He was blinking at me in disbelief, as conversation buzzed all around. “That... is astounding news, Lady Traveler!” he blurted out respectfully. “Are you sure of that?”
“I surveyed the Polar Opening myself, and an associate of mine traversed it. There may be another such opening at the South Pole, which we will investigate in due course.” I flipped up a very large Holo globe, big enough for the whole audience to see and recognize as this world, and calmly painted in the entirety of the place as seen by Legion and myself together.
The crowd all ooohed in wonder together at the full and complete detail of the illustration, and instinctively went looking around to match things up, using the Shroudzones as easily visible reference points. I helpfully put a green dot on it to indicate our current position, and a red line from the North Pole towards the desert Shroudzone to indicate Legion’s path. “My associate travels quickly, and will certainly be able to reach us by morning after she completes her survey,” I went on.
These men could all do the math and judge the distances by their own experience, and realized that my associate really could travel pretty damn fast...
“That point there is the access point to the surface... which is located four thousand meters down at the bottom of the Arctic sea floor, naturally enough.” The looks they gave me indicated that wasn’t the best of news. “Not an issue for when we leave, of course.” I waved off the fact as minor, which earned me more interesting expressions.
“Before you get all hot and bothered about going home,” I waved my hand airily, “I have an alternative solution. I can leave an Obelisk here, which will allow you to communicate with the outside world freely. Thus, you can communicate with your loved ones, assure them you are alive, and trade information with no doubt many curious people.
“In addition, you are effectively a forward outpost of the surface, so arranging supply runs should not be difficult at all, and I’m certain there’s going to be a large number of people from the surface who would like to visit at some point or another, and you’ve one of the most readily available passages here.” I pointed off into the sea tellingly. “If we can find out how it works in reverse, you are basically in an ideal location by any measure.”
The men all gung-ho to return home were looking at me with funny faces. Their wives were looking at me with some hope.
“And you know as well as I that most of the women here do not have counterparts in the outer world. They will be regarded as curiosities there, which will no doubt be VERY uncomfortable for any and all of them. Some will treat them as half-beasts, and others will want nothing more than to have rampant sex with them, and will convince themselves that is all they are good for.”
The anthro women bridled, and the dark elves stirred. I turned my eyes on the latter. “The drakeer haror will naturally have little problem acclimating, as they are the favored people of Sylune. However, you will also be over-sexualized, and I’m afraid the drow, the Nidvallir, have given most of your kind a very, very bad reputation in certain quarters, and it is a reputation they have earned in full.”
The foremost of the elves, who was standing behind the Professor, looked away slightly, saying nothing. I had a pretty good idea where these dark elves came from...
“So, to sum that up, I can set up a communication channel with the surface and have it up and running within half an hour. I can have any and all of you in contact with your next of kin shortly after that.
“Staying here has doubtless been a trial for many of you. It can now become extremely profitable.”
Their lips all pursed in thought. Giving up their cute and snuggly women was probably not something they wanted to do, even if they longed to get home.
“A final point, and here I include everyone but the children.”
I had everyone’s attention.
“My primary goal and purpose is not rescuing lost sailors and aviators. My primary goal is to bring down the Shroud.” I gestured at the Holo above, most of which faded away, leaving the two black areas of the Hellclouds of the Shroudzones. “That necessitates bringing down these two Shroudzones.”
I eyed the old men, who stirred uncomfortably under my gaze. “Gentlemen, these zones are your key to making Seven and gaining at least another seventy years of youth. Do you think you might be willing to risk something for that opportunity?”
Strained eyes widened despite themselves. One of them, worn by a hard life in a primitive land, captain’s bars woven into the shoulders of his doeskin tunic, leaned forward instantly, mottled hand upon that of his elven wife. “Tell us more of this, Lady Traveler!” he stated urgently, and his three halvyr children all nodded urgently behind their parents.
----------
After nearly two hours of discussions, questions, and answers, I got to work. I was also smiling despite myself, as the humans and anthros had started speaking Human without even realizing it, and the overriding power of it was replacing the creole combination of Human languages in the minds of the elves and halvyr here.
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That was going to play some short-term havoc with any record-keeping they were doing, but they could relearn a language easily.
They were familiar with the concept of computers from the most recent arrivals, and of televisions. However, multiple wide-screen TV’s connected to a working computer and workstation with a projector was just wowing them, although I did have to set it up in a freshly-Shaped room in the cliffs to shield it from the elements and wandering creatures.
I sacrificed a bar of gold, formed the Obelisk, Patterned it, fed it with Allegiance Karma to start it working, wrapped the computer in a Greyfield to protect it from magic, set up a PMD to supply rough electricity to it, and turned it on.
The men were watching as I flipped through the basic screens, clicked on the link to Heavenbound Hall, from there went to the Live Stream connection box, and pop!, Lisa Pine was suddenly looking at me from the Holo display over there.
