I noticed that the Silent Moths were all awake now.
I walked to one of the large puddles in the hollows beneath the tree roots and pulled out a rotten boar skull that I left there last night. My Infoscopes had discovered the dead body of the boar in a forest ravine and its head seemed sufficient to grow my first Silent Moth colony. I slid the rotting head into the twin-door container wooden cage.
I studied the Silent Moths for a few minutes, observing their glittering, slightly glowing wings as they fluttered around the decaying boar. I couldn’t help but draw parallels between their lifecycle and those of the common flies I had observed back on Earth.
Like flies, the Silent Moths were drawn to death and decay. They laid their eggs in rotting flesh, providing a fresh food source for their emerging larvae. But instead of simply consuming the carcass, the moths added something precious to it. As they matured and shed their bodies, they left behind a layer of fine webs and crystalline substance that magnified all magic. It was as if they were paying tribute to the life that had been, transforming death into a thing of beauty.
I grabbed the moth cage and carried it to the Hex-beacon where the bleached skull of Kopernii Castiglia was waiting for me.
Drawing power from the Alanian battery, I cast [Charisma-Resonance] at the skull. It was a spell that I had copied from the Silent Glade and recently attached to my soul.
The figure of Kopernii flickered into existence. The bald man stared at me with a decidedly unimpressed look.
Keeping him alive without the field of the Silent Glade was a big drain on my magic.
“What do you want, child?” He spoke.
“I want you to tell me about Andross,” I said.
“No,” the Basq legionnaire spat.
“Very well,” I shrugged. “Just so you know, my necromage rock is quite hungry.”
I began to hum the song of the Alanian Sentinel. The Hex-Beacon that the skull sat on ignited with power. The man’s eyes shot open as his spirit slammed into the beacon, sinking into the black stone.
“No! Please!” He screamed as the remnant of his ghostly essence was slowly consumed by the Alanian device. It was clearly an incredibly unpleasant, painful process.
I stopped humming the song and raised an eyebrow.
“Well?” I asked.
The bald man stared at me, his face askew with panic.
“I’m an Astral Phantom and the last Sentinel of Almn-Inia. I could eat the rest of your soul to learn all of your secrets, Kopernii. I already know the name of your Master, Alchemist Alaric Milgrim! You grew up in a small orphanage in the city of Acadia and joined the legion as soon as you could to get away from his horrid experiments. You can either talk to me like a man or get eaten. Either option is fine with me."
“I… I’ll tell you what you want to know,” the legionnaire hissed.
“Good,” I smiled.
My mana had run out and Kopernii’s spirit vanished.
I had no interest in eating the dead man, I was simply trying to study the Hex-Beacon’s function.
“I thought we were walking home?” Delta asked. “Yet here you are tormenting the dead first thing in the morning.”
“It’s all part of the job, just doing an experiment,” I shrugged. “How’s your bee-takeover going?”
“I got the Queen last night,” Delta grinned. “It took ages, but the hive is fully mine now!”
“Well done,” I praised. “Will you keep the hive at our parents house?”
“Nah,” Delta shook her head. “It's not that big. I’ll put it into my backpack and carry it around with me. Gotta keep my adorkable brother safe.”
I arched an eyebrow at her.
“What? It takes too long to skirt around the wildlife to get to our tower,” she said. “Things will avoid us if I have a backpack full of fire bees!”
"A reasonable idea," I nodded. "As long as you let me experiment on their collective psyche. I've been contemplating designing skills that the entire colony could magnify and use."
"Sure, sure," Delta nodded.
I went over to the cage with the Mesmerbane fox and fed it a bit of meat.
I had attached several of my soul shards to her magical core last night, to make the little, wild creature a bit more cooperative. My soul shards were being slowly absorbed into the crystalline core of the magical beast, blending with the rest of her soul. I felt a solid metaphysical connection between the fox cub and myself, and could almost mentally guide it now thanks to my experiments with the lymphagons.
“I’m going to call you Mesmy,” I said as I offered my hand to the cub.
The little fox nuzzled the offered fingers.
I opened the cage door and it rushed up my arm and settled on my shoulder, casting a defensive anti-Charisma field around me. I wondered if she felt some kinship to me because of the connection I created between our souls.
