272. Revitalizing Old Seeds

272. Revitalizing Old Seeds

C272

Year 266

The first of the comet fragments emerged from the void. We have been tracking it the moment it appeared within our vision, and we watched with great interest for the moment it entered our bubble of reality.

The first few meteors popped out of the darkness, like a cluster of rocks that suddenly shed its cloak of invisibility. A quick scan revealed that we didnt detect Multipuss presence, but among the rocks was a slightly larger chunk of the Comets core, and that rock maintained a small bubble of reality.

Engage! My mages ordered as the meteors entered our range.

Mages, in our tree-based environmentally controlled battlesuits, attacked the rocks. They were much smaller, and it seemed the very act of travelling through the void had eroded them one way or another.

It was a good sign. It meant that without a strong bubble of reality, the rocks we expect to face should be smaller than the main Comet.

The distant dark skies, not visible from Treehome, erupted in explosions of magic. With extremely powerful telescopes it would be possible to see some small sparks and explosions, but we destroyed the smaller remnant meteors. For the Core remnant, a few of our mages hopped onto the rock and tried to steer it.

Core material was valuable. I have it in such little quantities that if there was a core chunk from the Demons Comet, we wanted to see whether we could process it, and learn from it.

But like Core Mana, it degrades quite quickly, especially when exposed to the light of the sun. Which was strange.

One of the quirks of Core mana.

For now, with magical propulsion, we guided this remnant rock from the core of the demons comet, and directed it into a somewhat stable orbit. My Valthorn mages then quickly set up a basic manipulation system, just a few magical patterns and formations that created some propulsion to steer the core away from Treehome. This would allow it to maintain that stable orbit.

It wasnt big, but we wanted to examine this core remnant in greater detail.

I was fairly impressed that we now had our first space-based research station.

My Valthorns first space-based research station consisted of portable living quarters from our almost century-long experience of building underground bunkers, and later on our developments on the Demons Comet, Lavaworld, Cometworld and our moon.

Travel to and from the research station in our world was a lot simpler, since we had access to magical portals and teleportation spells. We didnt need rockets.

Even deploying our new wood-based mechs involved teleportation to the closest undisturbed space.

***

Stella watched as the first engagements with the meteor remnants proceeded as planned, and as my forces exert itself on Threeworld, on Mountainworld, on Dwarfworld, and now, even this world of Satrya.

-And so begins the Imperial Era of Aeon. Stella said as she arrived in Threeworld, and watched my Valthorns crawling all over the city of Maelga.

You speak of it as if its new. I chuckled.

Its just an observation, really. My void domainholder watched. Within a year, we had to quell dissent in the human lands.

In many ways, an era of great political change for the Threeworlds humans. In normal times, the sandpeople and the centaurs would capitalize on this to wage an attack and try to claim some fringe territories from the human kingdoms.

But with the presence of my overwhelming beetles, they know better. The centaurs have seen my warriors in their lands, and know that we have far stronger warriors than them.

Zhaanpu, of them all, seemed to have most to think about. The nature of our relationship was perhaps an ally of convenience, but my occupation of Maelga had made him feel a little-

Queasy.

As if he invited evil into his home.

Perhaps it was a sensation to have power challenged.

I thought it might be a sense of vulnerability.

Or perhaps it was how relatively easy it was to suppress the Crystal King, even with the Crystal Kings huge array of hero items. He didnt manage to use them, and I also discovered they were primarily designed for use against heroes that turned rogue.

The hero items effectiveness against Lumoof was suspect, and this was something that I saw Zhaanpu thinking about keenly. I noticed because he began asking Khefri for more general-purpose hero items, instead of human-killers.

So this Empire- Stella looked at the human lands. What do you have in mind?

The war to free ourselves from the demons will not end. Not with how they bend the system to its will. We will need warriors. We will need equipment. The myriad worlds will supply them.

I see. Stella said. It is like that.

I visited the Northern Islands recently, you know, to meet Meela and Alexis-

Oh. Them. How are they? Kei said with subtle contempt. She still struggled to fit them into the plans. Even Ken didnt really want to include them, given their complicated past with Aeon.

