109 (III) Surface [I]
The world was incredibly vast, and Shiv had seen less than a small part of it. That was what he learned as Adam drew him a general map of what to expect. However, when one was high enough in the air and could see enough of their surroundings, a few landmarks would imdiately make themselves known.
The first was the Grand Pacific, a massive body of water that lined the boundaries of the Yellowstone Republic, and thus, that of the forr Lost Angeles sprawl. Depending on where the surface gateway led, if Shiv was lost, the first thing he needed to do was go up until he saw the nearest large body of water.
After that, he was to look for the massive, looming plate that enshadowed large parts of the forr city. The Grand Pacific was a turbulent sea, one where waves over a kiloter high were known to dance across the horizon. The great slab of uprooted tectonic plating prevented the ocean from washing over the land, while also serving as a major, naturally occurring ward that kept the Sea Titans dwelling in the Grand Pacific's depths at bay.
It was called the Tidewall, and if Shiv ever wanted to find Lost Angeles, he just needed to follow it first. Once there, the sprawl itself shouldn’t be hard to locate at all. It was a massive stretch of ruins, spreading hundreds of kiloters, running from the chasm to Old Santabar to the hard north, where gale-force blizzards tore chunks out of the land and froze the very air as they traveled down from the ruins of Torontus.
For this scouting run, Shiv's main job was to stay on the move and make a complete lap around Blackedge, gathering as much information as possible. The town should still have wardings against Portomancy and Chronomancy active, so if he got too close, his Strider of the Unbending Path would likely be affected as well.
He was to stay beyond the area of effect to get as much information about the town situation as possible and, hopefully, bait out so attacks, exposing as many of Vicar Sullain’s hidden scouts as he could.
After that, Adam would mark down their locations, and he would also preferably ambush a few to take as prisoners. That was part of why he wanted the wand. Its Hydromancy allowed him to pin soone else by clutching them with controllable water. He could also easily summon a dinsional of animated water along with turning himself into water for a while. It sounded like a Hydromancy-Physicality Skill Fusion.
No wonder Adam thought the wand was good on its own and didn't need to be fused. Shiv thought the Enchantnts were aweso.
As they strode closer to the Surface Gateway, rcenaries cleared out ahead of them. The encampnts had been removed, and the rcenaries taken to sowhere else. But so of them still lingered here, talking, exchanging pleasantries, or just staring off the side of the bridge. Siggy was there, and she saw Shiv and Adam approaching together.
As she looked at Shiv, he gave her the slightest of nods, and she clenched her jaw and returned it. There was still fear, but there was also a growing understanding on her part. Shiv didn't think much of her, but in the past days, she'd been nothing if not helpful. That ant sothing. Shiv frowned internally. It was hard not to feel a little bit grateful to the goblin, but still, he didn't have much respect for her. What the hell is the right thing to do in these situations? Shiv wondered to himself.
"Alright, so repeat after . What is rule one?"
"I got rule one," Shiv said, annoyed.
"Repeat it. I want to hear you say it."
"Keep moving. All the ti. Always keep moving, because we might be attacked by people with Necromancy. Yeah, I know. Ass on the line, Adam."
"Yes, but you've been very reckless with your own life so far, and you've been rewarded for that recklessness. You will not be rewarded if you are fighting soone with Necromancy. Instead, an entire section of the world might vanish in a white-hot blast. Don't let that happen."
Shiv nodded. He understood Adam's concern. Then he looked at the Gate Lord. "If it does, you go straight back into the gate. Don’t get fried.”
Adam nodded. "Yes, I know. But when it's over, I'm coming back for you. Or what's left of you."
Shiv grunted. They were of an understanding on that part, at least. Shiv would leave the gate first. He would trigger his Creeping Void to provide a blanket of cover. It would be useful for him, because it would stop anyone from seeing exactly what was happening when the gate opened, and they were sure it was being observed anyways. It would be useful for Adam, since the Gate Lord's plan was to go straight up into the air.
Once above the clouds. He would use his Seer of Horizons to survey and observe the land from on high. And there, he would fire his Veilpiercers and keep Shiv protected from afar, without straying too far away from the gate himself.
Again, the differences between their skill sets showed themselves. Shiv was going to accelerate, make noise, and act as a traveling avalanche. Adam was going to be a sniper, a scalpel, and a precision raider.
"Once we get the inside of your cape fully set up, we can take Uva out with us. Even now, it’s a reliable place for her to hide from the sun, if nothing else," Adam mused. “Her and most of the other Abyssals.”
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Shiv let out a laugh. "You're really considerate, Adam, you know that?"
"I try to be." Adam gave him a slight smirk. "She's going to need to field test her boots and her armor at so point, as well as learn about the exempt dangers of the Light-Curse."
"Sullain can operate in the light for a while," Shiv said. He rembered seeing Sullain during the eclipse. But then again, that was the eclipse. That was the perfect day to attack, with the sun’s rays blunted. Even so, the sun had burned more than a few of the vicar’s forces, with how much smoke was rising from their bodies.
"Well, Valor said that the stronger the Pathbearer, the longer it takes for the Light-Curse to fully affect them." Adam paused as he pressed his lips together. "I suspect its effects won't be instantaneous on Uva, but still."
