Savage Awakening 577. War Plans (III)

“That’s the heart of the Galaxy, where the worst of the fighting will take place,” Reina continued. “It’s where you’re most needed this time, Zane. This won’t be like the last War.”

She pointed out a tiny dot on the frontier, zooming in a bit so he could see it more clearly. A little cloudy blue speck, instantly recognizable as Earth—the planet he’d worked so hard to defend in the last War.

“This time Earth’s secure,” Reina told him. “Forty-four of Earth’s top one hundred will be staying behind to defend it. And going by our best predictions, they’ll be more than up to the task.”

“That’s good to know.”

“Mhm. We think the Monsters’ objective this time is fundamentally different.”

She zoomed back out and held his gaze.

“Zane, the only reason they attacked Earth last time was to cripple the Galaxy’s potential and to deplete its resources. It’s the same reason they went after the Deep Earth Hall’s mines and tried to get at the World Tree’s roots. They were just trying to weaken us in time for the main event. This time, they don’t need that… they’re going for the kill. That means an all-out assault on the heartland. Which is why Dragonspire Command’s planning to deploy its strongest along this line.”

She gestured to the line circling the 9 Great Factions’ alliance.

“And that includes you, Zane,” she said. “That is, if you agree to it.”

He nodded. It was pretty much what he’d expected, though—“They managed to take out two Great Faction heads last time, didn’t they?” he said. “That’s pretty rough for a warm-up act.”

“It is,” Reina acknowledged. “And most of that was because of Malzareth’s intervention. He managed to ambush the Frost Saint Selina and the Stone-Fist King with some of his best Primes. That alone wouldn’t have killed them, but he had an ace —this soul attack that could freeze them for just a breath. In a battle that close… it was enough.” 

“Malzareth can just project his soul like that?” Zane frowned. “He can just have a go at anyone he wants to, wherever?” 

“He shouldn’t have been able to. Soul attacks are much stronger if you’re closer to the target. With how far away Malzareth was, anything he threw should’ve bounced right off, but he had an ace. He’d brought this treasure that let him project his soul directly into its vicinity, and that was how he got the Skill off. Selina and the Stone-Fist King fought well, but they were ambushed. There was just nothing they could’ve done.”

His brow furrowed. “That treasure sounds a little much.”

“I know,” said Reina. “But we’re almost certain that’s a very rare case. For one, it was a one-time use treasure that cracked the instant it was done with. If Malzareth could project his soul repeatedly like that, he would’ve done it already. We don’t know for sure Malzareth doesn’t have another one of those orbs somewhere, but the one he used was a peak Origin treasure. When our best scryers studied its aura, they found that it’s likely older than Malzareth itself! It even had traces of a more ancient Bloodline—a purer one too. Maybe even its originator… meaning Malzareth didn’t make it either.” 

Zane frowned. “So you’re saying…he won because of a treasure his father gave him.” 

“That’s… yes.” Reina flushed a little. “That’s what I’m saying. And yes—before you ask—he had the gall to send us a vision, I think meant to intimidate us, congratulating himself on how cleverly he’d outwitted mankind.” 

Zane disliked that snake more than maybe was healthy. 

“Keep going,” he prompted her. “You were talking about how the last war went?”

Reina nodded, going into business mode. “In the end the Endbringers were halted and forced back into the Superdungeon—caged again by the System. But they’d still managed to wreak havoc on our lines, and that was in a limited offensive.”

She drew a few points along the alliance’s edges. “The Monsters attacked at just these seven points,” she said. “Trying to drive a wedge through our lines—trying to break through to the Steelheart’s Aeon Treasury, the Deep Earth Hall’s Core Mines, and the Cult of Eternal Ice’s Timefrozen Gardens. They didn’t get far into Steelheart, and most of their offensives didn’t yield much. But the ones that were successful—the ones they put their heft into—were devastating. They badly damaged the Mines and the Gardens. But they only managed to damage Dragonspire. They didn’t cripple us.”

She gave him a determined look. “In the past hundred years, every Faction’s been mobilizing heavily. Steelheart Conclave’s been churning out armor at the fastest rate they’ve ever done, and I’ve made sure the World Tree does its part too. We’ll just have to hold the line as best we can—every single Great Faction member will be there on that line, fighting for mankind. Zane, that’s where you come in.”

She zoomed in on the zone she proposed he patrol. It seemed a pretty vast zone, stretching over the Great Factions she’d mentioned: Azure Flame, Thundercrest, and Steelheart on the edge, with the World Tree and a chunk of the Guild of Endless Shadows in the back.

Zane studied it and liked the thought of it, but one issue seemed pretty clear. “I’m not patrolling all of that on foot, right?” 

If that was to scale, it’d take him ages just to cross from one end to another. 

