Dark Crow Rising

"Here you go, Grandguard Inerish." my secretary goes, handing me a cup of tea with some light food to go with it. Looking up from my misery-inducing screens and tablets, I return her smile like I always do. But, as I look up at her, it vanishes and I can't help but feel confused. Oddly enough, I find myself paying more attention to her.

She adjusts her reddish-brown hair and her natural, non-magic-caused purple eyes are hidden for a blink. She seems to think something is wrong and tidies up her fairly simple outfit of white and black. She looks behind her and then starts to leave. She possibly thinks I am lost in my own thoughts...?

"Thank you, thank you... Secretary- Secretary..." I start to say, my head getting back on track before I realise something. For all she's done for me, her name is an enigma that I cannot crack and I am baffled. To say the least, it is embarrassing to even try and find out now.

"Valettyne, Grandguard Inerish." she answers, a giggle keeping her smile up and I let mine come back.

"Yes, thank you, thank you, Secretary Valettyne." I tell her and I go back to stewing in my thoughts, passing over only the most cursory of glances. My mind gets back to the issue, the giant. The moving fortresses failed. The mightiest of all creatures failed to put a dent in the giant and it's been completely quiet.

The Prince vanished not long after the operation's failure, presumably into the depths of my office. There's an unsettling energy beyond the locked door and neither me or Valettyne have worked up the courage to investigate. No Union troops have come by either, no officers or anyone in the top brass. The offensives have come to a halt, only the evacuations carry on.

I've found myself oddly aware of the people around me since seeing the war-witches fall. Are there really any options for us left? Every munition we can make has been tried, the Gnomon has fired with all it has and the strongest creatures in the world have fought against it. Yet, still, the giant still stands and it still moves with nothing capable of stopping it.

We are doomed, I cannot see it any other way. Everything around me will be gone whenever the giant finally arrives. The country may not be the largest on the continent, but the land is long and plentiful. And within every meter of this place, there is nothing we can use to stand against the giant.

My secretary is trying to keep her spirits up, but, being around her more than ever now, I can see her stress. The slight jitters she makes and the moments of quiet stillness she goes through. We're not so different, really, none of the people within this building are that different from me. Soon, there will be no difference at all, we all shall be dust in the giant's trail of destruction.

I blink and mind my tea break, then, I set it aside. Rising to my feet, my secretary jumps a little and I turn to my office door. Taking in a deep breath, I test the lock and meet resistance but also a noise from beyond the moveable wood. A pair of sabatons and a sheath-turned cane become clear sounds and the lock clicks. Nothing.

Taking the future into my hands, I go in without an allowance for it. Just in time to watch the Prince return to his makeshift chair made from piles upon piles of tablets. Walking further, I frown at the holographic map as it flickers between its different views. I'm familiar with all but one of them, a map that I barely have time to focus on.

A blob in what is our deformed new south?

"Grandguard Inerish, I require you to gather up all military and industrial heads within the former Dual-Republic of Thrurstradtur-Suhurlodst. I have something I intend to discuss with you all." the Prince requests and I linger. Much to my surprise, no snap follows my inaction and instead, I find myself watching his eyes. I've spent enough time with guns and spells being aimed at me that I know how to follow a pair of eyes.

Minding this, I go around to the map controls and take them off repeat. I keep adjusting until I am on what has been perplexing me since I first saw it. The map has no annotations so the truth is locked in a vault I can never get access to without the Prince's willingness. But, this head of mine is more than capable of figuring things out.

Most of the time...

Shaking my head with a sigh, I cross my arms and put some fingers to my chin. We have a precisely mapped-out advance from the giant with patrol paths for the Union's air-navy. We also have this inexplicit gash that has been added to the map and it keeps shifting upwards. I look down at the giant's marker and see why.

Turning back to the Prince, his lips start to part, "The giant's power does not seem to reach particularly far down."

"No, it has yet to show anything similar to an enraged cabboth and its acid secretions forcing it to dig deeper and deeper into the earth." I answer, bringing up the only similar point of comparison we've really been able to find since the crisis began. Experts of all kinds have walked through these halls and I've been left none-the-wiser as to how to handle this. Apparently, not even the greatest military might and mind on the continent can either.

"We also know there is a limit to how far up its power is. The aura has been fully mapped." he says, asking for clarification which I answer with a nod at first.

"Yes, following the initial upsets in our observation of the giant, back when it was purely a Republic matter. Back then, we made a point of using various explosives with measuring devices attached to see what the aura looked like. We made a point of attacking at as many points as possible to ensure it was most likely an aura and not some form of reactionary attack." I explain, pointing at the set of metal draws where I've been keeping most of my data copies.

