ã€ŠPrimeval Champion [A Colony-Building LitRPG]ã€‹


 1.00: Prologue â€” The Midnight Exodus

    I had demanded utmost secrecy.

    The Temple of the Midnight Queen was wrapped in spells of illusion. No one in the city could see that thousands of elves were gathering inside: from the outside, it appeared as empty and quiet as it always did in the dark hours that preceded the first light of dawn.

    My people came in small groups, all of them brought by mages who hid them with spells of invisibility, silence, and non-detection. They wore flowing gowns of white and red: White was our color of mourning and red was the color of rage.

    We¡¯d all been wearing those colors, lately.

    Each group of elves would pass through an illusory set of doors behind me and then shed their invisibility. They would deposit a small, carefully weighed bundle of possessions with the soldiers who were organizing the packs, then be quietly ushered toward an elf of the clergy who would lead them through the process of signing away all their property and possessions. Once that was done, it was time to wait: they would move toward the center of the temple¡¯s main chamber to join the others in hushed conversations, in the making of music, or in prayer.

    There was no need for the elves inside the temple to be as quiet as they were: our spells would muffle any sounds from inside. Yet their conversations were hushed, and what music they made was gentle and subdued. The vastness of the temple, the secrecy of the occasion, the shadow of what we¡¯d lost¡ªthese things worked in tandem to quiet them.

    The main chamber of the temple was a great, round open area with a dome-shaped ceiling. Its walls, and ceiling were polished jet that was encased in clean, clear enchanted glass and studded with more than a million diamonds, each of them glowing with inner light and filling the room with a cascade of glittering color. The chamber had been cleared of almost all its furnishings, leaving a wide open area where the elves now gathered in the light.

    A behemoth of an organ dominated one wall. High Priest Hassina sat at that organ, playing a song whose melody I¡¯d never heard before: half-dirge, half-lullaby, I heard the fluttering and sighing of the pipes and felt a deep, distant longing.

    I stood just inside the temple, centered before the statue that greeted worshippers when they arrived. Sabina, the goddess of night, magic, and beauty, looked down at me. She was my creator: I was one of the firstborn, the oldest elves, not made in the usual way but created with magic by the Midnight Queen herself.

    ¡°That¡¯s almost all of them,¡± said a quiet voice at my side. I turned and saw that it was Seriana, our new archmage. ¡°We should be finished with your bow soon after they¡¯ve all arrived.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I said, nodding.

    Soon enough I would be fighting tooth and nail for survival.

    Soon enough all of us would be. Until then¡­.

    Where were you? I thought, gazing up at the blank, alabaster face of the statue.

    A Doom had come to our home realm of Aranar. It had come in the form of a wall of smoke and fire that had stretched from the sea to the sky. I¡¯d watched a city that had stood for centuries¡ªmy city, Tel Telana¡ªblown away like dust in the wind.

    The Doom had vaporized oceans and mountains alike, moving at miles per second. Our entire world had been annihilated in less than an hour. Of the three million elves who had made it their home, fewer than ten thousand had escaped. Counting the few elves scattered across other worlds, we¡¯d been reduced to one percent our former numbers.

    Where had our gods been, when the Doom had come to Aranar? What source could such obliterating power stem from, if not them?

    They were questions that nobody had answers to. A panic had spread across the known cosmos when Aranar had been destroyed¡ªeveryone wanted to know what had happened because they were afraid it would happen to them. But no one had anything but theories. And even if they did learn what had happened, no-one could contend with power like that¡ªexcept the gods.

    I left the statue and crossed the glittering main chamber, ignoring the heads that turned toward me as I made my way to the organ. They¡¯d come here on my word, trusting me with the entirety of their future. I was their [Primeval Champion]. In war, I led them to peace through victory. In times of crisis, I was a steady, forceful hand.

    In this, our gravest time of crisis, I had banked on every bit of fame and idolatry I had and promised these elves that I would lead some of them away. I had promised that those who followed would not be returning for centuries and would face a difficult struggle for survival.

    But I¡¯d promised them something else: if they followed me, I would show them a miracle so profound that all of them would agree that the hardship and sacrifice were worth it.

    I¡¯d told them no more than this, keeping the whole of my plan a secret¡ªand still they¡¯d come.

    I reached the organ and gently touched High Priest Hassina on the shoulder. She rose, signaled another elf to take her place, and then followed me. She was a small elf, almost frail-looking, with a long sweep of white hair and clever green eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard you play that before,¡± I said.

    ¡°It¡¯s new.¡±

    ¡°For Aranar?¡±

    Hassina shook her head. ¡°I couldn¡¯t,¡± she said. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t even know how to start. Not yet.¡± She shook her head again. ¡°No, I¡¯m saying goodbye to all this.¡± She looked around at the inside of the cathedral. ¡°To the realms we¡¯re leaving behind, and the people who live here. Today I gave away everything I owned and said goodbye to everything that still remains¡ªand that loss, at least, I can quantify.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you came, Hassina.¡±

    ¡°Of course I came,¡± said Hassina. She crossed her arms. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine how much it must inflate your ego, knowing that so many of us will give up what little we have left to follow you on nothing but vague promises. But here I am all the same. Now will you tell me what it is we¡¯re doing?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Not all of it. Not until you meet me on the other side.¡±

    Hassina sighed. ¡°And all of this secrecy is really necessary?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°Though I can¡¯t tell you why until¡ª¡±

    ¡°¡ªyou meet me on the other side,¡± she finished, her voice laced with tired amusement.

    ¡°Precisely.¡± I led her through the temple¡¯s back rooms into a study that we¡¯d converted into a makeshift armory. Zirilla, my head elementalist, met us there. She was one of the few remaining sea elves, with many scales and pearls set into a huge head of wild, curly brown hair.

    ¡°We almost ready?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Expecting a fight, Zirilla?¡± Hassina asked, looking over to where my armor and equipment were laid out on a nearby table.

    ¡°It¡¯s for Aziriel,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°And yes. Quite a few, actually.¡±

    Hassina looked at me with surprise. ¡°Since when did you wear armor?¡±

    Zirilla laughed. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell her?¡±

    ¡°I was getting to it,¡± I said. I turned to Hassina. ¡°A warp spell is about to bring us all to a new world,¡± I said. ¡°And as it does that, it¡¯s going to strip our gathered essence and aspect, setting us to level 0.¡±

    Hassina face became a mask of shock. ¡°What? Why?¡±

    ¡°The short answer is that warping someone across the cosmos is easier when they¡¯re essence-light,¡± I said.

    ¡°And the long answer?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you on the other side,¡± I said.

    ¡°Fine¡ªbut I didn¡¯t even know that was possible.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s definitely possible,¡± I said. ¡°I did it this morning.¡±

    Hassina looked at me as if I was mad. ¡°You don¡¯t meant to say¡ªyou¡¯re level 0? Right now?¡±

    ¡°A bit of a change from usual, I know,¡± I said. ¡°But I wanted a little time to get used to this new level of strength.¡±

    ¡°But how?¡± Hassina asked. ¡°You can¡¯t take someone¡¯s levels.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s focus,¡± I said. I began to change into my armor with Zirilla¡¯s help. It was a set of composite leather armor, padded on the inside and lined in critical areas with thin steel plates. ¡°I¡¯m about to warp to the new world, and then I¡¯m going to bring everyone in the temple over¡ªusing this.¡± I opened a steel-lined pouch at my waist, pulling out a jewel that glowed with blue-white light.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°We can¡¯t all go at once?¡± Hassina asked. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be less dangerous?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said.

    ¡°One of us has to go through first and bring the rest in after them,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°Act like a sort of beacon for the rest of the spell.¡± She flashed the high priest a smile. ¡°We wouldn¡¯t need that person to be Aziriel¡ªexcept that it¡¯s going to be horribly dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Horribly dangerous,¡± Hassina echoed.

    ¡°The new world is covered in primeval mana,¡± Zirilla explained as she helped tug a jerkin over my head. ¡°Which for our intents and purposes is bad news.¡±

    ¡°Why is that bad news?¡± Hassina asked. ¡°You¡¯re both primeval spellcasters.¡±

    ¡°Primeval mana is the mana of life, of vigor,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°It channels faster than other mana, which I¡¯m guessing you know, but it also mutates creatures who are exposed to it for a long time.¡±

    ¡°That I also knew,¡± Hassina said.

    She glanced at me as she said it, and it was easy to see why. A long life of exposure to primeval mana had added a few inches to my height, turned my white hair gold, my eyes red, and lengthened my canines into fangs.

    ¡°The most dangerous mutation that primeval mana creates is called a primeval convergence,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°It affects almost every creature in a local ecosystem. It doesn¡¯t make them stronger or faster, but it can make them collectively aggressive once certain conditions are met.¡±

    Hassina looked from Zirilla to me. ¡°And I take it you¡¯re going to meet those conditions, whatever they are?¡±

    ¡°If a new species shows up and kills too many other creatures, the whole of the ecosystem will respond to a deep instinct¡ªand beasts for miles around will come to fend off the new threat,¡± Zirilla explained. ¡°Basically, the wilderness drafts an army to deter any powerful new predators who might drastically alter the ecosystem.¡±

    ¡°All right,¡± said Hassina. ¡°So to avoid the primeval convergence, she has to level up without seeming too strong? Without killing too many things?¡±

    ¡°Not quite,¡± Zirilla said, flashing Hassina a devilish smile. ¡°I left something out. A new species showing up in great numbers will also trigger a convergence, since that too can drastically alter the ecosystem.¡±

    Hassina¡¯s face fell. ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°When Aziriel uses the warp jewel and we show up, we¡¯ll trigger a convergence and get mauled by all the local fauna at once¡ªwhile we¡¯re level 0.¡±

    Hassina nodded in understanding, looking even more tired. ¡°Unless Aziriel triggers a convergence first.¡±

    Zirilla nodded. ¡°If she fights a convergence off, our species will be psychically catalogued as a part of the local ecosystem, and armies of wild beasts will no longer gather to attack us. Which is good.¡±

    Hassina sighed. ¡°Which is good,¡± she echoed.

    ¡°Aye, now you see,¡± said Zirilla, grinning. ¡°She¡¯s got to go to an unknown world that¡¯s steeped in power at level 0, then trigger a convergence and fight off an army of wildlife she¡¯s never seen before.¡±

    ¡°Before the jewel¡¯s power dissipates,¡± I added, patting where the jewel was sequestered in a metal case at my hip. ¡°Primeval mana isn¡¯t particularly kind to arcane magic¡ªeven when kept in its case, the warp spell stored in the jewel will only last for a few hours.¡±

    ¡°A few hours,¡± Hassina echoed, worry creeping into her expression.

    ¡°Any advice?¡± I asked her, a smile playing at the edge of my mouth.

    Hassina stared at me, and her expression slowly became accusatory, her eyes narrowing. ¡°Aziriel¡­ you¡¯re actually looking forward to this, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Of course I am,¡± I said. ¡°This past month I¡¯ve craved purpose, a direction to move in. Soon I¡¯ll have one. Soon all of us will.¡±

    Hassina was still looking at me like I was insane. ¡°I thought you hated risks.¡±

    ¡°I hate unnecessary risks,¡± I corrected. ¡°But once a risk is necessary, I commit. And there¡¯s no use worrying after you¡¯re committed. Besides,¡± I added. ¡°Think of how many new creatures I¡¯ll get to meet.¡±

    ¡°Hostile creatures that have been mutated by primeval mana.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t make them less interesting,¡± I said.

    ¡°And we couldn¡¯t risk someone less valuable?¡± Hassina asked. She hesitated, then added: ¡°Like Zirilla?¡±

    Zirilla cackled. ¡°Aziriel is one of the firstborn,¡± she said. ¡°And she¡¯s the [Primeval Champion]. Even at level 0, she¡¯s still got her class skill and the gift of a goddess to keep her safe.¡± She shrugged. ¡°She goes, we stay.¡±

    While we¡¯d spoken, I¡¯d finished equipping myself. On my belt I had two curved knives, a pair of flight goggles, a pouch of chalk dust, the pouch containing the warp jewel, a canteen of water, some strips of dried meat wrapped in cloth, a quiver of arrows, and a whetstone. Bound to each thigh was a sheaf of more arrows¡ªI¡¯d brought 66 in total.

    While I was checking all this over, a knock came at the door. Zirilla answered it to find Seriana, the archmage, with my bow.

    ¡°Everyone¡¯s here,¡± Seriana said to me.

    ¡°Good,¡± I said. ¡°Seal off the temple. No-one comes, no-one leaves. Start getting everyone in formation.¡±

    She nodded and left.

    ¡°Why have them take the enchantment off the old bow?¡± Zirilla asked. ¡°You could¡¯ve just grabbed a new one.¡±

    I stood, then took the bow from her and clipped it to my baldric. ¡°Sentiment,¡± I said simply. Then I rolled my shoulders. ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡±

    ¡°Remember,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°Don¡¯t die, then find enough essence to make a skill key and make a skill. After that¡¯s done, continuing not dying until you can trigger a primeval convergence.¡±

    I grinned at her as she passed me my spear. ¡°And once that¡¯s happened¡ª¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to want to stay alive,¡± Zirilla said gravely.

    I planted my spear on the ground in front of me. ¡°You two should go join the others, now. I¡¯ll be leaving shortly.¡±

    Both of them wished me luck. Hassina said a prayer.

    Then I was alone.

    I took stock of what power I¡¯d kept, first querying for my attributes:

    ?¡ªYour Attributes:

    4 [Aegis]

    25 [Agility]

    4 [Strength]

    4 [Channel]

    25 [Focus]

    4 [Source]

    6 [Bestow]

    40/40 Mana ¡ª 40% Primeval

    They were simple enough to understand: [Aegis] was a general defense attribute, [Channel] determined how fast I could fuel my spells with mana, [Focus] concentrated on spells for me, and [Source] determined the size of my mana pool.

    These attributes only represented the magical bonuses granted by my class, skills, and level: counting what I was innately capable of even without my attributes, my [Strength] would have been more than 30, my [Agility] more than 70.

    [Bestow] wasn¡¯t an attribute. Rather, it was the amount I would get to increase any attribute when I gained a level. [Bestow] went up by 2 every 5 levels¡ªmaking levels more valuable as I got stronger.

    I had kept two passive skills when I¡¯d been stripped of my power. The first had been given to all of the firstborn elves by our mother-creator, Sabina:

    [Sable Grace 20]

    Components: [*Arcane 5] + [Body 5] + [Diamond 5] + [Dark 5]

    + 21 [Agility]

    + 21 [Focus]

    + 20% Efficiency with mana. Efficiency refunds a part of the cost of spent resources.

    Extending your claim or gaze through darkness, moonlight, or starlight is easier. Your gaze now conveys the contours of surfaces that are in darkness or that are lit by starlight or moonlight.

    You see well in darkness, unless it is perfect darkness.

    Locked: this skill was a gift from Sabina; it cannot be relinquished or modified.

    The goddess of night and magic had, fittingly, gifted the first elves with a powerful skill that strengthened our magic and made us at home in the night.

    I brought up my class¡¯s granted skill, also a passive:

    [Primeval Power 30]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + 5 [Primeval 5]

    [Primeval Resonance] ¡Á 2.00

    Primeval Mana Profile + 40%

    Locked: this skill is your class¡¯s granted skill; it cannot be relinquished or modified.

    Primeval mana profile was simple enough: it converted any mana that I was holding into mana that was 40% primeval, making it channel 40% faster than normal mana. Faster channeling meant throwing faster projectiles, conjuring hotter flames, healing wounds more quickly¡­ as long as I had the mana to pay for it.

    [Primeval Resonance] was more complicated, but also far more important. It wasn¡¯t an attribute, and it wasn¡¯t bought with essence or aspects¡ªit was a percentage multiplier that one gained by being in the right state of mind.

    In order to raise [Primeval Resonance], one had to be in touch with their instincts and with the physical world around them. Feasting, dancing, fighting: these things raised [Primeval Resonance]. Hence my power derived from passion, from sensual experience, from tasting the air on my tongue and feeling the thrum of my pulse in my fingertips.

    A trained fighter might reach 20% resonance in battle. A veteran berserker, 30%. An archdruid might reach 40%¡ªespecially if they used some of the meditative techniques I¡¯d invented many centuries ago.

    I checked mine:

    102% [Primeval Resonance]¡ªmodified from 51% Base.

    Thanks to my class¡¯s skill, my resonance was more than double that of our next-best warrior. It would go higher soon enough, when I was fighting for my life.

    The first benefit of [Primeval Resonance] was the same benefit that I gained from having primeval mana: faster channeling. [Primeval Resonance] and my primeval mana added their bonuses together, so that my [Channel], the attribute that governed channeling speed, was more than 140% more effective¡ªan absurdly powerful bonus that made my spells brutally fast.

    The second benefit of [Primeval Resonance] was that it increased the effects of almost every passive skill. With [Primeval Power] to bring my resonance to over one hundred percent, I would double the strength of every passive skill I built¡ªhence why [Sable Grace 20] was granting seven levels worth of attribute points.

    All of this was only half the power of my class, though. Once I got to the new world and started building skills, I¡¯d begin to enjoy the other half.

    I reached into the jewel at my hip with my magic, finding the ready-made spell trigger that would take me to the new world.

    I took a few deep breaths.

    Then I triggered the spell.

 1.01: The New World

    The warp spell dropped me onto hard, dark stone, and I rolled to my feet and grabbed for my spear.

    Surviving the next few hours wouldn¡¯t be easy.

    I was surrounded by lizards¡ªbut they were small, half my height, and they were scurrying away from me with the fearful motions of prey.

    It was dark as night, but there was no moon or stars. Instead, faintly glowing red mist lay all around me, thickening into deep, luminous walls. The ground rose away from me to vanish into the mist and was dotted here and there with green and pink patches of glowing moss.

    Lightning flashed in the clouds above, revealing more of the world before me¡ªand I froze. Cresting the dark line of the horizon, where the slope ahead met the formless blanket of glowing red sky, I saw the silhouette of a great cat with its red eyes fixed upon me.

    Then the world darkened again as the lightning faded, and both the cat and the horizon were gone, obscured by a thick wall of mist. A moment later, I felt a psychic touch against my mind, light and soft as a falling snowflake.

    It was the cat. It had seen me in the lightning and was now using [Wild Bond] to track me. I guessed it was a predator who used the fog for stealth¡ªmost likely it had crept up on the pack of small creatures that I had scared off, meaning to hunt one of them.

    Instead it had found me.

    I closed my eyes and crouched. This cat was an ambush predator. I knew because I could barely hear it moving, its soft weight carried on padded feet that made only the lightest scuffs against the porous stone, faintly audible in the breeze.

    I held still with my face forward, quietly shifting my legs beneath me as I prepared to turn toward it¡­.

    The cat paused, coiled, and pounced.

    I was moving as soon as I heard its weight shifting, throwing myself to one side as the sleek figure emerged wraithlike from the mist, rolling to come up with my spear pointed at where I¡¯d been and thrusting forward with all the force I could muster at the huge form¡­.

    My spear struck the cat just behind its shoulders, but only sank an inch or two into its flesh, barely piercing skin.

    The cat yowled, landed unsteadily, then leapt away, bounding further up the slope to round on me, surprised but not really injured. I took in my first real sighting of it: a sleek, wet coat of black fur, gleaming red in the strange light of the mist.

    And as I watched, I saw the wound on its shoulder close. [Regeneration], then.

    My heart sank. If I¡¯d had even a little essence, enough to coalesce an [Earth] or [Air] key that I could use to fight¡­ but I didn¡¯t have essence. The only essence in my future would come if I killed this beast. And to do that I had a spear, a bow, two knives, and my magic.

    The cat growled, and I hissed back, low to the ground and ready to move. But the beast waited, eyes on me.

    Sensing a chance, I reached out with my magical gaze, finding the world around me to be alive with primeval mana, which danced in the fog around us and welled up from what must have been a chasm behind me to flow across the rocks. Enough time and I could¡ª

    The cat pounced, and this time I didn¡¯t leap to the side but threw myself backward, setting the spear against the ground and falling into a crouch so that the cat barreled straight into the point.

    I felt a jolt of force and heard a howl of pain, but my heart leapt when I saw that the point had stuck in its chest. The cat snarled and thrashed, lunging for me and burying the spearpoint deeper, the thick haft of my spear bending and shaking from the force.

    But having tried brute force, the cat planted its forepaws and pushed itself off the spear, which I wrenched free with a gout of blood before we backed away from each other.

    I could have cursed. I¡¯d missed its heart, and it was unlikely to give me another chance.

    My feet carried me backward along the slope, my eyes never leaving my quarry. The cat kept my pace for a few seconds as its wound healed, but seemed unwilling to lunge again. Instead it leapt from side to side, its eyes never leaving the spear that always pointed toward it. It made a full circle of me, drool running from its toothy mouth as it decided how best to approach.

    As it did this, I reached out once again with my magical gaze. I had no skills or attribute bonuses, nothing to form and shape my mana for me¡­ but I was a grandmaster spellcaster. Given enough time I could have commanded the very lightning in the skies above us.

    Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have enough time.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    The cat lunged again, and I leapt back, struck: but the cat batted the spear away with one enormously strong paw, then lunged. I dove to one side, pulling the spearpoint back to bring it between the cat¡¯s jaws and myself and then doing my best to keep it there.

    It leapt up to the rock beside me, then again to the rock behind me, each time seeing if I rounded fast enough to stop it from pouncing. After a few tries it seemed to realize that it couldn¡¯t get around my spearpoint, then let out a snarl of frustration and came forward to attack anyway.

    I danced backward along the slope, my spearpoint moving not to kill, but defend: I would draw it back as the cat tried to bat it out of the way, then tap the cat on the chest, shoulder, or throat, the blows too light and fast to pierce skin but still enough to trigger the creature¡¯s cautious instincts and make it flinch or back away for another moment.

    But at last it let out a howl of rage, barreling forward through my spear and striking at my legs with its claws, cutting me deep through my armor and sending me sprawling to the ground.

    My hand snapped to my knife as my other arm came out to catch my fall, but I was too slow for the beast: I felt the weight of its body slam my chest down into the rock, then caught a single glimpse of its jaws descending for the kill.

    But its teeth sunk into the steel plate of my spiked gorget, and while its jaws were easily strong enough to crumple the metal and crush my neck, it still reared back, confused by the sudden painful resistance¡ªgiving me a moment to bring my arm up and drive the point of my knife into its eye.

    The beast howled and jumped, crushing my chest under the paw it had used to pin me and pushing all the wind from my lungs. I scrabbled back along the slope, no time to breathe, reaching out with my magic to sense the mana in the air around me¡­ and then I smiled, tasting blood in my mouth, backing away slowly as I watched my opponent and focused on preparing a minor spell.

    The cat thrashed for a moment, batting at the knife in its eye with a paw several times until finally the knife was knocked free, clattering to the stone at our feet. Then, letting out heavy, growling breaths, it brought its head up to stare at me.

    Blood ran from the hem of my jerkin and from my fingertips, but I was glad. The cat had two choices¡ªpounce now, or wait for its eye to heal.

    It chose to pounce.

    The cat sprang into the air, all its weight uncoiling toward me, and I threw myself forward and to one side, spinning in the air to face the cat as it sailed by me in one frozen instant¡ªand then loosing the rudimentary spell that I¡¯d been preparing since I¡¯d stabbed it in the eye, striking it with a chaotic blast of thunderous force that sent it flying backward through the air to fall into the mists¡ªand disappear.

    I¡¯d backed us into the chasm I¡¯d sensed earlier, which meant I¡¯d just thrown the cat off a cliff, the distance of its fall unknown to me. I took a painful, gasping breath, relieved to feel that both of my lungs were still fine. I could feel my gorget stabbing into my chest in several places¡ªits teeth had pierced the metal plate and bent it inward. I winced as I carefully removed the now-useless piece of armor and cast it aside.

    I grabbed my spear from where I¡¯d dropped it, then my knife where it had fallen, then moved to the edge of the chasm and peered into it with a sinking heart. The Verse never failed to grant a creature¡¯s loose essence: if the cat had died, I would have known by now.

    What was more, the face of the cliff was cracked in many places and covered in creeping vines and moss. Judging by the difficulty I¡¯d had in piercing its flesh with a well-sharpened spearpoint, the cat was likely level 20 or more, with [Aegis], [Strength], and [Agility] to match. It would have no trouble climbing back up to reach me.

    I tested the strength of the vines with a gloved hand, then clipped my spear to my baldric and swung down, minding the pain in my chest and bloodied ankles. I descended quickly, but soon paused as the mist began to thin. I could see a scattering of lights below me, almost like those of a city.

    I descended another fifty feet, then, seeing that the mist had mostly thinned, stopped my descent near an outcropping of rock and moved away from the cliff to look out at the world beneath me.

    My face broke into a reverent smile at what I saw.

    A distant mountain¡¯s silhouette was revealed by a new flash of lightning, rising above the clouds with the shadows of great birds and flying reptiles in the air around it, their size impossible to judge at a distance.

    The city lights I¡¯d thought I¡¯d seen below were the lights of a vast forest that glowed with vibrant hues of blue, green, and pink. Trees that were big enough for fifty elves to encircle with linked arms rose like dark towers topped by luminous, broad-leafed crowns.

    But it was the cloud that drew my eyes. Looking down, past the canopy of the forest and past the gaps in the heavy mat of glowing vines and twisting branches below, I saw another layer of glowing red mist¡ªanother layer of cloud to match the one above me. The whole of the jungle seemed to disappear beneath it.

    No sky, no ground. Only craggy mountains and titanic jungle, crashing lightning and deadly beasts.

    What had once been nothing but a furtive hope flared within me. This place could be our home.

    Primeval mana swirled in the air around me, visible only to my magical gaze. The mana¡¯s chaotic nature would scatter divination spells, making it impossible for the rest of the cosmos to find us.

    So much raw, unbridled power. This mana, this power, would be the means by which I struck a killing blow to the elves¡¯ most ancient of impediments and delivered on the miracle I¡¯d promised. If I succeeded here, the elves would be able to have children as fast as humans or orcs.

    My thoughts sank into memory, to my last sight of home: a wave of smoke and fire as tall as the sky itself swallowing the land and the sea. In the wake of the Doom, I had to succeed, had to bring my people here and show them a much-needed miracle, had to ensure that they thrived.

    But first I had to survive. For that, I had to get stronger, and fast.

    I checked the warp jewel that was stowed in a steel-lined pouch at my hip. It was still safe, blue light spilling out before I shut it away again. Until I broke the jewel and called the others, I was alone.

    My hand moved to touch the haft of my spear. I left the ledge to resume my descent; with luck, my quarry waited below.

 1.02: Strange New Creatures

    I was attacked moments later.

    First I heard a sound like a sail makes as it fills with wind, subtle and high above me. Knowing what it meant, I spun, wound my legs into the many vines around me, and looked up into the clouds to see a dark shape diving toward me, a huge reptile with a wingspan of perhaps eighteen feet that was covered in luminous markings like warpaint.

    Dread filled me, but it was only a passing thing: a necessary emotion at the sight of a mid-sized aerial predator. It flared its wings as it approached, making a wave of wind that threatened to knock me flat against the cliff face, but I pressed into the rock with my heels and lunged with my spear, catching the beast in the groin so as to keep its talons at bay.

    It let out an ear-splitting cry, beat its wings¡ªbut when this blast of air failed to dislodge me or the spear I was holding, it beat its wings a few more times to rise above me and fly away, leaving me to my business.

    I watched it go with frustration: my spear had held it at bay, but barely pierced its seemingly-soft flesh. Like most of the creatures in this place, it was too high a level and with too much of the [Aegis] attribute for me to kill.

    It would be the same with prey animals. Whatever levels they had would go into survival and means escape, making them them poor targets even if they were less dangerous.

    I continued with my descent. With luck, the cat wouldn¡¯t have the power to heal its wounds completely¡ªit would be a hurt animal, waiting somewhere safe for its [Regeneration] skill¡¯s [Life Pool] to replenish.

    Its share of essence would likely be enough to grant my first five levels. I needed those levels: I didn¡¯t know this place or its wildlife, and sooner or later something that came along to eat me would be too strong for me to kill or fight off.

    Below me, the cliff broke off into a tumble of stones that ended in a small valley hemmed in on all sides but one, a ledge that was level with the crowns of the great trees I¡¯d seen from above.

    I looked down into the small valley with disappointment. A dark stain amidst crushed ferns marked where the cat had fallen, regenerated, and then left.

    That, or something else had picked it off. Neither option was ideal.

    I scanned the darkness of the vines and tangled bushes. My eyes, like my ears, were far superior to those of most elves, but I still watched the wilderness with uncertainty. If the cat had lived, there was a good chance it was still using the [Wild Bond] skill to track me and waiting for the right moment to strike. I couldn¡¯t sense its mental presence on my mind, but it had been so light and soft earlier that it was possible I simply couldn¡¯t notice it anymore¡ªnot without the added sensitivity of having the [Wild Bond] skill myself.

    As I watched, I began to notice the motions of many black beetles, each with yellow and blue markings on their backs. They were marching to and fro on the vines, some of them carrying little white pieces of moist fruit.

    I saw many tiny rodents with long tails and mottled brown fur, blending in well as they leapt from vine to vine like small squirrels. As I watched, one of them leapt to a vine below it and ambushed one of the beetles, using its ribbon-like tail as a tongue to wrap its prey up before stuffing the beetle into its mouth.

    ¡°Beautiful,¡± I whispered, watching the creature leap away into the trees with bulging cheeks, demonstrating all the wild grace that I would expect from a squirrel with a prehensile tail.

    I could kill it, but it would be a waste of an arrow. This place was teeming with essence, but not so much that a beetle-eating rodent would be carrying any significant amount. Killing a creature granted around a tenth of the essence it had spent on levels. Very little, even to a level 0 like myself.

    There was a scuffle in the vines, and my eyes darted over¡ªbut I saw nothing save for a rustle of leaves and one of the ribbontails retreating further down the cliff. I watched the stirring of the leaves, peered at them, then realized that something was wrong: there were still two beetles sitting on the shaking vines, unmoving, apparently not frightened away by the noise.

    I made a noise of curiosity, then stepped nearer, looked closer. The beetles seemed like beetles, but were really colored, knobbly protrusions¡ªfakes attached to two long, slender black legs that disappeared beneath the vine cover. With my gaze, I could detect a small burrow made in the stone cliffside. Another ambush predator.

    I drew my knife as I moved to poise myself above the vines, then very gently prodded one of the fake beetles with the butt of my spear.

    Instantly, a black shape rushed forward, headed by a nasty-looking pair of mandibles. I brought my bootheel down on the creature, pinning it with surprising difficulty, then knelt and stabbed it many times through the gaps in its glinting insectile shell.

    Soon it had gone limp beneath me.

    + 52 Essence

    I smiled at this as I pulled the creature from its burrow¡ªit was long, twelve-legged, almost like a cross between a spider and a centipede.

    ¡°Gorgeous,¡± I whispered, breaking into a smile as I held up the corpse, rotating it to see its pale, segmented underside. These things ate birds, had to: they were too large, their mandibles too great and powerful, to eat nothing but the ribbontails. I wondered if they made their own burrows, or if they inhabited holes made by other creatures¡ªthey didn¡¯t seem like they could burrow through basalt, or even tuff. I pushed the carcass back into its burrow, then continued down the cliff.

    Once I had 500 essence, I¡¯d have enough to level up or to coalesce a skill key. Skill keys were coalesced out of the environment, combining an aspect of its nature with essence. They could be fused with skill cores to create skills¡ªand I already had a starting skill core, a [*Primeval 5] to combine with it.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    A skill would be much more useful than a level. I just needed 500 essence. With luck, I could stay on the cliff and kill these massive beetles without attracting any more deadly predators until I¡¯d gotten stronger.

    An [Air] or [Earth] skill key should have been easy enough to coalesce, given that air and earth were everywhere around me¡ªand a skill like [Earth Magick] or [Air Magick] would greatly heighten my chances of survival.

    In fact, [Air] and [Earth] keys were so common that both my weapons were affixed with small bands of air and soapstone sealed in metal so that they could be moved around magically, once I had the skills.

    At that thought I glanced at the skies, then glanced at the overgrown cliffs around me, still searching for more flying reptiles or the ominously absent cat. I saw neither.

    I made my way down the overgrown cliffs, extending my gaze to search for more of the bugs. Many of the dark burrows that I sensed were empty¡ªbut I could spot the false beetles they used to bait other creatures with my eyes easily enough.

    Soon I¡¯d found and killed a second one much like the first.

    + 41 Essence

    ¡°A few more,¡± I muttered.

    But I¡¯d only killed six more and gathered a total of 381 essence when the cat came back.

    Slowly, I distinguished the rustling motions of something coming toward me from the sounds of the dark jungle below. My head snapped toward the noise¡ªand I saw the cat some thirty paces to one side and above me on the cliff face, a dark figure clinging to the vines and stones, muscles bulging under its sleek coat of fur.

    ¡°You got above me,¡± I whispered, breaking into another smile. It is no easy thing, sneaking up on me. Even with the noise of the wilds around us to mask its motions, this cat had gotten within thirty meters of me before I heard it.

    Then it moved, and so did I: both of us leaping down the cliffside in sinuous bounds, my own path a frantic set of drops toward jutting stones or easily-grasped vines, each slowing my fall just enough before I dropped to the next until¡ª

    The last outcrop of rock I landed on gave way as soon as my feet touched it, tearing itself free of the vines and tumbling to the small clearing below, taking me along with it. I struck the glowing ferns, rolled to a halt on rocky soil, came up with my spear pointed upward¡­ only to find that the cat hadn¡¯t pursued. I looked at the slope of fallen rocks in front of me, then up the cliff wall above it¡ªnothing.

    I tried to focus¡­ but there were too many insects chirping, too many birds calling, too many scrapes and hoots and alien sounds coming from the great forest behind me. I couldn¡¯t hear the creature¡¯s breathing, or its footfalls, or see the stirring of bushes where it had undoubtedly leapt down into the overgrowth to stalk me through the brush.

    But why hadn¡¯t it pounced on me?

    The leaves of the ferns and trees around me were high enough to block my sight, and the undergrowth was thick enough to hinder mobility. It was a poor place for fighting.

    But there was another cliff behind me, one leading down into the forest of great trees. I began to back toward it, slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible while I listened for the cat, hearing only birds instead.

    As I backed up, I untied the leather lace that held shut the quiver on my hip, then drew out an arrow. I crouched low into the ferns, looking beneath their uppermost leaves and not seeing the cat, then lay my spear down and unclipped my bow from my baldric.

    I reached the spot where the cat had clearly fallen¡ªblood stained the rocks and crushed ferns, seeming black in the dark, eerie light of the red cloudlayer above. I nocked my arrow, still backing away.

    Then, listening for the cat, I sensed a sudden magical pressure pushing against the soil beneath me¡ªanother creature¡¯s magical claim. At the same time, I heard a scraping noise coming from the rocks at the base of the cliff.

    My heart began to pound as fear spiked through my gut.

    Claim was what you had magical grasp of, and gaze was what you had magical sight of. While the gaze of two creatures could overlap, their claims could not. Skills, such as [Earth Magick], could allow one to extend their claim and gaze much further through substances that matched the skill. Whatever had made that noise at the base of the cliffs, its claim was strong enough to push against my own even at this distance, but only through the earth. It was quite literally threatening to steal the ground out from under me¡ªsomething that meant almost certain death against any earth mage.

    I reached out with my own magic, broadening and strengthening my claim in case this new enemy tried to shift the earth beneath me. Through the ferns, I could see something move in the overgrown rockpile at the base of the cliff¡ªa long white limb that emerged to slowly grope its way over the rocks, looking very much like a malnourished finger. It was followed by a second, then several more.

    I kept backing away as the creature emerged and I saw it in full: a round, white blob at the center of nine or more pale, slow-moving limbs. It was translucent, and I could see long, thin bones through the flesh of its arms and a dark collection of objects that might have been organs in its lumpy, unformed center.

    It moved up the stones at the base of the cliff, away from me, seemingly paying me no heed.

    But I wasn¡¯t fooled. This was why the cat hadn¡¯t followed me¡ªit had feared this thing. I watched carefully for the slightest burst of motion from the creature¡­.

    Then, at a sudden lurching of its central mass, I dove to one side just in time to avoid a fist-sized slug of stone that hissed through the air where I¡¯d been and kicked up a gout of soil where it struck the ground. I ran hard through the ferns while I heard the hiss-and-thud of the creature¡¯s shots tearing through plants and striking the earth behind me.

    I dove for cover behind some fallen stones at the edge of the valley, still pressing my claim as far as I could into the world around me. I heard a few stone slugs shatter against the other side of my rockpile, then silence.

    Then I felt a powerful presence push against my claim in an attempt to steal the rocks beneath me. Instinct guided me to lash out at the creature, to push back and hold my own magical claim over the space around me.

    It was a mistake. Even at this distance the creature overpowered me with magical brute strength, stealing the stones beneath me. I leapt back just as the stones where I¡¯d been standing suddenly shattered and began to churn, swallowing the twigs and pebbles that rested on their surface.

    I cursed my own foolishness as I tried to back further away from the creature, along the edge of the cliff and out of view, but the shelf of rock continued for another twenty paces and then ended, falling away to form more of the sheer cliff face that led down into the great forest below. I stopped at the edge, then waited¡ªbut apparently the creature couldn¡¯t reach that far with its claim.

    Still, I was in a bind¡ªsoon it would either round the corner to shoot me or come into range and try to suck me into the ground. The crowns of a few great trees were nearby beside me, but the closest sturdy branch was more than forty feet away¡ªbarely out of leaping distance if I had a running start. The cliff that rose beside me was climbable, but only just: fewer vines, fewer cracks, fewer ledges. And it offered no protection from my pursuer.

    So I stood still, my eyes scanning the distant branches of the great trees, my face lighting up in a smile as I found what I needed.

    Then I heard a cascading sound of disturbed pebbles, snapping vines, and hissing leaves from above me, and I threw myself to one side as the massive bulk of the black cat came down on the ground where I¡¯d been standing.

 1.03: Life Eating Life

    I didn¡¯t have time to drop my bow and grab my spear as it struck the ground and pivoted, but I knew I needed to survive for just a few more moments¡­.

    The cat lunged and I leapt as high as I could toward it, my eyes taking in its snarling face, red eyes, open maw and outstretched claws as I rose above it, reaching out with my free hand to press down on the creature¡¯s head so that I vaulted over it.

    We both landed¡ªbut the cat¡¯s momentum carried it forward several paces, and as it slowed to bring itself around I watched its hind legs sink into the soil. It had gotten too close to the earth-creature, and been trapped.

    I didn¡¯t have time to feel relief¡ªeverything came down to that single moment, and I needed focus.

    I drew in a breath, rose, nocked my arrow, paused, watched, then finally loosed.

    My arrow sailed through the air¡ªup and into the branches of the forest.

    I¡¯d heard birdsong, earlier, and moved toward the edge to get a shot at its source. I¡¯d spied them just before the cat had pounced: many birds of colorful plumage perched on the smaller branches that grew from the crowns of the great trees, most of them undisturbed by the sounds of fighting below.

    But I¡¯d spotted better quarry past these, higher in the branches, either unseen or unthreatening to its more colorful kin: a tall, lean bird, hook-beaked with front-facing eyes and camouflaged plumage of dappled green and brown.

    I didn¡¯t have time to track the path of my arrow. With an explosion of soil, the cat ripped its hind legs free of the earth-creature¡¯s hold and rushed me in a haphazard charge. I dropped my bow and leapt back to climb up the cliff that it had pounced from, grabbing vines and crevices and hurling my weight up the side of the mountain as fast as I could.

    And as I climbed, my arrow struck true.

    + 221 Essence

    I heard the motion of vines beneath me as the cat gave chase, but my mind was already snapping into the thoughts and forms that were familiar to me, reaching out to cast a simple spell that I¡¯d cast thousands of times before, a spell that spent my essence to draw a skill key out of the world around me:

    You spend 500 Essence to create: [Earth 1]

    ¡°Hah!¡± I cried.

    The cat rushed up beneath me, ready to tear me from the cliffside and feast on my flesh¡ªbut I fused my key to the only skill core I had:

    You fuse [*Primeval 5] with [Earth 1] to create the skill: [Earth Magick 6]

    [Earth Magick 6]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Earth 1]

    You can control earthen substances within your claim.

    Moving a substance is easiest when you move it toward or away from you. The best points on your body to use for this purpose are your hands.

    You can sense earthen substances within your gaze, and extending your claim or gaze through earthen substances is easier.

    My awareness flowed out into the world around me, my gaze extending so that I could feel the stones and soil. In a heartbeat, I had found a loose stone the size of my fist, called it to my hand with a thought, then launched it into the open mouth of the oncoming cat.

    The cat made a strangled cry and fell back, but not before it sank its claws into my boots, grabbing me and tearing me from the cliff so that I tumbled down to crash into the ferns beside it, hard stones biting and bruising my side before I rolled away from the thrashing animal next to me.

    I strained to spring to my feet¡ªand I failed, overcome by pain and weakness from the fall. Beside me, the cat rose and began to retch, arching its back and leaving me momentarily forgotten.

    I reached out with my magic¡ªand up. Into the stones of the cliff-face, finding a jutting, angular formation above us that weighed several hundred pounds. I severed it from the cliff with my magic, hearing a hard crack as it came rolling and tumbling toward us, my magic still holding it, guiding it with little pushes and pulls as it bounced away from the cliff and free-fell toward us.

    I didn¡¯t have the power to give the stone the energy it needed to kill the cat¡ªbut gravity did.

    The cat turned its head toward me, red eyes frenzied¡ªand the stone struck, crushing its skull and pinning its body to the ground in one brutal, cacophonous instant, gore spraying me and the jungle around us like the innards of a crushed fruit.

    Your level limit has increased to 11!

    + 2841 Essence, [Boon]

    ¡°Hah!¡± I cried, tasting both the cat¡¯s blood and my own even as I filled with new power:

    You spend 2500 Essence to gain 5 levels. Your are now level 5 / 11.

    For reaching levels 2 and 4, you gain 2 [*Primeval 5] skill cores!

    You gain 5 [Bestow 6]!

    For reaching level 5, your [Bestow] has increased from 6 to 8.

    I spent my bestows on new attributes right away:

    You spend 4 [Bestow 6] to add 24 to your [Strength]. Your [Strength] is now 28.

    You spend 1 [Bestow 6] to add 6 to your [Source]. Your [Source] is now 10.

    I sat up, painfully aware that the earth-creature was still coming toward me. I wasn¡¯t terribly injured: my lungs were both still fine and the blood in my mouth was from biting my tongue¡­ but pain accompanied my every movement. I needed to find a [Life] key.

    A moment later I felt the same force pressing against my claim as before¡ªonly now, with the [Earth Magick] power, it was easy to push back against the creature¡¯s own claim and keep the stony ground beneath me for myself.

    It came into view a moment later, but it wasn¡¯t so threatening, now: it launched another stone slug at me, but I imposed a slanted counterforce on the missile as soon as it entered my threshold, causing the shot to bounce wide without costing me too much mana.

    ¡°You¡¯re an ooze,¡± I exclaimed, examining the creature and breaking into a smile as I deflected two more shots. I waited to see if it would try another form of attack, now that its two main methods of assault were ineffectual.

    None came. Ignoring me, the white blob of a creature slowly pulled itself forward using what I counted to be ten appendages. I peered at it as it came closer, stepping out of its path and getting a good look. Its arms weren¡¯t really arms, just pieces of its body that had been elongated and filled with long strips of stone so that it could move them around. The shadows in its belly-ball weren¡¯t organs, but more of the stone slugs that it had launched at me.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    Each of its makeshift feelers ended in a small, wiggling tentacle, and none of them actually supported its weight¡ªinstead it dragged itself over the ground, pulling itself forward with earth magic while its limbs glided across the world around it, touching every surface they could find.

    I watched it for another minute. It moved past me, found the dead cat with its feelers, then positioned its central mass above the corpse before lowering itself and beginning to spread to envelop its new find.

    It was fascinating. I wondered if it was the creature that had made the round holes which the striking insects I¡¯d seen earlier lived in¡ªperhaps it ate them now and then.

    ¡°I have no way to kill you,¡± I whispered softly, watching the blob spread over the carcass like a second, ten-legged skin. It was a shame, I thought as I walked out of sight of it: something told me this thing would be ripe with essence, and levels 6 through 10 cost 1100 essence, whereas I only had¡ª

    ?¡ªYou have 443 Essence.

    I smiled. The cat had been somewhere over level 20¡ªso strong that I¡¯d rushed the first five levels just from killing it.

    And I had reaped the rewards for doing so. In the first ten levels, a class gave a number of skill cores equal to its tier¡ªmy tier was 5, and so I would gain a [*Primeval 5] skill core at level 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8. Right now I had two free cores: I could create two new skills as long as I had skill keys to fuse to them.

    Unfortunately, coalescing keys had limits. Skill cores and skill keys were made of both essence and aspect.

    Aspect was a kind of magical trace that all objects slowly accrued, an idea that slowly came into an insubstantial existence. Aspect matched a thing¡¯s nature¡ªrocks had [Earth], air had [Air].

    When I¡¯d coalesced my skill key, I¡¯d done it by tearing all the aspects out of the world around me, then pushing all the [Earth] I¡¯d found into a skill key and discarding the rest, wasting them. Had I wanted, I could have made a [Plant] or a [Life] skill key, as those aspects had also been abundant in the area around me¡ªthough curiously I¡¯d found no [Air].

    My spell had thus been brutal and inefficient, but extracting only the [Earth] aspect would have taken both time and delicate attention, two things I hadn¡¯t had.

    All this meant that I¡¯d need to travel some distance from where I¡¯d coalesced my skill key in order to create another.

    But the cat I¡¯d killed had dropped a [Boon]¡ªan incorporeal bundle of potential skill keys, each of them made from the aspect that the cat had accrued over its lifetime. I reached into this one¡­ and sensed that it could form a [Melee] or [Wild] skill key¡ªboth rank 1.

    An easy enough decision. [Melee] would combine with my [*Primeval 5] skill core to make a skill that let me pierce the [Aegis] of enemies when wielding certain weapons¡ªsuch as those tipped with bone. My steel spearhead didn¡¯t qualify.

    [Wild Bond], however, was an absolute essential for hunting prey and surviving predators. Information was both a sword and a shield¡­ and [Wild Bond] granted more than just information.

    You break [Boon] to create a [Wild 1] skill key.

    You fuse [*Primeval 5] with [Wild 1] to create the skill: [Wild Bond 6]

    [Wild Bond 6]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Wild 1]

    You can telepathically sense, communicate with, and even attack all natural forms of life that are within your gaze.

    Extending your gaze to include such creatures becomes easier, though you detect only their mind and external shape, not the internal composition of their bodies.

    Unwanted telepathic contact with another creature costs mana to establish, use, and maintain. This skill also strengthens your ability to defend and hide from any such telepathy.

    Like [Earth Magick], it was another extremely versatile and useful skill. I would mostly be using it to find threats. Many predators would know how to use [Wild Bond] to hide themselves from potential prey with [Wild Bond]¡ªbut I was skilled enough that my gaze would be hard to escape, even at the lowly rank of 6.

    That done, I knew that I must have spent most of my starting mana pool on throwing a rock down the throat of the cat, then crushing its skull with another rock. I checked:

    ?¡ªMana 32/100, 40% Primeval

    Mana would replenish according to how much [Source] I had. But there was another way to replenish mana, and that was to channel it out of the world around you. And the world around me was more ripe with mana than any I¡¯d ever seen.

    Of course, channeling mana into yourself was like pouring water from a glass back into a narrow-necked bottle: far more time consuming than channeling it out of yourself and into the world. Still, I channeled mana into myself until I was full, then queried once more:

    ?¡ªMana 100/100, 29% Primeval

    ¡°Well that¡¯s interesting,¡± I whispered. I did some quick math and determined that the mana in the air was more than 20% primeval, a stupendously high portion for natural mana. I¡¯d known this world was steeped in power, but this was more than I¡¯d expected¡ªwhich was both good news and bad.

    Primeval mana channeled faster than bare mana depending on how primeval it was¡ªin my case, 29%. But my [Primeval Power] skill gave me a 40% primeval mana profile¡ªthe mana that I held would slowly rise to 40% over time.

    Speaking of primeval mana¡­ I checked the warp jewel at my hip. Its light had already faded a little. I had to trigger and fight off a primeval convergence before I brought my people, and I only had a few hours to do it in.

    But that wasn¡¯t so bad. On the whole, I was rather excited.

    I reached out with my gaze to try and sense the ooze that had enveloped the cat¡¯s carcass. Sure enough, I couldn¡¯t sense it with [Wild Bond]¡ªthe skill didn¡¯t count oozes as ¡°natural¡± forms of life.

    Then I turned toward the crowns of the great trees, made sure I was pointed in the right direction, and made a running leap off the cliff¡¯s edge, soaring through the air to land at the narrow end of the closest branch I could leap to, four levels of added [Strength] giving me enough power to make the jump.

    I grasped the branch, reaching out with my [Wild Bond] power to sense the life all around me as I pulled myself up and crawled inward toward the trunk of the great tree, standing once I had surer footing.

    That was the great gift of [Earth Magick] and [Wild Bond]¡ªmy gaze now mapped the world around me, helping me to find sure and perfect footing.

    I couldn¡¯t help it: I broke into a grin as I extended my gaze into the world. Close by, I could sense insects moving beneath the bark of the branches, feeding on sap and leaves. I could sense the birds that had flown to higher branches, startled, when I¡¯d landed. Further, I could sense¡ª

    I froze. Something was wrong. There was a presence weighing on my mind, so light that I almost didn¡¯t feel it even with the [Wild Bond] power¡ªanother predator tracking me.

    As soon as I noticed it, the strength of the creature¡¯s psychic presence flared, the mental equivalent of an animal rearing up and roaring in a display of intimidation.

    And I was most definitely intimidated.

    I could sense that they were likely far, far more powerful than the cat I¡¯d just fought, and I could sense that they were utterly malevolent. They flooded my mind with raw images and sensations: the taste of bloody flesh torn from still-wriggling prey, the shadows of beasts fleeing before them in terrified, frenzied stampedes, the forest I now moved through, seen from a high place in the mists¡ªits domain.

    And then something I did not expect happened: the thoughts it was assailing me with crystallized, connecting with my mind in a way that formed words I could understand.

    This creature was sapient. It didn¡¯t speak Aranian Elvish, but the Verse translated its raw, wordless thoughts good enough for me to understand it.

    You, it said to me, inner voice booming with power. Little one.

    I froze on the branch, my eyes sweeping the forest above and around me. Wherever this thing was, I needed to get away from it¡ªand fast.

    You see as I see, it said, recognizing my own sapience with a flutter of surprise. I wondered at this: was I the first intelligent creature it had ever met?

    Yes, I answered. I am like you, I said. I see much.

    A deep rumbling seemed to fill my mind. You see as I do, it said. Then, after it had a moment to think on this, my mind flooded with more images: my head cracked open between powerful jaws, a tongue darting out to lap up the juices that flowed from my ruined skull.

    I will eat you, little one.

 1.04: To Be Hunted

    I moved along the high branch with a growing sense of fear and frustration. My task had just gotten harder, and far more dangerous. A primeval convergence was bad enough, but I was now being stalked by a predator that I couldn¡¯t hope to fight without a sizeable chunk of new levels.

    There was little doubt in my mind that I was going to have to kill this creature. Even the brief glimpse I¡¯d had into their mind had been enough to show me that they weren¡¯t going to like the thought of coexisting with two and a half thousand elves.

    Blood dripped from the glove of my hand, running from the wounds where my gorget had cut into my chest and neck. Pain throbbed across most of my body. I had to find a [Life] key, but I also needed to find a way to hide from this new enemy.

    They had revealed at least one crucial weakness already: they¡¯d implied that I was the first other sapient creature it had met. Their intelligence had no doubt been instrumental in their rise to the top of the food chain while it competed with unintelligent animals, which meant that the simplest tricks, the most basic acts of cleverness¡ªthese had likely almost never failed them.

    Hopefully, they would be easy to deceive. But I couldn''t rely on that hope¡ªthat would make me easy to deceive.

    I quieted my psychic presence using the [Wild Bond] power, but not too much: I wanted it to seem as if I were trying to hide from them, but not skilled enough to manage it. And I had a good measure of their psychic strength from their somewhat foolhardy show of intimidation.

    A cruel laughter filled my mind a moment later. You think you can hide from me, little one?

    It was the second time they¡¯d called me little one, and I smiled.

    I was 6¡¯11¡±, taller than almost all elf men, let alone the other women. Prolonged exposure to primeval mana had altered my body, adding a few inches to my height just like it had turned my gray eyes red, my white hair gold, and my canines into lengthened fangs. It had also strengthened my blood, rendering me immune to all natural diseases and poisons.

    Not anymore, I told them, still moving along the tree branch. But I must try to survive, no matter how fearsome and strong you are¡ªdo you expect otherwise?

    Would flattery work? It was impossible to know without knowing this creature¡¯s personality.

    My eyes were scanning the steep cliffs that rose to the sides of the forest, searching for a hole to hide in. I¡¯d got the sense that my new rival was large, perhaps an aerial predator¡­ and [Earth Magick] meant that I was safest underground from almost anything.

    Everything tries to survive, They said. But everything fails. Still¡­ you are curious. Your shape and mind are new to me.

    I smiled. Watch me, then. I can show you many things which are new to you.

    The creature¡¯s cold, cruel laughter seemed to fill my mind once again. You are like a snake, a fish, trying to wriggle free of my grasp¡ªonly you use your mind, not your body. I see your futile games, creature, but I will watch¡ªfor now.

    The creature¡¯s words filled my gut with a slow, sinking feeling. It was more clever than I¡¯d hoped it would be, then. I moved on carefully, my gaze extended outward, worried that a strike from my new rival would come at any moment.

    I reached the trunk of the great tree, but soon stopped: a huge section of bark seemed to pull itself free, shake once, and begin to rotate toward me.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t see you,¡± I said appreciatively. I¡¯d been distracted, of course, and the color of the lighting was strange¡ªbut still, it had good camouflage.

    The creature was a circular dome of some kind of shell that looked like bark. At first I thought it was an elemental, but when I reached out with [Wild Bond] I could sense it; it was an animal.

    ¡°A giant crab?¡± I asked, tilting my head.

    And it was: a moment later the creature shifted, moved to perch two legs on my branch, then reared, pushing itself up so that its bark-like shell was fully horizontal and I could see the segmented armor plating of its face.

    I could feel its surge of defensive instincts as it spotted me, along with a sudden flash of the will to fight. But by the time it was facing me I¡¯d already nocked an arrow and drawn¡ªI loosed it into one of the creature¡¯s eyes, an easy shot at this distance.

    It hissed, then let out a loud sound like a cough as a long tongue shot out toward me, missing me by several feet, the crab thrown off by the shot to its eye.

    It backed up along the branch as I nocked and loosed another arrow, shooting out its other eye.

    It shrieked, tilting around unsteadily as it slurped its tongue back into its mouth. But I was already reaching out to it with my [Wild Bond].

    I formed my willpower into a mental spike that I thrust into the mind of the crab with a singular command: relax. And for a brief moment, all through its body, its muscles did as I told them.

    It fell from the side of the tree, briefly caught itself on the branch in front of me with two legs, the rest flailing beneath it¡­ and then I hit it with the same mental assault a second time and it fell away beneath me.

    I watched it fall, disappear beneath the lower cloud-layer, counting the time¡­.

    + 492 Essence

    ¡°Extraordinary,¡± I whispered. These trees were, by my guess, half a kilometer tall. I channeled more mana from the air into myself, replacing what I¡¯d spent.

    I leapt to another nearby tree-branch, intending to move from tree to tree while I got far enough away from where I¡¯d coalesced the [Earth] key to coalesce another. While I moved, I searched for caves and ledges along the cliffside, conscious of the malevolent presence still blanketing my mind.

    You are¡­ a cowardly fighter, it said after a time.

    I am a little one, I reminded it.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    My gaze darted upward to watch the sky, expecting this predator to swoop down at any moment. I could sense it thinking, struggling to understand what I was, how I spoke. It wasn¡¯t stupid, just unfamiliar with communication like this, and unfamiliar with elves.

    I spotted a cluster of holes in the side of the cliff-face, then tried to coalesce a boon. The spell failed, meaning it couldn¡¯t find enough aspects around me to strip and form a boon with. I still hadn¡¯t traveled far enough. And something told me that if I ran underground, I was less likely to find a [Life] key than in these treetops.

    I cut toward the center of the forest, scampering across the branches and keeping my eye out for camouflaged crabs, predator birds, and anything else that might want to kill me.

    It was an eerie journey. Moving across tree branches wasn¡¯t a strange experience to me, but the glow of their many-hued leaves and the red mist layers both above and below me were disorienting. It was as if the entire world had been filtered through a stained-glass window¡ªand the red light made me feel like that window showed a scene of great violence.

    I thought of shooting as many birds as I could¡ªlevels cost 1100, and I could surely gain a few. But I¡¯d brought only two sheaves and one quiver of arrows, and I was down to 63.

    Finally I found that I could cast the spell that coalesced another boon, noting that the world around me was rich with [Life], [Bird], and [Wild] aspects:

    You spend 500 essence to create: [Life 1]

    You fuse [*Primeval 5] with [Life 1] to create the skill: [Life Magick 6]

    [Life Magick 6]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Life 1]

    + 100 [Life Pool]

    You may spend [Life Pool] in conjunction with mana to heal injuries, alleviate exhaustion, remove magical maladies, cure sickness, and cause certain living things to grow. Increasing this power¡¯s rank will cause each point of [Life Pool] to have greater effect. The rate at which you can spend [Life Pool] is limited by how quickly you can channel mana.

    [Life Pool] replenishes very slowly, but its replenishment can be hastened by spending essence. The rate at which [Life Pool] replenishes while you spend essence is limited by how much [Focus] you assign to this power.

    You can sense organic substances, such as flesh, wood, or compost within your gaze, though you cannot sense inside the body of an unwilling creature. Extending your gaze or claim to include such substances becomes easier.

    I let out a sigh of relief and began to use the power to close my cuts and heal my many bruises. The essence cost for replenishing a [Life Pool] was normally a significant limiting factor to sustained healing magic, but in this place that was steeped with power, I had little doubt I¡¯d be swimming in essence, soon enough.

    It was one of the many uses for essence that went beyond leveling up. Essence wasn¡¯t just used for leveling up and fusing skill keys. It was used in all forms of magic that created permanent matter or everlasting enchantments, along with some very specialized rituals.

    Right now I was starving for more essence to level up with, but I expected that very soon I¡¯d have more than I could use. All classes had an upper limit on their level, one that only increased when they acted in accordance with their class¡¯s calling.

    ?¡ªYour Class Calling:

    Foster and protect yourself, your pack, and your territory.

    Be passionate, cunning, and strong.

    I scowled as this information flitted through my mind. Fighting for survival would raise my level limit, especially if I accorded with the second line. But did the Verse know that everything I was doing now was for the future of my people? The more that my actions¡¯ accordance with my calling became a matter of narrative framing, something that needed to be argued for, the less likely I was to see my limit increase.

    Apart from fire elementals, there were no classes whose calling was merely to kill and destroy. And a good thing, that. I shuddered to think at what the cosmos might look like if the universal path to power was to constantly seek new things to destroy for essence to consume.

    Still, essence always had its uses. Level was only half the power: fusing skill keys cost essence, and I¡¯d need to do that to rank up my skill keys and make more powerful skills with multiple keys¡ªa skill could only have as many skill keys as the lowest-ranked key it contained.

    While I¡¯d been thinking, I¡¯d been moving back toward the caves that I¡¯d seen in the cliffside earlier. But very quickly I felt the presence of the predator again¡ªonly now I could sense it was angry, offended.

    You fear me too little, they accused.

    I¡¯ve been fleeing from you from the moment you first spoke to me, I said. Even if I don¡¯t know where or what you are, I still flee.

    It was partly a lie. I was fairly certain that whatever this thing was, it was either in the air above me or looking down on this forested valley from the heights of the mountain overhead.

    You fear me too little, they said, sounding disappointed. And you bore me too much.

    Not good. Even if it was exactly what they wanted me to do, I needed to think of a way to get them to keep up whatever game they were playing, to stay interesting¡­.

    I cannot fear you more than I fear you now, I told them. But perhaps I can cease boring you. Would you like to see magic, spells unlike anything you¡¯ve ever known?

    The creature seemed to consider this for a moment¡­ and then hollow laughter boomed through my mind. Little one, they said. Again you squirm with words alone.

    I searched the forest around me, considering possible escapes. I still had no idea where this creature would come from.

    You should have run for the hole, little one, the voice said, laughing again.

    I saw what was happening the moment before it happened: the dense mana in the air around us, much of it primeval mana, suddenly moved together, whorls and eddies of loose power converging and connecting in one single, ordered stream, creating a jagged line that reached up and away from me, into the sky¡­.

    I leapt from the tree branch as fast as I could¡­.

    At the same time, I reached out and pushed my claim as far up the line of mana as I could manage, then scattered a segment of the mana with my channeling, breaking the line¡­.

    Then the lightning came, ending just before the point that I¡¯d scattered as the mana ignited in an instantaneous, blinding blaze, air around me flash-heating into a furnace wind as I hurtled away toward a branch below me. I couldn¡¯t see with my eyes, but I used my gaze to sense the coming branch¡­.

    I felt the branch strike my chest like a blow, my arms coming round to hug it even as it knocked the wind from my lungs, bending beneath me. I slid down the branch a little, bark chafing against my armor as I blinked to clear my eyes. I reached out with my gaze, but I couldn¡¯t sense another line forming¡ªeither the creature had spent all its mana to do that, or it had lost interest.

    Even so, I ran leaping across the branches with as much haste as I could manage, making as straight as line as I could through the trees to get back to the caves I¡¯d seen earlier, dodging to evade one of the tree crabs as it lashed at me with its tongue.

    Little one, said the voice. I adore how you scurry.

    I considered hiding myself from them with [Wild Bond], instead of just pretending that I¡¯d tried to and failed¡­ but I didn¡¯t want it to start chasing me until I was long underground. I would hide if they threw another bolt of lightning.

    Soon I spotted the caves ahead, braced myself, then gained as much momentum as I could manage while running toward the end of a branch before throwing myself through the air and aiming for the lowest of the dark openings that dotted the cliffside.

    The jump was poor, and the cave was far, and the wind whipped at my face as I arced toward it, reaching out with my magic to sense the floor of the cave as it came up to meet me, hitting the dirty stone hard and coming up in a painful roll.

    I conjured a small, white light with raw spellcasting, seeing that the cave continued deep into the rock, twisting out of sight ahead of me. I wandered farther into the tunnel, until I was clear out of sight of its entrance. I could still feel my enemy¡¯s weight on my mind: a sort of sadistic curiosity emanated from it.

    I could have smiled as I moved forward, into the darkness. That was the last chance I was giving that creature to kill me.

    And they had wasted it to play stupid games.

 1.05: Cunning in the Dark

    I could still feel my enemy¡¯s touch on my mind, but I felt more secure, now: with [Earth Magick] I could effectively map the stone around me, and my magical gaze confirmed what I¡¯d already suspected: tunnels and caves were everywhere. It was likely that many creatures of this world had [Earth Magick], and they burrowed and built with ease.

    I had plenty of space to retreat into, a veritable labyrinth to lose my new rival in¡­ if they chose to pursue me.

    For now, though, it seemed I had a reprieve: the lightning bolt had been for their curiosity. If they chose to chase me through the caves, I¡¯d sense them getting closer with [Wild Bond] and could hide myself and hopefully buy some time with a cave-in.

    I leaned against the wall and began to heal myself after the pummeling I¡¯d taken from my fall. The pains across my body subsided, and I queried to see how much of my [Life Pool] I¡¯d used:

    ?¡ª[Life Pool] 21/100

    I made a small noise of displeasure as I saw how low it was. I hadn¡¯t reattached any limbs, or healed any mortal wounds, and had only fixed a minimal number of small fractures. 21?

    [Life Magick 6] was at the lowest rank I could possibly make, but I¡¯d still gotten very little from it.

    I removed a whetstone from a pouch at my belt, then sat and began to sharpen my spear, whose steel tip had been blunted by the battle with the cat. As I did this, I channeled mana into my [Life Magick] skill, spending from my small stock of essence to replenish my [Life Pool] as fast as I could.

    But my focus was still divided. I had to think.

    While I was generally skilled in all things primeval, my greatest talents were lightning magic, surge magic, and rituals. Among my people, I was best known for my mastery of lightning¡ªfor some reason, hurling bolts of lightning had more weight as a conversation piece than most other skills.

    A magical lightning bolt, as opposed to more natural magnetic lightning, was an ignited stream of mana that connected the caster to their target¡ªor rather, as far into their target¡¯s claim as the caster could push.

    But unlike magical fire, which simply ignited and burned the mana, lightning magic used a high amount of [Focus] to compose a sophisticated spell that transferred energy from the entire line of mana into the end of the bolt, then further manipulated it into striking the nearest source of high-density mana¡ªwhich was inevitably their target, a leveled creature with its own pool of mana on account of its [Source].

    A long-range bolt of lightning required one to extend their claim across the required distance¡ªand while claim and gaze were flexible, even high attributes and natural skill were insufficient to throw a bolt of lightning across hundreds of meters.

    This was why the pure lightning skill, [Lightning Magick], had an unusual interaction with claim. Other elemental skills allowed you to extend your claim and gaze more easily through the relevant elements, as my [Earth Magick] did with stone and soil. [Lightning Magick] instead allowed you to easily extend your claim through dense mana, which meant that you could draw a bolt by dumping mana into the air before you, focusing to extend your claim through and just past the mana, dumping more mana there¡ªand so on.

    Mana tended to ball up and move around in the air¡ªa solid line of it would start forming clumps that drifted away from each other, and very quickly. A little drift was fine¡ªthe spell would connect the clumps and form lightning¡¯s signature jagged shape. But too much drift and the line would be broken, wasting the spell.

    Hence, in order to use lightning, one needed high [Focus] both to order mana into lightning at all and to extend their claim long distances. They needed high [Source] just to meet the massive mana requirements. Most of all, they needed very high [Channel] to push the mana into the air and form the line fast enough that it didn¡¯t drift too far, a process that was like the magical equivalent of laying track before a rolling minecart.

    Above all, they needed skill. Casting a lightning spell with [Lightning Magick] could be as difficult as casting a fire spell without [Fire Magick], and unlike [Fire Magick], whose temperature increasing power had all manner of uses, lightning was only good for combat.

    And yet the reward matched the difficulty: high power, high range, almost instantaneous, and able to be split across multiple targets, lightning had no equal when it came to offensive magic.

    And among elves, I had no equal when it came to lightning.

    I now knew several things about my enemy:

    First, they had to be of high level, which I already knew, but they also had to have invested heavily in all spellcasting attributes.

    Second, they had very likely been able to rely on lightning to kill almost anything they met, and may have grown complacent in trusting its use.

    Third, they had to have a rare or exceptional class. They had [Wild Bond] as well as [Lightning Magick], and only a tier 3 or higher class could have pure skills of both [Wild] and [Elemental] types¡ªand if they were a [Primeval Champion] like me their lightning would have been faster.

    Fourth, I would need to compose a spell, one that wasn¡¯t skill-based, to stop them from replenishing or absorbing mana if I wanted to kill them. It would also likely need to stop them from healing.

    Fifth, if they weren¡¯t coming to kill me now, it meant that they either hadn¡¯t seen me break their lightning-bolt at the last second, or that they had seen, but didn¡¯t understand enough to be afraid.

    ¡°Heh,¡± I said to myself.

    For all that this new creature was a serious problem, I was in good spirits. Experience had taught me that even the most skilled spellcaster would lose most of their efficacy at the loss of just a single limb or vital organ.

    And I could manage that much¡ªoh yes.

    My whetstone scraped over the edge of my spear, which shone under my witchlight. Unfortunately, focusing on spellcasting attributes would leave me too vulnerable to fight well, and the aspects that I¡¯d gain from a place so heavy with primeval mana would mostly be physically-oriented anyway.

    My enemy was likely so strong that even though they¡¯d focused on spellcasting, the physical attributes I could gain in the short time that I had would barely break even with theirs. For now, my spear and my bow were my first choice in battle. I could always complicate things by relying on my natural spellcasting abilities if I got desperate.

    The curious, malevolent pressure on my mind increased momentarily, and my rival spoke once more. Little one, they said. You are, perhaps, stronger than I took you to be.

    I said nothing.

    The mana, they said, their mental voice laced with confusion. It¡­. But it broke off into a kind of mental growl.

    Perhaps they were in denial about what they¡¯d seen? I had, after all, just shown myself to have abilities far beyond what my current level would lead anyone to expect.

    After all, my [Channel] and [Focus], the spellcasting attributes, were very low. But just like [Strength] and [Agility], the spellcasting attributes were simply bonuses to things that one could already do innately¡ªin this case by sheer mental effort.

    [Channel]¡¯s function, channeling mana, could be emulated with raw willpower. We¡¯d tested me that morning after I¡¯d lost my levels and aspect, and with intense mental effort I could move mana as fast as if I had about 120 [Channel]¡ªhence why I¡¯d been able to break the line of this creature¡¯s lightning bolt as it was forming by pushing a segment of mana out of place.

    120 was a lot¡ªcertainly more channeling power than I could put to use with my current mana pool of 100.

    [Focus] was harder to pin down, because it structured magic, and you needed a different structure depending on what you were spending mana to do. Disciplined thought and concentration emulated what [Focus] did, but the specific thoughts were different for each spell.

    For my specialties, lightning spells and surge magic, my mind could emulate hundreds of [Focus]. For something I had no practice with, like conjuring light barriers, I could emulate none.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    Regardless, this creature had just watched me do something it had probably not known was possible by cutting its lightning.

    What are you, creature? they asked at last.

    I am an elf, I said. My name is Aziriel.

    And that is why you can do as you did?

    I have done very little.

    He made the mental equivalent of a growl. You know what I speak of. You clove my tongue of lightning before it was ignited. How is this possible?

    I am a skilled spellcaster.

    Another growl. How? You have no lightning of your own. If you did you would have used it in battle. If you did, you wouldn¡¯t be as weak as you are.

    It was, to his credit, all true. Nobody who could throw lightning bolts was to be caught fighting animals with spears at level 0.

    I was not always this weak, I said. Most of my powers were stripped from me by the magic that brought me here¡ªI am now level 0 for the first time in a long time.

    My enemy considered this for a moment. Lies. You twist and wile still, elf Aziriel.

    But I could feel their curiosity intensifying. They had clearly never learned to hide their emotions from the creatures they telepathically communicated with¡ªand why would they, when said creatures were never intelligent?

    Finally they added: I am Palefang.

    Until now, the creature had been communicating with me fairly well despite its lack of language¡ªits words were concepts, not concrete memories or experiences. And yet now I got a clear image: a vast cavern, and this creature, jaws stripping meat off the corpse of what looked like a rhinoceros.

    And for a flash of a moment I felt their bloody teeth, their powerful jaws, the strength in their four legs¡ªand I knew they were another great cat, and male.

    I finished sharpening my spear, tucked my whetstone away, then rose and proceeded into the cave. Palefang said no more, and I didn¡¯t bother him.

    He¡¯d come to believe me soon enough.

    I had to wonder what sort of creature had built the tunnels around me as I moved forward. I found a few pale insects that looked much like the stealth ambusher I¡¯d killed earlier, but with translucent skin. They ran from me as soon as my light touched them.

    I walked on for a full minute, my light floating at the edge of my claim, idly concentrating on replenishing my [Life Pool] as I moved. Since entering the cave, I¡¯d gone a long time without something trying to kill me compared to the rest of the time I¡¯d spent here.

    It wasn¡¯t long before I heard soft pads against the stones ahead, something coming: soon enough it entered the circle of my light, apparently unbothered by it.

    It looked like a large, scaleless gecko with pale, translucent skin. It came through the tunnel surprisingly fast, but as I¡¯d walked I¡¯d prepared a small spell¡ªI flared my light when it was right in front of the lizard.

    I shielded my own eyes from the flare, but was surprised to hear the lizard still charging me, its pace completely unaltered. I felt it pressing against my claim in the ground beneath me a moment later, but not as hard as the ooze had¡ªI pushed it back easily.

    Once it became clear it wouldn¡¯t be altering any of the stone around me, the gecko halted, then tore a hunk of rock from the ceiling of the tunnel, pulling it into its mouth and shooting it at me with its magic.

    I dodged to one side, easily: the rock was too big to throw fast, and I could both see and feel it coming. Then I charged as the gecko loaded another, lowering my spear.

    It was a short fight: after I¡¯d avoided the second missile, it was my spear versus its teeth and claws¡ªand the lizard wasn¡¯t as strong as the cat had been, while I had gotten stronger. I punctured its neck quickly, dancing back along the jutting stones of the cave as blood spurted from the hole I made and it tried in vain to close its jaws around me.

    I struck again, and again, each time making holes in its neck. My spear had a winged guard at the base of its head to keep creatures from working their way up the shaft once they¡¯d been stuck, and so I could use the spear to hold the lizard at bay just as I had with the hunting cat. Unlike the cat, though, it didn¡¯t have [Regeneration], and very soon it had fallen into a quickly-growing pool of its own blood.

    + 782 Essence

    ¡°Still fairly strong,¡± I said softly, reaching down to touch it. I extended my gaze through its body, using [Life Magick] to get a sense of where its vitals were. The veins along its neck would be easy to slice, now that I knew where they were, and the shape of its skull meant it would be easy to shoot out its eyes, even from the front.

    You spend 1100 Essence to gain 1 level. You are now level 6 / 11.

    For reaching level 6, you gain 1 [*Primeval 5] skill core.

    You have gained 1 [Bestow 8].

    You spend 1 [Bestow 8] to add 8 to your [Source]. Your [Source] is now 18.

    ?¡ªYou have 117 Essence.

    I didn¡¯t want to take a lot of spellcasting attributes, but some extra [Source] felt necessary, given how little mana I had without it. The density of the mana in the air meant that it would be easy to fill my mana pool, and so I really only needed enough to get me through combat without having to stop.

    I moved further ahead into the cave. With any luck, there would be more of the creatures I had just killed: the fight had been fairly easy. With a few more levels, most fights would be.

    Still, I was surprised I hadn¡¯t been able to blind it. The cave mouths suggested that for whatever reason, these things spent time outside¡ªbut the surface was dark as night. Perhaps they¡¯d adapted because of the constant lightning flashes?

    I found another one not a minute later, killing it with fewer thrusts of the spear than I had the first:

    + 652 Essence

    ¡°Weaker,¡± I said, watching it bleed out in front of me. Its earth magic had felt about the same strength, but it had been slower, died easier¡ªmeaning they leveled physical attributes.

    Within a few minutes, I¡¯d killed two more, working my way through the criss-crossed caves, trying not to stray too close to the entrances¡ªI didn¡¯t want to give Palefang another shot at me, and my current plan if they attacked again was to travel downward as fast as I could.

    None of them granted any boons, but I gained enough essence for another level:

    You spend 1100 Essence to gain 1 level. You are now level 7 / 11.

    You have gained 1 [Bestow 8].

    You spend 1 [Bestow 8] to add 8 to your [Aegis]. Your [Aegis] is now 12.

    ?¡ªYou have 1079 Essence.

    You are getting stronger, Palefang said as I flicked the blood off my spear and moved further into the caves.

    Always.

    Do you think it will save you? he asked.

    Definitely. No chance, I said. Even if the essence flows fast, limit does not rise easily.

    A cold laughter filled my mind. Then why not lie before me, neck bared, if your end is so certain?

    Call it my nature, I said. Besides, I¡¯ve survived so far because I amuse you¡ªperhaps I simply need to amuse you forever.

    They laughed again. Even if you could, I will kill you before you grow strong enough to threaten me.

    Ahead of me, I found another one of the giant geckos and charged. As I punched a few holes in its neck, my enemy went on:

    You think I am foolish. But I know you mean to grow in power, then destroy me.

    How? I asked.

    All creatures such as we must kill one another, he said. None can match the strength we gain from our minds, and so when there is only one of us, we reign supreme.

    Perfectly reasonable for an asocial carnivore. Especially in this place, where safety was seemingly found at the top of the food chain¡ªand nowhere else.

    I know you are trying to kill me, he repeated. But I also know that you know many things I do not¡ªyou are a being I have never seen, weak but not powerless. I must learn what I can from you. My eyes see much.

    I scowled, my confidence waning. My talkative enemy wasn¡¯t watching me because they were playing with their food¡ªthey were watching me because they hoped it would teach them something.

    Not good. But the fact that I could use [Wild Bond] to hide myself from them would still help me escape when they came hunting.

    What was more¡ªas long as I kept showing this creature things it had never seen before without being too threatening, it would stay interested. I could do that.

    Though I had to wonder¡ªwere they an asocial carnivore, or had their intellect simply resulted in their self-imposed exile from what should have been their pride?

    Suddenly the rock around me started to tremble. I stretched my magical senses as far as I could to try and sense what it was, but there was no need: a new weight fell upon my mind, another creature hunting me out with its [Wild Bond], easily detectable now because I had the power myself.

    I found it with my senses a moment later¡ªa large creature, female, coming up through the earth beneath me, its mind overwhelmed by one overriding instinct:

    Protect the young.

    ¡°I see,¡± I said, somewhat dismayed. Hunting these lizards had drawn some attention.

    Mom was here¡ªand she¡¯d come because I was killing her children.

 1.06: Going for the Eyes

    In preparation for the approaching giant lizard, I grabbed a roll of linen from my belt, tore a stretch of it away, then wrapped the cloth around my face as a makeshift mask. I also took the flight goggles I had hanging from the front of my baldric and put those on, too.

    I had to marvel at the process by which the new lizard was burrowing upward. The rock beneath me was mostly soft tuff, cracked in so many places that they had to expend very little power to cause huge sections of it to fall away. It made me wonder if the whole of this cave system hadn¡¯t been artificially constructed this way for this very purpose¡ªkeeping larger creatures out while allowing the mother to reach her young in case of an emergency.

    I couldn¡¯t extend my gaze far enough to see where the head-sized chunks of stone were falling away to, but it must have been a fairly large open space, even potentially a space outside¡ªwherever it was, I expected it would be a better place to fight this massive creature in than a small tunnel.

    I backed up the tunnel as the ground began to crack and heave below me, stopping once I wasn¡¯t directly above it to focus on maintaining my claim on the earth beneath me as the lizard tried to take it with her own claim.

    Finally the floor of the cave fell in, the creature having made a rough-edged tunnel almost directly upward to reach me. I could see its bulk through the cloud of billowing dust¡ªsomething glittered inside as it shook free some rubble.

    I withdrew my claim from the stone beneath me, and the creature took hold of it instantly, tearing the cave floor away so that it, too, fell away in a cascade of stone¡ªbut I simply stuck the butt of my spear against one wall and walked up the other, arching myself between both as I used the distraction to seize hold of the cracked stone just above the lizard and use my own magic to break as much of it as I could.

    A cascade of stone struck the silhouetted head of the massive lizard, but it barely seemed to notice, shaking the weight free. I tried for the stone beneath its legs next, hoping to send it falling away into the pit it had created, but its claim there was too strong for me to even gain an inch.

    The lizard, having shaken free all the stones I¡¯d dropped on it, opened its mouth and launched a fast, scattered volley of glinting missiles at me, but I was already moving, dropping myself from where I was stretched between the remaining cave walls to fall down into the newly-formed cavity beneath me and then dive past where the lizard clung to the edge, into the pit.

    Normally it was a bad idea to get beneath a lot of stone while something with [Earth Magick] is trying to kill you. But here my reasoning was simple: it was slow, and had to be burning through enormous amounts of mana no matter how efficiently it was moving through the stone. I could tire this creature out, if I had time and space.

    Eyes covered by my goggles, I leapt downward through the dust, using my gaze to guide me from one newly-formed ledge to the other, easily able to sense the jutting stones.

    Above me, I heard the massive bulk of the lizard shifting. I felt a sudden psychic assault from the beast, an attempt to momentarily paralyze me¡ªbut any druid knows how to deal with the brute power of a raging beast¡¯s mind, the fluid psychic dance that turns their force and energy away as effortlessly as twirling out of the path of a charging bull.

    It dropped a cascade of stones my way, but they were all knocked inward by the irregular walls and ledges of the pit¡ªit was easy to find a recessed ledge where I lay flat against the wall, boulders passing harmlessly by before I leapt down to the next ledge.

    It took me a half-dozen jumps before the pit opened up into a huge, dust-filled chamber with a pile of rubble beneath it. As I leapt onto this, I heard the lizard still moving, crashing around above me and getting closer. I bounded down off the pile of broken stone, leaping through a curtain of falling dust before conjuring a witchlight and bursting into a sudden grin at what I saw.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    The cave was lined with created quartz: pure, clear crystals that glittered as my light followed me into the gallery. Great quartz pillars supported a ceiling of tuff that was 50 feet high in some places. My feet trod across smooth, uneven facets of the massive crystals as I spun to take in as much as I could, heightening the intensity of my light so that I could see the distant walls of the cave.

    What was more, I counted eight of the smaller rock lizards scattered across the half of the cave not dominated by the growing rubble pile, all of them charging toward me¡ªanother cause to smile.

    I ran into the group of baby lizards, flipping my spear over a shoulder to clip it to my baldric and grab my bow, nocking an arrow as the first of the lizards grabbed a rock¡ªnow a fist-sized hunk of quartz¡ªand launched it at me.

    But their aim against a moving target was only so good, and I didn¡¯t even need to adjust my course to avoid the first few projectiles, sensing their trajectories with my gaze and letting them zip harmlessly past me.

    Then I returned with shots of my own. My first arrow sank into the eye of the nearest lizard, my second into the eye of the next-nearest. I picked up speed, finding it easy to run across the crystal of the cavern compared to the jagged stones of the caves, launching two more arrows into two more eyes.

    I ran for the first lizard, now howling because it had an arrow sticking out of one eye. It snapped at me, but I leapt to one side, drawing my knife with my free hand and striking it soundly in its one remaining eye.

    Then I moved for the second, nocking another arrow and planting it into the eye of another, further lizard-child as I deflected a few of the shards of quartz being tossed at me, knife tucked back into the palm of my hand.

    I missed a shot at the sixth lizard¡ªeven though they held their heads still to launch the stones they grabbed in their mouths. I didn¡¯t know if it was vibrations through the floor shifting the lizard slightly as the arrow flew, or perhaps a gust of displaced air, or even a psychic attack from its mother¡ªbut the arrow scratched its way across the ridge of the creature¡¯s skull. I scowled.

    Then the ground shook as their mother finally arrived, carefully dropping the short distance between the tunnel and the rockpile to immediately charge toward me.

    I halted, deflecting the shots of the only three of the young lizards that still had both eyes so that I could quickly aim and plant an arrow in every one of them. The sounds of their squeals of pain filled the air around me¡ªeven the ones who could still partially see were likely not going to be fighting very well.

    I turned toward the mother, who was barreling toward us through a cloud of dust¡ªand noticed, for the first time, how she scintillated. A full coat of quartz crystals covered her body, with many of the largest armoring her head and neck. [Earth Skin], then.

    And since she had thrown chunks of quartz with [Earth Magick], and had [Wild Bond] as well¡­ her core type was likely [*Earth], with her granted power being [Wild Bond]. She wouldn¡¯t have any healing skills.

    ?¡ªMana 87/180, 40% Primeval

    It wasn¡¯t a lot, but all I needed to use it for was deflect the shots long enough to kill her. I ran for the far wall of the cave, putting as many of its writhing, half-blind children between us as I could and nocking another arrow.

    I felt cool satisfaction as the mother lizard snarled and slowed her charge, losing her momentum rather than trample her own kin. She let out a short, sharp roar, and I could see many glittering stones stored beneath her tongue, but I was focused on my target¡ªher eyes.

    I loosed my arrow, aiming for one of her overlarge pupils¡­.

    The arrow scratched across the surface of the eye, then fell harmlessly to the cave floor.

    Naturally. This creature used its eyes to aim, and doubtless lived among many creatures who used [Earth Magick] to shoot things to death. The film covering its eyes was probably as thick as its skin.

    I might have sighed, but I was too busy¡ªthe volley of quartz shards came shortly afterward, a focused line of shots that came twice as fast as my heartbeat, and I ran, reaching out with my magic to deflect two of them that were on the path to striking me.

    I dove behind one of its fully-blind children, heard it let out another screech of rage as I crouched low, trying to keep the nearby thrashing lizard between myself and its mother.

    Then I reached out with my [Earth Magick] to the crystal wall of the cave behind me¡ªand I started to scratch a circle of runes into its surface.

    It was time to get more complicated.

 1.07: A Mothers Love

    The great lizard was as enraged as any beast I¡¯d ever seen. I could feel it through the [Wild Bond], a hot anger that screamed through every muscle in its body.

    It came toward me, half-stepping, half-leaping over the bodies of one of its children to approach me and launch its quartz slugs from a closer distance.

    I leapt away, mind still on the far wall, still guiding my [Earth Magick] into drawing the circle as I took off at a run through the cavern, angling for another one of the fallen young. This one still had one eye, and it lunged for me as I approached¡ªbut again, I dodged out of the way, my hand coming up to quickly thrust the knife-tip into its only working pupil as the greater lizard began another volley.

    I finished drawing the circle on the wall, then began another on the ceiling above it. This one would take longer¡ªeven close to the edge of the cavern, the ceiling was so far above us that I had to stretch my claim to its utmost extent just to reach it.

    The lizard-mother once again tried to awkwardly navigate her own maimed children, leap-stepping over one to get closer to me, but once again I ran¡ªthis massive creature couldn¡¯t gain the momentum it needed to catch me.

    Again she tried shooting me, and again I ignored her, running, weaving, and dodging through our battlefield of bloodied quartz to slash the eyes of two more of her children and take cover behind them. As long as she was unwilling to kill her own young, the massive scatter-blast that she¡¯d used in the upper tunnel¡ªthe best way to deal with a quick little one who had [Earth Magick] like me¡ªwould go unused.

    She tried forming her willpower into a hammer meant to clench all my muscles and cause me to seize¡ªbut again I was too well-trained, my mind too slippery for her psychic assault.

    I pushed back¡ªbut my push was to calm it, to heighten its protective instincts and keep it loving its blind children enough that I could use them as cover.

    And while I did all of this, I channeled the mana in the air around us. The mana in the cave wasn¡¯t as dense as what rose from the forest outside, but it was still denser and more primeval than the mana on any world I¡¯d encountered. I pushed it, pulled it, made a kind of current that flowed into both of the circles, slowly storing more power than I could ever have held by myself.

    The beast could have stopped me just by drawing a break through the circle, could have fizzled the whole spell by breaking one of the runes¡ªbut it was a beast. It had no idea what I was doing.

    Instead it kept changing tactics, trying to get close and swallow me, then shooting more of its crystals at me as I scampered away, too fast for it to follow. I only deflected a few of the quartz slugs that it shot at me in a steady stream, the rest missing me, most of them by a long shot. I tried my best to keep it pivoting and turning, but its nature as a climbing creature meant that it was surprisingly good at maneuvering for its size.

    When it finally began to tire, I knew that I was ready. The subtle tugs and pushes that I¡¯d used to manipulate the movement of the mana in the cave had funneled far more into my circles than if I¡¯d spent the last few minutes pushing it all into the circles myself.

    The beast stomped toward me, and I made for the traps on the cave, adding a few runes to the sigil on the ceiling once I got close enough.

    It reared up slightly, opening its jaws to swallow me as it moved beneath my trap¡­.

    And I released the spell, causing a massive blast of force to travel upward through the stones above us¡ªall of which had been cracked and broken, but left just fused enough to support the weight above them, much like the rest of this place.

    The blast slapped me down to the ground and pushed the head of the lizard down into the floor of the cave.

    Then the rocks began to fall. I heard the stupendously loud sounds of boulders striking the creature¡¯s crystal armor, scrambled to my feet, lurched forward into a run to escape the growing pile of rubble¡ªand then was stricken in the back by a hunk of stone flung free by the cascade behind me, flinging me forward to crack my head against the ground.

    I didn¡¯t lose consciousness, though, which would have meant death. Instinctively I began to use my [Life Magick] to funnel my remaining [Life Pool] into my head, the ground still shaking beneath me as more rocks fell. I came up onto my hands and knees, crawling forward, dizzy and woozy¡ªI had to get back to the other circle¡­ all of this was pointless if I couldn¡¯t get back to the other circle¡­.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    I steadied myself against the wall as I rose and stumbled toward the rockpile ahead of me, sensing everything using my gaze on account of the suffocating cloud of dust.

    Rocks and sand were still tumbling around me as I moved past the pile of stones that had buried the lizard¡ªbut I could sense within that the creature was still alive. I had expected as much¡ªof course this creature could survive cave-ins. Hence the second circle.

    The rockpile lurched, sending several stones bouncing. The creature was surely low on mana, but could still use its [Earth Magick] to get out even if it wasn¡¯t strong enough to throw them off. I only had a little time.

    I struggled to focus enough, drawing more runes to compensate for my dazed state¡ªmy [Life Pool] had run out and I had no idea how well it had restored my head wound.

    Suddenly I remembered missing a good shot at one of the earlier younger lizards¡ªthe thought spurred me to push myself to focus. I had to be very precise, here.

    I gathered and shaped the massive amount of mana in the circle, adding more runes to make the spell more precise, carefully judging the position of the lizard in the rocks¡­.

    Finally it heaved its head free with a cascade of dust and stone¡ªand I loosed my spell, sending the mana in the circle forth in a thin line as thick as my arm that flowed forward toward the lizard even as it ignited into a blazing stream of bright red spellfire.

    The creature let out a pitiful moan, and I stumbled toward the farthest place in the cave wall, then huddled down for cover as the cave around me became an oven filled with screams of pain, hot particles of dust, and a smell that made me want to stop breathing. The discharge was only a couple of seconds, but when it finished I was relieved: any more and I¡¯d have started burning myself.

    The lizard fell silent after one long moan. I stood, walked over to one of its children, killed them by punching my spear wholly through their eyes, then used my [Life Magick] to double-check the position of its vital arteries¡ªthe mother had a bigger gullet, and I tried to get a good idea of where the arteries would be displaced to in relation to¡ª

    + 4021 Essence, [Boon]

    Your level limit has increased to 12!

    I let out a sigh of relief. In order to get at that thing¡¯s neck, I would have had to rip a piece of its armor away¡ªwhich would likely have meant grabbing a hold of the quartz hunk with both hands, distracting the creature with a psychic attack, then seizing a small section of its claim and spending a huge amount of mana to rip the quartz away¡ªjust with the hope that I could cut a vital artery.

    That the fire had killed it was fortunate indeed.

    Fortunate, and less monstrous. True, a creature that¡¯s been covered in bodily burns is weaker to attacks via [Wild Bond] because pain is driving it insane¡­ but to cook a creature alive is a hideous cruelty. Better if it dies fast.

    I moved around the cave, dispatching the smaller lizards with a sense of disquiet and gaining more than 1600 essence for it. I touched the warp jewel at my hip. I could feel as bad about this as I liked, but my people were counting on me. I¡¯d butcher every baby in and on this mountain if it meant saving a single elf.

    I told myself that there would be more glorious fights than this, fights where I did not shelter from a mother¡¯s wrath by hiding behind her maimed babies¡­ and as if on queue, Palefang¡¯s presence in my mind flared, and he began to speak:

    What are you?

    The corner of my mouth curled upward. I am the elf Aziriel. But you had the right of it before¡ªI am a little one.

    They didn¡¯t answer.

    They had to be close by. A high-ranked [Wild Bond] could reach far, but without added powers, it wouldn¡¯t span a distance of kilometers. My guess was that my enemy was perched on the rock overtop me, hundreds of feet above. They couldn¡¯t see through my eyes¡ªmy pretense of hiding from them was effective enough to stop that much, at least. But they¡¯d probably seen the whole thing through the lizard¡¯s eyes instead.

    With any luck, they¡¯d watched this fight and correctly surmised that stopping me from doing what I¡¯d just done involved breaking the circle. I knew how to make some pretty deadly traps that would trigger when a circle was broken: it was just a matter of different runes associated with different concepts in my mind.

    I could count on his pride. I knew I could because he¡¯d had no reason, none at all, to tell me that he knew I was hunting him the last time we¡¯d spoken. If he believed that to be true, and if he believed that I stood any chance of harming him, letting me know was just a bad idea.

    He¡¯d seen my rune circles and realized that I knew things he didn¡¯t, powerful magic he¡¯d never seen. I¡¯d met his expectations. The question now was whether he¡¯d realize the danger in keeping me around, or let his curiosity get the better of him.

    Hopefully the latter.

    I grabbed my spear, carrying it at the ready as I moved around and reclaimed a few arrows from the eyes of the dead lizards.

    It was time to spend some essence, gain some levels, and figure out which key I was going to take out of the boon.

 1.08: Sleepers in the Deep

    ?¡ª6721 Essence

    As I walked the edge of the cave, I deliberated. The [Boon] that I¡¯d gotten from the dead lizard could be used to create [Armor 2], [Earth 2], or [Reptile 2], and I wasn¡¯t sure which to choose.

    The rank of each key in a skill had to equal the total number of keys in a skill; rank 2 keys could form skills with more than one type of aspect across its keys.

    [Reptile 2] was an interesting option. The resulting skill, [Reptile Bond], would synergize with my existing [Wildbond] and give me much greater power in finding and psychically communicating with all reptiles.

    But Palefang wasn¡¯t a reptile. It would certainly help me hunt out more essence, and might be the most useful option if I had plenty of time¡­ but I didn¡¯t have plenty of time. I had less than two hours, I was sure.

    [Earth 2] could serve to strengthen my [Earth Magick 6], and then only if I upgraded the key that the skill already contained to rank 2. Skill keys could be upgraded by combining them: it took 3 rank 1 skill keys and 1000 essence to make a single rank 2 key. It was easy enough to create [Earth] keys, and I only needed two more to go with the 1000 essence required to fuse three keys to rank 2¡­ but upgrading the skill wouldn¡¯t do nearly as much for me as getting a new one¡ªand I had skill cores to spare.

    I could also fuse it another rank 2 core for a new ability, but the best option in that case was a [Body 2] key for [Earthen Might]. But a [Body 2] key would combine much better with the [Armor 2] key in any case, creating an excellent defensive skill, [Primeval Hide]¡ªonce fused with one of my [*Primeval 5] skill cores, that was.

    The only other thing I¡¯d want an [Earth] key for was [Meteor Strike], and that would need keys at rank 4¡ªwhich was, unfortunately, not something that would be happening today.

    [Armor] it was, then.

    You break [Boon] to create a [Armor 2] skill key.

    You fused [*Primeval 5] with [Armor 2] to create the skill: [Primeval Armor 7]

    [Primeval Armor 7]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Armor 2]

    + 51 [Aegis]

    This skill¡¯s [Aegis] only affects your equipment.

    This skill¡¯s [Aegis] only affects primevally oriented materials such as leather, hide, and bone.

    Your gaze now discerns which materials qualify for this skill.

    Exclusive: this skill cannot function in conjunction with other [Armor] skills that grant [Aegis].

    I smiled and rolled my shoulders as more than 6 levels worth of [Aegis] began to affect every part of my leather armor except the metal plates inserted between its layers.

    Passive skills didn¡¯t just scale with their own rank and my extremely high [Primeval Resonance]¡ªthey also scaled with [Bestow], levelling to stay relevant just as their bearers did. A quick check showed that my [Sable Grace] had gone from providing 21 [Agility] and [Focus] to providing 28 when my [Bestow] had increased from 6 to 8 at level 5. This armor skill would also grow as I levelled.

    In normal circumstances, passive skills were so strong that even a few of them could double a creature¡¯s attributes, scaling as they did with both skill rank and their bearer¡¯s bestow. But for me, this was blown to absurd proportions because of [Primeval Power] doubling my [Primeval Resonance].

    Hence why I¡¯d always been fond of the more passive skills. It was nice to outsmart my enemies, but I preferred to overpower them at the same time.

    The bonus would become less absurd compared to my normal attributes as I leveled and bought more¡­ but not by much. [Bestow] increased every 5 levels, after all.

    Speaking of:

    You spend 5,550 Essence to gain 4 levels. You are now level 11 / 12.

    For reaching levels 8 and 10, you gain 2 [*Primeval] skill cores!

    You gain 3 [Bestow 8]!

    For reaching level 10, your [Bestow] increases from 8 to 10.

    You gain 1 [Bestow 10]!

    I checked my [Primeval Armor 7] once again and smiled. Its bonus to [Aegis] was now 64. [Sable Grace] now increased my [Agility] and [Focus] by 35 each.

    As for my attribute bestows, I knew I still needed to favor [Strength]. The whole confrontation with the lizard would have gone much easier if I¡¯d been able to shoot out its eyes. At this point, though, it was hardly a choice. My bow was an elven matchbow, crafted for me by Hashephel, and its draw strength grew greater as my [Aegis] increased.

    The new armor skill had left it close to unusable at my current [Strength]: it was made for an elf whose [Aegis] was one and a half to two times greater than their [Strength].

    You spend 3 [Bestow 8] to add 24 to your [Strength]. Your [Strength] is now 52.

    I closed a fist, enjoying the feeling of new power flowing through my body as my [Strength] attribute doubled. Of course, [Strength] didn¡¯t include the actual strength of my body¡­ my overall strength had only increased by about 50%.

    Next I put the last level in [Source]¡ªI would be fighting continuously during the primeval convergence that I still intended to trigger, and I¡¯d need more mana on hand to sustain that combat, even if I was mostly spending it on small, efficient uses of [Earth Magick] as I had been.

    You spend 1 [Bestow 10] to add 10 to your [Source]. Your [Source] is now 28.

    I queried for my attributes:

    ?¡ªYour Attributes:

    39 [Agility]

    52 [Strength]

    12 [Aegis] + 64 [Primeval Armor]

    4 [Channel]

    28 [Source]

    39 [Focus]

    10 [Bestow]Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    104% [Primeval Resonance]

    280/280 Mana ¡ª 40% Primeval

    [Primeval Power] was clearly doing its job, and [Sable Grace] was helping my [Agility] and [Focus] keep pace. With luck, I¡¯d be able to build two more passive, attribute-increasing skills fairly quickly.

    It was a little absurd that my [Channel] was so low. With my 40% primeval mana and my [Primeval Resonance] of 104%, I channeled my own mana 144% faster than what the attribute would normally grant.

    But just like how my [Strength] score didn¡¯t measure the innate strength in my body, [Channel] didn¡¯t measure my ability to channel mana through sheer force of will. If I recruited all my mental energy into channeling mana, I could move it as fast as if I had 120 base [Channel]. Including my bonuses from [Primeval Resonance] and primeval mana, I could channel as fast as an ordinary spellcaster with 300 [Channel].

    As such, spending my levels on increasing [Channel] wasn¡¯t going to change anything: I was well past the point where I could spend all my mana as fast as I¡¯d like. I¡¯d need a lot more [Source], and a lot bigger a mana pool, to take advantage of even my natural abilities¡ªlet alone justify buying more [Channel].

    Instead I needed [Strength], [Agility], and 3 [Body 1] keys or a [Body 2] key to upgrade my [Primeval Armor]. Higher levels would see [Channel] rise to its proper place as the centerpiece of my skillset.

    For now, though, I¡¯d reached the last 2 of my skill cores:

    ?¡ªYour Skills:

    0: [Sable Grace 20]

    0: [Primeval Power 30]

    0: [Earth Magick 6]

    2: [Wild Bond 6]

    4: [Life Magick 6]

    6: [Primeval Armor 7]

    8: [*Primeval 5]

    10: [*Primeval 5]

    A class granted a number of extra skill cores in the first 10 levels equal to its tier¡ªin my case, 5. Beyond that, I¡¯d get one every 5 levels. With how difficult it was to raise the level limit for my class, I had to hope that I¡¯d be able to reach level 15 before confronting Palefang.

    I told myself it wouldn¡¯t matter. I was now more than a match for most of the creatures I¡¯d met since arriving. Hopefully I could find a [Body] and [Air] key.

    I still needed to compose a spell to fight him with, something that kept him from healing and replenishing or absorbing mana¡­.

    As I considered all this, I moved along the cave wall and searched for a way out. Soon I found a break in the crystal that coated the cave, with more of the partly-fused boulders making up the wall instead. Extending my senses past it, I found a network of tunnels beyond.

    I finished my circuit of the cave, but the other routes all led into the caves above me. I returned to the first passage and began to carefully excavate myself a small door with my [Earth Magick], cracking the stone and clearing it away in fist-sized hunks. Soon I had a small, narrow opening that I could squeeze through sidelong.

    I took one look back at the massive cavern, now filled with dust and corpses, but still lined with beautifully pure quartz. The crystal was much harder to manipulate than ordinary stone, and I had to wonder how much essence the lizard had spent creating this massive shell for her nest¡ªhad she made it all herself with creation skills? Stolen it from another creature who had? Had the cave been built up over generations? Sadly, I had a feeling that it would be a long time before I could let my curiosity run wild.

    Once I was out of the dust, I checked around me to make sure I was safe. The passage was much cleaner-cut than the ones above had been, smoother walls that almost looked like they¡¯d been made by tools. It was also narrow, barely wide enough for me to walk alone.

    I¡¯d expected to find the larger lizard¡¯s hunting ground, but this passage was obviously too small¡ªperhaps the lizard hadn¡¯t blocked this place off with quartz because it sometimes sent its young through?

    I¡¯d find out soon enough, but for now I opened my canteen and drank it all, then cast a spell to fill it with water that I condensed out of the air and drank that, too. Then I pulled some strips of dried meat from my pouch and ate while I filled my canteen and transferred some arrows from a sheaf into my quiver so that it was full.

    I progressed into the passage, soon finding it to be a kind of maze¡ªmore narrow corridors branched off from the first, most of them dead ends. The marks on the walls seemed more like they¡¯d been made by claws than chisels when I examined them more closely. Very strange, when [Earth] cores were apparently so common among the wildlife.

    Of course, anything underground that didn¡¯t have [Earth Magick] didn¡¯t have [Earth] as its class core type¡ªfreeing it up for something else. It was possible that some wildlife had adapted to simply steal the tunnels built by creatures with [Earth Magick] and had class cores that made taking them easy: [Air] could be used to suffocate things fairly well down here, and [Wild], in a strong enough creature, could compel other burrowers to do the work for them.

    The maze ended suddenly at a large, circular pit, its edges smooth. I sent a light down into it and saw that it extended downward about fifty feet, ending in bare stone floor. I tore a stone from the wall and dropped it into the pit, hearing to the echoing clatter of stone striking stone¡ªand nothing else. It was eerily quiet.

    I descended, tearing handholds out of the stone with [Earth Magick], expecting something to come out of the dark any moment and still hearing nothing. Finally I reached the lower level to find myself in an almost perfectly round cave, another tunnel much like the one I¡¯d just come down, but horizontal.

    I followed this for twenty or so paces until it opened into a larger chamber, one whose ceiling and end I couldn¡¯t see. I flared my light and found that it was another circular tunnel, only this one was gigantic, the ceiling sixty or more feet above me, and its end further than my light touched.

    ¡°What built this?¡± I muttered.

    What was most curious was that small slots had been carved into the stone, each a thin line about twenty inches long and a few millimeters wide, all of them spaced at regular intervals of a few feet, all of them running perpendicular to the curve of the chamber.

    Beneath each of them my gaze saw only a rounded cavity, a space big enough to fit a horse. There was something in it¡ªI could feel it pressing against the stone of the cavity, but couldn¡¯t detect its shape. Normally this would simply mean it wasn¡¯t made of earthen or biological substance¡ªbut [Sable Grace] let me detect the shape of anything that was in darkness.

    Suspicious of what I¡¯d found, I took a few steps toward the center of the chamber, my teeth on edge. When I¡¯d reached the labyrinth above, I¡¯d gotten far enough from the stripped aspect of the jungle to coalesce another core, but had waited because I knew it would have likely been another [Earth].

    Here, though? I cast my spell to strip the aspect from the world around me¡­ and what I found was surprising.

    You spend 500 Essence to create: [Insect 1]

    My mouth fell open in wonderment. ¡°A sleeping hive,¡± I said, sweeping my gaze across what must have been thousands of insects. The reason I couldn¡¯t sense them with my gaze was that their controller kept them well-protected and hidden, something common to hives that were under the control of a psychic entity.

    I smiled. As much as the part of me that was curious and passionate about the natural world found this fascinating, the part of me that had just blinded a mother¡¯s children for a tactical advantage before roasting her alive knew that it was clearly time to leave.

    But where to go? There were other corridors branching off of this main gallery¡ªI could see a half-dozen within the circle of my light. Normally I would want to retreat back the way I came¡­ but I could feel the motion of the air around me. These caves were ventilated, likely had to be if they stored an army of tens of thousands of dormant insects.

    I decided to take a risk and follow the flow of air, treading lightly in case my footsteps would wake anything. More likely an attack would be preceded by the touch of a hive mind against my own, but I felt nothing.

    I kept wondering about the maze above, the transition between this place and the lair of the lizard. What was it for? Had these insects built it? It would be a good place to back Palefang into, if he tried to come for me down here¡ªthe hive would likely assess him as the greater threat, giving me a chance to leave.

    I entered another circular tunnel, this one sloping downward, and definitely the source of the air. It had larger, thicker grooves cut into the stone, however¡ªand I peered curiously at these, comparing the diameter of the tunnel to the size of the cavities I¡¯d seen earlier.

    The grooves, I thought, must be rungs or footholds¡ªthe tunnel felt like it was big enough to accommodate insects crawling across its every surface at once. It was an efficiently-carved transit route, which made me wonder about the purpose of the upper maze even more.

    On the air I could smell the growing scent of ash, mildew, flowers, rot, and sweat. I was definitely headed outside.

    You.

    For a moment I froze in terror, convinced that the hive-mind in command of the sleepers had found me¡ªbut it was only Palefang.

    Just me, I said.

    Palefang hissed. I must have words with you.

    It was about time.

 1.09: This Power of All Powers

    Tell me your class, he commanded.

    It was as much as I expected. He¡¯d been watching my fight with the lizards, likely through one of the lizards¡¯ eyes, and realized that my class was¡­ unorthodox.

    The only thing that really determined the identity of a class was the skill it granted and the skill cores that it granted when its bearer leveled.

    Because one of those skill cores had to be present in every skill, a creature could only build the ¡°pure¡± skill¡ªthe skill made of only one type of key or core¡ªof its skill core. A druid, with their [*Wild] skill cores, could build [Wild Bond]... but they could never build [Earth Magick], the pure [Earth] skill, because every skill they built would have a [*Wild] core in it.

    So-called ¡°pure¡± skills tended to be very useful and powerful, but also the most limited in who was able to build them.

    There was a crucial exception to all of this, however¡ªand most of us called it the subtype rule. Certain key and core types had subtypes: for example, [Life] was a subtype of [Wild] and [Fire] was a subtype of [Elemental].

    When a skill key or skill core was fused with one of its subtypes, it emulated that subtype for the purposes of skill creation, essentially functioning as the same type of skill key. Hence [*Fire 2] +

    [Fire 2] would make [Fire Magick 4], and [*Elemental 2] + [Fire 2] would make¡­ [Fire Magick 4].

    A druid had [*Wild] skill cores. They could not only make the pure [*Wild] skill, [Wild Bond], but the pure [Life] skill, [Life Magick], because [Life] was a subtype of [Wild].

    All of this could do much to explain why I was so powerful. My skill core was [*Primeval 5]... and [Primeval] was at the top of the pyramid. Among its subtypes were [Body], [Elemental], [Surge], and [Wild]... and it included all of their subtypes as its own.

    Most classes could make between 1 and 6 ¡°pure¡± skills, with more becoming available as their tier increased. Not counting the different animal and plant subtypes of wild, I could make more than 10.

    And I had the only known class that could ever possess my granted skill, [Primeval Power], the skill that doubled my [Primeval Resonance] to give me an absurd bonus to channeling speed and my attribute-increasing passive skills.

    The only skill I¡¯d built so far that didn¡¯t take advantage of the subtype rule was [Primeval Armor]. It wasn¡¯t a pure skill because [Armor] wasn¡¯t a subtype of [Primeval], and so the two combined to make a skill that was more limited than most pure skills, including the actual pure [Armor] skill, [Armor Mastery].

    But everything else I¡¯d built so far¡ª[Life Magick], [Earth Magick], and [Wild Bond]¡ªwere pure skills because my [*Primeval] skill cores were emulating their subtypes.

    And it had only been a matter of time before my distant hunter, Palefang, took note of this. In fact, if he¡¯d been watching through the eyes of the first cat I¡¯d killed¡ªand I wasn¡¯t sure that he had¡ªhe¡¯d known that I¡¯d taken [Earth Magick] mid-combat, not arrived with it.

    This all meant that he might have guessed that my skill cores were [*Primeval], not [*Wild]. And if he had guessed as much, or even suspected as much, I might be meeting him very, very soon.

    If he hadn¡¯t put it together right away, it was easy to see how watching me kill the lizard with two rune circles had certainly given him another chance to think about it.

    And even if he wasn¡¯t worried about my core type, there was the straightforward fact that I was getting too powerful, too fast. My [Sable Grace] was bolstering my attributes much higher than what levels should grant, my skills made with common keys started off at rank 6, and my raw spellcasting abilities likely made it seem like I had spent more [Bestow] on casting attributes than was possible.

    Tell me your class, little one, he repeated insistently.

    I am an [Earthheart Wildspeaker], I said, using the Verse to send him a rare class, a tier 3, which gave [Earth Magick 12] as its granted ability and [*Wild 3] as its skill cores.

    You are a liar, he said. The weak always deceive.

    Then he sent me an image: himself, lying in the smoking ruins of some ferns, the half-dissolved remains of a great cat lying nearby along with the scattered, smoking remnants of the ooze he¡¯d just blasted to instant death with lightning. You stripped the aspect from this place, he said. I can feel it.

    So he knew how to coalesce boons. I also had to wonder if he¡¯d needed to descend to that rocky shelf I¡¯d fought on earlier in order to keep in contact with me using [Wild Bond].

    Your [Earth Magick] comes from a key, not your class. As does your [Wild Bond]. As does your [Life Magick]. Show me your class, little one¡­. or my interest in you ends.

    There was no mistaking it for anything other than a threat. And while I could take my chances by using the [Wild Bond] to hide from him, it made more sense to see if I could hold him at bay as long as possible¡ªby telling the truth.

    I am a [Primeval Champion], I said.

    And I let the knowledge of the Verse wash over me, essentially reading it along with my enemy.

    [Primeval Champion]

    Class Calling:

    Grow, foster, and protect yourself, your pack, and your territory.

    Be passionate, cunning, and strong.

    Class Core:

    [*Primeval 5]

    Granted Skill:

    [Primeval Power 30]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + 5 [Primeval 5]

    [Primeval Resonance] ¡Á 2.00

    Primeval Mana Profile + 40%

    Locked: this skill is your class¡¯s granted skill; it cannot be relinquished or modified.

    I waited for him to finish taking this in. It was possible that I had simply seen the class elsewhere and was lying to him again¡­ but this time, when he spoke, it wasn¡¯t with a laugh.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    Tell me your [Primeval Resonance], little one, Palefang commanded.

    My [Primeval Resonance] is usually around 50%, I said. Base, that is.

    ?¡ªYour [Primeval Resonance]:

    58% Base, 116% Effective.

    I read this, then added: Right now it¡¯s 58% base.

    A laugh sounded in my mind, cold and harsh. What will you do, little one, when your lies offend me more than they amuse me?

    Run fast and hard, I said. But this time I do not lie; my resonance is 58% base.

    I waited for Palefang to respond. He¡¯d never been trained, and had likely had less time to practice than I did, and was also likely just less naturally talented, and so I didn¡¯t expect him to believe me.

    But he¡¯d asked in the first place. After watching me fight the lizard using magic that he didn¡¯t understand, perhaps he was ready to believe the unbelievable.

    58, he said back. Then he laughed, clearly dismissing the thought as a lie. Tell me¡ªhow do you know of this class?

    I smiled. Even if I was lying, I had to have seen it somewhere to reference it using the Verse.

    I didn¡¯t know Palefang well, but I could guess that he wanted more of what had gotten him where he was now:

    Power.

    Shall I tell you now so that you have no reason to keep me alive? I asked. Watch me. Let me prove to you that I truly do have this class, this power of all powers. Then I will show you the way.

    Are all elves like you, Aziriel?

    My mouth curled into a smile. I had never learned, as so many of us did, to cower at the sight of my own ambitions or to buckle beneath the weight of my might.

    No, I said. Among the elves, there are none like me. Only I am [Primeval Champion].

    Another cold laugh. Tell me, then: how did you come about it, this class?

    Do you bargain? I asked.

    He growled. Bargain.

    It was clear that he didn¡¯t much think he should have to bargain for anything¡ªhe took what he wanted, and he took it with force. It was hardly a surprise to me. Animals with sapience were often temperamental, utterly unable to control their emotions and impulses, inclined to rip another creature to pieces out of anger or envy.

    And what would an elf be, if they had raised themselves apart from all other elves in a place like this and come to dominate as this creature had? Little more than a monster, I expected.

    I very much desire to keep my life, I said.

    And to kill me, added Palefang.

    For what gain? I asked. Territory? Essence? I can seek either without fighting a prince.

    Prince, he echoed, examining the word.

    Does it not suit you? I asked. You rule this territory. Your will is unopposable. I am powerful, yes¡ªbut I must ask your permission simply to live. You are a prince.

    Perhaps.

    I ask that we strike this bargain, O prince: I will kill in your territory, grow strong enough that I believe I can survive you, should you come hunting. Then, knowing that I am safe, I will show you how to become [Primeval Champion].

    Palefang heard all of this, then sent me only an emotion in response, a kind of brooding consideration. He said no more.

    It all depended on how afraid of me he was. I wouldn¡¯t grant much essence or any powerful cores, and so truly, he had no real reason to kill me but fear.

    And while my magic might have impressed him, the sheer amount of attributes he¡¯d needed to throw that lightning bolt meant that he likely wouldn¡¯t find me threatening for a long while¡ªnot until it was too late.

    I smiled. Even if he came now, I could likely evade him, draw him back to the insect hive and try to use my [Wild Bond] to wake them.

    But if I could get an [Air] key¡­.

    I saw light ahead. I¡¯d been slowly descending, careful not to make much noise or many vibrations for fear of waking the dormant hive. Now, as the cave leveled out beneath my feet and the walls became rougher and more natural, I saw a slice of reddish light appear ahead¡ªan opening.

    There was a creature in the way¡ªa massive, green and red-speckled frilled-neck lizard, apparently unbothered by the fact that it had made its nest at the entrance to a giant hive of dormant insects.

    It reared up as it saw me¡ªand I dropped my spear, grabbed my bow, and launched an arrow that punched deep into the creature¡¯s throat, the strength of my draw increased considerably by my new attributes.

    Its warbled cry was cut off by the sound of its punctured throat, and it charged as I pulled my spear back to my hand, then crouched, waiting to lunge forward when it came into range¡ªor potentially dodge aside.

    The lizard charged, but as it ran it mounted the cave wall, its charge unhindered by its sudden change of orientation. It shifted onto the ceiling just above me as it reached me, then opened its mouth and spat out a gout of green fluid along with a cloud of green mist.

    I dove beneath these, coming up in a roll to duck a strike from its tail, then pivoting to jab it with my spear¡ªbut this only struck it in the flank, so I backed off, tearing a stone from the ground and calling it to my free hand.

    The lizard turned in place, let out a cry when it saw me¡ªand I shot the rock into its mouth. It lurched, coughed¡ªand I assaulted it with [Wild Bond], making all of its muscles relax for an instant.

    It fell from the roof of the cave, and I charged forward and thrust my spear downward into the underside of its jaw, piercing it through and ramming my spear into its brain.

    + 2104 Essence, [Boon]

    I yanked my spear free, then knelt beside it to examine its inner vitals with [Life Magick] in case I found more. It had been about as strong as the cat I¡¯d fought, if far easier to kill. The benefit of even a little [Strength] was that I could actually force my spear through their [Aegis]-reinforced flesh.

    And I was only going to get stronger. I had 2 cores remaining, and when I reached into it with my magical senses, I saw that the [Boon] I¡¯d just gained held one of the keys that I very much needed:

    You break [Boon] to create a [Body 1] skill key.

    You fuse [*Primeval 5] with [Body 1] to create the skill: [Might 6]

    [Might 6]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Body 1]

    + 22 [Aegis]

    + 22 [Agility]

    + 22 [Strength]

    ¡°Ah,¡± I said, grip tightening around my spear. Of the three general categories for a primeval class to fall into¡ª[Body], [Elemental], and [Wild]¡ª[Body] was, in my opinion, the best for overall fighting. Too many strong powers that didn¡¯t need to be compromised for.

    A bow with a draw strength of hundreds of pounds was nice, but why stop there? The pure [Body] ability was an old, old friend, both to me and every other berserker I¡¯d ever known.

    I bought another level, spend the bestow on [Strength], then queried for my attributes:

    You spend 2250 Essence to gain 1 level! You are now level 12 / 12

    You gain 1 [Bestow 10]!

    You spend 1 [Bestow 10] to add 10 to your [Strength]. Your [Strength] is now 84.

    ?¡ªYour Attributes:

    34 [Aegis] + 68 [Primeval Armor]

    64 [Agility]

    84 [Strength]

    4 [Channel]

    41 [Focus]

    28 [Source]

    10 [Bestow]

    108% [Primeval Resonance]

    280/280 Mana ¡ª 40% Primeval

    Finally I stepped outside, took in the strange red-tinted overworld, and burst into a smile of wonderment.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ beautiful,¡± I said.

 1.10: A Deadly Fall of Flowers

    A grand ravine lay before me, the cloud layer that I¡¯d seen earlier obscuring both its depths and its heights¡ªthough I was much closer to the lower layer now.

    But what had amazed me was further to my right: stretching the entire height of the ravine on both sides was what appeared to be a frozen waterfall made of luminescent flowers of all colors, a towering band of rainbow light that coated both walls of the ravine from cloud to cloud. Behind the flowers was a black twist of vines, a colossal growth of something like ivy, and I could see the shapes of small insects moving in the air between the luscious vine-walls, each about the size of a wagon wheel.

    I moved further along the ledge, the insects in the air ignoring me as I approached the vines. I came within twenty paces before I saw a yellowing bone stuck into the vines, barely visible beneath the glowing tangle. But as I looked, I could see more of them, along with the occasional desiccated corpse of a quadruped, trapped in the vines.

    I tossed a rock toward the tangle¡ªand watched as some nodules on the vines opened and new vines emerged, smooth and covered in thin, glittering needles. These extended to feel their way toward the ground where the rock had fallen, prodded it, then retreated back into the rougher vinescape.

    Then I spotted the largest insect that I¡¯d seen yet making its way toward me.

    Insects were typically easier to manipulate and control than other animals their size using [Wild Bond]. What was more, their minds were bad at extending or maintaining a magical claim. The best way to kill them was to extend your claim through their bodies¡ªfor most creatures an almost impossible feat¡ªand then instantly kill them by using something like [Frost Magick] to freeze the water in their brains.

    The bug approaching me was the size of a small pony, and it was like a cross between a wasp and a mosquito, with long legs that dangled beneath it and a serrated sucker extending from its face. Its wings hummed thickly in the air, a sound that beat unpleasantly at my ears.

    I reached out to get a sense of this one with [Wild Bond], gaining a clear insight into its mind quite easily¡ªhence why I knew to dodge the stinger it shot at me a moment later, twisting and leaning away from the trajectory of the missile, which bounced harmlessly off the rock behind me.

    I pulled a stone from the ground and launched it at my new foe, watched it strike the creature¡¯s wings with a fair amount of force¡ªand watched the creature teeter in the air, but remain upright, the sound of its flight altered by its torn wing.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± I said, pulling free my bow as I twisted to avoid another stinger. I shot it just above its serrated sucker, my arrow planting itself firmly between the creature¡¯s bulging, faceted eyes and sending it falling into the cloud below.

    + 612 Essence

    No [Air] key, though. Perhaps if I stayed and killed a few¡ªbut then creatures which created bodily projectiles usually used [Life] skills to regenerate them, meaning its class core was probably [Wild], [Life], or [Body]. Creatures who used [Air] tended to do a lot more gliding.

    I spotted a dark shape moving through the air toward the glowing wall of flowers. At first I thought it was the largest insect I¡¯d seen yet¡ªbut then I realized it was many, many insects carrying the form of a furry quadruped, a horned animal that looked something like a stockier antelope. I watched, fascinated, as they brought it to a patch of vines, moving forward to set the creature there.

    The light-green creepers I¡¯d seen earlier had enveloped their new catch in seconds¡ªalong with one of the flying insects that had brought it, caught in the sudden onslaught. But its fellows didn¡¯t seem to mind¡ªall of them, along with many of the other nearby insects, quickly darted in to stick their suckers into the flowers, presumably sipping up nectar like hummingbirds.

    They¡¯d offered the plant an animal as a distraction. The poor beast was probably just paralyzed by the venomous stingers of one of the larger bugs I¡¯d just fought off. As I watched, I wondered what was in the nectar. I also wondered why their suckers were serrated¡ªdid they occasionally cut away some of the vines? This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    Then I heard the low buzzing noise that blanketed everything begin to intensify, and I looked around and saw, with dismay, a squad of the pony-sized guards were coming toward me. They were clearly part of some insect hive, but not a telepathic one like the insects I¡¯d found underground had likely been¡ªjust an ordinary one. Otherwise I wouldn¡¯t be able to find them with [Wild Bond].

    I had to think: would I have enough arrows for all of the guards? If I did, was it worth it to spend many arrows like this?

    It felt like a waste, given how easy it would be to kill them with the right powers¡ªbut I decided to try anyway, just in the hope that one might drop an [Air].

    I was sure that their stingers had a paralytic venom, and while I was normally immune to venom, the sheer volume of essence and the high level of most of the wildlife here had me worried. I spent almost a third of my mana just pushing and packing the soil in front of me into the form of an earthen fortification, then knelt behind my chest-high wall and shot my arrows.

    The wall turned out to be unnecessary: seven arrows dropped all five of the massive flying insects from the sky, each of them giving me just over 600 essence¡ªbut only one key:

    + 108 Essence, [Boon]

    You break [Boon] to create a [Missile 1] key.

    ¡°Hm,¡± I said, both satisfied that I was clearly getting stronger and disappointed at the lack of [Air] within the [Boon]. [Missile 1], however would still come in handy. As an aspect it generally only started to shine when paired with other aspects at rank 2 or higher.

    Like [Armor], [Missile] wasn¡¯t a subtype of [Primeval]¡ªcombining it with one of my [*Primeval 5] cores now wouldn¡¯t grant me the pure skill of the [Missile] aspect the way that that it had with [Earth], [Life], [Wild], and [Body]. Instead I¡¯d get [Primeval Missiles], and while that would strengthen my earthen slugs and arrows, I had a much better use for a [Missile 1] key.

    I just needed to coalesce a [Mana 1] key or, more likely, an [Earth 1] key¡ªthen I could craft a very sloppy bow enchantment.

    Regardless, I had a decision to make: stay and try for more keys here, or leave and try to find a key that could help me deal with Palefang. If he came to kill me now, my plan was still to back them up into the sleeping army of insects and hope that woke them up.

    Suddenly I heard the buzzing sound of wings begin to intensify and watched as seemingly all of the flying insects, even the nectar-harvesting drones, were coming toward me. The hive had decided it was time for me to leave.

    I didn¡¯t want to run out of arrows just to harvest these for essence: I¡¯d already reached my limit, and was likely to have abundant essence until the other elves arrived.

    I let out a humorless laugh as I ran along the cliff¡¯s edge, trying to get away from the approaching insects. This world was so steeped in essence that even singular monsters could give me a level worth of essence at level 12.

    Ahead of me, past a few dozen members of the converging swarm and spotted through the narrow gap where the ravine ended, I could see a few of the massive trees I¡¯d seen earlier¡ªthe valley from before.

    My psychic sense skated across the minds of the insects as I ran by them, reading them in case they attacked. But they had no way of engaging at range, and while they could fly fast, they could hardly fly as fast as I could run across terrain that I could map perfectly with my gaze.

    The ledge cut in and out, but I could sense the cracks in the cliffside, the strength of the jutting stones that I bounded across as I picked up speed and left the swarm behind. With [Wild Bond], I sensed life moving out of the way at my approach¡ªand a few things that regarded me with wary, predatory intent, all of them too slow in deciding to attack me.

    Blurred colors shifted over my face as I ran, the many-hued glow of various fungi and plants painting everything in strange shades, the red of the clouds dominating all. Not for the first time I was stricken by the utter strangeness of the world around me.

    Ahead of me, the ravine opened up and more of the forest became visible. I chose the nearest tree, confident that I could leap to it and use my spear to get a good hold.

    But as I ran along a slanted outcrop of rock, ready to jump, I sensed something that made me fall to my knees, hold both hands out to stop myself, and skid to a halt. A small crevice opened up beside me¡ªand inside it I could detect an unnaturally dense concentration of mana.

    I turned my head in time to see a tiny, white-furred creature let out a growl¡ªthen coalesce several shards of ice in the air before it, each as long as my forearm and as thin as a stiletto.

    It threw them at me.

 1.11: Artistry That Needs No Interpretation

    The icy missiles flew through the air toward me.

    I pushed off the ground with my hands, dodging backward¡ªbut too late. One of the shards of ice that would have impaled my neck instead struck me through the thigh, sending a jolt of pain up my leg and causing me to stumble as I lost my footing.

    In desperation I drew a number of small stones toward me, then shot them forward in a scattered, haphazard attack: the furry creature hissed and leapt backward, startlingly fast.

    I yanked the icy javelin out of my leg with a grunt, then reached for an arrow¡ªbut before I could nock it, I saw the dense, loose mana in the small crevice shift all at once, suddenly forming into a powerful spell.

    I had time to throw myself to one side, all the force coming from my one good leg, before a gale of super cold air blasted out of the crevice, coating everything in a layer of ice and sucking the warmth from my body even through my bodily [Aegis] and my now extremely well-insulated armor.

    My fingers fumbled numbly with the arrow that I held, and I dropped it accidentally, then dropped my bow in frustration.

    I called two nearby stones to my hands along with a fair helping of pebbles, then spent the last of my mana to shatter the stones lining the ground just in front of the mouth of the crevice¡ªright before I felt my claim pushed back as the creature stole that space for its own use.

    A blur of white darted out of the cave a moment later, and I was lunging forward on one good leg before it even turned toward me, releasing the stones in my hands.

    Its paws struck the ground. It stumbled on what was now loose, cracked stone¡ªand I took my chance to launch one of the rocks I held at it, tracking its motion now that it had lost its balance and couldn¡¯t adjust even as I pulled another rock to my free hand.

    It saw the stone, coalesced a hunk of ice between itself and the projectile, but failed to put enough momentum into its hastily-made defense to knock my stone away¡ªthe ice shattered, and the creature was thrown back into a rock several feet behind it.

    I threw another rock even as I called another into my empty hand. This one, however, was fully deflected by an interposed missile of ice, followed by another missile meant to take me through the neck again¡ªwhich I deflected with a second thrown rock.

    I reached the creature just as it reclaimed its balance. It created more icy darts, but I never gave it the chance to give them any momentum¡ªI simply threw myself overtop of it.

    Icy spines poked into my body, tearing small holes in my armor as we struggled. I felt a wave of cold enter me just from touching the creature, and we each pushed against the other¡¯s threshold, neither of us winning. It wriggled beneath me like a fish.

    Then I got my arms around it.

    And I squeezed, strength surging with desperate fury.

    I heard the brittle crackling of the creature¡¯s body beneath me as I brought my arms together and forced its body to break into two halves.

    Your level limit has increased to 13!

    + 1988 Essence, [Boon]

    Then I rolled over to let out a huge sigh. My body was freezing¡ªI¡¯d be shaking uncontrollably, soon. I began to weave some of the mana around me into a spell of warmth.

    ¡°Worth it,¡± I muttered, looking into the [Boon] to see that I could use it to create an [Elemental], [Mana], or [Frost] key.

    And as always, the Verse was far more generous granting limit to those who were defending themselves, struggling for survival. I bought my level:

    You spend 2250 Essence to gain 1 level! You are now level 13 / 13

    You gain 1 [Bestow 10]

    You spend 1 [Bestow 10] to add 10 to your Agility! Your Agility is now 72.

    The level increase wasn¡¯t as nice as the keys, though. [Frost Magick] was the most versatile of the elemental magicks for combat, in that it allowed one to conjure their own ice if they couldn¡¯t find enough water in the air.

    It took [Focus] or raw concentration to maintain conjured ice, but this mattered little to me: mages might like their walls of frost, but I preferred more simple approaches. Coating the ground in a thin layer of ice, creating fog with rapid temperature drops, that sort of thing. And the ready availability of icy missiles combined with their lighter weight made the power much better at shooting enemies than [Earth Magick].

    Of course, that was the aspect that I wasn¡¯t choosing.

    You break [Boon] to create a [Mana 1] skill key.

    [Mana] was a powerful aspect, a crucial component of many strong multi-aspect skills. Right now, though, I had a better use for it than in a skill.

    I sat up and stood, shivering as I looked at the nearby crevice with a frown. I had to stop and admonish myself.

    I¡¯d made a mistake.

    That much mana with no accompanying sense of life via [Wild Bond] should have clearly indicated an elemental to me, right away¡ªand yet I¡¯d taken a moment to realize it, had stopped right in view of the crevice.

    ¡°Don¡¯t make mistakes,¡± I said, remembering the shot I¡¯d missed against one of the lizards. ¡°Not today. And not with elementals.¡±

    Beasts, who had unintelligent, instinctive minds, could often get much higher levels of [Primeval Resonance] than elves¡ªas high as 40% in some cases. Elementals, however, had minds that were utterly unlike our own¡ªand could reach as high as 80%, even higher than me. They were beings of power and magic, and their natural ability to manipulate mana and cast spells was unparalleled. They were always more dangerous than their level suggested.

    And in this place, with so much primeval mana in the air, elementals would form naturally, in almost any environment. I should have expected to see one, and instead I¡¯d been taken by surprise.

    I checked the crevice. Not only was it empty, but it didn¡¯t even connect to any other caves.

    Little one, said the voice in my mind. You must answer my questions.

    I smiled. With any luck, all the work I¡¯d been doing to keep him from murdering me had paid off.

    I checked the warp jewel at my hip. Its light was more than half-faded¡ªI¡¯d need to start putting my newfound power to use, soon. This was likely the last break I could afford to take.

    I sat and took out my bow, then a lump of chalk.

    Ask, I said.

    What¡­ what is it you are doing? What is that? These thoughts were accompanied by a clear image of my bow.

    I broke off a very small fragment of chalk, then began to use [Earth Magick] to carefully rub it into the many grooves and runes carved into the wood and bone slats that made up the bow.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    I ignored many of them, of course. Four potential enchantments had been carved onto my bow, and now I was highlighting only the one. It was to be a poor enchantment¡ªlikely it wouldn¡¯t even last a day.

    My people have two gods, I said. The god of the night who created us, and the god of the wilds who loves us. The only thing they ever agreed upon was this¡ªthe bow.

    My fingers ran along the length of weapon, worshipful.

    Gods? said the cat. Night? Bow? So many new things you try to show me¡ªI¡­.

    The [Wild Bond] will open many doors in your mind to help you understand what I say, but you needn¡¯t understand it all, not right away. I¡¯ll explain anything you like, but for now just know that the bow is a tool, a weapon, a piece of technology.

    I began to whisper to the weapon as I put more chalk into its grooves, my words creating another guide for the essence that I was soon to infuse into the weapon.

    Technology, the cat said. This is much of what you are. Your skin¡ªtechnology.

    My composite leather armor, yes, I said. I¡¯ll be shedding it soon, I think. You can see what I look like underneath.

    Your armor is the skin of something dead.

    Yes.

    Your bow is a weapon like the stingers of the flying insects, the stones thrown by the lizards, the icy fingers of the elemental¡­ and yet it is not magic.

    My strength alone launches my arrows, yes.

    Gently, I blew the chalk dust from the length of my bow. Then I stood and finished my impromptu craft:

    What are you doing to your bow?

    I¡¯m enchanting it.

    Enchanting, Palefang said, clearly considering whatever impression the word had left on him through the [Wild Bond]. Like the shapes you drew in the cave. The [Fire].

    Not quite, I said. Enchantment is the infusion of essence and cores into an object so that it can be bound and used by an essence-bearer. Making an enchantment requires one to cast the complex spell that forms it, but an enchantment is different from a spell.

    And the circles in the cave? These were a spell? They were different from my own magic.

    Yes, but not wholly, I said. Spells are ordered by thought. If you practice long at associating certain symbols with certain thoughts, drawing them can help you cast spells.

    Palefang considered this. I have not practiced with your symbols. If I drew them, I could not use them as you have?

    No, I said, impressed by how quickly he¡¯d seemed to grasp the concept. Meaning does not exist in brute substance, only in the thinking mind. Runes work as well as they do because the mind can be trained to recognize something instantly, like reading a word without having to sound out its letters. In your case, like knowing your way around a familiar place without having to look around and think about it.

    As he was considering this, I took my chance to continue laying the trap for him that I¡¯d begun to lay in the crystal cave. There is an exception, I said. A well-drawn circle infused with even a small amount of mana can trap and store very large amounts of other mana, depending on how perfect the circle is. The mana responds to the nature of the shape. They still leak, but even a small amount of [Channel] can keep them storing large amounts of mana.

    I see, he said after a while.

    In my mind, I pictured a great white cat trying to draw a circle on the ground with a claw in order to test what he¡¯d learned. I suppressed a laugh¡ªas humorous as the image was, I was only giving him this knowledge because I intended to use it to trick him.

    Answer me something else, Palefang asked.

    I was almost finished packing chalk into the small grooves of my bow. Anything.

    Is your [Primeval Resonance] truly 50%?

    It is.

    How?

    I smiled. I have found, learned, and synthesized many methods of heightening resonance over my long life, I said. It¡¯s hard to describe all of them. And yet¡­.

