When used by one or more Magi, the markings on the obelisk glow with a bluish hue, and from the top of the obelisk, a solid form of this hue is shot into the sky which spreads in the way paint spreads out once it reaches it's programmed distance. When the barrier fields touch, they automatically converge and become attached to one another like magnets, and these barriers were capable of covering the radius of all of NorthRend, including a relatively high ceiling in a complete half circle which does not stretch underground.
And as Fortuna watched the blue hues form in the sky and began attaching to one another, her heart raced a little more as thoughts her parents suddenly jumped into her mind.
She was the only child of her parents because her mother was unable to give birth after Fortuna was born due to complications during Fortuna's birth, which had almost cost both of them their lives. Magi understanding of medicine was limited at best. They knew of the complication, but not how to fix it, and thankfully, it didn't do any permanent damage to Fortuna when she was born, which a Magi would call the sign of a strong child. The birth did, however, ruin her mother's birth tract, and the scarring she had received permanently damaged her ability to give birth.
Because of that, Fortuna had both been spoiled rotten by her mother, and trained to the extremes to become stronger by her father. Currently, the Ionian family was not a very strong nor a very large family, and though her parents were average, Fortuna's father refused to accept 'average' for his daughter. Instead, her father wished to be above and beyond average, an Ionian that Magi could respect and look up to, and because of all the time together, Fortuna became daddy's little girl, despite how harshly he had trained her.
She could see him now, a big and broad man, though not that tall, topping at around five foot ten, his facial hair covering most of his face but was trimmed and kept clean, looking far younger than the older man that he his now, back when her father had been in his prime and Fortuna looked up to him as the strongest in the world. The countless days she had spent with him out in the wilderness, her father teaching her the basics of fighting and magic, training her to be a strong Ionian that could step up in the world.
And the image dissipated as she heard Beasley's voice, breaking a fond memory that Fortuna was desperately clinging to stave off her growing fear.
"Fortuna!" Beasley shouted, at last catching Fortuna's attention, and she turned to Beasley wanting to strike her for breaking her train of thought, but then saw something she was not expecting to see on Beasley's face, of all people.
Apprehension.
"Listen, I know you and I aren't getting along at the moment, but, we all need you. You're here, with us, wearing that Dragoon uniform, and our lives depend on all of us doing our part, especially now in the face of the enemy."
Fortuna silently and quickly nodded a few times, hearing clearly that Beasley's voice was slightly shaken. But Beasley reached out and placed her hands on Fortuna's shoulders.
"I know it's hard, especially since this may be our first encounter with the enemy, but try to stay focused, and don't do everything on your own. I'll scratch your back, and you scratch mine, is that a deal?" Beasley offered, and again Fortuna nodded.
"Deal." Fortuna said in a very quiet voice that sounded nothing at all like her normal self.
Beasley nodded, the rumbling still evident in the blindingly black sky. "Okay. I know you and I are on the secondary crews, but, let's try to stay ahead and be there if they need us okay?"
"Yeah, sure." Fortuna nodded, slowly trying to calm herself and get some legitimate train of thought together, and something did. "But first...I want to...speak to Azreal. If something happens-"
"Don't try to think like that, it'll make it worse. But, if you really want to, now may be a good time to do so before anything else starts happening. Want me to come with you?" Beasley offered.
"Umm...Beasley, I don't mean to be offensive, but-"
"To be honest, I'm probably just as scared as you are, if not more. My marriage is only a few months old, I haven't even had time to experience the joy of being married, and being out here..."
"At least you are married." Fortuna said meekly as she averted her eyes from Beasley.
"Then that is all the more reason to stay alive. You want a loving husband and kids of your own someday, don't you? Then fight, fight to keep those unborn children alive, fight to make that marriage a possibility, and perhaps above all, fight for your right to exist." Beasley answered.
Fortuna's eyes met Beasley's once more, surprised at hearing that kind of answer from Beasley. Perhaps from the start, during Candidate School, Beasley and Fortuna never got along. Beasley much too work oriented for Fortuna, and way too uptight. For the most part, they rarely agreed on anything.
