Sachihiro

‘’Everyone back home now!’’ Ma’s sending comes like a spike in my spine, that tone can only mean trouble. Something is wrong, something serious.

‘’You all hear that, we fast track back home now,’’ Ava sends and we turn around. No longer second last in line I’m now second as we double-time it back the way we came. Already there has been some regrowth on the trail we made through the dense foilage.

‘’The Tribes have fallen,’’ ma says without preamble.

Everyone already knows it must be bad out there with the little we’ve experienced. We’ve been mostly ignoring the things happening in the world as we’ve huddled into these little isles away from others. For ma to outright say this to us shit must have hit the fan and splattered on everything.

‘’How bad is it?’’ Aunt Helen asks scowling in distaste.

‘’Bad, the Nine Sidhe are on the move fighting,’’ her eyes are cloudy, her gaze distant as she focuses on the crystal in her lap. ‘’Paradisium has fallen.’’

A shock runs through me at the news, a shock runs through everyone judging by the gasps and the auras. If the sidhe are fighting but we still lost Paradisium shit must be real.

‘’How big is the enemy force?’’ Onimore stops tapping his foot to ask with an intense gaze.

‘’It is not an army, I can’t spot any of the beings they’re fighting. There are so many dead. So many dying...’’

‘’We have to go help them!’’ Nikita says standing looking at everyone as her mother Ingwe grabs her hand trying to pull her back down.

‘’If the sidhe are being pushed back there is nothing we could do,’’ da sounds so old as the words leave his mouth. So tired, the vacant look in his eyes one of loss and regret, ''their power and reach are not something we could stnd against let alone a force that can take Paradisium from them.''

Ava stands, grinning viciously at everyone before brandishing her poleaxe logging it into the floor, ‘’we are Barbarians. Since when have we run from a fight?’’

‘’The offworlders have set up some sort of grand working, I don’t think our home will survive this,’’ ma’s voice is strained from effort. The crystal drinking her mana like a dry sponge drinking water. Tears roll down her cheeks in a continuous flow, her anguished outrage from whatever she’s seeing leaking out to infect everyone present.

I send a pulse of Spirit-Aura cleansing everyone within my awareness of the negative deluge of emotions; okay, I didn’t know I could do that but it came naturally. Their eyes light up, they sit straighter, the fear and despair leaving them eliciting a sad smile from my weeping mother.

Da shakes his head sadly, smiling a little smile at my youngest brother in his arms. Sighing, ‘’Ava, Mira, Cicilia, Selah ’’ he stops the women as they ready themselves for battle. ‘’I am old by the measure of my people, I consider myself an elder here even though My-Dream is the chosen leader to preside over this isle. My words must be weighed more heavily in your minds than they currently are, we cannot fight against foes stronger than the sidhe I say.’’

There is a silence, a heavy silence as they pause in their arming. A silence ‘caused by the sharp gaze the old man suddenly has focused on Ava and Mira the two most likely to challenge his word unthinkingly. I perceive his aura sharp on those two and feel their own auras blazing in defience. Da's aura cuts through my awareness/domain to pierce at Ava and Mira, I could snuff it out if I wanted to I realise as I analyse the exchange. It just dawned on me how much stronger than da I might actually be 'cause he seems to be serious with the aura.

Da doesn’t usually exert himself on others this way, this is out of character for him.

‘’Easy for you to say, you have all your family here, safe while my family battles without me out there. Battles for our home!’’ Selah shouts brandishing twin swords that reflect the light as they ring from their sheathes.

‘’That is my home too, my blood also boils for battle, my sons Daewan and Sirgur are out there without me but here I am protecting the remnant of what I have. After everything we’ve been through and everything we’ve seen we’ve found a bit of succour. The little ones have a place to call home in which to grow in relative safety, I will not jeopardise their futures now!’’ He looks at all us in the face with a helpless desperation I have never before seen in his eyes.

