Fan Fiction ❯ The Seeking ❯ 1 ( Chapter 1 )

The Seeking. Luminae had heard so many stories of it and the wonders the massive collection of unreal lands held. Stories about places like Shingorra, land of paradise. It was said to be the most spectacular land of all the realms in The Seeking, where even the poorest hero wore silks fit for queens and kings of other lands. Now she had gotten old enough to have her own account in the role-playing game and her mother was escorting her to the main center to get her started. Grandmother Ciregan had played as one of the first test subjects hooked to the mainframe, and even now at a hundred and ten years old she still played. Ciregan was considered the best of heroes.

Luminae's grandmother smiled at her as she slid into the sleek body glove that would allow all her senses to be consumed by game play. You didn't just play The Seeking, you lived it. One could start out as any class from fighter to young magus and in the course of a lifetime like her grandmother could end up as anything. Grandmother Ciregan had become a Spell Warden, a rare hero who fought both with spells and swords. Her hair was entirely white when left natural and undyed, save for two streaks that sprang from each temple to arc back into her hair, these were still crowning glory copper like her own hair and her mother's.

She was already in her body glove; the sleek and firm suppleness of her limbs having been maintained by a great deal of out of game exercise was astonishing. You didn't see how good a shape she was in when Ciregan was in street clothes, the baggy pants and loose fitting blouses hid it. Since Grandmother was only about a third of the way through her extended lifespan that she had chosen to maintain her physical prowess was no surprise. Still you didn't expect your grandmother to look as good in a body suit as you and your mother did. Even if she was the legendary hero Ciregan.

They walked through the doors to the main continent room together, and stepped into the now upright, but reclinable couches. Sensors extended and jacked them in. The skin around her mind jack, still sensitive after so recent an implant tingled, and the 'real world' faded away.

When she opened her eyes it was to the sound of singing birds and the feeling of grass moving against her bare ankles. Newbie clothes consisted of a tunic and pants and a pair of barely there strappy sandals. She smiled as she looked left and right, her mother was standing there in her in game persona, the gleaming dragon's head on her blade hilt the only way that she knew it was her mother.

"Lumanis old friend is that you?" Ciregan called out to an approaching figure. That was how Luminae had to think of her now. As hero Ciregan and not Grandmother Ciregan. She had said to her before that it made her feel old, and that was not what she was when in game, or elsewhere apparently. The outlander warrior bowed gracefully to Ciregan from the waist. "Aye hero Ciregan tis I, Lumanis, your ally of old." He then stepped aside for someone who was hiding behind him. Behind the outlander stood a second outlander barbarian, no older then she was. "This here is my grandson, Ferigore. Tis his fifteenth and time for him to get his hero's stripes." Ciregan nodded to this person who also bowed deeply from the waist.

"This is my granddaughter Luminae. It is most fortunate that we encountered one another, that way yet another generation of our kin can form alliance. She too will be earning her way. Let us outfit our grandlings and get back to the game." Luminae took one look at the barbarian fellow and knew he would be a Shaman. She winked at her mother. That would mean that though he would someday be able to battle well in melee combat he would start out as more of a brain warrior then a brawn warrior.

They walked into town, having flashed in at the town's North wall. She followed close behind her mother, and told her of the decision she had made "for the betterment of the team." "I would have done the same my girl. I am proud of you. We will outfit you appropriately when we reach the vault house." Luminae nodded and her step was more assured then it had been

Ferigore looked ahead of himself at the northern wastrel family that was the legend and her descendants. They seemed confident, even the young female who was going to be his ally had gained back the surety in her step that she had seemed to lack before. "Grand...Uh I mean Lumanis, how can she be so confident already? I am not ashamed to say I am shaking in my boots or rather my sandals here!"

