The following day after I’d had time to mull everything over, I called a meeting. Sanyl, Grastad, Scralex, Feen, Kuhn along with Grigor and Joel all joined Sania and me in the main hall on the top floor of the castle.

Joel was now dressed in a pair of good quality black pants, sturdy grey leather boots and a comfortable looking grey tunic, complete with a thick black work belt around his waist. He looked smart, and he looked relaxed. I was also pleased to see he’d reached level nineteen since coming back from Earth. The points he was receiving from completing buildings around Far Reach were serving him well.

“So, this has been an epic day, and most of you got your first real introduction to Natom Fucking Hilgresh. I don’t know how many of you heard what was said, but the main worry for now, is that he told us that he’ll be alerting Malatia to our efforts in these mountains. I have to assume that he’ll follow through on the threat, because he's a fucking prick. That means we’ll probably have a visit from a Malatian army of some kind coming soon. He also said some stuff relating specifically to me, but we’ll come to that later. For now, I just wanted to let you all know there’ll most likely be an army on our horizon very soon.”

“So what do we do?” Grastad said. “We can’t just leave everything we’ve built.”

“Oh, hell no. We fight,” I said firmly. “I’m no friend of Devotion, and as far as Sania and I see this. These mountains belong to the Wultr who have lived here for a very long time. They might not even come yet, but we still need to be prepared if they do. Having spoken with Grimstrom and the Brothers up at the barracks, they all agree it might be time to leave the buildings and focus on the walls. I’m inclined to agree.” I looked at Joel as I finished speaking.

“We were finishing the last of the homes around the castle first. Before we began on the walls, but that’s more of an oversight from me, mate. I might have gotten carried away with the town rather than the defense, because it’s been so quiet in regard to attacks.”

He looked like he wanted to say more, but fell silent, deep in thought.

“You alright, Joel?” I asked.

“I am. But… Malatia and Devotion Clive. Do we really need to fight them?”

“Are you thinking about Mal?” I asked guessing his motives.

“I’m thinking about the triplets too, and I liked Malatia. Even Elsbeth was kind, if a little flaky on occasion. It seems mad we would be fighting them. And yeah, Mal might be with them. What do we do if he is?”

I blew out a heavy exhale and shrugged. “Hope the stupid bastard hasn’t come up here to fight against us. If he has, we’ll have to kidnap him and slap some sense back into him.”

“Good. I don’t want to fight him. Are we going to at least try and talk Malatia around before we fight?”

I shrugged again. “Sure, if they give us the opportunity. I’ll warn you though, Mal, I’m not surrendering Far Reach. And if they’re aligned with Hilgresh or Justice, this is going to be a fight and there’s not much I can do about that. Whatever happens we need to get those walls up and protect what we have so far.”

Joel looked unsettled by my words, but the other faces around the table showed nothing but grim resolve.

It fell to Grastad to break the slightly uncomfortable silence that followed.

“What about them lazy bloody Swamp elves? Are they gonna do something and help out?”

“Yes, Grastad, they are,” I replied then addressed the full table. Okay everyone. In relation to the Fensalfar. I have spoken with Zeine, and he assures me that despite appearances, they are actively involved in the creation of our town. A large part of their initial efforts has to be communing with the trees and the water of their area to become in tune with it. I’m willing to believe Zeine and he’s promised they’ll have something to show me in three days.”

“Well, I hope it’s impressive. They look like a bunch of idle layabouts to me,” Grastad muttered, and it was clear he wasn’t alone in his estimation.

“Well yeah, that was the whole point in me going to see them, wasn’t it? I’ve decided that they can have a full week to show us what they’ve been working towards, otherwise I will speak to them again. As it stands, they aren’t making use of our hard work other than taking a little help to dig the pool will apparently be well stocked with fish at some point soon, too. That said, once we do see evidence, I want to bring Zeine and Rella in to this little council of ours.”

“Were a council?” Scralex asked.

“You are. You, Grastad and Grigor for obvious reasons. Kuhn and Feen because after Grigor they’re the most capable Wultr. Sanyl because she is good at organizing the elders.

“That’s all good and well but…” Grastad.

“Also…” I interrupted. I want Scralex and Grastad to each pick one of their most trusted people to join us. Choose wisely because if they’re assholes, I’ll kick them out. I don’t need people to agree with everything I say, but I don’t want people like Solla of the Fensalfar or…” I was going to say Niko, but stopped myself. “Or anyone else who is overly negative or seems to make it their sole purpose to cause issues.

“I will invite Djora, my mate, if that is okay?” Scralex asked.

“Sure man. I know Djora a little from guard duty on the wall. I hadn’t realized she was your mate. Good choice.”

“She will be honoured to join us,” he said proudly. “Thank you, Lord Clive.”

I smiled at him, before turning to Grastad who hadn’t spoken up yet.

