Waterstrider

Canvas Town, Tseludia Station, Pantheonic Territory, Fourthmonth, 1634 PTS

Holding the report in her hands, Sirena glanced over her desk at Wei, who had a dour expression on his face.

“This is all true?” she asked.

Her aide nodded, his expression grave.

“I’m afraid it is.”

Sirena pursed her lips. She felt as if she were reading a conspiracy theory rather than a legitimate report. She gutted her teeth, and her fists clenched as her nails dug into the flesh of her palm. By habit, she channeled a bit of her genesis miasma to strengthen her skin, so that her nails did not break through. Even when enraged, a proper matriarch would never lose her self control.

“I find it difficult- I almost refuse to believe they would do such experiments on our own people.”

She wished to attack the facility and every damned Staiven who had taken part in its funding and operations. She coughed out a harsh laugh.

“There are none who are more callous than the Staiven. Even during our worst crusades, we Seiyal still at least cared about our impact.”

Wei remained silent, allowing his old friend to express her anger. He, too, felt outraged at the slight. It wasn’t only foreigners who had been kidnapped and experimented on. Some of those who had escaped were members of the Hadal Clan who had been arrested, and supposedly shipped off to mines on the prison moon. They had returned to the clan’s headquarters upon their escape, and reported all that they knew. Sirena sighed.

“I feel appreciation for that man at the moment. He brought some of our people back to us.”

“His sect’s strength has grown greatly because of this,” Wei warned. “Much faster than we had been expecting. Supposedly, he has also become a spirit refiner.”

He was right to be wary, thought Sirena. She had allowed the Riverfiend to create his sect because she believed that they could control him. If he grew too powerful, he would change from asset to threat. Perhaps it would be best to try and set him up with one of her daughters again. Karie was nearly ready to become a spirit refiner, and that could be a good match, she thought. She found the idea amusing, given the girl’s attempt at assassinating him about a month ago.

She shrugged, putting the matter off. For the time being, at least, he would undoubtedly have to deal with pressure from the backers who had supported the facility. Perhaps this was even an opportunity to strengthen her influence over the man. She had found a formless core formation practitioner to be interesting, but one at the spirit refiner level… that was someone she could find a significant amount of use for. She would simply need a method of acquiring a firm grasp on him.

“Right,” she said. “Wei, I’ll need you to put pressure on the government. We’ll want to take as much restitution for this as possible. Threaten to cease all contracts with government affiliated corporations until we get repaid.”

Wei bowed, but did not motion to leave, for he knew this was not the only matter she wished to discuss with him. Sirena’s fingernails clattered on her desk reflexively as she moved on to another ongoing topic.

“How has the search for that poisoner gone?” she asked.

Wei knew which one she was referring to. The mysterious individual who had attacked the Celans the previous week. They had not even known about the woman’s existence prior to receiving pressure from the Justice Office, who had immediately assumed the Hadal Clan’s involvement.

“We have yet to find her identity,’ said Wei, “but we did find her contact information.”

Sirena raised an eyebrow.

“Contact?” she asked.

“It seems she intends to be a contract killer,” he replied. “It’s hard to say who hired her to attack the Celans. My guess would be Redwater, but it could also be one of the Exid Queens, or perhaps a corporation.”

Sirena nodded absentmindedly.

“A contract killer… Can we use this contact information to trace her?”

Wei shook his head.

“It is well concealed digitally. None of our contacts have sufficient acumen with Staiven systems to track her. If you wish, we could contract out with the Drelistai or another Staiven group for assistance.”

The matriarch of the Hadal Clan waved her arm dismissively.

“No, don’t bother. There are only so many Bountian martial artists on the station, much less those who are also foreigners. Try to use that to track her down. I want to see if we can acquire her as well.”

“By your will, Matriarch.”

Hard times were coming to the station. The tides of destiny were beginning to rise, and neither of them wished for their clan to be washed away. If they weren’t able to detect the escalating signs, they would not have been so interested in acquiring the varying skills of unorthodox practitioners. After all, in the long term, deals with unorthodox forces and practitioners would be a liability for them. Eventually, Sunlit Hall would find out. But Canvas was far, many lightyears and a voidgate away, while many more imminent threats were near. If the forthcoming war was anything like the previous one, the foundation of the clan itself was at risk.

