In the evening, I sat alone in my office, the dim glow of moonlight barely lighting up the room; luckily, the LED over my head did a better job. Scáthach sat on the sofa nearby, her eyes on the vial of Albion's blood, deep in thought. I waited in silence when a ripple appeared in the air near me. Soon, a reflection of Morgan appeared there.
-"Everyone will appear in a moment."-She told me and focused on using her magic.
Soon, more ripples appeared around, and one after one, figures appeared in the reflections. Some I recognized, such as Medea or Merlin, but the rest were unknown to me. I could feel their focus was mostly on me, as I asked Morgan to gather them, but aside from curiosity, I also felt recognition from them.
-"I believe that everyone is here, so we can begin."-Morgan spoke up.
-"Sure, I'm interested in what caused you to call us after everything that happened."-A man with shaggy brown hair replied.-"It's our first time meeting, Foreigner. I'm Archimedes."
-"Enoch."-I nodded in greeting.
-"So why call us?"
-"I'm about to explain, Mori Souiken."-Morgan looked at the gloomy-looking man in a kimono.-"Vortigern contacted Eno; the contents of the letter are unimportant, but the gift we received can change our situation."
-"That failed dragon?"-A beautiful with fox tails behind her acted surprised.-"What good could such a beast give?"
-"While I want to agree with you, Tamamo, Vortigern is not just a beast; that's why he is so dangerous."-Merlin said with his usual smile.
-"Don't waste time."-Scáthach stood up and walked to my desk, grabbing the vial and showing it.
-"Blood?"-A French-looking man looked at the vial, then his eyes widened.-"Don't tell me…"
-"Pure blood of Albion, directly from the heart, according to Vortigern."-I introduced.
-"This is indeed quite something."-A Japanese man looked at it with a gaze overflowing with desire.-"Is it free?"
-"You won't get it, Abe-no-Seimei."-Morgan didn't spare him a glance.-"That blood can allow our plan to proceed."
-"Still hung up on that?"-The Frenchman shook his head.
-"There is no better way, we all discussed it, François."
-"But even with this blood, can we make anything of it?"-Old Chinese monk asked.
-"I can create a dragon from it, but I doubt it'll be enough."-Mori Souiken replied.
-"I might need you to do so."-I spoke up.-"Vortigern will die, he has to, but that would bring the beginning of the era of man, causing mystery to dissipate quickly. I need something that can be his replacement until we can fully split from human history."
-"With Souiken's assistance, we can create something that can fulfil such a role better than Vortigern himself."
-"But such creation won't be able to achieve what we need."-A woman with animal ears reminded me.
-"We know this, Bilqis, it's just to gain more time."
-"Bilqis?"-I looked at her, hearing this name.-"You are the Queen of Sheba?"
-"Oh? You know me, no seeing your eyes, you likely wonder about my so-called husband. Don't worry, I have no connection to Solomon; he only exists in the Pan-Human History. Tool for Alaya through and through."
-"I see. I did encounter him, but our meeting was not exactly pleasant."
-"Understandable."-She smiled.-"But let's return to the main subject."
-"Albion's power is perfectly suited for what you need to achieve separation, the dragon guardian of horizon and boundaries."
-"But it's dead."-Medea pointed out the issue.
-"Death is not an issue. Reviving being of such power is beyond our capabilities, but its power still exists, so it can be claimed."
-"So that's your idea?"-Abe-no-Seimei looked interested.
-"Dragon Communion."-I passed what I knew about this ritual to them through my memories.
They quickly analyzed send memories, considering the viability of my idea.
-"That ritual is audacious; no calling it presumptuous would be more appropriate."-François looked both impressed and disgusted.
-"Can this even succeed?"-Bilqis looked worried.-"This ritual is almost a suicide with extra steps."
-"It's feasible, but not without some drastic changes."-Morgan nodded.
-"I already have someone who will work on adjusting the ceremony from the biological standpoint. I'll deal with the magic behind it, but I'll need you to deal with Vortigern's replacement and the separation of the timeline itself."
-"If you can truly gain the power of Albion, then we can form Lostbelt without any issues."-Archimedes assured me.
-"Then I'll only need time."
-"We'll give it to you, don't worry."-Bilqis assured me.
