Lorreway didn't look too impressive. It was just a circular stone platform surrounded by a stone wall of the same shape. Kagura didn't even think that it really deserved the moniker of "city", but what did she know, eh?

What floated above Lorreway, however, was a different matter entirely.

The "city" was situated on the shore of what, to Kagura, seemed like a pond. To the inhabitants of the Celestial Vale, it was most certainly a lake. And high above the water floated a massive city.

Kagura realised she'd been staring for a while and closed her mouth, silently glaring at a snickering Sekron.

Yes, Perfect World had Heaven's Tear, a grand floating fortress. While an impressive sight in and of itself, it had never really felt like a necessity for Kagura. At most, it was used for commanding forces in larger wars, but Archosaur was the place to do that these days. For a religious centre, it was much too far from City of a Thousand Streams, and for an administrative centre, it had been out of the action for much too long. The territories of races were long since under independent control, with only the most insignificant and shallow rights given to the so-called holy city.

These days, it was popularly used as a neutral meeting place to sign pacts and treaties, and even that would have been done elsewhere if the state of alliances and rivalries hadn't muddled the political landscape so much so that no other strictly neutral ground could be found anymore.

All in all, it was a glorified rock in the sky with a significant past that had lived long past its glory days.

This city, however, was far from it.

Even as Kagura watched, people flitted to and fro from separate chunks of the floating city, flying on wings of feather and energy. Her eyes followed the tiny specks. Each one had a life, a history, a future. And none of them knew of the slow, darkening corruption seeping into their realm at this very moment.

Kagura blinked and shook her head. Old age is making you soft, dear. She tossed the thoughts aside.

"Right, we're here. What are we supposed to do now?"

Sekron, who was still obviously laughing, managed to conceal his mirth for long enough to point to Lorreway before having to grab onto a nearby branch to stop himself from falling over from laughter. Kagura made a displeased noise, fingertips rippling with tiny flames. She proceeded up the path with a still chuckling Sekron in tow.

Lorreway was, as she had predicted, boring. A moderate amount of people walked around inside the walls, most of them guards or priestesses. A few kids ran around, weaving through the feet of the adults in a complex game of tag. In his haste, one collided with Kagura, landing on the ground heavily. The wizard kneeled to help the boy up, but he had already stood and run off to rejoin the others.

"He'll be alright. A few minutes and it'll be like he never fell."

Kagura threw a glance at Sekron.

"The magic in this place is certainly strong enough to do that," she stated, eyes following the children. Should they even be down here? Isn't it too dangerous?

"Oh, you can feel that? Yes, we're blessed with a strong amount of background magic. I do not know what we would do without it."

Kagura tore her eyes from the playing youngsters. I know what you'd do. And I would never wish that on anyone.

Determined to find the next spiritual beast, she pulled herself to her full height. While she knew the way she was acting was stupid and sentimental, she could not bring herself to forget the fact that unlike Perfect World, these people knew no war, no strife. They only knew peace and prosperity. Who was she to take all that away?

"Who do we need to talk to?"

Sekron, searching the crowd for a familiar face, pointed to a woman on the other side of the platform.

"There. Heartmark."

Weaving their way through the guards was an easy matter, with a minimal amount of glares and threatening hand flexes needed from Kagura. Heartmark turned to face them as they approached, deep blue eyes locking onto the scribe.

"Sekron. I was not aware of your arrival."

The man coughed, looking around them before answering.

"Yes, and there is a reason, believe it or not."

Heartmark raised an eyebrow.

"Do tell."

"The spiritual beasts have been corrupted."

For a few seconds, silence reigned over the group. Kagura observed Heartmark's face, noting that behind the emotionless mask the woman was deeply shocked. To be expected, really.

Now, when are they going to let me simply go and beat the next beast's face in with Silence of Frost?

"Are you sure? If that is the case, then there are things I need of you…"

Ah. Longwinded expositional stories first. I see.

Determined to simply get to the root of the problem, Kagura spoke up.

"Look, I can track the beasts. Give me five minutes and we'll be out of your hair, spiritual beast and all."

Heartmark did not look convinced. At all. Kagura bristled at her expression.

Oh, no, by all means. Go do it yourself. Better still, send us on a bunch of pointless fetch quests so that the beast can grow even stronger. Great fucking idea.

