To the Scarred Land

”It’s not that I can’t make a good plan. How do you make sure everyone goes on an unknown, deadly, almost suicidal mission, while guaranteeing that they can come back in one piece? You don’t, that’s how.” ~Sam

“Everyone in agreement?” Katherine asked, her arms folded while staring daggers at Sam.

“I was absolutely sure you were going to refute this plan,” he said.

“No, it makes sense,” she answered back. “It’s a good way to utilize everyone’s talents. The way you laid it out feels like I’m getting used, though.”

“But isn’t that how—?”

“Shut up. That’s not how it works.”

“Eh, agree to disagree, I guess.” Sam turned to everyone else. “So? As the Lady asks; everyone in agreement?”

Heads bobbed up and down, some of them shrugging.

“As long as the Lady’s agreeing with the plan.” Venry said, turning his attention to the semi-sentient M.O.B.I.L.E. “You’re using her as a distraction.”

“The best one there is,” Sam confirmed. He turned to the Vyndivalians. “See, it’s a little different from the Battle of the Vanguard. Remember that deal Frein made? I wasn’t there, but she told me about it. Not that hard to piece things together…

“Anyway, this will be how it’ll look like if Frein loses, and you have full control over Katherine. But turning the situation back to the present, this Alpha-whatever—vainglorious name, I might add. Like he’s compensating or something—”

“Stop getting distracted,” Katherine said. “We’ll run out of time if you go to all your tangents.”

“Sorry, sorry. Anyway, if we let Katherine go out there and cause mayhem, Alphazzel is stuck with two choices: fight her head-on, or keep hiding. First, which is the more likely of the two, will demand all his attention, so you folks will be free to rescue Frein and Mother Selfiya. If it’s the second, Katherine will eventually cleave through every defense there is and rescue the two of them anyway.”

“How sure are we that Frein’s over there?” Ral asked.

“We’re sure that Mother Selfiya’s over there,” Hal followed up. “Not the Visitor, though.”

“I’m sure,” Enza said, making the Vyndivalians jump. “I’m bonded with the guy.”

“A talking yuma…” Venry stared, bewildered. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“That’s the Visitor for you,” Kristel said, turning to the yuma. “Did you convince Testra?”

“It feels weird trying to instruct your seniors,” Enza whined, her ears drooping. “Took them some convincing, but Testra and Stiry will stay behind with Tich.”

“Thank you,” Frill said. “They were getting a little restless.”

“Am I in Katherine’s group? Or Venry’s?” Xiv asked. “Sorry, I’m still a little distracted by the fact that I’m in the air on a flying manta ray.”

Frill pressed her hand on the Vyndivalian’s face, and pushed him into a corner.

Kristel sighed, turning away from her retainers and back to the yuma. “Thank you, Enza.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Dystro interjected, while pointing back to Sam. “A talking yuma’s cool and all, but I think we’re forgetting something. This Alphazzel has a third option.”

“He won’t run,” Katherine said. She understood the implications. “If he runs, he’ll run alone.”

“What makes you so sure?” Dystro withdrew after realizing he sounded rude. “No disrespect, it just seems a little convenient. Just hearing about the things that happened, it doesn’t make sense for him to be in one place and then in another, faster than we are.”

In response, the Lady of the Void gestured over to Sam.

“It’s Meiyal Weaving,” he said. “In which it applies folding space between Brymeia’s meiyal, thus allowing for one to step through it as if they were just walking.”

“In other words, teleportation,” Katherine concluded.

“Way to simplify my detailed interpretation and step-by-step process of the Weaving,” Sam sighed. “In any case, yes. Teleportation. But, and it’s a big, squishy butt, the conditions and requirements for that Weaving are very complex. To give you an idea, simply consider how often Mother Selfiya has moved.”

Katherine observed as Venry’s group made a variety of gestures, all indicating they were in deep thought. The Guard Knight was the first to answer.

“Takes a while, and a little farther compared to a carriage’s average speed.”

“But we assumed they were moving her through some sort of a faster transport, not teleportation,” Hal added, rubbing his non-bearded chin.

