Beyond All Expectations (Emerilia Book 8)

by Michael Chatfield

The more complex factories were still on Emerilia, but it was their hope that soon they would be building the more complex factories in the moonbase.

  Malsour rode past massive formed metal pieces with coding covering them and multiple rings of runes underneath. These were being slowly worked on by repair bots; they didn’t have factories big enough to work on these pieces.

  He continued forward until he got to a number of massive storage crates.

  The surfboard slowed down as he stepped off without pausing. His control over Dark materials had reached such a degree of control he could use it without thought. With a flick of his hand, the massive chests opened. He looked inside, a cold smile spreading across his face.

  There were a half-dozen metal tubes with four banks of coded sheets along each side.

  Malsour waved his hands as the soul gem construct above him grew into two hands and descended toward the chest. It reached inside and pulled out one of the metal tubes. It had looked only about a meter in length when it was inside the crate. Once it was free, it grew until it was nearly ten meters in length.

  The soul gem hands held the massive tube carefully.

  “Looks like they’re finally ready.” Malsour smiled as he looked over the tubes and its coded plates.

  The plates were held in metal braces that ran the length of the tube and inserted into the actual tube. Inside the tube, there were thick ebony lines where the coded banks were attached. Titanium and aluminum plates were flush with these ebony bands and covered in heat-absorbing runes.

  At one end, the tube was open; the other was closed by a sliding hatch. In the middle of the tube, there was another hatch that could seal the tube completely.

  A missile would be placed into the tube, the rear hatch sealing. Then it would be accelerated by the banks of coded plates, which transmitted their force through the ebony strip.

  The middle hatch would snap open and the missile would erupt out of the tube before its magically coded engines would fire, increasing its speed as it charged toward its target.

  Malsour finished inspecting the tube and the soul gem-created arms put the tube back as Malsour moved to another group of chests. He opened these, looking inside at the racks filled with missiles.

  They looked like cigars that had one end cut.

  There was no visible engine as the original idea of taking the destruction staff coding and adapting it to produce more thrust gave way to Dave putting in proper gravity engines that could push the missile away from the ground or firing platform and then pull itself toward its target. It was much faster and the energy requirements were actually less with Dave’s knowledge for gravitational anomalies combined with his knowledge on space and time.

  The main body held a grand working. These varied from pure destructive wild Mana that was more powerful than most nukes and cleaner as it was a pure energy weapon.

  Then there were gravity distortion workings that would create multiple twists and warps in space, like hundreds of portals connecting to one spot. These gravity fluctuations were supposed to be extremely powerful but they hadn’t tested them out as they didn’t want to alert the Jukal.

  They were some damned scary weapons.

  Malsour raised the ground under the crates and stepped onto his following surfboard. He whistled as he took off through the base again, a dozen or so crates following him.

  ***

  Josh looked to the woman across from him. She looked like a mid- to late-twenties woman, all of her curves in the right places and a cloak that made someone want to see the body underneath.

  However, Josh wasn’t thinking about this at all.

  This beautiful woman was unreadable; even though she looked young, she had an ancient air to her. This woman was in fact the mother of dragons, Denur.

  Cold sweat slowly fell down Josh’s back as he gave her a strained smile.

  She had been simply studying him for the last few minutes, not saying a word.

  “My family and I will not be able to help you with every issue and there are a number who will not lend their help unless absolutely necessary, as they have children and other commitments,” Denur said.

  “Do you have an idea of the number of your family who would be interested in helping out the Stone Raiders’ alliance with this event?” Josh asked hesitantly.

  “No more than twenty and that number is liable to change. Also, with joining this alliance, we expect that others will aid us as we have aided them,” Denur said.

  Josh nodded, his face grave. “Of course.” His heart trembled. For the dragons to ask for help in case of attack brought home just how strong the creatures and races that might come through the event’s spawn points might be.

  “Good. Our strengths lay in aerial battles and those out in the open. Fighting in tunnels and underground areas would merely weaken our attacks and make it harder for us to use our full strength,” Denur said.

  “Understandable. It is my aim to use everyone in situations that they are the most effective. It was the reason that we left the dwarves in Norkurn instead of have them fight beside us. If they had been with us, then we could have held the beasts off easier. But while most of us can come back from the dead, they can’t,” Josh said. “I plan to have the Stone Raiders and any other player guilds go into the most dangerous situations because we can die and come back. The people of Emerilia can’t.”

  Denur nodded, her face remaining expressionless. “I will give you my contact information. If you have any questions, ask Malsour and Induca.” Denur stood.

  Josh rose too.

  “Let’s hope that we can save Emerilia,” she said with a small smile, her eyes sad before she moved to the door.

  BAE Chapter 10: Ready Wave Two!

  “Okay, so we know where the next spawn point is—the issue we have is getting there,” Lucy said to the combined Stone Raiders and the leaders of the Terra Alliance.

  A map appeared in the middle of the room, showing Ashal.