After that, we discussed some details and settled on some plans of action. François and Souiken will create a homunculus from part of the blood before sending it to me, while the others will continue preparations for their plan. Shortly after, they all disconnected, leaving only Morgan, Scáthach, and me.
-"Are you sure? From what I can tell, this ritual won't end well for its participants."
-"Don't worry, mare draconic instincts won't influence me much."-I knocked on my crystalline arm.
-"Just be careful. What about Artoria?"
-"Don't tell her yet, don't make her worry or doubt her conviction to fight Vortigern."
Morgan nodded and disappeared.
-"I'll also be leaving."-Scáthach stood up.-"My Isle of Skye needs some work."
-"Don't forget to write."
She waved her hand and left.
I stayed alone for a moment before also leaving the room, my focus now fully back on current matters.
The winter passed quickly after that. Mobius got to work, but would occasionally appear near me, asking me to test some of her 'potions', as, in her words: 'You are more stone than living, so I need much more work to adjust everything for you.' . I drank everything she handed me, though some of them seemed strange even to me.
When the snow finally melted, the gears of war started spinning again. During the war, Artoria ordered the recruitment and training of 2,000 new soldiers. She also started training new knights, but that would take more than one season. But with those reinforcements, she could resume her campaign in the south. Of course, Vortigern's forces also recruited new blood into their ranks.
The north was still bogged in sieges, but from what our spies could gather, the food situation is not as good as we thought, especially far north, where the cities can't rely on the rivers to supply. Morgan was getting annoyed with this situation, starting to consider more drastic measures to breach their resistance.
King Urien encountered strong resistance at the Tyne riverbank; the town of Newcastle deserved its name. He also reported that Norsemen's boats started showing on the river, bringing people and food to the city. This caused a change of plans, forcing me to travel north to prevent the Norse landing on the British Isles before heading south to King Rience.
Margaret and Shining continued training their units during the winter, and even Cellinia worked on Mageknights' skills, causing my army of 300 to slowly become the most elite units in the whole of Britain. Of course, the champions like Artoria's Knights of the Round Table were still much stronger, but compared to normal knights, every Mageknight could take on three and win. While such force couldn't decide the outcome of the war on its own, deciding the battle was in reach.
So we rushed to King Urien's side, but when we arrived in his camp five weeks later, the situation there was much more dire than we expected. The whole camp looked lifeless, with more tents designated as field hospitals than there should be. An aura of death and decay surrounded everything, while morale was down to the point where there were deserters hanged by the entrance.
-"You're finally here."-King Urien looked grateful, but exhausted.
-"What's going on?"-I looked at the camp.
-"Sigh. Plague."-King Urien shook his head.-"It started just before the winter ended, at first it wasn't that serious, but in two months, it killed over 500 people, with another ~1,000 bedridden. This amounts to almost 30% of my force."
-"This doesn't sound natural."
-"We suspected a curse, but our mages found no such thing."
-"We'll camp a mile from here. Please send me a few bodies of those who died from this illness. I'll try to find what's going on."
-"I'll arrange everything."
-"Good. First, we need to stop this plague, but the enemy won't let us just stay like that; remain vigilant."
I had Viviana take care of everything in the camp, while I took the bodies to Mobius' lab to try to understand what happened. I tried learning from her, and actually made some progress in the field of biology, but my skill set still leaned toward alchemy and magic, causing me to not be able to work with epidemics on my own. Mobius acted annoyed, but helped me, her expression quickly changing from disinterest to seriousness.
-"This is no normal illness. It's more like a parasite, just one that doesn't attack the body but the spirit."
-"At least we can deduce the cause of everything. Shamans."-I looked at the data that Mobius and I had compiled.-"But that makes everything complicated."
-"Aren't you good at that whole magic thing?"
-"No Shaman can face me head-on, but shamanism isn't a school designed to fight. Spiritualism is hard to counteract, as spirits are not exactly known for being reasonable and easy to communicate with."
-"Don't you often work with spirits? Those sparkly things?"
-"You mean Wisps? They are indeed spirits, but those are spirits of nature, of wildness. Shamans avoid communicating with such spirits; they prefer the so-called ancestral spirits that are much more peaceful and 'humane'."
-"Is there a difference?"
-"Wild spirits are like wild animals, they act on instincts and can't be communicated with through language. Ancestral spirits are closer to domesticated animals; while acting on instincts, they also have habits that make them easier to control, not to mention that one can communicate with them through commands. Of course, such spirits can be ones in a higher position in the relationship, in the world of my dreams, some smaller gods often work with shamans."
