Rune Seeker

“What?” the Artist asked, eyes widening at the weapon suddenly at his throat. “Who?”

“Don’t remember the Nomad you tried to kill?” Seeyela asked. “What, do we all look alike to you?”

Hiral almost chuckled at that – because of the very unique armor Seeyela was wearing – but put the inclination aside to basically appear right beside her. One hand went to her wrist to make sure the terrible dagger didn’t accidently cut the man – he probably wouldn’t survive the venom – while his other hand rose between him and the nearest Shaper. The big guy was clearly some kind of bodyguard, and though his reactions were far too slow to keep up with Seeyela, he radiated B-Rank power.

“Hiral?” Elezad’s voice said. “What’s going on here?”

“I was just about to ask the same thing,” Hiral said, easing Seeyela’s dagger an inch away from the Artist’s neck. Just enough he didn’t impale himself. “Do you know who this is?”

“Do you know who I am?” the man countered. “How dare this… this… Grower…” – clearly not what he was going to say – “attack me like this!”

“You’re pretty lucky she didn’t outright take your head off,” Hiral said.

“Or that we haven’t yet,” Seena said from behind Hiral, and he could feel the solar energy billowing off her. From the looks of some of the faces in the crowd, he wasn’t the only one who’d noticed it.

“Everybody calm down,” Elezad said. “What is going on?”

“Remember when I told you about the Shapers who captured the Growers on the surface?” Hiral asked his father. “The ones who trapped us down there? Velina and Hizix were part of the group.” As he said the names, Hiral watched both his father and the unnamed artist for a reaction.

Elezad nodded along, the story one he’d heard. The Artist though… didn’t react. Not a bit. Nothing.

“There was an Artist leading them,” Hiral continued. “This Artist.”

Elezad looked from his son to the man at the edge of Seeyela’s knife. “You’re saying,” Elezad started. “That Olimpas – one of the council members – is the Artist you saw on the surface?”

“The one who tried to kill us,” Seeyela said.

“Yes,” Hiral said simply to his father.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Olimpas said, body language and voice calming. “I’ve never met you before in my life,” he said to Seeyela. “Of course, I’ve heard of you and what you did at Vorinal’s tower – and I thank you for saving Fallen Reach – but I’m not the person you think I am.”

“Do you have an identical twin?” Seena asked.

“Or something like Left and Right?” Yanily thumbed over at the doubles.

“A… what?” the man asked, clearly a little confused, before he shook his head. “No. I don’t have a twin.”

“Then it was definitely you who tried to kill us,” Wule said. “You probably should’ve gone with the evil twin thing. Trust me, it helps.” He looked up at Nivian. “What? It does.”

“I’m not evil,” Nivian pointed out.

“Sure look that way sometimes.”

“Guys,” Seena interrupted them with a single, stern word.

“Hiral?” Elezad asked.

“It’s him,” Hiral said. “At least, he looks exactly like the man we saw.”

“Olimpas was captured, just like the rest of us,” Elezad said. “And he pushed harder than any of the other council members for orders of execution on the people who led the rebellion. He’s been one of the strongest supporters of working together with the Growers, and assisting me with… other council matters.”

The last words that came out of his father’s mouth were clearly intended to represent the conflicting matters on the council recently.

“All of that seems contradictory to what you’re saying,” Elezad continued slowly.

“Doesn’t change what we saw,” Seeyela said. “This guy tried to kill us. And, a lot of my friends died because of the choice he made that day.”

“It wasn’t me,” Olimpas said. “I’ve never been to the surface before I went down to get Asylum access. To come here. I am truly sorry to hear about what happened to you – and your friends – but it wasn’t me.”

Seeyela’s eyes narrowed like she didn’t believe the man, and why would she? He claimed it wasn’t him, but they’d all seen him.

“Then how do you explain what we saw?” Hiral asked.

Elezad didn’t open his mouth to try and answer the question, but he did turn his attention to Olimpas for the other man’s response.

