Echoes of War, Ch 16: Silvas (Patreon)

Jeric looked at his children across the table and chuckled. Sam was offering ridiculous names for the orb he’d given Altey, which made it seem harmless, but with the strange sense of mana it had and what Jeric knew about his son, he doubted the gift was simple. It felt like a sphere of starlight and a powerful type of ice that tickled at his bloodline. He didn’t mention it, since it would interrupt their fun, but he was sure that its true nature would show in time.

A glance at his wife showed a content expression as she watched Sam and Altey, but she had a slight smile when she looked at the orb that said she knew it was something special. Sam might have spent a hundred years or more away in the Void, but it would take more than that for him to trick his parents. Jeric chuckled as he cut the dessert pastry and tossed out a few more suggestions of his own, joining in on the fun.

Sam had changed a lot in the time that he’d been away, but he seemed more himself than ever. His ability to control his height and change his hands to get rid of his talons were a nice touch. It made him look younger and more familiar, although his features spoke of someone much more mature than the boy that Jeric remembered. It had been a few years since Sam got his class and a lot had changed, but it was easy to forget about. A father always sees the past when he looks at his children.

He was a little more distant than before he left, but also more stable and self assured to an incredible degree. His levels and new strength helped with that, giving him a status that was head and shoulders above most people on Aster Fall, but he was still prone to get lost in his thoughts. He’d occasionally stop and look out into the sky or across the mountains, even here where the walls should have blocked his view. He’d always done things like that, but it was more graceful now and touched with a strange wisdom, as if he could see things happening there.

Jeric noted all of it, and just as quickly decided to ignore it. Children have to grow up at some point, and sometimes they are taller than their parents, but his son was still his son. Even with Sam’s classes as the Lord of Silver Stars and Guardian of Aster Fall, he had trouble thinking of him as that powerful, much less as this legendary race called an Astral Titan. Those things were the shield that gave them this new life, but they were difficult to comprehend.

It was easier to see Sam as the young man who liked spells and crafting, which was the heart of his nature. All of his power was just a foundation to let him spend his time on that. A hundred years or a thousand in the Void...Jeric didn’t think it would change that. It would just give him more time to spend on his work.

Even if he collected a bigger army and a million years passed, Sam would still be wondering what to toss into his forge next. Jeric laughed at the idea, even as he hoped it was true. No matter what showed up in front of him, Sam would probably try to enchant it.

Right now, he and Aemilia were trying to get Sam to work less and to spend more time with them. It wasn’t the most sensible request when they’d just been embroiled in a war and another one was looming, both with the king and with the Dimensional Convergence, not to mention all the other trouble facing Aster Fall, but if not now, then when?

The more time that Sam spent away, the harder it would be to keep in touch with him, so they had to try. They couldn’t let him work himself to the bone and turn into someone who didn’t recognize his family. One year absent in the Void was enough.

This dinner and others like it were something of a plot that he and Aemilia had come up with to help keep Sam grounded. With everything that they’d learned about Astral Titans, their lifespan, and their legends in the Void, it seemed necessary. Otherwise, Sam might drift away with his attention on a star and forget to come home for a century or a millennium, or even longer.

Their own lifespans were increasing quickly as they leveled, but he wasn’t sure they’d be able to handle that, and not to mention the lost time with him. One day, Sam might reach a level where they couldn’t follow or time would leave them behind. That was the nature of things, but until it had to happen, they’d do their best to stick around and make sure their family was strong.

Without that sort of grounding, life was like dry leaves in the wind, blowing across a barren land.

Jeric knew. He’d been there before he met Aemilia, years where nothing seemed to matter and he drifted from one job to the next. It was only when they’d started on a path together that they’d come into their own, despite the difficulties on the way. That was when he’d found a purpose. Now, everything here had sprung from that choice.

Sam needed that same sort of grounding to keep him from wandering off in the stars, and to make life worth living, so Jeric was determined to give it to him through whatever means were necessary. By force of will, he pushed the thoughts away and joined in on Sam and Altey’s joking.

“How about Cute Little Orb?” he suggested as he grinned at Altey. “Perfect for a sweet little girl who loves her favorite dagger.”

“Dad!” Altey complained as she scowled at him, her expression half pouting and half laughing. “It’s supposed to be smart and powerful, not cute! How will I frighten off enemies if it’s called that?”

