Hollow Hill was much the way it had been described to me. It was bigger than Addersfield, not that that was much of an accomplishment. It didn’t hold a candle to the monstrous size that Rhoscara had been. It seemed cozy, to me.
Much as the name implied, the town was built on top of a low hill. I didn’t see what could be ‘hollow’ about it, though it was quite large. I wasn’t exaggerating when I said that the entirety of the town was built upon the slopes. It was only at the base of the hill that large cobblestone walls rose up to encircle it. Still, they weren’t tall enough to obstruct my view. Curiously, I could see a large, stone tower rising into the sky at the peak of the hill.
The military encampment encircling the town was a more pressing matter, though.
To my eyes, it didn’t seem like Hollow Hill was being besieged. No, rather it seemed like the camp was growing outward from the walls like an extra town. As our caravan drove closer to the town in the distance, I was able to get a better look at the forces encircling it.
I wasn’t any kind of military expert, but there must have been thousands of soldiers up ahead. It was the single largest gathering of strength I had seen since arriving on Vereden. I hadn’t seen even a fraction of this amount of soldiers when I had been in Rhoscara. I reminded myself that all of these soldiers likely had active Statuses as well, making them even more deadly. I honestly had to wonder how such a force would fair against the military from back home, even if they mostly fought in melee.
I don’t think all of these soldiers were here just from the Uprising, as well. Sure, I saw a large section with a large blue and white banner to represent them, but that wasn’t the only one I saw. My eyes could see nearly a dozen different banners, all representing forces of varying amounts of size.
I was knocked out of my reconnaissance by the wagon unexpectedly coming to a stop. Looking around in confusion, I saw that it was because the Ironclad holding the Order forces had stopped just ahead of our wagon. I don’t know why, we had only reached the absolute edges of the military encampment. Luckily, it didn’t seem like the guards from the encampment cared much. They’d likely seen the large eclipsed moon symbol painted on the Ironclad and came to the conclusion we were friendly.
I guess lax guards weren’t only a problem in Addersfield.
Today, I’d been sitting up front with Gren when we had been approaching the town. Fade was up here with me, taking a nap on the bench next to me. He was young enough right now that he didn’t do much more than eat, sleep, and play. This was one of his sleep periods. I’d stood up on the bench in order to get a better view once we’d arrived in eyesight of Hollow Hill.
I looked down at Gren. “Do you know what this is about?”
“No,” He shook his head. “But I think we’re about to find out.” He raised an arm to point at something ahead of us.
Turning around to follow his finger, I saw that Sylvia was hurrying in our direction, carrying something in her arms. Before I could say anything, I was cut off by her throwing what she was carrying up at me. Barely managing to catch it before I was knocked off my feet, I found that she had thrown me a large burlap bag filled with something soft inside. Opening it, I found that it seemed to be stuffed with clothes. Fancy ones, I noticed. Where the hell had she gotten these?
I didn’t get a chance to ask her. “You and Azarus put those on!” Sylvia called out to me from where she had thrown the bag, hands cupped around her mouth. I saw Azarus poke his head out of the slit window near the bench at the mention of his name. “Both of you meet us up front when you’re done!” Before I could ask her any questions, she scurried away to rejoin the Ironclad.
I looked back down and exchanged a baffled look with Azarus. Gren interrupted us before we could say anything.
“Well? You heard the lady. Get to changing, boys.” He said with an amused grin.
………………………………………
A few minutes later, both Azarus and I hopped down from the back of Gren’s wagon, dressed in our new clothes. They had been as fancy as they looked in the bag, it turned out. Self-consciously, I tugged at the black, nearly military-style blazer with silver buttons I was wearing. How the hell had they gotten this to fit me so closely? I hadn’t sat for any fittings. The outfit was combined with a pair of similarly cut black pants with shiny silver piping on them. Azarus was wearing an outfit to my own, tailored to meet his much stockier form.
“What the hells is Grey playing at?” He grumbled, tugging at this high collar.
I shrugged at him. “Guess we’ll find out. C’mon.”
