massive crystal with the energy necessary for a future ritual, and if anything interrupted the process, the crystal would shatter, setting him back several weeks of finding another suitable crystal and another week of charging it. However, he could accept that delay if it meant he guaranteed the elimination of his biggest threat.


    He turned himself invisible and prepared to teleport. Normally, portals took several minutes to open. However, that limitation was not a fundamental restriction of all portals, but rather a limitation in the amount of power the generators were loaded with. With a simple incantation, he instantly opened a portal into the sky over Arexia, and stepped through, closing the portal behind him. His permanent flight kicked in, and he hovered over the city to observe.


    He immediately noticed streams of ultraviolet light around Annabelle, as she manifested her abilities to engage his troops on the wall. The light was not in the normal visible spectrum, but Daraken¡¯s arcane sight allowed him to track it, as it allowed him to track the energy of several other types of spells that were invisible to the naked eye.


    After she cleared out the walls, she dropped back into the courtyard, and Lorso used a wall of fire creatively to block off his Harpies. She wasn¡¯t technically a traitor (given that he hadn¡¯t officially revealed himself to her), but Daraken still wasn¡¯t sure why she had an interest in Annabelle, or why her friend was tough enough to withstand being impaled by Circe and strong enough to snap her neck effortlessly.


    Daraken decided to dispel Lorso¡¯s wall covertly, as he ordered one of his apprentices to move in to engage. The combined assault from his apprentice and the Harpies would likely overwhelm them.


    Then, a stream of red energy, surrounded by the ultraviolet energy of Annabelle¡¯s psychic powers, shot into the apprentice and incapacitated him. Annabelle had found a way to harness the curse for her own ends.


    Daraken analyzed the recent future, using magic to scan the future where he did nothing to intervene. In that timeline, Annabelle was overwhelmed, lost focus, and succumbed to the curse. He cancelled his analysis of the future, and in the real world, the events transpired in exactly the same manner, and Annabelle was put into Stasis. It should have been his victory.


    But then, the Event occurred. While Annabelle was in stasis, she somehow managed to create a telepathic burst, and transferred all of the curse¡¯s energy to it. In an instant, the entire city was knocked unconscious. Daraken himself only resisted it due to a combination of his distance from the burst and his automatic mental barrier.


    Daraken had dropped the timeline the instant it showed victory, not even considering the potential of Annabelle doing another thing Daraken had previously deemed impossible.


    Now, his entire army was incapacitated, and Annabelle and her team was unharmed. And, taking advantage of that, Annabelle sent a message to Sanctuary, calling for backup.


    Daraken realized two things.


    Firstly, Annabelle mentioned this as if it was a planned operation, not a desperate ploy. So, she had to have known of the curse¡¯s existence, and of its nature. That explained why they went loud after infiltrating, despite having the potential to inflict severe damage with sabotage. Annabelle wanted him to know she was a threat and deploy his trap card.


    And secondly, this was a perfect opportunity for a different trap, turning a devastating hit against his army into an opportunity to cause even further damage to the Resistance.


    He took ten seconds to carefully arrange a spell that would disable Resistance communications city-wide without letting their Sanctuary realize that communications were lost.


    He took ten more seconds to prepare a contingency that would hijack the incoming Resistance portal as soon as someone attempted to retreat through it, ensuring that retreat would be a death sentence.


    Then, he fired a piercing bolt at Annabelle. While elemental attacks were flashy, they were an inefficient use of energy. It was far more efficient to summon a small super-durable needle and then use magic to launch it at supersonic velocities, eliminating the target before they even knew what hit them.


    Somehow, Annabelle dodged it, even though she wasn¡¯t looking up and had no way to hear the bolt until after it hit her. The impact created a small explosion in the dirt, but Annabelle was relatively unharmed. Daraken readied another bolt, but Annabelle quickly rushed into a building, and Daraken couldn¡¯t get a clear shot.


    He could have destroyed the building, but they would likely be able to flee faster than he could destroy it, and it would result in excessive collateral damage. So, he dropped down to engage them inside.


    He double-checked his defenses before engaging. His physical barrier was at full strength, but his mental barrier had been corrupted and rendered useless by the curse hitting it. He discarded it and quickly threw up three more in its place. He did not want to take the chance of Annabelle beating him with one of her mental attacks.


    With one of the functions of his arcane sight, he was able to track the position of living beings through walls and stealth. It was effortless to track them down and hover in through a window.


    Now, how to kill them? His piercing bolts took time to charge up before launching, would give away his position, and would likely be evaded. A fire blast would fail to bring down Lorso, and she would have the chance to heal everyone back from the brink of death.


    Wait. They had stopped moving. And now-


    Lorso¡¯s brute leaped at him, even though his position should still have been concealed. Daraken was caught off guard by the height of the leap, but his barrier warded off his unarmed strikes (though they did a lot more damage than he expected). He swung out with his staff, hitting the brute with the focusing crystal and triggering a kinetic burst that launched the brute back into a nearby wall, hitting hard enough to leave a small crate.


    He knew Annabelle had some way to deal with invisibility, but how did she transfer the information to her ally? And why did this brute look completely unharmed after being slammed into a wall?


    His mental barriers came under assault. Daraken¡¯s first barrier began to crack, but for now it withstood the attack. The energy stream she sent out was a visible stream of purple, which also revealed his position to the other members of her team.


    Darius fired a dispelling bolt from his wand. It purged his invisibility and slightly weakened his barrier, but his defenses were too strong to be beaten that easily. He fired several more blasts, but his defenses still held.


    Lorso blasted him with a beam of fire. His barrier resisted the assault with no significant drain, but she persisted the assault. Maybe she was trying to burn the shield down (which would be effective eventually), or maybe she was trying to blind him with the spray (a measure that Daraken''s arcane sight was specially formulated to counter).


    Behind him, the brute leaped again and delivered a devastating haymaker, one that was strong enough to briefly shatter his shield. The fire beam got through, but his coat¡¯s elemental protection meant that it did only mild cosmetic damage.


    Daraken quickly readied a piercing bolt. The brute rebounded off of the shield and into the wall, but before he could jump off of the wall to hit him again, Daraken countered with lightning chains, pinning him to the wall and electrocuting him. Then, he fired the bolt, aiming center-of-mass on Lorso. Lorso took a direct hit, and her fire beam stopped.


    Then, he was staggered by a devastating mental blast. Even though all three of his barriers were still up, Annabelle had managed to find a way to bypass them. He withstood the initial assault, and quickly analyzed his defenses for flaws.


    I¡¯m curious, how did you invent gunpowder? Annabelle asked.


    Daraken was too focused on identifying the hole in his defenses to respond.


    The last guy I asked about it killed himself. But you can''t possibly have a killswitch on yourself, can you?


    Daraken identified the weakness. Annabelle had managed to subvert his first barrier, and used it to bypass the other two with her attack. He discarded the subverted barrier, and reorganized his defenses so that she couldn¡¯t do the same thing twice.


    But while he was defending against that attack, Darius had enough time to free Silence from the wall with a dispel from his wand. He then made his move against Daraken. He first attempted to time a dispel shot from his wand to disrupt his shield so that a thrown knife could bypass it, but the dispel had no effect, and the knife bounced off.


    Darius then chose to jump up to engage Daraken in melee. He turned around in midair, body-slammed Daraken''s shield, then whipped around and slung a knife through the shield as it was disrupted by a dispelling jolt with no known source. For the first time in a decade, Daraken had been injured in battle.


    But he quickly countered, shooting out a red bolt that put him to sleep instantly. Unlike the Curse of Eternal Slumber, this ¡®lesser¡¯ variant didn¡¯t put the body in stasis. Darius, instead of controlling his fall, landed on his back, likely breaking some bones in the process. Daraken then pulled the knife out of his chest, and another contingency activated, giving him a burst of regeneration that closed the wound in a matter of seconds.


    Daraken next turned to face Annabelle. She backpedaled and fired several shots from her Arcane Bolter, which had minimal effect against Daraken''s shield, and sustained her mental assault, which had almost destroyed his second barrier. Daraken aimed his staff at her and fired a continuous energy beam into her. She managed to put up a telekinetic barrier to block the beam.


    Daraken continued to fire his staff one-handed, while with his other hand he fired an arcing blast of black lightning over and around the shield. A magical barrier sprung up around Annabelle that blocked the lighting for a few seconds before it failed. Then, Annabelle managed to stay up even as the current arced through her body. If anything, it seemed to make her mental assault stronger, as if she was channeling the lightning through the mental connection she was using.


    She only went down when her barrier was finally overwhelmed, allowing Daraken''s beam to strike.


    Then, Lorso¡¯s brute slammed down on the top of his barrier, brandishing an explosive charge in his palm. The charge detonated, all of its explosive force trapped between the brute¡¯s palm and his barrier. Somehow, against all logic and biology, his barrier broke first, and he was blasted into the ground.


    He lost consciousness for a split-second. Not due to trauma, but rather due to one of his contingencies briefly putting his body state into stasis to nullify incoming damage. Maybe the brute had used a similar trick to prevent the explosion from blowing apart his hand. The next thing Daraken knew, the brute was on top of him, pounding him to death. He ate one nasty blow to the head before he blinked four meters away and back onto his feet. His regeneration caused his headache to quickly fade.


    This brute called for extreme amounts of firepower to dispose of. He backpedaled away from him while unleashing simultaneous streams of fire and lightning, finishing with a piercing bolt to the torso. After the barrage was finished, he was still standing, and still pressing forward. Daraken stabbed forward with his staff, but the brute grabbed it and stepped in.


    Just before he connected, Daraken teleported behind him and slammed him in the back properly, knocking him down. Then, he charged up his staff to full strength, readying a beam powerful enough to blow through several buildings. If it couldn¡¯t kill this brute, he would have to get creative.


    "Stop!" Lorso screamed. Daraken looked over, and saw that she was almost fully healed. "We surrender!"


    "Surrender?" Daraken replied. "What do you have to offer?" He kept his staff charged and at the ready, but held his fire.


    "I''ll do anything for you." Lorso begged. "Just don''t hurt him."


    "Interesting proposition," Daraken replied. "But you''ve already betrayed me once before."The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "When did I betray you?" Lorso asked, before immediately realizing the truth. "Wait, that professor at the college- that was you?"


    "An associate of mine," Daraken said. "On second thought, I don''t think you actually did betray me. At least not knowingly. So, how about a simple deal: you two join me as my apprentices, and aid me in accomplishing my goals, and I won''t kill you."


    Lorso briefly considered it. "I accept."


    "You¡­ traitor¡­" Annabelle managed to say. Despite her wounds, she struggled to her feet, attempting to continue the fight. Daraken was about to finish her off, but Lorso did the job for him, incinerating her with a single blast of power.


    "It''s too late to go back now, " Lorso said. "The Resistance is going to send the rest of their forces in through a portal."


    "Yes," Daraken said. "They will be eliminated. It doesn''t mean much anyways, given that their heavy hitter is now dead. The rest of their forces combined would not equal her."


    Just to make sure, Daraken attempted to absorb her soul, just to ensure Annabelle could never be brought back. But when he did so, her soul resisted. It was still attached to a live body.


    However she had survived, it wouldn''t matter. Daraken charged up his staff to full power, ready to obliterate her until there was nothing left.


    But Annabelle struck first.


    **********


    Annabelle had a surprising amount of resistance to electricity, partly due to recovering from prior torture utilizing electricity, and partly due to sheer mental fortitude mitigating the damage to her mind. But though Daraken couldn¡¯t disrupt her manifestation of the barrier, he was still able to overwhelm it with brute force.


    She let herself fall to avoid being finished off, and devoted her attention to Darius. Daraken hit him with a lesser sleep spell, and though the spell still had a hold on his mind, it wasn''t anything like the Curse of Eternal Slumber he had used on her.


    She had managed to revive Darius at about the time when Lorso set her on fire. But oddly, she didn''t seem to burn. In fact, she felt... powerful.


    So, I''ve come up with an experimental spell. I call it Inferno Blessing. For the next few minutes, the energy from that fire is going to be converted into healing and strength. Unfortunately, I¡¯m not sure what happens after it expires.


    Yeah, a risky spell and you just use it on an ally with no warning. Great idea.


    It''s the best I could do, on short notice. It should give you an opening for a surprise attack.


    A vortex wouldn¡¯t work here, not when the target was in close proximity to several allies. She could resist the effects of her own vortex, but it would cause excessive casualties among her allies, and might not even kill Daraken.


    There was a different trick, an attack used by the Elders that was dubbed the ¡°distortion beam¡±, a beam of spatial distortion capable of ripping apart molecular bonds and destroying almost anything in one hit.


    She focused her energy, concentrating just as much on keeping her efforts hidden as on gathering energy. Lorso continued to stall Daraken by pretending to defect, but it wouldn''t take long at all for Daraken to realize Lorso''s deception.


    Just as Daraken realized, Annabelle unleashed her blast. She created a core of spatial rending, the predecessor to a rending vortex, and then destabilized it as she violently launched it at Daraken.


    A brilliant beam of purple energy shot out from her head, slamming straight into Daraken. The blast penetrated through any defenses Daraken had, and shredded through his left torso. His body was almost sliced in two, and spun backwards, releasing a spray of blood. He was surely dead.


    Just to be sure, Annabelle used direct telekinesis on his body. There was no manipulation boundary, and he took advantage of it to mulch his organs. If he was lucky enough to have only been incapacitated by the initial blast, that would finish the job.


    "So, I think the whole ''convert fire to healing'' is a bit overkill," Annabelle said. She was fully healed, but was still on fire.


    "I can put it out,¡± Lorso claimed. ¡°I think. Give me a few minutes.¡±


    "Your spell only lasts a few minutes. I''d rather not wait."


    "I think there''s an aquifer nearby," Darius interjected. "You''ll be soaked, but you won''t be on fire."


    Out of the corner of her eye, Annabelle noticed changes in Daraken''s body. He began to grow in size, his clothing and equipment began to disappear, and his skin turned into blue scales. Then, wings sprouted out of his back, his head became reptilian, and his arms and legs grew razor-sharp claws.


    ¡°Interesting,¡± Daraken said, his voice booming and coarse.


    Daraken, now in the form of a dragon, rose up into a standing position. Even in this new form, his left side still showed some damage, scales cracked and broken, seemingly a lingering effect of the distortion beam.


    Do dragons exist in this world? Annabelle asked. And how did he turn into one after I killed him?


    Dragons exist, but are incredibly rare, Darius explained. As for why he turned into one after his death, I have only one explanation. A shapeshifter reverts to their true form after their body dies.


    That would mean Daraken was a dragon taking the form of a human, Lorso realized. Is everything we know about his youth wrong?


    Daraken inhaled, readying some sort of dragon¡¯s breath. Annabelle interrupted him by rushing forward, drawing her sword, and delivering an incredibly powerful telekinetically amplified sword swing straight to Daraken''s new head.


    Daraken''s head was somehow not slashed open by the impact, but instead merely knocked aside. He swung his head back around to bite at Annabelle, but she caught the head on her backswing with another telekinetic boost, smashing it aside again.


    Annabelle had a surge of confidence, and rushed forwards to deliver a third strike, an uppercut that would have shattered Daraken¡¯s jaw. But Daraken pushed himself back and out of the path of the swing with a downstroke of his wings, then used an upstroke from his wings to surge back in, delivering a devastating slash with the claws on his foreleg that sent Annabelle flying into a nearby wall, disarming her at the same time.


    But despite taking a massive impact, Annabelle was practically unharmed, between her Aegis flaring up to cushion the impact and Lorso''s magic healing her injuries in just a second. For all that Annabelle could complain about being lit on fire, Lorso''s magic was effective.


    She switched to her Arcane Bolter, readying her last dispelling bolt, and fired it straight into the damaged scales along Daraken''s left side. The shot penetrated and scored a direct hit with a trickle of blood, but yet his transformation was unaffected.


    Daraken immediately let off a breath attack, firing a blast of ice that Annabelle barely avoided by diving to the ground. He then followed up by lunging forward off of a wingbeat, landing directly on top of her. Razor-sharp claws punctured her chest, but her protective field exerted just enough resistance to keep anything worse from happening.


    Daraken was about to bite Annabelle''s head off when he was knocked down by Silence throwing a heavy piece of debris into his side. She got back on her feet as the puncture wounds quickly closed, and watched Lorso unleash a fiery beam into Daraken''s body. This seemed to have no real effect other than drawing Daraken''s attention, however.


    His dragon form seemed almost invulnerable to conventional attack. Even though Annabelle was starting to feel severe backlash from her previous exertions, she pushed through and unleashed a second beam. This blast seemed to pass through most of the dragon''s body, and despite the lack of external damage, Daraken was visibly dazed.


    I think I have a way to kill this beast, Darius told the group. If I can jam a fireball wand underneath his scales, the blast will shred him on the inside. Just keep him stunned! He rushed forward, and leaped directly on top of Daraken, landing where his neck joined with his body.


    Annabelle immediately launched a psychic attack to cover for Darius, Daraken¡¯s mental barriers were still up. She hit one with an overwhelming assault and broke it, but the delay gave Daraken a chance to act.


    Despite his draconic form, Daraken still proved capable of using magic. A burst of magic missiles sprung up from one of Daraken¡¯s claws, before homing in on Darius. He took the entire barrage, somehow managed to stay up, and activated some magical effect to manifest four electrical orbs that spun around him. With Darius still mounting him, Daraken rolled over, and Darius threw himself away just before being crushed.


    As soon as he was back on his feet, Daraken lunged forwards and smashed a claw into him, lacerating him and throwing him backwards. The orbs reacted by shooting into his claw, to no effect. Then, he unleashed his dragon¡¯s breath on Darius.


    Annabelle pulled him out of the way with telekinesis, just before a blast of frost could envelop him.


    Daraken advanced to finish the job, but Silence slammed into Daraken with such strength that even Daraken''s massive body was knocked down. Then, he delivered several powerful blows that seemed to stagger Daraken. But, then Daraken stopped taking the blows, and fought back.


    Silence still held his ground, but the dragon was stronger than him, and had razor-sharp claws and teeth. Daraken almost got an edge, but then Lorso flew in and impaled Daraken in the left flank with her spear. Daraken replied by rolling over, ripping Lorso¡¯s spear out of her grasp and disarming her. Then, he used a wingbeat to get some distance from Silence.


    Annabelle cut through Daraken¡¯s third barrier, and finally reached his mind. Now, she could end this.


    You¡¯re relying on magic to survive. Time to shut that down. She read Daraken''s next move from his mind too late to counter it. A burst of invisible energy emanated out from Daraken, disrupting the entire team''s magic. Lorso, her flight gone, plummeted, landing with a crack as her legs broke from the fall. At the same time, Annabelle paid for Lorso''s folly, with the healing effect dissipating and leaving behind only fire.


    She immediately began to stop, drop, and roll, and managed to mostly put out the fire. At the same time, the backlash from her psionic efforts began to escalate rapidly. It was a null-magic field.


    You know what¡¯s odd? Daraken told Annabelle. As a mage, I never expected to gain an advantage in combat by turning off magic.


    It¡¯s won¡¯t be an advantage for long.


    Annabelle hit Daraken¡¯s mind with everything she had left. Now that he had no magic, he had no barriers, and it was just her mind against his. Daraken turned to crush her under his foot, but Silence also proved unaffected by the null-magic field. He leaped forward, intercepted Daraken¡¯s claw, and pushed him back for long enough to allow Annabelle to get out of melee range.


    Daraken had formidable mental resistance, on par with some of the lesser Elders. It was a tough battle, but Annabelle almost managed to get through his defenses, forcing him to drop the null-magic field and re-establish a mental barrier before Annabelle could seize control.


    Annabelle persisted her assault, but she was almost out of energy. She doubted she would be able to get through.


    Daraken decided to switch targets, ignoring Silence and turning his head to aim at Lorso. However, as he released a blast of frost, Lorso countered with a beam of fire. The two opposing elements clashed, creating a cloud of steam, but fire won out. The blast went straight down Daraken''s throat, and managed to choke him briefly. At the same time, Silence rushed him and managed to break one of his wings.


    But then, Daraken turned on Silence, grabbed him with his claws, bit down on his head, and pulled back. Somehow, Silence''s head wasn''t torn off outright by the immense force, but his face was still shredded. Simultaneously, Daraken''s tail reached out, looped around Lorso''s leg, and smashed her into the ground multiple times before throwing her into a wall with a sickening thud. Lorso was either dead or close to it, and though Silence was still standing, he was reduced to staggering around blindly. His telepathic network also collapsed from the strain.


    "This is over." Daraken said, his draconic voice booming across the chamber. "I could kill you in a number of different ways. But that would be wasting an opportunity."


    Annabelle fired a burst from her Arcane Bolter. Daraken completely ignored it. She managed to fire one bolt straight into his eyeball, but it bounced off of the eye (or, more precisely, the nictating membrane that protected it).


    Daraken thought this was over. But he did not see Darius, who rushed over to Lorso¡¯s body and used a healing orb on her. Lorso whispered something into Darius¡¯ ear.


    "I know you have information on the location of Sanctuary. Maybe not its exact position, but its climate, its sunrise and sunset, and the constellations in the night sky. Normally, such information is occluded, the memories disrupted as soon as one leaves it, to prevent me from obtaining that information. But with a mental resistance as formidable as yours, I suspect you¡¯ve resisted that."


    Annabelle had a flash of memory. She didn''t think she had enough information for Daraken to find Sanctuary, but Daraken was far more intelligent than she was, and even narrowing the position down to a small area would be enough for him to find it.


    "Now, you might still be able to resist. But, with your energy depleted, there¡¯s a good chance I¡¯ll be able to get through. So, give me your secrets.¡±


    "Fuck you," Annabelle spat, as Daraken began his mental assault. But in reality, she welcomed his attack, because it would be her best chance at getting a counterattack.


    Daraken had miscalculated. Annabelle¡¯s mental defenses were slightly weakened by having her energy depleted, but only because she was also fighting off psychic backlash at the same time. Even if she couldn''t take any offensive action,


    She started slowly collapsing her outer defenses, but raised further barriers behind them, giving Daraken a hint of success without truly letting him get anywhere.


    ¡°I know what your friend is doing,¡± Daraken said. ¡°Darius is no threat to me. He will not save you.¡±


    Was he aware of Darius¡¯s plan? It seemed likely that he was, and could easily finish him off if he tried it.


    Another of Annabelle''s outer defenses crumbled, but Annabelle still weathered the mental assault.


    Daraken realized he wasn¡¯t getting anywhere, and made an offer. ¡°I may be willing to compromise. Give me access to your mind, and I will let you and your friends live, so long as you leave Garnoth and never return.¡±


    Annabelle had to admit, that was a compelling offer. But then she realized the stakes.


    She was only alive right now because Helios wanted her to eliminate Daraken. Once she was no longer useful to Helios, she would be at risk of obliteration. If she left and never returned, surely Helios would consider her not worth keeping around, same as if she killed Daraken here. If she managed to kill Daraken, she would be at even greater risk.


    ¡°The Resistance¡¯s portal will be opening soon. You have one minute to open your memories to me, or I will have no choice but to finish you off before I engage them.¡±


    Using the last of her energy, Annabelle opened a private channel with Daraken.


    I fear for my safety if I am exiled, Annabelle admitted.


    Daraken realized what she was talking about. Did Lorso claim that the gods could be after you?


    Yes.


    If he could truly intervene, why would I still be alive? Daraken asked.


    The divine rules prevent action against you, but allow it against me for my nature. At least-


    That¡¯s Lorso¡¯s theory. They¡¯re interesting to hear about, but any factual support for them is flimsy at best.


    Annabelle sent Lorso¡¯s explanation to Daraken. Daraken dismissed it.


    That smells of taking a religious belief out of context. Helios attempted to reduce the grief of families with stillborn children by claiming that the stillborn child was a psion that had to be killed for the greater good, and Lorso took that out of context to indicate that Helios had the capability to eliminate psions any time he wanted.


    It is possible she is wrong, Annabelle admitted. But she may also be right. I do not know for sure. They did not know what went on inside a god¡¯s mind. Maybe, like with the ¡®god¡¯ on Earth, Helios didn¡¯t exist as anything other than a figurehead (though, in that case, what exactly would Daraken¡¯s ¡®ascension¡¯ do?).


    Suddenly, Darius jumped onto Daraken¡¯s back. Annabelle cried out for him to stop, but while she wanted him to stop because he was considering taking Daraken¡¯s deal, Darius thought she wanted him to stop because of the risk he was taking.


    Daraken reared back, trying to shake Darius off. But somehow, Darius stayed on his back, and jammed a fireball wand into a small gap between scales, before unleashing all of its charge in a climactic explosion.


    The resulting blast decapitated Daraken almost instantly, tearing apart his neck. Darius was thrown back by part of the shockwave, but he managed to get up afterwards, wounded but alive. Annabelle and her team had survived the fight and achieved an ultimate victory, but Annabelle knew her own future was not as certain.

 Act 1 Interlude

    Annabelle was terrified for a few seconds after Daraken died. Would Helios obliterate her the instant her job was done?


    Thankfully, no divine lightning bolt struck her down. For now, at least. She wasn''t sure if it would just take Helios more time to arrange her death.


    After that initial period of worry, Annabelle next checked the status of her team. She had moderate burns, but her team was in worse condition.


    Lorso, the team''s healer, had numerous broken bones from blunt trauma. She was conscious, but barely able to move.


    "Can you heal yourself?" Annabelle asked.


    "m-Maybe." Lorso replied. "I''m not sure if I can channel magic in this state."


    Annabelle considered using a healing orb to get her back up. But, they were going to be returning to Sanctuary anyways, so it would be a waste of resources.


    At the back end of the building, Darius staggered to his feet. He seemed to be relatively fine.


    That left Silence. Even though his face was shredded and his eyes were gouged out, he seemed unconcerned, sitting down to rest as if it was nothing.


    "Are you sure you''re okay? At the very least, without eyes you won''t be able to fight." Well, maybe Annabelle could impart her knowledge of Starsight onto him.


    Silence did not respond.


    "I think he''s focusing on regeneration," Lorso commented. "It''s an intensive process, one that he can''t interrupt."


    As long as they were stable, it didn''t really matter. Once they got back to sanctuary, Lunima would be able to bring them back up to full fighting condition incredibly quickly.


    Annabelle made contact with Sanctuary.


    "Daraken attacked us," Annabelle explained.


    "What?" Raiks said. Then, he realized something. "Wait. I should have known this would happen. Daraken wouldn''t just sit back and let us wipe out his army."


    "Well, it paid off. Daraken is now dead."


    That managed to shock Raiks a second time.


    "Are you sure? Daraken is practically guaranteed to have a dozen backup plans."


    "We had to kill him twice," Annabelle explained. "I took him down the first time, and then he transformed into a dragon. Darius believes that the dragon was his true form."


    "That doesn''t make sense. Daraken may have covered his true history well, but we still know for a fact that he was born as a human."


    "It''s what happened. I obliterated his original body, I know for a fact that it was dead." She looked over at the dead dragon, and would have mulched its body as well if she had any energy left. ¡°And the dragon has been decapitated.¡±


    "We will need to wait and see on Daraken. For now, return to Sanctuary for healing. My troops will take care of the rest." Raiks gave them directions to their portal location.


    **********


    Even though Annabelle''s plan worked, Raiks almost wished it didn''t.


    Normally, an incapacitated enemy would be captured and taken alive, for interrogation if nothing else. However, there were at least a thousand enemy soldiers that could be captured, and the Resistance lacked the necessary manpower to hold them, or the resources to feed them.


    During planning, Annabelle had proposed executing everyone who wasn''t an important officer. Raiks originally considered that excessively cruel, a move that would likely lead to a loss of public support. But right now, it seemed like it would be their only option.


    He called an emergency council meeting to discuss this, and quickly found a solution. Turb would search for a small island near Sanctuary, and the prisoners would be dropped there and given most of the Resistance''s stored supplies. It would last them about two weeks, which would give the Resistance time to find a more permanent solution.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    There was a potential complication regarding the Resistance''s null-magic fields, however. Turb claimed that, according to his research, breaking the curse in any way other than letting its duration expire would cause mental damage to the affected individuals. Due to how Sanctuary''s system was set up, if they wished to transport individuals to the location that Turb found, they would need to transfer them from Arexia to Sanctuary, pass them through the null-magic field to a second portal room, and then use that to transfer them to Turb''s island.


    They needed to create holding areas until the prisoners could be transferred. Raiks sent for Bouldos, who was likely their best bet for creating a large temporary structure.


    Suddenly, a messenger burst into the room.


    "This better be-" Raiks tried to say.


    "There was a portal malfunction. Annabelle''s gone."


    Well, that was certainly an emergency. Or at the very least, important enough to interrupt the meeting for.


    "Explain."


    "I''m not entirely sure what happened," he claimed. "But right before Annabelle''s team was to return, the portal collapsed on Sanctuary''s side, but the Arexia-side entrance remained. Her team walked through, and we haven''t seen them since."


    "How could this have happened?" Raiks asked.


    "I don''t know," the messenger said.


    "I may have some theories," Turb said. "With your permission, I would like to research this immediately."


    "Could you recover them?" Raiks asked.


    "I doubt it." Turb admitted. "But I will make the attempt."


    Raiks ordered the opening of a second portal, further out. He also called for several soldiers on both sides to verify that the portal was opened correctly and was not disrupted again.


    Turb left the council chamber to begin his analysis, as Raiks considered the news.


    On the surface, this was terrible news. The Resistance had lost four elite members, one of whom was capable of challenging and beating Daraken. But on the other hand, they had eliminated Daraken, hopefully for good, and one of them had been stated to be a potential major threat after Daraken''s defeat.


    Raiks would have had to make a hard decision on whether it was justified to kill Annabelle while her powers were depleted. Now, the decision was out of his hands.


    But if Daraken was not truly gone, while Annabelle was, they were doomed.


    **********


    "Everything is going according to plan," a mysterious individual announced. "Although, as to be expected of a prophecy of this scale, some manipulation was necessary to keep the plan on track."


    ''some'' manipulation, came the reply. what sort of manipulations?


    He detailed what had occurred.


    In the base timeline that he had analyzed, Daraken had decided not to prepare the sabotage of the arrival portal when he arrived, instead waiting until after he dealt with Annabelle''s team. That change in timing would result in Annabelle being aware of the interference and taking enough caution to avoid the trap.


    That manipulation proved nearly impossible to pull off. His allied telepath needed to deliver a covert suggestion without being noticed, something that was nigh-impossible against Daraken''s mental barrier. Thankfully, his barrier was weakened by Annabelle''s outburst, but it had still taken a dozen iterations to slip in the suggestion without Daraken detecting it and becoming aware of their conspiracy.


    Then, he had detected a second deviation from the prophecy on the default timeline. Annabelle ended up taking Daraken''s deal, and was sent into the Outer Regions by a second portal opened by Daraken. The rest of her team would reluctantly follow her.


    Out of curiosity, he had scanned that deviation further, and found no significant events happened to them for two weeks. If he didn''t need to use his energy to scan for a way to close the deviation, he would have analyzed further.


    The prophecy called for Daraken to die here. The prophecy''s original prediction had Annabelle absorbing the energy of Daraken''s attack and reflecting it back into him, stunning him for long enough to give Darius a window to finish him off. She had used the same technique against the Elders, reflecting their overwhelming psychic assault to stun them and expose their mothership to the final assault.


    But something had caused Annabelle to reconsider.


    They couldn''t close this deviation by making Annabelle refuse the offer. He had made a single attempt anyways, and nearly had the timeline hijacked by Annabelle''s counterattack.


    Daraken had a mental barrier up, making him difficult to manipulate. He found a way around the barrier, having his telepath coincide his attack with one of Annabelle''s earlier mental attacks where she broke all of Daraken''s defenses. But then, their efforts to convince Daraken to not offer the deal resulted in him instead killing Annabelle on the spot due to the threat she posed.


    However, they were able to trick him into ignoring the threat Darius posed, resulting in his ambush eliminating Daraken before Annabelle could take his deal. Then, she retreated to Sanctuary, only to fall for Daraken''s preset trap. It was just as planned.


    Not one, but two deviancies. This is concerning. I need you to analyze the default timeline.


    I am depleted. he replied. It was why he had to open the conversation with speech rather than telepathy, waiting for his associate to open the connection. Maybe he shouldn''t have analyzed the results of the second default timeline.


    Understood. I will have another attempt to scan for immediate disruptions. In twenty-four hours, scan ahead as far as you can. Our first direct intervention will occur soon, and we need to ensure that everything is going according to plan.


    I will do as asked.


    He almost felt sorry for what Annabelle would go through in the coming weeks. But it was a small sacrifice for the greater good. And, knowing Annabelle, she might even thank them for the opportunity to deal a devastating blow to the Shades.

 2-1: Light in the Darkness

    After going through the portal, Annabelle saw nothing but darkness. At first, she thought it was just a delay in travel, but it failed to clear up. Was this some sort of void between worlds? Well, given that she was still breathing, not likely.


    Behind her, a light source manifested. She turned around, and saw Lorso being carried by Silence and manifesting a small fire in her palm. Silence had focused his regenerative effort on regenerating a single eye, but the rest of his face was still unrecognizable, and Lorso was still unable to fight.


    Out of the corner of her eye, she also spotted Darius. Whatever this mess was, their whole group was here to face it.


    Around them was a cave, formed out of some sort of pitch-black stone. There was only one exit ahead of them, leading into more black stone. At first, Annabelle thought this was another instance of random teleportation, but then realized it was improbable. After all, ''random'' teleportation from an error would be far more likely to teleport them into a rock than into an open cavern.


    "Where are we?" Lorso whispered.


    "I don¡¯t know."


    Darius shushed them. "I hear something." He crept forward, potentially to take any opponent by surprise.


    "We can¡¯t win a fight," Annabelle said. "But if we surrender, I¡¯ll tear down the threat from the inside once my powers return." Although, they might not keep her alive for long enough, or they might put her in a null-magic field that could potentially prevent her from regenerating.


    Even as she said that, she drew her sword, in case their opponent was someone they could beat.


    Then, their opponent materialized. Annabelle couldn¡¯t make out much of their form at a distance,


    "We surrender!" She cried out. It was a single individual, but their advance was confident, as if they didn¡¯t consider their foes a threat.


    The individual stepped closer. He was covered in metal armor. and Annabelle initially recognized it as powered armor, the sort that was eventually developed to turn the tide against the aliens. But his weapon was a staff, not a gun, and Annabelle noticed several significant differences in the armor''s design.


    "I''m not the threat here. You don¡¯t have much time. Come with me."


    "Who are you?" Annabelle asked. "And what is going on here?"


    "You can call me Varos," he replied. "We are being hunted. We need to move."


    "Hunted? By what?"


    Varos didn''t reply, only urging them along. They followed behind him at a brisk pace, continuing the conversation as they moved.


    "Look, if we can hide somewhere safe for a few days, I should be able to recover enough to take out whatever foe we''re facing," Annabelle claimed.


    "Doubtful, " Varos replied.


    "I just beat the strongest archmage known on my world. It took all of my energy to do it, but once I have enough time to regain it, I can and will do it again."


    Varos changed his mind, slightly. "If you''re telling the truth, you could possibly have a chance. Not much of one, but a chance nonetheless."


    Annabelle thought she heard noises in the distance. Darius confirmed it. "There¡¯s others nearby. Several sets of footsteps."


    "Do you have a plan?" Annabelle whispered to Varos.


    "We have a hideout. If you reach it, you should be safe for a few days."


    The caverns rumbled and shifted, with a strange series of echoes. Varos stopped abruptly.


    "They aren''t supposed to do this. Not now." He pulled something from his belt that quickly expanded and transformed into some sort of magical hovering drone. "Maybe you are a threat to them. Follow this. It will lead you to safety. I''ll hold them off. Don''t wait for me."


    They didn''t hesitate. The drone rushed down a winding path, staying just ahead of them. Annabelle glanced behind and saw several flashes of blue light reflected off the cavern walls, followed a split-second after by something that sounded like a dozen lightning strikes in quick succession. She continued to hear the rumbling for some time, before it went silent. Hopefully, the individual they had never met before had bought them enough time to survive.


    They heard nothing following them for the rest of their journey. Annabelle could barely keep track of where they were going, and swore that they should have crossed over their previous path at some points. At one point, they made four consecutive left turns with no change in elevation, but the caves didn¡¯t form a loop as anticipated.


    After what seemed to be an eternity, the drone finally arrived at its destination, stopping in the middle of a large cavern. The drone didn¡¯t move, but there seemed to be nothing around. Had they been tricked?


    Then, a section of the cavern faded away, revealing a hidden entrance. A person stepped out. He was wielding a spear defensively, extremely wary of them.


    "Identify yourself. Now."


    Lorso decided to take the lead. "I''m Lorso, and these are Silence, Annabelle, and Darius. Varos sent us ahead."


    "That would explain his drone¡­" the person said. "But why isn''t he with you?"


    "He stayed behind to create a diversion to give us the time to get to safety."


    "That''s an uncharacteristic behavior for the Shades. They normally let new arrivals get to safety."


    "Maybe we intimidated them," Annabelle proposed. "And they wanted to kill us off while we were wounded."


    "I doubt it. The Shades are an overwhelming enemy. Every mage who thought he could take them on so far has failed."


    "Tell me about them, then. Explain what makes them overwhelming."


    "I''m not the person you should ask." He considered the situation. "I''m going to let you through, but we''ll be keeping an eye on you. The Shades have used illusion before."


    "You also claim the Shades are an overwhelming threat," Darius said, after they were let through. "If we were such an ''overwhelming threat'', you would have lost the instant you revealed yourself."


    The door guard was not reassured.


    Behind them, the secret entrance closed shut. They walked through a narrow cavern (so narrow that Silence barely had room), and after a few turns, reached the center of the hideout, a large open cavern with few distinguishing artificial features, lit by several glowing orbs attached to the walls. There were three other passageways, likely leading out to other parts of the cavern. There were a few dozen individuals present, of various races. Most of them were wearing old, worn-out clothing, and several of them looked like stereotypical wizards.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    As soon as Silence, walked in, two of the wizards reacted to his and Lorso''s injuries with a bit of shock. They rushed forwards and immediately began employing some form of magic. Annabelle wasn''t sure if what the wizards were doing was actually going to be useful, but she had a more important priority of figuring out where the hell they were and what they were up against."


    A leader stepped forward. She had purple scales instead of skin, horns on her head, and a long tail.


    "So are you a-" Annabelle found herself asking.


    "Demon? No. This is normal, on my home world. I''m Diedre, by the way."


    "Varos implied that we could potentially beat these enemies, the ¡®Shades¡¯," Annabelle asked. "But your greeter said that it was suicide to attack them. I¡¯m looking for an explanation."


    "I''m the second-in-command here," Diedre replied. "Varos knows more about them than I do, but he isn''t here right now. And, if he''s gone to stall the Shades himself, there''s good odds that he might not return."


    "Shouldn''t he have passed the information to you?" Darius asked. "In case he met an untimely end?''


    "Yeah, what¡¯s with the runaround?" Annabelle added, slightly annoyed. "Can you at least tell me what they are?"


    "I suppose I can, " Diedre said, after a bit of hesitation. "I guess Varos was too rushed to give you a full explanation. First off, you''re all here as the result of a teleportation mishap, right?"


    "Teleportation mishap?"


    "You went through a portal of some sort, but instead of arriving at your actual destination, you were dropped into this realm. Right?"


    "We had completed a mission against a wizard, and were returning to base through a portal. Something must have happened to that portal, " Annabelle realized.


    Darius considered that. "Yeah, it seems that if Daraken had the capability to sabotage the portal, he would have. In fact, it was almost certainly part of his trap."


    Annabelle realized that it was a logical trap card to utilize,


    "Whatever the reason," Diedre continued," the Shades intercepted the botched teleportation and sent you here, to the lower sections of the Shaderealm. Here, they hunt us for sport."


    "Hunt?" Something about this smelled like the Shades were a race of horrible bastards.


    "The only thing we are to them is prey. Their favored weapons are non-lethal stunners, but that''s not a good thing. If you''re lucky, they may let you go after tormenting you for hours, But if you''re not, they drag you back to their city."


    "Then what?" Annabelle asked. She suspected she wouldn¡¯t like the answer.


    "There, they torture their captives to death. We don¡¯t know what methods they use, but according to Varos, it sometimes takes months before their victims finally die."


    "They''re dead, " Annabelle said. "They. Are. DEAD." Annabelle no longer cared what happened to her, to the Resistance, or to anyone, as long as these Shades met their ends by her hand.


    "Wait, why are you glowing?" Diedre suddenly said, taking a step back.


    Annabelle realized that she was creating a spontaneous psychic manifestation, and suppressed it, mostly. It seemed that she had recovered a small amount of energy from rage alone. "I have some unique abilities that they can''t fight against. They''re not going to receive any mercy when I destroy their whole society."


    "I don''t have to know what your abilities are to know that it will fail, " Diedre replied. "You might be able to bring down a few of them, but they can still take you out with just one hit. And those Shades that you do kill will just be brought back from the afterlife."


    Annabelle was about to counter Diedre¡¯s statement, before Lorso stopped her with a telepathic message relayed through Silence. I''d strongly advise against disclosing your abilities here. Being underestimated might be exactly what you need to win, but spreading your capabilities around just means that the Shades are likely to find out about them beforehand. And then they might get the help of whatever sick god they believe in.


    Annabelle stopped herself from disclosing her abilities. "Varos sacrificed himself to help me get here. I think it might be because I might be able to end this."


    "I recommend that you rest," Diedre proposed. "The beds are in that chamber over there." She pointed towards an entrance to a secondary cavern.


    Annabelle walked into the bedchamber, and eventually attempted to get some sleep. But she couldn''t rest, for several reasons. Firstly, it had still been mid-afternoon on Garnoth when she had arrived here. Secondly, the ¡®beds¡¯ seemed to be little more than stone slabs. And thirdly, she was too busy attempting to think of ways to end the Shades to get any rest.


    Her standby plan was to undermine them from within their own torture pits. She had long since grown the ability to completely ignore any torturer''s efforts to break her or even get much of a reaction out of her, and her abilities were perfectly suited to stealthy subversion. Strategic use of mind control could potentially result in a rebellion or even a civil war to bring down Shade society. However, the problem was that even if she could ignore the mental trauma of the torture, the physical trauma would still likely kill her eventually, giving her a timetable of a few months to bring down what was potentially a massive empire, maybe a bit more if her faster healing held up. Thus, that was a backup plan at best, and even the Shades might consider just executing her the instant they knew of her abilities.


    What if she used personality overwriting? She was only able to control one individual at a time, but if she controlled someone for long enough, she could probably overwrite their existing personality, traits, and identity, replacing them with a copy of her own mind, or at least turn them into someone fully willing to fight them. She hadn''t had a reason to do it, yet, but she knew it could be done. When they launched an attack, she could use the opportunity to subvert as many of their underlings as possible, creating spies and agents where none existed previously.


    She briefly remembered Raiks ordering her to never utilize permanent mind control without permission, but ignored it. Raiks wasn¡¯t available to ask permission, and even if he said no, Annabelle would do it anyways against a foe this evil.


    Of course, a direct attack wasn''t completely out of the picture. She might need to practice a bit and build up an energy reserve, but a vortex or distortion beam would probably cut through almost any foe. And, if they were relying on paralysis weapons, they would have no way to truly stop her. They could render her body nonfunctional, but as long as she had a brain, she could fight. Of course, the effectiveness of such a strategy depended on their true capabilities, something that Diedre had refused to disclose.


    **********


    There wasn''t exactly a morning, with no sun. But at some point, Annabelle was roused by a commotion in the main chamber. When she exited the sleeping chamber, she saw Varos, without his helmet. His armor was the same, but his face looked alien. It was shaped like a human head, but with pitch-black skin, white hair, red catlike eyes, and pointed ears. According to Earth fiction, he was a dark elf, a member of a predominantly-evil race.


    Annabelle immediately leaped into the discussion.


    "Are you a Shade?" Annabelle asked.


    Varos seemed surprised by her arrival. "You¡¯ve made it."


    "Are. You. A. Shade?" Annabelle focused her psychic energy, preparing for a fight. She didn¡¯t have enough energy back to obliterate Varos where he stood, but she could likely still overwhelm his mind.


    "No. Not anymore." Varos replied.


    "Not anymore?" Annabelle remained tense, giving no indication that she was about to invade his mind and find out the hard way.


    "I am a member of the Shade race, but I am aligned against them. I was banished here because I was unfortunate enough to realize their actions were wrong."


    That was slightly reassuring.


    "I was an Artificer, an engineer working on the Shaderealm''s infrastructure. We were taught from birth to see those that we captured as nothing more than fuel, with their souls as a power source that needed ¡®processing¡¯ before being given to our god. But at some point, I gained a bit of empathy, and decided to attempt to switch sides. Maybe, if I sabotaged their infrastructure, I could save some lives, or at least let some of them die a quick death. They found out about my change in loyalties, and punished me by banishing me to the depths of the Shaderealm."


    Annabelle was still considering attacking Varos, but she was starting to believe his story.


    "Why would they punish you by giving you the chance to save more people from their wrath?"


    "They wanted to change up the game, let their prey survive longer. I suspect I¡¯m just playing into their hands, but I keep fighting, hoping for even the smallest chance that we find a way to escape this hell."


    Annabelle had to agree with his stance. "With my arrival, I think you just might have that chance."


    Varos paused for a bit before replying. "A small chance, but a chance nonetheless."


    Annabelle had a bit of inspiration. "You said you were an Artificer. You¡¯re wearing some heavy armor, and I think you employed some sort of lightning weapon when you fought off the Shades. What, exactly are you capable of?"


