Devourer

Chapter 70: Revelations

I put Cecilia down on the balcony of the room and we headed inside. Cecilia stretched in a rather unempress-like fashion before plopping herself on the couch. We ended up taking longer than expected with some final modifications to the Battering Ram thing that was now known as the Siege Breaker. It was almost ready with just a little more tweaking and I can have two of them rampaging through the streets of Tralis. Yes, two of them, the Crowns Mahaila gave me, was enough for me to make another one. So if the first one drops well they will have to deal with the one behind it.

With my new upgrades honestly I doubt they could actually kill the first one considering they will have to deal with quite a few other things. Like my entire army emerging in the middle of their precious city. By the time I am at the walls of Tralis they will know that my hive can burrow so the walls will be a lower priority. The downed gate was just for the humans to rush in and secure the city. Snarling roaring beasts have a tendency to drive humans into blind panic. 

When people panic, people run, people trample other people. Things get destroyed, inflamed things get knocked onto flammable things and the poor idiots living in the city end up burning it down. Personally I preferred my cities to not be on fire, well at least most of it not being on fire. There will be fire but I don’t want the whole thing to end up as smouldering ruin. 

“Ah well that was a productive day.” Cecilia said as she laid back on the couch. 

On cue Lily walked over and saw down next to Cecilia. I turned away and moved towards my cushion and as I sat down I saw the pair glued at the lips fencing with their tongues. Well they are about to be interrupted. I could sense Mahaila approaching the front door. By sense what I mean is I can barely sense her, she is the only one in the castle that can walk like that. Most of the time I don’t pay attention to most of the things my acute senses pick up. I only noticed Mahaila because she was an anomaly.

“Keep your clothes on.” I said and the pair paused as they looked at me before Cecilia turned to look at the door.

Then the door opened without so much as a knock as Mahaila entered the room. She was the only one that dared to do that…

“We need to talk about Maria.” Mahaila said as she walked over to Cecilia.

Cecilia disentangled herself from Lily and she rose to her feet. Returning to the poise of a stoic Empress.

“Sorry about this, you can have your fun later.” Mahaila said to Lily who nodded slightly in response.

“Is there a problem?” Cecilia asked.

“Yes, her mental state is worse than expected.” Mahaila said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Huh, that’s unfortunate. Our estimates were already low, her whole affair with that knight was already a big red flag.” I remarked as I saw the pair of them looking at me.

I saw Cecilia pause for a moment, then her gaze lowered slightly, perhaps in sadness, perhaps in acceptance. But the pain was definitely there. For all of Cecilia’s faults she was still a good person buried deep down, she cared for her family. It’s everyone else that ends up in front of her who draws the short straw.

Perhaps it’s because her family was all she ever had considering her childhood isolation thanks to the prophecy. Even between the two of us, we shared an almost sibling-like relationship. 

“So we thought yes…” Cecilia muttered as she turned to Mahaila. She didn’t say a word but I could tell Mahaila got her meaning… the request was simple… elaborate…

“She has lost some of her grip on reality. Her mind is a scattered mess, she can’t even keep her own internal logic consistent. She is blocking things out, her grasp on reality is hanging by a thread. The reality she perceives is fragile and idealistic, it won’t be long before that comes crumbling down. Then there is no way to know where that will leave her.” Mahaila said.

“Do you have experience when dealing with such things?” Cecilia asked her tone betraying a slight inkling of uncertainty.

“Yes, I do but usually resolving such issues takes… quite awhile… years usually. I think you are going to have put your plans for her on hold. I will be surprised if she can live normally as a common woman, I feel letting her run a domain would be courting disaster.” Mahaila replied.

That would be a problem… we needed a stabilising factor in Western Voleria. Maria was the perfect fit, to be honest she was the only fit… at least at this time. We needed an Elysian with control of Voleria to slowly worm our influence into the region. Conquering a piece of land isn’t as simple as rolling over the local army and occupying the territory.

“That is going to be a problem…” I said as I shifted my gaze to Cecilia. 

“Yes it is…” Cecilia replied.

“If you can convince her to let me in, I can try to unravel some of it. Maybe even cure her affliction, you know first hand what I can do.” I proposed.

“Yes… that could work… But that incident just now with that prisoner from Tralis. Did you intend to make him think you are a god?” Cecilia asked as she turned to face me.

“When you entered my mind you were powerful yes but not to the extent that you seemed divine.” Cecilia said.

“Well I was significantly more gentle when I entered your mind. But in truth I was surprised too. Not sure why he cracked just from me saying a few words while I was in there.” I mused in response.

“It’s because you are now more powerful than before. The size of your Hive also increases that effect.” Mahaila interjected from the side.

“Really? You seem to know a lot.” Cecilia said as she turned to look at Mahaila, raising a questioning eyebrow.

“You know the cult I mentioned that worshipped the firstborn long ago?” Mahaila asked, as she glanced at me.

“Yeah why?” I asked.

“It was called the First Cult, because as the name implied it was the first ever cult. It was founded by an old Ravenborn, by the name of Cultasus’varus. That was where the word cult came from.” Mahaila said.

“Ravenborn? I don’t recall ever reading anything about them.” Cecilia said a little perturbed.

“No I think we did, we just didn’t know it…” I said the name of an old hero popped into my mind.

“What?” Cecilia asked in confusion.

“Crowfather. Ravens, crows, seems a little convenient.” I replied and I saw Mahaila nod.

“The Ravenborn were third generation humanoids that existed about seven million years ago. The Watchers were the first generation and you humans are… fifthteenth? Sixteenth generation humanoids? Anyway the Crowfather is probably the oldest surviving humanoid alive today.” Mahaila explained.

