"That's the last time I saw Petrine," Ninian finished, "Anytime the Apleem came to my planets after that, I just appeared when they landed, and they would leave without incident."
Emory took in the tale for a few minutes before she finally asked, "Why didn't you kill her then and there?"
"At the time, she posed no serious threat to me," Ninian sighed, "I defeated her and taught her to be wary of me in the future. If I could replay that moment, knowing what I know now, maybe I would have. However, it worries me that she killed your father. He and I were roughly the same strength at that time. So then, if I defeated her myself, how was she able to overpower not just your father but your mother as well only a hundred years later?"
"Do you think you were truly stronger than her or you just got the jump on her? Sure, you beat her then, but you also had stage one magik poisoning by the end of the fight." Emory countered.
"Hmm, maybe you're right," Ninian considered, "Still, it was only the first stage. For them to suffer the fifth stage, they would have used five times more magik than I did. Even if I had the jump on her, there's no way I would have overpowered her if she was five times stronger."
Emory agreed with the logic, but the pieces of the puzzles still weren't fitting together. In a hundred years, Petrine had seemingly grown more than five times stronger, an incredible feat given she could already compete with Ninian's true form. There also was the issue of how and why she had personally gone to see Emory's mother and father. Was there something different about the pair that made it easier to locate them or was the Apleem's technology so sensitive that it could pick up the difference of passive magik levels of her parents versus those around them? Now that Petrine had met and confirmed Emory's presence, would she be tracked as well? Emory began to get nauseous thinking of all the possibilities.
Seeing Emory swimming in her own thoughts, Ninian patted her on the back and tried to encourage her, "Just continue training. You're already as strong as I am; in no time at all, you'll be stronger than her."
"I know," Emory lamented, "Well, I better get back to the outposts. Thanks, Auntie."
"Anytime. Remember, you can always reach out to me if you need anything," Ninian smiled as she gave Emory a big hug.
Instead of running or flying back, Emory faded away into light particles. When she reappeared, it was dusk, and the last of the second wave of troops were unloading in front of the outpost. Calmly, she strolled through the base towards the entrance to find Betty, Galle, Gwen, and Tana. She found them offloading the last few troops, looking tired from a long day. Yet once Gwen and Tana noticed Emory approaching them, their demeanor instantly perked up.
"Emory! What are you doing here?" Gwen asked as she and Tana ran up to her.
"I finished helping the Elandrian for now, so I thought I would check in on everyone," Emory faked a smile, "Could the five of us talk and catch up somewhere more private?"
Tana nodded, "Of course. Let's go to the Command Center." She grabbed Betty and Galle, so the five could walk to the Command Center together. Once they arrived, they all sat around the table and waited for Emory to begin. She started by telling them about the artificial world she went to with the Elandrian, describing the ringworld as well as she could. Then she explained what the Facility was and how they had destroyed it. Even though she didn't know exactly how this would affect the war, she knew it would have a significant impact. Finally, she told them about how she had encountered Petrine as they were leaving, though she didn't share the conversation they had.
Betty was the first to talk, "I can't believe their level of technology. To be able to artificially create worlds and life is far beyond our guesses about them. Shepherd will need to hear this information."
"I agree," Galle gulped, "The Council needs to know that their magik is more advanced than ours too."
"After we get done here, I'll trust you two to reach out to those respective groups. Speaking of Shepherd, do you know which outpost he's headed to?" Emory questioned.
"He got on the ark headed towards Yuzuno and should arrive in five days," Betty answered, "He said he wanted to see Greg first. I assume he'll be expecting you there as well."
Emory rolled her eyes, "Yes, I'm sure he does. He wants all sorts of things, but that doesn't mean he'll get them. Galle, what about the Council? Anything new going on with them?"
"Lady Romanovs would like to speak to you at your earliest convenience," Galle scratched his head, "But she didn't say why. Otherwise, it's been quiet. They're very comfortable protecting Earth; it was a wise decision to leave the majority of the clans at home. That being said, Cath, Elffin, and I are thrilled to be among the stars. We would have never gotten this kind of experience at home."
"Good. At least that's one less problem to deal with. Tana, how's the training going here?" Emory moved on to the next person.
"Training is going well," Tana flashed a thumbs up, "In fact, we've integrated the original group of students into the regular army because they've improved so much. Our first wave of soldiers is around level seven combined, and their mana pools are roughly twice the size they were when they arrived."
Emory cracked a smile at this news while Gwen and Tana talked about the individual progress they had made. Gwen was level three in the Blood Sphere and closing in on level three in the Arcane Sphere as well. On the other hand, Tana had reached level three in the Arcane sphere, a fact she proudly displayed by changing the Arcane Bolt into a Lava Bolt. She also had decided on the Metallurgy Sphere and had gotten the spellbook from the Elandrian though she hadn't quite gotten to the first level in it. Since there were a few Elandrian in the outpost that used that sphere, one of them named Calill had been privately working with her.