Silver Stars, Ch 6: Departure (Patreon)

The emissaries were still feasting in the great hall as Sam and Keros arrived. 

Sam’s avatar that was at the table announced the new guest.

“Some of you might recognize the elder that you came here to meet,” he said. “He is one of the Cer’Aleth and an old friend of mine. We worked together to drive off the Vos’Rekan when it came here before. He was injured in that attack and has been recovering, but now he is able to meet with you.”

As he finished speaking, his avatar disappeared in a flare of silver flame and was replaced by Sam’s true body and Kerosto. To those watching, it looked like Sam didn’t move at all, except for a ripple of starlight. 

Kerosto looked across the hall, taking in the emissaries. 

He smiled when he saw Solis and Jesra, and frowned slightly at Berim, probably because he was an Archalis. His race wasn’t the safest choice for a mission, but their crazed genius was sometimes useful.

Despite staying near Aster Fall, it was clear that he was familiar with their backgrounds, if not them individually. His Analysis was high enough to fill in the missing details.

Normally, there might have been some confidence in his stance after seeing reinforcements, but he didn’t seem to be very impressed with them. He had a small frown before his expression cleared.

“Solis’Erasti’Nestim,” he said. “It is always good to see another Cer’Aleth. Our numbers are few. Your presence warms me. Your age tells me that the core of our homeland still burns bright.”

“Elder Kerosto’Era’Naratoth!” Solis was wide-eyed as he jumped out of his seat and bowed in response. 

“I knew one of our people was here, but I did not expect that it was the Lord of Crystal Spells! Of all our people, you are the most powerful who is not already on the council. I grew up hearing stories of your deeds. Forgive me for not standing more quickly.”

“Formalities have their place, but they’ve never been that important to our people.” Kerosto smiled and waved his hand lightly. “Deeds are worth more, as well as attention to history, like that here at Aster Fall. Crystal remembers the slow passage of time.”

Solis’s words had warned the rest of them who he was, so they all quickly stood up to greet him. Their respect for Kerosto was much quicker than what they had offered to Sam, but it was on the same level.

Apparently, he had quite a history before he became the Astral Guardian.

“Your eminence,” Tenal bowed, his wings flaring out to the sides. “I was not aware you were the elder here. Forgive me for any discourtesy.” 

The others offered their own apologies, one after the other, but Keros just waved them away. Then he turned to Jesra.

“Jesra Soralis,” he said kindly, “a descendant of Spring and Winter. Your ancestors and I have met many times. They have always been a guiding light to the council. It is good to see their connection to Aster Fall remains strong.”

“Elder,” Jesra bowed her head politely in response, but it didn’t hide her smile at being recognized. “My grandmother said she was here at the beginning, and so she wanted me to come and help, if I could, that it was a family responsibility.”

She paused for a moment.

“But like everyone else,” she admitted, “I’m not very familiar with Aster Fall. She only said that I should come. The Lord Titan has filled in some of those details, but it will take time to understand everything.” 

“Aster Fall is a unique place,” Keros said with a nod. “I am sure that we can answer your questions. If I do not know, our host probably does.”

He indicated Sam with a brief grin.

“There will be time for questions soon enough, and again as we travel. You all know the importance of why you are here, and so we must deal with the beast before we have time to relax. Even now, centuries are passing in your homelands, so if you wish to return before too long, we must hurry.”

Jesra inclined her head to him as she stepped back, and Keros turned to the next.

“Rohne Garasi,” he said, “a descendant of the Seventh General of the Dragon Spirits, aren’t you?” He nodded at Rohne, who grinned in response. “I know your father.”

He turned to Tenal next.

“And yours, Tenal Whitewing, son of the White Vengeance. Your father and I once fought together at the Battle of the Middle Sea. He was very young then. It is strange to think how much time must have passed for him.”

Tenal bowed low in response, but he was still surprised by Kerosto’s arrival and only said a few polite phrases.

“And Berim Vias,” Keros said finally as he turned to the Archalis. There was a touch of caution in his tone. “Your family’s name is well known, though I have not met too many of you. I hope you will lean toward the more helpful side of things here? I am all too aware of the effects your family’s experiments have had.”

