Sometimes, you have to make sacrifices for the ones you love. Every meaningful relationship requires this. There are no exceptions.

While Radin was no expert in relationships, he was sure that the greater the offering... that is, the more pain it caused you to give it... The stronger your ultimate bond would be.

If it wasn't true, why would Xsias' voice be chanting it over and over again in his head?

Shisoka had revoked Radin's authority of command over the Leviathan. But the voice of Xsias pounding in his head required administrative access to the Leviathan. The only way Radin could accomplish this was to get his brother's help. It was really just a simple matter of request.

So Radin sat motionless in his brother’s quarters with the lights out waiting for him to return. Hours later, Radin was still in the same exact position as the portal slid aside and the lights went on. The smile on seeing Radin in the chair across from the door froze on his face and his head jerked up as if he had been startled by Radin's appearance.

Aeneas screamed, "Brother! You're ill! I can see the skin wasting on your bones! I'll get a physic and call Father!" Radin’s body had stood up on its own and closed the distance without any conscious thought. Aeneas pushed away and blundered backward across the space to the portal in a clear attempt to flee.

Xsias' voice hadn’t liked that at all.

Without Radin's conscious thought, his body leaped across the room like an arachnid. His arms and legs wrapped around his fleeing brother's terrified form, and the dark ebb of Xsias' power plunged into Aeneas' Meridians. His brother's desperate attempts at enhancing his strength were instantly stilled.

“Radin--gaskkgleAACKechchkk...”

His younger brother Aeneas twitched spasmodically as he lost consciousness. Radin looked at him with no idea that drool dripped from his tight, frozen lips. Or feeling the maniacal grin of the madness his desiccated face wore. The struggle over, Radin released the tension from his arms and legs, still strangling the life from Aeneas. Radin cradled his senseless and somehow dying brother in his arms. And again, Radin's body moved without his consent.

Radin put his open gray mouth to his brother's lips and a black piston of what any living being would call filth surged from his core to force its way down his brother's throat. A horrific expulsion that left Radin with emaciated limbs, a hollowed abdomen, and sunken cheeks. Barren and empty, the last moments of Radin's thoughts knew only the scathing burn of betrayal and abandonment... Then nothing ever again.

* * * * *

...Xsias' Will flooded through Aeneas' dying body. The new thrall contemptuously pushed Radin's collapsed body off itself. Passing as a living spirit being would be important until the thrall could deliver itself to Xsias. Standing up, the Aeneas shell smoothed its crew jumper and took stock of itself. This new thrall was even less powerful than Radin had been. It was much less aware of its previous existence and would decay faster. But Xsias' needs were simple, so there would be enough time before that happened.

The door to the small room slid quietly open to its side as the thrall moved to go. Then, as an afterthought, it reached back and cuffed the aimlessly shifting draugr still rising to its feet. "Follow! I may need you if I encounter resistance returning to our mistress."

What stealth could be obtained was needed at least until Xsias was here and ready to act. If the thrall let the prowler out of the bag about Xsias' plans before then, it would make the mistress' job more difficult. That would not be good... not for any of them!

The shell of Aeneas grabbed a heavy cloak hanging by the door and threw its hood over the now wholly transformed undead draugr. Not much, but it is all we have. The draugr shifted from foot to foot to get the cloak over its form. A draugr that only moments before had been the thrall's older brother. But the only one present who knew that was the fragment of Xsias' will, and it did not care.

The two figures sped from the room to get to the nearest hangar bay... and then to their mistress.

* * * * *

Dire straits. Yes, ‘dire straits’ was an excellent way to describe the situation Xsias and all who served her were in. Dod Stal was a harsh master who did not tolerate failure. Over the millennia, Xsias had personally witnessed his dispassionate torture of hundreds of his sworn servant for nothing more than failing to achieve ‘the best possible outcomes’ on assigned missions. The rare occurrence of a 'total failure' was always rewarded with slow and painful expungement of the offender along with all personal and family contacts. Dod Stal made no secret that he considered stringent ruthlessness the best tool to achieve optimal results from his underlings. For the length and breadth of her successful career with the Savoy, Xsias had wholeheartedly agreed with him. Both in principle and in her own disciplinary actions of her lessers

Then recently she had started failing herself...

Knowing what she did, Xsias was surprised that she still walked among the risen. She and her followers had unquestionably failed their previous two consecutive assignments. Just thinking about it made her reflexively dry swallow in fear. We are all on borrowed time. Retrieval of RX was their last opportunity to avoid obliteration.

Xsias had her own suspicions about why her master had broken with his long-standing precedent to completely excise failure. She could partly credit her subsequently flawless track record of achieving optimum assignment solutions. But that was not all.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

No... what I believe, is that for the first time in his hundreds of thousands of cycles of existence, Dod Stal is confronting the possibility of his own failure against Karma's Child... And he doesn't know what to do about it.

Xsias knew that her master's personal existential crisis involved the large AI mechanical he was obsessed with finding. She also knew that his Shadow Searcher had recently determined RX was involved with the child aberrant linked to Kyon Shi's abysmal defeat

...And that scares him. Dod Stal is frightened, no... terrified of the child. So, he wants to keep his strongest underlings between her and himself... And I am his strongest.

As she always did when she identified another being's weakness through her Tetrahedral Core's adharmic focus of Agony, Xsias felt her strength and dominance grow. Her Tetrahedral growth was advanced by such feelings, particularly when she caused pain or found ways to break those much more powerful than herself. From the slight increase, her Meridians marginally dilated, and her Core infinitesimally deepened. It was a minimal gain and the first such occurrence since her defeat on the moon, Mwezi... But it is telling about Dod Stal's current mental state.