“I will think on it.” Was all he said.

“What about your mate?” Sania asked.

Grastad actually looked terrified. “Absolutely never! I enjoy having my voice heard in this council. If Alda joins, that will be over.”

I burst out laughing. I wasn’t alone.

“Okay, so no Alda. Are we all agreed on the council otherwise?”

Everyone around the table nodded assent. A glint of pride in most of their eyes.

“Now for the elephant in the room,” I announced. Which prompted a flurry of heads looking around wildly.

“What is an elephant!” Grigor demanded, confused.

“It’s an expression. I’m talking about what Natom wanted from me. I know you all will have heard half stories of what is going on with me. I thank you for showing trust despite the confusion, but you all deserve to hear the truth as best I know it. So I’m going to lay everything out for you all now.”

I looked around to make sure I had everyone’s attention. They were all staring holes into me.

“When the God of Creation left your world, he came to ours. Mine and Joel’s, that is. He actually trained me to be a chef, though he never told me who he really was.

At some point in our time working together, he imbued some of his power into me. It’s just a small amount. A seed of his power. Right now my body isn’t strong enough to cope with it, so it lies dormant.

According to Grimstrom, the God of Darkness’s messenger. It probably won’t begin to grow until one of my later evolutions. Level 72 Baatazu Demon at the earliest, or so I’m told. I’m currently at Level 38 if you didn’t know. Which means we have time.”

I saw some surprised expressions at the revelations.

“How is it you are so strong, then?” Kuhn blurted out. “If you have no access to the power, and you are such a low level.

“Simply put, it’s because I can use Neuma. I’m not reliant on forms of Neuma that have already been processed by the nature world or any of the Gods. I’m still piss poor at using it for the minute, especially when compared to Natom. This is part of what I need to talk to you all about. I need to work at training myself in its use. Because once the seed of Creation shows itself, that pshyco piece of shit is going to come back and kill me for it.”

“So don’t ever reach level 72 and you’ll be fine,” Scralex said nonchalantly. “72 is a very high level. Why would you need to be higher than that, anyway?”

Grastad gave Scralex a gentle push. “Because he’s the God of Creation you dozy rat.”

“Ah. Of course!” Scralex said, facepalming.

“I’m not the God of Creation. I just potentially hold some of his power if I can survive long enough.”

“So what will you do, Clive?” Sanyl asked.

“Natom is all but indestructible. None of the followers on Falritas can ever be strong enough to defeat him because of how Neuma works. They can temporarily subdue him and hold him back, though. So if anyone is going to stop Natom Fucking Hilgresh on a more permanent basis, that is going to have to be me. Unless I can think of a way to fight him before the power shows. Once I hit level 72, I’m most likely going to have to run. At the minute that’s looking like the deep Nideland of Kalabri where Natom won’t be able to follow.”

“Where Darkness can take it from you?” Sanyl said. I was about to protest, but as the words sunk in, it hit me that I couldn’t really be one hundred percent sure that wasn’t Darkness’s. A shiver ran through me as I considered this could all be an elaborate ruse from Darkness. Suddenly the Hoodie of Darkness began feeling uncomfortable. It seemed to slowly constrict around my neck, and I had to take a moment, and a few deep breaths.

For the moment, I just had to hope that he was playing me straight. I didn’t really have any other options and for now his assistance worked in all of our favor. .

“It would be foolish to ignore the possibility of that, Sanyl. But so far, there’s no reason to suspect that Darkness would double cross me. Either way, we need to continue as we are. Strengthening our home here, taking in Neutrals that need our help and treating them with respect and kindness. We also need to ensure they intend to help build Far Reach.

That said, I’m going to do the opposite and I will no longer be assisting with the building work. I’m going to have to take a back seat for a little while to train my ass off. I haven’t given anytime at all over the last couple of weeks to my Neuma, but Natom’s arrival has highlighted that the clock is ticking for me and if I’m going to survive, I need to think of a way to beat the bastard. As Sanyl just pointed out. Hiding in the bowels of Kalabri, might not be the best thing for my health.

“What about Lierin?” Sanyl asked suddenly.

“Lierin?” Joel replied looking confused.

“Can’t she remove people’s ability to use powers? I’m sure that’s what you told me. It seems she would be the perfect foil to someone so powerful.”

“She can mother,” Sania said. “But that is just the external use of power. All she could really do to Natom is prevent him from flying and shooting projectiles of power.”

I nodded as Sania spoke. I’d considered if Lierin would be of use to us in the past, and decided against it. “Sania is right,” I added to the conversation. “Natom would still be insanely strong, skilled, and unkillable. He would most likely target Lierin too, if she used her powers. All we would achieve would be to end up getting her killed.”

“No way,” Joel snapped, his face blossoming into the vibrant red of righteous indignation.

