Aetherios System: Whirlwind

Chapter 43:

“Your display today was far more revealing than I think we would have liked,” Lady Xhiu said.

Alex merely shrugged in response. He had figured that would be the case. The plan had always been to only show what he absolutely needed to in order to win a fight. Unfortunately, that last fight had required a lot from him.

Lady Xhiu eyed him a moment before crossing her legs and sipped from the cup in her hands. They were both seated on couches in the quasi-living room of the villa. The table was set with foods that Alex assumed were this world’s cookies or biscuits, and some sort of tea. He didn’t touch any of it.

“I admit, I knew you had the [Demon Asura Style], even though I couldn’t possibly figure out where you had attained it. I assume from some System reward or another. But that doesn’t really matter anyway,” Lady Xhiu said. Her tone was light, but Alex felt keenly aware that she was watching him for some sort of reaction to reveal information.

He gave her nothing at all, and only stared blankly back at her.

“Your constitution, on the other hand, I know you got from same strange experiments during your time with the Terraxum military. Something to do with large amounts of Wyvern beast blood.” Again, she eyed him, and again he just sat there.

“It looks as though all your cards are now out in the open. So things will be far more difficult moving forward. Your next fight has not been decided yet, but I am going to guess that despite my influence, meager as it may be, you will be against a powerful opponent. I suggest that, if you have any more little secrets, that you keep them as close to your chest as possible.”

“I am about as tapped out as a barrel of mead at a dwarven bar, Lady Xhiu,” Alex said, using one of the native expressions. It felt a bit weird, but the point got across. “But that doesn’t mean I am weak. You’ve seen what I can do by now. I will win my next fight.”

Alex was damned confident about that. He did have a few more little tricks hidden away. His full constitution wasn’t known yet, and they hadn’t seen the [Dual Descending Fight] yet either. With everything in his arsenal... He would win.

And another victory would cement himself within at least the top thirty-two, and guarantee a spot in the Inheritance no matter what.

“Very well, you seem to have things in hand. I’ll leave you to it. But one last word of advice,” Lady Xhiu’s face hardened suddenly, and her eyes became far more fierce. “The church of Beldia’s Light is a faction of power that is far beyond any kingdom or Empire regardless of the continent you may reside on. They are the mouthpiece to the Goddess of Light herself, her power reaches even beyond this planet to others. I’d normally insist I am present when you talk to them, but they have demanded a private meeting. Do not, and I mean this Worldstrider Alex, do not insult them.”

A spike of bubbling anger hit Alex’s soul as Lady Xhiu spoke, but like before, he kept his cool and only nodded.

Lady Xhiu rose to her feet and excused herself shortly after.

The moment she left the room Alex turned his attention into his soulspace, where the anger simmered. It wasn’t his own rage, nor was it the Wyrm-heart, which had long since returned to slumber. Instead, that fury came from the bond he had with Obby.

The sentient rock didn’t project its body for him to see. It didn’t even acknowledge him at all. Alex stared at the glowing sigil in the far part of his soul where Obby hid inside their bond. He had tried talking to the rock already, to find out what had the thing to pissed off. Completely out of character for Obby, he didn’t talk, not a word. And he hadn’t since.

Alex pulled out of his soulspace with a deep inhale of breath, deciding that if the rock wanted to pout, then he’d let him pout.

“Sir, your next guest is ready,” one of the villa servants said from the doorway.

“Let them in.”

A minute later, an older man entered the room. Alex recognized him as, what he assumed to be anyway, the private butler of Erich von Dämmerung. Alex had never gotten the man's name or official title.

“I appreciate you seeing me. My employer wished to simply have me extend congratulations on your match, and to see where you are in thinking over his offer.” The man sat down on the couch opposite Alex but didn’t reach for the drink or food on the table.

“Thank you. And I have been thinking about it,” Alex said.

It was nice getting right to the point in these conversations. Earthlings did that a lot, but not so much the natives of this world. Alex thought it might come down to lifespans. Humans on Earth had a hundred years of life at best, they didn’t have as much time. Natives in Aetherios, they had centuries. Spending a couple hours, or even a day or two, on small talk was not unheard of. It was infuriating.

Erich’s man must have long become accustomed to the Earthly way.

“My team and I have obligations to a few other fractions we cannot just forgo. If we were to enter the inheritance and retrieve anything, some of it will have to go them,” Alex said.

The man’s face downturned a fraction at this.

