Sepul returned to his form of an old man instead of a desiccated man.
“Why do you believe I am here now?”
“To call me a fool. To tell me how I am letting myself be dragged down by a girl I’ve only known for months. That The Darkness is manipulating me. Are any of these right?”
“Yes to all three. I’ve killed most of my apprentices in the past, can you guess why?”
Harlan rubbed his chin as he thought about what he knew about Sepul.
“They abused their power, killing people who didn’t have it coming with what you taught them?”
“Yes, but more than that, they acted as heroes while they did terrible things in the shadows, unforgivable things.”
“I understand.”
“They showed signs of what they were going to do, but I believed I could stop them, change their nature. I’ve lost sons, daughters, grandchildren. I want to ask, if you become something that you cannot accept, do you want me to kill you.”
Harlan didn’t hesitate.
“Of course.”
“Why?”
Harlan didn’t understand the question.
“Because if I am not myself I will hurt people, I am too dangerous to let myself be anything but myself. I’ve already made so many things, I’ve already made ideas of how I would use them to do so many things that would be unforgivable.”
“Do you believe that me killing you is the answer to that then?”
“It would be for the best.”
“Then you are still not ready. You should work on that prototype for Fragile Peace, I will take you to my lab.”
Harlan worked through that night, the one after that, and many more.
He thought about a lot of what he had heard, both from Sepul and from that man, that evolved skinwalker.
He was nameless, broken, and then Harlan turned him into a powersource for some reason, he didn’t question what it would be used for.
A letter came for him one day, with simple black letters on a white note.
‘You already know what you are supposed to know for her. Understand it.’
It became clearer at that point what Harlan had learned from what he had done,
If sundering was to clear a soul on a deeper level until it is nothing but energy, then parts of that same ritual should be able to touch the deepest parts of the soul to remove the Fae curse.
Yet he had no way to know exactly which part he needed, and he couldn’t really target whatever the Fae had done because he didn’t understand what Fae were at all.
That night, just the day before he was supposed to give over the new prototypes, he was simply staring at the sigils again, they were not exactly runes, Harlan wondered if they were in a sense another font for the magical language.
He finally stopped when his eye started to bleed.
“Did you learn anything?”
“It is touching something inside me. I think I should look at more of them shaped like that one to see what happens.”
Harlan double checked everything on the boxes.
They still needed to rely on an external powersource, and since they couldn’t use soulsmithed gems they would rely on powerful arrays that drained the surrounding area and focused that mana into a mana gem.
This required that these boxes be stationary and in Harlan’s opinion they lost a great deal of the usefulness of the communicators.
He thought it was funny that they would be accepting soulspeak but soulsmithing was still a step too far.
The biggest change that Harlan made were the improvements to defenses, the gems themselves would filter any attempted attacks.
He might’ve been making them for a now supposedly non-hostile nation, but he would be giving his crystal to Fragile Peace so she could contact him if she wanted and he spent most of the month making sure that wouldn’t lead to a bigger problem.
In total he had 2 dozen boxes ready along with schematics and manuals for use.
The arrays would be set up on their end, Harlan didn’t even know something like that existed until someone they sent to help set up the devices in accordance with their laws showed up.
Each crystal would be shaped into a pyramid and fit upside down in the cloth lined inner casing to protect them.
Each of them would then need to be identified with a number or symbol since without using soulsmithing to automate the process the box basically acted as just a connection to the crossroad which the crystals piggybacked onto to seek out the unique lifeforce of the person being called.
This led into the biggest weakness of the device compared to the soulsmithed version, one had to physically have a blood crystal in order to make a call, no touching amulets to just give a little of the soul.
These crystals could be lost, they could be stolen, if somebody dropped the box they could fall out and then they would need to check each one of them and put them back in the box, if they were cracked you would need a new crystal.
These were not diamonds, they were not mana gems, they were more like an ice cube that did not melt.
For doctors this wasn’t a problem since even if they got chipped at some point it was all still just blood and light magic meant they didn’t worry about blood types or even realize that they existed.
But a cracked crystal would contain less life force and thus weaken the signal which Harlan had already tested to make them as small as they could be and still reach from coast to coast.