    I looked at the reddish light spilling into the cave and smiled.

    I am in love with my body, and with the world outside it, but most importantly with the threshold where they meet. I can taste the bare air on my tongue, always. I can feel the field of electric sensation that is my skin, always. I notice my weight pushing on the soles of my feet, can sense my pulse surging through my fingertips¡­ and when light strikes my eye, I see not only what I see, but the shapeless spill of color and intensity at the root of all vision. All of the cosmos is rife with artistry that needs no interpretation, with artworks that are degraded by description.

    I shrugged, rubbing in the last of the carvings on my bow. I do not balk from my feelings, I said. My flesh is wise. The fear that it sent through me when I first noticed you was a welcome sensation. The desire it sends through me when I think of tasting hot blood, of eating raw, red meat, is welcome also. I shrink from nothing, no attractions or aversions, feeling ambition, desire, envy and gladness with equal love for each.

    I finished making ready for my enchantment. These are easy things to say, but difficult things to do.

    I completed the enchantment, binding the keys into the bow with some essence. The nice thing about an enchantment like this was that because one of the keys was converted into the enchantment¡¯s core, I could make a two-aspect skill with rank 1 keys.

    You spend 2500 Essence, a [Mana 1] skill key, and a [Missile 1] skill key to create: [Hastily Enchanted Elven Matchbow]

    You bind: [Hastily Enchanted Elven Matchbow]. You have 2 bindings remaining.

    Binding this item has granted you the [Conjure Primeval Missiles 7] skill.

    !¡ªThe enchantment is unstable. Using the skill costs 87% more mana and the enchantment will degrade in 8.82 hours. This time will decrease as it is used.

    [Conjure Primeval Missiles 7]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [*Missile 1] + [Mana 1]

    You can conjure missiles by forming and expending mana. Those missiles must be made of primeval substance: bone, stone, frost, wood, flesh, etc.

    Conjuring substance with this skill without intending to launch it toward something will cause the substance in question to rapidly deteriorate.

    !¡ªThis skill can only be used in conjunction with [Hastily Enchanted Elven Matchbow]

    ¡°Eighty-seven,¡± I said, reading the description and nodding. I was still bad at this.

    Not that it would matter.

    Conjured arrows were typically better ammunition than mundane ones. I had to keep them conjured by assigning a little [Focus] to maintain them, but this was really a benefit: dismissing an arrow after it had stuck into a creature would give that creature a new hole to bleed out of, especially if they¡¯d already moved around with it inside them.

    The limiting factor of only using primeval substances essentially meant nothing: the shaft, fletching, and head of an arrow were all made of such things anyway.

    Palefang hadn¡¯t responded, but I could feel his curious consideration of my small speech. Between that and the description of runes, I¡¯d given him much to think on.

    I had left the crevice, now, and was quickly approaching the mouth of the ravine. Excitement built in me, and my bow felt alive in my hands, ready for what was coming.

    The nearest tree was close, but I didn¡¯t leap to it¡ªinstead favoring a path that opened up to my left, a thin ledge followed by a drop to another, then another. I half-fell, half-galloped down the steep side of the cliff¡­ until soon the air around me began to fill with mist. I¡¯d reached the lower cloud layer.

    I reached out with [Wild Bond], hoping that there were perhaps some flying creatures using the cloud for cover that I might kill for [Air] keys¡­ but I found nothing. I spent a moment extending my senses to see if I could find any more high concentrations of mana, but again found nothing.

    The cloud definitely contained more mana than normal, but that had been true for the other one as well. This one wasn¡¯t emitting lightning at regular intervals, as far as I could see. Unfortunate, that.

    I descended through the cloud, leaping from stone to stone much as I had before. It was a little more than a hundred feet thick¡ªby my reckoning a denser patch of mist than the other had been. Soon I dropped out of the cloud and the world beneath me began to take shape beneath the mists.

    To my great pleasure, I couldn¡¯t see another cloud. Instead, my nose filled with the fetid, cloying scent of decay, and I looked down upon a sight that made me break into a glowing smile.

    ¡°A swamp!¡± I cried.

 1.12: A Storm of Elven Arrows

    The trees were perched atop root systems that formed cavernous chambers, roots as thick as roads seeming to twist out and downward to clutch at the water of the swamp, criss-crossing those of neighboring trees in to form a many-layered tangle. They were covered in glowing moss that hung down to the water below like curtains, and many smaller trees and ferns grew out of soil that padded their surfaces.

    The water lay below it all, its murky surface streaked with luminous algae and tall, spiky grass that grew in jagged lines which had no discernible pattern. Great fungi grew from the water, too, huge mushrooms that added their own pale green light to the multicolored aurora that was reflected in the water¡¯s surface, a play of light that rippled with the wind and the motions of creatures beneath.

    I eyed the tangle of roots as I descended, wondering how each of them had acquired a layer of soil¡ªbrought down in the rains and caught by grasping roots, or brought up from beneath by some clever creature with an instinct for gardening?

    Regardless, the roots were perfect: multiple levels of twisting surfaces that I could not only sense with my powers, but shoot through.

    I stopped on a ledge just above the swamp water. My gaze couldn¡¯t sense the water, but I could sense the earth beneath it. The swamp, oddly enough, was divided into large cells, with built-up earthen walls and archways dividing indeterminately deep sections of water, each a small pathway that lay beneath the surface, many of them formed of stones that had been fused together with a substance that functioned like plaster.

    I fixed my gaze on a dark, gnarled shape emerging from the muck-ridden swamp below me, outside my gaze.

    ¡°Log?¡± I asked. ¡°Or deadly predator?¡±

    I drew back my bowstring, spending less than a single point of mana to create a translucent arrow before loosing it at my target.

    The arrow struck, making a sound like it had buried itself in wood¡ªand then the log thrashed once before dipping below the surface.

    Then I leapt to the nearest twisting root, which was wide enough for me to lay across and led into the vibrant tangle. I checked the warp jewel at my hip, this time opening the pouch¡ªthe light was fading fast.

    Not good. I needed to kill Palefang, and soon. If I was lucky, I could hit level 15 and boost all my attribute-increasing skills before I fought him.

    At least I knew how I was going to go about it. I had enough plans, had set up enough tricks, that I could hopefully shift things in my favor. For now, it was time to well and truly begin.

    He had asked me to prove my class was [Primeval Champion], after all.

    My first arrow took a colorful bird through the breast, knocking it from the small tree it rested on and frightening off the rest of its flock.

    + 62 Essence

    I kept moving up the root, using my [Wild Bond] both to guide my feet through the sparse undergrowth and to search for new targets.

    A hound-sized spider, obscured beneath a curtain of moss and ivy and trying to hide from my senses with its own [Wild Bond], shot forward to grab me in its pincers and took an arrow in the eye immediately¡ªthen another as it lurched backward, and then a third before it fell to the water below with a splash.

    + 455 Essence

    Two more spiders were pinned to the side of one of the great trees by two arrows each as they skittered down to meet me, followed by a smaller version of one of the tree crabs I¡¯d met earlier whose shell wasn¡¯t hard enough to save it.

    I gained more essence, the numbers flitting through my mind, unnoticed. I only cared about limit, now, and my feet were moving faster across the soft earth.

    I sensed a creature below the water, saw another camouflaged patch of gnarled skin, and launched an arrow into it. The beast stirred: an oily-furred, web-fingered creature with a long bill and patches of camouflage along its back. It seemed to leap free of the water with ease to land on the root before me and charge, reaching me in the short time it took me to plant five arrows around its head.

    But I leapt again, kicking off the side of one root to grab some vines that hung from another and yank myself up and onto my feet again¡ªmoving upward more than twenty feet in a moment.

    A few more arrows and I was using the sense granted by my [Life Magick] to take a good look at the location of the corpse¡¯s heart and brain.

    + 1681 Essence, [Boon]

    ¡°Perfect,¡± I said, grinning as I searched inside the boon to find that it could make either a [Surge] or a [Water] skill key. The waters below me were navigable¡ªI could use a [Water 1] skill key to escape the cat if he realized what I was doing too soon.

    What was more, [Surge 1] would be very useful if I could find two more.

    I killed two more birds, then another spider, then passed into the shadow of another one of the trees whose roots I was moving across¡ªand sensed the largest spider I¡¯d seen yet, a massive hulk of a creature whose body was as big as a horse. It came out of the shadowy chamber beneath one of the trees and came for me, its long legs stepping from root to root with ease.

    But big creatures are slower, their [Strength] and [Agility] often needed just to move their bodies at all, and I danced backward across the roots, dodging the attacks of smaller spiders while I planted arrow after arrow in it, gleeful at my newfound strength as I watched my arrows break through even the thickest parts of its armor.Stolen story; please report.

    The spider fell still, but I had already moved past it, backing toward another great tree while I spun and launched an arrow into its smaller kin as they trailed after me before I sensed another one of the camouflaging mammals in the water below me and shot it, too.

    Again I rose through the roots as it came for me, leaping from one to the next, this time more accurate with my arrows now that I had a sense of how the creatures moved. It died with four arrow-shafts sticking out of its head.

    + 1651 Essence, [Boon]

    Then I sensed that the spider must have finally died of its many wounds:

    + 2761 Essence, [Boon]

    Your level limit has increased to 14!

    You spend 2250 Essence to gain 1 Level! You are now level 14 / 14.

    You gain 1 [Bestow 10]!

    You spend 1 [Bestow 10] to add 10 to [Agility]. Your [Agility] is now 82.

    As I leapt from one root to the next, letting an arrow fly to kill another bird, I paused as I sensed something swelling up out of the water beneath me, nocking another arrow to see a creature burst out of the water twenty paces below me.

    It was the size of a large boar, scaled like a fish and yet had two sets of wings lined with dark, iridescing feathers. In a beautiful display of natural skill, it used [Water Magick] to strip the moisture from its body as soon as it was airborne, throwing off a huge sheet of water that caught the multicolored lights around us in a dazzling display.

    My arrow took it a moment later, but the smile never left my face as it fell back to the water, then took two more arrows before it could dive out of range; hopefully it would die¡ªit might have an [Air] key.

    I moved for the center of the forest, waiting all the while for the cat to decide that it wasn¡¯t at all comfortable with my killing everything I could see. But I felt no offensive intent from Palefang, just the same cool presence on my mind that had been there since I arrived.

    I killed more creatures: my arrows finding ambushing insects that were like larger versions of those I found on the cliff, a pair of birds that dove for me together from a nest in the upper roots, another of the camouflaged surface predators that granted me another [Boon] with [Water] and [Surge], another family of spiders and another [Boon] with [Armor] and [Body] skill keys....

    I was eyes and fingers, the thrum of the bowstring like a second heartbeat to me. If melee is a dance, archery is a balancing act: one everlasting moment where you drive your focus along a razor¡¯s edge and there is nothing but the next target, nothing but loosing the arrow to fly to where they will be, not where they are.

    As I fought, I composed. The curse I intended for Palefang was one that I had cast before, one to block his healing and stopper his mana replenishment. The curse was well-used among hunters: against powerful beasts, bleeding them dry and running them out of mana were some of the best available strategies.

    I knew how the curse worked, but I would need mana, a lot of it, and a sure way to make it so that my spell reached and affected the cat. I¡¯d also need to have a way to deal with interference as I built the ritual.

    The last item I¡¯d already laid the groundwork on, but I had to figure out my delivery mechanism¡­.

    Through the hazy forest air ahead of me, I saw what I¡¯d been hoping for in the form of a landmass. As I grew closer, it resolved into a marshy mound of grass-covered mud that rose out of the water to form an island in the midst of the swamp.

    I moved for the island, and soon saw a mana-dense hollow that had been made next to the root I was traveling. I slowed to halt for the first time since I¡¯d begun, then stepped in front of the opening with my bow drawn.

    It was the same creature as had attacked me on the cliffs: an ice elemental. Now, though, I was ready¡ªI loosed an arrow that was knocked from the air by a quickly-launched block of ice, then leapt back as the creature sent a gale of freezing air out across the root.

    With conjured arrows and my stronger attributes, my bow was too fast for it¡ªit came out of the cave, assembled several javelins of ice, and tried to deflect my next arrow with one while it threw the rest my way.

    But my arrow carried too much force, and all the elemental managed to do was make the arrow impact it at an angle, knocking it off balance long enough for my next arrow, following fast, to strike it dead-center, sending chinks of ice flying. Another arrow followed that one, shattering it to bits.

    + 1585 Essence [Boon]

    The [Boon] was the same as the first frost elemental''s had been¡ªsomething that would certainly be good to have in my back pocket.

    Elementals preferred to live near lots of mana. Hopefully, that thing¡¯s presence meant I was getting closer¡ªand its skill keys would help me if I found any of the more likely water or earth elementals up ahead.

    The constant sound of my bowstring rang in my ears like a drumbeat. Tirelessly, I moved on, never failing to find something to shoot full of arrows as the animals around me attacked or fled, exposing themselves in both cases.

    I reached the mass of land, sticking to the roots that twisted above the grassy soil. One of the great trees had fallen, seemingly long ago: its roots were gone now, and its colossal trunk had rotted and caved in, forming what at first glance seemed more like a small, long hill than a felled tree.

    A clearing lay in the space that had been left by the fallen tree, a mound of soil as big as a town square that was free of overlapping roots, which even looked to have been cut, torn, or burned away in the space at its edges. Many of the glowing mushrooms lay at the edges of the clearing, encircling it and filling it with their pale green light.

    As I approached, more creatures began to appear as shadows peeking up over the edges of the many mushrooms before leaping down from their perches to charge me in packs. They were gray-furred creatures, and they looked and moved like a cross between a canine and a primate, each of them running on four thick, muscular limbs and snarling at me with flat, fanged faces.

    ¡°Incredible,¡± I said. I¡¯d walked into a colony of highly social creatures¡ªperhaps they¡¯d even been the ones to clear back the roots.

    I leapt onto a higher root, then made a running jump and landed atop the nearest mushroom¡¯s caps. As I did, I noticed that none of the creatures were charging me directly¡ªinstead the growing mob of animals had split, some of them leaping up onto the roots while others fanned out on the ground below me, surrounding me.

    Then one of the creatures came up over the side of the mushroom and I barely had time to conjure an arrow, pull back my bowstring, and shoot it from the air by instincts. The arrow struck with enough force to halt its momentum, and its body fell before me as it clutched at the missile in its neck with clawed hands, froth coming from both sides of its mouth.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, somewhat worried as I realized that the creature had appeared on the side of the mushroom that faced the clearing¡ªit had leapt almost thirty feet into the air.

    I spun in time to meet the three more that followed it.

 1.13: To Fight Against a Horde of Apehounds

    My first arrow took one of the creatures in the face, caving in the front of its skull and causing it to collapse to the mushroom cap in a heap. I sidestepped the charge of the second creature and shot the third just as it reached me, then loosed another arrow into the back of the creature I¡¯d just avoided. More came up over the sides of the mushroom, but I only shot one as I quickly strode to the edge and leapt down into the clearing.

    They climbed well, and were physically strong enough to make massive vertical jumps, but I was hoping that their thick upper arms would be poor for sprinting, that they¡¯d move slower than the canines they otherwise resembled. I hit the wet earth and rolled, coming up to launch another two arrows into the bodies of the nearest creatures before breaking out into a sprint.

    The growing crowd of animals split to surround me once again, but now I ran hard and kept pace with them, my bowstring hissing as I dealt death into the packs of animals on either side of me. But within a few seconds I¡¯d reached the edge of the clearing, running past the glowing mushrooms to leap up onto the twisting roots, then watching in dismay as the creatures kept pace, easily leaping into the roots to flank me before beginning to converge on my position.

    Then, as I killed another one of the creatures with an arrow through its face, I noticed that the Verse had given me more than essence for one of the fallen animals:

    + 88 Essence, [Boon]

    The boon held the aspects of [Animal] and [Body]. I needed the [Body 1], but I did nothing with it yet¡ªI could fuse a [Body 2] out of three [Body 1] keys, but to use it I would either need another [Surge 1] or enough time to remove all my armor for the [Primeval Hide] skill.

    The creatures converged on me, and I knew that I couldn¡¯t fight them from all sides. I leapt free of the roots and back into the clearing, hoping to fly clear of the horde of apehounds¡ªbut I saw quickly that I was going to land in their midst. I tore several heaps of soil from the ground just to distract the nearest apehounds, then landed and moved to run clear of the horde, reaching forward with my claim and using my [Earth Magick] to press a deep, wide runed circle into the damp earth in front of me, spending a lot of mana to ensure it wouldn¡¯t be trampled into uselessness if the apehounds crossed in.

    But I never reached it. A few strides toward it and I was tackled in the side by one of the creatures, its teeth sinking into my armor just below my ribs. I fell forward and sideways, skidding into the mud and holding my bow out so that it wouldn¡¯t break under me. The apehound snarled, its jaws struggling to find purchase on my armor, its arms wrapping around my leg to keep me in place.

    With a surge of panic, I drew my knife and slashed it across the creature¡¯s face, hoping to shock it into relaxing its grip, but the apehound held fast even as my blade cut across one of its eyes. Seeing this, I drove the knife downward into the top of its head, cracking its skull and piercing the brain inside¡ªbut even as I felt the apehound¡¯s grip slacken enough to free my leg, two more piled onto me, one landing on my back and the other grabbing my other leg.

    I knew that my neck was especially vulnerable given that I¡¯d thrown away my gorget and most of my [Aegis] came from [Primeval Armor], and I knew that if I stayed on the ground for another few heartbeats I¡¯d be restrained by so many apehounds that they wouldn¡¯t even need any weakness in my armor to kill me.

    Panicking, I reached into the earth below me, claiming it and then causing it to seize and buckle under the apehounds and me, giving me a moment to catch them all off-balance, then yanking my captured leg out of the grip of the surprised apehound as I twisted to throw the other one off my back and kicked off the corpse of my first attacker.

    I came out of the pile of apehounds in an awkward roll, again shaking the earth around me to stop more of the enemies from piling onto me just long enough to spring off the ground again and land within my earthen circle.

    !¡ªMana 101/280, 40% Primeval.

    It wasn¡¯t a lot, but I had to hope it would be enough. I dumped most of my remaining mana into the circle, leaving just a few points for arrows, then dropped my bow to the ground and tried to focus on forming the rest of the spell with my mind.

    !¡ªMana 42/280, 40% Primeval.

    In the short moment it took me to do this, the apehounds came on, some of them charging into the circle while the others moved to surround me.

    I ignited the mana, which burst into a ring of fire around me, eliciting howls of shock and terror from the horde. Then I drew my second knife and lay into the creatures still within the circle, their claws against mine, both sides scoring many blows.

    When one of them fixed its jaws on my vambraces, barely piercing the armor and then my flesh, I ignored the pain and used the opportunity to stab a knife through one of its eyes. Claws raked at my body, my lower sides especially, finding gaps and softer spots in my armor and then digging into my flesh, but I simply took the opportunity to grab the arm of my attacker and yank them off-balance so that I could slam my blade through the back of their neck.

    A few moments of close-quarters brutality and I had finished with the enemies inside the circle, grabbed my bow again, and begun launching arrows through the flames and into the horde, my arm moving as fast as I could make it, the hiss of the bowstring a furious rhythm in my ear.

    Your level limit has increased to 15!

    The fire was weak, the flames barely hot enough to singe the fur of the ravening apehounds, but it had done its work in driving them back for the few moments that I needed to save myself. Now, however, as my arrows passed through the fire to find their marks, one of the creatures grew bold enough to charge¡ªand then all of them did.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    I took my level in an instant:

    You spend 2250 Essence to gain 1 level! You are now level 15 / 15

    For reaching level 15, you gain 1 [*Primeval 5] skill core.

    You gain 1 [Bestow 10]!

    For reaching level 15, your [Bestow] has increased from 10 to 12.

    You spend 1 [Bestow 10] to add 10 to your [Agility]. Your [Agility] is now 103.

    I grinned, feeling a surge of new strength enter me from my multiple attribute-enhancing skills, of which grew stronger as my [Bestow] increased. And the faster I moved, the easier it would be to outrun the horde.

    I took a few quick strides and then leapt free of the circle, one surge of strength bearing me over the tight-knit ring of apehounds that were closest¡ªand before I landed in the midst of the pack behind them, I used my [Earth Magick] to rip a gout of soil free from the ground, drawing it toward me as a distraction once more.

    The apehounds nearest flinched as I landed, and I leapt again, this time clearing the crowd and running full tilt across the clearing.

    ?¡ªMana 14/280, 40% Primeval.

    It was enough for arrows and little more, but now that I could spare some mental energy I began to channel the mana in the air into myself. For now, I didn¡¯t even have the mana to heal the many small punctures and scratches that had been made through my armor. I could feel my blood, sticky and slick where it mixed with my sweat between my skin and my armor¡¯s inner padding.

    I peeled to one side to try and keep them from surrounding me again, sprinting hard as I brought my bow up and began to loose more arrows into the pack. Their numbers had thinned, I saw with a spike of happiness: I¡¯d felled dozens, more than a third of them.

    But I also saw many of them getting back up, ripping arrows free from any non-lethal wounds to their necks and chests. Only those with ruined heads had fallen for good.

    I extended my claim, and a moment later confirmed a fearful suspicion: the mushrooms were healing the apehounds, extending their own claim to give aide to the creatures that made their home here.

    I smiled as I saw this, fear leaving me as I realized the full implications. Not only were the mushrooms and their relationship to these creatures fascinating, but they¡¯d provide me perfect cover for what I intended to do.

    I ran for the nearest mushroom, then past it into the roots of the great trees¡ªbut as I passed it, I reached out and claimed the earth at the base of its stalk. I drew a circle, then started channeling mana into it, not myself.

    As I leapt upward through the roots, loosing arrows with instinctual rhythm, I tried to compose the spell I knew I needed for the circle. Fire was easy enough to conjure, but I needed something more.

    And I needed to slow down on the killing until I had things set up enough. I didn¡¯t want Palefang, or the convergence, to come too soon.

    I reached out with my gaze, momentarily halting both my attacks and my spell preparation to take a good look at the gigantic roots around the clearing as I crossed it to avoid the oncoming apehounds. I chose the tightest point I could find, a kind of corridor formed by three of the twisting roots, then leapt down into it and bought myself a few more heartbeats worth of fighting as the oncoming apehounds began to push over and past themselves to get at me.

    I sent a few of them into the water by the time I had to retreat again, but by now retreat was easy; I had thinned the horde so much that I could move through the spare apehounds that had tried to flank me, leaping over them or dodging their attempts at tackles as I moved back to the clearing.

    I began to run along the outside of the clearing, loosing arrows at the horde but trying to hit their chests and necks, not their heads. I drew a circle around a few more of the mushrooms, then noticed that my fingertips were growing cold and realized that I¡¯d been losing more blood than I¡¯d thought.

    I stopped paying attention to the mushrooms for a moment, then began to channel my mana into [Life Magick] and heal my wounds¡ªcareful not to heal the skin, just the rent flesh beneath it. I was putting on a performance, after all.

    For a while I simply evaded the apehounds and healed, making sure that a healthy number of them were still up and moving, many of the fallen rising because of the mushrooms¡¯ healing even as I put more of them on the ground.

    The apehounds were still just a little faster than me in the open, but with so few of them it was easy to move through their ranks, swiftly dodging any oncoming attack¡ªI was untouchable.

    Your aim has dwindled, little one, said Palefang, his thoughts conveying a playful amusement.

    It needn¡¯t be perfect, I said. This small remainder is no threat to me, and my spells will kill these mushrooms and relieve the need for accuracy.

    Palefang let out a laugh. Whether he suspected trickery or not now, I couldn¡¯t say¡ªbut he¡¯d find me out before all was said and done.

    Then I saw the mana in the air rearranging in a sudden spike of motion¡ªlightning.

    I was shot through with panic, but held off breaking a boon for a [Water 1] and trying to flee when I saw the place that the finger of mana was reaching toward¡ªhe wasn¡¯t targeting me.

    Instead the bolt came down upon the largest mushroom, one I hadn¡¯t yet drawn a circle under, blasting its crown to pieces while the remainder of the stalk blackened and burst into flames.

    I knew why he¡¯d done it immediately. The mushrooms had a [Wild Bond], hence why they could heal the apehounds. And since they¡¯d just watched me kill dozens of them, they would already be close to sending out the call to begin a primeval convergence. Palefang had used his own bond to see when the mushrooms were nearby¡ªthen struck one down with overwhelming power to not only make it happen, but make it look like he¡¯d been the one to start it.

    Why did you do that? I asked, drawing another muddy circle around one of the remaining mushrooms while I vaulted over several of the apehounds. Why help me?

    Help you? Palefang laughed. I told you, little one. I adore watching you scurry.

    A moment later I heard it: distant cries and howls that came from all directions.

    Palefang had finished what I¡¯d started. He¡¯d triggered a primeval convergence.

    And I wasn¡¯t anywhere close to ready.

 1.14: The Primeval Convergence

    What did you do? I asked him with feigned panic, still shooting arrows into the crowd of apehounds as I ran along the edges of the clearing.

    But I knew exactly what he¡¯d done, because I could even feel it with my own [Wild Bond]¡ªthe mushrooms using their own bond skill to repeatedly send an extremely loud psychic missive out into the jungle at large, one that would be echoed by many of the creatures who heard it and had their own bond skills.

    And I could already hear the cries of the creatures who were coming to answer it. Worse still, if I began to shoot the apehounds in their heads again to help manage the enemy¡¯s numbers, I¡¯d reveal to Palefang that I had been faking my tiredness, my growing weakness¡ªwhich may well have been why he¡¯d done it.

    I was hardly helpless. I¡¯d wanted to call the convergence here because I was surrounded by aquatic swamp creatures, and they were all less likely to be able to manage the heights of the mushrooms and the flat of the clearing. The apehounds were well-suited to this place, but I expected they¡¯d be alone in that¡ªI could take better advantage of this battlefield than most of the things coming my way. I¡¯d been raising my [Agility], and could build the skills to raise it higher¡ªspeed and conjured arrows would keep me safer than [Aegis] could.

    I¡¯d gained many boons as I''d fought my way through the swamp, but not enough for everything I wanted. I had the potential skill keys to upgrade my [Primeval Armor] skill¡ªbut I needed to find the time to remove my leather armor, first. For offense, I needed another potential [Surge 1] skill key in order to make a powerful skill.

    But whether it would matter, I couldn¡¯t say. I didn¡¯t want to gain [Frost Magick] yet because it would cost too much mana to fight an army with it, but also because I wanted to hold back every ability that I could in order to surprise Palefang, who had been watching me fight this whole time. Now, I might not get the chance to.

    Palefang had increased the pressure¡ªbut he hadn¡¯t changed the plan.

    I suppressed a grin by making it a grimace. I was already considerably faster than I had been when I¡¯d started fighting them, thanks to my reaching level 15¡ªmy increased [Bestow] meant all my passive attribute-increasing skills had gotten stronger. Hopefully, I could deal with these apehounds without ruining my charade.

    I clipped my bow to my baldric and drew my spear, then drove its point into the head of the nearest apehound, collapsing its face around my spearpoint before I pulled the spear back, leapt out of the way of a charging enemy, then smashed the back of its head open with my spearpoint as its motion carried it past me.

    My feet danced backward across the ground as I worked, spear hissing as it moved. Three more rapid thrusts followed it, killing as many attackers before I spun and gained more speed, peeling away from the gathering group of apehounds and noticing that they were slowing, growing more tired.

    All the while, I channeled more mana into myself and the circles that I had drawn around the mushrooms at the edge of the arena. I finished a circle for the last of them, placing it carefully to be sure that it was in alignment with the eleven others.

    I spun and lay into another few apehounds with my spear, only now the dwindling pack of them was presenting me with just a few targets¡ªseveral of them were hanging back. Whether they were better at interpreting the spear as a threat, or simply recognizing how many of their number had already fallen, I didn¡¯t know.

    Whatever the cause, only a few of them came forward to attack¡ªthose that had been recruited by the convergence, by my guess. My spear punched several holes in several necks and faces as I stepped back to keep them at range, leaving them to fall to their deaths. The rest retreated to leap up onto their mushrooms, but I dropped my spear and then downed a few with arrows to the backs.

    Some of the remaining apehounds peered up at me from the tops of the mushrooms¡ªbut I had earned myself a small reprieve before the chaos began.

    Perfect.

    It had served me well, but it was time to remove my armor. The vambraces and gloves had been pierced through to the skin in a few places. The hardened jerkin was warped by teeth marks where jaws had crushed it against me, and covered with many bloody punctures marking where fangs had penetrated through the armor, the cotton underlayer, and my skin. My leggings had been scratched through and chewed on.

    I made more than a few cuts with my knives to the leather laces and straps that held the whole thing together. Then I tore my jerkin away like it was a layer of a second skin, gritting my teeth at the pain as hardened leather peeled away from the grimy, bloody cloth and skin beneath, the shallow wounds that covered my lower torso each flaring with pain.

    My leggings came away next, leg by leg after I¡¯d made the right cuts, greaves falling to the ground like pieces of bloodied husk. Last I pulled off my helmet, upgrading the relevant skill as I did so.

    You break 3 [Boon] to create 3 [Body 1] skill keys.

    You spend 1000 Essence to fuse 3 [Body 1] skill keys into a [Body 2] skill key.

    You fuse the [Primeval Armor 7] skill with a [Body 2] skill key to create the [Primeval Hide 9] skill.

    [Primeval Hide 9]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Armor 2] + [Body 2]

    + 84 [Aegis]

    Your [Primeval Resonance] is counted as 50% higher for calculating this skill''s [Aegis] bonus. Current effective [Primeval Resonance] is 135%

    This skill¡¯s effect is reduced if you wear too much protective clothing. (-0%)

    Exclusive: You cannot have other skills with [Armor] aspects that provide bonuses to [Aegis].

    Out of my armor, I sucked in a deep breath, letting my chest expand to its fullest now I was free of my armor. New pain blossomed like a constellation across the wounds I refused to fully heal, but I welcomed the way it made the wounds feel fresh. The pain was like a splash of cold water in my face, a spike of wakefulness to my mind.

    I tugged off my boots, then peeled away my stockings so that all I wore now was a sleeveless cloth vest, shorts to match it, my girdle, and my baldric. I relished the new sensations: my bare feet squishing in the wet earth, the warm, humid air on my bloodied arms and legs.

    This was how to fight: I would feel the rushing air and the spattering blood of my enemies against my bare skin, would move uninhibited with the grace and ferocity of the wild elf I was, would feel these things resonate with the power of the primeval.

    Your level limit has increased to 16!

    ¡°Hah!¡± I cried.

    You spend 5000 Essence to gain 1 level! You are now level 16 / 16.

    You gain 1 [Bestow 12]!

    You spend 1 [Bestow 12] to add 12 to [Agility]. Your [Agility] is now 115.

    I kept channeling the mana around me into my body, filling myself with the mana I knew I¡¯d need for the fight to come.

    The creatures of the forest were coming; I could hear them in every direction. I looked up to see tree-crabs and spiders emerging from the misty canopy, dozens of them crawling down the nearest trees.

    How did you do this? I asked Palefang, still playing along as my heart pounded in my ears.

    But my enemy only laughed.

    I drew my bow and shot several arrows into the body of the closest spider until it fell from the tree, then reached out with my gaze and watched in dismay as the nearest mushroom extended its claim to heal the fallen foe.

    I cursed, then turned my attention to the mushrooms. Most of the circles I¡¯d drawn didn¡¯t have enough mana in them, but a few did¡ªand so I grabbed the circle with the most mana in it, then formed and cast the first part of my intended spell.

    Flames burst forth in a ring around base of the mushroom, as close to its stalk as I could possibly push my claim. They were focused inward, the spell pushing the ignited mana into the mushroom much like my spell had worked with the lizard.

    The mushroom burst into flames very quickly¡ªit was far more flammable than I¡¯d expected. Then it leaned and fell, the flames at its base eating through it in remarkable time.

    ¡°Hah!¡± I cried, blood and spittle flying from my mouth. The ease with which fire brought them down was good news indeed. I¡¯d assumed the lightning had caused the first one to erupt in fire just because it was lightning.

    + 1651 Essence, [Boon]

    My eyes widened as I saw that the [Boon] held both [Mana] and [Life] aspects, and a giddiness bubbled up in my gut. More [Mana] and [Life] were both very useful: if all of the mushrooms granted boons, I¡¯d be at a serious advantage.

    I moved to the next mushroom while loosing arrows into the creatures that were coming down the sides of the trees, igniting another circle and gaining another boon after the mushroom had burst into flame.

    Even by the time that the mushroom had fallen, however, the creatures of the forest had come upon me. One of the rainbow fish-birds reached me first, swooping in to try to strike me with its long beak and taking an arrow through the neck, then another between its upper wings. It fell to the ground and I planted a foot on it, examining its vitals while I loosed more arrows into the spiders that were leaving the roots at the edge of the clearing to skitter toward me.

    The tree-crabs came right after them, along with some of the large, twelve-legged insects I¡¯d fought on the way here. I paid careful attention to their approach as I shot my arrows and channeled the mana around me, trying to determine who was fastest.

    I had burned another mushroom and brought down several of the twelve-legged insects, the fastest ones, by the time creatures began to reach me, spiders lunging forward while the tree crabs shot their bird-catching tongues. I leapt onto the largest spider then vaulted off its back while the tongues filled the air where I¡¯d just been, all of them too slow.

    As I crossed the clearing and put down a few more of the insects, I heard the sound of air-filled wings above me, then glanced up to see five of the flying lizards diving toward me in a loose formation. I ran for the roots, diving into the lowest level to close off their route of attack before launching more arrows and moving fast to keep the other creatures as far as possible. Unable to get a good attack vector, they swooped in and landed, two of them blocking off the approach of the rest of the swarm.

    But I only managed ten more shots before I found I had to retreat again, sensing the fast approach of an underwater predator with my [Wild Bond] just moments before it burst from the water to try to snap me up in a massive set of many-toothed jaws. I leapt up onto the side of the nearest root, threw myself off it and onto the upper layer, shot two more arrows into the last of the flying lizards, then took three steps to leap onto the top of a nearby mushroom.

    By now the clearing was filled with creatures: spiders, apehounds, more of the camouflaged water predators, horse-sized hounds whose fur glowed with lines of light, spike-covered balls that walked on a tripod of three long legs, long-snouted lizards that walked on two legs¡­.

    And every creature I didn¡¯t kill would be healed by the mushrooms.

    The tripods launched several spikes at me, and one of the missiles tore at my shoulder as I tried to dodge and twist out of the way, but I simply healed the deeper parts of the wound while returning fire with my own arrows, spearing one of the things through and watching it fall into the crowd before turning my bow on the other two of its kin.

    The mushroom shook beneath me as various creatures began to climb its stalk, and two of the apehounds leapt up to fight me on its surface and quickly had their brains stricken through with more arrows. I heard a cry from above and looked up to see a diving bird with a wingspan wider than a city street, then rolled out of the way of its talons and drove a fist into the soft flesh of the mushroom-cap just to keep myself from being buffeted off by the force of its wings.

    As the bird flew off, rounding to make another pass at me, I saw spiders¡¯ legs come up over the side of the mushroom and realized it was time: I reached down into my gaze, extending my claim into the first part of my magic circle I could find, then ignited the mana, concentrating on the spell that would burn away the stalk of the mushroom with an intense blast of heat.

    The mushroom beneath me lurched as I felt a wave of heat rise up to either side of me and heard the panicked cries of the creatures in the swarm as they cooked. Just like the first had, the mushroom beneath me quickly burst into flames. I leapt to the edge that faced the highest concentration of creatures beneath me, causing it to tilt in that direction as it began to fall¡ªand then I sprinted to the other edge, batting a leaping spider out of the air with a forearm before kicking off the mushroom¡¯s tilting rim to push it down into the swarm of monsters, crushing and burning dozens of them while I sailed through the air to land on the next.

    Your level limit has increased to 17!

    You spend 5000 Essence to gain 1 level! You are now level 17 / 17.

    You gain 1 [Bestow 12]!

    You spend 1 [Bestow 12] to add 12 to [Agility]. Your [Agility] is now 127.

    I was pushing more mana into the circle at the base of the mushroom while I was still in the air. I landed with burned feet to launch more arrows into the swarm, entirely in the order of threats¡ªfirst two more of the missile-throwing tripods, then at the gigantic bird as it came to attack me once again, this time landing on the mushroom to strike me with its beak.

    I rolled to one side, the beak coming down to pulverize some of the soft mushroom cap before my arrow struck the bird through one eye. It shrieked, lashed out at where I¡¯d been as I leapt back, then took a second arrow through its second eye. Again I punched one arm into the meat of the mushroom as the bird beat its wings to escape, shrieking in pain.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Then, as I kept channeling mana and the mushroom shook beneath me, I rose and searched the crowd for the creature I knew I¡¯d need¡ªone of the camouflaged waterborne predators from earlier. I shot it several times, pausing to kill one of the few remaining apehounds as it leapt up to meet me, then finishing my target off before to gain a [Surge] and [Water] boon before the mushrooms could heal it.

    + 1451 Essence, [Boon]

    Then, as creatures began coming up over the sides of the mushroom, I dropped my bow and grabbed my spear, lashing out at every nearest creature, my feet moving in the complicated dance that spun me to face the enemies that came at me from all sides, my gaze ensuring that none of them came up behind me.

    I either struck their vitals and killed them near-instantly, or simply threw them off the sides of the mushroom as I channeled more and more mana into the circle below, buying myself time to prepare the spell.

    At last I threw my spear to stick into the center of the cap of next mushroom, grabbed my bow, triggered my spell, toppled the burning fungus into the swarm, then leapt down into the multilayered roots nearby and launched several more arrows before leaping onto the cap of my next target and turning my attention to the skies once more as I heard the whoosh and swoop of air-filled wings¡ªmore flyers.

    But before they reached me, I had some work to do. I leapt back into the roots, running to a safer space to buy myself a few seconds of reprieve from the horde¡ªit was time to use my two skill cores.

    I¡¯d picked up a few boons without even noticing them in the fighting, but I knew I had the keys for at least one of the skills I wanted now that I could make 3 [Surge] and still have a [Water 1] remaining.

    You break 3 [Boon] to create 3 [Surge 1] skill keys.

    You break 3 [Boon] to create 3 [Body 1] skill keys.

    You spend 1000 Essence to fuse 3 [Surge 1] skill keys into a [Surge 2] skill key.

    You spend 1000 Essence to fuse 3 [Body 1] skill keys into a [Body 2] skill key.

    You fuse [*Primeval 5] with [Body 2] and [Surge 2] to create the skill: [Surge of Might 9]

    [Surge of Might 9]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Body 2] + [Surge 2]

    + 100 [Surge Pool].

    Spend [Surge Pool] to briefly increase [Agility], [Strength], or [Aegis]. You cannot more than double an attribute in this manner.

    Spending [Surge Pool] requires that you assign [Focus] to do so. You must assign 1 point of [Focus] for every 4 points of physical attributes you increase; this [Focus] is not freed until 3 seconds after the boost from this skill ends.

    Currently, your whole [Surge Pool] is valued at + 596 total attributes. This increases with this skill''s rank, your [Bestow] and your [Primeval Resonance].

    Channel mana into this skill to replenish [Surge Pool].

    ¡°Hah!¡± I cried, facing the diving aerial predators. [Surge of Might] was an old favorite of mine. It was all about benefits and drawbacks: the benefit was that it was an extremely powerful attribute increase, and the drawback was that it was only there whenever you wanted or needed it.

    I had one [*Primeval 5] skill core left¡ªand the next skill was a little more complicated to build:

    You break [Boon] to create an [Animal 1] skill key.

    You fuse [*Primeval 5] with [Animal 1] to create the skill: [Animal Bond 6]

    [Animal Bond 6]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Animal 1]

    You can telepathically sense, communicate with, and even attack all animal forms of life that are within your gaze.

    Extending your gaze to include such creatures becomes easier, though you detect only their mind and external shape, not the internal composition of their bodies.

    Unwanted telepathic contact with another creature costs mana to establish, use, and maintain. This skill also strengthens your ability to defend and hide from any such telepathy.

    I hadn¡¯t made the skill to be used with [Wild Bond]. Like [Earth Magick], it would take too much mana to use the bond skills to fight the horde, and Palefang was almost certainly too strong for either of them to be much use against him. Instead, I would be using it to replace [Wild Bond].

    First, I boosted the [Wild] core in [Wild Bond] to second rank so that I could add the second key:

    You break 2 [Boon] to create 2 [Wild 1] skill keys.

    You spend 1000 Essence to fuse 2 [Wild 1] skill keys with the [Wild 1] skill key in [Wild Bond 6], upgrading the skill to [Wild Bond 7].

    Then I made another [Body 2] to make the new skill, using the massive cache of boons I''d gotten for killing so many spiders and apehounds.

    You break 3 [Boon] to create 3 [Body 1] skill keys.

    You spend 1000 Essence to fuse 3 [Body 1] skill keys into a [Body 2] skill key.

    You add a [Body 2] skill key to your [Wild Bond 7] skill, creating the new skill: [Wild Grace 9]

    [Wild Grace 9]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Body 2] + [Wild 2]

    + 26 [Agility]

    + 26 [Strength]

    Extending your gaze to include all natural forms of life becomes easier, though you detect only their mind and external shape, not the internal composition of their bodies.

    Unwanted telepathic contact with another creature costs mana to establish, use, and maintain. This skill also strengthens your ability to defend and hide from any such telepathy.

    New speed and power flowed through me, a welcome rush of physical power to go with those I¡¯d already gained that day. There was something so gratifying about starting weak and getting so strong so quickly.

    I¡¯d intended to build both skills, and so the whole process had only taken a second or so¡ªbut now I had to give in to desire and waste another moment looking:

    ?¡ªYour Attributes:

    131 [Aegis]

    154 [Agility]

    114 [Strength]

    4 [Channel]

    47 [Focus]

    28 [Source]

    12 [Bestow]

    108% [Primeval Resonance]

    111/280 Mana ¡ª 29% Primeval

    Where I¡¯d begun this fight barely able to outrun the apehounds and fearful of being surrounded, now I could outpace them easily, flowing across the terrain while my arms worked my bow, loosing arrows as fast as my heart beat.

    With the increased strength from my [Bestow] rising and the reduced weight from my absent armor, I could leap the height of the mushrooms and shoot my arrows clean through the bodies of even the armored spiders.

    It was all for Palefang. With four attribute-increasing skills and [Surge of Might] getting bolstered by my high [Primeval Resonance], I might come close to matching his own physical attributes. And while his casting attributes would be extraordinarily high, this place was abundant with mana. He¡¯d likely learned to rely on drinking mana from the air, and would have a relatively low [Source] but high [Channel].

    If I could cut him off from absorbing or replenishing mana like I intended, and outlast his barrage of spells, then I could fight him tooth and claw.

    But first I had the convergence to deal with.

    I leapt back into the fray and fought on. More arrows flew, more creatures fell, more creatures appeared. My spear was in my hands as dark blood filled the air with its scent and coated my skin, and the soles of my feet were hot from the fire they tread across while I killed and killed and killed; mushrooms burst into columns of fire and fell into the disparate legions as I screamed with the thrill of violence and struggle, my body and mind moving together, fighting with grace and strength that had been given by gods, honed by elves, and perfected over century upon century.

    I tried to hide my true abilities, to pretend that they were wearing me down so that Palefang wouldn¡¯t realize how much stronger I was getting, wouldn¡¯t see that I was buying myself time. I didn¡¯t use [Surge of Might] at all, and only moved at my full speed and strength when it was necessary.

    In many ways it didn¡¯t matter. The strange tripods launched so many bony missiles that I was doomed to have them tear into me no matter how fast I moved, and sometimes leaping out of the way of a diving predator meant leaping into the claws of something else. Soon I was running dangerously low on [Life Pool] and worrying that I needed to build another healing skill so that I could keep my blood in my body and exhaustion out of it.

    But I was anything but despondent: I was almost certain that my spell was ready, that my circles had enough mana. The convergence would peak, bringing both the largest and smallest creatures it could call against me. The big ones would grant strong boons, but the little ones would include swarms of insects¡ªI would need to break the boon I¡¯d taken from the elemental and build the [Frost Magick] skill to deal with them.

    But as I leapt to the third-to-last mushroom, Palefang dispelled all these thoughts by contacting me through the bond¡ªand I felt his mind boiling with wrath.

    A curtain of dread came over me¡ªalong with a thrill of anticipation. It was time. At long last, it was time.

    Clever little one, said Palefang. I admit: you have given me much to consider.

    I reached out immediately, igniting the mushroom below me and leaping off it to land in the roots and spear a glowing wolf out of my way, running¡­.

    You deceive so poorly with words, Palefang said.

    I stretched my gaze further into the air, watching the mana even as I ignited the next mushroom before the first had even fallen, sprinting past it to the center of the clearing, where I pressed another deep, wide circle into the earth at my feet, then running to dive into the great roots.

    ¡ªAnd yet you lie so well with deeds, he finished.

    I had to make him think that he had me, that every assumption he¡¯d made was correct. Lie? I asked. I fight for my life against a swarm that you called to me! How is that a deception?

    Palefang laughed without a trace of amusement as I reached out and set the last of the mushrooms aflame. You forget me. The first thing I told you, little one, was that my eyes see much.

    I reached the roots, skidded to a halt on my knees, then pivoted to stand in an area that was hemmed in on either side and draw my spear, using both spearhead and butte to keep the creatures at bay as they came for me.

    I can see that your many circles still hold mana, little one, said Palefang. His mind roiled with subdued rage. I can see that you are building a spell to kill me.

    As I fought, I watched the air beyond, waiting for the twisting line of mana that I knew was coming¡­ and Palefang spoke: boasting, taunting, and setting my blood afire with anticipation.

    You are fearsome in your own way, little one¡ªyet I am he who hunts but goes unhunted.

    The sound of my spearpoint cracking through bone and chitin was like the crack of a whip, a rhythm set against my own furiously beating heart.

    I am dread that stalks on silent paws, Palefang said, his voice filled with rising fervor, becoming almost maddened.

    In the mist-lit shadows of the roots, the animals and I were nothing but black forms that gleamed with red: hungry eyes, wet mouths, fresh wounds¡ªall red. I saw his spell begin to form and threw myself forward, past my assailants¡­.

    I am furious lightning and blood-stained ice! he cried. I am jaws wringing life from those that I conquer!

    Ahead of me, the last of the burning mushrooms toppled, one dark shape wreathed in fire that fell and sent a whorling gout of ash into the air. Desperately, I leapt through the rush of smoke and cinders, landing on all fours and bounding into the center of the clearing¡ªwhere I skidded to a halt in the thirteenth circle, the center of the other twelve.

    Fear me! Palefang screamed in a violent crescendo, his bloodlust ringing in my mind. I am your death!

    The lightning came, fiery light that burned a hole in the clouds above and lit the world like a new sun, a jagged line of red that split into a many-fingered fork and reached for each of my magic circles so as to break them open and ignite the mana within.

    In that single moment, all my plans came to fruition.

    Breaking the circles triggered the second half of my spell¡ªa spell that I had written not in each circle, but across the circle formed by all twelve of them. The mana was channeled away from the reaching lightning like oil from water, moving inward instead of igniting, converging on the center circle where I stood, instantly forming a massive well of mana that the crude ring of packed earth around me couldn¡¯t hope to contain for more than an instant.

    For a moment I felt the mana running through me, an incandescent blaze of energy that made my teeth vibrate and my eyes burn¡ªbut my mind held the forms of my runes in an iron grip, shaping a spell that was ten times more complex than any I had cast so far.

    The instant that Palefang¡¯s lightning faded, my spell followed. I couldn¡¯t stretch my claim far enough to reach my enemy, and so I had simply crafted the spell to follow the long, jagged mana vacuum that his lightning had momentarily left in the air, focusing the mana into a sophisticated bolt of blazing white power that tore its way up into the sky, through the glowing red mist and beyond.

    Palefang¡¯s lightning boomed, and my spell answered: a focused, white missile that cracked at the air like a whip, a crash of cymbal to follow the heavy beat of steel drum.

    Around me, the swarm began to retreat, running in every direction.

    Above me, I heard a low, furious howl.

    My mind reeled, the moment of pure focus that I¡¯d needed for my spell over, the many runes and emotions that I¡¯d snapped together into my composition fading much like the luminescent trails that the lightning had made in my vision.

    I smiled. My spell had borne a curse, one that would keep him from healing and from replenishing his mana. I hadn¡¯t killed him, but I¡¯d made it possible to.

    And in the [Wild Bond] and out loud, I laughed, laughed as I felt his wounded pride and unchecked fury. I had answered his spell, and now I could answer his boast.

    You say you see much, o prince, I said, my voice low, quiet, and cruel. But your cunning is merely the leash that I lead you by.

    In the bond, I could feel Palefang¡¯s growing fury, his slipping focus¡ªcould sense him leaping down from some great height as blood pounded in his ears¡­.

    You speak of lightning as if you have cause to, o prince, I said, voice rising. Yet your noisome bolts are mere prelude to my own.

    I clipped my spear to my baldric, drew out my bow, checked to be sure that both my knives were still at my belt¡­.

    You sent a swarm of beasts to kill me, o prince! I said in an ecstatic roar. And their corpses lie about me, supplicants prostrate on a carpet of blood!

    I could sense him moving, springing from tree to tree, his claws digging easily into the rough bark, his eyes on the lower layer of red mist and the hole that had been burned there by his lightning.

    I grinned, still laughing. At last we had come to it, to the end I¡¯d been arranging since I¡¯d first heard his voice.

    ¡°Listen now, O prince!¡± I shouted, letting my voice rip through the air around us and echoing my words in the [Wild Bond]. ¡°I am Aziriel, [Primeval Champion], and ere this hour is done your blood will slick my palms, stain my spear, and sate my killing hunger!¡±

    Your level limit has increased to 18!

    You spend 5000 Essence to gain 1 level! You are now level 18 / 18.

    You gain [Bestow 12]!

    You spend 1 [Bestow 12] to add 12 to your [Channel]. Your [Channel] is now 16.

    ?¡ªYour Skills:

    0: [Sable Grace 20]

    0: [Primeval Power 30]

    0: [Earth Magick 6]

    2: [Wild Grace 9]

    4: [Life Magick 6]

    6: [Primeval Hide 9]

    8: [Might 6]

    10: [Surge of Might 9]

    15: [Animal Bond 6]

    ?¡ªYour Attributes:

    139 [Aegis]

    154 [Agility]

    114 [Strength]

    16 [Channel]

    47 [Focus]

    28 [Source]

 1.15: The Pale Prince

    I stood in the center of a deformed circle of fallen, burning mushrooms, grinning as I looked up through the wall of mist-lit smoke at where I knew Palefang to be.

    The beasts who had been called by the convergence had fled at his display of power, but they would return soon enough. And because Palefang wasn¡¯t answering or echoing the call, we¡¯d both be targets in their eyes¡­ and I could hopefully use my [Animal Bond] to push the frenzied monsters toward attacking him and not me.

    I used my [Animal Bond] to vanish from his gaze, finally doing what I¡¯d been able to do all along.

    I heard his cry a moment later: a savage thing that scraped at my ears, loud as an avalanche. Something glinted in the firelight as it came streaking through the mists: not Palefang, but a volley of dozens of icy shards, each of them hurled through the full length of his claim and with the power of his [Channel], each moving so fast that the air around them was blurring and whistling as they shot toward me.

    I lurched to one side, moving faster than he¡¯d ever seen me move to avoid the first volley, then another. As I did so, I heard him make one massive, bark-shattering leap from the tree he had been clinging to, colliding with a nearer one a moment later but losing several dozen meters of altitude.

    The next volley of ice crystals was a hailstorm, hundreds of them flung through the air to blanket the area around me with piercing death¡ªbut I¡¯d moved to the most unobvious cover I could find, a slight depression in the earth that I formed into cover, simultaneously depressing and raising to portions of the earth to give me a small lump of earth to hide behind.

    The ice obliterated my earthen cover, penetrating through two feet of loose soil with ease¡ªbut their points broke against the skin of my body and the wrist I¡¯d raised to protect my face, doing little more than bruise me.

    Meanwhile I felt the mana in the air around me aligning¡ªand I pushed myself to my feet just in time to sweep one hand through the air and tear a segment out of Palefang¡¯s lightning bolt, which lit the air a moment later with a tremendous boom, but failed to reach me.

    He tested me, throwing two more bolts, bearing down on each with more focus, more determination, trying desperately to force the mana into the air before I could extend my claim and knock it away, but they were each impotent, reaching down through the red mist and ending a dozen feet away from me.

    ¡°Hah!¡± I cried, knowing that he was burning mana that he couldn¡¯t replenish: naturally, his first tactic would be to stay far above me and attack from where I couldn¡¯t retaliate. The longer he spent wasting his mana, the better¡­ and soon the frenzied beasts of the primeval convergence would reach him, while the circle of burning fungus and his volley of spells, particularly lightning, were enough to frighten them away from me¡­.

    Palefang let out another cataclysmic roar, a wall of sound that met my ears and made my grin widen: I guessed he¡¯d realized what I''d done to him, how much of his mana he¡¯d wasted and couldn¡¯t recover, and that this had been my plan.

    A moment later, I saw a massive spider fall out of the mist above, a shard of ice stuck through its head.

    Palefang appeared above me, a great white cat with red eyes whose massive form trailed the glowing mist as he finally broke the cloud layer to slam into one of the great trees, expertly landing in an explosion of bark, then clinging to it with ease, muscles bulging and rippling under his sleek coat. I could see fog billowing out around him, saw flakes of snow and chunks of hail falling from the path he¡¯d made¡­ and I had to wonder¡­.

    Palefang leapt again, moving toward another tree¡­.

    [Surge of Might] was focus-limited, but I¡¯d practiced the pinpoint flash of frenzied intent that accompanied the use of [Surge] skills so much that it was almost as much a part of my nature as bending mana for the sake of throwing lightning.

    I surged my [Strength], bringing my bow up as soon as Palefang¡¯s feet left the bark beneath them, tracking his path through the air and launching my arrow with great speed and force, my bowstring lashing at the air around me with a sound like snapping steel cable as it sent the arrow screaming through the air¡­.

    The arrow struck the cat in the side just as he reached his next tree, knocking him backward just enough to throw off his landing, his claws scrabbling at the bark¡­.

    For a moment I thought I had him, but I saw him form hunks of frost binding his legs to the bark¡ªthey were there for a flash, then shattered as he took his position, then leapt again, still trailing snow and fog.

    I didn¡¯t launch a second arrow, sure that he wouldn¡¯t have leapt if he felt I might knock him free¡ªand hoping that the less I hurt him now, the longer it would take him to realize I¡¯d cut him off from healing. Instead I focused on channeling airborne mana into myself and [Surge of Might], replenishing my resources.

    Palefang was fast. I¡¯d need them.

    Palefang completed a circuit of me that he¡¯d begun while I was above the mists. It wasn¡¯t a true magical circle, but as I watched the heavy flakes of snow that followed him, I realized what he¡¯d been doing: he was creating a small blizzard, claiming all the air above me to be sure that its moisture would fall to the battlefield below, which he no doubt also intended to freeze before confronting me.

    He was going to bury us in snow and ice¡ªan element that he could manipulate but that he thought I couldn¡¯t. He¡¯d cut me off from my sense of the terrain beneath me, plunge us into foggy darkness, kill anything from the primeval convergence that dared to interrupt, burn away the airborne mana that only I could absorb, and fill the world with a substance that he could use while forcing me to fight in hypothermic cold.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    It was the most mana he¡¯d spent, I was sure¡ªonly this wasn¡¯t a waste, but a beautiful piece of spellcraft that made perfect tactical sense.

    ¡°Yes,¡± I whispered, grinning as I watched the falling snowflakes begin to thicken. I¡¯d avoided deflecting his ice shards with [Frost Magick] because I wanted him to throw as many of them as possible. Now it was clear that I¡¯d need the skill just to move about without slipping and to maintain my claim and gaze.

    But I had kept an elemental''s [Boon], and my [Life Pool] was so close to empty that [Life Magick] was useless:

    You break [Boon] to create a [Frost 1] skill key.

    You relinquish the [Life Magick 6] skill, gaining a [*Primeval 5] skill core and 200 Essence.

    You fuse [*Primeval 5] with [Frost 1] to create the skill: [Frost Magick 6]

    [Frost Magick 6]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Frost 1]

    You can control frozen substances within your claim. Moving a substance is easiest when you move it toward or away from you.

    You can reduce temperatures within your claim, and you can conjure frozen water by assigning [Focus] to sustain it.

    You can sense frozen substances within your gaze, and extending your claim or gaze through frozen substances is easier.

    I reached into my own body with my [Frost Magick] and froze a delicate set of circles and runes onto my skin: my abdomen, my throat, my forehead, my forearms, my outer thighs, and the tops of my feet.

    The skin died instantly as it crystallized, lighting up my senses with fine lines of pain at the edge of the runes¡ªbut I needed them. [Aegis] stopped harmful temperature exchanges, but Palefang was strong enough that I needed a spell of protection, which in this case meant a spell to heat my own flesh when I got too cold.

    Palefang bounded off the last great tree to land in the circle with me, snow falling around him as the air filled with billowing fog. He was a beautiful creature, his eyes seething with power and fury, his coat marred with unhealed scars¡ªone thin gash across one eye, a set of three gashes across his back, and an impressive set of massive tooth-marks that spread across one side like a constellation. He was proud of his injuries.

    And he was massive, perhaps nine feet tall at the shoulder. His weight snapped the corpses beneath him like twigs.

    I was shooting arrows before he landed, missiles hissing with force to punch clean through an unleveled animal, one arrow striking him above one paw while two struck his back. Palefang landed, bounding forward to pounce, and I dropped my bow to grab my spear, surge my [Strength], and launch myself forward with a speed he hadn¡¯t yet seen from me.

    It was clear that he wasn¡¯t expecting me to charge back, and I met him while his paws were in the air, my spear sinking deep into his neck as my feet danced sideways across the ground to bring me out of the path of his lunge as I thrust him to one side.

    We pulled apart. I landed in an unsteady roll, dropping my spear and calling my bow to my hands to shoot an arrow at Palefang as he scrabbled to gain his footing across the clearing, a promising gout of blood pouring from the hole in his neck. He hissed, charging me again¡ªbut slower now, cautious of my spear.

    He took another arrow for it, and I grabbed my spear and launched myself at him once more, bow still in hand, then leapt into the air just before we reached one another.

    Palefang saw me crouch and spring, his head tracking me as I flew into the air¡ªand he lunged to snap at me at the best possible moment¡ªbut I thrust down with my spearpoint, scraping it across his muzzle and pushing him down and away from my ankles.

    My momentum carried me high into the air over him as I turned, and I used my [Earth Magick] to push the spear down into the ground where I¡¯d land, then shot another quick arrow at the spinning cat, planting it into his flank, my motions too fast for proper aim.

    He pounced before I landed, sure that he could strike me mid-air before I could maneuver again, but I reached into the earth with my [Earth Magick], forcing the soil to cling to my spearpoint as I grabbed its upright haft and tugged myself down to the ground, causing Palefang to sail over me¡ªat which point I let go of my bow and drew my knife with my free hand, surging my [Strength] and cutting upward into the cat¡¯s belly as he snapped at the air where I¡¯d been.

    The knife plunged deep into his flesh, cut a gash along the underside of his chest, then stuck in his belly as my [Surge of Might] wore off and the knife was yanked from my wrist.

    ?¡ª[Surge Pool] 60/100

    Palefang howled as he moved past me, one back paw slapping my face into the ground, and I flipped onto my belly and pushed off of the snowy soil to come up onto my feet and called my bow to my hand, loosing another two arrows at him as he rounded on me once more.

    The fog had thickened, air growing frigid as the pebbles of hail that had fallen early were coated with softer snowflakes. I saw Palefang release a huge amount of mana as he spun, shot an arrow at his eye that he deflected by dipping his head so that it skidded off his brow, then watched as he snarled and cast his spell, sending a gust of icy air toward me before he pounced.

    I channeled mana into the frostbitten scars that I¡¯d drawn into my skin, cooking my flesh even as I pushed out with my claim to stop him from freezing the air around me. At the same time, I grabbed my spear and threw myself to one side, still within his frost spell but leaping to avoid his lunge¡ªbut I wasn¡¯t fast enough, and one of Palefang¡¯s paws sliced neatly into my calf as he sailed past me.

    Steam rose from my rune scars as I came to my feet, my motions imbalanced by the sudden weakness in my injured leg¡ªand I sensed Palefang coming toward me again too fast, dropped my spear to draw my second knife and drive it upward at where his jaws were moving to snap at my shoulder.

    He pulled back in a flurry, lunged again before I could gain my bearings, and I threw myself back out of the way of his claws only to feel his maw close around the tip of my bow, which I held in one hand.

    I felt a note of panic ring through my body, dropped the knife to grab at the bow with both hands¡ªbut it was too late. Palefang wrenched backward, dragging me across the snowy, corpse-strewn ground, then tore it from my grasp and leapt far to one side to pin the bow against the ground with one paw and then snap it into pieces, the enchantment bursting in a flurry of blue sparks.

    I called my spear and knife to my hands, sheathing the knife and leveling the spear at the cat. At the same time, I banished all the arrows that I¡¯d planted in him, opening their wounds now that they¡¯d had time to shred and cut his flesh while he moved.

    I faced Palefang from across the snowy, fog-filled clearing, then smiled as I watched blood begin to run from his wounds.

    It would all be over soon.

 1.16: [Primeval Champion]

    Snow blanketed the corpse-ridden ground around us, blood seeping up to stain the white with patches of red that were almost black in the fog-muted light of glowing mists. Palefang, too, was stained red¡ªit smeared his fur and ran from his many wounds in lines, the greatest of which was the gash I¡¯d cut in his neck, where blood ran down in a constant stream.

    The field around us had made a large arena when I had been fighting the horde, but we were both so strong that it was now like a small fighting ring. Each of us could cross the distance with just a few simple bounds.

    I could run for warmer air, but that would mean turning my back to him¡ªsomething I didn¡¯t want to try for even a moment. He could run and wait for my mana and life-dampening curse to subside, but that would mean letting me get away¡ªand he knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to find me again.

    We would finish it here; Either he died, or I did.

    He waited, eyes on my spear as if deciding how to approach. I welcomed the moments he gave me to channel some mana into my [Surge of Might]¡ªbut I had to be careful. As we¡¯d fought, he¡¯d been using the mana in the air, claiming it with his threshold and converting it into his cold spell. There wasn¡¯t much left for me to take.

    The air grew colder. The fog thickened. The fires at the edge of the circle faded into orange blurs. Across from me, Palefang became nothing but a pair of eyes, embers glowing in the dark.

    Then he charged.

    I waited as he came for me, then feinted, doing my best to make it seem as if I would leap to the right off my good leg, then surging my [Strength] just a little to throw myself to one side using my injured one before stabbing him in the shoulder just above the neck with my spear.

    Palefang growled, turned, and lunged, but my spear held fast in his shoulder, sticking deep until its wings were pressing into his skin, fur flat beneath them. He pushed me back, my knees skidding across the ice and snow until he pushed me into the corpse of a gigantic spider, his movements causing my spearhead to tear the wound wider, drawing more blood.

    Blood. Both of us were covered with it: Palefang pulled himself off my spear and lunged again, and I stepped back onto the spider carcass, springing first off its body and then off one of its legs to stab Palefang in the back before landing behind him, and backing away, spinning to put my spear between us as he snarled and rounded on me.

    We fought on. I danced back across the uneven field of frost and corpses, my [Frost Magick] and [Sable Grace] helping me to sense the bloody, corpse-strewn ground. Our strength meant that our motions were fast and brutal¡ªeach of us could cross the clearing in only a few steps, would kick up gouts of bloodied snow just to leap or pivot.

    Palefang came at me in a frenzy, trying to get past the spearpoint that was always in front of his face and seemingly stabbing him in the back or sides at the same time.

    The world darkened, fog thickening until I fought with only my ears and gaze. Each of us slowed as exhaustion set in, both of us lacking the healing magic that would have sustained us.

    I kept making jabs at his sides and shoulders, and twice I got a good shot at his eyes¡ªbut Palefang had learned from whatever had made the scar across his face, because both times I only scratched at his brow.

    But then I got too tired, or Palefang too desperate. He backed off my spear where I¡¯d pricked his shoulder; I snarled and aimed the point at his eye¡ªand he caught it in his mouth.

    I felt a flutter of panic in my gut. He¡¯d let the point sink deep into the roof of his mouth in order to snap his teeth shut over both the spearpoint and one of the wings. It was a worthwhile risk: one more wound would mean little to him, but if he took my spear, I¡¯d be dead.

    Palefang shook his head and brought a paw up to grip the haft of the spear, trying to rip it from my grasp and almost succeeding, his massive strength pressing me to the ground¡­.

    I tightened my grip, then my abdomen, pulling my feet up off the ground and pressing my heels into the blood-matted fur of his neck. Then I grabbed the free wing of my spearhead with one hand, surged [Aegis] to keep it from breaking, and pushed my heels into him with all my strength to pull my spear from his mouth.

    There was a sound like a splitting boulder as the wing of the spear shattered half of Palefang¡¯s teeth, tearing them away in a shower of bony shards and blood-flecked spittle while I flipped backward to land unsteadily on my feet.

    This close, I could see Palefang¡¯s face contorted with rage, even through the fog. He let out a furious, agonized howl, one half of his mouth a bloody mess, his cheek sliced open where the spear had passed through it.

    ?¡ª[Surge Pool] 20/100

    ?¡ªMana 18/280, 40% Primeval.

    It would be over soon.

    He lunged in a frenzy, snapping and clawing, blood flying off his fur with the sudden jolts of his movements. I backed away, evading his instinctive motions with practiced grace while he spent all his energy on his anger.

    The cold ate into my body, and I began to ration my mana, spending most of it on my hands and feet. Palefang loomed out of the fog as he came for me, his mangled maw dribbling blood and spit under a pair of hateful eyes.

    Soon he began to slow. I felt a surge of elation in me¡ªit was almost over.

    But elation fast turned to horror. Palefang pounced, and I spun out of his way to run past him. Only before I made it clear of the great cat, he formed a small hunk of ice under one of his front paws to quickly spring off it and throw his weight to one side, toward me.

    The cat¡¯s body struck me mid-stride, throwing me off balance and then knocking me to the ground, pinning me beneath his midsection. He lashed backward with a forepaw, leaving deep gashes as his claws raked my upper arm, shoulder, and chest, then struck the snow past me and kicking up a flurry.

    With no choice, I spent the last of my mana and to form the smallest icy foothold, flattening the frost beneath me so that I could push myself out from under the great cat by kicking with my leg as I surged [Strength] to heave his body off me with both hands.

    !¡ª[Surge Pool] 0/100

    !¡ªMana 0/280

    I heard my spear snapping into pieces before I had come to my feet.

    I panted, icy air stinging the inside of my lungs while I pulled every scrap of mana that I could from the world around me, then spent it on my heat runes. I watched the dark shape of Palefang across from me rise¡ªslowly, unsteadily.

    I drew my last knife and raised it. I couldn¡¯t hold him at bay without my spear, and we both knew it. But he was surely almost finished bleeding to death, and we both knew that, too. His frenzied anger had hastened the process. I stuck my knife between my teeth¡­.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Then I charged.

    He pounced, the attack so sluggish now that it was as if time had slowed down. I leapt, springing into the air, flipping and spinning, closing my eyes as I let my gaze guide me, gaining enough air to sail clean over him¡­ and then grabbing two fistfuls of fur behind his ears and tugging myself down onto his back.

    Palefang¡¯s body must have started going numb long ago, because it seemed to take him a moment to realize where I¡¯d landed¡ªhe only began to buck and thrash when I drove the point of my knife into where his neck met his skull, his [Aegis] still strong enough that I had to use all my strength just to stick the blade in halfway.

    I let go of the knife, grabbed two fistfuls of fur, and clung to him as he tried to throw me. He did this for a few seconds before finally rolling onto his back¡ªbut I rolled in the other direction as soon as I felt his muscles shift, keeping hold of one fistful of fur so that I stayed close to his belly.

    I saw the hilt of my other knife jutting out of the bloody gash it had made and pulled it free, then lunged forward to drive it into his neck with both hands. I pulled it out and leapt backward as Palefang rounded on me, his head drooping.

    Palefang lunged, and I threw myself clumsily out of the way, focusing on the motions of my feet as they moved across frozen corpses and blood-stained snow.

    Knowing that it could save my life, I used some of the boons I¡¯d got from the mushrooms:

    You break 3 [Boon] to create 3 [Life 1] skill keys.

    You spend 1000 Essence to fuse 3 [Life 1] skill keys into a [Life 2] skill key.

    You relinquish the [Earth Magick 6] skill, gaining a [*Primeval 5] skill core and 200 Essence.

    You fuse [*Primeval 5] with [Life 2] to create the skill: [Life Magick 7]

    ?¡ª[Life Pool] 9/100

    Relinquishing and then rebuilding the [Life Magick] skill didn¡¯t give me a full [Life Pool]¡ªbut the added rank gave me a little more than the 0 I¡¯d had left when I replaced the skill. I funneled all the remaining [Life Pool] into healing my exhaustion as I leapt back away from Palefang¡¯s snapping jaws.

    He bounded forward, lumbering, his head drooping even more, and I moved out of his path with a few quick strides. He turned, caught sight of me, seemed to look past me for a moment, then came forward again, panting. I moved back until I hit a heap of several bodies, backing over it with several well-placed footsteps, my balance improved by my last burst of energy.

    Palefang followed, reaching the bodies, reaching up to place both forepaws on top of the heap¡ªand then collapsing, eyelids fluttering.

    I stood and watched, spending the last few points of my [Life Pool] to replenish my own leaking blood.

    He struggled to stand, seemed to make it, then collapsed again.

    He didn¡¯t rise. Instead he simply watched me with half-vacant eyes for a time while I channeled more mana into my heat runes and stared back.

    His eyes closed. I reached into the [Animal Bond] and found him to be truly unconscious, and so I moved forward and sat against his belly, hoping to absorb some of his fading warmth.

    + 101,655 Essence!

    + 3 [Boon]

    Your level limit has increased to 21!

    I let out a faint laugh, breath fogging in the air. The boons were all rank 3... and two of them held the aspect of lightning. [Lightning 3] was a powerful skill key indeed.

    You spend 21,000 Essence to gain 3 levels. You are now level 21 / 21

    For reaching level 20, you gain 1 [*Primeval 5] skill core.

    You gain 2 [Bestow 12]!

    For reaching level 20, your [Bestow] has increased from 12 to 14.

    You gain 1 [Bestow 14]!

    You spend 1 [Bestow 12] to add 12 to your [Source]. Your [Source] is now 40.

    I checked the warp jewel at my hip¡ªdim, but still glowing. I had some time left.

    I knew that if I was going to lose consciousness and bleed out, I had to break it now, call them all here¡ªbut after a minute or so of channeling my new mana and essence into [Life Magick] and healing myself, it became obvious that I would survive.

    Soon mana began to seep back into the clearing, and I channeled it into myself and [Life Magick]. The slow, steady supply of healing was enough to keep me alive, healing some of the deeper damage of the gashes that Palefang had made.

    I spent a minute or more covering Palefang¡¯s body, first gathering the fallen snow and packing it over him into a layer of ice, then covering that with a thick layer of earth. With luck, scavengers would focus on the feast around my makeshift tomb instead of breaking into it.

    Later, the body could be recovered and healed, then used by our artisans and enchanters. Objects remembered the lives they had led, and Palefang¡¯s parts would be well-suited to quite a few different kinds of magical enchantments.

    I was tempted to use the boons: a [Lightning 3] had quite a lot of potential, in my hands. But I could break them and use the resulting keys if I really had to¡ªotherwise they, along with all the other boons and essence I had gathered, were for the colony. Leveling myself to the maximum was my prerogative. Other than that, Hasina would decide what I got to keep.

    Looking at the boons, I also had to wonder: no [Behemoth]? Had he really grown that large from primeval mana and natural size alone?

    In the meantime there was no primeval convergence to worry about¡ªthat had ended when Palefang had cast his blizzard, and ended in my favor. A few creatures had apparently tried to return after the fright of the lightning had worn away¡ªbut the freezing cold had killed the smallest of them, leaving a ring of corpses just outside the fallen mushrooms. Everything else had likely been driven back.

    I gathered the broken pieces of my equipment bundled them into my jerkin, awkwardly clipped the bundle to my baldric, and began to run along the roots once more. I avoided all the creatures who came for me. I was faster than they were, and could easily sense them coming.

    As I ran, I channeled as much mana into my [Life Magick] skill as I could. When I spied the cliff at the end of the swamp, I had healed every serious injury and restored all my lost blood. All that remained was to mend my split and torn skin.

    I climbed one of the trees, using [Frost Magick] to generate hand and footholds when I needed them¡ªbut this was mostly unnecessary. The bark of the trees was rough, and I was strong enough now to throw my weight up the side of the tree with ease.

    I kept checking the jewel, watching my remaining minutes drain. I reached the crown of the tree, leapt to a nearby cliff, then climbed that until I was back on the slopes of the mountain that I¡¯d first arrived on.

    I searched for a spot to break the jewel, scaring away the occasional flying lizard with shards of ice and still funneling my [Life Pool] into healing my cuts, scrapes, and bruises. I cursed as I ran, my gaze extended as far into the earth as I could manage. The slopes were a better place to call my people than the swamp had been, but I¡¯d been hoping¡­

    The jewel¡¯s light turned yellow¡ªa sign that it was almost depleted¡ªjust as I found what I¡¯d been searching for. It was a cave-mouth hidden in the red mist, a craggy opening that blended so well with the mountain around it that it would have been hard to see even without the mist keeping it hidden.

    But I could sense the mana of the mist penetrating the rock with my gaze. As I approached, I began to discern a large cavern inside¡ªand then I heard the rush of falling water. Palefang had been strong with the [Wild Bond], but he¡¯d still been limited to a range of just under a kilometer at full focus, I was sure. I¡¯d expected his lair was somewhere near the place where I¡¯d arrived.

    I went inside, then conjured a witchlight and did a quick search of the cave.

    It was roughly divided into three areas. The floor of the cave was a depression of packed earth with a pool in its center, one that was fed by a waterfall above and that drained via stream through a passage eroded into the lower cave wall. Rough stone pillars rose up around the pool to support the middle level, a flat expanse of stone that was big enough fit dozens of houses. The highest level was a smaller ledge that jutted out from the cave wall, home to both a pile of bones that Palefang had collected and a well-worn patch of dry vines that I guessed was his bed. Above all this was a large hole in the roof of the cave that served as the entrance for the waterfall. The cave walls were covered in a bright blue moss, bathing everything in a ghostly light. Red mist filtered in through both entrances, but thinned and faded the further one got inside, making the air mostly clear.

    I grinned as I looked it all over. Water and shelter¡ªas good as I was going to find in such a short time. The largest open area was the middle level, so I conjured a witchlight there, then broke the jewel by smashing it against the ground.

    Glowing tendrils of blue light burst out from where the gem broke, filling the cave around me before coalescing into thousands of tiny points. Their light built in intensity, then flashed as the spell within the warp jewel concluded¡ªand I was suddenly surrounded by more than two and a half thousand elves.

    I looked around at my people, took them in, and smiled.

    ¡°Welcome to the new world.¡±

 2.01: Past the Point of No Return

    I looked around the cave and took in the elves. All of them were wearing the same composite leather armor that I had been when I arrived. All of them were armed with a spear, and most of them had bows. I¡¯d insisted on this equipment in case I wound up calling them into danger, but for now we were safe.

    ¡°I want everyone to be quiet while I speak for a few moments,¡± I said, making my voice reverberate through the cave. ¡°First, If any of you are injured, or feel ill, or feel that something is off after making the journey, speak up and see the healers immediately. I don¡¯t expect that the warp spell worked any differently than it should have, but for now I want to be sure. Is anybody hurt?¡±

    I paused, and nobody answered. Still, I saw motion in the crowd around¡ªand then Mishlo, the head healer, stepped forward. He was a short, frail-looking man with a long braid of brown hair, and he was wearing the same set of composite leather armor that I¡¯d arrived in. He put both his hands together, palms facing up, and held them out to me.

    I gave him one of my hands, and he wordlessly began to heal me, patching up the last of my scrapes and bruises and banishing all trace of exhaustion. While he did this he produced a cloth, wetted it with water that he condensed out of the air, and gave it to me to wipe the blood and grime from my face.

    I smiled and nodded to him once I¡¯d done this, then carried on addressing everyone else. ¡°You can all remove your helmets, we¡¯re safe now. I also want each of you to check and be sure that the spell has functioned as intended. You should all have retained your classes, but be level 0. You¡¯ll have your granted power and nothing else. Check to be sure this is true. While you all do that¡ªHassina, come here.¡±

    High Priest Hassina stepped forward, removing her helmet to reveal a long sweep of untidy white hair. I held my hands out, both together with my palms facing up. Hassina placed one of her hands in mine, and I clasped it, then gave her everything I¡¯d gathered: more than 250 000 essence and a huge bounty of boons.

    Her eyes widened for a moment, and then she shot me a wry look. A moment later, she gave something back.

    + [Lightning 3]!

    I¡¯d known she would, of course. But as the High Priest, it would be Hassina¡¯s job to manage essence and keys. I had the prerogative to take what I needed in the field, but in the course of normal operations, everything would move through her¡ªnot that she¡¯d refuse any of my orders in our current situation.

    ¡°Give some [Wild] keys to Luthiel, please,¡± I said. ¡°And some essence to get him to level 10.¡±

    The briefest flicker of surprise flashed across Hassina¡¯s face, but she moved to do as I¡¯d asked a moment later.

    I looked into the crowd and found Luthiel, the ex-archmage of Tel Telana, the capital of Aranar. He was a tall elf, only a half-foot shorter than I was, and his long hair was a frosty white-blue color. He was standing next to his wife Seriana¡ªthe new archmage. ¡°I¡¯m as certain as I can be that we¡¯re safe here,¡± I said. ¡°But I want you to keep watch while I explain¡ªyou already know everything I¡¯m going to say anyway.¡±

    Luthiel was one of the firstborn, like me. We were the only two in the colony, and only the two of us had [Sable Grace 20]. Combined with one of the [*Arcane 5] cores from his class, the [Wild] keys would make skills to help him extend his gaze and spot any predators that came upon us while I spoke.

    Choosing one of the seers to keep watch would have been more effective¡ªtheir [*Sight] cores formed abilities that gave much better bonuses to extending one¡¯s gaze. But Luthiel had higher [Focus] from [Sable Grace], and he was [Arcane Champion], with a granted power similar to my own [Primeval Power 30]. His [Arcane Resonance] increased the effect of his [Focus], which gave him an overall lengthier gaze than even the seers.

    I heard some murmuring as Hassina gave him the keys, whispers that were so quiet that even I couldn¡¯t make them out. I could guess at what was being said, however, by their unpleasant tenor.

    Luthiel was a traitor now, after all.

    And he was still awaiting judgment for what he¡¯d done.

    But then, so was I. I¡¯d insisted on utmost secrecy when I led them here, giving them very little to go on. Now that I had brought my people across the cosmos to a place they couldn¡¯t return from, I had much explaining to do.

    I waited a moment, then continued. ¡°Now,¡± I began. ¡°As you all know, I¡¯ve asked more from you than anyone could have a right to ask. I¡¯ve kept many secrets, and I¡¯ve made vague promises of miracles to come. Most of all, I¡¯ve traded away the greatest treasures that our people have ever possessed¡ªthe last two manahearts.¡±

    I looked around at their attentive faces, then at Luthiel, who sat gazing into the distance. As champions, he and I had each wielded one of the manahearts, but they hadn¡¯t really belonged to us. They¡¯d belonged to all the elves, and only by a two-thirds majority vote had I been allowed to trade them away for my purposes.

    ¡°I told you that I wanted you to come on a journey with me, and that we would not return for centuries at least. I promised you all that once you knew the whole truth of what I intended, you would agree that I had done the right thing. Well, now it is time for me to tell all¡ªand when I¡¯ve finished, it will be time for you to judge me.¡±

    I drew in a deep breath, looking around at their attentive faces and thinking on how best to explain myself, then looked up at the ceiling of the cavern and decided where I would begin.

    ¡°I traded the manahearts to Kalak, King of Crossroads, the god of trade and travel.¡±

    I let this revelation pass through them, but spoke again before their whisperings could grow too loud. ¡°I traded the manahearts for two things,¡± I announced. ¡°The first was passage here¡ªand that is where I will begin: where, exactly, is here?¡±

    I reached out with my [Frost Magick], conjuring a pure, clear sheet of ice that stretched across the roof of the cavern and was anchored to the walls. Then I began to scratch markings into it, scraping away little flurries of frost that sprinkled down on me as I drew a familiar shape.

    While I drew upon the ice, I spoke. ¡°I¡¯ll ask most of you to have patience with my explanation,¡± I said. ¡°There are children among us, and so I won¡¯t be brief. I want all of you to understand what I¡¯ve done.¡±

    I didn¡¯t look over at the crowd of children as I spoke. I didn¡¯t want to see them. Elf-children were rare: when the wild elves of Aranar had children, they almost always chose to move and raise them beneath the boughs of Ellistara, the nurturing tree, so that their young ones could grow up alongside other elves their own age.

    But Ellistara was far from Tel Telana. When the Doom of Aranar had come, the inhabitants of Ellistara¡ªthe children and their parents¡ªhad only survived because of the intervention of my husband, Alcuon.

    Alcuon had ensured that all of them had made it out, but the spell he¡¯d used had been one of sacrifice. The act had cost him his life.

    A worthwhile trade. And one that made me never want to have to look at any of those children again in my life.

    I sighed and tried to focus on the task at hand as I finished my makeshift, ice-writ map. It was a long, curved line, thick at first but thinning as many more, smaller lines split away from it, some of them splitting again. Everywhere these small lines ended, I drew a circle¡ªa realm.

    ¡°No doubt you all recognize the River of Realms,¡± I began, gesturing to the map. ¡°It is the conduit which brings essence from its divine source to the many realms we know. The Divine Wind pushes the essence along the course of the river, whose many forks siphon essence into the River¡¯s distributaries, all of which end at the phase points of the many realms. Once the essence reaches such a point, it phases to the world in question and is distributed evenly across that realm¡¯s living creatures.¡±

    As I spoke, I traced a path from the thickest part of the river that I¡¯d drawn to the circle that represented the most populous realm in the cosmos, Thanaxes.

    There I lingered, and I had no doubt that everyone present knew why. The closest world to Thanaxes had been Aranar, our home¡ªwe had shared a two-pronged distributary. But I hadn¡¯t drawn Aranar.

    Aranar was gone.

    ¡°To understand how we were brought here, you must understand the nature of the River,¡± I continued. ¡°In the River, essence isn¡¯t instantaneously absorbed by life¡ªin fact, loose essence can¡¯t be absorbed. It acts more like a fluid substance, hence why the Divine Wind can push it along its path at all. The further one travels up the River, the stronger the current created by the Divine Wind becomes. What¡¯s more, the essence we absorb and hold as we gain levels and keys is also pushed by the Divine Wind, albeit not as forcefully. All of this means that traveling up the River, against the Wind, is difficult. Past a certain point, it becomes impossible. And that point¡­ is here.¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    I drew a thick bar through the beginnings of the River on the map I¡¯d made in the ice. ¡°Nobody knows what¡¯s past this point, because nobody has ever gone past it. Even without considering the Divine Wind, it is dangerous: the aether whales are more numerous, more aggressive, and of greater size the further one travels up the River.¡±

    I gestured toward Thanaxes again. ¡°The further up the River of Realms and the closer a realm is to the point of no return, the more essence it receives from the River. Thanaxes is close, and so it prospers. So many things come easier to those of high level who have essence to spare¡ªagriculture, medicine, construction, exploration and discovery. A bountiful realm is a great gift indeed. Now see:¡±

    I reached out into the ice and began to draw again, extending the River of Realms back past the line of no return. Slowly, I drew until I had almost doubled the length of the River, then stopped, drew another distributary, and marked another world. As I did this, I heard murmurs of disbelief around me, growing louder as the River grew longer.

    ¡°We are here,¡± I said. ¡°Far, far past the point of no return.¡±

    I waited as this sank in, a steady murmur of sound rising around me as the people spoke amongst themselves. But after a while, I raised a hand, waited for them to quiet, and spoke again.

    ¡°And so you see,¡± I said. ¡°When I promised that we wouldn¡¯t be returning for centuries at least, I told the truth. We don¡¯t know how to build a craft that could take us safely to Thanaxes, let alone one that could return here by traveling against the force of the Divine Wind. For a long time, this world will be the only world we know.¡±

    Again I waited and let my words settle on the gathered elves, their murmurs building around me. It was one thing for them to believe that they wouldn¡¯t be going home, but now they knew the seemingly insurmountable obstacle that made it so.

    ¡°As for the spell that brought us here,¡± I said. ¡°I know many of you are more knowledgeable on the subject of warp magic than I am, and so I apologize for the simplistic explanation I will give. But when you send someone from realm to realm via warp spell, you send them as a sort of magical parcel, one that moves so fast that its speed is functionally instantaneous. And whether it travels against the current or with it, this parcel is degraded by the Divine Wind. Enough degradation and the spell scatters, destroying whatever it contains. The more essence the parcel contains, the greater the degradation¡ªhence why it¡¯s easier to send those of low level via warp magic than those of a high level.¡±

    I traced the line along the River that ran from Thanaxes, where we¡¯d left, to where we were now, creating another small shower of glittering frost.

    ¡°In order to travel this far, we had to be stripped of almost all our essence. And even stripped of all our keys, pared back to first level, a warp spell to bring all of us across this great distance was far, far beyond the abilities of even the most powerful mage or council of mages. Thus, I asked Lord Kalak, King of Crossroads, God of Trade and Travel. As a god, the spell was well within his abilities.¡±

    Again I paused to let them take it in. I imagined that at least some of them were confused, or even angry: I had traded our people¡¯s priceless artifacts for a teleportation spell, after all.

    ¡°Now, I must clarify something: this distance we have traveled is not the limit of Kalak¡¯s abilities, but rather the limit of the value I traded him. I could have asked that he let us keep our essence, but this would have meant traveling a much shorter distance, barely making it past the point of no return. But this was not suitable to my ends¡ªwhich brings us to the second part of our bargain.¡±

    Would they forgive me when they found out what I¡¯d been trying to buy? There was only one way to find out.

    ¡°If all of you query the Verse for details regarding your species, you will see that something has changed¡ªnone of us can currently conceive.¡±

    I did as I¡¯d asked them to in the same moment.

    ?¡ªYour Species:

    [Elf]

    Your sight and hearing are supernaturally enhanced.

    Your agility and grace has been supernaturally enhanced.

    You have the capacity for further supernatural enhancement.

    You are immortal. You will not age after reaching maturity.

    Your reproduction has a supernatural component:

    Slowly, you will produce an [Elvish Gift of Life]. To conceive a child, you must mate with another elf who possesses an [Elvish Gift of Life]. Both gifts will be expended when you conceive.

    You can give an [Elvish Gift of Life] to another elf who does not have one. Holding one such gift halts the production of another.

    You have produced 41% of an [Elvish Gift of Life]. You will never complete this process.

    Gasps of shock began to fill the cave around us, but the Verse had told me what I¡¯d expected. Normally, it took just over 160 years to make an [Elvish Gift of Life].

    ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± a man asked, standing. It was Larash, one of my berserkers. ¡°I had a gift!¡± he said. ¡°It was complete! Now I have eight-tenths of one¡ªand it will never be complete?¡±

    ¡°Sit down, Larash,¡± I said.

    He sat.

    ¡°I will explain,¡± I continued. ¡°We pay a price for our immortality,¡± I said. ¡°Creating another immortal takes an excruciating length of time¡ª160 years. As you all well know.¡±

    If it was possible to get their attention more than I had, I had done it. The cave became completely silent, and the elves around me looked raptly on. They could guess where this was going.

    I¡¯d promised them a miracle before I¡¯d left, after all.

    ¡°If you look, you can see another new sentence when the Verse describes our species. ¡®You have the capacity for further supernatural enhancement¡¯. That is what the Verse tells me; I assume you all can see some similar phrase. I had Kalak change us when he warped us to this place,¡± I said. ¡°160 years is what it takes to foster the magic that makes a new immortal with enhanced senses and grace. It should take almost 200 years to foster the magic that makes an elf with this one, added quality¡ªand yet that quality itself is eating up the innate magic that normally goes toward our [Elvish Gift of Life].¡±

    I rolled my shoulders, looking up at the ice map above me for a moment. ¡°I can finish it,¡± I said. ¡°I can bestow further supernatural power upon us, now that Kalak has added the capacity for it. I¡¯ll need a kingdom¡¯s wealth in essence and cores, but I can do it.¡±

    I looked back down at my people. Swept my gaze slowly over them. I could see the hope in their eyes.

    ¡°And when I do,¡± I said. ¡°We will not only be more powerful than we ever have been, but we will foster a new [Elvish Gift of Life] in less time than the eleven months it takes to carry a baby to term.¡±

    Gasps spread through them like a long sigh. A few hands came up to cover mouths. Some laughed, and some cried out. Soon I was raising my hand to silence them yet again¡ªthough I had to wait a long while before it was quiet enough that I could speak.

    Now my voice was slow, haggard. ¡°Most of you know that my husband, Alcuon, died in the Doom.¡± I held my gaze steady, avoiding a glance toward the children of Ellistara. ¡°This was our dream. I¡­ we¡­.¡±

    I let out a long sigh. ¡°I have lost two worlds, now,¡± I said. ¡°Two husbands. Three children. All my children¡­ and the elves¡­.¡±

    I froze for a moment. It wasn¡¯t supposed to be like this¡ªmy speech should culminate in triumph, not despair. But memory was depthless, and my thoughts were dragging me down like an anchor.

    ¡°There are perhaps fewer than thirty thousand of us left across the cosmos,¡± I said, my voice quiet.

    Dead silence filled the cave again. Two months ago there had been almost three million of us. And almost all of them had been on Aranar.

    Ninety-nine percent.

    In my mind¡¯s eye I saw a wall of black smoke that was as tall as the sky, streaked with red flames that boiled beneath its surface¡­.

    ¡°I asked Kalak what it would cost to lay the foundations of power, to complete only those parts of the ritual that I knew I could not, and then to send us to a primeval world as far away as the remainder of the two manahearts I traded him could buy,¡± I said, voice rising again. ¡°This plan has long been in the making. Alcuon and I were trying to find some other way to pay this cost than the manahearts, to take only colonists who had trained to come here. But now¡ªnow I act in desperation because we are desperate.¡± I looked at the elves before me, willing them to understand. ¡°We are desperate and bereaved and shattered and angry and lost,¡± I said, my voice becoming an impassioned cadence. ¡°And there must be a way forward.¡±

    I saw heads nodding around me. I saw many faces streaked with tears. And I also saw that many elves were still, and regarded me with inscrutable faces.

    ¡°This world,¡± I said, ¡°Is so far from our old part of the cosmos that divination magic could never hope to reach us. And even if it did, the primeval mana in the air would scatter it and render it useless. And because I kept so much of this plan a secret from you, nobody knows we¡¯re here¡ªand no one will. If the Doom of Aranar came because someone wished to destroy us, then we are as safe from them here as I can possibly make us.¡±

    I looked around at all of them. ¡°What¡¯s more, this world is steeped in essence. It has power that I need to complete my ritual, power beyond any that our people have ever known. On this world we can be safe, prosperous, and numerous. I traded our manahearts and kept our secrets for this end¡ªthat we thrive, here, in a way that no other denizens of the known cosmos ever have.¡±

    I held my hands out, bloodied palms facing them. ¡°Now you know all,¡± I said. ¡°Why I traded the manahearts, why I asked you to come without telling you my purpose, and finally the nature of the miracle that I promised you. And so once again I must ask what I asked you on Thanaxes. Will you still follow me?¡±

    The first to stand was Archmage Seriana.

    ¡°I will follow you!¡± she cried, voice resounding through the cave.

    Very quickly the rest of the elves were standing, echoing her cry, until the roar of their voices filled the cave around me. Suddenly they were surging forward, touching me and saying prayers, grabbing my hands and thanking me.

    I still had them.

    And why not? I was Aziriel, mightiest among the elves. I was one of the firstborn, winner of a thousand battles, she who was trusted to lead them to peace through victory, a figure who stretched far, far back into legend.

    Idolatry and hope formed a dangerously strong alloy. I knew because I¡¯d taken advantage of it before.

    And it was time to get to work.

 2.02: The High Council

    I waited for the uproar to die down, and as soon as I felt it fading I raised a hand for silence. ¡°Let¡¯s get to work,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll outline the plan in brief and then we can get started. First, Hassina has about two hundred and fifty thousand essence along with some boons.¡±

    Various cheers and sounds of amazement went up from the gathered elves, and I was soon raising a hand for silence yet again.

    ¡°On a related note: this cave was the lair of a mighty beast that expired only recently, a cat named Palefang. His urine and feces are likely deterring most potential predators from coming to check on us even if they can hear or sense us, but that¡¯s not something I want to count on. The plan is to fortify this position and build our strength while we scout out a location for a permanent settlement. This world¡¯s dangers are unknown to us, and so I also want backup settlements and clear paths we can all traverse to get to them in case we need to move quickly.¡±

    I turned my attentions to Hassina again. ¡°Two things I need right away. Have one of the weavers start enchanting a bow for me¡ªconjured arrows. And pick one of the shapers to give us a report on the quality of the [Air] aspect.¡±

    Hassina nodded. ¡°Fireesha and Galeena,¡± she said, picking elves out of the crowd. ¡°Get to it.¡±

    While Fireesha grabbed the cores and essence she would need from Hassina and Galeena began to murmur a spell, I continued.

    ¡°I want Hassina, Seriana, Valir, Zirilla, and Mirio with me for a moment. We¡¯ll choose a true high council once a permanent settlement is established, but until then, these five and I will do it.¡±

    I looked over the crowd and picked my next-most senior officer after Valir and Zirilla. ¡°Larash.¡±

    ¡°Lux Irovex!¡± He said, straightening immediately.

    He¡¯d used my official title. Unlike most species in the cosmos, elvish titles of high eminence were partly unique to the person who bore them¡ªas immortals, the people in our highest positions of power rarely changed. ¡°Lux¡± essentially implied the rank of a queen or princess, and ¡°Irovex¡± was my own personal epithet. It meant sky-sunderer in Maian Elvish¡ªI¡¯d gotten it for throwing lightning bolts and killing dragons.

    Normal day-to-day usually saw few people other than my soldiers using my title except when they wanted to formally show respect¡ªbut I had a feeling I¡¯d be hearing a lot more in the days to come.

    ¡°Get everyone organized and get these bags unloaded,¡± I told Larash. ¡°I want squads and weapons stationed at the entrances to the cave. We¡¯ll have more orders for all of you shortly.¡±

    There was a bustle as Larash began shouting out orders and I pulled my people further toward the cave¡¯s entrance for a short council. We¡¯d brought a large number of supplies with us: not just weapons and armor but tools, books, seeds¡­ we¡¯d only been able to take a limited quantity of mass across the cosmos, but we¡¯d made it count.

    ¡°Valir,¡± I said, turning to him. He was one of the largest elves I¡¯d ever known. Primeval mana had mutated him just as it had me¡ªturning his blonde hair flame-red and growing him to a height of seven and a half feet. He had a broad face, his heavy jaw making his features seem more human than elven, and he always seemed to wear a neutral, almost disinterested expression. I could rarely tell what he was thinking.

    ¡°You¡¯re heading our defenses,¡± I told him. ¡°The bulk of our guards should be [Body] classes for now. At level 10, and with a few rank 1 cores, they¡¯ll have high enough attributes to solve a great deal of problems with arrows, spears, and shield walls. Support them with whatever other personnel you see fit to take.¡±

    He inclined his head. ¡°Lux Irovex.¡±

    ¡°Zirilla,¡± I said, turning to her where she had already been standing at my side. She was my head elementalist, and one of the few remaining sea elves, with many scales and pearls set into a huge head of wild, curly brown hair. Her typical expression was one of someone who was both bored, and holding back some sarcastic retort. It made her look much younger than she was: Zirilla, along with Luthiel, Seriana, and myself, was one of the only elves to remember our lost world of Maia.

    Our first lost world, now.

    Gods, I felt old.

    ¡°Work with Valir. Assign firedancers and stormcallers as he needs them, then get our channelers and waterweavers and make some mana wells ready to be used in case we need to defend this position. After that, supervise the earthmovers in making fortifications.¡± I turned to Hassina. ¡°Are we keeping the second [Lightning 3]?¡±

    Palefang had given two boons with [Lightning 3], after all¡ªand Zirilla was the natural choice to receive it.

    ¡°Definitely.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s either for Zirilla or whoever she picks.¡±

    ¡°I pick me,¡± said Zirilla, mouth curling into a smile. ¡°Two [Lightning 3], Aziriel? Just what were you up to before we got here?¡± She eyed me up and down. ¡°I see you¡¯ve lost your spear and bow. Hard fight?¡±

    ¡°Hardly,¡± I told her. ¡°He didn¡¯t even get me down to my fists. But I¡¯ll tell you all about it later.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ who¡¯s the other [Lightning] key going to?¡± Zirilla asked.

    I paused to give her a flat look, then carried on as if she¡¯d said nothing. ¡°Let¡¯s make this cave safe,¡± I said. ¡°Steps to traverse the different levels are a better defensive feature than outside fortifications when the alternative is jumping and climbing ropes. It¡¯s dangerous enough outside, so let¡¯s make sure nobody is going to fall to their deaths because they tripped on a rock.¡±

    ¡°Steps and railings, coming right up,¡± Zirilla said.

    ¡°Ah¡ªLux Irovex?¡± It was Galeena, approaching us from out of the crowd. She was a high elf, with a shrewd face and a bob of silver hair. She was also our head coreshaper, responsible for stripping aspects out of the world to form skill keys in a delicate, controlled fashion that didn¡¯t waste any aspects the way I had when coalescing boons earlier.

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing the air has been stripped of its [Air] aspect?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Yes. Hard to give an exact proportion, but maybe a tenth to a fifth is usable? We¡¯ll have to siphon quite vigorously if we want to capture some [Air] keys.¡±

    Zirilla¡¯s expression became serious¡ªa rare face for her to wear. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ not good.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± I told her grimly. ¡°Once the defenses are even a little stable, work with Hassina to start siphoning.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Zirilla said slowly. ¡°Of course, but¡ª¡±

    ¡°Intelligent air elementals,¡± I said. ¡°I know. We¡¯ll handle that particular problem once we¡¯re in the air, though.¡±

    ¡°As you wish.¡±

    I turned to Mirio. ¡°Mirio.¡± I smiled. ¡°You look nervous.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s inexplicable, given the circumstances,¡± he said, glancing away from me. Mirio, our new Archdruid, was a tall, slender man with ice-blue hair and a thin, pretty face.

    My greeting had been something of a joke¡ªMirio always looked nervous.

    He had not been a popular appointment, and while there were many faults to be found in him, his unpopularity stemmed from one simple fact: he was eighty. Sometimes, he acted more like he was forty. I didn¡¯t envy the position I¡¯d put him in¡ªhe¡¯d spent the last few weeks having every one of his actions sharpshot by critics looking to show his unworthiness.

    But you don¡¯t often find wildhearts in the city, and the ones who¡¯d worked as teachers at Ellistara were mostly rookies. Hence why I¡¯d chosen Mirio: everyone else was dead.

    ¡°If I may say something¡­.¡± he hazarded.

    ¡°Go ahead.¡±

    Mirio began speaking, and as he did so, the same thing that always happened when he spoke about his job happened: he lost sight of himself, got absorbed in his thoughts, and slowly inflated with confidence.

    ¡°The mana here is twenty-six percent primeval,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s both more dense and more highly concentrated than any we¡¯ve seen in a natural environment. Convergences arise as a possible defense mechanism above a threshold of four percent primeval concentration. Given all that¡­ I¡¯m worried that this world could be past some second threshold we¡¯ve never witnessed. The convergences here could work differently than on Aranar, or there could be some other defensive adaptation using the [Wild Bond], one that we have heretofore never witnessed but that adds an unknown risk factor.¡±

    ¡°That sounds like a reasonable worry. Thoughts?¡±

    ¡°Well, I think we can¡¯t be too cautious,¡± he said. ¡°For now, I really don¡¯t think anyone should leave this cave except you. Even assuming normal convergences, a monster who hunts with the [Wild Bond] could fly overhead, detect us, and bring an army to our door. Now, you triggered a convergence and should have been assimilated into the local ecosystem when it failed to kill you. But I still think we should be ready.¡±

    ¡°I agree,¡± I said. ¡°The convergence I triggered didn¡¯t exactly run to its fullest conclusion¡ªmy battle with the cat who used to live here interrupted it.¡±

    Mirio frowned. ¡°Interrupted¡­ the whole thing? All of the creatures were pushed back?¡±

    ¡°There was lightning. And everything was deathly cold for a while.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Ah. Well, as long as you didn¡¯t flee, that should¡ª¡± he seemed to catch himself. ¡°Ah, sorry, Lux Irovex. You know all this.¡±

    I regarded him for a moment. ¡°I want you to sit with Luthiel as he keeps watch,¡± I said. ¡°You both see far¡ªhelp direct him in where he¡¯s pointing his gaze. Both of you can dig into the minds of the creatures around us. Assess threats.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡ªyes, Lux Irovex.¡±

    ¡°Something wrong?¡± I asked, arching a brow, daring him to object to being assigned to work with the traitor.

    ¡°No!¡± he said quickly. ¡°No, no of course not. I¡¯ll go see Luthiel.¡±

    ¡°As for your recommendation,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll be the only one going outside until we can get me in the air. At that point we can send out hunting parties while I sit atop the nest, ready to be dispatched if they run into trouble.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± he said. ¡°That sounds, ah, good.¡±

    ¡°And put the rest of the wildhearts under Valir¡¯s command. In time they¡¯ll be our biggest asset¡ªbut it¡¯ll be a while before we can reliably communicate with the wildlife here to do anything other than spy them out and kill them. And the animal spirit skills are all so costly¡ªwe have limited mana keys to support them with.¡±

    ¡°I most definitely agree, Lux Irovex.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± I said. I turned to Seriana, our new archmage. She was tall, slender, and had a head of straight, neatly-cut black hair that was shot through with streaks of a bright, vivid green.

    ¡°We¡¯ll get the rest of the seers to divide the area around us into wedges and keep watch with Mirio and Luthiel,¡± I said. ¡°And there¡¯s a stash of bones on the upper level of the cave that I¡¯m sure the weavers will be interested in. Apart from those two things, we¡¯re going to need to enchant our bows¡ªspare some [Weave] classes to ensure there¡¯s at least enough aspect in some of them to get started.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± she said, nodding. ¡°And if I may,¡± she added, ¡°I have a few personnel who I think could do work on composing some deterrent spells with runework¡ªfire, mostly, but possibly some conjured caltrops and the like.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± I said. ¡°Handle it however you need to.¡± I glanced around us, then lowered my voice. ¡°And let Ranival know that we¡¯ll be furnishing his people with [Decay Magick] as soon as we have the keys. After that, we¡¯ll have them in the field¡ªbut when we find a permanent settlement, they¡¯ll be a crucial part of our defenses.¡±

    Seriana nodded slowly, her face impassive. ¡°I¡¯ll see to it.¡±

    Ranival and his people were our white necromancers. Classes with [*Death] cores were typically not something that most people had any desire to live alongside¡ªthey were extraordinarily dangerous, and their magic could motivate them toward heinous acts. But Ranival and his people were proven elves of principle¡ªelves whose names needed no polish.

    I turned to Hassina. ¡°Approximate key distribution?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re going to the [Body] classes first, then ensuring that the odd [Sight], [Fire], [Lightning], [Frost], and [Life] class is keyed up to be combat-ready while saving pretty well all our [Mana] and [Missile] keys for bows.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± I said. I nodded, then added: ¡°I know you¡¯ve got numbers, Hassina. Let me have them..¡±

    ¡°2 655 elves, not including yourself,¡± she said. ¡°Average tier of class is 2.7. So: 717 000 to get them all to level 5. For level 10, 1 577 000 essence. All told, about 2.3 million essence to get us started, though you¡¯ve put a dent in it with your 260 000.¡±

    ¡°A dent.¡±

    Hassina flashed a smile at me. ¡°Come now, Aziriel. We both know you could have tried a little harder out there.¡±

    Mirio¡¯s head snapped over to Hassina, his mouth agape. Everyone else, though, was used to her jokes, and gave her remark little attention.

    Hassina made a show of sighing with regret. ¡°In any case, getting keys to fuse with all our cores is more important than gaining levels¡ªand that¡¯s going to take twelve and a half thousand keys, assuming one per core. Counting two thousand bows, we¡¯ll need sixteen and a half thousand keys¡ªan essence value of 8.2 million.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°Nothing she didn¡¯t know coming in, I suppose.¡± She looked around us, at the walls of the cave. ¡°We can fortify this place easily, but the lack of soil and foliage on the slopes just outside have me worried about flooding¡ªunless it¡¯s the mists that strip the soil, not rain. How long do you intend us to stay in this place, Aziriel?¡±

    ¡°Depends on circumstances, but ideally not more than a week.¡±

    ¡°It seems to me, then,¡± said Hassina, ¡°that we may well find ourselves moving to a more permanent settlement only after we¡¯ve gotten the essence¡ªbut before we¡¯ve gotten the keys. Not ideal.¡±

    ¡°No, but it can be done,¡± said Valir. ¡°We¡¯ll still have elven arrows, air power, the right support and a few strong champions to divert the attentions of any divergences. If the terrain is right, all the better.¡±

    ¡°It can be done,¡± I agreed. ¡°Now, as I see it there¡¯s a lot more that can be said, but we¡¯ve covered what we need to for now. Start picking the people you need and get to it. I¡¯ll sort my own keys out with Hassina, then get hunting. But one more thing before you go.¡±

    I looked around at each of them. ¡°Every one of you is responsible for keeping up morale. We have momentum, now. We have a shared vision of what the future should be and the knowledge that we can work together to bring it about. I know I don¡¯t need to tell any of you the great value to be found in that truth, and how much we all need it. Now: take what Hassina can give and get started.¡±

    They nodded, then each took turns laying their hand in Hassina¡¯s gathered palms. I watched them all as they first touched her hands, then made the minute posture changes that always seemed to accompany a sudden growth in power¡ªthe straightened back, the slow, satisfied inhale, the gentle nod. Then they split off to start assigning tasks to their various personnel.

    I took Hassina over to a nearby wall, then used my [Frost Magick] to write my skills and attributes on conjured sheet of ice.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± she said, looking it over. ¡°You¡¯re completely physical.¡±

    ¡°Circumstances sort of called for it.¡±

    ¡°I would¡¯ve thought you¡¯d make a high [Channel] and then pummel everything with circle magic.¡±

    ¡°I did that,¡± I said defensively. ¡°Just without the high [Channel].¡±

    She shot me a bemused look. ¡°All on natural abilities? The ancient master of primeval spellcraft showed her quality, I¡¯m sure.¡±

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t afford to be fragile once the intelligent spellcasting cat appeared,¡± I said. ¡°As it happens, being strong enough to leap thirty meters and agile enough to dodge a flurry of falling leaves is a good foundation for a spellcaster. Physical attributes are defensive as well as efficiently offensive.¡±

    ¡°Efficiency? We¡¯re bathing in free mana. And if you want some more numbers, your [Channel] is a hundred and forty percent more powerful than everyone else¡¯s.¡±

    ¡°A little more than that,¡± I said, glancing at the board.

    She made a show of rolling her eyes. ¡°Sorry if I missed the last four percent, Lux Irovex.¡±

    ?¡ªYour [Primeval Resonance]: 108% Effective, 54% Base

    With my 40% primeval mana, I channeled 148% faster¡ªthey didn¡¯t multiply together, just added. ¡°You missed eight percent, actually.¡±

    ¡°Okay, well sorry I missed the other last four percent, then.¡±

    ¡°And my [Primeval Power] makes my attribute increases very strong. With a good bow, and infinite arrows¡ª¡±

    Hassina sighed. ¡°Look, Aziriel. You¡¯re my friend, all right? I know you¡¯re not perfect¡ªyou don¡¯t have to work so hard to justify your mistakes to me.¡±

    I glared at her. My glare is not an expression which is typically met with a mischievous smile, and yet Hassina did just that.

    ¡°I¡¯ve still got that [Mana 3] for your [Primeval Mana Hide] she said, nodding over to the list. Which¡ªI mean, we¡¯ve got a lot of options, but¡­ I¡¯m making that the priority.¡±

    ¡°Sensible,¡± I said. [Primeval Mana Hide] allowed one to passively absorb mana from anything touching their skin. In this environment, its strength would be grossly out of proportion with that of other skills. I¡¯d need the constant mana both to maintain flight and to throw lightning.

    ¡°The priority beyond that is getting you in the air, naturally,¡± said Hassina. She nodded to herself. ¡°Okay, I want you to take 12 [Bird], 30 [Body], 12 [Water], 12 [Life], 9 [Armor], 4 [Mana], 3 [Missile] keys. You¡¯re turning [Wild Grace] into [Avian Grace] and then [Kite¡¯s Grace] once I¡¯ve got the keys. [Frost Magick] is becoming [Air Magick]. [Life Magick] is eventually getting replaced with [Primeval Mana].¡±

    ¡°No healing?¡± I asked.

    Hassina gave me a sidelong glance and a wry smile. ¡°I¡¯m assuming you¡¯ve left the carcass of a giant cat somewhere for someone else to pick up?¡±

    ¡°I have. It¡¯s¡­ well, it¡¯s about five hundred meters down a nearby cliff. In the middle of a swamp.¡±

    Now it was Hassina¡¯s turn to glare at me, slowly crossing her arms as she did so. She waited a few moments, then continued as if I hadn¡¯t said anything. ¡°Your second binding can be a [Blood Magick] item, then¡ªa cloak or some teeth or something. It doesn¡¯t matter what his class was, Fireesha says that all dead primeval classes can make the blood hidden aspect.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s right,¡± I said.

    Hidden aspects were composed of normal aspects¡ª{Blood} was made of [Body], [Life], and [Water]. Because [Life] was a subtype of [Wild], and [Water] was a subtype of [Elemental], almost every higher-tier class with any subtype of [Primeval] in its class cores could make the pure {Blood} skill, [Blood Magick].

    Enchanting used the innate aspects that an object had accrued through its history to support the essence and aspects that formed its permanent spell. A dead elementalist like Palefang could have his remains support stronger [Elemental]-themed enchantments than any random objects.

    When I¡¯d enchanted my matchbow with [Primeval Missile Conjuring], it had helped that I¡¯d killed a few things by launching arrows from it first. Fireesha would be getting me a much better-crafted enchantment, now, and with a less-used bow than the one Palefang had broken. She could do better than I could because she was a far more skilled enchantress than I was, and had a little more time to work with.

    {Blood} enchantments worked best on the remains of something that had once had a circulatory system, and the remains of a creature who had once wielded [Body], [Life], or [Water] aspects¡ªor any of their higher-order aspects. The more powerful the creature, the better. Palefang¡¯s bones or hide would make a good {Blood} binding, and so would those of any powerful creature to be found here.

    ¡°The bones you mentioned might even do it,¡± Hassina continued. ¡°The ones on the upper level, I mean. But [Primeval Mana] is easy to build onto, and we can probably get away with just that and the manahide when it comes to getting you the mana you need to support flight.¡± She paused, worked her mouth. ¡°You know that counting [Surge of Might], you¡¯ve got five attribute increasers?¡±

    ¡°Look at the attributes, though.¡±

    ¡°I know, I know,¡± she said, glancing at the wall where I¡¯d written them. ¡°But we¡¯re agreed that you¡¯re pivoting into spellcasting now, right? Your absurd five-count will keep you in physical attributes for a while now.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re agreed,¡± I said.

    ¡°Just think,¡± said Hassina, spreading her arms. ¡°Imagine how many ancient, powerful beings there are on this world, each locked in a constant struggle for survival, each having cultivated a deadly set of skills and instincts that won¡¯t matter at all when your lightning kills them instantly. Here.¡±

    She held out her hands, palms together.

    I placed my hand in hers.

    + [Mana 3]

    ¡°All right, well it looks like this is your bow,¡± said Hassina, nodding to where Fireesha was making her way towards us, matchbow in her hands.

    ¡°Lux Irovex,¡± Fireesha said, presenting the bow.

    ¡°Thank you, Fireesha. I¡¯ll be putting this to use directly.¡±

    ¡°While you¡¯re gone I¡¯ll work on things to fill your other two bindings,¡± she said.

    ¡°I¡¯ll try not to be out for more than an hour,¡± I said. I was, to be honest, looking forward to the other bindings¡ªFireesha knew her art well, and a bound enchantment was at least as powerful as a skill.

    ¡°Very well,¡± Fireesha said, inclining her head. ¡°Good hunting, Lux Irovex.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Hassina said, loudly enough that most of the cavern could hear. ¡°Good hunting!¡±

    Suddenly the call was echoed by everyone in earshot as I moved toward the mouth of the cave and took one of the spears they¡¯d started stockpiling there. I shot Hassina a flat look.

    It¡¯s for morale, she mouthed.

 2.03: Good Hunting

    The first thing I did once I was out of the cave was build what was arguably my favorite skill after [Primeval Power]:

    You fuse [*Primeval 5] with [Lightning 3] to create the skill: [Lightning Magick 8]

    [Lightning Magick 8]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Lightning 3]

    You can ignite airborne mana within your claim to create lightning.

    Lightning transfers the power of all mana it ignites into its endpoint, which then jumps to the densest source of mana it can reach. The maximum jump distance is determined by the total mana consumed by the lightning.

    You can extend your claim through dense patches of mana and their immediate surroundings. You don¡¯t suffer any distance penalty for extending your claim in such a fashion.

    Lightning requires more [Focus] to cast as the mana it ignites increases: insufficient focus will result in the lightning discharging early rather than consuming all of a line of mana.

    I smiled softly at my old friend as I walked out into the mists. The [Lightning] key being rank 3 meant that the skill could support two more keys, but I wanted to keep the skill pure. Hybrid lightning could be very powerful, but only the pure skill allowed one to push their claim through long tracks of mana, one of lightning¡¯s most powerful qualities.

    Only [Primeval], [Elemental], and [Lightning] keys would increase the rank of the skill without changing it¡ªand of those, only [Elemental] keys would be easy to find. Still, even at rank 8 the skill would be deadly, especially here.

    I took a moment to bind myself to my new bow:

    You bind: [Aziriel¡¯s Matchbow of Missile Conjuring]. You have 2 bindings remaining.

    Binding this item has granted you the [Conjure Primeval Missiles 7] skill.

    Just as my first bow had been, minus the fact that the enchantment was slowly degrading and grossly inefficient.

    Before I set out, I knew that I had two bestows left to spend:

    ?¡ªYour Bestows:

    1 [Bestow 12]

    1 [Bestow 14]

    I was building for [Air] and [Lightning], two highly consumptive forms of magic. Permanent flight, my current goal, meant spending mana slower than you replenished it, and so both of them went into [Source].

    You spend 1 [Bestow 12] to add 12 to your [Source]. Your [Source] is now 52.

    You spend 1 [Bestow 14] to add 14 to your [Source]. Your [Source] is now 66.

    That done, I had one more stop to make before setting out.

    Ahead of me was the same mist-ridden mountainside as before, still streaked with patches of glowing pink and green moss. I turned and climbed the small cliff that rose above the cave entrance until I found the source of the waterfall inside¡ªa small stream that emerged from the mists to run into a depression in the stone and then fell away through the cave¡¯s uppermost entrance.

    I found Mirio and Luthiel both seated next to this entrance next to a rope ladder that had been hung down into the cave.

    Luthiel stood as I approached. Arcane mana had changed him as much as primeval mana had changed me¡ªhis white hair glimmered with an ethereal light that was only just noticeable, and his eyes were a vivid indigo. As always, his expression told me nothing that he didn¡¯t want me to know¡ªcold and impassive, I had no idea what he was thinking as he looked at me.

    As one of the firstborn, Luthiel was essentially the closest thing I had to a brother¡ªand like many of us, we¡¯d embraced that bond. He was my brother. He should have been in my closest confidences, here on this new world.

    But now he was a traitor awaiting judgement. He couldn¡¯t be kept close to the center of things, and I didn¡¯t want to be seen speaking with him more than was necessary.

    Mirio saw him stand, then hastily followed suit.

    ¡°I¡¯m going key hunting,¡± I said to both of them. ¡°We need all manner of boons, but I need [Air], [Bird], and [Body] keys most of all right now. You two have the best idea of what¡¯s around us¡ªany idea where I should go?¡±

    ¡°Ah, well¡ª¡± Mirio began.

    ¡°We have little to tell you,¡± Luthiel said, his voice as steady and aloof as it always was. ¡°Many [Missile] aspects seem to linger above the mists, and many other creatures use the mists to hide from them. I¡¯d advise following the stream up the mountain.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll start there, then,¡± I said.

    I took off at a brisk trot, my strides lengthened by my powerful physical attributes. I intended to get a lay of the terrain around our temporary settlement before I came back.

    This cloud-layer of mist was several times thicker than the one that was hundreds of meters below it, but as I climbed the slopes it began to thin. Soon I could see the shadow of the slopes rising ahead of me, and soon after I began to emerge into a world that felt completely different than the one I¡¯d spent the last two hours in.

    More than two kilometers above me was yet another layer of cloud that blanketed the world, only this one glowed with pure, white light. Not only was it so bright that it was like stepping into daylight, but the colors of the world around me were reflected in full, vibrant hues. I saw the green of the trees that cloaked the mountain, the sparkling clarity of the stream ahead of me, the bright, sunny yellow of the flowers that grew in the field of coarse, blue-green grass to my left. It was like my eyes had come out of the bitter cold to warm myself at a cozy fireside.

    ¡°Wonderful,¡± I breathed, breaking into a smile.

    A shriek sounded from above me, and I looked up to see one of the web-winged flying lizards¡ªon Aranar they were called broadwings¡ªdiving toward me. Its orange skin and the green, glowing lines that covered its body like warpaint were now highly visible in the bright light.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    I didn¡¯t need to worry about conserving my [Surge Pool], and so I surged [Strength] and launched an arrow at it, the missile striking the lizard¡¯s heart and burying itself in the creature¡¯s chest up to the fletching. Another two followed it as the creature lurched in the air, bringing it to the ground.

    + 1186 Essence, [Boon]

    I quickly checked and saw, to my disappointment, that there was no [Air] aspect in the boon. Then I searched the sky for more broadwings. I saw a few, but they were all too distant, each a small speck in my vision.

    I had another thing to take care of. Even if it had no [Air], the boon could still be useful:

    You break [Boon] to create a [Wild 1] skill key.

    You relinquish the [Animal Bond 6] skill, gaining a [*Primeval 5] skill core and 200 Essence.

    You fuse [*Primeval 5] with [Wild 1] to create the skill: [Wild Bond 6].

    After all, while I might sense a little farther with the more specific [Animal Bond], and [Life Magick] meant I could already trace the contours of the ground beneath grass or moss, [Wild Bond] would let me gaze into the minds of any hostile plants I encountered.

    Somehow, I expected I¡¯d eventually find some around.

    A haze still blanketed the world, making it hard to see distant sights. Still, I could see that other mountains rose up beyond the one that was nearest, other prominences that were lost in the higher cloudlayer.

    The field of bluish grass and flowers stretched away to my left, and I saw a pack of lizards grazing in the distance, then cut toward them while I recharged my [Surge Pool]. Not for the first time, I wished I could stop and examine everything I encountered¡ªthe yellow flowers around me, the grass that prickled my bare feet, the moss that still grew in patches here and there. But I knew I didn¡¯t have time.

    As I approached the lizards, the largest of them saw me, split off from the pack, then reared up in an intimidating display. It was a massive quadruped, ten feet tall at the hip. Its skin was striped with the same glowing lines that the sky lizards wore, though these were blue, not green. Its body seemed strangely shaped to me: a long, flat torso that flared out to either side of its neck and head. Its forehead, upper neck, and back were all plated with bony, spiked armor¡ªand spikes grew from the two protrusions that flared out from its shoulders, each sticking out next to its head.

    ¡°I see,¡± I murmured, not slowing my charge but holding off from shooting the creature for a moment while I watched.

    It fell back down onto all four legs, then inhaled air through not just its mouth, but several slits that opened along its sides. The bottom of its flat torso expanded, inflating¡ªand then the beast made a hissing sound as it shot its protruding spines toward me, one after the other.

    I¡¯d known they were coming, and could sense each with my gaze¡ªit was trivial for me to sidestep the missiles, moving economically so as not to disrupt my aim.

    Soon all of the creatures were forming up behind this largest one to launch more spikes my way, but I surged [Strength] once to bound forward, closing the distance between us in a heartbeat. Then, picking one of the smaller ones in the back, I ran along its side and launched three arrows: one through an eye, one through its throat, and one through the ribs that lined its side.

    They had high [Aegis], because the arrows only sank six or eight inches¡ªand the one that I planted in its eye, less than that. But this only meant that their [Strength] and [Agility] were comparatively low, and I took full advantage of this, hanging close to the beast, using it as cover from the rest of its pack while it tried to lumber around to face me, slowly swinging its tail at me in an attack that was easy to simply leap over.

    I planted a half-dozen more arrows into its throat, which had seemed like the weakest point, then dismissed them so that blood ran from its neck in a steady stream.

    I backed away as the other lizards closed around me, leaping between them with ease and then making a few bounds to put myself at a distance before rounding on them and launching another dozen arrows.

    They still hadn¡¯t regrown their spines, but they didn¡¯t retreat, instead charging me. But it was no trouble for me to get clear of their path, then run around them, back to their dying brethren.

    + 218 Essence, [Boon]

    ¡°Useful,¡± I said. Looking into the boon, I saw that it was exactly what I¡¯d have expected: [Missile], [Armor], and the [Life] needed to replenish their biologically-made projectiles.

    But what I really wanted was to examine its internals¡ªI saw that my arrow to the eye hadn¡¯t killed it because of the shape of its skull and got a good sense of the angle of entry that I would want to use, now. I also saw that I could have gotten at its brain through the base of its jaw.

    I spent another minute with the pack, dispatching them in order from smallest to largest because I thought that would make them less likely to run. A [Surge of Might] combined with an arrow through the eye would kill them more or less instantly, and their slow speed made it easy to manage.

    In the end I¡¯d picked up six [Armor] keys¡ªnot enough to add to [Primeval Hide], but a good start.

    Of course, I¡¯d also left six massive carcasses in the middle of a field with no intention to dispose of them. Masses of decomposing bodies meant more than scavengers, they meant swarms of breeding insects that could carry disease. Our healers could deal with the disease well enough, but I wasn¡¯t keen on meeting the resulting bugs. With luck, the corpses would attract some things with [Bird] keys¡­ that I would make into yet more corpses.

    I scanned the field for another pack of the creatures, saw one in the distance, then set out toward them.

    In my many years, I¡¯d heard a lot of words for what I was doing: harvest, deplete, liquidate, slaughter¡ªall the same. In time, we¡¯d grow conservative, learn how to hunt and kill without severely upsetting the balance of a local ecosystem, but for now it was essence first.

    The philosophy of conservation was rooted in pride. You couldn¡¯t assign yourself the role of protecting something without believing, in some sense, that you had dominion over it. Only once we¡¯d reclaimed some of our old strength could we start working to preserve the world around us, taking only what the hills and forests could stand to lose.

    Until then, this was a struggle for survival. The only thing I cared about preserving were elven lives. I¡¯d burn every wild thing within a hundred miles to ash if it meant giving my people a better chance at survival.

    As I moved for the other pack, I sensed many creatures in burrows, small mammals with coarse, blue-green fur to match the grass around them, each of them leaping from their holes to attack as I approached¡ªand promptly being struck through by an arrow that carried enough force to throw them backward through the air. They gave no cores, but I needed all the essence I could get.

    I engaged the second pack much like I had the first, though now I killed them more quickly. Another one of the flying lizards dove for me, and I shot it through with several arrows and then watched it fall to the ground.

    A quick check showed that I¡¯d gathered enough [Armor]-containing boons to upgrade my [Primeval Hide], but I didn¡¯t have enough essence to fuse them into the three more [Armor 2] keys that I needed to combine with the one in my skill and make an [Armor 3].

    I¡¯d also strayed far enough from the colony that it was time to turn around. I cut back toward the mists, diverting my course a little to intercept a small group of three more of the missile-shooting lizards on the way.

    So far, rather disappointing. I¡¯d diverged from the stream, but I could see how far it stretched up the mountain¡ªand I could see that I¡¯d only be able to follow it a little longer through the coarse grass before I¡¯d feel the need to turn around again.

    Instead I headed for the mists, wanting to explore them until I found the very same place I¡¯d arrived at and could connect the mental maps I¡¯d made. It wasn¡¯t long before the grass had given way to course, moss-streaked tuff, the luminous red mist coming up around me.

    I saw a few of the small, bipedal lizards that I¡¯d briefly seen on my arrival, all of them fleeing at the sight of me much like they had before. Then I felt an animal with my [Wild Bond] whose presence made me smile. It was a great cat, one much like the sleek predator I¡¯d met when I first arrived. I looked in its direction, unable to see it through the thickening mist.

    ¡°Well?¡± I asked.

    The cat charged, reached me, and pounced, appearing through the mist as a dark figure an instant before I put an arrow through the front of its skull, halting its momentum and causing it to fall limply to the ground.

    + 2125 Essence, [Boon]

    I carried on past it, eager to scout ahead.

 2.04: Strange Things in the Mists

    Palefang likely hadn¡¯t tolerated the presence of other superpredators like himself, and so I knew I was in for a slow harvest, made slower by the fact that I couldn¡¯t trigger a second convergence.

    I had to curse him. I¡¯d have always had to build up my physical attributes, but because of him I¡¯d gone all-in on them. If I had a bit more [Focus] right now it would be much easier to extend my gaze and find creatures to kill. This whole process would be faster.

    I treaded lightly through the mists for a while so that I could get a closer look at one of the tiny, bipedal lizards that I kept seeing scurrying around everywhere. It had a long beak, and as I watched it leaned down and stuck a long, thin tongue into the crevice at its feet, either lapping up some of the thick moss that grew there or searching its contents for whatever its food of choice was¡ªpossibly small insects.

    ¡°You¡¯re a clever little fellow, aren¡¯t you?¡± I murmured before shooting it through with an arrow and scaring away all of its kin. It gave a negligible amount of essence, but I wanted to see if it had a nearby parent watching over it.

    None came, and I moved on in disappointment, soon finding a stretch of slope that was dominated by clusters of large, jagged rocks that jutted out of the ground, each of them overgrown by a tangle of thick, green vines. The vine was covered in dark, many-pointed leaves that glowed with veins of reddish light. Small pink flowers dotted its twisting coils.

    I saw with my gaze that small, dense patches of mana had gathered around these flowers, and that they swirled with more of the characteristic frenetic energy that marked primeval mana than the mana in the air around them.

    Then I heard scuffing and skittering noises in the mist, and moved forward to investigate, detecting a great many tiny, four-legged creatures crawling across the rocks ahead with my [Wild Bond]. I saw their tiny shadows in a flash of lighting and moved toward them, intrigued.

    As I wandered deeper into the vine-covered rocky outcrops, a few of the tiny, crab-like creatures came into view. Each of them appeared as little more than four spindly legs supporting a spiraling, iridescent cone of a shell. They darted here and there over the vines, avoiding the flowers and the mana around them to lick up little beetles that crawled over the leaves with long, thin tongues.

    There were more than a hundred of the skittershells ahead of me, all of them moving between the vines. I took a few more steps into their midst, then sensed another creature at the edge of my gaze, something much larger. I focused a moment to extend my gaze in its direction, soon sensing a second one just behind it.

    Both of them were walking through the densest part of the skittershell swarm, slowly moving toward me. Soon I could see their shadows moving amidst the rocks¡ªthey looked like pony-sized spiky pyramids.

    There was a flash of orange light near one of their shadows, and a bolt of fire streaked toward me a moment later. I evaded it, feeling the air sizzle as it flew past me, then took shelter behind a rock as two more followed it.

    They were hurling fire. I could sense with my [Wild Bond] that they were animals, but they were manipulating mana more like elementals¡ªforming a magical missile wasn¡¯t something you typically found in beasts.

    I came out from behind my rock to get a good look at them. They walked on four, stocky legs and had sleek, black fur. Their heads had the tapered snout of a badger, and they were throwing firebolts by opening their mouths, shaping the spell in their throats, then belching it out at me.

    Most curious, however, was their armor¡ªtheir humped backs were covered in shells taken from the skittering little creatures around them that had seemingly been fused to their bodies. The conical shells covered almost everything, including most of their legs and their foreheads.

    I ducked back behind the rock. ¡°You two are just fascinating,¡± I said, smiling.

    Then I came back out with my bow drawn, surged [Strength], and loosed an arrow at the closest one¡¯s forehead. It ducked its head at the last moment, but this didn¡¯t matter: the arrowhead struck the edge of the shell and shattered it, sticking the creature through the skull.

    + 2382 Essence, [Boon]

    The second one let out a hideous moan before I put it down, too.

    + 1938 Essence, [Boon]

    Once they were both dead, the skittershells around me scattered¡ªperhaps they¡¯d been held in place with [Wild Bond]? I walked past the carcasses and extended my gaze to look for more, but found none. The little flowers that grew from the vine didn¡¯t have any mana gathered around them once I got a few steps behind the dead creatures, however, which led me to believe that the armored firebelchers had been drinking it up.

    ¡°Interesting,¡± I said, leaning down to examine one. It had not only closed its petals, but the vine around it was blackened and burnt. Somehow they responded to fire.

    The boons both contained [Fire] skill keys, which was good: [Fire] keys were highly valuable both to deter wildlife and for industry. The fact that we could apparently get them without having to delve for fire elementals was a blessing: fire elementals were horridly dangerous, even for elementals. On Aranar we had bought our [Fire] keys from Thanaxians rather than delve for them ourselves.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    I moved on, walking clear of the flower-studded vine and the jagged, upthrust rocks that it stretched across, keeping my ears and gaze open. Mostly, I found more of the tiny, moss-eating lizards that I guessed were what the cats ate.

    Then a group of the little moss-eaters appeared at the edges of my gaze, running toward me, fleeing something. I tensed a moment later: I could hear it in the mists, but not sense it with [Wild Bond].

    I crouched, ready to evade any sudden attack, then waited as I heard muffled grinding and scraping noises from the mist ahead of me. A strange silhouette appeared, one that may as well have been the shadow of a junkpile, just a tall lump with jagged contours.

    Cautiously, I approached until its figure emerged from the mists.

    Bones, vines, rocks, decomposing animals¡ªseemingly anything was stuck into the outer layer of the mound and partly absorbed into a wet, viscous layer of transparent slime that had me wondering if it was related to the ooze that I¡¯d seen earlier.

    I felt it reach its claim out into the air around it, and farther into the earth beneath us¡ªbut while it pushed hard against my own claim to take the stones beneath my feet, my attributes were far too high for it to have any chance of succeeding.

    I heard a sharp crack, followed by a volley of stone shards from the creature. I leapt aside as they hissed through the air and burst into dust against the slopes behind me, then kept moving until the volley stopped, a distance of more than sixty feet, so far that I could barely see its outline in the mists.

    Then I reached out, shaping my claim to grab the air before me and then channeling the airborne mana that I found there. I added some of my own mana to form a line, pushing my claim into it with the help of my [Lightning Magick], laying mana and then claiming the space I had lain it in as fast as if I were laying the cobbles of a city street as I rode over them. My line of mana reached the air just before the creature and stopped¡ªI could push my claim no further.

    Then, with a practiced thought and a blaze of sudden sound and power, I ignited the mana, striking the creature with a deep red lightning-bolt. Through the mists, I watched half of the detritus in its outer layer of ooze fall away with a series of rough crashing noises.

    ?¡ªMana 205/600, 40% Primeval

    It fell forward, then began to lurch toward me with much greater speed than it had before. Now that it was free of much of its outer layer, I saw more slime undulating beneath the remaining hunks of detritus.

    Several more volleys of stone shards shot from the creature, now with better aim, but I avoided them by running in a circle around it, lunging with [Surge of Might] whenever another handful of stones was coming my way and channeling mana out of the air and into my body the whole time. I found a small boulder and took cover by lying flat against the ground behind it, then checked my mana:

    ?¡ªMana 451/600, 40% Primeval

    I began to form another line of mana, bending it to strike the ooze¡ªthere was no need for me to have line of sight when I could simply use mana to reach around things.

    I cast the lightning bolt, causing the air around us to flash as the sound of my spell boomed out across the slopes.

    ?¡ªMana 82/600, 40% Primeval

    I stuck my head out to take a look at the creature in time to see it eject all of its outer layer of detritus, then flop forward and begin to drag itself toward me with alarming speed. A moment later I ducked for cover as several more stones came hurling my way.

    I struck it with another lightning bolt, glad now that it was coming toward me¡ªless distance meant less mana. It shuddered, and there was smoke billowing off its amorphous form when I looked a moment later to see that it was still lurching toward me.

    I made a disappointed noise, then surged my [Strength] and bolted from behind my boulder, running away to more distant cover while I channeled more mana into my body. But like pretty well everything else I¡¯d met, this elemental ooze was slower than I was, and so I had an easy time leaving its range, absorbing a few hundred more mana, and then returning and striking it with another lightning bolt.

    This one had the desired result¡ªthe heap of ooze collapsed, becoming nothing but a smoking puddle that spilled out over the rocks.

    + 3180 Essence, [Boon]

    ¡°Hassina will appreciate this, I¡¯m sure,¡± I said, looking into the boon and seeing that it was second rank and held [Earth 2] as well as [Elemental 2]. There was an argument to be made for breaking the boon and using the [Elemental] key to upgrade my lightning, but I¡¯d only do that if I found it absolutely necessary.

    Still¡­ I¡¯d had to hit that thing four times with lightning bolts. It had taken me almost thirty seconds to kill it. Sure, I¡¯d done essentially nothing with my levels or skills to support [Lightning Magick]... but it was still lightning.

