Grand Saint Alloy

Across the continent, a man stood before a workbench using delicate applications of specific forces to create the desired result. He was standing before a cylindrical vat with a young child floating in it. This was specimen 10-N or the two thousand six hundred and thirtieth time he had done a variation of the experiment. Every time he got closer and closer to creating his desired result. A perfect human, one who could ascend beyond the restrictions the almighty placed on mortals.

Another brief exposure to the force of annihilation and the force of resistance simultaneously damaged the child and built up its resistance to the force of chaos. The door at the other end of the room swung open, revealing a slender woman wearing a white coat. She was one of the few people he had promised himself he would not kill, after all, someone needed to let him know when he was making emotional decisions.

Breathing hard, Val jogged past all the glass tubes containing his experiments, “Master Viral, I have some news that you would like to hear.”

Viral simply folded his arms and waited for his assistant to get her words out. He had tried rushing Val to the point before, but that had resulted in an apology and an even longer explanation explaining why she had rambled on, all capped off with a round of tears. It made Viral want to break his promise not to hurt her.

“One of our operatives has detected an essence burst that appears to be a mix of flame and metal essence,” She scanned her notepad.

Viral was confused as to why that mattered. Sure, dual essence users were rare, and metal variants even more so. Just because it shared the same affinities as him did not mean that it was valuable.

“Get this, it had the traces of the force of combustion, adamance, and gravity,” Val grinned as she noticed her master’s attention sharpen, “Doesn’t that remind you of someone?”

“Vulcan,” Viral said. Those were the exact same forces one of his relatives had used in the war of the false god almost eight hundred years ago. What were the chances he had survived? Back then Vulcan had been stronger, while Viral had been a member of a weaker branch of the Numitor family. Now they should be about equal, as Vulcan had gotten a faster, albeit flawed, method of gaining strength.

“Give me the location, I will be back before evening with him,” Viral said.

“Actually, that’s part of the issue,” Val said.

She pulled out a map of the continent and used a pencil to circle their current location. Then she moved to a point just off of the border of a small nation at the edge of the world and drew another one. In fact, the second circle was so close to the border of the small nation that if any of the map’s cartography was off, it would actually be inside that nation’s land.

“Well, we aren’t ready to fight the Silent Saint, do you think that he could be sheltering Vulcan?” Viral asked.

“It is possible, though unlikely, I would suggest sending an emissary there to let them know that your actions aren’t hostile,” Val said, “ make your presence known but make no overly hostile moves towards the Silent Nation and I see no reason why they would get involved, they have had a long history of isolationism after all.”

Viral nodded. Basically, all that meant was that he could not rush over there as fast as he could. Most nations treated anything nearing the speed of sound as a national threat so he would have to make his approach visible and non-hostile. Turning what would ordinarily be a six hour flight into a month long trip.

He looked up at the glass tub beside him. It could be a couple more decades before this experiment actually concluded. Even then there was no guarantee that it would be effective enough to take on a saint. Finding Vulcan was a guaranteed path, he possessed the uncorrupted methods of the Numitor family.

Making a decision, Viral said, “Tell that man we have in the area to make contact with the Silent Nation. I have the rights to anything Vulcan left behind, they have enough respect for ancestral inheritances that they should not object.”

“When will you be departing?” Val asked.

Viral needed to recalibrate the forces for a month's absence, “Tell him he has two weeks, then I will be leaving.”

“I will let you know as soon as he confirms the Silent Nations passivity,” Val walked out to go play secretary.

Viral shook his head, he was lucky someone like her was loyal to him. Most tier twelves were quite a bit more independent.

~

THE SILENT NATION

~

“What is going on in that mountain range?” One councilman asked.

“Did those barbarians really raise a legend, how could that happen without us knowing?” Another one asked.

There was a round dais in the center of the room with a mat designed for meditation placed in the center. The councilmen sat around the raised platform, standing when they wanted to speak, but never setting foot on the round platform. To them, it was no different than a table.

Messengers ran in and out bringing recordings and folders filled with important documents. The room was not private, nothing in the Silent Nation was. No secret could be kept while one was within the domain of the only nation filled with people possessing the rare sound kern.

