Hearing Prinrin continue keeps my heart from shattering as she begs, “Please, please save Fen! I can’t get to Fen in time! Too, ow, too hot, too many fire mages here! Fen’s down! I haven’t heard--, Fen won’t answer!”

I glance at Luni and Lucky, keeping Vanathar pinned, with tears in my eyes, but Luni absolves me, “Go Hero. You’ve got this. Always have, and always will. We can last a little longer.”

I sniffle and gulp down my emotions at Luni’s assertion. I balk for only an instant as I consider the information at hand. Prinrin had too many fire mages in her contingent? They’d have caught on to the acid, and started erecting walls of fire, launching fireballs, or positioning shields of flame to burn the acid raining down, neutralizing much of her effectiveness, far, far too early. I almost want to rush to her side, but she asked me to save Fenric, who isn’t responding.

Where the hell is Gilmeshtu? Oh, he’s embroiled in a battle with the thing I couldn’t recognize from my short sensory scan. He’s a massive thermal fluctuation right now, a grand conflagration. Orthral the bronze is closer to Prinrin, and he’s likely going to blast lightning across everywhere that’s still acid-wet before it’s all dehydrated. Frick, all of the Vivant are too far to the southwest at this point, since Fenric swapped east with Gilmeshtu. Yeah, I guess it’s up to me.

So either Fenric’s had his enchantment dispelled, or he’s been brainblasted by psychic attacks, or— he’s unconscious, dying, or dead. I doubt it’s the first option, because the psychic bond enchantment doesn’t register as a powerful enough enchantment to warrant someone using dispellation on it. If it’s the second one, well, I’m personally friggin’ screwed. I don’t want it to be the third though. Genre senses saying about seventy to eighty percent chances it’s the second one anyway. Guess I’ll go get screwed.

I hang my head in shame before the giggling belonging to Prinrin, Luni, Lil, and Teuila, even starts across the psychic wavelengths. Really? All four of you? Mid battle? Huff. I can’t help laughing and shaking my head at myself anyway. It’s my own fault really. Heh. These people. I swear. I love them to death. Yeah you too Prinny. I’m leaping towards Fenric’s last known position now. Do I dare use another charge of my coat, on the way there? It’s slightly faster than Tee Kay Ess Elling I believe. I’ve only got two uses left. I might need them against Vanathar, or against whatever mages have taken down Fenric.

I’ll use one, if I get close enough with my T K S L, to see the layout, to find a path that would get me to the worst of Fenric’s assailants. Let’s take a little bit of a number four with me, charging up some along the way, to add a little bit of a lightning burst boost, an L B B to our T K S L. That might make up for the difference in speed compared to my raven’s flight. Well, a little bit closer anyway. Yeah, I think as a raven I hit around twenty to thirty, probably twenty five miles per hour. My T K S L’ing is about that, so the L B B might even put me over by a little bit.

I’m really only covering about eleven meters per second, maybe twelve, and it’s mostly because of my effed up physiology with my cored-out nerve tunnels. The amount of time and effort it takes to take a deep breath, bunch my muscles, plant a TK square, and unleash my muscles is too long. The actual velocity I reach while moving is probably closer to fifteen to twenty meters per second, which is good, I just wish I had my old fluidity of motion and reaction speed back. Also, this was before calculating in the L B B, but that comes with its own host of problems, wearing the number four for any amount of time to generate the charge which slows my movements especially with my legs, even more, the exruciating effing agony of being struck by actual lightning and more.

Okay, we’re passing over a lot of corpses at the north edge of the ground hordes, tons of kobolds and Draconiacs, but surprisingly, a few humans peppered throughout. I don’t think they’re human-form dragons either, because I don’t sense any dragonforce, at least, not more than what might be gifted as a temporary boon, and it’s not like Gilmeshtu stopped to eat their hearts. A swath of hundreds dead, out of thousands, and I see some corpses shifting, denoting the presence of living beings hidden beneath their allies, probably struggling to breathe in the heat in the aftermath of the blast.

At least there are no lingering flames, in part, due to Rayileklia’s neverending Worldstorm of acid rainfall. Still, I’m going to put up my Steely Body spell again, because I don’t know what I’m going into, and I was about to do it before going up against Vanathar. Huff, more multitasking that’s incredibly precise, and difficult while in motion, having to use internal electrokinesis for every little movement. Still, another chunk of adamantite shavings and filings gone from one pouch, and I’ve got another pouch right next to it, so I should be good for now.