    I kept moving along the slopes, once again finding the cliff¡¯s edge, but this time following it as I made my way back. Soon I was looking down at a familiar view: the lights of the great trees, appearing almost like the lights of a city seen through a cloud. I even found the wall of crawling vines that led down to the very ledge I¡¯d stood upon when I first took in this new world. Lightning still flashed intermittently, revealing the shadows of distant mountains.

    A thought occurred to me as I looked down at the vines and thought of my earlier journey:

    The flowerfall.

    A hive of insects had been guarding the massive wall of strangling vines that I¡¯d seen earlier. If I wanted a dense cluster of essence, then a hive of flying insects that occupied a gorge which was over half a kilometer deep was a safe place to look. I knew where it was in relation to our cave, now. And it was close enough that I could get back to the cave fairly quickly if I needed to.

    As for the flowerfall¡­ the vines themselves had been feeding on creatures brought to them by the insects. I¡¯d hate to destroy such a thing of beauty, and I¡¯d certainly have to be careful going about it¡­ but the vine structure would likely yield a strong bounty, especially if it was all one entity. Destroying it was at least worth looking into.

    I could hunt birds in the crowns of the great trees when I had at least one [Air] key and a skysail to take me back up to the cave quickly in case of emergency. For now, I was hunting essence¡ªand I¡¯d thought of a good place to find some.

 2.05: Newfound Power

    I moved through the mists along the edge of the cliffside, my gaze reaching out into the thick red glow, looking for wildlife or clusters of mana.

    I found a frost elemental in short order, the same small, speedy, quilled variety I¡¯d already encountered two of. But surging my bowshot was enough to overcome its speed, and my own [Frost Magick] was enough to simply knock its icy daggers out of the air. It fell in short order, granting the same kind of boon that its kin had.

    It seemed that this thick layer of mist held a high concentration of elemental or element-wielding creatures. Nothing with [Air] keys so far, of course¡ªthat would be too fortunate. But given that the layers of mist were seemingly omnipresent, we would theoretically have access to a robust set of elemental key.

    It was good news, but it also meant that the hunting parties we put together would need some way to deal with entities that were resistant to mundane attacks. The elementalists would do well, but the mages would do better. No one could deal with pure elementals better than a dedicated binding mage.

    I found two more smaller earth oozes, killing each without much challenge using my lightning. I found another large stretch of manaflower vines growing between more upthrust stones, then searched them to find another pair of the shell-clad fire spitters and killed those, too.

    Then I paused to assess my resources. I had to be close, at least:

    ?¡ªYou have 48,571 Essence.

    ?¡ªBy breaking your boons you can create 16 [Armor 1] keys, 1 [Body 1] key and 1 [Body 2] key.

    Some more [Body] keys and I¡¯d be able to make [Primeval Mana Hide] as planned, though the boon I held with the [Body 2] key also contained a possible [Elemental 2] key, which was far more valuable. One of the guards I¡¯d killed at the flowerfall had offered a [Body] key. With any luck there would be hundreds of them in all and I could reap in the keys¡­ but that seemed like wishful thinking. I¡¯d be happy to find a few dozen of them and finish my skill.

    The path along the cliff¡¯s edge was jagged and winding. More and more I found wedges cut out of the rim of the swamp¡¯s canyon, steep drops that I assumed led down into micro-valleys like the one I¡¯d found when I first got here. Around these I met two more of the hunting cats, netting myself two more [Body] keys.

    I found what I was looking for shortly afterward.

    The vine began before it reached the cliff¡¯s edge, and I saw the multicolored lights of its flowers through the mists before I saw anything else. I scowled as I came close. From below, the cliff had risen into the mists and disappeared, leading me to believe that it rose out of the upper mist layer, not that it ended inside it. The mists blocked vision, and so I wasn¡¯t in an ideal position if I attacked from within them. I could aim my bow with my gaze, but that didn''t see nearly as far as my eyes.

    I gave the tangle of vines a wide berth as I ran around it, hoping not to draw the attention of any of the flying insects. On the side closest to the swamp, the ground rose out of the mists just before it ended as a steep drop overlooking a luminous red cloud. This was better for my purposes, but still not very good.

    It took me a minute to run around to the other side. There I found the terrain to be more favorable. The rocky ground beneath me angled downward, and I emerged below the mist layer near the far end of the vine field. Perching there on the cliff¡¯s edge, I had a view that stretched for hundreds of meters down into the flower-coated canyon.

    I grinned as I feasted my eyes on the beautiful sight of the flowerfall and its army of attending insect drones. I¡¯d start with them¡ªthe last time I¡¯d killed a few, their guards had converged on me shortly afterwards.

    I conjured a shard of frost, then used it to draw a circle in the tuff at my feet, taking advantage of the fact that my [Aegis] applied to equipment and missiles. Like the circles I¡¯d used thus far, this one was small. A simple line drawn through stone couldn¡¯t hold much in the way of mana, and the circle reflected that.

    I drew two more, each equidistant from each other and the first, then filled them with as much mana as they could stably hold. The three of them together could contain a little under two thousand mana, each circle a luminous pillar of magical power in my gaze.

    Then I began to shoot the drones out of the air, each of them giving me a small slice of essence. Just as before, it didn¡¯t take long before all the insects I could see were converging on me¡ªbut unlike before, I had unlimited arrows and more than enough speed to bring the bugs down at a rate of hundreds per minute.

    My heart beat and my string thrummed as the swarm came for me. Insects fell from the sky to be swallowed by the cloud layer below, wings glittering red as their bodies spun through their descent. Even with my mind focused on the dual tasks of keeping mana in my circles and fast archery, I had a rare kind of moment where I felt a oneness with the loveliness of the world that stretched out beneath me, a purity of both experience and purpose. I loved doing what I was doing, and I was doing it for the best of all reasons.

    It was the sort of thing that I would want to tell Alcuon about. I thought this and then sighed, the moment ruined. Normally, he''d be the one I most wanted to tell about everything I¡¯d done today. I knew from experience that I¡¯d be thinking that I should tell Alcuon about this or that for a long, long time. But he was gone.

    Ninety-nine percent¡­.

    With a flash of frustration, I surged [Strength] and shot a nearby drone so hard that it burst into pieces. Grief and horror would have been so much easier to handle if they could just feel awful; if they didn¡¯t steal the good moments, the good feelings, too.

    The pony-sized guards that I¡¯d fought earlier came, though now none of them came anywhere close to the range they needed to throw their stingers. As before, a few granted me boons that could create [Body 1], but not many: I got 4 boons from killing more than two dozen of them.

    Then the insects flying toward me began to retreat, and I scowled. I¡¯d been hoping for more, and I doubted I¡¯d be able to hunt them out in good time. I¡¯d gotten some essence, but not more than I had for killing the missile-grazers.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Then there was a huge burst of foliage halfway down the cliff opposite me, and I saw that the insect colony had more defenders to put forward. Two massive, armored black mantis-creatures emerged from a cave in the rock, leapt the distance of the chasm with ease, then began coming toward me. There was no sudden roar to announce their presence, and the fact that they emerged on the other side of the canyon meant that I didn¡¯t feel the tremors of their movements, not at first.

    I began channeling the mana out of my circles as soon as I saw them, extending it almost straight downward toward the head of the closest mantis. Stressing both my natural channeling and focusing abilities to their limit, I unspooled the mana of the circle¡ªmore than a thousand of it¡ªinto a wavering jagged line that I ignited once it was in range of the bug¡¯s face, a distance of almost forty meters.

    The world became nothing but red and black, the bright flash cutting it into light and stark shadows. In an instant, the bug¡¯s upper third was blasted to pieces, and it changed from an intimidating mass of forward momentum to a corpse sliding down the cliffside, then halting and hanging limp as vines lashed its legs in place.

    + 13,651 Essence, Boon]

    I grinned as I looked into the boon: in addition to [Life 2], it had a [Body 2]¡ªjust what I wanted.

    The other bug still charged toward me, and the [Life] aspect in its partner''s boon told me that it could heal; I¡¯d want to kill it with another lethal lightning bolt rather than commit to a war of attrition and hurl smaller bolts at it the way that I had the earth ooze.

    I shot a few arrows into the other insect while I crossed the distance between us, simultaneously channeling more mana into my circles. Once it had come up over the ledge, however, I began to run away from it.

    It was easy enough to stay far away from it. With [Surge of Might], I could clear the creature with a leap, or gain a sudden burst of speed as I sprinted away from it. But as I fought the creature, I started to think that I didn¡¯t even need to use it¡ªI had simply become too quick to let even a fast melee attacker like this one catch up to me.

    I leapt and sprinted over a wide area, staying clear of its claws as it chased me too and fro. Soon I¡¯d channeled enough mana into my circles, and I ended the creature¡¯s life much like I had the first, one cacophonous bolt of lightning that pushed me to the limit of my abilities.

    + 12428 Essence, [Boon]

    I watched the creature fall into a limp, smoking heap, satisfied. Despite its apparent high level, it had been an easy kill.

    It would be like that for a lot of wildlife, now that I had both strong physical attributes and lightning. I wasn¡¯t invincible, but I could hurt most things at a range and move very, very quickly. Most animals simply couldn¡¯t deal with that combination.

    I had to think back to the earth ooze that I¡¯d fought earlier, a creature that had granted much less essence but had taken almost the same amount of lightning to kill. It had at least granted a better boon.

    I stopped a moment to examine the rest of my boons. I had enough to create my new skill, but I had to consider which ones to break based on their other potential skill key types: some could make [Missile], and some [Armor] and [Life]. Up here, on the slopes, the danger of aerial predators was greater, hence more [Missile] aspects from creatures who had to defend against diving predators, which meant more [Life] aspects because they needed to regenerate their projectiles. Both were valuable¡ªand in the swamp, I could get [Body] aspects from the apehounds and spiders, with the latter also granting [Armor] aspects.

    It would be better to harvest [Armor] and [Body] from the swamp and save the valuable [Missile] aspects for the colony.

    I worked with my boons and skill keys, fusing them into the skill. Making a rank 2 skill key required the fusion of 3 rank 1 skill keys, but making a rank 3 skill key required 4 keys of rank 2. The essence cost was also drastically increased.

    You break 3 [Boon] to create 3 [Body 1] skill keys.

    You spend 1000 Essence to fuse 3 [Body 1] skill keys into 1 [Body 2] skill key.

    You break 2 [Boon] to create 2 [Body 2] skill keys.

    You spend 15,000 Essence to fuse 3 [Body 2] skill keys with the [Body 2] skill key in [Primeval Hide 9], upgrading the skill to [Primeval Hide 10].

    With that done, I did the same to upgrade the [Armor 2] skill key already in the skill.

    You break 9 [Boon] to create 9 [Armor 1] skill keys.

    You spend 3000 Essence to fuse 9 [Armor 1] skill keys into 3 [Armor 2] skill keys.

    You spend 15,000 Essence to fuse 3 [Armor 2] skill keys with the [Armor 2] skill key in [Primeval Hide 10], upgrading the skill to [Primeval Hide 11].

    And with all the keys at rank 3 or higher, I could add a third rank 3, the [Mana 3] key that Hassina had given me from one of Palefang''s boons:

    You add a [Mana 3] skill key to your [Primeval Hide 11] skill, creating the new skill: [Primeval Mana Hide 14]

    [Primeval Mana Hide 14]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Armor 3] + [Body 3] + [Mana 3]

    + 84 [Aegis]

    Your [Primeval Resonance] is counted as 50% higher for calculating this skill''s [Aegis] bonus. Current effective [Primeval Resonance] is 135%

    This skill¡¯s effect is reduced if you wear too much protective clothing. (-0%)

    Exclusive: You cannot have other skills with [Armor] aspects that provide bonuses to [Aegis].

    This skill absorbs mana from your surrounding environment. Mana absorbed is reliant on the mana available, your overall surface area, this skill¡¯s rank, and your [Bestow]. Current absorption: 24/Second

    Exclusive: You cannot have other skills with [Armor] aspects that provide bonuses to [Aegis].

    I laughed. In normal environments, the added mana absorption of [Primeval Mana Hide] was merely a decent bonus. The real purpose of building the skill was to eventually build [Primeval Spell Hide] by adding a [Weave 4].

    I pushed some mana into the world around me just to deplete my mana pool and then watch my skin absorb it at an alarming rate. I¡¯d fill my mana pool in twenty seconds or less just from walking around in the mana-dense air, no deliberate channeling required.

    I moved back to the edge of the vine, then threw a few lightning bolts at it. It shriveled, but didn¡¯t catch fire. Instead steam rose from the small flames that caught where my bolts had stricken.

    The vines weren¡¯t very flammable, and the flames that I did create were quickly doused with conjured water, becoming nothing more than a cloud of steam. The little bit of damage that I had done to the vines healed shortly afterward, and I guessed that the plant likely had a lot of resources to put to the task of healing itself.

    With no idea how long it would take to exhaust the thing¡¯s resources, and no way of efficiently burning the vines away once I did, I set off back toward the colony. Hassina surely had a few [Air] aspects for me by now¡ªand once I got into the air, getting the hunting parties ready would be a breeze.

    A smile of anticipation spread across my face as I ran the distance toward the cave. There were few things more deserving of anticipation than flight¡ªand I¡¯d already built a crucial piece, [Primeval Mana Hide].

    Soon I would be in the air.

 2.06: Harvesting the Corpse-Strewn Field

    I returned through the lower entrance¡ªthe only one not created by the waterfall either flowing into or out of the cave, the one that opened onto the large, flat area where most of the elves still resided.

    I hadn¡¯t been gone long, but military earthmovers work quickly. The entrance to the cave had been widened, and four thick stone pillars had been erected across it, forming five gaps just broad enough for one elf to walk through¡ªgaps that would deter larger creatures. Hasty battlements and steps had been made over these, and archers were stationed above me with a plentiful stock of arrows. Elves were already bustling about to make trenches, widen the battlements, and move the growing piles of rubble. Inside the cave I could hear the repeated crack-and-tumble of more stone being broken away to form new structures.

    There were windcallers at the entrance, and would be at the others as well. They were siphoning the air, taking only that which hadn¡¯t been stripped of its [Air] aspect and funneling it into the cave while funneling the ¡°dead¡± air out into the world. I didn¡¯t envy them their task¡ªsifting air with your mind alone wasn¡¯t easy.

    What was more, coalescing a key like this was no easy task, either. I¡¯d made two since arriving, but I¡¯d done it by simply tearing all the aspects near me out of the world and coalescing them into a boon. It was a highly wasteful, but very easy way to make a boon.

    Whoever was making these keys was having to strip the aspect out of just the air in the cave, which was why I could feel the higher pressure as soon as I walked in through the entrance. They were really having to pack it in.

    Kelharus, captain of the squad above the gate, called for a salute as I rushed in through the new semi-gate. I gave him a hasty nod in return, then found Hassina near the entrance, speaking with a few of the windcallers. She dismissed them when she saw me approaching, and I offered her my hands and gave her all the essence and boons I had left.

    This time, I got a well-earned reward¡ªproviding for my people was in accord with my calling, after all:

    Your level limit has increased to 22!

    She gave me something in return:

    + [Air 1]

    ¡°That¡¯s it,¡± said Hassina. ¡°That¡¯s all you get for now.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± I said, not hiding my disappointment. I knew she wouldn¡¯t have all that I needed by now, but I¡¯d been hoping to turn [Wild Grace] into [Aerial Grace], something that would have taken another 3 keys.

    ¡°We¡¯ve made three keys, total,¡± Hassina explained. ¡°The air here¡­ it¡¯s not being cooperative. I gave Zirilla the second key, and we¡¯ve got six more elementalists in line to speed the process, but you¡¯re going to have to wait. Since full flight isn¡¯t going to be possible until you get another twelve, I figured we¡¯d just make up for as many shortcomings as we could with mana knicknacks. Speaking of, did you get your [Primeval Mana Hide]?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Hassina grinned. ¡°Great!¡± She turned, picked a nearby elf who was carrying cargo, and told him to go get me my flight suit. Then she turned her attentions back to me. ¡°Fireesha made you some wrist bindings that¡¯ll have to do for now.¡± She grabbed two rolls of white linen fabric from a crate behind her. ¡°Arms out.¡±

    I held out my arms, and Hassina began to wrap the strips of cloth around my wrists in a precise and practiced manner. Both of them had charcoal-made runes written along their lengths, and I bound each of them once she¡¯d finished putting them on.

    You Bind: [Aziriel¡¯s Temporary Wristwrap of Mana]. You have 1 binding remaining.

    Binding this item has granted you the [Primeval Mana 7] skill.

    !¡ªWarning: this enchantment is unstable. It will degrade as it is used and dissipate after 8.12 days.

    [Primeval Mana 7]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [*Mana 1] + [Mana 1]

    + 64 [Source]

    + 17% Primeval Mana Profile

    You bind: [Aziriel¡¯s Temporary Wristwrap of Channeling]. You have 0 bindings remaining.

    Binding this item has granted you the [Surging Power 7] skill.

    !¡ªWarning: this enchantment is unstable. It will degrade as it is used and dissipate after 4.58 days

    [Surging Power 7]

    Components: [*Primeval Mana 7] + [*Surge 1] + [Surge 1]

    + 96 [Channel]

    ¡°I¡¯ll be sure to find a use for them,¡± I said.

    ¡°I have to ask,¡± Hassina said, leaning in and lowering her voice a little. ¡°What¡¯s the pure [Surge] giving you?¡±

    ¡°96 [Channel].¡±

    Her eyebrows went up. ¡°No wonder you make it look easy¡ªit actually is, with skills like those.¡± But there was something else under her smile, an authentic admiration that, as my close friend, she normally did a good job of hiding from me.

    ¡°While I¡¯m waiting for my suit, I may as well give you the lay of the land,¡± I told her.

    I used [Frost Magick] to draw a small map of our landing sight as I¡¯d explored it thus far, making small hatch marks on the ice to indicate where the fog layer met the ground, then writing a few labels in small script¡ªgrassy fields, forest, flowerfall. It wasn¡¯t a lot of territory, all told¡ªthe cliffs around our cave along with some fields in one direction and the extremely deep swamp in another.

    ¡°I¡¯m heading into the swamp,¡± I said. ¡°There were [Armor], [Body], [Water], [Surge], [Mana], and [Life] keys to be found there earlier. Plus, I want to check on my prize.¡±

    ¡°The giant animal carcass?¡±

    ¡°Palefang, yes. I was in a hurry when I stored it, earlier. We might have to abandon it¡ªit won¡¯t be easy to get it up here, and it could be gone already. I just sealed in ice and buried it.¡±

    ¡°How much does it weigh?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Well, a normal adult male lion weighs, say, 500 pounds. A good-sized one.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ yeah, all right.¡±

    Hassina¡¯s shoulders sagged as she gave me an exasperated look. ¡°What do you mean, all right? You¡¯re the [Primeval Champion]; I was just giving a good guess because I thought you would correct me. How much do you think this one weighed?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Five thousand pounds?¡±

    ¡°How much bigger was it than a fairly large lion?¡±

    ¡°Two and a half times as big?¡± I said uncertainly. ¡°Ten feet at the shoulder.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s eight thousand pounds, Aziriel.¡±

    ¡°All right, Hassina. I trust you.¡±

    She made a show of frowning at me. ¡°But should you have to, though? Like I said, you¡¯re the [Primeval Champion], one would think you¡¯d know these things. In any case, there¡¯s no chance you¡¯re lifting that with [Air Magick 6]. Dragging it up the side of a mountain is an option, even if the healers won¡¯t be thrilled. Still, I can¡¯t imagine the carcass is in good condition as it is.¡±

    ¡°I can get it up into a tree,¡± I said. ¡°If I have enough rope.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    Hassina shook her head. ¡°Just try and keep anything else from eating it, if that¡¯s possible. We¡¯ll sort it out later when we can path a decent way down into that swamp. But for now¡ªah, here¡¯s your suit¡ªI need more essence.¡± She took the sack from the elf she¡¯d sent earlier, a city elf I didn¡¯t recognize. ¡°Lay this out for me and I¡¯ll help you get it on.¡±

    It was a tortoiseshell sailsuit¡ªa flight suit meant to be entirely controlled by [Air Magick] and not the user¡¯s arm and movements, leaving their limbs free for fighting. A set of straps crisscrossed the whole body and bore a small sail of canvas that was made to fill with air and be kept close to the body.

    The sail was rigged to a set of cables which were themselves attached to air-filled clasps of steel that could be pulled tight or let out using [Air Magick], allowing one to manipulate the sail without the use of their hands: either pulling it close to their body to bind it in place, or letting it our to steer and fly.

    It wasn¡¯t the most efficient way to carry yourself around, but it was the meeting point between efficiency in mana, maneuverability both in the air and on the ground, and low [Focus] requirement when it came to the [Air Magick] needed to use it¡ªhigh-[Focus] windcallers could simply keep the air tight against their body, flying without the aide of a suit.

    Within a minute I¡¯d lain the thing out and Hassina and another attendant¡ªVannalae, a windcaller who¡¯d been occupied with siphoning the air¡ªhad helped me get it on.

    ¡°Right,¡± I said, rolling my shoulders. ¡°Well, thank Fireesha for me.¡±

    Hassina fixed me with one of her broad, slightly ironic smiled. ¡°She¡¯s been happy to help, Lux Irovex. Now get out there and¡­ well, kill everything you see, I guess. Especially birds¡ªthey might just have some [Air] keys. Good hunting!¡±

    I nodded, then left the cave at a brisk trot and headed for the canyon. I took a good look at my attributes as I did so.

    ?¡ªYour Attributes:

    185 [Aegis]

    170 [Agility]

    123 [Strength]

    112 [Channel]

    54 [Focus]

    130 [Source]

    108% [Primeval Resonance]

    1300/1300 Mana, 57% Primeval

    100/100 [Life Pool]

    100/100 [Surge Pool]

    Enough mana that I could have skipped the earlier circles when striking the giant mantis bugs with deadly lightning. Enough [Channel] that I could have formed the bolt almost twice as fast as I had before. I was well and truly coming into my power.

    And soon I¡¯d be in the air.

    Not all elements are made equal when it comes to being pushed around. Earth, by its nature, is the most resolute. It takes more mana to move a given mass of earth than it does other elements, because earth is not meant to often move. Ice, however, is made of everflowing, evershifting water, and even if it has been frozen it has no compunctions about being pushed and pulled. Water is a little easier to move than ice, and air, soft air, is the easiest of them all.

    This comes with a tradeoff, of course: it takes a lot of [Focus] to push any mass of air into the shape it needs. Simply shoving the air into a baglike sail and telling to rise isn¡¯t so hard. Wrapping oneself in a sheathe of air and carrying oneself around, though, is enormously [Focus]-intensive.

    I was fairly skilled at flight. I didn¡¯t have the grandmastery with [Air Magick] that I did with [Lightning] or [Surge] skills, but I could at least compete with some of our better windcallers. Constantly having to concentrate to fly, though, wasn¡¯t an especially good idea in hostile skies. When it came to moving air, my spellcraft was better suited to the combat arts¡ªpushing myself from side to side, putting the wind at my back while I sprinted, empowering a leap or diverting a projectile. For continual flight, it was best to rely on actual [Focus] lest a break in concentration cause a fall.

    I didn¡¯t use the [Air 1] key yet, because I knew I¡¯d be canceling my [Frost Magick] to make [Air Magick], and I wanted to use [Frost Magick] to further entomb Palefang¡¯s carcass. Instead I descended the cliffside until I could surge [Strength] to make an easy leap into the thick branches that crowned the great trees, then ran along the branches, making easy jumps to move from tree to tree.

    I ran parallel to the edge of the cliff until I found the ravine that I knew led to the flowerfall, then turned inward to retrace my steps toward the small island where I¡¯d fought Palefang. I couldn¡¯t see it through the lower mist layer, but it was easy to see when I was getting close. An enormous number of carrion birds were already circling, some of them weaving in and out of the lower mist layer.

    Most of the birds were only the size of a dog. This, along with the fact that they were clearly scavengers, made me doubt they¡¯d grant any keys.

    But every now and then I saw one of the huge birds I¡¯d fought during the convergence diving into or out of the mist layer: great, brown-feathered creatures with bodies like owls and wingspans that reached twenty feet in length.

    I descended the trunk of one of the great trees by conjuring frost shelves to jump between, liberally spending from my new mana pool.

    Then I perched inside a groove in the bark, made myself a platform of ice to stand on, and began to launch arrows into the nearest one of the large birds. It shrieked in pain as my arrow pierced its back, but by the time it had rounded on me midair I had shot it eight more times, including twice in the head.

    + 3302 Essence [Boon]

    I scowled as I looked into the boon. It could make an [Animal 1] skill key, but not a [Bird 1]. Anything that granted [Bird] had a chance to instead grant [Animal] and a smaller chance to grant [Wild], but those chances weren¡¯t set in stone. The apehounds from earlier had granted [Animal] far more than they¡¯d granted [Mammal]. I hoped it wasn¡¯t the same here; I wanted those [Bird] keys.

    Releasing the bowstring was now so loud that it might have startled the flock of birds on its own, but the shrieks of my target, followed by the crash it made as it struck the ground below us, removed any chance at killing stealthily.

    As it had been above the flowerfall canyon, nothing was fast enough to reach me. I shot two more of the large birds out of the air, each of them granting [Bird] in their boons. Then, having run out of targets, I laid into the smaller birds, which granted a few hundred essence each. I must have killed almost a hundred of them, along with two more freshly-arrived giant birds, before the skies around me were clear.

    After that, I descended through the fog layer, hoping to find a few more of the massive birds feasting on the field of corpses below, undisturbed by the recent rain of the corpses I¡¯d made.

    Instead I saw why most of the birds had been circling. Four huge, six-legged frog like creatures occupied what had once been the mushroom clearing, each of them eating corpses. They had glistening blue and gray skin, bulging throats, and high-set golden eyes.

    Three of them sat at the edges of the island, each in the shadows of the twisting roots. One of them, the largest, had apparently intimidated the others into leaving it along as it ate in the center of the island¡ªit was currently devouring one of the large birds I¡¯d killed, right next to the makeshift earthen mound where I¡¯d stored Palefang¡¯s carcass. The birds below the mists were clearly afraid of these creatures: they swooped in to pick at the bodies that were furthest from them, and startled at any sudden movements.

    It made sense that this was the first I¡¯d seen of these creatures: a primeval convergence called the largest and smallest creatures last, and the one that Palefang had triggered hadn¡¯t run its full course, even if I¡¯d apparently been successfully inducted into the local wildlife.

    I picked the smallest of the six-legged frogs, descended into the roots away from the island, then circled until I was right behind my target. I was ready to throw lightning, of course, but I didn¡¯t want to scare the others away.

    I used the whole of my [Surge of Might] to loose arrows into its head from above, aiming for where a frog¡¯s brain would be and striking my chosen spot five times in rapid succession. It gave a startled, throaty cry, a noise that was deeper than I would have expected, then turned drunkenly toward me before collapsing.

    + 4162 Essence, 2 [Boon]

    I grinned. So far, it was looking like the swamp was a good place to hunt aspects¡ªthis boon held [Amphibian], which would be much-needed among some of our hunters. Even if they were rank 1, a creature granting 2 boons was always nice.

    I heard a deep, vibrating roar from the center of the clearing, and looked up to see that the largest of the frog creatures had spotted me. I leapt down to stand next to the corpse of the one I¡¯d just killed, getting close enough to get a sense of its vitals.

    The other frog behemoth stamped the ground, warning me off. ¡°You¡¯re a little late for the real fight,¡± I told it.

    It charged, and I got ready to leap over it. Then it opened its mouth and launched a long tongue at me, and I dodged to one side instead. It was fast on six legs, coming at me and trying to stick me with its tongue twice more before I decided not to take even small risks and blasted it to instant death with a lightning-bolt.

    I sighed as I heard the others retreating into the water at the sudden noise and sound, but they were animals: they¡¯d be back. I needed to further secure Palefang¡¯s carcass, then see if I could find any more clearings of mushrooms and apehounds that I could turn into fields of corpses. With multiple places attracting scavengers, I could alternate between the two to harvest the most aspects.

    But as I moved for Palefang¡¯s makeshift tomb, a patch of the corpses intrigued me. At first it looked as if they¡¯d been thoroughly picked clean. But even a moment¡¯s glance showed them to be too cleanly picked: the skeletons were so bare they were being ignored by all the scavengers, and there wasn¡¯t a single tooth, beak, or claw mark on them. And they were all perfectly arranged the way the creatures they¡¯d belonged to had fallen.

    I reached down and felt the moist, hot black earth beneath a set of bones. Then I grinned. ¡°[Decay Magick],¡± I said. The skill was made by combining [Change], [Life], and [Death]. They were strong aspects, even if I could grab only one or two. [Death] was not a subtype of [Wild] like [Life] was, but we had 4 [Druid of the Cycle] with us¡ª[*Wild] cores with [Death Magick] as their granted power. They could each use [Life Magick], [Blood Magick], [Decay Magick], and [Death Magick] to compose extremely powerful rituals for agriculture, healing, mana creation, and war.

    Apart from them, Ranival and his necromancers could easily make [Decay Magick] themselves with the [Change] and [Life] keys.

    Best of all, the size of this patch of skeletons suggested a powerful enough monster to grant high-ranked keys, which were necessary for the stronger abilities.

    I¡¯d be spending some time in this swamp, and I¡¯d be doing plenty of killing. With luck, more of the creature who had consumed these corpses would show themselves in my wake.

    I used my newfound mana pool to give Palefang another layer of ice, freezing and then pulling huge slabs of it from the water before packing them in around my prize. Once I was satisfied that I¡¯d added enough to his makeshift tomb, I did what I¡¯d been itching to do since I¡¯d left, relinquishing [Frost Magick] to take [Air Magick] in its place.

    You relinquish the [Frost Magick 6] skill, gaining a [*Primeval 5] skill core and 200 Essence.

    You fuse [*Primeval 5] with [Air 1] to create the skill: [Air Magick 6]

    Then¡ªgrinning with anticipation and excitement¡ªI let out my sail, filled it with air, and took flight.

 2.07: A New Kind of Hunt

    More than an hour later, I cried out in pure joy as I gathered wind beneath my tortoiseshell skysail and launched myself into the air beside the basalt cliff. I¡¯d done enough in the swamp that it was time to return to the colony and give Hassina what I¡¯d harvested.

    I was returning for another reason. Moving about the swamp had become easy once I¡¯d been able to cross great distances with my short-term flight, and I¡¯d woven above and below the lower mist-layer with ease. As I¡¯d done this, I¡¯d noticed something strange with the higher layer, the one at the same level as the colony¡¯s cave: it was getting brighter.

    I landed atop the cliff¡¯s edge, my mana almost entirely depleted from the climb. This close, it was easy to see that the mist was getting more white as well as brighter, changing the way the world around me appeared by adding more color to it.

    Soon I¡¯d reached the cave, and I had to admire the growing fortifications. A dry moat was being cut out of the rock around the colony, and the face of the cliff that led to the top of the cave, where the stream came in, had been cut back to form a zig-zagging stairway.

    Channelers tended wells of mana both inside and outside the cave, the circular pools naturally suited to the task of storing mana that we could use for defense. More broad stairways had been cut out of the rock inside, so that all the cave¡¯s levels could now be safely and easily traversed.

    I found Hassina speaking with some of the weavers next to a pile of skulls that I assumed had been brought down from the bone pile.

    I offered her my hands, giving her 181,624 Essence along with a huge assortment of boons.

    Your level limit has increased to 23!

    She blinked as she saw this, presumably examining the boons. ¡°Well then,¡± she said.

    ¡°Short-distance flight makes the killing faster,¡± I said. ¡°And the swamp is full of scavengers¡ªI got a lot just by backtracking. I¡¯m two under my limit for level, by the way. They¡¯re gap levels, though. Not going to make too much difference. Eleven thousand apiece.¡±

    ¡°Eleven thousand essence for fourteen to an attribute?¡± she frowned. ¡°Hard to say if that¡¯s worth it when we¡¯ve got people with levels that cost a few hundred, still. Here.¡±

    She offered me her hands.

    + 2000 Essence, 2 [Air 1], 1 [Elemental 2], 1 [Bird 3], 1 [Body 3], 1 [Body 2], 2 [Body 1]

    ¡°Upgrade your [Air Magick] and [Might]. Then build [Avian Grace].¡±

    ¡°Right away, your holiness.¡±

    You spend 1000 Essence to fuse 2 [Air 1] skill keys with the [Air 1] skill key in [Air Magick 6], upgrading the skill to [Air Magick 7].

    You add an [Elemental 2] skill key to [Air Magick 7], upgrading the skill to [Air Magick 9].

    The subtype rule meant that the [Elemental 2] was emulating the already-present [Air] skill key, ranking up the skill. Normally [Elemental] was more valuable than [Air]... but not for us, not right now.

    I performed a similar set of actions to upgrade my [Might 6] with some of the [Body] skill keys she''d given me:

    You spend 1000 Essence to fuse 2 [Body 1] skill keys with the [Body 1] skill key in [Might 6], upgrading the skill to [Might 7].

    You add a [Body 2] skill key to [Might 7], upgrading the skill to [Might 9].

    Then I built my next flight skill:

    You relinquish the [Wild Grace 9] skill, gaining a [*Primeval 5] skill core and 2000 Essence.

    You fuse [*Primeval 5] with [Bird 3] and [Body 3] to create the skill: [Avian Grace 11].

    [Avian Grace 11]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Body 3] + [Bird 3]

    + 69 to [Agility]

    You can lighten yourself to be up to 91% of your ordinary weight.

    You don¡¯t suffer airsickness when moving between altitudes.

    Your gaze now detects birds, and both your gaze and threshold are easier to extend through such creatures.

    It is easier to hide and defend yourself from psychic attacks using the [Wild Bond] skill and all similar skills.

    ¡°I already updated your skills on the board,¡± said Hassina, jerking her head to indicate where she¡¯d had an earthshaper break away a huge section of stone, making a flat wall. She¡¯d written all over this with chalk, including a list of my skills as they were¡ªone that mimicked the script of the Verse.

    !¡ªAziriel¡¯s Skills:

    0: [Sable Grace 20]

    0: [Primeval Power 30]

    0: [Life Magick 7]

    2: [Avian Grace 11]

    4: [Air Magick 9]

    6: [Primeval Mana Hide 14]

    8: [Might 9]

    10: [Surge of Might 9]

    15: [Wild Bond 6]

    20: [Lightning Magick 8]

    B: [Conjured Missiles 7]

    B: [Primeval Mana 7]

    B: [Surging Power 7]

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking we should just rank up your [Might] a little more,¡± Hassina said. ¡°Looking ahead, I mean. You just lost some [Strength] from [Wild Grace]. And with where you¡¯re probably going, you¡¯re going to want arrows that can pierce.¡±

    ¡°Where I¡¯m probably going?¡± I asked, intrigued.

    She jerked her head toward the skulls that I¡¯d seen earlier. ¡°Mirio said he wanted you to look at them. Said that mutations mean they¡¯ll be a little different on this world than on Aranar and Thanaxes, but that he¡¯s certain they¡¯re still wyverns.¡±The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Wyverns,¡± I breathed, moving closer to the skulls. Each of them was as long as my arm or longer¡ªlarge beasts. I hadn¡¯t seen any on my hunt across the fields, but wyverns preferred to hunt other aerial predators to ground-based life. On this world, they probably had plenty such prey.

    ¡°I know they¡¯re dangerous,¡± said Hassina. ¡°But I don¡¯t know what¡¯s so special about finding them. Mirio clearly thought this conveyed a lot of significance that¡¯s lost on me. He said that this Palefang fellow likely killed the most threatening wyverns on top of the nearby peak. He also told me to tell you to be careful.¡±

    ¡°Heh,¡± I said. ¡°Good Mirio. He didn¡¯t say he needed to talk to me?¡±

    ¡°Only if you felt you had the time. Zirilla, Seriana and I also wanted to talk to you about our [Air] aspects.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a lot to be said on that front,¡± I said, nodding. ¡°None of the flying lizards or birds I¡¯ve killed have granted an [Air] key. Not one.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not good,¡± said Hassina. ¡°Siphoning air isn¡¯t something that most of us can do for sixteen hours out of the day. The windcallers are motivated, but they¡¯re starting to reach their limits. Sieving the air, holding it inside, pushing it out once it¡¯s been stripped for an [Air] key¡­ mental exhaustion is starting to take its toll. We can still make progress, but we¡¯ll be lucky if we can get the keys needed for your [Kite¡¯s Grace] by the hour of tales.¡±

    I nodded. I¡¯d hoped for a little more, but even if we could trap [Air] keys at fivefold the rate we already were, it would still be too slow. ¡°We have hundreds of elves that we need to build for flight,¡± I said. ¡°When the wildhearts come fully into play, that¡¯s hundreds more. Almost a thousand in total. Considering that the attributes they gain from skills won¡¯t be nearly as high as mine, they¡¯re going to need keys. Many abilities requiring [Air 3] keys, at least one each. A comfortable goal is sixty thousand [Air 1] keys, though of course we can work with less. And at this rate, we¡¯re making between ten and twenty a day.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s more or less what we figured in terms of the numbers,¡± said Hassina.

    ¡°And we need to cover a wide area to know where to hunt for the aspects that aren¡¯t abundant, here. [Weave], [Creation], [Sight], and [Mind] are most important. Beyond that¡ª[Death], [Change], [Lightning], [Fray]... the list goes on. But the first four are especially critical when it comes to the high elves. Much more can be said on this, but I have the general thrust of Seriana¡¯s concerns, yes?¡±

    The lightest of smiles graced Hassina¡¯s face. ¡°The general thrust, yes.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll talk again tonight before the hour of tales, but many things are becoming clearer and clearer to me,¡± I said. ¡°Soon Valir will send our hunting parties forth. First his own, to be sure they won¡¯t trigger a convergence. Then all our ready hunters will go, and I¡¯ll stand watch above them all, ready to fly to their aide. I have one more trip outside the colony to make, and I¡¯ll be going far, though Zirilla will still know how to signal me.¡±

    ¡°Up the mountain, then?¡±

    ¡°I must reach the summit,¡± I said. I looked down at the skulls of the wyverns. ¡°Something is stripping the air, and if it¡¯s intelligent elementals, it¡¯ll be best to find that out as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°Zirilla said as much,¡± said Hassina.

    ¡°It could be a good thing,¡± I said. ¡°Or it could be very, very bad. Whatever the case, we need to know. When I return, I can stay with the people and help us settle in while Valir and his people go out.¡±

    ¡°Zirilla said something else,¡± said Hassina. ¡°Something rather curious. She said it to me¡ªnot for me to pass along to you.¡±

    ¡°About music.¡±

    Hassina cocked her head, clearly curious. ¡°Yes. What are you two thinking?¡±

    ¡°Have you played for air elementals before?¡±

    Hassina laughed. ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°You may be, soon.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re serious.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all we¡¯ll have to offer them,¡± I said. ¡°And it¡¯s your orchestra, your holiness.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Hassina¡¯s expression fell somewhat. ¡°I know that they¡¯re said to love music¡­.¡±

    ¡°Obsessively so,¡± I said. ¡°We may have to build our first settlement near the summit of a tall mountain just to be able to maintain contact.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s the good outcome.¡±

    ¡°And the bad outcome?¡±

    ¡°It involves lightning.¡±

    ¡°I see. You understand, of course, how many [Air] keys must have been extracted from the atmosphere, here?¡±

    ¡°A number so high that it would lose all its meaning, I¡¯m sure.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve met storm lords before. You can only push so much power into one body, no matter how big it is.¡±

    ¡°Is that¡­ true?¡± Hassina asked hesitantly.

    I shrugged. ¡°One more question before I go¡ªthe mists.¡±

    Now Hassina shrugged. ¡°Luthiel has apparently determined that the light shed by the brighter clouds is sunlight.¡±

    ¡°All right. It looks that way, at least.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know anything else. Seriana has some people watching the cloud outside.¡± Another faint smile graced her face. ¡°An important task, to be sure.¡±

    ¡°All right. See you soon.¡±

    ¡°Good hunting.¡±

    I grabbed a few things before I left the cave, however, clipping them to the front of my flight suit.

    The first was a slayer¡¯s axe: an axe meant for killing larger creatures, built to be used with [Surge of Might]. The axehead had both a front-facing and an upward-facing bladed spike sticking out of it, so that the weapon could be used much like a short spear or a warpick. The head was single-sided, and below these spikes the curved blade was detached from the haft. Altogether it was made so that one could bury one of its points in a creature¡¯s body, grasp the haft below the axehead, and then use [Surge of Might] to tear the point free.

    The second thing I grabbed was a set of wooden pipes, a lightweight musical instrument that I knew would appeal to any elementals if I met them.

    Apart from that, I grabbed a facemask and a set of goggles. Knowing wyverns, I¡¯d likely be glad I brought both.

    Then I left the gate and began to run toward the mountain I¡¯d seen earlier, my mind on the skulls that I¡¯d seen inside the cave.

    Wyverns.

    Wyverns are natural apex predators. Their skill core is [*Wild], and all of them have [Air Magick] as a granted power. These two things allow them to grow large without compromising their speed in the air, and their long lifespans and lack of natural predators mean they can grow very, very powerful.

    Regeneration, heavy armor, swift flight, psychic detection and cloaking via [Wild Sight], silent movements thanks to a sophisticated use of [Air Magick]... wyverns were difficult creatures to bring down.

    They rarely ate each other. It wasn¡¯t out of any true sense of social bond, but rather a simple assessment of risk and reward. For a wyvern, everything is easier to kill than other wyverns, so why bother with them? Because they shared nesting grounds, their real competition was in fighting each other out of the prime real estate¡ªa process which rarely resulted in death.

    The presence of wyverns on this world, and so close to our landing site, complicated things. Open air settlements were an added risk when just considering the lizards and birds I¡¯d met. With wyverns, living on the surface would guarantee constant attacks. A wyvern would happily tear the roof off a hunting lodge to get at the delicious, gooey meals inside.

    There was also the issue of scouting. I wanted squads of windcallers to explore the surface of this world, but the skies had just gotten much more dangerous, and I still hadn¡¯t assessed the air elementals.

    Still, we had some things to look forward to.

    Like most of the complications I¡¯d encountered so far, it was a curse that we could turn to a blessing. They would be targets rich in essence, and easy to bait. And while they might have been some of hardest creatures to tame, elven wildhearts were more than up to the task¡ªgiven enough time.

    For now, though, we simply couldn¡¯t coexist. Any nearby wyvern population needed to be depleted if I planned to move two and a half thousand elves across the slopes of these mountains in any direction.

    There was also the the primeval convergence to consider.

    Wyverns learned to fly within days of being born. Juvenile wyverns could range over dozens of kilometers within weeks, and they needed to: the hatching season would quickly see the lands around the nesting grounds stripped bare of all the small birds and critters that young wyverns fed upon.

    And yet I¡¯d seen no young wyverns when fighting in the swamp. The older wyverns, like the six-legged frogs I¡¯d fought, would have only been called when the convergence reached its climax.

    To my mind, two possibilities existed. The first was that we were far from the season when the eggs hatched, and there were no wyverns small enough to have been called. The second was that the youngest wyverns hadn¡¯t reached me because they were in a different psychic range, a different primeval convergence.

    Mirio¡¯s words rang in my mind as I set out in the direction of the peak.

    Be careful.

 2.08: The Terror of the Skies

    The higher layer of cloud was still glowing a bright white when I broke clear into the mists, running for the slopes of the mountain. I killed only a single broadwing as I ran along the stream, soon passing into the shadows of the trees at the mountain¡¯s base. They seemed small compared to the great trees of the swamp, but many of them were more than sixty feet high.

    My ability to detect life and biological matter with [Wild Bond] and [Life Magick] let me make good speed through the streamside undergrowth, but whenever the way above me was clear, I flew, launching myself into the air with a [Surge of Might] before filling my tortoiseshell sail with air and pulling myself clear of the forest.

    I was close to being able to fly forever now that I had [Avian Grace] to lighten me and [Primeval Mana Hide] to fill my mana pool as I went. The cost of keeping myself aloft was only just barely outpacing my regeneration. If I gained my two available levels and spent the [Bestow 14]¡¯s on [Source] my air time would likely go from three or four minutes to six or seven. Two more after that and I¡¯d be free.

    When I ran in the forest, many creatures startled at my passage, but none of them tried to intercept me. Either the aggression that I¡¯d found in the swamp was absent, here, or I was simply moving too fast for any would-be hunters to catch me.

    A single, massive bird tried to grab me in its talons while I was in the air¡ªbut two shots from my bow sent it away.

    In just a few minutes I¡¯d crossed as many kilometers of woodland. The trees began to fade and shrink around me, giving way to spare shrubs and bare rock, the slope steepening ahead of me. If there were wyverns on this mountain, I¡¯d be meeting some soon. They preferred the rockier slopes: nesting in woodlands gave other animals more opportunities to sneak into their nests and steal meat, eggs, or their newly-hatched young.

    I made my way up the slopes, flying up the occasional cliffside and searching for my quarry with my eyes and gaze. Above me, the bright cloud grew closer, bathing the stones in warm, bright light. But there were a few distortions in the light, easier to make out the closer that I came. Dark figures moved within, dimming the light with their passage.

    I queried my [Life Pool] out of curiosity:

    ?¡ª[Life Pool] 87/100

    All just from keeping me invigorated. With luck, I wouldn¡¯t need it for anything else.

    I paused on an outcrop of rock that I deemed big and flat enough to fight on, my eyes on the few shadows that I could see moving through the cloud above me. Then I stopped hiding my presence with my [Wild Bond] skill.

    I watched the closest shadow wheel around to make its way toward me in a straight line.

    ¡°I see,¡± I said, smiling.

    It explained why I hadn¡¯t seen any of them yet. Wyverns preferred other aerial predators to anything they could eat off the ground, and they were very good at pulling them from the sky. These forests contained truly massive birds and flying lizards: hunting with the cover of the cloud layer was probably all these creatures needed.

    I unbuckled my slayer¡¯s axe, setting it down on the rock beside me. If things went well, I wouldn¡¯t be needing it.

    The shadow moved fast, and within a few moments it left the cloud-lair to dive toward me, giving me the first glimpse of this world¡¯s wyverns.

    Long-necked, long-legged, long-taloned and with a set of wide, webbed wings, it looked like all the other wyverns I¡¯d met save for a few differences. Despite being a stealth predator, it had the same style of glowing markings decorating its body that many of the other wildlife had, though these ones were a bright yellow. The talons on both its wings and feet were longer, and the armored plating on its belly and the crest of bone over its forehead were both larger as well¡ªeach, I guessed, to help it handle all of the missile-throwing wildlife.

    It swooped silently toward me, using its natural ability with air magic to mute the sound of its passage. As it came within my gaze, I could tell that it was also trying to stealth itself from my [Wild Bond], but my senses were too fine-tuned to let it hide from me.

    It flared its wings as it reached me, reaching out with its talons¡­ but I¡¯d fought wyverns before. I used my [Air Magick] to put myself inside a sleeve of undisturbed air, protecting me from the force of wind from its wings that would have caught my sail and ripped me off the ground. I leapt forward, between its talons, then aimed my bow upward as the wyvern reared its head to release a gout of its deadly poisonous breath.

    My arrow, enhanced by a [Surge of Might], pierced the armor at the base of its throat, but only a little¡ªsix inches deep, it stopped at an odd angle, short of the lethal shot I¡¯d been trying for.

    I had no time to wonder why. The wyvern spewed forth a cloud of pale green breath, and I focused on my [Air Magick], keeping my air sleeve intact and pushing the air around me so that it blew the deadly vapors away.

    The wyvern used its own [Air Magick], filling its wings not to take flight again, but to push itself backward over the rocks, its talons hovering just above the ground. When it saw that its breath wasn¡¯t reaching me, it cut the stream off with a cough, landed on all four limbs, then lunged for me with snapping jaws.

    I leapt back to one side to avoid them while staying clear of the poisonous cloud, then hissed. I didn¡¯t want to use all my mana when I knew I¡¯d need it if I wanted to escape, but I could see that I needed to throw lightning.

    Close-range lightning has only one real weakness. Because lightning seeks mana, the lightning bolt¡¯s endpoint needs to be near enough to the enemy that the spell seeks them, not the caster. I had just over a thousand mana: if this wyvern had only two hundred, I¡¯d need my bolt to end more than five times closer to it than to me, or I¡¯d need to spend enough mana to make up the difference.

    Of course, I had a way of addressing this issue.

    The wyvern lunged, snapping for me with its jaws, its mouth spewing small gouts of poison¡ªand this time I brought my left arm up and struck it hard at the base of the chin, throwing it off but doing little damage.

    But as I pulled my fist back, I unspooled a line of mana where it had been, anchoring my claim into this line of mana with my [Lightning Magick] and leaping backward to fall into a crouch a dozen feet away. I felt the wyvern push against this claim, but held fast, dropping my bow and grabbing my slayer¡¯s axe with one hand as I ignited the mana and the air flashed between us, throwing a thin bolt of lightning that struck the creature in the mouth.

    The bolt had only been composed of two hundred mana, but the wyvern reeled, momentarily stunned and blinded by the blow. I surged forward with my axe in both hands, swinging upwards and burying the frontward point of the axe in its throat, then planting my feet and surging [Strength] to tear the blade of the axe out of its neck in a spray of blood that I quickly stepped clear of.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    The wyvern thrashed from the blow, and I rolled beneath its neck to come up on the other side, raised my axe in both hands, and cleaved off its head with two blows.

    + 11,675 Essence, [Boon]

    I leapt over the falling corpse to grab my bow, conscious that without my [Aegis], the string could be damaged by the wyvern¡¯s breath. Then I looked at the boon the creature had granted and cheered aloud. I could use it to make a [Reptile 2], a [Wild 2]... and most importantly a [Sight 2]. [Sight 2] was most definitely useful... and I knew I could find more.

    I used my [Air Magick] to push the wyvern¡¯s breath away from the small, flat area we¡¯d fought on, scanning the sky above me as I did. It didn¡¯t take long for another shadow to pull free from the glowing cloud, diving toward me as a streak of black and yellow.

    My gaze now extended through the first wyvern¡¯s severed head, and I frowned as I saw what my problem had been. These wyverns had three cartilaginous plates beneath their jaw, with more lining theirs necks. It made sense: with so many creatures on the ground that could launch missiles, the instant lethality of a shot to the brain was something they¡¯d adapted to avoid.

    I set my axe on the ground beside me, raising my bow. This time as it swooped toward me, I leapt to one side and shot a surged arrow into the softer skin around its shoulder, burying it deep into the flesh where wing met body. It turned to breathe its deadly gas, and I launched another arrow into its throat, then another into its left eye.

    The creature shrieked in fury as it belched forth its poisonous breath, and I lowered my bow, called my axe to one hand, and lunged forward to land beneath its neck, dropping my bow so that it stayed within my air envelope and then grabbing the haft of the axe with both hands to drive the point into the wyvern¡¯s neck before surging my [Strength] and tearing it free with a shower of blood.

    I backed away, making a breeze around me to push the wyvern¡¯s breath away, the green cloud billowing around me. Ahead of me, the creature gurgled and flailed, blood flowing freely from its opened throat. It made a few motions toward me, and I waited for an opening, then rushed in again to hew through the rest of its severed neck before it could regenerate the wound.

    ?¡ªMana 921/1300, 45% Primeval

    + 12,371 Essence, [Boon]

    A third wyvern was already diving toward me out of the cloud, and I cloaked myself with the [Wild Bond] again, not wanting to attract any more while I dealt with this one.

    I had some experimenting to do. First, I dodged its talons, then didn¡¯t attack it, instead backing away and protecting myself from its poisonous breath. I scowled as it rose into the air again, turning for another pass: I¡¯d wanted to see if it would land without being shot at.

    It came for me again with its talons, then cried out in frustration as I leapt out of the way. I seized upon this moment of anger to reach out with [Wild Bond] and try to push on its mind, making it land and fight me on the ground¡­ but the beast only shook its head, and my mana was wasted. It flew back around for another pass.

    A shame. I¡¯d been hoping I could kill them with just my axe, but it seemed they¡¯d only land to attack me if I first hurt them from the ground.

    The wyvern came around again, but I didn¡¯t shoot arrows. Instead I pushed two hundred mana into the air as it dove, aiming carefully so that when it pulled up to aim for me with its talons I blasted a hole in its wing.

    The wyvern shrieked, falling forward and favoring its good forelimb as it stumbled to the ground, its momentum carrying it forward. It spun away from me, barbed tail snapping toward my chest, but I stepped back and simply cut the bony tip of the tail away with one swing of my axe.

    The wyvern let out another cry, spinning to snap at me with jaws that were spewing poison, but I thrust forward with my axe, stabbing into its mouth with the upward point. It reared back, blood now falling from its jaws along with poison, and I rushed forward, swinging with both hands to bury the front-facing point of the axehead in its neck and rip out a part of its throat.

    Much like I had with the others, I dove under its neck to avoid its instinctive thrashing in my direction, then surged [Strength] to sever its head from its body, spraying myself with hot blood.

    + 11,989 Essence, [Boon]

    ¡°Hah!¡± I cried, taking a quick glimpse at the boon. It held an [Air] aspect¡ªfinally. If I killed more I might be able to upgrade my [Avian Grace] to [Kite¡¯s Grace] today, without having to wait for the windcallers to sieve the aspect from the air. The wyverns wouldn¡¯t negate our need for [Air] aspects generally, but they would alleviate it a little.

    My elation faded in an instant, however, as I saw another wyvern dive through the cloud layer, then tracked several more shadows coming closer as if to do the same. When a second wyvern emerged several hundred meters from the first, also diving toward me, I realized what had happened.

    I¡¯d triggered a primeval convergence.

    And so close to the first. I could think of what this meant for the colony later, for now I had to deal with the wyverns.

    I didn¡¯t like spending my levels now, but I didn¡¯t want to take any risks.

    You spend 22,000 Essence to gain 2 Levels! You are now level 23 / 23

    You gain 2 [Bestow 14]

    You spend 2 [Bestow 14] to increase your [Source] by 28. Your [Source] is now 158.

    Or rather, I didn¡¯t want to take any risks I didn¡¯t have to. There was no avoiding some of them, now. Letting wyverns dive for me and cutting off their heads had been a safe strategy, but that was when they came one at a time. Being surrounded by powerful, regenerating enemies that came at me from all sides and blanketed the world in acidic poison would spell death even to me.

    I slid my bow into the small gap made to fit it in my tortoiseshell sail harness, then clipped it there. It was next to useless, now: I¡¯d be juggling it out of my hands every time I wanted to do anything.

    Then I dove out of the way of the first diving wyvern, leaping back to engage it as it reared up its head to spew forth a poisonous cloud. It flared its wings and used its air magic to pull backward and keep me within range of its breath, and the point of my axe met empty air.

    The second wyvern reached us, and I leapt into the air, filling my sail to carry me high above them as I built a path of mana. I maneuvered myself into position over the first wyvern, still breathing out its deadly gas, and finished pouring seven hundred mana into the air between myself and the second.

    Then I ignited the bolt, and a thunderous crack echoed off the mountainside around us as the air flashed red and the second wyvern¡¯s head was blasted to pieces.

    + 12,121 Essence, [Boon]

    I was already falling, pointing my axe straight downward at the first wyvern as it reared back, startled by the flash, noise, and explosion.

    I landed on its neck point-first, burying the point of my axe deep in its flesh as my momentum slammed it down to the ground. I tore the blade free, regained my balance on the ground beside the wyvern, then hacked its head away before leaping free of the poisonous cloud.

    + 10,789 Essence, [Boon]

    I looked up at the sky. Three more were already diving toward me and would reach me in a matter of seconds. What was more, I felt another creature enter my gaze, and I snapped my head toward it to see a snow-white cat with red eyes bounding down the mountain toward me, a trail of fog in its wake.

    The cat and I both lunged at one another, and the point of my axe pierced it through its open jaws, our colliding momentum bringing us to the ground a moment later, at which point I regained my footing, tore my axe free through the side of its jaw, and then put the cat down with a fierce blow to its head.

    + 3,845 Essence, 2 [Boon]

    Compared to the wyverns and their armored, high [Aegis] bodies, the cat¡¯s flesh had burst like a rotten fruit.

    The first of the three wyverns fell upon me, and I leapt away, rushing up the steepening slopes of the mountain. Ahead of me, I saw a fourth emerging from the mists and let out a grunt of dismay.

    It was time for a new strategy.

 2.09: Battle at the Summit

    I kicked off the ground beneath me, leaping high and then pulling myself forward across the stony slope with my arms before leaping once more. Behind me, wyverns converged on where I¡¯d just been.

    Finding me missing, these ones didn¡¯t slow their momentum to breathe poison and attack, instead swooping past with talons outstretched and reorienting for another dive.

    ?¡ªMana 883/1580, 41% Primeval

    ?¡ª[Life Pool] 81/100

    The wyverns flew faster than I could run or fly. Their [Strength] was likely high enough to pierce me clean through with their talons or jaws, making them potentially lethal. But with my gaze and [Wild Bond], I could see them coming.

    On the ground, they had a wide array of offensive capabilities. Chasing me like this, however, their options were more limited. As long as I kept my air envelope around me to spare me from any flybys with their poisonous breath, and as long as I could keep myself out of their talons¡­.

    Another wyvern dove for me, opening its wings at the last moment and using its air magic to call a massive wind and gain a sudden burst of speed¡ªbut I answered it with my own burst of speed using [Surge of Might], leaping into the air and onto a rock outcropping to continue on my journey up the mountain.

    ?¡ªMana 841/1580, 43% Primeval

    Good. [Primeval Mana Hide] had left me so much mana regeneration that I was almost able to fly permanently. If I could lean on my physical abilities to evade them, I could slowly winnow away their numbers with lightning bolts.

    This was the power of building my skillset for such a broad set of attributes. Even with only a single offensive magical skill, I had options.

    Another white cat came for me, and I easily smashed its head apart with my axe, then turned to continue bounding up the mountain with easy strides. My [Air Magick] and [Wild Bond] both helped me to find my footing without [Earth Magick]¡ªanything my gaze couldn¡¯t sense was likely rock or earth.

    I reached the mist-layer, my eyes useless in its near-blinding light. There were six wyverns chasing me by the time I did, and I spent almost as much time dodging their breath and talons as I did climbing the mountain. It was no matter, however: I wasn¡¯t really trying to climb, just to get away from them without getting so far from their habitat that I ended the convergence.

    The mana in the air grew even more dense, and I could feel it being absorbed by my [Primeval Mana Hide]. It wasn¡¯t the time for lighting bolts, however¡ªnot yet. Instead I kept moving across the slope below me, waiting until another wyvern dived before I leapt away and took flight, pulling myself up and then rushing almost straight upward in an effort to clear the cloud.

    There had been more elementals in the other mist layer, and I had no interest in spending any time in this one and potentially gaining the attentions of unwanted enemies. Still, as I rose through the cloud and soared past my group of pursuing wyverns, I focused on my gaze, waiting¡­.

    I saw what I¡¯d feared in the form of a solid spike of compact air rushing toward me through the cloud. The luminous mist rippled as it approached, and I pulled my sail tight just as it struck me with the force of a charging boar and sent me spinning through the air.

    An air elemental. Not an intelligent one, and not a hostile one, either: it had just been seeing if I wanted to play.

    I shut my eyes, stopped myself from spinning using my own [Air Magick], then put out my sail and began rising through the cloud again, dismayed by the necessary waste of mana. I kept my focus on my gaze, watching for another one of them¡­ but none found me before I broke free of the mists and caught sight of the landscape above them.

    The mountain¡¯s peak rose ahead of me, the caldera at its tip frosted with a small ring of snow. Behind it, fading into the mists, lay several more mountains, each taller than this one.

    And several more kilometers above it, unbelievably, was another layer of luminescent mist, this one bright like the one below me.

    ¡°Incredible,¡± I said, swooping down to land on the rocky terrain. There were hardly any plants, now, and from the air I could see the scattered nests of wyverns, each built from half-dissolved stumps of trees and animal bones, dark tangles as wide as barns.

    ?¡ªMana 531/1580

    ¡°Hah!¡± I cried even as two new wyverns dove for me and the others began to rise out of the mists behind me. They were getting slower, the wyverns, and I¡¯d suspected they might: they needed to use their [Air Magick] to gain altitude quickly, and they simply didn¡¯t have the mana or the mana replenishment to chase me up the mountain forever.

    I took full advantage of this fact to strike at the two new additions to my pursuers, fighting them much like I had their relatives below. I dodged the first, distracted it with minor lightning, hewed off its head as the second came in for the kill, distracted that one with minor lightning, put my axe through its skull and yanked it clear in a shower of bone and gore¡­.

    + 12,875 Essence, [Boon]

    + 11,596 Essence, [Boon]

    Then I was off again, the other wyverns too numerous for me to stop for. But I¡¯d spent little more than 100 mana on their fellows, and despite riding the occasional gust of air up a cliff face or across a field of gravel, my mana was replenishing quickly.

    Two more cats came for me, one of them throwing frost shards while the other simply pounced, trailing fog, but neither their claws or frost magic was threatening to me. I evaded the first to rush forward and behead the second, trailing a line of mana that I ignited a moment later, distracting the last cat enough to burst its head before leaping back out of the way of another of my entourage of wyverns.

    I queried again when I was close to the snow:If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ?¡ªMana 1055/1580, 51% Primeval

    ?¡ªLife Pool [61/100]

    ?¡ªSurge Pool [68/100]

    Then, familiar with their movements, I unspooled another 700 mana into the air, carefully ending the line in the spot that I knew would catch their head if I loosed my lightning bolt at just the right time.

    The wyvern dove. I called the lightning, and the mountaintop echoed its fierce, thunderous crack as the wyvern¡¯s head burst open, its skull broken and its brain becoming little more than a hissing gout of smoke and steam as its corpse fell limply down the mountainside.

    + 11,557 Essence, [Boon]

    The wyverns all let out cries in response to the lightning, and as a few more of them joined the fray, I turned and began to run up the slope of the mountain once more, turning once I reached the boundary of the snow, not wanting to fight on ground that would be treacherous now that I didn¡¯t have [Frost Magick] to secure my footing.

    Ahead of me I spied a large depression in the stone where snow bordered rock, and I made for it as I evaded the wyverns, leaping up onto a precipice to look down into the strange formation.

    A portion of the frozen caldera had fallen in, but only in places, as if collapsed from beneath by a great, tunneling creature. Pillars of stone still rose fifty feet above the massive, fragmented slabs beneath them. Snow and ice was built up in their crevices and along the the steep sides of the field of stone.

    It was perfect.

    I could rise through the air faster than they could, and I could use the many cracks and ledges to climb the cliffs and pillars without spending mana. Now that I¡¯d reached as high as I could climb, I needed good terrain to fight in¡ªand I knew I¡¯d find no better than this.

    I leapt down into the tiny canyon, slowing my fall a little with a blanket of air, then waited until the wyverns had all dived after me to climb the largest jutting pillar of rock with a series of leaps, pulls, and short burst of flight.

    I crested the top of the stone pillar just as a hulk of a new wyvern, the largest I¡¯d seen, slammed to the stone in front of me. It reared up, poison already dripping from the corners of its mouth.

    I knew that I didn¡¯t want to give up this high ground, didn¡¯t have room to dodge back the way I normally did, certainly not against a creature so large whose breath would stretch far¡­.

    I howled, surging forward and thrusting with the upward spike of my axe to pierce it above the breast, yanking the axe free and thrusting again. The wyvern howled, its wings coming down to steady its weight as it backed up to snap at me with its jaws.

    I surged [Strength] and lashed out with my axe, cutting its mouth with a heavy blow that sent teeth flying in a bloody spray. It reeled, but my axe flashed as it snapped forward again, cleaving most of its lower mandible away. A broken hiss escaped its mouth, and two more downward swings of my axe ate away the front of its face as if I were furiously hacking at a tree stump. At last I plunged the axe-tip through the hole in its skull between its eyes, then ripped it free and spun to face the rising horde beneath me.

    + 14,633 Essence, [Boon]

    Your level limit has increased to 24!

    I howled, ecstatic with bloodlust, my voice joined by the cries of the wyverns coming to meet me, the blood of their greatest pooling around my bare feet even as my skin burned and smoked with what little acid it had released.

    You spend 11,000 Essence to gain 1 level! You are now level 24 / 24.

    You gain 1 [Bestow 14]

    You spend 1 [Bestow 14] to add 14 to your [Source]. Your [Source] is now 172.

    Then I leapt from the edge of the pillar, pulling my sail tight to my body so that I fell, aiming for one of the lowest wyverns, guiding my fall with small bursts of air so that I landed point-first on the wyvern¡¯s head, cracking its skull to pierce through to the brain beneath, then rolling off its back as the momentum of my fall continued.

    Again I used air magic to ensure I landed well, rolling and coming up in a crouch to leap away from the wyverns above as they adjusted the course of their flight.

    I made for another outcropping of stone, determined to make them gain and lose altitude as much as I could, depleting their mana and robbing them of the surges of speed that kept me constantly evading. As I ran, I queried:

    ?¡ªMana 1231/1720, 35% Primeval

    I deemed it was enough, so I struck one of the wyverns from the air as it came toward me, then leapt up onto the next stone edifice.

    I fought on and on. They dove, I dodged. I climbed, they rose, and I leapt and cut them from the air. They breathed their poisonous breath, I hurled my lethal bolts of skull-shattering lightning. The motions of their wings dispersed their poison across the floor of the valley, but I pushed the worst of it away from me and simply bore the rest: I was immune to poison, and the itching acid on my skin was heavily muted by my high [Aegis].

    As we fought, I kept looking for other animals. The distance from this mountain to the swamp was more than five kilometers. If any other creatures were drawn by the primeval resonance, they¡¯d have to climb the mountain to reach me. Even once they got here, they¡¯d still have to fear any wyverns that hadn¡¯t answered the call. The birds of the forest were the most likely to show, but they were also the wyverns¡¯ natural prey.

    Instead it was only the white cats, and not many of them¡ªI guessed they were better adapted to the higher peaks, with more snow atop them. If one of them had come for me at just the right moment, it might have thrown off a much-needed evasion and left me vulnerable to the wyverns. But that moment was a half-second among so many, it was little surprise to me that the oncoming cats meant nothing, were trivially easy to kill.

    Soon I stood atop one of the stone outcroppings¡ªand I stood alone. The last of them nothing but a headless corpse that lay before me, gushing blood from its severed neck. I leaned on my axe, grinning.

    The convergence had brought just over twenty wyverns. What did that mean for the population in the area? On Aranar, it would mean two hundred¡ªa huge number for a mountain this size.

    What I knew that it meant was powerful skill keys. I¡¯d let Hassina decide how they were distributed. It was my right to take any that I thought I needed to do my work, and of course she¡¯d treat my recommendations as orders, for now. But I had claimed twenty-five rank 2 boons, and eight of them could make [Air 2] skill keys. Almost all of the remainder could make [Sight 2]¡ªkeys that would let our telepaths and wildhearts communicate at long distances.

    Soon my people would be hunting and scouting. Only [Mind] or [Change] cores were as valuable for that task as these.

    I absorbed mana from the air around me until I was full, then took flight, heading for the snowy peak. I reached the lip of the caldera in short order, looking inside to see a wyvern nest had been made on an island in the center of a small, frozen lake.

    Its occupant was even bigger than the largest I¡¯d killed in the convergence, but not by much. Palefang had indeed kept the summit clear of anything that grew too strong to threaten him.

    It shrieked as it saw me, then spread its wings and rose into the air, flying toward me.

    I struck it from the sky with a bolt of lightning that cost more than a thousand mana.

    It crashed into the ice a moment later, its head a smoking ruin.

    + 16,238 Essence, [Boon]

    I didn¡¯t descend into the caldera. Instead I flew to highest part of the mountain and perched there, looking out at a sea of bright cloud beneath me, broken only by a few distant peaks.

    Then I pulled out my pipes, extended my gaze into the air around me, and began to play.

 2.10: Mastering the Air

    There is no magical focus quite like a melody. Not only does music order magic much like well-practiced words or runes can, but it can enhance one¡¯s resonance. In fact, the state of mind that music requires is one of the few mental states that can increase all three of one¡¯s arcane, divine, and primeval resonances.

    My melody was that of a leaf blown by the wind, a mercurial and absentminded song that would move from one cascade of notes to the next, barely connecting the two. As I played, I used my [Air Magick] to push ribbons and ripples of wind out into the air in an intricate pattern that radiated out from me before dissolving into whirling streamers of wind.

    I played for only a few minutes before the first of them found me¡ªand a solid spear of air almost knocked me from the mountaintop.

    I reached out with my [Air Magick] and split the spear in two, watching the elemental¡¯s mana-dense form divide, slide around the envelope of protective air I¡¯d formed around myself, then merge again.

    I played a three-note admonishment on my pipes, each decreasing in pitch. I ceased spreading my streamers of air into the space around me for a moment, my eyes on the elemental. It circled me, curious, little more than a ripple of air to the naked eye.

    Then I began to play again, resuming my intricate pattern of music and wind.

    The elemental tore at my streamers like a child slapping at the drizzle that runs from an eave in rain. Then it lunged for me again.

    Again, I split it, protecting myself with an envelope of air to avoid being thrown from the mountain. Again, I admonished the elemental with the same three notes.

    Then I began to play again.

    Unintelligent air elementals were not malicious creatures like most fire and frost elementals. Instead, they were dangerous because they were careless, easily fascinated, and because they had no true sense of danger. Their first instinct when seeing something new was to push on it, to feel it and slap it around, spin and toss it, lift it high and drop it: why would an air elemental know that throwing me down the side of this mountain could hurt me? It couldn¡¯t hurt them. Few things could.

    They were creatures of curiosity, with little ambitions or wants other than to fly and find new experiences. And because their senses were most attuned to sensing air, one of their favorite new things to experience was music. Even intelligent air elementals lacked the focus, community, and collective memory to develop new instruments and pass down tens of thousands of songs as the elves had.

    It took a few tries to get the elemental who had found me to understand that if it pushed me, I would stop playing. Eventually it backed off, circling me and just watching, then finally reaching out to play with my streamers of air, adding its own complex patterns and ripples to mine.

    I smiled. Elves are the creation of Sabina, but we are still mammals even if we are immortal. Elementals surpass even me when it comes to [Primeval Resonance] and manipulating the substance of their self. I was awestruck as I watched the elemental create hair-fine tendrils and hollow spheres of compressed air just to dash them into waves and eddies. It was a beautiful thing.

    I kept playing, and soon more elementals joined me. My first friend quickly became a sort of bodyguard, intercepting the instinctive first interaction of the others so as to safeguard my song. Soon many elementals were circling me, swooping through my manipulated currents and adding their own patterns and sounds to the air.

    I wished that I could have stayed for the rest of the day, playing and watching the elementals play back, listening to the whiplike whispers of their manipulated winds in my ear and responding with more notes on my pipes. I wished that Alcuon sat beside me, playing his lute, our lyre, or my drums¡ªhe¡¯d been learning those.

    But I was alone. Wretched time takes¡ªtakes everything. I couldn¡¯t even stay to enjoy this moment, not for as long as I wanted to. After an hour I rose, pushed my way through my audience of elementals, and took off down the slopes of the mountain, half-falling, half-flying through the mist layer.

    I hadn¡¯t met any intelligent air elementals. I¡¯d have to try again in a higher position. The air was highly stripped of its aspect, and the only known circumstances that produced an outcome like this were intelligent air elementals.

    Air elementals consumed [Air] keys to sustain themselves and to grow stronger. All air elementals could strip the aspect from the air in a rudimentary way, but air was a fluid: the more its aspect was stripped, the more all of the world¡¯s air would slowly be diluted as it mingled together. Only intelligent elementals could figure out how to siphon the aspect-laden air from the air that was without it¡ªif none were present, the air wouldn¡¯t drop below six-tenths [Air] aspect.

    Or so we thought. This world was unlike anything we¡¯d encountered: I couldn¡¯t discount the possibility that some unknown mechanism, perhaps borne of the high concentrations of mana, allowed even the unintelligent elementals to strip aspects beyond our expectations.

    Still, I had something to look forward to: with the keys I¡¯d brought, I¡¯d be high in the air, enjoying the power of continuous flight, in no time. I had the keys to at least upgrade my [Air Magick] now, but I¡¯d hold off until I could talk to Hassina¡ªI hadn¡¯t needed the boost to kill the wyverns, and a few extra minutes traveling home wasn¡¯t worth spending them, either.

    In our current circumstances, the normal order of things was reversed: [Elemental] keys were less valuable than [Air] keys. Better to rank up my [Air Magick] with those, once I could, and leave the [Air 2] keys that I¡¯d gathered for our other elementalists.

    I searched through the boons I¡¯d been given for killing the wyverns¡ªit was a huge amount of [Air], [Animal], [Body], [Life], [Reptile], [Sight], and [Wild].

    I queried the Verse to simplify things:

    ?¡ªYou hold 27 [Boon], 9 of which can create [Air 2]. Of those that cannot create [Air 2], 12 can create [Sight 2].

    ¡°Better,¡± I muttered. Hassina could sort through the complexities.

    Soon I landed in the mist before the cave entrance. The mist layer that was now on a level with the colony had seemingly finished getting lighter¡ªit now glowed bright white like the layer above it. I walked inside and found Hassina making plans with some of the enchanters. She excused herself when she saw me, then came and took my offered hands. I gave her 332 864 Essence, along with all my boons.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    Your level limit has increased to 25!

    ¡°Oh, wait,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m going need 11,000 essence back.¡±

    ¡°Is that twenty four?¡± Hassina asked.

    ¡°Twenty five,¡± I said, smiling. I took her offered hand:

    + 11,000 Essence!

    ¡°Excellent,¡± said Hassina. ¡°We¡¯ll have to let Fireesha know you¡¯ve got another binding. I didn¡¯t expect it until your next trip out.¡±

    You spend 11,000 Essence to gain 1 Level! Your level is now 25 / 25

    For reaching level 25, you gain 1 [*Primeval 5] skill core.

    For reaching level 25, you gain 1 Binding. You now have 4 total Bindings.

    You gain 1 [Bestow 14]!

    For reaching level 25, your [Bestow] increases from 14 to 16.

    You spend 1 [Bestow 14] to add 14 to your [Source]. Your [Source] is now 194.

    ¡°And look! [Sight]!¡± She was grinning at me.

    ¡°And [Air],¡± I added. ¡°I was as happy as you are, trust me. This doesn¡¯t solve all our problems, but Mirio was right to make sure I saw those wyvern skulls. I didn¡¯t make contact with any intelligent air elementals, though¡ªI¡¯ll have to fly higher.¡±

    ¡°All right,¡± she said, moving over to her flat slate of wall. ¡°But we can manage that. New attributes?¡±

    I told her:

    !¡ªAziriel¡¯s Attributes:

    213 [Aegis]

    234 [Agility]

    101 [Strength]

    124 [Channel]

    61 [Focus]

    194 [Source]

    106% [Primeval Resonance]

    1940/1940 Mana, 57% Primeval

    100/100 [Life Pool]

    100/100 [Surge Pool]

    ¡°It¡¯s good for morale,¡± she said, chalk scraping across the stone as I read her the numbers. Then she copied out my skills:

    !¡ªAziriel¡¯s Skills:

    0: [Primeval Power 30]

    0: [Sable Grace 20]

    0: [Life Magick 7]

    2: [Avian Grace 11]

    4: [Air Magick 9]

    6: [Primeval Mana Hide 14]

    8: [Might 9]

    10: [Surge of Might 9]

    15: [Wild Bond 6]

    20: [Lightning Magick 8]

    25: [*Primeval 5]

    B: [Conjured Missiles 7]

    B: [Primeval Mana 7]

    B: [Surging Power 7]

    B: Empty!

    ¡°Well, we can fix at least one thing right away,¡± Hassina said. She offered me her hands.

    + 1 [Air 3]

    ¡°That should at least come close to putting you in the air.¡±

    I made [Kite¡¯s Grace], by adding the skill key to [Avian Grace]:

    You add an [Air 3] skill key to [Avian Grace 11] to create the skill: [Kite''s Grace 14].

    [Kite¡¯s Grace 14]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Air 3] + [Body 3] + [Bird 3]

    + 95 [Agility]

    + 49% Efficiency when air close to your body with [Air Magick]. Efficiency refunds a portion of spent mana.

    You can lighten yourself to be up to 87% your ordinary weight.

    You don¡¯t suffer airsickness when moving between altitudes.

    Your gaze now detects birds as well as air, and both your gaze and threshold are easier to extend through such creatures and substances.

    It is easier to hide and defend yourself from psychic attacks using the [Wild Bond] skill and all similar skills.

    ¡°That¡¯s it,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s continual flight, right there. Easy enough to reach with [Primeval Mana Hide] in this place. Still, since it¡¯s preferable that I don¡¯t run myself out of mana from maneuvering and throwing lightning, my open skill core should bolster flight, somehow.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t narrow it down by much,¡± said Hassina.

    ¡°[Elemental Power] is the obvious choice,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s just a matter of weighing it against any other options you can think of. I¡¯m still gaining [Source] to keep up with my natural ability to throw lightning, but that won¡¯t last long. After that I¡¯m not sure¡ªI want everything but more [Agility]. [Channel] for faster lightning and flight, [Focus] for bigger bolts and more efficient flight, and [Strength] to pierce [Aegis] with my weapons.

    Hassina sighed. ¡°So you don¡¯t want to lean on your [Channel]? The one attribute you have that¡¯s 163% more effective than it should be?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°I don¡¯t have the mana to use it,¡± I said. ¡°My innate capacity to channel is more than a hundred¡ªmy overall effective channeling rate is as if I had a [Channel] of more than seven hundred. [Primeval Resonance] is essentially doubling [Surging Power]¡¯s [Channel] bonus twice.¡±

    I looked at my attributes on the wall before me, frowned, then shook my head. ¡°The lightning is quite strong already,¡± I said. I worked my mouth, then added: ¡°It¡¯s not exactly an easy decision. Mightier bolts would help me put forth the needed amount of power against a strong foe.¡±

    ¡°Which is, if we¡¯re being honest, sort of your job.¡±

    I smiled. She wasn¡¯t wrong. Some creatures were so powerful that normal fighters had no chance of even hurting them. The point of a champion was twofold: to fight such creatures, and to be one.

    ¡°I still think [Focus] might be a better choice. It¡¯s not like faster flight, greater air control, and a larger claim and gaze aren¡¯t useful in mortal combat,¡± I said. ¡°And the usefulness of having me cover great distances quickly is manifold.¡± Then I shook my head. ¡°The point may be moot, however. Consider anything you like, but run their numbers against [Elemental Power].¡±

    ¡°And the binding? You want a [Focus] skill?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°I want it, yes. I want a lot of things. [Earthen Might] to bolster my [Aegis] and the [Strength] I gave up while giving me the power to wholly sense the terrain again. [Storm Surge], [Melee Surge], [Missile Surge] and [Blood Magick]... throw in a nice multi-aspect [Lightning] skill¡­. Ah, but I¡¯m daydreaming. For now, for the binding? Get me [Animal Sight] and the next time I go hunting I¡¯ll scout far, come back with more than a million essence, and do a better job of seeing about these air elementals.¡±

    ¡°Are you going now?¡± Hassina asked.

    I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m fast enough now that we can send Valir and his hunters out¡ªI¡¯ll stay back and keep watch over them. I¡¯m level 25, now. My own limit will increase slowly and my next four levels are gap levels. As long as we¡¯ve already gotten the essence to keep the hunting parties leveled to their limits, I¡¯d rather them go out now.¡±

    ¡°You sure? You did just promise a million essence.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± I said plaintively. ¡°And I¡¯d very much like to be flying around hunting wyverns and exploring some of the further mountains, believe me. But getting the hunters started is an investment. Once they start, they¡¯ll just get stronger and stronger. I can only harvest so well because I¡¯ve had the time to build strength¡ªit¡¯s worth the investment to start with them now.

    ¡°As you wish, Lux Irovex.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°I¡¯m going to make the rounds now. Let the people see my face. Send word to Valir to get started.¡± I hesitated a moment, then added: ¡°And send word to Seriana. It¡¯s not urgent, but I¡¯d like her to find me when she has some time.¡±

    ¡°All right,¡± said Hassina. ¡°Should I tell her what it¡¯s about?¡±

    I might have said: about her treasonous husband.

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°She¡¯ll know.¡±

 2.11: The Archmage Seriana

    Leadership isn¡¯t quite what the songs and stories present. Giving rousings speeches, leading armies into battle, crushing your enemies and soaking up credit for a job well done¡­ not only do they not occur often, but they can even be signs that you¡¯re doing the job rather badly.

    The real job involves far more mundane frustrations. There are the repeated meetings which often feel unnecessary. There is the bureaucratic entanglement that comes with delegation as orders trickle down through the ranks. And there is the omnipresent heart of true leadership: convincing those who follow you to both work harder than they should have to and take less than they deserve for it because that¡¯s what the circumstances require.

    I walked along the stone paths that had been broken away from the walls by our earthshapers, surveying the work around me. The earthshapers had made broad stairways between the three levels of the cave, and widened the central shelf while flattening the floor there. They¡¯d begun the process of cutting out chambers for sleeping in, though I doubted this would be done by the time everyone needed rest.

    White wisps of light hovered in the air of the cave, and the faintly glowing mist seeped in through both entrances before dispersing. The channelers guided mana from outside the cave into the wells that the earthshapers and everyone else drew from. Elves carrying stone were seemingly everywhere, and there were still many untidy piles of the earthshapers¡¯ leavings. I gave my attention to anyone who wanted it¡ªbut only a little of it.

    Most often, this meant that I told people no.

    The wildhearts wanted to send their own picked scouts along with Valir¡¯s hunting parties to do a psychic survey of the wildlife we might soon wish to use to our advantage. No, I told them gently: some of our people needed to increase their level limit quickly, and so for now we simply needed a few of them to warn of incoming danger and help our people find prey. An accounting of the tamability of local fauna would have to wait.

    The warriors wanted wood, and plenty of it: barricades, towers, arrows, even makeshift sleds built to carry more wood¡ªall these things would all be possible if we just cut down a few hundred trees. No, I told them, not yet¡ªthe nearest forests were still far enough, and dangerous enough, that nothing the timber would gain us was worth the expense of so much time spent by our hunting parties.

    The parents all wanted more keys and more essence for their children, who were only level 5. No, I told them¡ªthey would have [Armor] skills soon enough, but strong children defended by weak warriors stand less of a chance than weak children defended by strong warriors.

    And almost everyone wanted to be a part of the hunting parties that Valir and Zirilla were assembling. No, no, no, I told them¡ªnot yet, but soon.

    I couldn¡¯t blame them for any discontent. They¡¯d come to the new world, these elves who had so many skills, and I¡¯d asked them to be little more than pack mules, first organizing our supplies and now carrying rock, channeling mana, and waiting.

    I sent Valir and his people off. With the [Sight] keys I¡¯d gathered, our telepaths could make [Psychic Sight] with of their [*Mind] cores, allowing them to stay in contact with one another over relatively long distances despite their low levels. It meant that they could rely on telepathy, and not flares or elemental signals, to call me in case of an emergency¡ªand thus they could range farther.

    Valir was going to lead his people along the stream, assessing the threats of the forest that lay between us and the slopes of the mountain. The presence of the air elementals meant that we would likely be looking for a permanent settlement in or near the mountain range, and so we¡¯d be leading our people through that forest, soon enough. What was more, now that I could fly far I¡¯d be looking to harvest keys on the more distant mountains¡ªleaving the slopes of this one, and the wyverns there, to our hunters. The other hunting parties would be moving across the plains and through our layer of the mist, hoping to find more [Missile] and elemental-type keys.

    I sent them off without much pomp, not wishing to instill in them any belief that now was the time for glory. They needed to get the numbers up and raise the limit of our strength, and they needed to be cautious about it.

    Then I made the rounds inside the cave again, where I found myself telling a great deal more people to stick to their orders despite their good ideas.

    Seriana found me in the midst of all of this, while I spoke with some of the weavers of the main level. Soon I had turned my attention to her.

    ¡°I¡¯ve time enough to see you now,¡± she said. ¡°What do you need?¡±

    ¡°Only to speak with you,¡± I said. ¡°Come. Let¡¯s walk.¡±

    I turned and led her toward the main entrance, which incidentally brought us past most of the elves. I was happy to be seen with her. In the long term, one of the worst threats to the colony was internal division¡ªand Seriana¡¯s husband was a traitor. She had been the first to rise and declare that she would follow me, but that would be easy enough to dismiss as a calculated act on her part.

    When I said nothing further, Seriana cocked her head and asked: ¡°What did you want to talk about?¡±

    ¡°How fare the weavers?¡± I asked.

    The [Weave] aspect allowed one to make many skills which let them bestow benefits on others. Pure [Weave] was a powerful boost to [Focus] that helped with maintaining such spells. In our current circumstances, the weavers could help shore up the weaknesses of our warriors¡¯ low levels.

    Hassina, however, had given them none of the keys I¡¯d collected, instead focusing on filling the skills of our other classes to get our hunting parties out as soon as possible. It was a decision I agreed with, but I knew that the mages would likely feel otherwise¡ªhence why I¡¯d asked.

    We needed something banal to talk about while we were within earshot of the others.

    ¡°They grow impatient,¡± said Seriana. ¡°They feel their talents are wasted. With the right investment, they could make a party of our level tens function more like level fifteens, and they know it. But Hassina asked Valir and I, and it was decided that more hunters would be better than stronger ones, at least right now.¡±

    ¡°I know how much they can contribute,¡± I said. ¡°It can¡¯t be easy, being asked to wait.¡±

    We made it to the cave¡¯s entrance, moving past the guards and into the mists. Seriana didn¡¯t question where I was leading us. She was silent now that we were outside, perhaps understanding that our previous conversation had been little but a show.

    When we¡¯d got far enough, I pressed out with my claim¡ªSeriana relinquished her own and I encompassed us in a sound-muffling patch of air.

    ¡°I want to talk,¡± I said at last.

    ¡°About what?¡±

    ¡°Anything and everything, Seriana. I want to know your thoughts and feelings. I want there to be clear air between us as we move into the days ahead.¡±

    Seriana was quiet for a moment. ¡°As I see it, the air between us is clear, Lux Irovex. I am your archmage and serve at your pleasure. Inasmuch as the elves of Tel Terana may have difficulties adjusting to life here, and to your commands, I will help to keep them facing the proper direction. For the good of all.¡±

    ¡°For the good of all,¡± I echoed. ¡°And that is the whole of it?¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Beside me, Seriana¡¯s voice and bearing grew a little more stiff. ¡°Do you expect more, Lux Irovex?¡±

    ¡°You were brought here unwillingly,¡± I said. ¡°There is no ill will between us?¡±

    Slowly, she glanced at me before returning her eyes to the mists. ¡°It was not I whom you forced here, but my husband. I chose to go because he was going. If that means in your mind that I came unwillingly, then I will not argue.¡±

    ¡°Is that to continue, then? You will not argue?¡±

    Again, Seriana glanced over at me. At last the barest note of frustration entered her voice, and she asked: ¡°What do you want, Aziriel?¡±

    I returned her gaze. ¡°To know your thoughts,¡± I said. ¡°Of all the high council, it is you who I know the least. And it is you who has greatest cause for dissatisfaction.¡±

    ¡°Would that you had come this topic head on,¡± Seriana said, frustration still in her voice. ¡°We could have spared ourselves these needless circles. Truly, Aziriel, do you think that I would set myself against you because of my husband¡¯s position?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Then what is the point of this?¡± she asked. ¡°Do you expect me to ask that you argue for amnesty when it comes time for him to be judged?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Then I see no need to speak on the matter,¡± she said, her voice returning to its usual cool, measured cadence.

    ¡°And there are no other matters that you have thoughts on?¡±

    ¡°There are many matters I have thoughts on,¡± she said. ¡°You cannot be more specific?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    Seriana was quiet beside me, and I could feel her frustration building. But I knew her more than I let on, and I knew her thoughts weren¡¯t limited to these few spare sentences she¡¯d spoken. She had pages more to say¡ªbut the wizards were always careful with their words. The politics of the Sable Tower had run deep and intricate, and being forthright was against their every instinct.

    ¡°I don¡¯t hate you, Aziriel,¡± she said at last. ¡°And when it comes time for Luthiel¡¯s judgment, I will try not to hate you no matter what comes, believe that.¡±

    She let out a faint sigh as she stared into the mists. ¡°I don¡¯t hate you,¡± she repeated. A hint of iron made its way into her voice. ¡°But I see you.¡±

    I didn¡¯t ask her what she meant. I only waited.

    ¡°After the Doom,¡± she said, her voice catching a little on the word. ¡°Many of the greatest among us were dead. For his misjudgement, Luthiel had fallen from his lofty heights. Hashephel did not break his tradition of abstention, neutrality. You saw these things, saw that we were desperate and despondent, and you struck. It is no trifling matter, when you strike¡ªand yet whether you have struck the right chord or the right weakness, I cannot tell. We had two of the manahearts left to us, and now we have none, each of them traded for¡­ this.¡± She looked around at the omnipresent mist around us, her tone neither condemning nor celebrating the new world. ¡°With cheers, they trusted you to give away the most potent of our artifacts, the only things we could offer as currency in exchange for a god¡¯s favors. And I see what it bought us¡ªand bought you.¡±

    She looked down and shook her head gently. ¡°The glory of all glories is yours, if we survive. Make good upon your word to give us abundant children while still retaining immortality, and you will be like a god to the elves. With Luthiel fallen, you are the only firstborn who will truly be firstborn in their eyes. Already you were one of the greatest among us. What shall you be, in five hundred years time, if through struggle and striving all that you have foreseen in our future comes to pass?¡±

    Now she turned to me, the look in her eyes shrewd and reserved. ¡°And what will you do, I wonder, if anything should threaten to take that destiny away from you? You have worked so hard for it.¡± Her voice softened to a featherweight, and she added: ¡°Alcuon died for it.¡±

    I said nothing. Seriana turned back to the mists. ¡°[Primeval Champion],¡± she said. ¡°Protector of the elves. I love you, but I see you and I fear you. Gods above, I fear you.¡±

    I said nothing. We walked in silence for a while.

    ¡°When you made your secret bargain with us, you said that we would not return for hundreds of years,¡± Seriana said at last. ¡°Then we come to this world and you reveal that we are far, far up the River of Realms. We know of no way to make a ship that can transition from this realm to the River without being destroyed, not here where the essence is so thick. And even if we did, we know of no way to build a ship that survives such currents, or one that survives the aether whales. And you are old¡ªolder than everyone but Luthiel. The passing of centuries may yet answer many questions, solve old problems¡­ but that is no guarantee. There is a chance, a strong chance, that we are never, ever going back.¡±

    ¡°Not without the aide of Lord Kalak,¡± I said.

    ¡°And he asks for two manahearts to move but a few thousand of us,¡± said Seriana. ¡°And so I say again: it may be that we will never go back.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said softly. ¡°You have the right of it.¡±

    Both of us were silent again for a time. At last, Seriana said: ¡°I¡¯ve said all I wish to, Aziriel.¡± After a pause, she added: ¡°Unless there was something else you were hoping to hear from me?¡±

    She knew that there was, and she could have just come out with it¡­ but she would prefer that I force it. Very well, then.

    ¡°Long have the elves been creatures of tradition,¡± I said. ¡°High, wild, deep. This world is inarguably tilted toward the flourishing of the wild elves. As for the others, it is not simply a matter of preservation¡ªfor that attitude is to treat entire cultures as artifacts to be displayed in a museum. We must find a way to make our three branches continue to grow and flourish while still sharing the same roots.¡±

    Seriana fixed me with a cool stare. ¡°And are you worried, Aziriel, that in seeking to maintain our traditions, I will become an obstacle to you?¡±

    ¡°I am worried,¡± I confessed. ¡°But I¡¯m worried that you might see conflict with me inevitable, in this matter.¡±

    Seriana dropped her gaze and sighed. ¡°If our ideas should find themselves at odds, here, then we will compete them before the conclave, and let our people decide. The high elves outnumber the wild three to two. I must admit that if our people are divided between us, with the elves of Tel Telana following me, and the elves of the great wilds following you, I will hold the greater sway.¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°But that¡­ is not how things will go. The elves follow you, and while I might sway some of the high elves to any cause I put forth, I fear it will not be many, and I know that your people¡¯s loyalty is utterly unshakeable¡ªexcept perhaps if Zirilla speaks counter to you, which I doubt she will. What¡¯s more¡­ Luthiel and I have always acted in tandem. He was the archmage, but he kept my council. All know this. Now, I will not hide that the position is simply reversed¡ªI listen to my husband. He is still wise, despite everything.¡± She sighed. ¡°If I speak against you, it will be seen as the machinations of Luthiel, who has fallen from grace. This is unavoidable.¡±

    Seriana surprised me, then, by smiling a little. It was a wry, ironic smile: a smile that she consigned herself to. ¡°A council we may be, but I will lose whatever power I hold if I exercise it. These are our positions. I see that.¡±

    We had been gradually walking up the slope of the mountain, and now the mists thinned around us. I turned, leading Seriana back toward the cave.

    ¡°How do I stay your fear, Seriana?¡± I asked softly. ¡°How do I loosen my grip? I need unity among the elves, not for any one path to be chosen. Unity.¡±

    ¡°Let me think on it,¡± she answered. ¡°There will be no conclave until we find a place to settle and choose our true high council. Before then I will have your answer.¡±

    ¡°As you wish.¡±

    ¡°Now let me ask,¡± she said. ¡°Have you pressed Zirilla to speak on these matters the way you have with me? On division, on Luthiel, on our traditions?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°My mind is that she would see all that I do.¡±

    ¡°Most likely.¡±

    ¡°Then perhaps you¡¯re trying to see more discord than is necessary. You could have heard all of this from one of your own people.¡±

    I paused. She had a point. ¡°You¡¯re the archmage,¡± I said pointedly. ¡°And a sea elf. If any of us should be giving council on our threatened traditions, it¡¯s you.¡±

    ¡°True, true,¡± said Seriana. ¡°Though Zirilla would say it all in fewer words.¡± When she spoke again, I could hear a smile in her voice. ¡°And perhaps with more verve.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± I said, laughing. Seriana laughed a little with me¡ªjust for a moment.

    As we came back to the cave, I asked: ¡°Do you think I should speak with Luthiel?¡±

    Seriana paused. ¡°As our leader, or as his sister?¡±

    ¡°The latter.¡±

    ¡°Only if you¡¯re going to comfort him, then,¡± she said softly. ¡°But I¡¯m not even sure¡­ do you think you could?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°I see. Do what you think is best.¡± She gave a gentle shrug. ¡°As for the sea elves, a clear first step lies before us.¡±

    ¡°That being?¡±

    ¡°Find a sea.¡±

 2.12: The Hour of Tales

    The little hours that remained of the day passed uneventfully. I only occasionally gave out new orders to the many inhabitants of the cave, and soon it came time to tell stories. We called the hour early because many of us, including me, intended to get some sleep while everyone else worked, watched, and hunted. I¡¯d be getting an early start tomorrow.

    While the people got ready below, filling the cave¡¯s largest chamber and making us a circle to speak in, Hassina, Seriana, and I had a private meeting on the upper level, choosing our tales amidst one of Palefang¡¯s piles of bones.

    ¡°What are you both looking at me, for?¡± I asked from where I sat on the vertebra of some massive beast. ¡°I¡¯m just going to tell everyone how my morning went.¡±

    In reality, I¡¯d spent the last half-hour or so going over how I was going to tell the story of myself and Palefang. There was no theme to my story: I just wanted to entertain. When it came to telling stories, I put the salience granted by novelty and spectacle above all things. Theme is wasted if one¡¯s words don¡¯t arrest the ears and enrapture the mind.

    I looked at Hassina, who was sitting on a massive frog skull. She was the grand storyteller, often just called the gran. Her story came in the middle. She couldn¡¯t veto our choices, but she was the only one of us who could change her mind once Seriana and I had chosen.

    ¡°I¡¯m telling the tale of when Narana came to Ithmel Bel,¡± said Hassina.

    Seriana¡¯s eyes widened. She looked to me, but I was only looking past them both with a relaxed smile on my face, hiding my own surprise. It was an interesting choice, to say the least. I hadn¡¯t thought Hassina had it in her. Our stories could be many things: politics, religion, entertainment, history... the hour of tales served many purposes.

    ¡°I may need to tell it at another time, is the thing,¡± Hassina explained. She was looking at me. ¡°And when I do, I¡¯ll have it be remembered that this is the tale I chose on our first night here.¡± She smiled, then looked at Seriana. ¡°Archmage?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ ah,¡± Seriana blanched. It was more expression than I¡¯d wrung from here with all my earlier prying¡ªbut Hassina could be like that, sometimes. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how to follow you, your holiness. Let me consider.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, we¡¯re pressed,¡± said Hassina, clearly enjoying herself. ¡°You¡¯ve only got a couple of minutes.¡±

    Seriana blinked, then nodded. She lowered her head in thought. ¡°Daros and the deep ones,¡± she said. ¡°Varrin¡¯s silver ship.¡± Then she looked up, suddenly, and it was clear she¡¯s made her decision. ¡°Thiluar¡¯s discovery.¡±

    Hassina smiled. ¡°Good,¡± she said. ¡°In that case I make no change.¡± She rose. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    Stepping into the circle felt very much like I had earlier in the day, when they¡¯d all arrived¡ªelves surrounding me, waiting expectantly. This time, though, what I had to say was mostly inconsequential.

    I told the story from my arrival to killing Palefang, leaving out only the chambers filled with sleeping insects that I¡¯d found beneath the earth. The fight I left mostly the same, with the blizzard and the broken bow, the blood seeping up through the snow at our feet, my spear in his shoulder, my knife in his belly¡­.

    We didn¡¯t have much in the way of powers to enhance our tales, though with my [Air Magick] and my [Surge of Might] I could move very suddenly, rushing from one side of the circle to another as I hissed and laughed and reenacted. I used my lightning, just a little bit, to make the sound of Palefang¡¯s teeth shattering, happy to draw startled gasps out of my audience.

    And then I was done. Space was made for me in the inner circle, and I sat to listen to Hassina, wishing that I could somehow get away with watching not her, but the faces of her audience. A few minutes of chatter passed, and Hassina entered the circle.

    Fitting for the grand storyteller, Hassina was a masterful performer. She was also¡ªunlike me¡ªfully expected to involve herself in the politics of the matter. Tonight, she¡¯d made it clear that on that front, she¡¯d be diving in headfirst.

    She didn¡¯t introduce her tale. Instead she simply clapped her hands together and announced to the room: ¡°Once, during our darkest age, when elf killed elf with no thought to the worth of the blood they were spilling, Narana came to the gates of Ithmel Bel.¡±

    She paused. Whispers filled the room around us, small notes of discord to complete her overture.

    ¡°She came with Lirien, her protector, and many other elves besides,¡± said Hassina. ¡°They came in the wake of the breaking of Lir Iriniel, and the scouring of the plains of Volir.¡±

    Raising her voice a little more, she continued, slow and delicate. ¡°Narana knew that a host was soon to issue forth from Ithmel Bel, a host of elves whose eyes were dark with fury. Vengeance they intended upon those who had wrought ruin¡ªand who had called their own works at Lir Iriniel, called their breaking and their scouring, vengeance also. Narana foresaw what their vengeance meant, and so hoped to turn the heart of Hashephel, Lord of Ithmel Bel, from its course.¡±

    Hassina¡¯s voice darkened¡ªnot by much, but the small change somehow brought heavy emphasis. ¡°Her hope died when she saw the gates open. For the elf who rode forth was not Hashephel.¡±

    The soft, glowing orbs that lit the cave dimmed. Hassina¡¯s voice became a whispered hiss that still carried to every corner.

    ¡°It was Aziriel.¡±

    Again, I wished I could watch Hassina¡¯s audience, not her. I could hear the murmur, mostly from the children¡ªI heard a quick, quiet: but does she mean¡ªand then their parent¡¯s hushed answer: yes, now listen.

    I felt as if their words might have been for me, in some twisted way¡ªI thought: was it me she was talking about? It had been so long¡­.

    And then: all right, Hassina. I¡¯ll listen.

    Hassina continued, her feet taking her slowly, silently around the circle. ¡°Narana pleaded: ¡®Mightiest among us, I beg you: shed not the blood of elves. If you go forth to wage this war, the faultless will die with the wicked and no justice will be had.¡¯¡±

    Her voice for Narana was not loud, commanding, or vigorous, and yet it contained a steady, quiet strength¡ªthe strength of one who was accustomed to public speech, and being listened to. The real Narana had sounded more tired.

    ¡°Aziriel heard all this,¡± Hassina continued, pausing her well-calculated movements so that she stood centered before where the children sat with their parents. ¡°And she then answered: ¡®No.¡¯¡±

    The lights around us grew dimmer once more. ¡°¡®Please,¡¯¡± Hassina said in Narana¡¯s voice. ¡°¡®Aziriel. Your hands have the strength to stem this tide of bloodshed. Elf kills elf and their killing is answered with killing again; for almost a century this has been the way of our people. Another century and the last elf living will wade alone through the blood of their brothers and sisters. But you remember that it was not always so: you remember peace. I ask you: at what cost will peace come at last?¡±

    I wasn¡¯t watching. I had closed my eyes, ready to hear Hassina give my answer. She didn¡¯t have my voice, but she had my inflections¡ªand my volume. Listening to her, I could almost feel my old anger.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    I mouthed the words along with Hassina¡¯s sneering voice, unable to see who among the audience were watching me:

    ¡°¡®Cost? I speak not of costs. It is you who offers to trade in blood and virtue, so make your offer now, O bringer of peace. What price shall you pay, that I forget the sound of the bells that ring no longer across the broken stones of Lir Iriniel? Perhaps cattle and steel, furs and tomes you¡¯ve brought¡ªenough that I unsee its fields, smoking and unsown, and the butchered children who lie dead there! Such bargains you must offer on essence and keys, that they might kill all memory of my son Alesith and close my heart to vengeance!¡¯¡±

    I had never minded being the villain. To the elves, I was military might, force of arms: too much Aziriel and something had gone wrong. Peace through victory¡ªthat was my purpose.

    But as I listened to Hassina, one of my hands balled into a fist, shaking a little with wounded rage. We told stories like these for good cause: I wasn¡¯t faultless, and the magnitude of my mistakes could be unthinkable. But Hassina had never had children, hadn¡¯t lost an entire family to the inexorable march of history: a century of war here, another there, and suddenly wretched time had taken everything.

    Always there would be a quiet voice in me, asking: how dare any of them stand in the shelter of one whose power stemmed from passions and listen to a story about how passions had led her astray? They couldn¡¯t know what I¡¯d been through, and what I¡¯d feared to go through again.

    I could have laughed. Except they did, now: Aranar was gone. Everyone¡¯s loss was incalculable, child or no.

    And when I thought of Alesith, I wanted those thoughts to be far from this story, this dark hour: my failure was not his life¡¯s ultimate meaning.

    ¡°Narana was quiet for a time,¡± said Hassina, still pacing around the edge of the inner circle. ¡°At last she said: ¡®For your grief I offer nothing; nothing would suffice.¡¯¡±

    And Hassina rounded quickly in place, startling some of those nearest to her. ¡°¡®No?¡¯ hissed Aziriel. ¡®Then choose your champion and be satisfied: our debate will be settled with but one elven death.¡¯¡± She paused, then said, quietly: ¡°Lirien stepped forward. Grave was his countenance. But Narana held him back. Instead she and her followers filled the passage to Ithmel Bel, barring it.¡±

    Despite everything, I had to smile a little as Hassina paused to explain the relevant geography for the benefit of the children who had never heard this story before. ¡°Now the passage of Ithmel Bel was small,¡± she said. ¡°For the city was an underground city, made by the deep elves, and all roads that led to it were tunnels. Aziriel could have passed through Narana¡¯s gathered followers as easily as a boulder rolls down a mountainside, but her army would have to trample them.¡±

    Hassina stopped in front of me, facing away. ¡°Narana said to Aziriel: ¡®We will not fight. But neither will we stand aside.¡¯¡±

    Slowly, the high priest¡¯s hands balled into fists at her sides. Again she spoke with my voice, now so twisted with vindictive passion that it hardly sounded elven at all.

    ¡°¡®Stand aside or die, Narana.¡¯¡±

    ¡°But Narana stood fast. ¡®You asked what I could offer that you stay your hand,¡¯ she said. ¡®Here is what I have to trade. Destroy me and all those who stand with me. Count us, but discount our lives from those of your enemies: spare a single elf for each of us you kill. I promise no vengeance will be sought for our deaths¡ªrevenge is an echo that grows ever louder, and its silence is what I seek. If elven lives must be paid to stop ceaseless elven bloodshed, then so be it.¡¯¡±

    Hassina paused as outside, a distant rumble of thunder sounded. When it had finished, she spoke again with Narana¡¯s voice¡ªstronger, now. More firm. ¡°¡®But take heed,¡¯ said Narana. ¡®If peace cannot come, and elf kills elf forevermore, then that which I foresaw will come to pass, Aziriel. The last elf will wade alone through the blood of her brothers and sisters¡ªand that last elf will be you.¡¯¡±

    My mouth curled into a smile. And Seriana had said that I knew how to strike a blow. Strange, though, the iron voice that Hassina had spoken them with: everyone remembered her words, but nobody seemed to remember that when she¡¯d spoken them, Narana had been shaking in terror.

    ¡°¡®Am I mistaken?¡¯ asked Aziriel. ¡®Or do you you offer blood for blood, as if one elven life can pay for another?¡¯¡±

    ¡°¡®Elven lives have paid for elven lives enough,¡¯ said Narana. ¡®I did not open this market, but we may yet see its close.¡¯¡±

    My breath rattled out of my lungs. Once, I¡¯d thought I¡¯d gotten away with my crimes. But then I¡¯d lived to hear them told of again and again across centuries¡ªand while it might not have been justice, it was at least punishment.

    ¡°A darkness then came upon Aziriel. Lirien saw it, and pleaded with his lady to retreat, but she refused. At last Aziriel spoke: ¡®You seek silence? Well I can oblige you¡ªbut yours will be the last life given in trade.¡¯¡±

    Hassina made a hissing, cracking noise like lightning, moving suddenly and causing many of the gathered elves to shrink back. ¡°And with a flash and crack of blood-red lightning, she killed Kiriae, the youngest of the elves who had followed Narana.¡±

    From where I sat, I saw things that no-one else in our cave could see: elves shrinking back from a pillar of drifting ash, just as they shrank back from Hassina¡¯s sudden noise. But they hadn¡¯t run.

    ¡°Aziriel waited. And when it became clear that Narana¡¯s followers were unmoved, she spoke again. ¡°¡®You say the faultless will die with the wicked¡ªbut in that case the wicked still die.¡¯¡± And she struck out again and killed Darallia, Narana¡¯s childhood friend.¡±

    I was holding my breath. I heard screams and cries, sounds that should have faded centuries ago. I looked into Narana¡¯s eyes¡ªso much white in them, she was so terrified¡ªand I hated her more than I had ever hated anyone.

    ¡°Aziriel waited. And when still none of Narana¡¯s followers had fled, she spoke again¡ªand it was as if all the elf had left her, as if a pure, agonizing fury had filled an emptiness to completion. ¡®A peace there will be between our three peoples¡ªonce their number has been culled by two-thirds!¡¯ And she struck out again and killed Athalos, one of the few elves who still remembered our old home of Maia.¡±

    Hassina was quiet. Gradually, as she¡¯d spoken, the lights in the cave had dimmed to the point where we were now in almost total darkness.

    "Aziriel waited. And when none of Narana¡¯s followers had fled, she said in a voice that was all accusation: ''You die in vain. Leave this place.¡¯¡±

    But the elves remained.

    ¡°¡®Leave!¡¯¡± cried Aziriel.

    And I raised my hand as if to strike another down¡ªwatched them cower away and then rise, shivering, to look around in disbelief at the fact that I had thrown no lightning. The passage of Ithmel Bel was silent.

    ¡°It was not Narana who answered her. Rather, it was an unknown elf who stepped forward and simply said: ¡®We have nothing. That is why we remain. All that we once had was lost.¡¯¡±

    Who was it? Dark skin, straw-colored hair, short. Either a stocky woman or a slender man: their husky, pained voice gave no hint as to their gender. I never had learned who¡¯d said that.

    But they¡¯d said it.

    ¡°To be an elf is to bear memory,¡± Hassina announced. ¡°And memory bore down on Aziriel now. She saw what elves had lost, and she saw her part in it, and fury gripped her anew¡ªgripped her stronger than it ever had. It was the worst of furies, a cowardly fury, the kind that rises from guilt and begs to be loosed on the world so that the self can be spared. She wheeled, made as if to lunge, halted. Her mouth twisted as words unspoken fought within her, but she said nothing.¡±

    Hassina paused and made almost a full circle before she spoke again. ¡°She did not know what to do,¡± she said simply. ¡°All watched her in silence. At length she turned and fled back through the gates of Ithmel Bel. She stayed there. She took no vengeance for the slaying of her son at Lir Iriniel. At her order, the armies of Ithmel Bel were held back.¡±

    Hassina stopped in front of the children, then smiled and spoke to them directly, her voice filled with a simple gladness. ¡°And many of you, my blessed ones, are here because of what Narana did that day¡ªand what Aziriel did in answer.¡± Without changing her happy tone, she added: ¡°Some of you are descended from the butchers of Lir Iriniel, and some others from the elves who would have butchered those butchers in turn, and then died, in time, to the echoes of vengeance.¡±

    She turned away from the children, took in the rest of us with a sweep of her gaze, and said: ¡°Narana left the city in grief, but bore no ill will toward the firstborn who had murdered three of their number. Lirien was by her side still, and seeking to protect her, he warned that if she kept the path she¡¯d set, she surely would be killed for it¡ªand all they had worked for would come unraveled.¡±

    I let out a sigh. Hassina had a mind like a diamond; she could probably name the lineage of every elf present, would have learned them all before we¡¯d left for this new world. She continued, finishing her story:

    ¡°But Narana shook her head. ¡®You are right that I may die, but you place too much value upon my life. I do not bear our dream alone.¡¯¡± She paused in her circle to stand directly before me, swept her gaze across the gathered elves once more. ¡°¡®The unity of the elves is too great a thing to be held in just one set of hands.¡¯¡±

 2.13: Air and Lighting, Fire and Ice

    ¡°Aziriel,¡± the voice was a whisper. I opened my eyes and was momentarily confused about where I was¡ªnot in my own bed, no Alcuon beside me¡­.

    I sat up. It was Zirilla.

    ¡°Everyone¡¯s safe, no alarms,¡± she said. ¡°Hassina¡¯s asleep, so I¡¯m sending you off¡± she said. ¡°She said these were for you.¡±

    + 2 [Elemental 2], 1 [Life 2]

    ¡°Mm,¡± I said, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t mind if I do.¡±

    ¡°She said that since we have the keys, you should upgrade your [Life Magick] in case you mess up and get injured.¡±

    ¡°Love you too, Hassina,¡± I muttered.

    You fuse [*Primeval 5] with [Elemental 2] and [Elemental 2] to create the skill: [Elemental Power 9]

    [Elemental Power 9]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Elemental 2] + Elemental 2]

    + 33% [Elemental] Attunement. Attunement reduces the [Focus] requirements of skills.

    + 33% [Elemental] Efficiency. Efficiency refunds a portion of spent mana spent on skills.

    + 33% [Elemental] Potency. Potency increases the effect strength of skills.

    I got up and began to stretch, my muscles aching and stiff from sleeping on a thin bedroll over a stone floor. Because I hadn¡¯t woken up in a panic, my mental state was sluggish and [Primeval Resonance], normally over 100%, was fairly low at 59%. Once I felt more like my usual self, the skill would be boosting my [Elemental] skills by 39% or so, not 33%.

    But a new skill was just the thing to dispel the discontent of the morning and keep my thoughts clear. Attunement, efficiency, and potency were most often found on multi-aspect active skills, not passive ones like this: they made it so that specializing in one area made someone vastly more powerful in it. A windcaller with six [Air] skills, even some with overlapping functions, could move massive amounts of air compared to an elementalist who only had [Air Magick].

    On passive skills attunement, efficiency, and potency tended to be conditional, such as how the attunement on my [Kite¡¯s Grace] only affected my windsleeve. In this regard [Elemental Power] was like most pure skills: exceptional.

    Anything that applied to one aspect applied to its subtypes as well. Hence [Element] attunement applied to [Air], [Earth], [Fire], [Frost], [Lightning], and [Water] skills.

    I''d just gotten a very potent upgrade to my flight and my lightning bolts. The only reason that skills like [Surging Power] and [Primeval Mana] had been better choices than [Elemental Power] earlier was that I¡¯d had next to no [Channel] or [Source].

    ¡°I know that look,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°And I¡¯m envious. Go get me some keys, Lux Irovex. I haven¡¯t flown for more than five minutes since a day ago.¡±

    I smiled. Those of us who could fly flew every day. That was the way of things. ¡°How did the hunting parties fare?¡±

    ¡°Me and my people didn¡¯t come out of the swamp with much,¡± she said. ¡°Some [Surge], though, and some [Mana]. Didn¡¯t find your decay caster, unfortunately¡ªI¡¯m thinking it mostly lives in the water, and I didn¡¯t want anyone delving the depths, not yet. As for the rest¡­ the most productive group was Larash¡¯s. They found a massive flock of the missile-throwing grazers you mentioned yesterday and returned with a lot of [Missile], [Armor], [Body], and [Life] boons. There were more than a hundred of the beasts, a whole herd.¡±

    ¡°Excellent,¡± I said.

    ¡°Valir led his to the forest, wanted to assess how safe the route was to the slopes of the mountains for future wyvern hunting. They came back with keys and essence, then found a cave system that he insisted on exploring¡ªagainst my recommendation, I¡¯ll add. He should be back soon enough.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll have to ask him about it later. In the meantime I want everyone brought in while I¡¯m gone.¡±

    Zirilla blinked. ¡°Everyone?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to be out of range of flares and signals.¡±

    ¡°I can put together a squad of windcallers to watch over our people,¡± Zirilla said. ¡°Valir won¡¯t be far behind me if I need to answer the call.¡±

    I scowled. ¡°It¡¯s a risk,¡± I said. ¡°And for just a few hundred thousand more essence and some increases to limit.¡±

    Zirilla made a noise of frustration. ¡°Aziriel, they¡¯ll be fine,¡± she said. ¡°They can sense everything coming their way with [Wild Sight] and [Telepathic Sight]. They¡¯re armored, they have healers, and they have elven arrows and elemental magic. We have far more strength now to protect our the colony with than we had yesterday when we first arrived. We¡¯re not triggering any convergences and we haven¡¯t run into anything too strong for us, not once. You can go.¡±

    I worked my mouth. She was right, but I still didn¡¯t like it. ¡°I¡¯ll go,¡± I said. ¡°But our circumstances yesterday are what we¡¯re trying to get away from,¡± I said. ¡°Everyone is less safe if I go than if I stay.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± she said. Then she shrugged. ¡°I know. It¡¯s a risk, but not much of one. And we both know how much you can get done. You¡¯re too much power in too fast a package.¡±

    I gave a small, conciliatory tilt of my head.

    ¡°Another thing while we¡¯re on the topic of you going out.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°That cat may have been an elementalist, but it got its [Lightning] keys from somewhere.¡±

    I nodded, following her reasoning. Natural lightning elementals destroyed themselves in the instant that they were created¡ªmeaning that somewhere here was wildlife that cultivated [Lightning] keys. And wherever it was, we could find and hunt it. ¡°The mists seem like the best place to look, so far.¡±

    But Zirilla shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s not that,¡± she said. ¡°You and I both know the power of lightning. If one apex predator has found some [Lightning] keys and figured out how to use them, why not others? Intelligent creatures can change class if they need to, but even brute beasts or hybrid elementals with innate [Lightning] stand a good chance of reaching the top.¡±

    ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought of it,¡± I said, nodding. It seemed obvious in retrospect. There were many mountain peaks beyond the one I¡¯d visited yesterday. How many were topped with creatures who threw lightning?

    ¡°Ultimately, it¡¯s good for us,¡± Zirilla continued. ¡°Anything leaning on lightning won¡¯t have much of a chance against you, Valir, or me.¡± She paused, then added: ¡°Or Luthiel, for that matter. ¡°Seriana never learned to block lightning, but I don¡¯t think she¡¯s much interested in going hunting anyhow.¡±

    ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that I should trigger convergences and hope for some [Lightning] keys.¡±

    ¡°More or less."

    "The most important thing to me today is that I figure out whether the are intelligent air elementals," I said. "A few hundred dead wyverns and a couple of primeval convergences are mostly ancillary. We can''t plan the future of the colony until we learn who rules the skies."

    "I suppose that makes sense," said Zirilla. "I should also mention that Hassina mentioned the kids.¡±

    I frowned. ¡°The children? What about them?¡±

    ¡°They were moving stones all day yesterday, but they¡¯re running out of things to do.¡±

    ¡°Have them channel, then.¡±

    ¡°All day?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ just¡­.¡± I shook my head, then reached up and ran a hand across my forehead. I sighed.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to think of the children,¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh.¡± Zirilla¡¯s voice was heavy with realization. Alcuon, my husband, had died so that all of them could live. I didn¡¯t hate them for it¡ªI just didn¡¯t want to think of them. ¡°I¡¯ll think of something, then.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± I drew in a breath, re-oriented myself to the world around me, the world outside.

    Grief had always been a trap, for me. I was the sort of person who wanted to get up and do something about every problem that faced me¡ªbut the only way I could really interact with my grief was to get mired in it, to spin away into useless thought spirals, pointless rumination.

    Time. The only thing that had ever helped me with grief was time.

    ¡°Have they butchered the cat, yet?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯m sure the children will all want to touch it once they¡¯re awake.¡±

    ¡°Heh. Hassina wanted me to tell you that it was inconsiderate for you to punch so many holes in him before he died. That the healers had to work hard to fix all those.¡±

    I nodded in agreement. ¡°It was very selfish, the way I fought for my life.¡±

    ¡°In any case, come see for yourself.¡±

    We walked out into the main chamber. Lying out in the open, circled by runes, was Palefang¡¯s carcass. They had healed everything except his scars and his broken teeth, which they¡¯d collected and laid out on a cloth in front of his muzzle.

    I saw Fireesha standing by the carcass¡¯s side and went over to her, feeling a sharp drop in temperature as I drew close to the runes. ¡°Lux Irovex,¡± she said, nodding in greeting. She pulled a bow off her back and passed it to me.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    ¡°It¡¯s the bow you used to kill Palefang,¡± she explained. ¡°The one you brought here. Larana finished repairing it while you were asleep. It had gathered more aspect, and so I was able to use it for the higher-ranked enchantment without any degradation.¡±

    ¡°Beautiful,¡± I said, my face breaking into a smile.

    You unbind: [Aziriel¡¯s Matchbow of Primeval Missile Conjuring]. You have 2 free Bindings available.

    You bind: [Aziriel¡¯s Matchbow of Windborne Missile Conjuring] You have 1 free Binding remaining.

    Binding this item has granted you the [Conjure Windborne Primeval Missiles 11] skill.

    [Conjure Windborne Primeval Missiles]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [*Missile 2] + [Air 2] + [Mana 2]

    You may have this weapon conjure its own ammunition, so long as that ammunition is composed of primeval materials.

    You may encompass missiles that you launch from this weapon with a magical sleeve of air that protects them from shifting wind currents.

    ¡°I put air caps on it,¡± she said, gesturing to indicate the thick steel fastenings on either side of the grip. ¡°Made the weight feel a bit off to me, but Seriana said you¡¯d be all right with it.¡±

    I hefted the bow. ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I said. ¡°It does feel strange. But I¡¯ll manage.¡±

    It was, after all, my bow. The one I¡¯d been using for several hundred years, after the one before it had been irrecoverably incinerated in battle. Even if its native aspect had been stripped when I¡¯d come here, it still carried a lot of sentiment.

    ¡°And this,¡± she said, hefting a necklace. It was a simple leather cord with five rune-inscribed wooden beads on it. ¡°Another temporary.¡±

    I took the necklace.

    You bind: [Aziriel¡¯s Temporary Necklace of Animal Sight]. You have 0 free Bindings remaining.

    Binding this item has granted you the [Animal Sight 8] skill.

    !¡ªThis enchantment is unstable and will degrade in approximately 9.45 days. This duration will go down with use.

    [Animal Sight 8]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [*Sight 2] + [Animal 1]

    This skill allows you to sense animal creatures with your gaze, and vastly increases the range at which you can sense such creatures.

    ¡°Perfect,¡± I said.

    ¡°How¡¯s your surge binding?¡±

    I queried the Verse:

    ?¡ª[Aziriel¡¯s Temporary Wristwrap of Channeling] has 2.12 days remaining.

    ¡°Good for now,¡± I said. ¡°I may need another by the time the day is out. It¡¯s going to see a lot of use.¡±

    ¡°All right,¡± she said. ¡°As for this¡­.¡± she looked over at the gigantic cat carcass. ¡°The other enchanters and I are putting together some more missile conjuring bows right now. That¡¯s the priority. Once that¡¯s done, Hassina wants a cloak of blood magick made from the hide. We talked about cutting it up for multiple cloaks, but it¡¯ll take the whole thing to bear a permanent enchantment that strong.¡±

    She walked around the carcass to the front, where the teeth they¡¯d collected were laid out on a cloth. ¡°As for these,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll take a [Fray] key. Now, I know that none of the reptiles that you¡¯ve encountered so far have been wizards, but it would at least be useful for the elementals, yes?¡±

    ¡°Definitely. Think you could get them to take a [Plural]?¡±

    Fireesha made an uncertain sound. ¡°I¡¯ll have to look into it. A lot of symmetry in teeth¡­ but you also tore half of them away.¡±

    [Plural] was one of the most important aspects to add to a secondary lightning skill, because it created [Forked Lightning] and all its variants. [Forked Lightning] would allow me to split the power of a whole bolt as I chose along the ends of any fork that I made. It was a crucial skill not just for striking multiple targets, but for forcing singular targets to evade multiple streams of mana lest they take the power of the whole bolt.

    ¡°If it doesn¡¯t work, it¡¯s not a problem,¡± I told her. Then I grinned. ¡°I can always get you more teeth, Fireesha.¡±

    Fireesha laughed.

    ¡°If that¡¯s all, I¡¯ll be off. Best to get started when I know I¡¯ll be gone awhile.¡±

    ¡°Good hunting, Lux Irovex,¡± Fireesha said.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°Don¡¯t die.¡±

    I ate and washed in the cave¡¯s central pool, then went on my way. When I finally got my tortoiseshell skysail on and got outside, I was desperate to start flying. I¡¯d spent six hours sleeping on hard ground, and many hours before that stuck in the cave. I wanted to be free again.

    I filled my sail and rose out of the red mist, pushing myself toward the distant mountains. I let a bit of the air into my windsleeve so that it pressed at my face and body like a warm blanket, tousling my hair.

    I flew high and fast, my mana pool remaining full now that I had multiple skills devoted to keeping me in the air¡ªthe total efficiency bonus from [Kite¡¯s Grace] and [Elemental Power] was close to 90%, almost enough to halve the cost of flight by refunding spent mana.

    The third mist layer, the one that hid the mountain¡¯s summit, was red now. I rose above it to see that even the fourth layer, kilometers above the peak of the mountain, had turned red.

    Did the mists keep time? The fourth layer was a little lighter in color than the ones below it. Was it changing already, like the mists had yesterday?

    I took in a good view of the peaks that rose beyond the nearest mountain, then dipped back below the third layer, avoiding an air elemental that tried to give me a push. I could have easily destroyed it with lightning, netting myself an [Air] key, but I held back just as I had yesterday. I was too afraid to kill an air elemental, not until I¡¯d either met its more intelligent kin or determined that they didn¡¯t exist.

    Wyverns didn¡¯t usually hunt at night, and the wyverns of this place didn¡¯t seem to be much different. I could sense almost a half-kilometer in every direction when focused on using my [Animal Sight], and I didn¡¯t find any in the mists.

    I didn¡¯t pass close to the slopes of the first mountain, moving straight for the second instead. Once there, I cleared the third mist layer and gained altitude as I looked down at the slopes. Even with [Animal Sight], it was still faster to look for wyvern nests with my naked eye now that I could fly forever¡ª[Sable Grace] meant I had near-perfect night vision, and the tangled mounds of barkless tree-stumps were easy to spot, even amidst the undergrowth.

    But first I made for the summit, which was a rounded, snow-capped cone. I saw a noticeable lack of wyvern nests anywhere near the peak, but a snowy outcrop of rock got my attention. As I approached I saw it was made of packed ice, not stone, and it had an entrance facing away from the mountaintop. As I came toward the mountain I sensed a single creature inside the small structure¡ªand I tilted my head, confused.

    I¡¯d been expecting one of the white cats. Judging by its shape, however, the icy structure¡¯s occupant a frilled-neck lizard the size of Palefang. My [Animal Bond] should have detected it much farther than I had¡ªit was hiding from my psychic senses.

    I felt the animal¡¯s presence on my mind, let it sense me, then once again hid myself using the bond. Then I felt it move to the mouth of its icy lair and caught sight of it for the first time.

    It had burnt orange skin that was covered all over in glittering icy plating¡ª[Frost Armor]. Its frills were bright red and bare of any armor¡ªsteam billowed off of them into the wintry air. Its eyes were bright green, and its hind legs were much stockier than one of its smaller kin.

    It saw me and reared up onto its hind legs, flaring its frills and letting out a low hiss. I just stared at it, confused. Why was this creature living on the peak of a mountain, in the cold?

    The creature conjured an unusually thick shard of ice, then flung it at me. I leapt out of the way, kicking the snow beneath my feet high into the air as I moved to avoid the fast-moving projectile, reaching out with my claim to begin building a powerful lightning bolt¡­.

    Then the shard of ice exploded, the force throwing me off-balance as little chinks of ice embedded themselves in my skin. My ears rang with the sound of the explosion, and a cloud of fog was spreading from where the ice had detonated.

    The lizard took advantage of my momentary disorientation to hurl a half-dozen icy javelins my way, and I hastily threw myself to one side using a blast of wind, happy to feel that my skysail was still intact even if it had been pierced by a few small ice shards.

    The icy javelins whipped past my head, and I pulled myself back, away from the mountain, then dropped my altitude, falling along the slopes and using another blast of air to soften my landing, putting a sheer cliff face between myself and the ice-throwing lizard.

    I reached out with my gaze, cautiously hoping to throw another lighting bolt¡­ but I saw, a moment later, a massive hunk of ice descending through the air toward me, traveling almost level with the general slope of the mountain.

    I grinned. It had launched its frost bomb in an arc to flush me out of my cover. This creature was truly fascinating.

    I reached out with my claim and batted the bomb to one side of me while using my [Surge of Might] to leap in the other direction. Before I landed, I took flight again, this time throwing myself up the side of the mountain, back toward the lizard.

    It threw another two bombs at me, but my absurdly fast channeling speed meant that I could perform equally fast aerial maneuvers when I wanted to, even if they were costly in terms of mana and essentially meant slapping myself around. I batted myself to the ground with a wall of air, then shot a focused gust of wind forward into a volley of icy javelins, parting the cluster of missiles as I rushed forward through a plume of windblown snow, charging for the lizard.

    The lizard let out a warbling shriek, rearing up on its hind legs again and sucking all of the snow in front of it together into the form of a twenty foot high wall, then coating the wall in conjured ice to create an opaque barricade with a hard, translucent coating.

    A moment later another icy bomb came over the wall, appearing as if tossed, then zooming toward me as soon as it fell far enough for the lizard to push it hard with its [Frost Magick].

    I used my [Surge of Might] to leap into the air, calling upon my [Air Magick] once more to empower my leap and get clear of the shell¡­.

    It only half-worked. The shell detonated below me a split-second after I jumped, sending me spinning but not altering my trajectory. But I didn¡¯t need to be well-oriented¡ªI was reaching out with my claim, funneling a massive amount of mana into the air, a line that followed a path straight downward toward the lizard, quickly reaching the edge of the creature¡¯s claim now that I was this close.

    Lighting cut the red night as I ignited my mana, its sudden, cacophonous crack ringing out across the mountains around us as it rent the air between us, the most powerful bolt I¡¯d yet thrown in the new world.

    ?¡ªMana 489/1940?¡ª[Surge Pool] 58/100

    Through a haze of steam, I could feel with my [Wild Bond] that it was still alive.

    I pushed myself to the ground with my air magic, then surged strength and bounded across the snow on all fours, kicking up a flurry behind me before skidding to a halt beneath the creature¡¯s steam-shrouded form and pulling my axe free of my harness.

    A red heat welled up in the steam ahead of me as I raised my weapon, and a moment later the lizard breathed out a plume of fire. I reached into my claim behind me and drew forth the cool air there, blowing it against the firebreath and diverting the stream long enough for me to come out of my crouch with a surge of strength and smash the front-facing pick of my slayer¡¯s axe into the lizard¡¯s throat.

    It gargled, and a stream of fire trailed my axe as I tore it sidelong through the creature¡¯s throat, scorching my face.

    The creature¡¯s tail came round to lash at me, and I fell to one knee, slashing the end of the tail clean off. Its claw came down on me a moment later and I surged my strength again, the axe snapping upward to cleave off two of its claws.

    It let out a piteous, gurgling cry, leaping back while I regained my stance, conjuring a smaller wall of ice as it did so¡ªonly while it had leapt back, I¡¯d pushed forward with my claim, drawing a line of mana toward it that ended halfway between us, invading its claim so that I left a hole in its wall of ice.

    I leapt, and as I crested the top of its hastily-conjured ice wall, I trailed the last of my mana into the air, then ignited a shaped bolt of lightning that reached down along the arc of my leap and bent to strike the lizard through the hole in its wall of ice.

    The creature hissed, momentarily stunned by the bolt of lightning¡ªand I landed with the pick of my axe between its eyes a moment later, forcing its head to the ground before I used the last of my [Surge Pool] to tear the axe free in a spray of blood and shattered bone.

    + 44,561 Essence

    + 2 [Boon]

    Your level limit has increased to 26!

    I stood over the corpse as it twitched, gasping, my breath fogging in the chill air. Its firebreath had scorched my arm and face, and my skin was waxy along the side of my arm where it had hit the worst. As I spent my [Life Pool] to heal these wounds, my face slowly spread into a grin. I looked down at its broken, steaming remains.

    ¡°You were incredible!¡± I told it.

 2.14: The Sea of Mist

    ?¡ª[Life Pool] 100/100

    I smiled to myself as the wind rushed by my face. I¡¯d been following the contours of the slopes, hunting the wyverns while I replenished my [Life Pool], for almost twenty minutes¡ªit had taken longer than usual because I had less [Focus] to assign to replenish the skill while I was flying.

    I spotted another wyvern nest, then swooped over it. Instincts woke its occupant as its [Wild Sight] sensed a creature coming close, but it was already too late¡ªI fell onto its head with a wind-propelled downward blow, driving the upward point of my axe between its eyes before regaining my balance and tearing the blade through its brain and out the side of its skull.

    + 11,684 Essence, [Boon]

    I took off again a moment later, in search of more. I hadn¡¯t triggered a primeval convergence, which meant that these creatures were linked with the ones of the other slope¡ªI must have fought some wyverns from this mountain, yesterday.

    I also hadn¡¯t run into any relatives of the fascinating lizard that I¡¯d fought on the peak. I didn¡¯t know how his ice-bombs had actually worked, but I was definitely curious. Had it somehow infused the center of a compacted shard of shaped ice so that the steam broke the shard and released a huge amount of pressure at just the right moment? To me, that seemed impossible, and I felt that it must instead be some combination of aspects that I¡¯d never seen before.

    Crumpled, forest-covered terrain lay below me, cut by the occasional stream that ran down from a spring in the mountains. I found another wyvern, killed it, and picked up more essence and keys.

    It was essential that I get a lay of the land. If the air elementals were sapient, we¡¯d likely need to build our settlement within a day¡¯s journey to a peak¡ªwhich would essentially mean in the shadow of said peak. Not all of us could fly, or even cover ground quickly.

    Even if the air elementals weren¡¯t sapient, a settlement nestled in the mountains had a lot of advantages. We¡¯d have to scout our options soon enough, and I didn¡¯t want to make a return trip.

    There were a lot of things to consider. I was personally worried about superpredators. Primeval convergences existed for a reason, and that was the threat of invaders who were so strong they required an army to deter. I knew the kind of havoc that an itinerant killer could wreak on an ecology because I was one.

    The best defensive strategy against such a creature, flying or walking, would be to settle somewhere that they were less likely to hunt. A place below the mists, not visible from the air. A place in a more sparsely populated ecology, one less likely to fall victim to a hungry wanderer. Someplace recessed into the rock, or flanked by high cliffs, but best of all a place that was separate from, but nearby to a much richer source of food for any potential predator: a forest, a swamp, rolling plains, a large body of water¡­.

    These were the things I cared about most. Resources I knew we could traverse great distances for, or create with our abundant essence and creation magic if need be. Food could be hunted for, or grown with [Life Magick] if hunting was somehow disastrous. There weren¡¯t a lot of us, and we would be powerful and carry all our magical knowledge¡ªour needs could be met fairly easily.

    These were my thoughts as I passed over the mountain, killing wyverns as I saw them. If I asked the elves to live in a recessed cave for the next generation, to be hidden away from the sky just to alleviate my fears, would they accept it? Probably. But perhaps not without murmurs of dissent, depression and stagnancy¡­.

    I made a third circuit of the second mountain, decided that I¡¯d memorized the terrain and picked off enough wyverns, and then turned onward, toward a higher mountain whose peak rose in the distance. Breaking the third mist layer, I saw that the fourth had indeed been lightening¡ªtheir color change was the closest thing to a sunrise this place had.

    I scowled. That was another thing I had to consider.

    We needed to see the sky. Not these mists, but our Lady Sabina¡¯s night sky. Hassina and Seriana had said little of it, but there could be no true worship of the Midnight Queen without sight of the sky. And it was the high elves, not the wild elves, who most loved her.

