The original estimate Grobert gave him to reconnect the teleportation network proved to be a bit optimistic. His Chief Advisor was able to reconnect the Alacala’s teleportation network in a few days, but another mass of land had pushed the far side of the great desert away from California, requiring Grobert to cover a secondary land mass to reach the jorik lands beyond. One that turned out to be rather hostile.
The only thing that aided his Chief Advisor through these hostile lands was the mass confusion and disorganization as they struggled with their new reality. They were more concerned with surviving than attacking a strange teleporting man.
Norman could certainly relate to that. He still recalled the first few weeks after Earth was dumped into that exact situation. Fear, panic, and opportunists seemed to be around every corner while society and governments practically collapsed overnight. It took time for people to recover after an event like that.
Despite the few hostile encounters he ran into, Grobert managed to secret the teleporters through this new zone to reconnect to the Commonwealth. And soon after that, the Admiral was walking into his office.
“Admiral Barnes, good to see you. How is the Commonwealth?” The man shook Norman’s offered hand.
“Better than expected. California has weathered more than its fair share of earthquakes since its inception so we were mostly prepared. How did Normenia fair?”
“Ashvale was mostly undamaged. But the other cities suffered far more.” There just hadn’t been time to reinforce every city. Most of the damage had been caused in New Cali. But that was a blessing in disguise, Those cobbled-together buildings were garbage from the get-go and needed to be replaced anyway. And there wasn’t any real loss of life as everyone got revived that had died.
“Sorry to hear that. I hope everyone is okay. I assume you know why I’m here though?”
“The prediction your people made?”
Barnes nodded gravely. “It's more like a timetable now.”
“What do you want to do? I haven’t heard you mention the issue since our talk.”
The man sighed and sat down. “Gathering support turned out to be a fruitless effort. So I stopped badgering people and just waited. If I was proven right, people would see the truth with their own eyes and eventually come to me. And if I was wrong, it wouldn’t matter. Already the Fariken and Custodian Marlinik have reached out to me. It seems they are at least taking my warnings to heart.”
“I assume you also spoke with the Council?”
“I did. I even spoke with the Gorfan.”
Now that was a surprise. “What! Why?”
“This is a problem that all of us need to solve. If I left them out and they had a key piece of the puzzle, that could prove disastrous for everyone. We simply can’t afford that.”
“And you think everyone is just going to play nice?”
The Admiral chuckled. “Hardly. But they will play to their own self-interest. Which in this case is survival. Nobody has the skills alone to deal with an issue on this scale. I suspect I will receive word from both of them soon. Could you see if the gron are willing to assist in this endeavor? Their help would probably be instrumental in saving this world and everyone on it.”
Norman tapped his fingers on his desk. “I can speak with their president… He does owe me a favor.”
“Well, if this isn’t the time to cash in favors, I don’t know what would be.” The Admiral pulled out a card and handed it to Norman. “When you are ready, you can meet up there.”
“Caltech? Does this make me a college man?” Norman asked with a smile.
“Hell, I’ll give everyone who helps an honorary degree if that is what it takes to survive.”
***
“I’m coming with,” Kalia stated as she strolled into the bedroom.
“What?” He had expected her to bring this up at some point, just not in this manner.
“I said, I’m coming with.”
Norman stopped himself before telling her it was too dangerous. There was wanting her to be safe and treating her like something he needed to protect. She would grow to resent him if he did the latter. Besides, he had thought about the problem for a few days while he gathered his people and spoke with the gron President. Leaving Ashvale would be dangerous, but probably no more so than their last visit to California.
“Ok, but only if you link to a phylactery.”
“Fine.”
Norman quirked his eyebrow at that. “That’s it? No convincing necessary?”
She shrugged. “You said you could convert mana to life energy now, so my reservations about using the devices aren’t as important anymore.”
Norman had been hoping she would change her mind eventually, but he hadn’t pushed her. He had simply stated the facts and waited for her to decide.
After the pair packed bags for the trip, they headed down to the vault.
There he pulled out one of the permanent phylacteries and held it out to his wife. “Last chance to change your mind.”
“And miss out on whatever magical research happens at Caltech? In your dreams.” She snatched the orb out of Norman’s hands and he saw her shiver slightly. “That’s such a disturbing sensation. How do you get used to it?”
“You just do,” He smiled. Norman could understand why people didn’t enjoy the feeling. It felt slightly wrong when something brushed up against your soul, which is what the phylacteries did.
