Innocent Desire for Power

”The simplicity of the desire for power usually originates from a single objective. And that is to catch up to someone.” ~Frein Nivan, the Visitor

Even with the Visitor’s presence, Scuti thought that dinner was the same as usual. Monarch Denis led the conversation most of the time, and people replied to his questions. Either Frein or Katherine responded, sometimes at the same time. Occasionally, Kristel or Frill would add more details. Only when directly asked would Xiv provide his statements, preferring to be quiet while enjoying his coffee at the side.

They had been all the same questions and stories that she had heard back inside Zerax’thum’s Skull.

Fortunately, for them, Monarch Denis was the only new face to join the discussion. His council had been dismissed earlier, under the reason that they should spend dinner with their families from time to time. This allowed for the information exchange between all parties to be fully honest without the need to navigate around topics for secrecy. Everything except, of course, when the discussion would vaguely involve Elizzel, when Frein would masterfully and subtly redirect away.

They were having some iced jelly with cream by the time the topic had moved to Monarch Denis’ succession challenge.

“Really? Nobody thought it was fake?” Frein asked. Scuti was too ashamed to admit it. Back then, the Monarch had proclaimed the challenge with such gravitas without any hint of deception.

“Most people just didn’t bother with it,” Monarch Denis explained. His speech was significantly more relaxed now compared to earlier in the hearing hall. “At that time, they believed I was having an argument with Kristel, to the point that I did not trust her to be my successor.”

“It was the perfect setup to find anyone who might be untrustworthy when you pass the crown.”

Denis nodded towards Frein. “Correct. There was also the fact that I’m dying, making it more believable amongst our ranks.”

“Your meiyal marks are damaged,” Frein said with a hint of regret.

“You can see it?” Scuti asked at the same time as her big sister, both abandoning their jellies. “Can we find a cure?”

“It’s not a disease,” the Visitor corrected before turning back to the Monarch. “My Mesiffera can see the flow in your system. There are some dead spots where your marks should be. Even if a mark is sealed, some flow has to be present, but yours is completely dead. Unless you have some weird, forbidden Meiyal Art or Destiny involved, I’m guessing this can only be brought upon by an abused Blessing. I don’t know of anything that can fix that problem.”

Frein held nothing back, and to Scuti’s amazement, no one else—not even her father—was surprised at how the Visitor nailed the problem. At this point, after three years had passed, they weren’t exactly hopeful to find a solution to the Monarch’s problem.

“How?” she had to ask. “How did you figure that out with just one look?”

Frein shrugged. “Constant observation. Mesiffera is an incredible Art. I think you should try and normalize it for everyone. It’s like an observation Meiyal Art but on stero—I mean, a lot more refined and effective.”

“You’re constantly scanning everyone’s meiyal systems?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s amazing!”

“You should see Su’karix and Palar’gog. They can practically look into your Mind Palace.”

“You’ve spoken with them?” Monarch Denis asked, unknowingly interrupting Scuti. She didn’t mind, she was curious herself.

“Me and Frill, yes.”

“Yes,” Frill confirmed when people looked her way. “But for reasons involving Destiny, I’m not in any position to provide any details.”

“The same for me,” Frein said.

“Knowing that the Thousand-Year Storm is alive is enough for me. Kristella brought the result of her duel with the Deitar to her grave.” Monarch Denis rubbed his beard, a habit whenever he was in deep thought.

“So what’s your Blessing, Monarch Denis?” Frein asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

Scuti wondered what she could contribute to the discussion and found herself completely lost. All of this was too grand for her. Nothing about her ambitions aligned with this Destiny talk, or the Blessing talk, or the Nightmare Incursion, or even the Monarch’s challenge.

She just wanted to catch up to her sister. But the display Kristel had shown during her fight with Frein made Scuti feel nothing else but doubt.

“Having trouble keeping up?” Katherine whispered.

“I don’t know if I should involve myself or not,” Scuti admitted. “It all seems very complex.”

“It is. There’s a lot riding on the line here, and since you’re part of the Iristan bloodline, you can’t really take a break from it. If there’s something you need clarified, I can help you out with that.”

