Light and her advisers stepped out of the rubble that was her hall. She felt incredible weakness, her power was lower than it had ever been and her Angel Legions were in chaos as most of them had been killed.

She looked around the debris that was Markolm and the sea that was surging all around them. Markolm was now nothing more than a collection of blocks at awkward angles that jutted up into the sky.

Many had died in the battle, but many more had died from the curse that had been activated within their bodies. Light and those that were with her had just been able to survive it. Some of the stronger Angels had been able to survive it as well.

She looked up to the sky where a massive shield stretched across the horizon, making it a brighter blue. Here and there it flashed as something hit it.

She had seen the fighting happening above Emerilia through her seer pools however now it was silent.

The wind whipped up as a young woman appeared in front of Light and her followers.

A number of her followers and Angels rushed forward, yelling out their defiance.

The young woman waved her delicate hands and the wind picked up and created chains that wrapped around those that charged. They were like babies in front of an adult.

They yelled out their anger until the woman waved her hand again and a dome of air cut off their noise.

The young woman took a deep breath as she looked at Light.

“What, come to gloat?” Light sneered. “Didn’t think that was your thing Air.” Light’s face was still mottled and half destroyed by the magic that her brother, the former Dark Lord had used upon her. Her former grace and poise was gone, she was now no stronger than a normal Person of Emerilia.

“No. I came to end this,” Air said in a soft voice. She waved her hand, Light only had time to look alarmed as a dart of compressed air shot from Air’s hand, silently hitting Light in the head.

With a look of shock on her face, the Lady of Light fell.

She dropped onto the ground, dust rising around her. Behind Air, holes opened in the mana shield as meteors seemed to fall towards Emerilia.

Air looked up from Light’s corpse, looking to the sky just as those meteors altered their course that they could be seen with the naked eye.

Air used a spell to zoom in on them.

Several Destroyers grew in her vision, their bodies like a sword with inverted wings that allowed them to cut through the planet’s atmosphere.

Sonic booms cracked through the air with the approach of the Destroyers.. The crews handled their ships nimbly, never once coming out of formation as they approached the ground.

The Destroyers pulled up from their dive, their runic lines visible as they approached,looking less like meteors and more like ships.

As they approached Markolm, lines underneath their hulls lit up as Angels and those that were still loyal to Light started to attack the sleek and intimidating ships.

Mana barriers flared to life, taking the hits from the remaining fanatics. The runic lines lit up, firing back pillars of light that tore apart those in their path. The runic lines underneath the Destroyers flashed with light and the newly minted Emerilian forces dropped to the ground beneath the Destroyer. These were people from across Emerilia that had been outfitted with Devastator armor and trained in its use. When combined with Bob’s gift of making all of the People ofEmerilia into Champions of Emerilia, Light’s armies were easily subdued. Among their ranks there were overseers that used spells to bind the men and women that had followed Llight.

The Angels were still more powerful, but the Devastator Army simply called in supporting fire from the Destroyers, whose artillery cannons each hit with the strength of a Dwarven Mountain Artillery Cannon but at the size of one of their regular pieces.

As Light’s body started to fall away, becoming nothing more than drifting pixelated ash, Air watched as the people of Emerilia reclaimed their home.

The air turned into a vortex around those Air had captured, delivering them to the Devastator forces, another vortex appeared around Air as she disappeared from Markolm.

***

Even with the distracting going ons around their conference room the different members of the Terra Alliance were all focused on Josh, who was leading the conference with Dave and Bob by his side.

They were no longer in Terra, but rather Ice City which was seeing a massive boost in population.

“As you all now know the extent of what is going on with the Jukal and the true history of Emerilia, I think it’s time that we focus not on the past, and instead what steps we must take in the future so that we as humans might once again stand on our own feet and create a place for us to call home,” Josh said. “That said, this isn’t my show. I looked after the Terra Alliance on Emerilia, but everything that you have seen in the last few days has been created by the Pandora’s Initiative, who run this facility and a number of others. As such they have a much better understanding of what is going on so I will leave the briefing to them.”

Josh looked to Dave, who nodded clearing his throat.

“My name is Dave Grahslagg, a number of you might know me. It seems that I will be representing the Pandora’s Initiative. Suzy Markell is really the manager for all of this, however right now she is busy dealing with other items and is unable to join us for this meeting. The Pandora’s Initiative was made to research and develop magical and technological items that would assist the people of Emerilia in dealing with the Jukal Empire. This technology has been adapted over to other projects that you’ve seen on Emerilia, to help deal with the threats that have come up in the last couple of years. We have built up the infrastructure and different bases that were necessary for us to build the fleet that you saw above Emerilia. We are also undergoing the process to remove all of the people trapped in the simulation of Earth to allow them to gain freedom. They are helping with different research topics and are a big part of both production and our military forces. They have become the backbone of the Initiative. Right now we have roughly five million being uploaded from the Earth Simulation into real bodies within Ice City. It’s part of the reason things are so crazy around here. We also have a large influx of people from Emerilia from various locations that were under threat. This base and others connected to it were made not only so that we could fight the Jukal Empire but if we fail in our pursuit then the survivors will have a launchpad in order to be ready for the next battle,” Dave said.

