Chapter 80: Cease and Desist

One Day Prior:

“Sir, pardon the interruption,” a subservient man bowed.

“Not, now, I’m with my family and just finished my session a day ago. It can wait till tomorrow.”

Not raising from the bow, the intruding man persisted, “You are being summoned by the Council.”

The woman at the table nodded, “Come with me, children. Your father will be back later,” she interrupted their young children from their meals and ushered them out of the room.

“Follow me,” The man of the house directed the other to a side room. “What do you know?”

“I was told to summon you and tell you they are all in an emergency session already.”

“They are meeting without me?”

An hour later:

Forcefully the door slammed open. “Who ordered the council to convene and why was I not notified?”

“Cantor, sit. We will bring you up to date,” the head of a large oblong table that seated 11 other people said. Cantor sat in the remaining open elegantly crafted high-backed leather chair.

“We didn’t include you because we knew you could not be impartial,” another woman spoke.

“Surely you know I have never failed on this council to be impartial and act in our best interest!” Cantor spat out in frustration.

“Yesss, you have been faithful to our people,” a short bald man with large eyes spoke while dragging the out the ’s’ sounds. “You above all of usss are faithful, excccept when it comesss to your pet project.”

“Yes,” the head of the table took the lead again, “you have advocated for isolation and protection of the Cease for your tenure on the council. We have agreed till now. An Adjudicator was contacted. And measures are being taken. The collateral damage limits have been determined, and your Cease are no longer a protected people, at least until this is sorted. And we are temporarily barring you from the council till this is settled.”

The following outburst from Cantor was heard but did no good. After his protests fell dead. Guards escorted him to house arrest for the foreseeable future.

Present Time: Trint’s Soul

“I have no idea what my affinity could be or how to figure that out! The other me thought he was being helpful, but I don’t think his methods apply to me,” Trint shrugged, “And it's annoying me to no end.”

They continued discussing and Finry was ecstatic with the new discoveries and time he was having in Trint’s Soul. “I promised to continue assisting you and I offer to help if you decide to bring others in here. If Trint is a king here. Then I offer to be your local management.”

There was already room for many thousands in the city they built and usable space here was expanding more and more.

“I suggest multilevel high-rise structures,” Finry suggested looking thoughtful. “There is no reason to not utilize the height in the dome. The other big consideration to explore is gathering people who would willingly join us. The gate to the System and Subsystem holds great potential that others might flock to. But that isn’t available yet,” Finry advised.

“Finry, why do I even want others to inhabit this space?” Trint questioned. “I know my profession seems to want me to rule. But I don’t see any advantage in bringing in real people.”

“Well, most of us don’t gain access to our own Soul space and only harness it for external use. They are usually limited and used for storage with the rare person gaining something on a smaller scale than you. Beyond what space storage devices can grant, the Soul storage can be a powerful addition. It’s unable to be stolen from and for you is vastly more useful. With your ring, you never needed more space. But this,” he waived his hand around indicating Trint’s world. “This is something beyond anything I’ve imagined. I don’t really know all the possibilities or where this will lead you. But you are meant to lead and help others. You have much to offer. And if other people learn you are willing to help them…”

“I am willing to help and not just because it benefits me,” Trint agreed. “I just feel a little lost as to what to do next.”

“Simple. Learn!” Finry stated. “Learn to control what you just gained. Fight with your Soul creatures in the physical world. Practice here and go explore. Gain friends. Strengthen their Soul Space and overall control. Give yourself some time. You don’t need all the answers yet. Show me your stats again.”

After viewing Trint’s stats, they decided to stop putting stats in Memory and more into Wisdom and Adaptability. They also decided to put all Body stats into Vitality. That would be the plan for the next several hundred levels. Trint applied the remaining stats from the last 110 levels he had gained. The level increase had steadily continued with his people improving in the Subsystem and his Soul nightmares out hunting and testing their abilities. Trint himself hadn’t gained too many levels from his own efforts since his abduction by the Cease people.

“You’d think I’d have more wisdom with all the lessons I’ve learned,” Trint sighed, “With the Mind stats I have, I shouldn’t have so much trouble processing everything. But the more I learn the more I realize I have so much I don’t understand or know.”

“That is the conundrum of knowledge and understanding,” Phinry said and Pneuma groaned in agreement. “The other issue is that you are still young. Youth, despite your unique power and experiences, doesn’t give you wisdom. True wisdom, not the stats, helps us figure out what is truly best. But…That is what we are here for,” Finry pointed at himself and Pneuma, “we will help you along the way. Go ahead and update your stats. Maybe the increased Wisdom will help. It can’t hurt,” Finry laughed.

