Ruinous Return

B2 – Chapter 15

Lyn slept well that night. Everything is going perfectly according to plan, she thought. King Skir and his courtiers had all accepted her offered flight – save for the court mage who begged off saying he was afraid of heights. The flight had cemented the trustworthiness of King Skir in her mind; as he had to have known that she could have killed him with ease by just unshifting, letting them fall.

Now Trisk is secured. We'll head back to Lynhold, and I'll set up the throne. Council meeting, and then once everyone is working on their tasks, I use the throne to fortify everything. She laid back in bed and smiled, Plus, I can make imbued items now. She had plans for that. While she may have no access to certain external spell types, the Artificer core gave her a bit of a workaround.

There was a knock on her chamber door, and she got up and checked the small slot. Thomas waved at her, "May I come in?" he asked in English.

She opened the door, and he came inside the room, "What's up?" she asked.

"I wanted you to open up that storage space with the books."

She nodded and pictured the intended extradimensional space, "Edro nin haden." The space opened, and Thomas reached inside, grabbing the wooden spheres before pulling back. There were ten in total. "What are those?" she asked.

Thomas set them down reverently on the bed. "They are dungeon cores." He looked up at her, "I found them in the Ruins of Elent, but since I had no need of them for external spell access, I kept them. Carving the wooden containers was a nice reprieve from books when I needed it." He grabbed one, twisted it, and separated the two halves. A small, grey sphere pulsated with a soft light.

Lyn crossed her arms and leaned against the bed post, "Okay, and you're showing me this now, why?"

"Because I have a plan," he said as he re-sealed the object. "I want to swap out my hero core with one of these. I won't have as much mana, and I'll lose my photographic memory." He grinned, "But I already had that before we were summoned. So, it's not really a loss. And I can get more mana by exercising my core like your troops are doing as part of their training."

Lyn nodded, "That makes sense. But why?"

Thomas looked at her and smiled, "I told you that prophecy. 'Until all are combined' is what the final line was. I think that you are meant to gather all the hero cores." He gestured to the wooden spheres, "There's enough here for all the heroes at Lynhold, with some spares in case you convince James, Kory, or Cecily to give up their hero cores."

"And then I just have to clear dungeons to call the remaining hero cores from their roaming."

"Right," Thomas said. He set all but one of the spheres back into the still-open storage space. "I wanted to try it, if you're up to it." He held up a slip of paper, "It will require you using the spell to extract my mana core, and having it synchronize perfectly with my consumption of the mana core."

Lyn frowned, "You're smart, but not wise," she commented. "Why not just give me thirty minutes, and I'll do an inscribed item that does both effects simultaneously? We know the hero core will not go flying off to the statue of Aelor, and I can even make, I don't know, a containment chamber to keep it in place."

Thomas went red and sheepishly nodded, "I…you're right. I'm not the best thinker."

Lyn smiled and went to a pile of scrap metal she had brought to her from the smithy. She found a clump of melted-together slag and focused on it. "Lova nin umain / ei lav a aniron." The substance warped and changed shape until she had a slightly phallic looking object in her hands – a metal tube with two spherical chambers on one end, and an opening on the far end. She focused her intent, and two small hinges appeared on the spherical chambers, and shifted color as one turned to brass, and the other to steel. "Now to inscribe it. Did you have any thoughts on the particulars for the spell?"

Thomas pulled a slip of paper from his pocket, "I've been working on it the past few days."

She nodded and grabbed a black adamantine sliver she had transmuted from her armor. A tiny bit that ultimately did not compromise the armor in any way, but the sharpened bit of metal would let her carve into any other solid substance with ease – save for adamantine. She carved the verses with precision into the spherical container ends, and the tube section, pouring mana into the inscriptions as she did so.

It took all her mana, and about half of the amount stored in her amulet, but she crafted the item within twenty minutes. "Done," she said as she held it up.

"It looks like a dick minus the tip," Thomas said as he stifled a giggle.

"Grow up," Lyn replied. "Place the dungeon core in the brass sphere." She held the device up, and Thomas did as he was told, placing the dungeon core inside of the container. She shut the lid, and pointed to the bed, "Lie down."

