Beyond?

by Andur

  Nevertheless the enemies marched forward. Even a place like Nict which has resources in abundance can't support so many soldiers marching through an area. There are problems with food and water. Even in a place with so many rivers it can take you days from one river to the next.

  An army as large as this one would've needed to invest the time to sink wells along the path they take. Thanks to our satellites we were able to stop every attempt at doing so. The only places which allowed them to dig their wells were under the cover of the forest's big trees. But digging a well in the dangerous forests comes at a high cost.

  They even shrugged off the regular attacks of our drones, advancing despite the losses and scavenging off of their dead comrades.

  The army which was headed for Tetra was intercepted by our flying fortress. A long charred piece of ground is the only thing that still reminds us of the invading force. The forest will soon reclaim the destroyed land.

  My fortress proved its value to our army by a thousand fold. Helen should really channel more resources into building more of them.

  I admit that our fortress got heavily damaged during the brief battle. The southerners are capable magicians and their big artillery spells pack a punch. The barrier broke for a brief moment and several attacks got through.

  On top, it takes a lot of magicians to keep the fortress in the air, but even one or two more of them would make a big difference.

  For the time being we have to manage with what we have. Unfortunately Helen can't summon more workers. Using so many resources by mobilizing a sizeable amount of her own clan isn't something Helen can do on a daily basis.

  It was decided to send the fortress towards Penta afterwards. Tetra is heavily fortified, but it still belongs to the Eddin. They aren't exactly known for their fighting power and even though they got reinforcements from other clans they are missing the troops of the Zait.

  Since Tri is another target of the invasion, my clan is concentrating its forces on our capital. Even if the forces in Penta can count on reinforcements from the fortress, they'll have to hold out on their own for some time. The top speed of my fortress is sixty kilometres per hour, which takes a long time to get from one point to the next.

  Of course we got assistance from the capital and other clans, but five hundred thousand troops are a lot! Even if the attacks of the satellites and drones reduced them to four hundred thousand, that's still a lot.

  Nict has a population of about twenty million people and sixty percent of those people are living in the big cities. The capital is the biggest City with roughly four million people while the rest divides evenly to the border cities.

  Furthermore it means that the Southern Nations just mobilized a force almost equal to Nict's entire military. Eight percent of our current population belong to the military, which is a huge percentage for a country if you think about it. And not all those who belong to the military can be counted as a fighting force. There are many people who only do paper work or keep the facilities running. It's a good guess that Nict has a million soldiers who can really fight.

  So Tri has about one million and three hundred thousand people. Maybe a little more since the population of the nearby villages fled into the city for safety. That still doesn't boost our numbers over one point five.

  In other words, the attacking fighting force still numbers over a third of our population and I am counting every citizen of Tri, including civilians, children and elderly.

  I have no doubt that this will turn ugly. According to my parents Tri should be able to hold out until the fortress manages to deal with the attackers at Penta. Afterwards we can amass our forces against the troops at Tri.

  So I holed myself up in my laboratory and started doing the thing which I can do best, building a device of mass destruction.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Stella

  “Azir!” I bang onto the door of his laboratory, but there is no answer. He has been inside there for three days and I am fed up. He didn't come out to eat and today the children suddenly disappeared! I couldn't find them, no matter where I searched.

  Grabbing the handle of the door I apply all my strength. It doesn't budge, so I add magic to the mix. When Azir hid himself inside his lab the first time I couldn't do anything against his door, but I've gotten stronger since then. He isn't the only one who trained his abilities!

  Placing a foot on the wall beside the door a few cracks appear! Finally! The door may hold, but the wall isn't as strong! My hands turn red from the applied force and finally the door breaks, together with the doorframe, out of the wall.

  “What are you doing?” Ivy's voice sounds from behind me.

  I drop the wrecked door to the ground. “Gaining access?”

  “You could've asked. He granted me access to bring him food and drinks...” Ivy looks with sad eyes at the door. “All this dust... cleaning up will be a hassle.” She mutters.

  “You weren't here! The kids disappeared.” I scold her.

  She raises two big baskets with food. “I had to buy supplies. They were in their room when I left.”

  I roll my eyes and enter Azir's laboratory, heading directly for his workshop.

  Arriving there I sigh in relief. Azir is sitting in a chair and staring at a big block of metal. Sariel is lying with her belly on his lap and sleeping soundly. Zadkiel is hugging Azir's left leg with both feet and hands, dreaming a happy dream.

  “How did the kids manage to get in here!” This is bad. Children shouldn't be in dangerous places.

  Azir averts his attention from the metal block. “They came through the window a while ago.” He gestures towards the open window.

  Ivy walks past me and takes a look outside. “The children's room is above us. Did they levitate down to this level?”

  Great! Are their magical powers awakening? I have to check on them, but before that. “Azir, you look terrible, what did you build this time?” He has dark shades under his eyes and looks very tired. “Try to get at least some sleep!”

