Sachihiro

"And Ambassador Hara agreed to all this?" The man from the main Sovereign Building at the Den asks again looking at the two letters before him.

"Yes," I say again still standing respectfully, keeping my hands clasped behind my back non-threateningly.

The man looks at his deputy sitting at the chair across from him next to me. He gets up and indicates to the lounging area where the more comfortable luxury padded sofas are.

"Please sit," he gestures walking from behind his huge mahogany wood desk guilded with dark runes that where somehow making him seem a distant figure. Behind the desk he was a symbol of office now he is suddenly a man as we sit across from each other in a more intimate manor, I was rigid I realise.

"The Ambassadors to the different kingdoms and empires are given a lot of leeway into how to decide the best course of action in any situation needing immediate response. Wherever they may be placed they speak in the name of the Conclave, an organisation that is growing quickly.

"Ambassoders are the people on the ground representing us givings us legitimacy, people that need to act decisively as things occure on the ground. Ambassoders are not lightly chosen, and I know Hara personally, here her recommendations are given great weight, that is not in question. But as she has her department others have their departments and the builders and craftsman may just decide that it's too much effort for too little gain to build a private residence in a foreign land for an agent who's usefulness and importance to the organisation they know nothing about." The man, now relaxed in this suddenly intimate setting says looking at me expectently.

"I understand. How can I help speed along my request and get things started for the construction to take place?" I say not breaking eye contact.

The Sovereign headquarters here in the Den is the first stop I'm making on a long list I want to get done today. They know of me somewhat here because of my involvement with the Alderman and the report I've written. Getting my family secured and safe was the first step and I'm confident Kuyoki and Mira won't be at the Academy even a month before they are transferred here for more specialized training.

So I need to make sure at least the foundation of the house I have in mind is built before I leave on my mission for the Shadows. Everyone has been accommodating so far but the different departments of the Conclave don't have to follow orders from people outside their direct hierarchy. So the people at Conclave Construere may turn me away or have other more immediate projects to work on.

"It would help if I knew what your involvement with Hara is since you aren't one of my agents. And I know no other Compound is up and running yet so all Sovereign recruitments go through this office," he says looking at me closely.

The silent one next to him is wearing an ocular object that flashes with hidden light as he adjusts it, gazing at me.

"My seals and runes are correct, my identity is without question, I assure you I have been assigned in this Enclave with this mission under these conditions."

"I see you're going to Tina but what is your mission, exactly?"

The man is not human that much I can tell but what he actually is I haven't the slightest. He is big and fit and bearded but more aristocratic with a scholarly feel than that of a warrior. He is in clean well made but casual two piece clothing as is the norm in the Conclave. Even the Proelium guys don't have to wear the standard uniform armour if they have their own they are more comfortable in wearing.

"I'm afraid as is pointed out in the letter my mission is confidential until I hear otherwise." I respond smoothly looking at both men carefully.

Our gazes lock, his is soft but firm, unflinching. Mine tempered but firm, unbreakable.

"I see..." he says his brow furrowing.

"Very well, I will make copies of these and have them hand delivered to Master Zee. I will add my own note of recommendation and the need for haste for I can sense the urgency in this request. You must return in an hour and I will let you know what the builders decide to do. Is there anything else I can help you with?" He asks already standing, the silent man next to him also standing with another flash of his oculus. What is that?

"Yes, I'd like to place a request to be invited into being a member of the Conclave Sovereign at the conclusion of my mission."

"I'm afraid it is by recommendation only that any Enclave accepts new members." He says with suspicion creeping into his voice because that is something I should already know if I were who I was claiming to be.

I produce another letter which the silent man takes, opens and reads. He nods and look back at me. "Your request will be taken under advisement, thank you Sachihiro van Damage." He speaks for the first time and we shake hands.

‎ I wanted my next stop to be to pay my respects to Master Zaraya but I have no concrete Idea where she will be as we've never had a regular training area like other Masters have with their disciples. I head instead to the underside where Sergei directed me to go and I knock twice on a large black double door of a structure cut out of the walls of the foundations of the Den. The structure is just the door and a single window curved out of the wall far up.

