14-43. Insanity

Kirlissa had a lot of children.

Thousands, apparently. And many of them had come to the banquet. They didn’t comprise the bulk of the attendees, which included allies, extended family, and other important figures whose titles Elijah didn’t understand.

But one and all, every last one of them seemed to want to talk to Elijah. Throughout the mingling process, he found himself incapable of shaking the feeling that he was a new toy that everyone wanted to play with. From what Elijah could tell, there weren’t many below the demi-god threshold, and most of those were children. Even demi-gods were rare, with most of the partygoers having reached the deity stage.

Guided by Tura, Elijah made the rounds. Thankfully, dragons weren’t fond of shaking hands, so he was spared that particular custom. But they did like to talk, usually about themselves, their progeny, and their business dealings.

“Are they all non-combatants?” Elijah asked after meeting what felt like the dozenth Merchant.

Tura shook her head. “No. However, the nature of Prosperity is to breed wealth. That pushes people to a very particular cluster of attunements,” she explained. “That leads many of them to non-combat archetypes.”

“What attunements?”

“The prosperity cluster.”

“Cluster?” Elijah asked, intuiting the meaning but wanting it confirmed.

“There are root attunements that branch out into other, more specific ones,” she answered, tugging him along. “Like nature. There is nothing above it, but thousands of attunements below. On their own, they are not necessarily weaker, but they do tend to follow that rule. For instance, a person with a sufficiently powerful wild attunement would most likely bleed into one dedicated to nature as a whole.”

Elijah nodded along, thinking of Oscar. Perhaps that was why she’d used that example. From what he could tell, Tura knew a lot more about his life than she should have. Probably because someone had been spying on him. Like an adopted mother who always seemed to pop up out of nowhere.

Not that he minded all that much.

Ever since he’d learned of the existence of Seers and Prophets, he’d taken it for granted that he would be watched. In any case, it wasn’t as if he was a particularly secretive person, save for when he was sneaking around in Shape of the Scourge. And that was a very different sort of situation than his everyday life.

“Interesting,” Elijah acknowledged. Glancing up at the throne, where Kirlissa still sat, he added, “And I guess everyone here wants to take after the lady in charge.”

“Most,” Tura answered. “Within her family, at least. Some of us went a different route.”

“How exactly are you related to her?”

“She is my mother, of course.”

He’d made some assumptions about their relationship, but the obvious difference in age had thrown him off a little.

“I guess you’re the black sheep, huh? Being attuned to nature and all,” Elijah reasoned.

“Something like that,” she admitted. “But little Saraalinisa takes after our mother. She will be her successor, provided that she has the necessary will.”

“She has the same attunement as Kirlissa?”

A nearby group of people stared daggers at him as he said her name. Elijah ignored it. If she wanted him to call her something else, then she would say so. Until then, he’d use the name she’d given him when they’d first met.

“She does. Perhaps not quite as strong, but that remains to be seen.”

That was interesting, and it put some of Elijah’s past into context. Seeing that Kirlissa had thousands of children, it didn’t make sense that she would have granted Elijah a core just for saving a single one. Especially when Sara hadn’t even awakened at the time. But if she was primed to follow in Kirlissa’s footsteps? According to what Tura had said, that made her special.

His eyes found Sara across the room, where she was gesticulating wildly while engaging an older drake in conversation. He looked very uncomfortable.

“Where do I fit into all of this?” he asked, pulling his gaze away.

“That is up to you,” Tura answered. “You have potential, boy. Whether you live up to it will be determined by your actions. Like everyone else, you must earn your future. There are no shortcuts and few second chances. However, if you do make good on your potential…you could become a pillar.”

She sighed. “Or you could waste it all and settle into a dreadfully average existence.”

“A lot of average people are happy.”

“Is that what you want, boy? Happiness? Or do you want to scratch and claw your way to miserable meaning?”

Elijah didn’t really have an answer to that question. Of course he wanted to be happy. Everyone did. But did he want it as much as other things? Would he rather be a demi-god living a life of contentment or an unsatisfied transcendent with the world at his fingertips?

