The wind carried the stench of smoke and fear.
Viola descended from the cloudless sky, her boots touching down on scorched earth that had once been farmland. The grass crunched beneath her feet, brittle and dead. Three weeks of this. Three weeks of flying over burning villages and fleeing families, of counting the columns of smoke that rose like accusing fingers toward the heavens. Toward her.
The command tent stood at the center of the latest forward camp, its black canvas unmarked by insignia or decoration. She approached with measured steps, forcing her spine straight despite the exhaustion that pulled at her bones. Sleep had become a stranger these past days. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw faces. Half-elven children with tear-streaked cheeks. Mothers clutching infants as flames consumed their homes.
The tent flap parted before she could announce herself.
Inside, the temperature dropped ten degrees. The masked Mind Mage sat behind a simple field desk, his iron visage reflecting the pale light of a single crystal lamp. No maps adorned the walls. No battle plans cluttered the surface before him. Just empty space and that terrible stillness that followed these creatures wherever they went.
"Report." The word emerged without inflection, neither question nor command.
Viola clasped her hands behind her back. "Scouting sweep of the northeastern corridor complete. No organized resistance encountered. Seven settlements identified, all evacuated or in the process of fleeing." She paused, then added what she knew he already suspected. "No military targets. Only farmers and their families."
The mask turned slightly, catching the light. Behind those eye slits lay nothing: no hint of emotion, no flicker of humanity. Just void… and calculation.
Her report hung in the air between them. Somewhere beyond the tent walls, she heard the distant crack of burning timber, the shouts of soldiers establishing a perimeter. The sounds of occupation.
The Mind Mage's head tilted back, his attention shifting to something beyond physical sight. The network, she knew. Her words were being distributed to command, dissected, and catalogued with all the passion one might reserve for counting sacks of grain.
Minutes stretched. Viola kept her breathing steady, her face neutral. She knew not to fidget in their presence, her upbringing rearing its head. Movement suggested weakness, and weakness invited scrutiny she couldn't afford.
Finally, the mask lowered.
"You are reassigned."
Her jaw tightened imperceptibly. Another scouting mission, no doubt. Another excuse to keep Victor Windtänzer's granddaughter safely away from any real combat, any real decisions. They'd send her to count clouds while the Legion carved its bloody path through Rukia.
"Report to staging area three. Departure in one hour."
She blinked. Staging area three was reserved for priority operations, not milk runs to survey empty countryside. "Sir?"
The mask turned away, dismissal clear. But then, as if remembering something trivial: "Travel light. Extended operation."
Viola saluted and left, her mind already racing. Extended operation meant crossing significant distance. Travel light meant speed over supplies. And staging area three...
The designated zone buzzed with quiet efficiency when she arrived. Not the usual chaos of a major deployment, but the focused preparation of specialists. Three figures stood near a modest supply cache, checking gear with practiced movements.
The first, she recognized immediately: Gottwin Feuerkranz, though he went by Ignis in the field. The Archmage's red hair caught the afternoon light like copper wire, his scarred hands moving over his equipment with casual confidence. She'd seen him in action once, watched him reduce an entire forest to ash with a gesture. The smell had lingered for days.
Beside him knelt a woman Viola didn't know, her hands glowing softly as she sorted through supplies. A Life Mage, judging by the gentleness of her Mana. Grand Mage, if the complexity of her kit was any indication. Dark skin, darker hair twisted into practical braids, movements economical and precise.
The third member made her chest tighten.
Robed in white that seemed to repel the light, hooded and gloved despite the warmth of the afternoon. Not a sliver of skin showed. But it was the absence that made her shoulders tense: no magical signature, no hint of power. Like staring at a hole in the world shaped like a person.
Yet something crawled along her spine when she looked at them. A wrongness her Mana-sense couldn't parse. This was no mere civilian, that much she knew.
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"Windtänzer." Ignis didn't look up from his pack. "Thought they'd send someone else."
She approached the group, setting down her minimal gear. "Orders are orders."
The Life Mage glanced up, amber eyes assessing. "Livia," she offered. "I'll be keeping you all breathing."
Viola nodded acknowledgment, then let her gaze drift to the robed figure. They hadn't moved, hadn't acknowledged her arrival. Just stood there, facing north.
"Don't bother," Ignis muttered. "Hasn't said a word since joining up. Command vouched for them, that's all I know."
Which told her everything. Special clearance meant special purpose. And the complete absence of information meant this was so far above her clearance level that even asking questions would mark her as a security risk.
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"Direction?" she asked instead.
Ignis pulled out a simple compass, its needle pointing steadily north-northwest. "Follow the needle until told otherwise. No maps, no landmarks, no discussion of destination."
Viola's wind stirred unconsciously, responding to her spike of interest. They were being deliberately kept ignorant, guided like hounds on a leash. Whatever their purpose, someone very high up wanted them to stay in the dark.
