Chapter 84

The sound of hundreds of voices echoed in the room.  The Dominion had a more extensive territory, but between the clans and the groups of the Light, the representatives of the Dominion were outnumbered.  I knew that was an unbalance that had to be included in the discussions, but for the moment it wasn’t the most pressing matter to discuss.

The people from the cruise had prepared a room and had divided it into three sections.  In the front of each section the three representatives of each power were seated, while behind them the ones representing each nation or group, the ones that would be the voices of their people were sitting.  Behind them was another section where a few more people, myself included, were waiting as observers, for the meeting to start.

“Silence, please!” Yu called to order.  “Please, we need silence to start this meeting.  You all have your universal translators?  Because of the number of languages that we all have, it will be better for everyone of you to activate them to avoid misunderstandings.”

“The translators were given to each person walking into the room, I trust everyone has one,” William said.  “If no one has anything to add or do before this, then I call for this meeting to start.”

“I think this reunion is very important, we are about to make history in this room.  Nothing will be the same once we leave this place.  Because of that, I believe that we need to take this seriously, and make sure we act with total confidence and freedom,” Stone said.

“I agree completely,” Melchizedek said, his eyes turning to me.

“I believe there shouldn’t be any outside interference during this process.  We can’t risk the results of this meeting to be affected by anyone.”

“I think we all agree on that,” William replied, “what’s your point?  Where are you going with this?”

“I think we shouldn’t allow Kaiserin to be here during the meeting,” was Stone’s answer.  “We all know how strong she is and the influence she has over many of the people here.  From the beginning I rejected the idea of having observers during the meeting, but it’s her presence in particular that I think shouldn’t be tolerated.  We can’t ignore the risk she represents, she could take this chance to take over the world.”

Everyone around me started talking at the same time, the volume was rising, but still a few voices could be heard over others.

“That’s stupid.”

“I agree.”

“How dare you!”

“Get her out of here!”

“Silence!” William finally said.  “We won’t get anywhere by talking all at the same time.  I think that we should take turns talking, we need to respect everyone’s right to speak and don’t interrupt each other, otherwise we will never reach an agreement.”

“If you allow me, King William, I would like to speak first,” one of the representatives from the Dominion said.  “I don’t see the point of denying Kaiserin to be here.  It’s absurd to think she will use this meeting to take control.  We are talking about a woman that had all the control of the Dominion, and let it go.  Not just that, she freed us from a very difficult situation and gave us back our old power.  If she wanted, she could have seized control of the Dominion, and if I understand correctly, she could have fought her way to the top of the Dark Empire.  With that kind of power, taking over the rest of the world would have been easy.  Why set us free, give us the weapons we needed and then walk away from power just to take it back by force?”

“We all know that Stone is after reelection, and we also know that a few very vocal leaders still resent the power that Kaiserin has.  Stone is trying to use that resentment to secure her reelection, not realizing that the people that supports and respects Kaiserin is the majority, even if we are not as vocal as the others,” Natasha said, speaking out of turn and not minding it at all.

“This is something that we can solve easily,” another of the leaders, one that I recognized as one of Jeong’s contacts said, “we simply need to vote on it, and I’m pretty sure most of us will agree to let her stay.”

“I think we are giving her too much credit,” another voice said, “a lot of you keep thinking that she still has our best interests on mind, but we can’t forget that her family is part of the Empire and that her loyalty could be divided.”

“That’s something we worried about at the beginning,” Pompeyo said, “but that changed as time went by.  I realized she will never put the Empire over the Dominion, but is also true that she won’t benefit the Dominion at the expense of the Empire.  Anyway, I think we are blowing this out of proportion, she is here only as an observer, after all, she won’t even be part of any discussion.”

“That’s a good observation, as an observer, she doesn’t exactly have any role.  But we need to think that if we are going to exclude Kaiserin from the meeting, we will need to get rid of all observers, that’s only fair,” Yu said.  “Anyway, I don’t see why we need to lose our time discussing something so superficial when we have important matters to attend.  I think we should take this opportunity to explore the voting method we are going to use, and propose that the first matter to put on vote to be: should observers stay or go?”

“If I’m allowed to give my opinion,” Melchizedek cut in, “I think it’s very noble what you are trying to do, but if a sole person’s presence can cause so much trouble, wouldn’t be easier just to ask her to leave?”  I had been feeling pretty good with the show of support people was giving me, but Melchizedek’s words made me feel betrayed.  I never expected him to treat me like that.  “As an observer, she won’t be part of our discussions, and because of that her presence it’s not necessary.  She will be able to access all the information about the meeting later, I’m sure more than one person would be willing to share everything with her.  She won’t be missing anything.”

“I think the same,” Stone said, “she is not needed here, and the risk of her taking over and affecting our minds is less if she is not here.  Despite the blind faith some of you seem to have, I’m sure many people will feel better if she is away.”

I realized that I didn’t have any choice but to leave the place, it looked like my presence was only going to cause trouble for everyone, but that didn’t mean I was happy about it.

“Melchizedek is right, I will find out what happens in this room one way or the other.  You don’t need me here because I won’t be part of the conversation.  But in the same way, nothing that happens here is going to chance just because I’m in the room.  What are you so afraid of, Stone?  Why do you insist on sending me away?  You know very well that if I wanted to take control, there’s nothing you could do about it.  My power goes beyond what you could imagine, and the fact that I’m not using it should be proof enough of my good will.  But if what you want is to deny me the chance of being part of something I have been working my whole life to accomplish, then I will grant you that wish.”

I heard some voices calling my name, at the same time someone was calling for order in the room.  Some of the other observers left the room after me.  I wasn’t sure if they were acting in solidarity or were leaving before someone had the chance to ask them to leave.  I started to walk with no real destination in mind until I found myself in one of the cruise’s terraces, watching the ships floating around the cruise.  Malkia and Ethan moved to stand on both sides of me, watching the horizon with me, showing me their support.  Greca hadn’t been in the room with us, but I was sure that if she had, she would have been there with us.

“Couldn’t you see what was going to happen?” Alukah asked, making fun of me.  “Aren’t you supposed to be a seeress?  You could have saved yourself the humiliation.”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Ratu answered for me, “besides, so many seers in the place make everything around the meeting hard to see.”

“We are at a crossroad, in a hard time to see, with so many seers involved, it becomes more difficult to see something already hard to see.”

“Then you can’t see what’s going to happen to my sister?” Alukah asked.

“Your sister has many paths to choose from, so nothing is decided yet.  A lot depends on what happens on today’s meeting.  The most probable path is one when all come to an agreement that takes us into a new era of peace and prosperity.  But that peace and prosperity can take many faces, and I’m not sure which one it’s going to take.  There are some spots I can’t see yet.  So I will have to wait, just like everyone else.”

“Don’t worry,” Ratu told her, “everything will be fine.  You know my brother will support you in all you need.”

More people started gathering in the place, and Greca’s arrival confirmed my suspicion that her siblings thought I needed the support.  In truth, I was feeling betrayed, and I really wanted to be there.  History was being written right at that moment and I deserved to be there, not outside after getting kicked out of there.  I needed to accept that Mlechizedek hadn’t been acting in bad faith by trying to stop a fight, but I still expected more from him.  He had always been my support, an unconditional friend.

The silence around me was heavy, but at the same time it wrapped me in a secure feeling.  Those people were there for me.  I could feel it.  I would have their support while I waited for the meeting to end.

Chapter 80

As soon as I started to come back, I noticed the smell of delicious food, and realized right away that I was starving.  I opened my eyes and saw the dishes in front of me immediately, not wasting any time I took the closest one and started eating.  I realized with the first bite that Kimball was the one responsible for cooking such a delicious meal, I could recognize it any place.

I heard laughter and when I turned to the origin or the sound I found Kimball, I extended my hand to him and as soon as he took it I pulled him closer so I could steal a kiss from him.  More laughter and a groan made me finally realize we weren’t alone in the room, in fact, we were still in the same room as before I had gone into the fog.

“It’s good to have you back with us,” Kimball said as we ended the kiss, “you got us worried for a while.”

“How long was I in trance?”

“Several hours,” Ethan said, moving behind me and giving me a brief hug.

“What happened?” Pompeyo asked.  “Ratu said you were supposed to be right behind her.”

“I needed to make some things clear, and teach Fedelm a lesson so she would finally learn not to mess with me.”

“She is still in a trance,” Ratu said, she looked tired and a little worried.

“And I’m sure she will be for a while longer.  I would suggest to put an IV in her to keep her hydrated.  If she doesn’t come back in another 24 hours I will go back and make sure she comes back.”

“Is he lost?  Is that like going into the astral planes?” Alukah asked.

“It’s not the same, she is lost in time, trapped in a vision in the fog of the future, but she will be fine soon, she is strong, and part of the strength of a seer resides in the ability to find your way.  She is there because she is trying to find and help the rest of her people.”

“Some of the seers already woke up,” Inionri said.

“Those who swore their loyalty to me and promised not to hurt me or mine, that includes Ratu, were taken to the exit, the others are still trapped.  I’m really sorry, Pompeyo, but I think you will lose a couple of seers, at least.  Not all that come back are able to keep their head straight.”

“Those still there defied my orders, they deserve whatever happens to them.”

I couldn’t help but to smile at his words, the loyalty he felt toward his sister was first, and that was huge.  Ratu was about to face some difficult times and she needed all the support she could take.

“Eat,” Kimball said, pushing the plate in my direction, reminding me how hungry I was.  Even if I should have been angry at his command, I was so hungry I forgot to protest and just started eating again.

“What’s the plan?” Inionri asked.

“I think there’s not much we can do right now,” Ethan said, taking control of the situation and letting me eat in calm, “other than giving the seers an IV to keep them healthy, there nothing we can do but wait.  We still have some meetings scheduled, so I would recommend we all take as much time as we can to sleep and rest, you have the General’s breakfast in a few hours and then the meeting with the rest of the clan leaders.”

Pompeyo stared at Ethan, he knew he was right, and that it was important to keep acting as if nothing was happening, he couldn’t let the rest of the clans know that he had an issue with his own people, in fact, he needed to come up with an excuse for his action the previous day.  His only problem is that he didn’t want to follow Ethan’s advice.

“Some rest sounds great,” Maddan said.  “I can send a group of people to take care of the seers and then prepare a different room for tomorrow’s meeting… or move the meeting for later.  What do you think, Emperor?”

“Go ahead.  Sleep sounds good right now.  Tomorrow we will take care of Fedelm and will decide what to do with the other seers.  Maybe it’s time to change some things, their isolation has made them think they are not part of the clan, and they can’t forget who is in charge here.  I’m afraid that I will have a very serious talk with Fedelm once she wakes up.”  Pompeyo looked at his sister and I could tell they were having a silent conversation.  I didn’t need to hear to know what they were talking about, or to tell they were thinking about the brother they shared, Fedelm’s son.  Anything they did would end up affecting him, and apparently neither of them wanted that.

Little by little people left the room, a group came in to take care of Fedelm, but other than them, me and my family were the only ones in the room, even Antrax had left at some time.  When my hunger was satisfied, I started to feel tired.

“I think it’s time to go,” Kimball said, taking me into his arms.

“Let me down!” I demanded immediately, but he only shook his head and kept walking.

“At this time only guards are walking through the hallways, and even if that wasn’t the case, you must be exhausted, and it’s my right to take care of you, so you will have to endure my help.”

I tried to get angry at Kimball, but it was hard, so I just allowed him to carry me to the room.  Even if the time we had to rest was short, I felt so much better when he woke me up for the meeting.  As usual, he had everything ready to start a new day.

Everyone was curious about what had happened the previous day, but Pompeyo didn’t allow them to move from the main topics of discussion, it was necessary to reach an agreement before the other leaders left for their respective clans.

“What’s most important right now is that those who share a border with the Rebel Clans talk to Malkia so you can agree on how to conduct negotiations with them.  I also have to insist for you to start thinking how you want to deal with the people from the other world powers.  Soon we will be opening for trade with the Rebel Clans, the new Light People and the Dominion.  All of this can be good for you, if you just allowed it to be.”

Most of the clans’ resistance was gone, a few weren’t convinced yet, and I was sure that in the next few weeks, or maybe months there would be some conflicts, but Pompeyo had changed a lot and his reign was very strong, I trusted he was going to be able to face any issues presented to him.  Besides, I was there to help in any way I could.  For me it was very important to make sure my clan was doing well, despite what some of them thought.

Once the meeting was over, they announced the time and place for the feast that would close all festivities that year.  There were a few hours to go before the feast and I still had a few things to talk about to Pompeyo.  Luckily, he was thinking the same, and before I walked away, he sent me a psychic message letting me know he wanted to meet with me in another, smaller, room.

I arrived with Kimball and found that Pompeyo wasn’t alone, both Ratu and Inionri, as well as Alukah and Maddan were with him.

“What’s going on?”

“Fedelm is awake, and it seems that most of the seers also woke up, Fedelm says that those that aren’t awake are already lost,” Pompeyo said.

“If you wish it, I can go into the fog and look for them, I told them I would only help if they turned their backs on Fedelm, but I think we are past that at the moment, we can forget about that, and their minds will already be affected, one way or another for being on that place for so long.”

“Do it, if you want, but as I said, they ignored my orders, therefore they are not a priority.”

