EPILOGUE - PART 2

* CLANDESTINE *

“Oi Boss, I didn’t think I’d hear from you for a couple of days,” Marybeth said as she arrived at the outskirts of the mountain city of Clandestine with Ben, Bernie, Becky, Melvin, and Ace. “You save the world already?”

Ben chuckled at his rowdy quickener. “Not quite. I need to get a few things to fix the Weaver’s Road core, and my friends wanted to use the library, so I thought I’d visit with the girls for a while since I’ll be busy over the next few weeks.”

“Oh, sorry Boss; the lady had me take her and the lil’ bit to Almania to visit a friend. Do you want me to go tell her you’re back?”

Ben frowned slightly but shook his head. “No, it’s fine. It’s probably for the best, since I’ll only be able to stay for a little while.”

“Well in that case, now that I got me a connection to the Weaver’s Road marker, I’m gonna do me some shoppin’,” Marybeth said excitedly. She gestured to her open blue robe which revealed her navy-blue culotte overalls.

“I really need to do that too,” Becky lamented. Like Bernie, she was still wearing the clothing given to her by the Glorandor dwarves, a pair of brown shorts and a matching tunic shirt. Though the outfit was comfortable and never seemed to get dirty, she still wanted something different.

“Well, whatever you do, don’t let the boss get you anything, he’s got horrible taste,” Marybeth said with a wink. Before Ben could sputter out a retort, she tapped her staff on the ground and disappeared.

Becky chuckled. “I guess not everyone likes your new clothing styles,” she said teasingly.

Ben rolled his eyes. “She’s still mad I forced her to be a model for some new designs last year. Anyway, let’s go.” He headed for the guard station that was at the entrance to the city.

Ace put a hand on Ben’s shoulder to stay him. “We’re going to split off from here. I’ll get a national quickener to take us to Marvtell.” He adjusted the rucksack on his back and then he and Melvin walked in the opposite direction of the city’s guard station to another small booth where they could pay for quickener transport to any of the cities in the nation of Acumen.

Melvin had agreed to help Ace on his trip by getting him to Hidden Valley. Ace had never been as he seemed to not meet whatever nebulous qualifications the town’s core required, but with Melvin at his side, they’d be able to use the special transport corridor to reach Hidden Valley shortly after entering the Lost Plains. From there, Ace would have a much shorter trek to the high cliffs that led to the White Desert. For his part, Melvin planned to visit for a while with Amos, the town’s chief, before heading back to Weaver’s Road.

Becky watched them head off with a frown on her face. “I’m really worried about Ace; he just seems so different now.”

Bernie shrugged. “Well, he’s been here longer than any of us. He’s bound to have changed some.”

Becky shook her head. “No, I don’t think it’s that—well that may be part of it but—I think it’s Tabatha. What she did hit him pretty hard.”

Ben led them to the guard station where Becky and Bernie presented their brand-new identification cards so they could be given unlimited access to the city at Ben’s request. His noble status coupled with his position as vice president of the academy meant that everyone in the city knew and respected him, and he could get pretty much anything accomplished. Becky and Bernie had been one of several people who’d gotten official identification cards in Weaver’s Road so that they could be registered as citizens there. The cards also served as a way of holding Warrior Guild rank and other various official statuses that were added by mentus, like the pass that gave them access to Clandestine.

Once inside the mountain, the trio made their way to the Academy where Christopher and Leonard were already waiting in one of the administration building’s many lounges. With help from Becky, Ben explained exactly what happened the previous night.

“We need to report this to the king immediately,” Leonard said when Ben’s tale was done. “If the Fantasmal Government has fallen, then things are escalating much faster than we anticipated.”

“Leonard, I also need your help with a project I’m working on.” Ben reached into his messenger bag and pulled out a large slab of quartz stone, far larger than the bag’s outer dimensions. “This is part of the energy transfer interface of the Weaver’s Road core. I need to repair it as quickly as possible. I’ve also gotten permission to upgrade their core in any way I like, so any ideas would be welcome.”

Christopher’s blue eyes seemed to sparkle at this. “You mean we have an opportunity to examine the Weaver’s Road core? Incredible! The things we could learn from it.”

Ben shook his head. “Sorry Chris; unfortunately, the only person allowed to work on the core, other than me, is Leonard.”

“What! Why?”

Leonard understood immediately. “There are certain aspects to the Weaver’s Road core that are highly classified.”

Christopher seemed even more confused. “Well then how is it that you are privy to them?”

