Chapter 339. Achemiss’s Intentions (Patreon)

After the interrogation, Ian, Maria, and Euryphel convened in a separate chamber secured by layers of arrays. They had to decide a path forward based on what they had learned–and what they suspected.

“Our first goal is still to find Achemiss,” Ian said, expression contemplative, his eyes dark pools limned by iridescence. “A task we’re no closer to accomplishing days after his descent.”

Both Euryphel and Maria were peak End practitioners, but only Maria knew what Achemiss’s End arrow looked like. Maria hadn’t been able to tell where his arrow was back in the east, but Ian had hoped that going to the other side of the world would rectify that problem, bringing them closer to the revived necromancer.

That wasn’t the case. Maria still couldn’t see his End arrow.

Euryphel and Maria shared a knowing look. “There’s only one place he can seek shelter where End cannot find him,” the former prince stated.

“A rift,” Maria finished.

Achemiss couldn’t have immediately entered a rift after Ian savaged him, body and soul. At least Ian didn’t think that was possible. Rifts were unstable and impermanent. Even the most stable rifts weren’t guaranteed to last decades, let alone a thousand years. Wherever Achemiss revived would have been either a pre-set point, determined when he was last on the world–the trio deemed this most likely–or a random planetary location. Even if he had set his revival point in a rift a thousand years ago, it probably wouldn’t exist today, and he would have been transported somewhere else, which led to the random location possibility.

Ian thought it most likely that Achemiss revived in a secure, isolated location devoid of dangerous beings like the riftbeasts–and only found a rift after reviving.

Rifts weren’t trivial to locate, and while there were publicly known rift locations, most were private and could only be detected by large facilities dedicated to the purpose. There was a reason why rift locations were a prize of the Fassari Summit.

However, rifts did exist in Eternity–and artifacts existed that could find them. Though Achemiss’s items and storage artifacts were left on his corpse, nobody was naïve enough to believe he didn’t have special reserves. After all, if Achemiss prepared a last resort resurrection method for himself, he’d be remiss not to include emergency provisions.

Ian, Maria, and Euryphel planned to be as conservative and cautious as possible when considering the ascendant’s means. If Achemiss resurrected powerless and without any items, great–but they wouldn’t count on it.

The real question was whether they should try to locate the rift in which Achemiss was sheltering.

“It’s a hopeless endeavor,” Maria argued, tapping on her lip with a finger. “Especially if Achemiss has special means to locate rifts. He might have entered one that is undiscovered.”

Euryphel frowned. “Is it possible you’re overestimating him?”

“Having seen Achemiss’s workshop first-hand… I’m not sure. But I agree with Maria, searching rifts one by one isn’t ideal. Instead of trying to find him, I think a better method will be waiting for him to find us.”

Euryphel raised an eyebrow. “Please explain what you’re thinking.”

Ian nodded. “Achemiss has one primary goal–returning to Eternity. He cannot do that without a return beacon, which is in our possession. That, or waiting for another descent–in which case he could murder the descendant and steal their return beacon.”

“And we know he’ll choose the first option,” Maria interjected.

“Why?” Euryphel asked.

“First,” Maria began, “he wants to leave this world as soon as possible. While he’s here, he’s vulnerable. We don’t know if he has the means to resurrect multiple times, but we must assume that while he’s here, he no longer has the perfect immortality bestowed by Eternity. That would be the main driving reason.”

Ian continued, saying, “Secondarily, Achemiss knows who I am–at least he must have guessed it. He’d have to be an idiot not to connect Ancient Black with Ian Dunai. That will give him an edge on finding me and conducting an assassination attempt and stealing back his artifacts and the return beacon. While Achemiss values his life above everything else, if he has a chance to get his artifacts back, he’ll take it.”

Euryphel’s eyes narrowed. “Will he work alone?”

Ian and Maria considered the question. “Only if that’s the best way to succeed. I already saw in Eternity that Achemiss has a method to create necromantic facsimiles of himself, controlling them like his own body. He could use a similar technique here, exposing a false body to negotiate and interact with powerful people on the surface. They wouldn’t even know that he isn’t using his own body.”

Maria froze. “That’s true… and if he made himself a necromantic avatar while keeping his true body in a rift, he could be walking amongst us, effectively invisible to End affinity.” She rubbed at the bridge of her nose. “Y’jeni, that’s almost certainly what he’s been doing. We’ve been too passive.”

Ian smiled coldly. “If he has been waltzing around on the surface, invisible to End affinity, what do you think he’d be doing?”

Ian could never forget his startling first memory of Achemiss, when the enigmatic ascendant had appeared to him in a dream. His Beginning affinity sharpened the memories, allowing Ian to remember exactly what the ascendant had disclosed.

In that fateful dream, Achemiss had revealed some of his knowledge. Ian knew now that Achemiss had been deliberately trying to impress and intimidate him. Ian could only smile grimly knowing that Achemiss’s words then might spell his undoing now.

In the dream, Achemiss had revealed that he knew about the Infinity Loop. He’d said that he could see the corrupted souls, something Ian hadn’t even known to look for earlier when he’d first escaped the loop. He’d simply run away from the city and hadn’t looked back.

