Beyond?

by Andur

  Eliot didn't hesitate and used the man's attention on me to land his blow. He bends down and takes the short sword from the unconscious attacker, then he slides it across his throat, cutting deep.

  Before I know it my feet carry me to Nikita's room and inside. She is still lying in her bed, eyes closed and sleeping. If it wasn't for all that blood! I jump to her side and press my hands on the wound in her chest.

  Suddenly the wall to my right bursts apart and a black clothed body emerges together with the debris from the opened hole. The body drops to the ground and is still. A figure with menacing, glowing, rimless glasses on her head emerges from the hole and points a gloved hand at us, searching for new targets. Sparks dance between the fingers of her hand and she sighs in relief upon seeing us; it's Padma!

  Then five more attackers attempt to enter the room. Two through the window and three from the door.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Azir

  LIGHT!

  “Alarm! Wake up! We have to be fast.”

  *Slap!*

  I open my eyes and find Ivy on top of me in my bed, she is fully clothed and has one of her daggers in her right hand. Stella stirs beside me and rubs her eyes, sitting up. “What's wrong? Are you malfunctioning again?”

  “Thirty persons of doubtful origin are closing in on the Dwemer's mansion. They are armed and approaching at full speed. I already alerted everyone through the mana net, but I doubt that help will arrive in time. We are the only fighting force close enough to lend assistance.”

  I throw Ivy off of me and jolt out of the bed. Then I put on the first clothes I find. Stella is doing the same while starting a rant. “How could they get so close? I thought you are watching the entire area with your remotes! And why are they going for the Dwemer now!”

  Ivy answers with an unemotional voice, forgetting about her goal to mimic organic beings. “I spotted them at two thousand metres out, converging from several directions at high speed. They are not trying to do this the sneaky way.” She turns and opens the window, to jump out of it.

  I follow her with Stella close behind me. At the entrance to our property we are already awaited by the five guards who keep an eye on our belongings. Gesturing them to advance on the Dwemer's mansion, I see the first explosions at the close by building. Damn, those attackers are fast! Are they some kind of suicide commando? It's extremely stupid to rush at full speed into an unknown situation. Normally you would expect a task-force to advance slowly until it encounters resistance. Unless the situation isn't unknown to them...

  Are they being attacked by the Dark Magicians, or are their own enemies responsible?

  Yesterday evening my drone took it's first flight over Dwem and found a war zone at their northern border. At least I think that it could be their border, unfortunately it isn't so easy to differentiate between nations when you look at an aerial photograph. Though I could identify something like a clear front line between two parties and a no man's land between them. It didn't look like a civil war. My drone couldn't capture any actual fighting yet, but the devastations spoke for themselves. The landscape was littered with destroyed buildings and craters from big explosions. There was even something which looked like artillery on the Dwemer's side. It surprised me. They seem a little more advanced than the current Nict. Maybe I shouldn't think too much about it. Nict was once a nation which built the Gates and those artefacts are still standing. Maybe Dwem didn't suffer under the loss of technology as much as Nict.

  “I'll go ahead. Follow me as fast as possible.” I concentrate to teleport above the Dwemer's mansion and activate my mana sight. Teleporting alone isn't as straining as taking someone with you, plus the distance is short.

  I watch the situation while I start falling and grimace. The attackers overwhelmed the mansion's guards completely, forcing them into two on one fights while the others rushed past them and attacked the mansion. There should be nine Dwemer inside the building. Nine people against fifteen sounds like bad odds, so I decide to help the Dwemer.

  The guards who were placed at the Dwemer's mansion are highly trained personnel like the ones who guard my own house. They should be able to buy time against their ten opponents until my own people arrive. Activating my mana sight I display my sparse progression in terms of my ability.

  Gathering mana became much easier thanks to my training. As of now I can focus on an object of the size of a person, even seeing it through a wall. But it's far away from my mother's ability. Seeing fine differences within a body or a magic formation is still far out of my reach.

  By using levitation magic I adjust my fall towards the highest concentration of Dwemer I can find. Their small figures are easy to discern from their attackers. I also notice that none of the assassins has the bright aura of a mage. Unfortunately I can see only three of them standing while one is lying. Five attackers are moving in on their position. Two from the window and three from the door.

  I pull the gathered mana closer and encase myself in it, forcing it into a denser shape to use it as a shield. Then I cast gravity magic to accelerate my fall while I am aiming at the group of three. A moment before the impact I close my eyes and rely on my ability to sense mana.

  I impact the roof like a bullet, crushing through the next floor and landing on top of my target. The room is filled with dust and I assess the situation after releasing the gravity magic. One of the opponents is down, crushed under the debris which came down with me. A second one is lying right next to me, his head turned in an unhealthy way. The third is on his knees coughing, he was still outside in the corridor when I made my entrance.

  I step towards him and jab at his throat, the coughing turns into gurgling. He goes down and I swing my foot at his head. Touchdown! Ahem. That wasn't the proper way to comment the situation. I should be more cautious when I am using my ability. His head came off and flew right out of the window.

