by Marcus Sloss
“Attacked by what? The king is concerned.” Barice said swiftly.
“Skia. She beat a male griffin to almost dead and ate humans. Then she tried to kill me when I wanted to talk to them. My guess… she was planning on fleeing before arriving. Doesn’t matter what my guess is. She is alive as is the male. I am going to have the male healed and bound as well until King Aves can investigate.”
“He will be deeply troubled. King Aves is no mere griffin as you know. He will fly here immediately when I whisper this to him. We shall see you tonight. Keep them alive.” Barice said and leaped into Virtue as he exited. She muttered curses at him as she recovered and jumped back to Fernlan.
“Lovely lady that one,” Virtue replied.
I ignored the comment. If you make small portals then expect people to bump into each other.
A dvaren stepped forward. His beard was blonde and short. The tan on his skin was deep and he looked young. Good to see the healers hard at work.
“I am General Trug, I am the overall commander here of your desert dvaren. May we have your citizen contract?” Trug asked. I reached into my core and shot out the contract to the half a million dvaren. The collars unclasped and the dvaren went about collecting them for piles. “That is very refreshing to feel. How may we serve in your empire, my Emperor?”
“For now I am about to display the power of this world and the magic it beholds. After you will get your marching orders. Welcome to the Vin empire. Assemble your people over there,” I said pointing to the north. Prixal and the companies left with him. A joyful sound erupted. “Lamont are you ready to make a mountain?”
Fae responded first. “A mountain… Where?”
“If you are an earth mage I need you to stuff goblin, ogre, and shaman hearts into your robes. While gross, you can bathe later, and you will see why soon. When you are ready we need to form a circle with me at the center and all join hands.” I said as I pointed and spun indicating roughly where I wanted the circle to form. “We are not going to build a little pyramid like in Uhara. This will be the largest spell ever cast that I know of by humans. I am sure the gods can cast greater. And it will be only us with the help of the retreating four. This is what they intended with this planet.”
Dozens of sacks filled with hearts were opened to spill out thousands of purple organs of various sizes. The hundreds of earth mages went to work tucking the bloody stilled organs against their skin. Ten minutes later I had only shaman hearts down my pants. My exposed chest was bare because that bitch griffin had ruined my armor. The circle formed and I placed myself in its center. I then had four lines of mages reach me in the middle to chain hands to the outer ring.
“Healers be ready, there will be some mages who pass out from this. It is unavoidable. FOR THE VIN EMPIRE!” I bellowed.
“For the Vin Empire!” They shouted.
I dove into my central core of magic with my eyes closed. Vin shook below me when it sensed the catalysts at our disposal. It thirsted to consume them. My ability to control it was waning, I needed to cast quickly. So I focused the spell to create what I imagined as the power burst from our circle.
I submerged Baku creating a giant port of shallow protected water, then I sunk it further to allow ships in and out. I felt the water spray my body as my soul projected. I pulled the souls of the mages with me as we designed. A new river formed to a lake forty miles away. With a mighty stretch, I parted the landscape. That covered access to freshwater and an ocean port instead of a sloping beach with anchored ships out to sea.
My sense of the ground below the rocky crust was more water the lower I went. We were next to the ocean. I decided to not go down, a mountain needed to be born. The fighting from Vin had abated when I expended some power. Since I stalled in my planning it pulled at me again. Desperate to consume the power of the catalysts. I decided to use what I knew. The Saquin Mountain which was utilized for mining, I tried to build it for living. As I designed what I needed the pressure to unleash grew greater and greater.
I felt the ground rumble and shake. My outline was done. I filled in a lot knowing the dvaren could dig it out the way they wanted it. The brown magic channeled from the group with hands linked. I was pulling everything they had into me. The youngest weakest mages fell first from aura exhaustion. Not long after the strong students dived for the dirt. Finally, the instructors hit the ground until it was only me in the middle left standing. I slowly raised my hands from my side.
