237 - Discovery

Ambassador Raz-Ro-Nan stepped off his helipad onto the abode of the Gloom.

The Gloom was a Luminary in charge of their Eldritch Alliance and the connection to the Oath.

He typically lived apart from the rest of the Fae, and it was unprecedented for him to meet with just an Ambassador, or anyone, for that matter. The nature of his work isolated him from the rest of the Fae society, and it was delicate enough that it must be kept that way.

It was a brutal sacrifice, but it was one they needed to maintain the status quo.

It had taken a lot of effort for Raz-Ro-Nan to get this meeting, and he'd essentially worked hard to quickly convince the High Fae Court of the seriousness of this matter.

After a thorough scanning of Ryn-Byul-Fo’s memories, the things he'd seen about Lexie Sparrowfoot worried him.

That, along with the things he’d observed from her activities on earth, suggested that she was someone they should at least be mildly concerned about, although not everyone on the High Jury thought it was important amidst all their other major concerns. 

Nevertheless, he'd convinced enough of them so he was now granted permission to meet with the Great Gloom.

The second the Gloom walked out, the darkness weaving around him like a cloak, Ambassador Raz-Ro-Nan wasted no time. He began filling him in on what he knew about a human-Eldritch hybrid that was unlike anything he'd ever seen.

There had been Eldritch made out of human souls before, and while rare, some had been powerful.

But none of them had ever been this powerful before. 

None of them had been capable of feats that Lexie Sparrowfoot had managed, and none of them retained enough of their humanity to remain on Earth.

She controlled dungeons.

She could steal Eldritch from their former masters.

She'd formed a bond with Yasycht and used his power without the ritual of worship.

Then there was the matter of her soul card...

He'd never seen magic like that, and it concerned him more than the fact that she currently had an Oathbreaker with her.

He wasn't sure how Lexie Sparrowfoot came to be yet, but it all tied back to one of the Eldritch Lords. Naem. The Ambassador wanted to know how and why.

The Gloom listened silently, his eyes dulled, his whole being worn from the nature of the work he had to do. It was extremely difficult work, one that shortened his lifespan by several fold.

The Ambassador didn't know the exact particulars of what the Gloom did. 

Fae from drastically different branches did not share such sensitive information, so that in case of an invasion or an information breach, the damage would be controlled and a leak traced quickly.

It also gave them plausible deniability when being questioned by foreign governments.

Yet, despite the secrecy, the Fae trusted each other implicitly. That was because all high officials, luminaries, and ambassadors were sworn to a common cause, the protection and advancement of the Fae race and the world as a whole.

None of them could defy that, and that was where the trust came from.

The oath binding them all together from the moment they were born to the second they die.

The Ambassador kept the conversation with the Luminary as brief as possible, their pheromones and bodies doing most of the talking. 

He informed the Gloom about their plans to bring Lexie to the Fae planet for questioning, observation, and possible experimentation.

The Gloom listened and informed him, per his judgment of the situation regarding her, and as he had observed from the Eldritch world, that such a creature would make things for them increasingly complicated. It might be better to eliminate her.

But they could not do so without just cause. 

They would first need to hold a trial and decide on the sentencing for her crimes. While they could execute her for the crime against General Jyn-Fa-Roh's son, Raz-Ro-Nan was concerned that in that trial, more information would come about about the dead Fae male and the General herself that might be detrimental to the negotiation and the alliance between the Light and the Dark.

So he had put that investigation on the back burner for now, until he could figure out how to mitigate the outcry that would come.

Hence, for now, they could not bring her in for trial.

Raz-Ro-Nan asked the Gloom to share any changes that had occurred with the Eldritch Lord Council, particularly with Lord Naem.

The Gloom certified that all Lords were contributing their typical chaos quota, and the Fae were mitigating the damage they caused. 

Naem and Neqal had not violated their oaths yet, but further restrictions might be in order.

Some of the other Lords, like Kanek and Jaenyll, were also getting stirred up by something, but it was nothing they could not handle.

If only it were that simple to handle Lexie Sparrowfoot.

It might be easier once she became a full Eldritch Lord. Then she could be bound by the Eldritch Oath.

Or, as the Gloom suggested, they could encourage the Eldritch Lords to take out the challenge.

Then again, was she a challenge? Or a blessing in disguise.

