#my current thought is that she can connect to the Dreams of /multiple Tyrias/ which gives her a very strange sort of future sight

[valiant-portabella-pirkko]

"Don't you ever wonder what waits beyond the stars,"

"Where the sun we know is only a cinder in the sky?"

[memoirsofratasum]

Aeromage Sanna: A Star to Guide Us

We thought our time in the desert was done with Joko’s demise. Yes there is still an Elder Dragon, but there always is an Elder Dragon. It just felt like there was some finality, like the last chapter of a book that we could close and move on from. The Priory was satisfied with the connection we had forged with the Sunspears on their behalf. The mountain had gained immeasurable knowledge about Elona and we gained new friends and experiences. Our job was done.

The Priory had given us leave after Joko’s second-death and Tarnn and I returned to Kryta. It was weird not having to shake sand out of our clothes whenever we came indoors and the weather in the Reach was a lot colder than I remembered. It was nice to be home under our own roof. It wasn’t all time for relaxing though. We got home in time to make some extra cash at the Queen’s Gauntlet, me patching up fighters and Tarnn as a Ringmaster. We made infrequent trips to Amnoon for the sake of trade but waypoint fees add up without the Priory footing the bill. The first big trip we took was for the Festival of the Four Winds after we finished our tenure at the Gauntlet. The wind! The water! The food! I can’t believe the last time we were at the Cliffs was just when we were starting at the Priory. That seems like a lifetime ago.

One other thing I’ve been focusing on since coming home is jackal training. I have this working theory about jackals, that they aren’t limited to just sand and their canine forms, but could take on the abilities of any mount and find use out of any material. I’ve only had my jackal Cirrus and Tarnn’s Arkose to work with, but they are both smart and eager to please. With just a little positive reinforcement and gentle training Cirrus has learned to shape her form using water, which is good cause Divinity’s Reach has more water than it does sand. Arkose is able to form using Tarnn’s magic as a source which is even more impressive! Still working on teaching them to alter their physical shapes. Thankfully there are so many raptors around to mimic that I think they are starting to grasp that particular command. I’m keeping meticulous notes and refining my techniques in order to submit my work to the Priory so that my research can be used by future jackal riders. Maybe someday soon Cirrus and Arkose will be able to fly like griffons!

It wasn’t until early autumn that we got a frantic summons from the Priory. General Soulkeeper’s very own airship, the Soul's Vendetta, had gone down north of Kourna and all contact had been lost. We had been on that airship, not even Bloodstone Fen had been able to take it down! The Pact needed first responders stat and if there is one thing Tarnn and I have experience with it’s being the first in after a disaster. We were to rendezvous with a larger team by waypoint at the Allied Encampment in Kourna and make our way north on mount-back. Word of fresh branding in the area made airships out of the question.

The air in Jahai was blazing, but it seemed cleaner to breath since the last time we were there. The region sadly still wasn’t peaceful, there were still some Awakened fighting, for what reason we don’t know and they weren’t our mission anyways. Just enough of a force to keep those stationed here busy, but not enough to need extra assistance. So the attackers were kept at bay, certain members from all three orders were off to the side packing up their mounts for the trek north. Tarnn and I joined them, our jackals carrying our medical supplies. It must have been a sight to see from the towers, dozens of mounts in a riot of color riding north from the encampment as one.

We rode for hours. We had radio operators and surveyors with us, trying to make contact as we got closer and tracking the likely trajectory of the Soul's Vendetta from its last known location. The nearest anyone was able to calculate was that the airship crashed at the border, but still on the other side of the mountains. And some of the equipment was picking up branded energy in the distance. We knew that one of Kralkatorrik’s minions was responsible for downing the airship and the area had been branded, but details had been scarce at the briefing.

Any details we were missing was filled in by the overwhelming purple that greeted us when we came through one of the mountain passes. Huge crystalline waves rose high into the sky and twisters could be spotted in the distance. I had never seen tornadoes form in any branded region I had previously been in. Were they forming to due to the age of the branding, the fresh magic twisting upon itself until it was hundreds of feet into the air? Or was it a side effect from the natural weather patterns in Jahai? I would have loved to have studied them but I had a more important duty on hand.

Our group picked our way down the steep pass and from that height we could see a glint of metal and some spare tendrils of smoke from under the shadow of the largest crystal outcropping. It was the remains of the Soul's Vendetta, only hours after it was brought down. The personnel were glad to see us. I was immediately shown to the medic tents while Tarnn assisted with building the outer defences. The others worked to distributed much needed food and supplies.Things were bad, many of the wounded were in no condition to fight, but honestly I had seen worse. A usable Pact Vanguard was forming around us from the shell of the ship and as long as they were left alone the Pact could create a steady foothold in the area. I remember hearing a cheer when the radios were bought back online. A lifeline back to civilization until waypoints can be established.