“Surviving?” I asked as I sat up from my cushion.

“The stories say you used to run with the Crowfather. Is he going to be a problem?” I asked cautiously.

“Don’t worry, Firstborn, he’s on our side. The only reason I didn’t bring him over is that I didn’t want to bother him until the time was right. Gramps has a tender spot in his heart for a great many things, including the Archangel Mercy Uriel.” Mahaila replied.

“And you are worried that he won’t be able to do what must be done.” I said as Cecilia narrowed her eyes as she gazed at Mahaila.

“It’s not that he won’t be able to do it. It’s just that he won’t because he doesn’t want to. Back then favours were worth more than crowns and the Archangel Uriel still has one on the Crowfather. 

In truth the only reason that the humanoids on Terra live even remotely decently is because of her. She is probably the only Archangel who still has any compassion in her.” Mahaila said.

“So the Crowfather is a liability until the time is right.” I replied as I caught on to her meaning.

“In a way, I will handle it. As for the root of his conversation, the First Cult was formed when the Firstborn touched the minds of humanoids for the first time. Or so the story goes…” Mahaila said as she trailed off and her gaze grew distant.

“Then what is the truth?” Cecilia asked as she walked up to Mahaila, her gaze razor sharp, the uncertainty from before gone from her eyes.

“The First Cult was formed when the Firstborn figured out how to touch the minds of the humanoids without shattering their minds into a million pieces. The more powerful the mind, the greater pressure it exerts. When a Firstborn grows past a certain point mortal minds can no longer withstand their presence.

They resolved this by creating creatures that could act as intermediaries, adaptors if you will. A way to dampen the pressure of the powerful mind that the Firstborn possesses. They were called Priests and Advocates, they effectively served as the voice of god.” Mahaila explained.

“I am seeing some parallels with the world today. The Priests of the Church Order serve largely the same purpose, albeit less… dramatically…” Cecilia replied as she turned her head towards me.

“The Hive in Zarima, they had a humanoid that was called an Advocate. He served a similar purpose.” I added.

“The systems were adopted by many others. It was familiar to us humanoids so there was no reason to change the overall structure. It’s been almost two million years since the Firstborn were wiped out and yet we still walk in their immortal shadow.” Mahaila replied as she turned her head to me as well.

“I’ll get started on the Advocate, I still have some crowns left over. There is this old blueprint lying in my head from the Eternal Mother. I always wondered what it was, I assumed it was used as a glorified mouthpiece. But with what you told me…” I said as I cupped my chin and pondered the blueprint’s design.

“Is that the direct control adaptation?” Cecilia asked.

“Yes… transference of a portion of the mind into another body. I never considered using that body as a way to interface with anyone’s mind.” I replied.

“Then could Legiana do it?” Cecilia asked.

“In theory yes, but I want to run some final checks on her just in case I missed something. I did put this design in but I had no inkling at the time on what the adaptation was for. Don’t want to accidentally break something in her head.” I replied and Cecilia gave me a warm smile.

“I still have some prisoners lying around, I could use them to do a few test runs. Just to be safe.” I said and Cecilia gave me a small nod.

“Ok…” Cecilia replied simply, rarely do I see her with so little words. Usually her sentences are long and flowery. A simple “Ok” is as rare as they come.

There was silence then and I looked around the room. I saw Cecilia slightly lost in thought and Mahaila was just standing there looking at me, waiting and seeing what I was about to do.

“Alright I guess I’ll get started on it…” I said as I headed towards the balcony.

“You could take a break first friend, I am sure Maria can wait a night.” Cecilia said and I sensed the tell tale signs of lingering guilt in her physiology.

“What’s bothering you?” I asked simply and Cecilia paused for a moment before seemingly deflating. Then she let out a small chuckle as she looked back at me, her demeanour much more relaxed.

“Apologies friend, with me spending so much time dealing with incompetents and sycophants I sometimes forget to leave the grand game at the door.” Cecilia said with a small smile on her lips before she let out another small sigh.

“This problem with Maria is a personal issue, she is my family, so she is my problem.” Cecilia said as she walked towards until she was right next to me.

“Well if she is your problem then she is mine as well.” I replied calmly and I saw Cecilia’s eyes widen slightly.

“In truth you are correct, I do not care about her. I think she’s an idiot frankly, sleeping with that knight could have gotten both of them killed, perhaps even her entire family. It was an emotional and irrational decision. But like you said, she is the best candidate for an Elysian noble in Voleria. The Volerian houses cannot be left to their own devices, the old hatreds run too deep. So getting her up to at least a semi-functional state has its benefits.

Also this clearly bothers you and I rather not have too many things clouding your judgement. By the end of the next year, you will have an Empire that is larger than even the ancient empires. We can’t afford any mistakes. Incompetents and sycophants remember?” I replied evenly as I leaned down to look at Cecilia before I flashed her a fanged smile.

“Besides I was just going to read a little, I don’t sleep remember? It’s not like the book is going anywhere.” I said with a small chuckle.

Cecilia gave me a warm smile as she nodded slightly. 

“I suppose it isn’t.” Cecilia replied with a slightly happier voice.

I looked at Mahaila and she was giving a funny look. I saw something strange in her vitals, it was relief as her stress levels dropped significantly. But just as soon as it fell it jumped back up but not to the same level as it was originally.

I turned back to Cecilia as I felt her lay a gentle hand on my side. I looked down and she gave me a soft smile and a nod. I returned the nod as I turned away and opened the door to the balcony. As I did so I heard Cecilia say one last thing.

Thank you friend…