“You’ll have an unlimited portal charm,” Reina assured him. “It’s the longest-range charm of its kind and extremely expensive to make. The Steelheart Conclave’s forging seventy-nine of them to be distributed by Dragonspire Command. They’ll be able to instantly teleport you to one of thousands of teleportation stations throughout the battleground—”

She pointed at the sprinkle of shining dots, which he’d taken as stars— “Meaning you’ll never be more than an hour out from a conflict. They’re only for those deemed the Galaxy’s True Elite, and… I made it pretty clear to the rest of Command that you should have one. Since it won’t be long before you join those ranks.”

“Thanks for that, by the way.” 

She blushed a little. “It wasn’t just a personal favor, you know. I mean—that’s not why I got them to agree. It just makes sense for the sake of the Galaxy.” 

“And how’d that go over?” He was kind of curious. By the way she was describing it, he had a feeling he’d be the only Minor God given that privilege. Though maybe Reina would get one too, now that he was thinking about it—given she was a head and all. 

“I was ready for a lot more pushback, actually,” Reina said, rolling up her scroll. “But there wasn’t much convincing to do.”

“That’s kind of surprising.”

She gave him a look.

“Zane, I don’t know if you get how impressive folks found your performance against Haxorax, even skeptics. At this point, if anyone denied your strength, they just wouldn’t be taken seriously.” Reina seemed quite pleased with that fact. “And ultimately, the Galaxy’s in this together. We’re sharing battlefields and defense responsibilities—it really does feel like we’re allied with the other Great Factions right now, not just in name. It’s kind of refreshing, actually. Coming up, especially through Integration and the Azure Flame, things were a little more cutthroat.” 

Zane nodded. He was thinking of the legions of faces he had to slap to get to where he was now. Reina went through the same thing—only her path involved more old elf faces than young master faces.

“And that hasn’t totally gone away,” Reina added. “I’ve definitely felt I’ve had to prove myself to the other Great Faction Heads. But at least in Dragonspire Command, among the folks that really matter—the Ancestors and the Heads, after the last Patriarch Azure Flame left, anyway—folks aren’t looking to tear you down just to tear you down. It’s not like the kind of politics I had to face, even coming up through the World Tree.”

She wrinkled her nose, like she was remembering an unpleasant experience. “Actually… there’s still politics.”

“But you didn’t have to lay into anyone to get me that charm.” 

“I didn’t,” she confirmed. “Every Faction does want more charms for themselves. But when we were making the list of Elites, your name wasn’t even close to the most debated. All the Heads and Ancestors just assume you’ll join their ranks now, sooner or later.”

Zane didn’t particularly mind what folks thought, generally. He’d keep doing his thing regardless. But it was nice to have his résumé speak for itself. It felt like it was about time. 

“You’ll be one of Dragonspire’s true elites,” Reina concluded. “Whenever there’s a serious threat, whoever’s closest, or whoever ‘tags’ the threat first, will get to teleport to the nearest portal and deal with it.”

“And before you ask,” she said, “With how much our scryers think is coming our way, there should be plenty to go around.”

That made him wonder how many credits the System would award for a T0 Empyrean kill. Or a T1, for that matter.

He was quite curious to find out.

“Eze, Vanessa, Jason, and the rest of Earth’s best will be performing duties more like higher-up foot soldiers. They’ll have their own sectors to defend. You’ll just be the cavalry. So what do you think?”

“I’m a fan.”

She grinned. “I knew you’d like it.”

His patrol zone covered all the territory he cared about. He’d signed a contract to defend the Azure Flame and the Steelheart Conclave in its time of greatest need, which was how he’d become a disciple. This definitely qualified, but his first loyalty was still to his friends. This way, it was looking like he could defend everything he cared about.

He was happy to help protect the Conclave. After several Festivals of Might and years spent with the Barbarian Sage, Steelheart felt like a second home for him these days. He also just liked the culture. He didn’t forget how they’d stood up for him when Patriarch Azure Flame tried to attack him after the Haxorax duel. If one of them went to war, they all went to war—something he didn’t mind buying into. He was quite looking forward to fighting alongside the Barbarian Sage.

The Azure Flame he had more mixed feelings about. He’d mostly fight for Noughtfire and his friends in Stormhaven—Jawl and his tribe. The main drawback of the Faction, the Patriarch, had been ejected in rather satisfying fashion. He didn’t have particularly strong feelings about the rest of the Faction now, but he was happy to defend it for the sake of his own.

And because they’d all serve as a bulwark defending the World Tree, so long as it stood, so did Reina’s powers and her own defense.

He scanned the battlefield one more time, taking in all the little dots—all the points where bloody war would soon be waged…

He nodded. 

 “Let’s do this.”