The small council met in Lyn's throne room. Their goddess was sitting on the throne itself, eyes closed as she performed some spell.
Chancellor Vehenna leaned over to her sister. "Should we wait until she is finished?"
Spymaster Velenna shook her head. "We can get started. I'm sure she won't mind." She looked across to Steward Mol and Marshal Remora. "How is the city recovering?" she asked in Shereldian.
Steward Mol opened a ledger. "Tha city is bein' rebuilt. Small damage. Funerals goin' accordin' to plan."
Vehenna nodded, then looked at Marshal Remora. "What does the army look like right now?"
"Kory's Killers are lost to us, that's five hundred mercenaries, gone. We lost one hundred ram riders, leaving us at just around nine hundred. Not all died, but the injuries to some were severe enough that they will be effectively useless in this war. Some of the mixed infantry perished, and in effect we are down five hundred troops there, leaving us with four thousand five hundred. No Duskari squadrons were lost, and a very small amount of Newen infantry and archers were lost." She reached down below the table and pulled out a long, smooth, metal object with a handle on one end. "They used this weapon."
Velenna picked it up. "Ah, the Guardian hero told us about these. He called them...fire arms. Odd, they don't look like a pair of arms that are flaming."
Mol gestured for the object, and she handed it to him. He peered down the length of it. "Ah, flame spitter." He looked up at the group. "Ye fill it up with fuel, then ye put a torch in fron' of it. Push this metal bit. Fwoosh."
Empress Lyn got up from the throne and walked down to the council table, taking her seat. "Sort of. This design is inferior." She grabbed it and disassembled the weapon into its various components within seconds, her clawed hands a blur of activity. "We can improve on the design, but these types of weapons are extremely dangerous. In the world the heroes come from, these types of devices were some of the most lethal." She shook her head. "I do not want them in my empire."
Remora cleared her throat. "Couldn't we use them for the time being?"
"Training with them would take weeks that we don't have. The cannons are a different story; those are easier to use, and we can put them onto the ironsides. Let Admiral Naila know that we are going to put the cannons on the vessels. And ask Thomas to demonstrate their use."
Seems like a waste, Vehenna thought as the Destroyer swept the parts into a pile. From the few reports these are powerful tools to simply discard. But, her will be done. She tapped the table to draw attention and spoke. "Trisk has reported all quiet along The Rill. Valagonia has not tried to invade the vassal-kingdom. Their entire military seems focused on the front with Khrelardia. Save for vessels off of the southern coast. Valagonia has amassed a fleet that is sailing around Firol and the Teardrop Isles, and plans to drop off forces behind King Marshall's lines."
Remora nodded. "I will instruct the admiral to set forth down the Flontar River at once and destroy them before they can deliver their payload."
"After the cannons are mounted," Lyn said. "Prioritize that. We are keeping our people safe behind the Dragon's Maw. None will fight in the coming battle between Khrelardia and Valagonia."
"Fergive me, Empress," Mol said as he stood up. "Ye promised us revenge."
Lyn looked to him. "You are correct. Very well." She looked back to Remora. "Any of our soldiers who wish to fight will be given leave to do so. Will you take up the command?"
"I live to serve," the marshal replied.
"Good. You will take any volunteers from among our armed forces, and you will cut a direct course to Skrell. From there, you can go south and assault Cecilaria." She looked back to Mol, who had a pleased look of satisfaction on his face. "Is that satisfactory?"
"Aye, it is, lass. I'll be joinin' them."
Idiot, Vehenna thought. The steward going off to war. She flipped through her notes and put check marks next to a few names of likely candidates for the position should the man not return to perform his duties. "Empress," she said softly, drawing Lyn's attention, "we should consider, perhaps, ordering Trisk's forces to invade from the north. With the Ari marines clearing their vessels, and Khrelardia assisted by you in the west, and our volunteer forces going right into the heartlands of Valagonia...would it not make sense to close in from all sides?"
Lyn tented her hands and nodded. "It is a sensible decision. Marshal Remora? Your thoughts."
"It is a sound plan of action. We know from the Newen diviners that all but a garrison in each duchy, and the capital itself, have been massed on the front with Khrelardia. Have Trisk invade the duchy of Ishtok, then Brol, then Biskon. Your volunteer revenge force starts with Skrell, then moves on to Logor, then Komorra. By that point, the Khrelardian army should have taken Rist. The navy can deal with Firol and Sidalon."
