Persepera
The 26th of Thargelion
The Year 4631 in the Era of Mortals
In the few days since nearly half the village gained access to magic, Lyssa had only had to put out three fires. Honestly, it was less than she expected. One sheepish man had accidentally set fire to the insula while practicing Flare in his room, a woman had set a patch of grass ablaze with Flame Spout and couldn’t stamp it out, and the last had come from Kyveli, who had gained access to an Epic rarity spell: Summon Minor Flame Elemental.
This last had been the cause of some consternation, as the thumb-sized lick of flame had zipped too close to a woman’s head, catching her hair alight. This had caused more than a little screaming and cursing, but Lyssa was able to extinguish the flames with a gesture. Of the other flame wielders in Myriatos, none had been identified with anything better than an Uncommon spell.
With so many new pyromancers, the dwarves began forcibly recruiting some to keep the forges burning in the newly completed smithy. Kyveli’s fire elemental proved the most adept at this task as it would simply rest inside the forge and stay burning for as long as the dwarves needed it. All Kyveli had to do was stand nearby and watch the dwarves work. The girl seemed fascinated by the metallurgy, which Lyssa hoped would be a good opportunity for her. The dwarves, Grimmolt especially, had much to teach and the community would be good for her.
Once the forge started churning out iron and steel, Gigator had practically commandeered half the smithy for upgrading his guards’ equipment. Spearheads, swords, shields, and armor were churned out every day. The ramshackle gear of the guards was starting to look like a proper uniform. The rest of the smithy was hard at work producing as many nails, tools, and other construction supplies as they could. Their supply of metals would soon run out but Lyssa hoped to have a new plan by then.
With the smithy and the workshop finally constructed, the village carpenters split their focus. One began the construction of a workshop while the other oversaw the construction of the palisade. The latter was a priority for many and they approached the work with gusto, encircling half the village in only a few short days.
The phosphomancers weren’t much help inside the smithy, so Abraxios put them to work practicing Mana Manipulation in addition to casting their lights. Gigator had them practice with the guard corps, strategizing tactics that involved blinding foes with Flash and allowing the guards to get in close. The training looked impressive, but it was still untested in battle.
Gigator had little time to create new training plans, however. That work fell to Elpida as he took on his new responsibilities of training the rest of the village. After the goblin attack, no one wanted to be caught unaware again. Magic was well and good, but Mana could run out far more quickly than Stamina. Every adult trained with spear, sword, and shield. The children took it upon themselves to mimic the actions of their elders with sticks and old cuts of wood. They marched around, barking orders and doing their best to mimic Gigator’s reptilian rasp. This continued on until Gigator caught one of them boasting their sword skill was so high that Gigator had named him a sergeant in his command. After that, Gigator included the children in their own training regimen, teaching them the basics of footwork and positioning, and only ever referring to that precocious child by his esteemed rank.
Lyssa had been busy as well, going over the new functions of the village with Theodorous, now that it was a recognized urban center. The use of the City Stone had the strange effect of causing the village to count as one level higher than it actually was. This came with a stream of positives and negatives. On one hand, more benefits were available to citizens, such as higher morale averages, faster recovery speed of vitals, increased experience gains within city limits, but more dangerous monsters would be attracted to the village. Given their numbers and lack of infrastructure, this was a potentially deadly circumstance. To make a bad thing worse, the benefits were tied to special buildings, none of which had been built yet.
One benefit that Lyssa was able to take advantage of was the designation of an official capitol building, which was, naturally, the village hall. This allowed her to formally delegate authorities to more city officials and also allowed access to a tab that had been completely grayed out for as long as she’d seen it: magic.
City magic was split into two subcategories: offensive and defensive. Both had a single spell.
Mirage (Defensive)
What cannot be seen cannot be targeted.
Bends the light around creatures and structures within city limits. Creatures reliant upon sight will be unable to perceive the city from outside the city limits. Creatures may be designated immune to this spell by authorized city officials.
Cost: 500 Mana per day
Meteor (Offensive)
When fire rains from the sky, your enemies will regret their choices.
Conjure a boulder of flame to strike a point within the claimed territory of the city. The boulder explodes upon contact, dealing fire damage in a 100-meter radius.
Cost: 900 Mana
Both spells were incredibly useful, particularly Mirage, and both were exorbitantly expensive. Thankfully, the village had its own Mana pool. When the village was only a hamlet, there was no Mana available at all, but it was effectively a hamlet no longer.
Congratulations!
Myriatos has been upgraded to Village I.
Mana: 1,000 / 1,000
Mana Regeneration: 0.0116 per Second
Leylines of Light and Fire have been claimed.
