Seeing as Specialist Howard was not in a particularly good mood, the last thing he felt like doing was building a communications tower. As far as he was concerned, maintaining communications with command wasn’t exactly a priority at the moment. So, instead of being a good soldier and helping, he was making himself useful by taking out his frustrations on the tree in front of him.
With his face set in a grim snarl, he mercilessly swung his infused axe into the trunk, over and over again. All too soon, the tree started falling and he was forced to take a step back. Glancing up at the tipping tree, he saw that it was falling a little off his intended target. With a wave of his hand, he cast a quick ‘gust’ spell and pushed it back where he wanted it.
A flex of his mental muscles pulled his axe back into his personal space, and he stomped over to the base of the fallen tree. Reaching down, he lifted the tree trunk to his shoulder, and started dragging it back toward the burgeoning encampment.
As he passed the tree-stumps of his former stress relievers, his thoughts returned to the conversation he’d had with Gate 22’s army commander, the man currently directing their forces at the mountain gate.
Commander Gallegos looked up from the report he’d been reading and said, “Look specialist, I’ve already got 5 war-mages on-site. It’s not that I don’t think you’d be an asset, it’s just that I don’t need you at the moment. It’s not worth filing the paperwork until I have a place to assign you.”
With his fists clenched in anger, Howard replied, “And when will that be? I’m just wasting my time with the elites at the moment, any surveillance or field mage could fill in for me. It’s a waste of my skills to leave me where I am.”
The commander leaned back in his chair with a sigh, the stress of the situation getting to him. The man clearly hated dealing with specialists, his prejudice clearly showing on his face. Howard could see that the man’s restraint was beginning to fail. “I’m only going to say this one more time… I don’t need you at the moment. For now, stay with whatever assignment you’ve been given, and when the time comes, I’ll put you where I need you. Is it that difficult for you to just follow orders?” he said, his voice filled with poorly contained scorn.
Howard could feel the commander’s anger coming off him in waves, and he had to force himself to stay calm.
His thoughts were broken by a connection request being carried through the ether. Absently tracing the essence signature, he looked into the distance to see Captain Angelton frowning in his direction. With a huff of annoyance, he reached out to firm up the connection and asked, “What?”
The captain replied, “Stop wasting time with the trees. I need you over here on construction.”
The connection snapped, causing Howard to tilt his head back as if his forehead had been flicked… hard.
Grumbling, he continued dragging his felled tree. He’d drop it off before heading over to the captain.
Without meaning to, he once again thought back to his conversation with Commander Gallegos. It just didn’t make any sense. There were countless ways the war could benefit from his presence on the battlefield. He was a skilled war-mage whose entire job was dealing with situations exactly like this. Leaving him out here with these fresh recruits, monitoring holes in the ground, was an insult.
After dropping off the tree at the processing pile, he glanced over to see several elites stripping the branches and bark of the trunks. The pile of scraps was already nearly taller than he was. ‘At least they’re good for something,’ he thought.
Taking his time, he eventually made his way over to the captain. Not saying anything, he just stood next to the man, waiting for him to acknowledge his presence. Several awkward seconds passed before Captain Angelton finally deigned to speak to him.
“I understand how you feel. I’m in a similar situation, many of us are. Don’t you find it odd that you and I are both still here, watching over a fresh crop of elites? We have decades of experience between us, our skills would be put to much better use on the front lines.”
Specialist Howard’s brow furrowed in thought. That was a good point. The captain really shouldn’t still be here either. There were thousands of better choices to lead a simple observation camp.
With fresh eyes, he looked around the growing encampment. Most of the sergeants here were veterans, each with years of actual experience in combat, every one of them with the levels to prove it. Why were any of them here?
While training a new crop of elites was important, and it made sense when there was just the density shift to deal with, the war should have changed the army’s priorities. The moment they’d been called back, they should have been reassigned to combat units. So why hadn’t that happened?
Looking over at Captain Angelton, Howard asked, “You’re right. It is odd. You suspect some stupid noble plot or something? Or do you think they could have just forgotten about us?”
Captain Angelton’s face was carved from stone, even his essence field was completely calm. Howard couldn’t tell what the man was thinking.
The captain said, “I think there is something we’re missing. I don’t believe for a second that the general didn’t put us here for a reason. That’s what I don’t understand. If we’d been put here because he expects combat, then why are the recruits with us? But if not, then why gather Dorchester’s best and keep them away from the war?”
Howard didn’t know what to say, strategic thinking wasn’t exactly his strong suit, and he knew it.
