Emory slowed opened her eyes to see a dozen pairs of surprised soldiers in a command center room. Weapons were drawn and pointed in her direction while the sound of footsteps approached. She dared not move and instead smiled at the soldiers to try and ease the tension. Finally, a firm, rough man called from behind her, "Emory Reiss, is that you? The Supreme Commander said you would be coming soon, but I didn't."
"Didn't really believe it?" Emory laughed, "Yeah, I wouldn't have believed it either if you told me a few weeks ago. But now, I really feel like I can change everything."
"Very well, Miss Reiss. We are yours to command; what do you want us to do?" Lloyd saluted.
"Cut the engine," Emory instructed, "We're going to appear right above Temia just inside the atmosphere. From there, we'll need to slowly descend. Are we clear?"
The crew barked, "Yes ma'am. Cutting engines now."
"Everyone, hold on," Emory commanded as she sat back down in her cross-legged position, "Jask, be ready to assist. I don't know where we're going to appear." The whole ship went completely silent as the troops even held their breath while Emory closed her eyes, Knowing that she was going to move a ship the same size as the one that had landed yesterday, she built up a large amount of magik. To the onlookers' surprise, a golden glow began to radiate off her body. The light grew so bright and intense that everyone closed their eyes for a brief moment; when they opened them, their jaws dropped following several gasps until a sinking sensation filled their stomach. Emory shouted, "Everyone, pay attention! Jask, initiate landing protocol!"
The orders jolted the soldiers back to reality as Jask started the retrorockets to slow their descent. Lloyd stood in the same spot he had been, fully in shock over what Emory had done. Meanwhile she stood up slowly and walked over to him, just to make sure he wasn't going to collapse. As she reached him, he breathed, "Less than two months ago, you were a student at the school. Just who are you?"
"I'm still the same girl I was then," Emory laughed, "I've just grown a little bit since then. There's still a lot I need to get done today, so once we land safely, I'm going to head onto my next stop. Will you be okay here?"
"Yes, of course, Miss Reiss. What should we focus on first when we land?" Lloyd asked politely.
"First and foremost, help Nephenee's team to get the research center up and running, so we can send out the system scanners," Emory emphasized, remembering Jask's recommendations, "Then set up long term housing for a bigger force; I'm thinking ten to twenty thousand."
Lloyd saluted, "Yes ma'am, we'll work on it right away." The ship began to shake as they got closer to the ground. This went on for a few minutes longer than it had with Emory's ship because this ship was much larger. A loud concussive noise sounded as the supports cratered into the field. With the rest of the soldiers in the command center, Lloyd led everyone to the cargo hold. Once Emory heard the bay doors open, she sat down once again, closed her eyes, and cleared her mind. When she opened her eyes, she expected to see wide open plains and smell the outdoors but was met with the cold walls of a FOB once again. Three people her age quickly ran over to her and stood at attention while they waited for her to stand up.
As she did, she asked, "Why is this set up inside the FOB instead of outside?"
"You'd have to ask the Commander," one person of the group replied, "We just put it where they told us to."
"Fair enough. Where is the Commander and Subcommander now?" Emory shrugged.
"In the Command Center of the ship," they all answered together, "They were discussing what part of the base to build next." Emory nodded and thanked them before leaving the large room and heading for the ship. As she stepped outside, she took a moment to appreciate this world as well, though she noticed the area they were in was a bit strange. Realizing this must be the work of the entity Gatrie spoke of, she tried to imagine, if she used her magik, how much it would take to do this level of transformation to gauge how strong of an entity they had encountered. On this scale, she could easily make this kind of impact with the mana pool she had, yet she worried about the stamina required to carry out the task. Clearly it would be best to approach this entity with caution. Shaking her head a few times to clear those thoughts, she continued onto the ship quite easily, perhaps too easily. Hardly anyone was aboard the ship, and not a single person stopped her. Sure, she was wearing the same uniform as they were, complete with a couple bars on a pin on her shoulder that signified her rank, but not saying anything made the whole place feel off.