Lyn rubbed her chin as she nodded along to Remora's plan. "Full encirclement of the capital. This is why you're my marshal." She stood up, and the rest of the council followed in response. "We follow Remora's plan. I'm taking one day to myself, then I'm going to join King Marshall's forces to fight on the main front." She looked to Thane Mol. "Best of luck with the revenge."
"Thank ye, lass."
Vehenna bowed slightly. "I will communicate with Trisk and ensure they follow your instructions."
"There you are!" Naila said as she waved at Vael.
Okay. Deep breaths. Smile, Vael told herself. "Sorry I'm late," she said as she took a seat at the small, outdoor café in the residential wedge of Lynhold. She was dressed in street clothes: leather jerkin, her communication amulet, cloth pants, and knee-high boots. I hope I dressed well enough. The admiral seemed like the type who would appreciate a more rough-and-tumble appearance if their previous dates were anything to go by.
"Don't be sorry. I got us wine." Naila held up a bottle and poured Vael a glass of a deep, dark, almost black wine. "Blackberry wine, my favorite." She gestured toward the "training and schooling" wedge of town, which had suffered damage from the empress's fight with the Berserker hero. "At least this part of town wasn't affected. I don't know what I'd do without my usual drink."
Vael smiled. "So...last night before you set out? Tomorrow off to war?"
Naila kicked her long, muscular legs up onto the table. She was dressed similarly to Vael, but she wore a midriff cut jerkin and a short, breathable skirt. Her deep, tan skin was a stark contrast to her piercing green eyes. "Aye. One more night. We're heading down the Flontar River. All the ironsides and some of the longboats." She smiled, and Vael felt her body tremble slightly at the look sent her way. Like a predator sizing up prey.
The two had been on several dates the past few months. Vael initiated it by asking after a full council meeting, and to her pleasant surprise, Naila agreed. It was just drinks, and then they had made it a routine to meet up after the full council meetings. Well, Vael thought they were dates. She wasn't sure if Naila felt the same, as they mostly talked about gossip from around the town. The past two, however, Vael had asked a few questions regarding Naila's upbringing.
Vael didn't want to screw this up, so she had been very cautious in her approach and didn't push too hard too fast for anything to happen. "Do you want to do anything to celebrate before going?" Vael asked.
"Just spend some time relaxing. Maybe go for a dip in the hot springs up the mountain," she replied as she gestured toward Shiverburn Summit. Lyn had created a series of hot springs partially up the volcano, and they were quite popular throughout the winter.
Vael giggled and nodded. "Sounds fun." She took a sip of the sweet, slightly acrid wine and grimaced.
Naila laughed and slapped her thigh. "You'll get used to the taste."
Vael nodded and put on a smile despite the desire she had to spit out the wine. But if she drinks wine...I need to drink wine, too. She took another sip and forced it down. "Do you have siblings?"
Naila shook her head. "Nope. I'm an only child. You?"
"My brother."
"Right, the twin. He's handsome. And I heard he's partnered with the Shadowstalker. Lucky guy, that Bolvon."
"Yeah..." Vael took a sip of the drink. She'd been trying to feel out which way Naila "leaned" when it came to her preferences in partners. That comment lent her toward thinking the admiral was not interested. At least I tried to meet someone and made a new friend.
"I bet he's an interesting bed companion." She winked at Vael. "You know...I also heard that you and your brother have slept with Empress Rivers."
Vael took a big gulp of the wine and felt the slight buzz beginning to settle in. "Yes. Gael and I have bed chambers next to hers."
"Ah, the empress is a fine woman. Those claws tracing down your skin send a shiver unlike anything else."
Vael's ears perked up at that. "You've slept with her?"
Naila giggled and nodded. "Yes. When she visited the Arin Isle and couldn't sleep. Those horns are so sensitive; you can just grab them like a ship's wheel, and she turns into a gibbering mess. They're great for forcing her into certain positions. 'Love handles', I called them. Did you know she can turn her tongue into a long, serpentine one? It's fantastic."
Vael felt the heat rush to her cheeks. Well now I know she's into women. "She let you take a dominant position?"
"Why, does she not with you?"
Vael shrugged. "It depends, I suppose. It's different each time."
