Harlan awoke from his dream, wishing well to The Darkness.
It wasn’t as if she hadn’t spent days with him before, but this was the first time that she had done it in such a casual manner, nor were they in that void which she called home.
When he got up the pain was rather intense still, but his body started to knit itself back together and Coronach pulled a tonic from inside of himself, pouring it down Harlan’s throat.
It was after dark, and the only ones who noticed him wake were the guards and Patra.
While they went to get Jakel, she snuck passed into the room.
Coronach decided that he was done and folded into himself as if he was never there, leaving just those two.
“I hope you aren’t mad.”
“I stopped being mad days ago.”
He had gone beyond anger already, he spent no small time thinking of how he could destroy the Sandsea without also losing Carmilla.
Unfortunately the best plan he had was to just wait for the Cast to arrive and then choose not to save anyone but the citizens.
“I didn’t teach anyone how that aura magic works yet. But… if you don’t save grandfather, I’ll give it to everyone in the family.”
“Threatening me? I’m…”
She braced herself, it wasn’t her plan, but rather one devised knowing how Harlan was.
“Confused mostly. Why would you want to save that piece of shit?”
“I want to prove that I can become an important part of the family with my skill, not just because I have their blood.”
“You don’t need to prove anything to them. How would you feel about moving to Kor? I can’t promise I’ll always be around, but you would have a family that actually cares about you for just being a person instead of a tool.”
“I’m not proving anything to them, I want to prove to myself that they are wrong about me, and that I’m wrong about me. So I’m sorry, I can’t come with you.”
“You are certain you want me to save his life? After all, that curse only activated because he tried to kill me.”
“Yes. Even if you hate me for it, please, save him.”
“He isn’t going to be grateful, he’s just going to berate you for refusing to unlock anyone’s aura.”
“I know, but if I get good enough at other magic then maybe he’ll-”
Harlan hugged and petted her.
“He won’t care, for people like him, we’re never good enough, we’ll always just be an aberration of nature, something to be hated and feared because it is abnormal.”
“I need to try, and if it doesn’t work, then… I’m really glad that I met you.”
“No, you never need to try for them, because they don’t deserve that space in your mind. But I’ll do it anyway, if they also agree to refit the trains to what they were supposed to be.”
When the guards came in they were unsure how forcefully they could try to escort Harlan to Tatton.
“If you point those spears at me I’m going to cave your chests in.”
One of them, bravely or foolishly, did so anyway, and a telekinetic punch did all but push his ribs out his back, his skin stretched and the Canis’s face distorted in pain before he passed out.
“I’ve made my example, don’t force my hand again.”
Patra threw up at the sight of the man, his lungs too damaged to even scream from the pain he was in.
Harlan stepped near the man, the other guards too frozen with fear to stop him from finishing his work.
Yet instead of ending his life, Harlan pulled the man’s bones back inside his body and stabilized him.
He didn’t need to kill anyone, he just needed them to know that he had been holding back before, and he was not playing games now.
“Don’t move him for the next 6 to 10 hours, the damage he sustained was quite severe and his mind will be in shock for quite a while.”
Patra was rinsing her mouth with magic, but her eyes and ears would not forget..
“Patra, stop being dramatic, we’ve got a deal to make.”
One of the guards slightly lowered his spear and Harlan looked his way, causing the man to stand stock still.
He didn’t feel good about his time in the Sandsea, but he still got what he wanted.
The trains would be what they should be, and Harlan would be checking to make sure things stayed that way.
If before they could claim no contract had been signed, so they technically didn’t break their word, there could be no more tricks, Harlan’s blood was the ink on the paper, and their blood would paint the sand should they attempt weaselly tactics again.
Harlan returned to Kor and reactivated his shadow, luckily not enough time had passed for the mindless body to die and start decomposing, but it did stink, no amount of washing by maids was good enough for him compared to a long soak and his deep cleaning water magic.
He decided against thinking about who had cleaned him during his days in the Sandsea.