Fenric is— Oh no! There’s a dozen or so mages around him, keeping him brainlashed or brainblasted, and they’re trying to work some kind of enchantment on him. I crank my aura vision to the maximum to get a read on the situations. Genre senses say ninety nine point five percent chance the enchantment will dominate Fenric’s mind and turn him against us. No no no no. I don’t have dispellation learned yet, I can’t free him if they succeed! I’d have to kill him. No no no no no. Quickly, dive into a moment between moments! Drink of the absence of time, revel in the non, pass beyond galaxies, into the darkness, the void beyond. Calm yourself, think, paint the picture.

There’s seventeen, eighteen, nineteen mages, psychic ones, psions I guess, surrounding Fenric at close range, even still, that’s fifty meters between any of the furthest two. There are more mages, further out, they’ve got stone-shaping magic, they’ve conjured stone about his ankles, snaring him to the ground. They likely also protected most of these mental mages from both Gilmeshtu’s fire blast, and Fenric’s frost. There are about half a dozen non mages standing with each mage, in a semi-circle towards Fenric, using their bodies to protect the mages should Fenric slip free for even a moment.

Hm, what’s this? There’s illusion auras off to the sides, behind some of these mages, and in clumps over here, and there. Ah. There are also several hidden mages. Crap. I wish I had brought Teuila’s lantern, it would reveal the invisible ones. I know their general location because of the presence of illusory magic in their vicinity, or at least, where they had cast the spells of invisibility. Friggin’ shiznickle fudgeknuckles. Okay, okay, calm down. We need to throw a whole hell of a lot at them at once to disrupt this. The others will just pick up slack if we don’t.

Okay, three of them I can mess up their runework by conjuring my telekinetic squares between their fingers, or just gripping them entirely. I can’t risk using a deadly element from greatest shadowy evocation with Fenric in the middle of these clusters. Worse, they seem to be psychic specialization mages, psions, so they’re going to possibly even see through a greatest shadowy spell. Bugger it all, one of my best spells. Probably my strongest offense, and I can’t use it half the time. With my S P limits, it’s not safe to gamble a whole sixty six S P in a battle on a spell that might do nothing. I’m already down over a hundred thirty, just from using Steely Body twice, and empowering a single fire rune.

I can’t hit more than a single clustered group of one psion and their non-mage protectors with a fireball, but it would be worth it to launch a fireball at a far group, while lining up a lightning bolt at four groups along Fenrics west that are lined up nicely. Immediately after doing both of those almost simultaneously, I’ll conjure an elemental from the staff, while we have forward momentum, and I’ll pass it a full Valkyrie armor and weapons outfit while I’m drawing it forth from the elemental plane adjacent to ours. With any luck, I’ll find a really big one.

Any elemental might end up being a mud elemental or something though, that’s probably the quickest thing to grab that would be attracted to the presence of this area of our world. Though Gilmeshtu did pass through with fire, and Fenric is sitting right there with ice. Is an ice elemental a good option? It’s brittle, and there are melee combatants around, but I’ll be giving it armor. The reflectiveness might be disorienting for the mages, and possibly even reduce the effects of certain kinds of spells. Yeah, I’ll grab for the nearest thing in the elemental plane while casting the spell from the staff, but I’ll try to focus on large, and ice, while holding out a hand containing the Valkyrie equipment.

I’ll then use a number one from the Q C R to become ravens, as attention will be turning towards the direction the fireball and lightning bolt came from. They’ll see the elemental sailing down at them, but won’t have seen me behind the elemental, because I’ll transform into the three ravens at maximum distances out ahead to the sides.

I’m panting, exhausted. Honoris Causa plus Latent plus absence of time is, is, it’s wearying. Huff. Can’t think straight. Have to keep it up to fight Vanathar. Think Reggie, analyze their motions. Pick the three that will be easiest to conjure grips around. Use them to bludgeon their own melee protection squads to disorient them. Fling them up, release the grips, grip them back in the air and fling them down to the ground. Use minimal time maintaining the grips, so they don’t get the chance to shatter them, and throw your brain out of whack.

I wish I had brought the elemental bandolier. I’m not a great aim with my body like this, but I don’t have to be. I can redirect a throw with telekinesis mid-flight. Who did I tell to take it? If it was Lu, it might be in Te’s transdimensional traveler’s bag. Lu could access it from her dimensional pouch if so. Te could snag it as well, but I’d not be able to. I’ve got my hyperdimensional haversack. Did I put it in there? Crap, just assume no. That would have been a good one to use up on crowds like this. Its random elemental nature could have at least some splash damage properties, either acid or fire, or maybe even shards of ice, or a thundrous knockdown.

Huff, yeesh, okay, anything else? Rapid T K grips and releases, and casting a fireball out east, that’s four packs dealt with on the east side. Lightning bolt down the west side for four more packs. The elemental I conjure will unleash havoc along Fenric’s northern flank, hopefully able to disrupt the four Draconiac psions up there. That leaves seven groupings of mages along Fenric’s south side. I’ll have to put away the archsorc staff as I turn into ravens, and see what sort of positioning I can get along the south side.

