by Stone Thomas
Halcyon would only grow weaker before it got stronger. The more people that moved here, the more there was to lose. Specialists with no combat training, buildings that housed vital resources exposed to the elements, a larger footprint that made us easier to find.
I thought about what losing that would mean to me, to Nola and the girls, and to the world. There was too much work to do now. I couldn’t rest, I needed to take action.
My fingertips burned for an instant and I dropped the energem. When I picked it up, it wasn’t clear anymore. It was milky white and completely opaque. Like the black energem Lily and Ambry’s mother had filled, and the lilac ones that filled from Kāya’s anibombs, this gem had taken its fill of energy — from me.
“Before we celebrate,” I shouted. The room settled as heads turned toward me. “And before the night gets away from us, I’d like everyone to take one of these. These energems are small, too small to contain spells that will serve our defenses, but they are not without purpose.
“Each of you has the ability to fill this stone with your own action points, which Nola can use to grow stronger. Your action points help you activate your best skills, but they can also build the world we’re all here to create.
“I won’t demand that you do this,” I said. “Your action points are yours alone, and while they regenerate, the process takes time. But for those of you willing to sacrifice your own energy to feed Nola’s, consider filling your gem each day, making your offering, and striving to fill it again.
“The process isn’t hard, but it does require you to look inside yourself. Think about the people you care for most. Focus on the world you want for yourselves and your children one day. Will yourself to act, and the rest will follow.”
I offered Nola the stone I had charged. She held it to her lips. As they brushed against the tiny rock, wisps of white energy left the energem and she breathed them in through pursed lips.
“Thank you, Arden,” she said. “And thank you to anyone who offers the same.”
One by one, people stood from their tables and collected tiny energems. I took my seat.
“You never cease to amaze me,” Vix said. “Where did you learn to speak in front of groups the way you do?”
“I didn’t,” I said. “It always terrified me. I never understood how Father Cahn could do it each week, lecturing a temple full of his neighbors as if what he said were so important they all had to hear it.”
“What you said is important,” Vix said. “What did you think about when you filled the stone?”
“I thought of you,” I said. “And Cindra, and Mamba. And Nola, too. It’s strange though. I imagine a lot of people here will think about their family, but I never had one of those. No parents, no siblings, just Father Cahn. He was never really the fathering type, despite his title.”
“We’re a family now,” Vix said. “Look around. All of these people left homes behind, and loved ones, and professions. They came here for a reason. They came here to belong somewhere and to make a difference. Adopted family is just as important as the one you’re born into. Sometimes, it’s even more important.”
I glanced back at Nola. She was so beautiful. Her pastel yellow skin radiated with kindness. Her long hair cascaded down her front, leading to a full chest that heaved with each heavenly breath. Her flowing robe was cinched around her small waist, sending folds of fabric around her hips and down her slender legs. I could just see the tip of each small wing that grew from her back.
Her face was gentle, but her eyes held a deep mystery. I felt like all the world’s knowledge lurked behind those eyes. She bowed slightly to accept an energem from one of Halcyon’s residents. She lifted a hand toward her face, as if to wipe away a tear.
Her fingertip smudged red across her cheek.
I jumped up, knocking my chair over behind me. She looked at me, confused for a moment, then she screamed.
She dropped the energem from her hand, letting it tumble across the floor. Biddy and I raced to Nola’s side. She began to faint, and I raised a hand to support her neck while my other hand wrapped around her waist. I laid her slowly to the floor.
Her whole face clenched tight as blood tears flowed from her eyes. “It burns,” she whispered. “The city. Every city. And the people.”
“What do you see?” I asked.
“I can’t,” she said. “Oh gods, I can’t.”
Biddy placed a hand on Nola’s forehead. I looked back at the temple’s front doors. It was happening. This was what Duul had envisioned for us. An army of black monsters rushed toward the front gates from the forest beyond, clawing and trampling each other in a mad dash to break into the temple.
