Shadowbane

I removed my invisibility and began to walk toward Kai's group. The second I became visible multiple different people jerked their head's in my direction, including the Tengu Lord. There were several groups at the ready nearby, watching the portal like hawks, so they had entered a combat stance the moment I appeared. However, the guards on Telebron's side had immediately lowered their weapons after the man leading them had commanded them to.

"Hello, Artorus. You and your mother made it out just fine I see. I was supposed to help you after the invasion, but, well..." I motioned toward the crystallized Aresa that was currently laid out on the ground near Xi and Alicia.

Artorus glanced back at her and chuckled, "Yeah, we heard about what happened, so don't worry about it. But you have some friends over there that have been waiting to talk to you." He pointed toward Godwin.

I looked over at Godwin and his duel was already over, with him the victor of course. He saw me looking at him and motioned with his hand for me to come over before sitting down on a wooden chair next to his children.

"I was going to talk to them next, but I probably should start with them."

Everyone on this side seems fine anyway. Aside from Euphie that is. She looks like a ghost. She seemed fascinated with the outside world in Kellog, but she was obviously a nester, and now she's lost her home yet again, so it's not much of a surprise that she's looking desolate.

I turned and walked toward Godwin's family, but on the way a trio of winged people stood up and blocked my path.

"Is there a problem? I'm on my way to talk to Godwin's family. I knew them back on Urza."

The woman in front of me quirked an eyebrow and went to respond, but someone put a hand on her shoulder from behind, causing her to spin around with a furious look on her face. However, she blanched the moment she saw who she was about to scream at. It was a six-foot-five tall man with long grey hair, brown skin, and horns that resembled a Satyr.

"Now now, Lina. I've told you once already to stop being so aggressive towards our new friends. We're all in this together now. So while I understand your distrust of strangers after what happened to our home, we really shouldn't be pushing away any potential allies. Especially here. Understand?" The man said.

"Y-Yes, Master Varuna. It won't happen again..." She practically whispered the last part while looking down.

A light smile remained on Varuna's face as he nodded at the girl and patted her in the direction of her group.

Once she and her two friends were sitting around the fire again with their friends, Varuna looked back at me with an apologetic look on his face, "Apologies for that, Miss Reimia. We recently lost our home to traitors, and thanks to that coupled with the hell we went through to get here; our people are a little on edge these days."

"And I'm going to assume it's also related to the reason you're all hiding in this cave."

Varuna's smile widened a little, "And how do you know we're all 'hiding' in this cave? Perhaps we are all just resting before we tackle the next part of our journey?"

"Oh please. I don't know what happened to you lot on your way here, but I know my group over there was attacked by an Eldritch being not too far from this cave. I haven't been able to talk to them about it yet, or much at all period, but I do know that they should be horrified and scared from the ordeal. Instead, what do I see over there? Most of them look bored and tired. Again, I don't know when you arrived here, but I'm willing to bet that you're not just resting here after arriving a day or two ago. You're all waiting because you don't have a choice."

"Oho, not a bad deduction. I'd give you a seven---No, an eight out of ten if you were one of my students." Varuna continued, "Indeed. We are stuck in this god forsaken cave until the beasts outside are done draining the lifeblood from a large crystal vein. But I won't hold you up any more than this. I'm sure Godwin will be more than happy to tell you all about it. He's done nothing but complain for over a week now, so he'll be very excited at the opportunity to complain some more."

Varuna bowed and walked back toward the Tengu Lord who was still conversing with the Merfolk.

Now that the obstacles were out of the way, I began walking toward Godwin again who was holding his arms out at his side, "About time, girl! Next time just throw those cucks out of your way instead of waiting for 'Master' Varuna to save you."

I sat down on an empty chair next to Hera. There were a dozen chairs in a circle around a small fire, with her brother and Father being to her right. Hera and Jasper had smiles on their faces as they watched me sit down. Godwin kind of did too, but the rest of his body language and his narrowed eyes made it clear that he was on edge.

"Still as impatient as ever I see. And why the hell would I start a fight the moment I arrive here? For all I know that Tengu Lord you're following would attack me and the Telebron group over there." I looked at Godwin's wings, "And speaking of which..."

"Just say it. I already know what you're going to say after all." Godwin said after I trailed off.

"Those lush white wings look ridiculous on you."

"Oh you sly cunt... You just had to slip in an insult huh? I thought you were going to mock us for becoming hybrids to a Tengu Lord."

I looked at the siblings, "It's good to see you three again. Honestly, I never thought I would see you again. And on that note; Jasper, would you mind explaining what is going on here? Including the fact that you're hybrids to the Tengu now. I was under the impression that he couldn't make hybrids?"

