Millennial Mage

Tala watched Eskau Pallaun walk toward where the wounded were being searched out, taking a moment of quiet.

-Tala?-

Yes?

-Is this after? Or do you need me to wait?-

Tala felt her blood run cold, remembering that she’d told Alat to let her know when the fight for Retindel was over, but only if it was after the current clash for her. Already? It’s already decided?

-...Yes. A unique Black Legionnaire appeared. It’s thought to be the leader… He cracked the defenses and engaged the City Stone Holder of Retindel directly.-

Dead? Tala asked, but she already knew the answer. Things wouldn’t be decided if she’d not died.

-Three times before the evacuation started, and twice more before they were able to solidify the defenses around the retreat.-

Tala swallowed reflexively. That… That can’t be without cost.

-It isn’t. She’s non-responsive, even as she continues to enact the will of those she is protecting. From what I am picking up in cross-talk, there’s no certainty that her personality—her intelligence—will ever resurface. Her soul and gate are only connected to the body by a fraying thread. It could go either way.-

Tala nodded slowly. Beside her, Rane had come closer, placing a hand on her shoulder. She gave him a weary, pleading smile.

His eyes unfocused for a moment before he paled, blood draining from his face. Enar had likely just informed him as well.

The citizens?

-Nearly twenty thousand dead,-

Tala staggered at that, only staying upright due to Rane’s supporting hand.

Alat continued. -But the city scripts endured long enough through the initial assault that we don’t think their souls were captured.-

That was a boon at least, if a small one.

Retindel was a forest city, with a population of close to a million, so twenty thousand was barely more than two percent, but that didn’t matter.

It wasn’t about proportionality or statistics. Twenty thousand of her people were dead in this war… in this war that she was meant to bring to a close.

-The survivors are retreating toward Makinaven, and Master Jevin is covering them the best he can. He’s also trying to shelter the City Stone holder. He’s already clashed indirectly with the Black Legion leader, and kept it at bay a few times. The people should be safe enough if they can keep moving. Moreover, if they get to Makinaven, he might be able to help reel the City Stone holder back.-

Tala heard the unspoken addition, deciding to add it herself. Assuming the Forest Spirit doesn’t go and interfere, now that we’ve driven him off.

There was a moment of silence in her mind. Then, Tala nodded to herself and straightened.

“We need to get moving. If we don’t keep our enemies busy, more cities will fall. We need to keep their attention on us—and draw more if at all possible—to make them pay if they devote resources to anything else.”

-I’ll communicate with the war council, and I believe they’ll be of like mind.-

Thank you.

Rane gave her a resolute smile. “As you say, so shall it be.”

Together, they turned and walked toward Anatalis, taking the moment of peace to collect themselves and prepare for what was to come.

Rane broke off to help with the army, and Tala approached the great wolf even as the allied forces finished mopping up the Black Legion forces.

The arcanous wolves were a wonderful harrying force, and they were rather effective against the lowest ranked—and most numberous—of the automata, but even sergeants took an entire pack to bring down if no gated or arcane was there to help.

Anatalis was wounded but healing, clearly irritated by his own miscalculation. As Tala approached, however, she was greeted by a lupine grin. “Well fought, and well executed, Iron Matriarch, Eskau of War.”

She bowed her head slightly. “Thank you, Pack Alpha. It seems your trap worked… if only just.”

Anatalis chuffed in irritation. “Indeed. He was more amplified by his domain than expected. I now suspect that drawing the abominations into his fold provided a rather stronger foundation than you or I would state is reasonable.”

She huffed a sad, tired laugh at that. “Undoubtedly.”

His eyes focused on her before his gaze shifted off the mundane. He let out an irritated growl. “The great avian sacrificed much to spoil what would have been a devastating blow to my physical form. You both have the gratitude of the Pack for his actions.”

Tala frowned. “His spirit… It seems worse for wear.” She swallowed, not wanting to ask but needing to know. “Is he… alright? He seems quite hurt.”