Scuti completely ignored Frein’s talk with Monarch Denis—a discussion regarding the Monarch’s Blessing, Time’s Eye—now that Katherine had offered her assistance. She asked the one thing she was most curious about.

“How come Frein’s this strong? He’s been training for far less time than the rest of us.”

“He has multiple meiyal resources,” Katherine answered simply. Scuti didn’t buy it.

“From the stories I’ve heard, he was stronger than a lot of people already as soon as he arrived in Brymeia. He stopped that invasion from Vyndival in a two against one duel. He even fought in the Nightmare Lands.”

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“Ah, that part,” Katherine nodded in understanding. She smiled a little. “I trained him differently from our usual methods. Instead of learning step-by-step how to Draw and Mill, I urged him to treat the Perpetual Layered Milling Form as his basic foundation.”

Scuti tried to wrap her head around the concept, and Katherine was having too much fun observing her internal struggle to make it easier for her.

“That’s crazy…”

“Schrodie thought so, too. But Frein eventually figured it out, and I think it’s not too late for you to try.” Katherine gestured and urged the Second Princess to give it a shot.

“Right here?” she asked.

“Frein does it anywhere even now,” Katherine said, shrugging and pointing towards her boyfriend.

Indeed, he was. Even a simple observation Meiyal Art allowed Scuti to find the steady flow of an active Milling. Again, she was more than just impressed and irritated at the same time. Utterly baffled would be the more appropriate term.

“It’s like he’s just breathing. You sure that’s Perpetual Layered Milling Form?”

Katherine smiled. “If you emphasize your observation Art, you can see more of it. He’ll probably notice you, though. If you have Mesiffera, you’ll be able to tell exactly how he does it. But by then, you would’ve most likely figured out how to do the Milling Form, since that Art requires extremely high-quality Milled meiyal.”

“How does he do it, exactly?” Scuti asked, not even attempting to emphasize her observation Art. She didn’t want to bother him and her father’s discussions.

Katherine made a thoughtful expression. “He said, he constantly grinds his meiyal sources into fine powder, however that works. Then he presses and combines them particle for particle with Brymeia’s meiyal. It’s all mental feel, though. It’s how he envisioned the process within his mind before he developed a Mind Palace.”

Before Scuti could give it an honest try, however, Frein interrupted them.

“We have a problem,” he said.

The Second Princess looked around and found her sister looking back at her and then at Frein, worried. She followed her gaze.

“Kristel got a letter,” he continued.

“From the Letterman?” Katherine asked.

“Yeah. It says, ‘Zerax’thum’s Skull won’t save you.’” Frein returned to his seat and folded his arms. “What do you think?”

“Does it mean the skull won’t stop the Incursion?” Scuti took a guess. She had been thinking about it since she saw the letter. Frein acknowledged it.

“Is it verbatim?” Katherine asked, to which Frein pointed towards Kristel. The First Princess nodded. “Then it could be just specifically you.”

“That’s another possibility, and that’s a bigger problem,” Frein scratched his head.

“Care to explain?” Monarch Denis asked. “I’m already aware of the Nightmare Incursions and the Letterman’s letters. As I’ve said, he saved my daughters, so I trust him.”

“Trust isn’t the problem,” Frein pointed out. “Usually his predictions are on point, and we know exactly what we need to achieve. But it’s different this time. That single line doesn’t tell us what to do. If Scuti’s interpretation is correct, then we’ve made a huge mistake. I should never have come here.”

“What if it’s the second one?” Kristel asked. “What if it’s about me specifically?”

“Then we have nothing to worry about,” Frein said simply. “The skull’s not going to save you. It’s an inanimate object that’s flying above the clouds.”

“Then we only have Scuti’s guess to go with.”

Frein leaned back on his chair. “Well, at the very least, I guess I’m glad we didn’t leave Irista Nation.”

That piqued Scuti’s interest. “You’re confusing me. You just said coming here was a mistake. What do you mean?”

“Well, if I’m out of Irista Nation, I can at least ensure that one of the three Incursions won’t be here, but that means I would be far away from Kristel. Which means, the letter wouldn’t make sense at all.” Frein turned to the First Princess. “That letter either means, we made the right choice coming here, or we should’ve brought you along with us to the Nightmare Lands. And I think we can all agree that the former is better than the latter.”

