Shattered Moonstone

Jasper sat on the edge of his bed, his eyes fixated on the travel bag he always kept packed in the corner of the room. Originally the nuns had been weary of the fact he always seemed ready to move at a moment's notice but 5 years of reassurances that it was simply a habit from his years as a soldier had long since quelled those concerns only for the time to come.

Originally he had planned on staying in Algimar’s holy capital until the empire entered the war officially, waiting to desert during a deployment would have been much simpler than attempting to run while still in the city but even the best laid plans and all.

I should have guessed it would happen this way. He thought replaying the message from Arsis in his mind, it was such a simple plan. How did they manage to botch it so bad? He grumbled as he stood, walking to his travel bag and checking the rations again. 

The plan from the church had been simple: send 4 heroes to Crown to meet the princess and “plant the seeds”. Offer her unwavering support if she agreed to joining their cause, if she did they would send another convoy to “assist” her in assuming the throne. 

In reality they planned on guiding her through an assassination and usurping the throne, a plan he took no joy in helping create but a necessary one. One he spent five years cultivating with lies about the princess who, despite what he had told the heroes, loved her mother dearly.

Jasper shook his head again, he knew it was all part of the plan but he couldn't help but send silent apologies to Queen Irthyl, sure it had been her plan to use herself as bait but to plan the assassination of your own queen was unforgivable if you were to ask him. Even if the plan was doomed to fail. 

The Queen knowing the heroes plan had intended to “catch” them when they spoke to the princess, using their transgressions against her to declare war against Algimar in hopes that the neighboring nations would see Crown as the “defenders” in this situation and hopefully offer their support if this was all brought to light during a “peaceful” event, such as the princesses birthday. She had even intended to release the four heroes as a sign of good faith and allow them to deliver the declaration of war…

but clearly that didn’t work, he lamented the fact that the heroes attempted an escape the moment they had been revealed, even going as far as to drag his sister into it all. 

He had purposefully left his family in the dark about this all, yet somehow in the end they ended up so tangled up in it now Amethyst was missing completely along with the 4 heroes after a wild teleportation spell. maybe if he had simply included them in his plan…

No, I needed mom to react. He grit his teeth as he recalled the constant interrogations during his arrival. the main contributor to the trust he had gained was the fact his family had not known of his “plan”, Taaffeite doing exactly as Irthyl had thought she would and launching a full scale investigation into Algimar, along with the churches own spies information everything painted him as a true deflector of Crown. If Taaffeite had known she might not have been as thorough, she may have attempted to use Babylon to gain information from him instead of sending spies… or his sisters may have let something slip while they were being watched. Gods know Alastair isn't exactly known for his discretion, what does a man who can carve a mountain need with secrets after all.

But that's not where the plan went awry, is it? He finished checking his bag and placed it by the door again. It was Hecatolite, wasn’t it? The second part of the church's plan was to attempt to persuade Hecatolite to their side, even sending the saint Himari to evaluate her mental capabilities and assess whether or not she would be useful to the church. 

Hecatolite remained a variable that he was unable to plan for even after she had met the queen, the overpowered entity that shared a body with his younger sister causing him no end to his list of worries as the world around her speculated what exactly she was. Thankfully the church had given him some insight that made him a little less weary of her, claiming she must be one of the summoned who did not form properly.

But they did not know about her like he did. The church had placed spies all through the empire of Crown to watch people of interest, many of which were caught but a few broken reports had given them what they thought they needed. Amethyst and Hecatolite were clearly two separate people, their loud plans to split bodies giving the church what they thought could be used as leverage against her once contact had been made. They knew she was… challenging, given the precautions that were put in place around her yet no one seemed overly worried about her. 

He shook his head as he summoned a terminal, pulling up Algimar’s official file on Hecatolite. skimming it absentmindedly as he thought.

Of course she would attempt to stop the hero's retreat, the fact the church hasn’t realized how powerful she is was honestly the biggest mistake on their part… his thoughts were interrupted as the terminal flashed with a notification, thankfully he had silenced it long ago to keep it from alerting others when he got updates.

“Message from Hecatolite Lapidary; Just send it to everyone. Is it on? ok. Hey, so me and Amethyst are safe! kind of… I mean we died, but don't worry Eryl says she can fix that for us. I know we left like really fast, but good news, i freed Eryl, she’s kind of grumpy right now, understandable, she was apparently a slave for a long time! five years! dumb church… oh yea, if you guys see that woman with the staff, what was her name… Banana? doesn't matter, she was the hero with the magic. Break her legs for me! I managed to get the other two… I think… Hey Eryl? Could that lady with the bow have survived being ripped in two?... Eryl says she is probably dead, the other guy is definitely dead. I don't know what everyone was so worried about the heroes for, I mean I killed two of them… what do you mean I died in the process! Well, I mean yea, but i’ll get better, they are dead dead though… I don't want to hear that from you little miss saint… I don't care if you don't actually follow Valor or not… Eryl, I'm going to break her other leg if she keeps this up! no… fine! Anyway, Eryl says she knows how to make the bodies for me and Amethyst so we are going to do that now, love you all see you soon! P.S. I have no idea where we are but it's fine, once we make our bodies we will figure that out! Also I captured the saint girl, she's apparently a doctor and Eryl says she will be able to help with the bodies so that's a thing we will need to work out. What's the world's rules about war prisoners… well yea you're a prisoner… well of course I know the international humanitarian laws “inutil make a note to look up the international humanitarian laws”... No, I don't think this world has a Geneva convention! I don't see how that matters… you're annoying! I don't see why we need you to make the bodies! Eryl says she knows the magic and I have all the parts! I don't care if you have the knowledge, I know where my heart goes, I can see mine right now!... Eryl says she needs Himari for the spell so I can’t hurt her. Stupid saint. By the way if anything happens, the saint’s name is Himari, she has the dumb box skill so if I dont contact you soon its her fault! spam her with junk mail and stuff until she tells you what happened… she doesn't like being called calamari by the way… what do you mean i’m being petty? listen here you little… a word limit? since when do you have a word limit! I'll show you a word limit!... Eryl says if i keep breaking boxes she’ll forget to give me hands on my body… Can she do that? P.P.S. We are on an island somewhere, send boats.”

Jasper paused as he read the rambling message again. She fought off all three of them? He swallowed hard as a chill ran down his spine. Even with his “training” the heroes were dangerous, but she managed to not only fight them off but kill two of them. Even ignoring the clearly over-dramatization of the message, stating she had died yet she still managed to send a message showcasing Hecatoltie’s unstable mind,  the fact she was contacting them at all means she at least managed to fight them off. 

She may be more dangerous than we thought. If Anna got away then it's only a matter of time until she gets word back to Algimar… looks like i'll be leaving now. He thought as he grabbed his bag and flung it over his shoulder. He had planned on waiting another day in hopes to intercept the heroes if they managed to capture her, but that clearly wasn't the case. At least these five years were not a waste, the information he had gotten on the heroes along with their strategies; as well as disrupting their training… he couldn't help but chuckle as he thought back on the elven woman his sister had apparently “rescued”, the world sage that had been accused of “hindering the heroes training” only to be replaced by someone who did exactly that. Hopefully the real sage can guide Hecatolte. He thought as he jumped from his room's window .