Chapter 26
Veritas
The next morning, I woke up with Uruz's head laying across me and Shade roosting in the crook of my neck. I reach down and slowly moves Uruz off my lap and then stroked Shade awake. Uruz let out a big lawn as she woke up.
"Ok so what is this my lord stuff and where did you come from?" I asked after getting comfortable.
"Wait......I’m a demon lord. Like a lord to those things, we are fighting?" I asked trying to make sense of the information.
I was confused and silent for quite some time. Did this change who I was? Did this change my plans to create Sanctuary and defend this plane? I thought for a brief second and steeled my mind. No, it doesn’t. I am not a demon and I’m not turning my back on the plane where I grew up and the people I cared for. I sent a link to all Master, leaders, and my brothers to call an emergency meeting.
I put on my trench coat and made my way to the meeting room. The enormous round table was full of my friends. I walked in with Shade on my shoulder and Uruz right behind me and took my seat.
"Ok so first things first tell me what happened at the battle after I blacked out." I said starting the meeting. It seems that Kokoda using the sacrifice spell, as we are calling it, the explosion killed all other demon in the area and completely destroyed his stronghold. We lost a few of our own, and several others were wounded but they have since been treated and are back on duty. Once that recounting was completed everyone looked at me questioningly
"We want to know what that spell was you did to survive, Wingless." Shyft asked
I looked at everyone and smiled "Oh i used their spell against them. I remade the 8-gram ward into something better. It took all my remaining energy to maintain it and an infusion of other energy types to perfect it but that’s what I did." I answered proudly
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"Wow so you can rewrite and alter spell builds mentally?" Doran asked surprised.
"Guess so, master always did say I had the mind for complex computing even before my powers were awaken." I answered.
We discussed other topics. We got reports from the masters and our leaders in the teams. It seems others had finally started to develop their outward abilities making our forces much stronger.
As everyone started getting situated to leave, I cleared my throat. "I have a bit more to discuss. I am not the only leader in this society anymore, so I wanted to bring it to you all...No secrets between us." I continued explaining to the other leaders about my lineage. I answered any questions that I could but that wasn’t very many.
"I understand if this causes some mixed feelings about me. I am also having those thoughts. I will leave it to you all if I should stay at Sanctuary." I offered.
Everyone looked at each other and they all laughed.
"Do you really think this makes any difference in the good that you have done nor the determination you have to complete Sanctuary?" Shyft said
"Yeah, bro, you are our brother. We never knew our origins so it’s a shock but it doesn’t change who you are." Baker added
Doran stood up. "Also, as you said, your human biology won out over the demon biology, so as far as I am concerned you are no less human than any member here." He sweeps his hands indicating the other leaders who were all nodding.
Zeke was the next to chime in. "There is no Sanctuary without you Wingless. You, Baker, and Shyft are the reason this place exists. You aren’t going anywhere. That’s my vote." I bowed to my fellow members.
"Thank you all for that vote of confidence. I will make sure I live up to it." I said "I still want to be completely transparent with everyone so I'm still going to announce this to the rest of Sanctuary. Is that ok with everyone?"
No one had an issue with that. through the link I heard Baker and Shyft.
Later that day we called a meeting with all of Sanctuary. everyone attended. All guards given the day off, all teams recalled, even the Acquisitions teams were brought back. Once the auditorium that we dubbed the 'Hall of Truth' was full, all benches full and all open space full of people standing, I took center stage.
"First off I wanted to let each of you know how proud I am for how we faired taking on Kokoda and we will mourn the passing of our brothers and sisters that died in battle, they will forever live in our memories and in our resolve. plus, we will be dedicating the main hall as the monument of any fallen member with a vault built into the wall holding personal effects and their weapons, and a plaque of remembrance. Second I wanted to bring some new info to you all, so you are never kept in the dark." I explained about my lineage and revealed I have absolutely no memory of this time nor any draw to the demons or their side. I also had Uruz explain the finer points of what had been done to me. "I do not ever want to mislead or keep info from any of you and you are never going to be forced to be somewhere if you feel unsafe with me in charge. Take your time talk it out with the other leaders and call me back in when you have a consensus on your thoughts about this new info." I bowed and left the hall.
They were in there for maybe 10 minutes when Doran got me. We walked back into the hall and every member of Sanctuary stood and bowed to me. The other leaders and my brothers smiled.
"It was unanimous that no one feels unsafe with you, and everyone is still dedicated to Sanctuary." Baker said happily.
"Thank you all." I said bowing hiding the tears in my eyes. I looked around and saw no reservation nor hatred in anyone’s eyes. Needless to say, I was extremely touched. After the meeting as everyone headed back to their jobs and missions, they all came to show their trust in me and inquire how I was doing.
Dinner that night was a feast prepared exquisitely by Liana and her staff. everyone recounted different stories of the attack on Kokoda's stronghold or of their life before all this mess.