74. Heroes of War

As a lightning strike of unbelievable power assaulted me, around the nine-star mark judging by the fluctuations of mana, I shifted my Astral Self back to the spiritual plane.

That’s the thing about not having a physical body, you didn’t have to deal with corporeal matters. Either way, the spell was powerful. Maybe not as complex as Astral Self itself, but it packed quite a bit of power. Enough so that I could feel distortions on the spiritual plane.

These distortions were quite minimal, akin to a perturbation in the wind, rather than a shockwave. If you wanted to shift planes by raw mana alone, you would need a LOT more power.

I observed the two heroes in the world of souls whilst I restored my spell. Both my very soul and the Astral Self were simultaneously on the spiritual plane, so it was easy to manually shape the spell to my liking. I danced around the static avatar, fixing some imperfections and giving my clone an overall better definition.

It would seem that the Sergeant Major was trying to convince the electromancer to relax. I couldn’t quite pick up the words as sound wasn’t a thing in this realm, and if it was, it wouldn’t travel from the corporeal plane to here. At most, I could just pick clues from their surface thoughts.

So, when I felt they came to a peaceful resolution, I popped back into existence.

“Arcane Veil,” I nodded at Kalyd, “Ceaseless Storm,” and bowed down to the mighty electromancer.

The military man looked at me with hesitation and anger. I had heard from Adrian that the pair of heroes were a couple, so I could understand the man’s reaction. To him, I had just assaulted his partner in her own office.

“State your affairs.” The electromancer’s tone was far more commanding and powerful than the arcanist’s. Small sparks of electricity exploded around the mage, he seemed more like a force of nature than a man.

Of course, that was only the result of yet another dominion-type spell. Dominion spells were one of the most complex types of conjuration, so it was obvious any high-tier mage would display them at any given time. And the spells were pretty effective, for multiple reasons. There was no doubt about that.

“I am here to illuminate you on the recent events involving the destiny of Ferilyn.” I talked in a very mysterious way, fitting my spectral visage.

“Don’t toy with me.” The man stated neutrally, yet the static field around him only produced higher voltage. “Tell me why you came here and make it true.”

Truth he wanted? Truth I would deliver.

My true reason for coming here wasn’t to confess my crimes, I didn’t believe I committed any, to begin with. No, I came here because I needed someone to know about the truth behind the Wyrm’s Landing.

Back on the outing on the military grounds I had examined deeply the Sergeant Major’s soul, and I was mostly sure that she not only had anything to do with it, but she was also unbeknownst to the truth regarding the attack.

I couldn’t confirm the same about the Ceaseless Storm and I would have preferred if he hadn’t come, but I will work with what I have.

“Now that the two heroes of the Wyrm’s Landing event are here, I suppose I can tell the whole truth.” I said.

“What do you mean by that?” Kalyd, or Amira as her partner had called her, said. She still sat behind her desk, not really worried about the standoff.

“I want to ask you two a question.” I sat on a nearby pillow, even if I couldn’t appreciate it as I was a projection. “Why did the draconids attack Ferilyn almost two decades ago?”

“It was a declaration of war, of course.” The Arcane Veil answered. “Are you implying there’s some underlying motive?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “Have we ever received another attack besides the initial show of strength?”

“No,” she answered, “but that’s because we have been protected by the High Arcanist’s barrier.”

“Doesn’t appear weird to you that they didn’t try to take the Violet Sky down even once?” I counterattacked. “As if the intention of the draconids wasn’t really of war. But just a singular attack?”

Amira stayed silent, but I was more interested in the Ceaseless Storm, or Fynn as I had heard. The man hadn’t spoken a word during this whole exchange, his soul showing me that he was in deep pondering.

“It always seemed odd to me that the High Arcanist issued a self-imposed embargo a few months prior to the Wyrm’s Landing event. Ordering all ellari mercantile ships to come back to the city.” The electromancer finally said. “And the mighty Ferilyn navy was also sent to reparations. All vessels.”

Fynn’s words were news to me. I had never heard about all of the naval vehicles of Ferilyn being ordered to come back to the city, whether they were of trade or military origins.

“The timing was odd, yes, but I didn’t think much about it.” He added. “Similar decrees had been issued in the past by other High Arcanists, but there was one thing that really bothered me. The information on the retirement of ships was suppressed. Actively suppressed.”

