"Accursed by all the gods and goddesses!" Edward swore as the scrying pool only showed empty hills and fallen trees. Yesterday, he scryed his clone and saw that it was about to engage the target. He'd hoped that it succeeded, but the emptiness of the scrying pool told him that his fears had been correct. He'd lost his clone and a part of his Anima that he inserted into it.
"Accursed fool. Arrogant bastard," he muttered, meaning himself more than anyone else. The clone was his incarnation after all and was based on his personality more than anything else. It might have inherited his arrogance, one that he had let loose ever since he reached the peak of mortality. He had been more humble back when he was weaker…but the millennia that passed, and the fact that his lifespan was soon to expire, had driven him to new highs and lows.
He signed as he dropped down on his throne. Well, he wasn't in the imperial throne room, or even the palace, but his tower had been set up to look like his old office. He had grown weary of rule, but mostly of the day-to-day minutiae. He still enjoyed painting the broad strokes. It was why he abdicated the throne to his son, and now, his grandchild was the emperor, while he focused on Ascension.
He stomped out of his scrying room and towards his laboratory. The divine shard was still contained in its housing, the spell circles around it ensured that no Elemental energy came within a pace of it. He'd noticed early on that the shard drew in energies and grew stronger for it, and he couldn't allow it to grow strong enough to escape. He recalled the moment he captured the thing as it was about to bond to a lowly adventurer…
He couldn't allow it to bond to him, as he didn't know what sort of mind was hidden within. He knew he would have no chance if he let down his defences. But the key, he figured out, was that the shard converted everything to a certain wavelength of essence. He didn't know what it was, only that it was close to Light.
But that woman, Yuriko Davar, had the closest Elemental affinity to the shard. If he had her in hand, he'd be able to study her affinity and use it to unlock the shard's secrets!
"If one clone isn't enough…if one battalion isn't enough…then more. I need more!" Not clone incarnations though. He didn't have enough bodies prepared and he didn't want to cut off more pieces of his Anima.
Frowning, he cast a quick message spell. "Come to me."
Then, he settled down to wait. He could have gone to the palace, of course, but he didn't feel like it. Instead, he stared at the shard, attempting to divine its secrets. It was something he'd done for thousands of subjective hours, even tens of thousands, come to think of it. But other than the tantalising hint of the secrets of Ascension, nothing.
He watched, and his eyelids twitched as he saw the shard glimmer oddly. He blinked and closed his eyes for a moment. No, nothing much changed. The shard doesn't do anything without power.
He had been sitting there for an hour before he felt someone enter his Domain. He quickly identified his grandson as well as his bodyguards.
Roland Turner vi Ishodir was a young man and only at the Magus level. He needed strong protectors otherwise he risked getting assassinated. Aside from Roland, there were three others, two men and a woman. They were of the True Magus level, and as far as Edward could determine, near the peak of their levels.
"Grandfather! You called?" The boy had an easy grin, and Edward nodded.
"Child…I need Yuriko Davar here."
"Yuriko Davar?" Roland tilted his head in confusion before his eyes lit up, "Ah! Professor Davar out of Niria Academy. Yes, I've sent orders to our ambassador to invite her here."
Edward gave him an odd look. "That won't work. There are already hostilities."
"Hostilities,,, Oh, you mean the war games." Roland smirked. "I heard that the eastern city revolted. Reports haven't reached my office yet…still?" He hummed. "I guess that means diplomacy failed?"
"She rejected your overtures."
Roland narrowed his eyes. "Did you do something, grandfather?"
"I sent a clone. It was defeated."
"But…you could have waited?"
"I cannot," Edward hissed. "Time slowly slips away."
Roland growled. "Then what do you want me to do?"
"Send more people. Use them." Edward pointed at the bodyguards. "You have others, but they work well together, and should be strong enough to capture the woman."
Roland didn't say anything for a minute and Edward could see the boy's thoughts racing, finally, he sighed. "As you wish."
"Good. Send them as soon as possible, and send more battalions."
"What? But the Driax are encroaching up north! I need my men up there!"
"That doesn't matter," Edward said offhandedly. "Your northern provinces barely provide anything. Not many people there either."
"Maybe that was true fifty years ago, but we've got three million there!"
"They don't matter!" Edward didn't quite shout. No, he was speaking quite calmly, but he ended up breathing. Heavily for a couple of moments. He could practically taste his Ascension from the shard. "Forgive me I've been strained of late." He sighed, then said, "Land can be reconquered, people can breed and multiply without end. A chance at reaching beyond mortality may not come in your lifetime." He eyed his grandson and then the bodyguards. All three of them had tensed up.
"I…it's alright, grandfather." Roland said slowly. Still, Edward could tell that the boy had been disturbed by his outburst.
