Path of Stars, Ch 28: Alora's System (Patreon)

Not long before they arrived at Alora’s world, Sam was seated on the forward deck of the Ice Drake as a storm of astral ice swirled around him. Threads of energy from it connected to a translucent blue-white sphere that was condensing in his hands. Moment by moment, it slowly grew larger.

At the same time, silver runes were flickering all around the sphere as they poured from his hand and imprinted themselves into it. As the astral ice spun, complex runic patterns at the center glowed with essence and astral energy. They looked something like scroll patterns, but they were far larger and more ornate.

With a thoughtful hum, Sam added another series of runes as the sphere grew to the size of his head. The runes flew into the sphere, locking into place in a jagged wave like two wings around the central design. A final layer of astral ice condensed and then the entire sphere ignited with a cold blue-white flame that shone brilliantly.

At that moment, Sam tossed the sphere into the air and grabbed outward with both hands, summoning a wave of materials that were floating around him. There were dozens of chunks of ore, some gemstones, some beast parts, and highly-charged refined essence stones. Altogether, the amount of material was a tower nearly fifty feet high and twenty feet across. With a gesture, the materials began to hurtle toward the sphere one by one.

As each material reached the sphere, the silver enchantment flared to life and the material disappeared, fusing into specific points in the runic structure. Slowly, the sphere grew larger until it was twenty feet across. At the same time, it began to radiate with an intense pressure of essence and astral energy. Silver runes gleamed across the surface in swirling patterns that rippled with power.

When the last material fused into the sphere, Sam let out a slow breath and checked his condition. His essence pool was massive at 7,454, but he had barely a thousand points left. Each rune and material that he’d fused into the sphere had drained a bit. He’d been working on this for the better part of a day, and all of his passive regeneration had also gone into the effort.

Altogether, the sphere had around 70,000 points of essence imbued into it, not to mention the fifty essence stones that had gone into its creation, each of which held another thousand or so. A lot of that energy had gone into condensing the astral ice, creating the runes, and reinforcing the structure, which he had refined as much as possible with Elemental Smithing in the time he had available. The rest of the energy was now powering the core, flowing through its internal enchantment as it hummed from essence stone to another, which were acting as energy nodes.

A slight smile creased Sam’s face as he sliced his finger and sent a droplet of silver blood flying toward the sphere. It sank into the surface with a ripple of astral energy and spread out as it flowed through the entire structure, binding into each rune and node. Then he reached out to a very specific rune on the side of the sphere and tapped it.

The sphere glowed as the silver runes on its surface spun, shifting their configuration. Patterns appeared and disappeared as enchantments moved across the surface like clouds. Then a series of brilliant lines cut across the sphere and it changed, dividing it into sections.

An angular head with a fierce silver beak rose upward from the surface of the core like it was rising from an egg, and then the two sides parted, revealing sharp silver wings that spread outward. The edge of each wing glittered with icy metallic feathers and the edges were covered in a dense web of runes that burned with essence, setting the wings aflame. Two long feet with sharp talons uncurled from the bottom of the sphere, their edges as sharp as sabers.

Then the sphere spread fully apart, transforming into an enormous icy eagle. Its head, the edges of its wings, and its talons were covered with silver runes, but the majority of its body was a bright blue-white that was almost translucent. From just above the sharp beak, two brilliant blue eyes blazed with frozen light. The eagle turned its head toward Sam and stared at him, its eyes aflame.

Awaiting orders.

The golem’s voice was icy and clear, like a frozen wind in Sam’s mind. Along with it came a clear sense of connection along the blood bond he’d created. Now that the golem was complete, he analyzed it.

Astral Assault Golem: Pattern 1.

Aura Construct. Heroic. Attuned to Astral Artificer: Sam Hastern.

Level 250.

Innate Enchantments: Core Shift, Astral Wings, Blade Projection, Self-Repair, Flight.

Charge: 75,000 / 75,000 (*Regains 7500/hour).

Condition: New.

Speed: High.

Durability: Good.

“Welcome to the Chaos Wild,” Sam said gently as he reached out and patted the eagle on the beak. The golem shifted its head, knocking its beak against his hand in acknowledgement. “Your name is Silverbeak. Familiarize yourself with your functions and prepare for battle.”

Acknowledged. With that, Silverbeak stretched its wings and launched upward, hovering above the ship. It tilted to one side and then the other, testing its wings against the wind of the Chaos Wild, and then it was surrounded by a silver flame as it flashed away in a silver streak. It had no difficulty outpacing the ship.

