Sixth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  He waved his hand and Davin appeared.

  He opened his eyes groggily and looked around.

  “Urgh, cold, napping,” Davin said, trying to turn and go back to sleep as Egbert held his shirt.

  Egbert shook Davin, not allowing him to go back to sleep.

  “Hey!” Davin said, looking around as the air around him started to heat up.

  Egbert held him to the side.

  “You know how I tell you to not test your limits?” Egbert asked.

  “Yes,” Davin said as if trying to figure out what he had done wrong.

  “Well, this is not one of those times, let’s see how warm you can get!” Egbert jumped in the air and started to fly over to the centra formation, using Davin to cover his head.

  “Hey! That’s condensed water mana!” Davin yelled as his whole body glowed red, steam rose around him as he ramped up higher and higher, actually causing the condensed water mana to evaporate.

  “Stop using me to make sure you don’t get your head wet!” Davin yelled as Egbert crossed to the island, there was no rain from above, a hole had formed in the clouds over the central formation.

  “Flames, please!” Davin released flames from his mouth, melting through the iron-strong ice, as it flowed into the surrounding pond.

  “I was wondering why there wasn’t any condensed Fire mana on the Fire floor, you ate it, didn’t you!” Egbert said as he turned Davin around.

  Davin put his fingers together, his head dropping to his chest.

  “Well, I didn’t mean to do it, I was just going past it one day and I went in there for a nap, it was nice and warm. Then I kept getting closer to the source in my sleep. And I might’ve accidentally been snoring and a drop could’ve fallen in. I didn’t know and I thought it was just some spicy water so I had a few sips of it now and then, it just took so long for any of it to form,” Davin smiled as widely as possible.

  “Only someone that’s consumed and dealt with condensed Fire mana could deal with condensed Water mana,” Egbert sighed. “No more eating condensed Fire mana! Do you know how hard humans have to work to even withstand those places? Took Erik weeks to just get close to the source. That guy is a masochist though.”

  “What’s that?” Davin asked.

  “Uhh.. it’s... too much for your young mind, come now, flames!”

  “I’m Centuries-old!” Davin complained as he produced flames once again, covering the central formation.

  Once it was clear, Egbert went over the formation.

  “Pretty much intact, just been worn down over time,” Egbert took out Earth Mana stones and put them into different places, the rings of the formation lit up, he placed the last one and lines of light traced out from where the mana stones were placed, splitting into runes and shapes, connecting to one another and lighting up the formation.

  The surrounding mana swirled toward the mana formation before it redirected that power. Lines appeared down the side of the mountain, centuries-old formation reignited once more. Out in the darkness, Egbert saw another formation light up, a secondary array activating, then another and another, like beacons in the darkness.

  To Egbert, the entire floor was coming alive as it started to reconnect to the rest of the dungeon.

  He held up his hand. The locking doors separating the Water floor from the Wood floor unlocked and pulled apart.

  Power, pure mana descended from above as ambient non-water affinity mana was shot out from the formation underneath Egbert’s feet.

  The two lines passed one another, the pure mana descending through the center and the non-water mana creating a pipe around it.

  The Water floor started to calm as Egbert looked out into the darkness. It was massive and while some of the formations had survived, many were broken or not operating.

  Egbert pulled out a Dungeon core and placed it above the central formation.

  ==========

  You have come into contact with a dungeon core. With your title: Dungeon Master servant new options are revealed.

  ==========

  Do you wish to:

  Create Dungeon

  ==========

  Egbert selected create dungeon, he took out an ancient blueprint.

  “Well I didn’t think that I would have to use this. Good thing that I made copies of the original blueprints!”

  ==========

  Blueprint accepted

  ==========

  Power from the formation started to be diverted through the dungeon core, remodeling the floor as if a separate dungeon.

  Egbert jumped over to Yui with Davin above his head again.

  “Is that it?” Yui asked.

  “That should be it,” Egbert said, feeling as if he had put down a weight that had been resting on his shoulders for a very long time.

  I can’t bring the gnomes back, but I can honor them.

  Chapter: Seeking Aid

  Domonos was sitting at his desk, looking at the information on the three battalions under his command when there was a knock at the door.

  “Come in!” Domonos said.

  Lieutenant Colonel Dominik Zukal his second-in-command marched in first, followed by Lieutenant Colonel’s Choi, Acosta and Hall commanders of First, Second and Third Battalions respectively.

  They stood at attention and Zukal snapped off a salute.

  Domonos returned the salute and waved to the chairs and activated a formation to make sure that no one could listen in on their conversation.

  “We have new orders. The attack on the Water floor was a success. It will take a few months for the repairs to be completed. Unfortunately one of our own died, Corporal Jeff Hollingsworth. He was helping one of his people up when a wave crashed into him, he fell and cracked his head on a stone obstruction, killing him.”

  Silence remained in the room.

