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.

Chapter 79

Time goes flying.  It was hard to believe it had already been a year since I had returned to being part of the Empire.  My visits had been few and short, but still I felt like I was back home.  Walking through the hallways besides Kimball and my son was an especially pleasurable experience, it was a way to share with them a part of me I couldn’t before.

Our dynamic was a little complicated, Kimball was there as a representative of the Shadows’ Clan, but I was there as part of the Imperial Clan.  Ethan was always changing his title depending on circumstances or his mood, sometimes he was the heir to the Shadows’ Clan, sometimes he was just another youngster in the Empire.  I knew that he would get in trouble because of that, sooner or later, but until that moment, I just let Ethan do whatever he wanted.

The Reunion arrived without giving me a chance to talk to my daughters, for some reason their caravan had been delayed, and we didn’t get a chance to catch up.  I finally saw them when we were walking inside the meeting place, Greca and Ethan were going to the Heirs meeting while Malkia and Antrax were with us as part of the meeting with Pompeyo.

The tension that had been there during our previous meetings was gone, as was the animosity between the Imperials and the Assassins.  Everyone in the room could tell something had changed.  Pompeyo looked more calm and in complete control, and that change in attitude was having a clear impact on the rest of the leaders.

The first part of the meeting went without problems, it was mostly an overview of the agreements and problems the Empire had faced since the last time we had gathered, but at the end of the meeting it took an unexpected turn.  First, it was something I was already expecting, it was a full introduction to what the Dominion was and the plans we had to trade with them.  Some clans already knew about them and were already working on their own deals and the possibilities the Dominion opened to them, but for most the Dominion was something they didn’t understand, something Pompeyo had tried to change with his speech.  Then there was a mention of their plans with the Light, but the important part was what came after that.

“During the last few weeks we have been negotiating with the Rebel Clans and we reached a cooperation agreement,” Pompeyo announced.  “Before any of you decides to say something, you have to understand this is something that was going to happen sooner or later.  Things have changed a lot in the last few years, our new reality is that we don’t have to be constantly at war with someone, there are better ways of using our time and resources.  Right now we are working on finding a new way to set the limits between the territories of the Rebels Clans and our people.  Once those issues are resolved, both sides have agreed that the fights over territory will end, in exchange, we agreed on working on trade agreements with the Rebel Clans.”

“You really expect those people to respect any agreement?” one of the leaders of one of the clans that shared a border with the Rebel Clans protested.  “They will go back to trying to steal our territories as soon as they can, they can’t help it, it’s part of their nature, and that won’t change just because you sign a few treaties.”

“Once those treaties are signed and the limits are drawn, any part that tries to take more territory than assigned will have to fight, not only the affected clan and their allies, but their own allies as well,” Malkia explained.

“Malkia has been working with us and with the Rebel Clans trying to find the perfect solution to that kind of issues, in case we find them, and we have concluded that the best way to deal with them is by creating a new independent group that will be in charge of negotiating the borders and then dealing with anyone who breaks the treaties.  The punishment the offending group will receive will the same as if any of you decided to betray the Empire.”

“And why is an Assassin working with Imperial matters?” someone asked.

“Even if Malkia is an Assassin by adoption, she is also part of the Imperial Clan, as you all know.  Anyway, the reason she is working with us is not important, she is doing it, and when the time arrives, you will have to work with her.  There will be other changes in the Empire as well, but those changes won’t affect your territories or your lifestyle, unless you decide to make changes by yourselves.”

“I’m not sure I understand the advantages these proposed changes will have for our people,” one of the leaders said.  “To me, it seems all of these only benefits, as usual, the members of the Imperial Clan.”

“That only proves how short sighted you are,” Flora said, “the opportunities are there, you just have to see them and take them.  Nothing will fall on your lap, you need to work for what you want.”

“It looks to me that this a good opportunity for us,” said the leader of one of the lower clans, one that was under complete control of the Imperial Clan, “and we still have to give them a chance before deciding it’s a bad idea, anyway.”  I could tell he was already considering this his chance to find more freedom, and find a way to improve his standing in the Empire.  That was the kind of reaction I was looking for, and I hoped more people would realize that and start taking advantage of the changes.

“The changes will come one way or another, it’s up to you to decide if you are going to take advantage of the situation or not,” Malkia said.  “Instead of fighting and trying to delay the inevitable, I would recommend you to start looking for ways to make these changes work in your favor.  The world is bigger than we thought, and it’s time to adapt or we will be left behind the rest of the world.”

“You’re just saying that because this benefit you and your clan, but the rest of us don’t have the same advantages as you,” one of the leaders said, looking at me and then to Kimball in a significative way.

“Those are just excuses,” Zola said, and the excuses are nothing more than the tools the weak use to justify why they don’t have what others do.  You can take advantage of the opportunities presented to you, even create your own, or you can keep crying because your clan is staying behind while the rest of the Empire moves forward to the future.”

“People in the Dominion have a lot to offer, but so do you,” Kimball added.  “There are people in my world that is not so happy with the new agreements we are working on, but there are others that are open to trade and are already looking forward to what you have to offer, this new trade agreements will open the doors for you to obtain great benefits, especially from our technology.”

“We don’t need their help,” the right hand of the Tecnnologic Clan said.  “We are more than capable to create our own tech, we don’t need your help.”

“Maybe you have great advances in the war side of inventions, but we use our tech in every aspect of our life,” Kimball said.

The discussion was still going between them when I started to get uneasy, and then I was hit by a wave of energy, a wave in the fog.  No one else seemed to notice any change, they were all still talking, or more accurately, fighting over the changes, but I knew something was going on, and after a while I realized that it was Ratu, she had awoken as a seeress.

Ratu, just like other members of the Imperial Clan, was watching the proceedings from one of the corners of the room, since she was not a General, she couldn’t sit on the table, but she was still part of the proceedings.  Because of her position no one realized something was going on with her, even with her air barrier waking up when her vision started, no one was close enough to feel the air currents moving around her.

Some started to pay attention when she got up and went to the door, I could tell by her movements she couldn’t wait to be out of there, but I wasn’t sure why she was so eager to get away, not until I realized that Fedelm was in the room, and even with the blindfold over her eyes, I could tell that all her attention was focused on Ratu.

‘Ratu just woke as a seer, and Fedelm will try to go after her, you have to do something,‘ I let Pompeyo know, he sent a quick look my way, but nothing else betrayed the fact that he wasn’t paying all his attention to the issue at hand.

My focus, on the other hand, was far away from the discussion taking place in the room.  When Fedelm got out of her seat, she caused a bigger reaction than Ratu, since she was sitting at the table, even if she was on the other side of it, it was hard not to notice her.

I didn’t need my powers to tell that Pompeyo was talking to her, trying to make it clear that she couldn’t leave, but from her expression, I could tell that Fedel was going to ignore him.

“The Reunion is not over yet,” Pompeyo said out loud.

“I’m so sorry, but there is an important issue I have to take care of, it’s something related to my people and it can’t wait,” Fedelm said.

“I suggest you get back to your seat,” Pompeyo said, the strength in his voice left no room for further protests.  Fedelm went back to her place, but I knew she wasn’t going to give up so easily.  Fedelm’s trick of blinding herself to improve her clairvoyance powers made it hard to see in which state she was.  It was easy to see if someone was in a trance if their eyes were open, but not in her case with her eyes hiding under the blindfold, and the way she was sitting, it was also hard to read if she was just relaxed or out of her mind.  But despite all that, I was sure that Fedelm had stepped into the fog, and I worried about that.  I started to feel bad, just before I was attacked, a feeling that reminded me of the time they had trapped me in a vision.  It had been a long time since then, Sofia had helped me learn how to fight back, but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t worried about it.  Even if I could fight back, I knew that Ratu had no training and was vulnerable, especially since she had left the room.

‘Fatima, I need you to find Ratu,‘ as usual, my guards had to wait outside the room, and it was very possible they had seen the way Ratu had left and were able to find her.

‘Any particular reason for that?‘ I could read on Fatima’s mind.

‘I’m worried about her, she just woke up and became a prime target for Fedelm,‘ a bunch of impressions went through Fatima’s mind, and I realized something that I wasn’t expecting, Fatima hadn’t felt Ratu’s awakening, which could only mean that Ratu was a stronger seeress than Fatima, and I had always had the impression that Ratu wouldn’t be than powerful.  Still, the fact that Fedelm had noticed her, meant that she was still stronger than Ratu.

My vision was going blurry, I guessed that had something to do with the fact that they were still trying to trap me in a vision.  I wasn’t sure why they were still insisting on that, they already knew they couldn’t get to me that way, even inside the fog, my body was able to protect itself, and that wasn’t taking into account the fact that I was surrounded by all my friends and allies, any attack would be unsuccessful.  But maybe they weren’t after me, they were just trying to keep me busy.

I was still feeling uneasy, and had stopped to even try to pay attention to what was going on there.  I needed to go and see what was going on, but I wasn’t sure it was a good idea to interrupt the meeting.

“Kaiserin!  What’s happening to you?” Kimball asked, his voice breaking the trance I had been starting to fall into even without noticing.

“Mother?” Malkia asked from the other side.

I felt something wet under my nose and noticed I was bleeding.  Clairvoyance had never been one of my favorite powers, and the truth was that there were a lot of things I still didn’t understand from that power.  I had thought nothing would happen if I kept fighting the pull to fall into the fog, but maybe the effort of staying out of it was having a bigger impact on me that I had thought.

“Could you excuse me for a moment? I have to go take care of something,” when I tried to stand up I felt dizzy, I wasn’t sure if I was being attacked by someone in the room or if it was another secondary effect of the other attack.  Something that was clear was that I wasn’t just fighting Fedelm, there were other seers involved in it.  I was sure that one, or even a couple of them wouldn’t be able to affect me like that.

“What is happening?” Pompeyo asked me out loud, I was sure he had already guessed it had something to do with Fedelm and Ratu.

‘Fedelm is planning something, and if I’m being affected by it, I can only imagine what Ratu is going through,‘ I told him telepathically.

“Stay,” Pompeyo ordered, “the rest of you, we will continue with this meeting later, it seems there is something I have to take care of.

“But…” someone started to protest.

