“If you’re worried about that, then you can move into Dnnac Ledo.”
“That’s not a bad idea. I could spend a long time in that library and I imagine Nunnal could make something to keep me safe when I leave. After all, she made that Type 40 Spatial Anomalous Chaotically Ambient and Order...” He took a breath. “Ponix is right; that name is too long.” He stood up. “Wanna spar while we wait?”
Kallen stood up and batted her eyes. “Oh, Eric! I thought you’d never ask.”
A head-high earth wall shot up between the two of them. The speed at which it moved scattered dust and pebbles.
“Sorry!” Annala said over her shoulder. “I made a mistake with an earth spirit ritual.”
Kallen walked around the wall. She ignored the implications, but Eric saw it in her eyes.
While they sparred and Annala learned, the Ordercrafter Hunters paced. They wanted to move out, but Meza insisted on waiting. For his plan to work, Eric’s presence during the mission was essential. With nothing else to occupy them, they talked.
To protect their homes and families from Order’s tyranny, they discussed where they would strike next. There were other towns in Latrot they could raid and more outside of it. As the Mana Mutation Summit reminded them, there were many countries holding their brethren captive.
The oldest of these dated back to the Conversion War. The time was ripe to finish what they started. Nunnal Enaz’s Type 40 SACAOIRS made retaliation impossible. They started talking of a “crusade” of which the township of Sueno would only be the first righteous blow, then Sagart smacked them on the head with her crosier.
“You can’t have a crusade without holy elves to lead it. This raid has a different long term purpose.” She addressed Meza. “Am I correct?”
The former crusader considered this. “I would relish a crusade. It would galvanize the young out of their complacency, and organize them into the defense of their society.” He shook his head. “No, for now, I have a smaller goal: playing bad cop to Enaz’s good cop.”
“By stealing from Latrot, you demonstrate that other countries could soon lose their bargaining power in Medical Mana Mutation burrowing...” one of the hunters thought aloud.
“This drives them to the negotiating table, where Director Enaz can make steeper demands of elven freedom or slave trade regulations...” another continued.
“As the technology spreads, appreciation for our Grandmother increases and esteem for the Tyrant decreases; a feedback loop...” a third said.
All together, they said, “Commander, you’re brilliant!”
His pointer finger whipped around to them, and he bellowed, “Stop that! Did you come here to praise me or rescue our brothers and sisters?”
The three jumped to attention. “Rescue, sir!”
“If you have time to gossip, you have time to review the plan and emergency maneuvers. I don’t want to hear another word about ‘crusades’ or another target. Do you understand?”
They formed a line and shouted, “Sir, yes, sir!”
Meza walked up and down the line. “The world has changed since the Conversion War. Something as showy as a crusade would only hurt our cause. This raid is retribution for Order’s invasion of our village and the disruption of the Mana Mutation Summit in Ataidar. Anything further and we become the aggressors; anything further and we provide an opening for that silver-tongued Looney Lunas to twist public opinion in his favor. Do you understand?!”
“Sir, yes, sir!”
“Good.” Meza stopped at the middle of the line. “We’re leaving as soon as Sister Sagart deems Acolyte Annala ready for the Orderly Reality Vice. If you’re worth your Seed of Chaos, you’ll make good use of that time.”
“Sir!”
They formed a line between Kallen, Eric, and the border with Latrot, one between each. With the former, they protected their patron god's chosen from the spirits that came to assault them, and with the latter, they prevented anything that could distract the young priestess from her training. Then they took their books out as their commander instructed.
“That was impressive,” Eric said to Kallen between the arm and chest of a tall elf. “They decided what do, without talking, and then moved in perfect unison.”
“You have discovered why the Ordercrafter Hunters are also known as ‘the Heroic Heretics,’” Kallen said in reply. “Their military discipline and cohesion make them similar to Order, and their equipment is a modification of that used by real ordercrafters. Are you hungry?”
“Huh?”
“You didn’t eat anything before we left because you knew you’d vomit after the teleport. You should eat something.”