His grandfather laughed, shaking his silver hair out of his eyes with a toss of his head. "Silly boy that is the skill you have on overdrive. You are too much the thinker and not enough the doer. Had I brought you up in concert with your parents as Ciregan has done you would be far more confident. Luminae has lived and breathed The Seeking since before she could walk, having been brought up on the heroic images of her parents and grandmother. At her age she would be shaking to but for the fact that she knows herself within. That and she knows that there inside her heart lays all the strength she will ever need. You too will find that strength, but having been brought up mostly as an other worlder you will need a little more time is all." Lumanis reassured him.

Ferigore walked closer to his granther as they passed two hulking southern seafarers, complete with sashes sporting the scabbards that held their famous scimitars. He stared around him a the mass of 'unmundane' folk as his mother called them. Persons from every corner of the globe played The Seeking. As diverse as they were the pool of characters they had to choose from was even more so. Of every color shade and nationality that had ever been or could have been or was dreamed the humans were just the tip of the iceberg. From the main thoroughfare alone he could see seven different types of elf and three different clans of the legendary weapon and armor making dwarves. Dragonkin of both rainbow type and bat winged, feline and canine peoples. Birdmen of the east and the Mountain Birdmen that were their long sundered kin. He finally had to force his jaw back up and walk with some pride beside his granther. He was getting the feeling from the echoes of snickering that he might be embarrassing Lumanis. Not something he wanted to do since his granther would be outfitting him before leaving him and Luminae to face the newbie training area alone.

"Don't let the idiots get to ya boy. Some of the harsher players have made it their custom to laugh at newbies, thinking it funny to unnerve ya before ya get started. They ain't got any class or they'd remember the way they was as newbies and let ya be." Ferigore nodded and accepted that since so many people of the 'real' world played away their spare time here jerks would have to be part of the mix.

Luminae laughed aloud when Grandmother pulled a sword and scabbard from the burlap wrappings they had been swathed in. "When yer mother was a newbie this was her blade and it was my first self forged weapon before that. Take good care of it." Next came a coat of shining brassy colored plates, sort of a yellowish green like newly budded leaves. This her mother helped her into carefully and once it was on she realized why she had trained so hard the last few years. Though enhanced, the physical capabilities of the flesh world translated into the ones that a player had in The Seeking. Had she not trained so hard she would not have been able to move in the heavy armor let alone dance the deadly blade with it like she would need to in order to survive.

"I am sure you know whom you honor by wearing this." Her mother needn't really say it. This was fathers leaf armor. That it still existed after he had been dead and buried for a decade showed how well thought of her sire had been among his heroic brethren. She wiped away a solitary tear, which fell with a shimmer of sparkles on the enchanted mail. Then stepping into some tough socks and heavy boots she found herself dressed except for a helmet. A green helm that matched the shining mail was resting on her mother's knee waiting to be placed on her head. "You are certain that to be a warrior is your wish?" her mother asked.

"I have chosen as I was chosen to go this road." She answered with the customary answer. It was the same phrasing her mother had used and all her cousins and her uncle Kortair. Many thought it originated with Ciregan but that was not so. It had come from the ancestors of her grandfather who had been Vikings in the early days when to be a warrior was real. Through the thousands of generations the family saying had come intact and now she had spoken it with honor.

"You have chosen, so shall you be!" came the voice of the city controller. They called him the voice of god, and if he appeared in game as more then a voice it was often as a god in one of the temples. She smiled and her mother put the helmet on over her coiled braid. She would be a warrior until level thirty of achievement. Then she could change classes and acquire new skills, or continue on to mastery at level one hundred before doing so. "Good luck kid. Anything else before your mother and I take off to our meetings?" Luminae nodded. "I think that father's shaman's things will come in handy mother. I do not think that Lumanis will have what friend Ferigore needs." And with the Feri he will need all the help he can get till he finds himself at last. She silently added to her mother.