    "I can build almost anything, given enough time." Varos claimed. "But my focus is lightning." He had the ends of his staff crackle with electricity for effect.


    That gave Annabelle an idea. A month into the war with the aliens, the Alien Combat Patrol had found a way to use alien materials and power sources to construct powerful electromagnetic weapons, weapons that gave them a fighting chance when the aliens started their heavier invasions. Maybe, with the right mix of magic and science, Varos could replicate that. If the amount of energy in a bolt of lightning (such as those shot out by mages) was used to magnetically accelerate a projectile instead, it would theoretically be able to deal massive damage.


    The problem would be finding the necessary raw materials for such a weapon.


    Wait. How were they even getting food?

 2-2: Spark of Genius

    "So, now that you''re back, Varos, we''ll need your help to find supplies." Diedre said.


    "Supplies from where?" Annabelle asked. "As far as I can tell, these caves are barren."


    "It''s not quite a cave network," Varos explained. "The Shaderealm is a demi-plane, carved out of a higher-dimensional space between worlds. The Shades have devices that can manipulate the shape of the caverns, and I can replicate those to a lesser degree."


    That potentially explained that oddity Annabelle noticed in the cave earlier. "Still doesn''t explain how we''d find supplies. Do they just materialize out of thin air or something?" she asked sarcastically.


    "Yes, in fact. It¡¯s a key part of the Shades¡¯ game. They drop food and water at various locations in the Shaderealm, and then we have to send teams to collect if it we don''t want to starve."


    "Normally, we choose who goes by lottery," Diedre added. "I''d let you volunteer, but you''d try something dumb and probably get captured."


    So, they were using food as a strategic resource to force conflict.


    "I''ve got a better idea," Annabelle interjected. "We use healing magic to create a renewable food source."


    "Food conjuring doesn''t work," Varos said. "Since the Shades wouldn''t have a game if we could make the food out of thin air, they''ve made sure that any food we attempt to conjure is rendered inedible."


    "What about water?" Annabelle asked.


    "Water, on the other hand, is something we can create. It''s simple enough that the Shades couldn''t eliminate the nutrient value from it. They tried poisoning, but that just made us purify the water before consuming it."


    That meant that they really only needed food. And Annabelle had a plan for food. "Healing is unaffected, right?"


    Varos nodded, even though Annabelle could already see that Lorso and Silence were back to normal.


    "Flesh is edible. We can harvest it from someone''s body, consume it, then use healing to heal the resulting injury."


    "You''re proposing cannibalism to solve this issue?" Diedre, as well as several others nearby, were outraged at the very concept.


    "It¡¯s a better idea than putting yourselves at risk," Annabelle countered.


    They still didn¡¯t seem to be considering the idea.


    "Frankly, I''m surprised this group even got this far. Most people, when faced with this horror show, would have offed themselves the moment they arrived. So, given that you''re clearly the sort to fight to survive, I''m not sure why you haven''t thought of this strategy sooner."


    "Suicide wouldn''t help," Varos countered. "The afterlife here is almost as bad as the Shades'' own torture. If you''re lucky, they might resurrect you, just to throw you back into the Shaderealm to get hunted again. Otherwise, the only thing you can hope for is that your soul disintegrates quickly."


    Annabelle was fairly certain that there was no such thing as an afterlife. She was about to call out Varos on this, but hesitated.


    On one hand, if she disproved an afterlife, these survivors would be much more willing to commit suicide, and much less willing to fight alongside her. But on the other hand, it would be sparing them from a horrible fate.


    Was it better for someone to live at risk of torture, or die before it could happen? Annabelle would personally fight to survive no matter what the cost, but she was an exception, someone hardened enough to be mostly unaffected by the pain and torment, and powerful enough to turn the tables on any torturer in close quarters.


    "So you''re also going to Hell no matter what happens here, " Annabelle finally declared. "Unless we fight our way out of here, in which case any god will treat you better in the next life than what the Shades have planned, no matter what sins you have to do to escape."


    "Most of us would rather take our chances with the Shades," Diedre said. Even though she said that, Annabelle suspected she knew her point was valid.


    "More importantly, I''m not sure it''ll work out," Lorso said. "There''s a reason why livestock are slaughtered instead of having bits cut out of them and then healed."


    "Primarily because they have access to a much more efficient method of doing so," Annabelle claimed. After all, in that case they could just conjure the food directly.


    But, Annabelle then realized something. Meat was predominantly muscle tissue. Harvesting it would require cutting deep enough to rip out a muscle, and would result in severe injuries that would take a prolonged effort to heal. It was horribly inefficient at best, as well as incredibly dangerous and painful (to the point where Annabelle suspected she would be the only one capable of holding still long enough for the procedure to work). Although it was still a loophole, it wasn''t much of one.


    "It would be more practical to use healing magic on the victims of starvation directly to keep them functional," Lorso said. "And not as disgusting."


    "We tried that, once." Diedre said. "It does delay starvation and reduce the need for food, but it doesn''t work forever."


    "Or, we can take a third option." Darius interjected. "I''ve got a magical item that should solve our food crisis without resorting to cannibalism."


    "As I had explained earlier," Varos repeated, "the Shades disrupt food conjuration."


    "I have a knack for making magical items work when they shouldn''t." Darius pulled out a strange item, a spoon made from some sort of exotic metal. "And, there¡¯s a decent chance that the ¡®food¡¯ this thing makes isn¡¯t actually classified as food."


    A spoonful of brown matter materialized on the spoon. It didn''t look appetizing, and in fact it looked almost like poop.


    "As I said, food conjuration doesn¡¯t work." Varos said.


    "No, this is the intended effect," Darius claimed. "It¡¯s a ration spoon. It carries a weak enchantment, but it¡¯s been optimized to supply necessary nutrients over anything else. Just a few spoonfuls of this substance is enough to feed and hydrate someone for an entire day."


    "Are you sure it''s edible?" Diedre asked.


    "Yes, though it does taste exactly how you think it does. I''m used to the taste, though." He took a bite to prove it, and seemed unphased.


    "I that¡¯s true, then our food problem may be resolved," Diedre said.


    "It solves the food problem, but doesn''t eliminate the threat," Varos clarified. "The Shades are here to entertain themselves. If we stop playing the game by their rules, they''ll get bored and start looking for our base."


    "How long will it take them to get bored?" Annabelle asked. "I''d guess we have at least a day or two to plan, fortify, and set up for a fight."


    "I suppose you''re right, " Varos admitted. "It would take them a few days to realize that we''re not playing their game anymore. However, we''re not going to be able to take them on with any amount of prep time, much less just a day."


    "Plus, we would still need other supplies," Annabelle said. "Unless you¡¯re just conjuring metals out of thin air."


    "Actually¡­" Varos¡¯ gauntlet glowed blue, and with a pop, a small piece of metal of materialized out of thin air.


    "How in the-"


    "They don¡¯t care about conjuration of metals and raw materials."


    "How much can you fabricate?" Annabelle asked.


    "About fifty pounds of raw material per hour. The hard part''s enchanting all of it."


    That would be enough for their needs.


    "Alright, I¡¯d like you to give me a full rundown on the Shades and their capabilities."


    "I suppose that would be wise," Varos said. "Let¡¯s speak privately on this." He led Annabelle towards a side passage.


    Can we come too? That was Lorso, using Silence¡¯s telepathy. I believe I have pertinent information.


    What sort of pertinent information? Annabelle was fairly certain that it would be a ¡®divine conspiracy¡¯ of some sort.


    I¡¯ve spoken to all of the other mages here, about a dozen of them. And according to them, healing magic is a normal part of their training and capabilities. So that¡¯s even more evidence of Helios impairing the capabilities of arcane magic-users to make his healers seem more benevolent.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Well, it was supporting evidence for an existing conspiracy. Close enough.


    Is that relevant to our current situation? Annabelle asked.


    Possibly.


    I doubt that. But, there''s really no reason not to come.


    Annabelle motioned to the rest of her group, and they followed her through the passageway and into Varos¡¯ workshop. A small collection of implements and devices were laid out on a shelf, and there were bins full of scrap and crystals.


    "So, the Shades'' primary weapon is a stunning crossbow. It fires a pink bolt of energy that pierces almost any defense we can muster, and leaves anyone hit by it helpless for about an hour. I''ve never seen anyone resist it."


    "I''d probably be the first, then," Annabelle replied.


    "That''s incredibly unlikely-" Varos tried to explain.


    "As I told you, I turned a curse strong enough to incapacitate an entire city into a curse that did take out an entire city. A basic stunner will be useless by comparison."


    "Even if you do somehow find a way to resist their standard ammunition," Varos explained, "They can fire lethal shots instead, causing instant death from even a graze. They normally won¡¯t do it because the resulting deaths would be painless, but they have that capability if they¡¯re desperate enough. If you see green bolts, you''re probably already dead."


    Lethal shots. That would pose a threat.


    "Lethal in what way?" Lorso asked. "For a skilled healer, there''s a period after a body''s death but before the soul''s departure where the body could be saved."


    "I believe the lethal bolts rip the soul out of the body," Varos said. "There might still be such a window, but I doubt it. And once someone''s soul enters their afterlife, Nyxl, will not release it."


    "Are we talking about bolters, or repeating crossbows?" Darius asked. Varos didn''t quite understand the question, so he clarified. "Can they fire multiple shots before reloading?"


    "The only good news is that the Shade hunters need a few seconds to reload their crossbows in between shots. Although, that isn''t true for some of their elites."


    "So, would that mean they''re weak in close combat," Darius theorized. "Wait for them to shoot, then rush them."


    "And that''s why they have a secondary weapon," Varos countered. "Their close combat weapon is an enchanted knife. When not in its sheath, it projects an aura that can cause immense pain to anyone inside it, enough to incapacitate."


    That was particularly dirty. Though if there was one thing Annabelle knew she would be able to resist, it was raw pain.


    Silence, how good are you at resisting unusual mental effects? Annabelle asked. If he couldn''t even get in range without collapsing in agony, he would be useless in a fight.


    We trained against them. Although I doubt I can resist anything near what Daraken used on you, I should be able to resist a pain-based attack. Against a stunning shot, I''m not so sure.


    Wait, who is ''we''?


    Don''t go there. Silence broke mental contact.


    "So, if we want to engage them close-up, we need to get in and out quickly?"


    "Or wait for them to throw it," Varos added. "Though I think they only do that when they¡¯re working in groups."


    "Also, what do you mean by ''unblockable''?" Annabelle asked. "How exactly do they ignore defenses?"


    "When the bolts impact something, they create a burst of magic that passes through almost any defenses. Armor, shields, and magical wards don''t block the projectile far enough away from the body to stop its effects."


    "How big is the burst?"


    "About a quarter of a meter."


    So, a telekinetic barrier half a meter away from her could block the shots if she couldn''t resist them outright. It would probably be a good idea to use it anyways, in case she couldn''t resist like she thought she could, or in case one of them fired a lethal shot that would catch her off guard.


    "So, their offense is strong. What about their defense?"


    "The Shades have light armor, at best. Most of the hunters have no physical armor at all. However, they have heavy magical defenses in the form of their Warding charms, projecting a magical barrier around them that deflects attacks."


    "So, somewhat like this?" Annabelle took off the Agent¡¯s Aegis to show it to Varos.


    Varos¡¯ gauntlets began to glow, and he levitated the amulet between both of his hands, analyzing it.


    "Yes, though minus the shapeshifting effect. And much stronger."


    He handed the amulet back.


    "How strong are their defenses?" Annabelle asked.


    "They¡¯re strong enough to shrug off most conventional attacks. They¡¯re not unbeatable, and I¡¯ve seen a few mages hit hard enough to punch through them, but those are the exceptions, rather than the norms. They also protect them against their own weapons, though I¡¯m not sure why."


    "Wait, didn''t you say that stunning bolts were impossible to block?"


    Varos did a double take. "For us, they are. Their wards are designed to block stunners far enough away from the body to nullify their effects. Unfortunately, there¡¯s a restriction on their gear. It can only be used by Shades that are in good standing with their leadership."


    "That seems like a perfect job for me," Darius said. "If we manage to kill a Shade, bring their magic items to me. I might be able to break the limitations and reactivate them."


    Varos didn''t reply.


    "That''s just their hunters, right?" Annabelle asked.


    "Yes."


    "What about their other forces?"


    Varos thought about that. "Unless they''ve inventing something new in the last decade, most of their soldiers are simply equipped with better equipment. Even tougher wards, repeating stunners, and "


    "Do they have any magic-users?" Darius asked.


    "The Shade Matriarchs have potent magic, but they''re also the Shade leaders, and they wouldn''t dare to step into the field. There are also a few illusionists in their ranks, but they''re¡­ used for other purposes."


    Overall, the Shades seemed to be a threatening opponent. But she didn''t see anything that could stop her plan.


    "Alright, they seem like tough foes," Annabelle said. "How about I share my proposal to level the playing field?"


    "I''ve mentioned all of that, and you still think we can beat them?"


    Annabelle ignored that. "So, your specialty is electricity, right?"


    "Yes. What does that have to do with-"


    "Ever heard of railguns? Or electromagnetic weapons?" Annabelle already knew the answer.


    "No. What are you talking about?"


    Well, this was going to be a fun science lesson. At least for everyone on their side of the railgun.


    "You do use electricity as a direct weapon, right? Shooting lightning bolts into enemies, blasting them with electricity, something like that?"


    "Yes?"


    "How, exactly, do you control the energy? An uncontrolled discharge of electricity just bursts out in all directions, yet a lightning bolt launched by a mage travels in a straight line. How?"


    "Magic. To be precise, the electrical resistance between the caster and the target is reduced, and the electricity takes the path of least resistance to blast the target."


    "That¡­ might actually work for my weapon."


    "Yes, electricity is fairly effective for overwhelming wards. But it still takes a massive amount of energy to cut through."


    "Electricity is inefficient as a direct weapon. But if you''ve done the right research, you''ll know that electricity also creates an electromagnetic field. With the right design, it''s possible to use that electromagnetic field to launch metal projectiles at an incredible velocity."


    "That doesn''t seem very powerful."


    "Lightning carries an incredible amount of energy in an ineffective delivery system. Use that same energy in a electromagnetic weapon however, and you have a weapon powerful enough to blow through even the toughest armor. Where I come from, these weapons were powerful enough to shoot through entire buildings to hit targets on the other side of them, and our heaviest variants were capable of bringing down massive beasts and levelling strongholds." Granted, their heaviest variants were mounted on highly advanced space-capable fighter jets, but the ''strongholds'' they were aimed at were alien capital ships.


    Varos seemed a bit stunned.


    "And the power sources for those weapons weren''t strong enough to create focused lightning blasts." Then again, they hadn''t actually tried, and they didn''t have magic to guide the lightning along a single channel.


    Varos briefly regained his composure, at least long enough to ask a question. "Okay, is that actually theory, or do you have blueprints or something for this weapon?"


    At this point, Annabelle took a step back to consider her plan for building an electromagnetic weapon from scratch. She knew the general concept, and had looked over ACP''s weapon blueprints several times when she was bored and waiting around at their base, but she didn''t have the blueprints exactly memorized.


    Further, the design that her team had used relied on an alien metamaterial known as Thermal Alloy, a unique material that converted the kinetic energy of any penetrating effect into thermal energy. It was primarily used to create armor that could not be pierced until the accumulated kinetic energy of the fired projectiles caused it to melt, but it was also used to convert most of the kinetic energy of the weapon''s recoil into thermal energy, preventing a high-power railgun from blowing its user''s shoulder out from recoil (though with the added complication of having to add heat sinks to the weapon''s rear to control the heat buildup when the weapons were used for sustained fire).


    "So, I have a general idea of what I''m trying to develop, but I haven''t memorized the entire blueprint. And, I think there are components that require advanced alloys that might be difficult to replicate." Even on Earth, they didn''t know how to create Thermal Alloy.


    "If I can''t conjure it, I''ll replicate its properties with enchanting," Varos claimed.


    That was good enough for Annabelle. "Let''s get started."


    Darius stayed to watch, but Lorso and Silence left the workshop. Either they realized that they weren''t exactly contributing, or they were just bored.


    Annabelle gave Varos some basic instructions and a description of the core design. Varos began to materialize the weapon''s components, and Annabelle guided him through the process. After about an hour, Varos had created a simple railgun barrel, two meter-long silver rails connected at one end and surrounded by a non-conductive shell.


    She could have chosen to have Varos construct a coilgun instead. Coilguns had the advantage of being shorter and lighter, relying on switching power on and off in a series of metal coils to create a dynamic electromagnetic field to launch the projectile, instead of a singular rail. However, without the aid of computers, determining the correct timings to launch a projectile would take too much time to be practical. So instead she based her design off of the anti-materiel railguns that were usually wielded by snipers.


    Once the rails were finished, Varos began a quick test. He conjured a metal rod and slotted it into the weapon. Then, he drew his staff, channeled electricity at one end of it, and pressed it to the back of the weapon, where the two rails were connected. The rod shot out of the other end of the barrel at a moderate velocity, launching out ten meters before slamming into the demiplane wall. estimated that the projectile had about as much stopping power as a conventional sidearm, enough to take out an unarmored target, but likely not enough to penetrate the Shades'' wards.


    "Well, that''s a bit underwhelming," Annabelle realized. "Maybe this won''t work after all."


    "I had my staff only discharge 10% of its potential output," Varos replied. "That''s a terrifying result. Terrifying, but promising."


    Annabelle considered asking for a test at 100% power, but that would likely result in the railgun barrel collapsing from stress, or some other malfunction. They should test incrementally. "Try 25% power."


    Varos ran a second test at the higher power level, and the rod was launched at a significantly faster velocity, slamming into the demiplane wall hard enough to shake the whole cavern. The projectile exploded on impact with the indestructible demiplane walls, and Annabelle put up a kinetic barrier to protect herself and Varos from the resulting shrapnel. The blast still wasn''t comparable to the power of some of Earth''s electromagnetic weapons, but the power could be quadrupled by the time they were done.


    "I think we''ll need a new testing ground for the full power test," Varos said. "But even at a fraction of full power, we already have enough to break their wards in one or two shots."


    Varos spent the next hour constructing a frame around the weapon. Once he constructed a significant portion of it, he grabbed several crystals and linked them together to form a power core.


    "I''m going to spend the next few hours imbuing power into the weapon," Varos said. "You look tired, and this part doesn''t require your involvement. You should get some rest, while I keep working on this."


    "Don''t you need sleep too?"


    "Shades don''t need sleep."


    Varos appeared to enter some sort of meditative state. Annabelle observed him for a few minutes, but couldn''t make sense of what he was doing, and decided to head back to the sleeping chamber to attempt to get some much-needed rest.


    Or, more accurately, experience several consecutive nightmares.

 2-3: Shadow Government

    Lunima stepped out onto Redemption Rock, the once-deserted island that now contained most of the prisoners that came out of the chaos in Arexia (with the exception of a few high-ranking officers that were being held in Sanctuary).


    The island was in the process of being turned into a self-sufficient colony. They has sent over about half of their food and water reserves (enough to keep the colony up for about a month before they''d need to start finding alternate sources), and Bouldos was in the process of using his earthbending to construct shelter for them.


    She called for a meeting of everyone in the colony. After a few minutes, everyone gathered around her. Lunima could have brought bodyguards, but as a gesture of trust, she was facing the mob alone. Granted, she did have enough divine power to survive should the mob attack, but they didn''t exactly know that.


    "A day ago, you were all serving under the employ of the Black Legion, the forces that maintained Daraken''s power with an iron grip. However, he is now dead. We are in the process of dismantling the remnants of his government, and we will soon establish a new government." She was going to say that their government would be superior, but suspected that would be a lie. Daraken may have been a dictator, but he was an effective dictator.


    There was a mixed response to that, but several individuals shouted out, "What does that mean for us?"


    "Most of you aren''t fanatical supporters of him. You may have joined him for the pay, due to pressure and propaganda, or due to being swept under his control when he took over, but it doesn''t matter to us. We''re going to give you several options."


    "Your first option is to stay here and develop a colony. After the war is over, we will supply this island with a portal generator and open trade with the mainland of Garnoth. It will be a peaceful life, and judging by the potential resources here, a potentially lucrative life as well."


    They did not seem especially interested in that possibility.


    "If you wish, we can reunite you with your friends and family as soon as this war ends."


    That attracted a mix of positive attention and angry shouting.


    "Or, you can join our forces," Lunima said.


    Naturally, everyone immediately began shouting. A few even threw tomatoes at her, and Lunima did nothing to stop them from staining her robes. Lunima waited them out, and after a few minutes, they calmed down enough to allow her to continue.


    "The sooner a new stable government is established across Garnoth, the sooner we can rebuild. Daraken''s apprentices are taking the opportunity to sieze power, and it will be a tough war to win. But with your support, we might be able to press the advantage sooner, force them to surrender, and regain a stable government within weeks instead of months."


    "What about pay?" Someone shouted. Of course, much of the Black Legion was attracted by a generous payment scheme, one that the Resistance would struggle to match.


    "We will match what the Legion paid," Lunima claimed.


    A sizeable portion of those assembled seemed to agree. But then, someone objected. "And where would this pay be coming from? The Resistance is barely able to maintain its existing forces, you won''t be able to pay for a few hundred auxiliaries."


    "We have gained a significant treasury from Arexia. If nothing else, we''ll pay you using the same currency the Legion was about to pay you with."


    Of course, they only had pay for about a month ready, but with any luck they would retake Garnoth and use Garnoth''s own treasure for payment before they ran out.


    "Do you really think we''ll just defect from the Legion just because of minor efforts to convince us?"


    "No. But remember this: if Daraken was leader of this Resistance, he wouldn''t have hesitated to execute all of you, rather than expending resources to keep you alive. He runs solely on pragmatism, and the only reason he''s supported Garnoth is to further his own ends."


    It was the truth, but it was a hard truth. The unwilling colonists of Redemption Rock didn''t quite understand it.


    Lunima left through the same portal she entered. It seemed they would need more convincing before they would be willing to ally themselves with the Resistance.


    **********


    It was a few days after the victory in Arexia, and the government of Garnoth had not made any announcements regarding Daraken''s death. Since Daraken rarely left his tower, they had no need to recognize his death. Not when they could take power themselves.


    Derrin had coined the current enemy a "shadow government", Daraken''s apprentices claiming to still be representatives of Daraken, while truly taking the opportunity to expand their own power.


    There was a chance that Daraken had somehow found a way to cheat death, despite having his body ripped to shreds by Annabelle''s last act on this world, and despite Helios'' ability to deny his resurrection once he entered the afterlife. The Resistance agreed to ignore that possibility, partly because it would greatly impair their ability to quickly return Garnoth to normal, and partly because if it was true, then without Annabelle they had already lost.


    They were just as dangerous as Daraken, perhaps moreso without Daraken''s pragmatic reasoning for developing Garnoth to keep the populace content. But with Daraken gone, the Resistance now had a number of new options.


    Firstly, without the threat of Daraken''s direct appearance, the Resistance would now be able the opportunity to engage far more aggressively, as Daraken wouldn''t be present to obliterate the strike force.


    Secondly, they could play the propaganda game, spreading news of Daraken''s death to erode the shadow government''s legitimacy.


    And thirdly, they could wait for a civil war within the shadow government. The apprentices were a disparate group that likely held their own individual goals, and sooner or later they would likely fight among themselves.


    The Resistance had yesterday embarked on a specialized diplomatic scheme, one that Raiks called "collective collapse". A representative was sent to each city in Garnoth under a truce flag, where they presented an offer. The Resistance proposed that those cities switch to the Resistance''s side, to avoid an invasion later. This, combined with spreading rumors of Daraken''s death, managed to convince four cities to defect, much to the ire of the shadow government. The rest called the bluff, possibly after communicating amongst themselves to realize that the Resistance couldn''t follow up against every city at once.


    Now, they had a choice. They could follow up with their stated intent and launch raids to bring several cities under their control, or they could play defensively and intercept the shadow government''s inevitable counterattack. Or they could even try to do both.


    Raiks decided to play defensively. If he broke the shadow government''s army with an overwhelming show of force, it would prove they were failing, and unable to secure their territory with an iron grip like they could before. It would likely inspire more defections and rebellions, and with any luck would result in a quick collapse and an end to the war.


    He ordered Turb to use divination to gather information about the enemy counterattack. After an hour, Turb''s report came in. He and the two diviners working with him had gathered and analyzed the data. There were three attacks that were predicted, but there was also the potential for the divination to be wrong, or manipulated by the apprentices.


    The first was a brute-force assault against Nexion, one of the few cities in the interior of Garnoth. Given how much was known about it, it was either completely unprotected against divinations, or the diviners had focused all of their efforts on deciphering it. Or both at once. It seemed to be the shadow government''s main effort, backed by much of their remaining military forces, including both of their remaining Blade Wyverns. It was incredibly unlikely to be a decoy attack.


    The second was a smaller force of elites, sent after Furion. The projection wasn''t clear on what those elites were, but the apprentices were almost certainly part of it. That is, unless the attack never manifested.


    The third, however, was a projected attack of only one man, against the small coastal town of Enos. It was either a false positive, a fake divination reading given off by the enemy mages, or a decoy attack. Even in the worst-case scenario of it being an enemy apprentice, they were unlikely to be able to cause significant damage.


    After calling a meeting with advisors, Raiks distributed his teams. To defend Nexion, he deployed his core infantry force (a mixed group about eighty strong), backed by Bouldos, five other mages, and four healers. Against the attack in Furion, he readied a dozen archers, along with two more mages and healers. And in Enos, he left a small complement, including one of the few spies he still had. Even if it was bad data, he couldn''t be too cautious. He also left a portal open in each city. If one force was overwhelmed, it would be able to either get reinforcements from another sector, or retreat to safety. Although, a retreat would have grave consequences for the Resistance''s leadership.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Then, he configured his command table to provide an overhead view of the main battleground, and prepared his team for the combat.


    **********


    Though it wasn''t the biggest city in Garnoth, Nexion was still significant. Below it were the largest deposits of iron on the entire continent. The city had started as a small town around an oasis, but rapidly expanded after the discovery of the iron deposits. The Resistance didn''t have much of a need for an extra iron supply, but if they could hold this city, the Black Legion would start to be starved out.


    In the distance, Daraken''s skyscraper of a tower could be seen. In recent years, it had grown to an excessive height of 10 kilometers, for seemingly no reason. What little analysis they could perform on it indicated that the reason for its height was a spatial distortion spell on a massive scale, making the tower taller on the outside than it was on the inside. It seemed to be a single case of vanity in Daraken''s otherwise-rational mindset.


    Maybe the proximity to Fiora was the reason why this city had no walls. It wouldn''t need them if Daraken could see any attacking army from his tower and blast them down. Hopefully, the apprentices lacked that capability.


    Eight kilometers out from Nexion, the Black Legion''s portals opened. Raiks moved his overhead view above their position and analyzed the incoming attack.


    The first group to arrive was a force of three hundred footsoldiers. Half were heavy phalanx infantry, while the remainder were sword-and-bolter bolter auxiliaries.


    But behind them, two massive portals opened, and the Black Legion''s two remaining Blade Wyverns lumbered through. Instead of an arcane artillery focus and mounted complement, they had large storage containers strapped to their backs. Had they been pulled out of serving as beasts of burden?


    However, though taking down one Blade Wyvern had been a tough fight before, they were only engaging it with a fraction of their army. Now that Daraken no longer had the potential to teleport in and obliterate their forces on any given mission, the Resistance had a full army ready to engage it.


    The only problem was that the escalation of force also meant an escalation of stakes. If they lost this fight, they would lose much of their capability to beat the enemy.


    Behind the Blade Wyverns, two apprentices walked in, escorted by three guardian golems each. They were outnumbered by the Resistance''s mages, but they also had far more experience.


    The enemy group took some time to reorganize, before moving in. The Blade Wyverns and apprentices remained behind the main infantry line.


    Three of the Resistance''s mages coordinated to cast a ritual. After a minute of build-up, the ritual activated, launching a sustained barrage of arcing fireballs towards the enemy forces, in a magical mortar strike. The apprentices countered the bombardment with a point defense screen of dispelling bolts, and though a few shots got through, no significant damage was done to their forces. However, it did keep the apprentices busy while the reminder of the mages built up defenses.


    Bouldos prepared sinkholes in the sand that would be collapsed when enemies moved over them, while the other two mages prepared an energy barrier that would hopefully be strong enough to stall the Blade Wyverns.


    After a few minutes, the mage''s bombardment ritual stopped firing. A few seconds later, one of the apprentices shouted out an order, and the entire army broke out into a sprint, charging forwards at top speed, even though they were still five kilometers out.


    Raiks suspected something was up as soon as soon as they started charging. Sure enough, after several minutes, the enemy army showed no signs of exhaustion. Whatever spell the apprentices had put on them gave them far more stamina than should be possible, and their sprinting advance would hit the line much faster than expected.


    Raiks told his mages to rush to finish whatever defenses they could, then told the rest of his forces to brace for contact.


    As the enemy forces closed, Bouldos triggered his traps. At least a dozen Black Legion troops fell into pits, and the remainder of the advancing forces were disrupted, forced to break formation to maneuver around the pits. The Resistance troops fired on the disrupted phalanx, and one of the mages delivered a well-placed lightning bolt that pierced through and eliminated half a dozen simultaneously. The enemy auxiliaries funneled in behind the phalanx, but an arcing fireball shot blasted a massive chunk of them down.


    The auxiliaries retaliated with volley fire, aiming their bolters into the sky and firing over their phalanx, inflicting almost a dozen casualties on the Resistance''s frontline. Or at least, they would be casualties if not for the resistance''s Healers, who immediately stepped up to heal and revive the wounded.


    Then, the Blade Wyverns were launched into the sky, with enough velocity to hurl them over several hundred meters and straight into the city. If not for the barriers that had been put up, they would have landed on their frontline, crushing several dozen soldiers at once.


    The enemy apprentices had likely exhausted much of their strength to pull off that maneuver, and it would take them a few minutes for their energy to replenish. If his forces focused on them before they could recover, he could take them down early, gaining an overwhelming magical advantage in this fight, and weakening the shadow government in the future.


    The Blade Wyverns stabbed downwards with their tentacles, and those impacts combined with the weight of the beasts began to collapse the barriers. With a great effort, two Resistance mages converted part of the force field into a force blast, blasting one of the Blade Wyverns back into its own army. Auxiliaries dived out of the way as the Blade Wyvern landed on top of them, flipped onto its back. Because of the containers on its back, that Blade Wyvern seemed to be having significant difficulty righting itself.


    But before they could repeat the process against the other Blade Wyvern, it broke the forcefield and landed on the roof of a building behind the Resistance, causing cracks in the roof but somehow not causing it to collapse outright. Meanwhile, on the frontline, the enemy phalanx regrouped and charged forwards, splitting into three groups that each took a street.


    Raiks had part of his frontline prepare to take the charge and stall the phalanx, while ordering the rest of his forced to turn around and focus on the Blade Wyvern. With its partner temporarily incapacitated, they had a chance to finish it off before it could do too much damage.


    In the center, Bouldos slammed the ground, shooting up several spikes of rock in front of the charge to disrupt it again. While they were disrupted, the Resistance frontline countercharged to take advantage.


    The Blade Wyvern jumped to the ground, right next to two healers, and grabbed one with its tongue. As she was being pulled in, the healer desperately released a radiant burst around herself to try to stun the wyvern, but the wyvern did not release her. It lashed out with its tentacles, slicing the other healer in half horizontally, then swinging wildly to keep anyone from getting close to it. A dozen Resistance soldiers attempted to approach it with spears, but could not get in range.


    Three Resistance mages coordinated a counterattack, using a variation of a lightning storm spell. Lightning rapidly arced across the Blade Wyvern''s body. The Blade Wyvern began to suffer from convulsions, collapsing to the ground and releasing the healer in its mouth. However, its tentacles were unaffected by the lighting arcs, and continued to swing at anyone who tried to approach it.


    Then, the compartments on its back burst open, revealing an undead surprise. Two dozen skeletons poured out, animated, and charged forth. The compartments also opened on the other Blade Wyvern, but as the compartment had taken the brunt of a large fall, the skeletons that crawled out of it were shattered and crippled, an ineffectual threat at best. However, opening the compartments was enough to let that Wyvern flip back over onto its feet.


    Spears, though ideal for harming massive creatures, were ineffective against walking skeletons. The troops around the Wyvern were forced to drop their spears and pull out swords, which could at least be used as blunt weapons in a pinch. However, after switching weapons, they seemed to have the advantage.


    During the commotion, the now-released healer made a move. She released another flash of light to briefly blind the Blade Wyvern, then rushed to safety. She grabbed the body of the bisected healer, carrying him out of the danger zone before the skeletons could finish him off. After checking to make sure he would live (even if it would take quite a bit of effort to regenerate his lower body and legs), she went back in to heal any who were wounded.


    Then, as the Blade Wyvern recovered from the lightning attack, Scars, the Resistance''s strongest berserker, advanced on it. Even without magical support, he was still a force to be reckoned with.


    The Blade Wyvern shot out its tongue, latching onto Scars. However, Scars snatched it up with one hand, stood his ground as the Blade Wyvern attempted to pull him back, and sliced off the tip with his axe. The Blade Wyvern withdrew its tongue, and focused all of its attention onto him.


    It stabbed at Scars with its tentacles. Scars'' heavy armor blocked several slashing strikes, forcing the Blade Wyvern to change to stabbing attacks. Scars dodged two stabbing tentacles, but a third hit him straight-on, punching through his armor, piercing his chest, then pulling out quickly before Scars could counterattack. Scars pushed through the injury, and continued advancing, smashing through several skeletons that tried to get in his way. Another tentacle landed a hit, but he stayed up.


    The Blade Wyvern seemed to panic, snapping forwards with its head to try to bite Scars. Scars took a step back and knocked the beast''s head aside, then spun around to deliver a devastating axe hit, hitting hard enough to break some of its scales. The Blade Wyvern was briefly dazed, but quickly retaliated, impaling Scars with both of its tentacles. Scars slumped over and seemed to collapse from his injuries, and the healer rushed over to him.


    However, as the Blade Wyvern''s tentacles were embedded in Scars'' body and armor, it gave an opening for one of the mages to send a cutting wind slash to sever one of the tentacles. Scars then got a second wind, grabbing onto the other tentacle and holding it down. The Blade Wyvern tried to pull out, but Scars managed to keep his grip.


    With the Blade Wyvern''s offensive capability crippled, and the skeletons surrounding it disposed of, the rest of the infantry picked up their spears and charged, impaling the Wyvern in multiple points, using the impact momentum to punch through the scales. The beast still refused to die, until Scars stepped forward and started smashing the Blade Wyvern''s head over and over with his axe.


    As soon as the Blade Wyvern was knocked unconscious, he had the rest of the infantry in that force break off and return to the frontline, while Scars continued to chop through its head. The Blade Wyvern would have its brains obliterated before it could recover.


    And, the enemy phalanx was now engaging, pressing their numerical advantage. Even though his forces were more skilled, a spear wall was difficult to overcome for even skilled warriors. His forces were primarily relying on skirmish tactics, attempting to slow down the phalanx with some of their number while others tried to find chinks in their shields and armor to shoot through with bolters. But during this process, they took bolter fire from the auxiliaries, wearing away at their number. Raiks called for them to disengage and retreat deeper into the city, as he considered bringing in the reserves. The threat at the other two sites had not yet materialized, and even if it did, they would gain much more from eliminating the enemy''s core military than he would lose from the elites briefly retaking a city.


    Then, Bouldos fell. One of the apprentices fired a hypervelocity projectile straight into his head, blowing it apart and killing him instantly. Raiks hadn''t seen that spell before. It seemed like some secret weapon Daraken taught to his apprentices, just before his death. The sort of spell that would result in a paradigm shift for magical combat.


    Raiks'' mages would now have to simultaneously engage the enemy infantry and duel the enemy mages at the same time, and given the threat that this new spell posed, they would have to focus too much on defense to do much of either.


    Raiks gave the order to mobilize as much of his reserves as he could, leaving only a pair of guards at each location to monitor for potential attacks. He just had to hope the reinforcements arrived in time.

 2-4: Collateral Damage

    In Enos, as the rest of their team left to join the battle for Nexion, Tenz and Yan were ordered to stay behind.They were new recruits, both equipped with bolters, swords, and leather armor, standard military equipment they had trained with before they defected the Black Legion.


    The two patrolled the perimeter of the town, keeping a close watch out for any arrivals. Seeing no ships on the water, they ignored the sea.


    But then, they heard screams coming from the docks.


    They sprinted towards the source of the screaming, and when they arrived, they found a small horde of sword-and-shield skeletons shambling out of the water. The civilians were fleeing for cover.


    Had the Resistance''s diviners failed to treat skeletons as ''people''? Wait, that would mean-


    Behind the skeleton mob, the water parted, and one of Daraken''s apprentices walked out of the water, surrounded in a waterproof barrier. The skeletons organized around him.


    He made an announcement, his voice amplified by magic to cover the entire city.


    ¡°You have made the wrong decision to support the Resistance. Daraken, with his great and powerful intelligence, originally adopted a policy to leave civilians out of this war, a policy that the Resistance reciprocated.¡±


    Tenz and Yan took cover behind a building, out of sight of the apprentice. They were close enough that they had a small chance to take him out with a crossbow bolt, but even if they did, how would they stop the skeletons?


    ¡°However, the Resistance has abused that agreement. When civilians are under no threat, the Resistance does not protect them. We recapture a city, but they can just return and take it back when they want it again. That changes today.¡±


    Wait, was he about to-


    ¡°Daraken has authorized a new plan of attack. Starting today, cities that defect will be purged.¡±


    ¡°Raiks, we need something. Anything!¡± Yan whispered frantically.


    Tenz, meanwhile, did something stupid. He dashed out into the open, and challenged the apprentice.


    ¡°This isn''t their fight!¡± Tenz shouted. ¡°This fight is between you and us. Leave the civilians out of this.¡±


    ¡°''Us''? There''s only two of you,¡° the apprentice said. ¡°And, as much as I''d love to sic this whole army on you to see how long you''d survive, you''re not my target.¡±


    ¡°I want to make an announcement to the people here,¡± Raiks told the two of them over the Resistance communications channel. ¡°Tenz, say exactly what I say, as loud as you can.¡±


    ¡°If you''re going to make this a civilian war,¡° Raiks announced through Tenz, ¡°Then I think the civilians should be informed on how to fight back.¡±


    The apprentice grumbled, then began an incantation. Tenz made a show of courage, standing his ground.


    ¡°Skeletons are weak to bludgeoning weapons. Their bones are unprotected, and easily shattered.¡±


    Raiks gave the order for Yan to fire, an order that Tenz nearly repeated. Yan fired a burst of four bolts at the apprentice. The first shot took the apprentice by surprise, hitting him in the chest. It wasn''t a lethal hit, but it did get him to stop his offensive spell to shield himself.


    ¡°Grab anything you can,¡± Tenz continued. ¡°Even the simplest of clubs is just as effective as a sword against these creatures.¡±


    The apprentice re-oriented his shield towards Tenz and launched it forward a force blast. His aim was thrown off when Yan shot his last bolt at him, causing him to flinch to dodge.


    ¡°Further, skeletons have slow reactions and a limited fighting style.¡± Tenz noted some heavy breathing from Raiks as he continued to echo him. ¡°They are no more skilled than you are.¡±


    ¡°You...¡± the apprentice growled, his voice still amplified. ¡°Legion, advance!¡±


    The skeletons scattered into the town. Even after Raiks¡¯ speech, the civilians fled, though with any luck they would fight back once they found the necessary weapons. Tenz and Yan wouldn''t know the death toll until after the battle. All they knew is that they would have to give their all to fight for this town.


    ¡°We''re stretched thin,¡° Raiks admitted. ¡°Normally, I would order you to retreat here. But this unprecedented measure demands an unprecedented response. I''m joining this battle, personally.¡±


    It was a risk, Raiks likely knew. But with Daraken no longer present, it was much less of one.


    Tenz slam-fired his bolter at the apprentice, then put it away to pull out his sword as a group of skeletons approached him. The apprentice, seeing this, ignored the duo and fired a blast of chain lightning into a nearby group of civilians.


    The apprentice was the most dangerous piece on the field. While he was still on the field, Tenz recklessly engaged the skeletons in front of him, desperate to get through them to stop the apprentice.


    Yan reloaded his bolter and fired another burst in the direction of the apprentice, distracting him briefly. Then, as a skeleton rushed him, he was forced to bash the skeleton''s skull in with his bolter, breaking it in the process. He then switched to his sword to engage the remaining skeletons.


    Tenz took multiple hits from the skeletons. His armor protected him from the worst of the harm, but by the time he got through them, he was bleeding in multiple places. He was too enraged to care, charging straight at the apprentice.


    The apprentice began an incantation. Tenz almost reached the apprentice, but he finished his incantation when he was barely three meters away. Suddenly, Tenz felt his chest crushed on all sides by an unseen force, shattering his ribs. He tried and failed to get back up.


    ¡°Huh, wasn''t expecting that sort of reaction,¡± the apprentice remarked. ¡°You must be the worst of the worst in the Resistance. Hence why you were the ones assigned to guard an ¡®irrelevant¡¯ town against my attack.¡±


    Yan broke through the skeletons he was fighting, and charged the apprentice, only to be blasted down by a trio of magic missiles.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll live,¡± the apprentice gloated. ¡°Though you probably won¡¯t want to.¡±


    He let them lie on the ground, and waited.


    **********


    Raiks rushed through the portal to Enos, and arrived in the midst of a warzone. Even despite his earlier statements, he knew a fight between untrained civilians and the undead would favor the undead. The civilians still stood a better chance of survival fighting instead of fleeing, but there would still be a terrible death toll this day.


    Raiks charged out into a street, right into a group of skeletons. With one swing of his Arcane Bolter, he smashed all of them. Then, he ran towards the docks, hoping to find the necromancer behind this depraved act.


    While he was running, Derrin (who was taking over for Raiks in Nexion) gave a status report on the main battle. The Resistance forces there were now being forced to retreat back into the city and were taking significant casualties. The only good news was that the army in Nexion was not going after civilians. Hopefully, this apprentice was a rogue actor.


    He found the apprentice. Tenz and Yan were lying on the ground behind him, wounded but not dead.


    ¡°I knew this would draw you out,¡± the apprentice gloated.


    Raiks immediately opened fire, unleashing a rapid burst of five shots from his Arcane Bolter. The apprentice put up an arcane barrier to block all of them. Then, he retaliated with a burst of five magic missiles.


    Raiks knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge them, but he also spotted the mage dropping his barrier. His instincts were expecting a five-shot burst before a reload, but the Arcane Bolter didn¡¯t need to reload.


    Raiks fired a special bolt into his chest, just before being hit by the magic missiles. He had underestimated the power of the bolts, and the barrage knocked him to the ground and took the wind out of him. He struggled to his feet.


    ¡°Now, you¡¯re dead.¡± The apprentice began an incantation. Raiks didn¡¯t recognize it. Maybe it was the same spell that had killed Bouldos. In his current state, he wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge.


    But the spell fizzled.


    ¡°Null-magic bolt,¡± Raiks explained. ¡°You¡¯re finished.¡±


    The apprentice looked down at the bolt in his chest. The null-magic bolt was Raiks¡¯ secret weapon. Instead of merely dispelling magic on contact, the bolt created a short-duration field of nullified magic. When embedded into a mage, it would shut down their ability to use magic for about a minute. Plenty of time to finish them off.


    ¡°Call off your skeletons, bastard!¡±


    ¡°No.¡± The apprentice attempted to pull the bolt out of his chest, but the bolt was barbed to make that nearly impossible.


    ¡°If you call off your skeletons and retreat, I will let you live. Otherwise, you''re dead.¡± Raiks advanced towards the apprentice.


    ¡°What makes you think I care about death?¡±


    Something was off. Daraken was a notably cautious individual, avoiding even small risks if he would potentially die. Some part of that belief should have rubbed off on his apprentices. At the very least, someone who was part of the leadership of a shadow government shouldn''t have the overwhelming urge to sacrifice themselves just to accomplish part of a grander scheme for its other members.


    ¡°You¡¯ve been tricked by the rest of them. They sent you on a suicide mission, hoping to eliminate you so that they would have less competition.¡±


    The apprentice opened his mouth to respond, but then spent several seconds considering what to say.


    ¡°The skeletons have been given orders that I cannot override. The more time you waste here, the less time you have to stop-¡±


    Raiks fired a bolt through his skull, killing him instantly. Then, he turned to Tenz and Yan.


    ¡°I- don¡¯t think- we can fight,¡± Tenz said.


    Raiks aimed his bolter at them, causing them to panic, then fired healing bolts. The bolt heads burst on impact, releasing the same healing energy contained in healing orbs. It was enough to get them back into fighting shape.


    They didn¡¯t need orders to know what to do. The three of them scattered across the town, hoping to end the skeleton threat as fast as possible.


    *****


    At Nexion, the team had been forced into urban combat. Civilians had fled around them, having been warned of the Black Legion''s potential shift in focus. While the Resistance''s soldiers engaged the Legion''s advancing shieldwall across multiple fronts, the surviving Blade Wyvern engaged from the rooftops. Despite its mass, it was able to climb the buildings in the city, walk across their roofs without collapsing them, and even leap across streets. It was a threat that they could not answer.


    The Wyvern leaned over into a street, and grabbed Resistance soldiers off the ground, shredding them with its tentacles before swallowing them. This quickly broke their defense, leading to the Resistance fleeing with the Legion phalanx in pursuit.


