The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2
Chapter 188

Part 26

"I should've known." Fire chuckled, and considered the herd of young unicorns who were joyously running past. "Come on, let's go fly with Falaran and his friends! No flying higher than a unicorn's head, and if you get stuck by a horn you're a loser!"

The Governors with Karz in elf-guise and all of The Forty-Four were soon playing a very fast and wide-ranging game of tag with the young unicorns, and their Flying needed to be skillful indeed to match the supernatural running abilities of their new equine friends.

They were having so much fun that the adults all joined them a few minutes later, and they all played for almost three hours.

They paused for a meal as the sun set, and when they were all finished eating Alilia invited everyone to come flying in the forests of her people. Over thirty thousand unicorns who were in the area accepted her invitation, so she had to limit their flight to one of the most sparsely-populated areas of her nation, well away from the congestion of Heartwood and the other cities. The forest she chose was just as beautiful as Heartwood, and the trunks and branches of the gigantic trees there were just as amusing as an obstacle course. A few of the younger unicorn colts needed their parents' help with their Flight spells, but they were soon gaily galloping on invisible ground high up in the branches with all the rest, as unicorns do when in flight.

Alilia's precautions to prevent congestion were partially thwarted, for as soon as word spread that there were unicorns flying with their Princess's family in their northern forests, a great many of the forest elves of The People of Life joined them.

When there were so many flying madly about that it was looking increasingly dangerous, Alilia cast an automated self-replicating spell that gave every flyer there the deep and soft Shielding that they'd used the last time they flew together, but remained dormant until it detected an imminent collision.

"Hah!" Alilia laughed as she confirmed that the complex spell was working as intended. "I've learned a few things from our children, that's certain. I'll call that Alilia's Safety Shielding." "You're it!" Fire crowed as she flew past and gave Alilia a sharp slap on her rump, and the chase was on again.

Later on, on a whim, Kragorram and Povon followed Karz' example and assumed humanoid Simulacrums for the first time. Kragorram appeared as an elf as tall as Mark, with long and flowing crimson-red hair and a goatee. Povon appeared as an elf two meters tall with silver hair and blue eyes, with facial features that looked a lot like Alilia's.

Mark, Talia, and Alilia, amused by the transformation in their dragon friends' appearances, reciprocated by assuming Simulacrums of dragons for the first time. They each took the color of their hair; Mark was black, Alilia was silvery-white, and Talia was light blond. They kept their normal sizes though, so as to not further congest the airspace.

There wasn't a single flyer enjoying the air there that failed to sleep the satisfying sleep of the happily exhausted when next they retired.

The next day they all returned to training. The Governors delegated all of their activities and duties in Serminak, and concentrated exclusively on training The Forty-Four. Three days later they moved to family training that included all forty-nine children including Karz and Falaran, and all ninety-one of their parents.

For a week after the opening of the time-bubbles, there were no large-scale exercises held. The many advances and breakthroughs discovered by researchers in the time-bubbles were examined by all the others, and the effort to integrate all of the new knowledge was begun.

On the seventh day after the time-bubbles opened a meeting of The Assembly of The Just Alliance was held. It had been officially announced the day before.

When Mark and his entire immediate family arrived at The Hall, they found that it was bigger than it had ever been, and was already half full. With his wives, co-husbands, and children, and their beloved dragons and unicorns and their children, they numbered one hundred and forty. A place had been reserved for them right beside the low central stage, complete with ornate chairs and small side tables. "You'll notice that every one of Kellaran's gods are personally in attendance," Alilia quietly noted, "As well as a sizable contingent of The Triax' gods."

"Yah, well, we know what this is all about, don't we?" Mark mused. "So their attendance isn't all that surprising."

"Are you ready, my love?" Talia asked him with a look of quiet concern.

"Surprisingly, I am." Mark nodded with a warm smile. "Are you?"

"I am. I lead where you follow." she confidently assured him.

"As do I." Alilia added as she caressed his shoulder.

He picked them both up and placed them in his lap and hugged them, disregarding decorum.

As the gigantic room slowly filled, the rest of their extended family arrived, including Caria and all their kin from Hiliani. Those hadn't been seated so close to the center, but they made their way over and exchanged warm and loving greetings.

The parents and siblings of Equemev, Silaran, Povon, and Kragorram all came by to do the same. None of them except Tithian had ever met any of Mark's family before, so there were many introductions to be made.

The rulers they knew or were acquainted with came by, sometimes by themselves, sometimes in groups, sometimes with a few of their staff. All gave warm and very respectful greetings.

Finally the room was almost completely full, including the window holding back the aquatic section, and everyone quietly took their places in anticipation of the meeting soon being called to order. "This is strange." Mark quietly commented. "It's almost like I'm at my own funeral or something."

"Everyone here knows that they probably just had their last chance to speak to us as mortals." Alilia nodded. "It's a strange situation, all right."

"Maybe it wasn't." Mark said with a sly little smile. "Their last chance to speak to us as mortals, that is."

"How do you mean?" Povon asked.

"You'll see soon." Mark smiled as Somonik appeared on the stage, standing over the Truthstone of Falgaroth.

"Let it be known; the time-bubbles are ended, and all is well on Kellaran!" the ancient white dragon pronounced, and the huge assemblage gave him a good-natured cheer in response. "Those in the time-bubbles produced and raised almost a million more children than they would have in real time, and they produced many new works of creativity and brilliance." he continued.

"The application of Hilsith's Transformation to the rest of the less-magical races, including its use by the Kwetkerthok, has already been announced by Hilsith and her team. Though the gargoyles were already a highly magical race with several innate magical abilities, they were unable to use spells of any sort and were still vulnerable to aging. No more.

"Further exciting discoveries were made in every time-bubble that was cast.

"To present the discoveries made in the Seblik time-bubble in Kletiuk, I am proud to introduce Master Spell-Monger Benchakup..."

For more than two hours the researchers of the time-bubbles presented brief summaries of their discoveries, then Somonik called for a twenty-minute recess.

"There were a lot on interesting things in all of that, but nothing that's really decisive right now." Fire mused privately to her family. "The findings in basic research will eventually bring big changes and new techniques, but most of them won't produce any practical applications for years yet. And the new practical applications they came up with give us many new techniques for doing things we already knew how to do, basically, but I don't think any of it really gives us any major new advantages over the demons."

"The time-bubbles were a gamble for Kellaran that cost us little and paid off handsomely." Kragorram opined. "Each of those things they just announced may not be much on their own, but they add up to a great deal. When you add in the discoveries that were made by ourselves and others in the Hiliani bubble, it was a decisive and profitable stratagem indeed.

"Not to mention that almost all of the extra children who were raised to adulthood in the bubbles were born to parents who were among the most outstanding members of their races, and so they give us a greater advantage than their numbers alone might suggest. You and your siblings are prime examples of that."

"True." Val privately giggled. "But I can still think of several more amusing uses for the last two hours of my life." "You showed admirable patience, my young love." Alilia told her with a smile. "You didn't even fidget."☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐

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