Suriel was re-focusing her work while idly considering which of her subordinates might have the potential to succeed her one day when a sudden deviation from Fate flashed red in her vision.
Her own alarm spiked as her Presence spoke urgently into her mind. [WARNING: contact lost with Sector Thirty command. No warning from the Court.]
Suriel tied off her current working, stabilizing the world of Vesper for the time being. Then she informed Ozriel.
He looked irritated at the news more than anything. “If you’d let me have my powers back, I could have warned you in time.” Then he stood up, still floating in space, and stretched. He pulled one shoulder, then the other, tossing his long white hair out of the way with each movement.
His body had been perfected both genetically and conceptually. There was no way his movements were actually tight. He was just being theatrical.
Suriel’s eyes were already scanning Fate, but she found little she could read. She didn’t need her Presence to tell her that was bad news.
Ozriel sniffed ostentatiously at the vacuum. “Does it smell like a trap in here to anyone else?”
“Stop talking and help.” Suriel tore open a rift into the Way and stepped through, letting the pure currents of order push her, but she remained still.
This was a calculated action. They would be surrounded.
She sent out a message to the Spider. “Telariel. Telariel, can you hear me?”
When there was no response after a second or two, she knew they were cut off. Her Razor ignited in her hand, splitting into many branches.
[We are most likely to engage in a battle with the Mad King,] Suriel’s Presence reported. [There is only a one in sixteen chance of escaping with both of your lives. However, he must have left the other Vroshir behind to move undetected. In the case that he kills you, I project a two out of three chance that he is killed by the retaliation of the Court of Seven.]
“What are the odds that Makiel did not see this action?” Ozriel asked softly.
Her Presence remained quiet.
“Yeah,” Ozriel said. “That’s what I thought.”
Then he and Suriel prepared to do battle side-by-side.
Outpost 01: Oversight
Makiel watched the battle between Suriel and the Mad King unfold in Fate. He examined all the possibilities, and his mood was dark.
This was still the best course of action, but he regretted the necessity. At least, when Ozriel was dead, they could rebuild.
His Presence alerted him to contact from the Spider, which he allowed.
Telariel’s voice was as cultured as always. “I seem to have lost contact with Sector Twenty. There are interruptions in the Way everywhere, but the timing for this one is…not fortuitous. I suspect either Vroshir intervention or shenanigans from Ozriel.”
“I’ll look into it myself,” Makiel told him. “Nothing is as clear as it should be. Stand by in case direct action is required.”
Telariel acknowledged, and Makiel stayed true to his word and his purpose.
He watched.
On the violet screens in the air before him, Ozriel’s death grew clearer and clearer.
Iteration 110: Cradle
Across the Ashwind continent, through relays of constructs and messengers usually used to declare emergencies, Akura Malice personally delivered a message.
“By the authority of the Akura clan, let it be known that the sacred artist formerly known as Wei Shi Lindon Arelius has been corrupted by the power of the Silent King,” she announced. “He has forfeited his humanity and is but a shell of what he once was.
“To recognize his crimes and the extraordinary threat he represents, he is to be considered the temporary replacement for the Silent King. The fourth Dreadgod. As he is but a hollow mockery of mankind, let him be known as the Empty Ghost.”
All over the continent and all over the world, news spread. Millions heard Lindon’s name.
And fear spread of the new Dreadgod.
The Oracle Sage didn’t strictly have to, but she checked her pocket watch anyway. Not long now.
With her power, she cast her sight miles into the distance toward the wreckage of what had once been House Arelius. House Shen sacred artists prowled everywhere, but their Monarch’s resources weren’t infinite. He’d been forced to pull people away to deal with problems all over the globe, and to secure certain prizes here in Rosegold to prevent them from being stolen.
She’d checked the past, the present, and the future. This was their best opportunity. With a flicker of her madra, she triggered a construct in her soulspace.
Other constructs triggered in sympathy throughout her forces, and the entire remainder of House Arelius readied itself.