They wouldn’t call themselves a retreating army, mostly because if they did, they would harm Baoth’s pride, and to do so would be no different than jumping into the maw of one of the monsters that had attacked them.

No, they were making a tactical return to their landing site to prepare the vessels for a post mission escape.

The men actually felt rather invigorated after Sholl’s prayer, some of them had old war wounds that went unnoticed and untreated healed by his words.

In their way stood one woman wearing jet black armor and wielding a needle like weapon in her hand. She was nearly invisible from a distance on the pitch dark night.

She was jittering, or perhaps shaking, they couldn’t make out if it was fear or excitement that drove her.

----------------------------------------

Anon, Amber and Mercedes had been moved to the tearoom under the guard of Others.

While the two women stared daggers at one another, Mercedes just tried to avoid becoming the focus of them.

“How are things between you and Velvet?”

“They are just great.”

“You aren’t planning on leaving?”

“Why would I?”

“Because you had a bad dream or the sky is the wrong shade of blue.”

“What does that even mean?”

“You have had six relationships in the academy, and dozens of attempts beyond that.

Why do you so readily flee from them?”

“You don’t know anything about-”

“But I do, I am an assassin and spy, gathering information on targets is my job.”

“Nobody you could’ve talked with would really understand my reasons.”

“Then why are you so flighty? Is it because you refuse to change at all and compromise for a relationship? Do you remain with Velvet for so long because he is a lovestruck man who you can order around because he has become infatuated with you? I think you should get a pet instead if-”

Mercedes didn’t step in when Amber got up, the Others could tear them off one another.

----------------------------------------

Sholl said a prayer as Fomoria approached; the walls which defined the border of Kor and protected the fields were visible

“My emperor, fair judge of all destruction, grant us the strength to remove your eternal reign’s obstruction.”

The Fingers, other than Sholl himself, and the 2,847 soldiers who were brought with, felt newfound power flow into them.

Fomoria stopped 50 feet from them, and they got a clear look by using a light spell.

He was stood 8 feet in height, the description was not unlike when he had lost control, layered bone plates, a snout, seven eyes, a long tail, maned with red edged void flame, and jet black; Sholl could feel his light spell being weakened as it shone on the king.

“WHAT, NO HAND WITH YOU? DID YOU THINK YOU COULD WIN WITHOUT ONE?”

“THREE FINGERS TO ONE MAN.”

“I’VE GOT ONE FINGER FOR YOU.”

Fomoria flipped out his middle finger and hoped that it was offensive to them, since it wasn’t a universal sign of insult.

From their faces, either they understood what he meant, or they were offended purely at his intent.

The sky opened and heavy rain poured from it; Baoth held them in a dense grid of perfectly aligned droplets

It bothered Fomoria for a little while, since he was certain that it reminded him of something, but he couldn’t remember what; he let the question fester in his mind.

Yalda was highly focused on the ball of lightning he had conjured; it was attached by a wire to the clouds above. Baoth held his whip in hand, waiting for Fomoria to test him. Sholl maintained an ever changing light construct.

Fomoria however, seemed uncaring, floating around, looking at the droplets, occasionally touching one and freezing it just to watch Baoth shift the grid to replace it, reloading from the clouds above; he hadn’t attacked yet after five minutes.

“Why isn’t he attacking? Where are his Others?”

Yalda was the most junior of the Fingers, though technically he was older than Sholl, they only cared about how long someone held onto that power.

“He must have a plan. How long can you charge that spell?”

“I’ve never found a limit, just as long as the soldiers and clouds can continue funneling power in.”

“FOMORIA, WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING.”

The others looked at Sholl like he was stupid, there wasn’t a chance that he would tell them anything.

“I’M GOING TO LET YOU CHARGE THAT SPELL SO I CAN USE IT AGAINST YOU.”

“He isn’t serious, right?”

“King Fomoria is an unstable man, but one of great power-”

Baoth found Sholl’s high estimation of Fomoria to be an annoyance, nothing but the result of a weak man who had been beaten in his mind and body.

“He is nothing but a bothersome man. That the three of us were called at once in an insult. Unless you have tactical information, shut up.”

Sholl shook his head.

“He is honest, but tricky and creative. If he says that he intends to turn the spell against us, he will.

Baoth, you should control yourself, lest you fall for these tricks.”

A pang of anger struck the man, who gripped Sholl by the throat.

