74. Consideration
Tonilla frowned as she read the reports. They were losing. They were doomed. They were set to be swept aside by a wave of undead and rise again as twisted mockeries of themselves.
Well, not all of them, she reflected. She checked the careful etching she had made within her own meridians. When she died, they would ignite, and turn her body to ash.
It was a dangerous technique, but after what had happened to her daughter, she had searched for some way of preventing herself and her followers from meeting the same fate. This was her solution.
When she died, she would die. That was her decision, and many in the armies had begun practicing this technique themselves, carefully booby-trapping their own bodies.
But these new orders from her husband made no sense. She hesitated, then decided that it required clarification.
She rose and flew the distance between them, traveling from her estate in Mer’cah to the fortress of Resh Fali in minutes, nearly breaking the sound barrier as she flew.
She landed and was immediately recognized. The bronze ranked officer escorted her to where her husband stood, barking orders and contradicting their previous strategy of a cautious retreat into the jungles of Ker’tath.
“Husband,” she said. “I do not understand this change of strategy.”
Di Ram turned to face her, a surprised look on his face. Then he nodded and--
She gasped as he split himself in two. One version bowed to her, then turned back to his generals, while the second stepped forward and embraced her.
“I am pleased that you have come. I was going to send an avatar to check on you myself,” he said, leading her into the fortress to his bedchambers. “I need to request all the forces that you can spare from your contacts and everything within the alliance which has been held in reserve. We must hold them at Resh Fali.”
“What brings this sudden change of strategy?” she questioned.
“A vision. A visitation. Little Bug is preparing to deal with the undead crisis once and for all, but for some reason Resh Fali is critical to his plans. He needs three weeks to finish his preparation. I’ve already sent for the Peach Blossoms, but Tornolai is far to the south and it will take time for my messenger to arrive. If you have any other forces in reserve, now is the time to play those cards.”
Tonilla frowned. “You’re placing a lot of faith in one boy,” she said. “Husband, am I even speaking to the true you, or are you—”
“That’s a question that shows you do not understand the truth behind what an avatar is, Tonilla. I was surprised the first time I managed it, but – no, I can’t talk about it. I don’t understand it myself well enough to truly explain, except that I am three right now. One of me is cultivating, one is issuing orders and acting as the general of Resh Fali, and the third is speaking with his wife.”
She nodded, accepting that he did not want to speak of the secrets of forming an avatar. But she truly wished that she knew she wasn’t being ‘managed.’
“What is his strategy, at least?” she asked. “What does buying him three weeks buy us?”
“He didn’t deign to explain his full plans to me,” Di Ram admitted. “But if you could see him the way that I saw him – he was a perfect void to my senses, and yet every sense I was born with told me that he was right here. I don’t know how he did it, and I’ve never heard of anything like it.”
Tonilla frowned. But she sighed. “We agreed that you would be in charge of military matters. Very well, we shall place all of our chips on one bet. I’ll return to Mer’cah and begin leveraging my contacts to send reinforcements to Resh Fali. Thousands will die defending a city that is less than a year old.”
“This is where we draw the line, Tonilla. At Resh Fali. Not a step farther shall the corruption spread. It shall not take Hope from us.”
She smiled. “That is good. You should use that in a speech.”
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“You like it? I was trying out a few permutations of it,” he admitted. “I thought you would be more opposed to this course of action.”
“Ram, we are losing this war,” she said. “You say that Po Guah has a solution. Something which will turn the tide. When the choice is certain death or the possibility of salvation, who would not reach out for the sliver of hope?”
“That’s good. You should use that in a speech.”
“You can have it, you’re likely to be in greater need of motivational speeches in the coming days than I,” she said. She shook her head. “I’ll send my forces, but I will remain in Mer’cah, organizing things from there.”
“Of course. And there is something else I would ask of you, Wife,” Di Ram said.
“What is it?”
“Take Po Sana with you,” he said. “And, if possible, consider the possibility of allowing me to take her as a second wife.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Have you—”
“I would not without your permission,” he assured her. “But surely you can see that the idea has merit. If we marry into Po Guah’s family—”
She raised her hand in a snapping motion, running through the possibilities in her own mind.
“Po Guah gave his blessing of this union?” she asked.
“It was his idea,” Di Ram answered.
“Then I consent. But you are thinking too soon of the future, when the now is so desperate,” she said.
“You’re right, the matter of marriage can wait until—”
“I’ll fetch the priest and spread the word,” she said. “The wedding will be in haste, but it will bring joy to the masses when we announce that their illustrious leaders are marrying into the family of Po Guah.”
~~~~~~
“—And so, faced with the choice of allowing the demon Ko Ren to consume me and grow ever stronger, or to forever cut ties with the world of my birth, a place which I love and the place where I was prepared to leave my bones, I chose this path,” Di Phon said before the court of the Lord of the Realm.
“Do you believe that I am a coward for not accepting my death? I sometimes do, but even should I have passed from that world, I would have left behind a corpse which the demonic influences of my world would have been able to raise to yet untold heights. By ascending I denied them this resource. And while I am undoubtedly unworthy to advise my lord, I remain at his disposal,” the young ascended said. For although he was an old man, he was young for an ascended one. Yet he had already advanced to the diamond realm, showing great potential.
Lord Loshi had, despite himself, gotten captivated by the tale. Even as a part of him seethed that some part of his realm was being invaded by forces from the Divine Fate Empire, even as he identified the source of the bitter taste of his realm’s Qi that he was detecting, even as he reflected on the weakness of this man who gave his report, he had to admit that there was a tragic heroism about him as well.
“Your tale interests us,” he said after contemplating the conclusion carefully. “We see now that the source of corruption we sense comes from the world of your birth. We shall investigate the matter with care. You are to be commended for bringing this matter to our attention.”
Di Phon kowtowed once more to the lord. As for Mai Mai, she had been removed from the court hours earlier and sent to the healers after she had collapsed from holding her kowtow too long. But Di Phon had never once rushed his retelling of his final months on Atla, delving often into philosophical topics and divergent paths that seemed to lead nowhere.
“This humble servant of the realm did not bring this matter to the attention of his lord in hopes for recompense. But neither shall he deny the lord’s generosity,” Di Phon said.
“You may retire at your leisure,” the lord said. “I must consider your words for a time, and investigate the corruption of Atla in great detail.”
With that, the avatar that he had sent to the court vanished. The pressure that his presence put on the entire palace vanished as his attention was turned elsewhere, and the cultivators who worked there gasped in shock as they realized the weight of the presence which they had grown accustomed to.
Many feinted. Those who did not suffered nosebleeds, ulcers, and coughed up blood. Mai Mai suffered a vision which changed the shape of her future.
Di Phon clicked his heels and went to the side of his servant, patiently tending her needs while he waited for her to wake.
Telling his tale had made him thirsty, and he wanted a cup of tea.