Chapter 56 – The Art of Leylines

Following their discussions on the external landing platform, they had returned inside Odinsphere to look at the facilities that had been offered to them. It turned out that they were quite nice and in good order, and looking rather new too. Very much a modern apartment setup, recognisable appliances and all, powered by electricity that Odinsphere generated somewhere within its vast mass. Well, recognisable to Crystal and Rachael at the least, who had to explain to the others what a microwave was. Showers and running water were also a thing, but after testing the tap water, Rachael decided that they should probably provide their own drinking water until Odinsphere properly cycled its own supply. There was no knowing how long some of that water had been just sitting there inside holding tanks and pipes, and none of the magic that they had was water aspected to deal with the results of that. For a nice relaxing shower it would still suffice, and Crystal was more than happy to indulge in one, dragging Rachael in with her. Not that Rachael complained at all. Quite the opposite in fact, though they did have to be very careful with what they did.

A look at the skimmers revealed them to be complex and unfamiliar to everyone (no surprises there), and while the cat-foxes informed them that they could teach them how to fly them, it was decided that they would leave that till after they had managed to get Odinsphere’s journey started. Unless circumstances changed, it would be Crystal and Rachael learning first, and then them teaching the others, and as much as she saw the convenience of them, Crystal moaned that she would much rather be flying on an actual dragon. Or her own wings, if she could get enough speed, but she doubted that she would for the distances that they would have to travel to get to the closest leylines. At least at the moment they could still use Velvet’s familiars.

Supplies was going to be another issue. With seven people to feed, Myne excluded from that total as no one had ever actually seen her eat, and an estimated journey of at least a month, they were going to need quite a bit. Hunting and gathering would be viable in some areas, with the team spending the remainder of the day doing just that, but it alone wouldn’t suffice. At some point, some of them would need to visit a town or two, but that also would be a problem for another day.

The beds at least were super comfortable. Crystal was still wary about sleeping inside Odinsphere, even with Clocky’s statement and Spectre’s reassurance, but once she was on it, snuggled up close with Rachael, she was fast asleep. Spectre actually had to wake them up the following morning, telling them that the day was well underway.

As Crystal had guessed, they already had the arrays necessary for shifting the leylines, stored within the cat-foxes, amongst the many that Arcane had preloaded them with. Looking at it as Arcane brought it out, they recognized it was one of the ones that Myne had managed to extract, its purpose at the time unclear. Arcane’s instructions on how to use it was fairy straight forward. She showed them how to extract it from the Arkchildren, and what sections had to be modified so that the leylines would be shifted in the right direction. It did require some locational references for the way that it was scripted, Arcane going over the basics of how that worked, with the cat-foxes able to provide the necessary data.

“One word of warning however,” Arcane had added. “The array uses you both as a relay point, tapping into your nature to effect the leylines. While it will help them flow in the right direction, you will still have to guide the leylines back to this one, till they merge. Physically. Dawn’s dragons will be able to withstand the extra mana density, the others may not. Travel too fast while guiding a line, and you may lose your grip on it.”

Crystal had initially thought that the task might just require them to activate the array and that was it, but it appeared that it was more involved than that. At the beginning at least, as they got used to what was required, they would be rather busy, Rachael certain that it was probably quite deliberate. But as they had free reign on the arrays in the cat-foxes now, they could take their time to study them when able, and perhaps they might be able to improve or streamline the process. Avain seemed to add her agreement to that. Crystal wasn’t sure if Velvet was able to keep an eye on what was going on so close to Arcane, but the crystal dragons action was reassuring.

The first leyline that they were going to be shifting was the one that flowed through Shusoku, the ruined city to the south-east of Odinsphere. The leylines flowed through the land in somewhat chaotic patterns, sometimes adhering and following natural formations, other times snaking off in random directions for no seeable reason. Clocky had little that he could add on that, saying that while Channellers could use the mana from the leylines, they could usually only sense them when they were near the surface, and once they burrowed into the depths of the earth they often lost them. It didn’t matter much to most Channellers, who ended up spending most of their time in locations where they were at the surface, cities either already present or getting built there if needed, but it did mean that no real study had been done on them. Arcane was equally unhelpful, saying they flowed where they wanted, and that there was more to their paths than just the lay of the land. Which they already knew. She would not however say any more, except that they would likely have to change leylines at some point, and a mistake there would send Odinsphere crashing to the ground, something that would be rather catastrophic.