“Yeah, man. It’s okay, we all agree. We’re not sending Lierin anywhere near Natom. Now back to the point I was making. I need to train desperately. Luckily, while I do, Far Reach has an amazing council, full of brave and intelligent leaders.

“We will ensure Far reach is well run while you develop your powers. I will ensure there are scouts watching south now for the approach of the Malatians,” Grigor said standing and bowing. The rest of the table did the same apart from Joel and Sania. The whole display made me feel uncomfortable, yet confident that Far Reach would be okay.

After the meeting had finished, Sania and I wasted no time in trekking off into the mountains away from the town to train.

“We found a sheltered clearing in the forest. A number of boulders scattered around the area from the mountain side, that I figured would be good to practice for tendril control. I picked up and a launched one of the rocks as we entered.

“Now you just have to do that while you’re airborne,” Sania said. Before concentrating herself on a rock in front of her. Slowly but steadily lifting it from the ground. She managed to throw it a dozen feet away.

“Agreed. It would be nice to have a teacher. Preferably of the sane variety. I suppose I’m never going to have that luxury.”

“No, you’re not, so let’s not give it anymore thought and get creative,” she said in a tone that suggested I better not start complaining.

“After you perfect the basic moves, you already know and have them become second nature. Like how you coated your fist when you hit Grigor.”

“That was after speaking to Darkness about letting the Neuma flow. What Natom told us is making less and less sense the more I learn and understand, and we both need to practice. Here, let me see if I can show you what I mean.”

Sania’s face turned serious. “No Clive. We must focus on you. It is you who must defeat him after all.”

“Is it?” I asked with a wry grin. “Seen as you're stuck with me, and you die when I die, I kinda figured that we’d fight him together. Surely two Neuma masters are better than one and that could well be the key to defeating him.”

A wide grin spread across her face. “You could be right. Teach me everything you know this instant and then we will develop together more quickly.”

“Of course dear.” I started talking her through the process of just letting the Neuma flow out from her core through her meridians. It took over half an hour, but to my utter joy she nailed it. Then panicked just as I had when she couldn’t stop the flow.

“If you let it all run out, you will die. So will Grigor and me.”

My words brought about the sudden cessation of the flow, and it began to reverse at speed.

“Amazing! I will try again and this time you practice with me.”

I agreed and we spent an hour practicing letting the Neuma flow out of our meridians and return.

“Have you tried to fly with your Meridians using this method yet?” She asked.

“Not yet. Though I will once we’ve developed using it in this way to produce the more basic results.”

“Do it now. And if it works, show me,” she demanded.

I grinned at her, feeling my determination to improve grow ever stronger when fueled by hers. It lent an extra urgency to everything when working with Sania. Especially knowing I could lose her if we didn’t nail this.

Pointed down at the ground with my right meridian, I let the power flow and essentially asked it to lift me up. I’d only done this through my core previously, so I was unsure what to expect. Yet the meridian did exactly as I imagined as I shot into the air with far more force than I expected.

It was an unbalanced flight and I quickly let go of the power to drop back to the ground.

“It works well, but very unbalanced using only one meridian. For the initial lift, I’d have to push with both I think.”

“So, what exactly did you do?”

“Honestly, I just let the Neuma flow out, not overly fast. The flow was probably a couple of inches wide if that makes any sense. The kind of asked it, or willed it to lift me upwards.”

“I will try,” she said, her face a picture of determination. A moment later, she lifted from the ground like an out-of-control rocket and smashed into the nearby rock face with a hell of an impact. Fear swelled from the image, the sound, and the sudden silence of her emotions through her bond.

Racing over to where she lay, I found her unconscious, with a large split across her forehead from the force of the landing. Considering her Constitution was at 60, it was some impact.

“Sania!” I said desperately, wondering if I could heal her in any way.

Her eyes slowly opened. It took a moment for her to focus, then a face splitting grin appeared.

“I flew! I actually flew Clive!”

“You damn near gave me a heart attack,” I muttered as I helped the crazy Wultr back to her feet. “Your head is badly bleeding, too. You might have concussion. You should rest.”

“It’s just a graze, Clive. You can even see my identifier. Do I have concussion?”

“Well, no you don’t actually,”

“Good let’s go again.”

I shook my head despairingly. “No Sania, your head is still bleeding.”

“I can clean up later, I’m fine.”

“I disagree. This is the perfect opportunity to practice the Self Repair Skill, and until that head is properly healed, I am not training any further. Your wellbeing matters and learning this will dramatically increase your survivability.

“Huh, actually I wouldn’t mind learning that now. Come on Clive, hurry up and teach me. We have so much to learn!”

I laughed at her, before explaining what I did to heal myself. She didn’t need to hear it really, and in a few minutes her wound closed up and her eyes glazed over.