For a moment, the two of them remained silent, before Sirena finally turned to her most loyal aide.

“Is there any other news?” she asked.

He paused, and she saw his adam’s apple bob slightly before he spoke.

“Yes, Matriarch. Matters at the border between Canvas Town and Little Celah have worsened.”

Sirena frowned again.

“How bad is it?” she asked.

“It is believed that some ordinary civilians have begun to attack Celans on the street.”

“What?” Sirena’ eyes were wide, shocked by the news. “That can’t be right. I knew it was on the decline, but…”

“I’m concerned that another force might be instigating them. There have been murders, and a motion has been raised within the council to send in the Justice Office for a preemptive intervention.”

Sirena pursed her lips, feeling extremely concerned.

“Shot down, of course?”

“Indeed. Only the Clerics of Verain and Tseludor voted in favor.”

Sirena couldn’t help but let out a dark laugh.

“I imagine the ideas of ‘intervention’ held by those two were very different from one another, and the rest didn’t care about aliens unless it would make them money.”

“This is likely the better result for us, Matriarch.”

Sirena couldn’t help but agree with him. There was no telling whether the Justice Office would have just dealt with the criminals or started massive censuring of all the Celan and Canvasian races. They could strip some corporate contracts from both the Hadal Clan and the Heirs of Ottrien if they wished. It was but one of the reasons she did not dare to fight directly against the government, no matter what they did to her people. She was still enraged by her findings about the experimental facility, and yet there was little she could do about that matter as well.

She sighed, draping one of her hands through her long, flaxen hair.

“How have our preparations for the Heirs been going?”

Wordlessly, Wei slid another report out of a bag beneath his robes, and began to recite some details from it.

“We’ve been training more of our branch members in our better techniques. We’re speeding the younger members as rapidly through the stages as possible, and have emptied our treasury of most of our stockpile of natural treasures. We’ve also been moving our assets to more defensible locations as much as possible without alerting anyone. We will need at least another two months to be fully prepared for a war.”

Sirena quietly rubbed her cerebral dantian, feeling the pulsing of her cerebral core beneath the skin. The technique contained within the core was an odd one, one of the most unique and powerful techniques held by the clan. It was the Abyss of Mind, a technique that of the most powerful members of the clan, only she had trained to the spirit refiner level. The technique allowed her to utilize the unique functions of genesis miasma to store and retrieve information, and even enhance her own ability to parse, comprehend and implement it. It was the perfect ability for the matriarch of a clan to have, and its only weaknesses were the headaches and itching that it could cause.

“How many have died at the bottleneck so far?” she asked.

“Three since the last time you asked, and seven in total so far, Matriarch.”

The transition between each stage of martial arts was dangerous, and if they made mistakes, a martial artist could risk damaging their foundation, or even their life. This danger only increased the higher the stage one aspired to. Only the lucky and the talented could become spirit refiners, much less immortals. It was why only in times of need and for the truly talented or deserving did the clan usually give out the natural treasures needed for the advancement.

Sirena glanced out through her office’s window as she often did, looking upon the nearby stacks. So many people were walking around, living peaceful lives completely unaware of the undercurrents in the city. How long would it be until they were affected in the same way? The Hadal family would certainly not be the only ones affected by the tides. The tallest tree was what the loggers aimed their sights at first, but the forest would not be ignored.

Voidgates: [While a voidgate appears to be a tear in reality, it is actually something entirely unlike a lesion. Instead, they are very advanced topological restructurings of reality rather than true holes. While it is believed to be conceivable that some very powerful ascendants and Osine can create them, all known voidgates are near the system of Staive, created by the powerful ancient machines known as the Calculation Engines. Voidgates are simple in function: they create distorted paths in spacetime, similar yet distinct to that of a wormhole, allowing for vast distances to be traversed in moments. Currently, five voidgates have been opened by the Seer. Of them, three lead into various areas within the Frontier, while the other two lead into various Osine territories. Of those leading into the Frontier, one of them was located just slightly more than a lightyear away from Canvas, while another was located near enough from the Celan flotilla for its refugees to find refuge through it. Voidgate travel is heavily regulated by the Pantheonic Government, as one end of each voidgate is located within the Staive system itself, posing both an immense boon to trade as well as an immense security risk for the Staiven homeworld.]