***Tirnanog, The Plains***

***Tolsten***

“Fucking mess is what it is,” Oman exclaimed for the n-teenth time while he walked a small circle into the ground. The circular path which took him around our little campsite was slowly beginning to get visible as he wore out the hardy and dry flora. His eyes were flicking constantly back and forth, searching the darkness for threats.

The large warrior was grating on my nerves with his behaviour and incessant complaints, but it couldn't be helped. He was the only person left who could ensure the safety of our camping site. I wasn't a sensor and Qiu had only her smell to rely upon.

The whole mission had gone down the drain the moment the enemy's speedsters had shown up. It was a miracle the three of us managed to get away while our heavy hitters went down. In a way, they paid with their lives to buy the time for us to escape.

I leaned against the rock behind me and searched the darkness, frustrated at my lack of sensory abilities. My eyesight was improved, but I needed daylight to get any use out of it.

Staying outside during the night wasn't ideal, but we had no choice after losing more than half of our number to the hunters who showed up to chase us away from the Tomiri compound.

To be fair, encountering resistance had to be expected sooner or later. The rules of inter-clan warfare stated one had to be as unpredictable as possible so the opponent couldn't counteract our abilities. Alas, central command thought that the war could no longer be won quickly, and so we got orders to delay a possible counter-attack for as long as possible by sowing chaos within the enemy's lands.

We did everything possible to minimize the risk. Like staying unpredictable while fulfilling our mission. Yes, we had moved more or less in a straight line while terrorizing the smaller clans, but we skipped entire settlements at irregular intervals to throw off any concentrated countermeasures.

And it wasn't like there weren't several possible settlements we could have hit today. Right off the bat, I could think of four other settlements we could have attacked if the commander hadn't chosen the Tomiri. The other side must have wasted a lot of their resources to reinforce several settlements needlessly, or they were extremely lucky taking their pick.

Either way, nobody believed it to be possible for Sotorios and Trishna to be overwhelmed so completely. I mean... the battle was over within seconds. We didn't even have the time to consider retreat.

“We should have kicked them into the dust!” Oman continued. “Just like when we stepped onto the bugs. How are we supposed to demonstrate Thich’s superiority if we run away at the first sign of resistance!?”

I bit my lip, careful not to aggravate the man by pointing out that he was more sensor than warrior and couldn't have stood up to a single drake if he tried.

'You still need him for watch duty, Tolsten,' I thought to myself. I could still give him a beating once we were reunited with the rest of the company.

“Could you please try to be a little quieter?” Qiu Shen whispered. “I would rather not be jumped by a nightstalker when we are down more than half our people and the rest of the company is another half a day of hard riding away.”

“Do not worry.” Oman gestured into the darkness. “I can see more than a kilometre in every direction from here and the terrain is flat. We aren't at the karst yet, so nothing can sneak up on us.”

I scanned the darkness around us at his words. Unfortunately, all I could do was believe him and rely on my memory of what the area had looked like before the sun went down. The two moons also weren't out tonight, impairing visibility even more.

Our enemies had been on our tracks like bloodhounds, but the darkness was a threat to them just as to us. Since it was more dangerous to stumble through the night than just to stay put, they had likely also set up a camp in a protected location. However, I wasn't so sure about their drakeriders.

I shook my head. There was no point in worrying about things I couldn’t change. If the drakes could find us in the darkness, they would already be here.

Just to make sure there would be no unlucky mishap, I tested the fastenings which held the leather cover in place above the glowmoss. It acted as a sight screen against the night sky. This way, we could have our campsite dimly illuminated while being relatively certain not to announce our presence to a drakerider.

It would have been preferable to have air support of our own, but we had to play the cards we were dealt. I was sure we would win in the end and prove Clan Thich to be the strongest. After all, we were Tirnanog's rightful inheritors.

But till then we had to not only be strong, we also had to be smart and cunning.

“What are you shaking your head for?” Oman sneered at me.

“I was just caught up in my thoughts,” I answered, forcing my voice to be calm and steady. Oman was an easily provoked bloodthirsty bully. Idiotic too, since he didn't have the power to back up his behaviour, so I had to be the smarter man till we found our way out of this situation.

It wouldn't do if I beat him to a pulp right now. I promised myself as soon as we reunited with the others the gloves would come off and he would learn why he had been designated nothing more than support.

Qiu Shen gestured at our surroundings, her eyes a little frantic. “Didn't I tell you to keep watch!?”

