Chapter 15

Reluctantly, Tom changed his plans for his birthday.

This decision was not made lightly, but after informing King Fenard that he had once again accidentally linked into his network four cities which had previously been stable, the king was irate. While the conversation occurred through writing using a linked-pen, Tom could sense the king’s frustration through the handwriting and word choice that Fenard employed.

Tom pointed out in the correspondence that he was simply following the list of “Wild” cores that had been allotted to the completion of his system quest, and that if there was anyone to blame, it was the poor record keepers who had allowed the list of outlet dungeons to be lost to the ages.

Fenard, upon having it reminded to him that Tom was both on a System generated Quest, and that the itinerary for that quest had been planned out by Fenard’s own people, reigned in his frustration and apologized for his earlier tone.

> Truly, I apologize, Tom. It has simply been a very trying few weeks for me. I fear that trouble from Velund is inevitable. I will not share all the burdens of the crown with you, for I am king and you are not, and thus I have burdens which do not fall onto the shoulders of my subjects. However, I fear that an invasion from Velund is looking like more of an inevitability than a possibility at this point.

> When you talk to Antoine again, please inform him that his services might be required, and that his duties might require him to leave your side. I know that you are nearing level thirty, Tom, and I can only hope that you have grown strong enough to fend for yourself, as soon I am uncertain of the level of protection that the crown will be able to afford you.

> -King Fenard IV

After carefully reading the letter, Tom sent a reply.

> King Fenard, I do not wish to add to your burdens, but I have had a vision. The Cores of my Network are becoming aware and have formed an avatar. She has begun appearing to me in my dreams and whispering information to me. It was her words that I shared in my previous letter warning that the collapse of a second nation was inevitable.

> She has given me additional information which I believe is vital that I share. According to Alpha – that is the name I have given the gestalt consciousness of my Core Network – the practice of Sundering Core Stones is not only incorrect, but it is responsible for the damage that is leading to the collapse of society in Velund, and that will lead to the collapse of another nation soon.

> She claims that Sunder harms the stone and that the network created by Sundering is a false one. She has not explicitly said so, but I believe that Cores which have been repeatedly sundered in the past will be among the first to fall.

> This is information that I do not believe belongs to any one nation, but to all the rulers of the world. I shall be sharing it with Queen Gloracia at our next conversation. However, I would appreciate it if you would share the message with the leaders of the other nations.

> -Tom Weaver

The reply was not long in coming.

> This is grave news, thank you for bringing it to my attention. I assure you that I will not sit on it. I shall ensure that it reaches King Arom in Petosh, King Phaino of Loracai, Queen Clovea of Regalis, and Queen Gloracia, if your own efforts at spreading the news do not reach them first.

> I would include Queen Galya in the list, but she has cut off communication with the outside world. What messages we send to her court are not replied to, and the messengers are not not heard from again. But again, I will not trouble you with matters of my court.

> I am reluctant to give you blank permission to do as you see fit to the cores in my realm, but the four cores that you have linked to your network through Iota core are yours to do with as you will. This includes the Cores of the cities of Nashalk, Torren, and Irshen. The command core for both Caseville and Iota dungeons will be sent to you in case you can find some use for them.

> A large part of me cannot believe that I am entrusting so much responsibility to a Controller who is still shy of his fifteenth birthday, but I am forced by circumstances to bow to your expertise and instincts over the historical management of your class. I can only hope that whatever struggles are on the horizon, the System has foreseen them and will see us through.

> -King Fenard IV

That was the last letter that was exchanged that night. Tom, after carefully considering his options, decided that the more pressing matter of concern was the management of the three cities that had been entrusted to his care.

Aisha, who had not been delving the dungeons with the party but had been present in the evenings, agreed to carry a message to Weaver Estate to inform Tom’s parents of his change of plans. Aisha had been mostly consumed with the analyzing of the data she had collected for her study on lifelines over the last few weeks, and her leveling had slipped behind the others. Once she had performed the favor for Tom, she intended to return to Profons city and resume using her abilities to heal the sick and the wounded now that her confidence had returned.

She had been in close consultation with Emil over the last few weeks, and while Emil wasn’t able to give her the ritual she wanted, which would be a form of magical CT-scan for her practice, he had made some progress on at least giving her a magical X-ray ritual which would allow her to see the lifelines beneath a patient’s skin. Her current ritual was, according to her own words, woefully inadequate in that regard.

With that in mind, she intended to consult with the others who had shouldered some part of her study in addition to gaining some Experience through healing while the others saw to Tom’s new cities.

So it was that with a week and a half before his birthday, Tom arrived in the city of Nashalk, a suburb of the capital, profons, and a little more than a week’s travel from Weaver Estate.

