Bonded Summoner

Book 4. Chapter 22: Jake and Morwen - Kingdom of Annwn

Hundreds of arrows and javelins were launched at the incoming undead, and the massive tree in front of them. Explosions of flame splashed into the tree, the flames spreading before being snuffed out by the blighters surrounding it, their miasmic fumes countering the flames.

They cast blighted gases and what even appeared to be undead healing spells, the flames from the explosions receding as a result.

Jake’s many archers targeted the tree creatures, but the enemies were numerous. More kept arriving as the fight went on, the blighters walking over vines and tree boughs that crossed into other nearby swamplike trees.

Jake finished his preparations of switching over to [Avenger]. It was time for him to add punishment for what these creatures had done to the people of Highland’s forest.

“You ready, Blood, Berri?”

Blood nodded. “I am ready, milord. I am a little worried about my dear sister, but I shall not fail you.”

Berri added, “I remember my shape-thingies. I can do it!”

The two had finally done it: reached [Advanced Runic Magic]. They could now jointly cast a single spell, a holy runic healing spell, that they could accomplish together.

Once they got the hang of that, they focused on practicing adding the runes to Jake or Ophelia’s flames. For now, they didn’t have a spell practiced to work together with Fhesiah alone.

Jake still hadn’t created a runic spell that could contain all five of their runes, but he was working on it. He knew the results would be amazing, but he had many challenges. Mixing Nordic runes with Demonic runes was possible, but had all sorts of rules to consider.

Balancing mana with the heavenly energy, along with keeping both the rune’s structure and meaning when interconnected, was like a complicated Sudoku puzzle. There were trillions of possibilities, when including both the number of characters and the formations.

He had worked together with Fhesiah for days to create their original three-person spell, and he knew it would be many more to incorporate both additional runes, but also Blood and Berri’s flavored mana.

There were several group spells Jake came up with that Blood could add her runes, but it really only took three of them to create the spells. Jake was happy with what he had come up with so far, the spells empowered Tier 1 spells which were extremely effective. He had even created a few true Tier 2 spells, finally able to exceed their Tier.

For now, Berri was terrible at forming runes without using her holy mana. Aspecting it into regular mana was a challenge for her while establishing them, so Blood would be the one creating the regular runes. He hadn’t worked out a spell that used their holy light and holy dark mana together, either. He was able to practice with his hearth mana, but it was slow-going.

Together, they would all be creating holy flames.

Jake leaped onto Berri’s battlements, and she surged through the formation until they reached the lioness and Seamus at the front, with Tanda in tow. Her hearth had not yet awakened, but she thought it was getting close. He was excited to see what this meant for her. They all hoped she would be able to use magic and thus Nordic Runes, but he was doubtful.

Currently, her armor had her runes enhanced by auril-based runes. While not bad in and of itself, Jake’s knowledge on them were limited. Combining them added all sorts of complexities, and he was having a hard time decoding them and combining them with all his other goals. He had gotten tremendously lucky that his previous runes had worked at all together.

Because of that, Tanda would be much more effective with Nordic runes if she had mana to activate them. At least when she had enough mana of her own, anyway.

Tanda covered Jake and Bloodberri’s approach with her bow, cutting down ghouls and skeletons that leaped after them as they undulated forward into the enemy formation. Hexes and curses landed on Jake and Bloodberri, but pushing [Purifying Flames] through their bodies crushed the hexes with a flex of their mana.

Seamus and the lioness joined at their sides, fighting at their flanks. Bloodberri swung their maul back and forth, as Jake cut through ghouls and other assailants with his spear from their back.

Jake was in the [Avenger] state, his runes red. He felt the anger of the beastkin people, seeing their proud jungle twisted and turned into an evil fortress of the unliving. Their people killed, the nature twisted for malicious purposes.

The beastkin of Highlands demanded justice, retribution from Tartarus. Their hearts sung the song of vengeance, with each enemy they cut, each blow they blocked. Jake’s runes brightened, as his hearth began to pulse along with their hearts.

Jake formed the runes of his flaming spear of fire, pushing through all the power that he could muster with his divine flames. They floated in front of Jake, for Berri and Blood to float their runes into the hexagonal formations they had practiced.

The runes coalesced into the spell, forming into a massive spear of fire. The flames were white-hot, embodying the holy retribution they intended to bring their horrible enemy. It fired off as if shot from a massive ballista, blasting past the many enemies and blighters in between.

