Beyond?

“The Dwemer are the faithful citizens of the country Dwem in the mountain range Dwem. Smaller than the other races in height, they make up for their shortcomings in cleverness. Using their wits to build formidable structures and cities, their capital Dwem is one of the biggest wonders on this continent. Though we have to admit that our sense of naming things isn't the greatest.”

-The writings of Dwem.

***Free City States of Nict, Capital***

***Adala***

A blast of light and an explosion wake me from my sleep. My mind is still struggling to comprehend what's going on as I hear glass breaking and I wince as a new series of explosions occurs nearby. Finally I manage to open my eyes and stare at the tip of a blade coming down at me.

I jerk my head to the side and the sharp weapon cuts my cheek, barely avoiding my left eye. I kick blindly at where I assume my attacker to be. My foot doesn't find its intended target and I continue to roll away from the blade, dragging the sheets of my bed with me. A dark figure follows and hacks with a short sword at me. Using the blanket as protection, I block the weapon once more just in time. Then I use the short pause to wrap the fabric around my right forearm. I start a ritual as I continue to deflect a series of wide swings by the assassin. A few of my hairs provide the needed catalyst for my ritual. The blanket in my right and the hairs in my left I start singing while I concentrate on the mana within me. “Ieah huul nos ferdent...”

My opponent realizes that a thick sheet of woven fabric provides adequate protection against a blade and changes his tactic to trying to stab me. He follows me as I am pushed back into a corner of my room. My eyes flick towards the door and the window, but the attacker is in a perfect position to cut off my retreat.

I continue singing as he stabs once more at me and I block with my forearm. The blade sinks into it despite the protecting blanket. The pain is horrible, but I don't falter. One syllable of the ritual spoken wrong and everything was in vain. “... sumos el zeench!” I press my hairs onto the blanket and pour my mana into both of them.

My attacker retracts his blade and the blanket comes to life as my hairs weave into it. He stabs once more at me, but this time the fabric holds, reinforced by my mana. Then the sheet unwraps itself from my arm, guided by a will of its own and shoots out, enclosing the man. He swings his sword wildly and screams in horror, but to no avail.

I sink to my knees and lean against the wall, holding my wounded arm. The man's voice turns muffled as the sheet covers him completely. Then his scream turns pained and gets a high pitch as his bones break. Blood starts seeping through the fabric and the man turns silent. Then the blanket lets go of him and flows back to me, wrapping around me.

The Ritual of Grobosch is named after the shaman who invented it. It imbues life into an object and programs it with the will to protect the caster and attack all those whom she or he sees as a threat. Normally someone would use a doll made out of clay or wood, they work best. Though in dire situations anything of adequate size works. The ritual is very convenient since it stays active until the caster stops supplying his servant with mana.

New explosions occur and I get to my feet. The others, surely the assassin wasn't alone. I hurry out of my room and find Eliot in the corridor, he is struggling with a man of almost twice his size. Pointing my finger at the man, I pour all my anger and hate at him. This attack at night took us totally unprepared and those dishonourable bastards think that we'll simply lie down and die!

The blanket responds to my wish and flows away from me, forming a long spike and propelling itself at the man like a crazed animal. It takes him from behind. The man is dead and the blanket on its way back to me before he hits the ground.

“Adala! You are fine, thank the gods!” Eliot limps towards me, looks like he didn't have a nice wake up call either. Then a door opens into the corridor and one of the dark clothed men steps out. His blade is bloody and my heart sinks as I realize that he stepped out of Nikita's room. He blurs and the next moment my blanket moves on its own to block his blade. Eliot's fist connects with the newcomer's chin and he goes to the ground. “Snap out of it!”

Eliot didn't hesitate and used the man's attention on me to land his blow. He bends down and takes the short sword from the unconscious attacker, then he slides it across his throat, cutting deep.

Before I know it my feet carry me to Nikita's room and inside. She is still lying in her bed, eyes closed and sleeping. If it wasn't for all that blood! I jump to her side and press my hands on the wound in her chest.

Suddenly the wall to my right bursts apart and a black clothed body emerges together with the debris from the opened hole. The body drops to the ground and is still. A figure with menacing, glowing, rimless glasses on her head emerges from the hole and points a gloved hand at us, searching for new targets. Sparks dance between the fingers of her hand and she sighs in relief upon seeing us; it's Padma!

Then five more attackers attempt to enter the room. Two through the window and three from the door.

***Free City States of Nict, Capital***

***Azir***

LIGHT!

“Alarm! Wake up! We have to be fast.”

*Slap!*

I open my eyes and find Ivy on top of me in my bed, she is fully clothed and has one of her daggers in her right hand. Stella stirs beside me and rubs her eyes, sitting up. “What's wrong? Are you malfunctioning again?”

“Thirty persons of doubtful origin are closing in on the Dwemer's mansion. They are armed and approaching at full speed. I already alerted everyone through the mana net, but I doubt that help will arrive in time. We are the only fighting force close enough to lend assistance.”

I throw Ivy off of me and jolt out of the bed. Then I put on the first clothes I find. Stella is doing the same while starting a rant. “How could they get so close? I thought you are watching the entire area with your remotes! And why are they going for the Dwemer now!”

Ivy answers with an unemotional voice, forgetting about her goal to mimic organic beings. “I spotted them at two thousand metres out, converging from several directions at high speed. They are not trying to do this the sneaky way.” She turns and opens the window, to jump out of it.

