Swan Song [Dark Fantasy | Progression Fantasy | Slowburn]

[Volume 2 Epilogue | Chapter 85: To The Next Phase (VI)]

That same afternoon, miles away from Windsor's urban sprawl, Lorelei Bismarck reclined on a chaise lounge beside the Olympic-sized swimming pool of her private estate. In perfect alignment, lilies drifted across the pool's azure surface which created shifting patterns at the whims of the gentle breeze.

Lorelei adjusted her oversized sunglasses and took a languorous sip of her imported piña colada, the frosted glass leaving a ring of condensation on the small table beside her. Her pink-tipped blonde hair was gathered in a loose bun atop her head with a few stray strands framing her face. She also adorned a black designer bikini that did little to preserve her modesty, but she was alone, and she saw no point in restricting her comfort for imagined onlookers.

Her thoughts, however, were far from the idyllic setting around her.

Acacia Belmont.

The boy continued to exceed her expectations.

The pattern recognition capabilities, the strategic manipulation of both allies and opponents, the remarkable adaptability in the face of unexpected developments... all of it confirmed what she'd suspected from the moment she found out he was the wielder of the «Red Key».

He was worthy.

That same intelligence that made him valuable could prove a hindrance if she didn't position him correctly. The boy was dangerously perceptive, and he'd already begun questioning the Tome's nature, connecting dots she'd preferred remain disconnected for the time being. His instincts were almost preternatural in their accuracy.

She needed more layers of misdirections in the future. More—

"Enjoying yourself, my cruel mistress?"

Ezio's voice and distinctive clack of his boots cut through her strategic reverie. He approached from the estate's main building, immaculately dressed despite the summer heat in his formal Knight's attire, though he'd forgone the outer coat.

"You've been working me like a common slave for the past month," he continued, helping himself to a seat at the edge of her lounge. "The least you could do is look appropriately villainous while plotting the downfall of your enemies, rather than lounging about like a pampered housecat~"

Lorelei's smirked, lowering her sunglasses just enough to peer at him over its rims.

"Cruel, am I? I wonder what specific cruelty you're referring to. My schemes, or merely the way I've been teasing you?"

"Both," Ezio replied instantly. "Though primarily the former. That poor Ptolemy boy will never be the same."

"He wasn't exactly a paragon of mental stability beforehand. Besides, «Zulumat» was of his own execution. I merely suggested the details and that the astronomical conjunction might be significant. He nearly went through with it, if I recall," she countered, taking another delicious sip of her drink.

"With a little help from your 'predictions' and 'teachings,'" Ezio noted dryly.

"Details, details." She waved a dismissive hand. "The point is, we confirmed what we needed to know."

"At considerable risk to civilian lives."

"Which were never in actual danger, thanks to your vigilant supervision~"

Lorelei set her drink aside and stretched languorously, uncaring of how her curves strained against the fabric of her bikini.

"You're becoming quite the moralist in your advancing years, Storm Scourger. Perhaps that's why you remain unmarried. Women do so dislike being lectured about ethics over breakfast."

"While you, my dear Viceroy, will never marry because no man could possibly live up to the exacting specifications of your inscrutable agenda," Ezio shot back with a chuckle, his eyes tracing the lines of her body. "You'd likely kill him before the ink on the marriage certificate was dry if he tried."

"Marriage would be an unnecessary complication. My dreams are somewhat larger than becoming someone's housewife, unfortunately."

"As are mine with becoming a husband," Ezio shrugged in agreement.

Before she could reply, a distinct electronic chime cut through their banter. Lorelei reached for the slim flip phone resting beside her drink, checking the caller ID before answering.

"Pandora, darling! I was just thinking about you. How's the frigid north treating you? Have you sampled any of Eichenstadt's famous black forest cake yet? I hear their cherry liqueur is simply divine this season—"

"Did he pass?"

Pandora sounded even more terse than usual, if such a thing were possible. It was obvious she wasn't in the mood for small talk. Lorelei sighed, letting a touch of genuine concern color her voice as she responded.

"Yes, yes, the boy is fine. Now, about that cake—"

"I don't care. Did he pass?"

Lorelei's free hand signaled Ezio, who immediately straightened to attention.