“You heard the Emperor,” Maddan interrupted, “we will continue our discussion later, tomorrow we have another meeting, we will continue then.  Take this time to think about everything we discussed today, maybe tomorrow you will be more willing to reach an understanding.”

“Don’t even think we will leave,” Kimball said, getting out of his seat and going to my side.  “What is going on with you?  How can I help?” Kimball put his arm around my shoulders, offering his support and protection, something that I was going to need.

One of Pompeyo’s guards went to where Fedelm was sitting and proved that she was in a trance, I guessed she was in the fog, maybe she even had Ratu trapped there.  I waited until the rest of the clan had left the place to explain what was going on.  Only the Assassins and the Shadows remained, mostly because they were worried about me, it was not normal for me to bleed.

“Ratu woke up as a seeress a few minutes ago, and it seems that Fedelm haven’t accepted that she won’t be under her control.  The moment Ratu left the room, I could feel that Fedelm wasn’t going to let her go easily, she has been trying to trap me in a vision since then, and I have a feeling that she did something similar to Ratu.  Even if she will be able to keep her enemies away, I’m afraid that sooner or later the effort could prove to be too much, we need to stop Fedelm before she has a chance to hurt Ratu.

“And how can we do that?” Inionri asked, I could see she was worried, even if she was trying to appear calm.

“I will go into the fog, but not following the path that Fedelm wants me to follow.  Kimball, try to contact Sofia or Melchizedek, it would be useful to have some support in the fog.  Inionri, if you can reach the rest of the seers and make them stop the attack, that would be a great help.  And if someone can find a way to take Fedelm out of her trance, it would make our fight easier.”

People around me started to move as soon as I spoke, I could tell that Inionri was worried, Pompeyo also looked worried, but mostly he looked mad, which was good for me.  Taking my seat again, I went into the fog, the storms I could see in the landscape were a clear sign that many seers were involved it whatever it was they were doing.  Walking through the fog was already hard, but it was even worse with the storms, a seer’s hand could cause chaos in that place, but through my years I had been able to navigate the fog even in worse conditions, although without an anchor it would be very hard, I trusted that Sofia or Melchizedek would arrive in time to help me find my way back.

The advantage of the storm was that it was showing me what way to go, and I moved closer, I noticed a big number of seers already there, it was as if every seer in the Empire was gathered there, it was very likely that was the case.  In the fog things were different than in the real world, we were in a different reality.  Despite the threats of the group around me, I knew they couldn’t hurt me, all they could do was try to get me lost in the currents of time, but I was better than them at finding my way, and because of that, I was able to reach Ratu.

“This has been a harsh awakening,” I said, trying to make the situation a little more normal.

“What is this place?  Where am I?” she asked, a little scared an a lot lost.  I didn’t need my empathy to realize that she was terrified.  “Where…” her words were cut the moment she stepped into one of the paths and was lost inside a vision, but with me there it was easy to get her back.  “What is going on?” she asked, looking around.  She wasn’t sure what she was looking at, with so many paths and so much information around us it was easy to get distracted and get lost, especially if she didn’t have the right information to find her way.

“We are in the fog of the future, the place where you can see all the possible futures.  Each path is a different possibility, each one can open into even more paths going into infinity.  With so much information available, it’s easy to fall into the trap, but you need to leave your curiosity to the side and resist the temptation of going after every possibility, or you could spend the rest of your life in here.”

“What I saw, I didn’t like it.  Everything we did was to keep me away from the Imperial Seers, but I was trapped by them, under Fedelm’s control, that isn’t what I wanted.”

“There is a possibility that something like that could happen, but that doesn’t means that it will happen, there are other options.”

“Haven’t you done enough damage giving her false hope?” Fedelm interrupted.  “It’s time for her to accept her new reality and embrace her destiny.”

“I should have guessed you would try something like this,” I told Fedelm, “but we both know that even if a path is possible, it doesn’t mean it’s probable.  This path we are standing in, it barely has light, it’s your power that’s keeping it open, but there are other paths that have a better probability of becoming real.  Come with me,” I told Ratu extending my hand in offering, “let me show you other realities, lets see what you can really do with your life if you follow your own path.”

“For every path where I’m not there, I can show her one where I am.  This proves nothing,” Fedelm said.

“The longer you go, the more uncertain the path becomes, and we are far away from the start,” I took Ratu to the breaking point.  “Do you see how these paths are breaking apart?  Those are the possibilities that are no longer, the paths you didn’t take.  “Do you see how behind you there is only one path?  That’s the path you already walked.  Every path in front of you is a different possibility, everyone depends on a decision taken, not always yours.  Right now you are trapped in this place, but you still have many paths in front of you, and those not only depend on the decisions you take right now, it also depends on what’s happening outside.”

“You can’t escape your destiny, some things can’t be ignored, and there is also the risk that the path you follow will take you to an even worse situation that the one you are running from,” Fedel said.

“Do you see how some paths look clearer while other look blurred?” I asked Ratu, ignoring Fedelm and trying to get Ratu to do the same.  “Each path is a possibility, some have a higher probability of becoming real.  When you are studying your future is important to know these differences, sometimes you can find ways of strengthening the paths of increasing their probabilities by taking some decisions or taking certain actions.  This is what Fedelm is doing, she is trying to make sure that only the future where she is in control becomes real, but you can do the same, you can look for the future you want and take the path that takes you to it,” again I asked her to follow me, we started walking through a more defined path, but I didn’t let her stop.  “It’s also important when you choose a path to find the consequences of taking it, and how it affects others, to realize what possibilities you are letting go.”

“This is much more complicated than I expected,” Ratu was only catching fragments of the future that could be, but as I had predicted, the path we were walking wasn’t one that included Fedelm.  “How can I learn about the consequences of each decision taken?”

“That is not easy, it requires a lot of training, you normally can only realize that when you see that in the future you chose, you are missing an important person to you, or you find something worse than what you tried to avoid waiting for you.  In one of my first visions I saw my father died, I was so focused on stopping his death that I didn’t stop to think about the consequences, I ran to his side to protect him, and even if I managed to save him the first time, my victory only lasted a few hours, at the end, I didn’t just lost my father, but also my partner.  But that’s not something you will learn from a moment to another, it requires time and training.”

“My future looks fine in this path, but how do I know that things won’t go bad further along?  The possibilities to explore are too many.”

“And that’s another of the risks of being in this place.  Sometimes you have to go with your gut, sometimes you have to take risks, because if you start looking at every path, every possibility, you will stay here forever.  You’ve already seen that there are other options other than staying under Fedelm’s control, you saw there is a chance to stay free and be part of the Empire.  It’s time to get out of here.”

“But there is so much to see,” Ratu protested.

“It’s easy to lose your notion of time in this place, it’s easy to get lost, but if you stay here, your body will collapse sooner or later.  Right now you could be under attack, and your defense is wasting your energy.  You don’t want to leave here only to find yourself dying because you’re having a psychic headache.

My words scared Ratu into following my instructions to get out of the place.  But I still had a job to do, I couldn’t get away yet.  Fedelm was still near me, but she wasn’t the only one, Melchizedek had finally arrived.

“Thank you for coming, it’s good that you found me,” I told Melchizedek.

“You are a beacon in the darkness, finding you wasn’t hard, the problem is with the people around you.  Even if your power and your presence is creating an oasis in the middle of this chaos, the energy of all these seers is affecting the flow of the fog.”

“I have experience walking through this place, but not enough experience fighting here.”

“Me neither,” Melchizedek said, “you know that I’m a peaceful person, but that doesn’t mean I will let anyone threaten the designs of the Goddess.  At some moment people will have to learn that certain things are inevitable.”

“I’m not afraid of you, nor your friend,” Fedelm told us, a group of seers moving behind her.

If they were looking for a storm, they I would fulfill their wish.  When I was finished with them, they would wish never to have crossed in my path.

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 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.

Chapter 62

I felt there were several persons in the room as soon as I woke up, but even after noticing that I had a power suppressor on me, I didn’t feel scared or threatened, in part because the strong headache helped me remember what had happened and the reason for all my hurt.  The last thing I remembered was Kimball checking my injuries, and I was sure he would have never let anything bad happen to me.

“How are you feeling?” Kimball asked, as always he could tell the moment I became aware, even if my eyes were still closed.

“You gave us quite the scare this time,” Ethan said, as I felt him sitting on the bed, next to me.

“There was no reason to worry, none of the injuries were really bad, even without your father’s help I would have recovered after getting some sleep.”

“From what Kimball said, I think your injuries were worst than you are letting on,” Malkia said, and I could tell by her tone of voice that she was angry.  “Was that show really necessary?  You were at a disadvantage for most of that fight, no one would have said anything if you had asked for help, and if what they say is true, even one of them would have significantly changed the flow of the battle.”

“You, better than anyone, should know how important is to keep appearances in this place.  If I had let anyone help me, most of the clan would still see me as a target.  I know that I have gained a lot of enemies with my actions, and that new generations don’t have the same fear or respect and the older ones, that’s why I needed a show of strength.”

“It was a big risk to take,” Greca said.

“No, it really wasn’t.  Even if the attack from the Death’s Clan was highly unlikely, it was possible, so I knew I would win that fight.  I saw myself walking away from the battle.”

“And you did walk away, but only because you were using your powers to keep your body working, you can’t deny you were falling apart, and the only reason you even reached the door was the use of your powers.”

“You are exaggerating.”

“No, I’m not,” Kimball said, “I saw the damage first hand, and I know that without medical attention, your life would have been at risk.”

“I had you with me, so that was never a risk.”

“I would really like for you to stop taking that kind of risks,” Kimball said, moving closer to me and giving me a sweet kiss to the forehead, it was such a tender gesture that I felt a little guilty, even as I felt angry for letting something as simple as that affect me, especially in front of my daughters.  “You haven’t answered my question yet, how are you feeling?”

“Like I was hit by a train,” I admitted.  “My body hurts a lot, and that is not taking into account the psychic headache, which is not as bad as it could be, thanks for activating the suppressor.”

“I know you don’t like to take strong medications while using the suppressor, so I only gave you mild sedatives, but if you want, I can give you something stronger.”

“No, that’s fine, I prefer to have a clear mind.”

“There is no need for that, it’s only us.  Nothing will happen to you, even if you are not in full control of your mind,” Kimball insisted.

