Chapter 47

  Dozel had spent many nights explaining the intricacies of her people. Their history, goals. Fears that would be inconsequential to a human stood out in the average coeus’ mind. Wes tried to frame it as respect in his mind, but what the coeus people did was so much more. Lives would be pledged at the drop of a hat. A year here or there to pass off a transgression as simple as mispronouncing a name.

  That, in conjunction with how human Chi acted, put Wes off balance. He had been encouraged by Chi to be himself. Understanding why his interactions with Magdrundon’s grandfather didn’t align with these ideals. Left Wes to guess that the powerful just didn’t care, or that the fact that he was a guest of a different race gave him some room, some grace to be foolish.

  But in all the back and forth. The talks with Dozel, Phony, and Mags. No one informed him of the fact that Anor was a hostile observer for the other families.

  Naturally, the questions rattled, but standing in shock any longer would leave Wes looking even more foolish than he had already been.

  “I’m not going to lie, I want to ask about what you just said, but that’s not what's important. I need some direction here.”

  Chi walked along the wide view toward Anor’s corner. Anor did little to acknowledge his approach. As Chi saddled up beside Anor, he reached up and caressed her cheek tenderly.

  “We all have a trusted member with another. This stalemate has kept our world from chaos for longer than I care to remember.” Chi said, while moving his hand down to Anor’s chin. “This one is little more than a slave to me. She will never bear my children. Never hold my ‘eye’. She can never move herself from enemy to friend. Isn’t that right, Anor?”

  Anor didn’t try to lean away. Raising her eyes from Wes’s toward Chi, she held his attention for a moment before she rolled her eyes and commented, “Oh my dearest Chi, don’t talk about our union so pleasantly. It’ll make me blush.”

  Chi shoved her face away toward the wall playfully. “My enemies don’t blush, they cease to exist.”

  Wes coughed in discomfort, “As concerning as that whole thing is, I’m still in need of some guidance.”

  Chi pulled away from Anor and paced past Wes until he was standing in front of Magdrundon. “What do you think we should do?”

  Magdrundon answered, “It is not my place to tell.”

  “A shame.”

  Magdrundon switched to their halting dialect for a few short words before Chi shot back in English, “That could work, but it's up to my dear Anor.”

  Anor announced, “I’ll never allow it.”

  Clicking his tongue, Chi said, “Of course, as is your right, my dear.”

  Growing tired of the roundabout way things were going, Wes looked at his status and internally sighed at his upcoming stupidity.

  Name: Wesley of 29744C

  Race: Human

  Age: 27

  Unique Abilities: Imperial Over Metric, Back In My Day

  Abilities: Deposit, Eternal Spark, Cleanse, Stopwatch,

  Vigilant, Deviant, Symbiosis, H20,

  Party Chat, Topographer, Superscription

  Skills: N/A

  Achievement(s): Bloody Soul, Pragmatic Savant,

  Pacifists Envy

  Trait(s): 3

  Current Status: Healthy

  Level 300

  Savings: 36,878,510

  Next Level: 18,662,399.99

  Level 300 Exp Per Sec: .72

  Current Exp: 4,215,689.3084

  wager(+12)

  Activating Symbiosis, Wes enjoyed seeing the hairless eyebrows of Chi rise. Not allowing any time to pass, he quickly canceled his ability and commented, “That’s just the tip of the galaxy. Unless we can work something out, I can’t share more. I do not wish for Magdrundon to be punished for helping me. And although you’ve been more than decent to me, it would not be the wisest thing for me to share more. Although I will in a heartbeat if it means that Mags gets off.”

  Wes enjoyed watching Chi process what he had seen. Chi’s eyebrows rose and fell in sync with his mouth opening and closing. Separately, Chi’s Eyes cycled through colors several times over. And with the Coeus already having unaturally large pupils, watching those pupils constrict into something more human sent chills down Wes’s spine.

  Anor shot to her feet, after puzzling out that Chi had seen something that made even him speechless. Intrigued, she began to walk over to her charge.

  Snapping his head around, Chi ordered, “Call your Masters.”