Naila nodded. "She called herself a...switch? And after, she referred to me as a dominant. Whatever that means." She took a sip of her wine and put her legs back down, leaning forward on the table with her elbows. "Indulge me...you asked me to grab drinks those months ago because you're interested in me, right?"
"I...erm..." Vael sheepishly nodded.
"And you've just been trying to figure out if I am already partnered, or if I prefer men. Right?"
"Yes." Guess I wasn't as subtle as I thought I was.
Naila got up, walked around the table, and lifted Vael up over her shoulder as she grabbed the bottle of wine with her other hand. "Come on, you, let's get to those hot springs. I feel like a good soak." She used the hand carrying Vael to caress her inner thigh, and that left Vael with no doubt as to what Naila intended. The chill that went down the slim, Duskari woman's body was almost too much to bear.
"Are you—"
"You've been staring at me in every council session. Don't think I haven't noticed." She began the ascent, still carrying Vael, and began going up the stairs to the hot springs. "And these small occasions out for drinks, I've seen you squirming in your seat. A ship's captain has to be able to read the smallest of signs." She took a swig of the wine and then handed the bottle to Vael.
The Duskari woman grabbed the offered bottle and then nearly dropped it as she felt Naila's hands rubbing her ample bottom. "Eep!"
Naila laughed. "You think Empress Rivers put you through the wringer in the bed? Oh, you're going to be in for a treat."
Vael felt a bubbling burst of energy inside. She'd been looking for companionship outside of Lyn's bed. But she had more investigating to do before she would let herself submit entirely to this attractive Ari's ministrations.
Naila set her down as they arrived at the hot springs. Several partitions of polished obsidian were erected, separating out several circular pools to provide privacy. Wooden doors were placed adjacent to provide for privacy, and Naila pushed Vael to one of the larger circles. Thankfully, this early in the evening, the hot springs were fairly empty, and she only spotted a handful of other people going about.
Once they were inside the small, walled, circular pool, Naila closed the door and began to disrobe. Vael's eyes were glued to the woman. The bronze, tanned skin was consistent across her whole body, and she was muscular. As muscular as Gael, but in a feminine way. "You joining me?" she asked as she jumped into the hot spring.
Vael quickly disrobed and walked down the small set of stairs into the hot spring, taking in all of Naila's beautiful form as the two sank down into the hot waters. Naila sat next to Vael on the smooth, polished obsidian bench underwater and gripped Vael's thigh like a vise – firm but in control. The larger woman gently cupped Vael's chin and brought her in for a kiss, and the two lost themselves in the heat of the hot springs and the moment, hands exploring each other's bodies.
Stellas went into the archive and looked around for Thomas. Where in the abyss is he? She had arms full of books and went to one of the tables, depositing her load and setting them out for easy viewing. "Thomas?" she asked aloud in Vharthonian, her voice reverberating slightly in the large room. They had taken to speaking the language of her people when it was just the two of them.
"One minute!" The muffled voice came from somewhere...behind one of the bookshelves.
Stellas walked over and peered across the shelves, spotting one book that stood a little more rigid. Gripping it, she pulled, and she heard a click as the bookshelf swung open toward her, revealing a small study. The shelves in this room were stocked with parchment of all kinds and vials upon vials of ink. A small, glowing lantern hung up in the center of the small space, and Thomas sat at a writing desk.
He looked back to her. "Oh, you found my writing room. Good eye."
"Wasn't that hard to find," Stellas quipped as she walked into the tight space. "Why have this?"
"I'm busy and filling a lot of roles in the empire now; I just need a getaway to be alone with my thoughts. It's quiet and no one bothers me." He finished scribbling something, and Stellas peered over his shoulder. She spied a header of a new chapter. The Summoning.
"What's it about?"
"I'm writing a history of my time on Ghomar. Sort of like a diary that can eventually be used as a historical reference text." He smiled and stood up. "Mind us heading back to the main room? It's a bit cramped in here."
Stellas acquiesced, and the two left the hidden chamber. Thomas closed the bookshelf behind him and walked over to the table that she had left the tomes on. "What was life like back where you came from?" Stellas asked.
Thomas stopped in his tracks and turned to face her. His demeanor shifted to one of intense criticism, his glare boring into her innermost being. "Why do you want to know that?"
"Academic curiosity," she replied as she went to the table and pulled up a chair.