‘’Our home is lost to us, we have to build a new one here,’’ he says gazing at everyone until the silence settles.

Getting up slowly, he looks around the uniquely designed longhouse, jumping to the second floor he vaults himself through the beams leaving the range of my awareness to sit by the little ones sleeping peacefully as only children can. Placing little Shiro with the sleepy little ones.

We look at each other, weapons checked and double checked. Armour being collected and put on.

‘’Everything is dying,’’ ma whispers through the silence with a horror that sends a shiver down my spine.

‘’I can’t stand here and do nothing, can you?’’ Ava asks looks at me, looks at Gaia, looks at Onimore at Sema at Helen, at the dwarves Esuas and Toma before looking again at me. ‘’We can put those library portals to some good use and get ourselves to the Tundra in a step.’’

‘’The library has no portal mirrors set in the Tundra,’’ Nikita points out holding her library orb glowing against her chest as though a shield.

‘’No, but the Conclave might have a way to get some mirrors there. They’ve also been heavily using the library setting up new branches creating a teleportation network,’’ John says surprising me with that piece of information. How deeply involved is the Conclave with the Library?

‘’Our strength of arm may not be able to make a difference but we could certainly help get people out of there,’’ I find myself saying.

‘’We need to hurry, the land is dying, everything is dying,’’ I catch ma with a grasp of awareness as she slumps to the side.

Da is there in an instant carrying her gently in his arms, he gaze at her tired face as her lids flutter with fatigue. ‘’An evacuation strategy sounds much more feasible in these circumstances than an all out assault,’’ he says with a nod to the room.

‘’I’m fine,’’ ma says drinking a mana recovery potion. Wiping sweat and tears she shivers, then looks sadly at da taking his face in her palm.

‘’From what I have seen helping the survivors evacuate is all we can hope for Selah, Ava. Let us prepare to receive some of the wounded.’’

Da grants getting up from where he was holding ma close, ‘’Ava, Onimore, Gaia we’re going to be the breach head that goes in.’’

‘’My Dream, how are we entering the Tundra from here in so short a time?’’

‘’Between Sachi’s sorcery, the Library organisation and the Conclave there must be a way.’’ Divina sends.

Out loud, ‘’Michael, Max take Erabus and Sway and secure our section of the Isle from the undine council, they won’t like what we’re about to do. Make sure they can't interfere.’’

‘’John, Aurora, Toma, Amanda, Isis, Dishna, Sachihiro come huddle,’’ Divina sends gathering them about her. ‘’Soal, go lurk around the council residence and asses the general sentiment when I inform them what’s happening.

‘’Sachi I know you want to plan the defence with the boys there but I need you Mirabis and Aurora to go talk to the Conclave about helping with this. Remind them we are good friends to have, remind them we’re all in this together.’’

‘’How quickly can we have shelters put up?’’

John immediately answers, recounting the quickest designs with the materials readily available on the isle.

''John get your Second to organise manpower for you while you monitor and keep updating the situation on shelter construction. Esuas, grab some of the older kids and get food going while we construct shelter around the portal. Isis, Nikita, Didi we’re probably going to have a lot of injured people so prepare to care for them.’’

‘’Yes, I’ll do what I can with the herbs here and other supplies,’’ Isis sighs. ‘’Nikita showed me the bandage supplies.’’

‘’We have a lot of Rock-leaf and ullfrog-mud for wounds and bleeding,’’ Nikita sends from the supply closet. ‘’But only enough bandages for maybe 20 people.’’

‘’Everything is fully stocked Isle President,’’ Divina’s assistant sends back to her from the main village. ‘’Is there anything I need to know ma’am?’’ He enquires, I've only briefly met the half Undine man but he seems competent and loyal to ma.

‘’Inform the councillors we’ll be receiving refugees shortly in large numbers and will be mobilising the people to help,’’ ma informs him.

There is silence, but everyone is already on task.