“But we do have a problem we want to discuss with you,” Inionri said, “Fedelm insists that Ratu needs proper training to focus and control her powers, and that if she doesn’t agree she will face problems sooner or later, and will most likely end up lost in the fog.”

“That’s not entirely wrong.  One of the reasons Melchizedek asked me to visit him before I woke up as a seeress was because he wanted to offer to be my teacher, he knew I would need that help.  I have to be honest, I’m not the best option to teach Ratu, and I could offer Fatima’s help, but she told me herself that Ratu’s potential is bigger than hers, and even if Fatima has been a great help to me, I also had Melchizedek and Sofia to guide me, and they are two of the most powerful seers in the world.”

“What are you trying to say?  You won’t help me?” Ratu asked, angry.  I was about to remind her that I had already helped her by giving her the protection she needed to stay away from Fedelm, but she was right, my help wasn’t much good if I couldn’t help her to control her powers.

“I have a better idea, in fact.  We already talked about how important it is to have a presence in the Dominion, and about the possibility of sending an Ambassador to act as a bridge between the Empire and the Dominion.”

“I thought we already had one, with you,” Pompeyo interrupted.

“But I can’t be all the time in Capital City, I have other responsibilities.  Having someone there full time is in your best interest.”

“I don’t get it, I thought we were here to talk about my daughter, not the relationship between the Empire and the Dominion.”

“Queen Sofia is one of the best seeress in the world, and she lives in Capital City, I’m sure if I ask her, she will have no problem teaching Ratu all she needs to control her powers,” for a moment they were silent, they were finally understanding my point.

“Do you want me to go into hostile territory and put myself in the hands of a woman I don’t know?” Ratu asked.

“If I thought you would be at risk, I wouldn’t suggest it, but you will be safe there.  Capital City is a place that was created as a way to have a neutral place where all the countries in the Dominion could co-exist.  It has a strong military presence which only job is to keep peace and stop fights between members of the Dominion, that would include you.  You only have to stay there long enough for Sofia to teach you what you need to survive in the fog and be at peace with your visions.”

“When you went into the fog you asked Kimball to contact Melchizedek and Sofia, but it was Melchizedek who came to your aid,” Pompeyo pointed out.

“Sofia was asleep, because of the time zones it was easier to contact Melchizedek, but if he hadn’t been available, I’m sure that Sofia would have come help her,” Kimball said, “she owes us a lot, and will do whatever she can to pay.  You can trust her.”

“What do you think?” Pompeyo asked his sister.

“In a way I would feel better if it was Kaiserin who taught me what I need to know about clairvoyance, but if she thinks this is for the best, then I obviously would prefer the best.  My only goal is to be useful to you and our people, and if that woman, Sofia, is the best, that’s what I want.  If being there also helps us, I will do that, I’m not afraid of anything.”

“I know, I know you are not afraid, but right now all I want is what’s best for you.”

“And I can assure you Sofia is the best.  Besides, she only needs a few months.  If she is not looking for a position like Fedelm’s, all she needs is to learn the basics to be able to live with her visions without going crazy or losing herself in time.  It could be a short time, or longer, depending on her wants and needs, but I’m sure that’s for the best.  We will be leaving tomorrow, but if you need more time to think about this, all you need to do is call me and I will come for you and take you to Sofia.”

“I don’t think I need more time, I will be ready to leave tomorrow.”

After a while, each of us went our separate ways, we still needed to get ready for the feast, and I knew Ratu needed some time alone with her family.  I knew that her problems with Fedelm had affected her family relationships, Fedelm had been, after all, one of my brother’s women, but as much as it pained me, I had never been part of that family.  My fight with Fedelm in the fog had made it clear who was stronger between us, and also had proven that we would never be able to be on the same side.

Ch 78-b

“The Emperor asked me to see him alone,” Malkia reminded Antrax.

“I know that we have to obey the Emperor’s orders, technically, but there is no way I will let you walk inside that room by yourself.  Not long ago, Pompeyo was doing his best to kill you, and even if your mother left quite the impression here, I won’t risk him thinking it’s worth it to make her mad to get rid of you.”

“I can take care of myself,” Malkia reminded her partner.

“In most cases I would agree with you, but he is the Emperor, besides, he may not be alone, so you won’t be alone either.”

Malkia decided not to argue anymore, in part because she agreed to what Antrax was saying.  From the moment she had received Pompeyo’s letter asking for a meeting, she had been nervous.  She had considered contacting her mother for a moment and ask for advice, but then had decided it was time to make her own decisions and decided to risk it and go see what Pompeyo wanted.  And she was ready to fight, in case she needed to.

When they went into the Throne Room, they found Pompeyo surrounded by his closest collaborators.  A quick scan made Malkia realize that most were not aware of the meeting.  Some were watching her with curiosity, others with open hostility, but she wasn’t about to let anyone know she found the picture a bit intimidating.

“Antrax, what a surprise, I don’t remember including you in my invitation,” Pompeyo said.

“Since Malkia is my partner and the mother of my son, I thought my invitation was implicit,” Antrax said back, and the tension between the two of them was back with a force.  Even if Pompeyo hadn’t tried anything else against us, his last attack hasn’t been forgotten, or forgiven.

“I don’t think this is the right place for our talk,” Pompeyo said, looking around.  “Join me for dinner, it will give us a better chance to talk.  Alukah, Ratu.”

Pompeyo didn’t wait for agreement, he just started walking, trusting he was going to be followed, and he was.  Alukah and Ratu took their places on either side of him, his five guards fanning behind him.  Malkia and Antrax didn’t have any other choice but to follow.  They arrived at the dinning room a few minutes later and each of them took a seat.  Alukah to Pompeyo’s right, Ratu to his left, Antrax opposite to him, with Makia to his right.

“Are you going to tell me why you asked me to come to the Palace?  Or are we going to pretend you didn’t try to kill me several times?” Malkia asked, breaking the silence.  She knew the three Imperialists were using telepathy to talk among themselves, and it was a conversation she didn’t want to be excluded from.

“You need to get over it, Malkia,” Alukah said, “if you are going to let a simple thing like that affect your judgement, you are not ready to play with the grownups, and have no reason to be here.”

“I’m here because I was asked to be here, but I don’t have a problem leaving.  Not because you want me to, or because I’m scared of you, but because I have nothing to prove to any of you, and I don’t have to be here and let you insult me.”

“I have a proposal for you,” Pompeyo interrupted, “and even if Alukah doesn’t like the idea, I think it’s a good one.  I know that our relationship didn’t start in a good way, and I know I let myself get carried away.  You existence was a threat to my government, and since my position was in question, you were a risk for me.”

“Even the Rebel Clans recognized you before recognizing us,” Ratu added, “something that most members of the clan noticed.  You saw yourself the kind of support your mother still has, and before she came here, that support could be easily been given to you.”

“I never tried to take Pompeyo’s position for myself, I wasn’t even here to fight for the throne, and never challenged for the position.”

“The problem is that you didn’t need to, the problem was what you represented.  There were several internal groups that wouldn’t have doubted to use you for their purposes, and few people are able to ignore the temptation to acquire the kind of power that being the Emperor gives,” Ratu said.

“But instead of punishing you for something that could happen, I should have focused on neutralizing those that still opposed me.  Being Emperor is not easy, and it took me some time to get the recognition I deserve.  Your existence, and then your mother’s visit, made a difficult process even harder for me.  But now that my enemies are out of my way and my throne is secure, I realize that some of my actions were unfair.  The fact that Molpadia, Queen of the Amazons said that you were destined to unite the clans affected my judgement, until I realized there are many ways of uniting the clans.”

“All of this is very confusing, and I have no idea what are you trying to say.”

“You have Imperial blood, and are, therefore, part of us.  You don’t have to be the problem, you can be the solution.  From what I have heard about the Dominion, and your brother, as odd as it seems, I have realized that there are many ways to reach stability.  Because of that I have an offer for you.”

“For some reason this feels like a trap,” Antrax said.

“What’s your offer?” Malkia asked.

“I think this is a stupid idea,” Alukah said.

“We want to change things, to stop the fighting.  For a long time we have had a tenuous truce with the Rebel Clans, but we want a formal alliance.  It won’t be an official one, not in the sense that they won’t answer to us, but we want to be open to trade, and find another way to resolve our differences without resorting to fighting,” Pompeyo explained.  “We need someone working for us to be our representative with them, and since you already have open doors to deal with them, we think you are the right person for the job.”

“They think,” Alukah said, making it clear she wasn’t in agreement with what they were proposing.

“You want to send Malkia into the enemy’s territory?  Let her at the mercy of our enemies?”  Antrax wasn’t happy with the proposal, to him, it was just another trap from the Empire, another way to get rid of Malkia.

“If something was clear from our last meeting with the Rebel Clans is the great respect they have for Kaiserin and Kimball.  I’m sure that none of them would do anything to hurt Malkia, out of respect for them.  We are not sending her there because we think we will get rid of her that way, but because we think that she is the right person to represent us, and to open communication with them,” Ratu said.

“What’s your plan?  What do you want to accomplish with this?” Malkia asked, she was interested in what they wanted to say.  She liked the idea, as weird as it sounded, it was something she was willing to explore.

“Frist of all, I want an agreement that there won’t be any attacks between our groups.  After that, we will have to establish some kind of agreement about what is allowed, and what isn’t, and how are we going to punish those that doesn’t follow the rules.  I want to have a system that allows collaboration between us and prevents attacks.  Like Kaiserin said, a war between our groups could do a lot of damage.  From what I have heard about their work in the north, I think they will be willing to consider our proposal.”

“And you want me to convince them it is a good idea?”

“It is a good idea,” Ratu said, “and if someone can convince them of that, it’s you, at least you will be heard.  I’m sure they will be interested in it, they have been working on something like that with their clans, and if they have the chance to do the same with us, they will take the chance.  Especially if it’s you working as the bridge between our groups.”

“You basically want Malkia to do your dirty work, and to suffer the consequences if something goes wrong.  But I have to remind you, she is part of the Assassins, she is the Queen of our clan.”

“She is, as much as it pains me, also part of this clan,” Pompeyo said.  “In fact, as Kaiserin said a lot of times, she has access or claim to every family.  We want her to work as our ambassador, to represent us before the Rebel Clans and present our ideas.  She doesn’t need to leave your clan for that, all she needs is for us to recognize her as one of ours.”

“You don’t have to make a decision right now,” Ratu added, “but it’s a good solution, just think about it.  As our Ambassador you will have the authority to represent us before the other clans, and solve conflicts between our groups.  You would also be in charge of an especial group that would help with the security of our borders, something like an especial forces unit.”

“The idea is for it to have representatives from both the Dark Empire and the Rebel Clans, and if that group becomes a reality, you would be the representative from the Imperial side.  And before you say anything, just think that with the technology we got from the Dominion, it would be possible to have meetings and keep communication at a distance, so you wouldn’t even have to be away from the Assassins’ Clan for that long.  Of course the initial meetings have to be in person, and the reunions about important issues would have to be too, but most of the work could be done at a distance.”

“It seems you have been thinking about this for a long time.”

“I have been thinking about something like this since I had the initial meeting with the people from the Dominion.  It can be the same as what they have, because I know that the Rebel Clans won’t accept to be under our control, but we can find another way to solve our differences and work together that doesn’t involve constant fighting.  As Ratu said, you don’t have to make a decision right now, let’s focus on eating and I will give you time to think about it, and you can give me your answer later.”

Malkia let the conversation move to other topics and focused on her food.  She could see, and feel that Antrax wasn’t happy with the offer, but the opportunity appealed to Malkia.  She had never really considered being part of the Imperial Clan, she was happy with her life, but at the same time, the chance to be and do more, was quite attractive.  The challenge of facing other people and making hard decisions in the name of her people, was tempting.

Her first thought was to talk to her mother, but at the same time, it was something she had to do by herself.  She knew that the connections that Kaiserin had with the Rebel Clans were the reason she had been chosen, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t make it by herself.

The rest of the dinner went by as in a dream, Malkia couldn’t stop thinking about the offer and what it would take.  Unlike Antrax, she didn’t believe it was a trap to get rid of her, and even if they were using her, she couldn’t blame Pompeyo for taking every advantage he had at his disposal.  It was true that she had a great advantage over the others, no one in the north would dare attack her for fear of making Kaiserin mad, besides, if she got into a situation that she couldn’t handle by herself, she was sure her mother would be there to help her.  The offer was getting more and more attractive as time went by, the only obstacle was Antrax.

Chapter 77

I could see the battle getting heated in the distance.  I could feel a weird energy permeating the place, and I was worried something bad could happen.  Less than a week was not enough time to train a warrior in the use of his powers, but that was all the time the people in the area had before they were forced to defend their borders.  The area they had already claimed for the revolution was at risk of falling back into the hands of the Kingdom.

The mastery over their powers that you could see in the soldiers of the kingdom was very different from the lack of control I had witnessed from the rebels in their training.  I was mad at the hypocrisy of the situation, and it reminded me of Ilum, the woman that had become a slave for the crime of using her powers.  I knew that she believed in the rules that she had broken and felt she deserved her punishment, even if she had done what she had needed to do.  But now I could see how some of their people had no problem training and using their powers.  What made them different?  Who got to decide who and how they could use their powers?  The whole situation made me wish I could pay another visit to those in power.

