It had been a week since ascension day. Zha'nadir, now a lot more quiet, but still robust, came back to its monotonous rhythm. As it was still early in the morning, people had just started their days. Elvish children were soon to be roused up by their parents, prepared for school, and sent away hastily, so their parents could still arrive at the university on time. On the contrary, human children would help their mothers with chores, stay at home, and wait for their fathers to come back home with enough money to feed them. Dvarwen children would attend to their parents at work to learn as much as they could in fields of, usually, menchantry or artisanry.
Khavka left the palace in search of the lunatic. It was already the third day, that she was trying to contact him. To her frustration, added that his directions were not the clearest. Though it was not likely that Allec left the city, it did not make it easier to find the man. With his aura completely hidden, Khavka could not sense it. So she was left with only one viable option. She needed to think like him, which was quite impossible. She barely knew him and to make things worse, he did not follow a school of reason. He was rather a whimsical person. If she was fated to find him, she needed to invoke a miracle or at least conjure up enough luck to win a lottery.
As she walked through a merchant district, she looked around. The area was mainly populated by dwarven people, but you could see there each of the races living in the city. Human mothers accompanied by their children were doing groceries. Elvish students, professors, and enchanters were buying materials for their research. Dvarwen smiths, carpenters, metallurgists, and so on, were looking to supply their storage rooms. Among the crowd, one could also find kitsune, lunaries, merfolk, and many other rarer races of the Empire. Khavka thought Allec probably was in more of a peaceful place, and so she left.
Khavka wandered the city, asking people whether they saw an azure eyed man with hourglass earring. This unlikely tactic, to her surprise, bore a result when one woman responded "Are you looking for this man?" and pointed at the rooftop of the nearest building where Allec was lying with his head pointing up as he was observing clouds. Khavka excused herself in embarrassment, she leaped onto the roof and stared at Allec disapprovingly. It was only after a moment that he recognized her presence.
“Not best at finding people, are you? Be at ease, unlike me, not everyone is great at everything.”
“Well, unlike you, some people don’t play tricks on their to be allies.”
Khavka retorted, at which he laughed as if he was proud of his mischief, which made her even more irritated.
"Cheer up a bit, it is actually something we will be doing in the near future. It's good you practiced. How else, you think, it will look like? Finding people who have been hiding for millenniums. And better there are no traces of them left, otherwise they would have been traced by imperial dogs and slaughtered.”
“So you plan to ally with demon races. Indeed it will be a challenging endeavor." She ignored his taunts and changed the topic.
“Yes, and one more thing, we need a place suitable for our operations. Do you have something in mind?"
“I assume that we look for somewhere where people are dissatisfied with the current rule?”
“Not necessary though a lot helpful. It is possible to create discontent, but it is easier to mold it to our preferences.”
“Then it is also a daunting task. Not many places that hold any autonomy will be easily convinced. And even without that criteria, they would be sparse.”
“Why? Capital does not seem well integrated with rest. Am I mistaken?”
“No, it is not. There isn't much of importance on this planet. Well, at least other than the palace and University. The planet is also self sustainable. But that is not the case for the rest of the empire. Most planets are well interconnected and usually very dependent on each other.”
“Smart of Na’khala, it makes it hard to isolate yourself and very vulnerable to sanctions.”
“That would be my main problem with your plan so far. It will be hard to survive the consequences of victorious rebellion.”
"As it seems that you are already invested in the topic, I will delegate the task to you. I am sure you will figure something out... Well, there is no point in delaying. Let's get work."
“And how exactly are we going to find the demons.”
“By sheer luck, of course.”
After the last sentence, Allec immediately cast a teleportation spell, transporting both of them to what seemed like a complete wasteland.
***
Thyros was possibly the only living being present on Xhar’xa. What once was the homeland of his race, Dayani, now was a hellish landscape uninhabitable to the mortals. Most of the planet was covered in either dunes or rocks. The climate was harsh as it barely rained here. The winds were strong. The heat of the day was unbearable. The cold of the night was unnerving. He stayed here in his self exile to expiate for his sins. It was, at least in his mind, his greed that resulted in the death of his brothers and sisters and turned the living ones into exiles and criminals. And it was his decisions that had destroyed their home. Xhar'xa was once a proud place with rich fauna and flora. Its wealth allowed the development of the great Dayani civilization. Now it was only a memory.
Stolen novel; please report.
Dayani were a humanoid race with usually dark carnations. They had also a few distinct traits. They had horns that started growing during puberty, and by the end of it would usually fully develop. They had strong tails that they used often as their third hand. The most widely known characteristic of theirs was their magical talent which rivaled even that of elves. Dayani culture was very individualistic. Hierarchy was based on strength though it was never upheld to the extremes. Most of them led solitary lifestyles. One could think that considering the above facts, it would be impossible for Dayani to form any kind of society, but that could not be further from the truth. The main motive of their culture was self mastery. Fights between them were sparse for two reasons. First, it was simply considered brute behavior to resolve disputes in such a way. Second, and more important, Dayani have developed institutions that would protect the weaker from the injustice of the hierarchy. Their government was led by high elders, who achieved the pinnacle in their respective fields. Under them were various state organizations which overlooked different fields. The ideology of said government was simple. All Dayani should master themselves and the environment of Xhar’xa should give opportunities to do so.