As the hands increased so did a mountain. It spanned from the harbor to the distant canyon. Tens of miles long as it was wide it rose slowly into creation. Whatever was left of Sion was not okay with this gradual pace. My control was superseded as I fought to stay conscious from the sheer amount the spell was consuming. The mountain burst from the ground and stretched south. When the trembling and shaking abated I collapsed and broke my nose when I smashed into the ground. A healer tagged me with a spell and I laid there exhausted.
The mountain went thousands of feet if not over ten thousand feet high. It was wide and thick. It went beyond my scope. I never planned to create a mountain range here, but there was one now. I raced south for miles. I would need a griffin… Seven hells. I forgot about the tortured griffin in Baku I had sent into the sea. I gazed that direction and saw a limping mess of a griffin shaking off water. Phew. That was a close one. I went back to studying the mountains while I rested on the ground.
General Trug walked my way with wide eyes and a big grin on his face. All the dvaren behind him were gazing at the massive new peaks in wonder. They were far more expansive than I ever wanted.
“I take it your spell is over since you are taking a nap now. Not faulting you laddie, that was impressive. In all my years I never would have imagined seeing that. Even the elvath in your ranks were cursing in dismay. Those ladies never curse. I take it this is our new home?” General Trug asked while pointing at the start of the new mountain range.
“We are going to free as much dvaren as we can. This will be home to a lot of your kind and others. There are many, many, more mountain ranges though. Now that I think about it, I am fairly certain that was intended.” I said as I pried myself off the dusty soil. I brushed the gritty bits of Vin tangled in my chest hair. “Ready your troops Trug. We march through the mountain. We got some scokings to kill and some antelope to catch. Something joyful for the beat that we can run to.”
Prixal sounded a horn. “Told ya! This one is no sissy.”
“At least we have the rels, going to be a fun run. I love fun runs. Go get Addilyn, Virtue. Maybe Amber… Actually yes. They need to see this wonderful new mountain range.” I ordered and Virtue vanished into a black doorway.
The dvaren were forming lines to march with precision. Healers were working through the formations still converting old to young. I ordered Siliq to send Lamont home with the earth mages now that they were done. They recovered and left to return to their studies. I was sure they would have one amazing story to tell their peers. Ten minutes passed as groups were organized. Siliq closed her portal when a second portal opened beside the one Virtue still had open.
Queen Nautica materialized from the black doorway while pushing a stroller. “Is that Seri in there?” I asked in dismay. I should not have bothered. Out poured my wives with babies in strollers. Amber, Velia, Addilyn, Bella, and Pipi wheeled the boxy contraptions with covers. I do not know if it was the brighter sky or warmer weather but the babies instantly calmed as they were pushed forward. I stood there watching them approach.
“You look amazing with no shirt darling, please keep up,” Amber said as they joined the stretching caravan of soldiers and citizens marching toward the mountain.
There was a nice road I created that went up a slight hill until it met a wide arching tunnel. I scanned left to see the water hitting the new shoreline. Docks would need to be built, doors, windows, ships, and my mind kept thinking of all the jobs that would be needed here. The one bonus was we had a lot more shamans to move things aro
und the empire and to access the markets of the Horde. I zoned out when I felt a pinch on my back. I jumped a bit because it actually hurt.
“Sorry you have armor on and I am not cutting my fingers on those, so pinch instead of ladies rule butt smack. We miss our smack your ass game,” Bella said while leaning in to give me a kiss. “Come push Siena. We have been dying to get out of that floor and somewhere warm. When Amber got it out of Virtue that it was a nice warm walk and we were invited – we decided to take the family. You should have seen Virtue try to stammer excuses.”
I sighed with a grin. This was indeed lovely. A nice dvaren song in the background. A sunny morning with a temperature nice enough I could be comfortable shirtless. I wheeled my daughter with a bit of a quick step to join the others. Bella scurried in the dress to keep up. She giggled at my antics. When she caught up she yanked me to a gentle stop.
