Blue Core Week Forty-Four (Patreon)

Day 134 - Taelah

“Are you sure you want to do this, daughter?”

Taelah took a moment to suppress a sigh. Normally she got along with her mother just fine, but Rinnah Morn was a semi-retired elder, despite being much younger than most of the active elders, and had acquired a tendency to fuss somewhere along the way. Her carved-wood talismans clacked as she leaned forward and the grimoire at her waist glowed ever so slightly, showing that she was at least touching her Skills as she studied Taelah. Possibly to see if she was under some sort of magical influence.

“Yes, mom,” Taelah said firmly. To be fair, Rinnah had fussed almost as much over Taelah’s previous arranged marriage. “I know it’s not exactly what you planned, or I planned, but I’m confident about Blue.” It was, to be sure, not a match made out of love, but Rinnah and Thom had met from an arranged marriage themselves and had turned out just fine.

She was actually secretly glad that she wouldn’t have to learn how to live with someone, and yet still get most of the benefits of being a wife and a mother. It was just hard for Taelah to imagine herself like her own mother, getting along so comfortably with her father despite them being so far different. She preferred to do her own thing too much to really welcome sharing everything with someone else.

Yet at the same time, she saw the things she never would get from Blue. The casual touch that lit up her mother’s face with a smile, the murmured word that made her laugh. The loving embrace when she was sad or sick, and all the other thousand things of chance and circumstances that happened between two people who were together for life. So she was thankful and guilty and had a lot more in the way of nerves than she’d ever admit to her mother.

Through either shaman intuition or just motherly instincts, Rinnah seemed to sense this and just pulled Taelah into a hug. A crushing one, given that she was a good ten levels higher than Taelah. Her father Thom gave her the barest hint of a nod behind Rinnah’s back, his mouth moving fractionally into his version of a smile. It might not look like much to anyone else, but to her it was as warm as her mother’s arms.

She stayed with them a little longer, sharing a mana-rich tea that was, of course, grown on Blue’s land, in one of the little glacial plots above the normal farmland. It was Rinnah’s own in fact, inasmuch as something created by Blue and negotiated for by Queen Iniri could really belong to a commoner. A state of affairs that explained why Anton’s Village was willing to take Blue’s offer.

It wasn’t that they were disloyal to Queen Iniri, though they actually were, strictly speaking. Rather, Anton’s Village had already been displaced, already lost their homes and crops and then put in the work to get it all back. Yes, Blue had done a lot of work in preparing good land for them, but they had been the ones to till and plant the land, not to mention building most of the buildings. They preferred it that way of course, but they knew a good thing when they saw it and none of the elders were naive enough to believe that Tarnil would be in particularly good shape even after the war was won.

There would be bandits and outlaws, there would be shortages, there would be nobles vying for power. Anton’s Village was small and unimportant and in general they liked it that way, but in a crisis that would probably last years they wouldn’t be getting any special consideration. Nor should they; nor would they ask for it. There would be larger and more productive farming communities that would need that manpower. Anton’s Village would find its own solution as it always had, and so the deal with Blue.

Taelah continued her rounds to the other elders. Shayma had told her Blue wanted to make a new, proper area for the village once they had declared their allegiance, one that was actually outdoors, so they were in the process of sorting out the inevitable wrangling and complaints. Not to mention making sure everyone was informed of what was going on, assuming they’d been living under a rock for the past few weeks. Which was actually possible; a good number of the residents cared mostly for their farms and crops and little about anything else.

She found Glenn overseeing a platehoof herd being switched from one pasture to another. The grumpy ranger was helping Yoren’s kid, who didn’t yet have a class but would probably pick up [Rancher] soon enough. He grunted at her approach without looking around; somehow he’d managed to double his level to twelve in their time here and gotten some improvement in his perception. That was far fewer levels than Taelah had managed, but it was faster than he’d ever managed back at the original village.

“Taelah,” he said by way of greeting, keeping a sharp eye on the platehoofs.