He went to the bed and did so, "I trust you Lyn," he said. "I want you to know, if something fucks up, that you've been a good friend since you came back to us. And I truly am sorry for helping erase memory of you from the past."

"Apology accepted. But humor me before we do this – gotta let my mana refill anyways – why are you okay with giving up the Knowledge core?"

"It just makes sense. I don't intend on going back to Earth, and if my theory is correct – which I won't know unless this works and I die – then this will just slightly lessen my current power." He smiled, "And I intend on getting that amount of mana back since I'll have plenty of time while working in Lynhold for The Eternal Empire. Mana exercises are going to be part of my daily routine going forward. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll have enough mana to use that inscription at the Ruins of Elent."

Lyn sat on the edge of the bed and gently held Thomas' hand with her claw. "You're going to make another clone, aren't you?"

"Oh yeah. I'll implant it with a dungeon core, since I don't know if my mana core will seek me out like the Knowledge hero core did." He grinned, "The same with Stellas. She is a bright one and will be invaluable serving your interests."

"Are you attracted to her?"

Thomas shook his head, "I've…I've only ever been physically intimate with one person." He met her gaze, "You. You were my first and last."

"By choice?"

"No. I mean, don't get me wrong. I liked sleeping with you – it was fun as an activity. But I'm aromantic. I wouldn't mind sleeping around a bit, but it is just so tedious."

Lyn laughed lightly, "Yeah, it can be a physically draining activity."

"How's your mana feeling?"

"It's refilled a good amount. Enough for this inscription." She took a deep breath and grabbed the device. "Are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Thomas said as he pulled off his shirt. Lyn placed the tube over his chest and channeled her mana into the device. The inscription lit up with blue flames and Thomas' eyes rolled into the back of his head as his mouth opened in a silent scream of pain. Lyn didn't let up, pouring mana into the device as steam rose from Thomas' torso.

She felt the 'thunk' of something being sucked into the chamber, and Thomas' eyes opened wide. "You alive?" she asked.

"I…" He coughed lightly, "I feel hot."

Lyn held her hand over him, "Enni ethilen vith / han aniron ringi i arad." An icy-cool mist sprayed from her hand and went over his body, and the redness vanished rapidly as he pulled on his shirt.

"I think it worked," he said, sitting up. Closing his eyes, he seemed to focus intently. "My mana reservoir is less than before."

Lyn popped open the spherical container and saw what looked like a crumpled-up piece of paper. Reaching down, she grabbed it and held it up. "Is this it?"

Thomas nodded, "Yup." He smiled broadly, "Mission accomplished! We have a device for the safe extraction of hero cores!" He rubbed his chin, "You could also use it to give dungeon cores to anyone, even if they didn't clear a dungeon. It would be an easy way to empower certain individuals."

Lyn pushed the mana core into her mana channel and felt the weird sensation of crumpled up paper pushing into her body. It was dropped into the inferno of her Destroyer core, and instantly submitted to the much stronger mana core. She felt a surge of energy through her and felt slightly woozy as she saw her entire life flash through her mind.

Every single event, every detail, everything she had ever read, seen, heard or otherwise experienced. "Holy fuck," she whispered as she reeled from it. The darker memories were there, but seemingly 'hidden' within their opaque vessels. Still repressed by the Destroyer core. Thank fuck for that. She wasn't sure that she could perfectly relive the trauma of her youth without coming out scarred.

"It's a lot at once," Thomas replied. "What did you eat for breakfast on February tenth before we were summoned?"

"I had a banana that Misty gave me, and then Trisha gave me a breakfast bar." Lyn shook her head, "Holy shit."

Thomas chuckled, "It's cool, isn't it?" He pointed at his temple, "Now, you're like me. Eidetic memory." He rubbed his chin, "But thankfully the cutoff is the age of reason, so around four or five years old. You don't have knowledge of your diaper days."

"Thank fuck for that," Lyn replied. "Does the Knowledge core give any new spell types?"