  He snorts and stands up, taking the sleeping Sariel under his left arm. “This is the new armed multifunctional armour! I call it the A.M.A.”

  “mama?” Sariel mumbles, rubbing her eyes.

  “Not mama! A.M.A.!” He reaches for the metal block and places his free hand on it. Suddenly the metal turns into a silver liquid and flows along his hand up to his shoulder and then further around to cover the rest of his body.

  A few moments later the liquid hardens into an armour with the colours of silver and gold. It's a sleek design with a menacing, fully plated helmet, even covering his horns. “What do you think.”

  “I... I don't know? What can it do?” I ask.

  “Of course it enhances the user's powers and can take any form he wishes to! With this I can go up against thousands of enemies. It'll take me where I need to be in order to stop the invasion.” He answers, proud of himself.

  Ivy mumbles something inappropriate and points at Sariel and Zadkiel. “Though before that you should stop it from enclosing people who are touching you while you put it on.”

  My eyes widen as I realize that Sariel and Zadkiel were caught up in the liquid metal.

  Azir tries to remove Sariel from under his armpit. Dragging the foot where he was fused with Zadkiel with him, he reassures us that everything is okay. “No problem! It's just a small bug in the software. Some mistakes are bound to happen if someone is tired.”

  84. ~Siege.~

  “One may walk alone, one may fight alone, one may die alone, but one should never live alone.”

  -Inscription on the statue at Tri's central square.

  Free City States of Nict, Tri

  Azir

  “It still doesn't feel right. This army is like a gigantic formation made out of mindless monsters.” My mother complains at my side. Karsen, Stella and Louise are also here with me and I am glad that our friends decided to fight for us. We are watching the arriving enemy forces from the city walls
of Tri.

  We thought that our biggest problem would be handling the enemies if they split up. Tri is by no means a small city and even if it has city walls, manning all of them sufficiently is spreading our troops very thin in this case.

  The round city wall has several layers which indicate the city's slow growth over the years. Each time the space got too crowded with buildings another layer was added and so the city grew slowly like an organic being.

  If the southerners are smart, then they'll split up into small groups and try to break through the walls at several different positions at once.

  But it doesn't look like they intend to do anything like that. Instead they are amassing their forces in front of our city. I would love to let my satellites fire some projectiles into their ranks, but we are running low. Our targets have to be carefully chosen in order to save up ammunition. There is also the fight at Penta where the Eddin might need the artillery.

  “You are right, they are acting strange.” I have to admit that my mother is right. The enemy army is moving in absolute silence and without a single soldier out of line. Of course that's what you would expect from an army with highly trained soldiers. The problem is that our opponents aren't highly trained soldiers. Many of them are armed with pickaxes, scythes, shovels and sticks. Of course there are many soldiers with real weapons too, but a sizeable part of the enemy forces seems to consist out of peasants. At least thirty percent of their army are farmers. “I am sure those are civilians who were forced into service.”

  “Yes, but no army with untrained elements can display such a cohesive movement.” Karsen objects vehemently, gesturing at the enemy troops. “They are all moving like a well oiled machine. It's like... it's like...” His expression darkens. “Can you control hundreds thousands of people with mind magic?”

  I chew on my lip to distract my mind from the stunning display in front of us. “I don't know any reason against it and our foe displayed no qualms about using enslavement magic.”

  “They are using the Master's Word. One of the old Emperor's artefacts! That must be the reason!” Stella concludes. “It fits the situation.”

  If they are really controlling those people with enslavement magic, then we are in deep shit. I don't even want to think about what happens if they decide to overrun us. There is no way to stop a force like that without relying on them to break because of taking too many casualties.

  My eyes wander over the fields which are located around Tri. Even if the enemies have spread their forces thin to avoid our artillery, they are still destroying the soil by marching over it.

  “If only they weren't so passive; the waiting is killing me.” Varda complains. “Maybe we should throw the first stone?”

  “We shouldn't throw the first stone. It's counterproductive in this case.” Karsen shakes his head. “Every second we can hold out brings the flying fortress a little closer to Penta. The fortress is too slow to count on moving it to Tri in time, but once the battle at Penta is decided we can move our forces to Tri. Once we can concentrate our forces this battle is as good as won.”

  “Assuming we and Penta can hold that long.” I counter with a grim voice. “Originally I had hoped that they would lose a lot more people during their endeavour through our forests.” My plan of jumping right between the enemy army sounds really stupid right now. The armour should protect me, but there are simply too many enemies for me alone.

  Fortunately I made quite a few improvements on my father's city while I was still helping him out from behind the scenes. Changing a few orders in written form wasn't a big deal.

  And the best thing is, because of his dyslexia he only found out that I ordered the improvement of our defensive facilities after they were done. What can I say, I simply wanted to test if meddling with the city's affairs is possible.

  “Something is happening!” Stella points at a big carriage which is being pulled in front of the enemy army. It's more like a big elevated platform. On top of it is a robed figure with huge black wings. The wings remind me of a certain person which welcomed me to this world. I cast a vision spell on myself to study the person in detail.

