ShadowBound: The Need For Power

Phase Four: Building Command Structure.

This phase mattered the most for long-term survival. Once Veyrhold was secured enough to function, Sheila and Edith would need to appoint people quickly and intelligently. Defense. Scouting. Supplies. Medical. Repairs. Communication. Discipline. Rotating watches. Maybe record keeping. Maybe internal patrols. Maybe external response teams. Maybe reserve groups for emergencies.

The details would depend on Veyrhold’s condition, but the shape needed to exist before exhaustion made decisions worse.

One crucial point stood out to him.

Sheila could not choose only friends or high-ranked students.

Some lower-ranked students might have practical skills that mattered more than raw combat ability. Someone ranked in the sixties but experienced in repairs could matter more to Veyrhold’s walls than someone ranked in the top ten who only knew how to destroy what stood in front of them.

A student with modest Myst but good field medicine could be more valuable than a powerful fighter if injuries started stacking. A quiet student who remembered details accurately could become more important than a loud student with a famous name.

That was where Edith mattered.

Liam wrote her name beside the phase.

Edith = helps identify lower/mid-rank capable students. Has led groups before. Likely remembers who is useful.

He had no love for unnecessary social knowledge, but Edith had the kind of memory leadership required. She probably knew which lower-ranked students panicked and which did not. Which ones listened. Which ones argued but performed. Which ones had useful hands. Which ones were fragile under pressure. Sheila had rank and legitimacy. Edith had a different map of the year.

Then Liam wrote the others.

Ariana = consultation asset. Myst irregularities / environmental analysis / healing-support logic / field guide interpretation / strategic reasoning. Not front-line command unless needed.

That one was obvious. Ariana was not made for barking orders at frightened students on a wall, but she was exactly the kind of mind Sheila needed close enough to consult. Eldervale’s Myst conditions were unstable, and Ariana understood Myst better than anyone in their year. If communication failed, if a region distorted output, if a strange threat behaved according to Myst patterns, Ariana could become invaluable. She could also help interpret guide entries faster than most.

Dylan = Forgemastery + Alchemy. Repairs / tools / traps / supply handling / technical solutions. Intelligence higher than appearance suggests. Confirm usage.

He frowned slightly after writing that.

"Higher than appearance suggests" was generous considering Dylan’s appearance suggested a moral crime against seriousness.

Still, the scores did not lie. Dylan understood Forgemastery and Alchemy well enough to be useful for repairs, tools, trap mechanisms, material handling, possibly even field improvisation. Liam did not know the full extent of Dylan’s mind on Myst or mechanisms, but he knew enough now to stop dismissing him as only noise.

Maxwell = Forgemastery + Enhancement. Practical labor / defense / repairs / heavy lifting / wall reinforcement support.

Maxwell was easier to place. His Enhancement Magic made him useful for physically demanding tasks, defense, and any repair work that required strength and endurance. His Forgemastery knowledge meant he could also understand structures, tools, braces, reinforcement mechanisms, and field repairs. Less clever than Dylan, perhaps, but more direct and reliable in practical work.

Asher = field combat leader. Give action or everyone suffers.

Liam stared at that line and almost snorted.

It was simple because it was true. Asher needed to be placed where his strength mattered. If he was not given a clear combat role, he would become everyone’s headache. Field combat leader suited him far better than sitting beside Sheila in command discussions. Give him enemies, defensive breaches, active combat teams, and short clear objectives. He would perform. Force him into delicate diplomacy, and someone would end up burned either physically or emotionally.

Charlotte = scouting / hunting / flexible specialized role. Give freedom because she will take it regardless.

Charlotte was another obvious case, though for different reasons. Her beast transformation, instincts, confidence, and shameless ability to move wherever she pleased made her well-suited to scouting and hunting. But she needed freedom. Not because she deserved more than others, though she might argue that, but because trying to tightly restrict Charlotte would waste energy. She would create room for herself whether approved or not. Better to make that freedom useful than pretend command could hold her like an ordinary unit piece.