Finally, Emory arrived at the command center where Gatrie and Sam were and found them looking at some planetary footage. Sam noticed Emory's entrance first and squealed like a kid in a store when she entered the room. Sam yelled, "Emory! You're here! I've missed you!" She hopped over the table and ran over to give her a big hug.
"Sam! It's good to see you too," Emory choked out as she was being squeezed, "This is too much; please put me down. Gatrie, good to see you as well." Sam let go of Emory before blinking her eyes in an exaggerated fashion a few times.
"Notice anything different?" Sam continued to bat her eyes.
"Is that what I think it is?" Emory stared as she flickered her eyes a few times to reveal their new golden color as well, "How did you get the Arcane sphere?"
Sam laughed, "It's a long story, but you've got to meet her before we get Gwen. I see you've improved as well. What happened?" Gatrie looked up and, noticing the golden eyes, pulled a chair around the desk to listen attentively. Emory carefully explained what Ninian had told her about her heritage and powers, making sure to highlight the differences between what she had learned and what they had read since Emory wasn't a Hexblood like they originally thought. After going through that, she also described the fight with the platoon of Mantoan and the Uthid captain, which seemed unbelievable without being there to witness it.
"All of that leads me to the reason I wanted to visit the bases," Emory finished, "So, Gatrie, do you want the Arcane sphere or not?"
"Of course I do! Especially since you said I'll still be able to use my Storm sphere," Gatrie nodded. She smiled as she created a small mote of Arcane magik just above her fingertip and walked over to the still sitting Gatrie. Slowly, she pushed the orb into the top of his arm as she had done with the others. He shook a little as waves of magik slowed vibrated off him, and he felt an energy surging within him. A couple minutes later, the spell was complete, but he created a small orb of prismatic magik just to make sure it worked.
Gatrie grinned, "Thank you for this gift, Emory. If you need me to do anything, just name it."
"It's no problem at all," Emory smiled back, "Anything for my friends that followed me into this craziness. Sam and I will be leaving from our meeting with Myrrh directly to Gwen and plan to be gone for a few days. During that time, I need your squad to work on the research center and send out the long-range probes; I don't want any surprises like Nephenee had. Then, build separate housing for an army, enough to hold ten to twenty thousand."
"That many? Are you just bringing the army here?" Gatrie questioned.
"Not the Collective's army," Emory quipped, "Either the Fae or the Witches will need some housing."
Sam's brow furrowed, "The Witches? Just what are you planning, Emory?"
"It doesn't matter to me," Gatrie agreed, "I was just curious. Research center and then a full barracks. It'll have to be vertical housing."
"Thanks, Gatrie. Sam, let's go meet Myrrh," Emory gave them a thumbs up as Gatrie stood up. The trio walked together to the entrance of the FOB before Gatrie split off for the base while the girls headed towards the woods in the distance. Just as they got outside the immediate area, Sam stopped them.
"I usually transform and run the rest of the way in dire wolf form," Sam smirked, "Do you think you can keep up with me?"
Emory shot back, "I suppose teleporting is cheating, isn't it?" Sam stuck out her tongue before transforming into a wolf the size of a polar bear. Emory snorted as she formed wings of magik like oversized majestic eagle wings.
"You really did change, didn't you?" Sam gazed over at Emory, "Not just the eyes or the boatloads of magik, but your aura is different now. Your wings are beautiful, by the way."
"Thank you. Really though, I should be thanking you. I came up with the idea when I was thinking about how you could shift," Emory blushed. Without saying another word, the two took off like flashes of light. Sam was a little faster off the line, but Emory surged forward like a rocket. The wings on her back didn't flap like a bird, instead they propelled her forwards by releasing magik from the ends and keeping her afloat. Midway, it was neck and neck with both girls pushing themselves to the limit of their speed. They were moving so fast that it looked like a tan blur surrounded by a prismatic aura from the side. As they neared the woods, it seemed like it would be a tie until Emory pushed herself ahead just a smidge. However, she couldn't stop and almost fell into a tree when a woman with tree bark skin caught Emory and tumbled back softly into a bed of flowers like a soft cushion.