“I’ll be fine, this is nothing, you just worry too much.”

“Someone has to,” he said, not insisting, but clearly not happy with my decision.

“Do you think that Pompeyo will change his tune after what happened?” Malkia asked.  “Or do you think he will keep trying to get rid of me?”

“His worst fear is to be replaced by someone else, and after my little demonstration, I became the biggest threat.  I hope that by the time he realizes he can’t get rid of us, he will also realize we are not the threat he fears we are.”

“Unless you want to be that threat,” Ethan told Malkia, “after all, this is also your legacy and you could take the throne easily, if you want.  There is no one in this clan that could represent all the Families better than you.”

“I have no interest in taking over the Imperial Clan, all I need is to be by Atrax’s side.”

“If that’s what you want, that’s your choice, just think about it.”

“Ethan, stop trying to cause trouble,” I told him, even if I knew that my words wouldn’t matter, once he got a new idea into his head, there was nothing that could stop him.

We were still talking, mostly it was them scolding me for my actions, when we heard someone knocking on the door of the suite.  I knew, even if I had never given the order, that a couple of my guards had to be outside the room, but still we could hear the knocking, that showed just how insistent the person on the other side was.

“I’ll go see who is there,” Ethan offered, getting out of the room before anyone could protest.

“I would like to know what’s going on,” Greca said, “maybe I should join him.”

“That’s not necessary,” Kimball said, activating one of his gadgets, after that we could hear Ethan’s voice, as if he was still standing there in the room.

“What’s going on here?” we heard Ethan ask.

“These individuals want to get in,” another voice, one I recognized as Franz’s, explained.

“Those two are my aunt and uncle, so I guess they’re ok, the others, I’m not so sure,” Ethan said.

“We just want to make sure that Kaiserin is ok,” Maddan said.

“It’s just us four, believe me, many more people wanted to come, but we didn’t want your mother to feel overwhelmed, especially not after the fight she just had, but we would like to see her,” Inionri said, once again acting as the voice of reason, something that would take some time to get used to.

“I will have to ask mom and make sure she doesn’t mind some visitors.”

“We won’t leave here until we speak to her, or at least until we are able to check by ourselves that she is in fact fine, especially after what your father did to her in their way here.”

“Do they really think that Kaiserin needs their protection?” Agata asked, I could almost see the incredulity painted in her face.

“They know my mother, but they don’t know my father,” Ethan said.

“If they know the boss lady, then they should know that no one messes with her and survives to tell the tale.”

“You are still alive,” Ethan pointed out, and I knew that his words could be misinterpreted in may ways, it was true that she had tried to kill me, but could they read the truth behind those words?  Would it be problems if they did?

For a moment, no one said anything, and I could imagine Ethan having a telepathic conversation with Agata, maybe even Franz.  When the silence went by for too long, I started to get nervous and was about to ask Kimball to go see what was going on, when Inionri broke the silence.

“I understand if you don’t want them to get inside, but at least let me go and talk to her, at least to confirm she is ok, they can wait here.”

The others started protesting, but with everyone talking at the same time it was hard to understand who and what they were saying.

“Ok!” Ethan’s voice raised over the others.  “You can come in, but just for a moment, my mom needs to rest to get her strength back.”

Ethan knew I would like to see him, so he had taken the right decision.  I tried to get out of bed, I didn’t want them to see me there, I wanted to meet them outside in the living room, where I could try to not look so bad.

“What do you think you are doing?” Kimball asked.

“I don’t want them to see me here, like this.”

“I’m pretty sure this won’t be the first time they see you injured, not if what you have told me is true.”

“Still…”

“Not waiting any longer, Kimball took me into his arms, I tried to protest, but I knew it would be useless, so I let him carry me.  As soon as we crossed the door, I saw that Ethan had already taken everyone inside and had them take a seat, by his position he was about to go looking for me.  As soon as he saw me in Kimball’s arms, he smiled, he tried to hide it, but I had seen him, and I glared right back at him, I didn’t find the situation any funny, and didn’t appreciate that he was laughing at me.

“How are you feeling cousin?” Kozlak asked, he had gotten out of his seat and was ready to help me if I asked.

“I’m tired, I’m hurting, but that’s what you should expect after a fight like the one I just had,” even if I didn’t have my powers, I could tell what they were thinking just by looking at them, so I interrupted them before they could scold me.  “You don’t have to tell me that what I did was insane, they already told me that.  We can avoid the lecture.”

“What you did was impressive, and a good idea, that will show the youngsters what we mean when we talk about you,” Maddan said.  “You must know that Pompeyo has been very nervous since you made your first appearance, your brother always referred to you in good terms, the few times he talked about you, but I’m afraid that Pompeyo never shared the same good feelings.  Even if most of the youngsters will think twice before attacking after your display, I’m afraid Pompeyo may have not learned his lesson, and you will need to be careful with him.”

“I know, and I know he is planning something, but he has some of the Palace’s seers involved, and because of that, I’m not sure what he will do, still, I’m sure I can handle anything he throws my way.”

“Not if you’re hurt,” Geb said.  “If you are going to face the kids again, you will need to have all of your strength back.”

“Or use the trick you stole from my daughter and borrow some energy, but no mater what happens, you can’t face them if you are not truly prepared for them,” Kozlak said.

“You don’t need to worrry about me, I know what the young Emperor is capable of, and I also know what I am capable of, and believe me, I will be fine.”

“It’s good to have you back,” Kozlka said, “we just want this to last, and we don’t want you to get in troble here.  Not that we don’t trust your abilities, it’s just we worry about you, you have to admit you have a tendency of getting into trouble.”

Kimball and Ethan laughed at that, and I knew that it was because they agreed with him.
“Are you really ok?” Geb insisted, and by the way he was looking at Kimball I knew he was really asking if I was ok with him.

“Everything is perfect.  I just need to rest a little bit, which won’t be an issue, Pomepeyo also need to rest and recover.”

“It’s been so long since we had a chance to talk, and there is still a lot you haven’t explained.”

“You are right, but there are some things I can’t share, I hope you understand.”
For the next few hours I told them a short and censured version of what I had been doing for the last few years, while I had been away, they already knew part of the story, but they wanted to know more, to get a bigger picture, to understand why I had been gone, leaving them for so many years.  No matter what I said, I knew it wouldn’t be enough, even after meeting them and showing and explaining my visions, I was sure that most of them still thought they would have find a way for things to work, a way for us to be able to stay together.

My daughter already knew most of the story, I had already talked to them, still they were listening carefully, trying to caught new fragments of information.  Explaining, or more accurately, justifying why I had left my daughters with Dendro instead of with them had been easier, because after a moment, they had accepted that they would have been at risk in the Empire, and would have ended up dead after a while, even under my brother’s protection, it was only a matter of time, Pompeyo and the others had already shown the youngsters’ attitude towards them.

Being back at the Empire was felt different from what I had expected originally, but once I started talking to my cousins and old allies, I felt as if time and distance were banishing until I felt like no time had gone by, as if I was back at home.

I knew that the next day I would have to face Pompeyo and his people again, and that eventually I would have to face the rest of the clans, I needed to be prepared, and I had to make sure they didn’t take me by surprise.  Even having back that sensation of danger and fear was a familiar feeling, that was what my life had been back then, a constant battle, something I didn’t realize I missed until I was back there.

Chapter 61

“I know you think you already won, but even if for some reason you manage to survive this, you will have many people ready to finish you as soon as the barrier falls down.  Killing Pompeyo and I won’t help you get the throne, you are not fighting with honor, so there is nothing that will stop the warriors in this room from tearing you down as soon as they can.  But that is not really important anyway, you won’t get out of this place alive, none of you will,” I told the leader of the group.

“I’m not sure if it’s bravery or stupidity, but either way, you don’t get your situation,” since I was entirely focused on him I noticed the signal he gave one of his men, and noticed when he started preparing to fight, the moment I noticed he was gone I moved, but even with the warning I couldn’t completely avoid the punch, but I managed to avoid real damage.  “Not bad, but that won’t be enough,” the leader said, he had moved during the short exchange and was standing over Pompeyo, his hand on the sword’s handle, “psychics are completely worthless once you remove their powers, you won’t be able to survive more than a few minutes against us,” once he said his piece, he took the sword off of Pompeyo, and even if he did his best to act as if he wasn’t suffering any damage, I could tell that he was seriously injured, just as I had said, getting it out had caused more damage that the one he had suffered by getting it in.  Once the sword was out, the blood started pooling under Pompeyo.

My first instinct was to go to and help him, but the speedster was attacking again, and because of the distance I had to work with, the time available to react was too short, and his attacks were very effective.  I needed to put more distance between us if I wanted to have any chance of winning, but there were five of them, and it was hard to pay attention to every one of my opponents, and still pay attention to what was going on with Pompeyo, because of that I couldn’t keep my eyes on everything, and a few of them managed to get on my blind side.  I couldn’t avoid falling, and when I looked up I saw a sword’s edge coming my way, just before it hit, someone else got in the way, pushing the to the other side.

“Ivan?” I asked, once I realized who the warrior next to me was, he looked very bad and was looking at his hands as if he couldn’t recognize them, before collapsing next to me.

“My powers were gone the moment I got here,” Ivan said, almost as if he was thinking out loud.

“What are you doing here?  My orders were very clear, no one is supposed to intervene unless I ask you to.”

“My job is to protect you, and as the person in charge of your security it’s my duty to make difficult decisions and follow my instincts, even if that means disobeying orders.”

“How did he get in here?!” the leader asked, angry.

“He teleported inside, but he won’t be able to do the same to get out,” one of the warriors answered.

“This isn’t your fight, Ivan, there was no reason for you to get in here.”

“Did you also lost your powers?” he asked, and I had to nod.  “I thought that people here knew you, what are they, suicidal?  How can they be so stupid as to do something like this?”

“The Death Clan spent years trying to kill me,” I explained as I helped Ivan up, “for them I’m an unfinished job, a failed mission.  The main problem here is that younger generations don’t really know me, they only heard the stories about me, and for some reason they all think those stories are exaggerated.  So when they hear that every person who tried to kill me ended up dead, they think that it’s just something they said.”

“Even legends are based on reality, they made a big mistake by taking your powers away,” Ivan said.

