System Change

“You?” Derek asked. “You can help us sneak through multiple encampments full of some of the entire kingdom’s strongest guards and fighters? I’m sure you hit it off with them, but I doubt they like you enough to allow you to bring a human through.”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing like that,” Ryven replied. “You forget, I am not only the Duke of Indria.”

“Mhm…” Derek nodded seriously. “You are also a very bad military commander.”

“That…” Ryven sighed. “I am in charge of the kingdom’s information network. But before that, I was part of the kingdom’s information network. Like my daughter would have been had the invasion succeeded.”

“So you’re saying you’re a…” Derek muttered.

“He was also a spy,” Alanah said. “But I don’t see how any of that helps us right now.”

“Well, as a spy, I would need a way to go undetected, right?” Ryven asked. “Especially since I do have a very recognizable face.”

“And your way of going undetected?” Derek asked.

“Simple,” Ryven said. “Reflective barriers and pass-through barriers. The Elras’s barriers are useful for things other than defense.”

“Yeah. Squishing people and containing lethal poison,” Derek replied.“Well… yes.” Ryven shook his head. “But they are also fantastic for stealth. So, if you would like to jump on…” Ryven summoned an invisible barrier and hopped onto it. “I would like to get back to Indria. That meeting was quite important, after all.”

Derek and Alanah looked at one another, then both shrugged and hopped onto the invisible floating barrier, standing just behind Ryven.

“Great,” the duke said, then he moved his hands and summoned five more barriers. Soon, the trio was surrounded by barriers on all four sides, and their top and bottom. “Now, if anyone looks at us, they will just see the reflection of what the barrier opposite it sees. It will be almost as if they are looking straight through us.”

“Nice trick,” Derek said.

“Indeed,” Alanah replied.

“Okay…” Ryven said. “If I move us slow enough, I should be able to pass us right over the top of their encampments without being found out. If I move too fast, then the barriers will get distorted, and someone may be able to see the odd anomaly in the sky. Plus, moving faster requires more mana consumption and risks the chance of someone feeling my aura.”

“Slow is fine,” Alanah said.

“I’m also going to need the two of you to stand as still as possible,” Ryven explained. “If you can do that, then we shouldn’t have any problems getting through the encampments and closer to the center of this danger area.”

“Great!” Derek said.

“And Derek,” Ryven muttered.

“Yes?”

“Once I get the two of you where you need to be,” the duke began. “Then, I would appreciated if you would take me back home, as I’m sure the two of you will not have any more use for me.”

“Sounds good to me,” Derek said.

“Mhm,” Alanah replied with a nod. “You would only get in our way. It will be too dangerous for you if we don’t protect you, so that will be for the best.”

“I’m not weak,” Ryven replied.

“No,” Alanah said. “But you are also not truly strong.”

Ryven let out a light snort and a sigh. Then he shook his head. “Well, whatever you say, ‘oh great monster of Linderis’. Now, I’m taking us up.” The duke breathed deeply, then concentrated on moving the barriers.

“This is pretty cool,” Derek said, careful not to move anything other than his mouth. He looked down as the ground became smaller and smaller. “It’s like a two-way mirror. We can see everything on the outside, but we can’t be seen from the outside. Good skill…”

“Mhm.” Ryven nodded. “Now, I would appreciate some silence as well. I must concentrate.”

Derek nodded, then went silent. He kept his eyes peeled just ahead of them on the ground—waiting for their approach to the encampments. Ryven said he would be flying slowly, but in reality, they were going relatively fast. Soon they made it close to the encampments.

“Here we go,” Ryven said as he took in a deep breath.

Derek noticed their momentum come to a screeching halt. To get over the entire encampment, the duke chose to slow to a crawl. Derek guessed that from a certain distance out, the duke wasn’t worrying about being detected, but now he was.

Soon enough, they were directly over the encampments and Derek was able to look down on them all. They were flying low enough that he could make out all the figures running around in the camps. He also saw many people slowly moving further and further toward the center of the danger area. Derek had a few questions he wanted to ask, but chose to wait until Ryven said it was okay.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Eventually, they made it past all the encampments, and everyone let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that they weren’t discovered by anyone.

“Okay,” Ryven said as he adjusted their speed a bit—moving faster. “Now you can speak.”

“So, a different group led each of those encampments?” Derek asked.

“Yes,” Ryven said. “Each of those I listed before, the nobles, royals, schools, and anyone else, have their own camps. If you look down the line of camps, you’ll see some much smaller camps. Those are the lesser school, nobles, and merchant families’ camps. Anyone who is able to come here makes sure to do so. After all, none of the lesser nobles and such would want to miss opportunities when it is relatively safe because of all the strong guards.”

“I see,” Derek said, then he turned to look at Alanah. “So, they are moving deeper and deeper into the danger area to increase their willpower and resistance skills, right?” Derek asked and waited for Ryven and Alanah to nod their heads. “What is it that they are getting close to? What is increasing their skill levels?”

“The creature that controls The Echoing Abyss,” Alanah said. “You’ll feel it soon enough, then you’ll see it. I’ll make sure to point it out,” the siren explained. “Now, Ryven,” she began. “Did they tell you whether any of the people actually made is far enough to go into the abyss? It’s basically a deep canyon, and the real threats lie inside.”

