I spent the rest of the morning with Charly as we treated all the wounded. Luckily, others from the village were also there to help or it would have taken days to finish helping all of them.
My father and Donte were still busy scouring the forest for any other survivors, while my mother helped everyone the best she could. She had a way with words that helped the grieving pick themselves up and help others in the village.
It was past midday when I finally got a chance to eat. Famished, I dug into our supplies and stuffed as much as I could into my mouth, earning me a stern look from my mother that I ignored.
We had done all we could for the little village short of rebuilding it. There were many bodies to bury, but that would take days we did not have. In the end, the help we could give was limited.
An elderly woman approached our wagon while we were eating. I recognized her as one of the many treating the injured earlier in the day.
“I wanted to thank you for all you have done for us,” The elderly woman said, holding out a small pouch to my father, “We do not have much, but a few other villagers and I wanted to give you what we could.”
“Keep it,” My father replied, pushing the small coin purse away, “Our family has no lack of money. You need it more than us.”
“To think I used to call all outsiders greedy. You are truly a beacon of hope in this dark hour. If you do not want money, then at least take this as a token of my appreciation. My son would not be alive if not for you killing those fiends. It is not worth much but my grandfather used to say it was very precious,” The woman said, holding out a small blue pebble.
My father was about to refuse the woman again when I interrupted him. “Thank you very much we will happily accept,” I said trying to keep my excitement down as I practically snatched the stone out of her hand.
The old woman chuckled. “I am glad you like it.”
My father scowled at me but still politely thanked the elderly woman and wished her well. Honestly, I did not pay attention to the rest of the conversation. I was far too focused on my prize.
I rubbed the stone joyously, counting the light blue lines that almost seemed to glow. That old woman had no idea what she had just given away.
This was a rift stone, one of the key ingredients to open a door between realms. I had thought I got rid of all of them when I closed the doors to this realm to keep Envy out the first time. Back then, I transferred every stone I could find to the Thirteenth Division for fear of a traitor on this side of the realm. Apparently, I missed a few.
How long the rift could be opened and how stable the doorway, was dictated by the number of lines on the stone. Anything with more than three lines was extremely rare, allowing a dozen people to pass through every couple of hours. So long as they were not too strong and did not destabilize the doorway, it would be similar to the window Envy was using to send Demonkin into Ater-Albus.
A stone with five lines would be powerful enough to support an endless stream of normal soldiers passing between the realms. A stone with nine lines was required to allow a being as powerful as Envy to pass through without collapsing. Even in my peak, a rift stone like that was rare beyond belief. Ten thousand rift stones, all bearing five lines, might not be able to match the power of a single rift stone with nine.
This stone had four lines. It would not be enough to get any meaningful reinforcements from the divisions, but it would be stable enough that they might be able to send supplies. Something like this could be the difference between victory and defeat in the war.
Now all I needed were a few other materials. Creating a rift was a complicated process and took time to set up, but they were well worth the effort. Rifts were not only useful for sending supplies. They radiated enormous amounts of chaotic energy. For those attempting to increase the raw power of their innate talent, there was nothing better.
However, there was danger involved in opening a rift. If I did, it would destabilize space for a time. This would let Envy open his rift sooner, endangering everyone. I would have to save it for after the invasion began. Otherwise, it would do more harm than good.
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While my parents gathered everything to resume our journey, I made the rift stone into a necklace. Until it was the right time to use the stone, I wanted a way to always keep an eye on it, and this was the best way I could think of.
If that traitor found something like this, Envy’s invasion would change from happening in months to happening in days. It was not something I could allow.
While I worked, Nox meekly rested on my lap. My little stunt the night before left him completely devoid of energy. He was so weak now that he could not transform even if I took the collar completely off of him. I had no idea how long it would last either. While I had siphoned energy from my undead in the past, usually there was a great number of them to share the burden. I had never tried it with just a single creature because I had always been significantly stronger than my puppets. A single creature’s energy would have been no more than a glass of water dropped in the ocean.
For all I knew, Nox might never recover. I could feed my flames to him, and over time he might grow powerful again, but regaining the strength I took might be impossible for the small kitten.
Still, it was an important test despite the consequences. I knew of others like Nox that I left behind to guard specific locations across the land. Many of those undead should be significantly stronger than Nox as well. I would have trouble controlling creatures with that much power, but without my Chronicle, siphoning their energy might be the best way to stand against Envy when the invasion begins.
“That necklace is really pretty,” Donte said, climbing on top of the wagon to join me.
“Thanks,” I mumbled, blushing. I quickly tucked the necklace under my shirt, hiding it from view. As Donte spoke, I was careful this time, making sure my new innate talent did not activate on its own. I did not want a repeat of what happened the day before.
“I have been thinking about yesterday,” Donte said, fidgeting uncomfortably, “I was so excited learning what you were that I was unable to really process what it meant. Later, when the excitement faded, I was terrified. All the stories about you…”
Donte powered through the stifling silence as he continued to speak, “I just wanted to know… Why did you help me? After my Mum died, you took me in. You did not even know anything about me, but you gave me a roof over my head, food to eat, and purpose when there was none. You brought me into your family and never asked anything in return. Why?”
“Because I felt like it,” I replied with a shrug, “If you want some eloquent speech about kindness or how I saw greatness in you then will have to look somewhere else. There is no grand reason behind my actions. There rarely ever is. I simply act however I want. That is the motto of the Thirteenth Division the others and I built. Move without fear. Act without hesitation. Live without regrets.” I waved my hand dismissively as I spoke. “Or something like that. Our leader keeps changing the motto every time he says it.”
“That seems… irresponsible.”
“But it does not change the core of the message. Do what you feel is right. Fearing the consequence is pointless.”
Donte paused for a moment before nodding. “Last night, at first I was scared, but after some time I realized that who you are changes nothing. Great Empress or naïve girl, it does not change what you did for me. I wanted to… Thank you… for being there for me. If I was still alone in the slums, I don’t know what I would have done.”
“You would have been fine even without me.”
“No. I wouldn’t have.” Donte replied, shaking his head. He hesitated, struggling to find the correct words to express himself. “Your pop has been teaching me a lot about what it means to be a knight. I think… even before he accepted me as his squire. He said that a knight’s duty is to protect. That, if I want to be a true knight, I will need to find something worth protecting.” He paused for a moment. His mouth opened but no words came out. Instead, he moved. Kneeling awkwardly in front of me before shouting. “I want to be your knight!”
I failed to stifle a laugh at Donte’s clumsy display. His face grew red in embarrassment, but he did not stop kneeling.
“I am serious!” he shouted obstinately, interrupting my laughter, “If not for you I would still be alone in the slums. To survive by myself, I would have been forced to do horrible things and probably end up rotting in prison. You gave me purpose. You gave me a home. This is what I feel is right! What I want to protect is you!”
I was not laughing anymore as I realized he was serious. This time it was my turn to glow red in embarrassment. I could feel the heat rush to my face.
“I…” Squirming uncomfortably, I tried to find the right words to express myself. He looked at me expectantly, but I had no idea how to respond. “Ok.” I managed to squeak out before a bellowing voice interrupted us.
“You have to finish your squire training before you can serve anyone as a knight,” My father said, glaring at Donte with a look that made even me feel chills.
I turned my head to see all three of my family looking up at us, my father’s glare, my mother had an eyebrow raised, and Charly had a massive grin that stretched from ear to ear. My face flushed even further. I felt the urge to crawl into a hole and hide there.
Donte stuttered for a moment, acting like he got caught red-handed doing something illegal. In a single moment, my new knight was brought down by a glare from my father.