Opening [System: Ti] I was able to verify his claim. It had been a little over thirteen months since I had entered the Dungeon. Either ti ran differently in the Dungeon, or Sumrlands had screwed us over. That was the most likely event. Everyone knew that Sumrlands might return you anywhere in ti, that it opened only a bit more than a year in the future could be considered luck.
The passage of ti was real. A linear progression that effected cooldowns and made my yearly Respawn available again. That was interesting to note, sothing to keep in mind as a possible workaround if things got desperate, portal back and forth from Sumrlands until the ti jump, I was hoping for was triggered. I didn't have to live or experience that year; System does a comparison based on the date the spell or skill was used and the current date when restoring functionality.
It seed sothing that should have been used, the Sidhe were tricksters at heart and would enjoy employing this type of gimmick. Perhaps this was the case, but I'd never heard anyone ntion it, if that were the case. My mories. My knowledge. A past that I could rember experiencing.
Truthfully, the ti skip would not be beneficial for most people. Other than resetting System cooldowns it was more onerous than beneficial, the break-in continuity, missing the events that occurred with friends and family made the option less attractive. Additionally, not everyone had access to the Sumrlands, that ability was System awarded once a person reached Rank: Commoner. Although the vast majority of Sidhe had attained that rank or higher, there was still a significant percentage of the population that was Rank: Peon.
Those numbers did not include children who had not yet ascended.
I doubted I would play with what I considered a System bug, not for anything other than dire circumstances. The Sumrlands was too unpredictable to really on. This ti I had moved forward a year, it was entirely possible next ti I would move even further in ti.
In so rare instances, people had been known to travel backward. How Sumrlands solved the paradox of two people in the sa place at the sa ti was beyond my understanding. Suffice it to say, it was magic. The sa kind of magic that allowed the realm to connect to all tis, all places, all multi-verses.
I did pause briefly to consider how the System would handle and adjust skill cool-downs if you were transported to the past. It would be just my luck that Respawn would have a negative net number that would have to be satisfied before becoming useful again. That scenario made my decision not to risk the quirks of Sumrlands even more profound.
Still, [System: Ti] had corroborated their claim. And if it had been more than a year, what did that an for Irvin, Cedric, Uron, and Lohne?
"Where are my people?" I demanded as I realized that with them missing the challenge to my identity made sense. "My Vassals should be able to vouch for my identity. That is if you have no way of testing for illusion or glamour."
"Your people? We have been the only ones here for over a year. The only other people we see are those sent from Duke A'Daoine to monitor and collect Silinium and gems," the Abhac spokesman answered.
"You know nothing about the people that closed the dungeon that used to exist here?" I asked in disbelief.
Understanding blossod across the Abhac's face followed by uncertainty. It was obvious he knew at least sothing about the CERN closure, even if he wasn't familiar with Cedric, Uron, and Lohne's disposition and current whereabouts.
"There have been a few rumors. Tales and gossip mostly," he admitted. "You best try contacting your people to find out what is true."
"Leroy!" One of the other Abhac exclaid. "You can't an to just let him go without checking his identity!"
"Not our place," Leroy argued. "We get paid to farm the Silinium and maintain the mine. That's all. If he is who he says he is, then it would be best for us to forget we ever ca across him.
"The instability we monitored has been solved. The rest is for soone else to deal with."
"I'm going to gather the rest of the people I brought with from the Sumrlands, and then we are going to go outside where I can get so answers. The Silinium and ley-lines interfere with the communication arrays on my M-AI, but there has to be soone that knows what is going on," I said letting him know what was going to happen, whether they liked it or not.
They gave their tacit agreent, perhaps finally realizing the danger they were in as flashes of fire and ice were released, nothing dangerous, just bits of hyper-energy being released as I restrained the urge to punt an Abhac or ten.