“He is. I would not suggest reforming his body for at least a day. If you do, he will be weakened for weeks.”

“So, he’ll heal more effectively as a disembodied spirit?”

“His spirit will heal more quickly if not burdened by a physical form, yes.” Anatalis looked thoughtful. “I doubt this hunt will be done before he returns, but we cannot wait.”

She nodded and sighed. “Agreed.”

He gave her a searching look. “If you were to advance, he would recover almost immedately.”

She laughed a bit more emotively at that. “If only. More of our cities have been attacked. We could use all the strength we can get.”

“-Tala?-” Alat’s voice, radiating in the air around them, was a surprise. “-Chendirus is under assault.-”

Tala frowned, not recognizing the name at first, but when she pulled up a memory of a map of arcane cities… “The coastal city? Northernmost, relatively close to the southern forest?”

“-Exactly. The war council agrees with your assessment and request. We are to strike hard and fast. Even if destroying the factories just drives them back into hiding, that is a priority.-”

“Understood.” Tala got an info dump from Alat, showing that the Black Legion forces were pressing toward the central column in Chendirus, but that they were being effectively held at bay, at least for the moment.

Anatalis growled. “If we unseat the Forest Spirit, they will lose a base of power, and their actions have already opened the door to my involvement.” His predatory grin returned. “The Pack has the Right of the Hunt now. It is one of our supreme rights before the others of standing.”

Tala felt like there was a lot packed into that statement, but it was hardly the time. “We’ll have a lot to discuss after all of this is over.”

He regarded her before slowly giving a nod. “Agreed.”

Rane came up then, having been checking on their forces directly, letting his presence be felt and seen. “We’re in a sorry state, and many of our forces will need time to recover, but we can move those into Ironhold and be ready to move in a half hour.”

Tala frowned. “Why so long?”

He sighed. “The reality splinters again. Not all of the automata utilized those this time, so we thought this force didn’t employ the tactic.”

Tala growled, echoing the sound coming from Anatalis. The wolf spoke before she could. “Lead me to them.”

His wounds were almost closed already, but he still had a slight limp as they followed Rane toward the nearest area of injured.

Anatalis was able to sort the reality shards relatively quickly, even if it seemed to tire him. As such, they didn’t present the least afflicted to him, instead depending on their own methods to get those sorted before the next fight.

Thankfully, those were able to be brought into Ironhold, so they wouldn’t slow down the advance.

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The wolf growled. “Gather your forces. My Pack is bringing me what I need to recover.”

Tala nodded, watching him move toward the still waiting factory tree. “Right… We still have to deal with that, don’t we.”

Rane shrugged. “I can, if you wish?”

She glanced his way. “You know what? I’d like to see that. Oh, my big strong husband, please destroy the weed that plagues me.”

He snorted a laugh. “As you wish, my wife.”

She pulled a chair from her sanctum and plopped down in it.

Rane walked toward the tree, going around where Anatalis had sat down on his haunches.

As she waited, Lea and the Talons that weren’t in her expanded space came to check in. Tala conveyed what was going on, but paused when the arch-beasts began returning.

There were injuries, but not many. Of the eight hunting triads five brought back elk or elk-adjacent arch-beasts.

Well… they brought back the bodies.

Each was dropped before Anatalis, and the wolf set to, easily tearing through the enhanced flesh.

Tala watched, open mouthed as reality bent.

Each of the arch-beasts was tied to part—or all—of the southern forest, but Anatalis snipped those connections with teeth and power.

Walden noticed and came over, prompting Anatalis to toss the snipped ends toward the immortal elk as he watched the wolf devour one of his siblings.

Most of the threads tore away, unraveling from the tangle of connections and nodes, but some connected with Walden before sliding and slithering into place, expanding the elk’s domain and power in small fits and starts.

It was a bloody affair, and took a large chunk of attention, especially when Anatalis began tossing pieces to the most injured of his sirelings. Even so, Tala’s perception followed Rane as he walked up to the factory tree.

