Chapter 40 – Clive

After depositing Jurien's men in Far Reach for recovery and rest, I had Jurien and Malinor accompany me to meeting hall in my temple. As soon as I entered the hall, Natom was on his feet.

“You shouldn't have taken us away from the Akomoka border, Clive. Without you or us there, we’re asking for trouble. Devotion and Life are too soft.”

“I left Peace there. I dare you to say she’s soft. And in any case if you stop whinging and start listening, we can get to work and be back to that battle all the sooner. I thought you liked attacking Erangral anyway.”

“I do!” he said eagerly. “I just think we should have waited until Destruction and Mal had returned before we left."

“They'll be back soon enough. I've sent Danivra and the brothers to get them. Now focus. We need to work quickly on Erangral before Hakan doubles down on its defense.

“All I'm saying is that it's a risky move.”

“We're at war with the God of Goddamn Creation, Natom. Everything's risky!"

“Very true, very true,” he chuckled. “So what are we waiting for if we're in such a hurry?”

"Clive thought it would be best if we had some sort of a plan first," Sania answered for me. There were a few sniggers from Rakle and Kraeyuk as Natom was put in his place.

"Okay then. Let's hear the plan. But I think we can all guess what it will be. Myself, Kraeyuk, Rakle, Hizo, and Ulka will provide the firepower, Clive will drop their shields, and the rest of you…” He splayed his hands out in a sympathetic gesture. “I suppose, if anything goes wrong, it might be handy having you there as decoys while we escape.”

Kraeyuk laughed at that and slammed a big red hand down on the table before looking at me defensively. "It was funny!”

A self-satisfied looking Natom turned his attention to Jurien. “How much power can you two put out anyway? You have no ability to use your own cores yet?”

“I really don’t like you Natom, but you should know better than anyone. I’m still the Protector of the Center, so while I don't have the power's bestowed by Light, I do still have some weapons at my disposal, like teleportation and Fire of the Protector. Malinor is a stout defender and a quick learner. We will fight, and we will work to develop our own powers just as you have."

"Do you even have any points in Internal Connection?"

Both a worried Jurien and Malinor shook their heads.

“And you're all high leveled, so it's not as if you're exactly as if you’re going to jump through the levels is it? Meaning, you're all but useless."

"We are coming to recapture our capital and our country, Natom. And while I can't speak for Malinor, I received three levels when I accepted the bond with Clive. Three levels I’ve not allocated yet.”

Malinor grunted, looking uncomfortably at Natom. "I received five levels, from accepting the bond. Fifty points as yet unallocated.

Natom nodded grudgingly. "Well, that's something. We might be able to get you some of your own fireballs if you put them all in Internal Connection.”

"Natom, enough!” He met my eye, grinned, but fell silent. “You're right about one thing. You and the other more destructive types will be going first, and Sania and Grigor will back you up”.

Folding his arms he leaned back in his seat as if he’d won a battle. I ignored him and turned to Wind of the Wild. “I will get to your level increase, but right now, you're too weak for an assault on Erangral."

To my surprise, the old wolf nodded. "Agreed. In that case, I’ll return to Akomoka and provide what assistance I can there." He turned to Sania, bowed, and then teleported away.

“So, what will we do?” Jurien asked.

“First you need a crash course in using your core. I assume you have no idea?”

They both shook their heads.

"Great!” Natom croaked in from across the table.

We unanimously ignored the wanker and I continued. “Then first, I want to tell me if you can at least feel your cores and your meridians?"

"I can,” Jurien replied, and Malinor nodded his agreement.

"Can you push power from your core down them now you have Internal Connection?"

A few moments of concentration later led them both to shake their heads dejectedly.

“I'm not really sure what I'm doing,” Malinor grumbled.

"It should feel like this," I said, sending a tendril of Neuma down the Meridians of their right arms. Once there, I took a small portion of their power and pulled it back along the meridian to their hands. "Can you both feel it?"

Mute nods answered my question.

“And can you hold it if I pull my hold away.”

“Try,” Jurien answered with a grim but determined expression.

“I didn’t let go  let go all at once, but slowly reduced my hold until I could feel their will taking over. To his credit Jurien was faster in taking control of the power, but both of them held it impressively fast considering.

“Good. Now, with using your mind instruct it to become some form of attack. One you're familiar with from light."

They each focused and a few seconds passed with nothing happening at all until a small, sputtering attack appeared in Jurien’s hand. He gasped and lost the attack immediately, but within seconds, he’d pulled Neuma back along his arm and recreated the attack.

I smiled and clapped him on the shoulder. “I had a feeling you'd pick it up fast.

He turned to Malinor who still held the power from his core in the meridians of his hand but had yet to create anything. “I chose Raw Illumination. It seemed the most basic of our old attacks.”