Eric patted himself down and found what he was looking for, a nutrition bar. He ripped it open, took a bite and Kallen tutted.
“You’ll need more than that. I thought Nunnal gave you something better.”
“No offense to your adoptive mom, but I don’t want to eat anything that came out of her lab.” He took another bite. “I’ll stick with this.” He finished it and burned the wrapper to ash and let the wind carry it away. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
“To follow the flow is a must,” Kallen added.
“Though there can be no trust.” Annala finished absent-mindedly. “Arin’s Musings, #58.”
Just like in secular school, she was a quick study. In one hour, she studied several techniques for warding against spirits. At the end of it, she asked, “If I wanted to invoke a spirit, would I do these rituals in reverse?”
“No,” Sagart said. “Invoking a spirit is much easier than keeping it away. All spirits in the physical realm seek a vessel as an anchor from the Abyss and a hiding place from the reapers, and so it follows that all you have to do to invoke them is send an invitation. This is the same, be it nature spirits, ghosts, or Lady Chaos herself.”
“Has anyone performed the last one?” Annala asked.
“No! Only those prepared to be the Avatar of Chaos can do that. Everyone else will either fail or explode immediately.” She grabbed Annala’s arm and chin to make sure she had the girl’s full attention. “You must not attempt it; not ever.”
“Of course I won’t.” It was so lacking guile and deceit that Sagart was both relieved and concerned. “I’ve moved beyond religious risk taking. I was just curious. In all my readings, I never encountered a non-fiction story where it happened. It was curiosity, that’s all.”
She said this while gripping her paidrin with one hand and petting her familiar with the other. She swallowed. Then she gripped tighter and looked up.
“I’m ready to shepherd Eric and Kallen through the Orderly Reality Vice.”
Meza gave the command and his hunters changed their formation. They became a wedge around their leader and the kids. Meza placed Sagart as the point of the triangle. Her spiritual fortitude would guide them through the maelstrom of souls and puncture the wall of Order.
“Kallen Selios,” Meza said. “It’s time.”
Kallen nodded and raised her mage spear. The purple light within her Soiléir shined. Like Eric, she possessed avatarcraft. The divine powers of Lava, Forest, Lightning, and Ice orbited her spirit light. It was Ice she now invoked to freeze the Sussano River. In a flash, the river froze solid to its bottom all the way to the west bank.
They marched the remaining miles to the Orderly Reality Vice. Then suddenly, they were inside it and the world was a mass of grey mist. Just as suddenly, they were not and the sky was clear. Behind the wedge, Annala explained to Eric that the chaotic nature of the Orderly Reality Vice made it vary in size.
“This is why shipping has decreased in the region,” she said. “Many regard it as too dangerous these days. We should be out of the fluctuation zone in about ten minutes.”
Whether or not she was correct was difficult to determine. Their watches no longer worked properly. Counting off the seconds didn’t work either. Every barrage of soul mist brought with it the wailing and confusion of the countless consciousness w
ithin them. They shouted words, numbers, and gibberish that made them lose count.
Eventually, one of the barrages didn’t recede. Here, it was neither cold nor hot nor any earthly temperature in between. Here, there was neither sky nor ground because the Orderly Reality Vice ripped apart such distinctions.
“DOWN!”
Annala tackled Eric to the ground just as something wraithlike soared overhead. Beyond the girl’s veil, Eric could see piranha teeth but nothing attached to them. Perrault barked at more such forms from on top of Kallen. Only when the threat passed did she allow Kallen to stand. Annala pulled Eric to his feet and grabbed his chin with her other hand.
“No float spells, grip my hand, don’t stop moving forward; got it?”
Eric grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”
She led him forward by the hand while her familiar acted as Kallen’s blind-seeing-eye dog. The four of them walked in the shelter of the swan formation of Sister Sagart and the Ordercrafter Hunters. As strange and dangerous as the area was to the four, it was worse for the forwards. More than once, Meza had to assert his authority over the younger ones in his team as their sanity ran thin and their wills faltered in the face of the enemy.
