Dalric’s mind sped through a thousand different reasons as to why she would be so deeply dumbstruck by what she’d seen. Then it paused and asked the question, ‘what exactly did she see?’ How long had she been shadowing him this time?

  He still didn’t know from the first time

  The possibility that she had never left his back… wasn’t quite realistic. Following him around the jungle was one thing, sneaking around the crowded and sometimes cramped halls of the camp would require a far more lithe creature than the rather formidable one in front of him. The walls were certainly far too reinforced for her to phase through. Assuming she had even mastered her attunement to that degree.

  Dalric had spent a lot of the past day in the jungle though. If he included the topside of the camp, then he’d spent almost all of it outside. Without a strong reason to believe otherwise, it would be wise to assume she’d seen every single action he’d taken during that time. So then… well. She could have been shocked by a lot of things. The timing of her revealing herself spoke to the obvious conclusion, but this was also the first moment he’d been alone since he was surrounded by water. His day had been an eventful one, there were a few different potentially confounding moments.

  Dalric had to narrow it down, “Why am I walking around at night? Do I need permission to?”

  Selene purred. He wasn’t sure if it was meant to be menacing or in annoyance. His strange ability to decipher a little from her facial features did not carry over to his ahjer sense it seemed.

  “Why would you release them?”

  Is that really it?

  “How peculiar. You seemed to appreciate that I freed the humans. Why would they be different?”

  Her eyes slanted slightly, “You claimed to be human.”

  His shoulders shrugged dramatically, “I also claim to stand under the moon. What of it?”

  A brief silence followed as a man stared at floating eyeballs. Dalric kept his exterior calm and unbothered as he stared, but the sight did slightly unnerve him. It was not in and of itself an unsettling scene, though he could not see it, he could sense her body just fine. It was the fact he only did so because she allowed it. He may not literally be speaking to a shadow with pupils, but he was metaphorically. In the blink of an eye, she could disappear.

  Or worse, the others could reappear.

  She broke the silence, “You value humans’ wills the same as animals’?”

  Dalric didn’t, but he figured saying that so bluntly would not be received well. He had a few ways he could massage the message though. Sapience wasn’t at all common in animals, but it manifested enough for him to say, “Depends on the human, depends on the animal.”

  “You freed all of both.”

  Now, how would you know that?

  He contemplated asking directly. There was absolutely no chance he’d get a full answer, but he could potentially glean some things from whatever her response turned out to be. The problem with that path was, he didn’t know how effective his calm demeanor has been. Asking that type of question signalled to a chink in his armor. If he had succeeded in appearing dauntless up until this point, he would needlessly damage his position. Was that worth the information he could receive?

  No.

  “I did.”

  She purred again, “Why?”

  “Because I wanted to.” He stood a bit straighter, “Again, did I need your permission?”

  His second line had a bit of hostility to it. At this point, he didn’t really want any info on or from Selene. He no longer planned on sticking around. If he had his wish, he’d be off the island in a week's time. Sure, he’d have to return eventually, but that just meant it would be wise of him to avoid a strictly antagonistic relationship. Creating a clear space between them was still fair game.

  Ironically, as he thought that Selene peeled out of the shadows and closed the space between them, “You do not need permission to be a Liberator, but I find it… odd that you have no reason for doing it. Suspicious even.”

  Suspicious?

  Dalric wasn’t sure how she’d reached that interpretation, but he would like to switch directions quickly. Being a source of suspicion meant further being a target for surveillance. It wouldn’t kill him to be watched, there was just the tiniest possibility that they learned of what he sought to do with Devil Glass. The consequences of that could be catastrophic. Even if it was an extremely unlikely turn of events, it was a risk he would like to avoid all the same.