“A psychic without powers can’t fight back, of course we made the right choice by taking them away, now we will be able to kill the great Kaiserin and show everyone that there is no reason to be afraid of her.”

“Poor kids,” Zola said from the other side of the barrier, I wasn’t sure if she understood the insult she had just given them, but I knew that for her they were all kids.  “I still remember when I first met Kaiserin, our people were at war with a power many thought was invincible.  Kaiserin had been captured, drugged, and her powers sealed, our enemies were planning on using her against Kimball, and for a moment it almost worked, but you know what happened next?  Kaiserin broke her chains and got rid, by herself of all the warriors attacking us.  From that moment I knew that there was nothing that could be done to stop Kaiserin as long as she wants keeps fighting.”

“Do you really think I will let myself be intimidated?  It’s clear you are trying to scare me, but I won’t fall for your tricks.”

Pompeyo was back on his feet, and was getting ready to fight, but I could see he was in no conditions to do that.  It was true that most psychics were at a disadvantage without their powers, and that they were unable to fight back, but in Pompeyo’s case it wasn’t only the lack of powers, but the fact that he was injured that put him really at a disadvantage.

“Ivan, this isn’t your fight, I want you and the Emperor out of here, leave me so I can fight by myself.”

“I think you still don’t get the situation you’re in,” one of the warriors said, “you are all trapped in here with us, we are the one who decide who gets to stay and who gets to leave.”

I glanced at Ethan and I saw him giving me a signal to let me know he had everything under control.  “At my signal I want you to push Pompeyo outside the barrier, and to get outside with him.”  Ivan wasn’t happy with my order, but I knew he was going to follow it anyway.  “Ethan, in five,” I asked out loud, an order that surprised my enemies.

As soon as I spoke my orders, and trusting them to follow them, I attacked the leader and managed to take him by surprise, but all I got was one hit, he was too fast for me and my next attack completely missed, I was about to get over the limit of the barrier, but managed to stop just in time, not because I was afraid of the damage it could cause, but because the fight wasn’t done yet, and I wasn’t going to stop until I proved my point.

“That’s impossible!” the speedster exclaimed, just as one of his partners hit the barrier, one with Pompeyo and Ivan standing on the other side.

As soon as Pompeyo got to the other side, a group of Imperialists went to help him, and I could tell that at least one of them was a healer, already working on his injuries, so at least the first part of my plan had worked.  Ivan was still weak after getting through the barrier the first time, but the Shadows were already there, and I trusted them to offer at least some protection to him.

“No! What the hell happened?  That man didn’t have his powers, there is no way he could get to the other side, even less while carrying the Emperor.”

“What happened is that you made a big mistake by thinking you were the one in control.  The barrier is no longer yours, It’s me who decided who get in or out, or at least my son does.”

“Impossible!”

“Ethan is a great technopath, you may think your little trick was great, but as you can see, someone at his level only needs a couple of minutes to take over your technology.”

“If that was true, you wouldn’t be here,” the leader said, “you would be out, or at least would have some some backup with you.”

“That’s actually a good idea,” Kimball said from the other side of the barrier.  “Why don’t you let me in so I can take care of them for you?”

“This is my fight!”

“Let me help you,” Kimball asked, sounding a little desperate.

“You know that I have your help, even if you are not by my side.  Armeria, change to voice and tactile command.  Armeria, start defense protocol…”

“Try protocol six,” Kimball suggested, interrupting my order.

“Defense protocol six,” I agreed, I knew that Kimball had my best interests and that he was going to suggest only what would really help with my fight, besides, I always had trouble remembering the voice commands, I was too used to control armeria only using my mind.”

As I was talking, I took the hood of my cape and put it over my head, as soon as I finished with the commands, the cape I had been wearing started to change, as if it was melting over me, it started rearranging itself, the hood turned into a helmet, the rest created armor over my vulnerable parts.  Some of the cape pooled into my hand, and once it stopped shifting I ended with a sword on my hand, the handle resting in my hand.

The people from the Death’s Clan hadn’t attacked, the change that was taking place in front of their eyes went beyond their imagination, it was the kind of modification that only people with powers could get away with, but I was making it happen thanks to Kimball’s work through the years, and his desire to create something I could use to protect myself even when he wasn’t by my side.

Before I had a chance to act, the leader took a gun out and started shooting at me, but my new armor was bullet proof so the bullets couldn’t get through my armor, still, that didn’t made the hits hurt any less.  I tried to get out of the shooting trayectory, I knew that his bullets would run out eventually.  The problem was that while I was worry about the bullets, I had taken my eyes our of the other warriors, and that allowed one of them to take me by surprise, that helped him to caught me, putting his arm around me neck, the problem was that his actions put him near me and my sword, a fact that I immeditately took advantage of, too bad that the speedster was too fast and he managed to get away before I could do real damage to him, but at least I got him to free me.

The bullets finally stopped, giving me the chance to attack, the problem is that I was facing two opponents, and that put me into further disadvantage, usually that kind of fight wouldn’t be a problem, but I was fighting two mutants and that made things more complicated, at first I was able to block most attacks, and even managed to connect a few, but as the battle continued it started to become harder to do it, until one of them connected a kick that sent me to the barrier, it should have hurt me, but Ethan was still in control and managed to change the energy so instead of zapping me, it pushed me away, with enough force for me to be able to punch my enemy and sent him to the other side of the barrier, where he did get an electric attack that hurt him and got him momentarely out of combat.

“What is going on?  How come nothing happened to her?” the injured warrior protested.

“We lost control of the barrier, someone else is manipulating the energy,” another warrior answered.

During the fight I had been paying attention to the others, and noticed that two of the warriors were focused on something else besides the fight.  I knew that one of them must be the one neutralizing my powers, and that the other one had to be fighting over the control of the technology behind the barrier with Ethan.  That left only three warriors, the leader had been staying out of the fight, at least after he had emptied his gun on me, but the other two were still attacking me.  Despite the fact that none of them had managed to do real damage, my body was starting to resent the abuse.  My only advantage was that thanks to my sword I was managing to do some damage, and they were wearing down too.

“What are you waiting for?” their leader asked.  “She is only a psychic, she is nothing without her powers.”

“That’s the theory,” the speedster said, “but her reflexes are pretty good and that armor is absorbing most of the damage,” even if it was true that my armor was helping, the truth was that the attacks were getting to me, and I was running out of time, “besides, that sword is giving her a better reach.”

“That can be easily solved,” the leader said, throwing the sword he had taken out of Pompeyo to the warrior.

As soon as he had the new weapon in his hands, he resumed his attacks, and the sword made an immediate difference, even if not enough to defeat me.  Even if the flow of the battle had changed again and I had moved to defense, once again, their attacks weren’t as effective as they expected, not with my armor protecting me from the edge of the sword.  After a moment I managed to recover the advantage I had lost, by breaking my enemy’s sword with my own, the edge of my sword was sharper, and that helped me cut the other one.  I had to thank Kimball for that, his technology helped create an edge that was much better than the one a traditional weapon could get.

I was still celebrating the fact that I had taken the sword out when someone hit me, the leader had finally joined the fight.  After hitting the barrier once again without receiving a shock, thanks to Ethan, I recovered as fast as I could and attacked my new opponent.  In a fight of three versus one, and in such a limited space, the fight was highly against me, they were very fast and I needed more space so I could be able to react and move in time, but at the moment that was a luxury I didn’t have.

They started attacking, but as soon as I blocked or dodged one attack, another one connected.  My sword helped extend my area of attack and helped me avoid serious damage, but then one of them managed to take my sword away from me, and I knew that I had lost what little control I had.  Two of them acted together to get me to the ground, I hit my head badly, but thanks to my helmet the damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

I tried to get up, but one of them put his foot on my neck, then I felt someone else sitting on my legs, pinning them to the ground, then I saw that man lifting the sword over his head and then letting it fall, the punch to my stomach left me breathless, to them it looked as if the sword had gone through me, just like I had done with Pompeyo a few minutes before, but the difference was that with me the sword recognized my armor, and instead of going through it, it had fused with it, making the blade part of my armor, but that didn’t change the fact that the hit had hurt a lot, I was still trying to get some air to my lungs when I heard the screams and threats coming from the other side of the barrier, I could even hear my daughters screaming my name.

“What are you waiting for?  Do something!  If you really are in control of that barrier then let it down, we have to act, now,” I heard Kozlak telling Ethan.

“I don’t think my mom will appreciate it if I let it down right now,” Ethan said.

“If you don’t do something right now Kaiserin may not survive this battle!” Inionri said.

“Don’t worry, the attack was done using her own weapon,” Zola said, calmly.

“And what does that have to do with anything?” Maddan asked.

“You cannot use a Mzansier’s weapon to attack the owner,” the Shadows said at the same time.

“It seems you are not paying attention, because that’s what we just did,” the leader of the Death said.

“Are you sure about that?” Kimball asked.

“Armeria, double katar,” I whispered, that was all I needed, I felt how my wrist protectors were morphing and soon I had a couple of short blades attached to my arms and covering the back of my hands.  I took advantage of the fact that the warrior that had attacked me was distracted by Kimball’s question, and using all the strength I could gather, I threw a punch to my opponent’s neck, the blade over my hand cut through the guy’s skin and muscle without problem, getting to the jugular easily.  Blood fell over, and I had to fight the dead weight that fell on me so I could get away, as my attacker was trying to get the blood to stop, without luck.

The hilt of the sword fell from his hand as soon as I moved, and once it hit the floor it became obvious that there was no blade attached any longer, and that they had failed to stab me.  I got to my feet, I knew I was a sight, all covered in blood and with a dying warrior at my feet.

“That’s impossible!” The leader said.

“Aren’t you getting tired of repeating the same?  You should have realized by now that with my the impossible becomes possible.  When the Shadows said that you cannot use a Mzansier’s weapon against its master, they weren’t talking figuratively, the weapons they make, are designed so they can’t be used against its owner.  The sword you tried to turn on me returned to be part of my armor, and now I have new weapons,” I said, lifting my hands so he could see the blades attached to them.  “One gone and four left.  I have to warn you, not all of you will be so lucky as to get treated to a quick death like him, I will make sure that you,” I said pointing to the leader, “have a slow, painful death.”

“Play time is over, I want her dead right now,” the leader said.

