Three days had passed before Chronos, Gregory, and Sariah were able to meet up again. They met in Chronos' room for lunch, which was sandwiches with lots of crocodile meat, they had been coming out of the swamp in large numbers recently.
"Are you still studying that same tome, Sariah?" Gregory asked her.
"Yes, it contains many records about curses that I can't find anywhere else. I even had the scribes make a copy for me."
"Right, you were trying to make a permanent buff through curses, weren't you? Any luck with that?" Chronos asked.
"Not yet, I have found ways to mitigate and cure curses but fusing them with support magic is proving to be very difficult. They are inherently opposing magics after all."
"I disagree." Chronos spoke as he thought about the problem she was having. "One of them gives you strength while the other takes strength away, while they might look different there casting methods both influence the body. The reason support magic only lasts a short time for most people is because the payment for it is mana. What if you changed the payment to a curse?"
"It might work but if the curse grows too strong or an outside force influences it the recipient could die. I will need to look into the effects of long-time curses and see if any of them are acceptable." She continued to mumble to herself as she was lost in her thoughts.
"I don't think she will be of much help for today." Gregory commented, "I did manage to find some information about the dark beasts, but I can't tell if it is true or not."
"That's fine, anything we find could help us later."
"I found some children's tales that talk about a hero of light who fought off dark beasts. The beasts in the story are nearly identical to what we found so far. The only differences were that they came back from the dead after being defeated and fought with no fear, and there were also strange black thorns that they came from. These thorns are supposed to devour the world around them, plunging everything into darkness. There was no mention of tears.
The thorns devoured everything including people. Anybody that stepped on them or was caught disappeared and they would expand to consume more land. There is even a part where a whole city is devoured without any trace.
In the later parts of the story the hero fights the thorns directly and defeats them. This heals the world letting it return to before the thorns appeared. Even the people who disappeared when the thorns devoured their city came back."
Chronos' eyebrows scrunched together. If this was true, then were the tears a different form of the thorns or were they the same and nobody had seen the true form of the tears? Or was the story a lie meant to keep the populace from panicking?
"If everything returns to normal when the thorns are defeated then why do they expand? Or is it the blessings of the gods that brought everything back? Hmmm, I recall that there was a great deal of upheaval 1000 years ago. Various nations were destroyed but then there were a great number of forces that suddenly claimed loyalty to these fallen nations a short time later. If everyone came back after being devoured it would definitely cause this sort of chaos." Chronos recalled.
"It would also explain why nobody would want to record the deeper secrets of the dark beasts. Being able to make an army disappear then fight them after defeating the enemy nation would be a significant advantage for any general." Gregroy said.
Chronos shook his head, "The downside of constant beast attacks greatly outweighs that advantage. Especially when those beasts can change their forms. I'm more troubled that these tears are just a new form of the thorns, if they are then the Matriarch is right. A new war is starting, and it might be just as bad as 1000 years ago."
"Well, we can't do much as soldiers. We should just make certain that our preparations are thorough and we have a place to retreat to."
As they were concluding the meeting the sounds of a commotion came through Chronos' window.
Looking out Chronos saw a naga matriarch storm through the front gate hissing and spitting about something, but he was too far away to hear.
"A naga matriarch? I'm going to the courtyard. She wouldn't have left her tribe unless it was an emergency."
"I'm coming too." Gregory stated.
Exiting the tower, they reached the main courtyard just as the leader of the green tower was coming out of her tower. She was the naga that had guided them when they first arrived.
When the naga matriarch saw her, she rapidly slithered over to her practically falling into her arms. It was clear that she had several injuries including a long gash on her tail. It must have felt like she was being skinned alive if she had to slither all the way from the swamps to the church with that injury.
They rapidly spoke vesseth to each other while Chronos listened in. His face became more serious the longer he listened.
The more he heard the less he liked it.
"Elder Matriarch the tribe needs help! There is a tear in the middle of the village and dark beasts are pouring out of it." The naga matriarch said, "We kill and kill but the tide doesn't stop and now there are beasts attacking from the outside as well! We cannot hold them on our own and none of the tribes we have contacted can reach us. They are all being attacked as well! The whole swamp is under attack!"
"I understand, I need to tell the church matriarch. For now, you need treatment. I promise we will do everything we can to help."
As she turned to leave Chronos spoke in vesseth to her, "I will go inform Commander Stan, it will be faster for me."
The Green Head Priestess looked shocked that he could speak vesseth. Many could understand it but very few could speak vesseth without a serpent's tongue.
"Thank you, we will be meeting in the Matriarchs office." With that she disappeared into the church as Chronos turned to the paladin's barracks.
Reaching the barracks he went inside instead of to the training grounds. There had been no training today as they had expected to receive the battle priests this evening then leave in the morning. This sudden assault changed all of their plans.
Dashing down the hallways he came to the commanders office where he was halted by the door guards.
Instead of waiting for them to report his presence Chronos called out loud enough that anyone inside the office could hear him but not loud enough for those outside the hallway to hear.
"A naga matriarch just arrived, the naga tribes are under attack, all of them. They request emergency aid from the church. Green Head Priestess has gone to report to the Matriarch, and you are needed in her office."
The door burst open, as Commander Stan rushed past him, he swiftly gave orders to his adjutant.
"Have all paladins prepare to move out. Check the supplies and load the carriages I want everyone ready to move within the hour. Chronos, inform Captain that I may have a job for him once I speak with the Matriarch."
"What about the battle priests? Will we not be waiting for them?" One of his guards asked.
"The naga have great pride, if they are asking for help then things have truly gone to hell. We don't have time to wait; now move, I won't say it again."
""Yes sir""
Everyone shouted as people ran to fulfill his orders.
Heading outside Chronos saw both paladins and priests running around. Despite the apparent chaos everyone seemed to know exactly what to do and where they were needed most.
Chronos ran to Captains room while thinking about the training they had gone through in the last few days.
At first the men had been awkward with the new larger swords but that didn't last long. Within a few hours they were familiar with them and were rapidly advancing their strength. Having the right weapon for your aura method made a significant difference in your growth speed. By day two most of them had broken through to the second rank of soldier. While they were still at the basic level of mastery the amount of power they could use was double what they had at the trainee rank.
Stopping for a moment to catch his breath Chronos knocked on Captains door.
Captain was in full armor when it opened. He was ready for whatever was coming.
"Captain, Commander Adam wants to hire the company for an emergency deployment."
Captain walked past him as he asked, "What are we facing? How many? And what is our expected role?"
"Dark beasts, a tear formed in a naga settlement near here and is pouring them into the village. Unknown numbers and I haven't been informed of the role yet. Commander Adam needed to speak with the Matriarch to finalize his plans." Chronos answered.
"Are you and your friends coming with us? You aren't actually a part of our company even if you are training us."
"As long as the situation isn't too far gone, I plan to help out. Gregory will join me and Sariah will follow him."
Smiling Captain chuckled as he said, "Good, the men consider you lucky. If you're with us it will boost morale."