Chapter 31 - First Great War (4) (Patreon)

Psijic Order Codex: Arcane Magic and Mystic Order

Arcane Magic, also called Order Magic, Arcane Energy, or Arcana, is a cold and intellectual magic that warps time, space, and controls the flow of Mana, which is just a measure of a fundamental power—if Mana were water, then Arcane would be steam pressure.

Though extremely volatile, Arcane is so similar to an element it might as well be one, for all magical intents and purposes. As the manifestation of Order in the Great Dark Beyond and the Twisting Nether, arcane is the language of Order and the opposite end of the spectrum from fel, which represents Disorder.

Arcane Energy is innately volatile, and wielding it requires intense precision and concentration. Arcane has been described as the "base fabric" of the world, and like all other types of Magic, can be animated, the prime example of this being the arcane elementals. It can be pulled from ley lines, channels of immense Magical Power that course through Azeroth itself.

Pure arcane appears white and/or violet. However, when used to bend other types of Magic, it takes on the characteristics and appearance of those Magics. Examples of this can be seen with Element-based abilities used by Mages.

In general, Arcane Magic can be used to do nearly everything and is seemingly limited mostly by imagination, as it can be used to manipulate both space and time, and bend reality. It can be used to create objects such as food or drinks or to conjure Mana Gems from nothing, and briefly enhance personal intelligence.

Arcane can be used to turn invisible, to become inaudible, to create multiple images of oneself or other creatures capable of distracting enemies or assisting you in combat, or to polymorph objects and people into something else entirely, ranging from a variety of animals, to worgen and elemental beings such as mana surges and phoenixes as well as to communicate from afar via projections and even enable understanding of other racial languages.

It's to be noted that through the Well of Eternity, the Night Elves became virtually immortal by feeding on its potent source of Arcane Energy. Unfortunately, no other species was able to achieve similar effects aside from Quel'Thalas to a certain degree with their concept of Sunwell.

The Mages of the Kirin Tor have divided the eldritch arts into seven different categories. All Schools of Arcane Magic can be combined to create formidable spells that utilize multiple sources of power. Mages are cautioned about the dangers of combining multiple types of Magic.

These Seven Schools of Arcane Magic were: 

- Abjuration, The School for the study of protective Magic.

- Conjuration, the study of magically creating creatures and objects. 

- Divination, the school of Magic dedicated to gathering information. Powerful Divinations can allow the Mage to see targets from a great distance, or even view what may normally be invisible. One of the most common uses of Divination Magic is Scrying, which is the art of seeing something that may be far away—perhaps even on another plane of existence.

- Enchantment, he process of imbuing an object or person with Magical Power. 

- Illusion, the art of deceiving reality itself. The mists of illusion can make a mage invisible or inaudible to the world or twist the image of a location into something entirely different. 

- Evocation, the school of Magic included spells that manipulated energy or tapped an unseen source of power in order to produce a desired end. In effect, they created something out of nothing.

- Transmutation, the seventh and final school of Magic, is Transmutation. It is among the most popular and useful of all of the schools, allowing a Mage to manipulate time and space. 

In the Sacred Phoenix Empire, on the other hand, only Abjuration, Conjuration, Illusion, and Transmutation are considered to be part of the Arcane Magic. The rest, Divination, Enchantment, and Evocation, are given their own separate Orders within the Psijic Order.

The Arcane Magic is also a major source for the technological development of the Orbal Technology, among other things. Among all Disciplines of Magic, the Arcane Magic is most compatible with the Orbal Technology, primarily due to its most neutral alignment, which is oddly suited for the Orbal Engineering.

- Orders of the Psijic written by Loremaster Aethas Sunreaver

***

Sacred Phoenix Kingdom, Fire Islands, Homeland Central, Imperial City of Wei-Jin, Valflame Palace

The atmosphere in the Valflame Palace could be considered pretty tense because the Sacred Phoenix Kingdom was in a state of war once again. Yet, at the same time, there was time for joy, as it was announced that Queen Azula Septim was pregnant with a child.

Such news was something that was worthy of celebration even in the times of war like this, especially for Azula, who was very delighted by this news. Aenarion immediately brought the best physicians and doctors across the whole Sacred Phoenix Kingdom.

