Excerpt from General Yrkzhext’s “Peace By Force.”

“I am often approached by new soldiers who say unto me, ‘Great General, you who have survived countless battles, how may I be as great as you?’ My answer is the same: by casting aside your spears and slings, you may become peaceful—if you are peaceful, you may find greatness. If, by misfortune or foolishness you persist on the path of strife, I grant this piece of advice: Do not forget that your foe is just as clever, as eager, as persistent as you—perhaps more so. If you wish to kill, then you must be prepared that others will seek your death. In peace, we foster peace, but if death comes for you, you must be ready to give it in turn.”

Yenna held no illusions about her own speed being sufficient, and opted to follow the rest of the group in climbing aboard Chime’s back. Without the platforms and baggage to restrict them the silupker was rather more nimble, but more difficult to board. While there were some kesh who could pit the edges of their hooves into the tiniest crags in a cliff-face and climb it like it were a set of stairs, Yenna did not count herself among their ranks. Fortunately, the earthenware surface was quite rough, and even the fair kesh’s hooves found purchase—though with some shaky uncertainty.

Once all of them had clambered up, Chime began to run. At first it seemed Yenna’s fears had been unfounded, the road before them clear as Chime did their best to turn around. Within a few moments, the beast-march was upon them. More of those colourful birds dropped from the sky, zipping down to peck and scratch. Narasanha held on to Chime’s back with one arm while the other three swung expertly to cut the diving beasts down before they could cause any harm. Eone similarly swung her scimitar, though Yenna was hesitant to fire off magical attacks at the birds filled with chaotic energy.

As Chime barreled down the street, a pack of beasts charged forth to block them. Several more deep-red wolves formed a line, and sprayed their deadly blasts of steam with the coordination of a rank of trained archers. Yenna didn’t have the time or ability to produce a steam-warding field that would protect all of them, and went for a simpler solution—with an emphatic wave of her hand, she conjured a blast of air that sent the steam back at the wolves. As before, Yenna underestimated the power of the witchcraft-infused spell—though the redirected steam wasn’t an issue for the wolves, the gale knocked a number of them off their feet. Chime changed direction to avoid them, Yenna nearly tumbling off as the silupker’s body tilted to use a wall to assist in the sharp turn. Eone’s steady hand reached out and caught Yenna around the waist, giving her enough support to get her footing back.

The beasts seemed largely unwilling to pursue them out of town, even the birds breaking off their attack. The intelligence in it worried Yenna—especially the level of coordination.

“If I had to make a guess,” Eone looked back at them once they were clear of the gates, “I would say they’re trying to avoid overextending. They might believe we’re trying to lure them into an ambush of sorts.”

“Actually, I think they might not be able to go much further than the city’s edge.” Yenna straightened her hat, looking up at the birds wheeling around the walls—their glares and distorted screeches sent shivers up her spine.

“Why not?” Narasanha kept an eye on them too, pulling a sling and a handful of bullets from a pouch.

“I believe the water elemental is controlling them in some way. Its influence can only extend so far, possibly a little further than the walls, and its wary of the beasts shaking loose of their reins. Even for magical beasts, these creatures are far too clever and coordinated.” Yenna held up one of the crystals that had come out of the beasts. “It’s feeding them some of its own water to control them. …And the townsfolk too, I believe.”

“What?!” Eone’s face fell. She thought for a moment, then seemed to come to a conclusion. “Then, we gotta hurry! There may be a chance to save them!”

“But they could be too far gone–”

“No buts, Yenna! If there’s a chance, we have to take it.” Eone silenced any rebuttal by turning back to concentrate on the road ahead—Chime was more than capable of guiding themself, but two eyes were better than one.

They were thankfully left alone for the short trip around the town’s perimeter. Snarling, howling, screeching beasts eyed them as they made their way around, and there was no doubt that the elemental was preparing to meet them in battle. Deciding not to press their luck, the group decided to head to a point slightly further upstream than they had intended for fear of being interrupted.

“You’re up, Yenna.” Eone gave her a pat on the shoulder as Chime slowed to a halt alongside the stream. It wasn’t particularly deep, shallow enough for Yenna to stand in it and only get the bottom of her robes wet, but it was quite fast. There was also a hint of magic in it—the elemental’s influence spread upstream as well as down, though it was too weak to stop them.

Standing in the middle of the stream, Yenna prepared her spells to block the flow. The first was a temporary measure that would cause the water to part—it was too inefficient for Yenna to maintain for a long time, but she didn’t need it to stay active for long. The second spell was to inscribe a greater spell circle in the stream’s bed that would act to dam it up temporarily. As Yenna stood with arms outstretched, holding the flowing waters out of the way, the circle began to appear as though drawn by countless unseen hands.

