The Spearbreaker’s residual forces are protected by a series of interlaced contracts that we have barely begun to dismantle. The import and export networks between his ally forces—and even to our own empires—have severely limited our capacity to interfere with his mortal ranked planets. We have only identified a single loophole that would result in catastrophic damage: in his absence, if they choose to advance their planetary rank, we can use their world trial as a means to dismantle them.
We are well aware that his true force contains a disproportionate fraction of elites but believe that any remaining elite allies have either fled to the galactic center or are trapped alongside the Spearbreaker in Prospero Rift.
– Director of Prospero Station, 26th Centennial Leadership Summit - Cazoran
Chapter 16 – Voice of Reason
The meld, once again, took her to a strange new reality. She saw the insides of a small room. Black walls, black ceiling, and black floor. If her boots weren’t touching the ground, it would have felt as if she were floating in the void itself. Toki’s eyes were drawn to the glowing pentagon table in the center. Five chairs to match the five primes. The chairs and the table shone a dull white luminescence but failed to actually illuminate their surroundings. It was an internal glow. Strange.
“Shall we begin?” She heard a woman’s impatient voice and saw a lithe shadow claim one of the chairs, its glow illuminating the woman’s frame but not her features.
I hope Edgar won’t freak out. I should have warned him that I’d be gone. This was impulsive… goading a spider queen was damn impulsive. What even is a dao-seed…
Curiosity got the better of her. Toki pulled up her status to the dao-seed.
[Toki has been granted a Dao-Seed: Path of Sentience]
[You have grasped an edge of the grand tapestry as a mortal – system title awarded, Challenger of Dao]
[Challenger of Dao: Awarded one dao-tailored master (50 luck) support skill from the system guidance shop – claim?]
Another skill! Do I owe Kristina if I claim it? She holds great consideration to karma…
“Yes, Two, we can begin. I call to order an emergency session. The primary matter of business is to discuss how we should handle the bounty request from the Kathoric Dynasty.” Another seat succumbed to a shadow, counterclockwise to ‘Two.’
I won’t claim it now.
“I do say, One, you’re always straight to business. Why not have a chat first—let’s table that particular discussion until the end. In fact, there are other matters that might influence the collective decision-making.” An androgenous voice answered. Toki could not tell the gender or age. But for some reason, she was annoyed by the pretentious flourish of it.
Toki observed the remaining three open seats, uncertain of where she should sit.
“Oh? What other news could be more important than the trade deal? We’ve been working on it for the last year,” One answered. His cadence was authoritative and demanded respect. It also sounded old. This voice is likely the prime speaker, he’s the one that called the emergency meeting.
The pretentious voice continued. “Yes, well. We need to discuss the state of the third and fourth precincts, post-haste. The stores of food will not last through the winter. Our grain harvests have been pitiful and if the trade deal does not adapt, many here will starve.”
A husky voice—likely an adult man—joined in. “Four, ya’ve had your eye on the alchemy materials in this trade deal for the last year. Ya can’t expect us to believe ya now. And who fuckin’ even says post-haste?”
That voice is familiar, but I can’t place it. This also means I’m either three or five. The strange androgynous voice is four.
“Just because you manasmiths can use Aris’s metals on whim… ugh. You won’t listen to logic. Why do I even bother arguing with a hammerhead.”
“Half the damn deal is filled with inedible plant imports. Change ‘em to wheat, then ya’d convince me, elf.” There’s an elf? Number four is an elf!? I thought they weren’t on Aris anymore. Extinct.
“This barbarian doesn’t understand the delicacies of economics. We need to SELL them salves and potions. Hells, we’re the only gods damn planet in the zone that can make Corpse Animation Fluid worthy of the gods damn lich lords in Kathoric.” Toki heard the elf breathe out frustration. A shadow then enveloped the fourth seat.
“Heh, that excuse again. Use more of ya fertile land for food and ya won’t starve. It’s really that easy. And it’s intricacies, not delicacies.”
“Corpse Animation Fluid is a deli—"
“That’s enough, both of you.” One interrupted. “Why has this deal fallen through? Does anyone know?”
The impatient woman, Two, answered. “Our ship returned from the Forgeworks. Rumor is that the envoy was killed.”
I think she speaks so concisely to not give away any information about herself. Interesting woman.
“HUH?” The elf spat out.
“Three, what is the meaning of this?” One followed immediately after.
Silence.
Silence.
The silence was unbearable. Three must be me.
Toki took the third seat between the woman and the elf. “Dutch Eternal is dead. This new bounty will compromise our sovereignty, so I’ll oppose.” I’ll copy Two’s way of speech.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“And who the fuck are ya? Whatcha think yar doing sitting in my seat.” The yet unnumbered and rough sounding man yelled out.
Shit. Toki got up and moved to the fifth seat, now to the other side of the elf and to the right of the old man. So THAT'S three.
“Hmph. Fresh blood’s right, though. The dragon envoy’s dead. They say a kid killed her.” Three replied. He must also be from Alabaster Ring to already have the details.
The impatient woman quirked up, “has Alabaster Ring raised a champion? We can finally vote to unrestrict Aris!”
“We can vote, but I won’t change my mind,” One chimed in. “Especially now with both the dragons and the dynasty bearing down on us. We would set ourselves up for slaughter.”
“Someone kill this man, already,” Two replied spitefully.
“Hmph, you go an’ kill him. I don’t fuckin’ know who he is, much less where he is… Anyways, he’s right. Golgheim would kill us all if we moved to unrestrict,” Three answered.
What? What does that mean?
