Galen blinked. Then he blinked again, He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Finally, unable to process what he’d just been told, he laughed. It was one without humor, simply a way to vent. His smile was tense and forced, and his furrowed brow that accompanied it told the truth of how he was feeling, “I… that’s…”

  Finally, the words Aleksi had spoken began to sink in. His forced smile melted, and he slammed his hands to his table and shot to his feet, yelling, “They did WHAT?!”

  “Calm yourself, lad,” his mentor said in a placating tone.

  “Calm myself?! Aleksi, you just told me the Dominion has been drugging me! How the hell am I supposed to stay calm?!” Galen rubbed his face, “just… why would they do that?!”

  “The Dominion,” Lusha cut in, “and Athanasius especially do not like pawns they can’t control. I imagine that played a huge part of why they did it.”

  Aleksi nodded, “That’s exactly right, my dear. Lad, I think Athanasius realized that you wouldn’t be so easy to control. Not nearly as much as he initially believed. And this may have stemmed from the moment you turned down his offer to stay in Avani to become his right hand man.”

  Aleksi leaned forward, expression grim, “Athanasius didn’t want an ally. He wanted a weapon. One he could control and use at his discretion. He wanted you to become the sword of the Dominion. Well, I suppose you can see a new meaning behind that, now. By getting you addicted to the drugs that your Ether Intolerance medication was laced with, he and the Dominion hoped to have an easy means of controlling you.”

  Galen clenched his teeth, before angrily running his hands through his hair and swearing under his breath, “You’ve got to be freaking kidding me… that bastard!”

  That explained the bouts of anxiety, restlessness, irritability, and agitation he’d been feeling as of late.

  Hell, I’ve been starting to go through withdrawals! He realized with horror.

  “I’m afraid there’s more, lad.”

  “There’s more?! What else is there?!” Galen’s eyes widened in horror, as he removed Redian from his back and brought up the Sentient Weapon in front of him, a sense of betrayal hitting him with the force of a speeding truck.

  He’d been about to reopen the mental connection and scream at the sword, until Aleksi was suddenly in front of him, hand calmly placed on his own.

  “Easy, lad,” Aleksi said, “I know what you’re thinking. Allow me to put your fears to rest. Redian had nothing to do with the Dominion’s actions and deceits.”

  Galen hissed, “How do you know?!”

  “Ordinarily,” Aleksi answered, “your Sentient Weapon would be able to tell you if it detected poison, or in this case drugs, in your system. Only, you were given the sword before you were given your medication. Also, recall that Milton had you hand over Redian when you first got the sword under the guise of doing some maintenance on it. So either they tampered with him so that he wouldn’t be able to detect the substances they laced your medication with, or they specifically made the medicine and laced it in such a way that Redian wouldn’t be able to detect it. Had he been of a later model of Sentient Weapon, perhaps he’d have noticed. However…”

  Galen took a deep breath. He had to know for certain.

  He opened the mental connection to Redian.

  He was immediately hit with an overpowering sense of complete, and abject shame from the sword.

  Redian whispered in his mind, voice meek and regretful, completely unlike its usual self “He’s… Aleksi’s right. I didn’t detect anything… even now, I’m trying like mad to look through your system to find traces of the drugs. Only, I’m finding that my usual means have been tampered with. I’m only aware of this because I now know what to look for. He’s right, boss. They messed with me so that I couldn’t prevent this from happening… And even if they hadn’t, it’s likely they made the medication in a way that would be invisible to me anyway… I’m sorry…”

  Galen felt the sword shrink back in his mind, afraid of his reaction.

  How… how did they manage to pull this off? How could they make the medication in such a way that even you couldn’t detect it? He asked the Weapon.

  “I don’t know,” Redian admitted, “but if I were to take a guess… perhaps my successors, those of the Second and Third Generation, assisted in making the medicine. It certainly would explain how an outdated hunk of junk like me could be fooled…”

  The self loathing Galen sensed from the sword made him feel guilty for suspecting betrayal. It was strange, but he’d come to find as their Bond deepened that their connection was a two way street. Just as Redian could tell how he truly felt, so too could he tell how the sword felt.

  And he could sense Redian was telling the truth.

  Galen looked at the sheathed sword in his hand, and clutched it to his chest in a hug, I believe you. I’m sorry for suspecting you of betraying me, partner.

  Redian gave off equally powerful feelings of surprise and relief, “Thank you, boss… I don’t blame you for jumping to that conclusion. It’s only natural to come to that line of thought.”

  Galen took a deep breath and returned the sword to his back.

  “So? Did you confirm things with Redian, lad?” Aleksi asked.

  He nodded.

  “Good,” Aleksi took a deep breath of his own, “now, as I told you. There’s more.”

  “I’m listening.”

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  “Lacing your Ether Intolerance medication with addictive drugs was just one method of controlling you. The Dominion tried implementing another back during the feast with the First Circle nobles of Ignis,” Aleksi explained.

  “The feast? You mean the one on the night where I found out about the Dominion enslaving the other races?” Galen asked.

  “The very one,” Aleksi confirmed.

  “What did they try that night? Was it-” Galen trailed off, his eyes widening.

  “Callista…” he gasped out.

  Aleksi nodded, “Yes. The plan that night was to get you drunk and have one of the noble women of the Dominion seduce you into bed. Callista Philomena was chosen due to being close to your age, and also due to her unrivaled beauty among the nobility. The Dominion had caught on to the fact that you had a strong sense of responsibility, lad. So, they reasoned that if you impregnated one of the women… that your sense of responsibility as a father would make you stay in Avani and do away with your goal of returning to your world.”