“But that does not mean we are not interested in the offer,” Alex added quickly. “In fact, we see Erich von Dämmerung’s extension of help to be quite generous and a hand we cannot ignore. We would be more than happy to share the gains and rewards with him once our debts had been paid off and cement a strong friendship in the process.”

Alex watched the man in front of him nod along to his words before finally sucking in a breath slowly. “My employer was hoping you’d be as open to eschewing the powers that be as he is. This sounds like he will be fourth fiddle in the orchestra, Mr. Pierce.”

Alex raised a brow at that. The guy really must be learning from Erich if he talked like that.

“I see.” Alex flicked his tongue against his teeth. “You must understand the position this puts us in, no? The Urhara Thrones would be expecting their due no matter what. Lady Xhiu has been investing in us quite a bit, and the sponsors we have been getting—“

“All people or factions that will not matter if plans go as they should. Mr. Pierce, things have been calculated for a long time now. If you extend a bit of trust here, I assure you things will work out.”

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“A bit of trust? This is asking for more than a bit… uh… Mr…”

“Kim. Call me, Mr. Kim, please.”

“Mr. Kim, this is more than a mere bit of trust. We don’t even know what this plan is, for starters.”

“Ah, I see,” Kim reached into his pocket and pulled out a small wooden box that he set on the table. He flipped the lid open, and a small spinning statuette was revealed, along with the chime of music. It was a music box, one of the old timey ones Alex recognized in holovids, or the homes of really old people.

“This device is expertly enchanted. As long as it plays, any listening enchantments or observation spells will only hear the music, and nothing else.

Oh, that’s pretty neat.

“The plan my employer has formed, if things go as they should, will result in the Urhara Empire and those other factions not being a problem at all,” Kim explained confidently.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because, Mr. Pierce,” he said. “Erich von Dämmerung plans to kill them all and wipe them from the continents entirely.”

Alex stared at him blankly.

It was an absurd claim. Erich was a Magus, powerful, sure, but nothing compared to a Sage Tier fighter. The Empress and the Emperor were both Sages. And Alex doubted they were the only two loyal to the Empire.

If they had a hundred Magus fighting them, they’d have a chance, maybe. But then again, the Empire had hundreds of Magus as well, maybe thousands. The numbers just weren’t there.

“I assure you, it is possible, and there is a plan in place. Continents, even whole planets, change hands relatively often. The Urhara Empire itself is only five hundred years old. Before them, there was another power, another before them,” Kim explained with a soft grin.

That made sense to Alex. He knew that’s how Earth had worked as well, even in the modern day. But here, in Aetherios, where people could shoot lightning from their hands and summon fire from their mouths, it just felt different.

That might just be my Earth brain still not adjusted fully. Erich has been here for centuries, he knows more than I do, surely.

He looked back to Kim, still uncertain.

“This is all knew information. I’ll have to thin about it some more. There is still plenty of time between now and the Inheritance opening. He will have his answer before then.” Alex reach over, and shit the music box carefully.

“Very well then, I’ll let my employer know. Thank you for your time, Mr Pierce.”

Mr. Kim left rather abruptly after that. Alex was left wondering if he’d made the right call, or if he should have simply accepted the offer. He was flustered, there was so much going on, and he didn’t know for sure the best decision. He’d consult everyone else before agreeing to stage a rebellion and bring down an Empire.

“Mr. Pierce?” The villa servant had returned. “Your last guest?”

“Yes, please, see them in,” Alex said.

He wasn’t sure what to expect of this last visitor. Even with Lady Xhiu’s warnings, and the brief bit of knowledge he’d gained from the much smaller branch of the church he’d met in the Kingdom of Terraxum, it sounded like the visitor he’d be getting now was far, far higher up the food chain in this particular clergy.

What he surely didn’t expect was to see a young woman about his own age in appearance walk into the room.

She wore pure white martial robes that were fitted tightly, hugging her thin waist and flowing down her thighs. The top of the robes was snug against her chest, the neckline just deep enough to see the top of her cleavage. Though the sleeves were tight at the upper arms, they widened and loosened greatly from the elbow down. Her blonde hair was pinned back in a bun, held in place by an ornate object that was in the shape of a sun.

The woman entered and bowed to him before taking a seat.

“Greetings, Mr. Pierce. I am Brielle, a member of the church of Beldia’s light,” she said in a charming and warm tone, a smile on her face.

“Nice to meet you Brielle, thank you for coming to see me.”