“Izope,” Olimpas said immediately. “It had to be her.”

“Ee-zo-pay?” Seeyela asked. “Is that code?”

“It’s a Shaper,” Hiral answered. “B-Rank one, I think.”

“She was one of the Shapers guarding the prison,” Elezad said, then looked at Seeyela and Seena. “One of the ones you killed. The first one, I think.”

“What does a dead Shaper have to do with anything?” Seena asked. “We saw an Artist. We saw you.”

“Izope was an eccentric,” Olimpas said. “She had tattoos other Shapers would never – or rarely – think of getting. Including Greater Illusory Duplicate. We’ve already confirmed she’s used it in other instances.” Those last words were directed at Elezad, who nodded slowly.

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“Greater Illusory Duplicate?” Seena asked Hiral.

“I… see…” Hiral said, thinking it through, before he turned to Seena and the others. “Okay, there are kind of two versions of the tattoo. The first one – kind of more basic – is called Illusory Duplicate, and it creates illusory copies of the user. They look exceptionally real – though they can’t touch things – and can even act like the user. It’s a C-Rank tattoo, but only some Shapers get it because it has limited use in the Amphitheatre.”

“Seen as cowardly?” Seena asked.

“Exactly. The main point of it would be to not get hit, by making your opponent attack one of the duplicates. Not something that’s popular with the Amphitheatre crowd.

“Then there’s the B-Rank version of the tattoo,” Hiral continued. “Greater Illusory Duplicate, which lets the user create almost perfect copies of somebody else. These work mostly the same, as in they can follow some preset commands and go off and act by themselves.

“The greater version is even less popular than the non-greater one, because it serves zero purpose in one-on-one duels.”

“We do have reports of Izope using the tattoo on Fallen Reach to impersonate other people,” Elezad said. “Well, to have her illusion pose as somebody else, to be precise. It only really came out after the rebellion started, when we began hearing reports of people being in two places at the same time.”

“She must’ve been down on the surface with the other rebels you saw,” Olimpas said. “Using my image in case anybody saw them. Like you did.”

“And why exactly,” Seeyela asked, none of the edge leaving her voice. Or her hand. “Why would she do that?”

“For exactly this reason,” Olimpas said. “To ruin my reputation in case their trips to the surface came to light. For somebody else to blame.”

“Don’t believe you,” Seeyela said, moving to take another step forward, but Hiral held up a hand. “You can’t believe him,” she said simply.

“Oh, I don’t,” Hiral said, then looked at the councilmember. “But, his story is possible. And ‘possible’ is enough of a reason we can’t just kill him.”

“Really, how likely is it?” Seena asked Hiral, and he could only shrug.

“I don’t know. Sorry.”

“So, what do we do then?” Wule asked.

“Dad?” Hiral asked, looking to his father who had a cooler head at the moment.

“Definitely no killing,” Elezad said. “We’ve got to all work together in the raid zone. And we need leaders who are good at their job.”

“Which is exactly why I should be the general,” Olimpas said. “I’ve more than shown what I can do during a crisis.”

“You have,” Elezad said. “But, there’s something else we need in a leader.”

“And that is?”

“Trust,” Elezad said. “Even if what you say is true about Izope and her Greater Illusory Duplicate tattoo, well, look around you.”

At those words, it wasn’t just Olimpas who turned his attention to take in the assembled crowd, but also Hiral.

His sensory domain had told him a lot of what to expect, but it was still always different seeing it with his eyes. The groups – more specifically, the races – had begun to split during the tension. Growers were unconsciously moving back around behind Seeyela and the others. Makers had shifted behind Olimpas and his bodyguard, while the Bonders had positioned themselves behind Burs. Sure, it wasn’t everybody, with many of the individual parties maintaining cohesion – Need to remember them. They’re the ones who’ll go far – but it was enough.

Olimpas looked long and hard at the division brewing within the raid group, a dozen different thoughts or emotions playing across his face in quick succession before he turned to Elezad.

