Chapter 111: 96: Dour Dawn

Auratic

Fine drops of water floated softly as arrows sailed through them. The imperial army launched their attack, as predicted, albeit their aim was scarcely exact in the drizzly nighttime. At the first movement of a shadow, garrison troops fired arrows into the darkness. The Imperial soldiers fired in return towards the general direction of the fortifications. Distant thunder and lightning giving faint flashes of illuminations. The engagement was hardly organized, and had the potential to easily devolve into chaos. Though the souring of the skies were expected, the General Meginhard simply could not delay any further for their window of advantage was quickly shrinking. They had the numbers advantage, their siege weapons were all but ready, the enemy’s supplies dwindling and their morale shaken by the encirclement. By maintaining the encirclement, the garrison had to split their forces thin across the wall. He had his army reorganized using the night’s shroud to mount a concentrated assault from one angle while they were dispersed. Unfortunately for him, the opposition was well-fed, well-informed and well-prepared.  It was as though there was a leak of information. There had just been a stakeout a few days prior and nothing out of the ordinary came up. Unless of course the traitor was among the high ranking officials, his advisory. But he discarded that idea as quickly as it came to him. The bungling inepts would serve a worse double agent than the one openly admitting that he was one. If there was one thing that worried him, it was the rain… His troops were still shaken by a recent encounter with a flooding river.

Projectiles doused in oil and set afire were catapulted towards the walls to varying effect and accuracy. Some overshot landing in the townscape behind walls causing havoc to control and fire quell, others missed with an undershot. Those that did hit were few and far between but when they did they tested the masonry of the fortification. More often than not they chipped and took small chunks out of walls. The mud from the rain caused all the heavier siege weapons to sink into the ground and could not be reliably fielded. Those that were positioned were the lighter scorpions and torsion catapults instead of the heavier trebuchets. It was Alpha’s suggestion to delay the incapacitation of the siege weapons to create a sense of danger and urgency to seek her aid to increase the impact Alicia would make upon lending her assistance. While it seemed like a decent enough idea at the time, she was seriously reconsidering her decision now that she was on top of the walls. She joined Reynold to the walls, where he could monitor the situation and provide more immediate commands to the garrison. That, along with the commander's presence, helped morale somewhat.

‘I always thought it would be awesome to see a historical combat with my own eyes and experience it. I still think it’s cool, but I would have really preferred it if I wasn’t in the front row seat and not being actively shot at!’

Reynold questioned whether or not she would be safe with him without an article of armor, and Alicia had the exact same question for herself a few moments prior. Though then she gave a dismissive answer to emulate an aura of confidence, mystery and power, and turned the question towards him asking him why he had donned his armor but left the helmet. The answer she got was that the commander must be easily distinguishable from the midst of confusion, his finely crafted breastplate with lion’s features and the flowing brown hair definitely made him stand out well. She promised herself to get herself some protection right after this. ‘I need to do something before these walls actually collapse underneath me!’

As soldiers marched the Enedra brood moved underneath them towards the mechanical contraptions, undoing their silken reinforcements to their tunnels. In the meantime, a hit against one of the fortified towers where a ballista was fixed atop of caused a sizable portion of it to fall apart. The tower stood for what it's worth. But this was just the excuse Alicia needed, she still had a performance to play out.

As soon as Reynold had finished giving orders of damage control Alicia remarked.

‘Oh thank god…’

She cast her gaze towards the enemy through a broken section of the hoarding-

-and the attacks from the catapults very nearly stopped. The earth had crumbled beneath them, rendering several of them inoperable to varying degrees. Some fell sideways, others sunken so deeply into the ground that they couldn’t effectively fire. In some cases, the horses that tensioned the catapults were swallowed by the gaping maw of the earth, rendering them temporarily unusable. Whichever the case, it was a disaster, perhaps a curse cast upon them by a witch who uttered not a word. A grave chill shot through Reynold’s body.