“It will change shape to match its name, once you decide,” Sam said with a chuckle as he watched his sister, clearly entertained by her frustration with the joke names, “so if you want it to be a bird that flies around after you instead of an orb, give it a name that fits. It can only do that once, but it will still take the orb form if you need it to.”

“You should name it after your favorite animal then, or a moon, or an idea you like,” Aemilia said as she joined in, her suggestions much more reasonable than her husband or son’s. Her eyes sparkled with moonlight as she studied the orb. “Just be careful with what you choose.”

More names followed, each of them more ridiculous than the last. Altey eventually stuffed the orb into her vest and ran off with it, claiming that she needed some peace of mind to think clearly, but Jeric’s sense for the Earth told him she was heading toward the Ice Sylph village, probably to collect more ideas. She was treating the name far more seriously than the rest of them.

*****

A ray of silver light cut through the sky above Aster Fall as Sam stepped away from the world. The movement was as easy as breathing. He just slipped away toward the stars and had to stop himself from going any farther. He felt the World Core’s attention, but unlike the other citizens of the world, it didn’t try to stop him. His High Artificer of Aster Fall title took care of that. When he reappeared, he was standing in the Void.

In a lot of ways, it was much easier for him to travel a great distance by relying on the astral threads than a short distance with teleportation hops.

The three moons shone in the distance. Silvas was directly in front of him and Caelus and Amaris were off to the left, just across the horizon of the world. The chaos winds whistled around him, but he was partially shielded from them so close to the world and moons. Their size and elemental presence suppressed the free movement of the winds. That was good for most people since it saved them the trouble of protecting themselves, and for anyone just leaving the world it would give them a chance to adjust before they went farther, but to him it felt like something was missing. He stepped away again, heading to the far side of Silvas.

When he reappeared, the full force of the winds struck him directly. His body let out a comfortable crackle under the pressure as his skin began to radiate with astral light and his essence regeneration sped up. A tension that had built up on the surface of the world left him now that he was here in the Void.

Aster Fall was deep in the unsettled half of the galaxy and the winds were slow and powerful here. Their pressure was incredible, a dozen times stronger than in the Borderlands, but it was spread out like a vast current in the ocean, making it harder to notice the little changes. Despite the difference, Sam stood easily among them and felt more at home than ever.

This was the true Deep Wild, the home of chaos. He wanted to unleash all of his strength and dive into the storm, to fight and hunt what lived here.

Little glimmers of elemental energy flared as the winds twisted around one another and whistled past the moons. It made him remember the early Void, the memories from the Path, when the stars were more fierce and their energies crashed against one another in massive collisions, creating explosions that rocked the Void.

He watched it for a while before he turned to examine the world. Aster Fall was a silver and blue sphere streaked with glowing clouds of mana, while the World Core was a smaller silver crystal sphere just past it, its interior a swirling starscape. The Nexus was a grey spiral in the darkness farther on, a presence that was releasing a frightening amount of power.

All around him, he could sense the stabilizing influence of the World Seal. Its energy radiated through the area, covering Aster Fall and its moons, the World Core, and the Nexus, as well as space in every direction. It stretched for about half of the system, nearly reaching the small yellow sun in the distance.

He could also feel the fragility in it, like it was a thin layer of glass ready to crack. It had broken before and been repaired, probably by the Path of Stars with the help of some Sixth Evolution beings, but that was a cataclysmic event for the world.

He let himself relax in the Void for a bit and then he looked outward, away from Silvas, as he reached toward a distant sense of energy. A message spell formed in front of him, the same style that he’d used to send messages home, but instead of being sapphire blue, it was now shaped from silver astral energy.

It had taken him months to create the spell the first time, but this one was complete in a moment and he sent it off. The destination wasn’t in this dimension, but a side dimension where time flowed more slowly. No one had told him it was there, but he could sense its presence on the edge of the seal, where it was carefully placed not to interfere, and there was a familiar aura coming from it.

As he waited for a response, he glanced over the major changes in his status sheet on the thirty-year journey home. His attributes hadn’t changed much, but his abilities had improved significantly, especially the crafting ones.