The man placed his hand on the trunk, and there was a momentary contest of metaphysical weight. Without being asked, Tala braced herself and offered a solid foundation to back up her husband’s working.

She felt his soul radiating a pleasure at their partnership, at working together to accomplish something.

Regardless, he was a maul of power, and he slammed into the magics that were interlaced around the tree.

The tangle of reality nodes and threads was impressive to say the least, to the point that they were inexpressibly more resilient than the tree itself.

He noticed that?

-He sees a lot that we don’t credit him.-

A smile pulled at her lips. He really does.

Their efforts in the first attempt—the siege engines and sabotage—would have obliterated the physicality of the factory, and as they were planning on sweeping through the forest, that should have been sufficient.

Rane was aiming for the greater prize.

The tree was just the current physical manifestation of a magical and metaphysical reality. A spawning point for Mezzanni as Leshkin and Black Legion automata. Even cut off from the rest of Zeme by her aura and authority—keeping it from gathering materials to continue manufacturing—it was a potent thing to witness.

In the worst case scenario, that could be reaffixed within a new physical and magical housing. That risk had been acceptable when they were going for a showy initial strike, but now?

Rane had the right of it.

Her husband slammed his will and power forward, only for his magics to trigger right before impact each time, taking the kinetic energy of his strike.

Tala found herself laughing at the application of usually physical magics to such a magical task.

Lea could see her father in the distance, but not clearly, not around the Pack. “Mom?”

“Your father is showing the flexibility of a Reforged.”

“I… I don’t understand.” Lea was frowning. “Do you think you could be a bit more esoteric for me?”

Tala gave Lea a flat look before shaking her head and sighing. “All moving things have kinetic energy, even if it is negligible, he is storing the kinetic energy of his will preparing for…” She trailed off, as she noticed the magics change. Her grin was immense. “That.”

Rane pulled back his hand and brought it gently forward, his inscriptions lighting up like a bonfire and entirely burning out in one go even as his natural magics blazed with an intensity that was hard to fathom.

As his palm kissed the bark, all the built up power re-entered his will and he struck.

Lea gasped. “Void? Reality?”

Tala nodded. “And magic. Your father doesn’t have your natural gifts, but he is not without his own capacities.”

The entire tree rippled in an undulating wave as if it had been a tapestry that Rane had disturbed.

Then, with a loud ting, it splintered into stone chips that looked almost like opals as they each contained unimaginable depths.

The reality threads and nodes seemed to stiffen to Tala’s threefold sight, then they collapsed, falling back and away from Rane as if that were down, and a great pit had opened before him.

Flicks of void ran around the circumference, severing every connection, and that began to cascade outward.

Rane reached out to Tala through Enar and Alat, and Tala brought her aura and magics to bear, placing an endingblade edge on Rane’s will as he trimmed the last bits.

That both severed the remaining connections more neatly and kept the cut threads from fraying as they whipped out and away, back into the tangled mass of existence.

The effect to mundane sight was as if the tree shattered, churning inward on itself before collapsing into nothing, leaving a hole in the otherwise uniform forest canopy.

Tala’s authority snapped forward, catching large cables of interwoven reality thread, even as she watched previously queued soul-cores racing away down the lines, down the lines toward the other factories.

Her face shifted into a predatory grin that would have made Anatalis proud. “There you are.”

Through her perception of reality the other factories lit up like blazing beacons, lining up with the known locations of Leshkin spawning trees… plus three more that hadn’t been known.

A total of ten, and this one is gone forever.

-Nine left.-

Indeed.

Rane staggered, and Tala wrapped him in her power and aura, reinforcing him against the backlash of such a powerful expression of will.

He glanced back her way with a soft smile then flickered into the sanctum then back out to sit beside her on a chair that he brought with him. “I should leave the overt expressions of power to you, my love. That was…” He took a deep, almost ragged breath, and let it out in a rush. “That was exhausting.”