Its basically just a cave with a wooden door and a single window with the vague outline of a building curved out of the very solid stone. One of the double doors opens and I walk into a dark corridor and realise I'm alone. I walk down the corridor as the door closes behind me, creepy place.

I eventually reach another door which I open myself. "How can I help you?" The pretty voice of a gnome woman asks from behind her desk in the brightly lit foyer. I produce another letter which she reads before passing me a map with only the route I should take as well as the letter.

I take a side door and walk down a flight of stairs I didn't know existed in the underside. I take a door to my left and pass two people in the corridor both of whom ignore me. I go up another set of stairs and knock on the indicated door, the ink on the map fades as the door opens for me.

"This is Joseph, he will be returning back to Tiba and taking you with him. It's important that you get to know each other and if at all possible please get along.

"You must maintain your relationship in Tiba as well for if you do not make it into selection as an Brothel acolyte he will help you get into the Brotherhood of the Order. Joseph has made enemies of the most powerfully active sorcerers working against us so watch his back.

"If at any point you are trapped and can't flee, Asriel is back in Tiba and will be your last hope. I believe you are acquainted with him, otherwise do not contact him for any other reason."

"Sachihiro and I have actually met before." The young handsome man sitting next to me says.

We are in a very casual setting in a warded room sitting on bean bags and floor sitting pillows drinking chilled wine. The man giving the mission briefing is introduced simply as Jason, an elf. I look to the young man that claims to know me, I try to place him but I really can't remember meeting him.

"I don't think we've met." I say after studying him further than I already have and still for get no recollection.

I should get a recollection from someone that shines so brightly with spirit power. Definitely a sorcerer of some kind this one but not just that. Something is off about him but I can't place my finger on it with surety.

Then the left side of his body flares up slightly to my awareness and starts giving off an imperceptible smoking haze that shines purple in the visible spectrum. "You took my arm remember?"

He says and it clicks 'cause there is only one person who I maimed and let live as far as I'm aware outside or sparing matches and exhibitions. The three other men in the room say nothing so I don't immediately worry of an attack but I stay vigilant, I also give him my right hand to shake.

"Nice to meet you again, how's the arm?" I say holding my hand up and he looks at the offered hand before taking it and shaking it.

"Better, I didn't even know it could regenerate before that episode though. Not a pleasant experience but I look forward to catching up with you."

"Thank you Joseph, you may wait outside for the rest of the meeting." He is dismissed.

"What took so long for you to get here, we nearly went with our second choice for the mission." The one named Jon asks so I immediately give a report of our trip here. Something that was already done to the people of the Academy and the Conclave Sovereign.

Then I am given further detail and the importance of the Order and how vital it has been as a bastion of learning, peace and enlightenment in Pangaea. They speak openly of the hundreds of people the Conclave has recruited from the Order and how they also worry about the outside influences pushing to infiltrate it's ranks and use it for their own gains. There are currently talks taking place between the Order and the Conclave and the usually reclusive Order is apparently only taking them seriously because of the reputations of some of the people talking to them.

My mission is complicated and two fold, information gathering while relationship building and finding the rotten eggs within the Orders of Tiba. Joseph is going to be a target of assassination that is a given as they explain to me his role in the current take down of 'prominent' Order member that have been part of a scheme to end the world. It's all a big mess but I'm to help identity people that he may have missed, I was also apparently ideal to these Shadow people because of my time at Spiritus.

"Who is he?" I eventually ask because my curiosity has been burning about who the other man in the room with us might be and he leans forward after the question.

"I'm Erickson, I'm your boss." Is all he says before getting up and walking out the door.

"He was a vampire right?" I ask cause the man has the strangest vibrational frequency I have ever felt. Like a corpse but he doesn't give me that aura of the undead I'm used to from the vampires I know.

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"Don't worry about that, it's just important you know his face because he is the one that manages all our agents on Pangaea." Jon says.

