The Third Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  “A few people do and there are entrances down there, but if we can make our own entrances and exits?” Imani looked to Han Wu.

  “Woo! Explosions!”

  “Okay, so now we have a better way to move around the city. What about the tensions? If we can attack the lord and also incite anger in the tribes, it should have a domino effect,” Roska said.

  “There are two people competing to be the head of the Urulav family. If we are able to kill the father, making it look like an assassination, then the two people vying for the position might rip one another apart, bringing in a number of other families.

  “There are the Kuccid family and Quruzul family. They’ve hated one another for generations. If we can pin a murder in the streets as a grudge gone wrong, we can get them to start going at it. There are three grudges I know of between a few people that we might be able to use.

  “There is the old Horid family that control a number of tribes. If we were to poison their water, then the tribes would start looking at the other tribes and families. They all drink from the same well in their compound. Arrow with a packet of poison should be easy enough,” Yang Zan said.

  “Zaneli?” Roska asked.

  “She lives in the lord’s manor but she moves around a lot so it is hard to pin her down. The one place she does go to is the council room to get updates on what is happening across the confederation. If we can hit the council room, we might also eliminate a number of tribe leaders that way,” Imani said.

  “It will be highly guarded. Any way we can strike them?” Roska asked.

  “It is on the second floor. The manor is three floors tall. If we were able to gain access to the manor basement, then get up to the third floor and drop something down the chimney into the room?” Imani asked.

  “We would need to gain entry without blowing a hole. I could use the Butcher spell to do that, then would need to sneak up with Han Wu’s explosives, locate the chimney, open it up and drop the explosives down it,” Roska said.

  “Yang Zan, work on the poisoning; it will need to be something that one can’t boil off. Tully, Imani—you kill the father of that tribe and restart the blood feud. Han Wu, Gong Jin—plant explosives around the city. Today, we scout; tonight, we’ll hit the assigned targets. Then tomorrow, plant explosives, hit Lord Zaneli, and get the hell out of this shithole.”

  “I’ve always heard about the strong fighting the strong as armies wage war under their feet, able to clear a battlefield as easily as walking through it. Bunch of damn posturing idiots. Why fight a war when you can get the enemy to do it for you?” Han Wu said with a cold laugh as he continued working.

  Han Wu was right. Their way of thinking had changed. It was no longer about being stronger and challenging the enemy in some noble way, but moving in the shadows, weakening them and gaining information. That was how one won a war.

  ***

  Chen and his people had been observing and watching the Zatan Confederation army all day. Sending in a few animal scouts and using tactical long-range scouting spells so they could get a better understanding of the camp, how it was run, and the tribal groups that were involved.

  Chen got messages from the people on the wall, as well as from Blaze with a report from Special Teams One and Two.

  Special Team Two had already established themselves and were advancing with their own plans.

  Special Team One was working their way through the forests, taking out observation posts and communication relays, and seizing weapon and food caches they identified. These strengths and preparations were being quickly removed, though it wouldn’t be long until someone noticed something was wrong or realized that the armies that were supposed to be fighting one another were now heading into their territory. It wouldn’t be long until the militaries that hadn’t been creating a facade had to gear up and head toward the Zatan Confederation.

  With their leadership wounded and their people in disarray, not knowing what was happening in the main cities, whether their families were alive and well or embroiled in a tribal war, how could the people on the front lines continue fighting as an army?

  It was a terrifying plan, one that hit right at the hearts of the soldiers and the confederation.

  Compared to their missions, his was relatively simple: create chaos in the confederation army and help out Vermire. He had already passed over a number of useful items to Lord Aditya; with them, he should be able to have an easier time defending and create the opening that Chen needed.

  He moved with a group of five through the darkness.

  With their levels, they were much stronger than any one member of the Zatan Confederation.

  With their spells, they easily snuck passed the guards and into the camp.

  They moved to some tents where soldiers were sleeping. They killed them, storing their bodies in their storage rings and putting on their uniforms.

  In groups of two, they headed out into the camp, moving to the water supplies to add slow-acting poison to it and the food.

  They also walked through the camp, shaking out potent poison powder that one would only need to get a deep breath of and become affected.

  Most people sold their storage rings in the First and Second Realms to make up funds they needed. Most of the soldiers didn’t have any and instead carried their gear on their backs, or it was brought by larger storage rings that also contained food and supporting items.

  An army lived on their stomach; food and water were a must. With no river nearby, they had only the large water barrels to rely on.

  Chen moved through the camp, drinking and talking to the recuperating groups, gaining information on what was going to happen tomorrow and moving near the general’s living quarters. It was in the center of camp, the hardest to get to but the easiest to locate as there were commanders going in and out all night long.

  Chen and the others grouped up, finding a place to stay for the night in the camp. Chen sent his reports back to the people on the wall, who would get it to Aditya.

  For now, they would wait. Tomorrow would be time to act.