“It looks like the Light Ones are not doing so bad, but it would be so much easier if they were willing to kill their adversaries instead of insisting in capturing them” Aluka said.  She was watching the battle with a mix of curiosity and disdain.

“As I told you before, it’s not easy for them to justify taking someone’s life, they had been taught that all life is precious,” I reminded her.

“I don’t see their opponents having the same problem.  It’s kind of hypocritical of them to preach respect for people’s life and be able to attack like that, with no regard for consequences.”

“You are right about that, most of what they do, goes against everything they preach.  They always find a way to justify their action, and even when they have no sense, they only have to say that their Goddess spoke directly to them and allowed them to do whatever they want.  It’s one of the main issues Melchizedek has with them, he hates that they do what they tell others not to.  Melchizedek wants to establish a new church where their teachings matches their actions.”

“That sounds like a good scam, I’m not surprised it worked for so long.”

“It is true for Melchizedek, so please, avoid saying anything negative about it in front of him.”

“I won’t promise anything,” Alukah said, and I turned to face her, ready to defend my position and made her understand how important that was, but I noticed something odd about her.

Alukah’s posture had gone rigid, and I could see she was using her powers.  I used my own powers to understand what was happening, and I noticed she was taking energy from one of the warriors.  First of all, I couldn’t help but be impressed by her range, the distance to the man she was taking energy from was considerable, then I noticed it was one of our own she was targeting and was about to interfere when I realized that the energy she was taking was unstable.  I only needed a few seconds to understand what was going on, the person that Alukah was taking energy from was at the brink of getting a psychic headache and having his powers go out of control, but if I was reading the situation correctly, Alukah’s actions were decreasing the risk of that happening.  We were supposed to be there as observers, so I wasn’t expecting her to get involved, but even if her actions weren’t part of the plan, they were going to help us, so I decided not to let her know I knew about it, I didn’t want Alukah to stop doing what she was doing.

“The battle is turning to our side,” I said, not mentioning her intervention.

“In our allies side,” she corrected, putting distance between us and them.  “But I think that with this we can say we are fulfilling our side of the deal.  If they win, we can say we did our jobs, and once all of this is done, we will be able to ask them for their side of the bargain.”

“It won’t be fast or easy,” I said, but she didn’t comment on that.

The battle ended soon after that, with the rebels having a better control of their powers, despite the short time they had been training, it was possible for them to subdue the kingdom forces without casualties, in part thanks to the weapons given to them by the Imperialists.  I could feel the relief from the people at being able to end the fighting without having to kill their opponents.  Even if most people hated the royal family, the people they were fighting against only represented them, but were in reality their neighbors, friends, cousins and siblings, and no matter what side they were on, they didn’t wish to harm them.

Alukah disappeared after everything calmed down and the rebels took control.  I knew she had gone to the place the rebels had assigned to her in the camp.  For a moment I considered visiting her, but then I decided it would be better to give her some space.  I still wasn’t sure why she had interfered with the fight after saying she didn’t want to be involved.  I wasn’t sure if she had acted like that because she was doing her job, or because she really wanted the rebels to win.  There were many explanations for her actions, but it was hard to guess her true motivations, she was strong enough to notice if I tried to find the answers in her mind, and since she was barely tolerating me, I didn’t want to risk discovery.  I felt like I just needed a little bit more time to get her to move to the next level in our relationship.

Once they finished with the dirty work, the injured were attended and the prisoners secured, the group got the chance to celebrate their victory.  It wasn’t their first one, but by the atmosphere in the place, it looked like it was.  I knew that the way they had secured their victory had a lot to do with their festive mood.  It wasn’t the same to win over your enemy by killing them, than to win by not only saving the lives or your people, but the lives of those against you, those you wanted to convert to your side.

Since I knew they had everything under control, I decided to go back to where Melchizedek and his family were camping, after making sure that Alukah didn’t have other plans for that day, of course.  Not only Melchizedek was desperate for news, but the rest of the leaders wanted to know the results of the battle, they needed to make sure that the training and the weapons given by the Imperialists were worth it.  When some of the leaders unwilling to accept the Imperialists’ help started to ask for a meeting with Alukah, I found another possible reason for her actions, and I had to recognize it had been a good strategy.

After a long night of discussions with some of the leaders, about what we were doing and what was going to be done, I finally had the chance to retreat to my room, even if I didn’t have much chance to rest.  The next morning I was up before the sun was up, but I wasn’t the only one.  By the time I went into the kitchen, Mistral was already there, preparing breakfast.

“Did you sleep well?” she politely asked.

“Not well enough.  I’m thinking it’s time to go back to my home, everything seems to be going well in here and I have work to do in Aquarium.  Besides, I miss Kimball,” Mistral smiled at my last comment, but then she turned serious again.

“Some of the leaders are considering taking up the offers from the Dark Ones.  Aren’t you going to be here for the negotiations?”

“I’m guessing Alukah will be back later today, I will decide how to proceed once I get the chance to talk to her, but even if she agrees to new negotiations, I don’t expect to stay more than a couple of days.  I hope even less.  I think things here are moving along nicely, if all keeps going smoothly, you will get your independence in no time.”

“Are you sure we can trust your niece?  I was talking to my mom and she is not sure she has our best interest in mind.”

“And your mother would be correct, Alukah is a selfish person by nature, but she is also a warrior, she will do as she was told, and for the moment her orders are to secure alliances between the different groups in the Light and the Empire.  It’s a good idea to keep an eye on her, but she is a woman of her word, and if she says she will do something, you can trust she will.”

“So, for example, if she says she will train our people, we can trust she will, but that doesn’t mean she will teach us everything she knows, only that she will teach us what we need.”

“Exactly, that’s what I mean.  Trust her word, but look for loopholes in her promises.  I’m sure she is not planning anything against you, but at the same time I know she is watching and learning, and we need to be careful what she does with that information.  But at the end of the day, it doesn’t really depend on her, she has to answer to Pompeyo, and as long as he thinks these alliances are necessary, you are safe.”

“I get that, but I must say, live was easier when I believed that everyone meant what they said.”

“But that’s not reality, not everywhere, and it’s important that you know that, that way you won’t be taken by surprise by your enemies.  It’s better if you see the world as it really is, if you go through life with your eyes wide open.  You must learn who you can trust in, and who you can’t.  There are a lot of good people, you just have to find them.”

“I know that, people like you and my father give me hope, still, people I thought I could trust ended up being false and that makes me sad.  Everything would be so much better if everyone would do what they preach, if everyone spoke the truth.”

“That would be nice, but I’m afraid that human nature it’s tricky.  No matter how cruel it seems, there are people in this world, that despite the way there were raised, ends up wanting more than they have and has no problem stepping over others to get what they think they deserve.  Compared to that, Alukah is quite straightforward, you know she wants something, and even if she doesn’t say directly what it is, you know her intentions, but unlike others, she is driven by her honor, you know that she will honor her promises.”

I kept going over my conversation with Mistral for the rest of the day, and talking to Soturi confirmed that she felt the same, and in a way, her fears were even worse than those of her daughter, not that I was surprised, Soturi have had a chance to experience first hand just how bad the Dark Ones could be.  Still, I was worried that the lack of trust could affect the relations between our people.

Alukah managed to convince a couple more leaders to join the alliance with them, mostly because of the battle the local group had won.  I knew that in a way she had cheated by using her powers to make sure there were no accidents, but I also knew she was doing a great job training the Light Ones, and that it was important to help them build their confidence.  Even Melchizedek, who could see the future and see if there was a risk of the situation getting out of control, seemed confident that all would be ok.  So, after analyzing the situation and making sure they didn’t need me anymore, I decided it was time to go.

When I told them I wanted to go, Alukah said it was time for her to go as well, that she needed to talk to the Emperor.  She would be going back alone, leaving the rest of her people there to act as coaches and trainers to the groups there.  I took some time to go over the minds of the warriors that were staying behind to make sure none of them had an order or a plan that could affect the people in the Light, but everything checked out.  Of course, as highly trained warriors, it was possible that they were hiding something, but as I had told Mistral, we needed to trust them, at least a little bit.

The journey back felt much faster, and with less people and lighter load it was normal that it was moving faster.  Even traveling alone, Alukah’s attitude remained the same, the only difference was that it was easier for my people to notice, since they were the only ones around, I could tell they were getting tired of her attitude very fast.  I knew that her lack of respect was going to cause trouble for her, but I wasn’t sure if that was a lesson I wanted her to learn, or something I wanted to spare her.

At the end, it was Fatima who solved the problem, surrounding Alukah in a bubble of silence, so none of us could hear her sarcastic comments or complaints.  When she realized what had happened, she got mad, but the bubble also acted as a power barrier, so she couldn’t send her powers outside of the bubble’s field, and since no one else was inside the area of effect, she didn’t have anyone to attack.  She was smart enough to know that it was not a good idea to start a fight up in the air.

By the time we arrived at the stop where we had first taken the helicopter, Alukah was calm again, that didn’t mean she wasn’t angry or that she had a better attitude.  The fact that I was better than her at her own game was enough for me to let most of her attitude go, I didn’t need to fight her to prove anything, I was the most powerful warrior in the place, and no one could deny it.

“Are you sure you don’t need us to escort you to the Palace?” I asked her again as she prepared to leave.

“I don’t need you, I’m capable of taking care of myself,” she answered.

“You still don’t get it, do you?” I asked.  “We are family, we are allies, there is no need to be this aggressive.  I know you don’t really trust me, and I have to admit I kind of feel the same way about you, but sooner or later we will have to leave all that behind so we can start this new era without problems.”

“I don’t see why I had to repeat myself, I can’t trust you while your loyalty is divided, I can trust you not to sell us to your friends in the Light or your family in the Dominion.  I can’t even trust you not to turn your back on us for those people in the Rebel Clans that love you so much.  Either you are part of us, or you are not part of anyone.”

“I’m loyal to all of you, but especially to the bigger good.  Just because I don’t act the way you want me to, it doesn’t mean I don’t care about the Empire.  But you are right, it’s useless to keep discussing this with you over and over.  Go, be careful, and tell Pompeyo that he knows how to contact me if he needs me.”

“That girl is such a character,” Ivan said as Alukah’s figure faded in the distance.  “Do you want me to send someone to follow her and make sure she is ok?” he asked.

“I really doubt she will have trouble, we are in Imperial territory.  Besides, you know what she is capable of, she is and Imperial General, one of the most powerful women here, I’m sure she will be able to reach her destination without problems.”

“Still, you are worried,” Ivan said, and I couldn’t deny it.

“She will be fine,” I repeated, in part for him, in part for me.”

Chapter 76

The tension between me and Alukah could be felt from the moment we left the Palace.  Even if I was the one with the contacts and the one who knew most of the routes, Alukah insisted on taking control.  At first, I allowed her to command the caravan, but as we approached the place where the helicopter was waiting for us, I had to take back control, something Alukah didn’t appreciate.

Kimball had told me that once upon a time, air transportation used to be common place, but during the Great War the attacks destroyed the navigation systems used by them, making a lot of them useless and causing many accidents.  Many countries reduced or canceled their air travel, and the few able to navigate without instruments were recruited for war, but they all knew how important aircraft was, so the war machine started targeting the air forces of their enemies, until it practically disappeared.  When things calmed down again in the old continent, aeronautic was one of the first sciences to be resurrected, but in the zone where the Empire rested, that wasn’t the case.  Many clans had tried to craft things similar to airplanes, but the ones built in the Empire rarely managed to get much height and they were easy targets for others to shoot down, because of that nobody really cared about aircrafts.

Our group finally arrived at the spot where we were hiding the helicopter, one of the biggest ones we had, capable of moving not only our people but our vehicles as well.  The Imperialists were visibly impressed, and a little intimidated by our transportation.

“What are we waiting for?” Alukah asked after we finished loading the last of the vehicles with us.

“We are waiting for darkness.  We prefer to fly at night, because, even if the helicopter can move high enough to be out of reach of most missiles, I prefer not to let people know that we have one of those.”

“But we are wasting time, at this pace we are never going to reach our destination.”

“We will travel by night and arrive at our first stop at the Shadows in the early hours of tomorrow, we will rest a little there and then move forward to our final destination.  Since we don’t have to worry about being attacked there, it doesn’t matter when we fly.  Believe me, a journey that could take days by traditional methods only takes hours by air.”

“That sounds impossible,” Alukah said, clearly she didn’t believe me.

“Just because it’s something you don’t know, it doesn’t mean it can’t be done.  The use of this kind of aircrafts is one of the main advantages the Domain has over the Empire, this and the communication systems, that allows them to be in touch with people from regions far apart from each other.”

It was obvious she wasn’t impressed, but most of her people were.  Even after I explained what would be waiting for them during the trip, so they would be prepared, most of them ignored my suggestions, thinking that as the powerful warriors they were, they wouldn’t be having any problems during the flight, but soon after take off, I saw a few of them getting sick, and some of them hiding their fear after looking out the windows.  I decided to let them suffer for a while, so they would learn their lesson, but eventually I told them to go to sleep, so they could get over the worst of the journey.

When we arrived at our first stop, most of the Imperialists were relieved to be able to step into the ground again, but they were doing a great job trying to hide just how affected by the flight they really were.  I knew that there would be someone from the Shadows waiting for us, but I was surprised when I found out it was Mistral.

