When his assignment was complete, he would pass the information he had gathered to Lian, the Hawk thought. He knew from the beginning that she had connections to the deeper levels of the Shadow Clan, so he pretended that she did not know anything so that the Faceless Soldiers would not investigate any deeper. He would gather the truth about the Dark Alchemist, pass it to Lian, and after that…
He did not finish the thought.
He had arrived at a small stone dwelling, hidden deep within an unmarked section of the Underground Dwellings, one of the few places where trees still grew.
Inside, he sat across from a large, spectacled man, surrounded by maps and fragments of recorded data. They sat together in an awkward silence where the man looked down while the Hawk stared straight at him. The Hawk projected the image of the Dark Alchemist's body, allowing the man to study it and draw his own conclusions.
As the man worked, the Hawk monitored the movements of the Selves he had left in place.
"So, you've seen the body," the Hawk said. "What do you think?"
"Yes," the man replied. "Poison, just as you suspected."
"And what else?"
The man leaned forward.
"If you observe the seven energy points," he said, "they are arranged… unusually. Their flow suggests a deliberate structure, as if, when activated, they formed a shape."
"A shape?"
"Yes," the man said slowly. "A hexagram, I believe."
"Look deeper," the Hawk said. "Can you reconstruct the energy as it was while he was alive?"
The man closed his eyes, concentrating. This was Zhao Keth, another one of many who had chosen to leave behind the Cities and Clans, and start a business underground. Many of the Selves that the Hawk had acquired, he had purchased from traders in the Underground. It was always safer and more profitable to live here instead of above ground amongst the raiders, if you could find a way to survive.
There were many specialists down here, involving Selves, spells, hijacked Undead beings that a user could claim for themselves. Zhao Keth himself was a specialist in the analysis of Axiom energy, someone sought after by many, even by the Soldiers themselves on occasion.
"…Yes," he said at last. "I can see it."
"And?"
"The energy moves like lightning."
"I see."
At the same time, the Hawk sensed something shift.
His Western Leader Self was being watched. There were Faceless Soldiers following him from behind. It was in a non-hostile way, but they were observing him regardless.
So it had begun.
For now, it was acceptable. He had automated the Leader's movements and speech patterns well enough to withstand scrutiny for a short time. It would buy him a few days at most.
Still, they had begun sooner than he expected.
"There is an Abrahamic mark on the body," Zhao Keth said suddenly.
"And what does it tell you?"
"I'm not certain yet. Whoever erased this body… they went to great lengths. Not just to remove the physical form, but to strip away any trace of its energy."
"And these," the Hawk said, reaching into his pocket.
He placed several reconstructed spell fragments before the man.
"I have attempted to replicate them as closely as possible. I have never seen anything like them. Do you recognise them?"
The man did not respond immediately. His focus remained fixed on the Abrahamic mark.
There is enough here, the Hawk thought. The structure of the energy, the spells, the mark, and yet…
Another of his Selves was now under observation.
What if this had all been arranged? What if the evidence itself was designed to mislead him?
No. There was only one certainty, and that the energy structure of the body. The effort taken to erase it proved its importance.
"I've got it!" Zhao Keth exclaimed suddenly.
The Hawk's attention sharpened.
"This mark, it isn't from the Central Realm," the man said. "It's a symbol from Solomon's Realm."
The Hawk went still.
"Are you certain?"
"Completely. It took time to piece it together, but there's no doubt. Whoever this was, he received his Higher Self and Abrahamic training in Solomon's Realm."
The implication was immediate.
The Dark Alchemist… was not originally of the Central Realm.
The Hawk recalled the man's excitement during their meeting, the way he had reacted when he believed the Hawk to be Lord Zorathiel of the Undying Family. That reaction had not been coincidence.
He would need to investigate the Undying Family. He would need to investigate the Transcendent Clan. And he would also need to investigate the deeper connection between Solomon's Realm and the Central Realm.
"Thank you," the Hawk said.
The man looked at him, and there was fear in his eyes.
"You're going to kill me now, aren't you?"
The Hawk did not answer immediately.
Another Self was now being watched, and another. They were closing in.
Whether they believed there were multiple agents, or a single one shifting forms, it no longer mattered.
He could not leave anything behind.
Not now.
"I'm sorry," the Hawk said.
The Hawk came out of the stone structure.
He did not leave the Underground Dwellings immediately. Instead, he descended deeper, navigating hidden paths until he reached an exit that would lead him back toward the Castles of the Soldiers.
As he moved in the darkness, he reviewed everything he had learned.
The Dark Alchemist, Solomon's Realm, the gatherings, the banquets; what had truly been taking place there? Why did the King attend them?
How had the Dark Alchemist brought together Clans that should have stood in opposition? What force, what idea, had unified them?
For the first time, the questions felt more dangerous than the answers.
The Hawk moved forward in silence. Now, there was a dull ache at the centre of his being, and he rushed forward as fast as he could so that he could forget it, for this was unnatural to him. He was not supposed to feel anything.