“I hope I have not put you out too much. I’m sure you have many other guests,” she said apologetically, even as she reached for the drinks on the table in front of her. She didn’t seem that sorry about it, really.

“Not at all. I am not as popular as you might think.”

“I very much doubt that. A worldstrider, with the martial style belonging to heaven’s heretics. And a broken mage core… I don’t know how you do it. You have come so far, its quite astonishing, even admirable,” she said.

Alex felt a whiplash of emotions. Suspicion, fear, frustration, pride. It was hard to follow where Brielle was going.

Did she just insult me, then hit on me right after?

Alex picked up a cup of his own, finally taking a drink of the tea. It was rather pleasant, and he regretted not trying it earlier. With his mouth no longer bone dry, he managed to speak.

“I have a question, regarding the church, if I may.”

Brielle’s eyes sparkled at that. “Please.”

“In Terraxum, we came across a church of light as well. But it wasn’t called that same thing. Or were there different godesses here?”

A smirk touched Brielle’s lips and she let out a chuckle. “There is but one Goddess of Light, Beldia. Any other merely serves her light. But I understand your confusion. The church has many branches, and smaller devotee sects. Some are merely collections of Light mages, or believers who follow the teachings. Some or more official and are given support from the Church.”

She paused, taking another drink.

“Any officially recognized branch uses the name Church of Beldia’s Light. Any unofficial one, does not use the name, and simply calls themselves something appropriate. Church of Light, is the most common.

Alex nodded along as she explained. “And if an unofficial church used the name anyway?”

“They would be eradicated down to the very last person, and the last brick of stone, cleansed by the burning light of Beldia’s fury.” Brielle smiled wider.

He gulped.

“I see.”

“That almost never happens, don’t worry about that.”

There was a long silence then, the two of them sipping at their drink as they sat across from each other. Alex felt as though she was waiting for something, or expecting something that he just didn’t understand.

The pause grew longer and more awkward until Alex decided he would simply have to risk being a bit rude to avoid the feeling of dread that was crawling its way up his spine.

“I apologize if this is too, forward, Brielle. I am a worldstrider, so I don’t know all the formalities and customs, please excuse me. But… why have you come to visit? I am not a light mage, I don’t even have a mage core, as you mentioned. Allie, or even Peter would have been better people to come see.” Alex set down his cup on the table forward, giving the woman his entire focus.

“Ah, yes I see the confusion.” Brielle set down her own cup. “You are the leader of your little band, which is why I was sent to talk to you. I didn’t come of my interest, as you might have guessed, this comes from the church. Quite high up I imagine, though I do not know how far.”

“And?” Alex pressed.

“I was sent to inquire about a potential infiltrator to your group. This person would be dangerous, far, far more dangerous than you can possibly understand,” Brielle said. “If there anyone in your group who would have been a stranger to you before but now travels with you. One who has surprising power, or shown dangerous ambitions?”

He frowned at that. Really, besides the stranger part, it sounded like Brielle was just describing himself. Everyone had long since told him he had dangerous, crazy ambitions and ideas and was more powerful than he really should have been. But Brielle didn’t seem to be asking about him.

So who then?

There was Kate, Zach, Holly, Peter, Cole and Lance; all of whom were strangers to him when they first arrived. But again, it didn’t seem like that’s who she meant.

Erich? Alex thought. He does apparently plan to fight the entire continent. He is a stranger with surprising power. Does the church know about Erich and his plan already? Maybe they only have hints and are trying to get information from me?

Alex shook his head. “Sorry, but I can’t think of anyone. I’m a little crazy, admittedly, and people say I’m powerful. But I don’t think you mean me.”

“No,” Brielle confirmed. “The person I am talking about would be a follower or acolyte of the Despicable One, the former God of Magic.”

Alex felt another scorching hot spike of anger in his soul. Something that nearly caused him to lose his composure.

“Despicable One?” he asked.

“Oh yes. It is a long story.”

“Well, I have time.”

Brielle eyed him a second, then picked up her cup once again, settling further back into the couch. “Very well then. I will tell you about the founding of the Church of Beldia’s Light. The Six Deities of Aetherios, and the passage into the Ascendant lands and the vanquishing of the Despicable One.”

“Sounds like a lot. I’m mostly just interested in that last bit, admittedly. Who is this, Despicable One?” Alex said.

She took a deep breath and looked around the room for a second, as if expecting someone, or something, to appear from thin air.

“It’s all connected, I assure you. The Despicable One, was once a grand being, a deity who stood among the others. His name… was Arnan, God of Magic.”