The next morning, Vadeen exited his room to the sight of several other fellow soldiers leaving the barracks. He walked alongside them down the mahogany-colored hall, though he sensed others much further ahead.
At an intersection, upon the wall before him hung a large silver plaque upon which names of prestigious soldiers of centuries past were etched. His gaze swept over it, and he turned to his right leading to the bracket's entrance.
Upon exiting the barracks and seeing the dim blue light of day, he stopped to stare at the heavens. Past the large black structure that made up the plane of Garwados and from the blue water of the sky, the telltale whirlpool indicating the descent of the indrahti formed in the heavens. He scowled and traveled quickly to his bracket's central grounds.
Messengers and soldiers ran left and right in the concourses. While the activity seemed governed, his fellow comrades' expressions reminded him of the urgency of the situation. He walked into one of many parallel rooms from within a wide hall. Inside the long rectangular space, several of the other second lieutenants sat with a space between them along the left and right walls upon ruby-red seats and behind small tables.
He moved to sit, and he hadn't even crossed his legs before angry forōs appeared in the doorway.
The captain and lieutenant of the 22nd Bracket stepped inside. Their captain gazed around the room with a stern expression and moved to stand in the center of the room.
"Officers," she curtly greeted. "I'm not going to repeat these words, so be ready to pass them on to the others who are not present. I received a message from the Sanyerō informing us the Tenk'ha does not intend on complying with whatever the envoys request of us."
Vadeen could have scoffed. He expected nothing less from his empress.
"I want Units 1-3 on standby, Units 4-6 to the Gate, and the remainders will obey orders from Laokar." She nodded at Soren, then looked at each of them with a glare in her eye. "No. Fucking. Fuckups. As far as things stand, we are under the Wartime Disposition and severely hostile affairs with the indrahti. Understood?"
"Understood, Sebuan!"
She swept out of the room, shouting, "Senzei'ō[1]!"
On their feet, Vadeen and his comrades shouted their affirmative before disappearing to their ordered positions. He called out and led his soldiers of Unit 5.
Within moments, they sped over the land, practically flying at their pace. With his hand resting on the hilt of his sword, he kept looking at the sky. By his approximations, the whirlpool's size must have been large enough that the entire plane could see it. The thought made his scowl worsen.
He glanced to his right. Zhen, leader of Unit 6, appeared a short distance beside him. They exchanged glances before looking forward.
Before long, they arrived at their destination. The Janchitei, his and his unit's designated spot in case of an invasion, already had several figures standing before the entrance. Briefly, he glanced at the massive white wall to his left to see the Janchitei's doors close.
He came to a dead halt just paces from one of the figures upon recognizing her. Without being told, he went down on a knee and lowered his head. He heard his companions do the same. "Sanyerō!"
Shifting sounds indicated movement. "Rise," she ordered.
Returning to his feet, Vadeen raised his head to see her and Captain Arauśō looking up. He followed their gaze.
Something was falling from the sky.
He called out, ordering his Unit to ready their armaments, as did Zhen. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the Unit 4 leader, Soha, do the same. Their captain appeared shortly and moved to stand with the General Commander and Captain Arauśō.
He sensed the tension from his comrades as they watched several things fall from the whirlpool. Even at a distance, he could see there weren't many, nowhere near an army's worth or even a handful. Confused, he slightly narrowed his eyes.
The forms of three creatures steadily neared the ground. His eyes widened with vague recognition. Instead of the Court's entry, the creatures landed at the last quarter of the main street before the Court itself. Before he had a chance to truly observe them, a burst of fire seemed to ease their fall, and then the creatures dissipated into light smoke.
All left behind were two individuals whose features he couldn't make out from his distance to them. He could see the forms of several faifethi soldiers nearer to the two figures in addition to those belonging to captains. For several moments, they at the Gate waited, watching an interaction occur between the captains and the two indrahti.
Tightly grasping the hilt of his sword, he readied for the best of the worst.