Continuing on, the captain said, “The only conclusion I can make, is that we’re here for a strategic purpose, and that we’ll just have to wait and see what that purpose is. Until then, I plan to fortify our position, do my job, and keep my eyes open.” Turning to look at Specialist Howard, he added, “And I expect you to do the same.”
Their conversation was interrupted when they heard a young voice call out, “Hey cap, Howie, we got a problem.”
Looking over their shoulders, they saw little Lord Walker jogging up to them with a grim look on his face.
-----
Figuring that if he wanted to see anything, he’d have to be much closer, Nero said to the two men, “Let’s all walk over to where I left my tree, and we can watch what happens.”
Not waiting for an reply, he left the two men behind and started walking.
Feeling them immediately catch up, he heard Captain Angelton’s commanding voice say, “Keep your expressions light, and don’t let on that you suspect anything. If something is really out there, and they aren’t currently listening to what we’re saying, then there is no need to alert them to our suspicions.”
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Nero nodded, but still grimaced at the implication that whoever, or whatever, was out there could have heard his warning. ‘I should have thought of that. They may not have directional mikes or spy equipment, but there are probably hundreds of ways for them to listen in on conversations from a distance,’ he told himself.
Looking up to his left, he asked the captain, “You think it could be people, or maybe kobalds? Why would they try and get this close, couldn’t they just scry on us or something? I don’t really get how warfare works here.”
Sergeant Howard was the one to answer, “The density shift makes scrying outside the walls a pain in the ass. You can do it, if you’re good, but it’s not easy. Even my range is pretty weak out here at the moment.”
Confused, Nero thought back to his limited experience with scrying. He hadn’t had a problem with it, had he?
“How exactly does the density shift affect scrying?” asked Nero.
Specialist Howard replied, “It’s a matter of inconsistent ether density. Think of the ethereal plane as an ocean, but with pockets of inconsistent fluids. Normally, the ether is uniformly distributed, sectioned off by whatever environment is projected into the material plane. The area’s identity is like a giant essence field, spread out and slowly influencing the reality that we see and interact with. But density shifts are like waves of new water coming into a lake, shaking everything up. The flow can get tangled up into knots, and that’s where all the essence events come in. But when it comes to scrying, it makes following an essence flow really annoying. The farther away you try and look, the more difficult it is to get a clear picture. Unless you’re looking at something within your perception field, it gets really difficult. And if you’re close enough to use your perception field, it’s not really scrying. Make sense?”
Nero’s mind worked though what the man had said, and replied, “I guess. You’re kinda mixing your metaphors though. It’s not like you get knots in the ocean.”
Captain Angelton interjected, “How about sand banks under the water. Think of spawners, condensation points, planar events, all of them could be considered as different types of underwater events that affect the consistent flow of water into and out of the area. Although dungeons are different, they smooth out the surrounding flows, allowing the density to shift at a much smoother pace. They act as pressure regulators, if you will. But instead of pressure, or water, they stabalize large scale identities.”
Surprisingly, that made sense to Nero. In fact, that was the clearest explanation he’d heard so far. ‘What an elegant and comprehensive explanation. He should give Nick lessons on how to impart information in short, descriptive, and useful chunks,’ he thought to himself.
Specialist Howard ruined Nero’s moment by saying, “It’s not really like that in reality. There is a lot more to it, but the analogy is good for explaining the density shift to uneducated people... and children.”
Frowning, Nero remembered why he had almost killed himself trying to stab the war-mage in the gut during training. The guy was kind of an asshole.
The conversation had eaten up enough time, and they’d made it to the place where he’d dropped his tree. Being careful not to stare, he sent out his psychic presence to take another look at the weird part of the forest that wasn’t forest.
“It’s still there,” he said.
The two men stood next to Nero, all three of them looking down at the tree as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. Each of them pretending that it was the reason they’d been called over.
“I’m looking, but I still don’t see anything. You sure you’re perception field has reached the potency threshold for visualization?" asked Specialist Howard, his voice tinged with skepticism.
Nero snorted, and replied, “Yeah, however you want to call it, I can see with my field just fine. In fact, in many ways I can see better with my field than I can with my eyes. The flows are moving through the area, but they look weird the moment they cross some kind of invisible barrier.”
His voice full of interest, the captain asked, “I remember when you told me your thoughts before the noble war. You saw what others didn’t then, and I don’t doubt that you might be seeing things that we’re missing now. This very well could be another case of you just not having the requisite background information to understand what you’re looking at. So how about you describe exactly what you’re seeing, and let us try and figure out what it is.”
Appreciating the trust, Nero’s eyes glassed over as he focused on his other senses. “I’m not really sure how to say this, so I’m just going to start talking, and hopefully it makes sense to you.”
