337 New Directives

A dreadful hush had fallen over Ashdale as Mandy boarded Charlie's Sky Galleon bound for Kara-Goth. A great many people murmured in corners, or in rushed whispers at private tables and side benches.

"W-what's going on?" Mandy asked Charlie, as the airship took on six different families and roughly thirty other people.

"They're headed to the Wildlands. Remian and George put up some paid ads with Deutero inviting skilled farmers, food processors and machinists to join them." Charlie shrugged. "There's so many of them going south now, my airship alone can't manage. That's why we're bringing three airships in a convoy. We had to borrow magi from the company to handle all three, what with mana dwindling everywhere."

"Oh." Mandy turned around and frowned. "Actually, I was talking about the mood in the city. Everything seems to be very hush-hush."

"That?" Charlie hesitated. "I think people are just getting tense. This morning, some of the lower quality magical devices failed entirely. It's nothing serious for now, but everyone can feel the mana fading, and it won't be long before important things begin to falter."

"But we're prepared for it, right? That's why Ashdale is using electric machines from Libertaria." Mandy pointed out hopefully.

"That's true. But nobody can ever be really prepared for this." Charlie explained. "At least Ashdale has steam engines and electricity to fall back on when mana disappears. Our neighbors can't say the same. There's no telling what they would do once they realize none of their equipment can function while ours can."

Mandy hesitated. "But everyone knew this was coming, right? They all had plenty of time to prepare, right?"

"You would think so, wouldn't you? But for many of the other nations, they're still trying to find someone to blame and have them pay for everything." Charlie grimaced. "I think they'd have gone to war all over again if the cannons didn't demand more usage of mana. Others are still trying to solve the mana issue, or simply ignoring it and hoping it will all simply go away on its own."

"Solve the mana issue…" Mandy shook her head. "Even Remian is going to lose all his special abilities with mana gone. He'll be nothing but an ordinary guy again, and a weak, poor one too."

"Remian? Normal!?" Charlie spluttered. "I guess you haven't heard."

"Heard what?"

"Remian's been bringing about technology that even Libertaria couldn't dream about." Charlie said. "The things he's been inventing at Craggy Falls… it makes Libertaria's steam engines look like toys."

"That's impossible!" Mandy gasped.

"It is, isn't it? But I saw it with my own eyes. Electric lights and fans, all fed from a power plant that doesn't even need coal or any other fuel. It runs solely on the power of flowing water."

"It can't be! He couldn't have!" Mandy protested. "There's no way…! Because if he did, then I… I…"

Mandy fainted. Her eyes rolled up and she outright collapsed in place, her face as white as a sheet.

"Mandy? Hello?" Charlie tried to shake her awake, but there was no response. "Cripes. Medic! Somebody call a doctor!"

***

"George."

"Yes, Mindy?"

"The Beast Tide starts tomorrow."

"Beast Tide? I thought we were done with all that."

"The count has reached 10,000. The Great Docks and Kara-Goth are its first targets."

"Us, too?! Why? That can't be! We're a legitimate fief under Shadow Flash! Kor'ag-dras…"

"Kor'ag has gone to sleep and Shadow Flash himself invited them to clean out the polluting factories and mines. He doesn't want those factories on his turf. They're causing too much pollution, felling too many trees. Also, the new immigrants are killing too many Wilds."

"But… but I can't stop them from hunting for food!" George quailed. "I… I can't just…"

"Tim has prepared Fal'Herim to receive them. There's room enough for all the factories and roughly half the population."

"Fal'Herim?! That's Asda's territory!"

"Asda seems to be following Tim around like a puppy. It's almost like she's…"

"She's become Tim's girlfriend?!"

Utter silence.

"I'll… I'll have them move. We'll move all the heavy industries to Fal'Herim. So… could you…"

"I'll ask Chirpy for a favor and see if she can talk them out of attacking Kara-Goth. Let the Dragon Empire face the Beast Tide instead of us."

"Thanks, Mindy."