Returning to the small opening hidden and protected by the Geode, I gathered Duchess Wynne, her people, and the Cernunnos. "It appears the Sumrlands has played tricks, and we have returned a year from when I entered the dungeon. Much has transpired in that year, most having to do with Lord Kel and Lord Haygan. The Abhaic running the mine doubt that I am who I claim to be. Even the sharing of True-Na has not persuaded them otherwise."
"I'm not sure if they are completely inept, corrupt, or simply poorly outfitted, but they are cautious, they don't want to beco embroiled in Seelie machinations. Let's get out of here, see who we are able to contact, and formulate a plan based on whatever intelligence we can gather so we can be on our way."
"I have gotten System quests to save my people, those I tasked with destroying the dungeon entrance. I want to find out what is going on with them, and if they are safe," I seethed furiously.
They were a much-subdued group as they followed , joining up with the Abhaic who were also heading out of the tunnel system. I felt a twinge of sympathy for the Knockers. Their return. Their freedom. All of it marred by my anger, and what I was sure was going to be Politics. They had been so relieved to finally be free of CERN, only to find that that freedom may yet co at a cost.
I had barely stepped past the waterfall that obscured the mine before I activated my wrist device and attempted to contact Cedric, Uron, and Lohne in that order. All attempts at contact resulted in the sa ssage. Their devices were not in service. I wasn't sure if that ant they had been switched off temporarily, lost, or confiscated and destroyed as they were hacked and examined.
I was afraid it was the last one, and that they had been captured and were being held hostage. If that were the case, I would need to rescue them. But freeing them would an I needed information. I wondered who was holding them and for how long, those questions much worriso than why they were being held and where. Sidhe did not build jails, what they built to hold those that had been captured were torture chambers. Holding cells that allowed Sidhe innate regeneration ability to restore a person to health so the torture could be repeated.
Seelie and Unseelie had elevated torture into an art form. The Sidhes ability to regenerate, their long lives, and the healing nature of magic, ant that much could be done, atrocities to flesh and form that only those with Sidhe constitution could survive.
Torturers that were so skilled they could bring their captives to the brink of death, over and over again. Each ti the victim begging for real death and release from tornt. The Sidhe's flesh would heal, but their mind? Their mind could be so broken it would never heal.
Those poor souls beca whimpering and drooling automatons, broken and forgotten examples that were used to scare and reinforce Seelie and Unseelie's authority. Or they beca sexual deviants, people that delighted in pain only capable of sexual satisfaction when there was pain involved, becoming cruel and destructive when practicing any bed-sports.
Sex beca a dance of survival for them and their partner, each encounter a knife's edge from death. They had learned the lessons of the torturer at the hands of masters, and although they preferred to receive pain, they beca adept at giving.
They beca the apprentices for those Masters of pain and insanity. Never as talented. Still, their sexual perversions beca whispered warnings. These were not the playful bit of spank or tickle that so engaged in. These were bloody scenes of carnage. Sex used as a weapon.
And if I had been gone for over a year, how long had my Vassals been subjected to sothing like this? Because no matter what you thought of the Seelie, you could be certain of one thing. If you found yourself in their power, if you frustrated or denied them, the reckoning would be the stuff of nightmares.
As a Ranked Prince, my Vassals should have been protected. Even the Seelie and Unseelie Monarchs should have considered the political and magical ramifications of poking the hornets' nest, of incurring the enmity of a being that was blessed with both Beleros' and Cyronax's bloodlines. Awakened bloodlines that fueled by magic and fury could be so destructive as to level cities.
Giving up on trying to contact my Vassals, I next attempted to contact Brianne. As my assistant, she had enough authority to keep those I had hired fed and sheltered. I'd set up accounts that should have ample gold to keep them afloat for ten years let alone one.
Finally, my device connected, and Brianne's concerned countenance was projected into a life-size hologram, her guilt and fear palpable even through the magical device.
"Your Highness," she began her voice filled with anguish and despair. Tears began flowing as recriminations and uncertainty belied her emotions. It was obvious I had lost her trust.
I would find out why.
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