Elsewhere

The message he received a moment later was indeed an error message, but far different than last time and not nearly as alarming.

*** TELEPORTATION failed. Destination outside of current range. ***

Duke read and re-read the message, releasing the breath he was holding when he finally processed what it was actually saying. He OVERCHANNELED 100,000 Mana into his Ability and was pleased to see that his TELEPORTATION worked, bringing him back to the Legion’s area and allowed him to quickly catch-up.

Aurelia greeted him with a warm smile. “Welcome back, Duke. Did you have a good time flying around? Find anything worth worrying about?”

Duke returned her smile. “I had a great time. I think I pushed my FLIGHT Ability pretty far. So far, that I was out of my TELEPORTATION range which is over 400 kilometers. Anything happen with the Legion while I was gone?”

“A minor skirmish. Just a couple hundred goblins. Maybe a thousand. The Legion handled them without breaking the march.” She replied with obvious pride.

Duke chuckled. “Oh, tell me more.”

“It was about four hours ago. They came boiling out of the south woods, charging the formation without warning. The first hundred or so fell to the mage corps before they made contact with the outer shield wall that had formed. Those that actually made it to the shield wall died quickly. One of the benefits of the FORMATION Ability is how it strengthens the shield wall. Those goblins that did make it to the shield wall were bounced off and dispatched easily.” Aurelia was more than happy to relate the tale of the encounter.

“Any casualties?” Duke asked.

“Not a one.” She replied happily.

“So, did Eihlen get a boost from it?” Duke continued.

Aurelia shook her head. “Not really. By the time I could even engage my Ability, half of the goblins were already dead. She did get about nine times the experience she would have normally gotten but the experience was shared by most of the Legion, so it amounted to hundreds of experience points for her after all was said and done. Nothing that will change anything just yet.”

Duke sighed. “Guess that’s how the Ability was intended to be used – effective over time but not a ridiculous boost in the short run. That is, unless we do what we did last time and separate out to a small squad.”

“Which we will the next time the scouts find something worth the effort. They warned us about the goblin presence, but nobody thought they would actually try to attack the Legion. Goblins have never been known for being smart but attacking a force that outnumbers you thirty to one? That’s beyond foolish.” She agreed.

Baslin joined them, floating in his chair while Duke walked, and Aurelia rode her horse. Duke finally decided to ask. “What’s the deal with the chair, Baslin? You have to know it looks as odd as a three-legged chicken.”

“It’s comfortable. And I am who I am. I’m not the great and mysterious entity of unknowable power that floats on a burning cloud formed from the souls of my enemies.” Baslin paused, pulled out a book and wrote some notes down. “I’m an academic. A researcher by heart. Big overstuffed comfortable chairs that should be in a library are my thing.”

Aurelia gave Baslin a critical look. “What did you just write down in your notebook?”

“What? That image was great. You don’t write down things that strike your fancy so that you can remember them later?” He responded.

“Nothing about riding around on the souls of my enemies strikes my fancy.” She responded.

Duke added unhelpfully, “I thought the image was pretty badass myself.”

Aurelia gave him an incredulous look and rode off to “Inspect the Legion”. Duke and Baslin exchanged a high-five and continued on with the march. Soon Duke found himself involved in one of Baslin’s theoretical discussions on the nature of magic and the universe at large. Most of the theory was well beyond Duke’s current level of understanding but when it came to a discussion of his own world, his interest level peaked.

“So, you are saying that you have a hypothesis about why my home world has no magic.” Duke asked, interest roused.

“Indeed. Since you have legends of magic and the like, my guess is that there is an entity or artifact that has absorbed the magic of your world and continues to absorb it. To what purpose, I couldn’t even guess but the magic of an entire world would be tremendously powerful. With that much magic absorbed and held for so long…I doubt anything could stand against it.”

“What would happen if all that magic were to be released at once?” Duke asked, intrigued.

Baslin thought for a bit before answering. “I really don’t know specifically. But I suspect it would reshape your world entirely. It would be better for everyone involved if the release was at a more measured rate. Releasing that much magic into a non-magical world would cause world-wide disasters as the magic would warp and change things nearly instantly. It would destroy your civilization and reshape everything.”

Duke responded. “Zero stars. Would not recommend.”

Baslin shook his head. “Another idiom, I presume?”

Duke didn’t respond as he contemplated the possibility of Earth with true magic. His mind warred between the amazing things that could be accomplished with things like healing magic and the terrors that would be unleashed if the depraved got a hold of other types of magic. After a while he decided that he needed to do some scouting on his own to distract himself from this line of thought.

Once again, Duke was flying above the Legion. But this time he wasn’t heading far away, just looking at the general area around the Legion. He knew that the Legion had its own scouts out and didn’t want to undermine them, he was just looking for something to take his dark thoughts out on. He quickly realized that he really wasn’t as much scouting as he was hunting. When he changed to that mindset, it wasn’t long before he spotted something that attracted his attention.

