Done in the Undercity, at least for the moment, it was time for us to get back to our airship. Hopefully I’d get a chance during the journey to pay a visit to Aeternia, see my family, and get a decent night's sleep. I might’ve skipped the latter to take care of the Undercity, and while I felt a night's sleep was a worthwhile trade to leave the neighborhood in better condition, I was exhausted. There wasn’t nearly as much ambient mana to draw on in Terra Vista as I was used to, so I’d been working solely off my own reserves. Turned out it was more draining at Hydra-souled. Or maybe it was just the amount of mana I forced myself to regenerate.
Either way, wasn’t long before we were ready to board the Iron Curtain, to make our way to the Forgelands. Soon as I dealt with Starbreaker, that was. The elf was blocking the entrance ramp to our ship, hand casually resting on his sword.
“What do you want?” I asked him as we walked up the ramp.
“I'm just here to make sure that you weren't planning on running.”
“Surprised you care, I thought once you got the kids taken care of, that'd be it for you.”
“My sister wants you to come back with ‘appropriate recompense,’ as she put it.” Starbreaker didn't bother hiding his disdain for what he thought in that particular moment, rolling his eyes. “This disagreement with my sister isn’t over. However, on some things, I still support her.”
It was my turn to roll my eyes. Near as I figured, there was a big difference between supporting and allowing a bunch of his own great-grandkids to get turned into bombs. Wasn't sure I’d forgive Nexxa for something like that.
“So does that mean you're coming with?” I asked instead of voicing my thoughts.
“It means I will be supervising your efforts. Which, yes, means I’m coming. Don’t expect me to help you do your chores.”
“Yep. Never expected any different.”
I stomped up the ramp past him, only to be further delayed when I discovered Inertia wasn’t back. After tracking her down (and paying the poor dockworkers a few dozen Waves for the inconvenience of having to clean up after her) we were all aboard the Iron Curtain.
Didn't take long before we were on our way properly. The Iron curtain pulled out of Central so smoothly we didn't even need the tug. Not that they let us fly without it. Something about previous incidents causing permanent damage to one of the docks. We'd seen enough of similar back in Aeternia I could respect that. Made a lot more sense than whatever they were doing with the Undercity.
The trip across southern Terra Vista wasn't too different from the north. Not that I saw all of it. Instead of sightseeing, I successfully made a visit to Aeternia and finally caught some family time and the sleep to go with it.
When I did return to the observation deck, it was clear the war had barely reached the south. Not only was there less devastation, there was a lot more forest. More wild things and untamed land.
Which turned out to be boring, after the first few minutes, all the good stuff beneath the canopy. Mostly I worked on optimizing spells as we travelled. Right up until we reached the point where Terra Vista very immediately became the Howling Wastes. I'd always thought it was a bit strange when marks on a map immediately went from one type of terrain to another. That wasn’t how the world worked.
Except, it seemed, when it did.
One mile, thick vibrant forests, the next a howling wasteland. And between them, a wall stretching hundreds of feet into the air, taller even than the nearby trees. The wall was steel, stone and something that looked like sinew. As we got closer I realized that ‘sinew’ was composed of metal wires and cables.
“Wall,” Inertia hissed out from her position nearby, not following up with any further words. Was rare for her to be on the observation deck, but seemed she’d wanted to be here for the wall.
Which… fair.
If I'd been told there was a wall between Terra Vista and the Howling Wastes, I would’ve guessed it was the elves who put it up. That impression would’ve imploded the second I saw it.
Everything about the wall screamed Forgeborn, from the giant metal sheets that made up the majority to the shifting arm support structures that adjusted to every shift of the wind. It was strange to see a wall that was so relatively alive, considering it was made solely of inanimate materials.
“I do believe we've found our first target, Master Percival,” Calbern said from beside me, drawing my attention from the wall.
I followed his shallow nod towards the edge of the forest, where a large creature was making its way through the woods that crept up on the wall. Some sort of rhino-like thing, at least at a glance. Even as we watched it grabbed a tree, pulling it towards the ground. It proceeded to shove the bent tree in its maw and then stripped the entire tree bare. I would’ve said it was a herbivore if not for the fact that I suspected there were a lot of birds and other smaller animals in those branches before it stripped them.
“What was that one again? A grimlock?” Tresla asked, tilting her hood to the side.
I flipped open the book, checking the image and name. “Close. Grimnock. Likes to charge. Has short range gravity manipulation.”
Thick forest near the wall wasn’t an ideal place to fight one, especially with the airship.
“Glider?” I asked.
