Everyone in Elysium had felt the explosion. She'd been busy tracking Kalarau down when it happened. The Cataclysm had given her a new lease on life, and she'd wanted to apologize for all the pain she'd caused him. But when the shockwave hit, that no longer seemed possible. Temperantia had exploded, taking a fledgling nation of Blades with it. It was the death of Judicium all over again. She rushed there as fast as she could.
By the time she arrived, there wasn't anything left. The whole continent had been vaporized, taking out a large section of the surrounding landscape. Even Uraya and Genbu hadn't survived unscathed. The explosion had dealt them both fatal wounds, and now their populations were scrambling to evacuate. But she wasn't there to help them.
As she journeyed into the depths of the crater, she stumbled across a sea of corpses. Not Blades or Titans, either. Spessians. A whole army, cut to ribbons by the most powerful Blade she'd ever seen. That Blade sat in the middle of the crater, cradling a man's body in her arms. A handful of spears had pierced her body, and one had struck her Core Crystal. She wouldn't last long. Amongst the bodies of the soldiers were dozens, possibly hundreds of broken Core Crystals, as well as the corpses of a handful of Ascendeds. Younger ones, born after the Aegis War. The woman looked up at Qadar, eyes brimming with hatred, and slowly she raised her sword.
"Clíonadh," Qadar said, recognizing the woman. She hadn't seen her since they went their separate ways all those years ago.
"More reinforcements?" the woman asked. "The least you could do is get the name right. Here to avenge your leader?" She pointed at a corpse nearby. The body of a giant, cut into a dozen smaller pieces.
Atasaiah. He was with Spessia, now. They'd never spoken in person, but she'd kept tabs on him ever since the Aegis War. At least, according to her messages. She knew he'd been planning something but hadn't felt it her responsibility to intervene.
Stupid. She should've known better.
"I'm not with Spessia. My name is Qadar. You and I knew each other, long ago. I'm a Flesh Eater, like you."
"That's what he said too. I'm not really interested. You can leave, or you can die. Your choice."
"I want to help."
"A little late for that, aren't you?"
"I know." She hung her head.
"Listen…" Clíonadh sighed. "Whatever you're looking for, it isn't here. I just want to be left—"
She started coughing, spitting up a mixture of blood and liquid ether.
"You're dying," Qadar said.
"Figures this is how I go out. At least Zeke got to die fighting." She smiled. "Hey stranger. Do you believe in the afterlife?"
"Elysium was an empty promise. A tool the Praetorium used to control people."
"I know. But I used to believe, once upon a time, that there was something waiting for us after death. It's a nice sentiment, you know? Spending eternity with the ones you love. Zeke and I had so little time together here. I want to believe that I'll see him again."
"You will," Qadar said. "I swear it."
"Thanks. Give a message to Rex for me, will you? He's the Aegis' Driver, I'm sure he won't be hard to find. Tell him that I'm sorry I let Pyra and Mythra down. You got that?"
"There is no need to apologize." Qadar sat down next to Clíonadh. "But I will tell him all the same."
"Thanks."
Clíonadh slumped forward, smile still on her face, and Qadar didn't even need to check her pulse to know she was dead. For a while, she just sat there, thinking to herself. Then, for some reason, she decided to speak out loud.
"It seems to be a pattern with me. I've got so much power, yet I can never use it properly. I never realize what's coming until it's too late. And I'm too afraid to do anything that might undo what little peace I've managed to find for myself. I'm a failure in every respect. I abandoned my people after Judicium fell, I hid myself away during the Aegis war, and I chose not to intervene as the Cataclysm neared. But you and your friends managed to give the world a second chance. And you did it with your own power. So I'm going to do my best to protect the world too."
She had to send a message back. Fortunately, her power hadn't given her a new branch point since the Cataclysm. If the Architect really did exist, she thought he might have spared her from her curse. But now, it felt like she had been given a new burden. There was a monumental task ahead of her, and she'd need time to see it through.
