“We should tell the others,” Helen said again for what had to be the hundredth time.
“Tell them what?” Guinevere asked letting out a sigh.
“That the Warlord isn’t here!” Helen said exasperated as tired as Guinevere by the argument.
“It will just cause panic,” Guinevere said. “Unless you have a plan on what to do, we know that is his army inside those walls. He will return at some point.”
“He’s going to return with another army!” Helen practically screamed.
The only thing keeping their conversation private was the privacy enchantment projected by one of Guinevere’s magical items. It wouldn’t protect against all abilities, but it would prevent casual eavesdropping.
“Do you want to return home then?” Guinevere asked.
“No,” Helen said. “We should track down the Warlord.”
“We have no way of doing that,” Guinevere said again. “We have no idea where he is or where he’s going.”
“He’s going to the Myrmidon Clans,” Helen said.
“Unless you want to declare war on them too that isn’t helpful,” Guinevere said. “Each of those Clans outnumbers our forces three to one at least.”
“Which is exactly why we can’t let the Warlord ally with them,” Helen said.
Guinevere sighed and leaned back. “I’ve heard reports that the Dragon Clan has been expanding over the past few generations, rejecting many of the traditions of their past in order to grow in strength.”
“What are you suggesting?” Helen asked.
“We form an alliance with them,” Guinevere said. “Send a ship upriver today with an envoy, see if they will join us against the Warlord.”
“Why would they do that?” Helen asked.
“The Myrmidon only respect strength, if the Warlord couldn’t defeat them in battle, he wouldn’t be worthy of serving,” Guinevere explained.
“It’s worth a try,” Helen said.
“They will want something in return,” Guinevere warned.
“I’m willing to pay whatever price,” Helen said firmly.
“You say that now,” Guinevere whispered too low for the other woman to hear. “But the Myrmidons only desire a few things, and you may not be so willing when they ask it of you.”
---
Running across the foothills of the mountains I headed north-west. I’d been shown a crude map of the Bear Clan and the swamps the Dragon Clan resided in were a few leagues upriver from Castle Dragonbreaker. Jumping, I cleared a cliff and soared out into empty space.
I laughed as the rush of adrenaline from the fall hit me as the wind tore past my face. Teleporting I landed on the edge of a cliff at the maximum range for my teleportation.
I wish you wouldn’t do that, Karnen grumbled. If you die, so do we.
I don’t, Voidra interjected.
“What happens to you,” I asked parkouring over a ten-foot-thick fallen oak.
I get absorbed by the void, Voidra said. I just become pure energy that my progenitors will absorb.
That sounds exactly like death, Karnen pointed out.
Oh no, my mind and memories just disappear they aren’t absorbed into another consciousness like yours will be, Voidra corrected him.
“You never fail to bring up some cosmic dread do you Voidra?” I asked teleporting across a stream my feet pounding down a muddy deer trail.
It’s just the truth, Voidra said with a mental shrug.
I kept moving my mental back and forth between the spirits in my head, helping pass the time. After twelve hours of non-stop running, I stopped for the night. Creating a bunker to sleep in securely, I put on my training armor. I held the poses I’d been taught with my massively heavy training weapons until I couldn’t hold them any longer. I went through some katas I’d been trained in.
With my evening practice out of the way, I sat down to work on training my enchanting. I’d traded my work for some gemstones to use in enchanting. Taking out a stone spearhead I began work on it. I only finished two of them before turning in for bed but gave one the bleeding enchantment I knew and the other the fire enchantment I’d learned in the Bear Clan.
Lying back, I drifted off into dreamless sleep.
-
Getting up right after dawn I started running again repeating my routine from yesterday. I’d entered the main forest and everything was thicker so I spent more time in the air teleporting finding clear spots to run. Sometimes I just plowed through the undergrowth letting the branches and foliage snap and break as my bulk went right through them.
Creating another bunker, I went through my training and katas. Wiping off my sweat with my cleansing cloth I sat down to work on my enchanting. I created another two spearheads, I felt my skill was slowly growing as I learned how to better pour my mana into the gemstone and infused them into the rune engravings. Lying back I fell asleep.
-
I fought on a battlefield the smoke and dust in the air making it impossible to tell where I was. A silver sword slashed and cut into me as I fended against it. I fought against a silver ghost making attacks against dozens of others all around me but no matter what I couldn’t lay a finger on the silver figure. Suddenly a massive hole was rent below me and I tumbled into a chasm. Falling down…down…down.
-
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I jolted up breathing heavily. Dreams of falling to my death were becoming increasingly common and I didn’t like it. I stretched, got my gear together and left my bunker, and took off running off again. Trees whizzed by me the smell of decaying leaves, soil, and summer wind filling my nostrils. My heavy footfalls shattered rocks when I landed animals and birds fled before me so only the sound, I heard were the sounds of my heavy ted and the wind through the tree branches above.
Kicking off a boulder I soared over a gorge. Hitting the ground, I felt the rush of exhilaration that using my speed always gave me. I don’t know if I’d ever get used to being superhuman. I could regenerate from almost any wound, my skin was harder than diamond, and I could speak thunder and shoot lightning.
“I..AM..POWER!” I screamed, a wild joy bursting inside me.
I felt my muscles burn and Troll Hide eased the muscle fatigue letting me keep going nonstop. Before I knew it the sun was setting again. Creating another bunker, I did my training and katas again. I finished three spearheads this time doing two bleed effects and one fire enchantment. I wanted to try something I’d thought of while traveling.
Taking out the crystal I’d just gotten from the dungeon I pulled out another I’d gotten from my first dungeon.