I might be able to ping two of the psions with my holy halefire double-barreled wrist-mounted crossbow as I’m landing, possibly four if I’m really, really lucky. I’ll need to land on one with Frostburn drawn. Still at least two psion left. Wait, I can throw Frostburn while I let my adamantite body simply plummet atop a psion. Perhaps throw a Valkyrie dagger instead, slightly more aerodynamic. I can keep Frostburn in my mainhand then while I fire my wrist crossbow, even using it to level my aim a bit by resting it atop my left arm, after throwing the dagger with my offhand.

Panting, so exhausted, playing out the possible futures. It’s, it’s so tiring. When I reform, the ones I screwed with before becoming ravens will be too far away. That ends up meaning the elemental has to deal with seven total, while I can disorient three to six of the seven that I’m leaving for it to deal with, by using quick flings before transforming. That leaves me simply having to cover enough distance to finish off the one that hadn’t been hit at all, to disrupt this psychic chain entirely, almost all at once. Then I have to kill the ones I only pinged with weak attacks before they recover their senses.

Huff, this is probably the most I’ve had to coordinate my own near-simultaneous unleashings of power ever. I have to do it in the correct order so I don’t screw up my brain by trying to cast from the staff while I have a concentrated spell out. Okay, release your grasp on the flow of time Reggie. Drop back from the non, snap back to reality, and abuse the hell out of gravity.

We’re in motion, but I’m pushing my perceptions to their limits, acting in fractions of seconds. Fireball, furthest east I can reach without clipping Fenric, at his three o’clock if north is twelve. Three flings on the psions that are closer counterclockwise than the pack the fireball will land in. Lightning bolt directly south along Fenric’s west flank, three more telekinetic flings on three other psions closer counterclockwise from the pack the fireball will land in. Reach my hand into the elemental plane and grasp the—

Hello. This one wants half again as many S P from the staff to be able to make it to this realm. It’s massive though, and it’s thermal in ways like me, mastery over hot and cold. Yes, yes I’ll gladly pay the extra mana from the staff. Please, come aid me, take this equipment, save the silver dragon by destroying the psychic mage, the psion you’ll land on, and the disoriented ones along the north-eastern flank.

You have a humanoid form and a lizard form? Fantastic. Use what you need to. A Flamefrost Salamanderian elemental. I’ve never heard of such a thing, but it must be near because of the combination of fire and ice elemental dragonforces in the area, and perhaps responded to my call because of my void attracting energy and energy-beings. Also possibly because I wield Frostburn?

As the Flamefrost Salamanderian manifests, I’m already using a Q C R number one, becoming ravens. Only one use left today, and we manifest ourselves dozens of feet towards the southeast, as all of our spells hit simultaneously as the six mages I’d flung into the air land. The Flamefrost Salamanderian dons the Valkyrie equipment as it assumes a humanoid guise that’s eighteen feet tall. She, apparently, sails forth, crashing down into the seventh psion along the north western corner of Fenric. The Draconiac psychic mage is instantly crushed as she begins cutting a swath east through the ranks of the melee protectors of the other mages.

We fly swiftly as this is occurring, we spread out along the south and southeast edges, high in the air enough to go mostly unnoticed. We pick a position, one clockwise from the furthest east, we are at approximately quarter to five o’clock with north as twelve, as we resume the form of Reggie Shellcracker. Reggie, I, hold my breath and free a dagger from its sheath while I draw Frostburn in the same moment that my right wrist dons the holy halefire crossbow. In the same motion I use to unsheathe the dagger, I throw it towards the psion one group to my southwest.

As my left arm is raised to level out from the toss, I lay Frostburn horizontally across it, and take aim at two mages furthest west from me. Out of my seven down here, I aim at seven and six, who happen to be located near seven and six o’clock, and unleash bolts towards their center of mass. My holy halefire crossbow instantly reloads, so I fire at numbers five and four as well. I begin to breathe, and plummet atop psion number two, as my dagger strikes mage number three.

My adamantite body creating a crater where a Draconiac psychic mage once stood, behind her protectors, unleashes chaos in the crowd of melee combatants who’d been planning on protecting her from the dragon to their fore. I create a pair of telekinetic squares parallel to the path I want to travel, keeping a hallway open for my lunge. I draw a deep breath, hold it, and launch myself eastward with my third square, performing a T K S L with an L B B. My goal is the pack that includes psion number one of my seven located at Fenric’s four o’clock.

