Path of Stars, Ch 19: Blue Star System (Patreon)

They rested on the moon for another day to recover their strength and then Sam pulled out the Ice Drake, waving everyone onto it. Laimar, Alora’s uncle, was barely awake, but staying here was only wasting time.

“My lord, you have only just met her. What if she is lying to you?” Sleset protested once they were under way and he’d heard all the details of Sam’s plan. He was standing next to Sam at the prow as they looked off into the distance. “She is not bound to you by blood. And you do not know how powerful these enemies are. You should definitely acquire more oathbound followers to spread the word of your magnificence, but won’t this be too dangerous? ”

“It will be,” Sam agreed as he looked into the stars. “But the presence of Outsiders is a problem and her family is also in danger, so I have to investigate.”

“But that wraith was Level 390,” Sleset continued. His voice was troubled. “And surely it is not the strongest of the Outsiders? It seems like it was sent on a mission, so there must be a commander behind it, probably one at the Fourth Evolution, or even higher. How will you ensure your survival in the face of such opponents?”

The naga hesitated before adding something else. “You are the only Oathlord I know outside of legends and rumors. There may be a few in the more powerful races, but I am sure they cannot compare to you. Your importance to my people cannot be overstated. You are the hope for us to become something more, to have honor again instead of being thieves competing with one another. Once you acquire more followers, let us leave the Chaos Wild and travel to my home world, and there you will be able to take over it all.”

“Perhaps in time, but it will not be soon,” Sam said as he shook his head. “I cannot leave the Chaos Wild until I complete the Path of Stars, which is part of my growth as a Titan, and you are still marked as an exile. Perhaps the oath will circumvent that, but I will have to look into it. I also can’t leave the current problems here yet.”

More than that, he was going to head back to Aster Fall once the Path was done. Taking over the naga homeworld was an interesting idea, but it was only a thought on the edge of his mind. He wasn’t even sure if the Will of the Path would approve of that, much less if he even wanted to do it. It would be a distraction from more important things.

“I’ve spoken more with Alora about her family and their strength,” he said, “as well as about the people her uncle wanted to invite to the Wild Grove. Apparently, her father was around Level 450 when she left and her uncle was 415, but it has been a century and things may have changed. As for the forces interested in the Grove, there should be at least one of them who is also in the mid Fourth Evolution.”

“My lord, that is far too strong! The Fourth Evolution is an enormous divide between normal beings and rulers. Even with more nagas, the...” Sleset’s protest continued more insistently until Sam raised his hand to cut the naga off.

“I’m aware of the danger,” Sam reassured him. “But rest assured, given his strength it is highly unlikely that Alora’s father is dead. At most, he is probably trapped or suppressed by others. That is what we will need to work on. As for how, I have an idea, but it will take some work.”

“What is your plan, my lord?” Sleset’s worry was clear in a series of long, bass hisses that interspersed his words. I will defend you until my last breath, but I hope we both will be breathing for many years to come.”

“I have some ideas in mind, but it depends on what we face,” Sam said thoughtfully as he looked down at the Ice Drake below him. It was too bad the ship wasn’t a good escape plan.

The Ice Drake was fast on its own, or at least faster than Sleset, but it was only flying for the short distances it took Sam to find another astral thread and to pull it behind him. On his own, he could have walked more quickly. Despite that, moving the ship was only a little harder than dragging Sleset along. It just took more essence to encapsulate the wider area and it drained him more quickly. Given the ability, he had to wonder if Titans were in the habit of dragging beasts or giant chunks of ore with them as they went from place to place.

He chuckled, but at the same time he dismissed the thought of using the ship for anything more than transport. Its enchantments weren’t enough to even hold up to that wraith, much less something stronger.

As for his own ability, if he had to fight someone over Level 400, he either needed to reach the Third Evolution himself or the Second Star, and perhaps both, especially if it was a mid-Evolution being at Level 450. Every evolution so far had been three to five times stronger than the one before it, and the curve was steep. Admittedly, that was for his unique and Heroic classes, but there was no guarantee that their enemies would have common ones.

