The rest of the interrogation was rather tame as far reality–warping news went, but Dalric felt unsure how to proceed.

Gods were parasites. He had felt that way a millenia ago and he especially felt that way now. Based on what he learned from Alexander, none of the other colonies were that much stronger than them. If Dalric wanted, he could wipe out their threat before it truly emerged. Should he though? What would that accomplish for him?

His immediate goal was to find out what the Gods were planning and ruin it as best he could. If his assumptions about Aegeus were true, killing this new Wyld would only help them. On the other hand, not killing them could lead to the formation of a truly unstoppable force. Eventually.

That was the catch. Eventually. They were eight generations in. According to their calendar, six centuries have passed since their founding. If this was the strength they’d built in that time, then they were a long way away from being a proper threat. An even longer way from being worthy of the Dance. While immensely impressive, it didn’t feel like what Aegeus was accomplishing here was the key. Maybe a piece, but there was something bigger somewhere.

Though the fact that all sixteen colonies, previously twenty-four, were founded six hundred years ago and the Gods hadn’t sought out Aegeus at any point boggled his mind a bit. They could scan the entire planet for other Gods. How they missed him didn’t make sense, but there was nothing to be done about that. He certainly didn’t want to get the opportunity to ask.

“Who are you, Dalric?”

He smirked, “No longer believe I’m the human you’ve been waiting for?”

“I do not know what to believe. You’re human, you hold great power, you speak the tongue, and you even know our ancestral language. You are everything that was promised to us. Yet, it does not feel right.”

What a vague set of characteristics. Speaking the All-tongue is the only true differentiator. Why would knowing Hellgurian be unique?

“Hellgurian is not a hidden language.”

“It is not. Yet, humans know only its derivative. You know it's true form.”

That was another to add to the list of statements Dalric couldn’t make sense of. Derivative of Hellgurian? There wasn’t a single region that spoke it outside of Hellguria.

“Well, your God left you very loose specifications. I am not his descendant.”

Why Aegeus would focus on a future child rather than himself, Dalric also couldn’t understand and likely never would. The only benefit of doing so was that if a child or even a babe was bestowed Godhood it could exponentially boost their early growth.

Even if your offspring was an incredible talent, saving a millennium was not worth killing yourself to pass them your Godhood. They’d have to be a genius beyond all previous geniuses for that to even begin to make sense to Dalric.

“... Why test me? Why trap me in this prison? What do you seek?”

“Conversation.”

“That’s it? You did all this for ‘conversation’?!”

“Very enlightening conversation.” Dalric stood from his seated position, “You spoke of other humans. Where are they and what is their strength compared to yours?”

“Why should I answer a fraud?”

“Why shouldn’t I just kill you?”

“...” Fire returned to Alexander's voice. It seems it was truly baked into his soul, “The jungle is surrounded by humans. They are often weak individually, but always powerful as collectives.”

“Have you met a human stronger than you?”

He seemed to grumble at the question, “Yes, there is one by the river.”

River?

The trio Dalric had originally tailed had stopped by a river. It was fairly close to here. Considering what should be the second highest targets on the Gods’ kill list were right in front of Dalric and he did not hear as much as a whisper from them, he felt a little less hesitant at the prospect of human civilization.

“Do they stay alone or in a settlement?”

“It is a settlement. There are many humans there.”

“How many are combatants?”

“I do not know. Too many to count. They are well defended if that is the answer you’re seeking.”

Dalric liked the sound of that. He spread his arms out and broke his marble walls down. To no surprise, the other five Enlightened were waiting for him.

Oh?

The sixth Enlightened had made his appearance. To much surprise, he was more powerful than Alexander. At least as far as his ahjer went. Dalric turned toward him and they sized each other up.

He was roughly the same size as Alexander. His shade of blue was a bit brighter and his black stripes were darker. There were scars across the length of his body, but interestingly none around his head. His eyes held both the steel and the wisdom of a survivor.

Even though the tiger couldn’t possibly appreciate the act, Dalric gave him a giant’s salute, “I’ll take a guess and say they call you Sixth?”