Harlan thought long and hard about making more Shadows.
The only ones he kept were the one which simply moved around the world and reporting the people, plants, and animals that he found, the one that followed Darrath in a shifting animal body, and the one which slept in stasis far away from anyone or anything as his last resort.
By meditating as he parted out his mind, he did notice the difference this time, but it was far more acceptable than the previous arrangement, a majority of his mind was still in his main body, rather than what he estimated as a third or even less.
There was always the option of creating a copy like Balor, one that had all of his memories but was allowed to split off into a unique person, but he very much disliked the idea, Kleon had left a scar on his mind that only got worse the more he got to know Xol and see the difference between the two men that began as one.
He was brought out of his thoughts by Darrath’s buzzing.
Since the Shadows had ‘died’ Darrath was confused and scared, not really understanding the disconnect between Harlan and the different bodies, to him they were all just Harlan.
He walked up the wall and huddled together with his son until he went back to sleep, then he remained there until morning, changing to an inactive body so he could study the Eolgi instead.
When dawn broke, Dawn woke the pair.
“You both need to get ready, Unity Day is happening, and not having the king and the prince would look quite bad.”
Harlan turned off the sticky spell he had been using, a much more efficient way to remain stuck to a wall all night instead of gravity magic, and flipped mid air to land on his feet.
“Any chance we can delay again?”
“No.”
Her tone was final, and she took a breath to calm herself.
“Bringing everyone together has been a complete nightmare, if I need to check the schedules and change dates one more time I think I’m going to scream and I’m not sure when I’ll be able to stop.”
“I’m aware of the difficulties of trying to bring people together.”
“We shouldn’t have invited those mongrel bas- the royals from the Sandsea.”
“It sends a poor message if I don’t invite them regardless of them not coming; nobody has heard about what happened between us, yet. D’if has everything ready?”
“The rumor mills are processing the truth as we speak, we’re ready to bake the bread.”
“Is the bread a lie or is it the truth? Because a mill would be crushing the truth and turning it into a flour of sorts. So does that mean we are changing the truth to a more useful form, or are we turning it into something else entirely?”
“I just wanted to equate rumor mills to actual mills, I didn’t plan this out. But I guess the bread must be the truth since we aren’t putting out exaggerated rumors, just what happened.”
“Why are you talking about bread?”
“Don’t worry about it. Are you excited about the festival?”
“Viviane wanted to go with me, but I want to stay with papa.”
“Why don’t we all go together? Your father, me, Viviane, and you.”
“Oh, and Joan and Mercedes?”
“I’m not sure how much they can walk around the festival since they are going to be getting called away for work to make sure the festival goes well.”
“That’s sad.”
“Everyone has a duty to fulfill.”
“Are you going to be called away?”
“Maybe, but Mercedes said she would try to handle it all on her own since I did so much with planning the festival.”
They all got dressed, not in their finest clothes, but in something more casual.
Dressed was a word that lost meaning to them personally, it meant to shift one's clothes more often than it did to actually put on something new. And while Harlan couldn’t bear to take his armor off, he kept it well hidden under his loose shirt and simple pants.
The point of the day was to bring everyone together, not through conflict, but through teaching.
He needed to arrive at several exhibits that locals had set up to teach about their cultures and what they are adding to make Kor a unique place.
There were some… issues, related to previous racial tension.
As it turns out, few people liked the Faun, though he already knew that people didn’t like Dague.
Since they were a creation of The Machine God, they were linked directly to the Castian Empire, and even if they existed primarily as a slave workforce and nobody knew where they came from, that link was not positive, often they’d be given the ‘nicer’ slave work, servants, farmers, accountants.
Whereas a Minos may often end up a soldier or doing backbreaking labor such as mining, Faun were more often maids and clerks.
Them being tied to the bureaucracy only made their reputation worse, some people were sold into slavery to pay debts, and at these banks one would find Cast and Faun working hand in hand.
