Elsewhere

Baslin stood resting against a tree outside the gates. He admired the wonder of the living gates that Grat had crafted. The entire defensive structure of walls and towers had been grown out of the forest. Baslin corrected himself. Grown from the forest. The tree he leaned against was a prime example – it was a hearty and healthy oak tree that was more than two meters thick and integrated nearly seamlessly with the trees to each side of it. Baslin wondered if the trees shared the same root system and if that was a vulnerability of which they needed to be mindful. He resolved to discuss it with Grat when he got back for he was going with the Legion.

Duke and Aurelia appeared near his resting place, and he marveled at the man who had been his apprentice for the shortest time. To his Archmage’s sight Duke glowed with terrifying power. Baslin had honed his magical vision over a centuries to be able to see all the subtleties of Mana systems. Even still, he had never seen anything like Duke’s. The man’s Mana channels were swollen beyond what should have been his limit, stretched to channel frightening levels of power. They all branched from a single core of power, some sort of cosmic seed planted deep inside his soul that had sprouted and was growing. Baslin was no longer sure he could keep the man in check if he needed to at some point. Once again, he was thankful that he counted the man a friend.

The pair stepped away from the growing ranks of the Legion outside the wall. “Hello there, Baslin. Ready for the long journey to Chopie-land?”

Baslin chuckled. “Yes, I am ready, but it remains to be seen that you have the patience for the long journey.”

“Wow, first Aurelia, then you. Everyone must think I’m an adrenaline junky.” Duke responded, a hint of defensiveness carrying in his voice.

“Perhaps there’s a reason for that.” Grat’s voice carried down from the top of the wall. “You don’t exactly have a reputation for patience, Duke. You’ve earned it and that’s OK. Just accept it like the rest of us have.”

“Speaking of patience, are you sure you want to stay here and wait for this to be all over?” Duke called up to him.

“Quite sure. Elaine and I will keep an eye on things here and make sure everything is all in order when you come back. If you need anything, or more likely, are going to send a bunch of people here, just use the Jewels of Whispers that Sam gave you all. We’ll get them sorted. And don’t worry about us. Hanging out here in the wilderness is just perfect for us. City-life is not really our thing.”

“Wilderness.” Duke scoffed. “You sleep in a bed and eat meals cooked for you by an extra-dimensional magical being. Wilderness, right.”

Grat responded with a broad smile and a wave. “Enjoy your trail rations!” He ducked back down behind the wall.

“He’s tempting me to TELEPORT back for every meal, isn’t he? Duke asked.

Baslin chuckled. “It does seem so. If it wouldn’t affect the morale of the troops, I would say that it’s an excellent plan.”

Aurelia leaned in conspirationally. “Perhaps if we had a large command tent that we went into for our meals and sealed it from interruption or had some way to know if someone was coming in…”

Baslin beamed back at her. “That’s an excellent plan. Now only if we knew someone who would take enormous pleasure from crafting such a ridiculously impractical structure.”

“Do you know someone like that?’ Duke asked, knowing full well he was walking right into the line.”

“I know such a man because he is me!” Baslin responded with a wide grin.

“Remind me to introduce you to memes if I ever get some sort of illusion-projecting magic.” Duke replied with a groan.

Their conversation was interrupted when one of Aurelia’s commanders rode up on horseback nodding to Aurelia and Duke. “General. Your Grace. The Legion is assembled and ready to march.”

“Thank you, Commander Marsh.” Aurelia responded seriously. She raised her voice, employing her COMMAND VOICE Ability to reach each member of the Legion simultaneously. “Legion! Prepare to March!” The thunder of the Legion’s voices responding shook the ground. “Ready to march!” Aurelia smiled with pride at her troops’ discipline and unity. She gave the command. “Legion! March!”

As one, the Legion marched in ranks of 25 Legionnaires abreast down the road Duke and Grat had created through forest. They had created a 30-meter wide path to allow just this sort of formation while permitting some space on either side for commanders to move back and forth. In all, the formation was longer than anything Duke had ever seen before the horde. Whereas the horde was a disorganized teeming mass of undead, this formation was orderly and marched in lockstep. The precision with which they marched amazed Duke enough for him to comment on it.

“Despite the troops being different heights, they all are marching at the exact same stride and cadence. That is more than just practice and discipline. Their distances are not being affected by terrain or the curvature of the road.”

Aurelia beamed with pride. “Yes, the FORMATION Ability is one of the key Abilities granted to all members of the Twice Blessed Legion. Many consider it a minor Ability, but for moving troops over any distance it is invaluable. Without it, troops will inchworm their way along as the slightest misstep will travel back through the ranks compounding to the point that troops midway through the formation and beyond have to continuously stop and jog to catch back up to the leaders. That leaves them off-balance and more tired than they should be on such a march. This Ability prevents that and makes sure they all travel as a unit. Just wait until you see a FORMATION charge. The thundering resonance as they charge in unison is enough to shake walls down.”