“Thank you for saving Trish. I will reward you handsomely tonight my husband.” Bella said as she seductively ran a finger across my chest. Then she started picking dirt out of my chest hair.
I smacked her hands down with a laugh and kept going. It was a leisurely stroll across a newly created flat road. The dvaren were already low toned on the song due to their own wee ones in the dvarette formation. The babies did not mind, only Siena had to be pulled out for a feeding. Our spirits were high and we talked of what could become of this new mountain. More importantly, what would we name it? A lot of names were thrown around until Nautica provided some insight.
“The dvaren holy book was removed ages ago. When it became clear there were more than two gods in the universe, and more than one universe some held grudges at its misrepresentation. That does not mean there were not stories, examples, and ideas that had to be abandoned. The Juvan, the name for our bible, was created when our species first achieved space flight. I mention this because I read that book. It exists not as a testament to the truth, instead, it reflects a belief held dear by our ancestors. That a divine power from above would manifest our success. In some ways they did. Dvaren are a very populous species with an immense amount of pride. That first settlement from our homeworld had a fitting name. Rocven! Rocven was where our species expanded. For a while, it was our capital world. It held out from Horde siege for millions of years. We still to this day, do not know what happened to that planet. The last thing we heard was the enemy gods had to interfere to crush the resistance. I think Rocven Hold works great here. Some may see it as blasphemy. I do not as I now know the gods of old were five, and they do support us. The text may be wrong, the spirit of it is not though.”
I listened raptly to her story and thought of those times. Bianca screamed for Velia to feed her while I was stuck trying to figure out what name to pick. If the name was controversial it may cause strife. Then again the layout of the reasoning was solid.
“Get me General Trug,” I ordered a dvaren in heavy armor that was guarding us. A few minutes later Trug arrived in stark contrast with his light leather armor. “Rocven Hold, speak now if you object.”
We were cresting the slope as we had finished the walk up the hill. The road flattened out and led straight under the massive arched entry. Those were going to be some huge doors if they ever added any. Right, when we were entering the dark hallway a golden griffin with purple tips shot overhead with such a speed he passed us. I saw him bank and dive for Skia on the ground. He would get to me later. Also, it was not even twenty minutes and he flew more than a continent. I bet I would have died if were on his back. I didn’t even want to guess where Barice hid. The distraction was brief and General Trug gave a scrape on the ground with his foot to catch my attention.
“It will work wonderfully. My only suggestion is you name the entire new range of peaks the Rocven Mountains. There is enough mountain here stretching south that billions can call this home given time.” Trug said.
“Actually, I concur with the general. Let the new hold masters, name their holds. Then you can annotate your maps as this being the Rocven Mountain range.” Nautica said proudly.
Torches were being mounted to walls. The light revealed that this road continued straight until it hit another large archway to the savannah. I decided to let the family see the savannah then go no further. As we trooped through the dimly lit cavern I saw the side roads I had cut out. Those would lead to more caverns and living spaces. It all would need incredible amounts of work. There was no denying this was a very rough first draft. I did see happy dvaren faces though, which was unusual. They seemed to constantly suck on lemons. This was different and I was happy our hard work was something they were happy with. They may not be heaping praise on being freed and given a home but I knew they would have if they were not dvaren. A few shot off to the left and right to explore side passages. The first ones back reported with excitement. My wives were enjoying the exercise and the babies, for the most part, napped in their strollers. Ten minutes later we reached the prairie side entrance and were able to view the landscape.
“Amber why is this called a desert? Where I come from a desert is desolate and nothing but sand. There is no life. This we call a savannah or a prairie. It has abundant life.” I said as we stopped to admire the view.