----------------------------------------
As we walked into the backdoor of our parents' cottage, I heard their voices hissing at each other.
“What’s she doing in our living room?!” Mom’s accusing tone resonated. Okay, it was just her who was hissing. Dad sounded a bit calmer.
“Sleeping, obviously,” Dad’s answer came back with a casual tone.
“Sleeping? On MY COUCH?” Mom’s voice went up another octave. “IN THE LIVING ROOM?”
“Yes,” Dad replied.
“WHY?!” Mom growled.
“She wasn’t feeling well,” Dad replied. “So... I let her sleep on the couch.”
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“SHE WASN’T FEELING WELL?!”
“Yes,” he added. “She has conflicting Vows on her soul.”
“Oh so… YOU KNOW ABOUT HER SOUL DO YOU?!”
I glanced at Delta as I took my boots off. My twin sent me a knowing smirk.
“Cass, what did you expect me to do about her, exactly?” Dad asked.
“Say no!”
“Say no… to an armed Imperial Overseer?”
“Ye- yes?” Mom’s anger suddenly deflated. “She’s armed?”
“Yes, she’s armed with that magitek bracelet of hers. She’s sleeping on her right hand. You probably didn't notice it when you walked into the house.” Dad explained.
“I see,” Mom replied.
----------------------------------------
As far as afternoon luncheons went, this was probably the most absurd one in this house.
Kliss had been woken up by Delta poking her in the cheek.
The Overseer's eyes looked blood-shot red and there were dark circles under them. From what my Infoscopes told me, her body and magic were in bad shape. I had to get the Vow off her as soon as possible.
She held a teacup in her hand and unblinkingly stared at my sister sitting next to her. Ogonek was lazily flapping his wings, sitting on Delta’s head. Delta had a large leather backpack on her that was buzzing ominously.
The teacup shook as the Overseer pretended to take a sip, intensely staring at the oversized Fire-Bee.
“So, what do you want from us, Overseer?” Our mom asked.
The teacup in Kliss’s hand nearly spilled all over her.
“I… I want… to help… my f-friends,” She spoke with slow deliberation, as if she was trying to pull every word out of a deep, thick mire. “P-please...”
Her body twitched and the armacus in her right hand shimmered as she shot something at herself.
[LV 88 healing spell] Infoscope 3 reported, intercepting the spell and examining it.
“We are not your friends, Overseer.” Mom spoke from her chair. “I don’t know who gave you that idea.”
“The Overseer was bound to protect our family by a Vow of friendship,” I said. "Giovashi forced her to say the vow."
Kliss nodded, her hands shaking. She put the cup down and hugged her body, trying to scooch as far away from Delta as she could.
“I…,” Kliss pulled another string of words out of herself. “I.. n-n-need… you…” She glanced at our dad.
Mom’s glare intensified. Great choice of words, Kliss.
“An Imperial Inquisitor is coming in a few months,” Dad said. “She is saying she needs us to leave Skyisle, to relocate to Agamemnon.”
“Out of the question,” mom stated decisively.
“Temporarily?” Dad asked. “Maybe we could…”
“No! Out. Of. The. Question.” Mom declared forcefully.
“But we met in Agamemnon, surely we can stay there for a bit…” Dad asked hopefully.
“That was years ago,” Mom said.
“Your Vow got stronger?” Dad inquired.
Mom’s glare looked like it was going to set him on fire. She momentarily glanced at the Overseer.
“She knows,” Dad said.
“You told her… about MY Vow?!” Mom whisper-shouted at him.
“Kliss, as our friend, you are not to reveal anything you learn from us to anyone else, yes?” I said.
Kliss nodded.
Mom’s glare turned on me.
Dad looked at me. “Dante?”
"Yeah?" I looked back at him.
“Don’t make any Vows to anyone, under no circumstance,” he said. “Promise me, okay?”
“I promise,” I nodded.
“Vows get stronger with time, even if your level is capped out they become stronger… If they’re in conflict, they can tear a person’s soul almost completely apart, inflict terrible pain and suffering.” Dad nodded in the direction of Kliss.
