I twisted something I could imagine was a camera to point directly at Okeria and pressed one of his batteries to the top of it. A gentle glow descended from the square and spread through etchings that hadn’t been visible before, creating a pattern that all melded together in an empty ring at the side pointed away from him. I quickly twisted the box around so the ring was pointed at Okeria instead, then gave him a thumbs-up.

“Alright, good. Fair warnin’; I’m goin’ ta reveal some stuff that could get some people interested in ya. Not for the whole bein’ a human thing, but for the bein’ Persephonia’s successor thing. I can cut it out, but it’ll increase the risk that someone comes and attacks us durin’ the broadcast.”

“Aren’t we getting attacked anyway?” I pointed out. “It’s not like we’re being overly secretive about this.”

Okeria waved off my concern. “We’re gettin’ attacked, of course, so we gotta make sure we make the most of the time we’ve got. If I can say what I’ve learned from ya, then that’s a few minutes we don’t need ta spend on other stuff. So rather than it preventin’ us from bein’ attacked, it’s more like makin’ sure we get the info we need out there.”

I reluctantly nodded. It was only a matter of time until that one particular secret got out, since Keratily and probably all of Endra and Addia’s chosen knew what had happened. No point keeping it tied up tight and risking Endra spinning the narrative to her own benefit somehow.

“Go for it. But I’ll short-circuit you if you spill anything beyond that.” I said and took a few steps back. I still wasn’t one-hundred percent sure how Okeria was going to make sure his message got out to everyone he needed it to, or how he was getting it past whatever signal blockers Scalovera must’ve put in place, but he was confident. And he had had a few days on his own to work something out.

He took off his helmet and smiled. “Close us in with your petal-scales ta keep us safe-ish. And warn me the second ya sense an attack rubbin’ up against ‘em.”

“Will do.” I confirmed and did as he asked. My weapon shifted into a shield so I could get them into the dome-shape I wanted, and I snapped it to my back as the light of the outside world dimmed to nothing but the glow of the camera. “You want any more light?”

“Got it myself, but thanks for offerin’.” Okeria snapped his fingers, and a set of lights that perfectly illuminated him blinked into being. I felt like a camera operator for a news broadcast, which had a grain of truth to it. “I’ll call on ya ta step into frame and show Persephonia’s symbol ta the camera on your petal-scales. Don’t worry about anyone stealin’ it from ya; it’s written into your system and genetics alike. Nobody can take that from ya without killin’ ya first.”

I spun up a small sheet of petal-scales and manipulated some of their colour to show Nia’s symbol. It was a lot less work than I’d expected. “How will I know when you want me?”

Okeria chuckled to himself. “Oh, you’ll know right away. Now gimme a few seconds ta put on a voice and personality people will actually listen to, then press your hand ta the battery on top of the camera ta activate the broadcast.”

He coughed and hummed for a good thirty seconds, massaging his throat with one hand while the other ran down his armor as if he were smoothing out a suit. An edge of the Okeria I’d seen in Nia’s inheritance crossed his face, then spread until it was all I could see. The blind man who sat before me dissolved until I saw the visage of a true leader–someone who’d do anything for his people, and ask them only for their support in return. Of what little I’d seen from Scalovera, that sort of leader wasn’t present in the man.

Okeria smiled wide, showing that the visage was still him underneath everything, and pointed a finger at me. I nodded and pressed down on the battery. A deep hum filled my ears as much as my body itself, and an intense well of power grew around my petal-scales with something that felt like a simulated thunderstorm.

A single red light blinked into existence on the top of the camera. And Okeria began to speak.

“Welcome, my fellow Staura, to the beginning of the end of our world.” He said in a silky-smooth tone that didn’t betray a hint of his actual accent. “I have no doubts that most of you have tried to forget that my city exists–especially once you’ve finished your required military service–but we haven’t gone anywhere. Not yet.”

Okeria leaned forward and tapped on the table under him. It broke apart to reveal a grisly picture of a flayed Staura with little white worms spread through their flesh. I briefly wondered if it was Danday, but the scenery around the corpse was that of Rainbow Basin’s surroundings. And the boots that stood over the kill like a trophy belonged to Gloriosa’s armor.

“Now, I obviously don’t expect all of you to know what this is. But I expect a few of you do. And I hope that this is scaring you so terribly that you’re trying everything you can to push those pathetic fears down and hide from reality. But you can’t. Because this is reality.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The first picture flipped away, and revealed another corpse. Nia’s.

