I stared hard at the undead half-snake woman in front of me as the weight of her words fell on me. Ater-Albus had fallen. My former capital was one of the few places capable of withstanding an attack from Envy himself. Its loss before the war had even properly started brought my elation from besting Sebastion crashing down.
The empty sockets that had once held the eyes of the undead woman followed me as I walked deeper into the room. “The one that leads the Demons, Berith, knew that King Sebastion had left the capital. Her foresight is far beyond anything reported by the Thirteen Divisions. It is terrifying. She even knew about two other domain-level warriors King Sebastion kept secret from the world. I did not even know of their existence before this. With the knowledge she provided, the Demons were easily able to infiltrate the palace and slaughtered everyone before the alarms could even be sounded. Without anyone to lead them, the city’s defenders crumpled when the army of Demonkin carved a path of blood into the city. Nobody was spared, none escaped.”
I sat down in front of the undead woman and clasped my hands in front of my mouth as I considered how this changed the plans Svend and I had laid. “Why tell me this? Isn’t a Demon victory good for you? Don’t bother telling me you had a change of heart and actually care about the people that were slaughtered. Both of us know that is not true.”
Irene’s chuckle echoed through the small room as she shook her head. “You are right, I do not care about them. There are countless people in this realm. A few hundred thousand less is not my concern. All I care about; all I have ever cared about is the throne that is rightfully mine. This Demon, Berith, has become an obstacle standing in my way. She has become increasingly irate and unhinged with every passing day she spends in this realm. From her constant ranting, I learned that another with her talent has been active in this realm, another far stronger than Berith. Her exact words were that it is like a web connected to millions of different pieces, all moving in chaos but all working towards the same outcome. She has decided that the only way to safely secure this realm is to burn it all down until not a single thread of that future remains. She will kill everyone and everything just to destroy this unknown future.” Irene’s voice lowered to an angry growl as she spoke, “I cannot rule a dead world.”
“And so, you are forced to turn to me for help,” I said with a smirk.
“For now,” Irene replied with a frustrated hiss, “For whatever reason, the Demons cannot see anything that happens within this floating island of yours. It has been a constant point of frustration for Berith. I can speak with you and your allies here without fear of being discovered by her talent.”
“The question still remains, is anything you say worth listening to?”
“Surely you can see the value in an informant working with the enemy that is able to relay information instantly across any distance. I will tell you every move the Demons make and all I ask in return is a single piece of paper declaring me an undercover asset of the Thirteenth Division.”
“You expect me to let you rejoin the Divisions a free woman? Someone who would betray humanity for an empty title does not deserve such a luxury. You are going to have to offer more than a bit of unreliable information if you want that from me. Why don’t you start by telling me why you were so sure Envy would not betray you despite the Demon’s record.”
The undead woman visibly grimaced and fell silent for a minute before responding. “As part of the Ninth Division, I worked in information and analytics for nearly four hundred years. My job was to track the movements of powerful Demons and sometimes even people from other divisions. During that time, I noticed a pattern in Envy’s movements. After some further digging, I found the location of thirteen realms Envy used as cattle farms to create more Demons.”
“And rather than report this information and save the lives of millions of people, you decided to use it as leverage against Envy so that he would give you a kingdom of your own.”
“You say that as if the Divisions would have actually been able to save those people,” Irene replied with a chuckle, “I told you I worked in information. I know exactly how many failed rescues there are. Nine times out of ten, everyone you people try and rescue dies at the hands of the rampaging Demonkin. Even if there are survivors, they are shunned by society just because they once served the Demons. Better they live their lives in relative bliss as cattle than die in your hypocritical crusade.”
I glared at the undead in disgust and for a moment I considered destroying it so that I would not have to listen to Irene’s voice anymore. I had to take several deep breaths to calm myself before responding. “Unlike you, I do not abandon people to the jaws of the Demons. If you really have this information, I could consider your proposal. I can write the contract you want, with a few clauses to make sure you remain honest. However, if you betray me, I will not hesitate to mobilize every force at my disposal to kill you. Even if I die in the upcoming war, you will not be able to escape my wrath.”
“I expect nothing less,” Irene replied with a grin.
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“Since we have an agreement, start talking. Now that the Demons have taken Ater-Albus, what is their plan?”
“From what I understand, Berith wants to take the safe approach until she can untangle more of the future that this other person has set into motion. She plans to bunker down in the city and spread the blood mist across the country to grow her forces. The other Demons are much less patient though. They plan to go on the offensive and capture other key locations across the continent.”
“They are splitting up?” I asked thoughtfully.
“Not yet, but they will soon. Only Berith will be staying in the capital permanently. While the others will likely come and go randomly. If you wish to recapture it, this could be the best opportunity.”