Mana: 3,000 / 3,000
Mana Regeneration: 0.0347 per Second
Theodorous had done the math by hand to ensure that the regeneration amounted to the restoration of the total Mana Pool every twenty-four hours, with only some minor discrepancies easily explained away by fluctuations in ambient Mana. As the city leader, Lyssa had access to use the magic. Once she ensured it would have no ill-effects, she used the stores to cast Mirage around the village, designating each citizen as immune to the effects, but leaving Theodorous out as a test.
At first, nothing had changed, but once they’d traveled to the edge of the village and had him step across, the difference was immediate. As Theodorous turned around, his eyes glided over Lyssa and the village entirely. Then, while still outside the limits, she designated him to be immune and he was again able to perceive everything. For good measure, she included Arche and the others in Ship’s Shape on the list of immune members. It wouldn’t do for them to return from their long journey and be unable to find their home. Or, worse, assume that everyone had died and all traces of them wiped from the face of Tartarus.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Lyssa had also found that the village Mana could be used to augment her own spells, though she couldn’t give her Mana back to the village. In case of emergencies, she designated Theodorous as able to use the village’s magic. Meteor was too powerful of a spell not to be accessible if something happened to her, and one of them would always be at the village.
On day three, Theodorous tested casting Mirage without use of the village’s stores. He had a surprisingly prodigious amount of Mana, for a non-mage, and had explained that his Trade, Statecraft, had endeared him toward the mental attributes. Knowing that he would be able to cast the spell using the village’s Mana, he instead attempted to cast it using his own. The large expenditure of Mana nearly made him collapse, but the spell was cast. Lyssa was grateful for the test. Even if the village’s stores were drained, so long as they were strong enough, they could keep Myriatos’s defenses up.
The leylines had paid dividends toward keeping Myriatos safe. What was more, progress had been made toward Lyssa’s quest.
Settling Down I
You have established a settlement in the middle of the Sylv. You must take care to grow your settlement and take care of your people, else you may find that your new neighbors will simply kill you and move in.
Objectives
· Recruit a population of 100 (117/100)
· Build 5 structures (4/5)
· Secure 2 natural resources (3/2)
Rewards
· Village Level I
· 10,000 Experience
WARNING
Failure to achieve these objectives before Village Morale reaches -500 may result in a coup!
It was sobering progress, seeing how few were left of their initial population of two-hundred-four. The leylines had counted as natural resources and the village level bump from the City Stone had invalidated the warning. All that was left was to finish one more structure, which would likely be the palisade, and Myriatos would effectively become a Level Two Village. This, Theodorous had promised, would open up new building options and increase overall productivity. Things were finally moving forward in Myriatos.
A klaxon blared, silencing the bustle of the village.
Ice flooded Lyssa’s veins. She dismissed the quest progress and donned her battle leathers, bursting forth from the village hall to see one of the hunters atop a nearby hill pointing southward. Bounding forward, Solar Sprint brought her above the rise to take a look for herself. A procession of six wood elves, clad in leather and barkmail, walked toward their village from the Sylv.
Or, rather, they walked in the general direction. They were still two kilometers away and were moving slowly, for elves. Their weapons were drawn, she could see, as they had likely heard the klaxon and were moving toward it, but they were not looking at Myriatos directly. Their Mirage had worked.
Lyssa filed a mental note to develop an alarm system that wasn’t based on noise and moved down to the ground. Gigator ran up to her, dressed in formed platemail.
“Archousa,” he said. “What news?”
“Elves of the Dawnwood,” Lyssa said. “Approaching from the south. Six of them. Gather Elpida and Vik. We will meet them before they reach the village.”
Gigator nodded and left to get the others.
“I would like to join you.”
Lyssa turned to find Theodorous nearby, clad in an iron breastplate with a sword at his side.
“We don’t know their intentions. There will be risk.”
“If they are peaceful, I can help negotiations. If they are not, I have confidence that you are strong enough to destroy them. Please, let me help.”
There was an unspoken risk to Myriatos. If they both went and something happened to them, the village would be left without a clear leader. It was a slim chance, however, and they would be close.
“Very well.”
Gigator, Elpida, and Vik arrived a moment later, all dressed for a fight.
“What’s the plan?” Vik asked.
Lyssa looked at each of them in turn. Someone had to stay, if for nothing else then to rally the people, should things turn sour.
“We leave the village from the south and circle around, that way they won’t know exactly where we came from. We’ll use the hills as cover to get close to them and meet them halfway. If things get violent, retreat back to the village. There could be more hiding in the Sylv and, if they’ve brought their war-bows, a kilometer from the tree line won’t be far enough. Vik, you will be our spokesperson. As an elf, you are our best chance at negotiation without violence. Gigator, I need you to stay here and organize our forces.”