Even deep in conversation and focused inside his Soul, Trint’s physical body was still sensitive to the world around him. Time was nearly stopped for Trint, but someone was very slowly turning the handle on the door to his bedroom.

“That can’t be you, somehow?” Trint looked at Pneuma. Pneuma knew exactly what he meant and immediately he disappeared. Trint followed right after.

Trint woke from his meditation, immediately summoning two of his Soul creations. One was a Pneuma form, lithe and quick, the other was a small shadowy nightmare that slinked rapidly along the dark ceiling. But Trint found that the actual Pneuma was partway in the doorway but two appendages from his shoulder had skewered a calf and a shoulder of the intruder.

“Who are you?” Trint demanded in a normal tone but infusing Soul power it came out growly, and commanding. He intended to inject fear. The intruder wet themselves, to Trint’s olfactory disgust. “Why are you here?” he demanded with more Soul.

The effect was immediate. The intruder used their uninjured arm to pull back their mask but seemed dazed. “Please, I know this looks bad. I wasn’t sent to kill you. Just sent to gather you,” the now revealed woman confessed.

“Gather for what? Who?” Pneuma hissed.

“I was sent to take you to an extraction point,” She flinched. Surprise evident on her face. “I didn’t mean to say that. It wouldn’t have killed you just weakened your Soul for the abduction,” She confessed, “Stop that. I don’t want to say anymore. Please release me. You won’t see me again.”

“No,” Pneuma was adamant, “you need to tell us who sent you.”

“I don’t know,” she hissed. Blood was pooling on the ground. Her wounds where Pneuma pinned her to the ground were not healing.

“We won’t let you go unless you tell us. So, who sent you,” Trint demanded using his Soul and will to demand it.

“I don’t know exactly but it was someone powerful from another planetary system,” she offered.

“Why do they want me crippled?” Trint pried.

“I don’t know. They don’t tell agents the ‘why’. If you won’t release me then just kill me. I’m already dead for failing.”

“Yes, you are,” Pneuma said as he decapitated her.

“Pneuma!” Trint spit in surprise, “Why did you do that?”

“She was a threat and one I wasn’t going to risk letting go to try again or report back to those who sent her.”

“She was doing what I told her. You didn’t need to kill her.”

“You can’t trust anything an assassin says. She needed to be eliminated and I didn’t trust you to make the necessary decision and it was too big of a risk. We need to leave.”

“We just decided to figure out what we can do and solidify our gains in Soul,” Trint sagged in frustration.

“Yes, but that was before you were being hunted again. If we stay, there will be more. If we leave, at least there’s a chance they won’t know where we are going, and we can keep growing. We didn’t want to be here in the first place. We needed to leave regardless. This just means we do it now.”

“We might be able to convince our friends to go with us. I think we should try. I don’t think they are the source of the attack. Arneala signed a contract, remember? We can ask for the same from Bitain’La and Ele’Azar. Surely this is evidence enough of the threat,” his companion pointed to the headless body at their feet.

“I don’t want to delay,” Pneuma growled. “So, we try Ele’Azar first. If I doubt him, he will die next. Let’s do this as fast as possible.”

They spoke to Ele’Azar in his Soul first. Their mentor came in person to see the body, filling in the details they knew inside Trint’s Soul space. Ele’Azar signed a contract. Despite his status and role with the Cease, he had seen enough from the two of them to choose to follow them and planned to return when Trint was safe. He didn’t think his connection would be harmed after his disappearance. The three agreed to recruit Arneala and Bitain’La. No one else was considered.

Trint and Pneuma went to Arneala’s Soul space and convinced her without issue. Then repeated the task with Bitain’La. They were all ready in less than five minutes from Ele’Azar seeing the body.

They had decided to travel down the river and then change course after some distance to get to another city. It would take them two days but would be better than returning to where they arrived in the nearest city. Ele’Azar was confident in getting a ship to get them off the planet. It was going to be difficult, but it was possible with their mentor’s knowledge and experience with his people.

Trint communicated with his two nightmares that were already downriver. They had not seen any people and agreed to meet them where Ele’Azar indicated on a map.

The next two days were spent in rapid travel. They could all use Soul to increase their speed but had to pace themselves to not draw attention from overhead ships. Once they were away from the training area there were occasional overhead aircraft. Most likely just shipment transport but they couldn’t risk exposure if it was a search vessel looking for them. The mentors continued to instruct when taking breaks. The first lesson was Soul shielding. Keeping a tight rein on your Soul in the physical realm could mask you from detection. It was the best form of stealth when dealing with Soul masters looking for other Soul masters.