The issue with the gems used for soul communicators was the spells themselves stressing the gem, with blood it was just there being a finite amount of life in each gem.
Harlan was somewhat conflicted about using the term crossroad, he had always used the web because it was the first thing that came to his mind, but if the Golden already had a term for it then it was better to not make another term for the same exact thing, that could get confusing very quickly.
The time was fast approaching for a final talk and the trade itself.
He didn’t know who would be coming but the talks would happen in a meeting room in the academy itself and Balor along with a representative of the kingdom would be there to ensure everything went smoothly.
It was 6 in the morning, ideally everything should be done before breakfast was ready.
Though Harlan had the sneaking suspicion that they wanted to try and force a time limit on the deal since they believed Harlan would get impatient.
Harlan made his way to the room at 5:30 and waited for everyone else to arrive.
Balor arrived first alongside the kingdom representative.
One of the older princes, Harlan wasn't entirely sure which one.
He bowed deeply and the man seemed pleased.
“It is a shame we missed one another at the gala, I am Alder.”
“Good morning, First Prince Alder.”
“I heard you disliked dealings like this, I am surprised you arrived before us.”
“This deal is important for many reasons, as an integral part of the invention of these devices I feel it is best to put my best foot forward and triple check everything.”
“Good. It is important that you remember how to act in a manner befitting a noble, you are a count in name alone, but that name is a vital part of your existence now.”
“Of course, First Prince.”
Harlan had to keep the conversation going, Rosewell said it was important that he never try to break off the conversation, just wait until it ends, though she didn’t really give a reason why.
Unfortunately the people of Reino must not have had clocks, as they arrived over 15 minutes late.
Of them Harlan only knew Fragile Peace, the only one who sat with her on the couch across from them was an elderly man with long hair and a bushy beard stained with ink.
“My apologies for the delay, there was a situation that required my presence to resolve and could not be put off.”
“I take no offense. We have no time limit on this meeting, should things be forced to a close we may also resume it another day.”
Harlan didn’t believe her, so he tossed out both the idea that he would stay as long as it took and that if he felt they were yanking his chain that he would end the meeting and delay giving them the devices.
The old man sat straighter and shared a look with the grand saint.
“Well, I do hope we might have these devices by the end of the day at least. I am High Saint Golden Touch, you would consider me as a grand minister of finance for my country.”
“Shall we look at the device itself before we continue?”
“Of course. Though because of a design change we will need to draw blood again.”
The box was only 2 feet wide, 1 foot long, and with a depth of 2 feet.
Though it was not overly large, it could be put together with other boxes to expand the storage capacity.
No matter how many crystals were kept inside of it there was only a draw on the mana when calls were made and received and so the boxes storing the crystals were more for convenience than actual need, one could store them in a bag and just pull them out as needed if they so desired.
Harlan placed a crystal in each box and Fragile Peace gave Harlan her palm, just as the month before he painlessly cut her, took the blood he needed, and then healed her.
“What have you done with the other crystal you made?”
Harlan pulled it from his pocket.
“I intended to destroy it in front of you so that you do not think I’ve kept it for nefarious reasons.”
“Very well.”
A touch of void turned it to dust and the energy dispersed.
“You are very capable with that power, so I’ve heard.”
“Thank you, your holiness.”
Harlan ran through the instructions to activate the device and all of the small quirks like needing uncracked crystals and a certain spell to speak through the devices, one which she already knew and would be taught to those who would get the boxes.
Both sides set up veils so they could not hear the other party and then connected through the devices themselves inside of these veils.
A red glow that was enhanced with an enchantment on the box meant he was receiving a call, then once he opened the box her crystal, being the only one in the box, glowed.
“Can you hear me?”
“Yes, you are coming through quite clearly. Now that you’ve seen it work, what questions do you have?”
Stolen story; please report.
“Firstly I would like to ensure these are made without any soulsmithing.”
“Of course. Both of these boxes are using gems which I have already charged with mana through the array your people taught me. This does mean we have a finite time to speak through them unless we set up arrays here in the room, but you could use these for upwards of 40 minutes before the mana is drained.”