Salamanders flew in erratic circles. Undines screeched and sobbed. Gnomes did senseless dances. Sylphs tore themselves apart only to reform again. Ghostly apparitions flew around them, spreading their despair like miasma. The sight of Kallen or Eric enraged all of them and they attacked without warning.
“New body!” The words echoed in the mist. “Live again! New body! LIVE AGAIN!”
“Stay away!” Annala deflected the specter. “I won’t let you hurt him!”
“World breaker!” the spirit mist boomed. “Chaos maker!”
“Where am I?” wailed one voice. “Lady Life said I was to reincarnate. Said it was somewhere nice...where am I?”
“Get me out of here!” screamed another voice. “It hurts! YOUR FAULT YOUR FAULT! YOURFAULTYOURFAULT!”
“KAAAAAAAAA!”
One bolt from Annala’s Deathkiller bow drove them all back. It plunged deep into the cloud and released chaotic waves that burned their essence. It dissolved those that didn’t move fast enough. Perrault pounced on the ones advancing from the rear and shredded them with her teeth. The raiding party advanced, but where to they couldn’t be sure.
A crowd of spirits pressed together into an astral oversoul and, as if from a cannon, propelled itself past the Ordercrafter Hunters. It dodged Sagart and drove straight toward the demons. Annala stepped between them to intercept. It pushed her back and she dug her heels in, but the ground shifted and swept her off her feet. The composite monster rushed unhindered towards Eric and Kallen with its ghostly maw wide.
“Perrault! Go!”
The wolf was a golden-brown blur as it plowed through its target. The astral oversoul wailed and the sound rang in the raiders’ own souls.
“Not again! Not again! Not again! Not again!”
Chaotic residue from Perrault’s attack rushed outwards. Suddenly, the mists disappeared and were replaced by a world of fire, ash, and dust. Here, a duplicate of the astral oversoul battled Priestess.
It lashed out with its limbs and Priestess avoided with nimble leaps. She drew an arrow, shook it, and it became a lance. Then she plunged into the astral oversoul. It wailed as it was torn apart by chaotic energy.
Then a flash of darkness appeared on a cliff behind Priestess and a grim reaper emerged. It swooped down with its scythe cocked, and it was tackled by a golden-brown wolf.
This wolf bit its arm, so it transferred its scythe to the other and pointed at the astral oversoul. Black energy coursed through it and it rose again. It writhed in horrible pain until Priestess struck it down a second time.
“Hold him in place! I can’t have any distractions!”
Priestess recited chaotic prayers until the astral oversoul decompiled and drifted apart. Shrinking the lance back into an arrow, she put it away and pulled out a bag. She gathered the spirits into it and then the reaper sliced it in half.
“You can’t stop entropy!”
“Of course I can! I’m Maxwell’s Demon!”
Again the wolf pounced on the reaper and tore ectoplasm from his hide. Priestess recollected the spirits and the reaper tried to stop her again, but she swung the new bag out of his path. His scythe cut her hood in half instead.
“Hey! My mom made that!”
“An elf! I should have known...” Gruffle said.
Without her hood, Priestess’ golden-brown hair and pointed ears were revealed, but her habit sleeve concealed her face. She snapped the fingers on that hand and an explosion sent the reaper tumbling through the air. The bag in her other hand bulged and stretched with agitated and energetic spirits.
“I need a better way to do this,” she muttered as she grabbed the last one.
Just as suddenly as it came, the volcano area vanished and the world around them was once again the Orderly Reality Vice between Latrot and Mithra. The only sound was the wailing of the ghosts.
“What should we do with a drunken sailor? What should we do with a drunken sailor? What should we do with a drunken sailor? EARLY IN THE MORNING?!”
Waves rolled through the mists to accompany these words. They battered the raiders in all directions, both as a group and individually. If not for Annala’s hand and holy power, Eric would be lost after the first one.
“What never?!”
“Yes, never.”
“What never?!”
