Page 3587

Roman was getting fed up, but not with Voreese. This was just business as usual. No, he was getting annoyed with this search. All these damn stones looked identical. He decided to try pushing on some of them at random, since there were no discernible marks or clues anywhere.

‘Did you see something?’ said Voreese.

‘Nope,’ said Roman. ‘But I figure, if there’s a secret or something, then maybe it’s so secret that there are no visible hints. Maybe you’ve just gotta know the exact right spot to press.’

‘That’d be a pain in the ass for a normal person to remember, unless they were using it all the time.’

‘Or unless they had a reaper to remember for them.’

‘It sure would help if I could sense through these walls.’

‘That would make Warrenhold much less secure, though.’

‘Yeah, yeah. Stasya knew what she was doing.’

‘Do you ever get claustrophobic in this place?’ said Roman, still trying different stones as he hovered along the length of the chamber. ‘It must feel way different for you compared to being up on the surface, right? Where you can sense stuff in all directions?’

‘Claustrophobic? Nah. But you are right that it’s quite different. Wouldn’t surprise me if some other reapers found this place very uncomfortable. Me, though, I’ve come to find it quite cozy. Nice ‘n safe.’

‘Hmm. S’pose it helps that these walls are borderline unbreakable.’

‘It sure does.’

‘Has nobody managed to punch a hole through one yet?’

‘Not that I know of,’ said Voreese. ‘But I did see Hector testing them on his own the other day. I don’t think he was doing tests with brute force, though.’

‘What kind of tests was he doing, then?’

‘I didn’t actually ask him. Didn’t want to bother him.’

‘Didn’t want to--? Excuse me? Were you unwell? Had you just seen some flying pigs? Had Hell frozen over?’

‘Hah. Actually, I just kind of enjoyed watching him from afar. Seeing what he was getting up to all on his own. You can learn a thing or two about someone by observing them when they think nobody is around.’

‘Oh, so you were stalking him.’

‘I was silently and respectfully observing him! Nothing weird or creepy about it!’

‘Uh-huh.’

‘I mean, are you not worried about him at all?’ said Voreese. ‘That battle with Banda Toro was no fuckin’ joke. I wouldn’t be surprised if it hadn’t gotten to him a bit. Psychologically, I mean.’

Page 3586

‘How’d you first find her?’ asked Roman as he scanned the gray stones in front of him, squinting and lifting his lantern up even higher.

‘Heh. I saw her drawing on a big stone monument with a hunk of charcoal. She was just a little kid. Turned out, that stone monument was an important religious symbol in her village, marking passage into the afterlife. She caught hell for that stunt from her parents. Smacked her around like you wouldn’t believe. Tough to watch, even back in those days when child abuse was hardly a concept.’

‘Damn.’

‘That charcoal drawing of hers, though--it had been of fractals. Not that I understood that at the time. Wasn’t until centuries later, looking back, that I realized the significance. But it had been striking enough imagery to make me take notice of this strange little girl who seemed to already be the black sheep of her community. And honestly, I’m not even sure she understood her accomplishment at that time, either.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Stasya was... well, she was probably more brilliant than anyone I’ve ever known--and I’ve known A LOT of people--but at the same time, she was also kinda... stupid, quite frankly. Or at least, that’s what it seemed like to me.’

‘You’ve lost me.’

‘Agh. It was like... she had an intuitive understanding of the world--an ability to perceive patterns and make connections that no one else could. But she had no ability to explain her thought processes. She could solve almost any problem you put in front of her, but she couldn’t teach you how she’d done it. And that really tormented her, I think. Made her feel isolated. On a deep, existential level.’

Roman bobbed his head a little as he tried to imagine that. ‘Hmm. And you called that stupidity? Seems a bit harsh.’

‘In its own way. Social intelligence seems to come easily enough to you, but for some people, it’s a whole different animal. And she struggled with that more than anything else in her life, I think.’

‘...Did you just compliment me?’