Sekron started an argument with the woman, most likely bringing up some pretty decent points, but Kagura tuned both of them out. She opened her connection to the earth, ignoring the stabbing headache it brought on, and pinpointed the location of the disturbance she felt. Then, it was a simple matter to simply twist the leylines.

In a flurry of earth and rocks, Kagura vanished from Lorreway and reappeared on the shore of the lake they'd walked by earlier.

With her new sense of direction, she was easily able to find the spiritual beast. Although frankly, the giant undine in the middle of the lake should really have caught her attention when they were travelling to Lorreway.

She stood in place, contemplating her angle of approach. She was most definitely not going for a swim, and neither was she flying, which crossed out her two only ways to get close to the watery monster. The third option, though…

Kagura threw a contemplative glance at the nearest stone pillars.

Water and fire did not mix well, as flinging fire at an enemy of the water element mostly only resulted in them growing slightly irritated. Kagura did not doubt that she could kill any water-aligned foe with her fire spells, but she really didn't have half an hour to waste on flinging Pyrograms at the fish in the middle of the lake. Water had the annoying propensity to often strengthen enemies of its own element, so she discarded that idea just as quickly.

While all that meant that a lot of Kagura's spells were next to useless, that only accounted to two thirds of what she could really do. And the remaining third…

The spiritual beast splashed around in the clear water, sun shimmering on blue scales. It then promptly got an entire stone pillar between its shoulder blades.

The crystal shimmering blue on Kagura's belt told her of the death of the undine, although she honestly doubted it would have survived a Mountain's Seize either way. As far as she was able to tell, the creatures in this realm were largely not all that strong.

Great news! The spiritual beast is dead, and to top it all off, you now have a new island in the middle of your body of water. Everyone's happy.

Shocked gasps from Lorreway behind her alerted her of her spectators. Kagura turned, sarcastic quip already on her tongue, where it also immediately died.

The entire Chaos-damned city was standing at the gate, staring at her as though she was Pan Gu himself.

The wizard ran her eyes over the gathered mass of people, thoughts kicking into high gear. How long had they been there? What did they think at this very moment? What, in the name of all five elements, was she going to do?

Wing it.

Kagura smiled widely, waving at the people.

"So… I decided to redecorate! Enjoy the island, folks, lovely to meet you all, but I'm afraid we're rather busy this week, so if you'll excuse us…"

With long, swift steps, she walked over to Sekron and past him, pulling him along by one of his ridiculously long sleeves. She managed to make it out of the city and halfway to the wooded area beyond before Sekron stopped her.

"The five minutes thing wasn't just for show, then?" Sekron asked with a nervous laugh, pulling his sleeve out of Kagura's hand and smoothing out his robe. Kagura frowned.

"You hired me for one thing – kill the spiritual beasts. I can do my job much more effectively and quickly if there's no annoying discussion before it about things we definitely need to do before."

"Heartmark is going to be as angry as a Cragglord. You know that, right?"

"A Cragglord?"

"You don't- ah, never mind. Let's just say that she's going to be very upset."

Kagura considered probing him for more information, but decided against it. She'd either encounter this creature herself or learn about it some other way. Instead, she shrugged in utter indifference.

"Then let her be. I just stopped what was apparently a very dangerous creature."

"Hey, for us it is! Not all of us can pick up a bloody mountain and throw it around like it's a tiny pebble!"

Kagura snickered and continued up the path into the trees, a fuming Sekron close behind.

The sun gleamed over Archosaur, lighting the giant statues in the centre of the city in warmly glittering tones. The sky was clear without a cloud in sight, and even the ever-present wraiths had retreated for the moment.

Dionne allowed herself a few more moments to admire the scenery. Then she turned, watching her troops organise themselves into a proper formation.

The journey, while not exceedingly long, had still taken a toll on them all. The islands of the Tideborn were quite a lot richer in aerial moisture, so the relatively dryer climate of the mainland had facilitated quite a few stops along the way for some needed swims. Even now, she caught some of the soldiers wincing occasionally, glaring at the sun above them.

Still, the journey was done. And now she and those chosen to follow her had arrived in Archosaur, ready to join the war.

Their force was not big. Fifty hand-picked men and women including her evenly split into psychics and assassins. More than enough when compared to the forces of humans or elves, as their elders had decreed. Personally, Dionne was less than convinced, but it was not her right or place to question her orders.