“Good, it is important that even in the event the array fails, calls may still be placed through these. Now, about range? You claim that it can function from coast to coast, yet how could you know this? You have never been to our western coast.”
“We are aware of how large the continent is from east to west and we have tested the maximum range as roughly seven thousand miles using boats stationed off of the coast of both the desert and the north. This means you could still be a few dozen miles off of each coast and make calls to one another if you needed.”
“Very good. Now, before we move to possible costs and distribution, why did you do what you did at the gala? It is very rude to manipulate a young girl for your own gains.”
“I believe you know what kind of man I am, your words helped avoid me needing to shed blood, is this not in line with what you’ve said you wish for your nation?”
“In a very broad sense you are right, but you have twisted the intent behind my words. Your actions have bred animosity between yourself and others, that is not something which I endorse”
“I have been subject to animosity due to what I am well before what I’ve done and their animosity is unjust in my eyes, as were their actions against my now minister of justice.”
“I don’t want to sidetrack the entire negotiation, I simply wished to mention I am displeased with your actions.”
“Very well.”
Harlan was there for technical details, Balor and Alder took care of everything else.
He was honestly bored out of his mind but keeping himself looking proper as best he could, yet he couldn’t completely zone out since they still asked questions and requested possible changes.
After an hour Harlan started using his empathy to try and speed things up.
Emotions were a complicated thing and his power required interpretation still, but he was getting the hang of lowering the greed of those from Reino so they stopped arguing as strongly about prices.
He wondered why he found it so easy to do this to them, he hated using it outside of animals, but now he was using it more and more for his own reasons.
He stopped trying to manipulate them after these thoughts crossed his mind, he considered the power a lesser violation of their own will, he couldn’t control them, but to say it wouldn’t change how they made choices would be a baldfaced lie.
Eventually things finished up just in time for Harlan to have missed breakfast and a few classes.
Advanced elements weren't having classes at the moment since anything beyond the first year was restricted to prevent students from harming themselves if they were to use these other elements inappropriately.
He would only catch the last few minutes of spell crafting, so he figured he would just skip that and head right to divinations.
He didn’t really like missing classes, but there was a certain expectation that students would need to miss them for whatever reasons a noble might have to miss a class which meant catch up classes were common.
“Would you be willing to grant me a handful more crystals from yourself, I would like to distribute them to a few key figures. As our nations are no longer at war we might find common ground in magical research.”
“I would like a full list of who and why. As of right now I am unsure of the prospect of giving more crystals, but I am not entirely against the idea. I do not hate your country, simply individuals within it.”
“I understand your feelings, trust is on two sides. Which is why I have granted you my own crystal, and you have granted yours to me.”
“Thank you for your understanding.”
“Would you mind if I called you tonight? I hope you have your own device still.”
“I do, would you like to set a time? Or should I expect you any time after dinner has finished?”
“12 at night would be a fair time, would it not? It would be just before bed for me so I would have no distractions at the time and your people don’t sleep.”
“Yes, that works out quite well for me as well, thank you for your consideration.”
Finally it was done.
Except Alder didn’t leave the room.
“Now, I do hope you have no ulterior motives with your relationship with Reino. First you bring one of them into your home, now you intend to have private conversations with the leader of their nation. It would be such a waste if you were to enter their service.”
“Thank you for your concern, First Prince, yet I have no intention to side with them for any reasons. I am diametrically opposed to their gods after all.”
“I suppose that is a fair point, yet I wonder, perhaps another secret revealed would gain my trust?”
“I am sorry, First Prince Alder, my deals with your father, King Yggdra the 15th, require that I exclusively work through my master, Sepul Dust, so he might present them to him to avoid wasting time on things which might not pan out in the end.”
It was bullshit, Harlan only had one thing left to actually hand over and it had already been rejected.
He just hoped he had gotten the right impression from him that he kept his children out of certain parts of his work, including Harlan.
“Well, in that case I would not seek to override the will of my father. Have a good day, Sir Fomoria.”
He left and Balor followed behind him, they were to be taken back to different places, but by the same gate mage.
