Alert The Forest Keeper City has been destroyed and all of its inhabitants killed. There may be survivors that were not in the city, but they are few. The Forest Keepers under your care are the last hope for the continuation of their species. As a major species if their population falls below the Minimum Viable Population you will fail your goal for the simulation.

The whole city was gone..? I dropped my perception of time, which helped in shrugging off the shock that was clouding my thinking. The Instructor. This was what I was being misdirected away from.

I pulled up the visual and audio feed from the presence that was on the Forest Keeper floor and played back the last few seconds. A wall of fog had exploded outwards from the portal. I sank my power into the stone of the portal room behind the presence, there was an intense cold that was coming from the Forest Keeper City which was condensing the humidity in the air of the Forest Keeper floor.

I moved the portal to the city back to its own portal room and pushed heat into its stone to counteract the cold that was still continuing to flow through the portal. My Pocket Dimension stopped the spell from flowing through my fortress, but it didn't stop the physical effects.

Back at my body, which was only a few steps down the hill that I had stopped on to find the scout, I was surrounded by the ten leprechauns as an escort. The leader was just turning at the sound the leprechaun behind me made when I had stopped. I was pulling out my larger pocket portal, forming it into a doorway to head back to my fortress and moving the exit to the portal room for the Forest Keeper floor. I returned my perception to normal time as the leader started speaking.

"What are you doing?" The leader asked.

"Something has happened that will greatly affect some of my people." I said. "So I am returning to my fortress."

"Our matriarch will want to see you." The leader said. "You have a letter that is addressed to her personally. We cannot allow you to leave."

I placed the now-formed doorway down onto the ground and sank it down so that it would stand on its own. One side of the portal showed the stone of one of my presences and the other led through the stone portal room to the Forest Keeper floor.

"You can't stop me." I said. "I would advise against trying."

I stepped through the portal and walked along the stone hall into the Forest Keeper floor. The leader gave a short whistle and the ten leprechauns followed me. I turned to face the leprechaun leader as he stepped into my fortress proper behind me.

"You are now within my fortress." I said. "You have no recognised standing here, and I will ensure the safety of my people. You are warned."

There were several Forest Keepers that were coming through the fog that was still thick around the portal. I could only see a few meters into the fog, so I stepped forward those few meters and stopped, letting the Forest Keepers see me. The first one hooted loudly and stepped back, and I heard the muffled sound of others retreating.

I pushed my power into the soil at my feet, pushing heat into it, and the fog dissipated as the air warmed up. There was a line of Forest Keepers with spears lowered in a defensive stance.

The leprechauns behind me formed a line of their own at a word from their leader, drawing their bows and targeting the Forest Keepers. I sighed, it seems the leprechaun leader didn't take my warning seriously enough. It seems a second warning would be required.

The end of the line of leprechauns was only four meters away. I turned and dashed there, using my power in the ground to give enough traction and not leave a hole. Landing, I pivoted and dashed again, along the line of bows. As I passed each one I sliced the arrow that was on the string in half with one hand and the wood of the bow itself in half with my other. When I landed at the other end of their line I turned for a final time and dashed back to where I had started.

There was a series of snapping sounds behind me, followed by groans of pain. I looked over my shoulder to see that all of the leprechauns had light wounds from where the backlash of the bows snapping had whipped the wood into them. I looked at the leprechaun leader, who looked at his troops in shock before meeting my eyes.

"You are in my fortress." I said. "I will not tolerate threats made against my people. Inform your people of what I have just said."

He nodded his head shakily and spoke another command in his language. His troops formed up on him and he spoke with them.

I noticed one of the leprechauns was bleeding heavily from a gash in his wrist. That was inconvenient. I made a quest for Greta, the rabbit lady druid healer, entitled 'Emergency Healing' with a reward for one Fortress Coin per patient healed and sent it.

She should arrive as quickly as she could. I walked over to the heavily wounded leprechaun, pulling a length of cloth from Fortress Storage to use as a tourniquet. He was applying pressure to the wound, but was still bleeding, and looked at me in fear as I stood over him. He said something to his leader.

"What are you doing?" The leader asked.

"Destroying your weapons was a warning." I said. "Light injuries were expected. This-" I gestured to the leprechaun who was going pale. "- is not a light injury. Killing one of your people was not my intent, so I am correcting the mistake. A healer should be arriving soon."

