The two finely-suited men there suddenly realized all eyes were on them, and started to back away. “What? Wait, this is all a mistake-!” the older one squeaked ridiculously, eyes going wide as his voice broke, and suddenly the men, both Archmages, were yanked forward off their feet with a shout, hurtled through the air, and were slammed to their knees right in front of Noble and the waving Tokens there under my pointing hand.
Multiple Imperial Intents pinned both terrified men in place. Their pupils got very, very small as they stared at the fluttering Tokens, and just the edge of the Intents of Imperial Beasts spilled out to the rest of the room.
Unsurprisingly, one of the aides to the dead Rep Sodelmeyer, who had been edging towards the back of the chamber, dropped like a wet noodle. We all watched as the eyes of the two men in front of Noble rolled back, blood gushed out of their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and they and their fine suits crumpled to the floor.
“I believe inciting rebellion against one’s rulers is more than sufficient cause to be stepped on absently, let alone attempting to incite the deaths of millions of Americans under mere American law, right? I will say that Thunderbird Emperor loathes these machinations by Humans, and the Mage Association and Synod, who all three of these men were agents of, are not looked on favorably by Thunderbird at all... an attitude shared, by extension, with every Emperor watching this little soap opera.”
The Emperors understood duplicity quite well, they just didn’t engage in it. Knowing who was being duplicitous and what it looked like was always good entertainment, however.
I waved my hand once, lifting the bodies into the air; chopped down to materialize the Disks to dump them on; and swept my arm back to get rid of them. The officer at the door back there duly opened it so the dead men could be sent on out, and closed it firmly behind them, not batting an eye.
It began to dawn on the people here that the dead men had been trying to get everyone here and probably a whole lot more Americans killed.
“Why would the Mage Association and the Synod do that?” Rep. DeWyrm managed to ask after a minute of stunned quiet, where everyone was digesting what had happened, and I was waiting patiently for reality to catch up to them.
“To cause resentment against Thunderbird, of course, Representative DeWyrm,” I replied to her evenly. “If I were the only one to survive Thunderbird’s judgement, it doesn’t matter what I say to explain it. Millions of humans would have died, I would be a race traitor who sold out to That Cursed Bird, and resentment and distrust of Great Beasts would reach an all-time high. America would go rushing into the arms of the Mage Association and Synod to do something about the foul Beasts and fickle Emperors threatening it, and oh, the carnage that would have resulted.”
The silence thickened again behind me. Nobody really doubted that was what would have come to pass.
“The Mage Association and the Synod have suffered next to no loss in high-tier power during the last five years. Unlike America, Italy in general and Rome in particular has suffered exactly zero littoral attacks, and is as strong now as it was back when they started this whole business. You DO remember they are the ones who pissed off The Ice Emperor and triggered The Great Flood in the first place, right?”
There was a murmur as everyone remembered that as well.
“So, that is another one of the things I do, injecting a small dab of mercy into the wrath of Thunderbird Emperor. Instead of Him absently killing off millions of humans, I can direct His ire at those truly responsible, and those people can pay for their scheming with their lives, instead of countless innocents who have no intention of ever pissing off a Beast Emperor. If this happens to save a great number of Humans from dying, it is no great concern of His.
“If you think that I would use such information and authority for my own self-benefit, you all really have no idea of the ability of Thunderbird Emperor to read a mere Human. If I would use such a position merely to further my own goals, Thunderbird Emperor would read that as me trying to manipulate Him and snuff me as readily as He did the four men who have perished here. It is truly a very, very bad idea to try to pull something over on an Emperor.”
Maybe they were getting an inkling of how bad that could be.
“Now, I also convey the word of Thunderbird Emperor to Humans, and any other Emperors who would like me to do so, as a courtesy. This is because Humans are very stupid to Emperors, and they don’t understand us.” Everyone shuffled uneasily at that.
“You see, Humans are the only intelligent species on the planet that simply does not understand or abide by the natural hierarchy. Every single other species on the planet, unless it is a natural enemy, will instantly obey an Emperor, and even most higher-Ranked Beasts. There’s no thought of challenging them, defying them, trying to figure out what they mean, twisting the orders, or ignoring their words.
“When Emperors speak, Beasts obey. That is as natural as it comes; there is no resistance, only obedience.
“And Humans, well, Humans mess everything up. We throw motivations into the mix. We question their right to issue the order. We question the need to obey. We wave it off as irrelevant and forget about it. We don’t acknowledge the fact the authority exists in the first place. We actively strive to destroy the thing daring to give us orders.
“Hell, we do it to our own highly-ranked Elders, fighting eagerly among ourselves to bring down our strongest from within, which is just plain crazed self-destructive insanity from the perspective of the Beasts.
Stolen novel; please report.
“In return, while individual Beasts are both frightened of and extremely respectful of the power of Emperors if confronted with them, Beasts basically ignore the existence of Emperors entirely, because the Emperors ignore them. Emperors think on weighty matters of the planet, generations of Tribes living and dying, the cycle of life, and the health and vitality of the environment for nurturing those Tribes within their domains.
“Well, some Emperors are better at that than others, but even the reluctant Emperors like to have a healthy territory. Some are just lazy or irritable.” Old Mountain Emperor, I choose you!, I muttered to myself.
