The Vanguard was a lot calmer than how we had left it. The nervous energy from Cloudbreaker's arrival was gone, but there was still tension in the air. Guildmembers were sparring , checking gear, and eating breakfast.
As we walked in, eyes began to find their way to us. A trainee freezing midbite, Barson pausing as he wiped down a glass, children hushing as they carved pictures into the newly boarded windows. It was as if the air had gone dry and all the world centered around us.
Qapla seemed to not notice the attention, carving a path straight to the conference room with no hesitation. The door had already been replaced. The only sign of the fight from the other day was the raw, splintered wood in the floor where the doppelganger had been killed, patched haphazardly with new wood.
Qapla knocked on the door. Helena's voice echoed from within, "Enter."
We filed in. The room smelled of old parchment and dust. Various monster corpses and trophies hung on the walls, their glass eyes staring blankly. A massive map covered the far wall. It was terrifyingly incomplete. Half was detailed with borders and names, the other half was blank. All the Trifectorate took up less than a tenth of the map.
Helena sat at the head of the conference table, one hand massaging her temple as she perused a book. She didn't look up until we were all in front of her.
"How much do you all know of the Resurrection stone."
I glanced at Velyan. I had never heard of it before yesterday.
"I'm going to assume not much." Helena sighed. "I don't know how you found out about it, Velyan, but it does exist. I've seen it. On the expedition."
"Then why didn't you bring it back?" Velyan shot back.
"Because acquiring one," Helena said, her voice dropping., "left ten of our members dead."
"Wait." I stepped forward "Are there more than one?"
"There are." Helena said. She stood, grabbing a long wooden pointer from the corner. "But they all originate from the same source."
She walked up to the massive, half blank map and tapped the pointer just beyond the Deathcrest Mountains, around a third of the way into the map. The area was a faded brown, marked with a single, ominous title : The Bleaksands.
"They come from the Great Devourer. A worm so large it could swallow half of Wolvsbane in a single pass."
My mind blanched. A cold knot formed in my stomach. A single bite. How could we fight something that ate cities.
"The stones," Helena continued, "are its spines. Scattered across its plated skin. I had to hold on while it burrowed and chop single off a single one . That spine… it brought one of my fallen comrades back. It reknit flesh and bone, returned his soul to his body."
Qapla spoke up. "How strong was the worm?"
Helena look away from the map. She looked directly at me.
"Even your father, with his strongest strike, only made it bleed. He was the only one to do so."
My breath hitched. Get it together Annalise, you are the daughter of the great Amos Kane. The words from my morning pep talk echoed in my head, feeling like a cruel joke. The legend was true. My father, the man who single handedly secured a fifth of the wall, had fought that thing. And even he… he only made it bleed.
I wasn't his daughter. I was the girl who hid in the crowd, the one who ran. I was a fraud.
"It was a force of nature," Helena said, turning back to the map. "It is on the level of what I call the Primarchs. Beings you hope never notice you. Not beasts you go to kill. "
Nox, who had been silent, spoke up, "These Primarchs. Do any others exist?"
Helena's face tightened. The pointer drifted across the map. "I've personally encountered seven in total. More that I would ever hope to."
Her pointer drifted to the east of the wall, then south to a green blur on the map labeled: The Living Labyrinth. "The first. When I joined the Pancea Expedition, we journeyed here. I took a golden fruit from a giant tree in the middle and the entire forest came to life. We were hunted by the forest itself. The plants came to life and attempted to kill us as if working as one mine united ."
The pointer dragged north to the woods directly outside of the wall. "While mapping the terrain on the way Deathcrest, a mage on our expedition sent a magical eye into a cavern gouged into the surface of the world. At the bottom was a spider the size of a galleon. It dispelled the magic and we were ambushed by hundreds of insects. It knew we were there and watching, and it watched back. "
Her hand traced past Deathcrest, over Bleaksands and south to the Southern Seas.
"A monstrosity resides here. A cross between a crab and an octopus that created whirlpools capable of sinking a fleet."
Her hand moved to the blank, uncharted north above the Bleaksands.
"And the last one… I don't even think it noticed us. A scaled… thing… so tall it reached the clouds. It led to the death of half the expedition."
She put the pointer down, a faint tremor in her hand. "Needless to say, they are out there. You should not provoke them under any circumstances. "
The room was silent. Velyan was the first to speak, her voice cutting through the dread with a cold tone, "So, you are telling me, that I made a promise to cross half the known continent. A trip that took you two years with Duskmere's finest . In six months. Venture into that desert, find this worm, and chop a spine off without dying. And come back. All within that six months."