Besides Alora’s father, it was possible that more of her family would side with them once he showed up. That would make things easier, and it was what Alora seemed to think would happen, but he wasn’t making plans with that in mind. It was possible that they were already injured or had fled their home.

Only her father was guaranteed to either be there or be dead. As the main guardian of the Wild Grove, he was duty-bound to stay there, and Alora had said he was a man who would rather die than break that promise.

Hopefully, Alora’s father was alright. He was fairly confident in breaking any enchantment or structure that might have trapped the man, but if it was something else or if they couldn’t reach him quickly, it would be extremely dangerous. They needed someone that powerful to counter opponents of the same level.

If there was a Fifth Evolution involved in this, however, he would have to run. The only way he’d get out of that was by jumping onto an astral thread, and sooner rather than later. There was already too much of a gap between him and the Fourth Evolution. Trying to face another tier higher was doomed to failure.

More importantly, he had to assume the Outsiders had their own powerful force. Given that the wraith had been sent out on a mission, there was probably someone stronger behind it. So, he had to be prepared to face a Fourth Evolution directly, at least for a short while. That was the only way to ensure his own survival. The thought made him grimace.

At the Fourth Evolution, individuals typically gained the ability to affect space around them and the way they gathered mana changed, allowing them to draw it from nearby dimensions. That gave them a much greater ability to sustain themselves regardless of their location, so even if Alora’s father was trapped, he shouldn’t have suffered any additional injuries over time.

A Fourth Evolution being’s mana gathering ability was directly tied to their spatial control, and their movement through the Void improved at the same time, which was one reason the World Core blocked Fourth Evolutions from Aster Fall. Drawing mana from neighboring dimensions there was dangerous and could affect the stability of the World Seal.

There was also a chance of attracting enemies from the turbulent sub-dimensions surrounding Aster Fall that were tied into the seal, which was full of thin spots.

Fortunately, he had his own ways to deal with the spatial ability of Fourth Evolution beings. The Void was his, not theirs.

“First, we’ll see about the bandits and more Silver Nagas,” he told Sleset as he came to a decision. “After that, I’ll take a trip into the Deep Wild to gather a few things and do some crafting. I need to prepare some items for when we reach the Wild Grove.”

At the moment, his cloak was his best defensive artifact, but he could make some disposable items that would be almost as good for a single use, and those would provide a layer of safety. He was also planning on crafting some decent escape artifacts, ones that could help him reach an astral thread. As long as his movements weren’t confined, no one would be able to kill him or anyone with him. Otherwise, he would have never agreed to this.

He tapped his fingers on the icy white railing of the ship as he put more ideas together, and then he glanced at the flames in his mind that represented Crystal Passage and Form of Crystal Flame. Those were his best escape abilities aside from walking the threads, so he was going to have to get them up to Epic, where fewer things could block them.

He also needed to gain more essence as quickly as possible and that meant a quick but intensive hunt for Void beasts, one where he used his teleportation and new form in battle, since that was what was needed to push them higher. The essence from that might not get him all the way to the Second Star, but whatever he could get would be useful.

Plans ran through his mind as he guided the ship toward the next astral thread, and eventually a streak of silver stretched away into the Void.

*****

The Ice Drake arrived in the Blue Star system two days later. Since it didn’t have a name on his map, Sam decided to just call it that. His hall was still there, well concealed on the asteroid he’d chosen, even though they’d been gone for several months. That was reassuring, even though he’d known it was unlikely the bandits on the far side of the sun would find it. The defenses were still active, but there were no beast corpses around it, which showed that there was little to attract them here when he was absent.

He set the ship down next to the hall and then spent a few moments settling Alora and Laimar into a free room.

“Sleset and I are going to deal with some unwelcome bandits on the far side of this system,” he said after explaining a bit about the hall. “We’ll be back soon.”

“Do you want my help?” Alora asked with a concerned expression. “I can heal and support you, at the very least.”

“I’d rather no one know you’re here for now,” Sam said as he shook his head. “Wild Spirits are rare in the Chaos Wild, so there’s no reason to risk attention. The two of us will be enough, and some of the bandits may even fight amongst themselves. I’ll explain when we return.”

