Echoes of War, Ch 15: Birthday Present (Patreon)

Silvas rose a hand higher in the sky as Sam organized a few things for the trip and began to plan a storage enchantment for the moon’s aura, but at that moment a message from his mother arrived. He stared at the message spell that glimmered on his palm, his thoughts distant. Then he chuckled as a warm feeling washed over him.

She was inviting him to dinner in a few hours.

It looked like he was going to have to make a small delay before he hopped up to the moon, but he couldn’t say it was a problem. A grin crossed his lips. It was a strange thing to experience his family’s presence again. 

As much as he’d wanted to come home, he was in the Void for so long that he’d become independent. His memories as a Titan were the same, years lived among the stars with distant company and no direct reliance on others. Life here was different and more connected. He would just have to get used to it again.

“Alright, I’ll leave later tonight instead,” he said as he revised his plans. A few hours wouldn’t make much difference. There were some other areas of the relic he could check on that would be useful before he went to the moon, and the dinner would give him a chance to give Altey her birthday present.

Since he had the time, there was another thing he might as well handle now.

“How’s the sorting going?” he asked the Titan Star as he checked on its progress with the World Core notifications.

257,810,114 notifications have been received from the World Core. The star’s voice was steady as its nine points flickered with a rainbow of light. Sorting is complete and awaiting your confirmation. The reports fall into five main categories.

“Are there any immediate issues?” Sam asked as he nodded at the star.

The majority of notifications are too old to be of concern, but some pertain to the present, the star replied. Most of them concern the stability of energy flowing from the Nexus and the appearance of Flaws. Each time that energy surges, a Flaw appears. Of the messages the World Core has sent, more than two hundred million are about such surges.

Sam did a quick calculation to determine that, on average over the last 120,000 years since Asenya disappeared, four to five Flaws had appeared every single day. He wasn’t sure on the exact day she went missing, but it was close enough as an estimate. The only good news was that Aster Fall was a large world and the Flaws were distributed across it.

“Is there any pattern to the surges?” he asked with a frown. “Or is it a natural event?”

The pattern is too irregular to be natural, the star explained. It goes in surges that correspond with a deliberate attempt to invade. A series of weak probes followed by a larger attempt that comes in waves, repeating at irregular intervals of a few hundred to a few thousand years. Each time is slightly different than the one before it.

“No surprise there,” Sam said, although it did confirm that the Outsiders were well organized. “They’re probably testing the Seal. What else?”

The next largest category concerns damage suffered by the World Core and its attempts to repair it, the star continued. It has made some progress, but it needs to divert energy from its primary task for it, which requires authorization from the World Forger.

Diverting energy in that manner could gravely upset the structure of Aster Fall, including causing earthquakes and elemental storms. Roughly twenty million requests have been made, one every few days.

Sam frowned at that, since it was likely that the World Core’s repair attempt would endanger the inhabitants. Otherwise, it wouldn’t need authorization. Right now, that wasn’t something he could allow, and he wasn’t sure he could take over from Asenya to give it that authorization anyway.

“What’s next?” he asked.

The third category documents attempts by citizens of Aster Fall to leave the world. There have been almost as many attempts as in the second category. Each time, the citizen has been teleported back to their point of origin or their ascent to the Void has been blocked.

Sam had been expecting that one. He would have to see how far his authority as High Artificer went. Perhaps he could solve the problem with the Boundless Alliance and their desire to leave.

The fourth category is notifications of energy distribution in the world, the star continued, including changes in mana density and major movements of the elements. There are also periodic reports of essence being converted to experience.

He nodded. Aster Fall had originally been established as a temporary place for people to live while preparing to go through the Nexus, as well as a place to greet arrivals, but its purpose had changed over time. Now, the world was a filter for the World Core to purify Outsider essence, separating it into aura, mana, and elemental energy before recombining it into experience.

Monster generation and deaths were part of that process, a way of breaking down the foreign essence. Nowhere else in the galaxy did monsters appear like these. There were only natural beasts.

The last category deals with the World Core’s documentation of key events. Some examples include citizens reaching the World Limit at Level 399 who have accepted an appointment as World Spirits. There are several thousand of these. Other events involve Heroic accomplishments, unique classes, requests for external authorization of a class, the appearance of unique natural items, attempts by individuals to access the World Core, the founding of some kingdoms by powerful inhabitants, reports of wars breaking out, and so on.

“What’s this about people becoming World Spirits?” Sam asked as surprise flashed through his eyes. He hadn’t expected that. World Spirits had always been a distant, half-real existence, even though he’d seen a number of them.

