The Chronicles Of Bone: Truth

Chapter 14: Onward into battle

The morning of the third day Lok had arrived with Kanya, their chosen, the rest of the vampires and Clement and Angela at the gathering point. Kanya and Lok left the others with the forces of the Death Mages, which seemed to be in crowd control currently and went to the army's command center. On second thought, Lok asked Clement and Angela to tag along. Chi 'Tier had brought in a mobile command post vehicle from Machine Mecca and everyone who was considered a leader had a seat at the table in the middle of its largest compartment.

Chi 'Tier, sitting in a chair that was held aloft by several noiseless rocket boosters cleared his throat.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, with these last arrivals, we are ready to begin. Introductions are going to be necessary first I believe."

He started from his immediate right and went round the table, introducing everyone.

"Darkonos the Oak-Father. He represents the Elven Kingdoms and the Evergreen Grove. He is the Demigod of Nature and protector of the good-natured wild creatures."

"Next to him sits Tem-Be the lord of Shadows. He represents the Silent Edifice in the Plane of Shadows. He is the Demigod of Shadows and patron of spies and assassins."

"Next is Llokremar. He is the God of Truth and the one that made this possible along with Tem-Be. He will be leading us in the battles to come. With us are his seer and her bodyguard."

"This Half-Elf female is Kanya dal Sangredyl, archaeologist, lore mistress and the Demigoddess of Blood. She is new to the Demigod business, but she will be assisting us in the battle none-the-less along with her high-born vampires."

"The man in the azure coat is Gade, Demigod of Portals. He will be handling the logistics of this campaign and will be in charge of our retreat if necessary."

"I really hope not," he whispered to his sister.

"You all know Eleousa, Demigoddess of Mercy. She will assist in the battle and support the troops as much as possible with her soul flames."

"These two black clad gentlemen are particularly famous since the Necropolis was established and thanks to them we have had been somewhat safe from the Corrupted. Lord Maximilian, King of Black Ashes and Baron Blackwater will be leading the Death Mage forces, whose bulk will comprise the main force along with the elves."

"And lastly, I am Chi 'Tier, the Demigod of Technology. I will be commiting a sizeable part of my Machinist forces, Robots and Battle-Suits to this war effort along with vehicles and weapons of war. Now that the introductions have finished, let us begin with the main strategy."

He pressed a few buttons on the armrest of his chair and the background lights dimmed quite a bit. In a few moments, a large holographic globe of the Pangaea began hovering over the table.

A few key presses had the globe become a flat map, visible from both sides of the table. Chi 'Tier then enlarged the view and had it show the area between their current location and the Wasteland Desert's exact center. A green triangle represented their camp and a red X the temple of the Corrupted One.

"The super-calculators I have in Machine Mecca have calculated an exact pathway to the Corrupted One, using the two artificial satellites I have placed in orbit around the Great Goddess."

Lok remained silent about the two satellites' other function and his silence didn't go unnoticed by Chi 'Tier.

A yellow dotted line began snaking its way from their camp towards the Death Wall. This path stopped at the wall and broke it into pieces.

"Since a gate is not constructed in the wall's proper, we shall have to smash our way through. For that reason several regiments of defensive units will guard the opening until our return."