They are fine. They took my advice to bunker up well. The Norths growing well, the cities feel a lot more prosperous since I last saw them a few years ago. The vassal and guild wars didnt hurt them as badly as the rest.

The vassal wars have mostly come to a standstill. The resource demands of the great Comet attack drained much of the fire out of the war, and now that it has de-facto ended, both sides settled into a comfortable ceasefire and status quo that neither wanted to restart. There might be an incident or flare up that causes it to resurface, but for now, both sides are focused on licking their wounds and preparing for the eventual resumption of hostilities.

Crystals also began to trickle back into the market.

Kei looked at Lausanne, and then dropped the question on her mind. Lausanne. Would you be willing to take up arms again?

She paused, realizing Keis question was serious. -why?

-Your children are old now. You no longer have to care for them like you used to. You have free time, and now, more than ever, we need you to do what Jura once did. Be on the front lines once more, and be one of the Pillars of our world.

Lausanne closed her eyes briefly. Is this request from Patriarch Lumoof or Edna?

No. Me- and maybe Stella. Kei answered. Of all the elves from the first days of Freeka, only you remain. Well- and your mother, but she is not a warrior.

Romas around.

Kei grinned. You know its not the same. You are the first. The First true Valthorn.

That should be Jura.

Hes dead. Kei said. I believe Aeon would still give you a [soul strengthening seed] if you ask for it. For decades you are at level 85, theres probably some overflow experience in you that would-

Lausanne looked at her room. You want me to abandon the comforts of my beautiful home, and head back out there in the wilderness, battling demons and monsters.

Yes. Because you are special, Lausanne. Till this day there is no one with your tier blessings. Sure, there are many, many others with the lesser variants of [Blessed by the Soul Tree], but knowing the system, there is an unspoken value as the first Blessed One of Aeon. You are the first, and that grants you a weight you can wield.

Lausanne closed her eyes. -tell me whats really on your mind.

Kei sipped her tea, and allowed the question to linger a bit before she spoke her mind. Aeon needs moral guidance. There are the domain holders, but we know he needs more than that. He needs a bit of your presence. You have history and a past. A bond few others can claim to have.

A bond that has turned distant.

All I see are your internal struggles, Lausanne. Kei answered. Youre doing nothing with the rest of your life and you know it. You had just reason when you wanted to care for Lauda, but those days are over. Long over.

What if I dont live up to that? There are so many with far better innate talent. The domain holders are all incredible people in their own ways.

Is that what you fear, Lausanne? To try once more and find yourself not worthy?

Lausanne closed her eyes. In many ways, it was a crisis of self confidence. She didnt answer.

Kei continued. You once said to Aeon that you wanted to be a hero. We now know that the path to power exists. Edna is close to that point. It is no longer an impossibility. Not like your earlier days. Aeons access to the other realms enables opportunities for growth we never had before. Lausanne, please. Its time to give that old dream of yours another chance. Jura once said your dream was foolish. But even he didnt see how things developed.

Lausanne listened, her heart swirling. A part of her was convinced. Whats- whats your interest in this?

The golem laughed. Must everything be about interests?

-But you have an interest in this.

Id like to see an end to this. Properly. I feel sorry for those like me, that we are on this treadmill of endless fighting, summoned to fight in worlds that dont know us.

Lies. Lausanne countered. Thats bullshit.

The golem smirked.

Kei closed her eyes, and then spilled the beans.

I- I look at Arlisa and you, and see different versions of wasted potential. Arlisa is one where she couldnt take the expectations and crumbled. You could and some, but you chose to walk away. Weve known each other for years, decades, centuries! Lausanne, ever since the day you trained us, protected us and got us to level, back when we first met in that dwarven city, in the Eastern Continent. That day, almost 130 years ago, in my eyes, you were always a hero. You can still be one. With Aeons resources, I have no doubt about it.

Lausanne stared at Kei.

Both of them looked at each other for what seemed like an eternity.

Eventually, Lausanne let out a long sigh. I have- I have a lot of catching up to do.