“Make sure to be careful,” Alora said slowly. It looked like she wanted to say more, but she held it back.

“I will be.” Sam gave her a smile as he turned away and waved to Sleset. “Make sure to keep the wards up until we return. I’ve already shown you how to manage them and infuse them with mana.”

With that, the two headed back out of the hall and boarded the Ice Drake again. He didn’t need to take the ship for this, but it would make a certain impression to arrive on it. A few moments later, they were whistling through the Void, and he took the time to appreciate the silence on the journey.

Sleset normally spoke quite a bit, most of it worrying or adding new forms of flattery, but on this trip, he was only looking forward to it with eagerness. All of his thoughts were kept well within his scaly crown. Sam cracked a grin, although he didn’t let the naga see it, since Sleset was probably dreaming about having an army of Silver Nagas to command.

When they were well away from the asteroid, he pulled them onto an astral thread and they blinked out of existence, reappearing a few moments later on the far side of the system. Ahead of them, there was a large gaseous world and a decently sized moon that was covered in a sheet of blue flames on the side closest to the sun.

“The moon is very volatile, my lord,” Sleset said as he broke the silence. “It only rotates slowly, and the entire surface is covered in an elemental substance that burns fiercely when it faces the sun, although it never seems to be consumed. That activity conceals the hideout and the essence stone mine beneath the surface. Those stones will serve a far better purpose in your hands than in the bandits.’”

“The surface seems to be releasing the energy of the sun,” Sam said thoughtfully as he looked ahead at it. “It’s not actually burning anything. The flames are just the reflected power. Some of it must also seep below ground to create the essence stones. In fact, it looks like the entire surface is very receptive to the sun’s energy. About a quarter is being absorbed.”

It was easy enough for him to sense the details as he compared the sun’s energy flowing past him to what was being reflected from the surface.

“My lord’s perception is greater than the sages of legend,” Sleset said obsequiously. He was shifting nervously on his coils and twitching in place as he looked at the moon.

“Stop that,” Sam said with a frown. “Don’t fall back into your old habits just because we’re here. You are a noble Silver Naga, my first oathsworn follower, and a powerful force in your own right. If I gain new followers here, you will lead them.”

“Yes, my lord!” Sleset said as his spine straightened. His coils lashed more fiercely beneath him and his tone became more confident. “I will not embarrass you. Let us go in with force and crush the opposition. They will bow to you or fall.”

Icy green sigils lit up across the naga’s scales as he drew his blades. The symbols floated around him, hovering just above his skin, as he let out a long, threatening hiss.

“Good enough,” Sam chuckled. “Let’s see how they react when we arrive.”

With that, he sent the Ice Drake forward and expanded it to its maximum size of about a thousand feet and took up a commanding position less than a mile above the moon’s surface, just above where he knew the bandit hideout was. It was impossible to miss them from here, since they loomed over the surface like a threatening eclipse as their ship blocked out the sun and cast a dark shadow below.

The hideout was about a mile underground. The bandits usually only entered or exited when their tunnel was on the cold side. They probably could have dug a second tunnel across the moon’s surface to allow for entry at any time, but it was large enough to make that troublesome. If they really wanted to get out, they had spatial mages for that.

Right now, the hideout was facing toward the sun, but that was no problem for Sam. It just meant the bandits wouldn’t be able to run as easily. He reached out with one hand and grabbed Sleset, and then the two of them disappeared in a flash of crystal flame. A startled hiss came from the naga that sounded a great deal like a yelp.

His ability to teleport over short distances was improving, mostly due to the increase in his Astral Void ability, and it only took him a moment to lock onto the right area, even though it was over a mile away. With the added distance, the teleport only took slightly longer than normal.

A moment later, they were standing at the center of the bandit hideout. They were standing at the center of a large cave that was about a thousand feet across and two hundred feet high. Part of it had been carved out, but most was natural, and now that he was down here, he could sense the presence of essence stones off to the side, down one of the tunnels that connected to the central cave. They glimmered in his mind like miniature condensed flames. There were quite a few of them, but he could only sense the closest ones. The ones more distant than that were obscured by the energy of the sun that was pushing down from above.