I took the wounded leprechaun's hand and pulled his arm out straight. There was a squirt of blood as I moved his other hand away from the wound, but then I wrapped it tightly. I soaked my power into the cloth, weaving it into itself and closing it tighter around the wound, it stopped bleeding.

"My lord." Mal'Thorn said from behind the line of Forest Keeper guards. "What brings you to our floor, and with a hostile force behind you?"

"A complete mess." I said. "I was on my way to meet their leader when I got a System message that forced me to return here. They felt they needed to follow, which I allowed with a warning. Then a second warning when they moved to attack. Which was a bit too strong in a single case. We must talk."

I heard thumping coming down the stairway that the portal was up against and raised a hand to ask Mal'Thorn to wait. Less than a minute later Greta hopped around the corner and stopped to assess the situation.

"My lord." She said. "These are the patients?"

"They are." I said. "There was only one critical case and I stabilised him. The quest is open for all of them. Thank you for your quick response."

She moved to inspect the leprechaun that I had tourniqueted, but I stopped her.

I turned to face the leprechaun leader. "A healer." I said. "I will take it poorly if she is harmed. Inform your people."

He did, speaking loudly and I assumed clearly. All of his people nodded when he had finished.

I left Greta to her healing and went to where Mal'Thorn was standing. The Forest Keeper guards tracked me with their spears and when I got close enough four spears were lowered to stop me, lightly touching my chest. I smiled, which caused Mal'Thorn's eyes to widen.

"I take it they don't know who I am?" I asked.

"No, my lord." Mal'Thorn said.

He cuffed one of the guards on the back of the head and spoke to him in their language. And the guard spoke back, seeming to be arguing with Mal'Thorn.

Mal'Thorn sighed. "I am counted a prince now." Mal'Thorn said. "Which apparently means that my guards may place a higher priority on my safety than in obeying my orders. This is the new head of my guards."

"Tell him that he is one of my people, as are you, and that I assure him of the safety of my people to the greatest extent that I can." I said. "But if he does not move I will move him."

"Yes my lord." Mal'Thorn said.

Mal'Thorn spoke to his guard, and his guard spoke back. The guard's lip curled up in what was clearly contempt, even on a Forest Keeper's face. What was it with guards that they had to be shown my strength before they would respect me.

I raised an eyebrow at Mal'Thorn, who nodded back. There were four spears against my chest, arriving at different angles. The head guard had annoyed me, so I decided to mess with him. I moved the small pocket portal from my pocket up to my chest where the head of his spear was resting and then raised my arms to knock away the other three spears.

The head guard tightened his grip on his spear, and I stepped towards him, the spear disappearing into my chest. He tried to stumble away from me as I reached up and grabbed him by the throat, turning and switching places with him so that I was standing with my back to Mal'Thorn.

"I think your prince has a better understanding of where you stand than you do." I said, Mal'Thorn translating for me. "If I wanted him dead, he would be. And if I need to talk with him, I will. Do we have an understanding?"

"He said that he understands, my lord." Mal'Thorn said. "And thank you for your restraint."

"I won't harm any of my people if it can be avoided." I said, releasing the guard. "Do you have somewhere we can talk?"

"We don't have anything set up yet, my lord." Mal'Thorn said. "This is as good a place as any. Though isn't that uncomfortable?"

He pointed to the spear that was still sticking out of my chest, still held by the guard who wasn't moving. I took it out of his hands and pulled it out of my Pocket Dimension, handing it back to him then turning my back on him.

"There isn't a kind way of saying this." I said. "The Forest Keeper City has been destroyed, and anyone who was there has been killed. It was almost certainly the tactical spell that winter had set up."

"How can you be sure?" Mal'Thorn asked. "The city has strong mages, and the latest word was that they were setting up a working to drive the priests of winter away."

I related the message I had gotten from the System, and explained that it was tied into the world.

Mal'Thorn let out a keening cry, which caused all of the nearby Forest Keepers to turn towards him. The guard said something softly to Mal'Thorn, who answered loudly. All of the Forest Keepers within earshot made the same keening cry, and after they were done there was another wave of it from further out as the news spread.