“YOU DO NOT ORDER ME AROUND, I AM YOUR COMMANDER.”

“Oh great emperor, clear of mind, your clarity, let us find.”

As Baoth suddenly found himself calm, he let Sholl go; they could hear Fomoria laughing at them with a reptilian bark.

“Be mindful of his empathy.”

“Apologies for my actions.”

Baoth decided that enough was enough, and he stopped holding the rain, instead leaving it frozen in the grid pattern.

It was ultimately still useful for his and Yalda’s needs, but no longer would it refill the gaps left by Fomoria’s idle actions.

He thrust his whip forward, and it jumped from raindrop to raindrop, maintaining its power along the way.

Fomoria extended his hand, freezing the most direct path of raindrops; he was testing the limits.

In an instant the whip shifted, zigging and zagging around the drop, speeding up as it did.

Though he tried to dodge it, the whip had punched a hole through his forearm and tried to zag back and forth to strike his head.

Fomoria flared his void flame, boiling the drops around him and forcing the whip to take a longer path, giving him enough time to slip through his void gate.

When he exited, it was from the other side of the gate, since the void gate was a sphere, and if he chose to do so, he could pick where people left it.

This small change bought him mere moments, but now that Fomoria was trying to run, he was able to at least keep distance.

Just as it had, he zigged as it zagged, filling the air with a long beam of high pressure water.

Baoth was upset by this turn of events; few people were fast enough to get away from him in a rainstorm, but Fomoria would freeze and boil drops to cut the whip off.

He was so focused on trying to hit Fomoria that he hadn’t considered where the whip was being led.

In a cube formation, Fomoria had cut off each exit point for the whip, and when it reached the end of the droplets it could move between, Fomoria had cleared a pocket of air.

He had suspected it when the attack had to go from drop to drop instead of just shooting directly at his head once it pierced his arm, but at such a distance, the technique didn’t let him fully control his whip.

Fomoria stuck his finger in the end of the whip to check, and he pulled it out having lost the tip.

Next, he opened a gate, where an Other had charged a lightning warspell a hundred miles away.

The bolt connected to the whip, and though Baoth had broken off his whip as fast as he could, the bolt still exploded not less than 100 feet from the group, disorienting them

The moment that they saw him moving with a giant grin on his face, the other two Fingers began to cast their defensive magic; a chill had run up their spines and Yalda let loose his massive bolt as he neared.

Gates opened one after another, an Other at each one, but they didn’t step through.

They cast their spells, creating a magnetic tunnel, turning the bolt of lightning around and back at the caster.

Yalda reacted in an instant, among the Fingers, despite his lack of seniority, he was one of the fastest because of his alignment.

The bolt of lighting had been charging in power for nearly 10 minutes, and though he had managed to regain control and prevent a direct hit, the bolt still slid off of Sholl’s shield of light and stuck the ground.

It was comparable to a heavenly fury spell, though it didn’t seem to use up all of the power in the clouds like the spell.

The light blinded everyone who saw it, the sound deafened them, and another aspect of it unsettled the souls over everyone there; Fomoria’s heart skipped a beat, realizing that the bolt would’ve harmed him beyond his mortal flesh.

It took Sholl just a single tap to heal them from this, they had lost their senses for barely a tenth of a second, but Fomoria was right in front of them, his clawed knuckles tore off Yalda’s right cheek, and his tail removed Baoth’s right arm.

They were confused, but didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, Fomoria must’ve struck wrong, having been blind and deaf himself, that was their thought at least.

Yalda moved in a blur, pulling his summoned weapon, a large hand fan, and blowing Fomoria away.

To a normal person, even to someone of considerable power, it would tear their flesh from their bones.

To Fomoria, he wreathed himself in his void flames, removing a significant amount of magic from the attack and was blown away at a high speed; if not for a gate, he would’ve hit the ground to great harm to himself, but with the peeling effect of the spell mostly removed, the attack was rendered almost entirely ineffective to someone with such powerful healing.

Sholl used two more of his taps to heal the other Fingers.

“How did he move so quickly?”

“The gate obviously.”

“No, that wasn’t it, we would’ve seen it, a gate doesn’t instantly close, there is a small delay, and he used his gate again immediately after. He has a short cooldown of just a few seconds, but he has a cooldown.”

“Or he has been lulling us into a false sense of security by pretending that he has a delay between gate castings, or he used his void gate.”