Xsias allowed herself to reel in the momentary bliss. All too soon, it was over, and reality reasserted itself. Her master, fearful or not, would not let her survive a third failure. Of this, she was questionless and had come to Noha-3 with a no-frills plan to acquire the AI mechanical. Simply put, they would scoop up RX, lay waste to all who resisted, and return to Dod Stal. Perhaps I could be more creative, and I may be leaving some potential gains on the table. But I will definitely not fail!

But, for even this anemic plan, Xsias needed technical knowledge and administrative access... Xsias nodded her head to Damian. Or is it Darius I nodded to? Both were tall, brooding, heavily muscled, and identically dressed in black hooded cloaks over white titasteel exo-armor. It honestly didn’t matter who... Xsias had long since considered them identical, interchangeable, and unworthy of independent consideration. The two top lieutenants leaped from the stiletto cruiser's open bay to retrieve the two undead she was looking for. Both her mindscape and will fragment confirmed that her targets were near.

Xsias's tracked her subordinates as they used their Force Attunement’s directional skill to propel themselves as accurately as anyone trained with a wing frame could. At the fifth level of Spherical Cultivation, they had little to fear from the void. Their advantages were amplified because, like Xsias, both were blood-Essence vampires who consumed their victims' Essence via its link to living blood. To be sure, this method imposed the requirement of physical presence when consuming. Such limitations were not shared by all energy-draining vampires. But Xsias had always preferred the intimacy of closeness when ending a spirit being's life. Being granted the reanimation of undeath by Dod Stal had only increased the desire.

Micro-gyra ticked by. The forms of Damian and Darius shrank into specks that Xsias could only see with her enhanced sight. But she followed their actions and thoughts easily with her mindscape. With a range of over four thousand kilometers on her mental surveillance and attacks, Xsias knew few mental limitations. At approximately three thousand, Damian and Darius each grabbed a floating figure and performed tight about faces to return. In moments, the remains of Radin Talan and his brother were kneeling before her. Her lieutenants returned to their usual position, a step behind her with arms folded over their chests. Countless sacrifices, including the unflinching acceptance of their own death and conversion to their spiritually risen existence when Dod Stal had reanimated Xsias, earned them the right to guard her back.

A serious look crossed Xsias' face as she stepped forward to drill a pointed obsidian nail into the forehead of the unflinching and vacantly staring Aeneas Talan. She pulled back the fragment of will she had originally invested in his brother—subsequently transferred when the fool had lost his controlling authority. Xsias' undead fire was the only functional motivator for Aeneas' dying body. The Talan scion immediately dropped and began violently seizing in a boneless pile, steadily ceasing biological functions.

Xsias' black eyes closed, and her elegant chin tilted up. Memories and knowledge from both Talan brothers came into her mind. She became aware of information previously unknown. Realizations began to spin and weave around her currently ongoing plans.

Xsias’ eyes opened, and her gaze leveled while a cruel smile carved her face. She took in the sight of the ruined children of Shisoka Talan with renewed respect. "My my my, Shisoka... You have been very busy!"

Shadows spun in her consciousness, and wheels within wheels wound through her mind. Xsias' original plans were foolproof... and lackluster. Now, however, she knew what her Talan thralls did, and Xsias... reconsidered. Getting the big mechanical back to Dod Stal would not be a failure. Capturing him was Dod Stal's primary objective. Still, her pale face soured. RX alone will not raise me back to my untouchable place. She would still be under tight scrutiny...and still vulnerable to those below her. They would crowd hungrily around her... waiting for Dod Stal to eventually shred my corpse and toss them my Cores to feed their own advancement... Just as I have done so many times to my seniors...

Unacceptable! I am not a prey animal that creeps in the dark. I am no child afraid to crack the shells beneath my feet. I am Xsias of the Savoy! Renowned for the impossible! Feared by all who stand below my master! I walk boldly! I crush my foes and devour all who stand before me!

Xsias’ teeth gnashed together like a rabid dog, and a malevolent grin stretched her white skin. Redemption could be obtained. More than that even... It is Time to act!

Xsias tilted her head over her shoulder and spoke bluntly, "...We will be changing our plans."

She stretched out her hand and reinvested a portion of her undead fire back into Aeneas' dying body. The Talan heir immediately stopped its thrashing and jumped to its feet, a vacant smile once again on its face.

Xsias’ face pinched in distaste as she looked down at the draugr who had been Radin Talan. If she had taken the time, Xsias would have thought the draugar's looks and personality were a mild improvement from the self-deluded fool who had been nothing but another petty man with an unearned chip on his shoulder. But, in fact, Xsias hadn't taken the time to think about Radin Talan. Instead, she absently indicated the twitching draugr with an obsidian fingernail and informed the air. "I don't need that..."

Instantly, Darius unceremoniously kicked the mindless undead through the internal static shield of the hangar bay's door. Its body shrank as it hurtled unhindered through the void unthought of again.

Xsias had already spun on her heel and was deep in her plans as the Aeneas thrall sprinted behind her steps. One of her brows raised as she remembered the risky step she had already taken in securing her two ...unauthorized requisitions from Dod Stal's personal vaults. However, to execute her new plan, the Savoy would need to endure significantly more exposure liability. This was fine with Xsias. Restoration to her place of dominion is worth it. Particularly when she was thinking of...