Emerilia Box Set, page 109
part #1 of Emerilia Series
The time to show the true purpose of Boran-al’s Citadel draws near.
***
The Lady of Fire looked up from her desk.
She looked out over the floating islands of Per’ush, the Mages College that she had built and where she now spent most of her time while her dragons roamed Emerilia.
She didn’t sit up as she checked the message.
Private Chat: User Unknown
Water> I wish to talk about our respective people. Would you be able to meet?
Fire and Water were supposed to be enemies, hating each other for their own Affinities. While the temples played that up, Fire and Water had a sort of grudging respect for each other. Water was more powerful than Fire in overall power. He was even more powerful than Earth, yet he was something of a recluse. He had made his Creatures of Power so long ago that many had forgotten about their existence. With Fire’s mages guild, colleges, and her Dragons, she had about the same power as him if she decided.
When they had been younger, they had fought each other across the Pantheon’s floor many times, yet there had been few times where it turned to actual violence on Emerilia. They cared too much about the things that they had created to try to get them to attack one another over their own petty feud.
This could be a trap. Then again, it has been awhile since we had a good argument. A wistful smile spread over her face as she typed out a reply.
Private Chat: User Unknown
Fire> Sure. Shall we meet at the Mer capital? You’re buying lunch.
Water> I will tell them to expect us at the normal place.
Fire smiled; she checked her schedule and sent out a few messages to students and others that she would not be there. She did enjoy her college and she was proud of her people, though she kept her identity a secret. It was better that way, less adoration and people pining to try to catch her attentions.
She had been gone so long at this point that having the Lady of Fire around would be an event. It would also draw the gazes of the other lords and ladies of the Affinity.
They weren’t able to see the other lords and ladies through their scrying spells, though with the new rules Lo’kal was now easily tracked, getting just five minutes in a place before he would be found by a spell.
A portal of blue flames appeared. Fire strode through as she changed into her normal outfit, her robes burning into her red leathers.
Water sat at a table, playing a game against a merman. The Lord of Water had a long faint blue beard that shimmered like waves. He was the only one of the Affinities Pantheon to opt for an older visage. His hair, down to his neck, was white. He wore a simple blue robe with silver accents, making him look refined and powerful. His eyes were deep and peaceful as he stroked his beard and looked at the game.
How many times have I seen those eyes angry? He might have grown in patience with time, though it had taken much of it and the influence of his own Merpeople to change his angry disposition.
Fire’s eyes moved to the Lord of Water’s opponent.
Contradictory to what most people thought, Merpeople did not have fish lower bodies. They just had incredibly high Affinities for water that allowed them to breathe and move through it easily.
Makes me think of the Angels a lot. Fire studied the Merman, wearing simple green pants and shirt. His hair was blue; he had pale and perfect skin. He was not bulky like a Dwarf, but had a slimmer build akin to an Elf, but was shorter.
“Damn it, Aqua! Well, seems that you won again, you old cretin,” the Mer complained as he looked up.
“With time, you will come to beat me as your father does, Gurnal.” Water—or Aqua, as he chose to be called in POE company—said. He smiled, much like a father would at their young child.
The Mer, Gurnal, sighed.
All Mer were the same way: boisterous game lovers who respected Aqua, but saw him as a grandfatherly figure instead of the man of their creation.
I wonder what Deia would think if I was to tell her that I was her mother? Fire wondered where that thought came from, her anxiety burning in her stomach.
“Ignil, it is good to see you. Thank you for coming. Gurnal is still learning the way of the board,” Aqua said.
Gurnal turned around, a spear of water in his hands. He had green eyes like the depths of the ocean.
“Gurnal, do not be so foolish and act that way with my guest.” Aqua’s voice was firm and displeased.
“Yes, Lord Aqua,” Gurnal said. The spear disappeared, but his distrust was clear on his face.
“Would you mind if he dines with us? It would be good for the next Lord of the Mer to know the way of things between our idiot family,” Aqua said.
“Sure. I hate how they still think of us as a family. I don’t know if family members would be able to do the things that the others do to one another.” Ignil sighed. She was tired of their quibbles and the wastefulness of their ways irked her to no end.
Aqua nodded, looking every bit of his four hundred years.
“But, she is Fire?” Gurnal said, confused why they were talking like friends.
“Yes, she is and it has taken me way too long to see that we are more alike than we are different. I put it down to the conditioning that we all went through as children. Lo’kal has been talking to me over the years, but it is only now when everything might change that I think his words have made it into my thick skull.”
“About damned time,” Fire said with a kind smile.
“While I might not think of everyone as my brother and sister, I think we were the only ones who were like brother and sister.” Fire saw the sadness in his eyes quickly disappear under a smile.
“Come, let us have some lunch.” He waved for them to follow him, creating a portal from the tower room into a restaurant.
Fire looked out of the tower quickly. The Mer city had grown since she had last visited. Glass, reinforced with malachite and magical runes, kept the water around them at bay. Light from inside the homes made the city sparkle brightly.
