Erik got to three and slumped. Jen looked at the alchemist, who put the mask’s straps around Erik’s head and adjusted the out-flow of powder through the oxygen into Erik’s face.
“He’s asleep,” the alchemist confirmed.
“Very well. Let’s not fuck this up.” Erik was their leader and their benefactor. She wouldn’t tolerate any mistakes. “Let’s get his stamina up. I don’t want it to drop below seventy percent. He has a high ability to heal himself as long as he has the right resources. Turn up the healing formation to forty percent.”
Jen waited for things to stabilize. Melissa Bouchard was great on the theoretical side of things, turning information into procedures, though she didn’t have the training or time in the Ten Realms. All of Jen’s healers worked day and night, healing and fixing all kinds of issues, taking courses from Erik and fellow medics.
They were a young organization but quick learners.
“Okay. We’re ready, Miss Bouchard.”
“Increase the power of the spikes. That will introduce more of the metal element into his body. Once he can handle that, we’ll inject the metal element water from the lightning pool above through the spikes.”
“Increase power by five percent,” Jen said.
She watched as Erik’s stamina, which had reached eighty-three percent, slumped.
“Increase stamina. Up the healing formation by five percent.”
Erik’s stamina continued to fall at a decreased rate.
“Ten percent on healing formation.”
The stamina bleed slowed, came to a halt, then started to rise again. It had reached sixty-five percent at its lowest.
Jen used a Medical Scan on Erik, looking through his body.
“Healing formation up ten percent. Five percent increase on the spikes,” Jen said after a few minutes.
She watched the metal attribute poisoning, destroying Erik’s body, the healing power fighting back, recovering some of it.
Time passed slowly. The further they went, the less it mattered what Erik’s body did. Only the formations, the concoctions, and healing spells were supporting Erik.
Jen frowned and closed her eyes, recalling what she had read on inoculations and vaccines.
“Dial down the spike’s power. Do we have blood repairing formations?”
“Yes,” one of the medics said, moving to a row of medical equipment.
“What are you doing?” Melissa Bouchard asked, confused. She was the leading expert on tempering in Alva, but Jen was their leading healer.
“We’re supporting his life right now on our abilities and gear. I’m thinking of tempering one part of Erik’s body. Say, take out his blood, purify it and circulate it back into his body. At the same time, we’ll heal his bones specifically. It should teach Erik’s body to fight it in a concentrated way. Not temper his entire body with metal, just his blood. Then let it teach the rest of his body. We can do it ourselves, but there is a huge risk to Erik’s life,” Jen said as the medics gathered the right formations.
Melissa looked at Jen and then Erik, biting her lower lip. “That should work.”
“I’ll need an IV kit to loop into the blood purification and repairing unit and then back through another IV. Get me bone healing focused healing formations,” Jen called out.
They quickly assembled the gear. Jen watched the medics insert two new IV lines into Erik’s arm.
His blood was drawn out, red and mercury, routed through the new machine where the blood was blasted with healing spells. The cells repaired and, because it wasn’t in Erik’s body, the stamina draw on him was minimal. The blood was then circulated back into Erik’s body.
Bone healing formations were activated on Erik’s body. The formations hummed with power as Jen watched the stamina levels and the color of the blood.
The mercury blood started to run redder, looking coppery.
“Increase the power of the bone healing formations. Keep up with his stamina,” Jen directed her team.
Erik was starting to recover his stamina quicker; his body required less of it to sustain his life.
It went on for hours, but the results were clear.
“Well, Jen, your method is showing results,” Melissa Bouchard said.
“I wouldn’t have thought about it if I didn’t have the information from Earth. I’m taking the process you planned out, breaking it down into a step-by-step process.”
“It’s brilliant. Well done!” Melissa smiled.
Jen bowed her head, inwardly relieved.
All right, Erik. We’ll give you a helping hand, but this is on you. Jen looked at the coppery blood. It was becoming more viscous, filled with dense energy.
6
House of Cards
Blaze sat on his mount, observing Split Peak City in the distance. The stone mountain looked like it had been split in two. Between the two sides, there were residences, hanging walkways, and buildings that rested in between. The sound of marching boots advancing in the mud around the base of the bill marred the building's chaotic and crazy charm.
The city was massive and sprawling. Millions filled it, stacked upon one another. It was one of the largest cities controlled by the Willful Institute. Located in the Second Realm, it boasted one of the largest populations of the realms.
Fifteen-foot walls stood between the city and the outside world.
“Guild Leader.” Domonos rode his beast over. Both wore the gear of the Adventurer’s Guild and its guild crest.
“How are things looking?” Blaze asked. He had spent most of his younger years on campaigns and thought he had left that life behind. Certainly, he never thought that he would be bringing fifty thousand men and women under his command to attack another city.
“People are nervous. They’re not sure what to expect. I made sure to impress upon everyone that looting and attacking innocents will not be tolerated.”
“I heard you took some of the branch heads with you to press that point.” Blaze looked at the young man-turned-commander.
“The strong make the rules. Isn’t that the Ten Realms way?” Domonos was calm under his gaze.
