[Hlaeth] Ch 6

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            “Far be it from me to impose on your debriefing, but the Keepers of the Trees are not responding to this emergency like they should. Captain Fyanyl’s team is no doubt responding to the one around the Elder Weirwood, but I don’t sense any reactions from those around the other Elders of the forest. It would probably be prudent to go check on them.”

            The commanding officer of the elven aerial force gave me an irritated look. Of course, there were a hundred different air cavalry ‘flying escort’ with me, completely wasted as I continued with my forest-chewing bombardment.

            They’d all heard me clearly, too, voice carrying perfectly clearly despite the wind and altitude and all that rot. He could tell by all the heads turned in my direction.

            His hands moved in swift and graceful motions, and flights of griffons and hippogriffs peeled away, heading for the mighty Elder trees who’d driven wedges of defiance into the massive spell that had chopped down miles and miles of really old-growth forest like toppling matchsticks.

            The dragons remained behind, as did a squad each of the griffons and hippogriffs, and the vanguard pegasi, of course.

            Eventually the short discussion of what they all knew was done, and Commander Tellusian turned his bright emerald eyes on me thoughtfully.

            “You have managed to convince both of my subordinates of your veracity with that Word of yours, Magos Aelryinth,” he said in a normal voice, deducing that I could hear him. “I will alert the Council of Elders of your words. Do you know the epicenter of the effect you claim to have thwarted?”

            “I’m working the borders of the area of effect of the Dimensional Shearing, we’ll be on top of it in ten minutes or so, Commander,” I replied affably, pointing ahead and to the right. “You can sort of see the circle burst there, before the cone blasted out in front of it, although there’s little other indication except the path my butt on fire left behind.” The eyes of all the elves wandered over to that burning, scorched trail, leading back towards the center of the effect, petering out before it got there. “I don’t know how much they’ll be able to read from the epicenter, particularly if they weren’t able to sense it coming at all, but that’s their problem, not yours.”

            I could almost hear him sigh. He was a fighter/mage, I could see it on his Aura, and a Sixteen himself. My casual attitude of being unimpressed by his elders, when that was the attitude he should be having towards me, was clearly not sitting well with him.

            Then he looked at how long my Walls of Fire were, did the math, and didn’t say anything, because he couldn’t make a Wall that long on the best day of his life, without a full circle of other mages helping boost his Caster Level to the moon and stars.

            Not irritating me was the correct play here, and he was smart enough to figure out that I was being helpful and blunt in my assessments, not wasting time on what was obviously a time-sensitive matter.

            He was also leery of Feature, a dragon of a type he’d not seen before, clearly dangerous and clearly very powerful, especially with how aloofly he was ignoring the other dragons.

            He could also sense the dragons were very wary of me, and did not want to fly any closer than they were to me. That indicated they had judged me a dire threat all by my lonesome, just on seeing me, and didn’t want to test me.

            Getting into a fight with a spellcaster who could erect a Wall of Fire two thousand feet long was not something he wanted to do at any time, let alone one who kept doing it over and over and over again!

            “If you could point out the exact location when we are near it, Lord Magos,” he requested respectfully.

            “I’ll ring it in a short-term non-vivic Wall, so as not to eliminate any magical traces, Commander,” I replied agreeably.

            At least I was acting as an ally and not a difficult ubercaster, which I’m sure he had exposure to in some form or another. Probably because I was such a young whippersnapper.

            Every elf here, and pretty much most of the flying creatures, were older than I was. I thought that extremely amusing, but not unexpected. Magical creatures could live for centuries, elves and dragons for millennia. The elves would want long-lived companions, not creatures that would grow old and die before they seemed to blink their eyes.

            Boy, were they going to be put out when they found out I’d only been using magic for ten years and some change… not counting the game, of course. Although I probably should, so, say twenty years.

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            Captain Fyanyl agilely jumped back over to Feature’s back, knowing I’d catch her if she missed, but Feature made sure she didn’t with a subtle sway of his spine.

            The pegasus cavalry captain took off with his vanguard force to survey the extent of the damage and report back. The commander returned to his golden dragon mount and flew along with me, watching as holy flames imbued with unwhite fire Burned mistily down below, and ‘caught fire’ with supernatural speed.

            Behind me, the forest was soon covered in misting flames and the groans and crashes of branches and tree trunks giving way as they were eaten through. The ground was covered in sparkling fog that was hiding away and devouring the greenery below it with great speed, and any animal corpses in the area were also igniting, depriving the incoming negative energy surge of materials to work with.

            When the epicenter came up below, I threw down a circular wall around the point, treated with Of the Invulnerable World so that it would not harm the landscape at all. It was only a small pocket a couple hundred yards across, easily purged if required.

            “There’s your epicenter, Commander. I’ve not cleaned it off, and there’s quite a number of chopped-apart animal corpses in the vicinity. I suggest your dragons sniff them out and burn them to ash, or you’re going to get an unpleasant surprise come the dusk.”

