Warning

  “What now?” Naha asked as they sat on top of a hill and watched the enemy's procession far in the distance. Their destination had become more and more apparent the longer they watched them. True, there was still room for mistakes, but Naha doubted they were wrong, and Zach’s projections put their conclusion at over ninety percent likelihood of being accurate.

  It was obvious to them both, and it was a sound strategy. The sects had started their offensive, hitting them where it hurt now could slow or even halt the sect advance outright.

  “We need to warn them,” Zach answered her question.

  Naha turned and gave him a long look. “Any idea how?”

  They had been following the enemy for days until it became apparent where they were going. After, they tried to leave for the Real Realm, unsuccessfully.

  “Their devices are still keeping the area locked down,” Zach said, unnecessarily, as she was very much aware of it.

  Their usual communication methods didn’t work in the Ethereal. They couldn’t use their Far-link Orb to warn the sects from here; they had to cross over for that.

  They had attempted to return to the Real Realm and found that they were being blocked. Which was a surprise, they hadn’t known that the empire had means of preventing someone as powerful as Zach from opening a portal.

  “We might need to risk it,” Naha added.

  Zach grimaced. They still had the option of moving out of the area of effect of whatever device the empire was using, then crossing over there. The reason why they haven’t done that was simple. The Ethereal was erratic, even more so without the Grand Spirit of Change around. They couldn’t be sure where he would cross over. The empire was doing something to stabilize the landscape; once they moved away from them, it would start shifting again, carrying them who knew where.

  Zach had a certain amount of control of where he would cross over. Or at least he used to, but something had changed lately. Their movements in the core had been more difficult of late. It was as if something was impacting the barriers between the Planes. Even Naha could feel it. Her connection to Shadow would feel closer one moment, then suddenly far away.

  They’ve been meaning to investigate, but they just didn’t have enough time.

  “We could wait until they reach their destination, they have to open a way through,” Zach said.

  “That would give us no time to warn them,” Naha added.

  Zach grimaced, his eyes were on the enemy in the distance. His eyes hazy, as if he wasn’t really looking at them. And he wasn’t. He was in a trance, looking at the small pieces of information they knew, trying to make leaps and connections that would let him know exactly what they were doing.

  She could feel the connection to another Plane within him, he was drawing from the Plane of Knowledge. She was feeding him as much information as she could; she had studied the enemy procession through shadows. It was harder to see here in the Ethereal, but she was very close to her Aspect.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “We could just attack,” Zach said, but he didn’t really mean it. They had already discussed this, and had come to the conclusion that it was a risk, even for them. The empire wasn’t playing around. They’ve brought a few of their mechs as well as other types of weapons that neither Zach nor Naha had ever seen before. Without seeing them in action, both of them were reluctant to strike. And that was without even counting the thousands of shades with them.

  “We split up,” Naha said finally. It had been their backup plan for a while. Now, they were rapidly approaching their destination and running out of time.

  “I don’t like that,” Zach said, again.

  “You go out of the area of influence and cross over, then warn the sects and head over to help. I’ll strike once they start crossing over.”

  The moment Zach returned to the Real Realm, he would be able to use a Far-link Orb to let the Twilight Melody Sect know what was coming. Hopefully, he wouldn’t end up too far away from them that he couldn’t arrive in time to help.

  “The more you delay, the less time you’ll have to get over there.”

  Hopefully, he wouldn’t end up too far away from them that he couldn’t arrive in time to help.

  “Damn it,” Zach sighed. “Fine, but I don’t like it.”

  “You never like it when we’re separated,” Naha reached over and ran her fingers across his cheek.

  “Of course I don’t, but I understand,” Zach leaned in to her touch and closed his eyes. “I’ll head there immediately once I cross over. Hopefully they’ll have enough time to get ready. I don’t know what time dilation we are working with here.”

  “I’ll hit them the moment they open the way to the Real Realm,” Naha told him.

  “Be safe, please,” Zach told her.

  “Always, go, no time to waste.”

  He nodded, then stood and turned around. Wind picked up around him and then he was flying away, quickly vanishing from her sight.

  Naha turned her attention to the enemy ahead. She sank in her shadow and drew closer, looking with a thousand eyes out of the shadows of her foes. She listened to their conversations, trying to learn more, but knew that it was unlikely. She had been watching and listening for days now, and hadn’t learned much beyond their plans to attack the sects—the Twilight Melody Sect more precisely.

  Their plan was to deal a blow that forced the Twilight Melody Sect to pull back their offensive. It might even work, if it was successful. Though not for long. She knew enough about Ryun to know that he wouldn’t be cowed for long, and it would destroy all the work that Zach had done with the leaders of various factions in the Core.

  Ryun wouldn’t forgive a second attack on his home, not if it was even remotely successful.

  No, they had to stop them fully. She only hoped that Zach would be able to warn the sect in time. Time moved differently between the two Realms, and they didn’t know how much of it they had.

  Naha took the time to prepare, shaping her Shadow constructs, getting ready to strike at a moment’s notice. She watched patiently as they marched, and a day later she started to recognize the terrain around them. They had nearly reached their destination.

  A giant wall made out of grown wood rose in the distance, twining around a mountain. She knew that it was the wall that circled the Twilight Melody Sect main territory, their seat of power.

  The empire’s force walked through the gates that shimmered and twisted, their reflection in the Ethereal not quite there. Then they were inside the territory, and the city of Consequence rose in the distance.

  She kept a close watch at the cthul among the enemy. She knew that Consequence had protections against intrusions from the Ethereal; she could feel them even. A force pressing down on everything around them. It anchored this place in the Ethereal, but also kept any spirits from wanting to make this place their home.

  Perhaps the stronger ones might’ve been able to force themselves to ignore the effect, but the more animalistic ones certainly wouldn’t.

  They marched right up to the walls of the city, then stopped. She caught pieces of conversation and learned that they would be unable to open up a portal inside the walls; the protections were stronger there.

  They started giving out orders and got their force in formation, getting ready to spill through in seconds. Only after everyone was in position did they start activating their portal device. Naha watched from the shadows and waited for her chance to strike.