The Indra emerged from the Umbral plane in the lunar shadow drifting slowly as the circular dimensional door spiraled shut. Flecks of ice glittered around the ship in a puff that gradually expanded. Below the sleek corvette lay Eryn. A verdant world with a white, gold and emerald city nestled at its heart. One thing that struck Morwen as odd was that the world always looked pristine to her. Now there was a thick column of ominous black smoke that rose from the capital city’s heart like a cancerous cloud.

Rage and fear welled up within her in equal parts. She flinched when Sirsir put a comforting armored hand on her shoulder. He gave a silent nod to her grip on the golden control sticks. Her white knuckled grip had gone completely unnoticed. It took an active effort to loosen her grip and the deep breath she drew in and let out slowly helped facilitate the process.

“It’ll be ok ma’am. Whatever those assholes are doing down there, we’ll stop them. It’s what we came back to do.”

Morwen gave her oldest friend an appreciative smile. Sirsir was the oldest surviving member of her mage squad. Calling it a platoon at this point felt like a farce. He’d fought with her on every blood soaked battlefield, enduring every loss with the same stoic stride.

“I feared this day would come for a long time. Now that its finally here, I just feel gutted.”

Sirsir gave her a firm squeeze on the shoulder. “No one wanted this to happen, but we all saw the writing on the wall. Let’s just hope the noble’s pull their heads out of their asses.”

She sat there numbly for a moment, before finally giving him a nod. He was right. She never wanted to see her people suffer. But maybe this would be the shock to the system they needed to realize the opulence and decadence they’d indulged in for so long wasn’t going to win the war for them. Only decisive action.

“Akamori. Take us down.”

“Yes ma’am.”

The Indra banked sharply and her engines flared with void magic as he the crimson haired lieutenant laid on the magic. She could feel the pulses of cold void energy pouring into the ships spell drive, then get amplified by the ship itself before being converted into energy. In all respects but size, this vessel made the Crasher look archaic. It was everything her old ship wasn’t. But truth told? She missed the Crasher . It had soul. Not a soul with a capital s, but a soul. She wished she could field it as well.

She watched the main screen as the atmosphere of her world washed the view out in red. She couldn’t tell from the interior though. It still felt a comfortably warm room temperature. She took the opportunity to exercise her power, letting reality spool out before her like the threads of a tapestry.

Morwen studied every possible action and reaction. Most possibilities followed the team landing in the city without issue. Most of the civilians fled for the city limits. Some pushed for the starport only to find an ambush of poorly trained and geared Hatchlings waiting for them. The bulk of the fighting seemed to focus around the grand temple. She caught her breath as she followed most of those threads to their conclusion, resulting in her father’s death, and the city’s magic being poisoned irrevocably without their intervention.

She didn’t have a detailed idea of her enemy’s plans, but she knew the broad strokes enough to devise a counter strategy. She had enough pieces to move on the board that she could at least stymie the enemy if not outright stop them.

“Ma’am? You ok? You kinda glazed over there for a second.”

Morwen glanced up at Sirsir, noting the concern in his features. She gave him a comforting smile to disarm the unease. “I’m fine. Just using some of my new gifts from the-” she paused as she tried to mouth Sashlu’s name but found her body incapable of doing so. She knew that actively trying to resist would cause pain if she pushed it. She gave him a apologetic smile in response to her sudden pause. “Forgive me, it would seem I’m unable to actively speak a name, so we’ll go with a moniker. Our friend in the dark as it were.”

“Spider bat chick gave you a special power?”

“She did sergeant. One I think will be the very thing we need to turn this mess around to our favor.”

Sirsir grinned broadly. “Well alright then. I knew spider bat chick was on the up and up. Creepy, but solid.”

“Which reminds me. We should probably take an inventory of our gifts so we can assimilate that into our knowledge base. I was given the ability to see and touch the Web of Fate. Akamori?”

“Fire magic.” He said simply as he torqued the Indra into a spin evading a pair of Sauridius spell fighters before dispatching them with massive fireballs from the left and right spell cannons.

“She gave me the ability to channel my maetrayops spell without it consuming stamina or magic,” Amara said when Morwen turned to her.

Morwen’s brow arched. That would come in very handy for detecting magic, spells, and enemies. Amara had just graduated from being a capable weaver to a combat scout with punch. And that was just the tip of her ability iceberg.

When she’d turned to face SirSir he grinned, and literal magic fire spilled out of his eyes. “She gave me two doses of fire magic. Pretty sure if it wasn’t for my healing ability it might have burned me out.”

“Very impressive,” Morwen noted. She turned to face Arjun who was absorbed in a data crystal that detailed how the ship operated and how to repair it. He glanced above the magical projection.

“Oh uh. Me? I guess I have fire magic too.”

“Congratulations Arjun. You’ve taken your first steps towards becoming a mage.”

Arjun smiled sheepishly and nodded before retreating back to his magically projected manual. She let him, since trying to rope him into anything the team might plan would only introduce him to yet more danger before he was ready. She made a mental note to have him do some training with Sirsir to break him in.

“How long till we touch down?”