“Nina!  How was your trip?  Are you tired?  Do you need food?” she started asking as soon as I was off the plane.

“It’s a pleasure to see you!” I greeted Mistral, opening my arms to her, an invitation she quickly took.  “I don’t know if they are all hungry, you know that flying can affect some people’s stomach.  I think it will be better to first give them a chance to rest, and then give them something to eat.”

“I have the perfect tea to ease their stomachs, I will ask a few volunteers to prepare it and deliver it to your guests.  You will join us for breakfast, right?”

“Who is she?” Alukah interrupted.

“This is Mistral, my goddaughter and the daughter of Melchizedek, a powerful seer and one of the main promoters of change in the Light.  Mistral, this is my niece, General Alukah, she is the second in command of the Empire.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Mistral said happily.  “How are you feeling?  Want to join us for breakfast?”

“I’m perfectly well,” ALukah said, and I could see that indeed, she had a better color, I had noticed that during landing she had turned a little green.  Not that I blamed her, the landing had been a little rocky.

“Perfect! I will start preparing everything, you know where to go,” with that Mistral disappeared, only to reappear a few feet away to talk to some of the locals and then disappear again.

“She doesn’t seem to have a problem using her powers.”

“People from the Shadows doesn’t have the same problem using their powers as the ones from the Light.  Since they are already considered criminals, they live under a different set of rules from those in the rest of the Kingdom.  Mistral learned to use her teleportation since she was little, even if she had to block that knowledge for a few years so she could live in the Light, once she remembered about her powers, she started to use them again and managed a good level of control,” I explained to Aluka.

“You seem to know each other very well.”

“Not really.  My relationship with Mistral just resumed a few months back, and we had a few problems at first, until she remembered our time together during her childhood.  Even if our meetings have been brief during the years, our relationship had always been good.”

“That’s one of the reasons Pompeyo can’t trust you, you are too involved with this people.”

“You may see it that way, and I’m sure that some of the Light Ones share your way of thinking, that my relationships with you stop me from being fair to them, but the truth is I look for everyone’s benefit, and I would never do anything to hurt the Empire.  Even if you don’t think so, you are my people and I would never harm you.”

“Just the fact that you are not giving your all to us, if that means harming your beloved Light Ones, means that you are not on our side, you help is limited since you are not willing to hurt other people you care about, even when they don’t share your blood as we do.”

“You are way too selfish, but some day you will realize that the best way to get ahead is not by stepping over others, but by getting others to help you build a stair that can bring all of you to the next level.”

“You are talking nonsense, as usual.  I’m hungry, take me to the girl so we can be fed.”

“You keep forgetting I’m the one in control, these people are my allies, those are my warriors.  Even if I decide to let your lack of respect go, not everyone will be as forgiving as me, you may get in trouble if you keep that attitude.”

Alukah acted as if she hadn’t heard me, but I noticed a slight change in her attitude, she was calmer and avoided fighting me for the rest of the morning.  In the afternoon, we finally got to the last leg of our trip, with Mistral and a couple more Light Ones joining us.  We arrived at our destination without trouble, and by the time we landed, a group of rebels was already waiting for us.

“Alukah, allow me to introduce you to Melchizedek, he is in charge of this place and will be doing the introductions tomorrow.  Melchizedek, allow me to introduce you to General Alukah, my niece and second in command of the Empire.”

“I know who she is, and if I remember correctly she has double the family ties to you.  It must be nice to finally be with your family again.”

“It’s been quite the experience, and in most cases this generation has done a good job taking control of the Empire.  Alukah is a strong, intelligent woman, I would just like it if she stopped seeing everyone as her enemies, that would make her a better leader.”

“You know how youth is often accompanied by inexperience and bad decisions, but that can be cured with time.  I have been in the fog and I know that with you helping them along, everything will turn out just fine, at least for this visit.”

“I’m standing right here, how dare you speak about me like that?” Alukah protested.

“We’re just speaking the truth.  Nothing to get excited about.  Now, how are we going to do this?  What do you suggest?  Individual meetings or a group reunion?”

“I think it will be healthier if we have individual meetings, we don’t want to have everyone together and start a fight.  I have a list of those who are more likely to accept help, once they are in, the others will be more pressed to accept, or they will be at a disadvantage in comparison with the others.”

“For a Light One you have good ideas,” Alukah said.  “That’s a nice way of manipulating people to do what we want them to do.”

“Part of my training as a Prince in the Light included how to make people do what you want them to do.  But I have to warn you, I won’t let you take advantage of my people, if at some moment I think that your actions are against their interests, I will step in.  The only reason I agreed with all this is because I believe that we can find a solution that can benefit all of us, so don’t make me regret opening my doors to you.”

“I think it’s a little late to change your mind, you are the ones who thought this would be a good idea.  Besides, the leaders are going to be making their own decisions, they are the ones who will decide if they like our deals or not, you are just here to introduce us, the rest will depend on us, as you said.

“Don’t try to play us, Alukah,” I warned her.  “Even Pompeyo agreed it’s best to find the common ground, where both parts can benefit from the deal.  That’s what you promised, that’s what you are going to deliver.”

Despite not being sure of what Alukah was really planning, we decided to start with the introductions.  I could feel how desperate the first leader to visit us really was, but soon Melchizedek’s powers helped him relax, making it harder for Alukah to get a read on him, but she wasn’t a fool, she was actually a really good negotiator.

The first meeting went by without a problem, the second one was a little more complicated.  As Alukah had asked, we limited to introduce the participants and observe, but even if Melchizedek didn’t speak a word, his powers made it clear what he was thinking.  If he felt like the negotiation started to turn bad for the Light, his anxiety increased, affecting both Alukah and the person she was dealing with, making them both more cautious.  At the end, from the twelve leaders that had gone to the meetings, eight agreed to make a deal with the Empire.  Even if I had the feeling that Alukah wasn’t that happy with how the negotiations had turned out, none of us could really say that the end result wasn’t good for all of the parts.

It had been a long day, but at the end, I felt happy that we had made progress, even if not everyone saw it that way.  Alukah was still angry that some leaders hadn’t accepted the deal, and those leaders were angry that some had made deals with the Dark Ones.  We extended an invitation for dinner to all of them, but everyone rejected it, so I ended having dinner with Melchizedek and his family, something that I was actually happy about, having free time to talk to them to discuss everything that had happened that day was just what I needed.

The next morning, early in the morning I found Alukah in an open field near the place we were staying at.  All around us the place was full with the equipment we had brought from the Empire, she was getting ready to distribute what she had promised.  Of course not all the leaders were happy with the process, everyone wanted to be the first.

“How’s everything going?”

“They act as if only one of them could get the goods,” Alukah complained, “I already explained there is enough for everyone, as promised yesterday, they still insist on fighting over everything.”

“They are new at this, and obviously they feel like they are at a disadvantage in front of the others.”

“It’s immature and it’s starting to get on my nerves.  If things keep going like this, training will be a nightmare.”

“How are you going to deal with that part?”  I asked, with genuine curiosity.  “I think that trying to train all the groups together may lead to conflict.”

“I will divide my people between different groups and they will deal with the training.  Each and every one of them is capable of helping with the training.  I have to recognize that I wasn’t expecting them to have so much potential, even if their powers have been wasted they whole lives, I can see they had a lot of potential ready to be unleashed.  I’m not surprised that they getting out of control can cause so much destruction, the damage you can do with that much energy must be really big.”

“And something they want to avoid if possible, they want to be able to stop their enemy, not destroy them completely.”

“That’s why you wanted us to bring non-lethal weapons?  I thought it was going to be a waste of time and space, but they seem to like the idea of being able to stunt, not kill.

“Many of them are out for blood, but the ones they want to hurt are the royals, not their followers.  Besides, they have been taught their whole life that killing is bad, they can’t change their way of thinking that easily, for most of them ending a life is difficult, and many soldiers had left because of guilt.”

“That’s kind of pathetic.  What were they expecting?”

“War is a nasty deal, and it’s not the same to think you know what’s going to happen to experience war by yourself.  These are peaceful people, they are used to strict rules and a certain code of conduct, to be in battle for the first time is a really strong shock to them.  We know what to expect from an early age, and still, some people get overwhelmed during their first real battle, not imagine what it must be like to the Light Ones.”

“If they really want their freedom, they need to know that this is going to be their life from now on, this is what they need to expect moving forward.”

“Not necessarily,” Melchizedek interrupted, “the point of all of this is to avoid this kind of fighting in the future.  I know that it will be difficult at first, but I hope that in time we will be able to solve our problems and differences in a more civilized way.”

“If that’s what you think, you are sadly mistaken.  It wasn’t easy to keep his people under control, but now that they have free reign and a taste of power, they will want more.  Once they get rid of the royals, they will want to submit those around them.  They have a taste for blood now, they will keep coming for more.”

“I have to admit you are not entirely wrong, not all people have the same world view as me, and more people will look for more of the same, but I trust that most people will look for a more peaceful future.  Especially those that are willing to make deals with both the Empire and the Dominion, those deals will allow them the stability they want.”

I knew that the discussion was a waste of time, Alukah was one of those people who still dreamed about war, who idolized her ancestors and dreamed to repeat their conquests, who wanted to bathe in the glory of the battlefield as she thought they had done.  Despite following Pompeyo’s orders and doing an excellent job making the deals, finding common ground and forging long lasting alliances that would help the Empire, I could tell she still believed that the best course of action was conquering the people we were working with.

Despite the fact that I didn’t believe she would do anything to go against Pompeyo’s orders, I couldn’t help but worry that she could do something that could affect our goal to bring peace to the Light.  Even if I had promised to let her do her job without getting involved, and despite trusting her to be able to do her job, I knew that I needed to stay close and make sure she wouldn’t do something that could affect us later.  Things were pretty complicated in the Light as it was, we didn’t need someone complicating them even more.

Chapter 75

It was a great experience to arrive at the Empire and have the doors opened to me.  I wasn’t an invader, but a guest, they even had orders to take me directly to as soon as I arrived.  Part of me wanted to reject his invitation and go directly to my room so I could rest a little bit, but another part, the most sensible part, knew it was better to avoid the game and do the right thing to avoid more problems between us.  I knew there was a reason why he had called for me, and I actually had a good feeling about it.

“Greetings, Emperor, how can I be of service?” I greeted him as soon as I crossed the doors of the Throne Room.  I could see by his face and his emotions that he didn’t believe my words were sincere, that I was just following protocol.

“We have reached a decision, and I want to be very clear about this, it wasn’t about your threats or your words, but because I really think this is the best for me and the Imperialists,” his words and attitude were daring me to challenge him, but I decided to wait and see what he had in mind.  “I was thinking about what you said the last time you were here, and I decided that I want a mutually beneficial relationship with the Light, instead of just conquering them.  After all, there is more than one way of taking advantage of a situation.”

“That sounds good,” I said, with an innocence no one was buying.  “What do you have in mind then?”

“I decided that we could use our experience and weapons to help the Rebels in the Light in exchange of future goods and an advantageous trade deal with them.  As you said they were having issues with control, I thought we could send a group of warriors to help training them and give them what they need to win, of course, they will need to give us preference in any future deals.”

“I have to say, that’s really good, especially the timing, just before any other group manages to do it.  While everyone in the Dominion is scared of how it will look if they get involved, and the groups in the North are still considering dealing with the Dominion, you are going to step in and take advantage of the situation in the Light.  I just came from speaking with some groups in the Light, actually, and I believe many of them will be willing to make deals with you.  They are desperate to get any help they can get.”

“I would ask you to speak to them in my name, but I’m afraid the negotiation wouldn’t be entirely in our favor if you do that.”

“I’m offended you think and don’t have the Empire’s best interest at heart.”

“You are too involved with all the players, and that means I cannot trust you to do what’s best for us and care only for our benefit.  It’s because of that that I think it will be better to send someone else to head the negotiations, all I need you for is to organize the contact between us.”

“Someday you will realize that I’m not your enemy, Pompeyo, but until that day comes, I accept your terms.  Melchizedek is working with the leaders of many of the rebellions to establish independent governments, and I think that some of these leaders are more open than others to deal with the Dark Ones.  Of course, some groups won’t trust you.  Still, if you manage to get at least half of them to your side, that will be a big win to the Empire.  Even if some groups already have the communication technology from the Dominion, I think it will be best to meet them in person.”

“I also believe that’s the best option.  I think we could send part of the goods we have to offer so they can see what we have for them, that way the negotiations can go faster, since they will see what we are offering right away.  We will be ready to travel in a couple of days.”

“That works for me.  I will need some time to contact my people and deal with some issues, but I think a couple of days will be enough to be ready.  Of course I will like to be involved in selecting the weapons you are going to offer them, I think I have a better idea of what they might find interesting, and if I can, I would also like to help selecting the people who will be going as instructors to help find those that I think will be a better match to deal with the Light Ones.”

“I have the suspicion that even if I say no you will find a way to get involved, so I don’t see why I shouldn’t allow you to participate in the process.  You can coordinate with Maddan about the weapons, but for the instructors you will have to talk to Alukah, she is one of the persons who will go with you to talk to the Light Ones.”

“I will select the people who I think will be better suited to represent us, if one of them doesn’t meet your expectations, we can discuss it, but I will have the last word,” Alukah said, breaking her silence for the first time in the meeting.  I was quite surprised she had managed to stay silent for so long, it was clear she was one of the main forces behind decision making in the Empire.

