Everyone listened; the Dwarven Master Smiths were known for being wise as they were decisive.
“What is our plan going forward?” Alkao looked to Josh.
The heads of the Terra Alliance all looked to Josh. Alkao was a respected leader. At first, they hadn’t thought that he was all that much, but after the reports of what his forces were capable of and what he had created in Devil’s Crater, all of their doubt had been wiped away.
Josh and Lucy smiled at each other before they turned back to everyone.
“This,” Josh said. A hologram of a floating citadel appeared in front of everyone.
***
The Dark Lord looked over the different seer pools that allowed him to look upon Emerilia. He opened and closed his hand, feeling the power at his command.
In his hall, multiple Alturarans stood around, like immobile statues. The Dark Lord paid them no attention as he watched the various forces he had brought under his control. With the Event, he had been able to increase his number of followers greatly the power in his divine wells swelling with each day.
His Dark Champions controlled them, sending them out to raid different cities or kill forces that were under the command of the other members of the Pantheon.
This was all in order to increase his forces’ strength.
He turned his head and looked at a seer pool that rested over top of Markolm. His aura started to roll around his body as he looked upon Light’s nation. I will tear her out from that nation and kill her in front of all those angels and believers.
Someone who might look upon the Dark Lord would feel a deep chill run through their spine.
The Dark Lord didn’t care about what was happening to the rest of Emerilia. He loved this kind of chaos that allowed his forces to move freely. The people of Emerilia didn’t even rate as interesting in his eyes, other than possible experience that his people could use to increase their strength.
He was focused on the battle between him and the Lady of Light.
Those angels will be a problem, especially if she makes them all her champions. It seems that I should ask the Earth Lord to make an alliance. Then when the battle enters its final moments, I can call upon my true forces and power to destroy them both.
His bone-like fingers formed into a fist, a satisfied smile on his face. “As I bring my true forces to bear, then the Lady of Fire will know of true despair as I kill off her college and guild. Then I can defeat the Earth Lord and the Lady of Light. Then there will just be Fire herself and Water to deal with.” The Dark Lord didn’t even put Air into consideration as he let out a laugh that would make one shiver in fear.
The Dark Lord didn’t even hold the Lady of Air in his eyes; she was an unimportant figure to him—a woman who dealt with secrets and worked behind the scenes. The only power that he respected was fighting ability.
The Dark Lord looked over to the side of his hall; resting there were four different pools of what looked like tar. People who had seen the outside of the Six Affinities Temple would recognize the Dark Mana concentrated liquid. These were divine wells brimming with Dark Mana. Ten more holes lay around these four, waiting for more divine wells to fill them.
His carefully laid plan was ready. Now he just had to wait for the pieces to come together. He would wait, letting the Lady of Light gain her confidence before attacking her. He, he would let her get wrapped up in the fighting before he unleashed his trump cards.
***
The Lady of Light looked over her own hall.
Her divine well was overflowing. A flash of golden light appeared in the air as a new well slid into the ground; the pool doubled in size.
The Lady of Light couldn’t help but smile. When a member of the Pantheon gained energy from their people’s devotions, once it reached the limit, another divine well would be called down to Emerilia.
The Dark Lord hadn’t waited for his followers to devote their Mana to him but had instead forcefully supplemented energy and Mana wells, with Boran-al creating more Mana wells from the original.
Light smiled as her first divine well dimmed slightly, reducing to half of its capacity and sharing it with the second divine well.
“My lady, your ascension comes closer with every day.” Khanundra bowed to the Lady of Light.
“Thank you, Khanundra. With every day that we grow in power, we are able to better fight off the scourge that threatens our followers and Emerilia,” Light said with a caring smile. Her eyes flickered to Daeundra.
And those who don’t follow will be cleared from Emerilia.
The people in the hall looked to the Lady of Light with reverence in their eyes, thinking that all of her actions were done for their benefit.
Cattle, to think that I wish to support them. As soon as their use runs out and I gain my higher position, I can truly control them and shed this veil.
“I only hope that your brothers and sisters are freed from their prison as soon as possible. I miss my sons and daughters deeply.” Light let out a shaky breath as she pressed a hand to her chest, her eyes misty. “Soon we will be reunited. I cannot express the joy I feel,” Light said, tears of pain and joy in her face as she looked to Khanundra and the people within her hall, moved by the emotions showed by the Lady of Light.
***
The Earth Lord sat on his throne as a green light appeared in front of him. A Dwarf Champion appeared, on his knee.
“Lord of Earth, I come bearing a message from the Dark Lord.” The dwarf pulled out a scroll from his bag of holding and raised it above his head.
The Earth Lord moved his eyes, glowing in interest. A root reached up from the ground, grasping the scroll that was covered in moving shadows that looked like people screaming in agony.
The Earth Lord checked the scroll for any traps before the roots unfurled the scroll and brought it to him.
The Earth Lord read the words within, actually lifting his large head off his hand, showing interest in the scroll held in midair.
