The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2

Chapter 138

Part 21

“Regardless of whether or not one of the new gods wins the tournament, we support there being

another tournament held immediately after the war to establish by meritocracy a new peacetime rule

over Kellaran, who will be responsible for rebuilding and restructuring.

“However, we will oppose the participation of any god in that peacetime tournament with every legal

means at our disposal. The mortals of Kellaran must be ruled by mortals under all but the most extreme

circumstances. We cannot overstress our unity and determination on this issue.

“On other matters; we have been training with the gods of The Triax in their manner of warfare in the

void. As has been previously stated; the gods of The Triax tend to use methods of warfare that are very

different from those used by the mortal Triax, due to their extreme differences in capability. This being

despite the fact that the mortals and the Pantheon of The Triax co-exist in a society that is almost

entirely integrated in every other endeavor.

“However, as was pointed out yesterday at the last meeting with The Triax, our mortals have made

great strides in developing new military techniques lately, particularly in the areas of mass Movements, Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

Mass Translocations, and concentration of power from many to few. We can likely teach many of those

new methods to the mortals of The Triax. This will lessen the vast difference in ability between gods

and mortals, allowing a more integrated effort among all of us; gods and mortals, Triax and Kellarani.

“We will all work on that integration after viewing presentations of the newest military techniques. We

should have the outline of a completely integrated training program, ready to present to our

subordinates for further development and implementation, before we leave here today.

“After all,” the great quicksilver dragon god paused for a discreet chuckle, “Some of us have a wedding

to attend after this meeting. I’ll admit I was surprised to be invited, but I will most cheerfully attend.

“Somonik?” Amirgath said in closing, then disappeared from the stage as Somonik took his place.

“It should be noted,” the ancient white dragon began, “That many of our most prominent researchers

are still engaged in the time-bubbles, and that it is certain that they will have many new discoveries to

announce when they emerge.

“However, many other brilliant minds have chosen to remain outside the time-bubbles or to emerge

from them, and they have been far from idle.

“To explain what has been accomplished by the unicorns, I present Tithian; First Speaker of The

Senate of The People of Morning.”

“Greetings. Xervian researchers have discovered how to cast a Gate. They function as a Translocation

Plane without needing a physical material anchor at either end. In this way, they function similarly to the

Gate that the demons used to attack us in The First Demon War, though we are not capable of casting

it over interstellar distances as yet. However, we can cast it over interplanetary distances, which allows

for its use as a potent weapon in the coming conflict. One Portal would be cast upon the enemy, or

close to them, and the other Portal would be cast at the surface of the sun. The very surface of the sun

would blaze directly onto the enemy, who will be disintegrated. The amount of raw energy available

there is truly colossal, and I cannot envision any material or energy being having the capability to resist

such an attack.

“The Portals of a Gate can also be cast without needing a Translocation Reference, instead being

located by purely mathematical triangulation, and without their casters needing to project their

consciousness to the location of either Portal. In these two respects Gates are superior to

Translocation.

“Also, we have adapted the Hiliani Void-Proofing spell to unicorns and gargoyles. They are minor

modifications, lacking the improvements that the Draconians have made in their version, but they are

more comfortable and effective for us than the versions designed for humanoids.

“We have completed many projects, but they are minor in significance in comparison with the Gate and

Void-proofing spells. We have other ongoing projects of equal significance, but none have reached a

state of completion worthy of a public unveiling yet.

“And now, to report on the achievements of Xervian Draconia, I give you Grakonexikaldoron.”

“Thank you.” the great gold dragon said with a slight bow to the venerable black and silver unicorn,

then spoke to the gathering.

“The idea of crafting a compound spell that allowed the subject to survive and work in the void was first

proposed by Prince Mark; Key to The Just Alliance, early in The War of The Founding, as part of a

possible method for seeing over the wards of Venak.

“We of Xervian Draconia then crafted such a spell and used it, only to find that the wards of Venak

grew in Height in response to any attempt to see over them. We didn’t realize at the time what an

important spell Void-Proofing may prove to be.

“When Prince Mark and his family emerged from the time-bubble recently, they revealed a Void-

Proofing spell that Princes Six and Kragorram had devised, usable by dragons but primarily designed

for humanoids. We examined it and found it to be superior to the spell that we had designed in several

ways, including the energy cost and endurance of the spell. It was also far more complete, allowing far

more exact temperature regulation, regulated humidity, a water supply, and an automated variable

transparency that allows the user to adapt quickly to the extremes of light and darkness found in the

void. We did not modify and improve their spell, as has been erroneously reported; rather we were

inspired by it to improve the Draconian void-proofing spell that we had already designed. We duplicated

their groundbreaking techniques of spell compounding and spell automation, and applied them to

Draconian Sorcery-Magecraft.

“We duplicated the improvements that they had achieved, and added many more besides. Our spell

now allows for permanent living in the void, while being completely unnoticeable to the user. Eating,

drinking, and elimination of wastes are accomplished as easily as on the lands of Kellaran. Even the

instinctual Draconian act of flight is exactly the same, the spell makes one feel the wind against your

wings the same as always, seeming to direct the air while flying in the void by means of a clever

adaptation of the unicorn Flight spell. Even normal speech and being heard across distances are

duplicated by a Speaking spell integrated into the compound spell. It is very easy to forget that one is

not in air, so complete and comfortable is the spell.”

She paused, and cast a great Revealing above her, illustrating what her words then described.

“With this spell, we of Xervian Draconia have in the past three days begun military operations in the

void, including combat training, large scale exercises, and the construction of fortresses on the moons

of Kellaran, complete with layered defenses and caches of food, water, weaponry, projectiles, and fully-

charged batteries. As we speak, almost fourteen thousand dragons are living and working in the void,

preparing for the war. We have been doing all this while maintaining every effort to hide our activities

from the demons, in case they should be able to see so far with sufficient acuity. We keep the moons

between us and the demons whenever possible.

“We offer our void-proofing spell design to the researchers of other races, and will give what assistance

we can in adapting it to their use. In five days we will be ready to begin adding qualified fighters of other

races to our void-warfare preparations.”

She fell silent for over three minutes as the soundless Revealing showed more scenes of the training

and construction she’d described.

When it had run to its end she cancelled the spell, and announced;

“Emperor Osbald of Thon.”

He appeared on the stage as she left it, and he turned to his left to face where she now was in the

audience among The Ninety-Nine of Xervian Draconia, and gave her a slight bow before addressing

the gathering.

“We of the humanoid races outside Serminak; the nations of the humans, dwarves, gnomes, and

giants, have been mightily occupied of late.