Strife of the Gods

The Fear of What's To Come

Fayden Leywin POV :

"A lot to take in, right?" Curtis said as he guided us towards a large brick tower that stood in the distance. "The entire city has been rearranged to act as the stronghold and production center for the battle. We're hoping to keep most of the fighting away from the city, stopping their approach at the coast."

After bidding farewell to the Elders, we went through a teleportation gate to arrive in Etistin. Curtis was waiting for us there, saying we'd prefer a familiar face to show us around the area.

Yeaaaah... I did that a while ago when I was on my cleansing spree. Not that I was about to go around and brag about it.

Eventually I zoned out, losing myself in my thoughts. Thoughts about where my dad could be and what secret Erebus was keeping from me. What could possibly make me hate him? Honestly, the thought scared me.

My mind flashed back to the vision I saw, of the red-haired man wielding crimson flames and Erebus' comment about him being capable of fighting asuras.

Who is he, and how does he connect into all this?

I had absentmindedly followed Arthur and Curtis, not noticing when we entered a castle. A gasp from Sylvie was the only reason I ended my thought process.

Following her eyes, I turned to look out a window.

Frost covered more than half of the bay, which was impressive considering it was a mile wide, making it a hindrance for ships. An interesting plan.

"Incredible, isn't it? This is what General Varay has been working on." Curtis rested his forearms on the window ledge. "The largest battle of this war will be held on this glacial field."

"Let's hope we don't suffer many losses this time." Zeke spoke up, he too had been affected by Brandon's death and I cursed myself for not noticing it sooner.

"Hope... that's all we can do now, isn't it?" The words spilled out of my mouth with no recipient in particular.

_________________________

There were rows of desks with people sitting in front of large piles of transmission scrolls instead of computers. They were all faced towards the center of the circular room with a view of General Bairon, who was standing on an elevated podium that was looking over a large earthen table with an uneven surface and a large glass orb perched on top of an intricate artifact. Surrounding this artifact were over a dozen mages on standby.

The earthen table was intriguing to say the least, it showed a replica of the battlefield, parts of it raised to properly depict the area.

Bairon, who was discussing something about the march when he turned to face us, he gave a controlled expression but his eyes told a whole different story.

"General Bairon," Arthur greeted, walking up to the table, with me following him.

"General Leywin," Bairon responded tersely.

Arthur looked down at the table, "I'm assuming this information isn't real-time, right?"

"No it isn't, General Arthur," the dwarf answered respectfully. "I'm only able to roughly gauge and track the progress from the reports we receive via transmission scroll."

"And what is this giant orb?" he glanced at Bairon.

"It's an artifact that works as a medium for the diviners present,"

"How are the diviners getting information from the battlefield?"

"These mages you see here are elite deviants capable of scrying by sharing senses with their bonded beasts. The diviners will be able to draw images from the scryers' minds and project them into the orb," Bairon replied, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Is there anything else I can explain for you, General Leywin?"