Jasper chuckled, "Nice to see you as well, Rei! And you are correct, the God can't alter Humans in that way. But have you forgotten? His Lords are on the level of Eldritch Gods and they're all different in their own way. The one we chose to follow has his own path and goals that aligned with ours, so we decided to let him corrupt us. Although it took ages to get Father to agree to it..."

I'm surprised he did allow himself to be corrupted. From what I remember, he was ready to die because he wanted to be with his wife. Which means his two kids must've put a lot of work in convincing him to accept the corruption. All so they could keep their Father around.

"How did you meet the Lord?"

"That would be a long story... One I'm more than happy to regal, but for now we should talk about what is happening here in this cave." Jasper said.

True enough.

"That Varuna guy said Godwin would be more than happy to complain again, so by all means. Start complaining. All I know is that something has you all trapped in here."

"Bah, 'trapped' my ass. Our 'Lord' is merely playing it safe, which is the smart move. I was a leader myself so I know he's making the correct choice, but I'll be damned if I'm going to be stuck in this fucking cave for another month." Godwin said.

"Get to the part where you explain what has you trapped in here."

"I was getting there you little shit. It's a herd of monsters known as 'Versha'. I'll have my son explain them to you. I'm tired of talking about the fucking things."

So he just wanted to vent about being trapped while tossing the explanations to his son? This is starting to feel really nostalgic.

Jasper sighed, "I knew that was coming... But it's nothing too serious, Rei. It's just a matter of waiting out a race of monsters known as 'Versha'. There is a few different types, but the bulk of their race is made up by twenty foot tall bipedal monsters covered in white fur. They have Ram-like heads and horns, with an unnatural sense for anything using mana."

He continued, "Generally they just roam around Mother draining all of the crystals of their mana. They are more than happy to eat any meat that dares come close to their camps, but they can survive just fine off of mana and Mother's lifeblood alone. And you'll know when they sense mana. Their eyes turn a bright white and begin to shine as they all jerk their heads in the direction of wherever the mana was that they just sensed."

"Don't forget about the bones, brother." Hera said.

"Ahh right, thank you, Hera." He flipped to a page in his handbook and handed it to me. It was a drawing of a large Versha covered in armor made of bones, "You can tell their age by what kind of armor and weapons they're using. The older they get, and the more mana they absorb, the strong their equipment is. You see, bones grow out of their backs as they accrue strength, and they rip those bones out before molding them into armor or weapons that only they will use. No other Versha are allowed to use their comrades bones. So if you see one covered in thick bone armor wielding an axe as big as he is, then you know you're dealing with one of their elites. Also, the more powerful they are, the more resistant they are to magic."

"And how many of them are there? If they found this cave, could you beat them?"

"... It won't be easy. That's all I can really say. We only know what they are capable of thanks to our Lord. It's not like any of us have actually fought them before. And to answer your first question, there is thousands out there. They're spread out over several different camps. Some to the northwest, some to the north, others to the east."

"Well, I can see why you ended up trapped here then. It'd be too risky to try and walk past them with all of these people. All it would take is one person accidentally using some mana, or maybe doing it on purpose to defend against an attack, and all of the Versha tribes would descend upon you, right?"

Jasper nodded, "Correct. So basically we're trapped here until they're done draining the crystals. Which could be today, or it could be another month from now. We have fresh water and plenty of food here thanks to the lake on the east side of the cave. Not to mention all of the delicious mushrooms in this cave. But admittedly, even I am getting a little tired of this place..."

"Don't forget all the help those fish people have been giving us!" Hera said to her brother before looking at me, "They love all of the gems our Lord has traded to them. They seem fascinated with shiny objects, so we've gained a bunch of seafood thanks to them."

"Do you think they'd sense you?" Godwin asked.

"I don't know, maybe? My veil is strong but it's been proven many times that anything with a powerful enough detection ability can find me if it wants to. Plus, is there even a point to me scouting out their camps? They sound very basic as a species. If they came toward the cave, you'd all know long before they arrived here."

Godwin shrugged, "Was just a general question in case they do come here. I wasn't about to suggest you go to their camps. As you said, it would accomplish nothing." He continued, "That aside, it sure was nice to see Aresa again."

"Did they figure out what happened to her? She had control of the damned wellspring, so why was the Abyss able to harm her and steal control of it at the same time? Even Rai'ga wanted to use Aresa to speed up his ability to take control of a wellspring somewhere else. So it's clearly not something you can just infuse your mana into and steal. Or it shouldn't be anyway..."