“Hello, Glenn,” she replied. “Did you get the Jaffees settled down?” Even in a village as small as theirs, they’d somehow ended up with two feuding and unrelated families of the same name. Normally it was kept to a dull roar of baseless complaints, but the news that they’d be getting brand new land and more control over it had whipped them into a frenzy. Both of them were claiming and asking things that nobody knew or could grant them, unless they demanded it of Blue directly.

Which probably wouldn’t turn out too well for them.

“Yes,” he said, and offered no further explanation. Glenn worked his jaw, staring out over the herd, and let out a breath. “I really don’t see why you need to sell yourself off,” he said after a moment. “Weirds me right out, I admit.”

Taelah bristled, taking a moment to bite back any reply. Glenn was blunt, but it was his way of showing that he cared, and he probably wasn’t the only one with exactly that opinion. In fact she knew he wasn’t, and had to admit to herself that she had some doubts too.

There were good reasons to become Blue’s Companion. Once the village had sworn itself to his service, someone had to serve as the bridge between him and them. That was the argument she’d given to others, but there were more personal and private factors that were the real reasons she’d brought it up. Part of it was that she did need to get married; she knew she wanted children and, gods willing, grandchildren, but she’d never really been able to envision herself with a husband. But the main reason, the one she didn’t want to admit, was that she was a little in love with Blue. Not the person, who she couldn’t talk to and would never really know, but the environment in all its exotic fascination. The dungeon, with all it had to offer.

It was an entirely selfish reason, which was okay, but it wasn’t one that she thought she could explain to the good folk of the village as reason to get married to a piece of land. Or however other people characterized Blue. He was a little too big a presence for her to really get her head around, herself. Shayma was probably the only one who really understood him.

“It’s just a good idea,” Taelah insisted. “Besides, it’s not like Blue really pays attention to us. Shayma has more important things to do than come by every time we want to ask about something, and it’s important that we have good relations with someone who is the land we’re living on.”

“Mmm,” Glenn replied, unconvinced. “Well, I guess you know your own business.” Bland as the words were, they were about as strong a disagreement as she could expect from Glenn. At least, knowing Glenn, those would be the last words he had on the subject.

“Yes,” she said, and that was that. “I’ll check in with the others, then after that you can find me in Meil. I have potions and tinctures to make before the battle.” So far, she was the only one Blue had given permission to use the dungeon ingredients for alchemy. Despite the lack of materials, dungeon materials alone were enough to create mixtures that would regenerate stats and even boost Affinity mana. Normally these things were immensely expensive, for a variety of reasons, but Blue’s flora and, most importantly, fruit meant she could make them with a minimum of effort.

The other elders had nothing more than the usual issues, like negotiations between who had the rights to raise which crops, or who was taking on whose son as an apprentice. It wasn’t just the impending move, but the ordinary business of life. The Queen and Blue might be dealing with world-shaking events, but Anton’s Village was more concerned with celebrating the birthday of a six-year-old girl.

There might be fighting somewhere else but the village wasn’t going to let that stop them from throwing a party for little Suna. Taelah herself had even used her new alchemical access to make a glowing hair ribbon for the girl from a light Affinity flower. The poor child had been afraid of the dark ever since the last fight, when Blue had gone dark and her house had started melting, so Taelah was glad she could come up with something a little magical for her. The only annoying thing was that she couldn’t be more involved in the birthday preparations due to the work she needed to do.

After her rounds she took the teleport to Meil. They were technically connected now through tunnels, and she would have liked to stretch her legs a little more, but the teleport was much faster and they only had so much time before the army arrived. Since the teleports worked more or less when Blue remembered to trigger them, there was usually a little bit of waiting involved. Not more than a few minutes in most cases, but as soon as she stepped onto the pad it activated. It was nice to know Blue was keeping an eye on her.

Taelah was borrowing someone else’s alchemy store, which had more if not better equipment than hers, but brought her own ingredients in a large rucksack. Containers of tayantan juice, flowers of various types, moss, and a stack of small tayantan sticks. The last weren’t part of the usual alchemy set, but the tayantan wood worked for stirring the less volatile mixtures better than a purely neutral steel or glass rod. It probably wouldn’t have worked if it didn’t all belong to Blue, something both [Plant Identification] and [Alchemical Insight] agreed on.

