The inside of the long bulbous structure suddenly brightens while tiny spots appear on the outside that project cones of yellow light on their surroundings, revealing that the crater is much larger than I thought.

Within moments, the flow I've spread around me shivers as it blocks tiny kinetic waves that would be harmless. It even confuses me that my energy acted against this because the wind exerts more pressure, especially since half a portion was burnt.

It is evident that my unstructured flow blocked it because it came from the structure, which follows my intent. A dozen spots of light suddenly converge on me, projecting light across kilometers to light up the entire hill I'm on.

My energy shivers once more and a golden veil blocks my sight at the same time as I receive another harmless but stronger wave of kinetic force. Confused, I decide to sit there and wait to find out if I'll be attacked.

If I am, I'm confident my flow will protect me for a short while, enough for me to use my perception construct and retreat. Yet, naught happens and the golden veil drops to reveal the light has vanished.

The creatures haven't moved from where they were so it seems they haven't found me out, which is baffling considering the intense golden energy surrounding me.

Anyone with eyes would have found me at this point, but then again they don't seem to have eyes. They are still busy repairing the structure which flew through the sky to crash here.

Perhaps it was a skyship, I have a vague recollection of the Empire creating flying platforms such as these for siege weapons but they were deemed too flow intensive and easy to target down so the plan was abandoned.

It's possible a fourth sapient species discovered an efficient construct and put it to use but that still doesn't explain how I could have escaped their detection, not to mention I have not seen them use flow of any color.

That is, however, no proof they do not have access to the Lake. After all, they crashed so it is likely they had an accident and ran out of energy. I notice, embarrassingly late, that the creatures are taking equipment out the structure.

Their varying shapes makes it hard for me to distinguish what is alive and what is a piece of gear but there are several piles of cubes and rectangular boxes that they are opening to take out tools.

Within a half hour, the two dozen surviving creatures have built ten small sheds around their position. These things are complicated with many ropes connecting various spots along their surfaces and large cables that link back to the main bulbous structure.

Are they making shelters? These appear to be defensive weapons to me, the bases are projecting light but the items they're attaching atop have sharp points and... there you go, one of them has the same shimmering shield that hexagonal-sphere used.

I'm certain this thing isn't using much energy if any at all. Indeed, these things are projecting white light far past the radius the Lake's blessing would. Another pulse of weak kinetic force is blocked by our flow.

This is a scan, I would bet my life on it. And I would bet Liz' on the fact it isn't flow. Hey, I heard that! I'm not sure so I'm not betting my life on it. I know, that's why I'm mad! Your smile reached my lips, sister, you're not fooling anyone.

Shove it, sis, and focus on that horse. I frown and glance around to find there is a torch downhill a kilometer to our left. The quiet Templar is riding towards the bulbous structure alone. I frown at his stupidity. Do we save him?

You sure they'll attack? Almost completely, unless they lack information on where they beached themselves, then they might torture him. There is a chance they are unwilling to pick a fight in enemy territory.

I notice you haven't said they could be peaceful. No one tears their own apart within moments of finding themselves in a difficult situation and warmly welcomes others. Agreed, these things are dangerous, perhaps their entire species is.

But, I don't believe they'll attack. Why? Because they detected him but haven't yet attacked which means they're going to initiate contact. Okay, you're going to need to explain more.

Their earlier scan and the following pulses show that they aren't afraid of being discovered, which for such an aggressive species means they are capable of striking at whatever it is they found.

Agreed, I do think they could have attacked us if they found us. Second, if you can kill something at such distances, then you can injure it. The fact they have not done this means that either they're not sure the Templar would survive or they do not wish to attack at all yet.

You think their goal is to gather knowledge. Yes, there is every chance they do not know the Empire's language and it is much easier to learn if you aren't being resisted so torture is out of the question if they're on a timetable.

Their cannibalistic actions indicate that they are. From this, I estimate it best to let him risk his life. Kh, kh, kh, how cold-hearted. I also want to find out what they'll tell him, and how. It could take days.