But finally, at long last, they had found common ground. This time Fortuna nodded with a more confident nod. "Yeah."
"Okay, let's go find Azreal. Do you know which obelisk he is assigned to?"
"Yeah, number one fifty six." Fortuna said as she turned and led the way with Beasley at her side, something Fortuna found strange, but not entirely uncomfortable. Beasley may be a lot of things to Fortuna, but at the moment, only one quality was shining through.
She was reliable, and someone Fortuna could lean on for help, especially in this situation. And right now, seemed to be the best and only friend Fortuna had in the world.
The black sky continued it's unnatural rumbling as Fortuna and Beasley continued on to their destination, and strangely, the silence not being as uncomfortable as one might think. In fact, Fortuna felt that the silence was more comforting at the moment. It allowed her a chance to actually gather her thoughts and think of her next few immediate moves. Beasley was right, after all, and all Fortuna needed to do is follow small objectives and do her part.
And first, while she still maybe had some time, she can go talk to Azreal, and hopefully come away with a sense of ease and peace. She didn't hate Azreal, nor does she want anything to happen to him. She at least wanted to tell him that much, and to stay safe, and give both of them a small peace of mind.
The unnatural anger in the sky continued, and even grew stronger as it now seemed directly over NorthRend as Fortuna found the obelisk that she and Beasley and been heading toward, the markings on the obelisk continued to grow brightly as the tip of the obelisk shot out a beam which connected itself to the barrier surrounding NorthRend, the blue hue of the barrier a comforting and stark contrast to the darkness that lay outside the barrier.
The first thing Fortuna's eyes scanned for was not Azreal himself, whom she could see from her current vantage point, both of his open palms placed on the obelisk, and was surrounded by several more lower ranked Dragoons, either Graduates or Adepts. The obelisk even had a small ladder and a platform for more Magi to power the obelisk, and currently the second level platform was partially filled, with an open third level still ready to go.
What Fortuna was searching for is the Junior in charge of the obelisk. It was only through the Junior commander that Fortuna could speak to Azreal since nearly all were forbidden to approach the obelisk when active to avoid disrupting those who were powering it.
Even though it was dark, the brown color of the Junior battle robe as he came around from behind the obelisk was not missed by Fortuna, and silently began walking in the Junior's direction, who was currently marching around the obelisk and actively communicating with those powering the obelisk that the Junior was assigned to.
"Excuse me! Junior!" Fortuna called out as she and Beasley got close, and the Junior, a middle aged normal looking woman, turned to the two of them.
"This is an emergency situation Graduates, it had better be important." She said in a stern voice, which Fortuna took some offence, but at the same time, understood why.
"Yes, it is. I have something important to tell Graduate Azreal, who is assigned to this obelisk."
The Junior eyed both Graduates for a few moments with what seemed to be suspicion before her head slightly turned toward the obelisk.
"Graduate Azreal! You have a visitor, make it very brief!" She called out before turning to the Graduates.
"Five minutes." She said as she gestured towards the obelisk once more.
Both Fortuna and Beasley bowed. "Thank you so much Junior." Fortuna responded with genuine gratitude as Fortuna led the way to Azreal, who was now looking around with a confused look on his face, especially after he saw both Fortuna and Beasley approaching him.
"Uhh...what's up?" Azreal asked, not at all knowing what's going on.
"Listen, Azreal, I just wanted to say something. I don't hate you, and despite what happened, I still like and care about you. So please...just take care of yourself." Fortuna said, as Azreal blinked several times and now the conversation really catching the attention of the Dragoons in the immediate area.
"Yeah, sure. And I've still got your back, so no worries or hard feelings." Azreal replied after recovering himself.
"I'd like to say something similar. To be honest, we are going to need you for this, you are, after all, one of the strongest of our class, and you clearly had beaten me at the Graduate Tournament. Your power will most certainly save lives, and perhaps even mine at some point. So don't go pulling any stunts, because we all need you."