Two arrows strike my adamantite body, completely ineffectually, as does one spear. The spear knocks me slightly off course, but I don’t need to make it all the way to Fenric’s four o’clock to deal with that psion. I wrest the Draconiac psion from his group of protectors, flinging him towards my flight path, with Frostburn leveled at his neck. As my blade passes through the last psion not already discombobulated, I take a quick breath and turn my attentions to both my north, along Fenric’s east flank, and to my west, along his south flank.

Psychically, I call out to Fenric, “Invisible mages to your west, and southwest, stonemover mages to your southwest. Only eight of the nineteen psions dead. Two dead at southeast corner by my hand, four dead on your west flank from my lightning bolt, one dead along your east flank from my fireball, one dead, crushed by my Frostfire Salamanderian. It’s an ally cutting its way east along your north flank, don’t attack it. Tell me what you need most.”

Across our wavelength Fenric growls, “Psions east and north then. You—,“ begrudgingly finishing, “have my gratitude Schism.”

With that, Fenric the Silver, a massive, beautiful dragon, whose banded scales shine like twinkling stars in the flicker of lightning, begins charging a blast of frost breath, a short burst. Since Fen was already facing south, it takes almost no effort for them to exhale along their southern flank, from nearly my location, westward. As they begin unleashing their breath, I continue my journey eastward and northward, around their flank, using T K S Ls while holding my breath to avoid wasting time on the melee rabble. As much as I can, I continue reaching out telekinetically to throw psions off of their game, and to either throw them towards me, or towards, funnily enough, my F F S, my Frostfire Salamanderian ally.

I hear some smirks and some giggles across my telepathic wavelengths. That’s good, it means that the others are still doing alright. As soon as these mages are dead, I need to hasten my way back north to deal Vanathar, I can tell Lucky is whimpering in soreness from holding the lock on the mighty Bruiser class dragon. Fenric still has about a thousand ground troops down here to route, and I can sense Gilmeshtu is still dealing with whatever I don’t recognize in the midst of his section of the horde. I’ll have to trust the Vivant to handle themselves for now.

It has been barely a minute, perhaps two since I departed Luni’s side from Vanathar to head to Fenric’s aid. Barely half a minute more than that since I shut down Xinthoz’s dragonfright. I feel like I’ve done more in those ninety seconds than I’ve done in most other days of either of my lives. Hell, the assault on the psions was only about ten to twenty seconds so far. It was brutal coordinating so that so many of my attacks would land simultaneously. Phew. I couldn’t risk the psions realizing I was amongst them, and acting to shut me down. I couldn’t give them even a second to allow a single of their spells to find my mind.

Somehow? Somehow I didn’t. Two more dead by Frostburn, two more dead by Frostfire Salamanderian. There are two more between us, and Fenric is fast destroying everything to his south, southwest, and west. He easily drags free his legs as the stoneshaper mages die. The last two mages, I fling one towards Salamanderian, and one towards myself, as I kick off of a T K Square, holding my breath. I should perhaps keep the psion in my T K grip as I close in on her, but I merely fling her towards my blade as I’m closing in.

I try not to notice, but the woman I’m about to kill is beautiful in a sense. Her pinkish, almost salmon-colored scales are smooth and shiny, reflecting the sparks of lightning, and there’s fear in her eyes. I blink away tears as I continue my flight towards her. She manages to conjure her own telekinetic force, blocking my forward momentum, and preventing Frostburn from reaching her. Salamanderian is fast approaching from her west, and she can only keep me at bay for so long.

This woman psion, this poor, lovely, frightened Draconiac, she has no hope to take on Salamanderian, Fenric, and myself, and she knows it. There’s a pleading fear in her eyes. I could end it, I could use my telekinetic grips even though she has my body locked down in her own T K grip. I could fling her towards Salamanderian. I didn’t want to see their eyes. None of them. Maybe if I convince myself that she hit me with a psychic spell of suggestion, of mercy, maybe then I’ll be able to sleep at night.

I fling this salmon-scaled psion towards Salamanderian who bisects her midair with a Valkyrie sword. I fight back my tears as I’m released from her now lifeless telekinetic grip. Fenric has a whole host of foes to deal with still, but I need all the muscle I can get to help my son, and My Anchor with Vanathar. Querying Salamanderian, she nods, acquiescing to join me to the north, vibrating in her enjoyment of the ambient mana.

Frostfire Salamanderian’s form shifts to that of, well, a massive salamander, though one with magma-like ridges alternating with frost ridges. Most of the Valkyrie equipment falls off, so I collect it telekinetically as I rest upon her back for a moment. Frostfire here is easily as fast as my raven forms even across the uneven, muddy, hilly terrain. We ride north while I collect my thoughts. North to our fight against Vanathar.