Chapter 456: Zach

Chapter 456: Zach

Before the Storm

Zach looked in the distance at the massive Dome rising above the horizon. It's translucent surface didn't glimmer in the light of the sun, but it was noticeably there, a faint sheen of grey that made its presence known.

It was nestled in the middle of a thick forest, dark tall trees waving as if they were a frozen sea covering over the hills, with a river piercing through its middle.

The fleet had spread apart, flying in a circle around the dome, creating a perimeter that spanned nearly the size of the entire territory. He could see ships far in the distance, behind the Dome. He was high up, in the pass that joined two mountain ranges. His team, the Wardens were tasked with holding it and they were already on the ground along with a few of Sect warriors that came with them. Zach himself was above them, on the ship that the Twilight Melody Sect had lent him. Cultivators manned the weapons beneath the deck, and Bera alone stood on the center tower with him.

He could feel her perk making connection to him, a faint thread that kept track of him and thousands others that reached all over the territory to other people.

"Everyone reports that they will be in position shortly," Bera said.

Zach nodded. Her power was mostly geared toward administration and communication. There were better Classes than her to send messages across a battlefield, but there was no one here that Zach trusted more than her.

"Our people are ready?" Zach asked.

Bera tilted her head. "It is unlikely that they will see any combat, you know that?"

Zach turned to meet the minotaurs' eyes. "That does not matter, one should always be prepared for the unlikely."The most uptodate novels are published on n0velbj)n((.))co/m

Bera turned her head and looked in the distance, at the Dome. "Each Dome is matched with a particular faction for a reason. The Golden Sky Sect is a natural enemy of the Dome's forces, it will not take long, the same as every other Dome."

Zach grimaced. He knew how dangerous Domes were, and just how much destruction they could wreak. But what she said was true. Domes were only dangerous if they were opened without notice, without people equipped for them there to oppose them. But release one in when it wasn't expected and you got another Hastur.

This Dome was filled with monsters from Minotaur mythos, a living forest of Minom. The stories gave conflicting accounts, from some saying that it was a forest filled with living plants that stood in place, to the ones that spoke of trees rising up from the ground and walking around, and one that said that the entire forest was one big lifeform.

In a territory nearby, in a cave on a peak of a solitary mountain, a group sat and waited. Their gear echoed with power, pulsing with glowing symbols but giving none of its power away, for their location was hidden. Space itself was twisted around them, cutting them off from anything that might be able to notice them.

A viewscreen was open in front of them, a Far-sight power projecting the view of the Dome and the army that prepared to attack it. Six people occupied the cave, a cthul, a human, a skreen, a ravzor, a drakarura, and a minotaur. The human with pointed ears sat on the ground, her hair bound in a tight combat braid. A recording array in the palm of her hand pulsing as they watched.

"Why not use Berion for this? We did it last time," Fethum Starseeker, a cthul, asked, his face tendrils twitching as he played with the chain of the weapon wrapped on his hip with one hand and gesturing with his other at the viewscreen that showed an image from far away and above of the army in the distance.

"We don't want to risk being noticed," Kaeliss Cloudwrought said, pulling back the dark feathers of his head plume back before putting a silver helmet over the head covered in black and white scales. "If we were discovered spying last time, it wouldn't have mattered that much."

"I doubt that there is anyone present there who can sense what Ber is doing," Exiled Shell's mandibles clicked as he glanced at the minotaur who stood silently in the corner, alone.

The minotaur didn't wear any gear like the rest of them were, his did not have a weight that impacted the world, nor any glowing symbols, but no one there would take that as a sign of weakness. Not from him.

"There is," Berion spoke, his eyes looking straight at the wall, as if he could see through it, and perhaps he could.

Tellisa Oakcalled, a ravzor with fur as dark as night wearing a dress with symbols woven through it waved with her staff. "This is safer, there are hundreds of factions watching from afar, our means are just one amongst them. It won't raise any suspicion. Watch our targets, we need to be ready to act at the right moment. We are not here to just kill. Remember the mission."

What you have gained is not equal to what you are about to do, Berion said.

Not everyone can be like you and just create a Way, no one even knew it was possible until you did it, Fethum complained.

The trinkets that the yeti offers for this are not worth it, Berion shot back.

Enough, Kael said. Ber, I know that you dont agree, you dont have to do anything, just keep everyone from interfering, thats all that I ask. Well do the rest. He looked around the room, and everyone in the room nodded.

Berion took a moment, his eyes looking someplace far away. Then finally he nodded too and got ready. It wouldn't be long now.