    But what were we going to do? Fly them kilometers into the air each night? Find a mountain whose height rivaled that of the tallest on Aranar and keep our whole civilization there just to be sure they were never parted from proper worship?

    These thoughts gave me the sudden urge to do what I should have done when first I¡¯d gained the power to fly. I took flight and rose into the sky, intending to go as high as I could.

    I broke the third mist layer and began to head for the layer that was high above it, watching my mana pool as I rose. Air got thinner the higher one flew, and while my skills could keep me from the harmful effects of low-pressure air, it grew harder to hold the air needed to fill my sail and raise me up.

    It was a strange and beautiful place, the upper layer. The whiter mist above me was so far that it felt like a real, proper sky¡ªjust one completely covered in cloud. The mountain-peaks below me were small, snow-covered protrusions, white islands in a sea of red. There was still a haze in the air, a light fog that made distant peaks invisible.

    The air grew cooler, and a few elementals tried to give me a playful shove as I rose, but I avoided them. I drew in deep breaths, trying to vacate my mind and simply absorb the beauty that lay below me.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Then I came close to the upper mist layer, and I extended my gaze into it, fearful that it might contain dangerous elementals. My mana had begun to deplete from the effort of rising, and as I entered the mists I wondered if I¡¯d made a mistake. A huge mass of air, an elemental, formed a spike and launched itself toward me, but I pulled myself to one side to evade it, still rising.

    Unlike the other layers, which had increased with thickness as one rose, this layer was only half as thick as the one below it. I came out of it only moments after I¡¯d entered¡ªand my heart fell.

    Another layer of mist shone above me, perhaps three kilometers distant, far out of my range. I sensed the elemental spread itself into a wide breeze and rose quickly to avoid it, but my mana was dropping fast.

    Then I drew in a sharp intake of breath as I looked around me. From where I was about two hundred feet above the sea of luminous cloud below me, I could see far¡ªvery far. The hazy obfuscation of the lower levels was gone. I rose higher, spending until I had less than a tenth of my mana remaining¡ªand gasped.

    It was impossible to tell quite how far it was, but in the distance I could see the peak of a great mountain just barely breaking through the cloud layer, a peak that ended in a sheer, slanted cutoff only a few hundred meters above the mists.

    I blinked. Smiled.

    Then I dove as my air elemental tried to catch me once more, pushing myself to greater speeds with the last of my mana. I broke the mist quickly, then looked down once again at the faded archipelago of nearer mountain peaks, keeping in my mind the location of the distant giant.

    The lower temperature of higher elevations would make them the home of less aggressive frost elementals. They would also make them poorer roosts for wyverns, who would prefer the lower peaks, the ones adjacent to broad stretches of forests.

    But [Frost] keys¡­.

    [Frost] keys favored the attunement effect, reducing [Focus] requirements. Attribute-increasing [Frost] keys tended to increase [Focus] itself. And mages¡ªwhich we had plenty of¡ªwere trained in [Arcane Resonance], increasing the effect of their focus.

    More [Focus] meant a greater ability to sustain conjured ice, and many [Frost] abilities meant that icebinders¡ªor cryomancers, as the mages called them¡ªcould easily assert their claim over ice.

    All of this meant that if I could return with a high quantity of [Frost] keys, our icebinders would be able to quickly conjure enough fortifications to shelter the whole of our people. And we were pushing out into the plains and the swamp, gathering the [Mana] keys needed for missile-conjuring bows.

    When it came time to move to a new location, I¡¯d feel much more comfortable knowing that we could summon a small fort and place a hundred of our best archers within it, all strengthened by attribute-increasing skills and possessing infinite arrows.

    I wouldn¡¯t even need to reach the summit I¡¯d seen. If there were higher mountains between it and me, unseen through the haze, then they might be home to the elementals.

    Finally, there was a potential promise of safety in the whole affair: a frozen peak was not particularly attractive to most things that might seek to eat our flesh, and rose far from the sight of passing superpredators. It was worth checking out as a potential colony location, hostile as it might seem.

    I fell, grinning, and swiftly cut through the third mist-layer, then slowed my dive and took flight once more, angling toward where I¡¯d seen the mighty peak. I set my sights on the next mountaintop emerging from the mists, a many-peaked meeting of two slopes that ran in a line above the mists for almost a kilometer.

    There was a single wyvern nest positioned along this line, one frosted tangle of corroded trees that had been set into a crook in the peak. The mists above had mostly finished lightening, but the nest still held its occupant: a massive wyvern, easily twice the size of the one I¡¯d fought over the lake of the first mountain.

    It raised its head to look at me as I dove for it, then rose, planting its winged forelegs to crane its neck before letting out a loud shriek. As I passed above it, it breathed out an extremely long gout of its poisonous breath, a geyser of deadly, phlegmatic fluid.

    But as the poison entered my claim, I simply diverted it away from me with my air magic, continuing my dive. I landed on the creature¡¯s back at the base of its neck a moment later, feet slamming into scaled flesh. I caught my balance as the creature shifted beneath me, then surged [Strength] and leapt away, taking flight.

    But halfway through my leap I began to channel mana out into the air, and as I filled my skysail and flew away, I continued to do so. It was all about timing¡ªI needed a bolt strong enough to seriously hurt or kill this creature, and that meant taking the time to release a huge amount of mana. But I also needed my lightning to strike its neck or face¡­.

    The wyvern ceased spewing its fruitless poison, then turned toward me as I flew away from it, still dumping mana into the air between us. Its winged forelegs snapped the wood of the nest beneath them as it spun, lumbering around and then launching itself up into the air, its head rising to meet my line of mana and give me the perfect shot.

    The mountain around us was awash with pure red light as my ears filled with the familiar, violent sound. In my gaze, I saw my lightning bolt reach the end of its mana trail and discharge all its power into the nearest body of mana it could find, the wyvern¡¯s head.

    + 51,257 Essence, 3 [Boon]

    The beast¡¯s body fell limp, its skull a twisted, smoking ruin whose flesh had been vaporized.

    I landed on the peak and looked over my spoils, smiling. I¡¯d spent almost all my mana to kill the creature, but that was hardly a problem: if only all my battles could go so well, and have such excellent rewards.

    I had to frown at the fact that there were no [Frost] keys in the boons it had granted me. The Verse was universal, and creatures such as this with [*Body] cores would easily be able to form skills like [Icy Grace] or [Frost Hide] out of any they found. Wyverns didn¡¯t naturally prey upon elementals, but they were also intolerant of them in their territory. If I was right about these peaks having more [Frost] keys, then this creature could have confirmed it by giving me some.

    The absence of them wasn¡¯t a sign that I was certainly wrong¡­ but it wasn¡¯t the sign I was looking for.

    ?¡ªMana 1081/1940, 44% Primeval

    Then I sensed something with my [Animal Sight] that made me smile¡ªmore wyverns, rising toward me through the mists. Killing the big one had triggered a primeval convergence all by itself.

    ¡°Heh,¡± I said, standing, and touching a hand to the haft of my axe, then leaping into the air and flying down towards the oncoming creatures. With luck, another twenty wyverns or more would be coming to fight me.

    And once I¡¯d found a suitable arena, I¡¯d be more than happy to oblige them.

 2.15: Voices Hidden in the Mountains Depths

    I heaved my steaming axe out of the broken skull of its most recent victim, then called a gust of wind to sweep the poison from the air around me as I searched for any more attacking wyverns.

    There were none.

    I rolled my shoulders, then wiped the blood of my axehead, satisfied. Deeper into the mountains, there were fewer wyverns¡ªI¡¯d killed just under twenty. Their bodies lay around me in a small divot in the mountainside, a sloped valley that had given me enough space to maneuver.

    I could have flown the entire time, but making a lethal lightning bolt was much harder when both I and my target were flying, and the demand on mana was harder all around.

    Leaping around with the axe and flying only occasionally so as to save mana for more lightning was a much faster way to kill.

    ?¡ªYou have 591,748 Essence and 52 [Boon].

    I couldn¡¯t contain my elation as I hooked my axe back onto my sailsuit. I¡¯d only been out less than two hours, and already I¡¯d outpaced the previous half-day I¡¯d spent hunting. I¡¯d actually killed more wyverns by searching the slopes than I had earlier during the primeval convergence. Even if the convergence had taken less time, being able to fly forever and see so far with [Animal Sight] had made me a fast, effective hunter.

    Most of my boons contained rank 2 skill keys, and some of them contained rank 3.

    And it was only going to get better. My level limit had gone up to 27 sometime during the battle, and I could hopefully look forward to another increase when I gave my harvest to Hassina to be distributed among my people.

    I was still level 25, of course¡ªas with many times before, I¡¯d increase my attributes when I absolutely knew I needed something, rather than cement the choice now. [Channel] and [Source] were my favored options, but [Strength] was also worth considering. I¡¯d lost some when I¡¯d changed [Wild Grace] into [Avian Grace], and since [Surge of Might] only let me double my [Strength] score any loss was a heavy loss indeed, especially given how quickly my attributes could now replenish my [Surge Pool].

    The keys I was gathering were woefully outpaced by the essence. A single wyvern¡¯s worth of essence could push anyone to level 10, at which point they¡¯d have multiple skill cores. But that was always the way of it: killing could get you essence, but if you wanted keys you needed territory. Even Palefang hadn¡¯t known how to strip aspects from the world around him: a group of well-protected keyshapers would only need a few days to reap an enormous amount of rank one skill keys for our people.

    I scouted the slopes of the surrounding mountains, making note of the terrain as I wove between the second and third mist layers. As with before, there were extraordinarily deep ravines between the peaks, each with steep, almost vertical sides, as if they¡¯d been punched into the earth by some unknown force. Many of them had great trees rising up out of the lowest mist layers, and a few times I even descended below this layer to see that it was much the same as it was near the cave: swamp everywhere beneath a tangle of massive roots.

    Some things I felt I understood, but some were mysteries. Dozens or even a hundred wyverns nesting over the hundred or so square kilometers surrounding one of the peaks was an insanely high density of the creatures, but I could explain it. This place was a more extreme version of the same story that took place on Aranar or Thanaxes: plants gathered more essence per day because of their high mass and volume, and they almost always cultivated [Life] keys and skills. Insects ate the plants that could regenerate their leaves with the essence they gathered, and animals like the ribbontail squirrels I¡¯d seen ate the insects, then were in turn eaten by larger animals¡­ and so on.

    On Aranar, the density of life had been incredible. On this place, life was so dense that predators were casually aggressive, almost omnipresent, and beasts like the broadwings or the giant birds had predators of their own in the wyverns.

    I had also surmised that the swamps in the ravines might not be anywhere near this world¡¯s normal sea level: any number of things might have grown up to keep them from draining. Still, we could follow the water as far as we needed to in order to find Seriana her sea. Another item for the exploration itinerary, after I explored these mountains and hopefully made contact with some air elementals.

    I killed another dozen wyverns as I covered the terrain around me, and the third mist layer began to lighten once the fourth had turned completely white. Soon I caught sight of something peculiar in between the second and third layers: a strangely-shaped group of creatures moving downward, toward the mouth of a ravine. At first I thought they were broadwings diving straight down, but then I realized that they were moving too slowly for that.

    I flew in for a closer look, but I was a few kilometers away, and their distance combined with the omnipresent haze made it difficult to make them out before they disappeared beneath the second mist layer. Still, I thought I¡¯d seen ropes or ribbons trailing behind them.

    Curious, I dove beneath the second mist layer and skimmed over the great trees below us. Ahead, where the creatures had disappeared, the great wood ended and the ravine narrowed into a tight canyon, where I saw another flowerfall covering both walls.

    There was no sign of the strange creatures I¡¯d seen diving, and so I expected they must have stopped in the mist. But as I drew closer, I didn¡¯t sense them with my [Animal Sight], either in the mists or below it.

    Then I noticed something else peculiar: there were no insects here, neither feeding the vines nor drinking from the flowers. The flowers themselves still bore high amounts of mana in their nectar, but the whole of the vine appeared to have no defenders.

    I flew closer, my eyes on the cliffs. There were a great many cave openings hidden behind the vines, and soon my [Animal Sight] detected a great many small, winged creatures hanging from the roof of the caves within. Bats?

    Suddenly my mind was assaulted by a powerful psychic force, one made of a great many minds pressing up against my own, each of them sending an image or impression of something undesirable: being pierced by teeth, being consumed by fire, being drained of life while tangled in the vines on the cliff¡­.

    The message was very clear. Leave.

    Rare was the creature who learned to use [Wild Bond] to do more than hunt and hide. Unintelligent creatures almost never built the multiple bond skills needed to truly overpower something else¡¯s mind for more than a moment, and when they did they left themselves without other skills to rely on. This made them slower and weaker than they otherwise would be, which meant they had to deter more predators than they otherwise would¡­ which inevitably led to their demise. Creatures who traveled in packs could often push on other creatures with a rudimentary psychic skill, but not like this.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    This was powerful. But they weren¡¯t trying to knock me out of the sky or lead me to my death. They just wanted to be left alone.

    And their attack was still somewhat rudimentary, a sustained force instead of a calculated spike of psychic power. I drew on my training and used my own [Wild Bond] to break most of the attack down into patches of discordant sensations instead of an overwhelming, overriding experience, then let it wash over me.

    I couldn¡¯t leave, not without assessing what threat this colony of creatures posed. Not only was I almost sure they could fly, but their psychic abilities meant they could find¡ªand potentially attack¡ªexploring elves.

    I reached out with my [Wild Bond], choosing one voice among the many that assailed me and singling it out. Peace, I told them, sending the impression of calm skies where birds flew peacefully, calm waters where beasts drank together without enmity.

    The chorus of assaults on my mind ceased a moment later. Then I was contacted by just a single one of the creatures.

    Leave, violence, it said, sending an impression of their canyon shrinking beneath me.

    I tried to get a sense of the creature I was speaking with. It was smart enough to communicate with me, but not as intelligent as an elf¡ªmore like a dolphin or a gorilla. This was good: with the aide of psychic communication, smart animals such as those could share much of their understanding with us.

    Then I realized what it had meant when it sent the impression of violence. It hadn¡¯t been making a threat: leave or there will be violence. Instead it had been referring to me, as if by a name.

    Leave, violence, it repeated.

    I suspected they were plants. The likelihood that all of them could hide from my well-honed [Animal Sight] was too low, and I didn¡¯t believe they were the bat-like animals that I could sense. If I got a little closer and used [Wild Bond], perhaps I could see them¡­.

    But I couldn¡¯t get closer. I had to leave.

    It was just that simple. They were asking me to leave their territory because they didn¡¯t want violence. Instigating with creatures who had peacefully asked me to leave was out of the question.

    Your territory? I asked, already rising away from the ravine. It was a concept I was sure they¡¯d understand.

    Here, it replied, indicating the ravine and the flowerfall. Up. It indicated the air above, rising through the mist layers. It paused a moment, then added: Here and up.

    I smiled. You asked that I leave, I said, trying to keep my communication simple. So I leave.

    The voice was silent a moment. Good creature, it said at last.

    I rose away from the ravine with mixed joy and frustration. Those creatures were perhaps the most fascinating thing I¡¯d met since coming here, and yet I didn¡¯t even know what they looked like, not really. Hopefully I or the wildhearts could learn more about them in the coming days. They¡¯d seemed peaceful enough.

    Of course, I¡¯d still have to be absolutely sure that nothing followed me back to the colony. I was fairly sure they were no danger¡­ but in the long term, a certain degree of paranoid defensiveness would pay off.

    Violence, they had called me. It was more or less accurate to the last day and a half. Really, it was more or less accurate but to my general role to the elves.

    Over the second mist layer, I saw a field of craggy rocks dotted by what appeared to be long-necked armored quadrupeds. I reasoned they were in the domain of the mysterious ravine-dwellers, and moved past them toward the next mountain. I rose above the third mist layer to see the snowy peak, and past it I saw what I¡¯d been hoping for: not just in a farther, larger mountain, but in the vague form of an even more massive mountain rising up beyond that one. It was barely visible through the haze, but it was unbelievably large, its faded shape piercing the fourth mist layer. It was the mountain I¡¯d seen earlier.

    Even the mountain before me was much larger than the others I¡¯d visited. The section of it that rose above the third mist layer was almost as large as the entirety of the mountain nearest the colony.

    As I drew closer, I saw a sight that I recognized in the form of a relatively small outcrop of ice near its summit.

    ¡°Another one?¡± I wondered aloud. But there was always a chance that the frost lizard I¡¯d fought had simply taken its lair from one of the stronger frost cats.

    Still, I unclipped my bow from where it lay across my back. The last time I¡¯d fought one of these lizards, it had been too fast, too dangerous. Its [Frost] and [Fire] skills meant that it would have limited healing or physical attributes, and its frost walls cost more mana to conjure than my single arrows.

    And if the cave simply had a big frost cat in it: well, I could handle those, too.

    I flew down in front of the cave, sensing the creature inside through its attempts at stealth using [Wild Bond]. It was, in fact, another frilled-neck lizard. I had landed far from the cave-mouth, almost two hundred meters, and I intended to fight at range.

    It emerged a moment later, its bright red, steamy fins flared out over a body that was coated in glittering ice. I brought my bow up and surged [Strength] to shoot it with a fast-moving conjured missile that was wreathed in a windsleeve. Air missiles were good for flying because of all the interference from wind, but really they were good for everything: they added more range to the already stupendous range of a strength-enhanced matchbow, and practiced wielders could use the skill to curve their shots.

    The lizard conjured a hunk of ice and tossed it at my arrow, intercepting it¡ªbut the arrow¡¯s windsleeve pushed the ice to one side, just barely causing it to skim past while diverting the arrow¡¯s path. The arrow stuck the lizard in the shoulder at an angle, instead of striking its face.

    I took flight in a burst of powdered snow, avoiding the creature¡¯s missiles while I launched my own back at it. It launched its volley of ice-javelins along with its more powerful exploding artillery, but these were easy to avoid at such a great distance: by the time the thicker shards of exploding ice reached me, they¡¯d shed enough velocity that they were easy to bat away with wind.

    I curved my arrows, making each one of them take a different path toward the lizard, gravity and wind combining to give them unpredictable arcs. The lizard charged at me across the slope, but I flew around it in a wide circle, loosing multiple arrows each second and occasionally throwing in one that had been enhanced by my [Surge of Might].

    It deflected most of them, even creating a few walls of ice to keep the missiles at bay. But these blocked its line of sight to me, and I could hide myself from its gaze with [Wild Bond] while curving my shots around its barricade. Arrows buried their way into its flesh, one every few seconds, sometimes more.

    After a few minutes, I¡¯d struck it with more than fifty arrows and it had run out of mana. It tried to limp back to its cave, but didn¡¯t make it before it collapsed: I flew over it and surged [Strength] to aim a careful shot through its skull, finishing it.

    + 47,210 Essence, 2 [Boon]

    ¡°Much better,¡± I said, smiling at my bounty and taking off toward the slopes.

    With luck, I could trigger another convergence. But even if I couldn¡¯t, I was sure to find more of the omnipresent wyverns while I scouted the territory.

    By my guess, I had hours before they expected me back at the colony.

    I would not be returning empty handed.

 2.16: Theres Always a Bigger Wyvern

    At the base of the largest mountain, across a field filled with huge, jagged stones and split down the middle by a massive gorge, there was a forest of great trees that stretched as far as I could see. The great trees were unique in that they were the first of their kind that I¡¯d seen which weren¡¯t growing out of the swampwater at the bottom of the many canyons that cut their way through the valleys between the peaks. Instead their roots grew out of dark, bare soil, strewn with a blanket of decaying fallen leaves and lit by glowing vines and ferns.

    The rocky plain at the base of the mountain was populated by horned grazers that appeared like a cross between antelope and goats, albeit with longer legs than either. The gorge was its most interesting feature: a kilometer-long gash, only a few hundred meters wide at its widest, seemingly deeper than even the swamps had been and with none of the great trees that dominated them. I dove into it and broke the lower mist layer expecting to see water and instead only saw another, deeper layer of mist¡ªthe sixth, if counting downward, though I had been counting up from the mist above the waterline of the swamp, up to now.

    I didn¡¯t dive deeper than that, conscious as I was that the depths of the earth could hold potent elementals that I had neither the means to detect nor fight. Instead I ascended, then flew to the edge of the great forest and perched on one of the larger stones.

    I had to look around at the field of jutting, jagged stones, dominated by the strange gorge, with suspicion. Had the event that had formed the gorge also left these stones dotting the landscape?

    Nonetheless, I wanted to meet some of the creatures that lived in the forest. While it would have some familiar species, its dryer depths would foster different forms of life than the swamps. I wanted to trigger a primeval convergence and draw creatures out of the forest into this field¡ªbut at the same time, I didn¡¯t want to draw too many predators off of the peak while I was battling whatever emerged. Wyverns were one thing, but adding any unmet, unknown forest-dwellers into the mix could complicate things more than I¡¯d like.

    I began to ascend along the slopes. I would trigger a convergence on the mountainside, then hopefully travel deep enough into the forest to trigger a second. Convergences here covered a smaller area than they had on Aranar. It was as if they only ever recruited a set amount of creatures, or power spread across creatures, and so in this place they needed smaller locales.

    With that done, I¡¯d have enough time to spend an hour playing my pipes in a high place, hopefully drawing the attention of an elemental who I could ask some questions.

    I found a smaller peak that jutted out from the main mass of the mountain, cresting just below the third mist layer. I didn¡¯t want to go any higher and attract the elementals in the mist while fighting, and so it was a good spot to start. After soaring over the cliffs and slopes for a few minutes, I found a wyvern¡¯s nest, landing and killing its occupant with a lightning-bolt before resuming my patrol.

    I found and killed another two wyverns, then spotted something unexpected shortly after I took to the air once more: another one of the frilled-neck lizards, this one perched over the bloody carcass of a snow cat and somewhat smaller than the two I¡¯d met already.

    I landed on the slopes above it, not bothering to try and hide my presence. The lizard reared up and flared its frills, and I looked at the carcass of the snow-cat it had been eating¡ªit was badly burnt. It hissed a warning at me.

    ¡°How are you not food for wyverns?¡± I asked, tilting my head curiously and smiling. The only two of these creatures I¡¯d met had been on peaks, not counting the acid-spitting distant relative I¡¯d found in the caves before the flowerfall. I wanted to know where they came from, why they were so rare, and what they hunted other than the white cats.

    The lizard didn¡¯t conjure a shard of ice to throw at me like its relatives had. Instead, it charged, rearing up onto its back legs to sprint toward me with startling speed while its forelegs waved uselessly in the air.

    Three surge-empowered arrows to the neck later and it was turning to run away from me, and a half-dozen more shots had brought it to the ground.

    + 5285 Essence, [Boon]

    ¡°No ice,¡± I said, standing over the corpse a moment later and examining the boon to find that it held no [Frost] skill keys. Did it even have the firebreath? It had to have something to keep these wyverns from simply scooping it up off the mountainside, even if they usually preferred to hunt birds.

    In the distance, I could sense another wyvern coming toward me with my [Animal Sight]. A moment later and I felt another one, coming from the other direction: I had triggered a convergence just as I¡¯d intended. Blasting things with lightning got it done a lot faster than arrows did.

    I waited for the first one to dive, then struck it from the air with a lightning bolt. Then, confident that I had the mana regeneration to fight them all in the air, I took off and began to fly away from the second wyvern. When it was close enough, I unspooled a line of mana into the air behind me, then drew in my sail and rolled to strike that wyvern from the air, too.

    I filled my sail again and took stock of the various wyverns that I could now sense coming toward me with my [Animal Sight], then carefully chose my trajectory so that I could keep them tailing me and pick them off one by one.

    I almost sensed it too late.

    Despite my [Animal Sight] and [Wild Bond], and despite my well-honed psychic senses, the creature that came from above nearly took me by surprise. I barely felt it before it emerged from the mist overhead, diving just behind my position so that the bulk of its shadow didn¡¯t fall over me right away.

    I sensed it just before it left the mists: the largest wyvern I had ever seen, easily ten times the size of any I¡¯d fought on these peaks.

    A behemoth.

    It was diving fast, much faster than it could recover from. I called up a sudden surge of air to launch myself forward and up, certain that once it was past me it wouldn¡¯t be able to give chase.

    A great shadow fell across me as the wyvern spread its broad wings, which were so large that without the aide of magic they might have buckled and broken under the sudden wall of air that they gathered. Instead, it beat them downward, sending out a concussive wave of wind along with a low sound of thunder. It wasn¡¯t enough to stop the creature¡¯s fall, but I had to draw my windsleeve tight to keep the wave of resulting air from knocking me out of the sky and deafening me.

    At the same time, I pulled in my sail and dove for an outcrop rock that rose below me, intending to land only briefly and launch myself further into the air with a surge-fueled leap. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    As I made for the ledge, I watched the behemoth plummet toward the peaks with my gaze. Beating its wings once against the momentum of its fall had been an incredible feat for a creature its size, but it still hadn¡¯t been enough to stop it from crashing into the slopes below¡ªjust enough to drastically slow it.

    The wyvern struck the stony slopes, and the whole mountain seemed to tremble beneath me as the air filled with the earsplitting sound of shattering stone. But to my amazement, it didn¡¯t slump there, bowed under the force of its own weight, but rather crouched inside the billowing cloud of dust and sprang back into the air with an impossibly mighty leap.

    I struck the stone outcrop ahead of me and did the same, focusing hard to use as much of my [Surge Pool] as I could to bound into the air, then gathering my windsleeve and filling my sail.

    I was still in a primeval convergence, and there were two more wyverns diving for me, so I launched myself forward rather than straight upward, fearful that they could adjust their trajectories with their [Air Magick] and knock me from the sky.

    I had expected that the behemoth, which was far too close behind me for comfort, wouldn¡¯t be able to outpace me if I simply filled my sail and ran. But to my shock, the wyvern spread its wings, filled them with wind using its [Air Magick], and began to gain on me.

    But how? I had to wonder this as the creature closed the distance between us. A high level and a strong [Behemoth] skill might explain it¡¯s having the [Strength] to leap from the mountainside and the lightness to fly at all, but wyverns were physically-oriented. It shouldn¡¯t have had the massive mana pool it needed to manage all this air magic.

    The slope of the mountain had dropped away below us, and I dove into the open air, hoping to pull it into a dive after me and then rapidly ascend. It couldn¡¯t burn mana like this forever, and even if it could, I doubted that it could ascend as fast as I did. I just needed to be sure that I had outpaced the overhead wyverns, needed to know for a certainty that I could ascend safely¡­.

    The behemoth dove after me, releasing the gathered air beneath its wings to cut toward me on an intercept course.

    Then it surprised me again, drawing a massive quantity of air beneath its wings, sucking me backward in the sudden wind-tide and yanking at my sail, threatening to disorient me and send me spinning¡ªwhich in current circumstances would surely mean a fall.

    I exerted my [Air Magic], steadying myself inside a firm bubble of air and pushing forward to escape its pull, tugging my skysail nearer so that I could quickly dive away from it, knowing as I did that with that much air under its wings, it would struggle to shed altitude and give chase.

    But then I heard a sound like thunder as it flapped its wings with enormous force, sending the air it had gathered and compressed beneath them forward in a powerful wave. Again I held fast to my windsleeve, letting the wave of concussive force be absorbed by the outside of my pocket of held air, but the wyvern was so close that I was still battered by the force of the gale.

    I tilted in the air, righted myself, then surged forward again. But I¡¯d lost too much velocity recovering, and the wyvern had almost completely overtaken me, the shadow of its body darkening the sky overhead.

    It drew closer, and I tried to surge forward to escape it, but it had enveloped my own, smaller claim within its more massive one, and I was stuck within a small bubble of air that was itself being held back by the gale-force winds of the wyvern.

    I hissed, then pushed my mana into the air before me as if to construct a lightning bolt¡ªonly instead of making a bolt, I simply used my mana to create a channel of claim that bored through the claim of the great wyvern. With a blast of air that consumed almost all my remaining mana, I catapulted myself forward and out of the reach of its talons.

    ?¡ªMana 281 / 1940, 45% Primeval

    I heard the sound of thunder behind me once again, but I didn¡¯t try to resist the oncoming buffeting wind: instead I pulled my sail tight, spun in the air, then released it just as the wave of wind struck me, surging my [Aegis] to keep my eardrums from bursting.

    My sail caught and I was thrown backward, using my [Air Magick] to keep myself swept up in the wave of air for as long as I could, throwing myself far away from the wyvern before pulling away in a dive that angled me toward the ground.

    The wyvern dove after me, but it was too big: I could fall much faster with the wind behind me. A surge of relief filled me as I saw that the distance between us was growing as I plummeted toward the rocky slopes beneath us.

    Then the wyvern managed to surprise me again. I sensed the oncoming rocks not as rocks, but by the negative impression that they left in the air around them as they whistled through the air toward me. I threw my windsleeve backward to try and divert their course, but it wasn¡¯t enough: two heavy stones impacted me a moment later, one in the small of my back and the other along my shoulder, sending explosions of pain through my body as I went spinning through the air, my skysail alternating between filling with air and being pressed flat against my back, my trajectory staggered and careening.

    ?¡ª Mana 121/1940, 51% Primeval

    I might have had the mana to right myself and fill my sail again, but I¡¯d have had to slow myself enough to be caught by the oncoming wyvern. Instead I took the fall, bringing my hands up to protect my head while I focused hard on spending as much [Surge Pool] as I could on [Aegis] and struck the jagged rocks of the slope beneath me.

    More jarring than the impact against a steep mountain-slope was the thought that struck my mind as I rolled: that this behemoth wyvern had just shot me down using earthen projectiles that it had probably stored in its mouth, likely ripping them from the mountainside when it had landed there. It knocked me from the air tactically, using a series of well-played maneuvers. There was a feral artistry to its excellent use of air magic¡ªand a rather serious question raised by the fact that it had been able to throw stones at all.

    I stumbled to my feet, then leapt forward as the wyvern came crashing down overtop of of me, flaring its wings and sending out another wave of air that struck me just after I¡¯d landed, throwing me forward and sending me tumbling down the slopes once again.

    I tried to right myself, pushing off the ground with one arm and then pushing myself back down to the slope with a burst of air magic¡­.

    The wyvern leapt forward on all fours, shaking the earth as it landed just behind me and causing me to stumble, almost losing my footing. It snapped at me with its jaws and I leapt backward and to one side, its maw just barely missing me as flecks of poisonous spit splashed across my face and body.

    Its tail came for me a moment later, coming down in an overhead stroke, and I rolled out of the way, then leapt further down the mountain as the tail-tip shattered the stones where I¡¯d been standing.

    The wyvern launched the stones kicked up by its tail a moment later, sending each through the air with enough force to crack my skull or at least send crashing down to the earth, but I dodged them with a few well-placed bounds, my instincts well-honed when it came to sensing trajectories and avoiding missiles.

    Then I was sprinting full-tilt down the mountain, my pace slowed by the fact that I had to fall another ten meters every time I needed to take a step. It didn¡¯t matter¡ªthe wyvern chased me, but it couldn¡¯t match my speed on the ground, not when I combined flight with the power in my legs. Even when it filled its wings and tried to lunge for me, I surged my [Strength], leapt into the air, and pushed myself out of its reach, then pushed myself back to the ground to keep sprinting.

    I didn¡¯t dare stop to fight it. Even if I¡¯d had all my mana, and even if I wasn¡¯t in the middle of a primeval convergence, I¡¯d have to leave for the simple reason that this thing¡¯s acidic breath could likely eat through my already torn skysail in seconds, leaving me both without my main way of maneuvering in battle against it and without half my means of retreat.

    I ran down the side of the mountain for almost a minute with the behemoth chasing me, occasionally having to adjust my course to avoid the other wyverns or a landbound predator. Eventually I ran through the cover of a small copse of trees, then out into the more level cover of the plain.

    There, with my wind at my back and my legs thundering against the ground, I finally overtook the flying behemoth, speeding away from it and out of the shadow of the massive peak.

    I¡¯d have to come back later.

 2.17: The Wind Gives Warning

    Some time later, after making sure that behemoth wasn¡¯t following me, I landed atop the snowy summit of the next-nearest mountain, the place where I¡¯d fought the second ice-throwing lizard. It was as high as I would be able to manage for now¡ªI couldn¡¯t risk the behemoth interrupting me if I played my pipes on its slopes.

    Hoping that this would be high enough, I sat and began to play the same sort of music I had earlier: a mercurial, distracted rhythm that moved quickly from theme to theme. Very soon I had drawn an air elemental to myself, and much like yesterday I had to teach it not to push me lest it lose the music that had drawn it in the first place. More joined it as the minutes passed, until once again I was at the center of many elementals playing with patterns and streamers of air.

    I played for perhaps twenty minutes, until I noticed one of the mana-forms that began acting differently from the others. It circled me many times, swooped through the manipulated currents of air around me, then alighted on the icy shelf behind me and began to gather snow.

    It became a small flurry of wind-captured snowflakes, then slowly began to take shape, becoming an imperfect, blurred imitation of me. As I watched, the form became more refined, until I was looking at an elf-shaped snowstorm.

    Slowly, I raised the hand not holding my pipes. The air elemental raised its hand in turn, mirroring me.

    I stepped forward, crossing half the distance between us and reaching out to it. Again it mirrored me, moving its snow-filled body forward and reaching out to touch my hand, tickling me with a light puff of cool air.

    I relinquished my claim on the air around me, letting go of the envelope that protected me. In a moment, the air elemental had enveloped me, tousling my hair and blanketing my skin, then whistling through the pipes I was holding to create an erratic series of notes. It filled my tortoiseshell sail, pulling it out from my back, then relaxing its hold when it became clear it was going to topple me over.

    It returned to its earlier position once its inspection was done, gathering more snow to make another imitation of an elf.

    I would have needed [Elemental Telepathy] to communicate with it more directly, like I had with Palefang. But even without it I had more than mere music and gestures¡ªI had the Verse. Even if two creatures don¡¯t share a language, they could reference classes and aspects to share them with one another. It wasn¡¯t a perfect form of communication: even creatures who do share languages can¡¯t agree on whether [Weave] should be called [Order] and [Fray] [Chaos], or whether a [Firedancer] is a [Pyromancer] and the [Fire Magick] skill is really [Pure Fire]. The exact phrasing used in Verse-words wasn¡¯t communicated, only their concepts.

    The air elemental dispersed their elven form, then moved back nearly twenty feet, reforming. I followed them, still playing my pipes as other, unintelligent elementals danced around me.

    The elemental dispersed again, reforming nearby yet again. Again, I followed them, and we repeated this process several times until they had led me down to the edge of a small, frozen pool that had gathered in a crevice on the mountain¡¯s surface. Once there, they became a gust that brushed away the layer of fine snow that rested atop the icy surface.

    Then they began to draw.

    Their control of air was so fine that it was seemingly easy for them to pick up huge bunches of snow and pack it into thin lines on the ice. They drew a simplistic triangle first, followed by several more, larger triangles in a line, and I realized that they were drawing mountains.

    Then they drew the mists, layers that grew thicker and further apart as they rose, as lines of scattered snow, the last of which was high above any of the mountaintops.

    They paused for a moment as if to examine their handicraft, then carefully drew me as an abstract set of lines, one arm raised in greeting, atop one of the peaks. I peered at this diagram. What were they trying to tell me, show me?

    ¡°That¡¯s me,¡± I said, pointing to the strange figure and then pointing to myself.

    The air elemental gave a whistle, increasing in pitch. Then they kept drawing¡ªputting another figure like me beneath the lowest lair of mist. They made the same whistle, which I took to be an affirmative.

    Were they saying they knew that I¡¯d brought other elves? Or that I belonged in the lowest lair, on the ground?

    But they kept drawing, putting another little figure in the layer above it and whistling another affirmative. They did the same for the third space beneath the mists, the one below the one we now stood in, below the mists that shrouded the peaks.

    Then they paused. Finally they drew me midair in the fourth layer¡ªthe one we now occupied. Except the whistle they made was different now, descending in pitch. They whistled, then scattered the snow they¡¯d used to make the little figure.

    ¡°Ah,¡± I said, realizing what they were trying to communicate. I drew my knife, then stepped into their diagram, moving slowly so as not to disturb the snow they¡¯d already placed. I drew the same small figure they had used to represent me, scratching it into the ice¡ªthen I drew a jagged line leading away from it. ¡°[Lightning],¡± I said.

    The elemental whistled in the affirmative¡ªonly this time, in their whistle the Verse conveyed meaning. [Lightning].

    I drew the same figure in the higher layer, and the same jagged line. Again, the elemental gave me the affirmative. There was only one thing that it could mean.

    The skies here were ruled by a storm lord.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    My heart sank. It wasn¡¯t good news. My new friend had likely discerned the purpose of my tortoiseshell sail when they had almost tugged me over, then realized that they needed to warn me against flying too high.

    I couldn¡¯t ask them to return with me. Even the slightest chance that they might return to the storm lord with knowledge of our colony was too great a risk. But there were many other things it might tell me, and many things that I could tell it.

    I moved across the diagram until I stood above the highest layer of mist that they had drawn. There, I drew a circle before casting a spell to fill it with a soft orb of light. ¡°[Behemoth] [Light],¡± I said, looking down at the sphere, then up into the sky, trying to make it a question.

    The elemental whistled in the affirmative, then reached a snow-filled finger of air down to my light, touched it, and moved the finger above the highest mist-layer in a gentle arc.

    ¡°[Behemoth] [Light] [Weave] [Time],¡± I said, drawing the same arc. When the path of my hand reached the upper mist layer, bringing the arc of their sun to its conclusion at the horizon, I said: ¡°[Dark] [Time].¡±

    The elemental paused, seeming to consider this. It was likely trying to interpret what I¡¯d said: [Dark] could mean both the absence of light as well as anything that was hidden. But some aspects, like [Melee], didn¡¯t find easy homes in language: [Melee] meant both a close-quarters attack and the weapons that were used for that purpose.

    Combined with the fact that I had likely used the names of aspects that this elemental had never encountered, it was probably taking some time just to figure out what I¡¯d said.

    Slowly, it indicated the snow-drawn sun. [Behemoth] [Light] [Weave] [Time], it said, whistling the affirmative. Then it gestured to the layers of mist in sequence, starting from the uppermost to the bottom. [Air] [Water] [Mana] [Weave] [Time].

    I blinked. The mists were changing with the course of the sun, something we¡¯d more or less put together already. I pointed to the layer of mist that was on level with the colony¡¯s cave. ¡°[Change],¡± I said.

    The elemental whistled the affirmative.

    I frowned. How to get it to understand that I was asking it questions when it had no reason to understand the tone of my voice?

    I moved off the diagram, then moved far away from it¡ªalmost twenty five meters to the other end of the pool. Then I cleared the snow from the ice and drew another set of different mountains, and another sun which I lit with a magically conjured orb of light.

    I didn¡¯t want to tell it the [World] aspect. It might report everything it saw of me to our local storm lord. Whether a storm lord would know of the [World] aspect or not, I couldn¡¯t say, but knowledge of the [World] aspect was not something I wanted to share with an unknown entity, given that it was probably the most powerful aspect I¡¯d ever seen. Sharing knowledge of it was like sharing knowledge of the [Primeval Champion] class.

    But [Plural] would likely suffice to convey my meaning. ¡°[Plural] [Behemoth] [Light],¡± I said, indicating my second sun. I drew another little figure representing myself, then pointed to it, then my chest. ¡°[Warp],¡± I said. ¡°[Change] [Earth], [Change] [Air], [Change] [Behemoth] [Light]¡ª[Warp]....¡± And I ran over to the first diagram, pointing to the figure that represented me on the mountaintop. ¡°[Warp],¡± I repeated.

    Then, hoping that an air elemental would understand now that I¡¯d come from another world, I gestured to myself and said: ¡°[Dark] [Mind]. [Change] [Mind] [Light].¡±

    The elemental was quiet for a time. Finally the wind around me whistled. The snow-filled air spiralled around the orb of light that I¡¯d used to denote our old sun. [Plural] [Behemoth] [Light].

    I took it for a question, and played the affirmative on my pipes, a set of notes rising in pitch.

    After that, using reference to the aspects we¡¯d already established, gestures, and more diagrams, the elemental communicated quite clearly with me. The mists¡ª[Air] [Water] [Mana], as it were, kept regular time. When the sun was in the sky, the uppermost layer turned white. When night came, the uppermost layer turned red. The layers below all changed a set time after the layer above them, an interval which went down as one descended through the layers and the distance between them decreased.

    Despite the fact that I¡¯d seen a deeper, sixth layer earlier that day, the air elemental knew nothing of it¡ªwhich made sense, I supposed. They were not often found in the deepest of ravines, air elementals.

    The mist layers never dispersed, and they stretched very, very far¡ªpossibly the whole of the world. It seemed unbelievable to me. I didn¡¯t even know what sort of implications this would have, but I was fairly sure it should have drastically affected the world¡¯s overall temperature. I knew that most worlds accessed through the River of Realms just so happened to feature climates that were precisely balanced to favor life, a fact which led to all sorts of theories about the River itself¡­ but I¡¯d never heard of a world like this one, before.

    Storm lords were everywhere, each managing their own territories, often coming into clashes with one another but almost never fighting to the death. Intelligent elementals were not their subjects, but could be called upon to pay a toll of keys if they were found passing through their aerial territory.

    The elemental knew of other intelligent life: other air elementals, the storm lords and their emissaries, and bird that it drew for me, a creature they had met many, many thousands of days ago that had used [Elemental Telepathy] to communicate with them. It drew other creatures that it had heard of, but not met¡ªa tortoise, a serpent, and a strange bundle of tendrils whose form I didn¡¯t recognize.

    They knew that the mountain peaks that stretched out around us grew taller in one direction and shorter in the other, and that the nearby mist-piercing tusk was the tallest of them. They also knew that massive ravines, such as the one that led to the swamp, were ubiquitous among these mountains. They had seen a sea before, water stretching as far as sight allowed, and they had seen a volcano before, a mountain spewing a plume of smoke as high as the sky, a force that had killed many air elementals¡ªbut that was far from here, not these mountains.

    They were firm in making it clear that siphoning [Air] aspects was, in a sense, illegal: the storm lord would not be pleased if he learned of this, and my [Air] aspects, they indicated, had come from the death of other beings, which was permissible. Whether they believed this, or were simply indicating what my story should be now that I knew the law, I couldn¡¯t say. But they were clear in indicating that they wanted me to retain my [Life]¡ªand so my air aspects had not been siphoned, but hunted for.

    Eventually I indicated that I needed to leave. I told them that I would return in a day¡¯s time, at the current hour, and play them more music but also bring [Elemental Telepathy]. They indicated that they would go and tell other intelligent elementals they had met me: that many would like to hear the music. I gave no objection to this.

    As I left, they didn¡¯t follow me. I had a feeling they knew why I didn¡¯t want them to: they hadn¡¯t asked me if there were more of me, or where I lived. They understood, I think, that I had heeded their very first warning.

    And I had. I was a master of lighting, after all¡ªI knew to be afraid of a storm lord.

 2.18: Lords of Wind and Lightning

    ¡°We need to decide what to do,¡± I said to the gathered high council. ¡°Whether to try and make contact with this storm lord, or no.¡±

    I was back in the cave speaking with the high council, minus Valir. I had explained everything regarding my meeting with the air elemental, and my promise to return. We stood in a small circle in the cave¡¯s main chamber, near Hassina¡¯s ever-growing slate of numbers.

    ¡°And Valir doesn¡¯t need to be here?¡± Seriana asked.

    Zirilla laughed. ¡°He¡¯ll just agree with Aziriel. There¡¯s no need to call him back.¡±

    ¡°All right then,¡± said Hassina. ¡°But just a note before we start.¡±

    ¡°Go ahead,¡± I told her.

    ¡°Obviously, Mirio is very young and probably doesn¡¯t even know the full implications of the storm lord¡¯s presence,¡± said Hassina. ¡°We should explain it all to him just so we¡¯re all caught up.¡±

    ¡°Actually,¡± Mirio said, not seeming to have taken offense at all. ¡°I¡¯m quite familiar with skyborne elemental mechanics¡ªyou need to be, to be a archdruid.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s joking, Mirio,¡± I said. ¡°She¡¯s in need of the lesson herself.¡± I glanced at Hassina. Smiled. ¡°She¡¯s only three hundred, after all.¡±

    ¡°¡ªand twenty,¡± Hassina added, somewhat reminding me of a small child who was proud to add a half-year to their age.

    ¡°It won¡¯t take long to explain,¡± said Zirilla. She turned to Hassina. ¡°Air and water elementals degrade quickly as a consequence of their fluid forms. This means they have short life span, but they can extend that life span by consuming skill keys. They can coalesce [Air] out of air that¡¯s abundant with aspect, just like we can, but when the aspect of [Air] starts to thin, only the intelligent ones can figure out how to siphon it and take more. When we discovered that the atmosphere had been siphoned of its aspect, we figured there were intelligent air elementals, here.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a lot of elementals,¡± Hassina said, her eyes widening.

    ¡°Likely many hundreds of millions,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°And my guess is that perhaps ten million or more of them intelligent.¡± She shrugged. ¡°Who knows? They are no threat to us, really: it¡¯s not in their nature to form societies, draw borders, or dominate others. Aziriel knew we¡¯d find the air elementals, but what she and I have really been worried about are storm lords.¡±

    ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that we¡¯re in the worst-case scenario,¡± Hassina said.

    Zirilla nodded. ¡°For a storm lord to arise, you need a stable, intelligent elemental of air and lightning that survives long enough to dominate, then cultivates a population of more air and lightning elementals over time, slowly spreading their presence across the skies.¡± She made a vague gesture, seemingly unsure of how to explain what came next. ¡°Lightning elementals tend to consume themselves within milliseconds of forming. We¡¯re not really sure about this next part, but the leading theory is that extraordinary circumstances can lead to a lightning elemental stabilizing as an elemental of lightning and air. One forms, throws itself randomly¡ªwhich is what they do¡ªand manages to hit some high-essence target, kills it, then changes into something more stable by taking a new class the instant before it finishes consuming itself.¡±

    Zirilla shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s a set of events that have a freakishly small chance of occurring. But with a lot of atmosphere, and a lot of time¡­ the prevailing theory in the old realms is that this has happened once, on Teriax. All storm lords that we know of can be traced back to that realm.¡± She fixed Hassina with a significant look. ¡°Bear in mind, though¡ªthis is all just theory. We don¡¯t really know where they come from.¡±

    ¡°All right,¡± Hassina said. ¡°You said they survive long enough to dominate. Will they always dominate? Even here, with more essence, more mana, seemingly different possibilities for life?¡±

    Zirilla nodded. ¡°I see no reason why not. [Lightning] is too great an advantage, and the mana-dense air will make it stronger. Once a stable elemental can throw lighting, the others stand no chance against them. Air elementals are made of air and mana. The air offers no defense against lightning, which eats the mana as fuel. Beasts of the sky may fare a little better, but also have no offense capable of harming a creature made of pure air. Hence, wherever they are found, storm lords rule the skies.¡±

    Hassina listened to all of this, her expression become graver as she looked around at all our faces. ¡°And we¡¯re not going to be changing that, I take it.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Zirilla and I both said at once. But it was her area: I nodded for her to speak.

    ¡°Aziriel has fought a storm lord three times without the aide of one of the manahearts,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°She won once. And these were not the elementals of this world, which is drowning in power. Against powerful elementals, we must rely on the mages.¡±

    Archmage Seriana let out a humorless note of laughter. ¡°And we can¡¯t bind a storm lord. Not in our current state, and never permanently.¡± She looked at me. ¡°Even if we had the strength to bind one enough that it could be seriously harmed or destroyed, Zirilla made it clear that there will be more. In my experience they are hierarchical when it comes to species¡ªeven the natural rivalries that develop between storm lords will be set aside to punish us if we dare to kill one of them. The whole of their race would see cause to reassert the proper order of things.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­.¡± Hassina worked her mouth, frowned, apparently at a loss to comment.

    ¡°That¡¯s where we are,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°We need the air keys, but we can¡¯t coalesce them. And while we may trade the air elementals for them, to do so will draw the attention of a being with enough power to utterly destroy us¡ªa being whose temperament and motives we know very little of.¡±

    ¡°But not nothing,¡± said Seriana. ¡°The storm lords of other realms have some in common¡ªthough you¡¯d know more on that matter than I, Zirilla.¡±

    ¡°They have a dual nature,¡± Zirilla said. ¡°Split between the carelessness, the curiousness, and the frivolity of air elementals¡ªand the domineering ambition of lightning. This latter temperament is fearsome, but it is again two-sided. Storm lords form hierarchies. Most would see destroying us as beneath them, a sign that they fear creatures from the surface, which they pride themselves in caring little for. Relating to us more as a lord to their subjects would, in my experience, be more satisfactory.¡±Stolen novel; please report.

    ¡°If I may¡­.¡± It was Mirio. All of us turned to him and he seemed to deflate under the attention. ¡°I, ah, only wanted to say that this world is ripe with power. It may well be that these storm lords have more to fear from the surface than any we¡¯ve known, and have adjusted accordingly. Also, if our current theory is that all known storm lords spread forth from the realm of Teriax, and this is true, then the known storm lords might have many commonalities to their nature that we can¡¯t rely on, here.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s right,¡± I said. ¡°There are a lot of unknowns, here.¡±

    ¡°With all that said, I think we should avoid contact,¡± said Seriana. ¡°Even a sliver of a chance that our colony is destroyed is too great.¡±

    Zirilla shook her head. ¡°We¡¯re weak and vulnerable as it is,¡± she said. ¡°Both to disasters, and to monsters. [Air] keys will help us find the safest ground, and hunt the best prey, fastest. [Air] keys would help us dispense with all the other chances the colony gets destroyed.¡±

    ¡°I thought the risk posed by monsters was slim,¡± said Seriana. She didn¡¯t sound accusatory, just curious. ¡°Aziriel was strong enough to kill Palefang, and has only grown stronger since. What exactly are we afraid of, when you say monsters?¡±

    ¡°We are afraid of the things that primeval convergences are made to deter,¡± said Mirio. ¡°Roaming predators, or packs of predators, who have grown strong over time, who move about and kill as they wish, devastating entire ecologies. We don¡¯t know how slim the chance is¡ªwhether Palefang had to frequently hide from a roving beast or not, we can¡¯t say.¡±

    ¡°Hm,¡± said Hassina. ¡°It seems to me that all our fears are chances whose likelihoods we can¡¯t even guess at. Not exactly an ideal position.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Ultimately, we have two options. We can avoid further contact with elementals. We don¡¯t seek to draw the storm lord¡¯s attention, and any further [Air] keys we gain from killing creatures such as the wyverns. Seven and a half thousand [Air 2]¡¯s will meet the needs of the current population when it comes to developing air power.¡±

    ¡°Which at the current rate,¡± Hassina said. ¡°Is twenty three and a half thousand wyverns.¡±

    Mirio was shaking his head. ¡°Even using the most generous estimates for population per peak, and allowing for total depletion of populations, that¡¯s still a great many mountains to scour. And I don¡¯t see us finding many other options¡ªour being so near to mountains covered in [Air 2] keys already feels like a fortunate happenstance. We can¡¯t expect to find them in the forests or the swamps.¡±

    ¡°Hunting the peaks is also a dangerous proposition,¡± I said. ¡°Palefang deliberately culled any threats to his dominance that arose on this mountain. The other mountains will bear stronger beasts, be further from our settlement, and potentially lie under the skies of more hostile storm lords. The creatures I met even today made one thing clear to me: the windcallers we send ranging into new territories will need more than just basic flight, more than just the skills needed to keep them in the air permanently. They¡¯ll need to be fast, and have deterrents in the case of attack.¡±

    ¡°Normally I¡¯d suggest going higher,¡± said Zirilla. She shook her head. ¡°But you said that by the storm lord¡¯s decree, they need to fly beneath the third mist layer¡ªthicker air, closer to the ground, more predators.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Our second option, then, is that we try to stick to what the plan would be if there were no storm lord. We arrange a concert, hoping to negotiate for [Air] keys. But we take precautions in case of attack.¡±

    ¡°Given what I know, that¡¯s the option I favor,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°For one thing, the air elementals themselves can freely gather their own [Air] keys, and at least some of them will be willing to trade for music, I¡¯m sure. For another, even with all the unknowns, I still don¡¯t think that the storm lord will wish to destroy us. If Aziriel makes her rendezvous tomorrow, she can probe to determine this storm lord¡¯s personality.¡±

    ¡°A domineering lord can be negotiated with,¡± I said, thinking. ¡°Our interests can be made to align, and their ego satiated. A capricious and temperamental lord wouldn¡¯t be ideal, but could still work for us.¡± I shook my head. ¡°No, it¡¯s paranoia that I think we have to fear. A paranoid storm lord can¡¯t have long-term relations with a growing civilization. He will look upon us someday and, in a flash of sudden fear at our progress, seek to destroy us.¡±

    ¡°All right, then,¡± said Seriana. ¡°I still have my reservations, but knowledge is our best defense, and I at least see that we have a great deal of this new world to scout and assess before we can truly feel secure. If Zirilla and Aziriel are for it, so am I.¡±

    ¡°Then Fireesha will make me an artifact of [Elemental Telepathy],¡± I said, nodding. ¡°And I¡¯ll go ahead with the plan.¡±

    ¡°One more thing,¡± Zirilla said, eying me. ¡°I¡¯d say it bears mentioning now.¡±

    I knew what she was getting at. She nodded to me, apparently considering this my area of expertise, not hers¡ªthough whether that was because I was foremost in the current, temporary high council and decider of civic matters, or foremost in powers of lightning, I couldn¡¯t say.

    ¡°We don¡¯t share our secrets of lightning,¡± I said. ¡°We don¡¯t allude to them, either. The storm lords will easily assume that we have nothing to teach them of their own great weaponry¡ªand this isn¡¯t an assumption we will correct. If we should furnish the lord of these skies with new powers that draw the attentions of his territorial kin, we could find ourselves objects of their desire¡ªand at the center of a devastating war for territory. For now my lightning is nothing impressive, but more aspects, more skills, and I¡¯ll have powers I won¡¯t wish to use above the mist layers.¡±

    ¡°Obviously that command is more for the elementalists than for everyone,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°But it¡¯s best to be clear on the policy from the first.¡± She paused, seemed to consider something, then turned to Hassina. ¡°You know that if everything goes according to plan, it¡¯s all going to fall on you, your holiness?¡±

    ¡°That much has been made clear,¡± Hassina said coolly.

    Zirilla¡¯s expression became a challenge. ¡°And you have no issue with this¡ªthis, too, is an occasion that warrants your courage?¡±

    I frowned, glancing over at Zirilla. Her voice had held a note of casual hostility to it.

    Hassina¡¯s face was statuesque. ¡°I will see to my duties, as always.¡±

    It was Hassina¡¯s story, I realized. Zirilla was angry at her for telling the tale of Narana at Ithmel Bel.

    I felt the corner of my mouth twitch with displeasure. Was this something I would have to deal with?

    ¡°Not just her,¡± I said, moving past the problem for now. ¡°Seriana as well. In the event of a concert and negotiations, we need the mages to compose a binding spell meant to hold the storm lord long enough that our people can retreat as the colony is led deeper into the earth.¡±

    ¡°Storing the mana could be seen as a threat,¡± Seriana said. ¡°But if can access the site beforehand, we can build a conduit from mana wells underground. As for the spell¡­ we¡¯re only going to be able to do so much.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll only need a few moments to pull the orchestra back into the tunnels,¡± I said. ¡°If need be, a carven shaft with some windcallers at the bottom will have to do.¡±

    ¡°At this point we¡¯re getting into minutiae,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°The plan is set for now, and we¡¯re all busy enough as it is.¡± She turned to me. ¡°Dismissed?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but you stay,¡± I said. ¡°I need you and Hassina for a moment.¡±

    Zirilla seemed to hesitate as the others took off. She spared an impatient glance toward the high priest. ¡°What is it, Aziriel?¡±

    Her worry was unfounded¡ªI didn¡¯t want to talk about the story, not yet at least. I smiled. ¡°I said earlier that I met some creatures that left me worried. Really, it was only one creature.¡±

    Zirilla eyed me¡ªand as realization dawned on her face, she slowly matched my smile. ¡°Aziriel.¡±

    I returned her smile. ¡°You and I are going on a hunt.¡±

 2.19: Now is the Time for Confrontation

    ¡°There¡¯s a problem with this idea,¡± Zirilla said, crossing her arms. ¡°It¡¯s that I¡¯m level 17.¡±

    I¡¯d told her and Hassina about the behemoth wyvern, and told them that I intended Zirilla to come and help me kill it.

    She was the natural choice. My bow wouldn¡¯t do anything, [Surge Pool] or no. It was simply too big; its armor plating was thicker in some places than my arrows were long.

    This was a hunt that would need to be done with lightning, and strong lightning at that. Zirilla and I had been working together double up our bolts for a long time. She was the perfect choice.

    I¡¯d thought about bringing a few of the stormcallers, but I didn¡¯t want to confront it with more than two of us. If things went badly, even for a moment, every warrior in the field would be someone I¡¯d have to rush to defend. One target was the least risk, especially Zirilla. She was a better flyer than I was.

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking we should get you to twenty two,¡± I said. ¡°Twenty five, if we can manage it by the end of the day and the enchanters can prepare something for the extra binding.¡±

    ¡°Twenty two is possible, I think,¡± Zirilla. ¡°Twenty five? I¡¯m not so sure.¡±

    Zirilla¡¯s class was fourth tier. Beyond tenth level, a class granted a skill core every ten minus its tier levels. Hence I gained a skill every five levels, Zirilla every six¡ªtwenty two was her next. [Bestow], however, increased every five levels for everyone.

    ¡°We can do it at twenty two,¡± I said. ¡°But the added [Bestow] will be a help.¡±

    ¡°Is there a reason to rush that I¡¯m unaware of?¡± asked Hassina, looking between us. ¡°Why do you need to do this today?¡±

    ¡°With the essence we gain from the hunt, we¡¯ll have everyone at their level limit by the time we bed down,¡± I explained. ¡°The night will pass in greater safety, and in the morning we can start sending our windcallers into the mountains to explore possible settlement locations without having to worry about the behemoth. Whereas If we wait until tomorrow, we have to do the hunt tomorrow¡ªand the whole schedule is pushed back. The cost of making the attempt is that Zirilla and I leave for more than an hour or so to go there, fight, and come back¡ªthe worst outcome, realistically, is that we have to retreat.¡±

    ¡°Another day will make you both stronger,¡± said Hassina. ¡°Could bolster some of the stormcallers¡­.¡± She saw Zirilla shaking her head and stopped.

    ¡°Aziriel¡¯s right to just want one partner for this,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°She stays in front, keeps it occupied, and aims the bolts. I stay behind and function as a glorified mana and lightning reserve, and swoop in to rescue her if things really go south. It¡¯s a lot harder to coordinate even three lightning callers than it is two, and there¡¯s a much greater risk from added bodies. Two is how we do it if we want a safe opening to retreat.¡±

    ¡°And you agree that we should do this¡­ today? It feels¡­ overeager.¡±

    Zirilla scowled. ¡°Is this also in the realm of your duties, your holiness? If you feel it¡¯s in poor judgement, I¡¯m not sure what can change your mind if being gainsaid by myself and Lux Irovex isn¡¯t enough.¡±

    More frustrations on account of Hassina¡¯s story. ¡°Zirilla,¡± I said, letting a little iron into my voice.

    Zirilla sighed, looking down for a moment, then back up at Hassina. ¡°My apologies, your holiness. My remark was¡­ unsuited to our stations.¡±

    Hassina gave a light nod and spoke with an airy, quiet voice. ¡°Think nothing of it, Zirilla. Your point was reasonable, and is taken. You two have the right of it.¡±

    Zirilla sighed. Then she looked around at the cave, frowning. ¡°I want to get out of here,¡± she said. ¡°Get us all out of here, I mean. I¡¯m too worried about flooding,¡± she said. ¡°Aerial superpredators too, and anything from the deeper parts of the earth¡­ but mostly just rain and the elementals it could bring. The faster we can get out of this cave, the better¡ªand if I can get to twenty five today¡­.¡± She shrugged. ¡°I doubt I can hit level thirty tomorrow. You know how much harder it gets to raise limit, and Aziriel¡¯s won¡¯t come faster than mine. It¡¯s not going to make much difference for us to wait another day, but it could make a difference to strike fast. It¡¯s going to shave a whole day off the time it takes to get our scouts into those mountains.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re both sure, then,¡± Hassina said. ¡°What do you need?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll need to pack me full of some stronger keys,¡± said Zirilla, nodding. ¡°Get me enough [Air] skills to make up for my relatively smaller attribute pool so that I can fly as fast as Aziriel.¡±

    ¡°We may be lacking in some of the keys,¡± Hassina said.

    ¡°I can kill things,¡± I said pointedly.

    ¡°Oh¡ªwe know, Aziriel,¡± said Hassina.

    ¡°I meant that I can go get us any keys we¡¯re lacking,¡± I said. ¡°But with the basketful of boons I just gave you, her [Air] and [Body] needs should be covered. We just might need some [Mana] and [Surge]. Do you mind if she uses your slate?¡±

    Hassina¡¯s eyes flicked over to Zirilla, her expression protective. ¡°I¡¯ll find a place,¡± she said. ¡°We can use small lettering.¡±

    Very soon Zirilla had begun listing her needed skills on a small patch of Hassina¡¯s writing space.

    !¡ªZirilla¡¯s Skills:

    0: [Elemental Power 20]

    2: [Lightning Magick 7]

    4: [Earth Magick 8]

    6: [Air Magick 13]

    8: [Kite¡¯s Grace 13]

    10: [Wind¡¯s Grace 8] > [Avian Grace 8]

    ¡°I¡¯ll need keys to upgrade my [Air Magick],¡± she said. ¡°But it needs to be done. Other than that, more flying, some mana, and a defense against those rocks that Aziriel mentioned¡ªit¡¯ll be lethal if one hits me. Keep the [Kite¡¯s Grace] I¡¯ve got already, because other aerial skills don¡¯t compare. Replace my [Fire Magick] with another air skill. [Wind¡¯s Grace] if we have the keys, [Avian Grace] if not. Other than that:¡±

    16: [Wind Drinker 13]

    22: [Earthen Might]

    ¡°Keep [Wind Drinker], obviously, because the mana in the air here is so dense. I kept [Earth Magick] so that we can add [Earthen Might]. As high as we can get it. [Strength] is movement on the ground, and I¡¯ll need [Aegis] for defense if things go wrong. Mostly it¡¯s so that I can sense any rocks that thing throws at me fast enough to dodge.¡±

    [Wind Drinker] was a skill that would help her with flight and allow her to absorb mana from the air, much like my [Primeval Mana Hide]. A thought occurred to me as she mentioned it, one that I felt should have been obvious: the behemoth must have been using such an skill. Perhaps [Wind Drinker], perhaps [Primeval Mana Hide], perhaps something else¡­ but a behemoth with a mana-drinking skill had much more bodily surface area to channel mana through. Surface area was only one part of the skill¡¯s formula for determining how much mana its bearer drank¡­ but still, this thing was likely gathering hundreds or even more than a thousand mana with every beat of its wings.

    ¡°Bindings,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°Mana skills for the lightning, along with an armor skill. I¡¯ve got the first two already:¡±

    B1: [Surging Power]

    B2: [Bountiful Mana]

    B3: [Elemental Channeling]

    B4: [Elemental Armor]

    ¡°[Elemental Channeling] for more [Channel] and potency, and [Elemental Armor] to help maintain the tactical advantages that come with not being dead.¡±Stolen novel; please report.

    ¡°Have you been going around with no [Armor] skill?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°I just make sure there¡¯s people between me and anything I attack,¡± she explained. Then she shrugged. ¡°I can fly, that¡¯s a form of defense.¡±

    Sometimes it was a wonder to me how Zirilla had survived for so long. ¡°As long as it¡¯s fixed by the time we leave,¡± I said.

    ¡°I think we can do all this,¡± said Hassina.

    ¡°Good,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°The point is essentially to make sure I can fly faster than Aziriel, since having to pull her out is a potential situation. I can shock her awake if she falls unconscious, but that could still leave a few seconds of having to carry her.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to have too much [Source],¡± said Hassina. ¡°Not from skills, at least.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s most of what I¡¯ve leveled since I got here,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°I needed it to keep up with my natural [Channel].¡±

    ¡°She¡¯ll have plenty of time to gather mana into circles,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯ll work.¡±

    ¡°Are we sure we want you with no [Life] skills?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll use yours if I scrape my knees.¡±

    ¡°Exhaustion could set in,¡± I said.

    ¡°I¡¯ll fight tired,¡± she said, laughing. ¡°Were you this soft when I swore my loyalty to you? Poor Aziriel, can¡¯t ascend to the top of the highest mountain and fight a behemoth to death without getting short of breath, needs her [Life Magick] to keep her going.¡± She gave me a meaningful look. ¡°There¡¯s always [Water of Life]. You could carry the gourd, you know.¡±

    I scowled. ¡°I¡¯m not carrying the gourd just to potentially save your life.¡± I turned to Hassina. ¡°If we¡¯re done with her, I¡¯ll be soaking up some spare keys too. [Air Magick] from 9 to 14, if we have the keys. [Lightning Magick] on both of us needs whatever [Elemental] keys we can spare. And if we still have any past that, my [Elemental Power] could use an upgrade.¡±

    ¡°The last one is pushing it,¡± said Hassina. ¡°But the rest I think we can manage. Give me a moment and I¡¯ll send you out with a list of what I need.¡±

    ¡°Anything else?¡± Zirilla asked. ¡°I¡¯ve got to get going if I want to hit 25.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°For one, consider overwriting your [Fire Magick] now, with an [Armor] skill, so that you can push yourself harder by being more comfortable with risk.¡±

    Zirilla frowned. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea,¡± she said, crossing her arms and looking mildly annoyed about it.

    ¡°Second,¡± I said. I looked between them, then sighed. ¡°We¡¯ll just do this now: you two have a problem and I don¡¯t like it. Surely a walk in the mists together or a shared meal could burn away any acrimoniousness either of you is feeling.¡±

    Zirilla stiffened. ¡°Neither of us is failing in our duties, Aziriel. I see no reason to treat a little cool air as anything but that¡ªair.¡±

    ¡°And you, Hassina?¡±

    Hassina¡¯s eyes were locked on Zirilla¡¯s. ¡°I swore to the gods and the elves that I would do a duty, and I have done it. I¡¯d rather bear cool air than have her hide her feelings for your sake.¡±

    ¡°And this is about the story, yes?¡± I asked Zirilla. ¡°I haven¡¯t missed some other obvious source of enmity?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Aziriel,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°This is about the story.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Tell me, then. What is your mind on this matter¡ªand are our people of a mind with you?¡±

    Zirilla turned to me, and didn¡¯t spare so much as a glance at Hassina when my question was finished. ¡°Do you need to ask me this now?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡±

    Zirilla nodded stiffly. ¡°Of course they are of a mind with me¡ªand some, I think, are more hard-hearted about it than I am. There are so many mixed emotions among our people right now, so many complexities of loyalty and fear and hope, that I can¡¯t see what she was possibly hoping to learn or warn of by telling the tale of Narana at Ithmel Bel.¡±

    She¡¯d begun to talk faster, now, pace quickening with anger and frustration. ¡°Was it her intention to sound out those among your followers who would follow you blindly by watching to see who among us grew enraged? We¡¯re all already enraged; everyone we knew just died. Was it her intention to make us second-guess the irrevocable decision to follow you by reminding us that you, you¡ªwith all your years¡ªhave not always been found on the right side of history? It cannot be,¡± she said, voice now trembling with subdued anger, ¡°¡ªcannot be that she wished to remind us that we must all work together by reminding us of Narana¡¯s words. Nothing could have run more counter to the purpose of uniting elvenkind than telling that story.¡±

    I listened to all of this and kept my expression impassive. She had a habit of getting wordier whenever she was emotional, of falling into our more archaic speech patterns. She was a lot like me in that way, Zirilla¡ªjust better at it. ¡°And so we fracture beneath the blow that our Grand Storyteller has told with her single story, on our first night. In a time when we need division the least. You know as well as I that the high elves don¡¯t like to work with us, let alone take orders from us. This colony was always going to be hard on that front¡ªand her story wasn¡¯t helping us with that problem, it was that problem.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± I said, keeping my voice and face impassive. ¡°And the soldiers? The civilians from Ellistara?¡±

    ¡°The civilians are largely even-tempered about it,¡± said Zirilla, seeming to grow calmer. ¡°They follow your lead, which is to do nothing and carry on¡ªto respect the authority of the Grand Storyteller. The soldiers¡ªwell, they¡¯re more loyal to you than to our traditions. Soldiers and their commanders see the hour of tales more as a time for relief¡ªfor jokes and camaraderie, not political maneuvers. The soldiers are now against the high priest. And the young, the unskilled, the unruly¡ªthey say that Hassina¡¯s shadow is¡­ overlong. That the High Priest somehow¡­ oversteps.¡±

    ¡°And have you spoken with any of them on this matter?¡± I asked.

    Zirilla let out a humorless laugh. ¡°Hassina has many gifts. I¡¯ve cast my vote for her, almost unerringly, since she was but a century and a half old. I don¡¯t see the wisdom in this division, but neither do I think she is wise because she merely agrees with me in everything. I tell the fools to bite their tongues, and that the protocol here is clear. They¡¯re disciplined, even if they¡¯re angry, and they¡¯ll obey. It¡¯s mostly been Valir whose been keeping them in order, though, and he¡¯s less gentle about it than I would be.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± I said.

    I¡¯d more or less expected that despite all her frustrations and her bitter remarks, Zirilla wouldn¡¯t tolerate dissent in the ranks. Personal feelings didn¡¯t interfere with her duties¡ªif they had, she wouldn¡¯t be one of my most trusted subordinates.

    ¡°And you?¡± Zirilla asked. ¡°Am I ever going to get to learn your feelings on this, Aziriel?¡±

    ¡°Not today,¡± I said. ¡°That would be all¡ªgo level.¡±

    Zirilla gave a curt nod, then left us.

    It was back to Hassina and I. She eyed me coolly, but said nothing of the conversation I¡¯d just made her witness.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to go hunt the keys we¡¯ll need,¡± I told her. ¡°Is there anything else we should discuss before I go?¡±

    ¡°The orchestra,¡± she said.

    I gave a tilt of my head. I¡¯d expected her to say something about Zirilla, not the music.

    ¡°To be clear,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯re asking me to put together a concert for a group of potentially hostile, overwhelmingly powerful elementals who will decide how useful we are to them based on how well we perform¡ªand might decide to destroy us regardless.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not so bad,¡± I told her. ¡°You¡¯ll have what writings on the subject we¡¯ve brought, and can ply the minds of the elders, Zirilla and I especially. You¡¯ll assemble the proper people and strike the right chord. I¡¯m sure of it.¡±

    ¡°Oh, certainly. But I was picked for my extraordinary talents, not my experience. My guess is that Zirilla has done this before¡ªplayed for the elementals, I mean.¡±

    I gave a small smile. ¡°I know just the remedy for a lack of experience. You are the conductor, your holiness.¡±

    ¡°That I am,¡± she said, flashing me a confident smile. ¡°And yet I wonder if there are, perhaps, less crucial moments to put forth the untested when some of the more, shall we say, vigorously tested are near at hand. Wisdom is, after all, the providence of the divine. Perhaps wisdom speaks now to say that it I ought set aside my ego and allow one with more¡ª¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t,¡± I said flatly. ¡°Wisdom agrees with me, Hassina.¡±

    Hassina worked her mouth, clearly frustrated. ¡°But¡­ I¡¯m the one who speaks with wisdom¡¯s voice,¡± she said. ¡°I am, after all¡ª¡±

    ¡°The high priest,¡± I finished. ¡°And thus the conductor.¡± I fixed her with a look that I meant to be a challenge: either your authority holds in both cases, or in neither. In either case, you¡¯re conducting the orchestra.

    Hassina was quiet a moment. ¡°You can do it,¡± she said at last. ¡°I know you can.¡±

    I gazed back at her. Hassina¡¯s lightheartedness and confidence weren¡¯t false, but they were a kind of alloy between falsehood and truth, between irony and authenticity. It made her warm and welcoming to be around, everyone¡¯s friend. It helped her to alleviate the insecurities of others by turning them into jokes.

    But it was a double-edged sword. Jesters can dance their way through a conversation in such an amusing fashion that it¡¯s easy to miss how much they avoid confronting.

    So what if she was scared? One day¡ªand it might be soon¡ªshe would not only have to withstand the pressures of command because she was ordered to, but elect to put herself in that position all on her own, even in the face of uncertainty.

    And I would burden her with as much uncertainty as I thought she could face, for this.

    ¡°You might fail,¡± I admitted. ¡°Worse, you might fail where another could have succeeded. Worst of all, the consequences for your failure are unthinkable.¡±

    Hassina sagged, looking up at me with eyes that were suddenly tired.

    I could have told her that she had to be comfortable with the full breadth of her authority¡ªthat if she was worried I was accruing too much power, as her story had seemed to suggest, she couldn¡¯t then turn around and rely on me, of all people, to protect her from her duties. But I decided to be gentler.

    ¡°If you should feel like I¡¯ve lit a fire beneath your feet, your holiness,¡± I said, reaching out to clasp her shoulder. My voice hardened. ¡°It¡¯s because I have. Now do as we all must and dance.¡±

 2.20 The Hunt Atop the Summit

    Hours later, Zirilla and I rose through the air to skim the bottom of the darkening third mist layer, sharing a windsleeve and flying together faster than I ever had alone.

    I took stock of my assets:

    ?¡ªYour Skill and Bindings:

    R: [Sable Grace 20]

    C: [Primeval Power 30]

    0: [Life Magick 9]

    2: [Kite¡¯s Grace 14]

    4: [Air Magick 9]

    6: [Primeval Mana Hide 14]

    8: [Might 9]

    10: [Surge of Might 9]

    15: [Wild Bond 9]

    20: [Lightning Magick 9]

    25: [Elemental Power 9]

    B: [Aziriel¡¯s Smooth Shiny Rock of Earth Magick]

    B: [Aziriel¡¯s Temporary Wristwrap of Mana]

    B: [Aziriel¡¯s Second Temporary Wristwrap of Channeling]

    B: [Aziriel¡¯s Temporary Necklace of Animal Sight]

    ?¡ªYour Attributes:

    217 [Aegis]

    254 [Agility]

    102 [Strength]

    126 [Channel]

    62 [Focus]

    195 [Source]

    110% [Primeval Resonance]

    1950/1950 Mana, 54% Primeval

    100/100 [Life Pool]

    100/100 [Surge Pool]

    I hadn¡¯t brought my bow. Instead I carried a stone that Fireesha had given another temporary enchantment, one that granted me [Earth Magick] to help when the creature began throwing rocks, both in sensing them coming and in changing their trajectories to help me dodge.

    As planned, we¡¯d upgraded my [Air Magick] and [Lightning Magick] with what keys we could spare. We¡¯d also decided to upgrade my [Wild Bond], because those keys were less rare and the skill increased the range at which I could sense enemies.

    So, Zirilla said, speaking in my [Wild Bond] while we soared toward the first mountain peak. An elementalist wyvern.

    Somehow, I said. It has to be.

    Certain aspects didn¡¯t function well together, usually opposite pairs like [Arcane] and [Primeval], [Weave] and [Fray], or [Air] and [Earth]. Attempting to form a skill with them where one wasn¡¯t a part of a hidden aspect would usually cause a failure, breaking the keys and refunding two fifths of their essence value as if the skill had been relinquished. Classes never came with these pairs, even if some classes like [Elementalist] could form both [Air] and [Earth] skills.

    It felt like it had [Body] cores, I said. At one point, it dropped onto a mountainside and leapt away a moment later. For a creature that size to make that leap with [Elemental] skills¡­.

    It¡¯s possible, said Zirilla. But only if it¡¯s a very high level.

    It would have to be, I said. Even with [*Surge] cores to make a [Surge of Might].

    [Elemental] and [Surge] cores could come on an exceptional class together¡ªZirilla¡¯s class was [Elemental], [Surge], and [Mana]. But even then, it would have to have a wide array of skills increasing physical attributes to move as fast as it had, even with the kind of [Bestow] that a creature carried at level 60 and a high [Primeval Resonance].

    And [Elemental] keys and their subtypes, when combined with [Body] keys, increased one physical and one magical attribute. It helped to explain why the thing was so deadly in the air, but also still strong with its air magic.

    So it¡¯s got a half-dozen different fused varieties of [Air] and [Body] skills, I said. High attributes all around, then. But it shouldn¡¯t know enough to really take advantage of the breadth of skills it can grab with [Elemental] keys.

    No, said Zirilla. But bigger size means more air under its wings to move around, which means more mana flowing through its body than other wyverns¡ªwhich in this environment means even more long-term exposure to primeval adaptations. Even if it¡¯s not intelligent, it¡¯ll be clever. And you only need to be so clever to figure out how to throw rocks.

    You think it¡¯ll have any kind of [Frost Magick]? I asked.

    Zirilla seemed to think for a moment before answering. No, she said. Though it might¡¯ve been better to ask the wildhearts while you had the chance. My guess is that everything else on the mountaintop that isn¡¯t a wyvern has [Frost Magick] already, including any elementals that concentrate near the mists. Throwing things with [Frost Magick] is easier, but I doubt this wyvern cares overmuch about efficiency. That, and the skill can conjure frost while [Earth Magick] can¡¯t conjure earth¡­ even with the Verse assisting, it¡¯ll be harder for a beast to comprehend the skill in the first place. All in all, there¡¯s no advantage to it using frost¡ªit would be weaker against the local creatures, and a creature that size can always just break rocks off the ground beneath it.

    I frowned, somehow still not satisfied with her answer. If it does start throwing ice, we should lead it down to warmer ground. Deprive it of the surrounding snow.

    Sure, she said. It¡¯s only a few kilometers of elevation, yeah? But I doubt it¡¯ll throw ice. Fire and lightning are totally out of the question, too. Water¡¯s not, though¡ªit¡¯s probably using [Water of Life] to regenerate the organic matter it makes that nasty breath from. Say, your elemental friend said we could fly over the mountaintops, yeah?This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    Yes.

    Let¡¯s, then. Thinner air and I don¡¯t mind the cold.

    I rose, and Zirilla came with me, her movements almost exactly mirroring my own. We¡¯d flown so much together that it was trivially easy for me to send her the right impressions across the [Wild Bond], showing her how I¡¯d move before I did. We shared a tight windsleeve, maneuvered together, and were faster for it.

    Above the third mist layer, the fourth had already deepened to a dark red. I¡¯d been awake for almost twenty hours, spending the day harvesting essence and keys while Zirilla leveled up in the swamp, but it barely felt that way. Flying into deadly combat with a behemoth did a lot for wakefulness.

    As we variously followed the line of the mist and the contours of the mountains, we discussed strategy, mostly going over things that we both already knew.

    Realistically, the only way that we would kill the behemoth would be by preventing it from healing with a well-prepared curse like the one I¡¯d used on Palefang.

    Of course, a single lightning bolt to its head could kill it, if we could throw one strong enough. But while our lightning was powerful, blasting its head to pieces wasn¡¯t something we could rely on¡ªmore likely, we¡¯d have to cook its brain in its skull.

    Stoppering its mana replenishment was also desirable, but both its overall size and its total [Aegis] were hindrances when it came to cursing it: casting a spell to afflict it with both curses, as I¡¯d done to Palefang, would likely take more than four or five times as much mana as it had with the cat¡ªwell over ten thousand.

    Unfortunately, circles didn¡¯t scale with our attributes. Even with my high [Source], focusing so much mana into a single spell was likely beyond our reach no matter how much time we had to prepare.

    I¡¯d had ample time to prepare with circles against Palefang. With the wyvern, it might take a little more on-the-fly maneuvering. If we tried to draw our circles at a distance and lure the beast to them, we¡¯d run the risk of attracting other wyverns¡ªwyverns that we couldn¡¯t kill without starting another primeval convergence and attracting even more.

    And so we had to fight the beast at its nest. I would distract it, and Zirilla would put together our spell¡ªwhich would stopper its healing, not its mana replenishment, and hopefully be strong enough to do even that much.

    We wove between the mist layers, our flight path following the contours of the mountains as we came ever closer to the mightiest peak.

    It¡¯s beautiful, Zirilla said as the mountain began to loom out of the haze and we were rising toward the fourth mist layer.

    I haven¡¯t seen its heights up close yet, I said, suddenly anticipating not just the wyvern, but the view.

    We didn¡¯t have to discuss the matter to agree that our search would start with the most obvious place, the peak. There was a good chance that it was too high even for a wyvern with the appropriate skills, that feeding on other creatures necessitated it go lower, but it was still a good place to start.

    The snow-glazed slopes of the mountain grew steeper as they approached the fourth mist layer, until we were following an almost vertical cliff. A wyvern spotted us, swooping down out of the mists to go for Zirilla, but I scared it away with a blast of lightning, careful not to kill it lest I build toward the triggering of a convergence.

    We rose into the mists, both of us watching for elementals¡ªand I found something more interesting almost immediately.

    Break for the summit and get started, I said quickly. Go left.

    I could sense it in the mists¡ªwhether it had come because it sensed Zirilla, I couldn¡¯t say, but now it glided down toward us, stifling the noise of its wings with [Air Magick] while hiding itself with the mist.

    Zirilla sped off to my left, and I pushed harder against my skysail, moving straight for the wyvern and intending to keep it away from her.

    The behemoth gained speed, but I knew it better, now: I knew that it flew and fought like it had an inexhaustible supply of mana because between all its air skills and its mana absorption, it essentially did.

    I knew that there was no way I could fight it in the air, not when maneuvering around and away from it would be costly enough to keep from throwing any lightning. And even with my higher-ranked [Air Magick] I was still not sure I could outrun the beast.

    I cut toward it as fast as I could, making an upward diagonal that mirrored its own trajectory. Soon it appeared before me as a dark shadow in the reddened mists, and as soon as I saw it shift its weight in the air and flare its wings to lash out with a blast of wind, I threw everything I had into quickly ascending.

    It flapped its wings, sending forth the wave of air I had expected, but I had already thrown myself up and out of the path of the worst of it, and I barely had to slow my ascent to tighten my windsleeve enough that I was unhindered by the blast.

    The behemoth spread its wings to their full extent and began to quickly ascend, its massive windsleeve funneling the air around it so as to cut much of the wind resistance. With my higher ranked [Air Magick], we were almost evenly matched¡ªexcept it was still just a small amount faster than I was.

    Ultimately, it wouldn¡¯t matter¡ªif Zirilla and I retreated, we¡¯d be able to outpace it by flying together. But I didn¡¯t intend to retreat.

    I broke the mist layer with the wyvern still far enough below me that I was out of its claim. I saw the summit of the mountain for the first time, but only as a set of cliffs that rose for hundreds of meters above me.

    I kept my gaze on the behemoth as we rose together and it grew closer by the moment, but it became clear that it wouldn¡¯t catch me be the time I reached the summit, and very soon I was approaching the cliff¡¯s edge.

    I angled myself to the left, finding Zirilla¡¯s position through the [Wild Bond] and then rising past the line of the cliffs at a point that brought me close to her, but not too close, before I crested the edge of the cliffs.

    The surface of the summit looked as if a titanic hand had cut away the top of a great stone pillar, then left it to be weathered by the elements and time. The angled plateau had been mostly cleared of its snow by the motions of the wyvern and its beating wings. What remained had been packed into rough patches of ice that filled pits and crevices.

    Zirilla had taken a patch of ground on the higher side of the mountain, and I landed almost a hundred meters down from her and began to extend a line of mana toward where the wyvern was so that when its shadow rose over the mountainside I struck it immediately with a small lightning bolt.

    The behemoth raised its wings, shedding some of its gathered air to land on the frozen slope ahead of me with an earthshaking crash. Then it brought its wings forward, buffeting me with a concussive blast of focused air that tore at the scant patches of snow on the ground to raise up billowing gusts of glittering ice.

    The wave struck me, and I didn¡¯t try to resist it with my windsleeve, instead protecting my face and ears and allowing the blast to knock me back into the air, then using my magic to push myself back to the ground.

    The wyvern let out a furious shriek, and I roared back at it. Its [Air Magick] might have been excellent at putting me off-kilter when mid-flight, but on the ground, it was a feeble attack against my [Aegis] and general strength.

    The wyvern came toward me, closing the distance between us quickly by clawing its way forward across the slope, its winged forelimbs making craters where they landed as its tail swayed behind it, keeping its balance.

    A little closer, please, Zirilla said.

    I surged my [Strength] to leap back as the behemoth approached, keeping myself well out of its reach. It hissed, reared up, and beat its wings again, sending another, much larger wave of focused air my way.

    I leapt back, then shattered a small, cylinder-shaped section of stone beneath me, tore the shards out with my magic, and plunged my arm into it to hold myself in place as the wind washed over me. Again I had relinquished most of my windsleeve, protecting only my eyes and ears to save mana.

    But while I did this, the behemoth took its opportunity to charge forward, spreading its wings, filling them with a blanket of air, then soaring up the snow-covered peak to land just in front of me, its winged forelimbs kicking up flurries of snow as stones cracked beneath its weight and sent debris tumbling down the mountainside.

    Distract? Zirilla asked.

    I gave a wordless assent as the wyvern reared up its head to strike. Then, as its jaws came snapping toward me, I filled my skysail and threw myself back, leaving a line of mana that I quickly ignited into a fast bolt of lightning.

    The behemoth flinched, but the blast of lightning was so weak that it wouldn¡¯t even have killed its smaller kin¡ªinstead it had been my distraction. A split-second after I threw my bolt, I felt Zirilla¡¯s thin line of mana spider through the air beside me, then ignite with blue-white light, creating a bolt of off-color lighting that sent a ripple of fading energy across the wyvern¡¯s body.

    Got it, she said a moment later.

    She¡¯d hit it with our curse.

    The behemoth let out a short, confused cry, backing away from me. It looked between me and Zirilla¡ªand then it charged at Zirilla.

 2.21: [Behemoth]

    I needed to keep the behemoth off Zirilla: her role now was to remain aloof from the fight for awhile, building up a stock of mana that we could both use to form a double-bolt that we sent into the creature¡¯s face, hopefully killing it.

    I leapt in front of the wyvern, putting myself squarely between it and Zirilla. It rammed its snout into the rock in front of it, shattering a patch of the slope and then flicking a dozen stones that were the size of my head into the air and launching each of them at Zirilla with its [Earth Magick].

    But now I reached out with my own [Earth Magick] and push each of them off-trajectory, the stones all shattering harmlessly on the icy ground around us.

    I rushed at the wyvern, unclipping my axe from my chest and hefting it in both hands. It lunged for me with its jaws, but I leapt to one side of its teeth as they snapped down on empty air. My momentum carried me forward past its neck, where I called the wind to give me another push¡ªonward, inward, I slowed my momentum by falling to my knees and skidding to a halt beneath the main mass of its body.

    There I stood, springing to my feet and planting my heels to put all my body¡¯s strength into a mighty upward thrust that I aimed at the groove where the plates of its massive armor met, the point of my axe digging into flesh beneath, drawing blood when I pulled it free a moment later.

    But I was only distracting it, meaning to make an opening¡­.

    It beat its wings and sent out another wave of air, but I simply crouched down and let the winds pummel me from all sides, using only a little mana on my windsleeve to keep myself safe. My position meant that only the weakest part of the wind-wave struck me, the rest pushing out to either side of the creature, and my [Aegis] meant that the bone-snapping force of the blast was merely jarring.

    The behemoth above me hissed, and I crouched low, getting ready to spring forward¡­

    It beat its wings and lifted a leg to move backward, putting me in front of it, and I lunged, again putting the wind at my back to move quickly, then planting the front-facing spike of my axe in the bottom of its foot, at the crux of its talons.

    It howled, raised its foot¡ªand I surged my [Strength] and tore the axe free, mangling the foot with a spray of blood.

    The wyvern¡¯s howl became a furious shriek, and it lifted both feet off the ground and folded them under it, intending to drop its weight on me. I put the wind at my back again, reaching out with one hand to grab at the side of the falling wyvern and launch myself out from under it, landing belly-down and sensing, with my gaze, that its tail was coming round to crush me against its body.

    I had just enough time to push myself up on my hands, bring my heels up under my palms, and launch myself backward, the tail rushing past beneath me as I sailed through the air, turning over once before landing against its shoulder and thrusting the point of my axe into the soft armor there. The behemoth cried out and shot to its feet, its body tilting unsteadily beneath me, and I surged my [Strength] to tear the axe free, hot blood following me as I leapt down to land on the ground beside it.

    Its tail struck me a split-second later, smashing me back across the plateau, where I half-rolled, half-bounced for dozens of meters before I steadied my movements with a few pushes of wind and rose to my knees, skidding to a stop.

    Okay? Zirilla asked.

    Fine. I¡¯d seen the tail coming in the split-second before it struck, had managed to surge my [Aegis] to soften the harm of the initial blow.

    ?¡ªMana 1335 / 1950, 48% Primeval

    About halfway there, she said.

    I grinned, tasting my own blood as I looked up at the wyvern¡ªwhich rose and turned toward me, blood seeping from the wound at its wing-socket, its gait limping a little, favoring its healthy foot.

    I felt its hateful anger in my [Wild Bond] as I began to heal myself with my [Life Magick]. It was wholly focused on me, now.

    Pain. I needed to cause it pain. If I¡¯d wanted to kill the beast like this, I¡¯d have brought a bigger axe and gone for the shoulders first. But with Zirilla here, merely enraging it would suffice.

    The wyvern spread its wings and rushed toward me on a magic-fueled wind, dropping to the slope before me and skidding to a halt with its wings and legs as it snapped at me with its jaws. I avoided these with a lunge to one side, only to find it swinging one clawed, winged forelimb at me, which I blocked with my axehead, the point sticking between the creature¡¯s claws as my planted feet slid across the icy, stony ground below me.

    It buffeted me with a blast of air that it gathered under its other wing, driving me to my knees and making me plant the butte of my axe in the stone to stay rooted. Then its jaws came down again, and I leapt back, jabbing the upward point of the axe into its snout with enough force to push me further away from the creature.

    It beat its wings, pushing itself away from me and almost throwing me back with another wave of concussive force. Then it leaned forward and belched out a thick cloud of poison, one that it immediately blew towards me using [Air Magick].

    But I had mana, and Zirilla was almost there¡ªso I stood my ground and fought, wrapping myself in a tight windsleeve that made the acidic poison flow around me and rushing forward to jab at its neck with my axe.

    The wyvern reared back and shrieked in full fury as it struck at me with one wing, then the other, then its jaws¡­ but I was truly dancing, now, its movements more familiar to me with every step that we took. I spent my [Surge Pool] sparingly, lunging and rolling out of the way of its blows, occasionally blocking one of its clawed wings with the steel of my axe.

    All the while it pressed against my claim, trying to seize the stone beneath me and the air against my skin. I had too many of the relevant [Air] and [Earth] skills for its assault to work, but in many ways it didn¡¯t matter: with one forceful, cacophonous use of [Earth Magick], the behemoth shattered all the stone beneath its feet except the small circle that I¡¯d claimed, creating a field of broken stones that it lifted a few inches and dropped a moment later to leave me fighting in a field of uneven, treacherous ground.

    I did what I could with my own [Earth Magick] to tighten the stones beneath me when I tread across them, and with my [Air Magick] I batted myself around like a wind-tossed leaf, still set on avoiding its blows. But all this meant that my mana was depleting quickly¡ªI wouldn¡¯t be able to hold for long.

    It didn¡¯t matter: soon, with my gaze, I saw a stream of mana stretch toward me.

    It was time.

    I measured the mana with my mind, gauging its volume, its density as Zirilla made the line that stretched halfway between us thicker and thicker, until¡ª

    There, I said.

    Zirilla relinquished her claim on the mana in the very moments that I extended mine through it, and suddenly I was both battling the behemoth wyvern and holding more than half of the mana for a powerful lightning-bolt.

    The mana did what all mana does in the air: bunched up into small, sphere-shaped whorls that spun and began to move away from each other, but with my incredibly potent channeling and my [Lightning Magick] I could hold it close enough in place, keep the line intact with a thousand small pushes and presses against the mana, let it drift so long as it didn¡¯t drift too far¡­ I was dancing with the behemoth and conducting the mana at once.

    ?¡ªMana 581 / 1950, 35% Primeval

    ?¡ª[Surge Pool] 71/100

    I was spending much of my [Surge Pool] now to be certain the wyvern didn¡¯t score a blow and break my concentration, dodging with small rushes of motion that were assisted by the force of my blows. We¡¯d fought long enough that I could predict its strength, it¡¯s speed, that I knew how to move just by seeing the minute movements of its muscles, the shifts of its weight.

    And as I did this, Zirilla drew another line of mana, snug next to the one I held with my [Channel], and then began to fill the remainder of the air leading up to the wyvern with even more mana¡ªmana that she¡¯d channeled into a series of circles. So much mana¡­ I saw how much we were using and realized that the bolt we were building was mighty indeed: we could kill this creature, here and now.

    The line extended until it almost reached me, and I struck the wyvern in its bloodied nostrils again and then leapt back as it tried to crush me beneath its clawed forelimb.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    The wyvern hissed, began to advance¡­ and then froze.

    Through the [Wild Bond], I could feel a sudden fear in it. Somehow, it knew what the line of mana in the air meant.

    It raised its wings, gathering air under them to pull itself back and away from us. All of our mana was going to be wasted¡­.

    Hold it, I said, knowing that I was giving Zirilla an insane task, almost impossible. But it was the only chance I saw for us: I sprinted forward, then surged [Strength] and leapt into the air, diving straight for the wyvern¡¯s head as I put the wind at my back, focusing all my attention on the beast as I smashed bodily into the top of its snout and drove the upward point of my axe deep into its eye.

    The wyvern let out a choked cry as my momentum flattened me against its snout, but I knew I didn¡¯t have the power remaining to pull my axe free and get away at the same time¡ªinstead I spent the last of my [Surge Pool] to push off with my hands, throwing myself backward into the air.

    I felt something massive collide with my side almost as soon as I¡¯d left its snout¡ªits wing. The wyvern had dropped back to the mountaintop and slapped me down through the air, where I struck the rock surface of the mountain, then rolled.

    I reached out with my gaze, ignoring the pain and disorientation. It didn¡¯t matter where I landed¡ªall that mattered was the plan. I reached into the wyvern¡¯s mind with my [Wild Bond], found it frothing and boiling with rage and pain as the wyvern saw me roll across the stone before it, then spent a huge swathe of mana in a flash, stoking its anger, its hate, its predator instincts.

    It rushed back toward me, intending to break my tiny body between its teeth¡­.

    I searched for Zirilla¡¯s bar of mana, knowing that I needed to move to its endpoint now, that I had to bait the behemoth¡­ and I saw that the bar of mana that we¡¯d formed was right overtop of me.

    I reached out with my claim, feeling Zirilla relinquish her own to let me manage a few key locations where the line had drifted too far¡­ but she¡¯d held it well, extraordinarily so: we could still do it.

    Okay? Zirilla asked as I dumped the remainder of my mana into the air in series of quick connecting lines, pushing other mana that drifted to far back into place. I rolled myself onto my back so that my body covered my skysail, then covered my eyes with a forearm.

    Fine.

    With my gaze I saw the wyvern lunge toward me¡­ and then the world became light and sound, an explosion pressing me back against the mountaintop and singing my hair as the mana ignited in a jagged, twisting line, its form wide and winding from how much it had been allowed to drift. My ears rang, my mind reeling. I felt a few pieces of stone fall down around me.

    No, not stones: charred flesh.

    I pushed myself to my feet, my face breaking into a grin¡­ but my smile vanished a moment later. Through a haze of smoke and steam, I could see the wyvern still moving, alive. It had backed away, moving unsteadily¡ªbut we hadn¡¯t killed it.

    Gods damn it, Zirilla cursed. Retreat?

    The wyvern shrieked, then drew its head in arc in the air high above it, belching out a thick stream of concentrated corrosive emission, a protective blanket of poisoned breath. I could see its face: tattered on one side, marred with scorched skin: lumpy, misshapen¡­ the crest on its forehead had cracked away.

    I looked at the hunk of flesh beside me, at its strange, curved shape, at the absence of scales and the cooked flesh that coated it in an uneven patina. I remembered the lighter sound it had made when it landed against the rock¡­.

    ¡°Skull,¡± I hissed.

    My grin returned to my face almost instantly.

    I pushed myself to my feet and charged.

    The wyvern raised its wings and brought them down with a thunderous beat, creating wall of compressed air that sent the falling line of acid forward in a wave while the wyvern leapt back.

    I picked up speed, my legs hammering the ground beneath me, and drew on the dregs of my mana with my [Air Magick]... but not to cut the acidic wind before me.

    Instead I put all the air I could call at my back, windrunning through the wall of concussive force that accompanied the blast of poisonous breath, stumbling as it struck me but still carrying enough momentum to continue toward the behemoth.

    The corrosive fluid covered the front of my body as the wind of its wings washed over me, and I jammed my eyes shut while it began to eat at my face, my ears, my eyelids. I was fighting blind, using only my gaze while my ears filled with the sound of their own hissing, spitting flesh.

    I pushed my mind into my connection with the behemoth, bathed its mind in my own pain and fury as I gave chase.

    It would not escape me.

    It reared its head back as I spent everything to leap, my feet leaving the ground just before its wings made another thunderous, downward stroke and it rose into the air.

    But I could feel its fear now, feel it past the agony of my burning eyes and face, past my own panic that this creature would manage to escape. I knew that it was acting purely on instinct, had predicted just the way it would rear its head back while it took flight, and so my leap carried me through the air to land almost directly on the crest of its broken forehead and grab at the haft of the axe that was still embedded there.

    The wyvern felt my weight on its head, then howled and snapped its head upward, trying to throw me¡ªand the corroded haft of the axe snapped off in my hand so that I fell forward toward its back.

    In a flash of panic I reached back and grabbed the scalding hot edge of its broken skull¡­.

    The wyvern shook its head to one side, and the force of its motion threatened to throw me from its head and down the mountainside. My panic crescendoed, and my grip tightened as I gritted my teeth, my fingers slipping, my body flailing in the air.

    Then I managed to reach up and grab the corroded blade of my axe, which still jutted from the flesh at the edge of its broken skull.  I pulled my weight forward, the rusted blade digging into my palm, and managed to plant my feet above its nostrils.

    The wyvern began to shake its head to the other side, and for a single heartbeat I simply held on, waiting for the perfect moment of least acceleration, of surest footing¡­.

    Then I let go of the cracked edge of its skull, brought my arm up as I balled a fist, and loosed a cry of terror and fury as I drove my hand into the gap in its skull, my fist punching a hole in the inner lining of its cranium to push through into the soft brain beneath, my motion carrying my hand through until my knuckles rammed into the stem of its spine.

    Beneath me, the wyvern shuddered, its wings faltering mid-beat. I tore my hand free in a spray of soft matter, my lungs rattling as I drew in a breath.

    Then I leapt backward, a gentle leap that was only meant to ensure that I hit the ground beneath me after the now-falling corpse of the behemoth. I turned once in the air as my arc brought be through a slow, backward flip to land on my feet just after the beast had crashed to the stone, then stumbled in place.

    + 448 927 Essence!

    + 3 [Boon]!

    + 1 [Behemoth 1]!

    I sucked in my breath through my teeth, my skin itching and burning from the wyvern¡¯s poisonous breath. I channeled a little more mana into myself, then reached up and siphoned the air above me into a fresh windsleeve as I stumbled out of the cloud.

    Zirilla pushed the remainder of the poisonous gas away from me. ¡°All right?¡± she asked.

    My eyes were still jammed shut, burning and tearing up, but I nodded. ¡°I¡¯ve enough [Life Pool],¡± I said. My healing magic terminated the substance that burned at my flesh, and the itching pain slowly subsided.

    Eventually, with almost no healing remaining, I opened my eyes, looked over at the behemoth wyvern¡¯s carcass, and sighed.

    ¡°Fighting with you is the stuff of life, Aziriel.¡± Zirilla clapped me on the shoulder.

    ¡°Likewise,¡± I said, thinking of how she¡¯d held a lightning bolt so big I couldn¡¯t have even constructed it in five seconds.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got some gunk on your arm,¡± she said.

    I rubbed some of the wyvern¡¯s brain matter between my fingers. ¡°Feels good,¡± I said. ¡°Call it the goop of victory.¡±

    ¡°You got the essence, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course I did,¡± I said, giving her a strange glance.

    ¡°Look, I¡¯m just surprised, is all,¡± Zirilla said, raising her arms. ¡°By my reckoning, that was mostly me.¡±

    Now it was my turn to clap her on the shoulder. ¡°I saw you hold that lightning.¡±

    She jerked her head in the direction of the rising slope. ¡°Come on. We¡¯re the first elves to climb this peak. Let¡¯s go stand at the tallest point and look down upon the world like conquerers.¡±

    ¡°We didn¡¯t climb it,¡± I said, letting her lead me along.

    ¡°Ascend, then. Sounds better anyway.¡±

    ¡°You think the scavengers will get it?¡± Zirilla asked, jerking her head toward the carcass as we walked by it.

    ¡°The frozen, multi-ton carcass in the least accessible area we¡¯ve found for miles?¡± I asked. I shrugged. ¡°In this place, who knows? Maybe.¡±

    She made a noncommittal noise. We walked on, and soon enough we¡¯d reached the top of the summit.

    We looked out over the sea of glowing cloud.

    ¡°Red mist,¡± I said. ¡°Something of a surprise, that.¡±

    ¡°Aye, but look,¡± she said. She pointed away into the distance. ¡°There, on the horizon. More red mist.¡±

    We both laughed far too hard at her joke, embracing the elation of the battle¡¯s end. Zirilla sat, and I sat beside her. The view before us was nothing but cloud-filled sky, no other peaks in sight despite the fact that the haze was clear, here, and we could see for what like forever, a flash of lightning occasionally punctuating the expansive view before us.

    ¡°Serene and eerie,¡± I said.

    ¡°Beautiful, it is,¡± said Zirilla. She tilted her head back, looking at the uppermost cloud layer. ¡°Even if it¡¯s in the way.¡±

    No stars. Elves needed the night sky like fish needed water. ¡°We¡¯ll figure something out,¡± I said, looking up at it with her. ¡°We have to.¡±

    ¡°Aye.¡±

    ¡°But not now,¡± I said, looking back to the sea before us. ¡°Now we¡¯ve got to scout locations for settlements. Find a permanent home.¡±

    ¡°Aye,¡± said Zirilla. She lowered her gaze to join mine. ¡°A permanent home.¡±

 2.22: Can We Trade [Air] for music?

    When I returned, the cave was bustling with activity and filled with good scents: it was almost time for dinner, and someone was cooking a whole lot of meat on the upper level. I found Hassina and offered her my hands.

    - 448 927 Essence!

    + 3 [Boon]

    + [Behemoth 1]

    + 1 Limit! (27)

    ¡°I take it that you were successful,¡± said Hassina after her eyes briefly widened, presumably from seeing the key boons. ¡°Where¡¯s Zirilla?¡±

    ¡°Scouting the other side of the mountain,¡± I said. ¡°She¡¯ll likely be out late.¡± We¡¯d both agreed that we didn¡¯t want any of the other scouts flying around in unknown territory whose peaks I hadn¡¯t already scoured of powerful enemies. They weren¡¯t as fast as us.

    ¡°All right,¡± she said. ¡°These boons¡­ any thoughts?¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°Maybe give them all to Mirio,¡± I said.

    ¡°Mirio?¡± Hassina asked, sounding surprised.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have any skill cores available,¡± I said. ¡°Otherwise there¡¯s a [Surge 3] in there that I¡¯d like, and an [Elemental 3] that I¡¯d like too. But there¡¯s no point in holding onto what we can put to use now. And I¡¯m going to want to bring Mirio hunting, soon.¡±

    Hassina nodded as understanding dawned on her. ¡°You want to give him the [Behemoth 1].¡±

    Like Zirilla, Mirio had a powerful tier 4 class. His class cores were [*Wild], [*Mind], and [*Sight]. It made him an extraordinarily potent telepath: many skills made with [Wild] and [Mind] overlapped with one another¡¯s use, strengthening each other. Most psychic attacks could be made against a creature within one¡¯s magical gaze, not their claim, and so with [Sight] allowing him to psychically detect and assault things at great ranges, he would be the ultimate hunter¡¯s companion¡ªfinding creatures at range, then complementing my fighting skills with a psychic assault.

    General-use skills tended to be more effective the more specific they were. [Animal Bond] was stronger than [Wild Bond]. As such, [Behemoth Sight] and [Behemoth Bond] would be powerful skills indeed, and they would only be improved by being paired with similar skills.

    And if there was one thing that I wanted our single [Behemoth 1] skill key doing, it was detecting threats at great ranges¡ªspotting them before they spotted us.

    ¡°Now, for this to work, Mirio needs to able to fly. Which means he¡¯ll need a conjured animal.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± said Hassina, her face falling.

    [Wild] keys fused with [Mana] keys tended to make skills that conjured translucent animal spirits. They had their uses, even if I¡¯d never been fond of that skillset.

    But flying on one, unassisted, would be extremely expensive in terms of mana. And while all of us could benefit from the mana-rich air using a mana-absorbing skill like [Primeval Mana Hide], Mirio would be needing to be bolstered by a lot of skills if he wanted to fly continuously¡ªmore than our windcallers, certainly.

    ¡°Can¡¯t he just¡ª¡± Hassina paused, seemed to consider her words, then continued. ¡°I know you don¡¯t like doing it,¡± she said. ¡°But can¡¯t he just dominate a broadwing and fly that? I¡¯ve heard rumors about what Mirio can do. I know he¡¯s only eighty¡ª¡±

    I laughed. ¡°Everyone knows he¡¯s only eighty,¡± I said.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± said Hassina. ¡°I didn¡¯t meant to¡ª¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± I said. ¡°And you¡¯re right: Mirio¡¯s a potent psychic, one of the best I¡¯ve ever seen. He could mentally yoke a beast in a few hours, I¡¯m sure¡­ but he¡¯d have to spend effort, and mana, to keep pushing on its mind and keep it under his control. And there¡¯s still potential for a moment¡¯s loss of control, even with a psychic like Mirio, which could be devastating in battle. Especially on something that flies.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± she said, her expression falling.

    ¡°I know you¡¯re stretched with distributing skill keys,¡± I told her. ¡°I know everyone wants more than they¡¯re getting, right now. But see if you can get Mirio in the air by the end of the week.¡±

    ¡°We can do it,¡± Hassina said. ¡°It¡¯s just that we¡¯ve still got so many unused skill cores across the population¡ªa skill made of 3 rank 3 keys could have been 36 skills spread across the population.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°But behemoth detection is essential to survival.¡± She drew out a lump of chalk and moved back toward her number-covered slate along the wall. It had grown so big she¡¯d had the earthmovers shape her some steps and begun writing on the ceiling. ¡°I¡¯ll figure something out.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m going to go eat whatever smells good and get some rest. If you see Mirio, tell him to focus on increasing his limit.¡±

    I left, then found Valir eating with some of the troops and sat down with them, regaling them with a play-by-play of how Zirilla and I had killed the behemoth before they told me of their hunts for the day.

    All the while, my mind kept thinking of the day to come. Tomorrow I¡¯d meet with the elemental again¡ªand we¡¯d know most of what we need to pick a spot to settle.

    <hr>

    A gust of air elementals already awaited me when I arrived at the peak the next day, now having traded my [Animal Sight] pendant for an [Elemental Telepathy] pendant of fused quartz. There were a dozen of them that I could sense with my claim, all of them engaged in constant motion: circling each other, diving, tossing flurries of snow and weaving about.

    But these weren¡¯t what most grabbed my attention. Two other elementals floated nearby, somewhat apart from and above the flock of air elementals. Unlike their brethren, they moved slowly, hovering in a broad arc that circled the others.

    Each of them had a set of what might have been mistaken for a cluster of eyes: a constellation made of six or seven coin-sized pinpricks of light that crackled and burned in the wintry air. These were the only parts of their form that were visible.

    Storm elementals.

    I approached with caution, and soon found myself surrounded by the air elementals, who circled me where I stood on the ground, creating a wide ring of blowing snow. The storm elementals waited beyond them, watching¡ªbut they didn¡¯t attack. That, at least, was a good sign.

    I unclipped my pipes and began to play, once again stretching out tendrils of air that wavered around me as my melody rose and fell. The elementals didn¡¯t interrupt me, and so I didn¡¯t stop, playing for ten minutes, then twenty, and soon what felt like it must have been an hour. My music was stitched together from various songs I¡¯d learned across the years, but my air manipulation was entirely improvised.

    Then, at a sign I didn¡¯t recognize, the elementals around me all stopped their play, rising up into the air and letting the snow rise with them, then gently fall all around me.

    Fear flowed into and through me as I looked up to see the two storm elementals drift down toward me with purpose before stopping only six feet away, one slightly behind the other.

    The closest of them sucked a patched of snow up off the ground, then ran it through their eye cluster, the snow hissing into steam instantly. This steam it funneled into a new shape: one that mirrored my own, far more distinct than the snow-form that my elemental friend from yesterday had made.

    I raised a hand; they raised a foggy hand in return.

    I probed forward with my [Elemental Telepathy], touching their minds as lightly as I could and waiting to see if they would initiate contact.

    Then a felt a Verse-translated voice flow into my mind, thought-words flowing into one another.

    You, it said. What are you? Unlike with beasts, whose emotions were often easy to determine, it was difficult to sense whether the question contained any hostility.

    I am an elf, I said simply. My name is Aziriel.

    Aziriel, the elemental repeated. Your sounds are fascinating to us and our lesser kin. Many sounds we know, and can make¡­ and many things fascinate us, truly¡­ and yet these sounds, this fascination, is new.

    I am glad, I said. For I have all kinds of sounds that I could show you. This instrument is but one instrument, one maker-of-sound, yet I could show you many other instruments that make sounds as different from these as snow is from rain, as lightning is from fire.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    Then we are glad, said the second storm elemental, moving forward, then filling its form with steam in much the same way its fellow had. This one took the form of a twisting helix. For your music delights us. As we listened, we remarked to one another: it is as though we move with your music, even when we stand still. It is¡­ most pleasing.

    I might have grinned. So far, so good.

    I have played for an hour, I said. And I will play for an hour more. Then I must go on.

    A pause. We will be saddened to see you leave, Aziriel, said the first elemental. Your music is pleasing.

    I smiled. It likely didn¡¯t even occur to them that they could try and make me stay: it was in the nature of air and storm elementals to always be moving, to go on. I had never known air or storm elementals to bind or imprison other creatures¡ªkill them, yes, but never lock them away or enslave them.

    In a day¡¯s time I will return, I said. Or, if you wish, I will meet you and your kin in a higher place. I could bring more elves, and they could bring more instruments, and we could show you much music. We hoard music, for we love it: a thousand days could pass and we would have shown you not a thousandth of the music we know.

    Ah, said the second elemental, filling my mind with a long hiss of what I hoped was pleasure.

    This is good. As long as you play, our kind will listen, I think. Though I may not always attend you.

    Nor I, said the first elemental. For to return to the same place each day is a feat that even the sun itself cannot perform with perfect precision, and our nature is to fly, to move without care. But I will come tomorrow, I think, and perhaps the day after.

    I am glad, I said. And I will play again now¡ªbut before I do, may I ask you questions? I am curious about the sky, about the storms, about the air¡­ but most of all about air and music.

    The satisfaction of curiosity is the stuff of life, said the first elemental. Ask.

    I considered my words carefully, wishing to frame my request in the way that would most speak to their sensibilities, that would be most relatable to them.

    The elves are passionate creature, I said. Keen and curious. We wish to explore and to experience new things. But above all, we wish to feel that sensation which cannot be rivaled by any other¡ªwe crave flight.

    Ah, said the second elemental again. You are right to. For in truth, we are glad that the earthbound dwell so far below the mists we do not see them, for to see them is to think of them, and to think of them is to be riven with sadness.

    To see the sky, yet never flow through it, added the first elemental. That is a horror we wish to never think not upon.

    Here is what I ask, I said. And if it offends, or is uncouth, I apologize: but we elves are curious creatures, and questions such as these are in our nature. As music may delight you; so too does flight delight us. Yet the slaughter of the sky-beasts gives us little in [Air], and the [Air] to be found in the sky is not ours, but yours.

    I paused. I¡¯d come to the topic as delicately as I could, but now it was time to ask and reveal my true purpose. Can we each correct the other¡¯s lack? Can a bargain be struck, where we each give the other new experiences, new pleasures, and yet lose none of these things ourselves? Will you trade us [Air] for music?

    The elemental before me¡ªthe first storm elemental¡ªbroke up, its elf-form wavering and shifting, becoming nothing but a cloud before forming into a swirling ring that made a perfect circle. I had no idea what to make of the sudden shift: was it expressing some emotion that I had evoked in it?

    Trade, it said. We know of this. We understand it. We trade to Lord Akkakesh.

    At the speaking of the name, the first elemental sent me an image¡ªturquoise lightning splitting the sky, thundering with three distinct cracks: Akkakesh.

    And yet, the second elemental said, its twisting spiral of steam beginning to spin more quickly. Akkakesh would not allow this, I think. I yearn for music, I do¡ªbut to feed a gust of elves would siphon his [Air], and elves may yet multiply and siphon more [Air] still.

    Wait! A third voice had joined the others. In my mind, it was gentler, lighter than the storm elementals. I turned, and saw that one of the air elementals had absorbed some snow and shaped itself into a tall, narrow pillar of whirling snowflakes.

    They do not consume the keys as we do; what is given shall stay given. They do not ask that we sustain them, merely clothe them. Have I the right of it, Aziriel?

    But the first storm elemental spoke before I could answer. This is the one who came to you, a day ago, they said. Of many who witnessed on high, they were the one who showed courage and descended to listen more closely.

    Ah, we are glad of their intervention, said the second elemental.

    I am too, I said. And they have the right of it: the [Air] keys we would ask would be taken and kept, used forever¡ªnot consumed.

    The second storm elemental slowed its rotation. That is different, they said. Though a group of elves that multiplies and keeps keys may yet be the same in his eyes as a group of elves that does not multiply, yet consumes them. Do elves multiply, Aziriel?

    We do, I said. Slowly, and yet we do. The aspects of the world will replenish themselves thirty times over in the time it takes us to double our numbers, but still¡ªwe will double our numbers.

    The first storm elemental¡ªthe one in the form of a ring¡ªbroke apart into many rings of woven steam threads. It is for Akkakesh to consider, they said.

    Will you tell me of Akkakesh? I asked them.

    Akkakesh is lord of these skies, they said. Many¡ª

    They were interrupted by a bolt of turquoise lightning that ended in the sky some hundred meters above us, bathing the world in a flash of light.

    Instantly I began to reach out with my gaze, trying to sense any long lines of mana moving downward to kill me¡­ but I sensed none. Instead, a third storm elemental hovered down from where the lightning had ended¡ªthis one nothing but a constellation of nine sizzling eyes.

    They made mental contact with me as they approached the ground, though not in the typical fashion of lightly touching my mind and waiting for a response¡ªthey pushed themself into my consciousness, bold and forceful, not caring if I took this to be an attack.

    I speak for Akkakesh, they said, hovering down to float on a level with me, mere feet away¡ªan uncomfortably close proximity. Our lord has witnessed and heard all. You ask now of trade; he is the only one who can answer. So I come.

    The other elementals backed away from the new arrival to form a sort of ring around us. Then, acting in concert, they did something very curious¡ªthey each froze in midair for just a moment. I took the gesture to be a sort of bow or kneel, the elementals all pushing against their nature for a second to show their obeisance.

    Perhaps you can trade music for [Air], said the voice. But to beseech the sky is no small thing. Those of the land are not equal to those of the sky. Trade among us would thus be an abomination¡­ and yet¡­.

    The elemental paused, and I waited, listening to occasional falling snowflake sizzle as it struck the eyes before me.

    I watched you take the highest peak, they said. I watched you take it with lightning. Pale lightning, frail lightning¡­ and yet mighty indeed for such small things as you and your ally. I saw them channel the bolt alone, saw you correct what had gone askew¡­ yes.

    Their words kindled a small flare of hope inside me. They¡¯d seen us fight the behemoth: they¡¯d seen Zirilla hold the chain of mana together, seen me rejoin her and push it back into shape¡ªand they¡¯d hopefully been impressed.

    I know much, they said. See much. Yet though I am so old that the lifespan of the typical creature who walks across the surface is to me as the length of a day is to them, I know that I am a hundredfold more ignorant than I am knowledgeable. The world is vast, and plentiful are its curiosities.

    You are one such curiosity, elf Aziriel. New to me, you are. Land creatures who yet seek the highest point of land there is and take it with the power of lightning, and seemingly for no purpose other than to do the deed itself¡ªfor essence and keys can be got in many places. You have¡­ merit.

    The elemental drifted a few feet further away from me. You have merit, they repeated. I will allow you to beseech me atop the Skytusk, the mountain you claimed. Play the greatest of your music there, and I will judge your deal.

    I let a relieved sigh escape my mouth. Thank you, Lord Akkakesh.

    I will gather my most curious for the event, they said. When can I expect your offer?

    His question dampened my relief, a little. It was hard to estimate how long it would take us¡ªnot when we were aiming to move to a new settlement and establish ourselves there. Then there was the matter of preparing defenses for the concert, of getting everyone to the mountain¡¯s peak, of casting the spells and carving the stone to give us the right acoustics¡­.

    Sixty days hence, I said.

    Sixty days, the elemental echoed. As you wish, then. You will begin when the mist that wreathes the peak has wholly reddened. Until then you may amuse these others as you wish.

    The elemental left without a word of farewell, blowing out a wave of snowflakes as it soared into the air. I watched it go, the others around me drawing closer.

    ¡°Well,¡± I said, at a loss for how to feel. But I could hardly complain.

    Things had gone about as well as I could have expected.

 2.23: A New Home

    Two days later I followed Zirilla through the air to land in the shadow of the Skytusk, the name the elementals had given to the tallest mountain. The mountain was north of the colony, and we were on its northwestern side¡ªmore than a day¡¯s travel, on foot.

    We were choosing the spot for the new colony. Technically it was a decision for the council, but for the moment the council was mine¡ªMirio, Zirilla, and Valir would vote how I told them to. Even after the people voted in a more permanent arrangement, I doubted the balance of power would shift.

    Because it was essentially my decision, Zirilla had been leading me around to all the places our scouts had found, but she¡¯d already told me she was sure this was the place.

    We were just above the second mist layer, perched at the edge of one of the steep cliff faces that dropped away hundreds of meters to lead into the swamp¡ªthough I could see no mountains when I looked west.

    ¡°This is, essentially, the closest point to the peak whose elevation is this low,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°In every other direction, the Skytusk joins other mountains, dips down and then rises into a new peak. But here the mountains end.¡± She gestured toward the sea of mist to the east. ¡°Beneath that is all swamp and the great trees. This one stretches as far as we¡¯ve flown, so far.¡±

    She gestured back up at the mountain. Everything we could see was between the second mist layer, where we stood, and the third layer where the snowline began. All of it¡ªalmost everything we could see¡ªwas steep, crumpled terrain that was thickly forested with pines. The forest ended just short of us: we stood on a soil-free rock ledge dotted with pink and green moss, dim in the light of the of the day-mist above us.

    Bare rock was more common near the second layer, we¡¯d learned: something in the mists likely stripped it of its soil and plants. Given that many creatures lived primarily within the mists to avoid aerial predators, it could have been any number of things.

    ¡°So we¡¯re as close to the peak as we can be,¡± I said. ¡°Plenty of wood.¡± I looked back down at the swamp. ¡°I have qualms.¡±

    Zirilla grinned. ¡°Knew you would.¡±

    ¡°For one, after all your worries about flooding, you want us living on the windward side of the biggest wall of mountains we can find. Those peaks are going break storms like twigs under a child¡¯s foot. We¡¯ll be drenched. We¡¯ll get more rain than any other place we could find.¡±

    I looked past her, along the slopes. It was out of sight now, but I¡¯d spotted a river that I could still hear about five hundred feet away, a small stream about ten feet wide that ran down from the mountains to spill over the side of the cliff. ¡°We don¡¯t know what season it is, here,¡± I said. ¡°Who knows how much meltwater we could be getting, across time?¡±

    ¡°Aye,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°But that¡¯s not a problem for a permanent settlement. We settle far from the stream, dam it to make a reservoir, then let the mages do their work¡ªany elementals that come down in a storm will be drawn there, not here. With enough effort, we can gather and harvest quite a few of them.¡±

    ¡°Provided we make enough observations to see that it¡¯s safe to do so,¡± I said, nodding.

    ¡°Yes, yes,¡± Zirilla said. ¡°Speaking of, you mentioned the swamp.¡±

    I jerked my head toward the nearby mist. ¡°You said it¡¯s all swamp beneath that,¡± I said. ¡°We wanted low density of life, not high. We¡¯re more likely to meet a roaming high-level predator if we¡¯re close to one of the swamp forests.¡±

    ¡°Ah, but come and see,¡± said Zirilla.

    I followed as she took off into the air again, then dove into the mists next to the cliff. As soon as we emerged from them I saw what was really getting her excited.

    The great trees rose out of the first mist layer, but in a ragged line that began almost a kilometer away. Between the sheer cliff face we¡¯d just left and the the great trees was mostly open air, but here and there a rocky hill poked its way out of the first mist layer. The hills were covered by sparse vegetation¡ªtall grasses, glowing moss, and the occasional twisting tree. Their steeper faces were bare white stone.

    Zirillad guided me through the first mist layer. The water that flowed off the mountains had eroded deep channels as it made its way toward the great trees, leaving tall pillars of hills behind.

    ¡°Limestone,¡± she said, landing on an outcrop. ¡°These hills stretch along this cliff in a thin band for as far as we¡¯ve explored. A better survey is needed, but there¡¯s already a few sites that we could build a quarry for the stone we need to make lime. Given that the edge of the swamp is abundant in bog iron¡­.¡± She looked at me and smiled.

    ¡°This strip is a buffer,¡± I said. I looked over at the great trees. ¡°Any superpredator just seeking things to eat will stick to the swamp, where life is more plentiful. Anything that¡¯s scouring these hills will be particular to them, unless it¡¯s just avoiding the great trees. Our cliffside mountain valley is mostly out of the way.¡±

    ¡°No care for the resources?¡± Zirilla asked. ¡°Fine then: I¡¯ll tell you what I like best about this spot. No caves.¡±

    I frowned. That couldn¡¯t be possible. ¡°None?¡±

    ¡°A few shallow ones in the cliffside, but they don¡¯t connect like most of the others we¡¯ve seen. These hills here are full of caverns and sinkholes made by the water, of course, but that¡¯s to be expected. I think most of the stone-burrowers in this ecology prefer direct access to the swamps. We could pick any spot along the edge of this cliff, and my [Earth Sight] detects no shallow or deep caverns.¡±

    Now it was my turn to smile. An attack from below the ground was one of my greatest concerns. Burrowing animals were bad enough, but earth elementals were utterly terrifying¡ªtoo powerful, and too hard to kill. And fire elementals could lie even deeper than those. The closer we were to tunnels, the more likely one could wander by. It wasn¡¯t a high likelihood, but it was still a long-term danger.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    There was also the insect hive I¡¯d run into. Living far away from any of those was a must.

    ¡°Well,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ve told you the whole of it. What do you think?¡±

    ¡°We dig down into the cliff¡¯s edge¡ªslice enough of it away that we¡¯re below the mists. Then we¡¯ll have cover from aerial predators. The mountain and the hills here provide as much cover as we can get from any powerful wandering beasts. We¡¯re as close as we can get to the mountaintop that will serve as the point of contact between us and the air elementals, and we¡¯re as safe as we can get from everything that lurks in the deep. Did I miss anything?¡±

    Zirilla was smiling, but she still crossed her arms. ¡°The resources, Aziriel! You don¡¯t care at all?¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°Not as much as I care for safety. But yes: timber, limestone, iron. Which means lumber, lime, concrete, steel. With the right magical processing, of course¡ªbut nothing gets the firedancers as excited as being told how hot we need the furnaces, and the creators will adore learning that we need them to produce some essential node of whatever long production chain our mages think up.¡±

    Then I grinned. ¡°And you haven¡¯t mentioned it, but we¡¯re at the intersection of these hills, the swamp, the mountainsides, and one of the mist layers. The wildhearts will be delighted. So will the hunters¡ªif for different reasons.¡±

    Zirilla laughed. ¡°The opposite reasons, you mean.¡±

    ¡°All right,¡± I said, nodding. ¡°This will do.¡±

    ¡°Will do?¡± Zirilla asked in mock offense.

    I nodded. ¡°In a year I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll know enough about this place to see where we might have chosen better. I don¡¯t know about you, but my mind is swimming with questions. I want to stop and examine every little thing, to learn as much as possible. Like these chasms, these swamps¡ªthey¡¯re not exactly typical geography.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve got some theories,¡± Zirilla said. ¡°But they¡¯re only theories. They occupy the places that would be natural valleys¡ªthe natural lowest elevations between the peaks. It¡¯s as if something has eaten the stone there away, though¡ªeaten it straight downward to create these enormous ravines. Maybe something in the water eats the stone once its settles, but I don¡¯t know. Could be some kind of animal.¡± She shrugged. ¡°But the dropoff for the cliffs often begins in the mists. Not always, but geography can change over long timespans from the activity of the elementals¡ªit could simply be that any terrain below this second layer gets carved out.¡±

    ¡°Could be the trees,¡± I speculated, looking over toward the crowns of the great trees that rose up to the west.

    ¡°The trees?¡±

    ¡°Their crowns always end just below the second mist layer,¡± I said. I shrugged. ¡°Maybe as they grow, they burrow downward to keep it so. Anything that size would certainly have both the power and the time to carve out these ravines.¡±

    ¡°Might explain why their roots are so exposed,¡± she said. ¡°Counting what¡¯s below the water, their real trunks are fifty or more meters off the ground. They might sink a little as they eat through the earth and rock beneath them, but gradually expose more of their roots. Then again¡ªthey could just stop growing right below the mist, no burrowing necessary.¡±

    I laughed. ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I said. ¡°We really do know nothing of this place.¡±

    Zirilla¡¯s laughter was a shade darker than my own. ¡°We know it¡¯s drowning in power.¡±

    I looked over at her, thought for a moment. ¡°Don¡¯t tell the others yet,¡± I said. ¡°But I asked Lord Kalak to bring us to the safest place on the surface that he could.¡±

    Zirilla¡¯s eyes widened. Her mouth parted in surprise. ¡°I see,¡± she said at last, her tone serious.

    ¡°It¡¯s extraordinary, this place,¡± I said, looking back toward the forest. ¡°And it¡¯s beautiful. In time we¡¯ll be able to appreciate it¡ªif we could dispel just one layer of the mists around this cliff, the views would be astonishing. If we could open a window to the sky¡­.¡±

    ¡°Aye,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°And think of how quickly we¡¯ll be able to build with this much mana in the air. Our earthmovers, our furnaces, our enchanters¡­.¡±

    I smiled. ¡°Our people will feel better once they have work in front of them. Let¡¯s pick a spot. My only concern now is that it should be far from the waterfall.¡±

    ¡°This is it, then,¡± Zirilla said, smiling.

    I nodded and looked back at the cliff that rose into the mists beyond us. ¡°This is it.¡±

    A new home.

    <hr>

    We spent another five days preparing to leave.

    It was more time than I had ever wanted to spend in the cave, but it was necessary. Our journey would not be across easy terrain.

    In fact, the terrain was about as bad as it could be. Traversing the swamp-filled ravines was utterly out of the question¡ªthey needed to be descended into, then ascended out of. The slopes that fell within the mist were stalked by elemental predators, and the ground above them was the hunting ground for the broadwings, the wyverns, and a multitude of huge predator birds.

    The best spot for walking was just above the mists, in the place where rocky, moss-strewn slope gave way to grassy soil but before any forests. Our hunters would go ahead of us, both in the mists and out, and our flyers would deter the aerial predators.

    But this was only a small piece of the problem. We were journeying through ravine-streaked mountains. The distance between the settlement site and the cave was almost eighty kilometers¡ªbut between those two points was nothing but massive ravines and mountains.

    Our path was winding. Some of the ravines we could walk around, but in three cases the slopes were too steep or the path too long¡ªour eventual plan, after much arguing, was to simply stop and spend two or more hours carrying our people across their narrowest points using windcallers and large skysails.

    The ravines weren¡¯t entirely continuous through the mountains. As we approached the Skytusk, we¡¯d have to cross many steep slopes before we could take an easier path along the outer perimeter of the mountain, one that followed the great forest I¡¯d found earlier.

    We had to send out our elementalists¡ªnot just to carve rough steps into the mountainsides so that we could climb the peaks, but to carve out the waystations we¡¯d need to spend our nights in. It would be a multi-day trip.

    The day that it was time to leave, I rose early and did a low patrol of our path. When I returned to the cave, I could practically taste the excitement in the air¡ªelves were not meant to live in cramped holes, and my people were more than ready to make the journey. Most of them were on their feet, backpacks already stuffed full.

    ¡°We¡¯re almost ready to move out,¡± Hassina said, approaching me.

    ¡°Making good time,¡± I said, beaming as I looked our people over.

    ¡°Before we go, though¡ªwe¡¯ve got something for you.¡±

    Fireesha approached, carrying a large white bundle. She inclined her head as she passed it to me. ¡°Lux Irovex.¡±

    I took the bundle, and the Verse told me that it had a name:

    [Aziriel¡¯s Pale Furs]

 3.01: A Journey Interrupted

    ?¡ªYour Attributes:

    217 [Aegis]

    254 [Agility]

    102 [Strength]

    126 [Channel]

    126 [Focus]

    219 [Source]

    110% [Primeval Resonance], 55% Base

    2190/2190 Mana, 64% Primeval

    100 [Blood Pool]

    100 [Surge Pool]

    Perched on a high outcrop of rock as my people passed by below me, I looked over my attributes with a warm sense of satisfaction. They hadn¡¯t changed too much since killing the behemoth: I was level 29. I¡¯d put four of my [Bestow: 16]s in [Focus], it had risen from 62 to 126. The added [Focus] improved many of my skills, but the most noticeable difference was that I could fly without a skysail¡ªI could draw air into the form of a stable, thick skin that coated my body, lifting myself efficiently and precisely.

    My [Source] had likewise increased, because I¡¯d replaced my [Life Magick 7] with [Primeval Mana 14]:

    [Primeval Mana 14]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [*Mana 3] + [Mana 3] + [Mana 3]

    + 64 [Source]

    + 24% Primeval Mana Profile

    The binding that I¡¯d used to gain [Primeval Mana 7] from a rune-lined wrapping for my wrist was now holding my prized new cloak, created by Fireesha along with some of the other enchanters over the course of a week:

    [Aziriel¡¯s Pale Furs]

    Binding this item has granted you the [Blood Magick 17] skill.

    This fur cloak and mantle have been enchanted to absorb blood for the [Blood Magick] skill. It naturally repels filth and cleans easily, and if damaged it can be repaired with healing magic.

    [Blood Magick 17]

    [*Primeval 5] + [*Body 3] + [Body 3] + [Life 3] + [Water 3]

    + 100 [Blood Pool]

    Channel [Blood Pool] to heal wounds, cure exhaustion, or restore any of your other resources, such as your mana and your [Surge Pool]. Your full [Blood Pool] can currently restore 135 [Surge Pool] or 2160 mana.

    Restore your [Blood Pool] by absorbing blood within your claim. The rate at which you can absorb blood depends on how much [Focus] you assign to this purpose.

    You can control blood within your claim.

    You can sense blood within your gaze, and extending your gaze to include blood is easier. You can never use this skill to sense inside a living creature.

    With the added time to enchant it properly, Fireesha had given it some of the typical benefits that came with quality enchantments: it stayed clean and could be easily repaired. It could also drink blood all on its own, absorbing it directly into the fur.

    The cleanliness was something I appreciated. It was snow-white: when clean it was very dramatic-looking, but it was much easier to spot filth on it.

    The [Blood Magick] skill itself was another example of the fact that not all skills were created equal. It healed, it invigorated, and with its high rank it was almost a full second pool of mana and more than a full [Surge Pool]. Its only real drawback was that it needed to be replenished by being fed a lot of fresh blood. Fresh blood could be hard to acquire, but not here: on this world, with the work I was doing, [Blood Magick] would see liberal use.

    It was the second day of our journey to the settlement sight. A long convoy of elves laden with packs and cargo snaked its way up the side of the mountain below me.

    Today was the slowest in terms of covering ground. We had the largest number of mountain slopes to ascend and descend as well as two ravines to fly everyone across. A week of harvesting wyverns had left us with more than two dozen windcallers strong enough to do the job, but it was still time-consuming.

    Lux Irovex? Mirio asked me through the bond.

    I was just thinking of you. What is it, Mirio?

    I found a four-legged, six-headed behemoth hydra, he said.

    I let out a little laugh, drawing some looks from the chain of elves passing below me.

    For me, the journey had practically been a break. I was sticking close to the elves in case of an emergency, but we had hunters, wildhearts, and windcallers both with the group and spread out in every direction to detect threats. The plan had been that nothing would catch us by surprise: I was mostly just staying close for reassurance.

    Mirio had built his skill to conjure a broadwing to ride around on, and he and Luthiel were both in the air using their extraordinary powers of sight to spot threats at great distances. If they were just spotting a behemoth now, it would be far, far away from us. With luck, my relaxing afternoon of flying close and talking to my people would continue.

    And has it found you? I asked.

    No, he said. I¡¯m staying well-hidden¡ªstill, I can sense it searching the area around it with its bond. It¡¯s¡­ quite potent.

    It has six minds to search with, I said. How far away?

    From you? Twenty kilometers.

    We hadn¡¯t gone behemoth hunting yet. Mirio had mostly only gone with the hunters to increase his limit and gain levels. This was the first of them we¡¯d learnt of since we¡¯d killed the wyvern on the peaks.

    I would very much love to hunt and kill that creature for the [Plural] skill keys that it would grant, I told him. Unfortunately, we¡¯re all busy right now, and I¡¯d really want to bring more than one of us to kill a hydra. Keep tabs on it.

