Chapter 521
"We have humans who claim the same title," she continued, her tone sharpening. "But most merely imitate what they don’t fully understand. Still, I wonder—do you think they would follow the same path, if given the same conditions? Or would our presence —our very interference—limit the natural arc of their evolution?"
Ikenga folded his arms, his tone deliberate. "If you had asked me that before we knew other worlds existed, I’d have proudly said their growth would never meet the expectation. I would have told you their limitations were carved in stone, a result of their nature, their blood, their narrow view of reality."
He paused, looking up to the room ceiling which depicted a picture of a war between demons.
"But now," he continued, "now that we know other realms intersect—now that knowledge bleeds across worlds like ink on parchment—I can’t say that anymore. The exposure to what lies beyond their stars... that alone changes everything."
"It’s only a matter of time," Ikenga said, his voice softer. "Before they truly understand how far the path they’ve set upon can lead. How vast the horizon really is. And when they do..." He smiled—not kindly. "The power they might grasp, the status they could command... it could shake the very bones of the world we come from."
"It’s not such a huge secret as we already knew about it, yet seeing it applied in such an experimental way still is suprising" Keles said to which Ikenga nodded.
"It’s time I tell you how my dinner with Zarvok went," Ikenga said, his voice casual, though his eyes—always too calm when he was troubled—betrayed a trace of thought still lingering on the conversation.
Keles looked up from the array of soul fragments spread across her worktable, her hands pausing mid-incantation. Alone with Ikenga, the veil that obscured her face in public was absent, revealing her features—elegant, precise, and unsettling in their beauty. Her eyes shimmered like still pools of dusklight, cool and unreadable. But Ikenga had learned to read the small tells: the way her gaze narrowed, how she tilted her chin just slightly when her interest deepened.
"So he needs the souls in my hand," she said, skipping pleasantries as she always did when work or politics took precedence. She already knew where this was going.