It struck the tree, an explosion of holy fire spreading from where it hit. White flames hungrily ate at the tree, the energy meeting its perfect enemy. The unliving tree wailed in agony, as it moved its arm-like branch. The large branch picked up a bone monstrosity.

Jake didn’t like where this was going, so he hastily formed his runes, Blood and Berri hurrying to match. They created a second holy spear of flames, Jake using much of his reserves. He could only cast a few of these spells in rapid succession, him better at marathons of fights.

The bone monstrosity was thrown, and Jake held onto the runic formation as long as he could. He did his best to smooth over Berri’s construct, to keep it from collapsing. When the time was right, he released it to spear the bone monstrosity as it nearly landed on their heads.

Seamus and Ainora both fired beams of auril light, striking the large creature-turned-projectile in the center. The creature was almost the size of a city bus or eighteen wheeler, and flying at them rapidly. If Bloodberri moved out of the way, dozens of beastkin would likely die. Still, Jake willed them to scatter themselves.

The flaming spear was shot and passed through the bone monstrosity, the holy nature of the spell piercing through it and setting it aflame. It continued on to the tree, while Bloodberri prepared their [Maul of Hestia-Echidna], and Jake pushed his Hearth flames into his spear, forming [Hearth Blade].

Bloodberri struck the center of the oncoming mass, much of the center already melted away by Seamus and the heroic beast. An explosion of light and dark echoed out, erasing most of the creature down to its center.

Jake stabbed out in front of Bloodberri over her shoulder, the creature finally splitting in two and passing them mostly harmlessly. Cutting through the center, they had erased at least half the mass and slowed the creature’s fall, somewhat.

He sighed with relief. That was a little close for comfort, though after they had eliminated a large portion of the mass, he had some confidence that Bloodberri would have been able to tank the blow without dying. She had a new, more powerful necklace, after all.

The fire had spread up the tree, and even up the same arm that had thrown the large creature at them. The blighters were releasing a gas, but if anything it seemed to fuel the flames. The beastkin’s justice was spreading, and there was nothing the undead could do to stop it.

The undead gathering under the trees charged, a near endless horde of undead. It was only a matter of time before the second tree was destroyed by his flames, Fhesiah and Ophelia only moments before.

Jake fell back with Bloodberri to the ranks, fighting through the undead. The blighters had leaped from the tree as it was burning, but many were engulfed by the flames. Attacks rained down on them from the many bow and javelin users, small explosions of flame lighting up the forest.

Hundreds of undead enemies approached them, but Jake could tell the weakened tree took away some of the creature’s fervor. Hearthtribe met them with shields and spears, their front lines scattering the larger undead to make them easy pickings for superior coordination.

Tanda targeted the undead auril beasts at range with her bow in the air, swooping in with her crescent moon axe and finishing others. Seamus and the lioness both worked well in tandem, the two warriors shredding their enemies with glowing claws.

Berri started using the censer, the waves of holy light pushing against the creep. It was already weakened in its ability to return thanks to the damage done to the tree, and so Jake thought this was the right path. He saw this side as progressing in good order. They should fight beyond the tree shortly, reaching the boss at the center.

He just had some concerns about the last party. Jake’s party was uniquely suited for defeating the undead. Just how would Morwen’s team come out ahead? He had to admit, their army had the highest average level, and probably the most experience. Morwen was confident, but he had Ophelia ready to join them in but just a few moments.

***

Morwen watched as billowing smoke entered the sky from the other two locations. Their team was a little behind, but it was not outside of expectations. Clan Hart’s team was simply too strong, their power influencing large or small-scale warfare significantly.

She controlled her legion of undead now under her command, the humanoid undead forming ranks. The enemy creatures had attacked with little intelligence, only following the general will of Tartarus.

The undead under her and her people’s control fought with the cunning of living creatures, Arawn’s spirit of the underworld driving them. The turned skeletal remnants fought with brutal efficiency, the difference between a controlled skeletal warrior and the ravenous undead like night and day.

The creatures were animated by the spirits of the dead, those that had not yet entered the cycle of reincarnation. Among the dead, many beastkin’s spirits remained, their desires for vengeance against those that killed them remaining despite their lack of memories.

Their desire for justice was so great, that Morwen’s priestesses barely had to guide them. They were all-too-willing to fight against the evil creatures. While some spirits could come from anywhere, there were enough lingering present on this world– a sad reality. Hundreds of thousands had died, and many more died each day.