"No known material has shown a resistance to this power?" he questions, his own flesh dominating the view his eyes can provide. Fingers flex and tighten into a fist that leaves leather stretching.

"No, the closest we've gotten is a living being of sufficient magic power or an inanimate object in possession of shielding." I explain though there's no way he doesn't know this already.

"Rather, the presence of external-magic prevents the aura from affecting matter. At least, until it is used up. Much like how a sufficiently strong witch can prevent the spell of a weaker one from coming anywhere near into contact." the Prince theorises and I nod along as there's nothing really else to say about the matter. After all this time, all that matters is that the giant is unstoppable.

"So, what is this all about?" I ask in an attempt to get this conversation into something more meaningful. Whatever the Prince has been pondering, I dread to acknowledge that it means sacrificing more of the country to the advance of the giant. This Prince of the Union is possibly asking of us a cost of land and maybe life that will leave most of the space between here and the giant open. Dug out.

"I am considering the option of trapping the giant within a trench and forcing it towards the Redstone Canyon." he explains and my eyes try to pop out from their sockets.

"Are you crazy!? Do you not know how tall that thing is!?" I go, my expression flaring up as his brow settles with the hardness of stone. He leans around and presents a tablet.

"The math and means of construction is all here." he answers quietly, his grip almost reluctant. I snatch the tablet and begin to read about the mega project. He has two ways of doing this, either the airships will hold their positions and keep firing down, or, they'll ramp the giant down to the final point. From there, as many airships as it takes to ram the giant an absurd distance to then let it fall...

"THIS IS UTTER MADNESS!" I snap with all I have, throwing the tablet to the ground in an attempt to shatter it. I curl my fists tight and watch his magic bring the tablet back to him, unharmed.

"Yes, it is. Which is why I intend to talk to as many other points of view as possible before giving such an order." he says, his eyes going off towards a static painting of the now-gone country of old. Magic starts to mark off the painting and then he moves it away to the side. An aura diameter of several hundred kilometres, walking and running without pause for months at this point. Too much is gone, far, far too much...

"You come here and act as if you're a saviour and here you already have your mind made up about destroying what's left of this land!" I snap, throwing an accusatory finger up while he strokes his chin like it's no big deal. His sword cane taps the floor and his weight shifts onto the curved support.

"I would assume you'd know a thing or two about Scorched Earth tactics, Grandguard Inerish." he remarks and I snort, magic almost igniting.

"Such tactics are to delay invaders, to force them off your land and to deny them sustenance. What you have here is a plan to desecrate the continent for tens of thousands of kilometres down!" I counter and his eyes go sullen, the moral weight of it bringing him down more than his usual habits.

"To save my home, I have two choices and both will lead to the loss of so much if I choose either. As is the case with so many things, I am presented with the needs of a greater and a lesser. One consisting of all of Jherikra's freedom, versus the homes and lives of not an entire great peak's sphere of influence. But, only a portion of it. Tell me, Grandguard, if your job is to be the realm's defender, what would you do? Our weapons do not work, it is too costly to chase after what we think might work. Our only hope seems to be within the safety of the earth itself. Even if the giant leaps as high as it can, it will not ever be able to climb. The stone of the gods who abandoned us..."

Ignoring his ending ramblings, I focus on the obvious, "And what of our future when the giant walks out every bit of support of the world from out under us? We are not flying over a grand cavern, endless rock keeps the surface where it is!"

He glares my way and slowly moves closer, "Trust in your makers."

Snarling back at the hissing man, he gets moving to my office's connection to the speakers. His hand lingers over the keys he needs to press and he looks back my way. Sword cane stomps the ground, shaking the building and his frustrations show. Though I am still angry, I cannot maintain the expression.

Thrurstradtur-Suhurlodst does not have the means to fight the giant, the Union is the only chance we have right now. And... They're lost, their lead does not know what to do, whatever is on his mind, I cannot tell. What I should tell him is something that disgusts me.

"Gather everyone, Prince-to-Ascend Jhratur?" I ask for a repetition, stiffening up and preparing my legs to leave. Eager to go, they bounce me in my static place.

"I will handle the orders regarding those under my direct command. You will scour all of the Gnomon and then Thrurstradtur and Suhurlodst for those in your sphere of influence. So I command." he does indeed, his magic shining bright in the dark office.

"Suhurlodst will prove difficult to extract cooperation from." I point out, recalling my experience with them so far and minding my mood in the process. They've offered their advice but any actual contribution has been minuscule. The Dual-Republic was always really Thrurstradtur's domain, but, Suhurlodst could at least keep up appearances of unity.

"Then I will force the issue, it's about time they stepped out of their selfish isolation in the affairs of this land." Prince Jhrartur explains, his back straightening out with his arms locked behind.