THE LEADERS AROUND THE TABLE EXCHANGED GLANCES, THE WEIGHT OF THE SITUATION GROWING HEAVIER BY THE SECOND. EACH TRIBE LIKELY HAD THEIR OWN SPIES AMONG THE ELVES, INSIDERS WHO FED THEM BITS OF INFORMATION. BUT MOST OF THOSE SPIES WERE OF MIXED HERITAGE, LIKE BASTIAN, AND WHILE THEY MIGHT BE ABLE TO LEARN THE LOWER-LEVEL SECRETS, TOP-LEVEL INTELLIGENCE WAS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO ACCESS. HOWEVER, GETTING CLOSE TO SCORMETHEUS? NOW THAT COULD BE THE BREAKTHROUGH THEY DESPERATELY NEEDED.
"SNOW OWL TOLD ME," BASTIAN CONTINUED, "THAT SCORMETHEUS STILL HOLDS SOME INFLUENCE IN THE ELVEN COURT. HE'S FALLEN FROM GRACE, YES, BUT HE HASN'T BEEN ENTIRELY CAST OUT. SNOW OWL BELIEVES HE CAN ARRANGE FOR ONE OF OUR PEOPLE TO GET CLOSE TO HIM. IF WE CAN GAIN HIS TRUST, WE MIGHT LEARN MORE, ABOUT THE FUNCTION OF THE ELVEN ARTIFACTS, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, THE LOCATION OF THE TOWER OF ORIGIN."
BASTIAN'S WORDS HUNG IN THE AIR, THE ENORMITY OF THE TASK SINKING IN. GETTING CLOSE TO A PRINCE, EVEN A DISGRACED ONE, WAS NO SMALL FEAT. IT WAS A DANGEROUS MISSION, FRAUGHT WITH THE RISK OF DISCOVERY AND BETRAYAL. BUT AT THIS STAGE, IT WAS NECESSARY. DESPERATION HUNG OVER THE COALITION LIKE A SHADOW, AND THEY KNEW THEY WERE RUNNING OUT OF TIME.
"YOU'VE DONE WELL, BASTIAN. YOUR CONTRIBUTION WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN," ONE OF THE LEADERS SAID, HIS VOICE HEAVY WITH APPROVAL.
WITH THAT, BASTIAN WAS DISMISSED. HIS ROLE HERE WAS SIMPLY TO PROVIDE INFORMATION. THE DECISIONS ON HOW TO ACT ON IT WOULD BE LEFT TO THE LEADERS. STILL, THE WEIGHT OF WHAT HE HAD BROUGHT THEM WAS UNDENIABLE. IT WAS KNOWLEDGE THAT COULD SHIFT THE TIDES OF WAR.
AS BASTIAN LEFT THE ROOM, THE LEADERS BEGAN TO DISCUSS THE IMPLICATIONS.
"EVEN IF WE CAN'T LOCATE THE MAIN TOWER IMMEDIATELY, KNOWING THAT THE MAGIC OF THE ELVEN WIZARDS COMES FROM THESE PHILOSOPHER'S STONES GIVES US A DISTINCT ADVANTAGE," ONE LEADER MUSED, THE BEGINNINGS OF A PLAN FORMING IN HIS MIND.
"YES, MAGIC POWER, EVEN WITH THE STONES, IS NOT INFINITE. THEY MUST CONSTANTLY TRANSPORT THESE STONES TO THEIR FRONT LINES," ANOTHER ADDED. "WE CAN TRY TO INTERCEPT THOSE SHIPMENTS."
"AND IF WE MANAGE TO SEIZE ONE OF THESE STONES FOR OURSELVES? WE COULD TURN THEIR OWN POWER AGAINST THEM," ANOTHER CHIMED IN, HIS TONE GROWING MORE OPTIMISTIC.
"EXACTLY," SAID THE FIRST. "SEND WORD TO OUR FORCES ON THE FRONT LINES. HAVE THEM FOCUS ON WEARING DOWN THE ELVES, EXTENDING THE BATTLE. FORCE THEM TO REPLENISH THEIR PHILOSOPHER'S STONES. IF WE CAN CAPTURE EVEN A SMALL PORTION, WE'LL HAVE THE UPPER HAND IN LOCAL BATTLES."
AS THEIR PLANS BEGAN TO TAKE SHAPE, THERE WAS A GROWING SENSE OF HOPE IN THE ROOM. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A LONG WHILE, THEY HAD A STRATEGY THAT COULD POTENTIALLY SHIFT THE BALANCE IN THEIR FAVOR.
THE WAR, UNKNOWINGLY, HAD REACHED A TURNING POINT.