Mother laughed softly behind her gauntlet as she removed the second bag with the shaman things, and Lumanis brought forward Ferigore. "My fathers things from when he was Shaman will now come into your keeping if that is the path you would choose." Ferigore stood straight and nodded. He surprised her by mimicking her perfectly. "I have chosen as I was chosen to go this road." She smiled at him then helped him into the robes of shaman with weapons. The staff and dagger and helm all were made of mithril that would most times sport the horns of stag or moose depending on his orientation spiritually.

Horns of the stag sprouted and the voice of the city controller once again echoed his pronouncement of doom. "Good eye dear Luminae. Go with the windwalker's grace. We must leave you now to face your newbie trails by yourselves. Good luck." Then grandmother and mother whistled, and with her hand on Lumanis's left arm they all vanished. "Obviously it is she who has the windwalker's true grace." Ferigore said. They left the now empty vault room and nodded to the clerk before proceeding back the way they had come. Knowing his need for security she took him in hand as she would a littler cousin on their first trip to a mega mall. He gripped her fingers tightly, reaffirming that he had needed the security more then even she had known till she touched him.

"Awe lookit the newbies are dating! How precious!" The voice that mocked them was elf but not high elf. Instead it was deep woods elf. Usually allied by marks of windwalker and groundshaker god's to one another the race of deep woods elves and Shamans often got along well with one another. This one was determined to flaunt custom though, and apparently he had made Ferigore mad with his stupid comment. There inside him! That is the strength he needs, and rage is the key! She thought then Luminae just watched in open-mouthed amusement as her new companion brought the much more experienced Elf to heel.

"Vines!" he found himself commanding. Then much to Ferigore's amazement the ground under the elf erupted in strangling vines the size of his wrist that locked around the elf's body. "The next two commands are here with staff gesture at the ground by your feet and kneeling which will force him to be abased before you." His companion informed him. He used the commands bringing just what she had said they would bring as a result. "Head bowed!" He commanded the vine's, which then did not allow the elf to raise his head. "I do believe you offered disrespect to both myself and my allied one just now. What do you say?" He asked as he would a rude child, so perfectly done. She thought to him.

"I am most humbly sorry for my foolish mistake." The elf said though gritted teeth. Even the village idiot could have told that he meant not a word. As a shaman and obviously a brainiac in the world of flesh, Ferigore knew better instantly. "Hmm. Further disrespect wouldn't you say Luminae?" She nodded eager to see what this strangely volatile person she had thought would be a wimp would do next. "Then go hang you from the flagpole until you learn some respect! Until you manners improve a great deal, those vines will not let you down!" He gestured to the flagpole that held the town, country, and sovereign banners snapping in the midmorning breeze.

The vines tore through the ground, leaving a trail that soon vanished back into the magicked earth as they went to and wound around the pole. They suspended their prized captive high above the banner of the sovereign. "Being held at an angle fifty feet in the air is obviously enough to activate the elven agoraphobia. " She commented snidely as the whimpering creature begged for his life and his freedom.

"Afraid so Luminae. Such a sad misfortune, but when you open your mouth before you engage your brain this is most often the result." She nodded as if he were imparting the greatest of wisdom's, her eyes held wide and her lip quivering with concentration. He laughed at this look and gestured that they should proceed.

Luminae was gleeful. At last she was going out to do battle with the beasts and monsters of The Seeking! A stream of swear words in the tongue of the makers made her look sideways as they left the North wall gate. A sorcerer was standing, message scroll in hand, cursing whatever misfortune the contents revealed. She jerked on Ferigore's sleeve and he followed along as she walked over to the maker sorcerer. "My we be of help in some way brother maker?" She asked. He looked up at her with eyes so very blue they put the sky to shame. Mother has said that the eyes were the only thing that stayed entirely the same from flesh to Seeking and back again.

"Perhaps you might be youngling. I need to have at least a few to escort me to the edge of the newbie zone to meet the rest of my group. They would have come all the way and fetched me before turning back again. However something unfortunate has come up and they must turn aside at a certain point to offer aid to another of our allies who has found himself in a difficult situation. I to must complete my task and join them in offering said aid, and the more allies I can bring to the fray the better even with ones so young and unbloodied." He stood a little straighter and offered her his hand the moment she took it she knew him as she would an allied comrade of old. She knew his gifts and abilities, his likes and dislikes, some of which would have made her blush beet red in the world of flesh, but here everything is judged by a vastly different standard, and valor is the only quality that really mattered.