Jason nods, "If he you gives you directions to do something you do it."

I actually have 20 days before I have to leave so I relax a bit. I get another letter from Jon to add to the pile I should put in front of this Master Zee the head project approver for Construere. I leave there with a promise to catchup with Joseph the possessed sorcerer and I go directly towards the Brothel.

It's almost nostalgic being back and as I now have a rough timeline of when I will need to leave the urgency has dissipated. Walking the passages of the underside is not something I've actually done outside of visiting the Brothel and I find that I like this place. There are vampires and ghouls, and gnomes and even a goblin that walk these passages.

Ghouls are rare and not usually found outside the Underworld but the Conclave stopped surprising me long ago with its diversity of recruitment. There are thieves and potential pickpockets everywhere and I realise the upper management wouldn't tolerate this behaviour unless it was also a type of training, maybe.

I notice a familiar symbol and head into the passage and I'd say down the alley if the underside wasn't one big alley with a roof. Down the passage and to the left I see the door and knock before walking in. It opens with the toll of a bell and I am aware of all the weapons, the shields, the wet stones and other implements as I walk in.

The underside is dark, extremely dark and if you don't have something to offset that naturally you struggle, or you shouldn't be down here I guess.

"Wes Midnight." I say to the man behind the counter appraising a weapon being presented to him by the shortest elf I've ever seen.

"Sachihiro, I'll be right with you." He says and then speaks to the half elf passing him back his sword.

I peruse the place with my awareness, focusing on one item at a time with awareness whilst focusing on another with my eyes. I've been practicing this and I think I may be at the cusp of a truly divided mind.

"What can I do for you Sachihiro of the Norse?" He says as the little man leaves, I'm curious what his race may be but I don't ask.

"Nothing really, I just saw the sign and I thought I would check it out. I remember seeing it on your door when we used to be neighbours, this is a social curiosity call more than anything else." I say with a shrug suddenly feeling awkward.

"Well I appreciate it." He says and we clasp forearms before he walks me through his store.

"My family is a family of witches but compared to the covens we've met here at the Conclave we are only dabblers of the craft and not the powers we thought we were." He says blowing out smoke before passing the splif to me.

"Where is your family from originally?" I ask taking a hit and holding it in to dissolve within my lungs.

"So far away that it would take you 3 years to get there on foot even in your Awakened physical state." He says as he looks at me from his couch.

"What gave me away?" I ask taking another hit before passing the joint and leaning back into the couch.

"Nothing I can feel, after all I'm still a mundane. The sign you say you saw though is enchanted to be difficult to spot even in the underside of the Den. We try to attract only the clientele that can truly appreciate what we can acquire for them."

"Okay, my curiosity is peaked. I've seen your swords and trinkets and though a lot of them are of superior quality and grade nothing stands out to me as a weapon I could do without."

He grins, a man who enjoys being a trader this. "The Midnights are more facilitators than actual weapon's traders. Here I do a lot of appraisals, I take weapons in that need repair or modification and I pass them onto the right people on the other end."

He passes me the joint and I take a long drag digesting that a moment. "What could you offer me?"

"Armour." He says without hesitation and leans forward.

"I've seen all you Barbarians around and you guys are good, naturally born fighters that come here for refinement. But none of you wear armour and I've been fantasizing about putting armour on you since I saw that Ava of the Vikings in action."

I nod and keep smoking, "this is some good shit we are smoking and I'm not even sure what it is."

Wes just laughs and I realise I've thought out loud, that has never happened to me before. I frown and look at the offending joint before passing it on.

"So what kind of armour for me?"

He leans forward I can see he is getting excited by the prospect and that I didn't immediately dismiss the idea.

"What do you know about spirit imbued weapons?" He asks in a low voice.

"I know they are dangerous and very often drive the weilder insane. I know they are scalable and usually very powerful with personalities of their own. I know I don't want a set of armour that has a personality."

He nods not discouraged. "What do you know about the daemon race?"

I didn't expect that question but I try to drudge up anything I've heard or read about them.

