[Warpworld] Ch 28 – Moving Right Along...

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            I left the elves to mull over that viewpoint with their elf-centric views on things, and decide whether making great good friends or wiping us all out fit with their views. I was sure a significant chunk of the population would happily endorse the latter, as the older race viewed themselves as absolutely more important than a younger one.

            I was also sure they were denying the logical leap that they had likely been engineered from the native humans, especially since my topical gene scans indicated we could still interbreed. They had to be aware of that, but I imagined the fate of half-breeds wasn’t pleasant in a world like this, despised by both sides of their specist ancestors, and likely more born of violence than anything intimate and loving.

            I spent an hour, multiplied by ten, in my Sanctum, making preparations for the future, working on some stuff, before coming back outside, the illusion I’d left behind up top making it seem like I’d never left.

------

            The Warp winds were picking up as we closed on the mountains. I smiled to myself, stopped the Domain growth entirely again, and concentrated on reinforcement once again.

            A good engineer will, if at all possible, try to vastly enhance the redline capabilities and danger thresholds of what they work on. Mulcaster had been a firm believer in the Miracle Worker Engineer principle, which was all about building specs on stuff and exceeding them by a huge margin so you could work miracles in emergencies.

            With magic, that was all definitely possible, using the twin miracles of high Quality Level and additional goldweight.

            I had the Quality Level down very pat. I didn’t have the excess gold for something the size of a Pyramid, but that was okay. I was doing that from the other side, with continuous magical reinforcement, and the Warp Gods were helpfully supplying the raw energy in heaps and gobs, certainly far, far faster than I could have done so myself!

            Their people were supplying me Artifice and valuable geegaws to Burn, too. What was not to love?

            I could even have put some of that energy towards making the Pyramid move faster, but why? Slow and steady, and as they threw more energy at me, they reinforced the Domain and the Pyramid, allowing it to absorb more energy faster in a virtuous loop of cause and effect.

            The streams of vivus from all directions were growing much, much thicker. The elves noticed the brooks had become streams and were turning into rivers, but I was utterly unconcerned as the area about us tried to push back the Domain, deluded themselves that they had stopped its expansion, and instead just made us stronger as the Pyramid continued to ramp up.

            For this purpose, considering I was dealing with gods, I had built in a 10x expectation threshold, so I could really take a pounding... and I could easily shrink the Domain down to magnify what I could tolerate while ameliorating the amount they could bring to bear by making the target smaller.

            Win-win!

            Our two-mph crawl forward continued. Warhosts of the Warp were gathering, and occasionally charged into the Domain, to soon Burn and die.

-------

            “Dragons, Phoenixes!” I called out, the Whiskers of the Wild bright on my face. The aforementioned beasts, carefully spread out on either side of the stairs in the southeast quadrant, all perked up and rounded on me, surprising their masters.

            “I’ve overheard that there might be a supply issue with you,” I addressed them directly, standing there on the stairs, undeterred by their attention. The dragons all had both ferocity and caution in their gazes, as they could sense my Draconic Title on me, but didn’t know what it was. “Is this true?”

            I was the glaus nûrg mönt, the White Death King, and they knew the Title was there, they just didn’t know exactly what it was or why I had it.

            Also, they could sense the same thing the Phoenixes could, which was my Void Phoenix Bloodline. It raised all the caution flags on the one side, and instinctive empathy and awe on the other side.

            They were dragons on one side, and the greatest of magical beasts on the other. They could go without food for a long time, but that didn’t mean they wanted to. Their calls to me were instant and emphatic.

            “Right, then. I’m going to be making some food for you. It’s called manna, it’s Divine in origin, and will satisfy all your needs, although it may not make you feel full, because you don’t need gobs of it. I will do so again tomorrow and so forth while you are still here.”

            Before the elves could speak up against the idea of a human feeding their mounts, I whipped up the block of manna, a big old four-foot cube of the stuff, sliced it apart, and sent what amounted to big stacks of Divinely-fueled giant apple-pancakes over in front of all of the creatures. They didn’t even have to move.

            “You cannot presume for us to trust-,” began the sharp words of one of the riders.

            “They are in no danger but satisfying their appetites. Truth,” I responded blandly.

            The elves buckled and rocked, over half of them leaking blood from their eyes and noses at the Word of Creation. The Dragons and Phoenixes, however, all got very wide-eyed, and a second later were tearing into their meals, no hesitation to them at all.

            I waited patiently for them to finish, which, given their size and hearty appetites, didn’t actually take all that long. Up top higher on the Pyramid, Ices and Feature looked on, casually munching down their own meals.

            “Dragons, Phoenixes, gather around,” I said, sitting down on the stairs. Bellies not full, but definitely placated, the dragons stalked and the big mystical birds fluttered up and down the larger blocks promptly, their riders about to call out in dismay, then clutching at their noses and deciding to just glare at me and look on.