    Yes, Lux Irovex.

    Actually, see if Luthiel can figure out a way to track it without putting you two at risk. He¡¯s good with tracking spells.

    Ah¡ªyes, Lux Irovex.

    I scowled from my perch on the mountainside. It didn¡¯t surprise me that we¡¯d eventually spotted something¡ªwe were covering a lot of ground over several days, and our seers were looking across huge swathes of territory.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    But of all the known creatures that might cross our path in this moment, a hydra might have been the worst. They were natural kings of the wild, hydras¡ªOlorai, Shifting Lord of Forests, had made them that way.

    It was almost impossible for any other beast to get the better of them. The multiple heads were simply too advantageous: against equally-sized foes, they were brutally effective when it came to wrestling their opponents into submission, maneuvering it into a position where the hydra had all the leverage and could easily pin it and tear it apart.

    Two-legged hydras were deadly, but far less mobile than their four-legged kin, who were much better at swiftly balancing their movements so as to attack with their many heads. They could rapidly shift their weight around, making them as slippery as the snakes they resembled, and high [Aegis] meant it was no trouble to use their heads as limbs for the purpose of climbing and shifting around, pushing off of surfaces with their snouts and grasping trees and boulders with their teeth.

    Multiple heads meant multiple minds, along with some complex physiology: an enormous cluster of lungs surrounded a set of furiously beating hearts. They were voracious in the extreme, and roved across huge swathes of territory to feed the formidable engine of predation that was their body. Like most mighty beasts, they were fundamentally magical, and reproduced slowly as a consequence.

    But just as our local wyverns cultivated [Air] and [Sight] keys, a hydra was guaranteed to cultivate [Plural] skill keys¡ªa powerful aspect. It was an extraordinarily potent enhancer for [Lightning] skills, but almost anyone could find a use for the magic of duplication and repetition.

    I reached out with my own [Wild Bond] and found Zirilla in the air not too far ahead of us¡ªshe¡¯d been out scouting, but flying close at hand in case I needed her. Zirilla.

    Mm?

    Six-headed, four-legged hydra. Doesn¡¯t know we¡¯re here, about twenty kilometers out. Find us a good spot in case we come to its attentions.

    Mm. I¡¯m not keen on that idea.

    Me neither.

    We continued on our course for awhile, a line of elves that slowly meandered up a set of rough-hewn steps and through a crook made by the rising, rocky slopes of two distant peaks.

    Lux Irovex? It was Mirio.

    Yes?

    Luthiel knows a way to track it, but only if we get closer.

    Disappointing. It¡¯s not worth it. Stay away. In fact, best if you retreat past where you think its [Wild Bond] ends.

    As you wish, Lux Irovex.

    Zirilla found us a spot, and I waited until our column arrived there and then called for a break. It was a broad, flat ledge with a few clusters of scraggly trees growing out of a sparse layer of soil. It wasn¡¯t very large, and all of us were fairly tightly packed.

    This must have aroused some suspicion, as we¡¯d taken one not an hour earlier¡ªbut there were no objections. The slopes of the mountain were steep, and a break for everyone to be cured of their exhaustion by our healers was more than welcome.

    There was no reason to hide anything from them, however, and so I had Zirilla spread the word. Very quickly she and Valir were quietly moving about, reassuring some folk while also giving ordes in case of the worst outcome.

    Then Mirio contacted me again with a frustrating bit of news.

    It¡¯s chasing us, he said simply. I thought we¡¯d done a good job stealthing from it, but¡­

    You¡¯re telling me that despite all your skills, it spotted you without you realizing it?

    Unfortunately, yes, he said. I¡¯m guessing one of its minds spotted us, but I missed that moment because I was paying attention to the others. After it had spotted us, it hid all considerations of me from my sight with all its minds. At least, that¡¯s my theory¡ªI¡¯m rather disappointed in myself, to be quite honest.

    It doesn¡¯t matter now, I said. Lead it on a useless chase, but be sure to flee in a direction away from us.

    As you wish, said Mirio. Then he kept on going with his notes. If its habitat is somewhere in the region, it may simply be fascinated by us as a new form of life¡ªwe know how to hide ourselves from it, or at least how to try. And we know to run from it at great distances, which means we sensed it. I can¡¯t think of another reason to chase us than fascination¡ªit must know we¡¯re too high in the air for it to reach. He paused, then added: it¡¯s all rather impressive, really. From a naturalist¡¯s perspective, I mean.

    They generally are, I said. I took a drink of water from my canteen, then searched for Valir with my [Wild Bond], meaning to ask him how preparations were coming in case of the worst.

    But in just a moment, Mirio contacted me again.

    I misjudged, Lux Irovex. His tone wasn¡¯t promising.

    Misjudged what?

    It didn¡¯t see Luthiel and I.

    Briefly, I closed my eyes and breathed a soft sigh. It spotted us, I said, opening them to look back at the elves.

    Unfortunately, it seems that way. Even sweeping its gaze around with all six heads, its range must be twice my own. Do you think it has [*Wild] cores, rather than [*Body]?

    I considered this. Like most predator animals, a hydra typically had [*Body] cores with the [Wild Bond] or [Wild Sight] as its class¡¯s granted skill. If it does, it¡¯s another unusual creature and class combination, I said. Especially for a behemoth. A six-headed psychic monstrosity is not more appealing than the alternative. In any case, bring Luthiel back and drop him off, then start organizing all the psychics.

    Yes, Lux Irovex.

    Then I reached out and found Zirilla and Valir. We¡¯re up, I told them.

    It¡¯s coming? Zirilla asked.

    I¡¯ll get my hammer, said Valir.

    I strode to the edge of our small shelf, and looked down at the terrain below. We were meant to descend the mountain for another few kilometers before the terrain would level out and we could follow the mists, and so the path ahead was nothing but slopes of varying grades: just in front of us was one of the steeper stretches.

    If it had only had two legs, fighting on the steeper slopes would be wisest¡ªwe¡¯d have a good shot at knocking it off balance and sending it on an irreversible tumble down the slope. But with four legs, we were best using the most level terrain we could find, a long stretch of land that began several hundred feet below us, at the foot of a rocky escarpment. It was still steep enough to be treacherous footing for the untrained, but the two of us¡ªValir and I¡ªhad the strength and senses to manage it.

    You two brought Seriana and the mages in on your plans? I asked them.

    We did, said Zirilla. She¡¯ll be launching curses from the ledge, once it¡¯s time.

    Both of them reached me through the crowd. I spotted Valir first¡ªhe was so large that he made the elves around him look like children. Often, when I looked up at him I wondered if this was how everyone else felt looking up at me.

    He had also built [Primeval Mana Hide], and was bare chested. The hide skills all increased the effect of [Primeval Resonance] in calculating the [Aegis] they provided, but with the added drawback of not being able to wear armor. As such, using a hide skill showed that one¡¯s [Primeval Resonance] was high enough to make the difference worth it¡ªand so being unarmored was the sign of an expert fighter.

    ¡°You¡¯re too big to carry,¡± I told him, eying the massive warhammer that he was holding upright¡ªone end of its head was a rounded spike, and could crack the skull of even a creature as large as a behemoth.

    ¡°We can fly down and make him a wind cushion to land on,¡± Zirilla said, a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

    Valir looked between us, his expression barely changing. Without answering us, he hefted his hammer. ¡°I¡¯ll start heading down,¡± he said, moving to the edge of the ledge we stood on and leaping off it.

    ¡°You should probably say something before we get started,¡± Zirilla said, jerking her head back toward the gathered elves. I could sense a growing anxious energy from their hushed, rapid conversations.

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll speak in a moment, then head down to join Valir.¡±

    First, though, I contacted Mirio. Still coming our way?

    It¡¯s definitely after the colony, he said. It almost seems¡­ I think it thinks you¡¯re all babies.

    Hah, I said, laughing out loud as well as in the bond. A bit rich coming from a beast that¡¯s probably seven hundred years old at best.

    Then I added: a shame it can¡¯t understand you, Mirio. If it did, you could tell that it¡¯s about to fight someone who learned how to kill its kind from the very same god who created them.

 3.02: The Coming of the Hydra

    There were few things as arresting as watching a hydra in motion. The behemoth below us seemed to flow up the mountainside, its massive weight moving so swiftly and sinuously that from where I stood high above it, it barely seemed to be touching the ground at all. Its six heads bobbed and swayed, each of them moving so as to shift the hydra¡¯s weight in the same way that a runner moves their arms. A massive slab of a tail stretched out behind it, curling up and down and undulating from side to side, keeping its balance.

    It had dark scales, a matte-green that was almost black, even in daylight. Each of its heads was crested with a bony protrusion, and spikes lined the sides of its tail. It was beautiful, but only because it was so terrifying: the deep parts of my mind understood the danger of the creature as soon as I beheld it, pulled my attention to it and set a panic in my gut.

    I grinned, running the tip of my tongue across the point of one of my incisors. Below me, I saw Valir moving into position with long, powerful bounds down the slope. When I judged that he was close enough, I leapt from my place on the cliffside and flew in an arc, landing on the steep ground opposite Valir so that we could come at it from both sides.

    For a brief moment, I could no longer see the hydra¡ªit still had a steep section of slope to climb before it would be visible from where I¡¯d landed. But I could feel its footsteps as vibrations in the ground below me, a fast drumbeat that travelled through my boots and up into my body.

    Then it came into view, rising ahead of me along with the crashing sound of its footsteps. Valir and I were already charging toward it, each of us taking one side.

    We reached for each other in the [Wild Bond], opening ourselves up to sharing sensations as we¡¯d done so many times before. We needed to come at it from both sides¡ªa hydras sides were its weakest point. Their heads could strike at the ground beside them, but they didn¡¯t have the balance to attack someone beside them with the frenzied speed that they can manage for anything directly in front of them.

    The first head lunged for me, and I waited until the last moment, until I knew it couldn¡¯t adjust its course fast enough to catch me before surging my strength to leap up past it, pushing a line of mana into the air behind me as the arc of my jump brought me just a few feet over the neck of the hydra.

    The second head came a moment later, but with a blast of air I pushed myself down onto the first head¡¯s neck and then sprang off its dark scales, leaping out of the way once more as I trailed more mana.

    The third head swooped in to snatched me out of the air, but I pummeled myself downward with [Air Magick], pushing myself just past it and then landing on the ground before igniting my mana, creating a jagged half-loop of lightning that reached up into the air over me and then bent back, funneling all its power into the crest of the first head.

    I leapt back toward the cliff behind me as I heard the hydra let out multiple cries of pain¡ªnot only had I left one half of one of its faces a smoking ruin, but Valir had stricken another head with a mighty blow from his hammer, cracking the bony crest and sending it reeling.

    I spun myself in midair as I leapt back, landed facing the cliff, then sprinted toward it, putting the wind at my back. I could sense the hydra coming after me with my gaze, and could sense through my bond that Valir, fifty meters to my right, was running with me, parallel to me, matching my windborne speed with his superior physical attributes.

    I was using my [Blood Pool] to replenish my mana, certain that I would need to use the strongest lightning bolts I could conjure¡­.

    Unsurprisingly, the hydra was faster than we were. It surged forward up the rocky slope, drew close enough that it could comfortably strike with all its heads in succession, and began its assault.

    The first head came: I gathered air as I dropped to my knees and skidded to a halt, spinning myself in place and then launching myself back toward it as the head smashed into the rocky earth before me. The second head struck, and I leapt over it before quickly using my [Air Magick] to push myself to the ground again, then leapt again to avoid the third head, pushing myself forward with air once more to land in a crouch against the front of its chest and kick off with a surge-fueled burst of strength, leaving a line of mana that began just a few meters away from its body as I launched myself between its necks.

    It had all only taken two or so seconds, and the second and third heads were still recovering as I flew past them, rearing back to prepare for another strike. The first head had recovered, though, and it followed me as I attempted to fly out of the hydra¡¯s reach¡ªbut I ignited my line of mana as soon as it drew close enough, causing it to recoil and cry out in pain as I took off up the slope, Valir falling in beside me once again.

    Go, I told him.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Then I launched myself into the air, flying parallel to the cliff that rose behind me. Below, Valir bounded away along the cliff¡¯s edge, making for a more traversable slope that would lead back up to where our people had gathered.

    The hydra tracked both of us with its multiple heads as its massive bulk flowed toward the cliffside¡­ but then Mirio took the chance to help it decide.

    Through my [Wild Bond], I felt a sudden, massive assault against four of its minds¡ªthe archdruid was leading the wildhearts and telepaths in a concerted, pinpoint psychic attack, surging its bestial rage so that it pursued me.

    And pursue me it did, its massive body flowing up the steep, rocky slope and its heads striking out, each missing me and smashing small craters into the rock behind me. It mounted the cliff a moment later, using two of its heads as limbs, grasping at rocky outcrops with them and climbing almost as fast as I rose. Its heads striking out at me in rhythmic sequence, snaking into the air above and around me to try and corral me into dodging one mouth by moving toward another. But I¡¯d fought its kind, danced its dance before¡ªI wove between its jaws and necks with practiced aerial grace, flying so close in some places that my cloak brushed against its scales.

    The hostility-inducing effect of Mirio¡¯s coordinating attack wore off a moment later, but by then it was already too late. The hydra froze halfway up the cliffside, sensing, perhaps, the trap that Zirilla had begun laying for it the moment I told her of its existence. It could feel that elves that were above and around it, everywhere¡ªand a moment later a bolt of white light struck its body, a spell cast from the precipice above by one of our mages.

    Its heads lulled as it was momentarily stunned by the spell, and I heard an ear-splitting crack from above me as an entire section of the mountainside was torn away and pushed outward a huge cluster of rock that fell toward it.

    More curses struck the hydra, each a differently-colored bolt of power, a precisely prepared spell fueled with thousands of mana. They would be reducing its attributes¡ª[Strength] so that it couldn¡¯t move, [Aegis] so that it wouldn¡¯t survive. They would be stifling its regeneration, causing random spasms in its muscles, weakening its psychic defenses as Mirio led the wildhearts and telepaths in another focused attack to paralyze it.

    A great shadow came across me as the mountainside above me fell, and I threw myself out of the way of the oncoming avalanche with a burst of [Air Magick] as small pebbles and shards of rock that had been blasted free began to fill the air around me.

    Below me, the hydra struggled to move under the magical assault, instinctively grasping the cliffside with two of its heads to hold itself steady. But this only put it in the way of the falling rocks¡ªI watch as an entire section of the mountain that the earthmovers had shaped with a downward point fell square onto the center of the beast.

    It was a thing of terrible beauty, seeing such a mighty beast¡ªone whose phenomenal strength I¡¯d felt just a moment earlier¡ªcrumple like paper under the might of a mountain, its body fast swept away in an earsplitting avalanche that cascaded down the slope we¡¯d just fought on, growing larger and louder as it moved.

    My eyes found Valir¡ªhe was out of the avalanche¡¯s path, bounding up the mountainside in the distance. With him safe, I rose through the air and swept my eyes across the gathered elves on the higher slopes.

    Rockslides are unpredictable, and while Zirilla would have seen the constitution of the stones beneath and around us, there was still a small risk that our people would have the ground shift beneath them. But from my vantage I could see that everything had seemingly gone to plan¡ªI heard Mirio report that the creature was dead, followed by a cheer from our people.

    I flew further down the mountainside, then perched on a cliff to look down at where the body of the hydra lay, mostly buried by stone and earth. The land was still moving over and around it¡ªwe were high in the mountain, and the rockslide would likely continue for kilometers.

    I looked down into the dust cloud where the hydra had fallen, sensing its body with my gaze and scowling. It had surely granted someone plenty of essence and some good skill keys, but there was another prize to be had, here¡ªone that we would have to forgo.

    Soon enough Mirio landed near me on his spectral broadwing, Luthiel riding behind him. ¡°We¡¯ve nothing to harvest the venom with,¡± I lamented. ¡°Shame, that.¡±

    Hydra venom was so magically caustic that once they died and their [Aegis] no longer protected their bodies, it ate its way through the glands that held it, burning holes through their jaws to spill onto the ground. If we¡¯d had the equipment to harvest and store it, this creature¡¯s venom would have been a powerful addition to the armory.

    Luthiel spoke, his voice ringing clear over the slowing sound of cascading rocks. ¡°If you think you¡¯ll be safe, Aziriel, you could harvest a few parts for me to make a some tracking foci.¡±

    I considered this, then nodded. Hydras tended to cover vast expanses, taking multi-day hunting trips that saw them sleeping in the dens of the prey as they roved through the wilderness. They could be found across all manner of biomes, but rarely together. If our seers had the right equipment, our hunting parties could hone in on any ordinary-sized hydras that they passed near while out in the wilderness.

    With luck, it help us gain a slow trickle of the rare [Plural] skill keys.

    Zirilla, I said in the bond.

    Mm?

    Come down here and help me harvest some parts. Bring tools.

    I flew down to hover over the body of the hydra¡ªonly three of its heads were above the line of dirt. And Valir¡ªyou should get everyone moving once they¡¯re able. I looked down at the heads, gauging their size. She and I are going to be here awhile.

 3.03: We Have Work To Do

    ¡°First,¡± I said, looking out at the gathered elves, ¡°welcome to the colony site.¡±

    A cheer went up from the crowd arranged below me, but I could sense their exhaustion in it. It had been three days journey from our cave to this place, where we still needed to build a settlement. No doubt a week of living in a cramped cave followed by eighty kilometers of hard trekking had them eager to settle down somewhere more open.

    Our elementalists had shaped a large line of shelters for us to sleep in, but they were as basic as possible: little more than roofed structures that would keep us dry.

    ¡°Ten days now we¡¯ve been on this new world,¡± I told them. ¡°And I know I¡¯ve asked much of you all. Hardship is one thing. Discomfort another. But boredom¡ªaye, idleness and uselessness, those things I know I¡¯ve burdened many of you with. Seamsters and designers, carpenters and architects, archivists, poets, smiths, enchanters, children¡ªby my command many of you have been reduced to little more than mules carrying stone and mana.¡± I paused, looking around at them with a wry smile. ¡°I know it. You know it. While I and the warriors enjoy the struggles of the hunt, returning each day with essence, keys, and red meat for feasting, so many of you have been asked to do little more than dream of what you will do once your time has come.¡±

    I spread my arms, made my voice carry farther. ¡°It isn¡¯t easy, I know. Waiting. But for the sake of all our safety, I need you all to bear the burdens of boredom, discomfort, and hardship still. Though now, at least, we will do it out in the open.¡±

    I heard some sounds of agreement from the crowd. ¡°As you¡¯ll soon see, we have plenty of work in front of us. But before I call upon our chief architect, there¡¯s few things I want to say: first, the election will be in seven days¡¯ time. I will not campaign; I doubt others will, either. I will write my slate, share it, then tend to the work that needs tending while you all decide without my interference. Second, the ritual I promised remains firmly fixed in my sight. It is my highest priority.¡±

    Open cheers went up from the crowd at hearing this, and I waited for them to die down before adding: ¡°And that ritual requires essence and keys¡ªan extraordinary number of each. Keys require territory to strip aspects from, and that requires flight. As such, the clearest step toward the completion of the ritual is to secure a deal with the storm lord, Akkakesh. Once we¡¯ve done a little to settle in here, I want everyone to know that the mountaintop concert is our utmost priority, after safety. All of us are at High Priest Hassina¡¯s disposal when it comes to bringing that about¡ªall of us.¡±

    I could have said much more about my hopes for the concert. I wanted it to succeed because I wanted a sign, for both me and my people, that the vast stores of knowledge we¡¯d brought with us to this world would serve us well. To be an elf was to bear the burden of memory, and if we had to bear the pain of remembering what we¡¯d lost, I felt we deserved to flourish by using what we¡¯d kept.

    I wanted to show them that. Apart from the bow, our gods Olorai and Sabina had at least agreed on music, if not on particular instruments. Each elf I¡¯d brought with me was a living library of songs. And music was a gift that enriched both giver and receiver¡ªto trade it for [Air] keys would be like making something from nothing.

    I realized I¡¯d paused for too long, then turned my attentions back to the elves. ¡°Third,¡± I said. ¡°I also realize that all those among you who are not wild elves may have any number of concerns about our future on this world, and the future of your own traditions and culture. In the days to come, I¡¯ll be with the colony more often than not¡ªif anyone has thoughts on this matter they¡¯d like to share with me, you may approach me at any time. I¡¯ve spoken with the councillors, Archmage Seriana especially, at length on this, and I expect many more conversations to follow.¡±

    I scanned the crowd, searching for one elf in particular, then found him. ¡°That¡¯s all I need to say for now,¡± I said. ¡°Now I¡¯ll ask you to attend Zephanal, who we¡¯ve appointed chief architect. He¡¯ll go over our long and short term plans for this site.¡±

    Zephanal stepped forward and nodded to me. ¡°Lux Irovex.¡± He moved into the center of the circle of elves, turning to take them all in. He was a brown-haired, brown-eyed elf, round-faced and broad-shouldered. He had a severe sort of personality, Zephanal. He spoke with the clear expectation that his orders would be followed and had little use for pomp.

    ¡°Now we don¡¯t exactly have an amphitheater here,¡± he said. ¡°So no matter what I do, not everyone is going to be able to see. Maybe move the children out front? They¡¯re shorter. I¡¯ll leave most of my model out so that you can all take a look at it afterward, but that¡¯s the best I can do.¡±

    He looked around at them, seeming to wonder where to begin. ¡°All right,¡± he said at last. ¡°Some of you are already somewhat familiar with the plans, since they¡¯ve been in the making for five days now. But to keep everyone informed¡ªhere, I¡¯ll show you.¡±

    Zephanel began to shape the soil before him, tearing up the grass, then turning it over to make a rectangular patch of earth. He then created a small, perfectly proportioned model of the cliffside, complete with a channel cut through it for the distant river and waterfall, a hanging line of glittering dust to represent the second mist layer, and a few tiny models of our current, makeshift lodgings. He conjured several motes of bright light to illuminate this, then began to explain.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    ¡°The goal is to build a small, highly defensible settlement. That means walls. It means a dry moat, one that can be filled with water when we wish it. It means a keep that can house all of us. And most of all, it means excavation. At least fifty meters below our current elevation, and for the entire town.¡±

    The whole crowd seemed to erupt into conversation at this last detail, and it was easy to see why: the workload he was describing was absurd. The footprint of the entire town, dug fifty meters out of soil and stone.

    Zephanal let the noise continue around him as he modified his diagram, carving out a massive circle of soil. Then he called for quiet, and when the noise around him was subdued, he continued:

    ¡°The shape of that settlement is simple to fathom. Here¡¯s a giant circle whose edge just barely touches the cliff. Now, we take the half of the circle nearest the cliff and carve the whole thing out, two straight, parallel lines leading perpendicular to the cliff, yes?¡±

    He carved out his model as he spoke. ¡°A rectangle combined with a semicircle. Or if you prefer, a circle that opens itself up to the cliff¡¯s edge. We¡¯ll plant the tree in the middle, put the open green around it, surround that with everything that¡¯s not residences, and put the residences in a ring around those. We leave an outer ring for more open green, and we¡¯ve got our settlement. The walls will be efficient in this shape, less area to defend¡ªour military people tell me they feel it¡¯s unlikely we¡¯ll be defending from anything coming up the cliff and across the plains at the same time. Industries go closer to the cliff, as some of them will be underground and I¡¯m told we¡¯d rather excavate along the cliffside than further in. We¡¯re also going to build a lift to bring up the limestone we quarry and the iron we collect in the swamp, and we¡¯ll want our foundries as close to that lift as possible. Residences will be more clustered toward the round end of the circle here, as the keep we¡¯re building is going to be at the center of that curve, facing the mountain.¡±

    As he spoke, he drew all these things on his growing model¡ªthe walls and ramparts, the keep rising out of the far curve of the semicircle, a small lift cut into the cliff¡¯s edge, a ring of trees on the inside of the walls, followed by a ring of buildings that grew larger as they grew inward, followed by a broad, open expanse where he placed an enormous tree.

    The crowd had murmured all through his description of the town-to-be, and when he fell silent for even a moment their murmuring rose in volume, so that Zephanal looked around at them and scowled.

    ¡°Quiet. Quiet, everyone.¡± When this didn¡¯t shush them to his liking, Zephanal raised his voice and let a longer: ¡°Silence!¡± Then he looked around at everyone, daring them to speak. ¡°Yes, fifty meters down¡ªI¡¯m assuming that¡¯s what you¡¯re all on about? We have a lot of stone and soil to move, there¡¯s no denying it. This¡ª¡± he gestured to the model of the town. ¡°¡ªis not a light workload. The sheer tonnage that we¡¯re going to be excavating here is¡­ astonishing, to say the least. And what¡¯s more, we¡¯re not going to be dumping overburden over the cliffside¡ªwe¡¯ll be storing it someplace up here, nearby but outside the perimeter so that we can use the stone for building or break it down to mix with cement. But why not?¡± He looked around at them all, challenging them. ¡°Why not do it right? Are you in a hurry to be somewhere else? We¡¯re going to take the time to do it right because we¡¯ll be living it it, because it¡¯s what will keep us safe. Besides, we¡¯re drowning in mana and essence: we need to raise our limits, that¡¯s what we need. And nothing¡¯s more in comport with the calling of an earthmover than moving earth for the best reason imaginable. We build.¡±

    He made a firm gesture back toward his model. ¡°This is the plan. We need to dig low so that we¡¯re under the second mist layer, not above it. The airborne creatures here are too aggressive, and the wyverns especially can range a hundred kilometers or more from their nests to hunt. Now, we can weave spells into the settlement itself to mask the mental presence of the elves here from all but the most keen psychic hunters. But what we can¡¯t do, at least not yet, is hide the whole affair from sight. Hence, we¡¯re building our settlement in a sort of pocket¡ªbelow the second mist layer, but with walls that rise through that layer on all sides. Nothing flying in either layer will bother with us. Yes, some wyverns will likely try to eat the guards on the walls that rise above the second layer, but at that point, they¡¯re just being courteous by bringing us essence and keys.¡±

    A few of the gathered elves laughed a little. In truth, though, we likely wouldn¡¯t see many wyverns after a time¡ªwe would be depleting most of their population on this side of the mountain, which was so large that it formed a natural barrier encouraging the rest of the wyverns in these mountains to hunt elsewhere. After that, we¡¯d likely just use psychic deterrents rather than tolerate intermittent attacks: the latter would require us to station more personnel on the walls.

    ¡°Now, that¡¯s all planning for the future,¡± said Zephanal. ¡°For now, we¡¯re building a temporary fort¡ªone that will house all of us in some measure of comfort, but still be reasonably defensible. And it¡¯s going to be a little closer to the mountain than the permanent one, here.¡±

    He drew a squat, round structure in the shadow of the larger, more grandiose fort he¡¯d made of soil. ¡°And that, my friends, I want finished as soon as possible. Which means today, we¡¯re pushing hard. Until Lux Irovex is satisfied with the strength of our defenses, every one of you is under my command. If you can move earth with magic, you move earth. If you can¡¯t move earth with magic, but you¡¯ve got a physical body, you move earth. Some lucky few of you will not be moving earth, but channeling mana into mana wells that the rest of us then use to help us move earth.¡±

    He clapped his hands, looking around at all of them and giving off a sense of immense satisfaction. ¡°Now: let¡¯s get started, shall we?¡±

 3.04: The Letter of the Law

    ¡°Just as a city plans for a thousand-year flood, we must plan for the thousand-year creature.¡±

    I was speaking to the gathered council. Once the work had gotten underway and we were making measurable progress on the temporary keep, I¡¯d called them together for a short meeting regarding defenses.

    The colony was hard at work excavating earth and laying the foundation for the keep. Behind us, a line of elves emerged from a large strip of dug-out earth, passing cut stone blocks between them. In the distance, I could hear elves at work felling trees and stripping them of their branches, their wood to be put to use in making simple sleds that our strongest people could use to drag loads of cargo around.

    I didn¡¯t want to spread any unnecessary panic, and so I¡¯d called everyone together to discuss what we were going to do about threats.

    ¡°The hydra we saw yesterday spotted us from a distance of twenty kilometers and then charged us, intending to kill us all,¡± I began. ¡°Now, yesterday, we had the terrain advantage to drop rocks on it. In this place, that will only be true for something that comes up the cliffside¡ªin all other cases, we¡¯ll have to rely on the advantage of preparation. First and foremost, I want us to be ready in the case of simultaneous attack by multiple powerful creatures.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡ªmultiple?¡± Hassina asked, her expression growing worried.

    ¡°Multiple,¡± I said. ¡°And that¡¯s just one possibility. There are certainly larger behemoths out there. And there are creatures who are like Palefang¡ªthey¡¯ve developed intelligence. Had yesterday¡¯s hydra been intelligent, things could have gone very differently. Hence why we need to make some preparations.¡±

    ¡°What do you want?¡± Zirilla asked.

    ¡°The keep is already being built with a shelter cut deep into the earth,¡± I said. ¡°Something our people can retreat to while we fight outside, if the worst comes. Beyond that, I want mana wells for our storm callers to line up volleys of lightning bolts¡ªdrill them all until they can do it with perfect precision. And as soon as we¡¯re able, we¡¯ll get glass and ceramics to line the wells with, keep more mana reserved. Until then, it¡¯s going to take a lot of us on channeling duty to hold as much mana as I want devoted to defense.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll see it done,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°But while we¡¯re on the subject, I¡¯m thinking I should start scouting, too. More than I have been.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Well, we know that Palefang got his [Lightning] keys from somewhere,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°And yesterday¡¯s hydra netted us three [Plural 3] skill keys along with a hefty seven hundred thousand essence. If you¡¯ll recall, that behemoth wyvern that we fought knew to back away from our line of mana¡ªknew we were going to throw lighting. Something around here is cultivating [Lightning] skill keys, and I want to find it. You and I both know how much stronger we¡¯ll be if we can pair them up with [Plural] and make [Forked Lightning].¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± I said, considering it.

    Hybrid [Lightning] skills didn¡¯t allow one to extend their magical claim through mana the way that the pure [Lightning Magick] did, greatly reducing the potential range of the lightning they could conjure. But each of them added new capabilities to the lightning they conjured, and these could be combined with the pure skill.

    [Forked Lightning], the combination of [Lightning] and [Plural], would allow Zirilla and I to choose how the power of a lightning bolt would be distributed if its composite line of mana ended in multiple tongues¡ªthe fork. Normally, the brunt of the power would simply force its way along whichever path brought it close to the mana source that the lightning was naturally drawn to, but with [Forked Lightning] the caster could choose which point to use, or divvy the power between them.

    The simple result of this was twofold: the first was using a single bolt of lightning to attack multiple targets. The second, and arguably more important use, was to spread multiple tongues of mana into the air around a creature like a behemoth, then channel the bolt through whichever one was closest to its head.

    With multiple stormcallers to channel mana into the air, and Zirilla or I to aim the resulting bolt with [Forked Lightning], we could all but guarantee an instant kill against any of the creature¡¯s we¡¯d met so far.

    ¡°Delegate to get the defenses set up, then leave as soon as you like,¡± I said. ¡°We could always use more [Lightning].¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the spirit,¡± Zirilla said, grinning.

    ¡°But you won¡¯t just be looking for [Lightning] keys,¡± I said. I turned to Seriana. ¡°The mages have all manner of ideas for the defenses, I take it?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± said the archmage. ¡°And many of the most effective ones will require their own keys¡ªboth for our casters and for the enchantments we¡¯d like to lay down.¡±

    ¡°[Weave], most of all, I take it?¡±

    ¡°And [Fray],¡± said Seriana. She looked at the air around us, most likely examining the mana. ¡°I¡¯d expect the latter to be more readily available, here. I take it, Lux Irovex, that we should focus more on hindering potential threats than outright killing them¡ªas we did yesterday?¡±

    ¡°For now, yes. Eventually I¡¯ll want an arsenal of spells as broad as we can manage at our disposal, but that¡¯s for the future.¡±

    Seriana nodded. ¡°In that case, all I¡¯ll need is to have a conversation with Zirilla before she goes¡ªlet her know what to look for.¡±

    ¡°The wildhearts and psychics will still need to be at the ready for coordinated psychic attacks,¡± I said, turning now to Mirio. ¡°But while we¡¯re not being attacked you should make plans for the psychic shroud. Obviously, we¡¯ll want our presences masked.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡ªyes, Lux Irovex,¡± Mirio said with characteristic nervousness, bobbing his head. ¡°Though, if I may ask¡­.¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be taking some time to scout? You¡¯re stronger than Zirilla, and can sense wildlife more easily with [Wild Bond]. And you have the experience to know what you¡¯re looking for¡­.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right, and I will be¡ªbut not as much as you might think. I¡¯ve spent enough time away this past week that I¡¯d like to be more present with the colony, at least for a couple of days. And while I may be more effective at searching this land for keys, I¡¯m not the only one who can do it. Besides,¡± I said, smiling at him. ¡°I¡¯ll be leaving to hunt the behemoths you find in any case.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± said Mirio. ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°We also need to consider what our long-term defense against elementals will be,¡± I said. ¡°Binding spells, obviously, but I¡¯d like more geographical deterrents as well. We don¡¯t want any large bodies of water in or around the colony, and we want to make approaching us as unappealing as possible for a fire elemental. The waterworks are going to be complex¡ªwe want pressurized water that we can use to fill the moat beyond the walls and that we can pour over the cliff¡¯s edge for our icebinders to use in case of an attack. That means a large reservoir up in those hills somewhere¡ªand what¡¯s more, I want a wide fire line, at least twenty meters of water for any fire elemental to cross in order to get between that forest and us.¡±This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    ¡°Complex, you say?¡± Zirilla asked. ¡°You¡¯re talking about making an entire artificial river. Depending on how far up you want it, we might need to make an aqueduct just to fill it. At the very least, we¡¯re changing the drainage of the whole mountainside.¡±

    ¡°You know how dangerous fire elementals are,¡± I said. ¡°Best to start preparing as soon as we can¡ªwhich will be after we¡¯ve excavated the settlement site and rigged the moat there. I know it¡¯s not easy, but I don¡¯t want to take any risks we don¡¯t have to.¡±

    Zirilla sighed, then laughed as she looked at the hills that rose around us. ¡°We¡¯re going to be at this for a long time, Aziriel.¡±

    ¡°Longer,¡± I said. ¡°In time I want a plan for full evacuation. We¡¯ll make sure we have ready-made paths to some of the other potential settlement sites, get caches of supplies there just in case. We should have multiple escape routes from this place, even one or two that travel underground.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°But that¡¯s adding another who-know-how-many tons of stone to be moved.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± I said. ¡°But it needs to be done. We¡¯ve got people in the air, now. We can strip what skill keys we need from the world, make our earthmovers as efficient as possible. Now¡ªtwo more things, and some of you may not like them. Mirio¡ªwould you call for Ranival, please?¡±

    I tried to gauge the council¡¯s reaction to my request. Hassina and Zirilla seemed most shocked by my request for the head white necromancer¡ªSeriana and Valir were as stoic as ever.

    ¡°Could he even help with a behemoth?¡± Hassina asked. ¡°Animated dead will be next to useless against a creature that size, unless¡­.¡± Her face fell as she seemed to realize the answer to her own question.

    ¡°Unless the cadaver in question is also a behemoth,¡± I said. ¡°But that¡¯s not what I intend, at least not yet. Decay and blood magick can fuel a great deal of our defensive spells, and with little risk. And in case we get attacked by some roving pack or some new breed of primeval convergence, an army of animated beasts could save lives.¡±

    Hassina clenched her jaw, looking around as she thought. She was the high priest, and while I might be in command, she could forbid any use of animated dead.

    ¡°It¡¯s not for no reason that as soon as necromancy is suggested, I start thinking of any other way to get the job done. But all right: I¡¯ll follow your lead. Ranival can have his stock of corpses.¡±

    ¡°Your holiness?¡± Ranival asked, approaching us with dust-covered hands and looking quizzically at Hassina, having only caught the last bit of the conversation.

    ¡°Ranival,¡± I said, greeting the necromancer. He was a short, stocky elf with close-cropped red hair. He wore the faded white robes of his station, and lowered his hood as he turned toward me.

    ¡°Lux Irovex,¡± he said in soft voice, nodding.

    ¡°I have two tasks for you and your peers,¡± I told him. ¡°First and foremost, ready spells to kill or hinder any behemoths or other, equally powerful monsters that might attack us here. Once that is done, prepare a makeshift deadvault. General use.¡±

    Ranival¡¯s eyebrows rose at this, but he regained his composure a moment later. ¡°As you wish, Lux Irovex.¡±

    A deadvault was a supply of corpses, and my describing it as general-use was just an indirect way of saying that the corpses inside wouldn¡¯t just be having their flesh converted into mana in case of the worst: they would be for reanimating.

    ¡°I know that pits of corpses waiting to be animated aren¡¯t popular among, well, most anyone,¡± I said. ¡°But our circumstances may call for every ounce of assistance that you can give us, and I won¡¯t be ill-prepared. Once you¡¯re done those two things, get started on a blood reserve. More of us are creating the [Blood Magick] skill every day.¡±

    He nodded. ¡°Lux Irovex.¡±

    ¡°Lastly,¡± I said to the gathered council. ¡°We need to talk about Luthiel.¡±

    Those words seemed to strike a chord of pure apprehension within all of them, and for a moment all of us were silent.

    ¡°I promised his judgement would come when we made the new settlement. To my mind, the most sensible time would be after the election.¡± I paused, then said: ¡°But I want to wait until after the mountaintop concert.¡±

    ¡°Come now, Aziriel,¡± Hassina said in a low voice. ¡°Push it back by months?¡±

    ¡°And why not?¡± I asked. ¡°We¡¯re not worried he¡¯s going to flee, are we? His only choice is to cooperate with us. There¡¯s no future for him any other way. There¡¯s so much work ahead of us; let¡¯s not spend any of these valuable days gathering to decide a punishment whose outcome will weaken us no matter what we choose.¡±

    Hassina sucked in a breath. ¡°Some things can¡¯t be set aside for convenience.¡±

    ¡°Convenience?¡± I asked. ¡°Truly, Hassina¡ªyou¡¯ll consent to necromancy but not to delaying a judgement?¡±

    ¡°When I consent to the use of necromancy, we act out our laws¡ªto the letter. When you delay a judgement for the second time, you circumvent them. There¡¯s no contradiction here.¡±

    ¡°The law was written to serve elves,¡± I said. ¡°Elves were not made to serve the law.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Hassina asked, a cold, angry sarcasm underlying her voice. ¡°And so it shall be ignored by the those with the power to ignore it, if they can justify it thusly? The law serves all elves by holding all elves to standards that are unchanging. If one of us¡ªdon¡¯t¡ª¡± she said sharply, her voice had steadily raised, and now she paused to regain her composure. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that because I¡¯m lecturing you on the law, Aziriel. That¡¯s what you can expect when you say that the law serves all of us while you ask us to ignore it.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough,¡± I said. ¡°Fair enough.¡±

    ¡°I see your argument,¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯s useful, and in the time we need it most. But it¡¯s also useful if we can forever remember that the law, as written, was not set aside in this case, or in any. Aziriel, one of the firstborn, asks us to make an exception for another of the firstborn. What does this look like to you?¡±

    ¡°He is exceptional,¡± I said, my voice steady. ¡°Least of all because he is firstborn. We need to prepare spells inside the mountain¡¯s peak in case the concert goes awry, and Luthiel is a skilled binder. We need to scout this world to find new skill keys, and Luthiel is a skilled seer. We need fighters to keep us safe¡ªand Luthiel is the [Arcane Champion]. He could make the difference that saves lives.¡±

    Hassina sighed. She spared a tired glance at Seriana, and I could see why. Everyone else on the council was a wild elf directly under my command. The archmage would normally be her only chance at support¡ªand yet Seriana was Luthiel¡¯s wife.

    ¡°Thirty days from the date of the concert,¡± said Hassina, her tone defeated. ¡°And all of us hold to that date.¡± She looked directly at me. ¡°Hold Aziriel to that date.¡±

    The whole council was quiet a moment, and then Zirilla spoke first. ¡°She¡¯s the one he betrayed, Hassina. Her more than any of us. She¡¯s not going to give him less than what he deserves.¡±

    Hassina bristled. ¡°When the time comes, all of us will decide what he deserves,¡± she said stiffly. ¡°Not just Aziriel. Now do I have your promises or not¡ªthirty days from the concert.¡±

    ¡°Aye,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°You have your promise.¡±

    The rest of them gave up their own assent¡ªeven Mirio, murmuring it while looking neither me or Hassina in the eyes.

    ¡°Good,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m glad that¡¯s handled. Seriana, tell Luthiel to meet with Hassina and discuss his skills. I want him hunting, soon.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Lux Irovex.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± I said again. ¡°Now: you all have plenty to fill your days with, and so do I. If anyone else has pressing business for me, I¡¯ll be taking position near the work site and channeling mana toward our earthmovers while breaking stones into bricks and discussing plans.¡± I breathed a sigh, not trying to hide that it wasn¡¯t my ideal afternoon. ¡°Do me a favor, Mirio?¡±

    ¡°Lux Irovex?¡±

    ¡°Get out there and find me something to kill as soon as you can.¡±

 3.05: A Cold Mass Grave

    The wind whistled around me and the landscape slid by below as Zirilla and I sped toward our destination. She led the way¡ªI¡¯d come on the promise that she¡¯d found a source of the [Lightning] skill keys that she¡¯d been searching for since we¡¯d begun to settle in.

    It had been five days. Our temporary keep had been built, and a satisfying array of defenses surrounded it. Our scouts had found [Weave] skill keys in the form of some crystal-coated lizards that apparently lived symbiotically with some form of translucent, fruit-bearing vine that had the wildhearts very excited. I hadn¡¯t been out to see the creatures, yet¡ªmy presence wasn¡¯t necessary to hunt them, and the colony was safer with me around.

    Besides: now that our hunters had gained some levels, grown more familiar with the terrain, and been properly equipped with skills, the essence and keys had been coming in from all directions. It was becoming less and less necessary to have me out in the field as much as possible. I was reserved for the big hunts, but also for situations like this.

    Zirilla had made it clear that the creatures she¡¯d found weren¡¯t as threatening as she¡¯d been expecting, but we were still going to be safe. Only a few of the elves knew how to channel mana skillfully enough to cut a forming bolt of lightning before it could strike, and fewer still could survive one if they failed. Even if our quarry was weaker than we¡¯d anticipated, there was still no point in sending anyone but the strongest of us.

    We were flying over a great forest, one that was on the other side of the great swamp that stretched out below the colony¡ªthe trees grew out of water for almost a hundred kilometers, until the ground rose gradually and became soft, fern-covered soil.

    I¡¯d hit level 30 while cutting blocks with [Earth Magick] for the new keep. Truth be told, I¡¯d been surprised that I hadn¡¯t gotten the level for helping to kill the hydra or finally leading the elves to the settlement. But helping to build us all a communal home was in accordance with my calling¡ªand in this case, it had been the act to finally raise my limit.

    As we flew, I looked at my newest skill:

    [Surging Power 14]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Surge 3] + [Surge 3] + [Surge 3]

    + 164 [Channel]

    It was a skill I¡¯d already had on the temporary wristwrap that Fireesha had given me. But while bindings had advantages over skills in a number of ways, one of their disadvantages was that they had to enchant an object with enough aspect¡ªessentially an appropriate history¡ªto bear the keys in question. The wristwraps had degraded over time, even with just two rank 1 skill keys.

    And so the old skill, at the minimum rank for a binding, had only given given 110 [Channel]. This one was a clear upgrade, not just because it gave a better attribute bonus but because it freed up another of my four bindings.

    ?¡ªYour Bindings:

    B: [Aziriel¡¯s Matchbow of Windborne Missile Conjuring]

    B: [Aziriel¡¯s Smooth Shiny Rock of Earth Magick]

    B: [Aziriel¡¯s Temporary Necklace of Animal Sight]

    B: [Aziriel¡¯s Pale Furs]

    The [Animal Sight] pendant was obviously useful, and the [Earth Magick] rock was, if not as useful, still good for sensing the terrain once I got close.

    Still, my newly raised [Focus] had extended my potential magical gaze quite a bit. With luck, Fireesha would find the time and resources to replace both of them soon¡­ and one with something that granted [Forked Lightning], given that after today we¡¯d have the skill keys for it.

    ¡°It¡¯s just up here,¡± said Zirilla, signalling to me through our mental bond when to dive in tandem with her.

    We were skimming just below the second mist-layer, moving over the crowns of the great trees, which seemed to always end right below the mist. The mists were bright with their stored daylight, and so when we dove through a gap in the branches it was like transitioning into a new world, a darker place where the white glow above us faded to be replaced by the multi-hued glow of the leaves, and new white glow¡ªthat of the first mist layer, grew beneath us.

    She led me through this layer, and we perched on the side of one of the great trees.

    ¡°Down there,¡± she said, pointing.

    Some distance below us, the underbrush of the forest grew sparser. Some of the plants had been trampled by unknown creatures, but for the most part the ferns were absent because the ground seemed freshly tilled. Further away, the churned earth gave way, had been pushed back to uncover a shelf of rock which featured several round openings¡ªlarge, smoothly-cut holes that had unmistakeably been made by either [Earth Magick] or skilled digging.

    ¡°It¡¯s an insect colony,¡± she said.

    I regarded the holes in the rock with mingled hope and displeasure. I thought back to the sleeping thousands I¡¯d found on my first day here¡ªI didn¡¯t want to disturb whatever creature was storing its own private army of insect soldiers in the deep earth.

    But at the same time¡­.

    ¡°How many have [Lightning]?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got the sight skill,¡± she said. ¡°But by my guess? Hundreds at least. Wait a while and we¡¯ll see one.¡± She paused, then added. ¡°You know I don¡¯t like insects, especially the gigantic aggressive ones, but these¡­ you¡¯ll see. Most of the wildlife here knows to avoid their colony, so they end up sending out hunting parties¡­ ah, there.¡±

    She pointed, and out of one of the holes I saw a rust-colored beetle emerging. It was approximately the size of a pony, and it moved somewhat slower than I would have expected. It was followed by five more, each of them sweeping their antennae across the ground while also scanning the forest around them with twitchy motions of their tiny, faceted eyes.

    ¡°They¡¯re feeding a colony of hundreds by hunting their surroundings?¡± I asked, eying the creatures curiously.

    ¡°You know how abundant the life is in this place,¡± she said. ¡°But my guess is that the whole ecosystem around them is drastically affected by their presence. I saw some of them dragging back a creature the size of a mammoth, earlier. Scaly thing. Was huge.¡±

    ¡°And they hunt with [Lightning]?¡± I asked. ¡°Every one of these little things can throw bolts?¡±

    I stared down at the rust-colored creatures as they disappeared from view into the forest. Even on this world, an entire colony made of hundreds of creatures with that kind of power was hard to believe.

    ¡°Not quite,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°Come on¡ªlet¡¯s follow them.¡±

    She took off, and I followed. They¡¯re not searching around with a [Wild Bond], I said. Or trying to hide from one.

    I don¡¯t think they have one, she said. Rare for a predator, I know¡ªbut they tend to attract predators themselves on account of the fact that they¡¯re so open to being psychically sensed. Creatures ignore their colony, but not their hunters. Watch¡ªthis won¡¯t take long.

    We followed the hunting party for several minutes as it zigzagged its way through the forest, seemingly at random. They ignored tiny creatures like the ribbontails¡ªlikely they couldn¡¯t have caught any anyway. But after awhile one of the gigantic spiders emerged from within the root chambers under the great trees to confront them.

    It was curious¡ªthere was usually a family of spiders occupying the base of one in every three great trees. But these insects had to stray quite far from their colony to get attacked by this one¡ªperhaps they¡¯d depleted all the population nearby?Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    The spider was massive, easily bigger than the half-dozen rust-colored bugs together. It struck quickly, emerging from the shadows of the roots to pit the lead bug with its two front legs and then grab it in its chelicerae.

    Then the bugs struck back.

    It happened almost instantaneously¡ªso fast that I almost didn¡¯t see it all. First, there was a closely timed set of high-pitched clicking noises from the insects. Then each of the rust-colored bugs extended a line of mana ahead of it, connecting to the next bug in the line. The last bug ignited the stream, and the bolt shot forward and connected with the front of the spider¡¯s body, blasting off two of its legs and and turning half its head into nothing but a smoking ruin.

    I simply stared at the bugs as they set about dragging the corpse back toward their nest.

    ¡°Brilliant, isn¡¯t it?¡± Zirilla crooned.

    But I was still staring. The bolt had been so fast¡­ and what was more, the bug that had been stricken by the spider was still alive, seemingly unharmed by the spider¡¯s powerful opening strike.

    ¡°That¡¯s either a tough carapace, or high [Aegis], or both,¡± I said.

    ¡°It¡¯s iron,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°I think they eat it out of the ground or something.¡±

    I blinked, then looked closely at the texture of their shells. The bugs weren¡¯t the color of rust¡ªthey were actually covered in it.

    ¡°They have no [Wild Bond],¡± I said. ¡°They¡¯re mass-spawned insects; they probably just have common classes. Common classes with [*Lightning] skill cores. I¡¯ve never seen such a thing.¡±

    ¡°How do you think they¡¯re managing those bolts?¡± she asked. ¡°I mean, obviously they¡¯re lining them up in tandem.¡±

    ¡°Which makes them very fast even with low attributes,¡± I said. ¡°And as long as they¡¯re forming a continuous line, the bolt will be attracted to the highest density of mana at its end¡ªit won¡¯t strike any of the bugs. But¡­.¡±

    I frowned. ¡°No [Wild Bond]... but the bolt has to be ignited by the one in the back. If they feel a connecting line of mana, they don¡¯t ignite. And that clicking noise that preceded the bolt, that signals all of them to start forming the line.¡±

    ¡°Pretty fascinating,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°But you know what¡¯s really nice is that they¡¯re filled with treasure.¡±

    ¡°[Lightning] skill keys, you mean.¡±

    ¡°Power is the greatest treasure, Aziriel.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure the poets would correct you on that one.¡±

    ¡°To what? ¡®Literacy is the greatest treasure?¡¯¡±

    My mouth quirked into a smile. ¡°Love, perhaps.¡±

    ¡°Love gives a decent bonus to [Primeval Resonance], I¡¯m sure,¡± she said. ¡°But love without [Lightning] doesn¡¯t kill things nearly as well as [Lightning] without love.¡±

    ¡°True poetry, Zirilla. As for these,¡± I jerked my head toward the insects dragging the spider carcass below us. ¡°They¡¯re¡­ something of a conundrum. I¡¯m sure we can harvest some skill keys by ambushing their hunting parties, but if we attack that nest and draw the ire of hundreds of the things, we¡¯ll be overwhelmed. Those bolts come fast. And if they retreat into the earth, it would be suicide to follow them.¡±

    ¡°How many [Lightning] keys do we need?¡± she asked.

    ¡°As many as we can get,¡± I said. An idea occurred to me as I considered the nest. ¡°Come on.¡±

    I flew back to the nest, then flew close to it, reaching down with my [Earth Magick] and my [Animal Sight] to sense a network of caverns beneath the earth, carved into the rock. But my senses picked up living creatures at a greater distance than rock, and I could see that there were probably two thousand of the metal-sheathed bugs beneath us. More than we¡¯d expected.

    We landed in the bark of a great tree, considering the nest below us.

    ¡°Well?¡± Zirilla asked.

    I made my decision. ¡°We need help,¡± I said.

    ¡°Help in the form of?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go get Mirio and Luthiel.¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°It should not be particularly difficult,¡± Luthiel said, examining the earthen model before him. ¡°I can see why you sought me out.¡±

    Zirilla and I had grabbed he and Mirio from the settlement. Luthiel could fly now, and so we¡¯d made good time¡ªLuthiel and I shared a windsleeve and Zirilla sat astride Mirio¡¯s conjured mount with him, hastening its flight with her own conjured wind.

    My brother and I had spoken little, both while I¡¯d laid out the plan and on the way over. We weren¡¯t being cold to one another, not really¡ªjust curt and to the point. If we were going to talk about the Doom, it wasn¡¯t today.

    Today he would just follow my orders, coolly and precisely. Luthiel had never failed to be cool and precise.

    Whatever they thought of our working together, neither Zirilla nor Mirio said a thing about it.

    We stood in a small clearing only a few kilometers from the nest of lightning bugs, Luthiel regarding the earthen model I¡¯d made of its tunnel network, his faintly luminous white hair starkly visible in the dark of the forest. There were a few corpses of spiders and apehounds around us, all of them riddled with holes from my conjured arrows. Mirio was using his [Wild Bond] to deter any more potential predators.

    ¡°Highest density of life is in these chambers,¡± I said, gesturing to a few points on my model.

    Luthiel nodded, not taking his eyes off me. ¡°This section,¡± he said, indicating a piece of earth that divided some of the tunnels. ¡°Could it be removed with some haste?¡±

    Zirilla peered at it. ¡°I think so,¡± she said.

    ¡°Very good,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll ready the bombs, then, and you two open the path for them.¡±

    ¡°Something of a shame to kill them all,¡± Mirio said plaintively, eying the earthen model.

    ¡°There¡¯ll be more of them out there,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°The wildlife isn¡¯t too smart about them¡ªpredators attack into the lightning and get killed for it. I can¡¯t imagine that they¡¯re so uncompetitive that they¡¯re a rarity.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said, still sounding somber. He sighed. ¡°Still a shame, though.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s get to it,¡± I said.

    We flew into the air and clung to the side of the nearest tree to the insect colony¡ªat which point, Luthiel began to shape three perfect spheres of hollow frost.

    Circular shapes held mana. Spheres held mana well. Ice was not the best material to use when making a magic circle¡­ but it was good enough. Not only were the spheres natural containers, but with my absurd strength at channeling mana, I could pack them with more mana than they would ever naturally hold and then keep it there.

    I did this, and Luthiel began to form the other, more difficult component of the spell, inscribing the inside and outside of the spheres with runes and recruiting his high [Focus] to create the sophisticated spell that would guide the orbs into the tunnels before detonating the mana they contained in the form of a powerful frost spell.

    We used mana from the air, keeping our own pools full so that we could use it to continue our attack. Finally, after a signal from Luthiel, Zirilla and I dove toward the colony, making haste¡ªwithout me to help hold it in place, the spheres would start bleeding away the six thousand mana that they collectively held.

    Both of us landed in the middle of the group of tunnels, and as soon as our feet touched the ground I could hear the stirring of the heavy insects within as they mustered to defend their colony from the invaders. But we were only a split-second on the ground: with a great heave, Zirilla and I tore a huge section of stone away and hurled it toward a sloped section of ground, giving it a bit of topside spin so that it hit the ground rolling to bring it free of the colony. We stayed only a second longer, clearing out some other hunks of earth and making sure to keep a few passages open¡ªand we could hear a stampede of motion inside, bugs upset by the sudden heaving of earth.

    ¡°Now,¡± Luthiel said calmly.

    Both of us leapt into the air, conjuring a shared windsleeve and taking us above the colony as Luthiel¡¯s three spheres flew past us, each of them trailing a billowing cloud of fog and taking a different path into the tunnels. I reached out with my magic and channeled mana into the various tunnel entrances¡ªand Luthiel joined us a moment later, hovering beside us and conjuring walls of ice using the mana that I¡¯d channeled, blocking each tunnel with a glittering barricade that was several feet thick.

    We¡¯d cut off all the main entrances to the colony only three or four seconds after our attack had begun¡ªand a few moments after that, we¡¯d flown around to the secondary ones and sealed them as well.

    Our attack had been so fast, so coordinated, that none of them had made it out: apart from the noise of many insects suddenly startled into motion, and the glittering icy barricades, the whole assault was strangely silent, seemingly free of violence.

    But with my gaze, I could see otherwise: inside the tunnels, the frost bombs detonated, sucking heat from the air. The inhabitants died by the hundreds, vitals slowed and then halted by the deadly cold. Those who weren¡¯t killed were still sapped by the deadly cold¡ªa few dozens of insects crawled weakly toward the entrances, where their instincts failed them¡ªthey didn¡¯t throw lightning to blast away the frost because they didn¡¯t seem to take it for an enemy. Some of them began to dig with [Earth Magick], but not in a coordinated way.

    ¡°It¡¯s working,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s working¡­ very well.¡±

    ¡°The boons are good,¡± said Luthiel, looking down on the silent colony beside me. ¡°Shall we continue?¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Over here,¡± I said, descending to one of the frozen pathways¡ªwithin, I could sense more motion than near the other entrances.

    Luthiel conjured another sphere of ice, and we got to work. Within a few minutes we¡¯d killed almost all of them¡ªand Luthiel reported a bounty of more than three hundred boons containing [Lightning 1].

    We had Mirio¡¯s conjured broadwing carry one of the carcasses back with us so that we could use its parts to create the components of a tracking spell to hone in on more colonies. Zirilla and I were almost in states of disbelief: abundant [Lightning] was never something we¡¯d have thought could come so easy.

    As we flew home, I had to lament how everything had gone between Luthiel and I. Truly, there was nothing quite like having a skilled mage on your side, one given a lot of time to prepare. With his help, the hunt had gone perfectly.

 3.06: Settling In

    The election came two days after our incursion against the lightning-bugs. Seriana approached me and asked in clear terms¡ªclearer than I was used to from a high elf¡ªthat I get the rest of the military out of the council now that the worst of the danger had passed. Since I¡¯d asked her to come and tell me whatever she thought would help us stay unified, I assented.

    And so the existing councillors met and decided that we¡¯d collectively put forward a voting slate: typical to the normal order of things, Seriana, Hassina and I would each have one of our own subordinates on the council. Mine would be Archdruid Mirio, Hassina¡¯s would be Grand Shaper Galeena, and Seriana¡¯s would be Master Enchanter Fireesha.

    There were grumblings about Mirio. Mirio had always been meant for a position of authority¡ªbut in a hundred years or so. Vashala, a more senior druid who had also been at Ellistara when the Doom had come, was older and more familiar with politics and command than Mirio. He had no interest in the job, but this didn¡¯t stop a few elves from speaking in his favor.

    Still more of them pushed for Zirilla instead of Mirio. She was a sea elf, after all, and would be the second on the council alongside Seriana¡ªgiven that their numbers had been utterly destroyed by the Doom, many saw this as a plus. And if she would only follow my orders and vote how I decreed, what of it? Wouldn¡¯t Mirio, young and untried, have to do the same?

    And so when the votes were cast, he was the only anomaly¡ªthe other five of us took almost every vote, but with Mirio there was a fork: some voted Zirilla and a few others Vashala. Not enough to appoint them, but it was a clear sign that he even on the word of the rest of us, even with all their authorities in agreement, the elves had a hard time accepting their new archdruid.

    Fireesha finished enchanting Palefang¡¯s teeth shortly after the election. She had threaded them in a circle around the fur mantle at the top of my cloak with the two most prominent teeth, the canines, facing front. The teeth were huge, of course¡ªa normal-sized great cat¡¯s canines could be the length of my fingers, and Palefang¡¯s teeth were twice that. A large number of the teeth, including one of the canines, had been broken when I¡¯d yanked my spear out of Palefang¡¯s mouth, and these were all set on one side, helping to create the asymmetry that she¡¯d used to make them take on a [Fray 3] skill key¡ªalong with [Plural 3] and [Mana 3].

    They didn¡¯t just look nice on my mantle, either¡ªthey were quite something to behold with the Verse, as well:

    [Aziriel¡¯s Pale Fangs]

    Binding this item has granted you the [Devouring Forked Lightning 17] skill.

    These teeth have been been enchanted to stay unnaturally white as well as to repel filth and clean easily. If damaged, they can be repaired with healing magic.

    [Devouring Forked Lightning 17]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [*Lightning 3] + [Fray 3] + [Mana 3] + [Plural 3]

    + 54% [Lightning] Efficiency. Efficiency refunds a portion of the mana spent on skills.

    You can ignite airborne mana within your claim to create lightning. Lightning transfers the power of all mana it ignites into its endpoint, which then jumps to the densest source of mana it can reach.

    If your line of mana splits into multiple paths to travel through, you may choose how the power of the ignited mana will be distributed.

    Your lightning interferes with and destroys spells and enchantments, igniting the mana that composes them.

    As far as increases to power went, it was about as big a leap in strength as I¡¯d made since getting [Lightning Magick] itself, which felt fitting.

    [Fray], also called [Chaos], was an aspect that tended to build either spell-rending or attribute-reducing skills. In the case of lightning, it made the magic adept at tearing through the structured component of spells whose mana had already been arranged and focused, building on lightning¡¯s natural tendency to ignite free mana.

    Magic that increased strength, magic that shielded a creature, magic that conjured entities such as frost walls or animal spirits¡ªall these were now all prey for my lightning. If I cast a bolt fast enough, I could wholly counter any spell which took the form of a magical projectile¡ªsomething mages often used to throw spells into the magical claim of others.

    But the strongest addition was the fork¡ªnow I would be able to reach out with many fingers and choose which one to strike through, ensuring that my bolts would hit the vital areas of fast foes while also being able to strike multiple enemies at once.

    Fireesha had been very much pleased, almost giddy, when she¡¯d presented me with the fangs, and it was easy to see why. How strong an enchantment an object could bear depended on two things: its own nature and history and the skill of the enchanter. And [Fray] was naturally hard to have adhere to anything, just as [Weave] was easy¡ªit was their natures.

    The fangs were evidence of Fireesha¡¯s extraordinary skill, and I took many opportunities to boast of what she¡¯d done. It wasn¡¯t just idle pride, but one of many deliberate efforts I made to boost morale.

    This was because Fireesha¡¯s skill was no strange thing among elves: all species of the cosmos came to the immortals for teachings, and taught us what they themselves knew as they learned. From her old place in the Sable Tower, our Master Enchanter had been at the center of a locus of shared knowledge in the arcane arts. Her skills would not fail us.

    And so I boasted of her because hers was a story that repeated itself among our people many times as we worked to establish the colony.

    Our buildings were sturdy and efficient, made with fitted bricks of basalt that were fractured from the stone by earthmovers who were swift and skilled. The iron that we drew from the bog below the mists was quickly purified and, together with materials we¡¯d reduced out of the trees we¡¯d felled, smelted in deep-cut furnaces that were tended by our firedancers to make high-quality steel. The mages lined our mana wells with magically fused obsidian within a week, doubling their capacity, then carved the runes for what seemed like an encyclopedia¡¯s worth of spells into an avenue of smooth, polished stone that they set along the perimeter. The wildhearts made ready for the event of an attack with long lines of fused quartz inscribed with runes that would channel the power of their minds into a deadly psychic assault. The weavers, once they had skill keys to enable their own craft, bestowed their copious attribute bonuses on our working earthmovers to hasten the excavation¡ªbut made ready to shift their spells to our fighters if need be. And our hunting parties brought home greater and greater bounties¡ªour elementalists not only knew how to skillfully cast the [Lightning Magick] we now furnished them with, but were surrounded by warriors who knew how to work together in exploiting the power that it offered, baiting creatures and dancing backward to draw them into mighty bolts.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    In the colony, I moved from task to task, doing whatever was needed¡ªwhether it was carving out ditches or lecturing our spellcasters on some of the most sophisticated magical techniques ever conceived. No matter what I was doing, I was sure to draw the attention of my people to the deep well of competence that surrounded them, knowing that it would lighten their hearts to really pay attention to just how much skill and knowledge we¡¯d brought with us to this new world.

    Entire ages worth of power lay at our fingertips¡ªancient power that would shape the untamed might of this new world, forming a mighty alloy that would make us strong and keep us safe.

    The wildhearts would be the last piece to fall into place, but also make the greatest difference. Even now, they were crucial: once skill keys were more abundant, more of them began building the expensive set of skills that allowed them to follow after Mirio in flying a conjured bird or broadwing.

    Once we had a few of them in the air, they carried some of our more skilled keyshapers. They flew them around with escorts so that they could strip the aspect out of the mountains around us, forming these into skill keys.

    Only a few days of a few keyshapers doing this had to pass before the numbers we were deploying had quadrupled: they simply harvested some skill keys so fast that our hunters couldn¡¯t compete. [Earth] was fasted: a shaper would fly to a location, land, and spend a minute or two stripping a small amount of the aspect and spending 500 essence to create an [Earth 1], then fly a few hundred meters in another direction to do it again.

    But it was hardly the only key to become abundant: [Light] could be gathered from the mists, [Wild] and its subtypes from the forests and swamps, with the latter also providing [Water]. We were still limited by our lack of [Air] skill keys, but not in all things: our building and excavation speed rose dramatically after only a few days.

    I would watch the spectral mounts of our airborne wildhearts with a deep sense of anticipation, and I knew I wasn¡¯t the only one. The potential in taming some of the wildlife around us was almost inconceivable. Just considering some of the wildlife we¡¯d seen in our relatively short time exploring was enough to make me smile.

    The wyverns were perhaps most enticing¡­ armored flyers with [Air Magick] to help propel their flight. But the only way to safety yoke them in the long-term was to raise them as companions from birth. The beasts were wild, and only psychic conditioning from the moment they hatched would serve for animals that were to be kept around elves with no [Wild Bond] of their own.

    It would be that way with many creatures. Insects, simpleminded as they were, would be easiest to bring under our control, but even that would take time and care.

    Once done, however, our capabilities would increase dramatically: building, exploring, researching, protecting ourselves¡­ everything.

    Our hunters, reinforced with [Water] skills, took to plumbing the depths in the swamps below us in the second week, and soon afterward found a species of legged serpents who were the source of the [Decay Magick] I¡¯d seen used. With [Change] and [Death] skill keys, we supplied our druids and necromancers with their own [Decay Magick] skills. Soon they were following along with our hunting parties, stripping the flesh from their kills rather than leaving an endless supply of decaying carcasses behind them.

    They returned with the skulls. The bones, too, sometimes¡ªRanival needed to fill his deadvault. But mostly they brought just skulls: the skull of a hunting predator who possessed [Wild Bond] in life bore the aspect that it had accrued; it could bear potent [Wild] enchantments. We needed a powerful enchantment to hide our psychic presence from passing creatures: hence we needed a foundation of many, many skulls.

    To the wild elves it all made perfect sense. But even after it had been explained to the high elves, they still had a habit of looking over at our growing skull-piles with uncomfortable glances¡ªinsensible, given that plenty of them were telepaths themselves.

    We hunted behemoths, too¡ªthere were three more of them in the first month, all found by Mirio through his combined [Behemoth Sight] and [Behemoth Bond] skills. One was one of the missile-throwing grazers that occupied the low slopes of the mountains. Another was one of the six-legged frog-like creatures that hunted and scavenged in the swamps. The last was simply a gigantic spider.

    We hunted them for their strong keys, for their essence, and for the security of knowing that our hunters would not be stalked by gigantic predators. The fighting, however, was not noteworthy: we were strong enough now that a single creature with a beast¡¯s intelligence was not a significant threat. In each case, Zirilla and I, with Mirio¡¯s psychic assistance, led the beasts back into tailor-made spell trap overseen by Luthiel along with several accompanying mages and elementalists.

    They gave a good sign of our growing power: we had gotten too strong for the rote behemoths of this world to seriously threaten us. That would take creatures of intelligence, creatures with powers unknown to us, or elementals.

    Apart from the hunts, I kept my distance from Luthiel. In this, I was not alone. The former archmage was at a level of remove from seemingly everyone, trapped as if behind panes of clear glass. Every conversation he had was curt. Every interaction, a transaction. Elves avoided association with him as if fearful they could be tainted with his corruption: only the highest-ranked of us relayed orders to him, and then only because we needed to.

    I bore the criticisms from others, mostly Hassina, that my decision had been unwise. She thought I was giving him some kind of reprieve on account of his being my brother, but she couldn¡¯t see that in reality, I was torturing him: every moment that passed where he provided for us but could not wholly be a part of us was a reminder of what he¡¯d squandered.

    And sometimes I would look at him and think: oh Luthiel, my brother, look at what you¡¯ve thrown away¡­.

    Not that this was my intention, of course. I wanted to keep him around because he was useful, that was all.

    Time marched on and we grew stronger by the day. But for all our successes, the coming trial of the concert loomed. Hassina¡¯s stress was obvious to anyone who spoke with her: she toiled with her orchestra for twelve or more hours a day, sought Zirilla and I constantly for advice on how their music should be written. Practically every profession was consulted on what instruments could be made in the short time available to us. Spells to manage the air temperature and density on the frozen summit had to be composed, and the stone needed to be cut and shaped into a form with favorable acoustics.

    Seriana was almost equally hard-pressed organizing the emergency plan in case the elementals should turn hostile: an escape route had to be cut from the center of the mountain, a path into the deep stone where even a storm lord would not pursue. A spell of binding¡ªone that would hold Akkakesh for as many seconds as we needed to retreat below ground¡ªneeded to be composed, and the mana to cast it needed to be at the ready.

    All in all, everyone was busy¡ªand as I¡¯d planned, our constant toil kept us from the lull that would allow grief to seep in. Not that there weren¡¯t tearful outburst, or episodes of ennui: everyone bore the burden of memory. But all things considered, we bore it well.

    As the days passed, I could only find so much peace. So much relied on the cooperation of the skies that I wouldn¡¯t find peace until I knew they would supply us with [Air] skill keys. And so I waited: we had a month remaining to us, and then we had only weeks, and then only days¡­ then, at long last, the day came.

    It was time to play for Lord Akkakesh.

 3.07: Music on the Mountaintop

    Every so often as I looked up at the Skytusk, a flash of lightning in the upper mists would light it from behind, allowing me to see its massive silhouette even through the third layer¡ªsee the mountain in full for just a brief moment. This mountain, which we¡¯d found within a hundred kilometers of our landing site, was taller than any that had existed back on Aranar.

    In the week before Hassina¡¯s concert, I found myself looking up at it often. Its shape would loom above me, dark and challenging, and I would fear that after the work we¡¯d done, we¡¯d scale the peak only to meet with the storm lord¡¯s wrath.

    Fewer than 200 of us ascended to the mountaintop on the night of the concert, arriving in small groups that were carried up the slope by the windcallers. The aerial journey took us up the majority of the peak, but ended at the base of the tusk: from there we took a route that we¡¯d carved into the mountaintop itself.

    Earth elementals are less likely to live and move through the peaks of mountains, which essentially function as large enclosures to them, cages hemmed in by air in all directions but downward. As such the frozen peak of the Skytusk was likely free of any elementals that might pose a serious danger, and so our earthshapers had tunneled deep, happy to make use of the vast capabilities which they¡¯d been forbidden to use at the site of the settlement, where the elementals were more of a worry and the tunnels had to be shallow and small.

    It was a hasty construction, one we¡¯d only undertaken once we¡¯d gotten the shapers into the air and found ourselves with as many [Earth] skill keys as we had essence to create. But once we¡¯d had the keys in abundance, it was merely a question of how many other skill keys we were ready to furnish our earthshapers with¡ª[Surge], [Mana], and [Weave] keys were the most useful in bolstering [Earth Magick], and every one that we could plunder had been an extra hybrid skill to increase the rate at which our people could excavate.

    Hence, what they¡¯d done in only a few weeks was astonishing when one considered that they¡¯d come to this world at level 0. The tunnel¡¯s lower entrance was at the base of the mountain¡¯s eponymous tusk¡ªthe several hundred meters of sheer cliffs that ended in a slanted plateau which just barely pierced the fourth mist layer. From there the tunnel had been bored forward several hundred meters, then straight upward to emerge in the middle of the plateau.

    The central shaft was shaped like an octagon, with steps carved out of the stone walls around it. Four of the faces of the octagon were continuous walls with the stairway passing behind them, and these walls had been carved with runes to guide the spells that the mages had prepared in case of the worst.

    I took to the peak earlier than most of the elves, with Zirilla and Valir by my side. We¡¯d decided that everyone would ascend through the chasm rather than carry them all straight to the top¡ªit would be tiring for some of us, but it would also give the hole we¡¯d bored in the mountain some seeming significance in the eyes of any elementals who wondered what it was.

    We talked over what we¡¯d already talked over dozens of times¡ªsecurity. It was our job to prepare for the worst.

    ¡°Akkakesh saying ¡®no¡¯ by way of destroying a whole mountaintop¡¯s worth of elves because they feel our offer is too presumptuous isn¡¯t out of the question,¡± I said as we made a brisk pace up the steps. ¡°There¡¯s a possibility that they don¡¯t even have much respect for the lives of their own elementals, let alone surfacers. And we are asking them for the [Air] keys that function as both their lifeblood and their means to acquire power.¡±

    ¡°Even if they doesn¡¯t see our music as being equal in value to his [Air], it¡¯s not like he can hear our music anywhere else,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°He¡¯s old. He won¡¯t throw away the chance at hearing more just because he hates our offer.¡±

    ¡°Unless he¡¯s impulsive,¡± I said.

    Zirilla made a disappointed sound, one that suggested she saw my point.

    ¡°If things go south, someone will likely be sending a bolt of lightning at Hassina, in which case I¡¯ll be diverting it and then providing as much distraction as possible. You and Valir will be responsible for seeing Mirio and Hassina safely off the peak. Hassina first.¡±

    ¡°We know the job,¡± said Valir, the faintest hint of a smile in his voice. ¡°We¡¯ve been over it, Lux Irovex.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but she¡¯s nervous,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°Gotta give her minions orders to alleviate that tension. We¡¯ll always be here for you, Aziriel.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m touched,¡± I said flatly. ¡°Remind the musicians as they arrive to channel their mana into the stone below them as they play. It¡¯ll be easier to evacuate if they¡¯re not all natural lightning rods.¡±

    ¡°Like us,¡± Valir added.

    ¡°Yes, Valir. Like us.¡±

    Of course, the three of us knew how to defend against lightning, were well-practiced in the art of cutting a bolt as it was forming. Whether it would matter against a storm lord who undoubtedly had much higher [Channel] than we did was a question that we hopefully wouldn¡¯t be answering.

    We passed the chambers where the mages had situated themselves before we emerged onto the peak to take our positions. Seriana and Luthiel weren¡¯t going to be on the surface. Instead, they¡¯d be below us, coordinating a huge store of mana meant to fuel a binding spell that had been carved in the channels along the mountain¡¯s inner chamber.

    I stood perched at the edge of the tusk, occasionally changing position between looking at the elves gathering behind me and the infinite sea of red clouds ahead of me. I saw elementals with my magical gaze¡ªbut only the unintelligent variety, flitting about with undirected movements and paying the elves below them little heed.

    The mountaintop had also been reshaped, and the carcass of the behemoth wyvern had been magically decayed and then stashed in a chamber below us, carried away in fragments. As I watched, the musicians arranged themselves in a small pit ringed with tiered steps that we¡¯d cut into the mountain. Runes lay carved into the stone all about it¡ªrunes attended by mages who managed the spells that kept the air the right temperature and pressure for the performance.

    Most of the instruments they were using were those that we¡¯d brought with us. Shapers could form our steel into the precise dimensions needed for acoustic quality, and creationists could make them the alloys they required, but even these two things only took us so far. Sixty days was never going to be enough to find the perfect quality materials like wood and hair that we¡¯d need to make some instruments of the quality we were used to, let alone test them to determine how those instruments should be made. The result was that we had a few new pipes and horns that were excellent, a few new drums that were passable, and a whole host of instruments that had come from home.

    At length, the last of the arriving elves emerged through the chasm we¡¯d cut into the tusk and, if they needed it, were cured of their exhaustion by one of our healers.

    Soon I heard the discordant insanity of sixty elves suddenly tuning their instruments all at once, then a full-bodied silence as everyone¡¯s eyes fell toward where Hassina stood on a raised hunk of stone. Then at last she raised her arms and gave the signal to begin¡ªto one elf.

    A great crash sounded across the mountaintop as the elf she¡¯d signalled struck a gong that was little more than a rectangular metal sheet hanging from two chains. Its sound rang out, then tapered off to silence as its musician stilled the vibrations of the gong.

    Hassina signaled again, and again the gong sounded. It happened five times in total, a clear signal that our concert was beginning, then was answered by a rapid series of notes played out on a piccolo. This exchange went on for some time: the mighty, crashing footsteps of the gong and the irreverent dancing of the piccolo, one thriving in the other¡¯s silence. They built tension, coming to no conclusion or resolution between one another¡ªuntil, at the tenth sounding of the gong, the entire orchestra burst into sudden life.

    The first piece they played was a strange assortment: part of it was quoted directly from two of Vitha Holde¡¯s most famous symphonies, and several other parts of it were more rigidly inspired by several other famous works. The rest was Hassina¡¯s own composition.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Overall, the whole thing had a distinctly contentious tone. Every movement, every melody was set against another, the whole thing an overexcited affair. It reminded me of an argument which both participants are enjoying, where every last detail is fought over.

    Soon enough I had settled in to listen to the sound of the music, watching more elementals appear in the air around us, their more controlled movements hinting at their intelligence. Air elementals were held back from interfering by their storm elemental cousins, until soon a veritable whirlwind of elementals circled the place of the concert.

    As all this went on, I had to watch Hassina, who stood and conducted both with her hands and with a psychic bond, her stark white hair blowing in the breeze around her and rustled by the frenetic motions of her arms.

    I basked in the sight of her. We had such hopes for Hassina¡ªLuthiel, Alcuon, and I. We foresaw¡ªhad long foreseen¡ªthat she could be a great leader of elves. And what had she done, since we¡¯d come here, but reinforce that vision?

    When her duty had asked that she warn the elves against the danger of following me with singular hearts, she¡¯d done it. Even if it had made her unpopular, had undermined her power, she¡¯d done it. She hadn¡¯t convinced herself that she could do her duty any other way: she¡¯d seen what she¡¯d seen, and taken the risk of seeming arrogant and brash, unnecessarily contentious, to do her job. And she¡¯d told the tale of Narana at Ithmel Bel, of one of my greatest accomplishments¡ªgiving up.

    And she¡¯d done as much again when I¡¯d delayed Luthiel¡¯s judgement¡ªinsisted that I was doing wrong, argued against me to a council of elves who were almost all in support of me, and almost all her seniors.

    Lately I¡¯d been admiring her courage¡ªI¡¯d admired anyone who stood against me. But there, on the mountaintop, I found something else to admire.

    She was just so fiercely talented. It was no small thing, selecting from a catalogue of more than a thousand years of music from multiple different cultures all those pieces that you will mingle together, reformat into music for another kind of being that you¡¯ve never played for in your life.

    But as the concert progressed, she began to do something I did not expect. The orchestra switched: they went from music that she¡¯d written for the elementals to music that was only written for elves, but grieving elves.

    Our melodies might suit elemental ears in some cases, but not the ones that were sorrowful. Hassina had, in the middle of her perfectly functional concert, decided to play a lament for our first lost world, for Maia. The elementals above us seemed to falter in their motions, drifting in confusion, some of them still trying to play with the wind while others fluttered away and out of my sight.

    When the lament was finished, the music changed again, becoming the more chaotic and contentious sound that she¡¯d written for her audience. Again the elementals kicked up their aerial dance, more of them joining us.

    But soon after, she had them play another lament, something more fit for an elvish funeral than a storm lord¡¯s court. The contrast between the two sounds was as obvious as she could make it. It wasn¡¯t just music that would suit our ears and not theirs¡ªshe wanted Akkakesh to know exactly why they preferred one composition over another. She was telling them, clear as she could through her music, that our ears and his were different.

    What are you doing, Hassina? I wondered. I didn¡¯t dare interrupt her work to ask her as much, though. Her mind was preoccupied with her job. Besides, I¡¯d told her she had to do this herself¡ªand she was.

    And so I didn¡¯t interrupt her¡ªbut Akkakesh did.

    I saw the mana forming the bolt of lightning only in the moment before it struck¡ªAkkakesh was powerful, and he called the bolt with frightening speed.

    I wasn¡¯t the only one who saw it. Every elf I¡¯d set to guard duty gave a start as their attention snapped toward the forming bolt, but I sent them a quick psychic signal to wait when I saw that it was coming down next to Hassina.

    The bolt ignited, and the orchestra seemed to fall quiet¡ªbut this was only because their music had shifted, moving from the quiet lull of the lamentation into a more feverish succession of notes that was still quiet, but anxious and urgent. Hassina had apparently even prepared them for this.

    Akkakesh moved close to her¡ªwithin six inches, and I fought every instinct I had to keep myself from diving toward her and dragging her into the pit. She knew, as I knew, that he could incinerate her with ease from that distance.

    Akkakesh must have gotten a [Wild Bond] skill or something similar, because when they spoke to her their voice was a sizzling hiss in the mind of every elf on the mountaintop.

    Tell me, music-maker, they said. Is it your intention to mock me?

    Mentally, I began to gather my focus, prepare myself to lunge for Hassina and potentially reach out and interfere with Akkakesh¡¯s lightning¡­.

    ¡°No,¡± said Hassina, speaking both aloud and in the bond.

    Music-maker, Akkakesh said. Your sounds divide so cleanly into that which we adore and that which finds no purchase in our minds¡ªit strikes me that you knew it would be thus.

    ¡°I did,¡± Hassina said.

    I seethed with frustration, wondering at what she was doing¡ªthis was no time to play games. Gods above, Hassina¡­.

    Akkakesh spoke. Explain then, why you give us this insult¡ªwhy you draw our attentions with pleasings sounds only to follow them with unpleasantries.

    If hearing she¡¯d insulted him had frightened her as much as it should have, she gave no sign. Instead Hassina¡¯s voice rang clear across the mountaintop.

    ¡°I mean no insult, O Lord,¡± she said. ¡°It is only that to hear the music is to know the musician. We must show you respect as we know it, not as we believe you to know it. To act as if we could frame your every thought, anticipate your every perspective¡ªthat would be the disrespect, would be mockery. I am master of the elves here tonight, and I decided that even if you care not for their sound, we must sing you our laments. I decided thus because I wished to add¡­ new dimension to our performance. I wish to furnish the manifold and depthless curiosity of the elementals with considerations borne of comparison: if our music sounds thus, and we think yours sound thus, then what are we?¡±

    You hope that my curiosity at our difference will be more intriguing to my mind than my joy at your most pleasant melodies? Akkakesh asked, his voice still seething. It is not. This music is¡­ unsettling.

    Hassina didn¡¯t answer him for a moment¡ªand at length Akkakesh spoke again.

    Yet I am curious, he said. There are many things I have not experienced, and your sound is not unpleasant¡­ merely unsettling. It is new. And you speak truly: depthless is my curiosity¡­.

    ¡°If it is not what you desire to hear, Lord Akkakesh, we can play other melodies.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t relaxed since the appearance of the storm lord, and their conversation wasn¡¯t helping me.

    The cynical view of things was that she was manipulating him, teaching him to treat an unpleasant experience as an indulgence like he was any old Thanaxian noble eating a conman¡¯s cuisine.

    Whether Hassina felt this way herself, or genuinely thought he¡¯d prefer to hear some unpleasant lament that helped him contemplate the elven condition, I couldn¡¯t say. In truth, it didn¡¯t matter what her intent was¡ªif he thought she was manipulating him, he¡¯d scatter us like a handful of beach-sand.

    I desire to hear it, he said at last. But my wards, I think, do not. Where they might listen with confusion, I listen with fascination. Not pleasure, for my pleasure is begotten by those earlier sounds, and greatly do I wish to hear more of their kind. Yet fascination pulls my mind elsewhere, when I hear your other sound¡ªpulls my mind into contemplation. I ask that you postpone your lamentations, music-maker. I will be audience to them, but only once the greater offer is made.

    ¡°I will do as you wish, Lord Akkakesh,¡± said Hassina, bowing low. ¡°Which for now is to resume our concert.¡±

    Akkakesh drifted a few feet away from Hassina, seeming to regard her with his strange constellation of eyes as she resumed her role as conductor and the orchestra peeled away into a new piece.

    I breathed a heavy sigh of relief, but still felt an intense frustration. The whole conversation had been unnecessary: Hassina had engendered our effort here with unneeded controversy. The thing that disturbed me most was that I couldn¡¯t see why: she¡¯d done all of it just to learn that the storm lord wasn¡¯t offended enough to kill her.

    I stared out our high priest and whispered, only to myself, so quietly that not even the elves nearest me could hear.

    ¡°What are you doing, Hassina?¡±

 3.08: In the Shifting Hall of the Storm Lords Castle

    Hassina felt no fear. I could tell not just by looking at her, but by the job she was doing: she wasn¡¯t hiding her terror at the presence of the storm lord¡­ it just wasn¡¯t there.

    Now that her planned ordeal was done, she conducted with perfect confidence. Her attention was entirely on the players before her and the movement of her hands was precise. I relaxed, slowly accepting that despite her stunt, the concert was now going as planned.

    I began to watch the elementals above and around us. They whirled with extraordinary speed, stirring up an encircling wall of glittering snowflakes but using their magic to keep us from being buffeted by the winds that would have roared with their enthusiasm, had they not protected us from that as well.

    Ribbons of air danced and wove around them. Every so often I would see half-dozen of them suddenly begin to move in perfect synchronicity, a tandem dance that was unique to those air elementals with intelligence.

    Near the center of that chaotic gyre, I guarded the orchestra and watched them, wondering.

    We acted as if air elementals had such a special predilection for music, and seemingly they did. But if I had never heard an orchestra play in my life, how much blood and toil would I be willing to give to hear one play again? Perhaps it wasn¡¯t any special quirk of their nature that made them love music, but rather those qualities which made them unable to record and develop a deep musical tradition that made them so greedy for it.

    I remembered the first time Sabina had played the glitter strings for us: how each of us had begged her to play again and again, over and over. At first she¡¯d done nothing, enjoying¡ªas my mother-creator often did¡ªthe power of denying us. But then she¡¯d done something better: she¡¯d given us instruments of our own.

    Perhaps there was a way, I thought, watching the elementals spin and whirl in the air. After all, there were instruments that could only be played by those with [Air Magick], even if they were rarer than those that could be learned by anyone.

    Perhaps with kites and scaffolds, it could be done¡ªbells and pipes placed high in the sky, perhaps even ordered to create certain melodies when rushed through in sequence¡­.

    As the concert went on, these thoughts occupied me for a while, distracting me from the magnificent show before me. I shouldn¡¯t have been distracted¡ªit wasn¡¯t normally like me to grow lost in thought at an event such as this. But things had changed, and they¡¯d changed for the worse.

    The lament that Hassina had played earlier was of the like those which had followed every war I¡¯d ever fought. Yes, it had moved me¡ªbut I¡¯d long grown accustomed to being moved by laments, letting grief and loss flow through me unimpeded with the knowledge that they would pass.

    It was the absence of joy that I struggled with more than anything. As I watched creatures made from ripples of wind and currents of mana dance across the sky, my ears were filled with music that was fused from ancient elvish compositions and Hassina¡¯s own creations. I should have been flooded with joy and wonder, overwhelmed as I so often was with gratitude at the blessed life that I¡¯d been granted within our vast cosmos.

    But the trials of the past and my fears for the future kept me from falling into the wonder that I knew I should have felt. I was tired.

    ¡°Alcuon,¡± I whispered. ¡°It¡¯s you who I need to pull me from worrying, planning, and endless foresight into one glorious, effortless now.¡±

    Tears stung my face as they fell from my cheeks. Before me, Hassina cued the choir to begin¡ªand two dozen elves let out a strange series of notes, called out with sounds that were as much like bells as they were voices, each a loud burst of sound that quieted quickly and melted into the endless, rapid melody that they all made in concert.

    ¡°And once we¡¯re there¡­ just let that constant, instant present last forever¡­.¡±

    I sighed, allowing my tears to fall. A little weeping and I¡¯d feel better, I knew.

    Besides, it wasn¡¯t all about the here and now. Memory could perfect a moment, could smooth away all its small discomforts and inadequacies with the polish of time. If hollow grief kept me from feeling the full breadth of this concert, then hollow grief was my lot for now. I¡¯d have this night in time.

    Until then I let the music fill the air around me, committed the sight of the dancing elementals to memory, and quietly wept for my lost husband.

    In an impressive act of endurance, our musicians played ceaselessly for hours. They hadn¡¯t stopped the music when Akkakesh had arrived, and they didn¡¯t stop for anything else¡ªinstead the music simply segued into new melodies, Hassina directing these transitions with precision and skill. The true concert concluded with an energetic symphony, and Hassina psychically announced that it was over.

    The elementals continued to stir above us for almost a half-hour more, continuing in their dance even without music, perhaps communicating to one another excitedly about what they had just heard. Then, as if by some signal sent by Akkakesh, they dispersed all at once, leaving us alone on the mountaintop.

    Again the storm lord descended as a turquoise bolt of lightning, then became a vaguely elf-shaped cloud of steam topped by a constellation of eyes.

    Now, music-maker, they said. Play me your lament so that I might consider your people.

    Hassina and her orchestra did as Akkakesh had requested. I listened, but my tears had run dry. I couldn¡¯t tell what it was they were thinking as the air on the mountaintop was filled with an ancient song of sadness, but I could tell that our performers were giving their all: tears glittered on the cheeks of many of those in the choir.

    Then I felt Hassina reach out and connect with me through my [Wild Bond].

    Aziriel, she said.

    I¡¯m here.

    When it comes time to negotiate, see if you can get them to commit to letting me play him more music, tell him stories¡ªif you can make them commit to trying to understand us better.

    I raised an eyebrow. I still had no idea what Hassina was planning¡ªAkkakesh didn¡¯t need to understand us to bargain with us. Air elementals were curious, but they sought delight in new experiences. Akkakesh would take no pleasure in our stories, and even if they did listen it was hard to see what we had to gain by it.

    I will, I told Hassina.

    Soon the music was done, and Akkakesh descended slowly to hover next to Hassina. Tell me, music-maker, they asked. Are you master of these elves?

    ¡°No,¡± said Hassina. ¡°My place in our hierarchy is high, but it is Aziriel who is highest.¡±

    I understand, they said, turning toward me. They probably found this so plausible because he knew that I had some skill with lightning¡ªnaturally, I¡¯d be the dominant elf in their eyes.

    Come with me, Aziriel, said Akkakesh. They began to rise into the air, and I followed, until we had risen high above even the peak of the Skytusk, halfway between the fourth mist layer and the fifth.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    I will carry you, they said. I relinquished my claim on the air around my body, and felt Akkakesh¡¯s power enwrap me until a hard wall of air was pulling me across the sky at an extraordinary pace.

    They said nothing as we sped through the air. This air was clear of the haze that blanketed the rest of the world, and I could see clearly in all directions¡ªahead of us, distantly, I saw a formation of cloud.

    Rainclouds almost all occupied the air between the third and fourth mist layers, but I knew as we approached that this shape was no true raincloud.

    We¡¯d always called them cloud castles, but they looked so little like the fortifications built by any earthly race. For a few minutes, flying faster than I ever could have alone, I watched the shape grow larger and larger: a slowly-swirling pillar made of streaks of the luminous mist and voluminous quantities of stormcloud, a colossal structure the size of a mountain, black veined with red. Akkakesh¡¯s home.

    The storm lord brought me inside the dark castle, through a gap in the outer wall and into an inner chamber. The proportions of the chamber we occupied were those of a great hall built for giants: it was roughly square in shape, but a kilometer or more on each side.

    Akkakesh appeared at the far side of the chamber¡­ only now they were sized as if this were merely their sitting room¡ªa billowing, many-eyed stormcloud that was at least five hundred meters in height, each sizzling eye big enough to wholly encompass me.

    This pillar is my abode, said Akkakesh, towering over me. Built by my will with much [Air]. Below us is a great lake, deep-set into the world, and so the pillar rises over a great quantity of air and water. It is my forge of storms.

    As Akkakesh spoke, light played across my face, emitted by the glowing streaks of red that would occasionally emerge from the surface of the roiling clouds that enclosed us on all sides before being swallowed again by darkness.

    It is my wish that you play often on the tip of the Skytusk, said Akkakesh. And that those of us who attend, and listen, will pay you richly in [Air]. Half the [Air] you collect shall be given over to me. These skies are mine, and so it is fitting. Yet take heed.

    His eyes surged with sudden light, and lightning danced between them before falling silent.

    There are those among us who have keen minds and understanding eyes, said Akkakesh, and there are those among us who do not. Avoid dealings with those who do not. Play for them, but make no exchange with them. Do not train, trick, or motivate them to help you. They are simple creatures, and they belong wholly to those of us with understanding. If they attend your concerts, then those who shepherd them will pay you. Is this understood?

    ¡°It will be as you say, Lord Akkakesh,¡± I said, nodding my assent.

    I will not always attend your concerts, said Akkakesh. But I will send a stormling in my stead. On some nights, my stormling will collect the keys, then pass them to you. On others, you will collect the keys and then pass them to my stormling. In this way we may form expectations: either party will notice if the other never collects as many keys as they do.

    I smiled. It was my kind of deal¡ªmaking trust as unnecessary as possible was a good sign that a trading partner was trustworthy.

    Once a year, I wish that your finest music-makers come to this place to play a concert in my honor, said Akkakesh. My stormling will help guide you to that music which best suits me. I will pay you for this concert, though many of my kind will attend¡ªyet I will pay well. This will begin near one year from now: you will need time to learn those sounds which best please me. Do you agree to this, elf Aziriel?

    I thought for a moment. ¡°I do.¡±

    Know that with those of my kind who have understanding, you may deal as you wish. They know my laws and will not break them, and they will warn you if you should seek to do anything that would anger me. And know also that my lightning¡¯s hue cannot be used under my skies by any but me, for the storm lords are known by our hue, and to steal a hue is a grievous offense. Under another¡¯s sky, my hue is free for all to use¡ªbut here, it is mine and mine alone.

    This came as a surprise to me. Lightning magic was red, and some added skills could change this color to something else. But it was easy enough to learn to naturally cast a different color of lightning, and so elementals and mortal spellcasters alike both tended to affect a color that pleased them. But a storm lord demanding that one color be exclusively theirs in their territory wasn¡¯t something I¡¯d seen before.

    There is yet one other hue that is forbidden, said Akkakesh. One that you must never use no matter where you are. Are you ready to witness it, elf Aziriel?

    I blinked, anticipating a bright flash and wondering at why one color of lightning was forbidden to the whole world. ¡°I am.¡±

    I watched Akkakesh¡¯s mana fill the air before us, stretching from their eyes down through the center of the colossal chamber. Then I surged my [Aegis] as I saw the bolt ignite, and my body shook with the power of the sound that filled the air as a jagged line of deep indigo was seared into my vision.

    There, said Akkakesh. That is the hue most potent, for lightning of that hue belongs to Ivisikarakiss, most powerful of all my kind. To offend them is to die. You are warned.

    ¡°I am,¡± I said, my vision still rent by a luminous line of power.

    Akkakesh carried on. As your people are now beholden to me, and you are the highest of their hierarchy, you must come and witness me should I contend with another of my kind. If you are needed among your own people, you may send another who is strong with lightning¡ªperhaps the twin you fought with on the mountain¡¯s peak. Is this understood, elf Aziriel?

    ¡°I understand,¡± I said. I doubted I¡¯d need a messenger to come get me if Akkakesh fought another storm lord¡ªsomething told me that particular event would be highly noticeable, even from a great distance.

    Akkakesh waited a moment before speaking again. I have told all that I need to, they said. Now you will ask whatever you desire of me, and though I may refuse you, I will not be offended.

    I nodded slowly. It was a hard thing to believe, that no matter what I asked a storm lord wouldn¡¯t take any insult. But Akkakesh had been as friendly as I could have expected, up to this point¡ªand they were giving me a chance to ask for Hassina.

    ¡°Hassina, the music-maker you spoke with tonight, wishes to know if you care to hear more of our more¡­ different music,¡± I said. ¡°Her role among us is also that of our grand storyteller, and she wants to know if your curiosity will extend as far as hearing her tell you our stories. She has no cost in mind; it is simply her calling to share with all who will listen. Our people, Lord Akkakesh, have come from another world and brought many centuries of knowledge and history with us. You said earlier that you were a deeply curious being; mayhaps we know things that will intrigue you, though it may take time to discover what these may be.¡±

    Ah, said Akkakesh, filling my mind with a buzzing noise as they considered this. Indeed, I believe I should like this. She may have my attention on the nights I attend your mountaintop concerts¡ªwhen the music is done.

    ¡°I am glad,¡± I said. ¡°And I have another thing to ask.¡±

    Ask.

    ¡°I know you have little cause to know much about the lives of the surfacers like us, Lord Akkakesh,¡± I said. ¡°But I have a request, and it is twofold: first is that you give me news of any other intelligent surface life you know of, most especially any creatures that are plentiful and live together, like elves do. Second is that you hide our existence from any such life, never leading them to us even if they should ask.¡±

    Akkakesh considered this, their feelings inscrutable through our psychic link. Finally a sizzling, crackling cascade of sound seemed to fill my mind¡ªthe storm lord was laughing. I agree to this, cunning master of elves. If I should learn of any surface-dwellers, you will know of them before they know of you.

    ¡°Then I have asked all I can of you, Lord Akkakesh,¡± I said, smiling. ¡°You have offered us as much as we had ever hoped for.¡±

    It is good, and I am glad, said Akkakesh. Now come to me¡ªfly higher and I shall honor our deal with a gift.

    I floated higher, and a tendril of cloud-fog reached out to me from Akkakesh¡¯s midsection. I touched it, then felt the skill keys flood into me:

    + 6 [ Air 4], 30 [Air 3], 120 [Air 2], 360 [Air 1]

    My face broke out into a grin. That was indeed a gift: we could put so many more elves in the sky with this alone.

    ¡°Thank you, Lord Akkakesh.¡±

    Go now, the said. My stormling will attend to the more detailed arrangements. Go, and remember that it is my will that Aziriel¡¯s elves should fly.

 3.09: In the Wake of the Concert

    The next day Seriana, Hassina, Fireesha, Galeena, Mirio and I all met in the open, flat area atop the unfinished, permanent keep that our people were constructing. There, under the white light of the morning mists and with the regular sounds of the elves working below us in our ears¡ªthe crack of stone, the scrape of the saws, the shouted questions and answers¡ªwe had our meeting.

    The high council met every morning, and the meetings ran long. The minutiae of the day still had to be attended: every elf in the settlement was laboring under our orders, if indirectly, and that came with a glut of administrative and executive decision-making that never seemed to run dry.

    Today would be an especially long and important meeting of the High Council. We had many matters to discuss now that our relationship with Lord Akkakesh was seemingly established and stable. We didn¡¯t just have to make our plans for how to proceed with our concerts, now that they would be a regular thing: we had to decide what to do with our [Air] keys, and we had to lay out a plan for bringing about my promised ritual.

    But before all this, we had to chew out Hassina.

    ¡°First,¡± I began. Then I faltered. I looked at Hassina, and her cool, reserved face told me she knew exactly what was coming. ¡°Let me say that I have admired you so much of late, your holiness.¡±

    Hassina seemed utterly uncharmed by the compliment. ¡°Do go on,¡± she said flatly.

    ¡°I imagine it was no easy thing to tell the story of when Narana came to Ithmel Bel during the hour of tales,¡± I said. ¡°And yet you did. Elves have criticized you for it, as you must have known they would¡ªand yet you did all the same, because you saw it to be right.¡±

    Hassina was silent, eying me warily.

    ¡°You were the one who spoke of unity in your tale,¡± I continued. ¡°And in the wake of your story, I did what I thought best and shared my thoughts on it with no-one. Of the many messages I felt your tale contained, one was a warning against frail unity, false unity: that unity which comes from putting total faith and obedience in one elf¡ªme. Military affairs demand a rigid chain of command, but civilization grows brittle if it leaves no room for deliberation.¡±

    I paused. No one spoke: they saw that I clearly had more to say, and had no intention of interrupting me. Mirio and Galeena both looked uncomfortable, neither of them looking directly at me or Hassina¡ªbut then both of them were unused to being councillors.

    ¡°I know that many spoke against you in the wake of your tale, and had I commanded them to silence they would have fallen silent, but only for the wrong reasons: only because of the very thing that you warned against. So I said nothing. It¡¯s always been my right to say nothing, when the tales are told where I¡¯m the antagonist.¡±

    I let out a soft sigh. I wondered if perhaps I should have given my praise more freely instead of saving it and using it as preface to an admonishment. But I hadn¡¯t known that was what I was doing at the time, hadn¡¯t known that she was going to do what she¡¯d done at the concert.

    ¡°But now let me say how much I admire you for telling it when you did,¡± I said. ¡°I thought of it last night as I watched you conduct. I thought not only of your story, but your insistence that we judge Luthiel in the proper time.¡± I paused. Hassina¡¯s stony face told me she knew full well that the knife was coming. ¡°Yet now I wonder if your boldness is rooted somewhere other than wisdom.¡±

    I leveled my gaze at her. ¡°Why did you choose to tell no-one that you intended to add further risk to our concert by mixing in music that you knew Lord Akkakesh would not enjoy?¡±

    Hassina¡¯s cool expression was unchanged. It was easy to see why: I led this council, and to imply that she¡¯d done what she¡¯d done out of ego was a serious accusation against her. But I had to do it¡ªotherwise it would have to come from the mouth of someone else, possibly Seriana, and that person would be the target of Hassina¡¯s ire. Or it no-one would say anything, and that would be worse.

    ¡°Lux Irovex,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s self-aggrandizement to admire someone for having the courage to challenge you.¡±

    I blinked. I really had gotten to her. But I wouldn¡¯t argue with being called self-aggrandizing. ¡°Yes,¡± I said.

    Hassina tried to control her breathing¡ªbut I could hear well enough to hear her fuming, just a little. ¡°I was trusted with coordinating this concert, yes? You were the one who told me to dance. So I danced.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± I said.

    ¡°If I must defend myself for taking my responsibilities so seriously, then so be it,¡± said Hassina. ¡°We don¡¯t even know yet what we could gain from a more thorough connection with these elementals. The more Lord Akkakesh comes to understand us, the more likely they are to see what beneficial exchanges can be made. Surely somewhere, Akkakesh will find something more than music to want from us? Surely a greater understanding of this new kind of storm lord will be to our benefit?¡±

    Her voice was calm, measured. She looked to each of the councillors as she spoke. ¡°Think of what we mean to accomplish with the [Air] we gained on that mountaintop: we mean to explore. We can send our people to fly over distant, unknown territories. We know they¡¯ll be dangerous, we know that eventually, some of them will not return. What¡¯s more, we have no specific knowledge of what gain there is to be had by sending them here or there. Yet we do it anyway, because even without knowing the gains to be had, we know they exist.¡±

    She let out an exasperated breath. ¡°What territory could be a more worthy place to try, than the mind of the other? What could be more worthy of risk than trying to help the creatures who we fear learn to understand us?¡±

    I saw the gleam of passion in her eyes as she spoke, her fervor giving her more and more certainty as the words flowed. I didn¡¯t interrupt her to give the obvious correction: I wanted to hear all her justifications.

    ¡°Ancient mages have gleaned out methods to translate even the most fervent of passions between unlike psyches,¡± Hassina said. ¡°What if Lord Akkakesh could be shown exactly how an elf feels when they hold a baby in their arms? What could better protect us from that which we rightly fear?¡±

    She looked around at us¡ªand the confidence that had filled her face as she spoke seemed to falter in the silence. Mirio at least seemed somewhat interested in what she had to say, but the rest of us were quiet, completely unmoved.

    ¡°She didn¡¯t ask why you did it.¡±

    It was Seriana, and her voice had a chill to it. In the light of the morning, the green strands in the archmage¡¯s hair seemed almost luminous.

    ¡°She asked why you didn¡¯t tell us.¡± Seriana leaned forward, steepling her fingers. ¡°And since you have not answered, I¡¯ll take the time to add to the admonishment that Lux Irovex has already given. Did we not deliberate many times on how to best minimize the risk of what we were attempting? The best of our earthshapers took time away from constructing the defenses here to bore a hole deep into the peak¡ªall to minimize risk. A hundred of mages composed and carved spells, channeled mana and then stood at standby¡ªall to minimize risk. Dozens of our most capable stormcallers stood watch upon that peak, ready to take a bolt of lightning for you¡ªall to minimize risk.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Seriana turned her cool expression on me. ¡°Some of us manage military affairs, and the authority to gamble with lives¡ªincluding their own¡ªis a given.¡± Saying this, she then turned to Hassina. ¡°But as civil servants, you and I have not been trusted with that privilege except in the direst of circumstances. True, you were trusted with the authority to arrange the concert how you chose, and the concert itself was a dangerous affair, but one could still make the argument that by risking elvish lives without consulting Lux Irovex, you overstepped your authority. I won¡¯t make that argument, and I see that Aziriel has not, either. Yet one could.¡±

    Hassina heard all of this, her face impassive. ¡°Is that all, Archmage?¡±

    ¡°To me the question is a two-pronged fork,¡± Seriana continued, ignoring her. ¡°Is it the case, your Holiness, that you did not see that what you chose to do added an unnecessary risk? Or is it the case that you did see, but chose not to consult us¡ªperhaps because you saw no use in our thoughts on the matter. Because you knew without needing to check that all our knowledge and wisdom would have only made for pointless argument?¡±

    Hassina¡¯s expression seemed to harden¡ªbut only for a moment. Doubt flickered on her face as she considered what Seriana had asked. At last her fortress of impassivity crumbled, and she simply looked tired. ¡°The latter, Archmage. I¡­.¡± She sighed, then composed herself again. ¡°I wanted an in-road. But I know that you only agreed to the concert once Aziriel and Zirilla were in favor of it, so I doubted you¡¯d be in favor of my plan. And Aziriel favors caution everywhere¡ªI doubted she¡¯d see our long-term chances for survival were better if I made the attempt.¡±

    ¡°You were right on that count,¡± I said. ¡°An in-road, you say? We could have asked Akkakesh to listen to your stories in a year¡¯s time, at the concert we play in their honor. Why compound the risks?¡±

    ¡°I was given authority over the concert,¡± Hassina said, her face a stubborn scowl. ¡°I used that authority as I thought best.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve no doubt that you¡¯re more familiar with the precise legal terms and definitions which show that you had the right to do as you did,¡± I said. ¡°But that¡¯s not what matters here, and I¡¯ve no doubt you can see that also.¡±

    Hassina blanched, seemed to think of a reply¡ªbut fell silent. At last she hung her head. ¡°Yes, Lux Irovex.¡±

    I let the moment stand for a while, then moved on. ¡°As it is, everything has worked in our favor. Once Akkakesh¡¯s stormling arrives, we can negotiate a schedule for our concerts and the exchange of payment. With that done, we can get a more rigid idea of how many personnel, and how often, we¡¯ll be committing to the mountain¡¯s peak.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll want some elves with [Elemental Telepathy] just watching the concerts,¡± said Hassina. Her voice was still somewhat deflated, but her repudiation was apparently not going to interfere with her duties. ¡°I want them making note of what the elementals like best so that when we¡¯re selecting what to play we have some guides. And we¡¯ll have to seriously consider whether to move lodgings into the mountain peak, along with an archive of our music.¡±

    ¡°Best to discuss it once our elemental diplomat arrives,¡± I said. ¡°Though since we¡¯re speaking in brief, I should say that in the days to come, I¡¯ll be looking into acting on my own plans for the elementals. I want to see if we can create permanent structures that function as instruments for them¡ªlike wind chimes, but larger and more varied. Perhaps if we built some scaffolding into the mists, that might be the best place.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯d essentially be little toys,¡± said Fireesha, apparently willing to speak now that we¡¯d finished admonishing Hassina. ¡°But we could make them quite sophisticated. The instruments that are played with [Air Magick] alone can create some extraordinary sounds.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯d need to make them extremely sturdy,¡± said Seriana. ¡°You know how a toddler likes to wield a lute like a club¡ªelementals are worse.¡±

    ¡°[Armor] enchantments, perhaps,¡± said Fireesha. ¡°I¡¯m sure we could use [Body] if the materials are right.¡±

    ¡°We can think on it today,¡± I said, wanting to head off any deeper discussion. ¡°And put forth some names of people we can spare who would be good choices to assess the viability of the idea and put some things together, if need be. I may not have the time myself: I¡¯m likely to be directing and protecting some of our outer airborne keyshapers and scouts.¡± I looked around at all of them. ¡°Which brings us to one of the other issues this council needs to discuss.¡±

    Now it was Galeena who spoke first¡ªshe was the head shaper, after all, and the direct superior of every keyshaper we were sending out on the back of a wildheart¡¯s spectral broadwing to collect [Earth], [Water], [Light], and [Wild] skill keys. Essentially, now that we¡¯d established ourselves, Galeena was at the heart of one of our most important endeavors.

    ¡°What do we do with the added [Air]?¡± she asked, finishing my thought with a smile on her face. ¡°Zirilla has already made a fairly comprehensive assessment of our people¡¯s aptitudes¡ªno matter what we choose to do with the skill keys, we¡¯ll at least know who is next in line to receive them. My own desire for these keys is about what you might expect: I think we ought to put more of the wildhearts in the air and have them carry our keyshapers.¡±

    ¡°Is there even any argument in favor of our other options?¡± Fireesha asked. ¡°The keyshapers are bringing in skills keys at the rate of hundreds a day, and we¡¯ve barely gotten any of them in the air. I know we can make our existing forces faster, or create some fully airborne hunting parties, but neither of these things really compares to the ability to convert our abundant essence into keys.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure how much longer essence will be abundant,¡± said Hassina. ¡°Our levels are getting higher every day. I don¡¯t want to bore everyone with the numbers, but our average class tier is about 2.7 across 2655 elves. Raising us all from level 20 to level 25 is coming at a cost of almost 80 million essence. From 25 to 30, 165 million. Yes, on this world our hunting parties are impressing everyone by bringing me absurd amounts of essence each day¡ªbut almost everyone is going to have a level limit past 30 by the time the week is out. And when you add the cost of our levels to the essence that our flying key shapers are spending¡­.¡±

    She didn¡¯t need to do any more math to make her point. It took a keyshaper 500 essence to create a rank 1 skill key by stripping the aspect from the world around them. A rank 2 skill key cost 1000 essence to fuse out of 3 rank 1¡¯s¡ªand thus had an essence value of 2500 overall. A rank 3 skill key cost 15,000 essence and 4 rank 2¡¯s¡ª25,000 overall. When considering the extra skill cores that we all got just in the first 10 levels, outfitting everyone with decent skills was a far more costly proposition than just keeping our levels at their limit, and would be for a long, long time.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be diverting our essence almost entirely into the formation of skill keys, soon,¡± I said. ¡°That, and our permanent enchantments. But even with the cost of skill keys, it will be a while before our key shapers don¡¯t have the essence they need to do their work. Until then, I agree that our [Air] keys should go to getting as many of them working as possible¡ªwith one caveat.¡±

    ¡°That being?¡± Galeena asked.

    ¡°When our people start travelling further from the settlement to strip aspect and shape new keys, we need to bolster them with more [Air] skills. I want them all fast and powerful. We¡¯ve been lucky enough not to lose people to this world yet, but that only continues as long as we stay cautious. I want them ready to outrun or outfight the unexpected.¡±

    ¡°That seems reasonable,¡± said Galeena.

    ¡°And I have something else to burden your calculations with, Hassina.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°My ritual,¡± I said simply.

    All of them seemed to grow more attentive. It was what we¡¯d all been waiting for, after all.

    ¡°It requires more than five thousand [Primeval 3] skill keys.¡±

    Hassina made a small noise of disbelief.

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°By my count, that component will cost about 650 million essence.¡±

    ¡°That component?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll also need some loose essence,¡± I said. ¡°An enormous amount of distilled primeval mana. In concentrations that are likely going to involve not only well-constructed mana wells, but a great deal of blood and decay magic as well. And I¡¯m afraid that¡¯s not all.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Hassina asked. ¡°Should I be making notes?¡±

    ¡°Just one more thing,¡± I said, smiling a little. ¡°I¡¯ll need to kill and harvest the blood of something¡­ very, very powerful.¡±

 3.10: The Defense of Mirio

    The Light of our nights wasn¡¯t normal.

    When the mists were white, it felt almost like home. No blue sky, but a world full of every color, with the forest that stretched out above our settlement looking almost the same as any mountainside back on Aranar. But when it was night, the familiar trees and grass that began a hundred meters after the mossy, rocky strip of land that ran along the cliff¡¯s edge weren¡¯t enough to keep the new world from feeling alien.

    That night, we held a conclave as the mists began to turn red. It was a time when, for an hour, the world was bathed in the same light as a sunset¡ªa fiery orange shot through with different hues.

    ¡°Last night, as I stood atop that mountain and watched our musicians work their wonders, I wept.¡±

    We¡¯d gathered in a field before the temporary keep. The grass had been trampled flat by the many conclaves we¡¯d had here already¡ªthe keep was functional, but also cramped. The new one would have space in its great hall, but it wasn¡¯t yet finished.

    I stood in the center of a circle of elves, speaking first.

    ¡°I wish I could tell you that I wept because the music and the moment had moved me, but it is not so. I wept because I missed my husband. Because when faced with so much to wonder at, all I could think was that I wanted him to be there with me.¡±

    I saw some nods as I looked around at the many faces in the crowd. Most of them had lost more than I had¡ªand I knew, on some level, that most of them were far less able to deal with that kind of pain. My training meant that I was re-focusing myself in every moment, bringing myself back to the experience-rich world. Between that and the work I had before me, I had more to gird myself against loss than they.

    ¡°I know we¡¯ve lost so much,¡± I said. ¡°It will not only take all of us together to even begin to express our pain, but it will take time. A long, very long time. Time takes everything, or so they say¡ªI wouldn¡¯t know, I¡¯ve only been here for a little bit.¡±

    A few laughs, though nothing in my tone had been joking. ¡°But for all that we¡¯ve lost, we¡¯ve kept much,¡± I said. ¡°As the days have gone by, I¡¯ve looked forward to that mountaintop concert with such hope¡ªsuch precious, fragile hope. I wanted Hassina to succeed not just because I wanted good trade with the lord of our skies, but because her success does for me what might otherwise be impossible: it lightens the burden of memory.¡±

    I clasped my hands. ¡°You¡¯ve seen it. I¡¯ve seen it all around us. In steel, stone, music, magic, warriors: our ways are old and strong. Why did we know that the elementals might like our music? Because we are raised up by the discoveries of many generations. They lift us up, our forebears. They show us that our memory is not only a hard, heavy thing.

    I paused, lowered my head, shook it. ¡°I fear that the longer we grow accustomed to living here, the more our loss will weigh upon us. It has a furtive way about it, grief. It lies beneath all happy moments, stealing what were once old joys for itself. As the dangers of this world give way before our growing mastery, I foresee that they will gave way to grief, to ennui, to the aimlessness that grows from loss. These are no simple enemies.¡±

    Then I raised my voice, making it suddenly loud and harsh, the steel voice of a battlefield commander. ¡°And yet all these enemies cannot stand against our memory. Every moment we bring forth our forebears.¡±

    I unclasped my hands, gesturing to the elves openly. ¡°That is all I wish to say tonight¡ªexcept to give my gratitude to Hassina, high priest and grand storyteller, for delivering all my hopes to me, last night upon the peak of the Skytusk.¡±

    They cheered her on as I sat. Hassina rose and took the center circle, smiling a little as she waited for the sounds of their praise to fade.

    ¡°Just a few things, though not unimportant,¡± she said. She spread her arms. ¡°Our path before us now takes us clear toward Aziriel¡¯s promised ritual!¡±

    More cheers.

    ¡°This will be no easy task, not for our number,¡± Hassina said. ¡°We need two [Primeval 3] keys for each elf.¡±

    She let a few murmurs of realization spread through the gathered elves. ¡°Yes,¡± she said. Then she glanced over to the quarter of the circle that was mostly families with children. ¡°A [Primeval] key is fused from three of [Primeval]¡¯s subtypes¡ª[Body], [Elemental], [Surge], and [Wild]. This process requires two things: a skilled keyshaper, and time.¡±

    She clapped her hands before her. ¡°Because [Surge] is highly valued, we use the other three keys¡ªand this means that we must fuse [Elemental] keys from three of its subtypes¡ªthe [Earth] and [Water] that we¡¯re gathering. All told, each [Primeval 3] key will require 5 other rank 3 keys.¡±

    Now Hassina smiled, and the expression had a little deviousness in it. ¡°A trivial expense,¡± she said, speaking of the 625 million essence involved. ¡°Trivial, when one considers what we are buying.¡±

    A few more cheers rose up from the gathered elves, but she silenced them with a raised hand. ¡°I will choose a place that is away from all our worksites, but close enough that they can easily be visited. There I will draw three circles in small stones. The stones will be painted as we come closer to the ritual¡¯s fruition. The first circle, when complete, will indicate that we can begin our stockpile. Before then, we will be using the [Body], [Wild], [Earth], and [Water] keys we gather to equip our people for the very task of stockpiling. This will make the whole affair faster overall.¡±

    Hassina held out two fingers, pacing the edge of the inner circle as she spoke. ¡°The second circle will indicate our stockpile. It will be completed when we have each of our [Primeval 3] keys. This second circle is the one that will take the longest to complete¡ªonce it is done, the eve of the ritual will be close at hand. For the third circle, that will indicate all our other preparations for the ritual. That circle will complete fastest.¡±

    She held her hands out to them. ¡°That¡¯s all.¡± More cheers followed her as she left the circle.

    Then it was Mirio¡¯s turn to speak. The celebratory energy that followed Hassina out of the circle seemed to die as he stood and came forward, cheers fading.

    I was testing him, or training him: one or both. Neither Hassina nor I had given him any fanfare or introduction, and unlike both of us, poor Mirio had nothing but bad news to deliver.

    An unfavorable set of circumstances, but confronting unfavorable circumstances was a part of his position. He had authority, and it was time for him to use it¡ªand time for me to see what came as a result.

    ¡°I am afraid I will not leave you with the same good spirits as her Holiness,¡± he began. ¡°Not tonight.¡±

    He had been teaching in Ellistara before all of this, and he had a voice that was used to speaking to crowds. But compared to Hassina it was a pale thing: the high priest¡¯s voice was rich and textured, carrying every feeling she cared to suffuse it with far across the field around us. By comparison, Mirio was simply loud¡ªand what feeling he did convey was an uncertainty in his own words, an anxiousness.

    ¡°I won¡¯t be overlong in preamble,¡± said Mirio. ¡°But I will say this: Aziriel speaks truly. Deep is the wisdom of our forebears. Our ways were crafted by many great minds, and they guide us to prosperity. It is time that we abide by the knowledge of the druids. Knowledge that demands we restrain our hunters from indiscriminate killing.¡±

    There were no mutters of objection from the gathered elves¡ªjust silence.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°I am forbidding the hunting of any further wyverns on these peaks, save those which reside on this side of the Skytusk. Other creatures too, I will forbid the hunting of, until our wildhearts can make a proper assessment of what we¡¯ve done to the wilds here already. Our needs were great when we first came here, but now that we know we have access to [Air] keys, we needn¡¯t kill the wyverns and can hunt further from our settlement. There are still lands near-north of here which we have largely untouched: these places may still be thoroughly hunted. The swamp, too, can be hunted: but certain creatures I must also forbid, such as the mana mushrooms and the apehounds.¡±

    As he spoke, he seemed to deflate under the twin weights of attention and silence. ¡°I won¡¯t lie: this will delay our ritual. [Body] keys, [Wild] keys, [Sight] keys, [Surge] keys¡­ all of these will be harder to acquire. But we have left necessity behind, and now we hunt everything near at hand more out of ease. All our traditions warn against this, and my duty demands that I stand and forbid, so I do. The wildhearts who accompany the hunting parties know that which is now forbidden: they will make their impositions in the days to come. My forbiddance is to become binding in five days¡¯ time. That is all.¡±

    Mirio finished, turned¡ªthen spotted one elf amidst the crowd who had stood.

    It was Varath. He was one of the keyshapers under Galeena, and four centuries old. He was stocky elf, dressed in plain, brown robes. His hair was white, and like Hassina¡¯s it reflected the golden orange glow of the changing mists.

    Mirio froze when he saw him. For a moment the two of them simply stared at each other across a field full of elves and silence.

    Good, I thought. I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if half the assembled elves could see exactly what I was doing, what I wanted¡ªthe half that had voted for him when I¡¯d asked them to.

    ¡°You object to my decision, Varath?¡±

    ¡°You think I stand in objection to your decree?¡± Varath asked. ¡°No. I stand in objection to your appointment.¡±

    Technically speaking, it wasn¡¯t something one could stand in objection to at a conclave. The process for moving to remove a current councillor was more involved. But Mirio didn¡¯t remark on this: I¡¯d asked him not to, if it should come up.

    ¡°Explain yourself,¡± said Mirio.

    ¡°I am in my fourth century,¡± said Varath. ¡°Each day I work to do the part given to me, flying out to shape keys on the back of a spectral broadwing. I have no command, or especial esteem: I answer not only to my captain, who answers in turn to Valir, but to Galeena. All of this is as it should be, for what have I done that I should expect otherwise? I have many betters in even those things I am best at. And while I am not especially young, I am not old. But you, Mirio¡ªyou are young.¡±

    He spoke the word in a way that made it a clear indictment. ¡°You do not have the experience of an archdruid. You do not have the bearing of a leader. You take the center tonight, and you tell us that you have decided something that anyone could have decided¡ªthat you simply do what the wisdom that precedes you demands. I have no personal quarrel with you, Mirio, and yet I must wonder: if you are to be our archdruid, and act thus, then why have an archdruid at all? You act automatically. Lux Irovex could have done all that you¡¯ve done.¡±

    He shook his head as if in regret, and continued. ¡°If there must be an archdruid, and it must be Mirio, so be it: I will not question those who know more of [Wild] than I do. Yet I can question why you must have a place on the council. Let there be an archdruid, but let us break with tradition and appoint another wild elf to the council, one whose name is known and whose judgement is unimpeachable. Let it be Valir, who was himself a wildheart before he became a warrior.¡±

    Many voices rose to agree to this, and Mirio looked very small indeed at the center of the circle.

    But I didn¡¯t rise to his defense. I¡¯d told him that if this happened, I wanted him to be ready to fight back on his own.

    And so Mirio waited for the voices to quiet, then spoke in his defense. ¡°Well,¡± he began simply, looking around at all of them. ¡°I¡¯m grateful to you, Varath. I know you bear me no personal grudge, and you¡¯ve obviously given voice to something many feel.¡±

    He locked eyes with the keyshaper. ¡°You¡¯re wrong, though.¡± More muttering rose from the crowd, and Mirio looked around and added, bluntly: ¡°Be quiet. I¡¯m defending my appointment.¡±

    If it were possibly, the atmosphere grew even more tense¡ªbut I was resisting the urge to burst out laughing. Like many of those who worked so well with animals, the nuances of working with elves were secondary to their interests. Mirio lacked tact. At present I couldn¡¯t see whether it would work in his favor or no, but his typical nervous energy was giving way to¡­ something else.

    ¡°We need an archdruid because we want to grow and flourish on this new world,¡± Mirio said, sounding a little uncertain of himself, but more tired and irate than anything. ¡°The wildhearts will do more to achieve that end than anyone, given time. Having a leader, and direction, makes a group efficient. When we act out a plan, try for a goal, it is not to be compromise between two plans, two goals. It¡¯s one or the other, because trying to do half of two plans together is a mess, not an agenda. It almost seems to me that you don¡¯t understand what an archdruid does¡ªI¡¯m not finished, Varath. You talked for a while.¡±

    Varath had opened his mouth to object, but now closed it.

    ¡°An archdruid isn¡¯t the person who decided which course of action to take¡ªthat¡¯s the council. An archdruid is the person who most makes sure we¡¯re all working in concert toward the one goal. As to why that person is me, it¡¯s because I have an encyclopedic knowledge of wildlife and the psychic talent to put it to use. Give me a living creature who I can touch with [Wild Bond] and I can do the work that needs doing, usually. That means that I can speak to the needs of most all the tasks that our wildhearts could be asked to do¡ªbasically, I¡¯m the person who can always act as an in-between for the council and any given group of wildhearts doing any given task.¡±

    Mirio raised his hand and made a noise as Varath tried to speak again, silencing him.

    ¡°Right now, we¡¯re taming vines,¡± Mirio said. ¡°We¡¯ve got twelve we¡¯re looking at, all of which seem to grow in or around the mists primarily. We¡¯re trying to see how amenable they are to being cultivated, how quickly they increase their own limit and accept essence and how well we can decide what they¡¯ll do when they level. This is because the vines produce mana¡ªa lot of mana. A blanket of them covering this cliffside could increase our productivity.¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m the best at mentally yoking and guiding the vines, it¡¯s that I know enough about it that I can speak to the needs of anyone performing that task. I can do the same with the wildhearts making catalogues out on the hunt, and the wildhearts defending our hunting parties, and the wildhearts searching for wildlife of interest, like hydras or our lightning bugs.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s why I¡¯m the archdruid, since you were wondering. As to why I¡¯m on the council, that wasn¡¯t my decision¡ªbut I¡¯ll do what Aziriel asks because I trust her. As far as I can see, it¡¯s the archdruid because the wildhearts are the only wild elves who ever tell her no about anything, and our champions are only useful if their power is properly balanced.¡±

    He spread his arms and shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Look, I don¡¯t know what else to say. I¡¯m not a skilled leader or speaker, I know¡ªnot here. When I¡¯m with the people I¡¯m supposed to lead, though¡ªthe wildhearts¡ªI think it¡¯s a different story. A lot of you are working with some of us in one way or another, and you¡¯ve probably noticed that we¡¯re a fairly strange lot. If I tried to stand up here and talk the way that Aziriel and Hassina talk, it would sound like a mockery, I think. So i don¡¯t. Anyway, that¡¯s all I have to say in my defense.¡±

    Mirio finished, and more murmuring spread through the gathered elves. Slowly, attentions turned Varath, who still stood.

    Varath was quiet a while. He seemed hesitant to speak. Then he made a mistake¡ªhe looked at me.

    I smiled the sort of smile that suggested he was a meal.

    Varath blanched and quickly looked away from me. ¡°It is a defense, at least,¡± he said. ¡°And my qualms are somewhat alleviated to see that you can give that much. I will consider all you¡¯ve said, archdruid.¡±

    He sat. My smile widened.

    I needed them all to accept Mirio. I wanted tradition to hold¡ªfor myself and archdruid to represent the wild elves to the council. Anything else would undermine my power, long-term: Valir would function perfectly well as a councillor, but whispers would always follow the breach in tradition. It had to be Mirio.

    For now, at least, it would be.

    Valir gave a rough outline of the plan for how the hunters would deal with the archdruid¡¯s forbiddances, and the conclave ended soon afterward the conclave ended soon afterward.

    I found Mirio at the edge of the cliff when it was done, looking out at the sea of red mist.

    He saw me coming and shook his head, looking exhausted. ¡°That was about as hard as you said it would be. I have to say, Lux Irovex¡ªthings like that¡­ they¡¯re not why I became a druid.¡±

    ¡°Politics is a subtle game,¡± I said. Then I smiled and added: ¡°Usually. There¡¯s something I want you to do that should help to¡­ cement your position in everyone¡¯s eyes. I assure, it will mute much of the criticism coming your way.¡±

    Mirio sighed, seeming to steel himself. ¡°And will it be easier, or harder, than what you just asked of me?¡±

    ¡°Harder, definitely,¡± I said. ¡°But much more fun.¡±

    He looked over to me, his expression confused.

    ¡°I want you to subjugate and tame a behemoth.¡±

 3.11: Death Whispers to Them

    Mirio rubbed at the back of his neck. ¡°Lux Irovex?¡±

    ¡°Subjugate and tame a behemoth,¡± I repeated.

    ¡°I¡­¡± Mirio blanched, then seemed to gather his composure. ¡°I rarely question your judgement, Lux¡ª¡±

    ¡°You never question my judgement, archdruid,¡± I said wryly.

    He seemed to deflate. ¡°What¡ªwhy?¡±

    ¡°Politics is a subtle game,¡± I said. Then added: ¡°usually. It¡¯s a complicated one, too¡ªevery time you think you know the rules, someone shows up and rewrites them. I¡¯ve never been the best at it, personally. But I think I¡¯ve learned a few things in all my time leading elves, and one is that if you show up one day riding on the back of a behemoth, people become less likely to question your competence.¡±

    Mirio frowned. ¡°But we don¡¯t need a behemoth right now,¡± he said, looking down and away from me. ¡°The mana vines¡ª¡±

    ¡°The vines can wait. The wildhearts are too important for the colony, going forward. If every time you start giving orders we get keyshapers standing against you, we¡¯re going to be wasting time and energy dealing with pushback.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ it¡¯s just¡­¡± Mirio sighed and rubbed the back of one hand. ¡°It¡¯s not useful. The best choice for me would be a female wyvern, from what we¡¯ve seen so far. Not a fast fighter¡ªI don¡¯t have the [Air Magick] for aerial fighting. But really more of a beast of burden. Wyverns have no problem with scavenging¡ªwith the right psychic affectations we could have her haul some of hunters¡¯ kills back home. The decay mages would convert them into good soil, and we could plant plenty of vines.¡±

    ¡°There you have it,¡± I said. ¡°The wyvern could be a big help.¡±

    ¡°Once we find one,¡± Mirio said. ¡°And once I¡¯ve gotten the skills and spent the time to tame her. Are you sure I need to do this?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just such a waste, though,¡± said Mirio. ¡°This can¡¯t really be politics? We take the course of action that¡¯s not ideal just to stabilize our power?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°Until it really matters. When it really matters, we put all the influence we¡¯ve accrued to good use. I know it¡¯s stupid, Mirio. I know it¡¯s hard to believe. But if you coat this whole cliffside in mana-rich vines, it won¡¯t do nearly as much for your reputation as if you appear one day on the back of some lumbering winged beast that makes all of them feel a little safer.¡±

    Mirio sighed again. ¡°We don¡¯t exactly have a selection of behemoths on hand.¡±

    ¡°This is a long-term goal,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ll find something that suits you as the days go by.¡±

    ¡°And you?¡± he asked.

    I laughed. ¡°When the time comes? I¡¯ll likely go after a wyvern myself. Male, naturally¡ªsomething fast and clever, something to dominate the skies. But that¡¯s a long way out. For now, tell me how the vines are coming along.¡±

    Mirio¡¯s face lit up, and for another thirty minutes he gave me an account of everything they¡¯d learned since starting the project. Many of the vines seemed to prefer the mists, and as I¡¯d already seen they would cultivated small batches of mana that other creatures would take, inadvertently spreading their seeds and pollen as they did so.

    Because they already predisposed toward gathering mana, Mirio was working on psychically yoking many of them so that they could undergo some controlled levelling and skill selection.

    Plants rarely levelled. The only essence they typically accrued was that which filtered down to all life via the River of Realms¡ªand while their high volume meant that they gathered more essence than other creatures, they mostly spent that essence fueling the [Life Magick] that they used to grow quickly and heal the damage that came from being constantly feasted upon by insects and herbivores.

    But they didn¡¯t need to level, not much: if Mirio could cultivate a thousand separate vine growths in the same location, each of them level 10 and each of them with nothing but [Source]-granting skills, they¡¯d fill their mana and then leak mana out into the air around them¡ªmana that our elves could freely take.

    With the right enchantments and materials to channel the mana toward us, we could surround our settlement in mana gardens and then live in air that was rich with mana¡­ even richer than that which we currently used to power our building projects.

    Unfortunately, it was unlikely that any of this could be done in the timeframe that we best needed it¡ªbefore the excavation was done. Vines needed time to grow, and demanding that they go against partly their nature and acquire an abundance of mana skills in lieu of [Life] ones, then keep those skills, was a problem that would take time to solve.

    Still, I was glad to hear news of progress as we walked back to the settlement proper. I left him to seek out Seriana¡ªshe was overseeing the production of some of our concrete next to the new keep.

    She saw me, nodded to show she knew I was waiting, then returned to the conversation she was currently having with several other mages.

    As I waited, I approached a large stone contained filled with tiny, glittering black stones. I reached into it to grab a handful, then let them fall from my palm.

    Most of the filler for our concrete was rock and sand that we¡¯d either crushed from the basalt around us or gathered from the nearby riverbed. But these stones we had taken the time to produce specially.

    They were obsidian, mostly of uniform size. There was something about certain materials, such as obsidian and glass, that gave them strange interaction with mana and magic. These tiny stones were a crucial component of the enchantment that would make our concrete immune to any use of [Earth Magick]¡ªa crucial element of the settlement¡¯s safety that Seriana saw fit to oversee herself. Attacks that came from beneath the earth were the hardest to defend from, by far.

    Seriana joined me. ¡°You need something from me?¡±

    ¡°If you have the time,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯d like to speak with you in the archive chamber.¡±

    ¡°Certainly,¡± she said, nodding. I thought I sended some faint eagerness in the way she fell in step beside me as we moved for the temporary keep¡ªmages always like a trip to the archive chamber.

    We spoke a little about the construction of the new, permanent keep as we walked together toward the old one¡ªit was two-thirds finished, now, a raw-looking, imposing structure that had begun to rise behind us. It would big enough to hold all of us, and well-fortified with walls, ramparts, a moat and waterworks: once it was done, we¡¯d be free to commit to building the rest of the settlement.

    But for now we were still staying in the old keep, one made of massive blocks of stone. It was strange to think of a building that hadn¡¯t stood for two months as the old keep, but things were moving fast indeed, here at the start of the settlement.

    The archive had its own large, round chamber in the keep, one that lay near the heart of the fortification¡ªit was, after all, the only thing we¡¯d brought with us that was worth more than elven lives.

    It was the densest set of objects we¡¯d taken with us on our journey, the archive. It was composed of three sturdy, rectangular wooden frames, each holding twelve smaller compartments that could be removed like drawers.

    Those compartments held writings of all kinds, each meticulously transcribed on uniform sheets of paper and then shrunk so small that an entire shelf of books could be made to fit in the palm of my hand.

    The result was that almost the whole Great Library of Tel Telana¡ªthe wisdom of the Sable Tower¡ªwas contained within the three wooden casques before me. History, music, theater, spells, tales, schematics¡­ memory itself had come with us to the new world.

