24.

It was good to be leaving the fort. Forty-something people trailed behind me as I marched out. The most adventurous of those who had been forced to work and the mountain squads. Four days of breakneck training. Eight five man squads. How we had come to five I didn’t know, but it was working for us. They had told us what they were doing with the mana hearts at least. Infusion. Strengthening the weapons. It had been a revelation since we were growing strong enough that several spears had broken in my hands during fights or training. I had ordered the emptying of the armory they had been building for Dan to equip all of us.

Part of me still cringed at the loss of all the mana hearts required to strengthen the weapons. We needed more durable weapons, but I could be getting to the low teens with my constitution! The desire to see those numbers grow was insidious to say the least. I could feel it creeping to the forefront of my mind. Just spend all those free points and you’d grow so much stronger. Impulse control was being tested every day.

The days of training had seen rapid growth for the newest members of my army. For the most part, they had been below level five when I had arrived, only a few points to spend. After four days of manning the walls they had all risen multiple levels so now the average was around level eight. The two mountain squads were still the strongest on average, with Agatha being the premier elite. Watching her form bolts of mana and launch them from the wall had been awe inspiring. Inspecting the damage in the morning light had been terrifying.

The hard shells of the crab beasts had been melted. Bored through like a drill goes through soft dirt. The mana hearts had been destroyed, the entire inside boiled away. Everyone had started being much more polite to her and Olivia after that. There was something nice about having the biggest and baddest person as a group member. As long as she was willing to work with me. If she wasn’t, that could become a problem then. So I made sure to be nice to Olivia.

After talking to the fighters left by Dan, we found out he was headed South. Some scouting parties had found the next group and their northernmost keep. The bugs. Or at least, who I suspected to be the bugs after having listened to what they had told me. Luke had led the charge and continued to fight at the forefront. The only keep captured had been by Luke, and then they had stalled. The bugs were numerous, each keep filled with scores of foes. That and at night the fishmen attacked. So far there had been no deaths, but the injuries required a constant stream of healing draughts from the fort.

We were carrying the next shipment of draughts in packs. Our council of war had decided that we needed to be at the forefront of the fight. We were the weakest squad currently but the levels we would gain from fighting other sentients would be massive. I had gained two levels from killing the warden. The levels we could gain from the bugs could be huge. If we stayed alive. If the mana hearts we had been consuming had boosted us enough to be viable fighters against other creatures that were actively leveling. Every step further South drove more doubts into my mind.

I ordered that the newest squads fight any of the monsters we encountered, rotating them after every fight. My squad and the mountains stayed in the center of a loose ring, ready to respond in any direction. Over an afternoon we only encountered one pack of the rabid rabbits. They fell swiftly, their once advanced speed not enough to keep up with our higher levels. It just reconfirmed my thoughts that the beast mobs were meant for early farming. Gain a few levels and some mana hearts and then the real foe would be the increasing difficulty of the night attacks and your fellow competitors. Still, we were careful with all of the fights, having no desire to waste healing draughts because someone got sloppy.

I kept my eyes peeled, watching the long grass as we moved further and further South. There was an excitement in me, a sense of joy at finally being able to move and start accomplishing my goals. Our brief time in the North had been a welcome boon, but hadn’t been part of my, admittedly nebulous, plan. Now I would finally pit myself against Dan. It was time to see who would emerge on top. Would we cling to the remnants of the old world? To believing and following the old social strata? Or could we cast is aside? Would the others follow me, someone that they barely knew. Or would they all have to feed the fishes?

My soft chuckle at that random thought had Miguel looking over curiously. I just waved him off as we continued our march in relative silence. It was nice to be moving and having time to think. There was a tranquility in movement, of your physical sense being occupied while your mind drifted out. Killing the warden had hardened something in me. I didn’t know what it was, maybe a sense of conviction. I was on the path to confrontation no matter what. I had crossed the Rubicon. There was a sense of peace with this. I may have had doubts about my plans working, but that I would move forward to claim leadership and control was no longer in doubt. Even while marching back with the mountain refugees having sworn fealty, I could have backed down. Yielded to Dan.

Now, it would either be he bent the knee. Or he died.

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I didn’t know which of those outcomes I wanted. There’d be a great sense of power if Dan fell to me. To see him utterly defeated. However, the amount of experience he had and the loyalty of the fighters would be critical if I wanted to win this though. I would need the best fighters possible and have them led competently.

