Although the Jakan wished to die on the battlefield and attain honor for themselves and be risen up into the planes of the Oidf, their version of Valhalla, they weren’t going to sell their lives short. Just going in waves and waves of attacks was seen as cheap and useless and their gods wouldn’t look down on them with favor if they did that. So, instead, they were building up their strength; their various leaders communicated with one another and made plans to attack the Terra Alliance that held the outer castles. They were constantly sending out probing attacks that would check to see whether there were any weaknesses within the Terra outer castles.
Dwayne had been posted to the outer castles with three other highly decorated veterans who had taken command of the other four castles. Dwayne had been named as the commander of this location but after meeting with the other veterans, Dwayne— who had been a sergeant when he was with the military on Earth— turned to them for their opinions and they worked together in order to deal with the Jakan.
The Jakan used a combination of swords that could cut through nearly anything—but dulled really quickly and were fragile—and their destruction staffs.
The Jakan used to use rifles but after coming to Emerilia, over time they had come to learn about destruction staffs and their offensive abilities. They’d incorporated it into the battle plans and through fighting with one another, they’d come up with tactics in order to deal with being attacked by destruction staffs.
The Jakan were also not just warriors but builders.
From their castles, they had made networks of trenches that spread outward, making it so that they could hit anyone who tried to attack them face-to-face. This network of trenches also made it impossible for the Terra Alliance to simply attack their walls.
They had to get into the trenches and clear them out, which was a process in and of itself. The Jakan made them fight for every inch in the trenches and used traps and tricks to kill as many of the Terra Alliance as possible.
Until the flying citadels came online, the leaders of the four outer castles had agreed that they would defend their positions. Attacking the Jakan would take a lot of resources and lives with little gain. Only when they had overwhelming superiority would they hammer the Jakan and attempt to remove them from Emerilia.
Dwayne didn’t understand the Jakan’s reasoning but he respected them. They were one of the few aggressive species that had come up with plans of how to fight. They were one hell of an enemy not simply because of their numbers but because of their actions and tactics.
They had sent messages to the Jakan, asking whether there was a peaceful way to resolve their issues. The Jakan had respectfully declined and then gone on to say that they would make a good sacrifice to their gods.
Apparently that was pretty high praise from the Jakan. That or Shard was pulling my leg with translating their message.
Even though he respected them, Dwayne knew that there would be one victor and one loser. If he lost, then Emerilia would be opened up for the Jakan’s advance, which would turn into a war similar to World War Two, but with creatures coming out of the forests and wilderness that could easily wipe out entire battalions of people on both sides.
“We need those flying citadels,” Dwayne said to himself. Eight of them at Goblin Mountain had been altered already and would be ready to move soon enough. The castles that had been defending against the Erach invasion to the northeast of the Gudalo continent were also being converted.
Dwayne shivered as he thought about that portal location.
The Erach hadn’t stopped trying to come through the portal to reach Emerilia. The lake around the portal was filled with their bodies. If they had been allowed to spread across Emerilia, he couldn’t even start to guess what the damage would have been.
As the different engineers, mages, and the Blood Kin worked on the floating Citadels more forces were being pulled into training, ready to man the citadels.
Each would have heavy long-distance mages, as well as archers and dwarven artillery crews. There would also be dwarven War Clans and quick-reaction mounted forces and DCA or aerial forces.
As they prepared, then it was up to the forces that were left in the castles to keep the creatures that were coming through the portals back. If they could just hold them off for a couple of months, then the citadels could come in with their heavy support and push them back, holding over the portal to make sure that they weren’t capable of coming through again.
The portals were nearly indestructible but they could still fire cannons down onto those that came out of them, wiping them out.
“Just need to hold the line.” Dwayne looked out over the castle walls. In the distance, he saw light illuminating the sky as two beings from the event clashed in the air.
Blue water Mana clashed with green Mana, creating thunder-like explosions as the trees shook with the impacts of their attacks or misses.
This was the new world that Dwayne lived in.
***
Lox, Gurren, and Steve looked over the various War Clans that were all lined up within Terra. Since the summoning hall had been made available to the public and those who were part of the Terra Alliance, the dwarves had been the first group to work up a strategy to use the summoned creatures. Each of the dwarf shield bearers were to get one summoned creature. It was supposed to be able to hit at range and fly if at all possible—but not too high.
Many of the dwarves were getting some kind of magical flying beast that could change shape and rest on their shoulders and could give overhead cover when possible.
The dwarven artillery crews were, in turn, getting creatures that didn’t fly but were strong and could move heavy loads and fight. If they got into a battle, the creatures could fight for them while they continued to man their guns. The summoned aerial creatures would allow the dwarven shield bearers to gain a ranged attack ability that they had not had before.
The dwarven formation with them already had showed that they were to be feared in the practice that they had carried out. The summoned creatures needed to be trained but within the Terra Alliance, the number of summoners and the beast tamers was the largest in recorded history. They had been lent out to the other races and groups that were a part of the Alliance to foster better relationships and to increase their military might.