But a simple message wouldn't be enough. She always received messages in short bursts, sentence fragments that told her what she needed to know because her former self never had time to get anything more substantial down. But all of that was an extreme side-effect of her intended ability. The Weavers had designed her to store memories. When she first figured out what her true power was, the possibility of using it to transmit memories had occurred to her. But she'd been too scared before.
She wasn't scared now.
It took her the better part of a day to consolidate her memories into the broadcast. But if she was going to do this, she'd need everything she could get her hands on. No matter what, she wasn't going to let this nation or its people come to harm. As she started the broadcast, throwing her own mind back in time, she almost felt like her old self again. Like she could change the world.
She shot herself forward, wings spreading out and casting flames in every direction. Atasaiah stepped back, raising more spears out of the ground, but before he could throw them, Nia emerged from the prison he'd trapped her in. Water spilled forth all around her, extinguishing much of the fire Qadar had been using to control the battlefield, but now that Nia was here, crowd control was a secondary concern.
She rushed forward, slamming her sword into Atasaiah's chest, and he tried to strike her back. But she wouldn't be deterred so easily. She spun as she flew through the air, casting out more water that quickly shaped itself into a series of swords. The moment Nia landed, they rushed forward, closing in on Atasaiah from every direction. He sent his spears out to counter them, but they weren't solid, and as such, they couldn't be blocked. They simply weaved around his defenses and drove themselves through him, pinning him against the far wall.
He ripped the wall out behind him, casting the resulting rubble out at Nia, and at the same time, he used his power to rip up the ground all around them. But Nia didn't care. Water shot out from behind her, suspending her in the air and shooting her back toward Atasaiah. Her shield expanded out as she did, driving the incoming rubble away and slamming into Atasaiah.
The moment she dropped it, he lunged forward, trying to impale her with a pair of spears. But Qadar shot forward and whipped her chain out, wrapping around the weapons and wrenching them to the side. A moment later, Nia drove her sword up through his Core Crystal, and all the strength went out of him at once.
"How…" he muttered, staring up at Qadar. "I don't…"
"It is over," Qadar said, staring down at him.
"Not by a long shot," Saur said. He didn't have Atasaiah protecting him anymore, but he did still have one thing. Zeke.
The Spessians had captured him some weeks ago, and Qadar had helped Nia track him down. She thought that if she could prevent them from stealing his power, then she could save the Gardens before disaster struck. But in order to do that, they still needed to deal with the man currently pressing a gun to his head.
"Stand down," Nia said, pulling her sword from Atasaiah's chest and stepping forward to aim it at the man. "We can all still walk away from this."
"Not him," Saur noted, motioning at his former master.
"He gave me no choice. You don't have to make that mistake."
"You really have no idea what's going on, do you?" Saur asked. "You talk a big game, but you're entirely fucking clueless."
"Enlighten me, then," Nia said.
"The world's going to hell, lady. Nothing you or I do about it is going to change a goddamn thing. That guy was the only chance we had, and you just killed him, so I'm not really in a cooperating mood right now. I'm dead either way. And so are the rest of us."
There was a finality to his tone, and immediately everyone knew what he was about to do. Nia cast one of her swords forward, trying to stop him, and Qadar whipped her chain out to do the same. Even Zeke tried to lurch up and tackle the man to the ground. But he was still bound in ether netting. He couldn't move fast enough. And the rest of them were too far away to stop what was coming.
The shot rang out, and Zeke collapsed to the ground, dead.
Nia screamed, incoherent and raw, as she drove her sword through Saur's chest. He stumbled back, turning the gun on her, and immediately she skewered him with a dozen more.
But she was too distracted to notice what was happening behind her. With the last of his strength, Atasaiah lunged up and drove a spear through her back, shattering her Core Crystal.
"I will not fail," he spat, twisting it into her as she fell to her knees. But even that didn't stop her. She twisted around to drive a hand into the shattered remains of his Core Crystal, and immediately water began pouring out. A torrent of water, draining Nia of what little life remained in her body. But before she finally gave out, the water overpowered Atasaiah, tearing his body into a hundred pieces and scattering them all over the battlefield.