    Derrin asked for when the reinforcements would arrive from the forces stationed in Furion. They were still a minute out. He diverted more forces into the collapse, attempted to rally them once they were away from the Blade Wyvern, and wondered if the reinforcements would even be enough.


    This wasn''t a fight they could lose. If the Black Legion won here, they would prove the Resistance to be ineffectual without Annabelle''s aid, and take out almost half of their army in the process.


    The Blade Wyvern leaped forwards, trying to land on a building behind the Resistance. However, a fast-acting mage shot it with a fireball mid-leap, damaging its underbelly and blasting it off course. It skidded along a rooftop, and off the other end, falling into a side street that wasn''t large enough for it to fit.


    While the Wyvern was briefly out of commission, Derrin took the opportunity to reverse the battle, ordering a sudden charge into the advancing phalanx. The enemy phalanx rallied and stopped to brace, forcing him to call off the charge, but it still slowed them down. However, the move still let them retake ground against the phalanx, rather than losing that street completely.


    Behind them, the Blade Wyvern crawled out of the street and back onto the roof. Soon, it would be eating out of their backline again. They were about to be sandwiched between a spear wall and a devouring beast.


    ¡°Just hold out a little longer! My forces will handle it!¡± That was Firenze, the force mage that was assigned to Furion.


    ¡°''your'' forces?¡± Derrin inquired.


    ¡°Well, I''d probably make a better military commander than you.¡±


    Derrin sighed. Firenze might actually be right, at least with regards to the uses of magic in combat. Unlike Raiks, he couldn¡¯t identify spells on the spot, and hadn¡¯t memorized the abilities of every mage in the Resistance. ¡°Just get over here, now!¡±


    Everyone in the streets adjacent to the Blade Wyvern fled. Everyone except Scars, who was probably the Resistance''s best chance to eliminate the beast. The Blade Wyvern seemed to know it, keeping its distance from him. The Blade Wyvern reared back, and leaped back to its previous position, seeking to break their center completely.


    But, as it was midair, it was suddenly thrown to the side by an unseen force. It tumbled out of control, before landing on top of the Black Legion phalanx. Firenze had arrived, accompanied by a dozen archers.


    ¡°I''m going to get our archers airborne to assault them from above,¡° Firenze announced. ¡°That should give them a whole new angle to worry about.¡±


    The remaining two healers from Furion stepped through, and were immediately dispatched to support the frontline. Firenze¡¯s partner remained in Furion, just in case the attack there turned out to be true.


    Firenze activated his ritual, and the entire archer division took off into the air.


    The Blade Wyvern got back onto its feet, but appeared heavily damaged. Several of the phalanx members had raised their spears just before it crushed them, and those spears were now impaled in its belly. It struggled to turn around in the street, and Derrin ordered his team to take advantage of this by charging forward to finish it off. A few surviving enemy infantry tried to push back, but the spearmen were too scattered and damaged to form a significant phalanx, and the auxiliaries both had no clear line of fire, and were distracted by the aerial bombardment.


    From his overhead view, Derrin saw that the apprentices were taking cover underneath their golems to protect against the aerial assault. It didn''t stop the archers from finding firing angles and getting shots in, however. One mage was hit and desperately activated a contingency to teleport away, and the other followed suit soon after.


    Firenze then amplified gravity on the Blade Wyvern, crushing it against the ground. Not only did this immobilize it, but it drove the spears in its belly in even deeper, and prevented it from fighting back with its tentacles. The other mages joined the assault against it with various spells, finishing it off.


    Derrin told the Resistance to demand surrender, and the remaining enemy infantry, after realizing that their heavy support was gone, complied. Then, he asked Raiks on the status of Enos.


    ¡°The skeletons have been destroyed, along with their leader,¡° Raiks replied, exhausted. ¡°But their mission was still accomplished. At least a hundred civilians are dead.¡±

 2-5: Backup

    Before Annabelle went to sleep, she took a bit of time to practice with Starsight. In a network of dark caverns, the ability to identify targets without light could provide a major advantage. It was a good idea in theory, but Annabelle sensed a problem very quickly. Normally, Starsight penetrated all physical matter, but it did not penetrate the Demiplane walls. At least, at first.


    Annabelle, out of curiosity more than anything else, tried to penetrate them by forcing her telekinetic power into a single point. She managed to get through the barrier, but then encountered an incomprehensible mass. She tried to make sense of it for a few seconds, before pulling out, confused but seemingly unharmed.


    She was certain that she couldn¡¯t go insane from trying to analyze non-Euclidean geometry. Firstly, human brains didn¡¯t go insane from incomprehensible information, and secondly, her mind was especially prepared for such a hit.


    However, it didn¡¯t stop her subconscious mind from latching onto the concept to disrupt her dreams. Flashbacks to the Ascent Foundation''s torture were nothing new, but they generally weren''t accompanied by a multicolored maelstrom of energy closing in from all directions.


    Normally, her nightmares were only ¡®nightmares¡¯ in a relative sense, given her lucid dreaming ability. In a dream, she was able to cut loose with her psychic abilities without spending any psychic energy, and give herself a multitude of abilities that she didn''t have in reality. It was, under normal circumstances, her sandbox. Of course, the lack of physical rules made it ineffective for actual practicing, but it was at least entertainment.


    But the maelstrom around her was something else. She tried to will it to dissipate, to no avail.


    Annabelle blasted the maelstrom with a distortion beam, but it had little effect. She charged towards it, and it followed her movements, receding in front of her and contracting behind her. She could move around through this dreamscape, but her visibility was limited. And once the vortex reached her¡­


    She picked up on an unusual presence in the dream world. Almost like something was invading it. She probably wouldn''t lose a fight in her own mind, but with the weirdness happening right now, she wasn''t so sure.


    The maelstrom continued to close in until it seemed to be only ten meters away from her. In desperation, she unleashed a telekinetic nova centered on herself. It was successful at clearing away the maelstrom, and blew apart the Ascent Foundation facility in the process. It wasn¡¯t exactly how she did it originally (namely, with her first-ever rending vortex), but it was close enough.


    She saw the rest of the city around her, and noticed someone on a nearby roof. She thought she saw the glow of a psychic manifestation before they fled.


    Annabelle chased after them. She launched herself into the air to get a better vantage point, and quickly spotted the individual. Her target looked back at her, and then kept running. They reached the edge of a rooftop and jumped to the next rooftop with a flash of purple, and Annabelle launched herself as well to pursue.


    Annabelle got a close view of her target, who looked like a precise duplicate of her.


    "Who are you?" Annabelle asked. "And what are you doing in my head?"


    "I''ve always been a part of you, " the doppelganger responded. "But it wasn''t until now that I had the chance to manifest."


    "Not for long," Annabelle replied. She began focusing psychic energy, preparing a blast that would obliterate the doppelganger. It saw the purple glow around her, but didn''t move.


    "We''re both different halves of the same brain, " it said. "You''re the Alpha, I''m the Omega. You''re the part that''s active, while for the longest time, I was the observer, the invisible advisor."


    "Enough talking." Annabelle released her attack, a distortion beam that would be powerful enough to obliterate her doppelganger. At least outside of a dream world.


    But it had no effect, passing through her harmlessly.


    "We both share the same ability to resist mental attack, and this world is entirely a mental construct. Thus, you cannot kill me. Well, maybe you could cut out the half of your brain that I inhabit, but I doubt you''d want to do that.¡±


    If nothing else, that proved that she was dealing with herself. At worst, this was a case of multiple personality disorder.


    "Why now?¡± Annabelle asked. ¡°Why not manifest earlier?¡± If Annabelle found herself in the position of being a passenger in someone else''s mind, she wouldn''t expose herself like this without a reason. And given that this ''Omega'' claimed to be a loose clone of her mind, it should follow the same rules.


    "Two reasons, " Omega replied. "Firstly, you''re up against a threat greater than anything you¡¯ve encountered before. You¡¯re going to need all the help you can get, and with me, you can double your capabilities."


    "In what way?" Annabelle countered. A voice in her head doing backseat driving in the middle of combat wouldn''t be an advantage, unless said voice was a tactical genius like ACP''s Commander.


    "With your permission, I can access the same well of power that you do, and utilize the same capabilities. At minimum, that would mean we would have the ability to control two enemies instead of one, or for you to focused on offense while I block incoming attacks.¡±


    "Interesting proposal, but that requires a significant margin of trust." This Omega appeared to be a different version of her, but Annabelle wasn''t sure how different.


    "The second reason I am here is due to another threat in your mind. If you picked up on an external invader, it was them, not me."


    "Them?"


    "An unknown group claiming to be a rescue party from the Alien Combat Patrol."


    Annabelle was a bit furious. "And you didn''t deem it fit for me to deal with them directly?"


    "You''re immune to direct mental attacks, but you''re not immune to manipulation and persuasion. I have heavy doubts about their true origins."If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Annabelle glared at Omega, and she elaborated.


    "There are a multitude of reasons why they shouldn''t be here. Firstly, there''s almost no way they know of this place. It''s plausible for them to find some way to track the location you teleported to initially, but this is a hidden pocket dimension, the sort of thing they wouldn''t have any conception of. Secondly, even if they knew where this was, this is about a week since our first arrival in Garnoth. ACP didn¡¯t have FTL travel developed when we left Earth, and though their researchers are fast, I doubt they¡¯re fast enough to develop it and put it on a ship in a week. And lastly, the Commander''s just as much of a pragmatist as you are. Why would he spend this much resources rescuing one individual?"


    "We don''t know on the first two points, " Annabelle countered, even though Omega had a fair point. ¡°and as for the third point, it¡¯s plausible the Commander is facing some new threat that he needs my help to beat.¡±


    "There is a very low probability-"


    "How about you let me judge that," Annabelle said angrily. ¡°I wish to deal with them myself."


    "Fine. I''ll let you decide. But do not ignore my warning."


    The dreamscape advanced forward, until, in front of her, Annabelle saw an ACP dropship materialize out of thin air.


    She also saw five alien battleships in the distance, the second threat in this dream. Once the aliens realized how dangerous she was, they sent their entire armada after her. At the time, a single vortex consumed almost all of her reserves, and she had nothing left that could take out a battleship. The only reason she survived was due to a series of genius plays by the Commander to get her to safety and protect her until they could eliminate the battleships.


    Here, though, it was only a minor inconvenience. Omega stepped up to engage it, leaving Annabelle to make sure the alien vessels did not interfere.


    The dropship landed, and a group of six stepped out. They were decked out in ACP''s finest equipment from the end of the war, advanced powered armor and hybrid gauss/plasma weapons. It was just an illusion in the dream world, but whoever they truly were, they knew enough of Earth to replicate the tech.


    "Finally, we were able to establish a connection, " the squad leader said. It wasn''t anyone Annabelle recognized. "We were blocked several times, and we were worried the Shades had found us out."


    "That was just one of my mind''s defense systems, triggering a false positive," Annabelle admitted. Unless it wasn''t a false positive...


    "Ah, " the leader replied. "Now, as should be obvious, we''re here to help you escape from this place."


    "I''m more interested in destroying it, honestly." Annabelle said. "But I''ll take escaping if it means I can come back with an army."


    The squad leader seemed concerned. None of the others in the group had any reaction, and Annabelle began to suspect they were just abstractions, dream projections created by the leader to fit into this dream. Which wasn''t that suspicious, given that the rescue team might only have one or two psions capable of reaching her.


    "Are you aware of the scale of your opposition?" he replied. "Even ignoring their conventional weapons, assuming you can nullify them, there are several thousand Shades, led by a god."


    "A god, you say? " Annabelle asked. "What do you know on them?"


    "They''re a league above all of us, above any mortal or collective of mortals. If one of them made an attack on Earth, we''d need a miracle to survive. On their home turf, the most we would be able to do would be to piss them off and get them to wipe us out."


    Annabelle still doubted that, but there was wisdom in escaping from a disadvantageous situation.


    "Fine. If we can''t win the fight now, I''ll accept a chance to retreat and build up to take them out later. Now, how exactly are you going to pull off a rescue?"


    "That''s the hard part. The lower reaches of their plane, where you are, are too unstable for us to portal into. We''ll have to breach in the Shades'' living area, and you''ll have to get there for us to extract you."


    "So you''ve figured out how to make portals, " Annabelle realized.


    "Yes." He didn''t elaborate further.


    "Are you aware of the Shades'' weaponry and technology? Or, well, magitek." Annabelle asked. "That armor''s likely to be useless."


    "Our anti-psi gear might work against them. But if that doesn''t work, we''ll settle for bringing overwhelming firepower and shredding everyone within a kilometer of our landing point."


    The ACP representative''s form began to flicker, and began to phase out. "I think I''m out of time. We''ll be watching you. Find a way to get to the Shades'' base, and we''ll back you up."


    As he phased out, Annabelle was left with a lot of questions, and not very many answers. How did they know about this place? About the Shades? And how did they figure out how to create portals, when Annabelle herself had barely made an uncontrolled jump?


    But she would leave the existential questions for when she woke up. Right now, she joined Omega in the epic battle against the alien armada.


    **********


    When Annabelle awakened, she recalled the events of her dream. She was almost certain the message from ACP wasn''t just her imagination.


    You''re correct on that respect. Omega, using what wasn''t telepathy so much as being a second voice in her head. But the accuracy of it is in question.


    Right. Now, for the sake of my sanity, would you mind staying quiet if it isn''t something important?


    Omega silenced herself, though Annabelle could still vaguely feel her presence. It was an unsettling feeling to share a mind, even if she was sharing her mind with herself.


    She felt the pangs of hunger. Right, this place had a minor food crisis. She debated whether or not to eat for a short time, before deciding that having energy to function was important enough to be worth eating a disgusting slop for.


    Darius fed her several spoonfuls of the strange substance, and with a bit of hesitation, she swallowed it quickly. It took a bit of willpower to keep it down, but willpower was the one thing she had in excess.


    Then, she went over to Varos to finish prototyping the railgun.


    Varos greeted her as she went into the testing area.


    "You don''t seem tired in the slightest, " Annabelle said. "Are you sure you didn''t sleep through the night?"


    "Shades, like other elves, don''t need sleep." Varos replied. "I still have downtime, but much less than most other races.¡±


    "So, that means you''ve finished the power core?"


    Varos hesitated. "No. There was a complication."


    "Last I checked all you were doing was investing energy into a power core that would be integrated into the weapon. Did you proceed further without instructions?¡±


    "Yes. I thought-"


    "If we all die because this weapon wasn''t completed, we''ll all be done for. I hope you realize how much of a mistake this was."


    Why did Varos try to rush this process? He should''ve known it would go wrong.


    Annabelle investigated the prototype railgun. The power core and the area around it was burned from the accident, but the barrel and frame were still intact. It looked like it could be salvaged, but Annabelle needed to make sure it would go right.


    "Well, the good news is that it doesn''t appear to be too much of a setback," Annabelle said. "And I think I might have an idea to get this weapon up faster. I can merge minds with you, combining my technical knowledge on the weapon design with your Artificer abilities. It will ensure that no further mistakes occur.¡±


    Varos suddenly turned pale. "No. I am not going to-"


    Annabelle sighed. "We need to do whatever it takes to win. A potential violation of privacy is far outweighed by what is at stake for us if we lose."


    Varos had no answer.


    "I''m sorry, but I see no other option." With that, Annabelle launched a mental assault against Varos, hoping to force the mind-merge. It was the fastest way to achieve victory.


    She had used mind control on friendlies before, to get panicked or mind-controlled teammates back under control. Using it on an obstructionist ally was probably crossing some sort of line, but in the moment, it was a line that needed to be crossed. If everyone survived to complain about this, it would be worth it.


    The stream of energy projected from Annabelle''s head into Varos. Instead of the usual monochromatic purple, it was a double helix of purple and light blue.


    Odd, apparently my psychic energy is blue. Omega interjected. Hey, I''m just helping.


    I''m sure I could''ve handled this on my own, Annabelle sent back. Varos¡¯ mental resistance surely wasn¡¯t strong enough to require a two-pronged attack. He might put up a fight, but he probably didn''t have anything exceptionally difficult to beat.


    But as soon as Annabelle and Omega made contact, they realized that something else was in his mind.

 Interlude: Defiance

    Previously¡­


    **********


    It wasn''t normal for the Shades to immediately hunt down new arrivals. They could be bluffing, or attempting to intimidate, but maybe they had made a mistake. Normally, a serious threat was immediately teleported into a killing chamber for immediate execution, but maybe they had failed to pick up on the danger.


    It was a small spot of hope, but to Varos it was enough. If he could stop the Shades from capturing them immediately, they just might recover.


    He held his staff in one hand, and an untested device in the other. He fired several bursts of lightning from his staff to make noise and draw the attention of the hunters, while continuing to run in the opposite direction from the arrivals.


    He encountered a group of half a dozen Shades around a tight corner, almost at point-blank range. He immediately ducked behind the corner before they could fire, while throwing the device out. The Shades rushed to overwhelm him, but the device triggered, collapsing the dimensional borders briefly and causing an uncontrolled burst of chaotic fourth-dimensional energy. Several Shades went down immediately, their wards overwhelmed by the furst.


    Varos aimed his staff at the first Shade to recover, and blasted him with a sustained barrage of lightning, overwhelming his wards and killing him before he could draw his weapon. Then, Varos dashed away. He triggered the haste module in his armor, accelerating his body and mind for a second to gain twenty meters of distance.


    He encountered a different group of Shades. As he ran past an intersection, a pink bolt of energy struck him head on. It would have been an instant knockout, if not for the weak warding field Varos¡¯ armor projected. It wasn¡¯t enough to block the full effect, briefly stunning Varos, causing him to lose his footing, but he wasn¡¯t out yet.


    Varos pushed himself around a corner, only to encounter a dead end. Thinking quickly, he developed a new plan. He waited just around the corner for the Shades to move in to confirm their kill. As one of them rounded the corner, his knife was drawn, and the wave of pain nearly incapacitated Varos. He managed to activate his haste module again, and for that brief window, his faster perception could overcome the pain.


    He slammed the end of his staff into the Shade and channeled a wave of electricity through it, breaking their wards. He rushed into the Shade, slamming him into the opposite wall, then fled down a different cave section. The Shades fired a few shots at him as his speed returned to normal, but their shots missed.


    He knew the caverns ahead of him opened up above. If he could reach them, he might be able to move to a different layer of the cave to throw off the pursuit.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    But before Varos could reach the opening, a group of three Shades moved into position, directly ahead of him. He panicked, immediately dropping to the ground and throwing out another arcane device. The Shades opened fire, but a wall sprung up in front of Varos, blocking the bolts.


    The other group of Shades caught up behind him. He deployed a second piece of cover behind him, but it would only be a temporary measure. He needed a plan, quickly.


    Wait. His armor was currently in the process of recharging. If he held out for long enough, he might be able to use a burst of power to dash through the Shades in front of him and get enough elevation to get to the high ground. He would most likely get hit multiple times, but if his warding held, he might be able to recover fast enough to get away.


    "Hello, Varos." It was the voice of one of the Matriarchs, seemingly being broadcast directly into his mind. "Your diversion was pointless. I considered ignoring you to hunt them down anyways, but you¡¯re a bigger prize. Don¡¯t get me wrong, the new arrivals are minor threats to us, but my Shades have been clamoring for tougher prey. Their leader, Annabelle Lee, might even put up a decent fight."


    How did he already know her name, when Varos himself hadn''t heard of it? With that kind of divination, the Shades probably knew the exact location of their "secret" hideout. They were only staying away to keep the game going.


    ¡°Normally, you''d be our prize for the day. But I think it¡¯ll be a more appropriate torture to make you bring down the very group you attempted to protect."


    Several of the Shades threw their knives at Varos'' cover. He had to make his move, now.


    He triggered his haste module, slammed into the cover ahead of him, and charged through. The barrier flew out ahead of him, blocking several attacks from the front before slamming into the Shades in its path, but his armor still took two bolts, one from in front of him and one from a shooter behind him.


    Varos managed to stay in control of his body for just long enough to swing off of an immovable rod in his hand, turning his high horizontal speed into a vertical arc. It was just enough to land hard on a higher level of cave, and he struggled to get back on his feet and move before the Shades caught up.


    But then, he noticed the Matriarch standing in front of him, her skin a distinctive shade of blueish grey. She was wearing an ornate red dress bejeweled with gemstones, and was covered in silver and gold jewelry. Varos knew that almost all of it was enchanted to the highest degree.


    Why was a Matriarch in a hunt? Varos now had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to deal a permanent blow to the Shades. At least, if he could somehow beat the Matriarch¡¯s magic, and punch through her hardened wards.


    The Matriarch fired a pink bolt of energy from one of her hands. Varos somehow rolled to dodge it, but the projectile homed in on him and impacted. His warding fields didn''t have enough time to recharge from the previous hits, and did not block the impact. He was paralyzed.


    "I¡¯d like you to continue thinking your attempts to resist are effective," the Matriarch said. ¡°After all, you keep this fun for us.¡±


    The Matriarch pulled Varos¡¯s body upright with telekinesis.


    ¡°Unfortunately, you didn¡¯t win this time.¡±


    The Matriarch began a mental invasion. Varos held out for a few minutes, but the Matriarch gradually wore him down, finding cracks in his defenses. Soon, she was entirely in control.

 2-6: Counter-Infiltration

    Annabelle identified the telltale signs of an opponent¡¯s mind control. The method was slightly different (using magic instead of psychic ability to initiate the contact), but it was still a familiar situation.


    How did you- the intruder asked, panicked.


    How did I know you were there? Annabelle replied. I didn''t.


    Wait, what? was the thought from Varos¡¯ mind. At least Varos wasn''t gone entirely.


    I''m assuming that this individual was controlling your actions, yes? Annabelle asked.


    Yes. She was using me as a sleeper agent to gather information on you. She forced me to destroy the power core.


    You won''t finish it in time, the intruder taunted. I''ve sent my Shades in to dispose of you, and your pet project.


    I''ll deal with them later, Annabelle retorted. After I make you my bitch.


    The intruder made a last effort to break the mental link, but Omega had already infiltrated their mind, and jumped in to hold the link open from the other side, preventing all efforts to dispel it. Annabelle followed up with a standard psychic assault, and met a magically-enhanced defense.


    You really think you can control me?


    She found gaps in the defense, and penetrated through them, only to encounter more walls right behind. They were stalling, but she could push through.


    Nyxl¡­ hear¡­ my...


    She¡¯s attempting to contact her god, Omega realized. If it goes through-


    Annabelle forced the link open wide and dumped a massive burst of raw psychic energy through it. The effort created a brilliant explosion of purple light around Varos, dazing him just from having the energy run through his mind. However, the intruder got off far worse, their psyche shattered in an instant. If she had pumped any more energy through, it could have resulted in an exploding head.


    With the intruder¡¯s mind broken and unable to defend, Annabelle looked through their memories. They were a Shade Matriarch, one of only a few dozen females in their society.


    Annabelle scanned through Cecilian¡¯s memories. The first thing Annabelle realized was that she wasn''t bluffing on the Shade assault. The base''s location had been exposed, and she had called up several groups of warriors to storm the base to capture Annabelle. They would be arriving in about an hour.


    Could she get the assault called off? She could have Cecilian claim that Annabelle was too dangerous to engage (which, if everything went right, would be true), but that would result in a more elite force being sent against them from the start. If she simply backed out, it would result in a loss of reputation (minor, but would impact their ability to use Cecilian¡¯s body to manipulate and sabotage the Shades), and heavily increased suspicion (much more serious). And some of the warriors would likely commit to the attack anyways.


    So, there''s a small problem. Omega explained. This isn¡¯t a standard telepathic link. We were still able to force psychic power through it, but we can¡¯t sustain this.


    Why not?


    The connection isn''t between you and Cecilian, it''s between Varos and Cecilian, with you connecting to her through Varos. This isn¡¯t something we can sustain without considerably inconveniencing Varos.


    I''m not going to be going for manual control, Annabelle replied. I''m doing a full personality rewrite. Take the relevant memories, implant a sleeper agent mind, and then release her to tear down their empire from the inside.


    Alternative proposal: let me handle it. I''ll leave your mind, and inhabit Cecilian''s. Same effects as a personality rewrite, but without the risk of the target returning to normal or going rogue.


    You can do that? Aren''t you a part of my brain? It would be like her arm detaching, wouldn''t it?


    I''m more of a mental construct, similarly to Daraken''s mental barriers. In fact, his barriers were an inspiration for my emergence. I should be able to switch bodies.


    Do it. As soon as Annabelle gave the order, she felt Omega leave her, and pass through the connections and into Cecilian¡¯s mind. If what Omega claimed was true, she wouldn''t even notice it.


    I will do whatever it takes to defeat the Shades. Even if you die, I will keep up the fight in your stead.


    Now that the enemy Matriarch was under control, Annabelle moved to the next priority.


    We have an army of Shades arriving in an hour. Varos, can you repair the weapon in that time?


    Varos was slow to respond. She discharged the power source, and I¡¯m not sure we have enough time to recharge it.


    I might be able to buy time, Omega offered. I can give you an extra hour, maybe a bit more.


    And even if I was able to recreate the power core, Varos stated, I would still need to finish the rest of the weapon, including the ammunition fabricator and recoil mitigation.


    Are you sure there¡¯s no way to get the weapon working? Annabelle probed Varos¡¯ mind and memories, in hopes of finding a solution that he had missed.


    Wait. If I salvage the power cores and secondary systems from my existing equipment¡­


    Varos levitated his staff in front of him, then split it apart telekinetically, exposing its power core. He grabbed the charged core, fabricating an uncharged core to replace it before collapsing the weapon back into shape.


    I¡¯m going to have to drop this connection, Omega said. I need to focus to pull this off.


    Omega closed her connection to Varos.


    Then, Varos went to work. After ten minutes, he fixed enough of the damage to the railgun to re-insert the power core. He spent ten more minutes connecting it to the weapon trigger, allowing a pull of the trigger to correspond to a discharge of electricity.


    Then, he installed a dial on the side of the weapon, a power selector.


    ¡°Wait, don¡¯t magic items have the capacity to respond to mental commands?¡± Annabelle asked.


    ¡°Yes, but that takes time to implement. Time that we do not have.¡±


    The power selector enabled the railgun to be fired at 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100% power. Higher charges would do more damage and breach wards more effectively, but would drain more energy and require more time before the next shot was ready.


    Then, Varos did something unexpected. He took off one of his gauntlets, and extracted the conjuration apparatus from it to insert into the weapon.


    ¡°Won¡¯t that impair-¡°


    ¡°Yes, it will impair my capability to create new items in the future, at least until I replace it. Although¡­¡±


    He reconfigured the gauntlet before putting it back on.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ve kept the core telekinetic functionality in this glove intact."If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    It took half an hour for Varos to reconfigure the apparatus to create metal rods to fire, and to get it to automatically create new ammo after the previous shots were fired. By then, they were dangerously close to a fight. Now they were banking on Omega¡¯s diversion.


    ¡°It looks like an effective weapon core,¡± Annabelle commented. ¡°Now, all we need is recoil mitigation, and ergonomics improvements.¡°


    ¡°I might not be able to do the recoil mitigation,¡± Varos realized. ¡°Not without sacrificing my own protection.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that no defenses worked against their shots?¡±


    ¡°Cecilian decided not to allow me to disclose the fact that my armor had a personal warding field. It¡¯s not perfect, but it blocked a few shots before failing when I created the diversion.¡±


    ¡°Wait, how much of that information is accurate?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s accurate,¡± Varos said. ¡°Cecilian wanted you to know exactly what you were facing in hopes of coaxing out your best strategies. I think she got more than she bargained for, hence why she''s sending an overwhelming attack.¡±


    Annabelle decided to test the recoil first. She switched Shadebreaker to 50% power, set it on the ground, then pulled the trigger with telekinesis.


    The shot fired out, slamming into a wall with an incredible amount of force. The whole cavern shook from the impact, and the projectile exploded into shrapnel (which Annabelle barely blocked with a barrier) But, at the same time, the recoil of the shot caused the railgun to skid backwards half a meter along the ground.


    That was manageable, right? At least if she braced for the hit properly.


    She picked up the weapon, braced herself with a kinetic barrier between the weapon and her shoulder, and fired again. She held on to the weapon, and mitigated almost all of the recoil with only a moderate exertion of energy.


    ¡°My plan was to use a warding field to absorb the recoil, but the only warding field I have right now is my personal warding field, and I''m not losing it."


    Annabelle thought what to do. ¡°I can keep the weapon steady as long as I don¡¯t go past 50% weapon power, and have enough energy to spare. But, if you inserted springs into the weapon to reduce the shock of the recoil, it would make it much easier to control.¡±


    Varos quickly created a stock for the weapon, inserting several springs to absorb the recoil. Then, he worked with Annabelle to improve the weapon¡¯s ergonomics so it was easier to handle and aim.


    They were in the middle of installing a scope when a series of alarms went off.


    The Shades were arriving, ahead of schedule. The diversion hadn¡¯t bought them as much time as they hoped.


    **********


    Annabelle rushed to the center of the gathering crowd, as Diedre attempted to rally a defense. Or maybe it was an evacuation?


    "-Shades appear to still be a few minutes out," Diedre was saying. "Evacuation seems unlikely.¡±


    "Diedre! This raid is after me!" Annabelle shouted into the crowd. Diedre somehow managed to hear her over the crowd.


    "So? They''ll take any targets of opportunity they can get, and they won''t play nice if we sacrifice ourselves just to let you get away."


    "They won''t take everyone," Varos said. "It would leave them nothing else to hunt."


    "I know," Annabelle said, ignoring Varos. "I''m not planning on running, I''m planning on fighting."


    "So, a noble sacrifice, giving yourself up in the hopes they won''t take anyone else? It could work."


    Apparently, Diedre was unaware of the recent weapon developments. "I''ve studied their tactics under Varos. And, I''ve helped him design a weapon to destroy them." She raised her new weapon.


    "Or, a foolish sacrifice."


    ¡°This is Shadebreaker,¡± Annabelle declared, naming the weapon on the spot. ¡°It will hit hard enough to wipe them out.¡±


    Diedre looked at the weapon in disbelief.


    "Where are they attacking from?"


    Diedre was snapped out of her daze. "They''re all around us, approaching slowly. It seems they want to encircle us before moving in for the kill.¡±


    "I mean, there''s only one entrance," Darius realized. "Why can''t we hold there, assuming this weapon is capable of killing them?" Or maybe even if it wasn''t, given Annabelle''s potential to rip apart a large group of enemies in a narrow corridor with her distortion beams.


    "The Shades have ways to manipulate the shape of the demiplane to gain an advantage. If we hunker down, they''ll have time to open an alternate route into the cavern.


    "In that case, I''ll take the fight to them." She started walking towards the exit.


    "Varos, if we punch through, could we escape to safety?"


    "In the short-term? Maybe. It might take a few days for them to track us down, if we stayed away from our previous camps. We''d lose most of our logistics, but with a few days'' time, I''ll be able to finish Shadebreaker and begin work on replicating it."


    "Well, I think this is the best chance we have. Everyone, follow me!" Annabelle led the charge, even though she wasn''t quite sure which direction she was going through the caverns. The others were a bit reluctant to follow, but eventually organized behind her.


    As they moved, she shared her engagement strategy. The rest of her original team had some options against the Shades, and some of the mages in the group had a few tricks up their sleeves, but with any luck, they wouldn¡¯t need to come in to play.


    After advancing for a minute, Annabelle spotted a flash of pink, as a Shade in concealment opened fire. Before it could hit anyone, she blocked it with a kinetic barrier. As several more Shades popped out to begin firing, she expanded the barrier to cover the whole front. Shots fired out from multiple assailants, but the barrier blocked them.


    One of the Shades laughed. He stepped out of cover, and walked towards the barrier, ignoring any threat from the gathered survivors.


    Annabelle levelled Shadebreaker, set to 50% power.


    "You think you can hurt me?" The Shade taunted.


    "No." Annabelle pulled the trigger. The recoil jolted her shoulder, as she had her psychic energy focused on keeping up the barrier.


    A high-velocity metal slug hit obliterated the Shades¡¯ head, painting the walls and ceiling of the cavern red. His wards were practically no obstacle.


    "I know I can."


    The rest of the Shades panicked, fleeing as soon as they realized the tables were turned. Annabelle rushed forward, keeping her telekinetic barriers in front of her to block shots. She lowered Shadebreaker''s power level from 50% to 25%, and fired a three-round burst into one of the fleeing Shades. His wards managed to almost completely block the first shot, but the rest of the burst punched through, blowing two holes straight through his chest.


    She sent out a Starsight pulse to track the locations of the others. There were three of them, one fleeing ahead of her, and two fleeing down a different cavern.


    Annabelle launched herself forwards with a telekinetic burst, then used a second burst as she rounded a corner to changed direction and close in on the lone Shade in front of her. The Shade turned around just in time to see Annabelle smash him in the face with Shadebreaker''s barrel, her swing boosted with the same technique she used to hit hard with sword swings. He fell down, and Annabelle finished him off with a shot to the head.


    Behind her, the other Shades moved back in on her, potentially attempting to shoot her in the back. Without moving, she manifested a distortion beam, starting from a point a meter left of her head, and passing through both Shades. Their chests collapsed and turned to the approximate consistency of jelly, dropping them in an instant. Where the beam impacted the wall, a small explosion of multicolored light erupted.


    Annabelle waited for the rest of the group to catch up.


    She shared the news that the Shades in front of them were dead, and could almost sense the morale boost that gave. For the first time in months, maybe years, they would have a realistic chance to escape.


    They kept moving. If the other groups had not decided to retreat, they would be attacking soon. One or two squads would likely not be able to take them out, but if they took down a few people in their attack, the rest of the group would be slowed down by having to carry them, giving the rest of them more time to keep up the chase and finish them off.


    However, though Annabelle had expected further attacks, she didn''t expect one to come through the ceiling. The ceiling above her suddenly opened up, and a stunner shot hit her straight in the head. Despite her warding charm, the effect still got through it, and despite her incredible mental defenses, she completely failed to stop the effect, and fell onto her back. Above her, she could see the hole in the ceiling expand, revealing eight Shades clinging to the walls like spiders.


    The Shades had warped the cavern system to gain an advantage. But it didn''t matter, since Annabelle¡¯s psychic abilities should remain fully functional.


    She attempted to create a spatial vortex to tear apart the attackers, only to have nothing happen. How was a physical stunning effect also nullifying her psychic abilities?


    She tried several abilities, but nothing worked, with the exception of Starsight. But even though Starsight could be manifested to get a better picture of the ensuing carnage, something stopped her from using the telekinetic field that she was using for Starsight to perform any sort of telekinetic manipulation.


    Around Annabelle, most of the group fled, as the Shades shot wildly into the crowd, stunning most of them.


    Varos, in a foolish effort, dashed towards her. He activated some sort of augment in his armor to gain a massive burst of speed, and grabbed Shadebreaker. He was hit by a stunner, but he stayed upright, aimed up, and obliterated one of the Shades with a shot from the railgun before the rest of him took him down by overwhelming his defenses.


    Once all of their targets were either down or out of their line of fire, the Shades dropped down. Lorso raised a ceiling of fire in an attempt to block them, but they passed through it, their wards protecting them from the heat.


    However, when they landed, Silence immediately struck, taking them by surprise. One of the Shades was hit with a kick to their groin powerful enough to launch them several feet into the air, slamming into the cavern roof hard enough to cause brain matter to start oozing out of the hole. Silence then grabbed their corpse out of midair, stepped forward, and threw it into a second Shade, knocking them down.


    He took a stunner shot in the flank, but at the same time, his body briefly glowed yellow. Annabelle wasn''t sure what he had done, but it somehow negated the stunner''s effects.


    He rushed forward and slammed a third Shade with a devastating haymaker to knock them into the ground, then stomped on their head, pulping it.


    However, though Silence resisted one stunner, he did not resist the second wave of attacks, and went down.


    His diversion allowed several other mages to step forward and cast their own spells. A brief duel ensued between the mages and the Shades, but though they managed to overwhelm and kill one Shade with a barrage of arcane blasts, they were soon stunned as well.


    With that, they were defeated. The Shades had won, and all that was left for them to do was to take their prize. Annabelle wasn''t sure whether she wanted to be one of the victims.

 2-7: Changing Priorities

    The Black Legion had committed a terrible atrocity, one that would change the state of the war. Even though their army had been decimated, the apprentices could each bring enough magic to burn down a city if they desired.


    The Resistance would no longer be able to seize territory gradually, not without putting innocent civilians in the crosshairs of the shadow government. Raiks wasn''t quite sure how the Resistance would adapt.


    But right now, he had to ask for aid.


    He walked through the portal into Dustreach. By now, it was late in the evening, and the High Temple of Helios was closed to general visitors. He hoped there would be an exception, in this case.


    He arrived at the gates to the temple. The gates were closed, and a pair of guards were stationed, though they seemed to be dozing off.


    "I need to speak to High Priestess Julia! Raiks announced. "It''s an emergency."


    One of the guards jerked to attention. "You don''t seem wounded." Raiks was technically wounded right now, but he was tough enough that the injuries were barely noticeable.


    "There''s been a disaster. Over a hundred civilians are dead or injured. I''m requesting immediate aid."


    The color seemed to drain out of the guard''s face. "I don''t know if you''re lying, but that sounds urgent. I''ll send you through."


    He woke up his partner, and had him escort Raiks to the main complex. He had managed to spook the guards enough that they didn¡¯t even take the time to confiscate his weapons.


    When he arrived, he was mildly surprised to find Julia waiting for him.


    "I know of the disaster in Enos," she said. "But, with Daraken still present, I do not dare intervene."


    "You didn''t hear of what happened in Arexia?" Raiks replied. "Daraken is dead, and Annabelle is missing, presumed dead, after a portal mishap."


    Julia was surprised by this news. "I thought that was just your propaganda. So that means-"


    "We''ve won the main war. What''s remaining is a group of rogue apprentices that are perpetuating a lie, maintaining power by claiming that they act for someone who no longer exists. Today, however, they''ve gone too far."


    "Is Daraken truly dead?"


    "Do you not know? Surely, Helios would give you a sign upon Daraken''s death." Raiks suddenly had a moment of concern.


    "I received no such sign. Nor did I receive a sign of Annabelle''s death."


    "I hope that means that Helios did not tell you, and not that Daraken is still alive." Even if Annabelle was also still alive wherever she ended up, she was last seen stepping through a sabotaged portal to an unknown region, and her return would be highly unlikely.


    Julia pondered the issue. "It is concerning. I will consult Helios on this issue, and update you when I get a response."


    Raiks ran a quick analysis. If Daraken was alive, why did he allow them to take several major cities? And if he was alive, why did he allow one of his apprentices to attack innocent civilians?


    "Based on what has happened in the past few days, I believe that if Daraken is somehow still alive, he is no longer a relevant threat in this war. Thus, it should be safe for you to render aid."


    "When you say it that way¡­" Julia said. "Alright. I will send aid. Unfortunately, though we can treat simple injuries, resurrection is more difficult."


    "How long will it take to bring a hundred back?" Raiks asked.


    "Theoretically, a few hours," Julia replied. "But we can only bring back those who are willing to return."


    Raiks knew what she meant. "How many would be unwilling?"


    "The afterlife is the ultimate reward after a long, fulfilling life," Julia said. "No one leaves the afterlife without a reason, and civilians have much less of a reason to return than members of your Resistance."


    Still, they had to try.


    "And what will you do after solving this crisis?" Raiks asked. "Will you help us stop the apprentices, before they commit another atrocity?"


    "We will see," Julia replied.


    **********


    Lunima returned to Redemption Rock, and this time Turb was accompanying her. Now that the apprentices had overplayed their hand, they had much better odds of convincing their former soldiers to turn against them.


    After rounding up everyone in the colony, she began her announcement.


    "One of the late Daraken''s apprentices has committed a horrible action. They have decided that to hold on power, they will start murdering any civilians in any city that attempts to rebel. In Enos, at least a hundred are dead, and only quick thinking from Raiks prevented it from being much worse."


    Many of the former soldiers reacted in shock. A few, those who likely had family in Enos, were horrified.


    "The apprentices are not Daraken. While Daraken at least showed an interest in improving society, these monsters are only after power, and see anyone else as merely pawns. The sooner they are overthrown, the better."


    This time, they seemed to be moved. But then, one questioned them.


    "Where''s the proof of any of this?" he demanded. "How do we know you aren''t lying?"


    "I''ll show you, " Turb said. With a quick motion, he called up a holographic image that quickly formed into a birds-eye view of Enos. The dead could be seen lying in the streets, even as healers from the Temple of Helios were providing aid.


    "It could easily be trickery, " he continued.


    "If you desire, " Turb added, "I can let you see the destruction firsthand."


    "I will do one better, " Lunima declared. "You will all be given three days of leave, to be used as you wish."


    The former soldiers began to discuss the news. Turb quickly pulled Lunima aside, and loudly whispered a rebuke. "Are you crazy! If you just let them run off, they won''t come back! They might even expose this to the apprentices!"


    "That is an acceptable risk," Lunima shot back. "We need all the help we can get to stop them before they commit another atrocity. By allowing them to leave to their families, we show that we are doing this for humanitarian reasons to stop an evil enemy."


    Turb conceded. "You may be right. However, I believe the final decision will ultimately be up to the council on this."


    Lunima decided to continue with the assumption her proposal will be accepted. "After leave is over, if you wish to fight against the apprentices, meet us at our base in Nexion."


    There was a mixed reaction to the news, but it seemed like everyone was glad for it.


    Lunima''s bold action was exactly what was needed to get the Resistance the allies it would need for a final assault. At least, if the council supported it.


    **********


    "She''s just in there. Whatever you do, don''t let her out."


    Raiks walked into the Resistance''s dungeon. It was a small complex, with only a dozen cells. All of them were filled with high-ranking enemies, officers who were unquestionably loyal to Daraken and who still held valuable intelligence. All of them, except for one.


    Raiks arrived at the last cell, and looked at the prisoner within. She was an elf, wearing the same common clothing she was in when she was knocked out, but she didn''t act like any of the elves that Raiks knew. When Raiks approached, she put her head up to the cell bars and hissed. Raiks sat down on a bench just outside the cell.


    "Who are you?" Raiks asked. He had already been told the answer from previous interrogation reports, but it was always good to start out a conversation with introductions.


    "I am Saphus Garm," the prisoner replied. "I am not your enemy. Release me."


    "I''m Raiks Strike-Hammer, leader of this Resistance," Raiks replied, returning the introduction. "And yes, it is true that you are not an official member of the Black Legion. However, when the Event occurred, you were in a secret chamber in their castle, discussing something with one of their assassins. Based on the intelligence we gained from him, you were planning to join Daraken''s ranks as an elite specialist."


    "I''ll give you the same offer," Saphus said. "I''ll have you know that I charge less than any other of comparable skill."


    "I would love to take that offer," Raiks commented. In fact, that was part of the reason why he was here. "This Resistance is sorely lacking in infiltration capability at this moment. But I need to be able to trust my spies, and I have no way to trust you."


    "I''m a mercenary. I''ll take any work I can get."


    Raiks suspected money wasn''t her core motive. If she was truly after money, she''d likely have better clothing and equipment, even if she wasted most of her money in brothels and bars. If anything, that made her more untrustworthy than a regular mercenary. At least a mercenary could be trusted to follow the money.


    "That''s not helping your case."


    "Do you not have magic?" Saphus complained. "Use that to verify that I do not betray my clients."Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "I don''t think that''s going to work on me." Also, that didn''t rule out the possibility that she already had a contract with the Black Legion that she was attempting to fulfill at this very instant.


    "What?"


    "You were meeting with an assassin without any weapons or armor. Or any equipment at all, for that matter. Either you''re an idiot, or you''re a mage. If I let you out of that cell, you could easily use whatever magic you have against me."


    Saphus''s cell was one of two cells protected by a null-magic field. Unlike Daraken, they didn''t have the capability to protect the entire prison, but they could at least keep a few suspected mages captive without having to resort to barbaric measures.


    "Yes, I am a mage," Saphus explained. "A few idiots call me a psion, even."


    That word got Raiks'' attention.


    "What are your abilities?"


    "I can manifest blades of arcane energy from thin air, allowing me to kill enemies even when unarmed. I can augment my body with magical energy to leap long distances in a single bound, and strike with a speed outmatching most foes. And, I have a subtle telepathic ability, enough for some minor manipulations."


    Raiks immediately compared Saphus''s claimed abilities to Annabelle''s. She had something Annabelle didn''t, and two abilities Annabelle did. But, she was missing one important detail.


    "If you were truly a psion, your abilities wouldn''t be disabled by this null-magic field, and you''d likely have found a way to escape." And, she would likely also have a significant headache right now, something that she didn''t seem to have.


    "I said the people calling me by that name were idiots," Saphus remarked, shrugging.


    "Those abilities are likely potent," Raiks said. "But unfortunately, any situation where we could use magic to verify your powers is also a situation where you could use magic to escape and potentially kill us."


    "So, your dilemma is that you don''t trust me, but you can''t take me out of this cell to use magic to prove that I can be trusted."


    "Yes."


    "Do you not have magic that can see the future? Even if it can''t see into this cell, it should be able to determine what my actions would be if I was released."


    "But if you were aware that we were focused on you, you would know not to do anything untrustworthy for some time. That would only allow us to trust you as far as we can see into your future."


    "It''s still a start," Saphus said.


    Raiks had to admit, she did make a bit of a point. Their mages would likely be able to figure out a way to verify their trust. But still¡­


    "Why did you have this conversation at all? I''ve already given you everything I know!"


    Admittedly, she had. Even though it wasn''t much information, it did give Turb a lead on the assassin Saphus had spoken to. Thus, any potential operation that Saphus was undertaking for the Black Legion had to be worth more than that other assassin''s security.