  “I can see you have a rather strong sense of responsibility, Champion. That is good. It’s an honorable and praiseworthy trait to have…” Galen remembered Arawn telling him at that feast, “A strong sense of responsibility indeed…”

  He felt sick to his stomach.

  “Callista?” he found himself asking, “did she-”

  “From what I could gather, she was in on it, lad. She was an active and willing participant in the deception,” Aleksi answered.

  “And why wouldn’t she be?” Lusha added, “if the plan had gone on without a hitch, then she’d find herself married to and bearing the child of the Dominion’s new Champion. Any noble woman would kill to be in that position.”

  Lusha spat at the ground, “I’ve long since known the Dominion and Athanasius were lower than scum. But I’m reminded more strongly than ever of that fact at hearing the lengths they went to sink their claws into this poor kid.”

  Galen sat in horrified silence, staring numbly at the table. His licked his lips, his mouth suddenly feeling dry, “Is… is there anything else?”

  Aleksi nodded with a grim expression, “Yes. Though I will explain that at a later time. I figured it would be best to give you the worst of it first, then let you know more once you’ve recovered from the shock.”

  His mentor leaned forward, expression sympathetic, “I really am sorry, Galen. Sorry that you got dragged into all this. Into our mess of a world and all the problems in it.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Galen said hoarsely.

  “Voiding right it’s not,” Lusha hissed, “the blame lies solely with Athanasius and his despicable Dominion. Now you see, a bit more clearly than you did before, why our Rebellion exists. That monster and his empire need to be taken down. For the good of all Avani and all the races.”

  Galen didn’t respond. He glanced up, in Tufani’s direction, for she’d been quiet this entire time. He was surprised to find her giving him a look of sympathy.

  Upon noticing his attention on her, Tufani spoke, “I’m intimately aware of the cruelty the Dominion and Athanasius has shown my people… but I never imagined…”

  She furrowed her brow, looking disturbed, “I never imagined they’d be so cruel to their own as well. Let alone to their Champion…”

  “The world isn’t so black and white, kid,” Lusha scowled at the ground, “black and white exists to be sure. But you’ll often find most of the world is a confusing, frustrating gray. Humans have and will continue to commit acts of violence against one another, just as they do the other races. And, likewise, the other races also have internal conflicts. None of us are without sin.”

  Tufani wrapped her arms around herself, “That sounds like something my… my mother once told me.”

  Lusha nodded, “She was wise.”

  The woman hesitated for a moment before adding, “I’m… I’m sorry about what happened to Anila Tufani. You have my condolences. The world itself lost something precious when she died.”

  Tufani nodded solemnly. She shut her eyes and pressed her lips into a thin line, apparently not trusting herself to speak.

  “Well,” Aleksi began speaking to Galen, “I’ve told you about the Dominion’s deceits, lad. Now we must speak about-”

  He was interrupted when someone burst through the tent flaps.

  Galen turned to see a messenger, who was out of breath, had barged in and knelt before them.

  Aleksi shot to his feet, “What happened?!”

  “General, sir… it’s…”

  “What is it?! An attack? Were we followed?!” Aleksi asked.

  The messenger shook his head, catching his breath, “No, sir! It’s a group of elf escapees. From Ignis!”

  “Ignis?” Aleksi frowned, “but the capital was wiped out. How did they escape?”

  The messenger grimaced, “General, sir… the one who was leading them was Arvad Malachi.”

  Galen didn’t recognize the name. However, Aleksi and Lusha seemed to. They both audibly groaned, much to his surprise.

  “Great,” Lusha grumbled, sounding tired for some reason, “him…”

  Aleksi rubbed his temples, “Now, now, dear… he has been of great help to us in the past. And it sounds like he saved some lives again.”

  Lusha huffed, “Doesn’t make him any less voiding annoying to deal with.”

  Aleksi nodded in agreement, “Void… inexplicable things happen when it comes to that man.”

  Galen raised a brow. He didn’t know who they were talking about, but to draw this kind of reaction, and from Aleksi no less… Well, he was immensely curious.

  “Who is this Arvad guy?” he asked them.

  “One of the most insufferable people I’ve ever met,” Lusha growled, “he’s immensely helpful, albeit in bizarre ways. Yet that somehow makes him even more insufferable!”

  Aleksi took a deep breath, “He’s… well he can be rather cryptic when you speak with him.”

  “Is that why he seems to annoy you both so much?” Tufani asked, her own brow raised questioningly.

  “Void no!” Lusha snapped, “it’s the fact that he seems to enjoy being cryptic. He has this attitude about him, like he knows things that you don’t, and seems to relish in the fact. Often he makes small inside jokes that allude to what he has hidden in that annoying head of his, but that you don’t get because he refuses to elaborate.”

  She pinched the bridge of her nose, “Void… I need a drink.”

  Aleksi looked to his wife, “Dear…”

  “Relax, Zareb,” she said, “non-alcoholic of course. I know how you feel about alcohol and, even if that weren’t the case, Arvad isn’t someone you want to deal with without being sober.”

  Lusha glanced to the messenger, who was still there, awkwardly kneeling as he listened to his commanders vent about Arvad. “You,” Lusha pointed at him, “if you have no other duties, fetch me an herbal tea. One meant for relaxation. Maker knows I’ll need it.”

  “Make that two,” Aleksi added.

  The messenger nodded, saluted, and left to do as ordered.

  “Come on,” Aleksi hesitantly grumbled, “best we get this over with.”

  “Void…” Lusha cursed, “I can already feel a headache coming on.”

  Galen and Tufani glanced curiously to one another. He shrugged, and both stood to follow Aleksi and Lusha out of the tent.

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