Tree of Aeons

304. Border Control III

304. Border Control III

Year 276 (III)

Even though the interaction with the White Shore went decently well, it made us curious of the intricacies of the World Faith System, specifically, how the entire hero summoning system worked. So, Lumoof decided it was important enough to travel back to Hawa’s core world to figure it out. 

Lumoof landed back in the world of Satrya, and the little relic in his hand whirled. Here, closer to Hawa, the item itself recharged faster. There was already divine energy in the world itself, and all the relic had to do was tap into it.

Stella’s ability to move through the void space is overpowered in it’s own way. For one, it made it easier for us to speak. 

“I have more questions.” I asked through Lumoof. “Some of the worlds we encountered have powerful domain holders that have taken hold of those worlds, and protected them from the demon kings. Interfering with what they do to the heroes may cause a confrontation. How does the hero summoning work in detail? In such situations, can you stop summoning heroes?”

“Which worlds?”

“The 13th world, Khubor, and the 15th one, White Shore.” I answered. 

The relic hummed, and then. “Wait a moment-”

I thought that was weird. 

“Wait. You can do that?”

“I am obligated to summon heroes if I do not have information, or if situations change. But, if I receive reliable information that those worlds are self-sufficient, as gods, I can raise a dispute on my faith point spending for these worlds. The intention of the system is to bind the gods together for mutual protection. If there’s no need for protection, I can raise an objection. The System permeates everything, it knows whether the information is legitimate or not.”

That made both myself and Lumoof wonder whether we could trick the World Faith System into verifying information on our behalf.  “But, why doesn’t the World Faith System cancel it automatically?”

“The Gods prefer that everyone participates in an arrangement, rather than everyone opting out. There are also factors that the System may not be able to foresee. But for Khubor- It seems that my information is not yet sufficient. Did you meet said domain holder?”

“-No. Not yet.” 

“Perhaps that is how the System verifies whether you know, or not.”

“Is this because you can’t see those worlds?” I countered. “Why can’t you spend faith points to verify it yourself?”

“I could, yes. My information on these peripheral worlds is scarce, and all I could tell is that my heroes die. I feel the link of magic to the heroes fade, and that a demon king died. I do not know who participated in the battle, or how it died. It also does not help that there’s a huge lack of followers on these worlds, so they do not transmit fragments of their knowledge to me on death.”

“And you won’t?”

“If you will meet this existence anyway, I may as well save on the faith points.”

“True. You learn from people dying?” In hindsight, that seemed obvious.

“I learn from prayers. I learn from the death of my followers. I learn from those who have faith, and offer me sacrifices. It is the power of the World Faith System. Their Faith in me provides the knowledge I need to act.”

It is similar to my ability to collect souls, but the World Faith System does work on a larger scale. “Does this work if the soul gets stolen?”

“No. When the spirit of a dead person enters the void, that is when the fragment of their identity merges with the system, where I would then collect it. If the soul fails to reach the void sea, then I do not gain it.”

Ah. So Khubor has been indirectly cutting information off by stealing the souls of the dead. “Why does the system force you to protect these worlds?”

“It is the old gods, each unable to trust each other, but need each other’s faith to collectively protect the worlds from the system. So, the old gods weaved this requirement into the World Faith System in its nascent stage, to compel all of us to do our part. A mutual defense pact.”

Trust, or lack thereof. I saw parallels of this in so many things, where collective action is needed to get out of problems, but when each acted selfishly, it led to the worst type of outcomes. It’s unfortunately just game theory playing out on a large scale.

“Naturally, the old gods didn’t think the lesser deities needed to play a role.”

“That does not seem like a glowing testimony of the other god’s personalities.”

“Those who have power are often a little bit paranoid, even when they don’t need to be. If you have a visit to the domain holder of Khubor, that will help my ability to dispute the hero summon.”

On some level, I felt it rather comical that gods still have to engage in information gathering to argue their own case. It’s as if the system was this irritating system of governance that didn’t want to move unless prodded.

Year 277

Alka’s revival happened without much warning. 

It just happened one moment when his eyes opened, and the pod naturally unfurled to release him from his long sleep. Then, his domain expanded, reasserting its presence on the world around him. 

“It’s good to be awake. I was in a really, really long dream.” He said, as he realized where he was. Somehow, he knew I was there watching. Maybe it was my presence.

“Good to have you back, friend.” I said, as I alerted the rest of the domain holders. They were all on their way back. 

He blinked, stretched, and picked up a robe that was already gathering dust. “You’ve waited a long time.”

“A little. Seventeen years is a long time, and much has happened.” 