It appears that some individuals who reach Level 399 are offered an opportunity to extend their lifespan by serving the World Core. They become bound to the world, but their Levels are no longer limited to 399. As part of that deal, their energy merges with the elements here, obscuring them from attention. They also take on an elemental affinity, truly becoming part of the world.

“Why aren’t they dealing with Flaws?” Sam asked with a frown. He’d never heard of a World Spirit doing that job, but if they were powerful enough, they should be able to.

It appears that they become focal points for refining Outsider essence, the star replied, like active nodes that help to convert it into experience and elemental energy. Some of them assist with monster management. Most of their attention is taken up by this task. It is due to them that Aster Fall is as stable as it is. Their presence also frees up some of the World Core’s energy to repair itself.

“I see,” Sam said as he rubbed his chin. Then he shook his head. He’d have to look into that more in the future and see what was going on. It looked like the World Core had found some method of its own to progress repairs. It had also inadvertently created legends that spread across the world.

He remembered all of the World Spirits who had appeared on the mountain peaks to watch the relic activate during the alignment of the moons, and he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He just wasn’t sure if they’d been watching the relic or doing something else.

“Keep track of new notifications from the World Core,” he said, “and alert me if there’s anything critical. Otherwise, I’ll check on them every few days when I get a chance.”

He didn’t plan to let the World Core bombard him with notifications every few minutes. The star was fully capable of intercepting them, so he might as well put it to work.

Acknowledged, the star replied. The most recent critical notification deals with the gate to the northeast that both your mother and the relic detected. The World Core classifies it as a significant threat, much greater than the average Flaw. The Dimensional Convergence near here is recorded as well. The two appear to have become active at the same time. This series of Flaws indicates a strong invasion attempt.

Sam frowned. He would have to deal with that gate soon. If it was linked to the Convergence, perhaps destroying it would bring an end to both of them. It had to be some type of focusing artifact that came from an old outpost, probably a transfer point to the other side of the Nexus. He’d check on it after he got the greenstone production going.

There are also reports of unstable dimensional fluctuations on the Storm Plains, the star added. Close to where you fought the bellisagi before stepping onto the Path of Stars.

Sam’s frown deepened, and this time he pulled a small green gem out of his spatial bracelet. It glowed with a verdant sense of life as he studied it, and it was still faintly crackling with lightning from the Storm Plains, almost as intense as when he’d taken it there.

This was the Star of Life that the dwarves in Runekeld had given him. He’d never had a chance to fully explore its connection to the Storm Plains, but it was something else he would have to do now that he was back.

“Are there any notable reports from other kingdoms or regions of Aster Fall?” Sam asked with a sense of puzzlement. “Or the wildlands outside the borders, closer to the dimensional sea?”

Half of Aster Fall was a silver-grey web of energy and anything that got too close to it was pulled in and ripped apart, but there were a lot of other kingdoms that should have been troubled by Flaws.

There are many reports from other locations, the star agreed, but few are as serious as the ones here. The forces in those areas appear to be capable of dealing with the Flaws that appear near them. There is no record of them experiencing events like the Dimensional Convergence or this gate.

“Why not?” Sam asked with a flare of temper. “Is this the only kingdom that suffers like this?”

Affirmative. It appears to be tied to the history of the Storm Plains and the Broken Lands even farther to the west, the star answered. This kingdom’s location corresponds with the most severely damaged energy pathway in the World Core. That damage is what allows Flaws to appear so easily here.

“How fortunate,” Sam said sarcastically, a mood which was rare for him. Then he turned his attention back to more important issues as he made a list of things to do. “Alright...a new list: visit the moon, do some repairs, break the Outsider gate, stop the convergence, study the Storm Plains, and punish the king.”

It was enough to keep him busy for a while.

*****

With a flicker of silver light, Sam disappeared from where he was standing. There was just enough time to check on a few areas that he wanted to repair soon. He needed Silvas’s aura for greenstone production, but there were other things he might be able to find on the moon too, including elemental crystals that were rare on Aster Fall.

He reappeared on the Sixth Layer, at a location just above a large pool where he’d once found a Pure Water Elemental Crystal. He checked on the crystal’s condition and then he moved on, following a map of elemental points in his mind. The relic should have been able to give him a complete report on what it needed, but it was only able to reliably scan the top three layers so far, which meant checking for himself.

There were elemental pylons scattered across the various layers, from Wind to Fire, Wood to Water, Lightning, Earth, and more. They were used to power elemental reservoirs of different types that helped to control the weather, provided pure water to the relic, and bolstered the fields where food could be grown.

Adventurers had once come here to try and bathe in the elemental energy the pylons gave off, hoping to gain an affinity from it, but it was a foolish pursuit. The best case scenario was activating an affinity they already had and the worst was dying. His parents had put a stop to it, but a few people still tried to sneak in now and then, ignoring their warning. As a result, the Sky Guard now protected every pylon.