One thing Blue didn’t supply was vials for the resulting output, but that was something the borrowed shop had in abundance so she racked them and began measuring, mixing, pouring, and infusing with [Novice Alchemy]. It might have gone faster if she had someone to play assistant but she took it seriously when Blue said she was the only one allowed to work with his materials. Besides, she was used to doing all the steps herself, as it wasn’t like there were many other alchemists in Anton’s Village. She hummed a tune to herself as she worked, and was so immersed in it that she didn’t even notice someone else arriving.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The voice was thick with scorn, and Taelah sighed before even looking up at the speaker. She knew that tone well enough. The other woman had a particular set about her mouth and eyes that were familiar too, even if it wasn’t one that was often aimed at her. Anymore, at least.

“Pardon?” Taelah asked, affecting a perfectly bright and reasonable tone as if she hadn’t noticed the intruder’s pique. She did her best not to react as four more people shuffled in behind the speaker, all of them bearing little silver pins that marked them as members of the alchemist’s guild, which meant they were all second-tier at least.

“I don’t know who you are but I don’t appreciate you barging in on guild territory!” The woman scowled, putting her hands on stout hips and somehow managing to look down at Taelah even if she was several inches shorter.

“Oh, then let me introduce myself,” Taelah said, still courteous. Not that she felt particularly well-disposed toward any of the alchemists, but she wouldn’t get anywhere by returning the attitude. “My name is Taelah Marn, elder— ”

“Elder!” The woman scoffed.

“Elder of Anton’s Village,” she continued, ignoring the interruption. “Who might you be?”

“Imiss Ren,” she said, puffing out her already ample chest. “Alchemist’s Guild, Recipe Archivist and member in good standing. Which you are not.”

“No,” Taelah admitted. “But I have been given permission to use this store.”

“Gary’s store,” Imiss said sharply, gesturing to an unhappy-looking man hovering at her shoulder, an older gentlemen with a narrow face and bony knuckles. “Which is not your store. You’re not even a full alchemist! What do you have, [Novice Alchemy]?”

“Thank you for lending your store,” Taelah said to Gary, ignoring the aspersions cast on her Skill. “I didn’t have nearly the room at home to make these potions.” He inclined his head fractionally, but Imiss bulled her way forward.

“Yes, those potions!” Imiss took several steps toward the counter Taelah was working at and this time she moved, not far but enough to put herself between the alchemist and the ingredients Blue had vouchsafed her. Imiss scowled but didn’t try to shove past her, at least. “It’s the duty of the Alchemist’s Guild to test and record any recipe before…” The woman sputtered with indignation as she spotted all the filled vials. “Before handing them out like candy!”

Taelah lifted her brows, regarding Imiss and her more or less silent backers. She recognized the tactic and in fact had used it herself, though not with the basis of ignorance Imiss seemed to be operating from. The only thing that worried Taelah, and it was a distant worry, was why they were bothering her when it was Queen Iniri herself who had requested it. Though maybe they didn’t really know that. Even though Taelah was personally acquainted with Blue, she was not familiar with the Queen, and the offer and information had come through channels. One person told another person to tell another person to carry a message, and by the time it got to someone like Imiss the original provenance had long since vanished.

“That does seem like a good idea under most circumstances,” Taelah agreed, still maintaining an air of affability and agreeableness. “But these ingredients are supplied directly by Blue, and are not to be released to anyone else.”

“The Duke was right,” one of the others, not Gary, muttered under his breath. Imriss nodded in a self-satisfied manner.

“Blue has no authority here,” she declared boldly. Taelah had to wonder if that was a good idea, considering they were literally inside Blue, in a city he’d moved not much earlier. Though apparently he didn’t pay all that much attention to most people so it wasn’t likely he noticed the challenge. Or cared. “This city is on Duke Sarthi’s land and he gave us the charter to ensure the equitable and just sharing of knowledge. He warned us that Blue would try and undermine him!”