-"Wouldn't that make it easier for you to work with them then?"
-"No, loyalty among ancestral spirits is much greater than with wild ones. I'll be ignored by them when I'm an enemy of their Shaman. But you are not wrong that there are methods I can use."
And so, I returned to the the camp. Three days passed during the time I was working with Mobius, but when I met with Urien again, he looked almost in despair.
-"Something changed?"
-"The plague escalated. Land… All nearby farms are dead. People and cattle, even the earth, turned into ash."
-"What?! How bad is it?"
-"No idea, but it can't be good."-He shook his head.
I quickly contacted Morgan and asked her to connect me with Mostima.
-"Eno, thank the Law. It's bad."-She looked relieved seeing me.
-"Be direct."
-"Almost all farms in the York region are barren. Nothing wants to grow, and all the seeds that were just planted waste away. If this continued, we'll have a famine."
-"What about other regions?"
-"Rheged is also affected but not too badly, at least not yet."
-"This crosses the line."-I furrowed my brows.-"I'll deal with it."
She nodded and disappeared. King Urien looked at me, wanting to know what to do next.
-"Shining will take her people and heal your ill, be ready to attack when the city is breached.
-"How long will it take?"
-"Day at most."-I left his camp.
After that, I went directly to the nearby farm that was destroyed. Checking the dirt, I could feel the lack of vitality in it, pointing out what had happened here. Someone disrupted the ley lines of the region, draining them of vitality and life. I didn't need to even think to know that it was the work of enemy Shamans. But this was also a serious overstep, one that will cost them dearly.
While not codified, the rules of war still existed in this world, one being that magic could be used tactically, but not strategically. Breaching a gate or destroying a wall was allowed, but erasing a city from the map was not. And destroying land with magic, especially in a way that would create lasting destruction, is strategic magic. But what else to expect of Norse, people famed for their cruelty and warmongering.
With such barren land, most druids would find it hard to act, but for me, the aura of death and the hatred of the wild were a perfect combination. I stood up and started to recite a Darnassian prayer, one spoken often before the hunts. But I didn't pray for a bountiful catch, but for fortune in war. Soon, figures of Vorkai and Nightsaber Riders appeared around me; shadows of Wild Hunt. The sky slowly started to dim, which wouldn't be strange if not for the fact that it was still around noon, not the evening. The sun was soon fully eclipsed, the night fully descending.
-"Andu-falah-dor!"-I raised my spear with a war cry, mounting Arion who appeared next to me.
-"Tor ilisar'thera'nal!"-Responded the shadows around me.
With that, the Hunt started.
The sudden darkness caused alarm in both camps and the city; people stopped working, looked at the sky in worry and fear. Guards went on full alert as everyone quickly armed, not knowing what was happening. But the panic among the living was nothing compared to the absolute mayhem the spirits were making. As the direct cause of the destruction caused to nature, the ancestral spirits brought by the Norse could feel the hatred of the wild, focusing on them. Shamans couldn't calm them down, causing them to suffer backlashes from their spells.
And then, the sounds of hooves sounded from the forest nearby. King Urien tried to quickly form rank in case there were the target, but he stopped when he noticed Arion walking out of the tree line. She continued walking forward, while I looked at the walls opposite us. Grasping the Royal Scepter, I raised it and called upon the power of Moon and Stars.
As the Starlight and Moonlight surrounded me, a bright star appeared in the sky. At first, it was barely noticeable, but seconds later, it grew enough to be the focus of attention. And it didn't stop. Before many could understand what was happening, the earth rumbled, and the impact of its fall destroyed tens of meters of the city wall.
No matter how many runes were shielding it from magic, ignoring the robustness of its construction, the star brought absolute destruction. A fusion of Divine and Principle, a power I could barely control, now showed its power. But it was a but and opening salvo.
-"Anu'dorini Talah!"-I called out.
And the Shadows of Wild Hund responded. Rushing from the trees behind me, a wave of charging shadows. The distance of miles between me and the city was nothing to them, and before their targets could understand what was going on, it was already too late. Shadows do not fear death, they don't seek glory, are not bound by honor, nor restricted by morality. They only have one purpose: to hunt. And this time, I let them loose.