"Ascension does not benefit me solely," Edward continued. "All shall rise with me."
His grandchild nodded, a bit mollified, Edward thought.
"You may go. I expect good results."
"We can only try our best, grandfather," Roland answered, "After all, if she could defeat a weaker version of you, she would not be easy."
"Do not give me excuses," Edward said sternly. "She is at True Magus only. The three of you should be able to subdue her and bring her here. Do not fail me."
"Yes." All four of them answered, the bodyguards unable to deny his Will. he waved them away, and they exited his audience chamber.
Edward snorted, then returned to contemplating the divine shard. The Elemental energies repelled by his spell swirled around it frantically, as though desperate to join with the shard. It was all the more proof of how special it was despite the fact that his instruments and spells could barely get any information out of it. But he was certain of one thing: this was the key. Or maybe the locked treasure chest that held a wonderful prize. And the key was that woman.
He was completely convinced of it and he would sacrifice anything…anything to open the lock.
__________
Roland Turner vi Ishodir frowned as he waited for Amaya Stanton to finish casting her Dimension Stream spell. It was one of the few Space Affinity spells that facilitated travel across vast distances. It took a while to cast, however, with the first minute of continuous casting, the range was set to one longstride. Every minute after that doubled the range, and the distance between his grandfather's tower and the palace was a good hundred longstrides. The initial cast of the spell itself took five minutes for the True Magus bodyguard, and then it took another eight minutes to finish the spell. The distance was just under her maximum range, and it was the reason she was under his employ.
The fact that she had a pretty face didn't matter much, though she was also at least five times his age, too. She didn't show her age, but then again, she had been one of his bodyguards since he was a babe. He was pretty sure she changed his diapers, too…
Dimensional Stream opened a portal and the four of them walked through. They ended up back in his throne room, but the audience schedule had already finished for the day. Grandfather was erratic when he called for him.
He clicked his tongue as he slumped down on the Ishodir Throne. This one was stylised to mirror his Affinities, and he looked like he was sitting on a cloud-shrouded by bolts of lightning. He had been the emperor for the past five years since he was twenty, but before that had been a long regency. His father had passed almost as soon as he was born, though not because of natural causes. He hadn't understood why, but the old regent passed along a warning right before he ascended the throne.
"Enjoy your days as a puppet. It might not last."
Five years later he was only starting to understand. The old Archmagus was the true ruler, of course, but the old man didn't bother with the little things, the little decisions. Those that held little import, those that didn't really matter to him, in the grand scheme of things.
But they mattered. Raising or lowering the tax by a single percentage could mean prosperity or starvation. Allowing farmers to advance payment for their crops and still allow them an extra profit if they did well meant prosperous and happy citizens. Allowing the Adventurers' Guild to take root in the nation despite Grandfather's apathy meant that Chaos Founts and Confluxes didn't overflow and send killer beasts to terrorise the populace.
Sending out conquest teams throughout the Shardcities meant that resources flowed into the empire instead of going everywhere else.
And now, Grandfather commanded that the defences of the north would be abandoned just to find that woman, and capture her.
The Driax Hives weren't exactly new, but they only started encroaching a few weeks ago. And already, casualties were piling up. Three regions of his northern border faced attacks, but they didn't try to hold strategic positions. Instead, they occupied land, even if they were barren or near a hostile conflux. Three hives so far, out of the Driax region past the Confluxes north. He'd already sent reinforcements from the Home Guard and regretted sending his troops southwest. But hostilities had already started, and he'd rather secure that region instead of wasting manpower and talent marching them back and forth.
The Scions of Virtalla were tangled in his web no matter what, and they wouldn't be able to hold the region unless he supported them. Bresia had a hundred thousand ready troops, but that number could swell to double or triple that as they called in their reserves. The number of elites is the bigger issue, but the empire's arcanatech should help compensate for that.
"Who is really shortsighted?" He muttered to himself. Grandfather had a point, of course, but what use would it be if the strongest grew stronger but had no one left to protect? He didn't want to send more troops into Bresia, not when it meant weakening the north. Although…
He looked at his bodyguards. Grandfather commanded that they go to capture the professor, but they really shouldn't leave his side. Even more, he wasn't sure if the old man was still sane.
He had many things to prepare and many things to do. "Amaya, Louis, Gunther. You have your orders, but leaving now would be foolish. We need to prepare. Also, something ticked off the old man, and we need to find out what happened. I won't walk into a battle blind."
"You…you're coming?" Amaya asked, worry painted on her face.
Roland smirked, "Maybe. I don't trust anyone else to protect me, and your oaths do not allow you to stray far from me. I would not have you suffer the backlash of broken oaths…"