Things only got more complicated as Harlan explained the actual origins of both the Faun and Dague.
Previously the Faun believed that a Grand Wizard made them to fight against the Cast and they were effectively a failed warrior race.
Hearing that they were directly made for slave work by the Cast god was upsetting, and he had to make a heartfelt argument by talking about the origins of his own people as a disposable race of warriors made in second to another for the express purpose of tracking and then acting as meat shields.
When the Dague heard about their origin, they were more than happy to flaunt that they were vaguely related to Fomorian, skipping past that they themselves were a failed race and not humans who through rituals made themselves better than others as they had originally thought.
How much any single person actually trusted his word was questionable, but many saw him as being very honest with his people, and his own claim to be the champion of a god had weight as they saw his power compared to his age.
That he had also changed his own body fit with the preconceived notions about the Mother Of Lies, Assassins, Murder, and Deceit.
Harlan was ruminating on these things before his speech that would mark the actual day of the festival.
He relied on what he had been told, he simply wasn’t old enough to know the truth, but The Darkness didn’t lie to him often, and she had no reason to lie to him now.
He went out to the festival grounds stage where thousands had gathered.
Since the dissolution of the UT, the make up of the city had changed quickly and severely.
Whereas before they were less than 30,000, with almost half of them being Dague, they were now 80,000, making the city majority human.
While he would’ve liked to create more cities for them and spread them out, he was limited by both the resources to feed them, as well as the rate at which a city could actually be built.
Most of Kor had been empty since Marigold expanded it from the town it had been before, and these humans who believed that Harlan could lead them to a better future desired to stay with him in Kor rather than with their own people. Ironically this meant they were staying with their own anyway since the inner wall was the actually diverse section of the city and humans ended up filling the outer city, which was its own point of contention.
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He cleared his throat and put on a happy face, his desire was to do only a small speech and then go through the festival with his family, not to rile anyone up.
He briefly considered standing vs sitting vs floating, but decided that standing was least likely to come off as him being above the people too much, the stage already gave off that sign loud and clear by being raised enough that everyone needed to look up at him.
“I am happy to see so many of my citizens gathered here in this city which you have made into a place where it matters little what race you are, for we have all done our parts in making Kor unlike anything that exists. I hope that we can all remember that today is a day of peace, a reminder that in the short months which we have been here, things can change, they will change.
This day has been a long time coming, and it is not that an enemy army has prevented us from gathering, we are not hiding in our homes for fear of cannon fire breaching the walls.
No, this day has taken so long to plan because of the enemy that lives in us.
I cast no blame, we are all products of where we are born, who has raised us, and who has raised them, and the time which they were born. But we mustn't fall to ignorance, for that is what breeds fear.
We must judge men not by what they are, but by who they are, lest we become monsters ourselves.
So I ask of you, my citizens, do not stay only with your own people, in your own area of the city, on this day, visit others, come to understand them, for it is understanding that will bring us unity.”
Harlan tossed a crystal far into the air with magic and each of the colors which burst from it spread out and then were pulled back into the center, painting it black.
“I've often been feared for my affinity towards the darkness. But if one mixes enough paints together, it turns to black.
Do not look at this as an absence of something, see this blackness as simply another form of something.
Now, I officially declare that Unity Day is ready for us all to enjoy.”
He could’ve left by going through a gate or flying away, but instead he took the steps right into the street.
Immediately a woman approached him.
Her irises were a shining black like obsidian, nearly blending together with her pupils.
But right after he stopped looking at her eyes he saw her face.
“Hi, I’m… I’m Harlan.”
She laughed and brushed her hair from her eyes.
“Sorry, but I can’t stay. My mother did ask me to give you a gift though, you’ve been a big help.”
She handed him a bag of something and a bundle of twigs.
“I couldn’t possibly accept something from her, it would be better served in her own life.”
The woman moved closed to him, a distance that would’ve been uncomfortable was quite comfortable to him as she whispered in his ears and he felt her hot breath on them.