Both Azreal and Fortuna stared at Beasley for a few moments, who met Azreal's eyes with clear confidence, and Azreal nodded at Beasley.
"Deal."
Beasley turned to Fortuna. "Let's get to our assigned obelisks. They may not have called for us, but it would be smart for us to stay close by in case they do need us."
Fortuna nodded in agreement, and turned back to Azreal.
"Catch you later." Fortuna said with a smile, happy that the burden was now off of her shoulders.
"Sounds good." Azreal said as he turned back to the obelisk to focus back to his work as both Beasley and Fortuna walked off, each departing for their own obelisk.
General Benjamin Johnson, Supreme Commander of Allied Force North, or SCAN for short, along with being the field commander of Division One, the first of six which would be landing along the northern coast for Operation Landfall, is a six foot seven dark and very muscular bald man who many would consider to be a mutant of a human due to his sheer size, who towered over just about all in the Montanian army. He stared at the screen before him, his brown eyes narrowed with several emotions which he kept under wraps like the true professional that he is.
When the war started around ten years ago with the Magi invasion of Xerxes, a move that none had foreseen, the Xerxians declared that they alone will push back and defeat the barbaric effort of the Magi and their unnatural, backward ways, with most expecting an easy victory for Xerxes since Magi had no helicopters, no planes, no tanks, no guns, or any sort of real logistic support.
However, what wasn't properly accounted for was how quickly Magi could adapt to the changing face of war.
For instance, as General Johnson had witnessed personally, helicopters, either attack or support, were virtual coffins in the face of the Magi, whose control over wind was enough to be able to disrupt the rotors of any helicopter and force it to the ground.
Tanks weren't near as effective as initially believed, and Magi learned effective ways to disable tanks, either by traps, their power over the earth, or by powerful direct strikes, with lightning strikes being the most common of these.
Since Magi had no equipment, they were also able to fight in any weather condition almost completely unhindered as well, and required no advance form of maintenance of any kind.
Magi also never ran out of ammunition, since they did not require it, and only exhaustion would slow the Magi down concerning their offensive and defensive capacity.
Magi hit and run tactics, by far the most commonly used tactic by the Magi, was also perhaps the most effective in the world, and even Johnson found himself envious as well as frustrated with their capability in this. This was amplified even more in the open, as strange as this initially may sound, and was best displayed during the initial stages of the Magi's invasion of Xerxes.
The first real counterattack against the Magi by Xerxes after the fall of Eurabrachium, the first major city of Xerxes that the Magi had claimed which was a mere one hundred miles east of the Lost Desert, had turned into a disaster.
The Magi had sent out reinforced scouts ahead of time, and when these scouts found the counterattack several dozen miles away from Eurabrachium, the bleeding began. The Xerxes strike force had numbered at around 400,000, a force that was considered good enough to beat back the 'primitive unnaturals'.
Unfortunately, nearly a quarter of this force was bled out even before it reached Eurabrachium, and once they had arrived, the slaughter began. Within days, that number was further reduced to less than 100,000 and in chaos when the retreat was called.
And thanks to the Magi pursuit which continued to bleed this force, not one had been allowed to return home.
It was after this that many, including General Johnson himself, began paying close attention to the combat abilities and the overall strategy of the Magi invasion force, which had clearly bested Xerxes despite their supposed primitive nature. Not only did they continue an astonishing streak against Xerxes' continued attacks, but began pushing deep into Xerxes. When the Magi had claimed half of Xerxes, around three years into the war, it was here that Xerxes at long last called for help. TAO officially declared war on the Magi as a whole, and immediately moved to battle against the Magi.
To the horror of the Alliance, the Alliance as a whole proved ineffective against the Magi during the first year. Regardless of how much had been witnessed, the Alliance members were each embarrassed by the Magi because the Alliance still underestimated the power of the Magi. During the first year of combat, the Alliance's losses to the Magi were at a rate of 20:1. Even Johnson himself had suffered a major loss against the Magi, where he personally learned of the true greatest weapon of the Magi.