It reappeared again a mile ahead, where it began to roll and dive through the air, testing out various movements.

Sam watched the eagle for a while, his gaze a little concerned. He’d infused a Heroic-tier Aura of Astral Ice into the golem, which gave it some degree of autonomy and personality, as well as a strong foundation as an aura construct, but he wasn’t sure it would have time to develop in the way he wanted.

Whenever he built something, especially something autonomous like a golem, he saw it as something to be protected. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the purpose of a golem. It was designed to guard him and deal with his enemies.

At least the golem was powerful. That would help it to survive. He could already see some places where he wanted to make upgrades in the future, but it was an impressive construct. Its energy storage was middling, but it made up for it with a quick regeneration.

The memory of the golems from the Moonlight Relic was also with him, as well as some of the plans for their construction, which came from the Chamber of Caelus there. The relic used a completely different system to build the golems, basically growing them as living crystal, which had different advantages and weaknesses. He didn't fully understand that process yet, since it was linked into the core enchantment, but once he finished mastering that, he should be able to compare the plans to his own golems.

Hopefully, it would increase his capabilities in the future.

Either way, now that he’d given this golem a name, he planned to keep it. If it got destroyed, he’d rebuild it and Silverbeak would be born again. He probably wouldn’t name any other golems he created right now, but this first one deserved it.

He waved his hand and another pile of materials poured out of his cloak and began to float around him. He didn’t have much time left, but whatever was available, he was going to make the most of it.

Ahead of them, the final astral thread to Alora’s world was hanging in the distance.

*****

The Ice Drake appeared in a silver streak of light as Sam stepped off the astral thread. The Wild Spirits’ system was bathed in the light of a brilliant green sun, and there were two huge Wood and Water currents running across the outskirts of the system, one on either side.

The currents had a heavy pressure as they flowed through the Void. It felt like each of them was strong enough to shatter a world, but the two forces hung in a delicate balance, spinning in counterpoint to one another. The system between them was as calm as the eye of a storm, cradled in the center.

On the ship behind Sam, Sleset waited at the head of three ranks of Silver Nagas, each of them holding their weapons in their hands. They were taking slow breaths as they waited for the battle that might come. Unlike their usual rowdy demeanor, today they were focused and calm, their energy building as they held it back for the right moment when they could unleash it.

Behind the nagas, there were five icy golems standing in place as they shimmered with a translucent white-blue light. He’d built them in a hurry and hadn’t had time to really explore his new ability yet, but three of them were the attack-based eagle golems and two were the defensive armor golems, which looked like giant humanoids. There was no point for now in building the third type he had, the crafting assistant. The golems were time-consuming to create, but it had been just possible to create these five.

All five of them were Level 250 and Heroic-tier aura constructs. Their effectiveness should be far greater than their level suggested. Their weapons and talons were lined with silver runes and their eyes were a fierce, burning blue. They glowed with an understated majesty that promised strength and destruction. Putting the golems together was satisfying, almost like creating a complex scroll. Someday soon, when he had more time, he’d really delve into the ability and see if he could build more patterns of his own.

The ship had entered the system about halfway to the green sun, and as they sailed closer, Sam’s attention was locked onto the view in front of him. Near the green sun, there were three small worlds, all of them teeming with life.

Beside him, Alora was also looking outward, her attention fixed on the distance as her hands gripped at the railing. Laimar was standing to her left doing the same, his concern etched deeply into the lines of his face.

In her introduction to the place, Alora had told him that the first and third worlds were wild, left that way in honor of the Void. Beasts lived there and occasionally the Wild Spirits would visit to hunt, but their home was on the second one from the sun. That was the only planet they had developed, and even that was minimal.

The Ice Drake was just outside the orbit of the third world as they sailed closer, and he could make out each of the planets in front of him. He was hoping to see Alora’s world spinning peacefully in its orbit as a sign that everything was well, but the first thing that came into view was something else.

There was a dark obstruction hovering above each of the three planets and disrupting their horizon. They weren’t large, just a small dot above each one, but they were instantly notable. They looked almost like spiders that were biting them. Sam frowned as he looked more closely at the closest one and it sprang into sharp relief.

It was a hexagonal web of dark stone several miles wide. Each side of the hexagon ended in a large sphere that formed the corners. Some other strands of stone connected the interior in a crisscrossing pattern to make it look like a spiderweb, but they weren’t straight lines. Instead, they curved strangely to form runes that glowed with a dull orange-red light.

The whole thing resembled an enchantment, but not of a type he’d ever seen before.