  Chapter: Fight in the Front, Enemy Invading the Rear

  Storbon stabbed into a man’s back, causing him to gasp and fall down—if not from the wound, then the poison on Storbon’s blade.

  Air blades went through the open mouths of the two guards nearest Storbon. The blades tore out the back of their skulls as they dropped to the ground.

  Storbon moved fast and low through the camp. It was hard to notice; the fires were hidden in underground huts, the people living in the trees hidden in branches.

  Storbon reached a tree. As if an agile monkey, he climbed up silently. He reached a platform, getting on top of it, and looked around.

  He moved across the platform and across a rope bridge to a larger structure built around a tree. Unless one was in the trees, they couldn’t see the treehouse.

  Storbon entered through a door, a small crossbow in his hand. A guard looked to him, catching an arrow in the neck.

  Storbon dropped the crossbow into his storage ring as he rushed forward and stabbed another guard. They let out choking noises as he grabbed him and lowered them to the floor.

  He looked at them both and checked them against pictures.

  “Major Williams,” he addressed one of the men before looking around the treehouse. He quickly found a communication device. Storbon added it to his growing collection and left the communication hut, moving through the buildings in the trees, leaving bloodstains and dead in his wake.

  Thankfully, communication devices were rare in the First Realm, making it easier to disrupt communication lines.

  He got to the ground again and met up with Yuli. There was not a noise from the underground huts as Yuli had dealt with them all.

  “On to the next.”

  One of the communication devices alerted him to a message.

  “Sorry for the late message. Thought we saw some flames in the distance. Eyes playing tricks. All clear here.” Storbon g
ot an earful, replying meekly to the messages before he let it go silent.

  “Shouldn’t ask for another report until tomorrow,” Storbon said as he started to jog.

  They flitted through the forest and headed off.

  ***

  General Pojir of the Carteia kingdom and General Aydib of the Fayeport empire sat on their warhorses, looking over their forces as they moved through a valley leading into the Zatan Confederation’s territory. Both of their leaders had taken the attacks by the Zatan personally and had been enraged by their actions.

  They were both angry fellows and prone to fighting. It was one of the reasons that they got along and one of the reasons that it was easy to see them fighting one another.

  Few would understand that the aides from both camps were sitting in the same tent, sharing food and drink as they created “reports” for the higher-ups. The Zatan’s ability with gaining information on their enemy was nearly legendary; it was why the two strongest and most trusted units had been fighting one another in some backwater where few people existed.

  The two groups of aides worked to make sure that their reports actually matched the other group’s. The “war” was decided by a chess match that the two generals played on a nightly basis.

  A scout on a sleek-looking leopard came up to the two generals.

  “Reporting. We have eliminated another outpost. Three were already cleared out. By the bloodstains and the fading bodies, it looks like someone else did it without raising the alarm.”

  “Looks like we have some guardian angels.” General Aydib looked at General Pojir with a pleased smile.

  General Pojir let out a hearty laugh. “I heard that Demoness General Aydib had a collection of fighters called Shelams? After the goddess of destruction and misinformation?”

  “I thought that they were General Pojir’s Gray Shadows?” Aydib’s smile dimmed and turned thoughtful.

  “Well, if it was not us, then it looks like we might truly have guardian angels,” Pojir said.

  “The information we received and the information that has been relayed to us has been highly detailed. All of it comes from Lord Aditya,” Aydib said.

  “Do you think that he might have another hidden card that is doing this?” Pojir asked.

  Aydib shrugged.

  “We should be careful when dealing with him in the future. Luring the wolf down on himself so the den might be left open for us is not an action that someone with a weak heart would make,” Pojir said, praising Aditya.

  “Or someone who was not confident that they could win,” Aydib added.

  “Tabur has one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers,” Pojir said.

  “And there are plenty of tools to be found in the Ten Realms,” Aydib said.

  As the night turned to day, four armies entered the Zatan lands and two more mobilized their armies and sent them forward with full siege equipment.

  ***

  Lord Aditya listened to the detailed scouting report: who would be on the front lines, the issues within the camp, people talking to one another openly. He learned of Tabur’s idea to hit them from long range with catapults that had barriers erected around them. To take his time at breaking Vermire’s wall down before sending in small groups to test the defenses and make entry. Once they had made entry, then other forces would follow them.

  It was a smart plan. It would take longer, maybe an entire day, to get the catapults into position and break down the wall, then attack the following day. It would also make it seem that they had time to work Vermire, while really they had a time limit of just five days to take Vermire and head back to the Zatan Confederation.

  Even if they played it slow, they thought they had the men and the firepower to take down Vermire.

  Though they had not taken into account spies and Aditya’s cunning.

  The poison Chen was using wasn’t fast acting; instead, it would lead to people having upset stomachs. If you were vomiting or stuck to a hole dug in the ground, then you were as good as out of the fight.