He smiled and nodded slightly, "You should have every spell type available now, just like Misty and I did. Plus, the perfect Elenthir knowledge – but I mean you were pretty damned learned in that department already."

Lyn held out her hand, "Let's try illusion then. Neledh an illuin imlad / dîn brann henion / na anim." She felt the mana pool in her palm and then the spell fizzled, the mana returning to her core. "Nope, not illusion."

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Thomas frowned, "Weird. Maybe the Destroyer core overrides the 'omni' spell type access from the Knowledge core?"

Lyn shrugged, "Let me do some tests." She focused the mana in her palm once more, and rifled through simple, small spells for each type she could not utilize. Each of them fizzled, save for the barrier external spell type. The one that required the least amount of mana. A sphere of protective energy surrounded her palm, and she felt the membrane surrounding her palm. If someone were to strike here, it would draw on my mana to prevent the damage.

"Well, look at that. You did get something at least." Thomas stood up and smiled, "My thanks. Now I don't have to worry about James killing me just for my core."

She looked up at him and let the spell fade, "That's why you wanted me to do this?"

"One reason," he said. "I told you the other one before." He gave Lyn a hug and made for the door, "Alright, time for some sleep. Make sure you put that device away!" As he left the room, Lyn channeled mana into the storage choker and placed the inscribed mana core swap device inside. She also opened the storage dimension with the mana cores and books from the Ruins of Elent and placed all the mana cores inside of her storage choker, to keep them isolated even further.

Then she flopped onto the bed, and closed her eyes, replaying the memories of one of her favorite events in her life – her eighth birthday where she got to go over to Misty's house, and she had a birthday cake made for her. Something she never would have received from her family. I hope you come and join me, Misty.

Several days passed. Lawrence continued his monitoring of Lynhold and had scouted all but the interior of the fortress itself, having seen several inscriptions around the base of the building and the edges of doors and windows. He didn't know what they did, so didn't risk it.

Seeing all his old allies was a nice treat. He learned that Ben and Trisha had named one of their children after him to honor him, and that would have made him cry if he was capable of it in this form. They really did miss me, he thought once he had learned that. Brad was the one he had kept the closest eye on though, since he and the Alchemist hero were good friends pre-summon.

After a week, he heard an enormous flapping noise. Looking up from his perch outside of Misty's hospital, he saw an enormous, black dragon descend from the skies. People stopped what they were doing and looked up; the ravens in the tower flying away from the possible threat.

The dragon landed in front of the fortress, and several figures slid down the back. He spotted Thomas, two Duskari that looked like fraternal twins, and a slim Duskari male who was difficult to notice at first. The draconic figure shifted, and their body returned to that of a Duskari. She had draconic features and began speaking to the surrounding people in Arinol. A large raven flew down and landed on one of her horns and began conversing with her.

The Duskari left to various tasks, but the human stood still and chatted with the draconic woman for several minutes. Here's your chance, Lawrence thought. He flew down and hovered in his hummingbird form in front of Thomas and this woman.

"Strange, these birds aren't native to this region," Thomas commented in English.

The woman looked with a critical eye, "Do you think there's a climate shift from the terraforming?" she asked in the same language.

It's definitely Lyn, then, Lawrence thought. Only the summoned heroes could speak English. Some ancient, powerful limiter prevented any who was not from Earth from speaking, writing, or reading the language – despite attempts to do so. He willed his form to change into his Human one. "Hi, Thomas. And You're Lyn, right?"

Thomas' jaw dropped, "Lawrence? You're alive?!"

"In the flesh."

Thomas moved forward and bear-hugged him, "Holy shit! I can't believe it! We all thought you were dead!"

"I got eaten and shat out by a dragon. Can't recommend the experience." He looked over Thomas' shoulder at the Duskari-dragon woman who grinned with delight.

"You're alive!" She shouted as she also came in and joined the hug. "Oh my God that's…wow, how was the ride through the stomach? Did it hurt?"

Lawrence extricated himself from the two, "It did hurt, quite a bit, but I'm okay." He looked at Lyn, "I heard you had died."