"Be careful when you take his hand Ferigore. Some things of Ally Nolvedros are a bit stranger then you have been accustomed to in the past." She warned him. The warning didn't help though. He took the ungloved hand of their new ally in his own equally bare one and when the shocking knowledge of Nolvedros's nature hit him he blushed brightly and swooned. She caught him in her arms as he fell, his weight in the robes was not much more then her own, and her year of long training had made it possible for her to hold him up with ease. "My apologies Ally Luminae. I had not thought that it would affect him so or I would have insisted on gloves at the very least if not gauntlets of nullifying as well."

She spoke directly to her new ally's thoughts, her amusement leeching over even to the silent mind-to-mind thinking. It is not so much a bad shock as a pleased surprise more then he had expected. When I first touched him he was uncertain of what he wanted, boys or girls. You helped him make up his mind with that little memory backlash. He chuckled softly. "Ah newbies young in both the worlds. I should have known. Well I am glad to have been of service to my ally in such an important way so very soon!" They both chuckled and she shoved Ferigore fully upright. A stinging slap to both cheeks brought him around. "So sorry guys. I kinda didn't expect it to be so forceful." He apologized immediately. "Of course not young one. Now if you are geared up and ready to go let us get started."

Ferigore was still deep in thought when they hit the halfway point of the "newbie zone" as Ally Nolvedros called it. They had already been in two minor skirmishes with undead things. Nothing that Luminae with her bottomless well of courage and magically sharp sword couldn't handle, but still he had been mildly freaked by how disgusting the walking dead looked and how they smelled. "Vampires stink less boy. You will be better able to handle them then she, for they tend to try and turn the minds of females." Nolvedros whispered in his ear.

He tried to suppress the memory of what Nolvedros had inadvertently shown him, but that voice dripped desire in an unconscious flow of sensuality. One that brought out things inside his gut that the fifteen year old was ill equipped to handle. Does my method of speech really bother you so much Ally Ferigore? The voice of his new found associate echoed in his mind. His furious blush at being found out made the older male laugh out loud.

"Please don't tease. To you it's funny but to me it's freakishly weird and mightily uncomfortable. I am not exactly used to sporting wood cause of another guy's voice!" He hissed quietly so that Luminae would not hear. "My dear youngling, if that is the most uncomfortable thing that you go through in The Seeking then fate herself has blessed you with a golden aura of good luck. Someday when you are legal I will show you the scars this body bears. They are hardly anything compared to my flesh world scars but they are still numerous and they each hold a story of their own."

Now that he thought of it the words that his ally spoke made perfect sense. He was being a baby again just like he had been during the whole walk to the vault rooms incident. "Fuck!" He hissed under his breath then he brought his staff up and into fighting stance. Something else was off and it wasn't vampires or other undead. Rising up out of every burrow entrance in the rodent hole riddled landscape was a mass of wriggling hissing serpents!

" I should have known that he would try to interfere with my mission." Nolvedros muttered. Luminae snarled as one of the beasts got to close and slashed it into several pieces. He crushed the skulls of all that were in range of his staff. Soon they had quite a pile of no longer wriggling bodies around them that the live serpents seemed reluctant to cross. Nolvedros seemed more worried about whoever was ordering the snake swarm then the snakes themselves.

"Fiery Doom fall from The Heavens, Rise up from The Land, Burn my Enemies and set me free! Hades Technique! Lost Soul Fire Storm!" he called out, the sorcerers rod that they had yet to se him use pointed skyward then swept out in a circle which caused souls to rise up from the ground moaning of the horrors of damnation and the sick tortures of hell. Fire rained down from the sky and then the light turned red as blood and the souls now afire burned the serpents away to ash that the wind of their passing scattered far and wide.