  “To the north of Goblin Mountain, there’s grasslands and forest until the northern coast. To the west, there’s the Great Ashal forest and the Densaou Ring of Fire. To the south, open plains and grasslands and the edge of the Great Ashal forest. To the east, there’s the Northwood and then Devil’s Crater. The closest place we can move from is the outpost in Northwood at the Six Affinities Temple. From there, we can move to Goblin Mountain. If this was nearly any other continent, then we could dispatch a small and quick party to cross the area, reach Goblin Mountain, throw down a drop pad and then we could put an ono in at the base of the mountain. If we send a small party, it’s more likely that they’ll be eaten up by the Ashal wilderness.” Lucy looked around the room. The different leaders nodded their heads; these people who had been sent by their respective leaders were not dull and knew the realities of fighting on all of the continents. “What we’re going to have to do is what we did with the outpost at the Six Affinities Temple. We’re going to have to move a large force that is well versed in moving through this kind of terrain and with enough power to fight off Ashal’s beasts, moving through the wilderness to the mountain before establishing an outpost and placing an ono there.”

  “How long is that going to take?” one of the ambassadors asked with a serious face.

  “Seven days by air, twelve if we send them by ground,” Lucy said. “Once they are at the location they can put down a drop pad and we can insert an Ono in and move the rest of our force over in a day.”

  Murmurs broke through the crowd. If they wanted to get an ono there before the spawn point was activated, then they would have to fly it and it would only be a day earlier at the max.

  A laughing voice sounded in Lucy’s ear.

  “I can get it there within a day if you want my help,” Air’s voice sounded out. However no one in the room seemed to hear it other than Lucy.

  Lucy stopped herself from looking around wildly. She slowly glanced around the room as if she were looking at the leaders before her eyes fell on an aide to
one of the ambassadors. Her face and body were plain and easy to overlook but those eyes flashed with interest as Air smiled. To her side, there was an elven-looking servant with a water canter ready to fill up the ambassador’s water. He had an apologetic look on his face.

  “Are you sure?” Lucy didn’t even move her lips, the words only audible to her.

  “I guarantee it,” Air said.

  Lucy took a deep breath.

  “There is another option,” she said. The room became silent in a matter of seconds.

  “We have a silent ally who might be able to drop it off in a few days. If they can do that, then we can start building a defensive structure almost immediately. However, even if this works out, then we’re going to have to deploy a large force to protect those who are building the defensive structure.” Lucy sat back down.

  Dwayne took over the meeting, talking about the strategy of what they would do once they had an ono down in the area.

  Lucy looked to Venfik and Air, who smiled slightly before leaving the room.

  Just who the hell did I ally myself with?

  ***

  Fire, Water, and Bob were in Fire’s office.

  Bob looked over Water with an approving look. “Seems that you haven’t been sitting back in your time here.”

  “With the mage’s college’s resources, I have been able to learn quite a bit.” Water smiled at Fire.

  Fire smiled at his praise. Seeing his strength grow made her slightly nervous still; it was a knee-jerk reaction of fighting each other for so long. Now that they were on the same side, it was still hard for her to believe sometimes.

  “I keep on hearing that Jelanos is having trouble trying to confuse your different teachers and helpers who keep on praising your control over the Water Affinity.” Fire snorted.

  Water let out a rich, deep laugh. “They are amazing teachers. With their help and knowledge, I have been able to increase my abilities quickly,” Water admitted.

  “Good. We’re probably going to need it soon enough. Dark has gone quiet, which, knowing that arse, doesn’t mean good things. Earth is in Ashal, creating creatures and sending what aid he can spare to the people who follow him. If he wasn’t such a blockhead focused on gaining more power and people to control, then he wouldn’t be so bad,” Bob complained.

  Fire and Water both had solemn expectations. Earth rated how strong he was by the amount of land that was under his creatures’, or those who gave devotions to him, control. When he had supported Dark at Boran-al’s Citadel, it was because Dark said that he would clear the land of all people who didn’t follow him. However, if the land was cleared of people, then nature would once again start taking over, bringing it into Earth’s domain.

  He’d attacked the elves in Kufo’tel because he knew of the number of Fire mages and others who weren’t giving him devotions but still living in his forests. He governed his land like a king: if those within it gave him their devotions, he would lend them his strength to continue to control his land.

  “Light, however, is not being quiet—well, at least her true champion Khanundra has been moving through Markolm. She’s been meeting with the various leaders on Light’s continent, killing those who don’t agree to follow the Lady of Light or accepting their devotions and demanding more from them and their people. Markolm is becoming a darker place. People want to flee but their prejudices with having their own elven nation after being persecuted for so long is holding them back,” Bob continued.

  “It seems that Air has been out there spreading the goodwill.” Fire looked to Water. As he’d been so focused on training, he got most of his information through his mer-people rather than Bob and Fire’s own networks. “She has settled the conflicts within the Ashal continent, as well as a number of disputes across Emerilia. We’ve been so focused on other things that we haven’t really noticed. Seems that she was serious when she wanted to join us. It also appears that she has moved into Terra. She’s hiding out there but she wants to take Lucy as her champion and give her access to her information networks. She is also helping out the alliance by easing over tensions and getting the ambassadors and military forces to work together.”

