“How are things going?” I asked.

“Oh, you know, they’re fine, everything is fine,” said Kelser as he kicked a small pebble.

I chuckled lightly. I waved to Elder Kezler to let him know it was okay. He nodded and began setting up the campfire. The sun would start setting soon, and the forest path we were resting on would get dark quickly because of the high canopy. The other humans were scrambling to set up camp too. We had been hoping to make the first village, but had realized that we’d be caught out in the dark after descending from the mountains. Now, tired from a rough journey through the mountains, we were going to camp right here, on the foot of the mountains, a few hours from the first village.

“Come on, you know you can’t hide anything from me. You’re an open book and I’m a great reader. Spill it,” I said.

“It’s none of your business,” he said.

“Ah, young love. As beautiful as it is painful. Tell me, did you have a big fight? I’m sorry if it was because I dragged you out here,” I said.

“No, it has nothing to do with you. Which is also why you don’t need to know about it,” said the red haired young man whose voice, height, and face had all changed over the few years that I had known him. A quick glance in a clear pond revealed just how little I had changed over the same period of time.

“You’re right, you don’t have to tell me the details if you don’t want to,” I said as I walked up to the sulking young man and reached up to pat his shoulder. “But know that I’m here for you if you want to talk. This might be your first time, but I’m a seasoned veteran. I give great advice! Just don’t expect to always like it.”

I spent some more time messing with Kelser, forcing him to stop feeling sad by making him mad at me instead. This was a little trick I learned in college. After all, what good are friends who can’t distract you from stuff like this? Right about now would be when I’d offer to make up with some ice cream, but since there wasn’t any of that here, I told him I’d teach him some more magic instead. For some reason, that didn’t seem to work as well as ice cream. Ah well.

I taught him the new spell anyways. It wasn’t anything too complicated since I’d come up with it while on the road. I fished a small piece of steel from a pouch and let it levitate in the air. It was levitating because of an earth magic spell, which had become a sort of metal magic spell after a lot of wisdom and some experiments with raw ores. But Kelser already knew this one. I fished out another piece of steel and let it levitate too. I made one of them go right in front of Kelser’s face, before stretching out a hand and touching it.

I retracted my hand. “Did you catch it?”

“What?” said Kelser. “No, did you do something to it?”

I brought my hand back until it was next to the other levitating piece of steel. I pointed my fingers towards Kelser, and the other piece of steel moved slowly towards the one I had touched. Kelser concentrated on the metal as it approached. Then, moments before contact, the two steel bits suddenly clamped together. I let go of the metal magic and let the now connected pieces fall. Kelser held out a hand, brought the two pieces closer, and separated them with his other hand.

“There are other ways to make magnets,” I said as I prepared to teach Kelser the spell. “But we might as well use magic. After all, I think this spell will be very useful in the coming war.”

---

“Twenty people?” said Kol, with a frown.

“It’s all they could spare,” I said as I showed off some of the steel equipment I’d brought with me. Of course, the demons in the capital couldn’t keep it. They were useless in this war, after all.

“If the Singing Horde can lock us down like this, and can sweep through the Lux Republic this quickly, twenty humans is not going to be enough,” she said.

“All twenty are powerful magicians. A few elders came with us, including one of the most powerful elders, Elder Kezler of the Roja tribe. If he wasn’t so old, he’d probably be about as good as Kelser, if not better. And Kelser and I are here too, so that should be a big help. Besides, once we push them out of the Lux Republic, the other human hunters will join us from the southern side of the steppes,” I said. “What about your situation here? Any supply issues you need me to fix? I don’t know how long this campaign will be, so I’ll drop off all of the supplies the major cities have piled up for you before I go.”

“Thank you, that should see us through the season. We have already started growing some crops in what limited land is inside the barrier, just in case you fail,” she said.

“If we fail, this bubble will probably pop. But by then, your kingdom will have fallen, and they’ll be an army waiting to invade and pillage your city,” I said.

“I know, I know,” said Kol as she slumped back in her chair. She stared at the unremarkable ceiling. For a throne room in a royal palace, this place was pretty spartan. Kol opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “My sister should be with them.”

“With the Singing Horde? Yes, I remember. Your brother is up North, with the Lux Republic,” I said. “Why, do you want us to rescue them?”

“No, they are deserters and traitors. If you find them, you should capture them,” said Kol.

I chuckled. “Got it. You want me to rescue them, but don’t want to call it that. Don’t worry, I’ll capture them for you.”

Kol looked down from the ceiling at last, and released an exasperated sigh. “Are all elves this annoying?”

---

Bain Rusta was the only one receiving intelligence reports from the Lux Republic. I led the humans south to Tephon, and we met up with Rusta’s army along the way. He told us the Republic had been almost completely isolated from the Kingdom and that he had received what was probably going to be the final bit of information to leave the country until our armies arrived.

“Nobody knows what secret weapon the beastmen are using, all they know is that it is incredibly powerful,” said Bain Rusta, sitting atop a trotting equi.

“Surely, they must know something about it. Is it a kind of magic? A physical weapon? Maybe a tamed monster?” I asked.

“My last contact said that nobody has survived after facing the horde’s secret weapon. Some cities and armies managed to resist the oncoming horde, even sending a few messages out before suddenly cutting off all contact. And the strangest part is that spies who went to the battlefield later found no sign of a battle at all,” he said.

That sounded a lot like the way people were disappearing around the capital city. I suspected I may be the only one immune to the beastmen’s secret weapon. “And there were no spies observing any of these battles from a distance?”

“Anyone who was assigned such a role disappeared alongside the defending armies,” said Bain Rusta.

I frowned. It seemed like I wasn’t going to get any more useful information, at least not until we approached the border. For now, I considered what we did know, and began preparing a tent. We had already passed the capital, having given the boundaries of the city a wide berth, and taking some final messages from the queen. She shared some helpful tips on the beastmen’s battle tactics and weaknesses. I glanced over my shoulder. A procession of demons stretched far down the road, campfires beginning to dot the long trail as we settled along the roadside for the night.