Then it will, this is too important to act impatiently. But when you do act, you need to be decisive. Agreed. Another pulse of weak kinetic force hits my unstructured flow, only consuming a tenth of a portion. I ignore it as I consider how to defeat them.

The creatures have deactivated their shimmering shields but all ten of the weapon emplacements, or shelters, now have one. I'm relatively certain my sundering construct will tear through anything apart from these shields but they were defeated earlier by their own weapons so they aren't unbreachable.

I notice four more torches rise on a hill behind the Templar. Almost immediately after I spot my four cute subordinates, the creatures begin subtly scattering with ten going towards the ten structures.

“Okay, I was wrong. These are definitely weapons.” I acknowledge to Liz out loud.

“You're going down there, aren't you?” Liz asks with a sigh.

“I can't let them get slaughtered.” I tell her. “But it'll take a while because I want to make sure they don't find out we have been observing them.”

I ponder on how to achieve that while observing the Templar in the distance. He's spotted the other four torches too and has decided to wait for them to catch up to him, a wise call to await allies when facing an unknown.

My unstructured energy blocked their scanning pulses which, oddly, also projected kinetic force. But, they did light up the area so they took the result as an anomaly.

Since they didn't attack and quickly lost interest, it is likely that I appeared to them as an immobile mass, a boulder of a kind their scan couldn't penetrate. The issue is that they have been regularly scanning the area so my disappearance would be noticed.

“This is tough.” I mumble.

“Recapitulate the events.” Liz lazily replies.

Hrm. The first scanning pulse was more powerful, and so was the follow-up. The other scans have been less so, and spaced out such that one hit me every fifteen or twenty minutes.

If I estimate that they launch four pulses every hour that each burns a tenth of a portion, I would need to leave one-eighth of a portion behind and it would last two hours.

I separate eight portions of unstructured energy and anchor it to my location, meaning that the boulder they detected will remain for another twenty hours as long as they don't send stronger scanning pulses.

I don't leave any more flow because eight portions are already quite a lot. The only reason I can think of that would result in their scans burning all this is in the case that a battle begins, at which point this trick will no longer be necessary.

Twenty hours is a lot. They may change their scanning patterns or grow suspicious, and talks may last quite a while. Best be safe. Liz reluctantly acknowledges, because she's short.

My right hand suddenly pinches my cheek and painfully pulls it. Stop, stop, I give! Damn right you give. I grin as I turn the horse around and make my way downhill while always making sure that the unstructured energy I left behind stands between me and the creatures.

“I think that they are using some kind of energy, maybe flow, and that it's pooled inside the long skyship thing with oval bulb-thingys.” I speak up.

“How eloquent.” Liz mocks.

“The cables linking these ten weapons to the skyship appear to be like ropes we attach to cleats to anchor sea-ships but their function appears closer to that of leylines.” I say, ignoring her. “It might be more efficient than flow links.”

“So they're weak-points.” Liz comments.

“I believe it'll be cheaper to cut these than try to overwhelm their shimmering second-skins.” I note.

“That's likely, but it doesn't solve the issue that these creatures have their own shields and they're manning the ten weapon platforms.” Liz argues, clearly less preoccupied with her rest than my safety. “I do love you, sister.” I can't help but grin and melt a little inside.

“Yes but I think that, since their reserves of energy appear to be inside the skyship, cutting the links will make them easier to overwhelm.” I explain.

“Alright, your plan is viable, but I suggest you surprise attack with flow at the first threatening sign.” Liz speaks up with a somber voice.

“Because they don't seem able to detect it.” I agree with a nod.

I hurry my mount down and then make a large arc around so it seems like I came from the south rather than from the top of the hill. Once I have, I shape a fire construct and almost activate to then launch it in the air.

Say, if they don't have the Lake's blessing... Then you shouldn't do something so overtly impossible to do without it. I open up my luggage to search for my piece of flint and sharpening stone.

I take them out with a handkerchief and then direct my horse to a lone tree. I draw my long hunting knife to cut a branch. I place the sharpening stone against the wood and wrap the piece of cloth around it.