TIME MOVES LIKE A RIVER, CARRYING MOMENTS SWIFTLY PAST, AND IT SINGS THROUGH THE AIR, LEAVING ECHOES OF WHAT ONCE WAS. THREE MONTHS BEFORE THE WORLD PLUNGED INTO WAR, THE WINDS OF CHANGE BEGAN TO STIR AGAIN, NUDGING THE COURSE OF HISTORY TOWARDS A NEW AND UNCERTAIN DIRECTION.
THIS WAR, THOUGH, WASN'T A SUDDEN STORM; IT UNFOLDED IN THREE DISTINCT PHASES.
IN THE BEGINNING, THE ELVES LAUNCHED A SURPRISE ATTACK. IT WAS A BOLD, RECKLESS MOVE, AND EVEN AMONG THE ELVES, MANY QUESTIONED THE SANITY OF THEIR LEADER. HOW COULD HE POSSIBLY BELIEVE THEY COULD CHALLENGE THE COMBINED STRENGTH OF COUNTLESS RACES WITH JUST THE POWER OF A SINGLE CLAN? IT SEEMED LIKE MADNESS, A DOOMED GAMBLE.
BUT AS THE BATTLEFIELDS STRETCHED OUT BEFORE THEM AND THE WAR MACHINE ROLLED ON, SOMETHING CHANGED. NEW WEAPONS BEGAN TO EMERGE, WEAPONS THAT MADE EVEN THE MOST FEARSOME WARRIORS OF OLD LOOK SMALL AND INSIGNIFICANT. THE WAR, WHICH MANY HAD FEARED MIGHT BE THEIR UNDOING, STARTED TO FEEL DIFFERENT. CONFIDENCE BLOSSOMED. WHISPERS SPREAD.
"THREE MONTHS, THEY SAID. JUST THREE MONTHS AND THE HOLY WAR WILL BE OURS."
"IF YOU ASK ME," SAID ONE ELF, WITH A SNEER, "WE'VE BEEN TOO LENIENT WITH THE OTHER RACES. THEY SHOULD BE GRATEFUL TO SERVE AS OUR SLAVES."
VICTORY CAME EASIER THAN ANYONE HAD EXPECTED. THE WAR FEVER SPREAD LIKE WILDFIRE THROUGH THE ELVEN RANKS. THE BATTLEFIELD, ONCE FEARED, BECAME A PLACE OF TRIUMPH, AND THE UNEXPECTED EASE OF THEIR SUCCESS MADE EVEN THE SKEPTICS BELIEVE THEY HAD UNDERESTIMATED THEMSELVES. ELVEN SOLDIERS, ORDINARY CITIZENS JUST MONTHS AGO, WERE DEFEATING RENOWNED WAR TRIBES AND TOPPLING THE MIGHTY DRAGONS.
AT FIRST, MANY HAD HESITATED. SOME HAD EVEN OPPOSED THE WAR, QUESTIONING ITS MORALITY AND THE WISDOM OF THEIR LEADERS. BUT AS THE VICTORIES PILED UP, THOSE DOUBTS SEEMED FOOLISH, COWARDLY EVEN. WAS THEIR RELUCTANCE SIMPLY FEAR? SOON, THOSE WHO HAD BEEN AGAINST THE WAR BECAME ITS MOST FERVENT SUPPORTERS. THE CHEERS OF VICTORY DROWNED OUT THE VOICES OF REASON.
ELVEN SUPREMACY BECAME THE PREVAILING BELIEF, THE IDEA THAT THE ELVES WERE DESTINED TO RULE THIS NEW ERA AS GODS AMONG LESSER BEINGS. THEY BEGAN TO REIMAGINE SOCIETY, DIVIDING THE WORLD INTO STRICT ROLES BASED ON RACE. ELVES, OF COURSE, WERE THE ELITE, SITTING AT THE TOP, WITHOUT NEEDING TO LIFT A FINGER. DWARVES WOULD TOIL AS BLACKSMITHS, GIANTS AS LABORERS, AND DRAGONS WOULD BE YOKED TO PULL THEIR CARRIAGES. AS FOR EVERYONE ELSE? SLAVERY, NATURALLY, WAS THE ONLY FITTING DESTINY.
THE NEWS FROM THE FRONT GREW MORE EUPHORIC BY THE DAY. ENTIRE ARMIES OF MIGHTY WARRIORS AND TERRIFYING MONSTERS WERE FALLING TO GROUPS OF ELVEN MILITIAMEN, ARMED WITH THESE MYSTERIOUS NEW WEAPONS. THE MORE THE ELVES WON, THE DEEPER THEIR FEVER FOR WAR BECAME. EVEN THE TRIBES THAT HAD ONCE STOOD ON THE SIDELINES, UNSURE IF THIS WAS THEIR FIGHT, WERE PULLED INTO THE FRAY, SEDUCED BY THE PROMISE OF EASY CONQUEST AND POWER.