Anton’s Village was actually part of the Sarthi duchy, at least for the moment, so Taelah wasn’t unfamiliar with the name. It wasn’t like she’d ever met the man herself, though he had visited some of the larger communities in the area. Of her own knowledge she had no complaints; their taxes weren’t onerous and for the most part they had been protected from the occasional wandering monster or rogue Classer. Unfortunately, at this moment he wasn’t doing anyone any favors.

“By the authority of the Alchemist’s Guild, I demand you explain this,” Imiss said triumphantly, and Taelah had to exercise some control over her expression, though she wasn’t sure if she wanted to laugh in other woman’s face or scowl at her.

“I have been making lifesaving potions and ointments for the Classers,” Taelah said, raising her eyebrows at the woman. “They’re going up against an army of several thousand monsters, so they’ll need every item I can make. So if you would let me return to my work…”

“It’d go faster if we did it,” Imiss harumphed, though Gary, at least, looked uncomfortable.

“I don’t deny your Skills,” Taelah said, trying to sound as reasonable as she could, “but I don’t have the authority to share this. They aren’t my ingredients and I was told that I couldn’t let anyone else handle them. I hope you’re not planning on taking them from me.” That was the first thing that stumped Imiss, making the Guild woman hesitate.

“I certainly couldn’t stop you, but I would hope the Alchemy Guild doesn’t think it’s necessary to press such claims in the middle of a crisis.” Taelah pushed on, now that she had the momentum. “After all, I have first and second and even third-tiers waiting on these, and the more time we spend arguing the less time time I have to make what they need.”

“Well…” Imiss temporized. Since that didn’t seem to be quite enough to push her into actually making a decision, Taelah continued on.

“I’m sure as actual Classers you have more important, higher level things to deal with. There’s no point in standing around here asking me for something I can’t give you, since it just takes you away from your own work.”

“I was all out of reagents anyway,” Gary said in a tone that was more suggestion than statement. “I don’t really need to use my store for anything right now.” Apparently that was the wrong thing to say because Imiss scowled and shot Gary a nasty glare before turning the glare on Taelah.

“Stop trying to distract us from the important point here.” She snapped. “Which is that you’re going against Guild procedures and Guild authority. Worse, you’re undermining the Duke’s authority by doing so.”

“But Blue— ”

“The Duke is the one that decides who can do what, not Blue.”

“Whether or not you respect Blue’s authority,” Taelah began, lifting her hand to touch the brooch pinned to her clothing, “it’s not just by his bidding I’m here. These are all for the upcoming battle, for all the Classers dealing with the army that’s going to be where Meil used to be.” She hoped Imiss would take the hint about who else Taelah was dealing with. Obviously they didn’t care about the importance of the product.

“Which is why it falls under the Alchemist Guild’s duties!” Imiss was, if anything, smug.

“I see.” What she saw was that Imiss was not about to take the hint that maybe she was very far out of her depth. “Well, I certainly wouldn’t try and disobey a duke or impugn the Guild,” Taelah began, pausing just long enough to see the flash of triumph in Imiss’ eyes. “However, Queen Iniri herself tasked me with making these, as part of the alliance with Blue. Considering that nobody else is supposed to handle these ingredients, I will have to pack them up and bring them with me to the Fortress.” She paused to let Imiss gather enough thought to start a protest and then interrupted her. “You can come with me and explain to the Queen why I’m there and I don’t have much done, instead of here working. I’m sure she’ll understand.”

Imiss went from smug to sour, a dark cast over her face as she glowered at Taelah. Even then she might have pushed onward, or even tried to physically push past her, if it weren’t for one of her other companions, not Gary this time, tapping her on the shoulder. She whipped around to stare at him and something unspoken passed between them, because Imiss looked less and less happy until she finally turned back to glare at Taelah.

“Fine, we’ll leave you to your work now, but I will expect those ingredients and recipes later!” She glared at Taelah, waiting for her to agree, and when she didn’t finally spun around and pushed back through her little group, stalking out of the store.

Once they were gone, Taelah rolled her eyes and went back to work. She was glad that she wouldn’t be in Meil much longer. Even if she could deal with pushy know-it-alls like Imiss, she didn’t enjoy it. Hopefully that would be the last time she had to deal with them.

