Lady Aegis sat in her office looking over tactical map after tactical map. Her father had charged her with the defense of this flank, but she was slowly being pushed back through exploitation of the tunnels and supplies. She couldn't find a way to pin her enemy down long enough to crush them, nor could she ride out and crush them due to a massive dug in force further out.
At the rate she was going she would be shoved all the way back, losing the gorge and forcing her older sister Medusa to come and deal with this, and that's the last thing she needed. She had already been forced to retreat once and couldn't again. She got up from her seat at the war table and walked outside, she needed air.
As she walked among her troops at her camp, she could see the morale slowly being eroded with the small loss after loss. The narrow gorge they were blocking was supposed to be a stalemate, but it was proving difficult as the enemy had a town on their side supplying them with food, water, and other necessities. She had to wait on periodic supplies. The people on that side also had maps of the tunnels through the gorge which has allowed them to ambush her forced a few times before she drew back beyond those tunnels.
She looked down from their hill at the entrance of the gorge in frustration.
"Lady Aegis, our scouts report no movement from the enemy. We believe their commanders, are working to continue to eat away at morale and enthusiasm for the fighting." Her executive officer said coming to stand beside her.
"That's what I'm afraid of. We don't have any fliers stronger enough to bypass the gorge without being instantly killed, we don't have earth mages strong enough to seal things off, we have good firepower and can destroy them each time, but we take losses each time. Our stealth paths have been destroyed each time they were used. I'm out of options and it's frustrating." She replied. She breathed out and left her subordinate there as she headed to the command tent. As she walked in she saw someone standing at her table and reacted on instinct drawing her khopesh and ignited her hand to incinerate the intruder.
"You have exactly two breaths to identify yourself, before I reduce you to ash." She said as the flames on her hand intensified.
The man in front of her flicked his hand and to her absolute horror, the flames on her hand jumped over to him and hovered next to his head and the sword in her hand was forcefully ripped out of her hand and stuck into the ground.
"You're going to have to do a lot better than that Euryale. You have gotten sloppy based off of your lack of threat to me and these tactical maps." Sorin said turning around to face Euryale and extinguishing the flames.
"Sorin...you're alive." She said as she was hit with even more suprise.
Sorin spread his arms out to the side and took a bow.
"Naturally. Took me a while to deal with that collar, but eventually succeeded." He said nodding his head toward the table and turning.
Euryale bent down and grabbed her blade which came back up easily. After a quick wipe clean she sheathed it and walked up next to Sorin still staring at him.
"Is our agreement still good?" Sorin asked as she stepped up next to him.
It took Euryale a few seconds to go through her memories as it had been a few years, before it clicked.
"It is, however I'm a little tied up if you couldn't tell to be able to keep my side." She said.
"I see that, and I have a proposed solution if you're amenable?" He responded with the confidence she had remembered and enjoyed.
"I'm listening."
Sorin nodded then spoke.
"First, I need a letter that designates me free of your command and control; signed and sealed to be completely official. Once I have that, I will move to the next phase." He said.
Euryale didn't even hesitate. She had been losing sleep and stressed out over her position and would take any lifeline Sorin was offering. She wrote out the letter, signed, and sealed it with wax and her family crest.
She got back up and handed it to him.
Sorin tucked it quickly into his shirt. Before continuing.
"The next part is going to seem psychotic, but it will take trust. You're going to run up a white flag for talks. During this time, I am going to be acting completely independent of you, your command, and your family. Once you meet with that fat sicko, you will offer him the chance to surrender. He will naturally scoff and laugh at you because currently he is slowly bleeding you dry. Once I see that signal things will get interesting." Sorin explained with a dark smirk that gave Euryale cold shivers.
"What will you do? We have to be careful as they have had control of the tunnels throughout this damn gorge and have ambushed us a few times." She offered with clear concern
"I can't tell you. I need your reaction to be genuine, but the tunnels are not an issue. I collapsed them already." He replied with a giggle.
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"What will...." Euryale started as Sorin held up a hand.
"Someone is coming. Follow the plan." He said. Euryale looked to the front of her tent as a moment later her executive officer quickly entered.
"My Lady, they have raised a white flag and requested talks." He said.
Euryale looked back at Sorin, or...would have, but he was gone with complete shock and disbelief. Thinking how far ahead he must have planned.
"Agree to the talks. I have a plan." She said as she smiled mischievously, confidence returning.
Sorin had dropped into the ground like it was water and moved to the edge of the camp before resurfacing and engaging his flight skill. He shot high up into the sky and over to the other side of the gorge. Once he was there to where he was nothing more than a speck in the sky he began to hover.
He had a perfect vantage point as he saw the progression from the fat commander from what he found out was from the Aeon side. He had all but forgotten about that moron Pallas, but their taste for those in authority seem to run in the family. It was a text book strategy on the man's part so there is that, but the dude was a fat, arrogant, and pervert.