  That meant he’d have to give some agreeable answers at some point. Which was problematic as… he didn’t really have a good reason for his actions. He just felt like it. At most, he could say he pitied the caged beasts, but that kind of answer rarely eased suspicions. Would she even buy it at this point? He wouldn’t bet on it, but luckily he had no marriage with honesty. Eventually, a suitable lie would come to him. In the meantime, he wanted to shift her interest away from himself.

  “Now tell me, what could I have done that you wouldn’t have found suspicious?”

  “The same things the other humans do.”

  Dalric folded his arms, “You think it unique to not keep animals in cages?”

  He could hear her distaste, “For you, yes.”

  “Hm.” He took a moment to think. His diplomatic skills were a number of steps beyond rusty so he found the path to progressing the conversation without standing on and projecting a sense of superiority difficult to find. He still wanted to hold the upperhand in their talk, but a superior was someone to be wary of and he sought to mitigate that, “How much time do you spend with humans?”

  “As little as is necessary.”

  He nodded, “So you don’t know much about them?”

  Dalric realized what he had said a moment too late and he internally cringed as he watched her eyes close ever so slightly once she did as well, “Them?”

  He had a save though, “Yes, them. I am neither Sailian nor Surunese, you know nothing of my people. You base your understanding of humans on a tiny selection of two nations.”

  “Humans are humans. It doesn’t matter the color of the soil beneath them.”

  Strange saying.

  “And have you stood on soil other than this island’s?”

  She didn’t respond right away so Dalric quickly took that as her answer and continued, “Exactly, you speak blindly and without reason. You can come bother me about my eccentricity when you’ve spent time with more than just the humans seeking to take your land.”

  “I…” She seemed lost for words for a moment, but unfortunately the moment passed and she refound her voice, “Culture can not overcome what a human is. I’ve seen enough of you.”

  So your prejudice against humans is just too deep. In that case.

  “You’ve seen enough of us?” He feigned a sigh, “So I can say I’ve seen enough of you. You and the Menos are no different.”

  That got a reaction out of her. A strong one. “Never!”

  He hadn’t expected it to be so strong. From all the information he pieced together from Ryku and his own observations, the panthers had to be a tier above the blue tigers. It seemed it was more than just that.

  She continued, “We are nothing alike.”

  “That is how I feel when you compare me and my people to lesser groups.”

  “It is not the same.” The comparison really got under her skin, “Our only connection to those parasites is that Aegeus blessed us both.”

  “Hm. If I’m not mistaken...” Dalric made a show of rubbing his jaw, “You believe Aegeus made you both. So then, your only difference would be what you have done with your lives. Almost as if who you are matters more than what.”

  Their talk had taken a weird turn. Somehow, he’d been put in the position of defending the concept of free will. It felt awkward, maybe ironic, to be in that position, but he internally smiled anyway. Seconds passed and Selene failed to find a response. She was truly lost for words this time.

  Though their back and forth hadn’t progressed in the manner he intended, he felt content with where it ended up. Her blanket hate toward humans wouldn't change in a conversation, but he didn’t care if it did. His goal has been to remove the notion that he was somehow special and unique. He realized as they were talking that if he didn’t get her to see him as less than that, then there was a good chance that he would never remove the idea that he could really be related to Aegeus.

  He’d been too focused on the ‘destined ruler’ part of the prophecy. Who knew what else it included? Were there other family members? Companions? Was there to be a ‘trusty friend of the chosen one’. Those types of tales usually had extras and he had no clue if he had been behaving like one. The Menos certainly wouldn’t have informed him if anything else.

  Thinking back to earlier, Selene had said ‘liberator’ with a bit of something extra. He had assumed she just appreciated the acts of one, but it could have been more than that.

  They continued to stare at one another while Dalric thought. He knew how that would go though, so before he inevitably blinked first he spoke, “Now, I would appreciate if you reconciled your ignorance outside of my shadow.”

  She responded quickly, “Where are you from?”

  Answering that was a minor gamble. There was an infinitesimally small chance he gave the ‘right’ answer. He’d take that chance. Not before sighing dramatically again though, “Aonica.”