“Something is-”

His monstrous grin was far too long, like that of a Fenrir.

Baoth swung his whip, only for Fomoria to nearly instantly dodge it and move a distance away with a flesh of light.

He laughed.

“I’m getting the hang of this, please, try again.”

Baoth moved his whip like it was a living serpent trying to get its next meal, but each time, Fomoria let out a flash of light and then instantly moved somewhere else.

“Is that the best that you can do? I heard you were a master of the sea, more like master of semen.”

“Can he move whenever he can’t be seen? Is this some new power from his god?”

Sholl was thinking out loud.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Come on, Sholl, join the fun. Or is the issue that your sigil beams aren’t very good at fighting an airborne target? Yalda, have you lost your spark already?”

Something wasn’t right here.

“Oh great emperor, reveal the sight of you, against the slight of them.”

Sholl didn’t realize exactly what had happened, he was just trying to improve the perception of the other Fingers, but instead a wave came from his body and dispelled illusions; it was the first time his prayers had been answered outside of his intent.

They were surrounded, at least a dozen Others were sitting there with invisibility active.

When they had cast a powerful magnetic field to bend the lighting, they hadn’t remained where they were, but had instead crossed over while everyone was blinded and gone invisible

They all laughed in sync with one another.

“That little bastard wasn’t teleporting, he’s just been hiding himself. That’s why he can’t get close.”

The thought hit them all at the same time, where was the original?

A second storm rained from above, the blood of over 2,000 Cast.

Carmilla appeared from above, covered in sanguine life from her ears to her claws, her eyes a piercing red.

Sholl panicked, and time seemed to slow for him as he yelled out his prayed as quickly as he could in a single breath.

“OH GREAT EMPEROR FLEET OF FOOT AND FIERCE OF HEART ALLOW US TO RETREAT AND DEPART.”

Yalda and Baoth had both been split in half by blades of blood already when they vanished.

Carmilla, Harlan, and all of the Others searched the area, trying to find where they had gone, and they had even checked where the ships had landed, but found no signs of them; they did leave some soldiers to capture the ships.

They reorganized back where the fight had been, noticing that the storm had turned mundane, and was just letting down a natural downpour; the area became covered in a sheet of ice due to the winter cold.

“Where did they go?”

“I don’t know, my eye didn’t see any spatial distortion, it was like they just… stopped being here.”

“You can see that?”

He pointed at his eyes, explaining what each of them did.

She was intrigued, but that wasn’t important now.

“He said that prayer, allow us to retreat and depart, could he have really left, just like that?”

“Perhaps, but I’m putting Redhaven on lockdown, nobody in or out; they can’t have gone far. I suggest that you do the same, if they are on the stripe, they could destroy a town in the time it takes for us to receive the report and arrive.”

“Do you know anything about that power of his? At first I assumed that any of the Fingers could do it, but I think I’ve only ever seen Sholl use it.”

“I know that the original emperor could warp reality around himself, but I had always assumed the reason was his having magic couldn’t be understood, not that there was an ability to it.

In hindsight, it does make sense. At the very least, he is only a Finger, his ability cannot be strong.

From what I know, he cannot directly affect others negatively, have you seen this to be true?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him even try, but if he can’t, he likely already knows this and won’t try.

Did the emperor hold the powers of every Hand and Finger?”

“No, of that much I am certain. He was one man, he had one effect for each of his sigils, and he didn’t have anything like Seraphallen’s fingers.”

“Did you ever meet him?”

He saw her tense slightly, the ancient Cast had left a sharp impression on her mind and body.

“Yes, I saw him a few times.”

“You should go back, see Camilla.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You… May I be blunt?”

“You may.”

“Clearly something happened between you and him, and I want you to be with your daughter so you can relax and put that out of your mind. But if you want to talk-”

“No, I am fine.”

“I know someone who might be able to help.”

“I do not need help.”

He sighed and shook his head.

“Right, of course not.”

“Good. Gate me back to Karmine.”

He did so as she asked.

It was hard to ignore the sounds of fighting, even miles away from the city itself and the people had already gone into their homes to wait for an announcement that it was safe to come back outside.

He flew above the streets, empty of all but guards, and just watched.

“Cecht’s forest, of course, the rain reminded me of the snow in the forest.”

One thought was removed, and a hundred more took its place.

“Are you feeling well? Your mind is-”

“I wish that I could get closer to her, not just because of our alliance, but because I feel like I can help her.”