The eleven-star electromancer’s soul remained still and composed. I don’t know how he was able to do that without mystic training, perhaps an off-product of military discipline, but I couldn’t read it correctly. As he wasn’t actively trying to avoid scrutiny, maybe he just stopped
 thinking.

“Well, then,” I said to break the awkward silence. “Then you can agree that something is rather off with this situation.”

“Yes, of course.” Finally, his soul shifted in a natural way. “But that’s the thing, it’s just weird. I always thought about it, but the pieces never end up falling together.”

This was the moment I was waiting for, the right moment to drop the bomb.

“And what if, listen to me here, the ones who attacked first weren’t the draconids, but the ellari?” Both gazes, from the Arcane Veil and the Ceaseless Storm, were directed at me.

“What do you mean by that?” Amira asked with great composure, even if her soul told me otherwise.

“I have recently been to the imperial palace of the Houtz Imperium
” But before I could even finish my sentence, lightning flared around me.

“You did what?” The electromancer shouted, his lightning dominion threatening to destroy the room. Only the potent arcane barriers stop it from doing so. “Did you fraternize with the enemy?”

Oh, right. I should have phrased that better, I’m after all talking with the heroes of war, the ones who stopped the Wyrm’s Landing conflict by themselves. In a way, I had been lucky that I had made it this far with my lack of preparation and bold words.

“Relax.” I calmly said, slightly flooding the room with lavender mana on the spiritual plane. “Let me continue before jumping to conclusions.”

Their souls were visually soothed, though Kalyd’s soul was more in tension than outright aggression. The arcanist was far tamer than her electromancer partner.

“As I was saying, I had gone to the imperial palace. But not in a mission of peace, but to assassinate the imperial family.” Now the roles of the souls inverted. The agitation of Fynn’s soul stopped, yet Amira’s soul reacted with repulsion. “But I didn’t end up fulfilling my objective. I’d done so because I was guided by a woman that the emperor was the one who ordered the sabotage on the leyline, but after calming down I noticed I had been fooled.”

“The ten-star mage you mentioned before was the one who told you that?” The Sergeant Major asked.

“Exactly.” I nodded.

“Wait.” The Ceaseless Storm, now devoid of rage but full of thought, interjected. “What’s this sabotage you are talking about?”

“Oh, it was what he was explaining to me before you barged in, Fynn,” Amira explained to him. “Apparently, the dead private had tried to blow up the Lan’el leyline, so our arcanist here killed him to stop him.”

“You killed a soldier, child?” For once, I couldn’t discern the intention behind the electromancer’s tone.

“The important part is that Ikail tried to blow up a leyline, but yes. I killed the hemomancer.” I wouldn’t hide it. I had no reason to do so, especially after revealing it to the Arcane Veil.

I could hear the lightning crackling around the man. It sounded like miniature thunder. The Ceaseless Storm appeared more force of nature than a person.

“Stop it, Fynn!” Amira shouted at him. “The child’s also a victim. Private Natas had killed one of his friends.”

“Is this true?” The electromancer looked at me with a tired gaze. I nodded. “I see.”

The lightning dominion dissipated, yet the air still appeared distorted. Could it have been ionized? I wasn’t sure as I wasn’t physically there.

“The unexplained death of a soldier has risen some questions and indignation along the ranks of Lan’el, but I may turn my ears away to the situation if you tell me about yours.” For the first time, I noticed that the Ceaseless Storm was tired. Really tired. “Speak.” He commanded.

I obeyed and retold the story exactly as I had done with Sergeant Major Kalyd. I used True Recall to truly tell the events in the same manner so I couldn’t be called back for any suspicious discrepancies. It only took a couple of minutes before I reached the part where I had been interrupted by the electromancer’s intrusion.

“After killing Ikail, I tailed after the cryomancer’s position. She was waiting on a tall building a few kilometers away.” I told.

“How did you find her then?” Amira questioned me.

“Perks of being a mystic,” I responded. “I can mark any soul I see and can find it wherever it is. No matter the range.”

“No matter the range?” The arcanist rose her brows in doubt.

“Yes.” I nodded. “The spell lets me see on the spiritual plane, and this plane works differently than the corporeal one. But that isn’t important. After I found the cryomancer woman, we fought.”

“You fought a ten-star mage just after fighting another one and whilst being mortally wounded by a leyline feedback current?” Fynn stated. “Please, brighten me on how you were able to do so.”

