15-33. Great Clans

“And where do they typically nest?” Elijah asked, staring intently at the subject of his inquiry. The man was a serpentor, but one with a significant amount of power. After all, he was the embassy’s head Chef, and a deity to boot. No one reached that status without talent.

“The surface,” the Chef answered. “As I’ve said three other times. You may ask me again, but the answer will remain the same.”

“But where on the surface?” Elijah mumbled, pulling away. He knew he had come on a little strong, but after partaking of the crustaceans, he just needed to know how to find more. They tasted a lot like grilled shrimp, but with a tangy aftertaste that set them apart. The Chef had prepared them well, but Elijah strongly felt that Earth’s Cooks could find a novel way to do so.

He just needed to find some.

“Brother,” came a call from the other room.

Elijah sighed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to…well…be like that. I’m just serious about food. You understand.”

The serpentor nodded. “Aren’t we all?”

“See. You get it.”

“If I may make a suggestion?”

“Sure.”

“You have staff specifically for these occasions. Send someone to source the firebugs yourself.”

“Firebugs? Is that what they’re called?” Elijah asked. He hadn’t even asked.

“They are. You can buy them at any market in the city, though they are rare on the satellite colonies,” he explained. “I shall send the information to your head of house.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

“Of course,” the man said with a nod.

With that, Elijah apologized to the rest of the kitchen staff for interrupting their workday, then headed back to the dining room. Only Mano and Illska remained, both of whom had steaming mugs of extremely aromatic liquor before them.

He joined them, though when one of the servers offered to bring Elijah some of that alcoholic beverage, he chose to abstain. Instead, he made himself a cup of coffee.

“Thirteen great clans,” he said. “I didn’t know there were that many. Or maybe so few. It occurs to me that I wasn’t nearly inquisitive enough during my stay on Esik.”

As it turned out, Illska was more than happy to fill the gaps in his knowledge. The great clans were known as such because they were attached to an equal number of the most powerful transcendents in the Empire of Scale.

“Outside of the emperor themselves,” Mano added, swirling the nearly boiling liquor in his mug. It gave off a spicy scent, like cinnamon mixed with apples and featuring a hint of pepper.

“Of course,” Illska agreed. Then, she went on, “The Vyrin clan is widely considered the most powerful, largely because Prosperity is so rich. However, our power centers on economics, not the battlefield.”

“We can hold our own,” Mano protested. “More fully if you’d get on with transcendence.”

“I’m working on it, husband.”

There was an iciness to her tone that hadn’t been there before. Elijah didn’t know what had transpired in the time between their arrival and dinner, but it was clear that some difficult truths had come to light. And obviously, they had a lot to do with Illska’s transcendence.

Elijah knew better than to step into that minefield.

After that, Illska went on to list the other thirteen great clans. Some of them, like Vael and Ignara, Elijah knew all too well. He’d also fought against a representative of the Umbranix clan, and he recognized a few others from the tournament. Still, without more information, it was difficult to keep them all straight.

So Elijah didn’t really try.

He did vow to remember them all, though. Vyrin. Vael. Ignara and Umbranix. Ky’hrin and Tyrix. Draveth, Soryn, and K’levahar. Zareth and Orvex. And finally, Tharys and Veklarin.

For some of those clans, the throughline was simple and consistent. An example was Kaela’s Ignara clan, which tended to focus on fire attunement. Those purer clans usually had strict rules about who could claim their name. For instance, Kaela qualified, while Alrhok did not.

Most of the other clans were less focused, which made remembering who was who much more difficult.

“You’ll get the hang of it once you’ve had a little more experience,” Mano predicted. “That will happen very soon.”

Elijah sighed. “Everyone keeps hinting at that. What’s going on?”

“Orveth Kaal,” said Illska.

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“Wife.”

“What?” she demanded. “I guarantee that the others already know. Why not him?”

Mano shook his head, then gestured for her to continue.

“Orveth Kaal is also known as the Bound Sky. An ancestral world to which we open a gateway once every hundred years,” she explained.

“And I’m guessing that’s coming up,” Elijah reasoned.

“This year.”

“Is that why Kirlissa was so adamant that I return to the empire so soon?” Elijah asked.

“That is the case,” Mano stated. “The Bound Sky is one of the empire’s greatest treasures, for it is a system sanctioned ancestral world that not only allows us to train demigods and deities alike, but to do so in service of our people.”

“How so?” Elijah asked.

“Do you know the nature of ancestral worlds?” Illska asked.

Elijah shook his head. “I’ve heard the term, but don’t really know how they work. I guessed they were just more elaborate Primal Realms.”

“Close, but so far away,” she said. “The most obvious difference between the two is that Primal Realms are constructs created by the system to disguise large, abyssal breaches and drain them of power.”

“I’m very familiar with Primal Realms,” Elijah interjected.

“Good,” Illska said, leaning forward. “Ancestral worlds are far more dangerous because they are real places, persistent and populated by captive people, beasts, and monsters.”