"Ah. Well, I suppose there's not much harm in that." He pulled up a chair as well. "The place I come from is called Earth. And before you comment, yes, I know we refer to the ground under our feet as earth as well. Our progenitors were not the most inventive with naming conventions."
Stellas nodded. "I was going to say, it seems uninventive."
"Well, unlike Ghomar, Earth only has Humans. We don't have different races in the sense that Ghomar does – technically we should call them species, but, well...anyways, we still categorize ourselves racially based upon skin coloration, country of origin, and other minutiae. I'm called Caucasian; fair skin and I trace my heritage to the northern regions of an area called Europe."
"And that's where you're from?"
"No. My ancestors moved to a place called the United States of America. Think of it like a kingdom, with states underneath acting like duchies."
"Were you a scholar there as well?"
"Hardly. There, we are students from a young age to the near peak of our young adulthood."
"That must mean, surely, that your populace is very advanced and intelligent."
"You'd think that, but most people did not care much for the free education they received. Many of the heroes who were summoned with me, included. Plus, propaganda had a strong hold on many in the populace, and the rich oligarchs that controlled much of the resources around the world by pitting people against each other – nation against nation, tribal-based mentality."
Stellas scoffed. "That's just stupid. Your realm had the chance to make everyone a learned scholar? Imagine the possibilities of what could be accomplished!"
Thomas nodded and his mood shifted to one of...regret. "You're right. The whole world could have advanced in a way that would have ensured our longevity. Instead, we ruined the planet." He looked up to Stellas and flashed a slight, wan smile. "That's why I'm all in on Lyn's empire. We have the chance to have an omnipotent being helm the world in a single, unified vision. Someone who can rule the entirety of Ghomar and prevent the fighting that ripped my home world apart." He looked wistful. "Someone who would listen to my sage advice...So we don't make the same mistakes. And maybe...maybe even go back to fix our home world."
Stellas nodded and digested what he said as the former Knowledge hero began flipping through the books she had brought and made small notations on pages, muttering to himself as he worked. "Could you go back?"
"Oh, we could. I figured out how to do cross-world summoning years ago. But there are risks. It's never been done. We don't know what will happen. In Lyn's case, she woke up the same day we were all summoned, had her Scout core still, and the newly acquired Destroyer core from her slaying of the Demonic Dragon and unconscious consumption."
Wait...Lyn comes from this other world? That was a revelation to Stellas. She was the Scout hero in Thomas's summoning cycle? Stellas racked her brain for any memory of the Scout hero, but all that met her was a weird blur. Not now, ask her, yourself, later. It did not look like Thomas noticed his slip. Probably due to him enjoying my company. "Is there a time dilation in cross-world summoning?"
"Seems like it. We'd have to do extensive tests and be willing to wait years if not decades to see results. The difference in time between our first summoning, and Lyn self-summoning herself after her return to Earth...put it this way, for her, two hours passed. For us, ten years passed."
Stellas leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. "That is inconvenient."
Thomas nodded and looked up from his notations. "I've gone through every conceivable version of the summoning spell, many considerations with Misty's input included, and there's no way around the time dilation effect. There are so many unknown variables."
"What about a bridge?"
"Hmm?"
"Instead of a summoning external spell that draws a subject to a location...why not create a bridge between the two worlds? An inscription that can be constantly fueled. Theoretically, it would work."
"We don't know how physics – the rules of the world – would interact with Ghomar's. For example, Earth does not have mana cores. Ghomar does. We know that someone with a powerful enough mana core keeps it in the transfer, and they can use spells. But that could be an outlier. And we know that Humans summoned from Earth to Ghomar do not have mana cores by default."
"Then we just need a strong, stable enough spell to link the two worlds and have a built-in shifting spell to accommodate changes between the two worlds."
"I..." Thomas narrowed his gaze before his eyes went wide. He spoke rapidly. "Holy shit. You might be onto something. Shifting is so mana intensive that I hadn't thought of that...but you'd have to have the inscribed item cause a permanent effect on those that are passing from one world to the other. Along with some type of stabilization spell effect—" He paused and stared at her. "Why are you so interested in going to Earth?"
"It's a world with new learning," Stellas stated plainly. "You've taught me so much about Elenthir, and I know you're an amazing teacher...but by your own admission, you weren't even a scholar on your world. That means a true scholar from your world, an academian, would be capable of teaching me so much."
Thomas nodded. "I understand."
"Do you think she deserves any less?"