"I know they are a race with their own planet because of how volatile and powerful they are. I know they are immortal as a race without a natural expiration date. I know they are very powerful spirit creatures and they are uncomfortable outside their planet unless they modify themselves somehow.

"I know their home world is Lucifer the furthest from Rigel and that's about all I think I know."

Wes nods. "They are a lot like spirits to the extent that they share almost as much racial traits with spirits as they do with physical creatures."

"Trait's like what?"

"Ever heard of a Daemon Sealer?" He asks.

"Okey enough with the rhetorical questions. What's a daemon sealer and what's your point?"

"So impatient, take another hit. Daemon's like spirits can be summoned and can be tamed and like spirits they can be bound into objects. A daemon sealer is a daemologist that can seal daemons either to never again be able to leave Lucifer, to never be able to take physical form, seal their power away or seal them within objects."

"And so you seal these daemons into weapons and you 'facilitate' the sale of these weapons, sounds dangerous."

"Oh it is, and it's not even a very commonly done thing on Gaia as far as I know. The daemon will always test it's cage and will keep routinely challenging the wielder, they have been known to be able to eventually possess weaker willed potential weilders."

"And then you kill them and start again."

"Oh no, a daemon possess person is still in there. Killing them would just be killing the host, you leave the person be until they eventually get themselves out, come to an agreement with the creature or someone helps free them.

"Anyways I've met a few daemon possessed people. All completely bat-shit crazy but daemons like it here, they don't want to go back where ever it is they are from and you can placate them with a threat of banishment. So usually they don't misbehave very much."

"Why don't they wanna stay in Lucifer?"

Wes shrugs, "Not clear on that but it's rumoured that being here is like being on a higher plane for them. Though they suffer sort of like vampires suffer in sunlight they also experience a sense of euphoria and higher consciousness. It's almost like they are mostly dumb creatures with cunning on their home world but on the other six worlds they mature.

"Of course when they go back they retain the gained intelligence but they can't build on it. They have to keep leaving Lucifer for them to gain enlightenment, the longer they stay away the more enlightened they become."

"That makes a semblance of sense. So you're also implying that they don't necessarily mind being imbued into objects because it allows them to stay here longer."

"Exactly, your smarter than you look you know that?"

I snort, "thanks I think. And you could have just said that from the start instead of beating around the bush so much."

"It isn't our way to speak plainly when talking about the forbidden art of daemology."

"It's forbidden by the Conclave?"

"No, its forbidden in my homeland. Daemons are very destructive and if they are in control nothing good ever comes of it, ever. And of course a daemon will always eventually find a way to get loose, they are very crafty. In our history an hord of them got loose from a summoning gone wrong. That city is a ruin now and the entire region is named the Wailing Daemon Lands."

I nod, I understand, sounds rough. It also implies his family of daemologists had to change craft and went into witchcraft, but they are much weaker in comparison to what they were. "So you left your homeland in order to find a place to practice without persecution?" I ask.

He just gives me a look and we remain silent for a while. Interesting story, not sure I'd want to visit his homeland though. I should make sure I know where he's from.

"Wait wait, if daemons like being weapons why would they try to possess the wielder though? They could just stay weapons and be happy to be here and gain greater enlightenment or whatever."

"It is their nature."

Okey, what could I say to dispute that?

From there I visit the Brothel where I am happily met by Abigail and Victoria. We catch up, all none sexual. I talk about my children, my mates and my plane to settle close by. I mention that I may be going to Tiba and ask who I should visit at the Brothel there.

"You know that's not how it works Sachi, you will get who you need to get. Now tell us what's on your mind, I can tell you've been circling around something."

So I talk about Katya, the slave girl. I talk about as much as I know about her background and her occupation since childhood. I express my desire for her to be able to visit the Brothel if ever she makes it past the Academy, not that I'll hold my breath for that.

"We will enquire of her and make sure we take her under our care as soon as she makes it to Civitus."

Abigail promises, and with that out of the way I go back to the Sovereign Headquarters.