With a motion of her hand, all of the other Tideborn fell into step behind her. They entered Archosaur from its west gate. Dionne nodded politely to the guards posted there and got friendly smiles in return. It surprised her. Most humans she'd met had regarded herself and her companions with suspicion and even outright hostility. This change in behaviour was refreshing.

Beyond the gate, Dionne found a bustling marketplace. She watched the crowd, surprised at how many people there were. Humans and Elves of all ages moved around in their daily routines, selling, buying, chatting and playing. She even spied a few of the animalistic Untamed. Her companions seemed equally amazed, if the whispers she could hear from behind her were any indication. Truly, she had not seen such a crowd in a very long time, not even in the City of Raging Tides.

Dionne led her followers through the people and the commotion. At their passing, everyone went silent, eyeing them with something akin to awe. Dionne decided to pay them no mind.

They had to go through another gate in the city walls to get to where their ultimate goal was. As she had been told, all incoming forces had to report to Lieutenant Li to get stationed in and around Archosaur. That also included them. That was why they were currently marching up the stone slope leading to the central command buildings.

Finding Lieutenant Li was simple. A man who matched his description in the first room they entered inside the central building, speaking to a number of the city guard. As the Tideborn drew closer, he dismissed the men and devoted his full attention to them.

"Lieutenant Li?"

"Yes, that's my name. You must be the Tideborn forces, correct?"

Dionne nodded.

"Aren't there a bit too few of you, though?"

"With our recent freeing, we still have many issues to deal with on our islands. For now, we are all we could spare. However, I can assure you that we are very much so enough," Dionne explained patiently. Li ran his eyes over them one more time before shrugging and turning to a desk covered in maps and papers. He picked some up, humming thoughtfully.

"Well, we were expecting a few more, so I will have to distribute you a bit more sparsely than I'd originally wanted to. Far as I was told, you have assassins and psychics, right?"

At Dionne's nod, he continued. "Run me over what they can do as a refresher."

Before Dionne could say anything, however, one of the sliding doors that led deeper into the building opened. A tall, bulky man stepped through, red ponytail waving behind him. He stopped upon noticing the gathered Tideborn.

"Li, what are you doing?"

"Assigning the Tideborn forces their positions. Their leader was about to tell me what their skillsets are so I can better position them, sir."

"I see. Well, don't let me stop you."

Instead of leaving, the man settled in against the wall next to the door he'd entered from. Dionne looked him over, trying to place him as any of the faces in her memories. If Li was calling him sir, then it had to be…

General Summer. The leader of the combined forces of the three races - or four, with Dionne and her assigned warriors' arrival.

With that knowledge filed away for later review, Dionne gave the Lieutenant a quick overview of what assassins and psychics could do, with some examples shown by herself and an assassin from her group. When she was done, Li nodded thoughtfully.

"I think I understand. Thank you."

He went over to the table once again, this time beckoning over Dionne. She followed and took a good look at the map attached to the wooden surface of the desk.

"I think the best way to distribute your forces is to add your assassins to our scouting parties. They could add a lot more to the archers already assigned to that task. The psychics would be most useful in city defence."

Dionne followed the man's finger as it pointed to several different locations in and around Archosaur. She hummed, taking in the city layout.

"If anything, then I believe my assassins would be better off alone."

At Li's quizzical glance, she pointed to the city outskirts.

"They work the best when no one is holding them back. One assassin can easily sneak into the rear of the enemy's forces and collect intelligence with no one the wiser. I notice that hills and mountains seem to be where most of the wraiths are hiding. Assassins can take advantage of the terrain and cover much more ground than any of your scouts. Assigning archers with them would be detrimental, unless they can utilize stealth to the same degree as assassins can."

"I see." Li took another look at the map. "I will defer to your judgement on this, since you obviously know more of your own people than we do. Anything else?"

"Yes, there actually is. Two assassins will remain with me."

"Is it necessary?"

"It is traditional. I am their leader, and thus I am the only one who knows the exact mission our king gave us."

At that, Li seemed suspicious. "And that is?"

"Nothing you need to be worried about. Simply our orders and battle plans. Still, as a high-ranking official, I know some sensitive information, and thusly the guard is at least somewhat necessary."

Her explanation appeared to have the effect of calming Li down. The Lieutenant nodded, taking one last look at the map before straightening.

"Very well. I believe that is all, unless you have anything else to tell me?"