The good news though was that the Shusoku line ran parallel to their current one for a while, mostly deeper in the earth, but it surfaced enough times that they’d be able to capitalize on that aspect of it. Which meant that after the first adjustment, shifting some of the following segments over would be somewhat easier. Hopefully.

Flying directly south from the floating sphere, Spectre directed them to land at the site of a ruined factory after about half an hours flight, the cat-fox informing them that this was the point at which the leyline was the closest to the surface, at least according to Odinsphere’s scans. Given that Crystal could feel the flow of the leyline there, she was pretty certain that the scan was correct.

The factory was a sprawling affair, large once white-washed buildings with walkways and tubes between them all, some still standing proudly, while the rest were in various states of collapse. The beginnings of a forest fought for dominance in the remains of the central car park area, vines creeping up the sides of the closest buildings. Four large silos sat on the outskirts of the factory, all still standing up on their frames, a flock of birds scattering as Light landed just on the factory’s edge. All things considered it had survived well, as was the nature of ruins that were located on top of surfaced leylines.

“Are there many Wildlings here?” Rachael asked as they dismounted from Light, the dragon familiar taking her smaller form and perching on Rachael’s shoulder.

“Plenty,” Myne stated as Crystal felt her magic wash over her. “I doubt they’ll be much of a problem till you start to shift the leyline.”

“There always have been a lot here,” Clocky added. “The factory always was a nest, though they never caused too many issues to those who scavenged here. It’s long since been picked clean, unlike Shusoku.”

“No hidden areas?” Fairweather queried.

Clocky shook his head. “Nope. We had a look ourselves, before the pulse. Nothing to be found at all.”

“Shall we get started then?” Crystal queried. Rachael nodded.

For the first shift at the least they had decided that everyone would come along. There was no knowing exactly what would be waiting at their destination for them, nor how exactly the shifting of the leylines would effect them. While Myne was overkill for any threats, and Clocky’s sixth sense could well save them from any additional complications, the others were curious, and they were a team. It also gave everyone a chance to study the arrays that were being used. While most of them had no understanding of the script, there was always the chance that they might pick up on something. The plan was that once the array was in place and ready to activate, the remainder of the team would lift out of the way on Ashling, leaving Light, Rachael and Crystal on the ground. They’d then trigger the array, and work out how exactly it worked, and how slow they’d have to move.

Crystal knelt, hands on the ground as she focused on her bond with Spectre. Searching for the arrays, she felt their presence slip into her consciousness. Some of the arrays were still locked away, their function and nature unknown, but the three that she needed were at the front, readily accessible. Calling them forth, they surged out of Spectre, taking form on the ground in a warm yellow light, etched into the earth. Rachael had done the same, the arrays from Kitsune interlocking with her own, tinged in green. The arrays were large, encompassing the entire area of the factory, much of the script lost inside the buildings or under the vegetation. She hadn’t realised how large they actually would be, especially given that the test run inside Odinsphere had them only taking up a small fraction of the space.

“The space that they take up must mirror the strength of the leyline,” Rachael mused, echoing her own thoughts.

“Any anomalies?” Crystal asked as Myne stared at it.

Myne shook her head. “It looks the same as your test run, but it’s hard to see some sections of it.”

Clocky also shook his head. “Nothing awry as far as I can tell.”

Moving to the outer section of the array, Crystal located the part that she needed to adjust. She then laid her hands against it as she pulled it up towards her, twisting and shifting the runes, willing them to change their form to the data that Spectre was providing her, which looked very much like coordinates. After a few minutes of attempting to manipulate the array she was finally successful, pushing the changes back down and integrating them with the rest of the array. Rachael sidled up to her, her end already completed.

“Looks good,” she said softly into Crystal’s ear as Crystal stood up.

“Thanks,” Crystal replied with a smile.

“You both have rather unique ways of changing arrays,” Myne commented, “but it does vary from person to person, and depend on their experience. Most Casters that I have seen actually have to physically scrub out the relevant portions and redraw it, but their arrays are drawn by hand in the first place. Alysia can just will the changes in, but that is likely related to her magic. You two have the advantage and disadvantage of the arrays being prepared in advance and manifested, just like Velvet did.”