“Glider,” Calbern agreed with an inclination of his head.
Together Calbern and I went out to assess the danger. According to the book, it should’ve been in the range of a tier three threat. Not exactly the most useful of materials for a Hyrda-souled, but it did count for a few hundred points. Plus, I wouldn't have to worry about explaining why I kept part of its body, not that I wouldn't. Granitas was a useful affinity material.
The fight that followed was fairly routine as far as Calbern and I were concerned. Even let him help aim a Lightning Bolt spell. The time I needed his help had long long passed, yet, we did it for old time's sake. A little less him adjusting my arm and more him calling out the grimnock’s movement, but close enough.
The hardest part about the fight was keeping its body intact. Something which wasn’t helped by the new strength my spells carried as a Hydra-souled. Between my practice with my healing, I thought I had a handle on it. The fact I fried its hide in the first strike proved I was wrong. Still, it helped me calibrate. It was mostly intact.
Taking it apart and storing the pieces took ten times as long as the fight itself. Once we were done, our new lizardfolk tracker friend Ventus walked up, sniffing the air.
Instead of wandering around, hunting down whatever we could find, we decided to focus on the beasts I wanted to incorporate. Our first target was the phase hawk.
Unfortunately most of his skills required him to move by foot not by air.
After he got a sniff, we loaded up in the Iron Curtain, only to let him out again. Was a bit like checking the oil every hour because you had a bad leak.
“Pretty sure there are spells for this,” I muttered as we landed at an outcropping. Our thirteenth stop. At least the outcropping was promising. It’d been torn up, rents in the rock like a knife cutting through rock.
“Ya speak true,” Ventus agreed, nodding as he ran a hand through the air stepping closer to the rent rock. “If’n you have them, won’t stop you from using them.”
“Adding them to the list,” I decided, looking around the clearing. The broken trees were scattered everywhere, seemingly at random. “How do you even compete with a spell like that?”
“My last master was Hydra. Incorporated a void hound. Used it to enhance me. Makes it easier to track these sorts, ya know?” Ventus stopped, tilting his head to the side then sighing. “Not that easier means easy, when tracking a phase hawk, ya know.”
“Right. Well, nothing but to do it.”
Ventus nodded as we reboarded the Iron Curtain. We worked our way down the forest, racking up points while narrowing down the phase hawk’s hunting range.
Even with Ventus’s help, it was nearly impossible to track. Not a surprise, given its ability to literally phase into another dimension and skip onwards. Combined with the fact it was a flying creature…
After our fiftieth stop, I decided we needed to do something different, if we wanted to outflank a phase hawk.
“Have you had any phase hawk attacks?” I asked a grizzled old elf. The woman scratched their surprisingly wrinkled chin, nodding. They gave me some times it had bothered a nearby pack of fire javeline, a type of boar-like monster.
“Sorry, I have failed. I swear I shall improve,” Ventus mumbled for what must’ve been the twentieth time since we changed strategies. Dude took his failures hard.
“It’s a bad matchup. You do great against everything else,” I replied, hurrying back towards the ropes dangling from the Iron Curtain. People were more forthcoming if they didn’t see me flying in. At least those who chose to live this far outside Terra Vista’s protection.
The hardy locals who braved small fortified villages along the wall were mostly hunters or retired mages. Ones who didn’t want to be bothered on ‘official’ business. Once I adjusted my approach, the phase hawk’s territory had come together fast. It turned out the phase hawk made its nest on the other side of the wall. While the Iron Curtain could’ve easily sailed over, there was a treaty that stated airships weren’t supposed to cross over from Terra Vista. Not outside their official trade route.
While we weren’t Terra Vistan, Inertia admitted we couldn't ignore the rule. Not while coming from Terra Vista. Which meant we too ended up flying back over ground we’d recently cleared. It took us half a day, which I mostly spent back in Aeternia. The distance was getting close to my spell’s limit, despite the efficiency of Home Spark.
After a nice visit, I was back on board the Iron Curtain for the official crossover, watching the other airships. There were several in sight, though none within miles of us. Still, for air travel in the middle of nowhere, it was practically gridlock traffic.
When we got close to the wall, a small vessel approached us. I’d seen similar dock with each of the other airships, though there seemed to be a dozen distinct fliers.
“It doesn’t seem to be using steam,” I commented to Inertia as it drew close.
Inertia hiss-clanked out her response, explaining they ran on similar principles to our own airships, with less enchanting. The Forgeborn were just as capable of producing Helium, but it was one of those secrets Inertia hadn’t been allowed to share with me.
