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Well. Jackson couldn’t entirely refute the other man’s point there. If he was still being considerate of troop morale, then the apparent laziness of various governments around the world had always been a rather persistent point of contention within the Vanguard.

But it was also somewhat beside the point.

And right now, the only words going through his mind were the ones that belonged to the man he respected most in this world.

“...It is not the responsibility of others to take up this cause that we have ourselves volunteered for,” said Jackson. “To think otherwise is but one more path to dishonor, corruption, and self-destruction. And we certainly do not need more of those.”

At that, Senator Jacobson made no response. He merely stared back steadily at Jackson for so long that Jackson began to think that he may have accidentally killed the entire conversation.

Until, at length, another smile began to grow into the senator’s face, and a starry look appeared in his eyes. “I knew you were the real deal.”

Jackson’s expression flattened as he began to get the distinct and somewhat terrifying impression that, no matter what else he said here, this man in front of him was never, ever going to give up.


Chapter Two Hundred Ninety: ‘Intimation of an augured luster...’
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Hector had to take his time. After that last bout of meditation, he barely felt like himself, in some ways. And yet in others, he felt more like himself than ever before.

Was this what they called clarity? Heh. Enlightenment, even?

Ha.

Ha ha.

Wouldn’t that be funny? If he’d achieved enlightenment in a cave under a waterfall?

No. He was reasonably certain that wasn’t the case. How could he have achieved enlightenment when he didn’t even know what that meant, really? It was more of a buzzword than anything, wasn’t it? An old-timey buzzword, perhaps.

Eh, whatever.

All he knew was that he was feeling good. Not necessarily about himself or... the current state of the world, for that matter, but rather... just in general.

He felt... comfortable, somehow.

Which was a little concerning, in it own way. All this crazy meditating wasn’t making him too mellowed out, was it?

Now there was a thought he’d never expected to have. Where had all that anxiety gone? It was still in there somewhere. He knew it was. Or at least, he dared not hope that it was truly gone for good.