Qadar sighed, floating down to take stock of her latest failure. Six times she'd tried, now. And each time she'd been met with the same result. She had helped Nia accelerate the pace at which she developed the Gardens, and that had scared Spessia off from a direct assault. But the Titan Eater had adapted unusually quickly to the setback and immediately switched gears to kidnapping Zeke.
Almost as if that had been his plan from the beginning. Which wasn't possible. He'd never tried something like this in any of her previous attempts.
Whatever the case, she couldn't let this happen again. She would need to intercept them as they made their move. It risked tipping her hand, but she couldn't let these two die. They were the best hope the world had for a future.
Horror crept into her stomach as she realized what she was looking at. The mass of Core Chips pulsated faster and faster, and soon it would reach a critical mass. She didn't have the means to stop it before it ruptured and consumed the whole Titan in the resulting explosion.
She had no idea what had driven Atasaiah to take this option. Wouldn't this endanger his plan too? The resulting explosion would almost certainly destroy the Eye of Genbu before he could get his hands on it.
Unless…
Immediately, she jumped, keeping herself off the ground as she surveyed the area around them. He had to be here somewhere. Waiting to make his move. If she could intercept him, then perhaps she could force him to disable this device before it was too late.
"What's going on?" Nia asked.
"I can't disarm it!" Qadar shouted.
Immediately, the color drained from Nia's face. She looked back at Zeke, and he was in a similar state.
"Can we contain it, then?" he asked. "Stop the explosion from killing the Titan?"
"Nothing would be powerful enough," Qadar said.
"What if we move it outside?" Nia asked. "Away from the core?"
"We don't have enough time. It will detonate before we manage to get it through the caves."
Quietly, the horror settled in around Nia and Zeke. They had come so far and endured so much, and now it would all end here.
As it had many times before.
She hated that feeling.
"Zeke," Nia said, turning around. "There's something I—"
The ground around him broke up, cutting her off, and immediately Qadar shot forward. The Titan Eater was making his move, and she had only moments to intercept him. He tried to drag Zeke down into the depths, but she grabbed his arm and pulled him up, moving him beyond Atasaiah's reach. She tossed him into the air, then dove back down, whipping her chain out and wrapping it around Atasaia's arm before he could retract it into the ground. With all her might, she pulled, dragging him out of hiding and leaving him exposed.
Immediately Nia shot forward, slamming into him and driving him into the wall. He couldn't move nearly as much material in here, otherwise he risked accidentally rupturing an ether line. But he still had enough room to draw a spear out of the wall beside him and use it to drive Nia back.
Qadar dropped down on him and wrapped her chain around his neck, pulling as tight as she could. He tried to reach up and grab her, but she flared her wings out, casting forth an inferno to keep his hands at bay. After a moment, Nia reached out with her water to bind his limbs in place.
"Disarm the machine," Qadar said.
"Can't," he grunted.
"How do we prevent the explosion, then?"
"Can't," he repeated.
She didn't believe that. There had to be a way to stop this thing.
"It's just a mass of energy, right?" Zeke asked. "All we have to do is bleed off that energy."
"How?" Nia asked.
"Well, I am an electric Blade," Zeke said. "Or part of one, at least."
He stepped up and placed his hand against the pulsating mass. Slowly, he began drawing the ether into his core.
The idea was sound, but it wouldn't work for Zeke. He didn't have nearly enough ether storage capacity to manage it. No Blade in the world did. It was simply too much.
Well, no Blade except Kalarau. He would be able to absorb all this energy without any issues. But she hadn't wanted to get him involved in this whole mess. It seemed like she wouldn't have much choice, though.
As Zeke drained the energy of the machine, electricity began to arc from him, and his skin began to burn. After a moment, it would overload him. Another failure.
Qadar loosened up on her chain, preparing to flee and reset. The moment she did, however, Atasaiah ripped up a series of spikes from the floor, throwing Nia back and breaking her hold on him. Immediately, he ran forward, spear poised to run Zeke through the heart. But Zeke moved faster.