  “And there are plenty of humans like you there?”

  “In that there are plenty of humans who are above slaves and cages, yes. It is not our way to bound others.”

  Which was true. Was. Aonica could have changed in the past millennium. Whether it even still existed was up in the air. As long as the continents hadn’t moved, they’d never be able to verify his lie though.

  “Then.” There was some conflict going on in her face, but it was hard to read, “Why are you here?”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  He had been expecting that question, “To do what you haven’t, travel. See the world. Expand my perspective.”

  Her purr that time was not hard to read. She didn’t like his light jab, “So then you plan to leave?”

  “I already told you I want nothing to do with your colonies. I’m just passing through.”

  “Fine.” As she had done after their first talk, she disappeared. Though this time she spoke as she left, “Good travels, Dalric.”

  He chuckled, “Same to you. Hopefully, you make it home safe this time.”

  She purred.

  Right. Mist attunements don’t hide sound.

  He would not have remembered that if not for the reminder. His ears told him that she made that noise roughly three fathoms away from him, more than ten feet further than where she had been during their talk. He didn’t fully trust it of course, the odds she didn’t have a means of distorting sound was next to zero, but that she decided to give him that info almost felt like her saying, ‘Shut up, I’m leaving.’

  It felt like a good sign.

  “He’s really carrying them there.”

  Arch Selene had been in various levels of shock since sunrise. From the man seemingly drowning himself for no reason to him choosing to fight Dankoma’s demon spawn in the river to him both winning and sparing them to him releasing all of the animals the humans had captured to him making sure they were all released in the correct places to now, where he carried the demon spawns’ youngest children to them.

  Caleb had not been quite as staggered.

  Dalric could speak the tongue, so it was a given that he was like no other human. He hadn’t known what to make of him purposely sinking himself to the bottom of the river before shooting out like a cannon, but it might have taken such arduous training for him to have outgrown all the other humans. Or maybe his height came from Aegeus.

  Caleb couldn’t say he was sure of what the man’s origins were, but he had a sort of gut feeling. What he had seen across the past day both solidified Dalric’s uniqueness and reduced Caleb’s apprehension toward his motives. Only a tiny amount of doubt still lingered within his mind. Arch Selene had a lot more.

  “Hold.”

  She gave the signal and they both halted immediately. Dalric had reached his destination. He placed the confinement box down and went to unhinge its door.

  …

  Or not?

  Time passed as he seemed to just furiously press on the blue metal. Nothing else occurred. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a good angle to see what he was doing. By the time he thought to reposition, Dankoma’s eldest had made his way up from their feces littered home. He would sense them, or rather just Caleb, and ruin everything. Dalric paused to assess the arriving turd, but when neither made a move toward the other, he returned to pressing against the door. Arch Selene could have moved closer, but it appeared that she wanted to wait and watch the scene progress.

  So they both waited. It didn’t take much longer from there for Dalric to finish whatever he was doing and for the door to the confinement box to open. The next generation of river pests immediately dashed for their brood mothers.

  Caleb would rather eat grass than assist them in any manner, but he was not as kind and understanding as Aegeus.

  The turds couldn’t escape their heritage for even a moment to recognize the kindness they were shown. Instead that made a grunt of acceptance. Acceptance. As if it were not they who had to be accepted. Gratitude was the only thing they had a right to in that moment. That they still lived to spread their filth around was a stain on Synoikos.

  Right after their poor and insulting grunt, they left. Caleb—

  “Why?”

  Arch Selene stepped out of her stealth.

  Caleb’s heart instantly raced as he stared at Dalric’s back. They had just promised to leave him alone and now she was revealing herself in such a manner that it was impossible not to see that they lied. How would he react?

  “Why am I walking around at night? Do I need permission to?”

  His heart calmed a bit. That response was rather tame and—

  Arch Selene purred in annoyance.

  His heart sped right back up.

