In the chamber of Communion—the Giver connected to an interlocking web of Sendingstones—she conducted her tasks with utmost care. With Clarities gone, along with her Senses, all the work was left for her to complete. Which she did, methodically caring for the shrinking domain under her control. Only those Safegrounds residing within Above, still held her attention. The Sending network there remade, and order returned to obediently waiting Vails.

  Selective breeding, and generations of brutal enforcement, had kept rebellious thoughts from forming in the minds of the masses. They had remained vigilant to their tasks, readying for the battle of placement, even though Conquest had been canceled. Purifiers contained within Enforcers—acting as her voice—informed the Lowly of the change, and orders to fulfill.

  A handful of Anointed had asked the reasoning for such a shift, and each were marked for removal. New Vails had been chosen to replace the questioners, but timing had not been optimal for replacement. The act was stalled till thresholds were met.

  Even questioning, the work had been done, defenses bolstered, and communication streams solidified. What rare resources residing within Sanctums, were taken and sent to Sanctuary, including Craftsmen. The Seven had been adamant about those Vails. Any with the skill to forge Animastones, were reassigned to Sanctuary.

  The Seven had a plan, and she, her orders. One of them, was making sure nothing threatened the highest Safeground. To achieve this, all was allowed. If she had to sacrifice everything else to keep the enemies away, then she would.

  Visions of battle, losses taken, the tallying of reserves. The Giver calculated the odds of her success. Even with The Crown’s disappearance, the Anima Ocean no longer contained, and the Nightmare reaching thresholds never once enacted.

  ‘It is achievable.’

  Awareness moving through the sights from her Purifiers, she watched every battle taking place.

  Wrath sliced its way through swarms, every Purifier resorting to that most destructive of chants. Living seas were temporarily parted whenever Enders were allowed to attack Nightmares of the Ninth-Rotation. Their sizes small enough, that they lacked the Anima reserves to hold out against such Chords.

  A rare occurrence, the Nightmare was adapting, and now willing to sacrifice units it once safeguarded.

  Marends—the largest brood forms—appeared to counter Enders. At first, multiple of that breed had been needed to nullify a single Ender unit. Further growth periods within Anima pools though, had changed that metric.

  She saw Marends doubling the size of Enders, and some of them of the Sloan classification. Her worthiest battle forms were being damaged, and lost.

  Thresholds were readjusted, and met, she sent out a collective command, full retreat.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Calculating the strength of her forces—half lost—a time table was formed and sent into a Visionstone. It was joined with the sights The Seven had labeled important, and wanted to be gathered.

  She began the process of send—

  Halted.

  Awareness turning from the visions from the Depths, she focused on alarms coming from five—correction—now seven Safegrounds.

  She linked with those Sanctums—yet to be attacked—the warnings coming from optimal Anointed.

  “Report,” she commanded to the seven Prime Anointed linked within a mental plane. Trained, the Anointed did not answer with words, live vision streams were sent to her.

  As the new information settled, she focused on seven Wanderers. Threshold tallying came to a halt. Comparing older visions with the new, it became clear that the revealed threats were significantly smaller to the first Wanderer reported.

  That detail was added to the report as she watched the new threats execute similar patterns. Wards flashed, and a Barrier tunnel was formed, connecting Wanderers to the Outer Gates of Sanctums. A single Light-Construct came forth from each Wanderer, which floated and rested at the Gate of loyal Safegrounds. Hands pressing upon Wards, messages were sent.

  They were not exact, but the core message was the same. Open the Gate, let in salvation, and no violence would be used. She didn’t need to send a command, optimal Anointed replied with the correct response.

  Denial, and promised retaliation if the Wanderers acted with force. A quick tallying of variables showed that the Safegrounds were going to be defeated swiftly. It would be a matter of Sequences, if the Wanderers were interested only in removing the Sanctums.

  Repeating patterns showed that was not the desired outcome, and predictions were adjusted. It would take Rotations, or Tempos, for the Sanctums to be defeated, and drained of their occupants.

  Threshold met—Above in danger—she sent out a retreating alarm. All forces were to gather near Sanctuary.

  Report reaching sufficient size, she sent her summary of events, then returned to resource management, and watching the Wanderers.

  Refusals of cooperation were answered with immediate force. Wanderers began casting chants of Wrath that reached a level where it no longer moved erratically. They became a straight and solid line of searing beams. Outer-tiers were spent within thirty Breaths. Afterward Enforcer shaped constructs were sent out, tearing the ruined defenses apart.

  Visions became muted, Vails unwilling to risk the touch of Death’s sound spreading through the Sending web. Chanters attempted resistance, but Barriers proved ineffective against dense manifestations of the ending song.

  Defenses were pierced, and Vails sent crumbling to the floor.

  All patterns matched, the Wanderers forces were unwilling to kill defenders outright, conversion was the goal, and the maximum amount of time to claim a Sanctum, was calculated to be the outcome.

  Orders went out to all Sanctums within Above. Modified defenses, and retreating patterns, both designed to increase the amount of time it would take to convert the population.

  Giver stilled, her full awareness focusing on a message sent from The Seven.

  “No direct confrontation with the Wanderers, delay tactics only, aggression permitted when they approach Sanctuary. Main objective is to stall threats from disturbing the great work for as long as possible. All resources not within Sanctuary, or required to build our wonder, are allowed to be used.”

  “Keep all threats away.”