“As a result of Humans’ frankly appalling total inability to understand the way of things, most Emperors don’t deign to speak with us, figuring that just culling off the ignorant is the easiest way to deal with us. Thus, because we’ll twist what they are doing to either our own benefit, or portray it as absolutely against our benefits, they don’t bother telling us anything.
“Finding a Human who could speak with them, would speak with them, and could actually converse semi-intelligently with them frankly surprises most Emperors I interact with the first time. Thus, I can actually take an Emperor’s commands and convey them to the rest of Humanity in a way that we can understand, while making it plain that the Emperors absolutely do not give a shit about our opinions on the matter, we have not earned that right or distinction to them, and if you don’t like it, tough, deal with it as your ancestors all did.”
Faces were twisting as I rubbed the truth in their faces. Sure, nobody likes to know they don’t have control over their destinies.
“Now, in practical terms, absolutely nothing has changed. The Emperors will do what they will do, and always have done.” I waved my hand at the grand structure around me. “They have allowed Humanity to develop to the point we have, a grand experiment of sorts to see what we can accomplish. Everything around us, the Emperors allowed us to develop. They could just as easily have extinguished us tens of thousands of years ago, and they can still do it today.
“What does this mean to the vast majority of Humans? Absolutely nothing. It doesn’t change the way the Emperors act. They are unconcerned with our wants, needs, or desires in general, any more than they specifically consider the same from any other Tribe, except perhaps their descendants. They work on a greater scale in breadth and time, and if we can’t see it, well, that’s the same as most Beasts, except most Beasts don’t worry about it, and Humans obsess about it.
“So, when I bring the words of the Emperors, I’m giving Humanity a chance.” My voice dropped conspiratorially low. “You see, Humans are intelligent and adaptable. We can do all sorts of things that other Beasts can’t. We are flexible in where we live, how we live, the magic we develop, and our ability to work together can generate incredible synergies no other Tribe of Beasts possesses.
“If we can go along with and help further the designs of our Emperors, well, just, wow. The things that could happen if we just claimed our place in the natural hierarchy and did what needed to be done, rather than racing pell-mell in every direction pursuing our nutty individual goals and tearing ourselves apart internally and externally...?” I trailed off for them, letting them think about that.
“The Floodbreaker Ritual is one such test for Humanity.” I let that hang out there for a moment, too. “No other Tribe in the world can do that. It would take all the True Emperors ordering their Low Emperors to help them to accomplish the same, and they won’t all defy The Ice High Emperor like that to do so. Many will happily endure the minimum of a century of attacks from the sea and lost seaside territory before defying a High Emperor like that, or simply don’t care enough about something so short-term to exert themselves over it.” What was a century, to Emperors?
“But to Humanity, this is just another test. A test of our unity, our power, our willingness to challenge the natural order, and our willingness to take a side. It is one step on the road to show that we understand the world around us, are willing to take our place in it and work with the higher powers in it, instead of merely fighting with them or subjugating them.
“It’s one test, but it’s a big one, and all the Emperors are watching to see if we can do it, and that includes the High Emperors. They are especially amused because factions of Humans have already tried to stop it from happening, and are continuing to do so.” I finger-flicked at the door behind me. “One of them trying very hard not to be caught doing so.”
There were knowing glances thrown that way, thoughts turning to who was the actual enemy here, and even the politicians had to wince as they realized the truth of it.
“I am aware of who is muscling you all to try to enforce the rules of Sage treatment in America on me, Congressionals,” I said simply, and watched them shift uneasily in their seats. “They aren’t wrong in trying to lock me down to just be one more of them, at least from their point of view.
“But, Thunderbird Emperor does not care about their point of view.” I watched them squirm again, as it was totally beyond their power to contest that.
“Now, unless you’ve more relevant questions, I will leave you with this simple observation: Deeds, not Words.”
I met each of their eyes in turn, taking only a second before they had to shift away. They weren’t Sages, nor even that strong-willed. They had turned to politics because their path in magic was done.
“The Sages who have backed your political positions have, to a large extent, done virtually nothing proactively to contain and combat the littoral menace for the last five years. Their time for the period before that was spent in playing the same games of power and influence that Sages historically love to indulge in.
“What... has my time been spent doing?” I asked them calmly, and they all winced again as they realized what was coming.
“I... have spent thousands of hours in littoral combat zones, both fighting and preparing defenses here and abroad for littoral raids.
“I have driven away The Great Flood from hundreds of seaside communities for periods of time to give them an edge in the fighting.
“I have Healed millions of warriors and civilians engaged in bloody battle, sparing them the agony of their sacrifices and wounds and saving uncounted numbers from death.
“I have educated tens of thousands of people and taught them Typeless Magic, people who never would have been mages at all, and those tens of thousands have inspired and taught hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of others.
“I have released new spells for all the primary Elements, usable by low-ranked mages and giving them both combat power and out-of-combat utility use, for an extremely low price by any standard you care to name relative to how expensive things are to mages. I have made public how to get the higher-ranked spells of those Elements, if any mage cares to do so.
“I helped free Ireland directly from being completely overrun and massacred by Aquatics, and perhaps all of the British Isles.
“I have aided in the slaying of two Emperors of the Seas, and over twoscore Rulers!
“I helped instigate the civil war beneath the oceans by making it plain to The Sea Emperor that there was considerably more Netherworld Taint among the Ocean Tribes than the High Emperor imagined, relieving the pressure worldwide on Humanity.”
That got a new reaction, as nobody had been aware of just what set off the civil war among the Aquatics!