“Of course, Lord Naratoth,” Berim replied immediately. He was studying Keros with an intent gaze. “You were wounded in the earlier battle? I see no mark of it. Have you healed fully? Your people have always been durable, but I understand that the Vos’Rekan’s attacks leave lasting scars due to its ability to manipulate dimensional fire. Those wounded by them do not easily recover.” “That is thanks to our host,” Keros said easily, brushing aside most of Berim’s curiosity. “The Titans have their methods. You will have to ask him to explain them to you, if he wishes to. I warn you not to be too curious. The Titans have always had unique abilities that cannot be copied.

“I know your people’s desire for knowledge, but you must temper your expectations so you are not disappointed when you find it is beyond you. And remember that it is impolite to ask too many times.”

His tone was chiding, but it was mild, like he wanted to remind Berim to behave. 

With the introductions finished, he stepped back.

“Our host will explain more. Remember that this is his hunt to arrange. The Vos’Rekan and the Titans are ancient enemies and the Titans know best how to fight them. I will be treating him as my commander in this battle. You should do the same. Now give him your full attention.” Sam nodded to Keros as he indicated the image of the Vos’Rekan that was still floating above the table. 

“Let me tell you about their strengths and weaknesses,” he said. “And you can tell me more about your abilities, so that we can determine the best way to fight together.”

A flicker of runes made an image of Silverguard appear above the table as well, accurate down to the smallest detail. There was even a glow of firelight from the great hall at the center of it.

“First, you should know that we will not be fighting without defenses. Silverguard will come with us.”

He had built the fortress to withstand the Vos’Rekan and to defend Aster Fall, but that didn’t mean it was locked in place.

***

Stars flowed past in streaks of silver light as Sam stood at the peak of Silverguard.

He had brought the entire fortress with him onto the astral paths, the same as he had once brought the Ice Drake.

It was much larger, but he was able to handle it, especially with the support of Silverguard itself. The artifact spirit’s presence hummed in his awareness, accompanied by the vast resonance of the enchantments that supported the island.

They were traveling at an intense speed, much faster than the traveling platform that had brought the emissaries here. 

He was alone up here, but one of his avatars was with the reinforcements, working with them to integrate their abilities into his battle plan.

Another was with Sleset, working with the Silver Nagas to refine their group formation abilities for attack and defense that came from the Blessing of Silver Stars.

It had two parts: Armament of the Stars and Field of Silver Stars. 

The first was a joint barrage of star-aligned rays from their weapons, which was similar to his own Stellar Bombardment.

The second was a group defensive shield, which looked like an aura of silver stars that shone from their scales.

The more of them there were and the more mana they channeled into the abilities, the stronger they were.

They also had Fourth Evolution artifacts for attack and defense that would boost their strength, and a massive attribute boost from his Blessing of Silver Stars.

With the increase from his domain, it added 30% of his Charisma to all of his followers’ attributes. It also boosted all of their abilities by a tier, up to Epic. 

His golems counted as his followers, so they also received the benefits.

He glanced at his Charisma total to see what it was worth.

He hadn’t been idle while finishing repairs on Silverguard, and his avatars had hunted for all the experience and essence they could gather in the Void. The one in the Deep Void had the most time and was constantly sending him an influx of both.

He’d gained another thirteen levels before the reinforcements arrived.

He was up to Level 481.

His essence constellation had also improved by a bit over two million stars. It was up to 21,725,405 / 30,000,000.

It was a decent amount of attribute gains, but he only looked at his Charisma. His Lord of the Silver Void class was adding 150 to it per level, and now that he was nearing the peak of the Fourth Evolution, it was significant.

Those 13 levels had added another 2700 Charisma, and that added half of itself to every other attribute. 

His Intelligence had grown enough that he was able to summon another two avatars, for a total of 23, plus his true body.

He was at 16,825 Charisma total, which meant that the Silver Nagas and his golems received 5,047 to all of their attributes.

It was an enormous amount, worth over 35,000 total. That was roughly equivalent to a Level 450 fighter, although better balanced. 

It wasn’t focused on just their main attributes, so it didn’t double their strength, but it made them more durable and gave them a large advantage against any like-level enemy. 

That was the real value of the Blessing of Silver Stars.

