Path of Dragons 17 - Chapter 51 - Reaction (Patreon)

“I know what you’re going to say.”

“You do, do you?” asked Kirlissa, wearing a slight smirk.  “Do tell.”

It was a trap.  Elijah knew it.  But he still couldn’t stop himself from walking right into it.  So, he immediately let loose with a verbal cascade containing all the worries he’d tried to keep to himself.  He framed it all through an accusation, but it was clear – even to his troubled perspective – that the entire thing had been constructed from self-doubt and worry over his own moral failings.

“Are you done?” Kirlissa asked once his tirade had petered out.

“Getting my second wind.”

“In the meantime, do you mind if I respond?” she asked.

“Like I could stop you.”

“You need only ask,” the gold dragon stated, entirely magnanimously.  “I will do whatever is necessary to see you succeed.”

“Because you want a return on your investment, right?” Elijah asked.

She shrugged one shoulder and admitted, “Partly, that is true.  However, it is not the entire truth.  This multiverse is never as simple as black or white.  Every action taken comes at the end of a multitude of reasons, some conflicting, others in complete agreement.  So it has always been with my support for you.”

Elijah frowned.  He hadn’t expected her to admit it outright, and the fact that she had threw him off by more than a fair bit.  Probably her intention.  Elijah had long since discarded the notion that Kirlissa was only what she seemed at first glance.  Everything she did came from a variety of reasons, and he had no way of figuring them out. 

He could ask.

But he wouldn’t believe her answers.  Not fully.

“You seem to harbor some resentment against me,” she deduced.  “Why?”

“I…I don’t know.  Sometimes, I think you’re intentionally keeping things from me,” he said.  “Information that might keep me alive if I knew it.”

“Perhaps. I am no seer.  Trust that what I keep from you, I do so for good reason.”

“I don’t know if I’ve got much trust left.”

At one point, Elijah hadn’t thought twice about extending that trust to Kirlissa.  She seemed so altruistic, almost motherly.  But now?  He knew that her motives weren’t entirely selfless.

Of course, if he’d have given it much thought in the past, that would have been blatantly obvious.  After all, there weren’t any other reasons for her to give him a core.  Sure, he’d saved Sara.  He had a powerful attunement, too.  But the latter was just evidence that he might prove to be a good investment.

None of that was a surprise.

And yet, Elijah still felt resentment bubbling to the surface, largely because none of that was based on suspicion anymore.  It had all been confirmed the second he’d granted Callux a core.

Was it fair to judge Kirlissa based on that?  She had done nothing but support him.  Did the reasons matter?  Should they?  Elijah didn’t know, but years of frustration bubbled to the surface the second he laid eyes on her projection. 

And most of it came not from the thoughts most prominent in his mind, but rather, they originated with his fear of what Kirlissa might do about Callux.  He wanted to know her stance, but he was terrified of what she might do.  After all, Elijah had no idea how she felt about orcs.  For all he knew, there was a longstanding vendetta against them. 

“Did you know about Orveth Kaal?”

“I know everything there is to know,” she answered. “Which is to say that I am aware of its fragmented history and, most of all, its importance to the empire.”

“So, you know about the Star Forge?”

“I do.  It is a singular achievement in magical engineering, created using unique materials and powered by a planetary core.  The process of tying it all together took more than a thousand years,” she said.  “Then the entire planet was ruined by the Poet an eternity later, all because he fell in love with a half-orc.  The empire wants it back, thus the vast amount of resources dedicated to establishing it as an ancestral world.”

“I figured that much out.”

“I am aware.”

“Can you tell me about orcs?” Elijah asked.  “What were they before the system?”

“Savage.  That is the orcish way.”

“I have it on good authority that they were cursed by the system,” Elijah revealed.

“That is true.  One of the founders – I do not know which one – lost his world to an orcish invasion,” she explained.  “They descended like locusts, overwhelming the world’s defenses before anyone could react.  Once their champion discovered the truth, he eradicated that tribe.  Adults and children alike.  He tore them out by the roots.

“But he was not satisfied.  They had taken everything from him, and so, he went on a vendetta against orcs,” she went on.  “Such is the prodigious power of orcish reproduction that even a motivated transcendent could not wipe them out.”

“Did they have transcendents of their own?”

“A few.”

“What happened to them?” Elijah asked.

“One died before the system was implemented,” she answered. “The other went mad trying to free her people from its curse.  The final orcish transcendent disappeared.  Presumably, into the abyss where he still fights corruption.”

Kirlissa paused for a few seconds to let all of that sink in.  Then, just as Elijah was wrapping his head around it all, she asked, “Is that really the topic you would like to address?”

Elijah shook his head.  “It’s not.”

“Then ask what you truly want to ask.  I will answer as truthfully as I can, regardless of how it might make you see me.”

Briefly, Elijah wondered if that was true, but then he realized that there was only one real way to figure out for certain. So, after taking a deep breath, he said, “I want to know what you intend to do about Callux.”

“Callux.  Is that the orc’s name?”

“He’s as much a dragon as an orc.”

“Some might not think so. Granted a core by a half-scale.  That puts him in an entirely different category,” she stated.  “Quarter-scale?  No.  They will think of something much more scathing.”

Elijah knew she didn’t really think any dragon was lesser just because of how they got their core.  After all, she’d repeatedly referred to him as a dragon, while some of the ruder citizens of the empire called him half-scale.