“What is the plan to fight the Jukal?” Alkao asked, his voice deeper and more powerful than before. His powerful aura shook the room as he sat next to Denur, his aura much wilder than before but still suppressed by Denur’s dominating aura.

“I think the questions should be: what is the Pandora’s Initiative, who controls it and is it military or civilian?” One of the Ashal nation’s leaders asked.

“It is a subsidiary of Grahslagg corporation. Naming it would be complicated, overall I give the orders. These are passed to different heads of departments who then find a way to carry out my orders,” Dave said.

“But you aren’t of a military and you’re a member of the Stone Raiders,” someone else said.

Dave looked at the two that were raising these points. They had seen the strength of the Initiative and they were scared. It didn’t matter that the Initiative was fighting against the Jukal Empire; they were worrying about what would happen if it turned on them.

Dave unleashed his aura on the room, making it hard for many to breathe. With his strength he was now stronger than Denur.

The people in the room had wide eyes as the oppressive power contained within his body pressed down on them.

“I’m not here to piss about, we’re fighting a goddamn war for survival. Either you’re part of this or you’re not. You make that decision here and now. I am fighting for my family and I will not let anyone step in my way,” Dave said with barely contained rage, stabbing the table in front of him with his finger. Across the room, eyes shifted to take in the cracks that radiated out from where Dave’s finger struck the table.

“Either we stand together, or we die apart, that is what you have to think of that is what you should be thinking of.”

Alkao nodded, seemingly approving of his actions. The Dwarves were in agreement, as were the different player guilds, as well as Fire, Water, Air, Bob and Malsour.

Jelanos and Alamos looked around the table calmly and without fear, they were all in with Dave, as did the elected governor and governess of Gudalo, Lady Merguine and Lord Sigaird. Lord Sigaird had been King Sigarid of the Gudalo Nation, but he had left politics behind and gone adventuring with his wife. However fate had taken a hand in his future, as Air had once again pulled him into politics, using him to bring Gudalo together and strengthen the people for the ongoing battles that plagued Emerilia.

Denur and Fire shared a look before smiling to one another, approving of Dave’s actions as they looked to the others around the table. Few weren’t affected by the pressure of Dave’s strength, while others felt cold sweat run down their spines as they pushed down thoughts of wrestling control of the Initiative from Dave Grahslagg; his forces and his allies were deep.

Dave looked to them all, his glare made it clear: this is where they choose which side they stood on.

He cleared his throat and looked to Alkao.

“We are moving to secure the Emerilian system. Once we control everything around Emerilia then we are going to move units out to the different planets that are part of the Jukal Empire. It will take the Jukal fleet time to get organized and there is no portal in the Emerilian system, the nearest one is three systems away. They thought it too costly to put a portal here when they had all of their safety measures to kill us off if we rebelled. Thankfully we figured them all out and stopped them from working. It will take them three to five months to reach us. This is time that we can’t waste. Our ships are faster and we already have two fleets that are out on patrol. We can use them to drop portals and create our own network that the Jukal don’t know about.

We go to the planets, we destroy the Jukal influences and we drop off the different items that the people of the Empire need. Cut off from the Jukal Empire, they will have no option but to use the items we give them. If they use them, they risk offending the Empire, which will probably harm them in a big way. If they don’t use them their planets will fall into disarray. We’re dropping these things off for two reasons: one, we bring the people over to our side; and two, we get the Jukal to send out more fleets to different systems. The Jukal fleets will portal in to attempt to block our actions and we will lure them into chasing our fleets throughout the connected systems. Once we’ve got the Jukal fleets spread all over the place, we take control of the Jukal portal network and amass our forces using ourportals. The Jukal fleets, cut off from one another, will be swarmed by our fleets and destroyed thanks to our numerical and technological superiority. At this point, the Empire will only be able to be crossed by ships using jump drives. We will have taken their strength and broken the backbone of the Jukal Empire. We will show the member planets of the Empire that the Jukal aren’t all powerful, we seed doubt and we let them think of their future. Then we amass our power and strike at the core worlds, barricading the Jukal in their own systems. The Empire lives as a whole, but when isolated and broken into its parts it will die.”

“Why don’t we take over the portals from the beginning?” Jelanos, the Archmage of the Mages College, asked.

“If we use the portals from the beginning, then we lose the element of surprise. Also, we need the Jukal Empire to push their fleets out as much as possible. Our fleet isn’t massive but if we can dictate the fighting against the Jukal then we can win. We isolate and destroy,” Dave said.

“Also, we might not be alone,” Bob said, all eyes turned to him.

“There is a group of humans that have been hiding in the stars for some time. Dave has been in contact with them for a long time and they have helped us and we them. They have a space based military and are building an outpost within the Nal System we are in. If we work together then the chances of victory will be higher,” Bob said.