“If it is an actual transportation method, that’ll be much easier for us to handle,” Sam said. “We see it leaving, we can chase it. There are no known vehicles to have Nature’s Favor.”

“What if there is?” Dystro asked. “What if it’s like the Floating Dream and has that Blessing?”

“Brother,” Sam started, “if we plan for every scenario there is, we might as well let the enemy do what they want, because we’ll be here for a week or two.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“The point is, we can’t really plan for everything, so we consider, based on our knowledge, the worst scenarios and plan to counter them. Every mode of transport that we know, Katherine can demolish in a single Meiyal Art. If it’s something we don’t know, we adapt. Planning will give you the best chance to reach your objectives, but they will one-hundred percent not go according… to plan. God, that was awful.

“Now the worst of this hypothetical third option is Alphazzel’s teleportation ability. However, he can’t use it unless he’s running on his own, because this Weaving is free for him, but not for others.”

The semi-sentient M.O.B.I.L.E. floated a little more near Venry’s group. The others closed in. The device continued his lecture.

“Let’s just call it Teleportation Weaving for now. The records are a little fuzzy with their naming schemes. Anyway, based on history, if a practitioner were to teleport someone else, they have to pay two things. First, they have to pay meiyal equal to the person’s meiyal value. Second, they have to pay meiyal equal to the meiyal that person is currently carrying in their system.”

“How do they calculate someone’s meiyal value?” Xiv asked. “And what is that exactly?”

“Meiyal value is related to one’s Destiny Adhesion,” Katherine replied. “At least that’s how the Order of the Void simplifies it.”

“That’s correct,” Sam said. “Now, while I’m sure Alphazzel is keeping Mother Selfiya and Frein meiyal starved all the time, what do you think their meiyal values are? This is a Mother of the Void and the Visitor we’re talking about. Combined, I’m pretty sure even Alphazzel couldn’t pay it in one go. Not to mention he had to pay Smyl’s yesterday. He can’t transfer all three, four people at once.

“Now, here’s the clincher,” Sam continued, zipping past everyone and stopping beside Enza. “Let’s say the faunel is an amazingly, overpowered, godlike being that can practically bend all the rules of Teleportation Weaving. Let’s say they managed to escape. We have this fuzzy, little girl here to help us track down Frein to the ends of the world.”

“Alphazzel knows that,” Katherine said. “Even if he doesn’t, he’ll know about it. He’ll also know that I’m constantly watching over Enza. He won’t catch us by surprise. And that’s when he’ll realize that he has no other choice but to fight me.”

“Then we sneak around, and rescue the two,” Dystro said, contemplating. “Alright. I can’t think of anything better.”

“That’s because I planned it,” Sam said. “Told you, I’m not Tea.”

“Bit arrogant, are we?”

“It comes with the fact that I am better.”

“Alright, Sam. That’s enough gloating.” Katherine reached out and summoned the device to her hand. He had no way to disobey the command. “I’ll be hearing a lot of it from Alphazzel later. I’ll need all the patience I can muster.”

“Thank you, oh Great Sage Sam! We would never have come up with a plan without you!” the M.O.B.I.L.E. said sarcastically. “Not hard to do, you know?”

“I’ll thank you once we get them both back,” Katherine said.

“And without casualties,” Kristel followed.

Sam wriggled out of the Lady’s hand. “Fine. Fair enough. But I’ll be staying here to record everything.”

“Record?” Katherine asked.

“Frein’s request. Super secret stuff. From a long while ago.”

She narrowed her eyes, looking at her device so curiously that it made him shiver.

“Fine,” she said finally. “You’re much safer here anyway. And no one else has a M.O.B.I.L.E. that’s working. Try to communicate with Atlas Sid and give them updates while you’re at it. Decide for when you think they can approach or have to evacuate people.”

“I can do that,” Sam said, whirling his meiyal components. “I’m pretty sure my codename still works.”

“Oh!” Frill jumped alert, tapping the Princess’s shoulder. Katherine wondered why she was pointing at Sam. “I just remembered, he’s the secret agent that was providing High Palace with hints about terrorists and upstart evil organizations.”