"Nicely done son, but will that and your pathetic newbie guards be enough?" A voice like old bones grinding together echoed in his ears and made the hard on Ferigore had been sporting all day since he first touched Nolvedros wither like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over him. His eyes blazed brightly with green light as he looked at this new and obviously dangerous foe. Every self-preservation instinct he had was screaming at him that he should run but he knew that he could not do so.

Between him and the angry back of Luminae was a slumped Nolvedros, drained of his energy by the most extreme of the Hades attacks. He didn't know how he knew that the one Nolvedros used was the strongest and most mana sapping, but he did know, and that meant it was in game truth of fact. "Miserable little wretches! You dare to presume the strength to defeat me?" The Serpent King mocked. Ferigore suddenly understood what this monster was, what he really was. The Serpent King was a viruser. Viruser's were criminal hackers that came in and tried to harm The Seeking's very fabric. If they did enough damage a whole sector could go down and all the people in it could receive brain damage if not die in truth!

"We gotta kill this one Ally Luminae! He's a viruser and you and I both know what that means!" He shouted to her. His ally smiled radiantly at him over her shoulder. "Why didn't ya say so ya idiot! Now I know exactly what to do. Before I wasn't sure but he definitely gets that technique now!" She said then her laughter turned cold and bloody with darkening rage. "Moon that blesses, Moon that shines, become the Moon that kills! Sword of Winters Moon!" It was another high-level technique, and he added his vines to still the beast that was her prey without thinking. The light of the moon surrounded the sword, making the blade pulse with it. Then Luminae leaped high and brought the blade down through flesh in a heavy over handed stroke, it cleaved cleanly leaving two halves behind where a whole had been all the way from top of head straight through, coming free through the groin at the bottom.

"I will be back Nolvedros, and then you will belong to me once again!" The dying thing spoke out of what remained of his head. Then his body slumped and he was truly dead. Of the serpents that remained after Nolvedros's attack fully three fourths of the slithering beasts vanished, having only been illusions in the first place. The remaining true serpents fled in terror from their human foes.

"Sickening that one was. You have my sorrow for being related to it." Luminae said in a slightly accented version of the maker's tongue. She then sheathed her sword and lifted her ally off the ground with a grunt of effort. "I can most assuredly..." He was cut off with a chuckle from the girl who held him.

"Don't try to bullshit me Nol! I know as do you that you won't be hot footing it anyplace for a handful of days. Not after doing something that high cost at your present gift level at any rate. If you had seen level 60 or higher I'd let you walk. As is I'll just tote your ass until we find your friends then we will put you to bed and I and Ferigore will go to aid your ally in your place." She informed their ally. He was impressed beyond anything he had yet to see, not even her higher level moon blade technique had been as amazing as the strength it took to carry a full grown Maker on her back without seeming to be overburdened at all. The will to keep him there was just another awe-inspiring character curve of the warrior Luminae.

Nolvedros expected his friends to look worried when they found him being carried by a newbie. He was disappointed that only his brother, standing at the ready his bow carefully searching for any foes to target, seemed at all concerned. "Ah we knew that you would make it through alright, after all it's just the newbie zone and a little of Dark Moore swamp." Klaus the Boar Killer was always rather unconcerned about anything. When your arms were bigger around then most people's torsos most things must start to seem insignificant. He was about to comment on the stupidity of such burley types when his bearer beat him to it.

"If you are done being a dumbass now will you please put those muscles to good use and take our ally for me please Klaus. I have been running with him for the past several days and I can't feel my feet anymore." Klaus was so stunned by her disrespect, something no other newbie had dared in his presence since Nolvedros had met the giant of a man, that he obeyed without a word. His brother Noltrekor took a look in his eyes, which he knew were bloodshot and almost entirely pupil, and he sighed. "So you finally used the ultimate Hades technique did you?" He managed a nod, which was very painful even having done nothing for the three days that Luminae had carried him.

