Shadow Sun Progression: Shadow Sun Book Four

by Dave Willmarth

  The little gnome chuckled, then repeated her initial statement.

  “All of you should know that your bodies contain a finite supply of mana, the extent of which is indicated by the blue bar, and the numeric designation in your personal interface. What we call mana is the energy that is the driving force behind the spells that you cast. What you humans know as magic. In truth it is an energy that permeates everything around us, affecting all matter. Within us all are tiny nano-molecules that allow us to manipulate and control that energy.” Selby paused for a few breaths to let that information soak in.

  “When you learn a spell, even a basic spell like Light, what you’re learning is how to convert the mana within you to a specific energy with a specific task. The mana is channeled through certain pathways within your body and mind as its converted to external energy. Think of these pathways like your veins and arteries, which deliver oxygenized blood from your lungs through your heart to be distributed into your arms, legs, and brain.” Again she paused, waiting for Allistor, Nancy, and Ramon to nod their understanding.

  “Now is where things get a little complicated. No two beings are exactly alike when it comes to mana conversion. Some develop a single pathway from their source, through their body and mind, and out into the universe. Others develop a new pathway for each spell that they learn. For example, some of you might just think the word Light and the thought becomes reality. Others may need to focus their vision on a certain spot or object, or hold out a hand to channel the spell through. There is no single correct way to channel mana for most spells. Though there are a few that have to be channeled through an enhancement item. We don’t need to cover that just now. The important information here is that we all channel our mana through pathways.”

  “What Prince Allistor did yesterday was terribly dangerous. He attempted to Levitate an object that was many times his own body mass. When casting a physical spell such as that one, more than just your spell skill level and mana supply come into play. His Strength, Stamina, Will Power, Constitution, and Luck all factor in as well. I won’t go into the complicated formulas involved. For now, what you need to know is that Prince Allistor very nearly killed himself by far overreaching his ability. The resistance, both physical and magical, of the object he attempted to move caused a backlash through the pathway the mana traversed through his body and mind. Think of suddenly tripling the blood pressure in your arteries, only applying the pressure in the opposite direction of your normal blood flow.”

  Allistor felt slightly sick as Ramon mumbled “Holy shit.”

  Selby smiled at the man. “Indeed. Allistor’s attributes, especially his Strength, Constitution, and Luck, negated much of the backlash that should have killed him. As it was, it damaged his pathways such that even casting other spells like healing caused great pain. Humans with lesser attributes who attempted similarly foolish castings would almost certainly end their mortal existence.” She nodded at Allistor, indicating that she was through.

  “Uhm. So you all heard the lady. I nearly destroyed myself by overdoing it. For you gamers out there, it’s like when you completely drain your mana in a fight. Only instead of simply being useless and maybe feeling slightly sick for a while… your head might explode. So for everybody casting spells of any kind, take it easy. Build up your skill with each spell slowly, and be careful not to overdo things. And don’t ever drain your mana completely.”

  He looked at the others at the table, and none appeared to have anything more to add.

  “Right! Good talk! I hope you all take this warning to heart, and use the valuable information that Selby has provided to help develop yourselves safely. I think we may do more of these little online classes in the future. Hope you all have a great day!” He made a motion for Nigel to cut the feed, and leaned back in his chair.

  “Well, shit.”

  Chapter 7

  Allistor and William spent a little more time on the island after the meeting, enjoying a bit of sunshine and romping around with Chloe and Max. They visited the chicken coops, and the gardens, Chloe proudly showing off the work they’d done since moving in.

  “We even have bees! But I’m not allowed to get close to them, yet.” The little girl pouted slightly.

  Allistor tried to lift her spirits. “I bet when you have honey, Fuzzy will abandon me and just move over here with you!” he gave her a wink. “That bear would sell his soul for belly scratches and honey.”

  “I’ll be sure and save him some!” Chloe beamed at him, her sorrows forgotten.

  Noon approached, and Allistor said goodbye before returning to his tower. Remy’s group were due to gather and let their decisions be known. Allistor was concerned that so many of them having stayed behind at their Stronghold might cause the others to feel that they needed to decline his offer and go back.

  When he and William stepped off the teleport pad, he found Amanda waiting nearby. Next to her stood Remy, his face neutral. Stepping forward, he gathered Amanda into a hug, then shook Remy’s hand.

  “Remy, this is William, my squire and constant companion.” He motioned toward the boy, who gamely stuck out a hand for Remy to shake.

  “Nice to meet you, squire William.” Remy smiled down at him. “What exactly does a squire do in this day and age?”

  William grinned up at him. “Well, mostly I try my best to bonk Allistor on his noggin with a big stick!”

  Remy’s eye’s widened for a moment, then he chuckled, thinking that the boy was kidding, or at least exaggerating. Allistor explained, “It’s true. I’m leveling up my Barrier spell and my Weaponsmithing at the same time. My faithful squire stands behind me and swings a staff at my shield until it breaks. Then it’s a race to see whether I can recast it before he cracks me on the head. It’s a good motivator, let me tell you. And he is leveling his Strength, Stamina, and weapons skills as he does his best to brain me.”