He held out one hand in the shape of a gun and pointed it at Atasaiah. Just before the man reached him, he pushed all the ether he'd absorbed out in one thrust, engulfing the Titan Eater in a column of electricity. Qadar barely had time to get out of the way, and the resulting shockwave threw her clear across the chamber. By the time she recovered, Atasaiah's body had been reduced to slag, and Zeke had collapsed to the ground. The energy had overwhelmed him, and he'd burned himself from the inside out.
Nia ran over to him, but there wasn't anything she could do to save him. So she just sat there, cradling his body as the machine slowly spun back up behind her.
They had lasted longer than all her previous attempts, but… Still, this was a failure. The mass of Core Chips would soon detonate, and the Gardens would be wiped off the face of Elysium.
If she wanted to stop that, she would need Kalarau's help. As much as she hadn't wanted to involve him in another one of her crusades, she didn't see any other option.
This cycle had gone so well. She'd done everything right. Rescued Zeke, recruited Kalarau, stopped Shieldwall, and rebuffed Orion the Hunter's attack. Now all that remained was to take the fight to Atasaiah himself. If they succeeded here, then it would finally be over.
She flew forward, tacking the mechanical angel out of the sky and enveloping him in flame. He was tougher than most, so she didn't have to worry about injuring him in the process. Nia and Zeke were always so particular about that. She would have preferred to just kill them all and be done with it, but these people had standards.
It was part of why she wanted to help them. They believed so fervently that their principles could win the day. She wanted to believe that too.
But something still bothered her, even as everything seemed to be falling into place. Atasaiah must have been planning this for hundreds of years. Carefully plotting out what it would take to get his hands on each individual piece. But no matter what she did, his plan seemed to change to match. As if he had always accounted for whatever knowledge she possessed.
That should not have been possible. It was an absurd notion. She had to be imagining it. But she couldn't shake the feeling that it was nonetheless the truth.
She realized too late that her gut feeling was entirely correct. Because as Zeke and Nia strode forward to meet Atasaiah on the field of battle, she saw Kalarau's stance shift. He drew his bow back, but he wasn't aiming for the enemy. He was aiming for Zeke. And with one well-placed shot, he fired an arrow straight through the man's Core Crystal.
Atasaiah had roped Kalarau into his plans, somehow. A man who hadn't been involved until Qadar had chosen to involve him, and now that she had, he'd retroactively accounted for his presence. Hinged his entire plan around it, even.
It was absurd. Unless he could broadcast himself back in time as she could, then there was no way such a thing could be possible.
But it happened, nonetheless.
As the fighting devolved into chaos around her, Qadar released her adversary and disengaged entirely. This cycle was already a lost cause. Perhaps they would all be, no matter what she did. But she was in too deep, now. The only way out was through. So she did the only thing she could think to do and started over.
And over.
And over.
And over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over…
Kalarau sat in the dark, meditating. If he wasn't careful, the thoughts crept back in, so he kept to a strict routine. Ironically, his lifestyle was pretty close to that of the Praetorium's mendicants, now. Just with less murdering, these days. He'd been doing this so long that, if it were possible to reach enlightenment, he would've found it a hundred times over.
No such luck, though. Nothing was ever that easy.
As he wrangled his thoughts, trying to keep his mind clear, he felt someone enter the cave. Multiple someones. A moment later, he could hear them, too, stomping their way through his cave without an ounce of respect. Reluctantly, he stood from his meditation and manifested his bow. It had been a long time since he'd had visitors, so he was a little out of practice, but he could still aim well enough to fire a warning shot.
As the strangers approached, he lined up a shot, letting the darkness conceal him and tracking them through the motion of the ether alone. Before he could fire, however, one of them spoke.
"Kalarau yen Vilam," the man said, his voice deep and resonant. Hearing his name from another person after so long… It shook Kalarau to his core. He'd come here to be forgotten. How did anyone still remember who he was after fifteen hundred years?
"That name should have been forgotten," he said, announcing his presence to the visitors. Though it wasn't as if it mattered much. They already knew he was here.
"What a shame that would have been," the man continued. "To let the Praetorium have their way and erase their enemies from history."
