Anala dropped her sword and fell to her knees in exhaustion. It had been a long, long night of fighting, and it was finally over.
And they had won. For the first time in twenty or so battles, they had won. Eve had been right; the Queen of Monster’s army had dwindled with every passing battle, more than they would have expected from just the losses they had taken. It was almost imperceptible at first, but after three or four battles it became noticeable. And, like Eve had surmised, some scouting revealed that the frontier towns the Queen of Monsters had taken had monsters continuing to occupy them.
And people had reacted. They chose to only go through the motions of defending the frontier towns, committing as few resources as possible to actually doing so. And, over the two or three months that they had been fighting their war, they had stockpiled strength until, finally, they decided the Queen of Monsters’ army was weak enough and they were strong enough to actually put up a fight.
It had been long, drawn-out, and a lot closer than Anala would have liked, but they had emerged on top, and the seemingly unstoppable tide of monsters had ceased. Not a single monster was left in the force that had attacked the frontier town they had been defending, each monster having fought to its dying breath instead of choosing to retreat.
This was not without sacrifice, however. Of all the battles they had fought, this had incurred by far the most casualties. As they had not sounded a retreat, the people had also fought harder than they had in the past. People had still retreated when critically wounded, of course, but that wasn’t always feasible, and many had died.
There were revival spells, but those were…poorly understood and came with a multitude of unpleasant side effects. Those who died had to go through extensive rehab to get back to where they were before, and had been effectively taken out of the fight for the rest of the war.
But, nonetheless, the atmosphere was one of hope. The most pressing, immediate threat, the army that had been invading, had passed. Now it was time for roles to reverse, for people to go on the offensive and take back the towns they had lost in the war.
Even so, Anala wasn’t quite satisfied with that. People were talking like it would be the end of things if they just took back the frontier towns. That couldn’t be the case; Anala knew the Queen of Monsters would just bide her time and strike again when people had let their guards down. It would likely be decades later, but she would come again, and Anala had no doubts it would be worse than it was this time.
After all, if this was all there was to it, the High Arbiter wouldn’t have had to make heroes. There were certainly fewer casualties due to their presence, but ultimately it was nothing the people wouldn’t have been able to handle – there was no need for her to get involved.
But it didn’t seem like they would be receiving official military support if they decided to try and strike back. There just wasn’t enough public support for that, people would much rather do what they had always done in response to the threats on Haven; stay put and fortify their cities even more.
So, if they were to counterattack, it would have to be the adventurers that did it. Anala and her party had spent the last few months gathering support and preparing people for that. Ava and Raesn had put their heads together, done some scouting, and, after some consultation with Eve and her party, had finally gotten a pretty good guess on the direction in which the Queen of Monsters had made her lair.
It was possible they were wrong, but Anala didn’t think that was very likely. They had done everything from making extrapolations from the army’s movements to capturing monsters alive and rooting through their brains with magic. If they were wrong, then the Queen of Monsters had been putting a lot of effort into keeping her location hidden, and that didn’t seem like her style.
Anala had never actually interacted with her, but she had studied the recordings of her broadcasts closely. The Queen of Monsters was arrogant, and thought herself far stronger than everything else. Why would she bother to hide where she lived when she thought herself untouchable?
“Good work out there.” Eve said, giving Anala a smile and proffering a hand. “Looks like it’s gonna be our time to shine soon, huh?”
Anala smiled back, grabbing the hand and letting Eve pull her back to her feet. “Yeah. She’s not gonna know what hit her.”
“That’s the spirit.” Eve said. “We’ll wipe that overconfident look off of her face, just you watch.”
“Yeah.” Anala replied. “We sure will. How have things been going on your end?”
“Good.” Eve said. “I’ve managed to convince a lot of the defenders to help strike back, I think we’ll have the majority of them when we leave. Have you managed to appropriate any tanks for us?”
Anala shook her head. “Raesn’s been trying, but the Council won’t budge. They’re saying they can’t afford to use the tanks for anything but defense right now.”
Eve sighed. “I don’t get them.” She said. “Don’t they see that they’re just delaying the issue? The Queen of Monsters will come back stronger, and that’s a fact.”
“I know.” Anala replied. “I don’t really get it either.”
