Times keeper 1 a litrpg.., p.26
Time's Keeper 1: A LitRPG Adventure, page 26
But the work didn’t stop within Aevelia’s walls.
“Alwyn,” Cedric said. “Send guards out beyond the northern wall. Most of the Empire’s army was caught in the blast, but we can’t risk a few stragglers getting away.”
Alwyn nodded. “We’ll make sure there are no survivors.” He turned to step away, but Cedric clutched his arm.
“Wait.” Cedric released his arm. “Try to capture them alive if you can. They might be able to offer something we can use against the Empire.”
Alwyn nodded and continued shuffling off toward the wall, where several guards peered out to the decimated lands beyond, their morbid curiosity getting the better of them.
Gruldon, too, stood among them. He swatted them away from the ancient steel opening as he prepared to work it back into place. He caught Cedric’s eye, however, and Cedric waved him over.
“Wall’s gonna need repairs.” Gruldon grunted, nodding to himself. “I’ll get on that immediately.”
“Your reinforcements practically saved Aevelia,” Cedric said. “We owe you our kingdom.”
A slight, involuntary smile flashed on Gruldon’s face, but the stubborn old elf stifled it hastily, instilling in its place a deep scowl. “As long as you keep to your end of our little accord…”
Walt and Myra looked at Cedric curiously.
“I will,” Cedric told Gruldon firmly. “You have my word on that. We’ll go to help your people once we’ve done enough to keep Aevelia secure in our absence.” He nodded out beyond the wall. “In the meantime, the mages were wearing some kind of ancient steel harness. It… interacted with my time magic somehow.”
“Interacted?” Walt asked, a worried look on his face, a look shared by Myra and Arcaeus.
Cedric nodded. “When I sped myself up, they were sped up too. It seemed to do it actively, whenever I used Time Bend.”
“That’s… not possible.” Arcaeus furrowed his brow. “Ancient steel does react to magic uniquely, but that sounds too advanced to just be up to the steel itself.”
Gruldon grunted. “Some ancient steel can, given enough… motivation to do so. It’s called the flux—”
“The flux coefficient, yes,” Arcaeus nodded. “But that doesn’t account for—”
“The modulation that Blackfell described.” Gruldon narrowed his eyes at Arcaeus.
Arcaeus, in turn, narrowed his eyes at Gruldon. In the silence, Cedric couldn’t help but feel an intellectual tension—as if they were fighting a duel of knowledge only they were privy to.
A reluctant smile crept onto Gruldon’s lips. “I’m glad someone in this blasted kingdom understands the basics, at least. I do need a lackey…”
Arcaeus pursed his lips. “And I do need a laboratory assistant.”
“It’s settled, then,” Cedric interjected. “Find out what you can about those harnesses. They might be something we can use.”
Gruldon gave a mock salute, then shuffled off toward the tear in the wall.
Arcaeus started to trail behind the elf, but Cedric waved him back. They had something more to discuss. He glanced around, briefly, to ensure no one was around to overhear. This wasn’t something he wanted to get out. Gods only knew the panic it’d stir.
Cedric pulled his friends away from the humming garrison, away from the guards tending to the damage or mustering to pursue the survivors of the blast.
Thankfully, many of the men had retreated into the city to celebrate their victory. Or to flee, preemptively, in case another blast went off. Nevertheless, Cedric pulled his friends into an old mill with a burnt roof.
Sunlight streamed in from the destroyed roof, tinted with the deep silver of smoke lingering in the air. Pigeons shifted in the decayed beams, having taken up roost in here, their green-and-white droppings streaming down the stone walls. The old millstone lay cracked in two, clinging to a shattered beam.
Cedric shut the old wooden door behind his friends, each of whom looked at him with a mixture of worry and confusion.
“The harnesses weren’t the only surprise out there,” Cedric said gravely, keeping his voice low. “When I used my magic to activate my seal… I had another vision.”
“You saw the Emperor again?” Myra asked.
“I saw him leading an endless army.” The vision flashed before Cedric’s eyes again—the blood red sky, the sea of black armor, the castle. The Emperor destroying it. “They were marching up to a stone castle, one I didn’t recognize. And… he used time magic.”