    "Something''s changed in the war. I may need to take desperate measures, measures that I wouldn''t consider otherwise."


    Raiks was attempting to gauge how well Saphus could be trusted, to determine how risky employing her would be. He was only considering this meeting because of the news of Daraken''s potential resurrection, and even then only because he did not have Darius to lead a scout force.


    "And yet you kept coming up with reasons not to allow me to join you."


    Raiks stood up and prepared to leave. "I''m considering my options. You may be one of them."


    **********


    Raiks called the Resistance council to order. Derrin, Turb, and Lunima were attending in person, but Faris and Varn were both off harvesting materials from the dead Blade Wyverns. Thankfully, Turb had a solution for that, opening a temporary communications channel that would allow them to overhear the meeting and interject when necessary.


    They were joined by Firenze. Due to his actions in the battle for Nexion, Raiks planned to promote him to the role of lead battlemage officer, allowing him to maximize the supporting value of magic in future engagements.


    "Today, we are discussing multiple aspects of our military strategy in the days to come, " Raiks announced. "I''ll start with my proposal: we make a direct assault against Fiora, and take the threat out at its head."


    "There are numerous risks, " Turb said. "And even if we take the city, the tower is another matter entirely."


    "Yes, there are risks," Raiks said, "But we would face similar risks from a protracted military campaign, in addition to putting countless civilians at risk."


    "What sort of timeframe would we have for such a major attack?" Lunima asked.


    "I''m tentatively setting the date at two weeks from today," Raiks said. "That will hopefully be enough time for us to prepare."


    "So, before you get sidetracked, " Lunima interrupted, "What of my proposal?"


    "You mean, to release our prisoners, and hope they return on our side?" Firenze said. "I''m glad you''re not the commander."


    "There are pros and cons to the measure, " Raiks admitted.


    "After we showed them the devastation in Enos, " Lunima said, "I believe most of them aren''t willing to support them anymore. They realize that Daraken wouldn''t do something like this. Giving them this bit of goodwill will make their opinions even more favorable."


    "Out of a few hundred people, at least one of them will give the gambit away," Turb countered. "And, it is likely that some of them may defect back to the Legion."


    "That''s acceptable, " Raiks said. "We aren''t exactly going to be able to conceal a large military advantage anyways."


    "What if the apprentices decide to consider this action as a mass rebellion against them, and start razing cities?"


    "They would lose any support they have left," Raiks said, "and would most likely spur the Church of Helios into immediate action. I don''t believe they would be that stupid."


    "So, what is the consensus here?" Lunima said.


    "Let''s have a vote. All in favor, raise their hands." Raiks and Lunima raised their hands. The others were more hesitant.


    "You know what, I''ll bite, " Turb said. He raised his hand.


    Derrin and Firenze didn''t support the proposal.


    "What of the dwarves?" Derrin asked. "They get a vote too."


    The dwarves didn''t take the opportunity to vote. Raiks attempted to get their attention a few times, but eventually declared them to have abstained.


    "Three votes for, two votes against, " Raiks declared. "The motion passes. Transport will be arranged at the conclusion of this meeting."


    "Now that that is settled, we can move on to more pressing matters. Namely, the assault against Fiora."


    There seemed to be no objection to that.


    "First off, I''d like a supplies report. Faris? Varn?"


    The council waited for a response, and got nothing. Raiks repeated the question again, louder.


    "What was that?" Faris asked. "We''re busy here, what do you want?"


    "A logistics report, " Derrin repeated. "And the status of your special projects."


    "Let''s start with our most successful project, " Varn said.


    "You mean the dragon-scale armor project?" Faris asked Varn.


    "Yes, that one."


    "What dragon-scale armor project?" Raiks asked. The dwarves were a bit surprised that their private conversation had been broadcast.


    "We have been able to harvest the scales of every Blade Wyvern that has been sent against us, as well as Daraken''s scales. With those scales, we will be able to equip sixty men with armor that is nearly impervious to many forms of conventional weaponry, and also has some resistance against several forms of magic."


    "How long will it take to manufacture all of that armor?"


    "If we focused on it, about a month."


    "We have two weeks, " Raiks said.


    "And we have other projects to work on," Varn complained.


    "For instance, the ''gun'' project." Farn added.


    "What will that give us?"


    "We''ve had limited progress on replicating the ''gunpowder'' Annabelle was talking about, through alchemical means. But regardless of whether we achieve the ability to do it without magic, we still have the capability to construct powerful ranged weapons, powerful enough to blast through armor and magical defenses."


    "How many could you construct in two weeks?" Derrin asked.


    "If we focused on it? About twenty a week," Varn replied.


    "Wait, there''s a catch, " Faris added. "The guns are powerful enough to blast through heavy armor, but they aren''t accurate. Annabelle had mentioned something about ''rifling'' that could address the problem, but she wasn''t with us long enough to explain it. Right now, they''re unreliable past fifteen meters or so of distance."


    There were other problems. Most of the Resistance''s skilled ranged attackers were bowmen. The bolter was a weapon that was easy for any soldier to learn how to use, but had a lot less effectiveness than a skilled bowman. This made it unclear who was most qualified to wield these powerful weapons. And there probably were some differences that would need to be worked out.


    "Make ten guns, then spend the rest of the time creating dragon-scale armor," Raiks directed. "By building the guns first, we''ll have as much time as possible to train soldiers in how to utilize them." Though two weeks was a tight schedule for training, they weren''t that much different from bolters.


    "We''ll see what we can do, " the dwarves replied. Now that their role in this meeting was done, the dwarves left the channel.


    "Next, I want intel on Fiora''s defenses, " Raiks continued. "Turb, what do you know?"


    "Not enough. I didn''t expect any useful information to be gained from scouting for a suicide mission, so I only even made the effort a few times."


    Raiks sighed. "I expect that priority to change."


    "Yes, it will. However, there will still be wards in the region. I should be able to analyze the city''s defenses, but there''s no chance of me getting anything on the tower itself."


    "We don''t know what we''ll find once we start digging," Derrin said. "But what do you know now?"


    Turb used a quick command to cause the command table to display a holographic image of Fiora, minus the tower.


    "From what we''ve been able to gather, the city has two layers of walls, similarly to how Dustreach has an inner wall protecting the temple and an outer wall protecting the rest of the city. There is a significant guard complement on each wall, about a hundred."


    "So, we should be able to beat them," Raiks said. They had a numbers and terrain advantage, but the Resistance''s soldiers had the edge in skill and leadership.


    "Assuming that there''s no hidden secret defenses protecting the city," Derrin cautioned.


    "Yes, assuming that there''s no hidden defenses," Raiks corrected. "But even if we can take the city, it does nothing to help us take the tower."


    "I have an idea," Turb said. "If we have control of the city, I might be able to lock down the tower with portal interdiction."


    "Can an interdict device really block a portal generator''s function?"


    "It hasn''t been tried. I could conduct experiments, but it might disrupt normal operations of Sanctuary''s portal system while I undertake them."


    That could potentially be worth the disruption to test. If they could keep the apprentices from entering or leaving the tower, they could initiate a siege and starve them out, or at the very least prevent them from doing anything without fighting through Resistance troops stationed around the entrance.


    Maybe, if they were lucky, they wouldn''t need to take the tower at all.


    "That assumes Daraken didn''t have a backup plan in place for when we take his city," Derrin said. "Even though he''s dead, the apprentices will likely still be able to use whatever contingencies he established for such a situation."


    "If he''s truly dead at all," Raiks added.


    "He has to be," Firenze declared. "He already had a backup plan upon his death, reverting himself to a draconic form. He wouldn''t have another."


    Raiks explained his conversation with Julia. "Julia, High Priestess of Helios, issued a major prophecy relevant to Daraken and Annabelle. When Daraken was killed and Annabelle went missing, she heard nothing of it, even though Helios would almost certainly inform Julia of the deaths. I''m still waiting for confirmation on her part, but there is a chance neither are dead."


    "What prophecy?" Turb asked.


    "I¡­ can''t share it." Wait, should he? No, the prophecy required him to potentially betray Annabelle, to eliminate her before she posed a threat. The more people he explained it too, the more likely Annabelle could discover it. In fact, if Annabelle discovered it, there were good odds that the prophecy would become self-fulfilling.


    "If Daraken was alive, we wouldn''t be fighting right now," Derrin added. "Without Annabelle, we have no way to oppose him. You yourself agreed that planning for a hopeless possibility was a losing battle."


    "There is a chance that Daraken is weakened," Raiks theorized. "Maybe he will eventually recover, but for now his apprentices have gone rogue and he no longer has any hold in Garnoth. If he''s still alive, he''s no longer in a position to support Garnoth."


    They moved on from that discussion and back to a discussion of Daraken''s tower. But without any real intelligence on the tower, the discussion deadlocked. It was then that Raiks brought up the issue of Saphus.


    "One of the prisoners captured from Arexia says that they are willing to work with us. She was captured in Arexia, but as a mercenary, not as a full member of the Legion." Most of the council was likely already aware of who Raiks was referring to, but he explained the details just to be sure.


    "She has done absolutely nothing to earn our trust," Derrin warned. "In fact, there are good odds she is being paid to kill you right now."


    "She has provided valuable intelligence on one of Daraken''s assassins. I don''t think she''s on Daraken''s side at this moment, and if we could recruit her, she could give us key intelligence on the tower. If any of you have any ideas to give her a chance to earn our trust, I''d like to hear them."


    If Annabelle was here right now, Raiks wouldn''t be having this problem. Instead, he''d likely be having to explain to Annabelle why she wasn''t allowed to use mind manipulation to solve this problem permanently.


    "A null-magic zone isn''t the only way to keep a mage contained," Firenze remarked. "If I work together with Turb, we should be reasonably secure against her escape. There would still be a chance, but not much of one. That should allow us to use magic to ensure we can trust Saphus to not betray our secrets. Although, I heavily suspect we''ll prove we can''t trust her instead."


    Firenze and Turb quickly worked to develop a strategy, and Raiks authorized its implementation. Even if the situation wasn''t as dire as they thought, having an additional agent on their side could be exactly what was needed to beat the apprentices.

 2-8: Deciphering Motive

    In the middle of the night, the mages put their plan into practice. Accompanied by a pair of guards, Firenze and Turb entered the prison complex, and walked up to Saphus'' cell. Saphus immediately reacted to their presence.


    "You realize I''m aware of your presence, right?" Saphus said.


    "Yes, I''m aware that elves don''t sleep. Such a lovely advantage, isn''t it?" Firenze remarked. He didn''t have enough elven blood in him to go without sleep entirely, but he still required much less sleep than a normal human, something that gave him a significant edge in his studies.


    "We''ve managed to find a way to conduct a necessary interrogation in a safe manner. Come with us."


    One of the guards opened the cell door, while the other stood guard at the opening. Saphus didn''t immediately rush the door, instead taking up a defensive stance at the back of her cell.


    "She might be trying to lure us in," Firenze warned. "Advance with caution."


    As Firenze and Turb both began quiet incantations, the two guards walked in, cornering Saphus. When they grabbed her, she did not resist, even as they removed her from her cell.


    The instant she was outside of the null-magic boundaries, Firenze activated his spell. A sphere of force manifested around Saphus, an inverted warding shield intended to imprison a target. As Firenze lifted the sphere into the air, Saphus panicked and attempted to break free.


    She first summoned a pair of blue energy blades and attempted to stab them into the sphere of force, to minimal effect. Then, she attempted to launch her body into the sphere''s wall with magic, but without enough room to build up momentum, all she accomplished was stunning herself.


    "I would not recommend attempting to break the barrier. The results would be¡­ messy." Firenze briefly had the sphere shrink to prove his point. If he had to, he could apply enough force to crush Saphus to death.


    Saphus, after realizing her predicament, suddenly calmed down, shifting from an agitated panic to lazily lounging inside the sphere in an instant. Firenze found it almost disconcerting.


    He looked over at Turb, who hesitantly nodded, giving Firenze the requisite signal. While Firenze had employed the trap, Turb used his divination to analyze the near-future and ensure that Saphus did not escape from the bubble of force she was in. As he had explained, he couldn''t give a more overt signal without potentially giving the assassin a signal to put their escape plans into practice. Even if it was implausible for Saphus to wait until after Turb gave the all-clear to use the secret technique that would allow her to escape, it wasn''t out of the question.


    Then, they walked to an interrogation room, levitating Saphus behind them. There was a table with three chairs, but while Firenze and Turb sat down, Saphus was kept inside the bubble in midair. She didn''t seem to mind.


    There was a small crystal in the middle of the table, a truth crystal.


    "Let me guess: if I lie, that crystal will glow or something." Saphus confirmed her theory by stating that she was a lizard, causing the ball to briefly flash red.


    "You''re quite intelligent," Firenze noted. Would she know that she could remain silent without being identified?


    I''m curious, does this work? You''re a cow. Firenze sensed a powerful voice in his mind, one that almost drowned out his own thoughts.


    "Get. Out." Firenze didn''t know what Saphus just did, but it wasn''t good.


    "Okay, now that I know that that little trick ignores truth spells, I''m- shit!¡± Saphus cried out as Firenze compressed the sphere, nearly crushing her to death.


    "Next time, you''re dead." After several seconds, Firenze returned the sphere to normal.


    "Now," Turb said, "What exactly did you discuss with Daraken''s assassin?"


    Saphus took a few seconds to respond. "Just getting to the meeting was difficult," she finally said, going off on a tangent. "It''s pretty difficult to get a job in my line of work without getting arrested. However, I was able to ask around, and managed to get in contact with a higher-up in the Black Legion before being driven out of the city."


    "What does that have to-"


    "When I made contact with their assassin, he mentioned that there was an opening in their ranks, an opening that I could fill. Before I could even give him my offer, he gave me an offer far above my normal rates, including a free allotment of gear to aid in my missions."


    "Did you accept any form of deal from the assassin?"


    "No." Saphus said. The truth crystal did not glow as a result.


    "So, you have absolutely no arrangement with Daraken or his allies."


    "That is correct."


    "Why didn''t you take their deal?"


    "They didn''t say who the targets were," Saphus immediately replied. "He wanted me to take a deal before he would tell me what the targets were. I was arguing with him over that point when the Event happened."


    That was an interesting point of view, to say the least. The truth crystal still supported her statement.


    "So, your reason for refusing a deal was because they didn''t tell you who your targets would be," Turb summarized. "Why is that important to you?"


    That question stumped Saphus. She didn''t respond.


    "If you were informed that we were your targets, would you have taken the deal?"


    "No." The truth crystal glowed red in response to that, stunning her.


    "I''d recommend explaining further."


    "I-I''m not sure how that''s a lie. I don''t want to go after the Resistance." That particular statement wasn''t recognized as a lie, stumping both mages.


    Turb and Firenze looked at each other. Neither of them had an explanation.


    "Wait. I might''ve learned something that changed my mind after the Event," Saphus explained.


    "Let me guess, they ''misled'' you with bad information?" Turb guessed.


    "They said the Resistance was a force of evil that was trying to tear down and undermine Daraken''s legitimate government. But from what I now know, that''s not true." The crystal faintly glowed, as if it was an edge case.


    "So, here''s a hypothetical situation," Firenze said. "Say that they had told you about us, and managed to get you to infiltrate our Sanctuary. Would you have defected after realizing the truth?"


    "Maybe?" Saphus replied. "But if I knew what I know now, yes."


    "What made you change your mind?" Turb asked. Maybe she would only have defected because of the knowledge that the Resistance could catch her infiltration or kill her in the field.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "Put simply, I''m in this line of work for the thrills. But, I''m not willing to go after everyone. Most of the time, the situation''s morally grey enough that I can justify working for either side. But this is a fight between a Resistance that worked overtime to save hundreds of enemies, and a Black Legion that murders dozens of civilians for supporting the opposite side."


    "How did you figure that out?" Firenze asked. Where was she getting that sort of information while stuck in a prison cell?


    "I''m pretty good at overhearing things," Saphus claimed. "Also, I overheard that Daraken''s assassins are all stuck with kill switches that eliminate them before they can be interrogated, a detail that they conveniently ignored when offering their deal."


    So, an assassin with a slight conscience. It was just barely enough for them to work with.


    "Just to make sure: do you have any intentions whatsoever to kill any member of this Resistance?" Firenze asked.


    "I will not kill any member of the Resistance," Saphus said. They looked at the crystal, and it didn''t glow. Theoretically, that meant Saphus was entirely trustworthy.


    "Will you share confidential information with the Black Legion?"


    "No. Even if I had such information."


    "Will you take any other deliberate action to disrupt this Resistance''s efforts?"


    "No."


    Firenze asked several more questions. All of the answers indicated that Saphus was not a threat to the Resistance, and none of them were lies.


    After that, the two mages left the room to hold a private conversation.


    "She''s not a threat, and the truth crystal supports her," Firenze whispered. "But I still have doubts."


    "Daraken''s defied the laws of magic before. There''s a chance he found a way to beat our simple lie detector. But she isn''t Daraken, and I doubt she is one of his apprentices."


    "We don''t know what any of his apprentices look like."


    "While it is theoretically possible for him to know exactly what Annabelle was planning, plant one of his apprentices as an assassin candidate, and then have her express a willingness to work with us and give away key information just to have her use a unique anti-truth spell to trick us, I don''t think it''s plausible."


    Firenze opened his mouth to voice an objection, but he knew that Turb was right. "I still don''t trust her."


    "Concern noted." Turb walked past him and back into the room, and Firenze quickly followed.


    "For the record, I totally have the ability to fool your truth detector." The truth detector immediately glowed red in response.


    "Why are you-" Firenze saw Saphus messing around with this serious interrogation, again.


    "If I had magic that could scramble a truth detector, I could lie without setting that off."


    "I think Daraken would be smart enough to make a spell that''s selective like that. But I''ve already established it as practically impossible for you to be a plant by Daraken."


    "Good. So, can you let me out now?"


    Firenze looked at Turb, and after he gave a signal, suddenly dispelled the sphere that Saphus was trapped in. He expected to embarrass Saphus by dropping her to the ground suddenly, but she reacted and managed to twist around in midair (likely with the aid of magic) to land on her feet.


    "Finally. Now, what do you-"


    "You''re going back in your cell for now," Firenze said.


    "Are you kidding me!?"


    "It will take time for us to arrange living quarters for you."


    "I don''t need living quarters," Saphus claimed. "I''ll go in a spare alleyway, if you need me to."


    "Also, we don''t want to lose track of you."


    Despite Saphus'' objections, she complied as she was returned to her cell.


    **********


    "According to Helios, neither death is confirmed. Helios has investigated, with no results."


    Raiks pondered the morning''s update from Julia, and it seemed to confirm his worst nightmares. If Daraken wasn''t dead, and divinations had no result, he was most likely holed up in his tower, recuperating. There was a possibility that he was instead at a distant base in a distant land, but it didn''t seem likely.


    The only good news was that Annabelle, their ''savior'', was potentially still alive. Although, it was also likely that she was exiled to a distant land and wouldn''t return.


    So, in between managing key aspects of the Resistance, Raiks ran an analysis. If Daraken was alive right now, what would he be doing?


    His first guess was that Daraken was still recovering, a guess he attempted to run past Lunima.


    "Yes, it''s true that it takes people a few days to return to full strength after being resurrected. However, he has almost certainly had enough time to recover," Lunima explained.


    "That''s with our form of resurrection," Raiks said. "Helios''s resurrection. Daraken''s almost certainly using a different method." It was incredibly unlikely that a high-ranking priest of Helios would be on Daraken''s side, even if they would remain neutral.


    "I do not know of any form of healing that would take more than a week to recover from," Lunima said.


    So, though it was possible that Daraken''s version of resurrection was inferior and left him weakened, it was unlikely. If Daraken was alive, he would likely be at full strength by now.


    After getting a status report on the condition of Nexion and the colony on Redemption Rock, Raiks asked Derrin what he would do if he was Daraken. Derrin, the notable pessimist, had some pretty convincing ideas.


    "I think it is highly likely that Daraken is using this opportunity to continue his research," Derrin proposed. "It''s the same thing he''s been doing all these years."


    "And yet, he allowed us to bring most of our army to bear in Nexion, without taking the opportunity to wipe it out." Based on previous assumptions, if they had half of their army in the field at once, Daraken would obliterate them from orbit with meteors.


    "Maybe he''s changed his strategy," Derrin suggested. "Or maybe he would never have opposed such an army, and our evaluations were inaccurate."


    "It''s a possibility," Raiks admitted. "But it''s a possibility we can''t track." It would be functionally identical to his death, until he completed his ascension, or was forced into action to defend himself.


    "What do you expect? Why would he change course after resurrection, especially after disposing of his biggest enemy in the process?"


    "Before the Event in Arexia, Daraken''s legion never went after civilians. But after his death, suddenly one of his apprentices gets free reign to decimate a town. If this was just business as usual for him, he wouldn''t have allowed that attack."


    Derrin realized something. "That wouldn''t require much of a shift for him. Maybe he was doing it to make us think he was dead, to lure us into a reckless action that he would then obliterate."


    "-Such as a direct all-out assault against his tower." Raiks finished.


    So, they could have walked into a dangerous trap.


    "As usual, you have made me very concerned about the fate of the Resistance."


    Raiks walked away.


    But he already had the chance to kill half of our army. With the attack in Enos, he even had the capability to kill me! Why didn''t he take it?


    Speculation was getting them nowhere. If Raiks wanted answers, he would need to hunt them down.


    **********


    About half a day after her interrogation, Saphus was led out of her cell again. This time, she was finally brought out of the prison. She didn''t have much time to admire the sunlight before she was brought to Raiks'' personal residence. As the guards closed the door behind her, she found herself face-to-face with the leader of the Resistance.


    "So, is there a reason why, after verifying that I was not a threat, your mages just threw me back in a cell?"


    "We had no other quarters prepared," Raiks claimed.


    "I mean, I''m not above resting in an alleyway," Saphus replied. In fact, that was what she usually did, both to save on costs and to evade suspicion and searches. "But I did not enjoy spending any more time in a jail cell than absolutely necessary."


    "Yes, I will admit that was disrespectful. After you complete your next mission, I''ll make sure the necessary arrangements are in order."


    So, as expected, Raiks was offering a mission. "What would that mission entail?"


    "I need you to gather information."


    "That''s-" Saphus was about to say that it wasn''t the sort of mission she specialized in. But, she did have exceptional hearing.


    "With any luck, it will lead to a major breakthrough in this war."


    "Fine." An information-gathering mission was better than nothing, at least.


    Raiks explained the mission. "During the Event, Daraken was killed. His apprentices have taken over, but they''re acting unpredictably, and there are rumors that they have managed to resurrect Daraken. I''m going to need you to infiltrate their ranks and figure out what''s going on."


    "You want me to join their ranks as a double agent?"


    "Though intelligence on Fiora and its tower are also useful, the most important objective is to get a read on their motives. The best way to do that is to join their ranks."


    "I''ve heard of what Daraken does to his agents. He implants them with kill-switches, deadly curses that kill them the instant they fall into the wrong hands. I don''t want to have one of those one me, especially not when my objective involves working against them."


    "That is the doing of Daraken himself. His apprentices likely lack the capability to impose such curses."


    "And, I don''t have much of a cover story. Especially if they employ the same form of magic your interrogators did."


    "About that¡­" Raiks said, with a bit of hesitation. "I have a cover story for you. I think you''ll enjoy it."


    Raiks explained his plan, while also handing out several


    "That''s actually a genius plan. But, it''s quite a risk." As long as Saphus could avoid bringing up this particular conversation with Raiks, it would give her the perfect cover story.


    "I am aware of what I am undertaking."


    "Well, in that case¡­" There was just one thing she had to do.


    With a quick motion, not even an incantation, she summoned a blade of energy and stabbed it straight into Raiks'' chest. He did not resist, and after she pulled the blade out of his chest, he slumped to the ground, lifeless.


    She made a quick effort to clean the blood off of herself, before leaving the residence. Two guards were outside, but they didn''t take notice of her deed. If she was lucky, they wouldn''t investigate for some time.


    She walked up to the portal room. A guard at the gate challenged her, but she gave him one of Raiks'' codes. She passed through to Nexion, and from there began her journey to the capital.

 2-9: Desperation

    "Six deaths in one mission, " one of the Shades said. "All from this weapon. " He picked up Shadebreaker.


    Annabelle attempted another psychic effort, seeking to seize control of that Shade. Nothing happened.


    "We should destroy it, " another said. "It''s too dangerous."


    "Our orders are to bring the weapon back to Cecilian, so it can be reverse-engineered," the first replied. "It may be a valuable asset when our invasion begins."


    Invasion? What invasion? Annabelle wondered if Earth was one of their targets. It would explain why ACP was getting involved at this moment. These bastards could be more widespread than she first thought.


    "That''s an arms race waiting to happen, " the other replied. "I don''t trust Cecilian to share, and if she gets a monopoly on this superweapon, she''ll have a massive undeserved advantage."


    If she could, Annabelle would have to stifle her laughter. If Omega got a hold of the weapon, they would be facing said massive advantage firsthand.


    "So, you''re proposing you introduce the weapon to everyone, and hope that internal politics don''t result in this chance being ''accidentally'' destroyed in some way or another?"


    "This should be important enough for Nyxl to step in to take charge. He wouldn''t allow squabbling when it could squander a massive advantage."


    "Fine. We''ll bring it to Nyxl. But if he decides it isn''t worth his time, you''ll take the blame for it."


    A second group of Shades arrived. Annabelle''s body wasn''t facing the right way to see them, but she still sensed them through her lingering Starsight.


    "Six deaths, " one of the newcomers said. "I believe that means we split six prisoners."


    "And, I believe it calls for an¡­ extra punishment," another said. "Who else wants to make sure that they never forget their place?"


    "We were going to do that anyways, right?"


    Annabelle sensed a wave of pain, as several Shades unsheathed their blades. Then, they just dropped them on the ground, spreading the pain wave across the entire group.


    Bastards. Every last one of them. And I can''t stop them. It was more pain than Annabelle had experienced from the Ascent Foundation''s torture, and though she could still withstand it, everyone else in the group was in a horrifying agony that they couldn''t escape.


    She was so busy trying to think up ways to kill them (and being unsuccessful in executing said methods of killing them all) that she almost missed the arrival of a third group.


    "So, two for each of us?" A Shade from that group declared. "Yareni''s group would also have claims, but none of her group survived to make them."


    "You can have three each," A Shade from the first group replied. "We''ll take Cecilian''s primary target."


    "Your loss, then." The Shades from the other two groups begin to look through the pile of stunned bodies, picking six out seemingly at random. Annabelle couldn''t recognize them.


    While the others were doing that, Annabelle felt a metal cuff clamp onto her legs. She suddenly became weightless, her body levitating a few feet above the ground. A Shade from Cecilian''s group grabbed a chain attached to the cuff and began to pull her away.


    "Wait a minute¡­" A Shade from another group objected. "You''ve got a secret, don''t you!"


    The Shade pulling Annabelle did not respond, until that Shade fired a stunning bolt at his ally. The Shade''s ward resisted, but it got their attention.


    "You''re getting more than your fair share," Cecilian''s Shade replied. "Would you rather fight over them?"


    Annabelle sensed a tension flaring up, with Cecilian''s Shades on one side, and the Shades of the other two matriarchs on the other. Cecilian''s group was outnumbered.


    "I think you''re outnumbered."


    A few tense seconds passed, before the lead Shade on Cecilian''s side proposed a counteroffer.


    "How about we all return as one group, and let the Matriarchs figure out who gets what?"


    The other two groups had a quick discussion, before finally relenting. The three groups of Shades merged into one, and then marched off, to an unknown destination. Given how the Shades had captured her in the first place, Annabelle suspected they were heading towards a portal back to their city somewhere in this demiplane.


    They didn''t pick up their knives as they left the area, and as a result, everyone who hadn''t been taken away was still suffering from unbearable agony, and would still be suffering it for an hour until the stunning effects eventually wore off. If this was a mere temporary punishment for the Shades, Annabelle couldn''t even imagine what their actual torture entailed.


    Annabelle rapidly evaluated the new situation. If they reached the city, it would be too late to save the other six prisoners. However, Annabelle herself had a chance of surviving, if Omega played her cards right. But even then, what would she really be able to accomplish? Maybe, if she was lucky, she would cause serious damage, but it would only be a matter of time before she got caught.


    And how would it impact ACP''s proposed intervention? If they saw her captured, there were good odds that they would perform a rushed assault, desperately hoping to get her out before her certain death. Even if such a desperation move succeeded, she would have to abandon all of her friends in the process.


    She even imagined a worst-case scenario, where she was brought to Nyxl. Even with her mental defense, she doubted her ability to keep secrets from a god forever. And if she broke, she had enough information in her head to turn the Shades into a technological superpower in a universe dominated by magic. And, if they were going after Earth, she had key intelligence on the planet''s defenses. It would be an absolute disaster.


    No. She needed to stop the Shades before they returned to their city. But she had nothing.


    Somehow, their stunning bolts not only paralyzed the body, but suppressed psychic powers as well, with the exception of Starsight. Somehow, they were capable of blocking a power that was little more than a rumor outside of Earth, a power that had previously ignored normal anti-magic measures. The situation seemed hopeless.


    No. There''s no such thing as a hopeless scenario. There has to be a weakness.


    If she had her powers, she could easily win this fight. But the Shades had somehow prepared for something they couldn''t even know was possible. This was exactly the sort of situation that was normally a no-win situation, the sort of situation where she would normally have to rely on allies to save her. But there was no one left.


    Wait. All powers, with the exception of Starsight.


    That seemed to be a weakness, but not a big enough weakness. Her efforts to convert the telekinetic sensory field into a telekinetic force field had repeatedly proved fruitless.


    But that wasn''t the only way to approach the weakness in the stunning curse.


    Annabelle realized that throughout the last few minutes, she had maintained Starsight constantly. Normally, she would start to feel some sort of exertion headache by now, but she felt nothing. It couldn''t be the Shades nullifying the body''s senses, as shown by their knives earlier.


    There was only one state she knew of where psychic exertion was not present: a dream. Or, in this case, a nightmare.


    But this can''t be a dream. Not in the normal sense.


    For one thing, if it was a dream, Annabelle would be completely unconscious right now, and would likely be waking up in a Shade prison cell (or, more likely, something worse than a mere prison cell). She briefly considered what she could do if that was already true, but discarded that possibility, more out of the hopelessness of it than anything else.


    And for another thing, if it was a dream, Annabelle would have total control over it. Maybe that control over the dream wouldn''t translate into anything in the physical world, but she could easily force a dream to end. She made an attempt at it, but wasn''t surprised when the attempt failed. The Shades wouldn''t just make that easy, would they?


    Unless it wasn''t her dream. She remembered Daraken''s mental barriers, magical ''minds'' that overlapped Daraken''s own mind, preventing Annabelle from getting through to attack him directly even despite her use of an unusual attack method. Maybe she was trapped in the dream of an artificial mind, a dream that overlapped the physical world, but where Annabelle was completely paralyzed.


    She made another attempt to escape from the dream, and failed again.


    I''m invincible in my own mind. But this isn''t my mind.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Annabelle''s own lucid dreaming was enough to change the rules of reality in her own dream. If this was a magical construct modeling a dream, it would have even more potent abilities, likely enough to overwhelm the victim''s ability to attempt escape.


    Note to self: dream world traps may be viable for pinning down opponents. But what''s the countermeasure?


    The classic way to escape a nightmare was to pinch yourself to cause enough pain to jolt the body back into being awake. But as the Shades'' knives had already shown, no amount of mere pain would be enough to force an escape.


    Just willing herself to no longer be in the dream didn''t work. Her next attempt was to overthink, attempting to rush out a stream of thoughts and somehow collapse the dream world. Again, she failed.


    But, she had another idea.


    Whatever magic was causing this nightmare state was gathering information from the real world and converting it into information her senses could process. What would happen if she attempted to get information that the magic couldn''t?


    She focused all of her Starsight into a single point, a point past the demiplane''s walls. She got nothing, but persisted, focusing all of her energy into that one point, as if she was focusing all her effort into reading a fourth-dimensional mess.


    She felt the simulation cracking, unable to process the request for information Annabelle''s mind was putting out. Then, it shattered.


    **********


    She was still in the same cavern, but now she had control of her body, and of her powers. She quickly stilled herself, and hoped no one noticed.


    "So, I think the prisoners are going to just love what we can do with healing magic," A Shade said, continuing a conversation that Annabelle had ignored in her quest to escape. "In fact, I''d say that it''s probably what makes our torture so effective. When we can heal them from all of the damage they''ve caused, there''s no such thing as permanent damage."


    "Wait. Did anyone else see that one move?" A Shade pointed at Annabelle.


    "You''re seeing things."


    They were on to her. Annabelle needed to finish this.


    A vortex would take out all of them almost instantly. But though she could protect herself from her own vortex, there were six other prisoners. Normally they would just be collateral damage, regrettable but necessary, but if she let them die she essentially doomed them to Hell, when there was still a chance they could be saved. She just couldn''t bring herself to do it.


    The prisoners were, for ease of transport, being levitated above the ground, using the same magic cuffs that Annabelle had on her. Thus, if Annabelle could compact her vortex into a two-dimensional disk at their feet, she might be able to shred the Shades down to bits. That is, as soon as the group stopped moving over hills and hit a flat section of cave.


    Before that happened, however, the Shade who spotted her movement earlier hit her in the knee. She tried to stay still, but her body''s automatic reflexes still kicked in, and her knee jerked.


    "As I thought. This one''s not stunned."


    "What." That got their attentions. "Impossible."


    "I''ll knock her out again." He first unsheathed his knife. Annabelle (as well as the other prisoners) felt the ensuing wave of pain. Annabelle ignored the pain and continued to look for a vortex angle, until the Shade then pulled out his stunner crossbow.


    Could she resist another stunning shot? She might be able to escape again, but she would lose valuable time. And she didn''t know how much longer it would take until the Shades reached their exit point.


    The previous shot had caught her by surprise, and caught her unprepared. This time, she knew exactly what was coming, and how to prevent it.


    The Shade fired a stunning bolt at her, and the bolt impacted, a direct hit. Annabelle couldn''t block it with a telekinetic barrier, not without clearly giving herself away.


    Instead, she maximized her mental wards, with a particular focus on locking her mind inside her own head. When the bolt landed, she could sense the magic''s attempt to abduct her consciousness, but even her quick barrier was enough to block it.


    "Then again, " the Shade said, "the stated policy is that any individuals that show any capability to resist stunning are to be immediately executed. Too much risk, as it were."


    Are you kidding me?


    "She probably wasn''t-" another said, but the Shade ignored them and made a quick slash across her throat with his knife. Blood spewed out of the wound.


    Annabelle didn''t see a perfect angle, but at that moment, it didn''t matter. There was no choice. If she didn''t act now, she would bleed out in seconds. She made her best approximation of an attack route, and focused all of her fury into a quick manifestation. The vortex appeared in an instant, catching the Shades at the legs.


    The Shades around her had their legs shredded at the knee, followed quickly by the rest of their bodies as they fell into the vortex and were devoured. The Shade that had just made the attempt on Annabelle''s life stabbed his dagger into her chest, and attempted to hold onto it with the parts of his body he had left.


    Annabelle wasn''t sure whether it was a desperate attempt to survive, or an attempt to take her with him. Either way, she hit the bastard with enough telekinetic force to launch him into the ceiling, and then he fell back into the vortex and was consumed.


    By sheer luck, the vortex missed all of the prisoners. five were on the same elevation she was at, and the other, trailing behind the group on lower ground, had the vortex''s disk miss his head by inches. Only the Shades were casualties.


    Now, Annabelle had a different problem, of the bleeding-out variety. As a first measure, She focused her telekinesis on her throat, forcing the blood to stay inside her body.


    Would she kill the Shades, only to die before she could recover? Even ignoring the knife wound (which was actually the best course of action, given that removing the knife would likely cause massive uncontrollable bleeding), she wouldn''t be able to stop her blood loss forever, and she wasn''t sure if the wound would close on its own.


    "Well, this was unexpected." Annabelle recognized Darius'' voice, and looked in his direction. She almost didn''t notice him underneath his cloak of concealment.


    Annabelle tried to reply using telepathy, but was blocked by her own mental barriers. It likely wouldn''t take too much effort to dismantle them, but it was effort she couldn''t spare right now.


    Luckily, Darius noticed her injuries, and pulled out a healing orb. He threw it at her, and its magic immediately went to work closing Annabelle''s wounds. After the wound on her throat closed, she quickly reached up to rip the knife out of her chest to allow that wound to heal as well. With a bit of telekinesis, she threw the knife


    Then, there was only the mild inconvenience of the cuff still wrapped around her legs, keeping her levitated in the air. She quickly threw a telekinetic blast at it, to no effect.


    Okay, more than a minor inconvenience. She carefully prepared a distortion beam to finish the job, aware of both the risk of ripping apart her own foot and of the start of a psychic exertion headache.


    But before she could act, Darius walked over, and with a simple touch, caused the cuff to detach. A moment later, Annabelle fell, hitting the ground hard. As she got back on her feet, she worked to collapse the mental barriers around herself.


    "Why aren''t you responding?" Darius asked.


    "Thanks¡­" Annabelle managed to say. Even after receiving healing, she was still barely able to speak. She suspected it would take the attention of an actual healer to get her voice back.


    "You do have telepathy, right?"


    Annabelle finally broke down her own walls, and responded using a method that wasn''t impaired by physical trauma. I had to lock myself in my own head. Long story. How did you survive the assault?


    After they downed you, I broke off from the group and hid. Once they left with you, I disarmed the torture devices they left with the others, before following you, in hopes of making a rescue attempt. I almost got caught in your vortex.


    I doubt you''d be able to pull off such a rescue on your own. It would be one against eighteen, and you don''t even-


    I also stole the warding amulet and crossbow off the corpse of the first Shade you killed, and activated them while we were fighting. The warding amulet was probably the only reason why I was able to get close enough to deactivate their knives.


    So, he was, in fact, capable of messing with their tech. It wouldn''t have made a solo rescue realistic, but at least it was slightly feasible. Wait, you can deactivate magic items too?


    It¡¯s a function in both their knives, and their manacles. Not something I could just do to anything.


    Annabelle took a look around, and found Shadebreaker on the ground, heavily damaged. Though it was more durable than flesh, it had still fallen through the vortex alongside the Shade carrying it, and was likely nonfunctional. She picked it up and stashed it in her bag of holding. Darius, following along, also found a few pieces of Shade equipment that seemed salvageable, and gave them to Annabelle to also stash, in case Varos could repair them.


    "I''ve memorized the route back to the group. If the Shades are all dead, we should be able to rest there until the rest of the group recovers."


    At least Annabelle didn''t have to dig through her own memories to remember the path they took.


    What of them? Annabelle gestured to the prisoners.


    "Well, I don''t think we can carry them back to the group. We''ll have to go back for them later."


    No. No one left behind. Annabelle considered her options. Give me a minute. I should be able to break them out of it. If not, well, they''re mostly weightless in this state. You should actually be able to drag them all, if necessary.


    She had a suspicion that she wouldn''t just be able to break into their dreams to free them, not if she could get trapped in them herself.


    But, the dream constructs shouldn''t be like Daraken''s constructs. They were meant to keep a person in, not keep others out.


    She carefully made contact with the mind of one of the prisoners, and avoided being snared in a dreamworld. Now, how would she pull him out?


    With the captive''s consciousness trapped by the spell, their own mind was inactive. Annabelle could almost effortlessly take control of the body, but instead she looked for the source of the mental connection, and quickly identified it.


    She wondered what would happen if she severed the connection entirely. Would it trap their consciousness inside a dream for eternity? She didn''t want to find out.


    Luckily, she found a different method, attaching herself to the connection point and then pulling back on it. After a few seconds of effort, she managed to free him from his mind.


    Now that she knew the technique, it barely took any time to free the rest of them. As she freed them, Darius deactivated the shackles on them, and this time caught them before they fell to the ground.


    As soon as the group recovered, Darius quickly told them what happened, and told them to follow him back to the rest of the group.


    For the next few minutes, Annabelle and the rest of the survivors followed Darius through the winding caves.


    Annabelle noticed that the other survivors were heavily traumatized by their experience with the Shade''s pain blades. Luckily, they were still following Darius for now, but from what Annabelle knew about torture, the trauma wouldn''t just go away. Everyone in their group would be scarred for life from the experience, even after they managed to escape the Shaderealm.


    But that was an issue for later. For now, Annabelle had to fortify her mind against any future attacks. After analyzing the method the magic used to inflict its effects, she was able to formulate a defensive scheme that blocked the particular pathway the attack used to force its victims into a dream. She suspected this defensive measure might also impact her ability to have normal dreams, but it would be a small price to pay to ensure that she never went down again.


    Then, the group encountered a dead end.


    "The route must have changed," Darius claimed.


    "We never escaped their nightmare," one survivor cried. "We won''t be saved."


    "We''re lost, with no supplies. We should just end our lives now and spare ourselves a death of starvation," another said.


    "A death of starvation is better than what awaits us in the afterlife," A third whimpered.


    Annabelle considered the problem. I might be able to cut through it, she told Darius. Hopefully before the rest of their group decided to give up on life.


    She walked up, and focused her energy. She was going to analyze the wall with Starsight, and then find a way to cut through it to get to the other side. Some part of her knew it was an unlikely proposition, but it was the only option they had left.


    But before she could begin, they heard a voice behind them.


    "Surrender now, or I''ll kill you. Although, you''ll eventually end up dead either way."


    "I recognize that voice, " Darius whispered. "Xerxes?"

 2-10: Vengeance

    After Omega took control of the Matriarch Cecilian, she scanned through Cecilian''s memories.


    The first thing she noticed was that the Matriarchs had a similar role in the Shade society as the queen of an insectoid hive. The Shades reproduced through eggs, and every so often a ritual was performed to create a new batch, with the best hunters providing the genetic material. The resulting Shades were almost exclusively male, with females being a special occurrence.


    Omega was less concerned with how the process worked (which seemed to involve a heavy use of magic to protect the eggs and speed the growth process) and more concerned with the tactical implications. New Shades only took 24 hours to be born, and from there it only took a few weeks until they were fully grown fighters. The Shade population was kept low through limiting the amount of reproduction rituals performed, but if the Shades went all-out they could produce an army at a disturbing rate. The only good news was that the number of Matriarchs was low, but given their capabilities, it would still be nigh-impossible to kill them all.


    The second thing she noticed was her magical abilities. She did not have access to psychic powers in this body, but instead had access to a potent array of magic. She could levitate herself, open mental contact with others, block incoming attacks (supported by an array of magical jewelry imbued with warding charms), and fire homing bolts with the same capabilities as the Shade''s crossbows. She wasn''t in a situation where those powers would be relevant, but if nothing else she would need to warn Annabelle about the potential for a homing death bolt before she ended up fighting a Matriarch.


    Her mansion also contained a portal chamber that could open portals into anywhere in the Shaderealm instantly (or at least much faster than the Resistance''s portals), and a mirror that could be linked to an invisible arcane eye anywhere in the lower Shaderealm. It seems like the Matriarchs could theoretically launch an invasion of the survivors'' camp at any time, but help back to keep things interesting for their warriors.


    But the third thing she noticed was that the other Matriarchs would not tolerate any delay. Or, more accurately, they would take advantage of the lapse to attack anyways, and Cecilian''s hunters would be angry at her for not allowing them to join in. It could potentially reduce the threat Annabelle would be facing, but at the cost of raising suspicion.


    Why even bring in the other Matriarchs?


    They''re dangerous enough that my team alone might lose, Cecilian''s remnant personality/memories claimed. The others will be wiped out in the fight, giving me a greater chance to steal the weapon.


    So, when the time came for the attack, she opened her portal, and allowed her warriors to head through to attack Annabelle''s group. Then, she observed the proceedings, and provided a small amount of guidance to help them.


    Fortunately, Annabelle''s weapon worked, as shown when it obliterated several Shades.


    But the problem came when she fell for a trap. After hearing of the first group''s deaths, another Matriarch, Armenix, recalled her troops through her portal, and then redeployed them by opening a portal directly above the group. One of them managed to score a hit on Annabelle, and she went down instantly, followed shortly afterwards by the rest of the group.


    As the Shades took Annabelle and the other prisoners, she noticed several of them throwing away their knives for the sole purpose of torturing the remaining prisoners. Omega was horrified, and she even had a justification for that horror. If the Shades made it back, they were going to get punished for this excessive measure. Broken survivors weren''t fun to deal with.


    She began to formulate contingency plans, trying to find a plan B if the Shades returned with Annabelle. Luckily, the Shades didn''t make it back, as Annabelle managed to break free from the effect, then wipe them all out with one vortex. After being rescued by Darius, she freed the rest of their prisoners and began to return to their group.


    It was at this point that Nyxl decided to speak in her mind, sending a message with enough raw power that even the mind-clone of someone with exceptional mental fortitude was shaken.


    YOUR MEN LOST A PRISONER. A PRISONER WHO SHOULDN''T HAVE BEEN A PRISONER. SHE WAS TOO DANGEROUS TO LET LIVE.


    Omega was cowed for a few seconds, before responding. She had knowledge of a previously unheard-of weapon design. A ''railgun'', she called it. Based on what I''ve seen from their experiments, at full strength we''ll have a handheld weapon capable of bringing down even the mightiest dragon in one hit.


    SHE SHARED THE WEAPON DESIGN WITH VAROS, THE ADVISOR FOR THAT GROUP. HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN CAPTURED AND INTERROGATED INSTEAD. FAR LESS RISK.