It was exactly this spirit that guided them onto the warpath against the sun empire at the dawn of times. Thyros at the time was newly ascended. He was not experienced yet with the powers he gained, but his status as ascended gave his people hope to win the war. A futile hope, as it was proven later. Na'khala was stronger than him and many others who had challenged her after Dayani. Those smart quickly learned not to resist her power, but to bow their heads in preservation of that valuable to them.
When Thyros sensed a teleportation array on the planet, he was surprised. It had been ages since anyone wandered there. Xhar'xa was a mostly forgotten planet. Very few knew of its existence, even among ascended, and even fewer had any reason to visit. Thyros was wary, as he could not sense the auras of the wanderers. He did not know a single one, that would be friendly to him. Because of the situation, he needed to take a break from his meditation routine and solve the issue at hand. What displeased him the most, was the fact he did not make any ruckus after his defeat. The empire had little motive to interact with him as he had accepted his loss and shied away from the politics of the universe. He knew best that elves were unbeatable. There was no point to the resistance other than pain and death. Considering all that he decided to approach slowly, to not show any hint of hostility.
So he stood up and started walking in the direction of the array. The walk was not a short one. Thyros estimated it would take him at least an hour to get the place. Not that he cared to be hasty. Quite the opposite in fact. If it was up to him, he would have preferred the incident would not happen in the first place. It was a sunny day in the Shalami desert and the wind was absent, which made the little excursion more of a pleasant one even when the destination was unwanted.
When he arrived at the destination, to his surprise, he found no one. The path of traces led to the exact opposite direction that Thyros was coming from. He was near to abandoning his pursuit, but he knew that nothing good would come from delaying the meeting. So he resumed his stroll.
It was only half an hour later that he could see two travelers from afar. One was an elvish woman and the other was a human man. Which was yet another surprise that graced Dayani that day. As he observed them, they naturally also sensed his presence, and so turned around and started walking in his direction. When they finally met, the human greeted.
“Oh, the wise sage of the wasteland, we, Allec and Khavka, come in peace and seek consultation.”
It was then, that Thyros recognized the elf, so he ignored the human and addressed the woman.
“Long time no see, elf. It seems you have grown a little bit. Last time you were just a little kid running on the battlefield in fear for your life. And now, a great and powerful ascended, that even I have to respect."
“You, on the other hand, haven't changed a bit. Does stagnation suit you?” Khavka countered and readied herself for a fight as tension rose. A fight was nigh. Well, if not for Allec who started laughing maniacally at the situation.
“Both of you, grow up and behave yourself. Why so hasty to draw your weapon when neither of you knows how to kill the other? Now, do you?”
The last sentence, Allec spoke, shocked the adversaries, As it was quite a widely known fact, that the ascended did not die. One could shatter their soul, but only temporarily. They always would come back. Even kids knew this. How one could kill a personification of a part of the universe? Both of them silently decided not to pursue the issue further.
"Why do you want to work with him, Allec? I bet that the only thing he has done in the past, no one knows how long, is meditation and self scrutiny" Khavka commented as she withdrew.
“Well, I don't know him, purely up to you if we work with him, to be honest".
“Then why would you teleport us here? You have said that you have a plan. What about it? ...”
“And it led us here. To a potential ally of ours, I presume. Now, as a mutual acquaintance of both parties, you should perform some introduction.” – Allec interrupted Khavka.
She sighed, because she knew that arguing with the mysterious ascended would not bore any results, and so she obliged.
“This is Thyros, Ascended of Dayani, now a race of exiles, but in the past, they were strong enough to oppose Na’khala. And this is Allec, the lunatic who wants to challenge Na’khala for her position of power.”
Thyros grumbled and after a minute of consideration spoke. – ”So this is the reason for your sudden visit? Still can not believe that elf is rebelling against her empress. It seems as if you have grown some balls during your ascension, Khavka.”
She tried to oppose, but the Dayani did not allow for interruption and continued speaking. “Congratulation. And no need to ask, I am in. On one condition. That is in this new order of yours I want a place for my brethren. So what’s the plan?”
After Khavka explained the main points, Thyros proposed a few changes.
“There is no need to hijack a planet from empire. If we plan to play the long game, we can develop our own civilization from scratch. There are plenty of organizations that hide 'demon races'. With their help, we can establish a den for refugees and work up from there.”
"We would still need to hijack worlds from Na'khala," Allec argued. "Though later, and failure would not be so costly. You see, I do not plan to conquer and wage meaningless wars. What we want is to win the minds of the people. We are not a force of tyranny but of liberation. But your idea has merit. Having an already developed faction backing our words will give them gravitas and weight. Show the masses that we not only proclaim but also take action. You can start working on contacting them and we will find the place for it. ”