Little light made it through the waves above. Sea creatures floated above and around the buildings, some being used as mounts by the Merpeople. Others just wandered aimlessly.
Fire was proud of Per’ush, yet she couldn’t deny the beauty of the Merpeople’s city, a hidden diamond below the sea.
Aqua stepped through the portal first; Gurnal kept an eye on Ignil as she stepped through.
Poor lad looks confused between his teachings and the interactions between me and Aqua.
Ignil stepped out into a courtyard. People walked past, waving to Aqua and Gurnal while shooting curious glances at Fire.
Although the Merpeople were great masters of water and could live in it all of their lives, their cities were largely free of water, so the people enjoyed clothes, food, and the ability to talk without using voice chat or magical spells.
“Lord of Water, would you like your regular table?” An older but refined Mer’s eyes sparkled with greeting Aqua.
“If possible, that would be great, Younda,” Aqua said.
In five minutes, they were seated with Aqua telling Younda to surprise them.
Younda smiled and bowed slightly, sending Fire a questioning look before she left.
“She was much younger when I was last here,” Fire said.
“Things change, Ignil,” Aqua said.
“So, what did you want to talk about, brother dearest?” Ignil sipped on some liquor made from a seaweed plant. It had an interesting tang to it.
“Brother am I, now?” he asked, a wry smile on his face.
“The last time I was down here, I was seeing if we could stop our people from fighting one another on the Ashal coast. You told me to fuck off, so I had to end the battles myself.” Ignil’s eyes flashed in power.
“The Lord of Water would do no such thing!” Gurnal yelled.
“Are you sure?” Ignil sipped her drink. Her cold smile turned into an expression of cold fury directed at Aqua. It had been over seventy years ago, but she remembered it well. It had been the last time that they had “talked.”
“Let me kill this demon of corruption for you, master,” Gurnal said, looking to Aqua.
“She speaks the truth,” Aqua said, not meeting Gurnal’s or Fire’s eyes.
“I had to kill four hundred people and you stayed down here, keeping the Mer blind to your actions away from them.” Fire’s mood soured quickly now that the memories flowed through her. “So, tell me what you wish to talk to me about? I do not have time to waste here. There is much I have to look to deal with so that Emerilia will survive, including your people.”
“How dare you slander my master?” Gurnal yelled as he made to rise.
Fire turned her eyes to him, like two Dwarven artillery cannons. “Sit,” she said, letting out just a tiny part of her aura.
The young Mer’s knees became weak as his ass dropped into his chair, any color in his pale skin fading away.
“It is not the boy’s fault, Ignil. It was mine.” Aqua looked to Fire with guilt and sorrow in his face. “My pride and what we had been taught as children made me rally against you. I wanted the fight to the end, but I was not willing to go halfway to work with you.”
“Your regret is nice, but did you have to kill all those people just to end a war that would kill thousands? Did you have people curse you in your temples for the wrath you brought down on both sides? Did you have to kill your own followers to stop their idiocy? Spit out what you want and be quick about it. Old memories are making me testy.” Fire shook her head.
“I wish to ally our forces. I know that something is coming. I have seen you making preparations. I know that Lo’kal is doing his work in the background. Earth is focused on clawing power back from the Dwarves by showing his strength to them and beating them into submission. Dark works in the shadows to bring us pain and misfortune. I do not know what Light does, but she is better than Dark at hiding her actions and desires. Air waits, ready to follow up behind whoever clashes and take what she can from the loser while they are down. None care of what happens to Emerilia or its people. Your Dragons and my Mer are not just our Creatures of Power—they are our true family. I will not leave them to be torn apart by the rest of the Pantheon. I was hoping that we could broker an alliance of some sort.” Aqua looked at Fire with hope.
“Light is trying to build her own Creatures of Power. Dark has already inserted his into the world. Air is being her mischievous self and Earth is creating champions and Creatures of Power that are more violent than his previous creations,” Fire said.
“What kind of creations is Light trying to make?” Aqua asked, his eyes focused.
“I do not know if she is trying to revive her Angels. I know that the power needed is costly. She has had her followers target pregnant Dragons as she wishes to study them and their young to figure out their secrets. I don’t know if this is to make different Creatures of Power or to make creating Angels easier.”
“Though she will then come to the problem that the Angels like peace, at least when they start. She hid it well, but she liked her older Angels not for their piety, but due to their crusade that brought her much power until Lo’kal was forced to step in.” Aqua looked incensed, shaking his head.
“She might wear the veil of piety but she is by far the biggest hypocrite of the Pantheon.” Fire agreed with Aqua’s unspoken words as food arrived at the table.
They ate in silence, stuck in their own thoughts.
An alliance would be good, but I do not know if Aqua is going to try to stab me in the back. I hate this political shit.
“I will give you half of my power, if you are willing to teach my people and me more about magic. I will answer your call to arms if you so need it and support you in any way that I can. If there is a war on the continents, then you will be in command and I will support. If there is one in the seas, then the opposite will be true. If you agree to this, then I will swear by Lo’kal,” Aqua said.