Dionne mulled it over.

"No, I believe that is everything. I shall leave my subordinates in your care, then."

General Summer had been watching them during their discussion. Now he pushed off the wall, eyes on Dionne.

"We'll have someone show you to your quarters. Oh, but we haven't yet been properly introduced, have we? You know my name. This here is General Summer, leader of the forces here in Archosaur."

The General smiled. "A pleasure."

Dionne bowed. "You can call me Dionne. May our cooperation bring favourable tides."

It was much later in the day when Dionne finally had her time for herself. Getting her warriors settled in had been much more of a hassle than she'd expected. Just making sure that they had enough water to bathe in twice a day had taken two hours of patient explanations and barely-veiled threats.

Now, standing in the quarters she had been provided, she couldn't help but marvel at the amount of lavish décor humans were capable of. What do they use all of this for?

The tents her troops had been assigned had been very simple and to the point. Dionne would have felt much more comfortable in them than in these rooms.

It was all burgundy decorated with gold. Even the bed had heavy drapes and plenty of pillows, with golden embroided patterns on every visible surface. She could tell even at a distance that it was not going to be comfortable to sleep on.

With a heavy sigh, she headed into the adjoining bathing room, noting with satisfaction that a pail of water stood on an end table. She took the chance to splash some water on her face and other exposed body parts. The cool water felt heavenly on her skin.

With that done, she headed out again, this time for the training grounds. Li had pulled her aside during one of her longer trips across the city to ask her to show his troops exactly what to expect when working with the Tideborn. Dionne had agreed, based on the fact that cooperation was vital in war. Not knowing the limits of your fellow soldier could mean someone's death.

The sun was nearing the horizon, bathing the city in an orange glow. The heat of the day had given way to the pleasant coolness of the evening. It made walking around in the city much more tolerable.

The training grounds were directly in front of the command centre, so that was where Dionne went. She took the long way around, making her way along the main street of Archosaur. On the way, one of the assassins under her care, Nerio, joined her. She'd chosen him earlier to demonstrate what assassins could do.

A large crowd greeted her when she arrived, gathered around the edges of the square that acted as the area for duelling. Most of them were guards from around the city or army soldiers, but she also spied the commanders of the Winged Elves and the Untamed, both of whom she recognised through the faces she had memorised. Beside them, General Summer and Lieutenant Li were also present.

She introduced herself and Nerio before explaining the basics of what they could do. She then asked Nerio to demonstrate his abilities. She heard surprised gasps when the assassin disappeared as if into thin air and again when he reappeared behind the crowd, casually leaning on one of the onlooker's shoulders. He also showed his skill with his daggers, effortlessly slicing a wooden training dummy in pieces in what looked like two hits, although in reality it was six. When he was done, Dionne retook the stage.

She began her demonstration by casting Aqua Impact at a training dummy. When the water haze cleared, the dummy was gone completely, with not even a splinter remaining. In detail, she explained the way psychics were able to manipulate the minds and instincts of their foes. She then asked for a volunteer from the crowd. After a great deal of encouragement, a young army recruit stepped forward. Dionne smiled reassuringly at him, raising her soulsphere. She cast a quick spell on herself and then faced the boy.

"Attack me, please."

The boy hesitated, looking around for assurance from his friends.

"I need you to trust me. Please, do as I ask."

After another second of unsure hesitation, the recruit unsheathed his sword. He took a half-hearted swing at Dionne. As soon as the blade connected with Dionne's arm, the boy dropped his weapon with a gasp of pain, cradling his side. Dionne was quick to grab his arm and send a soothing pulse of energy into his body.

"As you can see, psychics can also reflect the harm done on them to their enemies. Most of the time, we do not need outside assistance to survive. However, as our bodies are not very strong, it is better for us to have backup rather than not. For that reason, I would like you to take any chance you get to practice having psychics at your side. I believe that is a greater point of worry than your cooperation with assassins."

Dionne and Nerio took a bow.

"I thank you for your patience."

Dionne had just finished making sure that the young recruit, who had introduced himself to her as Girsan, was alright, when Lieutenant Li caught her attention.

"Thank you for the demonstration. It'll certainly be a lot of help in the coming days and weeks."

He waved off Girsan's salute, sending the young man back to his friends. Dionne caught some good-natured ribbing from their direction.

