Chapter 389: Set Course
"Are you sure?" Bethiv asked, peering at me intently.
"Yes. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I think the anomaly will help me overcome the last of our issues in preparing for the gate. It’s a mixture of infernal mana and my own mana, and might be able to act as a shield against the corruption while I heal my soul," I said softly.
"Not to mention it’s absurdly powerful, and could become a significant ally," Korra added.
Bethiv nodded slowly, stroking the beginnings of a beard on his chin. "Are you certain this ice spirit you’ve been summoning is truly the anomaly? As far as the kingdom’s best mages could tell, and that includes a ninth-level ice mage, the anomaly was just that. An anomaly. It was an unintelligible, magical storm whose existence was akin to a natural disaster. It’s already killed thousands, and destroyed many towns and villages in its path."
I nodded, and he sighed, rubbing his temples. The rest of the command tent was quiet, giving Bethiv a chance to think. I looked around at each of the soldiers, most of them familiar to me by now. Jackal and Joel both returned my attention with a nod, while the lower officers shifted uncomfortably beneath my gaze. I’d found the golden, starry aesthetic of my eyes often had that effect, with some even complaining it was like I was looking right through them. They were right, in a sense, but the thought only made me feel self-conscious. It wasn’t right for them to be scared of me, no one should be. I was just...me.
Bethiv clapped suddenly, making me jump. "Very well. And you say you can feel the anomaly’s position?"
"I can sense its general direction, at least. It gets stronger the closer we get, but the connection is clear," I said.
"Then we march at dawn. Captain Jackal and Joel, organize your forces and prepare to march. I want everything ready to go before you let your troops rest for the night."
"Yes sir!" the two replied simultaneously.
As the soldiers all left, Bethiv drummed his fingers on the table, staring at me. I could feel he wanted to speak, but his lips never parted more than a hairsbreadth before they closed. It didn’t take much to guess his question, not after everything we’d been discussing.
"It’s the same one," I said with a sigh. "The anomaly is the Ice Spirit I summoned to kill the ice demon in the gate. I’m not exactly certain how, but it developed some sort of sentience during the battle and somehow remained behind after my summoning spell ended, instead of getting dismissed. I’m not exactly certain how it escaped the gate, or how we didn’t see it, but that might have something to do with the idea that ice spirits don’t have a physical body. It might have been able to shed all the ice it took on leave as an incorporeal spirit."