The plan had gone off without a hitch. Even if they had to delay their journey for a day or two, it was all worth it in the end.
The plan started, not with the fog, but with everything Dreiki needed to prepare before the fog. He had planned everything out, recalling tactics and strategies used by generals who fought numbers greater than their own and won.
Sow chaos and fear in the enemy and they will turn on themselves first.
Dreiki recalled that certain otherwise harmless herbs, when consumed by deer and rabbits, would cause their meat to become poisonous for a time.
He told Savekio to feed the surrounding wildlife with them in case they decided to hunt after everything burned down.
The next step was finding something that a fire magic user like himself couldn’t counteract with standard magic like blood boiling.
He knew just what to use. A fungus called Pandoniac coated itself in a fine powder even after being harvested. Any contact with the skin wouldn’t do anything, and ingesting it wouldn’t be harmful either.
At least not until it came into contact with enough heat.
Once that happened, the powder would become a powerful psychedelic. The syrupy goop made from heating Pandoniac powder was the active ingredient in most berserker potions.
Dreiki synthesized it together with laxatives and other poisonous ingredients. It was a nasty concoction Savekio had taught him a little while ago. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too mad that his laxatives were going to be in short supply.
During this time, he had focused his magic on heating the grounds near the bandit camp. He only had enough power to make a gradual change in the temperature over such a large area, but that was all he really needed to do.
The next phase of the plan would take an extreme toll on Luna if he didn’t prepare things properly first. Dreiki told her to meditate and collect herself before attempting the series of high level spells she’d be casting.
Dreiki’s plan was to take some of that burden off her shoulders with his own magic and a bit of science. Instead of having to generate fog from nothing with magic, Luna could instead rapidly cool the warm air Dreiki made to make natural fog.
Since she didn’t need to focus on the fog to maintain it, that allowed her a lot more breathing room to summon an army of fog elementals to whisper and blind the bandits. It would also later allow her to summon her most terrifyingly massive water elemental.
Ezo would be put to work as well.
An adult drake’s bite was incredibly dangerous. Even if wounds healed, the bacteria in its saliva would infect it if left untreated.
It was nothing lethal to a xiozian, but for a race which could heal so rapidly it was incredibly potent. Xiozians didn’t often know what it felt like to be sick, and it made them into cowards.
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During the chaos, Dreiki had made use of his new enchantment magic. His elusive nature allowed him to touch the chief and his lieutenants without them noticing. He set the conditions:
In two hours, ignite.
After the first fire, ignite in ten minutes
If put out, ignite thirty minutes after.
If no fires are ignited within one hundred meters, ignite.
Ignite 5 times before dispelling.
He set all but the first condition for the other enchantments he left behind. Next was to set the size of the ‘tunnel’.
Some were small as a candle flame hidden beneath cloth and dry straw, others were great roaring infernos that incinerated everything nearby. He spread them through camp everywhere he could.
When he was finished, he painted the message in the blood Ezo had gathered for them in his mouth, and sank back to regroup with everyone.
They used that magical dust to disappear, and watched from a distance to ensure everything else went according to plan.
Dreiki didn’t like to see them turn on themselves. To be so consumed by fear that they’d begun to worship the monster he’d created to terrify them. Hoping to bargain and deflect blame for their collective actions.
It reminded Dreiki of the time Prepo had gone running and pleaded not to be marked for death. People like this were only high and mighty when they knew they would live. They enjoyed when the strong ruled only when they were the ones who were strong.
He hoped he had taught them why that law was meant to be broken and discarded. The strong might survive, but the compassionate help others thrive.
That was something his mother had always taught him. Dreiki took no pleasure in seeing them eat each other alive, but he didn’t feel sorry for them either. Savekio taught him a lot, and one of the most important lessons was understanding this concept.
The only true evil was Malaki. People were pushed to evil acts, they could be vile and cruel, but they were equally capable of being kind and compassionate.
Most people could change. Malaki could not. And those who decided to mimic Malaki in their unchanging cruelty were just as worthy of death as the Malaki themselves.
Dreiki felt no guilt for the chiefs and lieutenants who had been slaughtered by their subordinates. He didn’t feel sorry for the ones that might starve or die of infection.
He prayed that they would be reborn in better circumstances. Maybe one day he could create a better world for them to live in.
Dreiki didn’t really understand what that world looked like yet, but it wasn’t this one. This was the conclusion he came to a week after the event with the bandits. Savekio had told him and Luna to meditate on what they had done. They had to reflect on the lives they had indirectly taken.
They had to understand what they did and why they did it, so that they would not become creatures of instinct like those bandits.
A warrior kills because they have to. A monster kills because they want to. Dreiki looked to Luna with a grin on his face as they crested over a hill on their journey. They’d passed their exam with flying colors.
Savekio stopped, pointing to the horizon. A small town nestled in the valley below, dreary smoke rising from chimneys meant to keep the chilly nights at bay.
The village of Kul Creek.
Just like Yvian, this town was home to The Jackal’s influence. Children went missing whether they had a brand or not. Dark dealings greased palms in the dead of night.
Screams were snuffed out by blade and stone alike. Dreiki remembered the dark and the cold. He remembered the fear, but he also remembered how far it pushed him.
It was time to stop running.