“Trust me, you want this.”
She walked into the crowd as he checked the contents and thanked her.
Dawn approached from behind.
“What’s that?”
“She was the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“Who?”
He just sighed.
“Doesn't matter. I got the branches of a mimic tree and rice seeds.”
“Someone just gave that to you? Can you trust it?”
“Mother said that she’d be sending me these things, so that was one of her agents.”
“Are you going after her? If she really was so beautiful that you’re standing her in shock she seems worth pursuing.”
“She vanished from my sight and my mental senses the second I looked away. Where did Darrath and Viviane go?”
“I sent them to one of the food carts to get us some snacks for walking around.”
“And why did you do that?”
“I know you don’t like me playing matchmaker, but give Viviane a chance, I’ve been training her in magic and combat so you don’t feel so-”
“Thank you.”
Harlan walked through the crowd towards his son, leaving the stunned Dawn behind.
Darrath was using telekinesis, his feelers acting as hands to focus them better, to hold the many foods which he got.
Viviane was trying her best, but she simply wasn’t as good at it as Darrath.
Suddenly the weight was gone and she turned around.
“You looked like you could use the help.”
“Ah, King Fo-”
“Please, call me Harlan. I see Dawn unlocked your aura.”
“She’s been very kind, helping me with many things.”
“She wants you to seduce me. I’m thinking about letting it happen.‘
Viviane froze, causing Darrath to run into her.
“Papa, what does seduce mean?”
“I’ll explain when you get older. But Viviane might want to be really really good friends with me.”
“Oh, I’m already really really good friends with her.”
“Darrath doesn’t know what he’s saying, me and him-”
“Relax, I know that he doesn’t know what he means.”
“What don’t I mean?”
“Let’s just have fun today, worry about that later.”
Along the way, no less than a dozen thieves tried to pick their pockets, but ended up instead losing their own wallets, a note saying to pick them up later at the castle being placed where it once was.
They approached the Faun section first.
Their diets were effectively no different than humans, and because of their relation to the Castian Empire as slaves their foods were rather simple, stews, roasted meats, things of that sort.
The only real defining aspect were the wild herbs that they used, granting a rich earthy flavor to them.
Along with a very heavy use of mushrooms and potatoes, which would naturally grow in the slave camps.
It was peasants food, and he felt a warmth in his chest as he ate the skewers of boiled potatoes that were then seasoned and roasted on an open fire along with onions and mushrooms, then just before serving, each piece would receive a brush of gravy so they wouldn’t be dry.
The woman running the stand looked on with worry, she had not expected the king to be wandering the streets, let alone that he would eat her food.
“Thank you for this. I grew up on a farm, and though we never went hungry, foods like this, hearty and filling, easy to scavenge, they remind me of home. I more often ate stews, so it is interesting to see these same ingredients used to make something else.”
“You grew up on a farm?”
“Ah, you aren’t one of the original residents then. I believe I mentioned it rather early on that I come from simple beginnings.”
“You wouldn’t remember, but I came here when you destroyed a city far far away from here.”
“That was some time ago. I’m very happy to see the people who I’ve rescued become part of this city, and that you’ve used what you’ve been given to open a business of your own.”
“I spent quite some time as the cook in a farming camp, it’s really my only skill.”
“Never sell yourself short, you aren’t so old that you can’t learn more. Have you been attending the magic classes?”
“Oh I couldn’t do something like that, I don’t have the aptitude for magic.”
“Anyone can learn, but I understand that it isn’t for everyone. My own parents-”
Dawn tapped on his shoulder.
“Though I’m sure you love to reminisce, we can’t spend all day here.”
“Right, sorry. I hope you have a nice day, ma’am.”
“You as well, your majesty.”
They all sat at the repeating show that would explain the origins of the Faun.
Yet due to the upheaval beforehand, the show had changed quite a bit, skimming over their origins with a mocking tone towards the Cast for having made a new enemy.
