by Tony Corden
Gèng reviewed the various forums associated with Pneumatica and said, “Captain Baker’s comments reflect common usage. The rank of Commodore would be more in line with convention.”
Leah said, “Thank you, Captain Baker. I appreciate the importance of pellucid communications, and if the other captains are in agreement, we shall adopt the change in appellation.”
The other captains were in agreement and Leah agreed to be known as Commodore Charlotte. After everyone was seated, Leah said, “In less than eight days a citizen of Aeolipile is to be executed at the Pyranthian Festival of Blood. Their death will increase the intensity of the conflict and inflict a blow to the morale and stability of Aeolipile. Queen Alexandra has given me the task of preventing this person’s demise at the festival. In the next sixty minutes, I need the skeleton of a plan whereby we might have success in this endeavour. Agent Blackthorn has expertise on Pyranthia, Mister Bartle has some suggestions to reduce unwanted external influence, and Lord Emerson has a wealth of information liberated from those resources left behind by the passing of Frank Emerson.”
Captain Fletcher said, “Commodore, who is this individual that requires liberation?”
“At present, I am not at liberty to share that information Captain. I can share that they are of importance to the crown. Further, I will suggest that were they the least valuable member of Aeolipile I would still commit all my resources to rescue them from such a fate. Firstly, Agent Blackthorn, what do you suggest is the most likely method of obtaining entrance to the Pyranthian capital?”
Over the next fifty-five minutes, Leah kept the conversation moving. The embryonic plan’s first action was to throw any watchers into confusion. Billy had arranged for two women who could be made over to resemble Leah and Kate to be smuggled into the airfield. So, shortly after the meeting ended Thad, with the two doubles, left the airfield. The one dressed as Captain Charlotte was seen entering the Herrington and taking the elevator to her suite while Thad and the bogus Kate travelled on to the Emerson Estate.
Thad was to spend the next two days arranging for enough fighters and pilots to bring Iapetus up to its full complement. He would then bring one of Frank’s smaller personal aircraft to the Nest where he would rejoin Leah and Kate. Meanwhile, the four other ships in Leah’s fleet would stagger their departure and head out on divergent courses. The Tempest would be second to leave and make its way to the Nest with Leah and Kate. The Draken, the Ancalagon, and Duels’ Bounty would look for pirates as if on a typical patrol. They would meet with the Tempest and the Iapetus just inside Aeolipile territory on the fifth day before the fleet moved, hopefully undetected, through Pyranthian-held lands to stage a surprise attack on the capital to coincide with the Festival of Blood.
After Thad arrived at the Nest, Leah and a chosen team would join him on his smaller ship and make their way through enemy territory before finishing the last thirty miles to the Pyranthian capital on foot. They hoped to be in place to start the rescue when Leah’s fleet attacked. As soon as Thad left, Leah issued some final instructions and headed to her suite to log out.
18
Chapter 18
December 17, 2073 - Early Morning - Part 9
STORK TOWER
Leah hurried back through the tower and headed to the Dunyanin portal. On the way, she checked if Tesfaye had come up with a way to release the captives list anonymously. Gèng hadn’t received anything so Leah asked her to arrange a time to discuss the matter with John. “Give John a précis of the situation and ask if he thinks it might be a good idea to discuss it with Jimmy as well. I’m heading to Dunyanin for two hours, and then I’ll head to Cosmos Online after a break. During the break would be the best time to talk with John, and or Jimmy, if that is possible.”
“Leah, I noticed you only mentioned two of the files to Tesfaye. I organised the data, and you retrieved seven files. It is possible the Castellis are also interested in each of the other five as well. I haven’t reviewed them but two of them are encrypted, and I imagine they are sensitive.”
“I’m sure they are. I’m just not ready for Tesfaye, or even John, to have knowledge of the others just yet. I’m already at war with the Kodomans and the Emersons, and those files implicate several other major players in both slavery and organised crime as well as identifying the Castelli family’s resources in the judiciary and in law enforcement. As for the two that are encrypted, Francesco is old school. He first uses a digraph cypher, then a running key book cypher before encrypting using an antiquated 4096 bit Ecliptic-Curve Key. I copied the digraph and book from his files as well as taking a copy of his private key. He had the codes and keys hidden in one of the safety deposit boxes. I didn’t plan on looking at them, but one box was used more often than the others. I left a scrambled copy of his coded information in the safety deposit box file after I copied it. It’s appended to the list of enterprises I brought back.”
DUNYANIN
Leah entered the portal and arrived back in the forest standing at the edge of the clearing where she’d fought the glitchwolves. Mĕi was standing in the clearing and eating a freshly killed deer. Leah checked Mĕi’s level and was pleased that she had reached level 254. She knew the game advanced long-term pets until they were close to the level of their owners and she was looking forward to Mĕi assisting her in battle. She was also concerned that she might have difficulty finding Mìng after she’d finished her quest.