“We didn’t get to talk with Brother Balor…”
“I know. If it was some bureaucrat I could’ve just ignored anything not related to business and gotten a little time with him. Fucking royals.”
“Sister Autumn doesn’t like you swearing.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Harlan laid his head back and spread his arms, just looking at the ceiling.
“What are we going to do?”
“About what?”
“Everything. I don’t know what to do right now. I made the boxes, I don’t know how to fix Adina, every night I just stare at those symbols until my eyes hurt and my mind gets weird. I just don’t know what to do now. I don’t know how to handle this peace. I expected someone to go after Adina by now, but they really are just taking it lying down. I miss Claude, we could talk about different things.”
“Why not just be friends with him? It is his choice.”
“But I don’t want to upset Claudia.”
“Harlan. Why does it matter?”
“She is… was, a friend. I don’t want to lose her completely because I went against her.”
“Remember what Mary told you? It is alright to be selfish.”
“I have been selfish, I killed all of those people for experiments, I… I’m sure there is more that I am not thinking about now, but that isn’t the point.”
“You didn’t even kill those people for yourself. You did it for our family.”
“Bullshit, I did it because I wanted to know what would happen, because I am good at it. I killed some of them just because of what they had done, like it was just. Everything feels like just another thing I tell myself to make it alright.”
“None of it was alright, not a single part of it was ok. But you did it anyway, because you didn’t want them to get hurt. How many times have you hurt yourself, almost died, just for yourself? Remember what Ximena told you, don’t throw yourself away for her or anyone else, just be selfish sometimes.”
Harlan thought about it, he opened his mouth only to close it.
The times he almost died flashed before him
In the forest he saved Reet by pushing him out of the way to take an explosion.
In that other forest he was trying to make a gift for his niece and nephew, he couldn’t have known what would happen, but he was only there for them.
He tried to learn too quickly once, that one was selfish.
At the camp he nearly gave his life for the others, he still didn’t know how he got out other than ‘The Mother did it.’
Harlan didn’t talk, instead he remembered the map, remembered the class schedules.
Warding would be over soon, he would find Claude there.
Harlan kept playing back so much of his life in his head and it was starting to piss him off.
He liked helping people, but how much was ever for him? Sure he might’ve done some things out of pride or anger, but those hardly counted.
He let Blackstone get away with screwing him over by telling himself that he would do the same thing.
Then he repeated that with Claudia, when she told him to stay away from her brother he hardly had anyone.
Amber’s friends were good people, but in the end they were Amber’s friends and his acquaintances. He was always the third wheel when she was around.
He did talk to Tau on his own that only lasted until Harlan could dump his problems with Mary, then the two didn’t really talk a lot.
He thought of what he wanted to do, not for somebody else, just for himself.
He rounded the corner to find himself at warding.
He pulled out a pocket watch to check the time, he mostly kept it around so other people would trust him when he told them exactly when it was.
Tick, tock, tick, tock.
5 minutes passed and Claude was one of the first people to leave the class.
He froze seeing Harlan waiting for him, not looking particularly happy.
He wondered if it was because of how his family treated him at the gala.
“Claude. Do you want to be friends again?”
“Yes.”
Harlan put his hand out for a shake and Claude shook it.
For other nobles it was a gesture of the common people, a noble should settle their deals with a bow, preferably with a hand across the heart.
“Thank you. I need to go now, see you at lunch?”
“See you then.”
Harlan waved and then made his way to the teachers complex, he wanted to set appointments.
Aria had probably forgotten about the idea of teaching Harlan anything but he put forward a request that she talk to him at some point.
“Are you ok?”
“Yes, I have nothing better to do, instead of beating myself up over not helping every person I know or learning the secrets of the universe in an afternoon I need to be a little selfish. Just enough to relax.”
“Really? Because you feel all weird.”
“Yes. I am fine, and thank you for always being there to make sure I am ok, if I ever say I am fine just ask me again because I am probably lying. But right now? Yes, I am fine. In fact, I should go talk to The Darkness.”
“After lunch?”
“Tonight at least. I don’t know how long things are going to take. I’ve got questions.”
