Ekological Chimera
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Chapter 11 - Like a candle
🕑 Added 2024-09-18 19:18:33 +0000 UTCThe Custodian stood alone on top of her ruined tower, watching the remaining flying transports land on a nearby hill. Less than ten of the metal machines remained, over half lost to Terran infighting.
Her face looked serene, yet inside she felt a little disturbed. Or perhaps excited.
The Terran star ships might actually pose a threat to her life. She had known that the possibility existed, though she had not really believed it.
The explosion had looked like the birth of a new sun, deafening even so far away. She had to wonder what the common people thought of it. Her own people were a mixed bag. Some had full confidence in Eternity’s power, others were quite shaken by the sight. Phaedra had acted rather smug when she was being escorted into the dungeon, but Serana doubted that she had been sincere.
The simple truth was that Serana did not know whether she’d survive a direct hit from something like that.
She’d like to believe that Eternity’s power would allow her to prevail even against such a weapon, yet she felt some doubt. Not something she would fancy testing in any case.
At the same time, she felt satisfaction at a puzzle finally being completed.
The massive amount of power she wielded finally made sense. She would not deny that it had been useful, but it had not been needed. The amount required to make bow and spear alike ineffective was almost laughable. Cowing armies might have been a bit trickier, but she could have managed with much, much less as well.
It also made reading the materials provided by Phaedra even more of a priority. Serana had only leafed through them, not really having the time to spare. She’d make sure to go over them carefully after the current situation was dealt with, along with actually dealing with the Terran woman.
Suddenly, her eyes landed on something strange, flashing with interest.
A few kilometers from the Terran-occupied hill, an armoured person sprinted towards it through the woods.
The forest provided them decent cover, giving Serana only glimpses. Yet she saw enough to feel some disbelief.
The person’s body was completely hidden by metallic black armour with a bit of purple accentuation They moved with inhuman grace and endurance, their run resembling a deer more than a human. They likely possessed inhuman speed as well, but Serana did not feel too confident to judge that from so far away.
Tearing her gaze from the strange sight, she searched around the stranger and the now-swarming hill, where a few hundred Terrans busied themselves like ants.
Soon, she spotted more. Serana counted seventeen in total, all in identical armour and all dashing for the Terran-occupied hill.
A few more pieces slotted into place. She had seen twenty or so balls of flame descent along with the transports. She had not bothered to investigate closer, simply taking them for debris or some such because of their similarity to meteors.
Or as they were more commonly known, falling stars.
She shook her head slightly. While certainly interesting, it wasn’t really that important.
While the Terrans busied themselves desecrating her hill, the Custodian’s soldiers were mustering under the Knight Commander’s careful guidance. A somewhat tricky proposition that she felt happy to foist onto Aisac.
Since the attack, the normally small temple garrison had been drastically reinforced, swelling from the usual two hundred to over five thousand knights, along with nine thousand auxiliaries. Most of them didn’t fit in the Temple, instead occupying the city’s barracks and the nearby forts, making a muster a rather tedious affair.
A small and sustainable number, brought in from the nearby countries, as not to disrupt any single Order’s operations overmuch.
While the Church might possess more soldiers than a small country’s entire population, they were spread across the entire continent. Bringing even half of her total forces together would have been logistically impossible, not to mention extremely disruptive and unneeded.
Still, bringing together the three hundred thousand knights and the million or so auxiliaries would have been a sight to see. It’d probably do the Church good should the knight Orders mingle more, too.
With each Order overseeing a country, they tended to become far too cliquey to her liking. The seven forts guarding the First Temple served as second headquarters for them, though the smaller Orders had to share, which led to some mingling, at least. Of course, that hardly solved everything. Perhaps she’d think of something before the Order Masters arrived for the emergency meeting she had called some weeks prior.
That was mostly wishful thinking on her part, though. Such things could not be rushed, lest a solution creates more problems. Having to think centuries in advance made even the smallest of decisions impacting the Church as a whole rather precarious.
The Custodian was brought out of her tangent by a knock on the newly repaired door.
Sensing her handmaiden, she beckoned her inside, “Enter.”
Hesitantly, the mousey-looking girl entered, acting even more uncertain than usual.
Her eyes darted over the many damaged parts of the tower’s top floor, before settling on the stunning view of the sprawling verdant forests and the turquoise lake laid before her.