The indrahti were closely followed by other soldiers, namely the captains of the 1st and 2nd Brackets, Tiên Kulko and Meré Barahi. When they arrived at the gate, the envoys bowed their heads at General Commander Wukai.
One dressed in white and blue said, "Peace, Sanyerō Wukai. I am Obaid Karimi; my companion, Ashara Qadir. We come at the behest of Raj-Mukor Aler'Pencar who wishes for a treaty between our people. The history between our kind is a violent one, but we are willing to attempt peace once more."
Captain Arauśō shook his head. "Our attempts for peace in the past failed horribly," he reminded.
"Indeed," General Commander Wukai agreed. She rested her arm over her sai hilt. "It would be best for you to leave; your presence alone is considered hostile."
The other envoy, who seemed to wear nothing more than a simple long white dress and matching headdress, gave her head a slight shake. "We will not leave until we have spoken to the Tenk'ha. We will concede to all the guards and securities you desire."
"You would concede," Captain Wasihl scoffed, "to being in the presence of all your enemies, surrounded at once?"
"If it would allow us to stand before the Tenk'ha, yes," said Qadir.
A powerful presence neared them, sending a chill of shock down Vadeen's spine. At once, all the soldiers, including the captains, lowered to one knee.
The High General, Royal Protector of the Empress, Udrah Zholä, appeared between the indrahti and the blockade. "Agreed," she said.
Her words were the words of the Empress, and so no one made even the slightest sound of disagreement.
"You will be allowed to enter the Mujahl and stand before our Tenk'ha on one condition: Leave your familiars behind, encaged."
"We agree to this condition," said Karimi.
Something shifted. "Rise."
Vadeen and his comrades stood.
What greeted his sight were the forms of two creatures that materialized on or beside their indrahti partners; in Qadir's arms appeared a chimpanzee and at Karimi's side stood a porcupine. Both animals appeared to be young.
These were examples of the dormant forms indrahti familiars had. He had never seen them so harmless-looking before.
Without prompt, the monkey lowered to the floor and the porcupine moved from Karimi's side. Together in such inert states, they looked just as harmless as the animals they appeared to be.
It was jarring.
High General Zholä turned to the captains and General Commander Wukai. "Wukai, Barahi, and Wasihl," she commanded.
"Understood," they chorused, moving aside to let her pass.
The soldiers did the same, their heads bowed.
Turning to her bracket, Yua nodded. "You with me," she said, motioning to Zhen and Vadeen.
Externally, Vadeen did nothing more than acknowledge her. Internally, he couldn't believe his captain would allow him to witness this historical event up close.
The group wasted no time to begin the long trek from the Gate to the Palace. The gates to the Janchitei were already opening, and upon entering, they did not linger. They had a considerably long distance to cover from there to the palace, Vadeen realized, despite the fact they were using jūryovā and the indrahti used aragūth, their species' high-speed technique.
Their group remained pin-drop silent as they ran. Likewise, the court itself had lost all energy. Everyone lacked a single smile and made not a single noise or great activity. Everything had been suspended. Every noble, if they were about, had at least two members of the Noble Guard near them. While they did not scamper nor show visible signs of fear, the nobles gave the envoys looks of disdain and scorn.
Vadeen nearly held his breath. It would only take one foolish person to do something and all would come undone.
They arrived at the palace entrance without delay. As the Rākhirah Palace stood below the entrance to the Wasihl orbital palace, Wasihl Khalilf stood at every turn of the head wearing expressions of distrust and aversion. When asked to relieve their weapons, the indrahti started to speak to the guards, but Vadeen couldn't see if they had anything on them as his captain turned to talk to him.
"Vadeen, break form," she said, prompting him to lower his hand from his sword. She beckoned to the palace entrance. "You'll be coming in as a member of our dynasty."
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He blinked in surprise but nodded. "Alright." He glanced at Zhen who just briefly returned the exchange before looking forward.