Some elemental crystals belonged to the crafting workshops too, fueling forges and powerful enchantments that could infuse weapons with elemental properties. Unfortunately, most of them had been damaged or stolen over the ages.

He could probably recreate some of the crystals with Elemental Mastery and Elemental Smithing, but it would be easier to find them naturally, particularly the dimensional crystals that went to the teleportation platforms on the Sixth Layer. Those were particularly rare.

Caelus, the Moon of the Elements, should be a good location to find that sort of thing, so he might take a detour over there after he visited Silvas. The dimensional sea on the other side of Aster Fall was another. If he couldn’t find anything at either spot, he’d have to look farther afield.

This deep in the Chaos Wild, the elemental winds were violent and powerful. It shouldn’t be that hard to locate some elemental crystals that had formed from them. The winds were also a reason the World Core blocked people from leaving, since their survival out here was questionable, but it was a minor one compared to the experience the World Core had invested in them. Each of them was a stabilizing force that helped to maintain the world’s integrity against Outsider essence.

He pulled his attention away from that topic as he continued searching through the relic. Restoring the elemental crystals and repairing the pylons around them would help to intensify the relic’s main energy lines and speed up the repairs. The golems would also be useful once they were complete, but it would take a while for them to be ready.

The Chamber of Caelus could produce one golem per pool per week, for a total of two dozen a week. With the material he’d given it to make 2,000 golems, their numbers would increase quickly, but it would be a year and a half before they were all finished.

After he finished his search, it was almost time, so he teleported to his family’s house on the First Layer. His parents and sister were already there. When his parents saw him, a look of relief passed across their faces, as if they’d been worried he wouldn’t come back.

“Sam!” his father said with a grin as he waved him over to the table. He was clearly delighted to have his son back. “You might be gold and have horns, but you still eat, right? I wasn’t sure if you would pull yourself away from work. It seems some things don’t change.”

Sam chuckled at that as he settled in at the table next to his sister. It was a strange adjustment to come home where they didn’t see him as the Lord of Silver Stars or a mighty Titan. They just saw him as a son and brother, one who’d been missing for too long.

“It’s good to have you back, Sam,” his mother said as her smile grew. She reached out to take his hand as he came over to the table. “Sit. The relic is our future, but moderation is important. Try to come to dinner every day. We’ve missed you. There’s a lot of time to make up for.”

“You were gone much too long,” Altey agreed as she moved her chair closer to Sam’s and looked up at him. “You have to teach me more magic. You promised before you left. Where did you go and what is a Titan anyway?”

Sam reached out and ruffled her hair, which made her frown at him, but he just grinned back at her as he started to answer her question, explaining about where he’d been. His parents listened in as well, asking questions of their own.

They’d received some of his messages, but the amount of information he’d been able to include was limited. So he told them about the vastness of the Void and the settled half of the galaxy, about the Silver Nagas, and wandering the Borderlands.

Then he turned the topic to his parents and how they were managing the relic, and his sister’s training with the Ice Sylphs. Siwaha had truly gone above and beyond with helping her control her mana, basically adopting her as her granddaughter, and the other Ice Sylphs had been teaching her skills from their classes.

From there, the conversation turned to other things, including the latest status of the relic and the newcomers who had started to trickle in again now that the kingdom’s army wasn’t blocking the road.

For a little while, all his years of wandering in the Void were washed away by the closeness of his family as they pulled his attention to the present. It was true that he had changed, but he couldn’t help but think his family had as well. They were no longer the villagers of the past. The ease with which they spoke of politics and Flaws, the Second and Third Evolution, and the affairs of the kingdom made that self-evident.

His parents moved with power and confidence that came from their positions and their levels that were close to the Second Evolution now. Soon, they would reach 200 and evolve again, and with the Marks they’d earned so far, they should be able to make the most of it. They were well established to be powerhouses in the future.

As for Altey, she might not be aware of it, but she moved with an innate grace and magic that came from her studies, and she was taller and more self-assured than he remembered. She’d taken to wearing clothing that blended in easily with the snow and mountains. Her movements were agile, similar to the Ice Sylph Rangers, and her aura was swirled with Ice mana and a touch of Spring.

All of them were coming into their own. Fortunately, for all of the power and strength that they’d gained since taking control of the relic, they were still compassionate at heart. That was the major flaw of power, that it made you forget about the struggle of others.

“Altey,” Sam said eventually as dinner wrapped up and everyone’s mood was mellow. His father had opened a bottle of wine from the south of the kingdom and was refilling glasses. “I have something for you. It’s for your last birthday. I’m sorry I missed it.”