“Yeah, yeah… Still wishing we could celebrate our victory on the bonfire of Jeng's Mother Tree.” Against all odds, Oman returned to making his rounds without lashing out at Qiu. I supposed he had a thing for her. There was no other way for me to explain the irritable man's behaviour.

Nonetheless, it was true that we had likely dealt the Jeng a lethal blow, but I wasn't so certain as the others. At least it was the official narrative coming from central command.

Not to forget, I had seen several of Jeng’s living trees fall before the Aerie showed up with their damnable airships and started unloading heaps of Hochberg shock troops with their pioneers. Those guys were worse than the Jeng when it came to hiding inside fortifications.

The Jeng only had their trees, but the Hochberg pioneers were almost impossible to root out of their trench systems once they managed to dig in.

No clue how the fleet warfare had gone down as a whole, but it looked like both sides held back as much as was reasonable. At least I had only seen a few ships go down in the first hour of the relief force's arrival. Afterwards, I was too preoccupied with staying alive amidst the trench warfare the Hochberg pioneers had drawn us into.

I nonetheless genuinely believed we had done enough damage to Jeng for the wilderness to do the rest. Also, there was still the coming winter and without their food stores...

“I have to take a piss!” Oman growled and turned to a nearby stone.

Qiu let out an aghast sound and pointed southwards into the distance. “At least piss down-wind from us so I don't have to smell it for the rest of the night!”

The large man shrugged with a grin on his stupid mug and took the few steps in the indicated direction before facing away from us.

I was about to return to my lamentations when something white flashed past my face – an axe, as I processed one moment after the weapon buried itself in Oman's back. It hit him perfectly between the shoulders, the blade going in down the length of his spine.

There wasn't so much as a grunt from Oman as he fell forward onto his face. His spine was no obstacle for the axe's steelbone blade.

“That's the lieutenant's-” Qiu's big, round eyes were torn away from the weapon which once belonged to one of our comrades. An armour-clad warrior had appeared behind her, pulling her head back and opening her throat with a blade from ear to ear. The blade had snapped out of his wrist and was drawn back in as soon as the deed was done.

Then he was gone, accompanied by a trail of sparks disappearing into the darkness beyond the light of the glow-moss.

I jumped to my feet, sword in hand and ready to fight as-

Something hit me in the back of my knees and I folded over backwards. Once more the armoured man was there, his raised axe lit ominously by the glow-moss’s light.

Then the axe flashed once more and the world tilted and rolled strangely before it stopped, showing the warrior standing above my headless body.

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***Tirnanog, The Forest***

***Astra***

I fumbled at the straps which held the strange neckruff in place which the field medics had improvised to stabilize my position after removing the rapier. The process hadn't been any more sophisticated than what I intended to do from the start – which meant simply pulling the weapon out. Admittedly, they had probably done a better job than I could have with only one hand, given the awkward angle at which the weapon was stuck inside me.

“Didn't I tell you not to move?” The doctor from the ninth strata chided me. I didn’t know her personally, but I recognized her as a part of the staff which was seen regularly around Thalia and her mother. It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise for one of the better doctors to be involved in this mission.

The woman glared down at me where I lay on a stretcher. “If you keep moving, you could worsen your internal injuries, and I have no desire to perform a field operation to stop internal bleeding when it isn't necessary.”

“I told you, there are no major arteries cut,” I protested. “I would know.”

“And what about all the small ones?” she asked in a condescending tone. “You have been unbelievably lucky already. And even if that blade somehow missed everything important on the way in, which I believe to be a miracle, there is no way there aren't dozens of small blood vessels injured. Only your mutations saved you. And your arm is a mess, so if you don't lay down for a few days at least I am going to strap you to that stretcher with your own filaments.”

I rolled my eyes. Someone else using my filaments to bind me would be a feat.

Thankfully, I was saved another sermon when Magnus entered the room. The sun had been up for hours, so it was high time for him to return. “Magnus! Are you alright? Why didn't you message me with the UI?”

He crossed his arms and looked down at me. “I told you, I won't read that screen while running alone through that damnable wilderness. Not to mention, I was out of range till a few minutes ago. The nanites can't keep up a reliable connection when there is no clear line of sight. And I figured we could talk in person just as well once I reported back.”

I sighed. “Did you get them?”

“First, are you fine?” He asked with a grim expression.

I waved him off. “I won’t die, just like I promised.”