‘’Isle President, Councillor Bay insists I strongly remind you we are safe only as long as we are isolated from the rest of the world. To accept unknwown refugees is a compromisation of that isolation and safety,'' there is no surprise there but no-one stops their preparations. ''The Councillors all take the stance of Councillor Bay and object to accepting refugees.’’

‘’Okay scrap working with your Second John we have no manpower. How quickly can we clear an area for shelter construction large enough to house a thousand injured people?’’

‘’Dewan I need you to help me make a fire bomb to clear some space on the forest floor,’’ John says turning to Divina, ‘’where best to do this?’’

A crude map is rolled open on the floor at their feet, ‘’this area would be best. It’s mostly level ground, more stoney.’’

‘’But it’s too far from the portal circle up the hill there, the most ambulatory people we find can go there while the injured we make provisions for here,’’ Sema points at a spot on the map closer to the summoning circle portal.

‘’The undines are mobilising themselves to oppose any opening of this isle to outsiders,’’ Soal sends to the group.

‘’Lets get the kids to the caves just in case, Saya, Keira, Ursula you’ll watch over them.’’ She brandishes her weapons threateningly as the others bundle and hustle the little ones off.

Divina scowls, everyone is readying their weapons armour, supplies, aid equipment, drawing up plans, assessing the ground to be cleared and negotiating with the Library through orbs on getting supplies and a trade agreement that will eventually cover the cost of the entire endeavour if all goes according to plan. Michael looks conflicted having worked hard to get these people united enough to survive all they’ve survived to get here.

‘’How about we move our operations to the other isle, the one we’ve marked but haven't actually claimed as ours,’’ he suggests through sending. ‘’I know this is urgent but I don’t want to create a division on this isle between us and the undine if it can be helped.’’

‘’I support that idea, this isn’t just our isle and going against the undine and the council so early in our establishing will set a bad precedent. If it becomes them vs us again we won’t survive long here.’’ Esuas sends grumpily.

‘’Reality is we’ve only claimed that isle by name, we have no idea what calls that place home and we haven’t the time to get there and explore the place and secure a perimeter. We need to start moving now,’’ Damage says shaking his head.

Every gaze is heavy; having been through so much together just to get here no one wants there to be disagreement between the van Damage and Undine groups. For sure Bath, Bay and the rest of the leaders will be threatened by this. It will change the dynamic of power which had already completely shifted with Sachi’s arrival allowing communication with the outside world again. An advantage Divina quickly used to become Isle Chief and take control of decision-making.

‘’I do not want there to be internal disagreements within the isle so we kill no one if it can be avoided, but do not let your edges be dulled too much, this is life or death,’’ Damage says stoking everyone's conviction.

‘’What if we fly over to the isle?’’ Everyone has been speaking through sending so they could work while planning. Everyone is multi-tasking in a rush of organised chaos.

Keira, Saya, Ursula and some of the others hustle the kids into the forest shelter in the black stone caves. Om’s mates organising supplies; Ingwe, Thandeka, Amanda setting a loose perimeter between the main village and their home longhouse.

‘’Coming from above should also make it easier to scout for danger and find the right type of place quickly.’’

‘’You have a means of allowing people flight?’’

‘’I have a few flying shields in a rest-stop I set up, we could fly over and do a summoning sigil portal there like the one here. I can use that to open a doorway between here and the Tundra.’’

‘’What do you need?’’

‘’Katya’ll use the Library to get to my safe-house for the flying shields, I'll have everything I need to complete the sigils but I need to have an identical sigil drawn in the Tundra creating an anchor point. I’m hoping the Conclave can get me to the Tundra post hast but if they can’t I’m deep divining into the spirit-realm.’’

‘’Your brother, use your brother as an anchor.’’

‘’Of course, Daewon.’’ Sachihiro nods.

‘’Go, we’ll guard the sigil-portal, find your brother and open the way for him. Find both your brothers.’’

