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CHAPTER 22:

VERITY

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A beach in Ayuthay, around twenty years ago

"But, Arcanus I…"

Veriti didn't finish her sentence. As her voice trailed off, as she stared off dully into the distance. A breeze blew her silky black hair over her face.

And so it ends, Arcanus thought. It is done... It seemed oddly hard to believe, but it was over, and time to move on to the next objective.

Arcanus reached over, gently brushed Veriti's hair away from her eyes, and closed her eyelids. He then took the baby from her arms. My son, he thought. This was his son. What an odd thought.

He slowly, gently pushed Veriti into the ocean. With his psynergy, he reversed the tide, and made the waters take her body far, far away. He had to make sure he would be the last to see it, ever.

The baby cried. And cried. And cried. And cried. Arcanus wished he could make it stop, but he knew he couldn't. He would just have to put up with it for another few hours. He knew it was worth it.

-~:|~~|:-:|~~|:~-

Path exiting the Tuaparang installation

"…But I was always told she died in childbirth!" said Myalkni. "Is that not how she died?"

"That is what you would be told, isn't it?" Arcanus said, staring down into the lava pit as he spoke.

Myalkni couldn't believe what he was hearing. "H… H-how, then… how did you do it?"

"… I was there, when she gave birth to you," Arcanus said. "Nobody else was there. I killed her with psynergy… she died painlessly."

Up until about a year ago, Myalkni had always been told that he had no father, that his mother had "created" him with her magical powers. That myth had defined how everyone else saw him, and to a large extant his own conception of himself as well. When that myth was shattered, his life was irrevocably changed. Now, even the circumstance of his mother's death had turned out to be a farce.

"After she went still, I came to the crown prince at that time, your uncle, and told him that she died giving birth giving birth to you," Arcanus said.

Myalkni wondered for a moment how much else in his life could, for all he knew, be based on complete lies. How could he ever believe anything he had been told anymore?

"She… took awhile to die," Arcanus recalled.

"Why?" Myalkni asked.

"I more or less put her to sleep, forever," Arcanus explained. "She just took awhile to fall asleep… Before then, she said a lot of things."

"Is that when she told you what she wanted my name to be?"

"Yes, it was," Arcanus said. "'My little swan', she called you. She told me to take care of you."

"But you just left me behind in the end," Myalkni said quietly. "You only came back to claim me twenty years later…"

"I left you with your uncle Paithos and told him that you had a great destiny, so he had to raise you well," Arcanus said. "I told him that if he did exactly as I said, spreading the story of your miraculous fatherless birth, great prosperity would come upon Ayuthay, and to prove it, I got the Alchemy Well working.

"That deed played no small part in ending Ayuthay's devastating famine," Arcanus explained, "so Paithos believed my every word and followed my every command."

"…but you didn't end the famine fast enough to stop disgruntled peasants from killing the Queen, did you?" Myalkni noted bitterly.

"You actually believed that?" Arcanus asked incredulously.

"Believed what?" Tyrell asked.

"That some peasants, angered by the percieved indifference of the queen to their suffering, would be able to murder the queen, surrounded by guards, while she was on some unannounced visit to their insignificant village. That visit never actually happened, by the way."

The news hit Myalkni like a wall. Yet another lie. His life was full of them, it seemed. "Who did it then?" he asked. "Nobles in court?"

"Precisely," Arcanus said. "A faction led by Lord Genvalis orchestrated it. With the famine over, the queen was planning to investigate rumors that certain nobles had been hoarding grain. Genvalis' faction murdered her and then blamed it on one of the local peasants, who were known to hate the queen for her supposed aloofness to their struggles."

"How did I not realize this?" Myalkni wondered. "That's so typical of them…"

"These nobles are a bunch of bullcrap," Tyrell remarked.

"That's exactly how things work in Ayuthay though," Myalkni sighed, shaking his head in disgust.

"These are exactly the sorts of pointless power struggles that I'm fighting to put an end to," Arcanus said. "And yet you won't join me."

Myalkni turned away in disgust. Of all the people it could've been, his father turned out to be a man who slaughtered and enslaved countless people, supposedly for the sake of lasting peace. "And what role did you play in this one, seeing as you know all about it?" he asked. "Did you kill my grandmother as well?"

"In fact, I was totally uninvolved," Arcanus replied. "I merely observed. I learned what was happening from my typical informants."