“Well, this is quite the predicament. Our hollow death threats, aside. I wouldn’t say the dynasty is upset. They are asking for the girl, Tokyo Twice, alive. Strange bounty for how unconcerned with life those gods damned undead usually are. I figured they could just reanimate her if she died.” The elf replied.
“Care to explain who you are then, Five?” One pressed the question.
Four replied, “The bounty’s a Twice. Perhaps that old bloodline holds some secret? Hmph, we only know that the Twice girl’s got a higher protocol than the dynasty. Impressive, I’d say, given how old those corpses are—but pretty damn shitty for Aris.”
“It would be folly to think she is unrepresented? Do any of you know her?” The elf added, “Lawyers also have low protocol numbers. Good ones, at least.”
“The trade deal is dead unless we find her,” the woman followed.
Silence.
Silence.
“Girl, answer the question,” the woman continued.
“The previous prime of my family is dead. I am the successor.” Toki replied. Toki could not see their expressions, but she knew they were scheming.
Silence.
“A shame. I call a vote to unrestrict Aris. We can finally force Golgheim to let us advance.” The woman voice came through sharp.
“I second.” Four agreed.
“NO! Whoever you are, Five. Oppose this! It will doom us all, if they send even a single stage-one down here, they can wipe out cities before we train someone up to 100-cap. That’s IF the planet lets us survive the night.” One exclaimed.
“You are too anxious, One. This is our way to freedom from this cage.” Two replied.
“So? What will it be?” The elf added. Toki could sense a creepy smile, despite not being able to see their body language.
[agree / oppose – pick.]
“I oppose.” Toki responded. Elara was in the opposition camp.
[2 votes for, 3 against. Motion failed.]
“Gods damn Two, Four. Ya’ll watch the world burn if it gets you off Aris. I call a vote to hunt the Twice girl ourselves,” Three followed quickly after.
[agree / oppose – pick.]
“I second.” One replied.
“I third.” Two added.
[3 votes for, 0 against. Motion passed.]
Oh fuck. Should I leverage my first vote to change this one? I bet I could swing two.
“Vote passes.” One confirmed.
“Found out she was at the envoy’s mountain after the system notice. I'll send a party in search. She went down to Mabu’Aris, the world underneath.” Three sighed.
“Why in heavens would she go there? She’ll end up dead even without our intervention.” The elf responded.
“Hmph, how would I know? I bet Golgheim’s playin' at something,” Three replied.
“I will send reinforcements. Are we certain we cannot make her our champion? If she can take out a stage-two, then she might be able to help us win our world trial,” Two queried.
“I doubt it’s so simple. We know she’s not an elite.” One opened up a display on the table and sifted through a listing of people. “None of the other flags have shown up either. We have no system tracking on her.”
They’re tracking people? What are these flags?
“Nothing?”
“Newcomer. What you see here cannot be shared.” One noted.
“Ya should’ve let her. We could’ve flagged her.”
Kristina was right: information is dangerous. These people are dangerous.
“I call a vote to kill her instead. We can go back to how everything was if she’s dead. Maybe get some corn and wheat in the process. Our trade deal will be safe, I’ll get my herbs, and we can continue to play the long game.”
[agree / oppose – pick.]
Silence. Thank the gods.
“I second.” It was three.
Silence.
[2 votes for, 0 against. Motion failed.]
“The motion doesn’t pass. Let’s see if we can use her in negotiations instead. The Kathoric Dynasty obviously wants her. They probably want to turn her into a greater undead and keep her on the chance that she has system priority.”
This is not going well. What should I say? How can I throw them off?
“Ever the brutes. We’ll get more leverage if we find the child ourselves. I say we hold off on their bounty.” The elf added.
“Agreed.” Toki added.
“They’ll push back if we don’t let their bounty hold. We’ll pay for it in some other way—they don’t even need to embargo us. The Twice girl has done it for them. Even if they wait around, we’ll slowly kill ourselves.” One chimed in. “I call to vote to allow the Kathoric Bounty access to the Aris system.”
[agree / oppose – pick.]
“I second.” Two responded.
“I third.” Three responded.
[3 votes for, 0 against. Motion passed.]
[Aris planet-wide announcement: A 258 luck bounty has been placed on Tokyo Twice [mortal]. Captured alive. Information that leads to capture may entitle system user to a partial bounty]
Two gasped, “Oh my!”
The elf added, “well… this is unexpected.”
“She is an elite. Or at least she can become one.” One said what everyone in the room was thinking.
So I have to get the third skill to become an elite, but if I do… these primes can track me? Hmmm. Well... they already know where I am though… they just don't know that I know they know.
“She’s mine.” Three called out
The elf got up from his chair and pointed at three, “You can’t call a bounty! It’s anyone’s game, you animal.”
“Enough. What you do on your own time is your business. Here we represent Aris,” One rebuked both of them, but he also stood up.
“We shall reconvene in three days. By then, I hope we have some news on the Twice girl. If one of you does manage to get her, perhaps we can revisit the Aris restriction as well.”
The meld clicked off.
Toki's consciousness reeled, lurching back into the tangible world with a violent tug. Her eyes flew open to the sight of the library, once a bastion of knowledge, now in shambles. Pillaged. Profaned.
The air was thick with dust and the acrid scent of smoldering vellum. Echoes of chaos thrummed through the desecrated sanctuary, resonating off the skeletal remains of bookshelves. Scrolls unfurled like the tongues of serpents, across the stone floor littered with the corpses of countless precious tomes.
"Edgar? Kristina?"