He let out a sigh. “You gave me a shock. Yes, the drakeriders, Elijah and Linda engaged the Thich’s main raiding unit to clean up the rest. The riders already confirmed their positions and I took a stroll through their camp to make sure they don’t have more juggernauts hidden up their sleeves. They had nobody who could counter me and surrendered as soon as our people showed up.”

For a second, I imagined a speedster rushing through a camp, taking limbs left and right without anyone being able to stop him. It was no wonder they surrendered, though I had no clue what we could do with so many prisoners. Could we take them in? I was glad it wasn’t my decision.

“And what about Maria?” I asked before I gave the doctor a pointed look. “They don’t give me any news in here.”

“She is discussing things with the prisoner – who is surprisingly well enough to argue religion with her.” Magnus went and got himself a stool to take a seat next to me. “Didn’t expect him to survive that.”

“Chopping off his limbs certainly didn’t improve his health!” the doctor commented snarkily from the sideline.

Magnus shrugged. “Hey, what do you want? It was either his limbs or his head. I wouldn’t try to lock up someone with such powers even if I felt particularly lucky. Takes just one mistake and half our people could be dead before someone can stop him.”

“What is Maria trying to find out?” I asked.

“Aw, I admit I didn’t listen much after she began questioning the man’s religion.” Magnus gave me a helpless gesture with his hands. “Like I said, have never been religious.”

“The Church of Gaia isn’t really a religion, though,” I pointed out, figuring Magnus likely hadn’t gotten around to learning much about our clan’s societal norms in that regard. There hadn’t been much reason. “You already learned about their doctrine.”

“I have?” Magnus sounded genuinely surprised.

“Your lessons with Mary about the clan’s stance on enlightenment,” I explained. “She probably never explicitly said it was the church’s doctrine. The church is more of an organisation with the goal of helping people than a traditional religion. I think they only call themselves a church because people called them such and at some point the label stuck and they decided to just go with it.”

“I think I remember the whole enlightenment thing.” Magnus hummed. “Though, I thought it was more about the government system. Only those who prove themselves capable get to vote and all that.”

“The Church of Gaia originated from a group of people whose powers didn’t lend themselves to survival on Tirnanog,” Maria’s voice interrupted us from the door. “They were of no physical help to the clan, so they sought other ways to assist. Like helping people with mental welfare, keeping knowledge and history, and consequently we are deeply tied to the fifth strata. It was a logical next step to tend to society as a whole.”

“I see.” Magnus turned to Maria who had entered the sick ward. “Are you done arguing with him?”

Maria nodded. “It will take a stronger psychic than me to get more out of him. He is too set in his ways for there to be any meaningful discussion. Too set for it to be normal. Either he was indoctrinated from early childhood on, or someone twisted his mind.”

Her expression turned to a displeased frown. “What that man said, it’s almost like a mockery of Gaia’s principles. I am deeply worried for what we might find at Thich.”

“Please explain,” I said.

Maria tilted her head and thought for a moment. “They call themselves the Children of Tirnanog. Where the Church preaches logic and favours the superiority of the mind, the Children advocate for raw power and survival of the fittest. Where we seek to create a stable society, their goal is the exploitation of the weak by suppression to raise the individual. They are a mockery of everything the Church of Gaia stands for. I have to talk with Casey and Hayne Ortega about this.”

Magnus frowned. “I think you might want to invite Vanya to this discussion. I heard something similar from her before we left on this mission.”

He turned towards me. “Which finally brings me to the reason why I rushed back so quickly after you sent me out to hunt. Are you well enough to jaunt?”

“Aah…” My eyes flicked to the doctor who glared at me and crossed her arms. “I don’t think so?”

“Then I will get you back to Mount Aerie.” Magnus bent down and picked me up, stretcher included.

“Hey, that’s too far to jaunt with two people!” I argued.

“Which is why we will jaunt to the Old Camp where the flagship is stationed and take the wormgate from there,” Magnus explained.

It was done just as promised and I found myself back at home within an hour and at Kiera’s care. The doctor was elated to hand Constella and Aurora off to me since she didn’t deem my injuries severe enough to justify giving me sick leave from my children.

The problem was further compounded when we got a message from the crib, stating Isaac was in trouble. Thankfully, Magnus said he could take care of it alone. I just hoped he wouldn't cause another incident, but given his history, I couldn't help but worry.