“You make it sound like you’re planning to lock me up here,” Kristel said, folding her arms as well.

“Why not?”

“I’m the next monarch of this nation, Frein. I’ll fight the Incursion one way or another. It’s my duty. I’m not some damsel for you to protect.”

Scuti felt tension rise between the two. But she was utterly caught off-guard when the Visitor smiled.

“Well said. Don’t let some piece of paper dictate what you can and can’t do.” He stood. “Thank you for the dinner, Monarch Denis. Now, please excuse me, I have other important matters to attend to.”

“Where are you going?” Scuti asked, eager to join him.

“I’m going to visit Ashtine and Smyl. Questions to ask, answers to get.”

“I heard about Ashtine,” Denis said, gesturing his permission to dismiss Frein. “Void Sleep’s a rare occurrence for Iristans. I pray she gets better.”

“I’ll go with you,” Scuti and Kristel said at the same time.

“No,” Frein and Katherine replied in unison. But both of them were only looking at Kristel. The Visitor continued, “If you want to fight the Nightmare Incursion, you have some training to do with Kat. We got lucky with the Da’bloop, but if its influence was anywhere but the ocean, you’d be toast.”

“How can you be sure?”

Frein answered by emphasizing his Siffera to enhance his presence. Then he pinpointed it all to Kristel. The First Princess jumped out of her seat, hopping a few steps back and Drawing a blade Meiyal Art. It took her a second to realize what had happened.

“Oh…”

“Don’t worry. Now that you can Mill the same way I can, protecting yourself against the Nightmare Influence shouldn’t be that difficult for you anymore. Kat just needs to give you some pointers. Plus, you have a Purifying Stone.” Frein looked at Scuti. “We’re going.”

Just like that, they were out of the Monarch’s dining hall.

“You’ll have to help me get to Ashtine,” Frein said. “Huge place, and since you’re around, I’d rather not wake Eli up.”

“She’s already asleep?” Scuti asked while taking the lead towards the Sky Knight Tower.

“Yeah. She sleeps multiple times a day, especially since she was forced to integrate with my Azure Calm. She also makes up for my lack of sleep. Well, she and Nora.”

“Norazzel?”

“You’ve met her?”

Scuti shook her head. “I just know the name.”

“I see. Anyway, I heard you talking to Kat about my Milling.”

“She said you’re always using Perpetual Layered Milling Form.” Scuti implied her request.

Frein understood and emphasized his Milling without even stopping to breathe or prepare. It was exquisite. A constant movement of meiyal resources combining into something that she could only define as ‘perfect’.

“It’s only difficult at first,” the Visitor said after relaxing his Milling. “It’ll feel like you’re drowning, like you can reach the surface but something’s dragging you down the moment you get a little chance to breathe. You have to get used to that sensation, barely receiving any respite and always on the edge from getting any result.

“But if you persevere, you’ll get it. And once you see what it can do, not from me, or Katherine, or even Kristel, but from yourself, when you experience it first hand, you’ll never want anything less.”

Scuti stopped and turned around. She saw Frein smiling.

“That… that sounded like a lecture,” she said, stopping herself from requesting him to be her mentor again. She’d been annoying him enough for one day.

“Well, your sister’s going to have some really advanced training. It doesn’t sit well with me for you to get further behind.”

Scuti brightened up. “Does that mean…?”

“I’m a strict mentor, Scuti. You sure you’re up for it?”

“Yes! Yes, I’ll keep up!” She could almost jump for joy, but she reigned it in. She was still a princess of Irista Nation.

“Good. Then tomorrow, you’ll wake up an hour before sunrise and do laps with me on the cloudbark. But first, let’s see what’s going on with Ashtine.”

With a proud smile, Scuti led the way again, but she froze in place before she could take another step.

“What is it?” Frein asked.

“It’s my sister’s birthday tomorrow.”

“And?”

“We have to prepare for her party.”

“You’ll do it after one lap around the cloudbark while Gathering and Milling.”

“But…”

Frein raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, teacher.”

“Good. Now keep walking.”