The telepathic blow struck my mind with the force of a hammer, leaving me reeling for a moment. But only for a moment. It was the unexpectedness of the attack more than anything else that surprised me.

Well, that, and the appreciable dent it made in my remaining store of psi

Regaining my footing, I kept running.

An etheric lash has failed to injure you. 3% psi consumed.

Damnation, I muttered as the second blow landed. I kept my balance this time, though, and breaking out into a flat-out sprint, I dashed for the safety of the hills.

An etheric lash has failed to injure you. 3% psi consumed.

An etheric lash has failed to injure you. 3% psi consumed.

…

Ignoring the now near-constant rain of attacks on my mind, I stormed up the hill. How long could the void tree keep up its assault? And how could it still see me? Was the unseen spore trailing me?

An etheric lash has failed to injure you. 3% psi consumed.

It must be, I thought. Cresting the first hill, I scrambled over and descended the steep slope on the other side as agilely as any mountain goat. While I did, I conjured up strategies for dealing with the pursuing spore—or was that spores? Who knew how many of the damn things were on my trail?

“Ghost, get ready to explode,” I ordered tersely.

“I’m ready,” she replied serenely. “Where do you want me to manifest?”

“See that ravine ahead? I’m going to dash through. If the spores are following, they should—”

You are hidden.

Startled, I fell on my rear and slid to a halt.

“Prime?” Ghost queried worriedly.

“I’m fine,” I assured her. “Vanish just reactivated.” Glancing over my shoulder, I peered up the slope. “Looks like the spores gave up.”

“What about the rest of the stygians?” she asked.

The pursuing serpents and hydras had not crossed into mindsight range yet, but I was not about to ascend the hill anew to look for them. “We’ll wait here to see if they appear.”

“What if they do?”

I shrugged. “Then we kill them.”

“And if they don’t come?”

I sighed. The answer to that was more complicated. What would I do if the void tree did the smart thing and recalled the lesser stygians?

I didn’t know yet, but I knew it would make my job of thinning the enemy’s numbers tenfold harder.

✵ ✵ ✵

Ghost has taken the form of a level 254 stygian pyre wolf.

While I waited to find out if the stygians would appear over the hill, I sank down into a cross-legged stance and, under Ghost’s watchful eye, began the laborious process of restoring my spent psi.

A little later, I opened my eyes, fully restored.

Meditation completed. Your psi is now at 100%.

I blew out a troubled breath. The fact that my meditations had gone undisturbed could only mean one thing: the stygians had called off their pursuit and retreated to the nest.

Glancing at Ghost, I could see the same disappointment reflected in her own eyes. “Did they appear at all?” I asked quietly.

She shook her head. “No. Not even for a little peek over the crest,” she replied forlornly. “Should we head back to the cave?”

I rose to my feet. “No. We still have more tests to run.”

Ghost’s ears pricked forward. “We’re going into the valley again?”

“We’re not—but I might.” I glanced at the nearby hilltop. “I won’t be going this way, though. It’s time to try a different approach.”

“Oh? You mean from across the river?”

“Yeah,” I agreed glumly. “It looks like I’m going for a swim.”

✵ ✵ ✵

Ghost has unmanifested.

Cutting west across the hills, I crossed the river. All things considered it was not an arduous swim. Reaching the river’s west bank, I dragged myself ashore and took stock.

There were no stygians in view, not a single one, and the nest to the north was still out of sight. Wringing out the worst of the water from my clothes, I headed north.

“How does approaching from this direction help us?” Ghost asked.

“It may not,” I admitted. “It all depends on how the stygians react to an attack from across the river.”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“An attack?”

“Not a real one, more of a probe to see how they respond. The big question is: will the lesser stygians cross over? Will the spores? And what about the tree and the overlord, what will they do?”

“Why wouldn’t the spores cross?” Ghost asked, sounding puzzled. “They could simply fly across. As could the winged serpents.”

“They might at that,” I agreed. “But will the void tree’s protective aura extend past the nest and to this side of the river? If it doesn’t, I suspect the Power will hold the flying serpents back.”

“What about the spores then?”

“The spores are a different matter,” I conceded. “Don’t forget, though, that the river borders the nest on three sides—north, west, and south. That’s a lot of ground for the spores to surveil. If the void tree is going to have any hope of revealing me, it’ll have to dispatch a small army of spores. Which it likely won’t do, for fear of leaving the nest—and itself—unprotected.”

Ghost ruminated over this for a moment. “So, we’ll be safe on this side of the river?”

“I won’t go that far. But an approach from across the river should be less dangerous than one from the hills.”

“Will I have to swim across too?” she asked doubtfully.

I smiled. Ghost wasn’t overly fond of getting wet either. “Not this time. And before we begin our probes, there’s something else we have to do first.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Establish a base camp.”

✵ ✵ ✵

About half a mile from the river’s edge, I found a gully that met our needs. It was large enough to fit me, Ghost, and a sizable number of our allies.

It wasn’t perfect but it would do.

