A second woman’s voice was heard saying, “Do you think the queen or Barrow are going to step in and help them?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t been as active as we have in the past. We especially don’t send as many druids out like we used to. Then, there are all the tainted beasts appearing in the forest. Gaea save us.”
Ivy interrupted his eavesdropping, “Are you alright, Danny? You quit eating.”
Danny, empty fork halfway to his mouth, glanced at the girl across from him, *Cranny, have you heard anything like that in the palace?*
*No, there actually hasn’t been much talk about anything military while we are around. Well, except for the meeting with the nobles, but it didn’t sound this bad. I am now wondering if they suspect you can hear from a great distance, but how would they get around that?*
Danny hedged, *Only using written communication? Using air magic?*
*Could be either or both… Before you were listening in, they were talking about the goblins attacking Crossbark,* Cranny said.
Ivy spoke up again, but this time, there was a pained look in her eyes, “Danny…”
Standing up, Danny walked around the table and held out his hand. Ivy looked up at him in confusion, uncertain of what was going on.
Looking down at her, Danny didn’t see the tough leader of his shadow but the vulnerable teenage girl, hesitating only a fraction of a second, before reaching out to take his hand.
Pulling her up into his arms, Danny began to circle to room as he used his magic to call up to the storm above them. He had never gotten around to learning how to dance formally, in this life or the last, but sometimes, slowly turning round and round while holding each other is all that is really needed.
Ivy had her head laying sideways on his chest as they slowly spun around the room.
Danny looked down at Ivy’s head, “Hey, look at that.”
Ivy lifted her head and followed his gaze to where he was looking at the now falling snow outside. The lights of the city started to twinkle as the snow briefly blocked their view.
Ivy brushed away some of her hair which had fallen in front of her face, quietly commenting, “So pretty...”
Danny chuckled to himself as he squeezed her slightly in his arms, “Yes, you are.”
Cranny suddenly had an apparent coughing fit, but Danny heard a distinct *Lame* thrown in there at some point.
Ivy quickly turned back to him and her eyes seemed unable to choose whether to settle on his eyes or his lips.
Knowing this was the eventual conclusion, Danny leaned forward. The kiss only lasted a few moments, but when they separated, Ivy’s smile made him reconsider if humans couldn’t be as beautiful as elves.
Sighing, Ivy leaned her head back down against his chest, content to slowly rock with him while they watched the snow fall.
Danny did his best to wait patiently for a few moments before asking, “Ivy, has Arya mentioned anymore attacks by the goblins or, more specifically, attacks on one of our cities?”
Ivy tensed at the sudden topic and leaned away to look at him,”What? No, we haven’t received any news since arriving here.”
“My apologies, but I am going to have to cut our dinner short. Well, at least for me.”
Phantom jumped through the balcony opening, as Danny continued,”Phantom will keep you company and will follow you back to the palace. I need to go speak with the queen. It’s urgent.”
Ivy looked around, confused,”Is something going on?”
Danny leaned forward and kissed her forehead,”Yes, and I will let you all know more when I confirm some things I just inadvertently overheard. Finish dinner, and I will meet you back in the guest wing, alright?”
Ivy silently nodded, and Danny stepped backwards, activating his Air Aspect. He kept himself turned toward Ivy, watching her as long as he could as he disappeared into the snowfall.
Danny heard the sound of someone blowing their nose and, between sniffles, Cranny spoke to no one in particular, *They grow up so fast.*
***
Danny walked through the front entrance of the palace. The palace’s innate air magic did not allow the wind and snow from outside to pass through the opening for the large double doors. A bit of snow was beginning to accumulate outside at the foot of the door. His three ever-present and camouflaged guards were already behind him, not missing a step. He had been able to easily lose them when he first arrived at the capital, but they had started to surprise him with their uncanny ability to expect where he was headed. Not only that, but now, they usually beat him to his destination.
Turning to where one followed him, Danny commanded, “Take me to the queen. I am sure you know why.”
The air distorted and an armored elf appeared, moving quickly to walk in front of him. Following the guard, they were led through the palace to a wing he had yet to visit. Stopping in front of a single solid door, the guard knocked in a pattern that Danny suspected was some sort of signal.
The guard moved behind Danny and dissolved into the background. The door in front him opened, and a female elf he had only seen speaking to the Basalts, that day he first flew through the guest wing, ushered him in.
“The queen can see you now, Ascendant.”
Danny was led through a short hallway and into a large study. There was an impressive desk to one side and bookshelves on most of the walls. The queen, though, was seated in one of the two large comfortable looking chairs sequestered in a far corner.
Danny stopped short on seeing that the queen was setting down an empty plate of food on a small table next to her, saying, “My apologies, Your Highness. I did not mean to interrupt your supper. I can return at a better…”
“Danny, you are fine. Please, come sit here, and let’s talk.” The queen indicated the chair next to her.
Walking over, Danny took the offered chair and sighed as he realized they were even more comfortable than they looked.
The queen, amused, asked, “They are pretty nice, are they not?”