When he met with the one who called themself Charlie, he quickly learned of her preternatural wit, disarming appearance and monstrous speed that swore fealty to Alicia as her familiar. He hadn’t seen its capabilities, but his gut at that time told him he wouldn’t want to find out. Those who beat their chests and flaunted their strength often held fears of inadequacy, in the same vein as a threatened critter posturing to appear larger and more capable than they are in hopes of scaring away the offender, it was those who hid their power and feigned weakness that were the truly dangerous. He knew the truth of this from his own life, be it in the savage wilds or the marble halls of humans. On only a few occasions he had been under such daunting presence, the difference was that Charlie was not bradishing it. No, that was her… holding back, he quickly learned of that fact when he crudely called Alicia a witch in front of her. Malignity he felt from her then overshadowed that of demons he fell before. A fierce loyalty and a powerful vassal, a dangerous combination for any that dared to challenge. He then pondered, what could cause such a powerful being to serve under another? What wondrous, terrifying powers could impose their will over something as powerful as they were, and here he finally glimpsed into the depths of that force, staring at the destruction she brought about with dismissive indifference devoid of emotion… Was this the aide she meant or was there more to it? It was gladdening such force could be called an ally for now, but he wanted to see how far this rabbit hole went. To see its bottom, if there was one…

In the meanwhile…

Gamma reported the successful collapses of her hastily built extensions of her tunnels, with Alpha commending her work and calling her back to her original position. Their plot continued well without her input.

‘I can’t see shit with all this rain, darkness, stone, wood and whatever else is in the way…… Why is he looking at me like that…? Should I turn back at him…? What now…… their attacks slowed down… and I don’t think they’re gonna make another major move until the visibility improves in the morning when they can really use their heavy siege weapons so… just wait…? …………Is he gonna awkwardly stare at me the whole time until dawn? Because I don’t know what to do if he commits to something like that…’

After the battle had slowed down to a stalemate owing to the ‘accidents’ the catapults suffered from foul weather, a herald from the Empire cried out from the fields towards the city garrison, proposing one final offer to yield before sunrise or face the full might of the Imperial army. There was no answer from Reynold.

With the not so marginal damage they dealt to the walls, the Empire’s side felt that they had the advantageous position. And it was common for such attempts at negotiations to happen often due to ease of contact. Words were as capable of weapons, to demoralize, to implore reason, to intimidate, as well as to mislead.

There were those who had the funds to spare and other places to take refuge had already left the city at the first sign of trouble. The rest who were left however either had no other place to go, no relatives to shelter them or had made their decision to stand their ground. Many who were healthy had already volunteered to assist in the defense. Untrained and under equipped, armed with only their enthusiasm, they were little better than a militia and had been relegated to keeping the peace inside the town behind the walls. Controlling the fires, transporting supplies and water. They were no soldiers, and despite having them armed with stock weapons the margrave would surrender and open the front gates by himself first rather than to let them be involved in any fighting. The weapons were only there to calm their nerves.

There is that one thing I wanted to try but never had the opportunity to use. I don’t think my new skills get much use however… Well, all in good time.

‘Really? You’re making me do this again? I just got used to being called ‘Mistress’ and now you’re telling me to add another one? Well I suppose I am not their mistress. And I don’t think the concept of civil engineering has been conceived yet. Last time I tried to explain, they called me an architect…’

‘Okay let’s think… The trolls call me a Loa, which is kind of a spirit of their culture… Llynbel and the Elves also call me a Spirit though I look more like a Djinn. Alma the system of god…s? define me as an Araneae Hybrid. So honestly I have no idea, ah screw it i’ll just make up some portmanteau.’

Like a mantra, the words not a witch, not a witch, repeatedly echoed in his mind.

