Castle In The Sky

The Emperor stood in the command room of Aetheria as companies of soldiers filled the buildings and made ready for launch. Mages down in the base of the structure began casting their incantations. The crystals that lined the walls began to glow and pulse and the entire rocky foundation began to shudder and rumble as the personnel held on to any support they could find to steady themselves. All around the outside perimeter of Fort Magish, the remaining forces who had not been assigned to Aetheria watched in awe as the mountainous superstructure of buildings took flight as a testament of man's mastery of magic over nature. Looking out into the horizon, the Emperor smiled, "So, it begins..."

____________________________________________

The army of the rebel forces rode west with Akiko in the lead position and Kenji next to her. Behind them, a division of soldiers from the combined rebel baronies followed in formation, ranging from infantry, cavalry, and specialized units including mages and wyvern riders. However, their combined morale dropped as they came over the horizon and looked into the sky.

"We're too late," Akiko whispered, seeing the fortress flying in the sky.

Kenji looked at the fortress with a crude magnifying lens. "I'm seeing wyvern units in formation flying patrols. They've formed a perimeter and control the airspace around the fortress. No chance we're just going to be able to fly in without getting challenged."

"And I doubt the invisibility or illusion tricks are going to work either," Amberbrooke opined. "By now, they would have received their report from the Black Spire and know our tactics. We've gone to that well a few too many times, I'm afraid."

"Sirs, we're getting reports," Hiroshige reported. "Our forces at the capital have begun their siege on the city. The division commander's forces have engaged the outer defenses and according to him, Lady Minamoto has taken her covert force on a separate mission, per their plan."

"OK, we've got a narrow window," Akiko observed. "We can't let those remaining forces in Fort Magish return to reinforce the city defenses, so we need to keep them busy. But that's not where Aetheria's heading; it's southwest, which means Roark Barony and Yartin."

"He's sending a message," Kenji deduced. "Roark's been the most active in terms of supporting the rebellion movement. It's where many of our bases are located. If he wanted to demonstrate his new magical weapon's power, that would be a good place to start."

"What kind of manpower would a base that size likely have," Akiko asked.

"Based on Calidor military organization, we're talking about a brigade-sized force, three to four battalions, over 5000 men across all specialties," Kenji concluded. "Not all of them combat specialists, but enough to make it a difficult challenge."

"We've got more than enough here; and we don't need to fight 5000 men," Akiko pointed out. "It's a flying base. If we can compromise the magic holding it up, those men will be too busy looking for a safe way off to be fighting us."

"That doesn't change our situation," Jun countered. "They're up there, we're down here. If we try to fly up with wyvern, it'll be an aerial combat, and they'll have the high ground."

"Wait... what about portal magic?" Keiko asked.

"We don't have a fixed destination point established," Amberbrooke reminded her. "We would have to get our mages onto the fortress first and cast from there."

"You said portals need either an established destination or line of sight." Keiko pointed at the observation platforms at the very bottom of the floating fortress. "What about those? They're too small for wyvern, so we don't have to worry about dealing with riders and since they're open platforms, we have line-of-sight as long as we keep up with them."

"That... possible, I supposed," Amberbook allowed. "Normally when portal mages have established destination portals by sight, it's usually not on a moving target. Your spell formula for the destination would need to account for the change in motion or you'll end up off-target when you actually cast your spell. You could end up with a portal in mid-air next to your target, or even worse, in the middle of solid stone."

"It's our only shot though, right?" Akiko asked. "We'll need to set up a flight of wyvern to keep those platforms in sight, since it's currently flying away faster than our horses can keep pace. We portal our strike team on board to compromise the magic that's keeping that base flying and powering its main magical weapon. Once we do that, we'll drive it back to the ground where the rest of our forces can engage."

____________________________________________

The Aetheria fortress drifted through the skies like an ominous storm cloud as men throughout the fortress ran continuous tests to confirm that everything was working as they had intended while the wyvern teams maintained patrols around the airspace in practiced drills. From his throne room, the Emperor supervised and kept an eye on the magical control crystals that provided informational feedback of the fortress' status and controlled its flight. From this room, he could issue orders or if needed, direct the flight of the fortress himself, selecting the destination and targets of the powerful magical weapons, and issuing orders for the military to invade.

"We've reached the Roark Barony border, My Lord," the commanding officer reported.

"Excellent," the Emperor nodded. "Direct course for the town of Yartin and have the mages in the mystical weapons chamber prepare their rituals. Let this town serve as an example for all who would oppose the Empire. Have our soldiers prepare to head to the surface once the weapon hadsdone its purpose so they may follow up on any remaining survivors and round up any prisoners!"

The commander saluted, "It will be done, My Lord!"

____________________________________________

Down in the lowest levels of Fort Aetheria, a group of eight mages all stood around the massive central magical crystal. They were all synchronized in their focused intentions, having received their instructions and training for this moment. Upon the word of their team leader, the spell sequence caused the crystals around the room to light up in a glowing aura and heating up the air around them. Outside the fortress and down below, the people in the town of Yartin shouted in fear, pointing up in the sky at the fortress that blotted out the clouds like a dark omen as the crystal pulsed an ominous sequence of colors, growing in intensity until it unleashed a powerful blast into the town.

The ground lit up like a fiery curtain of flame as the pressure wave of heat and light spread from the blast, engulfing everyone and setting every building ablaze for kilometers around ground zero. From up above, the scouts surveying the damage nodded with satisfaction. The weapon had performed exactly as they had expected, leaving little doubt of its power and even fewer survivors. The few lucky ones that might have been blessed by chance would be the ones that would spread the word of this new weapon, so that it would be known once and for all that to oppose the Empire was to court death itself.

____________________________________________

The rebel army arrived at the outskirts of Yartin a few hours after Fort Aetheria had departed into the evening skies, as the smell of burning soil and flesh assailed their senses and the columns of smoke marked the funeral pyres into the distance. As the lead soldiers got close, even experienced officers recoiled in horror at the sight of destruction and death they beheld as Akiko and Keiko were both almost overwhelmed with grief at the magnitude of destruction. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Akiko turned to Kenji, "This has to stop, no matter the cost. No more towns must suffer this fate because of us...!"

Kenji nodded, "It may be a risk, but..."

Akiko turned to Keiko, "Those spell formulas you and Amberbrooke were talking about... calculating for a moving target... can you do it?"

Keiko closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded. "I'd... I'd like to run a test first..."

Akiko shook her head. "We can't risk it. If the Empire gets a hint on what we're doing, they'll come up with a counter, like they have with our illusions, and we'll be back to square one." She took a determined breath. "I won't ask anyone to take a risk that I wouldn't be willing to risk myself. I'll take that first step..."

"Akiko, I..." Keiko froze with a doubtful look on her face.

"You've always been the smart one among the three of us," Akiko reminded Keiko. "In class, every time the teacher tried a tough question, you were always the one with the right answer. And when the school needed representatives for the local area math Olympiad, you were in that group for a reason. If I'm going to trust someone to solve a problem with my life on the line, it's going to be you."