Their unpredictability and propensity for chaos, due to their adaptability in live combat.
For Johnson, his loss against the Magi was by far the worst event in his career, and he felt that he deserved to have at least one of his three stars that he had been wearing removed for it. He had led 150,000 of his own troops to their death in an almost humiliating defeat in his first battle against the Magi, and he along with whatever was left retreated back to the Xerxes capitol Vanderbalt in order to be reinforced, which the Magi were slowly closing in on. To the further depression of Johnson at the time, Johnson's superiors forgave him for his loss, because he was not the only Montanian commander who had been beaten by the Magi.
For the next few weeks as Johnson and his commanders helped rebuild his forces, Johnson also sat down and began documenting all of the reasons he had lost, and had requested all that had been there to do the same, allowing them to openly blame anything or anyone they choose, including himself.
After countless sleepless nights and the endless meetings between himself and his senior commanders, Johnson had written up what would become later as the Johnson Doctrine, a very radical look at how to fight the Magi, which can, in a crude way, be broken down to a basic set of rules.
Rule One: Never fight for victory against the Magi. In order for true victory to be claimed, each and every single Magi would have to be hunted down one at a time, something near impossible to accomplish. Instead, it was best to fight for a draw, and wearing down the Magi with exhaustion by constantly forcing them to a war of attrition. Victory would only come once the Magi were forced to withdraw.
Rule Two: Individual Magi fighters were no longer to be looked at as infantry type units. Instead, they were to be seen as mobile weapons with heavy firepower, a sort of cross between a tank and artillery blended into one, and were to be approached as such.
Rule Three: Never throw numbers against the Magi. The higher the number of enemies against the Magi, the greater the opportunity for the Magi to create chaos within any command or unit structure.
Rule Four: Infantry must be the front line in attacks against the Magi, and all heavy equipment including helicopters were to be used in a more supportive role in the rear, rather than directly supporting the infantry in the front lines.
Rule Five: Area of effect attacks (AOE for short), are far more effective against the Magi than precision weapons such as bullets or even smart bombs due to the Magi's mobility in combat. More specifically, weapons that create shrapnel such as grenades or mortars, or even explosive tipped bullets, (which did not exist except in theory at the time but would come along later) were considered to be the most effective against the Magi.
Rule Six: The Magi were only as strong as their strongest link, rather than the traditional thinking of a group being as strong as their weakest link. For instance, Class 5 and Class 4 Magi, the weakest of the Magi, were easily replaced and the slack easily picked up by other Magi. However, the loss of a Class 2 or even a Class 1 Magi could prove almost fatal to a Magi army, and their overall combat ability can be effectively cut in half with the loss of even just a handful of Class 2 or Class 1 Magi.
Rule Seven: Avoid fighting Magi in the open field. Their overall speed and mobility is a greater asset in the open than any other fighting force. The loss of this, however, reduces their effectiveness drastically.
Rule Eight: Never try to fight the Magi head on. Always use decoys and smoke screens. They were just simply too effective with surprise strikes, but once revealed, were much easier to fight against having lost the element of surprise.
Granted, there were far more details than just the eight basic principles listed, and the Johnson Doctrine was pages of information, theories and details.
As the Magi attacked Vanderbalt in their almost complete conquest of Xerxes, Johnson, with his untested doctrine, once again went to battle against the Magi, despite the multiple questions surrounding his doctrine including it's overall effectiveness. Some even went as far as to suggest that Johnson may have lost is mind in his first defeat against the Magi, and called Johnson's notes the 'Backward Doctrine', for Johnson going backwards like the Magi are.
Instead, just the opposite happened.
The fight for Vanderbalt between Johnson's forces, along with the Xerxes defenders that were present lasted for a vicious two months, by far the longest single battle against the Magi, along with what was also considered the strangest battle to date, had against all doubts become the first major victory against the Magi.
To begin with, Johnson had already prepared for around seventy five percent of the city to fall, and instead of choosing to defend it, expected the Magi to thrust right in and claim it, and Johnson had prepared for this scenario instead.
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