With Mĕi keeping watch, Leah looked over the different maps she had bought or had been given. Her first option was to follow the nearby trail toward the north and enter the Kukurt Depression. She looked over the terrain looking for a high vantage point from which to scout the trail. Lord Umut had mentioned Suzluk was sending followers to cover the trail and Leah wanted to observe the forces to see if taking the second option made more sense. The second option took her further east and through the lands of the vicious dark elf clan known as the Günahkâr. Lady Serseri had called them ‘mighty warriors; strong; vicious and evil’, and she had warned Leah that none lived who travelled through their land. Leah was honest enough to realise she was tempted by both options. She was tempted by the challenge they presented more so than the level of safety they might offer. In the end, she found a small range of hills from which she might look along the trail to Kukurt. If the trail was mostly empty, she decided she’d take the road north.
First though, she wanted to practice using a shroud. If she could control one, then it would be something new the other contestants would not have seen. Whatever she did this time in Dunyanin would not be seen by the others before the first contest. She’d made minimal use of her new staff and had not used it with attachments. Neither had she used her new fighting sticks. She spent half an hour practising the various moves and locked different spells into the various stones embedded surrounding the large darkness diamond at the top. They were each attuned to a different type of magic and could take several smaller spells or one dual hand cast.
Satisfied with the staff, Leah equipped her blue suit of armour and took out the vial of Shadow Glitchwolf blood. She set a timer for one hour and then drank the blood. Usually, blood had very little taste—if anything, there was often a mild sense of herbs or fruit and the colour and texture usually resembled a metallic crimson syrup. This time the blood had black flakes suspended throughout it, and as Leah drank it, there was a taste of dirt or ash. Leah could feel the blood as it ran down her throat. It felt like it set off small reactions as it went, effervescing along the tissue with the bubbles exploding out and through her body. Shadow mana like mist seeped out of her skin and covered her armour from her head to her feet. As it passed over the darkness diamond dust, it engaged the tiny crystals, and the suit began to turn dark, causing even more mana to ooze from her skin.
Gèng’s research had described the importance of will in using shrouds, so Leah’s practice with casting spells and creating spells came to the fore, as did her ability to mist. She pictured the mana forming around her but
not charging the tiny pieces of darkness diamonds. Leah was excited that the mana readily accepted her direction and formed as a swirling vapour on the outside of the armour but stayed separate from her armour. Gèng had said the shrouds could be used in defence and to fuel spells. Leah willed the shadow to solidify and form a shield at her front. As she pictured it in her mind, the shadow coalesced in front of her, taking the shape she’d imagined. Leah had created the spell of Shadow Armour, and as she formed this across her body she was pleased to see the mana to fuel the spell moved from the shroud instead of using her personal store of mana. Leah began to experiment and changed the shape of the shield. She was pleased when the mana reformed instantly according to her thoughts. Leah thought back to the time when she’d fought herself in the mirror quest and went through the fight in her mind. As she ran through the moves, she reworked the shadow to protect her where she’d been vulnerable.
Leah slowly increased the speed with which she was going through her attacking moves, and the shadow kept pace as her mind began to move the shadow shield almost as a reflex or as muscle memory. As she came to a final thrust, she thought of the shadow extending through her blade and tearing into her adversary. She was shocked when the shroud performed as per her will and exploded out of her extended blade. Slowly Leah began to form blades and weapons from the shadow. She forged a bow and fired a shadow arrow at a tree where it thudded into a branch before dissipating.
When Leah’s timer showed she’d used forty-five minutes of her hour, she stopped and took out the vial from the blood glitchwolf, and asked, “Gèng, am I right that blood and shadow have an affinity?”
“Dunyanin’s handbook has them side by side as second-degree elemental forms. The forums observe that this means they have a high degree of affinity and should not work against each other.”
“What about ‘earth’? That is the other vial I have to practice with.”
“Earth is one of the five first-degree elemental forms. It should be stronger than both shadow and blood although it has a recorded affinity with shadow. Blood and earth are usually seen as dissonant forms.”
Leah swallowed the vial of glitchwolf blood. This vial looked similar to the usual vials, but once again she felt it as it moved down her throat. Instead of effervescing, it was like a multitude of small cuts or pinpricks. It made Leah think her throat was filling with her own blood and adding itself to what she’d swallowed. As the blood mana oozed from her skin, Leah was ready, and she willed it to remain separate from the darkness crystals.Then she imagined it forming a shield on the outside of the shadow mana shield. The blood mana submitted to her command to stay away from her armour, but it resisted her desire that it not mix with the shadow mana. Leah had to fortify her decision when she not only felt resistance from the blood mana but also the shadow mana.
Neither of the two shrouds was as challenging to manage as had been the free mana she used for creating spells when she used the skill of mana manipulation. She soon had them separated and practiced forming shields of different sizes and shapes using both types of mana. With only a few minutes left on the Shadow Mana shroud, Leah formed several shields utilising a combination of Shadow and Blood. She found that their affinity made the shields stronger. Finally, she combined the two mana shrouds and fired an arrow of shadow from a bow of blood. She was excited by the way the two worked together.