    No prey has escaped a stunning shot before, Omega countered. We had no way of knowing she could do it, because it had never been done before. Well, Omega considered it fairly likely. In fact, she didn''t expect Annabelle to go down.


    HER FINAL TRICK KILLED EIGHTEEN SHADES. AND NOT JUST THAT, BUT SHE SOMEHOW DAMAGED THEIR SOULS AS WELL. THEY HAVE PROVEN UNABLE TO BE RESURRECTED. Wait, what? Since when was that something Annabelle could do?


    Still, it will be worth it-


    SHE CANNOT BE TAKEN ALIVE. NOT ONLY WAS SHE ABLE TO DO THAT, BUT SHE NO LONGER APPEARS POSSIBLE TO DISABLE. IF SHE''S CONSCIOUS TO INTERROGATE, SHE''LL BE ABLE TO REPEAT THE TRICK INSIDE OUR OWN CITY.


    Well, that posed a problem. Even if Nyxl wasn''t as smart as Daraken, he still knew to cut his losses and not try to capture Annabelle. Granted, he likely only did it because Varos was also an alternate source of information.


    I WANT HER DEAD, AND VAROS CAPTURED. DO THAT, AND I MAY JUST FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS DISASTER.


    Nyxl left her mind, leaving her with both a literal and a figurative headache. If she wanted to avoid being disgraced (and/or exposed), she had to kill Annabelle, or at least make a ''competent'' effort to do so.


    They were already moving. Omega didn''t have much time to think, and even less time to open a pathway into the Shaderealm to allow them to intervene.


    Her first thought was to "engage" personally, put up some excuse for a fight, and then surrender and rejoin her origin. Cecilian''s Matriarch magic was fairly robust, and it would give them a significant advantage. However, it would sacrifice her high-ranking position, and would attract suspicion. And, if Annabelle was to survive, Omega would need to be here to stop them from sending their elites.


    But, as she searched Cecilian''s memories, she found a second option. A Shade who had a personal connection to their group, even before they arrived in the Shaderealm. One who would have every reason to decide to make the fight personal, rather than simply assassinating Annabelle and ending it. And an illusionist, with a powerset that Annabelle could almost certainly hard-counter with her less notable abilities.


    Omega called in her choice, and used a portal to send them into the Shaderealm in a perfect position to interrupt the returning group. Hopefully, he wouldn''t stand a chance in the resulting battle.


    **********


    "Well, well, well. How did you get here, Darius?" Xerxes'' voice said.


    "I knew you were an illusionist," Darius said. "And that you were likely hiding your true identity. But this-"


    While they were conversing, Annabelle manifested Starsight to analyze the wall, and immediately discovered it to be nothing more than an illusion.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "You know what? Since you used to be a close friend, I''ll offer you a deal. Step aside, let me kill Annabelle, and I''ll let you go."


    "The only way I''d consider that offer is if it was the unconditional release of everyone else back to their homes."


    Even then, I won''t let you take that deal, Annabelle warned Darius.


    "Unfortunately, you''ll never be able to return to your homeworld."


    "Why did you aid us against Daraken? Why do you want Annabelle dead?" Darius launched several more questions, hoping to talk Xerxes down. Meanwhile, Annabelle expanded her Starsight search, attempting to spot any other illusions in the area, and maybe figure out where Xerxes'' voice was coming from.


    Xerxes decided to launch into a story. "I was an infiltrator, sent to examine Garnoth to determine its suitability to invasion. Daraken, at the time, would have been enough to push the world back to a later stage. However, there was also your Resistance, one that could potentially eliminate Daraken, or pose enough of a distraction to prevent him from fully engaging us. I was sent to aid the Resistance in their fight against Daraken, to clear our invasion path."


    Wait. Annabelle''s slaying of Daraken meant that Garnoth was now under threat. Even if she somehow escaped, it wouldn''t end their threat.


    "When you were captured in Arexia, " Xerxes continued, "I pulled out all the stops to save you. If I got you out, that would have been a massive turning point in your war against Daraken. I forced most of their Harpies out of the air, and single-handedly paved the way for Annabelle to get in and perform the rescue. And what did I get for this? I got screwed."


    "How?" Darius asked.


    "Annabelle pulled off her grand trick, somehow knocking out an entire city at once. I was caught in the blast. She likely didn''t even know I existed, but yet she ruined me. When I recovered, I was back in the Shaderealm, having been recalled after my cover was blown."


    "That sounds like an issue with the Shade leadership, not with us. If you were competent, it would be easy to regain contact with us."


    "It''s not just that. I was incapacitated for so long that my illusions lapsed, revealing my true form."


    Darius snickered. "That would''ve happened anyways. Our base has wards that nullify magic when you enter it. Of course, we probably would have still accepted a black-skinned elf into our ranks."


    "It''s not you, it''s the gods." Xerxes countered. "If they spotted a previously unheard-of race on their worlds, they would rightfully be concerned about a potential unknown threat."


    Darius sighed. "Or maybe it''s because you technically achieved your goals and thus your mission was done."


    No response from Xerxes. He still wasn''t visible.


    "But, it wouldn''t be fair for me to decide whether Annabelle lives or dies. She would decide, but she can''t talk right now. So, I''m just going to assume that she says no." He said that even though Annabelle had, in fact, already expressed her opinion.


    Annabelle immediately readied herself to defend against a death bolt.


    "Also, that wall is fake," Darius added. Annabelle was about to tell him, but he had figured it out on his own.


    Darius told everyone to move, and they rushed through the illusionary wall. Annabelle, the closest to the wall, went through first.


    She saw nothing unusual on the other side, but was then immediately hit by a mental attack, some sort of fear blast. She ignored the attack, barely even recognizing it. If this idiot was going to try a mental attack-


    A bolt of green energy shot at her out of thin air. She had been too distracted thinking about this idiot''s poor choice of magic to remember that they also had a crossbow capable of delivering instant death. Luckily, she had a premonition of the attack an instant before it struck.


    She couldn''t react in time to block the shot with a barrier, and she Annabelle immediately used self-telekinesis to throw herself out of the path of the shot. She managed to avoid the shot, but the bolt hit another survivor behind her, killing them instantly and causing the remainder to flee.


    The bastard had sent someone to Hell. She had to end this, quickly.


    She pinpointed the Shade''s position with Starsight. Xerxes reloaded his crossbow, but before he could fire again, Annabelle unleashed a rapid series of four telekinetic blasts, slamming him into both walls and the ceiling before slamming him down onto the ground. The only reason she didn''t eliminate him outright with a distortion beam was due to his potential worth as a prisoner. And maybe energy depletion as well. She likely didn''t have very much left after that assault.


    Xerxes managed to maintain his invisibility through all of that. Annabelle compensated by highlighting his position with a psychic aura.


    "How?" Xerxes managed to say. Annabelle didn''t respond.


    "So, Annabelle, what are you going to do with this guy?"


    If nothing else, I can mindrip him for information. But there''s a small chance you''ll be able to get him to change sides. Although, did she really want him to switch sides? Would she really accept him defecting? She had accepted Varos, but only because he was only indirectly aiding the Shades before his defection.


    "She says you live. At least, if you surrender. Drop your invisibility, and your wards."


    Xerxes didn''t say anything, but he complied, revealing his position. Then, he picked up his warding charm and threw it onto the ground.


    -He''s behind you.-


    Annabelle picked up the premonition just before she ate a shot to the back. Even before she adjusted her Starsight, she was already moving. Xerxes fired, and a green bolt went just past her shoulder, before she turned around and smashed her fist into Xerxes'' chest. Or, more accurately, his wards, which absorbed the impact effortlessly.


    Xerxes ignored her and reloaded his crossbow. Annabelle, seeing a clear opportunity, pulled her sword out of her bag and attempted to smash him with an augmented swing. Even if it wasn''t a shot from Shadebreaker, she still expected it to overpower the wards, or at the very least knock Xerxes down.


    But the blade passed straight through his form, like it didn''t exist.


    Then, a dozen clones of Xerxes surrounded Annabelle and Darius.


    "This trick again, Xerxes?"


    What trick? Annabelle opened a mental connection with Darius.


    When he was demonstrating his worth to me, he demonstrated a technique where he swarmed a battlefield with illusions.


    "You already know your doom, then." Xerxes'' voice came from every one of his clones.


    Only one of the bodies is real, Annabelle told Darius. I''ll light it up. She focused her remaining on Xerxes, surrounding him in a psychic aura that would hopefully negate his efforts to hide.


    "You may have powers, but you lack talent."


    Xerxes didn''t reply.


    "And, judging by your inability to effectively infiltrate, you''re also incompetent."


    Xerxes suddenly switched places with one of his illusion clones, and fired a green bolt at Darius. He didn''t react in time, but his stolen warding charm still blocked the shot. Annabelle only took a fraction of her second to shift her aura.


    "Meanwhile, I''m smart enough to steal your gear."


    "Impossible."


    "And yet, I still have access to one of your wards."


    Xerxes and his clones all rushed Darius. As they charged in, Xerxes switched with his clones several times. Annabelle used her Starsight and aura to keep Darius aware of these switches, but Darius ignored Xerxes himself and instead pulled out a dispelling wand. With four bolts, he knocked out a third of Xerxes'' clones.


    But Xerxes himself managed to stab Darius in the back, through his wards. Annabelle felt the resulting pain wave through the mental connection for a brief instant, while Darius immediately counterattacked, spinning around and delivering a dagger slash that was blocked by the wards.


    "Our knives pierce wards," Xerxes said. "How else would we deal with traitors?" Darius lunged forward, a knife in one hand and a wand in the other. Xerxes immediately switched out with an illusion behind him the instant he swung forward, but Darius used the opening to dispel another of his clones before rolling out of the way of Xerxes'' backstab.


    Darius then threw a knife behind him into Xerxes, though it bounced off his wards to no effect, landing to the side.


    "Your knives, though? They''re useless."


    Darius recalled his knife and leaped at Xerxes. But mid-leap, Xerxes stunned Darius with a mental attack and then sidestepped him, causing him to miss and crash into the cavern wall. As Darius attempted to recover, Xerxes advanced on him, knife drawn.


    Annabelle had to intervene. She speared his mind with a psychic blast, stunning him before he could finish the fight. His defenses were strong, but he was still dazed for a few crucial seconds.


    Darius recovered before Xerxes did, and took advantage of the opening to rush forward. He walked up to Xerxes, and slowly passed his hand through his ward to grab his warding amulet. Then, with a quick upwards yank, he pulled it off.


    Xerxes retaliated with a stab to Darius'' gut.


    "A second too late, fool-"


    Xerxes then slumped over, as Darius lifted the stunning crossbow with his other hand and fired it into Xerxes'' now-unprotected body. Annabelle sensed the shift as Xerxes fell into the dream-state stun condition.


    Well, now that this idiot''s gotten himself stunned, let''s talk. Annabelle immediately recognized her own mental voice inside Xerxes'' mind.


    What''s going on your end? Annabelle asked.


    Well, there''s good news and bad news. The bad news is that they''re planning invasions across a large collection of worlds. One of those worlds might potentially be Garnoth.


    I heard them mentioning an invasion, Annabelle replied. But I wasn''t sure if it was true or not. And I suspect Earth might be on the list.


    It isn''t. Even if they did know of Earth, they''d be fighting against overwhelming numbers and a massive technological advantage.


    Though that left a question. If Earth wasn''t under threat, why was ACP getting involved?


    The good news is, I''m keeping Nyxl from killing you outright. If I wasn''t here, he would have wiped you out with his elite forces.


    Well, that was good news. Although¡­


    Wait. What makes you think he won''t send one now, after I''ve taken out your best ''attempt'' to clean up this mess?


    Omega paused. I''ve thought of a few things.


    But before Omega could explain, Annabelle''s connection failed, as the last of her energy was spent.

 2-11: Investigations

    Saphus took several hours to get to Fiora, traversing Garnoth''s portal network. After killing Raiks, she now had a perfect cover story to get into the Black Legion, and hopefully into the inner circle. But there was a small problem: she had no credentials, and no real way to directly get an audience.


    So, she followed her gut, and decided to do something outrageous. Rather than talking to the gate guards normally, she launched herself over the city''s inner walls and into the courtyard. That immediately drew attention from all sides.


    A siren went off, followed by various cries of alarm. Guards aimed weapons in her directions, and immediately called for her surrender, a demand that she immediately complied with.


    She hadn''t considered the possibility that someone other than the apprentices would do the interrogation. Luckily, the apprentices seemed to have nothing better to do, and had her brought into the tower to be questioned directly.


    She was escorted onto a platform in the center of the tower''s ground floor. A series of runes were laid out on a pedestal nearby. One of the guards pressed a series of buttons, and then stepped back onto the platform. A few seconds later, they were engulfed in white, before emerging in the middle of a large chamber. The guards stepped away to the sides, leaving Saphus alone to face the apprentices that were seated on top of the balconies, surrounding her. There were thirteen of them, and they were all indistinguishable from each other.


    "So, you jumped past our walls, and then immediately surrendered? " One of the apprentices asked. "Surely, you must have a reason."


    "I am Saphus Garm, one of your agents. I had been hired in Arexia by one of yours," Saphus said, a bit of a lie. "But then, the Event occurred, and I was captured." The general public simply didn''t have a better word to describe a city-wide sleeping curse.


    "Do you know what the Resistance has been doing with our captured military?" An apprentice interrupted.


    "They''ve deposited them all on an island," Saphus said, "and given them supplies to be self-sufficient. They were planning to simply build them up to become part of Garnoth''s trade network, but they''ve recently shifted to recruiting them. They''re claiming one of you launched a terror attack against civilians, and it''s convinced most of them. It''s a lie, but it''s a lie that''s working on your former troops."


    One of the apprentices seemed to duck away after she said that, as if he was a guilty party.


    "How did you escape?" one of them asked. They clearly didn''t want to discuss that atrocity.


    "I convinced Raiks that I was going to defect. Then, after he gave me enough clearance, I killed him and left before they even realized what happened."


    "Wait. You''re saying you killed the leader of the Resistance?"


    "Yes."


    That really got their attention. They immediately began a hushed discussion. Saphus managed to pick up a few fragments of it.


    "-Is he really-"


    "-What does this-"


    "-Doubtful-"


    After some time, the discussion quieted down. Then, Saphus felt an enchantment tingling at the edges of her mind. She knew it was a truth-detection spell, both because she had felt a similar sensation when exposed to the Resistance''s orb of truth, and because it was the most likely thing for the apprentices to use when faced with an incredible statement.


    "Please repeat that statement," one of the apprentices demanded. They didn''t outright state that they had a truth spell on her, but they were making it so obvious that even a moron could figure it out by now.


    "I killed Raiks Strike-Hammer, leader of the Resistance."


    "She''s not lying," several apprentices whispered.


    "But, will he stay dead?" An apprentice questioned. "Did you happen to have a soul trap on you when you killed him?"


    "Soul trap?" Saphus asked innocently, even though she had some idea of what they were.


    "An arcane device that absorbs the soul of those who die near it, ensuring that they do not reach the afterlife. And, more importantly, that they cannot be resurrected."


    "I think the individual I was talking to brought them up, but he didn''t give me one before the Event. He likely expected me to receive it when I was initiated here."


    "So, this killing had little if any effect on their chain of command," an apprentice realized. "The Resistance''s healers likely resurrected him within the hour."


    "So, I did nothing of value?"


    "Yes. You caused a minor waste of time, nothing more. If anything, you''ve negated any chance of a future agent getting in and doing the job properly."


    "I also know that he is likely preparing for a direct attack, a decapitating strike as he claims. He wanted me to gather that intelligence." She had to be careful with that statement to avoid giving away the game.


    "Just as planned," an apprentice said. The same one who ducked away earlier, in fact.


    Saphus decided to use telepathy to send the bastard a message.


    I know what your friend did. The only reason I''m still on your side is because I know that bastard is dead.


    That apprentice was a bit stunned by her message. Saphus managed to pick up a bit of panic from him.


    As she suspected, he had something to do with that horrifying incident. Either he supported the apprentice who did it, or-


    Or he was that apprentice, brought back from the dead. It was an unlikely thought, but maybe Daraken wasn''t the only one who had been resurrected.


    One of the apprentices covered Saphus in a dome of silence, and then they began to discuss the matter privately. Saphus tried to figure out what they were saying, but their masks prevented her from even attempting to read their lips.


    After a long discussion that Saphus wasn''t privy to, the silence field dropped, and they made a final announcement.


    "While your story is accurate, a few of us still doubt your trustworthiness."


    So, they were smarter than they seemed. Luckily, Saphus had a few plans to trick their lie detector.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "We have a mission for you. The Resistance still has control of several cities. Your objective is to eliminate the leader of one of these cities to disrupt their support. You can choose which one, as long as they die."


    That would be a complication.


    "And this time, do it properly," another apprentice added. He pulled out a strange device, a container made of reinforced glass and metal. "This is a soul trap. When someone dies in close proximity, their soul will be absorbed, preventing their resurrection. Without one of these, assassinations are pointless."


    "¡­I understand," Saphus said, after a bit of hesitation. She was about to say that she would attempt to complete the mission, but she was unsure of whether she would, or whether saying that could count as a lie if she ultimately failed to follow through.


    "Do not return without his soul."


    That would be a real complication, as it was likely designed to be. She had several options from here.


    Her first thought was to just complete the assigned task, killing and trapping her target to gain a key position. It wasn''t any different from any of her other missions, and the benefits of inside information could outweigh the cost of a single dead agent. But it was still one person killed in the service of evil, and the Resistance might not trust her information after she did it.


    If she was the more unscrupulous sort, she could kill a random civilian and hope that they couldn''t tell the difference between the target''s soul and a random civilian''s soul. But she couldn''t go after a civilian like that. And, she would still have to kill the leader off to avoid too much suspicion (though they would be able to be resurrected). And she might have to dodge a truth spell again.


    Or, she could abandon the scheme entirely, without killing anyone. Maybe she could even leave this area before stuff went down, or try to do some more conventional spying. But conventional spying wouldn''t get any information on the core of the tower.


    She had a crazy idea involving sticking the soul of that evil apprentice in the soul jar and feeding the bastards their own soul. She immediately dismissed the idea for being near-impossible to make work.


    But maybe, she could find an appropriate victim. Preferably someone who was either a horrible criminal, or who was complicit in the Black Legion''s actions. It would still be a risky plan, but it was the best plan she had.


    **********


    Raiks returned to the world of the living fifteen minutes after he left it, courtesy of Lunima''s fast action to resurrect him. His body was severely weakened by its recent death, and he was barely able to move, but he was alive.


    "I knew something was up with her, " Lunima said. "But somehow, I thought she was on our side."


    "I¡­ let her kill me, " Raiks admitted.


    "You WHAT?" Lunima was suddenly outraged. "But- you wasted my-"


    "No, I used your ability to gain a.. tactical advantage."


    "I want an explanation, now."


    "If I hadn''t intentionally left myself open to her attack, " Raiks explained, "I would have easily been able to defeat her. Or, at the very least, survive long enough for help to arrive."


    "That''s also why it only took one stab to kill you, " Lunima realized. "In normal circumstances, you''re tough enough to survive that. But even so-"


    "My sacrifice gave a key agent a cover story at a key moment."


    "You do realize that she isn''t necessarily our agent?"


    Raiks had his doubts too. "Yes. But I could not determine any better way to get someone inside their tower."


    "It''s a gamble the rest of the council would never authorize," Lunima said.


    "Yes. Yes it is."


    Raiks tried to push himself up to a sitting position, but Lunima stopped him. "You need rest right now. It''ll be at least a few hours before you''ll be able to walk on your own."


    "I can still command the Resistance from a hospital bed, if that''s what''s necessary."


    "I suppose you could," Lunima admitted. "But I think the Resistance will be fine for the next few hours."


    Raiks sighed as two healers came in to carry him off to the infirmary on a stretcher.


    **********


    At the gates of Fiora, a delegation arrived. Julia, high priest of Helios, was present, alongside eight heavily-armored Crusaders acting as bodyguards. Julia didn''t exactly need the protection, but they were good for appearances if nothing else.


    "Halt! Announce your business!"


    "You should know who I am. Get out of my way."


    "You are a neutral power here. Do you wish to negotiate an alliance, or do you wish to declare war against Daraken?"


    "I am here to talk," Julia replied. "But I am not here for an alliance."


    Daraken (or his apprentices) had pushed too far. Sending an assassin into Dustreach''s main compound was a breach, but one that they could ultimately overlook. After all, nothing came of it, the target was a group they technically weren''t allied with, and Daraken''s power discouraged a direct conflict.


    But the attack in Enos was different. Not only was it an atrocity horrible enough to cause a rapid shift of public support, but now Daraken was weakened, if not dead. Now, Dustreach had reason to mobilize for a war.


    "I will send word for the apprentices," the gate guard said. He called out an order, and Julia could see a messenger running off to the capital.


    However, a private audience was not what they were seeking. If this plan was to work, they would need to make a public announcement.


    "If you do not open the gates now, you will regret your decision in the afterlife," Julia threatened. She was unsure if it was an empty threat or not. Though Helios did grant the worthy an eternal reward, it wasn''t clear how he treated those opposed to him.


    At the very least, this random guard seemed to believe it. "Yes, but if I open this gate, I will lose my job, if not my life."


    "I will also extend an offer of asylum," Julia added. "Travel to Dustreach and we will treat you well."


    That seemed to be what the guard wanted. He opened the gate, and then immediately deserted his post.


    Julia and her delegation walked through, and set off for a public square. While they were travelling, Julia used a bit of magic to send a message back to Dustreach to inform them of the asylum seeker who would be arriving soon.


    Their arrival quickly drew attention. By the time they reached the square, a sizeable crowd was gathered.


    Julia began her announcement with a ceremonial display. Her Crusaders formed up in a ring around her and assumed a kneeling stance, as Julia began an incantation that took the form of a prayer. Several glowing yellow rings manifested on the ground, and Julia herself began to glow in the center. Then, her body rose a few feet into the air, levitated by divine power.


    "Daraken is dead," Julia announced, her voice echoed and amplified by divine power. "What remains is a group of rogue apprentices. Apprentices who have shown their true colors, without a strong leader to keep them in line."


    This was the same news that had been given multiple times, but now that a major religious figure was sharing the news, it suddenly seemed more believable.


    "Daraken would never authorize such a deliberate atrocity against civilians. And, if the apprentice acted alone, he would be quick to punish them. Thus, as the entity in the tower is not Daraken, our treaties with Daraken no longer apply."


    Julia looked in the direction of the tower. The apprentices did not make an appearance yet, but this next announcement would force their hand.


    "Twenty hours," Julia said. "Whoever controls the tower, they have twenty hours, one day to hand over the apprentice that is at fault. Failure to do so will result in a declaration of war, as will any future attack on civilians."


    She suspected that apprentice was still alive, given that Helios was also incapable of confirming their death (even if their soul was going to stand out less than the soul of the number one threat to Helios''s divine power). And if that apprentice truly was dead, then she would have the leverage to force out a different demand.


    "We will not rest until the mage responsible for this action faces justice."


    It took ten minutes before the apprentices responded.


    "You are lying!" Five apprentices stormed out of the crowd. Julia''s Crusaders stood up and assembled in a defensive formation in front of Julia, as if to shield against an attempted magical barrage.


    "In what way?" Julia demanded.


    "The mage responsible for the atrocity on Enos was killed in battle. We cannot give him to you because he is already dead."


    "And yet you continue to hide behind masks," Julia replied. "If you want us to believe that, you will all have to submit to interrogation."


    "That is an outrageous demand," one said.


    "And the perpetrator also claims this to be a new policy of the Legion. If you truly believed his actions were wrong, you would have disavowed him the day after."


    The apprentices did not reply.


    "Do you support his actions, or will you take this chance to surrender him?"


    At that moment, Julia received some sort of mental message, from an unknown source.


    I know that the apprentice who did this still lives, the voice claimed. But I do not know who.


    Who are you? Julia replied.


    Someone on the inside.


    Someone, most likely one of the apprentices, wanted her to cause some strife in their ranks. And, given what the stakes were, Julia felt obliged to help.


    "It seems that one of your number knows what is right," Julia commented. "They have informed me that you are concealing the murderer within your number."


    "You''re lying!" One of them immediately said.


    "And my demands still stand. Either surrender one of your members for judgement, or submit to interrogation."


    "Never," one of them declared.


    "You have one day to reconsider," Julia said. "After that, it will be war. If Daraken is truly alive, I hope he reigns you in and listens to reason."

 2-12: Discovery

    Return to the tower. You will be reassigned.


    Saphus was several hours into scouting at Nexion. The city had several valid targets, but it was also heavily guarded. After finding no openings in their daytime defense, she switched her focus to finding a decoy victim, someone who she wouldn''t regret putting in a soul jar.


    But, before night fell, the apprentices apparently changed their mind. Saphus quickly returned to them.


    Hopefully they didn''t want her to kill Julia or one of her closest allies. Not only would it be very difficult even for her, but it would also be a significant hit to the Resistance she was truly supporting.


    She returned to the city late in the evening. Julia was nowhere to be seen, likely back in Dustreach planning for war. If she was her new target, Saphus would have a very good argument for not going through with that attack.


    She reached the inner wall''s gates, and immediately encountered one of the apprentices. The apprentice ordered the gates to be opened, but rather than bringing her into the tower, he simply brought her in to a hidden room next to the gatehouse stairwell.


    "So, what''s with the covert meeting?" Saphus asked innocently. "It''s almost like-"


    "The rest of the apprentices are convening to prepare for war. I was sent alone to give you your mission."


    "Or they just wanted to discuss something without you."


    The apprentice probably reacted to that, but Saphus couldn''t tell because of his mask.


    "Julia, High Priestess of Helios, stormed into our city and announced a number of demands, breaking their neutrality. We will not comply with their demands. Your new mission is to sabotage their portals to stall their assault."


    The apprentice handed her another arcane device, a glass orb encircled by three concentric metal bands.


    "Dustreach has a single central portal chamber, containing anchor points and receivers. This orb contains a focused enchantment that will disrupt the formation of those portals, rendering the system nonfunctional."


    "How do I use it?" Saphus asked. "I know it has to be activated before it can take effect, since otherwise I wouldn''t be able to get it through the portals to deploy it in time."


    "An astute observation." The apprentice grabbed the orb and rotated the bands along their axes, aligning them until all three were adjacent. Then, he released the orb, and it hovered in the air. "The enchantment will only take effect when the rings are aligned."


    He returned the rings to their original configuration, and the orb came under the effect of gravity. He returned it to Saphus.


    "What is the effective range?" Saphus asked.


    "If you place it anywhere on or next to the building, it will work. The more hidden its location, the better."


    "And, I''m assuming you want this before dawn."


    "Yes."


    "In that case, I''ll have to go." But before Saphus could leave the room, the apprentice brought up a good point.


    "There are several reasons why you shouldn''t use civilian portals," the apprentice explained. "Firstly, you will not be able to return through the portals after sabotaging them."


    That would make it take longer to get back and receive her initiation, but it wouldn''t be that much of a problem.


    "Secondly, there are long lines at Fiora''s portal room. Many are evacuating due to the threats of war made by Helios."


    Even if the Resistance and the forces of Helios didn''t go after civilians, there was still the chance of them getting caught in the crossfire, getting killed by the Black Legion or its apprentices, or even just slowing down the Resistance and limiting their options.


    "And thirdly, there may be security at the Dustreach portal room. It''s not a chance we can take."


    Dustreach''s security was normally quite lax. Even if they did upgrade it, they probably wouldn''t be smart enough to figure out what a random magical device did. But, she had to admit it was still some sort of risk, even if being busted by their security would likely just allow her to explain her scheme and potentially work out an arrangement to pull one over on these bastards.


    "Let me guess, you want me to use one of your military portal generators to arrive outside the city, and then jump over the walls?"


    "¡­Yes, that was actually going to be my suggestion." The apprentice gave Saphus a validation code, and she left for the Black Legion''s current headquarters, a small emplacement on the inside of the walls. A guard blocked her path until she gave the code she got from the apprentice.


    It wasn''t exactly a grand headquarters, but it did have a fancy magic table that generated an illusionary map. And, it had a few odd devices in the corner.


    She met with the Legion''s military commander, some ''Circe Fire-Spear''. Someone who may or may not have died in the fight in Arexia.


    "Alright, this is an unusual request, but I''ll open a portal for you."


    "Unusual?"


    "Our agents usually use civilian transportation methods to get into position."


    "Normally, enemy security isn''t on high alert due to an active war."


    "Right."


    "Also, what are those things in the corner?" Saphus pointed to the odd devices, which appeared to be some hollow metal rods with weird mechanical contraptions on one end of them.


    "These are our secret weapons. I can''t explain more."


    Saphus made note of the ''secret weapons'', and then walked over to the portal generator in the courtyard. After waiting several minutes for it to activate, she stepped through, and arrived a few kilometers away from Dustreach.


    Of course, she had neglected to mention that such a scheme would ultimately be ineffective. After all, the Church of Helios and the Resistance would almost certainly be joining forces for any attack, and they could easily switch to the Resistance''s portal network. But hey, it wasn''t the assassin''s job to question their master''s strategic judgement.


    She began her mission, flawed as it was.


    **********


    Raiks called to order another council, this time with Julia being a guest at the table. He wasn''t quite in a condition to fight, but he had recovered enough that he was able to walk to the meeting under his own power.


    Technically, there was still time for the apprentices to surrender and turn in one of their own for interrogation. But not only was that incredibly unlikely, their doing so would likely result in whatever secrets being held being found out. And, if they did do so, there were good odds of Julia changing her mind and committing to the assault anyways, at least if it was discovered that Daraken was nothing more than a hoax.


    Raiks called the meeting to order. "Now that we have the aid of Helios, we just might have the assets necessary to win this battle. Julia, what forces will Dustreach be sending?"


    "Every high-ranking member who can fight," Julia declared.


    "That will leave Dustreach unprotected," Derrin warned. "It would be an easy target for one of the apprentices."


    "Helios will protect it."


    "I have doubts about that," Lunima said. "Faith is good, but it seems empty to just rely on our faith alone to protect our temple."


    Julia seemed flummoxed. "I can''t properly explain it. Not without giving up some secrets that shouldn''t be revealed in this world. Just know that any large-scale attack against Dustreach would fail unless performed by something capable of taking on a god."


    "In which case, I wonder why the last archmage sent us here, and not to the perfectly safe region around Dustreach," Raiks said.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    "Small-scale attacks are still possible," Derrin countered. "As shown by the attack that nearly eliminated Annabelle."


    "Julia, you said that as if Helios himself would materialize in physical form to protect Dustreach," Turb noted. "So I think that''s exactly what would happen."


    Julia sighed. "Yes, an Avatar of Helios''s power would appear if anyone attempted to attack it. I doubt even Daraken would be able to defeat him."


    "But it can''t leave the immediate area," Raiks immediately guessed. "Otherwise Daraken would never have gotten as far as he did."


    "Yes," Julia said. "The Avatar¡­ draws its power from the temple. If it left the vicinity it would be impotent."


    "So, the temple is protected. Now, what forces do you have?"


    "I currently have twenty-three Crusaders and five battle-priests under my command. I could potentially also bring in a few dozen line soldiers, but I think your forces already suffice in that regard."


    "Twenty-three Crusaders," Raiks muttered. If they were all just as strong as the Crusaders that Raiks had fought over a misunderstanding (or a power play from Annabelle, he wasn''t sure which), then it would be a devastating force.


    "Each one of them is a match for a dozen men," Julia claimed.


    "Maybe your forces should spearhead the assault on the tower," Raiks proposed. "With the support from the mages and elites in my own ranks."


    "One step at a time, Raiks," Derrin replied. "We should take the city first, then plan the assault on the tower. Especially since your agent hasn''t returned with any intelligence."


    "The agent that killed you to get into position," Lunima added. "The scheme''s creative, but it likely isn''t going to work."


    "And we also have to delay the battle for another day until your former Legion members are off leave and ready to fight," Raiks countered. "Giving my agent more time to get the information."


    "It''s Julia''s fault for forcing us into action so quickly."


    "We do not have to launch the assault in full tomorrow," Julia cautioned.


    "The sooner we launch the attack, the less time the enemy has to prepare."


    "What about a siege? Firenze proposed. "Our mages could bombard the tower from outside the city walls."


    "There would be a high risk of collateral damage," Julia said. "Many people have already evacuated Fiora, but not everyone. Even if we aimed solely at the tower, collapsing it would likely create enough debris to level the city. And even if everyone was evacuated, the loss of Garnoth''s capital would be devastating to the entire region."


    "That depends on how the tower''s magic works," Turb commented. "It was assembled through the use of conjuration magic, and must rely on magic to support its mass. There''s a chance that it would simply dematerialize if destroyed, if a small chance."


    "That''s if the tower falls. It is unlikely that we truly destroy the tower, not when it has been built up over a decade by an archmage who likely spent a significant amount of time and effort fortifying it. But our efforts may keep the apprentices too busy to do much to prepare for war. They may even draw out Daraken in whatever weakened state he is in right now."


    "It would be better than doing nothing, at least."


    "You have me worried, there," Derrin said. "What if Daraken makes his reappearance to destroy our entire assembled army?"


    "We will have the entire combined strength of the Resistance and Helios to face him. If we fail to beat him with that much strength, we never stood a chance of winning in the first place."


    "That isn''t reassuring. But, it''s the best chance we have."


    *********


    Saphus was able to easily plant the device on the roof of Dustreach''s portal generator. There were a few guards, but none of them were looking at the rooftops as Saphus dashed across them, boosted by her own magic.


    Given the shape of the portal generator''s roof, she expected that few would even see the device in place. And, those that did would likely not think anything of it, not in a city dominated by a church that over-decorated their own temple. But, at the same time, it wouldn''t be too hard for Julia to figure out what was wrong when her portals stopped working.


    With her job done, Saphus left the city the same way she came in, and returned to the location of her entry portal. However, she had to wait until morning before the return portal was opened, likely because everyone with the authority to open such a portal was sleeping. At least she could use the time to have a quick rest.


    Once the portal did open, she was immediately called into another meeting of the apprentices'' council.


    "Excellent work, Saphus. You have dealt a serious blow to the forces of Helios."


    "At least, until they get the Resistance''s support," Saphus remarked. "If they weren''t already doing that."


    "That would be the case, if it was a mere disabling measure. But it isn''t. It''s a trap."


    Saphus suddenly realized the full extent of her actions, even before the apprentices explained it themselves.


    "After all, why disable a portal when you can simply change the destination?"


    "Do you know where they were sent?" Saphus asked.


    "I don''t know for sure. All Daraken said was that they wouldn''t be coming back."


    It was probably the same thing that happened to Annabelle, Daraken''s original opponent. There was a chance they would be coming back, but it was unlikely at best. And wait a minute, that meant that Daraken-


    She couldn''t show any hint of her true motivations. She suppressed her horrified expression and returned to the mindset that a loyal assassin of Daraken would follow.


    "How many of them did it get?"


    "Luckily for them, it only caught five of their Crusaders before they realized what had happened. But even so, that''s still a significant chunk of their ground forces that won''t be threatening us anymore."


    Saphus realized with a bit of horror that her hesitation on her original mission allowed her to be tricked into killing five more. Granted, it might not technically be death for them, but the tactical implication was practically the same.


    "So, what happens next?"


    "Well, now that you''ve proven yourself, it is time for your initiation."


    In one side of the chamber, a door opened, revealing a large spiral staircase.


    "Climb up to the top. Daraken will do the rest."


    "I''m¡­ not sure I can climb that many sets of stairs." Sure, she could probably do it with her magic, but why did the apprentices use stairs to navigate this titanic tower at all?


    Also, this was her chance to get the information she was waiting for.


    "The tower''s not as tall on the inside as it is on the outside. The inside only has about a tenth of its real height."


    That was still a lot of climbing, but Saphus obliged and began climbing. After climbing about a hundred flights of stairs, she finally reached the top, and saw a grand chamber. It wasn''t a library like she expected Daraken''s sanctum to be, but orbs, staffs, wands, and scrolls were scattered throughout the chamber. And in the center stood a large stone chamber, etched with runes.


    "Hello, Saphus." It was Daraken, reborn in a new body. Either that, or one of his apprentices taking his form.


    "I have¡­ concerns about this initiation process," Saphus said, still exhausted from the climb.


    "Of course you do. Let me guess, the Resistance tried to get you to defect by claiming that I killed off every one of my agents that they captured?"


    "¡­Yes."


    "Okay, I do kill my own agents to prevent their information from falling into the wrong hands. But that''s half the story."


    Daraken walked over to the chamber and tapped one of the runes, causing the door to slide open. "This is the Resurrection Chamber. It took almost a year for me to perfect its design."


    So, that was their answer. That was how Daraken had returned.


    "As you might guess, it is my version of the resurrection spells used by Helios. A superior version, in fact."


    "Superior?"


    "Their resurrection requires a body, but this chamber can regenerate a whole body from scratch. Their resurrection leaves the beneficiaries bed-ridden for several days, but mine regenerates an entire body to full health in a matter of minutes. The instant I died, my soul returned here, and my body was reconstructed."


    "Wait, that chamber doesn''t look large enough to fit a dragon in it." She had heard a few wild claims that Daraken''s true form was that of a dragon. It was an unbelievable claim, but the evidence apparently supported.


    Daraken laughed. "I''m not a dragon, even if I can turn into one. Although, that form has not regenerated as quickly as I expected it to."


    "But why tell me about your weakness?" Saphus asked. "If they destroy this, you''ll be vulnerable."


    "Because it will also be your weakness," Daraken replied. "And, your strength."


    "You mean-"


    "Anyone can use the Resurrection Chamber," Daraken said. "My apprentices all use it, as do my agents, and my generals."


    So that was why the genocidal bastard apprentice was apparently still there.


    "So, I''m assuming that you''re going to allow me to use its power as well."


    "Yes." Daraken did a quick incantation, and the door to the chamber slid open. "Step into the chamber. The process will take several minutes to complete."


    Saphus walked into the chamber, and the door closed behind her. Then, the process began.


    As soon as the door closed, she felt some odd tingling. Almost as if her very soul was under attack.


    She could barely feel it at the edge of her mind, but it was enough to drive her into a panic. She made a desperate attempt to stab her energy blades into the chamber walls, to force her way out, to no effect.


    Slowly, the effect ramped up. It transitioned from tingling to pain, and for what seemed like an eternity, Saphus could do nothing other than scream.


    Then, it stopped, and the door opened. Saphus''s pain slowly subsided.


    "Your soul is now linked here. You will return here on death."


    "I-I will need time to recover. That-"


    "I am sorry. It is somewhat¡­ unnatural for a soul to be linked in this manner. I had to suffer the same thing to ensure that I survived a fatal event."


    As if Daraken tested it himself first. He probably got someone else to test his resurrection first, to make sure it worked.


    "So, we''re immortal."


    "Almost. I will not be truly immortal until my ascension is complete."


    "What more will you need to do before that can be accomplished?"


    "I need time," Daraken said.


    "How much time?"


    "In a few weeks, I will ascend. But this assault is a serious threat, one capable of defeating me at this moment. The more time I have to build up defenses, the better my odds of stopping them."


    Now that was a crucial bit of information. Saphus had to get it to the Resistance, to tell them their enemy was vulnerable. But in order to do that, she would need to get out of this tower.


    "What can I do to help?" Saphus asked.


    "Our enemies are at our doorstep, massing for war. You have already disposed of some of them, but there are many more coming."


    "Isn''t this tower nearly impenetrable to attack? Just the climb alone would render them too exhausted to fight."


    "The Crusaders are the greatest threat. Now that Helios has decided to enter this war directly, they actually stand a chance of defeating us. If they reach the tower, their coordinated assault could push through almost every defense I have against them."


    "What would you have me do against them?"


    Daraken walked over to a magic mirror, which immediately materialized an image of the gathering enemy forces. The Resistance was assembling outside the city walls, alongside the Crusaders.


    "Can you survive a high-altitude fall?"


    "A what?" With her powers, possibly. She could access the power of flight, even if only in short bursts. But it wasn''t something she wanted to test.


    "If I threw you off this tower, would you survive?"


    "Yes. But I don''t-"


    "When I drop you, your goal is to kill as many of the Crusaders as possible. You''ll die, and then you''ll be brought back here."


    "Intentional suicide. Such a great-" Before she could say "idea", space shifted around her.


    In an instant, she was high in the air, falling straight towards the assembled Resistance forces.


    "Very funny, Daraken. Now, time to end you."

 2-13: Hope

    Darius, despite being stabbed twice, looked almost like he was uninjured. Though his leather armor had been penetrated, the armor still mitigated enough of the blows to prevent them from doing significant damage. Annabelle saw that Darius had another healing orb on him, but he wasn''t concerned enough to use it.


    Annabelle decided to slap a stolen prisoner levitation shackle onto Xerxes, levitating him and making him significantly easier to carry. Then, she followed Darius the rest of the way back to the group without another incident.


    When they returned to the main group, they found that they were still stunned. Annabelle wasn''t sure how much time had passed since they were first stunned, but it apparently wasn''t an hour yet.


    "You managed to overcome the stunning curse. How?" Darius asked.


    Annabelle literally could not reply. She was barely able to talk due to her throat injury, and had no energy left to use telepathy instead.


    "Is it some secret that you can share to others?"


    Annabelle, after a moment''s consideration, shook her head. Her method involved crashing the simulation through an extrasensory method that the dream could not comprehend, something that was unlikely to be possible for the rest of them to accomplish.


    They had no choice but to wait almost half an hour until the stunning curses wore off and the rest of them could move again. But even though they could move now, they were slow to get up, and quick to spread fear and panic.


    "What they did- is that their worst?"


    "No. It''s just the prelude. A taste of- of what they can truly do?"


    The fear quickly began to spread. Varos, one of the few who wasn''t in total panic, attempted to claim that what they had just done was some of the worst torture they could do (a lie, by the looks of it), but it didn''t calm anything down.


    Annabelle stood a small chance of being able to calm things down if she could yell right now, and a much better chance if she had any energy left to use.


    She found Lorso in the crowd, and tried to communicate with her.


    "What do you want?"


    Annabelle pointed to her injured throat, and made some sort of rasping sound to express her current inability to talk.


    "Well that must suck for you."


    With a bit of effort, Annabelle managed to whisper, "You''re a healer."


    "Fine, I''ll at least make an attempt." She put a hand on Annabelle''s throat, and Annabelle felt a bit of warmth flow through her from Lorso''s magic.


    "That''s the best I can do."


    Annabelle tried to talk again. She thought she felt a bit of improvement, but it wasn''t enough. "Not¡­ good¡­ enough¡­"


    At this point, Silence opened a telepathic channel to her, connecting her to Lorso in the process. This should help.


    Now, why exactly is that all you''re capable of? Annabelle demanded.


    It was already mostly healed. Healed badly, I think.


    Annabelle explained what occurred. My throat got slashed by a Shade just before I could kill him. Darius managed to come in with a healing orb, but I think the healing focused on stopping blood loss first.


    At the cost of your ability to speak. Well, you can join Silence''s club, Lorso remarked.


    Annabelle gave Lorso a death glare for that remark, and even Silence seemed annoyed by that.


    I''ll just contact another healer.


    Silence did just that, opening a third telepathic channel to a mage garbed in green robes.


    She needs help. Throat injury.


    What''s the point? We''re all dead anyways.


    Annabelle was outraged. No, we''re not dead yet. And we''re not going to be dead. We have an ally within the Shades'' ranks.


    The mage didn''t respond.


    I''m fighting them with everything I have. If we go down fighting, we go down fighting, but at least we fought back. Or do you want that to happen again?


    If we fight back, they just treat us worse. If we surrender, maybe we''ll be-


    No. You won''t. I''ve been inside one of their heads. Surrendering just makes it easier for them.


    Fine. I''ll help.


    The mage came over and analyzed the wound, causing it and his hands to glow green for a few seconds.


    That isn''t a wound, it''s a scar. A badly healed one, at that.


    Emergency healing. The kind that kept me from dying to the wound in the field.


    I can regenerate the area, restoring proper function. It will take some time, however.


    Thank you.


    The mage began the healing process. While that was happening, Annabelle looked around at the rest of the mess.


    It seemed that there was no more hope among the rest of the survivors. And honestly, Annabelle couldn''t blame them. The best they had gotten out of this battle was merely surviving with only one person lost to the Shades.


    What else can you do, besides healing? Annabelle asked. She didn''t exactly have anything else to do right now.


    My specialty was nature magic. But there''s no nature here.


    As in manipulating plants?


    And animals. If they existed here, that is.


    Annabelle attempted to figure out some way to make her power useful.


    Humans are animals, Annabelle said. We have the same biology. Same with every other sapient species.


    Humans have souls, and intelligent brains that can resist the primitive manipulations that I could use to take control of animals. This is all I can do.


    You''re still a skilled healer. Although, Annabelle had to admit, when the enemy''s weapons were attacking the mind, there wasn''t much for a healer to do.


    Nearby, Varos and Diedre were discussing what to do next.


    "They will send another assault," Diedre said. "We should scatter, find some hiding spot in the Shaderealm."


    If the enemy knew of Annabelle''s depletion, the next assault would be coming before she could recover. But hopefully, it was more likely they would wait and prepare a big assault, especially if Omega was able to manipulate them.


    "So, I think we should return to our base, rather than trying to make a new one," Varos proposed.


    "They''ll know we''re there, and they''ll take us down," Diedre warned.


    "They''ll be playing seriously after facing a defeat in open combat," Varos replied. "They have the means to track us, but didn''t use them before, in hopes of keeping this interesting. Now that we''re a legitimate threat to them, they''re going to track us down no matter where we are."