Alicia being a spirit would explain a whole lot of mysteries surrounding her. There once was a time spirits walked among humankind, those of particular affinity became known as patron deities guarding certain towns and cities. From his studies of youth he learned that Viveria in antiquity once had a patron goddess… the Lady of the reeds and marshes who blessed Viveria with rainfall and bountiful harvests. That disappeared into the woods now known as the black forest, though at the time this forest was known as the Heart of Green woods. The new order of religion, the continental faith, either syncretized or pushed out pagan beliefs. The stories of the lady included, but oral tradition of it remained long enough for it to be recorded vaguely. Though not many of his people would know of this myth, it would be a useful tool to rouse their morale.

History being shared from one to another was often transformed and muddled, details being lost and new romanticist idealizations being added. Many that did remember, believed that their goddess left due to a presence of new faith pushing the paganism out, not knowing that it was they who betrayed her first and not knowing that she still persisted in this world yet. While there would be a reasonable fear of her vengeance in that case, it would be unfounded as she held no grievances with them anymore. For she had left her past as the lady of the reeds and marshes, and lived freely as the covenant spirit of Alicia, Llynbel. With the regards of their Patron goddess recently slaughtering dozens of invading soldiers that stepped foot in her glades, perhaps she is, to this day, still guarding Viveria.

The night passed and so did the rain but the clouds were yet to part. Many soldiers had dozed off on their feet, leaning against something or someone or tucked in cover behind the crenellations. Chill of morn that set in, did no favors with the damp and soggy. But conquest waited for no one. The denizens of Viveria were awakened by a volley of fiery missiles lobbed by trebuchets. Landing indiscriminately upon the city, smashing against buildings and walls alike. Citizens and militia alike rushed to control the fires. The troops manning the walls were at a loss at what to do, their ballistas - ones that were still usable - were outranged by the trebuchets. If they stayed, the trebuchets would grind down their defenses into nothing and the numerically superior enemy would overwhelm them. Should they sally forth, between them and the trebuchets stood the very same army split into two wings, inviting them to charge through the vacant middle where they would be surrounded and torn apart. Yet even still the siege towers loomed in the distance. Though as it seemed all hope was lost…

Reynold was muttering something atop of a bare tower with Alicia standing not too far behind him.

>Speech identified; Archaic continental - Arcane dialect, high variant.

>Interpreting…

｢ ꡗꡡꡟꡂꡞꡓꡠꡏꡠꡙꡞꡂꡜꡈ

You grant me light,

Fiery embers danced around him as he spoke.

ꡗꡡꡟꡂꡞꡓꡠꡏꡠꡓꡘꡏꡈꡜ

You grant me warmth,

His voice booming louder and louder with each word, and the embers flared up with it.

ꡋꡡꡓꡘꡏꡏꡠꡓꡞꡈꡜꡓꡠꡌꡡꡋ

Now grant me a weapon

The flaring flames foregathered around his clenched fist.

ꡈꡡꡌꡘꡡꡈꡠꡈꡏꡗꡌꡠꡡꡌꡙꡠ

To protect mine people!｣

‘Huh, so that’s how magic is supposed to sound like. Almost like a rhyme or a bad poem… whose syllable count is off? ’

He thrust his balled hand wreathed in flames towards the sky, and a fiery missile arced through the air leaving behind a blazing trail. The eyes of every man were drawn towards it. The imperial army realized too late where it would land. The siege engineers that manned one of the trebuchets abandoned their equipment and ran for cover as a burning comet descended towards them.

The lance made a magnificent explosion as it hit the trebuchet, quickly burning it down in seconds. Those who saw the ordeal erupted to cheers, while putting fear into the Empire's soldiers.

‘Damn… I wish I could punch out a siege engine from a hundred meters away.’

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>Archiving…

>New spell available for acquisition: Fire Lance.

‘Hoh, ask and answered.’

Outwardly he appeared not a bit different, but Alicia could tell his presence was diminished. He was putting up a strong front by force of will.

‘Mate, if you cast that one more time, you'll be lucky to stay upright; two and you'll collapse from exhaustion.’

‘Yeah… no…’

Earth trembled and fine brown dust engulfed the siege engines, swallowing them one by one, sowing chaos and confusion.

