I close the door behind me, the rare action seeming so exotic. However, I could do without the view it leads me to. Of all the places in the palace, this is probably one of the best places to look out across my kingdom. And that's precisely the problem.
The Crack in the Sky and all its painful glory is out there for me to see. The smoke of the burning homes, the torn apart fields, and the wrecked ground. Splotches of black sprint across the open ground, too fast for them to be knights of any kind. Human, hwardgon, kelbalid or...
I shake my head, relinquishing my crushing grip on the guardrails. Walking off, I focus on the path, minding all of Nin's constructions and crude workshopping. My hand comes up and I follow the path with the help of the piping. It rattles to the touch, shaking in part to its loose fittings as much as it does to my efforts.
However, as I make my way up the path, under the thankful shadow of the mountain... The piping rattles for a whole new reason. My hand hisses back, a whip to its momentum. The path ahead flashes and explodes, magic power coming and going as quickly as it appeared.
Though it is nothing new, I rush ahead with wide eyes and a trembling heart. I rush into the flash fire and run through it as it also recedes. The view of the observatory beats me to reaching the building, and I slow to a halt. My metallic heels ringing out as Nin's rustling and fussing joins me.
"NIN!?" I call out, shouting just to make sure he hears me. Things smash and I see his shadow throw itself about. The mess continues to make itself bigger, and he throws himself up. The smoke parting ways for good, like it was covering for him.
Moving ahead, I walk into my observatory as he pats himself down. I give him a cocked brow, hearing his clueless, confused chuckle. It makes me smile, much as I am worrying right now. Much as I fear for the lives of my subjects, my life and more... It makes me smile.
It's not a full and proper smile, but there's a genuine one, nonetheless. I move to his machine as he continues to stay silent, my smile going away as I get closer. He clearly notices, and that posture of his shifts to accommodate. He might not be aware, but I can see.
Being in a position of mine means I get to see a lot of people. I see them in a way they might never know themselves or in a way they're trained to behave. The great game, as many like to try to nickname it. The nonsense of politics as I prefer to know it as.
Nin's not a participant, but no one can escape the rules of it.
"Something... Something on your mind?" he asks, his attention switching back and forth to his machine. I might not be a witch proper, but the amount of magic that just burned up there. It's something I can handle.
"Are you aware of what is going on, Nin?" I ask him, being blunt about it for the moment. He shakes his head, our minds not at all on the same page.
A sigh fills out my nose, and I look one way and then another, minding the state of my observatory. I need to be focused on telling him something, and yet my focus is all on... Everything is fine, really. All these explosions and nothing is all that damaged. I can even see that the hinges on my art collection is fine.
A smile tries to come up, and it vanishes just as quickly, "There's an invasion."
"An invasion?" he goes, clarification clearly needed.
"Yes, monsters. Something has followed you through the Crack in the Sky and... I need your help, Nin. I cannot be sure that I alone am enough. I'm not ready for something like this... My knights can only do so much, and where they're capable of failing... I can't be close behind. I understand you're clearly not at full power yet, but you're more than my equal at worse. I can count on you...? Please...?" I explain, almost whimpering my words as he seems to be lost in thought.
"Monsters?" he repeats, looking around, and then, at his hand. He's over-focusing on his hand. He twitches his way up to eye-level, staring me down as I stare him down.
"I don't know much about them, Nin. All I know is that they seem more focus on gathering everyone up. Like cattle." I explains and he nods with a noticeable shake to his actions. He stares at me some more, and I do the same.
"I know what they are. What they probably are. Osibindah," he explains, and I blink, uncertain of what he speaks of.
"Osibindah...? I've never heard of any monsters like them. I admit, I've never cared much for monsters beyond what seems impressive. Dragons, wyverns... The like. Big animals, you know?" I answer, almost sheepish about it as I undercut the very damnation of my kingdom.
"Trust me, you're better off not knowing anything about them. They're horrible things... Bugs. Bugs that steal and pillage people so they can take their bodies from them. Their freedom, their souls... Everything. They're parasites. If they are here, I will help. I will help." he explains, giving me the perfect answer to what I want.
"Thank you... Nin. Th-Thank you." I tell him, a great weight leaving my shoulders. Certainly a lot of momentum is leaving my heart behind.
"What can you tell me? I know you don't know a whole lot. But, how bad is it?" he asks, his tone turning hard as he makes a point of setting things up for another test.
"We have them contained for the moment. My plan is to meet them in battle, tease more information out of it if I can. One army will engage while the reserves gather. I've got two chances, three at best, and most depending on what happens after the first battle." I explain, but, going by his actions, he doesn't seem to want that kind of information.
