novelraw Chapter 267: The MAD Emperor
Chapter 267: The MAD Emperor
Earlier in the day before the primary team left to engage the mana fire, Daniel entered a specific room in the Citadel; the sewage plant. It was and is one of the only places in the Citadel virtually no one in his inner circle would ever choose to enter in the absence of an emergency. The Feldroks understood dealing with waste when they built the Citadel, and it’s not entirely far off from a modern wastewater plant. Like the dragons though, magic and fire are things the Feldroks had in more abundance than virtually anything else. Rather than growing “good” bacteria to break down organic waste and make the waste-water “nature-safe” for discharge, the feldroks chose to scorch all of the incoming waste. Water flash-vaporizes off, and the solids are melted and incinerated into a molten slag that ultimately cools into an abundance of obsidian. Like regular glass, it doesn’t hold mana for very long, though obsidian does hold it a little longer due to the impurities that give it the extremely dark pitches.
The cooled slag batches end up as the magic panels that emulate touchscreens on Earth, the decorative walkways and ornaments of the Citadel, and even drinkware and other dinner wares due to the sheer abundance and sterility the scorching process provides.
Daniel is thankful in the present that most of his companions don’t know to ask about this room in the first place, since it thankfully doesn’t hold a terrible smell long due to the continuous and almost immediate scorching process.
But, in the moment of this particular day before a major mission was about to begin, Daniel needs to have a conversation no one else can be party to, just in case.
“I am here, your Grace,” speaks a male voice Daniel managed to get a message to.
“Ucahote, good. Are we alone?”
“Yes, your Grace. I’ve isolated us. Though, the hierarchy of the Core…”
“I am explicitly ordering you this; until the mana fire is extinguished, or the mission is a failure, you are forbidden from discussing our conversation with anyone other than myself by order of the Master of the Citadel. This order supersedes all other authority, including Xyreko’s. Upon completion or confirmed failure of the mission, you may discuss any and all details.”
“Understood, your Grace. Though… are you certain?”
“Yes. I trust everyone in the Fievegal, but I trust them too much to hear what I’m about to say.”
“You’re about to risk your life again, aren’t you?”
Daniel let out a scoff, caught red handed and with absolute ease.
“If the situation requires it, I’m prepared to do what I need to in order to protect my family.” Daniel looked at his bandaged hands from trying to free Serrentuk and Jeavana from their contracts, both of whom made it more difficult due to various pain factors involved.
“Don’t mistake my words, though. I’m not ready to die. If you can make me a nuke-proof barrier in the next hour or so, I’ll do literally anything you want that I can make the full use of the Citadel to do.” Daniel gave a quiet chuckle, feeling nervous and defeated by the scope of the thing he’s considering. “You’re the only one I can count on not to stop me right now, Ucahote. Whether we both know what could happen or not.”
“You’ll take a teleporter pack with you, yes?”
“Sure, if we’ve got one.”
Ucahote paused at hearing this. Daniel’s last one was confiscated by his mistresses to improve the design, since the last one teleported him halfway across the continent because of strange-mana interference.
Even a working one would probably be more dangerous than not having one at all.
“Well… if it comes down to your chance to escape or be obliterated by your own weapon… It can’t hurt to try, your Grace.”
“You’re right,” replied Daniel without any hesitation. Ucahote was absolutely right. If it’s one death over another, where the chances of survival for Daniel are much higher than trying to survive a nuclear blast meant to stop a magic death sentence for the world, then it’s an obvious choice.
That said, it relies on Daniel being the only one gambling on the teleporter pack, though neither of them had no way of knowing what would happen at the time of their clandestine meeting.
“Are you sure you do not wish to involve the Empresses, your Grace? You did promise Ryuogriar…”
“I don’t think I’m breaking my promise,” replied Daniel, knowing where the golem was going with his line of thought. “I have permission to be reckless, and I have every intention of surviving my ordeals. If I do die, then I’ll have broken my promise.” He looks to the waste plant that is currently sterilizing a batch of sludge. “And, it won’t be able to affect me at that point anyways…” murmured the human.