“I…guess they’re just too stuck in their ways.” Ava said. “They’ve been holing up in the cities for hundreds and hundreds of years, they’re not going to stop now. It seems pretty stupid to me, but I can see the appeal of it. It just makes people feel…safer.”
“It doesn’t excuse not taking even a few minutes to think about the future.” Eve said. “But…enough of that right now. I was coming over to see if you guys wanted to go have a celebratory meal with my party, maybe talk about what our plans for the future are. What do you think?”
“Sounds great.” Anala said, giving Eve a smile. “Give me a second to make sure the rest of my party is cool with it.”
“I’m down.” Ava chirped. “I’m sure Bruce will be too. I’ll go talk to him, do you want to talk to Raesn?”
Anala nodded. “Sure thing.”
Anala raised her glass in a toast. “To victory!”
“To victory!” The others echoed, raising their glasses as well. They had gathered in Ava’s apartment for the event, and though the space was a little cramped, everyone seemed to be having a good time. Exhausted as they were, it was still the first bit of good fortune they had had in months, and that was able to energize them for this celebration. No one was really moving around much, but their conversation was enough to keep things lively.
“So, do you think we should try to bring other people with us when we go to face the Queen of Monsters?” Eve asked, glancing around at the other people in the room. It was just Anala’s and Eve’s parties in the room, people Anala had come to think of as ‘the best there was’ when it came to this sort of thing.
“I’m not sure.” Raesn said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. “On the one hand, it would make scouting and keeping watch much less of an issue, but, on the other, it would be rough on supplies and I’m not so sure anyone else is ready to handle what we’re trying to do.”
“I’m pretty sure there are a few people who are going to be trying to take the fight to her anyway.” Bruce replied. “And I don’t think that’s something we can stop. A lot of people are fired up about wanting to be heroes, and they’re going to be drunk on the winning streak. I think it couldn’t hurt to go with them so we can help bail them out when they inevitably run into something they can’t handle.”
“Agreed.” Jameson said. “I’ve seen the type, things could get messy. It might be best if we take the lead and organize a semi-official expedition or something, we can concentrate everyone together into something that vaguely resembles an army.”
“Now that I’m thinking about it, I guess we technically fall under that ‘wanting to be heroes’ category, don’t we?” Anna said, playfully elbowing her husband. “Though, we actually have the power to back it up.”
“Yeah, but we’re not necessarily doing it for the glory or anything.” Jameson protested. “Or, at least…I wasn’t planning on taking any credit for the defeat of the Queen of Monsters, that sounds like it would be a huge pain in the future.”
“Bruce and I were thinking the same.” Ava agreed. “That’s just asking to have all sorts of governments trying to pry into your business whenever they run into an issue or want more power of whatever. We’d much rather just…settle down and start a family and live the rest of our lives in peace.”
“Alright, but…how are we gonna tell everyone the Queen of Monsters is dead without revealing ourselves?” Eve pointed out. “We won’t be able to broadcast our fight or anything if we want to remain anonymous, so…do we just like…capture a video of her body or…?”
“Good point.” Anala said, frowning. “I…actually hadn’t thought of that. For some reason I just assumed everyone would…know, you know?”
“I think capturing a video of the body is a good move, and then we can…I don’t know, hijack whatever she uses to send her broadcasts?” Raesn mused. “People probably won’t believe it at first, but I imagine the High Arbiter would address the situation, she seems pretty invested in the growth of Haven, and this is kind of directly related to that.”
“Eh, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Anna said. “I’m sure we can figure out. Worst case scenario we just take her body and dump it in in Haven’s capitol building or something. I’m sure after a bit of analysis people would figure out that the body’s the real deal.”
“So…what is everyone’s plan after this?” Ava asked. “Bruce and I are going to settle down, but how about the rest of you?”
“I’m going to keep trying to perfect my craft.” Raesn said. “I’ll have a lot more experience by the time this is all over, and I’ll probably be able to make some really neat stuff that will help a lot of people out.”
“Anna and I are going to be settling down too.” Jameson said. “We’re going to use whatever funds we get from looting the Queen of Monsters’ place to ensure Carmen has a stable place to grow up in.”