Leonard smirked. “I’m a Stokenshire.”

Christopher looked like he wanted to object to this, but Leonard stood, adjusting his blue robe. “Come Chris, we have work to do. We must meet with the king, then head down to our own core. If war is coming soon, we’ll have to adjust our security measures. Ben, why don’t we meet later at your house?”

Ben returned the slab to his bag as he stood. “That’s fine. I just need to drop these two off at the library and then I’m headed home. Come by whenever you’re ready.” Ben waved them off before turning back to his two friends. Becky was staring at him, an odd expression on her face. “What’s wrong?”

“How’d you do that?” Becky asked immediately.

“Do what?”

“You just did a magic trick; you pulled that huge rock right out of your bag like it was nothing,” Becky clarified.

Ben laughed. “Oh, it’s got an ustus compartment with embedded mentus. It’s just like your bag,” he said, gesturing to the red drawstring bag that Becky was carrying on her back. “Well, maybe not just like it, but similar.”

“My bag?” Becky pulled her mother’s bag from her back and examined it closely. “What do you mean?”

Ben eyed her curiously. “You mean you don’t know? I thought someone would’ve told you by now.” He looked to Bernie who seemed just as confused. “Your mom’s ‘magic bag,’ as you call it; it’s got some sort of powerful mentus embedded in it. My guess is that the inner lining is made of ustus, or perhaps they used some other type of quartz to do it, but it’s incredible whatever it is. At first glance, I’d say it’s elf made, so it may have more properties other than being able to hold more than its size. If you want, I could ask Maria’s mom to take a look at it.”

“Elf-made?” This seemed to trigger something in Becky’s memory. “My bacilla is elfish too. Do you think the duchess could tell me more about it?”

Ben nodded. “Absolutely. I’ll ask Maria when I see her.”

Becky stood to follow but then something else occurred to her. “Wait a minute; if this bag can hold a ton of stuff and not change size or weight, then I didn’t need to carry that heavy backpack for two days!” She rounded on Bernie as she said this. “Why don’t you guys use bags like this?”

Bernie shrugged. “You know how dwarves are: they never do anything for the benefit of human frailty.”

Becky punched him in the arm.

***

The Acumen Academy of Mentus Engineering had one of the largest academic libraries in the world and contained a vast amount of knowledge about mentus, mandamus, and all other adimus based abilities. Special permission was required to borrow a book from the library, even for professors and students of the masters school, but once again Ben’s position made things a lot easier for Becky and Bernie. His word alone was all that was needed for them to be able to borrow any books they wanted. The two spent the afternoon combing through the tall bookcases in the massive three-story building.

Their goal was to collect books that would help Becky quickly learn the innerworkings of adimus based abilities. As a skillmaster, she could potentially use a myriad of skills, but it wasn’t clear which ones she’d have the highest affinity with. As Becky had learned the previous day from Franklin, each skillmaster was different in that regard, so it was up to her to figure out what her specialties were. Though Salov’s library did have several books on mentus and mandamus, they didn’t go much past the introductory level, so Bernie suggested returning to Acumen.

“Here, we should take this one too,” he said as he finished leafing through a book. “It’s a primer on how mandamus language works.”

Becky took it. “Franklin said that it’s really rare for a skillmaster to be able to use mandamus,” she reminded him.

Bernie shrugged. “It’s worth trying; besides, it might be useful for Wayne at least.”

“Good point.” Becky slid the book into the red bag, and they continued down the wide aisle. “We should probably get a few more books that others can use too. Maybe we can find something that will help Jandor with being a Fantasmal-non.”

“Possibly, though I’ve never even heard of that adimus classification,” Bernie admitted. “I saw him practicing with Alyson and Lori earlier. It was amazing. I always knew Jandor could fight but seeing him now…”

“It’s hard to believe he’s only been here a couple of days, but he’s already so different.” She paused for a moment before adding, “He seems to really get along with Lori too.”

Bernie could tell exactly what was on her mind. “Well, they fought together in Cirinian Valley. I’m sure that has a lot to do with it.”

Becky nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“You know, as a skillmaster, it’s likely you could become a pretty decent fighter. Your adimus immune system is boosted, and that affects your reflexes and strength to a certain extent. With practice, I bet you’d do well.”

Becky shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s never really been my thing, but I probably should learn a little. You know how to use a sword, right?”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Yeah, I could help you learn the basics,” Bernie offered, “but we’d probably need Alyson for anything beyond that. I still need to adjust my style a bit.”