Alka looked outside, and he could feel it. “I know I just came out of a pod, but I’m already eager to head back and have a [dream academy] replaying the years I’ve missed.”

“That’ll have to wait. The rest of them are on their way here.” 

“Ah. Fine. I guess they’ll miss me after- seventeen years? Man, that long dream is so misleading, I thought I was asleep for only a few years.” 

“Did you get anything for your sacrifice?” I asked, curious whether he leveled. “Any new abilities?”

“Surprisingly, yes. I’m now Level 171, and I’ve gotten the ability [Physical Mana Manifestation]. It’s the ability to turn raw mana, both mine and others, into a kind of physical object which can then be used as a bomb. In a way, it’s pure mana as a bomb, no intermediaries, no need for crystals and all that sort of stuff. Right now, we store mana in crystals and various potato storages spread throughout the world, but this physical mana manifestation pretty much leaps through them and turns the mana emitted from our souls into a physical object that can be used as a bomb, and maybe a battery.”

“Wait. Wait. Doesn’t that mean you could use my mana to create a very big bomb?” I said, realizing how this power interacted with my own extensively large mana pool. Of all the domain holders, I had the largest mana pool by multiple orders of magnitude. 

“Well- yes. There’s got to be some downside to it-” Alka said, and after a few seconds, he figured it out. “Ah. Handling. It’s kinda fragile and could easily blow up. Because it’s like pure mana in physical form, anyone not strong enough could easily get mana overload and mana poisoning. And it also decays over time, though relatively negligible when compared to how frequently we use crystal bombs.”

“The bombs may be obsolete, though. We’re at the level where we can handle demon kings.” I had to correct him, though I could see such a physical bomb as a powerful tool on the Sun-Rings. If we could blow it up, we didn’t even need to rely on Hawa’s divine weapon, whatever that was. 

Alka paused as the bombshell just hung in the air. After a few seconds, he spoke again. “I really do need to get to that [dream academy] and have a recap of what happened in the past seventeen years. I missed out on a lot.”

“Yeah. In a way.” 

At about that time, the door to the pod opened and the rest of the domainholders gave Alka a big group hug. It was a strangely nice feeling to see my domain holders give Alka a hug. 

“It’s really you, isn’t it?” Stella laughed.

Alka rolled his eyes as if it was obvious. “Maybe. Maybe the real me died that day and what you see now is a perfect replica.” 

“It is a perfect replica, physically.” I answered. “But his soul is the same one.” 

Stella grinned. “Good enough, I guess.” 

I allowed my domain holders to have a half a day to catch  up, and then Alka, as he requested, had a long few days digesting the events of the past seventeen years in my [dream academy]. 

***

We needed to hold the worlds, for a period of time. 

At least for one or even two demon king cycles. Alka had a lot of ideas in his mind after he reviewed the data, and one of the first things he did was calculate whether we could blow up the Sun-Rings with his new ability.

Our initial information was fairly encouraging. It would leave a rather big hole, and the Sun-Rings are such a massive object that it would likely survive. If we could make bombs equal to ten times my current mana, it should leave a large crack. With Edna and Lumoof’s ability to fend off the demon kings, we could potentially destroy the Sun-Rings if we hit it multiple times.

I’m not sure if it’ll be enough to destroy the strange demonic barrier that blocked our view of the inner demon realms, but we will have to try. 

“So, now that you know what’s up, what do you plan to do?”

The dwarven master alchemist laughed. “Let’s just say, I have some dreams I suddenly feel like fulfilling.”

“Oh, alright, what will it be?” 

“I’ll make a trip to Delvegard.” Alka said with a stereotypical dwarven grin. “That seems like the best place to get me up to speed and relive some of my fantasies.” 

***

Lausanne, the world of Magisar.

Lausanne stood on the edge of their newly built city. There were few demons these days, in the past few months, even more demons were slain, and increasingly, their once skeptical refugees and escapees from the towers began to see the merit of their ways. 

There truly was nothing like power. 

Sadly, not everyone saw it that way. 

“There’s a planned rebellion to push us out, milady.” One of her subordinates reported during a regular weekly meeting. The actual Valthorn force deployed on Magisar wasn’t large, only a hundred to two hundred. The Valthorn’s extensive weakening of the demons, together with an alliance of the mages that supported the battles, gave the local Tower Masters the wrong idea.

The Tower Masters presumed that the Valthorns only comprised two hundred to three hundred or so mages, and they were thinking of overwhelming the entire Valthorn force during one of the battles against the demons. 