"Best to keep her away," Shiv finished. There was more than a little weight in his voice. He didn't want the sun to touch her. He didn't want to see her hurt at all. But if they were going to fight on the surface, there were going to be risks. Especially for her.
The two of them ca to a stop before the gateway, and Uva briefly tapped both of their minds with her mana strands. "Alright, I'll be monitoring the gate while you are gone. Make sure nothing goes wrong." Uva paused. "I will likely have to convene with the Dreamtaker about other options we have for force generation. I'm not going to tell Null Mont about this right now.”
"Probably a good idea," Adam said. "But don't decide on anything before we get back."
Uva gave a quiet hum of agreent. "If you two are gone too long, I will co out after you when it's nightti. You understand this, yes?"
Adam and Shiv looked at each other. "Well, let's endeavor not to be gone too long then, Gate Lord Adam."
“Agreed, Shiv,” Adam breathed. “Let’s make this run fast and effective.” And with a gesture from the Gate Lord and a flicker of the mana core above, the gateway before them tremored to life. With a flash of brilliant shadow lining with distortion, the path to the surface opened. Adam gestured. "After you, Deathless."
"My pleasure, Gate Lord," Shiv replied.
"Rember," Adam said once more, "keep moving."
"Yeah," Shiv said, "I'll always keep moving."
And as he walked, shadows began to leak out from him, shadows darker than that of his new cape. The world was drenched in a dense, black miasma, and most of the bridge, along with a quarter of the surface district, vanished entirely from sight.
Shiv stepped through the portal.
A mont later, and a clenching sensation thereafter, the almost-forgotten air of the surface world washed over him through the slots in his helt. It was fresh and overwhelming. There was salt in the air, a taste of the sea. The sky was gray and overhung with clouds, but it still felt incredibly welcoming to Shiv after spending weeks underground. Around him, uneven hills of rolling green and strange weeds rose in all directions. As he stared out, he found himself looking at large mountains in the distance, large mountains shadowed by an even larger shape that shrouded most of the horizon.
"Well," Shiv said, "looks like I found one of the landmarks pretty quick. Tidewall… Never bothered learning your na all these years.”
But then sothing else caught his attention. All around him, there were sars on the ground. Paint? And suddenly Shiv made the connection in his mind. There must have been guards out here that ran into the Educator just before she arrived at Theborn.
Shiv grunted. He probably would have had to kill these guards if they were still here. Although maybe he did so anyway when he detonated himself inside the Educator's to, assuming she had stored them on its pages.
He pushed that thought aside. The whistle of rushing wind passed around Shiv. And with a pull of his gravity field, he shot high into the air.
And as he flung himself high, he saw the horizon yawning towards him, saw the world grow smaller and smaller below him until he was on the sa height as the very top of the Tidewall. Then, he rose even further, and his gaze finally slipped past it.
For the first ti, Shiv laid eyes on the face of the Grand Pacific. His mouth gaped.
True to Adam's words, there were waves. The scale of the natural forces on display was incredible. Each wave was higher than the last, and they crashed against the Tidewall with incomprehensible force. Casting his gaze out further, he could see the sa chaotic display stretch out all the way to the uneven bend of a twilight horizon. More incredible was how, despite it all, the waters were pristine, pure, near-transparent, even.
And beneath the waves, Shiv saw colossal creatures, ones that dwarfed any being he'd seen in his life, wrestling with each other, casting more massive tsunamis on the surface above.
Shiv blinked. All the world was in a struggle. At any given mont, at any given ti, there was strife, and no one could avoid it. No one. As he looked around, seeking the sprawl of Lost Angeles, there ca a strange feeling in his gut. Sothing that told him that he shouldn't stay still.
Keep moving, Adam had said, so Shiv did.
And that decision, in that mont, saved his life. Shiv spiked his field left—and sothing hissed right past his head, almost taking a chunk out of his helt. Shiv turned, his sudden burst of speed feeding his inertial sheath with building force. Just then, Shiv noticed sothing materialize within his Creeping Void. A veil of twisting air dissipated, revealing a glistening arrow. A glistening, green, corrosive arrow. His eyes widened, and before his brain could fully process what he was looking at, another whistle ca by just a few centiters above his head, and three more just below. All of them revealed themselves to be Necromantically-charged arrows, and all of them were followed by more.
The Creeping Void 109 > 110
Shiv turned, just as an arrow nearly struck him in the eye. Even with his Heroic-Tier Reflexes, he wouldn't have been able to avoid that. He didn't even hear them. They were silent, they were fast, and most of all, they were invisible.
But even if Shiv wasn’t fast enough to dodge, he was fast enough to command ti to halt on his behalf.
A half-centiter away from his left eye, a Necromancy-tinged arrowhead poured eerie green energy into Shiv's gaze. Imdiately, an ugly sneer lit his face. He looked across the land, and he saw... verdant landscape and rolling hills. Vegetation. He saw nothing. Nothing that told him where these arrows were coming from. But they knew exactly where he was.
Shiv let out a sigh. "Shit." He stared down his improved Magebreaker, and a feral smile spread across his face. "Well, ti to see how good my minor illusion Enchantnt is."
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