“Well...hardly ever!”
Somewhere nearby, Eric heard Annala chuckle. Even with her hand in his grasp, he couldn’t tell how far away she was from himself. The mists had so distorted his perception that he couldn’t even tell if his legs were still attached to his hips.
“I’ve never heard a more concise description of the First War,” she said. “Nor a more comical description of this area.”
Suddenly, Eric’s instincts blared a threat and he stopped. His arm jerked as Annala tried to pull him forward, but he didn’t move another step. Though he could not see it, something awful was just ahead.
“What did I tell you about stopping?” Her tone affected anger, but he could hear tremors underneath it.
There was nothing physical to mark it, but he knew they had reached the Grand Domination Field. He stepped forward one foot beyond Annala and reached out. He pressed his hand flat and then recoiled. As one affiliated with chaos, such a thing was anathema. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that nothing in his arsenal short of the Chaotic Starlight would break through this field.
“Is this an eye of the storm thing?” he asked the group at large. “This is the cause of the area’s instability, right? So either it’s calmest at the border or it’s wildest at the border.”
“It’s unknown,” Annala said. “No one has studied this area long enough to know for sure. It’s possible that it changes like the weather and we got lucky.”
Meza and his fellow veterans drew their swords with their right hand, and by overlapping them, they created a unified wedge of chaotic steel. With their left, they focused a unified beam of anti-orderly presence. Together they sedated the area of entry and penetrated it. Then they crossed without another thought.
Sister Sagart crossed the border without difficulty or spectacle. It was like she did it all the time. The rookies, those who had never fought Order until he arrived in their village, hesitated. Some of them stopped involuntarily. Annala, too, wavered.
Perrault stood in front of her and growled at the seemingly empty air. Kallen put her arm around her and smiled. Annala tugged her ear. Then she let go, took a deep breath, and stepped away from her elder sister. Clutching her paidrin, she recited, “‘Though I walk through the shadow of the valley of Order, I shall fear no oppression, for you are with me.’ Zatos 4:14”
With Perrault at her side, she stepped forward with one foot, and then another, and then she was in Order’s domain. Immediately, her hand went to her n
eck. It had been naked since the play, but she traced it anyway. Seeing the veterans looking at her, her hand moved to her ear instead. Then, seeing the rookies looking at her, it dropped to her side.
“‘Order was born of Chaos and you were born of Tasio. Order is merely your uncle, and therefore, not in the line of succession. To you belongs the world and all its wonders. He cannot hurt you unless you allow him to.’ Gutenotomy: 6: 15-18. Come on in, the water’s fine!”
Still, they hesitated and Annala’s hand went back to her ear. Kallen glared at the rookies, transformed into a chimera, and marched across the border. After successfully reaching the other side, she turned around and shouted, “Come on, you faithless wussies!”
Eric transformed into a grendel and said, “Are you going to let a pair of temps do your job better than you can?”
He marched forwards and as he crossed the line, he felt a chill and weight fall over him. It was so great, his legs froze and he crashed to the ground.
Even if he was hidden from it, he could still feel the Grand Obelisk’s gaze. It was a smothering and overbearing presence. If not for the lingering chaos in his body and the monstrous mutations in his mind, he would be a thrall. He felt too drained to move. Only with Annala’s prayers did he regain enough energy to stand. Then he whispered something to Kallen.
United in motion, they turned around and mooned the rookies. Thus riled, the rookies followed the demons across the boundary until no one remained on Mithra’s side. Meza did a headcount and they set off into Latrot’s interior.
Chapter 6 Oh Ye of Little Faith
On Latrot’s side of the border, the snow on the ground was perfectly smooth as far as the eye could see. In ages past, this country had so many rolling hills that ancient Ataidarans referred to it by a word that means “the bumpy place next door.” This landscape was flatter than Ceiha.
“As of now, we are officially in enemy territory,” Meza said. “Stay together, follow my commands, remember the back-out procedures, and, if all else fails, trust in Grandmother Chaos and improvise. Understand?”
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