“Right now our biggest task is building ships. We have a number of people that are trained to fight on the ships but constructing them is our bottleneck. Other than that, we need to build the different factories and structures that we can put on the planets of the Jukal Empire to foster rebellion,” Malsour said.

“We have an offer for you,” Fire said.

As one Water, Fire and Air all seemed to pull orbs out of their chests. Each shone like a rare gem, colored blue, red and white. Air pulled out another orb that gave off a golden glow.

“These are the AI that were given to us to make us into members of the Pantheon. We gift them to the Initiative to assist with fighting the Jukal Empire,” Fire said. Waving her hand, her red orb drifted forth until settling in the center of the room, several feet above the table. The other three orbs drifted away from their owners, joining the red orb where all of the orbs began to rotate and circle each other in a slow formation.

“Administrator access to AI cores has been recognized, would you like me to access these?” Jeeves asked from above.

“Please do,” Dave said, as he pulled a green orb from his chest and waved it forwards. Malsour pulled a black orb from his, which also joined it’s siblings until each of the orbs started to fade as Jeeves accessed them.

As one, all of the orbs disappeared.

“Six new AI cores are now online. Production increases have been registered,” Jeeves said. As he and the AIs interfaced, his information would only become more refined. He would be able to pass off tasks to them that they were better suited to deal with.

“The Pantheon no longer exists, only the people of Emerilia can determine the fate of our home,” Air said.

“Dave I have some people saying that they are ready to move Terra, what do they move?” Josh asked.

“Well, it’s meant to be a space station,” Dave said.

“What?” Josh spluttered.

“Well, why did you think I added in all that spinning stuff? We could have just built a regular, flat base… we probably will in the area that is left behind by Terra,” Dave grinned, looking to Malsour who smiled.

“What the hell do you mean?” Josh asked.

“Shard, command override, Ark program one,” Dave said.

“Password authentic, information module unlocked, reconfiguring,” Shard said. The consoles around the command center started to change, the soul gem constructs creating different control interfaces as soul gem constructs throughout the city grew and connected to different sections.

In just a few moments, systems that had been dormant, hidden from both the people within Terra and the Jukal, were now activated.

“You ready, Josh?” Dave asked.

“Not at all,” Josh said.

“Ever wonder why we only drilled in one direction?” Dave asked.

“Thought it was so we didn’t destroy the area where we started Terra from,” Josh said, referring to the area that had been given to the Stone Raider’s guild when they had helped the Aleph what felt like a lifetime ago.

“Well, that’s part of the reason. The other part is because I turned it into a big ole portal.” Dave waved his hand and screens appeared above the table in Ice City; it showed Terra as runic lines spread down its length. At one side, a glowing could be seen before the wall started to shift, showing a portal that had been hidden underneath.

“This is one of the safety measures we took,” Dave said.

The portal was engaged and Terra shot forwards - but, instead of hitting the rock, it disappeared through the portal that was just big enough to fit it. On the screens Terra appeared, shooting out from the Moon base.

It continued to rotate as different nodes along the length of Terra moved the underground city turned space station. It joined in with the moon orbiting Emerilia. Along the length of Terra sections fell apart as runic lines formed pillars that were weapon systems that were meant to defend Terra. Fusion power plants started working, increasing the power supplied to Terra. The people of Terra looked out from their homes and found themselves looking through a mana shield at Emerilia and the stars around it. A soul gem constructed wall sealed off the ends of Terra and slips started to grow from it, creating places where the different vessels of the Pandora Initiative could be resupplied or where the people of Terra could create more ships.

Terra started to expand as the soul gem construct that was interwoven into the city stretched outwards, increasing its diameter by a third.

“With some time Terra will have more weapons and systems. The space station can move between the large ship classed portals from location to location and it still retain the use of its teleport pads, allowing people to teleport between Terra and Emerilia, or between Terra and the moonbase. This will allow for ease of boarding between vessels that are protecting Emerilia.” Dave changed the view again, showing platforms connected to the underground transportation system. Runic lines ran through, lighting up the areas as soul gems grew together to form portals.

“Terra will be the main hub of travel between all locations related to Pandora’s Initiative.”

“Since when did you start thinking of all this?” Josh asked.

“As soon as I found out the truth from Bob,” Dave answered honestly, nodding to Bob who was sitting on the other side of Josh.

***

Sato read the request from Emerilia asking for the aid of Sato and his people. It was displayed on the front screen of the command center - no one dared to breathe too loudly as they read the message with him.

Sato opened up a private line to Council Leader Wong.

“I have received a request from the Emerilians for aid,” Sato said.

“Send the fleets,” Wong said.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Sato said, standing from his seat.

On the main screen an alert came in.

“Connect to Admiral Adams!” Sato yelled, cutting through the noise from the alert.

“You’re connected sir,” one of the communications techs said.

“Admiral Adams, launch all fleets in aid to the Emerilian system. It’s time humanity showed this Jukal Empire what’s been lurking in the dark,” Sato’s voice sending goosebumps down people’s spines.

