Enemy action

 Something was very wrong.

Touch came back first. My son’s face, underwater.

I lifted him out of the water but water followed him. It was an eerie blue globe that after a few moments I realized was my own water intent purified beyond anything I had ever do ne. But there was more, the pattern swirling inside was a sirocco of wind.

The waves lapped up on shore.

I had no pursue except protecting our daughter, I didn’t know if his father was alive or dead.

I had no swords with me. Even more concerning, I couldn’t express any Divine Cultivation.

I tried stepping back to elemental, abs I was able to control the waters, but it was my old control as an Opening cultivator.

I started walking, holding my water son close. Even now my control of water was enough to not shiver or feel wet,

Where were we?

**

Captain Ryan found none of the other regiments at the rendezvous. He only had one more flight totem for the group.

Setting up camp, he waited to hear word, sending scouts to look around. 

On the second day, scouts made contact with guild forces, but no one from the army was found.

That began the end of his little army unit’s life. The fall back instructions were to look for the Prince and protect him.

* * 

LO: Just come in A. The Emperor set off some kind of explosion that killed many. Most of our juniors died. We lost our Divine Cultivation. But not all of us. Arielle ascended, something else to. The guilds deserve to be angry.

AO: You marched on the capital with an insurrection army, exploiting the very hour of the Prince’s birth. What do you expect. When did you lose you heart and become a guild drone? I will find a way to destroy this soul bond. I know you are tracking me.

LO: The timing wasn’t intentional. I thought Tim was going to die. Why did the Emperor do it.

AO; you wanted to murder a newborn boy and brought an army to do it. Anyone who goes after little Daimon is my enemy. I am his protector.

LO; why would we kill your son? The imperials are done anyway. Why should one person decide for everyone. 

…

AO; I felt our parents protect Daimon from a higher place. I poured all of my desperation to protect him. 

…

**

Lucille was talking a different story, but everywhere he went Tim heard talk about wiping out the last of the imperials, and the son that got away.

There was no way he would be involved in hunting down Anna’s son. Maybe illegal by the shifting inter-guild charters, but he left camp very early. He was still not fully recovered from the blast.

The whole March to the palace was a line of stories told that turned out false. If the guilds had done things more gradually they may have found more cooperation. 

Already he knew imperial army units had been captured.

He proceeded to rescue a dozen army soldiers in ones and twos. He knew a direction towards Anna because Lucille had started leading the guilds that way.

When he came up on a bigger battle, he faced a decision. The Imperials were losing.

He went for it. The wave of heat from a Fire spell didn’t stop him as his pushed away the staff guilder’x weapon.

His team charged through, meeting the army, and turning back .

Sword flashed from moment to moment, as he tried to Turn the tide.

*

Captain Ryan was astonished that the guilder had rescued several army soldiers and fought against the other guilders.

“The Empress and I go way back. She was a very good friend of my mothers.”

Having this cultivator didn’t solve all the problems. They were losing people to desertion in the night. No one wanted to be part of the losing Imperial side of this conflict.

Those who remained had nothing left to lose, lifers who would always turn up as Imperials on any guilder background check.

There were no easy answers for food in the wild. It was a land of small islands and bays, they worked to catch animals on land and sea supplementing with safe plants and fruit. As mortals they would not survive, but all who remained were at least at the 2nd stage of cultivation.

**

The witch was not displeased with our presence for once. We offered food and the chief’s son noticed the witch’s attention to his sword.

Next time we will bring a suitable weapon for the Witch of Waters. Her son is clearly fated , a son of the Sea God.

-

Sea witch and son came to our village where we offered her food and the old shaman’s hut.

Her language is unusual but it seems as if this child’s protection keeps her from wandering far. It is odd to hear cries from a child covered in water..

The sword was reluctantly taken.

-

The witch sword cries out, an invasion of our home was stopped by her sword and witchery. The child grows.

-

We flee into caves, dark but her waters protect. The enemy arrives in their multitudes.

-

*

I haven’t seen anything brighter than atmospheric light for weeks. Daimon Jr is wrapped in a source of power that magnifies and contracts.The locals are dying to guild hunters looking for me, or for Daimon.

My water sense shows me when amd where the hunters arrive. My sword pierces through just fine.

This is the land stand, I will try to bring Daimon somewhere safe, and then I will be the distraction. If we get out of here.

*

The presence of a massive encampment clues us to something significant.

Tim worked with Captain Ryan to scout the encampment.

Disagreements were breaking out in the camp. Guildees went into a series of caves with various forms of lamp or torch to see by, and not all of them made it out.

They thought they were in trouble when another group showed up, but they started fighting the group at the encampment.

In the noise. The 2 of them slipped into the caves.

They couldn’t see anything. But he thought he would recognize Anna’s elemental uniqueness. He expressed his earth element and guides them gradually through the dark cave.

How long were they in there? He had to check for Ryan behind him often.

There were two expressions of water, somewhere nearby. One stronger than the other. 

There were False starts . Three times the water seemed to diminish, but they came upon the last nook where Anna was.

“Anna, it’s me, Tim.”

“Is Lucille with you?” The voice was weak, breaking.

“I left the guild. They are hunting you, all of them, but I helped the army. Look Ryan here is a Captain in the Imperial army.”

“I lost all my men so I guess ex-army. They all knew the army’s lost. The age of guilds is here. But I’m stubborn, I don’t think the Emperor would unleash the power he did if he didn’t have a plan for his child to survive. Did the Prince or Princess make it?”

Replacing the pitch blackness, the eerie blue color filled the cave as Anna stepped out.

“Prince Daimon is fine. He is special.”

“As the last man of my unit, I will protect Daimon, Emperor of the fallen lands, his birthright stolen but not forgotten.”

“Lucille is sharing your location with the guilds. I don’t know how she could live with herself. I don’t know if there’s some way to remove her access. We have time though, some of the guilders were fighting each other when we slipped in.”

The conversation stopped, and Anna, with a peasant’s sword unworthy of her might, cut down a guilder attacker before they knew he was there.

“The villagers protected Daimon and I with their lives, let’s make sure we make their lives paid worth it.”

She was disempowered of the Divine stage powers, like everyone, but even as an Elemental sword cultivator with an inferior sword, she cut a path through the enemy, baby Daimon floating on a globe of waters behind her.

“We’ll have to find more help.”

* 

Emerging from the cave, there were only a few guilders around, busily they hauled the dead into mass graves.

Anna and the prince would take more time to adjust their eyes, so Tim scanned the group to find it’s leader.

With so few they might scatter if their leader fell.

Putting the weight of stone and mountain behind his blow, he stunned his foe, who tried frantically to resisted.

As the others turned to him, Anna was there, sword striking one and when one of the guilders went after Daimon, water struck him like a tsunami blasting him away.

The three of them cut down some and forced others to flee.

They gathered food and supplies from what was left behind.

“They can still track us, whenever they want.” Anna said.

“The further we get from your sister, the less precise they’ll be about your location. We need to find one of the other empires, if they are still standing.”