Ucahote heard the whispered phrase, but says nothing. Every golem of the Citadel had a chance towards the end of their lives to continue serving the lords and ladies they loved through powerful magic, but that magic almost certainly would never work on Daniel. He doesn’t have enough mana for his soul to be captured properly, so it would likely be far more traumatizing than for someone willingly making the choice, such as the goblin who volunteered to be Byleathea’s sacrifice.
Daniel knew before they ever left for the mission that he may have to do the unthinkable, and he was trying to involve as few people as possible from the very beginning. This is enough for Ucahote to piece it all together.
“You think innocent people will die as a result…?”
Daniel took a long, slow breath. The weight seems to press in on Ucahote’s soul, in spite of Daniel doing what he can to carry it alone. It’s a choice no sane person ever wants to make; the few for the many. “You have an opportunity,” jokes Daniel with a bitter quietness to his voice. “An opportunity to stand in my way, since I absolutely need your cooperation. I’m ordering you, and you have to obey, which I know isn’t fair… But, I know you guys are all smarter than I am in… this world. A world where backstabbing and cutthroated ruthlessness are staples of survival. And, I would be willing to bet you and your Mother held a rather high rank in life as some sort of regional aristocrats.”
Ucahote remained quiet this time. Daniel wasn’t entirely wrong. Though, under the feldroks, it carried little weight, since they were the arbiters of all final decisions. They were ‘kind’ to all other races, but they never elevated them the way Daniel has been.
Daniel continued his thought as he walked idly towards the incinerator, which glows an orange-red color during operation; the outside of a massively thick shell of metal in which unfathomable heat is being used to purge the most basic of the waste produced by living things. “I wasn’t clear enough, or I should have been more specific. Everyone knows I have a nuke as a last resort. But, they don’t know what I’ll do to minimize who assists me with it. And, if the worst should happen, or my odds aren’t looking good, I need someone who won’t stop me in the final moments.”
Again, Ucahote held his metaphorical tongue. He was a dattakorien in life, someone who normally would have been at war with the humans. Though, Ucahote lived during a time when the east and west were in relative harmony, keeping to themselves. In fact, many kingdoms and the Empire had territory west of the mountains for a long time, until Vaergraes systematically pushed them back in order to drag out the survival of both sides. This was, of course, after the fall of the Citadel and the long-hibernation of the golems within. A time when many gave up hope that they would ever awaken again, and many of whom remained within the core even until the present day.
“Do you believe the world will die if those lives are not sacrificed?” asks Ucahote finally. He had some idea, given how Daniel responded so far, that it has to be the case. Daniel was the first and fastest to ask his soldiers to use non-lethal methods in the beginning of the Fievegal, slowly giving up the notion of ‘non-lethal warfare’ when the enemies simply kept trying.
The dragons regularly purged their own whenever someone disagreed with the active Lord, and the feldroks would imprison dissenters who spoke out of line, from the few humans and dattakoriens, all the way up to the feldroks who became too unruly in their words to leave be.
Daniel was contemplating taking innocent lives, but only as a necessary evil in an absolute last resort, and he felt horribly guilty even considering it because it is still evil.
“If… it comes to it, then… yes. Which is why… I’m not sure I want to survive it myself…”
And that was the moment Ucahote fully understood what was truly wrong. It was why Daniel had been so dodgy about the questions and involving the Empresses. He had been considering going with the bomb and any innocents in recompense for doing it in the first place.
The problem was simple for Ucahote. Daniel was and is the Emperor of the Fievegal, who still needed him to stabilize their improved living conditions with his sharing of Earth’s technology or helping hybridize it.
Not to mention the Empresses.
Hekate would likely cease to function entirely, and the legacy of the feldroks would vanish as quickly as hope had been restored with her ascendance to the Empress and ruler of the Citadel. She could even snap and become a Devourer-like being, joining Daniel swiftly after in the same manner if anyone could be convinced to do so against her.