"But you did nothing to stop it," Tyrell said.

"Why would I?" Arcanus said. "It was no threat against me. On the contrary, it put my man Paithos on the throne."

For an extended moment, everyone was silent. Myalkni shook his head dumbly. So King Paithos was Arcanus' "man". Myalkni wondered how many of his uncle's decisions had been dictated by Arcanus. And yet, as unexpected as it was, Myalkni hardly felt any more angered or stunned by this latest revelation. It seemed to pale next to all the others.

Myalkni stared off into the distance, running his fingers through his hair. "Did my mother say anything else when she was dying?"

"She said she forgave me," Arcanus recounted blandly.

"For what?" Myalkni asked. "Killing her, leaving her son motherless or both?"

"For… killing her," Arcanus replied. "It was silly for her to say; I never apologized for it. I told her that it was just what I had to do, I wasn't sorry and so there was nothing forgive, and she… repeated that she forgave me."

Myalkni shook his head slowly, blinking and wincing, as if he were coming out of a trance. "And… why did you have to kill her?"

Arcanus let out a sigh. "She could've lived if she hadn't been an irrational fool," he said. "She was screaming at me not to leave, saying she needed me, she couldn't live without me, she'd rather die than live without me… then she threatened to tell people who I was if I left."

"I knew I couldn't allow that to happen," Arcanus continued, "but I also knew I couldn't afford the burden of taking someone so unreasonable with me. So she had to die."

"And you never felt any bit of what she felt for you?" asked Tyrell.

"No, of course not. I'm not that sort of ridiculous person," Arcanus retorted.

"But... if you felt nothing for her, then what did you two have me for?" Myalkni asked. "Was her giving birth some part of your plan, or was I just some stupid mistake?"

"It was my plan for her to give birth to my child. That was the whole reason I was with her from the beginning," Arcanus explained. "I needed her to create an heir for me, and better yet an adept who would allow me to bloodlessly add Ayuthay to my domains."

"And once she had done that," Tyrell observed, "she had no more use to you."

"Once she had given birth," Arcanus said, "she was no longer of use and I had no reason to spend a moment on her."

"No… longer of use?" said Myalkni.

"She had already enabled me to create a son. With that son, I could eventually gain a whole kingdom bloodlessly, and I'd gain a useful Adept and eventually an heir," he said, eyeing Myalkni again. "Princess Veriti filled that role well, but once she completed it, she was reduced to nothing more than a worthless burden."

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Karis watched with horror as the gold-colored dragon she knew well as Eclipse rose into the air out of the vortex beside Rief. Somehow, Rief must have managed to seize control of the djinn she had deployed and then use them to summon it, she figured. Whatever had caused this, she knew she had to brace herself for what was next. She knew what was coming- she had summoned Eclipse herself many times against enemies she had faced.

The golden dragon raced through the air at Karis, its claws extended. She managed to dodge by jumping to the side, but Eclipse turned around and flew at her again. This time, Karis was unable to completely elude the dragon. Eclipse's fierce talons tore through the flesh of her left arm, nearly reaching her shoulders. Blood flew out from the wound, spraying onto Karis' face.

Karis knew she couldn't let herself lose any more blood. She quickly healed her left arm with her psynergy. The wound closed, and thankfully the bleeding stopped, but she found it difficult to move her arm. Eclipse's claws had cut pretty deep.

Eclipse wasn't done. After she was done healing herself, Karis looked up to see the enormous dragon pointing its jaws upward into the air as light gathered near its open mouth. She hastily mustered up enough psynergy to throw together a shield, just in time.

Eclipse tilted its head back, and then unleashed a shining beam upon the ground near Karis. At first, Karis' shield withstood the impact of the beam, but after a few seconds it shattered, and Karis was blasted off her feet.

When the dust cleared, Eclipse was gone, and Karis slowly clambered back onto her feet. Large portions of her hair, clothes and skin were signed, and the wound on her arm certainly hadn't gotten any better.

As she got up, she heard expressions of belief from where the prisoners were standing. For their sake, Karis thought as she healed herself, I can't surrender. They had entrusted her with their lives.

"Ready to submit?" Rief asked from across the plateau.

"Don't give up!" one of the prisoners called over to Karis. "You can win this!"

Others shouted that they believed in her, that she could make a strong comeback, that they knew she would prevail.

"Rief, I'm far from finished," Karis shouted back resolutely.

