Chapter 890 T.D.O.N.B: Enemy At The Gates

I ended up expanding my house, by adding an additional level, deep underground. It was accessible through the elevator and laid over fifty meters deep, under the surface level. I build a proper workshop there with machines field with magic. They all were of my own making, with parts bought through the device.

It was a big space filled with large furnaces. Yes, several ones, so I was able to take advantage of my 'Telekinesis' properly. I had power hammers, capable of forging anything I could think of. Smaller ones, and also larger ones. Anvils of different sizes and shapes, plus obviously tools that filled several tables.

Without my family around, I had plenty of time to repair, work on, and improve the golems. Four days in, though I was suddenly contacted by Will.

"Peter?", I heard in my mind.

He was supposed to explore the wastelands, searching for crystals, so it did surprise me. The first idea was that he was in trouble, as he encountered a ghost who somehow survived both Ixa and me.

"Yes?", I responded.

"You have a visitor. Druoag has returned. He says that he opened a portal to Loistavadvaar, then came all the way to Arc from there", he informed me.

The news did put a smile on my face.

"Where are you?", I asked.

"In the city center. We bumped into each other. We'll go to your place. We are causing a scene here right now. The guy is just too big, and people are freaking out", Will added.

"Sure. I'm waiting", I responded.

This made me drop everything and go outside. I knew that it could be borderline impossible to fit my alien friend inside the house, so that seemed to be the only option for us. They arrived a bit later, walking side by side. We greeted. Shook hands. Well... He did most of the shaking.

- Good to see you. I thought you might be first to join after me - I smiled at him.

- Good to see you too. I would be faster, but we needed to figure a few things out at first - he informed me while smiling.

It was a creepy as-hell smile, because of his teeth.

I was about to continue the conversation, asking him if he did consume the fruit, but I got interrupted by another voice in my head.

"It's the great one. Gather the three and meet me in Loistavadvaar as soon as possible" he told me.

I probably did roll my eyes after hearing that.

- I just got a message from you-know-who. He wants to talk - I said, then without waiting for a response, grabbed them both and shadow walked us to the underground city.

It looked magnificent as always. The jade architecture bathing in the silver light shining from above always had this effect on me. There was a little difference though. A bunch of aliens looking around, checking out the buildings, or glaring at the gates leading to different worlds. Probably the crew Druoag chose to go with him.

Among them was levitating a very familiar, slim figure with a massive, weird crown. The fake queen Ixa, or The Great One if you prefer. A few aliens were looking at him too.

- I have bad news - he informed us straight away.

His statement picked our attention. I even glanced at those intruders who could hear us speaking, because I was a bit worried if those were the information that could safely be heard by outsiders.

Maybe Druoag was trusting them, but I wasn't.

- They don't speak your language - my giant friend informed me as he noticed that I peaked to the side, then he spoke again. - What happened?

- There are ships constantly working on expanding the Ixan Empire - The Great One informed us. - They survey different worlds and build infrastructure to connect different places. Colonize, explore and investigate any anomalies they find. They found something interesting for them, which was reported to me. I believe it was a signal detected by what we were trying to prepare to fight against.

You probably could hear the air getting sucked in by our asses when he said that. I felt like something just hit me in the chest.

- H-how long do we have? - Will asked.

- I don't know. Maybe days, maybe months, maybe years, but I doubt it would be much more than that. We should start preparing to face them with what we have - The Great One said.

- I guess it was quite fortunate that I went to Aaraam'soturi - I said.

Maybe it wasn't the best way to inform mister fake-queen-Ixa about my adventures, but at that moment I didn't even think about what his opinion on that matter could be. He glanced at me briefly but didn't say a thing.

- Then let's remove that barrier around that damn thing, so we can get access to all those cities, and then prepare properly. your timing was actually perfect - Will praised me.

- It can't be removed without you using stronger force than the tree itself - The Great One butted in before the idea had its chance to flourish. - It had to be done this way. Otherwise, Yashasvee'mies could change what Xuvi did to it.

- Fuck - immediately left my mouth. - So it's all useless.

- It's not - he argued. - It's of no use now, but in the future, when the barrier can be taken down, that infrastructure can be used.

- So what now? - Druoag asked.

- Get as strong as possible while I monitor the situation. If they will get too close to us, we attack - The Great One said.

- How do we even fight them? They will be way stronger than us - I pointed out.

- I am already preparing my forces. Combined with you, we should be able to hold them off while the strongest of us try to pierce through to consume as many fruits as we possibly can. We cut them off. Hopefully, bring those left out of the influence of their separate trees to our side to fight the rest - The Great One explained.