“Yes, Commander,” Adams said, closing the channel.

Sato read the alert on the screen.

The Deq’ual System is in a state of war. All military personnel are to report to their stations. This is not a drill. Administration of the Deq’ual system will be run by the Military forces while orders will be created by the Council Leader of the Deq’ual system.

“Shipyard one and three are opening their hatches,” an operations officer said. The room was now filled with energy and hard faces as the military machine of the Deq’ual system was activated for the first time in five centuries.

“All Fleets, launch! Operational orders will be provided enroute.” Adams’ voice came through the fleet wide channel Sato was listening to.

Through the armored hatches of the shipyards ships started to appear. These were not just simple stealth craft but the carriers, destroyers and battleships of the Deq’ual navy.

They were smaller than the Emerilian version but they were faster when using their engines and they required less crew.

The once peaceful asteroid belt revealed the hidden Dragons that had been hiding within it.

The ships moved off from the asteroid, the mass of ships sliding into organized formations, heading for distant regions of space as they fell into formation as if they had practiced it hundreds of times.

Fleets formed up and surged forwards, unleashing the power of their engines as they headed to the jump points that would take them away from home and towards war.

The dogs of war have been unleashed - now it’s time to see what happens.

Sato watched those ships and stepped towards the communications area.

“Contact Dave Grahslagg,” Sato said.

“Yes, Sir,” the communications officer said.

“Commander Sato,” Dave’s voice carried through the room, showing Dave still wearing his armor and cloak, looking like a warlord as he stood in a command center.

“Deq’ual heeds the call for aid,” Sato said, pride welling up in his chest.

Dave drew himself up to his full height.

“Then Emerilia and the Deq’ual system shall fight together,” Dave said, his eyes firm and resolute.

***

Frank had been just another player within the Earth Simulation just a few months ago, he had been the first Player to be woken up from that nightmare and into Ice City and reality.

He had pushed himself harder than ever and overcome his own misgivings to be the fire controller of the Battleship BloodHawk, the flagship of Pandora’s Fleet One.

His fleet had been on their first operation, a scouting mission to collect information on the Jukal Empire, primarily its inner systems and the systems that wielded the most economic power.

The Fleet separated out so that they could cover more systems. BloodHawk had just entered a new system when they received word that operation Open Pandora’s Box, had been activated, meaning that the Emerilians were going to be openly contesting the Jukal Empire.

They’d carried out their message, looking at their communications officer nervously, awaiting word.

“We are receiving from headquarters,” the communications officer nearly yelled out as the message came in.

“Broadcast it,” the Captain said.

“This is Dave, Emerilia has been secured. All forces already deployed are to group together and lay down a portal, we will be sending reinforcements and Arks soon enough. We’re going to war with the Jukal Empire,” Dave cut the communications channel.

There were no cheers, smiles or clapping. However those within the BloodHawk and in Pandora Fleet One and Two, they sat a bit straighter and there was an edge to them now, as if they were swords that had been pulled from their sheathes, waiting to be used.

“Send rally point to the rest of the fleet! Nav plot us a course to the rally point, best speed but I want us to stay hidden. Inform Engineering I want the portal checked and readied before deployment. I don’t want to be waiting a minute longer than possible. I want readiness reports from all departments,” the Captain’s orders came down like hammer blows, the ship responding to his orders as runes lit up across the ship’s sides, no longer drifting it had purpose as it turned and headed out of the system.

They powered to the outreaches of the system, using small teleports to create more distance until they finally created a wormhole, disappearing from the Jukal system without a trace.

They appeared in an area between star systems that was well away from the Jukal systems, it was impossible to find without the right coordinates.

The BloodHawk was the first to arrive.

“Deploy portal, relay location and update command,” the Captain said as the armored sections around the Battleship opened up sections of soul gem, formed into a massive portal the size of the portal inside the Asteroid base and the Moon base. The parts floated out along soul gem constructed umbilicals.

Mages moved up the umbilicals that spread out like the spokes of a cartwheel, connecting the battleship in the center to the portal around it.

The sections of portal came together, the soul gem constructs fusing with one another. Mages and engineers moved over these fused sections, checking everything as power from the Battleship was poured into the soul gem construct.

It took about twenty minutes before the Mages and Engineers retreated to the battleship, the umbilicals detached from the portal that seemed to stand still in the inky darkness.

A wormhole appeared, it was one of the Destroyers, it had already flashed over that it would be coming back through the mirrors of communication.

The battleship moved forwards and out of the portal, as soon as it was clear, the portal flashed with light as the runic lines started to light up while the portal began to make a connection.

Everyone was holding their breaths as the portal finally lit up. On the other side a familiar sight greeted them, showing the Asteroid Base.

It was busier than ever and the different slips were cleared of most ships, however there were already new ships being built at an alarming speed.

A massive Ark covered the portal as it pushed through the Asteroid base’s portal and joined up with Pandora Fleet One.

As the first massive Ark came through, the second one followed it.