Arcaeus’s eyes widened. “That’s not possible. There’s only one Scroll of Time. I invented it, and I only made one. Are you sure that’s what you saw?”
Cedric nodded. “I’m confident. He aged an entire castle by hundreds, thousands of years in mere moments.”
Arcaeus looked down. His brow furrowed as the gnome chewed on the revelation.
“Is it not possible for someone to have discovered it?” Walt asked.
“Yeah,” Myra added, “or are you just peeved that someone might’ve beat you to it? I’d be mad, too, if I invented a cool new kind of sword then saw someone already waving it around.” She shrugged.
The gnome pursed his lips. “I was called a madman for trying to do it. None of the other Maguses took the idea seriously. A lot of the runes I etched into the Scroll didn’t exist before I created them.” He glanced at Myra. “It’s like I discovered steel, invented smithing, then created a sword. It’s unlikely that someone did the same, let alone in the timeframe I had to do it before the Cataclysm.”
“And yet…” Myra gestured to Cedric.
“It doesn’t matter how he got it,” Cedric said. “Point is, the Emperor has time magic.” He furrowed his brow. “Come to think of it, when we saw him in that clearing in the Whispersilk Woods the day we entered Arcaeus’s ruin…”
It all made sense. When Cedric had first fought Veyn, the man had clutched his blade, even driving it deeper into his own belly, in order to hitch a ride on Cedric’s time magic—as though he’d encountered time magic before. The fact that Veyn outfitted himself and his mages with those harnesses, too, suggested that.
Walt’s and Myra’s eyes widened as they recalled the grizzly sight. They saw the Emperor attacking their scout regiment. He’d withered arrows as they flew at him, aged four men to ash, and set a terrible, black mold onto another.
“He… used time magic,” Walt murmured. “We saw it.”
Myra nodded solemnly. “I didn’t put it together till now, but… you’re right. The Emperor can use time magic.”
Cedric nodded. “And that means the advantage we had is now gone. If… when he marches with his forces, we can’t rely on just my time magic anymore.”
A heavy silence hung in the abandoned mill. Walt and Myra let the revelation settle in on them, their faces tensed with concern.
Arcaeus sighed, seemingly conceding that the Emperor did, in fact, possess time magic. He rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
“You said you used your magic to stir your seal and those visions, right?” he asked.
Cedric nodded. “I used it on my mind. I sent it… myself…” He frowned. “I used my magic to send my mind forward in time. I thought I could use it to foresee things yet to happen. Evidently, all I saw were visions of the Emperor, both times.”
He had no idea why that happened, though. The discovery of the Emperor’s time magic only left him with more questions. Why did sending his mind forward in time somehow show him the world through the eyes of the Emperor? How did the Emperor acquire a Scroll of Time? What did he even want?
Who was the man beneath the cowl?
Arcaeus hummed. “That… doesn’t make sense. None of this makes sense.” He rubbed his temples. “But if the Emperor has time magic, and you can use yours to see through his eyes…” He looked up at Cedric.
The realization dawned on Cedric too.
“Then maybe he can use his magic to see through mine.” Cedric’s eyes widened.
“He’s been… watching us?” Myra asked.
“I don’t think so,” Cedric answered. “If he was, I’m not sure we would’ve made it this far. Perhaps he’s not yet aware of the connection.”
“Yet,” Walt added grimly. “And with as many questions as we have right now, Gods only know what more he can do to exploit the connection.”
Cedric nodded. “Regardless, my time magic alone won’t be enough to win another victory, not with the Emperor himself facing us. In the end, it won’t just be a battle between me and him. It’ll be a battle between Aevelia and his army.” He looked at his friends. “We need Aevelia to be ready.”
They’d been rushing to upgrade their defenses as best they could. Their carpenters had been working tirelessly alongside their smiths. But, evidently, the Empire had more to throw at them—arc-elephants, for one.
Those beasts had shattered the wooden exterior and even dented the layer of ancient steel reinforcements. The coming assault would likely see the wall breached, if they rebuilt it the same.