In some ways, the Valthorns supplied the ingredients for the Tower masters to plan the rebellion. The destruction of various demonic hives meant the disruptions were removed, and the old [message] networks were restored. 

So, the Tower Masters, eager to regain control over the entire world and place as the rulers of the world, quickly plotted with their peers. 

In their minds, 10,000 mages across the ten or twenty or so towers would be enough to take on two hundred or so Valthorns. In order to make it happen, the Tower Masters would all deploy some secret teleportation scrolls to launch the attack together. 

“Why do people do things like this?” Lausanne sighed, as she heard the full scope of what the Valthorn spies discovered. “Do they truly think they’ll win?”

“They might, if the Tower Masters themselves arrive.” One of Lausanne’s assistants answered. “They don’t quite understand the full scope of our strength.” 

Both Ebon and Hoyia were redeployed to other worlds, and she looked at the report again. 

“At least half of their mages will die if we let this attack happen. That’s a massive waste of magical talent.” Lausanne said with a sigh.

“I think we should haul up the Tower Masters. Let them know what exactly they are facing.” 

Lausanne paused, as she thought about it. “Is that the best course of action? I mean, how can we truly solidify our impression on the Magisarians that we truly mean to help them.”

Each of them suggested different ideas, but was there really a way to stop the conflict in such a way that would show them the gap between the two forces? Something that would truly show the Magisarians that in a real ‘war’, there really is a huge gap?

Something that would truly spare them the enemies?

In the end, Lausanne thought of a few different ways to solve the problem, but ultimately, the solution was some variant of Aeon’s Perspective.

Fear.

She hated using fear to convince others, but there are times there is no choice. 

Fear was a survival tool, and for those scheming against them, it would save their lives. There are those who didn’t think it through. Perhaps the hold of their old system was too strong. 

It was hard for people to change overnight, what more such a large, cultural change. 

Fear was a fence. It would keep them safe. Conflict was inevitable, sometimes, this conflict was peaceful, sometimes, it was deadly. As Aeon’s envoy to these worlds, they had an incentive to keep things peaceful. 

It was kind. She knew and spoke to some of the Magisarians that would rebel. They even fought together briefly during one of the earlier attacks on the demons. 

She tried her best for the charm offensive. To convince their minds that choosing Aeon was the right choice. But in the end, the presence of the domain holders on Magisar was fairly temporary, and only a few felt what is like to stand before what 

She double checked, and together with her team, came up with a plan. One that would allow the archmages to go all the way, only for it to fail at the last moment. 

***

The Tower Masters wanted to strike during one of the larger offensives against the demon hives. They saw that as their last window of opportunity where quite a few of the Valthorns would be gathered in the same place. 3,000 mages of the various Magisarian Towers were supporting the attack, and at the same time, about 6,000 more mages from across the field.

Lausanne was there, as were ninety of the other Valthorns deployed to Magisar prepared for the battle. Only about half of them knew of the coming betrayal, so the other half that didn’t would be updated at the last minute, and sent into the demonic hives first.

“Lady Lausanne.” A Magisarian mage came over, there was a trembling in his hands. “Will we launch the attack on the demons soon?” 

Lausanne looked at the hive, as a Magisarian mage walked over. He was one of those who joined the refugee camps. Yet somehow, the Tower Masters promised him great titles, positions and wealth if he cooperated with their schemes. She would’ve understood if it was someone like Lezzan, the old leader of the refugees that decided to side with the Tower Masters. 

Some of those left not because they were against the structure of society, but merely because they did not benefit from it. 

The Valthorns played the political game of Magisar, and won the right to rule through their magical prowess. Alas, the game was there only when it benefited them. Already, the Tower masters whispered how it wasn’t meant to allow foreigners to come and claim the Towers, even if it was never formally written down. 

Lausanne looked at the demonic hives. It was quite far away, and the mage’s pulse was ragged. He didn’t have much sleep. 

The demonic golem hives were crowded, there were the large demonic golem champions. “Yes. Soon. This is the last demonic hive. What’s left is only the King, and we will get to that soon. Are you ready?” 

The mage gave a nod, but his body language was unnatural. He knew today would be the day the natives would try to flush out these ‘invaders’.

“It will be a glorious day. The day of the last hive purged from Magisar.” Lausanne explained. “Maybe it’ll be recorded as the Battle of Nothlend’s Valley.” 

The native mage could only nod. 

“Maybe you have another name for today?” Lausanne teased, and she felt the native mage tremble. There was something he wanted to say, but he couldn’t. “Relax, it’s just a joke. It’s just the first step. Rebuilding your world is going to take a while.”