The Fievegal can’t afford for Daniel to die. Deep down, Ucahote knew he should resist Daniel’s orders, but he had no reason to distrust Daniel, enough so, at least, to have the conversation.
“Your Grace… No, Daniel. Tell me something, if you would. The nukes come from your world, and they were used, correct?”
“That’s right,” replies Daniel. “The only ones used in direct combat to my knowledge were among the smallest ones from that day forward, and they took hundreds of thousands of lives in a near instant, each wiping out a city…”
“And, among these hundreds of thousands of lives, were all of them military personnel?” asked Ucahote, already knowing the answer.
“O… Of course not,” replied Daniel, nearly choking on the words. It was clear he knew why Ucahote asked, but it was still surprising to hear. “But, the goal wasn’t the same. There was no single, tangible monster to be slain or a false-fire to put out. It was specifically to cripple the morale of that country… Rikuto’s country… so swiftly and so decisively, they wouldn’t even consider another day of war.”
“And, did they work?”
This question shocked Daniel even more than the others, and he remained speechless for a long moment as he processed the sounds that formed a question in their shared language of Eastern Imperial Trade.
“I… It’s debatable and debated even to the present day, but… as far as I understand, yes. Japan surrendered soon after. The assumptions were that they were either afraid of my country having more of them and wiping out their capital or even the Imperial Palace, or that a prolonged war, even with only conventional weapons being used, would be untenable with the horrors they wrought so recent.”
Ucahote replied in the only way he knew. “Your country traded hundreds of thousands of lives to save only a few million more in the war itself, I assume. And, they did so specifically by ‘crippling morale’. You are not attempting to inflict horror upon anyone in this world. You’re only trying to kill a monster. That is why I will cooperate with you, regardless of the outcome, and if condemnation must be made, then I will glad go alongside you into the afterlife if our lives are enough to pay down the debt. Until then, let’s worry about keeping you alive and getting it over with. But, only as a last resort…”
***
“But, only as a last resort…”
Ucahote’s words echo in Daniel’s mind. And, as they do, he can’t help but wonder various things as he sits in a hastily assembled outhouse stall, which is one of several on the outskirts of the command post as everyone else is rushing to evacuate the camp. It’s pretty literally a quickly-dug hole in the ground with a seat built over top of it and fabric walls to hide what’s going on. It was one of the things Rikuto had the teams do because it can be buried more safely than chamber pots or buckets, and doesn’t require secondary handling other than burying the hole after it’s ‘full’. There are several of them in a row, but Daniel is fully clothed and deep in thought.
I wonder if every last resort in history feels like this to the person who has to use it. It’s so easy to name something a ‘last resort’, but how many of them actually get used? Is there any chance of this succeeding?
For once, he doesn’t have his reliable left handed companion to chime in on his silent thoughts. Nemaisol is tucked into the bed with Hekate. She’s the last person on Zenkon who would ever be able to draw Nemaisol, but at least she and Kaeralegier will be safe as a result.
Nemaisol and/or Kaeralegier can probably negate some of the mana fire for a few moments, but it’s going to be irrelevant if she falls into the mana fire and loses her ability to negate it. The volcanic activity Neith and Magnir are investigating is almost certainly a small leak, and Ucahote has already confirmed that the embers are stirring within the crater, indicating movement caused by the small eruption.
It has only been a few minutes, but it’s probably the only chance he’s going to have to do what he needs to do.
To make the call he needs to make and accept all of the weight of the sin it will be.
Ucahote is his only true accomplice this time, and Daniel has left clues to obscure that fact.
Chaos, Order… If you’re listening to my thoughts… You’re welcome to stop me at any time. If I am about to become an ‘anomaly’, please, do something to stop me. Say something. Just… anything. Please. Any sign… and I’ll stop.
Daniel looks up at the sky with watering eyes. No answer ever comes in the stench-filled little outhouse he’s hiding in. “Please…” whispers the human, as if two all-powerful goddesses that personify the very fabric of reality can’t hear the thoughts of one insignificant mortal.