“Are any of the others coming?” She asked.
“Varter and Saliu both agreed to join us. We will also be traveling with four squads of Death Knights.”
“Isn’t that a bit overkill?”
Norman chuckled. “I wanted to bring more but Eugene told me we needed protection, not enough men to take over the campus.”
Sixteen Death Knights really was overkill. Especially if all of them were fully kitted in the enchanted armor and with the newest version of Ashvale’s enchanted weapons. But with so many clashing and possibly hostile groups present, he wasn’t taking any chances.
One squad was made up of Lohr, Nolix, and Kalia’s two personal guards. Unfortunately, he hadn’t gotten to know their names yet. He had included her guards because he knew she would ask to come. And even if she turned down the phylactery, there was no way he could keep her away.
A second squad was made up of Gabriel’s team. He had been extremely impressed by their actions during the British extraction and asked Eugene to add them to this mission.
The final two teams were hand-picked by Eugene. This ensured each member of their party would have two personal guards at all times and the remaining two teams would deploy as needed.
After Kalia linked with the phylactery, Norman placed it into the box alongside his own. Unfortunately, the devices had limited range, even if he had managed to extend that to nearly ten miles. It meant they would need to accompany them to California. The box was slid into another non-descript bag and added to the pile of luggage that was being loaded onto the carriage.
When they arrived at the teleporter station, they were greeted by two teams of Death Knights, Grobert, and Eugene.
Eugene was the first to speak. “Gabriel and his team are already on the other side. Varter and Saliu have also gone through ahead.”
“Excellent. Hopefully, this endeavor will prove fruitful. Until then, I leave Normenia in your more than capable hands.”
“Good luck, Boss.”
He patted Eugene on the shoulder and turned toward Grobert. “Any word from President Barthus?”
“As if,” Grobert snorted. “He tried to use his power to speed things along but the gron ministers are stuck in deliberations.”
Norman sighed in exasperation even though he had expected this outcome. With the end of the world approaching, they stuck with their heads up their collective asses and couldn’t come to a decision.
He had hoped they would react as quickly as they had when they built their southern wall. But perhaps that had been a fluke. Or maybe it was only brought on by the immediate threat posed by the dinos. That meant the gron didn’t view these increasing earthquakes as an imminent threat. Norman thought that was a fatal mistake. Maybe Barthus had been right when he said he feared he was the last of his people capable of changing the way his people thought.
“And you still won’t come with?”
“Even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to disclose anything. You know this.”
“You and your stupid oaths,” Norman raised his voice slightly, annoyed at his advisor's answer.
“Norman!” He winced at the chastisement in his wife’s tone.
“Sorry. It’s just, the end of the world. I thought that would be enough to discard some long-ago oath.”
All of the Death Knights were keenly ignoring the interaction between him and his advisor. Grobert strode up and poked Norman hard enough in the chest to knock the wind out of him and make him stumble back a step.
“You would do well to remember, Lord Norman, that an oath keeps me here as well. Should I simply discard that too?”
Norman rubbed the spot on his chest where the shorter man had poked him. “Point taken. Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just a bit stressed.”
“We all understand the importance of this undertaking. But you should keep in mind that your words have weight. Now you better go before I sit you back down for remedial leadership training.”
Norman’s eyes went wide at this statement and he quickly straightened. “Yes, quite. Let's go!” He grabbed Kalia’s hand and the pair of them hurried to the teleporter as Grobert chuckled. Grobert’s idea of leadership training was not something Norman ever wanted to experience again. It made the training he had to go through before becoming an entry-level corpse disposal technician for the gron seem like a nice afternoon stroll.
The pair reappeared inside the building where they had for their first date. Instead of just one car, this time, the group had four similar black SUVs waiting outside.
“The area and vehicles are clear, Sir,” Gabriel spoke as he jogged up to them.
“Thank you Squad Leader.”
Norman waved to Saliu and Varter before he picked one of the vehicles at random and got in. Ideally, he would have Kalia ride in a different car but she slid in beside him without waiting.
He didn’t want to start an argument with her so he just held her hand instead. She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. “You need to make it up to Grobert when we get back.”
“I know,” he sighed.
Four of the human Death Knights took the driver's seats while the rest deployed their mounts. Norman would have preferred to have his personal guards be the drivers but Nolix had a tail that made it uncomfortable to sit in the human seats and Lohr was too short. Besides, neither one had any experience driving a car.
He settled in as the cars started to move. The trip south would take a few hours.
