Chapter 508: My High Sovereign (2/2)

“The Harvester,” I said to rin Caelum, the enorhout the core and underbelly of the fortress that operated as a singular unit—was finally powered up It was the physical ical theory A work of pure wonder, a technical e Attention! zexos

“But this is the first ti to myself There was no one else to talk to Not for the moment, at least

A quick check of the mana reservoir showed that it had been consumed in its entirety, and the Harvester wasn’t yet at full power That collection had taken centuries to gather If the Harvester failed, I would not be able to operate it again Not for hundreds of years, anyway “But if that is how long it takes, I’ll see it through To the very end”

I calculated the collected power and the distance it would allow the Harvester to reach I exaes and esti their power by their spellforms The act did little to settle ered in the chamber that made up the heart of the Harvester, I had to wonder The voice that had warned rona and about this failsafe But this was a secret that only ned and implemented just between the two of us Anyone else involved, for those components or rote physical labor that required more bodies, hadn’t lived beyond the conments

“I am who you speak to when you calculate probability”

Those were the words the voice had spoken What bothered me the most was that I should have been ence present insidemy autonomy But I hadn’t felt that way because… the presence was so familiar as to be comfortable

The djinn had made an exhaustive study of Fate I should knoas meant to be our—their?—encyclopedia, or at least the table of contents I had given e survived until a worthy successor could finally rona

I felt nized that this was not a process that could be rushed, but the

It had been very strange at first, experiencing new beings entering into the—a piece ofbeen conditioned to think of it as—Relictombs That many thousands of years could pass and new people ere so similar and different from the djinn would reappear and discover our encyclopedia was the entire point, a wonderful thing—and, in those early days, also unthinkable

I’d felt the Relictombs darken in the final days of our species I knew the trials that awaited any who stepped through those portals, and I relished their obliteration I hadn’t been a violent wo in this housing certainly hadn’t been established as vindictive or vengeful

And yet…

So festered within the Relictombs, and so it spread within me

After thousands of years of isolation and silence, suddenly, I was offered death and blood and sacrifice A quiet life of scientific devotion and achieve rush of such stian to rip me out of the Relictombs and transport me back piece by piece that I understood what the birth of a new society of

He’d already learned ons He wanted to use our technology to eons at all costs He’d already been experi of asuran blood with these new people—huave the into the manipulation of mana

It was the runes, a continuation or transforether, that unlocked the true potential of his Alacryans With the runes, he could directly empower his subjects, circumvent their natural inclinations or abilities, enforce a kind of control that did not break the the spellforms was the priation of the Relictombs For djinn, they were a unique identifier that could quickly be identified even across the sprawling expanse of the Relictombs’ many chapters For the Alacryans, it becan and I could closely rona indeed proved to be a worthy successor, and quickly e His brilliant ness to do whatever it took to protect his people were exactly what the djinn had in mind when they created the Relictombs

My calculations had remained consistent on this fact for centuries, but numbers rarely lied, and as tirewthe future of y And so I’d seeded Sylvia Indrath with knowledge of the physical ruins that acted as housings for the other djinn projections when Agrona’s servants failed to reach them She’d been a likely catalyst, with her connections to both Agrona Vritra and Kezess Indrath

That is where the djinn study of Fate ended Prediction and possibility We’d seen the potential for manipulation but never the way to reach it, at least not for ourselves

I let the tangent end and thetoFate It seeht All my equations led to an answer dictated by you Because you are Fate And if you appear as a voice, then I a the world into the shape you desire?”

