One and a half months later

Zach’s POV

It was early afternoon, and I figured it was time to head out to do what Brian had asked. I didn’t know if it was his gift or just experience, but he always did this right before a wave. Send a few of us who had survived a few waves out to calm the nerves of the youngsters. The nearby jungles had gone quiet, and you could feel the tension in the air. Some people had the ability to smell when rain was coming. Me? I can feel the waves coming. The tension still had a bit more that it would ratchet up to before the first trickles of the wave would start coming in. I gave it a day and a half at most.

I headed to my station, I was grouped in with the Golden Lions on the north wall. Our group was mostly physical attackers, with a handful of mid level mages backing us up. Not a bad plan, as the north and south generally faced the weakest beasts. I felt sorry for the poor bastards on the west, as they would face the most brutal of assaults. As I climbed the ramparts, I sauntered up to an incredibly tense scout straining his eyes for any sign of danger at the forest line.

“Easy there, son.” I said, leaning between two merlons.

“GAH!” He shot nearly a foot in the air, placing a hand on his heaving chest. “Don’t scare me like that.”

“Like I said, take it easy for a second.” I replied. “You’re wound tighter than an overdrawn bowstring.”

“Yeah? Well, in case you didn’t know we have a wave of monsters coming any day now.”

“Name’s Zach.” I said, offering my hand.

“Percy.” He replied, shaking my hand. “So what brings you up here if you aren’t nervous?”

“Ain’t nervous cuz we have a bit of time left.” I said. “But I’m up here passing on a legacy. Seen you, figured you were the first one this year that needs to hear it.”

“Legacy? Don’t get me wrong, but aren’t you a little young to be passing on legacies? You’re what, pushing 40 at most?”

“Ha! Oh, that’s a good one. I forget that not everyone knows I’m evolved into forestkin. Slows down my aging. This will be my eighth wave, and I’ll turn 114 at midsummer.” I said, getting a shocked look from the boy. “Yep. Evolving really has its benefits. But anyway, you need the legacy. Ready for it?”

“Ye. Yeah.” He stammered.

“Right. First, take a deep breath and close your eyes. That’s it. Just relax. Now, I’ll tell you just like old Sure Shot told me eighty odd years ago. The wave’s coming. Ain’t nothing you can do to stop it. It’s a force of nature, like the tides. Only thing you can do is prepare, and I’ll be damned if we aren’t the most prepared lot the waves have ever seen. We’ve cut the forest back to two miles, leaving them no cover. We have enough arrows that our archers can shoot non-stop for a week and we still would have leftovers. Old Brian there, he sees things. So he knows the best places to put the pitfalls, the best locations for a ballista. Trust your guildmaster, he put you there for a reason. And as to why the wall is mostly greenbloods? Well. Y’all need some experience, and this is the least painful way to get it. The wave’s gonna start small, with the weaker monsters. That’s always been their plan. Prolong the battle and let fatigue take our strongest before they come swooping in for the kill. But do you know what separates us from the monsters?”

“Uh, magic?”

“Naw. Plenty of beasties out there know magic. Teamwork. We are willing to work together, something the monsters will never be able to do. Our knights will form a wall to stop an advance, letting our mages and archers pick their targets. Different classes cover each other’s weaknesses, making our group all the stronger. But you’ll never see that from the monsters. Imagine having to face a wolf pack, half blizzard wolves and half flame touched. Each willing to take magic attacks that would devastate the other portion of their pack, but cause minimal damage to themselves. Then remember that’ll never happen, because as soon as you get those two opposing elements close together, they will tear into each other until one side is dead.”

“Thank the gods for that.”

“Indeed. And don’t you worry. As the weaker enemies start getting stronger, us veterans will be there to back you guys up. We’ll make sure that you aren’t over your head, and that you get breaks. Just make sure to let others know when you are starting to flag, and they’ll step in.”

“How long do you think the wave will last?”

“Three days. And before you try and say you can stay up for three days, we know you can. Hell, the guildmaster could probably stay up for a week. That’s not the point. We want you to maintain your best, so take breaks when you can. It isn’t going to be constant attacks either.” Seeing he was in a much better place mentally, I gave him a pat on the shoulder and turned to walk away.

“Hey, uh, Zach?” I turned back to see him smiling. “Thanks. I needed that.”

