As the ship borrowed from Admetus approached Shrenn itself, Anton was able to pick out details of the planet beyond the dull browns covering its surface. The planet was mostly covered in sandy desert, though the temperatures seemed to be a spread of livable temperatures throughout.

The places that stood out to Anton were spots with life, oases with plant, animal, and most importantly cultivator life. They were few and far between, but well protected with defensive formations. The ship headed for none of them, instead angling towards a barren mountain. Anton was reminded of Tenoun’a, and sure enough he was soon in a similar sort of landing tunnel. He understood why they would avoid a more convenient position on the surface, not covered by the shell of a mountain above.

They moved slowly, the various subordinates of Admetus relaying the situation and the reason for Anton’s presence on board. Obviously he would be noticed- even if he wasn’t displaying the full power of an Assimilation cultivator, he would stand out at least as much as a Life Transformation individual.

A notable difference Anton determined was that his descent to the city beneath was not as far… and the city below was much more open. Perhaps that was coincidence, as they seemed to have found a massive cavern- but even so, it resulted in quite a different atmosphere. More importantly was the feature of an underground lake in the center of the city, a gathering of plant and animal life. Little grew around its edges, but there were many water plants with fishes swimming below.

The lake area was also lit by sunlight- not natural, as there were no direct holes to the surface, but instead formations produced a reasonable substitute. Anton was a good judge of sunlight himself, and this was well within what was normal. Compared to their particularly harsh star, it was much more subdued.

He was met with many curious looks as he was led through the streets towards what was surprisingly not the largest building, though it was close. The size of the building had a purpose, however, the stone blocks forming a number of different offices in which Anton sensed people working, mostly writing notes in ledgers and filling out documents. Oddly enough, that was a sign of some level of prosperity- it required no effort to keep track of things when you had little. People just knew.

“Madam Docia, a visitor.”

Anton was led into a sizable yet also cramped study, packed full of shelves and cabinets. Sitting behind the overflowing desk in the center was an old lady with frazzled hair… and notably only a late Essence Collection cultivation. She looked up at Anton through glasses- a rarity for cultivators who were generally able to mold their bodies to remove such requirements. It also indicated some level of precision glasswork, but they did have space flight as well. Cultivators were able to get around many requirements Rutera considered ‘normal’, however.

“Oh yes, hello,” she inclined her head. “I am sorry we don’t have a more grand welcome set up for you, but we weren’t expecting… well, any visitors at all, frankly. I am Planetary Coordinator Docia.”

Anton took the seat she gestured to. “I am Anton, Sect Head of the Order of One Hundred Stars. From Ceretos, not that you will have heard of the sect or the planet.”

“Certainly not,” she admitted, “Though even if we knew it, we wouldn’t likely call it the same name. I hear you met Admetus?”

“Indeed, he was the most prominent figure on the moon I approached.”

“Well, you seem to have no holes or missing limbs, so that must have gone well.” She looked at the escorts who came with Anton, waving them away. “Go stand outside, or maybe find somewhere to sit down. You won’t make a difference if he decides to kill me anyway.”

“You’re not worried about that, huh?” Anton asked as the small group filtered out.

“Should I be? You seem nice, and as I said… nobody could stop you.” She studied him closely with her senses. “Peak Life Transformation?” Anton wasn’t going to correct her, but she advanced her understanding on her own. “Something beyond that, I think. You’re not from the upper realms, are you?”

“I am not. Very much the opposite.”

“Are there lower-lower realms?” Docia asked, curious.

“I-” Anton blinked. “I hadn’t considered the possibility. I am simply incapable of entering the upper realms, and opposed to the actions of a good majority of those I’ve been exposed to.”

“That’s good,” Docia said, “Because I’d hate for the city to have to be rebuilt.”

“And that would be necessary because…?”

“Well, I don’t think we could kill you without some collateral damage,” the woman said in her same kind voice. “And if you were from the upper realms, we simply couldn’t let you live.”

“It seems we likely share some opinions, then. Two invasions from the upper realms was more than enough.”

“You survived two invasions?” her eyes widened behind her glasses. “How?”

“Many allies and careful preparations. With the tides of the world being distorted, we didn’t have long to prepare for the second. Just two centuries. But ultimately, we managed.”

“How many survived with you?” Docia asked.

Anton tilted his head, “Most people, I suppose. We did have many losses, including sweeping changes of certain parts of the planet.”

Docia looked at him, frowning. “Did you… win?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t be here now if we had not. I take it that has not been the case here.”

“No,” she slowly shook her head. “We tried to stand up to them, but the last invasion… we lost.”

Anton did a careful sweep of their surroundings. No detectable traces of the Twin Soul Sect. “How long ago was this?”

“Some eight centuries now, I believe,” she replied.

“They didn’t come back the last two cycles?”

“Come back for what?” Docia narrowed her eyes, then gestured above, “Does this look like something anyone from the upper realms would wish to plunder?”

“My apologies,” Anton said. “I did not wish to make you upset. I had just not come across your particular situation. By my understanding, once they have chosen a lower world the Trigold Cluster tends to plunder every cycle.”