“That sound perfect.  I will like to meet with you as soon as you have the chance to go over our options.  Right now, as I told you, I have some things to deal with and will take the rest of the day to work on them.”

I felt like I had won a huge battle by getting the Empire involved in the issues in the Light.  I had to recognize that Pompeyo had found the right angle to turn the situation into something good for the Empire.  He had to bend the Empire’s rules a little bit, but with some luck people would recognize he was doing that for everyone’s sake.  I also was having a little thrill thinking that with that move, he was stepping ahead of the Dominion.  Even if Camil was working tirelessly to do what was best for everyone, at the end, I knew that the rebel leaders would appreciate Pompeyo’s military help over Camil’s humanitarian aid, even if that was given without strings attached.

My steps took me to the place where my life as a full member of the Empire had started, the arena where I had run into my mother while I was running away from my instructors, it was where I had received my name and my place in the Empire.  I wasn’t sure why I was feeling the need to visit the Burrows, but I knew I had a strong feeling I needed to go there, and as always, I knew better than to ignore my feelings.

There were many paths from the Burrows to the Palace, more still from the Palace to the Burrows, alternative routes that were shorter and safer that the ones the young trainees had to use in their search for a place in the Empire, paths known only to a few.  I couldn’t help but remember everything I had gone through while getting away from that place.  When I finally reached the Burrow it took me a moment to reconcile that it was the same place.  I wasn’t as bigger or imposing as I remembered it.  I started walking without a fixed destination, and soon found a group training.

“Greetings, is there something I can help you with?” the instructor respectfully asked as soon as I got near them.

“Do you know where I can find General Inionri?” I asked, sure about my destination.

“Octobeta, take the General to General Inionri’s office,” the instructor ordered one of the boys and I realized I hadn’t introduced myself, the insignia on my chest was all he needed to know.

“Right away,” the young boy said, accepting the task as if it was a dangerous and very important mission.

As we walked, I started to notice more and more groups of kids training around us, until we reached the Nursery area.  My little guide stopped at the door, unsure what to do next.

“Thanks, I think this is far enough, I have it under control from here,” even if I didn’t know exactly where Inionri’s office was located, I could feel her nearby, that was enough to find her by myself.  The boy was unsure at first, but then he left.

A group of guards cut my way as soon as I stepped into the building, even if they turned a little more respectful once they saw my insignia, it was clear they weren’t going to just let me walk in.  I was surprised, but also glad they took their job so seriously.

“Good morning,” a woman greeted me, she was coming from the opposite direction from the guards.  “How can I help you, General?”

“I’m looking for General Inionri, I know she is close.”

“If you give me a minute, I’ll let her know you are here.”

“I think I will go in person.  I would like the chance to see the babies.  Don’t worry, I have experience with babies, I know how fragile they are and I promise not to harm them.”

“Of course, this way,” the Captain accepted, but I could tell she wasn’t happy letting a stranger in the area.

We went up the stairs, and soon I heard a baby crying.  A crying baby wasn’t something odd, it was the way he was crying, it sounded like he was in pain.  I found Inionri with the baby in her arms.

“Kaiserin?  What a surprise! What are you doing here?” I could feel that my guide’s attitude changed when she heard my name, but it wasn’t for good, she felt even more on edge than before.

“I came to visit.  What are you doing?”

“I was walking around the Nursery and heard this little guy crying.  The poor guy has a tumor growing and causing him a lot of pain.  I was trying to calm him down while the healers arrive.  I’m afraid I can see what’s wrong, but I can’t fix it, I need a professional.”

“I can’t fix him either, but if you allow me, I think I can do something about the pain,” I said, extending my arms.  Inionri put him in my arms without hesitation.  The Captain moved closer, no doubt she was preparing to take the baby out of my arms at the first sign of trouble, but as soon as the baby was in my arms, he stopped crying, and I could see him falling asleep.  “As you know, I had to learn to block my pain early on, I know different ways of doing it, depending on what my abilities were at the moment.  When Ethan was little and got hurt, it hurt me to see him in pain, so I found a way to extend this power to others.  Pain is important, it let us know something is wrong, but in this case, when we already know what’s wrong and people are coming to fix it, then there is no reason for this little one to suffer.”

“When I took control of this place I found out you are infamous around here, all the instructors here knows the tale of the young student who killed her instructor and ran away from the Burrows.”

“He asked for it, besides, he wasn’t my instructor, he was just a loser that couldn’t accept he was past his prime and that someone else could be better than his students.  I did what I did on self defense.  I haven’t set a foot in this place since then, actually, I never thought I would come back here at all.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

“I’m not really sure, maybe I needed to come here to exorcise old demons, also, I was looking for you.  I know your daughter already agreed on taking my help and how it is affecting her, many are doubting her loyalty because of it, and it will be easier for her to deal with me if you are around.  She needs someone to remind her that I’m here to help.”

“I’m really grateful of all you are doing for her.  I know how much it affected her not being able to participate in the fight for the throne, and just the thought that her freedom was running out had her very tense.  She wasn’t the same.  It’s a good thing that her brother supports her so much.  Trajan did a good job creating a healthy relationship between his children.”

“They have no idea how lucky they are he did that,” at that moment, a group of healers entered the area, but they stopped when they saw us, not sure if they should interrupt of not.”

“This is the sick baby.  Make sure he is healthy as soon as possible,” Inionri asked and the group moved immediately, taking care of the baby.  I felt the loss as soon as he was out of my arms, there something peaceful and calming about having a baby in your arms.

“When Trajan assigned me this area, I was mad.  After the battle where I was injured, I knew I would never be able to be on the battlefield again, my powers allow me to be alive and even walk, but despite my best efforts, I haven’t been able to fully heal, the damage was just too great,” I had tried to warn her about it, but I knew there was nothing I could have done to save her from her spine injury.  “I could have stayed as the advisor of some young general somewhere, but here I’m fully in charge, I’m the master of my domain.  And truth to be told, I actually like it here, I find the place and the kids quite interesting.”

“When I found out you were here, I thought it was bad taste to have you and Fedelm so close together.”

“We have always been good friends, and unlike you who stayed with the same man for so long, I still like some variety, and anyway, I have been closer to Geb these last few years.  I think it’s dinner time, care to join me?”

“It would be my pleasure.”

I followed Inionri to her room, it wasn’t what I was expecting, they were much more comfortable and bigger and I thought, but it kind of made sense, the position of caretaker of the Burrows was different from others.  The General in charge of that area had to protect the young ones in case of an attack, but in all the history of the place such a thing had never happened, so the main job of people there was to make sure the kids were safe, protected, and properly trained.  From what I had seen, Inionri was doing a great job.

Once we finished our meals, we both made our way up to the Palace, and as soon as we got there, we met Ratu, it looked like she had been looking for me for a while.

“I thought you had work to do and would be in your room,” Ratu said, I could tell she was trying to be respectful, but couldn’t help but sound a little angry.

“It’s true that I have a lot of work to do, but I was here and I couldn’t help but go visit your mother, we had a lot to discuss.  After so many years apart, there are still things we have to discuss.”

“If you have some time, I would like to talk to you.”

“Your powers won’t take long to fully wake up, if you want to stay out of Fedelm’s reach, then you need to start working on your defense.  If you come with us, I can set a simple compulsion on you so you cast a protective barrier around you in case you get a vision.”

“Come on, you have been waiting for this, it’s better to get it over with, soon Kaiserin will be leaving again and who knows when you will have another chance,” Inionri said, taking her daughter’s hand and dragging her behind us.

“You are lucky,” I said, “that your brother is supporting you.  I know Fedelm is not happy with the situation, and the fact that you can have access to something that will neutralize a seer’s biggest weakness will undermine her control and influence.  She knows that, so you will have to be careful with her and any other person who may try to stop you.”

“All I need is a fighting chance, just that.  If you can give me that, then I will be able to take care of Fedelm and any other person who may try to stop me.”

“I will give you that chance, everything else depends on you, but I’m pretty sure you will do a fine work.”

I knew that Ratu’s future was bright, and I was willing to do everything I could to help her, she was family after all.

Chapter 70

Two days after my talk with Pompeyo, I got a call from William letting me know that the new law had been approved and that after discussing the issue, the Dominion had decided they were going to contact the leaders of the different governments.  All I had to do was go to Pompeyo and convince him to talk to them.  I knew that I had given him enough time to think about what I had said, and the fact that no order against the Light had been given was giving me hope that he was at least thinking about my words.  Maddan has been visiting me and had promised to let me know the moment any order against them was issued, so I knew nothing had happened yet.

First of all I needed to ask for a meeting with Pompeyo, to my surprise, he accepted immediately, in just a few hours time, the same day.  Trusting that things were going according to plan, I walked into the throne room and found that the group of people there was bigger than I expected, even Fedelm was there.

“Greetings, Emperor,” I thought it was best to start by showing at least some respect.

“Greetings, Kaiserin,” Pompeyo said, watching me with distrust, “I got your message saying you needed to talk to me.”

“That’s right.  People in the Dominion decided to change their laws and start to show themselves to the rest of the world, they won’t be isolated anymore.  The first step is for them to talk to the leaders of the different territories, and in the Dark Empire’s case, that means talk to you.  If everything goes well, they are planning to be present during the next reunion with the clan leaders.”

“Meeting with me?  Are they coming here?”

“We have different ways to have meetings between people in different places.  All I need from you is to know if you agree to this meeting and I will take care of everything.”

“Are we going to trust her?” Alukah asked.

“There’s nothing to lose if we agree to meet the leaders of the Dominion,” Pompeyo said out loud, but then he stared at Alukah and I knew they were having another conversation, or maybe discussion that I wasn’t hearing.  “Tomorrow afternoon I have free time for this meeting.  I will send Maddan later today so you two can prepare everything.”

“Thank you, you won’t regret this,” I said.

“I hope you’re right,” Pompeyo said, pensively.

I needed to wait for Pompeyo’s instructions, but I knew that the time difference was going to make thinks a little more complicated, I needed to convince him to have the meeting late in the afternoon and then convince the people in the Dominion to have it early in the morning.  But the first step was to talk to William and let him know so he could start setting everything for the meeting.  Luckily, they were very eager to make sure everything well, and were willing to adapt to any situation, whichever it was.

“What is this and how does it work?” Maddan asked the next day while Fatima was setting the holographic projectors.

“This is what makes it possible for the leaders of the Dominion to be in this meeting, and those cameras right there will help the people in the Dominion to see people here.”

“I would like to bring a technopath, not because I don’t trust you,” he quickly assured me, “it’s just that this is unknown technology and I would like to have a better idea of what’s going on.”

“Sure, no problem, I want to make sure you all see that we are not planning anything bad,” I knew they wouldn’t find anything, most likely they wouldn’t even be able to completely understand what the machine was about.  Of course, I didn’t know much about what a technopath was capable of, that was one of the powers I was less familiar with, even if it was one of Ethan’s favorites.

When the time for the meeting arrived, I realized that once again Pompeyo had all of his most important advisors with him, Fedelm again was part of the group, as well as Ratu and Alukah, others  I knew like Inionri and Maddan, and others that I recognized but didn’t really had a chance to know.

“Is everything ready?” Pompeyo asked.  “What is it supposed to happen now?”

“Now we just need to establish the connection,” I said.  Luckily, Fatima was there to take care of it, because I wasn’t good with the technical part of it.  In just a moment the first hologram appeared and I saw William’s hologram at the other side of the table, as if he was sitting there.  A few moments later both the Prime Minister and the President appeared on either side of William.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again,” I greeted them, I knew that they were going to be able to see me and Pompeyo, but I wasn’t sure if the cameras were showing the rest of the people there.  “Allow me to introduce you to Emperor Pompeyo from the Regal Family.  Pompeyo, these are King William, Prime Minister Stone and President Yu, they are the leaders of the Dominion.  The three of them work together for the good and the future of the Dominion.”

“Kaiserin,” the Prime Minister said, “I should have known that you would be involved in all this.  Despite your words I knew that you weren’t going to settle with being the governor of a small community, now you are working with the Empire.  What are you planning now?”

“I’m just here visiting family, and took the opportunity to start working on building bridges between the Empire and the Dominion.”

“What does this have to do with your family?”

“Well, Pompeyo is my nephew.”

“Again, I have to ask if this is a good idea,” the Prime Minister said.  “I don’t like that she is involved in this, how do we know that this is not part of her plan for world domination?”

“Do you really believe those stupid rumors?  She had her chance to control the Dominion and she let go of her power for the good of our people, why would she do now what he didn’t do when she had the chance?” the President asked.

“Are you planning on using us to take over the world?” William asked, and I felt the power behind his words.

“Of course not,” I answered automatically, not even trying to resist his power.  I could see that my family and the others Imperialists were watching the exchange with curiosity and distrust.

“As if that meant something, your power doesn’t work at a distance, you need to be in person for it to work.”

“My powers work at several levels, in fact, most of the time just my tone of voice is enough to get results, of curse visual contact is preferred for better results, and being in person helps with some kind of psychic waves I emit, but that doesn’t mean my powers are useless through this media.  Besides, this is not the first time I ask that question, and the answer is always the same.  Kaiserin doesn’t have to lie to us, if she really wanted to get her power back, she would have already found a way to do it.”

“Then we have to trust your word.”