“She doesn’t want your help, and at her age, I believe she fully intends to leave them unresolved until she dies. I think you should respect that wish.”

“I-”

“No, leave her alone.”

“Micheal-”

“Stop. She is a grown woman, evidently whatever is in her past hasn’t stopped her from being a fair ruler.

You can’t control people, you can’t force people to be happy or move past themselves.”

“Where is this coming from?”

“Sometimes I feel your subconscious. Whatever you are thinking, I can’t fully know, but when it tells me something, I can. So I need to tell you like a child, the fire is hot, do not touch it.”

“What was I thinking then? If it was subconscious thought, it could’ve appeared to me as an intrusive thought that I would throw away.”

“You were thinking about trying to use your empathy to make her open up to you.”

“She’d kill me, or worse, she’d never forgive me, and neither would Camilla.”

“The abomination doesn’t matter.”

“What did you just say?”

It was a rhetorical question, there could be no misheard words when they were both on such a solid connection to the other.

“I don’t know what came over me, I’m sorry.”

He could feel the shame and confusion from him.

“It’s alright. We should check on Felblood.”

Fomoria moved to the open field where he had deployed her.

The most terrifying part of the changes to how his sigil effected living beings wasn’t that their original bones would painfully be ejected from the body so new ones could be grown in their place, no it was that without the mind inside the sigil, he had no control over a person once they were given the power and they didn’t burn up given enough time now.

Yet at the same time, it had removed his biggest ethical issue with the magic, no longer turning it into a death sentence where the person was trapped in their mind.

A less moral man may consider this nothing but downsides, but he never had any intent of using his magic in the worst way, unleashing it in a city and letting them slaughter one another.

She laid on the ground, burned out from the fighting that the Others ended up finishing.

Felblood wasn’t much of a soldier, she knew how to fight, but was an intellectual.

Still, with a suit of armor and a weapon designed for a vampire, she had passed his test well enough.

“Very good.”

Felblood looked up at him, wondering if her pardon was true, or if he’d just kill her now that his test was done.

“I am going to tell Carmilla you died, because no matter what I say, I believe she will kill you for your betrayal.”

“So then I must live in exile, constantly running from her.”

“I hope that you have learned your lesson. I know a collection of False Undead who will be willing to take you in, but they will know about what you did. But they are inside the veil.”

He opened a void gate and an Other brought a letter of recommendation.

“Go into that town, ask about the couriers office, and when you get to the office, ask for Zach, tell them that Fomoria sent you, then give that man this letter.”

“What does it say?”

“I have kept my word, trust me or don’t, but if I wanted you dead or captured, I wouldn’t need to do anything but take you right now.”

“Fine.”

She could barely stand, so he made her a simple cane and hit her with a pep spell.

She’d crash twice as hard, but she would get there.

A dozen more gates opened and golems began to collect the bodies.

He returned to Kor, and went to the tearoom where Mercedes was waiting with Anon and Amber.

The first thing that he saw was Anon’s black eye.

“Why was she not healed?”

“Your sister is a violent brute, and I wanted you to see that.”

“I know Amber, what did you do?”

“Just send me back to Velvet, get me away from this fucking psychopath.”

“I believe Xol once told me I am just lacking in societal programming that makes me compatible with human interaction beyond false faces based on knowledge of emotions that I don’t understand and can only mimic. Psychopathy implies some manner of violence, to my understanding at least, but I am a calm person.”

“When did you speak with Xol?”

“A woman has her secrets.”

“Anon, please don’t antagonize Amber.”

“I tried to help, I was being honest like I should be, and she hit me.”

“Honest and rude often overlap, I don’t mind that, because I understand you, but Amber doesn’t.

Apologize.”

“Amber, I am sorry for what I said, I see now that I was out of line despite what I believed to be truthful statements.”

“Now, Amber, apologize to Anon.”

“What? She said that-”

“I don’t care. You could’ve resolved it with words, and you are the one who told me long ago that I can’t just beat people up because they’ve slighted me since there could be blowback, I am that blowback.”

“No.”

“Amber.”

“I shouldn’t need to apologize to her for what she said.”

“No, you need to apologize to her for what you did in reaction to what she said. You are my sister, and I love you, but you are hardheaded and I think that you are holding a grudge against Anon for your first interactions and you won’t see things from her perspective. I don’t want you to fight, so please, both of you, I love you, now make up, restart this, put the past in the past.”

