Sixth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  It turned into hell, explosions of magic were ignited across the open ground, archers fired as fast as they could find an appropriate target. Mages swore as they missed creatures or got ones they didn’t care about.

  “Stop shooting in my area you bastards,” One mage hissed at a nearby mana cannon team. They altered their aim as he let loose with raising a tornado that compressed and spat out dirt and stone bullets.

  A section of wall was hit by the three horned creatures, sending a person tumbling to the floor below and crying out.

  The beasts reached the walls most were trying to get around, instead finding more defenders. While others started to clamber up the wall.

  “Old Wei is hungry for some experience!” A man laughed as he brandished a saber and clashed with a powerful beast.

  Erik and Storbon ran down to the person who had been blasted off of the wall, they were covered in dust and groaning from the impact.

  “They are taking on an opponent one by one or, overestimating their power, trying to take down the stronger beasts to get more experience,” Erik remarked as he opened the man’s eyes and created a flame in his hands, using it to see into his eyes.

  “I didn’t realize how fundamentally different our military is from others.” Storbon said.

  “We hire people into the military full-time, they only hire people in times of war and emergency. They get them gear and support, and then take a part of what they win. The armies of the ten realms are supported by looting mostly. Mercenaries train to fight in wars or are in them all the time. They’re the closest to our military. It’s the difference between having a professional military and a conscripted militia,” Erik said.

  ***

  “The wounds are getting worse every time,” Yuli said next to Erik as they worked on different patients.

  “They’re getting tired, they used all of their strength in the beginning to secure the best kills. Now they’re running out of steam,” Erik said as he used some healing to fuse his patient’s arm back together, the man let out a yell as if he were being eaten by a beast.

  “You’ll be fine,” Erik said, grabbing the man’s shoulder and noticing he had eft a bloody mark on his clothes.

  The man’s pain was subsiding already as Erik moved to the next patient.

  Yuli checked the man’s face she had been working on, the wall he had been beside had exploded, turning into stone chips that tore up his face.

  She finished applying healing potion to all of the cuts and they started to heal themselves and return to normal.

  “Why aren’t we fighting out there?” she asked Erik.

  “We’re more valuable here, if we’re up there we would only get in the way, maybe piss someone off for ‘taking their kill’. We would also reveal more of our skills and our abilities than we have already,” Erik said.

  “Alright, it's time to go back up on the wall! Let’s fill ourselves with experience!” A group that had just been resting in the market was led out by their higher level leader toward the wall.

  Yuli frowned looking at them all.

  “Warriors work together to make sure that they don’t die, but they use battles to increase their levels, gain rewards and push their combat abilities forward,” Erik said as he stood beside her. “The people of the Ten Realms prove their ability through their feats, in Alva, people prove their ability in their actions. Soldiers work together, not to increase their rank but to bring their weakest to a higher combat ability. Levels and cultivation are great focuses, but they are not our primary focus. If they were we would only recruit the strongest people we could find, instead of the best.”

  “Everyone here basis some one’s potential off of what the Ten Realms says about them, while we give people the opportunities and let them prove their potential,” Yuli said.

  “Look at the leaders of our military. Glosil is from the First Realm, he is not stronger than Domonoso or Yui, but he has a better grasp of tactics and strategy, which is how he has kept his position. The one thing we do take from the Ten Realms that we didn’t have on Earth is competition of ranks. On Earth the longer you did a job, the higher you would get. Instead people are elected by their peers and their leaders to advance. If you are not commander material then you will not be put forward to be a leader. I saw it too many times when someone thought that they were a leader, got into an officer position and it was a mess. Kind of like how Rugrat and I were commanding the military and it doesn’t make sense as we don’t have the expertise or ability. Also we are always off in different places, we did not make suitable leaders for the military,” Erik said.

  “One thing I only recently realized is that people in Alva look to shore up their weaknesses, they are not seen as a fault, but something that can be worked on. In the Ten Realms people only focus on their strengths and turn a blind eye to their weaknesses, looking to overcome them with greater power,” Yuli said.

  A barrage of mana cannons went off, their lights dazzling the eyes while the rumble of cannon-fire rolled over the city like thunder.

  The weight of fire seemed to reduce as people were called off of the wall.

  Wounded were carried and hauled into the medical tents. Erik and Yuli got to work, separating out the different wounded and starting to treat them. Yuli saw as people dropped off their weapons and armor at the smithy, getting them repaired and honed to be ready for the next battle as the next group to rest dropped down into the other half of the square where there was a barrel of hearty stew with a tantalizing smell and ample mana rolling off of it.

  The guards quickly devoured the food, not caring if it got into their beards or ran down their chests.

  “How is he?” One guard said, looking at her friend who was grunting in pain, he’d been gored in the stomach and his hand was broken.

  Yuli pulled off the armor, checking the wound.

  She used a clean spell and grabbed bandages and gauze they’d been supplied with and pulled out forceps. She doused the gauze in healing potion, having the female guard hold it.

  “There’s a piece of bone still in his side,” she stuck the forceps in, making the man cry out in pain as she grabbed it and pulled it out.