He recognized that the choice wasn’t quite as black-and-white as that scenario made it seem. But what he did know – and beyond the shadow of even a sliver of doubt – was that his life would be much easier and far happier if he’d have chosen to stay in his grove.

He could have continued to progress, albeit at a slower pace. Maybe he’d even have the legacy to become a deity one day. But eventually, he would lose the momentum of his fast start, and he’d slowly drift back toward the middle.

But in the meantime, he could be happy. He could get married. Raise a family, perhaps. He didn’t need to constantly reach for more power.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I think –”

His statement was interrupted by the simple tone of a ringing bell, followed by someone announcing that dinner was served. As one, the crowd surged toward the connecting hallway, and Elijah flowed with it. Soon enough, he found himself overlooking a massive banquet hall filled with tables.

Everyone seemed to know where they were going, too.

As the other guests took their seats, Tura guided him toward the head of the table closest to Kirlissa’s, which stood on an elevated platform at the end of the room. She sat in the center, flanked by three men on either side.

Tura had already explained that they were Kirlissa’s consorts. The fathers of her many children and powerful individuals in their own right. None were transcendents, but a couple were on the right track to one day reach that stage.

But there were no guarantees when it came to progression. Many people who seemed destined for greatness had stalled out at one point or another.

Even Elijah had, though not because of lack of suitability or effort, but because he’d been trapped in the abyss without access to an uncorrupted Branch. If things had gone even a little differently, he might’ve died as a mere ascendent, potential be damned.

Elijah took his seat, happy to see that Sara was already in the chair next to him. He was surprised to find that Tura was much further back, though. Almost at the very edge of the banquet hall.

That was when he remembered that she was a drake. Not a true dragon. And unless she managed to reach transcendence, she would never cross the boundaries of her caste.

“Are you ready for the big announcement?” asked Sara, grinning like she knew a secret he didn’t.

“What announcement?” Elijah asked.

“Oh, this is going to be good.”

“Tell me –”

“Ahem.”

The simple sound of Kirlissa clearing her throat echoed through the banquet hall. The entire room went silent. Conversations stopped mid-sentence, and not always by choice. Such was the force of her presence.

“Family. Friends,” she said, her voice warm and inviting. As if she truly and deeply cared for everyone in that room. Perhaps she did. The fact that he was included in that wave of positivity left Elijah with a warm and satisfied feeling in the pit of his stomach. Like he’d just been hugged by his mother.

She continued, “Tonight, we have been brought together by circumstance, but it warms my heart to see everyone so happy and healthy.” She clutched her hands over her chest and bestowed a radiant smile upon them. “You are the most important part of my universe. Without all of you, Prosperity would cease to exist.”

Elijah wasn’t certain if she meant that literally or figuratively. Probably a little of both. After all, what good was an aura of prosperity if there was no one there to take advantage?

“Before we eat, I would like to acknowledge a few people who have done fantastic work over the past few years,” she said. Then, she went on to list dozens of names – most of whom were in attendance – describing great feats like combatting a famine on one of their frontier worlds, ending an invasion by rogue vespirans, or negotiating favorable terms of a treaty. Elijah listened, trying to catalogue the names, but the litany went in one ear and out the other. He had no real context to understand any of it, so he ended up just nodding along and clapping when everyone else clapped.

Apparently, that particular gesture was nigh universal.

Then, she finally came to the main announcement.

“As you all know, the Tournament of the First Fang is nearly upon us,” she explained. “For those unfamiliar, this is a tournament meant to set the stage for the most promising of our young. From the smallest frontier province to the ancient systems at the center of the empire, everyone will put forth their best and brightest demi-gods.

“And we have the great honor of hosting it,” she finished. “The Emperor themselves will be in attendance.”

That brought a few gasps. Again, Elijah had no context, so he remained silent. However, he did have a gut feeling why Kirlissa had wanted him there so quickly.