He looked around with curiosity as he sensed the bandits’ presence. A couple of them had just noticed him and were panicking, but most were unaware of his arrival. Altogether, he counted 45 of them. Names and classes filtered into his mind as he began to analyze them one after the other. As for the ones that were panicking, so far none of them were heading toward them.

“This won’t do,” he said as he shook his head. “Sleset, let them know we’re here.”

“Yes, my lord!” Sleset replied. Then he turned as green sigils gathered around his chest and mouth, amplifying his speech. When he spoke, his voice roared out across the cavern and was carried down the open tunnels to the farthest reaches of the bandit hideout. “Oathless wretches! Bandit scum! Your judgment day has arrived! Come forth and meet your lord, and bow or be slain. Fellow nagas, see now what a true Oathlord looks like! His grace is offered to you, his blood to elevate you to a path of honor. Bow if you wish to be more than you were before!”

Sam closed his eyes for a moment, but he wasn’t too surprised by what Sleset had come up with. He could feel the bandits stirring as the words reached them, and a few moments later they began to rush toward the central cavern.

“That should do it,” he said as he gave Sleset a nod. “I’ll leave this to you unless they attack. Do your best to convince your people to join us.”

“They will join us or perish, my lord,” Sleset said as he raised his four blades into the air, holding them wide with the daggers pointed down at an angle. It looked like a set of double fangs, which was probably why the naga had chosen the weapons.

Bandits began to fill the cavern, flooding in from three different tunnels. A little over half of them were nagas. There were also some races that Sam hadn’t encountered before, starting with several Stone Devils who seemed to specialize in Agility and who looked like gaunt ogre-like figures with arms that nearly reached the ground.

There were a handful of Kajoa Walkers from one of the less civilized races in the galaxy. They were wearing rough hides and had teeth that ended in sharp points. Their bodies were burly with muscle and they had a long red horn at the top of their foreheads, which was similar to some concepts of demons. They were known for their violence and disregard for anyone weaker than them.

The last group was the smallest and most dangerous, and it included the bandit leader. It was composed of four thin, blue-scaled beings that were about seven feet tall. They had slightly webbed hands, pointed ears that shimmered like mother of pearl on the edges, and deep blue eyes like the ocean. Their features were elegant and there were nearly invisible lines for gills around their neck, but they had no hair. Two of them were spatial mages, while another was the only bandit with two non-combat classes. The last was the bandit leader. Sam analyzed all four of them.

Hupali Noaste. Siren. Vivid Song Illusionist-Portal Mage. Level 332. Exile.

Grimasi Noaste. Siren. Singer of High Water-Spatial Warper. Level 339. Exile.

Gaopi Noaste. Siren. Quartermaster of the Deep--Treasure Keeper. Level 340. Exile.

Tivasi Noaste. Siren. Ocean Summoner-Tempest of the Seas. Level 359. Bandit Leader. Exile.

Unsurprisingly, all four of them were female. There were some Sirens on Aster Fall, and he was somewhat familiar with the stories about their race. From what he’d heard, they had very few males. The crimes that lead to the exile of these four were part of their records when he analyzed them, and he shook his head as he saw it.

Most of it was about manipulating others to their deaths, all for their personal gain. It looked like they’d even caused a war or two. It upheld one of the worst stereotypes about their race. From what he’d heard, Sirens were very harsh about punishing their people if they misused their abilities, and for exactly this reason.

Instead of speaking, Sam just stood at his 53’ foot height and towered over everyone as he folded his arms. His eyes were bright and his aura crackled across the cavern, filling it with silver light that covered everything in a heavy pressure.

“Your judgment day has arrived,” Sleset said simply as he held his blades out wide. Green sigils flared around him with an icy and venomous light, adding emphasis to his words. “Bow down to my Oathlord, the Astral Titan, and redeem your honor, or die.”

A wave of angry murmurs and astonished hisses swept through the cavern as the bandits took in the Astral Titan standing in front of them and the companion they had once known who was now an Oathbound Silver Naga. For a moment, everything stood still.