Raz-Ro-Nan had not yet figured it out. Lexie Sparrowfoot was useful, but her defiance made her unpredictable.

Unless, of course, they could find a way to trap her or force an alliance on their end. 

There might be a way to do it, but whether she would allow it was the question.

The Gloom finally informed the Ambassador that he would be stepping down soon. He could feel his time coming to an end, the sacrifice of his years that led to this moment.

Very soon, he would be fading from life.

It was a shame. He was a noble Fae, a good Fae, and he had served out his sentence. Another would soon take his place. 

Hopefully, soon after that, they would find a way to gain control of the magical system without sacrificing many of their men to such a cause, watching them die again and again.

The ambassador Raz-Ro-Nan left the meeting with the Gloom and attended two more. The meetings confirmed what he knew already.

There was going to be a war very soon, and the stage would be set between the Eldritch and the Humans. The Eldritch would see this as their opportunity to emancipate. The Humans would see it as a way for them to finally gain magic on their own terms. 

Both sides would fail.

And once again, it would be the Fae arriving to pick up the pieces and clear the chaff.

***

“No,” Aiden said when he heard Vacek’s plan. They had already dropped off Xena and Dewie and were now sitting in Vacek’s office, Lexie playing with the Newton's cradle on his desk while the two adults argued.

“I assure you, she will be safe,” Vacek said.

“Are you kidding me?” Aiden said. “You want her to sneak into the Emperor’s castle, masked as a villain, steal a highly guarded secret totem and some files, forcing him to negotiate with us or get ousted? And this vault is right next to his torture chamber, by the way, where he routinely takes in political prisoners and tortures them for information. Are you insane?"

“When you put it like that, it sounds terrible.”

"It sounds terrible any way you put it! This is the best you could come up with? Emperor Rufus is not a man who takes lightly to theft of even his most insignificant jewels, especially by someone from a foreign government! What do you think he's going to do to my daughter if she gets caught?"

“She won’t.”

“You don’t know that.”

“We have the schematics down to a T." Vacek pointed at the map that he'd given Lexie to read, down to the instructions at the side. "I've been holding on to that for a while, but I've never had anyone who could bypass all their security protocol yet. Lexie has the skills to get in and out of there without being detected. She can even bypass their anti-teleportation device, the same way she did with Victoire.

No one will even know she's there."

"She's not doing it," Aiden said. "And if you're so insistent on this crazy plan, then send one of your other goons."

“Goons? I think they prefer the term agents.”

“I don’t give a damn what they prefer. My daughter will not become one of them.”

“Aiden–”

“The answer is no.”

Vacek sighed, and Lexie pulled back one of the balls of the cradle, letting it go so it would hit the next and the next and the next.

She watched the transfer of energy while thinking about Vacek's plan again. While she wasn't scared of the danger, she thought it all sounded too complicated.

She'd initially thought he was going to send her over to scare the emperor, maybe by hanging him upside down by his underwear until he confessed everything, but Vacek thought that method would be too crass and too prone to causing an international outcry and maybe even war.

The Emperor was apparently an egomaniac.

So now, Vacek wanted her to steal something that the Emperor held more valuable than his own life. He didn't really explain what it was yet, only that it was a totem that held some state secrets or something of that sort.

Having those would force the Emperor to give them the information they needed because releasing the secrets would collapse his entire empire.

Lexie pulled back the ball and released it again, and now that everyone was silent, the clanking sound echoed throughout the whole room. She repeated the movement. Clink-clank. Clink-Clank. 

“This is the first lead we have had in a while, Aiden," Vacek continued. "And time is of the essence. Already, Vulcan might be mobilizing to bury whatever lead we have on him, and once we find something, we need to hunt it down as quickly as possible.”

“My daughter isn’t going to be your tool.”

“We're all tools! All this is to protect her, too. Or do you have any brighter ideas of how to get rid of Vulcan, who, in case you forgot, wants her dead?”

Aiden's face tensed.

Lexie could see that her father didn’t like what Vacek was saying, but she had to agree with the other man. All in all, what he was asking her to do wasn’t too wild or dangerous. Heck, she’d done far more dangerous things while she was in the dungeon. This seemed easier than killing hordes of trolls or finding her way out of a people maze. Or being attacked by superior clones of herself.