"Numbers? Types of bugs? Is there an earth shaman?" he clarifies, listing off what might only be the very tip of what he wants to go over.
"Hundreds? We haven't heard anything specific. But they're cautious. They overpower our smaller forces and the garrisons of the villages, but they're still cautious. We no doubt outnumber them incomparably so." I explain, recalling the war plans and the details my many officers and lieutenants came with.
"My last question... That's the most important. Is there an earth shaman?" he asks, and I shake my head, not quite understanding it.
"I do not know what that is, I'm sorry I cannot be of more help." I say and he nods, a hand going across his mask.
"Their equivalent of a witch. They use magic unlike anything else you'll find on the surface. I don't know the specifics. Only that they're capable of controlling the earth itself." he explains for me, leaving me all the more worried than I was when I was walking here.
"As in... Rocks, mountains and the like...?" I dare to ask, and he nods once and clear.
"We're in a lot of trouble," he goes and we both look to his machine. Me after him.
He approaches the machine, fiddling with it even with how little things there are to fiddle.
"We might be in some luck..." he lets out, inspiration finding him even as he continues to play with nothing.
"How come?" I ask, coming to his side to look at the nothing he's messing with.
"Your Ancient Jhermonikra machine takes the magic out of the rock. If it could use the mountain itself, it would have. Meaning the only rock it can call on is weak and meaningless. At least to us." he tells me, his clarification sudden and awkward.
Either way, it makes me nod with certainty. If he believes I am powerful enough, then the confidence of his belief will empower me. I can only be so certain about things... But it will have to do until he is able.
"When will you be able to join us in battle?" I ask him, and I hear not a word from him for too long. Too long... Only this strange noise that's echoing in his mask.
"All I can promise is that I will come to you, Morgihranur," he insists, and all I can do is hold him to his word. So, I smile and nod, stepping away from him as I try to take my mind off of things. What else is there to say? All I can speak of has been spoken.
His help is a certainty now, lest the gods and goddesses punish him for being a traitor. All I can do is head off, head off and prepare. No... No, the knights will come to me when the moment is right. For now... For now I can spend a moment to unwind, think on other things.
"So... To change the topic. You've done the old place up?" I ask, wandering my observatory and taking in its new wear and tear. The machine is keeping it clean of magic. To the best of its ability. But with every time Nin uses his contraption, it's getting stronger.
I can sense it in the stonework and in the brass fittings and the like. Even my old art supplies are distinctly more surface-touched. There's an uncanny sensation to this. It's a normal thing, but not here.
Though, I can feel the magic disappearing in the same way it always does to me. The rituals that give me my power are the same that I gift onto the doctors. However, I lack the religious flair I make them do it to. Most of the time.
"If it makes you feel any better... I've kept this stuff out of the way." Nin explains, carefully letting out my art display in its full glory. My smile grows at the sight, all those stars sparkling all the more the magic now in the pigment. I approach, huffing in delight as it really does shine now. Not quite to the standard of the dead god of the night sky, but certainly more fitting to his lost beauty.
"Seeing it like this almost makes me want to have it called out and displayed. But, then it would lose everything that makes it so..." I say, losing my train of thought as I go through the collection.
"Beautiful?" Nin says, snatching my blushing attention right up.
"Excuse me!?" I demand to know, losing my composure as I find myself at the centre of his attention.
"What you were going to say." he clarifies.
"OH! Oh... Oh! Hehe... Ye-YEah. Yeah." I cough out, struggling to at all get my voice the right way going. Why would I...? Why would I ever think he was focussed on me? Of course he's on about the paintings and the like.
"Though you're a pretty sight, too." he adds on, putting too much wood on the fire.
"WHY YOU!" I screech, stomping my foot as my face burns up. I can't decide between a smile or a glare. Only to settle on a sneer.
"Hahaha!" he lets out, putting the art collection back away and catching me in it. I stumble out, making my way into the open and almost falling because of it.
"YOU KNOW WHAT!?" I say, storming off to the contraption he uses to control the magic. I let him put my art away and lock it up tight. And the moment he turns to face me, I let him see my smirk and smile.
"H-Hey..." he warns, and I do just that, push the button. Huffing cockily, I let the click of the button ring out and I part ways with my saviour. He rushes to the device, hastily preparing himself, and the flash fires overtake me as I stroll away. Lingering in the erupting magic, I breathe it in as is so natural feeling for the emerald power in the air. Much as the colour suggests otherwise.
My attention snaps back to the severity of the situation, taking me out of the growing fires.
"There is a war I must prepare myself for. A king cannot be fawning for a mysterious doctor while her lands are in peril." I remind myself, regaining my royal posture. As is appropriate for a leader to show.