“Are you afraid of me, my son?” she asked.

Elijah shrugged. “It’s not really fear,” he admitted.  “Being afraid of you is like being afraid of a black hole.  Your existence is terrifying, but you’re so much more powerful than I am that it sort of loses context.  I am afraid of what you might do about Callux.”

“Then let me put your mind at ease. I intend to champion him,” she stated.  “If you like, I will send him to the best academies the empire has to offer.  The best trainers.  I will ensure that he has every opportunity to reach his potential.”

“Why?”

She smiled again. “Would you believe me if I said that I am intrigued by what he might become?”

“Partially.”

She laughed, filling the air with the sound of falling coins.  In that moment of mirth, she truly looked happy. 

“Clever boy.  You are finally beginning to see the truth of the world.  No one does anything for one reason alone.  We are complex creatures, all of us.  Of course I want to see what little Callux becomes.  He represents a worthy experiment.”

“He is my son.”

“Just so,” she conceded with a gracious nod.  “That is the other reason.  You love him.  I love you.  Need it be more complicated than that?”

“With you? Yes.”

Another laugh preceded her response. “I am no more complex than anyone else. I have just lived long enough for all my plans to tangle themselves into knots,” she explained. Elijah didn’t believe that for a second.  Kirlissa went on, “But yes.  There are obviously other reasons I intend to support the child.  Some are practical. I can’t recoup my investment, as you call it, if you never regain your loaned potential.  Others are petty.  I want to see my peers’ reactions when an orcish dragon soundly outperforms their prized prospects.  And all the rest fall somewhere in between.  They all point to the same destination, though.  Your goal is a worthy one, my son.  Remember that.”

“Will you protect him?”

“I will defend Callux as I would defend you,” she stated.  “In my realm, no enemy shall touch him.”

That was about as unambiguous of an answer as Elijah could have hoped for, and it mirrored how she treated him.  Implied in that statement of support was the fact that if Callux fell due to his own actions, then that was fair game.  The same was probably true if someone of his level attacked him.  But those above him would have to go through Kirlissa first.

It was the same set of rules that governed Elijah’s relationship with the people in the Empire of Scale.

“I expected worse,” Elijah admitted.

“You usually do,” Kirlissa countered. “Which is why I did not lead with the true issue.”

“An unprecedented orc-dragon hybrid isn’t the real problem?”

“There have been hybrids before.”

“But now with a sliver of the World Tree in the mix.”

“Fair enough.  However, the more immediate problem has nothing to do with Callux,” she went on.  “The other dragons will soon attack.  They have begun their approach, and they will assuredly launch an ambush within the next few hours.”

“What?!”

Of all the times for them to attack, they’d chosen to do so just after he’d left.  It would take him nearly a week to return, and by then, everything could have fallen.

“Be calm and have faith in your people,” Kirlissa ordered, and a wave of serenity passed over him.  It was foreign and false, but Elijah allowed it to affect him nonetheless.  “They have built an impressive stronghold that will not easily fall.”

“They’re up against deities.”

“Indeed.  That was the risk you took when you allowed them into Orveth Kaal.  You knew it.  You accepted it.  Do not pretend otherwise.”

Elijah’s jaw flexed, but he didn’t respond to her assessment.  Because she was right. Unequivocally so.  He’d downplayed the danger, but he had known all along that people were going to die.  Some already had, and he’d all but ignored it.  So long as the casualties didn’t include his friends or family, he barely even noted them.

Was that normal?  Or was it evidence of the calluses he’d developed over the years?

In any case, now that the danger was imminent, he cared far more about the fate of his people.  The answer was easy enough – he needed to leave, and soon. 

But there was one problem.

“I have to leave him here,” Elijah said, thinking of Callux.

“A war zone is no place for a child,” Kirlissa stated.  “That was why you brought him here in the first place.  You always intended to leave him.”

“Not so soon, though.”

Indeed, he’d wanted to help ease Callux’s transition by sticking around for at least a few months.  Maybe a year.  Was it the wisest use of his time? Not at all.  He had so many other obligations that it became almost laughable.  However, none of those stacked up to his concern for Callux.

But the young orc was safe and sound in the grove.  No one would hurt him so long as he stayed on Earth.

Which meant that Elijah’s values shifted from the child’s safety to a more selfish desire to stay on Earth.  Not to protect Callux, but just to be there.

Elijah knew he couldn’t do that.

But that didn’t make it any easier to accept.

“How do you know what’s going on in Orveth Kaal?” Elijah asked.

“I can see into the ancestral world perfectly well,” she revealed. “I am simply prevented from affecting what happens inside.”

“The system?”

“The system.”

“I’m beginning to think it’s more of a curse than a boon,” Elijah sighed.

“Then you are beginning to think like a transcendent.”

“Small comfort.”

“So it is,” she admitted.  “I must leave now.  Rest assured that the boy has my protection.  Send him to me when the time for his true training arrives.  Birk will relish the opportunity.”

With that, Kirlissa simply disappeared.  Suddenly, Nerthus unfroze.  He blinked, then asked, “What just happened?”

“You just missed a visit from a transcendent,” Elijah told him, not bothering to sugarcoat it. 

“Did she say anything about me?  Was she impressed with my growth?” he asked.

Elijah blinked in confusion.  Then, a small smile crept onto his face as he said, “Very impressed.  She said you’re practically an aspara.”