Another fleet started to emerge, three Destroyers came first, followed by missile boats, the Battleship, the Two Arks under the Fleet’s command and then the remaining Destroyers.

“Receiving communication from the Captain of the Battleship Resilient,” the communication officer said.

“Connect him,” the Captain said.

“How’s it going there Pandora One, thought we’d join in on the fun,” the Captain of Resilient said as he was connected.

“Captain James, good to see you,” the Captain said with a smile.

“You too Xiao, though I have to say, I’m still looking forward to when they have Dreadnoughts and not just dinky Battleships,” Captain James sighed with a smile. “Don’t have too long to talk though, see you and your Fleet soon enough. Hope you have fun raising a little hell.”

“We’ll try our best, good hunting,” Xiao said.

“You too,” James said, the channel cutting out.

“Alright let’s split the fleet and then head for our objective,” Captain Xiao said.

The Battleship moved off from the portal. Shuttles were now coming through the portal, carrying mages and fusion power plants.

The mages were to hook the portal up to a stable power source and also lay down numerous magical traps that would work to destroy any Jukal ship, if they happened to come across the portal.

Two Destroyers, two missile boats and one Ark followed the Battleship, the remaining three missile boats and Destroyers would work with the Ark to take it to their objective.

Frank glanced at the screen that continued to show the inside of the Asteroid base.

Another two Arks were waiting in the main thoroughfare, ready to meet up with Pandora Fleet Two that was also out on operations.

In the middle of nowhere the two fleets separated and then headed out in four different directions, leaving behind a portal and a growing array of magical traps that would make any mage go into a cold sweat.

Soul gem construct platforms circled the portal with runic lines across them looking for any threats that might appear.

***

Dave and Malsour were reviewing production numbers in a state of shock.

Since they had opened Pandora’s box it seemed as if the universe had gone crazy. They didn’t have to hide anything so they could send orders to Emerilian businesses for completion, people from Emerilia were lending their knowledge to assist the researchers in Ice City, others were acting as laborers across the bases.

Automated miners that had only been used around the asteroid base were now being used to mine out great swathes of Emerilia.

The moonbase was undergoing a massive increase. The AI that had been the power behind the Pantheon were given tasks to mine, refine and build. The Dark AI had built a Battleship with the help of automated laborers within just five days. The soul gem construct that was inside was taking the longest time instead of the other way around. It had also taught the people that were making the ships new ways to complete the ships.

The asteroid base was nearing completion with the Light AI carving out the remaining area.

There were a total of nearly two hundred slips, awaiting new ships. More portals had been added to the Asteroid base, these were to take in vessels that needed repairs or those that needed a resupply of ammunition. Instead of coming in the same way, they’d go to specialized areas to make them much faster at returning to the battle.

This was a lesson that Dave had learned from watching the Jukal and Human fleets fight. The faster he was to resupply his ships and get them back into fighting condition the more effective they would be against the enemy.

“We are picking up a fleet emerging from the outside of the system,” Jeeves said. “Commander Sato’s predictions fall into line with this fleet being part of the Deq’ual fleet,” Jeeves said.

“Very well, pass them their orders and have their Destroyers go out to meet them,” Dave said.

“Understood,” Jeeves said.

“As soon as you have a visual connect me,” Dave said.

“Same here,” Malsour said.

“I will do so,” Jeeves said.

“I hoped that Sato would help us, but I didn’t think he would do it in such a complete manner,” Malsour said.

“Images now available,” Jeeves said, on a screen in the room they saw as space seemed to distort and in a blur a ship arrived, behind it other ships arrived, another lead ship appeared to different sides, fleets started to form, the once empty space now filled with some one hundred ships formed up into fleets as they altered their course and headed towards Nal system.

These ships had rune covered magical circles that went around their hull and glowed in the darkness, as well as massive armor panels and thick heavy guns. There were multiple missile ports in rows as well as hangar bay doors that hid fighters.

They were more cigar shaped, the Pandora fleet ships had more edges, while the Deq’ual ships were rounded out.

Their design had come from their states of understanding magical coding. The Deq’ual understood magical circles easily and to accommodate this their ships were more circular. The Pandora makers understood how to create the more advanced runic lining so rounded surfaces weren’t needed.

“So what is their mission?” Malsour asked.

“The Pandora Forces will meet up with them, they’ll enter the Jukal systems we’ve picked out, our first move wil be to destroy most of the Jukal Empire’s infrastructure, leaving just enough so that the Jukal will see they’re in-system.

Then they will move from planet to planet. The Deq’ual will act as guardians to the Destroyers who will drop into the atmospheres of the planets we want to control, then they will connect their portal to one of the portals located on Emerilia where they will be supplied with all the materials they need to drop off at those planets,” Dave said

Dave got a party chat invite from Josh.

He accepted it, putting it on speaker, unlike before, he knew that there was no one able to listen in on his conversations if he wasn’t in party. It was freeing not worrying about the Jukal watching everything they did.

