Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

We were at war.

There was no debate about it, no question. The only true ‘question’ was whether Exterreri even continued to reasonably exist. The potential collapse of enough aspects of government and communication could have erased the realities of the nation.

Everyone was at war, with some Classers seemingly hellbent on extermination, while others fought to protect people. Some fought for love, some for hate, and many hid. I found, in the moment, that I didn’t care too much about the motives, simply what was in front of me. People needed my help. They wanted healing. I could provide it.

I took a fairly hard line towards people trying to kill me, or the people under my protection. I knew my interpretation of my [Oath] was one of the harshest when it came to that aspect. I was no bleeding heart, I didn’t have a whole lot of sympathy for hardened killers attacking other people.

Zoomed out, on a scale? It was no contest. I wasn’t going to hold civilians accountable for a soldier’s actions. I wasn’t going to hold it against a Classer’s family what the Classer did.

Ciriel said people needed help? People praying to the Goddess of Healing enough that she asked me to intervene? It was no question. I was going to help, even if they were going to pick up a knife and try to stick the pointy end inside me tomorrow.

“Cat’s got your tongue?” Iona asked, prodding deeper with her question.

I flipped over to the positive aspects. I could help Ciriel! I had an honest-to-goodness divine mission! How many people could say they’d gotten one of those?

“I think I’ve got my first divine mission of mercy.” I said with a note of wonder. Iona’s face lit up like a child getting to play with the Mirage element for the first time. I knew what it meant to her, how much of her life she devoted to the goddesses, and once again she could share that with me. “I wonder if helping out will level your [Paladin] class.”

“I can only hope, but more importantly, where is it, and what do you need to do?” She asked.

“Iridellis. Tympestshard. I hope there’s no problem with that?” I asked.

“What are we going to do when they attack us?” Iona gestured broadly at us as she asked. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for this, but we are going to get attacked, flying the colors we are, and we should have a plan for that.”

I pictured it in my mind, and nodded.

“You’re right. Let’s get planning. Here’s some ideas…”

Fenrir circled the Sixth while Auri and I dropped down, lightly landing on the back of a wagon, in front of Katerina. I threw a fast salute at the woman, sitting on a stool in the middle, dictating to the [Scribes].

Her curse meant she couldn’t directly write reports, not anymore. Her mind was what the Sixth needed though, not her body.

“Sentinel Dawn. Report.” Katerina’s wagon was closed top, with a permanent writing desk and mountains of paperwork and scrolls. Her [Scribes], [Aides], and [Messengers] hovered around the command wagon, along with a number of her support staff, the [Legata] continuing to command and operate even while on the move.

“Legata. The path and your desired location are relatively clear. We’ve exterminated some of the monsters lurking there, it’s deep wilderness and water, there’s quite a lot still alive, and more will be attracted to the scent of blood. On the way back, we were forced to detour on a mission I’ve sealed to secrecy. There might be some elven activity in the mountains to the south, but we’ve removed what they’re interested in, so hopefully they’ll clear out. Ephesus seems to be well in hand. A Classer’s gotten a plant to dominate the city. It’s worth further investigation in the future to determine if it’s truly beneficial, or subtly hostile. A glance suggests it’s doing good things for the city. Here are the maps of the region.”

Auri was doing her best to sagely nod along.

With a gesture - more for clear communication of what I was doing than any need - a stack of Iona’s maps ended up on a less-crowded section of one of the [Scribe’s] desks. Katerina’s eyes flickered to them, making an approving noise before carrying on.

“Excellent. I’ve got some questions about what you saw, and any details you consider operationally important to me about the sealed event. First, you mentioned elves. Any Classers? Any chance of them intercepting us? What would you say…”

Katerina rapidly interrogated me for three minutes, firing off questions as quickly as I could answer them. Neither of us were bothering to slow down, moving at top speed to communicate as much information as I could, as quickly as we could. We both knew that time meant lives.

“Excellent work Dawn. Two centuries were sent north to gather the remnants of the Sixth’s camp and bring them south. If you could check on them, that would be appreciated.”

