Chapter 6
Petor yawned as he returned to the planning room. Limos had cast a spell and was sitting with Mya and Jaxus having more drinks and chatting.
Petor nearly drew his spear as Desari stepped out of the wall.
“How the shit did you become part of the wall?” He yelled, bringing his voice down as his heart rate settled.
“Illusions. Good to know I still have it,” Desari gave him a sly smile.
Petor rolled his eyes. “Sneaky people and their sneaky sneakiness!”
“First you should know that we’ve agreed to do a mission for the Nether Forge Consortium. They have an issue in one of their mines to be cleared out. In return Limos will give us scrolls that will allow us to individually teleport, saving us time and changing the plan slightly,” Valter said. “We can teleport in with the planar gem, but the method he will allow us to teleport we can use to regroup once things are underway”
Desari frowned but nodded. “I hope that this diversion doesn’t take too long.”
“We can see what it entails, the creature creates hammers that stop a certain distance from it. We can engage, test it and make our decision,” Valter said.
“Bring in another group of problem solvers if we don’t get it done,” Petor said.
“Tonight we get some rest, tomorrow we deal with what’s in their mines,” Valter said.
He stopped Desari’s words with a look.
“We’ve been up for nearly four days as I figure it. Some rest would do us well and keep us coordinated,” Petor interjected.
“Very well.”
“I’ll tell Mya the plan, she can have first watch as I figure she’ll be up for a few hours still,” Valter said.
“You know that the water is heated with magma here. A hot bath,” Petor grinned.
“That would be nice, Desari agreed.
***
His door opened, Petor snapped awake, his blade in his hand.
Desari stood there, framed by the light. “You’re turn.”
He grunted and pushed off the sheets.
Seeing he was awake she headed back into the main room.
He donned socks and stuffed his feet into his boots, wearing his pants and shirt already. He threw on his under-layers and checked the room. There was nothing else of his laying about.
He blinked against the light of the main room, adjusting his eyes before walking out.
Desari looked tired, reading reports.
“I got watch now, get some sleep,” Petor said.
“Just looking over some things.”
“They’ll be there in the morning and who knows when we’re going to rest next?”
Her hands crumpled the papers. “A lack of sleep is the least I deserve.”
“Hmm?” Petor asked.
She contemplated him.
“I originally went to Ilus as a spy, Scorpions they called us. People in service to the Emperor and the Empire itself. Hidden throughout society. We were used to keep the Empire in order and those beyond our borders. I shifted things around so that I would be the one going to Ilus. My grandparents talked about it in hushed and excited voices, a secret between all of us.” She put down the papers. “I used the Scorpions to get me into the city. My mission was simple.” She held Petor’s eyes. “Find out their weaknesses and destroy them from the inside.”
Petor frowned.
“If I was supposed to destroy them, why am I working so hard to save them now?” Desari let out a dry chuckle, leaning against the back of the couch, looking through the windows at the garden beyond. He could tell she wasn’t focused on it.
“I’d basically brought my father’s house low and I had revealed that I was a scorpion, leaving Haker Hall. I took on several missions throughout the Empire. Each time I grew stronger and learned more. Though it was limited. My learning done in the shadows. A few words in the right ears, the right messages here and there. I was given the role of getting into Ilus. I joined as a student. I didn’t trust anyone, I quickly used their information to get stronger, to take tests that would allow me to advance quickly and come into contact with people of power within the city.” She gave a soft smile. “On the outside it was my mission. For me it was like I had been set free. There was all this information around me. What would I do but put it to use? I was bonded with three elementals in secret. I bonded with Irshon while there.”
She pulled her gaze from the windows to the table between them. “I don’t know when it started. When I began changing the reports. Giving nudges to the guards of Ilus of the other operatives within the city. Not just from the Geraxi Empire, but from other nations and groups. Ilus became my home, a place for me to grow. I gained friends, teachers, even a life beyond just fighting for survival, or to shame and defeat another.” Her smiled strengthened and then waned. “I became Ilus’ protector in a way. I gave the empire my altered reports and others that came into the city were ferreted out quickly. Those that I worked with and gave instruction to passed through easily.” She closed her eyes and took in a breath, opening them again to look at Petor. “Do you know what is the most effective way to lie?”
“No?”
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She raised her hand as if holding a knob. “Take the truth, and just turn it ever so slightly.” Her hand moved with her words. “The longer I was there, the more information the Empire got on Ilus. Enough that they thought they were ready to take the city by themselves.”
Petor grimaced.
“The city that had taken me in, that had become my home. I sold them out piecemeal to the place that had done nothing but destroy the things I loved.” Desari smiled bitterly.
“What happened?” Petor asked out of morbid curiosity.
Desari’s eyes unfocused. “My elder brother sent two of my siblings to kill me in my home before the attack. I was not told so I wouldn’t change my pattern. They did not make it through the night. Other assassins attacked the leadership in their meetings. I rushed to find my mentor Egrin wounded.” Her brows pinched. “He knew, because of course he did. He knew about the spying. Knew about me clearing out the other spies. Protecting Ilus and hiding the true depths of my powers. My reason for never leaving the city. Always remaining close. It was the first week of the new year. Students had returned and arrived. The city was filled with celebrations. The Empire tore open portals through the elemental planes through to the city’s outskirts and attacked in force, bringing a full army through to tear Ilus down. The barriers were already taking impacts. They decided to teleport away, they were not ready to deal with such a threat.” Her expression steeled. “Though they needed time.” Her smile was bitter.
