by Jez Cajiao
“Twenty-sixth,” Oracle threw in lightly, smiling at me.
“Great, okay, the twenty-sixth floor. I want that floor repaired as far as possible. Not the general rooms inside, unless they need to be for structural reasons; just the outer walls, the parade ground or whatever it was, and the armory, and the interior cleared out as much as possible. I want to eventually be able to use that floor for more ships once we have them."
"For now, we just need some spaces cleared so that the ship, and possibly Decin’s as well, can fly inside safely. I want the parade ground converted into a proper landing area for the ship, reinforced and able to hold its weight and others. Once that’s done, I want the twentieth floor sorted out.”
“I know Cai is organizing the kitchens on that floor, and from what I remember, it was a couple of big rooms, with a few dozen or so smaller ones; is that right?” Seneschal nodded.
“Good! I want that floor sorted out, walls, roof, whatever other structural needs first, then the entire floor. Convert the larger areas that aren’t being used to eat or prepare food into barracks for now; if people have somewhere safe to sleep, it’ll help a lot.”
“And the smaller rooms, too,” Oracle said quickly. “They’ll need to be sorted out as quickly as possible, since it won’t look right for the people to see you just sleeping among them.”
“Hell, I’m fine with sleeping there; why not?” I said, my train of thought momentarily derailed.
“Jax, these people have to look at you as their lord, not the guy that’s snoring and farting the loudest,” Oracle said, closing her eyes and shaking her head slowly. “Please just trust me on this. The lord of the Tower and his closest advisors need separate quarters.”
I blinked and thought about arguing but considered how Oracle usually teased me. She was right; people didn’t need to see that. I’d take a room.
“Okay, then, but we get the safety issues sorted first. How long will all that take, Seneschal?”
I asked, turning back to the small figure clad in silvery armor, his cloak rippling in a nonexistent breeze. He stood there for a long moment considering, before finally responding.
“After reviewing the floors, I’d estimate nine days to secure and repair the twenty-sixth, four days to work on the twentieth, and forty-seven days to repair and secure the Ground floor.”
“Fuck, man, that’s insane! Okay, give me options here; what can we do to fix that? Make it faster, or whatever?” I asked sitting back in the chair and tugging on my beard, disappointed.
“There are three ways we could speed this up: first, we create more Golems and assign them to the task; second, we secure more Oath-bound members of the community, since they can assist in repairs and we can grant certain skill books and memories to increase production; and lastly, we could seek out manastones.”
“I’ve heard manastones mentioned before. What are they?” I asked, sitting forward quickly as a thought occurred to me. “I’m sure Oren has some on the ship; he said something about them being a fuel source?”
“That’s correct. There is a simple explanation, or a more complicated one that includes the formation of geodes, interactions of mana, and physics…”
“Simple! I like the simple explanation!” I said quickly, shaking my head in negation. “I totally don’t want the goddamn complicated one!”
“Very well…” Seneschal said, and I was damn sure there was amusement in his voice. “Manastones are formed from crystals that are found in areas of high mana concentration."
"Essentially, certain naturally forming crystals store mana as they develop. They can then be harvested, very carefully, and used to power devices or particularly powerful spells, or they can be created by someone with the right skills, but that would require the mana in the first place…”
“Okay, so we go find some of this first kind, and boom, you can use them to speed up the repair of the Tower, right?” I said, getting excited.
“Hah! Aye, ye jus’ tell ‘im how much you be needin,’ an’ how expensive they be!” Heph interrupted, instantly dropping my mood.
“Crap. Okay, Seneschal, give me the bad news…” I sighed glumly.
“They are both rare and expensive, Jax, or they were, in our time. If they’re being used to power ships now, they may be cheaper, but they are more likely to have climbed in price. Also, to repair the entire Tower fully would take hundreds, possibly thousands, depending on their size and potency.”
“Well fuck me sideways, that’s unlikely to help, then!” I muttered, sitting back with a thump.
