Grand Game 588: A New Awakening

I inclined my head. “I didn’t think it would be.” 

Kantara sighed, a sound replete with exasperation. “What do you want from us, Havick?” she asked tiredly.

I looked up. “Truthfully? I want your help fighting the stygians.”

“That’s it?” she asked with barely concealed incredulity.

“That’s it,” I repeated. “I am willing to seal a Pact to confirm the veracity of my words.”

The suggestion did not catch the huntmistress unawares. “And is that all you are willing to attest to via Pact?”

“It is.”

Senzo raised one eyebrow. “You will not swear with the Adjudicator as your witness that you have no intention of recruiting the brotherhood for your faction?”

“I will not,” I replied evenly. I couldn’t swear to such, because I did intend on recruiting the brotherhood—if not today, then sometime in the future. I might not be willing to trust them with the full truth just yet, but there was no doubt our interests were aligned when it came to the stygians.

Senzo rubbed his chin. “Will you promise then that by associating with you, the brotherhood will not be drawn into a conflict between Powers?”

“I will not,” I repeated—because, of course, that was exactly what might happen.

The spymaster laughed bitterly. “Then this—” he waved his hand in my direction—“whatever this is, it’s exactly what we feared: a plot to entangle us in the Grand Game.”

“It’s not,” I refuted sharply. I inhaled, then continued more calmly, “But I will not deny that I am embroiled in Game—albeit unwillingly. The brotherhood may be tainted by association.”

“Then why should we have anything to do with you?” Duskar demanded.

Help came from an unexpected source. 

“Hello?” Cait asked loudly. “Did no one notice the dead tree? We couldn’t have killed it without him. Hells, we didn’t even do it! He did.” The nether witch swung to face the huntmistress. “How can we turn away the first player in brotherhood history to ever slay a young void tree and still claim to hold true to our mission?”

Kartara did not reply to the elf, but it was clear that the question perturbed her.

“Truly, Cait?” Senzo asked softly. “You would ally with a Power—one we know little about? And risk destroying the brotherhood in the process?” 

“We face that risk every time we enter the nether,” Cait declared fiercely.

“We do not,” Senzo contradicted. “The brotherhood has only managed to survive as long as it has because we’ve stayed out of the Game. You’re right, we confront danger in the nether on a daily basis, but we don’t do so in Nexus and the other sectors our bases are located in. And for good reason—they are our safe zones. Our safety nets. Remaining neutral and staying out of the Powers’ eternal conflicts is what has allowed us to rebuild time and again despite our losses against the stygians.” He stabbed a finger in my direction. “If we ally with him, and he falls afoul of the Triumvirate—or any major Power for that matter—then our bases themselves will be under threat, and that will spell the end of the brotherhood.”

Cait fell silent, having no response.

And truly there was none to be had. Unless ...

The nether witch raised her chin. “We should at least hear Havick out, then. We might not go so far as to ally with him—" glancing over her shoulder, she threw me an apologetic glance—“but we don’t even know what he wants. Let’s listen to what he has to say before we wipe our hands of the matter.”

Is that what the brotherhood intended? To break ties with me? Listening to Senzo’s explanation, I could not fault their impulse to do so. In the long run I was perhaps a bigger threat to their organization than the stygians.

But Cait had a point too.

The brotherhood was unlikely to advance their mission without the help of someone like me. Survival or mission success. Those were the conflicting goals the brotherhood was grappling with.

“I suppose we can do that much,” the huntmistress said finally, drawing me out of my thoughts. Her gaze came to rest on mine. “So, Havick, what is it that you desire from the brotherhood? Tell us plainly, please.”

I exhaled slowly. Kartara was tackling the problem head on, and the time had come to share some dangerous truths.  “Plainly? I will do that,” I promised. “It may be a long talk, though.” I glanced down at my pawed feet. “And I’ll need some privacy first.”

“Why?” Duskar demanded brusquely.

“To shift,” I replied, letting my mouth drop open in a gruesome smile. “I’m getting drearily tired of wearing this harbinger’s skin.”

The huntmistress waved her hand in the direction of the barren desert dunes to the north. “Go then, shift. We’ll be waiting here when you’re done.”

✵ ✵ ✵

Kartara had no reason to fear I wouldn’t return, of course. The brotherhood still held my netherstone, and without it, I wasn’t going anywhere.

Well, there are those other rifts in the sector.

Given the nature of the ley lines, I knew for certain that the sectors on the other side had to be in the Kingdom. So, I wasn’t as trapped without my netherstone as the brotherhood thought I was.

I didn’t fear betrayal, though. At this point, the brotherhood had every reason to want to hear what I said. But what they would do after I shared my truths was another matter entirely.

“You will tell them everything?” Ghost asked from the dune top where she was keeping watch.

We were a few miles north of the battlefield, much further out than I thought even Senzo’s scouts would range on their own. I was at the bottom of a hill, and out of sight of any prying eyes, getting ready to shift.  