“How is Carmen, by the way?” Ava asked. “Is she…okay with the risk you’re taking?”
“I don’t think she really understands.” Anna replied. “But she’s been as happy as ever. She keeps trying to get me to teach her how to tame things, but she’s too young to properly keep her attention on it and can’t quite succeed. Still…she never gives up, so I think she’ll be great at it some day in the future. We’ve left her with a close family friend from Earth, so she’ll be plenty safe while we’re away.”
“Good to hear.” Ava said. “Just…remember that you’ve got someone else you’re taking care of, so if things are looking grim, you two should be the first to escape.”
“No need to tell us twice.” Jameson said. “Selfish as it may be, we’re not about to do anything that would make our daughter grieve. She’s the most important person in the world to both of us, and if her happiness means abandoning Haven, we’re prepared to go through with it.”
“As it should be.” Raesn grunted. “If we’re in a situation that dire, then I think retreating is the best call anyway. At the very least you can provide information for the next generation of people who want to take on the Queen of Monsters.”
“That’s enough of that talk.” Eve said. “There’s no use brooding over it now. Once the Queen of Monsters is defeated, I think I’m going to go explore the wilds of Haven. I’m sure there’s all sorts of cool stuff we’ve yet to find because we’ve been too busy trying to just…survive.” She shot a glance at Anala. “That just leaves you, I think.”
“You know…I’m not really sure.” Anala said, shrugging. “I was thinking of maybe trying to be a sort of policewoman specialized in taking out high leveled criminals, but I don’t know if there’s really a demand for that right now.”
“There will be.” Eve said lazily. “It’s not like someone magically becomes a good person because they’re high level. In fact, I’d be willing to bet there will be people who are emboldened to commit crime because they’re high level. Power corrupts, and not everyone has the strength of will that we have.”
“That sort of reminds me.” Ava said. “What did the three of you do before all of this? I don’t think I ever asked.”
“Jameson and I were going to college on Earth.” Anna replied. “Uh…I’m pretty sure I mentioned this, but I wasn’t always a sheepkin. I used to be a human, and around the time the fae were going wild and messing with people I got transformed. I liked it, so I opted not to be transformed back.”
“Oh, cool. What were you studying?”
“Physics.” Anna said. “Kind of an unfortunate major, seeing how much of that ended up being overturned or made obsolete by magic. Hopefully things are gonna be a bit more…stable when I get back into it.”
“Should be.” Ava said comfortingly. “I can’t imagine people from Earth won’t have picked up Haven’s equations and whatever by now.”
“Oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s with gravity?” Anala asked. “Haven’s supposedly a lot bigger than Earth, but gravity feels like…exactly the same.”
“Oh, I actually know this one.” Anna replied. “You remember the ‘gravitational constant’? Turns out it’s not a constant. Or…well, it is, but the constant changes depending on which plane you’re on? It makes it so that whatever the place is that’s being inhabited has gravity that’s similar to that of Earth.”
Anala frowned. “Alright, but like…what about space? Surely there’s other life, and that would make things different for them. Why are these planets in particular the ones gravity is balanced around?”
Anna shrugged. “Couldn’t say, really. That’s something that only the Administrator and maybe the High Arbiter know, and they haven’t chosen to tell people.”
There was silence for a moment before Eve spoke up. “Honestly, the Administrator probably sets it herself based off of what planet has sapient life first or something. Or she specifically chose planets to seed sapient life on. That’s what seems most likely to me, anyway.”
“Do you think there’s sapient life somewhere out there that we don’t know about?” Bruce asked idly. “I mean, the universe is big, and it seems kind of arrogant to assume that we’re the only ones out there. Who’s to say the Administrator isn’t dealing with a bunch of other people that we have no clue exist?”
“Good point.” Raesn said. “It wouldn’t be that surprising if there were dozens of other planes out there that we just don’t know about. She got Haven from somewhere, so it would make sense if there are other planes out there.”
“Well, I guess we’ll find out if we find out.” Ava said. “But that’s enough of that. I brought some cards, anyone want to play?”
The group ended up spending a few more hours enjoying each other’s company, before finally going their separate ways. Anala wasted no time getting back to her lodgings and going to bed. It had been a long couple of months, and she deserved a rest.