When her Shadow Shroud dissipated, she drank the vial of blood from the earth glitchwolf. Although she thought she was ready, she was not prepared for the increased flow of mana as the dirt tasting blood seemed to clog her throat with mud, making her gag. She lost control for a moment, and the earth mana engaged the tiny darkness diamond shards crystals, and the suit began to turn dark sucking even more mana through her skin and into the shroud. Simultaneously she also lost control of the blood mana which churned as it came in contact with the earth mana. The blood mana flailed as it touched the stronger magic and brushed against Leah’s skin. Where the two mana types met close to Leah, her skin reacted by either splitting apart and dripping blood or by becoming hard as stone and heavy. As Leah lost control of the Earth Shroud, her whole lower right leg slowly turned to stone from the outside. Pain filled her as she felt each nerve, muscle and cell petrify and die.
Closing her mind to the pain, Leah gathered the blood mana and forced it to form around her left hand. Once it was under control, she began gathering the earth mana. By this time she couldn’t move as both lower legs were stone, the petrification creeping upward toward her torso. Leah steadied herself and willed the earth mana to separate from the darkness crystals and form around her right arm. It was a battle. She didn’t have the sense that the shroud was in any way sentient, but it was like pushing a round boulder up a hill. Just when she thought she had it, some would escape her control and she had to work hard to regain mastery. Finally, after ten minutes the blood mana was around her left forearm while the earth mana covered her right arm, shoulder and upper torso.
She could feel residual pain in both legs which were now solid granite. Her health bar was in the orange, and her stamina was under half. Steeling her mind, she dredged the control she’d learnt while casting and fighting at the same time and held both shrouds in place while she cast Heal on her legs. It was another twenty minutes before she was able to use the two shrouds to form simple shield simultaneously around her body. Before the blood mana shroud expired, she tried combining the two for attacks. While she was not able to shoot arrows, she could send a ball of earth encased in a sphere of blood. Once she loosed her control of the sphere, it exploded sending shards of blood and slivers of stone in a circle of destruction.
When the Blood Mana Shroud disappeared, Leah practised with the earth mana. She found the shroud held almost ten times her personal amount of mana although it didn’t regenerate as quickly.
19
Chapter 19
December 17, 2073 - Early Morning - Part 10
When her hour was up, she said, “Gèng, I have seven permanent shrouds available at the moment. Using two was difficult, but I think if I practised for the rest of this session, I might be able to use them in the contest. They would have to be compatible though. Remind me please of the different levels.”
Gèng projected the relevant page onto Leah’s vision. “This is the first section from the concise handbook.”
Magic Classifications and Levels
Level 1 - Creator Magic
(This is a function of the Dunyanin World and available only to administrators.)
Level 2 - Basic Orientation - Light and Dark Magic
(All magic except for creator magic has a basic orientation. )
Level 3 - Functional Orientation (Life, Death, and Elemental)
(All magic is concerned with life, death or one of the non-sentient elements. Though not true in all cases it is a general principle that Life Magic Overcomes Elemental magic, Elemental Magic overcomes Death Magic, Death Magic overcomes Life Magic)).
Level 4 - Magical Origin (Magic was developed and utilised via four independent pathways controlled by the four racial archetypes - the Divine, the Draconic, the Fae, and the Mundane (including humans). Divine magic is generally the most powerful especially when focussed by either a Basic or a Functional Orientation (e.g., Divine Light Magic is stronger than Divine Elemental Magic, Divine Death Magic is generally stronger than Divine Life Magic.) Those gods who are associated with the higher level magic levels have great power (e.g., Goddess of Light, God of Death). Dragons and the Fae are similar in overall strength though they have developed along different paths which gives one or the other advantages when utilising particular elementals, pathways, or transformations. In general, Dragon Magic is incompatible with that of the Fae. Mundane Magic is generally the weakest although in individual cases it will depend on the strength of the practitioner.
Level 5 - Primary Elementals - Spirit, Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. (Understanding relative strength with the elementals is similar as with Functional Orienta
tion. Each element is countered by two others, though one is usually the better defence. Two of the elements are complementary and the other useful when countering. Be aware that while an element may be complimentary in attack, it is also a good counter when used in defence.
A brief review of the table will show that Fire and Spirit are both most useful in attack while Earth and Water provide a strong defence. Even so, Water when amplified either by the presence of Fire, thus steam, or the annihilation of fire, hence ice, can be a potent weapon.
Level 6 - Primary Formation Pathways - The six pathways exist in pairs, Enunciation and Evocation (words and feelings), Formation and Annihilation (create and destroy), Transformation and Intention (changing the form or function via the will). Generally, Evocation is stronger than Enunciation, Annihilation stronger than Formation, and Intention is stronger than Transformation. As for the elements these six combine for attack and defence with different strengths. See the comprehensive manual for a detailed analysis of these relationships. The manual includes specific examples to illustrate the relative strengths and weaknesses.
Level 7 - Primary Transformational Methods - Animals, Plants, Necromancy, Summoning, Alchemy, Conjuring and Animation. Note the first two are related to Level 2 orientation ‘Life’. The next pair is associated with the Level 2 orientation ‘Death’. The final three make use primarily of the Level 2 orientation ‘Elemental’.