They attacked again, but it was back to two on one, and since I had finally taken the speedster out, it was easier to keep the other two away, even if they were faster than the average warrior, they were not as fast as the other one.  I started to get back to a defensive position, and wasn’t sure how to change the situation, at least not in the short term, but since none of them was connecting their attacks, the situation wasn’t much better for them.  They knew they needed to do something to change the situation, and eventually one more warrior joined them.  I knew that it had to be the technopath, they wouldn’t risk getting the one blocking my powers into the fight.

“Armeria, kunai,” I ordered in a whisper, so none of my opponents could hear.

I started to move back, changing my position as they attacked, looking for the right angle.  One of my blades had turned into a kunai, it had been years since I had used one, but I knew it was the best weapon for what I needed to do.  Since it was small, it was easy to hide it from my opponents, they hadn’t noticed the change.  When I was finally in position, I threw the kunai, and it hit right on target, it went through the eye of the woman I suspected was blocking my powers.  Just as I threw the kunai, one of the warriors managed to grab me by the back, they had finally caught me, but it was too late, as soon as the warrior’s body hit the floor, I finally got my powers back.  I had been right, I had managed to survive and with my powers back, I could finally change the flow of the battle.

Connecting to the floor under my feet wasn’t that hard, the metal that covered one third of the floor was as familiar to me as the swords had been, even after all the time I had been away.  The metal jumped and hit the three Death warriors still alive, the leader managed to avoid the first couple of atacks, but the third finally got him through the chest.  I lifted my enemies’ bodies using the metal spikes, and once they were in the air, I commanded the metal to grow, it started to get out of their bodies through their hands, arms, legs, and other parts of their bodies, showing just how elaborated the design was.  The screams started, I knew the pain they were feeling was inscrutable, but that didn’t change my goal.  I made sure they had no way of escaping the tree of pain I had prepared for them, and then made sure the other two were really dead, only after I was finished did I looked around me, to the different clans gathered in the room.

“Many of you don’t know me,” I said, talking to every clan around me, “but I was the Empress, and I won that position because I was the best, and that hasn’t changed just because I was away, I kept training, fighting and defeating my enemies.  Let this,” I said pointing to my trees of pain and the people in them, “be a lesson for all of you, anyone who decides to attack me or someone under my protection, will have the same fate.  Show is over for today, you can all go back to your rooms and the Emperor will call for you later.  I hope you take this chance to think about what just happened, so that you learn to avoid the same mistake.”

Since I had my powers back I was able to send a message to Ethan, I told him to let the barrier down just long enough for me to cross to the other side, and then set it back up, that way the agonizing warriors would be locked up in their own trap, in a place where no one could reach them or help them.  I walked to where my children and Kimball were waiting for me, and I could see that some people had also moved closer, but after the show I had just given, none of them was willing to break the rules and move closer without permission.  The place was chaos, the actions of the Death’s Clan had really shaken up the place, I could see that Pompeyo had already been moved to a safe place and that a group of soldiers was trying to secure the place, I also knew that soon the clan’s telepaths would go over the people there to make sure that no one else was working with the Death’s Clan.

As soon as I had a chance I used the trick I had just stolen from Alukah and took a little bit of energy from the Mzansiers and my daughters, I knew that if I took a little bit from many people I would have enough without causing lasting damage, the truth was that after my fight and building the trees of pain I was exhausted, I didn’t have any strength left, but I wanted to walk out of the room by my own power, so I needed energy.  I could tell by the looks on their faces that they knew what I was doing, but none of them complained.

“I think that I need some rest, let’s get out of here,” I told them.

“Of course, we can go to the room that was assigned to us, we can check later if you want some other accommodations,” Kimball suggested.

We stated to walk out of the room, and thanks to the Imperial soldiers, no one got in our way, no one dared to stop us.  Besides the Shadows and the Assassins, a few Imperialists joined my group.  Even with the energy I had taken, every step was harder than the last and my headache, the conseequence of everything I had done, was so bad that I felt like someone was taking a hammer to my head with every step I took.

“You don’t need to come with us,” Kimball told the Imperialists following us, it was mostly formed by my old allies, Inionri, Kozlak, Maddan, Geb and even Ratu was walking next to her mother.

“We won’t go away until we make sure that Kaiserin is alright,” Kozlak said, and I had to smile by the conviction in his voice.

“I can take care of her,” Kimball said, with a tone of voice that in other setting would make everyone jump to obey him, but the group following us wasn’t going to be deterred so easily.

“Maddan, could you do me a favor?” I asked.  “The rest of my guards are still outside, can you let them in?  I need Soriya with us,” Soriya was a biokinetic that normally helped Kimball when he needed some medical assistance.  The armor had helped me with the worst, but the bullets had done a lot of damage, I suspected they had broken a few ribs.  I could feel some internal damage, and even if I was okay, because I was using my powers to keep everything working, I knew it wouldn’t last, the headache was getting worse and I would need to block my powers to help me with the pain.

“Of course, that’s no problem,” Maddan answered immediately.

“Ivan, please go with Maddan and work with him to get the rest of my people here, I need them as soon as possible.”

“What are the damage?” Kimball asked.

“Nothing to worry about,” I said, not wanting to seem weak.

“Don’t you trust them?” he asked, pointing to our followers.

“Of coruse I do.”

“Then why are you still pretending you are ok?”

“I’m ok,” I insisted, but Kimball knew me well enough to know the truth.  He moved closer to me and put his hand over my shoulder, a clear sign of how affected I had been by the fight was that I never suspected what he was really doing, I just thought it was a show of support, it wasn’t until I felt the pinch and lost control of my body that I realized his true intentions.  Kimball took me into his arms after making my body lose its movility.  I kind of understood what he was doing, by not having to worry about controling my body I could use both of my mind to work on my injuries, but knowing his motives didn’t make the action any less humiliating.

Many of the warriors coming with us started to act as soon as they saw my body start falling, especially my cousins, they moved, ready to help me, but Ethan stepped between us, which gave me time to act.

‘It’s ok, he didn’t hurt me,’ I sent the telepathic message to them.

“Kaiserin?  What happened?” Inionri asked, she was the only one keeping some control.  “Do you need help?”

“My mom needs rest,” Ethan explained, “even if she won the fight, she is still hurt, my father is just helping her, he is always in charge of taking care of her injuries, he is only doing his work.”

“Aren’t you supposed to protect her?” Maddan asked Ivan.  “How can you let him attack her like that?”

“Kimball would never hurt her,” Ivan said, “besides, if I tried to attack Kimball, Kaiserin would get mad at me, for her is more important that the boss is ok that her own safety.  If any of you attack Kimball, all you will do is force Kaiserin to spend the last of her energy defending him, not that the boss needs help, but she is kind of overprotective like that.  We should go for the rest of my team, Soriya is our healer, and if Kaiserin is asking for her is because she her injuries are worse than we thought.”

I knew that they were scared, and even if I wanted to pretend they had no reason to, the truth was that I was feeling bad, despite my efforts and the care I had taken in using my powers to keep everything working, I was really hurt.  At that moment my powers were the only ting keeping everything working as it should, keeping the bones in place and the blood flowing as it should, but the headache was getting worse and soon I would need to suppress my powers, and that would leave my body vulnerable.  Truth was, I needed help and I needed it fast.

 

Chapter 60

Walking through the secret passages was bringing good memories back to me.  Some things had changed in the years since I had been in the Palace, but the few traps I had found were easy to disable.  For a moment I thought about getting out using the door in the throne room, but I knew that with so many people there it would be easier for them to notice me, so I decided to use one of the exits in the residential area.  I had decided to use a uniform that looked similar to the one the high officers of the Empire used, but it had enough modifications to mark the fact that I wasn’t one of them, even so, I was able to walk through the first few control points without problem, it wasn’t until I reached the area close to my destination that soldiers started to notice something was wrong.

I felt bad fighting the guards, at first, they were only doing their job after all, but the feeling that something bad was about to happen was getting stronger, and I knew I was running out of time, if I wanted to avoid a tragedy, I had to reach the throne room as soon as possible, that meant I couldn’t stop for any reason.  When I finally opened the doors to the throne room, the adrenaline running through my body was high, and despite the difficult situation, I was about to face, I couldn’t help but feel excited about what was about to happen.

“Don’t worry brother, I will take care of her,” Ratu declared, lifting her hands and creating a strong wind that was meant to throw me out.

With just a thought I was able to lift a wall in front of me that redirected the air to the sides, it hit the guards behind me that were just getting back to their feet, some of them ended up back on the floor, others were thrown against the walls, but I wasn’t affected by the air.

“You really thought that would affect me?” I asked Ratu.  “I used to train with one of the strongest eolokinetics this clan has known, a few beginner tricks won’t affect me.”

“Don’t underestimate me,” she said, creating a strong whirlwind and throwing it against me.  I let the attack reach me and surround me, and then used my powers to disperse it.

“A lesson my mother taught me is that you should use other elements to strengthen your attacks,” I explained as I used my powers to condense the water in the air to form water drops, “my mother had a few guards with different kinetic powers to help her with that, but I don’t need help,” with another thought I froze the water, creating tiny little ice crystals, and then created a whirlwind and fed it the ice before throwing it against Ratu, I knew that the crystals would cut her like little knives, causing a lot more damage than if it was only air.

Ratu started to try and wrestle with me for the control of the whirlwind, but I kept using my powers to control it, not giving Ratu any chance of taking over it.  My focus was all in keeping my defensive wall and the whirlwind, so I had no space to anything else, because of that I didn’t notice Ethan’s laughter at first, it wasn’t until I felt Ratu giving up on taking control and changing her focus on looking for womething else that I broke the hold on myu attack and could finally pay attention to what Ethan was telling Zola.

“… then, by using her own power against her, instead of using something else from her extensive arsenal, my mother was telling Ratu that she is better than her, able to beat her in her own game.”

Ratu was standing in front of her, the are around her was empty, people had moved away from her to avoid the attack.  That area around her was now full of little ice crystals in the process of melting, now that their task was over.  Little scratches covered every inch of Ratu’s skin, showing how effective the attack had been.  I could tell she was getting ready to launch a new attack, but the confidence she had been showing a few minutes before was gone, ans she was looking at me with wary eyes.

“It seems it will be me who will have to take care of this,” Alukah said, “get out of my way and let the expert handle this.”