            He eyed me carefully at the advice, but then simply nodded. “We will see to it that the dead creatures of the forest are disposed of honorably.”

            Huh. That could mean they’d also turn into supper, or be skinned for resources.

            Well, not my issue.

            One of the team of griffons and the bronze dragon stayed with me as I continued my circuit, tirelessly drawing additional Walls into being, working with the wind to cover as much area as possible with vivic mists before the night came.

            At last Captain Fyanyl couldn’t hold back her curiosity. “How are you able to send forth such powerful magic so untiringly?” she asked, trying to keep her quiet awe out of her voice.

            “Do you recognize the power of Heaven?” I asked her calmly.

            “I have seen Holy powers before, but nothing like this!” she answered cautiously.

            “Mmm. Well, are you aware of Warlock Pacts with eldritch powers and the like?”

            Her green-tinted, sharply defined face turned strange. “This…?”

            “Is a Warlock Pact with Heaven as its foundation. I am using Pure Wrath to power a Wall of Fire Invocation, using some Theurgic synergies to enhance its size and breadth. For instance, every type of magic that also has a Wall of Fire version serves to cross-enhance the size and damage of this Wall, as well as applying free Metamagics that can treat it.

            “This is one of the most powerful Theurgic Invocations I can set forth, second only to my ability to Dispel hostile magic,” I informed her calmly.

            She was silent for a long moment. “Warlock Pacts have always been seen as foul agreements with dark powers that cost you your soul,” she finally spoke up.

            “It’s a truism that most such Pacts do terminate with you giving your soul to the other party at the end, especially the Fiendish ones. However, in case of the Elemental and Fey powers, that may end up being quite deliberate.

            “Heaven won’t take you or empower you with a Pact if you aren’t worthy. Most Pact Patrons don’t really care what you do with the Pact they give you, although they might reward you if you follow their desires. Heaven, however, will cut you in a moment if you do self-serving or evil deeds with their power. You’re either a Good person, or you don’t get to keep a Heaven Pact.

            “Conversely, if you have a Heaven Pact, you are a Good person, and you have the right to ascend to Heaven if you die with an intact Pact. Most people consider that quite a reward, and lifelong confirmation of the fact you are worthy to go to Heaven a wonderful boon for the service you provide while living.”

            She could read between the lines well, however. “So, you don’t think much of other Pacts?” she asked archly.

            “There are allies of the Heavens in the Elemental Planes who are worthy to Swear to and follow with a Pact. Beyond that, the Patrons tend to be very self-serving, and you’re probably getting a bad deal.

            “But, as is too often the case, a bad deal is often better than no deal at all, and it is a place to start for those who have nothing and do not hope to gain anything without such help. There will always be fools who think they can outwit those powers that have been giving pacts for years uncounted and to other fools uncounted.”

            “The reports of numbers of Warlocks have been very few since the Veil cut us off from other realms… including those of the gods,” she informed me, Heaven naturally being lumped in there with the gods.

            “I have no knowledge or opinion on that matter, this world is new to me.” And I wouldn’t have the magical chops to figure things out until my Renewal at midnight. While I was well-Geared, there were just a bunch of things that I didn’t have the equipment to imitate as far as my Casting Capacity was concerned.

            “I’m sure nobody much was complaining, except the fools who didn’t get to sell their souls. I’m sure they went looking for another method to gain power that didn’t give a damn about anyone else.”

            She couldn’t help but smirk at me. “It seems you are familiar with the mindsets of such beings.”

            “I’ve been forced to kill more than a few of them,” I admitted candidly. “When your method of living forever forces you to murder other people, well, your life isn’t worth it to keep around. You’re going Down sooner rather than later, as an example.”

            “It is still an astonishing level of magical ability, especially from a human.”

            “I have no information on the magical capabilities of yourselves or whatever humans you know of, so I will take that with a grain of salt as to relative abilities. I do note that you are not very magically capable yourself, in return. Is there a reason you are not exploring and investing in your own magical abilities, Captain?” I returned in reply.

            She paused, startled to be put on the spot like that. “My people do not place great faith in magical ability, Magos Aelryinth,” she finally replied diplomatically.

            “Why is that? Do you dislike the increased power, the increased versatility, the increased convenience, or the increased self-reliance?”

            Her mouth worked for a moment at that, trying to find a way around that. “Relying on magic to do what must be done is a sign of weakness and indolence.”

            “Ah, you dislike the convenience of it.” Her lips quirked as I rephrased her words. “So, you are a martial culture that glories in physical accomplishments and fighting ability? As opposed to your kin of the silver and gold?” I waved my hand at the flying steeds lazily swooping around us. Feature wasn’t setting a hard pace, and his path was very predictable, so the lesser flying mounts were soaring about more organically than in rigid formations.

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