    "So, we might as well retreat to somewhere that''s already fortified, " Darius finished, jumping into the discussion. "And prepare for a fight."


    "We''re probably dead either way, " Diedre claimed. "But if we''re going down either way, I guess we can go down fighting."


    Diedre slowly rallied everyone, and after a few minutes, managed to get them to shamble back to their old base. It took long enough that the mage was able to finish the healing effort, restoring Annabelle''s voice. As they retreated, Annabelle went through a few vocal exercises. Her voice was still a bit raspy, but it was otherwise normal.


    Once they got back, most of the group slumped back into inactivity, either retiring to the sleeping quarters or remaining in the central chamber. Only a few people seemed to be making any sort of preparation effort. This was a dire situation.


    Annabelle walked into Varos''s workshop and dropped Shadebreaker on the table.


    "How much damage did this sustain?" Annabelle asked.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Varos waved his artificer''s gloves over Shadebreaker, analyzing its internal structure.


    "This is unusual," Varos noted. "Something''s disrupted the barrel''s structural integrity along a single plane, rendering the weapon barrel nonfunctional."


    Annabelle explained what happened. "It¡­ may have been briefly hit by a localized spatial rending attack."


    "Luckily, the damage is confined to the barrel, and the arcane power core was not damaged. It shouldn''t take me too long to fix."


    Varos then proceeded to remove the entire barrel and begin reconstructing it. Granted, with his matter-fabricating glove, it probably was easier to conjure up an entire new weapon barrel than it was to repair the existing one. Especially


    While he was halfway through rebuilding the barrel, Darius walked in.


    "I went out to see what I could salvage from all the dead Shades."


    "I''m busy right now," Varos replied, not looking up from his work. "Can this wait?"


    "I''ve salvaged a dozen warding charms, and eight crossbows. I''ve left their knives though, they''re not useful to us."


    "Are they useable?" Annabelle asked.


    "I''ll need time to break their restrictions, but I should be able to make them useful."


    "Then, we''ll just have to figure out who gets them."


    That would be a complicated problem. Obviously, Annabelle''s main team should take advantage of them, but who else among the survivors should be protected against the enemy''s death bolts? Should they protect strong mages to keep them in the fight, or give the warding amulets to vulnerable survivors that otherwise wouldn''t be able to contribute?


    And speaking of protection against bolts¡­


    "So, Silence, how exactly did you take multiple stunning bolts to bring down during the last fight?" Silence was currently sitting at a far corner of the cavern. He seemed to be sleeping upright, but instantly jerked to attention when his name was mentioned.


    What do you mean? Silence responded. Now that Silence had opened the telepathic channel, Annabelle switched to using it. It was slightly more convenient.


    I have what I believe to be the strongest mental resistance ever known. And yet, a stunning bolt took me out with the first hit. Then, a few seconds later, I see you glow yellow and completely nullify an incoming attack.


    You were able to adapt. Silence responded.


    I would like to know why I needed to adapt, while you seemingly knew how to resist a few shots from the start.


    Silence paused for a bit before responding. I utilized a special technique. Invulnerability.


    What.


    I can make myself completely invulnerable for short periods. In that battle, the first two shots hit me while I was invulnerable. After it ran out, the third shot dropped me.


    Annabelle wasn''t sure that was the right terminology, but whatever it was, it blocked stunning hits.


    Can you teach the skill? Annabelle asked.


    Silence did not reply.


    And where did you learn it?


    I don''t want to reveal that.


    Annabelle was slightly infuriated. We are in a life or death situation, likely up against a literal god. If you''re hiding something that could potentially give us an edge in this fight¡­ well, she would get the information by force if she had to.


    Wait. Silence considered something. I think- I think I was being trained to fight gods.


    Well, that would certainly be useful. What do you mean?


    The first thing I remember is waking up in a facility deep in the jungle. We were constantly trained in both physical might and some form of ability referred to as ''inner strength''.


    Training for what?


    They never told me outright. But every time we thought we were strong enough, they pushed us to do more, claiming that the things we were preparing to fight were even stronger than we could imagine.


    There are other threats on that scale. Daraken, for instance. Maybe some dragons. How do you know you were specifically preparing to fight divine entities?


    If they were training to fight something, they would execute drills that would help them fight that enemy. What sort of drills would they be running to fight such a figure?


    The day I left, we saw a glowing entity in the courtyard. Our leader said that this was our greatest test yet, a fight against a weak simulacrum of our true targets. But we failed. I fled soon afterwards.


    That did sound like they encountered a god of some sort.


    What capabilities did it have?


    It was almost invulnerable. Our blows did nothing to it, but it wore us down over time. We held out against it for a while, but eventually we ran out of energy, while it still fought at full strength.


    So, gods were nearly unkillable. That was useful, if only for killing any hopes Annabelle had of defeating Nyxl in a straight fight. Though, that group didn''t have Shadebreaker¡­


    Would you be able to hold off Nyxl, then?


    If I was one of our elites, I might last a minute. But I fled because I was the weakest link in the group, a setback to the rest of them. And that''s if Nyxl isn''t stronger than the so-called simulacrum we engaged, and if he doesn''t hit me with more stunning bolts than I can nullify.


    "I might be able to give you a better defense against their stunning bolts," Annabelle said. "When my powers recover, that is."


    **********


    HOW DID YOUR ASSASSIN FAIL? Nyxl actually seemed less angry this time, likely because he was blaming Annabelle''s surprise power level and not Cecilian''s supposed incompetence.


    Xerxes was ordered to assassinate the target at long range, but wasted time gloating, giving his target a chance to fight back. Unfortunately, that chance was all I needed.


    DUE TO HER THREAT LEVEL, I AM GOING TO PULL MY INVASION FORCES BACK TO DEAL WITH HER THREAT. Given Annabelle''s current lack of energy, a whole army would be overkill; even Cecilian''s previous raiding party would likely be enough this time.


    Omega quickly proposed the alternative she had thought of. There is no need. If we simply cut all connections with the realm, they will no longer be a threat to us. Then, we can watch them starve.


    INTERESTING PROPOSAL. IT WOULD PREVENT US FROM LOSING ANY MORE WARRIORS TO THIS THREAT. HOWEVER, WE WOULD LOSE ANY CHANCE TO RECOVER XERXES, OR INTERROGATE VAROS.


    Xerxes is irrelevant now, Omega countered. He failed his job.


    THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN VAROS-


    You can resurrect him after he dies. Same with Xerxes, once they stop interrogating him and finish him off. Though, given that Xerxes is a failure, I''d recommend leaving him dead.


    Nyxl was silent for some time. UNDERSTOOD.


    Also, one more thing. They''ve found a way to counter our anti-conjuration enchantments, with something that isn''t technically edible, yet still provides necessary nutrients.


    CLEARLY, OUR MEASURES NEED TO BE REINFORCED.


    Omega could have ignored this measure, but by doing this, she could regain some support with Nyxl.


    Although, it might be more fun to keep their food supply intact, and watch them gradually fall into psychosis.


    LET''S NOT GIVE THEM TOO MUCH TIME. I''D LIKE THEIR SOULS SOONER RATHER THAN LATER.


    **********


    After a few hours, Varos managed to increase the power of Shadebreaker, and combined it with arcane recoil mitigation to prevent the weapon from destroying the user''s shoulder when fired. Annabelle tested it by taking it to a distant cavern and firing a fully charge shot down it. The projectile crossed a hundred meters of distance too fast to perceive, and impacted the demiplane wall with enough force to shake the whole cavern. Even ACP''s strongest infantry weapons didn''t pack this sort of power, and it was admittedly likely overkill against almost anything, but it might actually put some serious hurt on Nyxl.


    After that, she finally decided to rest. Anything else she was planning on doing would have to wait until her psychic energy recovered.


    She woke up some time later, unharmed. Whatever the Shades were planning, it was taking more than a few hours to plan.


    Now that she had her powers back, she could interrogate Xerxes, and by proxy Omega. The camp had nothing prepared to hold prisoner, so Xerxes had been chained down and gagged in an improvised cell in the far corner of the base. It was bordering on excessively cruel, but they had no real other way to ensure he didn''t escape, commit suicide, or harass everyone with illusions.


    "So, Xerxes," Annabelle asked sarcastically, "Are you willing to join us?"


    Xerxes tried to talk, but whatever he said was unintelligible due to the gag.


    "I take that as a no. Well, in that case, I''ll just interrogate you instead."


    Xerxes said something else unintelligible.


    "Don''t worry, I have ways to get information without letting you cast spells."


    Annabelle entered Xerxes'' mind.


    Now, I''ll give you one chance to give me the information I need, before I get it out of your mind myself.


    Why would I give you anything?


    Alright, your call. Annabelle initiated her psychic intrusion, but met strong resistance.


    We prepared for mental attack Xerxes managed to respond. It would be a very bad idea to go into the mortal world without a way to resist hostile interrogation measures, especially when failure exposes the whole invasion.


    Annabelle suspected his defenses were supported by magic. She couldn''t find a flaw in it.


    Hello, other me. Omega jumped in using the Matriarchs'' communication magic.


    So, when''s the next strike coming? Annabelle decided to ignore Xerxes for a bit. He wasn''t going anywhere, after all.


    Actually, I''ve prevented a strike entirely, but at the cost of your current food source.


    How?


    Basically, I suggested that they were better off sealing this sector of the Shaderealm and waiting for you to die. But, they''ve found out about Darius''s little trick, and they''re working on adapting their countermeasures against it.


    So, they would have to resort to Annabelle''s last resort, cannibalism combined with healing. That is, if they didn''t rush a counterattack.


    So, if we''re going to be trapped here, how are we going to launch an attack?


    I will be able to open a portal to my manor. Which, conveniently, is just a few city blocks from a portal into a cave in Garnoth.


    So, you get us through, and then it''s just a straight shot to freedom? That is, if they wanted to just escape. If Annabelle could, she would obliterate the entire city.


    A straight shot that passes through several rows of Shade-occupied buildings. It''ll be a tough fight.


    Nyxl will hear of this, Xerxes claimed, interjecting himself into the discussion to taunt them.


    He wouldn''t believe you, Omega retorted.


    Annabelle herself wasn''t as confident, but Omega probably knew something she didn''t.


    Okay, can you figure out what our prisoner is using to block my mental intrusion? I''d like to get some information out of them.


    I don''t think he has anything useful that I don''t also possess.


    And now, you''re both going to die.


    Annabelle heard Xerxes trying to laugh. He was hiding something.


    She made another attempt at breaking into Xerxes'' mind.


    Wait. Break off. Break off now!


    Annabelle hesitated for a split-second.


    They''ve given him the magical equivalent of a suicide bomb, Omega explained. It will-


    And now, you die.


    There was a burst of green energy, blasting out from Xerxes. Annabelle tried to throw herself away, but she wasn''t fast enough.


    The blast rippled through her, and Annabelle was physically unharmed. But her mind came under attack, a blast of raw energy with no form behind it. The same type of attack that Annabelle would use if she wanted to obliterate someone''s mind outright. Her normal mental defenses were overwhelmed, and she rushed to stop the attack before it destroyed her.


    Luckily, her initial defenses still weakened the attack enough that a quickly-fortified secondary barrier held it off, but it was still too close for comfort. She hadn''t been hit that hard since her psychic battle against the Elders'' leadership council.


    Due to her previous experiences with a similar trap, she analyzed herself for any sort of traps, curses, or other anomalies. Nothing. So, this bastard''s attack was a total failure.


    And, if their instant death bolts are using a similar mechanism, I should be able to resist them.


    Except¡­


    She went back into Xerxes'' mind, and sure enough, he was brain-dead, with nothing left. Luckily, Omega still had a mental link with the corpse.


    That could be a problem for me, Omega warned. I tried to convince Nyxl that Xerxes wasn''t worth resurrecting, and it would be his word against mine, but it still invites extra suspicion on me.


    The good news is that I discovered that I can survive their death bolts. At least, if they function the same way as that magical suicide bomb.


    A straight run to escape is still your best option.


    If I''m immune to their weapons, I might be able to stay behind, free others, maybe even cause enough damage to cripple their invasion force.


    There are other threats, Omega claimed. As well as Nyxl himself.


    What kind of threats?


    Omega began her explanation.

 2-14: Final Preparations

    After several hours of planning, Varos, Diedre, and Annabelle finally had a plan worked out. Diedre summoned everyone into the central cavern to be informed about the briefing.


    But before they could begin, there was an interruption, as a gust of wind blasted through the caverns.


    "Wait. There''s new arrivals," Varos stated.


    "New arrivals?" Annabelle asked.


    "That''s fresh air from a surface world rushing through the caverns, from a portal being redirected into this place."


    Now that he mentioned it, Annabelle thought she smelled fresh air.


    "New arrivals? How?" A random person questioned. Annabelle had the same question. Wasn''t this place sealed off from the rest of the Shaderealm, based on Omega''s plan?


    "Maybe they''re trying to keep this interesting."


    Or maybe Omega did this on purpose, dropping new arrivals into the one group that would be making an escape attempt.


    Varos called an intermission and went out to search for the new arrivals. After about an hour, he returned.


    Behind him were five knights in shining steel armor, wielding longswords and shields. A symbol of the sun was emblazoned in several points on their armor, and on the amulet they wore.


    "Crusaders of Helios," Darius whispered. He gripped one of his daggers, though Annabelle wasn''t sure how the small blade could get through plate armor.


    "Do you know of a person known as-"


    "I''m right here," Annabelle said, stepping forward. It''s not like they could be looking for anyone else.


    "We are here to aid you in returning to Garnoth," the lead Crusader claimed. "There is a crisis. You need to-"


    "Let me guess, Daraken''s returned." If it was any other reason, they''d be wanting her dead, and probably wouldn''t have came here in the first place. Although there was also the possibility of a trap¡­


    "His apprentices claimed that he never died. We didn''t believe them at first, but recent events have convinced us otherwise."


    "And what if he is dead?" Annabelle asked.


    "We may still need your aid to defeat his apprentices. Right now, we are preparing to storm Daraken''s tower, to eliminate whatever force of evil remains in it."


    So, Helios was moving the goalposts. Hey, if it meant she could stay alive for longer, it was good with her.


    "How did you get here?" Annabelle questioned.


    The Crusader launched into an explanation. "After you left, one of Daraken''s apprentices launched a devastating attack against civilians. Because of that, Julia has declared war, a declaration that an enemy agent responded to by sabotaging our portal system. Julia''s divinations detected the sabotage attempt determining it to be the same type of sabotage that he used to send you here. Instead of simply fixing it, she used it as an opportunity. We volunteered to go through the sabotaged portal, in hopes that it led to the same location you were banished to."


    If they weren''t lying, that was a massive risk they took to get her back. They must desperately need her aid.


    If Daraken was sabotaging portals to banish people so that they would never threaten him, two separate instances of sabotage would probably lead to two different locations. Unless Daraken had taken a deal with the Shades, why would the portals-


    Daraken took a deal with the Shades. It''s the only possible explanation.


    "When we get back, I will do everything I can to kill Daraken, or whoever took over after him. But first, we need to escape this place."


    And, once she escaped, Annabelle would likely need time to recover before she could fight Daraken again. She almost lost the first fight despite entering it with a sizeable energy reserve, and if their escape was as difficult as she was expecting it to be, she would be lucky to have any energy left after escaping. Shadebreaker might give her an edge, but she didn''t want to bet on it being enough to win.


    "We were about to formulate a plan, before you arrived," Varos said to the Crusaders. Then, he turned to the rest of the assembled group. "Due to this new development, the briefing will be delayed by an hour."


    The rest of the survivors began to converse among themselves, while Varos had a discussion with the Crusaders, explaining their opponents and asking about their capabilities. While that was going on, Annabelle went over to the brain-dead body of Xerxes, in order to use its mental connection to have another conversation with Omega.


    Did you send these Crusaders here? Annabelle asked.


    I didn''t abduct them from Garnoth to drop them here, if that''s what you''re asking. But I did have some influence over their placement here.


    What sort of influence?


    I am in control of Shade operations over a sector of space that includes Garnoth, Omega explained. An hour ago, I received notice that the Crusaders had been sent here, and I had to determine where to place them. Normally, such a group would be scattered across five different hunting areas, to give those groups false hope while crushing the spirits of the skilled healers and paladins. But I instead had them all sent to this area by claiming that their healing efforts would prolong the suffering of starvation.


    And because they would also be able to escape?


    That too. We don''t have high regards for the followers of Helios, but even they don''t deserve this fate.


    The Crusaders mentioned that Daraken had returned, Annabelle mentioned, and I have reason to believe that Daraken has some sort of deal with the Shades.


    If I knew of such a deal, I would have told you earlier, Omega replied. If we had a deal, he wouldn''t be a potential threat to the Shades'' invasion.


    What intel do you have on Garnoth? Surely, she would have something, right?


    I don''t have any other agents on the ground in that area, Omega said. And given that key areas in the world are protected against remote viewing, I can''t get anything useful that way. It''s why they had to send Xerxes in as an agent to get an insider analysis.


    Well, she would just have to trust the Crusaders, then.


    **********


    The Crusaders were here to aid them. But Lorso also saw this as an opportunity to expose a hole in their beliefs, in a place where they didn''t have popular support. Especially after what she had learned from questioning the other mages here.


    She waited until they were done conversing with Varos, and then confronted them.


    "Hello, Crusaders. How do you feel about being proven completely wrong today?"


    A Crusader immediately pointed his blade at her, an act countered by Silence stepping to the side of her to act as a bodyguard.


    "We have our eyes on you, blasphemer. You only escaped justice because we could not lose the support of your friend. As soon as she is no longer required, you will be killed."


    "You wouldn''t say that to her face, would you?"


    As Lorso expected, the Crusaders weren''t that courageous. Especially when the commotion was already drawing a crowd.


    Should I contact her? Silence asked privately.


    Only if this escalates further.


    "Now, I''d like to bring your attention to healing magic."


    "A form of magic that you stole-"


    "You''re the ones who stole it from the mages. I just took it back."


    "A laughable-"


    "This place is home to natives of multiple worlds, including worlds where Helios is unheard of. Due to the nature of most arrivals to this place, a high proportion of the arrivals here are mages."


    Surprisingly, the Crusaders decided not to interrupt her.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "You want to know something funny? On every world where Helios is either not present or only a minor god in the pantheon, healing magic is general knowledge. Many mages have chosen not to learn it, but several have. But on Garnoth, or on other worlds where Helios is the dominant power, healing magic is mysteriously only known to those followers."


    "Healing magic is only possible for followers of the gods, not for followers of the arcane arts."


    "A follower of the arcane arts is also a follower of a god. There''s simply no other explanation."


    "That''s-"


    "Impossible? Where do you think that the magic used by wizards and sorcerers comes from?"


    The Crusaders pondered that, but Lorso continued before they could come up with an answer.


    "Wizards at the College studied interactions between their magic and your magic, and found them to be identical to the point that dispelling effects worked the same on either source. If the magic came from separate sources, the interactions would likely be more like the interaction between magic and psionics, where the interaction is imperfect at best."


    "If wizards followed a god, they would be actively spreading that god''s faith."


    "Unless they didn''t know about it either," Lorso declared.


    That drew more interest from the other mages in the group than it did from the Crusaders.


    "You''re lying," one mage said. "How could I be an unknowing follower of a god?"


    "I''ve had a discussion with every mage here. Everyone who isn''t a follower of a god experienced an event known as an Epiphany that awakened their powers, an event that they have no memories of. Now, what do you think the Epiphany is?"


    "A test. A tenth of those who receive an Epiphany fail and are forever unable to learn magic."


    It was a fifth on Garnoth, a quarter before Daraken''s reign.


    "A test administered by a God of Magic," Lorso theorized. "We don''t know enough about the God of Magic to give them a name, but there is a force that determines who gains magic and who fails."


    "I have had enough of this baseless conjecture," A Crusader said. He advanced aggressively. As Lorso stepped back, Silence stepped forward to oppose him, but the other Crusaders followed behind. Knowing from previous experience, they were outmatched unless the others joined their side.


    "I had a private discussion with an archmage a few years ago. At one point, we discussed what caused those studying at the College to burn out. You want to know what he said the most notable factor in failure was?"


    The Crusaders tensed up. They were about to attack.


    "Faith in Helios."


    That did it. The lead Crusader swung at Silence. Silence stepped forward and grabbed his sword arm, but the other four Crusaders retaliated with focused blasts of holy light, stunning him. The lead Crusader backed up and then stabbed forwards, putting the blade straight into Silence''s chest. He retaliated with a haymaker that launched the Crusader four meters backwards into another Crusader, putting them both on the ground.


    Two other Crusaders stepped forwards, while the last one healed the two on the ground. Lorso took flight (even though the cavern wasn''t high enough for her to get out of melee range, she could still move faster with a flight spell than with walking) and then threw a bolt of healing fire into Silence as he ripped the blade out of his chest.


    STOP. The psychic blast dazed everyone for a brief second, as Annabelle rushed into the middle of the fight, glowing purple with psychic energy. Lorso knew her glowing meant almost nothing, but the Crusaders were suitably intimidated.


    "The blasphemer was-" A Crusader attempted to claim.


    "I trust that ''blasphemer'' more than I trust you at this moment," Annabelle told the Crusaders.


    "We cannot work with her. She is constantly-"


    "This is a desperate situation I''ll give you the chance to declare a truce. But if you don''t, I''ll have to figure out whether it''s worth it to use mind control on you."


    "You- what?"


    "I''d have to make a cost-benefits analysis to determine whether it would be worth it to mind-control you or just to carry you back as prisoners, costing either a significant portion of my energy or your ability to aid us. I''d much rather not lose either."


    Surprisingly, after a few tense moments, their leader decided to stand down. He dropped his sword, and the rest of the Crusaders dropped theirs as well. "You''re right. We have bigger priorities, for now."


    Annabelle''s aura faded, and she turned back to Lorso. "Now, what was it that you were saying?"


    While Lorso finished her statement, the Crusaders left the room. At least they wouldn''t pose a problem.


    "Now, where was I?" Lorso took some time to recover her argument. "Right, I was discussing why burnouts occurred. And, instead of the biggest factor being knowledge or talent, it was faith in the divine."


    "Okay, how does that prove the existence of a god of magic?" Annabelle asked. She had missed a bit of the presentation.


    "It''s still a theory," Lorso admitted. "But the evidence for it is strong, and there is no other theory available."


    "What evidence?" Annabelle asked.


    Lorso reiterated her evidence. "Firstly, ''Arcane'' magic used by wizards and sorcerers is identical in composition to the divine magic utilized by followers of Helios, with both interacting equally with magic-disrupting effects. If they were truly different forms of magic, they would function by different rules, like with your abilities."


    "Or, magic could be some innate property of the universe, and favor from a god is just one way to control it," Annabelle countered.


    "Secondly, all wizards have an Epiphany, a sudden event where they gain their powers. But a small proportion of those burn out instead, becoming forever incapable of performing the arcane arts. The most common theory is that it is a test, and a test would require an intelligent entity to administer it."


    "I''ve heard of that," Annabelle said. "It''s not foolproof evidence. Maybe the Epiphany is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reach out and grab power, and some fail to do it."


    "And thirdly, an archmage I had discussed things with was able to demonstrate an apparent correlation between faith in the existing gods and failure in the Epiphany."


    That would be from Daraken himself, I presume? Annabelle asked. Lorso confirmed the source of her statement.


    "That''s- actually somewhat convincing. But there''s still no hard proof. And even if it was, what''s the point? How does this help us defeat the Shades?"


    Lorso didn''t have an answer for that.


    "We need the Crusaders on our side," Annabelle declared. "Don''t antagonize them again."


    She walked back over to her private discussion with Varos.


    **********


    After the commotion, Varos and Annabelle quickly finalized their new plan and restarted their briefing, hoping to get everyone organized before another incident could occur.


    "In a few hours, we will launch a desperate mission. We will either escape this place, or die trying."


    "The Shades have responded to the threat we pose by cutting us off from the rest of their realm," Annabelle continued. "They cut off our food supply because of that. But we have an agent on the inside, a rogue Matriarch. When the time comes, they will open a portal into the Shades'' city."


    "From there, we have to cross a few city blocks to reach the extraction point, a portal to the realm of Garnoth. I am aware that only a small portion of this group is native to that world, but any world is better than this place."


    The gathered survivors nodded reluctantly.


    "So, it''s just a few city blocks?" One of them asked.


    "A few city blocks through a territory controlled by a rogue god, where the Shades keep their most elite forces," Varos replied. "In addition to their hunters, we will be fighting beasts that can tear apart armies, mages that can manipulate minds, and warriors that can rip apart space itself. Our insider will attempt to distract Nyxl as long as she can, but the faster we get to safety, the less chance that Nyxl finds us."


    Annabelle had told Varos of a second group of allies, some of her old friends, that would also be arriving. However, given that the odds of anyone finding this place were implausible, and that the only evidence of said arrival was a dream, Varos saw fit to disregard it. If they showed, they showed, but they weren''t part of the plan.


    "Warriors that can rip apart space?" Diedre asked. "What do you mean by that?"


    "They have warriors equipped with heavy armor and spatially-rending glaive weapons. Not only can they cut through almost anything they hit, but they can also warp space to greatly augment their mobility, almost to the point of allowing them to teleport."


    "Wait, this is suicide," another replied. "Even if their elite forces don''t show, we''ll be easy targets for them, running straight through their streets unprotected."


    Maybe Varos shouldn''t have elaborated on what threats they were facing. The morale impact seemed to be higher than the advantage of knowing their enemies.


    "We have stolen and reverse-engineered a dozen of their warding devices, and will be handing them out. There are not enough to protect all of you, but there are enough to protect key members of the team."


    Varos could see the discontent. Arguably, having gear to protect a quarter of the team was worse than having none, since those who didn''t get it would feel like they weren''t useful.


    "If you have magic capable of killing a Shade, or capable of blocking incoming projectiles, step forward."


    No one stepped up, not even the Crusaders.


    "I will do whatever it takes to get you to safety," Annabelle said. "But I can''t do this alone. If you''re not willing to fight them yourself, at least support those of us who are willing."


    The lead Crusader stepped forward, the rest following behind. They really should have stepped up earlier, given that they had already been briefed ahead of time.


    "We will provide the blessing of Helios, replenishing your strength. It will give you enough stamina to sprint towards the exit at top speed."


    "We have also identified a weakness," Annabelle added. "The Shades are highly light-sensitive, their eyes adapted to seeing in the dark caverns of their own realm. The Crusaders, followers of a god of the sun, will also be using that to blind them, while simultaneously lighting our path."


    After hearing about that plan, Varos had quickly prepared adaptive goggles that would darken in response to light. Similar day-vision goggles were used by field agents (and likely by the Shades'' invasion forces), but they likely wouldn''t have them in the dim lighting of their own city.


    "Now, what are the rest of you going to offer?" Annabelle said.


    "You mentioned beasts." That came from Menos, a nature-focused mage who was reduced to little more than a healer by this situation. "I might be able to pacify them."


    "They aren''t normal animals, they''re magic-infused abominations that hunt non-Shades on instinct. It might not be possible, but if it is, you''ll stop a major threat."


    "I can put up barriers," another said. "Weak barriers, but they might stop a few bolts."


    "Even one bolt stopped is a life saved."


    "I might be able to take down a few with lightning blasts," a third said. "If I can overload their wards, that is."


    "How well will their wards handle anti-magic blasts?" a fourth said.


    "I might be able to conceal a few of us with magic," a fifth added.


    One by one, the mages stepped forward. But there were others in this group who weren''t mages, who had nothing useful to give. Morale was only high for the quarter of the group that had magical abilities. A few of them offered to take warding charms and shield the rest of the group, but the rest weren''t going to be able to provide any significant amount of assistance.


    "For those of you without magic, I also have eight stolen Shade crossbows," Varos offered. "They will take sustained fire to get through the Shades'' wards, but they''re better than nothing."


    Eight people stepped forwards to take those weapons. Darius also approached Varos, but for a different reason.


    "I just realized something. In my battle against their agent, one of their knives went through my stolen wards entirely. I disregarded them because their pain aura would incapacitate any unshielded allies near the wielder, but you might be able to fix that. If you can break them down and apply that enchantment to other weapons, it could completely nullify their main defense."


    It wouldn''t be effective against their rending warriors, but against anyone else? If Varos could do it, it could be a massive advantage.


    "I will see what I can do." It was a bit of a last-minute idea, but hopefully Varos would be able to get something done.


    A few others suggested some ideas, but they had limited viability at best. Varos concluded the briefing and went to analyze the Shades'' daggers, while Annabelle organized the rest of the group and waited for the portal to open.


    One way or another, this was going to end.

 2-15: Siege

    Saphus rapidly fell towards the surface. She attempted to reorient herself with a few telekinetic bursts, as if she was attempting to land on one of the Crusaders. But even if she had been deliberately trying to kill one of them, she couldn''t aim herself accurately enough to pull it off.


    When the ground got close, she focused her kinetic aura on decelerating herself. She planned to land on her feet, but miscalculated, hitting the ground hard. She slowly got to her feet, but before she could do anything, she was immediately swarmed by half a dozen Crusaders. Luckily, they seemed confused enough by her dropping out of the sky to not immediately stab her.


    One of them attempted to ask Saphus to identify herself, but was quickly interrupted by another barking orders, calling for her to surrender. At the same time, a third ran off to fetch Julia.


    Saphus complied with the demands, putting her hands behind her head and showing that she was unarmed. Relatively, at least.


    After a short delay, Julia arrived on the scene. "What is going on here?"


    Saphus decided to send a covert message. I''m Raiks'' double agent. For some reason, Daraken thought it would be a good idea to drop me from high altitude, expecting me to somehow get any use out of it. But, his idiocy is our gain.


    Julia seemed to acknowledge what that meant. "Wait. She''s the Resistance''s lost spy." She looked at a nearby group of Resistance soldiers. "She''s your prisoner."


    The Resistance guys were confused, until receiving what was most likely a message from Raiks. Then, they grabbed Saphus


    As Saphus was being hauled towards the portal, she noted lax security among the guards. Just like most of her marks, they didn''t consider her any sort of threat, and didn''t do anything more than train a crossbow on her to threaten her if she stepped out of line. If she wanted to kill them, she would probably be able to take them out in just a few seconds, before anyone else would be able to react. Sure, she would die afterwards, but that was what Daraken wanted out of her.


    Which, unfortunately, might make Daraken suspicious too early. Especially if he was paying close attention to the situation, or even just watching her for his own amusement. For once in her career, Saphus actually wished for tighter security, if only so that her lack of an escape attempt would be justified.


    The group stopped just before reaching the portal. One of them walked through, waited a few seconds, and then walked back out.


    "Wow, a pointless waste of time," Saphus remarked.


    "Daraken has sabotaged our return portals in the past. With this measure, if the portal is sabotaged, only one of us is lost before we detect it."


    "That wouldn''t fool a complex sabotage," Saphus replied, with a bit of a smirk.


    Saphus was extrapolating a bit. Daraken hadn''t explicitly stated he was going to do any such thing, but he almost certainly had the capability. The question was whether such a measure worked with his plan.


    But before they could walk her through, Saphus launched herself through the portal with a kinetic burst, landing with a roll in the middle of the vestibule between the portal room and the main gate, inside the null-magic field.


    The gate was open when she went through, but a guard saw her sudden intrusion and rapidly slammed the gate shut. She made an attempt to sprint through it, but the gate was closed and locked before she could get through.


    It was a pretty suicidal maneuver from a tactical standpoint, given that there was an iron gate that she couldn''t get through without magical weapons. She had enough deniability to be able to claim that she thought it was a valid tactic, but she knew it wasn''t going to work.


    Her ''guards'', noticing this, immediately rushed through the portal and surrounded her. Without magic, Saphus stood no chance against them.


    "Did you really think that would work?" one of them asked.


    "No. But you should probably bring Raiks."


    "We''re taking you straight-"


    "You only captured me the first time because I was unconscious. You might be able to hold me in this room, but as soon as I get out the other end, I''d be able to escape."


    Well, that was uncertain, but it wasn''t the reason she wanted to stay right where she was. If Daraken had some form of kill switch on her, it wouldn''t be able to activate inside the null-magic field.


    "Hold her there!" the order came from a guard outside the gate. "Raiks is coming over."


    The Resistance soldiers lined up next to the portal generator, their swords ready. Saphus wouldn''t be able to get past them, even if she wanted to. Instead, she just sat down in the hallway.


    "Has Raiks told you I''m a double agent?" Saphus said.


    "You killed him!"


    "And he was immediately resurrected afterwards. Unless he was lying about Lunima''s abilities." Wait, why weren''t they told about her status?


    "Raiks will sort this out. If you''re somehow correct-"


    "Which I am."


    "-then he''ll greet you."


    A few seconds after he said that, Raiks arrived.


    "Hello, Saphus. I''m assuming you have information?"


    The guards'' jaws dropped.


    "You know, you could have told them about me."


    "And then if any of my men were captured, your cover would be blown."


    Right. Didn''t put her in any less danger, but then again Raiks could give our orders on the field if it had become a problem.


    "Anyways, I''d like to stay right here for now. Daraken may or may not be trying to kill me right now."


    "I was going to suggest that anyways. Also, you mentioned him, so I''m assuming you''ve seen him?"


    "He has a, um, respawn chamber. When he dies, his body is reconstructed there. And it''s not just him, it''s all of his agents, including me at this point."


    Raiks pondered that. "That explains why some of the apprentices seemed so eager to die¡­"


    "He claimed that the respawn chambers allow incredibly rapid recovery, even better than the resurrection performed by Helios''s priests. Instead of requiring an existing body, they merely reconstruct a new body for the individual."


    "He''s at full strength," Raiks realized.


    "Yes. However, he also stated that the forces opposing him will be able to defeat him, and he sent me out to buy time to get his own defenses up. Now that you are allied with Helios and have much of the Black Legion on your side, you now have a chance to strike."


    "Even at his full strength, he''s still vulnerable," Raiks realized. "We might still be able to pull this off."


    He switched to his comms link with the rest of the Resistance, and began rapidly giving out orders. Saphus had done her part, now it was time for Raiks to do his.


    **********


    "We need to launch this assault as soon as possible. I am sending teams to the cities to gather up those Black Legion soldiers who are willing to fight in this battle, but they won''t arrive soon enough. I need you to buy some time."This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    Julia listened to Raiks give the information update through a Resistance communicator, and considered the orders mostly irrelevant. They were already about to launch a siege, regardless of what intel they got.


    Although, the intel he had handed out was worrying. Daraken and his apprentices were unkillable unless their tower was destroyed.


    Raiks gave out orders. "All mages: initiate bombardment rituals, targeting the tower, unless you have been given orders to construct defenses. All others, protect the mages." He likely said that just to give the non-mages something to do, given that they were a few kilometers out from the city, well out of the range of any counterattack they could actually defend against."


    Julia and her priests started by initiating their own ritual.


    Around her, the ground began to darken, as the energy of the sun''s light was absorbed within a huge radius, practically eclipsing the sun. Julia felt the energy building up inside the ritual, and held as much of it as she could.


    Then, after two minutes, she unleashed the wrath of Helios, in an immensely powerful ray of divine might mixed with the channeled energy of sunlight. If it was aimed at the city, it would have easily bored through the walls and buildings, inflicting catastrophic damage on innocent civilians and their belongings. Luckily, Julia aimed higher, firing the beam at the midpoint of the tower. There was a ring of crystals at that point, so it was likely an important part of the structure.


    Even from this distance, Julia could see the glare from the impact, as the heat melted through defenses. She had enough energy to fire the beam for ten seconds before it cut out.


    When the light dissipated, the tower seemed undamaged.


    "Direct hit on the tower. No physical effect." That report came from Turb, who had taken the odd decision to join the team in the field. He was unable to scry on Fiora from Sanctuary, but from his current position, he could enhance his own sight to accomplish the same analysis, albeit at greater risk.


    "What about magical effects?"


    "The tower appears to have a ward on a massive scale that absorbed the damage. I cannot determine how much the ward was drained by the beam, but I believe- wait, the crystals are moving."


    From her distant vantage point, Julia could see the ring of crystals at the tower''s midpoint pop out of their sockets in the tower and begin levitating in a ring.


    "The crystals are beginning to spin, and they''re- wait, they''re starting to crackle with black lightning. What is this- SCATTER!"


    Turb''s divinations seemed to pick up on the threat a second before it fired. While everyone else scattered, Julia stood her ground and protected herself with a shield of divine light.


    A bolt of black lightning blasted out from the tower, carrying an immense amount of power. It seemed to arc in midair, before landing directly on Julia. Her shield was obliterated, and the bolt scored a direct hit.


    First, a burst of lightning arced through her, powerful enough to stop her heart and fry her brain.


    Second, a pulse of magic softened her body, rendering her bones brittle.


    And lastly, an explosion of kinetic energy obliterated her body, scattering it into many pieces.


    However, that wasn''t enough to stop her. Her regenerative blessing kicked in, bolstered by the rapid aid from the other priests, and her body was reformed and repaired in a matter of seconds, before her soul departed.


    It was an odd feeling, having your body destroyed and reformed. But it wasn''t anywhere near lethal.


    Daraken would need more than that to kill her.


    "The crystal ring appears to be an energy conduit for an incredibly powerful siege weapon. Or, well, anti-siege weapon. I''m not sure why such a strong weapon is attached to a fixed installation."


    "Probably because it makes sieges impossible. Raiks, are you sure we have a chance at this?"


    "That''s what my source claims. Although, Daraken is over-cautious. Even a small chance to win would be enough to get him worried."


    Well, Julia wasn''t expecting this to be easy. She began another ritual, casting another eclipse to prepare for the next assault.


    Meanwhile, the Resistance''s mages had their own plans.


    Bouldos summoned a massive rock, too enormous to ever be loaded into a siege engine, but not too massive to have its gravity manipulated.


    With a focused incantation, Firenze caused the massive rock to lift into the air, its gravity altered. After a few seconds, its direction of gravity was aimed straight at the midpoint of the tower, and the massive rock ''fell'' towards it in a free-fall.


    The crystal ring fired a second blast at the boulder, blasting chunks off of it, but not doing enough to stop it. The rock impacted, with enough force that Julia could hear the impact from her distant position (after the sound reached her, at least).


    "The impact misaligned one of the crystals, and has inflicted minor damage on the tower''s surface," Turb reported.


    "It also created a significant chunk of debris," Julia noted. "Check for damage to the city."


    After a few seconds, Turb replied again. "Almost all debris has landed within the tower''s surrounding courtyard. Minimal damage to the city."


    "It punched through the wards," Raiks realized. ''If we can-"


    "Incoming counterattack," Turb interrupted, as the tower launched another bolt. Luckily, it was countered by a combined effort from multiple Resistance mages, firing a blue dispelling bolt that detonated the black lightning bolt outside of a lethal range.


    "Now, as I was saying, that hit was enough to cause some minor damage. If we launch both attacks simultaneously, it might cause more damage."


    "Say, Turb, what does the tower look like at the top?" Julia asked, realizing something. If Daraken''s respawn chamber was at the top of his tower, they didn''t need to take down the whole tower. They just needed to take the top off of it.


    After that, Julia and the mages coordinated for a combined assault. Julia began a second solar channeling ritual, but this time the ritual was centered on top of Daraken''s tower. Bouldos called up another barrier for Firenze to manipulate the gravity of, and the other mages coordinated to re-establish the shield.


    Then, after a minute of the sun being eclipsed over Fiora, Julia released the beam, firing a ray of sunlight straight down onto the top of Daraken''s tower. At the same time, Firenze launched the second boulder, also aimed at the top of the tower.


    Arcs of blast lightning shot up from the rings to the top of the tower, forming a shield of sorts that appeared to block the beam. But though the beam was disrupted, it created enough of a distraction for the defense systems that the boulder was able to score a direct hit, creating a cloud of dust.


    "The boulder punched through," Turb said, even before the dust cleared. "It''s embedded in the wall of the tower."


    Or at least, it was, until its gravity was reset to normal by a dispelling effect, causing it to fall back out. The hole it left in the tower''s wall was quickly restored, with replacement stone being conjured by someone inside the tower.


    "I got a glimpse inside the tower," Turb said. "I saw Daraken, and something that might be his respawn chamber."


    Julia, Bouldos, and Firenze readied a third attack.


    But before they could execute, Daraken unleashed his counterattack, turning their own tricks against them. Seven large meteors appeared above the tower, hovering in the air for a few seconds before their gravity was altered to launch them at the gathered Resistance.


    Almost on instinct, Julia tried to go for the nearby portal, but Raiks quickly warned that the portal was most likely sabotaged.


    Without an exit, we won''t be able to get out of the path of these meteors. The only option we have is to withstand them.


    "Everyone, hunker down, build defenses. Fleeing is not an option." That order came from Firenze, not Raiks.


    Julia had her priests take over the channeling ritual for a short time, and stepped forward. She took aim at a meteor, and unleashed a beam of sunlight, blasting it off course before causing it to disintegrate. She repeated the measure against a second meteor, before taking cover behind the stone walls that Bouldos had raised before the meteors could land.


    Two more meteors were stopped in midair by Firenze, and then reoriented back towards the tower. Then, he slammed a third into the ground hard enough to leave a crater fifty meters in front of their fortifications.


    Then, the last two meteors hit. The first was blocked by the shield, shattering it in the process, but the second slammed into them. Or, more precisely, into Firenze, as if the meteor has been specifically aimed at him. His actions apparently made him a bigger threat than Julia herself.


    Julia used a bit of divine power to withstand the explosion, but the effects were catastrophic. When the dust cleared, Firenze, two of Julia''s priests, and two other mages were dead, Julia''s ritual was disrupted, and there a dozen others dazed and wounded from the blast. Julia couldn''t tend to them, not now. She had to strike back, coordinate with Firenze''s last shot to make this hurt.


    She took control of the disrupted ritual, managed to recover a significant portion of the lost energy, combined it with a massive surge of her own divine power, and fired the beam straight at the tower''s crystal ring. The tower retaliated with a beam of black lightning, intercepting the beam about halfway and blocking it for a few seconds. Julia quickly the lightning with the raw energy of her own beam, but the lightning then arced through her beam, following the path back to her.


    As the lightning arced through her body, Julia held her focus on the beam, relying on her regenerative blessing to mitigate the damage, and raw willpower to maintain her focus. Her beam of white defeated the black lightning of the tower, and struck the crystals, overloading them with energy.


    Then, the meteors struck the centerpoint of the tower, and hit the crystals hard enough to cause them to detonate with magical energy. About half of them were destroyed outright, with the other half being blown clear, and the midpoint of the tower seemed to implode inwards from the explosions around it.


    "Turb, I need a status report. NOW." Julia said. Had she inflicted too much damage, hitting the tower hard enough to cause it to collapse and destroy the city underneath it?


    For a few seconds, Julia watched the tower. She thought she saw it lean to one side.


    If it fell, though it would be a massive setback to Daraken, the amount of debris would likely be enough to destroy the city. Julia would still take such a sacrifice due to the stakes, but it was still something to be avoided it at all possible.


    "It''s not going to fall over," Turb finally said. "Daraken and his apprentices are repairing it. However, the effort should keep them busy."


    "We have a chance," Julia said. "If we can knock out their respawn chamber now-"


    "With Firenze dead, you don''t have the firepower." Raiks said. "You should take this time to retreat, while Daraken is busy keeping his tower upright."


    Then, in case that wasn''t clear, he gave an official order to retreat to a secondary evacuation point.


    Julia''s Crusaders healed the critically injured and gathered the dead, before using their blessing to give everyone increased endurance so that they could flee as fast as possible. After ten minutes of sprinting, they reached an exit point distant enough from Fiora that it was not interfered with, and returned to Sanctuary to prepare their next move.

 2-16: Breach

    After the group returned to Sanctuary, the priests of Helios immediately began efforts to resurrect the survivors, starting with Firenze.


    There was a complication, though. Namely, his body was so badly damaged that standard healing magic failed to recognize it as a human body, being reduced to little more than a few bones and bits of flesh.


    Normally, in resurrection, a priest would first regenerate the deceased body back to a healthy state, and then call the soul back from the afterlife, placing it back into the healthy body. But here, Julia had to improvise, calling Firenze''s soul without a body to put it in.


    She called out to Helios, making the request for his soul, and after a few minutes, his soul returned. Her priests immediately created a containment field that would keep the soul stable while she performed the necessary magic herself, and a few Resistance members gathered to watch.


    Now, for the hard part. As the right-hand woman to Helios, Julia knew that souls contained some sort of innate ''blueprint'' of their owner''s body. Without such an innate form, their bodies in the afterlife would be unrecognizable. Daraken''s resurrection chamber had likely exploited this property to rebuild his own body, and with enough aid from Helios, Julia could potentially do the same. But even if the theory worked, putting it into practice would be another matter.


    She reached out for Firenze''s soul.


    Hello, Firenze.


    what-what is¡­ happening¡­ Firenze''s response was hazy, but it was present.


    I''m going to need you to focus, Firenze. Focus on your physical form, on what your body used to be.


    Firenze complied, and his soul seemed to slowly shape itself into a hazy humanoid form.


    Julia, not knowing anything better to try, attempted to heal that form. Slowly, a skeleton began to take shape, starting at the head and spreading outwards. She managed to construct an entire skeleton before her energy was exhausted, forcing her to rest for a few minutes while the priests stabilized the ritual.


    On the second pass, she restored Firenze''s internal organs and muscles before being depleted again, leaving the body in a slightly horrifying shape.


    It took a third pass to fully reconstruct it to the point where it was intact. Then, she had the priests finalize the process, bringing Firenze''s soul back into his body.


    Firenze awoke, fully resurrected. But despite that miracle, he would still need time to recover. He certainly wouldn''t be able to go back into the field any time soon.


