Broken Plans

”Yumas can track their bonded masters, no matter how far. And I’m sure they’ve taken that into consideration. They’ll be ready for us.” ~Katherine Militia, Lady of the Void

Plans were instantly broken that afternoon, and the night that followed was the coldest it had ever been. Katherine looked at Elizzel, who had lost her consciousness after she had tried to return to Frein’s Tether. It hadn’t worked, and the backlash had caused the faunel to instantly blackout.

Alone in their room, the Lady of the Void wrestled with her desperation and discipline. To Gather and Mill was all she could do. Silently, she entered her Mind Palace, the cathedral of her memories blurring as the haze of her own indecisiveness frustrated her to no end.

There, beside the door to her Exhibit, the shadow stayed silent.

“Let’s talk,” Katherine said, standing at the entrance of her foyer. The empty cathedral, as wide as it was, carried her voice across without issue. The shadow, unamused, lifted its head.

“So now that you’re desperate, you come to me.”

“Yes,” Katherine said. “Just like you predicted, years ago.”

“Mmm…” The shadow crossed its arms. “Better late than never, I suppose. What do you need?”

“My strength back.”

“You’re plenty powerful already.”

“Not compared to my peak. I need to be better. I need to become a Worldborn.”

The shadow’s scoff was the first genuine reaction she got from it. It leaned on the door, gesturing nonchalantly.

“What makes you think I can help you with that?”

“Because I know now that you’re Brymeia.”

The shadow didn’t react. It stayed silent for a while. Katherine was content enough to wait. She had nothing better to do for now anyway. A grim reminder of how powerless she was.

With Elizzel out of commission, the group couldn’t afford to make their move. She even had to make sure Enza understood not to track down her master without her. The yuma had been visibly stressed out, pacing back and forth within the room before she had inevitably fallen asleep.

“You’ve ignored my offers before, too wary to listen,” said the shadow, pulling Katherine back to their conversation. “Now it’s too late. I’m now pouring all my efforts into Frill, while keeping my promise to Kristel’s entire bloodline.”

That made Katherine trust her instincts more, this shadow was indeed Brymeia.

“Then why are you still here?” she challenged.

“Because I want to remind you, that becoming a Worldborn isn’t the only path to strength. Not that becoming one is impossible for you, but there’s an alternative waiting for you now.”

“Like what?” Katherine clenched her fist and began to walk, approaching Brymeia’s shadow. She had an inkling on what it might be.

“You have something in your Worldspace, in your Spatiera. You gave it up before you left, only bringing a piece of it. But as soon as you returned, I know that you reclaimed the entirety of it.”

Katherine was frozen in place. No one else, not even Frill who was with her back then, knew about what she had retrieved from her room. Maybe the Letterman did, but that wasn’t exactly surprising.

Brymeia sighed as if she was missing the obvious.

“You can’t hide something like this from me, you know? You might be the strongest of your generation, but compared to Evanclad’s time, you’re barely better than the most gifted protégé. If you can’t even gaze into your Destiny, you’ve no hope of hiding anything from me.”

“But you didn’t stop me, either.” Katherine implied her question.

“You’ve earned the right.” A white curve came out of Brymeia’s shadow, smiling proudly. “What’s making you hesitate?”

“It’s not mine.”

“You’re storing such immense power within your Worldspace, Katherine. It simply isn’t feasible for you to pay this amount of meiyal to store it within your Spatiera. Aware or not, this is Destiny bending the Art’s rules for you. Sure, you might not own the Magnum Opus, but how is this any different from when Frein accepted Rindea’s Exhibit?”

Brymeia switched her form. The shadow melded away, taking the appearance of the adult Liona. She stepped away from the Exhibit’s door, and approached a different one on a corner. The door to Katherine’s Worldspace.

“Evanclad’s Destiny tied his Mind Palace to the rest of his bloodline,” she began. “This ensured that my favor would remain tied to the First Monarch, thus, the Crown. Do you know how Evanclad’s Crown works?”

“Whoever wears it becomes an Irista, despite not being his direct descendant,” Katherine answered.

“Did you know, that despite this function, his bloodline had never branched out? Marrying outside is a given, but everyone that succeeded the crown was still a full-fledged Irista that carried Evanclad’s blood.”

“Yes, Tryvinal was the closest one to ever tainting that line.”

Brymeia touched the door, feeling the power being suppressed from within. She breathed, reminiscing that familiar strength.

“Then, did you know, that your mother once possessed Evanclad’s Exhibit?”

Katherine couldn’t find the words. Her mother, Catelyn Militia, had been also the strongest of her generation. She had been a Lady of the Void as well, and had fought in countless Nightmare Invasions and Void Encounters. It was a Nightmare Incursion that had claimed her life.