His three crafts had all passed Level 300, partly due to all the artifacts he’d made for the nagas and the sheer number of golems he’d forged. Aura Forger had reached 349, Elemental Smithing was at 344, and Essence Scribe was at 321. That one fortunately grew a bit whenever he inscribed runes, even if it wasn’t a traditional scroll. He hadn’t earned any experience from them on the trip, but that would change now that he was back on Aster Fall.

Most of his abilities had already been at Epic or Heroic before the journey, but those that weren’t had gained a tier in most cases, except for a few that he hadn’t been able to practice. Astral Focus, Aura Regeneration, Spell Forging, and Form of Astral Fame had each increased a tier to Epic. Astral Construct was also up to that, giving him fifteen base golem patterns, five each for assault, defense, and utility, but he was more interested in creating his own than using them.

Astral Passage had risen to Elite after all his practice in the Void, but it was still a step away from Epic. Even so, the range of his short teleports matched the distance on Astral Focus.

Leadership had risen a tier to Expert, Essence Control had jumped a tier to Heroic, and his knowledge of Outsider Runes had increased slightly to Advanced after studying all the information that the Bloodrune Commander had accidentally left behind.

The ones he hadn’t been able to practice were Astral Strike, which was at Expert, and his new ability from his Guardian of Aster Fall subclass, Astral Binding, which was still Basic. He hadn’t had an opportunity to use it on an enemy yet. That was something he planned to correct as soon as he found a good target.

He’d also discovered some of the innate abilities that came from his race, which were unlocked as his attributes reached key stages. He’d used a couple of them in the past, but now they were a conscious part of his awareness. The Physique of the Stars that came from his Constitution passing 10,000 was one of them. His strength had a similar one, called Strength of the Sun. The information on it filled his mind.

Strength of the Sun (Innate Racial Ability):

[The strength of a Titan cannot be constrained by distance. Your physical attacks take on a ranged quality and are able to strike anywhere within the range of your aura. Your strength fills your spirit and takes the place of Wisdom for resisting mental magic if it is higher.]

He had gained abilities for his Intelligence and Aura passing 10,000 and 20,000, but their effects were so tied into his race that he barely thought about them. He hadn’t even noticed their presence before the Dream of the Void.

Intelligence at 10,000 had given him an ability called Stellar Mind, which let him divide his attention to think about multiple things at once and enabled him to model dimensional spaces more easily. It increased the effectiveness of his spells and his ability to weave complex spell structures. It was also a core ability for how he was able to teleport so well and walk along the astral threads.

At 20,000 Intelligence, he’d gained an upgrade called Dimensional Sight. It enabled him to see the workings of the Void more clearly, from the flow of energy to the interwoven nature of the dimensions. Things that had been hidden from his view were now clear.

As for Aura, at 10,000 he’d received Auric Sense, an intensive upgrade to his perception of auras and spiritual energy, what some would call souls or the inner consciousness. It was integral to his ability to sense and repair auras.

At 20,000 Aura, he’d unlocked Auric Awareness. It was similar in some ways to Dimensional Sight, and it allowed him to sense the various energies that made up the internal structure of auras, even ones that weren’t elemental, which made it easier to modify them. It also gave him the ability to perceive the flow of time, which he could see drifting around him like a strange blue energy now.

He pushed those thoughts aside as he scanned the Void around him, stretching out his senses as he looked for targets. The abilities were all a part of his perception, enhancing what he could see. There were some threatening existences on the edge of the system and he could sense more past them, things that were large and dangerous even to him, powerful beasts at home here in the Deep Wild, but the presence of the seal and World Core seemed to keep them from coming too close.

It was tempting to race toward them and see who was stronger. The desire for battle pounded in his chest and raced along his limbs. It would be good to shake off the dust of traveling for so long with a fight.

With a growl, he forced the feeling down for later, promising that he would do it soon. A short trip would take a few days, but there was a small time compression once he left the immediate vicinity of the Nexus here. Perhaps he could take a trip for a few days while only one day passed on Aster Fall.

He rubbed his chin in thought as he continued searching, looking for any signs of the ancient Vos’Rekan that had damaged the World Core, but he didn’t sense anything immediate. That thing could be lurking many systems away and still feel what was happening here, but not even he would be able to sense it unless it was right in front of him.