It was to be the first birthday of his life that he was not celebrating with his parents, and that fact depressed him deeply. He preoccupied himself by forming a dungeon beneath Nashalk.

~~~~~~

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“There,” Fenard said to the room filled with the reflections of four of the other five rulers. There should be a sixth member of the council, but Queen Galya was conspicuously absent, as she had been from all meetings of importance since the Cores in her land had begun to fail. “I have read the entirety of the boy’s correspondence on the matter. I am withholding no secrets in this matter. Tom’s warning that another nation will fall soon is not to be taken lightly.”

“The question I have is what benefit you get from sharing his wisdom on the matter,” Clovea said. “It is not like you, Fenard, to be so forthcoming.”

“What benefit do I have from withholding this information?” Fenard challenged back. “Besides which, if I did not spread it then Gloracia would. Tom has made it clear that he is keeping open dialogue with her and expressly informed me of his intent to discuss his visions with any of us who would listen. If you had a direct line to him, you could ask him yourself.”

“And what would that cost me?” Clovea of Regalis asked. “How exactly would I get in contact with him?”

“You could do as I suggested in our last meeting,” Queen Gloracia said, “And send him some of your Command Cores to link to this new network that he is forming.”

“And why would I do that?” Clovea challenged.

“For a multitude of reasons,” Gloracia explained. “Primarily in that he has asked for them in order to help him complete his System Quest, which we have all taken oaths to assist with. If you cannot see the reasons beyond that, then you are as blind as you are ugly.”

Fenard’s teeth clenched, as the two queens began bickering like the bitter rivals that they were.

“Fenard,” Arom, the Mage King of Petosh said, “I for one have sent thirty of my Command Cores on the swiftest courier following the Queen of Koratia’s previous messages. I would ask for assurances that they will make it to their destination.”

Fenard nodded. “Your couriers will be welcomed into my lands, Arom. I can make no pledge to their safe conduct beyond my border, you know that. But I believe that it is in all of our best interest if Tom Weaver’s quest is completed before the end of the year. It may make no difference, but it could be that the cores under Tom’s Control will provide some shelter in the storm that will come once whichever nation is next to fall begins to collapse.”

Phaino, who had been uncharacteristically silent, spoke for the first time in the meeting. “I pledge that the couriers of Petosh will have safe conduct through my land. Fenard, I wish for the same pledge that you have given Petosh regarding my couriers reaching the boy, because I will also be sending him twenty Command Cores in the near future.”

“You have it,” Fenard promised.

“Oh very well,” Clovea said, clicking her fan shut in frustration. “I’ll send him ten or so cores from Regalis.”

“With twenty from Koratia and Loracai, and thirty from Petosh, plus ten from Regalis, that will give Tom at least eighty percent of the one hundred cores his quest requires,” King Fenard said. “If Galya were here, I would encourage her to send as many Command Cores as she still possesses at the first opportunity. If any of you still have lines of communication to her --”

“If I had a mirror in her bedchamber I’d certainly be less worried about securing my border, Fenard,” Arom said. “You and I are in the same boat, in case you forgot. Petosh is not much further from Velund’s borders than Welsius is, and there are nearly as many refugees heading north as there are heading south.”

“And far too many heading through the blight,” Phaino said, spitting out a bit of herbal chew into a pot on his desk. “It’s been centuries since anyone has tried crossing the central blight from Velund to Loracai. I fear that if any Velundese arrive in my lands, they will not be refugees, but revenants. That is, if the old stories of the blight are true.”

“There is a reason beyond superstition why the roads between Velund and Loracai travel through Petosh and Welsius,” King Fenard agreed. “We can only pray for the souls of those making the trip, that the stones grant them the strength necessary to resist the blight long enough to reach their destination.”

Phaino grunted in acknowledgment of the sentiment.

“There is another matter which requires discussion,” Fenard said. He exhaled. “I have received reliable intelligence that Queen Galya is forming an army. I know that you all have confirmed the same with your own intelligence networks. In response I have begun forming up forces of my own. My question to the council is whether or not the ancient defense pacts remain in place. If Welsius is attacked by her neighbor, will her allies come to her call?”

“The warriors of Loracai will ride day and night to make Queen Galya answer for any crimes she commits on Welsian soil,” Phaino said immediately.

King Arom hesitated. “I wish I could say the same, Fenard, but as I said earlier we are in the same boat as you. If you are attacked, we will double down our own defenses rather than rush to your aid for the simple fact that we have no choice between that and leaving our citizens exposed. I’m sorry I could not give a more favorable response.”

Fenard waved Arom aside. “I expected as much from Petosh, Arom. As you said, we are in the same boat. Clovea, Gloracia?”

“Koratia remains Welsius’s closest ally. Geographically, politically, and militarily. We have begun ramping up our own forces, Fenard, but we will not move until either an attack or a formal declaration is made. Regrettably that means that if Galya does work up the courage to attack her neighbors, the Koratian response will be weeks in coming. I apologize that I cannot promise more than that.”

“With your words you have given me all the more that I can legally ask of you,” Fenard said. King Fenard turned to the mirror of Clovea, Queen of Regalis. The final Monarch drank a glass of wine while making her peers wait for her response.

“Regalis has, like all of you, been ramping up her military lately,” she admitted. “We would be fools not to. But I make no promises today which I will have to back up with the lives of young Regalians tomorrow.”

Fenard suppressed the desire to curse. The mutual defense pacts of the six great nations were supposed to be iron clad, but of course Clovea would try to weasel out of her obligations. Petosh’s reasons for balking at the promise of sending troops to aid Welsius in her time of strife was backed up by solid reasoning. Before he could call Clovea out, Arom interrupted him.

“As king of Petosh, I ask for the same pledges to the defense of my nation as King Fenard has received for Welsius.”

Arom received the pledges that he asked for, and the council moved on to other matters.

Like contingency plans for what they would do if Tom Weaver’s predictions of one of their nations failing came to pass.