“One hundred sixty-eight cretins, forty-two war dogs,” Brion said. His voice was unwavering, as if the onslaught of demon creatures posed him no danger.
“Close the doors!” I yelled, but already five people raced toward the iron doors that protected the temple’s entrance. They forced them shut and slid a bar across them just in time, though the doors wouldn’t hold forever.
“Nola,” I said, “you didn’t see any of this coming. How is that possible.”
Her whole body shook, but she didn’t speak.
Nola!, I yelled. She didn’t respond to my mind’s call.
“He must be forcing his way in,” Biddy said. “This is a psychic attack. He’s pushing against her mind harder than she can reach out. He didn’t want us to see this coming.”
“But we should have anyway,” I said. “He told us everything we needed to know, but we didn’t take him seriously. Ambry! Can you heat the front doors with Red-Handed? Not enough to melt them, but enough to burn the monsters that lay a hand on them?”
She nodded and thrust burning crimson hands against the main entry. The doors began to glow from the magic heat.
Something boomed overhead. It wasn’t just cretins at the door we had to worry about, the attack came from above as well. I couldn’t leave the temple to climb the stairs to the hilltop.
“We let the cretins destroy our main defenses on the first wave,” I said. “Without the front gates or the pike fences to slow them down, they had easy access to the temple’s doors. Our initial success was nothing to celebrate, but look at us, penned inside the temple while Duul surrounds us. We’re trapped, and we did this to ourselves.”
“We could tunnel out,” Cindra said. “With a little help.”
“Ess,” I said. The gi-ant queen stood at the other end of my banquet table. “Can you tunnel us to the surface?”
“Not from in here, leader Arden,” she said. “There are too many layers of rock.”
“Mayblin,” I said. “I need your help. Take me through the tunnels to the mine’s entrance. It collapsed, but you’re an earth shaman. You have power over the rocks. I’ll need you to move them.”
“I’ve never done anything like this,” she said.
“I’ll unlock the skills you need, if you allow me to,” I said. She nodded.
Δ
Skillmeister View of:
Mayblin of the Rock Clan
Base Attribute / XP to Next / Intended Change / Total XP Cost
-
1 Constitution / 25 XP to Next / 1 –> 6 / Total XP Cost: 375
-
1 Vivacity / 25 XP to Next / 1 –> 6 / Total XP Cost: 375
-
1 Strength / 25 XP to Next / 1 –> 6 / Total XP Cost: 375
-
1 Hardiness / 25 XP to Next / 1 –> 6 / Total XP Cost: 375
-
1 Focus / 25 XP to Next / 1 –> 6 / Total XP Cost: 350 [Leveled Playing Field activated]
-
6 Resolve / 150 XP to Next / none / Total XP Cost: 0
-
TOTAL BASE ATTRIBUTE XP COST: 1,850
Stats Affected by Change
-
[Constitution] Health Points (HP): 100/100 –> 600/600
-
[Vivacity] Action Points (AP): 20/20 –> 120/120
-
/> [Strength] Phys. Damage Inflict Range: 10-12 –> 60-73
-
[Hardiness] Phys. Damage Block Range: 5-8 –> 32-46
-
[Focus] Mag. Damage Inflict Range: 10-12 –> 60-73
-
[Resolve] Mag. Damage Block Range: 32-46
Skills For Weapon Class: Magic Staff
-
Locked. Intersceptre 1. Draw 1 AP from enemies damaged by your staff. [Passive] [Requires: Vivacity 3] [125 XP to unlock].
Improve to Intersceptre 2 to draw 2 AP per attack. [Passive] [Requires: Vivacity 5] [250 XP to improve].
Intended Change: 0 –> 1
Cost Subtotal: 125
-
TOTAL MAGIC STAFF SKILL XP COST: 125
Skills For Special Class: Earth Momma
-
Locked. Stone’s Throw 1. Maneuver rocks through the air to transport them with ease. [10 AP / second to cast] [Requires: Strength 2, Hardiness 2] [375 XP to unlock].