They set out as the sun began its descent, moving in diamond formation. Ignis took point, the robed figure to his left, Livia right, and Viola bringing up the rear where her aerial reconnaissance would be most useful. No one spoke. Their boots found purchase on the broken ground with practiced silence, only the whisper of displaced air marking their passage.
They traveled quickly, much faster than a normal human could hope to achieve, even on horseback. Yet, the robed figure didn't seem bothered by the pace. And even after Ignus sped up, the figure followed without missing a beat.
She had been right. This man was no civilian.
The first day took them through the devastation. Blackened fields stretched to the horizon, broken only by the skeletal remains of barns and houses. Viola forced herself to look, to witness what the Legion left in its wake. The others seemed unbothered—Ignis actually hummed under his breath at one point, some tavern song from the capital.
By the second day, the landscape began to change. The burns gave way to untouched grassland, then rolling hills dotted with wildflowers. The air lost its bitter edge, replaced by something cleaner. Sweeter.
She knew where they were going before the trees appeared on the horizon.
The Great Forest. The domain of the elves, where even the Empire's might meant nothing beneath those ancient boughs. Her wind carried whispers of leaves older than human memory, of power that slept in root and branch.
"Diplomatic mission," Livia said quietly on the third evening, the first real words any of them had spoken beyond the necessities of travel. "Has to be. No other reason to send this composition."
Her eyes darted over to the hooded figure for a moment. If she was right, then this man had to be a diplomat, probably with the last name of Geistreich.
Ignis spat. "Diplomacy. After what we've done to their cousins?" He shook his head. "We'll be lucky if they let us close enough to grovel before turning us to fertilizer."
Viola said nothing, but her thoughts aligned with his. The elves were not known for their mercy, especially when their kin were involved. Even the half-blood outcasts of Rukia were still of elven stock. The Matriarchs would not ignore this slight.
Still, if the Emperor sent them alongside one of his kin, there might be hope. He was not a man to be known to make diplomatic blunders.
Despite their speculations, the robed figure never contributed to these sparse conversations, never even acknowledged them. They moved like driftwood on water, present but separate, following some current only they could sense.
On the fourth dawn, they crested a hill and saw it.
The Forest stood like a wall of green, trees so vast their tops vanished into morning mist. It was the first time she had ever witnessed the sight of the great forest, and the stories truly didn't do it justice. Viola understood, in that moment, how the elves had come to worship nature the way they had.
In any other circumstance, she would have been content to remain airborne, simply basking in the majesty of the view. But it was not meant to be. What emerged from that verdant barrier stole Viola's breath.
An army poured from between the trunks like water from a broken dam.
No. Army was too crude a word.
This was art given military form. Each warrior moved in perfect harmony with their fellows, their armor catching light in ways that seemed to bend reality. Spears topped with leaves that glowed with inner fire. Bows strung with starlight. Faces of terrible beauty set in expressions of serene purpose.
They flowed down the hillside opposite in complete silence, thousands upon thousands, their footfalls making no more sound than falling snow. At their head rode figures on beasts Viola had no name for—somewhere between deer and dream, their antlers crown-like, their eyes holding depths that made her want to look away.
"Mother of flames," Ignis breathed.
The elven host spread across the valley floor like spilled wine, their formations organic yet precise. No drums beat. No horns sounded. They simply were, a fact of nature as inevitable as the tide.
Viola's wind died completely, cowed into stillness.
They had come too late. Whatever diplomatic overture the Empire had planned, whatever message they carried, it no longer mattered. The elves had made their decision, written in the movement of ten thousand warriors beneath the morning sun.
"We have to run," Livia whispered, the urgent desperation clear in her voice.
Ignis shook his head, his face set in a grim mask. Yet his expression held no panic or fear. "No point. Their flyers would catch us before we made it past the next hill." His gaze turned to Viola. "Except for you, Miss Windtänzer. You still might have a chance to make it back."
Viola's heart clenched. She knew it too. In the face of this army, there was not a single thing she could do. Fleeing was the only real choice, and yet…
Could she leave her comrades behind to face certain death and only save herself?
Ignis seemed to read her thoughts, lightly punching her shoulder. "Your death would serve us no good, would it? Now go, before it's too late. Ride the winds like you never have. Show us why your kin have ruled the sky for centuries."
Viola nodded, her eyes growing misty. Even so, she was preparing to flee with everything she had, the spellform for [Wind Dance] already taking shape.
But before she could, the robed figure stepped forward, hood turning slightly as if taking in the sight. For the first time since their journey began, they spoke.
"There is no need."
The voice was neither male nor female, neither young nor old. It was an absence given sound, and it made Viola's teeth ache.
Before anyone could respond, the figure raised one gloved hand.
And the winds began to stir.