Chapter 65 * Lumarian Mountains *

Alice stood at the edge of a high ledge facing west. She scanned the entire area both physically and mentantly before doing some internal calculations.

“Okay, here we go.”

Satisfied, she took several steps backward until her back was against the mountain. She then took a running start before jumping off the ledge. “Mittius Mandamus Wind.”

A powerful current of wind caught her in midair and pushed her forward at incredible speed until she was about to collide into another mountain.

“Mittius Mandamus Wind,” Alice called again. A strong updraft slowed her descent and she landed safely on another ledge.

This was her third time doing this. By jumping back and forth from ledge to ledge on the two mountains that surrounded the pass, she avoided the sentries from Gilmore who were looking for her. She was almost completely healed and though her adimus energy was still somewhat depleted, she could use standard mandamus with ease.

After catching her breath, she looked around for the next ledge and found one northwest of her. After getting her bearings, she took another flying leap with the aid of wind mandamus, but just as she was closing in on her landing spot, something came speeding toward her from the west. She only just saw it out of the corner of her eye and couldn’t react fast enough.

A conical-shaped stone projectile slammed into her side, knocking the wind out of her, and throwing her completely off course. She went hurtling down to the mountain pass below.

“Mittius Mandamus Wind!” she called frantically. Another updraft slowed her descent, but she knew from previous experience, this wouldn’t be enough.

“Mittius Mentenus Safe,” she commanded before slamming into the ground. A green aura wrapped around her, deadening the impact just enough as she landed hard on her back.

“What in Alaman’s name…” Alice groaned as she struggled to pick herself up.

Before she could even contemplate what happened, her instincts screamed at her to dodge. She threw herself sideways just before a ball of flames struck the ground where she’d been moments earlier.

Alice started scanning the mentant realm for her assailant but found none. From what she could sense mentantly, she was completely alone.

“Who’s there? Show yourself!” she demanded, though she didn’t expect an answer.

Instead of a response, five more stone projectiles came at her from both sides. This time she was ready, and she jumped backward to avoid the barrage, only to be hit from behind by a flying icicle. Though it only hit her shoulder, she lurched forward and had to use her arm to brace her fall.

“Mittius Mentenus Safe.” The green aura surrounded her like a dome. Several icicles and stone projectiles slammed into it, but the protective shield held, buying her a few precious seconds to think.

She was being attacked from multiple sides by invisible enemies. If these were creatures of the Book of War, then defeating them wasn’t even a possibility. The only thing she could do is run and hope to lose them somehow.

Another barrage of attacks decimated the green aura, and Alice immediately went into action.

“Mittius Mandamus Wind.”

The air around her thinned slightly and a powerful blast of wind shot out from her on all sides. She heard something hit the mountain side, indicating that she’d managed to push her foes away.

“Mittius Mentenus Speed.” Alice shot forward as fast as she could. Though her leg had fully healed by now, she was still sore from her recent ungraceful landing. Still, she pushed herself as hard as she could, practically flying down the mountain pass.

However, she didn’t make it far before a ball of flames came hurtling toward her from the front, and she was forced to dive sideways, only narrowly dodging the attack as she landed face-first on the rocky path. She barely had time to scramble to her feet before she felt a stone projectile slam into her back, knocking her forward again

Bruised and battered, Alice once again pulled herself up, her back against the mountain as her mind raced to find a solution. She could sense that she was trapped, but she still had no idea where the enemy was or how many there were.

“Mittius Mandamus Terra.”

The ground beneath her shot upward and she soon found herself on a steadily rising pillar of rock, but this wasn’t another attempt at escape. It only rose to around five times her height, and when it stopped, Alice started using her mentus to hurl fire down at the area beneath her.

As the blue flames consumed the mountain pass, she saw several silhouettes moving about within them. Before she could figure out her next move though, she was knocked off her stone pillar by an icicle aimed at her side and was sent careening down to the path below. This time she was so dazed, she didn’t use any mandamus to slow her fall and she hit the ground hard.

Her guardian strength saved her from death, but the impact was hard enough to almost knock her unconscious. She could barely move, and it felt like a few ribs had cracked on impact.

Alice groaned as she rolled over onto her back. She didn’t have the strength to sit up, let alone run, but she knew if she didn’t do something, these invisible monsters would finish her.

With an almost guttural roar, she jumped to her feet, ignoring the intense pain she felt all over. “Mittius Mentenus Boost.”