  It continued to stop and start as Arch Selene continued to question Dalric and show him absolutely none of the respect he deserved. During their exchange, Caleb recognized that she purposely behaved that way to mask their thoughts on his existence. He still found it hard to watch regardless. At any moment Dalric could grow sick of it and, though at first he seemed just as unbothered as he usually was, eventually he did.

  “Again, did I need your permission?”

  Caleb’s heart reached maximum speed.

  Arch Selene must have realized her misstep. She strode forward until she stood under his shadow, “You do not need permission to be a Liberator…”

  Liberator?

  Caleb was confused. The role of Liberator would not fall to a human of Aegeus. It was reserved for… Understanding dawned on him. He now knew what she was thinking, what she thought Dalric could be. He would never disagree openly, but he did not believe she saw things correctly. The further her back and forth went, the more Caleb felt certain of that.

  Though, the further it went the less certain he felt about his own conclusions.

  “You can come bother me about my eccentricity when you’ve spent time with more than just the humans seeking to take your land.”

  The scripture spoke of humans extensively. Rarely, if ever, favorably. By Caleb’s understanding of the texts, humans not of Aegeus were to be used for their resources, distrusted if interacted with, and ultimately cleansed when the time came. While Aegeus himself was human, and his descendants would be too, Caleb did not imagine any would speak so highly of a race they intended to remove.

  “Culture can not overcome what a human is. I’ve seen enough of you.”

  Are we both wrong?

  “So I can say I’ve seen enough of you. You and the Menos are no different.”

  They both definitely felt wronged by that statement. He almost followed Arch Selene in bellowing ‘never’, but he managed to keep himself quiet and let her anger speak for the both of them.

  While she did so, Caleb thought. He had been so close to sure that Dalric was of Aegeus, but now doubt and uncertainty had crept back in. Fear did not join them this time. He had enough proof that the man was no Plague, his benevolence, and the extent of it, had been on full display throughout the day. Caleb just could not see him as that kind of threat.

  He couldn’t see what kind of anything he was.

  Why are you here?

  That was the question that would illuminate the dark the most. Was he here to build, to destroy? What were his goals? Fortunately, just as Caleb asked himself the question, Arch Selene asked it aloud. Unfortunately, Dalric’s response offered little clarity.

  “To do what you haven’t, travel. See the world. Expand my perspective.”

  Was that true? Caleb wasn’t sure he believed it. He did tell them almost immediately that he wanted nothing to do with the colonies and that he simply wanted to be left alone, but…

  He was a human that could speak the tongue.

  Caleb started to feel the same bafflement Arch Selene suffered. Strangely, she seemed to have found the certainty that he once had.

  “Good travels, Dalric.”

  She said that as if talking to a subordinate, as if talking to him.

  “Same to you. Hopefully, you make it home safe this time.”

  Dalric responded in kind.

  What just happened?

  Arch Selene strode past him and provided the barest of answers, “He is not of Aegeus, let’s go.”

  Caleb leaned in that direction now too, but he didn't like ending there. He felt it was still uncertain so he would have at least liked to be briefed on why and how she so firmly came to that conclusion. Arch’s order was absolute though, so he just quietly followed along.

  When they had made a bit of a distance from Dalric, he asked what they would do next, “Will we return home then? With nothing?”

  Arch Selene had a cold look to her, “Yes.”

  That would be that.

  The journey back home would be somber, but should be straightforward. None had returned to inform them of catastrophe. That either meant they had managed to mask their dire situation well over the past few days or that the catastrophe was simply too great for any to have the time or opportunity to travel to them.

  Caleb turned back to where Dalric was last. He still had a strange feeling in his gut.

  Gaiane grimaced.

  Not even ten meters into their escape, the entire third squad disappeared from the Network. All dead. Whoever killed them did so almost effortlessly. That kind of strength disparity could only mean one thing, a Blessed. Danger. They would surely chase the rest of them, but with their spe—another disappeared from the Network. She instantly jerked her head to the side and watched the slowest of the group fall lifelessly to the ground.