More likely, even at this crossroads, where Daniel has doubts that he knows he doesn’t have much more time to have, the destruction of Zenkon is his to allow.
Not because Daniel believes he is some world-saving demi-god…
… But, because he is about to use one man-made disaster to stop another.
Yaulander played within the unknown rules of this world, and he started the mana fire. An event Daniel could have easily stopped the moment it started, but he was too afraid of the ‘dud’ factor. Many people have been killed by bullets struck by their weapon’s hammer or striker, only for the discharge to be delayed seconds or even minutes later. Hang-fuse is a very real and terrifying phenomenon for artillerymen and fireworks pyrotechnicians alike. Any container of black powder intended to go off and didn’t is a bomb with an invisible timer on it.
Instead, he let a small campfire turn into an unstoppable wildfire because he didn’t know the rules of the game he was dragged into.
Daniel looks at the revolver on his lap. He would be lying if he said that ‘it’ hadn’t crossed his mind. He has too much to live for, so he would never do it now. If he was still the same Daniel who arrived on Zenkon that fateful day, without the ladies, without Neith and Magnir, and without his growing number of children, it would have been half of his thought process right now.
But, it has only been a devilish whisper this time, trying to remind him of the ‘easy way out’, but one that is only easy in how quickly all of his troubles would be over. Actually doing it is truly difficult, and it takes someone who feels truly out of options to reach that point.
I still have one option. And, for Jieka, Tekten, Arachne, Daugli, Pomiel,... all of them. That option gives them a future.
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Daniel scoffs as he looks at his revolver. He didn’t draw it with intentions of playing Russian Roulette with a full cylinder. He drew it to reminisce on how far he has come in this world. He made the first Dragonslayer rifle and this very revolver as a means of surviving a fantasy world after being banished from Mornistae. Maybe Rikuto was trying to squirrel him away somewhere, or maybe Rikuto was incompetent. The point is, this revolver helped Daniel change the world, and it brought him to the people who would become his family on Zenkon.
The mechanic hides the revolver in a gear bag he doesn’t normally carry.
After all, he’s in disguise right now not to slip away from anyone in the command post, per se, but because he will need it when he arrives.
That said, it proves handy when a sudden sound startles him into nearly dropping the firearm into the waste pit below him.
It is a loud, deep roar arriving like the swift, cracking report of a distant gunshot or even a long, rolling clap of thunder.
This sound is no weapon of mass destruction nor a force of nature, however.
Instead, it became very familiar to everyone just a few hours ago, and has now brought the entire camp to a standstill by the sounds of it.
It is the long, forceful roar of a dragon that is nearly the size of a mountain.
Suddenly, what confidence Daniel had has evaporated, and he runs out of the outhouse stall, looking towards the mana fire.
Or, more specifically and just as easily noticeable; he looks at the titan slowly rising in an upwards stance as his glimmering, obsidian- like texture only partially sinks into the mana fire itself.
Rather than burning like an upside-down match, the titan is merely bellowing in pain towards the sky, but his body is remaining intact, even where the mana-fire embers reach him.
If anything, his new, razor-back looking scales that reflect light similar to modern traffic signs due to the many polygons of refraction and reflection are now starting to glow on their own, like glass exposed to mana.
Daniel looks at the sky, asking the only two who would obviously have any semblance of attention to pay to him, “Isn’t the Unkillable God-Monster store out of stock by now?”
He feels defeated by his very own self-resurrecting movie monster proving once again that he is in far over his head on a fantasy world he doesn’t belong in.
The worst part is the thought that these things are happening because of him.
Regardless, it doesn’t change what he was about to do. And, thankfully, no one seems to have noticed him in his subtle grey dattakorien armor. The helmet is uncomfortable because it’s not made for a strictly human head, but it helps with the job it’s meant to do, as does the smell. The only giveaway right now, since he hid his revolver, would be the color-shifting scarf that is currently a blend of alternating yellow and purple-pink patterns and the strange backpack holding a rigid shape in spite of the leather covering its design. Lucy, in her spring-like appearance, is remaining hidden for the moment, since she doesn’t technically have a fully ‘physical’ form in the normal sense.