A web of cracks formed all over the surface of the ground, falling down in chunks. As the dust settled, it became clear that the ground had given way to a series of holes that gorged on the assailants.

Any would notice the great intensity and focus emanating from Alicia. To Reynold she had just cast a grand spell without a whisper. Its power and efficacy, visible from the great tragedy that befell the enemy.

Hearing that Alicia took a deep breath and recomposed herself, her usual demeanor returning to her. Enedra were quite resistant to immense weights of the earth bearing down upon them. Still due to her own untimely demise, she had developed a certain fear of falling objects.

She believed that her underdeveloped plan had hurt her familiars.

As the normalcy returned to her, ‘What great presence of mind to recover this rapidly’ he thought.

All of the enemy’s ranged siege engines were left in ruins. A miracle indeed, victory wasn't a given but now they had a fighting chance, the battle was far from over. The attackers rallied quickly from the incident and reorganized themselves. The infantry pushed a wall of newly assembled mantlets to protect themselves from arrow fire as they approached. Other groups manned battering rams under its protective canopy. The siege towers started their steady march, and troops that couldn’t fit inside its protective face, fashioned their own escalades, ladders out of wood. It was an all out assault. And as their heavy footfalls reached soil standing above the tunnels tenuously supported by silk and stone that the Enedra carved, it caved in as expected. The trapmakers having already abandoned their burrows.

Lacking depth it caused little more harm than a small landslide. Small injuries, impacted legs, crushed feet, it didn’t claim any lives unlike the previous ones and was mostly only a thorn to their side. Though combined with their recent misfortunes with the earth, it deeply shook the resolve of the troops who were caught up in it. The ravaged terrain proved difficult to traverse with the wheels of the heavy siege equipment. Though not impassable, it slowed down charge greatly, especially when being peppered by arrow fire from the walls.

‘They only managed to make two siege towers hm… if their plan went on without a hitch… they could have easily steamrolled their way into the city with their weapons. Well, I guess they’re an Empire for a reason…’

Though they were not the main targets, stray arrows still managed to reach their position.

>Incoming small arms fire.

>Requesting access to optical organs.

It wasn't uncommon for Alma to take control over certain parts of Alicia’s body, or carryboit actions on her behalf. Most of the time it was conveniently helpful.

‘Uhm… Granted?’

Alicia was curious to see what the Alma system was up to this time. And when she gave the permission her sight blurred out for a moment.

>Reinitializing…

>Threat tracer active.

She could see faint lines of blues shooting through the air when clarity returned to her sight. It didn't take long for her to realize that these were the lines plotting trajectories that projectiles and missiles would take. And soon after one of these quarrels would land near them again, the line that led ahead it turning more opaque and bright yellow. It would be a near miss. A warning not to carelessly walk into its line of fire. The line disappeared as soon as the arrow harmlessly struck the stone surface and bounced away. It was evident that these trajectories were being calculated on the spot, as even how it would bounce and where it would land were shown. With its accuracy, one would not be found at fault for thinking these were premonitions of the future. As Alicia was  marveling over the abilities of the threat tracer a sense of discomfort came over her. Scanning around found out that an arrow was in flight, with the expected spot to hit being directly on her body. The line that alerted her to this had become bright orange and with each passing moment as the missile drew near, the line darkened to deeper and deeper shade of red. Turning her body to the side, she evaded the shot at perhaps its last possible moment. The arrow flew past her and missed her.

‘Helpful… very helpful.’

The engagement was slow and drawn out with neither side wanting to back down; this stalemate was only beneficial to the defenders; it was then long after the battle dragged on Alicia saw another movement stirring within the army. A corps of individuals barely armored with robes and holding tall staves instead of blades. Some hooded others wearing wide brimmed conical hats. They were few in numbers compared to the thousands of soldiers around them.

