Vernia Vouw's reaction, to the Greenhaven event was not increased aggression. Rather it was one powerful action that challenged the fundamental concept of the Compact.
She did not assault a community. She targeted a narrative.
A figure emerged at the entry of Hope's Respite.. A Wraith nor a soldier. It was Elias, a man once thought to have perished in a scavenging mishap a year. He was intact, well and glowing with assurance. He bore no arms, a message.
He received a greeting filled with surprise and tears. He hugged his relatives shared a meal with his companions and later during the evening assembly he addressed the crowd.
"I perished " he declared, his tone. Resonant. "The plunge, into the gorge… that was the conclusion.. Then I was discovered. By her. The Queen." A whisper of dread and reverence swept across the chamber. "She revealed not a torment, but a workshop. A sanctuary where the damaged are restored. Where suffering is acknowledged,. Surpassed. She demanded nothing. She merely… cured me.. She revealed the future to me. A world of ceaseless dread the persistent emptiness, the sorrow that lingers endlessly."
He extended his palms. "She presents this to all. Not as a victor. As a restorer. The battle you're summoned to face? It's, against your redemption. The named 'Abysswalker' and his comrades require you to be terrified to suffer, to be dependent so you will obey them. They bring hardship. She brings tranquility."
The address was flawless. It was given by a cherished homecoming son. It portrayed the Queen not as a villain. As a misjudged supporter and Cassiathon, as a terror-inducing warlord.
The information, horrifically conveyed by Elder Wynn via the Ghost Web caused an uproar, among the Compact leadership. Suspicion, the damaging tool had been planted right within their most fortified community.
"How can we combat that?" Morgan inquired, pacing back and forth. "We have no way to prove hes being dishonest. From his viewpoint everything he stated could be accurate! She made him flawless!"
"We combat it with a narrative " Cassiathon remarked, though his spirits were falling. ". Our tale is complex. Theirs is straightforward: suffering against serenity."
"Then we make things difficult, for him " Kuro remarked, his eyes shining. "This 'Elias is a story tool. A living, breathing 'happily after.' What if we uncover the flaw in his flawlessness? What if we show everyone that the Elias they admired was the one who fought alongside them?"
"It's a gamble " Sierra remarked. "If we confront him head-on we'll appear as the villains he claims we are."
"We don't assault," Cassiathon remarked, a thought developing. "We… challenge the narrative. We pose a question his flawless tale cannot respond to."
He made Celeste open a targeted connection to Elder Wynn. Using this he communicated, not with the audience but straight, into the thoughts of Elias's sibling Lira, who felt conflicted between happiness over her brothers homecoming and strong anxiety.
He didn't send her words. One vivid potent recollection: the genuine Elias, the evening prior to his accident admitting to her his worry about failing as a provider his affection for a woman, from a different settlement he was too timid to speak to his aspiration of creating a proper library. He gave her the optimistic true man.
Afterward he posed a question intended for her to speak aloud: "Brother you appear serene. Do you ever have dreams, about Alis? Do you continue to wish to create that library?"
Within the chamber of Hope's Respite, Lira fueled by the memory now blazing within her heart rose to her feet. Her tone shook projected clearly. "Elias… welcome back. I… I need to ask. Do you dream of Alis sometimes? Do you still wish to create that library?"
The flawless Elias faced her his calm grin steady. "Dear sister these bonds cause only pain. Beneath the Queens radiance every individual desire merges with the purpose. 'Alis does not exist. There is tranquility. The 'library' is not real. Every piece of knowledge is already whole and flawless."
The response was impeccable in terms of doctrine. Yet it was completely foreign. The Elias's affection, for Alis and his aspiration to build a library defined his essence. This entity had wiped those away.
The room became quiet. The happiness turned sour. The brother who came back stood present. The qualities that once defined him as their Elias had vanished. He had attained peace through the emptying of his being.
Lira started to weep, not with happiness. With sorrow. "You aren't him " she murmured.
The flawless smile of Elias at last wavered. "I am… a transformation."
The single term "evolution," uttered in that setting shattered the illusion. The settlers understood it now. This was not a reward. It was an enhancement that erased the individual they cared about.
The Ideal Elias, witnessing his story fall apart did not become furious. He merely inclined his head. "The offer remains. Whenever you grow weary of your grief you will be received." His figure vanished into brightness.
The Queen's gambit had failed. But she had learned a crucial lesson: the Compact's strength was its shared, messy humanity. To break it, she would have to attack not just their bodies, or their minds, but their ability to connect at all.