One of the benefits of Rayileklia’s telepathy spell compared to my Can’Z’aasian telepathy spell is that when first layered it starts out as at least a mile in range that it can cover between bonded people. The further applications with higher and higher quality ruby dust increase that distance and clarity. Right now, my bond with Tiktik and Teuila is already several layers deep due to the fairly high quality dust we’d used in the first place. I guess that means we’ve got two or three or so miles of range on our telepathy. It hasn’t come up until now, but since Tiktik is in town to work on crowd control, it’s helpful at the moment.

Tiktik seems to have found Harriet at one of the town squares. Harriet’s ringing a bell like mad. The bell’s ringing is echoed by more bells throughout the city, drawing everyone’s attention to head to the town squares. Harriet rallies the townsfolk expertly, beginning to organize them swiftly, despite the air of panic about the town.

Unfortunately, there’s some sort of dissenter, preaching out against Harriet’s call for action and evacuation suddenly. The crowd turns on Harriet in an instant, booing their mayor and shouting for her to get realistic. They’re suddenly convinced that there’s either no reason to, or no way to evacuate. Some are trying to make a separate call to action, to fight for their homes. Some are disbelieving everything entirely. Ugh, a bunch of idiots.

As helpful as having more bodies on the battlefield might be, every last one of them that showed up would just die. There are no trained warriors in the permanent citizens of The Brook. There might be some mercenary travelers, but Aasimovia was a country that relied on the threat of their ancestors to dissuade hostile activities. Almost no one took up adventuring or combat training. I draw a shuddering breath and sigh. This is not good.

Tiktik stands up for us, and amplifies the volume of her voice as she cries out, “You’d listen to these liars’ lies? While you shun and silence the wise? Look around and open your eyes! Your city isn’t it, your life is your greatest prize!”

That was catchy, but will it do anything to aid our cause? Wait, was the dissenter some kind of spellcaster? Did Tiktik dispel their magic using her own? Everyone in the crowd looks confused based on what she’s telepathically showing me. I, I can’t afford to focus on them. I have to focus on myself and my own powers. I have to bring everything to bear.

Sitting in the muddy path beneath the acidic drizzle, I close my eyes and focus on my breathing. I’ve had one spell from Can’Z’aas active almost every moment since I first thought up the ability after earning electrokinesis. I’ve been enhancing the relay speed of my neural and nervous pathways. What would it take to crank those beyond my limits? My last known safe limit was almost eleven percent that I remembered keeping track of in my mental interface. There was a lot of activity, a lot of combat, between that point, and when I died on Can’Z’aas. Then there were the two months on Rayileklia where the spell has been active as a mental subroutine. Theoretically, it might already be at about twenty percent or more with how much spellcasting I had to do in those final weeks on Can’Z’aas.

I’m not going to be able to take anything for granted. I need to imagine every possibility if I want a chance at survival for most of the town, let alone for myself. If Teuila doesn’t get back before the fighting starts, I—. I’m going to die. At least, as I am right now. How can I attain an entirely higher tier of power, back towards my old limitations on Can’Z’aas, in several short hours?

No Bud, we’ve been over this. Jarrah warned us not to do that. Whatever damage that might cause my soul, or inner self, or whatever, I’m not willing to risk. Thank you for the offer. It might just kill me outright for all we know. It’s too risky. Err, yes, I understand the hypocrisy of my statement, when I’m taking risks that I’m almost sure will kill me. I just--, if there’s any sort of afterlife, I want to be able to share mine with Teuila when she eventually dies. If she does. She might have a dragon’s immortal longevity too, and she’s powerful enough that she might be able to avoid getting killed until the end of time for all I know. I, I just. I don’t want to lose that possibility. It’s too horrific to contemplate.

Let’s think about some of the things we can use. This bottle seems to pour out smoke endlessly. If we set it up now, it might provide obscurement for a large area. I don’t need my sight to be able to fight. If we’re lucky, whatever the Felgre horde is still needs their vision. They may have been trapped in caves for an untold amount of time, but hopefully they haven’t developed some sort of sightless adaptation. We, err, I, I guess I can set it closer to Lake Siempre, to make it harder for them to perceive any of the boats that manage to flee with evacuees.