“Emerilia is secure,” Josh said. Even if they had started their fight with the Jukal there were still aggressive species on Emerilia. With Dave and Ela-Dorn’s clamps they had been able to cut off the portals to stop anything else from coming through.

The Terra Alliance still had to go through and clear out the remaining Alturarans that were fighting the Angels, as well as collect the Angels, those that were part of the armies of light and any creatures and people that were able to escape the kill switch that was in their bodies.

With the Ono’s blocking the signal quite a number of people had been left.

There was no hiding from the Terra Alliance now as they combed Emerilia with Destroyer’s sensors, pulling out these forces and handing them over the Mage’s Guild and College’s overseers.

Few wanted to see more people so the majority were given large sentences that would mean that they would have to serve for a large portion of their lives until they were able to regain their freedom. However with Bob’s blessing as the Grey God and Creator of Emerilia, their lives were going to be much longer now.

Dave breathed a sigh of relief.

“Good,” Dave said.

“Dave, I haven’t asked this before but with all of the fleets that are going to be fighting in the stars what use are the rest of us? We’re not pilots and space faring people,” Josh said.

“The Jukal Empire don’t have just navy forces and their fleets, they also have forces on the ground, we will need to capture or kill these groups. These are the governors and people placed into power by the Jukal. Removing them will remove the Jukal Empire’s influence from the planets. Once the Fleets are dealt with, then we’re going to need every mage, shield bearer, rogue and archer out there to defeat these forces. When we get to the main planets it will be nearly impossible to defeat the shields in these different locations so we will need to drop forces on the ground to cut off communications, take their supplies and disrupt them wherever we can. Already the drop forces have missions right now to be landed on multiple different stations and planets to disrupt the Jukal Empire’s activities, drop off supplies and then return. We can’t just win a fight from the stars, we’re going to need people on the ground,” Dave said.

“The Jukal love to see violence and have a number of arenas to watch people fight, Emerilia was just one way for them to get their fix. On the Jukal planets we can expect that people will fight us with magic, swords, plasma rifles and all combinations of different weapons,” Anna’s voice came through speakers in the room, interrupting their conversation.

“The Navy softens them up, and we take them down, I like it,” Josh said. “Alright, well, I’ll help the overseers with the rest of this mess, I’ve got a meeting with the Jakan coming up as well.”

“Good luck,” Malsour said.

“I have a good feeling about it! Talk later,” Josh said, cutting the chat.

Dave looked to his notifications that had started blinking as Josh started talking to him.

“Malsour, be ready with the trust fall,” Dave said.

“What did you do now?” Malsour asked.

“Stats?” Dave said weakly, scratching his head sheepishly as he pressed his notification bar.

as he started to scroll down the notifications.

Quest: Friend of the Grey God Level 8

End the: Of Myths and Legends Event

Rewards: Unlock Level 9 Quest

Increase to stats

+10 to stats (stacks with previous class levels)

+800,000 EXP

Quest: Friend of the Grey God Level 9

Free Emerilia

Rewards: Unlock Level 10 Quest

Increase to stats

Class: Friend of the Grey God

Status:

Level 8

Effects:

+80 to all stats

Access to hidden quests.

Access to the Imperial Carrier Datskun

Quest Completed: Bleeder Level 6

End the: Of Myths and Legends Event

Rewards: Unlock Level 7 Quest

Increase to stats +10 increase to stats (stacks with previous class levels)

+600,000 EXP

Class: Bleeder

Status:

Level 6

Effects:

+60 to all stats

Ability to use Jukal Link

Quest: Bleeder Level 7

Free Emerilia

Rewards: Unlock Level 8 Quest

Increase to stats

Level 244

You have reached Level 205; you have 5 stat points to use.

Dave opened his character sheet and started to allocate his five stat points to intelligence.

Character Sheet

Name:

David Grahslagg

Gender:

Male

Level:

205

Class:

Dwarven Master Smith, Friend of the Grey God, Bleeder, Librarian, Skill Creator, Aleph Engineer, Weapons Master, Champion Slayer, Master of Space and Time, Master of Gravitational Anomalies, The Few the Mighty, Lord of Earth

Race:

Human/Dwarf

Alignment:

Chaotic Neutral

Unspent points: 0

Health:

5,750

Regen:

27.02 /s

Mana:

17,530

Regen:

64.45 /s

Stamina:

5,920

Regen:

57.90 /s

Vitality:

575

Endurance:

1,351

Intelligence:

1,753

Willpower:

1,309

Strength:

592

Agility:

1,158

Dave looked up, finding Josh standing there, waiting for him.

“Actually, I have a special mission for you, if you choose to accept?” Dave asked, he almost started up a new party chat but instead laughed, there was no need to worry about the Jukal listening in on what they were saying and doing.

“What are you, bloody M? All secretive and that, what are you thinking?” Josh asked.

“I’m thinking that I might need you to take a long trip,” Dave said.

“Thanks, didn’t know that I was that bad to see all the time,” Josh chuckled.