What Duke spotted was a group of individuals carefully moving through the forest. He was several kilometers away from the Legion but decided this was worth investigating. As he descended, he noted that they were all well-armed and armored with heavy plate armor. It seemed a bit odd and excessive for the forest, but Duke didn’t really wear armor himself, so he did his best to not bring his own prejudice to the situation.

Duke landed within sight of the group and noted their overly stocky build. The apparent leader of the group moved in his direction while the rest of the group fanned out behind. As they approached, Duke stood ready, but not in a threatening posture. See, I can be good. When they were a few meters in front of him, Duke was able to get a better picture of what he was facing.

They approached with cautious confidence, the lead figure removing her helm to reveal flowing strawberry blonde hair and the most shockingly beautiful blue eyes Duke had ever seen. When she spoke, Duke was shocked by her voice. It was deep and resonated in her chest like an echo chamber, sounding much bigger than even her short, stocky stature predicted.

“Well met traveler. What brings you to this forest?”

Duke cautiously responded. “I came out here to hunt. I haven’t found any suitable prey yet, but your group caught my curiosity.”

“As your arrival from the sky has caught mine. What manner of man are you that you fly upon the winds without wings?” She inquired.

“One who likes to fly.” Duke deadpanned.

The smile in response was immediate and warm. “I am known as Shimmerstone. How shall I call you?”

Duke returned her smile, relaxing his posture as his XENOGLOSSIA told him it was genuine. “I am known as Duke. What are you doing wandering around this forest?”

She cocked her head curiously. “Is this your forest? Does this forest belong to your Dukedom?” She offered up no honorific, which Duke found oddly refreshing.

“Hard to say right now. I’m on my way to eliminate an undead king and maybe that gives me claim to the forest. Maybe it will after I kill the bastard. Not really sure how this all goes.”

“That…that’s an odd perspective. I thought perhaps you came here to investigate the same thing that we were. The glaring lack of evidence of the supremely destructive spell that affected this area not too long ago. We arrived, expecting to find a wasteland blasted clear of trees.”

“And that would be a good thing for you?” Duke asked.

“Well, yes and no. With the ground blasted clear, the mineral bounty that lies beneath these woods would be much easier to locate and mine. But the downside of all that is that the area would be devastated and that’s not really good for anyone. Do you know what happened here?” Shimmerstone explained.

Duke answered sheepishly, “I might know what happened.”

“You might know what happened?”

“OK, I’m mostly responsible for what happened here.” Duke confessed, unsure of why he was sharing so much information with someone he just met. He ignored the thought and chalked it up to a pretty face.

“Oh, do tell me more. You have me thoroughly intrigued.”

Duke found himself relating a quick summary of the undead army and how he destroyed it. Ending with how he restored the forest. Again, he felt strange relating that much information to someone he just met but it didn’t stop him from telling the tale.

When he finished, she smiled even wider. “A fantastic tale that would be thoroughly unbelievable if Orgath did not confirm everything you just told me to be truthful.”

“What’s your connection to Orgath?” Duke asked cautiously.

“He is my god, of course. I serve him in all that I do. He told me to come here and so I am here.”

Duke came to a sudden realization of a few things. One, the gods were involving themselves in his affairs again. Two, he was going to have a price to pay if he allowed it. And three, Shimmerstone and her group could potentially be a powerful ally. He decided to see how this would play out. “Did your god tell you to come seek me out?”

She smiled. “Not specifically. He just told me to come to this area and investigate what happened. And if the land had indeed been stripped bare, it would have been a great opportunity to search for riches.”

“So, since he did not tell you to seek me out, this encounter is simply coincidence and not divine interference.” Duke decided to make his case to whomever the entities were that were watching his every move.

“I suppose you could say that, yes. But I do consider it a fortuitous encounter. Did the gods send you here as well?”

Duke responded with cold finality. “No, I do not follow the gods of this world. I go where I will and for reasons I decide.” There, that should get me in the clear. I hope.

“Orgath has much to offer. I would be happy to tell you more about him.” The eagerness in her voice struck a chord deep down in Duke’s consciousness which was met with his MENTAL FORTITUDE finally kicking in.

“The last time I met Orgath, I was lucky to live through the encounter. And that was him ‘helping’ me. I know enough about him for now. Thank you.” Duke replied, trying to keep venom out of his voice and mostly succeeding.

“You have met Orgath? We must speak more about this. Tell me everything!” She pleaded with Duke, excitement boiling over her entire countenance.

Duke realized that he may have just caused even more problems for himself. Keep your damned mouth shut, moron. “Tell you what. I’m going to head back to my Legion. You and your group are welcome to come along and join us in our crusade.”

“Crusade? You march towards holy war? With a Legion? I must know more.” She gestured for Duke to lead on as her unnamed followers did just that – followed.

Duke set out walking back towards the Legion, chafing at how slow it was to just walk. He found his pace to be accelerated more than normal and just didn’t care that Shimmerstone and her followers had to almost jog to keep up with him. More sidetracks and tangents. Sidetracks? More like sidequests. I wouldn’t mind it so much if they were clearly defined and offered rewards but they are not and do not.