The Court of Souls?

“Evocation is the act of calling upon or summoning a spirit, demon, god or other supernatural agent, in the Western mystery tradition. Comparable practices exist in many religions and magical traditions and may employ the use of mind-altering substances with and without uttered word formulas.”

- The Journey to the Afterlife

***Dedessia, the Sea of Souls, Semper Fidelis***

***Shade***

So far it was a good day. I finished my amulet, even if it took a little longer than expected, and from what I heard, Elona's mission is about to succeed. Tisha sent us a message which explained that the leaders of Equilibrium and Soistaat are in the process of forming a task force to assist us.

Elona's idea to secure the assistance of those two clans was a good one. The probability that they are involved with Draconis or the slavers is a relatively low one. The only issue is their rivalry with each other. I seriously hope that they can set aside the differences until the fighting is over.

Doreen and I are still discussing various possibilities regarding our enemies when it happens.

Aswang bursts into the room. “They are here! And they are being very blunt about it! They are marching up to the city wall without a care in world.”

I get to my feet while Doreen inquires for more information. “More details boy, remember your education. Don't stop there or I will demote you to commanding the lows.”

Aswang's face reddens, but he reigns in his temper before saying something unfortunate. “They moved in from the open fields towards the desert. Apparently our teleportation inhibitors are holding up. We have counted approximately a thousand soldiers and eighty-four people who could be higher immortals. Apparently they brought all the higher immortals they could muster. The soldiers look like elite troops. I suppose that they are at least mids.”

“Where did they get that many people to use as cannon fodder? Oh, no. Don't tell me. I suppose they pulled Imothep to their side?” I ask, grimacing at the thought.

“It's very likely, but we have no confirmation.” Aswang guides us out of the palace with hasty steps.

As we walk, I notice soldiers rushing past us. They will mobilize everyone who is able to fight.

“Why are they giving us the time to ready ourselves? I thought that they would swoop in and be all over us to create as much chaos as possible,” Doreen grumbles while following us.

I shake my head and send a short, mental image of the situation to Elona. If she wants her reinforcements ready in time, she has to hurry. But I am also glad that she isn't here to join the fighting.

The fact that the slavers are approaching us like they do can mean only one thing. “I suppose that they want to have a word or two? It seems like they are very confident. Maybe they will ask us to surrender because they don't want to destroy their city?”

We arrive on the courtyard and take off. Aswang takes us in a short flight to the damaged section of the city wall.

After surveying the area I start getting doubts about the reasons of our opponents. The wall is still damaged since nobody had the time to repair it.

This is a little confusing. Did our adversaries choose their direction of attack because of the wall? It should be no problem for them to overcome the wall. Even a low should have the power to fly or jump over an obstacle like that. In a world where everyone has some sort of superpower and magic, the wall's only function is to keep the weaker wildlife outside the city.

When we arrive at the city wall, we find Manti and Ishaan inspecting the approaching troops. They are marching in neat rows. Again, I ask myself what they are up to. Their slow approach is giving us the chance to rally our forces.

Even at this point our soldiers are arriving at their stations to defend the city. A relatively slow reaction. “What happened to the scouts? As slow as they are approaching the city, we should have been warned much earlier.”

Manti shakes her head. “I think they took the scouts by surprise and silenced them. None of the people who were stationed further out reported in. And from watching their self-assuredness, I suppose that we shouldn't hope to see our scouts showing up again.”

“The enemy have a lot of strong guys. I can sense Morello and Ra among them. Of course Enwick and his goons are there too.” Ishaan looks at the approaching troops and his icy, blue eyes flash in disgust. “Enwick is mine.”

“No, he is mine! But you will learn that soon enough, Dad.” I turn around and watch the fighters who are gathering behind us. Slowly, this starts looking like a real army. Every person in this world has some kind of combat experience, so there is no need to tell everyone what they have to do. Imagine an army that isn't composed of mere soldiers. Everyone who is standing up to fight for the clan was a commander at one point or the other.

“Why did Ra join up with the slavers? I don't understand it,” Manti grumbles in a displeased tone. She is wearing armour and her trusted batons.

“Maybe because of the trade embargo which was declared by the other allied clans? They decided that fighting is better than admitting their deeds?”

“It was an idiotic idea from the beginning. That's how new slaver clans are born. The fuckers from Imothep were just mere mercenaries. But by pushing them against a wall, we ensured that they had to pick a side.” Aswang spits on the floor.

I sigh and look up to the sky. Why did they have to pick the middle of the day for a fight? I would have been much more comfortable with a night raid. Then I return my attention to the opposing army. Their foot soldiers are using a wild array of weapons, while most of the higher immortals have their hands free. It's inconvenient to use a weak weapon if you could use your hands to channel mana instead. “I suppose we will go out and greet them? Come, Dad. The time for hiding is over.”

“Son, you can't imagine how itchy I got while being locked up in that stupid palace.” Ishaan punches his knuckles together. “Not even your mother managed to divert my thoughts from killing something. We will walk in there and show them how titans fight!”

I snort and turn my attention back to Doreen. “Is our little intervention force ready to be teleported in? Having them sleeping at the mine is probably not the best idea.”

She nods gravely. “Yes, but I have my doubts. They seem to have eighty higher immortals and a thousand soldiers. We beat them completely in terms of normal troops. We have at least three thousand mids and lows at our disposal. But we have just about forty-two higher immortals altogether. That's including the fifteen guys who we stashed away at the mine. Even if we bring them in, it will be a mess. If each one of our higher immortals binds one of theirs, that still leaves forty of theirs to deal with our troops. No matter the outcome, if we fight, the body count will be high.”

I nod to show that I understand Doreen's point. We didn't expect the slavers to bring Imothep into the fight. Without Imothep, we would have crushed them. Now the odds are slightly against us. If our troops can't hold off their higher immortals for long enough, we might even lose this. Our only advantage is that we have more heavyweights than them. And once Elona returns with Tisha, they will bring another twenty-two people to the fight.

Equilibrium and Soistaat may be willing to send most of their higher immortals to assist us, but I highly doubt that they will also add their mids and lows to the mix. They need someone to guard their homes, even if it's just a skeleton crew. And I am not sure how fierce they will be in battle. They aren't exactly fighting for their people. At least our army will look more impressive than what our opponents brought to the field.

“Who are their strongest fighters?” I ask.

“Watch out for Enwick and his personal guard. The three guys who are following him are tough as hell. And don't underestimate Morello. If he puts his mind to it, he can move mountains,” Doreen informs us.

So five people to have an eye on. That's good. We have seven or eight with significantly higher power level. As long as we bind their forces, two of our people will be able to slowly reduce their forces. Though I have a bad feeling that this battle will be a mess. “Alright let's walk up to them and have a nice, little chat.”

I focus mana into my legs and jump. The force easily propels me over the remains of the wall. A little levitation magic carries me further until I land in front of the enemy army.

The marching troops come to a neat halt and I can see a group of people fighting their way through the ranks.

While I am joined by Doreen, Ishaan, Aswang and Manti, I study our approaching enemies. I know three of them. One is definitely Morello and that traitorous bitch from Soistaat. Seems like she escaped her clan.

The other figure is Enwick. Big, pale with brown hair and elf ears. A big scar disfigures his face and a black, metal armour covers his body.

Bloody hell, how long did I wait for this day. I just hope that they don't want to make peace. If they do, I have to find a reason to start the massacre.

.