Chapter 45

  The seven most powerful figures in all of the republic conferred with each other as their guest waited for them on their knees. The news that they had just received from Gennao was concerning. Pyrronia had never sought to align herself against the republic. For her to deny them their request meant that either she was making her play for power or that she was betraying the Republic. The latter, they all outright refused to believe.

  The silver-masked woman looked at Gennao and asked, “Are you sure that she isn’t making a play for the council?”

  Sitting back into his chair, Gennao answered, “She is nowhere near our level. My senses are not as good as some on this council, but if I had to guess. She is still climbing her first mountain. Close to cresting it, sure, but to concern ourselves with a child would be a waste of our time and resources.

  The golden masked asked, “Are you certain?”

  Gennao shrugged, “If you don’t believe me, go check for yourself.” Itching his head, he followed, “What we should really be concerned about is that Magdrundon visited unannounced. To risk war would mean that either she and Pyrronia are closer than we thought or that she is the one who took the Pather in question.”

  The silver-masked woman dropped the barrier she had placed between them and the kneeling man. “What do you want for sharing this information with us?”

  Raising his head, Tyberous said, “What all others want, power and space.”

  Gennao rolled his eyes, “What is the use of space when you don’t have the power to protect it?”

  “Of course, I am weak compared to yourselves, but I am one of the strongest in my forsaken family,” Tyberous answered.

  “What else can you tell us about this boy?” The diamond-masked woman asked.

  “Other than our Matriarch favoring him more than I have ever seen?” Tyberous racked his brain. He had already shared the description from their training planet. How Runar’s tune had changed with Argyros, and how Argyros had returned after being gone for a millennium. The seer ability that the boy exhibited was the first that he had shared. “The only other thing is that it angered most in our family when she pushed to have him marry the slave girl in our grand hall. She exchanged more than a few favors to smooth over any resentment.”

  “Slave girl?” Gennao asked.

  Confused, Tyberous asked, “You do know that he was wed today to her daughter and a Coeus slave girl?”

  The six other masked individuals turned as one to look at Gennao in anger. He held up his hands, “I told you I wasn’t the best to send. My senses are the most dull of us. Don’t blame me, blame your poor foresight.”

  “Regardless, if you had taken your role seriously, we would have been able to prevent him from leaving.” The silver-masked woman’s anger was carried with every one of her words uttered.

  Gennao looked away, choosing to change the subject, “It seems I made a mistake, so help to save me.”

  Tyberous scraped his conscience for anything he could use to elevate his position. “A younger member of my family, who is training under Argyros, was quite angry when returning with his brother Coren.”

  “So?”

  “Only that he complained of watching over this boy during his awakening.”

  The silver-masked woman teleported down to Tyberous, “Elaborate.”

  Finding the small woman in front of him, he recoiled in fear and slammed his head into the floor. “Rocen complained to other family members that he didn’t see the use in the orphaned boy.”

  The woman in front of Tyberous raised her hand in front of her. Tyberous' body rose in sync with her hand's movement. When their eyes met, Tyberous tried to turn away, but he couldn’t wrestle his eyes away from the woman’s own behind her silver mask.

  “I want details, speak of everything from this time, leave nothing out.”

  “I’ve shared everything I can think of. Rocen was upset about the mission of watching over him after they left the boys' planet. He was another of Argyros’ pet awakenings. His brother is a true believer, so he never shared anything. The boy was given a manor by someone, no different than someone who contributed greatly to our family. That unsettled things as well, but Goddess Pyrronia smoothed over those who held objections. She hand-picked one of his servants. After briefing us Elders, she told us we had two choices: either accept this boy or leave the family. Latreia, Pyrronia’s other daughter, was being groomed to be married off to another, but after the boy's arrival, Phoneuo, the daughter who was married today, was introduced to the boy. Latreia was also placed off limits shortly after the boy's arrival.” Growing scared, Tyberous started to say other family members' observations. “‘Some in my family, of course, think the boy has a keen trait. Some have whispered about our current family head, Runar’s change in attitude toward Argyros. He has held a grudge against Argyros for so long, but that all changed after the boy's arrival. Others spoke of the boy being good luck; the curses they had been suffering from lifted when they met the boy. Some of us. . .”

  The masked woman closed her fingers and thumbs together. Tyberous’ mouth slammed shut. “Curses?”

  Feeling the pressure lift around his mouth, Tybrous reluctantly answered, “Yes, several who had been suffering a cursed status found that after meeting the boy, their status was showing healthy.

  The silver-masked woman looked over her shoulder, and the bronze-masked woman took her cue and teleported away.

  After 45 seconds, the bronze-masked woman returned. “She’s dead, a tremendous amount of her Mana is still on the planet, along with Argyros’s own. He muddied what I could read, but she most certainly is dead. She terraformed the planet. I don’t know how. Tessonia has paid the planet a visit as well.”

  Nodding along, the silver masked woman asked, “Is that all?”