Alice had never tried this before, but in theory she knew it would work. Though mandamus was mainly used to manipulate other objects, advanced commands could also be used to enhance one’s own body in ways that went beyond the limits of regular mentus. Usually, guardians only used this to increase their speed to faster than what mentus could accomplish, but this didn’t mean it was impossible to boost her other senses and reflexes beyond even the natural enhancement she had due to being a guardian. However, it was at a cost of rapidly draining her already depleted adimus energy.

Pushing her senses to the extreme, Alice felt like the world had slowed considerably, giving her time to adequately respond to the threat around her.

Three stone projectiles came hurtling toward her, though this time, she could see them as if in slow motion.

She held out her hand. “Mittius Mandamus Terra.” Immediately the projectiles heeded her command and veered upward, missing her completely.

She felt the heat of flames from behind. Turning, she saw a fireball within an arm’s length of her.

“Mittius Mandamus Fire!” The flames arced around her on either side, hitting the monster that had hurled the stone projectiles.

Icicles came from her left. “Mittius Mandamus Ice.” The ice turned to water that splashed down harmlessly beside her.

Alice’s movements were a blur as she used her mandamus to override the attacks being fired at her. She dispersed or redirected multiple attacks, sometimes turning them back on the monsters that launched them, but she was also depleting her adimus energy at an alarming rate. Though she could hold off these creatures, she couldn’t defeat them, and if she didn’t find a solution quick, she’d soon exhaust herself completely.

“Mittius Mentenus Safe.” A green dome appeared around Alice but someone else had commanded it.

Canceling her boosted reflexes, she looked around and saw two people racing toward her, and just ahead of them was a familiar black border terrier.

“Illusion?” Alice could hardly believe it.

The dog bounded forward and turned into the silver wolf in midair before colliding into something invisible.

“It’s here!” Illusion growled as it held down the unseen enemy.

One of the men came up behind him. “Mittius Mentenus Reveal.”

A black robed creature appeared, sprawled on the ground as the silver wolf snapped at it repeatedly. It raised a transparent arm, and both the man and Illusion had to jump out of the way to avoid a fireball.

“Mittius Mandamus Wind,” the other man commanded, and the black robed creature was hurled away to the other side of the green barrier dome.

As the two purple-robed men came running up to her, Alice finally saw who they were. “Pathos! Cal?”

She had expected to see Karmandrian with Pathos, but instead it was someone completely unexpected. She felt something well up in her heart. The man she’d been dreaming about only hours ago was here, though she had no idea how.

“Are you okay?” Pathos asked as he reworked the green safe aura to wrap around the three of them. “Mittius Resepco Alice”

Alice felt her injuries rapidly heal. “I’m fine but how did you—”

“We’ll explain later,” Ace said. “Right now, we have to get rid of those things.”

His words were punctuated by multiple ice, fire, and stone projectiles bombarding the safe shield, causing it to waver.

“It seems like there’s more of them,” Pathos noted.

“I can sense four in all, including the one we just made visible,” Illusion growled.

“Even if we reveal all of them, we still don’t have a way to defeat them,” Pathos lamented.

“I think I have an idea. Alice, if you can make them visible, I might be able to take them all out. I just need a few minutes; I haven’t done this in a long time.”

“Take them out?” Alice repeated confused. “But they’re creatures of the Book of War. You can’t—”

“Trust me,” Ace said, a determined look in his hazel eyes.

Alice faltered for only a second, but she quickly met his gaze. “Just tell me what I need to do.”

“Illusion can smell them, just follow his lead and once you get a hold of one, use your mandamus to learn and override their presence manipulation. It’s just like I taught you.”

Alice gave a nod. “I can do it.”

“Let’s go!” Illusion jumped forward as soon as the green aura dissipated, and Pathos and Alice followed.

Now that the creatures had multiple targets to choose, it was easier for Alice to dodge attacks since they weren’t all coming at her simultaneously. Chasing after Illusion she nimbly evaded a stone projectile and could immediately tell by its trajectory where it had come from. Reaching forward she snatched at the air until she finally grabbed one of the invisible monsters.

“Got you! Mittius Mentenus Reveal!” In that moment she understood the principles behind the creature’s ability to hide its presence. It used a combination of light manipulation and a chemical reaction that created an invisible field around it that mimicked the properties of quartz. Her mandamus forcibly undid both in an instant, revealing the black-hooded engler.

Before the monster had time to react, Alice used mandamus to trap it in a dome of rock. She knew it would only stop it for a few seconds, but that was more than enough time to help Pathos with uncovering the remaining two englers.