“There is no need for violence, I’m here to talk,” I told them, “I have no problems showing you what I’m capable of, but I don’t want to hurt anyone unless I have to.”

“Alukah, stay out of this,” Kozlak, her father, warned her.

“Don’t worry father, I will only teach your old friend a lesson, I don’t intend to kill her… yet.”

Before I could answer to her, I felt my energy leaving my body, it was a familiar sensation, but there was no physical connection between us which was odd, the distance between us was significant, but once I focused on the sensation I realized that the ribbons of energy around me were being dragged on Alukah’s direction.  Too weak to keep standing I fell to my knees, I knew that if I didn’t do something fast I was going to be left without energy to fight back, so I focused my powers on the ribbons and grabbed them so they couldn’t keep getting away from me.

“Your father was always good to me,” I told Alukah, who had taken a few steps closer to me, happy and confident in her victory, “he helped me control my powers, he also taught me how to copy other peoples’ powers and eventually how to learn them.  Your mother, on the other hand, always refused to teach me her tricks, it wasn’t until the fight for the throne that I realized it was because she intended to use her powers against me, but that didn’t work for her, I learned to use her powers and I even used them against her.”

“Nice speech, but if you think I will let you go just because you used to be my parents’ friend, then let me tell you that you are wasting your time,” Alukah’s confidence and the fact that she wasn’t paying attention to her own attack was proof that she had never faced someone like me.  It was obvious she had been defeated in the past, otherwise she would have been the one sitting on the throne, but for some reason she didn’t think of me as a threat.

Focusing my powers on the energy ribbons and took control of the energy’s flow and turned it around, not only taking back the energy that had been stolen, but taking Alukah’s as well.  In just a few seconds I had gotten my energy back and taken control of the situation, I got back to my feel just as Alukah was struggling to take back control and was barely standing on her own feet.

“What I was trying to say was that my powers allow me to learn other peoples’ powers and make them my own.  I have to thank you, your power is fantastic, and I’m sure that with my own powers and this new ability of taking energy from a distance, no one will be able to stop me.”

Alukah threw a few ribbons around trying to search for new energy sources, she knew that if I kept taking her energy she would be in danger and her situation was turning desperate.  I cut my connection to the ribbons and focused my attention on building a wall around her to stop her from reaching for other people’s energy and recover.  A strong psychic punch almost managed to break my focus, but I was experienced enough to keep it together.

“Stop your attack right now,” Pompeyo ordered, getting up from his throne and moving in my direction.  “I usually don’t dirty my hands with cowards like you, but it seems I will have to make an exception and take care of you myself.  First, you need to let Alukah go.”

“I have no problem with her, as long as she stays out of the way, I have no reason to attack her again.  And I can say the same to you, there is no need for us to be enemies.  Let’s talk about this, we are family after all, there is no need for fighting,” once I was sure that Alukah would stay out of the fight and let me face Pompeyo alone, I let the barrier around her fall so she could have a chance to recover.

“If you didn’t want to fight, then you shouldn’t have invaded the Palace.”

“This used to be my home, I have as much right as you to be here,” we were still talking, but I should have known that Pompeyo wasn’t going to stop so easily, I could feel his mind attacking mine, breaking into it with an explosive effort.

What Pompeyo failed to realize was that I was already waiting for him, when he broke in, it was mostly because I had let him, taking him directly to the center of my labyrinth.

‘This is not what I was expecting,’ his mental image said.

‘I won’t ask what you were expecting, what I’m going to do is give you a chance of getting out of here without damage, but if you decide to stay, or if you try to attack me, then I will be forced to teach you a painful lesson.’

Outside my mind, Pompeyo was looking at me haughtily, thinking he had already won just because he had gotten inside my mind.  I saw him take his sword out of the sheath on his hip, and from the look he had, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to talk him out of it.  Since I wasn’t ready to show all my cards, I used my powers to grab one of the swords hanging behind the throne instead of creating my own.  It was a weapon I was familiar with, since I had used it before.  The sword felt familiar in my hand, but its weight wasn’t as intimidating as the first time, so much had changed since that time.

When Pompeyo started walking towards me, preparing his sword to attack me, I could also feel his mental image getting ready to attack.  ‘You were warned,’ I told his mental image, as my own image started moving, showing the chest that still was my most powerful weapon, ‘now, you will have to face the consequences.’

As he lifted his sword to attack, I felt the first signs of his mental attack and opened the chest in my mind, filling my mental landscape with light and pain.  Pompeyo’s mental image disintegrated inside while his physical body stumbled with the force of the attack and his lost the inertia of his attack, something I took advantage of hitting his sword and forcing him to let it go.  A front kick to the stomach sent him to the ground, by the time his mind cleared enough to realize what was going on, his humiliation had been already complete, in just a single attack I had sent the Emperor to the ground.

“I think this would be a good time to end this meeting,” I said, getting his attention to the spectators around us with a gesture with my sword, “we can continue this conversation with just our family.”

“You are not my family,” Pompeyo said, immediately, and even if I could understand his reaction, it still hurt that the closest family member I had in the Empire would reject me that way.

“That’s debatable,” I said, trying for a carefree tone.

“You are nothing, your ties to this clan and its families were cut the moment you decided to go and leave your duty behind.”

“That’s what you think?  Perhaps we should ask the leaders of the Royal Families what they think.  I used to have the recognition of all the Royal Families, I’m pretty sure that’s something I can recover.”

“Even if no other family does, the Maxima Family, the family that gave you your name and saw you be born still recognizes you,” Inionri declared.  By the looks she was getting from the young warriors, her declaration was not only unexpected, but something that would cause problems for my dear cousin.

“Silence!” Pompeyo ordered, he most likely had detected that other leaders were going to recognize me, and that was against his plans.

Pompeyo was back on his feet by then, and the sword back in his power.  He didn’t hide his intention to attack, his movements clear and predictable, but when his sword started coming down on me, I felt a stab of pain, Pompeyo had used a psychic knife to break my focus, but even if his attack had been a good one, I had a lot of practice fighting through pain, and his technique wasn’t successful, I was still able to block his attack, which caught him by surprise, he was expecting an opponent unable to fight back, so he wasn’t prepared for my counterattack that left him weaponless again.

Someone threw another sword at Pompeyo, it was the twin to the one I was using, one to which I had a connection even after all the years.  I knew that I could easily take control of his weapon and even use it against him, and by the faces of some of the others and the warnings sent his way, I wasn’t the only one aware of that, my old teammates also knew that.  But Pompeyo was deaf to the warnings, what he had thought was going to be an easy fight had turned more complicated than he expected and he wasn’t looking good, if things kept the same way his already damage image was going to be even more affected, and that was something he couldn’t allow.

‘This fight doesn’t need to continue,’ I said by telepathy, ‘we can end this any moment.’

‘This will end once I defeat you,’ was Pompeyo’s answer, and I had to accept that there was no way he would stop, if I wanted him to stop, then I had to show him who was in charge, I would have to completely defeat him.

I kept fighting him for a few minutes, letting him think he was getting the upper hand, making him fall into a false sense of security, and then, at the right moment I started my own attack, the first thing I did was to dodge his attack and then sidestepping him I kicked him in the back of his legs, sending him back to the floor.  The next step was the reason I had stalled, I needed to get a read on him to make a connection, because I needed to get a good idea of his body so when I lifted my sword and got ready to put it through him, I knew exactly where to stab him so I could avoid doing any unnecessary damage.

A heavy silence fell over the room when my sword pierced Pompeyo and got stuck on the floor.  I knew most of them thought I had killed him, but then Pompeyo grabbed the sword and with a growl tried to take it out.

“I would recommend you to wait,” I said, “the damage it will do getting out will be worse than the one I made getting it in.  If you want to survive, wait until a biokinetic can help you with that.”

“You… haven’t… defeated… me… yet,” Pompeyo warned, he was clearly unwilling to admit defeat against me.

“I’m afraid this fight has ended, if I wanted to, I could kill you right now, you are in no shape to fight back.”  I felt another psychic attack, one that I ended without mercy, making him tremble with pain, hurting himself in the process.  “Accept your defeat and accept your people’s help,” I told him, knowing that there were people ready to step in and help.  I started to back away, giving his allies space to help.

“I will never…” it was clear that Pompeyo intended to keep fighting, but his words were cut, not because he was attacking, but because we both felt an attack coming.

Just like Pompeyo, I had made the mistake of thinking no one would dare to interrupt our battle, that the others will stay at bay, I trusted the Shadows to keep Ratu and Alukah away, thinking they were the only ones who could try something, but the ones who stepped in and took control were the members of the Death Clan, not the warriors of the Imperial Clan.

As soon as I felt my powers vanish I looked around, and realized that the ones on the battlefield weren’t from my clan, but warriors wearing the Death uniform.  I tried to move back to where Pompeyo was, because as soon as they started moving in I realized they weren’t there to help, they had another goal in mind, and my first instinct was to protect him, knowing that it was my fault he was in such a vulnerable position.

“I never thought I would have the opportunity to face a legend,” the one who looked like the leader said, as he stepped between me and Pompeyo.  “When we were planning this attack, I never thought I would have the chance to use it against you, this will really be a good test.”

“Don’t you know is not polite to interrupt a fight? Not to say a little suicidal.”

“The Imperial Clan is not what it used to be, it has fallen in the last few years, that’s why we decided it’s time for the Empire to get new rulers.”

“And you think this is the way?  By ambushing two warriors in the middle of their fight?”

“Once we kill the Emperor and the living legend, no one will doubt who deserves to be in charge.”

“Even if you could defeat us,” Pompeyo said from his position on the ground, “this is not a sanctioned challenge, it’s not a valid fight.  If you were a true warrior, you would have challenged me in public instead of doing this.”

“Following the rules would only give you an advantage you don’t deserve.  You psychics think you are better than everyone else, but if we take your powers away, you are nothing, and we will prove that right here, right now.  Kill them,” he ordered his men.

Ratu, Maddan, and some of the guards moved at the same time, intending to stop the Death soldiers, but they were all thrown back by an invisible barrier, one that reminded me the energy fields used in the Dominion.  I noticed five little posts around us, and I knew we were trapped.  I also noticed that all five of the representatives of the Death Clan were inside the area marked by the posts.  It wasn’t something I had foreseen, still I was ready to face any enemy in front of me.  They didn’t know it, but from the moment they had taken my powers, they had signed their death sentences.