Dropping into the gully, I turned around to face the distant nest. None of its denizens were visible and only the upper rim of the rift could be seen. “You can manifest here,” I told Ghost. “Even if the stygians could see this far, we’re hidden from view down here.”

“On it, Prime.”

While the pyre wolf went about her casting, I turned my attention to the farspeaker bracelet on my wrist. “Saf? You’re still there?”

“I am,” she replied. “I have a few more things to take care of before I can leave for the emporium’s vault.” A pause. “Why? Is something wrong?”

“Nothing like that,” I assured her, then proceeded to give her a rundown of the events of the last hour.

Safyre sighed and even across the farspeaker link I could feel her concern. “You still think we can claim the sector? The odds you describe… they sound insurmountable.”

“I’ll admit I have my doubts too,” I replied honestly. “But I’m not ready to give up. We can do this.”

“I know you believe that, but if a time comes when you don’t, don’t be afraid to sound the retreat. We still have other options.”

“I won’t,” I promise. She was right, we did have other options—just not any as great as sector 18,240.

“I’ll hold you to that,” she warned. Before I could think of a response, she went on, her tone businesslike once more. “So, what do you need at the moment?”

“The nagians,” I replied. I would’ve preferred to request Safyre herself come, but the aetherist’s own mission was too important to disturb. “I’m going to open a portal to the cave. Send Lucius and three of his fellows through. Make sure they’re all strong mages. It will be up to them to open portals for the rest of the group when the time comes.”

“I’ll do that. What about the new ones?”

I wrinkled my nose. “New ones?”

“Adriel has already rehomed another eight possessed.”

I grunted in surprise. “Ask the wolves to watch over them. Ghost and I will truth-test them tonight.”

“Alright.”

Removing a portal scroll from my backpack, I began casting.

✵ ✵ ✵

Ghost has manifested.

You have opened a greater portal to sector 18,240.

A few minutes later, there were six of us in the gully as Lucius and three other nagians I knew less well strode through my portal.

“Ward the area,” the mage hunter ordered his fellows.

The three golems spread out, muttering the words of their spells under their breath. Curious to see what they were about, Ghost followed on their heels.

“Wolf,” Lucius greeted as he drew to a halt before me.

I smiled, then replied in kind. “Spider.”

I sensed more than saw the golem’s grimace. “No longer,” he corrected.

My lips turned down. “Sorry, that was thoughtless of me.” I doubted any of the possessed wanted to be reminded of what they’d lost.

“What can you tell me?” Lucius asked, changing the subject. “Safyre didn’t have time to brief us.”

“First, look there,” I said, gesturing over the nagian’s shoulder, “and tell me what you can see.”

“I don’t see anything but mists,” Lucius said, glancing in the direction I pointed. “Why? What lies there?”

I sagged in disappointment. It would’ve been advantageous if the nagians shared my nethersight. “A rift,” I said.

Lucius swung back to face me. “The rift?”

“Yes, we’re about half a mile from the edge of the stygians’ base. The nest measures about a mile on each side. That puts us just over a mile away from the void tree and the rift.”

There was no perceptible change in Lucius’ stance, but his sudden tension was unmistakable.

“Relax,” I said before he could speak. “We’re out of the stygians’ direct line of sight. And besides, the river is in between us.”

“Ah,” Lucius intoned. “You expect the water to shield us from the creatures?”

I shrugged. “I’ve yet to see a stygian enter any body of water. Have you?”

The nagian shrugged in turn. “I have not. But my knowledge of the void is limited.” He paused. “I suppose that I will have to rectify that lack now.”

I nodded. “And that is partly why you are here. I intend to probe the nest’s defenses from this side. But if things go wrong, it’ll be up to you and the others to extract us to safety.”

“That’ll be difficult to do without us being able to communicate directly,” he pointed out.

Frustratingly, as non-players, the nagians couldn’t use the farspeaker bracelets.

I grimaced. “Agreed. That’s why Ghost will stay behind. She will act as my voice.” The nagians wouldn’t be able to speak to her, but the pyre wolf was more than capable of communicating her desires through physical gestures. “We’ll set up a few prearranged signals.”

“That could work,” Lucius allowed, “but it might be better if we brought Elise across.”

I blinked. “Who?”

“Elise is from the group Adriel rehomed today,” he explained. “She has the beast tongue trait.”

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. I knew Adriel was prioritizing mages in her rehoming, which was why Zekiel was the only psionic amongst the nagians. So far, he was the only one of their kind able to communicate telepathically with me and the wolves. It brought up an interesting point, though. “What about the rest of you?”

“You mean how did we talk to our beastkin when we were scions?”

I nodded.

“Most scions favored the kinship trait—not only did it allow us to speak to our animal brethren, it provided a host of other benefits too. Unfortunately, the trait is linked to a scion’s Marks and will only allow communication between a scion and a beast that shares the same Mark.”

“I see. In that case, go ahead and bring across the one you mentioned. But before you do, let me share what I’ve learned about the stygians so far…”