“Can I talk to her too?”
“I don’t think we can be there together, but sure, she says she can talk to a bunch of people at once.”
Harlan went first in line for Lunch, he had never done that, generally it was the kids of high saints and dukes that did that.
He could tell they were upset but he didn’t care, they were all pricks who he rarely shared a word with.
He sat at the same table as always and ate before the others even got there, he saw no reason to wait.
Zella was the first to show up, minutes after Harlan had already finished.
“Zella, am I selfish?”
She couldn’t help but laugh a little before she stopped, this could’ve been a serious question.
“Sorry. But no, if I ever called you you would just drop everything. I like that about you, you never abandon anyone.”
“I’m going to be a bit selfish from now on, you can still call me for anything though.”
“Well, that is probably good. I sometimes take a long bath or something and just ignore the world for a while. Those communication necklaces are nice, but letting people call me whenever they want can be pretty annoying after a while. Thank you again for giving me one.”
“If I ever invent something and then make my friends pay for it, kick my ass.”
“Of course I will, I might do it anyway, just to keep you from getting any ideas.”
“Good. Oh, here he comes.”
Zella wasn’t sure how to react to Claude sitting with them.
“Did you and Claudia make up?”
“Nope, and I don’t care. I’m not sure we were ever friends, anyone who isn’t a friend doesn’t get to pick mine.”
“Well, I am glad to have you back Claude. I think you round out the group, well, I guess Yara filled that niche of the one that opens up when you find the right topic.”
“Then I hope we can talk back and forth with one another.”
“Well, she isn’t far away, at her current speed she should reach the line in 10 seconds, at the rate of the line currently I’d give you about a minute and a half before you meet her, Ximena, and Liat. Those three always meet up and arrive as a group. Adina is running a bit late however.”
Zella looked at him strangely.
“Do you normally notice stuff like that?”
“My peripheral vision is better than some people's focused vision, my hearing is multiple times better than a humans, I can smell things like you wouldn't believe.”
She subtly cast a small cleaning spell just to be sure.
Harlan didn’t say much more until the others arrived, but Adina still wasn’t there.
He decided that before he let himself get worked up into a frenzy he should just call her.
“Oh, Harlan? What do you need?”
“Just worried, you are a bit late.”
“Sorry, a boy had tripped and hit his head on a wall quite hard, so I decided to take him to a proper healer after I gave first aid.”
“Don’t apologize, you did the right thing. See you when you get here.”
“Goodbye to you as well.”
Harlan put the amulet back in his inner pocket and a few minutes later she came in.
It always brought a smile to his face to see her wearing that gold robe with his crest on it and not wearing those glasses anymore.
“There is somebody else here. Is that you Claude?”
“Yes, it has been far too long. You have changed a lot since I last talked to you.”
“Well, not being shackled to my country and its moral guidelines has done a lot, but mostly it is that Harlan is always there for me. Even when he isn’t, the communicator means he is just a few moments away.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, I couldn’t make you come out of your shell, you had to make that choice. I just let you make that choice because I’d kill anyone who tried to stuff you back inside.”
“You seem happy today.”
“Yeah, I put in a request to talk to Aria, I can’t help you yet, and until I can I want to work on things for myself.”
“Oh, you can’t help me? Maybe Ximena should break your nose again, you are speaking nonsense. You’ve been helping me since the first day you met me.”
Claude looked over at the group of Golden sitting with them and wondered which one it was.
“I’m sorry, my name is Claude, I should’ve introduced myself.”
They all said their names and he focused on Ximena.
He knew that Harlan’s sister was violent with him sometimes, but that was a sibling thing and both of them knew there were no hard feelings or real harm.
Ximena still looked embarrassed by her punching Harlan.
He spent the rest of lunch mostly just trying to listen in so he could learn the group’s new dynamics.
He was happy to be somewhere loud enough that Harlan had started putting up a dampening veil overtop of the one already in the room.
There was just an energy when it came to everyone.
Nobles were often either reserved or they pretended to be when everyone could see them, yet Harlan didn’t care in the slightest and neither did anyone else sitting with him.