  Turning around I find out that one of the Dwemer dealt with the other two attackers. The dust hast settled and gives me free vision on the scene. One of the attackers is down for the count under Eliot while Padma touches the other one with a gloved hand. He is twitching while blue sparks dance over him. Nasty, she built a powered up version of a stunner.

  Adala is sitting on top of another Dwemer while trying to stop the blood flowing from a wound in her chest. I walk to her and shove her unceremoniously from the girl and notice that it's Nikita. I place my hand on the wound and pour all my mana into a healing spell, trying to sense her soul.

  “What do you think you are doing!?” Adala jumps up, but Eliot holds her back. “He is trying to heal her.”

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Stella

  I rush towards the mansion with Ivy and the guards behind me. Arriving there we find a battlefield and three guards who are trying to hold their ground against six of the attackers. I gather my magic and cast an arcane lance by forming the proper runes. The shimmering spear ends the life of one assassin and startles the others. They try to take better positions for the new situation, but by that time Ivy and the guards have reached them and start dealing death.

  The attackers seem to be strong fighters, but they obviously aren't at the level of our guards. It looks like ten of them weren't enough to overwhelm the five guards who were guarding the Dwemer, but they made up for it with their numbers. I begin casting another lance when their focus turns to me.

  “The mage! Take her out!” One of the attackers pulls something from his belt and throws it at me. I change my skin to metal on instinct and activate the passive rune set to strengthen my body. The thing misses me and I relax. What did that guy throw it for anyway? He even threw it in an arc! No way that something like that would hurt me.

  A flash of light and an explosion teach me otherwise. I am flung through the air and for a moment the world spins around wildly. Landing on my back, the air is pressed out of my lungs and I gasp. What was that spell? I didn't sense anything, for all I know he threw a r
ock at me. After a few seconds I sit up. My ears are ringing, but otherwise I seem to be fine. The defence spells did their job properly, despite my blunder.

  My attention returns to the battlefield, but my comrades already eliminated the attackers. Ivy is running towards me with tears in her eyes. “Almighty Sup-”

  I jumped up out of reflex and placed my foot in her guts. This nickname is forbidden!

  Ivy straightens herself. “I am so glad that you are fine. It's a shame that I can't punish them more.”

  “Forget it. We have to take out the remaining enemy forces in the mansion.” I point at the damaged house and notice fire behind some of the windows. Together we rush inside to save what can be saved.

  52. ~Enlightenment.~

  “Dwem is the Dwemer's capital. The city is built into a hollow mountain and despite the cold climate of the north a green paradise. This wonder was accomplished by the third Great Shaman. He was driven by the desire to create something, which his people would thank him for even long after his death. And so he created a ritual without comparison, he poured his very heart and soul into it. The result was a hollowed out mountain with walls of glass, letting the sunlight through. The crystalline structure breaks the light and dives the city into all colours of the rainbow. His people strived to honour his work and built the most beautiful city with large sleek towers made out of green glass inside the mountain. Between the towers grow the largest trees, turning the city into an island of green between the ice of the northern mountain range. The trees were brought there from the tropical paradise across the sea, which was a breathtaking task in itself.”

  -The writings of Dwem.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Azir

  “Did we get everyone out?” I watch the burning mansion in dismay as people are running left and right around me, trying to put out the fire with spells and water.

  Karsen shrugs his shoulders. “No way to tell. The whole upper floor was already on fire when we arrived.” He and a few of Ryland's investigators were the first ones to arrive at the scene. Unfortunately the fight was already settled at that time. The attackers had retreated with two bodies on their shoulders.

  Nikita took a lot of my time and after I had done everything I could I tried to follow them, but a few hundred metres from the house they simply vanished. Probably they had a mage waiting for them. Either they used a potent spell to hide themselves and ran, or they had a portal ready.

  The outcome of this night doesn't bode well for us. Twenty two of the attackers are confirmed dead, but six of our guards are also dead. They are lined up together with the dead Dwemers a few steps further away. Like I suspected in the first days after their arrival, the so called servants weren't mere servants. They didn't go down without a fight and each of them took at least one enemy to the afterlife with them. We have the bodies of three servants, that means that they took one servant and the old lady Saana. Nikita is currently treated by the healers, though it doesn't look good for her. I patched her up as much as I could, but the poison in her system is beyond me. I even went as far as binding her soul to her body, which left her in a strange state between life and death. In hindsight it might have been kinder to simply let her go.

  The healers are currently working on her and Adala, who went catatonic shortly after the enemies retreated. She got scratched and stabbed by one of the poisoned swords. The healers have more hope for her since the poison didn't spread so much inside her body.

  That leaves me only with Padma, who is useless because she is currently crying her eyes out. Her grandmother was taken and is probably dead. Eliot is fine too, but he is an idiot... and in a state of shock. I guess this was his first real fight. He did well when there was no time to think, but afterwards he had a breakdown.