“Wait. How does that work, then? How are they any different than normal worlds?”

“The system imposes limits. In some cases, they merely prevent the inhabitants from progressing too far. In others, the system uses shackles to bring them down to an appropriate level,” she explained.

“Oh. I’ve seen something like this before.”

“You have?” asked Mano. “When?”

Elijah then described the Trial of Primacy. Ka’arath was a real place, with real people. Yloa had been a transcendent, and Elijah suspected that many of the other boss-types he’d defeated had been deities. The only way the people of Earth had stood even the slightest of chances was with the system’s intervention.

“That does sound like an ancestral world, though a nascent one,” Mano said, scratching his chin. “Orveth Kaal is similar, but different. It was once an important part of the empire, but it fell to an orcish invasion and was cast into the abyss. Its establishment as an ancestral world was the only means of recovery, though it is not a short process.”

“Recovery? From the abyss?” Elijah asked, his ears perking up. “How does that work?”

“I cannot say more,” Mano answered. Then, when Illska began to speak, he cut her off with a glare. “We will not risk the ire of the emperor by telling him too much.” To Elijah, he said, “Just know that this effort has been ongoing for tens of thousands of years. Every century, we make some headway, but we are still a long way from Orveth Kaal rejoining the empire.”

“And you say that it’s coming up? I’m going to get the opportunity to learn more, I guess.”

“You will, should you accept the invitation,” Mano answered. “I assure you that doing so will be very beneficial, in terms of learning to operate within the scope of the empire and as a representative of this clan. In addition, it is peerless opportunity for advancement and experience.”

“Sounds like you want me to go.”

“I do,” Mano stated. “We are sending a team, whether you go or not. However, it will be more successful if you participate.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You know what it means to survive,” Mano answered. “You aren’t one of those scions from the other clans, children who have been pampered and protected their entire lives. You have scratched and clawed for everything you have. You know what it means to face oblivion, and more importantly, you know what it takes to stand up and refuse to back away. That is why I am proud to call you my brother. Not because of what you did in the tournament. Any idiot can win a few fights. I acknowledge you as a member of this family because of the totality of your identity.

“That has value, brother. It is sorely needed in a place like Orveth Kaal.”

“Fair enough.”

“But do not think you would lead this expedition. You are not ready for that. Nor are you well-suited for that role,” he cautioned.

“Also fair,” Elijah allowed. For all that he wanted to be a leader, he knew that he functioned best when he could go where he wanted, when he wanted. He didn’t fit into the normal group dynamic favored by those who ran towers, and he’d never actually done a Primal Realm the way they were meant to be attacked.

A great general, he was not. Nor did he aspire to that position.

When Elijah asked for more information on the ancestral world, he was only told that each great clan would field a team. Other than that, the nature of Orveth Kaal would remain a mystery, at least until he set foot on the other side of the challenge.

Did it matter that others probably knew much more than him? Not really. Elijah usually worked without any idea what to expect. He’d grown accustomed to improvisation, which would likely set him apart from the other participants. After all, Mano was right. They’d grown up comparatively pampered. When they went into towers or Primal Realms, they knew exactly what dangers awaited them. More importantly, they knew the best ways to overcome those challenges.

Orveth Kaal might be similar. There was a chance that everyone else would be much better prepared, even if Mano insisted that detailed information on the ancestral world was meant to be kept secret. But that didn’t matter. Even if he went in at a disadvantage, Elijah would just do what he always did.

“Well, I hope whoever you get to lead this understands that they’re walking into a mess,” Elijah said. “I’ll probably go, but I’m not committing to anything until someone gives me some more information. In the meantime, I think I’m done with dinner.”

With that, Elijah pushed away from the table, thanked the hosts, and left Illska and Mano alone. In retrospect, that was probably what they wanted anyway.

For a while, he just wandered the palace, and he was interested to find that it was a working embassy as well as a residence. In addition to all the people he would expect based on that assertion, there was also a sizable library stocked with hundreds of crystals. When he wandered inside, he found himself confronted by a stern Archivist that sent him on his way.

“You have research staff. Use them,” she admonished as he went back the way he’d come.

Eventually, he ended up back in his rooms, though he only stayed there for a few minutes before he told his head of house – a dour-looking drake – that he wanted to explore the city.

“Very well,” she said. “We will prepare an honor guard.”

“No need for that. I also want to see the surface,” Elijah explained. “And maybe some wilderness.”

“That is ill-advised,” she pointed out.

“It’s all good,” Elijah insisted, already backing out of the room. “I’ll be fine. I promise.”

Before she could respond to that, he was already on his way. The trip through the palace was uneventful, save for the fact that his hurried pace brought with it a bit of attention. But then, he broke free of that golden cage, crossed the grounds, and pushed through the gate.

Only a second later, he realized that he didn’t need to restrain himself. Mano couldn’t very well walk around the city as a moon-sized dragon, but Elijah didn’t have to worry about that sort of thing. So, without further hesitation, he shifted into his dragon form and headed into the city.