Beyond?

“And may he, who collects all the Great Artefacts, open the Emperor's vault and see the source of his might with his own eyes. May he shudder in fear and cry in despair, because only then will he realize that all his power can't stand up to the Master of All.”

-The forbidden Chronicle.

***Dwem, Capital***

***Azir***

I watch the Great Shaman and general Greywinter brooding over the map with the enemy troop deployment. After a long and detailed discussion they finally stopped pestering me with questions. It has been three hours since we dealt with the southern delegation and this whole situation is becoming a mess. No matter what we do, the enemy keeps pulling aces from his deck. Well, they have obviously been planning this since a few hundred years ago and their goal seems to be nothing less than world dominance.

This Master figure behind them must have some huge issues with himself and the world to show so much determination to this little project of his. To be honest, if it wouldn't affect me I wouldn't care about what they are doing at all. But that's not the case, so I am currently trying to find a solution.

Ivy is micromanaging our two drones, trying to find this helmet of theirs. I turned the drone which was headed towards the southern nations around a while ago, since I figured that we might need more of them. I face Ivy and whisper. “How is the situation.”

She keeps concentrating on her task. “The first drone is already above their main army, but so far I had no luck in finding the helmet. The second drone just crossed the border to Nict, it'll take some time for it to arrive.”

The drones are fast, but it still takes time for them to travel such vast distances. Having them fly at maximum speed also depletes their energy reserves faster than they can regenerate them. Still, having two drones on-site is better than one.

Dwem's northern border is a line of bunkers and long range artillery positions. Their army is quite modern in terms of this world's technology. They are even using rifles, though they are only one shot models. But they pack a punch and can penetrate any armour the barbarians mustered so far. In addition they are using grenades and sabres for close quarters combat.

Most of their defence is concentrated on the central mountain pass to the north, which allows access to Dwem. The barbarians' efforts so far concentrated on conquering the pass, so most of their troops are deployed there. The Shaman and Greywinter think that they'll use their super weapon to take out the defences at that pass, which would practically end the war.

Dwem's whole army and strategy are built on entrenching themselves in a fortified position and to wait for the enemy.

The so called barbarians on the other hand are from a country further north. They aren't really barbarians, but the Dwemer are calling them so. I guess it makes killing them easier. If you use degrading phrases to describe your enemies it dehumanises them and lessens the moral burden. I won't judge them for it.

The barbarians are still mostly sticking to swords and bows, though they are recently beginning to use muskets, explosives and new spells. These new weapons were surely not created by them, but given by yet another party.

Another point which speaks for them is numbers. The only reason that the Dwemer are able to hold them off is their artillery. Any attack by the barbarians is doomed to end in a bloodbath, shredded to pieces by the Dwemer's ability to attack over long ranges.

But lets assume that the barbarians have a weapon which can take out those artillery positions. The Dwemer's army would be overrun in a single offensive.

That's why the Shaman and the General are planning to make a sally with all their troops as soon as they spot the helmet with their scopes. That's a desperate plan in my opinion. Regarding the scopes, of course the Dwemer have a way to observe the enemy troops over long ranges via magic. Otherwise their nice artillery wouldn't be half as effective. They even turned the throne room of the Great Shaman into a big video room to give the Shaman a good view on what's going on while the general and his subordinates keep him informed.

I am not as optimistic as them. They are hoping that it takes a while to activate the Light of the Emperor, so that they have time to retrieve it. I must admit that the helmet sounds like an interesting artefact and that I want it for myself. It's a waste to give such a mighty artefact to someone who doesn't even understand it... most likely. I am not saying that the Dwemer are unqualified idiots, they are more qualified in terms of technological knowledge than most.

“You are constantly updating the coordinates of the drone, aren't you Ivy?” I whisper to her while Stella is distracting the Dwemer with her well meant advices. She is keeping them occupied with her offers to help. In the meanwhile I am preparing a little magical circle, all I need are the coordinates of the helmet.