“I’m sending you a file, check it out and let me know what you think,” Dave said. “I’ve got to check on Jung Lee, it seems he’s got something ready for the Blood Kin.”

“What, Dave, is this mission what I think it is?” Josh asked, his shock clear.

“What do you think?” Dave asked.

“This ain’t going to be no simple quest but I think I can handle it with a few others,” Josh said seriously.

“Good, also there’s some equipment that Malsour can hook you up with that might make things easier.”

“What about running the Terra Alliance?” Josh asked.

“I think Lucy could do that in your stead if you needed it,” Dave thought out-loud.

“Yeah, alright I’ll look over the quest and see if it is even remotely possible,” Josh said.

“Later,” Dave said cutting the channel as he teleported and transitioned through portals before reaching Jung Lee and Yemi who were in Jung Lee’s laboratory. All of his affinity spirits were moving around the room, looking after the different potions and workstations that were in the room. Free affinity spirits that could wander freely and had instead taken over command of Jung Lee, were now regaled to lab assistants.

“Hey, Dave,” Jung Lee said as he tipped a bit of powder into the crucible in front of him and then increased the flame underneath.

Jung Lee was now one of the most powerful people within Emerilia. with Bob’s increase his base stats and the affinity spirits that he commanded there were few that could compete with him in fighting. However he cared little for fighting. He did it if he needed to, but as always, his passion was making potions and other remedies.

“What’s up?” Dave asked, looking to them both.

Jung Lee held up his hand as he indicated to the little drawers on one side of the room, affinity spirits shot out from his hand, moving to the wall and grabbing items before returning them.

“Sorry, he’s a bit busy,” Yemi said with a kind smile, indicating for Dave to follow her a little bit away from Jung Lee so that he could concentrate on his potion making.

“As you know he has been making potions that were able to supplement us with the blood essence we need to retain our strength and vitality. However he was not pleased with simply replacing it, he instead started to work with us to try and find potions that would provide a greater increase in energy for us. I have been working with him to help him test out these potions and he is getting closer and closer to it. He made a potion that was the equivalent of nearly fifty vials of pure blood essence of a level four hundred beast. Though he wasn’t happy with just that.”

“Dave, can you get Jules for me, I’ll need her in about three minutes,” Jung Lee said, not looking up from his potion that was unleashing a powerful and bloody aroma.

“One minute,” Dave said to Yemi with a smile. He teleported away, Jules was the lead healer of the Stone Raiders. She had become one of the largest figures within healing circles and ran the hospital within Terra. She’d saved hundreds if not thousands of lives and trained hundreds of people through the mirror of communication college.

Right now she, like Jung Lee, were actually in Ice City working with people there to come to a greater understanding of the healing instruments that had been made by the Pandora’s Initiative.

He appeared in Ice City’s hospital ward where a group of healers, mages and rune coders were talking with Jules and her people about the different machines that they’d created.

“Hi Jules, Jung Lee was asking if he might have a moment of your time,” Dave said as she was studying a healing vat. It looked like a bathtub with runic lining covering the inside and outside. There was a vat of red liquid that was a highly potent healing potion that could bring nearly anyone back from the brink or at least stabilize them for the healers to get involved.

“What does he need me for?” Jules asked.

“He’s testing out a new potion on the Blood Kin and wants you to watch over,” Dave said.

Jules frowned and then shrugged.

“Sounds good to me, I have questions for him about his healing potion as well,” Jules said with a smile, glancing to the healing potion vat off to the side of the room.

“I’m sure he would be more than happy to help you with that,” Dave smiled, knowing that Jung Lee, like himself loved to talk about the different things he was working on.

He teleported them both out of the hospital and into Jung Lee’s lab.

Jung Lee had three of his affinity spirits around the potions he was working on, wind, earth and fire affinities worked together, the potion started to solidify and then divided into a half dozen green and orange pills.

The spirits moved away, the Air one guiding the crucible to Jung Lee, he grabbed it out of the air and tilted it, catching one of the pills and studying it.

He rolled it in his fingers and sniffed it, closing his eyes.

“Okay, this should work,” Jung Lee said, holding the pill up and looking around the room.

“Ah, Jules, been a while,” he said with a big smile.

“I heard that you needed me for something?” Jules asked, looking at the pill in Jung Lee’s hand.

“Yes! Check this out,” Jung Lee said, handing over the pill to Jules.

“What is it?” She asked studying it and rolling it in her fingers.

“This is a blood enriching pill. When consumed it will coat the interior veins of the Blood Kin, then whenever they drink or consume blood essence it will be purified by the coating of their veins and increase the amount of power they gain from the potion by about ten times,” Jung Lee said with no small amount of pride.

Yemi took in a sharp breath, her eyes shining as she looked at the pill in Jules’ hand and then to the dozen or so that were in the crucible next to Jung Lee.

“Now for the best results the pill need to be guided through the different veins, allowing it to be fully absorbed. The more veins the pill travels through the higher strength it will have, also the greater the secondary effect will be. That is that the blood essence when it is going through the veins of the Blood Kin will be directly absorbed into their body instead of just stored within their veins as power to be burned. This will mean that their bodies will be stronger and even if they burn all of their blood essence they will survive, and in a dire situation they can burn the blood essence within their body which will have more energy than that within their veins,” Jung Lee continued.