Hm? I—. What Bud? My wrath? It--, yeah. It might make me more powerful. It has certainly slain everyone around me rather swiftly every time it was unleashed. I’m afraid of it though. What if I hurt someone? What if I kill someone innocent? Err, I suppose you’re right. If I somehow manage to kill all of the Felgres, I’d probably pass out before I could turn my wrath on innocent townsfolk. So, well, yeah, maybe that’s an option.

Tiktik has some rodent summoning things. As much as I don’t like considering anyone or anything sacrificial, it’d probably be best if we used those right away to test out the might of the horde, maybe hold them off for a short while. She and I both have pan pipes that can direct rodents.

A voice I haven’t heard in a very long time states simply, “You’re going to die. No one with any brains takes on an army alone.”

I flash my gaze about, staring everywhere, including at my own chest, for signs of the person responsible for the voice. I’m almost certain it’s the ghost of Aces.

Calling out to the voice, I demand, “If you’re there, if you are who I think you are, show yourself! Answer me! Have an actual conversation!”

Nothing. As usual. Whatever. I don’t need this stupid distraction, or its useless obvious statement. Yeah Bud, I could be hallucinating, true. Anyway, so we have Apheliotes Zephyrus, the gryphon statue. He could probably help out in a pinch, and he should be pretty solid, err, I mean, he’ll be solid bronze, so, well, yeah. We should get Tiktik to lay down as many of her exploding glyphs as possible directly behind me, so that if I’m forced back, the foes forcing me back explode. Yes, I’ll be exploded too. I’m not all that concerned by explosions after the massive one I lived through last time. It blew several stone elementals to dust, and I was nearly dead already, but still lived through it.

Let’s see, rodents, gryphon, explosives in the form of glyphs, some of Tiktik’s fuzzy buddies from her bag. I could set up a wall of flames, but the horde would just walk around it. I can conjure a small sleet storm, but much the same. I’ll use my partially broken staff of thunder and lightning. I’m sorry TQ. I’m probably going to break and lose my only reminder of the first friend I ever lost. Hm? Yeah Bud. Someone I hadn’t really met yet died trying to defend me from a hydra-like serpent. They had a powerful staff. I sort of inherited the staff, but I nearly broke it once already by channeling lightning for too long when trying to glass a beach into fulgurite.

Starting to form a plan here though, hm, yes. I’ll wield my thunder stick in my right hand while I hold my archsorc staff in my left hand. My buckler on my left arm will help keep that powerful staff from being shattered. I expect the thunder stick to shatter at some point. After that happens, I’ll set up my holy halefire double barreled wrist crossbow on my right arm, and draw my dagger with my right hand. I’ll be dropping fireballs and lightning bolts from the archsorc staff with my left hand. I’ll only be able to safely use five or so of those, huff. I need to quickly practice one more rune to master the fifth tier of summon monstrous mana construct. I think a horde of mana construct allies is probably the best use of my personal S P pool. I can do maybe seven of those safely with quick casting, maybe closer to ten now, my point of stress along my total S P pool has moved further towards my total limit. I think a fair estimate is about six hundred sixty S P. That's ten quick mana constructs, or twenty slow ones. If I do one quick construct, and eighteen slow ones, with Apheliotes, and me, that makes a whole platoon. They don't last forever, and keeping them invoked is, well, it's not supposed to be possible to have more than one at a time. But, well, I'm me. I break rules all the time. Let's just hope this is one that I can break and survive.

I’ll wait until Tiktik’s mostly tapped out before conjuring the mana constructs, so that they don’t just die in her hail of fire and lightning. I assume she’ll be blasting through the charges in her wands, risking every last bit of their power. I think that means seven fireballs and seven lightning bolts from her wands, and possibly a few more from her powerful staff. After I’ve got the first mana construct up with a quickened cast, I’ll try to cast the other ones more slowly to conserve S P.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

I stumbled across a weather control spell on the way to The Brook, but I didn’t even have time to check how many runes it takes with worrying about Daffodil. It could prove useful depending on how potent it is. Maybe we could bend the clouds down so that lightning forms a cage or a wall around part of the city. I know it’s a stretch, but you know me, stretching magic is half of what I do.