‘It’s a shame you’re such a dumbass by every other intellectual metric.’

‘Are you sure your constant insults weren’t what was REALLY tormenting her?’

‘Psh. I was way nicer to her than I am to you.’

‘...That’s still not saying much, honestly.’

‘Oh, quit your whining. You know I love you, right?’

‘Do I?’

‘When you’re not being a dumb bitch, yeah. Of course you know that.’

Page 3585

‘Do you really think we’re going to find anything?’ said Roman.

‘I don’t know,’ said Voreese. ‘That’s the point of searching, my dear boy. To dispel uncertainty.’

‘Okay, but you were the reaper of this place’s creator. So shouldn’t you already know about any hidden areas?’

‘Sure, apart from, y’know, the thousand-year gap between when I last visited and now. Wouldn’t exactly be surprising to discover that one of its many inhabitants since then made some sneaky additions.’

As Roman was about to respond, he lost the balance of his hovering technique and had to catch himself on the floor. “Tch.” He took a moment to regather his concentration and begin hovering again.

‘Maybe you should focus more on your technique and less on running your mouth,’ said Voreese.

‘Oh, well, my mouth’s not actually moving, so I guess it’s fine,’ said Roman.

‘Heh. Feel free to shut the fuck up, anyway, if the mood strikes you.’

‘It doesn’t. Besides, I’m sure you’d just get bored if I did that.’

‘That’s actually true. I just like telling you to shut the fuck up. Don’t actually do it, though. I’ll get upset.’

‘You’re a complicated woman, Voreese.’

‘Unfortunately, brilliance and simplicity rarely go hand-in-hand. That’s always been my problem. Woe is me.’ And she pretended to cry.

Roman decided to ignore that and change the subject. ‘Wanna tell me more about Warrenhold’s genius creator? Stasya Orlov, wasn’t it?’

‘Oh, you remembered. How uncharacteristically intelligent of you.’

‘Somehow, I knew you were going to say that.’

‘And yet you did nothing to preempt or prevent it. You’re just getting lazy now, aren’t you? Or too comfortable, maybe. Guess I’ll have to find some new way to keep you on your toes.’

‘You know what would really shock me? You giving me a straightforward, sincere answer for a change. Truly, I wouldn’t know what to do.’

‘Sounds lame.’

They arrived at a corridor that branched off into multiple rooms. He picked the nearest one, holding up his lantern as he hovered into the darkness.

The chamber proved larger than he expected, almost big enough to be a banquet hall. It was still totally empty, though, so there was no telling what its intended purpose might’ve been. Assuming it even had one.

‘So? What was Stasya like?’

‘The complete opposite of you,’ said Voreese. ‘I really miss her.’

Roman floated toward the far wall. If the point of this venture was to find hidden areas, then he had to inspect the walls thoroughly. Maybe there was a hole or loose stone somewhere.

‘She was a troubled soul, in many ways,’ the reaper went on, unprompted, which surprised Roman. ‘Hated interacting with people. Seemed happiest whenever she could lose herself in her work.’

Next page on the 15th

Alright, I guess I just need a little more time than I thought. Sorry again, guys. And thanks for reading, as always.

Page 3584

Roman hovered through the air as he made his way through one of the two still-unnamed towers of Warrenhold. The stony floors were still dusty enough that he could make out visible tracks in them from where people had walked through in recent weeks--and maybe months, judging from the more faded tracks. Those might’ve belonged to the initial survey team that Hector had employed to help him explore and map out the castle grounds.

At the moment, this particular tower was only being used for storage--and only a little. Even when all the Rainlords had been present, this gigantic castle had not felt terribly crowded. The six named towers had been plenty spacious enough for everyone and everything. These other two had only been used for storing materials that were relevant to the castle’s all-important hydroelectric generator, sat below one of them.

Roman had been internally debating whether they should dub that one the Generator Tower. These things needed names, and it would be fitting. But on the other hand, perhaps it would be better to be more discreet about the location of the generator. The more obvious they made it, the more vulnerable it might be to some form of sabotage in the future.