Anala dropped her sword and fell to her knees in exhaustion. It had been a long, long night of fighting, and it was finally over.
And they had won. For the first time in twenty or so battles, they had won. Eve had been right; the Queen of Monster’s army had dwindled with every passing battle, more than they would have expected from just the losses they had taken. It was almost imperceptible at first, but after three or four battles it became noticeable. And, like Eve had surmised, some scouting revealed that the frontier towns the Queen of Monsters had taken had monsters continuing to occupy them.
And people had reacted. They chose to only go through the motions of defending the frontier towns, committing as few resources as possible to actually doing so. And, over the two or three months that they had been fighting their war, they had stockpiled strength until, finally, they decided the Queen of Monsters’ army was weak enough and they were strong enough to actually put up a fight.
It had been long, drawn-out, and a lot closer than Anala would have liked, but they had emerged on top, and the seemingly unstoppable tide of monsters had ceased. Not a single monster was left in the force that had attacked the frontier town they had been defending, each monster having fought to its dying breath instead of choosing to retreat.
This was not without sacrifice, however. Of all the battles they had fought, this had incurred by far the most casualties. As they had not sounded a retreat, the people had also fought harder than they had in the past. People had still retreated when critically wounded, of course, but that wasn’t always feasible, and many had died.
There were revival spells, but those were…poorly understood and came with a multitude of unpleasant side effects. Those who died had to go through extensive rehab to get back to where they were before, and had been effectively taken out of the fight for the rest of the war.
But, nonetheless, the atmosphere was one of hope. The most pressing, immediate threat, the army that had been invading, had passed. Now it was time for roles to reverse, for people to go on the offensive and take back the towns they had lost in the war.
Even so, Anala wasn’t quite satisfied with that. People were talking like it would be the end of things if they just took back the frontier towns. That couldn’t be the case; Anala knew the Queen of Monsters would just bide her time and strike again when people had let their guards down. It would likely be decades later, but she would come again, and Anala had no doubts it would be worse than it was this time.
After all, if this was all there was to it, the High Arbiter wouldn’t have had to make heroes. There were certainly fewer casualties due to their presence, but ultimately it was nothing the people wouldn’t have been able to handle – there was no need for her to get involved.
But it didn’t seem like they would be receiving official military support if they decided to try and strike back. There just wasn’t enough public support for that, people would much rather do what they had always done in response to the threats on Haven; stay put and fortify their cities even more.
So, if they were to counterattack, it would have to be the adventurers that did it. Anala and her party had spent the last few months gathering support and preparing people for that. Ava and Raesn had put their heads together, done some scouting, and, after some consultation with Eve and her party, had finally gotten a pretty good guess on the direction in which the Queen of Monsters had made her lair.
It was possible they were wrong, but Anala didn’t think that was very likely. They had done everything from making extrapolations from the army’s movements to capturing monsters alive and rooting through their brains with magic. If they were wrong, then the Queen of Monsters had been putting a lot of effort into keeping her location hidden, and that didn’t seem like her style.
Anala had never actually interacted with her, but she had studied the recordings of her broadcasts closely. The Queen of Monsters was arrogant, and thought herself far stronger than everything else. Why would she bother to hide where she lived when she thought herself untouchable?
“Good work out there.” Eve said, giving Anala a smile and proffering a hand. “Looks like it’s gonna be our time to shine soon, huh?”
Anala smiled back, grabbing the hand and letting Eve pull her back to her feet. “Yeah. She’s not gonna know what hit her.”
“That’s the spirit.” Eve said. “We’ll wipe that overconfident look off of her face, just you watch.”
“Yeah.” Anala replied. “We sure will. How have things been going on your end?”
“Good.” Eve said. “I’ve managed to convince a lot of the defenders to help strike back, I think we’ll have the majority of them when we leave. Have you managed to appropriate any tanks for us?”
Anala shook her head. “Raesn’s been trying, but the Council won’t budge. They’re saying they can’t afford to use the tanks for anything but defense right now.”
Eve sighed. “I don’t get them.” She said. “Don’t they see that they’re just delaying the issue? The Queen of Monsters will come back stronger, and that’s a fact.”
“I know.” Anala replied. “I don’t really get it either.”