Nothing was left to chance after the accident, as Azula underwent a somewhat extensive medical check-up to ensure that she and the child were growing healthy, and she would also have to adapt to a special diet during her pregnancy.

She would be eating only the meat of the killed Bronze Dragons and members of Bronze Dragonflight, with its various subspecies, as they were the most nutritious. This way, her body won't have to bear the strain of pregnancy as hard, and the child growing in her would also benefit from the nutrition.

The Sacred Phoenix Kingdom had many Dragon corpses. 

Each adult Bronze Dragon had a body length of more than forty-five meters and a wingspan greater than fifty-six meters. Their body mass weighed more than three hundred tons, and that was just the most modest estimate.

During the past seventeen years, the Sacred Phoenix Kingdom was actually hunting the Bronze Dragons that were in Azeroth. The Bronze Dragonflight and the Sacred Phoenix Kingdom were irreconcilable enemies that would fight till the bitter end.

Aenarion understood that it was a bad choice.

Even though he genuinely believed that the Bronze Dragonflight's ideology was twisted beyond belief and Nozdormu was a fool, he couldn't help but admit that the interventions of the Bronze Dragonflight had kept the situation under control.

Without them?

Cults of the Old Gods were popping up instantly here and there... There were even Cults of various Evil Gods or unknown entities causing havoc and many other problems that he thought wouldn't be present without the protection of the Bronze Dragonflight.

Yet, despite all this, they were enemies who wanted to destroy the Fire Nation. The Bronze Dragons believed that only they could protect Azeroth, and to achieve that goal, they held a perverted ideology of the "One True Timeline", which they protected at all costs.

That was the reason why their God, Asuryan the Phoenix God, sealed the entire Caverns of Time and severely wounded Nozdormu. The remaining Bronze Dragons in Azeroth then became nothing more than prey...

The Sacred Phoenix Kingdom, especially Empress Irene Belserion, hunted the Bronze Dragons to near extinction, like statues, and those who survived, either among the True Dragons or Dragonkin, were brought to the Artaeum and were made to breed as a source of food and ingredients for the Magic Rituals, Alchemy, and who knows what else.

Irene even spread the Dragon Slayer Magic in Azeroth. The perfected version that was also incorporating many elements of the Azerothian Magics, so the user of the Dragon Slayer Magic wasn't at risk of Draconification.

Despite this behavior, none of the Dragonflights intervened because they all sensed the power of God in the Sacred Phoenix Kingdom. Certainly a powerful God that wouldn't hesitate to smite them down if they dared to do something to the mortals.

At the same time, Aenarion was informed that Asuryan held a private conversation with the Aspects, but he wasn't told the content.

He could imagine the topic of the conversation, because after it had ended, Blue Dragonflight and Red Dragonflight willingly gave out locations of several Bronze Dragons hiding in Eastern Kingdoms, including their lairs and other caverns.

With the abundant dragon meat and other products, the collective strength of the elites of the Sacred Phoenix Kingdom rose sharply, because Dragon flesh was extremely rich in nutrients and Magic.

Which meant, whoever ate the dargaon flesh would benefit tremendously from doing so.

Their bodies would get stronger; if they were Mages, their Mana would also be increased by a significant degree, and even their souls would be strengthened a bit through consumption of the Dragon flesh.

"Everything is stable, your Highness. You are perfectly healthy, and the child is also perfectly healthy. If you adhere to the diet and Chi Infusement, there is nothing to fear."

Aenarion was together with Azula in the chambers of the Royal Physician for the routine checkup, and Aenarion was relieved that everything was alright. Azula was only in her second month, so the pregnancy wasn't really visible, but that didn't stop her from worrying about her.

It was similar when Irene got pregnant, but Irene was far more powerful, and she also knew Magic that could perfectly regulate and analyze her body, which was something that Azula didn't have. 

Not to mention, Irene was racially a Dragon... even though she was initially human, her species has changed due to the Dragon Slayer Magic that she used, and after arriving at Azeroth, she perfected.

So when she gave birth, Erza wasn't born like humans were, but instead she was born from an Egg.