Jasper shook his head, "Your Fairy God spoke to our Lord about it and it was clear that neither of them had any idea as how that happened. It must be related to the Abyssal Gods themselves, or maybe the specific one that took control of it."

"I saw it by the way. It was irradiating the air around it for many many miles. Approaching Telebron now is next to impossible. I could do it, but I'd take an ungodly amount of damage in the process. It'd be pointless for anyone to try and take Telebron back now. Just let the Eldritch from Mother attack the place instead of going on a suicide mission for a city that's already long gone." I continued, "They are planning on attacking it... Right? I can't even imagine what the Abyss plans to do with the wellspring, so it's not something the Eldritch can just ignore."

"Don't worry. Our Lord said that it's a priority target for the Eldritch. They'll be attacking Telebron in about a month." Jasper said.

That's technically good news, but...

"And once they take it back, are they going to purge Aetheria? Aresa was going to ignore that command, but she doesn't control the wellspring anymore."

Godwin laughed as he accepted a plate of fish from a lady walking around handing out dinner to everyone. "You mean IF they can take it back. My son wasn't lying when he said Telebron was a priority target for them, but what of it? We heard about you absorbing Rai'ga, and if even you are saying that approaching the town was difficult, then who the hell knows what kind of abomination took up residence there."

Jasper cut in, "True. And we don't know what kind of defense the Abyss will mount when the Eldritch show up. Plus, even if it is a 'priority', the Eldritch are really stretched thin right now since they lost control over almost all of the wellsprings."

"Wait, what? What do you mean?"

"Ahh shit... My bad, Rei. You wouldn't know yet since you just got here, but the Abyss hit every wellspring. Although it sounds like they were only able to take control of seventy or so percent of them. Some moons weren't hit as hard and thus were able to defend their main city hubs built around the wellspring. Honestly, it sounds like you guys were hit the hardest. They must have really wanted Aetheria." Jasper said.

"Wow, what the hell... But at least the attack on Telebron makes much more sense now. They weren't specifically targeting Telebron---."

Varuna walked up to our group and interjected, "Apologies you four, but I just wanted to let you know that our Lord would love to talk with Miss Reimia here when she has a chance."

With his message relayed, he quickly turned around and walked off.

"Why does he have Demon horns?"

Godwin shrugged while eating the plate of fish on his lap, "Because he was a Demon worshiper long ago. I didn't know they could corrupt people like that, but apparently they can. And they only do it for those they deem worthy, so that's why it's so rare." He continued, "Make of that what you will. I'm still not sure if I trust the man, but he's worked hard for the colony. And when our home was burning down, he nearly died trying to save as many people as he could. Those are indisputable facts that I can't deny and make a large impact in how I see him."

"Our Lord trusts him, and Master Varuna has been training Hera and I for a few years now." Jasper said.

"He's an amazing teacher! If you have any questions related to abilities or spells, he's the one to go to. I've already upgraded my telekinetic ability twice thanks to him." Hera followed up.

It couldn't hurt to ask him about the wings then. The usual route of unlocking abilities isn't working so I might as well.

We talked a little more from there about the current situation while I ate a few dozen fish. I knew the Tengu Lord was waiting for me but I was absolutely starving, so he was going to have to wait a little bit longer.

"Alright, I'm heading to your 'Lord'. But one last question, have you spoken to Markus or Arkaios in the past thirty years?"

The three of them immediately looked apologetic when I asked that, even Godwin surprisingly.

"Sorry, girl. I haven't seen a single branded soldier since I left Urza. There was none on the moon we've been living on, nor were there any missionaries. I heard about what happened to them, and it kills me that I can't help my old friend out. If he's in trouble that is. Hopefully we run into some branded warriors in Gaia. Arkaios seemed determined to focus all of his intentions onto that place. I don't know shit about Gaia, but our Lord decided that we're all going to live there from now on, so I guess I'll need to learn as I go..." Godwin shook his head and continued to grumble as I told the siblings that I'd be back later.

I stood up from the chair and made my way over toward the Tengu Lord. He was situated in the middle of the cavern. There was one massive bedroll laid out for him and he was currently sitting on it cross-legged with his eyes closed. There were a few attendants nearby eyeing me as I approached, but they didn't say anything as I stepped onto the bedroll. However, once I stopped in front of him and he remained motionless, his attendants looked back and forth a few times before one of them finally said, "Um, My Lord? Miss Reimia is here."

At this his eyes shot open and he looked at me with a befuddled expression. It didn't last long though, as he quickly began laughing while motioning for me to sit down.

"I had heard about your ability to go undetected, but to think I didn't even hear you approach... What a frightening experience. Even I could be taken in my sleep it seems."