“I won’t,” I replied. “But I will need to tell them enough to make them aware of the dangers they’ll be facing.” I would not accept the brotherhood—or anyone else for that matter—into the forerunners without them understanding what they were getting into.

Ghost frowned. “How will you do that?”

I laughed. “That’s the tricky bit. And to be honest, I haven’t quite worked out that part yet.” I glanced up at her. “You ready?”

She nodded. “I am. It’s all clear up here.” 

“One more thing, Ghost. While I’m shifting… scan my thoughts.”

For a heartbeat the pyre wolf didn’t say anything. “You’re worried that the tree may have done something to your mind?”

“Not really,” I replied. “I think I cut him off in time. But it can’t hurt to make doubly certain.”

 “Then don’t worry about it, Prime. Go ahead and shift. I’ll check your mind and alert you if anything is amiss.”

Not needing further encouragement, I lay down flat and began casting.

✵ ✵ ✵

You have cast vanish. You are hidden.

You have dispelled your doppelganger spell, returning to the elder wolf form.

You have shapeshifted, taking the form of a level 282 human.

You have cast doppelganger, transforming into Havick.

Returning to human form and assuming my Havick disguise was a lengthy process—one requiring multiple spells—which was why I’d asked the brotherhood for privacy and had Ghost keep watch while I went about it.

But finally, it was done, and I walked upon two legs once more.

“Your mind’s clean,” Ghost reported immediately.

“Thanks, Ghost,” I replied. “That’s a relief to know.”

“You’re welcome. How does it feel to be human again?”

I grinned. Today’s transformation into a wolf wasn’t my longest by any means. Yet, undoubtedly, it had been the most uneventful. So much had happened, it felt like I’d spent a lifetime on four legs. “Like I’m missing half myself,” I replied.

The pyre wolf snorted. “You should spend more time as a wolf. It suits you.”

“I will,” I assured her. “But my human form is just as necessary.” I drew the mindslayer’s torc out of my inventory. “Especially for things like this.”

Her ears flickered up. “You’re going to put it on now?”

I nodded. “It’s about time we found out what awakened slayer does, don’t you think?”

The eagerness I sensed through our bond was answer enough. Smiling at her anticipation—and my own—I equipped the artifact. 

You have unequipped a savant’s ring (+4 Mind). Equipped items: 29 / 30.

You have equipped the tier 7 artifact, the mindslayer’s torc, gaining +25% mental resistance and the awakened slayer ability. 

Awakened slayer is a Class ability that is linked to your telepathy and meditation skills. It allows you to create a fully autonomous astral simulacrum of yourself to guard your own consciousness or to attack the minds of your foes. The construct will reside in your mind and will be a faithful replica of you in terms of size, shape, attributes, and skills. 

Note, however, that the simulacrum will only have access to your psi abilities, and unless directed otherwise, it will automatically defend your consciousness from all forms of mental assaults, direct or subversive. You can take direct control of your simulacrum at any time you desire, but doing so will leave your body in the physical plane defenseless.

If you project your simulacrum into the mind of another, the target’s sub-consciousness will instinctively create its own astral constructs to protect itself and ward off your assault. The mental fortitude of the target will determine the strength of these constructs. Note, your simulacrum cannot bypass a target’s mental walls, but it can assault them directly.

A full day of meditation is required to constitute your simulacrum. Once formed, the astral construct will reside permanently in your consciousness until slain. Sheltering your simulacrum in your mind requires no energy but projecting it into the minds of others is a channeled variant that will consume psi on an ongoing basis. If the simulacrum is destroyed, it may be reconstituted.

This spell cannot be upgraded. 

Your secret blood trait has been triggered! To conceal your bloodline, your awakened slayer ability will be hidden in its entirety.

Ghost’s mirrored jewelry trait has been activated, granting her +25% mental resistance and the awakened slayer ability. Note, in order for your familiar to create her own simulacrum, she must spend a full day meditating in her spirit vessel.

“Ah,” I exhaled, rocking back on my heels. There was far more to the awakened slayer ability than I’d first suspected. The construct would live in my mind—permanently—something I found both intriguing and disturbing. 

Even more fascinating was that I would be able to send it—him? me? what was the right term here?—into the mind of my foes. 

And Ghost could do the same.

“What do you think of the new spell?” I asked my familiar.

“I want to try it,” she shot back immediately.

I laughed. “I do too. But sadly, that’s going to have to wait. I don’t have a full day to spare and won’t for a while yet.” I paused. “You could get started on your own meditations, though.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, not able to suppress the quiver of excitement this prospect induced.

I smiled. “Of course. Go ahead.”

“Thank you, Prime!” Ghost replied, unraveling her form.

Ghost has unmanifested. 

Ghost has begun casting awakened slayer. Time remaining until the spell is complete: 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 57 seconds. 

Your familiar has entered a deep meditative state. While in this state, she will be unresponsive and unaware of her surroundings.