Chương 19: Chapter 1-18 – In Service to His Imperial Majesty

I lifted one hand, spun up a Holo of the seven foundational Elements and their representations above me. The assorted seven energies began to spin about one another, converged slowly together into a single mass, and then ignited into the blue-white fire of Arcane energy as one sky-blue eye watched in interest.

"The Arcane, Your Imperial Majesty." I could almost feel His interest spike.

"A magic, built upon the mixture of Magicks?" He sounded both delighted and astonished at the idea.

"His Imperial Majesty will no doubt recognize that at the core of all types of Magic... is Magic. Strip it of Element, of Sphere and bias, and it is simply Magic alone.

"Mix them all together, set them alight, and once again one simply reverts to the base Magic. That Magic is what we call The Arcane." Again there was that long pause of consideration.

"So clever you Humans are. Did such an idea lead you to the mistfire I see below?" He asked of me.

"The vivic fire is of all Elements and none, Your Imperial Majesty. It feeds them and Magic itself equally, without bias. The purity and power displayed by most Human Mages and across the many species of Great Beasts are not something vivus shares, and so their very purity and power in their Elements would bar them from seeing and wielding such a force easily, as it has no attraction nor opposition to their power, making it difficult to seek out or sense.

To the Arcane, however, vivus is as natural and easy to behold as any other Element or Sphere of influence."

"A power born of ALL kinds of Magic," mused the massive kingly Fox, staring at the tableau below.

"Tell me then, Human Fae, how you can help us wield this power."

"Your Imperial Majesty, this one is currently unable to help properly, as this one is simply not powerful enough. This one can light the vivic fire wherever she is, but that merely makes Beasts dependent upon this one, and this one vulnerable to assassination from our enemies. To do this properly, this one should make His Majesty some sources of vivic fire, which others can then merely carry to the proper areas, and use them to ignite infernos of vivus and drive their opponents back.

This one is presently incapable of making such things to help, for which this one apologizes." There was a gentle ululation, and I only realized it was Flowing Silver Emperor laughing when I saw the edges of His lips turn up.

"This is not something you can teach us to wield without you, Human Fae?" He asked me directly.

"To Your Imperial Majesty, the power of vivus is that of all Elements. The Emperor's own matchless power in His Spheres of power renders Him unable to wield the non-biased vivus effectively. Humans, who are born with what some would call great impurities, and really are simply a mixture of all the Elements, have no such difficulties in learning to join them all and burn them together to form the Arcane fire.

"His Imperial Majesty is simply too powerful, and too pure in that power." Again, the ululating chuckles of ironic laughter. It appeared this massive Fox had a great sense of humor.

"I concur with your judgement that you were brought here by another power. Many of my peers would have simply slain you out of hand, as a Human daring to encroach unto a place forbidden to your kind, as you so often prove on the Mortal Plane." I considered that, realized He was likely correct, and that my falling into His domain likely was not random selection, either. Mithar was such a meticulous bastard at this kind of thing...

"His Imperial Majesty is wise," I agreed with Him.

"My thanks for His leniency."

"To think the lore and secrets of Humankind would be brought here to aid us." His voice held the laughter of appreciation of a great joke.

"Tell me, Human Fae, what would you need to further help us with this vivic fire you have brought us?" This time, I straightened under His gaze, although I did not turn to gaze into it, merely looking out over the valley below.

"Your Imperial Majesty," I said quietly, "This one does not know how astute the enemy is, but if they realize that vivic fire is here, and furthermore what it does and is doing, they will make all efforts to stop it from proliferating.

"Vivic fire will absolutely end whatever they are trying to accomplish on this world. All the Dark Magic pouring out into the Beast Realm will simply be tinder for the mistflames below, and if they spend more power, the vivus will only burn the higher for it, and Feed the Land more.

"So, the first thing this one will require from His Imperial Majesty is protection, and a measure of silence. The fact that a Human is here and doing this for the Beast Realm should be kept very quiet, if possible.

"The second thing this one will require is time.

Although this one can certainly ignite areas of Darkness for the Beasts to fan and power forwards to relieve this Corruption of the Land, the ideal here is for sources of vivus of your own to be created which can be shared among His Imperial Majesty's fellow Emperors and their forces, thereby allowing the encirclement of the Darkness and pressing forwards against it, with the eventual goal of sealing the Breach and utterly obliterating all forces the Dark has sent out to expand into the Beast Realm.

"This one can certainly do so, but she will need time, materials, and likely the direct aid of some of His Imperial Majesty's subjects to do this properly.

"If all goes well, this one might be able to teach Circles of His Imperial Majesty's subjects to forge the vivus through cooperation of all their powers together, although this may not even be possible within the Beast Realm, this one does not know. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Regardless, this one should be able to make simple Censers and Braziers that will generate the vivic flame, and which the wise can hold in case of Incursions in the future, or the purification of Corrupted or Tainted servants of the Emperors." Suddenly His attention to me increased tenfold, and I barely managed to keep standing as the inadvertent pressure rocked my legs.

"You can purify the Corrupted and Tainted, Human Fae?" He asked me sharply.

"This one's power is low, but the potential is there, Your Imperial Majesty! I am a Healer as well as an Artificer. This one can certainly Purify injuries of the flesh as she is now, but injuries to the mind and soul will require that this one grows in power and control enough to do so without harming her patients."

"A great number of My servants are afflicted by the Darkness, many of them going mad and turning against us when the urges of the Dark become too great!" He growled, the entire atmosphere reeling in fear of His displeasure.