Tala reached out and took his hand. “I don’t know. I liked it.”

He smiled even as he closed his eyes and leaned back with a groan.

Ron stepped up beside them. “We’re almost ready to depart. The next known spawning tree is fifty miles away. What is the travel plan? If we walk, it will be an unnecessary delay.”

Tala glanced toward Anatalis, who had lifted his bloody muzzle to look their way. “The Pack will run, but the little kin would be better served to have assistance.”

She nodded. “Can you help ensure I can bring them back to the superficial, even if the Forest Spirit tries to prevent it?”

A rumble returned to her through her feet and chair as much as through the air. “He has taken flight, and the hunt has begun. It doesn’t matter whose woods these are. This is my hunt.”

Rane cracked an eye open. “You could just say yes.”

Anatalis turned back, burying his face in the next arch-beast elk-kin. This one was mostly like a boar, but its tusks were branching, and its tail was snubbed.

Tala squeezed Rane’s hand. “No need to antagonize him.”

Rane grumbled slightly. “He could give clearer answers.”

She shrugged, then reached out with her will and took one of the haunches from the boar.

Anatalis stopped mid-chomp, not turning to look, even though his attention fell on the humans like a mountain. Tala sent her voice across the distance. “For Terry.”

The great wolf only paused a moment more before the weight passed. Then, he tore in once more, not deeming to comment or react further.

Rane squeezed her hand in turn. “Who’s antagonizing him, now?”

She smiled. “Terry would have been quite cross to miss out on arch-beast bacon.”

The spirit sitting beside her soul thrummed with agreement and approval.

Lea shook her head. “You two… I don’t know if you realize what a poor example you are sometimes.”

They both turned to look at her.

Tala lifted her hand, suddenly holding a certain sword. “Funny, I thought I gave this to a girl who understood how to control herself.”

Rane grinned. “I seem to remember that. Something about respect was in there too.”

“That’s what I remember.” Tala nodded sagely.

Lea glared, lifting her hand and willing the sword back. “Mine.”

Tala didn’t oppose her daughter, seeing the sparkle of humor in the young eyes. “We are doing our best, Lea.”

Rane smiled. “And so are you, sweet.”

Lea’s facade broke, and she smiled. “Yeah, yeah.”

Behind the family, the recovered members of the alliance were gathering.

The group—even including those in Ironhold—was far smaller than their initial force, but most of that was due to the charge of the Forest Spirit. Beyond that, they’d not only held their own, but won through with strength and skill.

It helped that the Black Legion forces had been scattered, confused, and uncoordinated for much of the clash, but either way, it was a boon.

Tala gave a nod. “Alright. You’ll all travel in Ironhold…” She trailed off as a figure limped up. “Eskau Meallain?”

The elf was thrashed.

Her iconic armor was in tatters, even the parts that had been on the side of her body away from the blast showing damage.

Her flesh was… not good.

It looked like a combination of days worth of sun exposure followed by a pack of feral predators.

Still, Eskau Meallain stood tall, her protian weapon in hand. Her voice was strong, but hoarse. “I will only go into Ironhold if you promise to bring me forth once more.” Everyone nearby was staring at her with different degrees of horror. Finally, the elf gave an appropriate, if clearly painful, bow. “Eskau of War.”

Tala sighed. “Why have you been resisting the pulls into Ironhold, Eskau Meallain?”

“I would not be denied the field. If I must fight like this, I will do so. I only slew two captains. That is not sufficient to my aims.”

Tala gave her a flat look, then shook her head. “I agree. Now, go, get healed.”

Eskau Meallain sagged in relief, disappearing a moment later, arriving within Ironhold before a cluster of healers that immediately got to work.

“Stubborn woman.”

Rane grinned at Tala, his eyes full of mirth.

“Hush you.”

His smile grew.

Tala grimaced, grumbling. Then, she stood along with her husband, their chairs vanishing. “All right. That’s the time we have. We move on the next factory, now.”