Saying that the simply blue and orange pill was miraculous wouldn’t be an understatement.

It wouldn’t have much use to many people, but to the Blood Kin it was one of their most precious opportunities.

“Once again I’m in awe of your abilities,” Jules said, shaking her head.

“Thank you,” Jung Lee said with a sweeping bow, on his success, his normally stiff exterior was replaced by the more childish and excitable alchemist that hid underneath.

Dave snorted as he thought of how Jung Lee had run off with a trowel in hand as soon as he’d gained free reign of Earth’s hall.

Apparently there had been nothing left in the plant garden, someone had plucked every plant up from the ground without leaving even a hair of a root behind.

Dave only had to look at the private growing area to see a number of plants that were nearly impossible to find across Emerilia.

“When could we test it out?” Yemi asked, stepping forwards, her eyes on the pill.

Jules looked to her and then Jung Lee.

“I don’t see any problem in starting now,” Jules shrugged. Jung Lee nodded in agreement.

“Okay, lay down on that table and we can get started,” Jules said, Yemi did as told and Jules passed her the pill.

"I’m going to check the condition of your body first,” Jules said, rubbing her hands together to warm them up. She placed them on Yemi sending her mana into her as she looked over Yemi’s body with her eyes that were now covered in a blue mist.

After a few minutes she removed her hands.

“Okay, I have a good understanding of your veins now. So let’s begin, take the pill and let me do what I need to, if you feel something strange, don’t worry that it just me. You have to do your best to not use your mana or fight back, otherwise it will reduce the effect of the pill,” Jules said.

“Okay,” Yemi said with a firm nod, she took the pill, swallowing it down without pausing and stared up at the ceiling above.

Mana circulated around Jules before she poured power into Yemi a golden light could be seen through Yemi’s body. Yemi shuddered as the pill went into her lungs, It paused for a moment the golden light becoming more saturated as the single point of light became larger, filling the interior of Yemi’s lungs.

Jules took a breath and then waved her hands apart, golden light covered Yemi’s lungs, passing through them and entering Yemi’s blood stream. Yemi’s back arched as she let out a groan all of the veins in her body started to glow with a golden light, reaching up through her neck and to her eyes which shone with powerful light.

Dave covered his eyes only able to glance sideways at Yemi as the larger arteries shone with light that continued on into the smaller blood vessels that reached deep into Yemi’s musculature across her body. The golden light started to dim as her body started to glow, turning from her pale coloring to a fleshy redness.

The blood circulated and then passed through the veins, heading back through the body, now the golden light was dimmer, it was strongest around the blood vessels but every inch of Yemi’s body now had a golden glow to it. Dave and Jung Lee watched, if this worked then it would be a massive boon for the Blood Kin who had done so much for the Terra Alliance and the Pandora’s Initiative.

After a few minutes Jules lowered her hands stumbling back a bit, her face pale, Jung Lee was there with a stamina potion.

Jules nodded in thanks, downing part of it as the color returned to her face.

Yemi sat up on the table, looking at her body as the golden glow from Jules’ magic disappeared and instead she was able to look at the reddish coloration of her skin. The Blood Kin always looked as if they were half a foot in the grave, their skin like untouched marble, smooth and pure white, however now with the pill’s effects it was as if Yemi’s body was once again becoming alive.

Her veins changed from red to orange, spreading across her body as the air around her became thick with charged mana, pouring into her body.

Jung Lee held out a pill to Yemi it looked as if it was a blood red gem. Yemi took it and popped it into her mouth a blush rose on her cheeks as she consumed the pill, a strong aura emanated out form her body as her eyes remained closed for a few minutes. Finally they opened with clear shock held within.

“It, it works!” Yemi said, looking to Jung Lee, Jules and Dave in shock, not believing what was happening within her body.

“Good, it will take more time to get rest of the Blood Kin to fuse the pill with their bodies, in the meantime I will make more blood crystals,” Jung Lee said with a smile.

“Jung Lee, this..., I...,” Yemi said at a loss for words.

“Don’t worry about repaying me, I love Alchemy, pills and potions. Doing this was a joy for me. Emerilia now, more than ever, needs the help of the Blood Kin. I just wanted to help you out as you’ve helped us. Also it was a bit of a difficult problem and it was fun to create a solution,” Jung Lee’s solemn words turned into a playful smile with his last words.

Dave laughed as Jules held a bemused smile on her face.

Yemi held back tears and got off the table, hugging Jung Lee.

“Thank you,” she said in a soft voice.

She might be the matriarch of the Blood Kin, but she was just another person, for a very long time she had few people that she could place trust in, and even fewer people that she could go to with her problems.

Dave’s smile was filled with memories as he looked at the people in the room and thought of how he too had come to find people he trusted and valued within Emerilia.