    Some of the most trusted elves, those elves whose qualities were known, had the honorable role of managing the archive. One couldn¡¯t touch or move the ultra-thin pages containing their miniscule, illegible script without breaking them¡ªmagic was required to find the information needed, enlarge it so that it was readable, then carefully burn its contents onto the rough-textured paper that we¡¯d made since arriving.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    I took a sheaf of notes from one of the shelves¡ªall the pages detailing my ritual¡ªthen led Seriana to a private room that contained only a small table and three chairs. We sat.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to put this on your mind until I knew that the ritual was close at hand, but with the [Air] in our possession, that seems to be the case,¡± I said, flipping through the pages before me to make sure they were in order, then sliding them across the table toward her. ¡°I have some things I¡¯d like you to attend to. Fortunately, Alcuon and I were just waiting for Hashephel to create a third manaheart before all this¡ªthe magical legwork is mostly done.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be following good instructions,¡± Seriana said, looking down at the pages.

    ¡°Precisely,¡± I said. ¡°But not to assist me.¡±

    She looked up at me, raised her eyebrows. ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°The thing is, we don¡¯t know how to do what Lord Kalak did when he laid the foundations for my ritual. No one does.¡±

    ¡°He altered the magic that undergirds our very species,¡± said Seriana. ¡°Made it open to new power. I¡¯ve heard of individuals being given potent boons that permanently make them stronger¡ªbut nothing that passes from parent to child, as you say this will.¡±

    ¡°Alcuon had theories,¡± I said, sifting through the pages before me and then passing some to Seriana. ¡°We¡¯d worked this out. It¡¯s¡­ well, it¡¯s hard to explain. Or perhaps easy: imagine you want to determine the shape of a glass, but the only thing you can see is water.¡±

    ¡°So you fill the glass with water and see what shape it¡ª¡± Seriana cut off. She looked up at me sharply.

    ¡°Of course we can see more than water,¡± I said. ¡°Alcuon had extensive notes on what an elf looked like, magically speaking, before Lord Kalak¡¯s adjustments. We have a chance to make similar records now that Kalak has changed our nature. And in the moments that I complete his spell¡­.¡±

    ¡°The third circle,¡± Seriana whispered, her eyes rapidly scanning the pages I¡¯d put in front of her. ¡°Hassina¡¯s circle¡­.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s for you,¡± I said. I nodded down at the pages. ¡°For this. Alcuon had a plan.¡±

    ¡°Record everything,¡± she said. ¡°Everything. Every minute magical detail¡ªevery change.¡±

    ¡°And perhaps, in the wake of the ritual, having gathered as much data as it is possible to gather, we can learn something from this spell that was cast by a god.¡±

    ¡°Even if we can¡¯t replicate Kalak¡¯s magic because we don¡¯t have access to the same powers, tools, or means of focus¡­ we might determine what we lack. Like determining the existence of a celestial body you can¡¯t see by measuring the tugs and pulls it makes on one you can. This could be a great step forward.¡±

    I smiled, my voice brimming with open pride. ¡°Alcuon¡¯s notes are quite robust.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, he was always like this,¡± Seriana said fondly, as if the notes before her were a particularly fun joke he¡¯d told. ¡°He was¡­.¡± she raised her head to look at me, the eagerness on her face slowly giving way to sympathy. ¡°He was brilliant, Aziriel.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°If he¡¯d left us none of this, his contributions and inventions are so numerous that his name will still be recited by our schoolchildren and apprentices for ages illimitable.¡±

    I sighed. ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Aziriel. I don¡¯t mean to draw you down into grief.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± I said. ¡°But I¡¯m already there, or part-there. I think¡­ I worry¡­.¡±

    I paused, a hard feeling entering my stomach as I looked at the pages in Seriana¡¯s hands. ¡°I worry that it¡¯s not just easier for me now because of my training, my resonance. That ritual is what he left me, and as long as I have it before me I won¡¯t miss him the way that I should.¡±

    ¡°I know that much goes unsaid between us,¡± said Seriana. ¡°We¡¯ve never had close ties, even if we are in some sense family. Our places have set us at odds¡­ perhaps now more than ever. But if you should need anyone to talk to, I am here.¡±

    I sighed again, resting my head in one palm. It was comfort to hear. Seriana was one of only a few elves who had been around for almost all my life, along with Zirilla and Luthiel.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I said softly. ¡°These long lives of ours have never taught me how to do this, Seriana. He told me before he went that everything we could say had been said already; we were filled each other up with so much of ourselves that I would keep as much of him as love could hold. It¡¯s as good a goodbye as has ever been said, at least to me¡­ but of course it¡¯s not enough.¡±

    I thought of something as I finished speaking and laughed. Seriana cocked her head in confusion, and I smiled up at her. ¡°I was thinking of humans. You know how it was the first time we met humans¡ªthinking ourselves so superior, then getting shown up at every turn.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± said Seriana. ¡°I should like to think it wasn¡¯t as bad as that.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°It was still bad,¡± she said, smiling faintly. ¡°But it wasn¡¯t every turn.¡±

    ¡°The ones I liked best were the children,¡± I said, remembering. ¡°And there were two¡ªMirika and Dale¡ªwho I trained from the age of five and six. I taught them how to use a bow, how to hold a fighting stance, how to breathe¡­ and in time I watched them fall in love. It took¡ªgods, it took them four years to finally figure it out, to stop going for one another¡¯s throats long enough to see what was so obvious. But when they did¡­.¡±

    ¡°I remember,¡± Seriana said, her smile deepening. ¡°The wedding on the river between two willows. A hundred floating paper flowers, each carrying a candle.¡± She laughed. ¡°And the first they did wasn¡¯t kiss, but catch that whiskered fish.¡±

    I grinned. Human traditions were quite something.

    ¡°Time did what it does and took everything it gave,¡± I said, my voice turner darker, fainter. ¡°And in the final years I watched Mirika walk along that very same riverside each morning¡ªalone.¡±

    I heard my voice grow fainter as I got lost in memory. ¡°Meanwhile I was training new sets of children, going to new weddings. And I never could figure it out¡ªwhy didn¡¯t she despise me? Mirika, who was all teeth and fire, who¡¯d always found every battle she didn¡¯t need to fight and fought it¡­ she loved me like a mother until the end. Until her bent, withered end. She knew I¡¯d watch their daughters die, and their grandchildren too¡­ and I don¡¯t think she ever felt one single mote of resentment.¡±

    I paused for a while¡ªa long, almost unnatural silence. I knew my expression had become somber, grave. ¡°It whispers to them, I think.¡±

    ¡°Death,¡± said Seriana. If she thought what I¡¯d said was strange, there was no trace of it in her voice¡ªshe sounded as detached and curious as ever.

    ¡°It speaks to them with their bodies. Through pain and weakness, it forces them to make peace when they¡¯re still so young. So painfully, unthinkably young. As we bear memory, they face death. They face it, and they listen to it as it tells them truths about this cosmos that we in our immortality can never easily hear.¡±

    I looked up at Seriana. Something had given way, and her typically flawless composure had worn thin¡ªher eyes were faded, lost in memory.

    Something we had in common, that.

    ¡°Live enough time and time ends or you do,¡± I said. ¡°Mirika¡¯s lonely walks beside that river were inevitable, but death had made her a promise. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that her days were counting down, that those walks along the river where they¡¯d wed were finite, that she¡¯d be leaving¡­ and soon.¡±

    ¡°And she knew other things, I think.¡± My voice was a haunted whisper as I began to think of my first husband. ¡°She knew that Finuel or I would bury the other¡­ and then look out on an eternity, no promise of death ahead. She knew that without age to take us, we¡¯d more than likely have to bury some of our babies, too¡ªan entire race that waits centuries to have children who die before they do.¡± I was staring at the grain in the table-leg, lost. ¡°She knew,¡± I whispered again. ¡°She knew, and she pitied me.¡±

    Slowly, I shook my head, disbelieving even my memories. ¡°She joked about it constantly. ¡®You¡¯re too old to be lifting that by yourself, Aziriel. Let me help you.¡¯ In my pride I thought she was saying it to alleviate the burden that age had placed on her. But really, her jokes were to help me feel the age that time, in her eyes, had denied me.¡±

    I looked up¡ªand to my shock and horror, I saw tears glistening in Seriana¡¯s eyes, her mouth open with silent sobs. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she blurted out.

    ¡°Seri?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said, louder. Her hand came up to cover her mouth.

    And then I realized. I¡¯d been so caught up in memory that I¡¯d failed to see it¡ªLuthiel¡¯s trial was coming. She might very well lose her husband, soon. And she and Luthiel had been together since before even Finuel and I had been married.

    I stretched my arms out toward her. ¡°Come here, Seri.¡±

    For a moment she sat, frozen¡ªand then she wailed, and moved to fall into my arms. ¡°Gods, I¡¯m so afraid,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m not strong like you are, Azi¡ªI can¡¯t¡ªI don¡¯t want to¡ª¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°I need him. I need him¡­.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± I said, stroking the back of her head where it was pressed into my shoulder. ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t let it be forever!¡± she said, emotion wrenching at her voice, her whole body shuddering against me. ¡°I know that for me to ask¡ª¡±

    ¡°Shush,¡± I said, harshly enough that she obeyed. Gently, I pulled away from her, taking her face in my hands. ¡°Now you listen to me, Seriana, and then you speak no more of this.¡±

    I spoke steadily, standing tall so that she had to look up at me to keep eye contact.

    ¡°I am Lux Irovex of the firstborn, she who brings peace through victory, and only elves as old as we are know what it is when I put forth my power in full. My hand will close as much as it needs to¡ªand the fullness of my grasp is a fist.¡±

    Seriana¡¯s breathing stilled, and a calm awe entered her face I spoke. My own myth would give her the hope she needed.

    ¡°Luthiel will be punished,¡± I said. ¡°But it¡¯s me that you have to fear, not anyone else. And I swear this to you upon the mountain of dead that I¡¯ve climbed to safeguard our people: I will not let her take him away.¡±

 3.12: The Impending Arrival

    We finished the keep a week and a half after the concert. There were simply too many elves working on it for even the massive, fortified structure to take too long. We had mages and earthshapers to make and cure the concrete along with almost a hundred elves devoted to the task of converting the bog iron we found in the swamps below us into high-quality steel.

    The keep itself was a three-faced structure whose outer walls were smooth and almost black, glittering with obsidian shards. It rose almost forty meters above the ground, with the angular meeting of two walls facing the outside of where the eventual settlement would lie.

    Much of it felt naked: while the raw look of the concrete had a certain attractiveness to it, most of its exterior was supposed to be clad in wooden beams and hung with gardens and vines. It had few windows, and these were narrow, built for defense: one could tell just by looking at its sheer concrete walls that the structure had been built in fear.

    Deep gouges in the stone around the keep made our ditch, and our waterworks flowed through the ground around these, pipes that connected the nearby river. These were also temporary¡ªthe pipes wouldn¡¯t last a year¡ªbut at least we had water on hand without having to carry it.

    Altogether it was a bleak affair, but it served our needs. The keep stood where the walls of our settlement would soon meet, and it overlooked a bare stretch of rock where the settlement would eventually sit¡ªonce we¡¯d excavated.

    Still, it was built high, and from its ramparts and roof one could look out at the mists above the swampy great forest below us, or up at the crinkled, tree-covered terrain leading up the face of the Skytusk. The inside of the keep, at least, was slowly growing into something homely: furs and rough-hewn furniture, broad firepits and bone-carved dishes and tools could be found in every room.

    Once the keep was done and my caution was somewhat assuaged, many of our laborers and artisans could be set to other tasks. A steel scaffold was constructed hanging out over the cliff¡¯s edge, and a sail-powered lift was made to hasten the quarrying of limestone and the gathering of iron, as well as the coming and going of our hunters, who still killed in the swamps almost freely.

    A small structure was cut out of the cliff¡¯s edge, one with numerous levels that allowed the mages and wildhearts to perform experiments in the second mist layer, growing plants and casting spells as they needed to.

    The long strip of barer, moss-streaked rock that ran along the cliff¡¯s edge became the site of many raised garden beds for the wildhearts to test Mirio¡¯s vines. The archdruid himself was often missing, patrolling far from the settlement as part of the task I¡¯d set him to.

    All the while, Luthiel¡¯s judgement loomed. I knew that if I could have postponed it until after my ritual, until after every elf in the colony was watching a miracle happen before their eyes¡­ but I couldn¡¯t. Hassina had forced a date, and it was close at hand to her great accomplishment on the mountaintop, not my fulfillment of my promise. Surely she would argue for the harshest of punishments, death or exile, and surely it would be soon, when she was held in highest esteem by the elves.

    My thoughts on the coming judgement threatened to grow to consume me, but I couldn¡¯t let them: there were too many other things to attend to.

    For one, I had a hunt coming. Fireesha surprised me one morning, coming to me after the day¡¯s council to present me with a cloth-wrapped bundle.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been busy with a lot of the work around us, naturally,¡± she said. ¡°But I took the time to make you this¡ªa simple enough enchantment that should raise the rank of one skill while opening up one of your others.¡±

    She unwrapped her gift: it was a girdle, one made of layered strips of leather that had been stitched and bolted together, then decorated with some of the scales they¡¯d taken from the beast¡¯s hide. I took it, examining it with the verse:

    [Aziriel¡¯s Girdle of Might]

    Binding this item will grant you the [Might 17] skill.

    This girdle has been fashioned from the hide of a six-headed hydra. It naturally repels filth and cleans easily, and if damaged it can be repaired with healing magic.

    [Might 17]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [*Body 3] + [Body 3] + [Body 3] + [Body 3]

    + 60 [Agility], [Strength], and [Aegis]

    ¡°It¡¯s beautiful,¡± I said, taking the girdle. ¡°More than beautiful. Thank you, Fireesha.¡± I grinned. ¡°I¡¯ll be sure to put it to use.¡±

    The fact that enchanted equipment had its own skill cores meant that the belt would give me a higher level of the pure [Body] skill than I could otherwise get with rank 3 keys.

    But more importantly, it was another piece of equipment that had enough aspect to bear a strong enchantment, not just a temporary one made of two rank 1 keys. Using another one of my bindings for a real skill, not a temporary placeholder, meant that I could replace my actual [Might 14] skill with anything I liked.

    And I knew what I wanted¡­ for now. I found Hassina that night and got my skill keys from her, replacing the [Might 14] that I¡¯d built with a skill core with [Earthen Might 14]:

    [Earthen Might 14]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Body 3] + [Earth 3] + [Earth 3]

    + 54 [Strength] and [Aegis]

    You can sense earthen substances more easily with your gaze, and extending your claim and gaze through such substances is easier.

    Simple enough, but every part of it was useful. Because [Surge of Might] could only double my physical attributes, the extra 60 [Strength] and [Aegis] from trading [Might 14] for both skills would be doubled when I needed it to be.

    I needed the skills. Once Luthiel¡¯s judgement was done, I¡¯d be going forth to hunt something powerful enough for my ritual¡ªand my plan was to do it far from the colony.

    I was looking forward to the fight. I had new skills, and all of them would work in concert with one another¡ªwhether I chose physical force or lightning, my [Blood Pool] would come to my aide by bolstering my [Surge Pool] or my mana.

    [Surge Pool] was restored by channeling mana into the skill anyway¡­ and I had far higher [Channel] than last time I¡¯d fought anything without lightning.

    That night I sat up in the keep and ran my fingers across the carvings of my bow, looking over my skills and attributes and feeling the thrill of anticipation.

    ?¡ªYour Skills:

    G: [Sable Grace 20]

    G: [Primeval Power 30]

    0: [Primeval Mana 14]

    2: [Avian Grace 14]The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    4: [Air Magick 14]

    6: [Primeval Mana Hide 14]

    8: [Earthen Might 14]

    10: [Surge of Might 14]

    15: [Wild Bond 14]

    20: [Lightning Magick 14]

    25: [Elemental Power 14]

    30: [Surging Power 14]

    B1: [Aziriel¡¯s Pale Furs]

    B2: [Aziriel¡¯s Pale Fangs]

    B3: [Aziriel¡¯s Girdle of Might]

    B4: [Aziriel¡¯s Matchbow of Windborne Missile Conjuring]

    ?¡ªYour Attributes:

    331 [Aegis]

    294 [Agility]

    177 [Strength]

    180 [Channel]

    150 [Focus]

    249 [Source]

    110% [Primeval Resonance], 55% Base

    2490/2490 Mana, 64% Primeval

    100 [Blood Pool]

    100 [Surge Pool]

    A week later I was working in the archive chamber when Mirio came to me with a troubled expression.

    ¡°Some of our earthseers have sensed more digging,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s not coming from a direction we¡¯d expect.¡±

    His expression worried me. I set aside the papers in front of me and stood. ¡°Tell me.¡±

    ¡°Well, we¡¯d expect anything from the surface to be coming toward us by digging parallel to the cliff. These are coming from the direction of the peak.¡±

    ¡°Something is burrowing toward us from beneath the mountain.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡ªtwo tunnels are being dug. Each of them is a kilometer away, now. Neither looks like it will intercept the colony.¡±

    I nodded. It was better news than if they¡¯d been coming straight for us, but whatever it was might change course once it sensed us. We were difficult to sense at a distance because of our enchantments, but that wasn¡¯t going to stop something that passed close by from wondering about the strange terrain even if they couldn¡¯t detect the elves, here.

    ¡°Get as many earthseers as you can probing the rock around us,¡± I told him. ¡°Call back anyone that you need to.¡±

    An hour later, Mirio, Luthiel, and Zirilla had all returned to the settlement, and we¡¯d met at the mountainside point of the keep¡¯s battlements. It was Zirilla who brought me more reports.

    ¡°They¡¯re still digging, and we don¡¯t know for sure that they¡¯re coming our way. We keep finding more, though.¡±

    ¡°More what?¡±

    ¡°More diggers. In every direction. The good news is they¡¯re not all coming toward us, but there¡¯s definitely something going on down there¡ªsomething spanning a very large area. Mirio says they¡¯re all insects, legions of them digging round passages through the stone.¡±

    My heart sank as my thoughts went back to the sleeping hive of insects that I¡¯d encountered on the first day. They¡¯d carved round tunnels that had seemed just large enough for one of them to crawl along every part of their surface at once.

    ¡°Call our hunters in and ready the defenses,¡± I said. ¡°Let the colony know that we¡¯re on alert and pull in everyone who¡¯s working further than a minute away from the keep.¡±

    From our place on the battlements, I watched as my orders were followed¡ªpsychic messages meant that almost every elf I could see was heading our way within only a minute.

    A few more minutes passed, and then it came.

    Converge! Mirio said suddenly. It was more a singular thought than an actual word, one delivered in a rapid panic. I obeyed the command, mustering my mind to add my psychic strength to our collective, following Mirio¡¯s guide along with a hundred other elves as he directed a single, focused pushback against something else.

    I only sensed it for a brief moment as all of us converged¡ªa strange mind, extremely powerful. Mentally it felt almost like a vine or fungus, something compelled by a strong in-born desire to spread in every direction where it could find purchase.

    In that moment it brought all its psychic strength to bear on an elf whose mind I couldn¡¯t recognize with just a psychic glance, and the collected elves pushed it away from its target with a focused, instantaneous counteroffensive.

    ¡°Who was that?¡± I asked. ¡°Their target?¡±

    ¡°Anien,¡± said Mirio.

    ¡°Anien,¡± I said, trying to recall the name. I realized he was from Ellistara. ¡°One of the children?¡±

    But Mirio didn¡¯t get the chance to answer¡ªthe thing, whatever it was, attacked again. Again we mustered and pushed it back in an instantaneous clash of minds, one arrow shot to deflect another.

    ¡°Zaran,¡± Mirio said. Another boy from Ellistara.

    ¡°What¡¯s it want?¡± I asked Mirio. The archdruid was the spearhead of our defense on account of his many overlapping [Wild] skills, and this meant he¡¯d come into closer contact with it than any of us. He would have gotten a direct glimpse into its mind.

    From his place beside me, Mirio was pale. ¡°It¡¯s trying to domineer them. Psychically¡­ tame them.¡±

    My lips curled back, my mouth shifting toward a snarl. ¡°I see. Don¡¯t engage our defensive enchantments yet, but be ready to.¡±

    Mirio made a quiet noise of protest. ¡°The children¡ª¡±

    ¡°Can bear the pain if it means sparing those outside for now.¡± My voice was cool, steady.

    Mirio sucked in a breath, and I couldn¡¯t blame him: it was a brutal, ruthless command. Even a second worth of contact with this hostile, alien mind wouldn¡¯t be easy on our little ones¡ªbut right now, they were a much more favorable target for its attentions. We could activate the defensive psychic enchantments we¡¯d built into the keep, but if we did it might start attacking the elves outside.

    Using a collective psychic defense to cover our returning hunters would mean we¡¯d need psychics in the field to connect us. Until then, they¡¯d have to defend themselves with only the wildhearts and seers that we used for hunting and communication¡ªand against something as strong as this, I had my doubts about how well they could succeed.

    I wanted it attacking the elves who were close by. If that had to be the children, then so be it.

    I saw Mirio¡¯s eyes widening as the next attack came, and was unsurprised to find us mustering to defend another one of the children a moment later¡ªagain we fought it off in a moment.

    ¡°Don¡¯t hit back, yet,¡± I told Mirio as he turned to me, his face despondent. ¡°I want knowledge. What is it, where is it, how best do we hurt it? Give it as little as you can.¡±

    Contact between their minds could result in all kinds of unwanted exchange of information¡ªbut attacking was a more vulnerable position in that regard than defending. We could let this thing flail at us, learn its weaknesses¡­.

    It made five more attacks against different children while I gave orders on the battlements, more and more elves joining us there. Then, as soon as it had come, its attacks stopped.

    ¡°The tunnels,¡± Zirilla said from her place behind me. ¡°They¡¯ve branched. They¡¯re burrowing upward as well as forward¡ªexcept they¡¯ve turned right toward us.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re coming, then,¡± I said. I turned to Mirio. ¡°Is Mishlo with the children?¡± I asked, naming our head healer.

    ¡°He is,¡± said Mirio, his expression haggard and, for once, accusatory. I could see the disgust writ on his face¡ªI¡¯d let the children he¡¯d used to teach at Ellistara be our enemy¡¯s target, and he hated me for it.

    I¡¯d already ordered more psychics to move out toward our hunters to ensure we could protect them¡ªand I had to hope that we hadn¡¯t been granted a reprieve because our enemy had found any of our hunting parties.

    Valir was still outside, often hunted furthest from the settlement. He was a mighty psychic, but there were less than twenty elves with him¡­.

    ¡°Lux Irovex,¡± Mirio said. ¡°It¡¯s them. They¡¯re¡­ speaking to me.¡±

    My gaze snapped over to him. He looked pale.

    ¡°Because I¡¯m the head of our psychic defense, they think I¡¯m in charge. Do you want me to pretend I am?¡±

    I thought for a moment. Normally I wouldn¡¯t pass up an opportunity to deceive an enemy, but [Aegis] protected one from mental attacks as well as physical, and mine was highest. Right now I could use [Surge of Might] to raise it past 650.

    And psychic defense was a matter of skill as much as power. If this thing didn¡¯t know exactly what it was doing, it wouldn¡¯t just struggle to hurt me¡­ it would have no idea how.

    Besides, I wasn¡¯t sure how well he¡¯d do in the conversation that was about to come. I wanted the archdruid to find them¡ªI could bear the brunt of their attacks, and negotiate, myself.

    ¡°Me,¡± I said. ¡°Give them to me.¡±

 3.13: Palimpsest

    Mirio did as I asked, shifting me to the forefront of our psychic collective so that I was in direct contact with this new creature.

    I felt its mind on my own a moment later, and what I saw wasn¡¯t promising¡ªthey were as different from me as anything I¡¯d ever met, moreso even than most elementals.

    They didn¡¯t have anything that felt like the singular focus that eyes and ears gave one when they centered one object in the visual field or picked one sound out of a room to pay attention to. Instead their mind felt like a high-pressure container, something that pushed outward in every direction. They felt like someone that had every thought it was possible to have¡ªas long as those thoughts accorded with their nature.

    But now that I was in direct contact with the creature, I got some inkling of that nature¡ªand I didn¡¯t like what I sensed. They felt highly intelligent, antisocial, and consumptive. They had an enormous amount of psychic power at their disposal, a pressure that bore down on me not because I was being attacked, but because contact with them naturally meant coming under that power. They weren¡¯t used to communicating with anything as an equal; they subjugated and destroyed.

    No violence, they said. Peace.

    From my point of view, it was the best possible thing for them to say. It was also hard to believe: peace, with something that inherently viewed our children as cattle to be taken? We¡¯d see.

    Withdraw yourself from our territory, I told it. Those creatures who burrow beneath us, toward us, must abandon their tunneling. Do this and then we¡¯ll talk about what you must offer us in recompense.

    Recompense? It was hard to tell what emotions, if any, it felt as it echoed the word back to me. But our psychic connection would make clear my meaning, and so its repeating of the word was rhetorical.

    You have attacked elves, I said. Then, because I didn¡¯t want them to understand that the children were both the weakest and most valuable elves, I added: weak elves, to be sure. But elves nonetheless. You must have seen them to be creatures of understanding in the moments you made contact, and yet still you tried us again and again, attempting to seize the weakest of us for your own purposes.

    They sent me back a simple concept, something that to their mind might have been just one word: Cattle. Slaves. Bodies. Mine. Mine; my intent was to take them.

    I withheld any particular emotional reaction, wishing to give this creature as little information about me as possible. Still, it was interesting to me that despite their apparent intelligence, they didn¡¯t understand that confessing you wanted to either kill or mentally enslave someone¡¯s children was going to offend.

    You owe us recompense, I said. Your actions cannot be ignored. You harmed the weak ones when you tried to seize them, and trying to seize them was an act that set you against all of us. We have not threatened you, and nor shall we if you recede from our territory. But tell me: why do you set yourself against us, when there is no need for it, no benefit? What do you want, here?

    The hostile pressure on my mind seemed to waver and oscillate, but whatever the creature was trying to express was lost on me, interpreted as nothing but a series of painful vibrations against my mind.

    I have watched long, they said. You creatures fascinate me. I have seen you build and grow in ways which I have not seen before. Your nest is potent. Its make is unlike anything I have seen.

    Again the wavering pain and discomfort assailed me. I will add these skills to myself, they said. I must have you. Cattle. Slaves. Bodies. Mine.

    I gritted my teeth against a surge of frustration. If I understood them correctly, building the keep was what had gotten us attacked. More than that, they¡¯d been watching us for some time, and at least with some measure of magical claim: it sounded as if somehow they knew that our concrete was magically reinforced.

    I will not give you what you desire, I told them. No slaves. No bodies. Such an act is against all possibility for peace between us, and that is what I desire. Peace.

    Peace, they said. But peace for exchange: give me other elves. Five dozen females, one dozen males.

    Again I had to withhold the surge of disgusted anger that I felt at this request from showing in our psychic bond. You cannot have a single elf, I told them. Each elf is equal in value to you, and is never to be traded. Do you understand me?

    Again I sensed what must have been emotion from the creature, but it was so alien a sensation that I couldn¡¯t pair it with any emotion I knew. The state of affairs was hardly conducive to communications: I couldn¡¯t tell if they didn¡¯t understand me, or if they were essentially just making a counter offer.

    It was only when they spoke that I understood how they felt.

    You insult, they said. I am greater in value than all elves together.

    Briefly, I closed my eyes. The more we spoke, the less faith I had that we could come to a shared agreement. To you, that is true. To any of us, it is not. Do you see that we each see differently?

    I see, they said. You are a distinct pack, you elves. I am not, and yet I have more territory, more bodies, more strength. Appease me.

    Well, we were getting somewhere, at least. It was negotiating for protection money.

    Have you a name, creature? I asked it.

    I have only a nature, they said. See.

    My mind was suddenly assailed by a discordant symphony of thoughts and impressions, none of them pleasant. I felt the brute, dumb minds of insects and animals in the moments they were extinguished, their inner minds crumbling, their thoughts becoming fragmented and then fading entirely as they were destroyed. This creature wasn¡¯t the psychic hivemaster for one particular species of insect, as I might have suspected¡ªthey were a mass psychic parasite. They lobotomized creatures to make them easier to permanently control. Insects were easiest because they tended to have weaker minds when it came to psychic magic.

    But they were sure they could take elves, too.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    I will call you Palimpsest, I said, masking my disgust¡ªand legitimate fear¡ªof them. Is that acceptable?

    Again I felt only the strange pressure and painful vibrations as it considered this new word. Yes, they said. To you I will be Palimpsest. That is acceptable.

    I considered the creature. Appealing to its compassion would be useless. If it had any real compassion, it wasn¡¯t in a place I would be able to reach¡ªI couldn¡¯t make emotional appeals to something whose emotions were utterly alien to me.

    Instead, the only chance at peace that I could see before me was to convince it that it had too much to lose by attacking us, and too little to gain..

    I will you tell you my name now, Palimpsest, I told it.

    You are elf.

    I am Aziriel, I said. And I have fought wars that spanned worlds, Palimpsest¡ªcan you imagine it? Or do you even know of the existence of the River of Realms?

    Again my mind filled with a strained, alien rumbling. Even through our psychic connection, it was difficult to imagine Palimpsest could perfectly understand the meaning of what I was telling them.

    I have sojourned that jeweled causeway under broadest swath night, I told him, piloting my ship of starlit silver on a voyage between worlds that are each as vast as this one. Heed me: many suns shine over those who have learned to fear my name should they ever hold an elf in bondage. You are not equal to the foes who have come before you. Pursue your course, and my wrath will be inevitable and unbearable. Before you die, you will witness the might of elvenkind.

    I continued. But I am strong with the primeval, deep in its ways: instincts guide you to do that which will keep you alive on this world which is rife with life and its violence. I know this. I will not fault your transgression against us so long as you admit that it was a transgression by paying us recompense for the harm you caused.

    I felt the pressure on my mind rise, and the unpleasant pain that came with it peaked for a moment.

    I will take less than half of all elves, Palimpsest said at last. Half plus one will remain with you, Aziriel. Half minus one will be given to Palimpsest. In this way no elves, no stock, are wasted by death. This exchange is the only way that it shall be so.

    I exhaled in frustration. You threaten and insult us, I said. You say you have watched us long. Surely you have seen that we are unlike anything else you have witnessed? You expected to be able to subdue our weak ones easily, yet you could not subdue even one. Elves are capable of things that you have never seen, Palimpsest. We could show you those things, teach you how to be greater than you already are in exchange for your help in making us prosper.

    Now I let them see just a little of my emotions, of the iron in my heart. But you threaten us with death? Again I insist: heed me. I promise you, Palimpsest, our powers of violence are beyond your reckoning. You don¡¯t know what even a single elven life will cost you if you try to make good upon your threat.

    A pause. I could see their mind, but there was no way to tell what they were thinking: I might as well be trying to get a read on the thoughts and feelings of a stone by sensing how quickly it was vibrating.

    I am coming, they said at last. I am coming, and will await your surrender.

    I hung my head. Appeasing them hadn¡¯t been an option, and threatening them hadn¡¯t worked either¡ªwhich meant that we would at least need to show them some of our strength to get them to reconsider.

    But that itself was a questionable prospect. If Palimpsest saw our full capabilities, they were as likely to strike out of fear, with everything they had, as they were to give up on subjugating us.

    I thought of the strange array of thousands of insects that I¡¯d found underground on my first day here. If Palimpsest controlled every creature they dominated, then they might be limited in how many they could control at once¡ªhence the army I¡¯d found in stasis. I didn¡¯t know how many bodies they had, or could control at once, but I knew that I didn¡¯t want to face the worst of what they could field, not if I could help it.

    I turned to face the elves behind me. ¡°Everyone listen up,¡± I said, projecting my voice through the bond and into the minds of all the soldiers on the ramparts, ensuring everyone would hear me.

    ¡°This new entity is hostile. Their intention is to fight us until we capitulate and give them elves that they can psychically enslave. Our intention, then, is to make it so that after today they will fear us so much that they never try again. We have two options.¡±

    I looked around at the gathered elves with a sense of reluctance. A full-scale battle could see some of them dead, but Palimpsest had given us little choice.

    ¡°First is that we kill their central mind,¡± I said. ¡°This is least likely: but we¡¯re trying to find it in any case. The second is that we deplete Palimpsest¡¯s supply of minions to the point where they can no longer attack. Unfortunately, we don¡¯t know how many creatures they have to attack us with¡ªwe might be two and a half thousand against more than a million.

    ¡°Normally, trying for the second option would require us to use excessive, awesome force against them, as soon as we possibly can. But our enemy has clearly survived on this world for a while, and I doubt they¡¯ve done so with only swarms of digging insects, which are likely not higher than level 10. To grow and spread as their nature suggests they do, they need to be able to fight convergences, behemoths, and anything else this world throws at them.

    ¡°Because of the way that this creature acquires its minions, it¡¯s likely that they¡¯ll want to conserve the strongest of them. As such, we¡¯re going to hide our true strength from them for as long as we¡¯re able. With our defenses, we have answers to innumerable forms of attack¡ªand Palimpsest must think that every tactic they employ might be successful for as long as we can possibly manage it. With luck, they won¡¯t realize that they should be striking with everything they can possibly muster until we¡¯ve already found where they lived and organized a counterattack.¡±

    I looked around at the elves closest to me, my expression grim. ¡°To speak directly, I don¡¯t think coexistence is possible. If we get a chance to sue for peace, I¡¯ll take it¡ªbut very likely only to give us more time to make ready to eliminate Palimpsest as a threat. It¡¯s not just because they want some of us to suffer either death, or a worse fate. It¡¯s that they could barely even frame their request in a palatable manner. It will be difficult to get them to sue for peace even to serve their own interests¡ªwe simply can¡¯t reach one another.¡±

    Then, because our forces were a mix of elves with military careers, elves not in the military but with some military experience and training, and elves who had none to speak of, I added: ¡°That¡¯s all for now. Be ready to follow orders when they come.¡±

    I found Zephanel, our chief architect, in the group attending me¡ªhe¡¯d arrived as I¡¯d been speaking.

    ¡°Zephanel,¡± I said, turning to him. ¡°I want you to do everything you can to make sure our waterworks are sound. We have a half hour or so before they arrive, by my estimate¡ªcan you do anything to reinforce them or increase their throughput?¡±

    ¡°The pipe is a buried concrete spillway,¡± he said, sounding unsure. ¡°It¡¯s not possible to widen it now.¡±

    ¡°We can defend a ditch that runs from the reservoir if we need to,¡± I said.

    ¡°And go outside the walls?¡± He asked uncertainty.

    ¡°If it means keeping the foundation secure? Absolutely. Our icebinders can make fortifications if we need them. We need that water flowing. It¡¯s vulnerable as it is, but it¡¯s essential to the defense.¡±

    ¡°A channel made from ice, then,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll see what can be done.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡±

    I set about making sure our defensive forces were well-organized, and that every group of soldiers and defensive spell could be easily deployed even if I intended to hold them back. It was mostly about making sure that they right people were in the right place: our leadership was well-trained to handle a crisis, down to individual squad commanders.

    With any luck, it would be all too easy. Even if they¡¯d been watching us for a while, Palimpsest had little idea what we were capable of. My hope was that they¡¯d seen two and a half thousand elves and assumed we were just a strong pack of interesting animals. There was even a chance that none of the creatures they could field in battle could cause me any serious harm, let alone kill me.

    But unease filled my heart as I stood at the point where two faces of the keep met and looked out at the silent forest before me, tortured by the knowledge that many thousands of insects were burrowing their way toward us through solid rock at that very moment. I didn¡¯t feel lucky.

    All there was to do now was wait.

 3.14: Elven Arrows

    ¡°Should you be below, Lux Irovex?¡±

    It was Larash who asked me. Zirilla was below and Valir had been caught out hunting, and so Larash was next in the chain of command. He stood next to me on the battlements, perfectly still as we looked out across the silent, mist-lit vale at the base of the mountain.

    It was the right question to ask, at least: our enemy was coming at us from both the surface and below. And there was far more to fear from those beneath us than those out in the open.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go below once it¡¯s clear that we need me to channel mana or move air to gas them out,¡± I told him. ¡°But the first stages of their approach will be dominated by those with [Earth Magick]. Besides, they¡¯re not so deep. Those coming for the surface will emerge first.¡±

    ¡°You think they¡¯ll attack out of step with one another?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll see,¡± I said. ¡°Engaging on both fronts is obviously the better strategy. But we don¡¯t even know yet whether the creatures who are doing the digging will be those they attack with. I suspect these insects beneath the earth are very easy to acquire and control. All Palimpsest needs is the food to grow them to this size, and then they can store them beneath the earth in a kind of stasis.¡±

    Beside me, Larash nodded slowly. ¡°They¡¯ll fight more like a necromancer, then.¡±

    ¡°At least with these creatures,¡± I said. ¡°Palimpsest doesn¡¯t want to kill us, they want us so scared that we sacrifice a portion of our colony to them. If they don¡¯t value the lives of their drones¡­ flooding us with attackers will give them an idea of our strengths, of how difficult it will be to breach the keep. And if they succeed even a little, they may think they¡¯ll have a chance of subjugating us before they have to field any more valuable minions.¡±

    ¡°So if they swarm the walls without coordination, that¡¯s a bad thing.¡±

    ¡°More or less,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯d like to say it just means they¡¯re stupid, but in reality it will likely mean they have an endless supply of drones. Palimpsest is fond of our keep, after all¡ªthey¡¯d probably like to win without destroying it.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know whether to feel hopeful or despondent, whether to believe we had the upper hand or that we were fighting an unwinnable battle. With the burrowing capability that Palimpsest had already demonstrated, fighting them meant it would only be a matter of time before they collapsed our keep, regardless of the many defenses we had in place to stop that. Unless we were willing to go down into the earth beneath us, a week-long siege would topple us.

    But that was only if Palimpsest knew what I knew. They attacked us now with burrowers: their nature surely meant that they would have some skill in engineering earthworks. But did they know how to shift a building on its foundation by excavating hundreds of meters below it? The roots of our keep ran deep, and our spellcasters were well-versed in attacking through layer after layer of rock. Unless our enemy knew exactly what they were doing, they¡¯d be throwing themselves at us to no avail.

    Did Palimpsest know how to properly ventilate its tunnels for when we filled them with unbreathable gas? How to properly drain them when we flooded them with freezing water? If not, we might force a quick peace.

    Then there was our archers. If they had watched us for a while¡ªperhaps through the eyes of some smaller creature that it sent to spy on us¡ªthen it might have seen the many elves practicing at the range we¡¯d built on the river-facing side of the keep.

    The range¡¯s most frequent occupants had been the children, but Palimpsest could have seen our warriors loosing arrows with all their strength, if they¡¯d watched often enough. Whether they had, and whether they¡¯d made the calculations necessary to determine just how difficult it would be to approach the keep with anything that our arrows could kill, remained to be seen.

    As we waited, these thoughts, fears, and hopes seemed to chase each other in my mind. Few things were as frightening as an enemy I knew so little of.

    The first indication of their arrival was nothing but dimpling of the soil further up the slope, toward the forest. The crater widened, deepened, and eventually collapsed, the damp soil falling inward

    The bugs were undoubtedly those I had seen on my first day, each of them a horse-sized beetle that had a narrow face dominated by two bony tusks. They had blue-black carapaces, and each of them was coated in gray dust from the work they¡¯d been doing.

    At first, we saw only a flash of motion just beneath the soil line as the beetles worked to move the earth out of the way, presumably passing it down to be brought away by their kin. Then they spilled out of the hole all at once, their movements making it clear that insects were crawling along every surface of the inner tunnel.

    They swarmed around the tunnel¡¯s entrance, gathering but not charging us yet. Some distance behind them, a few trees fell away as another hole was opened in the soil.

    ¡°Lux Irovex?¡± Larash¡¯s voice was steady, his eyes intent on our foes.

    I knew what he was asking me without needing to hear more. The force with which one of our archers could send an arrow flying was more than enough to clear the distance between ourselves and the opening: we could easily let loose a deadly rain.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not be too emphatic in correcting their mistakes,¡± I said, speaking both aloud and through the bond with our commanders. ¡°Hold your shots. We¡¯ll wait until their charge and strike when they¡¯re within a comfortable range. Our decay mages will do best with nearby corpses. I want the ground before these walls to be a blanket of Palimpsest¡¯s dead.¡±

    ¡°Aye,¡± Larash said. ¡°What Lux Irovex wants, our archers give¡ªin this case with pleasure.¡±

    I watched them gather, but curiously they didn¡¯t use their [Earth Magick] to form any fortifications in the earth around them. I¡¯d expected trenches which would give them some modicum of shelter from arrows on their approach¡ªyet they did nothing.

    Before I could ask Mirio why, he volunteered some information himself.

    ¡°Almost every one of them is level 8,¡± said Mirio. ¡°Mostly [Strength] to move their weight, some [Channel] to move earth, with.¡±

    ¡°Are they out there drinking mana?¡± I asked, looking out at the growing horde of beetles.

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said.

    I nodded. They weren¡¯t digging ditches because they¡¯d collectively used their mana tunneling¡ªlikely they were channeling mana into themselves now to fill up and prepare to throw stone missiles when they attacked.

    ¡°Would they need help channeling mana in order to tunnel as quickly as they have?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe so,¡± Mirio said, sounding uncertain. ¡°They have a remarkably efficient method of breaking the stone and carrying it away, with new bugs constantly rotating to the front with fresh mana. The bugs carrying stone also channel mana forward from the tunnel¡¯s entrance¡ªas long as they have an unbroken chain ending in mana-dense air, they can dig continuously.¡±

    ¡°If they start building fortifications, we shoot,¡± I said. ¡°Otherwise we wait. As for now I don¡¯t want more than half the archers loosing arrows.¡±

    ¡°Aye,¡± said Larash.

    It would be a worthwhile gambit: we had our stormcallers, our windcallers, our icebinders and lightweavers all on the wall. If I¡¯d underestimated them and something unexpected happened, we¡¯d have more than enough power to suddenly wipe them away.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Two more holes in the earth appeared, each of them at a different approach¡ªone closer to the river and another at its opposite side.

    ¡°They¡¯re gathering at the base of the cliff as well,¡± said Larash, who was getting reports through the bond. ¡°In the limestone hills. They¡¯ll be coming at every side at once.¡±

    ¡°Nothing we didn¡¯t expect,¡± I said.

    We¡¯d actually discussed eventually making the surface of the cliffside smoother, potentially out of a material that couldn¡¯t support much weight¡­ once we¡¯d finished building the walls that ran to the cliff¡¯s edge. For now, there would be no point¡ªPalimpsest¡¯s army of insects would have no difficulty climbing to our location.

    ¡°They¡¯ve sent a message for you, Lux Irovex,¡± Mirio said. ¡°It¡¯s more or less just: ¡®Capitulate.¡¯¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Ask for terms, then,¡± I said. ¡°Act like we¡¯re considering it, play like we¡¯re scared. Anything to stall for time while we find out where it keeps its brain.¡±

    As I spoke, my eyes never left the growing swarm, examining the massive beetles. The insects had a ridge that ran along their backs, a raised seam where two pieces of their carapace met. I guessed it was to help bear the brunt of any falling stone they encountered while digging. Like other natural earthshapers, they would probably have storage space for stone projectiles, potentially even one that tumbled the stones and smoothened them for greater efficacy as missiles. The two tusk-like chitin protrusions that emerged from their faces would also help in digging: they¡¯d be what had made the seeming toolmarks in the stone maze and tunnels I¡¯d found below.

    I could only imagine the sorts of structures that Palimpsest could build with so many bodies, each of them built for digging. I¡¯d already found the massive, tomb-like chamber where he¡¯d stored so many drones¡ªwhat kind of city-sized architecture was this one creature capable of?

    It wasn¡¯t a comforting thought. If they could put these creatures in the stasis I¡¯d first found them in, and they could build as much storage as they needed, then how many did they have? The limit of how many they could send against us would be in how quickly they could birth and feed more of them, rearing them to adulthood. And on this world, where food was plentiful¡­ perhaps my earlier estimate of a million was too few.

    I had some knack for guessing an army¡¯s numbers by sight¡­ if they walked on two legs. The sea of bugs stampeding toward us might have been five thousand or ten: I couldn¡¯t guess better than that.

    ¡°Get the icebinders ready to coat the walls,¡± I said. ¡°But not until they hit the trench.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know exactly what instinct gave away that Palimpsest¡¯s attack would happen soon, but something in the seemingly random movements of the insects as I looked out at them told me they would. I even felt Larash tense beside me. But whatever their instincts recognized in the insects turned out to be correct: they began to charge in unison just moments later.

    They were a few hundred meters away. The ramparts began to tremble with the force of their charge.

    ¡°Forty meters from the moat,¡± I said to the commanders through the bond. ¡°That¡¯s when you shoot.¡±

    The trembling of the earth grew more and more intense. The charging insects, previously a set of large clusters that had each come from a separate tunnel, merged into one circular ring of oncoming enemies.

    They were a hundred meters away. Their tiny, fingernail-sized eyes glittered black from where they were deep-set into segmented faces.

    ¡°Incoming swarms,¡± Larash reported. ¡°Wasps from above.¡±

    I frowned. It wasn¡¯t unexpected, but it was late¡ªwe should have detected them earlier.

    ¡°Wind and fire,¡± I said steadily. ¡°We¡¯re prepared.¡± To the commanders, I added: ¡°Focus on the beetles.¡±

    Below, the wall of beetles came on, their bodies tightly packed together as they came for the walls in a flood.

    Larash and the other commanders gave the order to loose in unison¡ªa sharp, chanted word that rose up from every corner of the battlements at once.

    Our enemies met a hailstorm of arrows.

    My archers shot fast: their bows conjured arrows, meaning they didn¡¯t need to reach for the quiver¡ªdrawing the bow was the only motion needed. With high [Strength] and [Agility], multiple arrows a second was no difficult feat, but rather the standard which even an archer of tenth level was expected to meet.

    My archers shot accurately: Sabina had given us the hand and eye to surpass all other species with the bow, and now these insects were feeling the bite of arrows aimed by elves who had been shooting for many centuries.

    My archers shot powerfully: the softest armor was no match for an [Aegis] strengthed arrow launched with the full might of a leveled elf wielding a matchbow. And there were those among them who used [Surge of Might] to raise our physical attributes or its cousin, [Missile Surge] to grant [Aegis] penetration, easily piercing the bodies of the insects no matter where they struck.

    And so Palimpsest¡¯s army came forward into an endless flurry of hissing shadows, each elf planting multiple arrows into their marks by the second. Beetles fell and were trodden over by their companions, who fell in turn: our marksmen, who were expected to deal with primeval convergences in the field, were no strangers to multitudes of fast targets. Arrows sprouted from the enemy¡¯s faces, jutting out above their twin tusks as they fell to the ground.

    I was aware of a great many black specks being buffeted about in the air above us¡ªthe wasps. Palimpsest had arranged for many swarms of them to come upon us just as their wave of beetles reached the walls, but our windcallers had them meet a wall of fast-moving air that simply pushed them up, out, and away from the keep, their wings not strong enough to cut through the air and reach our people.

    Most of the beetles angled their heads upwards and launched smooth rocks through the air toward us¡­ but a level 8¡¯s [Channel] meant that their stone slugs travelled slowly through the air, where our earthshapers, who were positioned just below the battlements, nearby but covered from sight, could knock them out of the air.

    [Agility] gave one a better ability to track projectiles quickly, anticipating where they¡¯d strike. [Focus] gave one more ability to concentrate power into smaller areas, striking down projectiles with pinpoint precision.

    But neither of these things was truly needed for our defense. Automatically pushing back against any projectile that entered one¡¯s magical claim wasn¡¯t a difficult skill to learn, and the last two months had done much to strengthen our earthshapers.

    Even if they missed some, my people wore the armor that that we¡¯d arrived in¡ªpadded leather helmets lined with thin steel plates. With their [Aegis], a block to the head by a fist-sized stone would only require healing¡ªand all of my fighters¡ªbe they warriors, wildhearts, or elementalists¡ªhad some capacity to heal themselves.

    The flood of insects came on, the beetles reaching the moat and crawling down down into it headfirst. These were promptly ignored, our archers, our archers aiming for the easier targets behind them rather than shoot for their well-armored backs. The beetles crossed the concrete base of the moat, then clambered onto the rougher surface of the walls below it, arrows biting into their heads and carapaces all the while.

    It was when they reached the walls that Larash and the other commanders called for the icebinders to cast their spell.

    The concrete of our walls was made with more than just a steel inner lining. Pipes and plates that were lined with runes had been sealed within it, spell focuses that had been duplicated many times over for redundancy. The icebinders and waterweavers reached for these now, drawing a thin layer of water onto the glittering black surface of the walls, then freezing it in place within seconds, forming a layer of ice that began just where the walls were flush with the level of the ground beyond the moat.

    A small beetle¡¯s claws might have found purchase on some of the quickly-conjured ice, but the beetles below us struggled to climb the sheer surface of even the bare concrete that led out of the moat. The tunnels that I¡¯d seen them build had used built-in ridges for them grip with their tarsal claws.

    Now they were attempting to climb a smooth-surfaced wall that broke and fell away beneath them as soon as they mounted it¡ªand the weight of the falling beetles bore down on their kin beneath them, turning our moat into a pit of churning insectile flesh.

    Arrows found target after target, the beetles easiest to strike when they faced toward us up the walls. Their projectiles were tossed uselessly aside.

    The wasps that our windcallers had diverted fell from the air in a steady stream, our firedancers overriding the weak claim that the tiny creatures had over their own bodies and then burning their tiny brains away with only a small effort.

    Then, in the passing of only a few moments, it became clear that the assault had been destroyed. The moat had been converted to a ditch filled with bodies¡ªthose few that showed any movement were quickly filled with a dozen arrows.

    Fewer than half a thousand archers had demolished a force ten to twenty times their size.

    But crucially, we¡¯d done as much I could think to make Palimpsest think that they¡¯d come far, far closer to making it over the walls than they had.

    My people let out a cheer around me¡ªbut I was silent as I looked down at the heaped bodies. Our enemy had just thrown thousands of bodies at us. Who knew the full size of the force they could muster?

    We needed to find them, and soon.

    ¡°Lux Irovex?¡± Mirio said.

    ¡°Yes, archdruid?¡±

    ¡°Palimpsest wants to speak with you again.¡±

 3.15: The Swarms Convergence

    Mirio was pale and haggard-looking when he put me before Palimpsest. I felt for the archdruid, but I also worried about his constitution. Fending off our enemy¡¯s psychic attacks was no easy feat¡ªit had surely taken more of a toll on our wildhearts and psychics altogether than the short battle with the drones had taken on our soldiers.

    But they might have to fight him off for a good while longer. Mirio would have to spent a long time yet at the forefront, bearing the brunt of Palimpsest¡¯s attacks before he¡¯d get a reprieve. When he did get a reprieve, it would be Galenni, our head psychic, who took his place.

    Luthiel could do the job, but he was inside the keep, working with a handpicked team of psychics to compose a spell to track Palimpsest¡¯s location, a backup plan in case Mirio himself couldn¡¯t find it¡ªthough despite his weathered appearance, I had faith in our archdruid.

    Again I felt the oppressive presence of our enemy as Mirio passed them to me, an discomfiting pain that seemed to reach into the roots of my teeth.

    I must have you, they said.

    Withdraw your forces from beneath our keep, I told them. Only then can we negotiate.

    In response I got what was the most intense emotional reaction that I¡¯d yet seen from the creature, one so loud and psychically unpleasant that it almost felt like it was deliberately trying to attack me, for once.

    I must have you, they said.

    It will cost you more than you could possibly ever gain, I told them.

    Palimpsest¡¯s response felt agitated and fragmented. It was a flurry of images¡ªour walls coated in ice, our forges as they gulched out smoke, the chains of our lift drawing taut as a windcaller filled its sail, the concrete roots of our keep¡¯s foundation, stretching deep, deep down into the bedrock¡­.

    Technology. They wanted to know what we knew. They had some inkling of what difference our many masteries could gain them, and it was worth as many bodies as it would cost them.

    I must have you, they repeated. Your bodies are useless, but your minds are treasures. If I cannot claim you, I must erase you.

    I listened to this and bowed my head, frustrated. Despite holding back in our defense of their first assault, they clearly had some inkling of how dangerous we could be¡ªand they weren¡¯t willing to make peace when it would mean leaving us to our own devices. We were too much of a threat.

    Call me again if you wish to surrender, I said. Until then, there is nothing to discuss.

    This interaction must be of bodies, not mind, they said, agreeing with me.

    ¡°How goes it?¡± I asked, turning to Mirio.

    ¡°No luck yet,¡± he said. ¡°They know how to hide themselves. I can¡¯t say whether they know I¡¯m looking or if they¡¯re simply always hiding. They must be relatively close by¡­ only they¡¯re likely deep underground.¡± His pale face was resolute. ¡°I¡¯ll find them,¡± he said.

    ¡°While you¡¯re at it,¡± I said. ¡°See if you can find out whether they know anything of necromancy.¡±

    Around us, a few soldiers and spellcasters were using [Blood Magick] to draw the blood from the insects that had fallen at the base of the wall, converting some of it to mana and storing the rest in the small channel of water that ran between the rampart¡¯s two levels. The water, drawn from our mana wells and heavy with trapped mana, darkened as the blood spread through it like spilt ink. Mingling the blood with the water didn¡¯t lessen its capacity for mana, but our blood mages could still absorb the blood.

    I gave command of the walls to Larash, then turned and strode down the shallow-cut steps between levels and into the shelter of the keep. There I found Luthiel with a hand-picked set of psychics, all of them carving symbols into slate-like pieces of fused quartz.

    Technically, psychics and wildhearts had almost as similar a core function as two distinct professions could have. The pure [Mind] skill, [Telepathy], did everything [Wild Bond] did¡ªit just wasn¡¯t limited to plants and animals. It could reach anything with a mind, including elementals, infernals, constructs¡ªeverything.

    But while their abilities had some overlap, their traditions meant they often had entirely different skillsets. Wildhearts focused on the natural world¡ªalmost all their interactions were with other people or with unintelligent creatures who needed to be yoked and controlled. Telepaths in turn handled long-distance communication, psychic warfare, education, and contact with intelligent creatures that were fundamentally different from us, such as elementals.

    And so it was no surprise that when Luthiel chose people to help with his backup locator spell, all of them were psychics, not wildhearts. The psychics and wildhearts were trained to work with each other, of course¡ªbut the people around Luthiel had been working together for centuries.

    The former archmage looked up at me as I entered.

    ¡°I need you ready to step in,¡± I told him.

    ¡°So soon?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said. ¡°How much more time would you need?¡±

    ¡°With me? Twenty minutes or more. Without me, twenty five. These are estimates¡ªwe¡¯re trying to triangulate their position by contacting them through one of our wayward hunters.¡±

    Twenty minutes wasn¡¯t the best news, especially since his spell might not even work. ¡°I see,¡± I told him. ¡°If possible, see if you can find out whether our enemy knows any necromancy. Delay the spell if necessary.¡±

    He nodded. ¡°As you wish, Lux Irovex.¡±

    Ranival, I said, mentally finding our head white necromancer through the bond.

    Lux Irovex?

    Make ready to raise up the deadvault. Leave the warriors to handle harvesting the blood for now. I¡¯ll interrupt you soon enough and call you back to the walls.

    Lux Irovex.

    Then I reached out with the bond and found Zirilla from where she was preparing down in the depths of the keep. How long until you¡¯re engaging them?

    Six and a half minutes, she said. Going to grace me with your presence?

    We¡¯ll see.

    I mentally sought out Larash and I moved to rejoin him on the wall. Have someone bring me a greatsword with air clasps.

    He assented, and soon I was standing beside him, looking out at the edge of the forest. More of the giant, digging beetles were pouring out of the holes in the ground.

    ¡°Something¡¯s not right,¡± Larash said.

    ¡°It¡¯s doing the same thing again,¡± I agreed. I thought a moment. ¡°Get any icebinders who can fly in the second windborne and have them make ready to block those tunnels. I¡¯ll take the first windborne to reinforce if needed, otherwise they hold the skies above the keep. We¡¯ll see what they bring for air power.¡±

    I thought a moment more, then added: ¡°Choose four squads to be ready to fight from the cliff¡¯s edge¡ªmake sure they¡¯re fast, but throw in six earthshapers who know how to cause a fall. And pull the airborne flame-weavers. Have them be ready to make a wave. Replace them with whoever we can find.¡±

    Larash dispensed orders through the bond for a moment, and I watched for a minute as the swarm of drones around each hole grew.

    I looked down into the insect-filled moat and made a decision. ¡°Get all our healers, weavers, and divines close to the wall. We¡¯ll pull them back to their usual tasks if we need them¡ªif Palimpsest has any necromancy, they¡¯re like to be using it shortly.¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    Larash assented, but my mind was already drawn elsewhere¡ªone of the seers reporting what they could sense in the distance. Creatures coming not from the holes in the ground, but walking at a fast pace along the riverbed. They were massive, but also somewhat familiar¡ªthe gigantic mantis creatures that I¡¯d fought two of on my first day. Palimpsest had evidently taken some of the insects that lived around the flowerfall.

    Dozens of them now rushed toward us along the riverbank, sure to arrive in the same moments that their burrowers came at the base of the keep.

    And if they could steal the strongest protectors of that insect colony, they could surely steal the flying guards.

    I looked out to see more beetles still spilling out of the ground before us, then made a decision.

    ¡°It seems Palimpsest has no interest in conserving their bodies,¡± I said, speaking into the bond. ¡°Neither will we. Shoot freely.¡±

    Around me, the air was filled with the sound of many bows suddenly loosing arrows in rapid succession, each squad drawing in unison. Endless volleys seemed to pour forth from the keep in all directions, waves of them filling the air like ripples on a pond¡¯s surface.

    I looked past the arrows, at the glowing white clouds of mist, pondering the sky.

    Earlier, when the wasps attacked, we hadn¡¯t sensed them right away because they¡¯d fallen from a great height. The wildhearts had taken the initiative to put a seer in the air on a conjured broadwing¡ªbut a quick check showed that they hadn¡¯t sensed any incoming airborne enemies.

    Still¡­.

    ¡°Third and fourth windborne squads, protect the second windborne as they seal off those holes. The enemy¡¯s flyers will be here soon¡ªyour secondary aim is to inflict maximum casualties upon them. Fly high. Be cautious.¡±

    Behind me I heard a rush as a few dozen shadows passed by overhead. I looked out at the sea of insect carapace¡¯s distrustfully¡ªPalimpsest knew we could fly, had to.

    So what was their plan?

    Mirio, I said, calling him.

    Lux Irovex?

    Unless I say otherwise, I want you to allow Palimpsest to shift their attention away from you and attack me. I¡¯ll give them openings¡ªand that should give you openings in turn.

    Lux Irovex.

    With my [Wild Bond], I sensed someone coming up behind me, then turned to see that it was Fireesha, carrying the sword I¡¯d asked for.

    ¡°[Channel]?¡± she asked.

    She was a weaver, and while many of them were devoted to handling the defensive enchantments, some of them would simply be assigning their [Focus] to maintain attribute-increasing spells one some key fighters, such as those who would be fighting with the greatbows. Naturally, I counted as a key fighter.

    ¡°[Channel]¡± I said. ¡°All [Channel].¡±

    My [Primeval Resonance] and my primeval mana both combined to make my [Channel] 174% more effective. Until now I¡¯d been limited in how much of it I could actually even use¡ªI could channel my entire mana pool into the air in a few seconds.

    But the snow-white fur cloak that hung from my shoulders granted me [Blood Magick 17]. It could restore my mana with the blood of the dead¡ªat a rate that was determined by my [Channel]. And the rate that I could restore my [Blood Pool] was determined by my [Focus]¡ªbut the only other thing I used my [Focus] for was flight, a state that was usually exclusive to absorbing blood in any case.

    I would not be running out of mana. Not on this battlefield.

    The mass of gathering insects in the distance churned as thousands of arrows rained down upon it. At our distance, we wouldn¡¯t be as accurate at striking their vulnerable heads¡ªmany arrows would bury themselves into their carapaces, causing little harm.

    Many of them buried their heads in the soil as the arrows came¡ªPalimpsest would rather wait for their other troops, taking the losses, than waste the beetles in an unsupported frontal assault as before.

    ¡°They¡¯re stronger,¡± Mirio said. ¡°The ones I can get a grasp on are at least level 10.¡±

    ¡°They began with the bugs they were in the process of raising,¡± I mused.

    Ahead of us, An explosion of fog billowed out of the nearest hole in the ground. One of the elementalists in the second windborne squad had loosed their arrow-borne frost spell and stoppered it with a wall of conjured ice, at least for now.

    Swarm above, the leader of the third windborne squad called out to me. Gliding in from the higher layers, coming fast.

    ¡°Pull back if you¡¯re overwhelmed,¡± I cautioned them. But in my minds eye I could see what they were seeing: many thousands of the pony-sized guardian drones that I¡¯d already met, the ones that shot paralytic stingers they regenerated with [Life] skills. Unless Palimpsest had trained them and supplied them with extraordinary amounts of essence, they¡¯d be no match for dozens of windcallers launching windborne arrows.

    On the ground before us, I watched as hundreds of beetles began to detach from the main swarm and move toward the river. It wasn¡¯t hard to guess where they were headed: the massive mantis-creatures that had been traveling along the riverbed would be coming into view soon.

    ¡°First windborne,¡± I said. ¡°Engage those hulks. I¡¯ll be joining you.¡±

    I called the two-handed sword toward me by grasping at its air clasps, clipping it to my chest at the shoulder and belt, hilt-down. It didn¡¯t matter that it had no sheathe: my [Aegis] meant that it at worst it could only nick me or my equipment.

    Then I rose into the air and sped toward the river, joining the dozen windcallers of the first windborne and merging our windsleeves as we sped toward our enemy. The mantis-hulks came into view moments later, tall, black creatures whose limps were so elongated they seemed almost skeletal as they strode along the river in a column, their carapaces glittering in the light of the mist.

    I saw them appear with a growing sense of anticipation. The first windborne had more stormcallers than other aerial squads¡ªseven instead of two. They were well-trained in channeling mana as a group to throw mighty bolts of lightning. Large creatures such as this were their speciality, as were enemy spellcasters.

    But before we could engage, I sensed a cry of alarm from our other windcallers across the bond. Flashes of impressions came to me as I sifted through the thoughts of our fighters in the air: great shadows, massive insects falling toward them out of the third mist layer, ambushing them as they moved to engage the oncoming swarms of flyers.

    There were dozens of them, each the size of one of the mantises ahead of us.

    Go, Larash told me through the bond. We¡¯ll handle the others at the keep¡ªthe mages are eager to help.

    I wasn¡¯t happy giving the enemy time to position itself¡ªthe first windborne could have easily engaged the mantises without much danger, cutting them off from the main force. Larash was right, though¡ªwith our spells, even these creatures would be hard-pressed to assault the keep.

    Still, there was something chilling about what I saw in the bond as we rose away from the mantis-hulks: our seer could sense two more groups of them coming down the riverbed even now. There were more than a hundred in total.

    The squad peeled up and away from its course toward the river, angling into the sky below the third mist layer, one that was now filled with insectile black specks and the occasional silhouette of one of the larger attackers.

    I examined the closest of them. It had the unfortunate appearance of a horsefly whose body and wings had both been elongated. Its entire body was white and gray, and this, combined with its translucent exoskeleton, gave the insect an unfinished look, as if it had missed the final stages of some important metamorphosis.

    Priority is those hulks, I told everyone. I¡¯d rather they fight us in the skies than go for the keep. We form up, move through the swarm, and bring as many of them down as we can.

    The swarm of smaller, stinger-throwing guardians didn¡¯t bother me as much¡ªtheir stingers would struggle to pierce our armor, and all our aerial soldiers had at least one healing skill to handle the venom if they did. I was doubtful they¡¯d even be able to hit one of our windcallers except by filling the sky with missiles¡ªwe didn¡¯t fly in patterns that made us easy to track, not when fighting.

    I had no doubt that Palimpsest knew exactly where I was on the battlefield, tracking me through their many sets of eyes and with their psychic power. As my squad joined with the loose arrangement of the others in the air, I pulled ahead and moved for the nearest of the killer longflies, which had already begun moving straight for me, and used my air magic to clip my bow across my back, over my cloak, freeing both hands.

    As I expected, I felt Palimpsest¡¯s attentions on me a moment later, a heavy psychic weight that was far beyond the strength of anything I¡¯d felt from them during our conversations. They wanted to paralyze me, but I dispersed their attack through my body, mentally shredding it into nothing but a field of physical sensations. Pain flowed through me, an exquisite array of agonies that rang out in many different parts of my body¡ªbut it was only pain.

    I catapulted toward where the longfly would be, our aerial paths two trajectories whose destiny it was to meet. My mind was numb with pain under Palimpsests assault¡ªbut that only made my mind flow into ceaseless, instant instinct, my eyes and [Wild Bond] tracking my target, telling me exactly how I must move, exactly the minute adjustments in wind that I needed to make to land just so.

    As I flew through the air, I detached my sword, grasping the long hilt in both hands and raising it to point its tip like a spear toward the longfly¡¯s face as I threw myself toward it.

    Just before I reached it, it conjured a translucent wall of light to protect its bulging eyes¡­.

    But I had done all of this before, in other battles on other worlds. My incredibly high [Channel] meant that I could force a line of mana into the air before me and ignite it in the blink of an eye. The [Fray] aspect in my lightning ripped the structure of the spell to pieces, and the pane of light dissolved just in time for me to surge my [Strength] as I reached the longfly, ramming the blade of my sword into its hideous eye.

    I jerked my blade through its body, finding where I thought its brain was and then churning it like butter. I felt it die, felt its [Aegis] cease to protect its body, then tore my blade free with ease even as I used my [Wild Bond] to double-check the location of the vital organs on its corpse.

    + 18 652 Essence, 2 [Boon]

    I felt Palimpsest¡¯s touch leave me, the pain of their psychic assault fading fast. I grinned as I reclaimed lost altitude, happy that they¡¯d been watching.

    Get anything? I asked Mirio, my voice filled with the building thrill of battle.

    Mirio responded with what might have been the psychic equivalent of a splutter.

    I set my sights on the next longfly, then threw myself toward it with a burst of air. We¡¯ll go again.

 3.16: A Battle of Wits

    Wind rushed past my body as I hurled toward my next opponent. I projected what I¡¯d seen of their exoskeletal structure to the windborne squads around me and warned them that for some reason they were conjuring hard light.

    Another of the longflies loomed ahead of me, its distant shape growing larger as it came toward me at a startling pace. I flew to ensure that its path would intercept my current location, then swerved rapidly and channeled a line of mana into the air. A moment later I ignited a lightning bolt that tore through its barrier of conjured light and cooked its head, sending it spinning away toward the ground.

    Another nearby longfly launched a few slivers of light toward me, which I twisted to avoid in the air. A few of the first windborne took advantage of the longfly¡¯s diverted attention and filled its head with arrows and I watched it fall, satisfied.

    We moved fast, our formation a loose oval that all of us rotated around, keeping ourselves exposed to our enemy while our speed protected us from their launched stingers.

    And yet I had to wonder about the light it had conjured. It was an unusual choice of skill for a fighting insect drone.

    Unease crept into me as I grew more and more suspicious of what the conjured light might mean.

    I contacted Larash. Have the wildhearts search for irregularities in the beetles, I said.

    I returned my attentions to the battle in the air. There were a startling number of the giant longflies that had emerged, stealthed from the sight of our psychics, from the upper mists. Once it was clear to me that our windcallers were unthreatened by the stingers of the thousands of guardian drones, we focused on these, spreading our formation wider and rising through the air to form engage any that tried to fly past us to the keep.

    We wouldn¡¯t be able to intercept them all, but their exoskeletons weren¡¯t hard enough to stop our arrows, and so most of the ones that tried to fly by us were stricken from the air quickly.

    It wasn¡¯t long before I heard another voice in my mind. Lux Irovex, It was no-one I recognized immediately¡ªone of the wildhearts or seers. Some beetles are protecting some others¡ªthey¡¯re not all the same!

    Show me.

    They sent me a brief flash of an impression, one of several beetles throwing themselves over the body of an identical-looking comrade before being bombarded with wave after wave of arrows. It was a haphazardly assembled impression¡ªthey were an inexperienced wildheart¡ªbut I got what I needed.

    Good, I said back, scanning the ground below me and reaching out with my [Wild Bond] to find a living corpse sheltering behind several dead ones.

    I informed the head of the first windborne that I was leaving them, then dove toward it as fast as I could.

    As the air rushed past my face and the ground, teeming with the swarm, rushed up to meet me, I thought about what I¡¯d seen in the air¡ªand I thought fast.

    The longflies used hard light, but not often: they were using small, simple applications of it when the aerial fighters, especially me, drew close.

    [Light] was one of the most versatile aspects, and one of the reasons for this was that it allowed the conjuring of hard light: solid, luminous substance that could be shaped as the caster desired.

    It was somewhat surprising to see the longflies using it. Some smaller predatory insects used minor light magic to lure their prey. Sometimes, in the way of many natural creatures, their ability to instinctually cast one or two spells rivaled that of practiced elves spellcasters.

    But gigantic flying insects would need to have skills that supported their ability to fly. Their instincts wouldn¡¯t lend themselves to conjuring hard light because the common class that they began with would have to be geared toward flying. Not only was their initial class core unlikely to support light magic, but they¡¯d also need physical attributes to keep themselves in the air.

    All this meant that it was highly unlikely, in my mind, that these longflies were born to naturally grow into using light magic once they reached a high enough class tier and a high enough level to support it.

    If Palimpsest was raising these creatures just to have an army on hand, they shouldn¡¯t have powerful classes. Gaining a higher-tier class required that one¡¯s deeds and thoughts slowly build up the sophisticated aspect required to support it.

    How would that work for creatures whose minds had been crushed so that their bodies could be puppeteered? Palimpsest would have to cultivate them directly, guide them into repeating the actions that might gain them a class. Their reach had to cover a vast territory for them to steal a broad sampling of insects in the first place, and their enormous psychic power would more than suffice to maintain the control they¡¯d need to.

    But it wouldn¡¯t be easy. Some of these creatures, like the beetle-drones and the flying guardians, they could simply breed and leave with whatever common class they were born to. But the longflies were gigantic, and without skills to bolster them they wouldn¡¯t be able to take to the air. That meant that Palimpsest had controlled them until they¡¯d been able to take higher-rarity classes¡ªit was the only way they could both be flying, and conjuring hard light.

    Still I had to wonder: why hard light? I felt I knew the answer¡­ but I didn¡¯t want it to be true.

    Hard light was versatile, but its versatility came with heavy drawbacks. First, it cost as much mana as conjured ice. Second, it cost much more [Focus] to create, maintain, and manipulate than any other substance.

    Hence why primeval spellcasters, with our [Primeval Resonance] boosting our [Channel], preferred to throw ice around. It was mages, with their [Arcane Resonance] boosting the efficacy of their [Focus], who fought with hard light.

    Hard light was useful, but not so useful as to be worth the commitment that Palimpsest had seemingly made. Raising up portions of their army to conjure hard light would not just cost them valuable skill cores from their soldiers, but require those soldiers to be built with high [Focus] as well.

    Hence the answer that I felt was obvious, but didn¡¯t want to be true: Palimpsest could use their own [Focus] to maintain the spells cast by their minions.

    The minions still needed [Source] and [Channel] of their own, of course¡ªbut [Focus] handled the internal component of spellcasting. It was entirely possible that Palimpsest knew methods to handle the spells of the drones they commandeered.

    They were a sort of creature I had never seen before. I¡¯d seen psychic hives of insects, of course, but not ones that subverted other insects into their ranks to be commanded in battle.

    In fact, if they were nothing but a giant brain somewhere, or some throbbing coat of neural moss that filled a massive cavern deep in the earth¡­ one that not only had a very high [Focus] to maintain control over their minions, but an uncanny talent for emulating the thoughts required to structure magic without the attribute¡­ then it would all make perfect sense.

    I¡¯d sensed their mind, after all. I was a grandmaster spellcaster and could emulate hundreds of [Focus] with just my concentration when it came to hurling lightning bolts, casting certain rituals, and using surge magic. What would this alien being be capable of, if it¡¯s entire existence involved growing and spreading, subverting new insects?

    And another question, one that twisted at my gut: just how big were they? How many soldiers could they command at once, and how many could they field in total?

    It would take them [Focus] to command each of their troops. If my theory was right, they had an upper limit on how many of their bodies they could awake from stasis at once. But as that limit went down, they¡¯d have more and more [Focus] to devote to spellcasting¡ªand with many mana pools and their enslaved bodies¡¯ natural channeling speed to limit their ability to spellcast, hardened light would be the most powerful magic available to them.

    These thoughts rushed through me in mere moments as I sped toward the ground where the younger wildheart had indicated. I thought I had a glimpse of their strategy: seed the army with creatures capable of spellcasting, and each attacking wave would grow stronger as more of them were killed and Palimpsest¡¯s [Focus] grew more concentrated.

    But it was time to check. I landed hard, leaving an impression in the earth below me as I struck the ground in the middle of the swarm of drones. Arrows rained down around me, but with 300 [Aegis] an arrow whose only momentum came from gravity could barely scratch my skin.

    Before me was a small heap of their bodies, but I could sense a living creature beneath it with my [Wild Bond]. Around me there were more beetles in every direction¡ªand as soon as I landed, all of them began to converge on my position.

    I rushed forward, wind at my back, and grabbed two carcasses, tossing them away with a surge of strength. The pile shifted, and I saw my living prey moving beneath them, scrambling to tear itself free from its armor of the dead.

    I lunged, reaching out and gripping the two hard horns that protruded from either side of its face, wrenching them so that my eyes were locked with its own.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Then I pushed out into it with my [Wild Bond], psychically assaulting it even as I momentarily committed my [Focus] into assaulting its threshold.

    ¡°Mine,¡± I hissed.

    Palimpsest¡¯s mind was split across all their soldiers, but I was only focusing on this one¡ªwhich I had an easier time invading because we were touching.

    I felt our enemy¡¯s mind for a brief flash, its vibrating thoughts repulsing me. Then, for a split second, the beetle in my hands was mine.

    I saw everything I had feared.

    It was a much higher level than its peers. Its skills and attributes were more angled toward spellcasting than physical combat. It didn¡¯t have [*Earth] skill cores, but [*Light]¡ªand it hadn¡¯t increased its [Focus], confirming for me that it could use Palimpsest¡¯s.

    A moment later I surged my [Aegis] as an enormous spike of psychic force ripped me from the beetle¡¯s mind. Palimpsest had borne down on me with everything they had once they¡¯d realized what I was doing.

    But it didn¡¯t matter now, I¡¯d seen their hidden tactic.

    These creatures didn¡¯t follow the rules of a typical psychic insect hive, where all of them would have similar classes, skills, and levels.

    Just as we had used Palimpsest¡¯s first wave to cloak our true power, so had they: their spellcasters were hidden within the swarm, likely all taking cover from our falling arrows under the bodies of their comrades.

    When Mirio had first looked out at this new wave of drones, Palimpsest had very likely made chinks and cracks in their own psychic armor, allowing Mirio to glimpse only those beetle-drones who were like the ones that had come before.

    I reached out for Larash. It¡¯s the beetles! I said. Everything is a distraction for the beetles. Some of them are higher-level spellcasters, and they¡¯ll grow stronger the more of these soldiers we kill.

    I stepped back from the spellcaster beetle, drew my sword, and swept it in an arc as the insects closed in around me, slicing clean through half a dozen of them. I spent another second dispatching the rest of the nearby enemies, their armor no match for my strength.

    Then I reached out, stretching my gaze far and using the sense granted to me by my [Wild Bond] and [Earthen Might] to glimpse the battlefield and its occupants in my near proximity. I found another beetle hiding under the corpses of its comrades, then leapt through the air and dispatched it by plunging my sword clean through one of the bodies it was using to shield itself and into its brain.

    Waves of them were emerging from the nearby tunnel, all of them headed toward me. An arrow struck my skull, scraping along my scalp and setting my ears to ringing¡ªbut it was nothing more than an unpleasant experience, and I was glad that the commanders hadn¡¯t ordered their archers to stop.

    I lay about me, cutting down another dozen of the drones with a few lightning-fast slashes of my sword, looking all the while for more of the spellcasting beetles.

    Another beetle emerged from under some corpses of its fellows, then launched a volley of many splinters of light my way¡ªbut I slapped myself backward with a wall of wind, avoiding them, then rushed forward to slash my blade through its face, making a deep cut through its surrounding carapace as I did so.

    I whirled, cutting down more of the beetles, then making use of the added [Channel] Fireesha had granted me to reach out and slay another emerging spellcaster beetle with a thin but powerful stroke of lightning.

    Before it had fallen I was half-leaping, half-flying through the air to my next target, again pushing the blade of my sword through the corpses of its fallen brethren to pierce its tiny, armor-encased brain.

    Palimpsest had another trick on account of their ability to distribute [Focus]. Just as Fireesha had increased my [Channel] by casting a boon spell upon me, Palimpsest¡¯s minions would no doubt be able to strengthen one another with similar such spells.

    The difference would be one of magnitude: with multiple creatures to provide the mana, Palimpsest could likely bestow truly stupendous attribute bonuses on their soldiers, most likely their mantis-hulks, who would even be able to fly if their attributes got high enough.

    With me, it would make no difference. [Fray] lightning would dispel such spells. But our defenses on the walls hadn¡¯t prepared much for breaking the boon spells of potential attackers. Our primary threat model had been behemoths and elementals, neither of which tended to come with their own support spellcasters. But I knew our capabilities: we could be ready in just a minute or two.

    And so as I fought, I gave orders. I told Larash to have the mages be ready to dispel boon spells on any of the insects, but most likely the incoming mantis hulks. I was demanding, insistent¡ªwe needed to be ready to dispel their boons as soon as possible, to curse them and keep the spells from being reapplied.

    I warned our flyers that some of the longflies might suddenly become faster, stronger, more powerful overall, and that they were to prioritize killing any insect they saw landing on their larger kin¡ªtouch was required to bestow an attribute boon.

    Rocks thrown by the drones struck my flesh and shattered, leaving little more than bruises which I healed with my [Blood Magick]. Insects swarmed me, but to little end: my sword flashed about me, blood streaking off its blade and through the air. Carcasses fell in circles around me, and I danced across them, moving my blade with strength and precision to kill them by the dozens.

    I could have taken flight and left, but I had seen a chance. Killing Palimpsest¡¯s spellcasters in the field here would only do a little¡ªthere were many other tunnels for them to emerge from. I couldn¡¯t upend our enemy¡¯s tactic by myself, but that wasn¡¯t what I was trying to do.

    I couldn¡¯t understand Palimpsest¡¯s mind or feelings enough to manipulate them, but there were still guesses I could make. I was the leader. It only made sense that something like Palimpsest would overvalue me.

    Above, the windcallers signalled that a substantial portion of the swarm had diverted toward me. From the wall, Larash indicated that many of the mantis-hulks were now coming my way.

    I grinned. A few seconds of dancing about the battlefield uselessly had been all I¡¯d needed to spend to buy a serious tactical blunder from our enemy.

    Protect me, Mirio, I told him. I¡¯d need to concentrate for this: Mirio could protect me from Palimpsest¡¯s psychic attacks.

    Around me, I saw many of the beetle-spellcasters emerge from under their hiding places, joining what I expected would be a concerted effort to bring me down. I threw my greatsword blade-first into the nearest of them so that I could pull free my bow, then leapt into the air and surged my [Agility].

    If the archers on the wall had impressed Palimpsest with their speed, I had to wonder what our enemy would think of me as I conjured and launched my windborne arrows, stilling the vibrating string with a motion of my palm between each shot.

    I began with the casters emerging on the fringes of my vision, my arrows flying out over hundreds of their kin to curve downward, bent by their windsleeves, and pierce their carapace from any angle before destroying their brains with explosive force. I aimed with my gaze, not my eyes, my arrows reaching insects that I couldn¡¯t even see.

    At 300 [Aegis], the draw of my bow was so strong that my arrows didn¡¯t just pierce armor, but made craters where they¡¯d once had faces. With my [Air Magick], I both extended my leap and turned myself to get the best angle on my shots, so that by the time I¡¯d hit the ground I¡¯d killed dozens of the enemy spellcasters only a few seconds after they¡¯d begun emerging.

    The first of the mantises arrived only a few moments later. It was a glorious, terrible sight: its wings chopping at the air in a flurry behind it, long limbs dangling as it soared toward me. The speed of its flight suggested to me that it was either a high level, or had already received one of the boon spells I¡¯d been so worried about.

    But I¡¯d been worried for the sake of the defenders on the wall, not myself. The motion of my hands and the violent sound of my snapping bowstring never ceased as it approached. I leapt toward it to keep myself from being buried by the drones, another elven arrow bouncing off my skull mid-air.

    Even as I sent more arrows into the guardian drones filling the air around me, I channeled a thick line of mana into the air toward the mantis, then forked the line into three thinner paths. Palimpsest, no doubt sensing my mana and knowing what it meant, had the mantis dive to one side¡ªand I extended only that path of the fork, forking it again into a grasping set of mana-claws so that no matter how the mantis moved, one finger of mana would come near its face.

    I ignited the lightning a moment later, sending more than a thousand mana into the mantis¡¯s head and bathing the battlefield with a flash of red light.

    The bolt didn¡¯t just burst the mantis¡¯s head. The [Fray] aspect in my lighting ignited the boon spell that Palimpsest had granted their massive predator, wreathing its entire body in flash of momentary fire¡ªthe boon spell had been nothing more than fuel to me.

    All the while, I worked my bow, dropping guardian drones out of the air around me. I leapt back to a place where I¡¯d cut many of them down with my greatsword and began to craft another bolt as more of the mantises began to arrive.

    Blood ran across the carcasses and through the soil at my feet, drenching the heavy fur cloak that swept behind me and coloring it a deep red. Because I wasn¡¯t in the air, almost all my [Focus] was solely set to the task of replenishing my [Blood Pool], and every moment that I wasn¡¯t channeling mana to form lightning I would be converting my blood into more mana or healing whatever small wounds I sustained.

    The enchanted teeth around my neck, [Aziriel¡¯s Pale Fangs], also made my lightning more mana-efficient. Combined with the cloak on my back and the field of corpses around me, I¡¯d have as many lightning bolts as I could throw.

    Within a few moments, two more of the mantises had been destroyed before they could touch me, their bodies burning where they fell. The air still filled with the lashing of my bowstring, a sound like a whipping cable. Stones, slivers of light, insectile stingers, and elven arrows sped through the air toward me, but the very few that struck me did only mild damage: the way they jostled me was more of a problem than the wounds they caused, which I healed easily.

    I glanced upward and saw some of the giant longflies descending upon me. A few of them had already fallen from the sky: when they¡¯d diverted to come for me, some of the windborne elves had taken advantage of their hasty descent to strike from above and gain some easy kills.

    I surged [Strength] and launched several arrows through the closest longfly¡¯s eyes, arcing them so as to bend them around the barrier of hard light that I knew it would conjure. Then I launched myself into the air with a mighty leap, shot a few more arrows at the spellcasting beetles below me, and re-oriented myself toward more of the oncoming mantises, channeling mana to throw another lightning bolt.

    Just a little more time. The more of our enemy¡¯s forces I could divert, the more the keep would be ready to defend against their magic.

    Let me speak to them, Mirio, I asked our archdruid. Just a moment.

    I could feel how frayed and weathered Mirio¡¯s mind was as he put me before Palimpsest once again, but I didn¡¯t spare a second thought for the archdruid, not now.

    I had to goad our enemy.

    Tell me, Palimpsest, I said to their pulsing, vibrating mind. Are you mortal? Do you age and perish like the beasts around us?

    A sliver of hard light buried itself in my thigh, and I turned and snapped a shot at the insect that had thrown it, the arrow piercing its carapace, sending cracks through the natural armor as it flung the insect backward and excavated its brain.

    Or did you think, perhaps, that you would live forever?

 3.17: The Wall

    Palimpsest tried to kill me in much the way I would have expected: they tried to surround me with their insect-soldiers, attacking from all sides to overwhelm me. A few of the giant longflies that had gotten through our defenses descended upon me as more mantises joined the fray.

    I didn¡¯t want to spend all my time dodging and weaving, and so I resorted to surging my [Aegis] as they came for me so as to kill them quickly. A mantis would strike, and I¡¯d briefly stop launching arrows to block its claws with my forearms, the force of its blow driving my legs deep into the ground.

    But getting so close to me would prove lethal, and as the hulk reared back it would be stricken with a bolt of red lightning and fall dead. The torn skin on my bare arms would heal moments later as I tore my legs free from the earth to turn and face my next attacker.

    I was too fast. I collected my greatsword, tightened my windsleeve, and launched myself across hundreds of meters of field just to intercept their mantis hulks and fight them far from where their tunnels were belching out new spellcasters.

    There I I scoured the boon spells from their bodies with small strokes of my [Fray]-enhanced lightning, setting the whole of their bodies aflame. They ignored whatever pain was brought by the fire, but without the [Aegis] granted by their boon spells, my follow-up lightning burst their heads open, its many claws leaving them no escape from the lethal blow.

    As I did this, my bow never fell silent. Every beetle that I could see casting a spell was felled within moments, multiple arrows striking at them from different angles so as to confound their conjured barriers.

    While I fought, I set my attention on organizing the defense.

    Ranival, I said, contacting our head white necromancer. Get back to the walls and get ready to make fuel for the firedancers. Next I sent orders to the flying firedancers that I¡¯d had hang back at the keep, telling them to be ready. I also had Larash organize all the elves on the walls who could throw lightning: it was crucial that we use a certain form of the spell, and that would take some small amount of preparation.

    Then, all at once, the mantises and longflies that had converged on me peeled away and began to run for the keep. Having failed to overwhelm me in the field, Palimpsest was sending them to try the keep, spending their troops where they would matter before we could completely wipe then out.

    I took a quick glance around me and sifted through the bond. There were still more beetles emerging from the tunnels, still more mantises arriving each moment from along the riverbed.

    But the skies were clearing. The force that Palimpsest had intended to drop on our keep from above had mostly been successfully intercepted. Many of the guardian drones had made it past our loose formation of windcallers, but very few longflies had¡ªtheir spellcasting skills had made them too slow, too frail. They were large, easy targets for our windcallers.

    I recalled the first windborne to the keep. With the forces on the ground attacking now, any aerial enemies that got through because of their absence would be out of step with the main force anyway¡ªright now I wanted them for dealing with the mantises.

    The windcallers needed a little more time and they could finish with the last of Palimpsest¡¯s aerial swarm and set to the task of blocking the tunnels and punishing the oncoming mantises. The pressure that our enemy would put on the walls now was the worst we¡¯d have to bear for the foreseeable future.

    Just a little time.

    I launched myself into the air, but I didn¡¯t chase down the insects that had left me to charge the walls. Instead I launched myself over them, soaring past them to approach the keep within mere moments, my high [Channel] allowing me to fly faster than any other elf.

    Some carcasses heaped at the base of one side of the wall showed me where Palimpsest had made a tentative first try against our defenses by committing some of their boon-assisted hulks to see if they could break us easily. Likewise, some more fallen corpses of the giant longflies and guardian drones littered the ground here and there, but these were only the ones that had gotten through our intercepting aerial force.

    All in all the walls had gone mostly unassailed since Palimpsest¡¯s first, drone-fueled assault.

    I landed, then reached into the bond and found that preparations had mostly gone the way I expected, then found all the stormcallers that I¡¯d ordered to organize. Behind me, the gathering swarm of insects charged.

    I want to clear the lightcaster beetles, I said. We¡¯ll be doing it before the first windborne arrives to assist us. Mana-seeking lighting, all of you. Aim in concert and end your bolts high above them. It won¡¯t matter that this will spent half the mana we use just to shape the spell. Our lightning will be weaker, but the beetles¡¯ only real defense is their camouflage.

    Once all the mana in a lightning-bolt had been ignited, the spell naturally sought the closest high-density patch of mana. We were modifying the spell, structuring the thought-based component of it in such a way as to greatly enhance this effect.

    Those of us who couldn¡¯t cast the spell by skill alone would be using the tablets, but there weren¡¯t many of us. Lightning already took so much skill that learning the various simple, useful affectations that one could apply to the spell was only a matter of time.

    Our bolts would be a little slower, and a little weaker, but neither of those things would matter much, here.

    Ahead of us, the beetles came on¡ªa sparser collection than had first assaulted the walls, though now the massive, almost skeletal form of the huge mantis-creatures loomed among their numbers, most charging just behind the initial wave of beetles.

    Break to strike down the mantises only when you need to, I said, watching the oncoming horde.

    Mana filled the space before us as the channelers moved it from our trough of mana-dense water and blood and into the air, leaving it at the ready so that our casters could use it to power their spells.

    Arrows flew as the beetles came closer and closer, striking with greater accuracy as some of them approached the ditch. The first of the mantises leapt up toward the walls and was stricken from the air¡ªfirst by a mage-thrown spell that dispelled whatever boons it might have benefited from, and then by a lightning bolt as thick as a tree trunk.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    But as all this happened, I kept my eyes on the mana in the air before us, weighing it. It was mostly for the firedancers, not for our stormcallers. The enemy¡¯s forces below the wall thickened, the tougher beetles filling the fields at the base of the wall and moving into the moat while their spellcasters shielded them with conjured barriers of light.

    Then I judged the mana to be plentiful enough.

    Now, I said. I extended a line of lightning as all around me, other stormcallers did the same¡ªa long, thin line that ended high above the oncoming swarm of beetles. But as I did so I focused on tailoring the spell¡¯s consumption of the mana, modifying it.

    I ignited two bolts that flashed a bright white, each of them sacrificing some of the power of lightning to extend the grasp of their mana-seeking ends. The bolts, which ended above the swarm below, each bent suddenly as the built-up power found the nearest high density of mana¡ªthe spellcaster beetles, and veered toward them, cooking them alive.

    The rest of the stormcallers followed my lead, striking down the spellcasters at an alarming rate with flash after flash of thin, angular lightning. Some of them diverted to strike at the massive mantises that tried to fly over our walls, but mostly these were brought down by our icebinders and our strongest, greatbow-wielding warriors.

    Within moments, hundreds of lightning bolts had flashed from our walls, each bolt another dead spellcaster. Finally I watched my own bolts twisting to strike one of the beetles that they¡¯d previously ignored and smiled.

    Fire, I said.

    At my command, every elf who could fly and conjure flames soared over the wall, but there were many more flyers with them. Almost every elf who could fly, but hadn¡¯t been assigned to any aerial fighting force because their skills hadn¡¯t made them fast or tough enough went with them. They were the main reason that we had to kill so many of their spellcasters¡ªour force would move slowly, compared to most of our windcallers. We had to keep it protected.

    Almost fifty elves took to the air, flying low, many of them wearing skysails. They formed a line

    Most of them handled the mana: taking that which had already been pushed out just outside the walls and drawing it out further above the swarm, creating a thick ring of mana around the keep that began some distance away from our moat.

    And as they flew, the fire dancers pushed their claim into the ground below and ignited the ring of mana behind them. A wall of mana-fueled flames leapt into existence, rising nearly as high as the walls of the keep itself. It incinerated the bugs beneath us, their carapaces cracking audibly within the heat.

    I rushed ahead of them to make sure that none of the mantis-hulks that had already arrived could interfere with the maneuver, striking them down with hasty lightning and powerful, surge-fuel strikes of my greatsword. Twice I didn¡¯t kill my targets, instead severing or blasting their wings until I was sufficiently satisfied they wouldn¡¯t be able to take the air.

    Behind me, the mages and earthshapers worked to shield the flyers from any spare conjured light and thrown stones. We moved slow for flyers, but fast enough that we¡¯d circled the keep in a little less than half a minute, wreathing in flames that blazed so intens we had to have our icebinders and windcallers work to keep the heat at bay.

    I landed on the walls and looked out at our enemies with grim satisfaction.

    The remainder of Palimpsest¡¯s charge could come no further. A few of the mantises tried, but we were ready for this, too: the mantis hulk would leap, wings chopping at the air, and our people would launch a well timed spell at it, dispelling the boon that granted them the [Aegis] they needed to survive, at which point their wings would shrivel in the air and they¡¯d fall into the flames to die.

    A few moments of this was all Palimpsest needed to choose to retreat¡­ but it did them little good. Arrows harried their forces as they fell back across the body-strewn clearing, greatbows bringing down even the mantis hulks.

    Before they were even out of the range of our arrows, the first windborne descended upon them, having returned from the battle in the air. They brought down what little beetles remained with arrows and destroyed the mantises with well-coordinated lightning, chasing them far up the riverbank and attacking with impunity from the air.

    I flew to the point on the walls where Larash was overseeing the battle and giving orders. To my surprise, I found Galenni, the head psychic, standing beside him¡ªMirio was gone.

    ¡°Mirio switched?¡± I said. ¡°I wanted to speak with him. I¡­.¡±

    But I faltered as I looked for the archdruid in the bond, I found that I couldn¡¯t find him. Not anywhere.

    ¡°He¡¯s unconscious,¡± Galenni said, his face grave. ¡°He overextended. Palimpsest almost killed him.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Galenni¡¯s face was stony and pale. When they¡¯d said that Mirio had overextended, the phrase had been a clear criticism of the archdruid. But even if they believed him to be inexperienced or unskilled enough to make that mistake, they had to know both that they were neither equal to Mirio¡¯s raw talent and that the archdruid had been wielding better skills than they did.

    If Mirio had only lasted this long, how long were they to last?

    Who would be our psychic vanguard when they needed to step down? Valir would be back soon, and could do it if we replaced some of his skills. With my high [Aegis], I could do it, though not while fighting. Luthiel could do it, but only as a last resort¡ªhe was working on the tracking spell that, with Mirio out of the picture, was our only hope of finding this thing.

    I didn¡¯t let my dismay show on my face. We had all manner of psychic defenses in place at the keep, and yet still Palimpsest could bear down on us with such incredible power as to bring Mirio down in little more than ten minutes.

    ¡°If Valir isn¡¯t back by the time you need to switch, call Fireesha, then call me,¡± I said. ¡°My [Aegis] will help make up for the fact that I don¡¯t have the skills.¡±

    ¡°Lux Irovex.¡±

    I nodded to him, then left, confident that our people could hold the walls and skies¡ªat least until something changed drastically. Palimpsest might be able to throw many more waves at us, but they had any more tricks prepared here then the time to use them had long passed.

    More beetles were already gathering outside their tunnels, and a larger portion of the aerial attackers was on its way on account of my spreading our windcallers thin, but the forces at the keep could handle them now that they weren¡¯t worried about ground assaults.

    We¡¯d successfully carved our enemy¡¯s forces up, forcing the attack on the ground by depleting their aerial swarm and threatening to seize full dominion of the skies before they could attack in concert. But the assault from below, which their forces had surely been meant to attack in concert with, was just beginning.

    Still, Palimpsest¡¯s tactics didn¡¯t bode well for our long-term odds. As far as I could see, they¡¯d converged on the keep and burnt their remaining minions not because they saw victory at hand, but to put the optimal amount of pressure on us and see what it revealed¡ªhow we¡¯d defend the walls, how far they¡¯d get underground, and the force they¡¯d need to bring to bear to either harm our windcallers or push their way past them. They were fighting in a way that to me suggested they were still only fielding a fraction of their overall strength.

    As I took the steps down toward the lower levels of the keep, I felt a cold pressure on my mind, the sensation clear and striking but not unwelcome. It was a feeling like stepping outside into fresh, clear air.

    It was Luthiel. He wanted to speak with me. But at present, I needed to take directions from Zirilla.

    Be quick, I told him. I¡¯m joining our underground defenses.

    It¡¯s Mirio, Aziriel, Luthiel said. He found them. He found Palimpsest.

    For a moment I froze on the stairway. Then I grinned. Good, I said. Very good.

 3.18: The Tomb

    A fierce optimism flared in me as I rushed down the steps to join Zirilla for the defense below. Mirio had found our enemy.

    The roots of our keep ran deep: we¡¯d spent as much time preparing for an attack from below as from the surface, perhaps longer.

    As I moved, Luthiel continued to speak through the bond. Mirio gave me a position just as he succumbed¡ªI have a map for you here when you are ready to depart. It¡¯s underground, but not far from here. Along the cliff¡¯s edge, though I don¡¯t know the elevation. It could be down in the limestone hills or much higher, in the basalt cliffs. It could be on the surface, even.

    We¡¯ll find it, I said. One moment. I contacted Larash and gave him a set of curt orders to divert one of our windcallers to scout the location visually. Then I returned to my conversation with Luthiel.

    I should caution you, said Luthiel. I want to say that he overextended himself because he saw an opportunity, but there was something curious about him in the last few moments. He was asking for help.

    I frowned. That didn¡¯t sound out of the ordinary. From the healers?

    Not quite, said Luthiel. To me it sounded like he was asking for help from Palimpsest.

    A dark pit seemed to grow in my stomach. I see.

    Mishlo will keep a close eye on him, said Luthiel. As will I.

    Not for long, I told him. I want you coming with me.

    Luthiel was quiet a moment. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s wise, Aziriel.

    A flash of anger shot through me, flaring and then disappearing as fast as it had come. After everything, Luthiel was going to second-guess me?

    Listen, I told him. You¡¯re right if you think you should be staying here in case we need you to protect the colony from Palimpsest¡¯s psychic attacks.

    That¡¯s what I think, yes, Luthiel said simply.

    But even now, we need to think about the long-term success of the colony. I want you to kill this thing with me.

    I understand, Luthiel said, his mental voice as impassive as ever. And I won¡¯t argue, Aziriel. But it¡¯s a risk.

    It¡¯s all a risk, I said. Staying, leaving¡ªa single surprise could leave us needing you elsewhere.

    As you wish.

    We left unspoken one of the most important reasons I wanted him out in the field. I wanted Luthiel, [Arcane Champion], winning victory by my side in the most tangible and way possible. Just as Mirio could allay some of the criticisms of him by taming a useless behemoth, I could earn Luthiel even more consideration in the upcoming judgement by ensuring that he was with me when we struck the killing blow.

    It seemed too perfect an opportunity, too good of a risk to pass up. Palimpsest was a battle, but the continued survival of my people was the war¡ªand to win it, I had to scrape and claw for every advantage we could get.

    Luthiel was an advantage.

    As we¡¯d spoken, I¡¯d run by many side passages that led to more

    Windcallers and firedancers, each with their hands against the air-tight metal plates that we¡¯d set into the stones. They were manipulating objects in the chambers beyond them: bringing in fresh air to burn the packed blocks of condensed materials and then using the runes we¡¯d carved on the walls and floor to sieve all the poisonous air that the burning generated through a metal apparatus and into another sealed chamber. At a command, they¡¯d vent the unbreathable gas they¡¯d stored downward into the caves below to suffocate our enemies.

    There were only a few such chambers, though now I wished we¡¯d had more. Earth and fire elementals didn¡¯t breathe, and they¡¯d been our greatest concern when designing the keep.

    As such, our greatest defense had been centered around water.

    The foundation of our keep had many reinforced slabs of concrete that stretched out and downward like straight-edged roots, each of them making it harder to shift by moving the rock beneath it. The biggest of these roots was a central pillar that pierced deep into the earth below us. Its outside was lined with the stairway that I¡¯d descended, and its was center contained the air chambers, mana wells, and waterworks that we¡¯d built for the purpose of defense.

    Excavated into the bedrock both around and deep beneath this central pillar was a gridwork lattice of tunnels that were each just big enough to crawl through. They¡¯d been carved and maintained so that any approach toward the keep, either from below or from the sides, meant intersecting our small tunnels. And that meant potential high-pressure flooding from the massive reservoir of water that we had access to above us.

    I found Zirilla at the lowermost chamber in the central pillar. The concrete walls of the pillar were gone here, and magelight illuminated rough walls of bare basalt.

    She was with a collection of some of strongest earthshapers and waterweavers. Seriana was there, too, her expression distant as she no doubt received communications from some of the mages on the ramparts, giving orders and taking orders in turn from Larash.

    They were seated in a circle at the westward side of the chamber, runes drawn in chalk on the ground around them. I smiled as I saw them: the pillar they sat in might as well have been a high tower, granting the most distant sight over the earth below and around them. Here, then, was our council of spellcasters.

    With my [Air Magick], I could reach my gaze quickly into the rough-hewn tunnels around us and see that they were empty.

    ¡°You haven¡¯t pushed back yet?¡± I asked as Zirilla looked up at me.

    ¡°Not yet,¡± she Zirilla. ¡°From what I¡¯ve seen you made the attack up top come early.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s be glad for now that it worked.¡±

    ¡°Heh.¡±

    ¡°Mirio found Palimpsest,¡± I said.

    Zirilla took this in with a look of surprise, then smiled. ¡°Good Mirio.¡±

    ¡°Once you¡¯re done with your initial pushback here, can the earthshapers here make due without you?¡± I said.

    ¡°Without either of us?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes. Just split some windcallers down here if you need to.¡±

    ¡°We need them everywhere,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ll be stretching them thin, but we¡¯ll have to make it work.¡±

    ¡°Just a few of them can work as long as they have strong channelers,¡± Zirilla said.

    ¡°Good,¡± I said.

    Then I searched about us with the psychic bond and found, to my pleasure, that Valir had returned while we¡¯d been at work. I reached to him and Zirilla with the bond.

    I need you both, I said.

    I won¡¯t be back for a few more minutes, said Valir. I can hurry if you need me to, but Larash said things were calming on the surface.

    They are, I said. But we found our enemy and we need to figure who¡¯s going and who¡¯s staying. Luthiel and Zirilla are in. I¡¯m thinking you and another psychic will round us out, maybe some of the first windborne and another elementalist.

    Not Mirio? Valir asked.

    He¡¯s unconscious.

    I see, Valir said.

    Now Zirilla spoke. What exactly are we headed into, then?

    We don¡¯t know, I said. Could be above or below-ground, I sent a scout out already. I want to say that it¡¯s unlikely to be buried deep in the rock¡ªthat if it is, it¡¯s crafted its own tomb. But that¡¯s only true if it fights enemies like us. Enemies who know how to collapse a cave from high above it without ever having to extend our claim into its domain, who know how to smoke it out with poisonous gas or cook it out with directed heat.

    Well so what, then? Zirilla said. So what if this place has convinced it that an underground fortress is the pinnacle of safety? We do know how to do all those things: if it isn¡¯t prepared for them, so much the better.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    Is it, though? I asked. All those things take time, and I don¡¯t know how much of it we have. If Palimpsest has another wave of attackers on the way, all they need to do is adjust their tactics to what they¡¯ve seen so far. Dig their tunnels further from the keep, mass their soldiers above ground at a great distance before charging, maybe even commit to fighting entirely above ground instead of below¡­ I¡¯ve got the scouts further out than I¡¯m comfortable with just so that we can intercept any more aerial attacks, but we still can¡¯t assume that their next assault will be as easy to counter, as scattered and predictable as this one. Even if they have no more tricks at all, this will only get harder¡ªespecially with a team of us away, hunting them.

    Fair enough, said Zirilla. Though it¡¯s not like we¡¯re at wit¡¯s end, here.

    We have more than a few defenses we¡¯ve yet to reveal, I agreed. But I don¡¯t want to spend an hour defending magic circles that we draw on some random slope of rock a kilometer over our enemy¡¯s stronghold. And I definitely don¡¯t want to have to hunt them out through caves. As much a deep hiding place would normally guarantee us a victory, I¡¯d rather find them above ground and surrounded by guards.

    Zirilla made a wordless noise of assent. There was a reason we hadn¡¯t sent anyone deep into the tunnels below to seal them off below. Cave-ins were too easy to cause, and from too many places. Even with Zirilla at my side to make sure we weren¡¯t buried, being sealed underground was too great a risk.

    And if we do end up defending some mountainside slope somewhere, it will be a handful of us with no fortifications against everything that Palimpsest has at hand. With luck, that just means more of what we¡¯ve seen¡ªthey¡¯ll struggle to hurt Valir and I at all.

    Good, said Zirilla. That said, I hate to interrupt¡­.

    I reached out with my [Wild Bond] and sensed the many insects below us, burrowing closer. It was time.

    Get acclimated and choose your people, Valir, I told him.

    Lux Irovex.

    I turned my attention to the earth below us, watching the burrowing insects.

    Start channeling, Zirilla said. She gave me and the rest of the channelers some mental indications of who would be doing what: my high [Channel] and [Primeval Resonance] meant that I was equal to several others when it came to just moving mana around.

    We began to draw mana out of the mana-rich well in the central of the room, pulling it through a thin concrete barrier and pushing it along planned avenues in our lattice of tunnels.

    As we did so, I watched the beetles below us. They were remarkably efficient, just as Mirio had said. Beetles would crawl along the roof of their newly-formed tunnel, reach the mana-dense working area, then break a huge slab of stone from the wall.

    From there, they would use a mouth that was set into the downward-facing portion of their head to suck up any dust and small fragments that had been made by their rock-breaking, especially those that tended to form as a consequence of the grooves in their tunnel walls. They would deposite this detritus in the same cavity that they stored their rounded earthen projectiles in.

    Then they would hoist the slab with the help of their comrades, using their [Earth Magick] to balance it somewhat, and exit via the lower portion of the tunnel where gravity helped to keep them steady.

    All the while, all of the bugs were channeling mana down the tunnel and toward the front.

    Not yet, said Zirilla, both to me and to the elementalists around us. Palimpsest could no doubt sense that our grid of tunnels was unavoidable, and the multiple tunnels¡¯ of oncoming insects cut into them with abandon, exposing themselves.

    All our gazes were on the burrowing horned beetles carving out slabs of earth beneath us. We waited, channeling more mana into place as the tunnelers grew a few feet closer. Soon the last of the enemy tunnels had connected with our own.

    Almost, said Zirilla.

    Palimpsest¡¯s minions were doing what they could to block our tunnels, collapsing them for as far up as their claims could reach. This was a struggle, however: Seriana was extending her claim deep into the stone beneath us, focusing it in one place, then another to cut them off as they tried.

    I had no doubt that some of the beetles now arriving would be high-level, creatures that Palimpsest had made strong for the express purpose of contesting our claim on the earth beneath us.

    But if we did things right, it wouldn¡¯t matter.

    Go.

    At once, I and the other channelers pushed a wall of focused mana forward into the tunnels as the waterweavers opened up the conduits that led down from the reservoir.

    Icy water began to flow through the lattice of carved tunnels that we¡¯d made deep into the rock, pushed through not only by the enormous pressure of the reservoir above us, but by the power of the waterweavers themselves, who spent not only their own mana but the plentiful mana that we were supply them

    The beetles conjured sheets of hard light to stop the flow, barriers that stretched across the whole of their tunnel-ends. For a moment it seemed as if this had stopped the flow, even if it had arrested their momentum¡ªbut this was only because Seriana was waiting for adequate pressure to build.

    The archmage had weaver-enhanced [Focus] just as I had weaver-enhanced [Channel], and now she demonstrated it by forcing her claim into the tunnel-ends to grab a pinprick-sized section of their hardlight barrier.

    Then she loosed her spell, and a ripple seemed to spread through the hard light barrier, disintegrating it. Icy water burst forth into the tunnel in a sudden wave, and Seriana repeated the process for the next tunnel.

    One by one, the archmage snuffed out the barriers and condemned the insects inside them to drown. I watched with grim satisfaction as the same story repeated itself in each tunnel: an underground river formed, and despite their excellent grips, the beetles were washed away, soon crashing into one another to create an avalanche of bodies.

    I watched with satisfaction as all of the beetles were swept away and out of sight. Our waterworks were fed by a rift lake that fed the river that fed the reservoir in the settlement. The total fluid throughput was more than enough to keep the water flowing into every tunnel. Even if Palimpsest had already prepared with good drainage further down their tunnels, their tunnels would remain underground rivers.

    And even if they could fully drain the water and work past it, they would soon find the caves filling with unbreathable gas. We had none of the truly horrific poisons that we¡¯d learned how to make from humans and goblins, but we didn¡¯t need them. Fire alone could poison anything that breathed, if you had windcallers who knew how to sieve the smoke.

    But there was no need to let our enemy know that we could do as much now. We¡¯d let them fix the first problem before presenting them with the more difficult one.

    Aziriel, Zirilla said.

    I looked over at her sharply¡ªshe was speaking to me through the bond, and alone.

    Yes?

    I don¡¯t think you should bring Luthiel.

    Again, anger ran through me as a sudden, shocking chill.

    Palimpsest has tried more than one trick, she said. And you¡¯re worried they can still escalate even more than they already have. What if they¡¯ve got another secret, another tactic to employ¡ªand it¡¯s a psychic one? He¡¯s useful both in the psychic battleground and the physical one. One champion goes, one champion stays.

    You know this is about more than just this battle, I said.

    I know, she said. I saw your thoughts the moment you said he was coming. But I think you¡¯re wrong¡ªbetter to leave him here and hope that he finds something impressive to do in the meantime. This battle will do enough to further your agenda.

    I rolled my shoulders, considering her words even as they agitated me. She was right, of course. There was a difference between confidence and certainty¡ªand I was only confident in the keep¡¯s assured safety while we were gone, not certain. We could do without Luthiel in the field, as long as we took another mage with comprehensive knowledge of the sorts of rituals we might want to cast in the field. And we had several of those, one of whom was sitting feet away from me.

    For now, it seemed like we could hold out against Palimpsest¡¯s psychic attacks for long enough that we could strike, but too many things could change. The better half of our psychic power was best left behind us. My team of handpicked fighters could deal with the unexpected better than the colony¡ªand with less severe consequences by far.

    You¡¯re right, I told her. I widened the bond, speaking to the rest of them. Change of plan. Luthiel is remaining, and Seriana will come with us. Zirilla, pick two firedancers and two icebinders. Valir, pick six blood mages who are good with bows. We¡¯ll send everyone who can¡¯t fly along the cliff¡¯s edge, then reinforce them with the windcallers once Palimpsest realizes what we¡¯re doing. Our goal isn¡¯t far: we¡¯ll still catch them at least a little unawares. You have psychics, Valir?

    I do. We can leave in two minutes.

    Good, I said. I rose, and spoke. ¡°You can find our replacements on our way up, Zirilla.¡± She and Seriana rose, and soon we were hurrying up the steps, wind at our backs.

    It wasn¡¯t long before I felt an unfamiliar touch on my mind.

    Lux Irovex?

    It was the windcaller that Larash had sent to scout Mirio¡¯s marked location from the air.

    I¡¯m listening.

    I¡¯m here, but I don¡¯t see anything. They gave me a visual impression of the terrain below them¡ªa band of tall, foliage-covered limestone hills beneath the second mist layer, rising up on the edge of the swamp. Above the mists, more craggy, moss-streaked rock that eventually gave way to spare grasses, the occasional scraggly pine, and then rising mountainside that was too steep for vegetation.

    Good, I said. Don¡¯t look for any hidden entrance, I told them. I don¡¯t want to risk Palimpsest knowing that we know where they are. We¡¯ll find it when we get there¡ªcome back for now.

    Aye, Lux Irovex.

    I spoke to my assembled team. With any luck, we¡¯ll get there and find out that Palimpsest is positioned in a compromise, the worst of both worlds. Under the rock, but not so deep that it will be hard to crush them. I paused, thought, then added: With worse luck, they¡¯ll be deep underground.

    And with no luck? Valir asked.

    Worst case, we won¡¯t find them at all. It sounded as if Mirio was quite addled when he gave us this information. It may not be reliable, but it¡¯s the best chance we¡¯ve got for now¡ªand this is the best time to take it in.

    As long as you¡¯re worried it could be a trap, I feel secure, he said.

    I let out a humorless laugh. I¡¯m always worried, Valir. But Palimpsest has no idea what the limit of our ability to sense is, or the limits of what we can do with sophisticated spells. We¡¯re a hard foe to trick.

    Soon we¡¯d broken back out into daylight, and soon after I¡¯d sent Valir and the other ground forces on their way. The location was only a few minutes¡¯ flight¡ªwhich made sense, given that Palimpsest would need to be close to us to command their forces.

    I had to wonder: had they moved here for this attack? If the insects I¡¯d found beneath the earth on the first day were theirs, they must have been mobile. Ultimately, though, speculating as to their nature would only be useful for a little while longer.

    We¡¯d be meeting one another soon enough.

 3.19: The Strike

    I stood upon the wall and looked out over a field of Palimpsest¡¯s dead minions. Once the attack had been crushed, the wall of fire had been suppressed, leaving a ring of scorched earth that ran the circumference of the keep.

    Some of the guardian drones still descended on the keep from above, but these were quickly stricken down with arrows. Beyond that, the second attack had largely been fought off. The tunnels they had dug were now blocked with ice, and the few beetle drones that had survived had moved back to gather with the mantis hulks, then been beset by our windborne elves and slain by endless arrows.

    Valir had departed with the greater half of the elves that I intended to assault Palimpsest¡¯s location with. They were running along the upper cliff¡¯s edge, would be at Mirio¡¯s designated spot within moments. Nothing had come to intercept them yet, though surely Palimpsest could sense them coming.

    Of course, Mirio had apparently been addled when he¡¯d given us the position¡ªthere was always the chance that something about this whole situation was wrong. It was a possibility that added more value in sending Valir out first, on foot: if something had gone wrong, if Mirio had somehow been tricked into giving us the wrong position, they might reach the site and learn as much without me ever having to leave the keep.

    True to my suspicions, our seers reported that the drones were burrowing upward to make several exits that looked like they would emerge near the banks of the river.

    It was a bad sign. The fact that Palimpsest hadn¡¯t tried to sue for peace likely meant that they not only had minions to spare, but even more tactics to employ against us. Most of all, they had to have some plan for fighting us in the air that they hadn¡¯t yet revealed: if we were left unchecked in the skies, then it wasn¡¯t just the approach along the river banks be nothing but a killing ground, the greater distance between their tunnels and the keep would give us more space to fight them from as well.

    I had Ranival and the other white necromancers work to continue preparing the deadvault. Luthiel was now on the walls coordinating icebinders to spend the bulk of our mana in the next defense: the assumption was that since we¡¯d shown Palimpsest our wall of fire, we could no longer rely on it. Whatever form their next attack took, it would have to account for the defenses we¡¯d already shown, a fact that obliged us to get creative now, in our preparations.

    I handpicked several of our fastest windcallers and had them fly up the banks of the river, stretching our network of psychics thin to defend them¡ªbut in my mind it was worth the risk. I wanted to see where the mantis-hulks were coming from. Palimpsest had to keep their soldiers somewhere, and it might be a place we could attack.

    More than that, I wanted to know how far away it was. As far as any of us knew, Palimpsest had to be reasonably close to their minions to command them¡ªtheir own skillset would likely include the many [Sight] skills they¡¯d need to extend their gaze across many kilometers to psychically command these subjugated creatures. Wherever these insects were coming from, it couldn¡¯t be far.

    Ultimately, I hoped that all our plans and precautions were unnecessary. We¡¯d found Palimpsest, after all¡ªit should have been over soon.

    I was only on the wall for a minute or so before Valir contacted me.

    They¡¯re here, Aziriel, said Valir. We started sensing them and then they attacked.

    From Valir, I got a psychic impression of the landscape at the base of the cliff, where the foliage-covered hills of limestone rose out of the lower mist layer, which now shone white. Many of the flying guardian insects were rising up out of the mist to converge on Valir and the dozen people he¡¯d taken with him.

    I almost felt relieved. Certainly I was happier than I ever had been at the sight of a swarm of hostile insects.

    Let¡¯s go, I said to everyone who could fly. I rose into the air and we joined into a formation to speed along the cliffside while keeping watch on Valir and the others through the bond.

    We¡¯ll fight to take position by the stream, Valir said, sending me the impression of a tiny brook that ran out over the side of the cliff.

    Good, I told him.

    I think we found where they are, said Valir. Cave in the cliffs before us. Has a lot of defenders.

    He send me another impression through the bond, though this one wasn¡¯t visual: it was an impression of gaze, of one of the seer¡¯s senses detecting many beetles spilling out of a crevice in the side of the basalt cliffs that overlooked the white hills.

    We¡¯ll be there to check soon, I said.

    It was surprisingly close, and we flew fast. Valir and his team came into view within less than a minute, a small group of elves that had already engaged some of the flying insects that were converging on their position.

    Zirilla, let¡¯s you and I take the cliffside and see what we can do about those oncoming beetles.

    Aye.

    We landed near Valir, almost doubling the number of elves on the cliffside.

    Zirilla and I took up positions on the cliff¡¯s edge to shoot at the beetles that were crawling up towards us. Our view of the oncoming insects was blocked by the layer of mist, but it didn¡¯t matter: I could see them with the wild bond and Zirilla could feel their feet on the rock beneath them. To the naked eye, it looked as if we were attacking the mist itself, our arrows burrowing into the ethereally glowing substance, their wind sleeves parting the mist around them before they disappeared.

    But out of sight, our arrows were bending to strike their targets from all angles, setting the dead beetles to falling down the cliff and often knocking into their comrades.

    As we worked our bows, both of us channeled into the air behind us, giving mana to the icebinders we¡¯d brought so that they could do their work and form temporary fortifications, building a small bastion of conjured ice atop the cliff. We weren¡¯t the only ones: Valir had picked a half-dozen archers who had the [Blood Magick] to convert the fallen into more mana, granting our icebinders abundant power for their spells.

    They used water that they pulled from the nearby stream, creating permanent ice rather than conjuring it so as to keep their [Focus] free and build something of unlimited size.

    Around them, everyone else that we¡¯d brought wielded their own bows and magic to keep the greater ground forces¡ªand the airborne swarm¡ªat bay. Palimpsest¡¯s forces hadn¡¯t been concentrated on our location, and they weren¡¯t converging fast enough to overwhelm us.

    I had to wonder about what sorts of creatures they must have fought before. It was easy to see how swarming behemoths or primeval convergences could prove a legitimate strategy, but against our bows these creatures were fodder.

    Very soon everyone save Zirilla and I was standing on a house-sized battlement of white frost, one that continued to grow outward as rows of icy spikes were put into place along the stone around it.

    The creatures that were crawling up the cliffside, meanwhile, were obviously more of the lightcasters that Palimpsest had hidden in their second wave. They were fast when it came to conjuring light to block our arrows, but they had the exact sort of defensive instincts that we trained to overcome in enemy spellcasters, and soon Zirilla and I were sharing our targets, bending our windborne arrows to strike each beetle from multiple sides, launching some arrows on wider arcs so as to ensure that four of our missiles would converge on our enemies at once.

    Still, the beetles advanced to the point that Zirilla stopped channeling her mana to our icebinders and instead began to break away portions of the cliff beneath us, dropping two dozen heavy stones in a heartbeat. The stones fell in a cascade, spinning and bouncing down the slope.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Then, with what must have been a hundred minute pushes and pulls across dozens of stones each second, Zirilla guided the falling rocks into the beetles, where their gathered force knocked our enemies from the cliffside. I grinned as I watched her work: she was as good at finessing the stones as I was at gathering mana for lightning, her skills as miraculous as those of a grandmaster musician with their favorite instrument.

    As we fought, Varalos, our seer and one of the psychics we¡¯d be using to shield ourselves from Palimpsest, put his hand against the rock.

    It is a simple cavern that opens into an irregular gallery, he said. The creature within has hidden themselves in the bond quite perfectly, but now that we¡¯re close I can see them. There is an abundance of¡­ dead flesh, a great coil of something that is rotting. And there is a plant, a large vine coating the walls that sprouts one very strange flower. But what you must know is that there are eleven of the beetles sequestered in cavities in the ceiling, each of them awake. And there are cracks and fissure in the rock which I expect are intentional.

    An unsurprising plan for defense¡ªdrop the roof of the entranceway on any intruders as a last resort.

    I want to go in, if we can manage it, I said. The keep isn¡¯t under much of a threat right now, so we can take our time and collect some samples for the mages¡ªit will be safer in the long run to learn everything we can.

    Zirilla, Varalos, and I can kill those beetles, said Seriana.

    They might collapse the entrance anyway, Zirilla said. Even if your spell will kill them all in one moment, we are rather conspicuously waiting to enter the cave.

    Aziriel said we have time, Seriana said. With this much blood, we can get you all the mana you need to get us back inside.

    Soon the beetles emerging from the cave began to thin. It seemed to me that what had happened was obvious. Palimpsest hadn¡¯t know we were coming, and their defenses for this place were mainly their beetle casters, the ones that they levelled and gave stronger skills. Shortly after they stopped emerging from the cave entirely.

    I turned my attention to the skies. The drones there were still plentiful, but we¡¯d seen none of the longflies. It seemed that Palimpsest didn¡¯t keep their stock of minions at this site.

    I only need another minute, Seriana informed me. She was standing outside our icy bastion, marking the stone beneath her with chalk, seemingly totally oblivious to the arrows flying over her head and the bodies falling around her.

    When she¡¯s done, I want Varalos to do another check and be absolutely certain we¡¯re safe to enter.

    Valir, Seriana Zirilla and I go deepest into the cavern. If you can¡¯t fly, you stay on the cliff. If you can, you¡¯re spread along the length of the cavern to keep our claim in the stone and sense anything coming from any direction.

    Aziriel, you¡¯re far too worried about getting buried alive, Zirilla said.

    Beside me, Valir let out a booming laugh.

    The cavern seems mostly empty of any more defenders, Varalos said.

    I nodded. At this point, the most likely trap is that our enemy pins us inside with a surprising amount of sudden reinforcements. I paused, then added: Varalos, go high and keep a lookout.

    Aye, Lux Irovex.

    It was only a few more moments before Seriana said: finished.

    Let¡¯s go.

    We leapt from the cliffside, me with Valir¡¯s arm linked in my own. The others flew gracefully into the crevice and lit it with magelight; I pushed myself and Valir in with a forceful gust of air, then dropped him onto the hard stone beneath us and landed beside him as he rolled and came to his feet.

    We wasted no time rushing into the depths of the cavern. Past the gash in the rock, the walls had been cut away by the beetles into more of the rounded, grooved surfaces that they seemed to like so much. Many coffin-like cavities in the walls around us marked the places where they¡¯d been woken from as we attacked.

    The stench of rot was omnipresent, overpowering, made the air feel filthy against my skin, made my mouth water in anticipation of a bout of vomiting. It grew worse and worse as we moved deeper.

    The four of us moved quickly, our gazes enough to map the uneven terrain ahead of us, and very soon we came to the large chamber that Varalos had spoken of and saw the source of the stench. It was a massive worm, its body thick enough to fill one of the tunnels carved by the beetle drones.

    It was also dead. It corpse had bloated, and its thick hide was blotched and darkened like it had been bruised all over. Holes covered its skin, ranging in size from as big around as my fist to being as big around as a tree trunk. Translucent white roots or vines grew out of all of these holes, stretching to cover the walls and floors of the cavern in a thick mat of tendrils.

    Rising up out of the center of the worm¡¯s corpse was an object that looked almost like a mussel, two halves of a smooth, ovoid shell that were barely split open. Inside I saw a thick mass of thinner, smoother vines, knotted up like a tight ball of yarn.

    Even with the stench of death around me and the urgency of the moment driving me onward, I felt a flash of curiosity. True, the way the vine had grown out of the hole-pocked corpse of the worm was hideous¡ªbut many things in nature were unsightly. More corpses lay around the vines along the floor of the cave, along with an assortment of bones. The plant apparently needed no light and was carnivorous. Palimpsest had seemingly brought it here in the worm, which was both transportation and fertilizer.

    But beyond revulsion and curiosity I was stricken with a more powerful emotion when I saw the shell-and-vines structure that was growing out of the worm¡¯s corpse: anxiety. Anxiety coupled with disappointment.

    This wasn¡¯t Palimpsest. By my guess was just another one of their agents.

    ¡°Is this the source of the psychic power that¡¯s controlling the swarm?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Seriana said. Her expression was distant, but her voice was firm.

    ¡°You think it¡¯s a kind of relay that conveys the power of the true mind?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    I stared at the shell-coated bundle of vines, devoid of all defenses except psychic ones. It wasn¡¯t pulsating or glowing in any way¡ªlike most plants, it was completely still, gave no indication that it was trying to destroy us even in that moment.

    And yet I knew, by glimpsing into the bond, that it was lashing out at Valir with all the mental power it could muster, attacking him with spike after spike of malevolent psychic energy. The thing before me was fighting like a caged animal.

    ¡°And do you need me to keep it alive to help you find the others?¡± I asked, assuming Seriana knew what our next move would be.

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°The claim, then,¡± I said. Seriana and I moved closer together, then pushed toward it with our claims as I filled the air between myself and the shelled plant with more than two thousand mana.

    It took both of us to even get close to the thing: Palimpsest¡¯s high [Focus] meant that they could push against my claim with incredible force.

    This defense was ultimately meaningless, however. The bolt was so strong that it connected with the shelled creature even though the line of my mana couldn¡¯t get closer than ten meters.

    The lightning lit the cave and filled it with a sound that would have burst everyone¡¯s eardrums were it not for our [Aegis]. The blast incinerated the wad of plant material in the shell and raised the temperature in the air around us considerably. One half of the shell fell away, then slid off the corpse of the worm to be caught by some of the vines.

    ¡°Did that do it?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Valir. ¡°The tendrils are still alive, but the psychic component is gone. My guess is that if we leave things this way, they¡¯ll grow that part back.¡±

    Seriana moved forward and drew a knife, cutting away at some of the vines before moving to take a piece of the shell.

    ¡°It¡¯s impossible to tell just at a glance,¡± she said. ¡°But my guess is that the worm conveyed it here only recently, when Palimpsest decided it was time to attack.¡±

    I was staring at the smoking ruin of our enemy, dissatisfied. A quick check with Larash on the keep walls told me that the beetles underground near the keep were still digging much as they had before. We hadn¡¯t even interrupted our enemy¡¯s connection to their minions.

    Palimpsest had likely set up more than one of these nodes neary enough to our keep that they could stand losing one of them. It was the obvious way to go about it, rather than suffer the massive vulnerability.

    It also explained why the defenses at this one had been so meagre. The anxiety that I¡¯d first felt in this place had grown to form a pit in my stomach. My hopes of scoring a sweeping, final victory before another attack on the keep were fading fast.

    We¡¯d taken an important step, of course: but compared to my best expectations, this step forward felt like a step back.

    Worst of all, Palimpsest had to know beyond a shadow of a doubt now that we were searching them out.

    When we did find them, they¡¯d almost certainly be heavily guarded.

 3.20: A Dream of Victory

    Once we were out of the cave, it became clear that Palimpsest had lost all interest in defending the location: the skies were clearing and the slopes were free of beetles. I waited until Varalos had taken a thorough look around us and determined there was no trap lying in wait, and then flew ahead, away from the main group to rejoin the defenses at the keep.

    As I flew, I watched through the bond. Seriana was already conferring with her husband on how to go about creating a spell of detection using some of the vines and shell fragments that she¡¯d taken from the cave. The windborne elves had intercepted and killed several of a new kind of insect, a flat, cricket-like beetle that had struck back with surprisingly powerful [Earth Magick]. The news from below was good: Palimpsest had apparently done nothing to drain their tunnels and facilitate another attack on the keep from below.

    Very soon I¡¯d landed back on the walls, where Larash, Luthiel, and Galenni stood with some of the archers.

    ¡°Lux Irovex,¡± Larash said, nodding to me. ¡°Luthiel says we might be here a while longer.¡±

    He had an brusque, joking tone about him when he said it, but I could still detect a certain unease undergirding the words. Our only plan to find Palimpsest was now the tracking spell that Luthiel had been working on.

    I turned to him. ¡°Any guess as to how long it may take you?¡±

    ¡°The old method won¡¯t work,¡± Luthiel said, his face grim. ¡°The spell I was building would have pinpointed a relay, not the main mind. Once Seri returns with the materials, we can get started.¡± He paused, then added: ¡°there¡¯s still no guarantee.¡±

    I nodded. I¡¯d know as much already: the spell could work, but only under a specific set of circumstances. Palimpsest¡¯s main mind would have to be of a similar constitution to the shelled knot of plant matter we¡¯d just destroyed in the cave. What was more, their main mind would still have to be different enough from all the others that it could be distinguished once we had sight of them, an act which itself would take further effort.

    If Palimpsest kept up the pace they¡¯d maintained since meeting us, we might see several more waves before we even had the opportunity to strike back against them.

    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Luthiel regarding me thoughtfully. I looked over at him, my expression grim.

    ¡°I understand, Aziriel,¡± he said softly. He returned his gaze to the fields beyond the walls. ¡°I¡¯ll try to come up with a miracle.¡±

    I let out a humorless laugh. There was still a chance that Galenni, our current psychic vanguard, would be able to glean something from his repeated contact with our enemy. Luthiel might be able to gain some information from mental contact with the creature, but I doubted that I would when it came to be my time to take the burden. It just wasn¡¯t my specialty.

    And if nothing came soon? Galenni wouldn¡¯t last forever. I would last long¡ªMirio had the talent, but I at least had more endurance. We could start working on re-skilling some of the other psychics for higher [Aegis] so that they could take the position of our foremost psychic defender.

    But no matter how good our defenses were, we were still on borrowed time. Palimpsest was a psychic being before they were a physical one. I didn¡¯t trust that they would grow mentally exhausted before we did. Enduring prolonged contact with an entity such as they was torturously difficult. It didn¡¯t matter that we¡¯d fought off every other form of attack they¡¯d leveled at us: they only needed to get through in one place to succeed.

    ¡°We have to watch the skies,¡± I said, not wanting to linger too much on the eventuality of psychic defeat. ¡°They¡¯ll have seen now that unless they can occupy our aerial forces, we¡¯ll tear them apart before they ever get to the keep. Spread the windcallers as wide as you need to.¡±

    ¡°Aye, Lux Irovex. You saw that they already encountered a new kind of beetle¡ªwe expect they¡¯ll strike from afar. Hurl heavy stones like catapults.¡±

    ¡°Well. Catapults we can deal with, if not very efficiently.¡± The walls themselves were concrete reinforced with steel¡ªthey would not simply crack and crumble when stricken by heavy stones. Our earthshapers could push simply push oncoming rocks downward rather than fully deflect them.

    ¡°Another thing,¡± said Larash. ¡°We haven¡¯t seen them yet, but some of our seers flew low and said they sensed an insect in the tunnels that you may be familiar with. Rust-colored, with [Lightning] keys.¡±

    ¡°The lightning bugs,¡± I said, nodding. Figured that Palimpsest would have a number of them tucked away, somewhere.

    I wondered: if Palimpsest had levelled them up, would they be able to take advantage of their natural capacity for lightning and have them throw bolts even farther than they could naturally? Our enemy hadn¡¯t tried to place any lighting casters in amongst their beetles, as they had with light: surely if they had access to the lightning bugs, and thus [Lightning] keys, they could have done so. The fact that they hadn¡¯t made me think they¡¯d be relying on the lightning bugs¡¯ natural abilities¡ªthat they weren¡¯t capable enough to use lightning magic without a proper set of underlying instincts.

    ¡°My guess is that they¡¯ll be for defense, primarily,¡± I said to Larash. ¡°Something to protect the bigger insects from the first windborne. But we¡¯ll need to watch for not just mana lines, but insect lines¡ªwhen all of them are in a row, they can throw a bolt with terrible speed.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell the archers.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately,¡± I said, ¡°We have no reason to believe that our enemy needs to exert themselves more to control one of those mantis-hulks than one of the beetles. It might take them time to aggregate all their strongest, but the next wave may be far more difficult to fend off than the others, especially if they¡¯ve abandoned their desire to attack from below. Have Ranival prepare to raise the deadvault. With luck, this entity has never faced necromancy before.¡±

    Larash inclined his head slowly. ¡°As you wish, Lux Irovex.¡±

    I understood his trepidation. It was easy to decide that necromancy was just another weapon in one¡¯s arsenal when lives were on the line¡­ until the undead were loosed. Those of us who had seen what happened when the undead got out of hand would never be fully comfortable with their use.

    But we didn¡¯t need to be comfortable. We needed to survive.

    Somewhere below us, the bones of the wyvern that Zirilla and I had killed atop the Skytusk rested, runed and ready to be steeped in mana so they could fight once more alongside hundreds of other skeletal monstrosities. The wyvern, though, had been made to destroy another behemoth¡ªagainst everything Palimpsest had fielded thus far, it would be invincible.

    Larash suddenly straightened beside me. ¡°You said to watch the skies,¡± said Larash. ¡°Well, something¡¯s diving toward us from the fourth mist layer.¡±

    ¡°Flying so high?¡± I asked.

    We hadn¡¯t yet seen any of the insects fly above the third layer. My guess was that Palimpsest had at some point learned that Akkakesh forbade it for all but elementals¡ªand like any reasonable entity, didn¡¯t want to incur the storm lord¡¯s wrath.

    Perhaps they were desperate enough to risk it? A flame of hope rose in me at the thought: if we could somehow inform the elementals, Akkakesh¡¯s retribution could be a serious boon to us.

    ¡°The scouts say they¡¯re plants, not insects,¡± said Larash.

    I cocked my head in surprise. One of them implied that they weren¡¯t under Palimpsest¡¯s control.

    Insects had the easiest minds to manipulate, and I¡¯d assumed that Palimpsest had a whole host of [Insect] skills to make their command of armies efficient, but their desire to enslave us clearly meant they could subjugate other types of creatures, too.

    At that point I felt a sudden touch on my mind, something vaguely familiar that I couldn¡¯t quite place. But I was sure it wasn¡¯t Palimpsest¡ªthis mind felt more akin to my own, and I doubted our enemy could have deceived me in such a manner.

    Cautiously, I answered them.

    Violence, they said.

    Recognition¡ªand realization¡ªspread through me like a fire. ¡°Order our people not to attack them,¡± I told Larash. ¡°They¡¯re not hostile.¡±

    Luthiel had said that Mirio was asking Palimpsest for help before he fell unconscious, but the information he¡¯d given had been valuable: he seemingly hadn¡¯t been mentally compromised. He hadn¡¯t been asking Palimpsest for help¡ªhe¡¯d been asking these creatures.

    I¡¯d met them before in our first days on the new world. Hidden voices in a ravine by one of the flowerfalls that sometimes coated the cliffsides, creatures I hadn¡¯t seen that had cohabited a cave network filled with large bats. They¡¯d asked me to leave their territory, fearful after having watched me slay wyverns by the dozens, and I¡¯d assented. We hadn¡¯t tried to make contact after that: the wildhearts had wanted to, but we¡¯d been unwelcome and had too many other tasks before us.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Why are you in our territory? I asked.