But a tough wall was only the beginning. Aevelia was running low on food. He’d seen it firsthand. The merchants’ empty tables were down the main street, where carts upon carts of carrots, potatoes, and fish once lay, before the Empire’s campaign.
With the fall of the surrounding kingdoms, Aevelia has had to rely on its own local produce, and its stores have been running lower and lower ever since. Even with the hunters and fishermen going out daily, they were still barely treading water.
Wood, steel that could be worked by the regular smiths, and men were also critically low.
Moreover, they likely only had a few weeks before the Emperor received word of Veyn’s defeat and marched on their walls again.
And Cedric had to ensure Aevelia was ready. He had to ensure he was ready.
“Go to Pearl’s,” Cedric said to his friends.
“I’m, uh, suddenly not in the celebrating mood…” Myra grumbled.
“We aren’t celebrating,” Cedric said. “We’re preparing. I need all of her vegetable scraps. Go to Pickwum too.”
Myra raised an eyebrow, but shrugged. She’d learned to trust Cedric, no matter how strange a request might seem. She nodded, pulling Walt along with her. Arcaeus, too, trailed out to join up with Gruldon, leaving Cedric alone with his thoughts.
Planting and harvesting vegetables to build up Aevelia’s stores would take time, but with Cedric’s magic time was on their side. With his Temporal Link, and a chunk of his lifespan, he’d be able to build up their stores.
He had to be careful though. The fight with the Emperor would likely push him to his limits, and he was running low on lifespan. He glanced down, where his lifespan incessantly flashed, seconds ticking down.
[Remaining lifespan: 27 years, 4 months, 19 days, 21 hours, 17 minutes, and 52 seconds. ]
Steel, however, would be hard to come by. Ancient steel was abundant, it practically overflowed from the Decidium ruins beneath Aevelia, and they could harvest some from the Foundry where he’d acquired the Scroll of Returning.
But that was ancient steel, unworkable by all but Gruldon and, to a lesser extent, Arcaeus. They’d need regular steel that the other smiths could work.
Or we need more smiths who can work ancient steel, Cedric thought. Gruldon couldn’t share the craft with the human smiths, but perhaps he didn’t need to.
Cedric had given his word that he’d help the elves, and in so doing, help Gruldon get accepted back into their ranks. But perhaps the elves could help him in turn.
Their craftsmen were legendary, take Gruldon for example. They knew the secrets of greatwood and ancient steel. They wouldn’t share those secrets easily.
But if he could win them over, he’d have gained fighting men and hands that could work ancient steel. And that’d mean they didn’t need as much regular steel for their reinforcements. Hells, with enough help to utilize their massive stores of ancient steel, they could do far more than reinforce Aevelia.
They weren’t just going to rebuild Aevelia and tread water as they had been.
They were going to expand it.
#
Cedric stood over the patch of tilled dirt. Neat rows stretched through the square that they’d carved from the grass.
Around him, woodcutters went to work, chopping down trees, builders surveyed the land, chatting vigorously with the smiths as they began to construct a new wall. They’d carved out a stretch of land just beyond Aevelia’s northern border, where they’d plant vegetable fields and bolster the kingdom’s defenses.
Cedric knelt down and called on Time Bend, focusing on the patch of dirt below. But his magic resisted with a sharp stab of pressure in his skull. He furrowed his brow and shook his head.
“I take it farming is more involved than you assumed,” Myra said, smirking.
Walt and Myra marched up to him, carrying bulging rucksacks.
Cedric smiled. “It’s… harder than I assumed.” He stood up. “My magic can’t be used on the entire bed of soil, like it can’t be used on the air. It’s too spread out, I suppose.”
Cedric knelt back down and called on Time Bend again, focusing on a single mound in the dirt. He willed it forward in time.
[Remaining lifespan: 27 years, 1 months, 10 days, 2 hours, 37 minutes, and 2 seconds. ]
The mound grew larger and larger, until a green stalk poked out and climbed up. Cedric plucked the plump carrot from the dirt.
“If I want to use my magic to up our supplies, I need to do it carrot by carrot.” He tossed it into a nearby cart, which was half full with carrots and potatoes he’d grown.
