Author's note: And that's all for this week. Doubt next week will be quite as big. More editing required for the next chapters.
Thanks for reading,
Draith
...Magelord...
After a good visit in Memory Palace, several rounds of goodbyes with Bevel and Ari, and one brief farewell with my sister, the Iron Curtain swept south.
Even as it did so, I looked over the swelling population of Cape Aeternia.
Buildings were going up faster than I could track. Passing over Southport, it looked almost entirely alien to me. I hadn’t been back since the monsters had first breached the shield.
Little more than two weeks. Now there were towers ten stories tall. A memorial had been erected in the market, so large it would’ve been visible from the Iron Curtain’s observation window even without Eagle Eyes. With it, I was able to read the names.
“You’re making a mistake, taking in all these people, boy.”
Starbreaker had changed his robes. Instead of the light and dark greens, he’d switched to green with red accents. I was sure it was no coincidence the red matched the glint that occasionaly escaped Tresla’s hood.
“It’s my mistake to make. Why do you care? It’s not like you’re helping them.”
“Just giving you advice. These people are going to take everything you give them, then use it to pull you and everything you love down.”
“Is that what you’d do?”
Starbreaker didn’t answer, and I didn’t press.
Didn’t matter.
Wouldn’t stop helping people just because one bitter old elf told me to.
The next few minutes passed in silence, each of us lost in our thoughts. We left Southport in our non-existant contrails. Too many enchantments to leave such an obvious disruption.
Spellford was roughly a thousand miles from Verdant Point. It took us less than three hours to reach it.
“Faster than it looks,” Starbreaker said when the stacked brick-like holds and waterways of Spellford came into view.
“It’s a good ship.”
He grunted and we went our separate ways.
Ass.
Ari was waiting for us, having used Recall to get ahead. Her and her father gave us a gift to take to Central. I also took the opportunity to test Home Spark while I had Thozgar available to look over my shoulder.
It worked exactly as I’d hoped, barely costing me the equivalent of a single second Order spell despite the distance. The transmuation into lightning did its job when I Home Sparked back to the Iron Curtain, ignoring the dimensional weight of Mount Aeternia.
Was feeling a bit spoiled, getting to spend my time with Ari, Bevel and Nexxa, then zapping back to the airship to explore.
Right up until they weren’t with me as we left Spellford.
It was just me and… huh, the same people I’d left Nexxa’s original domain with.
Plus Starbreaker, of course.
“Master Percival,” Calbern’s address pulled me away from the observation window, where I found myself every time I didn’t have something else to do. Tresla had pointed out to me it’d be best if I avoided enchanting while we were flying, given how easily it could cause complications. She’d done so at the same time as she’d reminded Inertia not to make modifications to functional parts of the ship.
After being chastened, Inertia had shifted her efforts to non-critical systems and I’d… well, I’d gone back to sightseeing.
A collosal waste of my time, but it was what I had.
“Sup Calbern.”
“It has come to my attention that an acquaintance of mine may be present in Central.”
“Is this like your master? Do you expect to have to hunt them down?”
“Nothing so drastic. Or so I hope.” Calbern inclined his head in thought as he stepped up beside me. “She is the daughter of a dear friend of mine. I don’t know if she’ll even remember me. She was younger than Lady Bevel the last time I saw her.”
“You know the drill. Let me know if I can help.”
“I believe I shall. It was foolish of me to strike out on my own. Proof that age is no cure for foolish pride.”
“In my experience, wisdom’s like a wave on a lake. It rises and falls with the winds of life, and all we can do is add more to the lake.”
“Surprisingly profound, Master Percival.”
“Too much time to think,” I said, leaning forward and pressing my hand against one of the ‘invisible’ seams. My boredom had led to me experimenting with my shield sense, and I discovered I could use it to trace out the hidden patterns underneath.
Calbern stepped forward a half-step. “Or perhaps an appropriate amount of time. After all, what would be the point in having such a lake if you never looked upon it?”
“Think you’re pushing the metaphor a bit, old man.”
“Ah, but as we have established, I am a foolishly proud old man. I think I’m entitled to embellsihg my… ward’s metaphor.” The pause was only a fraction of a second. Had my neural dynamics not reached such a high level, I might not have noticed.