His manner of speaking was much more basic and friendlier compared to the God. He's the only Lord I had ever heard speak though, so I had no way of knowing if they were all like this. But I highly doubted it. Also, he was much smaller than the other Lords I had previously seen. He was closer to thirty feet tall instead of forty.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"Straight to the point eh? Nothing specifically. I just wanted to meet the only Humanoid creature my Father has ever spoken the name of. It was only one time during one of his announcements to all of his Lords, but it was still shocking to hear."

"Can I ask what it was about?"

The Tengu nodded, "He told all of us about the Xel'nethra killing one of our brothers despite his intentions to aid the city; not harm it. Although after watching my brother's memories it wasn't quite that simple, as he did attack the city to aid you, but it was clear who the real aggressor was in that conflict." He continued, "My Father was basically sending out a missive to five of my brothers to make life hell for the Xel'nethra, and I'd say they're doing a damn good job of it so far."

"But didn't he already want to kill Viktor? I remember back in Kellog---Ah, that's a city on Urza five or six years before that event, but back then he was asking me questions about Viktor. He wanted to know his location for some reason."

The Tengu rubbed the bottom of his beak, "Hmm... If he did want the man dead, he never told any of us. But it's not rare for him to keep his plans to himself. Not that he doesn't trust us, mind you. It's more that he doesn't bother us with unnecessary things and only speaks to us when it's important."

I glanced back at the group behind me. I could see Lunaria speaking to a group of Yulia citizens about something.

"I used to have a connection to your Father, but Lunaria blocked it when I was inside one of her fountains. Was there any animosity between the Tengu and Telebron?"

"Not that I know of? We never attacked that city, as we generally avoid the wellspring cities. All of them have eternal defenders tied to the wellspring, like that 'Belfos' you encountered. They revive quickly and make attacking such places extremely difficult."

"Urza didn't have one though?"

"It did, but I heard it disappeared when Shiva died. It must've been tied to her and not the wellspring, or... No. It's possible they were both killed through the wellspring? I never considered such a possibility existing until the Abyss did exactly that multiple times in the same day."

Aresa and others have talked about her mother dying, but I never actually knew what happened. Only that she was 'betrayed'. Too late to ask Aresa about that now though... And it's not like understanding old history on Urza is going to mean much at this point. I'll save that discussion for after everything is over and done with. Whenever the hell that is going to be.

"And as for why she blocked your connection to my Father, is it really all that surprising? He's not exactly a revered figure in our world, is he? It obviously doesn't help that he takes advantage of people who are their lowest point in their lives before using them as sacrificial pawns in whatever game he's playing."

"It felt more like she had a purpose behind it though... Actually, weirdly enough, we were talking about Shiva I think?"

"Then that makes it even more bizarre. What possible reason could she have to cut off that conversation? Shiva is gone until she revives in her chateau but that's ages from now, and she'll be stuck in a purely Xel'nethra territory so she'll need to work for Viktor. Assuming he's still alive when she revives. But the point remains, I don't see a reason for her to block that conversation. So personally, I think she just wanted to cut you off from him. A lot of Eldritch especially those close to the wellspring feel like it's perfectly okay for them to manifest any desires they want. So if she wanted to block my Father from speaking to you or collecting information about Telebron through you, then she wasn't going to ask, she was going to act. Your feelings on the matter be damned." The Tengu said.

"... Alright, fuck it. I'm just going to confront her about it later. I'll see what she has to say in her own defense."

The Tengu's eyes widened for a moment before quickly closing. He was obviously meditating on something so I waited silently for him to finish.

"Varuna!!" He suddenly shouted.

"Yes, My Lord?" Varuna appeared next to him almost instantly.

"We have another group of fools bringing the Versha right to our doorstep. You know what to do, yes?"

Varuna nodded, "No mana, guns only. Don't worry, it will be done."

Varuna disappeared and re-appeared in two different parts of the cave, speaking to both the men guarding the weapons, and a group of people who were eating around another fire. They quickly stood up and rushed over to the weapon pile, picking one up each before running toward the exit of the cave. So he can split himself like Shana? It looks a little different though, but every ability is unique in its own way generally.

"Another?"

The Tengu sighed, "Yes, another... At first we thought it was just a group of fools running from the Versha in an attempt to flee, but this is the fourth time. It's clear at this point someone is using Humans as fodder to draw the Versha to our cave, but we aren't sure who. It's honestly something my Father would do, but it's obviously not him."

Ahh shit, I already know how this story ends. There's a good chance we're going to have to fight them before the herd moves on. An army of anti-magic beasts flooding into this cave isn't going to be pretty, but at the same time it'll be a good test to see just how much stronger I am now.