“Don’t thank me.” I said, waving him off. “Just be prepared to pass on the legacy when the time comes for it. Tell ‘em you heard it from Zach Forest Speaker, who heard it from Sure Shot.” One down I thought to myself, looking along the wall. Several more to go.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Heidi’s POV

Outwardly I looked fine, but inwardly I was freaking out. How the hell did I get roped into this mess? I had only hit max level last week! Sure I was a decent mage, and my lightning attacks were powerful, but I wasn’t a fighter. I couldn’t stand in the face of an overwhelming horde of monsters! I was no noble hero! For fuck’s sake, my parents were cobblers!

“How’s it looking?”

“EEP!” I jumped back and had called a spark of lightning to my hand before I even realized what I was doing. “Oh, by Ariana I’m so sorry! You just startled me.”

“It’s alright.” The man said. “Interrupting someone’s thoughts can lead to shocking consequences.” I groaned at the man’s pun, shaking my head. “I’m Carrigan.”

“Heidi. Nice to meet you Carrigan.”

“You too. And again, sorry to bother you, I just wanted to get a look at our field of battle.”

“Our field? You’re on the northwest corner?” I asked, shocked. I could tell he was quite a bit more powerful than me.

“Yep. Brian posted me here, though I’m a bit miffed that he split up my group. But that’s not your problem.” He said, his face immediately lightening up with a smile after it got a bit dark for a second. “Can you tell me what we got?”

“Um, sure. There are several berms with spears in them, to break up any enemy charges. They are staggered, and the barrels behind them are filled with some explosive alchemical solutions. I guess any lightning mage who gets the order is to target the metal rods in the back to set them off from a safe distance. The berms are packed with metal shards for some reason. Other than that, I don’t know anything.”

“Nice.” He said after a moment, nodding his head. “Pack the berms with shrapnel, the explosion will turn them into weapons to maim whatever is near. I guess they don’t expect much armor on our end. Seems our forces are more archers and wizards than anything, so our walls shouldn’t be threatened. I’m going to assume we will probably have to support both the north and western walls as well.”

“Um, sir?” I hated the waver in my voice. “You seem a bit more knowledgeable than me. Why would they not give us a lot of physical attackers?”

“I think they are expecting a four- pronged attack, from what I can tell of our dispersion. Our big hitters are on the Western wall, with us coming in second in terms of magical power. We are in a good spot to reinforce the north as well, though they should be facing weaker monsters.”

“Do you know what our battle plan is?” I asked, concerned.

“Pretty simple. Bleed ‘em for as much ground as they want to take. I think for our portion we are supposed to make it look like we are the harder nut to crack, and hope the monster horde shifts through the weaker monsters to the east. Just make sure to pick your targets carefully, you don’t want to set those explosives off prematurely.”

“Thanks Carrigan.” I said, turning back to look at the grounds. There were no straight paths from the tree line to the walls. Speaking of walls. “Hey, Carrigan.”

“Yeah?”

“Why don’t they have firing slits in the bottom of the floor here? I mean, we can’t get the enemy if they get close enough to the wall without them, right?”

“True.” He said, nodding as he walked up. “But think of it this way. We are more than likely going to be battling monsters. They often have magic attacks, and if we can attack them then they can attack us. Also, they don’t tend to use much strategy unless they have a powerful leader. Do you think most of them would have the ability to wait for reinforcements at the base of the wall? Or would they try and surge ahead?”

“I. Thanks.” I said, turning back with a bit of embarrassment. I felt his hand rubbing my back, and I froze in terror.

“Easy. This your first wave?”

“Ye. Yeah.”

“Mine too.” He said, and I couldn’t help but turn to stare at him. “Oh, don’t give me that. I used to be a caravan guard for the longest time. Came out here with a friend to help him evolve, and give myself some motivation to take the trial as well. Then this wave stuff happened, and well. Here we are.”

“Do you think we will survive?” I asked in a shaky voice. He took a long moment to answer, and as he did he leaned onto the wall and looked out.

“This is going to be a hard truth, but not all of us are going to survive. There’s just no way around it. Each monster wave is unique, and this one even more so. We can’t think of every trick they will try, so something is inevitably going to get through. But we have strong warriors on our side, people who have been working together for years. We will have to trust in our leaders, and that Brian will see to getting the right people into the right places. So when it comes to it, do your best and follow the section leader’s orders. That’s all we really can do.”

“That’s not a very nice picture.” I said.

“No. No it isn’t.” he agreed, before walking away.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dorian’s POV

“Hey bro, I got our orders.” Belor said as he plopped down into the chair next to me. Bless his heart, he also had a plate with a massive steak on it for me.