She toiled a while longer, using up all her materials and filling all the vials that had been prepared for her. For good or ill, it wasn’t worth it to make an infinite number of the potions and ointments. Not only did they degrade over time, but there was only so much foreign mana that people could take before it started to create complications. More for higher tiers, less for lower tiers, but either way there was a strict limit to how many would be useful. Which was fine with her; she liked alchemy but she didn’t want to spend all her days and nights at it.

Once she handed off the crates of product to one of Queen Iniri’s guards, she made her way back home so she could attend Suna’s party. Having a celebration right then felt like maybe flaunting it in the face of everyone else preparing for war, but Anton’s Village wasn’t gong to be involved in the fighting regardless.

Shayma had brought her a new dress, partly from her and partly from Blue, which was an unexpected delight and one that touched her more than the brooch Blue had made. Jewelry was pretty but a good solid dress was something that she could really use. It wasn’t, like she’d been half-afraid of, some fragile confection but rather a tough, adventurer-style dress in blue and with a little black trim, but without any frills or fripperies. Nice, quality, but not ostentatious. She especially liked how unexpected it was, and that she had it in time for a celebration, something that had become a rarity in the past few years.

The actual party was a cheerful affair, filled with pastries and small children running around, gaily colored lanterns brought out from people’s closets, and of course the hand-made presents from each of the families in Anton’s Village. Despite everything they were actually better off than they had been, thanks to Blue, and everyone could afford to take the time off to indulge in music and dancing and all the good things that made a life worth living.

By the time the celebration was over and sleepy children had been hauled off to bed, Taelah was in a rather good mood, humming to herself as she helped clean up from the party. She felt almost optimistic, something that been missing for a rather long time. Anton’s Village was stubborn, but they weren’t stupid and they’d known how bad things were getting. Even now there was an army bearing down on them, but here with Blue she could believe that—

Day 134 - Iniri

Iniri was exhausted. Not in stamina, which had been kept fairly well topped up, but by the sheer mental effort of casting her senses through the Adamant Fortress, controlling it, and keeping up with the ebb and flow of the battle. She’d somewhat overestimated the benefits of her new kinetic affinity, finding that supported her body more than her mind, so for the moment she was doing little more than resting on the throne.

The Fortress itself had no issues blocking everything the army threw at it. They’d learned faster than Iniri would have preferred that they couldn’t get too near the Fortress or she’d simply use it to crush them, as well as exactly how far she could go from the underground dynamos before the mana sustaining the Fortress dwindled below what she could make up herself. The melee part of the army was effectively neutralized, but that still left thousands of mages and led to a continuous assault.

Much of that assault was invisible without [Mana Sight], and much of it wasn’t even directed against the Fortress walls. There were all kinds of probes and scrying to try and bypass the invincible barrier the Fortress presented, though bolts of fire and lightning still arced through the air, and shadows crept around the borders, looking for any openings that might develop.

When it came, neither she nor any of the other mages could stop the brute force of the spatial rip, the immense amount of mana swirling around it surpassing even Blue’s prodigious expenditures. It wasn’t a pretty piece of work by any means but quantity was a quality all of its own. Still, she thought that she could at least enclose the breach to make all that effort moot. Instead, it seemed that mana itself had been torn, splintering the perfect defense of the Adamant Fortress into a horrifying thing she didn’t dare to touch for fear of slaughtering her own forces.

Instead she’d used the opportunity to deploy [Blue’s Armament of Light] in combat for the first time. That skill was impressive, more or less instantly killing the monsters, but it also drew heavily on her mana pool and she’d already been spending that to illuminate and strike at the armies that surrounded them. Even Blue’s wellspring was feeling strained, restricting the amount she could pull from it.

Then Sienne Ell had shown off her void Skills. Iniri had never seen any in action, though she’d heard how destructive they were. Usually they were as destructive to the wielder as to the target, so void Affinity casters didn’t last very long, but Sienne’s arts cast the void entirely outside her own body and it was terrifying. Even if she didn’t see it with her eyes, her other senses could track that all-devouring nonexistence with no problem.