Improve to Stone’s Throw 2 to reduce AP cost. [9.5 AP / second to cast] [Requires: Strength 4, Hardiness 4] [750 XP to improve].
Intended Change: 0 –> 1
Cost Subtotal: 375
-
Locked. Pump Iron 1. Slow, speed, and otherwise control the movement of metals. [12 AP / second to cast] [Requires: Focus 2, Resolve 2] [375 XP to unlock].
Improve to Pump Iron 2 to reduce casting cost. [9.4 AP / second to cast] [Requires: Focus 4, Resolve 4] [750 XP to improve].
Intended Change: 0 –> 1
Cost Subtotal: 375
-
TOTAL EARTH MOMMA SKILL XP COST: 750
Summary
-
Available XP: 2,646
Cost of Intended Changes: 2,725
Precision Training Discount (5%): 136
Total Adjusted Cost: 2,589
Total Projected Remaining: 57
Confirm?: Yes / No
∇
“Mayblin,” I said, “I unlocked a handful of skills, allowing you to draw AP from enemies you strike and to move rocks and metals with ease. I also improved your attributes as much as I could so that whatever comes our way won’t knock you out.”
“Megra, Jessip,” I said. “Fight with Ambry if the doors break down. Biddy, take Nola to the recovery beds. I don’t know if they’ll help her, but I want her out of the temple’s main sanctuary in case the cretins get in here.”
“Gowes and Eranza,” I said, “that goes for you too. I don’t want you in harm’s way.”
“Arden,” Gowes said, “I’m not afraid of what comes through that door. My life, or my death, will always serve the greater good. I stayed this long to make sure my niece had all the support she could. I stayed in case this very moment ever arrived.”
“We’re here to stay, Arden,” Eranza said. I nodded.
Everyone else crowded toward the center of the temple. They looked scared and ill-prepared. “All those with melee weapons to the front, ranged behind them,” I said, “and to anyone unsure whether you’re strong enough to brave this assault, I say this: Fear is natural. It reminds us what’s at stake, but don’t let it consume you. Only when hope eclipses fear can victory triumph over defeat.
“Men, retreat to my private quarters. That includes you, Brion. I can’t risk the cretins turning you into raging lunatics. Women, follow Ambry’s orders and retreat to the recovery room when you need to. That’s where the goddess will be the most vulnerable if things get out of hand.
“Vix, Cindra, Mamba, Lily, Ess. Come with me.”
We followed Mayblin through the temple’s back corridor and into the meditation room. We were about to climb through the destroyed temple wall and into the mine when I paused.
The sound of cretins snarling and banging on the hot iron doors was loud here, just below the bridge over the patch of ceiling that collapsed during our first real fight. Vix had repaired it, but not completely. A sliver of light shone through a small gap in the rocks below the stone bridge.
“Mayblin,” I said. “How nimble are goblins?”
She put her hands on her hips. “A good enough goblin can sneak a dead rat from a tigerkin’s jaw without taking a tooth in the back.”
“Tell your people as we pass through,” I said. “I want them sneaking through the hole there and disarming the cretins. Bring the weapons into the meditation room. Then bring all of the energems you can up to the hilltop. Whatever’s up there will be full of energy and I want to collect it.”
She nodded and we continued through the dark mine chambers, pausing only so that Mayblin could deliver instructions. At the end of our trek, we reached the faint light that came through the crumbled rocks that sealed the mine entrance.
Mayblin pointed her crooked green fingers at the rocks. Slowly, they glowed with red light and parted. Rocks lifted from the pile and floated upward, gushing from the underground and rolling into the entry chamber beyond. We raced through the mine and up the stone steps, into the night ahead.
+38
We climbed the steep incline of the hill’s edge toward the stone wall that Vix had erected.
