Emperor Norian stood in the entrance. Vath couldn’t help but stare at the man. He was well over six feet, with a yellowish gold sheen to his skin. He was well built, with broad shoulders, chest, and defined musculature. More noticeably, his hair glowed and moved around in some unseen wind. Both it and his body had wisps of golden light wafting from him at all times as he stood there with his arms crossed and a severe face. His eyes blazed with light. It was like the sun had taken human form and was here to communicate its displeasure.

The room knelt, and Goran’s voice sounded out, much more obsequiously this time, “My Emperor. I apologize for speaking for you; I did not realize you were here. I was merely trying to communicate that springing such supposed evidence on an accused, let alone an elder, is most unbecoming. It smells of a trap to force a truthtelling when none would normally be justified. I felt it went against the spirit of your laws even if it did not technically break them, and I intended to request your input on this matter before it continued.”

The emperor nodded sagely and replied, “Very well, Sect Master. I am here, so I will give my input.” He turned to Elder Lucklan and commanded, “Take the truthtelling, Elder.”

Goran sputtered a bit and questioned, “Your Majesty?”

The golden eyes turned back to spear the sect master. “You heard and saw the same things I did, Goran. His son was directly involved. His name was mentioned repeatedly and explicitly in records recovered at a criminal enterprise. As to the veracity of the documents, they used a truth stone right in front of you to confirm it, and before you object, that stone is genuine. My agents have confirmed it already. Now, Elder Lucklan. Use the stone, and explain yourself.” came the response.

Lucklan looked to the emperor and then to his sect master, as if looking for instruction or a way out, but when he received neither, his face paled. He reached toward the stone, hesitated for a moment, and then his face firmed as he stretched his hand out.

The next moment, inscriptions sprang up across his whole body in a burst of sickly green light. The emperor waved his hand in a lazy motion, but deceptively quickly, and Lucklan disintegrated in a flash of golden yellow fire that almost looked liquid. Not even smoke was left, and he died before he could even scream. The younger disciples froze in shock, and Goran looked horrified.

Emperor Norian sighed and explained, “I’m sorry for that. I have seen that measure before. It would have released a wave of virulent poison. The seniors here would have survived, but it would have taken extensive healing. The younger disciples would have been dead before the healers arrived. Resorting to that rather than submitting to a truthtelling was enough for me to render his sentence early.” His face hardened a moment later as he turned to Goran, “Now, Sect Master. You have some explaining to do. As I said, I recognized that suicide measure. I have seen it used by only one organization in my Empire, and they have a lot to answer for. I suspected they were involved because of the inscriptions on the monstrous enhanced in the facility, but that was further than we have seen from them before, so I wanted to investigate. The elder’s actions all but confirm to me that he was connected to that group. He was the senior most elder in your sect, essentially your right hand man, and you tried to walk out the moment his connection to that facility was exposed. I want answers, and if you refuse to give them, you will be detained, and a council of the sects called so you can be truthtold in front of all of them. If you try to use a measure like he did, you will meet the same fate.”

Goran looked down, and then laughed lightly. “That stupid bastard. Using resources not his on a petty vendetta, and getting us exposed in the process. I never should have brought him in. His goals aligned with ours, but some people just can’t be trusted with authority, don’t you agree? If you hadn’t killed him, we would have eventually. But you want answers from me. Very well, this is my answer to you.”

His head snapped up, all fear replaced with burning anger as rippling lances of darkness shot at everyone in the room. Everyone pulled up their defenses in an instant, Lita protecting her students while the emperor flared his essence, pushing back against the dark. Before any retaliation could come, a strange item appeared in Goran’s hand, it flashed with essence, and a moment later his form flashed with light, and he was gone.

Emperor Norian actually growled in anger, the room starting to heat up, but he came back to himself with Yartan called his name. “I apologize, children.” he said to Vath and the others, ”I have put you in danger to find out the truth. I feared this outcome, but I did not truly expect it. Lucklan being corrupt was expected, but to this degree? And Goran. I have known him for centuries. He’s always been annoying, but I never saw this.”

Lita spoke up for the first time, caution and hunger warring in her voice, “What was that, Your Majesty? Just what have my disciples and I been caught up in?”

He looked to Yartan, who just shrugged and said, “They’re already involved, Norian. Perhaps even more than they know. And they can be trusted.”

The emperor just nodded before answering, “There is an underground criminal element we have been trying to unravel for a long time now. A conspiracy who’s goals we only know the broad strokes of. We have no name for them, and have only captured a few of them alive, all of which promptly used some variation of what Lucklan just did to avoid interrogation. The ability to use inscription on living people is not exactly new, but previously all beyond the smallest of effects caused horrid mutations or death, much worse than the enhanced beings you encountered. This group went passed that somehow with their suicide measure, and have apparently been continuing to take things further based on what you’ve found. They seem to want a change in leadership. Not just removing me, but seemingly wanting higher tier cultivators to rule with an iron fist, with those without strength being little more than cattle with no laws to protect them. A society where everything is at the whims of the powerful because they have ‘earned’ that right. We previously believed they were mostly composed of disaffected cultivators who had managed some strength outside sects, but were bitter about their lack of real authority despite their power. The addition of an elder, a sect master, in their ranks, is DEEPLY concerning. I hope to the ancestors there is only the one. Though I fear that’s not the case. We have been trying to unravel this for decades, and your raid was the second largest windfall of knowledge we’ve had in that entire time. And it was only possible because an arrogant and vengeful member had a personal vendetta against you and left an opening that wouldn’t normally be there.”

