Chapter 113: Broderskap (2) (Patreon)

Very hesitatingly, I put one step in front of the other and entered the room. The Shashen Servant waved at me, and then the door slid back shut. The room was accommodating and luxurious—there was a crystalline chandelier, and many fine glasses in shelves.

I turned my head to and fro, admiring the things in the room and looking for the person that I was to be meeting with. There was a door on the other side of the room, so perhaps Duke Jewls was going to be coming from there. Near the exact second that I sat down, as though it was some sort of trigger, that door opened. 

Duke Jewls was quite tall. Not as tall as Kuregar or Giir, but he definitely dwarfed me by a large margin, so much so that he needed to tilt his head to walk into the door. He wore very elaborate black clothing with white designs all over it. It had a large overcoat left unbuttoned, white buttons depicting flowers in splendid detail. 

If the Shashen Servants had been undetailed in their form—black, void-like and vague, then Jewls could only be the finished product. He was the same form of inky darkness the Shashen Servant had been, void-like and deep, like denizens of the dark, but it had more structure; more form. The details on him were very clearly discernible.

He seemed a humorous man, a slight grin on his face, with happy black eyes. He walked into the room with a light bounce to his step, and grabbed the back of the chair. “Welcome, welcome, Mr. Zajac. Can I get you a drink?”

“If it’s free. And not alcoholic or otherwise detrimental.”

“So cautious. As you should be. There aren’t any warning signs, but I should think you won’t need them after that little greeting I gave you.” Jewls turned the chair aside and sat down, crossing his legs in a rather carefree manner. 

“So, what do I call you? Jewls 12? 17?”

“Oh, it’s not like I’m a clone of the original. We’re all separate, but controlled by one mind. It’s just, that mind is very big, and connected inextricably through the weave of Primordial Energy.” He rubbed his hands together. “I can sense the taint of the Shadowlands on you.”

I shook my head. “No, I just haven’t showered. I’m on a mission, you see.”

“Ah, but this is a different sort of taint—one in your aura.” He leaned forward and pointed at me. “You know, your aura is rather fascinating. I could tell you about it, for a price.”

I blinked for a moment, considering my words. “I’ve heard worse pick-up lines, but no thanks. At least it wasn’t astrology.”

“So stingy.” He adjusted his legs, and rested his void-like hands atop them.  “What’s the point in hoarding something if you never use it? Money is meant to be spent, after all.”

“I’d prefer it if we kept to the matter at hand, no?”

Duke Jewls nodded his head slowly. “Alright then, Mr. Zajac. Is the ‘matter at hand’ your hands? Would you like them back? Perhaps you want revenge on those that wronged you? Well, it took you quite a while that came to this point, but that can be arranged.”

“I’m glad you aren’t omniscient, otherwise this meeting would be going very different.” I leaned in on the table and laid my hand out. “I’m told that you deal in bets and gambles.”

Jewls shook his head. “We stopped doing card games a long time ago. It’s very difficult to stop people using their superhuman abilities to win. Ruins blackjack.”

“I wouldn’t do blackjack even if you did offer it. The house always wins. Tell me this; how do you feel about treason?”

“I love treason. It gets me a lot of information, and when it’s in the Archduchy, I get a new member for my division.” He said the last words pointedly.

“Well, I recently became a traitor. And I’m hoping that you and I can work very closely.”

Duke Jewls laughed a long, drawn-out laugh that boomed across the room. “So, what, you felt guilty and came to offer yourself up to the spying division? I’ll gladly welcome you if that’s the case.”

“No, not at all. I know that the Archduchy is working very hard to start a rebellion in the Richt Empire, and I don’t intend to obstruct that hard work. Rather, I think I’m going to become one of its main proponents. I think that it’s past time for this rebellion to get started. I think that I can easily do it… with your help, of course. That’s the bet.”

Duke Jewls’ smile faded, and he put both hands on the table. “How ridiculously naïve. You know what you’re doing, right? This is as though a small child is coming up to you and telling you that he can change the balance of the galaxy. You’ve been alive a what, mere 20ish years, and you expect that you can come here in meddle with the politics of the entire empire?

“You’re Grade G—a tiny ant in the vast cosmos, infinitesimally small and pointless. I could kill you with a thought. My servant out front could dismantle you in seconds. You’re nothing. You think that using the Shadowlands makes you important, makes you noticeable? Wrong. The world isn’t so easy to meld, even for me. To you, I might seem potent, but in the grand scheme of things, I am but another piece of a much larger whole.”

I laughed at his criticism. “Any dumb fucker can powerlift with Primordial Energy for a few hundred years. Doesn’t make you special. Stop acting dumb, Duke Jewls. You know my last name; you must’ve seen my Citizenship Chip. You must’ve seen that personality value. I’m the most charming guy you’ve ever met, and you can’t deny that.”

Jewls paused. “So rude. Not many people are brave enough to bully me like that. Perhaps rash would be the better term. It would certainly explain why you’re here.” He took his hands off the table and sat back in the chair. 

“Your servant said some nonsense about you always being free, but I find that very difficult to believe. You don’t seem like a person who wastes time for fruitless deals. You know just as well as I do that this is something that could work.

“I’ve been looking into you as much as I can at the Archduchy. This can’t have escaped your notice, but you said nothing about it once I arrived here. I’m not blind to the state of the Richt Empire. Few people are. No one is pleased with the present circumstances—the top of the society has grown decadent, while the vast majority wallows in filth and grime.

“It sounds like an empire before collapse. It sounds like all that’s needed is a spark for this keg of powder to blow. You called me an ant—that’s true. I don’t know the half of how strong people are. But I know a rebellion is coming, and the Archduke seemed confident in winning it. The Richt Empire knows this, too—that’s why the Daggers were so hasty to give me this communication device.”

I put the square thing on the table and leaned back in the chair. 

Jewls did not even acknowledge I’d placed it there. “I don’t know who’s been putting these thoughts in your head. Why do you think this is something worth my time?”