“Mortal wounds do not matter to a mystic,” I said. “In a way, we are more resilient than body practitioners as we don’t truly die unless our soul is attacked. And even then, the leyline overloaded me with mana, I had more mana at my disposal than I ever had in my entire life.”

“Is that possible?” The electromancer didn’t ask me, but to his arcanist partner.

“Well, leyline walkers do exist, but is an incredibly dangerous and difficult trade,” Amira told him. “But yes. If he survived the leyline, his magic would be overflowing with power, and he could be a match against a ten-star mage even if he is a nine-star arcanist.”

Huh? I didn’t tell her I was a nine-star arcanist, only that I was a ten-star mage. And I definitely didn’t even use arcane magic at any point before her. How was she able to determine I was at the ninth star with arcane magic?

“Alright,” Fynn grunted, “so you could have fought two ten-star mages and survived a leyline in your wounded state. What did you do next?” He stated even if he very clearly didn’t believe his own words.

“As I had told before, I was misled by the cryomancer into thinking the emperor of the draconids gave the order to sabotage the leyline, and by proxy, caused the death of my friend,” I explained to them with complete serenity, even if True Recalling the scene only brought pain. “I was in a very rough state of mind and soul, I wasn’t able to think straight, the leyline had had a toll on my being. So, in my very flawed train of thought, the logical next step was to storm the imperial palace.”

“Sorry if I’m being skeptical,” Amira said as she looked at Fynn, who grunted at the gaze, “but how were you led to bypass the city’s barrier and fly over the Icalat sea on just a guess?”

“I don’t really want to elaborate on that,” I told with very visible pain. “But on a cantrip, soul damage isn’t a good thing. It makes you feel horrible and warps your thoughts. I still haven’t healed and I’m doubtful if I should have even come here in the first place.”

The Arcane Veil’s visage softened up. The woman possessed a surprisingly pure soul, and she showed it. The Ceaseless Storm looked at me with skepticism but kept any thoughts to himself. Unlike other people, I was not able to fully read those thoughts with my Mystic’s Dominion as his mana pool was just so incomparably big to mine that the innate interference that mana possessed created a passive anti-scrying field around him.

“Alright, I’ll pry no further on that matter.” Amira agreed and I gave her an accepting nod. “But please, explain to me what happened in the imperial palace.”

I accelerated my thoughts with the help of Mystic’s Dominion, my train of thought partially operating on the spiritual plane, and carefully thought my next words. I decided to avoid speaking about the soldier in black armor I had fought before arriving at the palace, as I had a clear idea of who the man was after reading the princess’ thoughts.

If the Ceaseless Storm was openly aggressive against draconids, I couldn’t imagine what he would pull off if I suddenly spoke about his nemesis.

“I arrived at the palace in the morning, and I was lucky that the throne room was only inhabited by the imperial princess and the emperor himself. Just a few guards on the entrance that I quickly disposed of.”

“Disposed of? Did you kill them?” Amira interjected in horror.

Right, I hadn’t thought my words that well. “No, no. I only left them unconscious. It’s easier to do that with soul magic than killing someone, either way.” Force Unconsciousness was only a seven-star spell, and even if the guards had been around the ten-star in power, my spells were empowered by the leyline and Mystic’s Dominion.

The military woman sighed in relief after my explanation. She was a good person, unlike me. To her point of view, the draconids were enemies, and yet she was happy that I had spared the lives of guards.

“On the throne room, I had a discussion with the emperor, as I used the princess as a hostage.” The coldness of my voice actually disgusted me, but I knew I couldn’t carry on if I stopped using Mystic’s Dominion. I needed to be ruthless.

Curiously enough, Fynn accepted my tactics, or at least, his soul did. The man continued to be a wall on the outside. Amira was visually shocked but opted to let me continue with the story.

“The royal family proved to be quite resourceful mystics, but they couldn’t match me on the matters related to the soul.” Neither member of the couple showed any reaction to my words, so they did know the royal family were mystics. “The princess incapacitated herself by trying to attack me but fell by the recoil of my defenses. Then the emperor proved to be quite cooperative on any of the questions I asked.”

“Before we continue,” Fynn shifted slightly from his seat on looked me right in the eyes, “are you aware that you could’ve caused an international incident? A bigger one than the Wyrm’s Landing?”

“Yes,” I responded but quickly changed my answer. “But I would be lying if I said I was conscious of actions. I fought every moment there to stay sane. When someone close to you gets murdered and you have a clear target and a weapon at your hands, will you doubt to enact vengeance?”