I saluted my acknowledgement, and bulldozed her with my request.

“I will also be casting a wider net. My team and I are going to scout further into Exterreri, see what needs to be done, and heal anyone who needs it. A team of Moonlit Medics for the entire country.”

Auri’s beak went right into the air like it was her idea.

Katerina wasn’t an idiot, and we both knew she’d be undermining her own authority hard if she demanded I stay. She also knew that, right now, she didn’t need me, not as badly as other people did.

“Go.” She said. “And may the gods be with you.”

The levels rolled in as we flew over the countryside, hitting city after city.

It was sobering. I’d just visited these cities, some a few days ago, on Arachne’s ‘purge the disease’ mission. Yet, some were in utter ruins, gone in a blink of an eye.

I was possibly more helpful to all the countryside we were passing over. The thousands of farms, the hundreds of thousands of scattered lives. The famous Exterreri roads connected them all to each other, and in some ways they were the least touched by the devastation, unnoticed and ignored. They already grew their own food, relying on themselves to fix their own tools.

At the same time, they weren’t in an ideal situation. There was no strength in numbers. They were isolated, easy to pick off by monsters, and there was no help coming. If someone was injured, there was no [Healer] nearby, and if the nearby city was destroyed, there was no [Healer] to go to, period. There was nobody to trade with for more goods, no replacing anything that broke beyond repair. On a lighter note, moonshine was the only liquor left.

The falling ashes threatened to choke the plants, wither the fruit on the vine. There was no stopping a wildfire, no dousing dragonfire. Half the world was burning, intent on choking out the other half.

There was no easy organization, no line I could follow, no string to trace my finger down on how and where people were. We flew low, bathing people in my healing, flying past so quickly that Fenrir’s wake blew hats off of heads and laundry off of drying lines.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [The Elaine] has leveled up to level 1267->1269 +200 Strength, +200 Dexterity, +800 Speed, +800 Vitality, +2000 Mana, +10000 Mana Regen, +4000 Magic Power, +4000 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

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Cities came and went, some standing strong with banners flying proud in the wind, and others smoldering ruins. My heart grieved and broke, but it was shocking how quickly I became inured to the sight. How soon it became commonplace, expected.

Then we turned west.

“Everyone ready?” I asked, [The World Around Me] confirming the rope was tied around me twice over, and well-tied to multiple anchor spots on Fenrir’s armor.

“Ready.” Iona confirmed, tugging again on the leather straps keeping her in her saddle. A small notebook was on her lap, and the Valkyrie was pressing a second one against Fenrir’s scales.

“Ready.” Fenrir growled out, low and steady.

“Brpt!” Auri confirmed from her seat on Fenrir’s head, a small dome of force securing her a second time. She held a ream of loose papers in her beak. The part of me that considered ripping pages out of books sacrilege had died decades ago, as I’d constantly burned pages out myself.

“Enchantments go.” I ordered, activating the three dozen spells I’d prepared for myself.

The beautiful thing about wizardry was that anyone could use the runes once they’d been laid down. Assuming a crafty [Wizard] didn’t want to lock the runes for one reason or another, but that was a whole tangent and a half. It was the fundamental basis of all enchanting, but they tended to be consumable, and they had to use the caster’s mana at a steep penalty compared to simply having a skill. The sheer versatility couldn’t be beaten though, especially when it came to utility skills at high levels. The rest of the Eventide Eclipse activated their papers, all of us enchanted to the gills.

Auri needed fewer spells than the rest of us, some of her skills innately covering what the rest of us were doing. She’d gotten [All The World’s Magic Is Revealed To Me In A Teardrop], letting her see everything. If she wanted to. Fenrir had a similar, but radically different skill, instead letting him see ‘echoes’ of everyone who’d been walking or moving through an area, with the ability to view it over time or get an idea when it had happened. It was possible to fool, and even easier to hide from, but for a [Detective] it was a potent fact-finder. Less helpful here and today, but I didn’t know a spell that could replicate it.

‘Intuition-leaping’ skills were nearly impossible to mimic with wizardry.