“Possibly, but maybe not, Jax,” Oracle said, and I regarded her questioningly. “You let me search your memories, and I’ve had time to think about things. After all, I don’t need to sleep the way you do…”
“Go on,” I said, shifting in my chair and watching her as she brushed her hair back and smiled winningly at me.
“Well, we’re at war with Barabarattas, right?”
“Uh-huh?” I said, raising one eyebrow.
“We haven’t got enough of a force to go toe to toe with him. Not yet, anyway but he doesn’t know that. He’s at war already with Narkolt, so he can’t dedicate too many ships to come for us yet. He’s probably still thinking his Warship is on its way, after what he said yesterday, right?” I nodded, and she grinned at me.
“What’s the saying you like, the one about being outnumbered?”
“That it’s the ideal time to charge in and bite their cocks off?” I asked, confused.
“Oh… no, sorry, it was Tommy’s saying! It’s your memories, they’re a bit… messy… sorry,” she said, shaking her head.
“Oh…ah!” I said, grinning and nodded at her. “’It’s guerilla time, motherfuckers’?”
“Exactly! They don’t know how many of us there are, but they can’t afford to send more ships until they’re sure Narkolt won’t attack.”
“So, if we can get in there somehow, we can nick the manastones and give their guards a good kicking. Then if we pull back, we can probably gain the time we need to get ready properly!” I said, grinning evilly.
“Exactly!”
Chapter Four
Oracle and I sat there, staring at each other. It was madness. We didn’t even have a fighting force yet. They’d barely survived the Tower assault, and that was with me doing most of the work, but if we could pull it off?
“We could put his ships out of action; he wouldn’t be able to launch an assault against us or Narkolt until he’d gotten more stones! We’d solve two problems at once; hell, if we include getting people’s families out of the city and to safety, it’s three!” I said, my mind spinning with all the possibilities.
“We could buy the stores we need or steal them … we’d need wagons to get them out of the city…” Oracle mused; her eyes alight. “We could use Oren and the crew’s families to drive the wagons, but we’d need to convince them…”
“Hmmm. Maybe steal the manastones, but hire the wagons and buy the supplies; don’t want to make enemies of the ordinary people, after all…”
“How much gold do we have?” Oracle asked me with a raised eyebrow.
“Okay… plan ‘B’. We steal everything,” I said, shrugging. “It’s a shame and all, but to hell with it. Our people are my priority. I need to speak to Jenae, though."
"She said she could give me quests and information. I need to check on Tommy; if he’s nearby, I need to get to him, and bring him here.” I felt terrible that I wasn’t already headed to wherever Tommy was, but I needed to make things here as safe as possible. Add to that, I knew Tommy. If anything had tried to hurt him, it’d be pulling back a bloody stump with no body attached.
And if he were dead…well, then I’d tear this realm apart until I found whatever had killed him, and I’d fuck it up, big style.
“Okay, my next task is to communicate with her, but before I do, Heph, we need lots of Golems, buddy, fast as possible.” I commented to the stocky figure that was idly kicking the quicksilver
liquid mana about like a child in a puddle.
“Wha…? Oh, aye, right! I canna do it, laddie,” he said, shrugging apologetically. I frowned and he went on quickly. “I’m no sayin’ ‘no,’ I’m sayin’ it canna be done! I would iff’n I could. We need more Cores! We also need t’ repair the Chamber.”
“We need to make a decision, basically,” Seneschal interrupted smoothly.
“We can build, say, three more Servitor class Golems, then shut the Genesis Chamber down for a full repair and rebuild. That would take three Golems a week to do, but the Chamber would then be able to build class two ‘Simple’ Golems.”
“Each class two could be given orders to repair, clean, build, or for the War Golems, to stand watch and defend the Tower."
"The Golems wouldn’t have to be directly commanded anymore, and that would in turn allow us to concentrate on the repairs themselves, which would speed that process up.” The caped wisp gestured toward the Tower as it slowly spiraled around on the Creation Table. “Alternatively, we could produce two Servitors and a Construction Golem. The Constructor could continue to speed up repairs to the Tower, while the Servitors could search for more Golem Cores and materials to continue making more. It would not have as big an increase in the repairs as the first choice, and we run the risk of the Genesis Chamber breaking down, but…”
“Could we have the Golems make another Genesis Chamber?” I asked hopefully, but all three wisps were shaking their heads before I even finished speaking.
