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84. Alternative Routes
🕑 Added 2020-09-08 15:30:01 +0000 UTCIan and Iucorsu both touched down on the untainted ground on Ian’s side of the stadium. Ian beckoned the expended Death energy to himself, condensing it down into a soul gem on the spot while deconstructing the bone wyrm and sending its components back into his void storage.
Iucorsu walked over to Ian and thrust their hands aloft in a victorious fist-pump, sleek white chassis grasping pink-tinged bone.
“It’ll be good for the pictures,” Iucorsu murmured, his lips barely moving. “People won’t like that I lost to you; the least I can do is fully acknowledge your victory. I don’t often lose, but when I do it’s for good reason.”
They walked around the stadium in a show of camaraderie before reporters separated and dragged them to two platforms hovering over the stadium. Several minutes passed before everything was in order and the reporters could start to field questions. In that intervening time, Euryphel boarded the platform and grabbed Ian’s attention from the back of the crowd. Lanhui stood at his side, the man’s imperious expression maintaining a reporter-free zone around them.
Euryphel spoke, his voice carried to Ian’s ear over the wind. “I need to collect the spoils of our delegation’s victory. As soon as you can get free, find us on the rooftop. We’ll head out from there.”
Ian blinked once at the prince to acknowledge his receipt and understanding. When he turned back, a recording wand nearly smashed into his teeth.
“...friendship between yourself and the Breaker?”
Ian recoiled and coughed, having missed the first half of the question. Looks like the Q&A has begun. “Excuse me?”
“Do you anticipate this being the start of a long friendship–”
The question was cut off by another voice: “We hadn’t seen a bone wyrm for the entire tournament until today. Would you say you held back on the other competitors?”
Ian almost burst into laughter. “The duelists at the Fassari Summit are among the best in the entire world. I wouldn’t be so arrogant as to hold back against any of them.”
Ian recognized that the Q&A with the champion was an excellent opportunity to humanize himself. While he would have preferred to simply return to the SPU delegation, he was willing to entertain harmless questions. The reporters touched upon some inane things like his favorite food and hometown, but most of the questions were probing...and potentially dangerous.
“Is it true you’re not bound by any oaths?”
Ian turned his head to see who asked the question, a middle aged woman holding out a white recording wand. He waited for another reporter to talk over her, but none did; people apparently wanted to hear the answer to this one.
“No comment,” Ian said. That he wasn’t bound by oaths might come back to bite him or Euryphel. Ian figured that the Eldemari already knew, as she’d been tracking the situation in the SPU since his escape, but most people should be unaware of his unconventional bond to the prince: one based on friendship and shared cause rather than a binding oath.
“Our sources claim that you used to attend a university undercover as a regular. Where did you attend?”
Ian figured the information wasn’t exactly a secret, though it could be misinterpreted as him spending time in Selejo as an undercover spy.
“I attended Academia Hector in Magnestria.”
“And what did you study?” a different reporter asked, throwing a glowing blue wand near his mouth. Ian gave the man his most charming smile. If not for Mother’s influence, I don’t think I’d get out of this Q&A without offending someone.
“Glossy programmatics.”
“Why did you decide to enroll in the university as a regular?”
Because I was a regular, Ian thought somberly. What kind of explanation am I supposed to give people? He could always tell the truth, but that would open a massive can of worms.
"Because I wanted to learn...glossy programmatics?" Ian felt his assured persona start to slip.
Everywhere he looked reporters surrounded him, wands waving madly in the air.
“Do you plan to pursue international dueling further?”
“What has been your most memorable moment from the summit?”
“What led to your decision to represent the SPU in the-?”
“Who were your mentors in the study of-?”
“How do you plan to spend the coming-?”
Ian tried his best to answer, but it didn’t help that he was second-guessing everything he said. He stared blankly at the reporters, struggling to parse the jumble of voices.
Sensing his fraying patience, one of the Fassari Summit organizers intervened.
“Thank you all for coming to the post-duel Q&A with our champion! The Q&A is now over, so please return to the press area outside the stadium.”
Ian breathed a sigh of relief and gave the organizer a nod of approval, to which she returned a grin. “Can I get a picture?” she asked.
“For helping me escape their questions? Sure.”
A few minutes later, Ian made his way to the top of the SPU delegation’s building. Everyone in the delegation was present except Euryphel and Diana.
“The champion returns,” Shivin’i said, giving Ian a smile.
“Congratulations,” exclaimed one of the congressmen, a man named Nemir Kur’sha, kicking off a wave of congratulatory remarks.
Ian accepted their words, blushing slightly. “Where is the first prince?” he asked, addressing Shivin’i.
Shivin’i’s expression darkened. “He and the fourth prince went with most of the other delegations to investigate a rather...dire problem. We’re still waiting to hear back, and I hope it’s not as bad as it sounds.”
“What problem?” He’d just won the tournament; there wasn’t anything else to do other than return back to the SPU. “Was there a disagreement over final state rankings?”
“Fassar International Array Station is completely out of service.”
Ian almost wondered if he’d heard incorrectly. “It’s not working? The arrays aren’t operating?”
“That’s correct. And it’s affecting not just us, but every array at the station. Euryphel and Diana went to get answers and advocate for prioritizing bringing our array back online as soon as possible.”
“How’s that possible?” Ian had never heard of an entire array station being brought down.
“Fassar’s station is one of the most complex in the world. Though the station is well-defended, a strong Dark disturbance could cause a cascade of problems.”
“What should we do in the meantime?”
“Wait, and stay vigilant. The entire array station going down right as the tournament ends is too much of a coincidence to ignore.”
Lanhui spoke up. “We’ve all been discussing it in your absence, and we’re fairly confident the Eldemari and her agents wouldn’t dare to disrupt the entire array station. Whatever plot is brewing shouldn’t involve us...at the same time, that doesn’t mean Selejo won’t take advantage of the chaos.”