Ivy nods. “They are updated every second.”

Good. “That reminds me, do you have a dagger stored away somewhere?” I could create my own weapon from mana, but that takes time and when I set my plan in motion I have to be quick. Every second counts.

Ivy nods and pulls a blade out from under her boobs and hands it to me without attracting attention. Luckily everyone's attention is glued to the screens which display the advancing barbarian forces.

But seriously, what's wrong with Ivy? First the map and now the dagger? I've to talk with her about this at some point.

The dagger is short, but sharp and a little curved. It should be enough for my purposes, so I store it away under my jacket. Then I continue weaving the magical circle under my feet. Casting spells in a manner which doesn't attract the attention of nearby mages is a hard task, but I am taking my time to keep the glowing after-effects of the circle hidden in the ground under my feet. My ability is also a great help in keeping the mana under control and the leakage to a minimum.

The unfolding encounter between the troops of Dwem and the barbarians isn't concerning me much. It isn't very interesting to watch slowly advancing barbarian troops, while the Dwemer are waiting for them to get into range.

Though the Great Shaman and general Greywinter are enthusiastically giving commands, which makes the whole situation a little absurd. Someone could come to the conclusion that there is a full scale battle going on. I sigh, commanding troops is a hassle. I hope that I never find myself in the situation of having to do so.

By using mind magic I access a live video stream of my drone and observe the barbarian army. Right outside the Dwemer's range, the whole barbarian army suddenly stops without any obvious command. One possibility is that they were trained very well, but that doesn't seem likely when I look at their ragtag outfits. They look more like a huge mob of bandits to me.

The other possibility is that they learned the hard way how far the Dwemer can shoot, which seems more likely. The barbarians who couldn't judge the distance to the enemy artillery correctly are dead barbarians. What I am looking at are the survivors who are good at judging distances.

Finally they start a long and enduring warcry until one of them steps forward, holding a winged helmet like a holy object. Probably he is the enemy commander. His leather armour looks a little more expensive and he has his own little honour guard.

“That's it! Let the troops advance! We have to get that thing!” The Great Shaman shakes his totem at one of the video screens.

I cuff Ivy into the side and nod. “Let the operation begin!” My drone immediately turns to the target and accelerates, overloading its engine and diving down from high above the enemy army.

Switching my attention to the Dwemer's video screen I try to follow their viewpoint too while the drone rushes down to the barbarian commander.

He is holding the helmet above his head now and the barbarian army charges forward like in a well choreographed battle scene. This would be a great movie scene, unfortunately it's real. Then he lowers the helmet down onto his head and a strange aura starts surrounding him. It's like a golden light is illuminating him and his eyes start gleaming with a strange golden glow.

Then he points his finger towards the camera!

Right this moment something slams into his position from above. My drone impacted at a speed of three thousand kilometres per hour, but there is no explosion or earth thrown upwards like someone would expect. The overloading gravitational field of the drone countered the force which would have thrown earth and rocks into all directions. Instead all available forces are directed into the direction the drone was travelling in. In this case downwards.

It looks like someone took a gigantic invisible hammer and flattened the entire area around the enemy commander. The advance of the barbarian army comes to a complete halt and it seems like time stopped for a moment.

That's when I activate the magical circle, which I was weaving since quite a while now. The last coordinates of the drone serve as a perfect way to target my exit point.

The world blurs into light and a moment later I find myself beside the barbarian commander. The drone crashed just three metres from him, creating a hole two metres wide. A mass of dead bodies surrounds us, crushed like a giant lowered his foot and stepped onto them. Everything is completely flat.

Strangely enough the enemy commander is still alive and well. He just went to his knees, though he is panting heavily. Maybe the artefact protected him somehow by using his mana? Or did he get a power from the rumoured Master? No matter, it seems like blocking the drone took all his power. Then his head turns to me and his eyes widen.