  “No. Another’s Mana was also there. Faint as it was.” The bronze-masked woman answered.

  “Spit it out.”

  “Morton’s was also among them. It saturated the wood of their tiny schoolhouse.”

  The silver-masked woman spun around to look the bronze-masked woman in the eyes. Taking a second to see no lie coming from her, she teleported away.

  The six remaining council members gathered into a huddle before teleporting away one by one. Leaving only Gennao and Tyberous alone in the chamber together.

  “You know, Tyberous, I like you. You're an opportunist, like me. You see something you want, and then you try and take it.” Gennao teleported down to where Tyberous was and grabbed him by the shoulder and teleported them both across the known universe.

  Tyberous jarred from never having been moved so thoroughly by another. His body didn’t even shift from the differences in gravity. The uneven ground under him didn’t register with him until he looked down. Looking around, Tyberous found himself on a barren planet with little oxygen. Few evolved creatures roamed in the distance.

  “How do you like this place?” Gennao asked.

  “This is the frontier?”

  Shrugging, Gennao said, “Doesn’t matter. You said you wanted space.” Holding out his hands and spinning around over and over. “Now you have all the space you can want.”

  “Yes, but I also wanted Power as well,” Tyberous replied nervously.

  Stopping to look at Tyberous, Gennao tilted his head and held his gaze on Tyberous for 10 seconds before shouting, “Awwe, you're right. That’s where I come in. I will make you more powerful than you could ever dream of.”

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  Gennao waved Tyberous over. He begrudgingly crept over until he was standing beside Gennao.

  “Why are you so tense? Relax, it will be over in a couple seconds,” Gennao held his hand up to Tyberous' chest and inserted some of his own Mana. After injecting a modest thousand points of his Mana, he removed his hand and looked at Tyberous in satisfaction. Placing a hand on either shoulder, he said, “How bout now? Feel powerful yet?”

  Tyberous answered, “I can’t say that I do yet.”

  The smile under Gennao’s mask disappeared. “It’s not every day that I give anyone a thousand points of my precious Mana. But with a planet of this size, it will be more than enough.”

  “I don’t follow,” Tyberous commented.

  “Why don’t you try and use an ability. Anyone you want, the more powerful the better.”

  Tyberous nodded in agreement, holding out his hand, and he activated the first ability he ever received. Mana Arrow had been his most-used ability as a young man. The one he was most familiar with. With it being his most efficient ability, he activated it. Knowing that he would be able to discern any minute change.

  When the Mana Arrow shot out toward the horizon toward a small mountain in the distance, he was disappointed when all it did was create a layer of rock and dust that saturated the horizon after being blown into smaller particles. Knowing full well that if he had truly increased his power, it would have left nothing in its wake. Turning back to Gennao, he said, “It’s the same as it was before.”

  The smile returned to Gennao’s face, “Give it a second.”

  “What am I supposed to be feeling for?” Tyberous asked.

  Gennao chose not to answer.

  Tyberous started to feel his heartbeat quicken. The pulse could be felt all the way into the soles of his feet. His hands began to sweat for the first time in years. The feeling of power bubbling up in him was intoxicating; the pulsing reached every ounce of flesh in his body.

  When it all stopped at once, Tyberous looked to where Gennao had been standing. Finding only air, he turned in a circle. Looking up, he saw Gennao a couple of hundred feet in the air, waving at him playfully.

  Tyberous tried to fly up to Gennao but found himself tugging at the ground. Looking down, he was aghast to find that his lower limbs had become rooted to the soil. His body was quickly changing color. From his pale white skin to green, and then brown. Shortly thereafter, tree limbs began to burst out from his new shell.

  Scared, Tyberous tried to cut off his lower half with a Mana slice, but it failed to activate. Looking back up at Gennao, he saw the man going higher and higher into the sky.

  “I will kill you,” Tyberous shouted.

  Gennao yelled back, “I have given you what you wanted, power and space. You are the most powerful being on this planet now. And you will soon occupy all this space. Bye-bye, weak opportunist. Enjoy your remaining moments.”

  As his body continued to manifest into roots and limbs, Tyberous's last wisps of consciousness were spent thinking about that cursed boy and the rapidly changing horizon.

  ***

  As they traveled in a ball of translucent Mana on a planet covered in land that remained mostly white even in the pitch black night. Wes and five others sat quietly as Magdrundon carried them over another smooth, plain white ground that stretched into the distance in every direction. They had been warned to remain quiet as soon as they got on the planet, but after hours and hours of travel, Wes and everyone else had grown bored.

  Not even being allowed to activate his ability meant that they had to sit in silence for hours.

  The one thing that really stuck out to Wes was the fact that Magdrundon could probably teleport into any system, anywhere on any planet, if she wanted to. But instead, she was choosing to take the scenic route. Or worse, she was made to take the scenic route. The latter would be extremely concerning for their future. After witnessing everyone in his system bow to Magdrundon. If she were cautious here, that would imply even she was not the most powerful thing around.