I considered Irene’s words thoughtfully but did not believe her completely. Such an obvious opportunity could just be an elaborate trap. Still, the best lies were sprinkled with kernels of truth. If I could learn more about where the Demons were planning to attack, we might be able to respond before the losses became too great.
Despite my hatred of the woman, I spent the next few hours speaking with Irene. I went over everything she knew several times, often asking the same question in a different way to see if there were any inconsistencies in her information. I was not the best at this type of interrogation but I knew enough that I was able to get more out of Irene than she probably intended. Still, even if Irene thought she was telling the truth, there was no guarantee that she was not playing into the Demon’s plan. Having an enemy that could see the future made me second guess any information I gained even if it was true.
Even after leaving Irene’s undead behind, I could not come to a conclusion on what I should do.
Deep in thought, I wandered the halls of Dragon’s Nest long after everyone else had gone to bed. Svend’s army had almost all gathered. If I was to march on Ater-Albus or some other location, we could begin the march in less than a week from now. With the enemy’s ability to spread the blood mist and increase their number, we could not wait until they came for us. We had to make our move first.
Unable to come to a decision, I walked into an empty room and addressed the one that had caused this predicament in the first place. “Mare, I know you are there and I know you heard everything. You are the one that told me to announce my rebirth to the world and caused Ater-Albus to fall. Surely you have some comment to make.”
The blue energy pulsing through the walls dimmed and shifted to a deep purple as smoke began to fill the room. The familiar faceless shadow of Mare formed in front of me, floating mid-air with her legs crossed. “About time you remembered I was here, shorty. I was starting to think you were ignoring me.”
“Maybe I was,” I mumbled, “I don’t like you deciding my fate.”
“Would you rather it be one of the seers deciding your fate instead,” Mare replied with a huff, “Face it, no matter what action you take, you will be playing someone else’s game. Our only option is to break the board completely.”
“Then what do you suggest we do?”
“Definitely do not march on Ater-Albus. That is a disaster just waiting to happen. I don’t need foresight to know a trap when I see one.”
“Then we just let Berith expand the blood mist and grow her forces even more?” I asked with frustration leaking into my voice, “Chasing after the Demons planning to go on the offensive is not much better. With their domains, they can travel across the continent tens of times faster than any army. We will never be able to reach them before they demolish their target. Unless we can make this old ruin fly faster, separating will not be much better either. No matter which choice we take, the Demons win.”
Mare giggled with a laugh like small bells ringing as she circled around me annoyingly. “That is because you are still trying to play their game. If you want to shatter the plans of someone that can see the future, we need to make a choice you did not even consider, a choice that affects the entire world.”
“And what kind of choice is that?” I asked as I crossed my arms in frustration.
“Release Sebastion,” Mare replied simply.
“You have lost your mind!” I shouted in outrage, “It took everything I had to take him down. There is no way I am doing that!”
“Why?” Mare asked as her featureless face floated uncomfortably close to my own, “Sebastion knows death holds little meaning for you. He already said he was not going to kill you and the only prison capable of holding you was just captured by the Demons. What threat does the man pose to you?”
“You are more insane than the Demons if you believe he will let me walk away just because of that poor excuse.”
“Oh, I never said he would leave you be, just that he is unlikely to kill or capture you. However, I want you to think of it from the Demons’ perspective. The reason they did not split up before is because they feared Sebastion’s power. He has a domain fast enough to catch up to any that go on an offensive and a power capable of assaulting the capital even without an army. Meanwhile, you will not reach that level of threat for several months at the earliest. You want to break the game and save the people of this land, freeing Sebastion is the best way to do so.”
“And what if he decides to go on a rampage and hurt the people close to me when he realizes he cannot hurt me directly.”
“Is your former student really the type to do such a thing? Even if he is, do you really have to have them nearby when Sebastion is released? Worst case scenario he cuts off your arms and legs but I know you are capable of growing those back if you need to. Though, it might take a month or two with your current pitiful strength.”
“Is there really no other option besides freeing the man who already killed me once?”
“Of course, there are other options. You could gather a coalition of nations to form a defensive pact, which I still suggest you do. You can seek out other allies from among those that are still friendly to you as well and ignore the damage the Demons do until you are completely prepared for a counteroffensive. Freeing Sebastion is simply the option that will have the most impact and save the most lives. Ultimately, the choice is yours to make. I am just the memory of a shadow. I cannot force you to do anything.”
“I will think about it,” I muttered softly as I turned to leave.
“Make your choice soon. Sometimes inaction is the most dangerous choice of all.” The illusion of Mare said before fading away.