The sauros bowed his head. When no one objected, they set off, keeping low to the ground and moving quickly. Theodorous slowed their pace somewhat, being less physically proficient than the rest, but they still arrived at the intercept point a handful of minutes later. Lyssa donned a cloak and put the hood up to mask her face and ears. Then, they stood over the rise of a hill and let themselves be spotted by the elven group.
“Hold, there,” Vik called out, his voice full of authority. “Identify yourselves.”
One of the elves stepped forward to answer, an imperious tone to his voice.
“I am Figoritolos, an emissary of Dawnwood. We have come to assess the village of Myriatos.”
Lyssa sucked her teeth. Fig was one of the more accomplished hunters of Dawnwood. Arche had run across him after leaving the Necropolis of Pygmaia, claiming the elf had threatened to murder their entire group. It had been difficult to join his account of Fig with her memories, but seeing the ego and confidence he exuded, there was no mistaking it. This is what had become of her childhood friend.
“They’ve come to see if we are a threat,” she whispered. “Be on your guard.”
“If you mean no harm, you will lay down your weapons. I am Vikterandor of Myriatos. If you intend peace, we will be peaceable.”
Some of the elves shifted their stances. Many gripped their bows tightly.
“We will not disarm ourselves to you, Vikterandor of Myriatos,” Fig said. “Your village has proven itself already to be a threat to the balance of the Sylv by the release of a vampire from her ancient prison. We are here to ascertain the extent of that threat.”
“How do you want to proceed?” Vik whispered.
“Ask them what is required for them to be on their way,” Lyssa replied.
Vik repeated the question and Fig jutted his chin forward, baring his teeth in a display of dominance.
“Submit yourselves to search. Once we have found the vampire, she will be slain. If none of your people are harboring her, then you have nothing to fear. We can treat further from there.”
“A bad idea. We have no reason to let them in,” Elpida muttered.
“Attacking them would be tantamount to declaring war on Dawnwood,” Lyssa said. “Appeasing them should be simple enough. The vampire is not here, she would have been noticed. Insist that their weapons be removed and they will be allowed to enter Myriatos.”
“You do not have the position to make demands of us, Figoritolos of Dawnwood, but if you lay down your arms, you will be permitted to enter Myriatos and we will aid in the peaceful conduction of your search. You will be guests. Remember, however, that your conduct is your own. Raise a hand against our citizens and justice will be swift and ruthless.”
Fig’s eyes narrowed but he laid his bow against the ground. The other elves behind him did the same. Lyssa, Elpida, and Theodorous moved forward to gather the weapons while Vik stayed behind, watching. Lyssa had no doubt that they retained weapons in their inventories but, for now, the appearance of compliance was enough.
“Are you the village leader?” Fig asked Vik.
“No, but I hold position here.”
“I would prefer to speak with your leader, then.”
“And you may.” Vik cracked a smile. “Once they prefer to speak with you.”
Fig’s lips twitched in annoyance but he kept the rest of his face calm and amenable. It was strange. He was older than Lyssa by a century, but she had never seen him quite like this. He’d always been a bit pompous and overconfident of his ability with a bow but she had never seen such disdain on his face. Looking at him now—seeing his nostrils flare at Elpida, his blatant dismissal of Theodorous, and his suspicion of her despite her face and features masked—she realized what she had failed to see in Dawnwood.
“Careful with that bow,” Fig snapped at Elpida. “It’s older than you are and far more valuable.”
Lyssa nearly hit him before she realized she’d moved. She masked the movement by taking the bow from Elpida’s hands and putting it into her own inventory. She made eye-contact with Fig, her face covered from the nose down, but his eyes betrayed no flicker of recognition. How could they, when hers had changed so much?
“The same goes with you,” he sneered.
“Follow us,” Vik cut in before things could escalate.
The whole walk to Myriatos, Lyssa’s heart pounded in her chest. Every step reminded her of home, but it was wrong. She had spent too much time away and the experience had changed her. These elves were not her kin, her people, but complete strangers. Myopic and dismissive, no matter how familiar they seemed. Had she been the same way, before Arche? Before Myriatos? Lyssa swallowed down the bile rising in her throat.
Thankfully, they arrived at the village before she could lose too much of herself to her own thoughts. Several of the elves gasped as the village came into sight, appearing before them like a shimmering city. Guards met them by the budding wall, apprehensive and alert, Gigator at their head. Elpida’s group of elite fighters joined the escort, giving Lyssa the opportunity to separate. She needed a moment to breathe, away from the elves.
“Archousa?” Theodorous had followed her.
“I’m all right,” she assured him. “Can you have everyone line up, please? I would like to get this over with. I don’t want them here any longer than necessary. Conflict seems inevitable, otherwise.”
“Of course, Archousa.”
He left Lyssa to watch as the citizens of Myriatos gathered beneath the midday sun, wondering if inviting her former people in had been a terrible mistake.