Arcane Exfil

Cole tracked the sun’s descent through the shuttle windows. The increasing cloud cover meant maybe half an hour of useful daylight left. Perfect time for those things.

“And to think I’d believed myself prepared for further absurdity.” Elina gave an awkward laugh, pointing at Cole’s helmet. “I had thought your helm an oddity in itself, but… what am I to make of that?”

Cole smirked. “We call ‘em NODs. Lets us uh…” he paused. The ENVG-B sitting on top of his head could do a hell of a lot more than night vision, but explaining thermal overlays to someone who’d probably just learned of electricity seemed counterproductive. “Lets us see in the dark. We may need them if the fighting spills into the forest.”

“Reckon so – Kidry’s sittin’ right next to the forest, after all,” Miles said from the driver’s seat. “Should be comin’ up on it right now, just past this rise.”

Miles slowed down their shuttle. Behind them, hooves crunched to a halt as the relief force reined in their mounts. Cole grabbed his rifle and stepped down from the shuttle, checking that his gear was properly secured.

The lieutenant commanding the riders dismounted and crossed to their position.

“Sir Cole,” the man saluted. “Lieutenant Malcord, at your service.”

“Lieutenant.” Cole returned the salute. “Keep your men here until we know what we’re dealing with.”

“Understood, sir.”

Cole flicked his fingers, and the ground obeyed – dirt and stone shifting into simple flat steps.

Magic, as he had learned, turned out to be a lot more useful than he’d initially thought. Even something as small as making a staircase with earth magic made enough of a difference. Of course, they weren’t necessary – they could scramble up if they had to – but they had an obvious quality of life adjustment available. With magic discipline a negligible concern, why not take it?

They climbed up in silence, ankles saved from loose shale. Five meters from the top, Cole halted and reached out, fingers curling in the dirt. The earth swelled upward, forming a low ridge – a natural blind with a narrow slit.

Only then did they crawl the last stretch, keeping low, close enough to see over but not enough to silhouette themselves against the sky.

Cole exhaled, rolling his shoulders before pulling the spyglass from his vest and extending it. Next to him, Miles settled in, rifle braced.

Kidry perched on its low mound, the afternoon light catching glints on its stone walls. The moat was narrower than he’d expected – ten feet at most, basically a glorified creek. A ragged breach gaped in the section facing the forest where something big had come through. No defenders visible on the walls, unfortunately. Just empty ramparts and towers.

Goblin corpses littered the ground outside the walls, maybe two dozen of them. But no sign of the Nevskors they’d reportedly engaged, nor any of the larger demon troops like orcs. He glanced at the walls again. Still not a single silhouette against the sky. Maybe it meant they were holed up somewhere inside, but that was admittedly wishful thinking. Shit definitely didn’t sit right.

“I’m counting at least 20 corpses – all goblins,” Cole reported, scanning the field. “No Nevskors. No defenders on the ramparts.”

“Well, that don’t track. Ain’t no way Kidry went down that fast.”

“I’m prayin’ they’re just holed up, barricaded in one of those buildings.” Cole zoomed in on the breach. “Shit.”

“What?”

“Gate’s blown. From the inside.” Cole lowered his spyglass.

Miles exhaled. “Hell… Gotta be tied to that mutiny they mentioned. If it weren’t mimics… possession?”

“Fuck…” Cole crawled back, stowing his spyglass. “Let’s regroup, see if Elina knows anything.”

Malcord approached as they hit the base of the hill. “Sir Cole?”

Cole shook his head. “No signs of activity from Kidry. Gate’s breached from the inside – an extension of the mutiny, most likely. Either the survivors are holed up, or there are none remaining.”

That landed like a punch to the gut. Malcord lowered his head. “That bodes… ill.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Cole turned to Elina. “That thing with Gadron – you mentioned something about his mana being off. What exactly did you notice?”

“His mana gathered within his head, yet no spell was cast, nor any working made plain to me. Still, the mana was drawn forth and spent. And having witnessed the Corporal’s hand guided to treachery, I hold no doubt – it was possession.”

“For fuck’s sake. Mind control?” Mack sighed. “Any way to check if they’re still in there? Or do we have to, well…” he lowered his voice, “Put down our own guys?”

Elina took a moment to think. “Should I come within – hmm, perhaps a hundred meters, I may cast a spell to divine whether the men of Kidry are taken by possession.”

Cole frowned. A spell to confirm it, huh? A hundred meters would put them well within rifle range – way too fucking close. But what choice did they have? If these men weren’t acting on their own, there were strings. Find out who was pulling them… kill the puppeteer and the strings go slack. No guarantees, but it sure as hell beat killing their own people.

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“Can you tell where the uh, possessor might be?” Ethan had caught on.

“Yes, I believe so.” Elina’s eyes widened. She got it as well. “But… we know so little of possession. Even should we find this possessor, striking it down may unbind the men, but it may not–” She glanced down for a split second. “It may not truly free them.”

PTSD, probably. Or whatever fucked up variation getting possessed would no doubt result in. “Agreed. But it’s still our best shot.” Cole turned to Malcord. “Lieutenant, my team’s moving up. We’ll get close enough for Elina to run her detection spell. Hopefully we won’t run into trouble.”

“Very well, Sir Cole. I shall have my guns at the ready, should mischance befall you.” Malcord offered a smile, clasping his shoulder. “Rest assured, we shall rain iron upon Kidry should the need arise. Godspeed, Heroes.”

Cole gave a slight nod. Malcord seemed to enjoy speaking like war was still something noble – a remnant from an era of swords and honor, not guns and artillery. Being immortalized by a glorious last stand against demons? Sure. Getting turned to paste by high explosives? Much less inspiring.