Serana could understand. It had taken her a few decades to grow used to it too.
The Custodian watched with amusement as the girl’s eyes snapped back to her. The handmaiden shivered, her grey robes proving to be of little help against neither the cold wind nor fear.
The Custodian’s eyes landed on the handmaiden’s own, making the young girl gulp and prompting her to speak, “Venerable Custodian, the prisoner, she, um, melted?”
Serana sighed in exasperation. Always something with these Terrans. She had focused elsewhere for only half an hour and already they were… melting.
“Like a candle?” Serana asked, not quite sure if the handmaiden had spoken correctly.
The girl nodded, “That is how the guard described it, my lady.”
Serana focused her senses, quickly zeroing in on what was left of Phaedra. ‘Melted’ fit quite well. Phaedra had become a disturbing cross between a human and a puddle.
The two knights guarding the ‘prisoner’ had their swords out, looking wearily at the cell from a safe distance.
She couldn’t really blame them, either. People usually didn’t melt on their own. Spotting no one suspicious around, Serana decided that this must have been an exception. Phaedra had seemed oddly accepting of being imprisoned.
Perhaps melting yourself was the preferable method of suicide in Terran culture. What an amusing thought.
“Have two more men guard the corpse, I will take a proper look at it later,” The Custodian instructed.
The grey-robed girl nodded and bowed, understanding the dismissal and quickly scurrying away.
Serana returned her gaze back to the outside, watching the many different people scurry about.
The Terrans seemed to be fortifying the hill, while the people of the city down below gathered on the walls, watching. The hill was not so far that they could not see the growing Terran encampment, not to mention the gathering knights.
Her knights and soldiers were assembling on a plain right outside the city, one of the only convenient spots to do so with all the forests around.
When Serana spotted riders leaving the forts, she started moving towards the temple stables, faintly smiling.
She could guess why the betrayed Terrans came to her. Most likely they wanted her to protect them from strikes from above, yet they were too wary of her to actually hide in the city.
How precious.
The Custodian stopped inside her own rooms, faintly exasperated when she noticed that her handmaiden was still in the dungeon. She’d need to get a second one soon. A single one could not properly do the expected duties, especially since Serana did not sleep much.
Since her help would take too long to get there, Serana disrobed on her own, switching to a more ceremonial garb. It was still a white robe, but one embroidered with a silver thread, the many symbols of Eternity’s eye covering most of the silken fabric. She also took the time to equip a pair of old steel bracers, more for nostalgia’s sake than any practical purpose.
It was quite curious how important small things like that were to people. Her image would hardly be shaken if she wore a plain robe to battle, but it would be detrimental, even if just a little. Humans did not much like it when one acted casually about the deaths of their loved ones and clothing counted. With the morale of so many rattled, she would need to be a bit more flashy than she preferred anyway, so she might as well go all the way. Hopefully the Terrans would be kind enough and provide targets.
Dressed, she walked down the tower with purpose, this time intent on reaching the stables.
The Temple itself stood more silent than usual. A hundred or so knights would stay as guards, but the rest of the soldiers, barring her honour guard, were already gone. This included most of the servants, as they, perhaps unwisely, wished to watch the confrontation.
Maybe not the smartest of decisions, but certainly an expected one. To the common people, stories of what happened to those who dared to challenge Eternity openly were near mythical. Everyone with the slightest bit of curiosity would wish to see her magic in action, especially after witnessing the Terran bomb.
She wondered whether the people would end up disappointed. The Terrans had shown themselves to be rather atrocious at understanding the Eternal Laws, but perhaps they would not be so stupid as to break them right in front of her?
They had certainly proven unpredictable enough for either outcome.
The Custodian almost wished they would. It had been quite some time since anyone had dared to face the Church in battle and even longer still since she herself had been close enough to participate.
Only almost thought. She’d never actually wish for the Laws to be broken, of course.
Navigating the pristine halls of the temple, she soon reached the stables. Ten senior knights waited there, their engraved plate armour covering them fully and gleaming in the sun.
They saluted without a word and started saddling up their armored warhorses as soon as she approached her own warhorse, Snow. The stallion was of significant size, almost proportional to the Custodian’s own abnormal height. Serana mounted the horse swiftly and soon the group was ready to go.
Serana led the group outside of the temple at a brisk trot, the knights following eagerly, ready to have their faith in both their leader and the Goddess once again reaffirmed.