“Of course we can trust his word,” the President protested, “and we can trust in Kaiserin’s word.  You have been so involved in the bad press her enemies create that you can’t see what’s in front of you.  Anyway, we are not here to talk about Kaiserin’s possible plans for world domination, we are here for something far more important: to start a relationship with the Dark Empire.  Both William and I decided this was the best course of action, and you know what that means.”

‘As interesting as this little chat seems, I would like to understand what’s going on,‘ Pompeyo said directly to my mind, and decided it was best to offer an explanation.

“The Dominion works under the principle of power division.  The reason three people are in charge is because when an important decision has to be made, at least two of them have to agree.  In this case, both the King and the President agreed to make contact with the Empire, so even if the Prime Minister does not agree, she has to accept what the others want.”

“You mean that three share the power and at least two of them have to agree for a decision to be made?”  Alukah asked, and I knew that even if they couldn’t see her, they could at least hear her.

“King William is the one that has something that resembles a permanent job in the Dominion, his position is inherited, in part because his family has the power to find the truth behind every situation, and that makes them perfect for the Justice Department, he is in charge of making sure justice is met and that those who break the laws get punished.  The ones that create those laws are the ones that work with the President, she is elected by the representatives.  They all have the chance to vote for the one they think is best suited to guide them, and that person gets that position for four years.  The Prime Minister is the one in charge of making sure everything works, following the laws written in Congress and sending those who break laws to be judged.  The Prime Minister is chosen in a similar way as the President, the difference is that the ones who get to vote are the leaders of the different countries that are part of the Dominion.”

“That sounds unnecessarily complicated,” Pompeyo said.

“I thought the same at first, but it works most of the time,” I replied.  “But enough, we are not here to know how the Dominion works, we are here to see if we can establish a relationship between our us.  The other day I told you a little about the Dominion and how the countries in it relate to each other.  In a way it is similar to how the clans are joined inside of the Empire, with the main difference being that, in the Dominion, is not one country ruling over the others, it’s a mix of people from all over setting the rules for the rest of them to follow.”

“The Dominion was created to avoid fighting, even if it hasn’t always worked as we expected, for the last few years we have been working on taking it back to its original function.  We know that the Empire is all about fighting and conquering, but we also know that the last few years it was more about protecting than destroying.  We want to open communication with you, help you understand our past and help you create your future.  But because of our ideals, we can’t help if that means that someone else is going to suffer for that, we can’t allow our collaboration to end up with the destruction of someone else.”

“I’m not sure what you expect from us, we have always been a warrior nation, fighting and conquering is in our blood, and we are not going to change who we are for someone else’s wishes.”

“My nephew grew up in the Light Kingdom,” William said, “he arrived there when he was running away from the problems in the Dominion and spent most of his life there.  I’m afraid that his time there created a connection that can’t be ignored.  After all the problems the Dominion has gone through, we don’t want to be involved in any fights, we don’t want our actions to be misinterpreted by the countries that are part of the Dominion or for someone to think it’s ok to go back to the time when all the countries were under our control.  We are going to offer our help to the Light in the best way we can, but that doesn’t mean we are going to fight for them, but neither are we going to let them defenseless if someone else tries to take advantage of them.”

“I feel like there is a threat hiding in those words.”

“It’s more like a warning,” William said.

“You control most of the resources in the region,” the President interrupted, “resources that are hard for us to get.  One of the reasons we are willing to open communication with you, is the opportunity to get our hands on some of those resources.”

“I think that no negotiation will go well if we found out that those resources are being paid in blood.  We can’t allow our people to benefit of other people’s pain,” the Prime Minister interrupted.

“What they are trying to say, is that they don’t support slavery of forced labor, and they are not willing to pay for products taken by force from others,” I explained.

“So far I’m not seeing the benefit to our people.  All I see is that they are telling us there is another world that is out of our reach, with people who feel they can come and threaten us, and dictate how we do things.  They say that they don’t want to interfere in how we do things, but they think it’s ok to manipulate us into doing what they want.  Even if they say they don’t want to get involved, they made it clear that they are siding with the Light Ones and that they won’t let us take advantage of the opportunities we see,” Pompeyo said.

“Besides, they want our resources, but they even pretend to tell us how to get them,” Ratu added.  “My brother is right, I don’t see how that would benefit us.”

“In the Dominion people has a skewed image of the Empire, they see our customs as barbaric, when they are not that different from theirs,” I tried to explain, “in reality we don’t have to change much of what we do in order to fulfill their demands, besides, we don’t really have to change if we don’t want to, we can just decide not to trade with them.  But there are things in the Dominion that could be good for us.  Even if some of the clans share their technological knowledge with the Empire, the Dominion has so much more they could give us.  It’s just a matter of seeing what they have to offer before deciding if we should turn our backs on them.”

“I don’t like their attitude,” Pompeyo said, “I don’t like that they think they can come here and dictate how we do things.  We haven’t decide what we are going to do about the Light, but we will take their words into account, not because we are scared of them, but because, despite what you may think, I worry about the Empire and what’s best for it above all.  We will stay in contact to discuss the possible benefits of an alliance between us, but I want to make it clear that we are not going to be taken advantage of.  We are warriors, and we bow to no one.”

With that, Pompeyo got out of his seat and left the room, followed by most of his entourage, only Maddan, Inionri, and surprisingly Alukah, decided to stay.

“Well, I have to say that went better than I expected,” the President said.

“Really?” the Prime Minister asked.  “I’m pretty sure this was a mistake, we should have never tried to negotiate with them,” with that his hologram went off.

“I think that it’s better to give them some time to think about the situation, I trust that in the future you will be able to help them understand better our position and expectations,” the President said before going offline too.

“Are you ok?” William asked.

“Of course I am.  I must say that I get Pompeyo’s attitude, I think we were all a little on edge during the meeting and things didn’t go well.”

“I think you were at the excellent, as always.  From now on, you will be acting as the Dominion’s Ambassador, we will represent us in the Empire.  Any doubt, you can talk directly with me,” with that, William also disappeared.

“That was interesting,” Alukah said.  “It’s good to see that I’m not the only one who distrust you.”

“The thing is, it really doesn’t matter what the Prime Minister thinks about me, as long as the President and the King trusts me, I’m in.  But what matters right now is what are you going to do about the knowledge of the Dominion and their offer to open trade between the territories.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, of course you can always tell us the possible benefits and try to convince us that it’s better for us to get an alliance with them than to try and conquer the Light.”

What she was saying was true, I needed to prove to them that what we had to offer was best for the Empire, but I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.  Fortunately, I had a good idea of what the Dominion had to offer, and what the Empire could find interesting.

Chapter 69

My arrival at the Palace was complicated, I had decided to go for the main door, but even with my old insignia and the fact that I had made my presence in the clan known during my last visit, the guards insisted on getting in my way.  Then, when I decided to ask for an audience with Pompeyo, I was denied, I was confident that Pompeyo was going to do everything in his power to make things difficult for me, but I wasn’t going to allow him to stop me, so as soon as I was inside the Palace, I used my powers to find where he was and then went looking for him.

At first the guards I found let me pass, but as I moved closer to Pompeyo, the guards started to question my presence, until I found the room where he was.  I used my powers to take the guards out of my way, pushing them against the wall and holding them there while I went in.  I opened the doors and found Pompeyo, Maddan and Alukah inside.

“Good afternoon,” I greeted the group as I entered the room and took a seat opposite to Pompeyo’s.

“You can’t be here,” he said immediately, and I could tell he was angry at my presence.

“I can be wherever I want to be.  You should be grateful that I came here to offer my advice.”

“We know why you are here, you are here because you don’t want us to attack your friend the Light One,” Alukah said.

“I guess you already heard what’s going on there, and that you have every intention of going there and conquer the Light’s territories,” I could tell the decision was practically already made, I could feel their desire for conquest and glory.

“That’s our business,” Pompeyo said, “whatever we do or don’t do, it’s up to us.”

“For many years, the Light Ones followed very strict codes of conduct.  They live under a monarchy, but the real power comes from the High Priests.  One of their main rules was that the use of powers is prohibited, it was seen as a sin, you could only use your powers if their goddess allowed it.  Do you know what’s the main problem the revolution is having right now?  People is starting to ignore the rules laid down by their rulers, they are using their powers so they can fight against the ones that do know how to use them, the problem is that countless innocents are dying because these warriors are getting psychic headaches and losing control.  Are your warriors ready to fight an army with so little control over their powers that they are basically time bombs?”

“Even if they are new to the use of their powers, we can use that to our advantage, we can keep our distance and use that lack of control to let they destroy each other.  We can take our precautions and avoid problems, especially since we already know about this,” Alukah pointed out.

“It’s weird that they haven’t realized what the problem is, by now I would think they have learned their lesson about the dangers of using their powers,” Maddan added.

“Many think that the deaths and the loss of control it’s a sign of the goddess’ anger, punishment for using their powers without permission, but other groups are convinced it has nothing to do with that, they realize it’s a control problem, which is closer to the truth.  So far that knowledge hasn’t changed people’s mind, they keep going as if there was no danger at all.”

“I don’t know what you are expecting from us, but for me, it’s pretty obvious what we need to do, this is an opportunity we can’t ignore,” Pompeyo said.

“Right now the leaders of the Dominion are discussing the possibility of breaking their own rules and letting their existence being known to the Light, they are doing this so they can help them with their conflicts.  Kimball and I already broke that rule by coming to you, but this would mean full disclosure, this would mean bringing the Dominion leaders to talk to you, and the Amazons and Militaries, who are considered the leaders of the Rebel Clans.”

“Will they be a problem for us?  Are they going to fight us over the control of the Light?” Pompeyo asked, and I could see he was already getting worked up into fighting the Dominion, not knowing what they really were.

“You saw what the Shadow’s Clan is capable of, and they are only a part of Mzansi, Mzansi is just a small part of the Dominion.  I helped build the Dominion into what it is now, and I know what they are capable of.  Luckily for you, they are peaceful people, otherwise you would be in big trouble.”

“You don’t know what we are capable of,” Alukah protested.

“Of course I know.  I know what you and the Rebel Clans are capable of.  I know what the Dominion is capable of and have a good idea of what the people of the Light could do.  All I want to do is help you, avoid unnecessary deaths and bloodshed.  I think that if you agree to meet the leaders of the rebel groups in the Light, we all could come to an agreement,” I could see that my suggestions had caught them by surprise, I also could see that none of them was willing to listen to me, they thought my suggestion was absurd.

“If you want to pretend you are part of this clan, you have to start acting as if you really were.  It’s clear that your loyalty is divided, you are more worried about what could happen to the Light Ones that your own clan.  We cannot allow your personal feelings to affect the interest of our people,” Pompeyo said, and I could tell that the others, Maddan included, agreed with him.

“The Dominion is very powerful, the territories that are part of it are by far bigger than the Imperial territories.  For years they were under some evil rulers that cared nothing for their people.  I think they will empathize with the Light Ones.  Maybe they won’t be willing to get involved in a direct way, except for a few countries, most of them prefer not to get involved in fighting, so the help they will offer will most likely be humanitarian, and not warlike.  If you go in and become a threat, you will be in a bad situation and will lose your chance at getting an alliance with them, but if you help with this conflict, you will be in a good position to score an advantageous alliance with them.

“I don’t know how things were done in your time, but we don’t surrender to anyone,” Alukah said.

“I have been fighting my whole life, sometimes there has been fights I wish I could have avoided, not because I was afraid or because I couldn’t win, but because the price of victory was too high.  I’m trying to give you the chance of building something, of getting an advantage, not by destroying, but by helping.  If we do things the right way, no one has to die.  It’s really your pride so important that you are willing to sacrifice your people for it?  If you go into battle, you may lose more than you gain.  If you agree to meet them, and help them, you may gain a lot without suffering any losses.”

“What do you want from us?  What do you expect to get from us meeting these people?”  Maddan asked, as always the most level headed of the group.

“If everything works out, if we can reach an agreement, the idea is to form alliances with the rebel groups there and help them get rid of the people in power.  You would act more like an intimidating force, everyone fears the Dark Ones, and Melchizedek and others think that just getting an alliance with you, and maybe a few soldiers to back them up, will be enough to make the people in power step down.”

“Do you want us to become bodyguards to a bunch of Light Ones?” Aluka asked, clearly offended.

“In a way, yes.  But I think you are missing the point.  I think that it’s time for you to consider what you are willing to sacrifice and see if the benefit you will get is worth it.  Do you want an alliance with all the powers in this world?  Do you want to go into the next step as part of something bigger than you?  Or do you prefer to sacrifice your people and maybe even your own lives in search of a power you may not even get?  You can try to conquer the world and in the way be left behind, or leave your pride aside and become part of something bigger than all of you.”

“Are you finished?” Alukah asked in a bored tone, and I knew that there was nothing else I could do, I needed to give them time to think about my words and wait for them to make the right choice.

“For now.  I had a long trip and I need some rest, but I will see you again tomorrow, don’t do anything stupid in the meantime.”

I walked out of the room and I realized that the guards weren’t happy with me, not that I blamed them, but sooner or later they would have to understand that I was not a person to mess with and that following my orders was in their best interest.  A little further down the hall I found Yoweri.  I had the impression that he had managed to stay hidden from the guards.  I didn’t fault them for their inability to detect him, Yoweri was very powerful, but that made me wonder if I would have been able to detect him back then.  I liked to think that I had been an extraordinary warrior in my youth, but sometimes I suspected that my memories could be skewed.  Maybe by being the Empress’ daughter, I had been given more help and recognition than I deserved.  Or maybe I really had deserved my place.