Vos’Rekans had an ability to hibernate and turn themselves to stone, removing all traces of their essence and vitality as they drifted through space to digest their last meal. It was one of the things that made them hard to kill. They turned to a more inert type of stone when they died, which was the material that formed the bones of Aster Fall, the substance underlying the earth and dirt of the world.

If this one was still around, it could be nearly anywhere.

At that moment, a glimmer of crystal flame spun through the Void and arrived in front of him. It floated there like a tiny gemstone. He pulled his thoughts back to the present as he reached out to touch it. As soon as he did, a voice spoke.

“Sam Hastern...is that you?” the Astral Guardian’s familiar voice resonated in Sam’s mind. “You are completely different from the past. I detected a flicker of powerful energy a short while ago. It must have been your return from the Path of Stars. Congratulations, young Titan. Once, you were my student, but it seems you’ve found another heritage, one that puts me to shame.”

There was a chuckle in the voice, as if he weren’t too bothered by that idea. The Astral Guardian had always been magnanimous and as a Crystal Flame Elemental, one of the Cer’Aleth, he wasn’t troubled by the dark emotions of other races. His personality was as steady as the earth. That was why he’d been able to spend the last two million years watching over Aster Fall without complaint.

“Have you come to fix the Seal?” he asked as curiosity entered his tone. “You’re in a unique position to do so. I can’t manifest a form within range of the Seal unless there’s a grave issue, since my presence will only destabilize it more, but I will certainly help however I can.”
“Soon, I hope,” Sam replied as he pulled a small potted tree from his cloak and held it on his palm. It was the sapling of the Wild Tree from Alora’s home world, one that was bound to Asenya. He needed to plant it, but first he wanted the Guardian’s advice.

“I’ve found some evidence of Asenya,” he said as he held the tree up toward the gem. “I believe she’s missing somewhere inside the Seal or on the other side, perhaps wounded or asleep. This tree is tied to her aura. I want to use it to find her, but I’m not sure where to begin. Do you have any suggestions?”

He thought the Astral Guardian was at the Fifth or Sixth Evolution, but he wasn’t able to confirm it and it wasn’t polite to ask. Perhaps the high Fifth was the most likely, since the Sixth Evolution was called the Divine Realm, and that was extremely rare according to what Asenya’s memory imprint had told him. At any rate, he was hoping that the guardian might know how to find her by using the tree.

“Is that true?” The guardian’s voice was surprised as a thread of crystal flame reached out from the gem and brushed across the sapling. “That’s a unique tree indeed...more like an artifact that resembles a living thing. I can’t tell all of its uses, only that it channels energy. Its nature is foreign to me, but seems closer to your own. If it’s a matter of locating her through a spiritual connection, then anywhere within the Seal should have a similar result. Try planting it on Aster Fall and see what happens, perhaps in a place she used to live, if you can find one.”

Sam rubbed his chin as he looked at the tree. When he’d reached the Second Evolution just before leaving Aster Fall, Asenya had told him she’d left some bases on the world for her inheritor, old workshops and places she had been. He hadn’t followed in the exact path she’d left behind and didn’t have the locations or keys to those places, but perhaps if he found one, there would be a connection to her there. His title as High Artificer also came from her, so it should be able to get him inside.

“Please try to repair the Seal with the abilities from your class,” the Guardian added. “Your ability to manipulate auras comes from the same line as the World Forger’s and is likely the only compatible method that can do it without creating a disaster. I took a risk when we originally met, which I still hope will pay off in that regard. I can’t interfere very much, and even reaching out like this can sometimes cause an adverse effect on the seal, but I will be nearby if you need to speak with me.

“Let us both hope that my true presence is not required, since if it is, it means the Seal has shattered. The world will break under the force of that conflict, giving rise to earthquakes, storms larger than kingdoms, and mountains shifting. Its structure relies on the steady flow of energy through the World Core. The presence of Fourth and Fifth Evolution beings causes widespread chaos to the World Core’s damaged energy pathways, not to mention the risk of drawing attention from that giant Void beast.”

“I’ll do my best.” Sam nodded as he heard the helplessness in the guardian’s voice. It looked like he was on his own until everything fell apart, but if he could ask the guardian questions now and then, it would be useful.

He nodded in agreement as he said a final few words and released the message spell. The sapphire gem of crystal flame faded away, dissolving the conduit that he’d created. It was safer for him to invite the guardian here to speak like this, since his own energy didn’t disrupt the seal nearly as much.

