Zalia crouched just within the mist and stared at all the humans roaming about the town, many of them performing basic labour. A few were carrying sacks or stacks of food, wood, metal and stone in carts or on their shoulders. Others yet followed after Astar that were presumably their masters, holding things for them. There were so many of them, so many that they outnumbered the Astar floating about by quite a bit.
Even from this distance, she could see that these humans were indeed the powerful of Endaria, not a single person below Silver rank in sight. She was immediately confused by how subservient they all were, backs bent and eyes vacant. What had been done to these people to make them act this way? They had the power-subduing bracelets on but surely they could still overpower a few of the Astar with pure strength alone.
There had been no word, no tales or stories of humans being enslaved by the Astar. She hadn’t even heard of people presumed mad rambling about something like this. That meant that, as far as she or the ruling council of Endaria knew, no one had ever escaped and made it back to the kingdom. How was it that this had happened?
She captured a memory of the town, storing it in her vault. For now, she couldn’t afford to risk getting any closer. Finding this place was a success in itself and one of the main reasons they had come here. It wasn’t time to head back home to Nature’s Reclaim just yet though, as there was still much to learn.
Zalia stood up out of the crouch and retreated inside the mist, unsure of what to do next. She started her way back to their temporary home, her sense of direction unaffected by the mist thanks to Hunter’s Sight.
They would have to find a way to infiltrate the town to find out more. This seemed like a small outpost of the Astar… kingdom? And if they were to truly go to war with them, they would need to find some larger towns. They would need to figure out the military power of the Astar as well, for if they were a race of much higher-ranked people, Endaria wouldn’t stand a chance.
An idea came to mind, though perhaps one that was a little risky. Using Natural Matter Alteration, Zalia would be able to make some fake power-subduing bracelets and manacles for her legs. Then, hopefully, she would be able to infiltrate the town and learn a little bit more. Since the power-subduing bracelets would be fake, she could teleport out in an instant if needed. This way, she would be able to pretend to be one of the slaves and walk about a bit, pretending to do some drudgework.
It was risky and the chance of being found out was a real one, but it might be worth it. Of course, she would have to talk to Ember about it first.
Her mind also went to thoughts of breaking out the slaves of the town. Since the proportion of combat-based classes was much higher the higher-ranked you got, it was likely that they would be able to take over the town. Something about them gave her pause though, an oddity in their behaviour. She just couldn’t see how the Astar were so comfortable being outnumbered by the human slaves without them having some other type of control over them. She would have to get Aylie within sight of the town so that she might see if there was anything odd in the astral.
The run back home was long but made shorter by Zalia’s speed and abilities which made it much easier. When she arrived back at their clearing, Aylie was still meditating on her stump so she let her be. At the entrance to the clearing, however, Ember was waiting… patiently.
“You found it!?”
Zalia gave a nod as she moved past into the clearing.
“Oh yeah, and it’s bad. Where are the others?”
Ember came up behind her, gesturing to the other side of the clearing where Prance and Pounce were animatedly talking with the others.
“They’ve been talking about your trip with them for hours.”
Zalia frowned.
“They didn’t even come to the town.”
Ember shrugged.
“They got to see an Astar though.”
That made Zalia smile. It definitely wasn’t something to be excited about but it was something new to the young cats, and so they were.
“Well, we have some decisions to make. Once Aylie is ready for a break, we’ll go over everything,” she paused for a moment, “We were wrong about one thing Ember. They haven’t been killing the humans they’ve taken. They’ve been enslaving them and perhaps doing something to their minds. I am going to have to take Aylie to have a look.”
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Ember looked up sharply.
“Shit, how many were there?”
Zalia shrugged her shoulder.
“I don’t know, but a lot. I didn’t stay long because I didn’t want to be seen.”
They stood around for a few more minutes before Aylie walked in. Zalia called over the others and they all sat for a family meeting, the first in a while.