“The Tournament of the First Fang is a tradition stretching back millions of years. Many winners have gone on to do great things. Some have even reached transcendence,” she explained to her rapt audience. “My own son won the tournament fifty thousand years ago. Regrettably, Mano was unable to attend this banquet.”

After a moment, she went on, “Hopefully, our representative for this tournament will prove himself just as worthy of our praise. Please, let me introduce to you my adopted son, Elijah Hart.”

Despite expecting it, Elijah was still stunned, and it wasn’t until Sara kicked him under the table and mouthed, “Stand up!” that he rose from his ornate chair. Not knowing what else to do, he gave a nervous wave.

People clapped. Elijah was embarrassed. And eventually, Kirlissa saved him by speaking up, “I hope we can all lend him our support. In the meantime…”

She clapped her hands together and announced that dinner was served.

A moment later, food simply appeared before them. There were enormous platters of meat, vegetables, breads, cheeses, and every other category of food Elijah could imagine.

“You did well,” Sara said over the sudden din of conversation. She was already helping herself to a delicious-looking haunch of meat. It kind of looked like chicken, but it had a tangy smell to it. “I wanted to participate, but mother wouldn’t allow it. Said I didn’t have the right archetype.”

“Really?”

She nodded, tearing a hunk of the meat away. Despite being something like a princess, she lacked the social refinement of that status. In fact, she ate like a starving child. In retrospect, that was probably a side effect of her life before true awakening, and it was something that Elijah very much understood. If he spent too much time in one of his bestial forms, the idea of manners just flew right out the window.

“What archetype are you?”

“Administrator,” she said, her mouth full. “Not much for combat. Still a dragon, though.”

“Are you even a demi-god yet?”

She sighed. “No. I have the legacy and the levels, but mother won’t let me advance until I get the right class options,” she complained. “I understand it, but…ugh. Being stuck at ascendent is embarrassing!”

“I spent like twenty years stuck at ascendent,” Elijah explained, helping himself to something that looked like orange potatoes. He also grabbed a haunch for himself.

“Really? Why?”

“Stuck in the abyss with no Branch available. I mean, I guess I could have advanced a lot sooner, but the one option I had was kind of corrupted,” he admitted. “I decided to work on cultivation instead. And when the opportunity to advance to demi-god came, I had a few good options.”

“Smart. Cultivation is important,” she said, gesturing with her greasy haunch of meat. “All my tutors say so. But it must have been rough in the abyss. Did you have some good cultivation potions or something?”

Elijah shook his head. “Nope. Never really took potions for that,” he said. “Well, I did once, but I didn’t like it. Mostly, I just found the most toxic places I could, then used that energy to break down my system and rebuild it.”

“You did what?” came a voice from his side. The woman had introduced herself when Elijah sat beside her, but he didn’t remember her name.

“Uh…which part?”

“What stage of cultivation have you reached?”

Elijah checked his status. He didn’t need to, but her obvious shock made him doubt himself. “Lord. But I just need to advance my core to get to whatever the next stage is.”

She swallowed hard. Then, she asked, “Can you please describe your last cultivation session?”

“Oh, sure,” Elijah said. “It was all because of Treebie. He was this World Tree, ancestral tree hybrid I grew on an excised planet. Anyway, I was trying to communicate with him, but I wasn’t having any luck. So, I decided to connect my soul to his. And, well, he had a piece of a World Tree Branch in him, and…”

Elijah went on to describe the whole process. The woman – who looked a bit like a dwarf, but with scaled spines instead of a beard – paled with every detail.

Finally, Elijah said, “If you think that was bad, you should’ve been there for when I cultivated my silver body. That was the first time I realized that I could keep my spirit tethered to the real world while I worked on cultivation. I climbed this huge tower into space and…”

He explained that part too, going into all the gory details until, for whatever reason, the woman excused herself.

“Did I say something wrong?” he asked Sara.

“You’re insane. But in a good way. No wonder mother likes you,” she said. Then, she pointed to his half-eaten haunch of meat. “You gonna eat that?”