Ashborn Primordial

Chapter Ashborn 405: The Cogs of War

“So Raoul has thrown a monkey’s tail into our plans,” Cirayus said, stroking his beard in thought. “I admit, it is more than I thought possible for a being such as he.”

“I think we’ve all underestimated him,” Vir said. He was currently walking the ranks of troops with Cirayus during one of their training sessions. This session was a little unique—it was less about combat strength, and more about retaining prana within one’s own body. While these demons were only learning it now, at the end of their arduous training, it was the lesson Vir had been forced to learn first, back at Riyan’s place. It was only after mastering the ability to keep prana within his body that he was able to stop feeling so weak.

In a land as rich with prana as the Ash, these demons needn’t bother with such control. Outside, however, was another story altogether.

Vir had seen Maiya struggle with the skill, and it seemed no different for the rest of the world. Vir’s prana manipulation skills were unique. And while demons were more naturally attuned to magic than humans, he doubted his troops would retain more than a tenth of the prana that leaked out of their bodies.

Personally, Vir found that acceptable. However, it meant they would be ten percent stronger—a worthwhile gain for the army. He only hoped they would strive to continue their training after the rebellion, so that one day they could retain all of their prana. It would give them an exceedingly useful ability. Saunak had called it a prana battery. The ability to remain independent of ambient prana levels, requiring only infrequent trips back to higher density areas to ‘recharge’.

“What do you intend to do?” Cirayus asked. “Killing him now won’t change the fact that the Chitran army will lie in wait inside Samar Patag’s walls.”

“I will have to lure out, is all. The decoy army will have to become more than a simple decoy.”

Cirayus snorted. “Lure out an army protected by tall walls? You’re out of your mind, lad. Only the most incompetent commander would take to the field when they’ve a city to defend them. Samar Patag’s defenses have been bolstered. It is a fortress. And a well-supplied one, too. Not that a siege would work in the first place.”

“Not a siege, no,” Vir said. “Siege weapons. Long-distance weapons they won’t be able to ignore.”

“Something along those lines, only, a lot stronger,” Vir replied. “The city will be mostly evacuated, so the casualties should be low. We’ll target the walls and the buildings immediately behind them. I’m thinking of an artillery barrage so fierce, the Chits will have no choice but to send out their forces.”

“Meanwhile, we leave them unguarded. We do not show our faces there, to bait the enemy. Yes… I think this could work. And I believe we have the perfect leader for our decoy army, don’t you?” Cirayus grinned devilishly, and Vir mirrored it.

“I’m sure Nayan will be elated. Well, either that, or terrified. In the meantime, I think I ought to pay Saunak a visit.”

Cirayus looked like he’d just swallowed a lemon.

“You still hate him that much?” Vir asked. “He’s changed, Cirayus. Look at all he’s built for us. All that he’s currently building. His inventions will save thousands, perhaps millions, of lives.”

“Doesn’t undo the sins he’s committed in the past, lad.”

“No, but at least he’s making amends!” Vir said. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live in a world where people aren’t allowed to atone for their crimes.”

“Aye, lad. Some crimes. Some crimes can be atoned. Saunak killed thousands of demons. Worse—he brutalized them, experimenting on them as though they were nothing more than animals.”

Vir sighed. While Cirayus continuously struck Vir as open-minded, especially for his age, he could be stubborn to a fault about some things. Vir would never win this argument.

“I’m not asking you to forgive him, Cirayus. Just—at least recognize the good he is doing. The good he will do. The things he has planned.”

“What is that mad demon cooking up now?”

“Things you wouldn’t believe. Or at least, the plans for them. Crystals that can harness prana in the ground and push it into the air. Devices to flood the realm with the prana from the Ash, slowly increasing the overall density of the realm. Airships that function the way the humans’ do, allowing safe, rapid transit to even the farthest reaches of the realm. Communications networks leveraging Ashani’s Gates... and so much else.”

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“All well and good, lad,” Cirayus said. “I will believe it when I see it.”

Vir figured that was about all he could hope out of the old demon. Perhaps one day, after Saunak has truly revolutionized the realm, Cirayus would feel differently.

For as impressive as Saunak’s airship was, the dozens of other projects he’d laid out in front of Vir made his heart skip a beat.

While demonkind would never attain the heights reached by the Prime Imperium, if even half of Saunak’s ideas worked, they might very well come close.

Vir found the old Thaumaturge cooped up deep within his laboratory. Despite the tower’s surveillance systems alerting him of Vir’s arrival, Saunak made no effort to find him, forcing Vir to come to him.

After the first few times, when he’d scoured the whole tower to find him, Vir learned the demon spent most of his time in the lab at the very bottom. He even ate and slept there, rarely ever leaving. For all the size of the tower, Saunak used only a tiny portion of it.