“How was the meeting?” Yoweri asked.

“Better than I expected, of course, none of them was willing to listen to me and all of them want to go directly to battle.  They have no respect for other people’s lives, they just care about conquering and bathing in glory.  My brother was always playing defense, he defended his territories and eliminated any threat to the clan, but he never started a fight that wasn’t necessary.  Many people criticized him, thought him weak for not expanding the territory, but he wasn’t weak, he was a great warrior.”

“You have lived a lot, and gone through a lot, you see life differently from others.  You can’t expect them to perceive life like you do, they haven’t lived what you have, they don’t know what you know.  You must be patient, give them time, teach them.”

“Maybe you’re right, with the information they have right now, there’s no way they can see what I see.”

“If you want to be the one to give orders in here, maybe you need to take different actions.  If you were the Empress, you wouldn’t have to depend on them, you could just tell them what to do.”

“The problem is that I don’t want to be the Empress, my time is already gone, it’s time for the new generations to take control.”

“Then you will need to allow these new generations to make their own decision.”

Yoweri was right, but I didn’t want to accept it, because it didn’t agree with my needs.  It was unfair of me to reject the Empress title, and still want to act as if I still had it.  I couldn’t tell them what to do, all I could do was give them the information I had and hope they would be able to take the right choices under the circumstances.

The rooms I had taken were the same ones that had been assigned to the Shadow’s Clan during our last visit.  I understood that the rooms were more than what I needed and more than I deserved as just a member of the family.  Even if I still had my old insignia, the truth was that I didn’t have a real position in the clan.  I could be considered an advisor, but only if Pompeyo agreed.  I was in limbo.  Still, my pride demanded that I assumed a certain level of power, otherwise others could take it as weakness.

Getting my basic needs covered was easy, which led me to believe Maddan had given instructions to the servants so I would be attended, I really doubted that Pompeyo would have bothered to issue the orders.

The trip had been long, and despite traveling directly from the Light to the Empire, and most of it having been by plane, I was exhausted, and the tiredness was affecting me, so I decided to take a nap, I needed to be ready and rested for my next meeting with Pompeyo, whenever it was.

My rest was shorter than I expected, after just a few hours Thalia went to wake me up and tell me that Pompeyo had sent for me.  The soldier that came looking for me didn’t take me to one of the conference rooms, but guided me to what I knew were the royal suite.  I found Pompeyo in the antechamber, waiting for me, with a few dishes on the table in front of him.

“Good night, thanks for joining me for dinner.  I hope you aren’t too hungry, this is just some light food,” Pompeyo said, and I could feel he was at ease, maybe just a little bit nervous, but I couldn’t feel anything threatening coming from him.

“Thank you for the invite, but I have to say I wasn’t expecting this.”

“I was thinking about what you said, and I would like to know more about those places you talk about, about the Dominion and the Light.  I want to know more about the Rebel Clans and the plans you have.”

I felt real curiosity coming from Pompeyo, and even if his words and actions could be part of a plot to get information that could be used to gain information against me, I felt like he was asking because he was really interested in getting the information he needed to make the right decision, so I decided that the best course of action was to be truthful to him.  I decided to start by telling him the story of how the Dominion had been born and how it had been almost destroyed by the greed of a couple of leaders.  It didn’t take long, but by the end Pompeyo had a lot to think about, and I had the hope that he was starting to change and getting ready to accept the changes to come.

Chapter 67

I felt the punch coming, even if I hadn’t seen or heard anything moving, and was able to dodge in time.  The next one hit my psychic wall, it was another move that I hadn’t been able to see.  Franz’ powers were getting even better, it took me a while to break his illusion and see what was really going on, and I did it just in time to see Tatyana trying to break the wall.  We both knew she wasn’t strong enough to get through, but her attacks were having an effect on me.

I felt the psychic punch just as Tatyana was about to hit the wall again, they were trying to distract me so Tatyana would be able to get past my defense, but I changed tactics, dropping my wall and using my powers to hit both Thalia and Tatyana, and then and changed target and got to Franz.

“Good job,” Kimball said, entering the arena.  “Do you think that’s enough warming up?”

“You know I’m always ready to fight, no warming up needed,” I said.

Without hesitation Kimball attacked, as always my psychic wall was ready for him, but he was much stronger than Tatyana and my wall started crumbling from the first hit.  I could use my powers to strengthen it, but I knew that wouldn’t help for long, I needed something else.  I collapsed the wall, moving it until it was skin tight, I was going to use it for to help me endure his attacks.  We started a melee fight, knowing that even if he managed to connect a hit, my defenses were going to keep me going.

The fight between Kimball and I was like a dance, after a while it didn’t really look like we were trying to hurt each other.  I knew that I could have used my powers to get an advantage, but that wasn’t really the goal of training.

“I have to say I’m a little disappointed,” Geb said, breaking me out of the trance I had fallen into during the fight.  “I find it very hard to believe that the mighty Kaiserin is unable to fight off a simple mutant.”

“Let me tell you there’s nothing simple about this mutant,” I said, still trying to stay focused on the fight.

“I’m not impressed so far,” Geb said.

“I think that’s enough,” I told Kimball as I let my wall drop and used the energy to push him against the wall, just like I had done with my guards, but with Kimball the trick wasn’t as impressive, I was only able to push him back a few steps.

“I was only getting warm,” Kimball said with a smirk.

“If you need someone to spar with, maybe I could help,” a warrior that had been watching us offered.  She was a young General that seemed to be rather curious about me.  She was an Amon and from what I could tell, there was no blood relationship between us.

“How curious, I was about to offer the same,” another warrior said, one that had an insignia that marked him as a Colonel.  He was a Vlad, he looked younger than me, but older than the General.

“I really appreciate the offer, I usually fight two or three opponents at a time, it’s better for my training.”

“Like she was training before?  But you don’t have any powers, I really doubt you would be able to last more than a few seconds against in a fight like that,” the woman said.

“We were only training, you haven’t seen what any of us is really capable of.”

“Do you really think you would be able to face three Imperial warriors of our level?”  Geb asked.

“Yes, I really do,” Kimball said.

“Then let me join those two, and let’s see if you are as good as you think.”

“Alright, bring it on,” Kimball challenged them.

As soon as he issued his challenge, the ground under him started to shake, thanks to Geb’s powers.  The ground started to open under him, but Kimball was able to travel through the rough terrain as if nothing was happening.  He reached Geb and tried to hit him, but a wall of rock raised in front of him to protect him.  Kimball was able to break it with a couple of punches, but Geb took control of the fragments of rocks and threw them at Kimball.  The General was trying to sneak by Kimball, but she was hit by one of Geb’s attacks, Kimball took another rock fragment and threw it at the Colonel.

For a couple of minutes it looked like Kimball was in control, Geb’s attacks weren’t all that coordinated and he was helping Kimball more than hurting him, it was clear they hadn’t thought out a strategy before attacking.  The moment they noticed what Kimball and I had already noticed, the problems started, they had anticipated an easy fight and haven’t been paying attention to their actions, but once they realized it wasn’t going to be easy, they started thinking about their actions.

The three of them moved around Kimball, the ground started shaking and when Kimball started to move, he lost his balance.  He usually had enough control to avoid that kind of problems, I couldn’t understand how the trembling was affecting him so much.  When the ground started morphing and encasing him on rock, Kimball wasn’t fast enough to move away, it wasn’t until I noticed the focused look on the Colonel’s face that I realized he was doing something to mess with Kimball’s equilibrium.  With the Colonel affecting his senses and Geb keeping him trapped, the General was able to finally reach him and put her hand on Kimball’s neck.  The look of pain in his face was the only thing betraying that something was happening to him.

For a moment I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I knew it was something bad, very bad.  Kimball was about to pass out, I could tell, and I started to panic.  Just as I was thinking of going to help him, his rock prison exploded.  Kimball took the General by the neck and gave her a couple of heavy punches to her face, I could hear her bones breaking and see the General’s inert body falling down.  The rocks around him were moving again, his prison starting to build back up.  Kimball was constantly coughing, but that didn’t stop him from taking a knife out of his belt and threw it at Geb.  Geb was able to build a wall to defend himself, but Kimball reached him and broke through it, punching him in the neck.  The Colonel was the only one left.  Kimball started moving towards him, the Colonel was doing his best to affect Kimball, but even if he was walking as if he was drunk, or high, he was still moving.  The Colonel was a Vlad, and didn’t have a double mind, if Kimball reached him, he wouldn’t be able to defend himself.  At the end, the Colonel decided to drop his attack and change tactics so he could fight Kimball, but he was already tired of the game and attacked him without mercy, in just a couple of seconds his enemy’s body was unmoving on the ground.

“Are you alright?” I asked as I approached Kimball.

“I think that woman gave me a heart attack,” Kimball said, holding his arm, at first I had thought he had hurt it during the battle, but now I realized that wasn’t the issue.

“Soriya!” I called my healer desperate, I knew that she was the only one who could help him.  Zhou could have helped him, but he wasn’t there, and I felt guilty about not having included him.

“What happened?” Soriya asked as she reached us.

“Heart attack,” Kimball said, extending his hand to her.

There was nothing I could do to help them at the moment, I wasn’t sure what to do or how to help.  My powers were useless at the moment and that made me feel so helpless and angry.  I moved my attention from Kimball, I had to trust Soriya to help him, instead I focused on the people who had hurt him.

Both the Colonel and Geb had been part of it, but the one who had really hurt him was the General.  I still didn’t know her name, and I didn’t really care, the only thing I wanted was to punish her.  She was still on the ground, she hadn’t recovered from Kimball’s punch, but she was still breathing, still moving.  Using my powers I got her on her feet and while I was holding her in the air, I used something that I hated, something I tried to avoid, I gathered the static electricity in the air and shocked her.

The General screamed and starting shaking.  The instinct to kill her was strong, but I preferred to punish her using her own methods.  I went into her mind, not bothering to be careful about it, and went through her memories looking for what she had done to give Kimball a heart attack.  Usually biokinesis was hard for me, and in any other circumstances, it would have been almost impossible to give her a heart attack without causing one for me too, but my getting into her mind and borrowing her memories, I had find a way to do it without risk for me.

The woman dropped to the floor as I let my control over her go, her face was a mask of pain.

“What did you do to her?” Geb asked, getting closer to where the woman was.

“The same thing she did to Kimball.  No one hurts him without facing the consequences.”

“We were just training!” Geb complained.

“Exactly!  There was no reason to try to kill him.  Now she must face the consequences of her actions, if she really thought she could get away with trying to kill my husband without suffering for it, then she hasn’t understood who she is dealing with.  Any attack against him is an attack against me.”

“I’m fine,” Kimball said, he had a better face, but was still pale and sweaty.

“Are you sure?” I asked, using my empathy to try to see what he was really feeling, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he was trying to lie to spare my feelings.

“It’s all right, I just need some rest and something to eat,” he said, and I knew what he was trying to do and decided to play along.

“Then it would be better if we go back to our rooms,” I said, and went back to his side.  Together we left the arena, I didn’t bother saying goodbye to the others and I knew that my guards would be following us.

“You didn’t have to attack her,” Kimball admonished me.

“She hurt you, that’s reason enough for me, they need to learn not to mess with me or mine.  You had already proven your point, I needed to prove mine.  That was only training, she could have killed you, a clan leader, that’s not correct.”

As soon as we got out of the arena, I started sending energy to Kimball, I tried to be discreet, but after a few steps Kimball realized what I was doing.  At first he just stared at me, a warning in his eyes, but he didn’t say anything until we reached our destination.

“I don’t need your energy,” he said as soon as the door closed, “the damage is not as bad as you think, even without Soriya’s help my body would have been able to heal it,” I was getting ready to reply, to tell him it was nothing and that he did need my help, but I didn’t get the chance.  “Remember the last reunion between Pompeyo and his generals will start shortly.  You said you wanted to be there, and for that you will need all of your energy, since I won’t be with you and I really doubt he will let you take your guards with you.  Even if things are getting better, you can’t let your guard down or be at less than your full capacity while in his presence.”

“Pompeyo and his people won’t be a problem,” I said automatically, but I could tell that Kimball wouldn’t be convinced by that argument.  “In case I need it, I could take energy from people around me.  I will be fine, you don’t have to worry about me.”

“And you don’t have to worry about me,” Kimball countered.

I knew it was useless to argue with Kimball, so I stopped using my powers on him, he already looked better anyway.  Soon it was time to go to where the reunion was taking place, and even if I didn’t want to leave Kimball’s side, I knew that he would be fine by himself, and I had a mission to finish.  I went to the meeting with plenty of time, but I found Pompeyo and Alukah already waiting there, it was clear they weren’t going to give me a chance to choose my place again, and they were ready to fight me if needed, luckily they had given me a place close enough to Pompeyo, so I decided not to cause trouble, yet.

One by one all the generals in the Empire arrived, and soon enough the place was full.  I saw the General that had attacked Kimball walking in, she has been one of the last ones to arrive, and she looked awful.  As soon as she saw me her face changed, and I was glad to notice she was afraid, and that meant she wouldn’t be a problem anymore.”