"But you can't possibly win at this point!" Rief protested. "I really don't want to kill you."

Karis readied her psynergy. She was prepared to give everything she had to win this fight.

-~:|~~|:-:|~~|:~-

The thumping of giant footsteps boomed behind Matthew and Nowell as they fled the giant orcs, echoing throughout the whole tunnel.

"Nowell," Matthew panted, "I don't think … we can keep this up. Maybe… we should … just fight them."

"Are you crazy?!" she yelled back. "If we fight them here, we could make this place cave in!"

Crap, Matthew thought, what can we do? Then, he had an idea. He wondered how he hadn't thought of it before.

He summoned his djinn, Ivy, who proceeded to restrain the orcs from chasing them further.

The pounding of the footsteps abated, and Matthew slowed down to a brisk walk as he caught his breath. He had really needed that.

"Nowell," he called, "Ivy is holding them back… it'll only be a little while, but you should catch your breath. Who knows how long this tunnel is?"

"So then let's get a good distance on them!" she shouted back, continuing to run.

Matthew let out a sigh. Don't leave me here, he begged silently. As he continued to jog ahead, he devoured some of the nuts he'd packed. He knew he'd need the energy.

Then, the pounding of giant footsteps resumed, and Matthew turned around to see five humongous orcs once again charging at him. Why did there have to be five of them, he moaned silently. It felt as if the whole tunnel was shaking, and it probably was, Matthew figured. He nearly choked on the nuts as he sprinted away.

When Matthew looked forward again, Nowell was gone.

"Where did you go?!" he cried, panicking.

"Matthew, quickly!" Nowell called. "I found a tunnel!"

Matthew scanned frantically along the wall, but he couldn't find any entrance to a tunnel. Had he ran past it? He looked back, and saw only the giants quickly gaining upon him. He drew his sword.

"Matthew, you're looking on the wrong side!" Nowell yelled. "I'm over here! Fast!"

Matthew turned around to finally see Nowell was peaking her head out. It looked like her head was coming out of the wall. Matthew sprinted with everything he had left to reach her. In the process, however, he suddenly found himself falling. Before he knew it, he had thrown his sword forward just in time to catch his fall with his hands. He must have tripped over himself, he figured.

He quickly scrambled to his feet, just as the blade of an orc's axe crashed down next to him. An icicle flew past him and hit the giant squarely in the eyes, stunning it for a moment. Thanks Nowell, he thought.

Matthew could see the tunnel. It was only a few paces away, but his sword was lying at about the same distance on the opposite side of the hall.

"Leave the blade!" Nowell urged. "Come on, get in here!"

There was no way he was leaving the Sol Blade here. In addition to being the only one of its kind, it was a key in this dungeon. "Hold them off!" he shouted.

Nowell flung another chunk of ice at the giants, but one of them smashed it in midair with its fist. Matthew quickly picked up his sword, just in time to parry the blow of an axe. He spun around and jumped to the side, and letting the axe crash to the ground.

This first assailant was hardly a giant. Of the five orcs, it was the smallest and fastest. Matthew quickly raised his sword and wacked this one in the shoulder with the hilt, before stabbing the blade into the lower abdomen of another, much larger, orc. Matthew extracted his sword, turning it as he did so to make another cut. The Sol Blade ripped through the orc's tough flesh like bread. The orc collapsed to the ground as it roared in pain.

Matthew sheathed his sword and jumped on top of it in order to reach the tunnel. Nowell grasped his arm and helped him into the tunnel.

The orcs roared in anger, and charged for the tunnel, but they found they were far too large to fit into it. Matthew and Nowell barely managed to scramble away in time to avoid the frustrated swipes of axes into the tunnel. They continued their hasty crawl through the tunnel even after they were far out of reach.

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"She wasn't worthless," Myalkni said, beginning to yell. "It's YOU who's worthless! You're the most worthless excuse for an existence I've ever known!"

Arcanus raised an eyebrow. "You're continuing to disappoint me, my son," he said. "As I said before, she could've lived if she hadn't given in to this sort of hysterical emotional nonsense."

"And so you think that makes it all okay? It's somehow totally okay that you just murdered someone who loved you in cold blood?" Tyrell demanded.

"You both are so stubborn," Arcanus said. "If you could only see where all this emotional, false moralistic hogwash was leading you, everything would work out so much better."