Being turned into undead was both a blessing and a curse. Their spirits would not know peace, but their being consumed by Tartarus would be delayed even further. When a spirit died on a contested world, it would be gathered by the outsiders. However, those spirits would not be consumed– not until it won the world.

For Framework souls, those would be held onto to be ransomed back, or awaiting reclamation when the world was conquered back.

She watched as her husband cut through the undead dinosaurs, his flying mount allowing him freedom to attack behind enemy lines as he willed. They fought through the forest, getting closer to their target.

One of her priestesses approached her. “High priestess, your orders? It is getting harder to claim the creep as we get closer. We can continue, but it will be taxing. If we push, there won’t be anything left for the final battle.”

Morwen nodded. “We are starting to reach critical mass on our side. Support our new allies, and focus on collecting ghouls and blighters; we have enough protection. Maintain our current creep. We’ll lean on our sturdy new friends, and go all out to capture the big one as they tire.”

The priestess went to carry out her orders, and Morwen focused on the auril heroes, as they call them. Their armor was covered in bones, and many of them had strange scripts and symbols.

Despite the bones being from obviously dead creatures, they emanated the vitality of life. When the warriors ran their auril energy through the equipment, that was especially so.

Her spell would normally be marginally helpful for the living. Sure, it could help with making sure bones didn’t break when struck, but sturdy bones didn’t keep your insides from becoming outsides.

She spent a fair amount of her deathly reserves on casting [Enhance Bone] on the reptile auril heroes and Bedwyr. The bones on their armor and weapons hardened, becoming both thicker and even stronger, enhanced by her necromancy magic. The reptile beastkin started to look like skeletal warriors or knights as a result, most of their skin or hide armors being covered in bone.

The massive red lizard man, Vesuvius, now looked particularly menacing. Of course, her husband’s bones were already magical, but they were enhanced as well. Now all could ignore the ghoul’s and most of the smaller skeletons entirely, them getting slain by just moving their bodies around and impaling them as they fought the larger targets.

Their blades stronger and sharper, they cut a path straight through the undead. Even a larger bone monstrosity than the previously defeated one was cut down with ease.

Longwei looked back at her and shouted, “Hey, what gives! Where’s my buff?”

Morwen just glared at the man. Not only was the buff nearly useless for him, but he was already clad in valor. It would take twice the effort to even affect the man in the first place! While it was not impossible to heal or otherwise help him with magic as allies and with the aid of the Framework, the effect was less.

The man was able to coordinate heals and buffs from his and his friend’s wives, by somewhat weakening a path in his cladding for the spells to take, by use of trinkets and talismans embedded in their equipment. She did not have that unspoken coordination with them.

Thankfully, Yiming smacked him aside the head and said something only he could hear, gesturing a silent apology to her with a bow. She nodded at him, as they returned to the fray.

The reptile beastkin were positively mowing down the undead now, and her deathly stores she just expended were quickly refilling as they marched. While her people were powered by any death around them, there were still limits.

Eventually, Morwen would become full and unable to consume more energies for a time. If she kept consuming the energies, it was not all that different from drinking too many mana potions. Still, her people were excellent at marathon fights against the undead.

More ghouls gathered in their claimed territory as they neared the big tree, and she saw some blighters joining as well. She began gathering them in a single formation, getting ready for their group spells.

The reptile beastkin’s javelins were deadly, even to the undead themselves. Their will manifested, bringing death by corroding both the body and spirit of the creatures. Even her people would have difficulty absorbing the deathly energies before the venom brought significant harm.

The [Warrior’s Brotherhood] did well in their role. Their many warriors had expert coordination, the brothers working in tandem to take out enemies together, then the women often attacking using effective ranged attacks and supporting them.

Their priestesses and paladins were rare, so it was certainly a setup that leaned more toward offense. The only reason it worked at all without people dying frequently was due to just how strong some valor users were.

She had the army stop at the massive unliving tree’s true range. While it could not completely uproot itself, it could certainly lean forward and swipe a great distance with its clawed branch, and whip heavy vines. Its main power was not attacking them at all. It was that it was connected to the swamp in the center, and could spawn even more creatures like the blighters.

Combined with a second wave of undead, the creatures coming from behind your battle ranks to kill your casters and healers was particularly devastating.

There were still many blighters high up in the trees, but this was as good as Morwen could hope for to start their combat. Despite now having a legion of undead at her command, she was still full on mana, as were her priestesses.

