Episode 6: Cost of Magic
Chapter 018 - From Underground
Three commanders spread their men across the fields. These commanders claimed a portion of RrodKa’s military might.
One commander watched from the southernmost peak of the border wall, standing on the top with his battalion of men around him, both restless and calm as they watched the slaves from above—Commander of the Eyes. The soldiers served as surveillance and rapid-response units, joined in pairs across the whole nation. As he scanned the place, he spotted one distinct man with a high profile, holding a brutal whip studded with thorns.
The second commander was in the chaos, his whip in hand, and shouting to all the slaves with fury—Commander of the Chains. His brutal men enforced order and hierarchy just the same, tackling the violent mobs and suppressing the rumors with their whips and swords. These soldiers were clothed in gray hide, and they scattered throughout like disease silencing life. And among the colorless company were the squad of colorful-armored men led by the third leader.
The third commander emerged from the land of the rich and fanned his men out in quick fashion. He wore a casual fitting that never belonged to either the rich or the poor—Commander of the Legions. Donnor Thallion. He and the small squad of elites with extraordinary power dismantled the whole land, sending flames in the sky to bring fear among the slaves and distract them from their cause, while the Chains finished their grim work of suppression.
Violence erupted on all sides, flashes of light tearing through the sky to scatter the crowds. The Eyes were sure to watch no more resistance would be felt. But they were not the only ones who watched…
Above the rooftops of the rich, a handful of Groggins stood.
Such strange beings. They looked human, yet never acted like one. They never gathered in groups larger than three. They wandered as though lost, even in the wilderness. Their faces were pale, their bodies shrouded in dark cloaks. Man or woman, it made no difference: they all looked the same. Generations passed, and still they wore the same expression—blank, cold, and unreadable.
But for the first time in years, something changed. While the nation was distracted, they moved.
One Groggin standing atop a roof stared at a cluster of slaves pressed forward by a soldier. Four more shadows joined in watching without comments or sympathy. Their silhouette slithered behind the first, rising into tall, silent figures, with eyes fixed on the people below.
Then their heads twitched once, all jerking in one direction. They closed their eyes. And they listened.
Report. Descend.
They lifted their chins. Then their bodies liquefied. Each one sank into itself, melting into dark pools that slid off the rooftop and spilled onto the ground. The shadows thinned, shrinking, until nothing remained.
Down they went… into the depths of the earth.
And there, the mysteries began to unfold.
Reported. Directive.
Directive pending.
Directive pending.
Response.
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Response initiated. What is the reason for the call?
Processing. The Five Shadows are converging.
Consensus protocol initiated. Awaiting directive. Our masters are gathering.
Are we to listen in?
Affirmative. Gather, for the hearing among our masters, and a special guest we have had since the end of Code III. Luminar Thallion.
Five Shadow Convergence initiated.
One: Have we failed to eliminate the child?
Two: Probability suggests the slain target was the prophesied child.
One: Then why is he alive? He carries the blood of Ladrack. Confirm the protocol has been met.
Three: Affirmative. Our subjects have witnessed the slain.
Four: Then the boy in the wilderness is not the same.
One: Yet he survived the binding decree. How did he survive if they had killed him?
Silence.
Five: The child has survived the decree, and he is roaming. Prophecy cannot be stopped. Thus, delay the prophecy.
One: Or are we accelerating it? Does our intervention slow the destruction, or hasten it?
Silence…
Five: Luminar, your input.
Luminar: The child intrigues me. His identity is uncertain, and the timeline remains ambiguous. Eliminating him would not harm the prophecy.
Five: You claim his death does not delay or accelerate prophecy? Your reasoning.
Luminar: Affirmative. Divine orchestration proceeds because of our participation as instruments of divine will. Neither do we change such will. Let the future decide its future. Let us, yet, fight for our cause, that this delay may belong to the divine unfolding.
Two: Directive request. How shall we proceed?
Luminar: Response. We shall take this chance to gather intel. His death means naught, so let us witness ourselves why such a being has escaped death once—if he can escape another.
Five: It is time to accelerate. Finalize directive. Agreed?
One: Agreed.
Two: Agreed.
Three: Agreed.
Four: Agreed.
Luminar: Distress will be upon you, child.
Directive declared: CODE IV.
Directive response. Our masters have spoken. Code IV? Could this be an error?
It can never be an error.
That is the highest designation we have ever received.
Code IV. Then the masters themselves will intervene.
Code IV belongs to our masters. The task is theirs. Shall we observe?
Yes, let us observe.
The child has been sighted in the wilderness. Deploy.
Deploy. Observe.
The masters advance.
And we shall follow.
The ground rumbled, a low groan like masses grinding through rough stone. Shadows poured swiftly, slipping like liquid through cracks and crevices. There were too many to count. Nearly a hundred figures drifted in unison, gliding low, their presence concealed beneath the surface. The sound was like breath rushing through a hollow tube, an eerie whisper that followed their movement.
Amid the swarm, five larger forms advanced in formation, aligned in a perfect line. Smoke trailed from them, curling and dissolving into the rock and soil as they pressed forward. Their gaze cut through the strata, through layers of stone and sediment, fixed not on the path before them but on a single figure: Vynelor.