“I…guess they’re just too stuck in their ways.” Ava said. “They’ve been holing up in the cities for hundreds and hundreds of years, they’re not going to stop now. It seems pretty stupid to me, but I can see the appeal of it. It just makes people feel…safer.”
“It doesn’t excuse not taking even a few minutes to think about the future.” Eve said. “But…enough of that right now. I was coming over to see if you guys wanted to go have a celebratory meal with my party, maybe talk about what our plans for the future are. What do you think?”
“Sounds great.” Anala said, giving Eve a smile. “Give me a second to make sure the rest of my party is cool with it.”
“I’m down.” Ava chirped. “I’m sure Bruce will be too. I’ll go talk to him, do you want to talk to Raesn?”
Anala nodded. “Sure thing.”
Anala raised her glass in a toast. “To victory!”
“To victory!” The others echoed, raising their glasses as well. They had gathered in Ava’s apartment for the event, and though the space was a little cramped, everyone seemed to be having a good time. Exhausted as they were, it was still the first bit of good fortune they had had in months, and that was able to energize them for this celebration. No one was really moving around much, but their conversation was enough to keep things lively.
“So, do you think we should try to bring other people with us when we go to face the Queen of Monsters?” Eve asked, glancing around at the other people in the room. It was just Anala’s and Eve’s parties in the room, people Anala had come to think of as ‘the best there was’ when it came to this sort of thing.
“I’m not sure.” Raesn said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. “On the one hand, it would make scouting and keeping watch much less of an issue, but, on the other, it would be rough on supplies and I’m not so sure anyone else is ready to handle what we’re trying to do.”
“I’m pretty sure there are a few people who are going to be trying to take the fight to her anyway.” Bruce replied. “And I don’t think that’s something we can stop. A lot of people are fired up about wanting to be heroes, and they’re going to be drunk on the winning streak. I think it couldn’t hurt to go with them so we can help bail them out when they inevitably run into something they can’t handle.”
“Agreed.” Jameson said. “I’ve seen the type, things could get messy. It might be best if we take the lead and organize a semi-official expedition or something, we can concentrate everyone together into something that vaguely resembles an army.”
“Now that I’m thinking about it, I guess we technically fall under that ‘wanting to be heroes’ category, don’t we?” Anna said, playfully elbowing her husband. “Though, we actually have the power to back it up.”
“Yeah, but we’re not necessarily doing it for the glory or anything.” Jameson protested. “Or, at least…I wasn’t planning on taking any credit for the defeat of the Queen of Monsters, that sounds like it would be a huge pain in the future.”
“Bruce and I were thinking the same.” Ava agreed. “That’s just asking to have all sorts of governments trying to pry into your business whenever they run into an issue or want more power of whatever. We’d much rather just…settle down and start a family and live the rest of our lives in peace.”
“Alright, but…how are we gonna tell everyone the Queen of Monsters is dead without revealing ourselves?” Eve pointed out. “We won’t be able to broadcast our fight or anything if we want to remain anonymous, so…do we just like…capture a video of her body or…?”
“Good point.” Anala said, frowning. “I…actually hadn’t thought of that. For some reason I just assumed everyone would…know, you know?”
“I think capturing a video of the body is a good move, and then we can…I don’t know, hijack whatever she uses to send her broadcasts?” Raesn mused. “People probably won’t believe it at first, but I imagine the High Arbiter would address the situation, she seems pretty invested in the growth of Haven, and this is kind of directly related to that.”
“Eh, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Anna said. “I’m sure we can figure out. Worst case scenario we just take her body and dump it in in Haven’s capitol building or something. I’m sure after a bit of analysis people would figure out that the body’s the real deal.”
“So…what is everyone’s plan after this?” Ava asked. “Bruce and I are going to settle down, but how about the rest of you?”
“I’m going to keep trying to perfect my craft.” Raesn said. “I’ll have a lot more experience by the time this is all over, and I’ll probably be able to make some really neat stuff that will help a lot of people out.”
“Anna and I are going to be settling down too.” Jameson said. “We’re going to use whatever funds we get from looting the Queen of Monsters’ place to ensure Carmen has a stable place to grow up in.”
