"Nexis still wanted the Gwynnleaf to appease Mideia, didn't he? That's why the attack happened in the first place," Leona realized, visibly distraught by memories of her citizens being slaughtered. "Unfortunately, yes," Ardrin began, knowing he would be the only one whose explanation she would accept.
"We knew Mideia had been keeping an eye on Nexis for a while using the Realmwalker Blade, which he'd corrupted beneath the barrier of Vareluth to avoid detection, but ended up disabling it as my brother realized when he retrieved it at Erumon's command," he continued, getting surprised looks from both me, Bernar, and my mother.
But why did he even need to corrupt the Realmwalker Blade? Was there anyone powerful enough at the time who could have used it? I asked Kalia, knowing she was there when Taegin was, but the response I got wasn't one I was expecting.
It must have been because of the Wraithborn. He must have feared them to the point where he had no choice but to stop them. It's the only thing that makes sense to me, Kalia acknowledged to those of us who shared a connection to her, as if a piece of the puzzle had just fallen into place for her. "What?" I asked breathlessly, but she shook her head, letting me know she would discuss that later.
"Granted, my brother had no idea I was involved in this plan, since we had to make the assault seem legitimate enough to lull Nexis and Mideia into a false sense of security. Erumon enlisted me to be a spy for him, and I was to act as though I was the only one behind the attacks, using only Vexing mana from Vareluth to make it more believable," Ardrin continued, getting a look of surprise from both Siraye and Bernar as a result.
"While the horde was the only thing I was truly in control of, the followers of the Church of Mideia acted of their own accord, regardless of my orders. Father Mourtis, the one you saw leading the attack, was also under Mideia's influence," he said with a finality that added real weight to his words.
Leona's expression was difficult to read, but there was a sense of both loss and understanding in the horrible situation she had gone through. "By the Graces, I never would have thought there was so much behind the lives we lost," she closed her eyes and shook her head. We allowed for a moment of silence to honor the fallen, both for the citizens of Coltend and Synners of Codrean alike.
She allowed herself a deep breath and let it out deliberately before she spoke. "I take it their sacrifices weren't entirely in vain, then?" she asked with only a hint of her remaining anger. "They weren't on a few accounts, but for now, I will only state the two that matter," Ardrin replied, holding up a pair of fingers.
"The first is that while we did manage to take a large portion of the Gwynnleaf, none of it went toward anything Nexis was after. I used it to augment several hegraphenes so that they could withstand his attacks in an eventual revolt. Kalia's daughter, Devyr, is one of those. However, she's still recovering from being forced to use too much of her kataki to create the portal he aimed to use to leave Vareluth," he began to explain as Leona nodded along with his explanation.
"The second was Thoma," he said bluntly, casting more than a few eyes in my direction. "Before the events that led to the attack, Erumon notified me that there was a possibility of a seal being put on a member of my family, and I knew instinctively it couldn't have been Taegin, nor Siraye. Still, after hearing Bernar had reached the fifth stage, I knew it had to be you," he said gravely, causing a handful of others who didn't know about it to widen their eyes in surprise.
Just how long has he been keeping an eye on us? Siraye sent me, but I could only shake my head in response. Long enough for him to know Bernar had reached the fifth stage, I returned with a shrug.
"I needed a spy of my own to determine whether my brother was going to make a move to save Coltend. That's when I discovered Irun and used his jealousy of Thoma to my advantage," he began to explain, as Bernar's eyes widened in surprise.
"Knowing Irun was close enough to Thoma, and yet not a direct member of Taegin's inner circle, allowed me to gain a lot of information regarding what moves they were going to make, but there was something I had yet to account for," continued, shifting his gaze toward me.
"You confirmed the seal on my core," I answered for the group, getting a shocked look from anyone who didn't yet know about it. "Precisely. I knew it had to have been placed there by someone powerful, but who exactly, I still didn't know at the time. That was until I told Erumon what I'd found, but he found it difficult to believe that someone could have done such a thing without the Realmwalkers noticing," he said gravely.
His last sentence struck me as strange. In my head, if the Realmwalkers and Wardens were able to see just about everything going on in a realm without a barrier, it made no sense that they didn't see what happened to me.
Or, someone turned a blind eye to it, I heard Erumon's voice in my head, shocking me that he didn't want to voice that aloud, even with a barrier around the room. Are you saying there's a potential for there to be someone higher up who's been corrupted as well? I asked, but the subtle shift of his features told me that he didn't know either.
"In any case, I sent a creature here to serve as my eyes and ears in Caegwen, and that was when I discovered that Queen Aurae and Siraye were able to undo the seal. It struck me as odd, but knowing about Her Majesty's ambivalence, I figured her Wraithborn abilities must have had something to do with it," Ardrin continued, getting a nod of agreement from Aurae.