Before we left though, I asked Gren to keep an eye on Fade. The wolf puppy had woken up while we were changing clothes and was inspecting us curiously with a tilted head.
We set off to meet the growing crowd assembling outside of the Ironclad. There were a few people from the caravan hanging around, no doubt curious to see why we had stopped. But for the most part, the crowd was comprised of the inhabitants of the Ironclad. It looked like they were all exiting the massive wagon and getting ready for something. Mostly, it seemed like they were trying to pretty themselves up, shining their armor or buffing their leathers.
I didn’t see Grey or Sylvia, though.
Before I could try and find them, I was stopped by Illuvia hurrying out of the crowd in our direction. I didn’t manage to get a word out before she started fussing over me. She straightened my jacket, combed my hair back with her claws, and even pulled my pants up higher rapidly. “W-what.” I stepped back from her, flustered at the contact. “What the hell?”
Illuvia ignored me, stepping back herself. She gazed down at my raggedy leather shoes that I still hadn’t replaced from my time in Addersfield. “No time,” She said, clucking her vulpine tongue and shaking her head. She turned an intense gaze to Azarus next.
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He took an instinctual step back. “Back, ya she-devil,” Azarus said defensively. That didn’t save him from the same treatment I’d gotten.
You know, it was actually kind of funny seeing it happen to someone else.
When Illuvia was done…dwarfhandling Azarus, she took out something from a pocket. It turned out to be a metal pin in the shape of a moon, half-revealed from an oncoming eclipse. She pinned it to the side of Azarus’s blazer, and turned to me. She fixed one to my jacket as well. Looking down, I could see that it was a crescent moon this time.
“They mark you as members of the Grand Marshal’s retinue,” Illuvia said shortly, interrupting me before I could even ask. “Now come on, we don’t have all day.” She got behind Azarus and I, laying a hand on our backs and urging us on. Well, okay then.
Illuvia escorted us through the crowd of classers assembled in front of the Ironclad. It looked like everyone was just standing around waiting for something. I didn’t see Grey or Sylvia anywhere, though.
I heard the doors of the Ironclad clang open around the back of the enormous wagon. Turning around, I saw that the crowd behind me was parting. Stepping through them were the absent father and daughter.
I could see that they had dressed up all fancy as well.
Sylvia was wearing an outfit very similar to mine and Azarus’s, except her pin looked to be a full eclipse, unlike ours. I guess because she was Grey’s daughter? Her golden hair was also tied up in a high ponytail as well, eschewing her usual free-flowing style outside her mask.
Grey though.
Well.
Grey finally looked like the powerful wizard he was supposed to be, instead of just my kooky and secretive old man mentor.
He was standing straight and tall in a set of jet black robes belted at his waist, allowing me to see the white silk shirt he was wearing. Underneath that, I could tell that he was wearing a set of thin chainmail, remarkably similar in appearance and hue to the Mythril that Sylvia was born from. The robes themselves were inscribed from hem to high collar with runes wrought from the same metal. Sturdy black breaches that ended in solid leather boots completed his apparel.
But that wasn’t all he had.
Grey had a longsword belted on the right side of his waist. I couldn’t see much of the sword itself, as it was in a scabbard. But I could nearly feel the power rolling off of the blade. What he was holding in his left hand though, caught my attention much more.
It was a staff. An actual wizard’s staff.
Made of a twinned metal that spiraled up and down the length of the staff in alternating silvery white and obsidian black, it culminated in the largest diamond at the head I’d ever seen. Fist sized and clear as glass, it was carved into the shape of an orb. Deep inside of it though, I could see a spark of pitch-black energy roiling inside the gem. If the power I could feel from the sword was a bonfire, this staff was the sun. It was nearly blinding in its intensity, causing me to hurriedly try to shutter my Aetherial sense as far as I could.
Grey and Sylvia had reached us while I was, quite honestly, gaping at them. Grey had an amused smile on his face at the look on my own. “Quite different from how you’ve seen me to this point, isn’t it?”
