CHAPTER 458

NINE YEARS (VIII)

What once was a rather spacious room seemed so no longer, battered with stacks of strewn books and papers, piles creeping up like mounds. Behind it all, on the other end of the room, a table sat upright, as cramped as the rest of the room, only its center somewhat cleared up. A brilliant, cyan gem burned from behind, illuminating the table directly as well as the figure seated at it, head bowed low, eyes seemingly burning the pages.

Black hair lay by the young boy's sides, long and straight, nearly reaching the table. A pair of shimmering blue eyes were slightly obscured by large, round spectacles perched on top of a flat nose looming over thin lips. Even thinner fingers traced over the lines and rows of letters and words, flipping pages every fifteen seconds or so, proceeding onward.

The runes on the paper weren’t those of the Common Tongue, nor any of the most-spoken languages of the world; it was, rather, an archaic one, Felshad, its spoken form having gone extinct over two billion years ago. Though a few scripts remained, no one so far had managed to translate even a single word into the Common Tongue.

The boy, seeming around thirteen-fourteen at most, the first traces of manhood appearing with faint stubble and straightening jaw, burned through the book rapidly, his eyes dancing left and right like fireflies. There was a clear rhythm to it all, perhaps unseen by the world, but clearly melodic to him. Every five minutes he would take a deep breath and pull back into the chair, resting for exactly thirty seconds before diving back in.

In such a state, hours ticked by – he seemed entirely unaware of the passage of time, too enthralled by the strange words that were made up of angular lines, dots, and loops. Occasionally he'd chuckle, as though he'd run into a joke, and occasionally he'd exclaim, as though he'd read something fascinating. In any case, his expression was never placid and bored; there was always a faint trace of excitement to it, like a young child playing with its toys.

He was too caught up in the reading to even notice the figure standing next to him, looming over his shoulder, staring at the runes with confused eyes. Lino had seen many strange languages and even learned two himself, though he had never seen the one in front of him. Rather, it appeared rather unique, as he couldn't recall any similar script being used elsewhere.

“Cae,” he called out softly, yet still managed to startle the boy who cried out and fell down, alongside the chair, stirring the strewn pieces of paper and dust. “Oh, boy. Like paper to the wind, eh?”

“—b-brother Lino!!” the young boy cried out somewhat angrily from the floor. “I told you – time and again – not to sneak up on me!!”

“I’m testing your alertness.”

“I don’t have it!”

“You don’t say.”

“… ugh,” Cae groaned, slowly getting up, well knowing it was pointless to bicker with his much older brother; no matter how clever Cae fancied himself, he had never managed to one-up the man in front of him. "What do you want? I've already eaten this week."

"… it breaks my heart with how much resentment you say that," Lino sighed. "Shouldn't you at least try and enjoy the food? I can look for different cooks if you'd like."

"Books are enough food for me."

“… of course they are.”

“What do you want?” Cae asked again.

“Aaria met those folks she was telling you about,” Lino said. “So she’s excited to share what she learned with you.”

“Oh?” Cae’s rueful expression mellowed as he glanced at Lino. “Alright, let’s go!”

“—and thus, the façade comes crashing down.” Lino chuckled.

“What façade?” Cae protested. “Aaria is the smartest person besides myself in this place. Of course I like talking to her!"

“Oh, wow,” Lino said, looping open a portal and dragging Cae through it, winding up back inside the roomy chambers. “And here I thought I could be quite arrogant. But, hats off, boy. You best me, unquestionably.”

“Ah, brother Cae!!” young Aaria cried out when she saw Lino and Cae step into the room, running over and hugging the young boy; she barely matched up to his waist, as despite his thin body, he was still Eggor’s son – Lino suspected that the boy would shoot over him in a few years’ time. “I missed you!”

“Ha ha, I missed you too!” Cae laughed back, rubbing Aaria’s head gently. “Come on, make me some of your famous tea and tell me all that you’ve learned!”

“If you promise to tell me what you learned as well!”

“Of course! Only you can understand it, after all!”

“He he…”

Lino’s lips curled up into a mellow smile as he watched the two youngs saunter off into Aaria’s small quarters on the other end of the room. A moment later, Hannah joined him, standing by his side, her lips similarly curled up into a smile.

“—without her, that boy…”

“—without him, that girl…” both chuckled, shaking their heads. “Let’s go as well,” he added. “Lucky’s asked us to join the meeting this time around. Looks like something’s happened.”

“Isn’t it just a regular skirmish with the Devils?” Hannah quizzed, seeming surprised.

“If it were, I’m sure we wouldn’t be summoned,” Lino replied, shrugging. “Something must have happened. No point in speculating, though.”

“Yeah.”

Hannah nodded faintly as she waved her left arm, ripping open space next to her. Lino walked through and she followed right after, spat out on the other end, inside a spacious hall upheld by hand-carved pillars that were more akin to statues of men and women holding the sky. The ceiling above was domed, capped with hanging chandeliers which lit up the entire hall seamlessly. A large, rectangular table was the mainstay of the hall as well as its centerpiece, the topmost two seats slightly more extravagant than the rest.

Behind the seats, a long-winding banner of cloth, dyed black with crimson sigils of Chaos and Order superimposed over one another, hung still, four rows of windows on each side, giving way to some natural light to bend through.