  Anor stopped pacing over to Chi; her eye twitched ever so slightly. She spoke a few words in their halting dialect. Wes watched as Chi begrudgingly nodded, Yes.

  Anor’s body collapsed to the floor, and Chi took several paces backwards toward his desk and leaned on it. Looking around the room, Chi commented, “Do not say a word, Wesley of the Republic.”

  This time, Wes raised his eyebrows in misunderstanding, as the world around him became heavy. Darting his eyes around the room, just as Chi had moments prior, he watched as all the portraits on the wall began to fall to the floor. Chi’s desk began to reverberate in sync with the floor, which had now begun to groan under Wes’s feet.

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  Chi held up his hands as the world around him began to disintegrate. Starting first from the desk, eventually reaching the floor, all things around him began to disintegrate. The floor under Wes’s feet gave way, particle by particle. Magdrundon began to shiver beside Wes, but she too held her place as the building around them began to disappear like the fine sands of Wes’s home in the wind. Under Wes were dozens of balls of Mana. As more of the structures came into focus around them, Wes could see that other structures began to disintegrate, too. Revealing Dozens more balls of pure mana, all a pristine, vibrant blue.

  It didn’t take Wes long to puzzle out that they were encapsulating Coeus. Luckily, Wes didn’t have time to be concerned about his new brides. Dozel called first over Party Chat, “Wesley, are you okay?”

  After being instructed to remain silent, Wes had no idea what was going on, but he wished to err on the side of caution. In a tone leaving no room for debate, he sent back, “I’m fine. Do not use chat until I say so. Phony check in to let me know you are okay, then remain silent. Only call out again if you’re in danger.”

  Phony called back, “I’m okay.”

  Dozel responded, “Understood.”

  Wes found that he could turn in place like the floor was still under him. He turned around in a circle, catching the last structures on the spire being erased as if they were never there. Wes could now see thousands of balls of Mana. After completing one circle in place, he looked at Chi with his hands still up. Two individuals stood over his shoulders, no more than a few yards away. One was a lot shorter than Chi, but the Coeus looked at Anor, still lying on what used to be the floor. As if having eyes behind his head, Chi spoke, “She is fine. Those wounds are self-inflicted. I need a favor and do not wish to wait while we play our usual games.”

  The man over Chi’s left shoulder walked forward. The man was at least a foot taller than Chi’s seven-foot frame. “You will not save her; I will not be changing my mind.”

  Chi put his arms down and looked over to the tall man, “I only need to change one of your minds. And right now, all I need is your wife.”

  Wes was doing his best to follow the power dynamics, but that left him wondering why they were even choosing to speak at all in his language. A question that was answered the very next second when the woman said, “Does the boy know our tongue? I do not enjoy the way it makes my mouth feel.”

  Chi huffed, “No, the boy has not been taught our tongue.”

  The tall man walked the ten steps it took Wes with his legs in three. His foot falls in roughly the same plane as where Chi’s floor used to be. “Brugunnardozel has not taught you our tongue yet?”

  Wes went to speak, but as soon as his jaw opened, he felt a wave of something smack into his chin.

  The woman spoke from just behind Wes's ear, so close that he could feel the air from her breath ruffle the hairs behind his ear. “A shame, we could have been done with it here and now.”

  Spooked, Wes crept his head around his shoulder and made eye contact with the woman who was inches from him. The sclera of her eyes cycled between black, white, and blue before her Pupil enlarged to such a degree that there was no color to speak of.

  “That will be enough, Shi. He is my guest.”

  The large Coeus shot back, “An unwanted guest.”

  Chi walked forward just as the large man had, until he was just in front of Wes. “Still a guest nonetheless.”

  Confusion ran across Wes’s face, so Chi filled him in, “This woman behind you is my younger sister Shi,” nodding over to his left, “This is her bond, Ki.”

  Wes couldn’t help but shake his head from side to side. Although he had grown used to being around one of the leaders of the Empire, it became real for the first time when he had three different sets of eyes over him.

  Ki looked at Wes with an asymmetrical smile. While Shi responded to Chi’s words by circling to the front of Wes and standing next to her brother.

