Transcendence?

***Jamaian Union, Jamai-Capital***

“~Bye!~”

My daughter finally disappears through the Gate with Celestial, so I quickly manipulate the controls to close the doorway to Sarn.

“Finally! You can't imagine how much my wife pestered me because our baby was gone. She was about to come here and wreck the city.” The doorway closes and I clap my hands. “Well, that's done!”

The Immortal Empress gives me a scary look. “Will you release Tjena now?”

“Sure. Sure. The spell will be cancelled soon anyway. Why don't we use the time to talk? What do you want from me anyway?” I take a seat on the ground and smile up towards the Empress.

“I want to create a unified and peaceful planet for myself to live on. I am sick of wars and conflict, so I am currently working on creating a peaceful society.” The Empress smiles at me.

“Huh? Forgive me. That sounds ridiculous after pulling off an invasion and killing thousands.” I smirk at the Empress. But she isn't offended.

“I'll admit that my method is a brute force attempt. But I tried it in a peaceful manner already. Being nice doesn't work. Those stupid mortals are caught in an eternal loop of hate and revenge.” She makes a dismissive gesture. “The only possibility to break this circle, is to force peace on a few generations until the young aren't indoctrinated to hate by their elders any more.”

I nod. “I see. It may work, as long as you play the controlling factor.”

“I already proved that it works. Look at the Phenex continent. It's unified and peaceful, while the powers of the main continent are still fighting among themselves. You may not believe me, but I didn't ignite the war between Mislow and Jamaian.” She looks a little agitated now.

She may have had the time and possibilities to spark the war. But as long as I don't have proof of that I will believe her for the time being.

“I see. That still doesn't explain why you are interested in my principality.” Unless she recognizes the reasons for my actions.

“Of course I am interested in someone who could oppose my goal. And you will cause chaos by continuing to follow your current path. I don't want that. And the other powers will try to stop you anyway. It would be much better if we could find a common ground.” She is trying to gain an ally?

“A common ground? As in being allies? Because I won't play servant to anyone. And what other powers are you talking about?” I am a little confused now.

She starts to smirk. “Oh, please. I am around for such a long time and all I managed to do was taking control of one continent? Of course there are powerful forces at work on this planet. First and foremost are these long eared bastards from the Nation of Mist. They might act nice and peaceful, but in their hearts, they are like everyone else.”

“When I first started to build up my navy, the Nation of Mist attacked our fleet while we tried to cross the Ocean of God. All ships were sunk without a word. That was about three hundred years ago. Ever since then they continuously got in my way. I am sure that they have goals of their own. You should take everything they say with a grain of salt. After all their elders are very old people too. I am sure that some of them aren't much younger than me. Maybe some are even older.” The Empress pulls a strange face.

“Then there is Mislow. Yes, they aren't offensive in their actions either. But think about it. Mislow seems to be a very small country compared to Norfolk and Jamaian. Yet they stopped every attack on them since hundreds of years without fail. And their ruling family is one big mystery. Nobody ever met any of them. You can only talk to them through their ambassadors.” She pulls another strange face.

“And then there is the Academy! Have you already taken a closer look at the two opposing powers within that institution? They are constantly on the verge of eliminating each other, yet nothing ever happened over centuries.”

The Empress finally stops her preaching and looks at me with expectant eyes.

I furrow my eyebrows. “So you want to say that there is someone controlling those powers behind the scenes? For hundreds of years? What's the purpose? And why are you so talkative suddenly? You must realize that I take everything you say to me with suspicion.”

“That's fine! As long as you take the words of everyone else with suspicion too. And I don't know their goals. But I can see that they are searching for something. Just realize that there are other very old existences hiding in the shadows. If my preaching stops you from giving anyone a weapon which would tilt the balance of power too much, it was worth my time. I am doing this because I came to the conclusion that I can't stop you outright.” She gives me another forced smile.

“I see. I must admit that this story of yours is new information for me.” I scratch my cheek while thinking about her words.

“Then I propose that you start to read some historic documents and collect more information. You would be a too powerful tool in the hands of those other forces.” Now she looks down on me with disdain.

“You call them just forces? Don't you know anything of them, are they reincarnated people too? And why don't you think that I am one of those puppet masters? After my entrance, the suspicion would be justified.” I tilt my head.

“~Hahaha.~ No. That's a cute idea, but no. First I don't think that they are immortals, because they never showed themselves to the world. They are hiding like frightened mice, while trying to manipulate everyone from the shadows. An immortal wouldn't fear for his own life like they obviously do. Second, you aren't trying to hide anything and you have a clear history of being born just a while ago. And you are acting like an elephant inside a porcelain shop.” She shakes her head.

“Hmm. I see. If that's so, then thank you for the warning. But there is still the issue with Jamaian.” This story is still strange. “Shouldn't those forces act, because of your invasion?”

The Immortal Empress has a disturbed expression. “That's what I don't understand either. I think that those forces were at work on my continent and interfered at some level, until I had conquered it. Then they simply retreated. That's the strange part. To a certain point, they seem to intervene with some things. So they are trying to stop anyone from gaining too much power. In my case however, they simply gave up after some time. I thought that my invasion would provoke at least some action from them. But nothing.”

“I see. So they don't act to protect a certain country. Maybe they are some sort of organisation?” I close my eyes. “Well. Unfortunately this talk has to end for now. My grip on this body starts to slip. But I will think about your words.” I grin at the Immortal Empress who gives off a relieved sigh.

“Please tell Tori, or Tjena … whatever her name is. She is fired! And if I find her sneaking around in Sarn, I will use her as material for my ~experiments~.”

The Empress's expression drops as my vision darkens and I feel my soul being pulled away on a wave of mana, which is ejected from my former host.

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