It was a little strange to make that the centerpoint of the story how they wanted to be the clerical backbone of Fomoria, since few people liked to do such work, but there was a lot of enthusiasm among the crowd.
Harlan was just glad that people would be doing more of this kind of work that he hated and Mercedes never seemed to have enough workers for because of their expansion.
Members of the communities were told to elect members of their race as representatives, helping to bring forward issues to the city which were unique to them.
Harlan had shamelessly stolen the idea from the Plest and their love of collectivism.
The Faun leader came forward after the show to speak with him.
“What are your thoughts?”
“It was interesting. So many people choose to remain anchored to the past, yet you’ve decided to make it clear you intend to throw it away and retake the work which has left you so maligned.”
“Oh.”
The man seemed taken aback by the praise being given with so strong a tone.
He knew praise as something given either following or preceded by a threat, yet Harlan had a genuine smile and reached out to shake hands.
“Thank you very much for your kind words. We’ve given quite a lot of thought towards what you’ve taught us. And though it seems a stereotype, our minds are rather good with mundane mental work and culturally we place some pride on this fact.”
“So long as one never lets themself be forced into work they know they are not suited for, I think working in the area they are best for is not any issue, just as I assume there would be no issue if a Minos wanted to join in on desk work.”
“Oh no, of course not, though there may be some issues with their dexterity, small papers and all that.”
“By the end of the day, there won’t be any issues with that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t that the fun part of a surprise? Not knowing?”
With that out of the way, his tight schedule had just enough time for them to try out some games.
Following the work centered culture of the Faun, many of them were in reality ways in which one would gain job training.
They sorted objects by color and also a symbol marked on the wooden balls.
If by the end any of them were missorted, the player lost, requiring one to not just act quickly, but also to do so diligently.
Harlan decided to play with Viviane, while Dawn played with Darrath.
He decided against growing more arms, the pain was still rather vivid, his spells were not quite being good enough that it was worth shifting for silly reasons anymore, but in a pinch it wasn’t like he’d end up unable to shift his body due to pain.
Yet despite him also choosing to use only one arm and no magic, she was completely outmatched.
Darrath fared much better, Dawn having slowed down to match pace and then win by only a few points.
“Again.”
“Are you certain?”
“I can do better, I know I can, I want to do it again.”
Viviane didn’t look at him lovingly in that moment, she had been bested without any excuses, the only way to maintain her pride was to at least set the second best score of the day.
It was childish, but he saw her doing her best and wanted to do his best so she could understand how large the gap between them really was.
With telekinesis, he actually ran out of balls to sort, winning by default.
She was trying her best to not stomp away, and was only calmed by Darrath.
“Vivi, did you see how strong papa is? Isn’t he the best at sorting things? He’s the best at everything I bet.”
“Darrath, there is always someone better at something than you. Carmilla is stronger than me, Mercedes is better at paperwork, and your other grandmother is a better cook.”
“I have another grandma?”
“Yes, Grandma Aida. I’ll tell you about everyone else in the family later.”
“That’s cool, I like having more than one grandma.”
“That’s cool?”
“Yeah, I heard the other kids say it, it means something is good.”
Harlan and the rest of them moved forward, just in time to see the more of the guests arrive.
Carmilla came in a carriage rather than by gate as she wished to come and go as she wished rather than rely on Harlan for such a thing.
Unfortunately, Colton would be in the city of New Kingdom celebrating the day himself, though it was a little odd since the city was a 9/10ths human and the unity aspect took on a more nationalist message of their new nation rather than Harlan’s message of racial unity against a greater threat.
Naturally Tatton and his family avoided crossing the sea for fear that Harlan would just plainly kill them in a fake accident.
But Fangre had accepted the invitation and directly asked to be gated to the city.
Once the banner of Redhaven flew over the gates to the city alongside the banner of Fomoria, he contacted her for pick up.
----------------------------------------
The congregation of leaders recoiled, certain that even all of them combined wouldn’t match up to the Finger who revealed himself.