“What happened to you, Hygea?” Pompeyo asked.  “You look bad.”

“Nothing,” she said shyly, glancing in my direction.

“What did you do to her?” he asked me, he sounded angry, but I could tell he was also feeling apprehensive, I knew he didn’t want another confrontation with me.

“Nothing,” I said.

“I don’t have time for this, I won’t allow you to go around attacking me people without reason.”

“But I had a very good reason.  I think I had already been very clear that I won’t allow anyone to attack me or my family.  She offered to spar with Kimball, and then tried to kill him.  It was supposed to be a good faith fight, but she crossed a line and that’s unacceptable.”

“So you saw Hygea winning the fight and you decided to step in?  Does your man is incapable of fighting his own battles?” Alukah asked.

“Kimball is more than able to finish his own fights, the damage you see, the broken nose and cheekbone are his handiwork, I just made sure she got a taste of her own power, so I gave her a heart attack.  Her attack is strong enough to kill a normal person, and since I’m pretty sure she wasn’t aware of what Kimball could do, I’m certain she was trying to kill him, that’s not right, not in that kind of fight, not with a clan ally.”

“That doesn’t justify what you did,” Pompeyo said, as always, trying to recover the control of the situation.  “You shouldn’t have interfered, especially if like you said Kimball had already repelled the attack.  It’s not honorable to attack two against one,” I couldn’t stop the smile on my lips, I haven’t been meaning to explain the circumstances of the fight, but the chance to do so have fallen into my lap, and I couldn’t let it pass.

“By the time I got involved, the original fight was over, Kimball had been able to neutralize his enemy, besides, even if I had been involved in that fight, it would have been three against two, not one against two.”

“Now what the hell are you talking about?” Alukah asked.

“Kimball and I usually prefer to spar against several opponents at the same time.  Hygea offered to spar with Kimball, and when we mentioned this preference, a Colonel I don’t know, and Geb, offered to participate, the three of them attacked Kimball.”

“That’s really hard to believe, if Hygea and Geb were working together, and trying to kill him as you imply, then he would be dead,” Alukah said, as always trying to cause trouble.

“I’m embarrassed to admit that is true.  Gallu, Hygea and I attacked Kimball, and he was capable, not only of defeating us, but he did it while having a heart attack.  Truth is I wasn’t aware of Hygea intentions at the time, but I was part of the attack,” Geb said, and I couldn’t help but glare at him reminded of the fact that he had contributed to Kimball being hurt.

“All of that is irrelevant,” Pompeyo finally getting tired of the discussion.  “None of us should have collaborated to that ridiculous situation.  And you,” he told me, “you shouldn’t have attacked my people nor react that way.  In the future, I expect better from you, I won’t accept that kind of behavior in my clan.

I just nodded, letting Pompeyo win that battle, after all, I had already made my point and I knew that the rest of the people there would think twice before going after me or mine again.

The rest of the meeting went without trouble, it was the last meeting between the Generals and the Emperor, and they had already set the plan for what they would be doing the next few months.  I would have loved to get involved, but I knew it wasn’t time yet, soon it would be my chance to affect the path of the Empire, for the moment, what was important was to make others see me as part of the clan, to make sure that my presence and my comments wouldn’t be questioned.

Chapter 65

The reunion that was scheduled for that afternoon could only have two representatives from each clan, Ethan had wanted to be one of them, obviously, but as soon as I gave him the option to be part of the Heirs Reunion he had accepted the change, so only Kimball and Zola would be there with me.  Greca was also going to the Heirs Reunion as representative from the Assassins, while Antrax and Malkia assisted to the same reunion as me.

I knew that it was usual for the Emperor to be one of the last to arrive, so I went early and took the seat that I knew belonged to Alukah, Maddan was also early and had already taken the seat to the other side of the Emperor’s.

‘Alukah won’t be happy that you are sitting in her place,‘ Maddan told me using telepathy.

‘I’m sure she won’t be, but I’m trying to prove something, and I hope those impulsive youngsters are smart enough to take advantage of the opportunity I’m giving them,‘ I said, using the same method.

I knew, or at least I expected that my words would make Maddan act, and that he would talk to Pompeyo about my actions, warning him about the situation.  When Pompeyo entered the room, he stared at me, but said nothing, he didn’t ask me to move, not even because of Alukah’s obvious anger at being displaced from her seat.

“Thank you all for coming here,” Pompeyo greeted the leaders in the room.  “I know it has been a couple of difficult days for all of you, and I appreciate your cooperation with our investigation about the Death’s Clan’s actions.  I’m glad to inform you that our investigation determined that they were acting alone.  The Death’s Clan is now under the Imperial Clan’s control, and right now we are going through their people and eliminating threats, so we are sure they won’t be a problem anymore.”

“You must know, Your Majesty, that even if they had succeeded with their plan, that most clans wouldn’t have recognized their claim to the throne, but right now, some of us are wondering, who is representing the throne?  The fight the other day showed who really is the most powerful warrior in the place,” said one of the leaders I didn’t know, but I could tell from his uniform that he was from the Guerrilla Clan.

“I think it is obvious who is representing the clan, after all Pompeyo is the one sitting in the place of honor, a seat only the leader of the clan can take,” I said, jumping into the conversation.  “If at any moment we decide to change that, I’m pretty sure you would be able to tell.  So let me give you a piece of advice, if a clan you are dealing with has such clear ways of depicting their power structure, don’t try to mess with it, you may get in trouble.”

“I’m sorry if my words caused any offense, I thought it was a valid question after everything that happened.  There are a lot of rumors about you.  And I have to say, it’s not normal to see someone like you sitting by the Emperor’s side, especially since you have such close and obvious ties to at least another two clans.”

“It really seems like you are looking to cause trouble, that’s never a good idea,” I told him directly.

“There is true in his words,” someone else said, and I was surprised to see it was someone from the Gatherers’ Clan, a minor clan that was under the Imperial Clan’s control, “there are a lot of rumors about you, many stories are being told and we have already seen a few truths.  It’s hard to believe that someone like you who was supposedly been an Empress, can be by the current Emperor’s side.”

“I was forced to leave that position a long time ago, and it was my brother who assumed that position after me, up until he died, and as you can see, it was his son who inherited the role.  For the moment, I have no interest in the position, and as I said, if I ever change my mind, you all will know about it.”

“Who are you really?  Not every story can be true,” a young woman from a clan I didn’t recognize asked.

“It would be better if we talk about this before, or we won’t be able to have a real conversation,” Pompeyo said.  “I think it will be better to take a few minutes to answer the leader’s questions, before we leave the subject behind.”

“I think that’s a great idea.  First of all, for those of you who don’t know already, I’m Kaiserin from the Royal Families,” I started, taking back my old tittle, confident that all the families leaders would recognize me, “I’m the daughter of Empress Sultana and Emperor Kamose.  I was born here and I spent my first years of service right here.  After my mother’s death, one of my brothers decided I was a threat to what he considered his right to the throne, so between him and my father, my memory was erased and I was sent to Sector 32, where they expected me to disappear.  A couple of years later a few of my old subordinates found me and helped me remember who I really was.  I stayed there for a few years, getting my memory back and recovering my powers, until I became the Sector’s General, and after my father’s death, the new Empress.”

“And then you left.  What reason could you have to leave the most important position in the Empire?” the woman that had talked before asked.

“Just before becoming the Empress, I became a seeress, and also got pregnant, which proved to be something very complicated for me.  My pregnancy feed my clairvoyance, and I spent weeks having visions in which my daughter was being murdered by my own clan, mostly because they considered her lineage impure.  I decided to go looking for advice, but I was betrayed by one of my closest allies in the way.  Being away from the Palace opened my mind to other kinds of visions, and I found out that the war between Amazons and Militaries was going to bring problems to the Empire, so I decided to head that way and try to affect the way that war was going to develop.”

“Do you really expect us to believe that anything those clans could do would have hurt us?” the leader of the Guerrilla Clan asked.  “The Empire was capable of crushing them.  They Rebels Clans didn’t become a problem until a few years ago.”

“If the Militaries had won that war, they would have attacked with all the power of the North, they would have been drunk on power and wouldn’t have cared about anything but winning.  They would have been defeated at the end, but a lot of lives would have been lost in the process.  As the current Empress it was my job to find a way to protect my people’s lives.  If the Amazons won, the danger to our people was considerable lower, because they would have been more cautious in their approach, and because of that my focus was on making sure they won their war.  Once there, I also found a way to avoid a conflict with the Empire, making sure that the next leader of the Amazons wouldn’t want to fight my people.”

“And you did it,” Flora from the Naturalists said.  “But you never came back to claim your throne.”

“Even if I had come back, I wouldn’t have been able to claim my throne, not as a seer, I would have been taken to the same place the other seers are taken, I would have been hidden and protected from the rest of the Empire, I would have lost my influence and my freedom.  I saw every possible scenario, my futures, and I knew that coming back was not an option for me.  Luckily, by then I had already met Kimball, and being with him opened more opportunities for me.  My path by his side was not an easy one, his own people was at war back then and I joined their fight.  The enemy they were fighting was very strong, and at the end, we realized we wouldn’t be able to defeat him directly, so we faked our surrender and I moved to work with him while I was building a resistance, after a few years I killed the leaders of the Dominion and took control of all the territories.  Little by little I gave back what I had recovered, and just a while ago I finally gave up the last piece of power I was holding.  That’s why I’m here now.”

“Are you here to take control?” Alukah asked.

“The world is changing,” I started my explanation, my voice changed a little and as I remembered I knew my eyes were turning foggy and I would fall into something resembling a trance.  I knew that a little show would help make my point, so I tried to remember what I had seen in my visions.  “A shadow is growing over the Light, and those who were hidden before are coming out.  The change is coming and it will affect every person in this world.  Those who embrace the change will enter a new era of peace and prosperity, those who hide from it will choke on the ashes of their own ego.”

“What does that mean exactly?” Pompeyo asked.

“You should know that is pointless to try to get a straight answer out of a seer,” Alukah said.

“A couple of years ago a revolution started in the Light Kingdom, things are changing in the South and sooner or later, those changes are going to affect the Empire.”  Kimball said.  “Also, our presence here is a proof there is a whole world you know nothing about.  The change in the North started years ago and the Amazons and Militaries are living proof that things can change and evolve.  Soon it will come the time for the Empire to change and adapt.”

“Soon I will get tired of your cryptic words and superiority complex.  We want answers, not more questions.”

“You don’t always get what you want.  But you can be sure that we are here to help.  Despite what you think, our missions is to help and guide you in the challenges that are coming your way.  It’s nothing bad, you are not in danger or anything like that, but it’s always a good idea to have a guide when you are in unfamiliar territory.”

“How can we be sure you are here for our best interest?” Felinae from the Beast’s Clan asked.  “I don’t trust you, and the others shouldn’t either.  It’s easy to talk, but the truth is you left your clan, you turned your back on your own people and sold yourself to our enemies.  Like they already said, you have ties to at least a couple more clans and you also accepted having ties with the Light Ones.  How can we be sure you won’t betray us to them?”

“Kaiserin is a force of balance, she doesn’t believe in favoritism, it’s not in her DNA.  What you are accusing her of, is something people in the Dominion also tried to prove, but no matter how many times she was accused of having her ties with one of another faction affect her decision making, the truth is that it never happened.  One of the reasons she was able to hold onto her power for so long, was because of people’s loyalty to her.”

“And are we supposed to just believe you?  You’re just a decrepit old lady that it’s not even a warrior of this Empire.  There is no proof that anything you say it’s true, and I don’t believe anything you say,” Felinae said.

“I would be more careful of whom I insult, Zola can look old, but she is practically indestructible, and if you make her mad, you will regret it,” I warned.

“I think we are getting away from our objective,” Maddan interrupted.  “This reunion if to discuss the Empire’s problems and talk about the actions we will be taking for everyone’s sake.  We can be distracted by Kaiserin or her family, we need to focus on what’s important.”

“If everyone’s curiosity is satisfied, then we will continue,” Pompeyo said, trying to regain control of the situation, “and if it’s not, then you can wait and ask your questions at another time.  We already lost a lot of time because of the attack the other day, and I’m sure you are all eager to return to your own territories as soon as possible.”
It was clear that the people there didn’t want to change the subject, but I could also tell no one was willing to go against the Emperor.

The rest of the reunion continued with Pompeyo doing his best to ignore me, and with most of the clans staring at me, eager to know more.  I could tell I had won most of their respect, but there were still a few that didn’t like me.  I had done my part for the moment, I had done my best to establish Pompeyo as the rightful leader and I had explained what I could about who I was and where I had been.  I knew that there was still a lot left to explain, but I had done what I could at that time.

I could tell that Pompeyo was angry about the situation, he didn’t like knowing that he didn’t have all of their attention on him, luckily he had realized that fighting me would only make him look bad again, and for the moment it was better to play along and pretend we were all working together.  I knew and understood that the situation wasn’t the best, and that my presence was causing more questions than answers, but I couldn’t worry about it, I needed to reestablish my presence in the clan and get all the clans to trust in me.

No matter what happened for the rest of the day, my goal had been reached.  I knew that I would need to have some private meetings with some of the other leaders, but for the moment things were going according to plan, and what was better, it looked like Pompeyo had left alone his campaign against Malkia.