He returned Dalric’s gesture, flexing the muscles of his front right leg and beating his chest twice, “Hmph.” His voice matched his sons, but his fire was more like lava; blazing hot, but slow and more solid. It reminded Dalric of a living golem he once encountered. “I shall meet your guess and say you are not of Aegeus’ blood?”

“A far more discerning eye than your son. Why aren’t you Archon?”

Seventh, now free, growled.

Sixth seemed amused, “I was not ambitious enough. It is the youth that grasp the future.”

Dalric shook his head at the words the aged tiger clearly didn’t agree with. What he hoped to achieve by airing his grievances out like that, Dalric didn’t know and had no interest in finding out, “Alas.”

“Alas, indeed. What do you seek of us, Dalric the Traveller?”

“Directions.” He gestured toward Seventh, “He spoke of a settlement of humans nearby, where is it?”

----------------------------------------

Dalric stared at the massive body of flowing water in front of him. He had thought the river Seventh was referring to was the one he’d seen before. He was very wrong.

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The sheer volume of water in front of him seemed like an ocean. If it wasn’t for the constant rush it’d be impossible to even tell it was a river. Dalric had re-casted the spell to form his wings again so hovered a fair way off the ground and he still could only barely spot the other bank. He had refrained from any sight alteration spells so it was hard to see, but it looked more than five leagues away.

Have the tigers been across this?

He wanted to believe boats were a step beyond beings with paws, but toilets should be too and they figured that out. During his flight over, the mechanics of how Aegeues had accomplished recreating the Wyld dominated his thoughts. It was tantamount to creating a new race of people. In fact, it wasn't tantamount, it just was.

He looked downstream, usually when rivers got this wide a sea was nearby. Trees, hills, and blackness were all he could spot. If the river did lead to a sea, it did so outside Dalric’s sightline.

Did he rediscover how to create souls or is sapience truly just linked to ahjer purity?

He turned the other way, much of the same greeted him. He strained his eyes, trying to spot any faint glints of light, but there was nothing to see. Unless the settlement hid its presence in some way, it was also a distance away. Frontier towns didn’t normally have the resources for such a defensive measure, but with sixteen of those colonies around it was possible. There was also the possibility it wasn’t a frontier town in the first place.

Seventh believed the land was always this rich in ahjer. Did he just get lucky?

He started heading upstream.

Though he had the wings of a bird, they were artificial ahjer constructs. They lacked any of the efficiency or efficacy an actual bird’s wings had. Their top speed was abysmal and sustaining that speed burned through copious amounts of ahjer. Alas, his only other option would be to run along the ground and while that used to be quicker he wasn’t sure that was still the case. Plus, he was weary of his current body’s endurance, both mentally and physically. He still chastized himself for falling asleep earlier.

He spent the rest of the flight silently practicing incantations. The spells were nothing flashy or really visible at all, but they were extensive in their intricacy. They ranged from healing his right arm to creating a fingernail-sized fold in space, each incredibly complex, some more so than others. He failed to execute roughly half of them, healing his arm included. The process overall was a rousing success, though. He got a firmer grasp on how to effectively utilize incantations and the wanton use of the ahjer around him seemed to keep beasts away. Best of all, he sufficiently distracted himself until he spotted the town’s lights.

It was still the middle of the night, though steady inching toward early morning. He didn’t recall what heights were expected for humans, but he knew nine feet was on the larger side. It wouldn’t be wise to suddenly appear out of the darkness.

He landed on the branch of a particularly large tree and took a seat. His wings immediately folded around his shoulders and cocooned him.

~The winds sing for me~

His ahjer burst out in all directions before gathering a gail around him. The winds formed a perfect spherical barrier.

~My darkness, my shadows~

Deep black covered the sphere, hiding it from the sight of any who would spy on his position.

His barrier and cover weren’t perfect. A particularly perceptive and powerful predator could and would break through both, but he only planned to nap for a few hours before heading toward the town. He’d grown a bit tired again and since he wanted to wait for daylight anyway, he figured he might as well kill two birds.

He settled into his wings and let sleep take him.

…

..

.

They are heretics! Remove them!

I refused to move. I knew it futile, they’d all die in mere moments, but I refused to allow it be through my own willing obedience.