Sorin looked over at the camp and extended his Elemental sense all the way over and underneath where he saw the military camp along the village they had called a town. Opening his Absorption technique to the max, Sorin pulled up on the Earth and a massive wall came up separated the camp from the village. Many of the Aeon soldiers looked at it with confusion, some even panicked a bit and ran to tell someone, but most just ignored it as it didn't affect their lives and many couldn't possibly imagine what it would be for.
Sorin turned and watched as he saw Euryale sit down in a chair they had brought from the camp forcing the fat commander to walk further.
"Power move. Good job Eury way to make that fatty walk." He said out loud and laughing to himself.
After the next 20 minutes the man finally made it to the meeting place as Euryale calmly rocked a crossed leg and drank from a glass she had, seemingly as if she were out with her friends.
"You wanted to talk commander?" Euryale asked.
"Yes. It has occurred to me, that you realize what we have realized for some time. You're loss is inevitable. So we have come to offer you a chance to surrender this gorge to us." He said just before he took a large drink from a large garish goblet.
"I had a feeling that is what is was." She said with a very girlish giggle.
"I will offer you this as a counter. Surrender to me right now and I'll let your army live with you recieving a fair trial." She continued with a very stately smile that would make her mother extremely proud of the grace, confidence, and beauty it projected.
However, just as Sorin predicted, the man let out a laugh that made his huge belly jiggle grotesquely making Euryale flinch back in disgust.
"You are so stupid and arrogant thinking your name means anything anymore. The time of the Aegis family is...."
He was cut off as the sky darkened then went white followed by a massive shockwave that knocked both from their chairs and sent scrambling for weapons.
"What is this?!" Euryale hissed drawing her weapons and bringing her flames ready to strike.
"M-me!? I know nothing of this!" He said.
"The light and power came from your side! Do the Aeon forces lack so much honor they breach the white flag?" She accused.
"Never!" He shouted. "We must postpone these talks and investigate. Stay on your side of the gorge or we will charge and slaughter you to the last." The commander shouted falling back as quickly as his bulk would allow.
Euryale just watched with shock and amusement as she saw a massive plume of smoke in the not so far distance.
- Moments before -
Sorin saw his signal as the man laughed. He looked down at the army below him. It was time for him to try out a new attack he had worked out on the way over.
Yes, he could have done it without the theatrics, but where was the fun in that?
He placed his palms together like he was praying then twisted them until it was fingertip to wrist then clenched his fingertips together, he then relaxed and slid his hands toward each elbow then pulled a part windmilling his arms in front of him slowly as he pulled all forms of aether under his control into a small point in front of him. He kept them together and separate at the same time creating a marble that showed the entire spectrum of the rainbow. He clenched his hands together for the second time for a brief moment pushing more and more aether into the marble until it was a head sized orb. He unclasped his hands and shoved the orb downward with a single hand as hard as he could.
The moment it left his control it formed a column of light so brilliant it dimmed the sun then turned everything brilliantly white. Sorin watched through his Elemental sense as the ball of aether screamed toward the ground. A few of the higher tiered members of the army below were throwing up barrier after barrier which Sorin was curious would be enough.
The ball hit.
The energies refused to fuse as he knew they would and he counted on that. In the blink of an eye, water, earth, air, and fire erupted at the epicenter of the detonation. The barriers were shattered as if they were not even there and they were vaporized.
There was a unified scream from the army that was quickly drowned out by the explosion and swirl of energy. The waves of aether splashed against the wall he had created earlier and deflected off of it into a direction away from the civilians.
Sorin flew off, content with his work. Euryale will soon be free and able to keep her word to him.
- Hours later -
"You did this!" The fat former commander screamed at Euryale from the ground where he was chained up with what remained of his guard.
"Use reason Aberforth. How was I able to do this when you and I both know my position was poor and my force inadequate. Don't you think I would have done this sooner if I could before I lost men?" She replied.
"Take him away." She said with a wave of her hand.
She then walked up the hill to look at where the enemy army used to camp. She reached the top with her officers and froze. It was an iridescent wasteland about a mile all the way around. It was a circle of rings that had a prismatic effect as she looked at it. The rings changed colors depending on the angle. It was a terrifying beauty that terrified her to her core and made her glad that Sorin was on her side.
She was glad every single day she had kept her word to him and would continue to do so. She had helped to create a very powerful ally, and now it was up to her to prove that his trust in her was not misplaced and she refused to be like others in her position would be in just using Sorin. She had some intelligence and she knew betrayal of Sorin would lead to this, but for her people and she would rather him remain an ally.
There was a small gust of wind and a small crackle behind her.
They all turned and saw Sorin walking up the hill, hands in pockets with a smile on his face.
"Not bad huh?"