She crossed her arms and smirked, "I did. But I came back. I can fill you in if you'd like." She looked at Thomas, "Come to think of it, I haven't given the full story to the other heroes either. Why don't we all have dinner tonight? We can catch up and just share what's happened." She looked at Lawrence, "I'd really like to know why you chose to reveal yourself now. From Thomas' reaction, you must have been hidden away for a long, long time."

"I chose to be a hermit, find my Zen," Lawrence replied. "I was mad that everyone left me to die in the jaws of that dragon. So, once I had shifted and passed through its system, I found out I could turn into one myself."

"No shit? I can be one too. I'm sure you saw."

"I did. I'll admit, it's a bit disheartening knowing that I'm not super unique anymore."

Thomas interrupted, "How long have you been here?"

"A week. I've been spying and scouting out this place as a hummingbird."

Lyn smiled, "Well, you're still unique then. Being a dragon costs me constant mana."

Lawrence chuckled, "Score, guess I am still special since I can keep it up endlessly."

She wrapped an arm around the Shifter hero, "Let's get you set up with a nice room." She sniffed slightly and her face wrinkled, "Gah, and you need a bath. You can use mine. It's pure luxury."

Lawrence felt good. A warmth inside him. A sense that he was back where he belonged.

He was fine being on his own, being a hermit, finding his inner peace. But there was comfort from this warm reception and seeming acceptance of his sudden appearance. No one was upset like James' initially appeared, and after seeing how everyone was…enjoying life, he felt like this is where he needed to be. It was…comforting, being around his old classmates after so long alone in the wilds.

"Sure, I'd enjoy a nice hot bath."

Cecily sat on her throne at the center of her palace. The single, solitary point where the inscriptions all led to. "It's time," she stated aloud to her council who all knelt before her. "I will be channeling mana for several days. I will be aware of my surroundings, but unable to speak while I focus. I have servants ready to feed me, clean me, and ensure I stay alive; but I leave the managing of the realm to you until I have completed the task before me."

She trusted these councilors as they had all been thralled to her will, and she had already manipulated their memories to see her as their best hope for the future, a prophesied ruler that would lead them to an age of glory. One of them, her Spymaster, stood up. "Princess Cecily, we are honored to serve your will. I do have one report I need your direction on before you engage in your task."

"What would that be?"

The Spymaster approached and whispered in her ear, "VEROG has successfully completed. We have the perfect vessel ready for you. All that we lack is the spell from the Ruins of Elent."

Cecily nodded and smiled, "Excellent. I want the other VEROG candidates to continue in the program. I will need suitable offspring from them for an eventual replacement. Begin to find suitable male individuals with the qualities we had discussed."

"Your will be done." The Spymaster stepped down from the dais and knelt, "Her will be done!" she said loudly. The other advisors echoed her statement.

Cecily took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She felt the enormous ocean of mana within her mana core. Enough for the inscription, she thought. An inscription she had spent years perfecting along with ensuring that the necessary riders were in place. A mind external spell, with the memory subtype. It would affect all Humans between the Azure Divide and The Rill and extended out into the ocean some two-hundred miles to cover her island domains.

The effect was one she had struggled to perfectly and succinctly create, as the wording had to be impeccable, and without Thomas or Misty, she had to string together bits and pieces of Elenthir from existing spell books and verses she had memorized. In effect, this inscription would change the memories of every Human within range. To instill the memory that Cecily was a ruler that was prophesied since Shereld was founded by the Oracle hero Sherel Dior, and that Cecily would bring the nation into a new era. Each Human in the radius of the spell would have their memory altered so that they had heard the prophecy during their lifetime.

She had desired a more elaborate spell inscription but lacked the proper words. If only I had a dictionary of Shereldian to Elenthir, she thought. Then I could bring about more drastic changes to memory.

But one had to make do with what they had. Eventually, she would obtain the knowledge she needed from the Ruins of Elent; texts of the Elenthians that she could work on translating. A new spell in the future. For now, this would do. It would ensure that the duchies did not rise in revolt again. She would have a unified nation.

And then, we go to war. Bring James down, take over Khrelardia…repeat the spell, and then on to Trisk.

