Chapter 13

“Shit, Clive. We went way too far,” Joel hissed as my mind was filled with notifications.

“I can feel it. We’re at the borders of Holse and Vemerak. We…” I paused following the extent. “Yep. We got Baering in as well.”

“And Karoth!” Destruction said with a wide smile.

“Yeah. That was way bigger than I’d expected.” I replied.

“I just hope we didn’t bloody hurt anyone,” Joel added.

“Some of War’s forces,” Destruction answered. “While the Sphere has been slightly misshapen to go around his land, some of his army were across the border in Akomoka.”

I frowned at her. “I haven’t gotten that notification yet. I always get an option with what to do with foreign bodies.

“Ah. Well Clive. My focus was on Akomoka, and I may have already chosen an option. Ten thousand fewer opponents down here to deal with is quite a boon, is it not? I probably should have checked with you and Peace first.”

“Kill them all, for me,” Peace said through the portal from her temple.

A number of thoughts ran through my mind, chief among them was the discomfort at other people making those kinds of decisions for me in my Sphere. Then I cast off the  negative feelings. Not everything was my responsibility and I’d agreed to share my Sphere with Ancient Goddesses. So I shrugged. “One less thing for me to chew over. All told this is fantastic. We can migrate Life’s people into Malatia, and…” I looked through to Peace. “Will you be okay moving your people to Knuntang until the danger passes?”

“I have little choice. I’ll speak with Dawnsinger once we are finished here.”

“Good, I’ll go see Life’s people and then I’ll help as much as I can.”

“Wait,” Joel said suddenly. “Sophie asked me to pass on a message as soon as you got back. We’re having problems back on Earth. Not long after you left with Mal, fleets from both the US and the Chinese governments showed up. They’re attacking the Pacific Sphere. She asked if you could help as they’re not listening to anything. Just keep repeating the same old bullshit. Drop the Sphere and surrender.”

“Just tell her to ignore them for now. They’ll soon get bored when they realise they’re powerless. I’ll head back as soon as I can, but we have bigger fish to fry right now.”

“I don’t think you get it, man. The people living there are getting antsy. Can you imagine what it must be like for people from Earth agreeing to follow you only to be continually bombarded by two of the biggest governments on the planet? I even had your mam and dad were asking where you’d disappeared to."

I couldn’t fight my own scowl this time. "Well, of all the things I've got to fucking worry about, letting those two know where I am definitely isn't one of them."

“You don't have to be a dick about it, man. If you’re happy to bring all that shit down on them and not spare a half hour to go and help out when they’re all shitting themselves, then that’s your deal. I’m just letting you know. Oh, and there’s no reprieve at the farm either. The UK government has the whole place cordoned off, two mile in each direction. Full Military camp. Roads closed down, the works. It’s causing absolute havoc around the city.”

I sighed. "For fuck’s sake Joel. Way to make me feel guilty about it. I’ll head back, but they’ll have to wait until I have Life's people safe first.”

“While you’ve been gone, farting about on Onnekus, Danivra’s already spoken to most of Life’s people. Hell, most of them should be your followers by now, right?”

To my shame I wasn’t actually sure, but I checked over my bonds and the locations they led. I was at around six million followers now and as Joel had said, a good amount led down to Cethain. “I have a few hundred thousand down there yeah.”

“So how about you let your followers know what’s happening and have them spread the word. Then we can use all the paladins and priests you have open portals to bring them although. Because they’re not doing anything other than waiting for you to save them at the minute and they’ll probably be grateful for something useful to do, while you go do something no one else can and sort the shit storm you caused on Earth out. With your interpersonal skills, I’m positive you can fix the problem in less than an hour… or make it twenty times worse. Either way, at least you’ll have tried!”

“And what if Hakan shows up here or in Cethain?”

“Where the hell are you going? The Abyssal planes? If he turns up, then bloody teleport to where he is, and kick his fucking ass, Clive. Life’s hard enough without you making it harder than it needs to be.”

He made a fair point. “I suppose I can spare an hour or so. There’ll be no nicey nice this time, though.”

“What? You mean you’re not going to spend a day or two getting interrogated?”

“Nope. It’s time to make a statement I reckon. The Sphere’s there to stay, so… did Sophie come up with a name for that place yet?”

“Yep,” he replied proudly. “It’s called Cliveland.”

“You better be fucking joking,” I grumbled.

He managed to hold a straight face for a few moments before breaking. “She called it Roker Island because it’s where all this started.”

