We left Olrad behind, and headed toward Sedon. "I meant to show you the second exercise, but Suly and Alicia were busy. When we get to Sedon, I will ask Crow if he still has it" I said. Fox asked curiously "What sort of thing are we talking about?". I smiled and replied, "You will see when you get it". She wasn't satisfied with that answer, but I didn't extrapolate. When we left the Obsidian Mountains area, I saw destruction and aftermath of the war. We would encounter a corpse once in a while, or rather whatever was left of that corpse. I couldn't see any Corpse Dogs around, which was unusual because they were everywhere.
'The armies that passed here, must've exterminated them… or perhaps not' I thought. There were a few possibilities, but it was too early to draw any conclusions. The dead trees decorated the surroundings as usual, there was one difference though. There were less of them now. Some were cut down for wood, but we also found a few holes in the ground. As if the trees were dug out. 'Mordars look like trees, it is entirely possible they acted as a surveillance' I thought. Further examination of the ground, revealed to me that indeed, nothing was dug up artificially. With my experience in field work, I could safely say that whatever was rooted in that hole, walked out of it by itself.
'So Mordars spied on everyone, posing as trees… Well I guess they weren't really posing, they are trees after all' I thought, and recalled the Ents. Supposedly, Ents were also tree creatures. I never saw one while visiting the Elysian Empire, but if Mordars were possible, then why not Ents. 'I wonder if those two are related in some ways?' I thought. The further we distanced ourselves from Obsidian Mountains, the more destruction we saw. Large crater like holes, littered the surroundings. Probably aftermath of a battle. 'I know of one thing only, that could create such craters' I thought. What I meant, were those Contraptions that attacked Obsidian Mountains.
"Let's have a look around, we might discover something new" I said. We always examined a battleground while we travelled. This could help us learn something about our enemy. We looked through the area, and I finally noticed something buried in the ground. It was a decently sized piece of wood. Square in shape, with obvious marks of being carved and sanded. When I tried pulling it out, I was surprised that I couldn't. "This must be much bigger than I thought", I said to myself. I used both of my arms, and pulled with everything I had. "Rumble"... "Swoosh!".
I managed to pull out that piece of wood, or rather a whole wooden beam. "As I thought. This was a part of that Contraption, which attacked Obsidian Mountains. Why was it buried so deep?" I asked out loud. Fox shook her head, then replied "Perhaps they wanted to hide it? So that no one copies them". I replied "No, that is not it…". Then I noticed burn marks on the beam, and some kind of strange symbol carved into it. It was small, and barely visible. "I wonder what that is?" I asked while pointing at the symbol. Fox took a look as well. She exclaimed after a while, "That is a Formation Rune! I'm sure of it!". 'Hmmm… Formation Runes on them… Buried deep in the ground… Scorch marks...' I thought, and said "I think I know why it was buried".
Fox asked, "Why? Because of Formations? It contains some sort of secret?". I replied "It contains a secret for sure, but not the one you think of. Those things were designed to explode… Not because of overuse! Because of Formations!". When I finished my sentence, I quickly ran back towards the Obsidian Mountains. They were in danger, if those things exploded inside the volcano, the results would be devastating. 'That Eterian bastard is really crafty. He presented those Contraption to us on a silver plate. I thought it would be suspicious if we didn't take them, but turns out that is exactly what they were aiming for' I thought.
My guess was, it wouldn't matter if those Contraptions were dismantled or not. Those things were designed to explode. I didn't know when they would explode, but I knew they would eventually. 'This was the only beam I could see in that area. That lone beam survived for some reason. I hope I'm not too late' I thought, and ran towards Obsidian Mountains at my full speed. I left Fox behind. Now it wasn't the time to worry about her. A whole city was at stake.
I made it back to Obsidian Mountains after one day of running. I was tired, but I had to continue. My speed decreased a lot due to exhaustion, but I had a way to replenish my energy now. Obsidian Mountains were populated by Fire Mares, and they were edible. I hunted down a few of them, and managed to restore some of my energy. I then headed straight to Arangard. I didn't even worry about the entrance seals or whatever. I went past the guards at great speed, and shouted "Where are the Contraptions!". People looked at me, as if looking at an insane person. Some guards surrounded me, and pointed their weapons at me. One of the guards recognised me, and asked "It's you? What happened, why are you storming this place?".