Illusion, Pathos, and Alice worked flawlessly together, revealing the englers and keeping them occupied while Ace prepared his attack. Soon they were facing four black-hooded creatures. Two of them shot stone projectiles, one icicle, and the forth fire. Alice and Pathos used a combination of wind and earth mandamus to keep their enemies at bay.

“Pathos, I need you to hold them still for a few seconds,” Ace called finally.

“On it. Mittius Mentenus Bind.” This time a semi-transparent amber dome surrounded the four englers, effectively trapping them. They immediately started hurling attacks at it.

Alice turned to see that Ace’s robe had turned from mandant purple to a light grey. He had his head down and eyes closed.

“What in Alaman’s name…” Pathos said in awe as the clouds just above them turned a dark grey.

“Get back! I can only just barely control this,” Ace warned.

Illusion, Pathos and Alice all retreated from the englers just in time. A few seconds later, a bolt of lightning shot from the sky electrifying the englers all at once. When the smoke cleared, all four monsters had disappeared.

Alice was stunned and for good reason. She’d just witnessed a mandant use environ mentus, something that shouldn’t be possible. Not only that, but he had destroyed the creatures of the Book of War, yet another impossible feat.

Ace was clutching his knees and panting. Manipulating the weather had taken a lot out of him. His robe was now stark white. “Whoa, that was way more intense than I thought it’d be. I’m never doing that again.”

Pathos walked up to him and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Mittius Resepco Ace. That was amazing work, my friend.”

“Thanks,” Ace said straightening up. “You three did great too.” He turned to Alice, who was walking up to him. “Now, I know I have a lot to explain but—”

His words were cut off as Alice flung her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately.

Pathos smirked and turned away from the embracing couple. “Karmandrian is going to be so jealous,” he muttered to himself.

* Gilmore *

“You called for us, sir?” Gamdon said as he and Jansdimion entered the large suite of rooms at the top of Gilmore Tower.

Davron was pacing back and forth with more nervous energy than the two had ever seen, his face a mixture of frustration and desperation.

“It’s too soon. I can’t let it all fall apart. I can’t! I won’t!”

“Sir?” Jansdimion stepped forward hesitantly.

Gamdon seemed to understand what was going on. He grabbed hold of Davron by the shoulders. “Sir, calm down. How many of them came back to you?”

“All of the englers,” Davron said, his eyes bloodshot.

“Get Yorkson!” Gamdon shouted at Jansdimion.

***

Several minutes later, Davron was resting on one of the large plush couches. Yorkson had used healing mandamus on him. Because he was a mandant and not a guardian, this feat would have normally drained a considerable amount of his own adimus energy, but this time it seemed to have the exact opposite effect. Yorkson pondered the phenomenon for several seconds before coming to his conclusion.

“It seems as though his adimus was far more active than it should have been, but I managed to calm it down by siphoning off the excess energy. He should be fine in a few minutes, but I’m no expert. You should probably have a healer examine him too, just in case.”

“Thank you, Yorkson; please make sure you are discrete about this incident,” Jansdimion said with a hint of warning in his voice.

Yorkson nodded fervently and left the chambers, closing the double doors behind him just as Davron sat up again.

“Thank you, Gamdon. With my wife gone, I had no one to turn to, and I certainly wasn’t expecting this to happen.” He gave his aged quickener comrade a warm smile. “I should have known you’d figure it out.”

“What exactly happened?” Jansdimion asked, still confused.

Gamdon gave Davron an inquisitive look, and Davron nodded his approval.

“It would appear that whenever a creature of the Book of War is destroyed, the energy Davron used to create it comes back to him,” Gamdon revealed.

“What? You never told us this,” Jansdimion said before turning accusingly to Gamdon. “How did you know when I didn’t?”

“I only suspected this after he was able to tell when the pog scout in Estern was eliminated,” Gamdon said calmly.

“I honestly didn’t think it was worth mentioning,” Davron admitted. “It hardly ever happened, and on the rare occasions that it did, it was a few pogs. I barely felt it, and it wasn’t overwhelming, but the englers—”

“They’re some of the most powerful creatures you’ve ever summoned. I remember when you were still experimenting with the book and created them. Just one of them wiped you out for half a day,” Gamdon recalled.

“And now they’ve been destroyed,” Davron revealed. “All four of them.”

“That’s more than enough energy to overload your adimus,” Gamdon said sagely. “How are you going to deal with this going forward? You can’t risk being incapacitated if a powerful creature is destroyed.”

