Chapter 83 – Extinguished

“What do you mean it went out?!” shrieked a bishop.

“Madness!”

“Can they even do that?!” hissed a man sitting behind Demetri.

“They can if their light is extinguished,” mumbled the one next to him.

“But the rest of The Sixth Hand?! Aren’t they all intertwined?”

“They are.”

“That means…”

Whatever the two said next was lost to the rumble of noise blanketing the chamber. Everyone had an opinion, and no one was abiding by decorum anymore. They just wanted to share it.

And share they did.

No matter who they supported or what their political backing was, each bishop knew that The Solari as a whole relied upon the paladins to defend them. To maintain order. To keep their light illuminated.

Klive just stood there, a crazy grin plastered across his face. He was muttering something quietly. Whatever it was, it seemed to only make the dark emotions inside the man grow.

Archbishops Seraine and Vielle were on their feet, screaming something Demetri couldn’t make out. Not that he needed to anymore.

The high bishop leaned back in his chair, contemplating what this meant. He’d heard from his network earlier about what had happened. He’d even had an idea of what might occur here today once Klive called for the emergency conclave.

Despite all of that information, it was only now truly dawning upon him what this meant for The Solari.

Ironically, High Bishop Aldara of Coin cupped her hands to his ear, asking him just that. “What does this mean, Demetri?”

He reached down, grabbing the goblet each seat had set with tradition, taking a small sip. He set it down, the rumbling chaos of the room only getting louder and louder, and turned to her with a tired sigh.

“It means we’re finally about to take this newfound enemy seriously, Aldara. While I mourn the sacrifices that Brexin and his comrades paid for it, I for one am glad it’s happening.”

Demetri wasn’t lying. He was glad. His problems now had a solution. The two hundred paladins they sent North after Brexin would be but a scouting force compared to the true might of the holy empire. Might that would take time to muster, but muster it would.

A vote hadn’t been called yet, but one would come. Demetri was sure of it.

An ache deep in his bones dulled. Just a bit. Enough that a gentle smile tugged at his own lips.

The look Aldara returned Demetri made it quite clear that she was not nearly as glad as he. Someone had to pay for it, after all.

***

“Chen! Would you just slow down!” shrieked Issie. “How can you be so sure that none of our people survived back there!”

The scout leader dodged another branch, trotting forward as fast as his weary legs would carry him. They’d made it out of the hellish domain only an hour ago, signs of forest and wildlife finally starting to return.

“You saw what I did,” gasped Chen between breaths. “I didn’t see a single clans torch left after that explosion. Just corpses, fire, paladins, and those beasts.”

At those words, Issie growled. She caught up to him, yanking at Chen’s shoulder. “Chen! Our people are survivors! If anyone could have survived last night, it’d be them. We should have—”

“Oh come off it!” snapped Chen. He too took a moment to rest from the mad dash, hands on his knees, heaving for air. “You’re right. We are survivors. Which is why our job is to get back to Gael and tell her everything that happened. So we can still be survivors.”

“Tell her what?!” Issie wasn’t backing down, her hands clenched into fists. “That we spent days wandering these sands, watched Valdren and their paladin friends slaughter all of our warriors, and then fall to some kind of wicked magic caused by what appeared to be an infestation of demons?!”

“Yes. That’s exactly what we do.”

“No! No! Don’t you see?” The woman was practically in tears, shouting now. “How are we going to deal with whatever the fuck these monsters are? Our entire war force is gone! That explosion was clearly some dark magic. It felt.. It felt.. So angry. I… Oh god,” she moaned, falling to her knees and hugging her chest.

“They might be monsters. But they didn’t strike first. Valdren did.” Chen could hardly believe the words, but they were true. He knew it. “So we survive by hoping they have more sense than Valdren.”

Around them, the rest of the squad stared blankly. No one contradicted a word he’d said.

Chen gave each member of his squad a hard look. “Listen. The situation is bad. Real bad. But sitting here and mourning our fallen or raging at those Valdren bastards and good for nothing paladins does us no good. Nor does worrying about the demons that finished the job. Gael’s going to need every warrior and every scrap of information she can get. So let’s get it to her. We’ve seen more of this tainted place than any green folk. With us, she might be able to find a way for the clans to survive. So,” he set a hand on Issie’s shoulder. “We keep going.”

