Chapter 31 - Message

Elder Gracen had left a message. For me. Just for me.

Probably because I was secretly his favorite. I mean, obviously. Leandra was great and all. Talented. Pretty. A prodigy really. But what do people love more than watching a charismatic, successful, ambitious, and incredibly gifted person absolutely dominate everyone around them with effortless grace?

Yeah, that’s right, an underdog.

Someone weak, and weird, and rationally challenged.

Someone with character. With personality – maybe even several.

Someone who’s forced to face overwhelming hardship and adversity.

Someone just like me.

See? Told you I was the main character.

“Stop rolling around in the chair. Just sit still,” Cole grunted.

That was harder than it sounded. I was just so excited. Also, nervous. Plus, he’d been taking forever. It seemed Elder Gracen had hidden my top-secret message really well.

“Or he forgot where he put it,” Lili muttered sourly.

Don’t mind her, she’s just hungry.

“Ahh, here it is,” Cole announced finally, pulling a small box from a shelf, blowing off the dust, which billowed thick and dense.

Setting the box on the desk, Cole opened it way too slowly. He pulled out a translucent disk that looked like it had been made out of a nimbus gem, the surface glowing a pale white. Lili confirmed a moment later when our stomach growled.

“What is that?” I asked.

“The message,” Cole answered with a resigned sigh, placing the disk on some mechanical contraption on the desk – one with a light spirit trapped inside. You know, the one that was making rude gestures at me. Then the elf looked at me. “No talking until it’s over. And no questions!” he snapped. I put my hand down slowly.

Then Cole settled against the desk and the spirit started playing the message, shining a beam of light directly through that disc of nimbus.

Okay, I was so pumped. My mind was practically buzzing.

What did it say? What had Elder Gracen wanted to tell me? How much he adored my inquiring mind and my tenacity? Oh, or maybe he would finally explain why he was secretly the CEO of a company that shouldn’t exist? Also, how?

But all my questions were dispelled in an instant.

Because an image flickered into existence above that weird device, the light spirit casting the projection into the air – the hazy outline of a person.

Elder Gracen. The real one. Maybe. I mean, I couldn’t be sure. Plus, he looked younger. Well, or still old, just less wrinkly.

“Hello, Nyx,” the projection said.

“First, off, if you’re watching this, then you somehow made it to Apati. Frankly, I’m shocked—err, or I mean, impressed. That you’re not dead, I mean. Unfortunately, that also probably means I am – that, or Tartarus has officially frozen over.”

Hmm, I was sensing a theme here…

Phantom Elder Gracen heaved out a sigh. “The truth is that I’ve been stalling. Procrastinating. I’ve wanted to tell you the truth for a long time. Cycles really. There just never seemed to be a good opportunity. So, this is my Plan B. I know you’ve been… curious for a while about why I took in you and your sister Leandra – why I protected you both.”

I had. Actually, I’d asked a few hundred times.

However, Elder Gracen was an expert question dodger.

“Well, you finally win, you stubborn shithead,” he muttered.

Hmm. Not the touching, emotional reunion I was expecting.

Okay, fine. Hoping. Even in the face of impossible odds. Happy?

Another heavy sigh and then. “I knew your parents for a long, long time – longer than that quaint and insufferable fishing village has existed. They were brilliant people, leaders in their field. I even helped them create this place – Apati.

“That’s right, I wasn’t always an elder and I didn’t always go by this name – or recite those inane mantras. I was born Tom Gracen – adventurer, scholar, explorer, and businessman. But that’s a long story… too long. There just isn’t enough space on this gem to fit all of my countless exploits. My incredible journey. The many times I saved your parents from getting brutally murdered—

“Well, until I couldn’t.” The ghost Elder Gracen hung his head.

“But that’s not what’s important. I need you to listen to me.”

His head rose, his ghostly eyes focusing on mine.

I leaned forward in my seat. What was he going to say? Was this it? The moment he admitted his feelings for me? That he was proud of me? That he’d always known about my hidden potential – my budding genius just waiting to bloom? Or maybe he’d give me some special insight into the lives of my super dead parents? Oh, my gods—

“I took you in because it made me rich. So, unbelievably, filthy rich.”

Huh. And now ghost Elder Gracen was… smirking? That felt wrong somehow.

Although, the cackling was worse. It went on for a while.

Maybe it was just difficult to see one of your many father figures torn down and humanized in an all too real way? I should know. Hadn’t the scaly one abandoned me after reluctantly bringing me home to meet his family?

“And you can be too,” Elder Gracen – or, err Tom – continued after the laughter had died down to a wheezing cough. “And before you ask, we aren’t talking about those bullshit wooden chits the villagers of Anchon use. The currency of the Five Rivers has been and always will be one thing. Nimbus. Sweet, sweet nimbus.”

I’ll admit, that caught my attention. Lili’s too.

“Tell us more, you duplicitous son of a bitch!” she roared. “Tell us all your secrets!”

See? She was pretty invested for some reason.