‘I dig the whole cosplayer aesthetics but I don't think the empire is that into conventions to host one in the middle of a battlefield… which means…’

The spell from the tree of pyromancy had a maximum range to them. Weaker spells like fireball or firebolt lost intensity and speed  as it flew through the air before fizzling out finally. Even Alicia’s Pyroblast had one, though for a different reason - acetylene she mixed into its composition was highly unstable beyond atmospheric pressure and often reacted explosively to any additional stress, shooting it out exerted such pressure to an already delicate balance. However, if multiple weaker spells of the fire spell tree were used in tandem against the same target with the same intention then the spells would compound together. Allowing it to achieve what a single spell could never do so.

‘Yup those are mages!’

The gathering flames of their collective casting drew the attention of bowmen along the walls who in turn focused their hail of arrows towards the cadre. However the counterattack from the enemy did not allow for a clear shot. The rare odd arrows that would have managed to land bounced away and fell only a few inches away from hitting them magus.

‘Wards… need to either keep hitting them or hit with something big… And the ballistae are fresh out of ammunition. I mean, they were meant to scare away a big flying fuck off lizard every now and then, not deal with whatever this shitshow is…’

Few of the sorcerers had shifted towards providing protection for the others instead of contributing to the literal firepower. This slowed them down somewhat but was not enough to stop their spell. And so in a cacophonous chorus their voices cried out and an amalgamation of fire and fury flew towards the walls. As soon as it started its flight, the threat tracer had already charted its path and it led to-

Just as she foresaw, their combined ball of fire barely overshot the gatehouse off parts of it and landed on the street inside the walls. Buildings caught in its blast had their windows shattered and walls scorched. Without having seen it, the accompanying screams, pleas for help, and chaos gave a vivid image of the pandemonium.

‘What do you mean ‘one’? There’s more of those guys?!’

As Viveria’s garrison was still reeling from the blast, Alicia could see the Empire’s magi already preparing for their next attack.

Alicia was thoughtlessly muttering to herself based on her observations.

‘Ah…… I completely forgot about the aria, I should be able to improvise. Whether or not it's convincing… ah who cares.’

She took a deep breath as she walked up to the edge of the tower and extended out her palm in front of her. It started as a small sphere, barely visible, that spun growing larger and brighter by the second. It rapidly increased in size as more air was supplied, flaring and feathering. The fiery glow of orange quickly receded, giving way to a golden hue, a captivating spectacle that gave pause to the fighting between mortal enemies. Alicia was now entirely hidden behind the ball fire that looked to be the sun shining above the tower. Its wild featherings and stray flames grew tame as its tint changed to a brilliant blue calmly it was burning but just by the intensity of its brightness. It was clear that this was no ordinary spell.

The spell had reached its conclusion, and was ready to be flung to cause wanton destruction, just as she had done prior. And it was well enough suited for just that purpose and perhaps could even cause enough damage to make the Imperial army consider retreat. But she did not stop pouring mana into the sphere.

The tips of her platinum hair lost their iridescence and charred to a black that seemed to absorb the very light around it. Her eyes lost their luster of sapphire blue to an endless black. Darkness grew at the back of her mind, scratching, clawing. Arcane forces beyond the reach of magic, beyond the gods’ gaze intruded into this world. Whispers unintelligible, incomprehensible chitters and cracking sounds echoed inside her ears, inside her mind. It sounded almost as though they were telling her something…  just out of ear shot…  If only she had listened more intently, if she had paid more attention. She always thought it to be meaningless ramblings of something insane. Now it almost sounded familiar, like it was welcoming her… back home. Either she was growing more insane to be able to understand them or they were becoming more… human like. It was disturbing yet comforting. She felt herself being drained of energy, with the vast reserves she had this was a rare occasion that normal pyroblast never caused. The gnawing sensation of emptiness associated with the void filled her heart. This time however it caused not distress but soothing freedom from worry. Her energy transformed into that of the void’s now fueling the spell. The grand ball of fire suddenly collapsed in on itself into a teetering orb. The calm blue changed to a noxious green and within it one could almost make out a vertical iris, looking down on its prey that was mortal men.

‘Direct hit wouldn’t end well… so aim a little off and… fire in the hole.’

Auratic

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