Aurelia stepped high into the air, which looked rather strange until her foot came to a stop in a stirrup that appeared, followed by a massive horse. She swung up into the saddle and smiled at Duke’s widening eyes. The horse was powerfully muscled and tall. Duke had to crane his head up to look at her beaming smile. “You like my horse?”

Duke rose into the air so he could speak to her without craning his head. “Ahh, that’s better. I didn’t want to talk to your knee for the rest of the journey. The horse is a magnificently powerful beast, one fit for the General of the Legion.”

“Yes, I do enjoy having something powerful between my legs.” She offered with a wicked grin.

“Keep talking like that and I’ll drag you back to the Inn and the Legion will just have to march on its own for a while.” Duke responded.

She smiled back enigmatically but did not respond other than to kick her horse into motion, brushing a tingling line of desire with her hand across Duke’s chest as she passed by. Duke visibly took a moment to re-center himself before FLYING above the marching column. He smiled at the precision marching of the more than a kilometer long formation.

The Legion marched onward, covering ground at a consistent pace. Even at this pace it would be at least a week, possibly two, before they made it out of the forest and onto the main road to the capital. And even then, it would still be more than another week before they would make it to the city itself. Duke was expecting the king to discover them coming at some point. He had no idea if the lich was in contact with the horde before it was erased but he suspected that Chopie knew that his horde had been defeated. What concerned Duke on that front was that none of the three “generals” that should have been leading the horde had made an appearance with it and were likely waiting for him in the city.

At some point, the Legion had taken up a marching song. It was a chant of the story of the Legion from its original forming to fight the Vile King’s forces to their defeat and redemption. Finally, the song turned to hope at being able to defeat the newly risen Lich King, Chopie. It was while listening to the song that Duke realized that he was taking the same Legion on a quest to do what it was originally intended to do and had failed at the first time. I hope that was just dungeon backstory because if it wasn’t, this is kinda fucked up, and it’s going to all be on me if it all goes to shit again.

Aurelia had taken to riding at the front of the marching column, maintaining her INSPIRATION Ability for hours on end. It was one of her most powerful command Abilities that came with her Legion Commander Class, and it provided a significant morale boost to everyone considered part of the Legion. She had been pushing this Ability hard when training the Legion and had pushed it almost halfway through the Initiate levels. That, combined with her own personal Characteristic growth was providing a 44% boost to the entire Legion’s morale. They would hit harder, march faster, be more accurate, and resist outside influences that much better. By pushing herself to use her 20,000 Mana Pool over and over to maintain the Ability, her hope was to get it to at least level 20 in the Initiate rank and get the boost fully up to 50% before they reached their destination. She would never speak it aloud, but the last time the Legion marched on a Lich King, it ended badly for them all and the thought was rarely far from her mind.

The only respite from her worries was when her mind turned to Duke. The man had not only rescued them, but he had become everything she could have hoped for. He treated everyone around him with respect and care…until he encountered an enemy. Those, he eliminated with ruthlessness. The lengths he had gone to in order to help someone who even showed him a small kindness she found remarkable. She felt the respect and attraction that she held for the man growing into something much more serious. This realization both thrilled and frightened her. How could she ever keep up with the man who could destroy an army in one stroke?

She was broken from her thoughts as a scout came jogging up to her with a report. The scout fell in step with Aurelia’s horse, her pace steady. “Report for you, General.”

“Proceed.” Aurelia answered without hesitation.

“Ma’am, trolls have been spotted three kilometers ahead and off the road to the right by about another kilometer. It is unclear whether they will engage or lay low. There are seven of them. Forest variety.”

“Thank you. Go ahead and return to your patrol. I’ll handle it from here. Well done.” Aurelia dismissed the scout and considered her options. Trolls would be a major problem for a small group of people to deal with, especially since there were seven of them. But Aurelia had the entire Legion at her back and even a hundred trolls wouldn’t be a significant problem. As she considered what approach to take, Duke came down from above to join her.

“Any issues, or was that just a standard scouting report?” Duke asked.

“Small issue, but nothing that can’t be handled. It seems that there is a group of about seven trolls off the road ahead. They may lay low or even flee when we approach, but they might be hungry and aggressive as well. The horde must have killed or driven most of the wildlife from the area.”

“True. I would say it is better to eliminate the potential threat than to wait for it to actually become one, wouldn’t you?” Duke asked.

“Yes, I do agree. I’ll task a century to break off and deal with the trolls.” Aurelia decided.

“Or we could just go ahead and take care of them ourselves.” Duke offered. “It could be fun.”

Aurelia smiled at Duke. “Yes, it could be fun, and I can set my blade ablaze to prevent their regeneration.”

“Regeneration, eh? And flame stops it? I can do that, but I’ll have to be careful not to set the forest on fire. That would be less than ideal. Let’s do it.” The pair headed off after Aurelia gave an update and instructions to her commanders to continue the march in her absence.