“In the Second Realm, the Willful Institute’s greatest strength is their numbers. If they can surrender, then we won’t be facing a city of hundreds of thousands, just the Willful Institute’s basic trainers and lowest recruits.”
“They don’t even have a proper mana barrier,” Domonos said.
“Would cost more than the city makes to make it and power it. It’s the second realm,” Blaze said.
Domonos nodded. Blaze clasped his hands behind his back, surveying the sect and guild banners arrayed around Split-Peak city.
“What do you think of our employers?”
“They’re bold, but they’re not idiots,” Domonos said. “They’re using us as a cover, drawing the Institute’s ire onto us instead of themselves. They’re angered by the Willful Institute, so they’re willing to overlook a few things. This is just an exploratory campaign to see how strong the Willful Institute is. Depending on the outcome, they could commit more to the fight, or back out of it.”
After hearing what the Adventurer’s Guild had done in Meokar, everyone going up against the Institute was looking to hire them.
“Isn’t that what everyone is doing? Watching everyone poke the tiger and see if it really is a tiger or a pig in tiger’s clothing.”
Domonos shrugged. “What do you expect? Rewards govern everything.”
“So, Colonel, how do you think things will go?”
“Operation Doomsday is in full swing. None of the Institute’s factions trust one another. The nearby forces are different factions to the people in Split Peak. They’re not going to come and help. As long as the leading families of Split Peak are given good terms, then it is possible they’ll turn on the Institute. They don’t care about dying for honor.”
Domonos gave a savage smile. “Both our allies and the loyal families think they are talking to one another’s representative
s, but it is our intelligence officers going between them, three of them in fact. Surprising what three people with the right information in the right place can do.”
A messenger passed through their guards and stopped in front of Blaze and Domonos. “Our allies have sent word. We will lead the vanguard in ten minutes to take down the outer wall. They want an answer.”
Domonos looked at the walls. Willful Institute soldiers were preparing their defenses. The farmer’s huts and slums between the armies and the walls had been vacated, the lucky ones reaching the city. The unlucky ones ran along the walls to flee into the distant forests.
“We will be ready to attack in ten minutes. If needed?” Domonos turned his question to Blaze.
“Armies are ready across the realms to attack. If we can secure victory, it should embolden those against the Willful Institute. You have command. I’m better suited for paperwork these days.” Blaze grinned.
“I don’t know about that, Guild Leader.” Domonos smiled. “In thirty minutes, I’ll open up the walls for our allies.”
“Yes, sirs.” The messenger bowed his head and ran off.
Once again, a meeting of the High Elders was called. What was once a yearly meeting had turned weekly. The whole mess was screwing up Cai Bo’s schedule.
Their expressions didn’t reveal anything as they took their seats.
Foster walked in, leaning on the desk between them all, his eyebrows pinched together in anger.
“Two hours. Two hours!” He slammed his fist into the table, denting it. “Split Peak City, the largest city under our command, our largest by population, fell in just two hours!”
Elders’ eyes flicked to the Elder whose faction had controlled the city.
“Don’t look at him, you idiots! Are you so ingrained in your factions that you don’t see what is happening? Are you so focused on attacking one another that you haven’t noticed our supply convoys being hit across the realms? The blades both hidden and out in the open pointing at our throats?”
Cai Bo, who wasn’t in the habit of bowing her head in front of anyone, dipped her eyes, not wanting to meet the Institute Head’s eyes. Not from shame, but in anger. She had spent years building her power base and had been biding her time for the final blow—a move that would place one of her people in Foster’s seat. Now her plans had fallen apart. Changing the sect head would only lead to more problems.
“It seems everyone and their dog wants a piece of us. Information that should have been secret is nothing more than gossip. If I wanted a detailed plan of our supply convoy’s movements or our troop deployments, I just need to go talk to the local farmhand!” Foster yelled, the pressure of his cultivation making the High Elders sweat and strain.
“At the same time, you idiots are incapable of controlling your own people. Internally, we’re in more of a mess than ever before. Are you all blind?” He fell silent and sat down in his chair. “After Split Peak fell, eight other cities—eight—are under attack: three in the Second Realm, two in the Third Realm, and three in the Fourth Realm! Other armies are forming up and preparing to attack us.”
“We need to make an example! Cut down our enemies and show the others that we will not go peacefully!” High Elder Saddan said.
“Who the hell do we attack? Twenty-three different sects are working together, forty-seven different mercenary groups,” Head Foster sneered.
“What about the Adventurer’s Guild?” Cai Bo asked. “They have been a key part in this war, fighting against Meokar, and in Split Peak City. They’re offering discounted prices to join the armies attacking us.”
“Many mercenary companies are reducing their prices. They want more of the loot from the captured cities, though they have been a leading part of this attack. What are you thinking?” Head Foster thought aloud.
Cai Bo swallowed quickly under his gaze. It was like standing in the face of a rhino, not knowing if it was peaceful or would charge the next moment. She hid her smirk as the other heads hid their shame and looked away. “They’re spread across the lower realms, but in the higher realms, they have a clear headquarters in Vuzgal. We should apply pressure on Vuzgal, force out the Guild, then cut them down. Put a bounty on their leaders’ heads.”