“Now that I know the dangers, I’ll be more prepared. I can use my mind mage crystal to intercept and absorb the excess energy,” Davron tapped the blue crystal in his scepter. “Not only will that protect my adimus, but I can then use the energy to summon other creatures immediately.”

“That’s a good plan,” Jansdimion said, “but we have another problem: I sent the englers to fight that guardian. If they’ve been destroyed, that can only mean a seal bearer is near Gilmore.”

Davron stood. “I know; that’s why I originally called for you. I’ve received additional information about Fantasma’s plans to attack us.”

“So, your spy finally decided to cooperate.” Gamdon said.

“Not exactly,” Davron said vaguely. “However, I now know what’s coming. Apparently, the Fantasmal Forces sent guardians and one of the seal bearers to commandeer our newly created quickener cave so they can transport their troops, all while catching us unaware. They plan to send a large force using the dozens of quickeners at their disposal. It’s not clear when they’ll attack, but I suspect we have two hours at most.”

Gamdon nodded at this. “It would take a while to completely dismantle the cave. We’d be cutting it close. However, it does give us plenty of time to evacuate if needed.”

“Why would we do that when we have the advantage?” Jansdimion countered. “We should keep the cave active and lay a trap for them. We could easily crush Fantasma’s army if we deploy the right strategy. We’ll turn their sneak attack around on them.”

Davron couldn’t help but chuckle at his two advisors predictably opposing views. “I have no intention of running or wasting our resources on a battle with no gains. I believe it’s time to start the war in earnest. Tonight, we’ll launch our campaign and take over the world in one decisive strike.”

“Sir, there’s no way we can execute a multi-city strike this quickly,” Jansdimion said in alarm.

“We haven’t even finished repairing all the broken translift caves,” Gamdon added.

“There is a way,” Davron assured with a confident smile. “but we’ll need my wife for it to work. Gamdon, I’ll also be counting on you for this plan.”

Davron walked to the adjoining room where the map of the four continents was still spread out on the table. Jansdimion and Gamdon shared a confused look before following. The trio sat at the table and Davron used a mentus barrier to seal the room before he began to lay out his plan.

* Lumarian Mountains *

“So that’s how you found me.” Alice was examining the red quartz pendent that hung from a gold chain around her neck. It was a bonding stone, identical to Ace’s. Its special properties allowed the wearers to locate each other within a fixed area.

Ace nodded. “I’m just glad you were wearing it.”

“As if I’d ever take this off,” she leaned up and gave him a brief kiss before grabbing his hand. “I knew you’d come back. I always knew it. I just never thought it would be like this. I can’t believe everything you’ve been through, and for forty years, but more than that: this whole seal bearer thing is amazing.”

The group was making their way down the narrow mountain pass with Illusion in the lead and Pathos just behind him, giving the couple some space so they could talk and catch up. Ace had spent thirty minutes quickly explaining things to a completely captivated Alice.

“Mrs. Guardman never told you about us having the power of the seal?” Ace asked.

“Well sort of, but I didn’t really understand it. I thought it just had something to do with sealing the Book of War. I didn’t know there were people who could actually kill those creatures, and what about Illusion?”

“What about him?” Ace asked confused.

“I saw him kill the creatures of the Book of War. How is that possible, he’s just mentus, right?”

“I was created by a seal bearer many years ago,” Illusion explained from up ahead. He was back in his black border terrier form. “Since my core mentus comes from a seal bearer, I can harm those monsters.”

Alice shook her head. “I still don’t understand how that mentus is a talking dog.”

“Mentus can do a lot more than most people think,” Ace said.” I learned a lot at the Vinchu monastery. Each sect of mentant monks practices a special branch of powerful mentus. I’ve only been to two though.”

“I just can’t believe all the things you’ve done. You were even a professional hyperball player. Why didn’t you tell me any of this when we were together? You were always so secretive.” Alice pouted a bit.

Ace gave her hand a comforting squeeze. “I’m sorry; I never told anyone. I didn’t even really understand it fully myself until I left you and went to Vinchu.”

“I feel like I never really knew you. Your name’s not really Cal, and you’re not really a mandant, and you’ve been the same age for forty years. It’s just a lot.”

“I know it is, but I’m still the same person. Calvin’s my middle name, I just shortened it while I was traveling. In my old world, people called me Ace because of my initials, so that’s what I usually go by. As for my ability to adjust my adimus, I couldn’t tell you that back then. There was no good way to explain it.” Ace let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her. “I know I kept a lot of secrets, but all the things I did tell you when we were together were true. I tried my best not to outright lie to you. I just only revealed certain things.”

