Limits

I don't know for how long I was out. It seemed like an eternity to me. When I finally opened my eyes, I noticed wooden ceiling and walls. I tried picking myself up, but my whole body pulsated with pain. 'I'm alive… But so what?' I asked myself. We won the battle, but so what? What victory meant to me, when I lost more than I was willing to lose. I laid there thinking about everything that happened. "Hey, you woke up" Crow said.

I kept my eyes on the ceiling, and replied "Yea…". Crow seemed hesitant about something, but he finally said "About Fox, she is alive". My body moved by itself, and I tried to stand up, but I was too weak. Crow grabbed my shoulder while saying, "Hey, lay down alright?". I demanded "Take me to her", even though I wasn't able to stand. Crow held me down while saying. "She is alive, but in a poor state. Lay down, you can see her later. That large stone dog is there too. It tried to protect her, when we scoured the battlefield. Rest for now".

I didn't try to get up anymore, and sighed internally. "How's your arm?" I asked. He laughed, "It's gone. It seems I have some luck when it comes to losing my arms. Lira though… She doesn't want to admit it, but I know it was a hard blow to her". I replied, "I will attach new arms for you guys when I get better. As for the arms? Irsa has one more, right?". He shook his head "It's fine, you don't have to go around collecting people's arms, to replace mine. Anyway, the damages to the city were rather severe, but we won. The Mordars mostly perished, and we don't have to worry about them. They shouldn't be able to produce another huge Mordar anytime in the future".

I thought about it, then said. "Eterians might attack again, this time using a different tactic. Do you recall seeing any Furians on that battlefield?". Crow narrowed his eyes, and asked "You think that Eterians will return soon?". I replied, "Yes, since they fear me so much now. The Mordars that escaped, they will notify Eterians sooner or later. They will know what happened and they will do anything to remove me. This war… It has just begun".

A slight pause later, I continued. "Make sure the walls are being repaired. Instruct people to make more Scorpions, and tell Ama to visit me. I have an improvement for the walls". He nodded, and was about to leave, but I stopped him. "Tell Harlin to come over as well, I want to talk with him about something that's been bugging me for a long time". Crow left, while I collected my thoughts. 'They were overconfident with the Mordar Army, but now they are aware of everything. We need to remove the danger from Boltier too' I thought. I wanted to send Harlin and most of the soldiers there, but I also wanted to ask a few things of him. Things about Alicia in particular.

Both Ama and Harlin took their time. Ama was first to arrive though. "You wanted to see me? You don't look so good" she said. I gave her a slight smile, then replied. "I will manage somehow. Either way, I have an idea for the wall improvement. How damaged are the walls?". She replied almost instantly, "Very. The damages to the northern and eastern walls are… severe. Out of all the Scorpions we had, only three managed to survive". I nodded lightly and continued, "You have a lot of work in front of you, but you also have the ability to design from the ground up. My design is simple, yet complicated. What I want you to do, is create rooms inside the walls. Those rooms would house the Scorpions, and we can layer those rooms one above the other. With the height of the walls in Sedon, we can easily create three floors. With that, we could fit three times as many Scorpions on each wall".

He eyes lit up, and she asked herself quietly. "Why didn't I think of that?". The answer was rather simple. I said, "Because you never saw the Human Empire. The walls of the Imperial City are hollow on the inside. Archers can stand there and shoot, while being protected by the walls. They have Formations too, but I'm sure you can't do that". She nodded while saying "There are a few Formation practitioners inside Sedon, but for such a project, we would require a few masters in the least". That was correct, and because masters were scarce, it wasn't a viable option in the short run. I continued, "I didn't propose that before, due to lack of time, and it would require a lot of modifications to the existing walls. Now that the walls are destroyed, we can implement such an idea. Can you do that?".

She murmured to herself a bit more, then replied. "Yea, I have an idea. Obviously, we still need to make the walls thick. Since there will be hollowed out sections in the middle, we need thick walls to protect the other side. I have some ideas, I will go to work immediately". She left quickly, seemingly very excited about this new challenge. A while later Harlin came by. He asked, "How do you feel?". I replied with a slight smile, "I've been better. Harlin there are a few things I need to find out. I also want you to take the Army, and destroy the enemy camp near Boltier".

He nodded, "We thought about Boltier too. We need to help them out, and I was already planning to go there next. With Mordars gone, we should be fine for a while here". I was already sceptical about that, and said. "Not entirely, but do take the army and leave for Boltier". He asked confused, "What do you have in mind?". I continued, "Eterians will return, and they will return sooner than you might think. They need to get rid of me, I already folded their plans too many times. But there is another reason, they fear me. It seems I'm not just any normal Human in their eyes".

He asked, "Shouldn't we stay here in that case? From what I know, Boltier is holding up for now". I shook my head slightly, "No. Go help them, and take the medicine with you. When you go to the Atols making medicine, I want you to give them a recipe for antidote. Where are my things?". Harlin grabbed the bag, and placed it next to me. I took out some paper and coal. I wrote down a medium strength antidote, which should help Lizards fight the poison that Vanauts use.

I passed him the paper, and said "As soon as you get enough bottles of antidote, move out". He nodded, then asked "You mentioned something else. What did you want to know?". I replied, "This has been bugging me for a while now, but you might know. Where are the other Grey Lizards?". Harlin wasn't really shocked by the question, yet he still asked. "How do you know there are more?". I snorted, "Do you think I'm an idiot? Just because they were chased away, that doesn't mean they died off. We could use their help". He shook his head, "I don't know where they hide, all I know is that it's somewhere underground. I doubt they would help us anyway. They didn't really reveal themselves this long, and I don't think they wish to do that now".

I asked, "What about Alicia?". He replied, "Alicia is a sort of messenger… At least in a sense. She wouldn't pass our messages to her people, she lives outside to gain information and rely them to her people. A sort of spy, but not a spy at the same time. She is not trying to pry any secrets, she only reports the overall situation from the outside. How? I don't know, through Formations would be my guess. You might not know that, but Grey Lizards are really good with Formations".

I asked another question, "Do you think Eterians know their whereabouts?". He replied, "That is impossible. We don't know, no one knows really. I'd even go as far as to say that Hatmandor is not aware where they are located. They hid themselves a long time ago, so long they were mostly forgotten". I asked my last question, "Did Alicia return? She was supposed to get my new weapon". He shook his head, "I don't know. Maybe, or maybe not. I can send someone to check on that". I nodded, "Please do… How's… How's Fox?".

He sighed, "She is barely alive. She was wounded in her heart, but the wound healed. I guessed it was your doing, with the medicine you can make, no one else should be able to achieve such effect". He hesitated for a while. I knew he wanted to say something, so I asked "What is it?". "We removed her mask and... I don't think she was completely honest with you". I replied, "Doesn't matter now. When she is ready, she will take it off. I know she is not an Eterian". He nodded, "No, she is not". I continued, "Then that is enough for me. I have one last favour".

"As long as it is in my power, I will do it". I nodded and said, "Take her away from here. Away from me. Take her to Olrad, let her recover there". He nodded, "I will arrange for her to be moved there… What about that stone dog? It's quite aggressive towards others, and protects her". I asked "Slate? Take him with her. Let him protect her. After all, it is thanks to her that Slate is alive". He nodded, and left. I had to recover, I had to recover as quickly as I could.

'I need to leave this place as well. I don't know how strongly Eterians will desire my death, but as long as I'm not here, they will search somewhere else' I thought. Although I wouldn't be there to help them, Sedon already had people who were helping a lot. Ama and the other Atols, together with Crow and Harlin. 'They should be alright without me' I thought.