Yeah.

That’s probably what Hector would say if he broached the subject, Roman decided. The kid was pretty damn concerned about security, he’d noticed.

As he should be, Roman figured. This place had already become a focal point for the safety of the nation, it seemed. If the enemy realized how important Warrenhold was--and how powerful its current inhabitants were--then it was fairly likely that someone would send some manner of infiltrator here, eventually.

Roman intended to be quite vigilant on that front.

As did Voreese. That was one of the reasons why she’d been asking him to pay extra visits to these two empty towers: to make sure there were no secret squatters here. No unexpected visitors. The tracks in the dust were actually helpful to that end. As was he his ability to levitate and avoid leaving tracks of his own.

Plus, it made for decent practice, controlling his power over particle vibrations like this. It required slow, gentle precision on his part. Not like the haphazard flight that he’d grown more accustomed to.

The other reason she’d wanted to visit these towers, however, was because she suspected there were secrets here. Hidden areas that the survey team may have missed.

One day

Sorry for the delay again, guys. And thanks for your patience.

Page 3583

And to that end, Roman had begun restructuring several of his own companies and organizations in an effort to prepare for the future. Naturally, he’d been hit rather hard by this economic crisis that Atreya had been dealing with, so a restructure had needed to happen, regardless, but he was certainly taking a different approach to it than he would have a year or two ago.

He needed more flexibility. The vast majority of his money was tied up in things. He didn’t like letting it just sitting around, doing nothing, when he could instead invest in people who were trying to build things for their communities.

A nice idea, certainly. He’d helped a lot of people that way. Helped create work for tens of thousands of Atreyan citizens, mostly without even meeting any of them.

But now he was thinking that it sure would’ve been helpful if he could’ve freed up more of that cash without having to liquidate entire companies, especially at a time like this when those people needed their jobs more than ever. If he’d invested more into real estate, for example, then he could’ve flipped a bunch of properties and funneled a lot more cash into Hector’s direction during this critical period. Which probably would’ve helped even more people out.

But eh. It was hard to know that for sure. Things were never really so cut and dry, were they? Especially when it came to multi-million troa businesses.

Perhaps he could free up some room with some of his underground workers. Technically, they were criminals, and if he was going keep spending so much time around the new hero of Atreya, it would be risky to keep conducting business via extralegal means; but on the other hand, those businesses were actually the best sources of the “flexibility” that he was looking for. And the criminals he employed would just find work elsewhere if he let them go.

Much worse work, probably. The non-victimless kind. The temptation to which only increased during times like this.

No, it was better to keep those under management. He’d just have to be even more careful than usual.

Thankfully, Warrenhold was a good place to hide. For the time being, anyway. If Hector ever decided to open it up to the public, then Roman would definitely have to leave.

Or disguise himself as a janitor, maybe. That might be fun. Hadn’t done that one in a while.

Couple days

Will have the next page on the 10th. Thanks for reading, folks.

Page 3582

It was unsettling, to be sure. But also, admittedly, exciting. A mixture of hope and dread. Like he was watching history take shape before his very eyes, every single day.

And increasingly, he questioned his role in things here. A year ago, he and Voreese had been laying their long-visioned plans for building up a new faction of their own. Something that, according to her, would take a century or more before it began to bear any real fruit.

But now, it seemed as though they had been sucked into something entirely different. Voreese, for her part, seemed to have all but forgotten about her previous plan--not that there was any sense of urgency with it, of course. They could always circle back around to it later, Roman supposed.

Assuming they lived that long, of course. Which was kind of the sticking point here.

Their plan, more or less, had been to lay relatively low and accumulate strength, resources, and powerful allies over time. Now, whatever this current plan was--if it could even be called a plan--it seemed to have thrown that first part out the window.

Laying low? Who cared about that?