YET, AMID ALL THIS CELEBRATION, A SHADOW LOOMED THAT FEW WERE WILLING TO ACKNOWLEDGE.
THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE, THE SECRET BEHIND THEIR NEW WEAPONS AND MAGIC, WAS NOT AN INFINITE RESOURCE. WHILE THE ELVEN TRIBES BASKED IN VICTORY AFTER VICTORY, THEIR PHILOSOPHER'S STONES WERE BEING CONSUMED AT AN ALARMING RATE. SOME BELIEVED MORE COULD BE MADE WHENEVER NEEDED, BUT THE TRUTH WAS MORE COMPLEX. THE RAW MATERIALS REQUIRED TO CREATE THESE STONES, RARE ORES FOUND DEEP WITHIN THE EARTH, HAD ALREADY BEEN IN DECLINE FOR YEARS. YES, THE INCREASING DEATH TOLL FROM THE WAR DID PROVIDE MORE "ROUGH ORE," BUT THESE ROUGH STONES NEEDED TO BE REFINED THROUGH A DELICATE AND DANGEROUS PROCESS. AND IN THE CHAOS OF WAR, SENDING THEM TO THE TOWER OF SOURCE FOR PROCESSING HAD BECOME NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE.
AS THE WAR RAGED ON, VAST NEW TERRITORIES WERE CONSUMED BY BATTLE. THE ELVEN MAGIC, POWERFUL BUT DESTRUCTIVE, LEFT ENTIRE LANDSCAPES SCARRED. WHEN IT WAS THE LANDS OF OTHER RACES, THE ELVES CARED LITTLE. BUT WHEN THE DEVASTATION STRUCK THEIR OWN TERRITORIES, THEY WERE FORCED TO EXPEND VAST AMOUNTS OF PHILOSOPHER'S STONES TO REPAIR THE DAMAGE, FURTHER DRAINING THEIR PRECIOUS RESERVES.
THE ELVES' VICTORIES HAD COME TOO EASILY, AND THAT EASE LED THEM TO EXPAND THE WAR TOO FAR, TOO FAST. NOW, THEY WERE USING UP THEIR RESOURCES AT A RATE THAT EVEN VICTORY MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO REPLENISH. THE QUESTION THAT LINGERED WAS SIMPLE: HOW LONG COULD THIS GLORY LAST BEFORE IT TURNED TO ASH?
VICTORY HAS A WAY OF BLINDING EVEN THE WISEST OF MINDS. WHEN EVERY BATTLEFRONT BOASTS TRIUMPH, AND ENTIRE RACES WILLINGLY KNEEL IN SUBMISSION, IT'S EASY TO IGNORE THE SHADOWS LURKING JUST BENEATH THE SURFACE. THE ELVES, BASKING IN THEIR SEEMINGLY UNASSAILABLE POWER, FELT INVINCIBLE. THE THOUGHT OF DEFEAT? UTTERLY LAUGHABLE.
YET TIME, RELENTLESS AND UNYIELDING, CONTINUED ITS MARCH FORWARD. AND WHILE THE ELVES REVELED IN THEIR VICTORIES, THE WAR SHOWED NO SIGNS OF ENDING. THE RESISTANCE FROM THE OTHER RACES, FAR STRONGER AND MORE ORGANIZED THAN EXPECTED, STRETCHED THE CONFLICT OVER VAST, UNMANAGEABLE FRONTS. ARMIES CLASHED, BUT IT WAS THE ENDLESS DEMAND FOR WAR PUPPETS AND MAGICAL MACHINES THAT BEGAN TO TAKE ITS TOLL. FACTORIES IN THE HEARTLANDS WORKED NIGHT AND DAY, AND THE MAGES, EXHAUSTED BUT UNDETERRED, CONJURED WITH FRANTIC SPEED. BUT EVERY SPELL CAST, EVERY MACHINE OPERATED, RELIED ON THE DWINDLING SUPPLY OF PHILOSOPHER'S STONES.
THESE PRECIOUS STONES POWERED EVERYTHING, FROM THE MOST MUNDANE ASPECTS OF DAILY LIFE TO THE GRANDEST WAR MACHINES. ON THE BATTLEFIELD, THE SPELLCASTERS, ONCE RELAXED AND CONFIDENT, NOW CLUNG TO THEIR STONES AS IF THEIR VERY LIVES DEPENDED ON THEM. AND FOR SOME TRIBES, THOSE SUPPLIES WERE ALREADY RUNNING OUT.