Her many priests and priestesses joined in their [Group Faith-Casting], to aid her in casting [Priestess Magic: Create Bone King]. While she could cast this spell on her own given enough time, by them adding their prayers and mana into the spell, it would drastically increase the result.

Their accumulated ghouls released miasma from their mouths, clouding the area as they captured some creep nearby. The Alliance’s skeletons began to crumble, their bones floating over to a single larger skeletal knight. The remains of the bone monstrosities joined as well.

Thousands of bones flew from all over the battlefield toward this single skeleton. It grew in size, the bones merging and molding together like clay. So many bones merged, but the volume was hardly increasing; not enough to match how many bones were flying in. The bones were being compacted as it went, her people’s dark magic and the magic within the bones empowering the creature.

A large axe was formed along with the massive skeletal warrior, and when the bones stopped, the warrior now looked down on the much smaller Vesuvius. At nearly eight meters tall, she was happy with what they had accomplished. She would not be able to power and control this creature for very long, but it would help them get their job done.

Many strange talismans were added to her construction, the many Talismancers from the brotherhood enhancing the result somewhat. While their talismans individually were weak, when creating formations with dozens of them, their impact was both decent and versatile.

Her bone king took loping strides over her forces toward the massive tree, and the tree swayed back and forth in anticipation of its foe’s arrival. Bedwyr increased his aura of protection around the human and beastkin forces as the area filled with even more deathly miasma.

Their elites: Bedwyr, Vesuvius, Darris, Roxo, Jarrix, Yiming, and Longwei all followed the large warrior. The blue flames coating their weapons glimmered in the shaded jungle, the undead version having no bioluminescence to counter the dense tree coverage. The only thing that allowed any light at all, was that the massive trees were now undead, and lacked leaves. Still, the coverage of the massive trees and their network of branches let little light through.

The giant tree leaned forward and swung its clawed branch-arm at their created warrior, but in an act of dexterity that belied its form, it tumbled forward in a roll, avoiding it. It continued its charge, as the tree swung its other arm.

Miasma released from the many ghouls and blighters rushed into the bone king, and its arms and axe were filled with a ghastly dark glow. It swung to meet the large clawed hand, an explosion of wood sending shards everywhere. A large chunk was gouged out of the hand, but the almost-flesh of the undead tree was already regrowing.

The bone king continued its charge, drawing the tree’s ire as their army got into range. Her priests and priestesses continued to march, as the many ranged beastkin continued to target the blighters up in the trees. Other paladins and their undead servants kept them all protected, the rear of their formation with some of their more physically weak classes.

Their undead domain continued to be pushed, the many beastkin now hammering on the tree. Her people continued their slow march, the bone king keeping the massive tree busy. Until finally, Morwen was within range.

Many members of her clergy started channeling their faith energy into her. She didn’t need that for her first spell, but it would take some time for it to build.

Those not busy with that, joined her in a circle around her. Together, they pushed their mana as they created magical scripts and connected them. She stood in the center as she added her own, her creating an inner circle of scripts that connected to the outer over the next several minutes.

Their elites had spread frost all over the tree, and it was already slowing. It had chunks missing all over, from where the cold flaming weapons had cut into it; it was unable to regrow its flesh from where it was covered in frost.

Still, these were nothing more than flesh wounds for the unliving tree, and while the bone king had kept it mostly busy, there were still a few swaths of people crushed by its many swipes of its arms.

Reinforcements for the enemy swarmed around the tree, these being the primary focus of their overall army.

The tree sensed their magical power rising, and rose in its own defense. It attempted to swing its branch at her in a whiplike motion, only for Bedwyr surrounded in a black barrier to intercept. His barrier was shattered, and he was battered away, but him and his horse were a resilient type. The bones which were enhanced cracked slightly, but a reserve priestess had already cast [Mend Bone] to heal his battered body.

The tree reeled back and was about to swing again, but he had already bought the time they needed to finish their circle casting of [Winter’s Embrace].

Miasma, mana, and a small amount of her people’s unliving flames pooled into the spell formation as it activated, and she slammed the butt of her [Elder Bone Staff] onto the ground. The ground turned to frost in a wave from where it was struck, as if a drop of water sent ripples into a lake.

The ground turned into frost for over a hundred meters in a circle, the frost traveling that time in but a second. The frost crawled up the tree and even slowed its arm to a near stop, but otherwise stuck to the ground and encircled it. The area became freezing cold in seconds, so cold that both the reptiles and brotherhood warriors would be frozen to death within minutes, despite their hardiness.

