Interlude - 2 (Patreon)

Interlude - 2The Emperor

The longer the group traveled together, the less direct intervention was needed to keep them progressing as a group. Pure inertia had begun to take over.

Of course, he could not discount the Dragonborn’s contributions. While the Emperor’s subtle manipulations had played a role, there was only so much ‘subtlety’ could accomplish on its own. The Dragonborn’s own talent for manipulation, be it through force of personality, intimidation, coercion or charm allowed the group to function

But that, in and of itself, presented something of a problem. 

The Dragonborn was becoming too important.

It was a precarious balance that needed to be struck, almost oxymoronic. 

Important enough to hold the group together, yet expendable enough that it would not immediately disintegrate should he die. 

Expendable enough that the Emperor could eliminate him should it prove necessary.

Because he did not like unknowns, and Durge was proving to be a far greater unknown than he’d originally given him credit for.

The Blood-lust for one. The Emperor had assumed it to be something… banal. Simple. The brain was made of hormones, chemical responses. It was meat and impulse. Simple to understand and manipulate.

He had manipulated it, lowered aggression when needed, strengthened his inhibitory control. Altered cortisol, adrenaline and endorphins as needed.

By all rights it should be gone, there was no reason for it to exist.

And yet it still grew, day, by day. Soon it would begin affecting him openly, and the Emperor could find no reason for it’s existence or a way to counteract it.

When it broke free, if the Dragonborn did as the Emperor expected and slaughtered one or more of his companions, the group would scatter, and then they would all be prey. 

But even more dangerous than that, long term, was the Dragonborn’s charisma. 

There was an innate magnetism that he had, that held the group together. And if things continued, that magnetism would eventually inspire loyalty.

And loyalty was a threat, a danger.

But he had no candidates to replace him. 

The one closest to being suitable was the Sharan with her sealed memories. But that was the problem. She was Sharan. He might not have been human, or bound by human morals for many decades now, but he understood. The Group was likely to recoil from a Sharan in principle, especially given her zeal, manufactured though it might be.

The Githyanki might have been capable if her taciturn and acerbic nature could be curbed and adjusted as the Emperor was already doing for the Dragonborn’s bloodlust- But she was Githyanki. She would likely kill him on sight should she ever see his true form, and if she would find Orpheus. No. She was a walking bomb waiting to go off in his face should he even try.

The Hero was bound by infernal pact, and his life hung by a thread at every moment. Just by that circumstance alone it made him unsuitable, even if he did have the leadership skills- there were simply too many interests competing, interests that would supersede the Emperor’s in the Hero’s priorities. And in sparing Karlach he’d already shown that his morals were too unbending to ever truly be compliant if the Emperor ever demanded that he do what was necessary.

No. Unsuitable. The Emperor wasn’t even sure he would survive the coming days once his Patron realized what he’d done. 

The Wizard was too powerful, too intelligent, too arrogant and too much of an innate threat to control. Such was the nature of magic, it’s why the Elderbrains barred Mindflayers from learning magic. The principle stood here, though he was no elderbrain and the Wizard no mindflayer… yet. 

Perhaps if he’d invested his efforts in the Vampire earlier, things could be different now, but he hadn’t, and it would take far too much investment to try and alter the established paradigm to raise him up to take the Dragonborn’s place in the hearts and minds of those around him. 

And the Hell walker was too recent an addition. Unsuitable for similar reasons to both the Vampire and the Hero. Too much investment, and likely dead before long regardless.

That left the children. The planeswalkers.

Hess and Hebert were both too dangerous to manipulate as aggressively as he had the others. Or at the very least the things hiding in their minds were too dangerous. The Githzerai that had been destroyed had been powerful, powerful enough that the Emperor had feared genuine discovery had his attempted possession been successful. To the point that he would have dropped his shielding of the tadpole, and allowed Ceremorphosis to claim them both.

But then, that creature had killed him.

And it had not even been a struggle.

He felt the Githserai’s final moments. His fear. His terror. Terror was not an emotion Gith found easily but it had been there.

Whatever could do that, to a Zerth no less… it was as dangerous as any Elder Brain. 

So, no, those creatures he would not directly contend with, not unless he had no other choice.

That simply left the last two.

Madison and Barnes.

Madison’s mind was simple, textbook. Ordinary in every way. He could tug at her strings easily, turn her into whatever he wanted but not what he needed… none of them were.

In Barnes… he perhaps saw a different kind of opportunity.

There was no… leader among the disparate group. Not any that could replace Durge. 

But perhaps he could do without a leader… but rather use an agent of sorts.

Barnes' mind was fractured, fragmented. A glass sculpture smashed upon the ground and haphazardly pieced back together, its shards scraping and grinding against each other, every precarious moment threatening to send the remains collapsing all over again to break even further.

He doubted even she could recognize what she truly wanted anymore. Where the real Barnes ended and the facsimile began.

She probably couldn’t tell which was which anymore. 

That made her vulnerable. Malleable…

Useful. 

He quickly scanned the other minds within his reach, feeling out their regard.

Hardly any. Dismissive, exasperated, contemptuous, disdainful and indifferent. 

There was some concern, and the Dragonborn, of course, wondering how she might be made useful in some way, but of the strays gathered in the name of a cure for Ceremorphosis… she would be the least watched. The least regarded and under scrutiny. 

It was not perfect. Not what he wanted, barely what he needed.

But it could still be useful.

Tools were always useful until they broke. 

(X)(X)(X)

Next chapter is Emma's POV.

It might take a bit longer than this one did :p