It wasn’t quite worth all the time and effort to always use these spells, but knowing we were going into a complex situation made it easy to justify. The world distorted, and Iridellis lit up in front of us. Hundreds of auras, each one their own shade, mingled in spheres while tens of thousands of subtle lines denoted wards, spells, and other skills. Some were like a solid wall, others like a great spider web, and one spell seemed to shift and move around like a flock of starlings.

Ignorance was bliss.

I could see the auras coming out of the elven city. I could also see the auras of some big, powerful creatures moving around deep underground, the edge of their aura skimming the surface. Off in the far distance was a teal aura that reached up to the sky, and it took me a moment to realize the faint haze in front of my eyes was an aura so large, I couldn’t tell the start or end of it - only that we were inside of it.

I shuddered. I was far better off not knowing that.

I had a fantastic range on [Universal Cure].

I was dealing with elves. Old elves, Immortal elves, elves with triple my level and the skills to go with it. They far, far outranged me and my skills. The best we could do is be sneaky, and try to avoid their attention.

“Sound check.” I subvocalized. Iona clicked her tongue.

“Doesn’t work, you’re too close to me.” She said.

“Brpt.” The quietest little noise I’d ever heard Auri make came in loud and clear through my ears. I shot her a thumb’s up.

“Invisibility go.” Iona commanded, and the three of them activated the [Greater Invisibility] rune. I had a whole book dedicated just to that one spell, it was so useful. I activated the one I’d engraved on my sternum - they healed now! Easy unlimited uses! - fading away just the same.

“This is so weird.” Iona said, her words being muffled by the spell but coming through the communication enchantment loud and clear. “I can’t feel any of you, but I’m clearly still up in the air.”

A hand groped me.

“So weird.” Iona reiterated. I tried smacking it away.

“Fenrir, let’s go.” I said. I didn’t see him move, nor really feel it, but the world lurched around me as Fenrir streamed towards the city, moving fast.

I wished I could properly analyze what happened here. Go down on the streets, study the disaster and the impact. It was unlikely to change my image or what I needed to do, but the knowledge could be invaluable. Could help another healer, prevent another disaster.

Another part wished that people could just understand. That I could walk up to the gates, have them thrown open and be able to do what I needed to do without fear or worries. Unfortunately, all that took time, and while I waited and dithered and guards went to fetch the right people and it was all cleared, people died.

I had no tolerance for people dying, not when I could do something about it.

We hit the outer edge of the auras at speed. Gouts of nearly-invisible flames flared and burned the way forward, Auri slicing through the majority of the woven spells. To my eye, some of them disintegrated, the threads burning all the way down, while others snapped back. Some remained static, and one thrashed as if it was in pain. Some of the wards burned a hole like paper, others tried to flow back like water.

She couldn’t get all of them, not at the speed we were going at, but some of the wards Auri didn’t get, the drops and lines, slid off us like water off a duck’s back. [Greater Invisibility] could handle a lot.

We could talk, but there was no need to. We all knew things were going well, but they couldn’t last. Levels scrolled by at speed, which was only to be expected. Something new, something outside my usual operations, yet laid at exactly the heart of what it meant to be [The Elaine]? A mission of mercy requested by the literal Goddess of Healing?

[*ding!* Congratulations! [The Elaine] has leveled up to level 1269->1270 +200 Strength, +200 Dexterity, +800 Speed, +800 Vitality, +2000 Mana, +10000 Mana Regen, +4000 Magic Power, +4000 Magic Control from your Class per level! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regen from your Element per level!]

[*ding!* Congratulations! [The Elaine] has leveled up to level 1270->1271]

[*ding!* Congratulations! [The Elaine] has leveled up to level 1271->1272]

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Seraph of the Dawn] has leveled up! 985->994 +512 Speed, +512 Vitality, +1024 Mana, +1024 Mana Regeneration, +1024 Magic Power, +1024 Magic Control per level from your class per level! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control for being Chimera (Elvenoid) per level! +1 Strength +1 Mana Regeneration from your Element per level!]