I’d honestly forgotten there were secrets she wasn’t allowed to tell me. Other than the creation of the Forgehearts. Maybe when we visited Ashforge City, I could take the Stone Oath, and she could teach me.
When the vessel docked, Inertia greeted the smaller Forgeborn. Prior to that interaction, I thought I was getting better at understanding Forgespeak. While that might’ve been true, I very quickly caught on to how much Inertia had been dumbing it down.
Less than a minute later, the smaller Forgeborn nodded then departed.
“Claimed,” Inertia said, before nodding towards Tresla.
“The Iron Curtain may now cross the wall wherever we wish, so long as both you and Inertia are on board,” Tresla explained as Inertia stomped away from the connection.
“An unusual privilege,” Starbreaker said, frowning. “Even for a clanker with a lightsinger bond.”
“She simply explained our purpose,” Tresla said with a musical chuckle. “And that we were at odds with House Fores’thall.”
Starbreaker’s frown grew at that point.
I fought down my smile as we joined Inertia.
Now that we had access, we swung right back around, following the wall east for another half a day. Narrowing down the location of the phase hawk’s nest took us another two days.
The nest itself was exactly what I would have expected out of an eagle's nest. Lots of random bits of straw, bones and scraps of fur. Its location, however, was troublesome, wedged deep within a cliff. If Calbern hadn’t spotted the phase hawk emerging, we would’ve missed it entirely.
Despite wanting materials to integrate, I’d been reflecting on what that meant the entire trip.
One of the big things I was realizing about ascension was methods mattered. While that seemed less important for the typical Hydra-souled, I wondered. There’d been something Nexxa had mentioned during one of our many discussions months ago. Even if two mages with the same specialty used the same materials, both acquired from slaying the same type of monster, one could integrate it in a day, and another could take half a year. The diagnostic center confirmed it, giving ranges of assimilation times.
Problem was… if I was going to incorporate the phase hawk, I needed its heart.
Couldn’t see a way to get it without killing the thing. And much as I hated to admit it, killing was part of my path. When it was in defense of others or myself. Too bad the phase hawk’s neighbors were all tough enough it wasn’t much of a threat to them.
That train of thought lasted right up until we investigated its nest and I got a better look at the bones. Most were from local monsters, but there were several humanoid skulls. Not enough to claim I was protecting anyone, but enough for me to be wary.
Figured it was at least worth trying to reason with it. Phase hawks were supposedly intelligent, though whether they were capable of speech wasn’t something the notes indicated. Probably because Halina hadn’t cared.
The conversation lasted all of six seconds.
Well my attempts lasted a couple minutes longer than that. Mostly I was greeted by screeching and a teleporting phase hawk trying to murder me. At least I'm pretty sure it was trying to murder me. Luckily I had prepared Translocation Matrix now I had a fourth-tier slot to put it in. Not only was I ready to deal with a teleporting murder-happy phase hawk, I was also fully aware of all the local little ebbs and currents in the dimensional fabric.
This meant that even when it hid in the higher dimensions, I was able to track it.
Even with the fourth-order spell, especially one I hadn't practiced with, it wasn't that simple. The phase hawk was a tier-four creature who specialized in interdimensional magic. It was in and out, faster than I could blink. If I didn't have Hydra-tier regeneration I probably would’ve died within the first minute of my attempted negotiations.
“I do not think it is listening. Master Percival,” Calbern called from his glider nearby. After it realized I was the only one capable of teleporting, it’d left him alone.
“Yeah I'm getting that, Calbern,” I shot back. Was still uneasy about the idea of killing it simply to take its heart. The idea bothered me. Of course the negotiation wasn't working very well either. I was starting to wonder if I was on the wrong track.
Maybe I should bring it, or a younger version, back to Viserra and the Frost Riven for bonding. Then again there was a good chance they wouldn't be able to bond with the phase hawk. Not if it was too intelligent.
My mind swirled, my high neural dynamics working overtime to keep me from getting disemboweled, the occasional Bestow Health relieving me of my injuries. I was somewhat regretting not having a greater degree of pain clarity simply so I could more easily shrug off the pain.
After ten minutes I’d improved my ability to dodge the murder-bird. I was wondering if maybe I should choose a target more obviously destructive and violent. Something that would require me to defend someone. Like with the awakened Wyvern that’d ruled the Wyvern Peaks. When another thought occurred to me. Maybe I could use something other than the heart. The heart was the recommended part for those who killed the phase hawk. But if I could create something using its feathers and maybe some of its blood (it'd certainly drawn enough of my own for that to be a fair trade), then that was more in line with my path.