“Fine. Anon, I am sorry for hitting you.”

She put her hand out, but Anon instead went for a hug.

“Thank you, sister-in-law Amber.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Amber, have Velvet prepare you a dress of the finest materials.”

He handed her a few designs of his own that were sitting in a drawer in the room.

“These are the designs for me, Anon, and Mercedes. These must all be ready in a week for my proclamation.”

“What is the proclamation?”

“It would hardly be fair to tell you beforehand, nobody knows what is coming. Well, Mercedes might be able to guess.”

“I will ask.”

Fomoria opened a void gate, and Amber stuck her tongue out at Anon before she stepped through.

He considered childish insults to be a start.

He yawned as he laid down, it was a long day, many things had to be prepared in advance for this to go smoothly.

His amulet lit up.

“Don’t answer.”

“It could be important.”

“Please?”

“I’m sorry.”

She pouted, but that wasn’t going to stop him.

He answered under a veil on his balcony.

“Hello?”

“Is there something you want to tell me?”

“No.”

“You are inviting outside vampires.”

“I am inviting people with business acumen that I can trust to help with running my trading company.

They and I have a long history with one another based on how others have treated us unfairly because of what we are instead of what we’ve actually done.”

“These Nightwatchers shall not step foot in my country, and they need to be clearly identified as not being from here at all times.”

“I haven’t even had the chance to speak with them further about if they are coming. Where did you hear about this?”

“That isn’t the point.”

“It is actually. I told this to Mercedes, and to people inside the veil, nobody else should know.

I am aware that you have spies in my city, but I thought it would be common courtesy that you would not have them inside of my home.”

“As if you are better?”

“I have people in your cities of course, because I trust you, but I don’t trust those around you, but I don’t have any sources within your castle, because that is your private home, and I have never entered the offices of your ministers and mayors.”

She was a little surprised at his tone, the hurt she could feel stirred up some feelings of regret.

“I will not apologize for what I’ve done.”

“No, of course you won’t. If you have such an issue with my bringing in the Nightwatchers, you are invited to any future meetings between their council and my people regarding them coming here.”

“I will not enter the veil.”

“It will take some convincing, but I may be able to get them to come here.”

“If that is the case, I would be willing to attend.”

“Fine. Anything else?”

“How did you know that they were coming before I did?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that you immediately said we should go to Felfish, and it was already well into the evacuation before we got there. Then the enemy fleet stopped off shore from Felfish, and you were already diverting the rivers and towns for your Eolgi since the early morning.”

“How I know isn’t the point. Good night.”

“Don’t-”

He hated going to sleep angry, but who was Carmilla to tell him what he can and can’t do in HIS nation.

If he wanted to start mining and manufacturing silver weapons, she could be concerned and make it known, and he would consider her opinion of course. But for her to demand that the Nightwatchers identify themselves at all times? That wasn’t right, he was bringing them here to let them live without persecution, he just hadn’t expected that it may come from a vampire.

If she pushed the issue, he didn’t know exactly what he was going to do, but folding to her became an infuriating thought to him.

“You shouldn’t sleep angry, it is bad for your health.”

“My father said the same thing.”

“I know.”

“Ha.”

He closed his eyes for just a moment before he sat back up.

“How did you know that?”

“I am a spy and assassin, gathering information is-”

“Have you been visiting my parents?”

“I’ve been watching you since before we first met. Mother said that there were lessons to be learned from you.”

“What was she trying to have you learn?”

“I don’t know.”

“How long have you been watching me?”

She loudly yawned and ran her fingers down his chest.

“We should really get some sleep.”

“That isn’t going to work on me.”

“I don’t like these questions. Are you angry at me?”

“I don’t know yet. But something has been bothering me. The Darkness has told me more than once that I was only one of many candidates to be her champion, yet she has put an inordinate amount of effort into making sure that I ended up in the position. Did she ever mention the idea of you being a champion?”

Anon furrowed her brows, her memory was very very good, and she could remember nearly every word that had been shared between them.

“Yes, she did. Surely there is nothing to worry about, she killed my parents to get me adopted, not unlike you.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

He sighed, it was a weight off his mind to know it was just his paranoia.

“But how long have you been watching me?”

“Since you were seven or so. I watched my future husband grow up from a distance, isn’t that funny?”

“Not haha funny, but odd funny.”

“I find it the normal kind of funny.”

He tried to put that out of his mind.