He looked at her as she stood waiting patiently for someone to tell her where to go next and whom to slay. "It was the Serpent King. He attacked halfway across the newbie zone." At his newly offered information Klaus's scowling countenance shifted from outrage at the newbie's disrespect to genuine anger. "That bastard. If I was in flesh world and I met his ass I'd break him into a thousand pieces!" The muscled seafarer snarled. "Yes we all would even I or Nolvedros. However that point is moot since your technique slew his borrowed shape did it not?"

Nolvedros chuckled weakly. Then he pointed at her and she bowed carefully. Luminae's muscles screamed at her to take a hot bath and sleep for a week at least or pay the piper. "That one used the Winters Moon Blade to slay our dear father. She cut him cleanly in half, then carried me for the three days of our journey that remained." He told his allies. Klaus who was now holding him raised an eyebrow obviously impressed. "One cares for allies as one cares for blooded kin, or so I was taught." Luminae quoted. This made all present nod in agreement then they proceeded back into the swamp. The sanctuary they had constructed up in the heights of the trees was not far away.

Several days had passed, and with the help of a healer her blisters had faded and her strained tendons grown back to their ordinary shapes. Healer Meklahvan was another ally of Nolvedros's and a very skilled one, especially since the healing magicks did not come easy to the Maker's kind to which he and the Swift Arrow brothers belonged. Thinking of the two brothers brought their images easily to mind. The bow wielding wilderness man was the colder of the two, as she knew from the allies exchange. His urges were just as strong as Nolvedros's though and of a similar bent. He merely had more discipline of heart, while his younger Sorcerer brother held the discipline of thought.

Noltrekor chose the moment when she was thinking of how handsome the two were in their Seeking forms to come around the corner and stand beside her at the railing. He looked down at the swamp for a moment before speaking. "My father tormented myself and my brother mercilessly. We were his little toys, subject to any cruelty, be it perversely sexual or pain filled torture. Most often it was both. I will not give you any details that would terrorize your sleep, but I owe you for saving my little brother and I am curious as to what you would consider a suitable reward."

Luminae stared at her ally as if he had grown another head. "And here I thought being older you were less of a fool then your brother! I 'saved him' because thats what allies are supposed to do for one another. What's the old saying? Ah yes 'Bloodied in battle we are closer then brothers.' I wouldn't expect a favor or a special treat for saving my Mother or Uncle or any other family member that plays or even ones that don't play in the physical world. I no more expect it of you then of them in the same situation." She chastised.

He reached out and touched her left temple with an ungloved hand. This was a more intimate version of the ally's touch that first acquainted one ally to another. He saw the truth of her loyalty (unswerving) her courage(bottomless) her faith in her fellow allies(unbreakable) and her will to defend those who could not defend themselves(unbeatable) and was satisfied. "My apology littlest of my allies. I meant not to offend." He offered softly. She smiled at him instantly forgiving him any minor offense she might have felt the second before. He still had those callused fingers on her temple so he got a taste of her good-natured friendliness before he withdrew them. He offered her a small piece of fruit that existed no place in the world of the flesh and she thanked him politely, but from that moment on they had an understanding.

Two days after her conference with his brother Nolvedros had to be forcibly restrained from joining them in going to aid an ally called Heggron the Berserker. Heggron was easily as well muscled as the Boar slayer but also a lot taller. He topped Luminae's own height by near three feet in game. "Probably a bit taller out of game too." He had said when asked if he was quite large out there too.

They fought hard against a band of wild Savages. These same savages happened to be holding onto some weird scepter that the Berserker needed to complete his quest. By giving it to a certain dwarven smith he could upgrade to an outstanding two handed sword that he could of course swing around one handed like she did her own. He had it in his hand and walked back out of the dwarvish shop in Tollerio shop town a week later.