    I tried to keep my tone neutral, conveying a sense of curiosity more than reproach. It was hard to know whether the intelligent plants would successfully interpret my feelings, but it was worth a try.

    We watched you, and Mindful Prism saw us. We tried to stay hidden, but he saw us.

    Mindful Prism was Mirio, I took it¡ªa more flattering name than Violence, even if both of them were at least accurate to some extent.

    Mindful Prism spoke to us and pleaded our help. We withdrew, and watched, sure that the¡­.

    Here their means of expression seemed to falter. They used what seemed to me to be the word parasite, but it was also enslaver, creeper, and sleep-inducer.

    ¡ªThe parasite would destroy you, they continued. It would have its way.

    The parasite underestimated us, I said. And so did you.

    Mindful Prism begged us to watch, they said. He said we¡¯d see you were worth protecting.

    My eyes had been on the sky as we¡¯d been speaking, and I began to see the first of them emerge from the third mist layer.

    They were unlike any creatures I¡¯d seen before. At first glance, they almost resembled aerial jellyfish or squid: a bulky, oddly-shaped main body seemed to precede a gathering of long, thin tentacles that fluttered behind them as they dove, moved freely by the breeze.

    The part of their bodies that was nearest to us was made of green, translucent membrane that flapped and billowed in the air as they fell, sounding like a flag blown by heavy wind. Long tendrils covered in thin, gauzy leaves trailed behind them as they dove.

    They fell awhile, then the part of their bodies that the tendrils were attached to filled with air, somehow arresting their descent so that they floated a few hundred meters above us in the sky.

    Around me, elves looked up in curiosity, wonderment, and trepidation. Larash had told them what was coming¡ªbut still, we were in the middle of a battle, and strange creatures were now filling our sky.

    I smiled. So that was what they¡¯d looked like. The were a sort of biological air balloon¡ªthey likely filled their bladder with air that they then pushed around to fly. Maybe they even heated it.

    Mindful Prism said you would kill the parasite before they darkened, they said. This is violence we assent to. Our minds can withhold the parasite. We will protect.

    They sent me an image of a flock of what might have been waterfowl, flying in a wedge so that the lead bird took the brunt of the wind, each of them alternating. They meant to join our psychic bond and form our psychic vanguard. That had been Mirio¡¯s plan.

    I looked at Galenni, our head psychic. Once he¡¯d been exhausted¡ªor worse¡ªPalimpsest would begin to chew through the rest of the elves in short order, unless we diverted either myself or Luthiel. Valir could do it, but only by reskilling, and he was a powerful fighter that we¡¯d be better not to lose.

    ¡°Galenni,¡± I said. ¡°These creatures are offering help in hope that we can kill Palimpsest, who I gather is an enemy of theirs. Mirio negotiated for their aide before he fell unconscious. I want you to link them to the bond and let them alternate the position of psychic vanguard. Any objections?¡±

    Galenni¡¯s eyebrows raised in surprise as I spoke. It would have been easier if Mirio were the psychic vanguard¡ªGalenni was less experienced with plants.

    Then he nodded. ¡°I have my reservations,¡± he said. ¡°But I expect it¡¯s nothing you haven¡¯t considered already.¡±

    I nodded. Trusting a group of creatures that we knew so little of with something as big as the entire colony was hardly an ideal position. But I trusted Mirio, and I trusted at least that this wasn¡¯t some clever trick of Palimpsest¡¯s that had been long in the making. Our enemy wouldn¡¯t know how to put on this sort of performance. It wasn¡¯t in their nature.

    These floating ones, however, were at least communal by nature: it wasn¡¯t out of the question that they would consider an alliance. And while their psychic talents hadn¡¯t much impressed me when we¡¯d first met, that was because I was a singular entity they were trying to repel with a mental assault. Defending themselves from psychic predators in their environment was likely something they were more talented at.

    In fact, their community would likely have several potent psychics, each of a higher level than any elf had been able to attain, each naturally disposed toward exactly this sort of defense.

    That, and we could just start killing them if they tried anything duplicitous. Not a happy thought, but true¡ªand a truth they knew.

    ¡°Valir will take your place if you reach your limit, but be ready to reskill the others just in case. With any luck, this will buy Luthiel more time to complete his and Seriana¡¯s tracking spell and keep me free to fight.¡±

    Before I could say more, I felt a familiar, but unexpected touch on my mind. Lux Irovex?

    It was Mishlo, the head healer. What is it? I asked him.

    Mirio is awake, Mishlo said, his mental voice as slow and steady as his physical one. He very much wishes to speak with you, but he can¡¯t use the bond.

    I see, I said. A moment.

    ¡°See if you can find out why they fly above the third layer,¡± I told Galenni. ¡°Mirio¡¯s awake¡ªI¡¯m going to see him.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Lux Irovex,¡± Galenni said, nodding as I turned away from him to rush down the steps behind us.

    I wondered how up-to-date Mishlo was on the ongoing battle¡ªsurely he knew that we¡¯d gotten Mirio¡¯s message, struck at the location he¡¯d given us? If Mirio thought he had to urgently see me, I had a feeling that it was because he thought we still needed to know either about the floaters he¡¯d asked for help or the location of Palimpsest¡¯s relay.

    I stepped into the infirmary and was greeted by the sight of a half-dozen children turning toward me from where they sat up on straw mattresses.

    ¡°It¡¯s Aziriel!¡± The nearest girl, who looked to be six or seven, said delightedly.

    ¡°Are you winning the battle?¡± A older boy asked.

    ¡°Yes, but I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t talk,¡± I told them, walking past them. ¡°I need to see Mishlo.¡±

    I found them a moment later, Mirio lying on a mattress in a closet-sized room while Mishlo sat nearby, eyes closed.

    Mirio did not look well. His skin was grey, his eyes were bloodshot, and tremors ran through the whole of his body.

    Still, he gave me a feeble smile as I entered. ¡°The plants,¡± he said. ¡°They came.¡±

    ¡°I know,¡± I told him. ¡°We¡¯re still at the ready for holding off Palimpsest¡¯s mental assault¡­ but for now we¡¯ll see what kind of job they do.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re adapted for it,¡± Mirio said. ¡°You know how it is.¡± He blinked, then looked down at his hands, which were trembling almost violently. ¡°I need a map,¡± he said. ¡°I found them. I found Palimpsest.¡±

    ¡°We went to the place you gave to Luthiel,¡± I said. ¡°It was a node. A¡ª¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Mirio said emphatically, shaking his head. He spoke again, faster now, but the words came out in a jumbled babble and he paused, clenching his jaw.

    ¡°Breathe,¡± said Mishlo. ¡°Take each word one at a time.¡±

    I felt a pang of pity for the archdruid as he took a few unsteady breaths, clearly struggling to tell me what he felt was so important. There are many forms of psychic assault, all of them horrific to endure.

    ¡°The big one,¡± said Mirio. ¡°The real one.¡± His eyes made contact with mine, and they were so tired, so ragged that he seemed like a different person. ¡°The one you have to kill. They¡¯re far, Lux¡­. very far.¡±

    I lowered myself beside Mirio. ¡°You don¡¯t have to speak, just nod,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re telling me that you¡¯ve found Palimpsest¡¯s central mind?¡±

    He closed his eyes a moment, then nodded.

    ¡°How?¡± I asked. I had to treat the claim with a little skepticism: he had apparently told Luthiel of the other location right before he fell unconscious. That he should not only realize that it was just a psychic relay, but somehow trace it back to the real Palimpsest

    Mirio¡¯s face became a grim, satisfied smile. With what seemed like great effort, he spoke again. ¡°It came to me in a dream,¡± he said.

    I spared a glance at Mishlo. One procedure that was used on someone whose mind had partially shut down due to psychic backlash was to try and have them first reconstitute their waking identity in a place where it was easier to assemble as a fragmentary thing¡ªto bring them forth in a dream instead of trying to wake them.

    ¡°He wouldn¡¯t let me bring him back,¡± said the healer. ¡°Not at first. I¡¯m¡­ not sure quite what he did, Aziriel, but he carved a hole in your enemy and plundered their mind, ripped out their secrets even as his mind burned at their touch. He had to gather the fragments of what he¡¯d taken before he was willing to wake. I¡¯ve never seen anything like it.¡±

    I listened, but felt like I didn¡¯t truly understand. Mirio was as generational prodigy when it came to psychic talents, and I¡¯d seen miracles that were harder to believe than this one¡­ but I wasn¡¯t even sure what Mishlo had told me. Mirio had invented some new form of assault to deal with our unexpected enemy?

    It wasn¡¯t what was important right now. Mishlo would have been meticulous in checking to see if Mirio was mentally compromised¡ªif he saw cause to trust the information, so did I. I turned to the archdruid.

    ¡°If we kill this central mind,¡± I said. ¡°They die?¡±

    Mirio nodded.

    ¡°The battle is done?¡±

    He nodded again.

    ¡°You¡¯re sure?¡±

    Mirio paused for a moment, then nodded again.

    I rose, having heard all that I needed to. ¡°I¡¯ll bring you a map,¡± I said. To Mishlo, I added: ¡°make sure he stays awake.¡±

    Then I reached out and found Zirilla with the bond.

    I stopped to think for a moment, then found Luthiel as well.

    I want you both to come with me, I said. We need to move fast and strike hard.

    Another node? Zirilla asked.

    Not a node, I said. We¡¯re finishing this.

 3.21: Diving Headfirst Into the Abyss

    It took only a short time to make preparations. Zirilla took her bow, I took my bow and greatsword, and Luthiel took a small bundle of parts that he would use as a focus for some of his spells.

    Zirilla didn¡¯t give any object to his accompanying us, not this time. The need for Luthiel, both at the keep and in the field, had changed: not only did we have more psychic defenders, but Palimpsest was dozens of kilometers away.

    It wasn¡¯t just that we couldn¡¯t take anyone who didn¡¯t fly. Now that we knew the true scale of our enemy, our chance of quickly overpowering them in their lair¡ªor even overpowering them at all¡ªseemed slim. Their defenders were sure to be powerful and numerous, with functionally limitless reinforcements.

    But as far as I knew¡ªas far as any of us knew¡ªthe only way they could do what they were doing, psychically, was if they were both extraordinarily predisposed to natural psychic talent and able to replicate their mental capacity for controlling others without [Focus]. Even if they weren¡¯t the vine-creature that we¡¯d killed in the other cave, they¡¯d still have to be very large.

    They would need a lot of food, water, and air. They¡¯d have to fear quakes if they were too deep underground, and elementals if they were even deeper. They¡¯d have to have a truly massive source of mana to fuel their constant telepathy. These things not only meant that they couldn¡¯t be too deep below the earth, and that some form of passage from the surface to their vitals was necessary. And if they were on the surface, then all the better.

    Hence the plan: the three of us were fast and powerful. And from what we knew, Palimpsest didn¡¯t know we had any inkling of where they were. We¡¯d fly to their lair and strike fast, then dig ourselves out of the rubble, if we had to.

    Luthiel signaled that he was almost ready to leave, and so I contacted the voice that I¡¯d spoken with among the floating plant creatures. I go now to kill the parasite in its lair, I said. Please, keep my people safe in my absence.

    We will protect.

    You may wish to shelter inside our keep, I said. It¡¯s unlikely that we¡¯ll be able to quickly kill every flying creature that they send. I don¡¯t want you to be hurt.

    We may shelter, it said, not asking it as a question but rather stating it as a possibility.

    I could only hope they¡¯d do as I asked: the skies would be dangerous, soon. I didn¡¯t ask or tell them anything else. Nothing they could say would make me any more certain of their assistance than they already had.

    I rose into the air, joining Luthiel and Zirilla and merging our windsleeves, flying close together as we moved into the third mist layer and set out toward the place that Mirio had marked for me. Zirilla took the lead, reaching out with her senses to avoid any elementals and landmasses while Luthiel and I both used our psychic skills to shield us from sight.

    To be clear, Zirilla asked. The plan is that you¡¯ll bear Palimpsest¡¯s entire psychic assault on your own.

    Yes.

    Without the enchantments we have on the keep to protect you.

    Those enchantments mostly make it easy to protect everyone in the keep as a group, I said. Put everyone under one mind¡¯s umbrella. Protecting both of you shouldn¡¯t be too hard.

    She can do it, said Luthiel.

    If you both insist... Zirilla said.

    Zirilla and Luthiel were both familiar enough with me and my mind to guide me even if Palimpsest¡¯s constant mental pressure turned me into a frothing beast¡ªwhich may well have been the case.

    On the way, we mostly discussed the fight to come: what we¡¯d do if Luthiel needed to take over for me if Palimpsest was too strong, what sorts of creatures we might encounter as their defenders, how best to handle the varying scenarios in which we wound up buried under tons of stone¡­.

    There were a thousand things to consider, but we¡¯d probably only gotten through a hundred of them by the time I dipped down to the edge of the mist layer, checking the contours of the forests and mountains below us, and realized we were almost there. We were flying along the border of forest and snow on a mountain¡¯s peak.

    I think I found it, Zirilla said as we approached. There¡¯s a pit ahead, don¡¯t know how deep.

    Sense anything? I asked Luthiel.

    I can feel something, he said. The vibrations of its mind somewhere below us¡ªbut I sense no defenders. Not yet.

    Let¡¯s hope that¡¯s a good sign. We¡¯ll dive fast once we leave the mists. Get to the bottom of the pit once we¡¯ve taken them by surprise and see what else we sense, there.

    We left the mists, diving straight downward with the wind at our backs.

    I could see the slope of a mountain below us, a blanket of forest just giving way to frosted, stone-covered earth. Directly below us, and on the fringe of the forest, there was a gaping hole perhaps a hundred meters in diameter. There was no telling how deep it went: the luminescent surface of the second mist layer was just visible kilometers below us.

    They can¡¯t have bored too deep, I said. Or they¡¯d have to contend with the elementals.

    In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this pit was likely as deep as they could make it while remaining below the third mist layer and out of sight of the air elementals. The least likely stone to encounter elementals in was that of a mountain: hemmed in on all sides by air, elementals of earth and fire tended to avoid it in favor of deeper places.

    This was Palimpsest¡¯s stronghold, then: as deep a hole as they could carve between two elemental kingdoms. Akkakesh didn¡¯t strike down those who flew above the third mist layer as long as they were flying above a mountaintop, but perhaps our enemy had wanted the mists to hide them from the elementals in any case.

    We dove out of the mists and into the pit, Zirilla bending our windsleeve so that we gathered an speed at an alarming rate. Within moments we¡¯d crossed the lip of the pit and plunged into the dark. Soon streaks of glowing pink moss appeared on the sides of the pit.

    I sensed no defenders when we left the cloud of mist¡ªa good sign. It meant that Palimpsest had likely not sensed us coming.

    As we dove, I saw stains on the sides of the pit, streaks of discoloration that might have once been blood. Did they throw corpses down here¡ªbodies that burst when they struck the rough walls of the circular pit? A sickening scent of rot wafted up from the depths below us even though we were at least a kilometer from the bottom, and I thought of the psychic seedling that we¡¯d killed near the settlement, fed by the decaying carcass of a giant worm.

    A moment later I felt Palimpsest¡¯s mental assault on my mind. It was much the same as it had been before: an enormously potent presence made of bizarre, vibrating thoughts that felt nothing like an ordinary animal¡¯s emotions. I dispersed the spike of sudden psychic energy through my body, blunting my conscious thoughts so that I began to fly automatically.

    Nonetheless, it wasn¡¯t as intense as the assault that I¡¯d borne while defending the keep. A strange thing, given that we were likely closer now to Palimpsest than the keep was to any of their nodes.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    It took me a second¡¯s thought to realize why their psychic assault was so dim, but when I did I burst into a broad grin. Galenni would have used their refocused attentions to take a much-needed respite¡­ but our new friends were likely using it as a chance to attack.

    Palimpsest couldn¡¯t bear down on me with all their psychic might: they had to defend themselves from our new allies.

    I could still focus on reaching out with my [Wild Bond], sure that any moment we¡¯d encounter Palimpsest¡¯s defenses, both their minions and their psychic strength.

    Wyverns, I soon found myself saying. A lot of them. They¡¯ll come up through the mists as we approach.

    What¡¯s the plan? Zirilla asked.

    We can fall faster than they can, I said.

    If they collapse this hole on us¡­. she said, leaving the rest unspoken.

    We¡¯re past that point now, I answered. They would only be sealing themselves in with us if they collapsed it from the top: we could fall faster than the rocks, too. A better strategy would be to collapse it from the bottom, but that would still leave us in a cavern above them. Even then, we¡¯d be able to reach out into the rock and break it over them to bury them in their self-made tomb.

    But I had a feeling they wouldn¡¯t, not until it was a last resort¡ªthis creature was so powerful that I doubted they¡¯d ever prepared to bury themselves alive to stop an intruder, and if they had, it wouldn¡¯t be an intruder of our size and speed.

    A moment later, we saw the wyverns rising out of the cloud below us, silhouettes against the light with mist trailing off the edges of their wings.

    My teeth gritted against Palimpsest¡¯s psychic assault, I simply followed the path that Zirilla mentally laid out before me, jerking myself to one side with an abrupt push of my windsleeve and falling in behind her along with Luthiel.

    A wall of air struck us a moment later, preceding the rising flock of wyverns by only a few meters and pushing us all upward. Either Palimpsest had created some mechanism to release a pressurized wave of air into the pit, or these wyverns had been levelled to be more powerful than those normally found on the mountaintops.

    Still, I followed Zirilla as our enemy¡¯s alien mind beat and throbbed against my own. We twisted in the air, diving close to one of the creature¡¯s talons as she disrupted their flight paths with calculated burst of wind against their wings and bodies, keeping them from coming close to us as we rushed down.

    We hit the second mist layer, and I got a brief impression of shadows in the faintly glowing mist around me as I flew with my mind more than my eyes. A moment later I got the first real impression of just how fast we were going as we tore our way out of the layer and rushed through the much shorter distance between the second layer and the first: hundreds of meters passed by in fewer than two seconds before we struck the first layer, cut our way through it in a flash, then sped toward another one further down.

    I got the instant impression of stones that were hovering in the air, perfectly still between the layers of mists¡ªthen realized that they were massive spiders, perched with perfect stillness on glittering webs that covered the whole of the pit below us, woven through every square meter. There was another mist layer below what was normally the first, past the spiders, turning them into silhouettes just as the wyverns had been.

    Fly, Zirilla insisted, and we dove headlong into the webbing, twisting to follow her trajectory. I shut my eyes and felt a a frigid strand break against my face, shattering from its brittleness¡ªLuthiel was freezing the webs a moment before we reached them, perhaps even coating them with a thin veneer of conjured ice.

    Palimpsest¡¯s mind beat against mine like a mallet beating a gong. For a moment my eyelids fluttered and it was all I could to follow the guiding thoughts that she sent me, to rush after her almost blindly. I felt the webs break against me, splintering under my momentum despite their thickness. I saw a flash of light, heard the squeal of hot air escaping chitin¡ªZirilla had blasted one of the spiders that had grown too close.

    Ground, she said suddenly, and each of us rotated back until we were belly-down, spreading our arms and catching more air as we struck the layer of mist below us, falling through it only briefly to emerge and see the bottom of the pit at last.

    Zirilla loosed a blast of air that cushioned our falls as we plummeted toward the ground, and I fell into a hard landing against moss-covered stone a moment later, then rose, my head ringing with Palimpsest¡¯s ceaseless reverberations.

    I heard Zirilla make a noise of disgust, and it was easy to see why. The air was thick with the scent of death and decay. White, translucent vines ran along the ground everywhere, which seemed as if it had once been carved to be flat but was now marked everywhere with craters and rubble.

    I couldn¡¯t see the stone. A thick, glowing pink fungus covered the ground beneath the watery vines, it surface furry and frayed. The glow of the fungus was irregular, seemed to seethe as I looked at it¡ªand I saw that it was crawling all over with insects. They were small enough to fit in my palm, in some places so dense that the glowing moss below was only glimpsed as a shifting field of specks.

    Around us there was a series of huge stone pillars arranged in a circle along the outside edges of the pit, which opened up in every direction around us. The last mist layer was just low enough to stretch across the surface of the wide cavern that this created, lighting a space that was big enough to contain a city.

    Some fragmented part of my mind recognized that it was quiet beautiful, in an eerie way. The rough-hewn pillars stretching out in every direction at irregular intervals hinted at the massive weight of the mountain above us, but the layer of mist that obscured the actual ceiling gave the cavern a day-like quality, even if it was thin enough that the light was dim.

    Then a sharp command from Luthiel drew my attention to the monsters all around us: arachnids with raised, clawed forelegs, looking almost like crabs as they clawed and leapt their way toward us across the uneven stone. Under the weight of Palimpsest¡¯s overbearing psychic assault, I had almost not seen them, or at least not had the sense to deem them any more important than anything else around me.

    But as one reared up before me, I unclasped my greatsword and sheared through the front half of its face, surprised at how much strength I needed to use to cleave through its exoskeleton. They were strong, these creatures, perhaps a higher level than the mantis hulks despite their smaller size.

    I hissed, spinning as I took a few steps toward the next-closest one and seeing hundreds more of them closing in on us from all sides. I dispatched my second adversary, first cutting off one of its claws in a spray of blood, then thrusting my blade through its head, then moved to find the third¡­.

    I didn¡¯t get the chance. Zirilla called me, breaking me out of the beginnings of a killing trance, and I leapt into the air and took flight, following her as she launched herself deeper into the cavern.

    Then I heard a tremendous crack, followed by a rumble. Ahead of us, a cascade of rubble and dust fell from the mist-covered ceiling.

    Palimpsest was not waiting to watch us try their guardian wyverns and insects, no matter how strong they were: they were collapsing part of the cavern over us.

    I could sense the air around me, even through the painful pressure of our enemy¡¯s psychic assault, and I could feel the massive negative space filling the world behind us as the ceiling cracked and stone and rubble poured in behind.

    She bid us slow, and I obeyed her, unthinking. We landed, skidding to a halt in front of a sheer wall, flat and cut smooth.

    Then the mountain above us collapsed down upon us, a cacophonous fall of rock that seemed so mighty that surely it would crush us to death. I looked up at at the falling stone as our enemy¡¯s assault still pulsed painfully through my body, eyes wide¡­.

    Conjured hard light appeared around us, a forcefield with a scaffold to brace it. Zirilla reached out and pushed against the falling stone, making sure it fell in such a way that most of the force came down not on us, but the space around us. We were buried in seconds, and then the grinding, rumbling sounds of the falling rock continued for another half minute.

    Then everything was silent.

    ¡°Did I miss something?¡± I asked at last. ¡°We were supposed to end up here after we killed them.¡±

    Luthiel nodded toward the small section of flat wall beside me in the preserved pocket of air. ¡°You missed something.¡±

    I looked. Bored into the flat wall were holes, each just big enough to fit my arm.

    ¡°For food,¡± said Luthiel. ¡°Palimpsest just beyond this wall. I can¡­ feel them.¡±

    I nodded. It would explain why the assault on my mind had seemingly gotten stronger.

    ¡°I can get us through in a minute,¡± said Zirilla.

    ¡°I¡¯ll watch for any shift in the stone,¡± said Luthiel.

    I began to channel the mana in the environment into Zirilla as she ran one hand across the stone wall. Through the wall, I could sense many more vines coating the cave floor, and fist-sized insects that had begun to swarm toward us. Then:

    You. We must speak.

    It was Palimpsest.

    ¡°What do you know,¡± I said. ¡°They want to talk. Anything you two want to say?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°Tell them it takes at least two mountains to kill an elementalist of my calibre, and that I¡¯m much offended by their using only one.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps... tell them to rejoice,¡± Luthiel said steadily. ¡°For before they die, they will witness the champions of the elvenkind.¡±

    Slowly, I began to laugh. I heard a crack as Zirilla broke a section of stone away. It wouldn¡¯t be long now.

    I gritted my teeth against the constant pain of the psychic assault, then answered Palimpsest.

    My companions have a message for you, I began.

 3.22: The Winter Champion

    Cattle, Palimpsest said after I¡¯d given them their messages. Slaves. Bodies. Yours. Yours if we both cease violence.

    You did, didn¡¯t you? I asked. You thought you¡¯d live forever.

    You must cease, they said. You will fail. All elves will die.

    Then we¡¯ll cease, I said. But what do you offer? Give me real numbers, Palimpsest.

    Leave, they said. Leave and then we bargain.

    I glanced behind me, and the heap of collapsed stone that was buttressed by Luthiel¡¯s conjured light. We¡¯ll be gone soon.

    I was lying, of course, but it still felt nice to feel Palimpsest¡¯s attack cease a few moments later. I doubted we¡¯d have seconds, if that, before our enemy saw that Zirilla was still breaking into their stronghold. Still, I had a few moments of lucidity that wouldn¡¯t last long¡ªbest to savor them.

    If I had any determinations to make, now was the time. I doubted there was anything important I¡¯d notice that Luthiel and Zirilla would not.

    Before us was a wall that doubtless functioned as a defensive installation: food was carried through the holes by the tiny insects, and water was likely absorbed by the vines that we¡¯d seen outside.

    Whatever creatures lay beyond this barrier were likely sealed inside the cavern. Perhaps Palimpsest occasionally made openings to admit the strongest creatures they¡¯d ever cultivated, then sealed them in once more. If they had specialized guards beyond those we¡¯d already seen, we were about to meet them.

    I took a moment to appreciate our enemy¡¯s defenses, even if we¡¯d circumvented much of them. Without sophisticated spellcraft, Palimpsest had relied on geography to test any attackers. To strike at them, one needed to descend a kilometer-long chasm, find them in the depths of a cavern large enough to hold a city even as portions of it were collapsed overtop of them, cut through a wall of near-solid rock, then deal with whatever lay beyond. When I considered the wyverns, the spiders, the army of insects, and the fact that there were likely innumerable reinforcements even in this one stronghold, I felt a certain appreciation for their defenses.

    The scale of our enemy was astounding. It was just another way that I¡¯d never seen anything like them.

    My thoughts briefly flashed to the something I hadn¡¯t considered at all since we¡¯d been attacked: gods above, what we gain from all of this? I¡¯d been ignoring the Verse and focusing on the battle all the while¡ªbut how much essence, what kind of keys would we reap from slaughtering our enemy?

    When they died, what would happen of their minions, their psychic relays? Would they lie dormant, waiting for our windcallers to track them down and kill them?

    I shook my head to clear it. It wasn¡¯t worth considering, now.

    Die, then, Palimpsest said suddenly. They attacked Zirilla the next moment, though I intercepted with my bond and bore the attack myself, taking the spike of mental energy and distributing it through my body so that all my muscles seemed both to crave movement and to shudder with pain.

    Luthiel spoke. ¡°Your threshold, Aziriel.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I said. I relinquished my claim on my own body to Luthiel, and a moment later I felt incredibly fine lines being frozen into my skin by his [Frost Magick]¡ªrunes that would help him keep the cold that he summoned from entering my body. My high [Aegis] might protect from intense temperatures already, but Luthiel¡¯s magic was strong: he¡¯d be limited only by how much he could protect us.

    Then I stood against the wall, channeling the mana around us toward them as I gritted my teeth and fought of Palimpsest¡¯s constant psychic assault, a pressure that felt like it had to ease at any moment¡ªbut never did.

    ¡°Ready?¡± Zirilla asked.

    I moved to stand in front of them, facing the wall.

    ¡°Go,¡± said Zirilla. Psychically, she signalled me to create a blast of wind.

    The sound of fracturing stone filled our tiny chamber, and the cracks that she¡¯d been making in the stone suddenly grew to cover the whole of the wall.

    Then the earth around me shook and I heard a tremendous noise, the wall bursting out in front of me.

    With my eyes, I got the faint impression of what I witnessed better with my gaze: many hulking insects that had been tightly packed against the wall were blasted backwards as Zirilla blew away a portion of the rock and I joined in by pushing out with a heavy blast of air.

    A volley of javelins of hard light shot into the opening, but Luthiel had extended his vast magical claim, and had the mental agility to disperse into a cloud of glittering fragments them before they ever reached us.

    Zirilla parted the dust with a breeze, and I got a good look at the chamber beyond the wall.

    We stood in a circular cavern the size of our keep. The infection-pink moss was everywhere, glowing with its faint inner light. It was a warren: clusters of tunnels had been dug in the rock all around us, burrowed into the curved floor, walls, and ceiling.

    By the light of the moss, I saw more of the arachnid insects that we¡¯d seen outside: pale, translucent-fleshed creatures of all sizes that crawled over every surface, many of them already converging toward us.

    But most of all I saw more of the knotted vine-shells: dozens of them sticking, all sticking out from the walls and ceiling of the cavern like mussels or fungal growths, their translucent vines reaching over every surface.

    Our enemy, at last. It was Palimpsest.

    A psychic plant, then, as we¡¯d seen before? Plants relied on animals to spread their seeds, insects to pollinate them. Perhaps Palimpsest was a breed of plant that used mental magic to guide the wildlife of its environment and spread itself: one who, much like Palefang, had developed intelligence.

    It was a theory that explained little, all in all, but I couldn¡¯t help but wonder as I saw them.

    I charged out into the fray before the insects could fill the space at the cavern¡¯s entrance, pulling my greatsword into my hands. My enemy¡¯s mind beat against my own, and my brain throbbed with pain and desperate anger.

    More of the pale, crablike arachnids rushed forward, and I put the wind at my back to charge them, speeding into the fray and shearing off the forelimbs of the one nearest me before thrusting the end of my sword into its clustered eyes. I rolled past the descending forelimbs of one of its fellows, then came to my feet in the midst of a group of them and surged my [Strength] to lay about me with two powerful strokes that cut a half-dozen of them down.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Their carapaces were hard despite my attributes¡ªPalimpsest had indeed made sure these defenders were powerful. But with my windsleeve tight against my body and my [Surge of Might] to flare my attributes when I needed it, I was a blur in their midst, blood following my blade in arcs and spatters.

    I used my magic as little as possible, instead channeling my mana backward into Luthiel and Zirilla even as I drank the blood of the fallen with my cloak to make more. I saw their own mana dimming occasionally, losing density as they loosed their spells, but I paid no attention to them. My mind throbbed with Palimpsest¡¯s assault, my thoughts muddled so that only training and instincts drove me.

    Then Luthiel¡¯s mind touched my own, drawing my attention to a set of mid-sized arachnids at the far end of the cavern. These ones, he said simply.

    I leapt high, then pushed myself forward with a blast of air, raising my sword. The space before many of the arachnids glinted as they conjured dozens of needles of hard light, then launched them at me.

    I twisted myself in the air to minimize the number of impacts as I tore my way through the volley, feeling their spells bite into my body, even through my [Aegis] in a half-dozen places. I hissed, pressing my claim into the conjured missiles that jutted from my body and dispersing them.

    Then I struck the ground beside my targets, skidding to a halt as my knees scraped furrows in the glowing moss, moving my sword through a slash that scratched across the armored leg of my first target. Despite being Palimpsest¡¯s spellcasters, these ones had even higher [Aegis].

    But I was disconnected from my allies, no longer able to channel my mana into them¡ªwhich meant that I kept it for myself. I surged my strength, lashing out with a mighty blow that smashed through a conjured barrier of light and bisected the head of the nearest arachnid.

    I fought, and hard light seemed to pierce into me from every direction, each bolt digging an inch or so into my flesh, few of them strong enough to scrape bone. My wounds would heal with [Blood Magick] a moment later, but the missiles still jarred and jostled my body, throwing me off-balance. The insects close in, and soon I was using my sword to keep them at bay more than kill them.

    Then I finished absorbing the blood of the fallen, filling my [Blood Pool] and converting a little bit of it to many. As the insects around me closed in, I reached out and sent lines of mana running in every direction, then loosed ignited them in a blast of forked lightning that tore its way through hard light their conjured hard light constructs to cook and burst the flesh beneath their carapaces.

    Not only did the blast kill several of my enemies at once, but I could tell that their eyes weren¡¯t used to flashes of light: even if Palimpsest could sense me using their gaze, their mental puppets still suffered the pain of blinding light.

    I smiled as I kept fighting, converting only a little of my [Blood Pool] into mana at a time so that I could easily lash out at close quarters with my lightning, the bolts never seeking me as their target. The bugs fell around me, and all the while Luthiel¡¯s psychic presence threaded its way into my mind amidst the cruel, overbearing presence of Palimpsest, telling me again and again: that one. Now kill that one¡­.

    But the teeming mass of insects never ceased. Soon the massive, shelled bugs were crawling over my location on the ceiling and then dropping themselves on me, hoping to pin me with their body weight long enough for their allies to land a more decisive blow.

    It was a good plan: I had to sense them falling and then bat myself out of the way with my [Air Magick], often-times into the clawed forelimbs of another soldier. The upper hand that I¡¯d momentarily bought by cutting loose with my lightning was soon lost as the demands on my [Blood Magick] grew to be too great. I began to heal only the deepest parts of my wounds, leaving the torn skin open, blood running down my body in rivulets only to be absorbed by my deep-red cloak.

    Then I felt Zirilla¡¯s mind brush against my own, bidding me to return to the center. I wondered with a flash whether they had pushed me as hard as they could, or rather reached some threshold of their own even as I approached mine¡ªmy mind was too distracted, too frayed by Palimpsest¡¯s constant hateful presence.

    I surged my [Strength] to throw myself clear of the swarm, then put the wind at my back to send me flying the short distance back toward my allies, taking in their situation at a glance.

    Luthiel and Zirilla were sheltered under a semisphere of frost, insects crawling all over it and beating at its outsides.

    But as I looked through their eyes with the bond, I saw something curious: another wall of frost cut the inside of the icy dome into two parts, with Luthiel and Zirilla in only one half.

    Even as I watched, icy splinters were being broken away from the dome and launched, with startling accuracy, into the swarm of insects around it.

    The half without my allies broke first, and I immediately saw why: it was filled with extremely cold air. Luthiel began to convert his shield into missiles at the same time as Zirilla let loose a blast of icy wind.

    The wind didn¡¯t cease. Drawn on the ground in glowing runes that revealed themselves as the dome broke away was a spell that spent mana to destroy heat: with time, they¡¯d freeze this whole cavern¡ªstarting with whichever parts Zirilla directed the air into.

    Zirilla even indicated where I should stand, and so I landed, driving the point of my blade through the midsection of one of the arachnids and then standing on its twitching corpse as icy shards sped past me to bury themselves in our enemies. Arrows soon joined these fragments:

    I began to channel mana into Luthiel¡¯s spell, and within moments the whole battle in the cavern had shifted. Frost lined every surface, even the wall that was most distant from us. The pink moss dimmed, its illumination ceasing as all its tissues died from exposure to the freezing air.

    Even through my [Aegis] and Luthiel¡¯s protective spell I could feel the cold gnawing at my skin and numbing my fingers. The chill had grown deadly very quickly¡ªan unprotected elf would die in moments, here. Palimpsest¡¯s soldiers fared better: most of them were still moving, if more erratically. But I expected this wouldn¡¯t last long: insects were more often ectotherms.

    Luthiel directed me to begin channeling my mana into the many warren-like tunnels that lined every surface of the cave, and one by one he sealed them off with frost. Our cooperative effort was extraordinarily fast, and soon half of the holes had been stoppered shut, with more icy constructs glittering in the space between us and the far side of the cavern.

    I let out a satisfied sigh as I advanced across the cavern, whose floor was almost entirely carpeted in heaps and mounds of the dead arachnids.

    They¡¯re trying to collapse the chamber from outside, Zirilla said suddenly. They¡¯re struggling against Luthiel¡¯s claim now that there¡¯s all this ice, but we should move on.

    This isn¡¯t all? I asked.

    This seed-things we¡¯ve killed are Palimpsest, Luthiel said, indicating the shelled vine-creatures. But they¡¯re our enemy¡¯s fingers, not their brain. They¡¯re sympathetic, in fact: each one connects to a node outside.

    Huh? I asked, rolling my shoulders as I advanced and searched for more enemies.

    Luthiel reached out and momentarily took the burden of Palimpsest¡¯s psychic assault from me.

    If we could find those nodes which connect to the ones near our settlement, we could sever Palimpsest¡¯s ability to control its minions near our home. But I can think of no way to make that determination quickly: caverns like these radiate around the main mind like petals of a flower, and¡ªgods above, Aziriel. This, the whole time?

    Heh, I said. Luthiel had never been easy to impress, but of course he was impressed now: the constant re-orientation toward bodily sensations and the outside world that I needed to maintain a high [Primeval Resonance], something I had trained for my entire life, was also the crux of a potent psychic defense.

    With the bond, I put myself before Palimpsest¡¯s assault once more, grinning. The short reprieve had been wonderful: like getting into a hot bath might feel, after a day¡¯s hard labor.

    Besides, a moment of purer lucidity had more or less made it clear what we were going to do.

    They¡¯re likely too strong to freeze to death from here, said Luthiel. But their army isn¡¯t, and neither are their nodes. Zirilla has our route if we need to push forward¡ªuntil then, we flood each of these tunnels with freezing air. Starting with the one that leads to their lair.

    I nodded, drawing more blood into my cloak. Palimpsest had already been given as much time as they needed to bolster their inner chamber with defenders¡ªthere was no need to rush it now.

    With luck, we could freeze the whole thing from this chamber. Without luck, we¡¯d be charging forward as soon as the roof collapsed.

    The sound of cracking stone filled the chamber above me.

    I contacted Palimpsest. So eager? I said. So be it.

    Together we launched ourselves toward the tunnel that Zirilla indicated, Luthiel¡¯s conjured ice vanishing to admit us as the ceiling behind us came tumbling down.

 3.23: Mind Against Mind

    I took the lead, rushing along the trajectory that Zirilla indicated, following her directions instinctively without trying to navigate through the dark using my own senses.

    Fleeting impressions of things that I felt with my gaze flowed through my mind, each seeming inconsequential against Palimpsest¡¯s constant psychic assault. The walls of the tunnel were coated with more of the pink moss and swarming with the tiny insects from earlier, and the air grew warmer as we wound downward through the rock to emerge through another opening¡­.

    We broke out into another chamber, one much like the first albeit at a larger scale. The pale vines that coated the floor were thicker, now, so that the glow of the fungus beneath them was seen in dim, long streaks of pink. Pillars supported the ceiling, which was covered not in moss or vines but a strange, smooth material that looked almost like a spider¡¯s webbing had been transmuted to bone or shell. Holes covered the walls and floor.

    There was only one of the shelled, seedlike plants we¡¯d encountered, and it was easily thirty times the size of any of those we¡¯d seen so far. It rose up in the center of the cavern, encircled by the pillars, its shell sealed closed.

    Palimpsest.

    They were surrounded by more of the massive, pale arachnids that we¡¯d met in the other chamber: a few of lay dead or dying near the exit of our tunnel, coated in frost. More surged toward us across the vine-blanked ground. Even more were grouped near the great shell at the center of the chamber, and still more flooded out of seemingly every hole in the walls and floor.

    To me, Aziriel, Luthiel said. I let him put himself forward, psychically, and take the burden of Palimpsest¡¯s psychic assault. Free of the overbearing pressure of our enemy¡¯s mind, I could take the situation in with a little more lucidity.

    The first thing I saw was the elemental: An asymmetrical figure made of interlocking crystals, each of them with the pure clarity of created quartz. It hovered in the air above us, its shape almost a cross between that of the mantis-hulks and the arachnid soldiers around it, but smaller, so that it was barely taller than I was.

    It was a curious sight to see. The small earth elemental was likely extremely difficult for Palimpsest to control, psychically, but that would mean little, here: they were now backed into a corner and fighting for their life with no options but to win. They were limited in what they could control not by their [Focus], but by what they could get into the room with us. Apportioning excess [Focus] to the control of this creature made sense.

    The elemental rushed toward us as soon as we came into the room, flying through the air by moving its own body with the power of [Earth Magick].

    I made several decisions:

    First, Luthiel and I rapidly passed Palimpsest¡¯s mental assault between ourselves, essentially flickering which one of us was in the psychic vanguard at a rapid pace

    It was a bizarre maneuver to perform. It didn¡¯t help us defend against Palimpsest: in fact, the brief moment that we bounced him between ourselves was more taxing on both of us than simply bearing his assault would have been.

    Even just performing the psychic maneuver was difficult under the load of our enemy¡¯s mind: without Zirilla there to help us manage the effort by directing us from second to second, we likely wouldn¡¯t have been able to do it so quickly.

    But Luthiel and I had different minds, and we each resisted Palimpsest with different strengths and methods. I was fluid like a river, or the wind, but Luthiel¡¯s mind was a faultless citadel.

    Each moment, our enemy had to re-adjust its attack just slightly¡­ and that meant that many kilometers away, our sky-bound allies, who were on the offensive, would notice the fluctuations in Palimpsest¡¯s defenses.

    Essentially, we were sending them a signal.

    If Galenni was still the psychic vanguard at the settlement, he¡¯d likely realize what we¡¯d done, especially if our enemy had abandoned the control of some of the attacking insects. If it were Valir instead of Galenni, he would definitely realize it.

    It wasn¡¯t much of a stretch to hope that they¡¯d know what it meant:

    Now is the time. Put forth every ounce of power you have.

    We only juggled Palimpsest¡¯s attack for a few moments¡ªlong enough to be sure it would be noticed by our allies at the settlement, no more. But that was all we needed.

    Palimpsest had watched us stop and fight every army of creatures they¡¯d sent our way. We¡¯d dug in our heels, strengthened our position, and slowly seized the upper hand in our all engagements. Even in our rapid assault on this, their stronghold, we¡¯d rushed past their aerial defenses, broken through their stone walls, and quickly fortified ourselves in one of their inner chambers.

    Palimpsest would have nothing but psychic skills, on their own. It was the minions around them who would bring every other capability they had to the fight. Hypothetically, we could strip them of all their strength by killing their minions and blocking their entrances, leaving them with nothing but their inadequate psychic assault to defend themselves with before freezing them to death.

    It was certainly a viable plan¡­ hence why I expected them to expect it of us.

    I decided that our best chance lay in a very sudden shift in tactics.

    We would act as if we meant to fight this swarm much like we had all the others, with measured, reserved violence that carefully and skilfully countered everything our foe brought to bear.

    But this would be deception: our best move was to strike and end it all¡ªas quickly as we could make an opening to do so.

    I put the wind at my back and rushed forward to meet the elemental that was charging toward me.

    Behind me, Luthiel and Zirilla sealed themselves in another hemisphere of ice, seemingly beginning to store more frigid air just as we had done in the previous chamber.

    It was a doomed plan: even without this potent elemental before me, the arachnid army outnumbered the one we¡¯d just fought two to one and the chamber was far more spacious. We wouldn¡¯t be able to freeze it all before they brought us down.

    I brought up my arm, surging my [Aegis] as the elemental¡¯s body blurred with speed and slammed into me, driving my heels downward to crush the vine-carpet beneath them and dig into the soil. The force behind its crystal forelimb set my bones shaking and filled the cavern with a dull boom.

    It struck out with a rapid series of blows, and I used the wind to throw myself backward out of its reach, then pressed myself low to the ground to avoid the descending forelimbs of one of the insects as I swept my blade around and severed its legs from under it.

    At the same time, I stretched a line of mana between myself and the elemental, then ignited it into a quick, thin flash of lightning.

    The elemental tore a head-sized chunk of stone from the ground beneath it and hurled it at me, and I raised my blade, bracing it with one arm as the stone broke against it and peppered my face with shrapnel.

    The elemental surged forward toward me, following their missile, and I backed away, again striking it with a near-harmless bolt of lightning before leaping up onto one of the hardened backs of the arachnids.

    I hissed. It didn¡¯t even matter that crystal, unlike stone or glass, was a strong conduit for lightning to pass through. This creature was an elemental made of quartz: its body would be far harder to destroy than a creature of flesh that had equal [Aegis]. Only burning away that dense mana that composed it would finish the job, and it so powerful that it might take multiple times my mana pool to do as much.

    Meanwhile it moved and fought with unnatural precision and power¡ªit had no muscles, instead using [Earth Magick] to propel its weight. With a high level, high [Channel], and many skills to increase its power and efficiency, the elemental was moving as fast as I could and striking with blows that would pulverize stone.

    But even through the relentless pulse of Palimpsest¡¯s psychic assault, my training held. I was liquid and smoke, tangible and visible but impossible to grasp. I danced across the backs of the arachnids as they harried me with bolts of hardlight and tried to drag me to the ground. I flowed through the space around the elemental as it assaulted me with heavy blows and a hail of stones that it tore from the earth beneath us to launch my way.

    It wouldn¡¯t last forever. I couldn¡¯t evade everything; often I turned to take blows on my back, my legs, or my shoulders. I spent mana to push myself around with air so much that I couldn¡¯t devote much time to absorbing blood and replenishing my [Blood Pool]. And I was conscious, all the while, that one good hit might pin me to the ground and leave me vulnerable enough that Palimpsest¡¯s minions could end it all in a moment.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    My mind wasn¡¯t on the plan, or the need to keep going. It was on the moments, the lightning-fast succession of impressions and the movements that came without thinking. I just had to fight, to keep fighting¡­.

    Now, Aziriel.

    I sensed the sphere of ice near the entrance burst into shards, only now there was no blast of deathly-cold air to go with it. My allies had prepared a different spell.

    I heard Luthiel speak a command word in a language he¡¯d once been taught by the elementals of Maia, all mellifluous syllables that ran into one another. A circle of runes appeared around him in light, and the mana he¡¯d channeled into the air around him quickly collapsed into a glowing white javelin of ice that he launched at the crystal elemental.

    It threw itself to one side, dodging, but this was to no avail: the javelin adjusted its path perfectly. It didn¡¯t curve in its trajectory, but rather changed course suddenly as if it had ricocheted, moving to strike exactly where the elemental would be.

    The elemental glowed, and frost gathered on its every surface, drawn out of the air around it. At the same time it fell onto its side, suddenly paralyzed: Luthiel¡¯s spell had not only bound it momentarily, but coated it in ice that he could more easily extend his claim into, ice which would bear the runes he needed to sustain the binding.

    It was my opening. I would have mere moments, and that was all.

    I leapt into the air at the same time that Palimpsest must have realized what was going on. The entire ground between me and the central seed-shell heaved, throwing the insects that stood on it aside as a wall of earth seemed to rise up to block my path.

    It was worm, I realized: one much like the dead burrower we¡¯d seen at the first seed-relay. Palimpsest had buried it beneath the floor of their inner chamber, and now it made a defense simply by lifting its body. Soil cascaded off of it, and the translucent gray vines that carpeted the chamber snapped and fell away as it rose before me.

    My mind reeled through options.

    Cut through it? No time.

    Lighting? Won¡¯t work.

    Fly over? Too late.

    I felt the pressure on my mind ease for a moment as Luthiel stepped in and bore Palimpsest¡¯s constant psychic assault¡­.

    Then I hissed and reached out, striking the worm¡¯s mind with everything I had, knowing that our enemy would not anticipate a psychic assault. Surprise was my greatest ally: the only time I¡¯d seized one of Palimpsest¡¯s minions had been when I¡¯d briefly stolen the beetle-caster in their second wave. An insect¡¯s mind was simple, simple enough that I could steal it for a moment as long as I could our enemy off balance.

    My mind was like a spike driving its way into the subverted worm, an attack fueled by desperation, fury, and a dominating will that had been hardened over countless centuries¡­.

    I stole the worm from Palimpsest for a brief moment. I didn¡¯t simply make it fall limp, but rather made it throw itself to one side, so that it fell toward me, off-balance so that it would require time to right itself before becoming a proper barrier once more.

    Palimpsest seized its minion a moment later, but it was too late: with all my prodigious power of channeling, I hurled myself forward over the falling worm, through the dust and toward its massive shell.

    Then I saw the mana forming into panes and bars ahead of me, knew that they were about to conjure hard light barricades between myself and their shell¡­.

    I pushed some mana into the air ahead of me, then forced it forward as a chaotic, roiling gust of wind. I had to slow my own flight a little to do it, and as it left my claim it entered Palimpsest¡¯s, the mana becoming their own.

    But it didn¡¯t matter: the chaos that the mana-infused wind introduced was enough to disrupt the rigid and precise arrangement of mana needed to form hard light. I may have flown more slowly, but I¡¯d bought myself another split-second¡¯s worth of time to make up for it.

    My eyes caught the faintest line running vertically along the shell that was closed around Palimpsest: the seam by which its two halves would open.

    I cut through the churning air a moment later and landed amidst the insects crowding the edge of the shell in the center of the cavern. It had only been a second or two since Luthiel had thrown his binding, but I knew I had only a short while more.

    The arachnids came at me from every side and I surged my [Strength] and lay about me with my greatsword, simultaneously pushing my windsleeve out around me in a wave of forceful air that pushed them back.

    I rushed forward, grabbed the foreleg of one of the insects pressed against Palimpsest¡¯s shell and forcibly tore them away from it, moving forward to reach the shell before the insects around me could recover and bury me under their bodies.

    I saw bands of hard light encircle the shell, binding it shut in an effort to keep me out. I knew that I had only moments¡­.

    As I drew near to the shell, I felt Palimpsest reaching out and pressing against my claim with tremendous force, doing everything they could to perform the impossible feat of gaining magical control of my own body.

    The power with which they pushed against me was tremendous, and with a brief flash of terrified panic I thought they might succeed. But old memories came to me then, memories that were nothing but a confused mess of images and sensations to my assault-addled mind: blood-slick claws, scales black as volcanic stone, fangs with meat cooked onto their enamel, a mind filled with cruel laughter¡­.

    I felt an overwhelming, unnamable feeling take hold of me.

    And I shared it all with Palimpsest:

    The screams of a city, rising as the great wave descended; why?

    A crinkled letter from my daughter¡¯s commander, the stains of dried tears clear upon it; no¡­.

    My sister¡¯s arms around me as I shuddered in her embrace; don¡¯t go.

    A blankness filling me, steadying me as I looked into the gleaming red eyes of my enemy most hated; at last.

    A fire-streaked wall of roiling black clouds, as wide as the horizon and as tall as the sky; not again¡­.

    My instincts ran deep. I didn¡¯t need to know what was happening or how, didn¡¯t need to understand why I was doing as I did. I let it all flow through me. Hate and rage, terror and anguish: all were woven together and forged into a perfect alloy that formed both psychic sword and shield.

    I lashed out, and for a brief moment I felt my enemy recoil.

    Having dealt Palimpsest a momentary psychic shock, I pushed my threshold into the air around me. Mana flowed out of me in a dozen undulating tendrils, each only extending as far as my claim could extend in that single moment of startling victory.

    The moment faded and Palimpsest¡¯s claim flooded back into the space around me, but it was too late for them: I surged [Aegis] and ignited the mana, my many tendrils bursting into thin fingers of red lightning.

    Some of them struck me, and my body blazed with searing heat, pain screaming through what felt like every fibre of my body.

    But some of them struck the bands of light which circumscribed the shell before me, fraying the magic that made them and igniting the mana inside them, dispersing the hard light and wreathing my enemy in mana-fueled flames.

    I spent the last of my surge pool on [Aegis], intent on keeping the point of my sword as sharp as possible, then drove it forward with all my might, pressing it through the crack, prying the shell apart by an inch, and thrusting the blade deep inside.

    The assault on my mind seemed to double in strength, but my own resolve leapt as I saw the blade enter and knew that the end was nigh.

    For my blade was a part of my body, a part of me: all weapons were, when I held them. I channeled mana along it, pushing it out into the air in the dark internals of the shell, then ignited it in a flash of lightning that ran from my palms down the length of steel to seek the dense mana of the creature inside.

    Then I did it again and again. Lightning flashed from the small crack in the shell¡¯s seam, and my own [Aegis] wasn¡¯t enough to keep the steel of the sword from blackening and beginning to smoke.

    I saw what would happen before it did, reached forward and thrust my hand into the crack between the shell-pieces, pushed it deep through Palimpsest¡¯s armor.

    The sword snapped, weakened by the heat, but I began to use my hand instead, pushing mana out only a foot or so into the air beyond it and then igniting it.

    I screamed as my lightning split itself between my own hand and my enemy, both of us too close to each other for it to cleanly seek only one creature¡¯s mana. The skin of my fingers split and cooked, the feeling leaving them a moment later.

    The insect-guards reached me then, but it didn¡¯t matter. I threw another stunted bolt of lightning, then another, collapsing against the shell and using my free arm to shield the back of my head from their claws. They tried to tear me away, but my arm was locked tight in the grip of the closing shell, the blood flow pinched closed.

    Another bolt, and then another: I couldn¡¯t feel my arm at all, but still I poured mana into the shell with a grim intent as I felt some hulking weight bear down upon me, teeth sinking in my good arm and trying to tear it away from my head.

    But I held on. Another bolt: the line of red light that flashed from the inside of the shell was my only satisfaction.

    Another bolt. The pain of Palimpsest¡¯s psychic assault was like a blanket of fuzz on my mind, prickles and tingles covering my body¡­.

    Another bolt. I could barely feel the teeth in my arm now, or the weight on my body.

    Another bolt. My mind was filled with rushing voices, memories of my siblings, one sibling¡­.

    Aziriel.

    I realized it was the voice of Luthiel, my brother.

    Aziriel!

    And I realized that the blanket of fuzz wasn¡¯t Palimpsest¡¯s assault, but the absence of it. I stood in what felt like a sea of stillness.

    Our enemy was dead.

    It was over.

 3.24: Gifts From the Dead

    It felt strange, the stillness.

    It was over. For so long, every moment had borne such a terrible weight: the psychic assault, the battle around me, the fulfillment and reassessment of every tactical decision. Now these things fell away from me like a layer of shed skin, and I looked around at the cavern and felt like a newborn.

    My ears rang. Gradually I became more and more aware of the many kinds of pain that seeped into my body. The flesh around my shoulder was cooked black: I pulled my arm free of the shell¡¯s crevice and saw that it was mostly gone, a twisted stump that ended above where the elbow had been.

    I turned, sat, and rested against the shell behind me. Every breath that I took seemed to help me discover a new source of agony: healing myself meant the discovery of more and more.

    Luthiel landed before me. Past him I could sense that the arachnids did little more than breathe, not even able to maintain their balance without their master. The function of their minds had been obliterated to aide in Palimpsest¡¯s domination.

    Perhaps for safety, Luthiel killed those around us with rapidity and ease, breaking into their bodily claims and shaping their own held mana to freeze the water in their brains.

    He knelt. ¡°Are you all right, Aziriel?¡±

    In response, I hissed in pain. I had begun to remake my hand¡ªfinger bones were growing inside musculature that was trying to knit itself together around them. Just a few more moments, I told him.

    Zirilla landed next to me a few moments later. ¡°Elemental¡¯s dead.¡±

    I nodded. Palimpsest probably couldn¡¯t have permanently destroyed its mind the way they had with these other creatures. When I¡¯d killed them, the elemental had likely begun behaving erratically, but stayed hostile.

    I took a few more breaths against Palimpest¡¯s shell, wincing as the skin grew back over my hand.

    It was over, but it wasn¡¯t over: the sheer number of things that we had to do now that Palimpsest was dead was staggering. The rewards would be great, but we had to act quickly. And no-one was going to do a better job of driving the elves toward the labors ahead but me.

    My face slowly spread into a smile. It was a relief to be free of the psychic assault for good.

    For the first time, I read the messages that the Verse had given me when Palimpsest died:

    Your level limit has increased to 36!

    + 1 633 385 Essence, 4 [Boon]

    Four levels¡¯ worth of limit for finishing this fight. And the essence¡­ assuming a fourth-tier class, Palimpsest had been above level 60. I reached into the boons, examining their magical texture¡­ [Mind 5], [Sight 5], and various [Wild] aspects.

    What was more, one of the boons contained a [Stasis 5]... not an easy aspect to find, and an incredibly powerful tool when it came to defending against elementals.

    ¡°[Stasis 5]. [Mind 5],¡± I said, nodding to myself. We hadn¡¯t found any [Mind] aspects out in the wild, meaning we¡¯d had to rely on the [*Mind] cores of all our telepaths to form all our [Mind]-containing abilities.

    ¡°The mind-seeds also all grant [Mind],¡± Luthiel said. ¡°They are separate lifeforms from Palimpsest.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡¯ I said, nodding my head and rising. Back to work it was¡ªLuthiel would have somewhere he was going, with this. ¡°The seedlings. Tell me what you know.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s some guesswork involved in my conclusions,¡± he said. ¡°But they are, in my judgement, good guesses.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll bet,¡± I said.

    ¡°The smaller seed-nodes that we fought were Palimpsest¡¯s species,¡± Luthiel continued. ¡°Perhaps their own offspring. Like the other creatures that Palimpsest subverts, they were extensively psychically conditioned, but in different ways: their minds are dysfunctional without their master, but still contain much more sophisticated thoughts than these other minions.¡±

    ¡°They bore some of the cognitive load,¡± I said.

    He nodded. ¡°I expect so. My guess is that Palimpsest themself commanded the living creatures, but the seed-nodes managed all or most of the connection that led back to Palimpsest. The living creatures have their minds shaped so that the simplest, least taxing commands can control them. And their ability to put creatures in some kind of stasis-induced hibernation meant that they had an extraordinary capacity for subjugated minions.¡±

    ¡°Well I¡¯ll say it, since you two haven¡¯t,¡± said Zirilla. ¡°This is unlike anything we¡¯ve ever seen. This is a single lifeform that functions almost like a living necromancer, but can perhaps even command more troops in the field.¡±

    ¡°There are a great many parallels,¡± said Luthiel. ¡°And since we¡¯re offering commentary¡­.¡± He took a step toward the smoking shell behind me, eyes slowly moving up its height. ¡°The existence of this creature is horrifying.¡±

    ¡°Aye,¡± I said.

    ¡°Fascinating, of course,¡± he said. ¡°But until today the most troubling eventuality that the colony might have faced was either a rampaging elemental or an errant, intelligent behemoth. Palimpsest¡­.¡±

    ¡°They wanted elves because it saw how we build and what we were capable of,¡± I said. ¡°They wanted technology, and when it became clear they couldn¡¯t have it, they feared us enough to want us dead. Their nature seemingly made them impossible to negotiate with, and their psychic ability meant that they found us before we found them¡ªand likely had days to prepare their assault.¡±

    I looked at the smoking shell in the center of the room, my eyes hard. ¡°Yes, I¡¯d say this creature is now the top of our threat model. The next question is whether they developed intelligence through exposure to mana, or whether we can expect to find these beings everywhere.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s too hard to say for now,¡± Luthiel said. ¡°The sympathetic bond between two seed-nodes seems like something an intelligent mind would need to conceive of. And yet how would Palimpsest craft such a thing on their own, with no access to prior knowledge?¡±

    ¡°A troubling question,¡± I said.

    ¡°Yet with so much primeval mana here, the wildlife likely undergoes so many adaptations that we should expect to see things we¡¯ve never seen before. A plant that, even though it is unintelligent, manages enchantments as sophisticated as our own? It is not inconceivable.¡±

    I nodded, considering all of this as I looked at the shadow of the great shell ahead of me. ¡°We need to harvest what we can,¡± I said at last. ¡°Zirilla and I can work on getting me out of here and Luthiel can reap the chambers.¡± I turned to look at him. ¡°What did you gain from the seed-nodes in the other chamber?¡±

    ¡°A few rank 3 and 4 boons from each,¡± he said. ¡°A scant few contain [Stasis]. The rest are [Mind] and aspects that I expect are less valuable to us.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Zirilla said, smiling. ¡°We needed some good news today, yeah?¡±

    [Mind] keys meant psychic power for everyone. If we could harvest them all¡­.

    ¡°How many seed-nodes in this network of caverns?¡± I asked Zirilla.

    ¡°Almost a hundred.¡±

    An eager joy began rising in my gullet. ¡°And each of them corresponds to a node somewhere outside?¡±

    ¡°They do,¡± said Luthiel. Following my thought process, he added: ¡°And without Palimpsest to shield their locations.¡±

    ¡°We can find them all,¡± I said. ¡°Find them, kill them, and search their environs for any more stored soldiers.¡±

    Who knew how many creatures were lying dormant or useless in caverns below the earth, waiting for any predator to come along and feast upon them now that their master was dead?

    ¡°We want to move fast,¡± I said. ¡°We have only so many elves to hunt out Palimpsest¡¯s leavings, and it¡¯s not clear how long it will take to get it all done. If their stored minions are like the beetles I found when I first arrived here, then wandering predators and insects could find and spoil them. If they¡¯ve come out of whatever stasis they¡¯re kept in, time will do that.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°I¡¯ll begin harvesting parts from and cataloguing the seedlings,¡± Luthiel said.

    ¡°Good,¡± I said. ¡°I want that essence and I want those keys. What we¡¯ve already gathered just by defending ourselves is likely more than what we¡¯d gain from weeks of hunting and keyshaping. If we can hunt out all their nodes, Palimpsest could set us forward by a year.¡±

    We set to work. Luthiel no longer needed to freeze the whole of a cave to kill everything in it, and very quickly he had killed everything in our current chamber. Zirilla followed the airflow to find which caverns were providing the ventilation, and soon we were led back to another perforated wall through which we could access the grand chamber at the base of the pit.

    Soon it was broken, and I emerged not far from the enormous pile of detritus left by the focused cave-in that Palimpsest had engineered in an attempt to stop our arrival.

    I left her with Zirilla so that he would have someone capable not just of excavation, but sound judgement when it came to avoiding cave-ins.

    ¡°Don¡¯t send anyone out without coming to get me first,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯re going to need to invent a whole host of protocols for delving now that there¡¯s a need.¡±

    We¡¯d avoided sending anyone underground because [Earth] keys were so abundant on the surface, now that we had keyshapers. As such, we hadn¡¯t set any rules for journeying beneath the earth beyond not to do it. But keeping safe when exploring underground was not a simple endeavor, and we¡¯d have to decide just which of Palimpsest¡¯s leftover seed-nodes we would leave where they lay if they were too far beneath the earth.

    ¡°Aye,¡± I said. ¡°Think on it before you return. There will be enough work to do back at the keep before I send anyone.¡±

    She nodded, and I left her to take to the air. A landscape of immobile insects passed by under me as I flew to the base of the pit and began to rise out of it.

    The wyverns twitched in the webbing that the spiders had lain across it, and the spiders that had caught them sat dumbly in their webs. They were all well and truly mindless.

    I rose out of the pit and began to fly back toward the keep, this time below the mists so that I could get a feel for the landscape along the route.

    I had only been flying for a few minutes before I came close enough to a group of our windcallers to contact them through the bond.

    Lux Irovex! Kannar, the woman in charge of the second windborne, greeted me as soon as she sensed me. I must say, we¡¯re glad to see you.

    Give me a report, I said. How did we fare?

    The swarm came hard against us after you left, she said. Ranival¡¯s creations doubtless spared our defenders from the worst of it, but¡­.¡±

    I recognized her hesitation immediately, knew its source.

    Who? I asked.

    Lux Irovex, she said. Anaros and Luvere fell to the swarm in the air.

    A cold wind seemed to pass through my body, stripping it of all the lightness and gladness that had filled me as I looked forward to the days to come.

    Then they and their loved ones have paid the greatest cost for the safety that today¡¯s battle will bring all of us, I said. Come. We must return to the keep.

    They recounted the broader strokes of the battle as we flew.

    The third wave had come upon the keep shortly after I left. Palimpsest had abandoned all hope of assaulting us successfully from below, focusing instead on mustering troops in the skies and on the ground.

    Palimpsest had fielded only one behemoth¡ªa heavily armored insect that resembled a shorter centipede. Once it had emerged from one of the tunnels they¡¯d dug, the attack began.

    As soon as the ground forces charged, Ranival and the other white necromancers raised the entirety of the deadvault, and the charging enemies met a smaller army of skeletal animals, including our own behemoth in the form of the undead wyvern.

    The two armies had clashed in the midst of a rain of elven arrows, and right from the first there was little doubt that ours had the upper hand, even through Palimpsest¡¯s seemingly limitless reinforcements. They¡¯d never faced a necromancer, and their conventional weapons and attacks were next to harmless against Ranival¡¯s creations. Our arrows had likely thinned the skeleton army more than Palimpsest had.

    But the sky was a different matter. The aerial swarm had been bolstered far beyond what we¡¯d seen in the second wave. Not only were there more longflies, but Palimpsest had added an uncountable number of insects slightly smaller than an elf¡¯s head. These had essentially tried to swarm our windborne elves, relying on their high speeds so that they would impact them with the force of a thrown stone.

    Both Anaros and Luvere had died in such a manner: jostled and distracted by a strike from one of the smaller insect¡¯s, they¡¯d then been pierced by a hard light projectile thrown by one of the longflies as they worked to steady themselves.

    Soon enough Zirilla, Luthiel, and I had reached Palimpsest¡¯s stronghold, at which point the invading insects had first begun to retreat, then fallen into inactivity all at once.

    Before long I reached the settlement again, flying over a field of countless insectile bodies to land upon the wall next to Valir.

    The elves around us cheered as he clasped my shoulder.

    ¡°Where is Kiandar?¡± I asked. It was the name of Luvere¡¯s husband¡ªshe¡¯d been a wild elf rescued from Ellistara, and so had left behind both a husband and a young son.

    ¡°They¡¯re in the chapel,¡± said Valir.

    ¡°Get everyone else to the great hall,¡± I told him. Then I left to move deeper inside the keep.

    The chapel was a small room that ran in a strip along one of the outer walls of the keep, four slitted windows letting in the mistlight, which mingled with the conjured magelights inside to give a warmer atmosphere to the otherwise cold stone walls that made up the keep¡¯s interior.

    The dead lay on two biers inside, healed from the falls that would have broken their bodies.

    Anaros was a fair-haired man of three centuries, his features so lean as to seem gaunt. Luvere had vividly red hair, was the older of the two at eight centuries, and had a warm, round-faced beauty. Both of them lay side by side on biers.

    Hassina knelt by Anaros¡¯s head, whispering in a language that was very, very old.

    There were several elves in the room with us, but it was Kiandar who I turned to as soon as I came into the room. He stood over his wife¡¯s body, and he held the son they had¡ªLavaril, a boy of nine years¡ªtight to his chest.

    ¡°Lux Irovex,¡± he whispered.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Kiandar,¡± I told him. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry.¡±

    I might have thought that I was the first person to tell him of his wife¡¯s death, watching his face break as he looked upon me. I strode forward and clasped his hands as tears began to fall from his face. Lavaril, head on his father¡¯s shoulder, simply looked at me, quiet.

    ¡°Not me,¡± Kiandar said, ¡°Not us. Please, not us.¡±

    I stepped forward and reached out to clasp his hand. Luvere¡¯s body lay in our shadows, making the moment too sacred to brook any lie to her husband.

    ¡°It¡¯s you, Kiandar,¡± I said.

    He wailed and through himself against me. I embraced them both, and Kiandar sobbed against my chest.

    ¡°You two must go on without her,¡± I whispered. ¡°Until time unites you again. I¡¯m sorry, Kiandar, Lavaril; it¡¯s you.¡±

    As I felt Kiandar shaking against me, I felt an old fear rise in me once again, along with a question.

    What if the world we were building was not for us?

    We were all from Tel Telana or Ellistara, and so everyone we¡¯d known in every other town was gone. All of the places that had nurtured us could never be visited again.

    Kiandar and Lavaril would face unknown centuries without the wife and mother that our immortality had promised them, but they weren¡¯t alone in this.

    Surely we weren¡¯t doomed to be nothing but old custodians from a different, lost world? Out of place and out of touch with this land¡¯s true inheritors?

    I¡¯d already lost a world before Aranar¡ªI should have known the answer to my own question, and yet it only filled me with disquiet.

    I grimaced as Kiandar shuddered against me, wailing in inconsolable pain. It was a maudlin thought; perhaps I could shape it into something that sounded pretty for the funeral.

    <hr>

    ¡°Today has given us cause for grief and cause for relief,¡± I said loudly. I stood in the great hall of the keep, chin high, the elves assembled around me.

    ¡°All of us who stand to defend our people in the time of need know that battle is not a just arbiter of lives. Chance can kill the best of warriors and virtue is no guarantee of glory. When we rise to fight, we pass into the grip of chaos. Today, it was Anaros and Luvere who made the final sacrifice. Ever will their loved ones bear the cost of our survival.¡±

    I looked to Kiandar. He stood near the entrance to the hall, still holding Lavaril against his side.

    ¡°We will exalt them as they deserve,¡± I said. ¡°The very stones of this place will remember the names of these fallen heroes, so fiercely shall we venerate them. That begins by finishing the work that they gave their lives to¡ªkeeping this colony safe.¡±

    I looked around and saw stony determination in seemingly every face.

    ¡°Mark me,¡± I said. ¡°Today we cross a threshold. Already we¡¯ve gathered so many keys, so much essence, and so much knowledge that if we had to fight today¡¯s battle again, we would strike first and it would be over before any insect reached these walls. Yet there is more: our enemy left an abundance of power spread across these lands, and I intend for that power to be ours. We will gather more in the coming week than what our hunters and keyshapers might gather in a year.¡±

    I saw the faces before me shift from determination to awe and disbelief. I understood how they felt: a behemoth would have granted a treasure that was small, in comparison to the daily efforts of the colony. But Palimpsest, across all their minions, held the wealth of a princedom.

    And I intended to put it to use.

    ¡°Soon, my kin,¡± I told them. ¡°Soon I will complete my ritual.¡±

 4.01: Write it in Stone

    We hunted out Palimpsest¡¯s dead seed-nodes for a week, eager to gather the essence and keys to be had by killing the dormant minions and useless nodes before nature claimed them.

    The many stored beetles had begun to come out of whatever stasis they lay in when Palimpsest died. This meant that in underground caverns all across the territory around us, beetles stored in stone cavities did little more than twitch and breathe, waiting until they died of thirst or attracted underground predators.

    But with the ability to track each of the seed-nodes using materials from its paired node in Palimpsest¡¯s main layer, we found most of them first.

    The rewards were astonishing. Tens of thousands of rank 1 keys from the small beetles, and higher-ranked keys from the thousands of greater soldiers like the longflies and the mantis hulks that we¡¯d found. Many of the keys were [Light] and [Mana], two that had no use for my ritual but were more than useful to keep around. A huge portion were [Earth 1] or [Body 1] from the drones.

    The pale arachnids seemed to have the most to offer us, and the sheer number of them that we put down in Palimpsest¡¯s main stronghold was staggering, accounting for half of the 300 million essence we¡¯d collected on their own.

    The resources were much-needed. More than a thousand of us had seen our limit increase, usually by 2 or more, and with our levels approaching or exceeding 30 this meant tens of thousands of essence per level. In my case 50,000 each to level 35, then 110,000 to level 36.

    It would cost a little over a 100 million essence to keep the colony at their limit, but since almost all of the levelling elves were those who knew how to fight, it was well worth it despite the fact that we were saving for my ritual.

    Besides: the bounty of keys and essence meant that it was the preparations, not the resources, that we¡¯d be waiting on. Seriana still had her part to do in preparing the observation spells, and I still had to prepare a massive stock of mana, coordinate all of our channels, draw the various runes that I would need to focus the spell, and hunt down something powerful enough that its blood would suffice as my carrier.

    The week of hunting had made it clear that we didn¡¯t have enough wildhearts. When it came to the task of wholly comprehending Palimpsest and their minions, we could have used ten times the number we had. There was simply too much to analyze in how they controlled their minions en masse, how they transferred [Focus] into their spellcasters, and how they subjugated new creatures.

    We also needed wildhearts to cultivate the mana-bearing plants that I¡¯d be using for my ritual, which grew ever closer now that Palimpsest had granted us so much essence and keys. The excess of work to do meant that I¡¯d abandoned my plan of constructing built-in instruments for the air elementals. I¡¯d been flying out to Palimpsest¡¯s various mini-lairs for the past week, harvesting our enemy¡¯s fallen, underground kingdom.

    Now that this was done, I was handling the plants. I hadn¡¯t spent my [Bestow]s, not yet, but the skill slot I¡¯d gotten for reaching level 35 was, at present, just filled with a simple [Plant Bond] skill. Augmented by my [Wild Bond], it was enough to give me the fine control over the various species of vine and bush that we¡¯d been experimenting with to store and cultivate mana.

    Mirio was still incapacitated, and would be for some time. Mishlo was adamant that he should not be subject to the stress of working on anything important, and so he¡¯d been recovering from the psychic wound inflicted by Palimpsest in the infirmary, cataloguing insects while I coordinated the wildhearts, especially the druids.

    And so I was gardening. Near the edge of our cliff overlooking a sea of mist, I tended many rows of raised beds of rich soil made by some our spellcasters with [Decay Magick] out of some of the corpses of Palimpsest¡¯s assault. They had mixed this fertilizer with some gotten from the swamp below us, as well as some taken from the land near the forest.

    My hands knew warm, moist soil. Before me were the dark, blue-green leaves of the small, unflowered bushes each leaf ripe with primeval mana. Properly cultivated, a massive stock of the plants could suffice for my ritual. Over the course of the next week, I intended to have myself and the druids complete a gruelling round of comprehensive tests to determine which flora we¡¯d been growing en masse.

    For the most part, anyone who needed to speak with me either did so through the bond or came to be given an audience in the garden.

    As such, Hassina came to me when the mist of the second layer had just barely begun to turn a shade of pink. Night was coming.

    She looked tired. Her braid was undone, and her hair was a long curtain of snowy white that ran down to her waist, loose strands falling in front of her eyes. Her gown, which was unenchanted, was marred with smudges of dust.

    The previous night, she¡¯d given a concert atop the Skytusk¡ªthe first such concert she¡¯d arranged as part of our deal with Lord Akkakesh. I¡¯d missed it along with many of the other elves, busy as we were hunting out the last remnants of Palimpsest. Today she had spent most of the day overseeing plans to modify the interior of the mountain to better facilitate future concerts by changing it into an insulated place to store instruments, supplies, and even to house some elves.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I missed the music,¡± I told her.

    ¡°So I¡¯ve been told many times today,¡± she said, giving me a wan smile. ¡°But we¡¯ve all got work to do, now.¡±

    ¡°You look tired.¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°I spent too much time in the mountain. There¡¯s was a lot to tend to once I got back. Still is.¡±

    I dug my hands into the soil in front of me, working it away from the roots that grew beneath one of the leafy blooms. ¡°We can have this conversation another time, if you like.¡±

    If my words gave her any idea of what I wanted to talk about, it made no change in her demeanour. ¡°I can talk now,¡± she said. She began rolling up her sleeves. ¡°And I may as well help with the plants while I¡¯m here.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a single process,¡± I said as she came to stand beside me. ¡°Get your hands under the bloom, and push the soil away from the thickest roots¡ªthere¡¯s usually three or four, see?¡±

    ¡°Those are thick.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all one plant. The roots spread everywhere and grow the blooms, but the blooms can spread the roots.¡±

    ¡°All right.¡±

    ¡°Try to break as little of the smaller roots you see as you can,¡± I told her, guided by scraping my own hands through the soil beneath one of the tiny, dark-leafed plants. ¡°You want to cut the bloom away at the roots, about this deep. But once you start, the whole plant will try to draw all the mana out of the bloom you¡¯re taking. You want to push into its claim and keep the mana in the bloom until you sever it.¡±

    I gently pulled the roots under my bloom, then severed them with my knife in one clean cut. ¡°Just like that,¡± I said. ¡°Simple.¡±

    I left out the part where it wasn¡¯t exactly easy. A less experienced druid would take twice as long as I had or more just to properly hold the mana in. Hassina wouldn¡¯t of course: she was a divine spellcaster, and a good one.

    ¡°Oh, I need a knife,¡± she said.

    ¡°What? You don¡¯t have a knife?¡±

    ¡°What gave you that idea, Aziriel?¡±

    ¡°You just¡ªoh.¡± I scowled at her, and then we both laughed. ¡°Hassina, you should a knife on you. It¡¯s a highly useful tool.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes¡ªbut I don¡¯t right now.¡±

    ¡°What do you eat with when there¡¯s no cutlery?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the high priest, Aziriel. There¡¯s always cutlery.¡±

    ¡°And if there isn¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°I can just borrow someone¡¯s knife.¡±

    I sighed, passed her my knife, then took out a longer, curved blade that I had in one of my boots to use myself. I set the bloom I¡¯d already cut away onto the stone lip of the raised garden bed next to countless others, then began to work on another one.

    For a few seconds we were both quiet. The soft sound of our hands in the soil filled the air for a while.

    ¡°I won¡¯t pretend that everything I say is surely what will come to be,¡± I began at last. ¡°And I won¡¯t be coy by trying to teach you a lesson or lead you toward my conclusion,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m just going to tell you outright what I believe. I don¡¯t think it will work.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Hassina was quiet a moment as she regarded me. When she spoke, her words were slow, careful. ¡°Whether I choose Luthiel¡¯s ultimate fate or not is not the point,¡± she said. ¡°The point is that whatever we do, it is done through by way of the laws that have been so carefully made, and which we hold sacred. The point is that my arguments, and anyone else¡¯s, are heard. As long as that¡¯s done, it will have worked.¡±

    She severed her blood, then set into onto the edge of the garden bed beside her. ¡°Though you can guess, of course, that my preferred outcome is not a lenient one.¡±

    I smiled faintly as I looked at her. ¡°That¡¯s not quite what I meant,¡± I said.

    ¡°No?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m talking about the children. About tomorrow. I expect that you you¡¯ve thought far enough ahead to have foreseen most of what I have.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± she said. ¡°Though I¡¯ve been working hard of late, and I don¡¯t have your seeming immunity to exhaustion to keep my mind sharp at all hours. Please, tell me what you¡¯ve¡ªoh¡ªa moment¡ªmy hair¡­.¡±

    She pulled one end of a lock of hair out of the dirt in front of her, then rooted around in her pocket for a length of cord to tie it back with.

    ¡°Why is it loose?¡± I asked, laughing a little.

    ¡°Oh¡ªsilly¡ªI wanted it free to¡­ well, to feel the wind a little better on the return trip. It was nice. And the braid is heavy enough that it sort of¡­ lashes me unless I hold it in one hand. It¡¯s quite weighty¡ªbut please, go on.¡±

    ¡°All right,¡± I said. ¡°Soon enough, I¡¯ll complete my ritual. And if our people follow the same patterns as mortal races in the wake of vast disasters, there will be a flood of babies. If our people are properly organized around the task of bringing those children up¡ªand we¡¯ll see to it that we are¡ªthen the flood will only slow, never cease.¡±

    ¡°I think that¡¯s more or less what we all expect,¡± Hassina said.

    ¡°How long until the young outnumber the old?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s hard to say, but the exact length of time doesn¡¯t matter. Our proportions will shift. Eventually, those of us who remember Aranar will be a negligible sliver of the population. If every single one of us raises our voices in concert, we¡¯ll be a whisper in a hurricane. The vote will belong entirely to the young.¡±

    Hassina was silent as I cut away the roots of another bloom and set it aside. But I had a hard time believing that any of the high council hadn¡¯t followed this line of thought already. Considering how the votes would go, and how to get them, was a part of our job.

    ¡°We¡¯re not defenseless, of course,¡± I continued. ¡°As the population grows, I can call an election at the right point in time so as to have the current council re-elected for another twenty-five years and keep a hold on our power for as long as possible, but that will only be a temporary measure.¡±

    After a moment¡¯s silence, Hassina said: ¡°There can only be temporary measures.¡±

    ¡°I agree,¡± I said. ¡°Unless we dispense with democracy altogether, our power to decide the destiny of elvenkind will rely entirely on convincing elves who have not yet seen a century.¡±

    ¡°I must say, Aziriel. I see little point in working to curtail the power of elves who have come of age.¡±

    ¡°I agree,¡± I said. ¡°Though I expect my reasons are¡­ more cynical than yours.¡±

    Hassina looked over at me, her expression coldly curious. ¡°Our reasons being?¡±

    ¡°We old Aranians will know one another, be used to one another. Everything we¡¯ve been through and have yet to go through will be another bond we have that they can¡¯t share. Won¡¯t they balk at the weight of remembering a world they¡¯ve never seen? The pain that we show them will be ours, not theirs: I¡¯ve seen this before. We¡¯ll ask them to feel a loss, but we¡¯ll possess the loss all for ourselves. We¡¯ll burden them with trying to understand while at the same time insisting that they never fully will.¡±

    Gently, I ran my knife through the roots of the bloom beneath my hands, cutting it and laying it aside.

    ¡°There will be two elvenkinds,¡± I said. ¡°It will be natural for them to channel whatever resentments they have toward us, to make us the object of their frustrations. The old will be put before the young in all things. We¡¯ll have first say, advance first, command them at every turn. Our philosophies and opinions will be treated as the raw, unvarnished facts of the world. You know.¡±

    Hassina was very young for a high priest. She¡¯d earned her position on merit, but in many ways she¡¯d dealt with a more muted version of what Mirio dealt with now.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said. ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°Whether they¡¯re warranted or not, their frustrations will well up beneath our feet. A shift is coming, one than elvenkind has never seen before. Our people will live as mortals do, helpless to succession, always passing power forward into the hands of the young without any choice in the matter. And when this scale finally balances again, it will be because those who are unborn now have finally grown old. The Aranians, then, will be like specks of dust in a desert wind.¡±

    Hassina let a silence stretched between us before finally saying: ¡°Age is no substitute for experience or skill. The old Aranians who hold every position of authority are not going use that authority faultlessly.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I agreed. ¡°They¡¯re not. Not everyone, at least.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I see the same threat that you do, here.¡±

    I smiled down at the leafy blooms below us. ¡°Hence why I said that we agreed that there was little point in trying to hold onto our power.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. These thoughts trouble you, but you feel we should do nothing?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do,¡± I said simply. ¡°Nothing so significant as to stop the great shift in power, or to keep the young from folly altogether. We may as well wish we could raise a child who never makes a mistake. A lesson I have learned the hard way: one can have the fullest possible extent of dominion over another, yet still be powerless to stop them.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± Hassina said. ¡°Then she added: you¡¯re right. I¡¯m not so cynical. But go on: tell me what you think my reasons are, what you think I¡¯ve seen.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re young relative to the rest of us. And you¡¯re capable. These two things have shown you more than enough of the problems that come with our constant veneration of age.¡±

    ¡°In every one of our institutions one can find old elves who do not respect experience, wisdom, or skill, but only age and age alone¡ªit¡¯s all they have. And I have to wonder: how much do you really know about it? There are no elves older than you, after all.¡±

    ¡°Now, of all times, I think you see cause to clean up our act. Surely, it would be easier if you had a few more centuries, a few less firstborn to stand in your way¡ªbut with waves and waves of new, young elves on the horizon, we can¡¯t wait. And there is good reason to want change. You don¡¯t want these new elves to have to fight through what you¡¯ve fought through ever since you were elected to your position. It¡¯s not just unfair¡ªit¡¯s unwise, for all of us.¡±

    Hassina finished cutting the roots away from one of the blooms and set it aside, but she didn¡¯t return to the work: instead she turned to face me, resting the hand that held my knife on the ledge of the garden.

    ¡°You said you would speak plainly.¡±

    I kept my eyes on the bloom ahead of me. ¡°A hard stand against Luthiel in the coming judgement might make you unpopular now,¡± I said. ¡°But in a hundred years when the young outnumber the old, who will they turn to for leadership but she who stood in defiance of the idea that one of the firstborn could grant such lenience to another?¡±

    Very faintly, I saw Hassina¡¯s jaw tremble for just a moment. She stared at me, eyes like chinks of ice.

    ¡°Once,¡± she said. ¡°When I was¡­ younger. I thought you were above politics, somehow. I thought that you didn¡¯t play the game, that you couldn¡¯t be bothered, and that in you there was a rare elf who simply made her heart known and let all else fall where it would. And I loved you for it.¡±

    I cut the roots away from the bloom I was handling, set it aside. ¡°Once, someone told me that you should never do anything that you feel doesn¡¯t matter. And that as long as what you¡¯re doing matters, incompetence is immoral. I¡¯ve never been sure I agreed with them on either count, but here we are: politics matter too much now for me to indulge in the moral vanity of putting myself above them.¡±

    ¡°And who said this to you¡ªLuthiel?¡±

    ¡°Sabina.¡±

    Hassina looked away and shook her head. ¡°At this very moment,¡± she said. ¡°Mirio is lying in the infirmary, struggling simply to live with his own thoughts because he willingly allowed Palimpsest to wound his very psyche in order to help us strike a devastating blow¡ªan act which took no small amount of genius on his part.¡±

    She sighed. ¡°But you know this, know all of it. You¡¯re the one who appointed him. You have been his staunch defender. I suppose to you he is an example of an exception regarding the young, not of their potential? But the vote of elves who are seventy-five and older is not so fearsome a thing. Not if we do right by them.¡±

    Again she sighed, turning back to the blooms and setting to work with her hands and knife. ¡°So yes, you see it truly. I don¡¯t believe we should work to undermine their power, not because I think it¡¯s pointless, but because I don¡¯t find their power threatening. What¡¯s more: the point is moot. Whether it will keep whatever shadow you can see from falling over us or not, we owe fairness to all. And you know¡ª¡±

    She clenched her jaw, seemed to master herself, and went on. ¡°You I don¡¯t hate having elders, Aziriel. I don¡¯t resent it. If you died tomorrow I¡¯d spend the rest of my life learning from you, I¡¯m sure.¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°But when you speak of timing elections meant to keep your own power for as long as possible, you reveal that our entire democracy was only ever allowed to be as it is because those with power found it unthreatening? Now that this is not the case, you speak in terms of undermining its very spirit as if this is the natural, given solution. You make it clear that if you thought it would work, you¡¯d have no problem doing away with the laws and systems which all of us should hold sacred.¡±

    Her hands moved swiftly, rigidly, scraping the dirt out from under the bloom. ¡°It¡¯s like you¡¯re so fixated on cornering the coming threat you can¡¯t even hear yourself. How is it that you can so perfectly describe how I feel, but somehow fail to see? Yes, some resentments of the youth are unavoidable. Yes, I of all people know this. But what fire will it light in their minds to know that Luthiel abandoned their parents and grandparents to die, against your orders, and suffered only the most lenient punishment possible?¡±

    ¡°We need him,¡± I said quietly.

    ¡°For a time,¡± Hassina said. ¡°He is powerful, he is useful, he was instrumental in destroying Palimpsest. It is no easy thing, choosing a fitting punishment when any of them might also punish the colony. But all of this is precisely why the right message will be sent when he is condemned.¡±

    She tore one of the blooms from the soil, too rough¡ªshe¡¯d lost focus. Both of us watched the mana that it was supposed to contain leak away into the air. Hassina leaned both hands against the ledge of the garden, her head down.

    ¡°I¡¯ll say it quietly,¡± she said, voice hard. ¡°I¡¯ll say it loudly, I¡¯ll say it as many times as I need to before we carve it in stone where it belongs: not even the firstborn are above justice.¡±

 4.02: Awaiting Judgement

    I had no time.

    The judgement loomed, and yet there weren¡¯t enough moments to prepare for when I would stand in front of my people and explain to them why my brother should be granted the utmost of our mercy. Thoughts of it seemed to lurk at every corner of my attentions in the days to come, darting in to distract me between every task and conversation. But endless distraction was the opposite of productive thought, and I had little to show for all the time that I spent dwelling on the hour of judgment.

    The wake of a battle such as the one we¡¯d had with Palimpsest could have been enough to occupy all the hours of my day, even after we¡¯d finished hunting out their minions.

    For one, the battle had left the area around our keep covered in a sea of corpses. We¡¯d converted the flesh of most of the insects to a mulch that would be sifted through by our earthshapers for the purpose of making fertilizer, and we¡¯d crushed the exoskeletons of the insects into a dust that had a variety of uses, both industrial and magical.

    Abroad, the shells of the seed-nodes were of interest to our enchanters: they were a strong and flexible material, and their gathered aspect was apt to hold [Mind], [Wild], and [Armor] keys. But they were heavy and unwieldy, and carrying them to our settlement was a long-term effort.

    Then there was the distribution of keys. This was in Hassina¡¯s hands, but naturally she sought our counsel: in particular, passing around almost six hundred [Mind 3] skill keys was a task that required no small amount of considerations and became the subject of long hours of debate.

    The telepaths, windcallers, and wildhearts all had sound cause to desire the keys. So did the firedancers¡ªwhile the term was used interchangeably with ¡®pyromancer¡¯, the traditional firedancer was a fighter who used both flames and psychic assaults in battle, leaning on the psyche¡¯s natural tendency to be both awed and fearful of flames.

    I had two dozen elves I could have named that, if given the right skills, would not only fill the role of communications in the field, but were well-trained to psychically paralyzing a given foe¡ªas much as any telepath or wildheart.

    Beyond all considerations of the spoils, a frailty had seeped into the emotional atmosphere of the colony. My people were simultaneously more afraid and more hopeful than they had been since coming to the world.

    It didn¡¯t matter that my ritual was forthcoming and that there was plenty of meaningful work ahead of them to keep them occupied. The simple fact of the matter was this: one day all our work had been interrupted by a psychic entity that had sought to completely destroy us with swarms and swarms of insects. The battle had hammered home the fact that this place, abundant as it was in resources, could serve up an existential threat without any warning.

    I could almost hear their thoughts as they would shoot me furtive glances where I stood and tended my garden. What would come next?

    And worse: would we be strong enough to survive it?

    Until the battle, I¡¯d been against getting wrapped up in planning for the arrival of the children. Now, to distract from the fear, I instigated such planning wherever I could.

    On my orders, Zephanal began to take opinions on how to design the parks where they would play. Elves were asked to consider who our chief educators would be. The question of how many rooms each individual home would require was left to each couple to decide. Mishlo was public in asking for volunteers to learn the skills of midwifery because of how few of us there were who knew.

    It was my careful way of diverting them from thoughts of what tomorrow might bring. Instead I wanted them to think of where we¡¯d be in a year¡¯s time. It added work, but the work was worth it.

    All the needs of the colony in the wake of the battle began to blur into those things which the colony had already required. With the keep finished, more steel could be diverted to other purposes and I needed to decide on what. More lumber was needed to reconstruct the lift, which had been broken by Palimpsest in the battle.

    Further decisions needed to be made about which plants we would be cultivating in the immediate future: our hunters had brought back a fibrous flowerbush of particular interest, hopeful that it could function much like flax and be used to make fine cloth. As the only textile we could currently produce out of the plants around us was most reminiscent of burlap, this was an exciting prospect indeed.

    But I allowed only minimal effort to be devoted to the task of cultivating the plants. My mana vine was our priority: it would take a staggering amount of it to fuel my ritual, and unless I devoted most of our botanists to the job of spreading the vine, we¡¯d soon find it was the last thing we were waiting on.

    Construction of the settlement continued, and at a faster pace. Because they couldn¡¯t be used to make [Primeval] keys, we¡¯d been liberal in our distribution of the [Light], [Weave], and [Mana] keys that we¡¯d gained from killing Palimpsest. We¡¯d also gotten more [Earth] keys than we needed to fulfill the ritual, and the results of all this were that our working crews had gotten even faster.

    Conjured constructs of hard light were everywhere in the recess beneath the keep where we meant to eventually build our small settlement. Huge blocks of tuff and basalt were dragged out of the pit along glowing, low-friction ramps, then slid across long stretches of ground to be set aside for later use in construction.

    The mages with higher [Focus] could conjure and form the light into chains, which were a great help: much of the iron we¡¯d gathered had gone into reinforcing the concrete of our keep and the construction of the lift that ran the height of the cliff. The deeper we dug, the more energy we had to expend to move the stones. Ropes, chains, and pulleys were sorely needed.

    I knew I wasn¡¯t the only elf who felt stretched thin: everyone had so much work to do. Our hunting parties still needed to gather keys and essence, and our keyshapers still roamed about, stripping the aspect from the world around us. The added [Mind] keys meant that our windcallers had more territory to scout now that they could range far while still maintaining psychic contact. A sizeable portion of elves still needed to remain devoted to Hassina¡¯s mountaintop concerts.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    We still had to fuse the keys that I needed for my ritual. From my garden, I could pick out the long, dark hair of Master Shaper Galeena as she and a small crowd of two dozen other shapers sat on a flat square of rock beside the keep, focusing on chalk drawings and small, carved pieces of quartz, occasionally muttering or singing. They were fusing skill keys: usually two [Earth] and one [Water] to create an [Elemental], then an [Elemental], a [Body], and a [Wild] to create a [Primeval].

    [Primeval]. One of the apex aspects, along with [Arcane], [Divine], and the oft-forgotten [Eldritch]. We needed two [Primeval 3] keys in the hands of each elf.

    It was an insane bounty, and one that had got me thinking about the sheer abundance of essence on this new world.

    In most mortal realms, the only 3rd-rank skill keys that one might find in the hands of the average citizen were those whose aspect was found in abundance: [Earth], [Water], and [Plant] were all common enough to be found in the hands of farmers.

    But even then, the 25,000 essence in a 3rd rank key was often either out of their reach, or better spent on lower-rank, rarer skill keys like [Mana]. A good [Mana] skill made a farmer far more productive than a slightly higher ranked [Earth] skill, after all.

    Elf societies had been different, of course.

    Power and immortality had made us rich. The 160 years that it took two elves to have a child was more than enough time for them to gather whatever power they needed to ensure that child could pursue whatever class and life they desired.

    But what two parents might gather together was nothing in comparison to the incalculable wealth of the church. The priesthood tithed a population of learned immortals, and this made them extremely wealthy, but this was only a part of it. For an elf, it was a pleasant thing to plant an oak sapling and look forward to when we¡¯d sit in its shade: it let us dwell upon the unlimited years before us, and what a happy thing they could be.

    Applying that mindset to wealth had made our finances formidable indeed¡ªthe greatest friction between elves and the other species of Thanaxes had always come from how much of their industries, business, and aspect farms our priesthood owned.

    And when it came to aspect farms, [Diamond] was the aspect which we cherished most: it was needed both for the manahearts and for the worship of the Midnight Queen. It took a small dragon¡¯s hoard of diamonds to generate a single [Diamond 1] key each year, and we¡¯d had the means to generate far more than that. No-one could equal the glittering vaults of the elves¡ªand more than half of them still survived on Thanaxes.

    It all raised an important question.

    In such a small timeframe, we¡¯d attained level 30, filled our many skill slots with rank 1 and 2 keys, and could now make 2 [Primeval 3] skill keys for every elf. It was a testament to this world¡¯s abundance.

    For each elf to fill all their skill slots with rank 3 keys would cost us a billion essence. But as costly as this seemed, we¡¯d surely get there.

    Then what? Higher levels cost exorbitant amounts of essence, but they also took years to attain. The essence would keep flowing, even if we slowed the rate at which our hunters hunted. We would save some for later generations, surely, but this couldn¡¯t account for all of it.

    And so we¡¯d do what we¡¯d done for ages: we¡¯d create rare aspect farms. Our creationists could turn raw essence into many things, but only one of them would be permitted to convert raw essence into the rarest of materials.

    Even if she wasn¡¯t a [Divine Champion], Hassina had the highest [Divine Resonance]: it was part of why she¡¯d become high priest when she was only 250 years old. It would be her job to convert our essence into diamonds, because for her this task cost the least.

    But before we could get her started creating any diamonds¡ªor any rare material, for that matter¡ªwe¡¯d need at least one [Diamond 1] skill key for her to use to form the talent. And to get it, we¡¯d need to find ourselves a huge quantity of diamonds.

    Hence why I favored storing all our excess essence until such a time as we were far more powerful than we were now: I wasn¡¯t keen on meeting this world¡¯s earth elementals. Hunting for gemstones was something that needed to be done far, far away from the colony, and by elves who could defend themselves in case of the worst.

    But when we did get started? Sustainable hunting across broad stretches of territory would gain us an absurd amount of essence. Even suffering the inefficiency that came with making the [Diamond Creation] skill with nothing but a [Diamond 1] skill key and a [*Creation 4] core, the diamonds would come fast.

    The thought made me laugh. I¡¯d never thought of it as such, but if we ever found a way to reconnect to Thanaxes, the two manahearts I¡¯d spent to bring us here would no doubt be considered a worthy investment.

    On this world, the [Diamond] keys could make power, and nothing more. We had no partners to trade with.

    Not even the flying plants who had been so instrumental in our victory seemed interested in relations. They¡¯d left in short order once the deed was done. Mirio had made contact with them once more, to offer them some share of the bounty we¡¯d gotten for killing Palimpsest, but they¡¯d refused. A dead Palimpsest was the only thing they¡¯d sought.

    I¡¯d have parted with some of the spoils, but I was glad they didn¡¯t want them. We needed them too badly, especially the [Mind] keys.

    Mirio had given clear instructions not to bother them, and none of the wildhearts were foolish enough to see any cause to disobey him. The distinction between the mind of a predator and that of prey was something they knew well, something even a child at Ellistara would have known well.

    The floating plants were prey animals¡ªor rather prey plants. They weren¡¯t built to assess and weigh the potential value of putting themselves in danger. Threats were avoided, and that was that. Yes, they were psychically dangerous, but only inasmuch as this helped them defend themselves. They didn¡¯t hunt: it was very likely that their main form of sustenance came from the feces of the bat-like mammals that they shared their caverns with.

    If we were to have any form of successful relationship with them, we needed to show that we would back off and keep our distance whenever asked. Even then, our prospects were doubtful.

    They feared us. Their intellect meant that they could be sophisticated in their behaviours¡ªthat they could push against their natures to seek a goal that served the greater safety of their kind, such as they¡¯d done when they assisted us with Palimpsest.

    It would take time to have any sort of relations with them.

    But at the rate that time was passing, we¡¯d be there soon enough. It flew by me in a whirl, the days never seeming to have enough hours.

    I tended my gardens. I listened to problems and authorized solutions, or refused to. Seriana and I spoke often on the spellcraft involved in the ritual, and less often on the coming judgement. Hassina and I spoke little.

    And in time, the moment I¡¯d been looking forward to least of all came¡ªat last.

    Luthiel was to be judged.

 4.03: The Judgement of Luthiel

    We held the judgement outside.

    The earthshapers made us a place in the pit that we¡¯d begun digging beneath the keep, cutting a small theater out of the rock itself. Seats rose in tiers around a flat central space where the arguments would be presented.

    The dark stone, combined with the walls of the pit that rose around us and blocked some of the mist¡¯s light, gave the whole affair a shadowy, furtive air, as if the judgement itself were something that we felt ashamed of, something that we wanted to do out of sight and then forget about.

    There were two irregularities in the circular, central area. The first was a small bench off to one side, just far enough from the tiered seats to cut its occupants off from the crowd. The second was a huge stone urns that stood opposite it. Zirilla stood next to the urn, wearing a blindfold as per tradition.

    I was one of the last elves to arrive, my hands somewhat stained with soil. I found my place at the innermost ring of seating and sat next to Fireesha and Mirio, who looked like he hadn¡¯t slept in days.

    Though there was no tradition insisting that it be so, Hassina sat directly across from me, both the urn and the bench between us. She could have sat with me and the rest of the council¡­ but I agreed with her positioning. It felt right.

    The last of the attending elves came into the arena and took their seats. A few of our scouts and psychics were arranged at strategic points around the colony as usual, lookouts ready to sound the alarm. But they¡¯d trusted their votes to others in attendance. Everyone would be accounted for.

    Seriana came last, and Fireesha moved so she could sit beside me. We didn¡¯t speak¡ªI simply clasped her hand and and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

    Then Hassina stood. Slowly, the hushed murmurings that filled the theater fell silent at the sight of this. At last she raised her hands and wove a spell, creating a sound that was much like the striking of a gong¡ªlong and ominous.

    The judgement had begun. Hassina stood and clasped her hands before her, the only elf in that moment who had the authority to stand. She was quiet, waiting.

    Luthiel appeared at the steps that led into the theater, Valir standing behind him. The former archmage wore a thick chain around his neck, and a heavy, cylindrical stone the length of two hands was hung from it.

    He was, as always, perfectly composed. His walk was not shameful, sluggish, or hurried. Neither was it proud. He strode slowly to the bench, his bearing somber and his gait formal. He was a walking statue.

    He sat, and Hassina gave a curt nod to Seriana, who stood, crossed the space to her husband, and sat beside him. Valir stood behind them, opposite the blindfolded Zirilla.

    I sat and eyed my rival. If any consolation came with the endless work that had filled the days leading up to now, it was that Hassina had been granted as little time as I had to prepare herself. Besides: the often-arcane laws of the courts were little but guidelines, now, and she and I both knew it. The laws had gotten us here, and would dictate how we proceeded, but the vote of our people would decide Luthiel¡¯s fate, not whoever presented a more skillful manipulation of the snarl of mechanistic protocols that comprised elvish law.

    Across from me, Hassina bore herself like an empress, her face severe. The High Priest, the Grand Storyteller, and now the officiator of the judgement. In another circumstance I might have given a bit of a wry smile at the thought. Hassina complained of ageism, of gerontocracy. But if Luthiel and I had too much power, where did that put the church?

    Hassina spoke. Her voice wasn¡¯t loud, but it carried to every corner of the theater around us.

    ¡°Today we sit in judgement of Luthiel, once called Lux Aravae, the [Arcane Champion] of the elves. We cannot our courts for this purpose. This would be a mockery. For each and every elf who could have served upon the council of judges has ties if not to Luthiel, than to Lux Irovex or to myself, the only two members of the high council who have chosen to name fates. And so we recourse to the old ways.¡±

    Fireesha wouldn¡¯t put forward a fate because she¡¯d been Seriana¡¯s apprentice, and had reported directly to Luthiel for most of her life. Galeena wouldn¡¯t put forward a fate for the same reason: she reported directly to Hassina. And Mirio wouldn¡¯t put forward a fate because he was barely taken seriously as an archdruid, let alone a high councillor: if he agreed with me too loudly, it would probably hurt my cause.

    It was just me and Hassina. We¡¯d get it done quick, at least.

    ¡°I will begin,¡± Hassina said, her voice steely, almost harsh in its forcefulness. She stepped forward, sweeping her gaze across the assembled elves. ¡°Before I name the fate I choose, I will tell you a story. And before I tell you my story, our story, I must beg your forgiveness. It is not lightly that I ask you to dwell on this day.¡±

    A wave of frustrated, helpless exhaustion came over me as Hassina spoke, despite the fact that I¡¯d known this was coming. I could see in the faces of the gathered elves that almost all of them felt the same.

    ¡°In the early days of our summer,¡± Hassina said. ¡°The Doom came upon Aranar.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know what they thought or felt on the matter. I didn¡¯t know what memories they had that had now become curses, afflicting them again and again in unexpected moments of the day. I didn¡¯t know how many of them still woke in the morning and, as they shed their blissful half-sleep, remembering with a sudden sinking jolt of the heart that Aranar was gone.

    I was tired and sick, and I knew that Hassina was, too. I didn¡¯t want to talk about it and I didn¡¯t want to hear about it.

    But here we were.

    ¡°I was in the Sable Tower when it happened,¡± said Hassina. ¡°We lost contact with Kal Herana first.¡±

    A city of almost a million. The crown jewel of the world of the elves.

    I had first met Kal Herana when it was no city, but a seemingly endless field of wild grass filled with horses, bison, and a chittering chorus of insects¡ªa field that ran on alongside a glittering, unnamed river until both met a rocky seaside and Hashephel had said: that inlet would make an excellent natural harbor.

    And I had agreed by saying: the river is gentle.

    How quickly had it happened? If the Doom¡¯s origin point was not Kal Herana, then it had been close. Had the people of Kal Herana been blasted into ash in seconds, unable to even understand what they were seeing before it caught up with them? Or had it been as it was with Tel Telana, as it had doubtless been with the other cities?

    The horizon had become a scar. The scar had grown to swallow sky, sea, and earth.

    As millions of souls were snuffed away, I had been sitting in the shade of the old trees that grew on the green all round the Sable Tower¡­.

    Something¡¯s wrong, Alcuon had said.

    ¡°It did not take us long to realize that something was¡­ deeply wrong,¡± said Hassina. ¡°And I think that disbelief clouded the mind of most of us, myself include. But soon¡ªtoo soon to be believed, even now¡ªwe received a message from Kel Ziole. The last. It said: ¡®launch the ships¡¯.¡±

    It was the first thing that Hassina had told me when Alcuon had warped us both inside the Sable Tower. Three words: obviously a message sent in haste. And they¡¯d said that Kel Herana had been silent for minutes¡­.

    Oh, the spike of terror that had run through me then, the fear I¡¯d felt. Exactly what I¡¯d feared would happen had happened.

    ¡°As Luthiel retrieved the ships from the River of Realms, Lux Irovex arrived, heard my report, and rose to gain sight of the horizon.¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    I¡¯d thrown myself into the sky. Not again. Sabina, please, not again.

    Please!

    And I¡¯d seen it: the scar. Stretching the whole length of the glittering sea and growing each passing moment. A jagged black line¡ªsomething too big to be comprehended¡­.

    ¡°Within moments,¡± Hassina said.

    And then she fell silent. Her mouth hung open, her face showing a muted, soundless agony that could barely be seen. She was living the moment, just as I was: just as all of us must have been. I saw tears glittering on the faces of those in the crowd, saw faces that were downcast and hidden.

    Hassina was not being maudlin with her story, but sparing: she was saying as little as she could say.

    And she was turning us all into ghosts.

    Her mouth trembled and she set her jaw, pushing forward. ¡°Within moments, we knew the nature of the doom. Lux Irovex landed, began to give orders to hasten the evacuation of the city. And within moments, two silver ships appeared above the tower green. Ships that, in their wisdom, the elves who remember the loss of old Maia insisted must be at the ready at all times. Luthiel had returned.¡±

    Hassina paused, letting her gaze sweep across the faces of the assembled elves. ¡°Luthiel¡¯s eyes saw far,¡± she said. ¡°And as he looked out toward the doom, he saw that something else was coming. Something preceding it. A fraying wind was fast approaching, a ripple that would distort all of the mana it touched and make normal warp magic impossible. The wind is why no one from the other cities came to board the ships as they should have¡ªnot one. Luthiel saw that the wind would fall over Ellistara, and then Tel Telana, and that when it did, we would be trapped.¡±

    There¡¯s no time, Aziriel. None! Luthiel¡¯s composure had been shattered when I¡¯d landed on the deck of his ship, but he hadn¡¯t been panicking. He¡¯d been utterly horrified, but still lucid. He¡¯d reached out and shown me what he saw with his mind, not bothering to take the time to explain it with words. I¡¯d understood immediately¡ªand I¡¯d had to make a decision.

    ¡°He told this to Lux Irovex as she landed on the deck of his ship. And Lux Irovex made her decision. She decided that they will both stay, be covered by this fraying wind, and use all their powers to stave off the doom for as long as possible while Alcuon attempted to compose a spell that will retrieve the elves from Ellistara and warp the two ships away to the River of Realms. A spell that worked in spite of the fraying wind.¡±

    From where she stood across from me, Hassina looked my way, an apology writ clear on her face. It was her job to tell this story, but there was no question as to who among us it belonged to.

    ¡°She knew that this meant her husband would surely die,¡± she said softly. ¡°For to warp any elves across a stretch of frayed mana, one cannot use a spell powered by mana. One must use essence, and the only source of enough essence that Alcuon could have found in so short a time was himself. Old magic, this magic of sacrifice¡ªbut well-known to a wizard such as Alcuon.¡±

    With an effort of will, I focused on the world around me as Hassina spoke. I broke it into pieces, so that my eyes didn¡¯t see objects, but rather just a smear of light and color. My ears didn¡¯t hear Hassina and the chirruping of insects in the grass above us, just a wall of sound, curious in its texture. I tasted the air in my breath and felt the shifting winds move the hairs of my body¡­.

    It kept me from thinking of my final moments with my husband. But soon Hassina¡¯s words brought me back from my trance:

    ¡°¡ªBetrayed. And why? Because Luthiel had no faith.¡±

    I shut my eyes. She was right, damn him. In the hour I¡¯d needed him to trust me, in a matter where I¡¯d had every right to demand his trust, he¡¯d turned away.

    My brother.

    Hassina raised her voice. ¡°No faith,¡± she said, the words echoing around us. ¡°Not that Alcuon would finish his spell in time. Not that they could keep the Doom from consuming the city for long enough. To Luthiel, one fact shines true: that he can assuredly save the elves already in the Sable Tower, the archive aboard the ships, both manahearts, and both elven champions. And he will not risk all of this for the sake of the thousand wild elves in Ellistara, for those families and their children who are here with us tonight.¡±

    Again, her eyes moved across her audience. Often, in matters such as these, I had some inkling of how the vote would go: who held the advantage and who held the disadvantage. Here, I had no idea. I commanded more loyalty than Hassina, certainly, but those most loyal to me were the families that Luthiel had been trying to kill. And any loyalty toward me was a double-edged sword, now: I was the one he¡¯d disobeyed.

    It was the same with Hassina. Were the high elves apt to fall to the defense of their own champion, or to follow her in condemning him?

    ¡°And so the [Arcane Champion]... left. He tried to force Lux Irovex and her husband to come with him, too¡ªbut by unknown means, she denied him. Lux Irovex was left to execute her plan on her own, and she did. The risk was harder without the aide of her brother, but still, all was done as she¡¯d intended. Alcuon died to compose his spell¡ªone that sent both the elves of Ellistara and those who had gathered in the Sable Tower into the river of realms aboard the second silver ship.¡±

    I let out a small sigh, relieved that she¡¯d chosen to be sparse in detailing the last moments of that fateful day.

    ¡°Luthiel¡¯s crimes are a cascade of transgressions,¡± Hassina continued. ¡°Each of which could doom him to a grievous penalty in our old courts, some to a penalty as harsh as death. But this is not a court, and I see no need to describe them all. Instead, I will simply describe how I feel his actions justify the fate I will name.¡±

    All the time she¡¯d been speaking, both Hassina and I hadn¡¯t looked at Luthiel. Now, she turned toward him with a pitiless expression¡ªand I saw that he sat stoic as a statue, Seriana beside him with tears glittering on her cheeks.

    ¡°First,¡± said Hassina. ¡°His manaheart was not his personal possession. It belonged to all of us, and was meant to be used to serve all of us¡ªdown to the last child.¡± Here, she looked toward where most of the elves of Ellistara still sat. ¡°When he left with his ship and those elves who had already made it to the Sable Tower, he stole it. To steal or tamper with one of the manahearts is, in the normal course of the law, an act of treason.¡±

    She let this declaration hang in the air for a moment.

    I felt that it was something of a stretch. It was only treason because the manahearts were a crucial part of how we maintained control of an entire world with such a small population. That law was in place so that stealing one of the manahearts would be a more serious crime than simply stealing a priceless jewel¡ªit put our entire civilization at risk.

    ¡°Second,¡± said Hassina. ¡°He knowingly chose the sacrifice not just of elven lives, but of an entire branch of Aranian culture¡ªone that was not his own. Ellistara is where wild elves are nurtured in their youth. It is a concentration of all the knowledge that makes their very people, an entire way of life. Luthiel chose to take a better chance at preserving the manahearts by sacrificing the very thing they were meant to protect.¡±

    Despite the funereal silence that had blanketed the audience up until now, A hiss seemed to run through them at Hassina¡¯s words. It was quiet, but it carried a livid rage that I knew all too well.

    I agreed with Hassina, after all. I¡¯d left Luthiel alone in the wake of the Doom, but that didn¡¯t mean I didn¡¯t want to grab him and shake him, furious and screaming: How could you? How could you, how could you, how could you?

    My brother. My people.

    I¡¯d had to tell my husband to die to do what Luthiel had been too afraid to even take a chance on. How could you?

    ¡°Third,¡± said Hassina. ¡°He had no right to make the choice. In the time of utmost crisis, when command falls to Lux Irovex, Luthiel¡ªan elf held in highest regard, trusted above all others¡ªwas insubordinate. He went against her orders. He tried to steal her away from her duties. He betrayed her.¡±

    Now Hassina turned toward me, and this time there was no apology writ on her face. ¡°Trust me, my brethren, that I do not say what I say now as an indictment against she who, on this day, stands as my only rival. But I must say this: Lux Irovex, our [Primeval Champion], is as ruthless as she is powerful. She has sent more elves to their deaths than any other person alive, and she has saved more elven lives than could ever be counted.¡±

    Hassina¡¯s eyes were shards of frost. Her voice was steel. ¡°On that day she asked her husband to die the moment that it became necessary, conscious that not one second could be spared. And so now I ask this: who better than her to decide, as the Doom comes to Tel Telana, who would live and who would die? Who was Luthiel to gainsay her commands? Time has proven her faith in Alcuon¡¯s abilities well-founded: even without Luthiel¡¯s aide, all was done as she¡¯d insisted it should be. The wild elves of Aranar survive.¡±

    Slowly, Hassina turned, walked back to where she¡¯d been seated, and turned again to face the gathered audience. ¡°My stone is the stone of Aeth,¡± she announced. ¡°Cast it alone and you align your judgement with my own.¡±

    Then she waited, letting silence build to a crescendo before she let her voice ring out across our crude theater and echo off the stone walls of the pit that rose around it.

    ¡°I name the fate of exile,¡± she cried. ¡°Exile: three hundred years or two ages of our people, as marked by our chroniclers.¡±

    She paused to let this settle over the gathered audience, then spoke again. ¡°Let it be delayed if it must be: the high council may vote on how long, though the most they may decide will be a decade. I must acknowledge the reality of our circumstances, and recent events have shown that Luthiel is useful, powerful, and within Lux Irovex¡¯s control. To punish him in haste might incur a cost against the colony, and this more than anything I wish to avoid.¡±

    She turned to stare at Luthiel, and he met her gaze, seeming undaunted. ¡°One last thing,¡± said Hassina. ¡°These are the old ways. A punishment served is a crime forgiven. When the term of his exile is completed, Luthiel will return to us¡­ unashamed. Ready perhaps, to seek again the station he once earned among us.¡±

    Now she turned to me. ¡°That is all. I cede.¡± And she sat.

    Quiet filled our theater, and I became aware of every elf¡¯s attention coming to rest upon me.

    I stood.

 4.04: In Luthiels Defense

    I stepped forward into the center of attention and thought about Hassina¡¯s chosen fate.

    I¡¯d expected that she wouldn¡¯t push for execution. No matter how much she might talk about the privileges of the firstborn, we couldn¡¯t be killed like this: there were too few of us and we bore too much memory.

    Exile had thus been her only reasonable choice, and one that could potentially go on for three centuries seemed to fit the crime in question. Still, the ten year delay was more than what I¡¯d anticipated. I expected it was also more than what Hassina herself thought was fair, but she must have known that such a concession was necessary in the wake of Palimpsest¡¯s attack. Everyone could feel how vulnerable we were, could see that at least for now we wanted both champions ready to defend the colony.

    I was speaking second. In our first statements, it was generally considered poor form to respond directly to the statement of the elf who came before you. Indirectly addressing her points was fine, but directly contradicting them would come later¡ªafter she¡¯d been given a chance to respond to me.

    Slowly, I looked at the elves around me. While my disagreement with Hassina on this matter was common knowledge to most of the council, most of my people likely had no idea that I was to ask them to be more merciful. Surely, some of them would expect the opposite.

    ¡°Perhaps it will surprise some of you to learn that I seek what seems a more lenient fate for Luthiel,¡± I said. ¡°Yet I will. I will make two arguments today, and the first of them will also be the worst. It may strike some of you as cowardly and unjust, and I suppose to a certain perspective it is. But there are some who say that retreat on the battlefield is cowardly or dishonorable, and yet a commander who is unwilling to do either is a poor commander.¡±

    I let these words settle on my people, gave them some time to absorb whatever shock it caused, then continued. ¡°I will make two arguments today. The first is the weaker of them, and far longer¡ªand yet it must be heard. It is the simple argument of use. After all: I am callous and calculating when I need to be. When elven lives are at stake, I must weigh and measure them, sacrifice some to save some others, and this requires a ruthless heart.¡±

    Again I paused, hoping that they would think of what Hassina had said of me in praise¡ªfor she had also called me ruthless, if only to insist that I could have been trusted with the decision that Luthiel stole from me.

    ¡°In Luthiel, my callous eyes see a tool to be used,¡± I said. ¡°Elven lives are at stake now,¡± I said. ¡°They will be at stake for a long time to come. This world is still deadly: Palimpsest showed us as much, as if we did not know it already. What shall we do, if we meet such a creature ten thousand times their size and power, twenty years from now? That is an easy enough answer: we fight.¡±

    I let a silence linger, hoping that they would imagine the horror of Palimpsest repeating itself, allowing them to take the time to make it real in their minds.

    Then I continued. ¡°And what shall become of Luthiel, if he is exiled and encounters such a creature himself, alone? There, too, is an easy answer: we will have killed him. Here, today, we will have assured his death.¡±

    ¡°I ask this: if the full extent of justice meant letting Luthiel die, would you seek it? If it meant letting the person who you love best die, would that be a worthwhile exchange? He is our [Arcane Champion], and I deem that he will do as I command. I fear that in seeking to punish Luthiel, we will punish ourselves.¡±

    I began to make a slow circle of the inside the theater, slowly shifting my gaze from one elf to another. ¡°Yet this reason, sound as it is in my judgement, is only a part of the first argument I must make today. For we will not always be fearful of this world¡¯s dangers as we are now.¡±

    Slowly, I began to raise my voice, speaking more boldly with each word. ¡°Let me tell you what I foresee,¡± I said. ¡°New generations will see the passing of the shadow of fear, and though I have not seen cause to think on it in these early days, a time is coming where death is not so close at hand as now, one where we are safe enough to raise up new cities, explore the corners of this new world, and unravel each new secret we find. We will fill root-gardens with laughter, libraries with knowledge, amphitheaters with music and galleries with art. We will nurture ourselves out of the raw rock and untilled soil of this newfound world, and we will grow strong. Yet this alone is not enough.¡±

    Again I paused, hoping to let their imaginations realize what I had said, hoping to have them invest themselves in the vision of the future I had given. ¡°It is not enough,¡± I repeated. ¡°To build a civilization is the task of lifetimes, even those as long as ours. Yet we must not merely build a civilization, we must build our civilization. We bear memory; we must pass on what otherwise will be lost. And here again, I must argue to Luthiel¡¯s use.¡±

    I reached out and stirred the mana in the air around me, watching it form whorls and eddies as it moved. ¡°This world is primeval,¡± I said. ¡°I chose a world such as this for good reason: when I finish my ritual, the mana here will fuel our newfound fecundity. Yet the mana also poses a problem to our people, one that we¡¯ve had little time to consider. Primeval mana and arcane mana do not coexist. The mana in the very air here will degrade some enchantments and make many arcane spells impossible.¡±

    I finished my slow circle of the theater, then stopped in my original position, gazing around at all of them but letting my eyes linger on the mages. ¡°On this untamed world, the skills and knowledge of the wild elves will naturally take precedence over those of the high elven mages, at least for a long time to come. At the moment they are more useful, and easier to build and strengthen. And so on this world, the traditions of our mages¡ªand thus the high elves themselves¡ªare at risk of withering even as those of the wild elves grow stronger.¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°This is not the future I desire,¡± I said. ¡°Nay, I aim to keep the balance of Aranar, to labour now as hard as we need to in order that we pass on what must be passed on. This is not a matter of tradition alone: the advantage of fostering arcane power on a world that has known so little of it should be clear for all to see. There will be no prosperity without the mages. And here, too, we must consider Luthiel.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    I had to be careful not to look at Luthiel. I¡¯d decided that for the most part, I would pretend he wasn¡¯t there.

    ¡°He has taught more mages than any other person alive. Shall we exalt my husband Alcuon, whose skill allowed him to compose the spell that saved all those in Ellistara? He was mentored by Luthiel from boyhood, foremost among his apprentices.¡±

    I paused. A flutter of nausea passed through me.

    Focus, Azi, I thought I heard him say. Don¡¯t let me distract you.

    ¡°Luthiel is among our greatest arcanists, archivist, binders, seers, psychics, teachers and researchers. He has taught more mages than most elves will ever meet. How great a cost will the elves incur if his punishment pushes him outside our grasp? The tasks of surviving and then conserving our culture are enormous. We don¡¯t know the cost of dispensing with Luthiel.¡±

    I swept my gaze across my people, focusing on the wild elves¡ªthe ones who had the best reason to despise him.

    ¡°Across our history, many elves have died so that others could enjoy a more just world. I¡¯ve asked elves to die for such a cause before, and I don¡¯t think of them as fools, but heroes. And so perhaps, to some of you, this argument that I make sounds craven. And yet now more than ever we must think of what is best for all of us. We must be unified.¡±

    Slowly, I began to walk the inside of the theater again, though now my course was reversed. ¡°I hope you will consider all that I¡¯ve said thus far,¡± I said. ¡°Yet there is more to say. For I believe that all that I have foreseen will come to pass.¡±

    I looked up at the mists above us as if I could see through them, past them. ¡°I believe that a thousand years from now young elves will sit in safe havens, under the watchful eyes of mighty protectors and fires that burn in ancient hearths. And they will say, ¡®my kin hunted these forests when the land was old and wild, unknown to any elf; my kin planted those trees and hewed those stones which now give millions shelter; my kin came to know that sea, sailing to its furthest reaches and diving to its deepest depths; my kin, through music, made peace with the spirits of the wind.¡±

    I let my eyes pass over them so that each and every elf present would¡ªfor just one moment¡ªthink that I was looking directly at them, into them. ¡°Mark me,¡± I said. ¡°You will be their kin.¡±

    Again I paused to let them imagine this future for a moment: to make it real, to make it something they could care about losing.

    ¡°I know the hearts of some of you,¡± I said. ¡°Because in them is a reflection of my own heart. There is a grief-borne urge to deny this, all of this, to insist that nothing good must come from the Doom that befell us because to see otherwise would be to mock all those we lost. But I say this: the dead would want nothing less than for us to reach, to grasp, to drag ourselves forward, away from this Doom, and make what lives we can make so that all elves who come after us may prosper. I say that in the wake of our loss, there will be no nobler deeds than those we undertake in the age to come. Though borne of horror, a hoard of glories yet awaits we who yet live.¡±

    I let my tone fall, my voice growing somber, even a little harsh. ¡°But to the one who was once called Lux Aravae¡­ all these glories have already been lost. If Luthiel can hold any name now, it is Luthiel Twice-Faithless. He who had no faith first in his own apprentice Alcuon, and then in me. And no matter his deeds, this will never be forgotten.¡±

    I completed half my circle of the theater, then paused at the point that was nearest to where Hassina sat. ¡°And so here I come to my final argument,¡± I said. ¡°The better argument, one shorter and simpler than all I have said thus far. It is this:¡±

    I waited just a few seconds to let their curiosity build, then said: ¡°The first night we arrived on this new world, our grand storyteller told us a story. You remember.¡±

    I let a little smile cross my face and enter into my voice. ¡°I understand that outside my earshot, it was the subject of much discussion.¡±

    I gave a conciliatory tilt of my head, as if that fact was the best I could expect. ¡°It was the story of when Narana the Unifier came to Ithmel Bel. The story of the time that I murdered three elves¡ªKiriae, Darallia, and Athalos. My son Alesith had been killed, and they stood in the way of my vengeance. Narana stood in the way of my vengeance.¡±

    Suddenly, many of the elves in the theater were averting their gazes as my eyes swept over them. ¡°And while it is a story I always be ashamed to hear, it is still the story of one of my greatest accomplishments. On that day, either Narana or my dream of vengeance had to die. And somehow, impossibly, she made it the latter. I have never regretted my choice. Like so many of us, I have spent my life since that day grateful for her wisdom.¡±

    I began to walk once more, moving away from Hassina to complete my circle.

    ¡°I tell you all this: there was no satisfaction in setting aside my vindictive anger. It didn¡¯t quell my anger. In the days that came after I had to keep hold of my rage, to wrestle with it, to contain it. None of it felt right, but it was right, and so I did it anyway.¡±

    I paused, then added: ¡°And I tell you this also. Had I been punished for what I did that day, I would be dead. And in truth, it would have been deserved. Yet Narana forgave because she saw that it was necessary to move us all out of the darkest age of elvenkind.¡±

    I reached the place that I¡¯d began in once again, pausing to sweep my gaze across the seated elves. ¡°The punishment I seek is a harsh one. Certainly it is harsh for one of the firstborn, for a champion, for an elf held in as high esteem as Luthiel once was. But I cannot say if it is equal to his misdeeds. Only you can decide as much: and if you decide that I ask too much lenience, then I ask you all to pause and search your hearts. Let Narana¡¯s wisdom guide you to find as much mercy as you are able.¡±

    Then I drew in a deep breath, and sighed, allowing myself to relax and softening my voice. ¡°My stone is the stone of Nir,¡± I announced. ¡°Cast it alone and you align your judgement with my own.¡±

    I paused, then raised my voice once more. ¡°I name the fate of bondage,¡± I said.

    At last I turned to Luthiel. His face was inscrutable, and Seriana sat proudly beside him like a queen.

    ¡°Bondage,¡± I repeated, letting my voice echo off the stones around us. ¡°Shame in servitude for five hundred years or three ages of our people, as marked by our chroniclers. Let the high council decide if he is to be shackled by magical means or no. I make no claim of forgiveness when his service is done, for the law cannot make elves forget¡ªand we will not forget.¡±

    I turned to regard Hassina. ¡°That is all,¡± I said. ¡°I cede.¡±

    And I moved to take my seat.

 4.05: The Casting of Stones

    Hassina waited a moment before standing and moving into the open space at the center of the theater. She took the elves around us in with a slow, sweeping gaze.

    Tradition dictated that we could now address one another¡¯s arguments more directly. I had to wonder how much she intended to address mine, and what strategy she would take. In church and council matters, Hassina didn¡¯t typically dwell overlong on criticisms, instead casting her judgements in the most positive light possible.

    How would she act when her opponent was me? We¡¯d see.

    ¡°Bondage is surely an ill fate,¡± she said. ¡°If it truly is bondage. But consider: how many years has it been since any council ever brooked the use of magic to enshackle another into servitude? I can scarce believe that any elf on the council now would condone it, let alone a majority. I would not condone it.¡±

    She raised her voice, casting it out to the corners of the theater. ¡°Will Luthiel teach our children the arcane arts as their slave? Will he do their bidding¡ªcook their meals, carry their books, clean their rooms? No; the reverence and respect that a pupil shows toward their master is a crucial part of tutelage. There is no other way to have him teach our mages than to place him in a position of authority and superiority. This is not servitude.¡±

    As she spoke, her eyes scanned the crowd, slowly probing over each of them as if she could read their thoughts, was searching for those who disagreed. ¡°And if you think that superiority will be limited only to the youngest of the young, I urge you to think again,¡± she said. ¡°Will our wizards force themselves to show some token of disrespect each time they seek his counsel? If Luthiel should strike upon some critical insight in the study of this world¡¯s phenomena, will his peers feign indifference even as they rush to take his findings into account? Shall we ignore that Luthiel is more familiar than any elf with the contents of the archive and that his own personal experiences can bring added value to nearly every text? When we seek to draw of his deep, deep well of wisdom and experience, will we do so as if we are speaking with a statue, an echo, another text itself? Or will we mark the value of such an elf by respecting him?¡±

    Her gaze briefly fell upon Luthiel where he sat next to Seriana. ¡°I see hardly any shame in this servitude,¡± she said.

    ¡°Though perhaps in the affairs of battle we will at last find servitude,¡± she said. ¡°Perhaps when we command use of his raw strength in [Focus], his skills as our [Arcane Champion], there will be shame. For there, at least, we may find some way to direct him as if directing one who moves furniture or stacks firewood: here, not there, a little further, good.¡±

    Slowly, she shook her head. ¡°But I cannot free myself of the sense that if we direct Luthiel in battle, it will be where he is needed: he will fell behemoths, lay low armies of hostile beasts, and hunt out our enemies where they hide. In this, there will be glory, not shame. To slay a behemoth is an awesome deed¡ªall will see it thus. The decree of the council cannot change this.¡±

    Slowly, she began to cross the space of the theater, moving through its center toward me as she spoke. ¡°I won¡¯t deny that my heart is warmed by hearing Lux Irovex¡¯s promise of a future where children yet unborn sit in safety and reflect upon the glorious deeds that built our civilization,¡± she said. ¡°I believe in this vision. I not only believe that we can all bring this about, but I believe that under her leadership, we will.¡±

    She stopped in the exact center of the theater, sweeping her gaze across those present before she began to slowly moving closer toward me.

    ¡°Yet what will that mean, a hundred years from now, if Luthiel stands among us? He will serve us, surely: I see no cause to doubt that. But from a position that is high above most of us, a fact that we cannot change, not by judgement. And so we must ask: shall the children we seek to bring into the world see, with their own eyes, that the price of betrayal is less costly to those of us who are old and powerful, who are established among the wise?¡±

    She had moved to stand as close to me as I had stood to her, when I¡¯d delivered my own arguments. Now she stopped, turning to address them much as I had.

    ¡°Mark me,¡± she said. ¡°Bitterness will take root in their hearts. They will know that they can never be among the privileged ancient ones. Already we will ask them to forever live in the shadow of the world we lost¡ªa world they cannot remember. Do not ask them to witness Luthiel being treated so lightly for a crime so serious: it will be a sure sign the power their elders hoard is held and used unjustly.¡±

    She let this thought linger in the air for a moment, scanning their faces in the silence. ¡°Most elves here are not from Ellistara,¡± she said at last. ¡°They would not have been consumed by the Doom, even if Luthiel had succeeded. And while I am not a wild elf, and can take no special privilege or camaraderie upon myself in addressing them, I must ask all of you one final question.¡±

    Again, she moved to the center of the theater, then paused. ¡°Our judgement must be just,¡± she said. ¡°Can we call it justice that we ask so many elves to bear the presence, the aide, the guiding hand of the one who would have seen them, their family, and their culture destroyed? Is it justice to demand that elves who have done no wrong commend their children into the care and teachings of one who would have seen them dead? I say no.¡±

    She moved to take her seat. ¡°And I leave it to all of you to answer for yourselves. I cede.¡±

    She sat.

    I waited for a few more moments to allow everyone¡¯s thoughts to settle, feeling their attentions slowly turn toward me once more.

    Then I stood.

    ¡°The fate of bondage is no sham,¡± I said. ¡°The shame of it is not a lie, something to be officially decreed but not truly felt or lived. Has Luthiel not lived among us from the day we arrived here? And who can say that they treated him much as they did before the Doom¡ªwith the same warmth, the same reverence? I have watched; I know. He has been isolated, treated with curt coldness from even those who once deferred to him with warmth and reverence. Even without any judgement, no-one wishes to stand with Luthiel.¡±

    If my words moved him, Luthiel gave no indication from where he sat. He was stoic as a statue, as always.

    ¡°Furthermore,¡± I said. ¡°There is a difference between respecting an elf¡¯s knowledge and respecting the elf. All those of us who have dealt with the mortal races know this difference. A human archmage who is among the foremost scholars and spellcasters of their time might find their skills commonplace among more learned elven wizards, and even trivialized by our own masters. Such a human can find cause to resent us for our long years, seeking our wisdom with great bitterness. And I believe it will happen here, has already happened: elves will resent Luthiel for his knowledge, his skills. They will consider them wasted, in light of his deeds.¡±This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Again, I began a slow circle of the theater, slowly sweeping my gaze across our onlookers to try to make it seem as if I stared directly at each of them, if just for a moment.

    ¡°As to the privilege of the ancient elves,¡± I said. ¡°I see no privilege. I do not call it unjust to consider Luthiel¡¯s long years of service in light of his mistake. An elf who serves for fifty years and then finds cause to betray me I might kill, yes. But an elf who serves all of us for more than a thousand before suffering the failure of loyalty, reason, and morality that causes a betrayal is treated with more mercy and dignity. I see no inequality in this. The fault that is found by a millennia is less of a fault than that which is found by mere decades.¡±

    I passed before Hassina, not stopping or even letting my gaze linger on her. ¡°As the unborn,¡± I said. ¡°I must ask this: who are we to decide, already, how they are to be managed? Why try to control the actions of elves who haven¡¯t been born? Let us decide as we see fit. If they should judge us, then so be it. If they see unfairness in a lenient punishment, let them. If we cannot justify to the young the justice we decide, then that is our failure, not a failure of justice. Let us tell them a hundred stories of the elf who was once Lux Aravae, including that of his greatest folly, and see how they decide. Is that not how our wisdom works, has always worked?¡±

    I stopped, completing my circle of the theater. ¡°If the more merciful fate is decided on this day, I will not look into the eyes of young elves with shame, but pride. A pride I can justify.¡±

    I moved back to my seat, then turned. ¡°I cede.¡±

    Across from me, Hassina rose. She seemed to think for a moment, then said: ¡°I have nothing more to add. Let us cast our stones.¡±

    It was a slow process the vote.

    Galeena and Fireesha oversaw this part of the judgement. They¡¯d crafted the stones that would be cast¡ªa set of more than two and a half thousand, enchanted so as to be difficult to replicate and easy to account for once the vote was finished. Each elf would receive two: one marked with Aeth and one with Nir. To cast a stone alone was to cast your vote for that judgement. To abstain, you had to cast them both together.

    It went from youngest to oldest, beginning with the children, almost all of whom had come from Ellistara. Fireesha and Galeena called them out, lined them up, and then had them each approach the great stone urn, place both hands inside it, and drop whichever stone or stones they desired.

    Zirilla stood by the urn, her eyes covered by an enchanted blindfold. She would mute the sound that the stones made when they fell into the urn and ensure that no-one tampered with it. The urn itself prevented anyone but her from sensing inside it with their gaze, and her blindfold kept her from sensing anything about the elves who cast their stones.

    Like everything else, it was tradition. We had easier ways to achieve anonymity and security, but this was the old way, and so this was how it had to be done.

    It was a strange thing, sitting in silence as I watched the children cast their votes. They were all too young by far to vote in the election that decided the makeup of the high council, but those rules didn¡¯t apply to this ancient tradition.

    It was utterly absurd, but there were children as young as five who would be casting stones. Surely they would vote as their parents decreed¡ªand if this was the case, I could hardly fault the insanity of our tradition for giving them a vote. There was, I deemed, an unfairness in the fact that the families who might have died in Ellistara were outnumbered, had to pool their judgement in with the high elves. The wild were the elves that Luthiel had tried to sacrifice, children and all: was it not fitting that their votes should have more weight? At least letting the children vote would hopefully give them a stronger voice.

