Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends

Chapter 456: Zach

Before the Storm

Zach looked in the distance at the massive Dome rising above the horizon. It's translucent surface didn't glimmer in the light of the sun, but it was noticeably there, a faint sheen of grey that made its presence known.

It was nestled in the middle of a thick forest, dark tall trees waving as if they were a frozen sea covering over the hills, with a river piercing through its middle.

The fleet had spread apart, flying in a circle around the dome, creating a perimeter that spanned nearly the size of the entire territory. He could see ships far in the distance, behind the Dome. He was high up, in the pass that joined two mountain ranges. His team, the Wardens were tasked with holding it and they were already on the ground along with a few of Sect warriors that came with them. Zach himself was above them, on the ship that the Twilight Melody Sect had lent him. Cultivators manned the weapons beneath the deck, and Bera alone stood on the center tower with him.

He could feel her perk making connection to him, a faint thread that kept track of him and thousands others that reached all over the territory to other people.

"Everyone reports that they will be in position shortly," Bera said.

Zach nodded. Her power was mostly geared toward administration and communication. There were better Classes than her to send messages across a battlefield, but there was no one here that Zach trusted more than her.

"Our people are ready?" Zach asked.

Bera tilted her head. "It is unlikely that they will see any combat, you know that?"

Zach turned to meet the minotaurs' eyes. "That does not matter, one should always be prepared for the unlikely."

Bera turned her head and looked in the distance, at the Dome. "Each Dome is matched with a particular faction for a reason. The Golden Sky Sect is a natural enemy of the Dome's forces, it will not take long, the same as every other Dome."

Zach grimaced. He knew how dangerous Domes were, and just how much destruction they could wreak. But what she said was true. Domes were only dangerous if they were opened without notice, without people equipped for them there to oppose them. But release one in when it wasn't expected and you got another Hastur.

This Dome was filled with monsters from Minotaur mythos, a living forest of Minom. The stories gave conflicting accounts, from some saying that it was a forest filled with living plants that stood in place, to the ones that spoke of trees rising up from the ground and walking around, and one that said that the entire forest was one big lifeform.

The analysts and researchers that had studied the Dome had confirmed that the Dome was filled with an extremely thick forest. They couldn't really see deeper into it, but they had catalogued the plants that were at the edges of the Dome. Some were familiar to the accounts from the minotaur Rankers, others were completely unknown, though that didn't mean much as there were not many Rankers around who knew the plants of their old world that deeply.

The Golden Sky sect was perfectly suited to fight them however, as Fire related Paths were one of their main focuses. With the Golden Phoenix at their head, they didn't expect any issues.

"Complacency allows danger an opening to strike," Zach said slowly, it was a lesson that he had learned with Knowledge. He had not considered that a being such as the Grand Spirit would have its own ambitions, ones that went against what Zach had gone to it for. He had nearly paid for that, and would've if Naha hadn't been there to save him.

Bera sighed. "You're right, I know" She shook her head. "I've been guilty of it too much. I just feel like, even though this is a great opportunity, it is not really going to do anything to further our goals, you know? The Wardens have fallen apart, we've lost most of our high tiered members and those that are left are on the verge of leaving too."

"We cannot force anyone to stay and believe in the new vision we have for them Bera," Zach told her.

"I know," she nodded. "I just feel like they would've stayed if we had been assigned a Dome, and not just as a support team. You and Nahamassa are powerful enough that you should've gotten one."

It was Zach's turn to sigh. "It was my mistake," he said. "I should've let you be the one to negotiate, I am... not good with it."

Bera shook her head. "No, it's good that you didn't. I might've done better, but... I'm not a negotiator either. We should find someone with a dedicated Class to help us set up your Academy."

"Our Academy," Zach corrected.

"Our, yes," Bera added. They didn't speak again for awhile, both just kept their sights on the army moving ahead of them. Then, Bera tilted her head and spoke. "Everyone is ready."

Zach took a deep breath, then glanced down to where he held a Far-link Orb in the palm of his hand, with a thought he activated it. "We are in position."

A moment later a voice spoke in his mind. "Good," Anatalien responded. "We are moving in."

The giant army surrounding the Dome split, one part of it remaining in the circle around, keeping watch to prevent anything from escaping and moving into the world to cause havoc. The other group, headed straight for the Dome.

In a territory nearby, in a cave on a peak of a solitary mountain, a group sat and waited. Their gear echoed with power, pulsing with glowing symbols but giving none of its power away, for their location was hidden. Space itself was twisted around them, cutting them off from anything that might be able to notice them.

A viewscreen was open in front of them, a Far-sight power projecting the view of the Dome and the army that prepared to attack it. Six people occupied the cave, a cthul, a human, a skreen, a ravzor, a drakarura, and a minotaur. The human with pointed ears sat on the ground, her hair bound in a tight combat braid. A recording array in the palm of her hand pulsing as they watched.

"Why not use Berion for this? We did it last time," Fethum Starseeker, a cthul, asked, his face tendrils twitching as he played with the chain of the weapon wrapped on his hip with one hand and gesturing with his other at the viewscreen that showed an image from far away and above of the army in the distance.

"We don't want to risk being noticed," Kaeliss Cloudwrought said, pulling back the dark feathers of his head plume back before putting a silver helmet over the head covered in black and white scales. "If we were discovered spying last time, it wouldn't have mattered that much."

"I doubt that there is anyone present there who can sense what Ber is doing," Exiled Shell's mandibles clicked as he glanced at the minotaur who stood silently in the corner, alone.

The minotaur didn't wear any gear like the rest of them were, his did not have a weight that impacted the world, nor any glowing symbols, but no one there would take that as a sign of weakness. Not from him.

"There is," Berion spoke, his eyes looking straight at the wall, as if he could see through it, and perhaps he could.

Tellisa Oakcalled, a ravzor with fur as dark as night wearing a dress with symbols woven through it waved with her staff. "This is safer, there are hundreds of factions watching from afar, our means are just one amongst them. It won't raise any suspicion. Watch our targets, we need to be ready to act at the right moment. We are not here to just kill. Remember the mission."

What you have gained is not equal to what you are about to do, Berion said.

Not everyone can be like you and just create a Way, no one even knew it was possible until you did it, Fethum complained.

The trinkets that the yeti offers for this are not worth it, Berion shot back.

Enough, Kael said. Ber, I know that you dont agree, you dont have to do anything, just keep everyone from interfering, thats all that I ask. Well do the rest. He looked around the room, and everyone in the room nodded.

Berion took a moment, his eyes looking someplace far away. Then finally he nodded too and got ready. It wouldn't be long now.

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