Opening the Sky got a lot of attention. To heck with Christmas, the Solstice celebration that had replaced it was definitely the biggest holiday of the year, and with a great purpose behind it. It was the longest night of the year, where people came together to ward off the long dark night, and defy the powers behind it.
But in Detroit, you got to see the stars.
Now, the circle they Opened in the Haze wasn’t too large, only a mile or two, forsaking area for increased strength to overcome the resistance of the Haze, driving it back about two miles in radius. Still, it was a large enough area for literally millions of people to see the sky.
No cars were allowed in that area on the night of the Ceremony, just to allow more people to see it, but that wasn’t a problem this year. While the no-cars ban was enforced, the people were astonished to be shown to parks after parking lots after fields for miles around, not just within the former area beneath it.
If they protested, they were simply informed, “Lady Traveler is Opening the Sky this year,” and the people shut up in expectation of a show.
I really intended to give them one.
Above and beyond this, many colleges and research facilities had been contacted, along with a lot of amateur stargazers and photographers. There were missile launchers in place miles from the center of the Ritual, ready to send stuff up above the Haze and see what happened. Missile tech for the planet was actually fairly advanced, despite not being able to get above the Haze. A little recalibration from cruise missile ground-hugging to parabolic arcing and/or going for height was an easy thing to make happen.
The big thing was testing out the backlash against technology. Some genius Artificers had remade a series of guidance mechanisms to determine how much backlash there was going to be against tech from above the Haze. From old V1-style mechanical gyroscopes to the most sophisticated computer-guidance electronics they could put in place, various kinds of missiles were getting ready to be launched up and out, arcing out over Lake Hudson for when they inevitably petered out.
If they breached the Haze and blew up immediately, that was the worst level of news. They all had slightly different fuel mixes, too, some of them extremely volatile. If both the anti-chemical and anti-flammable materials Rules were in place outside the Haze, none of the missiles would get very far. Levels of different artificial materials were also in sensitive locations, so if they started degrading, the missiles would blow. How long it took and which ones exploded would give us more information to work with, analyze, and relay on to the world.
Needless to say, this was going to be a very different Opening of the Sky than before. Unfortunately, driving back the Haze didn’t get rid of the interference, so there was no ability to use radar to track the missiles, or radio to control them, or even magic, the power of the Shroud blocked it all. We could only shoot them up, and watch what happened.
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She stood out among the crowd of Sylunar taking their places because of her beauty, and long hair that was definitely not Cantrip’d to that light blue color. There were plenty of the more Chaotic types who applied all sorts of colors to their hair simply because they could, but hers actually grew that way.
Her coming here had been confirmed quietly, and as she had helped out before, it wasn’t anything suspicious. As one of the most powerful Mystic Theurges of Sylune alive, it was almost a given she would participate, and indeed, she could have been the anchor in prior years.
However, in the last two months, there had been a quiet but massive shift in the balance of power in the Churches present. Younger Priests and Wizards had flocked to start shooting undead, following the Double Helix Method, and their Levels had skyrocketed. Blessings and Marks had allowed those formerly stuck at lower Levels to suddenly leap in strength, reinforce their own Stats with more Levels, and advance properly, overtaking their seniors who hadn’t gotten themselves Drained down and taken the proper road.
There were tons of Sixes all over the place now, at least double that of previous years, and it created a new hum of power and energy. Some of the older Priestesses who’d rapidly been eclipsed looked a bit out of sorts, as now they had to try and rely on seniority to order around juniors who were more powerful than they were... and it wasn’t sticking.
That was especially true if they were in my Allegiance. If the structure of a particular church didn’t allow them to do what was needed to get stronger, or they were being stifled by their seniors, they simply departed. Threats of retribution from the Faith meant nothing in the end. Sylune Herself, or Aru, or Amana, or Harse or Nuava or Whoever was the only true test. If the Priest of a God continued receiving spells from them, it meant they were not out of favor with that god. The mortal hierarchy better take note, or THEY would be the ones punished for their behavior, not an ‘errant Priest’ who obeyed Divine Will over mortal rules.
Getting that explained to them could and had created several crises of faith among some of the Priests, as they realized that seniority and Levels didn’t give them absolute authority to boss around those of lower Level... and certainly not to stop their ‘lessers’ from doing the Will of their god.
I, however, had another reason to stop and look at her.
“Azaia Morningwind.” She turned around in surprise, as did most of the others nearby when I spoke, astonished they hadn’t seen me arrive. Using Stealth Ranks to invert your Presence to stay unnoticed in a crowd is a nice trick, and actually works better with a higher Charisma score.
That I knew her was a given, as the Mystic Theurges were the elite of the Church, and she was a member of the Morning family, formerly the highest-Level family of spellcasters on the planet.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
She was also the one who’d used her own hair on an animated wooden pony sent to her lonely half-sister as a gift, and checked in on her from time to time.
“Yes, Lady Traveler?” Someone sharp-eyed might have noticed a family resemblance... but then, all beautiful halvyri tended to look alike, and the two of us were kind of at the opposite ends of the light/dark spectrum, her cerulean hair at least as airy and ethereal as white would be, given her aura. She had the Morningsun golden eyes, unlike me, and was a genius of the Church, with natural Stat lines that ensured she’d be able to max out her Levels in normal circumstances.
I had it on good authority that she was planning to visit the Harse temple in Boston, get Drained down, and start rebuilding herself properly, too.
“Why do you have two Aural Binds upon you, Miss Morningwind?” I asked coolly.
Her golden eyes widened slightly as my own glittered back, silver and darkness, and a bunch of startled eyes turned on her. “I-I do?” she could only stammer.