  Remy chuckled, shaking his head. “Sounds very… efficient.”

  “I also help out as bridge crew on the Phoenix! The battle at your place yesterday got me six levels!” William puffed out his chest, proud of the accomplishment.

  Seeing the look on Remy’s face transform from amusement to sadness, Amanda quickly corralled the boy and made mumbled excuses before escorting him away. Once they were a safe distance, she quietly explained to the squire that Remy had lost his son in the battle, and that maybe it was too soon to talk about gaining experience from it. Allistor caught tears in the little guy’s eyes as he looked back.

  “I’m sorry about that, Remy. He’s very taken with the idea of becoming a knight, and enthusiastic about anything he sees as getting him closer to that goal.”

  Remy waved a dismissive hand, taking a deep breath and attempting a smile. “No need to apologize. I raised children, I know what they’re like at that age. I take it he’s an orphan?”

  Allistor nodded. “Found him and a few others at the Santa Monica airport. They were vulnerable and half-starved after an earthquake wiped out most of their group.”

  “And you’ve taken him under your wing.”

  “Ha! More like the other way around. I invented the squire position when I first met him, to sort of break him out of his shell. He promptly demanded a salary of one hundred dollars, and has been pretty much running things between us ever since.”

  “Is that why he was on your ship during the battle yesterday?”

  Allistor paused, sensing that the question was more important than it sounded. Since he was hoping to recruit this man and his followers, he spoke carefully.

  “Well, to be fair, we weren’t expecting a battle. Our plan was to visit and talk with you. But in this new world of ours, every minute of every day presents the possibility and danger of battle. For that reason, we’ve done what we can to level up even our little ones, doing so as safely as possible. That ship and its shield could withstand pretty much any attack short of a nuclear strike. He was kept on the bridge with our pilot and her two girls. Had things not gone our wa
y, she would have lifted off and brought them back here. And because he’s been involved in a few fights, he’s now almost level nineteen.”

  Remy didn’t respond immediately, his gaze measuring and thoughtful.

  “Two years ago, you might have been jailed for child abuse, knowingly putting children in harm’s way.” he mused. “But you’re right, this new world of ours doesn’t care about the niceties of civilized society. It’ll eat our children and spit them out without hesitation or mercy. We have all had to make certain adjustments to survive the last year, and I suppose this is just one more.” Remy nodded and turned toward the dining area. “I think it’s about time we headed in.”

  The two men walked the short distance in silence. They found the dining area packed with Invictus citizens and visitors, mingled together amongst the tables and in the chow line. Allistor and Remy joined the back of the line, both men observing their people as they waited to dish up their lunches. Remy touched Allistor’s shoulder, and with a smile, pointed toward a table where once again William was surrounded by children. They mostly ignored their food as they listened to a description of the formidable murder chickens, and the pending glory of the murder chicken cavalry.

  Chuckling, Allistor shook his head. “I’ve had to practically tie him down to keep him from trying to ride one of the little ones. Had to promise that one of our cowboys would give him horseback riding lessons. And even then, I had to sell it as a preliminary skill he needed to learn before murder chicken riding.”

  “Murder chickens?”

  “They’re actual name is Kyllings. One of the menagerie creatures the aliens seeded, I think. Possibly just a mutation of earth animals. Imagine a chicken mated with a velociraptor, and its offspring grew to be seven or eight feet tall. Then give it a bad temper, and a taste for fresh meat.”

  “Damn. And you’re raising a flock of these things?”

  “We stumbled across them out in the wilderness, and killed all but the boss lady. We captured her and snagged a bunch of eggs. And yes, we did it because my inner twelve-year old thought it would be cool to have them as mounts.” He grinned unabashedly. “And if we can’t properly tame them, well each one provides several hundred pounds of meat when full grown.”

  They reached the front of the line, and Allistor spotted Sam behind the counter. “Hey, Sam. We got any murder chicken meat left?”

  The older man shook his head. “With all the extra mouths to feed all of a sudden, we’ve burned through it all. Sorry, Allistor. We’ve sent hunting parties out to the Wilderness Stronghold, though. Might be they’ll run across some more.”

  “No worries. Thanks Sam. You and Meg have done a great job here.” Allistor dished up a plate of what looked like chipped beef, pouring a ladle of the stuff over top of a couple biscuits. He also grabbed an apple from a large bowl of fruit, and a glass of ice cold water, before leading Remy to a table.

  They ate their lunches as they chatted with the folks seated around them. Two people across the table, a young couple from Remy’s group, were describing the massive towers that the beastkin were already working to renovate near the main Stronghold on Orion.

  “I still can’t believe it. You step on the teleport pad one second, and a blink later you’re standing on a planet that’s like a bazillion miles away. The light is a little different, and the air smells so fresh!” the young woman added. “If we moved there, would we still be called Earthlings? Or would we be Invictus…ians? Orionians?” Several people around the table chuckled.

  Allistor replied, “I think just humans would work fine in most instances. As far as I know, we’re the only ones around.”

  “But are there other kingdoms, or princedoms, or empires or whatever? Here on earth, I mean?” the woman persisted.

