Be mindful in what pond you fish.
-Old Sang Proverb
33-13
Information (IV)
—[The Majority]—
The Majority surveyed the situation through their various Constituents. At present, several were protesting. A few even threatened the Chief Paladin. All this was to be in vain. Naeko’s Heaven gave him sole lordship over all applications of violence, but that was a tertiary concern.
For all his power, he couldn’t reach the Majority. They didn’t even truly exist along the sa patterns—and while he couldn’t touch them, they could twist his perception. Or so that was the assumption.
The true threat here ca in the form of the magenta strands coiling through their delegates. The Lovebringers Bonds. The sa feelers drifted just over the Majority itself, the brilliance of love lightning the shadowy form that constituted the cultural representation of the Ori. It twisted and bent between the Constituents, seeking what Naeko ordered: mbers from the Inner Council.
Or, at least, the Sleepers the Majority left to act as their decoy Inner Council. These individuals had been directly sequenced to serve a single function. To act a smokescreen for those who “penetrated” the deepest layers of Ori-Thaum’s security. They were also rather different from most other Sleepers. Instead of leading false lives, they were their own people. They were, in actuality, created from birth, manipulated across every phase of their existence to climb the ranks of their respective clans before arriving at the esteed position of Inner Councilmber. Of course, that was what they believed, and through them was the crown of Ori-Thaum’s outermost shell maintained.
Even the highest ranked Mirrors thought this was the shape of their political infrastructure and society.
Ignorance made for quite a wonderful shield.
Howeve, Ignorance was also sothing they concerned themselves with, as it was probably the main reason the Burning Drear noticed them. Avo had spoken to them, regarded them directly, when he burned one of their Sleepers embedded with Stormtree. From what they could clean about his capabilities, this was likely tied to his “warmind” of Ignorance—or that’s what Denton and Calvino theorized.
The good news was that so far, none of the Burning Drear’s allies seed to know this information. Perhaps they hadn’t been inford or didn’t suspect. Whatever the case, they Majority needed to proceed with caution.
To have Aedon Chambers actually implant a Bond in them might spell the end of all things.
“We cannot assu,” the Inner Council declared imdiately. “However, I think we have a rare opportunity to directly manipulate the information they are seeing. Gaze upon the scene, my people.”
And so the Majority did, with countless shadows forming the colossal being that represented all of Ori-Thaum, they judged the Chief Paladin, the No-Dragons that ca with him—each one surprised and scheming for their own advantage—the Regular they couldn’t quite touch, Shotin who was still denied to them, and most vulnerable of all, the Contingency Bleak known as Refusal.
Reviewing Shadow of [Contingency Bleak Refusal]
Unlike even Calvino, Refusal was a nightmare to compile based on an informational basis. EGIs weren’t like humans—the two couldn’t even be compared. One was akin to an entire ocean, while the other barely more than a pond if judged from mory-density. However, the Contingency Bleaks outmatched even the normal EGIs with their imnsity.
This noted, what the Majority intended to do here wasn’t claiming a full copy of the Contingency Bleak, but achieving partial informational influence.
A rough jolt pulled at their focus. They realized Chambers had one of their “Inner Councilmbers” now. He was pulling at them through the complicated maze of relations that existed between their Mirros. In the anti, he was also taking the ti to infuse Ambassador Valhu Kitzuhada with infusions of love.
A glimpse into the ambassador’s mind revealed that Aedon Chambers was pouring mories into Valhu’s mind as well. Images of his daughter in action, of how brave she was, of her nobility.
“He is a good man,” two voices within the Majority whispered. “Damned by birth. But true and noble when the ti ca.”
“We shouldn’t harm him. He deserves more.”
“He has earned our respect through service. I motion that we—”
[All Votes Overruled.]
“No,” the Inner Council declared, their voice rippling out from the core of the Majority. The rest of the shadows flinched and bowed. Though they were a democracy and a vote could be forced regardless, the Ori were a cultural republic first and foremost, and as those with highest seniority, the Inner Council’s words held weight beyond canons and regulations alone. “His service was… comndable. We are not blind. There will be a place for him in the eternal republic to co. But we cannot forget. He is an adversary. A servant of the Burning Dream. And there cannot be two utopias.” ȒАŊ𝐨฿ЁS̈
At this, the rest of the Majority grew quiet. They knew. They did not like what they must do. But they knew.
