Chapter 10-312: At the Heart of the Flame (1/2)

Fort Maginot was the military institution closest to Germany and the Berlin Shroudzone.

Germany was, by this point, basically a wasteland. Multiple Shroudzones born from the atrocities the Nazis had been doing had risen up, and their Deadzones had overlapped, which meant they could maintain connections with one another and fight amongst themselves.

Fight they had, for twenty long years, until finally the Berlin Dark Cardinal rose to dominate all of them.

Once that was done, there were definitely no safe locations in Germany, and the undead there moved freely between the different Shroudzones. Any location with twenty miles of a Shroudzone had to be abandoned.

The Maginot line had returned to some relevance, despite its uselessness in the war it had been built for. Fort Maginot was the base of operations for the Powered who had to fight off incursions from the German undead and Fiends who could advance to the edges of the Deadzone, and not incidentally meet those who would make deals with them.

It was a lot of low-grade, often vicious conflict between enslaved things of Evil, heavily Corpsecrafted undead Congregants with intelligence and wiles, and traitorous humans willing to bargain with anything in order to advance themselves.

In Europe proper, it was considered the most dangerous and advanced posting, where the elite of the European defenders went. Brigette Morningflame, bearer of the Phoenix Bloodline, Mageblade in her uncle’s tradition, naturally served there as one of the most famous commanders in Europe, as or more renowned for her fire magic than even her mother.

I didn’t have a Lived-Line there, of course, but Azaia actually did, having gone there to meet her oldest sister on more than one occasion. There were many years between them, but those rapidly became less important as time went by. Even though they had different fathers and very different personalities, Morningwind and Morningflame got along fairly well.

The Jet and Silver had reached into a lot of places, and military bases required healing magic, too, which also happened to be extremely effective against the undead. I was absolutely certain that Morningflame was here, because the Cleric of Amana who helped fix her military company up after their missions was watching her taking lunch in her barracks office right now.

We came in down the road on Teleport, touching the end of Azaia’s Lived-Line and outside the natural Wards that blanketed the base with Interdictions. Teleportation and Summoning attacks were a good way to get a position suddenly obliterated, and so naturally such things were not permitted within a half-mile of the base, and were instantly sensed within a mile.

Thus, our arrival had been noticed. Given I had already ‘called ahead’ to let them know Morningwind was coming to visit her sister, this was going to be right on time rather than alarming, although they’d naturally be on alert.

Mother Dova Blanche watched Morningflame take the call, notifying her that her sister was coming, and had arrived by Teleportation. She took it with some surprise and interest, rising to put on her uniform jacket before heading out to meet her, informing her secretary that her sister was coming and she would be busy for a short time.

She was down the hall and almost out of sight before she suddenly lifted a cell phone out of her pocket and looked down at it. Mother Blanche looked away before the fire-haired halvyri looked back and around sharply, and then the halvyri strode off quickly.

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I very prominently Messaged the guard at the gate ahead of us as we came shooting in on Sleipner. You have been infiltrated by a powerful being posing as Brigette Morningflame. She is starting to run, and we are going to stop her.

He had been notified we were coming, and it was hard to mistake that blue hair as anything else. Nevertheless, the gates were down and he wasn’t going to open them for us.

That was perfectly fine. Sleipner Ward Rode right over them, hit the ground on the far side, and immediately turned to follow the burning arrow coming from the diamond in Azaia’s hand, ignoring the shouts at us and the alarms that had started to rise as a consequence.

“She is on the other side of that building!” Azaia said grimly, feeling the Bloodline Bond’s reaction in her hand, and how unnatural it was.

Sleipner zipped around the corner and skidded to a halt instantly, which the jeeps racing after us with horns blaring were quite happy to see.

The crimson-haired halvyri in an officer’s uniform had halted as we slid to a stop. Her resemblance to Morningfire was unmistakable. Her golden eyes looked over us all, settling on Azaia calmly. “Little sister, you seem to be in somewhat of a hurry to see me?” she asked, looking rather amused as the military police vehicles came racing up to either side. “You know this is a military institution, and such behavior is not looked on kindly.”

I held up my hand to stop Azaia’s reply, rising to my feet and stepping out of Sleipner’s hovering sidecar. The alarms and horns there abruptly shorted out, and I let my Presence swell, which stopped the MP’s clutching their guns and looking excitable from interfering.

“Well. Well, well, well,” I Said, and the magic hummed to my words. She tensed despite herself, and the soldiers there all wisely shut up and didn’t move, as they also recognized me instantly. “This is very unexpected, yet how appropriate. Queen Rayetizvisha, Demon Patron of the Poison and Hungry Hearts Pacts, Scion of Jealousy. I suppose Morningflame is an ideal disguise for a queen of the succubi.”

Her hands burst into flame as she began to draw power. “What are you talking about, woman? You there, detain these people!”

I held up a finger, and the MP’s paused despite themselves, as something broke in the air sharply, and they all twitched despite themselves. “Demoness, you made the mistake of staying in one place for six seconds.”

The Pentagram etched into the concrete from below was revealed as a layer of cement flowed away, glowing and lighting up with Sacred power. Her eyes widened in alarm as rays of Light rose all around her in confining walls.