"The Praetorium already won," Kalarau said. "The world ended. What does it matter if anyone remembers me?"
"Their victory has not been so assured, Kalarau yen Vilam. Thanks to the actions of the Aegis and her companions, the world has been freed from their control."
"Good for them," Kalarau said. "But I stopped caring a long time ago. Now get out, or I will make you."
"Oh, will you cut the crap?" the man's companion asked, stepping forward. "I can't see shit in this darkness."
He held up a small metal torch, producing a meager light. Kalarau could tell by his complexion that he was Spessian, and his companion was a Blade. Though, not like any Blade Kalarau had seen before. Not even like an Ascended.
"Leave," Kalarau repeated, aiming his shot for the Spessian's feet. If they wouldn't leave him alone, he'd have to make them.
"We're here to make an offer," the Spessian said, undeterred. "I know you're busy doing the sad-sack routine, but we know you've got grudges."
"The dead don't hold grudges," Kalarau said. "Not much point in holding onto the past."
"But you're not dead, are you? You're still here. And you're still just as angry about what happened to your Blade as the day you left the Oracle's army, aren't you?"
Just the mention of Qadar brought back memories. Violent memories. Painful memories.
Ratih…
Kalarau shook his head and focused, regimenting his thoughts to keep them from overwhelming him.
"Speak that name again, and I will take your head," Kalarau said.
"Do it," the man dared him. Kalarau almost did, but he wasn't confident enough in his aim to actually make the shot. It had been too long since he'd practiced with the thing. He could only stand to look at it thanks to the darkness.
"The nations of Alrest have begun to reorganize, now that the Cataclysm has passed," the towering Blade said. "Already they have squandered what they were given."
"Did you expect anything else?" Kalarau asked.
"No. We are here because while they squabble, the world around them fades into darkness. Eventually, the Praetorium will have its way, and the world will come to an end. We cannot abide this. We will not abide this. We will force the other nations to heel and save this world from itself."
"And I wish you the best of luck," Kalarau said. "But I don't care. Leave."
"We want your help," the Spessian said. "We can offer you Sthenos in exchange."
Kalarau lowered his bow a fraction.
"Explain," he said. "What do you mean, you can offer me Sthenos? As in… Put me in charge? Because history has really distorted how things went down if you think—"
"Nothing so vulgar," the Blade said. "We mean as a reward. If you assist us in enacting our plans, we will assist you in destroying Sthenos. Titan and Handmaidens all."
Kalarau paused for a moment, then rescinded his arrow.
"You have the power to go against Sthenos?"
"We have the power to do much more than that," the Blade said, spreading his arms. Reluctantly, Kalarau left his perch and stepped into the light.
"They all have to die," he said, coming face-to-face with his visitors. "The whole Titan, every one of its attendants, every elder that upholds their rotten traditions… All of them. Promise me."
"Whatever you want," the Spessian said. "We'll burn the whole continent if you feel like it. You've got the Saur guarantee on that."
"I don't want them to suffer. But they need to die. They can't be allowed to perpetuate their stagnation any longer."
"We will see it done," the Blade said. "As painlessly as possible."
"Then I'll do whatever it is you want me to do," Kalarau said. He offered his hand, and the Spessian shook it.
"Cool," he said, immediately using his torch to light a cigarette. "Pretty soon, a woman's going to come by to recruit you. There's a nation of Blades setting up on Temperantia. I'm sure you've got feelings about that."
"More than a few," Kalarau said. That was a revelation beyond compare. After so many years, others were finally taking up Qadar's torch again.
It was almost touching, in a way. And just a little sickening, too.
"Well, whatever they are, put them aside. The job comes first. You agree to join their upper ranks, and you report back to us everything you can learn."
The man passed him a strange metallic device.
"We'll use that to keep in contact," he continued. "We'll need all the intelligence we can get, but that's just extra. Your main job is to keep an eye out for a guy called Zeke. We're hoping we can grab him before the Gardens can, but if we fail, you're the backup. We need something of his, and if things get that desperate, it'll be your job to take it."