Divine Focusing Crystal (epic crafting material): A piece of a once grand piece of glass that belonged to one of the godly realms but is now useless on its own. This crystal can be used in item creation to help focus raw energy or mana into different effects.
Quantity:
1
Weight:
.7 lbs.
Holding up the two I senses that I could shape and alter them with Compress Earth. What I was about to do was risky, but I wanted to risk it. Risk had always been rewarded for me by the System and even if it wasn’t this time I wouldn’t be too upset. I wasn’t sure what I’d even use the crystals for and I didn’t want to act like a player in a video game who never used his consumables out of fear I might need them eventually and ended up never using them.
Examining the other crystal I had I set the two crystals next to each other in my hand.
Mana Magnification Crystal Fractal: Type: Magical Stone, Rarity: Epic, Hardness: 10 A piece of a larger creation once in the first age of this world it has survived the destruction of the artifact it was a part of but it currently without purpose. This crystal can be used in item creation to amplify the input of mana allowing for a more cost-effective enchantments and effects.
Quantity:
1
Weight:
.6 lbs.
Reaching out with my senses granted by my ability I felt there crystalline structures with Compress Earth and closed my eyes to focus solely on the feeling of their energies.
“Compress Earth,” I said.
The two crystals did not want to merge. It was as if they had a will of their own that strained against me as they tried to stay individuals. I wasn’t having it. I brought my mind against them like a hammer battering down their resistances until they gave into my will. Despite their small size I kept pouring mana in as the stones moved like molasses as I blended them together. I delved deeper and deeper into them, and something struck at me with a blinding light.
The pain was intense, but I wouldn’t be knocked from my focus. Channel my anger into the crystal I used it like a lance to pierce the light. When the light popped it was like I’d opened up a vortex and mana began to be sucked out of me like a vacuum. The crystal kept eating it as I traveled deeper into combining the crystals on the smallest level I could until they couldn’t even be considered separate materials.
Coming out of my deep focus I looked at my mana bar which was at zero. I had a massive headache, but I held a golden glowing crystal the size of my index finger. It had grown in size beyond the mass of the two previous crystals, I wasn’t sure why but maybe it was the massive amount of mana I’d shoved into it. The crystal represented over a thousand points of mana and holding it I felt humming like standing next to a power line.
Crystal of Heaven’s Wrath; Type: Magical Stone, Rarity: Mythic, Hardness: 16; A crystal crafted from two epic rarity magical stones both with incredible potential, one divine and the other arcane. Now fused these crystals have transcended their previous limits and no matter what is destined to birth a legend. They will amplify and focus any mana channeled through it. If damaged or destroyed this crystal will release enough power to destroy all life within three leagues of it.
Quantity:
1
Weight:
1.3
You have completed a hidden objective and earned a title. Objective, craft an item of Mythic Rarity.
Reward: Divine Smith.
*Divine Smith: All items you create with your abilities have their hardness increased by two and are one grade higher in rarity increasing all base effects of the item.
Congratulations! Only four others in history have ever earned this title, keep striving for greatness Mordred, your work has not gone unnoticed.
Despite how amazing the crystal was and the title I’d earned for creating it what I found the most surprising was the last notification. The system had spoken to me, not just some prompt, it had addressed by my name and implied it had some interest in me and was pleased with my actions. I’d been told the System could think and was intelligent, but I’d just thought of it as some magical AI. The message implied the System had thoughts, wants, and desires. That was profoundly terrifying.
Still, it was nice to be appreciated, and to be only one of five who had ever done something was impressive. I hadn’t considered my work to be that special when I’d started, I knew I could do it, so I’d tried.
“Why haven’t more people made mythic items before?” I asked myself.
Maybe because you almost died from draining that much mana! Karnen growled.
“What?” I asked cocking my head. “What are you talking about?”
The stupid crystal drained over two-thousand points of mana! Karnen practically screamed at me. You were working on that thing for half an hour, I tried pulling you out of that, but you wouldn’t stop feeding it. If you hadn’t been able to fill that thing up it would have used your life-force to complete itself.
“It didn’t feel that long,” I said. Honestly, I felt a bit sheepish, it would have been pretty lame to survive all I had only to accidentally kill myself while playing with some rocks. “Still, it worked out.”
I suppose it did, Karnen admitted calming himself.
What are you going to use it for? Voidra asked.
“I have no idea,” I admitted putting it inside my storage pouch. “But whatever it is, it’s going to be amazing.”
---
Korsis and Kas’tu clasped hands as the two-clan leader met.
“It is good to meet you again, War-brother,” Korsis said.
“As it is you, War-brother,” Kas’tu agreed.
“What made you decide to join us?” Korsis asked curiously.
“The Warlord uncovered some truths that we could abide,” Kas’tu said. “The Dragon Clan have gone too far this time, to seek power is one thing but to abandon all our ways in its pursuit is another.”
“The path is bloody, but it is straight,” Korsis said with a nod quoting the old myrmidon saying.
“What strategy do you have in mind?” Kas’tu asked as they sat down on either side of a stone table a map of the forest etched into its surface.
“The Dragon Clan still greatly outnumbers us; I had hoped to combine forces with the Warlord when he brought his army to attack them?” Korsis said.
Kas’tu froze. “You didn’t know.”
“Know what?” Korsis asked warily.
“My scouts have reported the Warlord was running as fast as the Dragon Flies straight towards the Dragon Clan,” Kas’tu said.
“Does he intend to fight them all by himself,” Korsis asked disbelievingly.
Kas’tu gave him a look.
Sighing, Korsis nodded. “Of course, he does. We should move into support him. Whatever he does it will at least be a great distraction.”