Having that awful tear in reality closed was a relief, but that bit of surcease didn’t last for long when Shayma vanished. There was only one reason Iniri could think of for Blue to recall her, and that was Tor Kot making an assault on Blue’s mountain stronghold. She didn’t know whether Blue could hold off the mage-king; his own defenses weren’t anywhere near as good as the Fortress could provide, yet without him there would be no Fortress.

The minutes ground onward, the assault unchanging, though no more spatial breaches came. That was good, in one sense, but in another it was worrying. No doubt something with that power was shaped by Tor Kot himself, but it was one that they had an answer for. If there was not another one coming, it was because Tor Kot had found something more interesting to take up his time, something like a Blue Core dungeon.

The sound of bells echoed faintly from the encampments, now completely encircling the Fortress. Between them her Classers must have killed thousands of monsters, maybe even ten or fifteen thousand, after all was said and done. But it was not nearly enough to dissuade the enormous army. They could lose half their forces and the Classers would still be outnumbered a hundred to one.

Suddenly the mana flow to the Fortress choked and faltered, the entire weight of its upkeep coming down on her. She felt like she was being shoved down into her throne as it started to drain her mana pool, forcing her to pull in the walls and tear down the towers, anything to lighten the load as she fought to keep the Fortress stable.

“Blue!” She called, hoping against hope she could get his attention. That he hadn’t been taken by Tor Kot. “What’s going on? I can’t sustain this off my own mana!” That did get a reply, but not one that she was expecting. For a moment knowledge rushed into her head, a perfect sense of where Blue was, spread through his mountain and deep underneath. She also could tell where he wasn’t, with his territory cutting off sharply just north of Meil and the Fortress, the long tunnel ending exactly where one of the encampments was.

A cold certainty spread through her, settling like ice in her gut. Even if he could drive off or kill Tor Kot that wouldn’t do anything to help them. Whatever mana generation he had been feeding the Fortress was gone, and even if it could be recovered it wouldn’t be any time soon. There was only one tool left, one she had been hoping she wouldn’t have to use, but now she had no choice.

“Everyone get inside the central tower!” She ordered. The Fortress would protect them somewhat, she was pretty sure, but she didn’t want to tempt fate. “As fast as you can! Don’t worry about defending the walls!”

She expanded the throne room as Classers piled in, weathering the redoubled attacks of the mage monsters outside as her mana pool plummeted toward zero. Fortunately with so many of them having movement Skills and her reshaping of the Fortress, it didn’t take more than fifteen or twenty seconds for everyone on the outside to get in. Still, she was at nearly zero mana, giving her no more time to consider before she invoked [The Light Of Eschaton].

The end came.

Year 864, Day 138 - Tarnil

The end came.

Long ago, the kingdom of Tarnil was founded by the great hero Teash Arn after he destroyed the monstrous tyrant of Grogmor Dell. He brought low the Sundering Cliffs to give ships a safe harbor, he enriched the great plains to give the people food, and he raised a fortress to provide safety from the great beasts of the Wildwood and Beacon.

Tarnil flourished, its kings and queens given the greatest protective Skill the world had known, the [Shield of Tarnil]. With it, Tarnil provided a center of civilization for the settlement of the northeast part of Orn, protecting the citizens as the wilderness was reclaimed. Trade and adventurers and hopeful explorers alike flowed through Tarnil in those glory days, and it was a golden age.

Success breeds envy, though, and as new nations flourished they cast their eyes on the land that had acted as their gateway. Greed followed, then war, as forces from eight kingdoms converged on the great fortress of Beacon, guardian of the light spring, in the heart of the plains.

For the first time, the final weapon of the Adamant Fortress was unleashed, ending the futures of four of the eight kingdoms...and that of most of Tarnil itself. Even the rulers of Tarnil feared what they had wrought, and scattered the pieces of the Fortress so that the final weapon could not be used again, save for the greatest need.

It was a smaller, humbler Tarnil that lived on, less involved in the affairs of the continent but less of a target for those who might covet its wealth and power. Yet, it was that slowly growing isolation that made it a target for the next great tragedy.