“Well, I’ll start with the basics, then we’ll see,” Becky decided as they left the aisle they’d been walking down and headed to one of the many tables to take a brief break from their search.

Bernie examined a quartz tablet embedded in the table that showed the catalog of books on its glass screen. “When you’re ready, we should go up to the second floor and get some books on channeling and engineering. I think you’d be good in both those areas.”

“Sounds fine.” Becky nodded vaguely, clearly deep in thought. After a few moments, her gaze fixed on Bernie who was still searching through the catalog. “Hey, Bernie.”

“Uh huh?” he grunted distractedly.

“Thanks.”

Bernie looked up at this. “You’re…welcome?”

Becky chuckled. “You’ve been really helpful,” she clarified. “Not only have you been with me every step of the way since I got to this world, but you really came through last night helping me with the core.”

Bernie shrugged. “I didn’t really do much; you basically figured it out on your own.”

“You also saved my life when that explosion happened,” Becky added.

“You’d have survived. I just did it because…well I knew whatever was happening, we’d need you,” Bernie admitted sheepishly. “I heard what you did: you stalled long enough for Melvin to get the book. I would’ve never thought of that.”

Becky rolled her eyes at this. “You don’t give yourself enough credit, or maybe you just give me too much.”

“Last night you came up with the whole strategy and a backup plan in like five minutes. Then, you not only used your adimus energy to strengthen the barrier, but you also figured out a way to hold off Tabatha. Even if it was just for a few minutes, it was still impressive,” Bernie praised. “You can do anything Becky; you’re literally a skillmaster.”

Becky frowned at this. “Yeah, but I was still scared. Everything’s so new to me. What if I had missed something or couldn’t figure things out in time? Everyone was depending on me to come up with the plan, but I’m not perfect.”

“No one expects you to be,” Bernie said. “We just all know you’re really reliable, that’s all.”

“And so are you,” Becky said pointedly. “So, thanks for helping me.”

Bernie saw the sincerity in her eyes, and this made him smile. “No problem. Does this mean you won’t punch me anymore?” he added with a chuckle.

Becky kicked him in the shin, a sly grin on her face. “What do you think?”

* FANTASMAL FORTRESS – GIBANO MOUNTAINS *

“This is a disaster,” Fantasma said as he surveyed the ruins of a mountain fortress several miles south of Weaver’s Road.

Like most government and military facilities, the Fantasmal Fortress was contained within a mountain. It was designed to be relatively well hidden and hard to reach. Because of this, there was only one physical entrance, which was currently blocked by a massive amount of quartz rock and rubble. Two guardians were working to clear a path into the mountain, but it was slow going. Not only did the raw quartz rock hinder their adimus abilities, but they had to be extremely meticulous with their work to prevent further rockslides.

Fantasma and Honsmordin had just arrived on the scene, after being summoned by Norman Rockwall, chief general of Fantasma’s armed forces.

“So, the mentus bombs affected the forts as well?” Honsmordin asked.

Rockwall shook his head. “I don’t think the military translift had anything to do with this.” The tall, brown-skinned half-elf looked haggard and exhausted. “The translift is located outside the fort, about a 10-minute walk from here, and it looks to still be intact, though it’s completely non-functional, as expected.”

Fantasma had a rare look of dismay on his face. “Then how did this happen?”

“We’re not sure yet,” Rockwall admitted with a heavy sigh.

After spending the night recovering from Davron’s surprise attack, Rockwall’s next priority was to reconnect with the reserve troops located in the four Fantasmal Fortresses spread around the world. With their transportation and communication networks in disarray, they’d been completely cut off, but one of the fortresses was close to Weaver’s Road. Rockwall and a small contingent of soldiers and guardians made the trip early that morning, only to find the fortress in this ruined condition.

“We’re still trying to piece together what happened,” Isabelle added from Rockwall’s other side. “There’s no signs of battle. It’s possible Davron somehow found out where this fortress was and just sent some of his forces to cave-in the entrance, but—”

“If that were the case, they should have already been able to dig their way out,” Rockwall finished for her. “This fortress held thousands of reserve soldiers. It seems impossible that they could have been taken out without any sort of struggle.”

“It seems Davron was busy last night after his failed attack on Weaver’s Road. We also received word that someone caved-in the site where we found the rift,” Honsmordin revealed. “There’s no telling what else they could have done. Have you checked the other fortresses?”