  In the Ten Realms, death is normal, but with Alva, we have learned just how much one person can do and working together as part of a whole pushing us together creating tight bonds to rely on in battle and our lives.

  Domonos cleared his throat. “Our orders have changed. Dragon Regiment will plant their flag firmly in Vuzgal and the Tiger Regiment will plant theirs in Alva. Two Battalions will be active at all times in each location, one battalion training the new recruits and teaching advanced courses. The other will be in charge of day to day defenses and operations of Alva or Vuzgal.”

  “For external operations, Battalions that are not part of the training or fighting force of these two locations, they will be the first to be selected for external operations. Anyone that is not selected for external operations, or doing assigned tasks, will be undergoing training, attending the academies, working on their fighting techniques and cultivating.”

  Zukal raised his hand. Domonos waved for him to talk.

  “Will the Tiger Regiment not fall behind in their numbers?”

  “The training battalions will be intermixed, half from the Tigers, half from the Dragons. We are the same army and we will be operating together and apart in multiple roles. While Vuzgal has an overall larger population, Alva will be taking on recruits from the general population, from the people from the First Realm and the military units operating out of King’s Hill. It wouldn’t surprise me if they quickly reach our own numbers,” Domonos said.

  Choi raised his hand.

  “Sir, what about operations occurring against the Willful Institute?”

  Domonos could feel their focus sharpen, they had been training and preparing for it, reading the reports and information daily.

  “Currently we are undermining them in every sector. The Adventurer’s Guild went for their missions and have sowed dissent among the merchants and the Institute. The Trader's Guild followed up with a second volley, attacking the roots of the Institute’s trade and bolstering the reputation of the Adventurer’s Guild. With the support of the Academy’s they have carved out a portion of the Willful Institute’s income that is no small amount. Our information network has infi
ltrated theirs network, making it appear that some of these actions have not been done by external forces, but by other factions. Igniting the fits of anger and frictions within the Institute. With their anger focused on one another, we have been chipping away at their power base. Recruitment.”

  Domonos stood up.

  “The Traders Adventurer’s guild have been using the information from the different spies to find potential recruits, and going to them first and taking them away before the Institute can recruit them. It has increased the power of Alva many times over. If we are unable to recruit them, then we pass the best candidates’ information to other groups and sects that we have not had issues with causing them to fight the Willful Institute, whoever wins will have to pay a higher price for the recruit and anger them against the other.”

  “We don’t just have spies in the Willful Institute, we have been uncovering the groups with a grudge or issue with the Institute and building their animosity, using them as our puppets to take from the Willful Institute. It has created a smokescreen for us to operate behind as the isolated branches, roots and factions of the Institute are unwilling to admit their failures to one another and report about their losses which are mounting slowly but with so many different attacks from different places. They are crumbling faster than they realize.”

  “So, what will we do?” Acosta asked.

  “We will train and send out sections and units to study the different cities, strongholds, towns, and villages controlled by the Willful Institute. I want our people to know those places inside and out. I want to have positions prepared to assault each location. We will liaise with the Trader’s Guild, Adventure’rGuild s and our spies to pick out the weaknesses of each city. Where are their food stocks? Their stamina potions? Are there hidden routes in and out of the city? Are there powers in the surrounding area that we can get to fight the Institute for us?” He could see their eyes brightening as their fighting spirit was ignited.

  “It might not be this month or the next, it might take a half-year, but when the fighting begins we will support the Adventurer’s from the shadows. and If it reaches a definitive point, we will use all of our military might to crush the Willful Institute and wipe their name from the Ten Realms.”

  Chapter: Ripples

  Qin Silaz tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear as she watched over the training grounds of the Vuzgal Defense Force. As the defense force had increased in number, so had their need for training rooms.

  There were five different active camps, she had worked on the designs for the formations that were used

  “I heard that you were lurking around the training area,” Domonos said, startling her.

  “Don’t sneak up on me like that! She complained, thumping on his arm as she fought to control her racing heart.

  Domonos laughed and leaned against the banister, looking at his soldiers before looking back to her.

  “So what are you lurking around here for?”

  “An idea,” Qin said. She organized her thoughts as her heart calmed down. “Your soldiers they fight in formations, like the ones that I make. Julilah and I have been working on sympathetic formations, formations that work together to create a greater effect. It made me think of the armor that our soldiers are wearing. It is good for fighters. And that is the thing, I’ve been thinking about it wrong.”

  “How so?” Domonos asked.

  “You told me that a group of soldiers working together can take down an enemy much stronger than them because of their coordination. Fighters are capable by themselves and in small groups, but they aren’t coordinated so there is a limit of their strength. So, what if the armor that our soldiers had, enhanced them as a group, instead of as individuals?”

  Domonos looked at his sister, his face paling and he shivered slightly.

  He looked back to the soldiers’ training.

  “What kind of formations are we talking about?”