Now was not the time to care whether their neighbors had a better fighting force or not. Here they were all people of Emerilia and they were fighting for their home.
Gurren, Lox, and Steve continued onward, moving through all of the people in Terra. Even with the third section complete, there were still more people who wanted to move to Terra and there were military barracks throughout the city. Many of them weren’t filled but ready in case forces were pulled off from the castles and reinforcements were slotted into the castles that they had been manning.
“So, what are we going to be doing exactly?” Gurren asked.
“Training,” Steve said in a glum voice.
“We’re going to be working on the doctrine for using the flying citadels,” Lox expanded.
“Okay, so that’s not too bad. Still wish that we were fighting more, though,” Gurren said.
“Well, it looks like most of the groups are building their strength up or that the ones that go for wave-like attacks to try to overpower us are already dead or there just aren’t enough of them to be a threat,” Lox said.
“But I miss axe golf!” Steve complained.
“You just kept saying fore and smacking people with the side of your axe!” Lox yelled.
“I know! It was great!” Steve waved his hands in the air.
“Give me strength.” Lox looked to the other side of Terra.
“Now that you say it—you could use a few gym sessions,” Steve said.
Gurren cleared his throat, trying to hide his laughter.
“Let’s just get to Goblin Mountain before I can see how far I can boot your shiny ass down the street,” Lox said.
“Does this armor make m
y crystal ass look big?” Steve looked back at his ass.
“Where the hell did that come from?” Lox asked.
“Well, I saw these hot pink pants that Clara was wearing and I have to say she can work it. I’m just not sure if I have the kind of figure for it. You know, I was wondering about updating my wardrobe,” Steve said.
“It’s a set of armor, not a bloody handbag!” Lox yelled.
“You seen my handbag?” Steve said in a squeal of excitement.
Gurren looked as if he were going to burst a blood vessel listening to the two of them.
Lox let out a noise of frustration as Steve pulled out a handbag made of pink hide. To most, it would have looked like a duffel bag but in the crook of Steve’s arm, it did indeed look like a handbag.
Gurren couldn’t stop himself from laughing as Lox simply stopped in the middle of the road and stared at Steve as he moved the handbag around from the crook of his arm to his shoulder to the other arm.
“Pretty styling, right? All the crystal constructs are doing it.” Steve smiled.
“I wish all of the soul gem constructs were buildings.” Lox walked onwards.
“Aww, come on—I’m much more fun than a building!” Steve said.
“Yeah but the fecking buildings don’t talk nor do they have vibrant flipping pink handbags that look like they’re big enough to hide a ruddy elephant in!” Lox yelled.
Gurren laughed as he followed behind them, tears in his eyes.
***
“Where are the others?” Deia looked to Jung Lee and Anna as they were waiting within Goblin Mountains’ southern Citadel number one.
“They’re on their way. They went to check out the dwarves at the summoning halls and get a look at what kind of creatures they have so that we have a better idea of what kind of abilities the new War Clans will have,” Anna said.
“Why do you have a sequin top! How are there that many sequins in all of Emerilia!?” Gurren asked.
“Fashion has no limits!” Steve replied. Lox, Gurren, and Steve had walked out of the ono that was underneath the tower in the inner castle.
Deia didn’t know what to say.
Steve wore a pink hat with a rim that extended outward nearly three feet and had a bright green feather in it. He wore a sequin-covered crop top in blue and that was so shiny that Deia thought of investing in sunglasses.
Coupled with his Devastator armor he was still wearing underneath and the pink handbag, all of the members of Party Zero waiting within the castle just looked at the scene without knowing what to say.
The others walking through the area stopped, their minds misfiring at Steve’s ensemble.
“What’s up, homies!” Steve said.
“Anna,” Deia said, her voice monotone as she continued to look at Steve. “The hell did you create?”
“I don’t know, but something went wrong—horribly and utterly wrong,” Anna said, also unable to take her eyes off the train wreck that was Steve.
“Heeeey!” Steve waved his hand daintily.
“I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit at his style sense,” Suzy said.
“I think it’s snazzy,” Induca said.
Suzy looked at Induca as if she had just declared she was the devil. “Dear, we’ll talk about this later.” Suzy patted Induca’s hand.
“We’re here. Now please give me something to do before I lose my mind,” Lox said in a pained voice.
“Uh, well, we need you, Gurren, Suzy, and Steve to teach all of the War Clans as well as units with ground units how to use the flight drives that will allow them to jump from the citadel and reach the ground,” Deia said, still sounding pretty shell-shocked from Steve’s appearance.
“I can do that,” Lox said.
“Anna, you and I will work with the different casters and get the DCA situated. We’ve dealt with them before and so we should be able to get them used to what’s going on pretty easily. Induca, you can deal with the dragons as well as help out with the casters. Jekoni and Jung Lee can get with the mages and make sure that they’re all sorted out as well.