That was actually rather interesting. Arcane had just told them to make the changes, but hadn’t told or taught them how, and Crystal had just done what had felt natural to her. Crystal looked at her lover, who made writing gestures with her hand.

“I don’t actually write them though,” Rachael then added. “The intent seems to work.”

“I guess all that is left is to activate them then?” Crystal asked. She could see a couple of Longhairs looking at them warily from within the factory complex, but they were sensibly keeping their distance.

“Yup.” Rachael affirmed.

Once Ashling and the rest of the team were at a safe distance, Avain included, Crystal turned and faced Rachael, a nervous smile on her face. “So beings the next chapter I guess.”

Rachael walked up to her, giving her a big hug and a deep kiss, Crystal more than happy to reciprocate. “Indeed it does,” Rachael replied, her nervousness showing just as clearly.

Kneeling down, hands against the array, the pushed their mana into them, the magic flaring up brightly around them.

Crystal felt as if she had just been hit by a truck, the magic of the leyline slamming into her, and throwing her across the array. Reinforcing herself, she halted her movement and watched as the mana visibly flowed around her, reacting to her as she moved. It felt thick just like it had at the Nexus Temple, but here it also seemed to have a physical quality to it. Reaching out, she found that she could touch it, and grabbing it, she attempted to pull it around her as she had seen Rachael do back underneath Agersdene City. She was partially successful, managing to knock herself off balance in the process, landing unceremoniously on her bottom. Looking up she could see Rachael stifling a chuckle.

“That was so cute,” Rachael said, a huge grin on her face, Crystal blushing in response. She could see the mana wrapped around Rachael’s arms like gauntlets and trailing behind her, Rachael’s horns glowing a brilliant golden hue. She assumed hers were doing something similar.

‘That they are.’ Spectre said, always on cue. At least the cat-foxes seemed unaffected by the mana, Spectre making his way back to Crystal after having been knocked off, waiting expectantly for her to pick him up. Crystal complied.

“Come on, let’s see if we can do something similar for you,” Rachael said, offering out her hand, which Crystal happily took, even though she didn’t actually need it.

“I guess this is what Arcane meant by the physical guiding of it,” Crystal commented as Rachael started to demonstrate what she had done.

“Yup,” Rachael confirmed. “Didn’t quite expect it, but probably should have.”

After a few more rounds of trial and error, Crystal finally managed to get a decent hold on the mana. Even when grasped it still felt alive, and she could feel it pulse and flow around her. At the same time it also felt familiar, its presence around her comforting and soothing in a strange way. They then experimented at moving around while they were holding onto the trails of mana, and here at least it didn’t seem to impede them much beyond the fact that they were holding onto something. As they moved it moved with them, shifting with ease. The caveat to it all of course being that they were still at the source. Once they moved away from it, it could well be a different story.

“Let’s see how the next part goes then?” Rachael said as she looked around them. Even with the array activated, the Longhairs were still keeping their distance.

Crystal nodded. “Let’s,” she agreed as they made their way back and onto Light, getting onto her back an interesting process this time round.

The trip back was agonizingly slow and took the better part of the day. They quickly worked out that they couldn't travel very fast at all, both of them being yanked off the back of Light when she had started to speed up shortly after lifting off, their wings the only thing saving them from slamming back into the ground. Remounting, they got Light to slowly increase her speed, and they were able to work out what the limit was before the leyline’s pull became too strong. However they also discovered that the further they got from its original location the less tolerance it had, necessitating that they progressively drop their speed. It was like a rubber band or stretchy cable, except that they were trying to pull it beyond its limits.

While Light was able to adapt her pace as they flew, it wasn’t the easiest for her to do so. Large dragons were not designed to travel slow. Perhaps the skimmers would be better suited for that task, but Crystal still had a massive bias towards draconic flight. It was also very exhausting, the continual pull of the leyline on them draining, and by the time they finally reached Odinsphere she was ready to fall asleep. At least the mana of the leyline readily flowed into the one under Odinsphere once they reached it, Crystal and Rachael both more than happy to finally let go of it.

Not bothering about anything else, they made their way up to their bed, the closest one to the hanger bay, falling straight to sleep as soon as they lay on the sheets.