Certainly weird from the point of view of an ordinary human.

"Alright then... we shall go then."

Aenarion said as Azula caressed her stomach, as she was very happy during the past days since she found out that she was pregnant. For her, it was the greatest dream and at the same time the greatest fear...

She feared that she wouldn't be able to give him a son, which was very prevalent in the Fire Nation's culture... or rather, even in the culture of the Eastern Kingdoms. The check-ups at the Royal Apothecary took place every few days, to ensure that nothing went wrong...

Aenarion was aware that his Bloodline of Nine-Headed Phoenix God was too overhelming and could create many sorts of unforeseen complications. Azula herself bore the Lion-Turle Bloodline of the Royal House of Fire Nation, though it was evolving more toward the Lightning-Fire Element.

"It's a shame that I cannot participate in the war..."

Both of them went to one of the private quarters for the Royal Family, as they were in the drawing room and eating some snacks. Afterwards, Azula would go and take a nap, while he would go to attend his duties.

Initially, under these circumstances, Aenarion would be mostly doing things that, as King, he should be doing, but as the administration of the Sacred Phoenix Kingdom was robust enough and he had faith in his subjects, he decided to spend more time with pregnant Azula.

He certainly appreciated that he was spending time with her.

"I am aware of that, darling, but you know that going to the battlefield would be dangerous under these circumstances."

Another thing was that Azula was the High Justice of the Department of Justice. Soon enough, after the first battles had ended, she would have a lot of work on her hands. Department of Justice and Esdeath's Department of Homeland Security would be in charge of handling the orcish prisoners.

And because Esdeath was unavailable, Azula was also handling her responsibilities as Secretary of Homeland Security. She was needed to remain at the Imperial Capital of Wei-Jin to handle her responsibilities.

"Azula, there would be many more conflicts for you to participate in... and I am not really keen on letting you participate in war in your pseudo-champion state. The Horde is really a powerful adversary... even though their civilization is primitive beyond reason, their strength is no joke, and their numbers are frightening."

Aenarion turned to the serious side as they continued eating, because he wasn't that happy that Esdeath was right now fighting on the frontlines of the Bleeding Hollow Clan. He remembered from the canon of WoW that this Clan was fairly powerful and Kilrogg Deadeye was one of the Champions of the Horde.

Esdeath was actually much stronger than Azula, and she was the second closest person to achieve the Legendary Level. She was a battle maniac of the highest order and was trained to increase her power.

Obviously, Esdeath wouldn't pass up the opportunity to test her might and break her limits.

Especially now that she was extremely close to completely assimilating her Teigu, Demon Sword: Incursio, which was one of the most peculiar Teigus that were created. The Teigu IV: Demon Sword: Incursio had two abilities.

One of them was that the sword itself was ever evolving, and the second was that it provided physical strengthening to the user. At the higher level of mastery, one could use the Demon Sword: Incursio to actually break through his own physical limitations and reach higher Levels of power.

Like Esdeath was doing right now.

Not only that, due to the overhelming compatibility between her and her Teigu, she was also able to increase the power of her Bending and Chi with the help of Demon Sword: Incursio.

The Sacred Phoenix Kingdom currently has five Champion Level individuals.

Anton Griffin, the Grandmaster Hierarch of the Holy Templar Order of the Secret Fire and Bearer of Teigu VI. - Time-Dragon Sword: Chronos.

Azula Septim, the 1st Queen of Sacred Phoenix Kingdom, High Justice of the Department of Justice, and Bearer of Teigu XVIII. - Purgatory's Invitation: Rubicante.

Esdeath Partas Septim, the 2nd Queen of the Sacred Phoenix Kingdom, General of the Khaos Brigade, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and Bearer of Teigu IV. - Demon Sword Incursio.

Bai Qi, the Lord Commander Solar of the Royal Military of the Sacred Phoenix Kingdom and Bearer Teigu XII. - March of the Dead: Yatsufusa.

Shihōin Yoruichi, the Supreme Commander of the Onmitsukidō, Head of the Shihōin Principal Clan and Bearer of Teigu XIX. - Thunder God's Rage: Adramelech.