Sure, Hector and Garovel both came across reasonable enough when they spoke about plans and how to handle whatever the emergent situation at the time was.

But their actions... those told a somewhat different story, Roman felt.

They were just going to keep throwing themselves right into the thick of things, weren’t they? He thought maybe that wouldn’t be the case when they decided to stay here at Warrenhold and not venture off to Vantalay, especially since they’d had multiple motivating opportunities to, but this latest business with Banda Toro had now convinced Roman that Hector was indeed the maniac that he’d been fearing he was.

Damn it all. Roman felt like a dumbass. Why’d he have to go and become friends with a guy like that, huh? Especially right before a gigantic war broke out? Talk about bad timing.

The worst part, though, was that not many other people around Hector seemed to be seeing things the way Roman did. All these reapers and Rainlords. They were ready to do whatever Hector told them. As if he’d been their lord for years, already.

Which meant that, as his friend, Roman had a greater responsibility to not become a yes-man.

To keep his friend balanced.

Where the future of this country was concerned, Roman wasn’t sure there was any more important task than that.

Page 3581 -- CCXCVII.

Germal just laughed.

Which only incensed Morgunov further.

But there was no point in voicing it. He hated losing control of his emotions like that and was already regretting it.

No. He was just going to follow through with his promises. And await the day when this smug creature was finally laid low. How thoroughly satisfying that was going to be.

“You’ve fallen silent again,” observed the Liar. “Has our game come to an abrupt end? If so, then ‘tis a shame. Strange as it may sound, I would say that you have indeed answered to my satisfaction. Kehehe. And so it is now your turn, my friend.”

What a piece of shit. In this moment, Morgunov was not sure he had ever hated anyone so much. Anyone--or anything, even.

A disturbance arrived, however, causing sudden havoc with Morgunov’s perception of this empty headspace that they were both trapped in. What in the world was that?

“Ah!” came a new voice. “There you both are! Finally!”

Who was that? Morgunov needed a second to--

“Master?” said Germal.

And Morgunov realized. “Gohvis? How did you find us?”

The Monster of the East ignored both their queries. “What are you two idiots doing? Having a nice chat in some kind of liminal space? How cozy. Meanwhile, I’m trying to prevent a feldeath of darkness from atomizing the pair of you.”

“Oh, the fight’s still going?” said Morgunov. “We thought time was simply moving differently for us in here.”

“It is,” said Gohvis. “I can sense the time dilation. But multiple minutes have still transpired for me outside. Do you realize how long that feels, right now?”

“Ah.”

“Oh.”

“Have you at least managed to talk through your disagreements?” said Gohvis. “This entire fight is pointless. We are all on the same side.”

“If you actually believe that,” said Morgunov, “then Germal’s fooled you even more thoroughly than I thought.”

“Master, please stop interfering. This matter has nothing to do with you.”

“I hate you both so much.”


Chapter Two Hundred Ninety-Seven: ‘How Fire perceives Steel...’
Click to display entire chapter at once -- (mobile link)

Warrenhold sure was feeling different, lately. And not just because of the restoration efforts, Roman felt. There was something more. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

Something to do with Hector.

This place. What exactly was it transforming into, he wondered? A place of safety? Refuge for all who needed it? Or an indomitable fortress? A headquarters from which an empire would be built?

Could all of those things be possible simultaneously?

Voreese seemed to think so.

Page 3580

Morgunov remained quiet for a time. He needed to clear his mind. Dwelling on thoughts, wallowing in feelings--those were not only useless, but actively harmful in this particular conversation. With this disgusting creature searching for any potential vulnerability, there was nothing to be gained here and everything to lose.

So he delved further into his calm. His meditative clarity.

He’d not meditated in a very long time. He was most certainly out of practice. In fact, ever since mastering his psychic defenses, he’d begun to think that meditation was a pointless activity. No longer needed. Especially when he had so much other fun stuff that he could’ve been doing, instead.

But that was fine. It was like getting back on a horse. Old and familiar.