“It will take longer to reach the rest,” Isabelle answered. “Unfortunately, even though each fortress has a quickener cave, none of my quickeners have been able to reach the markers. At first, I wasn’t worried. I assumed the commanders just followed protocol and removed the markers when they lost communication, but now…”

“If Davron has somehow crippled the fortresses, then things are far worse than we thought.” Honsmordin said gravely. “We’ll have no base of operations for our military and significantly less fighting power.”

“That’s not all. If the fortresses are truly compromised, then we’ve lost the last possibility of reclaiming Fantasmal Mountain,” Rockwall added.

Fantasma turned to him in shock. “What do you mean? Even if we have lost a fair amount of our forces, we still have enough to—”

“It doesn’t matter how many troops we have if we can’t get them inside the mountain,” Rockwall countered, stone-faced. “With the main entrances blocked, my plan was to use one of the old sealed translifts under the fortresses. Very few people know about them, and they are nearly impossible to get to. With some work, we could have used one as a proverbial backdoor into the mountain. Now, even that option is gone. There’s nothing left.”

“Sealed translifts?” Honsmordin repeated. “Is it possible Master Foy could have known about them?”

Rockwall’s eyes widened at this. “I’m not sure, but it can’t be ruled out. If so, then there’s an even higher possibility that all of the fortresses were compromised.”

There was a loud crash as a frustrated Fantasma slammed his fist against the rockface. “Curse the rocks!”

Though he was barehanded, the force of the punch was so powerful it left a large crater in the side of the mountain. The guardians working on digging out the entrance turned in surprise at this unexpected outburst.

“This is ridiculous. I am the Fantasma. I will not be made a fool of by some upstart trying to lock me out of my own home. I’d rather destroy it with my own hands than let him have it. If I have to, I’ll go there myself and—”

“Sir, please calm down.” Honsmordin tugged anxiously at Fantasma’s robe. “Remember, that there are still civilians in the mountain. We can’t go at this recklessly.”

Honsmordin wasn’t sure how serious Fantasma was about destroying Fantasmal Mountain, but he knew that it was a threat he had to take seriously. It was very rare for any Fantasma to call upon the full breadth of their power, but it was entirely possible that if he did, he could indeed bring down the ancient mountain stronghold. However, unleashing that much destructive power all at once would cause untold chaos and probably kill most of the civilians within the mountain, while not harming the creatures of the Book of War at all.

Fantasma knew all of this, and after taking several deep breaths, he managed to calm himself down. “Your right. We need to focus less on getting back in the mountain and more on defeating Davron.”

“He can’t stay holed up in there forever, not if he plans to take on the major powers.” Rockwall had a wild glint in his eyes. “We’ll thwart his efforts at every turn until we either force him to come out of the mountain or find the translifts he’s using. Either way, that fool’s days are numbered. His so-called rule will be short lived.”

Honsmordin seemed far more subdued. “I hope so, but I fear this may take far longer than we want, and we’ll be fighting battles on multiple fronts.”

“True, but if we aren’t able to use the fortresses then we’ll need to find other places for our troops and staff to stay, and that gives me an idea. Let’s head out,” Rockwall said as he gestured for the others to follow him to a makeshift path that led south.

It would take them a little more than an hour to reach a location they could quicken from. As they walked, Rockwall discussed his plans for housing their displaced troops. His idea was to spread a large part of their forces across areas that had a lot of small towns, since they would likely be some of the first places Davron would try to force into compliance.

“It may not be much, but we’ll do everything we can to hinder that madman’s progress,” Rockwall said in conclusion. “That will buy us time to gather our strength.”

“It’s a good plan,” Fantasma said with a nod. “In the meantime, I still want to confirm the state of the other Fantasmal Fortresses. Even if they’ve been attacked, there could be survivors.”

“I also think we need to reach out to the major powers for military support,” Honsmordin added. “It’s the best way to shore up our numbers.”

Fantasma considered this. “You may be right, but we’ll have to go about that carefully. I don’t want to advertise how depleted our forces are or how thoroughly Davron has sealed off the mountain. As Franklin said yesterday, people will already start to question the power of the Fantasmal Government after what’s happened. We don’t need to add any more seeds of doubt. For now, we’ll focus on promoting the Fantasmal Fighters and the power that they have from the seal. That will give the people something to believe in.”

“Speaking of them, what should we tell Jandor and the Daughter of the Sun?” Honsmordin asked.

