The march to the city was slow and tiring. Even though he was riding in relative comfort, it was still annoying. The carriage he rode in was easily big enough to fit five or six people, but only he and Janette rode in it. It had cushions on either side with windows on the doors. He hardly even felt any bumps during the trip. The whole carriage was warded, and one of them made the ride more comfortable for those who were inside. It worked by distributing force more evenly. The ward itself was complicated, and he had learned that it was Janette’s personal carriage.

The trip had taken several days, and the luxurious carriage he rode in, didn’t do much for his condition. Janette sat across from him and had been working on something for the whole trip. She occasionally had him do some exercises but wasn’t really open for casual conversation during the trip. Pali was worse, riding on a horse and insisting that he went with the normal soldiers. Wilt could’ve tried to speak with him, but it was too cold out for his liking. The only people he could speak to be his knights, but they made sure to act professionally when the other councilors were around.

So, the trip made him feel lonely. Despite the fact that he was surrounded by people most of the time, he just wished to be back home. His family and Stella had done a lot to fill his days, and the time didn’t feel right without them. The only reprieves he got were at night when he talked with Stella via the earrings, but he always felt lonelier afterward. It made him want to rush, but he couldn’t do anything to speed up such a large group. Still, it was a just few more hours now, and they would arrive at Thaktall.

The city was built onto the side of a mountain and was positioned to overlook Elpis. It provided a good scouting location to warn the kingdom of dangers and give them ample time to prepare. It was unlikely that he would run into any trouble on this mission, but he had a bad feeling creeping upon him. Ever since he left, he felt like something would go wrong on this trip. He had been a little too conscious of his surroundings and kept looking out of the carriage. It could just be his nerves though. The war did make him anxious after all.

There was a hidden path along one of the mountains that would lead them to the back of the city. It was designed to let people flee and to transfer supplies in case of a siege. That was the road they were currently taking. The only problem was that it was slow. They could have arrived earlier but had been delayed so that he could make a few extra communication devices. He even had to make two more sets during the trip. He was working on one more so that he could give it to his knights. Making the connection work between three devices was annoying, but it didn’t seem impossible.

The ride continued for another hour or so but stopped suddenly when they encountered someone on the path. Janette started getting out of the carriage, and Wilt followed close behind. Whatever was happening. he wanted to know. Especially if it related to their upcoming visit. Despite the location of the city, and the relative safety that was promised. This was still a war, and they couldn’t account for everything.

In the distance, Wilt could make out a few people who had approached their force. The people were wearing ragged clothing. He trudged through the snow, glad to have worn sturdy boots for the trip. Sticking behind Janette turned out to be the right decision, as he was able to join into the conversation without causing a commotion. Pali was speaking with one of the newcomers, and Wilt got close enough to overhear the words.

“The city has fallen. There were many of Larkin’s new monsters, and we were overwhelmed.”

Wilt heard the words but had trouble believing them. There were around a dozen chanters in front of him, and there should have been many more in the city itself. He had heard of Larkin’s monsters, but they were still just men, right? He felt a spike of genuine curiosity to see what these so-called monsters were like but there was a much greater sense of fear.

“We will head there and do what we can, but I doubt we will be able to recover the city.”

Wilt had never heard Pali sound so compassionate, and he understood how serious their situation was. Janette didn’t seem all that worried, and he guessed that she was working on a plan already. Even though he didn’t spend a lot of time with the council, the few conversations he had been around having been enough to show him who was the brains behind the war. Pali was the undisputed leader, but Janette was the one to orchestrate most of the war.

There was a little more to the exchange, but his mind wandered to what he would be doing. He wondered if he would be sent back, but he didn’t feel any relief at the thought. A part of him felt involved now, and he didn’t want to be sent away like a child. While he wasn’t as old as the councilors, he was still an adult. More importantly, he was a chanter and a powerful one at that.

It seemed like the worry was pointless as Janette turned towards him. She spoke firmly, the tone of a leader giving a strict order.

“Get ready, we will move ahead of the group and try and handle the situation on our own. Your job will be to constantly supply us with Ein. I was hoping to give you a small bit of combat practice, but this is too much for you.”

These words emboldened him. They weren’t planning on leaving him behind or sending him back. Even if he was just them to act as a backup supply of Ein, he felt excited to see the councilors in action. Ever since the last major war, they rarely ever displayed their abilities in a public sense. They acted as leaders solving most issues with discussion rather than power.