“Now, I imagine you’re asking how. You’ve always been a smart kid. Insane and weird and annoying and incredibly weak, but smart. Even without a spirit, if you play your cards right, you stand to inherit an empire – one built on the backs of those ignorant backwater idiots in Anchon and their even more moronic Fin-Fans.

“You see, it all started after your parents died—

The recording kept going for a while before winding to a stop, the light spirit fading and returning to its little cage. The crystal was now dull and lightless.

Which left me sitting there. Stunned. Staring out through those nearby windows at a city. At the majestic skyline of Apati – thick black smoke billowing gently in the breeze. Hundreds, possibly even thousands of black collar workers gathered here to collect silverfin, package silverfin, and then ship that silverfin out to the hungry, teeming masses. Their mouths wide open and ready to receive the next load of my company’s love.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Yes, that’s right. My company.

Because you were looking at the new CEO of Fin Fan, Inc.

At least, according to the Bylaws sitting in front of me, my name inked in as a successor. The ones written on some sort of thick, heavily-ward metal plate that practically hummed with nimbus – as though someone was worried they’d be destroyed. Cole explained that this was a contract tablet. It somehow bound your spirit or something.

The specifics weren’t important.

Because that was my name way, way down at the bottom, and half buried under some sort of food stain… but it was there. A successor CEO.

Also, that’s Chief Erritating Officer according to my new friend Tom. The acronym felt like a stretch for some reason, but I would have to defer to his superior business experience.

And that beautiful smog ridden mess outside? That was my city.

I told you it was a surprise party! And it came with presents!

“Let’s devour it all,” Lili roared.

Meanwhile Cole was just staring at the Bylaws in horror and muttering to himself.

Huh, you’re looking at me the same way. You look… confused?

Ahh, I guess I might have skimmed past a few important details.

Ten second version?

Tom was a Grade-A, Divine-Ranked, Grandmaster Asshole.

And I was in awe. Seriously, I should have been taking notes.

After my parents died, he traveled to Anchon to collect me and Leandra – only to discover something even better than taking on the interminable liability of adopting someone else’s “crotch goblins” – Tom’s words. Specifically, he discovered a “financial opportunity.”

So, instead of formally adopting us and ferrying my sister and I away to the luxurious smog-filled streets of Apati, Tom chose to remain in Anchon.

You can probably see it now, right? His master plan?

The one where he used his identity as “Elder Gracen” to convince the townsfolk to expand their fishing operation, to hunt and process the silverfin – not just for their own use – but for profit. The townsfolk were also insular, introverted, and both unwilling and unable to travel far outside the town. So, naturally, Elder Gracen was the best person to journey north – to navigate the ships – his air spirit lending a helping hand to their sails.

poor, stupid crew members. All it took was using his air spirit to carefully position several billion “invisible particles of matter” that he said were always floating around us in order to “bend light” and create a clone of himself.

Or so he explained. But that’s not what’s important…

It was a massacre. A bloodbath. A lopsided killing spree that made anything my bromantic partner and I had accomplished back inside the gate pale in comparison.

He sold each pallet at fifty times the amount he paid the villagers.

Apparently, food in Asphodel was scarce – many hungry mouths to feed and lots of extremely dangerous monsters roaming the area around the city – where the concentration of nimbus was nice and thick. How else could there be a fan club for canned silverfin?

Seriously, you didn’t think that was weird?

Okay, fine. I probably should have questioned that one too…

Anyway, Tom didn’t stop there. That was just the beginning.

He soon had the villagers expand their fishing coop. Start pushing the other local villages out of the market. And those he couldn’t? Well, he just suckered them in along with Anchon. Apparently, there were many Elder Gracens. Dozens, in fact. He expanded until he controlled every fin and scale that passed through the entire southern Outer Reaches. They all flowed through his greedy, wrinkly hands. A mountain of metal and fish flesh that made my own accomplishments pale in comparison.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. How did Tom pull that off? How did he manage to travel to all of those villages while running the company and being the extremely negligent parent to two budding young vessels? How did he convince all of those stupid villagers that he’d lived in their villages for cycles?

Well, the answer to that was easy. He brought in Cole.

Who had apparently been impersonating Tom for ages.

Yes, yes, I may have actually been talking to Cole during parts of my childhood. It might have been Cole that had gagged me… or threw me out of our hut. Because why the hell would Tom choose to live and sleep in a fucking straw hut when he had this palace back in Apati waiting for him? The many, many rooms attached to this office – the bathroom with running water. His own private bedroom? An army of employees?

I wasn’t even mad. Honestly, I wasn’t. At least, not about that.

Like which one would you choose? Squalid, damp hut or fish palace?

Yeah, that’s right – the fish palace. That’s what I’d pick too.

Although, there were a few other pesky questions. Like why did he have me harvesting the silverfin? I had worked how many days? How many cycles? Without breaks? Or food? And with injuries? Oh, and where did all that money go? All that glorious nimbus? Also, is this why he was gone for days and weeks at a time? Was he just living it up here in this magnificent temple to his beloved “capitalism?” Taking in the smog wafting across the waters of the bay in the morning sunlight from his palatial office? While I was starving?

No… No, I wasn’t angry. Just disappointed.