"Others are wounded in mind, body, and soul by the powers commanded by the Dark. If you can Purify them, or Heal them of their afflictions, then your value is something I cannot measure, Human Fae!"

"The Emperor should not need to rely upon me or my presence to heal His afflicted servants," I responded calmly, and the whole atmosphere seemed to change at those words.

"But that is another project this one is not capable of undertaking on His behalf at this one's current level of power, with apologies."

"How long would you need, to be capable of undertaking such things?" He asked with intense interest. I had no doubt years passed as days to Him, so the time span of a Human growing to power was literally eyeblinks to Him.

"Six months or so, Your Imperial Majesty?" I offered Him, and distinctly felt Him blink in shock at the statement. If a year was a day, I would be ready in basically no time at all to Him. Such speed of growth was likely unprecedented, even among the most powerful Bloodlines of the Beasts! Such was the power of Classes and the Magic of Learning, as opposed to time and ancient Bloodlines growing up.

"Time I can ensure that you have, and the Darkness will not touch you while I watch over you," He promised with a sternness that nevertheless had more than a hint of amusement in it.

"Is there anything else you would require?"

"This one will definitely require gold, several tons worth, to do the job correctly, and items to build proper Gear to enhance this one's capabilities, as Your Imperial Majesty permits," I admitted to Him.

"Likely this one will need the services of servants of His Majesty who wield potent Fire and Cold to do the job correctly, but mostly this one will need a proper Staff and Rings," I acknowledged humbly.

"A Staff? Rings?" He blinked again, and I could feel His bafflement.

"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty. The finer the materials, the better, of course."

"Why would you need such things, Human Fae?" He asked, very curious.

"The bodies of Humans are not those of other Beasts, Your Imperial Majesty. Wielding a Staff allows Humans to move the strain of commanding greater energies from our bodies to that of the Staff. Rings allow us to wield the power of Magic with greater control." He was silent again as He considered those points, and something that would have approximated a chuckle escaped Him.

"Long have I heard of the tools Humans have wrought, of their Formations and making Spells of the natural powers of other creatures they do not possess themselves, and the fact they might wield any and all of the Elements there are for their own benefit. And here comes a Human child, speaking of all these things that defy the natural order, and I look upon what she has delivered us, and can say nothing to this, for it all makes such wonderfully improper and perfect sense on its own."

His tongue was actually extended as He considered everything I had mentioned.

"And do you ask a price for this service of yours, Human Fae? Humans are not known for doing such things out of duty or generosity or wisdom..." It was my turn to laugh, despite myself, at His simple and truthful logic. Somehow, I really, really was not surprised at all about that.

"If Your Imperial Majesty considers the matter further, this one was brought here by a Power perhaps equal to His own Lord. This one has very little doubt that the vivus below is the reason why. This one does not think that defying a Power so interested in having this happen would be sensible to any being, including Humans.

"Therefore, as a matter of motivation, His Majesty may consider this one simply obediently following the orders of a superior, as a proper Novice-rank furless Monkey of her species ought. If His Majesty should wish to reward me for enterprise and diligence in the discharge of said duty, that is a matter for Your Imperial Majesty to consider as He may wish.

"This one will get this done, and done properly, as long as she is able to do so."

"Such clever words, even from the lowest among your kind." His blue eye flashed at the corner of my vision.

"His Imperial Majesty jests! There are others among my kind who can still speak such words, and have not even Novice-level Magic to call upon." I let that weigh on Him for a moment.

"Humans have our cleverness, Your Imperial Majesty. Not strength, not speed, not endurance, nor long years, only thought and intellect. It is as natural to Humans as a Fox's fur and tails are to their kind, all that Humans have to rely on against those who are naturally so much stronger than they are in other ways.

"All Beasts are masters of their many natural gifts, and we only seek to master the one that is ours.

"This one does not deny that there is competition between our Tribes, Your Imperial Majesty, nor does this one deny that with great intellect can equally as often come great foolishness.

"But this one was not brought here to be a fool. This one was brought here to stop whatever power is behind the Darkness Breaching this realm, and to deny it a claim and a foothold here.

"This one does not know if she has come in time, or if the infection it has brought will survive, endure, and proliferate among the Beasts of this great sanctuary. But this one's service is still a great and proper Cause that transcends fur, feather, and fang, scale and claw, in service to all that is true life.

"It is a Cause greater than any of us, Your Imperial Majesty. This one does not know if His Majesty considers the weight of this beyond the invasion of His own territory and this majestic Plane upon which He dwells. Even if they fail the invasion, yet leave the Darkness behind, the invaders will have succeeded, and left open a road for them to use in the future.

"If their strategy works here, they can use it again, and again, and again!

"They must be shown that this strategy will not work, that it can be defied, and furthermore, that to use this strategy will come at great cost to them, so that if they do it again, they will know the price they have to pay is something that they do not wish to do.

"Vivic fire is the tool that delivers that price to them. It will eat their strength, and give it to the Beast Plane. It will consume their servants, and not allow them to be recycled. It will devour the power that holds open their Breach, and with it tear away the strength of those who hold such a thing open, whilst reinforcing the dimensional security of this world itself, so that future attempts will cost even more simply to begin such efforts.

"The Darkness seeks to expand its territory, be it from instinct, greed, desire, or simply looking for idle entertainment, this one does not know, but it must be fought, and all of us are simply little pawns on the board of a much greater struggle in doing so!"