“This is all that’s left of Matria Persephonia Persephonia. Chosen of Endra, our Embodiment of endurance.” Okeria continued. “If you look close enough, you’ll see the same little worms in her flesh as the much fresher body of a traitor from seconds ago. That is the sign of Endra’s influence, and it is not limited to her chosen. She can control anyone with these little parasites inside of them to some degree, and others to a much higher degree. And this is not something new. Back during the time of my city’s founding, there were reports of corpses with these same parasites inside of them. Our founder exterminated the parasites to the best of her abilities, but she wasn’t able to destroy them completely. And I don’t think I have to tell you why.”

Okeria tented his fingers and paused for dramatic effect. “Some of you might have met with Persephonia fairly recently. And now you’re asking yourself if you met with a ghost, or if I’m lying to you for some kind of gain you can’t even fathom. The truth is far more vile than either option. As our founder uncovered, Endra had been working toward manifesting herself on the all-world for a very long time. Possibly even longer than our founder knew. And she needed a few very specific events to come to pass for that to succeed.”

He held up one finger. “One: she needed a host of suitable power to germinate her physical form. Her first choice was Matria Acasiana Rambola, the founder of Rainbow Basin. And her most recent choice was Matria Persephonia Persephonia, whose form she now wears in an attempt to deceive all of you.”

“Two.” Without waiting, Okeria held up a second finger. “She needed the instability caused by an event serious enough to stir the Primordials. In both of her known attempts, that was the introduction of a new species into the all-world. For our case, this was Humanity.”

I held my breath as Okeria mentioned my people. If he went much further, things could go very wrong for us. And if I let my imagination run wild, I could already see some Staura blaming humanity for Endra coming down from wherever the Embodiments lived. Or some of them wanting to side with Endra, if there was enough of a sense of unrest in some of the bigger cities. But it wasn’t like Okeria staying quiet would stop those things–if anything, it could make them far, far worse.

This time, Okeria paused slightly. “Finally, three; she needed a suitable force of chosen and controllable people so she could take whatever she wanted. And, would you look at that; all three of those things have already happened. Endra walks among us in the skin of another, her legions have grown beyond what I can fathom, and even more Embodiments are trying to follow in her footsteps. Now, of course I don’t expect to be believed without any proof. Even though I just showed you Matria Persephonia’s body, I am well aware that even that isn’t enough for some of you.”

Okeria gestured for me to come over. I silently swallowed and held out my arm, then walked a wide arc and eventually ended up facing the camera while standing at his side. My petal-scales knit into the shape of Nia’s insignia, and I tried to pour whatever I could into them to make it as realistic as possible.

“For those of you that knew her, this should be more than enough evidence.” Okeria said flatly, but with an undertone of cruelty. As if he knew exactly who he was talking to. “This man is in possession of Matria Persephonia’s inheritance. Not someone powerful, or one of her oldest friends; simply someone she trusted who happened to be close when she was murdered by Endra. She tried to murder him and his now-wife, failed, and has secluded herself in gods-know-where as she puts the finishing touches on her plan. So this is what I ask of you, you useless drowning bureaucrats and fangless generals who like to pretend we didn’t fight and die for you.”

Okeria gently reached up and grabbed my wrist. He pulled my hand down until it rested on the table, then shifted the image to the one of Scalovera yelling at Keratily’s back. Which quickly shifted to Endra’s bug chasing us through the tunnels that led to the dredged switchport. And finally settled on a picture I hadn’t seen before; a pristine white building with beautiful columns and spiraling filigree that reached for the heavens. Or at least that’s what the bottom half was, as the top half seemed to be completely missing.

“When the Quiet God steps foot on this world, what will she say about the abyss-dwellers that let Endra run wild? Or the ones that actively supported her? Do you think she’ll be a merciful god, or will she do exactly what she did to our home planet to you useless sacks of chlorophyll?”

Something slammed against my scales. Almost perfect timing with what I assumed was the end of Okeria’s broadcast, and I tapped him on the back as discreetly as I could to inform him. He didn’t even flinch; instead he took in a deep breath and readied one last paragraph.

“You abandoned us. Tried to erase us. But we aren’t going away. You can pray to your statues all you want, and tell your kids about that ‘little war’ from a few decades ago, but now we’re coming back to haunt you.”

He stood and folded his hands behind his back as he summoned the rest of his armor. I felt his power rising to a frankly insane level, and dismissed my petal-scales with a grimace of anticipation at whatever the fuck he was about to do.

Four fully armored people had us surrounded. Three of them moved erratically, as if someone was controlling them, but one of them stood slightly back with a function aimed squarely at my chest. I readied myself for an attack, pulling my petal-scales into a tight-knit barrier that would protect Okeria as well–

“Make your choice.” Okeria decreed. He turned to look at me, and even through his visor, I could tell he was livid at something. “And be prepared to defend it to your death.”

The camera’s light winked off.