With the terms of the contract broken, Suruhlla didn’t waste any time taking over my body. He already knew I wouldn’t comply. I never would.

With Suruhlla in control, I was at least saved from experiencing the massacre that was to come. His usurpation left me deaf, blind, without a sense of touch, without a sense of smell, without a sense of taste, and most importantly without ahjer sense. In this little void I was relegated to, I sensed nothing. Here, it was peaceful.

I’d have to emerge to the aftermath eventually, broken terms only allowed them to rectify what I had refused. Even if they decided to take their time, there was a limit to how long any of the council Gods could control my body. For now though, I existed ignorant of all.

Blissfully ignorant.

At the appointed time, my senses snapped back into place. Laying before me was exactly what I expected, a levelled city. Home of maybe ninety thousand, now rendered to ash and pebbles. Suruhlla made it a point to leave me right at the center of the destruction, as they all did. As ‘good’ as they claimed to be to the ignorant, they had a sick taste for torment.

Laekna, now aware I was back to my senses, did her best to block the sight. It wouldn’t really help, the faces of horror I spotted were already seared into my mind. The charred skin, the melted flesh, all gruesome but none more so than expressions of agony and despair. I appreciated her attempt, but it would do nothing to hide what had occurred. Plus, the fact she was here, in front of me, instead of flying around trying to heal anyone she could meant Suruhlla had been thorough. Not a soul here was left anything less than completely eradicated.

My nails dug into my palm.

For what? Because they wished to live free from the council’s control? Because they realized they do nothing but rob and kill? That they are repulsive, abhorrent parasites existing only to drain those unfortunate enough to worship them?

The Stellar Council, in their infinite gluttony, refused to allow any live peacefully away from their rule. These people died for realizing that. Their bodies torn, home destroyed, and history erased. Some of their blood still stained my arms.

Laekna tapped my hand. When I didn’t respond, she forced her way into my grip. Only then did I realize that the blood wasn’t just dripping off of me, it was boiling. I looked up to the sky and sighed at the pitch black thunder clouds that gathered above me.

I was losing control.

“I’m… sorry.” I didn’t know who I was apologizing to, Laekna or the people of Narik, but it was all I could do.

“It’s okay Light.”

“... Fae?”

Her voice was off. It sounded like Laekna, but it also didn’t. Something was different, foreign.

“Everything will be okay Light. Just be you and everything’ll work out.”

“Just be me? Everything work out? What are you talki—”

The world shook, ferociously. The earth warped and the sky distorted. My senses went haywire along with them. I could smell that the sky was no longer blue, but now yellow. I could taste the ground contorting to send me flying through that yellow sky. I could hear the heat of six suns burning my skin.

“What is this?!” I yelled.

Laekna was calm as can be, “Just be yourself, Light.”

The suns immediately engulfed me.

.

..

…

Dalric jerked awake. His eyes quickly darted left and right while he scanned his body at the same time. It only took a few blinks to get a gauge of the situation. He was completely fine. Just another nightmare.

He slowed his breathing to try and calm his heart rate. It had been awhile since he experienced night terrors, but he’d gladly accept them if they came in exchange for his lack of supervision.

The last one was very strange though.

What was that? That was definitely the city of Narik. That’s not how it happened though…

Narik was an independent city-state. They had discovered the truth behind ascension and rightfully cast away all allegiance to the Gods. A wise choice… if they had the strength to back it up. That was early into Dalric’s time as a contracted slave, though. They couldn’t have known the full ramifications of their actions.

But, while the basic framework of the dream aligned with his memory many details did not.

Dalric met Laekna decades if not centuries after, Suruhlla he had little authority then, he had yet to fully connect with Thunderfield, and the people of Narik weren’t human. They weren’t even valinoid. They had neither arms nor legs.

Dreams often told fantastical tales, so inaccuracy should be expected in that regard, but the experience felt like no dream Dalric’s ever had.

“Everything will be okay Light. Just be you and everything’ll work out.”

Why would she say that? Why did her voice sound so different? Why did..

Dalric squinted.

For the first time in his two and a half thousand years of life, he saw two suns in the sky.