As it was, for Calbern, it practically felt like he’d stuttered.
Neither of us spoke after, Calbern straightening ever so slightly while I gave him a small smile. Really hadn’t been spending enough time with him lately. When I wasn’t in Memory Palace, I’d been dealing with Cape Aeternia’s business non-stop. Most of which didn’t need a Knight Exemplar or a master servant.
Now that I wasn’t, I decided to take the initiative and spend time with him. Which somehow transitioned into storm dancing. Something I’d been somewhat neglecting in my real body. Doing it with such a drop in agility was harsh. On the other hand, it was impossible for me to get tired, even when Calbern pushed me to my limits. I was having a harder time staying standing due to balance for most of the exercise, tripping and stumbling around on the open deck just beneath the greenspace. A wide hallway with just enough space to go all out, and with low enough traffic we weren’t getting in anyone’s way.
It was somewhat cathartic to see Calbern breathing heavier than I was when we finished. He hid it well, but it was easier than ever to pick out the different depths of his breathing, if I focused on it.
“It would appear, Master Percival, that your ascension has finally allowed you to surpass me.” Calbern’s lip twitched upward as he clapped a hand on my shoulder. “It is good that you continue to grow.”
Stepping back to get out of the way of one of the crew who was tending the greenspace, I gestured to a nearby folding bench built into the side of the wide hall. “Wouldn’t have been much longer ‘till your trials paid off. You could’ve stayed and probably reached tier-4 Kinya by the time I was back.”
“I have remained near the pinnacle of the third tier for so long, a few months hardly matter. Not when there is an opportunity to see the Forgelands for myself.” Calbern hesitated before sitting beside me, eyes shifting upwards towards the greenspace above us. “I imagine their own feats will have rather less greenery involved.”
“Helps that they don’t need to eat like we do.”
“Quite so.”
A short time later, we made our way back to the observation deck, taking in Terra Vista as we flew over, visiting. One of the crew members took to serving as a guide, explaining what we were seeing as we flew over. Apparently he’d served as a guard for one of the Terra Vistan trade merchants before the whole Bladesinger madness.
Terra Vista was a very… developed country.
Despite its relatively small profile on most continental maps, it covered a staggering amount of land. Most of which was carefully cultivated, the primary exception being the border with the Howling Wastes. Interconnected waterways with waterwheels and windmills abounded. The fields were bright, whether with green, golden or more eclectic crops. Each of set of crops were arranged in neat patterns, often visually appealing from above.
While we got to witness it from the airship, they could also be observed from the walkways that ran along the sides of many high roads that ran over intricate walls of brambles. If one wanted to be immersed, they could walk upon the numerous low streets that meandered throughout, meant only for folk and their pets.
Hidden all throughout were homes, more often built into the scenery than standing separate, though there were a few exceptions, such as a traditional wizard’s tower that served as a high occupancy residence.
Unfortunately, despite its short duration, signs of the war were everywhere.
Every time the guide used the word war, Starbreaker would correct them with a simple, “Bladesinger Conflict.”
Whatever they called it, there was destruction everywhere. Destroyed waterwheels, flooded and burned fields, high roads that just… stopped. Around the wizard tower, there were signs of a once well-manicured hedge maze. Most of those hedges had been reduced to ash and char.
We didn’t pass into either of the two cities we passed, though we got a glimpse of them in the distance. One was built in the canopy of a high forest, reminding me of Tetherfall with the sheer verticality of the many bridges and elevators. Another was more like the City on the Water, built along the side of a river that’d been diverted to serve as pathways.
Everything had the sort of craftsmanship that spoke of long years of care. And all of it was marred by violence. There was a pillar of black smoke rising from the second city as we passed it in the distance.
“The Bladesingers farcical Final Refrain has been put down, yet they still provoke us,” Starbreaker said from where he was seated. “Pretending as if they served some higher purpose by plunging the continent into war.”
“Won’t get any disagreement here.”
Starbreaker just grunted.
He was right. The Bladesingers had inflicted grevious wounds.
Just how deep had they cut into Ro’an?