Hundreds of talismans activated, protecting their bodies from the cold. Preparation was one of Hearthtribe’s tenets, after all, so they couldn’t slack off here and harm their allies.

Her people’s bodies were not exactly like the undead. One might say that undead were not weak to the cold, but their bodies could still be weakened by it. The Emberborn thrived in it.

The frost reached deep into the tree’s roots, locking it in place, as well as cutting it off from its source deeper in this undead jungle. About half of the tree was now frozen, the upper branches and tree wailing in pain.

Before she first became a priestess of Arawn, she had been nothing more than a frost mage. She prized her skill to create an icy domain of frost, but she gained power over the very deathly energies that made up her and her people’s bodies, along with the undead themselves, as a priestess.

When she completed her Trial with her husband, her frosty domain became something more. Enough faith energy had now gathered, allowing her to move on to the next spell, the finishing blow to this unliving amalgamation of a tree.

She finished group casting [Kingdom of Arawn], the circle of scripts on the ground releasing a blinding light.

A mist rose from the frosty ground, covering everything in sight. An apparition of Arawn’s kingdom appeared above the mist, a land lush and green, but all four seasons could be seen in the massive kingdom. It was lush and fertile, with beautiful gardens, orchards, and forests. The rivers were filled with fish and swans, and the air was filled with sweet smells and songs of birds.

The spirits of the dead lived in harmony with nature, living their afterlives in perfect balance. It was ruled by a cunning protector, the King of Annwn: Arawn. A place of eternal beauty and peace, having balance and harmony in all things. A place that was magical and as real as it was imaginary–It was also a place that was not all that dissimilar from Highlands.

The spirits of the dead that made up the tree and the many undead creatures stirred, longing for the perfect embrace of the Kingdom of Annwn. Forced into undead servitude, the many dead spirits of the beastkin and any others shivered and shook, yearning for harmony once more.

Like moths to the flame, the spirits tore themselves away from the tree and any undead not under her people’s control, and floated toward the apparition. The flesh of the tree melted and untwisted, the many blighters that merged into its creation falling apart. More spirits would be pumped into it as the tree healed, if her [Winter’s Embrace] didn’t lock them out through the roots.

The army hacked into it, cutting it down now that its flesh was no longer healing. While its initial structure was strong and powered by undead might, it was little more than frozen wood now. Reaching the core of the tree, Vesuvius unleashed thick flames like lava that washed over it, killing what was held within.

The spirits gathered within the kingdom, finally finding peace and harmony once more. Arawn appeared and claimed their spirits within the apparition, guiding them into the afterlife that was intended for them in the first place. They would spend some time in Annwn, before entering into the cycle of reincarnation once more.

But not all spirits joined Arawn in Annwn. Most were not satisfied, many required vengeance and justice for what Tartarus had done. They floated to the Bone King instead, joining and empowering its body.

The Bone King grew even further, it powered by the spirit’s vengeance. Morwen felt her hold over the creature be relinquished, as the beastkin warriors’ spirits took control.

Nobody knew where the Emberborn came from. A kingdom of an ancient people fell thousands of years before, according to the world’s history. Her people emerged as if born from death itself, the icy flame flickering in their unliving chests.

As soon as her people were discovered, they became the enemy of the living. They defended themselves, but otherwise stayed in the North in peace–a frozen wasteland nearly impervious to attack.

That was, until Tartarus arrived, her people being forced to participate in the deadly Trial.

Her people fought fervently against Tartarus, joining the living in the fight. Despite their success in their struggle, the Emberborn were persecuted for being undead, and their usage of them. Arawn approached her people, promising them a home as long as they fought for it when they were called.

Of course, her people didn’t have a problem with that. They had already fought for their home and won the Raid, and were still rejected by it. The Emberborn stayed Tier 1, waiting for their time to be called.

Arriving at Highlands, Morwen doubted that this place could truly be a home for her people. But finding out that the deserts, tundras, swamps and more radiated death as if a mirror to the powerful life force, made her believe her prayers for a true home had finally been answered.

The beastkin people had become welcoming, seeing them as their fighting brethren. As long as the Emberborn fought to protect the balance, they would be welcomed with opened arms. Hearthtribe treated them with respect, Clan Hart making sure her people were accommodated in every way they needed. Even the Eternum were welcomed, showing Morwen that they would be treated as equals.

The twisted tree was destroyed, and Morwen smiled as she completed her task. Her people had hopefully found their own Annwn a little early. They just had to help reclaim it first. josei