"So impatient. Fine, yes, he did. With flying colors, I might add. That brain of his is quite the marvel."

A moment of silence from Pandora's end.

"Details first. I want to be certain."

Lorelei's lips curved into a smile as she rose from her lounger, gesturing for Ezio to ensure their privacy. Though her estate was already secured against surveillance, some conversations demanded additional precautions.

"He solved the puzzle exactly as anticipated," she said, pacing alongside the pool's edge. "He identified Alaric as the culprit, tracked him to Oakridge Path, prevented the ritual, recovered the 'Modern Tome,' and returned it directly to me. Minimal civilian casualties, minimal property damage—all things considered."

What she didn't say aloud was the web of manipulation that had led to this outcome.

The Book of Cogtiatio—a Regalia stolen from the House of Acroma during her liberation from their service years ago—had proven the perfect tool. After all, its ability to copy the appearance of other books, establish a mental link with its wielder while allowing remote writing and monitoring had been essential to the deception. The selection of Alaric Ptolemy hadn't been random chance, either. Ezio and her had spent weeks observing Windsor Preparatory Academy's student body, assessing potential candidates for their psychological vulnerabilities. Alaric had been perfect. He was the underperforming heir of a prestigious house, desperate for validation, with access to the restricted section and a predictable study schedule. His sense of inferiority made him easily manipulated, while his position and Birthright made him "dangerous" enough to pose a genuine challenge.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Except his Birthright wasn't actually dangerous to Acacia if he found out the trick, that Ephemeral worked on attacking prana, so an Irregular like him would be largely safe from its effects. A critical fact that Bismarck took into account when assessing the risks of the experiment.

A pawn that didn't even know he was in a game.

Planting the book had been also been rather trivial. Windsor Prep's security, while adequate against students, posed no challenge for a Knight of Ezio's caliber. He'd simply added it to the restricted section during a routine maintenance period, and positioned it where Alaric would inevitably discover it given his research habits and areas of interest.

From there, everything had played out exactly as Lorelei had intended.

The escalating demands had been calculated to test different aspects of Acacia's abilities. First, the simple predictions to establish the book's credibility to Alaric. Then, the Bloodhounds attack on the telecommunications warehouse—information she'd had anyway due to Pandora's own scheme. Not only that, but the True Modern Tome supplied her with such information as well. The increasingly specific and impressive predictions thoroughly convinced Alaric of the book's supernatural authority.

Acacia had the right instincts to just go to Windsor Prep to see whether the Fake Modern Tome was there, so she simply had mentally written in the book to have Alaric stop him from entering the restricted section or he would "die."

And finally, the Zulumat ritual, the ultimate test of Acacia's resolve, ingenuity, and moral compass.

"Did he suspect anything?" Pandora asked.

"He probably indeed suspects that the tome he was chasing the whole time is a fake, but accepted my explanation about artifacts responding differently to different wielders. His intuition is remarkable, though. We'll need to be more careful in the future," she admitted.

What Lorelei omitted was that even if Acacia had failed to stop the ritual, she would have considered that outcome successful as well—just in a different way. The Zulumat ritual had never been merely a test. Its completion would have served another purpose entirely in her broader designs, one even Pandora wasn't fully privy to.

The benefits of Acacia passing her test, were simply a better outcome.

"And Alaric?" Pandora prodded further.

"He's currently contained. The official story is that he attempted suicide due to academic pressure. He'll receive psychiatric treatment rather than criminal charges. This also prevents him from having his memory scryed by the Centrum Supremum, of course."

She didn't mention Ezio's more direct form of ensuring Alaric's silence, nor the trauma the boy had endured at their hands. Some details were better left unspoken, even between conspirators.

"I'm surprised you chose such a dangerous test," Pandora commented, an edge of reproach in her tone.

Lorelei smiled, though Pandora couldn't see it.

"There are no safe tests for what's coming, my dear High Inquisitor. The stakes were high, yes, but controlled. Ezio was monitoring the situation throughout, ready to intervene if necessary."

Undoubtedly, Ezio had been Lorelei's ultimate contingency. He was silently observing from the shadows, ready to eliminate Alaric and rescue the children if Acacia was at risk of being killed. The knight had been particularly displeased with that aspect of the plan, but his loyalty ultimately outweighed his moral qualms.