I lifted my hand, and uttered a short, sharp note as the Break Enchantment came down around her in a swirl of silvery stars and sparkles, suffusing her Aura and shattering the Lesser Geases upon her effortlessly. They broke with visible pops and fiery displays of light, and she almost fell down as they did.
She would also be hearing and feeling the words that had been forced into her Aura, likely without her even knowing what had truly happened, and so had influenced her behavior for her entire life.
Naturally this created an instant imbalance in her Aura as the forced lock on her thoughts was removed. Everybody could see that, and I gestured at two of the other Starsisters around as her expression began to crumple, and she stared at me in horror and realization of what had been done to her.
Done to her, and likely to her sisters, too. That would have included Elrii too, more than likely.
“Remove her from the Ritual and send her to a room to recover. Replace her,” I stated calmly. She was going to be in the inner circles, focusing and channeling the power of the lesser Casters, but now someone else was going to have to take over her role.
She wanted to open her mouth and protest that she could still do this, but I turned away, knowing that she could not, and she needed some time to work her thoughts on her own. Her mind would now be revolting against the realization that there had been a chain on her thoughts and will her whole life, and she knew exactly who had placed it there...
Two Sylunar who had been quietly trailing me stepped forward to take Azaia Morningwind’s hands and lead her away. Others quietly began to reshuffle the Formation as a startled young woman freshly returned from helping clear the Washington DC Shroudzone found herself moving into the inner circle. Her Celestial Bloodline and Priest Levels both worked off Wisdom, giving her great synergy, and had helped her advance quickly once she got past the 13 bottleneck. She could now even support her Levels herself, without the Blessing, if required.
Starsister Malai had a great future ahead of her. She had just taken her Human/3 Level, and was grimly raising her Faux Priest Levels to secure her road to post-Ten, just like she’d been shown was the right path.
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The Ritual began about twenty minutes before Highmoon. The chants and power began to flow, not too dissimilar to Reserve Casting in its own way, the slower and gentler process enabling much more power to build up than rapid spellcasting and Valence discharges.
Heavenbound and other Warlocks happily contributed the Eldritch Power of their Pacts to the mix, combining Elemental essences that would also help to defy the power of the Shroud. Arcane Casters were here, too, adding their own power to the mix, and Heartsingers were helping harmonize and link the whole with their Songs.
The Theurges at the heart of the Circle, mostly Glory and Mystic types, gathered the combined power, further synched it up, and gave it to me.
I had finished two more Masteries in the last two days. The first was Prodigy of the Fell, the last of the Snowcaster Masteries. The one today was just for this: the last of the Raise Spell Masteries, Cooperative Spell.
Prodigy of the Fell gave me a +2 or +4 bonus to my Intellect, depending on how cold it was. Normally, that was +4, as I kept my personal Aura at about -50 routinely, enjoying the purity of mana at this temperature... and the additional clarity of my thought processes.
So, working 52 Intellect, another +2 to a bunch of Skills.
Cooperative Spell was the mastery of using the power of individuals in a group like this. It could be taken outside the Mastery, of course, but I had never been involved in a group effort like this, so it was the last of the Raise Masteries for me.
I would have absolutely no problems manipulating the power of all these people, and employing it to its maximum extent.
When all was ready, I opened my lips, and began to Sing.
I had 12 Ranks in Perform: Song, more than any mortal on the planet, and probably any non-mortals at this point, as it wasn’t exactly an avenue of growth for them. Lyrist meant I added both Wisdom and Charisma modifiers to the check, I had +5 from Einz, being a Halvyr/2 gave me +2, and Voice of the Mage gave me another +1.
None of those present had ever heard me Sing at full power. The combination of the Sublime Chord and Words of Creation, weaving all the different branches of magic together with a 61 Skill Check that could have been part of the highest chorus of angels in Heaven Singing, absolutely spellbound everyone within a mile.
Magic shimmered in the air, uncounted threads woven from life mortal and elemental, instincts and passions in resonance with the Words, and despite themselves, unable to carry a tune or otherwise, people began to Sing.
Sing all around the world, as my Blessed, my Allegiance, and all the Marked began to Sing, and magic thrummed in impossible harmony all over the world at once.
A nice +8 bonus to Spell Power was never unwelcome in contested checks against ages-old Legendary magic like this.
The power of Silver Magic was in the air. I was stacking modifiers in uncountable hues in the thaumaspectrum, driving the magic that was reaching towards the Haze above as I wound the magic into it, and hundreds of thousands of people around the globe were pushing with me, feeling that cloying, choking coat of Dark magic above, and realizing, knowing, that they could break it open and sweep it away... if only for a time.
This was basically a Control Weather, a Valence V, being Cast at my base 14. Before, they’d had to use a Lesser version at IV, which only had a fixed one-mile radius effect.
Mine was a mile per Caster Level.
I also Raised it to VII, just because I could, which meant nobody else present could understand exactly what I was doing right now, save for the Angelos... and Commander Haru’Ara, who had quietly come out of his recovery two days prior, and was looking on silently as we did this.
All the Elemental Domains were relevant here, as all were involved via contributing Warlocks, if nothing else. Aligned Theurgy, my six Stars, Mage of the Wild, the Spell Power of a Hierophant and Archmage, Good spells, Silver Domain, a shared Druid/Arcane/Divine spell... the modifiers I had personally were enough to do this, but with a Ritual this large, so many participants drawn in, knowingly or otherwise, the Heartsong was rising, Rising, RISING...
Uncounted ley line threads, shimmering with lights in two spectra, humming like rainbow crystal thunder, reached up into the sky, and touched the Haze above us.