  It wouldn’t kill immediately but it would look as though it was just a disease, something normally found in battlefield armies on a large scale.

  “Still, we need to draw them forward,” Aditya muttered to himself. “If we were to fire less shots tomorrow, make it look like we’re running low on catapult ammunition, then they would move up faster, pull the crews off the forward catapults, put them on the rear walls. Move the people toward the Beast Mountain Range wall.

  “The wall falls on their side; they come on in, able to advance as there are no more catapults firing on them. Send in attacks—we’ll repel them, make them have to bring in more. Then in the midst of the battle, we use the formations and the spell scrolls.”

  Aditya looked at the map in front of him that showed the entire landscape of Vermire. It was a gamble letting their walls fall before a force of over one hundred thousand soldiers. If this didn’t work and they were able to regroup afterward, Vermire might fall.

  “I’ve never been much of a betting man, but sometimes you just have to roll the dice.”

  ***

  Erik reached the third and final stage of the trial. He didn’t see anyone around as he saw that the path he had been following split up into a dozen paths; each met a wall of mist that was impossible to see through.

  He went up one of the paths, finding a pillar sticking out of the ground before the mists.

  He placed his medallion into the recess.

  ==========

  You have reached the third stage along the Path of Alchemy : Pill-Scape

  Prepare and form a concoction, displaying your complete skills.

  You will only be graded on your complete concoction.

  ==========

  Erik waved the message away as the mists parted in front of him. He took his medallion and stepped into the mists. He followed the path, seeing different plants around him.

  This mist? It’s filled with some kind of sleeping agent?

  He frowned as his Poison Body was already dealing with the effects of the sleeping mist, dealing with it as if it was any other poison and removing it from his system. He continued to walk up the path and to an area that had a formation and a bed.

  Erik looked around and checked the area. The path continued on but the mist didn’t part for him and it was hard to follow the path forward.

  Erik stood there for some time. The little drowsiness that had overcome him was removed as his Poison Body worked.

  After some time, a woman appeared. “Is something the matter? Aren’t you tired?”

  “Nope. There was a sleeping concoction in the mist but it wasn’t that potent,” Erik said.

  The woman coughed slightly, looking at him oddly.

  “Is this where I should make my concoction?” Erik asked.

  “Yes, but it’s an illusion formation. The sleeping powder was to assist you in falling asleep. Once you’re asleep, it is easier to come under the effects of the illusion formation. In this illusion formation, you can prepare and concoct any formula you want with any collection of ingredients.”

  “Oh, so I need to sleep and then I can get access to the third stage.” Erik nodded and then pulled out a tea. It was the same tea he had been using since the Second Realm to knock himself out.

  He put the tea away as he started to yawn and laid back on the bed. He closed his eyes as his view started to change.

  He didn’t see the woman stepping closer and sniffing him.

  “A sleeping concoction like this is almost a poison. To need something like that to simply go to sleep—just what is his body constitution like?”

  She shook her head and disappeared back into the mists to watch over the other contestants.

  The formation activated as Erik fell asleep.

  Erik seemed to open his eyes, finding himself in Old Hei’s Alchemy workroom.

  It was where the world of Alchemy had been opened before him and where he had his explosive growth in Alchemy.

>   Erik thought of his Iron Castle cauldron and his new tools; they appeared in front of him. He paused for a moment, and thought of a modern incubator.

  A big box-like fridge appeared; lightning sparked around its power plug before the incubator started to smoke and then melt. Erik could smell it and felt the heat as the incubator was quickly reduced to a pile of scrap.

  “It’s only a simulation, after all. What the hell happened to it?” Erik looked over the incubator, studying the busted parts for a few minutes before he let out a sigh.

  “It looks like the lightning Mana was channeled into the plug. The incubator is made to deal with a certain amount of power—the lightning Mana that was introduced to it was way too powerful. I never realized the amount of power that formations are wrestling with. The simple materials used in Earth’s technology aren’t able to withstand the power of the Ten Realms.”

  That’s why all of our electronics went dead. There was probably a reaction with the electrical power stored within them and the power in the Ten Realms, burning them out.

  Erik focused his mind. The incubator disappeared as he thought of prepared ingredients but nothing happened. As he thought of harvested ingredients, they appeared to one side.

  Erik tested it out. He could really have any ingredient that he desired!

  “If I am only graded on the completed product, what if I was to make a number of concoctions and take them all the way to completion and then destroy them before they’re completed?” Erik thought aloud. He had been hurting with spending so many Mana stones on ingredients—wasn’t this his chance to try out the expensive as hell concoctions to his heart’s content without having to worry about the cost? He hadn’t needed to pay anything to enter this trial, after all, and the Alchemist Association surely wouldn’t be annoyed with him if he wanted to try to increase his Alchemy knowledge.

  With a thought, several ingredients appeared, ingredients that he had never seen in real life but he had read about in texts or in passing.