He pulled a silver orb out of his pocket as he spoke and held it out to her. The surface of the orb was engraved with intricate runes that spiraled around and made it hard to keep track where one part ended and the other began. At the center of the engraving, there was a polished area that released a subtle blue light. It was something that he’d made on the way home for her, after a lot of study.

“What is it?” Altey asked as she took the orb. “I can feel the mana in it. There’s a lot of it!”

“Press there,” Sam said as he pointed, but he didn’t explain yet, “on the blue part.”

When Altey touched the activation point, the orb lifted up from her hand and began to hover in the air. A light flashed from it, scanning Altey and the room around them with a blue haze, and then it dimmed. “Owner’s aura recorded,” a pleasant but slightly metallic male voice spoke from the orb. “Awaiting instructions.”

Sam reached out to tap the orb, which made it fall silent again. “This is a research orb,” he explained as he began showing her the runes on it. “It’s a sort of assistant I made for you. It can follow you around and carry messages between you and someone else, and it has some ability to attack and defend. It can also link to the relic’s library and answer questions for you, and summon golems to your location.

“There is a dimensional pocket inside where you can store books and things, and it can record images of places you go, like this room, and show them to you later with an illusion, so you’ll always be able to carry an image of us with you.” He went through the various uses as he showed her how to activate it. “There are a few other functions as well, including an analysis ability, but you’ll find them in time. It can recharge its mana in starlight, so make sure to keep it out at night.”

He sent the orb into her hands as he wrapped up the introduction, and gave it a mental message to behave. It was basically a miniature support golem. He could have made her weapons or armor, but those didn’t seem like a good birthday gift, so he’d made her this instead, relying on his old Astral Artificer class, the one he’d had at her last birthday.

He’d modeled the original concept after the utility golem pattern he knew and then reworked almost every part of it to reach this form. There were some trade-offs, including the lack of arms, but it could levitate objects if it needed to.

Most importantly, it relied on a dimensional enchantment to carry messages and connect to the relic, and it could teleport itself over short distances of a few hundred miles. Even in an area where a message scroll or artifact wouldn’t work, or where the distance was too great, this one should be able to get through.

“I’ve put a couple of escape scrolls and other things inside its dimensional space for you,” he added as he showed her how to open it. “If you find yourself in danger, they will teleport you back to the First Layer.”

The orb’s offensive and defensive abilities were at Level 325. It could protect her for a while, but he didn’t emphasize it since he didn’t want her to take too many risks. If she was in danger, it would be able to protect her and call for aid, but hopefully it could just be a research assistant for her, kind of like the Titan Star was for him.

As for stronger defenses, if she needed them, he’d surround her with an army of assault golems. Along with connecting to the relic, the orb was able to contact any of the astral golems he’d made as long as they were on Aster Fall. For a moment, he pitied anyone who might try to bother her.

“Feel free to give it a name,” he said as he finished the explanation. Then he ruffled her hair again, but this time she didn’t complain. “There are also some books on magic in there for you.”

“Thank you,” she said as she studied the orb, her fingers tracing the runic lines around the outside. Then her hands wrapped tightly around it. “Will it be able to find you if you’re not here again?”

“If I’m close enough, yes,” Sam agreed with a pang. “But I’ll find a better way to stay in touch in the future. It’s probably time to upgrade our old communication amulets.”

It should be possible to create a new version that relied on the Path of Stars and the World Core, which would allow them to speak across a greater distance, much farther than the current hundred miles or so. He added it to his list of things to do.

“I would call it the Titan Orb,” Altey said with a grin as she looked at Sam. “But it needs horns for that. How about the Library Orb or the Guardian Orb, since you made it?”

Across the table, their parents began to suggest more names, joining in on the game: Chaperone Orb, Golem Orb, Research Orb, Shield Orb, Messenger Orb, and others flew across the room. Quite a few of them were too close to his intentions, so Sam just chuckled as he raised his hands and stayed out of it.

Wine and jokes flowed as dessert appeared on the table. It was a baked puff pastry stuffed with sweet cheese and drizzled with honey that was shaped to look like a rising sun. It was a casual display of the difference between their new lives and the old, something that they never would have been able to afford before, and the sight of it struck Sam with more force than anything else at the dinner.

He glanced at his mother, whose new pregnancy was just barely showing, and then at his father, whose pride in his family was radiating across the table as brightly as the sun the pastry represented. His new sibling's life would be completely different from his, and that was the way it should be.

Then he grinned as he turned to Altey and began to offer suggestions of his own, all of them intended to distract her from the actual power of the orb.