  I had nine Dwemer to take care of and now I am left with two. What a very bad night this is. I walk over to the dead attackers and summon a light orb, bathing the bodies in light. It's already getting morning, but the sun isn't over the horizon yet.

  They are clothed in modern looking black fighting suits, which intrigues me. Their equipment ranges from knives, to throwing daggers and short swords. My mana sight reveals that each of the weapons is imbued with magic. Is there a curse added to the poison? “Karsen, those weapons are enchanted. Bring them to the healers and let them be checked out.”

  Karsen nods and instructs a nearby guard with the task, then he returns to my side. He bends down and checks the faces of the corpses. “They seem to be from the southern nations.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “How can you tell?” I don't see any identifying marks on them. It even seems like they scratched the insignias from their weapons. Most weapon smiths in this world mark their weapons to spread their name, so the weapons would reveal their identity.

  Karsen pulls at the cheek of one corpse and points at the skin. “You can't tell a single southerner from a citizen of Nict for certain, but if you compare two bigger groups with each other you can notice differences. Do you see the freckles? They are a common trait in the southern nations. Most people have them.”

  My eyes wander over the bodies. “We have twenty two bodies and eighteen of them have freckles.” It's convenient to have friend who shows interest in such strange details.

  He removes a weapon belt from one of the corpses and inspects it. “If we had a group from Nict, then I would expect at most four to five people with freckles. This is too much to be a coincidence. Do you know how these things work? I never heard of triggered spells which can be used by non magicians.” Karsen points at the grenades which are attached to the belt. “I interviewed the guards and they said that the attacker threw those things at them, they exploded shortly afterwards.”

  I nod and gesture at the grenades which I already inspected earlier. They are made out of clay and filled with black powder. The fuse is lighted by pulling it with force from the belt and then burns inside it for about seven seconds. “They are filled with an explosive chemical compound. Pull the timed fuse off and throw it at your enemy, boom!”

  Karsen pulls at his lower lip. “If they manage to fit out their whole army with these weapons the fights against them will start to hurt us. Do you think they can mass produce them?”

  I shrug my shoulders. “There is no way to tell. Depends on their resources and economics. Do they have easy access to coal, potassium nitrate and sulphur?”

  Karsen tilts his head. “I'll suggest my superiors to investigate that. Even if it's less effective than a spell, the idea of giving an army of commoners a large amount of these weapons is frightening. Our own commoners will become almost useless in a fight.”

  The Dwemer seemed to have something like artillery. Could these grenades come from them? I don't voice the thought to Karsen.

  We continue to inspect the corpses but find nothing else which attracts our attention. Since there is nothing more for me to do I decide to head over to the healing institute where Stella and Ivy brought the Dwemer. They aren't hard to find since I simply have to ask my way through the soldiers who are swarming the building. Looks like the remaining Dwemer are under heavy protection from now on.

  I find them in a big room with eight beds. There is also a big table with several chairs for the patients who aren't bedridden. Only the four Dwemer, Stella, Sola and Helen are present. Probably they didn't want to accommodate the Dwemer with other patients. Eliot is sitting at Adala's side, she has her eyes open and is staring furiously at the ceiling.

  Padma is lying on the bed next to her, curled up into a ball and covered with blankets. Seems like she is still down from her grandmother's fate.

  Nikita is lying with closed eyes on the bed in the furthest left corner of the room. An IV drip is hanging above her and a strange, box-like machine is pumping blood out of and back into her body. “How is Nikita doing?”

  Stella answers me. “She is alive, for now. She got far more of the poison into her system. The healers even used some ancient artefacts to keep her alive.�
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  I nod and look at the machine. “I am astounded that our healers aren't performing as well as usual. Aren't there any Eddin available?”

  Sola sits down on one of the chairs. “They used manatite. A crystalline powder which can be found in the eastern grasslands. The Nomads use it to render their foes unable to use magic. The powder is dispersing mana formations, if it gets into the body it hinders healing magic and harms the tissue. You become unable to cast spells and die if you aren't treated in time. It took several of the best healers to stabilize her. Now they are trying to get the stuff out of her, but it doesn't look good.”

  So that's why she constantly slipped out of my grasp. I poured almost all of my power into the healing spell, yet the effect was marginal. I have to investigate this stuff, it sounds dangerous.

  Helen snorts. “This is the greatest diplomatic blunder ever. I'll have some people punished for this. Did you already find out where they came from?”

  I nod. “Karsen found a solid clue which hints at the southern nations.”

  Eliot's eyes widen. “That can't be! They are our allies!”

  “Shut up!” Adala rebukes him, but the damage is done.

  Helen turns to the two. “Fascinating, so you are allied with our enemies? Yet they are trying to assassinate you within our borders. That hints at a few interesting possibilities.”

  I raise a finger. “Maybe it has something to do with their war!” All of them look at me with big eyes. The Dwemer look outright shocked. Oh, that's right. I found out about it yesterday evening and didn't have the time to inform anybody.

  “Which war?” Helen squints her eyes.