Since Ian hadn’t seen the corrupted soul clouds before Achemiss contacted him in a dream, Achemiss must have had his own way of seeing them. This suggested that Achemiss roughly knew where at least one Infinity Loop was located.

In the dream encounter, Achemiss had used his knowledge of the Infinity Loop to shock Ian–to horrify him. He’d cackled maniacally while sharing with Ian the details of how Ari would come and destroy his world because of the Infinity Loop’s corruption.

Achemiss knew that Ian didn’t want his world to be destroyed.

Achemiss needed a return beacon and his recovered void storages–all items in Ian and Maria’s possession. And unless Ian was grossly mistaken in his logic, Achemiss knew what he needed to do to provoke Ian and knew who he could count on as allies.

The proponents of the Infinity Loop–and Ian’s enemies. Most obviously, the Sere Consortium…

Whom Ian suspected was actively looking for a necromancer to solve the Infinity Loop problem.

Ian had a headache just thinking of the potential mess of Achemiss approaching Sere and telling them everything they wanted to hear, promising that he could stop the soul corruption problem.

The only price for his “assistance”?

Ian’s demise.

Ian was just speculating here, but he had a strong hunch that his intuition was on the right track. He hoped he was wrong, of course, because Sere allied with Achemiss sounded like a nightmare to deal with.

Ian shared his conclusions with his companions.

When Ian finished talking, Euryphel just sighed and shook his head.

Maria groaned. “Don’t forget one more thing,” she added, “if Achemiss really has made the connection that you’re Ian Dunai, then we can’t expect your return to remain a secret.”

Euryphel buried his face in both hands, letting out a suppressed growl of annoyance. “Of course nothing is easy when it comes to you, Ian.”

Ian shrugged helplessly. “Based on what we’ve discussed, what’s the plan?”

Euryphel removed his hands, a few strands of hair falling into his eyes. His eyes were sharp. “Much is uncertain, so I’ll be sending agents of my own to confirm our suspicions. I think for now, it’s safest to assume that Achemiss will follow an aggressive strategy. He’ll be going to Sere if he hasn’t done so already.”

“There’s one thing I’m still unsure about,” Maria said. “If we find Achemiss’s fake in Sere, what good will that do? We’ll need to find his true body to kill him.”

Ian didn’t know how to answer her.

“We’ll cross that road when we get there,” Euryphel said. “After all, what problem can’t Ancient Black solve?”

Ian chuckled and quashed the nervousness in his chest. The Darkseers seemed to be on a collision course with Achemiss. Everything was coming to a head, and he wasn’t confident he could force a good outcome.

“You just need to do your best,” Maria said. “You’re not alone.”

“I know. But if things proceed as we fear, Achemiss will have allies of his own.”

“Allies of convenience, built through deceit,” she stated. “Motivations matter. He won’t trust them and they won’t trust him. We’ll use that against them. That’s how we win.”

Ian hoped she was right.

—

Euryphel’s mind was scattered as he led Ian and Maria into Ichormai, the Palace of Fortitude. They entered through one of the secret entrances in a narrow alleyway, a seemingly innocuous door opening into a service hallway in the palace.

Euryphel took a breath in relief, then led them through another door, this one opening up into to the labyrinthine space beneath the palace, the former dungeons.

He walked to a door near the end of the hall, his heart unsteady. He wasn’t sure if he was making the right call, but unfortunately, this kind of decision wasn’t one that Regret scenarios could help with. It would mark a departure from his long-term strategy.

He’d originally planned to keep Ian hidden from everyone, at least to the furthest extent possible. But that strategy seemed to conservative to him now. He couldn’t keep Ian safely tucked away in the palace forever.

No, he couldn’t keep Ian hidden–giving him a new name wouldn’t hide the truth from anyone. A powerful necromancer suddenly working for the Crowned Executor was too suspect, especially if Achemiss spread news that Ian Dunai had returned from the ascendant world.

Euryphel opened the door. Inside sat a collective of his closest allies, all of them both his subordinates in the Federation and his partners in the Darkseers.

Maria had been speaking to Ian when she made her statements about trust, but they’d resonated with Euryphel. He needed to trust his allies if he wanted to win. That would be his strength.

And if his trust in them was misplaced?

At the end of the day, Euryphel had his scenarios to fall back on, along with the scenarios of the Federation’s on-duty Regret practitioners. With a minute’s notice–or even just a few seconds’ notice–he felt confident that he could prevent Ian’s demise, which was the only outcome he really cared about. Maria was a lich, so she was all but indestructible, and as for himself…

Well. If Euryphel couldn’t save himself, at least he wouldn’t live to suffer through the aftermath. He knew such macabre thoughts weren’t productive, but that’s how he truly felt.

Diana was first to react, her eyes growing wide and her finger coming up to point at Ian, whose figure was only half visible in the doorway.

There was one additional person who Euryphel had decided to rope in, much to Maria’s chagrin. He reacted almost as fast as Diana.

“…Mom?”