Leverage

Ryun sat on a corpse of a monster, recovering his Qi. His Sect’s warriors were around him, those that didn’t need healing at least. He saw Lesamitrius guiding the efforts of harvesting the monster bodies, there was a lot of wealth to be had here. Ryun had them jump on it as soon as the things calmed down and before others could think of it. He knew how people acted, soon this entire place was going to become a bit more… tense. Better that they get a head start on the looting.

Selia stood to the side with Erdania, fussing over her while Erdania tried to tell her that she was fine. Ryun’s attention though, was on Nayra who was leading the Sect efforts and listening to reports. They had learned that no one had seen her mother and sister since they entered the city, and they couldn’t find them. It wasn’t looking good. They could be dead as so many others were. From what Lesamitrius told him the current numbers put them somewhere at 40% of the combined Sect army lost. His Sect’s losses were less, they had probably the most experience fighting these monsters than anybody else. The former Empire’s troops had fought them for years and the Twilight Melody Sect did have a lot of powerful individuals. And Ryun and Selia had hammered the enemy and lessened the pressure on the side of the battle where their sect was. Though, losing Karya and Vanessa would be a blow.

The question was if they had died a true death or not, and without the connection to the Ethereal they were unlikely to get an answer soon. Not all of the dead had died a true death, but many had. The Sect army had been made aware and—at least in Twilight Melody Sect—they were prepared to kill the monsters before they could devour souls.

It would be weeks before they knew an exact number.

Ryun kept his eyes closed and his legs folded underneath him as he sat on the corpse and tried not to pay attention to the looks he was getting. He heard their whispers, the awe in their voice, and not just from his own people. Many were saying that Selia and he had killed most of the army, which while true didn’t quite match their tones at least not in Ryun’s mind. Still, there wasn’t much that he could do about it, and it would be useful for his plans. He had an opportunity now; others had witnessed their exploits. Erdania had killed the Elder King, and Selia and he had demolished the enemy army. That had earned them honor. He only had to leverage it now.

Suddenly, he felt Nayra double over and he moved. In an instant he was next to her, steadying her.

“What is it?” He asked.

Nayra shook her head, then straightened. “The Ethereal, the connection is back!”

Ryun raised an eyebrow, wondering why now and if it had something to do with their victory. The amount of death gathered here was probably more than had ever happened in this world. Perhaps that was enough to open a way through.

“I need to go,” Nayra said hurriedly. “I need to check if my attunement worked, if the souls are safe—”

“—Stop,” Ryun told her as he saw her readying to use her ability and cross over.

“But we need to know, and it will help us see how many actually died a true death,” Nayra said.

“Yes, and you will go,” Ryun told her. “But not yet, we don’t know what time dilation is in this part of the Ethereal, and I need you here for now. You have a month in this Realm, let’s take our time, yes?”

Nayra looked him in the eyes, clearly conflicted, but then she nodded, agreeing with him. “Yes, you’re right.”

Ryun turned to the Sect warrior that had been in the middle of giving Nayra a report and spoke. “Go find Lesamitrius and Reki, have them send people to other Sects to see if this affected them too.”

Nayra frowned as the man saluted and ran off. “You think that it might not?”

“The battle has a way of making people improve in different ways,” Ryun said slowly.

“A glimpse? I don’t feel like what you’ve described,” Nayra said.

“Still,” Ryun added.

Then, he turned his eyes to the sky where he felt a person flying in their direction. As she approached, he couldn’t help but focus on the armada above the Citadel, there was no other word for it. They looked like spaceships straight out of stories from Earth, though some looked more like the airships that he had seen before. And there were three massive islands dwarfing everything, that floated to the side with their own more conventional looking armada.

Ryun pulled his attention from the newcomers and watched as Tali landed near them.

“Ryun!” She yelled. “What are you doing? You are late!”

He tilted his head at her. “Late for what?”

Tali closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “The meeting between the leaders of the Exalted Empire and Sects?”

Ryun blinked. He had sensed that taking place, of course, it was what was holding the attention of most of the people in the territory. He just… hadn’t thought that he should be there. If he was being honest, he had listened in for a bit, but got bored with all of the greetings and politics. He cursed himself, he should’ve been there, it would’ve put him at the front of the Sects and furthered his goals. He just… hadn’t thought about it, and had been frankly too exhausted.