“I didn’t know…”

“Much like how the First Monarch made it so that his bloodline inherited his Mind Palace, so too did he make his Exhibit for the strongest Lords or Ladies of the Void.” Brymeia pointed at Katherine and beckoned her to approach. “You, Katherine, Lady of the Void. If you will not claim this, then no one else can.”

Katherine walked slowly. Each step was a deliberation. Convincing herself was a battle between humility, pride, and desperation. She remembered Frein. She remembered how easily he was taken from her.

There was no room for hesitation.

Katherine touched the door to her Worldspace, but she hesitated again. Not because she was afraid or naive. It was simply because she was curious.

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“How many materials will I be inheriting?” she asked. She remembered how it had happened for Frein. Hundreds of materials had gone through rejection. He had lost consciousness then and took time to recover.

Time that she might not be able to afford.

“Five,” Brymeia replied.

Katherine blinked and frowned. “Just five?”

The shadow wearing Liona’s form smiled smugly. “Four were from gods your ancestors have long forgotten.”

It took Katherine a while to process what those words meant. Meiyal-charged materials originate from natural, environmental reactions, or Deitars that left pieces of themselves, or self-inflicted, almost suicidal circumstances. One from a god was unheard of.

The anticipation and fear became twice over. If she had no connection to these gods, then surely their materials would reject her.

“Don’t be afraid,” Brymeia said. “These gods agreed to support Evanclad. This decision won’t change even if they’ve begun to hate him or myself. You’ll be able to integrate with their materials.”

Katherine held on to that assurance. “But you said there’s five.”

Brymeia slowly raised a hand and pointed to herself. She had never seen such an entity be so overly confident before.

“One, I provided myself.”

----------------------------------------

The next morning…

“She promises she’ll catch up.”

Kristel left as soon as Elizzel said those words. When she asked what was happening to Katherine, the faunel simply said that the Lady was integrating.

With what? As far as they all knew, Katherine hadn’t acquired any new materials.

“Are you confident that she’s the strongest of your generation?” Evanclad inquired from within their Mind Palace.

“Yes.”

“Then she’s most likely integrating with my Exhibit.”

Kristel paused in the middle of a stairwell. She didn’t understand.

“How? Exhibits and Mind Palaces go hand in hand.”

“But they are two different entities. A Mind Palace holds your memories—our memories in your case, and is your main medium to reach out to Destiny.

“Exhibits hold your meiyal-charged materials and your Mill. They’re usually housed within your Mind Palace, but they can just as easily exist without it. Same goes for your Worldspace.”

Kristel resumed making her way out of the High Palace. After Jaylene had made her emergency report, and after making sure Elizzel had been secretly returned to her room, she and what remained of Cross Irista had immediately made preparations to depart for Eastrise Region.

There was no reason to remain in Zerax’thum’s Skull’s protection anymore, now that Frein had been taken. Believing was one thing, living through it was another. For some reason, this whole situation felt like a prelude for what was to come after a year. Somehow, weird as it was, the notion was encouraging.

There’s just no way he’s dead.

This thought, as well as Katherine’s preparation, would have allowed Kristel to concentrate on the task at hand, if not for this confusing information that Evanclad had dropped on her.

“If that’s the case, how come I have meiyal-charged materials that I don’t remember?” Kristel had finally figured out what those two materials inside her Exhibit were.

Heart of the Flame Giants and Heart of the Frost Giants. Though their sources were old and different, their functions were the same. When integrated, they increased the limits of all Arts by one. This allowed Kristel to use Sandai level Meiyal Arts, easiest of which was Kaimera. The other Arts, she still needed to practice.

Unfortunately, the material from Evanclad’s wife, The Leviathan, remained as ashes within its container, no longer functional. Frein believed there might be a way to restore it, or make something out of it. So she kept them within her Exhibit.

“There’s an easy hypothesis we can come up with, Kristel,” said Evanclad. “The Letterman.”

The Princess sighed at that. It was the Letterman again. Time and again he was involved somehow.

“Who in Brymeia’s name is he?”

Kristel returned to her room to prepare. Scuti wasn’t around, but she already expected her to be with the ships. It would take a lot of convincing to get her not to come.

“No matter how feasible it seems, I don’t think it’s Frein with a Death’s Wish,” Evanclad said.

“Why not?” Kristel said, audibly now that she was sure she’s on her own. “It’s my best bet so far.”

“Frein hates depending on divine powers. Even after I told him he could eat Nightmare cores to become stronger, he was hesitant.”

“I don’t think that’s because of divine powers,” Kristel said, remembering how Frein described them and the aftermath of eating them.

“Fair, but my point stands.”

