Trillia was quickly coming to realize how little she knew about geography. The capital of the Kadessian Empire sat on the southern shores of the Central Continent. They had been in the dwarven citadel on the northern shores.

  According to Simon, it'd be a nearly three-month trek if they marched for twelve hours a day. Trillia didn't really mind.

  She had realized just how much she missed the open skies and fresh air while training in the Professor's realm.

  The group decided they would meander a bit. The strongest people that Trillia knew had all of the information she could manage to get out. So she didn't feel rushed to get to the capital. They decided to spar every day, swapping out partners often.

  After that initial fight, she hadn't managed to slow Simon down at all. The goblin was a very capable warrior. Two weeks in and they had started to try and beat him two against one to no avail.

  That surprised them all, especially as according to Simon, half his skills required him to be mounted to work properly.

  Simon stood behind Trillia, grabbing her arm and twisting it this way and that. "Rapiers need to aim for weak points. I realize that with your artifact, you can punch through most armor. That will work great if you're ever on a battlefield against normal soldiers. But as an elite warrior who is decked out in artifacts. You are going to be up against enemies with a similar level of equipment."

  Trillia nodded and was happy to learn from him, though she was surprised to see how much he knew about so many weapons. His style of teaching was also very different from Titan and Tempest.

  He had been giving everyone lessons regardless of what weapon they used.

  As he stepped away, he looked at the group. "Most important rule of battle?"

  The group was happy to repeat the mantra he had been drilling into their heads. "Always treat your enemy as if they are your equal or your better."

  Simon nodded. "I realize most of you are gonna blow right past how strong I am when you get to the same level. Goblins don't have great racial traits. But we survive by going into every battle expecting our enemies to be our equals. If it's easy, great. But otherwise, we are prepared."

  Trillia smirked at that. "Or by bringing five times the number." She remembered Red River Dungeon and the host of goblins that were constantly sent after them.

  Simon laughed at that. "You're damn right! Ten to one if we can manage it! It's also how the Golden Gryphons operate. We may all be competent and capable warriors. But we fly in fleets of five to twenty depending on the mission."

  Taz crowed a bit at that, causing Simon to nod again. "As Taz said, especially against larger enemies, being able to split up and divide attack power is a huge boon to any group."

  A small explosion rocked the area around them. It left Malor crumpled up on the ground, coughing his lungs out. "Son of a bitch. What sort of fucking enchantments does this maniac have me learning?"

  The group waited a few seconds for any other explosions before Amelia walked over to heal him.

  Malor had accepted DuMont's pact.

  The results had been absurd and immediately noticeable. His enchantments had nearly doubled in power. Trillia wasn't sure what skill could do that, but part of Malor's pact had been not to reveal any of his divine abilities to others. The group was happy to not press him on it.

  Fred sat off to the side, polishing various weapons and armor for the group, making sure everything was in good repair. "Can I ask why the generals didn't just... I dunno. Pick us up and run us down or something?"

  Everyone shrugged. "My best guess is that they wanted you to have time to catch up and gain some levels, maybe? That's why I was sent to escort all of you. I'm nowhere close to their power."

  Trillia looked over at Simon and wondered about that. "I'm not sure what level they are. I know Uncle Stas is over a thousand."

  "Was." Layla said as she looked up from a book she had been writing. "I've spent a lot of time around the Generals since I spend so much time with Amelia. They have not been idle in this past year. I can't scan them, but I overheard them saying that General Amara was getting close to level one-thousand. Though... they did say she was getting close to level one-thousand again. How do you lose levels?"

  Amelia poked about a pot that was boiling water and vegetables. "Maybe like a racial evolution? Pretty sure that resets your species level back to zero for the purposes of scans."

  Trillia thought back to the book about echos. With a shrug, she tried to launch into an explanation of it. She was only slightly surprised to find the system didn't stop her at all. It only stopped her if she veered too closely to topics of the eldritch.

  That had the group sitting around the small fire in silence, in heavy thought.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Have any of you ever met Queen Alliyah?" Simon finally broke the silence.

  As the rest of the group shook their heads, he continued. "She doesn't use obfuscation skills. I think, partially so that people don't make the stupid mistake of trying to attack her. The last time I scanned her, it showed her as being a Divine Human with a level over three thousand. If what Trillia says about the [Primordials] maybe creating echos. It makes me wonder what level she actually is."

  Three-thousand? Sure, Storm had been considerably higher, but Storm was a dragon. An old dragon at that. "How do you get to such a level? What sort of difference is there between her and the rest of us if it came to a fight?"

  "There are... there are a lot of rumours about Queen Alliyah. You hear all of them in the Gryphons. Some of them make me want to idolize her, others make me terrified every time I see her. I guess the reality is somewhere between."

  "No. I think being terrified is the right call." Layla said with a chuckle. "I don't think we'd ever be on her radar to warrant standing against her on a battlefield. But I have no doubt all of us have heard rumours about her. I'm pretty terrified to actually meet her. Plus, you all heard what she had Lord Riten write down. The way she so casually talked about wiping out an entire caste of people..."