            “Dragons, I will not conceal this from you. I am the glaus nûrg mönt, and I earned the Title with the deaths of many dragons who were preying upon my people.” I shifted my Heartscale Cloak into being about my shoulders, and all of the dragons hissed and drew back as it wrapped me in the deadliest kind of anathema to their kind.

            It was a lot of heartscales. They were trembling slightly as they looked at me, and felt just how many dragons had died at my hands. MY hands, and mine alone. They echoed about me, and made it damn plain I had earned that Title.

            “I say this in Truth: you are in no danger from me if you aid my cause, comport yourselves with honor, and stand against the Warp.”

            And like that, they utterly relaxed, as the Truth of it was complete, and I was not a threat to them if they were not a threat to me and mine. I was only powerful and dangerous, and dragons respected both qualities.

            Ignoring the shocked elves, I turned to the very attentive Phoenixes as I popped my Wings.

            The magical things filled with stars drew chirps and calls of delight, astonishment, and reverence from all of the great Birds, their eyes literally shining as they looked upon the Sign of my second Bloodline.

            “I am tied to the Void Phoenix, who traverses the ways between worlds, where stars burn forever in the endless night, light and darkness, starfire and voidcold together in infinity. I bear no malice towards the members of your species, nor desire for domination. I will comport myself with the honor and reverence I give to the progenitor of my magical Bloodline, and I thank you for your help and consideration in coming here.”

            The great Avians all feathered up and swelled with pride at my words, chirping and calling out greetings to a friendly and very powerful junior of their kind, the kind blessed with a transcendent lineage, literally walking royalty even among their species.

            “What I would like to do is give you all weapons to fight against the Warp. Feature, come down here, please!”

            I didn’t actually need to call him, but he came undulating obediently down the Pyramid, wings spread out more for effect than need, arriving above me and encircling me once possessively, like a throne forming above and behind me, showing that I was HIS rider, and nobody else’s.

            The dragons and phoenixes all nodded slightly in acknowledgment of the show. They didn’t know exactly what Feature was, but it was obvious he was VERY powerful, his status as my mount gave him great power, and our bond was not something they could challenge, even if they wanted to.

            That being said, I could have challenged any rider there and easily won the service of any or all of these great beasts, and I knew some of them who had links to their mounts could feel it by how uneasily they were looking at me.

            “Feature, ignite your claws. Show them your fangs.”

            He obligingly did so, spreading the silvery arches wide, opening his jaws as Gold and unwhite fires ignited across all of them, played down the spinal crest along his back, along the edges and clawpoints of his wings, and seemed to form a glittering sphere at the end of his tail. Too, they could see the same fires and lights glittering between his scales, sure signs of magical reinforcement.

            The onlooking Beasts all were completely dazzled by the display as he reared back, wings spread, talons open, jaws gaping, even the two horns on his head Burning with the power. They could sense the seething magic at work there, feel its strength, and knew he was massively stronger than he appeared, far beyond even the default strength and danger they could feel from him.

            I waved a hand, and a stack of gold ingots de-Compressed next to me, floating on a Disk. Even the elves blinked at the casual fortune suddenly floating next to me, and the dragons all fixated on it greedily.

            “If it pleases my elders, I would like to arm you with the same vivus as Feature bears. You will find that it helps you with breathing and resting, it cleanses the stain of the Warp and unnatural energies from it and you, meaning you cannot be twisted by them, and naturally enough they will prove deadly against things of the Warp.

            “My only request for these boons is that you not wield them against living things that have not fallen to the unnatural. These are tools meant to defy the darkness that would consume all, not the motivations and ambitions of smaller things.”

            There were rumbles and chirps from both sides, solemn promises right to the soul that such gifts would not be employed in lesser causes. The elves about all flushed as they realized that it meant I would be giving their own mounts powerful gifts... which would not be employed in mere service to the elvish crown, they would have to be for a higher purpose.

            I nodded as I heard their promises, and I began to Cast.

            Mass Greater Magic Weapon, Mass Holy Weapon, Mass Vivic Weapon, Mass Barkskin, Mass Protection from Evil, and Mass Permanency to back every single Casting.

            The dragons and phoenixes all screamed and called out excitedly, trying not to flap their wings, crying out in exultation as they felt the power of my magic settling over them, sinking into them, binding to beak and horns and wings and talons and scales and fangs, never to go away. It was all clearly, powerfully Aligned with a great and lofty noble power whose sanctity they had never touched before, but which clearly resonated with a greatness and nobility of purpose which rang in all their mighty spirits.

            The wide-eyed elves looked on in wonder as the fires ignited on their mighty, proud, and ferocious mounts, seeming to transfigure dragon and phoenix alike as they did so. A Light from On High swirled around them, the blessings of a Heaven they did not know nor recognize made manifest, and now it seemed as if phoenix and dragons alike were celestial things, blessed by a greater transcendent sphere than anything they knew.

            The first elf went down on his knee before the awesome gleaming power and beauty of their mounts, and slowly, the awestruck rest of them did the same...

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