It would’ve been troublesome if I wasn't a worlds mage. In the end the biggest trouble was making sure it stuck around for the fight. I didn't have any good anchor spells, though I was working on an enchantment.
The next few minutes were an interesting exercise in plucking feathers, healing the bird, and gathering its blood. Then following it when it teleported away. It was a bit morbid. More than a bit.
In the end, we left with the phase hawk angry but intact. I’d also clearly established the wall was off limits to cross. Doing so had brought me more in line with what I wanted out of the encounter. It was a bit of a stretch, but we were protecting those on the other side of the wall.
“That is an interesting collection of components, Master Percival.” Calbern raised a single eyebrow as we flew back towards the Iron Curtain. The airship had waited beyond the wall, where it wouldn’t spook the phase hawk further.
“It's what I've got,” I replied, stuffing the entire gross amagalmation into my storage pendant. “Anyways, on to the next one.”
Calbern arched an eyebrow at me once more. I ignored it and we were on our way.
With the initial phase of the hunt done, the next question became: What should I be building towards? I was strongly inclined towards giving up the Archmage route at this point simply because to pursue it while also fulfilling the other conditions of my integrations would require a great deal of hunting and crafting. Though perhaps that wouldn't have to be the case.
I pulled out the list once more and started flipping through it, looking for something I thought I'd seen before. There it was: a multi-elemental Hydra. Nature was the natural affinity of many hydras, though almost all hydras had a secondary affinity for either venom or water. A full penta-elemental Hydra. It had all the basic affinities, excluding arcane.
Of course when I thought back to my lessons with Bahama, she would’ve said every affinity was a basic affinity. Even my worlds affinity wasn’t rare to the dragon. There was probably something to that, but it felt more like dragon logic than real folk logic.
Ignoring that tangent, the penta-hydra was a legitimate threat. According to the list, it’d been preying on less well-defended villages. Villages that technically weren’t part of Terra Vista. Apparently none of the settlements within a hundred miles of the wall were. A detail I only discovered while reading about the penta-hydra. The border villages were technically in violation of the neutral zone between the Forge Lands and Terra Vista.
Guessed that was part of the appeal for those old mages and hunters.
I ended up setting the paper down as I went to go find Tresla and Inertia to find out more about this. I hadn't heard anything about a neutral zone between the two nations. If anything I'd thought their relations were positive.
“Empire,” was Inertia's single hissed word when I got close. Then she started rambling in hisses, clicks and whistles about old pacts and older friends.
“What Inertia is trying to say,” Tresla clarified, pulling out her pipe and starting to puff away at it with smoke rising up and snaking around. “Is that Terra Vista was once an ally and friend of the Altean Empire. They existed alongside them when the Forgeborn were slaves of the Altean Empire's people. There were some amongst Terra Vista who helped the Forgeborn earn their freedom but there were far more, specifically of the Risen Council, who tried to help preserve the Altean Empire instead.”
“Those same councillors still sit on the Risen Council?”
I hadn't investigated the Risen Council as much as I should’ve. In my defense I wasn't supposed to be dealing with them. I was supposed to be resolving the issue with Halina, which is what we were doing, ineffective as it was.
“Yes the Bladesinger Conflict saw most of those who helped the Forgeborn perish. In fact more than half of the Risen Council perished.”
“So what you're saying is… things are going to get worse between Terra Vista and the Forgelands, not better?”
Tresla and and Inertia both went silent for several seconds as the haze of smoke thickened around inertia. I knew enough by this point to know they were deep in discussion, the smoke acting as a medium that would allow greater clarity than Forgespeak ever could. After nearly two minutes of discussion, Tresla's hood dipped slightly, nodding in my direction. “It has been quite some time, but yes. Inertia suspects there will be some form of conflict. Though what shape that will take is hard to determine. We’ve had several hundred years of peace between our people and there is a great deal of trade. I suppose it will depend on whether or not they expect to profit more from a free Forgelands or from an attempt to enslave her people once more.”
At this Starbreaker, who had been present but keeping to himself, spoke up: “Lightsinger, whatever my people decide, know I will protect yours.”
Tresla's musical laughter echoed through the observation deck. “An emptier promise I have rarely heard,” she said, her hood shaking back and forth as a glint of red escaped it. “You’d ensure our safety while the destruction of my dearest friend and her people came down upon them?”
Starbreaker wasn't able to say much to that. Then again what was there to say?
The Forgeborn needed the same thing I did. Allies.