An excerpt from 'The Principle of Leadership' by Unknown Author

Leadership is a difficult concept. How can we define something that is so unique, determined entirely by the circumstances? I do not believe we can. However, I think there is a way to determine a good leader from a bad leader and it is loyalty. Are those underneath the leader loyal to their purpose? Than they are a good leader for whatever they are trying to accomplish. Without loyalty, there is no true leadership, only management.

I stand among the Council, patiently listening as they angrily berate me. This continues for a good twenty minutes before it begins to die down. As the other voices fall silent, my father’s voice manages to finally cut through.

“I can’t believe you went and made a decision of that magnitude without us, Cael!”, he yells, throwing his hands up into the air in visible frustration.

Breathing in slowly, I mentally steel myself for what I need to do. Like ripping off a bandage, I can’t make this last any longer than it needs to. I need to set the tone here and now or this will become an issue that haunts me for a long time.

“Why?”

He turns to me with furrowed brows. “What the hell do you mean why? We are the Council. The whole point of this is so we make decisions as a group!”

To my surprise, my mother’s voice cuts in before I have the chance to say anything. Her eyes are narrowed and focused on me. “Ah. That was before, wasn’t it? I’m assuming you’ve decided to change that?”

Perceptive as always. I nod and look around the room at the gathered people. Elias leans against the fireplace, his arms crossed and eyes focused intently on me in a suspicious gaze. He’s dressed in a rich cobalt shirt that bears the symbol of the Merchant’s Guild, suggesting that he may be taking a more … active role in their operations.

Julian sits on the couch across from me, concern written across his face like an open book. His kind eyes roam across my face and, after a few moments, he leans back on the couch, a faint smiling appearing. I don’t know what he saw but it looks as if it has pleased him. The role that he’s taken on with the Management Bureau looks good on him. His slight nervousness and timid attitude has disappeared, replaced with a confidence I never would have expected from my friend.

My father paces around the room with nervous energy. His skin has turned beet red in frustration and his hands constantly smack down upon his thighs in some sort of strange attempt to give his words further emphasis. It’s obvious that the stress of this new world is slowly getting to him. A slight belly has begun to appear around his midsection and grey hair has slowly started growing around his temples. He needs a less arduous job but I know what he’s like. He’ll never back down from something once it has been taken up.

Finally, there is my mother. Sitting in her chair with a ram-rod back, she seems conflicted by her realization. It’s hard to tell with her, as her emotion only seems to be clear when it boils to the top, but I can’t help but detect a faint hint of … pride. Along with her usual cautious suspicion, of course.

I take a deep breath before responding, committing myself to what I need to do. “I appreciate everything that you have all done with the City Council. Without your leadership, this city would have descended into anarchy or despotism long before I arrived, and I don’t know if I would have been able to fix that on my own. However, the time of the Council voting on things is over. I’ll always welcome and appreciate your advice but I am the Primus now. I make decisions for our entire race, not just this city.”

Closing my eyes for a second, I let a hint of my Mana leak out into the room, filling my voice with the power of Sound. It emphasizes each word and gives it a jarring surety. “I need you all to understand something moving forward. I am your Primus. I am the leader of Earth. And that means that I am your leader.”

I make eye contact with each of them as I get to the crux of my point. “And that means I need your loyalty and your assistance, and I need it in the form of a pledge. If you aren’t comfortable with that, then that is your choice.”

Elias’s voice interrupts me. “And what happens if we say no?”

I meet his suspicious gaze. The Mana within my field coalesces around him until it presses down with force, the full weight of my presence focused entirely upon him. “Then you will be forced to leave Everwall and you won’t be welcome in any place I control. I don’t think all of you understand what is out there waiting for us. There are people that make me look like a child playing with matches. I’m not going to be the person responsible for the fall of Earth. So each of you have a choice before you; pledge your loyalty or leave.”

Struggling under the pressure, Elias nods. His voice cracks slightly as he speaks, “I don’t really have much of a choice, do I? Power and influence or exile. I guess I pledge my loyalty to you Cael.” As soon as his words are spoken a surprising notification blinks into vision

Elias Fisher of Everwall, (Unofficial) Leader of the Everwall Merchants Guild, has pledged his loyalty. This information can be found under the ‘Government’ section of the Primus Screen.

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His face blanches, which suggests that he also got some sort of notification from the pledge. Interesting. That is something that I’ll need to dive into later.

I turn to Julian and raise an eyebrow. “How about you Julian?”

He smiles kindly and then gets off the couch, falling onto a single knee. Head bowed down to the ground, he says with mirth and laughter in his voice, “I p-pledge my l-loyalty to you, P-P-Pr-Primus Cael.” I have to keep myself from laughing in friendly amusement as another notification blooms into sight.

Julian Bishop, Chief of the Everwall Management Bureau, has pledged his loyalty.