“Twenty minutes.”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“As I can see there are several threats. Likely intended to split our forces.”

“So its a trap?”

“Undoubtedly,” Morwen replied.

“So do we spring it or avoid it?”

“I don’t think we can afford to avoid it. They seem to be going after the wellspring and my father.”

“Damn. Either loss would be a serious hit to your people,” Akamori said.

Morwen paused, having to push aside her personal stake. “Agreed.” She finally said. “So here’s my proposed plan. We deploy you and SirSir to deal with whatever force they’ve mustered to attack the wellspring. It will likely require a ritual to damage, so Amara’s optical magic will prove most useful to you. I’ll go to my father’s aid.”

“And me?” Arjun asked in a soft voice.

“You’ll stay with the ship. It’ll be safest here for you.”

The capital city of Eryn smoldered painfully as the Sauridius continued to lay siege to it. A massive column of noxious smoke rose from the grand temple. Dead Emerald guards lay strewn about every where. The Indra’s sensors were able to pick up the carnage in fine detail and Akamori’s grip tightened on the ships controls. His anger seethed as flashes of memory of his own home burned around him. The LZ had a few hatchling shock troops with heavy weapons.

The Indra rolled upside down and all four spell cannons fired basic fire bolt spells into them. The charred remains of what survived his assault tumbled over. The Indra rolled upright and came down swiftly on the nearest clear landing pad. The squad marched down the boarding ramp with weapons drawn ready for battle. Even the flying tome Rozien drifted closely next to Amara.

They all drew to a stop and exchanged uncertain looks at each other. Morwen sucked in a breath, tugged her jacket tight and then stepped forward to address them all. “Right. You all know the drill. We’re marching head long into conflict. Victory, and even survival at this point is uncertain. No one is asking us to commit to this and if anyone wants to back out, now is the time.”

Akamori stepped forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with her. It took everything he had to keep his magic in check. Sirsir and Amara both joined them.

“I still don’t like the idea of you going alone to help your father. You might need the extra help.” Akamori said. He wanted to take the fight to the bastard that killed his own father.

Morwen put a hand on his shoulder, “I need you protecting Amara so she can stop whatever they are planning with the wellspring. If they can corrupt that, we all lose.”

He frowned, feeling as though he might be letting his feelings bias his actions before nodding. This was her mission, her plan. “Ok. Just be careful.”

“You as well. If my hunch is correct, I suspect you’ll be kicking up a hornets nest very soon.”

The group parted ways, with Morwen circling around the temple, while the others took the front entrance. Sirsir on his left, and Amara to his right. The dark skinned sergeant drew his heavy spell machine gun from his own void pocket. Magic runes and glyphs swirled around Amara’s hands as they advanced on the body strewn courtyard of the temple.

“Helluva fight.” Sirsir said softly.

“This is going to leave a lasting mark on the elves.” Amara mused.

“Then let’s go put this bed before it gets any worse.” Akamori said in a low voice that teemed with barely contained anger.

On the way in they found Cenine and a number of other gold and emerald clad spell armored warriors laid out. Akamori rushed over and Cenine winced as he lifted her up to administer a healing potion. He watched as the pale color faded to something more passing for normal. Her eyes fluttered open and she glanced up at Akamori with confusion.

“Peasant? What are you doing here?”

“Saving your worthless noble ass of course.”

Cenine groaned in pain and his expression went from amused to concerned. “Don’t move. We don’t have a dedicated healer so I can’t tell you how bad a shape you’re in.”

“It’s nothing I won’t walk away from with some work.”

“Then get to it. You’re in a worst case conflict now. Time to show me all those beatings you were giving me weren’t just you punching down on the farm boy.”

She shot him an insulted look as gold light pulsed from her skin. She pushed herself forward free of his arms and jerked free of his hands. “They stormed right in, we barely slowed them down.”

“Who?”

“Elder Weaver Erlaut, the Headmaster, and Lucinda.”

Akamori’s blood ran cold. This literally was the worst case scenario. Somehow all of Eryn’s best were arrayed against them. And they were backing the Sauridius. The only explanation he could think of ended with shackling.

“You sense it right.” Cenine said.

“Somehow one of their binders got in and soul shackled them. This is too carefully planned for an improvised assault. This is coming from someone who has clearly planned this assault for a while. Studied our people, our patterns, and developed the most effective way to stop us.”

“Which is?”

“Poisoning our wellspring. If the pool of light is corrupted? Everything in this hemisphere will wither and die.”

Akamori sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. His problems were beginning to multiply exponentially. Maybe, and this was an extreme maybe, he could handle the Elder Weaver and the Headmaster. But Lucinda? That was leagues beyond his abilities. But if he didn’t try, this world was doomed.

“Watch your people. There may be sweeper teams of Sauridius moving around. Keep them safe.”

“What about you?”

“I’m going to go do what I do best.”

“Let them kick your ass?”

“No… I’m going to let them kick my ass, and then miraculously beat the odds somehow.”

Sirsir and Amara both exchanged uncertain looks behind him. All three of them knew they were objectively screwed.

‎