Leaving the mother and child alone, I returned to my room prepared to sleep for the night, but as I stepped into the bedroom, my vision began to spin. I clutched at my head, grasping at the wall for support.
“You seem to be doing well, Aurielle,” echoed a silky voice. A shiver ran down my spine as I blinked away the nausea. Once I cleared away the spinning, I looked up to see what I dreaded most.
A suave man dressed in an expensive black suit sat in front of me. He was classically handsome with light blonde hair. A small smile played on his lips as he looked at me with piercing, sky blue eyes. He was sipping a cup of tea patiently, acting as if it was his room, not mine.
'He… Aurielle, I am scared.'
I picked a small decorative silver eagle off the side table in the room and threw it at the man. The eagle flew true but hit nothing. It passed through the man, leaving a distinct shimmer in its wake. The image of the man quickly corrected itself, as if it had never been disturbed.
“You do not seem very happy to see me,” The man spoke, his soothing voice echoing inside my head.
“In four hundred years, I can count on one hand the number of times you showing up was a good thing, Michael. Why are you here?” I replied coldly, crossing my arms and glaring at the man.
“Can’t a teacher check how his student is doing simply out of the goodness of his heart? You were only revived recently after all,” Michael said, his expression never changing from that small smile he always wore.
“You do not send a mental image across dimensions just to say hello,” I replied evenly, “What do you want?”
Michael took an infuriatingly long drink from his cup before answering. “I am here to warn you.”
“If you are talking about Envy’s invasion, I already know.”
“And did you know Envy is working with a traitor from the Ninth Division?”
“I guessed as much. Too many recent events are tied to the Ninth Division. Lot twenty-three even reappeared. Who is the traitor?”
“A woman by the name of Irene Ultio. Does the name ring a bell? She has served in the Ninth Division for Four hundred years, her service starting only a year after yours did in the Fifth.”
“Never heard of her,” I replied shaking my head, “I made it a point to have very little interactions with the Ninth Division.”
“Not surprising,” Michael continued, “She was fairly mediocre. No major accomplishments to her name, but no major demerits either. She blended into the crowd quite well, and it was only after her defection that she drew people’s attention. A more detailed background check dug up some rather interesting information.”
“Any of it relevant to me?”
Michael placed down the cup, his smile disappearing for the first time. “Very. For a start, she is from the same realm as you, and more importantly, her real name is not Ultio. Her full name is Irene Corvus. She is the daughter of Cylon Corvus, the emperor you overthrew so long ago.”
My mind blanked as soon as I heard the name. Unbridled rage flared inside of me. My vision turned green and flames violently roared to life, filling the room with my fury.
The image of Michael flickered unsteadily as it nearly collapsed from the sudden outburst of power. I slammed my fist against the wall, leaving black scorch marks on the marble.
A survivor of the Corvus family! They actually have the gall to crawl out from their hole and return to this realm.
The flames began to flicker and dim, not because my rage lessened, but because the energy in my body was completely emptied out with a single outburst.
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“Where is she?” I growled at Michael.
He simply shrugged. “We know she has returned to her home realm shortly before your death fifty years ago, but after that, the information goes dark. You closed off all the doorways so I could not get any updates from the few spies I have left in your realm. I would guess she has changed her name again, but even a mediocre soldier in the Endless War should still stand out in a lower realm if you know to look for them.”
“Fifty years! You have known about this for fifty years? I have lived an entire life and died a second time since then! We fought together countless times. Why did you not tell me sooner?”
“Telling you would only create a needless distraction. There are no doorways back to your realm, and short of dying again, no way you could do anything about it even if I told you. It would have interfered with the mission.”
“Forget your blasted mission,” I raged, “You have spent over a thousand years fighting the Demons and you are no closer to wiping them out now than you were then. This is my home. If I had known, I could have prepared. Now, because of you, my enemy has had fifty years of preparation, and I have nothing. No soldiers, no power, no allies, how am I supposed to fight against this by myself!”
Michael's eyes narrowed. My rage was instantly extinguished, replaced with cold fear. I had said too much.
“You are a member of the Aevus family. The mission is the reason you are alive today. It is the price of the power I gave you. It will always come first, never forget that.”
“Yes, I know,” I replied solemnly, “I lost my temper. I will never neglect the mission.”
“Good. I know your hatred of the Corvus family better than anyone, which is why I did not tell you. That does not mean I did nothing to prepare for your battle. Traitors cannot be left alive, and defending a world against Envy obviously falls under the mission’s parameters. I left a pawn for you in the north, a man by the name of Svend. With his help, as well as a few other pieces I scattered around, you might be able to stand up to Envy’s army.”
“I should have known,” I said with a sigh, “You always do things like this, planning decades in advance for a possibility of victory. In the future, I wish you would tell me if something like this happens. I have learned a lot about trust recently, you should try it sometime.”
“Trust is a luxury of the stupid. Only the results matter,” Michael replied dismissively.
“And that is why we do not serve under you in the Fifth Division anymore,” I replied shaking my head, “One day you will find yourself standing alone. Your mission will be your only companion. If you have nothing else to say, leave. I am starting to get a headache, and if you transmit into my head for much longer it will not go away for weeks.”
Michael pause, the image of him began to fuzz and fade. He raised his glass in a toast. His smile returned. Before he disappeared completely, I heard him speak. “Despite what you may believe, I am… happy you are doing well. For whatever it is worth, I hope you can find a way to quell the hatred in your heart. Do not end up like me, forever consumed by revenge.”
I chunked another decoration at the fading figure. The small glass figurine shattered as it passed through his body harmlessly and hit the wall. The figure faded completely, leaving me alone in the empty room.
“Like you have any right to lecture me,” I mumbled at nothing.
I swept up the broken glass as I contemplated what I had learned. A Ninth division traitor explained a lot of what I had seen since my revival. The resources to create lot twenty-three on this scale would have been massive. The fact that there was a surviving member of the Corvus family would mean that they would know many secrets of this realm. There were many base locations and material deposits that even I did not know about, but a member of the previous dynasty would have had that information.
The fact that the Ninth Division techniques had spread in the Novus empire also suggested their involvement. The techniques openly spread were not advanced enough to be a threat to Envy, but more than enough to ingratiate oneself into the royal court.
Even during the Demonkin outbreak at the capital, there had been a traitor hiding the rift used in the attack. Though I doubt that she did it herself, it proved at least one traitor was working against the realm.
If a traitor had King Sebastian’s ear, there was no way he would simply hand my Chronicle over willingly. Someone from the divisions would be able to tell what I had done with it. They would never allow me to regain my full power without a fight.
My only hope was the pawn Michael left in the north. For all his faults, Michael was a master in his field. If this Svend could help me get rid of the traitor before the invasion, we could prepare without worrying about being stabbed in the back.