By the time Lino and Hannah arrived, there were four other figures present; Amadeel, Lucky, Val and Edith. Long gone were the days when Val took care of all administrative functions, but she still remained the most important part of it, second only to Edith who practically ran all the non-cultivating cities on her own. Lucky was still the head of Shadows, tasked with Empire-scale counter-intelligence as well as information gathering, while Amadeel was a jack-of-all-trades – he jumped between departments as needed.

Hannah greeted the four spiritedly, while Lino awkwardly bound them and sat onto his seat; he’d been absent for half a year now, which was not the first for him, and which they certainly did not appreciate. Despite having told them repeatedly that he’d be the Emperor in the name only, it seemed as though he still had to at least keep up the appearances.

“—where’s Ally?” Hannah asked Lucky as the former sat next to Lino.

“At the Crypt,” Lucky replied, sighing lowly. “Sending off another batch.”

“… how many this time around?” Lino asked.

“Eighty-seven bodies that we’ve managed to recover,” Lucky replied. “Over a hundred that we didn’t.”

“…” Lino said nothing, remaining expressionless. The more depressing side of this was that these numbers were actually on the low end for the weekly burials. “Still don’t know how she does it.”

“None of us do.” Lucky shrugged. “Anyway,” she took a deep breath, taking out several stacks of papers and rapidly spreading them among the other five. “I’ve picked up on a strange pattern.”

“A strange pattern?” Val mumbled, taking the papers and slowly reading through them. She had cut her crimson hair short, though that hardly marred her appearance. “Now I’m worried.”

“—is it about the Deserters?” Edith asked, nocking her glasses back onto her nose. Lucky exclaimed softly, glancing at her and nodding.

“How did you know?”

“I’ve received anonymous notes from several Mortal Cities,” Edith said, sighing. “All detailing that wounded cultivators would show up at their doors, spend the night and disappear by the morning. After I looked into it, I’ve noticed that they were all soldiers we presumed to be dead in the line of duty.”

“… have you managed to track their whereabouts after the fact?” Lucky asked, frowning.

“No,” Edith shook her head. “All traces of them seem to vanish at that point. I suspect the actual number is much larger, though. How did you notice it?”

“—several reports came in from the Border Cities and our overseas branches,” Lucky replied. “About the sightings of the supposedly dead. Piqued my interest so I decided to investigate. I’ve managed to locate at least twenty of these supposedly dead.”

"… is this really that strange?" Lino suddenly asked, causing all eyes to veer onto him. "I imagine plenty of armies of the world have their fair share of the deserters. People get tired, dispirited, terrified, and they run. Leave them be."

“… it’s not that simple,” Amadeel said, seeing Lucky and Edith mulling over their thoughts. "While certainly… true, that the deserters exist the world over… we, uh, we haven't had previous experience with them."

“Perhaps you just failed to notice?” Hannah proposed, realizing what Amadeel was hinting at.

“—someone, I imagine some few people,” Lucky replied, staring Lino directly into the eyes. “Are resistant to you. This is beyond worrying.”

“… then bring some of them in and question them,” Lino said simply. “Why invite me?”

“Because all of those soldiers have one thing in common,” Lucky continued. “They were part of the group that you brought in after killing Eight.”

“…” Lino frowned, his eyes shimmering for a moment. “All of them?”

“All of them.” Lucky nodded. At this point, silence fell over as everyone retreated to their own thoughts; though they all had some idea on what it meant, they didn’t wish to be the first to voice them.

“… I’m certain I killed Eight,” Lino said. “Not only because I watched him die, but because I also absorbed his Vitality after the fact. Though, I suppose," he added, tapping his index finger against the stone table. "He could have forfeited his cultivation temporarily and disguised himself as one of those men if he wanted. No… I would have noticed."

“—investigate,” Hannah said. “Put temporary surveillance on everyone from that group and pull them all from the battlefields, while those who’ve advanced to upper positions should be monitored without a stop. Even if it’s really just a cosmological coincidence, we can’t afford any distractions right now.”

“Will do,” Lucky said, getting up. “See ya’ around.”

“I’ll head off as well,” Edith got up, joining Lucky just before the latter crossed through the spatial tunnel. “Don’t be strangers, you two.”

“—could he have done it?” Lino glanced at Amadeel and asked, a trace of uncertainty flashing through his eyes.

“… I don’t know,” Amadeel shook his head, sighing. “Eight has always been the most enigmatic figure of the Descent, save for perhaps One. Truth be told… I didn’t quite believe it when you told us you killed him. At first, at least.”

“We’ll find out, either way,” Val said in a reassuring tone. “You should also start preparing if you hadn’t. The outright conflict isn’t too far away.”

“… I’ve never stopped.” Lino said, getting up. “Let me know once you bring someone in. I’d like to talk to them personally.”

“Very well.” Val said, getting up, followed by Amadeel, and vanishing through the spatial tunnel, leaving Hannah and Lino alone.

“You alright?” Hannah asked, grabbing his shoulder.

“I’m fine,” he said, smiling faintly, pulling a few strands of her hair behind her ear. “Wouldn’t be the first time I was outwitted, and I doubt it would be the last. Will hardly stop me from fighting, though. Let’s go. I’m in a mood for a pie.”

“—my mom’s?”

“Of course,” Lino nodded, smiling. “We should probably bring Aaria. Those two worship that little devil for some reason.”

“So do you, though.” Hannah chuckled.

“Ah, why wouldn’t I worship my reflection?” he grinned, wrapping his arm around her shoulder as the two began walking toward the vortex, silence gently cradling them.