He then walked inside alongside his mother into the Wasihl Compound. Only then did he wonder where Abramu was.
They slowed to walking at a normal pace upon entering. At every corner, a member of the Khalilf stared after them with glowing green or, in the case of Zholä Khalilf, lavender eyes. He could sense at least five of them following from behind.
After quietly navigating through numerous halls with outrageously tall ceilings, much like the other orbital palaces, they entered the throne room.
The room had elaborate colors of reds, blues, and gold draped in every corner, and precious stones were embedded into the very architecture itself. Tapestries with the Faifeleth country symbol and symbols of their deity Sahī hung from designated locations making it so every direction signified, in some way or form, the faifeth.
Simply being there gave Vadeen a sense of pride and purpose.
Simply being there also gave him a headache from the power exuding from the other side of the room.
Knowing his etiquette, without direction, he and his mother walked to the center of the large space to bow before the Empress. They then took four steps back before walking to sit in the chairs near the left wall.
From where he stood, he had a perfect view of the envoys as they entered with their guard, the rest of his family, and the Khalilf who had stalked from behind. More bows were given to the Empress, and others came to sit with Vadeen. Those who did not sit were the High General Zholä and the General Commander. Wukai stood behind the indrahti who had walked into the center of the space.
High General Zholä simply appeared at her designated position opposite the other High General, Hadir Wasihl. Between them, slightly cross-legged on a large golden seat, sat none other than their Empress, Saynab Rākhirah.
The power emitting from the three of them—the Empress and her High Generals—nearly made Vadeen stagger. It took concentrated effort to think straight.
He only briefly glanced at his empress in all her golden and red majesty, vermilion eyes hard and glowing with power, before averting his gaze. Watching the envoys was far more interesting, he quickly decided.
Instead of kneeling, the envoys bowed their heads once and then sat on their knees or cross-legged. Vadeen figured they showed respect this way.
"Rākhirah'ha," said Karimi, "at the behest of Raj-Mukor[2] Aler'Pencar of Indurat, we offer the hand of peace on behalf of our people for both our planes."
Following a short hum, the empress softly chuckled. "Why should we try for peace now, so soon after my people were nearly assassinated by yours?" Her words were a quiet demand. "We want nothing to do with you indrahti."
"With all respect, Tenk'ha," said Karimi, "we understand you plan to declare war on our people."
The vermilion eyes narrowed.
Vadeen frowned. He had heard of the possibility of spies in Sahīleth but this nearly confirmed it.
"We also understand you are not aware of the true reason for the events that have happened in the past several days," Karimi continued.
"True reason?" the Empress asked with a snarl.
He nodded. "Yes. Rhasti Zafahr is the reason we wish for peace."
The Empress' expression somewhat eased before deep confusion clouded it. Shortly, it became a simmering anger. "You had better have a good reason for sullying one of my deceased sebuani names."
"We do." Qadir slightly frowned. "One of our spies died during an investigation of Garwados. While we do not know her last exact location, she managed to report to us before her death that the individuals she came upon were none other than Zafahr himself along with a person dressed in white."
Vadeen tightly grasped the arms of his chair. The Dōl-Rangī...and...Zafahr-sebuan?
The Empress laughed. "You expect me to believe the word of a spy?"
The envoys appeared to expect this response, nodding. "We have no reason to lie, Tenk'ha. What would lying about one of your sebuani accomplish for us—especially if he is truly deceased?" asked Qadir. "Raj-Mukor Aler'Pencar wishes nothing more than to at the very least investigate this as a unit. We believe Zafahr is not only still alive but may be far more dangerous than he seemed while acting as a sebuan of the Malaki Raja'shun."
The Empress shook her head. "No, envoy. There are no conspiracies amongst my people, no internal machinations that would result in being fooled into fighting you indrahti." Moving to stand, her expression lacked all serenity. "Indrahti and faifethi have fought since the beginning of our existences due to your kind's greed. Your Ali'Gäsäi[3] is missing, as she has been for centuries, your Kaihola[4] cannot even control her own people from terrorizing innocents, and thus we cannot trust you."