“For us as well as her,” I pointed out.

“A long time ago on a seafront far away. Now get off with you, Clive. Time’s a ticking.”

“I will, boss. Just as soon as I’ve popped to see Sania and the others.”

Destruction and I left Joel to his work, flying up to the forsaken lands where the others were training. I figured we needed a better name for that place too, as it wasn’t really Forsaken any more.

As we arrived, I found half of them arguing and half of them standing around in dumbfounded worry. They stopped as soon as they saw us, but the tension in the air was still palpable.

“I take it’ it’s not going well?”

“No, it’s bloody not,” Mal huffed. “On account of Hakan being a wanker. “The only thing that’s impressive is that Kraeyuk and Rakle are actually siding with him. I looked to Sania, and she nodded.

“Mal is trying to teach us how to manipulate the weaves using shields as a base to learn from, but those three only want to… blow things up. I’m with Mal on this. I think we need to have an all-round solid foundation of power first. If we can’t protect ourselves, we’ll be doomed.”

“An overwhelming offensive repertoire makes for an excellent defense!” Natom snapped. “The same cannot be said of the reverse. I’m more than happy to learn how to dispel Neuma, but I don’t want to waste what little time we have learning to make shields that I’m not going to use!”

I looked over to Danivra, who stood with her arms crossed, already looking every inch a goddess. “What do you say?”

“That this is a mess. I’ve been giving it some thought as we’ve tried to train and I’m inclined,” she said casting an apologetic eye over to Mal. “To side with Natom on this. At least for now. We are all in the infancy of using our powers and none of it is natural, though some powers come easier than others for each of us. We should first perhaps focus on what comes naturally first.

“Once we develop our understanding of our own powers and limitations, then we may be able to develop skills less natural.”

I nodded at her words. “Fair enough. Natom, Destruction, Kraeyuk and Rakle. You like to fuck shit up. Go somewhere quiet and work out how to do it with resounding competence. You’ll need to learn how to dispel attacks and prevent your own attacks from being snuffed out as well. So keep that in mind.

“Mal, you’ve been working hard on shields a bunch anyway. It makes sense for you to focus on our defenses. I looked to a very quiet Harle, Karius and Gabriella, who were clearly standing in support of Mal’s arguments. They were also all ex- followers of Devotion, which meant protection rather than violence would have been the mantra of their lives. Does that feel like something you guys would be more interested in?”

“They all nodded.” Mal smiled. “You know what mate? This could actually work out a lot better. If that bunch of Psychos become even greater wrecking machines, and we can provide a hefty defense, then we’d probably work together well. Why learn everything when we can complement each other.

“Sounds good to me for now. We’ll see how you progress, but I can see it being more effective use of time. I probably should have thought about it before.”

“Better late than never. Smaller groups will be much better too.”

“It does leave the question of what will you guys do?” I said turning to the Wultr and Dokalfar among our number. “Defense or Offense?”

“Offense for us,” Danivra said quickly. “But we are dokalfar, not demons or deranged humans. We work from stealth, we attack from the shadows.”

“Yep. That makes a lot of sense. So, Danivra, Andalar and Aslin, you are our stealth attack and I get the sense being able surprise attack our enemies will be very fucking useful.”

Finally I turned to Sania, Grigor and Wind of the Wild. “Does that suit you guys as well?

Wind of the Wild nodded. “It seems like something that would fit, yes. We are stealthy.”

“We’re more hunters than fighters. Scouts rather than frontline, until there is no other choice,” Sania offered. "We could definitely work well with the Dokalfar, but with our far sight through the eyes of the Beast kin, I feel our skills lend themselves more to hunting our enemies. You need all the help you can get with that too, do you not?”

“I do,” I replied, thoughtfully. Truthfully I wasn’t bothered about what any of them wanted to do so long as they were all happy and they were all learning to use their Ethereal Cores. Even so, it was a good idea.

“Hopefully this will work better. I’ll come around and train with you all, in a bit, but I’ve promised Joel that I’ll head back to Earth to deal with the little military issue. Once I’m back, I’m going to make another effort at hunting down Hakan. He almost had me on Onnekus, but when I reappeared he damn near caked his kegs and ran.”

“That sounds like a story I’d want to hear,” Sania said.

“And you will. Later. Right now train so you can help me catch the bastard.

With a feral grin, she beckoned to the other two Wultr to her and we all got about our business.