Looking over at my mother, I see her staring back at me with focused and narrow eyes, almost as if she seeks to understand my motivations. After a few moments of mute silence, she says, “What are your goals?”

“In what sense?”, I respond.

She responds with exasperation. “You know what I mean, son. I love you dearly, but I want to know what kind of world you want to create. I’m not going to be party to helping install a dictator. What kind of government do you want to create? What will your role be? What kind of autonomy will cities or states have?”

My voice becomes a controlled whisper. “You don’t get a say. Whether or not you want it, I am the ruler of our world. Do I want to be involved in every decision on every level? Of course not, I want local people to rule themselves within the boundaries of law. But don’t kid yourself, I will have final say over everything that goes on Earth. If I think our trade policy, laws, or structure needs to change in order for us to survive, I will change it.”

She shakes her head and looks at me in confusion. It hurts to see the look in her eyes but I had known this was coming. “What brought about this change, Cael? Just a few months ago you were telling us about your hope for democracy and criticizing those who hoarded power.”

I go silent for a few moments, trying to articulate all that I saw in the tournament. “You don’t understand. I saw things during the Tournament that made me realize what is really waiting out there. More importantly, I was warned. By Genesis itself.”

A hushed silence falls over the room as they all comprehend that piece of news.

“I met another Candidate during the Tournament. A Norwegian woman about the same age as me. She was a good person but far more pragmatic than I am, or at least than I was. I thought she was being too harsh about our chances but that changed the second I saw Genesis’s warning. In an instant I knew she was right. I’m not going to let Earth die just because I don’t have what it takes to keep us alive. If it comes to survival or comfort, I will always pick survival.”

I meet her eyes. “You have a choice Mom. You can either step down and leave Everwall or you can help me keep humanity safe. What’s it going to be?”

She stands up and begins pacing around the room. It’s obvious that she’s conflicted but I take that as a good sign. There isn’t a person I know more qualified to help me run a government, but she needs to understand that it would be in an advisory position, not in one of leadership. If that is something she can wrap her head around, then I’ll gain an invaluable asset. If not, then I’ll find someone else.

The time for sentiment is over. I sought out the mantle of leadership and now I have to deal with the consequences.

Minutes pass and then she finally stops, turning to me. The entire room is tense as she speaks. “I don’t agree with everything you’ve said but … if you really were truly warned by Genesis then I don’t have a choice.” She smiles without humor. “Better the dictator I know than the one I don’t. Reluctantly, I pledge my loyalty to you Cael.”

Mary King, the Matriarch of Everwall, has pledged her loyalty to you.

My father just looks at my mom with strangled surprise. She’s always been one to carve out her own path and the idea of her pledging her services to someone else must be alien to him. He recovers a second or two later and then turns to me.

I can tell that he’s seriously conflicted and I break my internal rule, reaching out with my telepathy and pulling out his thoughts. I’m not surprised when conflicted feelings of obligation and stress come crashing into me. He obviously feels overwhelmed by this new world but carries with him a central sense of duty that overrides his trepidation, even at the cost of his own health. A part of me wants to offer him a way out but I know that I’ll need the guards for the next steps. The needs of the many over the needs of the few, I try to justify to myself.

“Well, I guess we’re all doing this. I pledge my loyalty.”

Damian King, Guard Captain of Everwall, has pledged his loyalty to you.

I let out a relieved sigh and fall back into my chair. There had been a chance of losing some of their support and that would have set me back weeks in my plans. With what’s coming, I don’t have weeks, or even days, to spare.

Just as we finish, I feel a presence appear within my Field. A simple probe with my increased Mana control reveals that it is Octavian, but that he is hidden behind some sort of vision bending device that releases a strange form of Mana. The Mana surrounds him in an egg shape and somehow influences our perception so that we cannot see him.

The result is fascinating. Were it not for my high Willpower and ever-increasing Field, I would have no idea that he was in the manor with us. Fear washes over me as I consider all the potential uses of this kind of tool. How many times had he been standing among us, listening to what we were saying while none of us had any idea that he was there?

No longer. I need to show here and now that I won’t accept it.

Snapping my fingers, I conjure four whirling circles of plasma and raw Mana that come into existence around him. They gently constrict until they are only an inch away from his body, effectively ensuring that he has no way to escape. Or, at least, that is what I think.

Just as the constructs close in on him, his hand slaps onto another part of his belt and he transports. He reappears a dozen feet away but is visible this time, a smile plastered over his face. “Well done, Cael, well done. I’d been wondering how long it would take before you were able to see through the Shroud. In fact, I think I may have just won quite a large bet, so thank you for that.”

It has been a few months since I last saw Octavian and I’d forgotten how immensely frustrating he was. “What do you want Octavian?”

He leans forward, a predatory glimmer appearing in his eyes. “Well, in case all of you forgot, we all made a deal when I offered you my support. My gamble paid off and now it has come time for you to pay up.”

His hands clap together. “I’d like to welcome you to the Market of Sol Invictus.”