For a few minutes, Fire did nothing but continue to eat. Making a vow by Lo’kal meant that the Gray God would get the contract and he would hold both parties to it. He was not allowed to reveal it, but if one or the other broke the contract, then he would level them. It was how the Dark Lord had been replaced twice before.
“Why?” Fire asked.
Gurnal sat there, nibbling on bits of food, too scared to talk and too interested to leave. His eyes darted between Fire and Water, the two supposed sworn enemies making a treaty that could make them powerful enough to fight Light or Dark.
“While I have spent my time cultivating the Merpeople and seeing them grow, I have kept them isolated, scared that allowing them out into the world would bring them the same fate of the other races that were born from Creatures of Power.
“Now that threat is still there, but I wish for them to have a chance in the coming future. I want them to know how to look after one another and defend their homes like the Demons did when the rest of the Pantheon went after them. I do not know what this next war will bring, but I can feel ancient power moving. Lo’kal himself has come to warn me of the future. The only way for our own creations to survive is if we work together.” Water looked at Fire, not as a lord of the Pantheon, but as the patriarch of a race—a father looking to make his children strong enough to fight beside him and hold their home safe.
This is what Lo’kal meant about the coming storm. I wonder what other surprises that Jukal has up his sleeves.
Fire put down the exquisite crab leg, chewing on the meat she had pulled from it. She steepled her fingers. “Very well. We have much to discuss if we are to come to an alliance and a contract.”
Chapter 21: Aleph Lands
The Stone Raiders stepped onto the teleport pad and appeared on the other side.
Dave walked through and into what looked to be a scaled-down version of Alephir.
Josh was already over by a map board. Scout guardians were updating the map as they moved, showing groupings of different creatures in the town.
Dave walked behind Deia, moving through the building they had appeared in. The building was not only made to defend against attacks from other teleport pads, but also any other threats that might come from the city. It might look pretty and quaint, but the magical runes that covered the tower’s surface spoke of power. The whole building was like a beacon of Mana, drawing creatures from across the city toward them.
“Get those doors sealed up! I want those soul gems replaced and the defenses powered up now!” Lucy barked.
People rushed around, getting the tower’s defenses online as others moved into position, ready to fight whatever came their way.
An Ashfar mole family were their first guests. The moles were nothing like the garden variety that many were used to. These bastards were seven foot long and four tall. They looked like riding beasts as they rose out of the city’s ground. The second thing that showed these moles just weren’t normal was their innate use of Mana. They created a drill of Mana ahead of their faces as they buffed their claws so that they could push forward through any material.
Magic and arrows hit the moles as they got closer to the building. “Fucking moles! Whose fucking idea was it to let them learn to use Mana!” Dave watched as any direct fire was pushed aside by the moles. Only hits from the sides could find purchase.
More of the moles came out of the hole by the minute. It was a hundred meters away, but not far enough to break down the moles’ attacks. The first mole’s Mana drill sparked against the tower’s Mana barrier, the runes lighting up and then dimming in flashes.
The ranged attackers let loose with their spells and weapons, lighting up the city with magical firepower.
It didn’t take long for the mole’s charge to fail, its Mana drill disappearing as it slumped down. There was no time to celebrate the victory. More of the moles had climbed out of their mounds, racing toward the tower.
Dave and his party waited with a couple of others, ready to deal with any threat that got in, but knowing they couldn’t go out and defeat the moles. The long gouges left by the moles’ claws made it clear that their Mana drills weren’t the biggest threat.
Three of the moles died, the fourth at half Health, before the barrier finally fell.
Dave and several other shield bearers crouched low as the mole charged down the tower’s steps, into the lobby where they waited. Ranged attackers around the lobby’s second-floor balcony rained down their attacks on the moles, bringing the fourth mole’s death.
“Concentrate everything on it!” Josh yelled as the last mole moved around its dead friend.
The fifth made it to the shield lines; its Mana drill hit their shields like a battering ram and knocked two Stone Raiders back. The mole’s claws tore through one of the downed Stone Raiders.
The rest of the tank’s party fell upon the creature before it could do any more damage. Sneak attacks sent its Health plummeting as Josh’s people seemed to materialize around it.
Here, where they could effectively fight with all of their different roles engaged, was where the Stone Raiders were strongest.
Stone Raiders’ armor was rent and blood spilled, but they hacked and cut at the now frantic mole. After just a few minutes, it let out a wail and dropped to its side, showing a loot menu above it.
Mana Mole
Level 120
The little bastard wasn’t all that high of a level, but their natural resistances and skills had turned it into a hard fight.
“Barrier is back up!” Lucy yelled.
Medics were seeing to the Stone Raider who had been clawed and any who had been sent flying.
“Looks like someone let the damned vermin get bigger,” Steve said. “Heard that they taste good, though. Never seen ones that big, though.”
“You’re telling me it’s normal to see those things down here?” Suzy asked.
“Just think of them as the Aleph version of rats. They shouldn’t be able to get into cities like this. Since the power has been out, though”—Steve shrugged— “might see a whole lot more of them than normal.”