Finally, after years of planning, torturing, and extracting mana cores from the scum of her kingdom and the undesirable races…she was making her move.

The Bashinol Beacon shone brightly as Zebed's ship began to pull into the Free City's ports. His sons were playing around on the top deck, climbing in the rigging that was above the deck itself, and not above a certain height. He sighed contentedly as he watched his children engage in play as pirates. Staring out over the ocean, he took in the wonderous views of the Free City of Bashinol.

A mercantile republic created by seven families; three who owned vast sums of wealth and served as bankers and minted coinage, three who operated enormous trading companies, and one that acted as a local ruler for matters concerning the large island that the city was built upon. A large mountain was where the city center was built, and the docks were where all the wealth originated from. They had defensive fortifications built around the harbor, with large ballistae and trebuchets protecting the bay.

As they pulled into the docks of the Shedai merchant family, the boys scrambled down the rigging to join their father. "Felej and Gherod, reporting, father!" Felej shouted as he and his brother stood at attention.

"At ease," Zebed said with a chuckle. "Having fun playing soldier?"

"Mhmm," Gherod muttered. "Tevol taught me how to salute!" he raised his fist into the air above his shoulder.

"Impressive," Zebed said as the ship was moored to the docks and the gangplank was set down. "You really enjoyed yourselves then?"

Felej nodded, "Yes, father. It was fun. When will we see them next?"

"In a few months, I can send you with your uncle if you choose with one of the trade ships." The boys both seemingly buzzed with energy at that comment. "But," Zebed said as he raised a cautionary finger, "You both will have to excel at your studies." That immediately darkened their demeanor, and Zebed laughed as he picked his boys up under his arms and carried them down the gangplank much to their chagrin.

"Father let me down! I can walk down the docks on my own!" Gerod shouted.

"Oh, alright then," Zebed replied as he set the two boys down. "I'm having you both head up to the family estate with the servants. I have an errand here in the city proper."

The boys both nodded and took off, being chased by a few of the servants. Zebed wasn't concerned – his children were both dressed in his house's colors, and they had been forced to memorize the layout of the city. No one would dare lay a finger on the child of one of the seven houses.

Zebed waved to a few guards and had them escort him to the location he most hated visiting. A dark, narrow-street area known simply as The Choke. It was where some of the seedier industries plied their trade, and he needed the help of a very specific person. He arrived at his destination and left his guards outside as he entered the establishment.

The smell of spices hit his nostrils, and a squat Foskor looked up at him from a bench. "Ah, you must be the new proprietor," Zebed commented.

"Aye, I took over from my poppa. What can I do for you?"

"I need people. Displaced people. Ones that would be willing to resettle in a new location."

The Foskor nodded and opened a tome, flipping through several pages. "How will these services be paid for?"

"Coin," Zebed commented as he pulled out a slip of paper that contained his house seal, his name, and could be redeemed at one of the banks. "I want twenty-thousand people of any race, to be brought to port."

"That's a hefty number. I'll have to employ some outsider contractors."

"That is fine," Zebed replied. He also slid some directions written on a slip of paper, "Ensure you follow the directions perfectly."

"Pleasure doing business," the Foskor replied. "I'll have the merchandise delivered to the Shadai docks. Which warehouse?"

"Four," Zebed replied as he left the building.

Employing pirates left a sour taste in his mouth, but he really had no choice. They could more readily go into port towns and round up beggars and those with no prospects. His instructions were clear; they were not to coerce or force people to go with them, but instead deliver a very simple sales pitch.

Effectively, they were selling themselves to the Shadai family. But instead of being used as indentured servants, they would be sent to the Valley of the Volcano, and Zebed would be making hefty coin from the transaction. It would take months to set it up as a constant revenue stream, but eventually, once word got around to those seeking a new life, he would be able to drop the pirates as contractors and work directly with port towns.

It is a winning situation for everyone, he thought. Those who need a new lease on life will have their opportunity, I make money, and Lady Rivers gains the civilians she desires. He smiled as he left The Choke and ascended towards the heights of the city, up to his family's estate.