Daniel takes a breath and sighs. He knows everyone will engage Sayrdarralouche 3.0 in attempts to destroy him, but it’s likely too late for that, given how resistant to physical damage he was. However he did it, he can now withstand the mana fire itself, stranding right in it. If he holds his ‘environment absorbing ability’ in direct line with how he became the stone like material he was until a little while ago, then it’s going to get very bad, very quickly.
If he’s anything like Kernuules, which Daniel is suspecting to be the case more than a puppet of the Lurker, then the nuke should kill two birds with one stone. Three, if destroying his body should suffice.
That said, Daniel has been thinking about it, and he has more confidence in a certain plan than he did before.
That plan is to make use of everything he knows at this point and try to spare the people of Urflasdat by utilizing the mana fire’s own threat-factor against it; the crater.
The mana fire itself would take months to consume the whole planet’s surface, most likely. But, to reach the mantle would take only a few more days at most, if they’re that lucky. That is the true existential threat, and it provides the very mechanism of Daniel’s ‘best chance’ at causing the least amount of collateral damage; a deep crater.
He doesn’t have time to hope and dream, though. As long as Sayrdarralouche is in the crater when the bomb goes off, he should be dealt with just as efficiently as the mana fire.
If anything, Daniel will need to leave a plan in place to deal with any remaining fire where the titan’s body may shield it.
But first, he hast to put his secret plan in motion.
Daniel takes one more deep breath to steal his resolve all over again. He whispers, “Alright, Lucy. Last chance to back out.” She pokes her head up into his field of view, and she shakes it vigorously, hugging the chin of his helmet.
He replies tenderly, “Whatever happens, I hope you make it through. And… if you have such power… me as well.”
She nods with a sad expression on her face, and Daniel pulls the ripcord on the backpack he’s wearing.
This one certainly isn’t a parachute, and it whisks him away to a prepared location only he and Ucahote know about.
Assuming the golem kept his word, Daniel’s day is about to be the most dangerous and busy he has ever experienced.
***
Hekate jolts awake as a terrible roar fills the air. It’s not deafening this time, but everything feels wrong. She looks around frantically, and Jeavana is sitting up, wincing in pain. “Spirits… That can not be who I think it is.”
“J-Jeavana?” asks the young ravenette. She checks the other side of the large bed, but the golden dragon is the only one who is sharing it with her at present, though Hekate does detect traces of Aramellianna’s scent next to her, as if the Grand Duchess senior was sleeping next to her until just a short while ago.
“Looks like our last scale is wiggling,” replies the dragon as she listens. The voices outside are chaotic, and they seem to confirm whatever it is Jeavana is talking about, while Hekate does her best to clear the daze.
The feldrok teen asks wearily, “We’re still fighting Sayr…darra… dragon?”
The brazen blonde scoffs as she climbs out of bed like an old, decrepit woman, wincing whenever her wings move even slightly. “We weren’t until just now, it sounds like.” Hekate stares at the terrible bruises on the dragon’s back at the shoulders for her wings. She was slammed into the ground several times by Sayrdarralouche the first time, and though healing potations have been used on her, the bruising seems to have lingered. Not all healing magic is perfect, and especially with bone breaks, it doesn’t necessarily restore the bone to its ‘perfect’ shape.
“Where is everyone?” asks the teen as she starts to climb out of bed, still feeling weary and exhausted herself. As she does so, she finds Nemaisol on the bed, and she feels nervous. Once she’s on her feet, she picks up the sword, keeping it with her to return to Daniel as soon as she finds him.
“Since I’m no fool, I’ll start with the only person you’re actually asking about; last I knew, he went to relieve himself in the outhouse, looking awfully sick after a conversation he had with Zuzia and Rikuto about using his nukes.”