Both Howard and Angelton shared a look, each curious as to what the odd young man was seeing, and simultaneously deciding to take him at his word.
“Normally, an area is full of thousands of little streams of essence crisscrossing all over the ether. However, there are some things that affect the flows. People’s essence fields dim the flows, making them thin and hard to see. If I stare too hard, all I can see is the person’s essence field, and not the flows. It’s like a big empty bubble. Monsters, beasts, anything with a mind seems to work the same way. But other things, like spawn-points and stuff like that, they bend the flows, making them distort a little. If there is a connection to another plane, I think I can see the feedback from whatever is happening on the other side of the corridor. Usually, I can get an idea of what I’m looking at by context clues, but this forest thing, it just doesn’t make sense to me.”
Nero wasn’t looking, but both Howard and Angelton’s eyes were wide with shock. For most people, that just wasn’t how it worked. Even people skilled in perception tended to only perceive the material plane around them. Seeing into the ether was usually confined to feelings, and interpretations. It was like trying to get a picture of what was happening by listening to how the sound bounced off the objects in a room. It took a lifetime to master. The idea that someone could actually SEE the essence flowing through the ether was incredible, and a more than a little improbable.
Nero kept talking, oblivious to their doubts, “When I look at that area of the forest, I see the essence flowing, moving through the area just like everywhere else. But in that one big area, the essence snaps into place, no longer being affected by anything around it. It’s like a moving picture, relaying the idea that everything is like the rest of the forest. Yeah, that’s a good way to put it. It’s like a mirage, or a reflection of what the forest should look like. I can see it at the edges, they’re wavy, and don’t line up right. I think if I….”
Both men watched as Nero spoke his thoughts out loud, seemingly talking to himself, having forgotten that they were listening. As he trailed off, they saw the blood drain from his face.
Nero’s attempts to probe the area had proven more fruitful than he’d hoped. By examining the edge, he’d been able to slip in behind the false projection, and see what was happening on the other side.
“There must be over a hundred kobalds in there,” he hissed, keeping his voice low.
Both the captain and specialist straightened up in surprise, exchanging grim looks with each other.
Nero, his eyes still unfocused, kept talking, “Cap, you need to call back your scouts. They’re going to get themselves killed if they go in there.”
While Nero narrated what he was seeing, Captain Angelton sent out a connection request to the team he’d sent out to examine the area. Trusting Nero for the moment, or possibly just fearing that the young man could be right, he called them back. He ordered them to carefully return, and bring back some more trees so it looked like they were sent out for more lumber.
“Most of them are the little kobalds, like four feet tall at most. There are a couple big ones though, maybe six or seven feet? I can’t tell. And there are two robed guys that look like magic users. Also there’s a group of bare-chested bastards that are wearing headdresses and covered in bone-jewelry. Their staffs are glowing, and they are all staying together in the middle. It looks like the big guys are trying to herd the little dudes into lines, maybe preparing for an assault? Wait, there’s a kobald that is all hazy, the staff guys are surrounding him. Uh oh… I think he sensed me looking at him,” Nero said, his eyes returning to normal after he immediately pulled back his psychic probe.
Specialist Howard had been splitting his attention between listening to Nero, sharing glances with Angelton, and using his perception field to see monitor the area and see if he could notice anything. The moment Nero stopped talking, he saw the mirage fall, and a large area of the forest revealed itself as an illusion.
“Oh, shit!” he cursed, then sent up a spell flare into the sky, and sounding the alarm. A pulse of essence shot through the ether, causing most of the recruits to snap to attention. Anyone who’d served in the military recognized the signal, and aside from a few people like Rose and Nick, they all dropped what they were doing and armed themselves.
The kobalds, almost as one, started screaming. To Nero, it sounded like an unholy mix between a goat’s bleat and a hissing snake. As a group they started running through the forest, their auditory assault loud enough to shake the ground.
Nero turned around, shocked at how quickly everything had gone to shit. His eyes were drawn to the sky, as numerous arrows, spears, and blobs of colors were launched into the air, all heading for encampment. An encampment which was currently without walls or defenses, filled with mostly recruits and hunters who were primarily used to fighting monsters and beasts.
Frozen, Nero stood there in a daze. He could feel Captain Angelton moving around behind him, shouting orders in a voice loud enough to make his ears hurt. And to his right, he felt Specialist Howard begin to cast something, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the incoming rain of death bearing down on him from above.
‘I told those fuckers that there was something out there,’ he thought lamely. ‘If I die because of this, somebody better rez me.’