  This led to more questions rattling around Wesley’s psyche. From what the girls and even Chi himself said, they were supposed to be at odds with each other. Why are they all so relaxed? Hadn’t Chi just gone over before, how Anor was there as a safety measure for Shi and Ki? Lastly, if it was now okay for him to speak again.

  Unsure of what to do, Wes raised his hand up in the air. Ki looked over to Shi and asked, “Is this boy slow?”

  Chi looked over to Shi, and he responded, “No, just told the boy not to talk.”

  Ki nodded and said, “Speak.”

  Unsure of what to say, Wes looked down beside him at Magdrundon, “I’m unsure of what I’m supposed to do here. I don’t wish to offend either of you, but I have been begging for training on what to do when meeting an all-powerful god for some time. And due to either dumb luck or my idiocy, I have not received it yet.”

  Looking at the three longing for direction, Chi commented, “I can speak for the boy. He speaks the truth.”

  Shi interrupted, “Anor, it’s about time you get up. You’ve long been healed.”

  Wes could see Anor visibly exhale, before she got up and dusted herself off like there was dust or debris on her. From Wes’s point of view, it looked comical, considering she was at least a hundred feet in the air, but standing like she was on solid ground.

  After her patting, she walked over to join the five around Wesley, “I’m sorry for wasting my time.”

  Now with five sets of eyes on Wes, he couldn’t help the blood rush to his head in embarrassment. Because no matter how he tried to spin it in his head. The absurdity of his situation was all brought on by him and his crazy traits.

  Chi thankfully stepped in, “I’ve called you two to make a bargain. Let my dear granddaughter off the hook, and I’ll let your oldest return.”

  Not being able to control herself, Shi couldn’t help but question, “What does this boy have on you?”

  Chi shrugged his shoulders, “Nothing. I would like to see my granddaughter keep her head. And I believe she has been put in charge of this boy by a Pather of the Republic.”

  Shi followed, “Still doesn’t answer why the boy is here?”

  Chi shrugged his shoulders, “I find the boy and his mannerisms amusing.”

  “We still have not received an answer as to why she has broken one of our most sacred laws.” Ki pushed.

  “If you want an answer as to why she has brought outsiders, you will have to offer me something.”

  Chi smiled at turning the negotiation in his favor, while Shi looked over to Anor for understanding. When none came, Shi offered, “My son and you give Anor an heir.”

  Mun chirped, “Never!”

  Shaking his head, Chi replied, “Never will she bear my seed.”

  “Shall we handle the execution now, then?” Ki asked.

  “So be it, I’d hoped to save my granddaughter, but if you wish to, be done with it and leave.”

  Wes couldn’t help but feel he was way outside of his depth, obviously seeing that he was probably missing out on millions of years of context. Magdrundon was not quite shivering at his feet, but she was obviously hoping for a better outcome than death. The only other thing that even Wes could pick up on was the conversation that Ki and Shi seemed to be having with their eyes. Or very well with a communication ability like his own.

  Breaking the silence, Shi said, “Make a serious offer.”

  Chi turned around and began walking toward where his desk should be. He took in the world around him before pivoting back to face the four. As he sat back again, like he had been sitting before, the two other Empire leaders showed up. Before he could fall back, he stopped, and Wes watched as all that had been erased began to materialize around him.

  First, one speck of dust at a time, but it washed out ever faster from where Chi took up his seated position. Within seconds, the room on his side materialized just as it had been before. Before the walls materialized around him, Wes shot his eyes to the corners of his vision, and all the buildings that had just been erased began to take shape.

  Chi playfully tapped on his chin, “Obviously, she can’t get off; an example needs to be set. Do not want to spend the next millenia dealing with the fallout of all those who now think my planet is open to outsiders.” Tapping on his chin a few times, Chi said, “Awwe, Magdrundon, what do you think your punishment should be?”

  An incredulous Ki huffed in protest but did not say anything. Magdrundon raised her head just enough to see Chi past her hairless brows, “I serve at the pleasure of Chi, whether he wishes to take my land, titles, family, or the very head on my shoulders. I offer all that I am in service of his name. Let his will be done.”

  “Awwe, I got it,” Chi exclaimed.