“They did not say,” Ryven replied. “And I did not know what exactly to ask them. In fact, I didn’t ask many questions at all. They had assumptions about why I was there, and I didn’t bother telling them any different, so most of the information I received was freely given without me asking. I only asked a couple of questions, and they answered very thoroughly. So, I do not know how deep any of the people may venture into the danger area.”

“I understand,” Alanah said.

“I take it that you would like to get to the canyon. Or at least close to it?” Ryven asked.

“That would be ideal,” the siren replied.

“Okay. In that case, I’m going to pick up speed. I believe that we are past the worst of it.” After that, Ryven slowly began increasing the movement of his barrier until he hit a speed that he thought was best. From there, they flew straight.

During their flight, they passed over multiple small tents with people meditating inside or outside of them. At some point, Derek began feeling an odd vibration throughout his body. At first, he barely noticed it and didn’t think much of it. However, it didn’t go away. It continued to increase.

“So, it’s this vibration that they are after?” Derek asked.

“Yes,” Alanah replied. “It is near constant, and the closer we get to the source, the more severe it will become.”

“And you lived here?” Derek asked.

“I did,” Alanah answered. “Well… not here, but I actually lived and survived as a young girl in the canyon itself.”

“No wonder you ended up with the class and skills that you have,” Derek said. “That must have been miserable.”

“It was,” Alanah replied. “The vibrations kept me in and out of consciousness. The occasional lucid moments I had was spent scavenging and scrounging for food or ways to help my survival chances. It wasn’t like I was strong enough to go out and fight a single monster inside. It was pretty brutal, but my constant fight for survival kept my mind from wondering to other things. It was mostly a curse, but in some ways, also a blessing. I know that once I made it out, I was not the timid little girl I used to be.”

“I bet,” Derek replied. “Going through that… it must have been hard.”

“Yeah…” Alanah replied. “Later on, I paid the place another visit. This was after I was grown and had a good grasp on my abilities. I also imagine that it is where the tales of the horrible monster come from. I wasn’t exactly subtle on my way back to the abyss, and there was no love lost between me and my fellow countrymen.”

“I take it you didn’t find what you were looking for?” Derek asked. Beside them, Ryven continued concentrating on their movements, but he was also listening intently.

“No… well… I did, but there wasn’t anything I could do at the time,” Alanah replied. “Even after all that time and all that power, I still wasn’t strong enough. But now… with you… I’m sure it will be fine.”

“Well… I got your back,” Derek said.

“Thanks,” the siren replied, then shifted her body and pointed out in front of them.

When Derek turned to look, he frowned. “That doesn’t really look like much of a canyon. The way you were talking, I didn’t think I was going to be able to see the other side.”

“You can’t,” Alanah replied.

“I can,” Derek said and pointed at where he saw the land reappear. “It’s right there.”

“That’s not the land,” Alanah said with a smile. “That’s the creature emitting the vibrations—the one in control of The Echoing Abyss.”

“That’s a monster?” Derek raised his eyebrows. “That has to be at least as big as that whale I was playing with—maybe even a bit bigger.”

“It is for sure,” Alanah replied. “And there is no telling how old the creature is. As far as I know, nobody has been able to push through the vibrations to get close enough to attack it either.”

“Can’t they just go at it from above?” Derek asked.

“Nobody would want to take that risk,” the siren said. “Just think about how much the vibrations have increased since you first started feeling them, then think about how bad they must be when you get close. Better yet, just wait. You’ll soon feel them yourself.”

“About that…” Ryven said, causing Derek and Alanah to turn to look at him.

“Oh…” Derek muttered. He saw sweat running down the duke’s forehead and dripping down onto his clothing. “How much more can you handle?”

“Not all that much,” Ryven answered. “I will probably just be able to reach the edge of the abyss. After that, I will need my focus for the vibrations instead of the barriers, and I won’t be able to fly us any farther.”

“You’ve done more than enough on short notice,” Alanah said. “Thank you.”

“It looks like I borrowed the right elf, huh?” Derek added. “Who knew you would be so handy?”

“Hmph…” Ryven snorted, but couldn’t keep himself from letting a small grin appear. “It has been an interesting day, that is for sure.”

“See, it wasn’t so bad,” Derek said. “You got to meet some new people, explore a new place, and you got to get away from that god awful meeting you were in. That did not look fun.”

“And they happen weekly,” Ryven responded.

“Yeah… no thank you,” Derek said.

After that, they flew silently for another short time. Finally, Ryven let out a deep breath. “This is as far as I can take you. I just lost the top barrier. I’m going to sit us down.”

“Go ahead,” Alanah said, and they began their descent. Eventually, they found themselves hovering just a few feet above the ground, then the barrier below them disappeared and they dropped the short distance down. “Thank you again.”

“It… was no… problem…” Ryven heaved in and out, trying to catch his breath.

Derek looked around and even jumped into the sky to check out their surroundings. Finally, he came back down. “Looks like the coast is clear,” he said, then used Void Travel. He walked behind Ryven and placed his hand between the elf’s shoulder-blades. “Are you ready to go home?”

“Yes…”

“Okay.” Derek sent a small film of void to encompass the duke, then took him into the portal. He then found Osian and dropped the duke off with his brother. Before any questions could be asked, he jumped back into his portal and closed it behind himself. Finally, he made his way back to Alanah and stepped out, closing the entrance as well. “Now what? We gonna go jump in?” he asked, and his words were met with nothing more than a smile from the siren. Looks like we are.