  ‘Enemy Blessed! Stand! Form 2.’

  The frantic sprint halted, shifting into a defensive triangle around her. She was wrong about their speed, they wouldn’t outrun them. Better than being picked off one by one, they’d stand and fight.

  Seconds passed, but a fight didn’t arrive.

  They all scanned the area they’d just run from, but none of them could spot a soul. Even when she had some of them switch back to their regular vision, nothing changed. It was telling that none of the patrols they painstakingly avoided earlier could be spotted either, but that was a thought for when they survived. For now, they waited, they watched, and they listened. Without any visual stimuli, sound was their main diet. Each time a vine swayed or two leaves brushed against each other, they twitched. They expected to be on the end of any kind of assault, but instead they received nothing. Nothing at a—

  ‘Left!’

  Another had disconnected, this time at the leftmost tip of their formation.

  ‘Location?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  Neither of the two stationed on left had seen what happened. Neither had seen the Blessed. Their kill was perfect.

  ‘Look h—Right!’

  Another one, on the far right.

  ‘Where?!’

  She received the same answer, no one knew anything. They were fighting a ghost.

  ‘Form 3.’

  They went back to the diamond. It was more a move of desperation than a piece of any real plan. She didn’t know what her next steps should be. She always knew what they would be going up against in theory, but the reality of it was so different from what she expected. They heard nothing, saw nothing, sensed nothing. How was she supposed to combat this? The reports mentioned their ability to completely avoid detection, but it said nothing about them being able to attack while in that state. In fact, it said the opposite. Before they made a kill, they were supposed to be visible. That was clearly false.

  She had to calm herself down, she was becoming agitated. More of her people would die if this continued. T—

  ‘Lef—Retreat!’

  That was it. Too many of them had died without them getting even a glimpse of the killer. The decision to run would likely kill many of them as well, but they were already being picked off at a standstill. Between the two poisons, only one got them closer to completing their mission.

  ‘Scatter!’

  She hated having to do this, having to condemn her people to death, but this was the best way to guarantee at least some of them would survive. They couldn’t be facing more than one Blessed, there was no need for the stealth if they were. Whoever this Blessed was, they couldn’t possibly get to all of them.

  She thought.

  Within a handful of minutes, two more were down. A few more minutes later, another went. Then another. In half an hour, they were down to just three.

  She couldn’t believe it. How were they being picked off so easily? She had never felt anything like this before. This fear, this dread, this feeling of being a helpless mouse waited to be pounced upon. As she reached out through the Network, she felt the intense loss too.

  We’re not going to make it.

  Just as she thought that, another fell. They were down to two, just her and her second, and she didn’t believe they would last much longer either. This was truly the end for them.

  If this is it…

  ‘Protect me!’

  She slowed down and began casting a spell. A long-range communication spell. She summoned all the ahjer she could muster, every single drop. With every ounce of useable ahjer in her body, she could send a message four hundred meters. She needed more than that. So she started gathering the unusable ahjer. The ahjer the powered her body, powered her mind, gave her life. If she would lose it anyway, she would lose it in service of her people. In service of avenging her unit. They would not die in vain.

  The range of the spell ballooned beyond two thousand meters, enough for her to reach home. She didn’t waste a second, immediately locating the closest messenger to the Archon and throwing every bit of information she could at them. They were definitely unprepared for the barrage, but as long as they delivered the message she didn’t care. Once done, the spell faded, the connection ended, and she collapsed to the ground.

  In her last moments, she glimpsed her second’s severed head flying into the bushes. It was okay though, he would be avenged too. They would all be. In just a few moments the Archon would know. Know that Fedon spoke true.

  The Nyx had fallen.

  Still a .5 coming later.

  Thanks for reading and see you in the next chapter!