Sachihiro nods to Divina, and closes his eyes burning up his spiritual-energy connecting deeply with his spirit-self before disappearing with a fragmentation of matter.

###

*

Sachihiro appears in a burst of golden colour to those with spiritual eyes to see, dodging a projectile he lashes out throwing a dwarven fragmentation grenade. More projectiles whip at him fast driving him backwards dodging and jumping only for invisible threads to suddenly wrap around his torso from nowhere.

A trap, he realises a bit too late still disoriented from the spiritual transition yet he reacts immediately to all threats cutting the invisible threads holding him fast with his Intent.

Landing on solid ground he’s immediately blown back disoriented by a burst of energy that disrupts his physical connection with the spirit realm. The portal back winks out causing whiplash that burns across his torso like an acid spill.

*Presence.

Gritting my teeth, I still have full connection to my spirit-body.

He pulls spirit directly through his spirit-body, Spirit Oppression blankets everything within his awareness in an enfolding shroud of his dominating presence.

Something shrieks and shivers appearing in his awareness as a dark thick haze of desert heat, I didn’t think anything could hide from me within my sphere of awareness. Careless.

Using spirit bound material to shape a portal-sigil in his palm Sachihiro opens a co-responding portal within his spirit-body in the spirit-realm that translates into a wet spot under the now stunned dark-heat-haze within his awareness. The creature is locked onto and falls through the portal, appearing in front of Sachihiro with its throat gripped in his metal-tipped fingers.

[PHhh-Tlaaa], he rips its throat open even as a blade lodges into his forearm from above. Volvox's cloacking disappears as Sachihiro kicks him away, Volvox's hand on his throat staunching the bleeding with impotent rage colouring his gaze. He lands in a crouch eyes dark as he grins with bloodlust, his wound heals closed even as he rushes forward with blade held wide.

‘’Volvox stop,’’ the words are pained, tired.

*Presence.

‘’Daewon!’’ I shout sending a pulse of my spirit out, coming out plank as to where in the hells I heard my brother. Still watching the feral-looking Volvox retreat and disappear I send another pulse of spirit this time the little crack in space is apparent to me.

‘’Hurry!’’ my brother coughs, I enter the crack as chilling blackness that deposits me in a cave with a pond surrounded by roots. This is that dungeon of his.

‘’Daewon,’’ I jump to my brother cradling him in my arm. ‘’What the fuck are you still doing here?’’ everything even the air itself is crumbling like children playthings that was never meant to be permanent. A disturbing wrongness crawling across my back with increasing discomfort as I pour a healing potion over the pulsating masses across my brother's torso.

Volvox suddenly appears again trying to push me from my brother. I slap his reaching hand away with my own now encased in metal, using Afterimage to boost speed and power I throw a Phthartic empowered backhand that sends him flying with a shattered face across the cave.

‘’Sshhh..., [Hhg-Ahh],'' Daewon hiccups acidic fluids. ‘’Sachi you were always too hasty,’’ Daewon groans in pain before gaining control enough to speak again. ‘’Volvox is just trying to... protect me.’’

Sachihiro pours a healing potion, mana potion and stamina potion down Daewon’s throat eliciting a pained epileptic gasp. He’s startled by the reaction but suppresses fear into anger as he assesses his brother’s condition more carefully.

‘’No one protects you from me, come on we’re getting out of here,’’ Sachihiro says attempting to lift his brother..

‘’Stop Sachi, listen to me.’’

*

There is a rush through every portal of escape that leaves the vast landmass affected by the life-draining spell formation array. Many being thorn to pieces by the crowds of creatures big and small stampeding in chaotic fear. As soon as a portal of escape opens it’s any pultry breeze of life that may be a possible escape from the life-draining formation call the masses for kilometres around.

