Chapter 774: Wall (1/2)

Ilea appeared near Riverwatch, her preparations done. She found her friend resting against a nearby tree, the location of her gate marker known only to a select few. It was early evening, a few clouds visible on the horizon, the suns casting long shadows into the forest ahead.

“You look stressed,” the man said as he glanced her way.

[Metal Mage – lvl 508]

“You’re not the only one who was busy,” Ilea answered. “Besides, you did hear about the attacks.”

Kyrian motioned in the direction of the city, the cleanup still very much going on. Smoke still rose from the distant fires caused by the extensive battle.

Extensive for the standards of Riverwatch.

Ilea remembered the elven attack after her arrival in Elos. It had been chaos, entire sections of the city destroyed, hundreds dead, more injured. The results here would’ve been far worse, were it not for the gates, all the people arriving due to the Accords, and her own involvement.

Salia fell to a few groups of young Elves. With the gates alone, something like that was far less likely to happen, and still she felt tense. This was nothing compared to what she had seen in her travels. Even for the Taleen it had been a small army. Not a single Executioner, few variants, and fewer Praetorians. The Pursuer was the main danger, but she assumed it had been hunting for her, or someone that knew more about her.

And the same might happen with the Architect, once he actually wants to bother with getting back his artifacts. She didn’t assume him to be someone who would simply forget about an incursion like that. Especially now that he had tried and failed to take her out, sacrificing an entire facility in doing so.

They had to be prepared. She had to be prepared.

Ilea didn’t plan to live in fear of what may or may not come to hunt for her or her allies. She wanted to be untouchable, not an Oracle, Monarch, Pursuer, Meadow, or Ascended able to threaten her.

She could just choose a home, a domain of her own. Where she could rest up between explorations, where she could build something and study her magic. But her ties had grown and whilst she could understand some of the Oracle’s arguments, she didn’t buy into their approach. Riverwatch was proof that her actions had a tangible impact on people. She had both perhaps caused the attack but had prevented a massacre in turn. Her and the people she had brought together.

Collecting the keys was an effort to help out the elves in the first place. And now she had all of them, and a way to perhaps stop the being that caused millennia of warfare. The Oracles wouldn’t care, she had suspected as much before but now she knew. The males would react in different ways. Some would look for those responsible, others would simply continue with their lives, unaffected by the machines in the first place. But plenty would get a chance at living, perhaps a little longer than their current situation allowed.

Death may be part of life, but with enough Vitality and healing, that life would last far longer.

“Had an annoying conversation too,” she said. “With a being far to old to retain any kind of influence.”

“You’re not friends with the Meadow anymore?” the man asked as he summoned two meals, moving one over to her on a tray of metal.

“Not the Meadow,” she said. “We should move on, more attacks could happen.”

“And we’re here to stop them. Sit down and eat,” Kyrian said.

Ilea raised a brow, taking in a deep breath before she grabbed the food and sat down, the tree creaking slightly as she leaned against it.

A single bite revealed that she wasn’t Keyla’s only customer who kept some of her creations in their storage items. He got an upgrade too, she noted, seeing the steam rising from the curry style dish.

“The world has changed quite a bit,” Kyrian said after a while, their plates empty as they watched the busy western city.

“That it has,” Ilea said.

“I visited some of the northern cities in the past week. Have you had a chance yet?” he asked.

“I’m not sure which cities you mean. In the northern plains?” Ilea asked.

“No,” he said. “North of Hallowfort. The Dark Protector managed to establish a few more stable settlements. They came out on top in a few important battles against the Feynor. And they’re more favorable now towards Hallowfort. Due to the Meadow and the Accords,” he explained.

“I haven’t had the chance to travel too much in the past months,” Ilea said. The main relaxing thing she did was visiting Felicia, and even that has been more rare in the past weeks. The woman was rising in Virilya, more work piled onto her desk every time Ilea visited.

“You should relax a little after this,” Kyrian said. “You’ve been pushing yourself too hard. I can tell. You get… different.”

“Feeling the weight of my power you mean?” Ilea asked.

“Yes. I know how it feels. While I may not be the myth that is Lilith, my impact on the world could be… a lot,” he spoke.

“A lot?”

He looked up at a cloud. “Yes. In whatever way I choose. I would rather stay with Aliana for some time, ignore all the monsters in the wild, all the dangers, all the dungeons to explore, and all the conflicts between factions of sapient beings.” Kyrian smiled, glancing her way now. “But I do care. And so do you.”

“At least I’m not the only one who deals with this,” Ilea said. She reinforced the tree with ash, seeing some of the roots pushing out of the ground.

“You’re not. Nor were you, or will you ever be the only one. But thanks to the Meadow, Hallowfort is stable. Trade is flourishing throughout the plains thanks to the Accords that mostly you brought together. And I’m not stuck on an island somewhere in the west, going mad as I continue to eat Bluebird meat,” Kyrian said.

“Thanks for the pep talk,” she said. “Just feels strange. Sitting here, and talking.” She looked over at him. “I just met an Elven Oracle.”

He raised his brows. “You did? How was it? Did you fuck it?”

Ilea threw a rock at him, enhanced with quite a bit of space magic, and some fire. It glanced off his skull, cutting through a nearby tree before it dug into the earth. “I didn’t fucking fuck it.”

“Would’ve made for a good story,” he said with a smile.

“You’re talking big now. I remember the stuttering man in my bed,” she said.

“Well, yes. That was me then. This is me now. As impressive as the tales?” he said.

Ilea leaned her head against the tree. “More so, maybe. I don’t think the level it… she? Was at, really did her justice. I could barely use space magic. No teleportation for dozens of kilometers. Well not none at all but nothing short ranged. She looked… strange, as if she lived in her own little dimension. I think I caught an actual glimpse when she got close during Primordial Shift.”

“Ice magic I assume?” he asked.

“Yes. But nothing like I’ve seen before… well… the Elemental was probably up there. But Icy had a more… on hands approach to magic. The Oracle was just freaky. Slowed my healing, and at one point her aura just froze my arm. Entirely, with a third tier resistance and all my healing. Broke into pieces as if I was some low level rabbit struck by a Shadow’s spell.”

He smiled. “I would’ve been dead in a heartbeat.”

“Who knows. You got your evolutions too. I can tell,” she said.

“Yeah… but again, I’m no mythical… Wanderer,” he said.

“Oh right. Title. You’ll have to kill a one five creature before hitting seven fifty,” she said. “I’ll tell you guys about the requirements at some point.”

He laughed. “Don’t think that will be a concern for some time. Unlike some people, I can’t just move between realms to find dangerous beings.”

She raised a finger. “Not yet.”

“I don’t plan on it. But maybe I’ll find a few Fae in my travels like you did,” he mused.

“Could ask Violence for some help. Or the Meadow could train you,” she suggested.

“I’m quite happy knowing where I am,” he said. “But who knows. If we live to a hundred, that’s a lot of time. We might even reach five hundred.”

“A thousand years of battle,” Ilea said.

“Sounds exhausting,” he replied.

“It sounds awesome. Issue is with finding worthy things to fight. Sooner or later I’ll be bedding Oracles and fighting Dragons,” she said and stood up, cracking her fists and neck.

“Why not bed Dragons too?” he asked.

“Don’t get cocky, young curse mage,” Ilea said. “You’re talking to the legendary Lilith.”

“All I see is a Wanderer,” he spoke.

Ilea smiled and transferred to the waiting Feyrair, the Elf having contacted her half an hour prior. She found him meditating within an arcane storm.