“D-Daniel is going to use the god-smiters?” asks Hekate, her ears and tail twitching upwards and going rigid with alertness.
“Soon, if the Chi’rinnis can’t stop it. Though, Zuzia and Rikuto ordered him to wait until Urflasdat is evacuated.” Jeavana catches the young Empress up as she downs another potation, stumbling a little from the heavy alcohol content that Hekate can easily smell on her from several yards away. She’s drunk, but she’s trying to rush back into fighting shape to help everyone.
As for Sayrdarralouche, Hekate can’t believe he’s still alive. If he only just recovered, the mana fire should have reached him and ‘burned’ him up. His roar echoes out once more, and it’s clear that he is not currently disintegrating either.
“What about everyone else?” asks the teen as she makes for the exit of the tent, her own legs feeling like heavy weights. She hasn’t felt this weak since her final days known only as ‘Slave’, starving and battered by feral goblins and ogres of the Citadel… before Daniel came into her life.
“Out there, doing things. So far as I know, we haven’t had any major casualties, though a handful of soldiers are lost. Most of them were killed outright on the airship, and a few more who were caught in the first fight with ‘Sayrdarradragon’.”
Hekate growls, “I know that’s not his name…”
“I know. But, he was a bastard in life. I kinda like mocking it.”
“This is serious.”
“And I’m drunk off my ass and trying to focus. Nice to meet’ya, Serious.”
Jeavana feigns shaking hands with nothing when she approaches the fox-eared teen, stumbling and wobbling even when she’s standing ‘still’. “I’m no good for the fight, but I might’s be able to help with something.”
“Just… stay close to me and help me find Daniel,” growls Hekate. “I have some of my mana again, but I don’t feel so good… I don’t think I can just recharge like I thought.”
“No shocker there. We’re living things, not machines. You can’t just run up to a bed and get all rested. You need’ta sleep. And, we’re all runnin’ on fumes.”
Hekate exits the tent, nodding agreement with Jeavana as they both brace against the brightness of the light. It doesn’t feel like early morning or evening, but it’s bright enough to be mistaken for closer to noon than either morning or evening darkness.
People are running around, abandoning crates and trying to keep buckrokhs under control. And, it’s now that Hekate notices an irritating, incessant rumbling and shaking in the ground that she didn’t notice right away because of everything else flooding her mind.
The actual ground is shaking, but even worse is the irritating sound, like a mosquito in her ear, but deeper, impossible to shoo away and pricking at her senses. It’s a barely-audible kind of sound, even for Hekate, but it ‘growls’ at her in tune with the shaking of the tremors beneath her feet, so she’s fairly confident they’re related.
Sundenelle is the first one to notice Hekate, and she jogs over. “Hekate! I’m glad you’re alright. We were just preparing a transport to evacuate you.”
“So, everyone’s evacuating?’ asks the feldrok girl.
“Yes. We have our forces split between here and Urflasdat, since we’re on the clock. And… as you can see and hear, the enemy dragon just reawakened.”
“Why didn’t the mana fire burn him up?” asks Hekate, looking at the titan as it stands on its hind legs, roaring into the air once more. One of the shuttles, looking like a sparrow challenging a buckrokh, is firing a streak of machine gun fire at the titan’s face, but the dragon is barely responding, flinching slightly only when its eyes seem to take hits given where the tiny streams of golden-hued light are hitting, but too big to truly mind the attack. His body is also different, looking more like a spiky, obsidian statue that can move, rather than the dragons Hekate knows and loves.
Sundenelle answers Hekate’s question honestly. “We don’t know. He’s definitely in the mana fire, but that’s when he woke up. Our best guess is that he is using magic somehow to shield himself, but we’re waiting on more information from Sirs Neith and Magnir, who were investigating the mana fire and the, uh, ‘folcanic activity’, I think Daniel called it.”
“Volcanic,” corrects the golden dragon. “Fire mountains, which there are none to my knowledge on this continent, especially east of the mountains.”
“Volcanic, thank you. Basically, liquid fire and rock are ‘leaking’ out of the world’s depths,” paraphrases the albino young woman.
