Chapter 49: The Plan

When I woke up in the strange tower place, I realized I must have drifted off to sleep without intending to. What could the old man want with me now? I didn't think I had entered here intentionally. I really wasn't sure. What kind of ability did I even have to reach out to them rather than just respond to their summons? That's something I need to figure out, but I pushed it aside as I walked to the center pillar.

My magic was more developed than it had been the last time I was here. I could feel the interaction shift as I crossed from my tower of shadow into the one of light in the center of the shape. The shadows were a little bit harder to control, but at the same time, it didn't feel bad—less like I was being oppressed by a more potent power and more as if I was just a little bit out of my own depth.

I reached the old man's study, and he gestured for me to take a seat without taking his eyes off his papers. Was he trying some sort of power play where he made me wait? But even if he was, it didn't last very long. No more than a couple of minutes. The second he finished the paper he was on, he put it aside and looked up.

"I congratulate you," he said. "You did an excellent job in a not-great situation. I hadn't been watching the court closely as I trusted you to have it under control, but your being directly in charge certainly makes things a little simpler. I know it's not exactly what you wanted, but I think you handled the situation beautifully."

I blinked, surprised that anyone could call my handling of the situation anything but chaotic, impulsive, and reckless. I had no plan or control the entire way through, but I'm glad that it turned out all right. To be fair, I wasn't sure how much information he actually had, rather than just knowing I ended up on top afterward.

"Thank you," I said with a slight incline of my head. "There unfortunately wasn't a best way for this to turn out, so I chose the least bad out of all my options."

"Well, regardless, I have a new set of instructions. Now that you're in charge, we can make things a bit more direct. Actually, I scheduled this meeting not because of that, though, but rather because the book I had promised you on the new language has been made available. You'll need to either ask James to send you one or go pick it up from his tower yourself."

I remembered him saying something about learning a new language. I had thought about making more than just me learn it if it was going to be a problem in the future.

"While we're there, I'll drop off a new set of directives as well, fully written, but the gist of it will be more about preparing the court for supporting war rather than keeping the political status quo."

I nodded my acceptance. "Yes, let's look up. I believe it's also time for me to call on my favor from James," I said.

The man quirked one bushy white eyebrow at me. "It's nothing crazy. I'll probably head over to his tower. I need to look through his library and borrow a few books. Maybe even keep one."

"That's a very surprisingly reasonable use of the favor. To be fair, though, James would probably have preferred you ask for almost anything else rather than take one of his books."

I shook my head ruefully, having been able to guess the man wouldn't like being parted from his books. I shrugged one shoulder. "I can make do with a copy."

The old man smiled. "That would probably be preferable."

"...But if you could pass along that information and let him know that I'm coming."

"Of course, of course."

We exchanged a few idle pleasantries before I got up and said, "Well, I'll leave you to your work."

The man was already deep into his papers when I left the room. The world dissolved around me, and I slipped back into true dreams.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

***

I woke up for real this time, jerking in my seat and feeling slightly uncomfortable in my clothes. The rest of the Numbered around me were also napping, but they were alerted as I flinched. I took a couple of deep breaths, bringing down my pounding heart rate as I struggled to remember the vague impressions of the dreams I had after I left the meeting. There was running and portals and desperation. And I couldn't find One. I couldn't find One...

One was looking at me from right across the carriage, an expression of deep concern in her eyes as she studied my face and the outline of my body, presumably reading the panic in my aura as it slowly subsided.

Was that just a bad dream, or was it more about things to come? I grimaced. I think it was time One, and I had a deeper talk.

Reaching forward, I rapped on the window next to the driver. A second later, the slide opened, and a servant said, "Yes, sir?"

"Pull over."

"Of course, sir."

The window closed, and I stood up in the carriage, slouching slightly to avoid hitting my head and attempting to pace for the few moments before the carriage was pulled over on the side of the road, and I could step out. By now, all the Numbered were very concerned, but I ignored them as I trotted down the steps of the carriage and paced the length twice before nodding to One.

"Come on, One. We need to talk," I said, and then I walked off the side of the road.

The road was taking us through a mostly barren wasteland. Still, a hundred paces off the road, I found a large rock where I went behind before sitting down on a slightly smaller boulder that had broken off at some point. One came hurrying around the side a second later.

"Master, what's going on?" she said as she cupped my face gently, studying my eyes before coming in and holding me close as I sat on the rock. By now, I had mostly gotten a hold of myself. But I had come to a decision. It was time to tell One more about everything—my dreams and what was coming.

I sighed. "One, there's more that I haven't been telling you." She nodded as if that was a matter of course. "Not just secrets that Coulomb, the previous me, kept from you. Well, those, too. But things that have happened since. I still have no memories of my time before that morning, but I have dreams that aren't dreams. Dreams are when I come to one central place and talk with an old man and others. Coulomb wasn't just an important member of the Court of Shadows."

One slipped into my lap so I could speak with the softness these words required. Leaning in close, she gave me her completely undivided attention. "No, I'm much more. I don't know the name of the organization, but there is something, something outside of this world. Something more important than the petty squabbles of the court or the kings around here. You have realized that the rulers are preparing for something but not quite sure what. This was the doing of my larger organization, and my interest stems from it as well."

One looked at me. "What could be so important? What is the goal? What is our goal?" she said.

I smiled, appreciating her absolute loyalty. Whatever my goals were also hers, and the fact that she could say that so confidently without even having heard what I was planning made me feel a hundred times more secure and less worried for what was to come.

"Well, not everyone is from this world. And I feel the old man that I talk to is something outside of the world, but he's helping us prepare for an invasion."

"An invasion?"

"An invasion from another world. The Endless Empire has set its sights here."

"Who?"

"An empire spanning worlds. They come, and they conquer. I don't know much more. I picked that up from context, unwilling to risk even these people finding out that I am not who they originally recruited. I don't know how long I've been working with them. I don't know how long we've known, but the plan is being pushed forward. They're coming. They're coming far sooner than we had feared. And while the kingdoms have been pushed to ready for war, we don't know if that's going to be enough."

"So I must prepare us all as well. Not just the court, but the nine of you. All of my Numbered. I-- we need to prepare and get stronger."

One nodded. "You want to tell them everything?"

I shook my head. "Not everything. Not at first. But yes, I want to make them fully aware. We're not going to go straight home. First, we need to stop by the arch-mage of Blue's tower and spend some time with his library. Then, we will likely need to make a trip through every one of our branches to make sure that they're set up properly. The day-to-day will still be controlled by Dojo. Still, the court needs to be ready to transition from political power stability to a wartime footing."

One looked thoughtful for a few moments before she nodded. "Very well then. That's what we'll do."

FIN