Chapter 25: Chapter 24: Mender of Spirits

"You seem well." A familiar voice called out.

Aleph turned to see Iona coming out of the gates, accompanied by the town mayor and the elders, coming out to welcome the refugees. Iona broke off from the group to greet him.

Aleph reluctantly removed himself from his disciples' embrace and walked over to her.

"And you too. Better than ever, it seems like. Tell me, how have you come to acquire a herald-tier artifact?"

Iona's eyes widened, looking intensely at someone behind him.

"Hiik!" Aleph heard Rayse shriek behind him.

"He did not tell me, Lady Iona. I had recently come across a similar power to yours and put two and two together."

"Really? Damn, I guess I shouldn't have shown off too much at that time." She waved towards the mayor, who acknowledged her with a nod.

"Why don't you come inside with me for some tea? I'll have the Lord Mayor here get these people settled. Hey kids, you can come too." She added to the eavesdropping group behind Aleph.

He accepted the invitation and found himself once again in Sleepy Joes. The seedy inn and tavern had much less guests today, giving the once lively place a muted, but still comfortable atmosphere. Joe himself swung by with a tray of mugs, which he passed around to everyone. Aleph thanked him before getting down to business.

"So. What is this about? Vaynard told me the situation when we came upon the army on the road, but I did not hear much about the force that remained."

Iona pushed a piece of paper towards him. It was a map of the area. Some parts began to light up as she spoke and pointed at them.

"The bulk of the harbinger army has moved on, creating a wall between Mios and the front lines. Their supply routes have been cut off, which was why Carrack hoped to intercept these guys with his own force before our men die of starvation. We've successfully defended here, here and here. These places haven't reported back, so we've been going on the assumption that they've been wiped out."

She sighed, rubbing her forehead to alleviate her stress. Aleph had expected this, but to see their losses held up to him like this speaks to how much has been lost. He stared holes into the map, each black dot representing thousands dead, not to mention the smaller settlements that aren't even represented on this map, like Tom's village.

"Regardless," Iona continued, "We must push on. The militia commander had commited his men to defending Hios, and so I plan to bring my squad across the country to root out these portals and destroy them. I borrowed Brig from Carrack, who has experience with finding them, but I welcome your help in this. We cannot be sure what kind of resistance we'll face, but I would be much more reassured if you accompany us. You too, of course." She added, looking at Rayse and his friends.

Aleph mulled it over for a moment.

"From my understanding, a herald has been spotted close to here. Do you know its whereabouts?"

"That… I'm not sure how much you heard from Lord Vaynard, but it's true, Deceit has been sighted here. It was wounded in the skirmish, so we're hoping not to meet it in one of the portal raids… I'm doubtful though, knowing what its target is." She let the statement hang, along with the implication that she indeed has whatever Deceit wanted.

"It's one of the main reasons I'm asking for your help, Aleph. That one's unpredictable, and there's no telling whether we'll face any other herald on this operation. I'm reasonably sure that it went after Carrack, but…"

"I agree. And I am happy to help, but right now I am severely lacking in gear. What little material I've amassed has gone into bolstering Vaynard's battle prowess. For me to stand up to a herald, I would need time to craft artifacts for myself. And, my disciples are in dire need of new gear themselves."

"I knew you'd say that, so here." She gave a signal towards one of the guards, who brought out a heavy looking chest. Iona opened it up for everyone to see. It was filled with half a dozen fist sized jewels, each glowing a different color.

"The battle for Hios got us these emissary hearts. Now, normally I'd send this over to the craftsmen back at the capital, but with the state of the war, we've decided to use it to hire you. Carrack agrees, which is why he left me these. It's about half of the spoils we collected, with the other going with Carrack to reinforce some of his more mana intensive spells."

Aleph's heart jumped. He only had the wind orb to work with right now along with the other one that Vaynard kept for him. He had experimented with it a bit, recalling the blue energy it emitted when the emissary used it against it before. Regardless, such materials would greatly benefit him and his disciples.

"I need time to process all of these, as you know. I won't be able to join your campaign for a while. You'll have to make do with my disciples for now."

"I expected that when I offered you the deal. Now, we have reasonable estimates that whatever heralds we would have faced would be with the main force assembling to backstab the frontline forces. Plus, we suspect that these portals haven't just been set up in our country, but all over the world. I've gotten in contact with fellow researchers in this continent who have confirmed as much, at least. attacks have been happening all over the globe, which is frightening, but works in our favor for now. So even with eight heralds, we probably won't see any of them for a while."

Aleph hadn't expected that. These new tactics that the army of the abyss employs are very troubling. The abyss was waging a simultaneous war on the entire world in a vastly different way than when earth was invaded. And these harbingers, while formidable, are extremely predictable. The enemy seems to have been composed almost entirely of these mindless drones thus far. What happened to the archdemons, the chimerae, the undead? The army he faced in his world had been far more fearsome and diverse. All these unknowns point to an invisible hand, one that has them outmaneuvered at every turn. They haven't been using their entire strength, Aleph realized. We need to know why.