Alice leaned into him. “I get it. I really do, and it just means I finally get to learn all your secrets, right?”

Ace sighed. “That’ll take some time.”

“Well, we’ve got all the time in the world.” She beamed up at him. “There is one thing I’m curious about though. How did you learn environ mentus?”

“I’d actually like to know that too,” Pathos said, looking back at the two of them. “I get that you can adjust your adimus, but even environs have a difficult time learning to harness their mentus. The way you summoned that lightening was amazing.”

“I spent a couple of years in Weather Mountain,” Ace revealed. “It was almost twenty years ago before I really started traveling around. I only stayed long enough to study the basics so that I would know how to use it if I ever needed it.”

Pathos shook his head. “You’re just full of surprises. Anyway, I hate to break up this touching reunion, but we need to figure out our next steps.”

“Right,” Ace agreed. “Now that we’ve gotten Alice, it’s time to move on to the next phase of the plan. Illusion, can you lead us to that quickening cave?”

“It’s about a mile north of the city,” Illusion said, “but I haven’t been there myself. I tried going, but there were too many guards on patrol.”

“Well, we’ve still got some time before we get there. We’ll need to figure out a way to get to that cave without being seen,” Pathos said. “The last thing we want is to alert the whole city of our presence.”

Alice brightened at this. “I think I have an idea.” She shared a knowing look with Ace, who beamed back at her, understanding exactly what she meant.

Pathos sighed, wondering how long he would have to put up with the cutesy antics of the affectionate duo.

* Gilmore *

“Sir this…” Gamdon seemed at a loss for words. “This plan is…incredibly risky. The heavens would truly need to be on our side for this to work.”

Davron nodded. “What I’m asking you to do is highly dangerous, life threatening even. However, if you succeed, then we’ll be able to have victory at very little cost. This is not something I will order you to do. I only want you to agree if you truly feel you can.”

“I trust you, sir.” Gamdon said without hesitation.

“I know you do, but this would also require you to trust my wife.” Davron gave him a searching look.

Gamdon chuckled at this. “Well, if anything, I’ve lived a long life. If I’m to die, then at least it is in service to you.”

Jansdimion shook his head. “This isn’t a joking matter. You better not die, you old fool.”

“I’ll be fine,” Gamdon stood. “However, I’m worried about Master Foy. He’s critical for this plan to work.”

“He hates the Fantasmal Government. I’m sure he’ll be willing to do it,” Davron said.

“That’s not the issue,” Gamdon said. “I’m just not sure how much we should tell him beforehand.”

Jansdimion stood now. “He’s right; for this to work, we’ll have to keep a tight lid on our plans until it’s time to execute them. We can’t afford them leaking out, especially when we know the enemy may be sneaking into town to spy before their attack.”

Davron nodded. “Agreed. Jansdimion, plan a strategy and only loop in the colonels as needed. Gamdon, start moving the bulk of our forces and non-combatants. As for Foy, he already knows our multi-city strike plan, so just tell him its being pushed forward. His knowledge of our plans might actually serve you well.”

Gamdon looked pensive for a moment but then nodded. “You may be right. He could end up helping in more ways than one. I’ll make it work, somehow.”

“We don’t have a lot of time,” Jansdimion prompted. “Let’s get going.”

They turned to leave but Davron stopped them. “Wait, there’s one more thing: Calendon’s troops in Cirinian.”

“Do you want me to recall them?” Jansdimion asked.

“No,” Davron stood and walked to one of the bay windows that overlooked the town, as if not wanting to face his companions. “I’ve sensed several pogs have been destroyed there.”

“Could it be the seal bearers?” Gamdon offered.

“I thought that at first, but now it’s been far too many of them. I’m almost certain the summoners know.” Davron’s voice was barely above a whisper. “We can’t allow that knowledge to leave the valley.”

Jansdimion nodded, a sad, but determined look in his eyes. “I understand, sir; I’ll take care of it.” Gamdon looked like he might say something in protest, but Jansdimion laid a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. “Let’s go, we have little time.”

Davron watched his general and chief quickener leave out of the corner of his eye before returning his gaze fully to the town below. He balled his fists in anger. In that moment, though he’d never admit it to anyone, he felt a sense of powerlessness.

“Tell me, Florentine; how many more sacrifices must I make before I can bring forth this new era?” he muttered to himself.