The war had not been going well for Elpis. Janette could see that as reports flooded in of cities falling to Larkin. Plus, word was getting around that they had some miracle procedure to remove someone’s ability to chant. Despite killing thousands of enemy troops at Thaktall, the loss of Pali was causing serious unrest among the cities. Thankfully his granddaughter, Ashley had done well in stepping up. While she didn’t have the same fervor of Pali, she had the power and the anger to compensate. She had earned similar results to Pali, and the enemy was suffering for it. Whatever monster they had sent to Thaktall, Larkin did not have many of it.

That was good, as that thing terrified her. It had survived something that removed an entire city from existence. Honestly, if Larkin was able to muster up even a small group of things like that, then Elpis wouldn’t be able to resist. Well, maybe they could with Wilt. He had accepted taking Pali’s position on the council, though the appointment did receive some pushback from the other members. However, they were quite satisfied, once they heard about the plans, she had for him.

The boy was quickly growing to become more of a pain than she had anticipated. While he was powerful, he was too weak-willed to truly win a war. Honestly, she had tried getting her niece to convince him to do more, but Stella had actually refused. Something must have happened in Janette’s time away, as her niece no longer seemed to idolize her as much. Maybe, Wilt had told Stella of what had happened, but Janette expected more from her niece. She had considered separating the two on occasion but knew that was far too short-sighted. Both had a significant amount of Ein, and any children they had would probably be able to rival them.

Giving up everything for the sake of winning this war would be pointless. She needed to defeat Larkin while making sure that there was still something left to protect. For Elpis that meant chanters. Not those currently in the city, but the generation that still had yet to be born. Every generation of chanters was slowly growing in power, and the trend showed no signs of stalling. Larkin’s growth had long stagnated, that was until the elixir came about. Despite some of their troops have collected some of the substance, nobody in Elpis’s had any idea how the substance worked. Plus, any testing they had done ended in catastrophic failure.

It was obvious that the people native to Larkin and Elpis were somehow different from one another, and the elixir didn’t seem to do anything other than kill her people. It was frustrating, but it seemed like the plan to make monsters of their own would not be possible so quickly. They would only lose more lives in the attempt. No, that was why her focus had shifted to something else. Wilt wouldn’t be able to accomplish much while remaining in town, though he was making many more communication items.

The other councilors had been growing more concerned after the incident at Thaktall. Some were even considering surrender as a viable option. While it was true that Larkin wasn’t a cruel kingdom, she did not want the country to fall back under its old oppressors. Elpis had only flourished because of chanters and taking them away would only them vulnerable to other forces. Surrendering to Larkin would mean that they had to rely on the king’s strength. She would not leave her home in such a state.

Those thoughts gave her another idea. The war had been internal thus far, but there were a few other kingdoms who could fight for the land. Perhaps she should seek out an alliance, among one of them. Those kingdoms were cruel and held some abhorrent practices, but they were not weak. If she could bait them into attacking Larkin, then she could put some pressure on them. Force them to separate their small force further. The only thing Larkin had that was a concern to her was the King and his new monsters. If she could direct even a small amount of those monsters towards foreign soil, then she would take it.

There were a few people from Larkin in Elpis. She could get them the elixir and send them off to fight on foreign soil. They would be easy enough to convince, and she could always use force if needed. In fact, the institute had several people from Larkin among the staff, and they were bound by oath to listen to the council. They were usually the children of prisoners of war from the old wars, and they would follow her commands. It was a plan but would only be an inconvenience for Larkin. She needed to strengthen Elpis, otherwise, the foreigners might turn upon seeing the situation of the war. That was his first priority, and she stared down at her current project.

Currently, she was working on a device to let them store some of his purified Ein. Simply containing the Ein was useless, and she needed to figure out a way to make it flow from the container to the person. There had to be a link somewhere that she was missing. On the table before her lay two containers filled with pure Ein, but she could make it move to her or another empty container no matter what she tried. Ein was heavily impacted by the chanter’s will and some people believed that it had a will of its own. Janette knew that wasn’t the case. It was true that a person's will could affect Ein, but it was just another form of energy. It may seem more complex at times, but it was really just that simple.

The question was how to tap into the energy. Injecting it like the elixir wouldn’t work and drinking it had proven ineffective as well. Pure Ein released like this was almost inaccessible, and normally only the creator of it could do anything with it. An idea hit her when she thought of it like that. If the pure Ein was the problem, what if she forcibly changed it to match her own. Form a container of her own Ein, she placed the canister inside before opening it. Wilt’s strangely pure Ein filled the space, and she attempted to mix it with her own. Only after she felt like it was mixed, did she pull it back into herself. She felt as if her Ein reserves were filled and then went beyond them.