“Each of you stands now accused of high treason by way of attempting to hoard power for yourselves rather than to grant it to the empire.”
“Finger Sholl, there is a misunder-”
“I’ve been monitoring you invisibly since after our meeting, I’ve heard everything.
You’ve purposely hidden both the losses you’ve suffered and the importance of catching this target, which is likely my target as well. You have intentionally interfered with my investigation into the near destruction of several cities and thousands of stolen slaves.”
Auria moved towards him.
“Surely we can come to an agreement regarding my minor mishap.Think of the good that will come from us continuing our plan, with the efforts of a Finger, think of the glory that you would have when you bring back the ability to instantly communicate over vast distances, to make weapons which cast their own spells without burdening the user.”
“I am fully aware you are simply trying to save your own skin, that you are a treacherous snake, yet I will go along with this plan for the sake of ending this situation sooner. Tell me honestly, what do you know of Harlan Fomoria?”
“He is a warrior of immense power. He appeared some months ago and instantly took hold of the city of Kor, slaughtering every soldier who dared to raise their weapon to him and even killing many members of our vassal nations. Physically I’ve heard reports of him ripping Cast and Minos in two with just his hands, and though he carried a sword for some time, perhaps as a symbol of office, he has abandoned the weapons of people, preferring his claws and teeth. Magically… he slaughtered nearly 10,000 soldiers, an entire army gone in a single night. Without any survivors, we simply have no idea of how other than reports of an intense thunderstorm that shook the ground. By the time more scouts arrived, the bodies were being cleared, taking through a gate into some dark place.”
“And he has refused peace talks?”
Auria and the others looked away in shame.
Sholl thought of what he knew about these people, and killed the least useful of the bunch.
“Tell me, have you and yours driven a powerful ally away due to greed?”
“It was not our plans, my predecessor believed he could break Fomoria through force, he antagonized him beyond sense.”
“Explain then, perhaps I might still be able to fix it.”
“He gave over foods to Fomoria, but the candies which were meant for the children contained a specific poison that tastes of roses. It only harms Plest, and only those who are already weak. A handful of children and elders died. Fomoria was caught in Aurel’s trap but...”
“If he was caught in the trap, then what went wrong?”
“We aren’t entirely sure, the room had no air, all magic was sealed, and a spatial lock was in place.
Yet somehow Fomoria broke through and stole away Aurel. We received his skull some time later in a box delivered by a six winged raven.”
“And I assume then that Fomoria has since stopped all attempts at negotiating.”
“When we send emissaries, they are simply turned away. Despite his actions, we believe he dislikes violence, seeing it as a means to an end.”
“Or he doesn’t have a desire to continually draw the attention of our empire.”
One of the others stepped forward.
“No, that’s simply untrue. He’s been gathering allies, or rather, one ally. Carmilla Redhaven, an ancient vampire lord who has maintained lands here for centuries. He’s also destroyed the nearby nation of Drang, bringing it fully under the control of her iron fist as a gift.”
“He is close to her?”
“How close is hard to say. But she invited them to a dinner along with her vassal nations. It is possible, though unconfirmed, that Fomoria is directly under her control.”
“Why are you uncertain?”
“Getting spies into Redhaven has always proven to be a difficult task, and those that he allows into Fomoria cannot get into his home. We’ve received a great deal of eyes and ears that we assume are from our spies who’ve been captured for seeing or hearing something that they should not.”
“Then all of you are to remain as if nothing happened. I was told to avoid conflict with her, but if it is unavoidable, we will need reinforcements.”
“Oh, before you leave, there is talk of them having some sort of unification festival, though it has suffered a great deal of delays, it should be soon, within two weeks or less. It may be a good time to separate him from his son and grab the boy.”
“I will keep that in mind, but from now on I am in charge of this operation.”
Sholl was about to leave when a thought came to him.
“You make it seem as if he allows spies into the city?”