***

"We did it!" Alani crowed as she and her crew docked at Fal'Herim. "Mission accomplished!"

"Aren't we supposed to bring the cargo to Craggy Falls?" Juni asked.

"Uh… yeah, but Remian is here, isn't he?" Alani pointed out.

"He is." Remian said, coming up to them. "Welcome to Fal'Herim. How was your trip? Did you manage to see plenty of other cities and countries?"

"Uh… not really." Alani winced. "We had a deadline, and Reef wouldn't let us enter any other countries on the way back."

Remian frowned. "Not even on the way back? The deadline is not till tomorrow. You could have stopped by Germat or Itarim, or…"

"We wanted to." Alani grimaced. "But Reef said no. He said the smell of blood was too strong."

"Blood…?" Remian echoed. He glanced at the little floating turtle over Alani's shoulder and hesitated.

A flicker of psionic power connected the two for a moment. Thoughts and memories were shared, and then Remian gulped. "Oh, goodness. Things have gotten really bad in the Midlands. Darian must have heard."

"Darian? What did he say?" Alani queried.

"Darian's going to be your instructor for the next couple of weeks." Remian told her. "Also, you'll be learning on-the-job. I wasn't sure where, or how, at first, but now…" he glanced at Reef. Psionic power flickered between them again, and Reef nodded. "We have confirmed that you will be training on an island in the Midlands Sea."

"Back to the Midlands Sea? Everything is conspiring to land me on an island there!" Alani rolled her eyes.

"Plus, we're conspiring to land you there without any tools and without any rations." Remian nodded sagely.

"No tools?!" Alani blurted.

"You'll be required to build a large rest stop and supply depot to facilitate a massive exodus." Remian added. "Darian will be heading the Temple Knights… sorry, I mean, the Order of Light… on a multinational refugee movement. Your job is to set up the entire island as a stopover for an expected ten thousand refugees to refuel, resupply and rest for the night before coming here to Fal'Herim. We'll sort them out from here on."

"That's going to take a whole village, or town!" Isabelle protested. "How are we to do that without tools?"

"With your minds." Remian said, lifting a hand. Sand rose up from the ground in the shape of a sand castle roughly three inches big. He tossed it onto the ground and stomped on it.

BAM! Despite the loud sound, however, the sandcastle remained intact and hardly lost a few grains when Remian removed his foot.

"Wow." Alani stared. "You want us to build a town made out of sand… with our minds?!"

"Like I said. On the job training. Darian will be teaching you Psionics." Remian said. "I expect that except for sleeping and eating, for the next two weeks, the lot of you would be practicing telekinesis and hopefully, aetherkinesis all day. I doubt you'll be using sand, though. This little trick won't last very long, and you should be building a campsite to last a few months."

***

So he said, but when Darian arrived with the Order of Light, he flat out threw those notions out of the window.

"Forget the whole survival game. Bring tools. We don't have time to idle around waiting for you to get the hang of using Psionic powers, and I'm not going to waste time babysitting you if it turns out you couldn't use Psionic power at that level in the first place. Also, you won't be responsible for building the depot. I have two hundred knights here who would do the job much quicker and better than you."

"Then… what are we going to be doing?" Alani asked.

"Training. It just so happens that I'm going to be there, so you'll just have to follow me around and maybe lend a hand only if it turns out you have the power for it." Darian glanced at Reef on Alani's shoulder. "Especially you. I figure you, at least, would certainly have the strength to be of much help."

"I thought we were supposed to be only using our minds."

"Forget that. From what I see here, half of you guys would be better off learning to use weapons. Just how many people do you think has the kind of talent in Psionics to get things done with just a day or two of training? Plus, like I said, I can't babysit you guys all the time. That means, I'm going to be asking my knights to help out in your training."

"Temple Knight training…" Alani breathed.

"Psionics, martial arts, weapons, armor, tactics, even meditation and battle-cries if it would help. By the end of these two weeks, I expect that none of you would ever have to fear a Beast Wave, ever again."