Interlude - Question

“You are sure that this will help?” Zach asked her as they waited in front of the camp area dedicated to the Twilight Melody Sect.

Bera powers allowed her to quickly process information, and the people that they had sent ahead of their arrival had done their work well. She at least had the lay of the land covered.

“It is the only other thing that I think might help you with this,” Bera said slowly. “The Third Iteration Empire utilized slaves longer than any other place in the world.”

“And you know this how?” Zach asked.

“Yirrel—we, had people watching them for a long time. It still surprises me to know that they are fractured, that some had even joined sects… It wasn’t something that I anticipated,” Bera said as she pushed her glasses up her snout. None of the Cabal’s plans had even been needed it seemed. The entire world had gone mad. “The question is whether they will let us talk with her.”

“Couldn’t we have gone to anyone else? We didn’t need to request their leader,” Zach added.

“It had to be her, she was privy to all the secrets of the Empire, if there is a way, she will know it,” Bera insisted. Spending so much time with Zach had made her understand him a bit better. And it had… reignited the old part of her that had been buried under centuries of cynicism, compromise, and seeing evil go unpunished. What Yirrel had wanted to do had been so close, they had amassed power, had been so close to making everything work and then…

The most she could do was try and live up to Yirrel’s legacy. And Zach was her best hope. He didn’t want the same things as Yirrel, but… it was close enough. He was far freer with knowledge for one. She had seen him teaching the wardens at the keep, giving them the secrets of skills and insights that not even Bera herself was aware of. Secrets that great masters of the Settled Territories would kill for.

She needed to keep Zach attached to the Wardens. She saw in him the same thing she saw in Yirrel, the drive to reach for a world that was fairer to them all. They had seen it even before, when he had just arrived to the Infinite Realm, a Ranker that had no idea what he was doing. He lacked power then, but compared to all other Rankers? He was far above them. That had been their first clue that the 7th Iteration Earth was different.

“I feel like I almost have it,” Zach said, playing with the collar in his hands.

“A conversation will not hurt,” Bera told him.

Zach didn’t answer, his eyes became engrossed with the collar. Nahamassa had warned her of his… moments. Getting obsessed with the collar was a light manifestation in her mind. She left him to tinker, and kept quiet, waiting patiently.

When Anatalien had come to her, Karya hadn’t truly believed what she told her. A war through the core? It almost sounded like a joke. Once she assured her that it was not, well that is when Karya’s suspicion rose. Was it a ploy to kill the last of her people? She didn’t think that Tali would do that, but it had been centuries since they knew each other.

Eventually she had to admit that what they planned was genuine. She even understood and agreed that the monsters and taken were a threat. What had worried her was the fact that her people were… so weakened. They had barely survived the retreat. The constant fighting, the dead that they had to leave along the way. They had been at war for what felt like a century. They were tired.

It was Ender who had changed her mind. He told her that this would be the chance to end the threat once and for all, to finally write the last chapter in the story of their Empire. So, she agreed.

She hadn’t expected them to put her in charge of their forces, though with Tali offering advice. She wasn’t familiar with how Sect’s fought wars, how they operated in general. Sects had barely even been a thing back during the war.

Still, there was a lot to do. Organizing, making sure that they had the supplies for the war, logistics. It took a lot of her time.

“Eternal Master,” someone entered her tent and greeted her. She still grimaced when she heard the title. And no matter how much she tried to convince people not to call her that… it was futile. And she had to accept that they had joined a different culture, they had been granted a safe haven, but it did come with some caveats. Changes like this one were part of it.

“What is it?” She asked.

“Two Wardens have arrived at the camp, they wish to speak with you about something regarding the war effort, the Sect Head has already given them permission,” the young warrior said.

It rankled a bit that they had gotten the permission to speak with her from someone else, but… She took a deep breath, compromises.

She nodded her head. “Fine, bring them.”

She wondered why they were coming to her. She would’ve assumed that they would go to speak with Hitor. That did interest her. So she walked over to her long table, picked up a goblet filled with grapes. At least there was one part of Sect culture that she agreed with wholeheartedly. Everything was about art, expression, and beauty. She sat down to wait for them.

They were led to a lavish tent, everywhere she looked, Bera saw expense. Beautiful drapes hung from the bearing poles, banners, detailed maps on the tables that were carved with exquisite details. A single banner caught her eye, it was a formation of some kind. The fabric had a red and green background, split evenly down the middle. In the center of it was a black hole filled with such darkness that it almost took Bera’s breath away. She felt a sensation of an endless abyss from it. A promise to the end of all things. The edges of the dark hole were silver and violet, spinning around it to make a ring that looked as if it was on fire. Or perhaps just color flowing and mixing. The formation had to be advanced to make such an effect.