Much to Vadeen's surprise, the envoy's faces lacked anger. They instead expressed sadness.
The Empress raised her head, taking a step down from the dais. "No, we will not make peace with you perka'dari. Your sovereigns have the gall to send you, have you stride in here with your heads high, in an attempt to make me doubt my people, question their loyalty to me."
"The terrorist attacks that have assaulted Sahīleth in the past several centuries were not done by our own," said Karimi. "We have investigated and learned those were fringe groups of a larger organization."
As the empress narrowed her eyes, Hadir growled, "That doesn't account for the periods of centuries before these machinations."
Qadir deeply exhaled, "We can rightfully argue over the specifics of our kinds' hatred towards one another for epochs—"
A sudden rumble interrupted her. All went silent, and the tremor made everyone's senses spread through the throne room.
Vadeen looked at the floor, then back at his empress just when she closed her eyes with an irate exhale. Simultaneously, both the High Generals scowled deeply towards the envoys.
There was another rumble, louder, closer, and several Imperial Guards disappeared from the room, likely to investigate.
Not a second after most left the room, the Imperial Guard Captain burst inside with wide eyes. "Tenk'ha! There has been an explosion near the Janchitei!" she shouted.
"This is not our doing," said Qadir. Her voice wavered with concern, and Vadeen had the strangest inclination to believe her.
It meant nothing, however, as the High Generals' hands slowly moved to their weapons. Simultaneously, the room rumbled perilously, causing dust to fall from the ceiling and for Vadeen to sway in his chair from the abrupt power rising from the other side of the room.
In one moment, he trembled as he felt the rage of his empress.
An explosion of fire and a loud, hollow crack nearly blew out his eardrums while thrown out of his chair the next.
Landing hard against the wall, he had nary a chance to reorient himself before a large piece of debris from the explosion flew toward him. His eyes widened, but he had enough time to spin down to the floor, missing it.
Around him, chaos erupted, far too much for him to clearly make everything out. Jarring hisses sounded off around him as hydromancy began to put out fires, but his true attention went to the presence of powerful beings nearing the palace at an unbelievable speed.
He had just seconds after turning to the throne room doors to jump as one flew towards him, breaking the wall behind him. When he landed, animalistic shrieks brought his eyes to the monstrous creatures that had entered. They were similar to that of a porcupine and an ape. He barely recognized them as they were but identified them.
The indrahti familiars...?
"Vadeen!"
He turned and saw Soha approach him. She had also unsheathed her sword and bled from a head wound.
Vadeen opened his mouth to call her, but a green-clad figure sped between them, cutting deeply into Soha's arm. As she cried out, Vadeen glared after and speedily followed the figure.
"W-wait! Vadeen! Our communicators are down!"
He ignored the call, quickly slicing the air to send a wave of boiling water and energy toward the green figure. They glanced back and had a second to spare, jumping into the air with a burst of fire at their feet. That brought them out of the throne room and into a wide hall.
Scowling, he pursued them, blinking the smoke out of his eyes. The cleaner air gave him—and them—a burst of speed, and he didn't bother calling out for them to stop.
"This doesn't feel right."
He was almost startled by the familiar voice within, but he quickly recovered, sliding and dodging out of the path of several wooden projectiles thrown his way. "How? It's an indraht!"
"Is anyone else following?"
Reaching with his senses, he frowned upon indeed sensing at least one person several measures behind him. His frown worsened when he recognized who it was. "Yeah, and?"
The voice receded, confusing him, so he focused on his pursuit.
The speed of the culprit surpassed his, and they clearly used a different speed technique than his. He could see how they appeared to fly or hover over the floor without moving their feet; it seemed almost literal. He caught sight of a reddish eye when they glanced back upon turning a corner. He then couldn't deny it.
They were leading him somewhere.