    But how they would use that voice, I couldn¡¯t say. In fact, I had no idea how any group of elves would vote, and as I watched everyone take their turn approaching the urn with stones clutched in their hands, I wondered.

    The wild elves of Ellistara were the people and culture that would have been destroyed. But they were also my people. How would they choose? It was impossible to know. Those with children might have wanted a harsher punishment than Hassina¡¯s. Those who were in the military might more likely align with me.

    The high elves were no doubt more likely to be conscious of the fact that if the courts were to decide this matter, a punishment as lenient as the one I¡¯d put forward would have been completely out of the question. Even Hassina¡¯s was merciful, by their standards.

    Some of them were mages, and might side with Luthiel on that account. Some of them were the clergy, or simply especially pious, and thus might side with Hassina. Some of the high elves were also military, and again, more likely to align with me.

    In the end, the minds and hearts of the individuals casting their stones would determine the outcome. I had no idea which fate would win, and I had no idea how.

    I watched my people each approach the urn and cast their stones. Some of them only ever put one hand in the urn, holding the uncast stone in an open hand. They were proud of their vote: the stones were fashioned in a round shape, with a hole in their center, for just this purpose.

    Already, I could see some elves who left the urn taking a seat to thread cords through the hole at their uncast stone¡¯s center, ready to wear the sign that would declare what fate they¡¯d sought. It was something I¡¯d have to deal with: the day had divided us, but there was no reason for us to stay divided once it was done.

    Mirio went shortly after the children. Hassina was not long after him. Most of the elves in the colony came between her and Fireesha, and Galeena went not long after her. I watched the remaining elves silently, pensively, my thoughts and worries seeming to disconnect me from the moment.

    Then at last I saw Seriana step forward and cast her stone.

    I rose. Oldest last.

    After all, Luthiel himself was the only other elf among the firstborn who had come with us. The drowning of Maia had killed too many of us, and the Doom of Aranar had winnowed what was left. Now, in all the cosmos, there were only¡­ nine firstborn? Perhaps ten, if I included Myrasciel.

    Wherever she was.

    Alone. The thought struck me like a thunderbolt as I moved to take my stones from Fireesha and Galeena. I had lost those dearest to me before, but I¡¯d never been the only firstborn, never been the oldest. There were always my siblings around me.

    And yet as I approached the urn, I felt a new fear creep over me like a growing frost. What would it be like to not just be one of the oldest elves, but to be the oldest?

    I dropped the stone of Nir into the dark mouth of the urn, and the absence of sound made it as if I had cast it into the void.

    I returned to my seat, and Fireesha rose beside me to meet Galeena in the center of our theater. Both of them conferred, whispering to one another in hushed tones before placing their hands on the urn.

    On a whim, I spared a glance at Luthiel¡ªand regretted it as soon as I did. He¡¯d been composed and stoic through the whole of the judgement, but now I could easily read his face.

    He was looking at me with a mixture of fear and pity. He¡¯d witnessed my realization.

    Fireesha and Galeena whispered to one another for a few moments. Then both of them moved to the center of the theater. Galeena spoke, her voice wavering.

    ¡°Luthiel¡¯s is to suffer the fate¡­ of exile.¡±

 4.06: The Coming Ritual

    ¡°That¡­ wasn¡¯t what I¡¯d planned,¡± I said.

    I sat with Seriana and Luthiel in the small room they shared in the lower portions of the keep. It was sparsely furnished: a bed with a stuffed mattress, the small table we all sat at, and a shelf that held many sheafs of the rough parchment we were still using to copy out the archive.

    We¡¯d come here after the judgment. They¡¯d said little on the way, instead simply walking ahead of me and holding hands. Now that we were alone, there faces seemed as composed and emotionless as ever.

    ¡°Perhaps if I¡¯d been more aggressive in my counterarguments,¡± I said. ¡°Been more rigid in attacking her position¡­.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not your fault,¡± Seriana said. ¡°I doubt that would have appealed to many of the people who intended to vote for exile.¡±

    I pursed my lips, then nodded. There was no point, for the moment, in dwelling on what had already passed. ¡°Still,¡± I said. ¡°Ten years is a long time. We¡¯ll see how the people feel in the times to come. My power will only rise with the completion of my ritual. And Hassina? I love her, but at this rate she¡¯s going to become her own worst enemy. Tonight¡¯s decision may yet be¡ª¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Luthiel said.

    Seriana had gently closed her eyes. Luthiel¡¯s face was impassive and firm.

    ¡°It¡¯s not worth it,¡± he said. ¡°Let this be. Stay the course.¡±

    My mouth formed a hard line, and I glowered at him. ¡°This is your decision, is it?¡±

    ¡°I know you¡¯ll do as you will,¡± he said. ¡°And I know I¡¯ve no right to give advice, here. But I also know that you¡¯re always willing to take counsel into account. Take mine.¡±

    I looked between them. Seriana looked pale and tired. ¡°You two have discussed this, then?¡±

    ¡°There will be advantages to my absence,¡± said Luthiel. ¡°Seriana can step out of my shadow. Her authority will, in time, cease to be as fragile and dubious as it is now. Her support in any endeavor will mean something. She¡¯ll be able to contest you, if she sees fit, and not be looked upon as a traitor for doing so.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all too important to risk,¡± added Seriana.

    I listened to all of this and said nothing. Defeat threatened to settle over me like a chill. I sat. ¡°If this next century is so important, then it should be important enough that we at least try. Ten years is a long time, and we need only change a few minds.¡±

    Seriana was shaking her head. ¡°Don¡¯t tempt me, Aziriel. Please.¡±

    ¡°It may be better for me to leave sooner,¡± said Luthiel. ¡°Not right away, but soon. Once I¡¯m gone, no one can see Seriana as my proxy.¡±

    ¡°I want to be as far as possible from their judgment when it comes time to found new settlements,¡± Seriana said. ¡°Otherwise Zirilla will have the last say in all matters regarding the re-establishment of the sea elves.¡±

    I was still quiet for a moment, trying to see a way out of what they had decided. But there was no way to even try to go against the judgement, even in the long term, without their support.

    And they had good points to make. Pushing against what had been voted for was foolhardy. So was sending Luthiel out into the wild, but I had to accept that it wasn¡¯t going to be my decision.

    I stood. ¡°You¡¯re both right,¡± I said. ¡°The archmage must speak with authority, especially with the work ahead of us in nurturing our arcane traditions. I¡¯ll leave you to keep one another company.¡±

    ¡°Stay,¡± Seriana urged.

    ¡°I won¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°You two know me: I¡¯m bitter in defeat. I need time to myself.¡±

    I turned and moved for the door, and a moment later I heard a motion behind me as Luthiel stood.

    ¡°Aziriel,¡± he said quietly.

    I turned to regard him.

    For a moment he said nothing, simply staring after me. Then he asked: ¡°Do you know?¡±

    ¡°Know what?¡± I asked in reply, a note of impatience in my voice.

    His expression seemed to falter. ¡°How much it torments me that you¡¯ve said nothing,¡± he said. ¡°Nothing of my failing, nothing of your feelings on it, nothing but cold calculations¡ªdealing with the problem of it by way of strategies. It is as if I became a statue in your eyes.¡±

    I stared at him for a moment. My brother. How things could have, should have been different.

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said at last, my voice brittle. ¡°I know.¡± Then I turned to leave. ¡°Goodnight, Luthiel, Seriana.¡±

    Perhaps it was petty, but I wouldn¡¯t give him whatever release he stood to gain by having me finally rip him to pieces for what he¡¯d done. I¡¯d leave him to guess at my feelings, guess at how I truly felt¡ªand I knew he¡¯d suffer all the more for it.

    <hr>

    The next morning, everything more or less carried on as it had been.

    Nobody could afford to spend any lengthy amount of time reeling at the announcement of Luthiel¡¯s fate. A community of elves who lived in comfort and had many hours to devote to discussions might have found itself split in two, even after the decision had been made. But everyone in the colony was constantly at work.

    The council meeting on the morning after the judgment was quick and productive: we all just wanted to move on to what was ahead of us, and we didn¡¯t have any immediate planning to do on account of the judgment¡¯s outcome. Luthiel, as a consequence, was barely mentioned.

    Hassina and I both wanted it made clear that neither of us was in favor of anyone wearing their uncast stone around their neck, as it would simply create a line to divide us along. The word was quickly spread, and I was glad to see none of the stones hanging about anyone¡¯s neck as I set about the day¡¯s work.

    In the days leading up to the judgement, I¡¯d made good progress with the plants. With a lot of trial, error, and test subjects, I¡¯d composed a slate of runes to help funnel mana into the blooming vine that I intended to use for the ritual.

    Before, only I and a small handful of others could have done the needed work in growing and spreading the manavine. Now it could be done by almost a hundred of us who were skilled enough in manipulating mana that they could plant a new bloom, cause the vine to spend essence and grow a new one in its place before growing to connect with the old one, too.

    The entire surface of the cliff leading up to the second layer of mist was being covered with soil, then planted with the rapidly spreading vine. A few dozen elves could be seen cutting, infusing, and then replanting the many bloom at all hours, creating a narrow strip of tightly-packed blooms that ran all the way up to the point where the river spilled over the cliffside.

    We were going to grow them further, of course: across from the river, the cliffs eventually rose until they were too steep to plant, becoming a part of the mountainside. We¡¯d have to push our vine-farm up into the stretch of sparsely forested grassland that rose to meet the woods that cloaked the upper mountain.

    But that could be done by people other than myself. I was left free to take stock of everything else we still needed to do for the ritual. It was hard to gauge which component we would be waiting on the longest, now that the mana vines were well underway.

    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    We have to carve the location for the ritual out of the rock, with many features to help us channel such as caverns nearby and beneath us to stow the vines in and channel mana through. But Zephanel informed me that this was well underway, even if it wasn¡¯t taking shape yet.

    We needed to have everyone who would be helping channel and shape mana for the ritual be trained in performing their role, an effort which Zirilla was leading. This would take longer than the carving, but she still assured me that we were making good time.

    Instead it was Fireesha who I expected would take the longest in her task. There were simply too many things that needed sophisticated enchantments to help us conduct and shape the mana for the ritual. My drums had to be enchanted, but so did two dozen other instruments as well as several slabs of stone, many tons of soil, and a large collection of body paints.

    Beyond all of those, however, she needed to enchant the quartz crystals and implements that Seriana and the mages would be using to observe the whole effort. The amount of work it would take to do this outweighed even that which would be needed for the ritual itself, but I insisted that we spare nothing in taking our notes and measurements.

    The magic we were working with had been created by a god, after all. We wouldn¡¯t get a chance to observe this kind of spellcraft again. I¡¯d have us wait as long as was needed to be sure we did it right.

    After speaking with Fireesha, I visited the archmage in the archive. She was my second-last appointment for the day, and I knew that I might spend a while with her: unlike with the others, Seriana¡¯s task was something I could contribute crucial expertise to. We were observing my own spell, after all.

    ¡°Oh good,¡± she said, looking up at me as I entered. ¡°You¡¯re here. Do you have a lot of time? There are things I wanted to discuss.¡±

    My next appointment was with Hassina, and while things had been cordial at the council meeting that morning, I wasn¡¯t looking forward to it. ¡°I have time.¡±

    ¡°A moment,¡± Seriana said. She exchanged a few words with the two mages she¡¯d been working with, then led me away to a smaller side table, taking a sheaf of pages¡ªmy spell formula¡ªwith her. We sat.

    ¡°Well for one, I¡¯d like to pass on my compliments.¡± She set the pages before her. ¡°You like to let everyone forget it, don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Forget what?¡±

    ¡°This,¡± she said, nodding down to the spell. ¡°I can¡¯t think of any mage among us who is so casual about their excellence, both in spellcraft and spellcasting.¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°I, at least, know that I¡¯m good at this.¡±

    Seriana let out a laugh. ¡°If you were of the [Arcane], none would fail to mention your name among the greatest of our mages. You might be considered first among equals. And yet you are of the [Primeval], and so we let your many other abilities and accomplishments overshadow the fact that you are, without a doubt, one of the greatest magical composers elvenkind has seen.¡±

    It was all said matter-of-factly, in the manner of a researcher reporting her findings. As she spoke, Seriana had begun to pore over of the pages. ¡°I know Alcuon helped you,¡± she continued. ¡°And so did Luthiel. But this is clearly your spell, not theirs.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I said. I wasn¡¯t much for false humility, or even just humility: I knew she was right. Primeval mana was wily, and the aspects it encompassed were raw. Taming and weaving both of them together required the utmost in skill, care, and creativity.

    Of course, it was only the spellcasters who weren¡¯t wild elves who let my skills go unnoticed, but I didn¡¯t tell Seriana that much. Instead I just took the compliment.

    ¡°Still, I want to ask,¡± Seriana continued. ¡°You¡¯re about to cast one of the most sophisticated pieces of magic I¡¯ve ever seen.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, smiling a little.

    ¡°You¡¯re not exactly working with the circle room of the Sable Tower or the Ellistaran megaliths,¡± Seriana said. ¡°You¡¯ve got to conduct this ritual with a drum that Fireesha has a week to enchant and a hole that we¡¯ve carved in the ground.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± I said. ¡°But we always knew that we¡¯d have to give up our power to come to this new world. I¡¯ve had a long time to practice getting this done with little in the way of spellcasting aides.¡±

    ¡°A long time,¡± Seriana said quietly. ¡°You¡¯ve been planning for so long, but you could never have been sure.¡±

    ¡°No. But I¡¯m a soldier and a commander. Preparing for things that may never come is the only way to set my mind at ease.¡±

    ¡°It would have been another hundred and fifty years before Hashephel finished another mana heart,¡± she said. ¡°A hundred years before it could even have been debated. And even then, what would you have said?¡±

    ¡°That I wanted the new one, along with the one I¡¯d been trusted with, to act out a plan which must be kept secret.¡±

    Seriana shook her head. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t have worked.¡±

    ¡°I guess we¡¯ll never know,¡± I said.

    She let out a laugh. ¡°And what about Hashephel? He doesn¡¯t know what you meant to do?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°He¡¯s the most obvious target if someone comes hunting us. He knew as much himself, and so he knew to trust me with my plans and secrecy. No one knows.¡±

    Seriana sighed, shaking her head in disbelief. Then she said: ¡°I have another question.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Gently, she tapped the pages on the table before her. ¡°There¡¯s something else here, isn¡¯t there?¡± she said. ¡°It was hard to see at first.¡± She began to sift through the pages before her. ¡°Everything seems to fit so perfectly,¡± she said. Then she took two pages and laid them side by side. ¡°But there¡¯s more than I first saw, more than is described by the formula. There are parts of it that¡­ it¡¯s like they rhyme. I didn¡¯t quite know why, but they do. So I brought it to Luthiel.¡±

    ¡°And what did he say?¡±

    ¡°He said that a poet may describe nothing more than a flower being trampled by a horse¡¯s hoof¡ªand yet the imagery they use tells the story of an artistic tradition that was lost in the wake of an old Thanaxian conquest. Look still deeper, and the hidden story has its own masked meaning: a lament to all those finer, passionate feelings that are so often demolished by anger in heated moments. The literal story stands, but out of it arise other tales, new meanings.¡±

    ¡°Luthiel has paid me a great compliment, then,¡± I said. ¡°I know how he admires the works Ichloss.¡±

    ¡°He paid you another,¡± said Seriana. ¡°He said that in war, the good commander is always deceiving: every act of offense and position must seem to be justified in the present, and yet angle themselves toward some hidden tactic.¡±

    I smiled. ¡°I think prefer that metaphor more.¡±

    Seriana laughed. ¡°What are you doing, Aziriel? A tower can¡¯t be built on an implied foundation.¡±

    ¡°A beam of wood can be made to support more weight if it is arranged into the proper formation.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said. ¡°One involving triangles and even distribution of stress¡ªnot poetry. Are you sure this is going to work?¡±

    I looked down at my formula. ¡°No,¡± I answered honestly. ¡°In composing it, I had to infer things from what I¡¯ve observed in the magical composition of other species. Part of the reason I chose to try it in the way that I did is because if it fails, there won¡¯t be any consequences on the rest of the ritual. But I don¡¯t think it will fail. Lord Kalak seemed to appreciate it.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± she said. ¡°And are you going to tell me what it is you¡¯re trying to accomplish, here?¡±

    I only smiled.

    Seriana shook her head. ¡°Luthiel also told me that whatever you see cause to hide is whatever you feel is most important.¡±

    ¡°Not this time,¡± I said, smiling. ¡°But we¡¯ll see.¡±

    We spent several hours going over the ritual¡¯s arrangement: we had to be acting in perfect concert in order to do it properly and it would take many days of coordinating to get this done.

    Still, eventually I dismissed myself, conscious of the fact that Seriana needed to direct the other mages¡ªand I had other business to attend.

    I found Hassina on a small stretch of grass before the keep. She was surrounded by a dozen elves with musical instruments, though only a few of them were playing¡ªmost of them were poring over notes that had come from the archive and only occasionally fiddling with their instruments.

    Hassina had a flute resting nearby on a cloth spread over the grass, but it was being neglected: instead one of her hands darted over the beads of an abacus, which clacked as they were moved to and fro. The other hand was writing rapidly in a ledger. Two men who I recognized as firedancers stood nearby, waiting on her for something.

    She paused when she saw me, a momentary freeze that lasted only for an instant before she turned to the two men, gave them some percentages, and sent them off.

    ¡°Lux Irovex,¡± she said, greeting me.

    ¡°What was that?¡± I said, glancing at the departing firedancers.

    ¡°Mm,¡± she said, watching them. ¡°I was asking them about some alloys. We¡¯ll need other metals than iron to craft new instruments. Copper, tin, lead. I¡¯ll bring it up at the council when there¡¯s any chance it can be a priority.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± I said. ¡°In the meantime, I hate to burden you further, but I need something from you.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± she asked.

    I smiled. ¡°Power,¡± I said.

    I still had to fulfill my last part of our ritual, after all.

    I needed the blood of a high-level creature, one steeped in primeval aspects. It wouldn¡¯t be hard to find one, here, but I also needed to get the blood to the colony, somehow¡ªpreferably by killing the creature nearby. With Mirio still recovering, finding one would be harder. Leading it back to the colony might take even longer.

    ¡°I¡¯m going hunting,¡± I said. ¡°And I think it¡¯s time we start building my skill with 4th-ranked keys.¡±

 4.07: To Hunt Again

    In the days that followed, I hunted the wilds around our settlement, searching for the beast whose blood would fuel my ritual.

    I¡¯d finally embraced the added power from killing Palimpsest. I was level 36, and had spent all 4 of the [Bestow]s that I¡¯d had free on [Strength]. [Surge of Might] could double the attribute in an instant, and so each point I acquired considerably raised the ceiling of my physical power, especially considering how frequently I could use [Surge of Might] on account of my absurdly high [Channel].

    Hassina and I had built new skills, and before I¡¯d taken to the skies to search for my quarry, I¡¯d looked upon my new attributes with satisfaction:

    ?¡ªYour Attributes and Resources:

    364 [Aegis]

    320 [Agility]

    264 [Strength]

    274 [Channel]

    157 [Focus]

    337 [Source]

    110% [Primeval Resonance]

    3370/3370 Mana, 64% Primeval

    100/100 [Blood Pool]

    100/100 [Surge Pool]

    I had almost three times the [Strength] I¡¯d had when Zirilla and I had fought the wyvern atop the Skytusk. Apart from my increased [Strength], all of them had increased when I¡¯d reached level 35 and my [Bestow] had increased to 20. I¡¯d also built another attribute-increasing skill with the core I¡¯d gotten at level 35, one that granted me even more [Source] and [Channel]:

    The newest addition, and likely the last passive I¡¯d be taking for some time yet:

    [Font of Storms 21]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Air 4] + [Lightning 4] + [Mana 4] + [Surge 4]

    + 75 to [Channel] and [Source]

    + 44% [Air] and [Lightning] Efficiency. Efficiency refunds a portion of spent mana spent on skills.

    + 44% [Air] and [Lightning] Potency. Potency increases the effect strength of skills.

    It had been a costly skill to build, but not so much that it pained us. Luthiel¡¯s tracking implements had helped us find two more colonies of the lightning bugs since we¡¯d frozen the first. It took 60 [Lightning 1] keys to make a [Lightning 4], but out of the near-thousand we¡¯d gotten in total, this wasn¡¯t much of a cost: there were only a few elves who could use them at all, after all.

    I¡¯d lorded over the skill since I¡¯d gotten it. I could channel mana so quickly now that more efficiency was a crucial part of sustaining the truly incredible speeds that I could fly at. And with the bonuses that it granted to my lightning, the mantis-killing bolts that I¡¯d thrown in the battle with Palimpsest would be commonplace.

    It had cost a million essence to build. Rank 4 skill keys were worth 250,000 essence and 60 rank 1 keys each. But we were about to spend more than two-thirds of a billion on my ritual, all told: setting ourselves back a few million to bolster the skills of the champion wasn¡¯t as insane as it would have been when many of our fighters had unused skill cores.

    Pure skills like [Wild Bond] might be so broad in their use as to be class-defining, but when it came to building raw power in any domain, nothing beat the benefits of combining multiple aspects into a perfect skill.

    Though my newly-upgraded [Elemental Power] was performing a similar function:

    [Elemental Power 21]

    Components: [*Primeval 5] + [Elemental 4] + [Elemental 4] + [Elemental 4] + [Elemental 4]

    + 65% [Elemental] Attunement. Attunement reduces the [Focus] requirements of skills.

    + 65% [Elemental] Efficiency. Efficiency refunds a portion of spent mana spent on skills.

    + 65% [Elemental] Potency. Potency increases the effect strength of skills.

    Another million essence, but the strength that the added 7 ranks granted me couldn¡¯t be underestimated. Once, I¡¯d stricken fear into the hearts of archmages because I could channel so fast that I would strike their spells from the air with [Fray]-infused bolts of lightning.

    It would be a long time before I reclaimed the power I¡¯d once held, but a cursory review of my skills before I left showed me that I was at least getting closer, step by step:

    ?¡ªYour Skills:

    G: [Sable Grace 20]

    G: [Primeval Power 30]

    0: [Primeval Mana 14]

    2: [Kite¡¯s Grace 14]

    4: [Air Magick 14]

    6: [Primeval Mana Hide 14]

    8: [Earthen Might 14]

    10: [Surge of Might 14]

    15: [Wild Bond 21]

    20: [Lightning Magick 14]

    25: [Elemental Power 21]

    30: [Surging Power 14]

    35: [Font of Storms 21]

    B1: [Aziriel¡¯s Pale Furs]

    B2: [Aziriel¡¯s Pale Fangs]

    B3: [Aziriel¡¯s Girdle of Might]

    B4: [Shell Splinter of Wild Sight]

    I¡¯d left my bow behind in favor of one of the new enchanted items the weavers had been producing en masse: a shard of Palimpsest¡¯s shell that granted [Wild Sight 17]. We¡¯d also ranked [Wild Bond] up to 21 with rank 4 skill keys. The two of them together would give me the power to search the ground below me for life even if I was flying above the treetops.

    And while my bow was certainly useful, it would do little against most behemoths¡ªeven if the arrows pierced armor and flesh, they¡¯d do little more than a thorn-prick.

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    Beyond those, most of my skills were still ranked 14¡ªthree rank 3 keys and my rank 5 cores. Come the ritual, I¡¯d be replacing quite a few of them with a temporary skillset made just to help me channel and shape the mana involved. After that, I¡¯d have to rebuild everything. It was a considerable expenditure of essence and aspects, but insignificant given what we were trying to accomplish.

    I flew above the second layer, searching the world beneath it with my gaze.

    Or rather, the treetop layer. We¡¯d been here long enough that names were coming up at the council meetings. Some of them were already being used by most of the people. The second layer of mists, the one that hung just above the crowns of the great trees, had seemingly fallen into being called the treetop layer by untaken consensus.

    The third layer was being called the frostmark layer. It didn¡¯t perfectly match the elevation where the snowline began on the slopes of the mountains, and the snowline would fall as the seasons grew colder¡ªfor we¡¯d determined they had been¡ªbut it was close enough.

    As for the first, fourth, and fifth layers, they had no names. The first might be called the surface layer, in time¡ªthough it still wasn¡¯t clear that the ravines and swamps around us were at the level of the world¡¯s other surface water. The rift lake that fed the small stream which we took our water from was high, high above the level of the water in the swamps: a single tectonic shift might break it open and flood the whole of the world around us.

    And then there was the settlement itself.

    Many names had been suggested for the place that we¡¯d be calling home for at least a few decades to come. Aziriel¡¯s Landing wasn¡¯t one that I was fond of. For one, it wasn¡¯t where I¡¯d landed unless one counted the week after we¡¯d arrived as part of our journey between worlds.

    For another¡­ it just felt wrong. Had we come in the manner I¡¯d intended, with Aranar still whole and Hashephel having given up a new mana heart, I might have felt differently. But my plan had been set in motion because of the Doom: a name that conferred so much personal glory felt inappropriate. I¡¯d voiced disapproval of the name Tel Irovex for the same reason.

    Many names had been suggested which carried a memory of Aranar, and while I understood the sentiment behind them, I¡¯d thrown my support in with a simpler name.

    Our own set of mountains was a distinct, separate shape: the rough shape of a crescent moon. Our settlement was at the center of its inner, east-facing curve. This, and the fact that our settlement was the first settlement on a new world, would have been enough to justify the name I liked best: Cradle.

    But it also seemed that the terrain itself was inclined to nurture us. Swamp and forest, dominated by the great trees and rich in essence, aspects, and resources, stretched away to our east in the mountain¡¯s rainshadow. The mountains themselves were not only shelter, but provided their own rich ecosystem along their lower slopes, one where smaller forests, wyverns, and snowbound creatures thrived.

    Now I soared over the vast forest to the east. My gaze pierced through the psychic stealth of the tree-crabs that clung to the sides of the great trees, camouflaged as odd-shaped knots of bark in hopes of eating some of the colored songbirds that made their home in the branches.

    I saw farther, to the families of hunting spiders and other insects that lived in the great hollows beneath the trees themselves, dark chambers made by roots that rose out of the fetid water. I saw the rainbow wingfish and the surging snappers skimming, swimming, and lying in wait near the surface. Deeper still, I saw the six-legged amphibian hulks sleeping under a layer of mud and sediment at the bottom.

    When I focused hard enough, I sensed insects crawling beneath the bark and the fur of colonies of apehounds.

    I loosened my windsleeve, letting fingers of wind sift through the roots of my hair as a soft blanket of air slid across my skin. If only I could keep flying with no regard for how far I was from the colony¡­ if I could rely on my knowledge and explore and hunt for days and days¡­.

    But no. There would come a time when I searched this world for new creatures just to sate my curiosity, when I laid eyes upon fields, forests, and valleys that no elven eyes had ever seen, when I sought out a mighty beast to tame¡­ but not yet.

    I wished that I could walk in the great forest below. Not hunt, not even explore. Just¡­ walk. I¡¯d let every passing bird, plant, and insect catch my eye. Let every strange scent lead me to its source, and let my mind wander to walks I¡¯d taken on other worlds, and with better company than just myself¡­.

    Still, this was a freedom I hadn¡¯t known for some time. Flying above all as I surveyed the land below: searching, hunting. I needed something powerful. Something with enough blood¡­.

    In the end, I hunted for six days.

    I would rise in the morning, attend the meeting of the high council, see to any business that was urgent, schedule any business that was not urgent for that night, then take to the skies. I never landed: occasionally I would communicate the location of some remarkable feature such as colony of lightning bugs or the [Weave]-granting insects.

    The territory that we could cover with those psychics who were close to our settlement was vast. We could have arranged a relay of telepaths to cover me as I searched farther, but there was no need: I was still within range when I found the tracks, if barely.

    I was above the great forest, far enough from the settlement that the water of the swamp had given way to dark, soft soil that was covered in glowing ferns. I sensed the broken boughs and flattened ferns beneath the treetop lair as I flew overhead, then dove to fly beneath two layers of mist and land in the shadow of the tree-roots and examine them.

    It didn¡¯t take much skill to identify the creature that must have pushed its way through the forest not a day beforehand: a behemoth hydra is not a subtle creature. It had wound its way through the trees, gripping them with jaws and claws as its tail constantly wove through the air and pressed into the ground to keep its balance and control its momentum.

    I swept my gaze across the length of the track, eying the long strips of pink and green light where ferns had been beaten into the forest floor. The creature would be large and powerful enough for my purposes, I was sure.

    ¡°Perfect,¡± I murmured. Hydras were voracious roamers: not only would it be stopping to eat frequently, making it easy to catch, but I¡¯d be able to lead it straight to the settlement.

    Nearby, a massive spider crept out from beneath one of the great trees, moving toward me. I struck its mind with my [Wild Bond], sending a spike of hostile psychic energy that conveyed my perfect confidence and it scurried back into its burrow.

    Then I smiled and rose into the air to follow the trail. I conveyed to to the psychics back at the settlement that I''d be tracking the beast down.

    I found the hydra a few hours later.

    It was dead.

    Moreover, it had been killed it a curious manner. It lay amidst the great trees, signs of a struggle all around in the form of shredded bark and raw, fresh wood where its teeth had torn at the trees as it gripped them to maneuver itself. The ground around it had been beaten flat, plants, stones, and even a few of the thinnest tree-roots pressed into the soil.

    It had five heads, and all their throats were cut and had bled out onto the ground. Whatever had killed it had run it out of the [Life Pool] that it used to regenerate¡ªan extraordinarily difficult thing to do, with a hydra.

    Then, most curious of all, it had left.

    It hadn¡¯t stopped to eat the beast, lay eggs in its carcass, or harvest its scales and bony plates for a nest. After I¡¯d scared some scavenging insects away with lightning, I discerned with my [Wild Bond] that it had been dead for perhaps half a day.

    Why pick a fight with a behemoth hydra, of all creatures, when it was unnecessary?

    ¡°Because it''s not unnecessary,¡± I whispered, staring at the corpse.

    Few wild creatures killed only for essence or aspects. It wasn¡¯t a behavior that was often mutated by exposure to primeval mana, and when it did occur, the beasts that exhibited it often tended to throw entire ecologies out of balance and starve themselves by hunting indiscriminately, instead of when they were hungry.

    But there were exceptions. The dead hydra before me was female: if it laid eggs, it would need to supply them each with a great deal of essence and some skill keys before they could hatch: some mighty beasts, especially behemoths, needed to have skills and levels just to be able to move about.

    Female wyverns would become hyper-aggressive as mating season came on so as to gather the essence they would gift their mate with when they were nest-bound and he was doing the hunting for both of them.

    Had something killed this hydra to feed its power to its babies? Winter was coming on, but hydra eggs incubated for a full year before hatching.

    As far as I knew, nothing was a natural predator of hydras. A wild beast might kill a hydra in a desperate struggle for survival¡ªbut that struggle would be one that the hydra initiated. The most likely creature to have killed this hydra was another hydra, but the deep slashes through its necks told a different story.

    And no matter how hard I looked, I couldn¡¯t find anything to indicate where the creature that had killed this hydra had gone.

    ¡°Curious,¡± I muttered, rising into the air.

    Then, following a hunch, I began to fly back along the tracks I¡¯d followed, searching for the creature¡¯s nest.

    I couldn¡¯t use the blood of the hydra for my ritual. But I could settle for the blood of whatever had killed it.

 4.08: The Serpent in the Sky

    The hydra¡¯s trail led me out of the great forest, further away from the settlement and the range of our psychics. Soon the great trees cleared and became a stony hillside leading up into the mists.

    Unlike almost all of the hillsides leading up toward the edge of the treetop layer, this rocky slope wasn¡¯t so steep that it couldn¡¯t be traversed except by climbing. Instead it was a gradual ascent into the highlands, one covered in thick, glowing vines and bushes but very few trees.

    I found the hydra¡¯s nest shortly after I emerged from the higher mist layer. It lay in the shadow of a huge formation of stone, two slate-shaped protrusions that extended more than a hundred meters into the air and leaned together to form a massive, dark cave.

    Lying before the mouth of this cave was a divot in the earth, a very shallow crater where they hydra had dug, then stomped the ground flat again.

    I didn¡¯t need to reach into the earth to see that it had laid its eggs there. A furrow had been torn in the stony earth, with one of the eggs lying at the bottom. It was already cracked open, the thick shards of its bony shell lying in the earth around it. Whatever had killed the hydra had come back here and eaten one of its eggs.

    I cast my gaze around me for more than a minute, trying to sense any animals with my [Wild Bond], or any elementals by the impression they left in the air. Sensing nothing threatening, I spent some time examining the eaten egg.

    I could sense seven more of them lying beneath the earth, but they hadn¡¯t been dug up, yet¡ªwhatever had dug up this one hadn¡¯t even eaten the whole thing. A smaller creature, then?

    Almost no creatures laid eggs and then provided them with essence over the course of an entire year, and the weather was growing colder, not warmer. I supposed it made sense that something hungry for eggs would hunt for the eggs of a hydra, now, but the thought was also disconcerting.

    Whether it had killed the behemoth for a meal, or for essence, this creature was unusual and dangerous.

    Whatever it was, I hoped I¡¯d be meeting it soon.

    I spent some time exploring the hydra¡¯s stomping grounds, then sequestered myself in a small crevice in the upper reaches of the rock formation. It was a tight squeeze, but it was the only place I could find where I had a good view of the nest below me and was also shielded from sight overhead.

    Then I waited.

    I didn¡¯t need to see the clouds gathering somewhere over the second and third layers of mist to know that it was going to rain. I could feel it gathering in the air around me, taste the change as the temperature and humidity shifted.

    Soon a light smattering of droplets began to fall, and soon after that my ears were filled with the patter of a moderate rainfall. I grinned and drank in the experience: the varied sounds of the water on leaves, soil, and stone was music to me.

    It was perfect. I sat and closed my eyes, extending my senses and simply listening: both to the world around me and to the inner turmoil of thought, memory, and emotion that lurked beneath the surface of my every waking thought.

    I hadn¡¯t made much time for meditation since we¡¯d come to the now world: a half hour in the morning if I could spare it, enough to keep me aligned to the mind-state that enabled my [Primeval Resonance].

    But now I was blessed with hours to spend embracing each sensation, marrying the outside world and the inside into nothing but a field of perception that was, essentially, me in my totality, at least moment to moment.

    It was still raining when, hours later, I sensed the returning hunter.

    It flew down through toward the nest through the air above me, darting to and fro like a leaf in the wind. It was so fast that I barely had time to sense its shape with my [Wild Bond], and it came into view beneath me even as my eyes were widening with shock at what I sensed.

    It was an eight-legged aerial serpent, feathers covering its body in brilliant, multi-hued plumage. Long streamers of glittering wet hair trailed from it as it moved, floating in its windsleeve like a half-dozen fistfuls of a unicorn¡¯s mane.

    Its body was somewhat flat, flaring out to the sides to form a ribbed series of fins. It had eight clawed legs, the front two of which were longer than the rest and tipped with sharp, black talons. It had a thin face with thick-furred eyebrows, and a snout that ended in a long, sharp beak.

    It was beautiful, but the sight of it shook me to my core. I held back a sharp intake of breath as I saw the creature wind its way down into the crater-like nest. I couldn¡¯t believe my eyes.

    It wasn¡¯t that I¡¯d never seen a creature of its like before.

    It was that I had, but only in myth.

    There were carvings of this creature on Teriax, one of the wildest worlds in all the realms¡ªor the old realms, at least. The assumption had always been that they were invention, a creative fusion of multiple existing creatures, something imagined out of the minds of prehistoric orcs.

    The snake of the sky. It was a difficult piece of iconography to grasp. Orcish druids and shamans on Teriax used the creature¡¯s image to represent the potential duplicity and insidiousness of invented concepts, imagined structures. Anything that might be held up as an example of how intelligent creatures rose above their animal natures could be warped and used by the snake in the sky.

    The snake in the sky twisted the blissful self-transcendence that could come from religious ecstasy, from seeing oneself as small and insignificant when compared to the cosmos, into the savage fervor of the crusade.

    The snake in the sky twisted the righteous desire for a just world, a desire that could carve out codes of law that would form the foundation of civilization itself, into nothing but the brutish, dominating desire of the tyrant.

    The snake in the sky twisted the the natural sense of honor, the feeling that could drive one to sacrifice themself for something larger than they were, into an animalistic compulsion toward suicidal bloodthirst that rose to the scale of nations instead of tribes.

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    Nationalistic zeal, religious fanaticism, intellectual and artistic elitism¡­ the snake in the sky brought all these things. Or so the wise orcs of Theriax still taught.

    In fact, the hybrid form of the sky serpent had seemed so well-suited as a symbol that it was easy to believe that nobody had ever seen one because they not only didn¡¯t exist, but never had.

    Yet one was here, floating a hundred meters below me.

    Two possibilities existed. The orcs of Theriax might have imaged the image of this creature by coincidence, or even happened upon its image via fossil or ancient painting¡ªand though its origins were lost, its shape was adapted to the myths that most suited it in their minds.

    The second possibility was that an old memory had reached me through the stories that mortals had made to keep it alive, and it was telling me, very clearly: do not trust this creature.

    For the sake of my people, I had to assume the second while I hoped for the first.

    Somehow, I knew that they were intelligent. I felt their mind searching the area with a [Wild Bond] skill, felt a direct, deliberate intention behind it as I had myself from their gaze. I watch the motion of their flight as they descended into the nest, rippling through the air as if they were swimming. They had jagged, luminous lines of cerulean blue on their back, and as their body undulated the lines made a pattern like a wave.

    Their class was obviously more oriented toward [Elemental] skills than [Body] ones, because they were flying. In fact, they were flying with a skill that suggested very high [Focus] as well as considerable natural aptitude.

    Still, they had the granted [Wild Bond] that was so common to wildlife¡¯s classes. That meant it was unlikely they had many physically-oriented attribute skills: they were likely fragile. If it did come to a fight, my [Channel] was so powerful that I could likely strike them from the sky despite their swiftness.

    [Elemental] skills along with high [Focus] meant that they wouldn¡¯t need to smell me or sense me psychically to know where I was: their gaze might feel my weight on the stone, or, more likely, the hollow that I made in the air.

    I knew that they¡¯d found me when they pulled up short midair, becoming as still as they¡¯d been when I¡¯d first seen them. I stepped out of my tiny crevice and onto a small shelf of stone, then began to stretch my legs as I uncloaked myself with my [Wild Bond].

    The serpent gathered the air taut around its body, then flowed up through the space between us, stopping short only feet from me. Their eyes were a vivid green¡ªlikely colored that way from prolonged exposure to primeval mana, just as mine had been made red. Their thin facial features, set as they were at the end of a long, deadly beak, made no expression that I could recognize.

    If they were surprised that I hadn¡¯t tried to flee, I got no indication. It was good at hiding emotions with the [Wild Bond]¡ªI sensed a vague curiosity emanating from them and that was all.

    Greetings, I told them.

    They drew back a little when I spoke. The word would have opened up contact between our minds

    You are skilled to have hidden yourself from the powers of my mind, they said. But it matters not. My gaze stretches long and my eyes see much.

    Thinking that the best way to see if this creature could be trusted was to seem weaker than I was, to give them many opportunities to strike with seeming impunity. Because they were intelligent, I decided that would mean a feined mixture of arrogance, ignorance, and low attributes.

    They were close. Close enough that I would need to move quickly indeed if I wished to stop them from suddenly lunging forward and picking me up in their beak. Already, things were looking good.

    Do you come for the eggs? they asked. You sensed my treasures beneath the earth? They are my treasures, but I will share them if you like. For friendship.

    I considered the creatures, deep, unknowable green eyes. An intelligent ally who had spent a long time roaming the land would be a powerful asset, in this new world. But still¡ªthe serpent in the sky¡­.

    I have not come for the eggs, I told them. I eat when I will it, and need no offerings. I have merely come for curiosity. I wanted to see what killed the hydra, and why.

    A light dash of amusement seemed to touch me through the bond. Mighty creature, it was, they said. Much essence. Some [Behemoth], some [Plural]. Eight eggs: more than I can eat myself. Have some, if they are to your liking. I offer freely, asking nothing. Have some.

    I have killed many hydras, great and small, I said. Their eggs are not to my taste.

    Shame! they said, floating back from me and making a quick circle in the air, their windsleeve so tight that their movements barely stirred my hair. You are a strange creature to see, they said. Yet one of kinship, I think. One not given to the laying of eggs, but who gives her children succor. Others of your kind help you when the time to breed has come, yes? Bring those others if they like eggs: there are many here.

    Another flash of amusement, and they said: It was a big hydra.

    I considered this. They knew I was a mammal, and believed that this meant I was more likely to form strong bonds with a pack¡ªperhaps they¡¯d even assessed my teeth and claws and determined I made a poor predator.

    I had no interest in letting them know of the existence of the other elves, though. Not with the broke fragments of eggshell still visible on the ground beneath us: they had the taste for other creatures, and their morality had yet to be discerned.

    For my sight, I was exiled, I said. Willingly do I embrace this fate. My kin were of dark mind. They were not my people. I am mighty alone.

    So sad, they said. But it is a story I have heard many times. The mana grants great power, but also great loneliness to those who are wild.

    Again, I had to wonder at them: they knew that the mana was what altered creatures into having intelligence?

    Have you name? they asked.

    Slowly, I nodded. I am Aziriel.

    I am Eli, they said. Come, come! Follow me, Aziriel. I will lead you. And they rose a little into the air.

    I cocked my head. Take me where? I asked.

    You are lonely, they said, as if this explained all. Come, come! We must meet the others.

    My eyes widened momentarily. If it was a trap, it was an interesting one. But I had to know.

    I rose into the air to follow them.

 4.09: New Possibilities

    Wind rushed by my face and stirred my fur cloak as Eli and I rose over the treetop layer and began to fly southeast. I watched them out of the corner of my eye as they slowed their pace to match mine. Their windsleeve was excellent, a thin film of trapped air that added a shimmering blur to the colors of their mane and feathers.

    It was also a clear indicator that they had a much higher [Focus] attribute than I did. If things went badly, I¡¯d be in for a fight.

    As we flew, they sent information across the wild bond, a sort of introduction. It was not so much made of words, but a collection of loosely bundled, wild thoughts. I learned that they were a roamer, one determined to witness the vast expanse of the wilderness until they died. They had a nest, but each season they abandoned it to travel for more than a week and make a new one wherever they landed.

    Eli was a woman, I learned, and she had no qualms about killing any new creature she met, so long as they were not intelligent. In this manner she collected a great deal of essence and skill keys, though her class limit increased as much from exploration as it did from the hunt. She didn¡¯t convey anything about her level, but it was undoubtedly high, judging by her windsleeve.

    I played the part of the brash and violent youngling, sending Eli brief, half-fabricated images of my hunts and conquests as if I thought these to be the core of my identity.

    But when I was done with this exchange, I asked the question I¡¯d been dying to know the answer to. What did you mean, when you said there were others?

    Many others, said Eli, her voice ringing in my mind like a set of chimes with its strangely musical quality. There are those who you may meet soon. There is another serpent much like myself in body, though¡­ unlike me in temperament. There is a clever primate who has digits like your own, but a great coat of white instead of your pale skin. There is a mushroom who speaks in colors. And there are cats¡ªthree great cats like the one you fought in your mind¡¯s eye. These three live together, and often show little regard for the rest of us.

    At the last, I felt a pang of regret for Palefang. We were far, far from his territory, and it was plausible than in the dense swamps and forests that surrounded us he would never have travelled far enough to find his kin, but this was a sad fact to me. If he¡¯d found and been socialized by other sapient cats, he might not have instantly tried to kill me when we¡¯d met.

    Eli continued. Once, there was a paintshell among us, but alas, he died. A strange thing to witness, the death of a paintshell. Far more likely to be outlived by one than to ever know one who dies. She looked over at me for the first time as she said this, though I couldn¡¯t gauge the significance of their glance.

    This is fascinating to me, I said. I have so many questions.

    Ask them, Eli said lightly. I am glad to share.

    What will you do when it¡¯s time for you to move on, as you showed me? Did you only meet these others in this season? Your paintshell friend must have died recently, if this were the case.

    All true, Eli said after a pause. I have not decided what I will do; perhaps I will move on and return to visit my companions. Perhaps I will not move on, not this time, though I may move my nest. I have been a part of our small group for the smallest time. I cannot think they would miss me much if I let the wind take me, as I do.

    I am so curious, I said. I can¡¯t think of everything I should ask. Are there thinking creatures such as you everywhere? Are there groups such as the one you describe to be found everywhere?

    Yes and no, Eli said. This group is special, but there are those who see much everywhere¡ªeverywhere! The mana grants them their sight.

    Tell me of them, I said, fascinated by Eli¡¯s apparent knowledge of spellcraft. Tell me everything you can.

    Very well! Eli said with some hint of laughter. Though it may take me longer than our journey allows. Have you met a paintshell before, Aziriel?

    No.

    Sad! The tortoises wander the world collecting knowledge in the form of stories. Readily do they shares their treasures.They are beloved by all but the wicked. And there are stone ones, too, though they reside in the deep earth where I do not travel. Even those among them who are congenial are most dangerous to visit. And there are birds¡ªoh, many birds. The mana, we surmise, is more inclined to gift the skyborne ones such as myself the gift of great sight. Sometimes we meet on our wanderings, and speak, and share treasures, but we form no lasting collections, no flocks. It is not our nature.

    As she spoke, I watched her from the corner of my eye, trying to decide if my distrust of her was paranoia. I was glad that our hunters had never run into this creature, and yet at the same time I was conscious that our hunters had never run into any sapient creature. We¡¯d furnished ourselves with a great many [Mind], [Wild], and [Sight] keys. Surely if the world was as populated with wandering sapient beings as Eli suggested, our newly-gained psychic coverage would have found someone, anyone.

    Unless she was trying to fill me with hope. If she¡¯d believed what I¡¯d told her, she might surmise that my instincts led me to feel a great void that companionship with others of my kind should have filled.

    There is a king in the west, she said. Though I confess I know little of him; I do not go there, for I do not wish to fall under his dominion. Dark things are said of the great western territory.

    There are mountains to the west, I said. I¡¯ve never been past them.

    The king¡¯s territory is farther than those, said Eli. Much farther. You will not stumble into it with a week of flight, oh no. And I daresay the entities there would be like me, like my companions. We have never seen your kind before, Aziriel. You left your pack, and yet I have never seen a pack of creatures such as yours.

    Nor have I, I said. Not in all my time away froms. Perhaps my pack was the only one.

    Perhaps, said Eli. And yet it would be a shame. For if there were many of you, more might have risen to greater sight, as you have. You could find them out in the world. They paused, then added: still, if there is only your pack, there is hope yet.

    I peered at Eli and felt another flash of suspicion. Hope for what? I asked.

    More of you might rise, said Eli. Even out of one small pack. Magic can do it. Rituals can do it. It occurs because the mana makes it occur.

    I considered Eli¡¯s words with growing suspicion¡ªbut also a faint, intense hope. What do you mean? I asked, trying not to sound too focused in my curiosity.

    One can raise a creature to greater sight, said Eli. Make them become as you and I are.

    So she had meant what I¡¯d suspected she had. She was talking about a spell to raise a creature to sapience.

    It was hard to believe. I knew as well as anyone that it was theoretically possible: after all, it happened naturally from exposure to mana. Surely somehow we could emulate the natural magical process.

    But I also knew that no-one had ever made anything resembling a breakthrough. There were proposed experiments that hoped to measure an increase in the frequency of ascents to sapience in large animal populations, but bathing an entire forest in denser, primeval mana was something that happened on too great a scale to be feasible as an experiment.

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    If Eli was telling the truth, it was a phenomenal magical breakthrough. No matter the cost of such a ritual, it would have been tremendously useful. I reeled just considering the possibilities of a world where our wildhearts were each bonded to sapient creatures¡­ creatures who could support stronger classes, faster limit increases, who would constitute an entirely new branch of elven culture.

    Did Eli know the significance of what she was saying so blithely? Even if I was who I had pretended to be, the knowledge should have shaken me to the core.

    Such a thing is possible? I asked. Truly?

    Truly, said Eli. And perhaps best, in your case. Do you not desire a mate? I can be companion to you, but there can be no camaraderie like that between those who share a species, for their sensibilities are alike.

    I don¡¯t know, I said. I have been long alone. Your question is¡­ too much to consider.

    I see, said Eli. I understand. We are almost there.

    I followed her for another minute until we reached a portion of the great forest where the massive trees had grown on a slope below us, so that many of their glowing crowns had completely pierced the treetop layer. Many of the great tree¡¯s branches had been stripped away, and a hollow with several entrances had been carved through its core.

    The tallest of the trees was dead, and this was where Eli led me. This is my home, she said. Its top is where I live, and its bottom is where I keep my treasures. You are invited to go about only in the top-nest. The bottom is not for you.

    I understand, I told her.

    The nest was well-decorated. Hunks of created quartz had been set into the interior of the tree, and these began to glow with soft magelight at a gesture from Eli. Bones and dried flowers had been pinned or tied to the walls, and Eli had carved an intricate, swirling pattern along the spaces between them.

    Here we may rest, said Eli, floating into a wide inner chamber where rough vines had been formed into tight tangles that could be lain upon. I will send a call to the valley of the mushroom friend, and they will send the call to others. Tomorrow we will journey out and meet them, though perhaps tonight my fellow serpent will come to meet you early.

    Night comes, I said. The mist reddens and the world darkens. You want me to sleep here, tonight.

    Can you fly in the dark, Aziriel? You need not stay here if you do not wish to.

    I can fly, and see, in the dark, I said.

    Caution is wise, said Eli. If you do not wish to stay near me, you might sleep elsewhere and come to me on the morrow.

    Distrust seems a poor way to repay the new knowledge that you¡¯ve given me, I said. The whole world has been cast in a new light.

    Yet caution is wise, repeated Eli. Though I do not wish for you to leave me. I have many questions for you, and expect you do for me, too. She raised her head, and the motion seemed to flow down her body as she adjusted position on her vine-bed. Still, I sense much hesitation in you, she said. You need not tell me everything, Aziriel. Caution is wise. And yet¡­.

    What? I asked.

    Of all the great things that our intellects give us, I have found its best quality is that I may push beyond the caution of instinct and risk¡ªfor it is a risk to travel far and wide, as I do, yet it allows me to see so much of this wondrous existence. It was a risk to come and speak with you, and you with me, I know¡ªfor how can we know the heart of another just on their promise alone? How can either of us know who would overcome the other, if one were to elect the brute struggle of violence?

    I cocked my head Eli, suspicion flaring in me yet again. You fly faster, I said plainly. I am powerful, but surely if you were of brute morals I would already be dead.

    Perhaps, said Eli. But the bird who lands upon the nose of the logmaw is the faster of the two. Yet they land, because they are¡­ unaware.

    Was Eli suspicious of me? It didn¡¯t much matter if she was, unless her suspicion drove her to attack.

    But what is the little bird to do? Eli said, their mental voice growing softer, their words longer. Never land? Fly forever? Risks must be taken, and the thinking mind allows us to explore the fullness of life without our instincts gainsaying it.

    I eyed Eli, trying to discern where she was going with this¡ªwhat risk, exactly, did she want me to take?

    When I said nothing in answer, Eli said, But that is only one way of seeing it. You must ask your questions of me¡ªI know you have a great many.

    I do, I said. You said that mana is what makes us intelligent.

    It is, Eli said. Mana can do much!

    I¡¯ve watched other animals and tried to emulate what they can do with mana, I said. In this way, and through my own creativity, I¡¯ve done things that, on my lonesome, seemed extraordinary. Things that no other creature I¡¯ve seen has done. But what you speak of feels like a different thing entirely.

    Oh yes! said Eli. Very different, very complex! I do not know how to do it¡ªit was the tortoises who first found the secret. My mushroom friend knows the secret of the tortoises, knows the way to raise a brutish, unseeing creature up to the heights of our minds. Yet preparations must be done. Calculations must be made. They will need to know things in order to help.

    What sort of things? I asked.

    Show me to your old pack, the pack you left behind, she said. You must remember its place¡ªI daresay you could never have forgotten it. I will know to judge the distances involved, and measure other things also that I may report to my mushroom friend. This way the ritual of waking can proceed most hastily.

    I eyed Eli. I see.

    I will not insist, she said, her voice softening, almost becoming a kind of cooing. But I greatly desire it. I wish to show you what is possible. I wish to show you that I can be trusted. I wish to give you this, Aziriel. A companion of your own kind.

    I see, I said. But still, I must consider it. I must consider many things. I will go now, and return to you when the mists lighten.

    You must be cautious, said Eli, in a tone that made it clear she thought I didn¡¯t trust her.

    I¡¯ve been alone so long, I said. This is too much to accept in a few moments. I must be alone with my thoughts.

    As you wish, Eli said quickly. I will be here when the mists lighten.

    Thank you, Eli.

    I rose, then took to the skies and began to fly back along the way we had come.

    I flew for perhaps twenty minutes before I dove beneath the reddening treeptop layer and doubled back, careful to mute the sound of my flight and to stealth myself using the [Wild Bond]. I returned to Eli¡¯s tree, careful to fly in the lower layer so as to hide myself from her view.

    Then I extended my gaze as far as I could, reaching out to look into the tree¡¯s root chamber with my magical sense. I saw a deep set of rooms, connected by wide passages to allow for Eli to move within them, along with¡ª

    ¡°Damnation,¡± I said, so quietly I was practically mouthing the words.

    I dipped below the mist layer and flew into the base of the tree, diving past a room decorated with more quartz and bones and into the one that had caught my attention, where I conjured a magelight to see by.

    The center of the room was dominated by a shape covered in faded pigments that had been painted across it, its form like that of a tall clay bowl turned upside-down.

    It was a giant tortoise-shell.

    The existence of the shell alone wasn¡¯t what had drawn me into the tree. Closer now, it was easier to make out what I¡¯d noticed from outside: the many, many marks that Eli¡¯s beak had made on the shell¡¯s underside as it had scraped out the meat within.

    Paintshell, she¡¯d called it. Had she spoken the truth when she¡¯d described sapient tortoises who travel the land, gathering and sharing stories? The art on the shell was of many styles and pigments, each worn away to a different degree. It had seemingly been made by many hands.

    Deeper below us, I sensed other trophies in similar displays. The bones and beak of another sky-serpent and three skulls belonging to great cats. These too had the marks of her beak. She¡¯d eaten them all.

    I heard the rush of air that accompanied Eli entering the room behind me, but I didn¡¯t turn around, instead extending my gaze to include her as she flowed into the doorway, blocking my exit.

    She hadn¡¯t just sensed me entering her half-kilometer tall tree. She¡¯d been following me. She wanted to find the location of the colony, though I couldn¡¯t say why.

    It could be a disaster for us, if she had friends. Even if she lived alone, I would never allow it¡ªjust as I couldn¡¯t allow her to bring news of me to any other creature she might meet.

    Eli had to die.

 4.10: All About Waiting

    ¡°Was it all lies, Eli?¡± I asked, speaking aloud and through the bond. My eyes stayed fixed on the murdered tortoise. There had been partial truths in what Eli told me. Had to be. ¡°Were you only promising what you thought I wanted, or is there some truth behind your inventions?¡±

    Shall you tell me as much? asked Eli. I kept my gaze focused firmly upon her as she quietly floated closer, abandoning her winding motions from before to keep her head¡ªand her beak¡ªabove me at all times.

    You have not been truthful, Aziriel. Your second skin, your tools, your scent all betray you. There are others of your kind, somewhere. You did not abandon them. They are with you. They are like you.

    I reached out with my gaze and tried to sense any kind of trap, magical or otherwise, in the wood of the tree around me.

    ¡°And have you known other creatures who make tools, Eli? Do you know what it means to refine materials, to make enchantments?¡±

    I can sense the weave in your cloak, your belt, your necklace of teeth. It is fascinating¡ªand yet it is also weak. All weak.

    I took a few steps to get a better view of another side of the shell, cautiously watching Eli with my gaze while my eyes scanned the pictographs. All manner of creatures and things were depicted on the shell¡ªbut more birds. Many more birds than others. Had Eli told the truth in saying that more birds ascended to intelligence?

    I killed the hydra in the forest, Eli said. I have killed many such creatures. I hunt them as easily as the bird hunts the beetle. There is no contest.

    ¡°I believe you,¡± I said. There were no anthropomorphic creatures that I could see depicted on the shell. No humans, orcs, dwarves¡­.

    You know I am deadly, said Eli. You know I am cunning, and fast. Tell me: where are the others?

    ¡°No.¡±

    Eli lurched toward me, but it was easy to tell that she only meant to frighten me. As she moved, I turned toward her and prepared to draw my windsleeve into a thin, dense layer over the front of my body. I knew a technique that would let me use the threshold between her claim and mine, her windsleeve and mine, to quickly push myself back from her if she really went in for the kill.

    But she stopped a foot away from me, beak frozen in its descent toward my face.

    Tell me, she said again.

    ¡°No.¡±

    I am going to kill you then. If you are not going to try to reason with me, why pretend you are not afraid?

    ¡°There is no pretense,¡± I said tiredly. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid, Eli. I feel no more fear than the chill of anticipation that I always feel at violence to come, and that is a kind of fear which has no hold on me. No; instead I am sad, and tired, and angry.¡±

    I reached out and touched a hand to the rough, worn texture of the shell before me. ¡°Surely of all the ascended beasts of this world, some of you, somewhere, learned how much safer you are if you make peace with each other, even help each other? Surely all your talk of wandering tortoises and distant kings had to have some truth to it?¡±

    You speak of violence to come, said Eli. But violence need not come at all. Her voice softened, became an unnerving lilt. Until now we have traded lies. Why not trade truths? Speak of your kin, Aziriel.

    ¡°No.¡±

    No? Eli asked. Perhaps you want violence, then.

    ¡°Tell me,¡± I said, ignoring her threat. ¡°Since it will matter not if you kill me and keep my skull, be honest. Was this tortoise intelligent? Did they know intelligent creatures?¡±

    My fingertips hovered over the huge shell where paints and dyes had formed pictures and images. ¡°Some of these pictograms were made with brushes of animal hair, or perhaps simply an animal¡¯s tail. Some with tools. Some have been dripped, or smeared. If I had to guess, I¡¯d say this tortoise didn¡¯t paint their own shell, and neither did any single creature. Did they wander the world making peace with every creature who could think enough to paint?¡±

    They did, said Eli. But what can it matter to you? You are a liar. The paintshells bear the truth. You are of my kind, not theirs.

    ¡°If you must pretend you know me, then so be it,¡± I said. ¡°Yet you said that it is possible to raise beasts to intelligence.¡±

    I said many things. Even at the prospect of finding yourself an equal mate, you showed no interested in my promises.

    ¡°I know it¡¯s possible,¡± I murmured. ¡°But only theoretically, technically. The problem is that I don¡¯t know how to do it.¡±

    My eyes were still scanning the shell. I saw many images overlapping one another, all of them representing different forms of plants and beasts. I kept searching, looking for something in particular.

    Perhaps I know it, said Eli. Perhaps a bargain can be made.

    My thoughts darkened as I watched them hover in the air across from me. There was a possibility that Eli simply wanted to taste as much elf meat as possible, that curiosity drove her to find this colony of creatures whose like she¡¯d never seen¡­ but I was fearfully suspicious that it was something more.

    Was knowledge of intelligent life valuable in and of itself? Did Eli intend to report our existence to others?

    ¡°This knowledge, if it exists, has more value than you could possibly realize.¡±

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    Than I realize? Echoed Eli. You do not know the extent of my sight. You do not know the full breadth of what I see, Aziriel. But I will not ask much to give a simple answer to your question.

    The tortoise, I thought. From what I¡¯d seen, Eli was strong enough that I didn¡¯t want to try and capture her for an interrogation¡ªbest to kill her quickly and minimize risk. Our diviners could examine the shell in front of me, and I could only hope that would be sufficient in helping me us track down potentially friendly creatures.

    Nothing that Eli said could be trusted anyway, and there was nowhere she could lead me that our people wouldn¡¯t find themselves.

    ¡°Let¡¯s just begin,¡± I said, at last turning to face her.

    Eli drew back, cocking her head.

    ¡°I could try to talk longer, to outsmart you,¡± I explained. ¡°But what could you tell me? What is your use? Let¡¯s begin: one lives, one dies.¡±

    I am the stronger of us. You know not what you ask.

    ¡°Would you like to do this here, or outside?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯ve searched this place for traps while we¡¯ve spoken and found none¡ªyou would do better fighting in the open air, I think, than cramped in this space with me.¡±

    Aziriel. You cannot trick a trickster. It is clear what you wish, and so I decline. She drew herself up higher. You will not see the open air again.

    I watched Eli, trying to draw my attention in to focus only on her. I would need to be fast¡ªand to be fast I needed fear. She wanted to kill me and keep my bones as a trophy. She wanted me to never return to the settlement, wanted the elves to first wonder why I was not returning, then slowly grow to fear whatever had kept me away.

    A horror too great to dwell on. My mind veered away from considering it to think on her beak, dipping into my ribcage, crushing bones and organs alike in a furious, killing blow.

    Truly, you wish to kill me? And yet I have done nothing to you but lie, as you have done. It was you who trespassed here, and you know not whether these bones belong to other hunters, creatures killed fairly in a contest they chose.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need to.¡±

    No?

    My vision held the serpent as clearly as it had held anything. Her every motion, from the breathing in her chest to the twitching of her claws, was known to me.

    ¡°No, Eli. The priests need their justifications, the mages their rationalizations, but you and I abide older ways than theirs. I am going to kill you and feed you to my children.¡±

    You are curious, Aziriel. And yet I only wish to¡ª

    Eli lunged.

    I expected it.

    I wanted her close. I could fight her at a distance, but that would involve methods that she¡¯d undoubtedly seen before, could respond to. Instead I wanted to surprise her and finish it quickly.

    I expected she would be cautious. Some sliver of doubt had to exist in her mind, wondering if all my seeming bluster had been a calculated play, wondering if she was somehow in my trap. But without knowing what I was going to do, she¡¯d have no way to counter it¡ªand if she¡¯d known what I was going to do, she wouldn¡¯t have lunged.

    She sped through the air toward me, her beak rushing forward to strike at my skull.

    It was all about waiting. I had to wait until the motion of her beak had so much momentum that she couldn¡¯t correct it when I pushed myself enough distance to one side to avoid it. Her beak split the air beside my head, missing its mark but still carrying through its momentum so that her chin would strike my shoulder.

    As she did this, I extended a dozen finger-width lines of mana from my face, neck, and shoulders, each a  tendril that probed the air ahead. I raised my arms to either side of me, leaving my head and body unprotected.

    It was all about waiting. The perfect moment was when our windsleeves met. Her claim was stronger than mine, her zone of control pressing almost against my body, but it didn¡¯t matter: I ignited my fingers of lightning just our two skins of compressed air met.

    My [Fray] lightning reached forward, seeking mana, and tore apart the magic that held the front of her windsleeve together.

    At the same time, I released the front of mine. Both of them gushed air into the space between us¡ªand Eli¡¯s had far more air in it than mine.

    Her chin struck my shoulder in the same moment that a wave of air blew both of us back and away from each other. I was sent flying backward, toward the ground.

    As I flew, I channeled a line of mana from each of my outstretched palms, pushing mana toward Eli as I simultaneously filled the air that I flew through. I forked each bolt, making tendrils that reached into the air like grasping claws.

    Eli fumbled without her windsleeve intact, her front half dropping to the floor of the chamber as her claws scrabbled at the ground, her back half still in the air.

    She wasted the only moment that she had to save herself by drawing her windsleeve together once more. It made perfect sense, of course: she was a flying creature, and had just been startled. Her instincts demand that she get back into the air once more, get moving.

    She raised her beak just as I ignited both my bolts of lightning. The world flashed red as two jagged tongues of power reached for Eli¡¯s face, one striking her forehead and the other striking her eye.

    Her [Aegis] was strong¡­ but a brain can only bear being cooked so much. I didn¡¯t burst her skull, but there was clearly something wrong with her movements as she surged toward me in the moment that followed my lightning bolts. I sprang to one side, forming another line of mana¡­ but there was no need.

    Eli fell to the floor, twitching as smoke poured from an empty eye socket. Another moment more and she was dead.

    I rose, then moved over to look down on her unmoving carcass. Smoke hung in the air around me as I stared.

    I didn¡¯t feel the thrill of victory. Instead I felt a sense of dejection and anger.

    More and more, this world had gone to prove that every precaution we¡¯d taken was justified. The harsh, barren architecture of our keep spoke to our fears¡ªand the building had saved us from Palimpsest. Even now we were excavating deep into the rock of the cliffside so that our settlement could eventually be hidden by the mists.

    Would it be enough? No, I decided. We could do more, and so we would.

    We¡¯d been able to forge a peaceful relationship with Akkakesh, at least for now. But all three intelligent creatures that I¡¯d met on the ground had been disasters. More and more, it was looking as if our only hope for peaceful relations with others was to grow so strong that we couldn¡¯t be challenged.

    And yet¡­ I turned to look at the shell once more. Eli had called the tortoise who it had come from a creature she called paintshell. She¡¯d said they wandered the world collecting stories. Had she been telling the truth, or simply saying whatever she needed to in order to earn my trust?

    I intended to find out.

    I hauled Eli¡¯s carcass into some of the higher chambers at the base of the tree, hoping that this would be enough to keep it from being found by scavengers for the moment. Then I took flight and went straight back to the settlement.

    I called for Zirilla once I was within range of our psychics once more.

    I need a few strong windcallers as soon as possible, I told her.

    A carcass small enough to be lifted? she asked. I suppose it beats out leading it back to the colony.

    There¡¯s something else I want to take back right away, I said. Something our sages and diviners will be most interested in. A shell.

    A shell?

    You¡¯ll see.

 4.11: Fear of the Unknown

    The next day, I met the high council on the rooftop of the keep as usual and told them of my encounter with Eli. They listened intently as I told my story, their attention peaking noticeably as I described the tortoiseshell that now rested in the archive.

    ¡°If anything, the whole episode has made me more paranoid,¡± I said once my tale was done. ¡°Our plan for the settlement right now leaves the walls visible to any creature passing overhead. I¡¯m not sure I think that¡¯s a good idea any more.¡±

    ¡°That leaves us with a set of¡­ unappealing options,¡± Hassina said. ¡°Either we lower the walls and rely mostly on other defenses, or we dig even deeper than we already are.¡±

    ¡°We can do first one, then the other,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯ll be another month of work for the earthshapers, but I see no other choice. If we¡¯re found by another civilization, even one that¡¯s small by any of our old measures¡­ then our relationship with them will be entirely theirs to decide. That, or we¡¯ll have to flee this place and travel into unknown territory.¡±

    ¡°Well, we¡¯ve at least planned for that much,¡± said Hassina.

    We had multiple escape routes in the works: several overland paths and a tunnel that we were carving through the rock that would soon emerge in a valley near the rift lake. Once it was done, we¡¯d undertake an even greater effort to connect our excavation at the peak of the Skytusk to our escape tunnel and our settlement.

    It was an incredible amount of work, but if things went wrong with Akkakesh I wanted both the elves in the settlement and the elves on the mountaintop to have a clear escape route.

    ¡°As for the keep,¡± Seriana said. ¡°I¡¯m guessing you¡¯ll want a constant illusion to hide it? A rock formation, perhaps?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°But naturally, all of this is going to have to wait until after the ritual. Right now, we¡¯re too visible no matter what we do. We¡¯ve got kilometers of my vines running the cliffside and a whole boundaries of felled trees. Not to mention the piles of excavated stone, the visible elevator, and the furnaces.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps I should ask,¡± said Seriana, ¡°was it really wise to leave us so exposed? The design for the settlement initially was made to keep us hidden by the mists¡ªnow that we see cause to be even more cautious, should we have tried to stay hidden from the first?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°We had to compromise. Or at least, it was wise to compromise. Palimpsest would have sensed us no matter how visible our keep and our logging was¡ªand as it was, we were barely prepared for them when they came.¡±

    ¡°Well, I suppose this settles what we¡¯ll be doing with the personnel who become free once the ritual is finished,¡± Hassina said. She let out a little laugh. ¡°In normal times, I¡¯d wonder about morale. After all, most of us want to be free to pursue our more specific callings. I want more musicians on the mountaintop, the earthshapers want to be making buildings instead of just excavating, the wildhearts all desperately want to working with the animals¡­.¡±

    ¡°But the ritual¡¯s conclusion will take care of morale,¡± said Galeena. ¡°And another month or two of toil won¡¯t seem like much to elves who can clearly see they¡¯re at the dawn of a new age.¡±

    I smiled. ¡°And if that doesn¡¯t work, maybe we got rid of the insect carcasses too quickly,¡± I said. ¡°A reminder of Palimpsest should be all anyone needs to understand the precariousness of our situation. And as for the ritual itself, things are beginning to become more clear. The last piece to fall into place will be the preparations for the divination spell. The next-closest will be the instruments Fireesha is crafting.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s too much overlap in both tasks,¡± said Fireesha. ¡°Half of the people we use to do one, we need for the other. We¡¯re making the instruments first because then Aziriel can play around with them.¡±

    ¡°The good news is that everyone else can go easier,¡± I said. ¡°I can have some of the wildhearts continue with their catalogues.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re almost completely finished making the keys we need,¡± said Hassina. ¡°We would be already, but the more the timeline crystallizes, the more I dispense the ones I¡¯ve saved. We only need them on the fateful day, after all, and spent keys earn us more than held ones.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s our best guess for a deadline right now, Fireesha?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Two weeks minimum. Three seems likely.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s coming on fast,¡± I said. ¡°Good.¡± I nodded to myself. ¡°Anticipation will build and work in our favor. Everyone has waited long enough¡ªsoon their patience will be rewarded. But there¡¯s matter to consider, beyond the ritual,¡± The corner of my mouth curled into a smile. ¡°One that I¡­ only partially hinted at during my story.¡±

    Hassina glanced skyward, her expression making it clear that she was trying to recall something. ¡°Well I confess I missed it,¡± she said. ¡°Don¡¯t leave us in suspense.¡±

    ¡°The eggs,¡± I said. ¡°Eli had killed a hydra and was eating some of its eggs. There were eight eggs total; seven of them still remain.¡±

    I watched the other councillors absorb this information, each of them making a different, subtle expression to indicate that they understood its significance. From what we knew, we¡¯d be waiting until after this world¡¯s winter to start taming many of its wild beasts, which we needed to tame from birth.

    But these eggs didn¡¯t follow the same rules that most of nature did.

    ¡°A behemoth hydra is too large to function without some amount of levels and skills,¡± I said.  ¡°Even when they¡¯re first born. Without enough [Strength] to bolster what their bodies are capable of, their hearts can¡¯t pump their blood. That means we¡¯ll need to be surrogate mothers to these eggs if we want them to hatch¡ªwe need to bring them the essence and keys that their mother would have.¡±

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    ¡°I doubt it will be a significant drag on resources,¡± said Hassina. ¡°Not given the scale of what we¡¯re harvesting already.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°It¡¯s good news, actually. These eggs are early along in their incubation cycle. By controlling how much essence we give them, we can control when they hatch. The first few we¡¯ll hatch individually. This means they won¡¯t have siblings they can contact with the [Wild Bond], which will make taming them much easier. Multiple untamed, newly-born hydras will agitate one another, instigate conflict. But once we¡¯ve got a couple under our control, they¡¯ll actually help us tame the other newly-hatched ones.¡±

    ¡°And we¡¯ll have seven behemoths under the control of our knights and wildhearts,¡± said Seriana.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be another thing to keep hidden from potential prying eyes,¡± I said. ¡°But it will be worth it. Once they have four legs, hydras become particularly fast. Our hunters will cover more ground, and much more safely. With support from spellcasters, even a low level hydra will be a match for a more powerful behemoth, if it¡¯s trained properly.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯d have crushed Palimpsest¡¯s forces,¡± said Fireesha. ¡°Even just one of them could have rampaged across the battlefield and collapsed every one of their exit tunnels.¡±

    ¡°What sort of commitment are we looking at in terms of personnel?¡± Seriana asked.

    ¡°For the first beast, Valir and Mirio could likely do it with one other wildheart,¡± I said. ¡°Though they¡¯ll likely have more of an entourage¡ªthe crests on their head indicate a different subspecies. There will be studies and observations to be made.¡±

    ¡°Still, that¡¯s not very demanding.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Individually, taming some of the wild beasts won¡¯t be. But even if we devote two thirds of the wildhearts to the task, it¡¯s still only going to net us a few hundred animals in the first year. Wyverns and broadwings will take multiple elves each to tame. We want some of the swamp spiders, too¡ªthey can haul cargo and handle the rough terrain, though I¡¯d rather a giant spider more capable of spinning webs.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure the children will love them as a domestic beast,¡± Hassina said.

    ¡°Almost all of our children are from Ellistara,¡± I said. ¡°Most of them have probably ridden a giant spider before. In any case, insects are easier to dominate mentally and the spiders are both readily available and equipped for the job. Although,¡± I added, ¡°what I¡¯d really love is some of Palimpsest¡¯s drone beetles. They¡¯ve got to occur naturally somewhere, but the hunters haven¡¯t found any yet. They can climb, help with excavation, are big enough for an elf to ride, could carry cargo, and would be easily dominated.¡±

    ¡°I can put together a tracking spell,¡± said Seriana. ¡°Though only once the ritual preparations are finished.¡±

    ¡°We can wait that long,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s not a priority. And one more thing, since we¡¯re on the subject of what to do once the ritual is finished¡ªwe don¡¯t know anything about this world¡¯s seasons. It¡¯s been slowly growing colder since we arrived, but Zirilla thinks that fact might be luring us into a false sense of security.¡±

    ¡°I share some concerns with her on this matter,¡± Seriana said. ¡°Namely, we don¡¯t know how the mists affect climate, here. As best we can guess, they absorb the light of the sun and filter it through to the lower layers, somehow. Normal clouds would simply reflect the sun¡¯s light and lead to a much cooler surface temperature, but we¡¯re not sure how much that¡¯s happening, here. With climate clearly influenced by a process we don¡¯t understand, it¡¯s not safe to assume the stability of our long term weather patterns.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t even have enough knowledge to start making guesses,¡± I said. ¡°Who¡¯s to say the temperature won¡¯t drop twenty degrees in the matter of a week? That this whole slope will be buried three feet of snow, or flooded by a storm bigger than anything any of us have seen?¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t drastic climate changes be evidenced by the wildlife?¡± Galeena asked. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t the wildhearts notice if everything around us was made to survive a terrible winter, or a great flood? I¡¯m no druid, but the birds would migrate, yes? Build their nests to withstand hurricane winds?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°Though the creatures of the swamp might all hibernate, none of the birds that inhabit the great trees seem to have adapted to catastrophic environmental changes. At the same time, we don¡¯t know exactly what to check for.¡±

    ¡°Too many unknowns,¡± Hassina said. ¡°You¡¯re not trying to expect the unexpected¡­ you¡¯re trying to prepare for it.¡±

    ¡°Think of it like this: most of the larger wildlife here have glowing markings all over their bodies, we still don¡¯t know why. A broadwing is both a predator to smaller creatures and prey to the wyverns¡ªit has every reason not to covered in glowing lines, and yet it is. We don¡¯t know why it is in the same way we don¡¯t know what forms the ubiquitous chasms through this mountain-range, or the nature of the mist layers. And with so many unknowns, it becomes impossible to gauge where our effort is best spent to protect ourselves. Do we make tenfold more drainage than we actually need in case of a storm, or do we prepare for a blizzard that piles snow ten feet high? Do we dig our escape tunnels, focus on our defensive enchantments, or put more resources into our binding spells?¡±

    As I looked at their faces, I was reminded once more that I was the only wild elf on the high council. Their experience with these matters was secondhand, at best, and not for the first time I lamented that most of our most ancient wild elves had died in the Doom.

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± Hassina said. ¡°Eli did make you even more paranoid.¡±

    I sighed. ¡°All I wanted to impress is that we may have grown complacent in assuming that the seasons will be mild,¡± I said. ¡°But we¡¯ve already met behemoth hydras that could sense us at a range of twenty kilometers, storm lords, and a whole new kind of terror in Palimpsest. What¡¯s next?¡±

    ¡°Correct me if I¡¯m wrong,¡± said Seriana. ¡°But it would have to be a fairly big storm to seriously threaten us at this point, yes?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I admitted. ¡°We¡¯re strong, now¡ªfar from the days when I had everyone hiding in Palefang¡¯s lair.¡±

    ¡°All we can do is make what preparations we can think of,¡± said Seriana.

    ¡°I can try to ask Akkakesh about the seasons,¡± said Hassina. ¡°They have some more talkative elementals who might tell us more, too. But ultimately I agree with Seriana.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re both right,¡± I said. ¡°But everything is so important that I don¡¯t want to miss anything.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve plenty of safeguards already,¡± said Seriana. ¡°And more on the way. In the time it takes to finish those we¡¯ve thought of, we¡¯ll think of even more.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°In that case, I have another task that we should complete before the ritual.¡± I smiled faintly. ¡°As thinly stretched as we are, I think it will be worth it to make some preparations.¡±

    ¡°More preparations?¡± Fireesha asked. ¡°What for?¡±

    My smile grew. ¡°For a celebration, of course.¡±

 4.12: Once Upon a Time in the Heavens

    The time came just a few weeks later.

    It was a warm evening with a cool breeze, summer air that promised autumn would be fast arriving. I stood at the edge of the keep and looked down on the depression we¡¯d cut into the earth below it as all of the arrangements were finalized and the elves began to assemble.

    As I watched, I thought of Alcuon. I thought of Aranar. I thought further back, toward old Maia and Finuel, and past them to the very moment where I¡¯d first come into existence.

    I felt as if it had taken me a long, long time to get here.

    ¡°Nervous?¡±

    I turned to see that Hassina had joined me on the battlements. ¡°No,¡± I said, turning my attention back down to the elves gathering below us. My nerves were too battle-tempered to be much bothered by a night where I had every reason to believe that all would go according to plan and there was no risk that anyone would die.

    ¡°Ranival says that he¡¯s ready,¡± Hassina said. ¡°And unless I¡¯m mistaken¡­.¡±

    ¡°That means I can start,¡± I said. I hadn¡¯t been in contact with the [Wild Bond] as I¡¯d gathered my thoughts on the rampart. I was going to need a lot of focus for the effort to come.

    I turned back to her once more, my eyes finding her own. In her face I saw a quiet need. Had she come to me because she thought that I¡¯d alleviate whatever guilt she now felt for having gotten her way in the judgement?

    It was poor timing, if that were the case. Thoughts of Alcuon rested heavily in my mind, on this night. Seeing Hassina made me think of Seriana, doomed to unnecessary centuries of the loneliness that I now felt¡ªand that I would want to spare anyone.

    ¡°You should go and take your place with the others,¡± I told her. ¡°I¡¯ll begin in just a moment.¡±

    A faded pain seemed to flit through her expression, and she nodded. ¡°Lux Irovex.¡±

    She left me, and I resumed gazing down at the assembling elves. We¡¯d finished excavating as deep as we intended to, and the site of the ritual was now in what was to become Cradle¡¯s central garden.

    The stone of the ground had been carved with grooves and runes, then encircled with the benches that were now becoming occupied. A raised central platform was surrounded by a depressed ring that had been carved around it and filled with dark, rich soil.

    Arranged on and around the platform were our channelers and musicians. I¡¯d trained each of them to do the work that was needed, tonight. My own drums stood unattended, waiting.

    The platform had an empty pit at its center, and this was the site where we would plant the tree. First, though, the pit would function as a pool that held the blood of Eli. Her carcass had been healed and preserved. It nearby, at the ready.

    Everything was at the ready.

    I waited another minute for the last of the elves to arrive, then rose into the air and floated down to land on the central platform. Very quickly, I felt myself becoming the center of everyone¡¯s attention. They knew were going to begin.

    I looked into the sky. Somewhere past all that mist were the stars, and somewhere beyond even those was my mother-creator, Sabina, as cold and distant as she ever was.

    She would be watching, tonight. Had to be.

    That was my plan, at least.

    ¡°Tonight,¡± I announced. ¡°I will tell you an old, unfinished story. I will not tell you the whole of it: no elf alone can tell the whole of it. But I can tell my part.¡±

    I stepped toward my drums, then struck them three times with my palms¡ªtwo deep, rapid notes followed by a final one that boomed out and echoed off the stones around us.

    I spoke, and my voice carried far:

    ¡°Once upon a time in the heavens, the Midnight Empress sought new beauties to look upon.¡±

    Cut quartz had been inserted into the ground at regular intervals, flush with the stone around it. They were for more than decoration: they were necessary components of the observation spell that Luthiel, Seriana, and Fireesha now oversaw.

    Still, they glittered like a regular array of stars. As the light of the mists above us faded and reddened, the world darkened and the quartz became more prominent.

    ¡°A mood had come upon her, an inspired mania. She sought to make a novel thing, one new and different from the divine power of her music and the cosmic perfection of her night. She sought to create something that would itself bear forth the spark of creation, a work that would propagate beauty through the realms eternally. She knew that her mood would be satisfied only by the creation¡­ of life.¡±

    From behind me, I heard pipes, bells, and beads sounding together, their sounds entwining into one long musical sigh.

    ¡°And with her calculating mind, her dividing eye, and her delicate, precise fingers, she set to work. She wove them from the sight of starlight glittering upon mist in the dark. She wove them from the sound of harp strings that have been strummed to sing a secret word. She wove them from the thought that guides mana as it burns to make a magic light. And when she finished her work, she played the Song of Creation upon the Glittering Strings and whispered a divine word that evoked them into being:¡±

    I paused. Waited. Then I whispered: ¡°Elvenkind,¡± and a chorus of whispers filled the air around me, building and reverberating until the word filled the place of our gathering.

    I continued. ¡°Every one of you is an inheritor of that moment when I and my siblings stepped out of the moonlit mists of Anar,¡± I said. Then I raised my voice. ¡°Anar! It was a realm above realms, a realm that existed at the footsteps to the heavens.¡±

    The sounds of harps and lyres filled the air behind me, their music quiet and steady. This time, though, the music didn¡¯t fade, but continued as I spoke.

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    ¡°There the elves lived in an ignorant bliss, a childhood that might have lasted a dozen years and might have lasted an eternity. It does not matter how much time there was, only that for the firstborn, our memories of that place are as numerous as there are droplets in a summer storm. Anar was a world shrouded by heavenly mists, and filled with incomparable wonders. We speak little of it, the firstborn, except to one another: and yet today I must begin by telling you a story of one of its eternal children¡ªan elf, a girl, a fool.¡±

    I tapped out a fast melody on the hollow wooden pipes beside my drums, then struck the deep, booming note that I had earlier.

    ¡°In that place, the Lady of Sable Graces taught us everything we needed to go and propagate her vision across the cosmos. She taught us magic. She taught us art. She taught us that both are one. And, often¡­.¡±

    I let my sentence trail away. I smiled. I tapped out the same melody as before on my hollow wood beside my drums.

    ¡°Often the Queen Most Beautiful would look upon a certain child with much the look of a poet who knows not how to address the faults they find in the verses before them, who knows not how to correct the mistakes of their own hand, or even whether such a thing is possible.¡±

    I smiled again. ¡°The disdain of the goddess was borne with great displeasure by the little elf, who often fled her lessons to retreat into the boundless vaults of the wilds¡ªfor Anar had such fields, seas, and forests as the gods themselves had dreamed. And one day as she sat and despaired in the depths of the forest, which was her sanctuary, a bird spoke to her.¡±

    A flute joined the soft thrum of harps and lyres, adding a flighty tune.

    ¡°They were small, but had rainbow plumage that glittered in the light as if made of jewels. And while it was strange that a bird should speak aloud, Anar had many peculiarities, and the girl thought little of it. ¡®Bizarre creature!¡¯ the bird declared. ¡®Soft skin? Woven gown? Silver hair? You are a strange sort of animal! What is the meaning of this?¡¯¡±

    The flute grew excitable behind me, and I waited a moment until it had faded into the growing music before continuing.

    ¡°¡®Meaning?¡¯ asked the girl, growing offended. ¡®The meaning is in what is seen. I am made by the hand of Sabina, and hence I bear her likeness. I am an elf.¡¯¡±

    The flute made a few high, loud notes of surprise.

    ¡°¡®Elf?¡¯ cried the bird. ¡®Sabina? Why come here, then? Surely no creation of the Midnight Empress belongs in a forest, alone.¡±

    Again I tapped out a short melody on my wooden pipes.

    ¡°Hearing this, the child was reminded of her unfortunate lot. She hung her head, despondent once more. ¡®I am a poor elf,¡¯ she explained, looking down at her hands with pity. ¡®I shoot straight, but to the wrong targets. My music is no special thing, my attention wavers in the fine art of magic, and my hands can never craft what my mind¡¯s eye imagines.¡¯¡±

    I smiled as the music behind me seemed to dim, then continued: ¡°The bird heard this and asked: ¡®and these things are what it is to be an elf?¡¯

    ¡°And the child answered: ¡®To be an elf is to have the gift of sensibilities. We must take that which we see in our mind¡¯s eye and create it in the world outside. To bring about what we desire within is to improve what is found without. This is the purpose for which the Queen Most Beautiful created us.¡¯

    ¡°But the bird only laughed. ¡®You are absurd, child,¡¯ they said. ¡®There is no outside, and there is no inside: the world that is witnessed and the witnesser are each one and the same, and no clever act of sight can carve apart that which is seen from the seer who sees it!¡¯

    ¡°The child pouted. ¡®Senseless creature,¡¯ she said. ¡®Begone from me. You know nothing of art.¡¯¡±

    Behind me, the flute struck a shrill note. ¡°¡®Begone?¡¯ asked the bird. ¡®Begone? Shall Sabina¡¯s misbegotten give orders to the creatures of the wood?¡¯ And of all the things they could have done, they laughed. The flitted down from their branch and landed atop the child¡¯s head. Then, before the child could protest, they touched their beak to her forehead for but a moment.¡±

    Behind me, the music suddenly swelled, and again a tapped out a rhythm on my wooden pipes and drums, once more ending with the deep, resonant boom.

    ¡°The child had a vision that seemed to last forever. She could not see where the line between herself and the world ended, and she floated above all as if outside of her own body. To her eyes, there were no distinctions, just a blur of colors like that of a stained glass window, only a thousandfold more resplendent. To her ears, there were no words or names, only an everflowing symphony of sound. She lost the power to distinguish even between the beautiful and the ugly, between the harsh and the soothing. Everything was good, and there was no pain.¡±

    I let the music play behind me for a while, collecting myself as I allowed the imaginations of my audience to try and conceive of what I¡¯d described. Then I spoke again.

    ¡°At last, the girl arrived once more to herself. Only now she felt different. ¡®Creature,¡¯ she said to the bird in awe. ¡®What have you shown me?¡¯¡±

    ¡°¡®Only a small part of what I see,¡¯ said the bird. Their many-hued feathers glittered like jewels. ¡®Do you wish for more, little elf?¡¯¡±

    I paused again.

    Do you wish for more?

    ¡°The child thought that at last she¡¯d found a respite from the quiet, cruel judgements of the Lady of Sable Graces,¡± I said. ¡°In that instant she sought to somehow turn the wonder of the moment she¡¯d been shown into some piece of magic or music that she could show the goddess to at last earn the approval she¡¯d forever been denied. And she felt something else, too: a craving that stirred in a place that held deeper desires than even her want for the love of her mother-creator. But she did not realize this, not yet. And even if she¡¯d seen it, she couldn¡¯t have named what she felt.¡±

    Slowly, a smile spread across my face. ¡°To the unnamed bird, she said yes. In fact, she begged him with a desperate obeisance that matched her earlier dismissive pride. And the bird in the wood taught her many things. He taught her to breathe, to see, to wait, to listen, and to sing. He taught her that the whole of the love that her heart might feel could belong to the smallest of moments. He showed her secret things that only rain and wind and fire can teach: how to dance in time with life itself and pluck at the strings of the soul.¡±

    I waited. I wondered what they were all picturing, how they saw the child, the bird, what they made of the mystical secrets that my story promised. How close was it to reality? It didn¡¯t matter; I was telling a story.

    ¡°In time the child forgot the very reason she had begged the bird to teach her, so absorbed she became in their lessons. And this was fortunate, because the more she learned, the more distant the Midnight Empress grew to her. When our lady looked upon the child, it was not with disdain¡­ but distrust. The child¡¯s works improved with each passing day, often impressing her siblings¡­ but never Sabina. She seemed to sense a taint.¡±

    A discordant element worked its way into the music behind me, and I continued.

    ¡°Time passed, though I cannot say whether it was years or ages in that timeless place. At last we noticed that we were growing, and when we asked our mother-creator why this was, she said that the time for our departure was coming, that mere years remained before we were sent forth from Anar, never to return, to seed the cosmos with the magic she had taught us. And so it was.¡±

    I struggled not to become lost in the memory of childhood¡¯s end. We¡¯d known we would never return, but we couldn¡¯t possibly know what that would mean.

    My eyes found Luthiel. He sat in the farthest row, Seriana at his side, his eyes seeming distant, lost.

    I continued: ¡°We were both cast out and set free. Grown at last, and thinking ourselves to know many things, we proceeded into the mortals realms with eagerness, trepidation¡ªand fear.¡±

    The music slowed and grew more quiet. I couldn¡¯t help but glance up into the mists, which had now almost completely darkened into this world¡¯s red night.

    ¡°We were grown,¡± I said. ¡°And we were free. But we were lost and alone. For though she had created us, the Lady of Sable Graces loved us only as a painter loves a painting, not as a mother loves their child. She made no home for us, intending that we should wander. A god had created us, and yet compared with the races of the realms that lie before us, we were strangely godless.¡±

    Slowly, my eyes hardened as they drifted across the crowd of elves before me.

    ¡°And godless, we wandered.¡±

 4.13: Evershifting Olorai

    ¡°For a time, there was despair and terror. The many realms of the cosmos lay before us, but we were open to them, as well.¡±

    As I told our history, I felt as if a great power was gathering in the air around me. It wasn¡¯t a magical power. Instead it seemed to come from the attention of my people as they watched, and listened.

    They were patient, but I could feel their anticipation building. Tonight I would deliver upon my promise and change our story forever.

    ¡°Not all of the realms were hospitable. It seemed to us as if we were the enemies of some races as soon as they saw us. The many-minded oroi, who met their own extinction at the hands of the humans they enslaved. The dragons, who saw us as little more than treasure to be added to their glittering hoards. The fae, who looked upon us with eyes that burned with terrible envy.¡±

    Behind me, the silence of the instruments was broken by the icy tinkling sound of a few quiet, high-pitched bells.

    ¡°We learned of death,¡± I said. ¡°When the dragon Anaxes came to lay waste to one of our secret sanctuaries, Myrasciel and Tythuon stood against him¡ªand though Anaxes was slain, so too with Tythuon. Tythuon was the first elf to die.¡±

    There was a swell in the music behind me, and a harp played a theme that Tythuon himself had written on Anar. He¡¯d written it for Myrasciel, his closest friend, but the years had seen it become his own.

    ¡°There were many more hardships,¡± I said. ¡°And indignities beyond counting. We searched for a home that we could not find. We prayed for a nightborne solace that would not come. We sought refuge in beauty, only to discover that art made in fear is seeded with a terrible aspect of the fear itself, and we balked at the works of our own hands.¡±

    I let the music play awhile, listening as it fluctuated between hopeful and sinister, as it built toward a climax and then all fell apart before it could be reached.

    ¡°And yet our goddess had not left us with nothing,¡± I said. ¡°Indeed, she had given us many gifts. Our skill with the arcane was unrivalled. Knowledge that was passed freely between our mages was treated by the denizens of the cosmos as the most potent of arcane secrets. The elves were worldless, and few, but we were not without our advantages.¡±

    The sky had darkened completely, now, and the shards of quartz that were embedded in the stone around us gleamed with a light of their own, submerging us into a dark field of artificial night.

    ¡°Faced the strife of the cosmos, we chose leaders. Aerien, greatest of our mages, and Myrasciel, the greatest of our fighters. They were the king and queen of the elves.¡±

    Not for the first time in my life, I wished I could sit and speak with them awhile. I missed Myrasciel more than I missed Finuel, my first husband. No matter how much time passed I¡¯d always have to wonder if I was only her poorer substitute.

    I continued:

    ¡°Aerien saw that our knowledge could be both sword and shield. And through careful sharing of our secrets, careful cultivation of our bonds with other peoples, he created the web of alliances with the humans of Hanaka, alliances that kept us safe in those first centuries. Under his guiding hand, pacts borne of necessity led to friendships sustained out of trust, and soon all knew that to raise a sword against a single elf was to invite a hundred legions of humanity to rise against you. Our bond was strong. With our protectors, we survived.¡±

    I was sparse in providing details, here. The colder facts of the matter regarding our early alliance with the humans were necessary pieces of knowledge for our children, but they didn¡¯t belong in the storied hour, where narratives went uninterruped. They belonged in school, in lessons where the pupils would be prodded toward debate.

    The truth was that Aerien had been more cunning, and perhaps less benevolent, than I was suggesting. Myrasciel and I had seen that our warp magic alone could tip the scales of power between humanity¡¯s seemingly endless nations and allow a few of them to dominate all others.

    I had urged against sharing the knowledge, insistent that any safety the elves found in the arms of others was inherently dangerous and unstable. Myrasciel had spoken against me, saying that we couldn¡¯t survive sharing our secrets with no one at all¡ªthat we had to choose at least one ally. If meddling in human affairs bought ourselves a century or two of relative safety, it would be well worth it.

    Naturally, Aerien had sided with the Queen¡ªand a good thing, too. Myra had, as usual, been right.

    When the dust settled and the blood dried, the only humans left in power were those who wielded elvish arcane secrets.

    More critically, the nature of power among humans had shifted, too. The arcane had eclipsed all other disciplines to become the central pillar of power in their societies. Mages reigned over humanity, and wrote favorable histories concerning how it had come to be so.

    Elves were placed everywhere in the hierarchies of the mages. Elvish sages were an immortal repository of living memory, and we shared it all, cementing ourselves as willing, helpful allies to humanity¡¯s elites. But we were careful to always be assistants, never rulers: we were neutral in the conflicts that arose between their wizard-kings.

    The elvish vizier became a stock character in their plays. The pilgrimage to an elvish cloister became a prestigious mark of advancement among the human mages. The romance between human and elf, a dramatic staple: passionate love eclipsed by the shadow of inevitable death.

    I looked with sympathy at the children of Ellistara, sitting with their parents and watching me with rapt eyes. They would need to know these things, of course: need to know that our ancient king was not celebrated because he had simply made peace, but contrived a peace by meddling in the wars of humanity.

    Such stories I could tell them of that time. Would tell them, in time.

    I continued.

    ¡°The elves had the wisdom of our king, the strength of our queen, and the protection of our friends¡ªand so we prospered. Our knowledge increased, our numbers grew, and all was well for a time. But in his wisdom, Aerien knew not to trust any one thing to last forever, even something as strong as our alliance. For among mortals, the will of the father is inevitably superceded by the will of the son. Bloodlines can fail, promises can fade, and borders can shift as if moved by the wind.¡±

    It hadn¡¯t just been Aerien who had seen that our position wouldn¡¯t last. It had been everyone. Humanity was always in flux, and humans were as capable of misplaced wrath and fear as we were. All of us had seen that sooner or later they might turn on us.

    ¡°We wanted two things,¡± I continued. ¡°Our own home, and the means to protect it. Each of these seemed impossible to us. Often, envy would burn in our eyes. The gods, we saw, had granted each of these to the races they had made in their likenesses, had sponsored their children¡¯s prosperity in the grand scheme of the cosmos¡ªbut not ours. Not the Queen Most Beautiful.¡±

    Again I glanced at the mists above. In normal circumstances it was arrogant to assume that a god was watching, but tonight was hardly normal.

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    Tonight was one of the most important days in all our history. Sabina was listening. Had to be.

    ¡°Varyniel made her temples, and Mirion his symphonies. And as decades passed like seasons, we saw to it that no creatures in the cosmos was as skillful or reverent in their love of the night than the elves. But no matter how much we worshipped, the Lady of Sable Graces denied us what we so deeply desired. She did not become our patron god; she remained our creator only.¡±

    I paused, longer than I had for the length of my story so far. I let the quiet fall over the audience and form a kind of break in the story, a natural divide.

    Then I tapped out a familiar melody on my hollow wooden slats, followed by the booming beat of my deepest drum¡ªand we were back on Anar, back to the girl and the bird.

    ¡°Once upon a time on Hanaka,¡± I said, ¡°as spring was just beginning to turn to summer, a woman wandered in the great, wild forest of the north, happy to know that with her every step, she tread in a place where no-one, elf or human, had tread before. The woman was, and had been, many things. Warrior, sage, vizier, architect, sculptor, herald, apprentice, smith, mage, sister, ritualist, commander¡­ she wore roles like snow: here in the winter and gone in the thaw.¡±

    I smiled. ¡°She was content with this. She was ambitious, but her was a strange and secret one. She did not seek the profound excellence that her kin among the firstborn elves often devoted their lives to. She sought to see and experience many things, but was untroubled if she also forgot them.¡±

    I tapped my pipes with supernatural speed, and the chaotic, many-layered sound created by the notes became the babbling of a brook.

    ¡°She wanted to be a riverbed. She wanted to feel the water of the world flow over her. She knew that to trap the water of a river is to dam its flow, and it was the flow, not the water, that she sought. And as she wandered, directionless but not lost, through the northern forest, she met a cat.¡±

    Again I tapped out a melody on my pipes and drums, one that was echoed by the strings behind me, where it seemed to gain strength and shift into many different tunes.

    ¡°¡®Elf,¡¯ said the cat. His voice was soft like velvet. ¡®You are so far from home. Why wander?¡¯

    ¡°The woman regarded the cat. Once, she¡¯d been a silver-haired girl on Anar, despondent for lack of a goddess¡¯s love. But she was that girl no longer; she knew with whom she spoke. She simply asked: ¡®Why not?¡¯

    ¡°The cat circled her with gleaming eyes, and she saw that his white fur rippled with a sheen of many colors. ¡®Why not?¡¯ he asked. ¡®Why, because you are an elf. Your lot is to squint and scribble, to sculpt mana in high towers. Your lot is to fill these worlds with beauty.¡¯

    ¡°¡®Not yet,¡¯ said the elf. ¡®For the nature of beauty is not yet known to me. I must study further.¡¯

    ¡°¡®Study?¡¯ asked the cat. ¡®What can be studied? Tell me, what do you know of beauty?¡¯

    ¡°The woman sighed and looked fondly at the forest around them. ¡®Beauty is the sudden rain that falls like a curtain which frays the sight and fills the ears to at long last slake the thirst of the world,¡¯ she said. ¡®It is known in the flesh. I do not wish to categorize or characterize it. Rather I find it where it is, and care not for its preconditions or components.¡¯ Having said as much, the woman gasped, and pointed. ¡®Look,¡¯ she said. ¡®A hummingbird.¡¯¡±

    The music rose, became a mercurial tune that I let flow for a while.

    Then I continued.

    ¡°The woman and the cat watched the bird awhile, and when the bird had gone, the cat said, ¡®Come with me, little one. I will show you many new things; music that is fine and fluid and thrilling, music such as your divine ears have never heard.¡¯¡±

    I paused, letting my mouth curl into an amused smiled, then said, ¡°And the woman regarded him coolly. She was, perhaps, impossibly young, and far from the childhood she¡¯d been in when the cat had last come to her. She thought herself a warrior¡ªshe fierce, and cunning, and she had just begun honing her mind in the art of conceiving great strategems.¡±

    I let silence descend upon us once more, pausing for a long time before repeating, ¡°She knew with whom she spoke. Evershifting Olorai¡ªGod of the Wilds, of Natural Beauty, and of Change. She knew she was in danger, and she saw in that danger a worthwhile risk.¡±

    I tapped my drums for another moment. The sound of my wooden pipes was engulfed by a new melody, one that was exciting, overwhelming, domineering.

    ¡°¡®I will go with you,¡¯ she said. And they went, vanishing into the northern forests of Hanaka. They ran together, hunted together, took many forms together. He showed her magic that only orcs knew, magic that only dragons knew, and even magic that would be hers and hers alone.¡±

    Then I smiled again, a fond and wistful smile. The next part of the story might have been my favorite.

    ¡°Then, one day, she rose to greet the morning¡­ and she bid him goodbye.¡±

    I tapped another melody against my instruments, another drum hit, all free of the influence of Olorai¡¯s sound.

    ¡°At first, Olorai was confused. She told him that their time together had been good, but that she sought new experiences. She told him that to always have him by her side was to see a world of many through one singular tint. She said she knew he¡¯d understand.¡±

    The strings began to play a tense, fast tune behind me.

    ¡°Then Olorai grew wroth. He spat. He condemned. He promised her that should she leave him now, he would forget her and she would never look upon him again.¡±

    ¡°And she said: ¡®So be it.¡¯ And she left.¡±

    Again, I smiled. In a story, a hundred years can pass in the blink of eye. Even a hundred years of wondering if you¡¯d made a terrible mistake.

    ¡°A god¡¯s word and a god¡¯s power are not fickle, yet their nature may be. In a moment, the Shifting Lord is one thing, and in the next, another. He is not capricious or quick to anger, and yet he is, to the depths of his nature, always changing. The elf knew this. As such, she knew that Olorai would return to her. And she was right.¡±

    I tapped out another melody on my drums. The strings joined me almost immediately.

    ¡°Almost a century later, she found him once more in the forest. Much had changed for the world, and for the elf, and even for the god. For Olorai now knew that she could leave him, could refuse him, and in some things they now stood eye to eye. He asked her to go with him, and she assented. They danced for more than a hundred years.¡±

    The music rose, more drums joining my own, many notes interweaving with the plainer music that had come before.

    ¡°While the elves lived in their cloisters, ever-fearful of the greedy eyes of dragons, Olorai showed her a cosmos filled with wonders. In time, she brought new elves out of their secluded towers and into secluded glades, teaching them much of what he had taught her. And as these learned a new way to see the world, Olorai learned a new way of seeing them. Where before he cared only for the sad girl with the silver hair, now his affections extended toward the newly-born wild elves.¡±

    With a single strike of my drum, I signalled all my musicians to fall silent.

    ¡°The woman saw all this and was satisfied,¡± I said. ¡°They were still dancing, her and Olorai, and though they never moved toward it in a straight line, all the while they drew closer and closer to the culmination of the stratagem she had conceived when first she saw him in the woods.

    ¡°In time, he saw what she wanted of him. He vanished, then reappeared soon after. She pleaded, and the argued, and she pleaded again. It went on for years, but Olorai couldn¡¯t separate himself from the elves he¡¯d grown so fond of.¡±

    I waited, letting the soft music behind me stretch out to fill many moments, letting time pass.

    ¡°At last, one night, he called her too him. They sat upon the ledge of high mountain and looked down upon the calm waters of a moonlit sea. ¡®We have done this for too long,¡¯ he said. ¡®I grow weary of indecision.¡¯¡±

    I tapped out three short, quiet notes on my pipes.

    ¡°She pleaded with him once again. ¡®Assent,¡¯ she said. ¡®Become our god, and we will worship you forever.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Olorai looked forlorn. ¡®I will assent,¡¯ he told her. ¡®But I fear now that you have not heeded a single word I have taught you.¡¯¡±

    I paused, and soon the silence began to linger around me. I was frozen: I had to continue, but I didn¡¯t want to say the words.

    At last I sighed. ¡°The elf was jubilant. She exalted him. And when she¡¯d finished with her celebrations, she asked him why he would say such a thing. Why accuse her of ignoring his teachings?¡±

    My eyes found Luthiel¡¯s. ¡°¡®Because,¡¯ he told her, ¡®if you understood change, then you would understand its consequences.¡¯¡±

    I spoke slowly, as if letting each word fall to the stone at my feet before uttering the next.

    ¡°¡®Nothing lasts forever.¡¯¡±

 4.14: There Were None Like Us

    ¡°Olorai brought us far up the River of Realms, to a world that had been untouched by civilization. We called that wild world Maia. There, we made our home.¡±

    Maia. I could still remember the color of its sky: paler than Aranar, but a purer shade of blue.

    ¡°We had endless gratitude toward our new god, Olorai, for this gift he had given us. His temples rose high. His priests were exalted. The music that we wrote to honor him and his works could be heard in every elvish settlement to be found. But the greatest sign of reverence to Olorai was in the wild elves themselves: where once they had been but a sliver of our people, fewer than one in a hundred, the years passed and their numbers grew and grew. The elves were learning to appreciate the beauty of nature¡ªto fill themselves with the sight of what is rather than fill the world with what they think should be.¡±

    It had surprised me that neither Aerien nor Myra had been bothered to see so many of our people fundamentally changing their way of life. Neither of them had any interest in the woods themselves, and yet as elves set aside the ways laid out by Sabina to join me and my people in the deep woods, our royalty had simply bid them well.

    ¡°Sabina saw all of this. In time, she found Queen Myrasciel in the dead of the night and admonished her. ¡®Shall you forget the things which I taught you?¡¯ she said. ¡®The gifts which I gave you? Among the races of the cosmos, there are none who can boast of such favors as I have given you. You are immortal, and went forth from Anar knowing many things, seeing much. But now you turn your backs from me, intent on forgetting your purpose.¡¯¡±

    As with the rest of my story, there was too much to tell in a single evening. Here, there was no way to communicate just how dangerous it was to incur the wrath of a god.

    But Myra had told me once that she¡¯d known right away that Midnight Empress hadn¡¯t come to punish us¡ªif she had, she¡¯d have appeared to me, not Myra.

    She¡¯d wanted something else.

    ¡°Myrasciel pleaded with the Midnight Empress at great length, making many assurances, hoping to show the Queen Most Beautiful that the elves had always been needful of her guidance. Through it all, our goddess was cold and distant. At last she left, taking the form of a sable unicorn to fly away into the night and giving no hint of what her judgement might be.¡±

    That was Myra, and it was one of the reasons I would always hold her in a higher regard than all other elves, save perhaps Narana. She¡¯d spun the danger of divine retribution into a miracle that would last us for eternity.

    ¡°She found her brother Olorai. No elf knows what was said between them. But as the sun rose they appeared to Myrasciel, and their divine decree was this: the elves would have two gods.

    ¡°Then they passed above us, a sable unicorn and a dappled stag, running together for the first time in the history of all creation, their passage a sign of alliance. They would forever share the worship of the elves, whose hearts would hold two faiths together.¡±

    The music had swelled behind me as I spoke, strings and pipes to represent old Maia. I fell silent and let them play awhile, trying not to be stolen away by my memories, not to be captured by the blue sky and the soft sound of waves. Of Finuel, and our children¡¯s laughing voices.

    Alcuon had been a better husband for me, that much I knew. But Finuel had been a perfect father, and I¡¯d loved him for it even if it was never perfect between us.

    I carried on.

    ¡°Sabina blessed our new world with a grand spell,¡± I said. ¡°An enchantment whose like had never been seen in the cosmos. She crafted the Veil of Maia, and the path to our world was hidden to any who was not an elf and had not been given our right of passage. Even those who had once come to Maia could never find the way again, not without admittance.¡±

    We had been so blessed. The hidden world of the elves, exclusive and secretive. Invitations to study among us in the cities of Maia had themselves carried immense value, though Aerien had always seen to it that we were generous.

    ¡°And for a time, we prospered as we never had before. Twelve hundred years. Twelve hundred summers. Twelve hundred celebrations of the flight of stag and the unicorn. Our wisdom grew. Our power increased. Our numbers multiplied. In that time, strife was only ever a passing thing, and the elves loved each other.¡±

    My eyes found Luthiel. Seriana. Zirilla. There had been cities on Maia. Once, I¡¯d walked down streets so filled with elves that their voices had filled the air like the sound of a rushing river.

    And now there were a handful of us. Four.

    We¡¯d left more behind, but the total was fewer than dozens. The days had been so pleasant to live, and yet now almost every part of the story hurt to tell.

    ¡°I will pass over much. To us, the kingdoms of Hanaka seemed always to be in tumult, and yet a steady rhythm could be discerned through all their changing crowns.¡±

    Our hubris had been inexhaustible, in those days. No matter how many times the mortals showed us their quality, we clung to the stories that made us feel superior. From behind the Veil of Maia, we lived in plenty, and lived forever. Yet somehow we¡¯d grown to look at the worldly wars of humanity as if they were beneath us on account of some special, elvish quality.

    ¡°The dragons had brutalized and tyrannized the known realms as far back as our living memory went. They stemmed from a place far up the River, a place we could not reach, and there was nothing they would not spoil. In time, they besieged prosperous Hanaka. The humans beseeched us for aide in their war.¡±

    I paused, letting a silence gather in the air around me.

    ¡°And we refused.¡±

    Should I have been more self-flagellating? After all, it was me who had turned so many minds against the idea of helping them. My arguments were simple.

    Elvish blood was immortal, was invaluable, and yet we were to spend it in defense of mortalkind? No¡ªwhatever help we would give to our oldest allies would have to come from behind the safety of the Veil, would be for the generations to come, not for those who suffered now.

    ¡°The dragons were powerful, but their alliances were weak and chaotic. Aerien and Mysaciel sought to make peace without bloodshed, sought to show the value of strifeless prosperity to the dragons. Heeding not the warnings of humanity, they sought friendships with those dragons who promised to yoke their kind into peace, once they attained power¡ªseeking to do to the dragons what we had once done with the humans of Hanaka.¡±

    I¡¯d been a dissenter in that matter, too. My fervent belief had been that we had no hope, none whatsoever, of guiding the dragons into some form of greater society. There was no comparison to be drawn between them and humankind.

    They were immortal, and fiercely powerful. What was more, we had no idea how to travel the River as far as they could. They had savaged the races of the cosmos since time immemorial, and we had only the word of dragons to trust that their politics worked in the way they claimed.

    But Aerien and Myrasciel had seen hope. They thought that from our place of perfect safety, we could at least cause enough chaos amidst the dragons to alleviate some of the war they had brought to Hanaka.

    It was a more reasonable expectation, even if I¡¯d still disagreed.

    ¡°But a hand extended to a dragon in friendship is a hand extended too far,¡± I said, letting my voice be harsh. ¡°To trust too much in hoping for a better way is perhaps the noblest form of folly¡ªand yet it is still folly. The dragons, once brought to Maia, wrought destruction on a scale that we never could have dreamed. They ripped apart Sabina¡¯s gift, the Veil of Maia, and their kind descended upon us with all the force they could muster.¡±

    Even now, I could hear the screams of a people that had thought they were safe forever as dragons descended from the sky to burn them alive.

    How had the dragons broken the Veil? Even now, we hadn¡¯t settled on a theory. There were half a dozen methods that would have done it, and in the end it didn¡¯t matter which one they¡¯d used.

    ¡°Our cities were sacked, and elves burned. And when it was done, the dragons left: they cared not for weak Maia, a world that the River fed little in the way of essence and whose treasures they had already stolen.¡±

    Silence. I was still angry when I thought of it. I was always angry when I thought about it. I¡¯d fought so hard to save my children¡­ and only saved two.

    ¡°They left us alone, thinking they were finished with us, and this was their folly.¡±

    Drums began to measure a steady beat, one whose pace was like the ticking of a clock.

    A familiar theme¡ªHashephel.

    ¡°For in ages past, long before Olorai had ever embraced the elves as his own and led us to our new world, Hashephel had spent almost all his waking hours searching for a remedy to our plight¡ªand he¡¯d never stopped.¡±

    Fifteen hundred years. That was how long Hashephel had spent working out how to do what he¡¯d needed to. An unthinkable number of [Diamond] keys had been spent in experiments¡ªuntil at last he¡¯d done it.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    ¡°Maia was weak in essence, but this meant its innermost elementals were weak, easily bound by our mages. The depths of the world were open to them, and rich with many gemstones. The dragons had stolen the gems, true¡ªbut Hashephel still had a thousand years of aspects. With mastery beyond anything that had been seen in the mortal realms, Hashephel crafted three powerful artifacts; the manahearts.¡±

    I was purposefully leaving something out, of course, and that was Sabina. Hashephel never would have managed to create something as potent as the manahearts if not for the fact that a goddess had taught us the secrets of the cosmos when the other races had yet to be born.

    I looked back up into the red light of the mists as I thought of her. She was watching. Had to be.

    ¡°There were three manahearts,¡± I continued. ¡°One for King Aerien, one for Queen Myrasciel, and one for me. I will pass over the endless tales I could tell of the conflict; with the power of the manahearts, we scoured our world of the few dragons who had remained, then put ourselves in service of humanity once more, waging a bloody war that would last for decades to at last defeat the dragons. They receded from the known cosmos, retreating up the River of Realms to their unknown source, and we at last looked forward to another age of peace and prosperity.¡±

    Or rather, some of us had. I had wanted more in the way of vengeance. I would never be satisfied until I¡¯d found their safe places and burned them all to ash.

    ¡°But peace was not to be.¡±

    The music ceased. Silence reigned; there was no fitting theme for an apocalypse.

    ¡°The Veil of Maia was gone. And though all knew of the power we wielded, they also knew its source. The manaheart inspired covetousness. What was more, two had been lost in the conflict, and it would take ages for Hashephel to gather the aspects he needed to create them again.¡±

    ¡°We sought new ways of protecting ourselves. Enchanting our entire world, as Sabina had once done. Delving more deeply, so as to hasten the creation of new manahearts. Conjuring creatures from places we did not understand. Our victories, our powers had made us proud. We did not dwell on the risks we were taking.¡±

    In reality, we¡¯d all dwelt on the risks¡­ but only those that the others were taking. I¡¯d wanted to delve deep, Myrasciel had wanted to remake the Veil, and others had wanted still crazier things: enchantments to route more essence from the River to Maia, warp spells that would convey one from world to world, legions of reproducing constructs to harvest essence from the sea¡­.

    Insanity, all of it.

    But what Hashephel had accomplished had been the greatest of great works among our people. It had made so many of us hungry¡ªwe¡¯d seen the glory in his labor of long years, seen that miracles could be made by elven hands, and we¡¯d thought ourselves on the cusp of a new age, one where the manahearts were but the first of elven wonders.

    ¡°And in time,¡± I said quietly. ¡°We broke the world.¡±

    I let the silence stretch out into a seeming infinity. At least then, we¡¯d known why the gods had not protected us. It was our hubris.

    ¡°This, too, I will not speak much of. It hurts me. The oceans rose up to swallow everything. A freezing wind encompassed all. And Maia, sweet Maia, was severed from the River of Realms itself.¡±

    Again, I paused. I had to. The words came slow, hard, and quiet.

    ¡°But Aerien, our King Aerien, who himself had no part in our doom but who had preferred the path of caution, saved half a hundred thousand elves at the cost of his manaheart¡ªand his life. There were none like him, and never shall be again.¡±

    We had decided it, in his wake. He¡¯d been the only one to seek no new great works; he¡¯d had the wisdom to say that what was gone was gone, and that the manaheart would have to suffice.

    We¡¯d passed it off as arrogance. He was the King, and he was the only elf left with a manaheart. Of course he hadn¡¯t wanted things to change.

    And then he¡¯d died for all our mistakes. When the cracks of discord were already spreading, we¡¯d chosen that the elves would never again have a king.

    ¡°Myrasciel left us in despair, vanishing to an unknown place. Once again, the humans of Hanaka took us in¡ªbut now we felt more vulnerable than ever. For the humans had grown stronger, but we were much diminished, and all creatures of the cosmos seemed to covet the secret of the manahearts, even if we had lost each one.¡±

    It had been the worst of all possible worlds.

    Everyone else knew that we knew the method to create artifacts of immense power, but we had none of them to defend ourselves with.

    Worst of all, we had every reason to hate each other. Everyone we¡¯d known had drowned, killed by none other than ourselves.

    We¡¯d thought we were moving toward a new golden age. But instead?

    ¡°We fell to an age of strife,¡± I said. ¡°The high, the deep, and the wild elves lost sight of their bonds with one another. Blame for the loss of Maia fell like leaves in autumn.  Elf was set against elf; blood answered blood and our people, spread thin across the realms, seemed to find no respite from endless death.¡±

    I did my best not to look at Hassina. My guess was that near everyone was thinking of her story, now. I knew I was.

    ¡°Then came Narana,¡± I continued. ¡°At great cost, she brought the three pieces of shattered elvenkind together again, then found our Queen Myrasciel and pulled her from her sorrows.¡±

    Again, I was skipping over events that historians had studied for lifetimes. But there was a method to my pace, a purpose. Time needed to start moving faster, now.

    Besides. If the children knew one thing about our history, they would know the story of Narana.

    ¡°As the years passed,¡± I continued, ¡°we saw our chance. For in the wake of the war with the dragons, Hanaka had grown strong. Refugees that had fled to the humans in the first war had flourished, and though it was not done without strife, new peoples had been welcomed into the world¡¯s many nations. There were elves there too¡ªfor some of us had never left our old places, training mages serving as sages and viziers across their lands.¡±

    Hanaka had never been strong in essence, but its lack had driven the humans to a sort of rugged ingenuity. Mages with a decade of adulthood might sometimes think of a new use for magic that had eluded our archmages for millenia.

    ¡°Their greatest pride was in their shipcraft,¡± I said. ¡°A time came when the Hanakans sailed farther and faster along the River of Realms than anyone else in the known cosmos. They pushed outward in search of new realms. They explored. And in time, they came upon the mightiest world that anyone in the cosmos had yet seen. A world steeped in power-granting essence, and resting at the mouth of a current so impassible that even now no ship can traverse it.¡±

    A new theme began to play behind me, weaving into the music and then overtaking it. It was made of drums and pipes, was deep and slow and resonant.

    ¡°Thanaxes. The home of the dragons who had terrorized all other realms for as long as living memory.¡±

    Oh, how grateful I had been to the humans who had found it. How I had stoked the fires of vengeance with tales of their fallen ancestors, of their cities burning as the labor of generations was stolen away.

    In the end, I got exactly what I wanted.

    ¡°A new war raged for centuries. It was a war of ambition, a war of vengeance, and a war of spite. It was war on such a scale as had never been seen. The resolve of the mortals was inexhaustible. The armadas that sailed the River of Realms were tenfold as great as any that had come before them. And the elves joined them, no longer in our youth.¡±

    Now the music rose to something louder and greater than it had been all night. We were in the greatest of our military glories, the war that had cost us the most, gained us the most, and taken the last of my three children.

    ¡°Furnished both with power granted to us by the other races and power stolen from the dragons, Hashephel crafted three new manahearts. The dragons were mighty, equal to any mortal who stood against them¡ªbut they could not stand against Myrasciel, Luthiel, or me. In the end, Thanaxes fell¡ªand was taken.¡±

    We had been like gods ourselves. The [Arcane Champion], [Divine Champion], and [Primeval Champion], each of us making war with all our power.

    And in the end, I had clasped hands with the greatest of human kings in the ruins of the most opulent palace in the known cosmos. We had celebrated for what felt like years. The treasures we¡¯d conquered had taken decades to count¡­ and there was enough for all.

    We had done it; after centuries we had done it. The mythical homeworld of dragonkind was ours.

    I had seen to it that my deeds were so mighty and fearsome that any race or nation who looked upon the elves with greed in their hearts would be cowed by the length of my shadow.

    Luthiel saw to it that the magical secrets of the dragons were taken and kept in elvish archives, ours forever.

    Myrasciel had ascended into the heavens to take her place at Kalak¡¯s side as the greatest of his heralds.

    There were none like us, and never would be again.

    The last of my family had died and left me alone.

    If I¡¯d had a year to speak to them about the second war with the dragons, I wouldn¡¯t have had enough time.

    The music faded, became a simpler theme played on a flute.

    ¡°Now Thanaxes had a gentler twin. She was an ocean world possessing a few small archipelagos, and her name was Aranar.¡±

    We¡¯d also had to drive the dragons from it, of course. And unlike Thanaxes, where many dragons had made alliances or capitulated in ways that let them continue to live amidst their world¡¯s new masters, the elves had not suffered a single one

    Tt had been my decision. With Myrasciel gone and the war won, a new order had taken root: myself, Luthiel, and Hashephel had the strongest hands in guiding the elves. Hashephel abstained from almost all decisions that weren¡¯t directly economic, and Luthiel almost always deferred to me in matters of war.

    In the matter of dragons, my mind was simple: No dragons. None.

    Gone.

    ¡°In friendship, Aranar was gifted by the new Thanaxians to us¡ªand us alone. We agreed that we would forever grant the greater share of its riches to the Thanaxians, for Aranar, like Thanaxes, was bathed in more essence than any other realms in the cosmos.¡±

    We¡¯d also learned, by then, that our wealth wasn¡¯t contingent on how much of a world¡¯s essence we were entitled to. Letting the humans hunt our oceans while we kept almost every piece of land for ourselves did nothing to stop us from becoming fabulously wealthy as a people.

    The real purpose of our deal with the humans was simple: it gave them something to lose if they should ever come for us and our manahearts. Too many of their leadership enjoyed the wealth to be had in our oceans. The short-term loss in prospects that a war would bring would last the whole of their lives.

    And so we¡¯d had every reason to solve all our disputes peacefully.

    ¡°On Aranar,¡± I said. ¡°We prospered. Our wisdom grew. Our power increased. Our numbers multiplied. And we did not forget the teachings of Narana. For two thousand years, we stayed together.¡±

    ¡°Two thousand summers. Two thousand celebrations of flight of the stag and the unicorn.¡±

    The music stopped suddenly. Silence came over all. In the dark, I spoke.

    ¡°And then, one day¡­ a Doom came to Aranar.¡±

    I looked out at the assembled elves. My people.

    ¡°To us.¡±

 4.15: A Time For New Music

    ¡°Here we are,¡± I said to the gathered elves. ¡°Here we stand with all our history at our backs. We have survived the breaking of worlds, but in truth, not all of us survives: each of us has lost some measure of our innermost self to the Doom.¡±

    I held raised my arms to either side of me, raising my voice. ¡°And yet we who remain are together tonight, unbroken. It has always been our fate to bear memory, to see beauty, and to make music.¡±

    I ran a hand across the surface of my drum. At long last.

    ¡°And the time has come for new music.¡±

    I struck the drum and reached out with my magic and with the bond, orchestrating both the mana and the many elves around me. The music began fast and chaotically, so that the instruments felt as if they were straining to come together to form an ordered sound, the ear having to strain just a little to hear music instead of noise.

    The rhythm was kept by the beating of my great, booming drum, bringing it together, guiding it¡­.

    Caverns had been cut into the walls of the rock around us, and while one day they would be a part of our settlement, for now they stored the many acres of mana-infused vine that we¡¯d grown along the cliffside, then harvested.

    At my prompting, the decay mages in the caverns, led by Ravinal, began to consume the vines. Their channelers began to slowly channel the mana toward us.

    As they did this, two dozen windcallers brought Eli¡¯s carcass down out of one of the higher caverns, resting it on an open stretch of stone that we¡¯d left by the empty pool behind me, positioning it so that Eli¡¯s head hung over the edge of the pool.

    The music tightened as Eli touched the ground, the chaotic sounds drawing together into something cleaner, more concerted, a new set of sounds which revealed to the ear all the hidden sophistication that the old ones had contained.

    The stones beneath our feet were layered three deep, carved on both sides with the runes of my spell¡ªrunes that would not only bring the mana inward, but shape it as it moved. As I pulled the mana toward the pool behind me, it would be focused and composed into each phase of the spell.

    Valir and Mishlo stepped forward to flank Eli¡¯s massive, beaked head. Valir drew a ritual knife, then cut into the carcass¡¯s neck, severing an artery. He touched his hand to the place above the cut, using his blood magick to draw the still-fresh blood from my enemy, letting it flow out into the pool at our feet.

    Mishlo was with him, ready to force the carcass to regenerate some of its blood, ensuring we had enough for my ritual. The regeneration would dilute some of the blood¡¯s magical potency¡ªbut Eli had been a small, powerful creature. The blood would be far more potent than it needed to be, even after Mishlo¡¯s intervention.

    The mana moved inward as the blood flowed, many elves channeling it out of the caverns and through the circles that I had drawn. It was compressed, structured as it flowed through my runes, changing character each time it was brought forward into a new circle.

    Half an hour passed as the pool filled and the mana moved inward.

    We had only so much time. The nature of primeval mana was to move and flow faster than the other forms. The longer we spent manipulating it, the more of it we would lose. And the mana grew denser and denser as it moved inward, growing more and more agitated.

    The mana was soon to reach the central circle of my spell¡ªthe blood pool. There it would be as dense as any mana I had ever channeled, a knot of seething power of such intensity that yoking it to my spell would be an insane feat of spellcasting.

    But that was what needed to be done.

    My drums thundered as I moved around them, turning inward to face the pool of blood. The rest of the elves had controlled the mana up to that point, from the necromancers and decay-mages in the caverns to the rest of the orchestra in the second-to-last circle, but the innermost circle was mine alone.

    One mind, one will had to finish the spell.

    I began to channel.

    My hands blurred through the air above my drum, my mind shaping the spell.

    Half my skills had been replaced in order to give me the power over mana that I needed to move this much. It rushed in from all sides, and I guided into the pool of blood at my feet, forming it into the last phase of the spell.

    As the channelers at the outer circles completed their task in moving the last of the mana inward, they turned their attentions to the blood pool, holding the dense mana there, restraining it while I filled the pool with even more.

    But I paid them no heed. My thoughts were an unfocused rush, the music and mana flowing through me as I lost all perception of time.

    I wove the spell as I pushed the mana forward. The music was my focus, the story was my focus, the runes were my focus and the elves, all of us, were my focus: the spell would use it all.

    Blood and mana, essence and keys.

    Soon there was nobody shaping the mana but me. Soon every elf, not just the channelers, was reaching forward with their claim to hold the raw power in the pool of blood.

    Soon the last of the mana flowed through me, and I stared down into the pool of blood as it churned and boiled, glowing with faint, multicolored light.

    My drumbeat ceased, and the music fell silent in a moment.

    I stepped toward the pool, knelt, and touched the surface of the blood. In an instant, millions of essence and more than five thousand [Primeval 3] keys were transferred into the pool.

    The blood stilled, and the light became a faint shimmering, evenly distributed across its surface.

    The spell was complete.

    I stood and turned to face the elves. Valir approached beside me, carrying a runed ceramic cup.

    ¡°It is done,¡± I announced.

    I took the cup from Valir. ¡°Yetheren,¡± I said. ¡°Kalara. Bring forth Vashan.¡±

    Vashan was the youngest elf in the colony¡ªa white-haired boy who was barely two. His father, Yetheren, carried him to the fountain¡¯s side, his wife standing at his side.

    I knelt as they set Vashan before me.

    ¡°I get to go first!¡± he told me.

    I smiled at him. ¡°You do, Vashan. Are you ready?¡±

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    He nodded. I dipped the cup into the water and held it out to him with a bloody arm.

    Vashan didn¡¯t display a shred of uncertainty as I held the cup to his mouth, grabbing it with both hands and drinking down several gulps of the enchanted blood.

    Normally drinking blood was hardly pleasant, and getting a two-year-old to do it would indeed be a trial¡­ but my spell had changed the blood into something that an elf, incompletely modified by Kalak¡¯s spell, would instinctively know they needed.

    The spell would also invigorate him with an abundance of life magic. Any wounds he he had would have been healed, and any tiredness would have been dispelled. Nobody would be sleeping, not tonight.

    Vashan stopped, his eyes widening as he no doubt felt the new power flooding through him. I set the cup back down at the edge of the pool, then rose to clasp each of his parent¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Thank you, Lux Irovex,¡± Yetheren said with a quiet fervor.

    I nodded, and they moved away to admit the next-youngest child. Zirilla and Valir were quietly instructing everyone, moving them about so that we could do things in the proper order.

    Everyone wanted a few moments with me at the edge of the pool of blood, and they got them. It was going to take us the whole of the evening to have everyone drink, and I didn¡¯t require silence. Hushed conversations began to fill the air around me. Soon after that, Hassina directed some musicians to begin to play as Eli¡¯s carcass was carried away.

    Very soon, the children who drank were old enough to both communicate the change that had taken place and communicate its importance. The babble around me became urgent and awed as they elves learned what was happening.

    I ignored all of this, continuing to oversee the children as they drank of the primeval blood.

    Soon the last of the children of Ellistara had drunk. The youngest adult elves had formed a more orderly queue, not needing to approach with their parents. They were faster, probably realizing that it would take twelve hours to feed the blood to all two and a half thousand of us even if they were fairly fast.

    They passed the cup from one to another, each of their faces filling with awe as the change came upon them.

    Soon enough Hassina was stepping up to the pool. ¡°Is it true, what they¡¯re saying?¡± She asked the question in a whisper, though she had to know the answer.

    ¡°Drink, Hassina,¡± I told her, passing her the cup.

    Soon she was wiping her bloody mouth and staring at me with incredulous eyes. ¡°I didn¡¯t think it was possible,¡± she said. ¡°The gift of the children, perhaps¡ªbut this?¡±

    I only smiled.

    As the night wore into early morning, food and water were brought, and the music grew louder. The elves I served grew older, and their bearing reflected this: they each took the cup, bowed their heads, uttered a formal-sounding phrase to mark the occasion, then drank.

    Soon there were only a few of us left, and everyone knew what was happening.

    Zirilla took the cup. ¡°You¡¯re going to lose your edge, Aziriel,¡± she told me. I laughed, and she drank.

    Next was Seriana. ¡°It worked, then,¡± she said softly, meeting my eyes as she took the cup. ¡°Never have I seen such a spell.¡± She drank, then bowed her head to me. ¡°Lux Irovex.¡±

    She passed the cup back to me, and I filled it and passed it the man at her side¡ªto Luthiel.

    He said nothing, but his eyes held all. His wonder at what we had accomplished tonight. His sorrow at knowing he would not be by my side in the days to come. His pain at knowing that there was no peace yet between us, and his hope at knowing that one day there would be¡ªhad to be.

    He drank, then passed me the cup. ¡°My sister,¡± he said, bowing his head.

    I took the cup, then dipped it into the now-shallow pool of blood, rose, and drank. I could taste the power in it as the spell took hold, surging through my body.

    Then the Verse told me what I knew it had told every other elf already:

    You gain 1 [*Primeval 3] skill core.

    I turned, standing on the stone rim of the pool, then raised my hand for silence.

    All that I had intended had come pass¡ªexcept for one thing. I resisted the urge to glance back at the sky. The mists were just beginning to lighten above us.

    Now would be the time. My ritual was done. This was the only moment in which everyone would be present, their attention focused on one point¡ªme¡ªbut an interruption wouldn¡¯t interfere with the night¡¯s main proceedings.

    I tried to hide my anticipation as I began to speak. ¡°My people,¡± I said. ¡°It is finished. A new world lies all about us, and with this new power we will¡ª¡±

    Two thin bolts of cool, white light streaked down from the mists above us to strike the ground at my feet.

    Black arrows, each tipped with diamond heads and fletched with feathers that were spun from glass, stuck cleanly into the stone at my feet.

    It was her. My mother-creator. The Midnight Empress, the Queen Most Beautiful, and the Lady of Sable Graces had made herself known.

    I paused, looking down upon them and resisting the urge to smile. I had to act like this was a surprise, after all.

    But this was exactly what I wanted to happen.

    After all, if another elf had told my story¡ªLuthiel, Seriana, or even Hassina¡ªthere would have been many differences.

    They wouldn¡¯t tell of how harsh Sabina was in rejecting me when I was just a child.

    Instead they might say that an artists work sometimes escapes their intent, that it grows and acts beyond how they expected, and that Sabina let me go for this very reason, conscious that even the most well-intended art sometimes grows to be wild.

    Another elf might say that it was well-known to the Midnight Empress who that silver-haired girl was speaking with, and where their conversations might one day bring them. They would suggest that in her wisdom, Sabina had played a long, many-layered game, and that this why we¡¯d eventually gained two gods and a new world.

    Surely they would say that our capacity to be filled with the beauty of the world was not a vacancy that Sabina had given us by accident¡ªthat our ability to see through Olorai¡¯s eyes was a goddess-given gift.

    And without question, they would treat her as the true source of the manahearts, and Hashephel as her agent. For she had given us not only the foundational knowledge of the arcane, but a love of it that led us to seek ever more skill with magic.

    Hashephel had spent more than a thousand years trying to bring that knowledge together to create something godly. He¡¯d seemingly wasted enough [Diamond] keys to buy a kingdom many times over in the endless experiments that he¡¯d undertaken before finally succeeding.

    And the immortality and skill which had enable this had, at their root, been given to us by Sabina.

    Sabina, who had to have been watching from her place in the heavens while I spoke and undermined her very place in our history.

    The message I had sent her would be clear enough.

    Can you see me, Sabina? It¡¯s mine; all mine. I write our history now, No Aerien, Myrasciel, Luthiel or Hashephel to balance it. I lead the elves of this world, and I do it without equals.

    Me; the child who you scorned. I never wanted to be your favorite: only to be as loved as my least-loved siblings.

    And now, in my history, your role is much diminished.

    After all, Sabina knew that I had cause to feel abandoned by her. My strategy relied on this: it was essential that Sabina believe that I was doing what I was doing either out of deliberate spite or because long years of resentment had let me convince myself it was all true.

    My strategy relied on her not seeing that I was goading her into an intervention.

    She couldn¡¯t strike me down: the elves would forsake her forever. But primeval power was suffused into our very being, now, and the child who loved her least of all, the child who¡¯d first forsaken her, was now free to lead them along any path I desired.

    She had to do something to stop it¡ªand punishment would only undermine her further.

    Sabina had to send us divine aide.

    And so I looked at the ground before me. The elves stared with me, silent.

    Two arrows. One for Hassina, who already stood near the front of the crowd.

    ¡°Your Holiness,¡± I said, my eyes finding Hassina¡¯s. I nodded down to the arrow.

    Slowly, Hassina stepped forward, knelt before the arrow, and gingerly plucked it from the ground.

    I watched her eyes widen as she held it, heard her sharp intake of breath. A god-granted epiphany is no small experience. I knew that. Olorai had given me one in old Anar, when he¡¯d touched my head in the form of a bird.

    Hassina rose. Turned. ¡°The second arrow is for Luthiel,¡± she said, ¡°and Luthiel alone.¡±