"And once you have it, you'll deliver on your promise?"
"Guaranteed," the man said.
"We should go," the Blade said. "She is close by. Contact us only when it is safe. Do not, under any circumstances, divulge your identity. We will send other agents to you as insurance, but they are unreliable. If necessary, expose them."
"Whatever," Kalarau said. "Just remember. If you don't hold up your end of the bargain, I'll find you. And I'll make you severely regret lying to me."
"Noted," the Spessian said. "Atasaiah, we good?"
"We must take our leave now," Atasaiah said. "Good day, Kalarau yen Vilam."
"It's just Kalarau," he said. "I left the rest of that name in Sthenos."
Atasaiah nodded.
"Forgive me. We will be in touch."
With that, the ground around Atasaiah contorted, reaching up to swallow him and his companion. Leaving Kalarau alone in his cave again.
He almost put the whole incident out of his mind the moment they were gone. It wasn't like they could deliver what they promised, anyway. He was just fooling himself if he thought anything on that forsaken continent would change, even with the elders dead.
But if there was even a chance they could do it, then… It wasn't like he had much else going for him at the moment. Now he just had to wait for whoever it was that was supposed to recruit him.
He regretted his decision the moment he realized who it would be.
It didn't take long for Qadar to enter the cave, her flaming wings lighting up the darkness. She hadn't changed at all since they'd parted ways. A millennium and a half later, and she looked just as confident as ever.
"Kalarau," she said, staring at where he was despite the fact that he'd retreated into the darkness.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"You will have already known," she said. "Two men will have just visited to tell you of my arrival. They will have wanted you to spy for them. And you will have accepted."
"Do not do that," he growled. "You freak. How many times have we had this conversation? Ten? A hundred?"
"Two hundred sixty-five," she said, rather matter-of-factly. "Though I have not spent every iteration trying to recruit you. This part is rote. You will accept my offer. We both know that. It is better to discuss other things."
"Stop," Kalarau said, manifesting another arrow and aiming it at her. "Stop talking. I don't want anything more to do with your bullshit. I'm done."
"You don't shoot me," Qadar said. Not that he won't. He doesn't. She already knew that. Because of course she did. That alone was almost enough to make him shoot her, out of spite, but… He still couldn't bring himself to fire the thing. Even at her.
"Then what do I do?" he asked.
"You accept my offer and spy on the Gardens on behalf of the Titan Eater."
"Titan Eater?"
"Atasaiah. The Blade you spoke with. You accept his offer, and you help him tear us apart."
"And you're here to, what? Convince me not to? Turn me to your side? Catch up and reminisce about the good old days?"
"None of those things. I am here because the Gardens do not survive without you. I will deal with your betrayal as it comes."
"You're just… You're just fine with it. Which means we fail."
Kalarau stared at her for a moment, and then laughed.
"Of course we do. Why would I expect anything else?"
"You have failed two hundred sixty-five times," Qadar said. "But so have I. Every time I run through this, I fail to save them. And you fail to get your revenge. Atasaiah and I dance around each other, too preoccupied with trying to counter each other's version of the future, until neither comes to pass."
"Then what the fuck are you here for?"
"Because I think there is a way we can both get what we want," Qadar said. "All you need to do is keep Zeke alive."
"My job is to steal from him, not kill him."
"Atasaiah will kill him the first chance he gets. You must keep him alive."
"Do it yourself," Kalarau spat.
"I have tried. I am not fast enough. I am not strong enough. I…" She shook her head. "I am not enough."
Kalarau glared at her for a while.
"This is really rich, coming from you," he said. "Asking me to save your friend's life, after you failed to do the same."
"I know."
"So what makes you think I'll do it?"
"Because you want me dead," Qadar said, looking Kalarau dead in the eyes. "And if you let Zeke live, that's a price I'm willing to pay."
That gave him pause. Qadar had always been serious, but she'd never been this serious. She'd always tried to find another solution. But if she was hundreds of cycles in deep this time, then… There was no other solution. Either he agreed to this, or she'd reset and try again.