“I haven’t been invited,” Ryun answered, trying to mollify Tali, of course invitation didn’t matter—power did.

She frowned. “A messenger was sent.”

That did surprise Ryun, no messenger arrived.

“Unless someone already started playing Sect games,” she sighed.

That was… alarming. Ryun turned his attention on the meeting and listened in, then winced once he realized what was happening. His sense washed over the entire valley, and he saw that things were much worse than he thought. The two sides were… facing off. He hadn’t even noticed.

“You should get Selia and Erdania and go—” Tali started, but he interrupted her with a raised hand.

“No, you and… Nayra,” he said slowly as he looked at the redhead standing next to him. Nayra blinked, but then put her helmet back on.

Tali narrowed her eyes. “What are you thinking?”

Ryun kept his eyes on Nayra. “A demonstration of power. But first, a moment.”

He turned around and walked over to Selia and Erdania.

“Everything all right?” Erdania asked as he approached.

“Yes, I need to go and engage in… politics,” he said with distaste. “But that is part of my ambition,” Ryun added.

Erdania raised an eyebrow and Selia spoke. “Do you need us?”

“No, I want you to do something else for me,” he looked at them, then told them what he wanted. Selia looked hesitant for a moment, but then nodded, a mask appeared in the palm of her hand.

“I… yes, I should do that,” she said.

Ryun nodded and then turned, walking back to the others.

They landed at the edge of the Sect army, and Ryun saw how tense they were and how prepared for another battle they looked. This was a battle line, a tired one at that. They glared across the field where the troops of the newcomers stood in front of the Citadel with their armada in the air. The Sect’s remaining fleets were above Emaros, but now he could see how they were turned toward the Citadel as if it was a threat.

“—There are several factions with them, though the bulk of the army comes from the Exalted Empire,” Tali kept talking, bringing him up to speed. “The biggest one is the Heavenly Cloud Kingdom; they brought their floating islands.”

Ryun glanced up at them. “Hm… how difficult of a situation are we in?”

Tali sighed. “We are spent, utterly, nearly half of our forces are gone and Eratemus has pulled back. He is… neutral, he was with us against the Dome monsters, attacking another alliance is… too much for him. He has already shown more than he probably intended.”

Ryun had noted that the undead army had pulled to the side and that Eratemus wasn’t at the meeting. He would’ve thought that the Necromancer would try to make peace, so Ryun asked Tali why he wasn’t.

“He had spent a lot of time building an image for himself, what happened here will change that perception. If he interferes…”

Ryun understood, from what he knew of Eratemus he did want to help people, but he also liked his privacy.

As they approached the meeting taking place in the middle of the field in between the two armies, he started to hear the words spoken.

“—ou broke the agreement,” a soft voice belonging to the cthul standing across from Hitor spoke.

“We rallied to defeat the threat that had been allowed to grow uncontrollably, a threat that could impact everyone, all the while your side looked for its own interests.”

“The threat would’ve been dealt with without you,” the cthul said.

The two groups faced each other. Hitor, Repesh, Awirren, and Velorn Thorntail stood on one side, and the cthul on the other, glaring at each other. The cthul wore what Ryun would consider futuristic looking garments. The one in the center had a bit more ornate armor, but each person wore something similar. Tight fitting clothing beneath equally slim and sealed armored suits. He saw straight through them with his sense. The Sects wore their armors as well. Each side had warriors behind them, with their weapons ready. The situation was… tense. There was a smaller group a bit away, where Sigmund signed hastily with a demasi woman.

Hitor spoke for them, but the unified Sects had no real leader. The more power one had the more their voice mattered, and Hitor was strong. The man standing across from Hitor was the Herald of the Machine, as Tali had informed him. The leader of the Exalted Empire’s military and the high member of their ruling caste. She didn’t have enough time to tell him everything, and she had admitted that she didn’t know much. The Exalted Empire had been young three hundred years ago, and apparently many changes happened after she was taken as a slave.

Hitor waved his hand in frustration. “And how was anybody supposed to know that? You sent no messages, no warnings!”

“The Exalted Empire is not beholden to you, the Sects are interfering where they don’t belong,” the cthul said slowly.

Ryun walked through the throng of people, feeling their eyes on him as well as some whispered frustrations. He stopped once he was next Hitor who glanced at him then turned back to the cthul who had barely spared Ryun a look. Tali hurried over to where Sigmund was standing.

