Ascended

The Master watched everything from the crystal ball.

Then she watched the Hunters descend on the town and burn everything to the ground. What didn’t burn, they destroyed, then they collapsed the mine. They didn’t want anyone to have any reason to open it back up.

“Why did you do that?” The Elf standing beside her shook his head. “You just threw away a whole army, for what?”

“For time.” She shook her head, “Stilas, you still have a lot to learn for one who has seen so much.”

“You mean for someone who had to come to this primitive planet to hide…” He crossed his arms, “You didn’t have people think you’re dead and…” He stopped and shook his head, “Whatever. So you were buying time. For what? You just threw away an army, three Touched, and a mine full of something that can seriously hurt your enemies. Why throw all of that away?”

“The Zombies are not an army, but a plague and those Touched, as you call them, were all power hungry and driven to destroy humanity.” She nodded at where the City had been. “And I didn’t have the resources to hold that city.” She shook her head, “You can’t overreach. You have to bide your time with what you have. So you could say that I made a very good trade.”

Stilas walked over to one of the chairs by her scrying crystal and sat down. For an Elf that had grown up with luxuries she could only remember from far too long ago, her house must have seemed quite primitive, but compared to how she had lived at times in the past, it was quite comfortable.

She motioned at the crystal ball “The Hunters believe that they have destroyed the threat, because they do not think that I would use an army that large to take the town. So they will not look for the villagers until they have been scattered among every town on the peninsula. By then the immunity will have already started spreading. It may take a few generations, but..!” She held up a finger, “It’s a start.”

“What about those Touched? You didn’t have to send three of them in there.” The dark mage crossed his arms. “And I know you have a lot more just like them scattered all over the planet.”

“I can’t control the Zombies from here and if I had just sent in Zombies, then those three might have been able to hold them back. Not nearly as many would have fled and they would have been killed by the Hunters.” If it had been most other people, she might have been irritated by the questions, but there was something kindred that she saw in the young Elf. Something she hoped to cultivate.

Stilas shook his head, “All of this just to save a few humans.”

She raised her eyebrows, “This coming from the person who risked the Elders learning that you are still alive just to save a child?”

“You asked me to find a way to get them the sword.” the Dark Mage shrugged, “It seemed like a good way to do it.”

The Master hid her smile. “You did a good job.” She nodded at the crystal, “But I want you to stay close to them. They should be okay for a while, but if they get into trouble…”

“Report to you before I do anything. I know, you want to keep my magic a secret from them.” Stilas pointed at the ceiling. “So you can keep going on your little trips without them realizing you’ve left.”

The Master smiled. She had been acting in secret for so long, it had been a blessing when one of her agents had stumbled upon the hiding Elf. Now she was able to leave her prison almost any time she wanted.

Stilas walked over and took another Bokor blade off of her weapon display. “And I suppose you want me to find a way to give this to her too?”

“Hold on to that one.” She looked at the dozens of those swords that she had collected over the years. She had at least one of every color of stone even if she only had three different colors of the raw ore. If her captors paid attention to her collection, then they might have noticed the missing blade, but she could always pretend that she had scrapped it during one of her experiments. “I’m still not sure which way she will fall.”

The dark mage took one long look at the door to her laboratory, then projected away.

The Master stretched as she got up. One day she was certain that she’d find a way to create Chosen without the side effect of creating Zombies or the Corrupted. Maybe soon she’d be able to find another type of raw ore. She had never thought to use the stones to enhance liquid. There were a lot of experiments that she wanted to try with this. She paused by the door to her lab. Maybe after a few days she would bring the Elf back to work with her for a while. She missed not having a team to work with, but remembered all too well how that had ended. She chased away the emotions that tried to follow those memories. She didn’t have time to dwell on the past. She had work to do for the future.