***Tirnanog, Mount Aerie***

***Isaac***

Isaac was frustrated, worried, angry, and afraid. He had promised to be good, but he had been bad. Very bad if the caretaker was to be believed. Though, Isaac couldn’t find anything wrong with his actions. The other boy deserved what he got, especially after Isaac had warned him several times. So, who was to blame Isaac for zapping the stupid idiot a little?

Isaac had just done what Dad told him to do when there was a fight. Be not the one who starts an argument, but be sure to finish it when there is one.

Besides, Isaac was sure he hadn’t done any lasting harm.

Though, he couldn't help but worry. The last time Dad had been mad at him was still a vivid memory in his mind. So, it wasn’t so much that Isaac was worried about the caretaker’s disapproval, he was worried about what his parents had to say on the matter. Especially after Mom had been so firm about the rules at the crib when they dropped him off.

Isaac glanced at Andreas and, unable to get over his anger, narrowed his eyes at the older and larger boy. Andreas still had a little nervous twitch when Isaac looked at him – probably an after-effect of Isaac’s dissuasive shock therapy. His eyes went to Andreas’s parents who were still arguing with the caretaker when Isaac heard the heavy steps of armoured boots coming down the corridor. By the sounds of it, they were his father’s footsteps.

Isaac looked at the floor, ashamed that his father had to show up just to find him in this situation.

The footsteps stopped in front of him. “Isaac, looks like you are fine. I heard you got yourself into some trouble, hmm?”

“Yes, Dad,” Isaac wasn’t sure whether trouble was the right word for it. “The caretaker and his parents have been screaming a lot.”

“Ah, Mister Frost,” the caretaker came over, followed by Andreas’s parents. For some reason, the three of them seemed a lot politer than they had been with Isaac a few minutes ago.

Dad settled his helmet beneath his armpit and studied the three of them. “I was informed about a problem, though nobody could tell me what it was.”

Andreas’s mother pointed at Isaac. “Your son electrocuted ours till he was a twitching mess on the floor!”

Isaac puffed out his cheeks in anger. “Andreas has been knocking down the castles I built the entire day! When we played dodgeball, he was only after me and ignored the other kids. And during drawing lessons, he scratched my castle blueprints! Enough was enough, so I shocked him!”

The caretaker placed his hands together, massaging one with the other. “You shocked him not only once, you did so repeatedly till we told you to stop.”

“He is twice my size!” Isaac defended himself. “Am I supposed to let him hit me?”

The caretaker ignored Isaac and turned to his father instead. “You see, Mr. Frost, we are in a bit of a bind here.”

Isaac’s Dad blinked at the caretaker and Andreas’s parents. He said nothing and just stared at them. It was a good, long stare, like the one Isaac got when he crawled into the mansion’s venting system. And as time went on, even Isaac began to feel uncomfortable, despite not being the target of his father’s scrutinization.

After what must have been well over a minute, Isaac’s Dad looked down at himself and the three adults followed his eyes to the blood splatters on his armour before they went to the dried blood on the two axes at his side. Not to mention the liberally coated spear on his back.

Then Isaac’s Dad looked back up – and smiled. “You have to forgive me. You see, two hours ago I was at the frontline where I chopped up about two dozen Thich. Plus, I haven’t slept all night because I had to camp outside with the monsters. To make a long story short, I am very tired and a little on edge. All I heard right now was that two stupid boys got into an argument which went beyond words. Not to mention, the one who was supposed to look after them and keep things from going this far didn’t do his job.”

The caretaker coughed and went slightly red while Magnus glared at him and the parents. “I… suppose the crib will try to keep Isaac and Andreas apart in the future.”

“Good man!” Isaac’s Dad clapped the caretaker on the shoulder, leaving behind a few specs of blood. “And I will have a few words with my son about the gradual escalation of conflicts. Why don’t I take him home for today to allow the mood to settle down and from tomorrow onwards you keep a closer eye on the two boys?”

The caretaker licked his lips. “Right.”

Isaac’s Dad clapped his hands together. “Okay, let’s go home then.” He picked Isaac up at the scruff of his neck, the filaments forming a supporting harness around Isaac’s torso.

“I am so proud of you Isaac. Never forget that you are an Elrod – and a Frost. Being nice and social is important to live within society, but it has its limits. If someone disrespects you beyond reasonable levels, measures have to be taken. No matter what your mother says, sometimes a prankster just needs a good whack to take you seriously. As a start, I believe you brought the warning across sufficiently well. Next time, I suggest ripping off an ear and if that doesn't help…”