I let my magic hands dissipate. Or perhaps they dissipated on their own because of my shock. Kelser gave me a strange glance, his gaze flitting back and forth between my face and the mosaic. Bain Rusta looked on solemnly. I turned to him.

“You knew about this too, didn’t you?” I asked.

“Might have heard about it through the grapevine,” he said.

“But you don’t know who he is,” I said. Bain Rusta shook his head. I nodded mine and stepped forward.

The spirits began scrambling to the sides, some stumbling over the stone steps that they had been hovering over a while ago. The spirits seemed to hover all the time, but they could lose their balance in the air easily, especially when they were emotionally disturbed. I unconsciously grabbed the first spirit I had inspected, dragging her with me all the way to the mosaic. She hung onto my magic hand like a docile puppy, which wasn’t a strange feeling, since that was about how big these spirits were.

“You,” I said, lifting the spirit up so she was hovering in front of my head, “explain this.”

“Explain this, Great Elf?” said the spirit, “it is a mosaic.”

“Yes, I know what it is, I am asking you how it came to be here,” I said.

“I, uh, we do not know, Great Elf, it has been here for generations,” she said.

“But you know who this elf is, correct?” I asked.

“Yes, this is the great elf ancestor,” she said.

“And you know his name?” I said.

“Sadly, his name was lost to time,” she said, before quickly making an apologetic face and lowering her eyes, “please, forgive us for forgetting the ancestor’s name, but the capital was sacked by the beastmen and—”

“It’s fine,” I said with a sigh, letting the spirit fall gently into a lower position above the ground. “I just didn’t expect to see his face here.” My mind was racing with all sorts of questions, but I quickly realized the spirits did not have many answers. I also did not have the time to get to the bottom of this mystery. There was a war to settle first. “I didn’t get much from your bickering, but I think I heard you mention something about sending your guards to scout for the enemy outside your city?”

“Yes, Great Elf,” said another spirit, “for the safety of our people and the glory of the Rep—”

“It sounds like you at least know that you are being invaded,” I said, slapping a magic hand over the pontificating spirit’s mouth. “I will ask you about this mosaic and your relationship to elves, later. I have come with those two over there. That’s Kelser, a human, which is a species you probably haven’t encountered before. I have taught them all magic and although there aren’t a lot of them with us, they will be incredibly valuable to you in your struggle.”

Kelser smiled and made a little fireball over his hand, which captured the attention of all the little spirits, reflecting in an orange hue in their widened eyes.

“You probably already know Bain Rusta over there, at least, he seemed to know about all of you. Even though he’s a demon, I am convinced he is closer to you than he is to his own kind. There is a large army of demons behind him, though, so you should probably spare some space for them in the city,” I said.

“It shall be done, Great Elf,” said the female spirit, who seemed to be the only one who could keep her mouth from running.

“And prepare your own armies too. Every single village, town, and city that we passed after crossing the border had been destroyed. I suspect we only barely managed to outpace whatever it is that is destroying your nation, and they will be here soon. We have very little information about the enemy. All we know is that they are with the Singing Horde, and possess a weapon that has been able to neutralize all of your forces outside the capital without any signs of fighting. I suspect they have been burning your settlements after eliminating all of the people inside with their strange weapon, although I do not know why they are doing so. We do not know how large their army is nor how they begin their assault, but I will go around the outskirts of your city and try to set up some barriers and fortifications, anyway. Send some engineers or able-bodied adults to the front-lines, perhaps they can help me come up with something,” I said.

The female spirit expressed her support for my plan. The other spirits still seemed dazed and confused, but nodded along. A small host of armored fairies walked up to the small door, although none entered the Senate. Seeing them, the female spirit began barking orders, and the tall fairies saluted her, before scrambling to fulfill her commands.

I grabbed Bain Rusta and followed Kelser out of the Senate. We raced back out to the city walls with its massive gate, leaping between the roofs of buildings to avoid the throngs of fairies below. I smiled, brought Bain Rusta a little closer, and told him to hold on. Then, I jumped onto the city walls, pressed my feet against the stone, and began running up the side of the walls, leaving the pointing and exclaiming crowds below behind. Bain Rusta yelled as I brought him all the way to the top of the walls, teetering on the very edge of the massive fall. Seeing the tall fairies become smaller than ants would give anyone a sense of vertigo, and Bain Rusta’s pale face somehow made me happy.

In the distance, a large cloud of dust heralded the arrival of the demon and human army. Kelser caught his breath beside me. I told him to rest on top of the wall, since I would be taking care of the fortifications myself.

I gave Bain Rusta a funny look. His eyes widened. He was about to say something, but he swallowed his words as I grabbed him with magic hands and jumped off the side of the massive city walls.

---

“There were no signs of the enemy on our way over here,” said Elder Kezler.

The demon and human army had set up their tents on an open field near the main gate to the city. The spirits had offered the army spare buildings and even some rooms in the Senate building, but I figured it would be better if we were closer to the action.

Large crowds of armored fairies were going about the city, gathering armor and weapons, before organizing into groups, each led by a fairy commander who took orders from a spirit. The spirits also left their room in the Senate, which Bain Rusta told me was an unusual thing for the reclusive spirits to do. At first, they mostly spent their time ogling me or trying to get a word in, but I soon set them to work organizing the fairies into a cohesive army. Bain Rusta said the biggest reason the taller, more powerful fairies were unable to defeat the demons completely, was their lack of organization and operational skill. I attached a couple of experienced human hunters and demon commanders to each fairy army unit, and soon, they looked like an intimidating group of warriors.

I was standing on top of the city walls, which gave me an expansive view of the cleared plains in front of the city. I’d ruined the beauty of the surroundings by digging a large moat around the city, diverting some river water to fill it up, while adding a few ramparts and sandbanks. All of the human magicians were also up here, ready to bombard the enemy as soon as they came within range.

In the distance, a small black speck appeared. The speck was walking on the road, its pace leisurely, its demeanor calm. As the speck got closer, I could tell that it was a lone figure, wrapped heavily in loose fitting sheets of fabric, almost like they were wearing layers upon layers of robes.

I raised my hand and aimed it into the distance.