    After that was done, Julia''s priests moved to resurrect the others who died in the fight, while Julia went to discuss an oddity with Raiks.


    Any lesser healer would not be able to reconstruct an entire body in just ten minutes. For a lesser priest, regenerating a missing limb would take an entire day, at least. If Daraken''s resurrection chamber was capable of doing the same thing, if not faster, how was it powered? How could Daraken put enough energy into it to match Julia''s power?


    ***


    After about an hour, Saphus decided that spending the rest of her life in a small null-magic field would be so boring that it wasn''t a life worth living. So, she stepped out of the field, and was pleasantly surprised to not die instantly.


    Wait. Daraken might have something different planned for me. The last prisoner the Resistance captured had not only a kill-switch, but a trap that was used to attempt to kill Annabelle. Maybe she was being kept alive to release a secret weapon.


    But if I was being used as a trap, wouldn''t Daraken tell me about his plans?


    Even so, it was worth checking before she screwed over her team.


    So, she asked around, and eventually got an appointment with Turb, Sanctuary''s apparent expert on curses.


    And, after several minutes of scanning her with all sorts of arcane rituals Saphus couldn''t understand, Turb came up with a result.


    "There''s no evidence of any sort of curse," Turb said, after surrounding Saphus in arcane rituals for several minutes.


    "How sure are you?" Saphus immediately questioned.


    "Daraken has been rewriting the applications of curses, but I can still detect them no matter how far he modifies them." Although, he didn''t seem confident about that.


    "Given that I doubt he would put such anything unusual on me without telling me, I think I''ll just have to trust you on that."


    ***


    "We need to launch an attack, now." Raiks declared to the gathered war council.


    "In the middle of the night?" Derrin asked, to which Raiks nodded.


    "I believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages," Raiks said.


    "I concur," Julia said. Raiks didn''t even expect her to agree.


    "Wait, I thought you were weakened during the night? Following the good of sun and all?"


    "It is true that I would be unable to utilize some of my techniques without the energy of the sun to power them. But bright flares become significantly more effective against night-adjusted eyes."


    "So, what''s the plan of attack?"


    "We have new intel on the tower," Raiks said, pulling up an image of the tower on the command table. "At some point during the repair process, the tower shrunk to a tenth of its size. It''s still incredibly massive, but not by as much." As they could notice, it now looked almost reasonable in size compared to the rest of the city.


    "Wait, what?" Everyone was confused by that.


    "The tower has, or had, some form of spatial distortion, making it about ten times larger on the outside than it was on the inside." Saphus explained. "It seems that after the damage to the tower, Daraken was forced to deactivate that measure to repair the tower effectively."


    "I''m still curious as to what purpose it served in the first place," Turb replied. "I doubt Daraken would invest so much arcane energy in a mere vanity point."


    "Did the spatial distortion make the tower harder to destroy?" Varn questioned.


    "Given that they had to deactivate it after taking damage, that''s doubtful," Faris replied.


    "Right¡­" Varn accepted that statement for a bit. But then, he realized something. "Wait, if the tower''s size is reduced, that will reduce the collateral damage caused by the tower''s collapse."


    "Well, that''s good," Raiks said. "Given that our objective will be to collapse the tower."


    "Even with the tower''s reduced size, collapsing the tower will likely still cause significant damage to the city. There are still enough civilians in the city to-"


    "That''s why everyone not participating in the main assault will be evacuating the rest of the city."


    "And how will we even collapse the tower?" Derrin asked.


    "The tower has sustained heavy damage at the halfway point, about the fiftieth floor based on the intel from Saphus," Turb explained. "If we plant explosives and arcane disruptors at that point on the inside of the tower, we have a good chance to finish the job."


    "They could also use Bouldos''s help," Firenze added. "He might struggle with enchanted stone, but if the reinforcing enchantments at that level are weakened¡­"


    "It would be a suicide mission for whichever team was planting the explosives," Derrin warned.


    "I can resurrect every member of that team. It might take some time to do it, however. Especially if their bodies are destroyed."


    "And it would be an incredibly difficult mission, fighting an uphill battle against respawning apprentices in their own tower."


    "My Crusaders will be leading the charge," Julia declared. "With support from me, and the strongest members of the Resistance, we should be able to complete the mission."


    "What of the former Black Legion members, those willing to aid us?" Derrin asked, glaring at Lunima in the process. "Some of them have returned to us early after hearing news of the conflict, but others haven''t. And, I suspect many of them won''t return at all, even knowing the stakes."


    "When I made my decision, I was not aware of Julia''s decision to move up the battle plans, or of the tactical intelligence gained by Saphus''s aid. I am sorry."


    "You better be, Lunima."


    "I don''t think her decision makes as much of a difference as you think it does," Raiks said. "And, by showing goodwill, you''ve likely made it much easier for us to re-establish governance of this region after Daraken is defeated."


    "There are at least a hundred men that-"


    "Were any of them elites?" Raiks asked. "The tower is a narrow space, and extra manpower in the tower won''t provide a significant advantage, and will just lead to more deaths when our plan succeeds. They are only going to be able to help with the evacuation, and I think our current forces already have that handled."If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Derrin though about that, before admitting that no, most of them weren''t elites. "But there is one group, the Harpies. A squad of about a dozen of them decided to join up at Nexion earlier this evening. They say that they could potentially run night operations."


    Raiks was unsure of how to react. He hadn''t truly commanded an aerial force before. "I think I''ll be able to find some way to work with that."


    **********


    A portal opened into the high atmosphere, several kilometers from Garnoth. A dozen harpies dived through the portal, took flight, and set course for Daraken''s tower, before the portal closed behind them.


    The Harpies had been hand-picked out of the Black Legion''s footsoldiers for their skill and loyalty. They originally held that loyalty to Daraken, a man who had done great things for Garnoth and who turned it from a scattered collection of cities into a major power in the world. After his apprentices took over and abused his legacy for evil, most of them defected in a heartbeat.


    But now, with rumors that Daraken was reborn, they weren''t entirely sure where their loyalties lied.


    As the Resistance-aligned Harpies approached the tower, they spotted and were simultaneously spotted by other Harpies, those who had apparently decided to stay with the Legion. The loyalists rapidly formed up into a group of six, and then the two groups flew towards each other, glaives and bows at the ready.


    But as they closed in on each other, there was a moment of hesitation. The two groups broke off, hovering about a hundred meters apart.


    "You were loyal members of one of Daraken''s most elite forces. Why did you defect?" one of the loyalists said.


    "Whatever is in that tower isn''t Daraken," a rebel replied. "At least not the Daraken we know."


    "Sometimes, a few sacrifices have to made for the greater good."


    "It''s not a move that makes sense from a strategic standpoint," Raiks said, with his message echoed by one of the Harpies he was communicating with. "Daraken wouldn''t make such a poor tactical move, and if it was an apprentice acting unilaterally, he''d kill that apprentice for disloyalty."


    "What do those merits matter?" the loyalist replied. "It isn''t our place to question our commanders. Knowing his intelligence, he likely has some scheme cooked up based on that."


    "And you''re willing to just let him kill civilians to advance his agenda? An agenda that solely benefits him, and not those working for him."


    "I think we''re already going to hell for our opposition to Helios," another loyalist replied. "Daraken offers a chance of a better afterlife."


    "There''s still time to repent, a rebel replied. "You just have to move aside."


    "We give the same offer to you."


    "You''re outnumbered here," one rebel replied. But others, doubting the enemy''s tactical sense, scanned the night sky.


    One of them spotted a flying apprentice, and sensing the trap, immediately charged forwards. That apprentice fired off a burst of magic missiles, but the Harpy withstood the hits and impaled the apprentice on his glaive.


    Then, a second apprentice blasted that Harpy with a fireball, incinerating her wings and causing her to drop out of the sky, lifeless.


    That second apprentice was nearly taken out by an arrow, but some form of magic shield blocked the projectile. The loyalist Harpies, realizing (or being instructed on) the tactical implications of a mage on their side, assumed a defensive formation, flying around the apprentice in such a manner as to ward off direct attacks.


    "We need to form up, rush him in a large enough group that they can''t defend the apprentice," the lead Harpy said.


    "Bad idea," Raiks warned. "Group up and a fireball will wipe all of you out at once."


    As he said that, the apprentice threw another fireball, which detonated in midair, almost catching another Harpy in the blast.


    "Wait. Engage their Harpies in close combat," Raiks ordered. "The apprentice doesn''t have your eyesight, he won''t be able to tell the two groups apart."


    Even before Raiks completed his explanation, they charged forwards, fighting their counterparts. It was a highly unusual fight for them, given that the Black Legion prioritized training them to fight ground targets, but their opponents were just as untrained for this fight, and also outnumbered.


    The apprentice managed to identify and take down another Harpy with a salvo of homing arcane bolts, but then he lost track of targets, and could do little other than retreat as his comrades fought in midair.


    A bow-equipped Harpy managed to disengage from the fight and fire another arrow at the mage, but his magic shield deflected the arrow again. The mage spotted her attack and retaliated with a fireball that she barely managed to dodge.


    Then, after a quick direction from Raiks, she improvised, attaching an explosive device to her arrow and firing it at the mage. Again, it impacted the shield, but this time it detonated, the blast overwhelming the mage''s shield. The mage was knocked aside, but their levitation magic nullified gravity and kept them upright.


    The Harpy unsheathed a sword, closed in, and impaled the apprentice before he could regain consciousness. Then, she looked back to the battle, and shot the last enemy Harpy out of the air.


    They had taken no losses while dispatching the enemy, leaving ten of them able to bombard the tower. They flew towards the centerpoint of the tower, but as they approached, they were suddenly hit with the full force of gravity.


    "There''s an anti-flight zone around the tower," one of them reported. "We''ll have to change approach."


    For a normal flying wizard, having their flight disrupted at this altitude would prove fatal. But though Harpies couldn''t stay in the air without the aid of gravity reduction, they could still glide and control their fall. They controlled their descent and circled away from the tower, before regrouping for a second run.


    This time, they started the attack run from a higher elevation, and aimed to dive past the midpoint of the tower before exiting the gravity and re-entering flight on the other side.


    As they passed the tower, they threw their payloads, each Harpy throwing an explosive charge at the damaged stone walls.


    "That left a few marks," Turb reported from the ground.


    "But the tower isn''t dead yet," Raiks said. "Hit it again."


    **********


    At the same time as the Harpies'' diversionary attack, the Resistance''s main force advanced on Fiora under the cover of darkness. They made it to within a few hundred meters of the city before they were spotted.


    Suddenly, they heard a series loud bangs coming from the city, and flashes from the guards up on the walls, followed by projectiles impacting in the sand around them. One man took a direct hit, and his leg was shattered by the impact, but a healer immediately rendered aid.


    "That would be their guns," Raiks said. "It seems they have mass-produced them."


    "This would have been useful information to know before they fired on us," Julia said angrily.


    "I miscalculated," Raiks admitted. "I knew they had the technology, but I underestimated their ability to rapidly produce it. However, it doesn''t change our strategy. I still suggest waiting until close range to blind them."


    "Why?"


    "At this range, they still aren''t accurate enough to down people faster than we can heal them."


    Julia followed the advice of Raiks, and held off on using her main attack until they got closer.


    Then, once they approached one of the main gates, she unleashed her magic, channeling the light of the sun towards the guards, blinding them and forcing them to duck into cover.


    Then, rather than attempt to break through the metal gate, Bouldos instead collapsed the ground underneath it, creating a passageway underneath it for the Resistance to invade. The Crusaders led the charge, and emerged on the other side. There, they discovered no opposition.


    While other members of the Resistance split off to climb the gatehouse and capture the guards up there, Julia, the Crusaders, and the elite members of the Resistance rushed towards the main objective.


    They reached the inner gate, and were fired upon by more gun-equipped guards. This time, Julia fired focused beams of sunlight at each guard to knock them out, while Bouldos again dug a passageway underneath the gate to allow the team to get past. Raiks ordered the berserker Scars to lead the charge, and though Julia wasn''t sure why, she had her Crusaders hold back for just an instant.


    Scars ducked down to fit underneath the gate, and then jumped out onto the other side. Immediately, a dozen heavy infantrymen charged out from their hiding places behind the walls.


    The Crusaders unleashed bursts of bright light, but the infantry held their charge and ran their glaives into Scars, impaling him.


    But that wasn''t enough to kill him, especially not when he was being healed by the Crusaders behind him. With one arm, he grabbed several of the glaives impaling him and ripped them out, throwing them aside and disarming almost half of the enemy infantry.


    Then, with his other arm, Scars drew his greataxe and swung forward in a huge arc, cleaving through three enemies in a single stroke.


    The other infantry attempted to push back against him, but his wild swings and disregard for his own health allowed him to easily cut the rest of them down.


    Then, they rushed inside the tower. Other guards on the walls saw them and opened fire, but failed to cause any damage.


    "Look what we have here."


    The voice seemed to come from every direction at once.


    "Show yourself." Julia illuminated the room, revealing four apprentices.


    "Daraken has spent a decade fortifying this tower. You won''t get past the tenth-"


    The apprentice that was monologuing was blasted out of the air by a well-placed gunshot from Robin Heartseeker (who, despite having his training in longbows rather than the closer-analogue crossbows, still ended up being the Resistance''s best gun user), and the battle for the tower began.


    **********


    Shortly after Julia entered the tower, Raiks lost contact with her, and the rest of the assault team. One of the tower''s defenses must be disrupting his communications link.


    That was worrying, but not completely unexpected. They could still complete the mission on their own, after all.


    Raiks scanned through the rest of his forces.


    On the ground, there was no more combat. The few guards present outside the tower had been killed or captured, and the evacuation was well underway. The only worry was making sure that they evacuated themselves before the tower was destroyed.


    Will Julia''s team initiate the collapse as soon as possible, or will they wait? And if they do wait, will they wait too long?


    Whatever the results of that, Raiks couldn''t control it. He reluctantly shifted his focus away from that and onto the aerial battle.


    The Harpies had enough time for a second bombing pass before a response was launched. Four more apprentices teleported out into the airspace around the tower, just as the Harpies were making a third and final run. Before the Harpies could abort and retreat, four of them were blasted out of the air as bursts of lightning arced across the sky.


    Raiks ordered the Harpies to dive towards the ground, and as they did so, the apprentices followed. One of them pursued into the wrong area, and was immediately shot down by a coordinated strike from the ground forces, but the other three realized their mistake and retreated back up to around the midpoint of the tower.


    Raiks was in the middle of figuring out the next plan of attack for the Harpies when he heard a deafening bang.


    A high-speed projectile impacted command table, shattering it and causing the images on it to flicker out.


    Raiks quickly analyzed the impact, determined where the projectile came from, and looked in that direction while putting a hand on his weapon. There was a small hole in the roof, and a small bead of energy launched through it.


    Raiks, acting on instinct, leapt away from the center of the room, just before the fireball impacted and detonated. The explosion, a blast far stronger than it had any right to be, blasted Raiks straight through the command center''s walls.


    When Raiks regained consciousness, he was lying in the pile of rubble that was previously his command center. He had severe burns across his body, and a few broken bones, but he still managed to get back on his feet.


    "This is over." That was Daraken''s voice. In Sanctuary.


    It shouldn''t have been possible, but when Raiks looked up, he saw Daraken, hovering in midair. He was brandishing an odd-looking mage staff, and surprisingly enough, he hadn''t taken the chance to finish him off yet.


    "Raiks? What the hell is going on?" That came from approximately a dozen sources at once over Resistance comms.


    "Code Unthinkable," Raiks replied, giving the code for a direct attack against Sanctuary.


    From here, he had two options. He could either have his forces attempt to return to Sanctuary to fight Daraken, or he could have them scatter and continue the Resistance, potentially with the aid of Dustreach.


    Daraken''s staff glowed blue before releasing a blue antimagic pulse. Raiks'' communication system was disrupted for a few seconds, and when it recovered, he heard reports that all of the Sanctuary''s open portals had been deactivated due to the generator disruption.


    Raiks knew that they were likely doomed. At most, the Resistance might be able to sabotage Daraken''s tower, but then Daraken would be able to remake his base inside Sanctuary''s impenetrable location concealment, and it would only be a setback for him.


    Wait. If it was truly impenetrable¡­


    "How did you find us?" Raiks asked.


    Surprisingly, Daraken gave a response. "Your Sanctuary may be resistant to tracking, but the island you dropped my soldiers on wasn''t. After finding that, it didn''t take too much more effort for me to find your main base."


    Raiks thought they had placed Redemption Rock distant enough from Sanctuary. Clearly, he was wrong. And now, they would suffer for it.


    But he wasn''t about to go down without a fight. He slammed his fist into a healing orb on his belt, triggering a burst of healing. Then, he grabbed his Arcane Bolter, and prepared to make a last stand.

 2-17: Attempted Escape

    Omega had calculated the team''s optimal arrival timing, in the middle of a guard shift. The team was too large to sneak through, and hitting right at the shift rotation would mean two shifts worth of guards geared up for combat. As much as she wished it wasn''t true, she knew casualties were likely inevitable no matter how they attempted their assault.


    She braced for the worst, and had begun to open the connection at her portal gate. Space warped between the Shades'' city and the lower Shaderealm, opening a passageway into the isolated realm. Annabelle and the rest of the survivors made final preparations, and were about to rush through, but then, the portal slammed shut.


    TRAITOR. Nyxl had discovered her! But how?


    I RESPECTED YOUR DECISION TO NOT RESURRECT XERXES. BUT I STILL INTERROGATED HIM, AND HE TOLD ME EVERYTHING.


    You are the most despicable creature in the entire universe, Omega spat. She was the last hope of the survivors, and she had let them down. If she couldn''t find a way to get a portal re-opened, the only thing she could do would be to stall Nyxl for as long as possible, do as much damage as possible.


    I DIDN''T BELIEVE HIM AT FIRST. BUT, ON A HUNCH, I KEPT YOU UNDER OBSERVATION. AND SURE ENOUGH, AS HE SAID, YOU TRIED TO RELEASE THE PRISONERS.


    Omega made another attempt to open the portal, but to no avail.


    THEY WILL DIE, IN TIME. BUT FIRST, I''M GOING TO RIP YOUR MIND APART.


    Omega came under a staggering mental assault, the likes of which she had never encountered before. She fought back against the attack, but though Annabelle could resist this in her own mind, Omega wasn''t in Annabelle''s mind. Though her willpower was incredible, she wouldn''t hold out for long.


    But maybe she could redirect the attack. She quickly went through what she memorized out of Cecilian''s magical abilities. Cecilian had used a magical form of telepathy to discuss matters with other Matriarchs without having to leave her own manor, and that channel could transmit psychic energy. In a desperate gambit, Omega contacted another Matriarch, chosen at random, and fell back around the connection, redirecting Nyxl''s attack through it.


    That stalled the attack for a few seconds until the link shattered (due to the victim''s head exploding from trauma, most likely), and the attack resumed at full force. Omega quickly contacted another random Matriarch. And another. And then another.


    She thought she picked up on a telepathic message from Annabelle, but was too busy trying to fend off the mental assault. Even though she was redirecting the energy into other Matriarchs as fast as she could, Nyxl''s power was starting to overwhelm her.


    YOU''VE LASTED LONGER THAN I EXPECTED, Nyxl said. BUT EVERY MORTAL HAS THEIR LIMITS.


    Every mortal, except for one, Omega thought. In a last-ditch effort, she tracked Annabelle''s connection and redirected the attack there. She couldn''t easily show that it was Nyxl''s attack and not her own, but surely she would realize that she wouldn''t attack herself knowing her own powers. Plus, it was an attack that she wasn''t capable of on her own anyways.


    The attack''s pressure was released for a few key seconds, giving Omega a chance to re-fortify her mental defenses. Then, she flew above the mansion, expecting Nyxl


    HOW. DID. YOU. RESIST? Nyxl asked a simple question.


    Omega simply sent back the mental equivalent of a laugh. At approximately the same time, Nyxl realized what she had done.


    YOU¡­


    I redirected your attack into six other Matriarchs, obliterating their minds to the point where I doubt there will be enough left to resurrect.


    Omega prepared to redirect the attack into Annabelle again, in case Nyxl tried it. But instead, Nyxl simply vacated her mind entirely.


    Hello, Cecilian. Omega immediately recognized the source of the message, and immediately replied with No, I''m Omega.


    Good, Annabelle replied. I''ve managed to force the portal open, but we''ve ended up in another Matriarch''s mansion, likely due to spatial distortion of some sort. I need directions, fast.


    Suddenly, the space around Omega shifted, and a swarm of what seemed to be black orbs appeared out of thin air in the space around the mansion. Had she not gotten out beforehand, she would have been torn apart. The orbs turned into a roiling mass of tentacles that enveloped the manor and destroyed it, before receding and revealing a pitch-black humanoid figure, surrounded by black tentacles that seemed to shift in and out of existence.


    "You have delivered a significant setback, Cecilian, " Nyxl said. His real voice was quieter than his mental voice, but she still felt a chilling echo. "For this, your torture will be eternal."


    "The same as everyone trapped here, " Omega spat. She called down a firestorm on Nyxl, a cylinder of roiling inferno reaching to the cavern''s ceiling.


    **********


    Omega opened the portal. The survivors charged forwards, with Annabelle''s team taking the lead.


    But just before Annabelle reached the portal, it slammed shut.


    We''ve been caught. Annabelle realized.


    No. NO. Nyxl had found out about the scheme.


    Annabelle, partly out of rage and partly out of desperation, charged and fired a distortion beam into the point where the portal had once been. Then, she sustained the beam, and somehow managed to force it open. She flew through into some sort of courtyard, shot up into the air, and took a look at the surrounding area. Even in the darkness, she could tell something was off.


    For one thing, the gate was locked. For another, she didn''t see anything that looked like an exit portal nearby. And lastly, Omega wasn''t here.


    "The portal''s position changed," Annabelle announced. "This isn''t Cecilian''s manor."


    How could that possibly happen? Darius asked, using Silence''s telepathic network for idle theorizing that wouldn''t benefit them right now.


    Her breaching of hyperdimensional space must have hit a different target, Varos theorized. I think we''re lucky to have the portal open at all.


    Annabelle reached out for Omega, and opened a telepathic connection with her mental clone. She didn''t get a response, at first.


    Then, she got blasted in the mind with an incredibly powerful mental attack. It wasn''t as strong as the coordinated efforts of the entire Elder council, but it caught her by surprise, actually managing to briefly daze her before she got a handle on it.


    Her instincts told her to immediately fire the absorbed energy back at its source, but then realized that the source was Omega. Omega, as a former part of her, would know about her mental defenses, and would be likely to reflect an attack into her because she couldn''t handle it herself.


    Or, because Omega''s mind had already been hijacked.


    The attack relented after a few seconds, giving Annabelle a chance to prepare. While she contained the energy and readied it for her own use later, she probed Omega''s mind to make sure Omega was still in charge. After verifying that, she asked for directions.


    In the distance, Annabelle saw a massive firestorm erupt.


    That should be enough of a waypoint. Omega replied. Omega also gave Annabelle a bit of Cecilian''s memories, a mental map of the entire city, and Annabelle quickly recognized her current position within that map.


    She analyzed that mental map, looked for a few landmarks that Cecilian recognized, and came to a horrible discovery.


    We''re on the other side of the city, Annabelle realized. Instead of just a quick run from the mansion to the portal, they would need to cross a dozen city blocks to get to safety.


    Well, that''s a problem. There might be other portals near -the connection dropped out for a moment- your current position, but the exit paths there aren''t viable.


    Right. If they fled into Garnoth, then in a few minutes they would be taken by portal back to Sanctuary, a place shielded from divinations, a place where they could organize a war effort to fight back against the coming invasion. If they fled anywhere else, the Shades could just pursue them and wear them down, and whatever defenders those worlds had would have a hard time believing her stories, much less fending off the Shades'' advance.


    But it wouldn''t make the longer journey any easier.


    Wait, you''re also fighting Nyxl there. Between the mental attack and the offensive spell being used as a ''waypoint'', it was almost certain Omega was in combat.


    I''ll draw him off - or die trying, Omega claimed.


    Behind her, the rest of the group had gone through the portal, and arrived in about the same state of confusion. They needed to get moving, quickly.


    "We''ve been sent to the wrong portal," Annabelle announced. "It will be a long run to get to our extraction point, but we''ve prepared for the worst. We will survive this." Annabelle couldn''t guarantee it, but acted as if she could to improve morale as much as possible.


    "By the light of Helios, we will succeed," the Crusaders announced in unison, as they turned their holy foci into potent light sources, bathing the Shade city in daylight. It took away any advantage of stealth they had, but they didn''t have that advantage anyways, not with how large their group was.


    Annabelle noticed that even though the city was illuminated, the ground underneath them and the ceiling above them were made of the same pitch-black material, and the buildings were constructed out of some sort of dark metal, with no windows. Normally a lack of windows made sense in a dark cavern, but Annabelle immediately recognized a huge threat, namely snipers shooting out of windows, that wouldn''t exist.


    The Crusaders completed a second blessing, the blessing of endurance, hopefully enough to allow everyone to sprint straight towards the exit.


    But before they could get moving, Annabelle saw a Matriarch emerge from the mansion, right in front of them. Immediately, Annabelle turned Shadebreaker up to full power and fired the railgun straight at her.


    A deafening sonic boom shook the cavern, and the impact resulted in a small shockwave, blasting the Matriarch backwards. But the Matriarch''s wards were just barely strong enough to keep her from being outright decapitated by the shot.


    Then, the Matriarch counterattacked, throwing out a green bolt of death.


    Annabelle attempted to dodge, but the bolt homed in on her. It punched through her wards, and delivered its effects.


    She knew what to expect on the mental front, and a quick barrier deflected the mental attack. But that wasn''t the only effect.


    The blast briefly paralyzed her, causing her heart to stop, cutting off blood flow to her brain. Her body went limp, hanging weightless in the air due to Lorso''s flight spell.


    But in the few seconds she had before she blacked out, she managed to improvise a solution with telekinesis.


    She analyzed her own heart, and with a few well-placed pulses, managed to force the still heart to beat, briefly restoring blood flow. But, it took all of her focus to do it, and she sensed the energy she was holding onto from Nyxl''s attack start to lose containment.


    Not this again!


    Annabelle, out of a combination of rage and desperation, ignored it and focused on keeping her heart beating. She kept herself conscious for a few seconds, even as the energy started to seep into her mind.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Then, she felt a burst of warmth, and her heart started pumping blood on its own. Annabelle, no longer required to perform such a desperate maneuver, was able to re-contain Nyxl''s energy. She might have been able to survive a breach, but it would not have been a good situation.


    So, I can survive a hit, but it''s probably not a good idea to try.


    Annabelle readied a distortion beam and opened her eyes to aim it, but instead saw the Matriarch dead from a slashed throat and multiple stab wounds, with Darius standing next to her.


    "I''m sorry, Annabelle. I should have been faster."


    Darius, it''s okay. I''m not dead, though that hit came close to doing it.


    What happened? Lorso asked.


    I''m not sure how the bastard stopped my heart, but I managed to restart it in time. She wasn''t sure at what point exactly she would be dead enough for Nyxl to collect her soul, but she wanted to stay as far away from any definition of death as possible.


    Now, Annabelle could get back to leading the team to the exits.


    "Wait. The Matriarchs don''t have any protections on their warding charms," Darius realized. "We can just take and use them right now!"


    They don''t? Annabelle asked over Silence''s telepathic network. That seemed a bit uncharacteristic.


    Maybe in their eyes, if they''re dead, they''ve already lost, Varos theorized. Or maybe the artificers didn''t have time to protect every piece of jewelry they had to make for them.


    "A dozen wards for us, then." Annabelle reached out with telekinesis to strip the Matriarch. She grabbed two rings of protection for herself (to increase her odds of not being shot down by another bolt) and gave the rest to the group.


    Annabelle was then fired on from outside the manor courtyard by a gathered group of Shades. Oddly, they were firing pink bolts, bolts that would have no effect even if not for the three layers of warding protecting her.


    She looked around, and then used Starsight to scan the area behind the building. They''ve got us surrounded, about two dozen of them,  she reported to the group. We have maybe¡­ half a minute before they work their way through the back of the mansion and fire on us from all sides.


    "We need to move!" Diedre announced. "Now!"


    Silence charged into the gate, hitting it hard enough to unhinge it. The Shades on that side immediately fired on him, but he was wearing multiple warding charms as well, rendering him immune to their barrage. As he grabbed one Shade, used his body as a projectile to knock over two more, and then body-slammed the resulting pile to crush them, Annabelle took out another three with Shadebreaker. More Shade guards streamed in, but were promptly blinded by the light as the Crusaders went through the gateway next, preventing them from getting a shot off and making them easy pickings for Shadebreaker.


    While Annabelle, Silence, the Crusaders, and a few other survivors cleared a path in the front, Darius and Lorso kept the flanks busy.


    Darius used his boots to leap over the courtyard''s walls, then threw both of his daggers at once, burying them both in the throats of two adjacent Shades, punching through their wards in the process. He recalled the blades and rolled out of the way of a follow-up attack (an unnecessary maneuver given his wards), scored another two kills with thrown daggers, and then recalled his daggers and lunged forwards to plunge them into the chest of a fifth.


    At the same time, Lorso made a flyby of the other flank, blasting them with fireballs from above. The fireballs didn''t pack enough punch to breach the wards outright, but she was still able to draw fire and create enough of a distraction to keep them from hitting the main group from behind.


    "Where are we going?" Diedre asked, shouting to be overheard over the deafening blasts of Shadebreaker.


    Annabelle was about to create an arrow out of psychic aura to point the right direction, but realized that concealing their direction of motion might make it harder for the real threats to prepare themselves. Instead, she sent the directions to Diedre with a quick burst of telepathy, repeated it a few times to make sure she understood it, and then had her act as the leader for the rest of the survivors. She told the rest of them to follow her, and then set off at a sprint towards the portal to Garnoth.


    As it seemed like the rest of her party could keep the group covered for now, Annabelle looked for secondary targets.


    There were four other Matriarchs'' manors within three blocks of their current position, eight more along their route. If she could kill them, she would have more than enough warding items to protect the entire group. And, it would be a serious setback to Nyxl''s grander schemes.


    You saved up that attack''s energy, right? Omega jumped into her train of thought.


    You want it reflected back through you? Annabelle was saving it for such a moment, expecting the value of a surprise divine-level mental attack to be worth the energy spent containing it.


    No. I''m not even sure if it''ll work against his alien mind. Instead, I want you to use it to kill any Matriarchs you see. Omega explained how she had redirected Nyxl''s mental obliteration attack into several other Matriarchs before targeting Annabelle. Judging by Nyxl''s reaction, I don''t think anyone hit by it''s coming back.


    Right. She forgot about Nyxl''s capacity for resurrection. Unfortunately, that last Matriarch would be returning.


    I''m not sure if there''s enough energy in here to take out more than a few of them. But if I combine it with my own energy¡­


    She flew down to one of the mages, the one who said he could conceal a small group, and asked to receive invisibility. The mage replied that she wasn''t able to grant total invisibility, but she instead granted a spell that caused her to blend in with darkness more effectively, a very useful boon given that seemingly everything in the city was either black or dark grey.


    Then, she flew off towards a pair of Matriarchs'' mansions adjacent to each other, boosting her velocity with a surge of telekinesis.


    Along the way, she spotted a group fleeing towards the manor. Noncombatants, judging by their behavior and lack of equipment, but still conspirators. Annabelle didn''t hesitate as she cut them down with a rapid-fire barrage from Shadebreaker.


    Varos, please tell everyone to fire on any civilians they see. Annabelle gave that suggestion as she scanned the building with Starsight and mind-sense, looking for a humanoid female with a terrible fashion sense.


    Predictably, the rest of the party was outraged. One, waste of resources. Two, what the fuck? Was the response from Darius.


    One, our crossbow-wielders aren''t doing much shooting at city guards anyways. Two, all noncombat jobs here are either performing torture on unfortunate victims or creating weapons and equipment for the hunters that capture them. Every dead Shade is one less Shade working on Nyxl''s plans.


    As much as you''d like to take revenge, our top priority is still getting out of here. But, I suppose we''ll take shots at any Shade civilians that get in the way.


    Annabelle found the Matriarch, minus her head. It seemed this was one of the Matriarchs Omega got to first. She slammed through the mansion''s roof to reach her, stripped her of jewelry, and put it all in her bag of holding.


    She leaped back through the hole in the roof, and noticed the other Matriarch hovering in midair, about to blast her.


    Hello, now die. She immediately lanced through the Matriarch''s mental defenses, and then unleashed a part of the stored energy from Nyxl''s attack, enough to rip apart her mind. The Matriarch hung in the air, lifeless and only supported by magic.


    Annabelle stripped her in midair, and finished just before more Shades spotted her and opened fire. She flew back to the group, but not before taking a few parting shots with Shadebreaker.


    "Special delivery!" Annabelle called out, before she turned the bag over. Nothing came out until Annabelle reached her hand in and sent a mental command to grab everything at once, resulting in all of it being released at once. The group briefly slowed down to haphazardly distribute the new gear.


    Annabelle was about to fly off to take down a third Matriarch when she noticed three things.


    Firstly, the Shades seemed to still be firing pink stunning bolts. Annabelle quickly recognized the reasoning. They were giving up individual kills and instead attempting to slow the whole group down, forcing them to carry the stunned members'' bodies. Annabelle could restore them, but it would take time that she needed to spend on offense.


    Secondly, she spotted an organized Shade military force in the distance, a mix of Matriarchs, heavily-armored glaive warriors, hunters, and a few horrifying monstrosities that looked like large dogs with scales and extra tentacles. They were positioned perfectly between the group''s current position and the portal to Garnoth, as if they knew exactly where they were going.


    Thirdly, she spotted the centerpoint of the city, a massive torture facility, and immediately split off her attention. Even though she knew her primary objective was to fight her way through and escape, she was torn between that and liberating the trapped victims, or at the very least wiping out the facility.


    And lastly, she received an urgent message from Omega along the shared channel.


    **********


    "I''m a god, " Nyxl boasted. "I can change reality the way I see fit. Nothing you have can harm me."


    "And yet I''m not dead, " Omega replied.


    "You will be." Nyxl leaped, and simultaneously pinched the space above him. His body appeared to elongate drastically as what was ten feet of height from Nyxl''s perspective was several hundred from an outside observer.


    Nyxl reached Omega''s elevation. Omega launched an instant death bolt that, as predicted, did nothing, then attempted to fly away. Nyxl''s tentacles briefly coalesced and formed into a single massive tentacle replacing his right arm, and he slammed it down with an incredible amount of force.


    Omega hit the ground hard. Cecilian''s massive amount of warding charms all triggered against the impact, but they only managed to reduce the impact from being turned into goo into a hard impact that likely still broke some bones.


    She couldn''t take another hit like that.


    Nyxl pinched space again to return to the ground in front of Omega, even as she used flight to get back on her feet. Omega hit him with a lightning bolt, and Nyxl ignored her efforts. She had only one thing left that could do damage.


    With her left hand, she channeled a stream of lightning into Nyxl, while with her right hand, she reached into a bag of holding, and gripped a rending glaive that she had requisitioned for ''testing''.


    Nyxl charged forwards, converting his right arm into a mace. Omega at first backpedaled. Then, once Nyxl closed in, she pulled the glaive out with a quick motion and launched forwards with her flight. Nyxl swung, but Omega flipped horizontal and flew underneath the swing, while simultaneously swinging the rending glaive to cut into Nyxl''s body.


    Nyxl shot a tentacle out of his back in an attempt to catch Omega, but she slashed the tentacle with the glaive before it could grab her. She levelled out and looked at the damage she had inflicted.


    A gash was now visible on Nyxl''s body, glowing with the same multicolored energy that could be seen in holes in the Shaderealm''s caverns. He shot out four tentacles into the ground, seemingly to support himself.


    "So, you''ve found something that can hurt me," Nyxl said. "But that was barely a scratch." The wound closed up in an instant, and then Nyxl sent a pulse of... something through each of his tentacles, causing their ends to disappear.


    Omega quickly teleported a hundred feet out of the way, just before four tentacles emerged out of thin air and impaled her previous position. The tentacles quickly receded back into nothingness, and then launched another flurry of assaults, assailing Omega from all sides.


    Omega used several teleports to gain space, and cut down a few of the tentacles with rending glaives. Nyxl briefly stopped the tentacle assault, but only so he could fire a barrage of energy blasts. Omega dodged some of them, but others pounded her wards.


    Omega teleported behind Nyxl, and attempted to impale him in the back with her rending glaive. But as she stabbed forward, space shifted, the distance between Omega and Nyxl enlarging past the glaive''s reach. Then, a tentacle shot out of Nyxl''s back, slamming Omega into a nearby wall at extreme velocity. Her wards shattered, she dropped the rending glaive, and she felt several bones break.


    Omega immediately returned to the air, as broken bones did not impair magical flight. But then, four tentacles shot out of nothingness, each grabbing one of her limbs. She struggled to escape, but the tentacles pulled tight, immobilizing her in midair. She attempted to teleport, but found her magic nullified.


    Nyxl calmly advanced on her. "So, was this petty show of force worth it?" he taunted. "You may have cost me several Matriarchs, but it''s only a minor setback in this stage of my plans. The pain you suffer will be far worse."


    "I live off of pain," Omega replied. "Torture me, and you''ll only make me grow stronger."


    "I know that to not be true, Cecilian," Nyxl said, with a bit of a laugh. "In fact, your resistance to torture is so terrible, I thought that was your motive for defecting."


    Then, Nyxl realized something.


    "Wait. This is her doing."


    "What?" Omega replied, feigning ignorance. The longer she kept Nyxl talking before she was killed, the more time she gave Annabelle, and the greater their odds of escape.


    "Annabelle''s done something to you, turned you into her agent."


    Omega didn''t respond, but Nyxl could tell that he had struck the truth. Or, at least, enough of it to matter.


    "In that case, I think I''ll make it personal. After I finish off her escape attempt, I''ll invade Garnoth first. Now that the archmage protecting it is gone, it''ll be easy pickings."


    "Even though the world has a low population?" Omega retorted. "I''m not even sure why you even considered invading it in the first place."


    Nyxl ignored her argument against invading a world out of spite, and continued his rant. "Did you somehow think that I wouldn''t pick up on an unauthorized gateway breach, or on my guards spotting a group of escapees running through the streets?"


    Crap, he knew about the actual escape attempt.


    Annabelle! Nyxl knows! You need to be ready!


    "I know what you''re thinking now. You''re trying to warn her, but it''s not going to work. And even if you did warn her, she wouldn''t be able to stop me."


    Understood. Give me everything you know. Omega responded by sending back everything she knew about Nyxl from the fight, including this current conversation.


    "She''s an incredibly strong mage. Almost as strong as Daraken, in fact. But no matter how strong a mage is, they aren''t going to beat a god on their own turf."


    Omega suddenly had an idea. Gods normally hunted psionics. But was it simply because they had a power that didn''t come from a god-


    -or was it because they were afraid of them?


    "Annabelle''s not a mage," Omega said, a statement that immediately got Nyxl''s attention. "She''s a psion. A wielder of the natural power that the gods don''t have any control over."


    "No. It can''t be-" Nyxl said, with the voice of a villain who was about to have his plans ruined. "There''s no way that could happen. All gods are bound by divine law to eliminate those blasphemies the instant they are detected."


    "Helios decided to make an exception for her. For me." Omega said, dropping the whole pretense about being separate from Annabelle.


    "The prophecy- I''m the first to fall!" Nyxl exclaimed.


    "That sounds about right," Omega said, half-bluffing. Maybe, if there was a prophecy, they would actually get to kill Nyxl today. And either way, Lorso would probably have a dozen new conspiracy theories about it if they survived, and half of them would probably be correct.


    But then, Nyxl regained his composure. "No. She won''t get the chance. I can kill her in an instant, and it will take a lot more than what she had to stop me."


    Omega heard a cascade of explosions in the distance, nowhere near the main group. She tried to turn to look in that direction, and thought she saw flashes of blue light. They looked almost like- no, that couldn''t be right. They couldn''t possibly-


    "But first, you die." Nyxl shaped one of his arms into a spear, aimed it against Omega''s head, and drew back, preparing to impale her. Omega locked onto Annabelle''s mind and prepared to return to her original body before this body was slain.


    Suddenly, a high-velocity projectile hit Nyxl dead-center in the chest. It wasn''t a shot from Annabelle judging by the angle of attack, but whatever it was, Nyxl was stunned by the blow. He recovered and dodged just before a second shot was fired, and made a dash for cover, dropping Omega in the process. She flew away, glanced in the direction of the shot, and saw a sight she didn''t expect to see.


    The Alien Combat Patrol had arrived, eight individuals in powered armor, wielding a variety of technological weapons. Even if the Shades and Nyxl weren''t aliens (which they probably were, given the Shades'' egg-laying and other physiological differences from humans), they were still enemies of humanity. And though the Shades had some pretty powerful gear, ACP''s powered armor and advanced technological weapons had them outclassed.


    But how much could they truly do to a god?

 2-18: Last Stand

    "This is, almost certainly, a suicide mission, " the squad had been briefed. "One that there will be no recovery from, will end with you in a realm of eternal torture. Your mission is to keep an unkillable foe''s attention for as long as possible, to give Annabelle Lee and her allies enough time to escape to a secondary location."


    Even though they knew the risks, they still volunteered for this mission.


    There were eight of them, each with a specific role. Overseer, the leader, had a depth of tactical training and combat precognition that would allow her to compensate for the loss of contact with command. Pathfinder, a psion specialized in the creation of wormholes, would create their entry point and maneuver the team into position. Ratchet, the team''s engineer, would deploy and control several combat drones, killing the Shades with something they wouldn''t be able to take out with their anti-biological magic weapons. The Four Horsemen, heavy weapon wielders, would be focused on creating as much damage as possible to draw Nyxl''s attention.


    But out of all of them, Impaler had the most important role. He was carrying a weapon specifically designed to hurt Nyxl, and his job was to survive as long as possible and deal as much damage as possible.


    On orders from the team''s scouts, they performed a stealth insertion into an unknown world, dropping from orbit to land next to their target, a seemingly nondescript cavern.


    They rushed into the cavern, navigated its winding passageways, and spotted their goal, a patch of what looked like pitch-black stone. However, their briefing, and a quick analysis with Starsight would reveal that the patch of stone was actually a dimensional wall, a potential linking point between this world and the Shaderealm.


    With a quick application of her specialized powers, Pathfinder forced open that link from the surface-side, opening the portal.


    "You''re right on time," their commander said. "Go."


    "It has been an honor to serve," the team replied. Then, they rushed through the portal.


    They emerged at an entry point in the middle of a manor in the middle of an underground city. Or, more precisely, a city in a pocket dimension, that just happened to be designed like an underground city. There was minimal ambient light, so the team switched their HUDs to night-vision. They heard explosions in the distance, likely from the team they were trying to create a diversion for.


    Begin obliteration protocols, Overseer ordered.


    The Horsemen formed up in a circle around their entry point, and opened fire with their massive plasma beam cannons, superheavy weapons that shot beams of molten-hot plasma that could melt through the Shades'' metal buildings. In twenty seconds, they flattened everything within a block of their starting point, and they continued the assault afterwards.


    Ratchet, the team engineer, activated the four hunter-killer drones, each little more than a flying gauss rifle with an integrated AI and maneuvering system. He designated their targets (namely, every Shade), and sent them through four wormholes opened by Delta-7, each leading into a distant portion of the city. Neither of them were sure whether it was a legitimate distraction or just an attempt to maximize the amount of dead Shade ''civilians'', but either way, they would pose a serious threat. Having a curse that could instantly destroy a human mind meant nothing against a robotic intelligence.


    And while the rest of the squad focused on destruction, Impaler focused on the main target, the god of evil that caused this entire mess. He used his armor''s gravity-manipulating flight mode to hover above the team, and searched for his target.


    Impaler quickly spotted a commotion. He looked over, and saw a Shade Matriarch fighting Nyxl. Or, to be more precise, Annabelle''s Schism, possessing a Shade Matriarch, had engaged Nyxl, and ended up captured. And, Nyxl was doing some sort of¡­ thing¡­ to her, probably draining her soul (or would it be the Matriarch''s soul?). Nyxl was two hundred meters out, but that was barely medium range for his specialized weapon.


    Impaler''s weapon was a distortion sniper, an incredibly powerful railgun combined with a specialized psychic amplifier assembly. With every shot, Delta-6 used the psychic focus on his gun to fire out a beam of spatial distortion just ahead of the railgun projectile, sundering armor (or in this case, whatever the heck a god''s body was made out of) and greatly increasing the damage of the ensuing kinetic impact.


    It didn''t kill Nyxl, but he was still stunned by the impact. Delta-6 fired another shot, but he recovered and managed to dodge out of the way just in time. Then, Nyxl fled for cover, likely thinking that he couldn''t be tracked through a building.


    Impaler knew the briefing had called this a suicide mission. But given that Nyxl was fleeing rather than fighting, maybe this wasn''t such a difficult fight after all.


    Especially given that Delta-6''s rifle also projected a focused Starsight field with enough range to track him through walls.


    Impaler flew up to the ceiling of the Shaderealm to get a better angle of attack through the buildings, and fired. The shot pierced through two buildings to impact a very surprised Nyxl.


    But Nyxl wasn''t stunned this time. And then, he disappeared.


    You''ve got his attention, Overseer told him. He''s about to strike.


    Nyxl teleported, reappearing directly underneath Impale. Had Overseer not warned him, he could have been wiped out by whatever attack the god performed, but with the warning, the only thing Nyxl got was a point-blank blast to the face before Impaler dodged out of the way.