“Vuzgal is a place I’ve heard of. Do you think they will give in? There are a lot of interests.”
“I think there is more to Vuzgal than meets the eye.” Mistress Mercy remembered Colonel Domonos, and records of someone of the same name joining the Wilful Institute who was supposed to be dead. It was possible to survive, but to gain such a position of power was alarming.
“What do you mean?”
“I do not have anything definitive right now, but I think that the Vuzgal leadership is linked to the Adventurer’s Guild.”
Cai Bo waited, holding steady under the Head’s gaze.
“Very well. High Elder Cai Bo, you’ve impressed me with your ability to put down your own conflicts and reveal information that isn’t confirmed but is possible. Go and rattle the Adventurer’s Guild and Vuzgal, see what you can find out. As for the rest of you…” He scanned the room. “I am calling martial law! Pull everyone back! You will create mixed units of all your factions. They’ll be pissed off, having to watch one another, so it should reduce the in-fighting and reveal who is giving out our information.
“Some group must be leading this. It is too smooth, the events too close together. I am not saying that it is just one group. But there is an alliance among our enemies, moving against us. They might not have even shown their teeth. Even this Adventurer’s Guild is joining in on the fight! Our old enemies are growing bold and working together. Once one attack happened, the others started coming in one after another. High Elder Caros, I expect your clan can repay the losses that will be taken with your mercenary guild’s exposure?” Head Foster’s voice was deceptively calm.
Caros bit down on his words and bowed his head. “Of course, Head Foster.”
“Good. High Elder Cai Bo, find out who the real enemy is. In the meantime, we’ll make an example of this Adventurer’s Guild. This is a list of cities that must not fall! If the others are under attack, pull back our resources and people. We cannot defend them all. We must cut off the rot to maintain our strength!”
Cai Bo and the Elders looked at the scroll Head Foster put on the table. It was a death sentence to the city and the leadership who were sure to lose their position.
While he did that, Cai Bo was determined to pull on the thread that was Domonos Silaz.
7
Good or Bad, in the End, All is Revealed
Elan Silaz shuddered awake as his carriage came to a stop. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, moving a curtain to look out at the darkness all around him.
“Vuzgal’s under city,” Elan muttered as he saw people waiting for him outside the carriage.
He opened the door of his carriage and stepped out. The guards were all elite Close Protection Detail members. All the council leadership had similar guards to make sure they were safe at all times.
“What do you have for me?” he asked the group as he walked toward the under-castle behind them. It was the heart of the intelligence department in Vuzgal. It housed several answering statues they had been bought through Elise.
“Reports on everything happening in the Fourth Realm,” Detrick, the manager of Vuzgal’s intelligence networks, passed Elan a storage ring that was stuffed with information books. “I’m meeting with Chonglu tomorrow to talk about what’s happening in the Fourth Realm.”
“How are things with the foreign traders?”
“They’re getting bolder. Based on the snippets of information we got from the answering statues, they’re coordinated. If they’re working with one another or another power, we don’t know at this time.”
“Suspects?”
“Other trading conglomerates. I think it’s the Stone Fist Sect.”
“They’re not going to let go of Chonglu and Mira, are they?”
“They
must have made the connection with Erik showing up and Mira leaving their clan. They can’t go against her, but they can attack her husband and weaken him,” Detrick said.
“So they think,” Elan muttered as the doors to the castle opened and he walked in.
“Sir! There is something you need to see!” Dang, head scribe in charge of the answering statues, saw Elan and walked up.
“What is it?” Elan asked.
“This.” Dang pulled out a piece of scroll and held it open.
“Domonos Silaz, from the First Realm. Recruited by Elder H—” The document ended abruptly. “Talk to me, Dang.”
“I had the answering statue tell me where this information was recorded. I checked it against our Wandering Inn records. It was Mercy Luo, known as Mistress Mercy. She had a direct connection to Colonel Silaz before he joined Alva.”
“When was this information recovered?”
“The last day of the competition.”
“Why is it only getting to me now?” Elan demanded, his mind working fast. He could have her killed. No, that would draw unwanted attention. Perhaps they could cut off the information. Thankfully, the new leader of Chonglu City had changed its name to Zahir, although if the Willful Institute went there and dug deep enough, they were sure to find that out.
“We went through the information that was gathered on the most important people and filtered it down to the least important. Mercy is a hanger-on, so her information was the last thing we looked at.”
“We need to take control of the narrative, send information into the city that Erik and Rugrat found Domonos. Show him getting the attention of a mercenary. He gets healed, becomes stronger, joins the Vuzgal military. Send word to Evernight. Have her cover up things there. Make sure their attention isn’t drawn to the Beast Mountain Range or to Zahir City. Control the ceremony with Chonglu. We need to limit his name being used.”
Sleep was forgotten as Elan’s mind buzzed. “And send word to the Alvan higher-ups in the field. Have them use illusion masks or wear their headgear to keep their identity hidden. Shit, I’ll have to send a report to the Council Leader.”
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