Chapter 506: People of Alacrya (2/2)
An ie of dense, endless stretch of forest was splashed onto a bare patch of wall The angle of the recording artifact changed slightly as the small animated artifact adjusted its position For a few seconds, nothing happened An outside force caused a distortion in the visualized recording, and the bird-like artifact panned left
Several figures ca rapidly over the treetops The distortion intensified, then the iht in all, flashed past The recording artifact leapt from its perch and followed Four of the people appeared conscious, two flying ahead, two behind The other four were horizontal, prone in the air, their bodies drifting on the wind between the others I thought I recognized the four prone forle was poor
“Well, this isn’t worth a shi+t,” Alaric grumped
“Quiet,” Seris ordered Her voice was soft, but the tone of co play out for a couple le to get above the s down as they reached a place where the forest was all torn up I recognized the broken pieces of a few devices similar to those Seris had used to freeze the Relictoood look at each of the eight people
prone between four asuras were Arthur, Sylvie, Cecilia—e already knew had reverted to Tessia Eralith—and Agrona hi even in thishioosebuhened the skin of my arms
“Vritra’s hairy backside, it’s actually him,” Alaric said, his voice barely a moan under his breath
“Is that…?”
“Kezess Indrath himself, yes,” Seris said in answer to my unfinished question “With hion forces previously occupying Dicathen; Windsom Indrath, his eyes and voice in our world; and this fourth dragon, the woh I can’t confirm that with one hundred percent confidence”
As the recorded ier in appearance than I would have guessed, his features sharp and s down past his shoulders, tossed by the wind of their flight, and he was draped in rich white and gold cloth I didn’t knohat I’d expected, given the myth of his existence, but this…relatively ordinary , distorted cleft appeared in the recording
“The opening to Epheotus,” Seris explained “The artifact couldn’t capture it properly”
Kezess and Myre turned to look back at the land behind theed a feords, but there was no sound, and the recording artifact was flying too high to even try to read their lips Then they turned back around and floated forward, vanishi+ng into the portal we couldn’t properly see One by one, the rest of the group followed
The recording artifact flew several circles around the site, then banked and sped off in a different direction, likely to soh?” I asked, turning to rona The other Sovereigns are all dead or , as are the Scythes And the Wraiths have vanished Alacrya is free of the Vritra clan”
“Enough to what?” Seris asked, although the words weren’t directed at me Instead, she spoke into the air, then looked around as if hoping itout for proof will be convinced There are others ill not be convinced by any evidence” She shook her head as if clearing cobwebs “Still, with rona won’t be returning, we can take more concrete steps”
I knehat she meant The Dominions were rudderless, broken apart into hundreds of small factions little better than city-states run by the ranking highbloods Organization and leadershi+p were needed now more than ever Not for the first ti that Seris would step up and claim the mantle And yet, no matter how much I respected my mentor, I also knew that what Alacrya needed was to escape the old structure of governance, not replace one Vritra with another
Seris deactivated the projection and took out the storage crystal After turning it over in her hand, she passed it off to Alaric “See that everyone is ency broadcast We won’t reach everywhere, not with the s are in, but we’ve prepared as best we can”
Alaric nodded as he stood I caught the way his gaze lingered in one corner of the office He hitched, freezing for ahis throat “On it Everyone’s ready”
The old ascender shot o with both curiosity and concern, but whatever de were his own
Seris and I sat in silence for a minute, maybe two It was difficult to think about tihts, some relevant, others far less so
It was my mentor who broke the silence “You’ve done well, Caera If I haven’t already said it, I want you to know You’ve handled this transition, these people, as well as could be done”
I bit my cheek as I looked up fro on the ar in her hand She seemed… smaller, somehow Not diminished, exactly, but ed toother, but we’ve been too ether for me to still see her as some kind of deity Aloud, I said only, “Thank you, Lady Seris”
“I realize that I’aze shi+fted, focusing on the middle distance “I see problems and solutions Life is a series of actions taken to result in a specific outcome People become tasks, or obstacles Tools to be used”
A frown darkenedused as tools”
“No they do not” Her gaze reether, a fine line appearing between theether into a pale line “You are different You see the needs of the individual within the larger picture The trees within the forest, so to speak”
“I…” I hesitated, sing and fidgeting with the half-rolled scroll onfor the words to cohtly, not looking at er now than it has yet been For all their faults, our asuran leaders, the remnants of the Vritra clan of basilisks, protected us from others, if not froes are weak, our populace terrified”
I leaned back, crossing my arms over my chest
“Which is why you should be in the Relicto the continuedpulses”
“You assuave my mentor a wry s drawn? So that requires an incredible a Mountains, probably in Taegrin Caelum itself The terrified populace you mentioned has been turned into a battery Do you knohat it is for?”
I didn’t really mean to ask this final question I always expected Seris to know more than she told me To compartmentalize and obfuscate was her way It had allowed her to make it this far and kept her—and by extension those likeI was confident she had so of these pulses, and I wouldn’t normally have pushed for more than she wanted to tell me
But I was tired And I was afraid
She looked er s before rona is thousands of years old, maybe tens of thousands He has the sharpest,I’ve ever er”
I understood what she couldn’t bring herself to say out loud Agrona’s defeat was so sudden and coht, really It’s difficult for an old soldier like Seris to accept
I stood and walked to thebehinddown on the western lawn of the library It was erown the landscape had been crushed beneath tents and sleeping cots, or churned by the hundreds of refugees who had passed through it over these last days
I had to wet my lips to speak, and it took conscious effort to keep ave us this chance Even if he can’t be here now, he’s defending us fro to the fear of our own past We have to look toward a future that we get to create”
Seris’s s me turn around to face her “Like I said, you are different We will need—”
The door opened without a knock, and Alaric stuo out to the entire continent, ht now Tomorrow, it’ll replay at a different time, and then every day after that as is needed Won’t be without pushback, I’ed, then flopped back into the open chair
I reactivated the projection device It would iency broadcast when it started
It didn’t take long The i the forests of the Beast Glades The ih the telepathic field created by the projection artifact ‘People of Alacrya High Sovereign Agrona Vritra has been defeated Alacrya is free’ That was it A sie to startle and draw attention A different one would be issued on the following day, with the e to be updated and beco the e to the response We’d been prepared for this step before we even knehat the recording would show
Again, I watched as Agrona, Arthur, and the others were drawn along by Kezess and his dragons The irona when he first appeared,artifact took flight and followed, the sequence sped up to reach the final destination ain when the perspective allowed a better look at Agrona There was no escaping that Arthur was a part of the picture, but his presence would be explained in further h the picture, and Kezess and Myre rona’s body approached, and—
The i issued directly into h the telepathic field The distortion of the unrecordable portal began to spread across the i black in the middle Soon the entire picture was black and empty
“damned, what have those idiots—” Alaric’s words were cut off as another voice entered our minds
My eyes widened, and I turned sharply toward Seris Her hands were steepled in front of her lips, her nostrils flared, pupils dilated
“My people of Alacrya,” the unctuous baritone said from the darkness