REPORTS FLOODED IN FROM EVERY ELVEN SETTLEMENT. THE REQUESTS FOR PHILOSOPHER'S STONES WERE SKYROCKETING, AND THE LOGISTICS NETWORK, ALREADY SHAKY BEFORE THE WAR, BEGAN TO BUCKLE UNDER THE PRESSURE. FACTORIES COULDN'T KEEP PACE. TRANSPORTS COULDN'T MOVE FAST ENOUGH. WORSE STILL, NO ONE KNEW IF THE NEXT SHIPMENT OF STONES WOULD ARRIVE IN TIME. AND WHILE THESE CONCERNS MOUNTED, THE WAR RAGED ON WITH NO PAUSE.
DESPERATE FOR ALTERNATIVES, SOME ELVES RESORTED TO USING UNREFINED RAW STONE MINES AS SUBSTITUTES. AND, TO THEIR SURPRISE, IT WORKED, SORT OF. THESE ROUGH ORES PROVIDED SOME MAGICAL POWER, THOUGH THE CONVERSION RATE WAS PAINFULLY INEFFICIENT. WHERE A PROCESSED PHILOSOPHER'S STONE COULD YIELD AN IMMENSE AMOUNT OF ENERGY, THESE RAW STONES OFFERED A FRACTION OF THAT. WORSE STILL, THEY CARRIED WITH THEM A STRANGE, INSIDIOUS SIDE EFFECT. CASTERS BEGAN TO REPORT NIGHTMARES AND CREEPING MENTAL DISTURBANCES. SOME EVEN SPOKE OF A SHADOWY PRESENCE WITHIN THE STONES. THE CLAN'S ARCHMAGE REASSURED EVERYONE, CLAIMING IT WAS NOTHING MORE THAN "DISTRACTING THOUGHTS" THAT HADN'T BEEN FULLY REMOVED DURING PROCESSING. IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS, HE SAID, IT WASN'T A SERIOUS ISSUE.
BUT A FEW ALCHEMISTS KNEW THE TRUTH. THE UNREFINED STONES WEREN'T JUST INEFFICIENT, THEY WERE DANGEROUS. WHERE A SINGLE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE COULD PRODUCE 100 UNITS OF MAGIC POWER, THESE RAW ORES COULD ONLY MANAGE 10 OR 15. AND THAT WASN'T THE WORST OF IT. STONES THAT HADN'T BEEN PURIFIED OF THEIR "IMPURITIES" WOULD RAPIDLY WEAR DOWN THE DELICATE MECHANISMS OF WAR MACHINES. WORSE, PROLONGED EXPOSURE TO THESE STONES COULD DRIVE THE SPELLCASTERS THEMSELVES TO MADNESS. IT WAS A SLOW, CREEPING INSANITY, BUT ITS EFFECTS WERE UNDENIABLE.
STILL, THERE WAS NO TURNING BACK. THE WAR MACHINE WAS IN MOTION, AND STOPPING NOW WOULD BE MORE DISASTROUS THAN PUSHING FORWARD. IF THE ELVES HALTED THEIR ADVANCE, OTHER TRIBES, EMBOLDENED BY EVEN THE SLIGHTEST HINT OF HESITATION, WOULD TEAR THEM APART. THE ELVES HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO PRESS ON, EVEN AS THE CRACKS IN THEIR STRATEGY GREW WIDER.
FOR NOW, THE PROBLEMS SEEMED MANAGEABLE. AFTER ALL, COUNTLESS TRANSPORT CARAVANS STILL TRAVERSED THE CONTINENT, ENSURING THAT SUPPLIES, ALBEIT STRAINED, CONTINUED TO FLOW. THE ELVES, STILL HOLDING THE UPPER HAND, CONTROLLED THE PACE OF THE WAR. IF THEY RAN OUT OF PHILOSOPHER'S STONES, THEY COULD MAKE DO WITH RAW ORES FOR THE TIME BEING. THE WAR EFFORT SEEMED SUSTAINABLE.
BUT THEN, THE WAR ENTERED ITS SECOND PHASE, AND EVERYTHING CHANGED.
THE OTHER TRIBES, ONCE LOCKED IN DEFENSIVE POSITIONAL WARFARE, HAD A MOMENT OF CLARITY. INSTEAD OF CONTINUING TO HOLD THEIR GROUND, THEY ABANDONED THEIR ANCESTRAL LANDS AND RETREATED INTO THE MOUNTAINS, WHERE THEY REORGANIZED AND ADAPTED. THEY REFUSED TO ENGAGE THE ELVES IN OPEN BATTLE, INSTEAD CHOOSING TO LAUNCH SMALL, UNPREDICTABLE RAIDS. TINY STRIKE GROUPS, OFTEN AS SMALL AS A DOZEN WARRIORS, SUDDENLY BECAME THE DOMINANT FORCE ON THE BATTLEFIELD. THESE GUERILLA TACTICS WEREN'T ABOUT WINNING BATTLES, THEY WERE ABOUT EXHAUSTING THE ELVES, DRAWING THEM OUT, AND SLOWLY BUT SURELY SAPPING THEIR RESOURCES.