Chapter 74: Convergence

An enormous red sun hung low in the sky, shining over the multi-colored sands of the endless desert below, each grain of sand shining and twinkling like a precious gem. Within a tall spire of rock, within this desert, was a network of caves.

Within this spire lived a solitary creature, not a local of this plane, but nonetheless well adapted to the hot and dry climate.

The creature was clad in billowing tan robes, almost completely shrouded, only an orange scaled hand visible as it smoked a long ivory pipe, blowing out rings of green smoke into the warm air of the cavern.

The creature roused from its stupor as a high pitched ringing began to pulse out from one of the many alcoves that were carved out within the walls of the rock.

Immediately, the creature rushed over to the source of the noise, and picked up the oval shaped piece of obsidian there.

Upon it, a long string of numbers flashed, again and again. The creature blew out a final stream of emerald smoke before stowing its pipe and the oval deep within its robes.

The creature picked up a trident tipped with razor shaped tines of a blue metal and stepped into the void that had opened up in the center of the cave.

On various planes nearby to Eclat, this same scene was repeating itself, with similar oval devices ringing out in unison and flashing with the same set of numbers.

Not far from Eclat, on a plane that was largely empty of life, Krieg stood in a clearing within a forest of stone, holding a similar oval device in his palm. Where the others had been flashing with a string of numbers, Krieg's device only gently pulsed with an orange glow.

A number of aberrations opened up within the air, odd beings and creatures stepping out from the resulting black portals ringing the small clearing.

While all the visitors differed vastly in their stature and shape, there was one common factor.

All of them either carried with them some kind of weapon, or themselves were weapons.

Even within this crowd of dangerous beings, some were given a wide berth by the others. For example, the shrouded reptilian being had a circle of empty space about it, the nearby beings avoiding even the green smoke it exhaled.

Another creature looked like a praying mantis that was purely made up of blades, standing on four jointed limbs that ending in sharp points, with a pair of claws folded in front of itself, as it gently swayed back and forth, pivoting its pointed skull and surveying the gathered beings with its multifaceted eyes.

"Freemen!" Krieg called out, clutching the oval device as he yelled out, each individual device translating his words for the gathered Freemen.

"The mission is simple: find this man, eliminate him for me, and return the stolen artifact in his possession to me." Krieg had a milky white globe in his free hand, and it shone and projecting an uncannily accurate image of Kothar into the air above the gathering, and each of the Freeman stared carefully at the image.

Some quickly sketched a likeness of Kothar into journals they carried with them, while others had more technologically advanced solutions, capturing his likeness directly from the white orb.

"He cannot be more than ten Pebble-Jumps from this plane, he is likely dead, if you do find him further afield then the reward will be greater, so long as you bring me proof." Krieg spoke coolly, glowing with a deep purple glow.

The blade creature let out a series of screeches which sounded like plates of metal roughly scraped together, which were translated for everyone to their respective languages by the Pebbles they all had on somewhere on their persons.

"What might these rewards be, you must let us know, as is the custom." Krieg listened carefully to the distorted translated voice.

"Of course, you will have the chance to take your pick from my collection of spatial tools, some of which may even hold enough spatial energy to propel you to another cluster, if that is what you wish." Krieg projected a new image, of a series of devices now projected into the air, all of them with deep purple spatial mana crystals set inside them.

Various hisses and sighs of surprise filled the air, the bladed creature rubbed its forelimbs together, and let out a series of long screeches.

"A great prize indeed. Remove the cooperation stipulation, and you shall have your artifact and the man's head!" Krieg listened to the translation with his head tilted, giving the Blade Mantis a long stare.

"This mission is far too important for me, and the more searchers the better. You shall have to find him first if you want the reward." Krieg said simply. His only response was a loud screech that needed no translation, it was obviously a yell of frustration.

"I hear you have some good news for me?" Xurha reclined on his throne, a fresh scar carved deep into his brow.

"Yes, your Supremacy. And, may I add, congratulations on your most recent conquest. You are an excep-" Xerev as usual, was hunched at the foot of the throne, crooning praises to Xurha before he was interrupted.

"If I wanted my ego to be stroked, I'd go see my councilors! Tell me the news, Xerev!" Xurha yelled impatiently, slammed a blocky fist into the arm of the twisted throne.

"As you know, Sire, the tracker was destroyed soon after the target travelled to a new plane. But just this morning, a Freeman mission was issued in the area we had been closing in on. I've dispatched a man to carry out the mission and see if it has any links to our target. We should receive some news once the mission is over. You know how restrictive those Pebbles are." Xerev reported, his words cascading from his mouth uncontrollably as he shook with fear.

"Good. Let me know once you find this plane, we must have it. This most recent conquest barely allowed us to recharge our war machines, forget supplying the nation." Xurha let out a tired sigh, a rare glimpse to the more human side of the mighty ruler.