  Once again, silence settled over the group. The group had settled into camp and eat for the night. Trillia was happy to lean back against Ialu, running a hand over the skoll's head. "I'm excited to meet her, personally." That caused the rest of the group to glance in her direction. "She's a [Universal Mana Manipulator]. She is the mother of my patron god. Think of how much I could learn from her, of how much she could teach us all just by being near her."

  Amelia had a faint little smile on her face. "Mom used to say that every leader should strive to be like Queen Alliyah. I never got a chance to meet the Queen, but apparently, she and my mother were good friends. I guess Queen Alliyah is the one who introduced my parents."

  Trillia perked up at that. Partially, she was happy Amelia was talking about her past, the rest of her was curious to know more. "From what Dad has told me, after the war, he and Uncle Brutus were in a pretty bad state. A lot of drinking and a lot of fighting. The...the loss of so many friends and loved ones over the decades had really eaten away at all of them. Queen Alliyah had to pull them out of a lot of bad situations."

  Malor had put up his book and sat next to Amelia, an arm wrapped around her shoulder for support. Amelia continued. "One day, she called Dad into the throne room. I guess this was before the banishing took place. Anyway, she pulled him in and introduced him to a young Minstrel. Told him that he had to escort her to the northern continent on foot. That she was carrying a package for Lord Darktone that needed to be brought there on foot."

  Trillia couldn't help but smirk at that. Simon chuckled. "I guess he didn't see through the rouse?"

  Amelia shook her head with a smile. "Nope. Or maybe he did. Maybe he knew deep down it was just a way to help him... either way, he took his mission very seriously. Bought an entire crate of potions meant to help with detoxification and curing hangovers. Five months on foot later, they arrived in Kincairne, where Uncle Stas was. Mom handed him the package. At that point, Dad knew what had taken place since the package was just a book about some old nation that specialized in golemancy."

  "Anyway. Dad sent a letter back to Kadessa, requesting to be put on leave for a bit to help Uncle Stas and spend time with Mom. It was a century later that I was born. At least that's my best guess on the time."

  Trillia smiled as she took the bowl of soup that Amelia was now serving. "What about Uncle Brutus?"

  Amelia shrugged. "I guess he's had a very rough go of it. Both he and Uncle Stas have lost families before."

  Simon nodded at that. "Yeah. Dad told the world that he lost all of us and dropped me off at the Church of Mercy in Kadessa. Asked Queen Alliyah to watch over me."

  The group was happy to let him share. "He has a really bad reputation, pretty much everywhere. He was not a gentle soul in the wars. He figured my life would be easier without him. My mom and siblings had been hunted down by some dwarf extremists and wiped out most of us. That was the first time I saw the exact type of monster he really was. Not that I blame him."

  Taz moved over to sit next to Simon and rested its huge head on his shoulder. A smile crept onto his face as he raised a hand to pet the gryphon's beak. "Since we're eating, I'll leave out the details, but when I finally became an adult, I requested an audience with Queen Alliyah. I threw myself at her feet and begged her to let me train to be a soldier. To become strong enough that no one could threaten me ever again. This way Dad didn't have to be alone."

  "Five years later, I was the first goblin who was knighted in Kadessa. There were a whole lot of people against that. Said that Goblins couldn't be trusted. To be fair... they are mostly right. Most goblins can't overcome their nature. I've sadly had to put down a lot of my own kind because they loot, pillage, and burn. But no one was willing to go against the Queen. Six years as a Knight and a dozen recommendations, I was the first Goblin to be promoted to the Gryphon Knights."

  Simon looked up at the sky with a smile. "It's been just about thirty years since Dad dropped me off. I am looking forward to seeing him at this meeting."

  That caused everyone to pause, and Trillia spoke softly. "You haven't seen him in thirty years?"

  Simon shook his head. "Nope. Most of my time has been spent training and getting better. Last time you and I spoke, I mentioned how bad things had gotten in the Golden Gryphons as well as many other parts of the Kadessian army. Now that the other [Primordials] have woken up, something snapped in the Queen. She's been on a rampage of clearing out corruption and fixing things. I..." The area went silent again except for the crackle of fire.

  "I'm worried he won't be proud of me. Worried that he'll say I need to stay away."

  "Maybe he will. He is at a very high level. But I know he'll be proud of you, Simon. It's something I've come to realize with Mom." Trillia glanced at Simon, then back to the fire. "They don't talk much about the beast wars. I don't think they ever want to think about it. I know that they try to push all of us away from this."

  Fred spoke up. "Of course they do. They are your parents. They want you to know peace. They fought for centuries to make sure you had peace, and now that peace is threatened. They don't want any of you to suffer the same trauma they have."

  Layla nodded in agreement. "I think Fred is right. I don't think it's because they aren't proud of you or don't think you are strong enough. I think they just want you to focus on having a happy life instead of all this crap."

  Simon shook his head. "I don't think you're wrong. But I refuse to abandon this realm and live a peaceful life. I don't care what my enemy is. I'll fight to keep everyone safe."

  Malor smiled and raised his water skin. "Hear, hear, Sir Simon. I think all of us agree with you. To doing our best to make sure all of us survive and find the peace others want us to have."

  The group smiled and raised their own water skins before settling into swapping stories about their adventures.