"Yer pretty good kid, learning winter's moon so quick like that. Here give her a try." He held out the huge claymore to her hilt first and Luminae braced herself for the hefty weight. It took both her hands and all the strength in her arms to hoist it up to a proper guard position, and it was longer then she was tall both in game and out. She gave it a few experimental swings and found that it made her tired to do so. "That thing would give an ordinary warrior heart failure to use regularly. You must body build when not playing. Am I right?" he smiled and said sometime they could meet up at one of The Seeking con's and she could find out.

She finally felt confident enough to begin her own first quest. As she had the best armor around so far as she knew of she decided that it was time to begin hunting for the things she needed to upgrade from her present weapon level. Ferigore agreed to help her as best he could. "How long are you in for Luminae?" She smiled. "Until school starts. One external week which is one half a year game time." They left back towards Northgate, the city where they had met Nolvedros what seemed like years ago now. Going through dwarvish lands meant a whole lot of running. The Wyverns and Olingbats as well as the subterranean fire worms meant they could not easily win any creature battles even at level six of experience where they now stood. Those beasts and most others in Dwarvish zones were meant for level fifteen and above only or maybe large groups of lesser levels.

Their speed did go up a few notches from constant practice though. Luminae reminded Ferigore of this as he cursed not being able to destroy even a baby Olingbat. The beasts had on them a special ingredient that when used in sync with several other rare items made a potion that taught level one shape alteration to Shamans and wood elves. "It would be so cool to be a bear or wolf or something at this level." He mourned. Luminae had to agree with that assessment, but she urged him on all the faster as a whole flock of Olingbats made their way down from the tunnel ceiling to defend the baby they thought was threatened.

They spent another twelve days on the road to Hollivar. The food supplies had run out on the eighth day. They were a lot leaner after the large masses of undead that seemed to rise up and jump them at the slightest provocation. Luminae bought them a huge feast when they got into town and it showed how hungry they had been for so long that they actually consumed everything even cracking the bones and sucking out the marrow from the roast beast.

They were about to set out on her quest at last when her mother appeared at her side. "Daughter I need your aid and that of your allied one." She raised an eyebrow as her mother used the thought voice to privately inform them of what was about to happen. A wall was being established that would for a short time keep a certain area of The Seeking utterly free of Virusers and other menaces while a war was fought. Otherwise this would be way to tempting a target for the criminal super hackers and their lesser copycats.

This war was no minor thing though. It was in point of fact a real war being fought between two countries that would be anonymous to all but themselves and their opponents on the field of battle. This was how a civilized country settled things. No real casualties and no real collateral damage and clerics standing by to resurrect any unfortunate who died in the day's battles so that they could go again the next day and the next for however long that they would be needed until the countries called a truce.

"We should call on our other allies ally Ferigore. These things are rather big and important. That and they would love to get the chance at some experience and skill practice." Ferigore nodded and whistled. His shaman's power called out to the nearest wild bird large enough to bear messages and it flew down to land on his outstretched arm. It was a large Gore Crow. It was a creature that helped to keep the undead down by eating carcasses of battle and creature slain bodies that were not resurrected or were not animated by a player's mind.

It accepted his minor message directly onto it's mind allowing it to speak in his voice to their allies. That way he needn't give it a scroll that might be grabbed by their new enemies if the bird was intercepted. It flew away and zoomed out of sight within a few heartbeats. It would take another three days or so for it to reach all their allies who would have by now returned to the sanctuary in the swamp. She turned Ferigore away from watching as was his habit when he controlled things he liked to see from their eyes as long as they were in range of such a power.

They walked back inside the city wall and stood in line with her mother as everyone in town seemed to be gearing up for the war. Luminae bought food enough that she would be able to eat well for several extra days longer then they were expected to be out. She did not like the experience of starving for so many days and was not eager to repeat it any time soon if it could be prevented.

