Chapter 93: Tough Conversation (P3)

"What do you want to know then? If this knowledge can help you protect my daughter, I'll give it willingly."

I sip my tea, it soothes my coarse throat from all that yelling, and a smile crawls onto my lips.

"Well first, I want to know exactly what that thing was. Leriva said it was the next step in the Cultist, a Beta Warrior, and from the look of things down there, I think it was preparing to turn the residents of Carbina into Cultists, all of them."

Maylin hum at this, shifting a bit in her chair, "Kaylin told me that much, that after going through that…Mind-Field, you came upon a lot of odd things, the Beta warrior being the crux of it all."

"But, I'll be honest, there isn't much information of Beta warriors, in the past there has only ever been one and the encounter with that one is entirely different from what Kaylin has described to me."

"Do you have the details of that encounter? Let's compare notes."

She chuckles but nods, "I'll tell you about it, but you should realize how fortunate you are to have survived a Beta." She huffs and then begins her tale, "Now that I think about it, there are a lot of similarities between what you told me about the Cultist in Carbina and the incident of the first Beta, but I'll let you figure it out for yourself."

"This was years ago, about a decade now actually. The Cult of Phien was just finally being given the attention it deserved for the threat it posed to the Kingdom, but this was only after a several villages and a city had been reported to have…one mind."

"You can surely imagine how reporting such a terror to the King and his court would go. An entire city? Empowered by magic and yet doing nothing but pray to some totem? No trade, no migration and worse of all, no taxes."

"The immediate reaction was to order the Count of the land to investigate the true nature behind this incident, and the Count, in panic of losing his land did so with speed but without caution. He sent his best goons, disposable D and E-ranks who could barely spit out a fire ball."

"A week past and then another and finally the Count became suspicious of their absence, they had yet to return after two-weeks and the King was breathing down his neck. Next, he went himself and as the story goes the Count and all who guarded him were greeted by the very goons they sent ahead."

"They preached of serving Phien, they begged them to join the fold and well…a fight started. This was the moment the Kingdom knew the power of the Cult. The Count being a wealthy man had a B-rank in his retinue. That B-rank died letting while he escaped."

"The King and the Synagogue receiving reports that the Cult held this much power, well, they weren't too pleased by it. That region soon became a war front, the King and the Synagogue stamped out all resistance there and won with ease. But that wasn't the end of it."

"The Cult began to pop out all over the Kingdom, declaiming Anera, declaiming every god in the sky and proclaiming that Phien was the one to serve. The Synagogue took this…personally and with the King's permission took on the task of eliminating the Cult of Phien, later that year, the Following was established."

"But this isn't the Following of now. This Following was new, novice and lacking in proper manpower. They were just testing things out, finding the right balance for their encounters with the Cult."

"They weren't the only ones learning either, at this time, many villages and whole territories were swallowed up because a proper line of communication hadn't been established and also because the Cult was far too quick, wide spread and ruthless in their attack."

"By the second year, the land was in a state of civil war, the enemy was its own cities, its own territories, no one knew who to trust. And the Following, they were dying like cattle. It was during these dire times that things got even worse. The Beta appeared."

At this point she sighs and takes a sip of her tea, wetting her mouth, "You see, the Following had noticed patterns in the Cults activities, every Gamma warrior was worth at least one B-rank, but if a region has a Gamma warrior unattended to for long, more warriors begin to pop up around the place, the maximum being five."

"And when those five aren't attended to, when their prayers and activities aren't disrupted in the slightest…they form a Beta."

The pentagram…Leriva knew what it meant. She knew when she saw what they formed that they'd be trapped, that they would be defeated. But she refused to leave.

But…something doesn't make sense.

"I killed three Gamma warriors before leaving Carbina. Why would they form a Beta without those three?"

She shrugs, "That, I don't know. Perhaps they completed their ritual before you came along? Or maybe your interference, making them more powerful just sped things up."

She's right. It could be either of those. By the time I came by Carbina, Leriva had already been adapted to, she wasn't an issue to them. Maybe that's why they let me pass in the first place, they were all set and didn't need anymore minions by the time I came by.

And when I started attacking them, when I killed the first Gamma, they had to put me down to stop my interference or have me join them willingly. That would explain the Bull General's insistence that I die and his anger at being forced to deal with me.

It's plausible. Very Plausible.

It also makes sense that the Beta formed only after I left, and its power, the Mind-Field. That might have been made just to counter me…possibly.

I grit my teeth at the theory, it means that if I had simply stayed back, the Cultists, they might have overestimated my power and stopped their attack even if it's just for a bit longer.

And during that time, I could have realized that Leriva could come with me and Mathilda too. Why didn't I do any of this.

"It's not your fault, Asher. You didn't know any of that would happen." Maylin's hand in on my knee, she looks up at me as I squeeze my skull tight and tight between my palms. "You did your best with what you knew. And now you know more."

Her look is soft and tender, unlike a few moments ago when we were yelling curses and accusations left and right. She looks kind, she looks just like her daughter.

Letting go of my poor head I heave a sigh and take in a deep breath, "I'm fine, thank you Maylin." She nods and gets back to her seat.

"The Beta we faced had magic…mind magic attack any one that approaches that scorched land, but as we passed through the land and arrived at Carbina proper, there was life blossoming, as though it were an island in a sea of dead."

"Perhaps it was," she mutters, "The Beta that the Following faced that day was also like that. But this Mind-Field is new, it had something else, a path they couldn't pass through to get to it. I suppose this is an individual power of the Beta's."

An individual power?

"Individual? Then…"

She nods, "Yes, the Beta and perhaps even the Gamma Warriors aren't completely absorbed into the Cult, they have their own thoughts and wills."

Yes…that does make some sense. If the Cult were simply a hive mind then that would mean we would be fighting the puppets of a god, a fallen god but a god nonetheless.

That wouldn't be wise for anyone.

It makes more sense to think of them as interlinked allies serving Phien, they share the same bank of information but not always the same powers or even personalities. 

Nodding, I decide. "I should probably get going now, I've got some business to take care of."

"The Elven North?" she drones disapprovingly.

Letting on a sheepish smile I nod, "Yes, we just got introduced. I need to head back for a report." I get to my feet and look around, "Thank you for the tea and the information."

"I still think what you're doing is wrong. There are other ways to go about this."

"Perhaps, but this is the path I've chosen and I welcome you to join me. It'll be rough and tough but, the elves deserve more than another century as slaves." 

She nods, not saying a thing and sipping what's left of her tea.

"Don't hold Kaylin back."

At this she snorts, "A bit of time with you and she's become unruly. To think she'd enter a rebellious phase after meeting with you…I can't control her now, she will make all her choices on her own from now on, you can't control her either, Asher, so don't even try."

I offer her a smile and a curt nod as I leave, "I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Goodbye for now, Maylin."