Okay, quickly, this last rune. Let’s go, let’s go. Get ready for this. Hm, hm hm hm. Huff. Ugh, I’m dizzy and sleepy again already. I’m really not up to this task, but that doesn’t matter, because no one else is either. Yes Bud, the elementals are the final option, if we’ve exhausted all of our own renewable and semi renewable, or other consumable resources, and it still looks hopeless, then I’ll tell Tiktik to read her scroll, and I’ll read a scroll while tossing out the three stones. I’ll then use the staff’s last few charges to conjure a fire elemental. I’m hoping that between two stone elmentals, an air elemental, and a fire elemental, they’ll be able to become some kind of magma storm elemental or something, and maybe carve a gulf of lava between the village and the horde, or something.

I know, I know. A fire elemental will probably be pissy about the acid rain, but if it works together with either of the other elementals, they’ll be able to keep it shielded from the rain. Yeah, it’s the element with the biggest crowd control ability that I understand how to summon. If I could summon a lightning elemental, I would try that too, or maybe first. Though if it just grounds itself and dies, that would be pointless. A pure mana elemental? I, uh. I don’t know Bud. I, err, well, true. I can conjure a mid tier monstrous mana construct, but that feels different. Elementals are free-willed spirits of a natural element that exist in a realm parallel to ours. According to Elder of the kobold tribe. Summoning them is basically just opening a rip in reality that lets them pass through to this side of the coin temporarily. They take shape based on the available ambient mana. They can last longer with more mana or S P provided by a caster, or that ambient mana which resides in the air.

What else? I, I don’t know yet. I’m, I’m getting so sleepy Bud. Hungry too, but, but everything hurts again. I, gulp. Bud? Please, please wake me up in an hour or two, or at the latest, before they close in on the city. I can barely keep my eyes open. When I wake, I’ll be trying to set my internal electrokinesis into hyperdrive.

I awaken to a familiar, yet unexpected voice yelling at me to get up. I groggily stretch my muscles as I slowly blink myself awake in the mud where I sit crouched. What in the name of all the hells? No, absolutely not, just no.

I growl, “All of you, get the hell out of here. I’m literally going to explode with fire and lightning when our foes arrive. You will all die. I’ve rested myself for the coming battle, and I can give it my all.”

I roll my eyes as Keeley starts to speak, growling, “Listen ‘ere you liddle shid! You, you, you don’t get to just die for us! We’ll damn well do our dying for ourselves!”

I ignore Keeley completely as I turn to George with a disappointed look. I ask him, “What are you even doing here George? You know the stakes, you know how powerful I am. I’m literally going to have Tiktik rain down hells of lightning and fire upon me and our foes. That sort of thing won’t affect me, but it would kill all of you. It would be pointless for you to be here.”

George chuckles with chagrin as he avoids my gaze with an abashed expression. Marshal looks uncertain of himself. There are a handful of villagers with tools, farming implements, cutlery, and a fair few actual weapons, swords, axes, and the like. Keeley, the wall of a woman that she is, is of course wielding two gigantic meat cleavers.

Growling, I take out spare parchment, my fire-starter, and I hack a branch off of a bush nearby. Lighting the parchment, I hold it with my bare hands as I let it dry out and ignite the branch which I hold up to my face as I shout at the small assembled crowd, “Can any of you do this!? Can you survive it!? Get the hell out of here! Take up positions in town, guard the rear of the evacuation, whatever you want, but get the flark out of here! As the ultimate last resort, I’ll be destroying the town around the oncoming horde! Get everyone out of the town!”

There’s shock painted across most of the gathered faces, and gasps from those assembled. Several people begin to edge away, ashamedly. Keeley refuses to budge. Gorramit woman! Huff. I draw a deep breath and sigh. Unless I let her die, or kill her, she’s going to screw up all of my plans. I draw my thunder stick and slam it into the ground, emanating a massive thunderclap with enough force to blow back everyone standing nearby, sending them either tumbling or skidding back several feet, Keeley included, despite her mass. George stands from where he’d fallen, and picks up the crossbow bolts that spilled out of a quiver I hadn’t noticed. He gulps, but only retreats a few dozen more feet. It’s then that I notice the townsfolk have done what I asked Harriet to request. They’ve created a massive barricade along the east side of town with everything that wasn’t nailed down. Tables, building supplies, crafting supplies, spare equipment, and assorted odds and ends form a crude barrier blocking entry to town, enhancing its low perimeter wall.