  “I haven’t seen any notifications of anyone else reaching Planetary Prince status here on earth.” Allistor mused. “But I was off of earth for a few days when we were taking Orion. Did any of you see any notifications that I might have missed?”

  Everyone at the table shook their heads. “Yours is the only one we’ve seen.” Remy replied. “And while we’re on that topic, now is as good a time as any to discuss becoming citizens of Invictus.” He looked around at his people sitting close enough to hear. Each of them nodded their head yes. “I plan to join you. As do most of my people. There are a few who aren’t ready yet, mostly because they have people who remained behind at the Stronghold, and don’t want to commit before speaking with them.”

  Allistor nodded his understanding. “I’m happy to hear that, Remy. And I hope the others will come around soon. But if they don’t, I hope we’ll find a way to live together peacefully inside the city walls.”

  “About that.” Remy cleared his throat. “What if some, or all, of my people want to continue to live at our Stronghold? After swearing the oath, I mean.”

  “I said yesterday that citizens of Invictus are free to live at whichever of my properties they like. If you want to continue to own your Stronghold as a citizen, that’s fine with me. Most of my advisors have Strongholds of their own. Ramon just became a Baron when he and Nancy built their own Citadel.” Allistor looked around the table. “Look guys, I’m not trying to run your day to day lives. You take the oath, you work to support each other, contribute in a useful way, and we’re good. Your lives don’t have to substantially change, except that you’ll be better prepared, and hopefully get stronger.”

  “What about the goblins?” A man further down the table spoke up. Several others added their voices. “We didn’t kill them all. They’ll be back to try again.”

  Allistor’s lips pursed and he drummed his fingers on the table. He had some suspicions about the goblins, and he needed to speak to Harmon about them. But regardless of whether or not he was correct, they needed to be dealt with.

  “We’ve got scouts tracking the goblins now. Hopefully we’ll find their home base soon, and we can go finish them off. We killed more than a thousand of them in that last fight, so I don’t imagine there are very many left. Or so I hope.”

  The man who’d asked the question nodded his head. “That’s good enough for me. I want to go with you when you find them. I owe them.”

  “That’s okay by me, so long as you follow orders. If I have my way, we won’t be doing any face-to-face fighting. Ideally, we’ll drop a bomb or two on them, wipe them out completely, loot whatever’s left, and head back home. Everybody gets some good xp, and none of our people get hurt.”

  The man nodded his agreement, as did most of the others around the table, both Remy’s and Allistor’s people.

  Remy stood up, raising his hands and calling for silence. “People, please… if I might speak for a moment?”

  It took about half a minute for conversation to die down and all eyes in the dining area to be turned in his direction. “For those who haven’t met me, my name is Remington. Leader of the Stronghold that Allistor and some of you here helped us defend yesterday. Thank you for that, from the bottom of our hearts.” He gave a small clap, which was picked up by his nine hundred or so people, who also let loose a few cheers. “We were strangers when you came to our aid. Now, we’ve fought together, eaten together, shared some of our stories, and I’d like to think we’ve begun to become friends. Toward that end, I have decided to swear the oath and become a citizen of Invictus. And if there are any of my people here now who feel the same, I invite you to stand and join me.” He moved to the clear space at the back of the room as one by one his people stood and followed.

  When all of those who were joining had grouped together, Allistor noted his people staring at a dozen or so of Remy’s people still sitting. He was considering whether to ask them if they still had questions, or a specific issue, when Remy called out to them.

  “Juan, Tara, the rest of you who are still sitting… I know each of you has family that chose to remain behind. I suspect you’re waiting until you can speak with them.” He watched as several heads nodded. “Are any of you actually opp
osed to joining with Allistor? Or do you have a concern you want to address? If so, raise your hand. Now’s the time to speak up.”

  Now most of them were shaking their heads in the negative. Just one man raised his hand, then stood. Remy pointed to him. “You don’t wish to join, Juan?”

  “I don’t know, yet. My wife and son are back at the Stronghold, and I do need to speak with her before we decide. But I’m not even sure I want to join myself.”

  Remy looked to Allistor, one eyebrow raised.

  Allistor asked, “Juan, have you seen or heard something that concerns you? Is there a question I can answer?”

  Juan looked down at his feet for a moment, gathering his thoughts and taking a deep breath. He clasped his hands in front of him, then met Allistor’s gaze. “This is all happening so fast. Everything, since the first day the monsters came. We’ve been running, and fighting, and reacting to all the ways the world has tried to kill us, every day for over a year. We’ve dealt with more pain, more losses in that time than most of us would normally experience in a lifetime. And now you’re asking us to do it again. To react, to make a big, life-changing decision right after a battle that nearly wiped us all out. That claimed friends and loved ones.” He held his hands up in a placating gesture toward Allistor.

  “Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful for you and your people, for all you’ve done. I bear you no ill will at all.” He paused to lower his hands and take another deep breath. “I just… I feel like I need some more time right now, to think things over. I’m sorry.”

  Amanda appeared next to Allistor, taking his hand. She quietly whispered, “He lost somebody in that fight.”

  Allistor hadn’t needed her to point that out. It was clearly written on the man’s face as he spoke. He squeezed her hand in thanks.