“They’ve already taken on so much, I don’t want to burden them more,” Fantasma said pensively. “For now, we’ll just let them know that Davron hit us a bit harder than we originally thought, but we’ll be able to recover quickly. In the end, it’s nothing they need to worry about.”

Honsmordin gave him a searching look but then finally nodded in agreement. “I suppose you’re right.”

By this time, they had reached the edge of the mountain range and were now in a place where they could quicken. With a tap of her staff, Isabelle transported the group back to Weaver’s Road.

* RIVERBED *

An hour after meeting with Fantasma and Rockwall, Honsmordin was busily making trips to the various towns that members of the displaced Fantasmal Staff had stayed at the previous night. One such stop was Riverbed, where several guardians and soldiers had already been stationed after the attack from Davron’s army a few days prior. On this particular trip, he was not alone.

“Thanks for bringing us along,” Terri said to Honsmordin. “It would’ve taken hours to get here on foot from Ramilda.”

“How were you able to leave a marker here,” Daniel asked the raven-haired quickener, Trinity, who’d just transported the group to the outskirts of Riverbed.

“Well, after the guardians and soldiers helped fend off Davron’s monsters the other day, the town agreed to let us leave a marker so we could get back here quickly if there was any more trouble,” Trinity explained. “I guess with Murrilogic gone, they’re more amenable to having ease of access.”

“I’m so glad those monsters didn’t wipe this town out,” Terri said.

“And now that we have soldiers and guardians patrolling, they should be relatively safe,” Honsmordin added. “I’m going to head to the inn and meet with the staff staying there.”

“We’re going to get a few things from our house and then check in with Longhall at the guild,” Daniel said.

“Just call me when you’re ready to go,” Trinity said before quickening away.

Honsmordin headed into town, bowed in by the two guardians standing sentinel at the outskirts, while Terri and Daniel took the path in the opposite direction, back to Pocket Woods.

“It feels like it’s been forever since we were here, but it’s only been a few days,” Terri said as they walked.

Daniel nodded in agreement. “When Jandor appeared in the woods, I knew things would change, but I never expected all this.”

Terri frowned slightly. “Do you still blame him for—”

“No, not at all,” Daniel said quickly. “Honestly, I was never upset with him, well not about being transported to this world. It was scary at first, but being able to learn mentus, work at the guild, and build a life here; it all just felt right. I really was happy.”

“So why were you so angry then?”

“Because of how it affected you,” Daniel revealed. “You were so miserable those first few years. It wasn’t until we really settled down that you stopped having nightmares. Even after that, it was like you were always carrying this sadness. You could never truly be happy here because a part of you could never let go of the past. Then Jandor shows up and says that we can find the others and that everything will be okay. I just didn’t want you to get your hopes up only for it to turn out like before. I didn’t want you to go through all that pain again. It was hard enough watching it the first time.”

Terri was stunned by Daniel’s words, never knowing that’s how he felt. As they reached the edge of the woods, she slipped her hand into his. “Danny, I’m sorry about what I said yesterday morning. I was just angry and hurt, and I lashed out.”

Daniel’s chest tightened as he recalled the harsh words Terri had slung at him during their fight the previous day. “You were right though—”

“No.” Terri shook her head and squeezed his hand. “No, I—”

“There was a small part of me that believed the only way I could have ever gotten a girl to like me is if she was stranded with me, like you were,” Daniel admitted.

“Danny—”

“But I promise, that’s not why I wanted you to stay on Mendala. I wanted you to stay for the same reason you wanted to go. I thought that if you could just let go of the past and all that pent up worry and guilt about what happened to the others, maybe then you could sort out how you really felt about me. I figured, for better or worse, we’d get some sort of resolution about everyone’s fate, and then you could hopefully find closure.”

Terri nodded pensively. “I guess I can understand that, but things turned out a lot different from what either of us expected.”

“Yeah,” Daniel agreed, “but I know we’ll get through this, and afterward, if you still want to go home, I won’t try to convince you to stay.”

Terri nodded again, though it was clear she was conflicted about what she wanted to do. “I just don’t want to go and then later regret it.”

“Well, if that’s the case, then just come back, and we can try again,” Daniel said, giving her hand a squeeze now.

Terri gave him a confused look. “Do you really think it’ll be that easy? I could just go to Earth and come back later?”

Daniel shrugged. “I don’t know, but hopefully we can figure something out.”

Terri smiled at this. “Yeah, hopefully.”