Danny limply waived an arm, “I’ve flown through clouds that were harder than this chair.”
The queen laughed good naturedly, “Now, tell me, what do you want to know about the goblin situation?”
Cranny grumbled, *Did she tell that from the brief set of knocks on the door, or did someone already show up to tell her what we discussed with Ivy?*
Danny chose not to mince words, “Why are you not doing more to address this situation? I won’t begin to guess your people’s true capabilities, but I could see you easily crushing them with little effort.”
The queen waived to someone behind him, and he turned to see the elven woman from before leaving. Seeing Danny’s look, the queen explained, “My personal aide. I had her draft your marriage agreement with the Basalts. It is good to always surround yourself with capable individuals.”
“The goblins, Your Majesty,” Danny reminded her.
The queen looked uncomfortable and shifted in her chair, “Danny, you know our current situation, but not the true extent of it. You know, we have finite mana production and a growing population. What you don’t know is that my people are closer to choosing whether we should only allow a select few to receive any mana at all, or whether we should go on spreading out until it eventually doesn’t affect us anymore.
The royal family has been voluntarily taking less and less mana in order to provide it to those who need it most. Soldiers going into the field, druids maintaining the sacred trees, and now you. In just a few days, Danny, you have used the royal family’s allotment of mana for a month. To give you a better understanding, Willow should actually appear much younger than she does now. She should not look as old as she does until she is well into her one hundreds and soon approaching two hundred.
As long as this situation stays the same, and the elven people are not threatened, I find it difficult to put them in harm’s way.”
Danny sighed as the weight on his shoulders seemed to increase significantly, “So, you�
�re saying the quickest way to help my people is to first help yours?”
The queen looked him in the eyes, “Danny, I want you to understand something else. The teams Leaf was sent with were our most experienced scouts. Our people lost some of our greatest talents that night, and we are loathe to attack again without our druids at their full potential. In order to do that, they will need all the mana they can store before they leave. Mana we currently do not have.”
Danny started to think about all the mana he had been using recently, and all the mana he would probably still need to use. He realized he could be costing the elves years or decades of extended life if he were unable to solve this.
*Danny, this ‘attack’ could have all been a setup to get us to work harder. It might not have been a coincidence that we didn’t hear anything until tonight.*
*I know that, but we don’t really have a way to tell without heading down there ourselves.*
“How far away is the goblin fortress?” asked Danny.
“Four days’ travel for my people.”
Danny’s eyes bugged out of his head, “Four days! That’s practically next door, and they are not attacking you?”
The queen shook her head as her aide came in with a tea tray, “Besides the events that occurred when you arrived at our border, we have only seen a small scattering of scouts or small groups of goblins. Our patrols have done a good job of keeping any of the goblins that get close to our borders from reporting back to their people.”
Danny numbly accepted a cup of tea as he pondered the situation.
Cranny added his two cents, *If what she is saying is true, then the elven scouts with Leaf ran out of mana. Those elven soldiers with Air Affinity use magic to supplement their martial skills. They were possibly overconfident and complacent. There is no other way these speed freaks died to that pack of ugly bumbling munchkins.*
Danny sighed, *Doesn’t matter. The best course of action is to solve the problem here first. I can only fight one battle at a time, and the elves could end things before we could get around to killing our first hobgoblin.*
Putting down his cup, Danny asked, “Could you please inform the Basalts about the situation and let them know that I will not be back to the guest wing until this issue here is resolved?”
The queen looked like she would protest but instead looked to her aid, “It will be done immediately. I will let the elders know and make sure you are provided with whatever comforts you need. Danny, we didn’t want the attacks to distract you, and that’s why we withheld their knowledge from you and the Basalts. I hope you understand this.”
Danny stood up, bowed to the queen, and walked out the room, already deep in thought.
CHAPTER 20
Motes of dust floated all over the storage room. Two guards visibly stood by an oddly placed hole in one corner. The loud sound of someone scraping wood on wood could be heard coming from the entrance of the room. The noise grew louder as a voice could be heard growling in frustration.
“The things I do for my butt…”
Danny dragged a dusty and comfortable looking chair which he had found in a separate storage room in front of the hole leading down to the vault’s barrier. Ignoring the guards, Danny settled into it to look down, opening and study the vault’s barrier closely. The tale tale glow of magic still covered its physical surface.
*Cranny, what have we not tried?*
*We tried all combinations of magic, both passive and active spells. We tried using each aspect to no avail. I can only think of two things we haven’t tried. Use Entropy Affinity magic on the barrier.*
*What’s the second thing?* Danny hurried Cranny along.
*Learn how to compartmentalize our aspect, like the light bulbs in the sacred trees, and use them all at once on the barrier.*
Danny thought on Cranny’s last suggestion. Something about it seemed correct, but slightly off.
*Cranny, what changed again when we became an Ascendant?*
Cranny sounded annoyed at the seemingly repetitive questions, *Your body grew those crystalline structures all over it, and we were able to use the different aspects of our affinities.*
Closing his eyes, Danny thought the solution was close, but the pieces didn’t fit right somehow. He couldn’t quite figure out what they were missing.