The room suddenly stopped dead. The aura surrounding the place grew still as I noticed something. Looking at the eyes of the man before me, the Ceaseless Storm, I could tell he would have done the same.

No. He would have done worse. I could see it in his soul. My gaze quickly shifted to the Arcane Veil, and I knew if she had happened to even get hurt, not even death, the man would have unleashed death from the skies upon the capital of the Imperium as if he was a force of nature. Very much like when I threatened the princess with the charged capacitator.

But the main difference between him and I was that I wouldn’t have pulled the trigger. And that comforted me greatly. That I still maintained a shred of humanity after everything I had done in the last few days.

“Let’s drop this subject. It won’t do either of you any good.” Amira said to de-escalate the situation. I just nodded and continued telling the events as if nothing had happened. I assumed Fynn did the same, but I didn’t bother checking.

“Then, the emperor and I had a long conversation, or more like an interrogation, as I asked him about the Wyrm’s Landing and the recent attempt on the Lan’el leyline.” I expected the worst with my next line. “There I discovered that neither the attempt nor the Wyrm’s Landing had been the work of the Imperium.”

“Explain yourself,” Fynn stated.

Not a ‘what do you mean?’ or ‘you are wrong’, but a simple ‘explain yourself’. I was worried about the implications of such vague language.

“With my qualities as a mystic, especially as a psychimancer, I can tell when a person is lying, or even, being untruthful,” I said. “I used specific wording to try for any traps on the emperor’s wording, as he was also a mystic and could have avoided my scrying, but to my dismay, he was truthful. The Wyrm’s Landing hadn’t been a sudden declaration of war, but a response. The draconids didn’t give the first blow.”

“Who then?” Amira asked, lying to herself, avoiding the truth.

“Us.” It wasn’t me who answered, but Fynn. Since the moment he presented himself, he had told he doubted the government, but he also displayed hate towards the Imperium. He was at the middle point, and I needed to convince him.

“B-but how?” For the face time, I saw the doubt on the stern Sergeant Major’s face. Amira Kalyd was truly confused.

Fynn looked at me with a gaze as if telling me to ‘explain myself’ once more. I complied.

“It would appear that the ellari military threw a surprise attack on a draconid military dock, and the Imperium responded with a similar skirmish,” I explained. “But someone fed them wrong intel, and instead of attacking back another military dock, they hit a civilian port.”

“Are you truly sure about this?” Amira stood up and asked me in distress.

I painfully looked up directly into her eyes, carefully infiltrating her soul and defusing the bursting emotions. “I’ve already told you I had checked the emperor for lies. Unless the whole draconid military performed an attack on a foreign country with the might of tens of dragonborn without his knowledge, the possibility that I have been tricked is rather low.”

“But you-“ have already been tricked before. Amira thought but cut herself off. I could see the whole conundrum developing in her soul. She almost shouted at a young child that had lost his friend, or that’s what the centuries-old military ellari felt. And Major Sergeant Kalyd felt awful, really bad with herself, that she almost did that when she was a woman of her standing.

She quickly recomposed herself, mainly because of my little help, but the stoic visage of the military woman I saw then on the military grounds showed back.

“I feel you may need to go now. This situation is far worse than I had thought of.” Major Sergeant Kalyd said. “But before, could you give me your name?”

I nodded. “Edrie Nightfallen.” She already knew I was part of the academy group that went to the outing, so she would have found it sooner rather than later if I didn’t give it right now.

As I stood up and began dispelling the Astral Self spell, I was interrupted by a voice. “Wait.” It was that of the Ceaseless Storm.

The military man had also stood up and dissected my simulacrum with careful and insightful looks. Only then he stopped and talked to me.

“You are too dangerous to go unsupervised, even if you are still just an academy student.” He explained. “In the coming days, you are to join my order of elite soldiers so I can watch over you.”

“Is that even legal?” I questioned him about his forceful recruitment.

“Are you questioning me, soldier?” He inquired.

Oh, I see what he’s doing.

Considering my precarious situation, between the fact that I have been missing for a few days now and that I have killed a soldier, this was the man’s way of helping me. A crude way, one I didn’t enjoy much, but as I was very deep in the mud, I couldn’t refuse.

“No, sir,” I responded with a military salute.

“Very well.” I could see a small hint of a smirk on the military man’s face. “You are dismissed.”

“Yes, sir.” And I dispelled my Astral Self, returning with a swift move back to Sin’fal over from Lan’el.