"Oh, that's just what we need, more of your bullshit lectures!" Myalkni cried out. "I bet you felt something for her. I have no clue what it was, but I bet you lied to yourself that you felt nothing, just like you always do."

"You would prefer to think that, wouldn't you?" Arcanus mused.

"In fact," Myalkni exacted, "I bet you killed her because you couldn't stand the fact that you felt something!"

"Is that what you think?" Arcanus said.

"Yeah, that's what I think!" said Myalkni. "And now that I think about it, I also think I'd prefer no father at all to you!"

Arcanus shook his head scornfully. "You have disappointed me badly, son," he said. "I admit, I erred. I badly underestimated how irrational you'd be."

"I really don't care a bit," Myalkni said.

"You… are a senseless fool," Arcanus said with disgust, his voice rising a little. "I try to help you see sense, and yet you just keep shooting yourself in the foot. I think it's time you be taught a lesson. There are consequences for your actions, for your bad judgment…"

Arcanus held out his hand and light began gathering near his palm.

-~:|~~|:-:|~~|:~-

Nowell slowly climbed out of the tunnel and stretched. It felt great to be out of that thing. She wasn't sure how much longer her knees could've taken all the crawling.

She looked around the room. She wasn't sure what she had expected before, but this definitely wasn't it. The chamber was small, with a door on both the right and left-side walls. It had an unnerving aura. The air was oddly cool and humid, and the limestone walls had spots of mold. A dim light filled the room, but Nowell had no idea where it was coming from. The tunnel they had climbed through had been pitch black.

The door on the left, made of the same limestone as the chamber's walls, had handles and a "keyhole" fit for a sword, just like the one that they had used the Sol Blade on before. The door on the right was much more ominous. Whatever material it was made of, Nowell had never seen it before. It looked like metal, but it had no shine. It was jet black and looked quite old, and had neither a keyhole nor handles, nor any apparent way to open it at all.

The floor too was differentiated in material. The half of the room closer to the tunnel, where Nowell and Matthew were currently standing, was a polished gray slate. The other half was a dark violet, and had an eerie, unnatural glow, simultaneously beautiful and unnerving. In order to reach either of the doors, it was necessary to step on the violet region. On the same side of the room as this beautiful violet floor, there was a circular indent in the wall. It looked like it was filled with liquid, with black and violet swirling around a center that glowed white.

"No…" Matthew whispered, to no one in particular.

"What?"

"This is just like before…" Matthew said. "Just like in Belinsk…"

Nowell sighed. She would do what had to be done had to be done. There was no going back.

She walked over, onto the violet, towards the side with doors. When her foot touched down on the purple area, ripples formed around it, like she were stepping in water, but the surface held still.

Once her second foot touched down, she felt something snap near beneath her. When she tried to pick up her foot to make another step, she found her legs wouldn't move. Something must have immobilized her, she figured. I must've set off something, she realized.

Suddenly, all the light in the room disappeared. All she could see was the glow of the floor, and the glowing disc in the wall, where the liquid was swirling.

"No…" Matthew was saying, his voice strained as if he were begging. "No, please not again… never again…"

The liquid turned to a uniform black, and in the middle of this circular screen of sorts, a gray face materialized. It had a moustache, a beard and fairly bushy eyebrows, with its eyes completely shaded over. And then the face spoke.

"Welcome to the Hypogaeum Stygium," it said. "I am one of the Wards. Are ye visitors descendants of the exalted Jenei?"

The face was speaking with a bass so deep that it was hard to believe it had ever belonged to a human. Perhaps it would be wrong to assume it had, Nowell thought. But then, if the voice hadn't originally come from a human, then where was it from?

"No," Matthew cried. "No, we aren't!"

"Then be lost!" the voice boomed.

Without warning, the face disappeared, light returned to the room, and Nowell was thrown backward. Matthew caught her, and stumbling backward a bit to maintain his balance. The face was still there, though.

"Unfortunately for you," the voice said, "this chamber is too important to allow you to survive. You shall die here, and your corpses shall feed that which dwells below. You shall not escape, ever."

Then, the face faded away, and the liquid oval returned to its previous state, with the swirling colors and white core.

Behind them, a huge column slid down to block the exit from the tunnel.

"Why did you say that?" Nowell demanded. "We are descendants, being adepts, aren't we?"

"I'm sorry," Matthew said, recomposing himself. "Let's get ourselves out of this mess."