I start striking the stone covered by the handkerchief with the flint and manage to set the thing on fire after a while. I wave the branch high in the air to signal at the five torches I see moving in the distance ahead.

The five thankfully stop and wave their torches in response before my handkerchief completely burns out. I launch the horse at galloping speed to catch up to these five while hoping they haven't made overt use of flow, which is unlikely.

As I make my way to them, I let go of the reins to snatch my umbrella from my half-shoulder and start nervously making it twirl out of nervousness. Now that I'm not longer fixated on what the creatures have been doing, I'm starting to understand that this event, this crash, is anything but ordinary.

While a fourth species crashing a ship on a beach would be important and perhaps game-changing for the Empire at the very least, the fact this involves a skyship is significant.

Not only does it imply a higher level of technical knowledge, but also the ability to cross natural barriers humans depend on to defend their borders, and as such their species, from invasion.

Most problematic is this species seeming ruthlessness combined to a unity of purpose, underlined by how quickly they stopped cannibalizing each other to work together in apparent harmony.

Only the Rykz would be capable of this, but they would not make this decision so quickly. A Queen or Princess would have waited to know more about their situation before choosing this option to recover from the disaster.

The fact they may very well lack flow is also important because, while their existence indicates humans are no longer the most technologically advanced of the three species, they may well be weaker or stronger than the Empire if they don't have use of the Lake's blessing.

Saying this out loud may have me hung for heresy or whatever but the truth is that as long as these creatures' capabilities are unknown, then I can't draw conclusions so as to their strength.

Not to mention their population could be several folds higher than ours, or their individual combat ability could be levels higher than ours, same as Rykz Princesses and Queens compared to others.

Even at our strongest, with both Jessica Freepath as well as Elizabeth Vil fighting together and with as much access as a Princess, I do not think we would be capable of convincingly defeating Princesses.

They are tougher to injure and have insane reflexes as well as the ability to heal and keep fighting even when severely injured. These creatures clearly hold similar traits considering how they could recover from gaping injuries in mere tens of minutes.

I don't believe I even witnessed much blood-loss, even from those who died. There were liquids lost but it did not seem as essential to them as blood is to Rykz, Humans, and Lisilese since they kept fighting for their lives.

When I catch up to them, I find that they found two small draft horses to carry them, Uhla and Nahl are sharing one mount while Rowland is scowling behind Idali who is wearing a small smirk, she probably won an argument.

“Silence, not a single word from this moment on.” I yell as soon as I estimate they'll be able to distinguish the words. “Take no action whatsoever.”

The quiet Templar chooses this one moment to open his mouth but Idali reacts almost instantly after the first sounds form on his lips. She brandishes her Vuskyt spear out in front of his face in a show of trust I don't believe I've earned. The Templar's expression falls as he likely regrets his belief we would be allies when faced with the unknown.

“I am taking charge under threat of death. I have reasons, do not test me now when we can resolve this later.” I swiftly add to end the debate before it begins.

The Templar surprisingly nods without taking much time to think. Apart from Idali, everyone else's expressions turn concerned. Uhla herself pales but none shows any sign of breaking my initial order from the moment I gave it.

I notice, in the distance and thanks to my eyes' capability to pierce the darkness, that six creatures have now left the circle of light around the long bulbous skyship, I notice four in covert positions a couple hundred meters away in the wilderness.

This proves, in my view, that they most assuredly have the ability to kill at extreme distances and causes me to worry even more. I quickly close the distance to reunite with the group.

“Don't call upon the Lake's blessing under any circumstances.” I instruct them in a lower voice. “It's possible they are hearing what we are saying and so I decree all knowledge to be secret until I breach it, understood?”

They all throw me confused looks but don't contradict my previous order to be silent as they nod to acknowledge that they've heard me. It relieves me that they're taking me as seriously as they are despite having much less information than I do.

Unfortunately, I can't inform them of how dangerous these things are but they are each thinking for themselves so they should understand the meaning behind my coded message.

They should be able to guess from what I've said so far that these things aren't from the Empire, or any of the three species they know of, and that it is possible they don't have access to flow.