  __________

  After another three hours of slow, steady moving, a glisten in the distance caught Dozel’s attention. She poked at Wes, who in turn poked at Phony. Dozel drew Wes’s attention to the horizon, where a sea lay in the distance reflecting two of the three moons he had seen.

  Looking at Dozel, Wes could see that she was growing nervous. He took her hand and tried to reassure her. Only to find that her hand was flushed and sweaty. Playfully, he retracted his hand and wiped it on the suit he was still wearing from their wedding. Dozel only offered a timid smile.

  As they grew closer to the sea, a spire of rock became visible a few miles out into the sea. It too was mostly white, and it was located well above the sea. At least a couple thousand feet above the water level.

  When they passed the threshold of water below, small buildings came into view atop the spindly needle jutting up into the sky.

  Dozel grabbed Wes’s hand and leaned forward to catch Phony’s attention. When she had it, she held up her finger to her face. To signify that they must be quiet, followed by a slicing motion along her throat.

  Confused, Phony relayed the message down to the three beside her.

  Just as small blue dots started to become visible atop the spire, the world around Magdrundons Mana shifted. In the blink of an eye, they were all in a dimly lit chamber. Small windows no taller than a hand length dotted the uppermost parts of the walls randomly. Allowing only a modest amount of light into the room.

  At the end of the chamber sat a Coeus man. He was sitting at the end of a long table that ran most of the width of the large room. Behind the man was a throne of white.

  Not bothering to look up from his meal, he flicked his finger over to them. Magdrundon's ball of Mana burst, sending the five humans and one coeus to the floor.

  Magdrundon floated forward and took a knee while bowing her head. Both her fists were on the floor in front of her.

  The man spoke in a language he could not understand. Magdrundon answered him back in the same language.

  Magdrundon looked over her shoulder at Dozel. Dozel moved forward in front of Wes and struck the same pose as Magdrundon. She, too, looked behind her at Wes and the others.

  Phony next struck the pose, followed by Wes and the others.

  Only after they were all in their sloppy bows did the man look up. Wes couldn’t help but try and look past his eyebrows at the man.

  He said something else to Magdrundon that made Dozel’s shoulders tense. Magdrundon nodded and said something else before looking back at Wes and nodding her head toward the man.

  Not understanding, Wes remained still.

  Dozel looked back and whispered, “Greet our host.”

  Swallowing the little saliva still left in his mouth, Wes stood up and said, “Hi, I wish I could say I’m out of practice, but I was never really trained on what you are supposed to do when meeting an all-powerful God. So please forgive me, my name is Wesley of 29744C from the Republic. Although I don’t know why Magdrundon has brought us here, I can guess. All the same, I would like us to be friendly.”

  “One can only be friendly with a friend. All else is lying to oneself.” The man’s accent was thick; it sounded like his throat was too thick to allow human words to come out.

  Wincing, Wes shrugged his shoulders, “Difference of opinion, I suppose. How do I know if someone can be a friend, without first being friendly?”

  The Coeus man pushed himself from the table. Making a show of pushing in his chair and walking beside the long table, he walked over to the front of Magdrundon. She remained in a bow but made room for him to walk passed her. Dozel did the same.

  The man stopped 5 feet from Wes. Looking up at the man who towered over him didn't make him feel small. Insignificant was what came to mind. The man didn’t let any emotion leave his face. His eyes remained steely. Both in appearance and demeanor.

  The Coeus man held out his hand, “I am Chi of 1 from the ChiShiKi Empire. It’s nice to meet you, prospective friend.”

  Wes took his hand, bewildered, “Did you just say Chi of 1?

  Nodding Chi shook Wes’s hand, “Is that a problem?”

  Laughing to himself, Wes said, “Fuck no, I have a lot of questions for you.”

  Covering his mouth, Wes followed up, “Sorry for the language. As I said, I’m not trained in this.”

  Chi let go of his hand, “Neither am I. Perhaps that will help us to become ‘friends’.”

  “It couldn’t hurt,” Wes said while rubbing the back of his head. He turned to those behind him, “I don’t mean to be rude, but today is my wedding day. Me and my wives have not had a chance to rest or eat anything. You think it would be okay for them to get up and take a seat?”

  “Which are yours?”

  Reaching behind to Phony, he pulled her up to her feet. “This is my lovely wife, Phoneuo, or Phony for short.” Wes took a few steps over to Dozel and tried to do the same, but she resisted his attempts to get to her feet. Turning to Chi, Wes chuckled, “It seems she’s a bit shy. This beautiful woman is Dozel. I’m sure that if she weren’t so nervous, she would greet you personally.

  Chi looked over to Magdrundon, “This is why you seek an audience with me?”

  Magdrundon shook her head, “The least important of them. He chose her before I ever knew he existed.”

  Wes saw something in Chi’s eyes before Chi spoke, “Wesley, it seems you and I will be great friends.”