Nexxa was understandably doubtful of my claim at first. "How the heck are you going to drop a mountain? I can't even do that, and trust me, I've tried."

"Take another look in the book," I said, gesturing at the grimoire she was still holding in her hand even as I started working on the cliff I'd chosen as my first target. It was right at the edge of hers and Books' territory, one of the southernmost routes the monsters could take.

A few dozen strategic casts of Crumble and one Earth Star later, and the entire cliff came rumbling down.

"Well, I'll be a dragon's aunt," Nexxa said, blinking a couple times before opening the grimoire back up and squinting at the spell names. "That almost reminds me of my Severing Storm combo."

"It was partly inspired by it," I admitted, before I told her the spells she was looking for.

We spent a couple minutes talking spell theory before a monster came literally rolling down on the far side of the newly formed ridge. It picked itself up, and took the easier route a little ways to the north.

"Well, that's my cue to get back to it," Nexxa said, clapping me on the shoulder before flying off to blow up monsters while leaving me to my work.

Most of it wasn't that as easy as I'd made that first part look. Tumbling rock didn't always slide the way I wanted it to. And a lot of the time, the cliff or mountain I was using as a 'donor' didn't break apart with a single set of spells.

Also… it was incredibly loud.

Loud enough that if there were any dead nearby, they'd be awake for sure.

Ended up having to devote some of my mana to the sound Shield I'd developed for our visits with Conflict.

Still, by the time the sun was directly overhead, I'd managed to close off three-quarters of the routes leading into Nexxa's territories. Including one pass I hadn't meant to close off. It wasn't the end of the world, since I was able to leave another one nearby open instead. But it did mean I spent an hour rechecking my sketches. I was also more careful about where I cast Crumble before unleashing Earth Star after that.

Nexxa joined me shortly before sunset, a smile on her face. "It's working Perry. The fliers are still ignoring it, of course, but I can probably spend a couple hours a day wiping them out now. The new river was an especially good idea."

"New river?" I replied, blinking at her. I hadn't started a new river. At least, I hadn't thought I had.

Yet when I followed Nexxa to the last section of the snaking canyon leading into her valley, I discovered I really had created a new river. One that led into hers, flooding the banks.

That… was probably gonna have some side effects further downstream.

"Should probably set up a dam to control the flow," I said, watching the tumultuous water below.

"It'll be fine," Nexxa said, waving off my concern. "The storm surges sometimes. Seen it way worse than this."

"Right. And now those are also gonna get bigger," I said, crossing my arms.

"Ah. Yeah, guess that's true," Nexxa said, frowning. "Okay, so maybe we do need a dam. Drop another mountain?"

"I… maybe," I said, rubbing my chin. "Let's go check your map."

"Way less fun," Nexxa said, bumping my shoulder.

"Really, you want me dropping random mountains all over your territory?"

Nexxa made a wavering motion with her hand, then flew away towards her beacon.

I laughed, but closed the Soaring Wolf's cockpit back up and followed her.

Once we landed and she had the map open, I pointed to a spot partway up, where the river had previously flowed down a different valley. "That would be a really easy spot to damn off. Wouldn't even have to be too much, just enough that if it goes too high, it'll drop back the other way."

"Guess that'll work," Nexxa said before flicking the red lines back on. There were a lot less than there'd been that morning, and most of them were only starting to work their way in at the outer edges of her territory. "Seriously, Perry, this is gonna save me so much work."

"For now. Not like these are proper fortifications. They might start picking out new paths once the dust's settled," I replied even as I moved back down to Soaring Wolf and started closing myself in.

"Even then, I'll be able to handle it," Nexxa said, her voice serious. "Might not be as easy for me, but you've given me the spells."

"Oh. I also patched up the relays for the high road. It'll be a lot safer now," I said. "Not that it'll matter for a few months."

"Huh. Not sure how useful that'll be. It's a long ways out to your domain, Perry," Nexxa said, her gaze shifting east. "A long ways."

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Yeah. I know. But… just in case. And… look, there's something else I should mention," I said, pausing with the canopy ready to be pulled closed. "You remember that Morgath Starforged guy you told me about."

"Yeah, he was pretty crazy," Nexxa said, chuckling.

"Maybe. But I found a spell of his, and in the notes, he said the Pillars were failing. That must've been hundreds of years ago. And with what you've been facing… if you need to, you grab your beacon and bring it east, okay?"

"Grab my… Perry, I can't just pick up my beacon and take it east," Nexxa said with an exasperated huff.

"Sure you can, you just… oh right, I haven't given you that yet either," I said, shaking my head.

"Haven't given me…" Nexxa trailed off as I produced a small set of books. They were notebooks I'd made, sorting through the mess of notes that Keeper had originally given me. I'd… kinda been selfishly hoping I could convince Nexxa to move east even before I saw what she was dealing with. And being able to bring her beacon was kind of required to get her to do so.

Would she basically have to abandon her current location to join me? Yeah. But it wasn't like she'd built much up anyway. I'd literally done more for her territory in three days. How much could she do if she wasn't constantly fighting?

Besides, after talking to Hash and several others in her camp, I got the impression the other Magus Dominus in the region were much better equipped for the horde. They'd all had decades to prepare afterall.

Nexxa paged through the booklet quickly, then looked up at me. "Perry, this…"

"Yeah," I said, grinning at her. "Awesome right."

She cast Review Scroll, then held the books up, incinerating them. "Don't show those to anyone else. Ever. If people knew what was in those…"

My smile slipped away. "That… might be a bit late for that. Still, you understand what I mean? You can move the beacon. I could even do the enchanting before I leave."