Among the five of them, all could exert combat prowess of pseudo-Legendary if they unleashed the Trump Cards of their Teigu, but only Esdeath was extremely close to reaching the Legendary Level.

Becoming a Legendary-Level powerhouse was vastly different from all other levels, because only at the Legendary Level would one become something more than Mortal. They would be standing above the summit of the Mortalhood as their very own existence was eclipsing that out.

To successfully become one, one needed to sublimate their exisntre to the higher level and beocone one with the Laws of the World of some sort. 

That was one of the reasons why Aenarion actually allowed Esdeath to go out and confront the Chieftain of the Bleeding Hollow Clan. His second beloved was at the cusp of Ascension to the Legendary Level.

If she succeeded, then the Kingdom would obtain its third Legendary Level powerhouse, and they would be stronger than Stormwind by a great degree, while approaching the level of Dalaran.

Perhaps even standing on the same ground as the magocracy.

As the floating city of Mages had several Legendaries, according to Aenarion's knowledge.

Archmage Antonidas. 

Prince Kael'Thas.

And Archmage Krasus, who was one of the most powerful Red Dragons.

"They didn't really seem that much dangerous... but on the other hand, this isn't their main force, right?"

Hearing her question made Aenarion nod his head in agreement, because this was far from the main force of the Horde.

"No... their true powers should be somewhere in the depths of the Black Morass or somewhere there... If my predictions are correct, the Horde will have one Demigod-Level Warlock, several Legendary-Level Warlocks and Warriors, and a whole bunch of Champion- Levels and Hero-Levels..."

Aenarion looked at his first wife as he said, making a pause before he continued speaking.

"Not even counting their numbers, which are even more frightening considering their racial superiority in terms of physical strength. The Bleeding Hollow Clan, which is currently invading the Freljord, is among its most powerful and populous Clans. I think that this force is just the vanguard force. And that's not accounting for the other top-ranking Clans like Blackrock Clan, Stormreaver Clan, Warsong Clan, Twilight Hammer Clan, Frostwolves Clan, Dragonmaw Clan, or Burning Blade Clan... and these are just their Clans and not some other factions of Horde like Shadow Council."

The entire Orcish population should have easily numbered in the higher tens of millions, given their reproduction capabilities. He didn't really know how many of them actually crossed into Azeroth, but he suspected that it would be way more than in canon, and he was wary of the Orcs.

"If we crush one of the strongest among them, won't that make us their prime target?"

Even though she wasn't the sharpest military commander, she knew a thing or two about commanding warfare.

"Who knows... I guess we are already one. Someone needed to allow the Orcs in, and that someone is our beloved Guardian Medivh... he should have passed the information about us to them, but how strongly they would act on it is something that I dare not predict."

Aenarion knew that Medvih must have given Orcs the information, but there was a catch.

Orcs didn't act on intelligence reports.

He was really suspicious that they would actually utilize the information to the maximum.

Orcs were not the greatest thinkers around, and their current Warchief of Horde, Blackhand, wasn't really the smartest cookie.

In the canon, Blackhand was the chieftain of the mighty Blackrock clan and the first Warchief of the Old Horde until he was killed by Orgrim Doomhammer near the end of the First War. He was known throughout Draenor and Azeroth alike as a brutal tyrant.

He was a very traditional Orc by all standards. Attack first, ask questions later. If something isn't clear or understood, then smash it, and if something is unknown, then smash it too. 

Aenarion seriously doubted that Blackhand would take the information seriously because he was convinced that Blackhand thinks all humans of the Eastern Kingdoms are a bunch of weaklings.

The fact that the very first humans that the Orcs encountered since arriving in Azeroth were just an ordinary family didn't really help. But this was really a good situation for them, because the Orcs would be underestimating them.

Most would.

Aside from Gul'dan.

Gul'dan was the first orcish Warlock as well as the de facto founder of the Horde. He was powerful and cunning... but on the other hand, Gul'dan was already too heavily corrupted by the Fel; it was hard to tell how much of his cunning and brilliant mind remained when facing the Fel.

As he pondered over the matter, his pregnant first wife suddenly looked at her husband as she appeared to be in deep thought about something.

"What's up, Zula? Anything not to your liking? Should I order the chef to prepare something else for you?"

