Lucen turned the Farrow commander in his hand. Aya was still staring at him, so he didn't quite know what to do next.
Liam's enthusiastic claps filled the room. The abandoned house's dusty floorboard felt like they were shaking from his simple laughter.
The cold draft of the night prickled his neck. It had been almost an hour since he fought Korgath. His dirty, wet clothes began to weigh on him.
His blond hair was cluttered with twigs that he had been finding for the last hour.
"So… what now?" asked Lucen hesitantly.
Aya blinked and then waved at her guards. "Prepare my armour while we talk."
She stood and walked out onto the open patio. Lucen took this as a sign to follow her.
The wind was even colder out here. The long paved road was deathly silent. But soldiers moved through in groups of twos.
He waved at some soldiers and shouted a promise that he was still working on the plan.
"They don't look very convinced," said Aya.
"What you tell me now will help me give them better answers."
Aya smiled faintly. Her eyes turned up to the dimly glowing Halo, frowning.
"On the first day of the month, my brother killed our parents."
Lucen turned pale and lowered his head. "I'm sorry."
"It was the final move in a long game we have been playing," she explained, "He was born… different and also had weak talent for Channelling. My parents hid him deep underground, where their shame couldn't be seen."
"One day, he came out a totally different person. Not only did he look different, but he could now use Divine magic. I did not trust this was right, but my parents were overjoyed and returned him to the Red Keep. But to his dismay, I was still to succeed my father as Lord of the Keep."
Her face twisted.
"I found him meeting with other Knight families to endorse him in secret, but he had lived away from our society for years, and I was raised to rule. After he found no success, he became quieter, and I thought he was done. During a family dinner, he began to act strangely."
Aya's silver eyes stared into him.
"He kept saying the plan must move forward now. My parents thought he was suffering from his years underground as he sometimes spoke to himself, but I felt something was strange. By the time I had enough evidence, he had killed them both—even my father, who was a Grand Knight."
"First of the month…" Lucen murmured.
"I escaped from the Keep with... something," Aya said vaguely, "and arrived near Castaway, meeting you in the fields later the next day"
That was when his knighting ceremony was held, and when the System had changed his danger prediction from one year to three months.
Was her brother the danger? Or perhaps he had been informed by whatever entity he met underground to start this plan?
The enemy can also see the future, he guessed. Whatever preparation he makes may be countered by it.
So, who had the advantage now? Him or Aya's brother? Lost Wind may have levelled the battlefield with her arrival, but now she was gone…
He silently hoped she wouldn't mind what he did to her house.
"What did you find?" Lucen asked.
"He's contracted something from the Void and wanted our father's control over the Line and its Dividers," said Aya tensely. "Now he seeks to destroy your Keep and take control of your side of the Line, too"
"Why not just let the Void creatures in from his side?"
"This army he plans to let in is large, so once he opens the Line between the Red and Grey Keep, they can wage war on the empire," Aya explained. "They aren't enough to cause the fall of the empire, but they will attack the other seven Keeps and release the Void."
"The Void… It's a place, right?" Lucen muttered, "Can it attack us?"
"Who knows? Those living in the Void, the Dark tribes, are malicious beings with abominable powers. That should be our first reason to keep things closed. But the Void itself, we don't fully understand. There are legends… but the Line was built before the empire, so they can't be confirmed."
The Line was built before the Empire?
He pushed the thought aside and asked, "So how are the Crunchers and Peter Cross involved in this?"
"I don't know exactly who Peter Cross is, but from what I learnt from my brother before I escaped," said Aya, "the Crunchers are just the start, they infiltrate and destabilise. They most likely have a ground force coming to destroy us all."
"The Bull Wolves," he concluded. No one knew why they abandoned their hunting grounds.
"Will your brother come himself?" Lucen asked, "Or send a message to the Lightcloaks? We sent them one a while ago, but they haven't answered."
"Without the Crown of Stars, he has no true authority to claim anything in the Red Keep," Aya replied smugly.