Plans for the future ran through his mind as he looked out at the wildness of the Void and he gave it a nod of promise. He’d go there soon and test out all the abilities he’d trained on the way home. It would be much more effective for gathering essence and reaching the Third Star than hunting on Aster Fall, especially since Third Evolution Flaws were rare. But right now he had a mission.

He turned toward the green moon that was shining behind him and with a step, he disappeared in a streak of silver light.

*****

The surface of Silvas was a light green stone that gave off a dense sense of Wood energy and emerald moonlight. There were no grasses or trees growing on the moon, which he had almost expected to see given its nature. Instead, a type of nearly invisible root filament waved in the air, covering the stones nearby with a translucent sheen that extended for about half an inch. They resembled very fine hairs like you could find on the inside of some tree bark.

“Curious,” he said aloud, his voice rumbling over the low stones that marked the moon. There wasn’t much here except those roots, but they looked a lot like the roots you would see on a cave roof, the ones that extended downward from the land.

The more he looked around, the more he got the impression that the moon’s exterior was a shell, one that was somehow turned inside out. Except for those roots, whatever Wood life was here was probably deep beneath the crust. The entire area around him glowed with Silvas’s unique aura too. The familiar presence of moonlight radiated from everything.

A scan of the area below told him that the interior of the moon was hollow. He could sense the internal space and winding tunnels of a vast cavern complex, but it extended beyond his full range of 150 miles. If it ended somewhere, it was even farther down.

All throughout the caverns, there were brightly shining green stones and grasses, even some trees and moss. His attention skimmed over them, even as he marked some of the most intense points for potential use in the future. Most of the stones felt like Silvas’s aura, possibly a type of crystallized moonlight, but there were ones here and there that felt like Wood.

He would have to pick up one of those Wood elemental crystals before he returned to the relic. It should be enough to refresh the Wood pylon that made crops there grow faster.

Just then, the stones around where he was standing trembled as an intense wave of the moon’s aura flowed through them. It was bright and vibrant, shining with an emerald moonlight as it washed over his location and flowed on, heading toward the horizon where it faded into the distance of the Void.

It piqued his curiosity and he turned to follow it back to its origin, his senses scanning across the moon. About a hundred miles away, he detected the source. It was a pillar of carved stone that burned with a majestic force. A rune so complex it blinded his view dominated the center. He saw some curving lines, but then it disappeared, resembling only a streak of moonlight.

He teleported with a step of silver light that crossed the distance. A moment later, he was standing in front of the pillar. It was tall enough to be like a small mountain, with its top a thousand feet from the surface of the moon, and it was a hundred feet across. Its surface was covered with intricate runes and support patterns.

At a glance from its basic structure, he could tell it was designed to channel the moon’s aura and focus it, but despite his expertise with runes, the sheer power made their lines blur in his vision. It felt like the runes were warping in and out of reality, with sometimes just bare stone visible on the pillar. If he had been any weaker, it probably would have looked like plain stone, if he could have seen it at all.

That was shocking, since his ability with runes was fairly advanced, especially after the Dream of the Void and comprehending the core enchantment of the Moonlight Relic. That was somewhere near the Sixth Evolution. Granted, he’d comprehended it slowly over time and it came from the same tradition as his Titan memories, which were all part of the same heritage.

These runes were no less powerful, but clearly from a different path. Without having a grasp of the core enchantment, he probably wouldn’t have been able to see them here. Now, however, it gave him some insights into the ancient wardings placed on the moons against the Three Demons.

Silvas’s wards were targeted at blocking the Demon of Blood, which was why the thread of its moonlight in his aura was so effective against Outsiders with that affinity.

“Interesting,” he said slowly as he studied the pillar and committed what he could see of the runes to memory. “This must be the ward against demons, but if that’s true....”

He looked out into the distance and his guess was confirmed as he saw another pillar farther away, toward the curve of the moon’s horizon. They probably covered the moon in an enchantment pattern, stabilizing a vast ward across the surface. He couldn’t help but wonder at how it worked. It was a completely different style than the relic.