The original estimate Grobert gave him to reconnect the teleportation network proved to be a bit optimistic. His Chief Advisor was able to reconnect the Alacala’s teleportation network in a few days, but another mass of land had pushed the far side of the great desert away from California, requiring Grobert to cover a secondary land mass to reach the jorik lands beyond. One that turned out to be rather hostile.
The only thing that aided his Chief Advisor through these hostile lands was the mass confusion and disorganization as they struggled with their new reality. They were more concerned with surviving than attacking a strange teleporting man.
Norman could certainly relate to that. He still recalled the first few weeks after Earth was dumped into that exact situation. Fear, panic, and opportunists seemed to be around every corner while society and governments practically collapsed overnight. It took time for people to recover after an event like that.
Despite the few hostile encounters he ran into, Grobert managed to secret the teleporters through this new zone to reconnect to the Commonwealth. And soon after that, the Admiral was walking into his office.
“Admiral Barnes, good to see you. How is the Commonwealth?” The man shook Norman’s offered hand.
“Better than expected. California has weathered more than its fair share of earthquakes since its inception so we were mostly prepared. How did Normenia fair?”
“Ashvale was mostly undamaged. But the other cities suffered far more.” There just hadn’t been time to reinforce every city. Most of the damage had been caused in New Cali. But that was a blessing in disguise, Those cobbled-together buildings were garbage from the get-go and needed to be replaced anyway. And there wasn’t any real loss of life as everyone got revived that had died.
“Sorry to hear that. I hope everyone is okay. I assume you know why I’m here though?”
“The prediction your people made?”
Barnes nodded gravely. “It's more like a timetable now.”
“What do you want to do? I haven’t heard you mention the issue since our talk.”
The man sighed and sat down. “Gathering support turned out to be a fruitless effort. So I stopped badgering people and just waited. If I was proven right, people would see the truth with their own eyes and eventually come to me. And if I was wrong, it wouldn’t matter. Already the Fariken and Custodian Marlinik have reached out to me. It seems they are at least taking my warnings to heart.”
“I assume you also spoke with the Council?”
“I did. I even spoke with the Gorfan.”
Now that was a surprise. “What! Why?”
“This is a problem that all of us need to solve. If I left them out and they had a key piece of the puzzle, that could prove disastrous for everyone. We simply can’t afford that.”
“And you think everyone is just going to play nice?”
The Admiral chuckled. “Hardly. But they will play to their own self-interest. Which in this case is survival. Nobody has the skills alone to deal with an issue on this scale. I suspect I will receive word from both of them soon. Could you see if the gron are willing to assist in this endeavor? Their help would probably be instrumental in saving this world and everyone on it.”
Norman tapped his fingers on his desk. “I can speak with their president… He does owe me a favor.”
“Well, if this isn’t the time to cash in favors, I don’t know what would be.” The Admiral pulled out a card and handed it to Norman. “When you are ready, you can meet up there.”
“Caltech? Does this make me a college man?” Norman asked with a smile.
“Hell, I’ll give everyone who helps an honorary degree if that is what it takes to survive.”
***
“I’m coming with,” Kalia stated as she strolled into the bedroom.
“What?” He had expected her to bring this up at some point, just not in this manner.
“I said, I’m coming with.”
Norman stopped himself before telling her it was too dangerous. There was wanting her to be safe and treating her like something he needed to protect. She would grow to resent him if he did the latter. Besides, he had thought about the problem for a few days while he gathered his people and spoke with the gron President. Leaving Ashvale would be dangerous, but probably no more so than their last visit to California.
“Ok, but only if you link to a phylactery.”
“Fine.”
Norman quirked his eyebrow at that. “That’s it? No convincing necessary?”
She shrugged. “You said you could convert mana to life energy now, so my reservations about using the devices aren’t as important anymore.”
Norman had been hoping she would change her mind eventually, but he hadn’t pushed her. He had simply stated the facts and waited for her to decide.
After the pair packed bags for the trip, they headed down to the vault.
There he pulled out one of the permanent phylacteries and held it out to his wife. “Last chance to change your mind.”
“And miss out on whatever magical research happens at Caltech? In your dreams.” She snatched the orb out of Norman’s hands and he saw her shiver slightly. “That’s such a disturbing sensation. How do you get used to it?”
“You just do,” He smiled. Norman could understand why people didn’t enjoy the feeling. It felt slightly wrong when something brushed up against your soul, which is what the phylacteries did.