“Yeah, fair.” Kristel finished her preparations. There wasn’t much to pack in her Spatiera except for some spare clothes. Frill would most likely have prepared more than enough for the both of them. She went out and made her way to the launching docks.

“Who then?” she asked. “Who’s your bet?”

“It could be Xiv,” Evanclad guessed. “The Letterman has a distinct favoritism towards Frill, if you remember. And he’s the only one without a Blessing.”

“Huh…” Kristel held her chin in contemplation. “You might be right. But I don’t have a Blessing either.”

“Sure…”

“What?”

“You have a Blessing, Kristel. You just don’t use it.”

“I don’t like taking advantage of people’s respect for me.”

“And yet people follow your orders as if you’re using your Monarch’s Law.”

“Let’s not talk about that.”

Kristel found the lined up Advanced International Relocators being manned by knights, Guard Knights, and a number of Sky Knights with their armored yumas as well. The Royal Knights, however, needed to remain to protect the High Palace. Frill and Xiv were accompanied by Maffelyne and her four companions, taking one of the ships.

Jaylene and Kento were organizing more troops. Admiral Garm was present as well, making his approach towards the Princess.

“Again, I’ve failed you, Princess,” he said. “Atlas Sid has been nowhere near operational, ever since its last voyage. We have enough power, but not enough men. And despite our specialty being explorations of the Nightmare Lands, the grand carrier can’t exactly tackle Nightmare Incursions head-on. We specialize in avoiding them. So instead, we’re contributing all the A.I.R.s we can man.”

“You’ve not failed me, Admiral,” Kristel retorted. “If not for these A.I.R. ships, it would take us longer to get to Eastrise. I appreciate your help.”

“They’re ready to depart,” Jaylene said to Kristel. “Garm and I will be staying and trying to organize some reinforcements. It might take a few days, though. They’re under your command.”

Advisor Kento approached next and passed a list of all the enlisted knights using his M.O.B.I.L.E. Kristel found a few names she was wary of.

“Ashtine and Smyl?” she asked. “Have they recovered?”

“They insisted on joining,” Kento said. “I ran them through some exercises, checked their numbers, and they passed them all with flying colors. You can use them as you see fit. I’ll be joining as well. Verdim and Greyshot will remain to help the Monarch maintain order.”

“Alright. Let’s get going then.”

Before Kristel could take another step, Monarch Denis Irista approached from the High Palace. He was flanked by the two advisors who would be staying behind.

“Where’s Katherine?” he asked. As expected, he already knew what had happened to Frein yesterday.

“She’s preparing. She’ll catch up to us later.”

Denis nodded. It was a sign Kristel was familiar with now. Last time, when she had been sent to Minaveil Province, he had done the same gesture. Back then, she didn’t reciprocate. This time however, she knew to embrace her father. The Monarch placed a heavy hand on top of her head.

“It is in our nature as Irista to be at the forefront of conflict. If I was in any condition to fight, I would’ve joined you. I would’ve loved to fight alongside you, Kristel.”

From the back, the Princess felt a pair of arms embrace her. Scuti buried her head in her shoulders.

“Please come back safe, sis,” she said.

Kristel turned to embrace her little sister properly, surprised that she didn’t have to stop her. Tall as her sister was, she ended up burying her head on Scuti’s chest.

“We’ll be back with your mentor,” she said. “Just be safe here, alright?”

“Yeah. You too, sis.”

With goodbyes done, the future Monarch approached the helm of her A.I.R. ship. From there, she reached into an echoing mechanism that internally broadcasted to all the other ships. Keeping her voice only to her enlisted knights ensured that her next words wouldn’t cause any major public panic.

“Knights of Irista Nation, we venture out now to Eastrise Region. Publicly, we’re on a training exercise to assess our response time in case the region becomes overwhelmed by the Nightmare.

“You all already know this, but let me repeat that we are not on a training exercise. This is the real deal, my knights. Not only that, but we have reasons to believe that we’re facing a Nightmare Incursion. Not some flimsy Void Encounter, but a full-on Incursion. If any of you do not have a Purifying Stone or any other means of resisting the Nightmare, you are not to join this campaign.”

On her vessel, at least, no one left.

“We’ll arrive in five hours. Be sure all of you are ready.”

Kristel took her seat beside Frill. She didn’t say anything when she noticed the Aria holding Xiv’s hand. In fact, she wished she could hold Venry’s right now.

Instead, Frill’s hand reached out to hers.

“We can do this, Princess,” she said, smiling confidently. “It might not look like it, but I’ve been training, too.”

Xiv peeked and smiled as well. “I can fight properly now, Princess. I think I have my core under control.”

Kristel breathed out and nodded towards her retainers. Her determination burned through her eyes. “Yes. We’ve all been training for this. There’s no way we can lose.”