“So… the eruption Daniel, Rikuto and Zuzia were talking about?”
“This is the small version,” replies Jeavana. “Daniel was confident that it’s a ‘small leak’, and that we still have time for now… ignoring Sayrdarradragon’s spontaneous revival.”
“Where is Daniel?” asks Hekate, looking at her Imperial counterpart.
Sundenelle glances around, saying, “He departed to use the latrines a little while ago, but I can’t imagine he’s still there. If I see him, I’ll tell him to come find you. For now, everyone is preparing to evacuate. If you have anything that can’t be disposed of, make sure it gets put onto one of the trucks or shuttles. Most of the space for both are being used for the wounded, though, so I hope it’s nothing too big.”
Hekate clutches firmly to the magic sword that has protected Daniel through thick and thin. “Daniel is the only thing that matters to me. A-And the rest of our friends and family,” replies the teen nervously. She doesn’t like that she doesn’t hear Daniel’s voice, nor does she see him anywhere. He’s taller than a lot of people on Zenkon, and he was wearing a uniform that only Neith and Zuzia were wearing anything similar. He should be easy to spot.
Sundenelle replies softly, “Yes, well, everyone should know to evacuate, so I’m sure he’ll turn up. Excuse me.” The more mature Empress returns to her organization of the Imperials, speaking with several noble officers who have approached for guidance on some things. Treia is nearby handling the Fievegal and anyone else who asks her about various supplies and equipment, plenty of which is being abandoned in the field for a lack of time.
It hits Hekate suddenly, and she holds up the sword in front of her. “Ne-, no, Kaeralegier, do you know where Daniel is?”
There’s a moment of quiet while Jeavana stares at her, and Hekate repeats, “I already know you’re in there. Answer me.”
A voice comes back directly in Hekate’s mind, just like telepathy, but without the ‘magic feel’ to it. “{Careful, Hekate. I’m not an open secret yet, and I need to stay that way. I’m in hot enough water as it is, and I’m really low on my own strength right now.}”
“Just tell me where Daniel is.”
“Uh… your Fluffiness?”
“Shh,” whispers Hekate. “It’s a secret.”
“Uh… alright…”
Kaeralegier’s disembodied voice sighs, and Hekate’s ears twitch in slight irritation. She’s doing her best to protect the sword-bound goddess’s secret, but there are more important things going on right now.
“{Like everyone said, he went to the restroom, looking pretty nauseous. I don’t think he ate all that much while drinking that hard liquor, in addition to everything else.}”
“He said it was just… no, nevermind.” Hekate starts to counter, having been told by Daniel that he only used it as a sterilant for his hands, but she knows from how he describes it himself that he can ‘take the edge off’ when he’s stressed or in pain, though it’s not the same as an actual ‘painkiller’. “Can you detect him?” asks the feldrok girl.
“{No, but that’s normal when I’m not near him. His presence is already weak even with the little mana he has, and the Lurker has been laying low. I… did detect teleportation magic a little bit ago, but I don’t know if it was coming or going, and Daniel didn’t have a pack on him.}”
This raises the hairs on Hekate’s neck and tail. Hearing these words is the exact opposite of reassuring to her.
“Wh-What if he was kidnapped!? We never caught the person who helped Djihnlierr, right!? What if he’s gone!?”
“{You’ll have to check discreetly, then. Because, right now, everyone is on the verge of panic. If they think Daniel and the ‘last resort’ have gone missing… I don’t think either of us want to find out what happens to people on the actual edge of apocalypse.}”
Hekate winces, hating the words just as much as she understands them. Kaeralegier is right, or so Hekate is being taught by Aramellianna, Erimaya –when they can meet up–, and Xyreko to practice statecraft. Hekate obviously has a long way to go, but she knows panic is one of the biggest enemies of any ruler, because it means their own people have gone out of control even against their own interests.
And, panic creates the perfect opportunity for other evils to arise.