  The room was quiet for a bit, with everyone in their own thoughts.

  “It is always best to not underestimate Air. She might be the Affinity for Air, but her passion is for secrets, to create motion and get the world to move and change. Although she would never go with Light and Dark who are interested in changing the world so everyone obeys them, or Earth because he wants to rule Emerilia like some kind of medieval king, she does make a suitable ally for us,” Water said.

  “She is one of the smartest people I know of. Even I don’t know the full extent of what she can do and has done on Emerilia,” Bob said.

  “So now we have to figure out if we trust her to have Emerilia’s best interests in heart or if she’s playing a prank,” Fire said.

  “Well, she has never directly got anyone hurt because of her actions other than that time with the demons. How was she to know that the Dark Lord would start killing them from the inside and send all of his beasts to kill them, actually aiding Light?” Water said.

  Bob and Fire both winced.

  After the demons had been nearly wiped out, Air still seemed to act a bit childish, but that innocence and playfulness from before was reduced. She understood that her actions had consequences; as such, she thought out her every action completely before she carried it out.

  Afterward, she might have messed with different people here and there, but there had been very few times when someone died.

  Those who did die were usually the ones stirring up problems for others. Much like Esamael.

  She had let Esamael run free, gain his supporters so that she could find out the extent of his network; with Lady Merguine and King Sigaird and the Stone Raiders, she had made it so that they got the information that they needed.

  The Stone Raiders blunted the attack by Esamael and took out his army, and then Sigaird and Merguine—with the information from the Lady of Air—had been able to wipe out all of the dissenting forces within the kingdom and finally unite all of Gudalo into a republic.

  This was Lady of Air’s way. Fire knew of a number of times that she had overturned plans made by the other members of the Affinities Pantheon.

  “I feel like we should watch her closely. If she proves herself—well, we need allies,” Water said.

  Bob and Fire looked to each other before nodding.

  “Fine, we’ll wait and watch,” Bob said.

  ***

  Two days after the meeting with the Stone Raiders and their allies, a drop pad appeared in front of Goblin Mountain.

  Lucy let out a sigh of relief as she closed the message screen. A faint breeze was carried through her office.

  “Well, looks like everything went well. When you going to put an ono there and make up an outpost?” Air’s voice carried through the office, making Lucy jump slightly.

  “Air, what did we say about sneaking up on people?” Venfik reprimanded as he glided through Lucy’s open balcony door.

  “What? I’ve been stuck mediating between the Opheir kingdom and the Gudalo republic about some ancient damned trade agreement they had for the last two days!” Air stomped her feet.

  In her mind, Lucy wasn’t able to connect or overlay the Lady of Air with the woman who stood in her office, being chided by her elven aide who acted more like a parent who still attempted to teach his recalcitrant child some manners—and continued to fail.

  “If everything goes well, we’ll get an ono ready, then we’ll have the elven rangers and DCA ground and air forces spread out, followed by the dwarves. We’ll get the engineers and Dark mages from the various groups to get working on the camp, holding mounted forces in reserve. The dwarves will hold the camp as it grows and the elves will watch the forest, with the DCA patrolling the skies.

  “If they come into anything, the elves and DCA will kill or slow down any threats. If
it’s a big threat, then the DCA aerial forces will assist. If they aren’t enough, then the mounted forces will be called in to support,” Lucy said.

  “Cool! So when we have the place, what will we do?” Air slumped down onto Lucy’s couch.

  “Were you listening at all when you were in the meeting?” Lucy asked.

  “About ten percent.” Air shrugged.

  “Once we have the place secured, then we’re going to hold it. We’re not going down into the mountain—that would just be a mess. Whatever spawns inside the mountain—hopefully they don’t have the best relationship with the goblins—the two of them fight it out; then, if they’re weakened, we can move in and clear it up,” Lucy said.

  “Smart—let your enemy do the work for you.” Air nodded. “Well, I’m going to get a pina colada in Heval. Have fun with work!” Air jumped to her feet and moved to the balcony.

  Lucy sighed and sat back down at her desk.

  “Oh, and the next spawn point has been found. In the orcish swamps. Looks like it’s got,” Air cocked her head to the side in thought, “about seventeen days before it opens. Seems they’re opening up faster.” Air’s smile became faint as her playful tone fell away for a moment. She turned and took off into the air in a rush. There was only a light breeze even as she passed through at speeds that should have shattered the air.

  Venfik gave Lucy a piece of paper, bowing slightly to Lucy before he, too, sped up into the sky.

  Lucy opened the paper. It disintegrated in her hands but a way point appeared on her map while a new screen appeared.

  Event: Of Myths and Legends

  The Lady of Air has given you a location of a spawn point.

  Objectives:

  Defeat the creatures that exit the spawn point

  Failure:

  Emerilia becomes overrun

  Allow more than 80% of Emerilia’s population to die.

  Rewards:

  Experience

  Unknown

  A second screen appeared after the first.

  Spawn Point (Orcish Swamplands)