“You like it?” The woman with the golden-red hair sitting at the table to the right spoke. “It was a gift from the—from my Sect Leader, the new banner of the Twilight Melody Sect.”

Bera swallowed. She was familiar with some art of the Sects. It often had such strange effects, supposedly made to help people with their inspirations. “It is… breathtaking.”

The woman snorted. “Literally, low tiered people just fall down unconscious if they look at it too long,” she shook her head and then gestured at the table. “Come, sit, I’m Karya Ornn-Dagda, but you already knew that.”

Bera inclined her head, making sure that it was respectful enough. She knew of the woman from Yirrel, but Bera had never met her. Her parents had been born after the Third Iteration left.

“I am Warden Commander Bera Grasshorn, and this is Warden Zacharia Gardner—”

“Oh, I’m familiar with Warden Zacharia,” the woman interrupted.

“Of course, Hastur,” Bera said, remembering. It was often easy to forget with the way they Zach sometimes acted. She took a step to join her at the table, and then glanced at Zach. He was staring at the banner with a blank look in his eyes.

Oh, no. She reached for his elbow. “Warden Zacharia?”

He turned faster than she expected, and in his eyes, she saw no recognition. For a moment she felt a flare of something—and then it was gone, and he blinked his eyes a few times.

“Ah… I apologize,” he inclined his head. “The banner is… very interesting. It swallows everything… even Time.”

Karya tilted her head, and Bera started. And then he crossed the room to take a seat, and Bera followed.

“Well, let me start by saying that you have my gratitude Warden Zacharia, even though there were… complications, you accomplished what we sent you to do,” Karya said.

“It was only right,” Zach just said.

“My… son,” Karya started. “I’ve been told what happened to him, did you… see it?”

Zach tilted his head, almost as if remembering. “Fire user, yes.. I remember. He was taken along with three others. We fought; he melted my armor around me.”

Karya blinked. “So… with us going to this war. Do you think that there is any way to free the taken?”

Bera felt sympathy for the woman, so she answered. “It’s been tried, countless times. All attempts fail. Even when we have the greatest mind users attempt it. We even tried after Hastur died. There was just no change, no matter what we tried.”

Kayra shuffled in her seat, but didn’t say anything, nor did she let anything be seen on her face.

“That is because they are not under mind control,” Zach said. “Not the ones that still remain who they were.”

Both Bera and Karya turned to look at him. “What do you mean?” Karya asked.

Zach meet her eyes. “Hastur didn’t control their minds. He got inside and allowed them to live out their lives. Live many lifetimes, until he learned all about who and what they were. And then he showed them a different life, his version of what life should be. With the knowledge he gathered, he had the time to convince them to join him of their own free will. He had thousands of years, more. By the end of the taken process, they believe in his vision. Even with Hastur dead, it doesn’t matter. They work toward the goal of bringing that world into existence.”

Kayra kept silent for a little while, and then nodded. “I assume that you know because of what happened, Hastur attempted this with all of you, didn’t he?”

“He did. I could see through his lies. I don’t remember this, but I believe that I defied him somehow, and he decided to leave me alone for a few thousand years. My previous self believed that Hastur was going to turn me the same as others once I’ve broken completely.”

Karya nodded her head. “Thank you for telling me.”

Bera wondered what she was feeling right now. Knowing that the taken were following Hastur of their own free will. That they’ve been manipulated and conditioned over a period of thousands of years… She didn’t know what she would do if someone close to her was in the same position.

Karya cleared her throat, ate a grape and then spoke. “What is it that I can do for you?”

Zach put the slave collar on the table. “We are here because of this.”

Karya blinked. “What about it?”

“I intend to free the people kept in the city of Helse, many are enslaved,” Zach said slowly. “I’ve been told that your people know more about slaves than anybody else. I want to know if it is possible to break a slave collar without killing the enslaved.”

Karya blinked, and her eyes going through a couple of different emotions. Then, she finally sighed. “Yes, it is possible.”

Bera was surprised. She hadn’t actually thought that it was.

“How?” Zach asked.

Karya grimaced. “I don’t actually know.”

“How could you not know?” Bera asked.

“They kept it a secret from us, killed themselves, just so that we don’t find out,” Karya said. “We’ve had slave rebellions, collared freed, but the means… No, I can only speculate.”

“Please,” Bera offered.

“They could never free the slaves in large numbers, it was… a slow process. So, we knew that it was not only difficult to accomplish, it was also extremely hard to reproduce. Our top suspicion was that it was a… power.”

Zach tilted his head. “A power,” he whispered as he looked at the collar.

“That is all that I know, I’m sorry that I couldn’t help you more,” Karya said.

“That is enough,” Zach said and stood up. “Now I know that it is possible, that is all that matters.”

He bowed in thanks and walked out. Bera bowed and then hurried after him. Perhaps his—their—mission wasn’t so hopeless after all.