The mage-kings came to Tarnil, crushing any resistance and taking the cities in a show of overwhelming power. Yet Tarnil refused to die, its life clinging on in stubborn natives and one young Queen. They began to fight back, empowered by an unlikely ally, but ultimately were once more forced to—

Day 134 - Iniri

The small spot of light that hovered at the very top of the invisible dome over the Fortress rose in the air, blooming into something that saturated every point, every fraction, every iota of air and breath and body. It glowed through the barriers of the Fortress walls, an all-pervasive white that replaced the rest of reality, entirely soft and gentle yet searing itself into her vision. Everything seemed to slow, the thread of time unraveling and slipping away.

The weight of history’s end pressed down on her as the land yielded up that vital essence, past, present, and future being pulled into the light and spun out again into pure finality. Outside the bounds of the Fortress walls, everywhere the light touched simply ceased. Stone and grass and tree, monster and weapon, magic and water and cloud. They were ended by the mandate of fate, which brooked no defense.

Seconds limped onward, minutes and hours robbed of their import as the Light of Eschaton presided over all, the future only arriving in broken fragments. She could see and sense the vanishing, quiet and small and not in any hurry. Everything was inevitable, so what worry was time? The moment stretched on and on, seconds and hours passing just the same until the light, satisfied with its work, faded at last.

Time resumed and the Fortress stuttered, its mana spent. Iniri could barely think, overwhelmed by what had just happened. There was room for nothing else in her mind but the sight and feel of that light and the sacrifice of Tarnil’s fate. For fate it was, fate mana taken from her land and channeled into a hideous, horrible weapon. Whatever future might have been, exchanged for salvation now.

The Fortress fell apart, everyone tumbling into the newly formed crater, a depression miles and miles across. All of Tor Kot’s armies were gone. Blue’s structures were gone. The sun was well over the horizon, hours having passed in the strange and suppressed aura of the light, and it shone on a faded and exhausted gaggle of Classers. Everyone was chastened and humbled by [The Light of Eschaton], indelibly touched by seeing their fated end.

Iniri was half-conscious, still in a haze, able to do little more than sit on the freshly revealed stone and dirt and stare. There was too much to take in, too much to work through. She didn’t even take notice of the sprawled, surrounding Classers until a sudden movement made her flinch away, her Skill instincts sapped away by the experience.

A massive sword forged of light, Harold’s pinnacle Skill, swatted a blue-white ball of flame off into the distance mere inches from her face. She swayed, still trying to process what was going on, as Harold bolted forward toward Keel. Her mage was pulling on mana, far too much for a simple scry or calling, now that everything was dead. Keel’s other Skills started to manifest as Harold barreled toward him, a flaming barrier snapping into existence just before her [Sword Saint] reached him. Cheya lurched forward to help, still hazy from the aftermath, her shadows indistinct and unformed.

“Run, your Highness!” Harold shouted, light-limned sword snapping out to intercept the growing conflagration. Iniri just blinked, half out of surprise and half out of disbelief at what was happening. Of all people, of all her advisors and guards, Keel was targeting her? Keel, who had been in her court since she could remember, who had sworn into her father’s service before she was even born?

But there was no denying the formations of mana swirling around Keel, protecting him and targeting her, when she had no mana, not even enough to conjure a hand’s-width of [Shield of Tarnil]. Cheya staggered in front of her, sluggish and off-balance, but doing her best to protect Iniri. The mana from Keel spiked, his flames turning practically white as dozens of tiny sparks flew out of his shield. Small as they were, she knew exactly how deadly they would be.

Harold let out a gurgling cry as several of them burned into and through him, already spent from his first, desperate use of Skill to save her, while Cheya’s shadows flickered, snapping one, then two, then three of the sparks from the air. It wasn’t enough, as the rest of them arced around, aiming directly at her, and all she could do was stare dumbly, still gripped by the inevitability of the end.

Suddenly the world snapped around her and she was staring at Blue’s core, safely ensconced inside the cottage. There was no Keel, no one trying to kill her. There was no Fortress, either, no advisors or guards. She was alone with the end of everything she had known. Everything simply seemed empty, with even the warm and homey surroundings of the cottage being cold and distant. There, alone, having lost everything but herself, she buried her face in her hands.

Iniri wept.