“What would you suggest, then?” Olimpas asked Hiral’s father. “Do you want to be the general? Or to nominate your son here, because he has Grower friends?”

At least he remembered not to call them Nomads…

Out loud, Hiral said something entirely different. “I don’t want to be the general. More than that, I shouldn’t be. Neither should anybody else in my party.”

Elezad nodded like it made perfect sense, but the big Shaper acting as Olimpas’s bodyguard spoke up. “Why not?”

“Because everybody here wants us out there fighting,” Hiral said. “The general can’t be a member of one of the fighting raid parties. Too risky.”

“You have a suggestion,” Elezad said, and it wasn’t a question.

“I do,” Hiral replied. Before he made that suggestion though, he turned to Seena. She already knew what he was thinking, and nodded her agreement. “Our general needs to be Grandmother. She makes the most sense.”

Grandmother – at being named – nodded like she agreed. Elezad was likewise nodding along as he ran things through his head. Even Burs gave Hiral a thumbs-up at the idea. It was only Olimpas and some of the other Makers who seemed to have a bad taste in their mouths.

“Why her?” Olimpas asked simply.

“The biggest reason is also the easiest one,” Hiral said. “She’s A-Rank. Anybody – or anything – looking to take a piece out of her is in for a nasty surprise.”

“If she’s so powerful, shouldn’t she be out with one of the raid groups?” Olimpas asked.

“No interest,” Grandmother said. “Leave the running, exploring, and playing for the kids. I only came down here to protect the ones who couldn’t protect themselves.”

“Another reason she should be the general,” Hiral said, then looked at their guide. “Hey, Al, do the generals get any advantages or anything to offset being made a target?”

“They do,” Al said. “They will find their solar energy to be more potent when within their keep.” The Triclops pointed at the building that housed the War Table. “Stronger abilities. Lower cost. Etcetera. They will also have access to some general-specific abilities for as long as they remain near or within the keep.”

“And the general can use those to protect the others nearby?” Grandmother asked.

“To a limited degree,” Al said. “All of the general-specific abilities have a limited range based on the advancement of the keep. At its current stage, none of the abilities will extend beyond its walls. Gain enough schematics – and build them – and you will find the abilities can cover this entire area.” His arm swept to encompass everything from the cliff to the distant wood-line, more than a mile away at its furthest point.

All the more reason to level up this fortress.

“I agree with Hiral,” Elezad said. “If you’ll take the mantle of our general – along with the responsibilities – I believe you’d make the best choice.”

“Fine by me,” Burs said.

“I’m not comfortable with her having the power to make our choices for us,” Olimpas said.

“She’s A-Rank,” Hiral pointed out. “She already has that power if she wanted to use it.”

“I don’t want to make the choices you’re worried about,” Grandmother said. “I’ll make this simple – I’ll be the general if you all will form an advisory council down here to make all the important decisions. Not just Islanders, either. Equal part Bonders, Growers, and Makers.” She stopped and looked at Nivian and his group. “Any undead who aren’t going out to fight?”

“None,” Nivian said. “Thank you for asking, Grandmother.”

The older woman smiled gently at the Death Knight, like she was looking at the old Nivian, before everything had happened.

“Then I’ll settle for the three races I said,” Grandmother said after returning her attention to the others. “What do you say?”

“I don’t see a problem with it,” Elezad said. “I can even think of people we should have on this… group. Maybe we need a name other than ‘council’ though, to reduce confusion.”

“How about the reason you decided to bring it together,” Yanily said. “Call it a Trust.”

Everybody looked over at the spearman, and he just shrugged.

“That’s… actually not a bad name,” Seeyela said.

“Far better than anything Hiral would come up with,” Milly said.

“Hey.” Hiral glared at this sister.

“Then it’s settled,” Elezad said. “Grandmother will be our general, and we shall form her Trust, to make decisions on behalf of all those gathered here.”

“Excellent,” Al said. “Then, let us enter the keep and formalize these decisions at the War Table.”