Lyn sighed. "No. She deserves death for what she did you to and Thomas. But...we do have mana-suppressing cells back in Lynhold, just like what is at Kor's Hold." She looked up to Brad. "What do you want? Sure, she hurt Thomas...but you suffered worse. Her fate is in your hands."
Brad silently contemplated. "Give me a bit to think. I'll keep an eye on her." He hiked his thumb over his shoulder. "James needs your help. Cecily thralled the army."
Lyn seemed taken off guard. "How?"
Brad shrugged. "Maybe this?" He produced the dagger and handed it to Lyn.
"Damn," she muttered. "I didn't know she had an artifact like this." She tapped it to Cataclysm's hilt socketed on her hip, and the blade vanished. Wings sprouted from her back, and she flew off toward Khrelardia's lines, enormous, lava-imbued blade gripped in her clawed hands as she became a blue comet streaking across the sky.
Brad faced Cecily and pondered. What to do with you? Death or torture for the rest of your miserable life?
James raked his claws left and right as he spun in circles. Men were pummeling him from all sides, and enough had clambered atop his wings that he couldn't take off and fly away. He swept his tail from side to side, the colossal appendage sending men flying away.
He could feel the drain on his mana – the artifact sword Brightguard's inscription might have a minuscule mana cost, but he could feel the steady decrease. He knew if he used another breath weapon to buy space, he would only have a few seconds of the transformation. That wasn't enough time to fly up and get clear of the army.
A storm of blue flames erupted around him, and men screamed as they were incinerated in the blink of an eye. The flames erupted higher and higher, blocking all vision and access to him. He felt the heat, and it would have burned him to a crisp if not for his body enhancement so many years ago. He used the opening to take flight and get up above the army. He could make out a fast, black and blue shape thanks to his enhanced vision.
Lyn flew up next to him and flapped next to his head. A Humanoid form with dragon wings. He could hear the genuine sorrow in her voice. "I'm so, so sorry, James."
"I'll process later. What do we do now?" he asked as he pushed aside all emotion as the height of combat adrenaline was coursing through his body.
"They'll go into a vegetative state in an hour. But there's no saving them. I'm sorry. We can take care of them, but eighty-thousand soldiers needing round-the-clock care...it's your call because it falls on your kingdom's shoulders. The Eternal Empire will help, of course, but this is your decision."
James felt a knot rise in his stomach. There was no real choice here. Getting people here to carry the levies back, let alone keeping them alive in a coma for years upon years...it was not feasible. "Do what you must. End them quickly, that's all I ask. I'm heading back to Kor's Hold."
Lyn nodded. "Use the mirror and call me if you need to." She descended and vanished into the blur of bodies, the only indication of her being present the arcing blue flames from the sword as she cut into the masses.
I'm sorry, he thought as he felt the tremendous sorrow well up within. Tens of thousands of families were about to lose their fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins...it struck him to his center. The pointless violence all because Cecily held a grudge from years ago. I hope you burn in hell.
Lyn did not relish the idea of killing Khrelardia's troops. She treated it like a job, mechanically carving away at the mass of soldiers that swarmed...past her. What in the fuck? She carved into them as they began chasing the flying dragon overland. Oh, Cecily commanded them to kill James. Shit.
She could manifest a large-scale spell to wipe all of them out in a single blast...but she wanted to reserve mana in case she had to deal with Cecily and some weird backup the woman might have. "En ethiel i thalion min nin / i beleg bregol en-ngurth / na garo nin rhaw / a adlethad ha na / i beleg nadhras sui ar Ghomar." She felt her body shift and expand as she turned into the draconic form.
But, she willed herself to change coloration – to match that of James's draconic form. And...it worked like a charm. The army wheeled around and swarmed toward her; their simple, thralled minds not able to discern that this dragon was different from the one James had transformed into.
They swarmed her like ants on a hill, stabbing down into her scales. The weapons pinged off or completely shattered, and those whose weapons failed them struck at her with their fists and feet, breaking those as well.
"Come on then!" she roared out as she began clawing with massive sweeps, spinning in place to use the centrifugal force to throw men off. She swung her tail like a massive club, crushing bodies and flinging corpses into the distance to land with a sickening crunch among the still-swarming mass of soldiers. She could feel the battle-lust of the Berserker core rising up in her chest, a red-hot heat starkly different from the burn of the Destroyer core.