There were six seats at the edge of the platform and one throne, each was filled with the strongest beings the sound nation could muster, and not all of them were even human. Two elemental lords sat meekly in their chairs, they were recent additions, but the Silent Saint did not concern himself with the appearance of a citizen, only their loyalty to their new nation. Most were extremely loyal.

The throne was occupied with the only imperium currently on this plane. Supposedly, she was one of the Saint’s relatives, but the man was so old that he probably had thousands of relatives. Even the elemental lords could probably claim kinship with him.

Teelei leaned forward on her throne, “It is not our concern whether or not a powerful entity has arisen in another land, that can only be to those people’s benefit. We should be concerned at the methods used to hide such an individual for so long and why he chose to make himself known now.”

“Do we need to send a suppression force just in case?” The elemental lord, Neza, asked.

“You just want to take that elemental lord that popped up into your camp,” The second elemental lord yelled.

“A tier six lord will hardly make a difference,” Neza waved a hand dismissively.

Teelei could only smirk at the sentient elementals. She had feared beings like these when she was a child, moving calamities that could wipe out smaller civilizations that sprung up in the wilderness. A tier six lord was very powerful, and it would likely hold a second in command position in Neza’s force.

“Leave them be,” A short councilor said, “It is their trial to overcome.”

The man stiffened, he had not spoken a word, yet it had been his voice. It was no difficulty for any child with a sound kern to copy someone’s voice, but it became more and more difficult as the strength of a person rose. The control used when speaking was very exact and specific in the Silent Nation.

Teelei understood what was happening when her voice spoke.

“A long dead friend has returned, do not disturb him.”

Only one person could do that to Teelei. The fact that the founder of their nation could hear them was no surprise. Very little happened that the Silent Saint could not hear, he just was not paying attention to most noises. This time he chose to speak up.

As soon as the counselors saw what was happening they dropped the topic. Many wondered who would be a friend of the Saint, but it was not really their place to dig for answers. The two elemental lords had the strongest reactions, both of them quickly stood and bowed. The rigid hierarchy that all elemental lords followed, made them dedicated, though fanatical followers.

A messenger flashed into the room, and he announced, “A messenger of the Pantheon Cult is here.”

Everyone in the room groaned, one of the counselors even asked, “Couldn’t you have left him at the border?”

“I feel that is unwise,” the messenger said, “He is coming with a message and I quote, ‘I come to give a message from the elder god of war, he wishes to make his desires to be made known to your king.’”

Several chuckles went around the room. The Silent Nation was very insular both by choice and because no secret could be kept there. Most kingdoms were unaware of who was sitting at the helm of this nation.

“Which one do you think he is spouting off about, the beast tamer? That guy starts plenty of wars,” The short counselor joked.

Insular was a double edged sword. While most of the lower tiers lived short and delicate lives, the higher tiers appeared as unstoppable beings, and some chose to be venerated as gods. It was comical that all these self styled deities were weaker than their nation's founder, who styled himself as a saint, like there was some being who was above him.

“No, he is referring to Viral,” Teelei said, her stomach churned at the name.

He was a brute, but he had earned his place at the apex of this world. It was a place he shared with Teelei, but she held no illusions about who would win if they came to blows. The offense of fire and the defense of metal was a difficult combination to break. Despite his lower tier, he would win.

“Tell the cultist that he needs to stay out of our nation, if that butcher crosses the border, there will be retribution. If he does not then we will ignore him,” Teelei said.

“As you wish,” The messenger said, he seemed hesitant but finally continued, “It came with a threat of his own.”

Teelei motioned for him to continue. She was not concerned about the mad sovereign, he was alone, and she had a nation of allies and most importantly the Silent Saint.

“Stay away from the mountains, if you touch my relative or his inheritance there will be bloodshed,” The messenger said.

Teelei took in a sharp breath, mentally thanking the founder for keeping them out of this conflict. If that was a relative of Viral, they were looking at the rise of a high tier Numitor. That family had been almost extinct for centuries, its only known survivors were Viral himself and its progenitor, the Steel Saint. Not something she wanted to get near.

“Let him know that we will not interfere, so long as he stays off our land,” Teelei said.

Some of the other councilors had put similar clues together, but the general feeling of the room was relief. There was a reason all of them were so loyal to the founder.