“What do you think she might try to do?” Ian asked, frowning. “Her powers are limited while we’re in Fassar.”
“That depends on what we learn when the first and fourth princes return. And so, until then, we wait.”
—
Euryphel was at his wit’s end. He already knew how this sequence would end, but he decided to live it out anyway. “I demand to speak to your manager.”
The clerk at the front of the shuttered array station shook his head frantically. “Everyone has been asking to speak to her! She’s not available. I assure you, she and our entire team are working to return functionality to the array station. Now, if I can–”
“Do you know who this is?” Diana spoke up, her voice soft. She was dressed to impress, her makeup artfully accentuating her eyes and matching the coloration of her SPU uniform, a flowing tunic white over a sky-blue skort that stopped mid-knee. “This is the Crowned Prime of the SPU, the state whose champion just won the Grand Tournée.”
The clerk’s eyes widened, but he continued to shake his head. “I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do. I assure you that everyone wants the same thing: a solution.”
Euryphel motioned for Diana to follow his lead. They walked around the corner and stood by the side of the array station.
“Nothing worked?”
Euryphel sighed. “No. I think there really might not be anything we can do. The five people we talked to had no idea why the station went down, and it doesn’t seem like a fix will be coming anytime today.” He drew Diana in close and used the wind to transmit the rest of his thoughts; the precaution should be sufficient to prevent him from being overheard.
“The summit has concluded; after today, Shattradan will no longer have the personnel set aside to guarantee our protection. If we linger while waiting for the arrays to come back online, the Eldemari may find a way to ensnare one of us with her practice. If she does so...we won’t have anyone powerful enough to break them free.”
Euryphel’s eyes gazed intently into Diana’s. “We need to leave, today. I need you to return and inform everyone of this sensitive situation. In the meantime I’ll investigate a solution to get us out safely.”
The young woman swallowed and inclined her head. “I thought this was a peace summit.”
“You should know by now that things are rarely as they seem.”
Diana snorted. “Will you be alright by yourself?”
The first prince nodded and spoke out loud. “We’re still under Fassar’s full protection for today. I’ll be in touch over glossY. I’m relying on you, Diana.”
The Sun practitioner laughed and gave him a smug grin. “I didn’t think I’d ever hear you say those words.”
Euryphel’s eyes rose skyward in exasperation. If I don’t get this off my chest, I don’t think I’ll be able to spend another minute dealing with her. “I rely on you every day to provide me counsel with the other princes, to represent the SPU and watch over your people in Il’ix. Now I’m choosing to rely on you to inform the others of our situation. What do I receive in return? Attitude. And generally, animosity and distrust.”
Diana opened her mouth to respond, but closed it and fixed her eyes on the ground.
Euryphel wasn’t finished. “Throughout the entire summit you’ve been tired and lazy; you never offered any constructive comments, never made an effort to socialize at Tai’s gala, and were first to drop out of the tournament bracket.
“I brought you here because you asked to participate, but also because you’re young and ambitious. The summit was an opportunity, and while I could’ve given it to someone else, I chose to give one of our nation’s four slots to you. You haven’t been acting like a prime, or even a prince: You’ve been acting like a spoiled child, as though your actions reflect poorly on me rather than yourself.”
Diana grit her teeth, her brows furrowing in anger. “Euryphel–”
Ever indignant. “Get out of my sight.”
“Fine!”
Diana stormed off. Euryphel pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled, somewhat relieved that he could finally vent to Diana where she’d remember it.
He’d meant what he said earlier: Diana was generally competent. He trusted that she’d do what he asked of her without letting her emotions get in the way. That aside, he hoped she’d take something away from his outburst.
Euryphel walked back around the corner to observe the fiasco in front of the array station, numerous powerful states refusing to leave without speaking to the “people in charge.”
What are we going to do?
There wasn’t much time to strategize. Strength was certainly better in numbers: Other states would be banding together into blocs to plan strategies while readying their own defenses. Not that we have any strong allies to call on. After Shivin’i had warned him about the possibility that Selejo had renewed their loop experiments, Euryphel feared the worst. What if the Eldemari knows more than we thought, and by bringing Ian, we played right into her hands?
Euryphel figured that there were a few options they could take. The first option would be to stay in Fassar City until its array terminal was operational. This would be the option that the states furthest away would choose, as other array stations might not have the means to provide a direct route back. The long-range arrays in Fassar International Array Station are the entire reason why the Fassari Summit is held here.
The next option was to take some other form of ground transportation to the nearest array station with a direct route back. It was the strategy Euryphel expected states in Kester, Corneria, and Selejo to take.
Then there was a third option, one that he thought very few states were in a position to consider; perhaps only the SPU alone.
Going by sea.
The SPU was the only nation that had a clear shot via the channel where the Bay of Ramsay fed into the Illyrian Ocean. A sea route to Selejo and northern Kester required either taking ground transportation to neighboring provinces or traveling at least twice as far as the SPU delegation to make landfall.
Euryphel figured that the chance of them being attacked on the Ramsay Channel was less than if they traveled by private hovergloss to the array station in Pruscha, the capital of the neighboring Zentka province. Since most other states would be headed to Pruscha, the SPU might become embroiled in whatever conspiracy was afoot. Moreover, Selejo was probably headed to Pruscha as well. Contact wasn’t unavoidable, but it was likely, and Euryphel intended to stay as far from the Eldemari as possible.
What a disaster, the prince thought to himself. Perhaps the real target of this attack isn’t any one delegation, but the peace summit itself.
The idea was unsettling, but Euryphel knew he was only speculating. The truth would come out eventually; until then, he had his delegation’s safety to worry about.