    As expected, Nyxl''s going after me first, Impaler messaged. Split up, maximize the amount of time Nyxl wastes hunting each of us down.


    Pathfinder opened several portals on the ground, allowing the heavies in the squad to relocate to new positions.


    What of the Shades'' weapons? one of the Horsemen asked. If we split-up, the Shade guards will bring us down.


    Your shields have been augmented, remember? They should be able to withstand any counter-fire that the Shades manage to produce. Overseer sent back. Combine that with the panic among the Shade ranks, and you''ll be fine.


    The Horsemen went through the portals and scattered across the city to continue their path of destruction. Meanwhile, Nyxl manifested a platform underneath him, landed, and then launched back up at Delta-6.


    He fired again, but Nyxl threw himself sideways with a psychokinetic push (or something to the same effect using divine abilities), evading the shot.


    Impaler received another warning from Overseer, and flicked on a close-range Starsight field just in time to detect a razor-sharp tentacle appearing behind him. His armor was the only thing keeping him from being impaled, the Thermal Alloy converting the impact force into heat. The tentacle recoiled back from the heat, having had minimal effect as the armor''s cooling system vented off the added heat.


    However, that was just the first tentacle. At least a dozen appeared around him. Below him, Nyxl''s back seemed to be covered in tentacles that trailed off into nothingness, and from what he picked up on his Starsight field, the tentacles attacking him came out of nowhere, and then disappeared the instant they were no longer necessary, replaced by another tentacle soon after.


    At first the tentacles attempted to deal damage to his armor. The sustained assault started to heat up the armor, but Thermal Alloy armor was designed to take direct hits from railgun fire, and the tentacles, though razor-sharp, didn''t pack that caliber of kinetic energy.


    But they could grapple him. With the armor''s gravity-manipulation flight system and strength augments, Impaler was able to overpower and pull free of the first few tentacles, but more kept appearing in his flight path, and soon he was overwhelmed.


    Several tentacles grabbed on to each of his limbs. Then, space shifted around him. His Starsight was briefly disrupted, and the tentacles suddenly pulled back, wrapping around him and almost pulling his armor apart. Sections of the thermal alloy were melted by an incredible amount of stress before the tentacles slipped off of the melted sections. The armor''s cooling rapidly attempted to recover, but HUD indicated that about 70% of his armor had been stripped away.


    Then Impaler received his own premonition, of a black distortion beam ripping him apart, a death premonition triggered by his imminent death. He managed to dodge just enough to avoid being completely obliterated, but his right arm was caught in the blast and obliterated to the point of uselessness. Luckily, he was able to fire his weapon one-handed, but it was just the beginning of the end.


    As Nyxl charged forwards, Impaler fired a one-handed railgun shot following a distortion blast, and scored another hit, seemingly stunning Nyxl. Then, space shifted again, and Nyxl was right in front of him again. The god''s right arm morphed into a tentacle that wrapped around his body, and as Delta-6 attempted to struggle free, a half-dozen more tentacles emerged and pinned him down. He threw his weapon away,


    WHAT ARE YOU? Nyxl''s telepathic message shook his mind, and the shock caused him to drop his weapon, but Delta-6 managed to resist the mental intrusion.


    He received another death premonition of an imminent death by distortion beam. This time, he wouldn''t be able to evade.


    It has been an honor. Impaler prepared to make his sacrifice.


    As his gun fell below Nyxl, he grabbed it with telekinesis, reoriented it to to face straight upwards, and channeled every ounce of energy he had left into its psychic focus, unleashing a massive distortion beam.


    Nyxl''s own blast fired an instant later, tearing his chest apart. But he managed to remain conscious and continued to channel energy into the beam. Normally, distortion beams only lasted for a split second, but with his focus, he sustained the blast for several seconds, rending Nyxl''s body.


    Nyxl fired another distortion beam, straight through his head. Even though his brain was destroyed, his soul retained his consciousness for another second, and continued the barrage.


    Nyxl then went after his soul, using his divine powers to pull it into himself and absorb it. But before his soul could be absorbed, Delta-6 released one final blast, and pushed himself hard enough that between his own exertion and Nyxl''s soul-ripping attack, his soul shattered.


    His last thought was a hope that his final attack would be enough.


    **********


    We have arrived. Annabelle sensed the telepathic message, and thought she could recognize the source. Especially after Omega confirmed it, and after she heard the explosions in the distance.


    The Alien Combat Patrol had sent a squad to come to her rescue. Although she couldn''t recognize who exactly was part of the team, it couldn''t be anyone else.


    I thought you wouldn''t come, Annabelle replied.


    We''re here to draw Nyxl off, to give you a chance to escape. You need to get to extraction, as soon as possible.


    I''m not leaving these people behind.


    But, even as she said that, Annabelle had her doubts. Even now, she could easily use flight, partial invisibility, and a telekinetic boost to sneak through, while leaving the rest of the team behind.


    That is inviting significant risk, came the reply. Are you sure?


    Unless my aid is necessary to stop a threat even greater than Nyxl, I''m not leaving them behind.


    We do not require your aid to such an extent. But if you fail-


    I am entirely aware of what would happen if I failed. Now, do you have any other useful information?


    Her contact sent over a wealth of tactical data that they somehow had on Nyxl and his capabilities.


    First, Nyxl was incredibly durable, and though he did take noticeable damage from the combination of a distortion beam and a high-velocity railgun shot, he would be able to survive everything Annabelle could throw at him, and then a lot more. Although, that conflicted with the news from Omega that Nyxl was briefly terrified of her potential.


    Secondly, Nyxl''s most dangerous weapon would be his fourth-dimensional tentacles. At least, it was the running theory that Nyxl''s tentacles could extend into the fourth spatial dimension, though they didn''t know for sure. Apparently, they could even emerge inside someone, killing them instantly. Annabelle''s only warning against such an attack would be a death premonition.


    While she analyzed that information, Annabelle also flew forward, preparing to wipe out the Shades'' army with a vortex of destruction.


    But at the same time, she heard the screams from their central courtyard, and a quick glance in the direction revealed a horrifying sight.


    There were hundreds of bodies in a large central pit, an apparent mass grave. But the screaming was coming from the pit, and then Annabelle saw the movement. Some of them were still alive, and desperately struggling to escape.


    No. They''re trying to avoid being crushed, or devoured by the acid at the bottom of the pit, Omega explained. Those that maintain the will to live, that is. There''s just as many that try to end themselves at that point, hoping that it somehow ends at that point.


    There were some Shades standing around and watching, even in the middle of an active battle. Maybe they didn''t think the fight would come to them, or maybe they didn''t care.


    Can I save them? Annabelle tried to find a way. The walls of the pit were too smooth to climb, and the highest victims were several meters below the pit''s edge. And, the pit''s edge was lined with razor-sharp blades and spikes that would rip up any dropped ropes, and shred anyone climbing over the top.


    Omega explained additional problems with any escape effort. The pit is covered in an antimagic field to nullify the powers of any mages thrown in it, which will make any form of magical escape more difficult. The people are weakened by starvation, and most have lost any will to escape even if given the opportunity. Even if you managed to get them out of the pit, there would be no ways to get more than a few dozen to extraction. And, again, any time spent on rescuing people increases the chance that no one is able to escape.


    But- I can''t leave them like this.


    I felt the same way about this, and spent hours on attempting to find a method to free them. If I had a viable method, I would have mentioned it earlier.


    Annabelle had to admit she was right. If a clone of her mind came to this conclusion after hours of analysis, she wouldn''t find anything revolutionary in the next minute that would make an escape possible.


    There is another option, Omega proposed. A mercy kill, utilizing a spatial vortex.


    The souls would still enter Nyxl''s hellscape of an afterlife.


    Nyxl said that the last Shades who died to a vortex could not be restored. I suspect that means the souls were destroyed outright.


    Annabelle didn''t hesitate. She flew right next to the pit and analyzed it with Starsight, seeking to place the vortex exactly at the bottom.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    But before she could unleash it, a shockwave shook the entire dimension.


    Annabelle looked in the direction of the blast, and saw the dimension destabilizing, hyperdimensional energy pouring into the Shaderealm.


    What was that? Annabelle asked everyone she was in telepathic contact with, and got a quick response from ACP''s psion.


    Our sniper collapsed a dimensional boundary with a well-placed distortion beam to draw Nyxl''s attention. Nyxl will contain it.


    As they said that, the collapsed was slowed and enveloped in multiple fields of dark energy. Annabelle could see Nyxl''s body for a few seconds, before he was bracketed by heavy weapons fire from multiple angles.


    We are about to engage, Silence sent. Where are you?


    Tying up a loose end.


    Annabelle finished her preparations, and unleashed the vortex at the bottom of the pit.


    She couldn''t bear to watch the results, but she knew that in just a few seconds, everyone in the pit would be dead.


    Omega, is there anyone that I can still rescue, or facilities I can destroy?


    Yes, but half of them have been wiped out by ACP, and I can obliterate the rest. The rest of the survivors need you.


    Annabelle reluctantly flew back to the main team. She sensed the beginning of an exertion headache, but she still had plenty of energy left for these threats.


    She flew back to a pitched battle, a battle that her allies were losing.


    Menos''s nature magic had somehow managed to pacify one of the Shades'' monsters, and Silence was engaging another, but a third was in the midst of the survivors. Annabelle took aim and brought it down with a single Shadebreaker shot, but it had already ripped apart several survivors, and wounded a dozen more to the point where Lorso was forced to render aid.


    The glaive warriors followed behind the monster. The Crusaders attempted to disrupt them with blinding light, but despite that, they still advanced, forcing them back and slicing through anyone who got in reach. Darius managed to take a few down with thrown knives, but they still advanced, scoring several kills in the process, and lopping off the arm of an unfortunate Crusader.


    And, most concerningly, the six Matriarchs in the back launched a volley of their death bolts.


    Annabelle intercepted four of the bolts with telekinetic blasts of her own, detonating them in midair, but two homed in on survivors and killed them.


    The Matriarchs didn''t last long afterwards, as Annabelle struck them down with the remainder of Nyxl''s stored energy, overwhelming their minds and incapacitating them. It wasn''t enough to cause their heads to outright explode, but they still weren¡¯t getting up.


    Then, she took down the beast Silence was fighting with a second shot from Shadebreaker. Silence immediately took advantage of the opening to smash through two of the Shade warriors. A third turned around and nearly impaled him, but he dodged the strike, grabbed the glaive, ripped it out of the Shade''s hands, and retaliated himself.


    One Shade warrior warped space to launch himself into the midst of the survivors, and sliced down three before Annabelle brought them down.


    Annabelle then came under fire from three Shades that had stayed back to accompany the matriarchs. Her stolen wards blocked the first wave of green bolts, but they weren''t using the normal shade crossbows. In fact, their weapons seemed oddly reminiscent of alien plasma rifles, except firing green blasts instead of blue blasts.


    Annabelle quickly moved to dodge, but they continued to track her, and scored several more hits.


    But then, Varos surged forwards. In an instant, he dashed through an opening in the warriors'' line with a surge of magical speed, and knocked one of the gunners out with a high-speed staff smash. He turned to a second and knocked them out, and Annabelle was then able to finish off the third.


    How did you do that?


    Haste module on my armor. Temporarily speeds up time for me.


    Interesting. When they got out of here, Varos could potentially revolutionize the Resistance''s arsenal.


    With the warriors'' supporting forces disposed of, they were focused down, overwhelmed, and eliminated.


    "Grab their gear," Varos ordered. "We''ll need everything we can get if we''re going to be the center of Nyxl''s attention in the future."


    While several individuals picked up the rending glaives and the rapid-fire arcane bolt cannons, Lorso and the Crusaders healed those who were injured. Unfortunately, though they could stabilize some of the casualties, there were still nine deaths in total.


    Nine deaths that I could have prevented if I was here from the start, Annabelle thought. Was it truly worth it to save those others?


    And then, with no further opposition, the group made their final approach to the portal.


    **********


    Omega had to find a way to destroy three Shade torture facilities, quickly.


    Though she was in the body of a powerful mage, said mage''s repertoire didn''t include any destructive spells. Sure, she could fire a magic bolt of instant death, but that wouldn''t help collapse a building.


    Wait, I have a glaive that can cut through gods. It should be able to slice through building structure easily.


    She searched Cecilian''s memory of what type of structure the torture facilities were.


    Warehouses. Large building with a roof held up by several central support pillars. Destroying the support pillars will likely drop the roof on the rest.


    But cutting through a support pillar would take time, and would draw attention.


    Evacuate the buildings first.


    She walked into one of the facilities, and yelled "We are evacuating!"


    As expected, her order was immediately challenged. She counted eight Shades who stepped away from their torture procedures to engage her, eight more that ignored her outright, and almost three dozen prisoners that were chained to the walls.


    "What is the meaning of this, Cecilian?"


    "These prisoners need to be taken to a new location, before the invading forces free them."


    That seemed to convince the Shades, but at the same time, it horrified the prisoners. They had heard the potential for rescue, only to hear it dashed by the evacuation.


    Wait. These prisoners- they can be saved!


    "If there was such an evacuation order, it would be given by Nyxl himself."  The Shade who realized that drew his weapon, and as the rest realized his statement, they drew their crossbows as well.


    "You know what, you''re right."


    Omega fired a homing death bolt into the Shade who had challenged her, using the quickest incantation she knew. In the second it took for the others to realize what was happening, she killed another with a death bolt fired in one arm, and swung forwards with her rending glaive to decapitate two more.


    The four others backed up, shouted out an alarm, and fired stunning bolts, but Omega''s superior wards easily blocked them. She flew forwards and sliced another in half, then fired another death bolt, leaving only two alive to flee.


    The other eight Shades realized what was going on and fired their stunning bolts. Omega''s wards blocked them again, but she thought she sensed the tingling of a near-miss on the last one.


    She flew forwards, impaling two Shades, and then rapid-fired death bolts to kill three more before ducking behind a pillar. Two more bolts were fired, and she still withstood the hits.


    My wards must be running low.


    She retaliated against the two that managed to shoot her, killing them both with death bolts, but another leaped out from behind a pillar and stabbed her in the chest with a Shade knife, a weapon designed to penetrate arcane wards.


    Omega felt the pain lancing through her body, not only from the impact, but also from the pain induction enchantment of the knife.


    "You''ve always been weak, Cecilian," the Shade taunted.


    "I''m not Cecilian." Omega shoved the Shade backwards, impaled him on his glaive, and then ripped the knife out of his chest. She quickly finished off the other two Shades.


    "Are you here to save us?" One of the prisoners asked. "Why?"


    "I''ve defected." Omega said, as she used her glaive to cut down the chains binding the prisoners, a process that took a minute.


    "What do we do now?"


    "There''s a portal to a surface world right next to this facility," Omega explained, drawing on Cecilian''s knowledge. She gave them directions to that location, and told them that she would follow and open the portal after she took out this building.


    After they fled, she slashed her glaive into one of the pillars. Unfortunately, it didn''t slice clean through the metal pillar with a single stroke, but she was able to use her flight as leverage to apply enough force to cut through in just a few seconds. Then, she repeated the process at a higher point to slice off part of the pillar, which fell to the ground after she pushed it over.


    She repeated the process on the other three support pillars, and then flew out the door as the facility collapsed behind her.


    Now, how do I open a surface gateway again?


    Omega dropped down next to the surface gateway, and activated it, revealing a stone cave on the other side of it.


    But before the rescued prisoners could go through, a black tentacle sliced through the entire group, cutting them all in half. Omega saw Nyxl, his body damaged, but still functional.


    She charged forwards, hoping to impale Nyxl on a rending glaive and deliver a bit more damage before she was forced out, but Nyxl merely crushed her chest with a distortion beam.


    Then, Nyxl went for the head, and Omega only barely managed to escape before being obliterated.


    *********


    As they reached the portal, Varos dashed ahead and touched the portal, before initiating some sort of activation process.


    You didn''t tell me the portal needed to be warmed up.


    It shouldn''t take more than a few seconds, Varos claimed.


    Annabelle received a brief shock as Omega returned to her.


    I took out one of their facilities, but Nyxl stopped me before I could take out the other two.


    Wait. You didn''t actually have a plan when you proposed that option.


    Yes, I may have manipulated myself to ensure that I took the optimal course of action.


    "Portal''s open!" Varos shouted. The portal led into a shallow cave, and Annabelle saw light at the end of the tunnel. They had made it.


    But before anyone could go through, Nyxl materialized in front of the portal. His black body was covered in multicolored scars from fighting Omega and the ACP rescue team, but it seemed like merely cosmetic damage.


    "IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE." Nyxl''s voice was incredibly loud, echoing for several seconds on each word. "YOU GET TO LIVE."


    Annabelle seriously doubted that, especially given that Nyxl was standing in between them and the exit.


    -Incoming mass memory shift, followed by desperate suicide attempt.-


    Wait, I can do that? Annabelle knew that she sometimes got a premonition of imminent death a brief instant before it happened, but never considered the possibility of intentionally killing herself in bad timelines to trigger it. Mainly because she didn''t want to think about how she could obliterate her own brain with little more than a thought.


    My idea, Omega clarified. Now, about that memory-wipe attack-


    Annabelle countered Nyxl'' wide-angle mental attack with a telepathic pulse, preventing it from reaching anyone.


    "BUT FIRST, I WILL TAKE YOUR MEMORY OF THIS WORLD."


    From what Annabelle could tell about the incoming attack''s form, Nyxl wasn''t lying about the attack altering memory. But he could very easily be lying about just how much manipulation he would be doing.


    "No, you won''t." Annabelle declared defiantly.


    "You won''t want to remember the horrors of this place, and I don''t want you to reveal my existence," Nyxl said with an echoing voice that seemed to be aimed specifically at Annabelle.


    Some part of Annabelle had to admit Nyxl had a point. Maybe wiping the memories of those in this horrible mess would be necessary to rid them of the lingering trauma of their experience. But, at the same time¡­


    "One, I don''t trust you not to abuse that power. If it needs to be done, I''ll do it myself." As Annabelle said that, she thought she could sense some sort of reaction from Nyxl.


    "And two, you can''t wipe my memory. It''s literally impossible. And since I''m the favored of Helios, my word alone will be enough to bring you down." Annabelle was partially lying about that last part, given that Helios was likely to eliminate her the instant she wasn''t useful. But, maybe if she didn''t kill Nyxl here, she''d have a new job with Helios, killing his enemies.


    And, it was worth the lie to see Nyxl''s reaction. Even though he said "A FOOLISH CHOICE," he also seemed to hesitate.


    Nyxl launched a second mental attack, hitting Annabelle with an immense assault, likely using most of his divine might.


    But Annabelle''s defenses easily withstood the attack. Had Nyxl taken her by surprise, or used a more unique attack type, he might have had a small chance of victory-


    -Incoming distortion beam-


    With the warning from her premonition, Annabelle was able to just barely dodge the attack.


    "YOU CAN''T LEAVE WITHOUT GOING THROUGH ME."


    Annabelle was prepared to hit the bastard with everything she had, but before she got the chance, Silence slammed into him from the side, knocking him out of the way.


    "RUN!" Annabelle shouted, an order that the rest of the survivors followed without question.


    "HOW ARE YOU-"


    Silence began to glow yellow as he grabbed a hold of the god with one hand.


    A black distortion beam shot through him, but he was completely unaffected.


    With his other hand, Silence gripped a rending glaive at the midpoint of the shaft and stabbed it into Nyxl''s body.


    Nyxl retaliated with several simultaneous distortion beams from multiple angles, but again, it had no effect.


    Can''t hold much longer! Silence warned Annabelle.


    "WHAT. ARE. YOU?"


    Silence didn''t respond to Nyxl''s question, and continued to resist the assault. Nyxl attempted to pull him away with a burst of tentacles behind Silence, but to no avail.


    About a quarter of the group managed to get through before Silence''s invulnerability ran out. As the yellow glow faded from his body, he kicked off of Nyxl''s body and forced his way through Nyxl''s tentacles. A distortion beam hit him in midair, but Silence still managed to land on his feet. He fell to one knee afterwards, but he was still alive, unlike most victims shot through with a distortion beam.


    "YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE!" Nyxl shouted. He had a large glowing gash on his chest, but still persisted.


    He''s sealing the portal! Darius warned, calling attention to the fact that the portal''s aperture was shrinking. Do something!


    A stream of light blue energy shot out from Annabelle''s head to the portal, before forming in a ring around it, holding the portal open.


    It''s taking¡­ all I have¡­ to keep it open¡­ Omega warned. It won''t¡­ last long!


    -Extradimensional tentacle emergence inside your chest-


    And, there was that part of Nyxl''s arsenal. Annabelle launched herself forwards with a telekinetic boost augmented by her own flight spell, and then activated Starsight to track the tentacle behind her, which faded away as quickly as it came out.


    That''s odd. As the tentacle receded, Annabelle noticed a lingering pressure of some sort at the point where it receded. Almost as if-


    I can ''see'' into Nyxl''s dimension. Which means-


    -Incoming distortion beam-


    Annabelle dodged again, but a little too slow. She managed to avoid taking the blast to the chest, but instead it hit her in the legs, shattering them. If not for Lorso''s flight spell, it would have immobilized her, but for now, it was only a minor inconvenience.


    -I can fight back. Annabelle''s Starsight seemed to indicate a number of potential emergence points for Nyxl''s extradimensional tentacle attacks.


    Annabelle fired a distortion beam a millisecond before a fully-charged shot from Shadebreaker, both aimed at the gaping wound in Nyxl''s chest. The combination of spatial disruption and kinetic energy aimed at the weakpoint created an explosion of energy from the wound, blasting Nyxl backwards.


    -Tentacles incoming from all sides, and attacking civilians as well.-


    Annabelle then countered Nyxl''s attack by focusing on the emergence points and creating hardened telekinetic fields around them, shooting off bright purple auras in multiple directions. Somehow, she managed to push back against their emergence, keeping them trapped inside the higher-dimensional space they came from. But it took an incredible amount of energy to do so.


    She fired another railgun shot, but couldn''t muster up enough focus to simultaneously follow up with a distortion beam. Nyxl turned the wounded part of his body away, and the high-powered railgun shot had no effect.


    This¡­ isn''t¡­ working¡­ Omega thought.


    Energy depletion¡­ takes a minute¡­ Based on previous experience, Annabelle should be able to burn a massive amount of energy within that minute, before the exertion caught up with her. But the headache was building at an alarming rate this time.


    We¡­ cannot¡­ hold¡­


    After receiving healing, Silence leaped onto Nyxl again, this time delivering a single swipe with the rending glaive before kicking off. For a brief instant, Annabelle felt the tentacles weaken, as Nyxl turned his attention onto Silence. He flashed yellow in an attempt to block the distortion beam, but his timing was off, and the distortion beam again crippled him.


    Next, Darius struck, throwing the broken-off blade of a rending glaive into Nyxl''s body. But Nyxl ignored his attack, and instead shot out a burst of tentacles to grab Silence, pulling his body up to him.


    Annabelle fired a distortion beam followed by a railgun, a desperation move that nearly caused her to fail to hold back Nyxl''s other tentacles. It was enough to get Nyxl''s attention, but not enough for him to forget to finish Silence off. He decapitated Silence with one clean stroke from an arm morphed into a tentacle, before turning to face down Annabelle.


    "I AM A GOD. YOU- YOU ARE A MORTAL. A FOOTNOTE IN THE WAR OF SOULS."


    His extradimensional tentacles receded, giving Annabelle a brief moment of reprieve. She took advantage of it to fire another combined strike aimed as Nyxl''s chest wound, but Nyxl''s tentacle arm swatted the projectile down, and the distortion beam alone seemed to have no effect.


    Please recover my head. That came from Silence. How?


    Wait, you''re still alive? Darius and Annabelle both questioned his continued existence.


    Not for long. But as long as I last long enough to escape-


    Nyxl coalesced all of his tentacles into one single, and then shot them forward in a singular focused barrage. Annabelle put everything she had into a desperate barrier, and somehow managed to hold off the assault. While Nyxl was busy with that attack, Darius was able to sneak underneath to recover Silence''s head.


    A distortion beam passed right through the barrier, and smashed through her chest. But the instant after it passed through, Annabelle felt her body regenerating, and felt the distinctive of warmth of being lit on fire. It was Lorso''s inferno blessing, and it had saved her.


    -Psychic reserves give out, resulting in tentacles piercing through-


    But it wasn''t enough. Her reserves would not last long enough.


    No. I¡­ Can''t¡­ lose. Not to this monster.


    The shield began to fail, and the tentacles began to slip through. Behind her, the portal slowly began to close as Omega was overwhelmed.


    And then, Annabelle found a last resort, and somehow gained a second wind, a last defiant burst of energy.


    As she screamed in rage, both of her auras turned from purple to bright red, and surged with renewed strength, fending off Nyxl''s tentacles and the portal''s collapse.


    Another distortion beam shot through her head, but despite her brain being seriously damaged (even though it was promptly regenerated), she somehow sustained her final resistance.


    Nyxl then opened mental contact with Annabelle. Maybe, in this extreme situation, he could''ve breached her defenses, but he didn''t try.


    I HAVE INTERROGATED YOUR COMPATRIOTS. THEY CLAIM TO BE FROM SOME ''ALIEN COMBAT PATROL''. I HOPE IT WAS WORTH IT FOR THEM, SACRIFICING EIGHT LIVES TO SAVE YOU. Nyxl was trying to break her resolve with words rather than mental force.


    It''s not just them, it''s every one of these people. People that will now have a second chance, free from your torture.


    BUT THAT IS NOT WHO THEY TRULY ARE. THEIR TRUE GROUP CALLS THEMSELVES THE ETHERAL LEGION. THEY FOLLOW THE VERY SAME ELDERS YOU THOUGHT YOU ELIMINATED.


    Don''t care. Deep inside her, Annabelle could analyze whether it was truly a lie later, but she couldn''t lose focus now.


    A HUNDRED YEARS PASSED SINCE YOU KILLED THEM. BUT THEY DID NOT STAY DEAD.


    That''s not even possible, Annabelle replied. Although, time dilation- Can''t. Lose. Focus.


    MY AGENT, DARAKEN, HAS BEEN REBORN, AND WILL HUNT YOU DOWN.


    Then I''ll kill him next. If he was alive, he wouldn''t be for long, not with Annabelle''s new weapons.


    AND WITH YOUR EFFORTS, YOU HAVE CAUSED MORE PAIN TO YOURSELF THAN I WOULD EVER CAUSE.


    I''m also immune to pain. Unlike the thousands you''ve kidnapped.


    Everyone''s clear, Omega informed her. We need to go.


    You are a monster, Nyxl. I swear, I will kill you, no matter the cost, no matter the consequences. But¡­ you live. For now.


    Even though she was leaving thousands more to this monster, there was nothing she could do. Not until she grew strong enough to face the gods on even footing.


    She collapsed the barrier, and redirected her energy to launching herself backwards through the portal. The tentacles shot forwards, but Annabelle outran them through the portal. Then, before Nyxl could get through, Omega reversed the measures she was using to hold the portal open, causing it to slam shut before Nyxl could get through.


    She had escaped one enemy. But if Nyxl wasn''t lying, she was far from over.

 2-19: Execution

    Annabelle came out the other side of the portal and flew through the small cavern out to the surface.


    She flew out into a night sky, illuminated by the light reflected from Garnoth''s large moon. She looked back to the ground, and saw that they had emerged into the middle of a desert, though she also saw some trees on one edge of the horizon.


    That would be the second time I''ve escaped a prison only to end up in the middle of the desert. And, as before, we''ll probably need some help to get rescued.


    But first, she aimed Shadebreaker into the cave and fired several shots at the cavern''s walls, triggering a collapse. It probably wouldn''t stop the Shades for long, but it would at least buy a few minutes.


    Darius was already attempting to contact Sanctuary. Hopefully, his arcane communications device would still work. If it didn''t, Annabelle would have to figure out how to transport hundreds across this desert.


    At the same time, Lorso was attempting to care for Silence, or at least what was left of him. Healing fire coursed through Silence''s head, which was apparently enough to keep him conscious. But he wouldn''t last for very long, not without Lunima''s help. If she was even willing to help Silence, given his nature as a rogue anti-divine warrior.


    Okay, I have good news and bad news, Darius told Annabelle and the rest of the group. The good news, I was able to contact Sanctuary. The bad news, Daraken''s breached Sanctuary''s defenses.


    Tell then that if they can last long enough to open a portal, Daraken will cease to be a concern.


    They''ve guessed as much. But a portal will take five minutes to open. Sanctuary might not last long enough.


    **********


    Julia and her elite team stormed through the tower. With the healing power of her and the rest of her priests, the apprentices and the tower''s traps were simply unable to do much more than slow them down.


    The apprentices made one last defiant stand at the midpoint of the tower, accompanied by an army of skeletons. However, after Julia coordinated with several of her priests to release a healing wave that disrupted the animation of those skeletons, they easily took them all down one last time.


    Now, to finish the job. As members of the Resistance laid out explosive charges, and Bouldos prepared an earthbreaker spell to obliterate any unprotected rock in the area, Julia focused on a two-part effort to make sure everyone survived this.


    First, she consecrated the area, strengthening the pull of the afterlife. It any sort of soul-capturing devices were in use, this would hopefully override them.


    Then, she focused the rest of her efforts on protecting herself, giving her enough strength to hopefully withstand the tower''s collapse.


    If this worked, she would probably have to spend the next week performing bodyless resurrections for the rest of her team. But if it worked, they would eliminate Daraken''s base of operations.


    "I am ready. Destroy this place."


    Everyone stepped away from the walls (a pointless measure given that they were about to drop half a tower on themselves), and then they pulled the trigger, just as Bouldos unleashed his spell.


    As they had planned, the explosives combined with Bouldos''s magic to obliterate the stone at this level. All around them, they saw a ring of empty space.


    But nothing collapsed.


    "What just happened?"


    "You triggered our trap," a voice said, the voice of one of the apprentices.


    Suddenly, a field of energy sprung up all around them, covering the floor, walls, and ceiling. A Resistance member immediately tried to flee down the stairs, but an energy field blocked him.


    "Somehow, he managed to levitate his entire tower," Julia muttered. "This plan never stood a chance."


    Now, all Julia could do was hope for some sort of miracle. With Helios unable to intervene without breaking some sort of divine law, there was only one possible source for such an intervention.


    **********


    "Raiks, I know that killing you here won''t end the Resistance," Daraken said, his magically-amplified voice booming through Sanctuary, almost deafening to Raiks'' ears. "It will end its threat to my rule, but it won''t stop your deployed agents from continuing to be a nuisance. An irrelevant nuisance, but a nuisance nonetheless."


    "So, I''m offering a simple proposal: surrender now. Order your Resistance to stand down. It''s over for you."


    Raiks looked around, and saw a handful of the Resistance''s noncombatants watching from what they probably saw as safe distances.


    "We cannot surrender. Not when the fate of the divine realms is at stake."


    Raiks said nothing. He needed to think of something, some way to stall Daraken, to buy more time for Julia''s team to complete their mission.


    "I know what you''re thinking. You''re thinking that Julia''s still going to pull through for you."


    Daraken didn''t explicitly say that they were doomed to failure, but his current actions showed that he considered them to be no threat. Maybe Daraken had taken a quick detour to wipe them out before breaching here.


    Well, he could still be wrong. It would have to be a very big oversight for his intelligence, but it was possible.


    "Sanctuary, come in." That voice- was it-


    "Darius?" Raiks replied, looking down and whispering to try to prevent Daraken from noticing.


    "We escaped Daraken''s banishment, alongside a large group of refugees. Can Sanctuary get us out?"


    Well, that was almost certainly something Daraken wasn''t accounting for.


    Raiks cut communications for a bit and spoke to Daraken, hoping to delay him. "Are they already dead?"


    "No," Daraken replied, with a bit of a laugh. "But their mission will not succeed."


    While Daraken spoke, Raiks replied to Darius. "Daraken''s here. Attempting to open a portal."


    Then, he whispered an order to the Resistance''s portal operator to target Darius''s signal and open a portal to it. Unfortunately, with the delay on portal creation, it would take too long to arrive.


    "Ah, it seems that they''ve reached their target. Let''s see how they perform, shall we?"


    Daraken channeled something through his staff, and projected an image of a floor of his tower. Judging by the internal damage, he was showing the fiftieth floor, where Julia planned to bring it down.


    But then, he was blindsided. Saphus rushed him with lightning speed, ramming straight through the projected image and slamming into Daraken''s defenses. He swung his staff to try to smash her away, but she kicked off, propelled herself with another burst of magic, and landed back on the ground. The projected image faded away.


    "Come on, asshole. Kill me."


    If you have something that can take him down, use it now, Saphus told Raiks with a telepathic message.


    Daraken didn''t seem to react much to his agent betraying him. "Your betrayal was part of my plan." He turned to Raiks. "I must say, killing yourself to support an agent was a pretty good trick. Shame it wasn''t quite good enough."


    Saphus leaped at Daraken again, but this time Daraken was ready, swatting her out of the air, blasting her away with an explosive impact. Saphus still managed to land on her feet, but she was a bit slow to recover.


    Why wasn''t Daraken killing her with the same magical kill-switch he had used to terminate his other agents? Maybe he hadn''t been able to install the kill-switch in Saphus yet.


    "I would reconsider this action, Raiks."


    Saphus leaped forward for a third attack, and Raiks supported her by firing a dispelling bolt from his Arcane Bolter, timed to hit Daraken just before Saphus would.


    Daraken attempted to shoot down Saphus with a blast from his staff, but the dispelling bolt disrupted his shot. However, it didn''t do enough to his arcane shields to allow Saphus''s follow-up to cause any damage.


    Then, instead of landing back on the ground, Saphus instead took to the air, flying above Daraken. Daraken aimed his staff at her, but didn''t make any attacks.


    "That''s right. You can''t kill me, because if you did, I''d come back inside your base, in prime position to wreck it."


    Daraken laughed. "That''s what you think."


    Daraken simply fired a red bolt from his staff, hitting Saphus straight-on. She dropped out of the sky and hit the ground hard, but Raiks didn''t see any blood coming from the impact.


    Probably a derivative of his stasis/sleep curse, Raiks guessed.


    "I gave you a chance to surrender," Daraken said behind the illusionary image. "You should have taken it." The tip of his staff began to crackle with black energy.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    At the same time, Julia''s voice sprang up on the Resistance''s communications channel. "Raiks! It was a trap. We blew the tower, but failed to cause it to collapse."


    Raiks had one last idea. He told Darius to relay a message to Annabelle. Maybe, it would give her the inspiration she would need to get back to Sanctuary.


    Then, he used the last stalling method he had left.


    "Wait!" Raiks called out, just before Daraken was to blast him. "I surrender."


    Daraken hesitated. "I sense trickery. You''re stalling for something, aren''t you?"


    Raiks sent out a message to everyone in the Resistance at once. "STAND DOWN! We have established a cease-fire, duration of one day."


    "This is a surrender, not a cease-fire."


    "It will be extended into a surrender when you cease your hostilities." Raiks bargained.


    "You''re not in a position to not trust me. Order a permanent surrender, now!" His staff charged up again.


    Then, a shockwave shook Sanctuary.


    **********


    They wouldn''t make it in time. In five minutes, Daraken would be able to kill everyone in Sanctuary and escape before Annabelle could kill him.


    There has to be a way to get there faster.


    Unfortunately, there wasn''t. Even if she knew where it was exactly, she couldn''t cross hundreds of kilometers that fast. She briefly pondered an alternate route involving going high into the stratosphere, but it still required knowledge of the island''s location, and it still wouldn''t be fast enough.


    And, further, it seemed that whatever she had done to give herself a second wind wouldn''t hold for long. The exertion headache had briefly faded, but now it was coming back with a vengeance.


    Why do these stupid portal devices have a delay on them? We''re all going to die because a stupid portal generator can''t deploy fast enough.


    The original design was created by Daraken, Darius explained. Aurim copied his work as part of the creation of Sanctuary, and couldn''t find a way to improve it.


    So it is likely that the design is intentionally flawed.


    Opening a portal across a long distance requires a tremendous amount of energy to carve a path, Varos replied. He likely wasn''t able to get them to go any faster without significantly increasing the amount of magical energy that would be needed in each generator.


    Still, Sanctuary was going to die because of that, and they would be next.


    Annabelle, Raiks wants you to create a portal, Darius said, relaying a message he probably got from Raiks.


    I can''t do that. Annabelle immediately replied.


    We''re here because you teleported us here, Omega countered.


    That was true. She had ripped the information straight out of an Elder''s squid-like head, in fact. It seemed to involve punching a hole into space-time with an intense focused force, and then ripping outwards to open a portal. Based on what she knew now about wormholes and portals, it probably breached some fourth spatial dimension to do so.


    Wait. If that technique rips open space to create a portal, how would you even control the destination?


    Omega raised a point that Annabelle probably should have thought of when she attempted to use it the first time. The information she had gained from the Elder said that the user''s desires would specify the endpoint, but she had likely mis-translated the information and missed the part where she would define the destination. That was probably the difficult part, in fact.


    End result, we ended up here after something hijacked our teleportation, Annabelle thought.


    Theory: If that technique doesn''t specify an endpoint, then the endpoint would be defined by whatever other effect is manipulating fourth-dimensional boundaries nearby. Omega''s theory made a bit of sense, but it was just that, a theory.


    So, if I did it right now-


    If this is correct, you''d teleport to the portal generator''s location in Sanctuary, potentially forcing the portal open in the process.


    Was she willing to risk everything to test that? She might get a premonition if she was about to take an action that would kill her (or that would result in her desiring suicide to warn her past self), but if it was anything like her previous experience, the teleportation might take too long for her to have a chance to warn herself before it went wrong.


    Proposal: instead of teleporting ourself directly, we center the portal somewhere nearby, and hope it provides enough energy to open a portal that the generator''s magic will stabilize and keep open.


    Well, it was as good of an idea as any. Annabelle performed the technique, breaching the fourth-dimensional wall and then blasting through it with a surge of energy. There was a bright flash of purple and the crack of a whip as air molecules were sucked through a brief portal, but nothing happened.


    Well, that didn''t work. And, we don''t know where those air molecules ended up-


    Then, the portal surged into existence at that exact location. On the other end was Sanctuary.


    Annabelle didn''t hesitate. She flew through the portal, and straight through the antechamber''s null-magic field. Her flight was briefly suppressed, but she easily made up the difference with a telekinetic surge, hurling herself through and out the other end. L


    Wait five minutes before following me. We can''t let any civilians get in range of this monster.


    She took to the air, and quickly spotted her target, hovering above the ruins of Sanctuary''s headquarters. He was currently talking to a defeated Raiks. Well, Raiks probably wouldn''t be feeling defeated for much longer.


    Annabelle switched Shadebreaker to 100% power, aimed it at Daraken''s face, and pulled the trigger. But despite the sheer power of the blast, it didn''t smash through Daraken''s wards.


    It did, however, draw Daraken''s attention. He manifested a cloud of darkness around himself, an attempt to disrupt her aim.


    She could utilize a Starsight field to track Daraken, but it would require moving closer into range.


    Does Daraken know I have limited range on this, is he guessing, or does he not even know about this power? Maybe Nyxl gave him some hints.


    Either way, she moved in, focusing her Starsight on the darkness cloud in an attempt to track Daraken and hit him again.


    Then, her wards were slammed by a kinetic impact from the side, barely withstanding the blast. She refocused her Starsight, and quickly detected an invisible Daraken. At some point, he must have either flown or teleported to a flanking position, and had attempted to take her down with his own high energy shot.


    Annabelle initiated telepathic contact with Daraken, partly to threaten his mind and partly to use her psychic aura as a tracking device. As she expected, she encountered a mental barrier.


    Instead of wasting time fighting that defense, she instead fired a distortion beam at him. Somehow, it had no effect.


    She followed up with a second blast from her railgun, which was again blocked by his wards.


    How did you survive? Daraken asked that question to Annabelle through his own mental barrier, which was a bit of surprise for her. Her only response was a third shot from Shadebreaker, which the wards again withstood.


    He retaliated with a bolt of black lightning, an attack that Annabelle could not evade. But her response was to aim Shadebreaker in such a way that the lightning bolt would impact the conductive armature of the weapon.


    The lightning coursed through the weapon, before eventually being absorbed. A technological weapon would likely be rendered inoperable by a massive current, but with a weapon that was based around a magical power source, the rules were different.


    Annabelle aimed the weapon directly at Daraken, and pulled the trigger.


    The weapon exploded in her hands. Her remaining wards blocked most of the impact, but a large piece of shrapnel ripped into her abdomen.


    However, it still managed to fire a projectile, fast enough that the projectile seemed to ignite the air. The shot obliterated Daraken''s wards, and then the projectile and superheated gas obliterated Daraken''s chest, shattering his invisibility. His arms, legs, and head each fell to the ground in separate pieces, along with a pile of gore.


    Annabelle wasn''t sure how he would transform now, but her question was answered when Daraken''s draconic transformation began at his head and worked downwards, a dragon body and limbs growing outward from his neck.


    Annabelle''s first reaction was to penetrate Daraken''s mental defenses, taking advantage of a brief gap in them to penetrate through and reach his mind. The barriers reformed after the dragon''s head formed, but they couldn''t push Annabelle out once she was got past them.


    Her second reaction was to drop a vortex directly on Daraken''s forming body, ripping it apart even as it formed.


    But it wouldn''t be enough to just destroy his body. If Annabelle wanted to make sure she never came back, she would have to rip his mind apart as well.


    Somehow, despite being in the middle of a chaotic field of spatial distortion, Daraken''s body managed to form enough to allow him to move. He dragged himself forwards, attempting to get out of the radius of destruction.


    But at the same time, Annabelle began to dig into Daraken''s mind.


    Daraken made some effort to resist, but his defense was sluggish and half-hearted. In his mind, he kept echoing a single question: How did you survive?


    Annabelle decided to reply. I engineered this weapon and organized a resistance to strike back against your patron''s tyranny.


    Wait, what? Daraken was acting confused, probably faking it.


    And, I wrecked his infrastructure in the process.


    We are working on incompatible information. Daraken claimed.


    As they exchanged that information, Daraken had another surge of motion, pulling himself closer to the edge of the vortex.


    I fail to see how this is incompatible information. You banished me to a hellscape ruled by a god of torture, and then you later banished several members of the Church of Helios as well. There is no other explanation.


    No. That''s not right. The spell I used to sabotage the portals was intended to sabotage the return path and result in instant death for anyone unfortunate enough to go through it. No torture realm was supposed to be involved.


    Then what about your divine patron? Annabelle inquired.


    I work alone. I have not been given any offer of allegiance by any divine entity. And I would refuse an offer from a ''god of torture''.


    That''s doubtful, Annabelle replied.


    Wait. He''s right. Omega interjected.


    How so?


    Nyxl sent an agent to help the Resistance defeat Daraken. Nyxl has also claimed that this world only became a viable invasion target after Daraken''s apparent death. If Daraken was working with Nyxl, there would be no need for him to do that.


    Wait. Omega was right. And Nyxl was lying, at least about that part of his claims.


    Also, the Shades gain many of their victims from teleportation mishaps, the sort that normally result in fatalities. Daraken''s deliberate sabotage was likely exactly the same.


    One question, Annabelle asked Daraken. Is this what you meant by banishment, banishing me to nothingness?


    No. The sabotage of your portal was different from the banishment I would have done for you, had you chosen to retreat.


    Annabelle wasn''t sure if he was lying, though. But, she would most likely need his help against the Shades.


    Daraken made one last push to escape, before his body gave out and collapsed.


    Well, it appears that you''re right. Now, I''m still going to have to kill you, but I''ll let you resurrect yourself again. You are capable of doing that, right?


    Yes, Daraken said. Wait. Why are you letting me live?


    I''m going to need your help. Annabelle gave him a massive dump of information, everything she had on Nyxl and his Shades. She also gave him her memories of the area around the cave, in hopes that Daraken would be able to use his deduction skills to figure out where the cave was and prepare an ambush once the Shades cleared away the rubble.


    I will¡­ prepare, Daraken replied, his consciousness faltering due to the damage he had sustained. I will open¡­ communications¡­ when you next leave¡­ Sanctuary.


    A moment after he finished that mental message, his consciousness winked out, as the damage he sustained from the vortex overwhelmed him. Daraken collapsed, lifeless.


    Then, Annabelle descended to meet Raiks. Raiks said something, but Annabelle, still deafened from Shadebreaker''s explosion, couldn''t make it out. She quickly realized her mistake, switching to telepathy.


    I attempted to finish Daraken off for good, Annabelle claimed. I attempted to destroy his mind to prevent him from resurrecting, but he was able to resist that attempt, and died before I could cause any significant mental damage. He will return.


    What the hell happened to you?


    Daraken''s magic banished me to a hellscape ruled by Nyxl, an evil God. I managed to escape, and I even gathered new allies in the process, but I''ve also drawn the attention of a new enemy: the Shades.


    Why are you using-


    My ears were damaged by a point-blank explosion. Probably needs a healer to fix. Anyways, I''ve got info on a new threat.


    Annabelle slowly gave him all of the information she knew about the Shades. Raiks wasn''t sure what to make of it.


    Too much has happened today. You stopped Daraken from wiping out the Resistance entirely, but he managed to capture Julia and many of her high-ranking church members in the process. Even with your help, we likely won''t be able to stop him. And if we''re also dealing with a new threat at the same time¡­


    Annabelle had her own worries, but for a different reason. With the arrival of the Shades, she wasn''t sure which side she was truly on.


    And there''s one more threat, an outside-context problem for a medieval society. They seemed like they were on her side, but maybe they didn''t truly have her best interests in mind.