I follow her with Stella close behind me. At the entrance to our property we are already awaited by the five guards who keep an eye on our belongings. Gesturing them to advance on the Dwemer's mansion, I see the first explosions at the close by building. Damn, those attackers are fast! Are they some kind of suicide commando? It's extremely stupid to rush at full speed into an unknown situation. Normally you would expect a task-force to advance slowly until it encounters resistance. Unless the situation isn't unknown to them...

Are they being attacked by the Dark Magicians, or are their own enemies responsible?

Yesterday evening my drone took it's first flight over Dwem and found a war zone at their northern border. At least I think that it could be their border, unfortunately it isn't so easy to differentiate between nations when you look at an aerial photograph. Though I could identify something like a clear front line between two parties and a no man's land between them. It didn't look like a civil war. My drone couldn't capture any actual fighting yet, but the devastations spoke for themselves. The landscape was littered with destroyed buildings and craters from big explosions. There was even something which looked like artillery on the Dwemer's side. It surprised me. They seem a little more advanced than the current Nict. Maybe I shouldn't think too much about it. Nict was once a nation which built the Gates and those artefacts are still standing. Maybe Dwem didn't suffer under the loss of technology as much as Nict.

“I'll go ahead. Follow me as fast as possible.” I concentrate to teleport above the Dwemer's mansion and activate my mana sight. Teleporting alone isn't as straining as taking someone with you, plus the distance is short.

I watch the situation while I start falling and grimace. The attackers overwhelmed the mansion's guards completely, forcing them into two on one fights while the others rushed past them and attacked the mansion. There should be nine Dwemer inside the building. Nine people against fifteen sounds like bad odds, so I decide to help the Dwemer.

The guards who were placed at the Dwemer's mansion are highly trained personnel like the ones who guard my own house. They should be able to buy time against their ten opponents until my own people arrive. Activating my mana sight I display my sparse progression in terms of my ability.

Gathering mana became much easier thanks to my training. As of now I can focus on an object of the size of a person, even seeing it through a wall. But it's far away from my mother's ability. Seeing fine differences within a body or a magic formation is still far out of my reach.

By using levitation magic I adjust my fall towards the highest concentration of Dwemer I can find. Their small figures are easy to discern from their attackers. I also notice that none of the assassins has the bright aura of a mage. Unfortunately I can see only three of them standing while one is lying. Five attackers are moving in on their position. Two from the window and three from the door.

I pull the gathered mana closer and encase myself in it, forcing it into a denser shape to use it as a shield. Then I cast gravity magic to accelerate my fall while I am aiming at the group of three. A moment before the impact I close my eyes and rely on my ability to sense mana.

I impact the roof like a bullet, crushing through the next floor and landing on top of my target. The room is filled with dust and I assess the situation after releasing the gravity magic. One of the opponents is down, crushed under the debris which came down with me. A second one is lying right next to me, his head turned in an unhealthy way. The third is on his knees coughing, he was still outside in the corridor when I made my entrance.

I step towards him and jab at his throat, the coughing turns into gurgling. He goes down and I swing my foot at his head. Touchdown! Ahem. That wasn't the proper way to comment the situation. I should be more cautious when I am using my ability. His head came off and flew right out of the window.

Turning around I find out that one of the Dwemer dealt with the other two attackers. The dust has settled and gives me free vision on the scene. One of the attackers is down for the count under Eliot while Padma touches the other one with a gloved hand. He is twitching while blue sparks dance over him. Nasty, she built a powered up version of a stunner.

Adala is sitting on top of another Dwemer while trying to stop the blood flowing from a wound in her chest. I walk to her and shove her unceremoniously from the girl and notice that it's Nikita. I place my hand on the wound and pour all my mana into a healing spell, trying to sense her soul.

“What do you think you are doing!?” Adala jumps up, but Eliot holds her back. “He is trying to heal her.”

***Free City States of Nict, Capital***

***Stella***

I rush towards the mansion with Ivy and the guards behind me. Arriving there we find a battlefield and three guards who are trying to hold their ground against six of the attackers. I gather my magic and cast an arcane lance by forming the proper runes. The shimmering spear ends the life of one assassin and startles the others. They try to take better positions for the new situation, but by that time Ivy and the guards have reached them and start dealing death.

The attackers seem to be strong fighters, but they obviously aren't at the level of our guards. It looks like ten of them weren't enough to overwhelm the five guards who were guarding the Dwemer, but they made up for it with their numbers. I begin casting another lance when their focus turns to me.

“The mage! Take her out!” One of the attackers pulls something from his belt and throws it at me. I change my skin to metal on instinct and activate the passive rune set to strengthen my body. The thing misses me and I relax. What did that guy throw it for anyway? He even threw it in an arc! No way that something like that would hurt me.

A flash of light and an explosion teach me otherwise. I am flung through the air and for a moment the world spins around wildly. Landing on my back, the air is pressed out of my lungs and I gasp. What was that spell? I didn't sense anything, for all I know he threw a rock at me. After a few seconds I sit up. My ears are ringing, but otherwise I seem to be fine. The defence spells did their job properly, despite my blunder.

My attention returns to the battlefield, but my comrades already eliminated the attackers. Ivy is running towards me with tears in her eyes. “Almighty Sup-”

I jumped up out of reflex and placed my foot in her guts. This nickname is forbidden!

Ivy straightens herself. “I am so glad that you are fine. It's a shame that I can't punish them more.”

“Forget it. We have to take out the remaining enemy forces in the mansion.” I point at the damaged house and notice fire behind some of the windows. Together we rush inside to save what can be saved.

.