Liam looked over the list and nodded faintly.

Phase Five: Objectives and Judgment.

This was the tricky part.

Thion’s explanation confirmed something Liam liked more than he expected: the academy was not rewarding blind obedience. Objectives might be urgent, distracting, or dangerous if accepted at the wrong time. That meant the test was not about completing everything like obedient little students chasing marks. It was about judgment. Sheila would need to learn how to say no without looking weak.

A commander who accepted everything became predictable and exhausted.

A commander who refused everything looked afraid.

The key was justification.

Liam underlined the word.

Justification.

That brought him to the Command Log.

He personally found the idea tedious. Writing down every major decision, supply count, injury, discipline issue, scouting report, and objective reason sounded like exactly the kind of task that turned leadership into paperwork with witnesses. But he understood its value.

A decision with no record could be twisted later. A punishment with no reason could look personal. A delayed objective with no explanation could look like cowardice. If supplies ran low, record counts. If a scouting team found a threat, record location and behavior. If someone was extracted, record circumstances. If they rejected an objective, write why.

Boring.

Necessary.

"Terrible combination," Liam muttered.

Then he considered who should be scribe.

Ariana came to mind first, but he rejected making her the only answer. Her mind was too useful for broader consultation, and burying her in writing all day might be wasteful. She could supervise the logic of records or help with important entries, but a dedicated scribe might need to be someone precise, steady, and less likely to be needed in immediate field functions.

Felix Armand. Celia Roanne.

They had placed second and third in theory. Felix was known for precision. Celia was quiet but academically excellent, and Water Magic students often had enough support training to understand injuries and supply relevance. Either could write clearly. Ariana could review if needed. Edith would know which one was more reliable under pressure.

He wrote:

Scribe candidates: Ariana / Felix Armand / Celia Roanne. Prefer clarity + calm + availability. Ariana may be too valuable elsewhere.

With the larger phases laid out, Liam turned his attention back to himself.

He pulled the Bastion guide closer and reread it, not the way most students likely would. Most would memorize threat names, appearances, and danger rankings because names made fear easier to organize. Liam cared less about names and more about patterns.

Where did threats appear? How did they hunt? What terrain favored them? What signs appeared before contact? What did they avoid? Which ones responded to sound, Myst output, blood, movement, heat, or light? Which ones moved in packs? Which stalked? Which hid? Which should be avoided rather than fought? Which ones created information problems instead of direct combat problems?

A brute creature was simple. Dangerous, but simple.

Information-disrupting threats were worse.

He lingered over any creature described as ambushing, stalking, mimicking sounds, hiding underground, nesting inside structures, or interfering with communication. A straightforward beast charging a wall could be handled with strength, formation, and firepower. A creature that split students, made them chase false voices, collapsed routes beneath their feet, or distorted signals could create deaths before combat even became honest.

He made notes beside the guide’s threat entries.

Hollowbacks: terrain concealment near fallen trees / damp ground. Avoid careless movement near rotting cover. Probe before stepping.

Vein Crawlers: root systems / old stone / underground approach. Movement vibration? Avoid clustering near exposed roots.

Glassmaws: visual distortion? Ambush risk. Confirm reflections / light behavior. Do not chase movement without second confirmation.

Choir Demons: sound mimicry likely. Establish call-and-response before deployment. Do not follow familiar voice without verification.

Mourning Giants: brute threat. Avoid unless necessary. Slow? Terrain exploitation.

He paused at the name Choir Demons and tapped the parchment.

"Call-and-response matters," he said.

That was something Sheila should establish. A simple phrase and answer. Something not obvious. Something every student could remember but hostile mimicry would not easily guess from hearing one side. If a creature mimicked a student’s voice, a response check could save lives. Unless the creature was smarter than the guide implied. In that case, they needed layered signals.

He wrote it down anyway.

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