  The man was writhing and complaining but Yuli’s hand was a clamp on his chest, stopping him from moving.

  “Gauze,” she put the forceps to the side with the bone and held out her hand, the female guard put the gauze in her hand and she put it against the man’s side.

  “Give me a hand,” Yuli and the guard got the bandages around the man, securing the gauze in place.

  “He’ll be fine, just need the healing potion to take effect now,” Yuli turned to her next patient.

  “What about his hand?” The female guard asked.

  “He doesn’t need it to survive, once I’ve dealt with the worst cases I’ll check on it,” Yuli checked the person beside her, they had broken their thighs and they were turning pale.

  “Shit,” Yuli checked and the man’s broken femur had caught on the artery.

  Yuli used her clean spell on her scalpel and forceps, then on the man. She grabbed a rag and put it in the man’s mouth, it was doused with a painkiller, allowing him to relax as he breathed it in.

  She cut into the man’s thigh, blood drained out as she used her organic scan and the forceps inside the man’s thigh, he was groaning as she tried to get his artery.

  “Shit,” her forceps slipped as she missed it.

  “Erik!” She yelled.

  Erik quickly finished up with what he was working on and rushed over.

  “Femur through the artery, it’s up in his hip,” she said as she tried to grab it again.

  Erik checked the man and grimaced.

  He pressed his hand to the thigh casting a spell. Yuli saw the artery expanding in size and firming up instead of being a ragged mess.

  She grabbed it with her forceps finally, she clamped them down, cutting off the blood flow and got a new set of forceps, grabbing the artery that had descended. She pul
led them together and Erik used his healing spells, the two arteries fused together.

  She took a look at his thigh, the man cried out as she righted the bones. She pulled out a needle, checking the healing solution inside.

  Her hands glowed, her organic scan allowing her to see through his thigh.

  She quickly put the needle into the man’s thigh injecting the healing potion. It went to work, pulling the bone fragments together and fusing them.

  “Good, now there’s little chance of him moving and cutting it open again with his femur. Release,” Erik said.

  Yuli unclamped the forceps.

  “Immobilize the leg and align the femur, bandage up his leg, get a stamina drip via IO into his shoulder, that way his bone marrow will convert the stamina potion into blood right away,” Erik said.

  “Got it,” Yuli said, a cleaning spell removed the blood from her and her gear as she followed what he had ordered.

  The next few hours went in a rush, a group left and another came back, the sounds of fighting had calmed down.

  She returned to her first patient with his broken hand.

  “Looks like the overflow is over,” Yuli said and put salve on the man’s wrist. They were using the city’s supplied gear unless it was dire circumstances. They wouldn’t get compensated for using their own equipment.

  “It isn’t over yet, these overflows change everything in the dungeon, it could last for a few days or even a few months,” the patient’s friend said as she watched what Yuli was doing.

  “What’s the salve for?” The man asked.

  “So you don’t feel this.”

  Yuli located the shattered bones, re-aligned them herself, then injected a healing potion’ The shattered bone melded together and repaired the broken hand .

  “Your side is looking better, grab a health potion on your way out and get some food into you. The more food the better your stamina is going to be low,” Yuli said.

  “That’s it?” The female guard asked.

  “Yup,” Yuli said.

  “But you didn’t use one spell, are you really a healer?” She asked.

  “I am, but sometimes using spells would just be wasteful,” with that Yuli wiped her hands off and checked on her patients.

  “I feel that this is going to be a long slog,” she told Yao Meng as she saw him.

  “What do you mean?” Yao Meng asked.

  “Just heard that this can be days-to-months long,” Yuli said.

  “I’ll tell Storbon, see if we can’t figure out a rota for people to get some rest. Thanks for letting me know,” Yao Meng said.

  “No worries, second bossman,” Yuli smiled and wandered off to find Lucinda and hang out for a bit.

  Chapter: Life isn’t always peaceful

  “What is it?” Yui asked as he walked into the shop to the sound of snoring. He’d been woken up and pulled from his bed for this ‘emergency’.

  Davin, the little fire imp was lying on the floor, around him were several dozen cleaned out containers. His little belly was protruding as he was lying on the floor with one hand in another bucket of noodles while he snored, sending out a stream of fire with every exhale.

  I don’t get paid enough for this.

  “He ate all of yesterday’s leftovers and he even ate the raw noodles I made last night!” Old Wang yelled, waving his spatula before someone covered his mouth.

  “What do we do, sir?” Another asked, not paying attention to the struggling Wang who was windmilling around as two soldiers held him up with forced smiles.

  Yui’s eyebrows were twitching.

  “Davin,” Yui yelled into the kitchen.“Davin!”

  Davin shifted and turned, pulling out noodles and putting them into his mouth, absently chewing on them.

  “DAVIN!”

  Davin snorted-snored and shook his head, opening his bleary eyes as he looked at the group with a sleepy smile as he sucked back a noodle that was half in his mouth.

  “Davin, these are not your noodles to eat,” Yui said.

  “They were laying out in the open,” Davin said.

  “Behind a closed door that you melted!” Old Wang yelled.