Seeing that his wife was in a deep thought, Aenarion hastily asked if she was alright or if the food was to her liking.

"Could you tell me more about your first life? And the world you lived in?"

Zula was a nickname that Aenarion sometimes used, though Azula didn't really like using nicknames for her name... neither did Esdeath or Irene, and in fact, even Aenarion didn't like it very much.

Though he allowed some people to call him Aenar if they wanted.

For the shortening.

As soon as she asked, she partially regretted asking, because this was a topic that their husband almost never spoke of. It wasn't like it was forbidden or taboo, but Aenarion was, for some reason, extremely uncomfortable speaking about his past first life.

"What should I say... the world I previously lived in in my first life was also ironically called Earth. It was technologically very advanced... It's rather hard to describe because in some areas it was way more advanced than us right now, and in some it was backward, yet you need to remember that my word in the first life had no Supernatural, be it Magic or Chi."

Even though Azula, Esdeath, June, and Irene knew that his soul was from another world, since reincarnation wasn't anything new in their world, Aenarion never really spoke in depth about his world.

Aside from the initial explanation of the Multiverse Theory and the Theory of Infinite Parallel Universes, which explained how one could exist in certain Space-Time and be fictional in another, Aenarion never really spoke about his first life.

And his wives, on the other hand, knew that this was rather an uncomfortable topic for him, so they never asked things that were...

More sensitive in nature.

"You see, my world sucked as fuck... we lived in a society that was obsessed with material things, morally decadent and degraded. While life was comfortable for most of the time, not everyone got to live. Many people were just working from morning to evening, so they would have enough money to cover daily necessities and have some food. Social mobility was getting non-existent as time passed, and the entire world was... boring? Yeah, that would be the world... boring."

This was probably the first time that he started speaking openly about his first life.

Aenarion, in fact, hated his first life with fervor.

"We had things like rather advanced medicine, you could live till your seventies or eighties... and more comfortably than ordinary peasants in Azeroth and even those in the Sacred Phoenix Kingdom before the introduction of Civilian Orbal Technology. But aside from that? Everything was shit. If you were not overwhelmingly lucky or born into riches, you would need to work till your death.... and even that was only if you were lucky enough to get a job."

For him, the 21st Century was totally fubar.

Azula, meanwhile, sat there in silence and listened.

She didn't really say a word.

She knew that it wasn't needed nor was it appropriate, because right now she was witnessing a very rare moment.

"I was born in a rather average family... not really rich, but we were better than most, especially with the price of land and housing continually rising. After I finished my education... things slowly started falling apart... due to some mistakes that I made, I couldn't relaly find a job, in terms of relationships I was totally awkward as I was never with woman for my hwole life but I somehow managed to get by till the end... it was painful, lonely and depressive... sometimes I cosnidered killing myself from that lonelienss and feelings of being failture but I feared death too much for that."

Aenarion didn't really have fond memories of his first life... like really not...

Especially near the final years of his life.

"So... how did you die?"

After several moments of silence, his wife broke the somber atmosphere.

"My country was part of the alliance or coalition between other countries. One day, a big nation, a declining superpower, invaded our alliance upon the orders of one of two global hegemons, and thus World War III started. I was one of the few people who willingly enrolled in the military... from a certain perspective, it was a logical thing... I didn't have any family, and the relatives that lived were ones that I would rather kill. In the end, I went into the military and to the frontlines with that in mind that at least I would die and find some release from the constant entropy and torture that was life."

Aenarion stated, with some sort of melancholy but also an odd fondness, for the times.

"Not to mention, I admit that another part of me just wanted to kill the people from the nation that was invading us, as they once exported ideology into my country that destroyed my family and took our generational wealth, so I also wanted revenge. And I have to tell you... I was good... really good. I have shown that I had rather good talent for commanding troops and was ruthless enough to do so. Some called me Butcher of Winter, and some Hero of Eastern Front... in the end, it didn't matter. In the latter phases of the war, my commando and I took on a suicidal mission for a decapitation mission. In the end, something went wrong, we were uncovered in the enemy's capital and forced to fight."

At the thought of that, Aenarion actually had a grin on his face, as he was actually happy when he was saying that, which was surprising to Azula.