Lashing out with her claws to get some distance she lifted off and flew above the soldiers, circling as she gained altitude. Fucking burn! she thought as she opened her maw and unleashed a torrent of blue lava upon the landscape. The violent outpouring of superheated, molten rocks poured out from her monstrous, gaping jaws and splattered onto the ground before spreading out. The pyroclastic flow of destructive energy melted the soldiers from the legs down, causing them to fall forward into the substance as they perished.
She flew across the battlefield, unleashing her torrential outpouring as her mana slowly depleted. But she was able to completely obliterate the army, and flapped in place as she scanned for movement, closing off the flow of power. And just like that, I've destroyed an army.
It was easy, as expected. She knew that there was little risk, even when outnumbered to such an extent, due to the sheer power difference. None on Ghomar can resist me, she thought.
The bodies lay still, and a calm silence descended over the whole area. Lyn took in a shaking breath as she angled a descent toward Brad on the far side of the river, gliding as she let all spells for combat fade. Landing next to him, she looked Cecily over with the pink-hued sight of the Healer core. She was alive and other than the mutilation was in excellent health. "It's done," she muttered as she glanced at Brad who was staring at the nude, eviscerated woman. "Wipe the mud from her eyes...I want her to see me."
Brad did so, and Cecily's eyes focused before going wide at seeing the enormous draconic form over her. "I decided," he replied as he stood up. "I want you to harvest her core. Incinerate her soul just like you did with Volio. She should never, ever come back."
Lyn nodded, craned her head over Cecily, and then reverted to her Duskari form. She placed her hand on Cecily's neck. Lyn could feel the pulse, the incredibly fast heartbeat under her claw. "I hate you," Lyn whispered softly as she slowly squeezed. "You made my life hell back on Earth."
She thought back to the locked-in-jars memories, filing through them with perfect acuity thanks to the Knowledge core. "You might not remember, but you used to always make fun of me in the girl's locker room. You called me the 'town bicycle' because I slept around with people. Well guess what? That was the only way I could exert some control over my life. If you had bothered to talk to me at all, you would know what I went through. Instead, you picked on me. You and the other girls. You've never been raped by your father. And if you had bothered to talk to me? You'd know that my hypersexuality was how I could control just one aspect of my piss-poor existence."
Lyn squeezed tighter. "And then we got here...Ghomar was my second chance at life. And you fucked that up also. As soon as you knew the Scout core was considered the weakest...you narrowed in on it. You targeted me, and I was practically an outcast. You want to know why I never stuck around town and was constantly improving myself? I couldn't spend a single day in a town without some fucking imbecile telling me how useless I was to the heroes. You caused that."
"Lyn..." Brad said softly. She glanced back at him. "I...didn't know that was why you did it."
Lyn shook her head, not feeling any emotion, but simply wanting to provide her justification to the bitch she was about to kill. To show, even more, that she was in the right. "One of the reasons was because this asshole painted me as the reason for all the hero's faults. I was the scapegoat." She turned back to Cecily and squeezed even harder, feeling the air flow cut off as Cecily tried to breathe. "Now you use non-Humans as your scapegoat. Well guess what? This non-Human is going to squeeze the life out of you. And then, I'm going to annihilate your soul." She saw the silent scream behind Cecily's eyes. The rage. The fear. A gaze of horror and desperation. "Nothing will exist for you. This is your end."
She squeezed down slowly, making sure that Cecily felt the slow, inexorable grip of her death. Finally, she clamped her claws together and decapitated the woman with the power of her crushing motion, before she reached down into her chest and pulled out the Ruler core, crushing it and pushing it down her mana channels.
Incinerate her soul, she thought. She willed. And she felt the Destroyer core respond as it consumed, devoured, and tried to rip apart the mana core.
Cecily gasped as she woke up in a black space. Before her were three doors. ghomar, earth, and backup. She felt a heat behind her, and glancing back saw surging, blue lava racing out of the blackness.
A face appeared, Lyn's face. A beautiful, regal, Duskari woman with draconic features. The maw shifted to that of a full dragon as it lashed forward.
Cecily scrambled to the doors and only saw one open. backup. The other two were closed. She launched herself through the door and entered a black void. Looking back, she saw the lava stop at the door, and heard a tremendous roar before that aperture vanished.