“Hey there, everyone!” her voice came out of the speakers. She was a trim and professional-looking brunette, ready to do her job. “We’re gonna take this slow and do it right. I’m going to take all your names and get you registered first. Then we’re going to notify your next of kin, and set up times for you to speak with them all. Is everyone good with that?”
The clustered men around all voiced their eager agreement. “Excellent! Captain Barov, how about we start with you?”
------
“Your level of magical power is truly wondrous, Lady Traveler,” Professor Shellington breathed in appreciation.
I was walking along slowly, and a thirty-foot-high reinforced stone wall, with battlements, splays, towers, and gates, was rising up behind me. Four thousand cubic feet is 40x10x10 of solid rock moving every six seconds, which was basically equivalent to having an unlimited amount of concrete pouring down into perfect molds.
I was replacing the rough defensive wall they’d built over the decades around their town, pushing it out an additional half-mile to give them some extra room for gardens and the like, and putting roads and even a sewage system into place. I had very little doubt that with the additional defenses in place, wandering tribes would be petitioning to settle down in here.
His wife, Matron Osellyi, was remaining very quiet. That was probably because of the mountainous feeling she was getting as I wielded magic, which her husband could barely sense.
“It comes with a cost, as they all do,” I replied. “Mine was the forced massacre of millions of people who had fallen to the Daoist Creed and the Buddhist Mantra.”
“M-Millions?” he repeated faintly.
“Tens of millions, actually. By the time it is all said and done, hundreds of millions. If you count those the Daoists and Buddhists slaughtered, a billion and more.”
“I-I thought the great wars would be over...” the Professor murmured, aghast.
“No. The whole Shroud is a war, Professor. The undead are trying to kill all that live. The Daoists are killing all Powered, all that defy them, and controlling the rest. The Buddhists are taking control of the souls of all and slaving them to their Mantra.
“In a world with magic, there is no escape from war. There are many gods, Old and otherwise, who love war, who love watching the ants fight.
“If we don’t fight these wars now, it will be that much worse when the Shroud comes down.”
He paused atop the walkway of stone I was building, looking out over the brushwork and short trees that covered the land before the true trees of the great forest began to rise, only a mile in the distance.
“Even here?” he had to ask, his eyes turning to the black blot of the Shroudzone. “Power through slaughter,” he hissed, and his eyes dropped, having seen more than he wanted to.
“Yes. Conflict and achievement are the greatest ways to build Karma. That doesn’t necessarily mean slaughter and killing... but to too many, that is the swiftest way, and as long as it is others who die, the most effective and reliable.”
His hands tensed, and he frowned. “I trust it would not surprise you to learn that the vast majority of the inhabitants of these lands fully ascribe to those notions. Your map was distinctly lacking in anything of national boundaries, so I presume you have not done any sort of investigations on the ground?”
“That Map started exactly yesterday,” I agreed with a faint smile, my continued progress forcing him to follow along as the wall rose smoothly up in front of us.
“Yesterday...” he breathed out in disbelief. “Do you... has your friend been up high?”
“The Hundred Tiers of the Clouds? Yes.” I flicked up another Holo over my shoulder, and the two stared at the rendition of the layers of clouds heading up to the sun, unseen from down below. Grid displays of observations of various islands and kingdoms added on across the bottom two tiers, lists of creatures observed on various tiers flickered on and off, while various ship designs and those sailing on them faded in and out.
I watched them glance at one another in shock. “Your friend is extremely observant.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “But, when all you are doing is flying and looking around, well, you can look around pretty well.”
I flickered up a display of the landscape for thirty miles around, obviously taken from very high in the sky. Points of interest were outlined and blinking green. “You are having problems with at least one of your neighbors. Does this have something to do with the total lack of human women here?”
His face turned grim, while the matron looked hostile. “Indeed, your Steed is observant. You will not find a human female within one hundred leagues or more of the Matriarchy of the Dragon Queen.”
“That sounds ominous,” I noted.
“It is. She is... I don’t know if she is part-demon, part-dragon, or both. But it seems that she maintains absolute control of her bloodline, and it passes down through pure human females smoothly. Her daughters can both impregnate human women, and be impregnated by them.
“Thus, the entire Matriarchy is made up of the descendants of the Dragon Queen, and the pets or familiars they have made of the human women bound to them.”
“And they love the status,” the Matron broke in coldly. “Being bound to a demon-blood gives them strength, beauty, and power, and if they swear a Pact to their Queen, demonic magic is theirs to command.”
“I see. And this bloodline does not pass to the anthro women, nor can they subjugate them easily. Thus, the anthros are both competition and cannot be enslaved, and by their existence, prevent the useless and unnecessary males from dying out...” I murmured.
And she was a Pact Grantor. In the distance, Legion continued their fast circling of the desert Shroudzone, Mapping it out in detail... and then altered course directly this way.