“My body started changing further and further while exploring the world\'s mysteries. I am sure that those changes have a meaning. Maybe I am slowly turning into what I am truly meant to be?”

-The deformed Sage.

***Free City States of Nict, Capital, Palace***

***Azir***

“Why are they rising so high? Do they intend to drop their ships onto the palace?” Looking up to the enemy fleet I am trying to make sense of their actions.

Lucas nods, steadying himself with the balcony\'s handrail. “If our suspicions are true, then that\'s probably exactly what they intend to do. Take down the palace\'s barriers with any means possible, then teleport your troops directly into the target zone.”

Pulling my eyebrows together, I nod with a grave expression. “Then it\'s probably time for me to arm up and assemble a few people to stop the enemy from entering the catacombs.”

Stella gets a hold of my sleeve. “What do you-”

I teleport directly into my laboratory without waiting for her to end her sentence. Having arrived there I reach for my liquid armour and put it on. I improved it into a lighter version this time.

Having it in a full plate configuration is a little too restricting on my movement. The armour flows onto me and fuses perfectly with my robe. Next on my list is the little box with my special surprises  and the fully automatic pistol which I intended to give to the military as a prototype.

What else could come in handy? My eyes wander sorrowfully to the clock, which is still lying on my working desk, and I reach for my multi-tool. I hadn\'t managed to repair the clock yet after the magical micro-circuitry melted completely.

It can\'t be helped, so I turn to face other projects of mine. I store a dagger in my belt and grab a cartridge which is holding twenty small marbles. The marbles are connected to the mana net and can provide me with information by hovering around to gather intelligence. In addition they can act as repeaters in case of a bad connection to the net.

The next point on my list is paying a visit to Ivy. I find her in her quarters, talking to Jeremiah like she always does these days. “It\'s good to find you this quickly. You have to arm up, we are going to visit the Emperor\'s Vault.”

Jeremiah jumps up from his sofa and starts screaming. “No! You can\'t-” Then he reaches for his neck where Ivy\'s cuff suddenly tightened, cutting off his air. “Hrgh...” Breathing stertorously he drops to the ground and starts writhing on the ground.

Ivy reaches for her forehead and starts massaging it. “Jerry... we already had this discussion. You don\'t simply scream at people. That\'s the last thing you do after having tried to talk to them properly.”

I point at Jeremiah. “His collar can tighten? And... Jerry?”

Ivy nods enthusiastically, not caring for Jerry\'s face which changing colours from red to blue. “I\'ve taken your armour as a blueprint for my new design. The collar automatically tightens the farther Jerry moves away from me, or in case I command it.”

“Err... well! Make sure to arm up and show yourself at the palace with him. It looks like his brother is trying to breach the Vault.” Without waiting for an answer I teleport again, this time appearing in my research facility\'s armoury.

“Now that\'s my world!” I take one of the big crates and place it in the middle of the room. Then I start throwing armour and weapon prototypes into it.

While doing so I make a few calls over the mana net to assemble a few trustworthy people. Hopefully they manage to make their way to the palace before everything goes to hell.

“What are you doing?” Turning around I find Louise at the room\'s entrance.

I offer her one of the smaller guns which are easy to carry. “Arm yourself, we are going to war! Didn\'t you read the chat?”

Louise\'s eyes lose their focus, looking at a point beyond me. When she returns, she brushes the offered weapon aside. “I have my own stuff. We meet at the palace.”

Shrugging my shoulders I drop the weapon into the crate and cast a strength enhancement spell. Otherwise I would have serious trouble picking up the whole thing.

Casting another teleport I reappear on the palace\'s balcony where I left Stella and her parents, but nobody is there.

Suddenly a deafening explosion makes me flinch. With tingling ears I look up, where one of the mobile dockyards bursts apart, impacting on the palace\'s barrier. “The fuck? Those guys are crazy, wasting perfectly fine ships to bring down our defence!”