He was given a short break to gather himself, and they set off soon after that. He was surprised to hear that no one else would be joining them. No knights, guards, or other chanters. It would just be the three of them. Seeing as both councilors seemed confident, he decided to trust them. However, he found himself fidgeting nervously, struggling not to imagine what kind of destruction they would see.

“Ahhhh!”

He screamed as he felt his feet leave the ground. Shocked as his feet left the snow-covered ground. Most of the trip had been in relatively nice weather, but the mountain tops were coated in a white bed of snow. Apparently, it snowed year-round on the mountaintops, and he wondered why people would choose to live here. He looked around noticing Pali and Janette rising in the same manner. Pali was lifting them into the air, and they started moving up the mountain at impossible speeds.

He knew that flight was possible, but it required a surprising level of control. Brute force usually led to people killing themselves. He had been banned from practicing it as brute force tended to be his solution for most things.

Flying was a surreal feeling and a chilling one. His coat felt completely useless, as the wind hitting his face was the biggest problem. His whole body felt like it was freezing, but he ignored it looking at the mountain below as they rose further into the air. It was beautiful, and he moved learning how to fly to the top of his list. The snow-covered mountains looked like reflections of the clouds above. The small movements of animals that he could spot marred the vast whiteness with life. Even if it was dangerous, flying was not something he was willing to go without anymore.

“What are you doing? Use your Ein to warm up your body, otherwise, you will freeze to death.”

Janette was chastising him, and he blushed a little as he began doing that. It shouldn’t have been something he needed to be reminded of, but he had been so distracted by the sights. Regaining his focus, he immediately began a chant to warm his body.

Ein as my blood and body, I call upon fire to ward off the cold.

His body began warming up almost immediately, and he used some excess Ein to make the process a bit faster. Feeling his body warm-up, he relaxed more as they flew. Eventually, the city came into sight, and Pali stopped them above it. They were high enough that most people in the city probably wouldn’t see them, but he was still worried.

Thacktall was bigger than he had pictured in his mind, but it felt somewhat archaic. Its buildings and walls seemed old and rarely upgraded. As he looked down, he noticed two sections of the wall looked badly damaged, and a few homes were destroyed, but it didn’t look like the wholesale destruction that he was expecting. It honestly looked like the city had lost easily and hadn’t really put up much of a fight.

They descended slowly, and Janette ordered him to begin providing them with Ein. She wanted him to give them a boost and maintain the technique to give them an almost limitless supply of it. That was his only job, and he was determined to do it right.

Purify my Ein and Pass it to another, grant them a portion of myself.

He spoke the words quietly, worried that they would be discovered. It was pretty much impossible considering how high up he was, but the thought still frightened him. Ein flowed out of him, filling the councilors with power. He knew that he could double their capacities, and he still had more Ein to spare afterward. They would be able to do whatever they wanted.

Slowly they descended low enough to see people, and he saw hundreds of knights occupying the streets. Many camps had been set up in and around the city. The streets seemed busy, and he noticed movement along the walls too. There was a lot of movement, but he saw no signs of fighting or killing. There was a single pyre set up, but that seemed small for a city of this size. Had the city fallen that easily? How was that even possible?

He focused on the two councilors, as he felt the Ein, he had given them shift. It was strange, and something he hadn’t experienced before. It was probably a result of the sustained connection he had made. Since he was still supporting them with Ein there was an established connection to them. It let him see their techniques and feel what they were doing.

The flight chant that Pali was using became clear to him, and he was already thinking of ways to mimic it. Like with the controllable fire he had made, he could probably mimic the flight skill with some controllable wind. It would be a little more awkward, especially considering that he couldn’t actually see something like wind. He would worry about that later and watched carefully as the two councilors mixed their Ein.

It was an advanced technique, and he was surprised to see the two do it. It required a level of connection that he didn’t think the two of them had. Normally, they acted like forced acquaintances and never as friends. Yet, they were able to use the chant flawlessly. It spoke to how long they had known one another. Both had long life spans, and he wondered if all the councilors could manage something like this.

Ein of mine and another, I invoke our power to bring about the flames of the sun. Burn away my foes and destroy those who would oppose us.

They spoke in unison, speaking a chant that Wilt had never heard before. The amount of Ein that they were using told him that it would be powerful, and he wondered what their plan was. Flames manifested in front of the two, and he watched as it grew. Heat radiated off the flame, and he found himself sweating despite the snow falling around him. Before long, it rivaled a small sun. Even though the light was blinding him, he watched it with awe, as it quickly grew large enough to encompass over half the city. His awe warped into utter horror as it fell upon the city.