Chapter 50: The Ruin of Vixia

The Historian had somehow managed to eat between moments of speech and reminiscence, and Scarlet was entranced by way the mana now moved around him. No doubt a result of the Fox-Fry’s special effects.

The heavy, surreal air around them rippled, History colliding with the present, bridged together through words and illusion.

“We call her the Matriarch now. Her true name is lost to time. Any who might know of it know better than to speak it aloud. Names, like titles, carry power. At least to those who know how to wield them. Scarlet.”

Her name on his tongue sent a shiver down her spine that had less to do with feeling than pure animal instinct.

Scarlet thought back to the first time she’d met the Historian, used Inspect on him, and found his name redacted. She was glad now that all personal details, including names and forms of address, had been completely covered by the confidentiality clause in the contract they’d signed.

‘Sometimes paranoia pays off,’ she sent to Maus.

“So, the Matriarch entered a Portal World. It was a hidden world, one that had been kept secret by a faction of Esoteric scholars who had the misfortune of being discovered by the Matriarch. The Portal World’s Administrator was subjugated instead of killed. What appeared to be mercy on the surface was also insurance that kept a target off her back.

She had seen what was coming, searched for an adequate solution, gathered a few loyal followers, and recognised that it was too late to address what was happening in the time they had left. So, if time was what was needed, she’d make her own. She left the world in the sixth year of the System Integration and did not return for another Vixian century. For her, it was much longer.

“Many who left with her were those who might have helped stabilize the situation, though none could have corrected the course the world was headed on.

“So Vixia began its inevitable descent.”

The Historian smiled self-deprecatingly before continuing.

“Though I had yet to be born, I truly can’t say I would have done any better than those left behind. Not with so little knowledge of the tricks and traps the Factions lay for the worlds they conquer.

“I wish I could say we lost our world in war. That we fought, and bled and died in righteous battle, over resources, land, passion, and people. But those kinds of battles only happen when both sides know they’re fighting. This was a quiet, much more insidious, much more effective form of defeat. One where the opponents never even know there’s a battle being waged. Though ‘opponents’ is a generous word.

“Truly, the people of Vixia believed their world was on the rise. That with the backing of the System, they were advancing to heights unknown.

“It began while the world was still in it’s Assimilation period. There’s a sort of understanding among the Factions, a due process, if you will, for when a new world appears.”

He gestured to the room around them, to the illusory mountains and valleys, and the much more concrete bookshelves and walls.

“First contact is always made through the Portal Worlds. They are the only places where the Factions and the newly Integrated can connect.”

He looked at Scarlet.

“If I’m not mistaken, it takes a while for your System Guides to provide you with information that is, well, common knowledge to the Factions.”

He waited a beat for Scarlet to respond, and when she didn’t, he continued.

” The pattern tends to stay the same. Before the assimilation period is over, the Factions cannot plant their people on the planet, so instead they work by proxy.

“Those proxies are particularly useful, and often well rewarded. Most often, those whose talents shine brightly enough to enter a Portal World and survive long enough to meet the Factions are simply absorbed. They step through and never return.

It’s those who are those deemed useful, but whose talents, ambitions, or personalities are otherwise deficient in areas that would see them Integrated, are sent back to their world to act as the hands and feet of the Faction. Often without their knowledge. Why reject a benevolent benefactor.

“To those on their homeworld they simply appear to be supremely talented, lucky even. The strong getting stronger in sudden spikes that would otherwise appear abnormal to any who had an idea what ‘normal’ truly was.

“The strong will always have influence, whether through strength of arms, economy, or tradition. The Factions used that influence for their own ends.”

Scarlet gave him a pointed look. She had no interest in being a lackey to a Faction, let alone one whose representative had already tried to betray her. Was this whole thing a trap she was walking into with eyes wide open?

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The Historian continued, unaware, or more likely unconcerned with her thinking.

“The pattern was slow to reveal itself. While the Empire of Flame had fragmented, those with the fire affinity were still prone to simmering grudges and sudden flares of temper. The scattered Water Clans still trended to negotiation, soft power, and economics over blade and magic.