Just like kidnapping an Emperor in broad daylight, if that is what happened.
“{Try to stay calm and ask Xyreko if she knows where he is. It’s a place to start at least. And, whatever you do, don’t mention me or the fact that Daniel is missing to anyone else. Especially that loudmouth dragon next to you. A drunk mind is a free mouth.}”
Hekate nods, though she’s not sure if Kaeralegier can actually ‘see’ things. Regardless, she starts searching for her next highest priority person; Xyreko. The golem caretaker can appear and disappear at will in a certain proximity to Fievegal equipment that has certain spell glyphs bound to them, and though she doesn’t have a lot of magical power in her remote form, it grants her the ability to assist and guide anyone that she can help.
“Xyreko, if you’re nearby, we need to talk,” calls out Hekate at a loud, but controlled volume.
Only a few seconds pass, and the golem appears in front of her. “Yes, your Greatness?” asks the golem. “Evacuations are proceeding smoothly here, though the city is… slow-going.”
“I need to know where Daniel is. Can you find him?”
Xyreko cocks her head. “Daniel? Yes, let me see… Ugh…” Xyreko grunts out a disgusted remark. “He’s not wearing his armor, and he seems to have… delivered it to the Citadel? That’s… strange…”
“We need to find him!” urges Hekate, and she can hear Kaeralegier’s voice sigh within her mind as well. But, Hekate isn’t a genius. She’s brave and powerful, and that’s about it. She needs to make sure Daniel is alright, or nothing else matters.
Xyreko speaks, “Attention Citadel golems, has anyone seen Daniel? Have any of the…”
“Daniel is accounted for,” replies Ucahote’s voice. “He’s making preparations to use the Alamogordo Specials. I am keeping a close eye on his position.”
“Where is he?” asks Xyreko, her voice filling with irritation.
“He is at the Citadel. He did not wish to create the illusion that he was fleeing, so he is officially relieving himself. Please reassure all parties that he is safe, Mother. I guarantee his safety.”
Xyreko hesitates. She glances briefly at Hekate one last time, and she sighs. “Fine, then. Inform him that he must put his armor back on as soon as he is prepared so I can properly keep track of him. And, he should have left a note.”
“He and I agreed that it would be best if the Royalty of the Fievegal were convinced everything was normal with him for now so that it would be easier to convince others.”
“I don’t care. I can’t do my job when I am denied information. Tell him that I want to hear from him in ten minutes, no later.”
“Understood Mother. Good luck on the evacuations. Ucahote, out.”
Jeavana snickers playfully. “Sounds like Daniel really went back home for a last minute snuggle session before saving the world, hmm?”
Hekate scowls at her, and she retorts, “I agree with Xyreko. If he was going to do anything, he should have left me a note or something. Not this sword I can’t even use.”
“I’m needed in the city,” states the golem Prime Minister. “Do you need anything else, your Greatness?”
“Only for you to tell me where Daniel is once you know, so I can teleport to him and chew his face off.”
“Very well, it shall be done. Excuse me.” Xyreko bows and vanishes in a flash of light, and Hekate sighs. “Stupid Daniel. He should know better. He was worried sick when Jieka and Tekten disappeared. Not to mention the teleporting incident.”
“I believe he thinks these things are good ideas at the time to spare us any worry, but it just makes everything worse. Typical foolish man.” The blonde holds her hands up and shakes her head. “Just like a certain stupid grey brother who ran off to plan his revenge, only to take centuries to do it.
Hekate sighs. “At least Daniel will have to give us warning when he’s about to use the bomb.” She looks at the dragon swatting at the shuttle, which manages to stay out of its way, even with the scatterblast of obsidian-looking shards he can now launch.
“I guess for now, we’ll need to find a way to kill Sayrdarra… louise? Ugh… Sayrdarradragon. Again.”
“In theory, it should be easier than Kernuules, at least. He doesn’t have the summoning circles that recreated his body. Just the mana fire sustaining him.”
Hekate’s ears droop in disappointment.
It’s going to be another very long night.
***