Malinor nodded mutely and a few seconds later the same attack appeared in his hand.

“Perfect!” I cheered. “You're still limited by the amount of Internal Connection you have, so I suggest you focus any incoming power into the stat.”

Jurien recreated the blast and let it disappear again as I spoke.

“Don’t use up too much of your energy, I warned. You’ll probably need it. You two are going in my Void Storage. Once I’m inside of Erangal’s shield, I’m going to let you out somewhere quiet. Then I’m going to find and nullify Hakan’s altar. That should drop his shield.”

“Which means we can enter the city?” Kraeyuk asked.

“That’s exactly what it means. But don’t kill the normal people. Just any mutations we see. The main aim is giving me a further distraction to get the bond cutting shield up.”

“You’ll have your distraction,” Natom said. “Have you considered that clarting around with Hakan’s altar might actually bring him? Are you ready for that?”

I shrugged. “He could turn up at any moment and we have to deal with him one way or another. Now he’s regained some of his strength, I’d like to avoid a face to face for a little longer, but… well, we’re at war. Expect the worst, hey?

“But you’re our one chance of surviving this,” he snapped back. “Putting you smack bang in the center of his territory seems unnecessarily risky. Even if it gives us a planet wide Sphere.”

I could see Sania nodding along to Natom’s words.

“Well, I do have an auxiliary plan if he turns up. It’s not fully formed yet. More of a general direction.” I glanced over to Joel who’d been silent until now. “Is it ready?

“You bet your ass it is. It cost a ton, so don’t go losing it or breaking it on the first run out.”

“I’ll try my best mate, but that is kind of the point. Better it than me, right?”

Joel didn’t look so certain. Everyone else looked between us with curiosity. They’d see soon enough. I closed my eyes and took control of the much more  powerful Avatar that had reformed on the altar below.

This was the first time I’d split my consciousness fully to navigate two bodies independently, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But it seemed to be no issue at all now I had a fused core and all that entailed. It was almost like I was two different Clive’s, with an only a vague awareness of the other though at the same time intuitively knowing everything going on with the other. To say it was a surreal experience was an understatement and I got to wondering how many Avatars I could operate at once, and still able to function. As I encouraged my friends to have a little patience in the meeting hall, I teleported from the altar to the meeting room, marvelling at the amount of Neuma Joel had managed to stuff into the fake approximation of a core he’d lovingly installed.

“Hey all,” I said, waving to those gathered from my avatar. “Now you get double the Clive! How lucky are you all?”

“You’re sending that in your stead?” Natom asked.

“Hey,” Avatar me pouted. “I’m not a that. I’m a Clive! Same feelings and everything. So don’t piss me off.”

Natom looked back to me, I could tell he was checking how lucid I was. They all were.

“Still here too,” I replied, walking over to the avatar, and offering a high five. He accepted immediately, our identically armored hands clashing together. Then turned to Jurien and Malinor. “You two, in the Void Storage with me. “Real Clive is going to get the ball rolling.”

“So you’re not sending it in. You’re keeping it as back up?” Kraeyuk asked.

“Exactly right. Not sure if it’ll convince anyone, but he’s there if I need him.”

“Now!” I announced opening my Void Storage. “And a need to work as quickly as possible, everyone get going. Stay light and nimble around Erangral. Don’t get pinned down. You’re on distraction duty. Soften them up where you can but mainly go for big bright and spectacular and most importantly, stay safe.”

With those words, my determined looking friends teleported away while my avatar, Jurien and Malinor disappeared into storage.

With only Joel and I left in the room, I turned to speak with him about what he’d learned for the Guardians. No sooner as I’d opened my mouth than Aly interrupted.

Clive! I've been asked to warn you of the troubles Danivra is already facing on Talitus. There seems to be some kind of disturbance on the planet preventing them from using the transport totems. However, we have roused the Guardians and one of them is now working on creating a master totem specific to the admin hub which will allow them to enter the planet and return.

“Well shit, that really doesn't sound good. You think they’ll be okay? I can come and help if they need me, but I’d need to pull the others I’ve just sent to Erangral back.”

As it stands, I do not believe Danivra wishes for your help. Only to be aware of the situation.

“Right, got it. And tell her thanks for keeping me in the loop. If they need me, I’ll find a way to get there as soon as possible.”

I will let her know.

Joel leaned against a column of the temple meeting room, arms folded, a slight grin on his face. “Maybe we should chit chat later Clive. As far as I can tell, you just sent your nearest and dearest to one of the most dangerous places on Falritas as bait.”

“Distraction you wanker. But yeah, I’ll catch up with you later. Will you keep an eye on the Sphere in Akomoka?”