“Thanks.” I nodded, tearing into the steak with hunger. We had made far more strides in this last month of training with Stars, but it was taking a toll on our bodies. So much so that Brian had actually forbidden us from training for the last week. “So, what’s it looking like?”

“We are the spearhead of the south.” Belor said, taking a sip of his drink. Ale by the smell. “Brian’s worried though. Of all the enemies, ours is not only the most numerous but also the most shrouded.”

“Can’t be worse than when those two ursine tribes united for a raid.” I shrugged.

“Possibly. But we are going to have an issue. Brian thinks the timing is on purpose, to eliminate our threat.”

“Understandable.” I nodded. “Even a slight moon will give us our full stats, but they picked the three days of the new moon. Think they are going to try and swarm us?”

“Brian does.” He nodded. “Stars is supposed to hold off on the moon skill until they truly commit, so we’re going to have to battle for a while without our boosted stats.”

“Ah, damnit.” I groaned. “I guess Brian wants us to hold the line, doesn’t he?”

“You always were a better strategist than me.” My brother chuckled. “Exactly right. Play like we are doing a waiting game, and when they attack we spring a trap and slaughter them. What’s our backup looking like?”

“Defense specialists for the most part, with a nominal group of mages and archers. I think Brian wants to use the pitfalls and traps as our best defense.”

“Right. Well, they should hold out fairly well. At least for limiting attacking avenues, which should bolster the defensive strategy. Let’s get our teams together, we need to practice rotating people in and out.” I said, polishing off the last of the steak. “Hopefully we have enough time to whip ‘em into shape.” I truly hoped so, as transferring people in a fighting line was the most dangerous time. If things didn’t go smoothly, the entire line could collapse.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Brian Farsight’s POV

I took another sip of willowbark tea, and shuddered at the bitter taste. Gods above, tea was normally bad but concentrated tea was just worse somehow. “Hides-in-Reeds.” I called through the communication stone.

“Guildmaster?”

“Are you sure there isn’t a way to make this tea taste any better?”

“The alchemists all agree sir, medicine shouldn’t taste good. Something about not hurting yourself to get the medicine. I’m sure they would love to explain it to you.”

“No, no. That’s all right, I don’t need any lectures.” I said immediately. “Speaking of alchemists, how are their preparations?”

“Sir, perhaps I should bring that in person. You have a pair of visitors. Before you tax yourself with your gift again, it’s Sean and Elendria.”

“Send them up, and come on as well. They can hear the plans.” I groaned, downing the rest of the tea and placing the cup on a shelf behind me. Much as I hated to admit it, but Hides-in-Reeds was absolutely right about me pushing my gift. The only problem was that I knew I had to, or else this wave would be the last. The city would fall, as would the strongest dungeon. I couldn’t see past that, but I knew the dungeon was their ultimate goal.

“Come in.” I called to their knock, and the three guests entered my office. “Please, take a seat and talk with a soft voice.”

“What’s up with the soft voice requirement?” Sean asked.

“It seems our guildmaster is overworking his gift in an attempt to pierce the veil protecting the enemy.”

“I promise, I’m fine.” I protested, before fighting through a coughing fit. I tried to subtly wipe the blood from my hand, but Hides-in-Reeds caught me.

“And there you have it. You have taken too much of that tea, haven’t you?” Hides-in-Reeds scolded.

“Here, let me see something.” Sean said, stepping around my desk. I felt a curious bit of discomfort as his mana probed my body, before he sat back and stared at me. “Congratulations. That tea has eroded the lining of your stomach and given you a few ulcers. Your kidneys aren’t quite functioning at capacity, and judging from the throbbing of the nerves in your inner ear you are probably hearing a low grade ringing, am I right?”

“Not sure about the kidneys, but yes to the ringing ears and I might have a bit of an upset stomach.” I said with a shrug. “Not sure what we can do about it. I need the tea to stop this headache.”

“Right. Did it never occur to you to see if you had any healers in the guild?” Sean scolded as he cast a strange bit of magic. A pinkish mist flowed out of his hands, splitting between my head and abdomen. As it flowed into me, I felt my pain lessen drastically. “Ok, that’s about all I can do with my skill level. Ulcers are fixed, but I can’t get your stomach to produce the protective lining so go easy on the tea. Kidney function and ears are normal, but I can’t do anything about that headache.”

“How much more could you fix?” I asked, immediately wondering about how best to use a healer.

“Not much.” He shook his head. “Even that little bit took about 20 spirit, and I only have a hundred per day. Plus it draws from my own vitality, so I can’t go around healing everything. You would need a few priests.”