“Nay, laddie. To make somethin’ o’ tha’ complexity needs at least ‘Advanced’ or Level Four Golems. We could try, but I dinna recommend it. I’d expect it t’ take at least a month o’ work t’ build, and that’d be wi’ both Seneschal and meself doin’ nowt else, an’ even then, I dinna expect it’d work,” Heph said, looking depressed as hell.
“And that’d be a month without any other Golems being produced, or controlled, or the Tower getting fixed; okay, I get it.” I said, shaking my head. It had been a nice dream, though…I sat and pondered the options for a minute, before nodding and speaking to Heph.
“Okay, build the Servitors. We need to get the place cleaned up and repaired as quickly as possible, I know that, but if I’m going to try and steal the manastones, I’m going to need you guys to be ready to use them. Build three Servitors and…wait.”
I came to a halt suddenly as another thought came to mind. “Where the hell are we getting these Cores from? I thought we used all the ones we had?”
“Aye, laddie, we did! Little Caron was fair pesterin’ me fer a job, so I told him I needed Cores. He found three in two days!” The dwarven-featured wisp was obviously bursting with pride as he bounced up and down on the balls of his feet.
“Damn, he found three that fast?” I said, shaking my head in shock, “Okay, how long will it take you to make all three?”
“Well, wi’ the repairs I’ve already done, should be all built in aboot ten hours, thereaboots, anyway!” Heph said, looking proud of himself.
“Damn, that’s great! Okay, then let’s build the three Servitors, and while they’re in process, get Caron to keep searching. If he can find more, build more. As soon as we run out of Cores, though, shut the Genesis Chamber down and begin proper repairs and upgrades.”
“Once you get three more Servitors built, get them all working on the repairs as much as you can. Once the upgrades and repairs are finalized for the chamber, begin building one Construction, then a Servitor, and just keep repeating that pattern until I tell you different, but make only Level Two versions once the upgrade is complete.”
“Aye, m’lord, it’ll be done,” said Heph, bowing his head and then flowing down into the pool as he relaxed.
“I’ll speak to Cai to determine what help he needs and begin directing those you have assigned to me. Thank you, Jax.”
With that, Seneschal followed Heph and disappeared, leaving both the room and my mind. I turned to Oracle and grinned.
“So, fancy going and raiding a city?” I asked her, getting a laugh in return.
“Of course! I always wanted to explore, after all! But you still need to speak to Jenae, so I’ll take Bob up and get a few bodies arranged for his repairs, and then chase Oren along!” She hopped off the table, leaned in, and planted a gentle kiss on my cheek before straightening up. “Just don’t be too long!” she said, shrinking down to her normal size and flying to Bob.
Oracle landed on his shoulder, resting one arm across the polished and cracked bone of his skull and struck a pose, pointing toward the door dramatically.
“Off we go, Bob! Onward…to the ship!” Bob, of course, said nothing and simply turned around and set off, his compromised frame sounding like a collapsing bellows and shaking as he went. “…we really need to get you fixed, you know, and maybe a cushion…” I heard Oracle’s voice faded into the distance as they began climbing the stairs.
“Okay, then; just you and me, I guess,” I said aloud, then paused. “Actually, I have no idea how this works… hello? Jenae? Can you hear me?” I said, receiving only silence. “Okay, so I need to work on that…” I sat for a while, thinking. The last time we’d talked, I had been channeling mana to her, but I didn’t have a quest to do that anymore. There had to have been a way people spoke to her without the quest in the past, so maybe that was it?
I drew in a deep breath, and then got down on one knee for good measure, with my right fist curled and my knuckles pressed flat to the ground, left fist pressed to my chest, and I closed my eyes.