[*ding!* Congratulations! [Sage of Tomes] has leveled up! 911->926 +1500 Magic Power, +1500 Magic Control, +700 Mana, +700 Mana Regeneration from your Class per level! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control for being Chimera (Elvenoid) per level! +1 Mana, +1 Magic Power from your Element per level!]

Oh hey, Auri was also getting good experience out of this. Wooo shared experience!

At this rate I was going to speed level [The Elaine], capping it in a week when it had taken me decades for [Arbiter]. Sure, the whole world was on fire, which was helping a bit.

Even at a distance, I was able to see the impact of my work, of my abilities. Not only was I leveling, but my mana was actually dropping, the costs outstripping my regeneration. The city’s massive buildings looked like they’d been poked by a hot brand, clean holes ripping straight through. Disturbingly, the marks matched gigantic claws - I could imagine a Darkness dragon simply raking his claws through the city to cause the damage. Makeshift medical tents had been set up, and my eyes spotted dozens of commotions near them.

I felt a deep sense of satisfaction at that. ‘Wait, what, we’re all healed, what’s going on?’ was a most excellent surprise, one I was happy to deliver. I’d never get credit for this action, I’d never be thanked. The happy smiles, the toddlers bouncing around their mother, a pair of elves so graceful and ageless I couldn’t guess their relationship embracing, that was the only reward I’d ever get for today, for here and now.

It couldn’t last, and it didn’t. We were a sharp knife, cutting through hundreds of spells and auras, and one of them had to have an ‘I’ve been broken’ alert, a fine tripwire to warn the caster of a problem. It happened later than I feared, but a gigantic burst of Radiance from the city was enough to strip and cancel the [Greater Invisibility] on three of us - Auri’s small size let her hide in Fenrir’s shadow.

“Up, up, up!” Iona urged Fenrir as the alarm quickly spread, the first few enterprising elves attempting to get the [Wyvern Slayer] class. Everyone was on a hair trigger. Sharp rocks and broken glass, Metal beams and Water jets, everything but the kitchen sink was thrown at Fenrir’s armored underside.

Lightning splashed harmlessly against him - [Lightning Resistance] for the win - but a swarm of bioengineered bees, of all things, were able to catch up and swarm us, looking for places to sting.

The irony wasn’t lost on me that Radiance ended up being our biggest problem. Right as we were over the far wall of the city, right as it looked like we were free and clear, a hair-thin beam of Radiance lanced out from the ground, melting a fine hole through Fenrir’s armor and trying to cook him from the inside out. My [Universal Cure] image naturally included Fenrir, and he was fine.

A dozen angry elves chased us away from the city, but Fenrir was a high level wyvern, and the lack of any obvious damage or harm besides buzzing the city had the Classer defenders reluctant to pursue.

“Yes! We did it!” Iona twisted back and we high-fived. Auri hopped over and joined in the celebrations. I checked the last level I got, grinning. Ciriel had been right, the city had been in dire need of a healer swinging by.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [The Elaine] has leveled up to level 1292 -> 1293]

Hey Ciriel! I did it! Mission Accomplished! I cheerfully sent up the Goddess’s way. A glance at Iona revealed she’d also benefited from the mission.

[Warrior - 1248].

Our Moonfall operation had done fantastic things for her level, even if she wasn’t leveling at the same rate I was currently. A bit of a reverse from what we expected. At the same time, this sort of thing was exactly what Fenrir wanted to do class-wise, as far as I could tell. He was basically asserting aerial dominance over large, high-level cities, proving that he was the uncontested [Lord of the Frozen Skies]. For a given definition of uncontested. Either way - fantastic experience for him, and he’d even growled out a whole conversation with Iona about wrapping a city in snowfall while we were at it.

I noticed, thank you so much! You’re just the BEST! Can you do a few more? Ciriel whispered in my ear.

I didn’t even need to ask the rest what they thought of Ciriel's request.

Of course. Tell me more.

We hit five more cities before things got close enough that we decided to head back to the Sixth, and see how they were doing.

[*ding!* Congratulations! [The Elaine] has leveled up to level 1293 -> 1344]

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