  His face is pale and bony, while his eyes are just white marbles in his head. “That guy is is creepy.”

  Suddenly he decides to speak, enhancing his voice with magic. His voice sounds loud and clearly audible across the distance between us and him. “Listen! People of Nict! The days of the Empire are returning! Lay down your weapons and accept the Master! He is the one true god you should listen to! Forsake your false beliefs and return to...”

  I ignore the preaching of the figure and face the others instead. “Can I order an artillery strike?” It would take just a second and we are free of this annoying fellow.

  Valda shakes her head. “Don't waste ammunition for someone who is only talking.”

  Stella points at the winged figure. “But he is clearly one of those dark magicians. Is he not? We have a duty to free the world of people like him!”

  “We'll fight them soon enough.” My mother answers, ending the argument.

  “Let's talk about other stuff, listening to this guy is annoying. How are your kids doing?” Karsen asks.

  Stella smiles. “Great! They are prodigies with outstanding magical talent! Just yesterday I was forced to seal their magic. They started using it subconsciously.” She says with a proud voice.

  The practice of sealing a child's magic is very common under mages. Unlike adults a child can use magic instinctively, a skill which is lost with coming of age in many cases. While it's a very sought after skill for adults, having an emotionally unstable child which can cast spells on a whim is... a threat to the child and everyone around it. So sealing their abilities is a common way to keep them under control until they are mentally fit enough to wield their powers.

  “Really? But aren't they just a few weeks old? Even the Siorda start to use their ability at the age of one at the earliest. You really have to look forward to being the parents of outstanding talents.” Karsen raises an eyebrow.

  Something clicks in my head and I remember that Karsen's better half is missing. “Where is Talia? I was wondering why you two aren't together.”

  “Pregnant.” Valda states with an emotionless voice.

  “Really! Why don't I know anything about it?” Stella calls out.

  My mother answers fast and precisely. “Because I grounded her. She isn't even officially in a relationship with Karsen and simply gets herself pregnant. Do you have an idea how that looks for our clan?”

  Karsen loses his head. “I swear it was an accident! And I am trying everything to get my clan to allow me to marry into yours! I'll take responsibility!”

  Valda shrugs her shoulders, not even looking in his direction. “Then do your best. As long as I don't have an official statement from your family she stays at home.”

  Whoa, Mother is cruel.

  “I have to visit her as soon as possible.” Stella comments the situation, commiserating with Talia. “My poor friend must be having a bad time.”

  “That's the point of grounding someone!” My mother calls out.

  I pat Karsen's back. “Don't worry. My Mom has a great heart, she won't execute Talia.”

  “Execute?” Karsen pales.

  “Though I can't guarantee for someone who doesn't belong to the clan. I would pay attention during the coming battle. She may miss her target and hit you instead with one of her spells. Don't turn your back on her.” I point out and smile.

  85. ~Tri.~

  It's going a little slow at the moment, but I haven't that much time. So three to four chapters a week will be normal for a while.

  “If you wander through the middle of the southern nations, you come across the Klimt Salt Forest. It is a fascinating wonder of nature. At the coast is a gigantic flat plateau, just at the right height for the water to flood it during high tide.

  When tide retreats, some of the water is naturally caught in the flat basin of the plateau. The u
nusually strong sun and high temperatures in that region cause the water to evaporate very quickly during the rest of the day.

  The salt from the oceanic water forms huge salt crystals, which grow to the height of a person in the centre of the basin. When the ocean returns the crystals are washed away and form anew the next day.

  A traveller can watch the cycle of growth and destruction of the Klimt Salt Forest each day anew.”

  -Travelogue I

  Free City States of Nict, Tri

  Azir

  “... and if you don't comply, then our only option is to cleanse your population of anyone who opposes the Master! So what is your answer?” The dark magician ends his long and annoying speech, watching our city's wall expectantly.

  Valda gestures for the attention of a close by soldier who is manning the wall together with us. He is carrying one of the new rifles. It's a scoped model which should be just right for the job.

  She points at the dark magician on the platform and slides her finger across her throat.

  The soldier nods and aims his rifle, stabilizing it on the parapet. A moment later he shoots and a small hole appears in the dark magician's forehead.

  The figure just stands there for a long moment, then he tilts over and falls flat on his back like a felled tree. A long moment of silence follows until the huge opposing force starts moving.

  At first they advance only at a slow pace, but then they pick up speed and start running.

  “I think we should use the drones.” Karsen suggests, readying himself.

  “Deployed.” Louise was silent for the entire time while we were watching our opponents. She was coordinating our forces with her drones, because she didn't want to give the control over her project to anyone else. Since she became involved with my research team, she got emotionally attached to our work and the bigger version of the drones was developed almost entirely under her supervision.

  Seven big planes fly over our heads and unload their freight. The new devices were planned as troop transports, but in face of this new threat we reconfigured them into bombers.