“It doesn’t matter, we are here, and this ground is soaked with our blood, we will not retreat as you dictate. Just as you are not beholden to us, we are not beholden to you Herald.”

The cthul’s eyes narrowed. “You are in violations of our agreements; you will leave now, or we will destroy you. Choose.”

Ryun wondered why the man was so… hostile. He assumed that there were some powerful treasures in the Citadel and Emaros, assuming that the Wardens hadn’t moved everything, but he didn’t think that anything would be worth enough for what a war would cause. And this would be another Sect versus Classers war. And their army was disadvantaged, tired and nearly halved.

Ryun could see that Hitor understood their position. They had a weakened army while the new arrivals were fresh, the way of the sects was simple. If you had power you could do what you wanted, if not, you submitted.

Hitor didn’t answer immediately, so Ryun did it for him.

“No,” he said loudly.

Everyone in the meeting turned to look at him, even Sigmund and his side stopped their arguments to look.

The cthul glanced at him and looked him over. Ryun was wearing the last copy of his armor he had on, still covered in blood and dented in places. After a moment the cthul turned back at Hitor.

“You shouldn’t allow children to speak on your behalf,” the Herald of the Machine said.

Hitor grimaced and moved to answer but Ryun put a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t like this, putting himself in the spotlight, but he had… a vision. He had seen some of it on the field of battle. The Sects united fighting against outside threats. They were powerful, but they could be so much more.

Hitor met Ryun’s eyes, and Ryun saw his thoughts. Not in his eyes, he couldn’t see them, no, in the way he held himself, his hesitation. He didn’t think that they could refuse the Herald, and he was right. Their army was too weakened to refuse, and the Herald was taking advantage of that weakness. Ryun was an amateur at politics, but even he saw that the Herald wanted to take credit for defeating the enemy, simply because he came at the end. Thankfully, while Ryun wasn’t good at politics, he was good at demonstrating power—it was why he gravitated toward the Sect way. He just needed to remind them what Sects were all about, perception, honor and obligation, even in death.

Hitor saw something in his eyes and stepped back, letting him take the lead. Ryun was more grateful for that than the drake could’ve known. He was a young member of their council, but he had earned a lot of honor during the fighting, and Sects respected that.

He turned to face the cthul, now standing in front of the Sects.

“You are the one they call the Undying Void?” He asked slowly. “A member of the team that killed Hastur.”

Ryun inclined his head.

“Are you sure that you want to put that name to the test?” The Herald threatened.

Ryun smiled; this was the kind of a person who he understood. Power versus power.

“I would, but it will be unnecessary,” Ryun said. “What will happen is that you will pull half of your forces out of the Citadel and allow us in. You have arrived at the end of the battle, and you have contributed. Your actions have saved lives of our people, for that you have our eternal gratitude, and you will have part of the spoils. You can even have the territories themselves, but we will not be leaving until we are rested and had the time to take our picks.”

The Herald’s eyes narrowed. “And if I refuse your generous offer?”

Ryun’s smile widened; it was time for his secret weapon. His demonstration of power. He glanced to Nayra standing at his side.

“If you will, Nayra,” he said.

He sensed everyone’s confusion as Nayra raised her hand, and then used her perk. It was like a deep sound that couldn’t be heard but felt deep inside yourself. He sensed everyone startle at that, some went for their weapons, but it was not necessary. Ryun felt it happen. Behind them in the clearing in between the two armies, shapes started to form, walking as if out of mist as they crossed from the Ethereal. As Nayra used her Death Valkyrie’s Call.

The souls of the dead warriors answered the call, all the souls that had made it to the Ethereal Realm. Ryun had never doubted that they would come. They were warriors of the Sects, those who were here, who had fought and died, they understood honor and obligation more than most could. It wasn’t everyone who died, of course, some had died a True Death, but it was enough to demonstrate his point. The Sects were not weak, their warriors would fight even in death.

As the area behind them suddenly filled with the ghosts of the dead, he saw the Herald’s hesitation. Two more souls manifested next to Nayra and he glanced over to see Nayra sag in relief as her mother and sister appeared. Not true death. He didn’t know what kind of immortality they had, but he assumed that it was something tied to Valkyries like Nayra.

Ryun turned his gaze back at the Herald of the Machine. The army of ghosts filling the field behind him. Then he asked.

“Well?”