“That was you?” Kristel gasped.

“Guys, guys,” Sam started, playing the sound of clapping hands. “It’s all in a day’s work. No need to fall to your knees to worship my secret achievements. Let’s focus on the task at hand instead.”

Katherine met Kristel’s tired and disgusted expression as they made their way towards Tich’s head. Since they both belonged to the same group for Sam’s plan, they waited until they were out of reach before talking behind his back. Xiv and Frill joined in a moment later.

“I’m amazed by your incredible patience,” said the Princess. “I would’ve probably turned him off right now.”

“He’s just shy because of the new faces,” the Lady replied. “He’ll soften up with them, give it time.”

“Let’s hope there is time for later,” Xiv said. “Not a real fan of our odds.”

“Fighting the Nightmare never had good odds to begin with,” Katherine said. “But ours, and Sam’s plans, probably have the best odds out there.”

“That…” Frill interjected. “That doesn’t sound reassuring.”

“It doesn’t,” Kristel answered for the Lady. “So don’t put your guard down even for a moment.”

Katherine sighed. “In any case, Sam prepared three different plans. Let’s hope that’s enough to confuse this faunel in case he can look at Destiny.”

It was Frein’s contingency plan that he had shared a long time ago. If someone can look into the future, then confuse them by making at least three futures happen at the same time. Confusing in theory and in practice. In fact, Katherine wasn’t even sure if this was what he meant.

“It’s about looking ahead and figuring out which will happen, right?” Frill asked. “What if he makes it so that the outcome changes?”

“He’s a faunel, not a god,” Katherine reminded them of Frein’s words. “Only gods can change their own Destiny. This isn’t someone loved by Brymeia like Kristella. We’ll have our chance.”

“Can’t do anything staying still here, anyway,” Kristel added, and the rest followed in agreement.

“Tich, let’s move,” Katherine said, agreeing with the Princess.

The Floating Dream entered the Nightmare Incursion engulfing Befall, the Scar of this World. What they saw took everyone by surprise. Everyone immediately gathered, and even Sam pushed through to get in front of Katherine.

“Well…” he began, “this pretty much changes everything.”

“Where…” Kristel looked around, unable to finish her question.

Even with Katherine’s Void Control Technique, I, Alone, Am the Center, now with an even greater range, she could not detect a single undead. This land, devoid of life and true death, scarred to never heal, was no longer filled by the lumbering remnants of the past.

“They’re just all Nightmares,” she said.

“I take it back,” Sam said, turning back to everyone. “This doesn’t change anything. We’ll proceed with the plan. Enza, can you pinpoint Frein from here?”

Just as he posed the question, Tich, the Floating Dream, stopped progressing forward. She remained hovering in the air, but she made a subtle tug within her bond with Katherine to let the Lady know she could no longer proceed.

“This is as far as she’ll go,” Katherine said to everyone while gesturing for the yuma to come in front. “What do you think?”

The Lady of the Void already had a guess. There were extremely few locations in Befall that could serve as a hiding spot for prisoners.

There were two main valley entrances to this region, northwards towards Eastrise and westwards towards Southshore. Both entrances had a watchtower and a small barracks. Those would be enough to hide Mother Selfiya and Frein. But concentration of Nightmares towards either of those places was almost nonexistent.

There was one other building in the middle of Befall. Aderis Tower. A building that had once belonged to an ancient lich of the same name.

Katherine only knew about it from the records of the Order of the Void. Liches, or undead with powerful magical affinities, had once thrived during the era of the gods. Aderis had not been as fortunate. His turning was a curse, brought from the madness caused by the remnant Divinity and Burden of whatever Forgotten Deity upheld the Concept of Undeath. He had never been a full-fledged lich, but even then, the influence of his power and evil had been enough to earn him a place in history.

History that, for whatever chaotic twist of fate, led Katherine and Enza to point towards the tower’s direction.

“Frein’s over there,” they both said at the same time. “We’re sure of it.”