  “Well, I just leaned on it and it came apart,” Davin laughed.

  “Egbert! Get your ass over here now!” Yui said to the ceiling.

  Davin’s face turned a little pale as he put on a big smile.

  “There’s no need to bother Egbert, he’s probably bus-“

  “Excuse me, coming through, watch out there Mark! Come on James, blocking up the door. Hi Mister Wang, how’s it hanging, ah, Major Yui Silaz, how might I help you?”

  “Davin has gone through all of Mister Wang’s leftovers and his freshly-made noodles,” Yui said.

  “Okay, and?”

  “And he spent a lot of time and hard work on them, and Davin doesn’t seem too repentant.”

  “Alright,” Egbert drew out the word. “You do know I don’t eat food, so is that like a bad thing?”

  Yui looked between the two of them feeling as if he was going to explode before he looked up and then back down.

  “It’s as if he took your favorite books, got sauce all over them and then went and read the books you were anticipating and bent the bindings and you can’t even read the words anymore.”

  Yui ignored the confused looks from Wang and his fellow soldiers.

  Egbert’s jaw literally hit the ground.

  “Eoik!” Egbert said.

  Davin was eyeing windows and doors looking for a way to escape.

  “I believe you should be able to handle his punishment and a method for him to pay back Mr. Wang?” Yui said.

  Egbert’s jaw flew back up into his head as he straightened.

  “Davin Leopold Firepot Slunzair!” Egbert said, turning his eyes on the little Fire Imp.

  “Ahh!” He turned to run, flames appearing around his body as he was promptly plucked from the floor. Catch me if you can you old sack of bones! Hah!”

  He was up in the air but didn’t seem to notice he wasn’t moving.

  “You’ll never catch the great Davin! Taste my ash!”

  “That just sounds wrong,” Mark, one of the guards said.

  Yui had to nod in agreement.

  “You little rapscallion!”

  “What is happening? You’re using magic, no fair!” Davin huffed.

  “If you’ll excuse us,” Egbert waved a hand and Davin bobbed behind Egbert out of the room.

  “Egbert I don’t feel so good,” Davin said.

  “I have heard that it is an issue of overeating, my devious charge!”

  The two left as Yui looked to the others and Old Wang was put back on his feet.

  “I’m sorry about this mister Wang, I’ll make sure he pays you back for the food. It seems that he found it so delicious that he wasn’t able to stop himself from eating even the uncooked noodles,” Yui said with a weak smile.

  Old Wang looked to have aged ten years.

  “As long as he is gone! And I need a new door! This mess!” Old Wang walked in as Yui headed out.

  “Where do you think you’re going? I am an old man, you don’t expect me to do this all on my own do you?”

  Yui turned back with a weak smile.

  “Of course not Mister Wang. Come on let's help Mister Wang,” Yui said to the other guards.

  They put on forced smiles, turning into Mister Wang’s laborers for the day.

  Chapter: A thousand needles

  Blaze knocked on the door.

  “Come in,” Jasper’s voice carried through the wood.

  He opened it seeing Jasper standing before several maps.

  “Looks like you have been busy,” Blaze said, looking at them all and the information pinned to different locations on the map.

  “Most of this is Elan’s work, gathering information on the Willful Institute, we know where their people are, and we have a pretty good idea of the different factions within the sect. Using that we are hitting different facti
on-controlled areas, outlying cities, and trade routes, small things that only impact them slightly, growing out our influence in the area. Now individually it’s not much, the Willful branches don’t share much information with one another, wanting to look as good as possible for upward progression. We’re like a thousand small needles, annoying but not threatening until you look at the effect in total. Elise has mobilized the Trader's Guild. As we take jobs, she buys the supplies that would have been intended for the Institute. Meanwhile Elan’s people spread rumors and increase the friction and tension between the Institute's factions. They’re so focused on their old grudges they aren’t focusing on the issues that are appearing in their own cities. Elise says that we have taken twenty percent of their business away.” Jasper’s face twisted into an ugly smile.

  “Twenty percent, is that enough to make a difference?” Blaze asked as his eyebrows pinched together.

  “Sects have tight budgets already, they have some funds on hand, but most of their money is in training up the younger generations. If a city can produce a powerful student then they’ll get greater backing from the higher ups. The stronger the younger generation is, the further they will take the sect.”

  “While they look grand on the outside, they are just putting all of their money back into their younger generation to hold their position and possibly advance,” Blaze said.

  “Yes, but as with things in the ten realms, things are made by custom order. Everything that we have been targeting, is part of those training supplies. Monster cores, mana-gathering formation plates, alchemists and the suppliers of these different things. Everyone is training and burning through resources. The sects only give them out based upon other’s performances. They get stronger students, but they have a greater inner strife. The factions and fights between clans. With the reduction in overall resources.”

  “The more the factions and clans will fight one another.” Blaze finished.

  “All of those resources aren’t going into some hole either. They’re all getting funneled into our guild.”

  “Damn Jasper, that’s some sneaky shit. Weaken their rate of progress, increase the in-fighting and we quietly increase our own people’s power. We can see what is happening but it is scary.”