With that, he tightened the straps on his pack and set off. Seconds later, his squad followed.

Even Issie, sniffling as she went.

***

“You’re sure the imps are up for this?” he asked Shiny.

The brood imp scoffed. “Yes! Had no work day!”

“Not true…” grumbled an imp meandering past. His claws were full of stones and a few medallions. Behind him, a line of workers held a mix of supplies from the battlefield and stones. Stones that Kairon had requested so they’d have just enough to make the pair of spawning grounds.

“Work was easy!” said Shiny. “If want, can make harder. Want that?”

The other brood imps gasped, several shaking their heads violently.

“No no! Like work! Work good!” squeaked the imp, scampering quickly towards the stockpile.

“He right! Love work! Sorry boss!”

Shiny glared after them, arms crossed.

Kairon didn’t miss the wording there.

Boss.

Now that he thought about it, the brood was really starting to rally behind Shiny. Not just his favorites, but all of them. A far cry from the runt he’d begun as.

Maybe that was what drove that soft spot he had for the little guy.

“You’re certain?” said Kairon. “I really don’t want you overdoing it.”

A vein bulged in the little imp’s forehead.

“Okay, okay!” playacted Kairon, holding both clawed hands up. “Got it. I’ll start this up just as soon as the last of the brood imps gets inside the gates.”

“Master?” cooed Hush. The voidling scampered up, his five brothers not far behind. “Hear new void? You make more?”

“How did you hear about… You know, never mind. I don’t want to know. To answer your question, yes. We do. Well. We will. I’m creating two more spawning grounds for the void district. Not so much for you as Sythara, you see. She needs you for her communion. I aim for our next project to be a bit more.. Intense. We will need more void imps to do it, I suspect.”

“Ohhh…” breathed Hush. “Call big!”

“Calllll,” repeated the other voidlings.

“Yes, yes. Call. Not now. Later.”

Hush had no mouth that Kairon could see, but he swore the stars and galaxies under that hood dimmed at his words. Was he… pouting?

Rolling his eyes, the city lord placed a claw atop Hush’s hood. “Now, now. Chin up, my friend! The void did great for us during our battle. I need you to rest up so you can do the same for our research shortly.”

The void imps chittered about, prodding Kairon more. It took some doing, but he finally got the little monsters to go off and find something else to do.

“Master… What about body?” asked Shiny once they left. “The enemy body. Not wrath.”

Kairon smirked. “You’re thinking what I am, aren’t you?”

“The pit,” said Shiny.

“The pit,” agreed Kairon. “Unfortunately, getting all those corpses back is going to be a chore. From what I saw, you managed to get all the nearby ones wrangled up in the piles I requested, but plenty more are still scattered about—or at least what remains of them. And then the trip back…” Kairon shook his head.

“Take too long.” Shiny frowned. “Need get back work. Pit. Food. Wood. Need doing, master!”

“That it does. However…” He gestured after the departing void imps. “Remember, Shiny. As a manager, you have more tools than those just in front of you. You have your co-workers and other departments. In this case, Hush and the void have joined us.”

“So they… Help. With magic?”

“A calling, Shiny. A calling. Tomorrow, we’ll see if our new void imps are up to it.”

Shiny grinned. “Good! Sooner back work—the better.”

He spent the next while chatting idly with Shiny. The little imp had gotten more and more articulate as of late. Kairon was starting to get nervous that the little imp would evolve just from conversation alone. Yet, when he sent him off to check on the brood an hour later, the little imp was still an imp. A very special imp, but still an imp.

Only a while afterwards when he made sure all the brood had something to eat did he confirm the prompt for creating the spawning grounds.

“Four void imps a day now,” he mused aloud. “Not the twelve we get from the wrath sigil, but still that’s quite the haul.” This new addition had effectively doubled their daily population growth for the little void imps.

As the violet lights began to dim and the void district calmed, Kairon stretched his back. Before bed, he had quite the treat waiting.

The corpse windfall wasn’t yet ready—but something else was.

Medallions. Lots and lots of medallions.

For the first time in a very long while, Kairon finally had what he hoped would be a new supply of source energy.

Assuming our wrathful show left anything behind to collect from them.