Chapter 69: The Great Surprise

Elias knew that he should be panicking, but he was not. It seemed that his Will and his Sovereign Fate had changed a lot in him that he had not totally understood.

He had stayed in the Order long enough and observed basic human interactions to know that sometimes the worst thing for you to do was to remain silent and passive.

From the situation here, he was clearly at the center of it, and he suspected that if he kept quiet, this so-called Agent of the Crown might use it against the Order. He may not know much about Angels and their status, but if his ascension warranted so much attention, to Elias, it only meant one thing, and that was he was important.

On his Status Screen, he was not called an Angel, but an Ascendant Candidate, and those words were not a mistake. It meant Elias had the right to fight for the position of the highest level in all of Trion, and that had to mean something… it significance likely transcended borders and authority, and even though much of the truth has been hidden from him, the time he spent sturding his Status Screen had not been a mistake, and he could piece together many things from the small clues that he had been given.

He was playing it by the sleeves, but he had caught the subtle glance from Brother Valerius, and the man looked pleased by Elias daring words, and not knowing if he was pushing it too far, but erring on the side of recklessness, Elias decided to push it further, and smoothly turning away from the Commander, he focused on the Agent of the Crown and he smiled,

“You want to know what happened in there so you can judge me on your supposed standards?” he gestured to the spot where the portal had been.

Veyris’s hand rested lightly on his sword-hilt, a flash of irritation in his eyes that Elias noticed. He knew that his actions were not going according to the script. A new Ascendant Candidate, depending on their background, may be overwhelmed, and it is possible that they may not understand their authority or the method to exert it.

Ambushing him so early must be because they knew he was at his most ignorant and there was at his weakest, and Elias was not going to allow anyone control his fate. After what he had experienced in the Fragment of Divinity, death was not a scary thing for him any longer; he only feared not being in control of his life.

“I want to know what came back,” the Lord-Captain replied.

At this moment, he was unaware of the right answer to give, but he decided that if he was already going this deep, why not go all the way? The Commander had been quiet, and he knew she would not let him be taken down; her silence was a tacit permission for him to continue. Elias smiled again, wider this time.

“Something that doesn’t kneel,” he said.

The air in the chamber thickened, as if in sheer disbelief at his statement, and from the twitch he saw on the left eye of the Lord-Captain, it seemed that he had it a nerve, but he was unaware if he had just gone too deep or hit the right spot.

Elias’s heart skipped a beat as the weird figure in a hooded robe and a silver mask slightly tilted his head. For a moment, there, he felt the Pillar of Sorrow inside him resonate with this figure, but that resonance vanished.

At his final words, the Commander’s face broke into a smile, and Elias’s heart skipped in a different manner. It would seem that his ascension had not solved this problem, and it may have made it even worse.

Yseult spoke without looking away from Elias, her voice now holding the firm assurance that Elias knew.

“Lord-Captain,” she said, “you have seen what you came to see. The candidate lives. The process was pure. The Incursion, when it comes, would be appropriately handled, and it would not leave the walls of this Asylum. You may leave.”

Veyris studied Elias for a long moment, then he bowed, and it was a shallow bow, as he made no effort to hide his anger and irritation.

“The Crown will expect a full report,” he said. “And an audience. Soon.”

The Commander tilted her head. “Tell them,” she said, “that when I’m ready… I’ll come to them.”

Veyris held her gaze for one heartbeat longer before he turned to leave, but then he hesitated and looked back, “You know, I ought to congratulate you and your Ward, I can see that he opened at least sixty Lumina Pools. Please make sure that it is added to the report. The Storm Ascendant is always in need of powerful Acolytes to keep our borders safe and the people prosperous.”

With a smile that did not reach his eyes, he turned around and left, his boots clicking across the stone. The scribes and the Dreadmind waited a beat before they followed, and the heavy doors closed behind them.

Yseult exhaled slowly, and she whispered, “Fate give me strength, I was this close to killing him.” Elias did not know whether he was supposed to hear that whisper, and he coughed, and the Commander turned to Elias, her eyes widening a bit in surprise, and Elias knew

that this had been a test to know the depths of his perception.

Now she really looked at Elias, and he knew she must be noticing his physique, signifying that a lot of Attributes had been placed in his body, and yet his perception was high.

She stepped closer and observed him from head to toe, making Elias feel a bit awkward as he knew that under her silver eyes, he was basically naked.

“You brought something back,” she said, nodding toward the purple-gold rose.

“Yeah.”

“Poisonous?”

“Very.”

She smiled, “Good.” And Elias began to wonder if something was wrong with his mind when all it wanted to do was to stop everything he was doing and obsess over the lines of her face… that was not natural.

Valerius cleared his throat again. “Welcome home, Elias,” he said. His voice was thick. “You’re… taller.”

Elias looked down at himself, then at Commander Yseult.

“I grew up,” he said, a bit self-deprecatingly.

Commander Yseult finally reached across and made a small gesture, and all the dried blood on Elias’s body turned to ash, and even that ash disappeared. For a moment, he thought he saw tiny blades that resembled needles sweep across his entire body, and then it was gone, making him wonder if it was a hallucination.

What was not a hallucination was the fact that the Commander and Brother Valerius were frozen in place when they saw the nine purple marks on his chest. For a long time, there was silence, and Elias, not knowing what to say, kept quiet.

Before coming, he had wondered which of his secrets he would want to be exposed to hide the others that he would never want the world to know. He would never have chosen to allow the number of his Lumina Pools to be exposed, but he knew that he needed an explanation for why he was so powerful at such a lower Stage.

If opening a hundred Lumina Pools could hide his Elder Talent and the fact that he did not have Pools but Oceans, then it would buy him time to truly understand himself.

“Blood of the fucking gods!” It was the first time Elias heard Brother Valerius swear.

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