"Consider it nothing. I am here to help with any of the issues that may arise with my troops."

"Still, I feel that I need to… Ah, General."

General Summer was approaching them, gait certain and steady. He nodded at Li.

"Lieutenant. I simply wanted to ask some questions of Commander Dionne."

Li excused himself and the General turned to Dionne.

"General. What is it that you wish of me?"

"I simply wished to make sure that your lodgings are to your liking. Are you happy with your quarters?"

"Ah. Yes, they are rather… beautiful." Dionne kept her tone strictly neutral, but couldn't help the small pause that slipped into her sentence.

The General laughed, throwing his head back. Dionne raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, beautiful indeed. And nigh impossible to sleep in! I prefer a tent, if I am completely honest."

With a chuckle that surprised even Dionne herself, she nodded in agreement. General Summer looked pleased. He started down the ramp leading to the command centre, beckoning Dionne to join him.

"May I share a secret?"

At Dionne's nod, he continued.

"I find that it is a very easy matter to slip away and join your companions in their tents. I had an extra spot set up with them in case you wished to do so."

"That was… very thoughtful of you." Indeed it was. Almost too thoughtful where Dionne was considered, but she kept that to herself.

"Think nothing of it."

They walked through Archosaur towards the north district of the city, where the houses for the higher commanders were situated. Dionne found herself surprised by the General. He was definitely very different from the Tideborn leaders.

Of course, that was to be expected. He was a Human, after all.

Still, it was refreshing for her to see something different from the stiff politeness and rigid traditions of her own people.

Dionne swiftly buried that thought. It was not prudent to think that way. Their customs had gotten them through their years of imprisonment and would continue to guide them on the right path.

By the time they entered the western district, the sun had long since dipped under the city walls, with only a sliver visible over the horizon. Nearly all businesses had closed, with only a few people still closing up their shops. Lamps burned inside homes. The chatter of the day had quieted into soft murmurs as families had dinner in their houses and got ready for the night. At the same time, more and more guards came out to patrol the streets, preparing for the inevitable wraith attacks that occurred during the night.

As Dionne and Summer passed into the North City, two assassins materialised out of thin air on their sides. They took their places behind the pair, hands resting on the hilts of their daggers. Dionne nodded to them, adjusting her pace accordingly. The General raised an eyebrow at the assassins.

"Is this your guard, then?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

He shrugged and smiled.

"Even with the demonstrations you've organised, it is still hard to believe we have this big of an advantage over the Wraiths now."

Dionne shook her head slowly.

"While I agree that our assassins are a great boon on your armies, there are much too few of them here to properly boost your fighting capabilities to the level you might be expecting. I suggest keeping your head above the waves and using them wisely. I can, of course, give advice on that front."

"I suppose that is true. I'll have to send you to Li, then. I'm sure you two would have a field day."

Silence reigned between them for a few long minutes. It was General Summer who broke it.

"If you don't mind me asking, then why did your king send so few of you? Not that I doubt your abilities, of course."

Dionne took a few moments to think of her response.

"You know that we only just reappeared, correct? During the time we were gone, we did not simply lie in wait. To make a very long story short, we were fighting a war against an ancient foe of ours. We are still fighting their remnants. For that reason, we were not able to send more of our own to fight in this war."

Summer looked slightly displeased, but he did not question her further. For Dionne's part, she was almost disturbed by the ease at which the lie had slipped past her lips.

While technically true that the Nightspike still presented a threat, it was not one that needed all of the Tideborn's strength. She didn't know what king Triton or the elders wanted to achieve with their decision, but it didn't seem right to her. If anything, se felt it was wrong of them to do so. The Wraiths were perhaps an even greater threat than the Nightspike, and more than capable of getting to their islands if they so chose.

And yet she couldn't doubt her king. If she did so, then what would be left? The chain of command would collapse, fall apart and leave chaos in its stead. That would be catastrophic.

By the time they reached the buildings housing higher commanders, Summer's mood seemed to have improved again. He merrily wished her a good night and departed, leaving her with her two guards. She was about to dismiss them, intending to head back to her room, when she remembered what the General had told her. A smirk grew on her lips. Then, instead of entering the building, she turned on her heel and walked towards the area where her fellow Tideborn were situated.

Another chapter! Yes, it's late. Very late. But it's here nonetheless. I hope you enjoy reading it. See you next chapter :)