The thought of the best fighter caused me to think of Luke. The man who had built a reputation in such a short time. A true warrior. Strong, relentless, unyielding, and skilled. If he had even the most basic modicum of social skills I would be worried. The man was reportedly more interested in fighting than talking and when someone did manage to pry a few words out of him, he was one of the most rude assholes anyone had dealt with. I had a hunch he would choose death to yielding. I couldn’t trust him without the oath and I doubted he’d swear it. The type of man who’d rather break than bend. There was an honesty to that. Something to respect. I would lay flowers on his grave.

The afternoon sun was sinking as we found a copse of trees. The bare limbs were entwined together to form a canopy over our heads as we walked in. A heavy silence pressed all around us as the shadows lengthened. The cold breeze from the sea still brushed against my skin, though my heightened constitution had taken most of its bite away. The swaying of the branches above our heads, the clacking of wood on wood, a constant background noise. There was something sinister about walking through the bare trees. The thin trunks grew in such close proximity, that we couldn’t hold any type of formation. All of us weaving in and around the grove. Frozen soil crunched underfoot as I peered above us, most of the sky blocked out by the sheer amount of tree limbs.

The smell of fire tickled my nose. We kept working our way through the thicket, trying to find a way out. I was wondering if our directions had been misleading. The thicket had been on our way towards the keep Luke had taken. This wasn’t matching the description I had taken from the guards. All of their information had been second hand though. Could something have been lost in between? The smell of smoke and fire kept growing stronger until I stumbled as the trees suddenly disappeared.

A fire had ravaged this place. Though consumed might be a better word. Looking over the burnt, ashen remains that formed the outer area where the fire had ravaged I could tell something was off. I didn’t have a ton of experience with forest fires, but I don’t think that burned trees should be pillars of ash. I brushed one and had to scramble backwards as it collapsed on itself in a flurry of white ash.

Miguel came behind me and looked around at the ruins with wide eyes. I couldn’t fault him. It was as if a god had dropped a fireball into the heart of this dead grove of trees and burned out a thirty foot wide circle. In the center there were no remains, no trunks or roots. In the epicenter was a small crater leading to a thirty foot circle of cleared out space with ash that rose to shin deep. Heat still radiated out of the center of the pile, pulsing waves of comforting warmth.

“What do you think happened here?” Miguel asked as he kicked around the outer edge. He disrupted another ash tree and had to dodge backward as it imploded. His hand never released the hilt of his short sword, but his eyes were gleaming with curiosity.

“I think it's one of the other factions.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. None of the other monsters that come naturally from the tutorial have exhibited this type of power.”

“Do you think they have mana?”

“Yeah.”

“Like, naturally? Born with it?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“So, they could have people who are stronger than Agatha who know real magic. Not just the bolt she has figured out?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.” Miguel stopped moving and looked at the circle of death around us. A paleness crept into his swarthy features. More people were working their way out of the still living trees, accidentally collapsing more trees into ash clouds.

“We’re fucked.”

I didn’t disagree with him. Standing at the epicenter of this fire. Feeling the warmth still radiating out of it. All of my prior plans were fading away. How could I compare to this type of power? What did it matter if I made a bunch of humans, even superpowered humans, agree to follow me, if there were other beings here who could do this.

“We’ll figure it out,” Bobby’s voice cut through the stunned silence that was dominating the area. I felt relief as she marched into the clearing, uncaring of the ash swirling around her and coating her legs. Her large warhammer perched on her shoulder as she took in the controlled carnage. There was no fear or nervousness in her expression as she marched by. Fuck, she was cool.

We left the circle of ash behind. The mutters of the others audible as we kept working our way through the trees. The sun had faded to just the barest sliver on the horizon, the grove we were in almost consumed by shadows. We would only have a few minutes and then the next wave of attacks would come. Storm elementals, commander class fishmen, crab tanks, and then the bugs themselves. I didn’t want to be stuck in the dense forest when that happened.

“Pick up the pace! We only have a few more minutes!” I called out to our team and matched my words with actions. Over the last ten minutes the trees had been growing thinner, allowing us to walk two wide at certain points. It would be hard camping tonight, no fire or lights with multiple squads on guard. I had really hoped we could make it to the captured keep before the sun set, but it wasn’t going to happen.

A musical voice called out. If the summer wind had taken the darkest and deepest of shadows as a lover, this is what the voice sounded like. Gentle summer nights, the air still hot and pressing down on your body as the sun sank beneath the horizon. A quiet twilight. Inhuman.

“Please. Help me.”