"Yeah. I… I'll think about it," Nexxa said, her eyes unfocused as she stared about the valley. “Listen. About… back in the valley. With the whole exploding you on accident thing.”

“Already forgiven,” I said, waving it away.

“I’m being serious here, Perry,” Nexxa said, eyes narrowing while frowning at me. Then her expression tightened as she looked away. “Before I took the oath… well, you weren’t the only one who needed to get out of Arcadia.”

“Is that who was following you?” I asked, deciding to take a seat on the overhang. “And what happened to not being forced into the oath?”

“I wasn’t forced into the oath. After I heard you took it, I looked into it, and realized it was… it was like I’d finally found my true calling. Something I could be proud of, instead of…” Nexxa slumped down as she joined me, running a hand through her perpetually poofed-out hair.

“You don’t have to explain, it’s not like-”

“Would you just listen,” Nexxa snapped, glaring at me. Then her features softened. “Sorry, I… I’d like to tell you.”

“Right. Sorry, I’ll listen,” I said, running my fingers across my lips, locking it then throwing the key over my shoulder.

“What is that… no, nevermind,” Nexxa huffed out, shaking her head with a wry chuckle. “Point is, I told you I worked for the Gardeners before, remember?”

I nodded, staying silent.

“Well, I also mentioned that they have special divisions. For hunting pests and the like. Well, one of those special divisions deals with illegal soul rituals,” Nexxa said, letting out a long sigh. “The old Magus Superior recruited me personally. An outcast daughter of one of the Hundred Kingdoms most accomplished Djinn souls. A real prize, apparently. Thankfully, I never ended up finishing the training, but I heard things when I was there.”

Once more, I nodded, though I wasn’t exactly seeing how this was related.

“Anyway, the new Magus Superior… well, there were a lot of dark rumors, rumors about what happened to the old Magus Superior. And then we started getting orders to do the rituals we were supposed to be stopping ourselves. I did… I did one, where I consumed everything. I really mean everything, even its soul,” Nexxa held up her hand, her fist sparking with Lightning. “Even that was enough for me to realize how dark the magic was. I remembered its life, Perry. Just like… like I’m sure you remember my brother’s.”

I swallowed, nodding again. “I… yeah, I do.”

She gave me a smile then, reaching over and ruffling my hair. “I’ll miss him, you know. But I’m glad I’ve got you.”

“Thanks,” I said, swallowing down a big lump. “Glad I’ve got you too. More than you’ll ever know, really.”

“Maybe,” Nexxa said, giving me a small smile. Then she turned her gaze back towards the stone fortress where her people where out enjoying a momentary break in the clouds.

One that had been ongoing since we landed, I realized, glancing over at Nexxa. She hadn’t mentioned any new spells, so maybe… maybe she’d just found another use for the ones she had.

“So… what does that have to do with them following you our here? It was them, right, this soul-Gardeners?” I asked.

“Ha. Good name for them. Soul-Gardeners,” Nexxa chuckled dryly. Then she nodded. “Yeah. One of the sisters came to take me back. I might’ve been pretty open with my opinion of the new Magus Superior. And thrown a whole lot of evidence to the council about exactly what he’d done to get there.”

“I could see how that might make a person mad,” I said, nodding sagely.

“Also… I may have lit his favorite herb garden on fire, just a little,” Nexxa chuckled, smiling wide. “That was mostly to stop him from growing more of the Soul Lotuses.”

“Don’t think I’ve heard of those,” I said, squinting as I prodded Perth’s memories.

“You… well, Perth, I guess… he used them in the ritual that summoned your soul,” Nexxa said, frowning. “The Magus Superior wasn’t the only source of the Lotuses. Pretty sure someone in our family was growing them too.”

“That’d explain where Sosa got them,” I said, frowning at the reminder of Perth’s least favorite brother.

“Yeah. I… I tried to tell you this, you know,” Nexxa said, shaking her head. “Several times. I just…”

“Hard. Yeah, to admit you’ve eaten a soul. I get it, believe me,” I said, reaching over and squeezing her hand.

“Ha. Guess so,” Nexxa said, pulling her knees up under her chin. “What should I call you, anyway?”

“I mean… Percival’s the name my real mother gave me,” I said, scratching my chin. “But I always went by Perry.”

“Not Percy?”

“No… Percy was… there was a Percy in this series of stories I used to like. He was… I knew I could never be the hero he was. Just didn’t have it in me,” I admitted, looking down at my nails, which had dirt underneath them. “I was never a hero.”

“Perry,” Nexxa said, her hand on my shoulder.

“It’s fine. Heroes get themselves killed,” I said, shooting her a lopsided grin. “They don’t settle for fair enough. I tried to be like that once and… life doesn’t work that way. So, yeah. I go by Perry.”

“Okay,” Nexxa said, squeezing my shoulder before letting go.

"Right. That’s enough of that," I said, waving a hand in a generally northwestern direction, ignoring the moisture in my eyes that was definitely from the storm. “Let's go deal with this dam.”

Nexxa eyed me for a moment, before pushing to her feet. "Let's," she agreed, giving me a crooked smile. Then Nexxa took off into the sky while I was still standing up, nevermind inside Soaring Wolf’s canopy. She stopped, hovering above me just long enough to wave down, calling out, “Race you there!”

Then she was off.

"Brat," I muttered affectionately as I followed her. It really was good to know she was back in my life.