I said "Quickly, tell me where are those Contraptions! This place is in danger!". He told me to calm down, and asked which Contraptions. But before I could answer, I heard a loud and ear deafening explosion "BOOOM!". The place shook, while rocks… No, boulders fell from the walls and crashed into the buildings, Lizards… I screamed again "Everyone! Leave NOW!". One of the guards surrounding me, asked confused "What is going on? What happened?!". I replied "Those Contraptions you dragged here. They were designed to explode! Take all people out, NOW!".
I ran towards the direction of the explosion, and was soon joined by other Lizards who headed that way too. I saw Jora in the distance, and shouted "Jora!". He noticed me quickly, and made his way towards me. I said "Get everyone out! Those Contraptions will explode. There are Formations hidden inside them. Even if dismantled, they will explode!". Jora's face changed. He asked "How do you know that?". I replied "No time for this now! Escort your people outside. I will try to do something about them!".
He nodded his head, and left a few of his men with me. We ran towards the location, where the Contraptions were stored. It took us a few minutes, before we arrived at our destination. When I stepped into the area, I stopped in my tracks. "Fuck", was the only thing I had time to say. The disassembled Contraptions were glowing red already. Next instance, they exploded. "BOOOM!", "BOOM!", "BOOOOM!". I quickly jumped backwards, and shielded myself with my hands and legs. The hot air pushed me backwards, which increased my speed even further. "BAAAM!".
I slammed into one of the volcano's walls, and fell to the ground. The impact was similar to that when I used Yellow Dust inside Corpse Dogs' Den. My ears were ringing, and my arms as well as legs hurt like hell. 'The armour absorbed a lot of the impact, but…' I thought. My hands and legs were shaking, I could barely stand. The other Lizards that accompanied me? Dead. Either slammed into the walls just like me and perished, or died due to the blast.
Many buildings were destroyed, a lot of Lizards laid dead on the ground. The place was crumbling down, and I would go down with it, if I didn't leave. I forced myself to move towards the exit. Falling rocks almost smashed me a few times, but only thanks to my instincts was I able to evade them. I struggled until the exit. I was exhausted and everything hurt me like hell. When I finally got out, I fell down face first, and laid there. A familiar voice sounded above me "What a disaster… Let me help you up". It was Jora. He lifted me up, and took me further away from the volcano.
As we walked slowly, I said "I was too late…". Jora shook his head, and said "You did what you could. With your early warning, we managed to evacuate many people. If not for you, we would truly perish here". After a while, he asked "How did you know?". I said "We left the Obsidian Mountains, and headed to Sedon. On our way, I examined a past battleground. This was when I realised those Contraptions had Formations on them. Connecting one thing to the other… but I came too late".
I then heard Fox's scream "NEX!". She ran up to us, and grabbed me away from Jora. Jora said "We are now heavily damaged. We need to call the Royal Army back. Sedon will have to deal with frontlines by itself for a while". I said "That was their plan all along. Remove the Royal Army presence from Sedon. I will not tell you to reconsider. You have the right to take care of your people". He replied "I'm aware of what can happen, if the Royal Army returns here. But we also can't risk it. If we get attacked now, we have very slim chances".
I nodded, and said "I will go there. With Crow, we should manage for now. One thing bothers me though". Jora asked "What's that?". I replied "Can Eterians do that? Can they create such Formations?". Jora thought about it for a while, and replied "I'm not sure. We never had any intelligence about them using such powerful Formations. Do you think someone helped them?". I replied "Yes, and there are two possibilities. One, Hatmandor is behind Eterians. The other one, Human… No, a Formation Master is helping them".
Jora paused for a while, then said "Hatmandor wouldn't help. They are not concerned with this war whatsoever. But a Human or other Formation Master is entirely possible. They might have even enslaved him or them. This is a problem, I will discuss that further with the others". I nodded, and Fox took me away to rest.