Mostly that I couldn’t kill him again.

Apparently, I was also setting a mood.

Because Cole swallowed hard. “So, um. There are a few other details—"

“I’m sorry, I can’t. I’m processing my feelings right now.”

The elf hesitated, cocking his head in confusion. Also, a small amount of fear.

One feeling in particular stood out – my eyes locked on that little white disc. Curiosity. Also, suspicion. Okay, that was technically two things. I hadn’t noticed the label before, but I did now. So, I grabbed it gently and lifted it free of the device, the light spirit recoiling away from my fingers like they were covered in kraell shit.

Cole started forward, looking uncomfortable. “I wouldn’t—”

Too late. I flipped the disc and set it back down.

The top had been labeled “Side B.”

This was “Side A.”

“Hello, Leandra,” the projection of Tom said this time. “If you’re watching this, then that means I’m dead – probably. Or it’s also possible I had to go into hiding for a bit. Between us, it would probably be safer if you told Nyx that I’m dead – assuming he’s still alive, of course. You know how he can be a little… unstable.”

He smiled at the camera. “Actually, I’m relieved that it’s you that found this first. You’ve always been my favorite. I mean, I wrote a message for Nyx too, but I had to talk around the issue of, well… your parents. He’s just not ready yet. I know you’re still upset with me for not telling him what really happened to them, but trust me, it’s better this way.”

Tom’s expression grew serious. “And, unfortunately, you need to maintain that lie – for his own. All you need to know is this: Nyx cannot go near the old forge.”

He kept going for a while longer, then the recording petered out again.

Leaving me alone with my thoughts.

And Cole. Also, Lili and Maribel. They were all super quiet.

Maybe because my [Shadow Aura] was eating the walls of my new office.

But I wasn’t going to let this get me down. I had a foolproof system for dealing with situations just like this one – you know, when facing a mountain of existential despair that threatens to crush your fragile psyche. A process that I had cultivated and refined over countless cycles spent back in that relentless hellhole.

I just needed a distraction. Something to take my mind off things.

Luckily, the mist slowly seeping in under the door offered the perfect escape. All I had to do was confirm my suspicion.

It was easy. I just made a rathole – one here in the office, the other out in the hallway. Then I stuck my head through to see my scaly, bromantic partner hovering just outside that door – his earholes pressed to the wood and the door to the closet across the hall standing open. That was my companion. My dear friend.

The one who must have known all about this.

How could he not? His whole family worked for Tom!

No doubt, that’s why he’d insisted I keep my existence a secret. Why I had to give a fake name; to hide my abilities and our precious babies. Why my bromate was still in the closet – specifically, Tom’s coat closet. It was so clear now.

“Uh, Nyx. Are you okay?” Lili asked.

Maribel was just patting my shoulder.

I was fine. Perfect, actually. Just contemplating a little revenge.

“Uh, so Cole—” He jumped, startled and sweating. Probably because the furniture was slowly decaying and collapsing as I drained it of its precious nimbus.

“Yes-yes?” he chirped.

“So, it looks like I’m your boss now.”

Cole winced. “Yes… yes, I guess you are,” he admitted reluctantly.

It wasn’t like he could deny it. His signature was on the Bylaws too. As an employee. The one written in his own blood. And according to the tiny, tiny text, that meant he forfeited his nimbus if he violated the contract.

Which was perfect for making friends! I mean, the blackmail was built in.

Honestly, they should have called it a Friendship tablet.

Ahh, Cole was looking super nervous now.

“Great, so as your boss, I guess I should get a better handle on your current abilities. You said your persuasion spirit wasn’t working?”

“Well, it does… sort of,” he amended anxiously. “It’s just that I can’t control what people see and I really have to work hard to sell it. It almost feels like they see what they want to see, if that makes sense? Costumes and props also help.”

I nodded. That made sense. Probably why I saw Elder Gracen at first.

Plus, I had some experience with this. Fang did the same thing to me all the time.

Like remember when he tried to make me think it was my fault that he crashed our death wagon into the screaming bamboo forest? You know, while the monkeys were hurling their flaming shit at us? That whole thing about how it was really a gas station?

Yeah, that’s why I called it gaslighting. Another phrase I invented.

And it appeared that Cole’s spirit had evolved – just like the egg spirit.

He now had a gaslight spirit nestled within his core.

Ahh, and the elf was edging away from me.

Probably because I was smiling again. Also, unraveling my chain.

“Ahh, good. Good. And, uh, I’m sorry about this,” I began. In fact, I wasn’t. “But I’m going to need to tie you up again for a second. That’s cool, right?”

“No, no that isn’t—"

He tried to run then – my new employee – my new friend.

Unfortunately for him, he didn’t get very far before my babies emerged from a few ratholes, chittering happily and their blood red eyes filled with murderous delight as they grabbed him and hauled him back, stuffing a rag in his mouth to muffle his screams. Lili was completely onboard, cackling in the back of my mind. Even Maribel thrummed her excitement, my left hand twitching. I understood where she was coming from.

She loved putting on a show almost as much as I did.

And this one? This one was for Fang.