Which meant this might be the only chance he'd ever get.
"What's so special about this place?" Kalarau asked. "These Gardens? Atasaiah wants to destroy it, you want to save it. So much so you're willing to give your own life. Why?"
"Because we failed," Qadar said. "We fought the Praetorium and accomplished nothing. For a long time, I thought it would be impossible to change anything. But they managed to do the impossible. They fought the Praetorium and won. They changed things, Kalarau. We can't let that be for nothing."
As far as Kalarau was concerned, it was for nothing. A bunch of upstarts might have made a believer out of Qadar again, but he knew better than to get fooled a second time.
Still, if it meant he finally had a shot at getting revenge, then he had to take it. There wasn't much left, after all.
"Fine," he said. "I'll keep this Zeke guy alive. But when I kill you, it had better stick."
"It will," Qadar said. "After my task here is done, I won't have anything left to live for anyway."
"Welcome to my world," Kalarau said. "Which way to these Gardens of yours?"
"Not far. We're supposed to meet Clíonadh in Fonsa Myma."
"Clíonadh? She's still kicking around?"
"She had been through many incarnations. And, from this point forward, she is our new leader."
"Wonderful," Kalarau muttered. He dismissed his bow and threw his hood up.
He knew this was a mistake. Getting involved with Qadar again would only spell disaster. But they did have one thing in common: he didn't care what happened to him either. So if she was offering him a shot at taking her life in a way that would stick, then he'd take it. Damn the consequences.
So what if he failed to do the rest of it? He'd been a failure for fifteen hundred years. Failure was all he knew. But if he could drag her down with him, then maybe he could finally live with himself again.
Maybe.
Though he knew he was probably fooling himself with that, too.
She pulled Saur into the adjacent room and shut the door behind them. The man was terrified, so she gave him a moment to recompose himself, but she was tired of going through the motions like this, so she probably didn't give him as long as he needed.
"Give me the device you are carrying," she said, holding her hand out. He just stared at her, dumbfounded. Which she knew he would do. He'd done it before.
"What are you talking about?"
"Zedekul, the Herald unit recovered from Morytha. You were instructed to turn Nal against us and pass her the unit so that she and Kalarau could use it to subdue Prince Ozychlyrus. She will have refused. Your backup plan, the coup, will have failed, and you will have been taken into Duthrish custody. Atasaiah will have mounted an attack on Duthract to recover the Herald unit. The Gardens will have arrived to stop this. In the ensuing battle, Prince Ozychlyrus will have died. The Banshee Queen will have slain your master. And we will have all failed to accomplish anything. Just as we have many, many times before."
"You…" Saur shook his head. "You're the Oracle of Judicium, aren't you?"
"I am."
"So you've seen the future?"
"I have lived the future," Qadar said. "We have spoken like this many times. I am tired of it. So I will offer you a deal. I will deliver your machine to Kalarau. You will inform your master that the job is done. And we will all avoid a very stupid, very pointless fight."
"Wait…" Saur paused. "You're going to help us? After everything you've done to screw us over?"
"Just so." Qadar nodded.
"Why?"
This was the new part of the conversation, for her. This was usually the part where she interrogated him over the specifics of Atasaiah's plan, but she knew better than that by now. She'd done this many times, and each time, the man's plan seemed to change shape to account for her. There could be no doubt anymore. Her efforts here were in vain.
"Because I have already failed," Qadar said. "No matter what I do, your master contorts around my efforts. My power allows me to experience a future, but it is limited. Upon its use, the future I have seen ceases to exist. Or, more accurately, reality becomes such that it never existed in the first place. I erase myself and rewrite the world, hoping that what results will give a more favorable outcome. But your master possesses a foresight far beyond my own. He has seen the future, perfect and fixed in amber. No matter how many times I erase what is to come, from his perspective, the result will always be the same."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Saur asked.
"I do not quite know myself. What I do know is that this sight he possesses is not his own. As you said yourself some cycles ago, he was shown the future. It is not his own providence, but another's. Another far more powerful than I. And after much consideration, I think I have realized exactly who it is that has set you all on this path."