She could handle this.

Her dad needed some convincing, though.

Lexie was trying to be patient, but her father was being unreasonable here. But he was doing it out of love, which was why she wasn’t saying anything and was letting him get all his worry and anxiety out of his head. 

“Lexie may be powerful, but she’s not infallible,” Aiden said. “Using her powers as she has been is harmful to her long-term. Do you not care about that?”

"I do. But we’ve been given a rare gift here, both with Lexie’s strength and Dewie’s foresight. Already, the enemies will be attempting to eliminate our advantage, and we cannot give them a chance. Every single second that passes by without the Alchemist and Vulcan caught is a second that Lexie, Dewie, and so many others are in danger. Unless you think that Lexie, as powerful as she is, is safe from him now. In which case, I would say you were woefully naive.”

Aidne gripped his fingers together. Lexie thought he looked like he wanted to punch Vacek, but that might be because he hated that Vacek was making so much sense. 

Lexie glanced down at the schematics again as Aiden said something else, glancing through the rules that Vacek had written down for her. She took note of the still images, the instructions, and the security protocol in place. She also stared at the temporary translator he'd given her to plug in her ears, as well as the item in her hand. The Emperor's crest.

There was probably enough of his essence on there for her to find the image easily.

In fact, it was easy enough that she might already be done by the time the adults finished their conversation. 

“You act like I don’t know you, Vacek,” Aiden was saying to him. “You think you’re clever, but you’re very predictable. This is your playbook. You start small, asking for minor favors here and there, then you ask for more and more and more, always making it seem reasonable. Safe. Like something any reasonable person would say yes to. When it inevitably goes left, you move on to the next and discard that toy for another.”

“You know I'm really starting to resent this narrative that I use people and toss them away when they’re no longer useful. I'm not doing this because I enjoy it, Aiden."

“I understand your plight,” Aiden said. “I understand the weight of the responsibility you carry and also understand that you need to use people to keep the world safe. But my family and I have already sacrificed enough for you and this world. My daughter will not be yet another pawn in your game. Do you understand?”

Vacek stared at him for a long time, the clear struggle in his face. Flashes of guilt mixed with frustration because he was fighting a losing battle. Aiden wasn't going to budge, despite knowing that the best and smartest thing to do was to send Lexie in.

And he couldn't ask Aiden to change his mind. Not after everything that already happened. 

Vacek sighed his resignation. “Alright. Fine. I’ll figure out another way.”

Aiden eased off and said, “Thank you. I appreciate your understanding. Lexie, let's go home.”

Unfortunately for him, Lexie didn't hear the last part of the sentence. Because she was already gone.

***

The Emperor’s underground compartment was tacky.

It was a long tunnel with concrete vaults and rough-hewn steel beams intersecting underneath the national crest of a double-headed eagle. 

The crest was surrounded by shimmering gold leaves and a mural depicting the emperor’s “divine victories”, basically a montage of the many wars that he’d fought. There were similar murals on every floor of the building, each one with the Emperor as his younger, more strapping self.

Red emergency lights pulsed in rhythm with the dungeon’s internal security systems, while ghost-blue LED strips glowed faintly when they sensed the presence of someone close by.

The most dangerous, however, were the hidden measures, the metallic suit of armor, and the large gargoyle statues that were etched with necromancy symbols.

They were really liches, and they would reanimate once they sensed Lexie’s presence.

Lexie also saw protective wards that could detect even a shift in the emotional atmosphere, as well as alchemic walls with hidden traps.

Beyond that was the hall of echoes sent to magnify every step and drive one to psychosis.

And beyond that, there were even more traps before you got to the vault actually holding the treasure.

The Emperor Rufus was an extremely paranoid man.

Lexie, of course, was only observing all this from the comfort of her dungeon. 

Between the schematics and her observation through Yasycht, Lexie had come up with a plan.

Going in wasn't the problem. Vacek had pointed out a room that had no cameras, mostly because sometimes the guards liked to take prisoners there for some unsanctioned beatings. Most of the hidden security protocols were focused on the treasure vault as well, and not on the side where the prisoners were being held.

The problem, however, was keeping the portal open in that room long enough for her to get the items out.