I numbly nodded my head. Even with my Aetherial sense muted, I could still feel the power radiating from his weapons.
Grey leaned closer to me in order to whisper. “In truth, I don’t dare use either of these right now. They’re too powerful for my current level of strength. If I did, they’d likely tear me apart from the forces wrought.”
Azarus and Sylvia leaned into our conversation as well. “Then what’re ya doing with it?” Azarus whispered back, confused.
“It’s all a show,” Sylvia answered quietly. “We’re going to make a big production of marching through the camp, making sure everyone can see that Father is back. We need to, in order to assuage our allied forces. Morale has been low ever since Father’s abduction, and his presence should help.”
Oh, I see now. “And I’m guessing we’re here,” I whispered, gesturing to me and Azarus. “To show you have new allies or something?”
“Something, yes,” Grey said wryly, stepping back and breaking our huddle. “Shall we? The caravan shall be following along behind us, and Illuvia has gone to instruct Gren on where to park it. Meanwhile, we march to where the allied Uprising headquarters has been set up. At my tower, in town.” He nodded towards the tall tower that was still visible over top of the walls, from its place at the highest point of the hill.
I took a deep breath. “Alright then. Let’s do it.”
………………………………………
And so we did. For the next half hour, we slowly marched through the large military encampment, making sure that everyone could see us. The guards of the camp had finally started paying attention to us when they noticed Grey, and had scrambled to get out of the way of our caravan and procession. Not before sending a runner off to the town first, though, I noticed.
Grey marched at the head of our column, with a stern expression on his usual affable features. Sylvia walked next to him at his right, while Azarus and I walked just off to the side and behind the two of them. Curiously enough, I eventually noticed that Venix was trailing not too far from us, eyes fixed to the crowd.
I don’t think any of us were catching much attention, though. Most of it was reserved for Grey.
Word of Grey’s presence seemed to be spreading through the camp like wildfire. As we marched through it, more and more people began to show up to gawk at us. I could visibly see the effect on the soldiers that he was having. From the sea of faces that I saw, human and Sculpted both, I began to see something inspiring dawn.
Hope.
By the time our procession had reached the wide open gates of the town, we had gathered quite a crowd that trailed in our wake. If not for the classers of the caravan, and the shouted gripes of Gren, they would have impeded the horses and oxen pulling it. Ahead of us, I could see that the runner had grabbed a large group of people to meet us at the gates of Hollow Hill.
One of them stepped forward to meet us.
While Azarus was the tallest dwarf I’d ever met, this guy was the tallest human I’d ever met, either on Vereden or Earth. He must have been over seven feet tall. He was clad in a set of blood-red plate armor, leaving only his face revealed. The man had a shaggy, leonine mane of golden hair, streaked through with grey, and an equally large beard of the same shade. His eyes shone a bright, almost neon blue out of his craggy, square-jawed features. While he seemed like a stern sort, just based on appearance, he didn’t seem that way right now.
He just looked relieved.
Grey marched up to him confidently, causing the man to bend down Grey’s level. They clasped forearms as if they were old friends, and leaned forward to have a short, whispered conversation. I noticed that the massive man’s eyes briefly flicked up to rake over Azarus and I. His gaze lingered on me for a moment, before turning back to Grey. With a final exchange of nods, he stepped back. From his spot in front of the gates, Grey turned around to look at the enormous crowd of soldiers that had gathered to see his return. The crowd fell dead silent at the regard that Grey was directing their way.
“Friends!” Grey said loudly, somehow causing his voice to echo around the entire crowd. I blinked. I hadn’t even seen him cast a spell. “Countrymen! Though I have been unwillingly absent these long months, I have returned! I, Headmaster Greycton of the Academy of Mystic Arts! Grand Marshal of the Order of the Eclipsed Dawn! Do hereby swear! From this moment, until the last! I will fight to see an end to this pointless, senseless conflict! As of now, I promise you! The days of this war are NUMBERED!”
The crowd of soldiers burst into raucous cheers.