“Nevermind then.” I shook my head. “I guess I’ll just have to trust you to use it at your discretion. I did need to talk to both of you about your assignments for this upcoming battle. Let’s start with Elendria. As one of our strongest ice mages, I need to put you on the western wall with the caveat that you need to save your mana as much as possible. If everything goes as I expect, then you will be needed to counter whatever creature they are using to drive the monsters at us.”

“And what would that be?” She asked.

“You two wouldn’t know, but six days riding through the jungle you would come across Mount Ash. It’s a massive volcano, and part of it fuels the hot springs that you recently cleared for us. Inside that mountain is a similar creature, though it likely can use an advanced element. What started out as a flame salamander has evolved into an obsidian titan newt.”

“That, sounds difficult.” Elendria said.

“Indeed. That’s why I want you at full strength if possible. I will have other mages posted, but we really don’t have anyone with an ice specialization.”

“That’s fine. I have a few surprises I can pull out, especially if Sean keeps up my mana regen.”

“I can do that.” He immediately replied. “I’m sure I could be helpful in taking this thing down as well.”

“Sorry, but no can do.” I interrupted. “I’ll need you in the command center with me. I need you to keep several constellations up at the same time, spread as far as you can. If things truly get dire, I might need you to join the reactionary force and go and take out whoever is leading these creatures. I can’t get a look at them or any of their skills. The only thing I hear is hissing.”

“Hissing? Like a snake?” Sean asked, a glare of hatred flashing through his eyes.

“Yeah, it could easily be a snake. Why?”

“Just something that happened with the priest of Apophis. He had me confused with what he called Vipers, I guess they are the enemy version of paladins. How many did you see?” Sean asked.

“Most of the time four, but sometimes I feel like I am missing one.”

“Then it is best we plan on five.” Elendria said. “You need to have assassins ready to take them out, and swiftly.”

“I have a small group of people willing to do it. I hope three per Viper, you say they were called? Three per Viper should be enough.”

“Who is with me?” Elendria asked.

“The two demon brothers from your group as well as another from the guild. Sean, we are going to hide your strength for as long as possible. Start out the first day with Confidence of Selene, occasionally adding Demon Hand nebula for one hour any time you see a blue signal flare. The second day should see increased battles, so we will add in Gramash’s shield, and others as necessary. The third day, we will need to start out with the Demon’s Hand nebula, Gramash’s Shield, The Colossus, The Southern Eel, and Confidence of Selene. If you can hold those five during the day, we should be ok. As soon as the southern Viper appears, they will fire off a red smoke signal. When that happens, immediately drop Gramash’s Shield in favor of the full blood moon. Concentrate it on the south wall, as that’s where our berserkers will be. Green smoke from any other direction means a Viper has appeared, and I want you to drop Selene and bring up Trion and Greystreak. That should hopefully give our assassins enough of a boost to take out their targets.”

“I can do that, but I will be fairly useless by the end of things holding that many spells for so long.” Sean said after a bit. “Are you sure this is how you want to deploy me? I can bring a lot of hurt to the enemy.”

“Indeed, you can. But so can plenty of other people. What they can’t do, is boost large swaths of defenders. I’m sorry, but you will have to stay with me.”

“Pardon me, but how will your reactionary force get around?” Elendria asked.

“We made several routes to each wall going over the buildings.” I answered. “They will ride eagzards to speed things up.”

“Alright, I guess that’s the best plan we can get.” Sean said. “How about the other preparations? Anything I can help with?”

“No.” I said, shaking my head. “We did manage to get a few things you suggested. The north west wall has scrap metal buried next to the exploding barrels. The south wall has the ‘napalm’ you wanted us to try and make. Several alchemists were thrilled to find that certain plant fibers could alter the burn time of potions just by making it thicker. There are two trebuchets ready to fling destruction there, and several of the pit traps have been filled with gas. The special one that is connected underground to where we expect the enemy to marshall his forces has been filled with a flammable gas. Was there anything else, Hides-in-Reeds?”

“No sir, that covers our reports. Either the other suggestions didn’t provide results, or weren’t worth the trouble of implementing.”

“Excellent. Now, I want you two to get a good night’s sleep. I believe the enemy will start their attack before dawn the day after tomorrow.” I said, standing and shaking both of their hands. As they left hand in hand, I felt myself wishing that I could divine their future together. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see any futures past this battle, let alone one with a chosen in it. Instead I leaned back in my chair and tried to think of any other battle tactics we could employ that would help us.