She quickly regained focus and grinned wide. “Self-Repair now in the Skill set. And the five hundred bonus points that went with the epic skill aren’t to be sniffed at. Now come on! Let’s fly.”

She didn’t wait for me to respond, immediately focusing on flight again. “Make sure you use both hands this time,” I said, before doing the same.

“That’s what I’m going to do,” she said with a surprising amount of impatience for Sania, at least.

I didn’t respond, this time launching myself up into the air with both meridians. It worked far better, and I was able to hover where I was. Without the use of my core, I couldn’t actually move anywhere. I was surprised when Sania managed to come up level with me. She grinned as she reached me, wobbled, then fell back down the twenty feet distance.

I let myself drop to the ground next to her.

“That was really good Sania. As soon as you get the flight skill, it’ll be so much easier, because you get an increase in control of your Neuma.”

“Then I will do it immediately. She sent herself back up into the air, at a wild angle. I watched her with my heart in my mouth. Before following with a mighty push from my core. I saw when she caught her flight, though I didn’t know how she managed it without using her core, which she still hadn’t managed to achieve. I maintained my own flight using the power from my meridians until Sania began to descend quickly. She jerked to an uncomfortable looking stop about ten feet from the ground before dropping the rest of the way. As I landed beside her, I saw her eyes had glazed over.

I couldn’t help but be proud of her. She’d gained the flight skill far quicker than I had. Her level had ticked up to Level 42 as well. Once she’d finished with her notifications, she dove into my arms and kissed me long and passionately.

“Thank you, my Soul Mate. I have invested in equally in Constitution and Internal Connection.

Level 42

Sania

Physical statistics:

Strength: 51

The capacity to exert and resist force.

Dexterity: 18

Skill and ease in hand-based activity.

Agility: 52

How effectively the body can move into a range of different positions.

Speed: 70

Rate at which the body can move.

Stamina: 70

Period at which body can effectively sustain prolonged activity.

Constitution: 66

The ability to withstand physical punishment.

Mental Statistics:

Intelligence: 11

Knowledge and its application.

Charisma: 12

Charm, coerce, inspiration.

Perception:62

Awareness of surroundings

Spiritual Statistics:

Ethereal Awareness: 1

Attunement with the Gods and spirits of Gulithea. (Necessary for Ethereally supplied magical ability.)

Internal Connection: 26

Attunement with oneself. (Necessary for cultivation of one’s own inner power)

World sense: 3.4%

Knowledge of Gulithea.

Experience Points to next level 80/2150

Good choices,” I agreed. That + 2 to Neuma Control is gonna really help. Shall we go again?”

“Definitely. We need to increase our flight skill level as much as possible.”

“I wanted to ask. How the hell did you maintain the flight if you didn’t use your core?”

“What do you mean? My meridians were more than capable.”

“But you used both of them to get you into the air.”

“I used the meridians ending in my feet for the initial push, then those in my hands to maintain, followed by my legs again. I used my arms to slow my descent, and that was an unpleasant sensation. Next time I will use my feet.”

I face palmed.

“What’s wrong Clive?”

“I’ve never tried yet to use the meridians in my legs,” I replied shamefacedly. I was so busy with the core and my arm ones that I just never even thought about using them.”

“Then perhaps it’s time to start,” She grinned. “We’ll need all of the tools available to us.”

I tried again using the initial burst of power from my feet launching into the air at an angle. Then propelled myself forward. I quickly devised a method of using the Neuma limbs in unison and the flight came more easily than it ever had before. For the first time I wasn’t in just a controlled descent that I’d have to intermittently boost from my core. I was actually flying, and I felt I could stay up here forever. I flew in an irregular circle around where Sania and I were training and saw her fledgling flights improving with each attempt. Angling myself down to where she moved through the air and even managed to alter my direction to move unsteadily closer. I didn’t dare to get too close in case I lost control and collided into her.

When she lost altitude, I landed on the ground to stand with her, a notification popping up.

I’d moved up two whole levels in flight to level three and received a + 6 increase to Neuma control when flying.

“This’s turned out to be a very good decision, Sania. I’ve just increased in flight level!” I said excitedly. “It’s getting dark now. Should we return?”

She caught my gaze with a fiery intensity. “When I can fly back into Far Reach with you, we will return. And not before.”

“I love the attitude,” I laughed. “Natom doesn’t stand a damn chance with you at my side.”

An hour later, she let out a little roar of anger as she dropped from the air. I guessed before she told me, but she’d hit Neuma Fatigue. Her eyes glazed over once again, and she let a small smile touch her face. “I got flight Level 2. I just can’t fly back anymore.”

“But you could fly back if you weren’t exhausted and that’s the point!”

She seemed satisfied with that, and we set off on foot back to Far Reach. “No one would see us return, in this light, anyway. We’ll fly out to train tomorrow morning when everyone can see us. It’ll raise morale.”