I am trying to speak to a Goddess, after all, and she has saved me once already; best to try to be respectful…
I searched inside of myself, feeling the mana channels that ran through me and visualizing them in my mind. I saw my body, kneeling there on the cold, pitted stone floor of the Tower, and I concentrated on the feeling of using my magic.
Seeing in my mind’s eye the way it flowed from me to form the components of the spells, I imagined it slowly gathering before me, a faint blue mist seeping from my skin, as I concentrated it into a ball of magical energy that pulsed and rippled.
I realized that the light in the room had changed, the soft silvery illumination of the Creation Table and the sunlight that streamed in through the window to my right slowly being replaced with a steady blue glow.
I opened my eyes, finding it exactly as I’d visualized it: a gentle, glowing ball of mana that slowly bobbed and weaved before me. I focused on it and said one word.
“Jenae.”
The ball of mana seemed to burst, but instead of the mana splashing or falling apart, it pulsed brightly, then vanished into motes, like embers rising from a campfire in the dead of night.
“Eternal? You called to me?”
I grinned as I straightened up, relief flooding through me. I’d done it!
“Hi, Jenae,” I said, suddenly realizing that I really should have put some thought into what I was going to say, rather than whether I should kneel when calling to her. Dammit.
“Ha! You don’t need to do that, Jax; we agreed that for now we’re allies and will treat each other as such. Just speak to me, but remember who I am; I do appreciate the gesture of kneeling…”
“Well, don’t get too used to it,” I muttered before giving myself a shake and getting on with things. She’s a Goddess, remember, fucktard.
“So, Jenae… first, thanks for your help with the assault, and for helping to boost my experience with the quest. I really needed the extra stats in that fight!” I said, nodding my head as I tried to make sure I didn’t think anything stupid… blue elephant, blue… dammit!
“You’re welcome...? What is the blue elephant?”
“Dammit! Look, this is really freaking me out, with you being in my head, okay? I’m trying not to think anything inappropriate, especially considering you’re a Goddess, not just a woman in my brain, which is freaky enough. It’s taken me this long to get used to Oracle! So…look, let’s start again, okay?”
“Okay, Jax�
� well, you called to me. Well done on that, and thank you for the mana, but I assume you need something?”
“Yeah, I do, a few things, actually. First, and most importantly, Tommy. He’s my brother, and he was sent here five years ago… do you know if he’s alive? Can you tell me where he is?” I asked quickly. I’d almost chickened out, mainly because I didn’t know what I’d do if he was dead.
“I can look for him, but I have truly little power to touch the world now, Jax. It could take weeks, or even months, to build up enough disposable mana to search this small section of the realm. Show him to me in your mind, and I will try to help you. I can promise no more, but you will owe me the mana, or a quest!” I followed her instruction, visualizing my brother, thinking about what he’d looked like when I’d seen him last, his personality; hell, even the way he stank the place out when we’d been eating curry. I had no idea what would be helpful, so I just… threw it all at her, receiving a mental nod of acknowledgement.
“Totally fine with that! Please, just…see if you can find him! Thank you!” I said, nervous in a way I hadn’t felt in years. “Also, you said I needed five Marks of Favor to gain my first star in the Constellation of Secrets. How can I earn those?”
“You earn my Marks of Favor by doing things I like. Complete quests for me, find hidden knowledge, dedicate shrines to me, and I will occasionally gift you them when you do things I am particularly proud of you for, or when you spread worship and knowledge of me in the realm.”
“Worship, right. That brings up something else I’ve been thinking about. I had to give you a thousand mana to contact you, right? How do your priests and worshippers contact you or pray to you if they haven’t got mana?”
“All creatures have mana within them. Most never learn to tap into it, but all have it. My priests were all able to use magic, as well as abilities I granted them."
"The common people could pray to me inside my temples or touch a sanctified symbol of mine; both methods would slowly drain their mana to me as they prayed. If I had required only mana users to pray to me, I would have been a much weaker God. After all, there are many thousands of sentient creatures that have not unlocked its secrets, for each one that has…”