Impulsively, he teleported back up into the Void and looked down at the pillar. From this distance, however, it was gone, hidden by some illusion or dimensional art. With a thoughtful hum, he returned to where he’d been standing. The pillar once was again in front of him, its runes fading in and out at the edge of his vision.

He stretched out his senses to take in the full impact of the wards and followed the flow of energy from the pillar. It was faint, barely present in the local dimension, and if he hadn’t already had a connection to it through the moonlight in his own aura, he probably wouldn’t have been able to sense it at all.

It took him along a route that curved away in space and twisted into a separate dimension before it returned and connected to the next pillar. He teleported again, stepping away in a wash of silver light as he appeared by that one and continued following the trail. Then he kept going.

Step by silver step, he traveled from one to the next as he compiled the structure of the enchantment in his mind. A couple of hours later, he had walked across most of the moon and he finally paused as he began to consider the result.

The enchantment was incredible. Instead of being woven into physical space, the lines of energy from it were woven into a sub-dimension, using that dimension like scroll parchment to embody the ward. The pillars here were the runic anchors in this dimension. The result was an ethereal path through which the moon’s aura flowed to create the ward. That was why the runes were also hard to see. Only a trace existed in this dimension.

What was more, the sub-dimension was one where time almost didn’t flow, which made it effectively immune to degradation and prevented the ward’s energy from dissipating into the Void. All the energy that infused it was routed through that dimension and held ready to be unleashed in an instant.

It was eye-opening and gave him some ideas for the future. It also explained how Silvas was able to channel massive strikes of energy at a target. It could fire intense lances of moonlight at any location on Aster Fall or within the surrounding system, since the energy was constantly stored in this dimensional ward.

As soon as he understood the basics of how the system worked, his attention turned to the source of energy that fed into the pillars. It didn’t take long to find the origin. It was coming from the underground cavern system he’d sensed below the surface of the moon, the one filled with Wood energy. He teleported again, heading below the surface.

He’d come here to find some aura and now he had a lead.

When he reappeared, it was a hundred miles below ground. He stood in the air above a vast chasm that led down farther. The walls around him were thick with stone spires and ledges, creating a dense wall on every side. Grasses and glowing green crystals like condensed moonlight were embedded in the surface of the stone, resembling ore that had been unearthed by some giant strike of an ax.

It was a vast, thriving chasm filled with plant life and mana, overflowing with the moon’s aura. Streams of moonlight floated through the empty space like ribbons as they touched one crystal and then the next, weaved around the grasses, and ran along the bare stones. It gave everything the sense of a shimmering mirage.

He looked around, studying the flow of energy as he considered the best type of storage enchantment to use. If he could gather this aura and some of the stones, he could definitely infuse it into the greenstone pool. Even a few crystals might be enough for a while. He rubbed his chin as he began to plan it out.

At that moment, however, a deep rumbling sound echoed through the cavern like the roar of a dragon. The stones in the walls shone more brightly in response, their light increasing to a near blinding intensity. From far below, a burning wave of emerald pressure suddenly shot upward, rising like a geyser. It was as fast as lightning, rising upward in a tide of liquid moonlight.

In an instant, the entire chasm that was hundreds of miles deep was filled with an ocean of emerald moonlight, so thick that it felt like Sam was under water. The impact of it threw him upward toward the ceiling high above.

He tried to teleport away, but the local dimensional space was as solid as stone and it happened so quickly there was no time to try anything else. He was slammed into the roof with a crushing impact, moonlight sheeting around his body in a torrent. His bones flexed, but held, as he was pinned against the surface. A dull ache ran through his body, even with all his Constitution.

It was a different sort of pressure than the chaos winds in the Void that he could ignore. He was attuned to those. This was a wave of pure aura and it caught up every bit of other aura in its path as it moved onward as a tide of moonlight roared across his body.

It was fortunate he wasn’t an Outsider.

The aura was so powerful it would have eradicated a Fourth or Fifth Evolution being as easily as breathing. The moonlight in his aura responded, absorbing the pressure, and he instinctively pushed it outward to form a barrier.

A moment later, the pressure split around him, leaving him floating free near the ceiling. The pressure of the tide was still there, keeping him from changing his position, but the aura was no longer crushing him. All around him, the tide continued, pushing upward through every crevice as it rose toward the surface. It was like a wave of magma, something rising from the heart of the moon.