“There is no desert that you describe. This planet is teeming with life everywhere. I guess it is called a desert for its temperature. Which is lovely this time of year. I want an estate here with this view. Three or four stories up with expansive balconies. I can send people to fetch reports or go to Fernlan when I need to. We ladies desperately needed this walk. Oh, look at King Aves. He does not look pleased.” Amber said anxiously. “Roz create a portal home. Husband that was wonderful, thanks again. We will see you at dinner tonight I hope.”
Roz generated a portal and the family left slowly. They had to either kiss their husband or have daddy dote on a baby. We were not in a rush so I spoiled them. When they were gone I got a few side eyes without comment. There was no Donnie or Nate here. Where was Nate? Donnie should be in Hallow Hold. Nate was probably guarding my castle with pregnant wives in it. I dropped the line of thought and watched King Aves heal Skia and then crush her again. The other male griffin was healed now and watching with anger. I said nothing to him.
“General Trug, that canyon should have a variety of scorpion that we call scokings. Remove that nest. Then those antelope. Those ones right there,” I said pointing to the herd. “Get me fifty of them. Then thin a few animals or random types to have a mighty feast. I need to rest. I am going to raid your fellow slaves free tonight. My teams will be here if you need backup.”
The general grinned. A worthy set of orders without micromanagement. He was indeed beaming in joy. Horns blared and drums beat as forty thousand dvaren who excelled in the heat went to work. A full division went to the canyon while three others spread out across the grassy drylands. I turned to Cora.
“They are too happy, give them rain,” I ordered with a snicker.
Cora gave me a ‘you wouldn’t dare’ stare, then I nodded that indeed I would, and she pulled out three white pearls. She started a chant and I could tell that was immediately from Deltan Academy. There was no chant needed. I watched her trickle aura from her center to the catalyst. Tendrils danced and fought until they exploded to cast a rain spell. The sky coalesced in an angry black brew. Ocean water swirled toward the clouds until the water trickled in a freefall. It turned into a torrent and I laughed.
I was so focused I did not see King Aves flying until he was right by me. He carried Skia in his talons with the other griffin in tow. There was no Barice on his back and his saddle was not on, which answered that query I had. He landed away from the dvarettes and I walked to him. The mighty king shook the water off his feathers.
“If you make the clouds higher than that will produce snow for your mountain tops which will add more water to the weather system,” King Aves said.
“Did you just volunteer magic work for others? Cora raise the cloud heights we want snow on the mounts or cast another spell aft
er!” I shouted over my shoulder at my wife who was casting from the opening. “You sure do fly quickly.”
“The quickest. I am the best. The others, sad compared to me. You know we griffins formed prides. That was for a few reasons. One of them is dominance traits. I am not talking about Lord Nova punishing a fat griffin either. That was humorous and not what I am referring to though.
“No, I am talking about a battle for dominance between a soon to be mating male and female. It never gets out of control in a group. It did here. This is Parq, Parq kneel to Emperor Gryff then leave us. You are ordered to rotate to a southern port city. Take your pick. Actually, Scarlett in Malvia needs a male in her pride. Go there.” King Aves ordered. I kept my mouth shut as Parq bowed and then left. When he was gone King Aves ended the awkward silence. “That Parq is a good griffin, not a fighter. Which is bad in some ways, even griffins as mighty as me understand that some others need to tend herds or help rear young. Parq is one of those. Skia beat him in dominance. Which meant she got what she wanted, how she wanted, and when she wanted it.
“When the humans dared to check on the commotion after the battles she slaughtered them. Then she tried to escape with Parq knowing we would find out eventually. Parq refused and was beaten over and over. She figured he would concede soon and they could flee together. Until you randomly showed up with an army. She did not have a grand plan from there. Skia saw an opportunity to kill you and use that victory to show Parq how serious she was. Of course, you won. Even after falling thousands of feet with no wings. Which, I wish I could have witnessed the fight. She said you hit like a demon.”
“Yeah… well, she deserved to be hit that hard. I made some mountains for you. To sleep up in.” I said.