"So, what happened after?"

When she saw his expression, she knew that this was the man she had fallen in love with.

Ruthless beyond humanity and determined to do everything to win. Mad enough to conduct genocides without batting an eye and obsessed with getting stronger at any cost.

"Do you remember the concept of Nuclear Weapons that I mentioned before?"

Instead, Aenarion posed this particular question, and seeing his nod, he revealed a toothy grin.

"Well, they were extremely widespread in my first life, and our enemies actually had a lot of them in their very own capital. Entire silos and several tens of those weapons of mass destruction were in their capital, which was also housing millions of their citizens, more than 15% of the entire nation, and all of their highest leadership. Even though we were uncovered, we managed to hack into their security systems, which were rather poorly protected, and I ordered the detonation of all those weapons in their capital and its vicinity. I just saw the clouds of explosions when everything went blank."

That was the last thing that he remembered... then the next thing was waking up in the body of Aenarion. That was Aenarion's final moment in his world and something that he was pretty proud of.

Either they won the war, or the world then underwent nuclear apocalypse.

Really hard thing to say.

And not like he cared.

For all he could care, the Earth of the 21st Century could burn in hell.

"As expected from my husband."

Azula was actually pretty proud of him, among all other things.

"That's the reason why I also fear death so much... In this life, I have everything that I have ever wanted... love, family, and power... not to mention this world isn't so boring and ordinary like the one in my first life... just the thought of dying fills me with dread."

Aenarion didn't really have a problem admitting that he was a coward.

He feared death; he feared losing his status and position.

It was because of that that he created a regime in which all power was concentrated in his hands or those of his wives. Everyone who could have the slightest amount of dissent was killed, and the lines of Fire Clans were slaughtered from the oldest elder to the newborns.

He didn't care about what the others would say.

He was sure that behind the closed doors, people would call him monsters, butchers, or whatever names for his actions that painted the Fire Nation with the blood of thousands.

But he didn't care about the opinion of sheep.

In the end, it didn't matter.

For Bhim, the only thing that mattered was that he had the power to do as he wished, and he would use that power to ensure that he remained alive with his family and in a position of power in his kingdom.

Anyone opposing him and threatening his dream, his wish that came true, would die together with their entire bloodlines, no matter how many people he would have to kill or how many atrocities he would commit.

For Aenarion, all of these things were inconsequential.

Compared to the things that he had done in his second life, even some of the most brutal dictators from his first life, like Hitler, Pol Pot, or Stalin, would seem like saints.

"You are so hot, when you are planning something devious..."

Azula muttered as she snuggled close to him and kissed him passionately.

She also wasn't the sanest person around, because she was incredibly around just from the thought of committing genocides on your enemies and imagining their screams of despair was making her...

Needing him even more.

Well...

Neither of his wives could really be considered sane or "normal" even if the word normal didn't have any meaning. "Normalcy" was something that group of people was used to and considered as an acceptable societal standart... if society or a group of people were cannibals and often consumed human flesh, then it was normal for them.

Another poorly formulated societal construct.

June was the sole exception if one didn't account for the weird quirks that she had.

Aenarion returned the kiss as he took his first wife into his embrace, and they started making out passionately.

Even Irene was especially mellowed and horny during the pregnancy, and it seemed that Azula would be the same. It appeared that heaven had blessed him with luck once again.

"Maybe once Irene masters the Dimensional Magic, we can search for the coordinates of our world? Wouldn't it be fun to invade our old worlds and plunder them for their resources, what do you say, my love?"

Irene had already been researching the Dimensional Magic for some time, as she wanted to penetrate the Dimensional Gap and traverse the Void between the worlds. They were not even sure whether Aenarion's first Earth or Avatar Earth was located in the same dimension as Azeroth.

Not to mention, then there was the topic of the Earthland, Irene's original world where she was born. They were sure that Earthland was somewhere in this dimension, because Irene could vaguely pinpoint its location in the Great Dark Beyond.

But Aenaarion had a suspicion that both Earths may be located in entirely different dimensions.

"You surely know how to please this Queen, and I guess that some of my sister-wives would find this proposal very appealing."