Despite knowing that they’re committed to helping me protect their town, I growl, “If you can’t withstand my weakest ability, you have no hope of surviving near me! Go defend the barricade! Please. I beg you. I don’t want to see any of you die. I— I can’t bear it. Not again.”

I clasp the pouch attached to the neckchain of the ever breathing. Bud and the egg are within. I could spend the life force in the egg to go back in time, somewhat. I could maybe send a ghostly message back to an earlier version of myself. But what message could I give me that would change the course of events? If I don’t change the flow of events, then I’ll have wasted the rarest, most precious life force in existence. The unhatchable child is the product of the mating of a roc and a phoenix. I know that if I survive, some day I will stumble across a way to bring it forth. Just like how Lucky was born from an egg that I’d carried for a year, and the extremely convoluted events that led to his birth.

The constant tremor that I’ve perceived since Noirdivinhoz, the vibratory trembling, grows closer, frighteningly close. I sag, weakened and saddened, dropping to my knees. I don’t want them to die Bud. I don’t. How do I make them understand that I’m the only one that can do this? My electrokinesis? I, well, I guess I can give amping it up a shot right now.

I reach deep within myself, staring sadly at the inner me, my true Changeling self, protected by a thin shell of purple flickering force, being strangled by corrupted mana. I plunge the hands of that inner self forward into this corrupted mana flow sticking to it like a viscous ichor. I have the inner me seek out elemental lightning, and connect it to my internal electrokinesis. I feel its effects immediately, worse, its effects bleed forth from even my physical form. The utter burning agony within me is indescribable. It’s as if the electrons are trying to rend every molecule in my body apart from one another. Still, if this is what it takes, so be it.

I notice arcs of electricity skipping forth from me, dancing along the air to the ground nearby, and I choke down vomit full of my own blood to not give away how much closer this is bringing me to death. Even Keeley stumbles away upon witnessing this display of power. I’m not sure how long I can keep this up Bud, but it sounds like the horde is getting close. Well, sounds is a strong word. I can’t hear anything approaching over the constant thunder in Rayileklia’s darkened skies, but I feel the rumble.

I beg one last time, “Please, all of you. Stay safe. Get safe. Protect your loved ones. George? I. Glp. If I don’t come back from this. Tell Teuila I love her. To the very end of everything. I—. Say goodbye to Tiago for me. Make sure Tiktik gets out of this alive. She’ll protect you all from the hydra. Goodbye.”

I turn my back on the crowd and begin marching east, saying to hell with my plans of making a stand near the town where I could funnel the foes to me. They screwed my chances. Tiktik? If you can hear my thoughts, I need you to start with rodents and vermin and fuzzy buddies and other constructs to test the might of the horde. I’m assuming they’ll all die. After those, burn all of your artillery early on so that we can bring out my more powerful summons without you blowing them up. Set up your glyphs behind me so that I can fall back through them to buy myself occasional breathers within the explosions. Yes, explosions are more of a breather than fighting a horde.

I hear panpipes despite the crackle and rumble and fury of the skies. Tiktik’s doing as I asked. It’s not long before I’m surrounded by rodents swaying side to side as they advance with me. I struggle to contain my internal lightning so as not to harm or scare them. I can sense the most stubborn individuals still standing firm outside the town’s barrier, but I can’t afford to worry about them any longer. This is it Bud. Start setting up a natural barrier behind me, from the lake as far south as you can muster. Please don’t kill yourself doing it. Please. I’m begging you. Okay? I’m happy to be your partner. I’m going to try to live. Okay? You do the same. Just—. If this is goodbye. Thank you for choosing me. For being my friend.

I let anger flow through and over me. I imagine the lives lost in the town to the northeast, Gran Vista. I imagine why Malta Verde is no longer a settlement. I imagine the residents of The Brook perishing at the hands of some horde of Felgre forces. It doesn’t take much pushing to loose my greatest sin, to set free my wrath. Especially once the front edge of the advancing forces begins to appear as a wave of blackness, peppered with occasional flames, washing closer from the distance. My vision runs red as blood as hatred seethes from me. Wrath, I unleash you. Don’t make me regret this.