---

Crystal woke to the smell of spicy roast meat and fresh bread, her tummy reminding her that they had skipped at least one meal. Detangling herself from Rachael, which she must have done instinctively while asleep, she stretched and hopped out of bed, Rachael groaning about the sudden lack of warmth, before also opening her eyes and giving her a smile.

They made their way out of the bedroom and down the hall to the kitchen area, to find the rest of the team there, seated around the table and eating, bowls of salad, plates of freshly cooked white meat, and loaves of bread sitting on top of it, alongside some fresh fruit. Clocky’s standard sandwich fare, but a little more fancy.

“Have you been shopping?” Rachael asked as they say down beside them, both helping themselves to the food.

To say that it was tasty was an understatement, Crystal quickly devouring her first sandwich in a matter of seconds and starting on a second.

“Yup,” Fairweather answered. “We went out to Secondreach this morning, and acquired a whole lot of stuff. There will be dragon rumours a plenty though, as there was no way of hiding Ashling’s approach. Whether or not they connect us with him is a different story though. Skimmers would probably create as much of a scene as well to be honest.” She paused, taking a bite out of her sandwich which seemed to be purely meat, and a lot of it. “The meat’s Crown Pheasant, which Vorsce hunted yesterday in one of the nearby forests that he spotted.”

Crystal paused and blinked. “How long were we asleep for?” she asked.

“One and a half days solid,” Clocky answered.

“Like an adorable pair of dragonets!” Saylin added with a grin.

“We needed it,” Rachael stated matter of factly, devouring another sandwich herself. “Is Odinsphere moving now?”

Clocky nodded. “Started shortly after you joined the leylines together. Can’t feel anything at all while inside, but if you’re on the platform you can see the ground moving by underneath. No idea how fast though.”

“I’m not sure if anyone has ever been paying attention to its specific location,” Fairweather continued, “given its size and all, but we are now in a different section of the plains and closer to The Watch. If we keep this pace we’ll be over the town by the end of the week, and they’ll certainly be paying attention by then. We have however slowed down this morning compared to yesterday.”

“It’d be nice if we avoided the town though,” Clocky observed.

“--We will indeed be passing over the town you refer to as The Watch. Humanity has a habit of building their settlements on the leylines, deliberate or not, and the extended scans show that it flows through it. There is no option to avoid it, as it is the quickest route to the coast and there are no suitable substitute nearby leylines.--”

Clocky grimaced. “That, is going to cause issues. They’ll be in total panic.”

“--The reaction of it’s citizens is of little concern to us. We will leave their welfare and the damage control in your capable hands.--”

“There’s no way we’re going to be able to hide our involvement with this then,” Saylin stated with an amused grin. “Well, at least for whoever speaks to them.”

“What’s the chance we have to mess with leylines in the vicinity of the town as well?” Crystal groaned.

“--Fairly high.--”

That would be an issue for another day Crystal decided, helping herself to another sandwich. Obviously one of the team had mastered the use of the ovens here, given the way it had been cooked.

“Is there a Channeller there?” Crystal asked.

Clocky shook his head. “No. The closest established Channeller is Catlin Morengale, and her base of operations is Caylinhold to the west.”

“Hopefully she won’t notice us till we’re long gone.” Though Crystal got the feeling that they wouldn’t be so lucky.

“I assume that we’ve slowed down because we’ve moved far enough away from the join of the leylines and/or it’s pulling itself back towards its normal flow?” Rachael asked. The question of course was for the Odinsphere aspects.

“--Correct. Both in fact. We anticipated the former, but we had hoped the latter would have taken a bit longer before occurring. We have scanned the area and located the next suitable point for merger. It is the same leyline, but the distance is greater. Spectre and Kitsune have been provided with the location data.--”

“Are we even going to be able to drag it that far, if it resists like last time?” Crystal stated, voicing her concern.

“It’ll be harder, given that the previous segment hasn’t fully sprung back yet. I would not recommend delaying the merger though, as you’ll get more benefit out of having two points of contact over one.”

“How are we even going to manage it then?” Crystal groaned, shoulders slumping.

“Surely there must be some way of anchoring it part way,” Rachael mused. “Make it easier to drag again from that point, and delay its return.”

“I have provided you with all the tools necessary.”