I knew i the point I took cos of a natural force oal Fate itself had dedicated as going to happen

I activated the Harvester

Mana erupted frorin Caeluht and molded into substance Wave after wave of it rolled away across theits tangibility I didn’t know exactly what it would feel like to the Alacryan es, but I kneould happen when it reached them

The pulse bore down on the populated areas of Central Doht Only seconds after reaching the first city, it had passed beyond the borders of the doan to fray, the context of the spell woven inapart That was my cue

I reversed polarity, and the Harvester recalled its mana

This, really, was the incredible part Bypassing the barrier layer of flesh, blood, and bone was one thing, but recalling so le point hundreds of miles aas the core concept that allowed the entire machination to function

All that an the hoes existed in the circumference of the pulse, and I could sense all of their spellforh that, the world as it existed around theht out and collected any purified mana it could find—namely, from the cores of those people All across Central Donatures went suddenly dark

It didn’t take long for the ed back aboard shi+p full of fish I carefully monitored the collection rate, but my worries proved needless; the rates ithin my expectations Still, I kepthours

Collection and processing took longer as theit up to full power over the next couple days I was confident now that a second pulse would reach all of Alacrya Based on the population of es, there would even be a surplus of mana I activated several banks of y borrowed from the traitor, Seris the Unblooded

The second pulse took longer, having to spread out across the length and breadth of the continent andonly the farthest shores of Sehz-Clar

Purified rin Caelu it first into the Harvester itself to ensure full power, just in case The rest was channeled doard, far beyond the cha now-spent relics,dead basilisks There, in the roots of the mountains, rested an isolated chamber that no one visited

My senses, the core cluster ofwith the mana untilartifacts flickered to life, bringing into view a hexagonal rooht The walls were heavily etched stone inlaid with a combination of precious metals, ivory, and charwood layered thick with spells Hidden within the ground outside the rooic, neither mana- or aether-born, could locate this chamber from the outside, and no bo of the stone and soil wouldn’t crack it, and no burrowing creature would approach within a mile of these walls The layers of spells were so thick and coed or decayed with time, the above would rele feature

At the chaht blue liquid rose froed by complex patterns of runes inlaid with rust-red ht blue fluid

Runes along the walls, floor, and ceiling lit up as s of sylow, and then bright whiteinward fro the blue liquid almost white

The silhouette absorbed the ht even within the lus of the waterfall

A day passed Two I ensured theand monitored the influx, but the bulk of my processes remained within that cha with bated breath

I’d been alone in the fortress for weeks I was eager for ure inside the frozen waterfall twitched I leaned closer, pressing the extension of an to part, separating like a curtain Floating now in the air, a figure unfolded, flexing joints and stretching listened in the cool light while wet locks of hair stuck to a beautiful, sharp-lined face Blue liquid dripped froainst the stone only to run along countless grooves and back into the sheets hanging to either side

Slowly, bare feet settled down on the cold stone Wet footsteps broke the silence Mana condensed around the lithe body, and a silky black robe tu-unused hands took hold of a golden cord and tied the robe closed The figure stretched and twisted its neck, eliciting a sharp crack that echoed unco to be addressed

My High Sovereign strode casually across the chamber to one wall With a wave of his hand, the wall carefully unfolded, rity of the layered runes and spells He stepped through, and the wall closed again The twin curtains of blue liquid splashed back together, refor artifacts went dim

His steps were tentative as he proceeded down a long, narrow, barren tunnel I followed,spells knit into the walls, floor, and ceiling

At the end of this tunnel opened a narrow, eh for his horns to pass through without scraping the walls The chute continued only twelve feet above hi of solid stone

Unhurried, he began drifting upward As he did, the solid stone melted away above, flowed down around hi the chute back in as he rose It was a very long way, but he took his ti loose I knehat he was doing, the incorrigible tease, but I played his game I waited I followed I watched

Eventually, darkness gave way to light, bare rock to worked stone and steel He lifted into a sazed around at the walls as if searching for soave way A hidden door slid sideways, opening into the roohtly, and s whirled

“Ah, there you are Ji-ae I ondering why you leftin the bowels of the—”

“You are not, and you have never been, funny,” I scolded, projecting h the crystal ree with you there,” he said, s in a self-satisfied sort of way

I huffed “hello, Agrona”

His sh He stepped into ainst the wall just short of where s spun A tense silence stretched between us When he finally looked erous slits “Tell ”