The sky above the capital is filled with explosions and discharging energies. Strangely enough the damage to the city seems minimal. There are many pillars of smoke rising here and there, but all of them seem to be caused by crashed ships. If the enemy would bombard the city seriously they would have caused much more destruction. Seems like they are really trying to make a run at the palace, ignoring everything else.

I force myself to avert my gaze from our fortresses. They are standing as firm as rocks amidst the enemy fleet. Defending their positions while relying on their multi-layered barriers instead of mobility.

This time I locate Stella via the mana net and teleport again. My small jump takes me directly into the throne room, where I find Stella, her parents, and Sola with Xander. A few of the friends whom I called upon also arrived faster than me. Well, I was packing up stuff after all.

Dropping the crate to the floor I start handing out the armour and weapons to Karsen, Tanja, Chuck and Adala. “I am glad that you managed to make it in time.”

Chuck snorts. “Are you joking? You helped Dwem when our country was attacked, so I would be a sad excuse of a Great Shaman if I didn\'t return the favour when called upon. Ahem. The stepper disc in my apartment is a great help by the way.”

“You! Don\'t simply run off without explaining everything!” Stella stomps in my direction, stabbing her finger at me.

“Sorry, dear! But as you see, I had to pack a few things. Take this as an apology.” I hand her the dagger from my belt.

“So beautiful!” Stella\'s eyes almost turn into stars. She admires the beautiful golden runes on the kukri shaped weapon. Inwrought in the blackened blade are interlined, silver patterns which are glowing in a blue light. Then her forehead wrinkles and she looks up to me. “Don\'t think that I\'ll let you off the hook! Distracting me with something shiny won\'t work. There\'ll be repercussions!”

It\'s simply too hard to impress her with a present! Curse that ability of hers with which she can create as much jewellery as she wishes.

The palace shakes another time and Ivy arrives with Jeremiah on a leash. He is carrying a staff and is clad in heavy armour like a tank. Ivy is carrying her two daggers and a set of fifty small spider robots is following her like an army, copies of her old body!

“She really did it! She put a leash on him. I can\'t believe it.” Stella gapes at my side.

“Did you know that she is calling him Jerry?” I ask Stella.

Stella\'s eyes widen, but she doesn\'t get to answer me because Ivy\'s pet decides to approach us.

Jerry nods towards us and bows. “I am sorry for overreacting without listening to you first. Of course I\'ll try to help you through the catacombs in case my brother manages to breach them. The Vault has to stay sealed at all costs. I also apologize for all my misguided actions and hope that it\'s within your heart to forgive me.”

“Eeeh?” Stella hides behind me, not knowing how to react to this. “It\'s okay, as long as you see your wrongdoings, I guess?”

Ivy nods satisfied and pulls on the leash to signal him to stand a little further away. “That was good! And it didn\'t hurt your pride at all didn\'t it?”

“No. That\'s not hurting my pride at all. After all I now know what\'s really hurting someone\'s pride. A simple apology or words alone shouldn\'t be a problem for anyone.” Jeremiah answers with a defeated expression on his face.

Before I have time to pity Jeremiah properly, the last guest arrives at our party. Louise enters the throne room with an enormous rifle in her hands. It\'s the newly issued sniper Bullpub rifle with an extra long barrel and additional slots for ammunition. The barrel is at least one metre long and there are dozens of mods on the gun. Several different scopes like laser-point and night-vision, a bayonet, a grenade launcher and other stuff which makes the gun almost impossible to wield.

But Louise tackled that problem by borrowing our exoskeleton prototype which we intended to give to the normal soldiers. It\'s nice of her to test all that equipment, but she simply overdid it!

My eyes wander to the huge backpack on her back and then to the grenades which are loosely dangling on its side. I don\'t want to know which other explosives she is carrying around. “Let\'s just pray that she doesn\'t catch a stray fire-spell.”

.