“It is no use trying to run from me,” said Germal. “We are trapped here, remember? There is nowhere to go.”

Morgunov ignored him. Calm and clear. Devoid of emotion.

Germal kept pushing. “You’re just not going to answer me at all, are you? Kehe. How cowardly.”

Just words. Empty words.

“Alright, I think I understand now. There can’t be many reasons why something would be a sore spot for you. And I’ve already caught enough of a whiff to piece things together. So rather than you answering my question, how about I do you a favor and answer it for you? Generous of me, no?”

No. Ignore the mind flayer.

“The reason you killed Dolf--or rather, the reason it haunts you so--is because it was the moment when you were forced to confront your true self.”

Bastard.

“The part of you that you hate. Your old, weak, scared, pathetic self. The self that you’ve tried, in vain, for centuries to overcome, then repress, then simply pretend it never existed. Dolf reminded you that all your lofty ideas about humanity, about the beauty of invention and innovation, about brilliance and technological progress--all those cherished thoughts are ultimately just bullshit when competing against your own fragile ego. Against the sudden realization that someone out there is actually smarter than you. Better than you.”

“I’m going to kill you, mind flayer. And then I’m going to find you in whatever realm your recursive self calls home, and I’m going to kill you there, too. Or put you in a cage, perhaps. I’ll have to make up my mind along the way. Regardless, there will be no more incarnations for you. Only the Void. And then I’ll find a way to take that from you, too.”

Next page on the 5th

At midnight PST, as usuasl. Thanks for your patience.

Anyway, how was your April? Tell me all about it.

Page 3579

“Anyway, enough of this,” said Morgunov. “You’ve answered to my satisfaction. Take your turn, and then let’s get out of here.”

“Already?” said Germal. “This will only be my second question.”

“What, that’s not enough? How many more could you possibly have for me? Aren’t you Primordials supposed to be all-knowing?”

“If only that were so.”

“Geez. Y’know, you’re comin’ across as kinda pathetic, right now. In fact, you’re makin’ me feel like the term ‘god’ applies more to me than it does to you. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”

“I can only apologize.”

“If this is some subtle strategy to make me arrogant and careless, then it won’t work! My carelessness has already given you plenty of chances! Don’t tell me you need even more! Greedy! That’s what that is!”

“I know my second question for you.”

“Out with it, then.”

“Why did you kill Dolf Rachman?”

Morgunov stopped.

Germal just waited for him, however. The son of a bitch.

“...That’s completely out of nowhere,” said Morgunov, suspicious. “Why do you care about that?”

“Kehe. I will admit it: you do not make it an easy process, but yes, I have been looking through your memories. And that is one that stuck out to me. I cannot discern your feelings from that time. It seems they are quite tender to you. A sore spot, perhaps? Surprising, for a madman like you. It has made me curious to know more.”

Psychics. This was precisely why he’d grown to hate them in his youth. These days, his feelings toward them had waned a bit. He’d grown powerful enough that they’d ceased being a real concern. And perhaps he’d begun to think that, as long they knew their place, they might not be so bad, after all. Fun to play with, even.

But now he was being reminded. Of what they were really like. When they lacked fear. When they’d been truly threatening. He understood completely why his ancient predecessors had sided with the Vanguard against the Kingsparrows. He would do the same, if such a time ever came again.

“...Ask me something else,” said Morgunov.

“Oh? Well, now you are only making me even more interested. Can it really be such a sensitive subject for you? Surely not. For a battle-hardened emperor such as yourself? How could that be?”

“This tack won’t work, either, Liar.”

“What tack? I’m simply confused. Because from everything you’ve claimed thus far--everything you even seem to believe--you love to see brilliance in action. You love human ingenuity. It’s why you’re an inventor. Why you’ve been once since you were but a boy. And yet, with Mr. Rachman--”

“You’re wasting your time. And your question.”

“Well, that’s my decision to make, now isn’t it?”