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Lita looked disturbed, and Vath felt the same, but he noticed Kaser looked suspicious as he stared at Yartan. “What did you mean, Sect Master?” he asked. The older cultivator looked at Kaser curiously, so he clarified, “The Emperor explained things about the situation we didn’t know, but you said we were ‘perhaps more involved than we knew’. Nothing in his explanation, well, explained that. What did you mean?”

This time, Yartan looked to Norian, who looked almost ashamed as he answered him, “I said your raid was the second largest windfall of knowledge we had on this faction. The first largest was from an agent of mine years ago. She risked her life and nearly lost it acquiring the information, and I’d like you to meet her.”

He opened the door and called out something while the whole room minus Yartan looked on with extreme curiosity. Two figures stepped into the room, a man and a woman. The man was the Quartermaster, and the Emperor embraced him warmly, saying, “Cousin. How have you been?”

If Vath had been paying attention to anything else, he might have found that sentence quite astonishing. He might have noticed Lita and Wald’s surprised faces. He might even have observed Kaser freeze completely in shock at the same sight he was watching with every fiber of his being.

But he saw none of that. His entire vision was filled with the woman who had entered. His entire soul filled with heart wrenching rage.

He shot to his feet, nearly roaring, “Who are you?! How DARE you wear her face!”

The woman stopped instantly, looking like she’d been slapped. “It’s me, Vath.” she said quietly, and Vath rocked back.

The face, the voice. It was the same. It was his mother.

But that was impossible. She was dead. She’d died over a decade ago. She was a common villager, not an agent of the emperor himself. And most importantly, his mother wouldn’t have left them that long. She wouldn’t have stood for Jalen’s behavior. How could this person be her?

Kaser apparently got over his shock and was more willing to believe his eyes and ears, as he sprang at her faster than he’d ever moved before, shouting, “Mother!” as he wrapped his arms around her desperately. Emara and Dornah rose to their feet, looking back and forth between them and Vath, clearly at a loss of what to say or do. Even Wald and Lita looked unsure.

Vath all but whispered, “No.” as he hung his head, tears falling from his eyes, before he looked back to her, anguish on his face. “How?” he pleaded.

Her eyes were flowing too as she told him, “I am so sorry, Son. I never meant for this. You must know by now you are Beastkin descended from Empty Wolves. I am that Empty Wolf. I grew into full sapience over ages, and a long time ago I saved the life of Norian. He gave me a place to live and many other things in return, and over time I came to work for him. Eventually I wanted to retire, to just live a normal life, to see what it was like if I had just been human. I found your father by chance, and for a while it was wonderful. But I made the mistake of not telling him what I was. I wanted an authentic human experience, and I did not understand what pain that omission could cause. We had the two of you, but one day the emperor called on me to investigate this group. We had the biggest lead we’d ever had on them, and he wanted his best. I knew he wouldn’t call me away unless it was important, and it should have been quick, so I went. Before I left, I had to explain to your father why I suddenly had to travel the empire. He… did not take it well. He was furious that I hadn’t told him, but more than that, he seemed disgusted that I was a Beast. I promised I would be back to fix things, to explain, but to my shame, I left anyway. He’d always been so good to you two, though you may have been too young to remember much. It never occurred to me that he would mistreat you. But the mission went wrong. It was a trap, or they were just much more prepared than we expected. I was captured. I spent years in their control before I escaped. Which is where that windfall of knowledge came from. I rushed home without even reporting in, but it was too late. Your father was long dead, and you were gone. No one could say where you had gone. I am perhaps the best tracker in the Empire, and I used every technique I knew. I came up with nothing. I suspect now that your bloodline was helping obscure you even then, but at the time, I was convinced you were dead too. Two children wandering into the wilds on their own? What other fate awaited? I went back to the capitol with a broken heart, and took my old job back, trying to lose myself in distraction. I gave up hope long ago. And then…” she choked up, before finishing, “And then a report crossed the Emperor’s desk about the findings of your raid, with full explanations about the young empty wolf Beastkin at the heart of the goings on. The more I read, the more convinced I became, and he agreed to bring me to find out. I am… I am so sorry I left. That I didn’t come sooner. That I didn’t search harder.”

At this point she broke down completely, squeezing Kaser with tears pouring down her face. Vath just collapsed back to his seat. It was her. It was really her. He was filled with so many conflicting emotions. Anger that she had left, that she had never explained. Relief she was alive, that she hadn’t meant to abandon them. Wondering whether Jalen actually hated them, or hated her and had just had nowhere else to direct it. Whether that even mattered. Hurt that he’d been left to deal with all of that when it was her responsibility. Ashamed that he could feel that while she’d probably been tortured for years.

His mind just kept spinning until he felt hands on his shoulders. He looked up to find Wald on one side and Lita on the other, both with one hand on him. Their eyes were red, but they were smiling. “Go to her.” Lita said simply, “You can figure out the rest of it later. Go on.”

The swirl of thoughts didn’t go away, but it slowed enough for him to look at his mother. She was staring at him over his brother’s head with longing in her eyes. He stood, and stumbled in her direction, collapsing into her arms alongside Kaser.

And he cried. He sobbed. He shook with emotion as he let out the pain of years. His brother and his mother joined him.

And their friends and found family, their quartermaster, their sect master, and their emperor looked on in silence and support. Not daring to intrude on this moment.