Matthew nodded. He went over to the column blocking the tunnel and tried to remove it, but no matter how hard he pushed, it wouldn't budge. Nowell joined him, but it was to no avail. He tried using psynergy to move it, but his psynergy dissipated as soon as he sent it forth onto the column.

"What can we do now?" Nowell asked, a drip of sweat running down her cheek.

"We're really trapped," Matthew said. "I can't think of any way to go back…"

"Shit…" Nowell thought aloud. "Arcanus planned for us to be here, didn't he? You were right, Matthew. It seems like he really has used us to help him get into this place…"

"It really is almost exactly like what happened in Belinsk," Matthew lamented. "We're lured into some chamber in order to rescue someone… and then, at some point, we are locked in so that we can only go deeper. And then we're forced to use psynergy to unlock some nasty crypt that should never be opened for them."

"And that's where we are right now…" Nowell observed. "I wonder, what could be down there that Arcanus wants to get to so badly?"

"If the Luna Tower is anything to judge by, probably something truly horrible…" Matthew said gravely. "And yet we were trapped, forced to help him yet again."

"I'm sorry…" Nowell mumbled, shaking her head. What had she gotten herself into?

"We really only have one choice at this point though," Matthew resolved. "There's no sense in delaying it any longer." He stepped back onto the violet, and the room went dark just like before.

"Welcome to the Hypogaeum Stygium," the voice said again. "I am one of the Wards. Are ye descendants of the exalted Jenei?"

"Yes, we are!" Matthew shouted back.

"Ye must have come with purpose," the Ward said. "To have come to this place, ye must know why you are here. The entrance to the chamber ye seek is on the right, and your exit is on the left. In order to ensure that those who are unworthy do not gain from this chamber, your exit shall require the blade of the sun."

"Your entrance, on the other hand…" the Ward continued, "I shall open that. Enter when ye are prepared."

Light returned to the room, the Ward faded away, and with a huge clapping sound, the black door to the right exploded into a cloud of dust. When the dust dissipated, Nowell saw that behind it were stairs that spiraled downward.

"Where to go from here is obvious, right?" said Nowell. "It looks like no one's been in here for a very long time, so we have no business going… down there."

"Yeah. We'll just exit with the Sol Blade and open up the chamber for Arcanus to do whatever his wretched business is down there," Matthew said darkly.

"I really hate that guy," Nowell murmured.

"He played us all, from the beginning, just like we feared," Matthew said. "But now it's too late. Let's go rescue Rief and the others."

He strode over to the door with the keyhole, jabbed the Sol Blade into it, and yanked it out. The doors flew open, and the two walked through the doorway, their hearts heavy.

-~:|~~|:-:|~~|:~-

Arcanus yanked his fist back, and Tyrell felt something suddenly snap in his limbs. He couldn't move, he soon found. He tried and tried again, but somehow, his limbs wouldn't move. It wasn't that something was restraining them. Rather, they simply wouldn't respond to what he wanted them to do.

It was an odd feeling, Tyrell found, to totally lose the ability to control one's own body. He could have will to do anything, but what was that even good for if he couldn't carry it out?

Arcanus was holding his other hand out, and light was gathering at his palm. It wasn't hard for Tyrell to guess what was coming. Is this really going to be the end for me?

"W-What are you doing?" demanded Amiti.

"You see, my son, in life there are consequences for your actions," Arcanus replied. "Your friend here is about to learn this. This blast will smite away the last of his life."

"Tyrell!" Amiti cried. "Get out of the way!"

"I can't!" Tyrell yelled back. "I can't move!"

"I've frozen his muscles," Arcanus said. "You think I'd give him the chance to escape?"

"Didn't you say he was too useful an adept to throw away?" Amiti demanded.

"I have realized my judgment earlier was flawed," Arcanus said. "His utility is outweighed by the difficulty of taming him and worse, his problematic influence on you. One day, you'll see, that removing him was good for you in the end... trust me, son. One day, you'll thank me."

"Stop it!" Amiti cried. "You have no idea what's good for me! Take me, do what you wish with me, just let him go, please! I won't try to escape ever again, I swear!"

Arcanus unleashed the beam, and it ripped through the air at Tyrell.

-~:|~~|:-:|~~|:~-

Next Chapter: Bloodline

Author's notes:

1. Reviews are always cool :). But don't give away major spoilers in your reviews.