Lexie didn't know how long it would take for her to get through the security system, and once the portal closed, Lexie would not be able to teleport out. They had a similar anti-teleportation device as Victoire, which disabled teleportation except through a secret room. Lexie could bypass the anti-teleportation measures through Yasycht, but once she was no longer connected to him, she would have to find another way out.  

So far, she planned to keep it simple so as not to strain herself and so she could keep the portal open for as long as possible.

She would first disguise herself as one of the masked guards and appear in the hidden room. Then she would come out as normal and, while guarding the room, she would use a combination of her shadow and Pvilycht's DECODE cards to get through much of the security protocol, decoding as they went.

If it took too long and she felt the portal was about to close, or that she was about to be discovered, she would simply go back through it and try again later. That was that.

Once Lexie had settled on the plan, she timed it for a moment when the room was empty and then appeared in her disguise with her translator on.

It smelled worse than she thought. The air was cold, metallic, and tinged with incense from automated censers mounted in the corners. But underneath all that was the scent of blood and the tang of urine.

Gross.

Lexie immediately activated the cards, sending her shadow Pvilycht forth.

She then moved to stand in front of the door, in the darkened hallways, while Pvilycht worked.

She heard sounds coming from a nearby cell.

Lexie knew what those sounds were. The thwachk. The dull thud. The harsh breaths.

It was the sound of someone being beaten up.

Lexie found herself drawn to it, and she walked over there to observe.

A woman on the floor curled up in a ball. She was biting her lip hard enough for it to bleed. Bruises covered nearly every part of her body that was exposed, and blood stained her prison uniform.

Yet she was refusing to scream. Even as he kicked her with a rough metal boot, mocking her, laughing, she held on, stubbornly, her pride showing in her face.

The guard finally took a breath and let his head hang back. He smiled to the sky.

Lexie instantly hated him.

She wanted to kill him, but she was very aware that she might be watched, and she still needed to buy time.

She would kill him after she was done with what she came here to do.

The Guard turned to her and said, "Are they ready for me?"

Lexie wasn't sure what he was asking, but she nodded. It occurred to her that she probably should have waited for Vacek to give her a voice modulator before she embarked on this journey. She could also use a combination of cards for that effect, but she would try to keep up the silent treatment as long as possible.

Luckily, he accepted the nod and brushed past her without saying anything, leaving Lexie with the woman within.

The woman on the floor looked familiar. She had the grey, almost pupilless eyes of someone Lexie had spoken to once, as well as her cool beauty.

She looked like...

Darina. The answer came to her. Darina Shadowsbane.

“Darina," Lexie leaned in and whispered, and the woman shrank back in fear.

"Who are you?" she whispered back. "Did my sister send you? Tell her...I will not leave. It’s…if I do, he will come after her."

She's not Darina, Lexie realized. She was Darina's sister.

And she was here to sacrifice herself for her sister.

Lexie bit her lip and wondered what she should do with this information.

***

"Great," Vulcan stormed into the underground bunker, ripping off his weeding gloves and tearing his hands through his hair. "They have an Oracle now. An Oracle and Lexie Sparrowfoot. Isn't that fantastic?"

He laughed harshly to no one in particular.

He hated this. He felt like he was always one step behind, no matter what he tried. There was no point in his even fighting against Lexie at this point.

His visions regarding her were now so inaccurate that they were laughable. And that extended to the people around her.

Damn it. Damn it all to hell.

He hated it. He constantly felt the noose tightening around his neck. It felt like all he could do was watch as Lexie Sparrowfoot systematically dismantled all his well-laid plans. There was nothing he could do about it.

The Alchemist, on the other hand, looked calm as always.

"The funny thing about desire,” The Alchemist said to Vulcan as he put the finishing touches on his newest creation. “Is how resilient it is. Like an insect that lives, tiny yet thriving despite the greater forces against it. Even when it is irrational, it becomes a persistent thought. You bury it. You call yourself unreasonable for it, but ultimately it takes over anyway, and you start to rationalize it. Even the insane becomes conceivable just to protect that desire. You will do anything to keep it slipping away from you again."

Vulcan regarded him with an arched eyebrow. "I take that to mean it's almost ready."

He nodded. “It will be ready when we need it.”

He pulled back and allowed Vulcan to see what he'd been working on for months, his magnum opus. The ultimate endgame tool.  

The exact replica of Aiden Sparrowfoot.