Time passed. An unknown amount of time. But Cecily was able to be alone with her thoughts. The absence of her Ruler core to provide assurances of her actions – past or present, let her reflect.
She had made Lyn's life a living hell, but the bitch deserved it. She slept with all the boys back on Earth and kept the girls from forming any real boyfriend/girlfriend relationships because of her sluttiness.
When they got to Ghomar, she was always off doing something, and when something went wrong of course Cecily would shift the blame. She couldn't be blamed for anything. She was perfect.
Eventually, she saw a pair of lights. Then she took a deep breath and woke up on a sumptuously soft bed. The mage from Lynhold, her thrall, leaned over her. "Princess Cecily, are you back?" she asked in Shereldian.
Cecily sat up and gestured for water. The woman brought some over, and she drank greedily. "I'm alive," she said softly. Her voice was younger, slightly "cuter" but carrying less authority. She focused on her mana core and felt the pulsating power present...but it felt different. She did not hear the voice of the Ruler core whispering instructions to her.
"I don't have my Ruler core," she whispered to herself in English.
"Sorry, my lady?"
Cecily swapped back to Shereldian. "Draw a bath. Prepare the council. We have work to do." And I only have a dungeon core...time for my theory to be put to the test.
Lyn knew what the Ruler core would do, thanks to the times Cecily bragged about it.
"Right before I make a decision, I get a neat inner voice that either gives me a positive feeling or a negative one. And it has never led me wrong."
Lyn closed her eyes and focused on her Destroyer core, and it...bubbled in an odd way. Something felt "off." Wrong. She looked at Brad. "I have a fucking bad feeling." Her body did what Lawrence's did, turning to dust. Fuck.
"How?"
"I don't think Cecily was annihilated."
"What makes you say that?"
Lyn closed her eyes and focused wholly on her mana core, trying to perceive what had happened. She visualized the dark space where she spoke with Raevan and Yheron, and to her surprise, found herself in that dark space. The two entities formed near her.
"Fucking bitch got away," Yheron growled in her mind.
"It's alright," Raevan said, also in her mind. "She had a backup, but that means she is much weaker. We have the Ruler core, now."
Lyn muttered, "So, she escaped?"
"It appears so," Raevan stated. "She had a backup door like what Thomas and Lawrence described in their post-death experience. The other two were closed off, as you willed. If not for her backup...your will would have been done." She shook her head. "She will regroup."
"She still has forces to levy," Yheron stated. "Memory-manipulated masses. I would expect a mass conscription, centered on Cecilaria. My advice is to go there right now and crush her."
"I can't," Lyn replied. "I don't know what she is capable of. Even more so now. If she had a backup body, she could have other contingencies planned. I wonder how she pulled that off? Thomas took all the knowledge from the ruins."
"What about what was on the walls?" Raevan asked. "You did not burn the Ruins of Elent to the ground."
"Could she have reverse-engineered it?" Lyn replied.
"Perhaps," Raevan said solemnly. "If she had rubbings made, perhaps the Elenthian words were interpreted and mixed. I would not expect her backup to be the same quality as Thomas's creations, but it served its purpose."
Ly nodded. "Then we need to take the fight to her. First, we'll crush their navy. Then, encircle them. Khrelardia is out of the fight, so that means we must rely on our own forces, and those of Trisk."
Yheron harrumphed. "Fine. Do not listen to my advice."
"What would you have me do? Fly into danger without a clue of what awaits me?"
Yheron peered at her with one enormous eye. "You are two mana cores away from acquiring them all. All that remains is the Alchemist and Oracle. One is here with us, and the other is a single dungeon away if you signal it. Acquire the remaining dungeon cores, use the power of the Oracle to peer at your foe...and then choose the precise moment to strike."
Raevan cupped Lyn's chin and pulled her to face her. "Go with what your heart tells you. But Yheron's advice is sound." She glanced sideways at the dragon, "Maybe not the use of the Oracle core. Seeing all possible futures can blind you to the path you should take."
The blackness receded, and Lyn found herself back in her body. Brad was staring at her expectantly. "You okay?"
Lyn nodded. "Yeah. How long was I out?"
"What do you mean? It's been a few seconds."
Good. Talking to...my other selves isn't time consuming. She looked down at the ashes of Cecily's body – the indicator that she did, indeed, have a backup body. "Brad...I need your hero core."