Vir wondered how the demon didn’t go crazy, never leaving his lab. Even with the tower at his disposal, Vir would’ve needed to leave every few days to get some fresh air.

A much more dangerous proposition for Saunak, of course. The outside might as well be toxic. Yet, Saunak didn’t seem to mind—or even notice. He seemed content to bury himself in his research, day after day, week after week. Year after monotonous year.

Was such a life rewarding, Vir wondered? He suspected not.

“Ah, it’s you! Good! You can help with my latest experiments,” Saunak said, gesturing animatedly.

Vir narrowed his eyes. “If this is about your airships, I’m afraid I won’t have the time. I’m due to train another batch of Warriors in prana control.”

“Bah, they can wait!” Saunak said, as if the very idea made him sick. “And no, not the airship. Oh! But you will be pleased to know that I have the prana requirement under control, thanks to your human ‘orbs’. I believe I have succeeded in fashioning something similar. Quite rudimentary, mind you. It will improve over time. Perhaps even outstrip those orbs of yours.”

Vir raised an eyebrow. “You’re saying we could have an attack fleet ready?”

That certainly appealed to Vir. Perhaps he’d swoop in from the skies, landing atop Samar Patag in a rain of Gargan glory.

“Possible. Possible,” Saunak said, ruffling his hair that looked like it hadn’t been washed in months. Knowing the demon, it probably hadn’t been. “Not what I intended. I meant transportation, Sarvaak, Son of Maion!”

Vir rolled his eyes. “Do you have to call me that?”

“I’ll call you whatever I Ash-damn please, Akh Nara boy Think of it,” Saunak said, sweeping his hands across the horizon. “A fleet of ships. But these are ships that float in the air! Vast! Massive! Imagine trade routes in the sky! With ships carrying tonnes of cargo to the farthest reaches of the realm!”

Vir sighed. He’d just finished telling Cirayus the same thing. “You’re preaching to the choir, Saunak. You’re telling me this magic is ready to deploy?”

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes,” Saunak said, dancing and skipping around his lab. “Give me ships! Give me demons!”

Vir considered the crazy demon’s words. Would it work? He’d told Cirayus he wanted siege weapons, but what of demons dropping bombs from up high? While Samar Patag was building defenses against exactly such an eventuality, what they didn’t know—couldn’t know—was that Saunak’s airship magic did not have a height restriction.

Vir had actually tested that, at the request of the thaumaturge. He’d stopped when the airship’s wings had gradually produced less and less lift, and only his magic rose the craft.

It was… very high. Higher than Vir thought possible. He thought that for sure, he would hit the ceiling of the world.

While he hadn’t quite gotten that high, the view was absolutely breathtaking. His breaths grew deeper and deeper, as though the very air was thinner.

He’d later found out from Ashani that this was, in fact, true, and that there was no worldly ceiling. She’d laughed so hard that Vir swore never to talk of ceilings ever again. He only thanked the gods he’d chosen to ask her in private.

“How long to make a fleet of twenty?” Vir asked.

Saunak scratched his elbow. “How many demons will you give me?”

“As many as you need.”

“Mmm. Two weeks!” Saunak cried.

Vir’s lips curled upward. “Then you have yourself a deal. On one condition. I want these airships capable of dropping bombs, but they cannot be lethal.”

“I feel like you do not understand the definition of a bomb, boy.”

Vir shook his head. “They’ll be dropping from high. At cloud level. So, unless you can guarantee that the weapon will not affect my troops when they inevitably land on the city…”

“Point taken,” Saunak said. “Gas, then. Something toxic.”

“You can do that?”

Saunak scoffed. “Lord Boy Akh Nara, reversing Imperium magic to make a functional airship is at least a hundred times harder than concocting some toxic potions. Yes, I can make your bombs and your airships.”

“Good,” Vir said. “How many will you need?”

Saunak thought it over a moment. “A hundred should suffice.”

“You’ll have them… But you’ll have to work through me.”

“Through you?” Saunak said, sounding almost disgusted. “You have no idea how to even begin making such things! Let alone the experience! You could be my great-great-grandchild. No, I’m sorry. I must oversee this.”

Vir clenched his teeth. “Then, Saunak, you will have to introduce yourself to these demons and win their respect. Is that something you can do?”

Vir entirely expected the demon to back off. This was his secret weapon, after all. There wasn’t a chance in the Ash that Saunak would be willing to interact with others.

Which was why Saunak’s words threw Vir completely off his guard.

“I can,” the mad Thaumaturge said. “And I will. It is high time Saunak of Garga restored his reputation. And why not start now?”

Vir stood open-mouthed at the demon’s declaration. He didn’t know whether to be impressed… Or terrified.

Ultimately, he decided on both.

Saunak… For the sake of this realm’s future… Don’t die.