Chapter 59-b

When the people from the Shadow’s Clan entered the room, every eye focused on them.  It wasn’t just because the new group had arrived, it was because of Zola, an older woman and Nelson, dressed in a suit, and not the uniform his compatriots were wearing, they were obviously out of place, being nothing like the rest of the people gathered in that room.

Some faces were showing naked hostility, others were watching with curiosity, and still a few were looking at them in a friendly way.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” Pompeyo said from his place on the throne.

“It seems our invitation was lost, but that’s not an issue, like I told you the last time I was here, we have ways of knowing what’s going on, you can’t get rid of us so easily.”

“It seems that way,” Pompeyo went silent, because a new group was walking in, Antrax, Malkia, Greca, Dendro and another Assassin entered the room and Pompeyo’s attention turned to them.  “I thought I had been very clear the last time we met, she is not welcome in this place.”

“She is my partner and not allowing her in here is an insult to my clan, and an offense I can’t let go,” Antrax said.  “You will have to get used to seeing her here, whether you like it or not.”

“I think you don’t understand how things work, new leader of the Assassins’ Clan, I’m the one in charge, the one who makes the rules, you are the ones who follow them, I won’t stand this insubordination, no one disobeys my orders no matter who he is.”

“You are the one who asked for our clan to come here, that includes my partner.  Either you accept us all, or we all walk out of here.  Are you willing to put at risk an alliance generations old over this?”

“Be careful Antrax, again you are talking as if you are threatening me,” Pompeyo warned.  “That doesn’t change anything, you disobeyed a direct order and I can’t allow that.  If I let you get away with it, then everyone will think they can do the same.  Guards, take Malkia to the dungeon, if she is so eager to visit the Palace, then lets start her visit from the bottom.”

“I won’t let you take my partner away,” Antrax said, facing Pompeyo.

“With all due respect, Your Majesty, I won’t let you take me away that easily,” Malkia said, moving from behind Antrax and standing next to him.

“I will gladly take care of them,” Alukah offers, eager to fight Malkia.

“That’s not necessary,” Pompeyo says, “I can take care of them.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Kimball cuts in.

“This has nothing to do with you,” Pompeyo replies.

“Everything that has to do with Malkia and the Assassins is my business.  She is part of my family, and because of that she has the protection of my clan.  Do you really want to continue with this?” Kimball’s words, instead of helping, only make Pompeyo feel more threatened, and push him to put everyone in their places.

“My orders won’t change, you have two options, you either send her back to your clan and promise not to let her out of it again, or you let her stay here, in which case she will become a permanent resident of our dungeon.”

“If you think you can intimidate me so easily, is because you know nothing about me,” Malkia said, not letting herself be intimidated by Pompeyo’s words and attitude.

‘We can do this in a civilized manner so we don’t have any problems, or you can keep fighting back, in that case, I promise you won’t walk out of this room alive,’ Pompeyo sent the thought to Malkia.

“That’s not a good idea,” Ethan said.  “You have no idea what you are facing.”

“We are the Imperial Clan, do you think we are afraid of a couple of clans?”

“Is not the Shadows or the Assassins you have to worry about,” Zola said, speaking for the first time, and surprising everyone by the strength of her voice and the command in her tone, “it’s Kaiserin you should be worry about.”

“I’m the Emperor, I’m not afraid of cowards that don’t even have the courage of coming here.”  Right at that moment, following Pompeyo’s silent command, the guards around the room moved, trying to surround the Assassins, but before they got to their positions, the whole room trembled.  “What was that?” Pompeyo asked, turning to see Maddan, the one in charge of security.

“That’s must be my mother,” Ethan said, “I think it’s time for you to finally meet her face to face.”

“No one can get inside this place without authorization.”

“Kaiserin used to be a Captain of the Royal Guard, she knows all the secret entrances and she has the powers to come here without being detected if she wants,” Maddan said.

“You give her too much credit,” Pompeyo answer, “and anyway, she is not welcome here either, find her and take her to the dungeons, maybe she can share a cell with her daughter.”

“The last time Kaiserin decided to crash a reunion in this room, I was unable to stop her, I’m pretty sure it will be the same this time.”

“If you are afraid, then I can take care of her,” Ratu offered.

Before her offer could be accepted, another crash sounded and the building shook, then the doors of the room opened, on the other side the bodies of the guards could be seen on the floor, and in the middle of the chaos, Kaiserin was standing.

Chapter 51

A heavy silence fell over the room, Kimball’s words had certainly caused a big impression. Then Vultur’s laugh broke the silence, getting everyone back to the moment.

“Good joke,” Vultur said, “but what you say it’s impossible, especially in that time frame. Do you really believe that if it was that easy to get rid of us we would still be here? We are mostly nomads, and you can’t destroy what you can’t find.”

“I know I can do that, in fact, I’m certain that your clan will no longer exist in 48 hours. And I can prove it,” he added, and I could see the smile on his face, but even knowing how mad he was and his desire to make Vultur pay, I also knew it was hard for him to even think about committing genocide. “Ethan? Can you show Vultur the Intel we have?”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to show our cards?” Ethan asked, but I got what Kimball was trying to do, and I knew it was a good idea.

“Just do as I ask,” he said, his tone of voice making it clear there was no room for questions.

For a moment the image on my screen went black, and when it returned I realized that the camera’s angle had changed, I understood that Ethan had used his technopathy and the components on his gabardine to create a projector. On the wall behind the throne, was a map of the Empire and the northern territories, occupied by the Rebel Clans. One by one, little points started to show on the map.

“Those are the twelve known camps of the Scavengers,” Kimball said, “and those are the ones no one knows,” he added as eight more points appeared on the map, causing another round of whispers and murmurs, even a few protests from those that recognized some of those points to be inside their territories. “I think that there are a few you forgot to mention to your new friend, the Emperor.”

“If you think you are going to blindside me with that information, you’re wrong,” Pompeyo said, “I’m aware of all the territories the Scavengers occupy, and the fact that you got your hands on some classified information won’t change anything.”

“Then you knew about the camp they set on part of your territory?” Kimball asked, pointing to a point on the map a few miles from the Palace, one that should have been considered Imperial territory.

“They have my permission to be there, you could say I allowed them the use of that territory in exchange of access to all the territories they control in the North.”

“It is pretty impressive that you have that information,” Vultur said, trying to seem calm, but I could see that he was rattled by the situation, some of those points were well guarded secrets, and even some people in their own clan shouldn’t know about it, “but knowing that information won’t help us defeat us, even if you managed to attack one or two of those camps, the others will have enough time to leave or set a counter attack. Not to mention that some are so far from each other that your people won’t have time to move from one to the other in time.”

“Ethan, connect to the attack satellites, I think it’s time to show our new enemies what we are capable of.”

“What target do you have in mind?” Ethan asked, and I knew that much depended on Kimball’s answer, in the remote case he choose a different target than the one I had in mind, the situation would become very complicated.

“What do you suggest? The closest one would be a good choice to show them what we can do, don’t you think?”

“I think that is the location that will have the biggest impact,” Ethan said, and I felt better knowing everything was going according to plan. “Everything is ready, just tell me when to push the button.”

“I haven’t given you the codes,” Kimball said, looking over his shoulder at Ethan, a question in his look.

“Getting those codes was child’s play,” Ethan said, and both his father and I stopped for a moment to think about his statement, the launching codes were a extremely dangerous thing if they fell into the wrong hands. “Just waiting for your signal.”

“I want you to understand something,” Kimball told Vultur, “we didn’t need to get this far, you asked for this, and the extinction of your clans rests only on your shoulders.”

“I’m not intimidated by your empty threats, I know there is nothing you can do against us.”

At Kimball’s signal, the image on the wall started to zoom into one of the points in the map, the one closer to their location, the one they had said used to be Imperial territory, soon, they had eagle eyes of the camp. There was no movement in the area, but it was, without a doubt, a camp that had been recently settled.

“Do you recognize the place?” Kimball asked, as everyone watched the image with curiosity. “That’s the camp you left this morning,” he kept going, not waiting for him to answer, “in which, I understand, an important part of your followers, including those you were willing to protect, are waiting for you.”

“I have no idea how you got this, but that doesn’t matter, my people knows how to protect themselves, and they won’t fall even if you attack them.”

“This is an attack they won’t see coming,” with a signal, Kimball let Ethan know it was time to give him the control, I knew that Kimball would never put on Ethan’s shoulders the weight of all the killings an attack like that was going to cause. With a gesture on his computer, Kimball launched the attack.

The people in the room was watching the projected image on the wall, waiting to see what would happen, but not knowing what they were expecting. The image was lost for a moment, replaced by a strong light that blocked visibility, when it came back, all you could see were the remains of the camp in the middle of a crater, behind a thick smoke.

“What the hell did just happen?” Maddan was the first to break the silence, asking what everyone was wondering.

“You just witnessed the destructions of the Scavenger’s camp,” Kimball made another signal to Ethan and the original map appeared again, the point that moment before had been green changing to a dark red. “In an hour and a half, the next camp will disappear, and then the next one and the next one, until all camps have been destroyed. My soldiers will go there to ensure no one escapes and no one survives. So even if you manage to warn your people of what’s happening, my people will contain them and eliminate them.”

“This is a trick,” Vultur said, he clearly didn’t believe what was going on.

I could see Maddan and Pompeyo having a heated discussion through the camera, it was clear something was bothering them. Vultur didn’t notice what was going on next to him, focused on Kimball and what he still believed to be empty threats. A new point in the map flashed and a new camp was zoomed in, next to it was a countdown.

“That’s one of our Nurseries!” one of Vultur’s companions said. “My children are there.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Gyps, they are just trying to scare us, there is no way they could manage an attack like the one they claim, there’s no way they can destroy a territory that big.”

“My people just let me know that there was a huge flash of light followed by a column of smoke rising from the direction of the Scavenger’s camp,” Pompeyo said. “Some of our sentries are already moving closer to investigate the place, but it is a real possibility that they have attacked your camp.

“You have to do something,” Gyps insisted, “if their threats are real, we could be facing the extinction of our people.”