“You went to give them time,” Petor said.
“Snuck into the enemy encampment, moved through it, placing hexes on every elemental weapon I could find, called on my own elementals that drew out a magical formation for me. I reached the main tent, using my position as scorpion I gained entry, hexed the shit out of their gear. Family heads, different military leaders, the general himself. Only person I didn’t get was my father and brother.” Her laugh was broken and cracked. “Seems they didn’t trust me after the state I left their house in. They’d been able to regain some of it to be in the command tent. Didn’t help them much. Do you know how elemental entrapped gear works?” Desari asked.
“No, haven’t heard of them before.”
“They’re rather simple and brutal. It’s a prison of sorts. You summon an elemental and you force a binding upon it, in this case to a piece of gear. They are used to empower the weapon and create an effect much stronger than just regular runes. The stronger the elemental, the more aware they are of their situation. They aren’t able to exert any strength, only passively trapped within a prison that drains them of strength and turns them to tools of destruction.”
“I can’t imagine,” Petor grimaced.
“Thing was I knew how the weapons worked. They gave them a great number of advantages, but I’d learned their weaknesses. I used the hexes as focal points for my spells, breaking weapons that were meant to break barriers, freeing those within. Many had been in there for decades, or centuries, listening and learning. Released from their prisons they were able to grow. Everyone was distracted, I moved through the tent, killing several before I was discovered and then triggered the others on the guards, the general, everyone I’d touched. I got my father as well.” Her eyes hooded, reliving the moment.
“What happened afterwards?”
“I communed with the elementals, we worked together to break the gear of the rest of the army. My brother survived through it all. He did a bit of communing himself, but with the gods of the Empire. They descended into his body, fixed him up and sent him after me. I fought him but he was beyond my abilities. Ilus was trying to escape and the gods worked to interfere. I was badly wounded and called on my last card. I summoned the elemental lords from the other planes. They appeared, curious like their younger children.”
Desari looked at the ceiling. “The elemental lords are as strong as gods but live on their Planes. They see the elementals and the people in their Plane akin to removed children. They will do as they do, if they challenge the rules of the Plane they will correct it and even the balance. They care greatly for the smallest and weakest of elementals. They know of summoning’s. Though this was on another scale. The Geraxi Empire had been capturing their kin for millenia and turning them into weapons. The elemental lords turned their anger upon the Geraxi Pantheon and upon the army. Elementals were freed, attacking their jailors. Ilus escaped in the chaos and Vessali killed me. The power tearing through my very core.” She leaned forward, one elbow then the other on her knees, looking at him and quirked a genuine smile. “Then I woke up in some weird ass forest with three randos and a devil offering a deal.”
Petor smiled. “Dashing weirdos thank you very much.”
Desari chuckled and broke eye contact. “I worked to bring the end of Ilus around. Using twisted logic to protect the life I had built. I do not know how the people of Ilus will treat me. I do not know what to expect there.” Her focus and determination returned. “I just know that I owe them. To end this war they find themselves in, to help them find a place where they can be safe. A way for the students to return home.”
Petor looked away. “Well I can’t tell you what’s going to happen in the future. All I know is that we’re going to try our damndest to help Ilus and survive this shit. We got three other quests to take care of afterall. Just in this for purely selfish reasons.”
She looked up, rolling her eyes at his impish smile.
“I also know that staying up all night to get some more information stuffed into your head ain’t going to do much help.”
Desari growled, but there wasn’t much bite to it.
She took in a breath and pushed herself upright. “Fine.”
“Mind if you leave me the planar gem?” Petor asked.
“What for?” Desari frowned.
“Charge it up,” He shrugged. “And work on my mana control.”
“We have the cores now.”
“Yes, but having more charge can never hurt and I think I’m getting better at pulling together a spell weave working on it.” Petor said.
“Alright,” Desari took it out, floating over the table. “You’ll have to focus on threading your mana through it while remaining cognizant of the world around you.”
“What’s another layer of difficulty?” Petor smiled.
“Have fun. Catch you in the morning.” She reached the door to the planning room. “And thank you for listening Petor.”
“Anytime.”
She gave him a short nod and went inside.
Petor walked around the main room, checked out of the windows before he settled into a chair infront of the gem.
He ran a thread of mana through his channels, without connected them to nodes, while keeping his eyes open and checking the room.
His mana thread reached the gem, moving over the surface, searching for an opening.
There . He widened his thread, splitting it into others, they roved over the surface of the gem.
“Keep focused,” Petor noticed he’d stopped looking around the room.
The threads found openings and he moved through slowly. Each a running it over the surface of the gem.
Progress was painfully slow, with a breath Petor tore back several threads. Lets try this with a little less distractions .
The threads traced through the openings as he let mana flow through them, into the gem. Wisps spread out though most of it was drawn into the heart of the gem.
He kept away from connecting the nodes, just twisting the threads through the patterns in the gem.
“Alright lets walk around now.” He held the threads in their positions and walked around. The further I get, the greater the feeling of tension there is .
He moved his threads and kept watch, becoming easier as the hours passed quickly. Before long the others began to rise.