"Brandon." Aleph called, having made up his mind.

"Yes, master!"

"You and your fellow disciples will join Iona to destroy the portals in the nearby areas. I will join you once I've completed my preparations. Are you prepared?"

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"""Yes, sir!""" Rayse and Lacey joined in. Even the twins, to Aleph's amusement. He patted the little ones' heads.

"You two will stay here with me. I need extra hands to create the things I'm planning. Will you help me?"

""Yes, sir!"" The pair said again, even cuter than last time. Aleph kissed their foreheads affectionately, bouncing them off of his lap as the two laughed along. Shae looked at him for a moment, as if she wanted to say something, but instead she just dropped from his lap to sit next to his brother. Aleph was puzzled, but he would look into it more later.

"Miss Iona, I hope this is enough? I leave them in your care for the time being."

"Don't worry about it. We'll be staying here for a couple days for the repairs, anyway. We'll discuss this further as we move forward with the plan. I'm still waiting on some information from across the army, anyway."

And so Aleph and the rest bid Iona goodnight. It was getting late, and although he spent much of the journey asleep, Aleph still felt a bit of fatigue. He walked with his disciples and the children towards his home. A little voice warned him that Erebos may have been waiting, but Marduk would have gotten that sorted out; Such a small pocket dimension would not have contained their presence for very long.

Still in a sentimental mood, he invited his disciples to stay the night. Lacey wanted to come, but dearly missed her parents and wanted to check in on them after all the fighting. The other two agreed though, so the five of them (including the twins) sat around the firepit outside of Aleph's house, dining on grilled fish and roasted potatoes.

"You should've seen us, master!" Brandon boasted.

"Me and Rayse back to back, facing a horde of harbingers. Lacey at the back, frying them to a crisp. Oh, man! We really sent em packin!"

"Yes, you have all done well. Better than I expected… But-" Aleph let the pause hang for a while, letting Brandon's enthusiasm taper off.

"300 hundred soldiers laid down their lives for us to be eating peacefully like this. a score more would have to live their lives without a hand, or being able to stand, even think clearly, all because demons thought our lives should be forfeit."

"Even the peace that we enjoyed before the attack was, and is still being paid for by the blood of strangers. Eat your fill, children, savor it and let it not go to waste. And at the end of it all, remember. Remember the men that paved the road that brought us here. Remember the fallen."

It was a more somber affair after that. Even the usually rowdy twins were subdued. They were much less talkative than usual.

"I saw Leslie this morning. She said her house got destroyed in the fire." Shae said quietly.

Rayse patted his sister's head, consoling her. "It must have been from the explosions. I'm sorry, little one." Her other sister hugged her from the side.

She smiled at them sweetly. "I'm okay, really. None of my friends and their parents got hurt, so I'm good. It's just… So many things were wrecked… and I don't know what to do. We rounded up the other kids, giving everyone something to drink, but is that really all we can do, mister?"

Aleph looked her in the eye, seeing the honest yearning of a child whose will to serve far exceeds what her tiny limbs allow.

"Have I ever told you about the strongest hero I know?"

The smaller ones shook their heads, while the other two just looked at each other, confused.

"You mean Emily, the one that finished off the demon lord?" Rayse asked.

"Even stronger than her." Aleph insisted, his lips tugging upwards despite himself. Even at his lowest moments, memories of a certain friend always picked him up. Since becoming mortal and regaining all the sensations of humanity, such memories began to resurface.

"I am talking about Marco, mender of the spirit."

The childrens' eyes lit up at such a lofty title. Their eyes locked onto him, transfixed as he told the story.

"Marco was a normal man when the enemy came. He wasn't strong enough to carry a rifle, nor was he a master strategist. He was so sickly, on one occasion, an errant breeze actually bruised him. In a lot of ways, he was weaker than anyone around this fire. But he looked inside himself and created what might have been the event that turned the tides of war: Marco became a comedian."

"Comedian? Sounds powerful. What does he do?"

"He was a magician of laughter, Bran. He teased a smile out of anyone he spoke to. To experience so much loss… it wears on all of us. For a man to be able to bring forth joy at such a time, it bordered on miraculous."

"You have all done this for me. You have brought out a joy in me where I wasn't sure any still existed. Now I once again stand against Erebos, daring to hope once again. Shae, you and your sister give me strength to fight. Where I'm standing, you're doing plenty."

Aleph looked into their eyes, hoping he conveyed as much of his feelings as he could. Barely 10 years of age, these children were, and yet already tarnished with the sights and smells of war. To her credit, Shae nodded as courageously as she could. And Sheila hugged her tighter, though Aleph noted the fire in her eyes. He was looking forward to their growth.

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