“They have to be lying,” Vultur insisted, “no one can make an attack like that, and even if he did, then that would be a war declaration, and we could call on our allies to help. They will help us destroy him and his clan before he has a chance to destroy us.”

“Vultur is right about something, an attack on one of our allies is an attack on the Empire. You have not only recognized the attack in front of all of us, there is nothing that will stop us from going after you for this.”

“My son and I walked in here with the promise of free pass, that means we get to walk outside without harm,” Kimball said, his even tone showing he wasn’t intimidated by Pompeyo’s threat. “As you know, our actions does not represent a direct attack against the Imperialists, just the Scavengers, so there is no conflict between our clans right now. Once the Scavengers are no longer, any issue between our clans should also disappear.”

“You will stop whatever is going on right now,” Pompeyo threatened, “or you will be facing the whole Empire.”

“Technically, it wouldn’t be all the Empire, since my clan has alliances with some of the clans that form the Empire, including your most powerful allies and most of the coastal clans that are closer to our territory. By the time you can move enough troops to attacks our territory, this war will be already over.”

“I think you don’t understand the situation,” Pompeyo said, getting our of his seat, “I’m Emperor Pompeyo, son of Emperor Trajan, grandson of Emperor Kamose. Maybe being isolated has given you a wrong impression of how things are here, but let me be clear, I’m not the kind of person you want as your enemy.”

“I’m sorry, you seem to be under the misconception that you are the first Emperor I have met,” Kimball casually commented, and I didn’t need my powers to see what was about to happen.”

“And that’s not right?”

“Kid, if you keep pushing for a fight, you won’t even be the first one I defeat,” Kimball’s words weren’t received with surprised whispers, but with outraged screams, what he was saying was impossible for most of them, and I knew things were about to get worse.

“That’s nonsense,” Pompeyo said, angry, “there is no way a simple mutant like you could face an Emperor, even less defeat one.”

“17 years, 7 months and 5 days ago, your father went to a mission in Naturalist’s territory, his convoy was attacked on the way and he was found by the Naturalists a few hours later, on the bottom of a small ravine,” Pompeyo was staring incredusly at Kimball, but Maddan put his hand on his shoulder and a silent exchange took place between them, one that made Pompeyo pay more attention to what Kimball was saying, “that’s the only time I met your father, and the victory was mine.”

“How do I know you are telling the truth?” Pompeyo asked. “Even if it’s impressive you made up such a detailed story, even remembering the exact day.

“I remember so well that day, because it was the day my son was born. Which takes me to my other victory, since your father is not the only Emperor I have defeated.

“That’s not true,” Flora from the Naturalists said, moving closer to the throne. “She was only five months pregnant when she stopped at our clan’s.”

“What are you talking about?” Pompeyo was losing control, and it was showing by the way he was getting angrier.

“I think that in the middle of all this I forgot to introduce myself,” Ethan interrupted, “I have a lot of names and titles, I’m heir to two old dynasties, well, technically three, but I’m only going to mention the relevant part: my name is Ethan, grandson of Empress Sultana and Emperor Kamose and son of Empress Kaiserin.”

“Kaiserin?” several voices asked. Some because they didn’t know about me, others because mine was a name they haven’t heard in a long time.

“You were the one after Kaiserin when she went looking for refuge in our clan,” Flora accused, her words barely audible under the people’s chatter. “You were the person she was running from.”

“That’s right,” Kimball said, “Ethan is our son. And as I said, I’m only trying to do what’s best for everyone. You should be grateful I’m only going for an alliance, because if I wanted, I could take control of this territory. I’m not afraid of you, because I have defeated others like you, and even if your aunt proved to be a hard opponent to defeat, your father was an easy target. Now, the Scavenger’s Clan has signed their death sentence, we can keep this charade going and wait until it is done to continue this discussion, or you could accept an alliance with us right now. Believe me, it’s far better for you to have us as allies than as enemies.”

“Be careful, Kimball, that sounds like a threat, and I don’t care who you say you are of who you claim to have defeated, I won’t allow you to come into my clan and talk to me like that.”

In the middle of the fighting and discussions that were going on, Vultur had started to move closer, intending on attacking Kimball, I could see him moving, but even if his back was to me, I knew that Kimball was aware of the danger, even so, before Vultur could reach Kimball, Gyps moved in and without hesitation grabbed Vultur’s head and twisted, breaking his neck. Vultur’s body fell limp to the floor and another silence fell over the room.

“There is no need for this drama,” Gyps said, “if you promise to stop the attacks on the Scavenger’s Clan, I will recognize our alliance so the Shadows can become part of the Empire.”

“I think it’s a little late for that,” Kimball said.

“You can’t continue this attack,” Gyps repeated, and edge of desperation to her tone.

“What’s your name?” Ethan asked.

“I’m Gyps, Vultur’s sister and new leader of the Scavengers.

“I think we should listen to her,” Ethan said.

“No, we can’t trust them, they have already proven that we can’t trust their word, an alliance between us wouldn’t work.”

“But we can trust her,” Ethan said.

“And how do you know that?”

“Because mother said that if Gyps took control of the Scavengers, then we could renegotiate our alliance.”

“At this moment I don’t feel like giving them a chance, I think that the way to go is total destruction of the clan that has been nothing but a pain for most clans. If your mother wanted me to tell me something, she should have done that herself,” he added in a lower voice, low enough for Ethan’s mic to caught it, but not loud enough for other to catch that.

The message was clear, and I knew it was time for me to get involved. I was a little nervous for what was about to happen, I knew that at the end what I was doing wasn’t only for me, but for Kimball’s best interest, and for our future in the Empire. The masks had already fallen and the secrets had been exposed anyway, and I couldn’t let Kimball keep playing with my reputation. I initiated the call, and a moment later the map behind the throne disappeared to be replaced by me. I could see myself on the screen, hiding in the shadows, just my figure and part of my face visible, I wanted to keep playing the mysterious game as long as possible.

“What do you think you are doing?” Kimball asked, not even bothering to try and hide his anger at my call.

“I think you need help with this situation, and even if I’m not happy with your behaviour up until now, I have decided to help,” I said. Most of the people present were from a younger generation and didn’t have a clue of what was going on, but those who had been there at the same time as me, that were trying to accept the fact that it was me on the wall. I couldn’t see everyone’s reaction from my point of view, but I knew that what was going on at that moment would change everything.

“Help? You said this would be easy, but the Scavengers betrayed us once again.”

“And you are the only one to blame for this, if you hadn’t arrived with that rotten attitude, it wouldn’t have been so obvious the Imperialist’s contempt and the Scavenger’s wouldn’t have been brave enough to challenge you like that. This is your fault, and now you have to fix this.”

“The Scavengers chose their own destiny,” his tone final.

“The Scavengers had made a lot of mistakes, most of them don’t even understand the concept of honor, but that’s not a reason to start a genocide if you can conquer them and use them for your benefit. There is still hope for that clan, and only one person who can help them, Gyps. Vultur’s death at the hands of his sister have changed everything. It’s not necessary to end their clan if she is the one leading them.”

“I don’t need your help, I can handle this, so go get some rest.”

“Kimball, don’t pretend that winning a few battles makes you the winner of the war.”

“So now it’s a war what we have?”

“I don’t know exactly what we have going on,” I said, gesturing between us,” What I know is that I’m winning, no matter what lies you have told them.”

“You know that I never lie, and you said it yourself, I have won a few battles, we just have to see who has the final victory. In the meanwhile, why don’t you stop getting into my clan’s bussiness and go handle your own problems?”

“You and I know that I’m not good at following orders, what I’m good at, is giving them, so this is your first order: take control of the situation and take the Scavengers under your control. I know that you can’t let them go without consequences, but this could be your first lesson at how to treat your defeated enemies.”

“We don’t have the time to supervise another clan, we can’t be always worrying about keeping them under control. You know that’s one of the reasons Mzansi, and therefore the Shadow’s Clan, never tried to conquer territory in the Empire.”

“That’s what you have allies for,” I sent Ethan a message, and my face disappeared to show the map again, “one of the problems everyone always had with the Scavengers is that they take territories that are on the edge or even inside other’s clan’s territories, luckily for the Shadows, most of those territories are from your allies, so there won’t be an issue if the Scavenger’s territory is divided between your allies and the people on those camps go under those clans’ control.”

“You said this was a chance for my clan to redeem itself, but it seems you are trying to take our territory and make our people other clan’s slaves,” Gyps protested.

“You said it yourselves, you are nomads, if you weren’t such a pest for other clans, there wouldn’t be a problem with your allies allowing free transit for your people or allowing you to set camp in their territories, but for the others to allow you that freedom, you need to gain their confidence first. Your path won’t be easy, but first of all you need to learn to be more humble and learn how to work with others, and to keep your word. If you manage to do that, you will be able to recover your status.”

“I don’t know who you are,” Pompeyo interrupted, “but you can’t come here and decide the destiny of a clan, especially not an ally of the Empire.”

“I was participating in the creation and destructions of clans before you were even born, and I know the rules better than you. If you had accepted the Shadows into the Empire, they would fall under your rules, but you didn’t, so they are out of your control. Right now, the Scavengers are at the mercy of the Shadows, and they have to decide if they want to submit to them, or face their destruction. Now, what’s left,” I told Kimball, “is that the Emperor decides if he is finally going to recognize the Shadows as part of the Empire, or if he will keep trying to avoid it.”

“You are Kaiserin, the coward that abandoned her clan and her family,” Pompeyo said, finally getting the picture and trying to regain control. “You are crazy if you think that after everything you have done, you can come and tell me what to do, you lost that chance a long time ago.”

“I’m trying to give you advice, a chance,” I said, trying not to let his words affect me, “I’m trying to save you from trouble. You know if you want to follow my words, or if you are going to let your pride get over the wellbeing of your clan. Kimball, I know you will take the right decision with the Scavengers, but I know that even if you are capable of terrible things, you are a pacifist at heart, and you don’t want the blood of an entire clan in your hands, that’s why my people and I have your back.”

I knew that after my intervention everything would change, but I trusted that my words would be heard and that Kimball would find the way to fix things and secure the alliance. There was still a chance he would end up in the dungeon, but I was confident he would get out of there without much damage, so I ended the call, trusting Kimball to do his best.