"Who?" Saur asked.
"It is the universe itself. Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it God. Or the Zohar, as the Aegis's companions call it. Whatever the case, it is the power behind the world we inhabit. The power the Architect used to construct the Cloud Sea and the Titans. The power that has abandoned the world and left us to slowly fade into darkness. As your master intends to rescue himself from that darkness, I can only assume he seeks to entreat this power. And so it is that it will not allow him to fail until he accomplishes his goal."
"Fat lot of good that does me," Saur muttered. "What's the point of pulling the plan off if I don't get to see it happen?"
"I will let you live," Qadar said. "Be grateful for that."
"Atasaiah won't," Saur said. "When he finds out I've failed, he'll kill me."
"You haven't failed," Qadar said. "Give me the device, and you will have succeeded."
"That still doesn't make any fucking sense," Saur said. "You've been trying to stop us up until now. Why the change of heart?"
"I cannot challenge the Zohar's power," Qadar said. "I lack the strength. I lack the perspective. I am predictable and set in my ways. No matter what I do, it will have foreseen my actions and adjusted accordingly. But I do not believe the same is true for my companions. There is a fire in them that I lack, for no matter what actions I or your master take, they manage to thwart his designs regardless. No matter what circumstances arise, they overcome the Zohar's predictions. At great cost to themselves, they defy the universe itself. I have faith they will succeed again."
"Fucking…" Saur sighed. Then he took out the machine and passed it to Qadar. "Fine. It's not like I really have much choice anyway. Not much I can do against the Oracle of Judicium."
"Excellent. Now call your master and tell him the plan has succeeded."
Saur shrugged and pulled out his cell-jack. After a moment, the Spessian minister answered.
"Saur?" he asked. "Please tell me you've got good news."
"Nope," Saur said. "Everything's gone to shit here in Duthract. They refused to sign up with the alliance, and they've taken me into custody."
The man on the other end of the line went quiet for a moment, and Qadar considered striking him down and resetting things again. But it would be more prudent to see this through first. She could always reset later.
"We'll arrange to come get you," the minister said.
"No need," Saur said. "Your plan may be in the shitter, but the boss man's plan went off without a hitch. The Morythan machine is on its way to Rook as we speak."
"Really?" the minster asked. "How did you pull that one off?"
"I almost didn't," Saur said. "But the boss man's guess was right on the money, as per usual."
"Well, that changes things, then. We'll come get you once things with the Coalition are settled, but until then, you can just sit back and enjoy the show."
"You don't need Duthract for your end of things?"
"I think I'll manage without them."
"Then I'm going to have a smoke. See you later, Navaris."
Saur hung up, and immediately all the terror and uncertainty drained from his face. He lit up a cigarette and stared at Qadar rather casually.
"The Titan Eater anticipated I would do this," Qadar noted.
"Of course he did," Saur said. "I wasn't sure you'd go for it, but…" He shrugged. "It worked. It always does."
"Indeed." Qadar nodded.
She knew this would happen. It was only yet more proof that she'd arrived at the correct solution.
She'd given up on the world a long time ago. She was a failure. But Nia and Zeke and all the others who she'd worked with over these countless cycles were different. They understood what was necessary to change things. And they had the drive to see it done. They had the potential to succeed where she had failed. They had the potential to defy the universe itself.
So Qadar was going to put her faith in that potential. So long as she kept them alive and in the fight, then they would win the day. But to do that, she had to eliminate Atasaiah's advantage. Strip him of his divine providence.
The easiest way to do that would be to give him exactly what he wanted. Let his plan succeed and bring the Zohar into this reality once again. It was dangerous, but once that was accomplished, then he'd have no more tricks up his sleeve. And he wasn't powerful enough to win against the Gardens even with the Zohar's providence behind him. Once that was no longer a factor, taking him down would be a simple matter.
All she had to do was make sure they all survived long enough to see it through. So long as Kalarau did his job, then there was nothing left that she had to worry about.
The future would finally be something worth looking forward to. Even if she wouldn't be there to see it.