I didn't refer to flow directly by name because it may cause the creatures to catch onto the fact we have a weapon they can't detect with their scans if they hear of it whereas speaking of the 'Lake's blessing' only refers to a religious practice on the surface.

Hopefully, these creatures haven't had contact with another of the three species which means they'll have huge gaps in their knowledge that'll prevent them from dealing with constructs.

“Do you have any questions?” I offer.

“What are these creatures? Are they what I believe them to be? You would know best.” The Templar asks, being clever but still coming very close to revealing some insignificant knowledge by implying these things are Rykz creations.

“They are not what you believe them to be, no, I am almost completely certain of it.” I reply. The temple guard inclines his head to the side, probably unknowingly using Rykz body-language to encourage me to develop my affirmation. “I give it a probability of one to near-infinity for them to be that.”

“I will trust you on this, then.” The quiet Templar says with a slight bow but narrowed eyelids that undermine his deference to me.

Instead of his suspicion angering me, it makes me feel relieved that he seems to have guessed I've been observing for much longer than him and have gathered a lot more information.

“Were they to be what you first thought of first, you know it would be the end of me to conceal it and work for their success.” I spell it out for the man.

“I am aware but, more often than others, you and your... sister, have acted contrary to what logic would dictate.” The Templar utters.

“Once is understandable for survival, twice would be treason that would defeat everything I am attempting to achieve for mine and my own.” I flatly utter, unwilling to allow suspicion to destabilize an already delicate situation.

“Very well, then.” The Templar acknowledges with a relaxed expression. “I believe we have revealed only that there is dissension among us, which should be no surprise.”

“And that there are other entities at play than us which are also in conflict, it is not ideal but I don't believe they can understand us if they can hear us.” I tell them. “But operate under the assumption that we are being recorded.”

“Is that why you've been using big wordy words?” Idali asks with an amused expression.

“Yes, it's that serious.” I flatly respond but can't help the thin smile that stirs my lips. My response, surprisingly, erases the mirth from her face.

“I'm yours to command, then.” Idali solemnly declares with a bow that bends her in half atop the draft horse. “To sacrifice if you deem it necessary.” She adds with a dark expression.

“What?” I ask, blinking.

“Without revealing too much, I am beholden to your orders from the covenant I signed and swore upon in situations you deem as serious as this.” She spells it out for me with paling cheeks. “Covenant enforced by beings who do not lie.”

“I can't agree to that.” I firmly deny while anger grows in my chest at the revelation.

How could Celyz allow this?! She knows it goes against everything we are attempting to build! I try and fail to repress the burning anger building in my stomach so as to focus on the situation.

“It is not something either of us can change, my friend, you've taught me this.” Idali says with a sad soothing smile. “Let's not debate this now.”

“Agreed, if you are correct, then we shall decide on a plan of action as soon as possible.” The quiet temple guard utters.

“I have a plan.” I snap at the man as I pull myself together and turn to Uhla as well as Nahl. “The two of you have a purpose different from ours.” I speak up.

The ex-Templar's mission is to be the low born connected to the Order that helps shape the Hospitaliers while the ex-Semplar desires to be of help, affecting the world by healing rather than striking.

“I order you both to immediately return to the one we have left behind and inform him of what you have gathered from this conversation.” I say.

“It isn't much.” Nahl notes while pressing his lips together.

“It is enough, for now.” I assert while turning to Rowland. “You are free to choose what it is you do.” I utter, my words reflecting the bitterness I feel about Idali's situation.

“This is where I want to be, it's much more interesting than anything else happening at the moment.” He replies with courage I can't help but think of as bravado, while also revealing that the region is currently at relative peace to anyone listening which may make them more cautious. I let it slide because chiding him may reveal something of my intent towards the creatures.

“You may die.” I warn him.

“Not without a fight, I won't.” He says.

I give him a sharp respectful nod and turn to the long bulbous skyship. I notice, from the corner of my eyes, Rowland raising his hand to scratch the scar trailing across his left eye socket.