They finished restoring lost gear and gaining new ingredients for spells and the few chemistry tricks that were allowed to warriors, then began marching towards the battle's predetermined location. Gods were not allowed to interfere in such important things as Wars. Not even with the minor magical aides that they usually gave those they favored. So Mother could not use her wind amulet to jump them along the distances by riding the air currents. So they hotfooted for seven days towards the location.

It was on the eighth day as false dawn crept over the land that she felt the touch of Nolvedros across her thoughts. His mind was distant not to mention still fogged by sleep but his now familiar thought pattern was welcome indeed. They met up at the crossroads of Illuvia Tarin at noon that day. She introduced her mother around as hero Makina and watched with amusement as the brains of her allies reached around deep and finally came up with whom this had to be. "Greetings to you Hero, Daughter of Ciregan, wife of lost Hero Maltor the Wildheart." Heggron the Berserker said with surprising nobility of speech. He offered her mother one massive hand and Makina accepted it with equal grace and poise.

Noltrekor was walking beside her when a large beast of an indeterminate type jumped up and tried to bite off his head. It had lost it's own before he could even scream. The thing writhed on the ground a while even without it's head before dying. "Luminae get the eggs!" Nolvedros called to her from the middle of their mini marching column. She scooped the eggs of the thing out of it's now revealed body cavity and handed over the slimy things when Nolvedros asked for them. "Dark Mythos eggs make excellent dark explosives." He said with a maker's certainty. He had put them in his pouch and she had cleaned her gloves off with a disposably cheap hanky given to her by Ferigore.

"Dark Mythos's tend to be members of large packs more often then not right Ally Nolvedros?" The young Shaman asked. The Maker Sorcerer nodded in agreement. So they all hurried fast to be out of the area before any of the dead female's kin could come looking for payback.

Darkness found them only three more days out from the battle site and she nested down in her blankets between Nolvedros and Noltrekor with a sigh of relief. It had been a long day indeed and she was to tired to answer to her mother's raised eyebrow. She did not even loosen her armor straps. She had been about to but Nolvedros had cautioned against it and she had listened. One never knew what would come up on one in the night and try for a bite.

She curled up in her blankets and dropped off without a worry or concern in her mind. Surrounded by such experienced allies she did not need to think about anything but having pleasant dreams. She awoke at false dawn again to find the minds of the Maker brothers the first to stir besides her own. She greeted them with the version of good day greet you that was used by Maker kin to their families and close friends. Nolvedros arched an eyebrow at her. Noltrekor merely returned the greeting in kind. They had an understanding now after all.

Oltra, the only other female in their allied group besides herself and mother, rose next. She was an Elvish bard of the Shirri tribe. Oltra's hair was flaming red and her skin a translucent opalescent white with a green tinge to it like summer leaves with the sun shining through them. Her bard's garments provided minimal armoring but she was to fast for any ordinary warrior to hit her anyway. Healer Meklahvan and hero Makina were the ones to awaken next and they joined the others at the fire over the pot of simmering breakfast oats that was going there. The pot of tea was the most welcome item that morning refreshing those who drank it and allowing them to be awake enough to have any appetite at all.

The oats were good and even better after Luminae stirred in some dried fruit mix that she had purchased at the last second in the general store. Nolvedros gave her a rare smile and ate with gusto. She knew from their alliance handclasp that he was not a morning person and nether was he a breakfast person. However he did adore sweets and that meant that she had just made the oats far more palatable in his opinion. She smiled to herself and ate her own portion before taking all the empty dishes and placing them back in the small kettle that had held the oats. When they came across the river around noon they would stop briefly to eat and to wash all their dishes.

Three days of marching and sleeping then marching again brought them to the battle site. Her mother gave her an encouraging smile before Makina took off and left Luminae among her allies. "Gone to join Ciregan's group no doubt. I would too if it weren't for the excellent allies I already possess." Noltrekor whispered in her ear. She smiled and took out her blade to begin to sharpen it. She wished she had been given the time to complete the first of her many upgrading quests before going to her first war but it was not to be.