“Are any of the others coming?” She asked.
“Varter and Saliu both agreed to join us. We will also be traveling with four squads of Death Knights.”
“Isn’t that a bit overkill?”
Norman chuckled. “I wanted to bring more but Eugene told me we needed protection, not enough men to take over the campus.”
Sixteen Death Knights really was overkill. Especially if all of them were fully kitted in the enchanted armor and with the newest version of Ashvale’s enchanted weapons. But with so many clashing and possibly hostile groups present, he wasn’t taking any chances.
One squad was made up of Lohr, Nolix, and Kalia’s two personal guards. Unfortunately, he hadn’t gotten to know their names yet. He had included her guards because he knew she would ask to come. And even if she turned down the phylactery, there was no way he could keep her away.
A second squad was made up of Gabriel’s team. He had been extremely impressed by their actions during the British extraction and asked Eugene to add them to this mission.
The final two teams were hand-picked by Eugene. This ensured each member of their party would have two personal guards at all times and the remaining two teams would deploy as needed.
After Kalia linked with the phylactery, Norman placed it into the box alongside his own. Unfortunately, the devices had limited range, even if he had managed to extend that to nearly ten miles. It meant they would need to accompany them to California. The box was slid into another non-descript bag and added to the pile of luggage that was being loaded onto the carriage.
When they arrived at the teleporter station, they were greeted by two teams of Death Knights, Grobert, and Eugene.
Eugene was the first to speak. “Gabriel and his team are already on the other side. Varter and Saliu have also gone through ahead.”
“Excellent. Hopefully, this endeavor will prove fruitful. Until then, I leave Normenia in your more than capable hands.”
“Good luck, Boss.”
He patted Eugene on the shoulder and turned toward Grobert. “Any word from President Barthus?”
“As if,” Grobert snorted. “He tried to use his power to speed things along but the gron ministers are stuck in deliberations.”
Norman sighed in exasperation even though he had expected this outcome. With the end of the world approaching, they stuck with their heads up their collective asses and couldn’t come to a decision.
He had hoped they would react as quickly as they had when they built their southern wall. But perhaps that had been a fluke. Or maybe it was only brought on by the immediate threat posed by the dinos. That meant the gron didn’t view these increasing earthquakes as an imminent threat. Norman thought that was a fatal mistake. Maybe Barthus had been right when he said he feared he was the last of his people capable of changing the way his people thought.
“And you still won’t come with?”
“Even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to disclose anything. You know this.”
“You and your stupid oaths,” Norman raised his voice slightly, annoyed at his advisor's answer.
“Norman!” He winced at the chastisement in his wife’s tone.
“Sorry. It’s just, the end of the world. I thought that would be enough to discard some long-ago oath.”
All of the Death Knights were keenly ignoring the interaction between him and his advisor. Grobert strode up and poked Norman hard enough in the chest to knock the wind out of him and make him stumble back a step.
“You would do well to remember, Lord Norman, that an oath keeps me here as well. Should I simply discard that too?”
Norman rubbed the spot on his chest where the shorter man had poked him. “Point taken. Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just a bit stressed.”
“We all understand the importance of this undertaking. But you should keep in mind that your words have weight. Now you better go before I sit you back down for remedial leadership training.”
Norman’s eyes went wide at this statement and he quickly straightened. “Yes, quite. Let's go!” He grabbed Kalia’s hand and the pair of them hurried to the teleporter as Grobert chuckled. Grobert’s idea of leadership training was not something Norman ever wanted to experience again. It made the training he had to go through before becoming an entry-level corpse disposal technician for the gron seem like a nice afternoon stroll.
The pair reappeared inside the building where they had for their first date. Instead of just one car, this time, the group had four similar black SUVs waiting outside.
“The area and vehicles are clear, Sir,” Gabriel spoke as he jogged up to them.
“Thank you Squad Leader.”
Norman waved to Saliu and Varter before he picked one of the vehicles at random and got in. Ideally, he would have Kalia ride in a different car but she slid in beside him without waiting.
He didn’t want to start an argument with her so he just held her hand instead. She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. “You need to make it up to Grobert when we get back.”
“I know,” he sighed.
Four of the human Death Knights took the driver's seats while the rest deployed their mounts. Norman would have preferred to have his personal guards be the drivers but Nolix had a tail that made it uncomfortable to sit in the human seats and Lohr was too short. Besides, neither one had any experience driving a car.
He settled in as the cars started to move. The trip south would take a few hours.