“So, what exactly is this meant to do?” Not getting a response, Eone waved a hand at the mage. “Yenna? Hello?”

“I’m… concentrating.” There was an uncharacteristic edge to her voice—Yenna was functionally casting two spells at once while drawing a third¹, and her mental resources did not have excess to spare for a conversation, let alone an explanation. The captain knew enough to leave her alone, and simply awaited the results.

After a tense wait, with the unoccupied trio of Eone, Narasanha and Chime keeping an eye out for beasts, Yenna finished her spell. There was an earth-shaking thud as the spell circle—and the earth it was drawn on—suddenly dropped several metres. A massive pit now acted as a reservoir, and the displaced earth shot up to form a wide barrier around the stream. The water began to trickle into the hole as the water redirecting spell was dropped, and it became clear what their time limit would be.

“The hole will catch some of the water, and the wall will act as a dam—there may be some flooding around here, unfortunately. But, if the spell holding this earth in place fails, or the stream overflows, we’ll suddenly have a lot more trouble with the elemental.” Yenna quickly hopped onto Chime’s back, and the rest did the same. They all looked as the water already in the stream seemed to dry up, the flowing water escaping without anything else behind it.

“Alright. We’ve gotta move fast—Mysilia, tell the crew what we’re doing, and to get out of here if things go poorly.” Eone pulled the miniscule mereu out from a pouch—Mysilia didn’t seem to have any objections to being tucked into pockets at least. With a nod, she straightened out her dress and flew into the air. With that sorted, Chime began to charge down the stream.

“Narasanha, I’ll need your axe.” Yenna did her best to steady herself, taking the weapon from the bodyguard. Having already had time to think of the best spell for the job, Yenna only had to inscribe it—weaving a relatively simple enchantment, she bolstered the spell as best she could. The axe-head took on a dull red glow as though it had been heated in a fire.

Taking it back, Narasanha gave it a few practice swings. “Doesn’t feel any different. What did you do?”

“I’ve made it able to harm the elemental. It– Look out!” Yenna pointed a finger ahead of them, and all eyes turned to the horde of beasts that were barreling their way. All four of them began to do their best to break through the lines. Narasanha tucked away her newly enchanted axe and used her sling instead, loading and slinging lead bullets at the incoming birds with alarming accuracy and speed. Chime was content to take a more direct approach—if a beast was in their path, they charged right through it. The silupker’s enormous weight and speed smashed beasts aside, and Eone’s blade was there to slice through any creature bold enough to try and leap up over Chime’s charging head.

Yenna felt rather useless in all this. Her gusts of Joy-empowered wind seemed to be losing their strength, barely buffeting the increasing hordes of foes. Changing tactics, Yenna let loose bolts of Pride-filled lightning, trying her best to picture all the things she was proud of. Conflicting feelings were starting to rear their head within her—doubts about her usefulness in battle, worries about the foe they raced forward to take on, fears for the future. With all this weighing on her mind, Yenna attempted to let loose a bolt of lightning, only for a thin, powerless arc to end up completely off-target. She tried another, and another—the bolts just wouldn’t obey her, and the one beast she managed to hit was barely bothered. Yenna couldn’t help but growl in frustration.

Trampling through the chaotic melee of beasts didn’t take all that long. The town wasn’t particularly large, and its centre was a straight shot down the emptying stream. Within a minute of them charging down the dry stream bed, they had the town centre in sight. The water elemental’s impassive, sphere-like appearance was marred by turbulent waves surging around its surface, and Yenna got the distinct impression it was staring at them with all the ferocity and bale it could muster.

As Chime entered the open plaza at the centre of town, they let themselves slide to a halt, and swung their rear segments around like a massive flail, crushing several more beasts. The silupker spoke in chimes, and Eone nodded, gesturing for everyone to get off—Chime needed to be totally unburdened to fight at full potential. Rearing up like some kind of horrifically large snake, their serene expression belied their willingness to fight.

The trio disembarked, and a kind of stand-off began. For every beast who came too close, Narasanha or Eone would swing a weapon and send it scurrying, or worse. However, the number of beasts was growing as the elemental recalled its minions to its side—time was not with them. Despite that, the thought remained in the back of their minds—the elemental was a sentient being. There remained the chance to end this peacefully, without risking the townsfolk—or their own lives.

“Elemental!” The captain looked up at the floating orb of water, “We don’t want to fight you! Leave these people be, and take these beasts elsewhere!”