“Dave and Malsour will be around later to check on all the major systems of the citadel and to make sure everything is running well. We have one week to get everyone used to what they’re doing. Another week to go through any problems and then we’re going to be doing training drops and scenarios.
“Steve, why are you wearing what you’re wearing? Is there a reason for it?” Deia asked, unable to hold back any longer.
“Made Lox uncomfortable?” Steve shrugged.
“I’m going to go jump off really tall things now.” Lox walked away quickly.
The rest of Party Zero couldn’t stop from laughing at it all.
***
Ela-Dorn found Dave in the asteroid base, working with the different slips where one of the first massive miners was launching from and heading toward the end of what would be the main thoroughfare of the asteroid shipyard.
“Hey,” Dave said over a private chat with a smile on his face.
“Hey, Dave,” Ela-Dorn said, her voice subdued.
“Something the matter?” Dave looked to her.
“No. Just—do you know what you’ve made here?”
“Just what we needed to.” Dave shrugged.
“Only what you need? All of this together—it’s beyond anything I’ve ever thought of. I and most of the people here have been so focused on the fact of surviving or thriving on Emerilia that we haven’t really ever thought of moving past it. Now we find out that there is an empire that is using Emerilia just to entertain themselves. We’re part of a race that was killed off hundreds of years ago because they caused the empire more problems and could have destabilized it. You’re here and making ships and vehicles of war so that we can try to make Emerilia free and fight against these Jukal. Just…I can’t even try to get through it all. I understand it and I’ve come to recognize it all, but I just, well, I see it as truth. My scientific brain makes me see all of the proofs and the evidence that you’ve put forth and it’s irrefutable, but Dave, this is not to simply win the war on Emerilia—this is to end the war on Emerilia and to fight the Jukal in their territory,” Ela-Dorn said.
“Welcome to Pandora’s Box—once it’s open then there’s no going back,” Dave said with a smile as he conjured two seats and sat down.
Ela-Dorn fell into the seat opposite him.
“Okay, so you understand about the Jukal and you understand about what we’re trying to build here. What are you having difficulty with?” Dave asked.
“I just can’t believe that three people and an AI did all of this,” Ela-Dorn said.
“Well, we’ve had some help with the Mirror of Communication.” Dave hadn’t yet told them about Sato and all of his people; that was just too much right now and if that was to get out, then they might be wiped out. As long as Sato and his people were safe, then even if Emerilia fell the human race would live on, and be able to fight at a later date.
“Dave, you’re building dreadnoughts, battleships, and missile boats. You have arks that can act as cargo haulers of millions of tons of resources. The technology and the magical coding that you’re working with—most of us are playing catch-up with.”
“We’ll, see if Jeeves can help you out with that. We got him to code mostly everything; he makes much better code than us. We basically gave him parameters and took that code for what we needed. However, we need you to go over what we gave him and what he made to see if there are room for improvements. We made the shell— we need you to check it and add in the extras,” Dave said.
Ela-Dorn just couldn’t put together all she had seen over the last week with the unassuming man in front of her. With his easy smile and his excitement at making something new and then these weapons of war—he had come up with nuclear warheads that worked on fusion, created grand working spells that could destroy a three-hundred-meter area and be felt from kilometers away.
On one hand, he was offering redem
ption; on the other, he was holding hands with death—a war god incarnate, ready to destroy and carve a path through the enemy.
Ela-Dorn felt a chill run down her spine. “Dave, why are you doing this?” Ela-Dorn asked in a small voice.
“Why?” Dave made to answer but then pursed his lips instead before he laughed and rested his head on his fist. “To most people, I would answer because of all of those lost and because it’s the right thing to do, blah blah human race and so on,” Dave said. “Honestly, I started all of this and I was just swept up in it. I i was doing it because I was scared. I don’t want to die—no one wants to. I had Deia; imagining me leaving her behind—leaving the people I’ve met here behind and being nothing but a footnote in life—it pushed me to do things that I never thought possible. To attain heights that amazed even me. Nothing is a greater motivation than knowing that.” Dave clicked his fingers. “Like that, it can all be gone and you have no control over it. Now I’ve known that for a long time, but having someone else deciding when I’m done and pressing a button—that’s something that I couldn’t just sit back and accept. I didn’t know what I was going to do but everything that I would do was going to be aimed toward once again putting my life back into my own hands.”
Dave paused. An unreadable look passed over his eyes. “You want a drink?” Dave pulled out a can of beer from his bag of holding.
“I, uuhh…”
“I’ve got a nice wine, some different whiskys, ciders and the like. Try this one out.” Dave pulled out a small vial of amber-looking liquid, pouring it into a small glass and handing it to Ela-Dorn.
“Thank you.” Ela-Dorn took a sip of the drink. It was chilled and sweet but with that relaxing sensation as she swallowed, it warmed her.
Of Myths and Legends (Emerilia Book 9) Page 21