On the walls of the chasm, the green stones glowed with energy and the grasses waved free in the tide, like fronds stretching upward from a seabed as they bathed in the moon’s aura and grew longer.

When Sam found that he still wasn’t able to move, he let out an angry growl and activated a series of enchantments on his clothing. Runes glowed from metallic silver bands around his biceps, his belt, tunic, breeches, boots, and an amulet on his neck. He’d created them on the way home, but he hadn’t had a chance to use them yet.

Drifting silver runes covered his body, each of them flaring with an icy, crystalline light. They swirled across his skin in an interlocking web, forming connections like frozen mist that swirled between them. This armor was a more permanent and stronger version of the runic ice armor scrolls he’d made in the past, its defense supported by the various aura artifacts that he wore as clothing. He glanced at the description that resulted.

Armor of Ethereal Frost:

[This armor has been fashioned from runes of elemental ice and astral energy, giving it a durability that echoes with the heart of the frozen Void. Its defense is supported by the artifact nodes that create it, giving it multiple sources of energy to draw upon. It is enchanted with the ability to withstand and deflect impacts and to repair itself. Its charge will regenerate in the presence of astral energy.

Enchantments: Shield of Astral Frost, Astral Deflection, Impact Diffusion, Self-Repair.

Cumulative Charge from Seven Aura Artifacts: 2,100,000 / 2,100,000.]

It was something that he’d spent several years creating. The seven artifacts that made it up were part of a set, each of them with the same enchantments that were designed to interlock with one another, creating a layer of individual runes. Together, they made up the complete armor that covered him from head to foot.

Instead of surrounding himself in something like platemail, the appearance of this armor was nearly invisible except for the layer of drifting runes. Breaking it, however, would be harder than crushing a mountain. The seven artifacts each held 300,000 points of essence, creating a massive defensive pool.

He’d made it to survive something like the Bloodrune Commander’s vortex trap that had nearly killed him. If he were trapped in that again, he could rely on the armor’s defense to smash his way through. Even if an entire Outsider outpost landed on him, he was confident in surviving it. The armor was that strong.

With the example of the ward on the moon, however, he was tempted to create a new version that routed its power through a sub-dimension. It would be able to take a much more intense hit at once. He’d just have to figure out how to make a sub-dimension that moved with him.

Instead of focusing on that, he let out a low roar as he let the Astral Deflection enchantment on the armor take the strain of moving as he took a step. A wave of moonlight sheeted around him, swirling away like an emerald tide. His Cloak of the Frozen Void glowed as well, releasing an ethereal icy mist that froze the space around him.

It was enough to let him move.

After a few steps, he checked the charge on the armor and then grumbled as he dismissed it. Against an entire moon, a couple million points of essence wasn’t enough to last for long and he wasn’t really in danger. Instead, he folded his arms across his chest and waited.

After about twenty minutes, the tide began to recede. The pressure slowly faded as the wave calmed down and then it sank, heading back into the depths. The grasses along the chasm fluttered in its wake, almost regretfully, as they returned to their previous stillness. The green stones grew dimmer, but they were still brighter than before the wave.

This time, since he wasn’t sure when the wave would return, he stepped away in a silver flash and rematerialized beside a collection of green stones on a spur of rock that extended from the wall. A swipe of his hand severed the entire spur of stone and he stored it away in his cloak. Then he flashed away again, heading toward another spur of rock.

A few moments later, he had a sizable collection of moonlight stones in his cloak, as well as a handful of the strange grasses to study for later. He scanned the area as he looked for a Wood elemental crystal too. The area was saturated with Wood energy, but it had been suppressed by the moonlight tide. That actually made it fairly easy to find the elemental crystal, since it was a more intense point of Wood than anything else around it. A second later, he had the crystal in hand and stored it away with the others.

With a glance around the chasm, he let out a thoughtful hum. The moon was much stranger than he’d thought, and it gave him a heightened sense of anticipation. There were a lot of mysteries to Aster Fall that he still had to discover. He was looking forward to it.

With a flash of silver, he disappeared from the cavern. It was time to see if these crystals would work for greenstone production, and then to finish his forge. The sooner the better for that, since he had the feeling he wouldn't be left in peace for long. 

His arrival had stirred up too many forces on Aster Fall, and only a few of them were friendly.