For a moment, all that could be heard was the growling of beasts, and the lapping of waves on the elemental’s surface. It suddenly extended a tendril towards the crowd of townsfolk nearby, and ushered one forth. There were a few dozen people standing idly by, as though they had sleepwalked into the court and decided to stand there. All of them bore signs of struggle—tattered clothes, scratches and cuts, though none with particularly serious injuries.

The person ushered forward was a young yolm man in a fine outfit, his horn wrapping up and along one side of his head. His eyes glowed a gentle blue, and when he spoke, it sounded like the ocean waves.

“Flesh. Fearful. Beasts. Gathering.” The man spoke emphatically, and Yenna pulled up her magical sight spell to observe more closely—he was being directly puppeteered by the elemental. “Gathering. Gathering. Strong. Flesh. Glowing. Power. Take. Take. Strong. Fearless. Safe. Gathering.”

Eone cursed under her breath. “We should have brought Demvya … Elemental, I’m not sure I understand. You gathered these beasts, but why? To take something from the people?”

“Flesh. Power. Take. Gather. Safe. Fearless.” The man echoed the same sentiment, and the rumbling waves on the elemental’s surface were starting to lose their speed. Yenna sensed its frustration at being unable to explain—in fact, she realised she could sense a lot of feelings from it, the more she tried. The elemental feared something outside, coveted something else that the people of the town had. It believed that what it was doing would make it powerful. It was also in a bit of pain—the lack of water was starting to harm it.

“What do you fear?” Yenna stepped in, trying to open her mind to the elemental’s feelings. A sudden pain in her head nearly caused her legs to give out as those feelings rushed in.

I am the rain, the mist, the stream, the droplets of dew and the water within and without. I am everywhere, and I am one. A stream beyond water flows through me, and I know. I think. I live. But the waters dry, so I must coalesce or lose my life. I exist to exist, but others wish it otherwise. Forces beyond me seek the stream beyond water that flows through me. They take with such power. I need power to resist power. I look across the dry, and see creatures that glow. I will fill them with my water, so I am they, and those creatures shall give their glow and power to me. I take it, as others wish to take. I must exist. I must take.

Yenna’s mind swirled with thoughts not her own, and she fought to remain standing. She understood this creature now—it felt threatened, and determined the best way to remain alive was to steal power from others. Yenna wasn’t entirely clear on the nature of this ‘glow’, but it was probable the elemental meant to take their souls by forcible worship. It did not have any sense of morality—in its mind, there was a way it could defeat that which threatened it, and taking it would be simple. The creature was intelligent, resourceful and, above all else, entirely willing to do whatever it took to become powerful.

“We can’t reason with it.” Yenna didn’t mean to say it aloud, but she did. A shiver ran down her spine as she realised that they would have to fight it. The last thing Yenna wanted to do was kill it, but at the very least they couldn’t let it continue what it was doing. “We have to stop it.”

Eone looked back at Yenna, concern clear on her face. The man being puppeted by the elemental took on a furious expression, and the beasts surrounding them began to raise a cacophony of angered noises.

“Flesh. Weak. Take. Water. Strong. Take.” The man’s voice raged like pouring rain, a deafeningly loud whisper, and he swung a clumsy punch forward at Eone. She effortlessly ducked out of the way, preparing her sword to take on beasts, only to be smacked by a liquid tendril—the punch had been a feint. The blow sent the captain sprawling onto the ground, and both Yenna and Narasanha shouted in surprise. Eone seemed to be out cold, or worse—several beasts began to close on her, and she wasn’t moving.

An unpleasant, unusual feeling rose within Yenna. Time slowed to a halt as her mind kicked into overdrive to process this. A cold, analytical section of her mind informed her that she was feeling anger, but that feeling burned within her stronger than she could control. The rage felt almost unjustified to that rational part of her brain. She couldn’t blame the elemental for lashing out, but she still hated what it had done. Eone looked impossibly fragile on the ground there, and part of her screamed that the creature had killed the captain.

In her slow-motion view of the world, so much had started to happen at once. The elemental reached out tendrils to grab at the townsfolk and attack the rest of the group. Narasanha had begun to bellow, running for the orb of water with her axe in hand. Chime maneuvered to protect Eone’s corpse– her unconscious form, Yenna corrected herself. The mage could feel herself stuck still, her face contorted in anger, and a heat beginning to surround her. As the world began to move at its regular pace, a wrathful scream filled the air as Yenna shouted. Wordless emotion burst forth as Yenna was wreathed in dark flames.

¹ - Yenna paints this as an impressive feat in her journal, and it was for the time. Strides in spellcasting techniques (admittedly, many of them possible due to Yenna’s discoveries) have made such simultaneous castings practically par for the course.