I nodded. I looked at Kliss. She was clearly in a lot of pain. Why? Was she actively fighting her primary Vow now? Had she switched sides? Was she fully with us now?
I scanned her body with all of my Infoscopes. She was showing signs of extreme exhaustion and... organ failure. She’s barely staying upright. The healing spells are keeping her alive. A bit of wind could have knocked her over.
I felt bad for her and sighed. Then, I focused my attention back on our parents.
Mom’s fiery glare continued to slam against dad. He ignored it valiantly. I decided to help him a little by redirecting her fury.
“Mom?” I asked “Why can’t we leave Skyisle?”
“Urm…” Mom turned to me. “When I was fifteen, I made a Vow to my parents to… watch over this Village. It’s gotten a lot stronger over the years. It feels like… my heart will stop if I take a step out of Skyisle.”
I turned to Kliss.
“Kliss, be honest with me, as honest as you can please.” I said.
She nodded.
“Are you with us? Are you on our side?”
“Y-yes,” She sniffed, wiping her face.
“Why?” I inquired.
She shot another healing spell at her chest and unfolded.
“I… I was young and foolish, got the Imperial Citizen's Vow to Equality hung on my soul when I was only seven and upgraded it to the Overseer's Vow when I was seventeen."
I nodded as my parents looked concerned at the revelation. The Gregarius Empire liked to recruit its obedient... citizens very young.
"The Vow Giovashi put on me… it gradually broke the chokehold of the Vow to Equality over me. I’m not free, not by a long shot... I get it now. I’m not a good person.” Her words echoed my own final speech on the day I had destroyed Aralsk-7. “I've manipulated your family, tried to set your mom against you two. I feel like... I’m barely human. I’m less than a puppet, a monster… but I don’t want to be one. I... want to be... free.”
She winced and choked as she uttered the last word as if an invisible hand closed over her neck. I looked into her emerald, tear-filled eyes.
She looked back into my eyes and a spark of sudden understanding flashed there. For but a brief second, I understood her and she understood me. An unspoken agreement passed between us.
She whimpered, her nails digging into her arm. Streaks of tears glittered on her cheeks as she hissed in pain. Another healing spell fired from her armacus.
“I don’t know why I’m drawn to you… I don’t really know what’s going on with you and your family… I don’t, can’t understand why you’re the way that you are. Nothing about you makes any sense to me and it's driving me insane. You are a mystery I cannot resolve, a book I can’t open fully,” Kliss said, her eyes not wavering from me.
“What?” My mom asked. My dad stared at me.
I glanced at Kliss. Way to tell my parents... things.
“She is in incredible pain, talking nonsense, not thinking straight,” I commented.
“Right,” Dad nodded. He didn't look like he believed me.
“Time is running out. An Imperial Inquisitor will come to check on me,” Kliss said. "He... will discover that I have two active Vows on me."
“We’ll figure something out,” I said. “If I get rid of one Vow on you, you'll tell him that everything's good, yes?"
"Yes," she nodded.
[She is an enemy,] Delta commented, reaching out to me through the Astral with one of her silver-blue threads.
[I’m aware, but I’ve been taking risks far worse than this... my entire life. I signed up to fly into the detonation zone of the Tzar Bomba, to observe it up close and record the results, even though it was deemed a suicide mission,] I replied. [I wanted to be a hero like Gagarin, wanted to prove myself, wanted to change the world. I became the administrator of Aralsk-7 because I showed my bravery, demonstrated my absolute devotion to the USSR on that day. Kliss is nothing compared to what I faced during the hydrogen bomb test. She’s just a girl bound by Vows, just a human who wants to be free, a person bound by a monstrous system... just like I was once, long ago in another world.]
[We should run. We should hide,] Delta insisted. [We need more time to get stronger.]
[I won’t abandon my parents, or Leemy, or Skyisle,] I sent. [You know that.]
[I do,] she sighed. [I know you too damn well… It’s up to you to choose what you want to do about Kliss. I’ll follow you no matter what you decide, you know that, right?]
I nodded and looked at Kliss once again. Was I right or wrong about what I felt?
Could I… trust her?