"Yes." Helena said. "That is what your promised. And the fate of the Confederacy depends on it."
My stomach fell. It was impossible.
"But," Helena continued, "that doesn't mean you will not receive support. The Vanguard will provide the best resources we can."
She heaved a heavy leather bag onto the table. It landed with a deep, stony thud.
"Inside are runestones, mithril string, and a thorough manual. It's a teleportation runic arch. It can be chained to another one. We will keep one set up here permanently, and you will have this one. This will allow you to resupply and rest somewhere safe."
"That's incredible," I breathed. It was a lifeline. A thread of hope back to this room.
"It's not perfect," Helena warned. "It takes eight hours to charge. And it is fragile. If the arch on your side breaks, you're stranded. You must protect your circle at all costs."
I stared at the heavy bag. A fragile lifeline. A two year journey. A creature my father could only scratch. The weight of it all just kept getting heavier.
Velyan crossed her arms. "This is an incredible tool," she said, nodding at the bag. "But it doesn't solve the core problem. We are not strong enough. You are giving us a fast way to get to a fight that we cannot win. We can't beat a Primarch. We barely survived the last."
"You don't need to beat it, just wound it. But you're right," Helena said. "You need to get stronger, fast."
She leaned forward, her gaze sweeping over us. "You've survived so far because you're scrappy and lucky. But now you must be intentional in your growth, or you will stagnate and die."
"There are three ways to gather power from the mana that surrounds us. Three paths."
She pointed to Qapla and Velyan. "The Path of Ki. You gather mana through brutal training, imbuing it into your own flesh. It strengthens your body, lets you take harder hits, and punch with the force of a battering ram. The true masters," she nodded at her own axe, "can coat their weapons in Ki, allowing them to slice through solid steel."
Her gaze shifted to me, pinning me in place. "The Path of Magic. You channel your magic with a focus—in your case, Annalise, sound—to manipulate mana and affect the world. It can transform reality. But it is the most dangerous path. Overuse it, lose control, and it will burn you out from the inside. You will die."
I thought of the searing pain in my throat just this morning. I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry.
Finally, her eyes rested on Adrastos and Nox. "The Path of Divinity. The one I understand the least. You don't take power, you are granted it. It requires a faith so absolute that a higher power—a god, or a concept—imbues you with their domain. Worshippers of Yaelin can heal others more so than any other. Servants of Balu can twist their own bodies into monstrous forms. Followers of Valaris can amplify their fighting ability. Your path of worship decides your fate ."
"Ki, Magic, or Divinity," Helena said, "your progression is measured by the same five gates. Ones that you have yet to even touch. This is what you must focus on."
She held up a single finger.
"The first is the Gate of Foundations. This is not about strength, but about concept. It the core principle you will build your power upon. It must be something vast, something you believe in. For one, it may be 'Protection.' For another, it could be 'Passion.' It is the why behind your power."
She raised a second finger.
"The second is the Gate of Awakening. This is where your abstract concept first manifests as a tangible force. That 'Passion' is no long just a feeling; it becomes a physical, radiating heat that those around you can feel. It is the first sign that the world has been forced to recognize your will."
A third finger joined the other two.
"The Gate of Unity. You can finally wield your concept. You learn to control your manifestation. That ambient heat becomes flame. A tool for your fist or blade. Your power and your actions become one. Most will never reach this stage." I thought of my own fumbling, barely controlled magic. I wasn't even close.
She raised her fourth finger, her voice dropping, becoming more serious.
"The Gate of Mastery. You begin to impose your will on the world itself. You are not just coating your sword in flame; you are compelling the ground beneath your enemy to become flame. Those that have reached this stage could single handedly take down a city." I knew my father had passed this gate, able to hold down the wall.
Finally, she held up her entire hand, palm out.
"The fifth and final stage is the Gate of Transcendence. The peak. You can command the laws of the world. Your concept becomes the dominant reality." Her eyes held a distant, haunted look. "This is the level of a Primarch. The number of mortals that have reached this peak can be counted on two hands."
She dropped her hand. "This growth, one that takes people lifetimes, is what you must strive for. To break of part of that beasts spine, you will have to at least reach the Gate of Mastery. You have six months. You will need to pass through these gates faster than anyone in history. Or you will die in the desert. And the Confederacy will die with you."