From every direction anywhere there is a gap people, insects and every ambulatory life form still able rushes madly for possible escape. Maori chieftains throw themselves off the Ma’Hawi cliffs in hope of passing through the water to the Underdark; elements, spirits and ghosts flee through ethereal means. Every open portal, gate and untouched land gets swarmed as every living being within the vicinity rushes for it in primal fear written into the blood memory of all living beings.

Primal fear induced by survival instincts older that the humanoid form.

The Bantu-jin formation sucks the life out of everything within its bounds; from the rements of the Undine Isles broken by storms or sunk to the depths of the frozen sea halfway to the polar regions hallway across the northern ocean. A formation spanning from the shores of Elven Reach across unnamed virgin forests to the Titan Mountain Range and beyond, encampasing all of Sandoria and the waters around it.

[WWWWHHhhhh], a whirling vacuum of static breaks everything apart at a visible pace eliciting a cacophony of tortured screams from the most sensitive.

The Bantu-jin array sucks vitality from all within its bounds. Depositing that appropriated life at the centre where sits two Bantu-jin elders absorbing and cycling everything thye can manage of the energies being funnelled at them by the formation array. Monters of the 6th Continet of cultivation, the ancient backbones of the Family Moya cackle with echoing glee as they reap.

A continental cylone of stolen vitality spirals into a whirling rainbow of thundering colour visible from space.

One of the Bantu-jin 5th Continents in the 2nd ring explodes in a cascade of fuming energy and colour that mutates growth. Energy flows unabated through the spell formation, the slack taken by the head of the Moya Family. Screaming violently at the added pressure through him he buckles, his [Body of a Titan] cracking at the seams with vitality threatening to burst.

He endures from the 3rd ring, elevating his Core to bursting with every cycle through it. Straining against the life energies elevating both his {True-Body} and his Core whilst tipping him towards oblivion.

‘’I know you want to ascend but don’t kill yourself doing so my friend,’’ Kolisa communicates under strain enduring the rich life chi from the 4th ring of the formation kilometre further.

Straining himself to the risk of cracking his Core to cycle once, twice, thrice, qutro more; Moyisi releases the extra energy to others who buckle but quickly stabalise under the strain of vitality tunnelled by the Life Drain Spell Formation. The Family Head and his friend share a look of unease as Mthungwa and Tshibase the two powerhouses woken for this event cackle with mad glee at the life energy cycling through their 6th Continent Cores with apparent ease.

‘’What have we done waking those Monsters from slumber,’’ Moyisi communicates to his friend who’s heart stabs with fear. ‘’What have we done making them stronger?’’

‘’Never even think such a thought! Are you mad, they’re right there!’’ Kolisa says indicating the centre of the Life Force Cultivation Spell Array at the centre of the small territory. The head of Moya family watches with unease where the two Patriaches madly cycle all they can.

*

Thousands of kilometres away across territories towards the east of the continent the remnant of the Ancients of the land watch helplessly as their home turns to ash around them. They watch some of their number continuously ramming their power against the energy fields surrounding the deep piercing stokes piercing into the sky. They watch with horror and helplessness that comes from being completely overwhelmed in a matter of days. How could they have stood against such overwhelming might?

‘’Our world dies while the Bantu-jin get stronger,’’ The Night Owl mourns the wasting away of its territories. The youngest, weakest of the Owl-dreed wasting away before its eyes. There world is ending. There world it has been known is completely at an end.

Not knowing what to do or where to run riotes break out with people crying out throwing themselves at each other. Madness infects people that feel themselves dying even as they watch, the horror of life being blantently stolen from you.

An Elder Tree uproots itself in an explosion of earth and makes a run for it through a tsunami of shifting soil that kills thousands in it’s path. It’s a stampede of desperation.

Trees, people, elements and spirits flee in a rattling mass of chaos from horizon to horizon trampling each other in a mad dash for safety. There is no safety to be found.

The skies shiver and boil in a haze from the life being sucked by the off-worlders’ humangus spell formation, the Bantu-jin they have come to be known. The oldest beings on Sandoria watch helplessly as their home shimmers and boils and dies, petrifying to feed the invaders.

