The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2
Chapter 155

Part 23

"For now, continue as you have; continue to develop your stealth warfare, continue to train to fight the demons with the military ways of these newcomers, seek always to do both together. Also, breed. Bear and raise as many children as is practical. Be ready to begin the training I will give you when the time-bubble ends.

"Know that I am proud of you, and committed to the responsibility of my leadership over you.

"Rise, and I will bestow my Blessing upon you."

His people stood and closed their eyes as he held forth his hand, and every one of them felt him lay his hand on their head, felt his mind touch theirs, felt his power active within them.

He considered the Sylvan newcomers, and spoke in Common. "You Serminaki seek to join my people, but you are sworn to The Just Alliance on The Truthstone of Falgaroth. I know it was not your choice to do

SO.

"If you will swear your allegiance to me and accept me as your god, and commit to keeping the ways of my people, you can join us. I will promise to never command you to act in conflict with the vows you've already sworn. If you will not do these things, I will not allow you to remain on these islands when the time-bubble resumes."

He considered Mark and his family, and said with a scowl; "If any here choose to act against me in any of these matters, I am released from my agreements with the other gods, and there will be a conflict here today. I have been caught by the other gods, but I wasn't trying to kill any of them at the time. If there is conflict here today, I will lay waste to those who oppose me, and then I will take my people and be gone before any here can strike against me. Any who choose to pursue us will die, be they god or mortal."

"Stop." Mark psionicly commanded his children and Karz, who were already fully Linked and Shielded and were preparing thousands of attack spells. His grim look said that he expected their obedience. They let their spells fade, but were obviously unhappy about it.

Mark turned to the gathered Sylvan and called; "You Sylvan newcomers; are there any of you who both refuse to swear allegiance to The Sylvan God of Stealth and take his people's ways, and who insist on staying here anyway? If you refuse to swear and you're willing to leave, raise one hand, if you refuse to swear and insist on staying, raise both hands."

None of them raised a hand.

"All right." Mark said to The God of Stealth. "I respect that you and your people were living here and not bothering anyone before we came here. I'm grateful that you told them not to interfere with us before you left. I understand that you were forcibly separated from your people, then hunted down and detained by the other gods, and probably had to make agreements with them under duress, even though you've committed no crime nor offended against anyone.

"So I certainly understand why you're in a snarly mood. There's no reason for any conflict here today.

"We've done our best to be fair to the Sylvan here, and to help them be ready to face the demons when the time comes. There's no doubt that they're far more capable soldiers now than they were. We've ended the wasteful killing of the young without conflicting with their Sylvan nature, and they genuinely prefer their new lifestyles. They've made agreements with us that ensure the peace between us. We anticipate that their population will grow faster than Homestead's, so we've allocated the surface of most of the islands to their use, on which they will have control over who lives where, and they have the right to exclude us from living there if they so choose. Your people's dwellings are very natural and well camouflaged into the landscape, and they will be the only constructions allowed on the surface, which will be left in its natural state, with the exception of the Homestead settlement. We have left your people the power of self-administration, and we returned military command of them to their elders once their initial training was completed, under my overall command.

"This entire situation came about because you made a few mistakes. You should have anticipated that others would come here eventually, and you should have anticipated that Zarkog wouldn't be able to defeat the rest of the world. Because of those, you should have registered your people's ownership of these islands with the other governments of the world. Then I wouldn't have bought this place from the legal owners, and paid a considerable sum as well I might add, and we would never have come here.

"As things stand, we had no idea that anyone lived here when we came here, and I legally rule these islands. I see no conflict between your people living under my rule and them continuing to worship you and accept your divine leadership.

"I accept you as their military commander, and if you check with us before you mobilize them for any mission or training, we'll make sure that they're released from any responsibilities or duties to us while they do so. I agree that they're by far the best stealth warfare unit of their size in the world, and I think it's a good idea for you to continue to develop that capability to deal with the present circumstances. Considering how good you all were already on land, and who you've got helping to develop your new training, I'm sure you'll succeed in your goal of soon being the best stealth unit in any environment. If you succeed in conducting stealth warfare against the demons in those environments, you'll have our eternal gratitude and appreciation.

"I know you may not want many more Sylvan joining your people and your religion, and you probably don't want any from the other races doing so. An aggressive expansion of your religion would place you in direct conflict with the other gods over their unanimous stricture against religion on Kellaran. A lot of them are going to be upset over these few dozen who'll swear to you today, but as long as you limit them to the Sylvan who live on Hiliani, I doubt it'll really be a problem.

"But I think you really should consider finding the stealthiest warriors of every race and recruiting them to your military command, which doesn't have to be limited to your people. In The Just Alliance, command of mixed-race forces goes to the most capable, and there's no doubt in my mind that you're the best commander and trainer of stealth warfare. You should have all the best stealth warriors under your command when you engage in a mission. They can be released back to their regular units when they're not engaged in training or missions with you.

"So far, the engagement between your people and mine has been of benefit to all concerned.

"But know this; I am not giving up my rule of these islands. After the time-bubble ends, the situation on the surface of Hiliani will continue as it is now, but the whole place is going to get the Hilia treatment. We'll be building a city for tens of millions here, all hidden within the stone of the islands and in the waters offshore.

"And if you disagree with any of that, you can take your people elsewhere, or we can have a conflict right here and right now. The first thing I'll do is make many of us into gods, and we'll see if you can do anything about it before I'm done. Then you'll have us to contend with, along with the pantheons of Kellaran and The Triax, and the militaries of Serminak."

The Sylvan god considered Mark's right hand with a raised eyebrow. The hand hung at Mark's side tightly gripping the Truthstone with the Godspell in it. Little sparks of crackling blue light were leaking out from between his fingers, as the Godspell was on the verge of being cast.

"I respect your position." the Sylvan god stated. "There need be no conflict between us."

He turned and stretched out his hand again, contacted the minds of his new Sylvan, got their silent and instant vow of allegiance, and gave them his Blessing.

Then he was gone.

"Four minutes until the time-bubble is cast." Visinniria announced.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐

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