Same old business, then. He turned, leading his team around the hill.

The terrain between their position and Kidry was uncomfortably barren. No real cover to speak of except scattered brush – certainly nothing that would stop a bullet. It was a real pain in the ass. Not insurmountable, but not something they could ignore, either.

Their options sucked; no real choices, just lesser evils. The direct approach at least had a boulder cluster – not great, but enough to keep them from standing in the open while Elina worked. Decent cover for now, but a death trap if they had to retreat.

“Walls are clear,” Ethan said.

Cole signaled his team to move up on the boulder cluster. They reached the rocks without incident. From here, they had direct sight on both the gate and the ramparts. But that also meant the opposite was true.

He flicked a glance at Mack. “Mist?”

Mack nodded. A haze began to bleed into the dying light, curling around the boulder outcropping and spreading into the surrounding field. It’d break line of sight, screw with their shots – but at least it worked both ways.

Cole nodded, flipping his NODs down like a pair of sunglasses. He switched to fusion mode before peeking around the boulder. The haze blurred under the image intensification – just grayscale goop. He looked to his right. Mack’s orange outline was clear, as expected, but the previously sun-baked ramparts were already losing their faint glow.

Either way, they had to work with it. Cole turned to Elina. “Start casting. We’ll cover.”

Elina stood behind Cole, consolidating the ambient mana around her. The first pulse went out, passing through him with a subtle tug. A returning wave came back with the same light force – invisible, but definitely present. Cole couldn’t interpret them like Elina could, but he kept his NODs trained on the ramparts anyway. If there was anything up there, it would’ve noticed Elina’s magic radar.

“Thirty-seven signatures. All… possessed.” Elina gave a heavy sigh. “I sense a trail as well – faint, into the forest. Whatever commands them ought to be–”

Cole’s hand snapped up. Through the enhanced night vis, an orange silhouette had appeared against the cooling stone of the ramparts. More emerged – possessed soldiers. “We’re falling back. Elina, with me.”

The first shots cracked out wild – bright thermal blooms through the grayscale backdrop as the possessed opened fire from the walls. The haze did its job; rounds snapped harmlessly overhead or kicked up dirt far from their position. But all it’d take was one lucky hit.

Cole channeled enhancement through his legs, prepping a barrier for the sprint across open ground. The first fifty meters vanished beneath them, enhancement magic turning their sprint into something just shy of superhuman.

Beside him, Mack prepared a spell. The adjustments to spell design were obvious enough – the formation layered in air barriers instead of the usual concentrated core. Whatever Mack was going for, it wasn’t his usual fireball; there was too much air just to be used for fueling combustion and too little fire and stone to be used for outright destruction.

He launched it. The concussive blast struck the base of the wall, showing up as a brief thermal flash when it hit – an upsized stun grenade. The defenders perched along the battlements faltered, some of them firing in a panic while the others probably lay sprawled on the ground, considering the lack of cracking gunshots.

A fireball at that power level would’ve struck with the force of a Hellfire missile. Mack could’ve ripped apart the wall if he wanted to, but pulled his punches instead. The men of Kidry weren’t a lost cause yet.

They continued their sprint, eating up another couple hundred meters before the gunfire started to pick up again, followed by a pair of thunderous booms from ahead. They whistled above, striking Kidry’s walls – Malcord must’ve acted upon seeing Mack’s spell.

Cole flipped up his NODs. Between the distance, the haze, and the disorientation from several sources of explosive power, there was no way the possessed were gonna be landing shots any time soon.

Their enhancement magic carried them through the last stretch. They rounded the hill just as the second volley slammed into Kidry, the outpost’s silhouette now hidden behind the rise. Almost immediately as they arrived, Malcord yelled out: “Cease fire!”

Cole stumbled to a stop, hands on his knees while his body rebelled like a machine pushed past its design limits. Fuck, he probably should’ve practiced those laps a bit more – or at least did some stretching before juicing up with enhancement magic. His lungs felt like they’d been hooked up to a faulty compressor, and his legs were one wrong step away from straight-up collapse. He croaked, fighting the sandpaper in his throat, “Sound off.”

“I’m good,” Miles said, his voice hitching – just slightly – as the enhancement wore off.

“Same here.” Mack seemed even better off, despite having been bedridden for weeks. Either he had insane metabolism, or he’d taken full advantage of his mana capacity. Impressive, honestly.

Ethan though… He didn’t even say a word. He just raised a shaky thumbs-up, keeling over like he’d downed half a bottle of vodka. For a moment, Cole thought he might actually go down, but the man swallowed hard and managed a weak nod. Good enough.

A moment passed before Cole turned his gaze toward Elina, who’d been standing there like she was waiting for someone to hand her a script. She blinked, suddenly realizing the spotlight was on her. “Oh – yes, I am unharmed.”

“Great.” Cole looked up the hill.

The field guns had been positioned with quite the surprise. Someone – Malcord, probably – had copied Cole’s earth magic trick from earlier, carving depressions near the crest. It was the same principle scaled up: guns could fire over the hill while keeping their profile low, just like Cole had done to observe Kidry.

This was probably a first for Celdorne – fighting something that could shoot back. Still, they’d adapted impressively fast.

It made Cole even more eager to get this over with. If Malcord’s men could pick up on things this quickly, what did that mean for Kathyra and her researchers? Honestly, he should probably temper expectations, but damn if that’d stop him from daydreaming about what they could whip up.

Cole turned to his team and gestured up. “Let’s see the Lieutenant.”