Compared to a similarly-leveled army with the same starting strength, with their formation abilities and improved attributes they would cut through them like a hot knife through butter.

It just needed to be enough against the Vos’Rekan.

He turned to look at the rest of Silverguard, his thoughts flowing through 23 different avatars at once as he took in all of their activities.

He’d left two avatars behind on Aster Fall, one at the Moonlight Relic to oversee things there and one to watch over Portal and the advance of the Army of Aster Fall into the World Seal.

The one at the relic was integrating the aura crystals he’d brought from the three moons, using them to infuse the relic’s core.

The one in the Deep Void was his strategist, using the vast amount of time it had to create plans and enchantments, while the others were his hands.

They were working swiftly to strengthen the fortress’s offensive arrays and support the golem chamber’s production. 

Their efforts were already paying off.

Silverguard’s offensive capabilities were increasing, and with them to provide astral quintessence and base materials, the fortress was steadily creating new assault and shield golems.

A few of the avatars were focused on designing more personalized command-class golems as well, ones similar to Silverbeak in strength. They would be the leaders for that force.

He didn’t give them names, only numbers, since he was expecting to lose most of them.

It would take a little while to find the Vos’Rekan, but he could sense it in the distance like an unerring beacon that pulled him onward.

He could have waited longer to go after it, but the time was right. 

Silverguard would be up to full strength before he found it and he would have at least a thousand golems.

It was a lurking threat, one that would return eventually if he didn’t chase it down. It was better to do it now than to wait until it was healed.

The last battle had nearly torn its head apart, so if they were lucky, it wouldn’t be at full strength for a while.

More than that, he wanted the essence and materials from it. He had plans for them, ones that would help Aster Fall.

Its essence should be enough to get him to the Fifth Star, and perhaps the Fifth Evolution as well. Those two benchmarks were the minimum level he planned to reach before he faced the Avatar of Blood again. 

The Fifth Star would also let him activate the teleportation gate on Caelus. Then he could send his avatars out even farther, where they could have 210 times the time compression. That would let him advance his crafting and decide how to rescue Asenya from Blood’s old realm.

If needed, he would hunt the Void until his strength grew high enough to crush the avatar, but he didn’t think it would be that easy to reach the Sixth Evolution or the Sixth Star.

The Sixth Evolution was marked by discovering a Truth of reality, something that made existence bend to your will. It wasn’t such a simple thing.

There was something about it that held most people back, like Keros, a division that made it hard for them to find the key.

He wasn’t sure if that difficulty would apply to him or not, so he was making plans for how to face the avatar without it.

At the moment, that meant getting more Fragments of the Primal Void from the Vos’Rekan, upgrading his equipment, and designing enchantments that would tear the demon’s realm to pieces before he could stop it.

His hands tightened as he looked out from the peak.

If he could do all of that and heal Asenya, then with the support of the relic to stabilize Aster Fall, they could rebuild the World Seal and bring an end to invasions.

At least for a while. 

He didn’t think the Outsiders would stop their efforts, but if he could repair the World Core and stabilize the Nexus, it would be possible to control their entry, tilting the long war in his favor.

There would be enough time for Altey to grow up, for his family to rise into their strength....for him to grow as strong as the ancient Titans or even more...

So that he could stand in the way of destruction.

And command it to cease.

That was what Keros had once asked of him, so long ago when he helped to save Sam’s father. He’d wanted him to use his Battlefield Reclaimer class to protect Aster Fall.

Seeing the guardian again had brought those old memories back.

It made him smile for a moment, even as his eyes were fixed on the distance. His view of things had developed since then, but the core was the same. 

He shook his head to dismiss the thoughts. The future was unknown and many things could change.

The relic needed a couple more months of his full attention to finish the repairs, but that timeline became shorter with every new avatar he created. Once the Vos’Rekan was dead, he would deal with it. 

It was no longer a problem to provide it with the lunar aura it needed to create the dimensional anchor. It was just slow to transport the crystals by hand.

But Aster Fall would rise.

He turned his eyes toward Aster Fall and a more delighted smile crossed his lips as he looked into the stars.

To home.

Something much more important had just happened.

His baby brother had been born.

And that meant it was time to give him a present.