Most notably, two long spikes extended from one side of each hexagon like fangs, giving them a sinister and deadly appearance. The tips of the spikes glowed brightly with orange-red light. As best he could tell, each of the hexagons was some type of weapon or floating fortress.

One of the fortresses was above each world and several more were under construction beside them. Strands of incomplete stone drifted near the already built ones, connecting in partial structures like they were giving birth to a second web. Each strand of stone was a hundred feet thick, creating either some type of walkway between the spheres or just an energy conduit for the magic that was powering them.

Given their construction and the strange runes involved, as well as the exotic shape, there was no doubt in his mind that Outsiders had built these things. On top of that, they radiated a strange sense of essence that was the nail in the coffin. Usually, Outsider essence felt chaotic, but these things also felt refined and capable, far more than he would have expected. They were a lot more advanced than any other Outsider enchantment he’d seen.

A few minutes after the Ice Drake entered the system, energy began to radiate from the fortresses with a threatening pressure as the stone web at the center and then the outer ring brightened, sending energy toward the two spikes that extended from the side. The fortresses began to shift, turning toward the ship as it flew closer.

A feeling of danger rose up in Sam’s chest when he saw that and he immediately channeled his strength into the Ice Drake’s enchantment to fortify it. An instant later, scrolls and a handful of artifacts flew out of his cloak and began to float around him.

As best as he could tell, the things had to have been built by the Outsiders as a way of staking a claim in the system, or perhaps it was their version of a ship that could endure the Chaos Wild. Those spheres were probably living quarters or enchantment nodes that powered the whole.

Here and there, signs of destruction marked the empty space in the system. Some hovered close to the second world and the fortress above it. There were chunks of scorched stone, mangled lumps of metal, and shattered bits of bone and scale. They were small in the scale of the Void, but it was enough to paint a picture. Whatever had happened, there had obviously been a battle here, and the Outsiders had won.

“Oh no...” the words came from Alora as she saw what had become of her home. Her face was as pale as a ghost as she looked at the hexagonal fortresses and then toward the second world. “What are those things?! I have to get closer!” A bright green aura surrounded her as she prepared to jump off the ship.

“No! It’s too late now.” Next to her, Laimar’s eyes were grim, and he grabbed her shoulder to hold her back. “I care as much as you, but whatever happened, it’s already done. Our people wouldn’t have allowed those things if they were still able to fight. We can only destroy them and pick up the pieces. Don’t rush ahead. Plan first, then fight.”

“Our people might still be on the planet!” Alora protested, turning to look back at him. “We can’t leave them there!”

“Either way, those fortresses aren’t going to leave us alone,” Sam said as he pointed at the hexagons. “Their enchantments are activating, and it looks like they’ll attack us as soon as we get a little closer. If we want to reach your world, we have to get past them.”

The fortresses were a long way off still, and he wasn’t sure if they were able to attack the ship from the current range, but he wasn’t taking any chances. The others might not be able to see the enchantments on them as well as he could, but the fortresses were clearly preparing something.

At the moment, all three worlds were in a staggered line between them and the green sun. The Ice Drake was close to the orbit of the third world, which put that fortress as the first one in their path. There was no way to get toward the second world without facing it. Once they got closer, they’d probably be in the range of all three fortresses.

He wasn’t sure what the Outsiders had done in this system, but they had clearly taken control of it. Whatever the enchantments were on those things, they had a good detection range and were undoubtedly powerful. They were probably intended to blast ships and Fourth Evolution opponents or higher out of the Void. Hopefully, they weren’t very fast, but he wasn’t going to bet on it.

Even at this distance, his eyesight was perfect and he could see the ripples in the dark stone the Outsiders had used to build them. It reminded him of the old ruin he’d told Alora about, the first one he’d explored with his father. The walls there had been made of a rippled and almost melted stone that was very similar to this, except that it had more ridges.

At that moment, he recalled what the ancient spirit of that ruin had said so long ago about other outposts. It had tried to teleport him to one, to some other node in a linked teleportation network that was outside of Aster Fall. Maybe it had been trying to send him to a place like this.

He’d always known that Outsiders had the capability to travel the Void. They’d waged a war for the Nexus and had been spread across part of the Chaos Wild. But until now, he’d never seen what they were capable of. These fortresses were the first glimpse into a far more complex battlefield, one where Third Evolution beings were foot soldiers and everything beneath that was just something to throw at a world.

His eyes blazed with silver flames as he looked at the creations. There was no way he was going to allow their existence in his realm. As for how strong they were and whether or not he could disable them, he was about to find out.