“Good.” The Earth Lord’s mouth of rock and dirt spread open into a cold smile. “Look to increase our strength by either recruiting more of these creatures and people of power, or by destroying them.” The Earth Lord looked to the Earth Champion.
“I will pass on your orders, my lord,” the Earth Champion said.
The Earth Lord nodded. The green lines of the spell formation lit up before the Earth Champion disappeared from his sight.
Chapter 12: Stalemate
The action at the portals had calmed down, there was the occasional skirmish but it wasn’t too big anymore. The real action was happening in the Emerilia wilderness, with the various creatures and people that had been released with the event of Myths and Legends.
There was fighting going on every day. The alt scouts run by players were reporting that it wasn’t just the different things from the events but it looked as though there were champions of Earth, Dark, and Light moving about and killing creatures and people or accepting them into their ranks.
It was making the people in the higher up positions nervous but most of the people of Emerilia were working to increase their own combat power and thus their ability to survive.
The third section of Terra had already been spun up and was connected. The Blood Kin were even better than Malsour had hoped. Fueled by blood essence crystals as well as some potions that Jung Lee had concocted to enhance their natural abilities, they were quickly finishing off the fourth section of Terra while also working on the seventh and eighth citadels around Goblin Mountain.
Since learning about the plan with the citadels, all of the different nations had been pouring their resources into the Terra Alliance in order to get them operational.
More and more Dark mages as well as Earth mages were helping out to get them operational. Command crews had been drafted up. Dwarves worked on adding cannons to the citadels for the best effect. Mages and ranged attackers as well as melee units that would use them to go into battle amassed on the citadels.
Dave and Deia were within the Densaou Ring of Fire. Deia sat on Dave’s lap, holding Koi. Mal was cooking in the kitchen and Fire watched over the crawling Desmond and talked to them both.
“Okay, so we’ve got these melee units on the citadels but how are they going to get into battle? Land the damn thing?” Fire asked.
“Well, while we could do that, I’ve been working on flight drives for the citadel and my other projects. Steve was playing around one day—he was actually sitting on one of the flight drives and said, ‘I’m a peacock, Dave—you’ve got to let me fly!’ While it was ridiculous and doesn’t make sense because peacocks don’t fly, it gave me an idea—why don’t I just create flight drives that people could wear? They jump off the citadel and then they can use the flight drives to reach their target,” Dave said.
“So we’re going to have dwarves jumping from the sky now?” Deia asked.
“Pretty much.” Dave grinned.
“Well, that’s a terrifying thought,” Mal said from the kitchen.
“Well, other than your dive bombing dwarves, I think that the recruiting for your different bases is going pretty well. With the surety of security, a lot of people are excited to help out with getting all of the projects Pandora’s Box are working on. I don’t think that they have the faintest idea of what they’re going to be getting themselves involved in.” Fire smiled.
“It’s certainly going to be eye-opening for a number of them,” Dave agreed. His arm tightened around Deia.
“So when are the two of you getting married?” Mal asked.
“When are you two getting married?” Deia fired back.
“Someday,” Fire said.
Mal caught Dave’s eyes, shaking his head and sighing before he returned to his kitchen duties.
Dave drank his Scotch and kept quiet.
***
Suzy and Induca strolled through Per’ush without any apparent care in the world. Lu Lu flew through the air above them, letting out happy noises as she flew freely. She had now grown to the size of a small car when she wanted to. When she decided to go back down to rest on Suzy’s shoulders, she would shrink to the size of a housecoat once again.
Induca and Suzy talked idly as they walked through the gardens of Per’ush, their fingers intertwined. They had been fighting for three weeks nearly constantly, finally they had taken a break in the fighting to be with one another and play with Lu Lu. However after only a few days, they were going back to the battlefields of Emerilia.
Steve had left for a period of time and was working on his armor while Lox, Gurren, Anna, and Jung Lee moved from fight to fight, all of them working to improve their abilities. In the last couple of weeks, their strength had increased greatly. It wasn’t always a factor of their levels or their skills and classes improving but their knowledge of how to fight.
The more they fought and lived on the razor’s edge of life and death, the more understanding into their own abilities and how to use them to their maximum effect came up.
Lox and Gurren had been powerful when the event had started, but now they were on par with Steve’s abilities, maybe even stronger.
Anna was constantly improving on her understanding of wind; with her speed and her devastating attacks, she blew through enemy formations, killing all of those that faced her.
Jung Lee had become more composed; his and Jekoni’s cooperation grew more and more as he could use his Free Affinity spirits more easily and to greater devastating effect.
Suzy and Induca walked through the manicured gardens of Per’ush; a number of people walked through them. The normally relaxed atmosphere had been dulled slightly. It was hard to stay relaxed when all around Emerilia war had erupted.
Suzy and Induca sat at a bench overlooking a small lake that streamed through the gardens and ran underneath small bridges.