“How is Carmen, by the way?” Ava asked. “Is she…okay with the risk you’re taking?”
“I don’t think she really understands.” Anna replied. “But she’s been as happy as ever. She keeps trying to get me to teach her how to tame things, but she’s too young to properly keep her attention on it and can’t quite succeed. Still…she never gives up, so I think she’ll be great at it some day in the future. We’ve left her with a close family friend from Earth, so she’ll be plenty safe while we’re away.”
“Good to hear.” Ava said. “Just…remember that you’ve got someone else you’re taking care of, so if things are looking grim, you two should be the first to escape.”
“No need to tell us twice.” Jameson said. “Selfish as it may be, we’re not about to do anything that would make our daughter grieve. She’s the most important person in the world to both of us, and if her happiness means abandoning Haven, we’re prepared to go through with it.”
“As it should be.” Raesn grunted. “If we’re in a situation that dire, then I think retreating is the best call anyway. At the very least you can provide information for the next generation of people who want to take on the Queen of Monsters.”
“That’s enough of that talk.” Eve said. “There’s no use brooding over it now. Once the Queen of Monsters is defeated, I think I’m going to go explore the wilds of Haven. I’m sure there’s all sorts of cool stuff we’ve yet to find because we’ve been too busy trying to just…survive.” She shot a glance at Anala. “That just leaves you, I think.”
“You know…I’m not really sure.” Anala said, shrugging. “I was thinking of maybe trying to be a sort of policewoman specialized in taking out high leveled criminals, but I don’t know if there’s really a demand for that right now.”
“There will be.” Eve said lazily. “It’s not like someone magically becomes a good person because they’re high level. In fact, I’d be willing to bet there will be people who are emboldened to commit crime because they’re high level. Power corrupts, and not everyone has the strength of will that we have.”
“That sort of reminds me.” Ava said. “What did the three of you do before all of this? I don’t think I ever asked.”
“Jameson and I were going to college on Earth.” Anna replied. “Uh…I’m pretty sure I mentioned this, but I wasn’t always a sheepkin. I used to be a human, and around the time the fae were going wild and messing with people I got transformed. I liked it, so I opted not to be transformed back.”
“Oh, cool. What were you studying?”
“Physics.” Anna said. “Kind of an unfortunate major, seeing how much of that ended up being overturned or made obsolete by magic. Hopefully things are gonna be a bit more…stable when I get back into it.”
“Should be.” Ava said comfortingly. “I can’t imagine people from Earth won’t have picked up Haven’s equations and whatever by now.”
“Oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s with gravity?” Anala asked. “Haven’s supposedly a lot bigger than Earth, but gravity feels like…exactly the same.”
“Oh, I actually know this one.” Anna replied. “You remember the ‘gravitational constant’? Turns out it’s not a constant. Or…well, it is, but the constant changes depending on which plane you’re on? It makes it so that whatever the place is that’s being inhabited has gravity that’s similar to that of Earth.”
Anala frowned. “Alright, but like…what about space? Surely there’s other life, and that would make things different for them. Why are these planets in particular the ones gravity is balanced around?”
Anna shrugged. “Couldn’t say, really. That’s something that only the Administrator and maybe the High Arbiter know, and they haven’t chosen to tell people.”
There was silence for a moment before Eve spoke up. “Honestly, the Administrator probably sets it herself based off of what planet has sapient life first or something. Or she specifically chose planets to seed sapient life on. That’s what seems most likely to me, anyway.”
“Do you think there’s sapient life somewhere out there that we don’t know about?” Bruce asked idly. “I mean, the universe is big, and it seems kind of arrogant to assume that we’re the only ones out there. Who’s to say the Administrator isn’t dealing with a bunch of other people that we have no clue exist?”
“Good point.” Raesn said. “It wouldn’t be that surprising if there were dozens of other planes out there that we just don’t know about. She got Haven from somewhere, so it would make sense if there are other planes out there.”
“Well, I guess we’ll find out if we find out.” Ava said. “But that’s enough of that. I brought some cards, anyone want to play?”
The group ended up spending a few more hours enjoying each other’s company, before finally going their separate ways. Anala wasted no time getting back to her lodgings and going to bed. It had been a long couple of months, and she deserved a rest.