He’d promised Alora he’d do whatever he could for her world and that meant clearing the path.

“Stay on the Ice Drake and try to evade anything they send at us,” he said. His words burned with a fierce heat that hung in the air and crackled with the promise of battle. “You know how to fly the ship by now. I’ll take care of those things and open the way.”

He stepped forward to the prow, his aura blazing higher around him.

“My lord, we will follow you into battle!” Sleset hissed loudly as he moved up behind Sam, his hands grasping at the blades on his bandolier. His eagerness boomed out of his chest like a war drum, demanding to be unleashed. “Just give the order and we will go!”

“Once you’re in range, follow Alora and head for the second world,” Sam ordered as he looked back at him. “Destroy any enemy you find. Don’t approach until the fortresses are broken or until you have to. Their enchantments look much stronger than normal and I’m sure they’re intended to kill anyone who gets too close. I’ll deal with them before you get there. Once you’re on the world, I’ll find you.”

“Yes, my lord!” Sleset hissed. His arms crossed over his chest and behind him the nagas stood straight, their postures radiating strength and their demand for battle. “We will crush your enemies and carve a path to victory for you.”

“I’ll come with you!” Alora said, reaching out to put her hand on Sam’s shoulder. She’d been hoping for the best the entire trip, but now that the reality was in front of her, her eyes were blazing. “This is my fight! I need to find out what has happened to everyone. I can’t sense their presence on the world like usual. There’s only a vague sense of the Wild Tree at the center of the grove. Something has gone seriously wrong.”

“There will be plenty of fighting,” Sam said as he turned to her and shook his head, “but we’re too far away right now and the ship is faster than any of you individually. It’s what will get you there as soon as possible. Before that, I’m the only one who can move ahead of it, and I’ll do my best to disable those things. Otherwise, we’ll be sailing straight into their attacks. Alone, I’ll be much faster and more agile.”

Alora’s hand tightened on his shoulder. Her expression was etched in hard lines, making it clear that she wanted to disagree with him, but his words were true. They were still a long way from the world. It would take an hour or more for them to cross the distance on the ship. All they could do until then was wait.

“Then take me with you!” she demanded. “I can’t sit here and do nothing!”

“If you’re taking her, take me as well,” Laimar growled from the side. “I’m not staying behind either.” His hands were on his hips and his spear was slanted across his back within easy reach. His face was grim as he looked ahead at the world.

“I can’t carry all of you with me and still move quickly,” Sam refused as he shook his head. “There are three of those things to deal with, and if I get slowed down by carrying you, we’ll all suffer. I’ll try to take them out before you get there.”

Without them along, he’d be able to move much more easily in and out of the astral threads, including jumping from one to another with barely any delay. Without waiting any longer, he gave a few last instructions to the nagas and then nodded to Alora and Laimar.

With a wave of his hand, the five ice golems he’d constructed disappeared into the depths of his cloak. Then he stepped off the ship and into the chaos winds that were surging through the Void. His body expanded as he rose back to his full height and towered into the stars, his horns cutting across the sky.

It felt like he was running on a cloud, but the energy of the Void sprang upward from every step and he flashed forward in a halo of silver light. Within moments, he left the Ice Drake far behind as he headed for an astral thread that cut across the orbit of the third world. A moment later, he was gone in a streak of brilliance.

When he reappeared, it was on the edge of the third world. Ahead of him, the fortress hung on the horizon like a fat, bloated spider. His attention was locked on it, studying the structure and its runes. The two spikes on its edge seared the darkness of the Void like red-hot iron as they turned in his direction, their tips glowing.

All around him, silver flames burned in a roaring ocean as a bright golden spear formed in his hand. Runes compressed along its length, swirling out from his hand and fusing into the haft.

At the same time, streaks of sizzling orange mana shot out of the two fangs, heading directly for him. They were each a hundred feet across and they blasted through the Void with a web of dark, rippling energy that compressed space, making it harder to dodge. A shrieking force surrounded them like a demonic howl as they closed in.

Sam gripped the spear in his hand as he ignored the two attacks, his attention on the fortress. He could feel the enchantment hanging around it that tried to block teleportation. Even here, nearly a hundred miles away, he was on the edge of the effect. He searched across the area in an instant, his gaze locking onto an astral thread that led to a distant star just above the shoulder of the fortress.

Shatter Aura rippled around him, fusing into his spear, and then he lashed out, carving a rift through the edge of the fortress’s enchantment as he disappeared in a streak of silver flames.