“Now,” Ess said, “allow me.” She summoned her gi-ants, who burrowed ahead of us. We climbed through the dirt tunnel and emerged inside Halcyon’s protective wall. The tunnel collapsed behind us.
With all of our residents in the temple below, our buildings were completely dark. Their outlines were barely visible against the night sky. We had twelve towers surrounding the settlement, but none were staffed. Only the energems that sat in our surrounding wall offered any defense. They lit up when their internal energy crested, sending balls of ice, walls of flame, and nests full of snakes at unseen targets.
“There,” Cindra said, “it’s a general at the south wall.”
I couldn’t see through the night’s darkness like she could, but the sound of a heavy creature thudding against the ground was unmistakable. “Ess,” I said. “Can you dig a trench around that monster and contain him?”
“His leg-span is too long,” she said. “We’d destroy much of your hill in the process, and it is too beautiful a hill for that.”
“There are cretins coming too,” Cindra said, “and war dogs climbing over the walls.”
“That’s right,” I said, “those mangy monsters aren’t true dogs, they’re something else entirely. Their claws will scape up the stone until they’re clear of the wall. They’ll find the spots where energems aren’t and get in here with no problem.
“Vix,” I continued, “I need you to get that control tower fixed and start aiming energems at those creatures.”
“I can’t,” she said. “I don’t know how.”
“You know how it’s supposed to work, right?” I asked.
“Sure,” she said.
“Take Mayblin with you,” I said. “She can make the gears turn even if they don’t want to.”
They nodded and ran toward the center of the settlement.
“Lily, Cindra,” I said. “I want you both at the front towers raining arrows and ice down on the cretins that are trying to break in.”
“I’m not sure freezing one cretin among hundreds will help,” Lily said.
“Good point,” I said. “Let me see what skills you have coming up that we can unlock.”
Δ
Skillmeister View of:
Lily Ingriss
Base Attribute / XP to Next / Intended Change / Total XP Cost
-
12 Constitution / 300 XP to Next / 12 –> 13 / Total XP Cost: 300
-
11 Vivacity / 275 XP to Next / none / Total XP Cost: 0
-
10 Strength / 250 XP to Next / none / Total XP Cost: 0
-
16 Hardiness / 400 XP to Next / none / Total XP Cost: 0
-
13 Focus / 325 XP to Next / none / Total XP Cost: 0
-
8 Resolve / 200 XP to Next / none / Total XP Cost: 0
-
TOTAL BASE ATTRIBUT
E XP COST: 300
Stats Affected by Change
-
[Constitution] Health Points (HP): 1200/1200 –> 1300/1300
-
[Vivacity] Action Points (AP): 220/220
-
[Strength] Phys. Damage Inflict Range: 100-122
-
[Hardiness] Phys. Damage Block Range: 86-122
-
[Focus] Mag. Damage Inflict Range: 130-159
-
[Resolve] Mag. Damage Block Range: 43-61
Skills For Weapon Class: Battle Axe
-
Guillotine 4. Activate for 7% chance to decapitate any enemy with lower Hardiness than your own. [56 AP to cast] [Requires: Hardiness 16, Focus 13].
Improve to Guillotine 5 to increase chance of success to 11%. [58 AP to cast] [Requires: Hardiness 18, Focus 14] [625 XP to improve].
Intended Change: None
Cost Subtotal: 0
-
TOTAL BATTLE AXE SKILL XP COST: 0
Skills For Special Class: Ice Queen
-
Battle Cryo 7. Freeze enemies in place for 16 seconds. [17 AP to cast] [Requires: Strength 7, Resolve 7].
Improve to Battle Cryo 8 to increase immobility duration to 18 seconds. [18 AP to cast] [Requires: Strength 8, Resolve 8] [3,000 XP to improve].
Intended Change: None
Cost Subtotal: 0
-
Locked. Stalactice. Summon 3 sharp ice shards from above to skewer enemies. [30 AP to cast] [Requires: Constitution 11] [375 XP to unlock].