From across Ori-Thaum, twenty-seven were extracted. Twenty-seven shadows pulsed near the core of the shadowy Overheaven that constituted the Majority. Twenty-seven false Inner Council mbers pried free via a network of relations, surrendered to Aedon Chambers.
Twenty-seven new vectors to rewrite perception and twist understanding. Through them, the Majority would spin a new tale. One that would reorient the entire campaign while keeping Naeko and the Symtry in their thrall.
They just needed to reveal a few things about Voidwatch—and then exploit their connection with the Infacer as well.
A conflict wouldn’t naturally develop, but with so miracles applied to misinformation and the alteration of understanding and knowledge… Deceitful perception would go a long way.
Soon, the Chief Paladin’s concerns would be with Voidwatch—the sa with all the other Guilds.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
It was ti to ld a bit of truth with deception. It was ti for questions to be answered as well. Questions about the Deep Ones of Kill-Team Innsmouth and the fissures that now threatened all of New Vultun.
***
—[Aedon Chambers, The Lovebringer]—
While the Silvers bitched and moaned, used his love-hooks to dig through their ontologies. For a bunch of sneaky shits, they sure did love a lot. And love a lot of people. Dannis’s bare ass did they have big families. Enormous families. Fucking love, lust, and all kinds of other shit up the ass. And that wasn’t even getting into all the incest and cheating.
However, despite digging through that den of filth and depravity, the Inner Council surprisingly wasn’t that hard to nail down. It was really about finding the highest ranked people. Or at least people who thought they were highly ranked. Shit was confusing. Ori-Thaum was nothing but smoke and mirrors as so of these half-strands had, like, full on fake-ass roles. Why? Probably to confuse Highfla or so shit. Sneaky cloak-dagger shit.
Sorting the decoys from the real-deals was eventually pretty easy, though. The trick here was that the people running the show still needed to have an overview of the situation, right? So, the real big bosses were the ones with a bunch of Bonds leading to them, and eventually, that led to Chambers isolating and locating twenty-seven people. Twenty-seven people with so many tethers leading their way that each was the nexus of a web.
Then there was the way they were connected to each other. If most of the Bonds leading to them were just strings, the connections between each mber of the Inner Council was like a godsdamned steel pole. But it was also kind of brittle. Like it was hard until you broke it. Whatever “love” existed between them was more professional than anything.
The solidity of the love between them was also the main reason why it was so easy for Chambers to pull them over into the planetary ring.
Thin limbs of magenta pulled back, prying twenty-seven people out from the present delegates. The Lovebringer placed them on the ground before Naeko, the No-Dragons, and the Ori.
All the arguing suddenly stopped.
Valhu coughed and sprayed snot all over Shotin’s blouse. He had spent the past few minutes calming down after his earlier breakdown. Chambers continued channeling mories of Kare over to him. The poor bastard deserved it. Deserved to know that she was a good girl, and that this wasn’t the end.
You can still have her back, consang. We just gotta win. We just gotta win.
The twenty-seven mbers of the Inner Council were dropped in place at the very front of the Ori’s glass house. They all wore reflective masks bereft of any obvious features and wore these long silvery holocoats that shrouded their bodies, but nothing could hide how fast their accretions were spinning at the mont.
“Well, well,” Chambers chuckled, speaking through his Bonds. “Welco aboard the Idheim planetary ring, consangs. I guess when Naeko asked you guys to send proper representatives, you misunderstood.”
A lull followed as several of the Inner Council looked at each other. Then they all reacted at once. Several shot to their feet, their arms expanding into weapons, while others flared with Soulfire, preparing to manifest their Heavens. All were stopped as Naeko’s mists collapsed around them, holding them in place.
“Wait! Stop!” Denton stepped forward, holding her hands up. “Chief Naeko, I must beg your rcy. The Inner Council were not prepared for such a… sudden extraction from their residences. Understand that they are only defending themselves.”
And leave it to Denton when they needed a show. Make it seem like she was on their side.
“Oh, don’t worry, Glaive Denton,” Naeko humd as he looked the Inner Council up and down. “I get it. I even empathize. But we really need to have this conversation.” He took a step forward and used his mists to draw the council closer to him. “Face to face.”