It was working and she couldn’t help but think of how to improve the process. Anyone could store Ein for later use, but this was to go beyond a person’s limits. Something that could only happen because of the truly pure Ein that Wilt possessed. Normally, going over a person’s limits caused their body to become corrupted by the residual power, but it didn’t seem to affect the body in a negative way. Finally, she had broken a piece of the puzzle, now all she needed to do was refine the process and adjust it for use in the war.

Benton P.O.V

Thor and Cedric had arrived a few days ago now, and Benton wasn’t sure how he felt about the information that he had received. Both people had said that the city was just gone now, and everyone other than Cedric was dead. Normally, a situation like that would mean that Cedric would get reprimanded for cowardice, but he knew that wasn’t the case. Cedric was just durable enough to survive. Honestly, the boy probably couldn’t die anymore, and according to the doctor she doubted that he would age normally either.

There were some other changes to his body too. He couldn’t have any children, and it was highly likely that he would lose his mind eventually. That was still just speculation, as the doctor said that her experiments hadn’t been definitive on that front. The perfected elixir, that now flowed through his veins, had none of those problems. It didn’t make him invincible like it did for Cedric, and he would never match the strength of the chosen, but it was definitely a step up from the normal ascended. With it they had been able to conquer most border cities.

However, the leaders were apprehensive about pushing further at the moment. The death of a prince and thousands of our best soldiers had frightened them from taking more drastic measures. There had even been the occasional mention of striving for a more peaceful resolution. They were able to believe that a chanter would be eager to get rid of their ability. It was true that they could do that now, but he didn’t like it. He couldn’t stand the fact that he needed to spare healers or chanters who refrained from battle. The very thought of speaking with them was filthy, and he wanted the war’s stakes to rise. Hopefully, the death of a prince would be enough to get support from the rest of the royal family. If he could just convince them to begin a wholesale invasion, then Elpis wouldn’t be able to resist.

According to Cedric, he had injured one of the chanters, and the description the boy had given was enough for him to guess who it was. The Warlord Pali was one of the strongest people Elpis had, and even an injury would be major depending on the severity. It was the perfect time to plan a grander attack, but the king insisted on trying a peaceful hand first.

Benton respected the king and would follow his commands perfectly, but he did not have to like them. Even if peace was established it would be flimsy and break upon the slightest bend. It wasn’t something that could last, and the king should know it. Why then did he push for such a meaningless discussion? There had to be some wisdom that he was withholding. The king above anything else was capable, and Benton refused to believe he would act out naïve optimism. Thankfully the king called for a debate in regard to the decision, and a final verdict had been delayed greatly.

Thor’s return had only helped his cause. If the chanters were willing to kill so many of their own people, how could they ever agree to a peaceful resolution? They had killed three or four innocent lives for each of Larkin’s soldiers they had slain. Benton couldn’t help but feel a small bit of admiration for the chanters who were willing to go to such lengths. He himself understood that dedication and wished the other generals could join his cause. Chanters would all be given the same ultimatum, either they would lose their powers or their lives. There was no alternative. None with the ability would remain if he had his way.

He stared across the room, at Larkin’s emblem emblazoned on the wall of his office. It was made of white metal and embedded into the black stone of his wall. The contrast seemed to resonate with some of his thoughts. The symbol helped him focus, think, and process what needed to be done. The king’s insistence on peace was bothersome, but he could easily find a way to make such negotiations break down. Thor, for all of his skill, was not loyal to the crown. No, the man had much simpler goals and shared Benton’s hatred of chanters. Plus, he was turning out to be quite the skilled assassin. Perhaps, Benton should send him to cause some chaos.

His mind raced with the possibilities; with the people, he could target to incite more hatred between the two forces. Thor could probably kill a prince or princess, and that should even make the king hesitate about trying for peace. The youngest princess was strong, but foolish and would not be of much use in the war. If Thor could kill her, then it might cause some bigger shifts in the feelings about the war. The question was how to make it seem like an attack from Elpis rather than an internal assassination. He would need to bait them, to leak information regarding the location of the young princess. Someone in Elpis would know how powerful members of the royal family got and would try and kill them.

The plan was slowly forming in his mind, details snapping into place. He brought his hands to rub his temples, leaning back in his seat as he did so. The gesture had been subconscious, but it had hidden the symbol of Larkin from him. The seat creaked as he leaned further back into it, and he finalized the general outline for the plan within his mind. Writing it down could get him executed, so it would need to remain secure within his mind.