Lausanne sighed, and tapped the Magisarian mage on the shoulder. 

“Change is hard. Removing threats doesn’t mean Magisar is ready to be a member of the wider world, and the society must be ready to contribute, just as it will receive aid and rewards for doing so.” 

She wondered whether he would hesitate at the last moment.

The archmage Blackmoore led the charge into the demonic hive, as the Valthorns struck first. They always did. The native army’s role was just to support the Valthorns’ assault. 

She glanced at a corner, and sighed. The mage bowed as he tried his best not to expose their plot. “I must go prepare, Lady Lausanne.”

He didn’t. It was a shame that someone she thought would be receptive to change still wanted the old order. 

Lausanne sighed, and felt a familiar hand on her shoulder. “A good try, Lausanne. But do not worry, they won’t be harmed in the little demonstration.” 

The elf nodded. She led the rest of the deployed Valthorns. “Valthorns!” She shouted, as the rest of the Valthorn force gathered around her. “Let us destroy the last demonic hive!” 

The small group of high level Valthorns roared, and they all charged into the demonic hives. Only Lausanne and another Valthorn stayed back. The scheme had begun, as she felt the activation of teleportation spells. The army of the local Magisarian mages grew, as hundreds more mages joined the existing army, and then, the Tower Masters appeared. 

She had to focus to feel them moving around. They didn’t shine like the Valthorns. 

“Attack!” The shout came from behind the lines, and Lausanne closed her eyes. She turned and saw a trembling mage. The same mage that spoke to her, and their eyes met. The mages launched a volley at the demonic hives. The hives were done for, anyway. 

“Attack the invaders.” The second volley was the key signal.

The mage steeled himself, and yet, Lausanne stared into his eyes and said. “You don’t have to do this.”

He did, anyway. He raised his magical staff, as did many others, and they all launched a spell, this time aimed at the Valthorns. 

The spells were fired, and smashed into Lausanne’s protective wooden shields. The Tower Masters flew overhead, they were armed in all their best weapons, and a battering of spells smashed into Lausanne’s shields. 

“Die, invaders!” They said.

Lausanne’s shield held. They underestimated the sheer gap of power between them. 

“No one is hurt, yet.” Lausanne heard the same familiar voice in her head. She nodded.

The Valthorns that knew of the betrayal quickly moved to protect their peers that didn’t. Lausanne emerged at the center of a heavily damaged crater, and looked at the Tower Masters. “So this is what you’ve elected, Tower Masters?” Lausanne said with a smile that terrified the Tower masters. 

One of them had a look at the grin on her face and knew they had fucked up. 

“You’ve brought quite an army to support this attack, and yet your attacks fail to even get past my shields.” Lausanne declared. In truth, very few in the world could. Her shields came with Aeon’s special blessings, and that meant her shields were always above and beyond everyone else, only those in the domain could match her. 

Lausanne walked towards the group of thirty or so Tower Masters, many of these floating Towers had a few Tower Masters, not all of them were here. They were wise to do so. 

“All you’ve brought is an audience for your execution.” Lausanne declared, as the Tower Masters panicked. The second wave of spells smashed into her shields and did nothing. 

The mood in the thousands of mages present changed. 

“You must wonder why we are strong.” Lausanne declared. 

Lumoof’s invisibility vanished right next to her, but his presence was zero. He hid his powers. 

“Tower Masters, come.” Lausanne declared. “Show me the nerve of your resistance. The fire that possessed you to fight us.” 

The Tower Masters did, a few of the ringleaders shouted. “Don’t fear her! She’s just taunting us!”

Their spells gathered, and just then, a wave of anti-magic spread throughout the entire valley. Lausanne nodded at Lumoof briefly, the [anti magic aura] meant not many would be hurt. 

“Come.” Lausanne said, as the army of mages realized quite a few of their magical equipment and spells were not functioning.

“What- what’s happening?” The disbelief in the army.

Lausanne withdrew a spear of anti-magic, a pure glass weapon. To the magic-sensitive Magisarians, it was akin to staring into a whirlpool that drained magic from around it. 

The Tower Masters had to use higher tier spells that were unaffected by the anti-magic aura. They all smashed helplessly into Lausanne’s anti-magic spear. She walked towards them menacingly, while the lower level mages were rendered not much more than regular, magic-less foot soldiers. 

Her physicality meant she reached them, and she gave them a punch. Their shields were useless, all it took was a light poke by her spear and its magical energies were sapped. They were not built for rigor. . 

The army of mages watched helplessly.