Crystal wondered if Angel actually want them to succeed or not. Perhaps she was being like Myne, in testing their abilities, for whatever reason.

“Hmm,” Clock said as she made some space on the table in front of him. “There might be some potential to all of that, given what we have learnt so far about their nature. If you can anchor the part of the leyline that you drag out,” Clocky placed an apple on the table in front of him, and then a smaller one further in from it, “and can do the same for another close-ish point,” Clocky added another pair of apples, and then motioned between the two smaller ones. “Then there is a good chance that the leyline might adapt and flow between those two anchor points directly. Give it a little time to settle, and you could drag again from that new segment.”

“You are correct on that.”

“All that it requires then,” Rachel said thoughtfully, “is that we have two close surfacing points for the leyline. Or close to the surface, as we might be able to drag it up first, though I assume that would result in a weaker point. How much time do we have before we loose the bonus from our previous attempt?”

“--According to our calculations, you’ll need to do so within forty eight hours to see any sizeable return.--”

“Is there a suitable secondary location?”

“--We will look. Due to limited range, you may be required to go out with Kitsune or Spectre in order to canvas a wider area.--”

“SCANNING SYSTEM ONLINE...”

“COMMENCING NEARBY LEYLINE SCAN...”

“1%...”

“I guess we should work on figuring out how to anchor it first then,” Rachael stated as she wolfed down more food. Crystal did likewise. No point in trying something difficult while still hungry.

---

Once they had finally had enough to eat, Rachael and Crystal made their way out of Odinsphere with Myne, Clocky making some noises about trying to work out how they were going to approach The Watch about the impending fly-by of the massive floating city. While they had just under two days to try and get it all figured out, both of them were in agreement that they wanted to get under way as soon as they could. They faster Odinsphere moved, the sooner this part would all be over and they could do other things. Like go find some more dragons. She was keen to have a poke around Odinsphere as well, but hopefully they’d get to the point where they could do that in-between shifting leylines without sleeping the entire time. Knowing the possibilities that lay ahead was making Crystal feel a little uneasy about the impending future, and she could feel through their bond that Rachael felt the same. It also meant that Clocky and the team would have to have a crack at the skimmers first.

Travelling a bit from Odinsphere, they landed near the outskirts of the ruins a small settlement, the stone foundations all that remained, thorny vines and gorse like bushes fighting for dominance over it. The area outside of it was flat with short grass, and far enough away from the leyline that the size of the array shouldn’t be too large. Standing beside Kitsune, Rachael pulled forth the arrays, spreading out from the cat-fox in a wash of blue tinged light.

“I managed to alter the colour,” she said happily. “Green and grass, not so useful.”

While the array covered a fairly sizeable area, it was much more manageable than the factory complex sized ones of last time, and as had been the case when they were studying the arrays at the Nexus Temple, Crystal felt her understanding of the arrays grow a little as she stared at it.

“Could it be as simple as changing the coordinate section to match where we are standing?” she offered.

Rachael and Myne both nodded.

“That’s a good start,” Rachael said as she stared at that section of it. “Perhaps we also need to look at something to strengthen it so that it doesn’t snap back as quickly, and also point it in the direction of the other anchor point that we intend to set up.”

They spent the next while staring at the arrays, both the one in Kitsune as well as the one in Spectre, fiddling with sections of it, and watching to see if it had any ill effects on the rest of it. There wasn’t a lot of testing that they could do without being at a leyline, but by the time the sun was making an effort to end its journey for the day they were certain that they had something workable. Now it was just a question if Odinsphere had managed to find another suitable location.

‘That it has.’ Spectre informed her. ‘We have been provided with the additional coordinates. It’s not quite as close to the surface as the first point, but apparently you should be able to drag it up without too much effort. It is however within a decent distance of the other provided point, so it should form a good test case.’

“Is there any reason that we shouldn’t get started on it now?” Crystal asked of Rachael. They had after all only been up for part of the day.

“Nope,” Rachael stated. “Leyline amendment, take two. Mission commenced.”

“However,” she added with a mischievous grin, “We’re going to finish up either when we have the two anchor points down, or fatigue starts to take it toll. We have nice comfy beds at the moment, we shouldn’t let them go to waste.”

On that Crystal was in complete agreement.