"Crown of Stars?" Lucen raised an eyebrow. "What is that? And why doesn't he have it yet?"
Something burst into reality over Aya's head. A blue halo of light with some sharp points in the shape of a crown.
"He thought killing our father was the key to gaining control of the Red Keep. He'll be coming here not only to destroy you, but to kill me and take the Crown."
Lucen blinked a couple times as the lights from the crown dissipated, and some people opened their curtains to peek at the strange light.
"Don't blind me. Also, how can your brother let Void creatures in without the Crown?"
"I don't know, and I doubt I'll find out."
Lucen frowned, turning away. If one member of a family becomes a heretic, then the entire family is executed.
He had suspected that that was why Aya had been reluctant to reveal her secret. "We don't have to tell them," Lucen started, "We can find—"
"No," Aya interrupted, "I will face justice, for both my brother's sin and my cowardice. I should have told you the day we met, but… I was more spineless than I thought."
Lucen couldn't understand how she could turn caring about your life into being a coward. Who cares about their stupid laws? These idiots couldn't…
He let out an irritated breath and cleared his mind. He could find a way to change her mind later.
"First, we find Cross and Korgath, and kill them both."
He explained the situation with the Cross and their plan to kill Chester, who most likely had the Grey Keep's Crown of Stars.
"A spear from the Esharan treasury that can break any defense?" Aya murmured, "I don't think it's possible to steal from the heart of Eshara, but we'll put that aside. This Cross, I may know his family."
Lucen had expected that she knew; she was born and raised to be a noble.
"The Cross family fell into some trouble with illegal Life magic," said Aya. "So as heretics, their entire family was to be executed. But the Veiled King interceded, and only the two involved were taken to be executed."
How did Peter Cross then turn to this? Assuming he was one of the two taken for execution. He survived and now wants revenge?
"We will track Korgath through his severed arms and Cross with the hair from the Lyst leaves," Aya concluded, "But I'm not sure our forces will be enough to safely exterminate them."
That was a lot of words to say that they couldn't beat them without casualties. Lucen nodded.
"Suit up. I'll go get the arm."
"Wait, I wanted to tell you about the Crown of Stars. I have an idea."
"Later," he promised, "I need to get the arm now."
He leapt from the patio, sailing through the air and landing in a smooth jog.
He didn't go far, however. After escaping Aya's expected mana sense range, he pulled Korgath's arm from his storage.
The skin on the severed arms sagged off the strange bone-like material that made up the Cruncher's body.
He had a slight suspicion that she had watched everything he did today with her mana sense. She definitely had second sight, but her range was unbelievable.
And if Korgath wasn't lying to him back when they spoke at the fountain, it wasn't natural. Most likely, the Crown of Stars enhanced it.
[Crunchers concentrate power devoured in that bone-like material. Their Hunger mana also lives in those bones. Devour the bone's essence for increases in both Discovery and Dominance.]
"What can you tell me about your connection to this Hungry Dark? Is Life mana also connected to him?"
[I can tell you nothing about that being that won't speed up your death. Also "Him"?]
Lucen ground his teeth, forcing himself to be patient with the stupid system.
[Your patience has nothing to do with my telling you anything. I will say that Life mana is not related to Hungry Dark, your ability to devour skills is from Hunger mana weaved into me, but don't let "Him" find out.]
Lucen pursed his lips, staring at the severed arms.
"I can't devour it yet, we need it to track the rest of him down. Also, are you smarter, or am I just imagining it?"
[Your Will and Insight are reaching the threshold of Heroic. Anyway, be careful, Aya wants to use her Crown to find you.]
He quickly turned and started returning to the broken-down house, slowly coming up with an excuse for why he was back so quickly.
Aya was fully clad in a silver armour that glinted in the moonlight, and at her hip was a simple sword. Her hair was tied in a ponytail, and her teal eyes narrowed, suspicious of his quick return.
"Met a soldier carrying arms to the Garrison," he quickly lied, "But more importantly, I think I have a plan."