The tree hopper monkey beastmen endemic to the Aboriginal Bio screech out an anguished wail in a single last breast. A wail cold with hopeless terror comes from the remnants of the peoples still amongst the shadow of the Titans as life drains from them.

‘’We are lost,’’ The Spider Queen of Eleftheria says in wide eyed horror as the forest of dreams where her beta-queens have flourished for 16 000 years is destroyed. Life sucked out of her ground-spiders, wolf-spiders, tarantulas and all dropping like insects dying en mass under the life sucking array ravishing across the continent.

‘’How are they so powerful?’’

No one responds to as the ragged band of native survivors watch the draining of the Dark Forest, rich in ambient either disappearing like boiling water even as the remnants of its survivors flee without direction. Vast stretches of land without guardians’ energy is ripped away, people fallying dead in the streets across the cities and villages. Infants, children the old and infirm dying first, dying easiest.

What have I done?

Why is this happening to me?

Help me!

Please kills me.

YHOOOO!

Wails of horror encompassing every street in every village and city with people creates a psychic cloud that thunders as it grows, fed through the collective human consciousness’ horror at it’s demise. Every consciousness beast and man across all the neighbouring lands combines in a gargantuan cloud of psychic horror, [BOOOM], it explodes shattering minds acorss half the population ending their suffering.

The quickest to die are the mundane humans within the Life Cultivation Array. They die screaming and wailing fighting viscerally against a force anathema to life itself, there is a particularly harrowing type of horror at watching yourself wasting away despite yourselfthat catches them.

‘’This thing they are doing. It is an abomination,’’ Sytar the Satyr says hollow from helplessness. The cabal of self proclaimed protectors of Sandoria under the shadow of the broken trunk of the Eldest Tree watch as millions of lifeforms die around them.

One of the few beings that was strong enough to survive an exchange with the bantu-jin elders appears amongst their group with a displacement of space.

‘’We can get as many as we can outside the boundaries of this working. Every life saved makes a difference,’’ Fairy the Sidhe says radiating an aura of calm reassurance the native territory lords.

‘’RRRaooooR!’’ Boulder Mountain-heart roars unleashing a torrent of gushing magma cutting through the air to bloom across a spherical shielding around the unfazed sidhe.

‘’You self righteous bastard, your court could have prevented this from happening,’’ Boulder rumbles and fumes from it’s mouth as its crushing voice booms. ‘’Your court holds title of World Custodians yet genocide is carried out by offworlders-‘’

‘’Enough!’’ Carmella silences sound; one of only three of the Nine Sidhe of Paradisium to have survived the Bantu-jin sweeping offensive. ‘’No one could have predicted hw quickly they’re move move, or how strong they are. We are grtateful to the Court for allowing us a means of escape,’’ Carmilla nods to the portals allowing some of the densely populated areas escape.

Fairy the Sidhe watches the elemental being Boulder without visible reaction. ‘’The Court is always ready to help the peasant races of Gaia,’’ she says instead to Daoine Sidhe Carmella.

All across Sandoria and the oceans around it life drains away. Every living creature slowly dying in anguish from a force they can’t touch or counter. City defence planar spells wink out as their energy is drained away, the great scholars of the Sandersorian Magiocracy failing. Mana bound bindings undoing collapsing buildings as energy I ripped away, the 1st Tier Awakened screaming as they try to resist the magnetic pull of the life within their cells pulls away.

Everything and everyone runs around in terrified panic, few having means of escape with fewer still means to protect themselves. Most life on Eleftheria wails a final cry of anguish as the 2nd Tier beings feel their lives drain from them ‘en mass all across the Sandorian territory. The great mage towers collapse, desiccating corpses in their millions feeding the array until nothing but a stain is left the mark the remains.

Even the darkness plaguing East Sandersoria is devoured by the life-stealing array revealing a foamy wasteland devoid of life.