“Until someone tries to fight back,” Docia sighed. “Then this happens.”

“At least your planet survived,” Anton said. “Though it is truly in a regrettable state, I admire the determination of those living here. But what about Tenoun’a?”

“Oh yes,” Docia hung her head. “I heard you had visited them.”

“I did find them first in my explorations,” Anton nodded. “I tracked what I now know to be a raiding ship to one of their hangars.”

“What do you want me to say?” Docia shrugged. “That Shrenn deserves this for not helping them during the invasion? We had to protect ourselves and barely survived. Not that anyone involved in those choices is alive today.”

“I don’t want you to just say anything,” Anton clarified. “I had not heard much beyond the existence of animosity between your two planets. I take it from your words that you were once allies? How many records remain of the time?”

“Enough,” Docia said. “The invaders from the upper realms didn’t care about destroying our history specifically, when they acted with the intention to wipe us out. They didn’t quite succeed, but maybe it’s just a slower process. We can’t possibly recover to a portion of what we were, not without the lakes and seas we once had.”

“That is… an immense amount of destruction,” Anton couldn’t help but commiserate. “I did not think they would be capable of it. Physically, I mean. I have no understanding of any moral limiters on the Trigold Cluster. It was them, wasn’t it?” They were to the galactic east from Ceretos- and a bit north, closer to the border. Anton didn’t think they were far enough to interact with anything beyond the Trigold Cluster- assuming there was anything.

“That was what the records indicated,” Docia agreed. “We managed to resist successfully for a cycle or two, and then we came to this.”

“That is… an ill omen,” Anton said. “I now find myself worried for our future. But I must ask… what were your strongest cultivators?”

“I could list dozens of names of no relevance to you,” Docia said, “But I assume that is not what you wish to ask? We had a wide variety of individuals fighting against them with varied cultivation styles.”

“What cultivation rank?” Anton asked.

“Life Transformation, of course. The strongest, that is.” Docia looked at him suspiciously. “Ascension would bring them away from this place, unable to participate.”

“Then I find myself somewhat relieved,” Anton replied. “Perhaps we have faced the limits of their wrath… though I don’t think the invading army could have devastated our planet so easily.” Then again, two Augmentation cultivators unrestricted for some time might have been able to boil away the oceans. It was just a pointless endeavor, so he’d never really thought it through. Planets could be destroyed, so ruining them was likely a step easier.

“You are a step beyond Life Transformation,” she declared firmly. “I was just speculating before, but…”

“That’s right,” Anton said. “We have deemed it Assimilation. Our neighbors, Worldbinding- though there are some differences in method between the two. I will be honest, I don’t know if any of your planets could support one.” Their sun could, certainly. But everything else was practically powerless. “I’m already impressed you’ve developed Life Transformation cultivators like Admetus.”

“We have a few,” Docia admitted. “But nowhere near the throngs of mighty warriors we once had.”

“I understand,” Anton said. “Now then, onto other unfortunate topics. The current war with Tenoun’a. They offered me payment to join their side in the war.”

“You want a better deal?” Docia asked seriously. “I’m sure we can double it, at least, to fight for us. Or to just stay out, if that’s not enough.”

“That wasn’t my intention,” Anton shook his head. “I am aware you are certainly more prosperous, compared to them. But aside from not being a mercenary for higher by the largest bidder, your wealth could not hope to sway me. I want to know if I should join the war, and thus I need to know more about it. Like… why did it begin? What are your responses to their raiding ships? What attacks has Shreen made of your own?”

“Some of that,” Docia admitted, “Is privileged military information even I have no access to. But the rest stems from the long past. We were allies once. No…” Docia shook her head. “More than that. We were the same people, living on two planets, and all of Shrenn’s moons. The invasion destroyed us, embittering us against each other. I don’t know who started this most recent war for certain, but I will say it was probably Tenoun’a. Simply because it would be of less benefit for us to do so. But things have stretched on for centuries, and now we calculate the efficiency of our fields based on prospective losses to raids,” she gestured to some of the papers around her. “If you want a righteous cause, I would say that those on the defensive are the righteous ones.”

“... but?” Anton asked. Clearly, she was not done.

“But we abandoned them in their time of need, both before the war and after. Shrenn has done nothing to help restore them, focusing only on ourselves. They are a desperate people, needing everything they can get their hands on.” Docia sighed, “I would not wish for you to fight against us, but I do not think I could convince you to fight against them without leaving out pertinent information. I have the feeling that doing so might get me killed.”

“I don’t necessarily kill people who lie to me,” Anton said. “But I very much do not appreciate it.”

“So?” Docia asked. “What do you intend to do?”

“Optimally I’d wrangle everyone of note and put them in a room to talk,” Anton said. “But that would be difficult to do with just my own power.” Unless he assimilated the local star. Which was tempting, because it was powerful and different, but not something he should do lightly. “Maybe I’ll tie some letters onto arrows and see how that shapes out.”

The only thing Anton knew for sure was he couldn’t just leave things. It would have been simpler if Tenoun’a was just evil, because killing people was always the easiest solution. And while he wouldn’t condone constant raids, desperate people were difficult to judge fairly.