Lu Lu dove and spun in the air, diving into the water and shooting back up, happily playing around.
There were a number of other summoned creatures around the park. With the summoning halls, more and more people were getting soul bound creatures to increase their combat and defensive power.
Induca and Suzy watched Lu Lu’s antics.
“Looks like there’s no going back now.” Suzy looked at the lake.
“What do you mean?” Induca asked.
“Everything is in motion. The portals, the event, the Pantheon—all of it is moving now. Emerilia has already changed. There are few safe havens left and those that are left are filled to the brim. Even Per’ush has filled all of their residences and they’re starting to put people up in their parks. It won’t be long until this is filled with tents and refugees.” Suzy gestured at the park.
“I know, but we can get past this.” Induca rubbed Suzy’s fingers with her thumb.
“I know, but it’s going to get to a stage where we can’t do anything but go all out. When it comes to that, everything is going to change,” Suzy said, unable to keep the fear out of her voice.
“What’s got you all worked up?” Induca pushed Suzy’s hair behind her ear.
“I’m scared about losing you. I’m scared about losing everyone.” Suzy’s eyes misted.
“Come here.” Induca’s heart hurt, seeing Suzy under so much stress as tears fell down her face. Induca hugged Suzy, who wrapped her hands around Induca tightly.
It was not lost on Suzy how close Induca had come to dying. It weighed heavily on her, to the extent that she found it hard to leave Induca on her own. She had proposed the idea of taking some time off because she just wanted to have some time with Induca outside of fighting.
She didn’t know what the future would bring or that they would survive what was coming.
***
Dave, Malsour, Steve, and Bob all stood in the main area of Pandora’s Box. The workstations had been moved to the ice planet and Steve’s workshop had also been moved to the asteroid base.
His workshop had been right next to the teleportation array room. Now the wall had been knocked out and there were cranes attached to the ceiling that ran from Steve’s workshop, into the teleportation array room and back to Steve’s old workshop.
Through the door to the power station, people were filing through the secret doorway, all of them looking to their guides who greeted the four at the front of the room.
They looked around the room with curiosity. They had been given a brief description of what was going on but then the rest had been kept from them. For most of them, this was a leap of faith and a hope for their families to be protected from what was going on Emerilia.
Over the space of an hour, more and more people funneled through the secret doorway and into Pandora’s Box.
Dave wasn’t scared that anyone would figure out where they had gone. Thousands of people moved through Terra all the time; it was hard to sense what was going on in the rune-covered city and the Jukal’s signal there wasn’t too strong.
Once they reached the power station, the fluctuations of Mana running through the place was good enough to cover up most signals, and in Pandora’s Box, there was virtually no way that the Jukal—or anyone else, for that matter—would find out where these people had gone.
There were nearly four hundred people within the workshop when the door to the power station was finally shut and secured.
“Has everyone signed the contracts?” Malsour looked to the guides.
All of them nodded. These people had been checked out by Air, Lucy, and Bob, as well as Fire and Water. They were all verified and had been trusted with guiding everyone here and would guide later groups through Pandora’s Box as well.
“Good. Then I think it’s time to tell you what this is all about.” Dave clapped his hands, a smile on his face.
Everyone became silent as they looked to the four people at the front of the room. They looked to Bob out of curiosity. Most of them knew about Malsour, Steve, and Dave, but Bob was an unknown.
Bob smiled to himself as Dave started to talk.
“Okay, a
ll of you were invited here as we need help on multiple different projects that we’re working on. Though most of you were told that already, what these projects are for and what they will do—all of that will come. But I can promise you that the work that we do here will change the future of Emerilia forever.” Dave’s smile faded away as he looked at the people facing him. “First, let’s get you into your new homes and we can start going over what the different projects are and see what works for you all.”
Behind him, the wall fell away to reveal different portals to the various locations that Pandora’s Box was connected to.
There was excited mumbling among the Aleph and those from the mage’s college and guild who knew more about portals. All of them looked at the portals and the four people in front of them with stunned eyes.
“This is only the beginning,” Bob said with a teasing smile.
“We’ll be going to a place covered in ice. Don’t worry—we’ve heated it up a bit and it’s filled with breathable air,” Dave said.
Bob had been working for weeks to make sure that people could live within the ice planet city without needing clothes that had heating circuits in them or needing to capture air in a Mana shield every time they moved through the city.
This would serve as the base for all of their projects and the new nucleus of Pandora’s Box.
***
Dwayne watched over his different castles. He controlled the outer castles around the portal but the interior castles were controlled by the expansionistic race called the Jakan.
The Jakan were an overpopulated race that practiced war as a measure of population control. They weren’t like many of the other races and had a true military structure, from generals down to privates. They were also well versed in offensive and defensive tactics. However, their healing abilities were nearly nonexistent. Dying in battle was a great honor; healing one another up would be going against that warrior code.
Of Myths and Legends (Emerilia Book 9) Page 20