Cranny chimed in, *Oh yeah, and your mana manipulation jumped to the max level. We must have used some major cheat code to get that one.*
Danny’s eyes shot open.
***
The sanctuary portal flashed, and Danny didn’t pause, jogging across the walkway spanning the skill room. His current skills were being displayed on the numerous hexagons making up the room. A few crewman were walking around, and they stopped to salute him, saying, “Captain.” When he reached the other side, the door opened where Cranny was already waiting.
Danny excitedly asked, “Have you checked yet?”
Cranny shook his head, “Nope, I figured you would want to do the honors.”
They entered the door across the hall and into the small room holding Danny’s knowledge of runes. A crewman in a red shirt was working on the door next to the mana room proper. The red shirt stopped what he was doing to stand and saluted them both, “Good day, Captain and Admir…”
In a panicked voice, Cranny suddenly flew by yelling, “Ahhh,” and crashed right into the crewman, unceremoniously kicking him through the open doorway.
The crewman flipped end-over-end into the room and made an crashed right into the wall representing the Entropy Affinity. Instead of bouncing off, there was a loud crash, and the crewman was sucked out into the dark nothingness. The screams of the crewman echoed around the room as the wall slowly repaired itself.
Danny looked to Cranny in horror, “What the hell! Did you do that on purpose?”
Cranny ignored Danny’s questions and still looked down at what had just occurred. In a voice completely void of concern, Cranny said, “Oops.”
“Are we going to try and go help him,” Danny panicked as he looked back for some other crewman who might be able to help.
Cranny barked a laugh, “Don’t bother, it’s just a red shirt. They are a dime a dozen and just appear again like cockroaches. I swear they must have their own special advanced breeding program.”
Shuddering at his own thoughts, Cranny jumped out to float into the mana room.
Danny followed after him, and they both reached out to grab hold of the bright crystal in the middle that represented Danny’s mana manipulation. The light emitted by the crystal cycled between various colors.
Frowning, Danny tried his best to shield his eyes while looking into the crystal. He asked Cranny, “Do you see anything in there? It’s too bright.”
Cranny had his face up against the crystal with his hands cupped on either side of his eyes, “I think I see someone in there. Well, I think I just see an arm.”
Cranny’s head jerked back as the crystal vibrated.
Danny looked over in concern, “What happened?”
Cranny frowned, looking at the crystal, “That bast… he just hit the crystal from the inside while flipping me off.”
Danny smiled, “Yep, that would also be my gut reaction when seeing your face.”
Cranny turned to stare daggers at Danny, who was still trying to see the person inside the crystal.
***
Danny opened his eyes to find not much changed. He was still sitting in the chair in the storage room. The barrier appeared to be staring, unconcerned, up at him from down in the tunnel. It was as if the barrier knew of Danny’s discovery and was purposely tempting him to try it.
“Danny!”
Danny jumped, barely catching himself from falling out of the chair. Behind him, Elders Breeze, Frost, and Cardinal entered the room. They all looked tired but ready to help him.
Wondering why his scanning didn’t warn him about their presence, Danny greeted them, “Good evening elders. I apologies for the late hour, but recent events have force
d me to push up the timetable on completing this task. I didn’t expect you three down here right away, but it is good you showed up when you did.”
Looking down into the opening in the floor, Elder Breeze asked excitedly, “You figured it out?”
Danny shrugged, “While necessity may be the mother of invention, most inventions end up having alternate, and more practical, applications. Hopefully what I have come up with serves its intended purpose.”
Elder Frost cocked her head to one side, “Dear, you lost me a bit there.”
Danny smiled, “I discovered a new aspect I have, hiding right under my nose.”
*Cranny, you there…*
Danny waited, *…Cranny!*
*What,* barked Cranny.
Danny paused, realizing what was going on, *Cranny, are you seriously pouting right now?*
*…No!*
Danny asked in a soothing voice, *Could you help me, please? You know of all the other voices in my head, you’re my favorite.*
*Hmf, I am the only other voice in your head… Fine, I will help. But only because I want to find out what is in there.*
*Good, then we need Mana Aspect with the normal controls,* Danny requested.
Cranny sighed, *Right away…Your Worshipf-ulness.*
A minute passed, and nothing happened. Danny looked over awkwardly at the Elders who were waiting expectantly, and he tried to smile reassuringly. A few more heartbeats, and Danny opened his mouth, “Hold on for just…”
Danny’s body felt like it exploded into…nothingness. As if he had almost ceased to have physical presence. The world shifted from solid colors into a phantasmic array of different shades of white.
The air was filled with microscopic motes of pure light that floated around, ignoring the physical objects they might pass through. Those motes inside the sacred tree moved with purpose all throughout, while those in the air flowed, shook, or hovered in one place. There was no immediately discernible pattern to their movements, and Danny spent some time just observing them.
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