It was a few days after we arrived that we learned we weren’t the only ones bunkering down in Jahai. Who should come stride through the camp on the griffonback than Sahil! Apparently the Soul's Vendetta had crashed right up against one of the entrances of an ancient Sunspear base! The Sunspears had just finished clearing out the tunnel and wound up in the middle of our camp. This was fortunate turn of events, neither order was at their strongest right now and Sahil told us that while our immediate goals may be different, both groups agreed to watch each other’s back.

Sahil gave us a rundown of what he could share, and maybe a little of what he couldn’t. There had been a leadership summit further north to determine was what going to become of Elona without Joko. Multiple factions had formed over the months but no one was able to come to any agreement, and they still haven’t when the summit was crashed by dragons. A Shatterer that had merged with Zhaitan’s death magic had attacked the summit trying to get to Aurene and Kralkatorrik itself was moving through portals. The Sunpears, aided by the Commander no less, seemed to have a plan on how to deal the with the Elder Dragon, or at least track it as it moved through the Mists. Now it is possible that Sahil didn’t share the details because we we’re not currently aiding his group at the moment, but from the way he spoke and acted I think he genuinely was in the dark as much as we were. He was pretty high in the order so this must be a very secretive mission.

The Death-Branded Shatterer though is still out there. It’s after Aurene and from what we’ve learn it was the one that took down the Soul's Vendetta. I’ve seen General Soulkeeper pace the Vanguard, muttering angrily to herself and ordering wielders up north to where more of the wreckage lay. And it’s certainly not for the purposes of salvage. She was planning something big, something to bait the Death-Branded Shatterer into striking range to give a hard  blow to both Elder and Lieutenant. Even we who were part of the rescue team were given orders and placements. Which is Soulkeeper’s right of course, she is the highest ranking member of the Pact on site and we are here to serve the needs of the Pact.

We would all fight with her, no questions there, but there was some concern around the cookfires. No one was saying it outloud but there were plenty of worried glances behind her back. I don’t think there is a soul from Tyria that doesn’t know the General’s story with Kralkatorrik. But Tarnn reminded me that even if this is an overly personal fight for her, this new Shatterer needed to be taken down and the Pact is the only one in the area with the knowhow to do it.

However I don’t remember any junundu wurms or repurposed inquest golems in Blazeridge. I had been on watch duty on the rocky outcropping just outside the staging platform when the two escort groups came into view. I admit, my first instinct was to be alarmed, but this wasn’t my first tour of duty so I brushed it aside and rode Cirrus to General Soulkeeper to inform her that the reinforcements had arrived. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that toothy grin of her’s. This wasn’t a fight she’s been planning for a few days, it was a fight she’s been dreaming of for years.

Soon the Pact and our DERV units, Sunspears and their griffons, Awakened and their junundu, and the usual gathering of adventurers were in place. But even the largest army means nothing if there is no enemy to fight. Soulkeeper was saving something special up her sleeve for that. A chunk of bloodstone, so potent that it made me wince even at a distance, was carried by a small golem right through Almorra’s Stand. This Shatterer was too brainless to see the trap, that or the bloodstone shard was too tempting. Either way it didn’t take long before a crystalline dragon of green and purple swooped in.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen those Shatterers in Blazeridge Steppes but there are some things that stick with you. While I believe Death-Touched is smaller than its Tyrian cousins, it is no less imposing on the field. Branded crystals that reeked of death magic, summoned riftstalkers, and even miniature twisters, it was pure chaos. But even imbued with Zhaitan’s magic it is still a Shatterer. We knew its tactics, could see when it was going to fly, when it was going to breath. This was a familiar fight and General Soulkeeper’s confidence was justified.

Eventually the Death-Touched Shatterer faltered and Soulkeeper called for us to hold back. The Sunspears and Awakened protested in alarm as the dragon seemed to take to the air to escape. But its flight was weak, it did not have the strength to climb over the ridge. Instead, it crashed into the rock face and exploded in a shower of purple and green crystals.

The cheer was louder than the dragon’s roar, but I don’t think anyone was louder than the General. As much as this was about Kralkatorrik and about Aurene and about Elona, there is no getting around that this was about General Soulkeeper as well. I could hear in the crowd members of the Vigil being especially proud for having been apart of this for their leader. I don’t think I can quite understand that feeling being Priory, but I was still glad for the Vigil in particular for this victory.

There is another fight right around the corner. The Commander and the Sunspears have something planned for Kralkatorrik. I don’t know what will come next, but we Tyrians are fighters. So I’m sure we will all be right there, as eager as General Soulkeeper shattering a crystal dragon.