"The moment the seal was released on his core, Erumon detected the presence of what is known as the Autarchica Primaria," he said, gesturing to Erumon to continue that side of the explanation, but as he did so, I felt a sinking feeling in my gut that I couldn't ignore entirely.
"The Autarchica Primaria, or as translated simply the Authority, isn't necessarily absolute control over mana, but rather the innate understanding of its primary functions," Erumon began to explain, prompting the others, including Ysevel, to regard me curiously. "How deep of an understanding are you talking about, Lord Erumon?" Thorsen asked in the others' stead, who were still too scared of him to ask.
"I believe Anwill would have a better way of explaining it in a way that you would understand," Erumon nodded toward Anwill as he stepped forward. "Thank you, Lord Erumon. Allow me to make a brief comparison here between our two newcomers and Taegin," he gestured toward Neko and Marte, who flushed the moment he gestured toward them.
"The two of them are still in the first stage of mana manipulation, while Taegin is in the fifth. The difference in their abilities isn't just how much mana they can output, but rather, their control and understanding of the mana," he began to explain, leveraging his hands in such a way to make it look like he was imitating a scale.
"Now, let's suppose that Neko was the one with the Authority for a moment. In theory, he would be able to reach Taegin's level of understanding within a few years as opposed to decades' worth of training," he said, evening out the scale he made with his hands.
"However, even if the two of them were in the same stages of mana manipulation, Neko's understanding of mana would be much deeper than Taegin's, even though he's had decades more experience with it," Anwill said, having inverted the scale entirely as he continued his explanation. "In essence, Neko's understanding of mana and rate of growth would be exponentially greater than Taegin's," he said. However, before any other questions could be asked, Erumon took over the conversation once more.
"Anwill is correct, though there is something else that having innate Authority allows, though what I'm about to tell you absolutely cannot leave this room," he said gravely, glancing around to make sure everyone understood the severity of what he was about to say.
"Having this trait naturally allows whoever has it to commune with the realm's ruling powers. To our knowledge, the only ones who naturally have this ability are Realmwalkers and dragons, though there were cases of Wraithborn who were able to commune with the Wraith realm even without it," he let his words hang for a moment.
Is that what I was hearing when I fought Nexis? I thought momentarily, recalling the voices I'd heard during the battle. You must have been able to commune with it out of necessity. I've also heard the realm speak to me, but I wasn't sure whether that was because I was around you and Kalia, or something else, Ysevel sent me, catching me by surprise.
You've heard it? But how? Do you have Autarchica Primaria, too? I asked, but she shook her head subtly as if she didn't know either. Well, I think we should ask Erumon sometime. Maybe he has an answer, I said, putting a hand on hers gently and giving her a warm smile.
"I knew it! Dragons are real," I heard Marte whisper to Neko, who had a similar look of excitement in his eyes. "They are, indeed, Marte," Erumon began, fiddling with the bracelet on his wrist. "However, with what I've just told you about the Authority, you all need to know that the enemies we will likely be facing now that Nexis is dead have developed a synthetic version of it using the Gwynnleaf as its base," he continued, producing a large handful of pearls just like the ones he gave us.
"A-Are those…?" Taegin asked breathlessly, as if he knew what they were already. "These are synthetic Authorities that I've extracted from my fallen comrades who sided with Mideia," he said gravely. They were small in his large hand, but they glowed with an intensity similar to that of the tincture I drank when I was first introduced to the Ethereal.
"While not as powerful as having innate Authority, these will suffice to help you all grow enough to withstand the coming battles," he rose from his seat, handing each one a pearl to everyone who hadn't received one from him after the battle with Nexis. They all stared at them with unbridled curiosity, and even Leona was surprised she'd received one.
"Lord Erumon, I don't know what I did to deserve this, but I thank you," she said graciously. "If you're going to train with Aurae to protect your people, you will need this more than you realize," he said with a much warmer tone than his words conveyed. Her eyes widened for a moment, but thinned as she smiled when she understood his intent and bowed to show her gratitude.
After giving a pearl to everyone else, he returned to his seat and gestured for those of us who were present for the battle to produce our own. "Now that you all have them, I would recommend you take them in right now while I'm here, since I will be able to help reduce the intensity of their effects should anything go wrong," he began, but I looked at mine with mild hesitation.
"What is it, Thoma?" he asked, noticing my perplexion. "It's just that if I already have this Authority, what will happen to me if I take this one, too, Lord?" I asked, not bothering to hide my concern.
Everything regarding the Authority was still a bit of a mystery to me, even after Anwill's fantastic explanation. There was no way for me to know the answers on my own, and I knew that if I wanted to get any, I had to ask while I still could.
"While it won't give you something you already have, it will certainly deepen your own understanding of the Authority you already possess," he explained simply, but I still had no idea what that even meant. "You'll see," he smiled, knowing I was almost just as confused as before.