He’d spent days working out here, and still he hadn’t found anything more efficient than going carrot by carrot. Temporal Link could spread out Time Bend, but to send some carrots forward in time, he needed to send something backward in time to keep the link balanced.
That meant he was spending way more lifespan per carrot, judging by some calculations he’d scrawled in the dirt. He was, essentially, paying for the convenience when he used Temporal Link. Time Bend on its own, carrot by carrot, was far more tedious, but it was a better use of his dwindling lifespan.
Nevertheless, over the last few days, he’d grown several cartfuls of carrots and potatoes. It was nowhere near enough to feed the entire kingdom, but with the contributions of the hunters and fishermen, they’d manage for a few weeks.
Cedric dusted his hands off and wiped the sweat from his brow, closing the book on a few days of work.
But work was only beginning on Aevelia’s expansion, a couple miles beyond the northern border. The chorus of axes hitting trunks filled the air. Builders used the lumber immediately, shuffling it along to build the base of the wall.
Cedric and his friends had other work. A task that called them far beyond the kingdom.
Gruldon grunted at Arcaeus, who heaved a large, clinking sack. Even with Arcaeus’s superhuman strength, the gnome struggled to drag it forward. Gruldon, meanwhile, marched up to Cedric unencumbered.
The elf was dressed as though he was about to attend a ball at the palace, not like someone ready to hike for a week straight. Let alone a hike that’d take them skirting the edges of the Whispersilk Woods, the Crossing, even the Wraithlands. Gruldon’s tribe was well hidden, restricted to the depths of the Whispersilk Woods.
Myra ran a finger along the elf’s puffy, silken shirt.
Gruldon pulled his arm back and dusted his shirt in annoyance. “No touching!”
“Sorry.” Myra gave him a flat look. “I thought I’d better touch it now, because there’s no way that shirt is surviving our journey.”
Gruldon narrowed his eyes. “It will.”
“Why’re you dressed like that, anyway?” Walt asked.
“I have to look my best when I return to my people.” Gruldon nodded.
“And what’s in there?” Cedric glanced at the sack Arcaeus had dragged.
“Gifts,” Gruldon answered simply. “The rite of elenrith doesn’t merely require that I save the tribe. It requires that I elevate it by surrendering my personal belongings.”
Myra lifted the top of the sack, peeking inside. She stuck her hand in and pulled out a shoe that looked older than her. She frowned, her nose scrunched at the pungent odor.
“I don’t know about this stuff ‘elevating’ anyone.” Myra waved the shoe. “It’s more likely to put someone in the ground if you ask me.”
Gruldon snatched the shoe from her grip. “Well, I didn’t ask you, did I?”
“It’s a long trip,” Cedric said. “It’ll take us more than a week to get there on foot, since horses can’t handle the terrain. We need to travel light.” He looked at the sack, then at the elf.
Gruldon sighed. “Well, fine, I think I can cut a few non-essentials.” He opened the sack and dug into it, tossing exotic tools and steel trinkets out onto the dirt.
A broken sextant clattered against a cracked hammer. A dusty, flea-ridden blanket was squashed beneath a shiny rock about the size of Cedric’s head.
Finally, Gruldon closed the sack and lifted it.
“There,” the elf said. “Happy?”
Arcaeus grabbed the sack from the elf’s grip, and as soon as Gruldon let it go, the sack crashed down, leaving an imprint in the dirt. Arcaeus heaved it back up and over his shoulder.
“I can handle it,” Arcaeus said confidently.
Gruldon let out a hearty har-har and slapped the gnome’s back hard, causing him to stumble. “Spoken like a true elven apprentice.”
Arcaeus smirked and heaved the sack up onto his shoulder. “Ready when you are.”
Cedric looked at Walt and Myra. They too nodded their readiness.
But before they departed, Cedric paused. The trip to the city of the elves would take them about a week each way. He could lessen it by having his party squeeze themselves onto a cart, or by using Temporal Link on all of them individually, but that’d consume a chunk of his rapidly dwindling lifespan.