  “They would apply buffs, small by themselves, but with more, then they have a stacking effect: the more soldiers linked together, working together, the more powerful. Each platoon has buffs more specific to them, but then general stacks that work for everyone, increasing all of their stats,” Qin said.

  Domonos seemed to look at her with new eyes.

  She felt unsure of herself, wondering if she had said something wrong.

  “I’ll report this to Commander Glosil,” he said in a serious tone.

  “I don’t think it’s,” Qin began before Domonos cut her off with a wave of his hand.

  “If we are able to even pull out a tenth of what you have said, it will raise the power of the army to a whole new level. The more people working together, the greater the impact will be on the battlefield. The armor we have now, as you said, is based on our knowledge of fighters. It is high-quality, but using them to work together, amplifying the effects of one another. It will make up for our weaknesses. Even if we have lower-leveled people, working together their power will allow them to compete with stronger opponents.

  “Among the leaders of the military, we have long been looking at how to fight stronger people and beasts. There are those that are in the higher realms that are able to tear apart hills and destroy seas with a wave of their hand. This kind of power is not something that we are able to contend with. Now if we have a party that is going out with buffed armor, even if it is at the Journeyman standard, they’ll be stronger than a group that has Expert level armor.”

  Qin didn’t know what to say, she had just been thinking of new applications of formations, she had an idea of the scale, but hearing Domonos running with it and thinking of uses she was starting to realize the impact it would have.

  “If I could add a sympathetic-attached formation to our cities? Or add in mobile formations that link to the armor,” she said quietly to herself.

  “Can you make it?”

  “You make it sound easy. To make anew formation it takes a ton of research, looking through other formations. Try and find something that works already, understand how they work, pull them apart and then blend them together. If we don’t have anything to go off of then we need to make a whole new formation. Creating a formation through research means that the first version will be really rough, but it should work. It cuts down development time from years to months. You only see the results of all that work. If I can pull in some people from the schools then I can speed things up a little.”

  “So possible?”

  “Everything is possible, the factor is time and luck.”

  She felt a fire burning within, a fire that drove her to do more, to work and create. She wanted to throw herself into her work right away to start getting the army outfitted so that they could show the others, this is Alva.

  Alva. Thinking of the word, thinking of the Dungeon and everything that was linked to it, she felt her heart stir, in a way she had never thought it would when she had thought about the city Chonglu that she had grown up in.

  Chonglu had been a place that she had existed in. Alva was her home, it was where she had found purpose where she had made friends. Some of those same friends, even her own brothers were serving in the military. Thinking of them, thinking of Alva as a whole. She felt the thrill of doing something more than herself. They weren’t just a random group of people anymore, they were all Alvans.

  Together, they were creating a community, not, they were creating a nation.

  Domonos received a sound transmission. speaking a few quick words, his expression transformed, turning from brother to Colonel in a second, a man that commanded close to seven thousand men and women of the Alvan Army.

  “Something happen?” Qin asked as he started to send out more messages.

  “It’s begun.”

  “What has?” Qin asked.

  Domonos looked into her eyes, there was a solemn expression on his face but she unconsciously took a half-step backward at seeing the bloodthirsty and vicious look in his eyes.

  “The Alva Military is n
ow free to act upon the Willful Institute. Not just the Special teams. Close protection details and even regular forces could be called on. All leave is cancelled and training accelerated.”

  Qin felt her body shake she had seen fights and heard of groups against one another, but she had never seen or been part of a war.

  Just how far will it go, both they and we cover multiple realms. Just what will happen?

  She felt her resolve firm. Their path had been smooth to this point, but it would and was changing.

  I might not be a fighter, but I can still help them from the rear.

  Chapter: Call of Horns Sound of Marching

  Rugrat absently chewed on some jerky, he was laying down on a roof staring at the cave opening behind the defendable castle and curtain wall.

  George was behind him, wrestling and chewing on a large bone, cracking it between his teeth.

  Rugrat sighed and glanced out of the corner of his eye unable to stop himself from grinning and the big doggo’s efforts.

  A noise came from deep within the cave.

  Is that a horn?

  He focused his hearing, as he heard more horns coming from the large cave opening.

  “I have a bad feeling about this,” Rugrat said as he activated his communication device.

  “Just heard what sounds like horns from the cave ahead.”

  “Well that’s ominous,” Erik said.

  “We found a horn on the orc leader,” Storbon said.

  “Anyone good with horns?” Rugrat asked as he was checking the position of his magazines and shifting around in his position.

  No one said anything.

  “Guess that answers that question,” Erik said. “Lucinda try and give it a shot, you’ve been using the horns up to this point.”

  “Alright, don’t blame me if it doesn’t work, they probably have a code or something,” Lucinda said.

  A few minutes later Lucinda had the horn and used it, it was loud and powerful, echoing through the castle. The others were all moving around, laying down fields of mines, trap formations, having Yuli change the terrain to create natural funnels and hard to traverse terrain.