“These are your tower masters.” Lausanne declared, as she flung the bloodied tower masters on the floor. “They led you, and told all of you that made you believe you had a chance.”

She glared. 

“All of you are just fodder. They are more than prepared to see three quarters of you die, just so that they can stand atop of your world once more.”

The army of mages of Magisar were generally below Level 60. 

And yet, to Lausanne’s bewilderment, they raised their weapons. She saw in their eyes those who dared to fight them. If only they used that daring against the demons instead of them.

“Even before those who are twice your levels, do you really want to do this?” Lausanne asked, and those present were shocked. “You might still think you have a chance against me?” 

She looked at the group of Tower Masters, and they were still somehow defiant. Their spells blasted into her wall of wooden shields. Those who followed them attacked with their own weapons. Some of them held hero-items.

A waste of such good weapons in the hands of lesser mages for the purpose of a power struggle. 

Why? 

Were they unfair to them? All they did was round up their army, and cobbled them together into a unified fighting force. And yet, they used that opportunity to rebel against them instead. 

She glared at the Tower masters, and they did not relent. 

She saw courage. Misplaced courage, in the heart of the mages who believed they were fighting an occupier. 

Were they occupiers? Lausanne knew they were not. 

Yet somehow, despite their spies and allies, the Tower Masters managed to convince so many mages that they were. That these mages and wizards were freedom fighters. 

Courage. They were driven into a frenzy as the Tower Masters continued their attack. She could feel them use some kind of magic that blessed the mages under their banner, and raise their spirits. 

Words would not do now.

Lausanne’s eyes looked into those mages that stood against them, despite being so outclassed. They believed her reluctance to hurt them as a sign that they had a chance. 

So brave and yet so foolish. 

She felt sad for them, because she did not really want to use Aeon’s presence to crush their spirits. She had seen those broken by Aeon’s presence, and it was hard for them to find their courage again. 

Yet the alternative was death. The alternative was a spell that would hurt them. Or a perpetual guerilla rebellion as these mages continued to believe their chances. 

Lumoof waited. It would be her call as the temporary leader of the Valtrian Magisar Division. 

She weighed the odds in her heart, and finally relented. “Lumoof, let us show them who stands at the heart of our organization.” 

Aeon’s Avatar descended, and the air instantly turned oppressive, and the Tower Masters gazed at the sky, only to see darkness. The sun was blocked, as the towering presence loomed over the entire army. 

“With each rebellion, and each resistance, the perceived value of your world to us diminishes.” Lausanne declared. “Those of us here are trying to prove that your world still has value, and thus should be trained to be a part of the bigger war.”

In the face of something like Aeon, somehow everything just stopped. The mages looked in foolish courage only to find an abyss of stars looking back at them.

In Aeon’s Avatar they saw the cruel reality that they never stood a chance. 

In that moment, Lausanne rushed ahead, and grabbed one of the mastermind’s robes, and pulled him up. They were vulnerable. The Magisarians were never a physical kind, and next to Lausanne, this much was clear. Lausanne was a slim elven woman, but her limbs were all strong, dense, and flexible.

“We’ve known of your schemes for a while.” Lausanne declared loudly to the man’s face, but its intended audience was everyone else. “It is quite convenient that you’ve identified those with rebellious tendencies for us.” 

The army of mages all panicked, but they had no words. They were unable to. The pressure that pressed on them was now too strong.

“I had such high hopes.” The elven lady sighed, she spotted the traitorous mage hiding in the crowd. “All of you will live, but your loyalties were tested today, and found lacking. Return to your home cities and towers, mages. All of you are now barred from all preference trades and all benefits with the Order are suspended until you’ve atoned for your rebellion.”

Through Lumoof, a group of three hundred or so Valthorns appeared. It was a temporary deployment, a force that was meant for the other worlds, but Lausanne borrowed them to control the rebellion. 

The Tower Masters could not resist, as Aeon’s vines wrapped around them. 

Lausanne sighed. “I’ll deal with you later. The rest of them, please send them home.”

There was no need to imprison them. The fear will haunt them for the rest of the month. The power of [Haunted Forest] at Aeon’s level is an imprint on their psyche. 

The Tower Masters knew they were doomed. Some of them expected death.

Lausanne sighed, and still, she didn’t want to kill them. There was no need for death when there are demons to kill. “I believe these Tower Masters are in need of some perspective.” 

They were whisked away for a good year-long trip on Lavaworld. 

Thus, one of the most peaceful failed rebellions on Magisar, where the only injuries are some bloodied faces and bruises. 

But the scar on the minds of Magisar’s mages will take an eternity to heal.