“Hello.” I draw the dagger and ram it up to the hilt into his left eye. His hands twitch upwards, but I retrieve the dagger before he can grab me and he reaches through empty air. Probably it was just some kind of nerve reaction. The dagger is short, but long enough to reach his brain. It comes down at him again, this time finding the unprotected space between his leather armour and the helmet.

Retrieve, stab, retrieve, stab, retrieve, stab and so on. This is going really well. Now I understand why some people like to use daggers. They are fast and effective, of course you have to get close enough first.

He goes down, a surprised expression still on his face. “The Master's protec-” He doesn't get to say more, since I drew the dagger across his throat. Neither am I interested in his opinion, nor do I have time to listen. I am working within a tight time-frame here. His blood sprays around and his heart doesn't realize the death of the body. It continues to pump blood out of his wounds like a proper devoted heart should do.

I bend down and try to pull the helmet from his head, but the thing doesn't come off! Huh? That wasn't within my calculations! Hastily I place my knee on his chest and grab the helmet with my right hand, then I start happily hacking away at his throat with the dagger.

Normally I don't really enjoy killing people. Sometimes it's a necessity of life and simply has to be done. There is not really a reason to be happy or feel bad about it. If you want to keep what you have, others have to suffer and sometimes they have to die.

It's a whole other story if the person in question is threatening my peaceful life, or has something which he doesn't deserve. Like this helmet.

Finally his head comes off and I stand up, returning to a straight position with the helmet between my hands. It seems to be made out of gold and silver, one of the wings is a little bent. Probably it got damaged by the drone attack. There is a thin slit for the eyes and metal protectors go down to the chin to protect the cheeks. There are some engravings on the helmet, but I don't recognize them as something which fulfils a purpose. They are probably only there for style.

I look up and realize that I am facing an entire army of barbarians. Now that the initial shock is over they finally start moving and rapidly bridge the fifty metre wide gap between me and them, stumbling over their crushed comrades.

Time to go back I guess? I place the helmet under my right arm and take a look at my beloved wristwatch. I built it myself and it's loyally counting the time since I created it in elementary school.

Twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty seconds! The delayed recast of my teleportation spell activates the magical circle in Dwem's capital in reverse. The world blurs and I find myself back at Ivy's side. The Dwemer and Stella are still staring at the video screens. The gazes of the guards are fixated on the screens too. I hand the bloody dagger back to Ivy and she takes it between two fingers, pulling out a handkerchief to clean it.

My attention turns to the helmet. There is still the barbarian's head inside it. It seems to be stuck, what a mess. I hold the helmet between my arm and chest, then grab the spinal cord which is protruding from the neck and pull.

Slowly the head comes out. With a final jerk it comes free, but it's bloody and slips my fingers. The head rolls and slithers across the ground, leaving a bloody trail behind. It comes to rest in front of the Dwemer and Stella, who are looking at me with shocked expressions.

Seriously, what's their problem, didn't I just save the day? They should celebrate me as the hero who went out alone, faced the enemy army and stole the super weapon! Doesn't being heroic count for anything these days?

But that doesn't concern me right now. I wanted the helmet solely to take a look at it! Turning it in my hands I look inside and trace the runes there with my fingers. Then I realize that someone entered my comfort zone and I avert my eyes from the artefact.

It's the Great Shaman and he is looking at me like I am a wild animal, which just started playing with a gun. “Would you... mind giving me that?”

I hold the helmet to my chest. “Why should I? I got it through my own efforts. Steal your own super weapon.”

Stella comes closer and attempts to touch me, but decides not to do so. I look down on myself and realize that I am dirty all over. There is blood everywhere. Geez, I'll refrain from using a dagger in the future. Cleaning this mess will be a bother.

She places her hands in a pleading gesture in front of her chest and smiles at me. “Please honey, we are just a little concerned that it could call down this Light from the scriptures. We should handle such a dangerous artefact with great care.”

“... why do you think I secured it for myself?”

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