"So, where is True Modern Tome?"

"Secure in my personal vault, as it has been all along."

Lorelei glanced at the manor house where, beneath layers of security measures both mundane and thaumaturgical, the True Modern Tome of the Dead Sea Scrolls remained exactly where she'd placed it months ago.

"The Regalia served its purpose perfectly," she remarked as she held up the Book of Cogtiatio, reverting from replica of the Modern Tome to just a plain brown book.

"So we're proceeding, then," Pandora said. It wasn't a question.

"Yes. Project AJAX advances to the next phase. Acacia has proven himself capable of handling complex threats independently."

A moment of pause stretched across the connection before Pandora continued.

"The Bloodhounds have completed their preliminary operations in Pendragon Province. They have assimilated quite impressively."

"Helen Vessalius won't know what hit her. The High General has grown complacent in her perceived untouchability," Lorelei mused.

"I will say that Nemesis remains rather displeased with his current position. I figure still bears some resentment regarding our Windsor encounter." Pandora remarked, almost amusedly.

Lorelei chuckled.

"Good. Resentment is an excellent motivator when properly channeled. His pride demands restoration, which is a need we can leverage quite effectively."

Lorelei proceeded reclined in her chair, contemplating the importance of this operation.

The capital of the Tachyon Empire was one of the most heavily secured cities in the world.

Yet even fortresses had their vulnerabilities, if one knew where to look.

Another pause, longer this time. When Pandora spoke again, her tone was different—tenser, less assured.

"There's something else. About Acacia."

"Oh?" Lorelei's eyebrow raised slightly.

"During our training sessions, I noticed something odd. In our first session, I directed a [Repulsa] at him—not at full strength, of course—and he dodged it. He did it intuitively, as if he possessed some form of sixth sense for danger. physical capabilities too... they're not extraordinary, but they exceed what should be possible for an Irregular. His strength, his reflexes, his endurance, they're far beyond the human baseline. "

Lorelei remained silent, allowing Pandora to continue.

"Moreover, he doesn't seem to be affected by Interference Thaumaturgy. [Oublier] allows me to walk through cities undetected and utterly forgettable. Acacia, without me targeting him, was able to ignore the deception when we first got into Windsor. I didn't understand how that was possible, so I panicked and conjured up psuedoscience so he wouldn't feel weird about it. Any normal Irregular, regardless of how 'weak' their Subjective Reality is, simply by virtue of having a Subjective Reality would be affected by Interference Thaumaturgy. Having prana doesn't change that… and yet, Acacia was able to bypass my spell without casting [Inverso]. So, this is my question: is this an extension of the «Red Key's» influence? An adaptation of some kind?"

Orion's Lioness entertained her response, weighing how much to reveal even to her closest collaborator.

"Perhaps we're making an error in attempting to categorize Acacia according to established rules. The term 'human' may be insufficient in his case."

"...What are you suggesting?"

"His increased physical capabilities, precognitive reflexes, and resistance to mind manipulation may indeed be manifestations of the Red Key... or they may be something else entirely. The ability to reject reality doesn't necessarily stop at external phenomena. What if it extends to the rejection of his own physical limitations, maybe causality as it pertains to his person?"

"That would make him—"

"The worst type of enemy for conventional opponents, and our wildcard. How can you conceivably counter someone, or something, that exists outside of the rules of the world as we understand them?"

The line went quiet.

"I should go," Pandora finally said. "The jet departs shortly."

"Safe travels. Until tomorrow."

The call disconnected with a soft electronic tone, leaving Lorelei alone with her thoughts and the softly lapping waters of her pool. She removed her sunglasses, hazel eyes contemplating the Book of Cogatitio still resting in her hand.

One test complete. Many more to come.

In Windsor, a boy who might not be entirely "human" slept peacefully for the first time in years.

In Eichenstadt, a High Inquisitor prepared to return home to a ward who had become something more complicated than an assignment.

And in San Corona, at the heart of the Tachyon Empire, a monstrosity named Nemesis and his two finest men began the next phase of their project.

The pieces were in motion.

The board was set.

So why not continue the game?