“This is an act of war, Chief Paladin,” one of the Inner Council mbers spoke. So half-strand called Olim Akuyata. Frigging Ori nas. “Stealing us from our territory—”
“This is a recruitnt,” Naeko said. He gestured behind him. “As you might be able to see, I got a bit of a coalition growing here and I want you to join.”
The Inner Council went still and silent at the sa ti.
“Excuse ?” Councilman Olim said.
“There’s a fracture spreading across New Vultun if you haven’t noticed. You might be able to keep the Substance out with your fancy shielding, but the ruptures? Nah. You need to drain that. And that ans this isn’t the ti for war. This is the ti we all co together to see our shit sorted instead of wasting ti.”
“Wasting—”
Mists tightened around Olim’s face. His glass mask shattered, revealing a bald man with rich brown skin. The rest of his coat fizzled out briefly, and Chambers noticed just how augnted he was. Aside from his head, most of his body seed to be crafted from alloy and vivianite. He was practically brimming with ghosts too. That was a real Necro’s sheathe.
“Wasn’t done talking,” Naeko said. “Now. There’s a reason I had Chambers bring all of you in. You’re not just the representatives for the Ori, you’re also central command for the Massists. I know for a fact that Stormtree, Sanctus, and Ashthrone won’t be working half as well with each other if you all weren’t there. In a way, you guys matter more than just being the heads of a Guild.”
Naeko considered the Inner Council for a mont longer and then released them. They jolted forward, bodies folding, unbalanced by the sudden relief. Tension lingered in the air, but no one tried to strike out at Naeko. Chambers was glad too, because he still had a few limbs nested inside the Ori, and making them all drop from pleasure wasn’t going to be very diplomatic.
“So. I’d like to talk with you about an alliance. A remaking of the old ways. The ways things were ant to stay before everything went to hell. All the Guilds working in tandem to preserve the world in accordance with the Treaty of Ao and the Charter of Polities. Understand that this is why I haven’t brought the palm down. Because we’re going to do sothing other than war. Sothing classical. We’re going back to the dream, the way Jaus would have wanted. The thing I should have upheld all this ti.”
The Inner Council traded glances with each other. Judging from Olim’s expression, he was likely wondering if Naeko had gone completely insane or if this was so kind of trap. “Chief Paladin… if this is your notion of diplomacy, I fear you might be out of your elent.”
“Makes the both of us. You don’t look too comfortable standing in the light.”
To Olim’s credit, he just craned his head slightly. “Well struck. But my point still stands. You have trespassed severely. You cannot deny our apprehension to reveal ourselves. We are not Highfla—selfish and arrogant in our power. We exist to serve the Ori–and in revealing our identities, you might have just contained the politics of our overclan. This was a mistake.”
“Nah,” Naeko said. “We both know what we can do—the threat I actually pose, and what facing will cost you or any other Guild. But I want you to understand what I can offer. Peace. Peace and ti for your citizens to rebuild and survive. Stability so you can evacuate damaged districts and Sovereignties. Ti that you don’t need to worry about war or other Guilds. A unified truce.”
Olim’s features grew stony. “I see. This… we will need to put this to a vote, if at all. But, I must ask you a question.” He pointed beyond the glass, at the electronic avatar of Refusal hovering over Naeko’s palm. “Is that one of Voidwatch’s minds.”
“Yeah. A Contingency Bleak. You know what that is.”
“Unfortunately. They will be part of this peace too?”
“Yeah?” Naeko said, narrowing his eyes. Chambers was a bit lost, too. For all the things soone could complain about, the EGIs weren’t what he expected.
“Then… do you not know what they have done?’
“What do you an what they have done?” Naeko asked, brow furrowing.
The Inner Council shared another look. Ghost-Links ford between them as they exchanged thoughts. Though Chambers pierced their hearts, their wards were still sothing nasty, and even rcy would need so ti to crack them. However, their little internal conference didn’t last so long.
Ghost spilled out from them a mont after, flickering in the air for a beat. Four strange images materialized in the room. They looked like… so kind of face on a mountain, a strange symbol, so shadow-thing, and a spider.
“Call the mind over. Ask them about Kill-Team Innsmouth. Ask them about the origin behind the spreading rupture. Ask them why they dispatched an entire group of enslaved gods to eliminate your ally, the Burning Drear.”
And now, it was Chambers and Naeko’s turn to be baffled. What?
“The fuck?” Naeko muttered.
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