First, Zalia explained to them what she had seen in the Astar town. After that, she went through her idea for possible infiltration of the town to find out more using fake power-subduing bracelets.
When she was done, there was silence until Aylie spoke up.
“And what if the Astar, as spatial magic experts, find a way to stop you from teleporting out and you get stuck in the town?”
Zalia had no response to that, it was a good point.
“I don’t know, but I think it’s worth it to find out more. Isn’t it?”
Ember looked thoughtful but unconvinced, while Boreal’s tail was swishing back and forth. Boreal’s children sat quietly while they spoke, a strange but pleasant experience.
“I think we need to look further into it,” Ember said, “but I also don’t think your idea is necessarily a good one on its own. You tend to put yourself into danger while keeping the rest of us at arm’s length from that danger at the same time. We decided to come here and learn something about the Astar as a family and we will do it as a family. I know you want us to be safe, but you have to let us help with this.”
Zalia opened her mouth to respond but shut it closed again as she thought. Ember wasn’t wrong, she was just used to doing everything on her own, a habitual remnant from her previous life.
“You’re right, I know. I hold to the fact that I have the best chance of escape should the person in the town get caught though.”
Ember reluctantly nodded.
“That is true. I think we should explore some other avenues before we go that far however.”
Aylie piped up.
“I want to see the town, perhaps I can see something that you cannot. There is something about the mist creatures that is important, I can feel it.”
“Alright, we’ll all go to see the town first. Then we can make plans for how we will infiltrate the town, agreed?” Zalia asked.
The others nodded.
“Agreed, but we should not do this today. It is almost time for the young ones to sleep and we should think of some other ways to learn more about the town while we are here.”
Zalia looked over at the young cats and realised that they did look like they were about to fall asleep. No wonder they were being so respectfully quiet.
They all spent the next half hour trying to figure out how exactly they could infiltrate the town. It was decided that Boreal would go with Zalia, being the stealthiest and fastest amongst them, as she could most likely go unseen in the town. Zalia had not seen any Astar above Silver rank which was promising. If it came to it, she would be able to help Zalia escape.
There was no other ideas on how to get into the town unseen, so they left it at that.
As the others went to sleep, Zalia retreated into her vault where she did some gardening. She loved the simple task. It was not only calming but was helpful down the line for when she performed rituals. While she could create herbs from mana using Herbal Magic, having the ingredients to summon from the vault made them cheaper.
When Ember joined her in the vault, they worked together to make a poultice from Soulroot. They had to apply some Manifest Paste onto it to solidify its form before crushing it down into a gel-like substance. The Manifest Paste had a slight effect on the resulting poultice.
Soul Poultice (Potent) - Silver rank.
A dab of this gel poultice applied to the forehead will help a creature descend into a meditative state in which they may dive deeper into their own soul, as well as see into the astral ever so slightly.
They had been making the poultice for Aylie each night, to help with her exploration of the mist and the creatures within it. While during the day they were both busy, Zalia and Ember took this time before Ember slept to just be with each other. Often, they didn’t even speak, simply working efficiently side by side.
Ember would apply the Manifest Paste to the roots and Zalia would use Natural Matter Alteration to turn a lump of stone she kept for this purpose into a mortar and pestle. She would then crush up the roots Ember handed her and store the resulting Soul Poultice in little wooden orbs she sealed up. Aylie could open up these orbs with her own abilities to use it.
Zalia could do all of this herself, probably faster than with Ember there, but it wasn’t about that. It was about spending time with her partner.
“Do you think the young ones are alright?” Ember asked, breaking the silence.
Zalia thought for a moment.
“I think so. I know Boreal has been talking to them about what we are doing and why we’re here. They were born after the war, so they don’t quite understand the things we have been through but I think they’re beginning to. I’m starting to doubt whether we should bring them into the next war if it comes, though.”
Ember nodded and Zalia could feel that she’d had the same thought.
“I’m not so certain we’ll be able to beat the Astar.”
Zalia pursed her lips.
“Neither am I.”