A cracking beneath his feet prompted him to look down, but he didn't stop running even as the floor before him rose to the ceiling, creating a slope for him to climb up. Yet this divided him from the indraht. He scowled, then noticed an opening just large enough for him to get through and he jumped up to slide in.
It immediately closed behind him, and the scene before him would have made him freeze in midair if he could. Instead, he had no choice but to fall to the floor before the person who stood between him and the dead body of the indraht.
He remained in a kneeled position, exhaling with relief. "Yerō[5]," he said, bowing his head.
"Rise."
As he began to stand, he sensed the need to dodge. Rolling to the left, he looked up to see the general had thrown a metal pike that impaled the wall where he stood just seconds before.
The man looked at him with an impassive expression and a raised brow. "You can be fast when you need to be, Wuan."
"Wh-wha—?" Vadeen didn't get out another syllable before a part of the floor sharpened and ran through him, lifting him off his feet.
Eyes wide, he slowly looked from where his stomach had been pierced to back at the general. The hazel eyes remained impassive as they looked up at him.
"Vadeen Wuan-Wasihl, you have been sentenced to death. Or worse." The general shrugged. "I prefer death for you. You should be thankful."
Death...? He stared forward, taking sharp, gasping inhales while pain clouded his features. A Yerō wants me...dead?
A rumble from behind the wall caused the general to lower him to the floor when a part of the raised wall behind him crumbled.
"Vadee—! Ah, Yerō!" He heard the shifting of metal as Zhen bowed.
Vadeen coughed, reaching for his friend. "Zh...Zhen...run."
He saw the general's expression change, likely thinking of hurting Zhen, and quickly clenched a fist. In response to his elemancy, the floor where the general stood rapidly rose into the ceiling in a perfect column.
"What the—?!"
As he moved to his knees, the column cracked. "Shit..." He staggered away with his hand over his wound, readying to run.
A hand thumped on his shoulder. "Where the fuck are you going?"
Shrugging it off, he glanced back at the older man. Zhen had his hand on his sword, and Vadeen could imagine where his thoughts were. "I—"
The column cracked completely, revealing the general had been within it. Vadeen staggered away from Zhen while turning around. Thoughts racing, he trembled when the general's hazel eyes opened and focused on him.
One thought stood out among the rest: I'm going to die.
The wall at his right imploded, sending dust into the air. He took the chance to move but staggered, then suddenly found himself assisted by someone dressed in black, shades of grey, and green. Blinking, he opened his mouth to speak but coughed instead.
Another person fought the general behind him, and just as he dared to reach out with his senses, the person beside him began to use jūryovā, and he could only move with their aid. He looked up at them but a white cloth mask similar to the one he wore hid their face. All he could make out were their brown eyes.
They ran fast, faster than he could in his condition, making it so that they carried most of his weight.
"I've got you, Vadeen," they said, their voice masculine...and familiar.
Brows creasing, he looked at them again. "L...Lanad?"
The figure briefly glanced at him, and he had a strong feeling they were going to answer him.
A blast of energy blew them both off their feet. Thrown from the man's grasp, Vadeen hit a wall. Groaning, he slid down, eyes fluttering.
"Vadeen, can you stand?" the green-clad man asked, standing in front of him as the general appeared ahead.
"N-no," he managed, grasping his wound.
The man sucked his teeth, then dodged a swift lance of metal that embedded itself in the wall. Grabbing it, he threw it back to the general and ran towards him.
Grunting in pain, Vadeen began to crawl away.
What the fuck is going on...?!
Powerful energy sent him smacking violently into the wall again, rattling his mind. Blackness began to overtake his vision the same moment the ground beneath him made a horrible crack.
Blackness enveloped him, and he felt the sensation of nothingness underneath him before awareness vanished.
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[1] A semi-battlecry only the faifethi military (and warriors) can say.
[2] The indrahti viceroy.
[3] The indrahti ruler.
[4] An informal way of saying the indrahti viceroy.
[5] General.