The Alchemist hero sighed and nodded as his shoulders slumped. "I figured you'd be asking sooner or later." He cracked a smile. "You're still fine if I keep running the pharmaceutical industry, right?"
Lyn nodded as she reached into the storage choker and pulled out a wooden orb holding a dungeon core, and the tube inscribed device. "Lie down, take off your shirt."
Brad chuckled and did as he was told. "Reminds me of back before we were summoned. Remember?"
Lyn giggled and nodded. "God, you fumbled so fucking much. But you really took your time and were gentle. And you knew the right angles. I swear, you potheads and your porn consumption."
Brad grinned sheepishly. "If you ever want a repeat performance, this new prosthetic lets me go all night."
"Maybe I will take you up on that," Lyn said with a devilish grin as she placed the device against his chest. "Here we go. You'll feel some pain."
"Bitch, I've dealt with more of that than you know."
Lyn channeled her mana into the device and felt the familiar thump as Brad's face contorted before relaxing. She pulled the Alchemist core out of the socket and felt the bubbling, almost soup-like consistency against her claw. She squeezed it and fed it down her mana channel into the inferno that was her Destroyer core. "What's it do?"
Brad sat up and took a deep breath before pulling on his clothes, producing a cigar from a pouch, and using a simple incantation to light it. "First. Ow... It will let you make body-enhancing substances quickly with unmatched quality. You can also change the properties of tinctures, potions, and the like by altering their potency, duration...all types of good shit. Also, you can "store" spells – but you're basically containing and reserving that bit of mana. I never found a good use for that."
Lyn reached down and helped him up. "Now...back home?" she asked.
Brad nodded. "I got my revenge. You can get the final kill...but I'm more than satisfied."
"Oh, one more thing." She gestured to the camp of Valagonia, littered with corpses. "We have to take all of the firearms and cannons. I'll open up a storage dimension, and we'll load it all in."
Brad nodded. "Well, I can put these muscles to some use. Just like I've been using that new dick. Did you know that the inscription does vibration and temperature?"
Lyn lightly shoved her shoulder into him and chuckled. "You are always good at making a dark situation a bit brighter. Thank you."
Brad shrugged. "It was a brag. If you ever want to try..." He made a suggestive motion with his finger and hand.
Lyn shook her head. "You're incorrigible."
"And you're a promiscuous person. I'm surprised you're not jumping on the offer."
"Later. We have work to do. Let's get to it."
James arrived back in Kor's Hold and immediately summoned his council, telling them what happened. There was shouting, blame cast his direction, and ultimately an acceptance of the losses. It was a tense two hours of shouting and consternation.
"This will impact the planting season," his minister of agriculture stated. "We will have to rely on trade to provide—"
James held up his hand. "We have a benefactor now. I'll speak with Empress Rivers. She will ensure that our people do not go hungry. Robust food programs were one of her requirements for vassalization, after all."
He gripped his hands together tightly and felt sick to his stomach. "I...I'm sorry. I had no idea that Cecily was capable of such a feat. If I knew, I would have never taken our forces so close."
His master of whispers stood up. "You tried to protect Khrelardia. Thank Aelor for Empress Rivers' intervention. If we lost you, then the duchies would be fighting over the throne." He turned to the other councilors. "If we do not downplay this tragedy then we will have rebellion."
He nodded and stood up. "I am exhausted. I'll retire for the night. Tomorrow, we have to do damage control. I will not let this kingdom fall into civil war." He gulped down the sickness he felt working its way up his gullet. "If that happens...Empress Rivers may come down with a firm fist and take full, direct control, instead of ruling with the gentle touch she has thus far."
There were murmurs of assent around the table, and James left to his royal apartment with the king's guards who had stayed behind in tow. He went to the restroom and immediately threw up into the latrine, crying as he vomited at what he had done. He had killed his own soldiers, his commanders, his allies. People who trusted him with his life.
Even with the Paragon core...I wouldn't have been able to do anything. He wiped his mouth and threw off his clothing and armor. "Guard!" he shouted.
One of the men burst into the room, weapon at the ready, and paused when he saw no danger immediately apparent. "Your Highness?"
James turned to the man. "I want one of you stationed at the balcony, and one of you on the inside of the door to my chambers." He touched the inscription on the tub, and it filled with hot water. He sank into it and tried to burn away the memories of that night. He felt tears well up and he wept as the water washed the tears away. I'm sorry you all died...