Elder Cultivator

The Scarlet Alliance had an odd relationship with Everheart. Communication from their side was usually initiated by Vari, his sort-of-niece since he seemed unlikely to actually kill her. He was somewhat more tame with people from Ceretos and the lower realms in general, but they didn’t want to count on that. He might initiate communication through someone like Rahayu who had some history with them.

There were also thoughts that he was responsible for some conveniently timed information related to some of Shelach’s poisons, but only because he was responsible for the initial information and because it came through an odd method, not because they had anything actually tying him to it directly.

Shortly after all that, however, the Scarlet Alliance received a message sent via a high powered wave of upper energy that propagated from the Everheart System. The first one, now that there were others.

There was no code. It was just a sound projection transmitted via energy, which meant everyone heard it.

“This is an open invitation by myself, the glorious Everheart, to my first star stealing party. It will take place in one year’s time. Come see an abomination snatched from the hands of filthy scoundrels! Bring your Domination cultivators! There will be no tricks and no treasure. All guests must provide their own rations. Any fleets that come to cause trouble will be directed to the nearest black hole.”

Timothy immediately contacted Catarina when the message finished. “Can he do that?”

He could feel her pondering before she projected her reply in turn. “Most of them aren’t conveniently placed. I think it would be difficult. It’s likely a threat, unless he’s taken a long journey.”

The council met not long after, as was required for such matters. Everheart always had to be taken seriously, even if he was doing something strange.

“Do you think it is a trap?” Prasad asked. “Last time he taunted Domination cultivators to appear, he used it as an opportunity to advance.”

Hoyt shrugged. “It sounds like he really wants to show off. Which means he needs people to make it back.”

“I want to go,” Catarina said. “An opportunity to observe more of his formations won’t come easily.”

“In that case,” Timothy said. “I should go as well. It is not far, so we would be able to return here quickly.”

“Would our borders remain secure?” Zazil asked.

Timothy shook his head. “The Alliance wasn’t relying on Domination cultivators before, and we’re not now. If any other Domination cultivators come to cause trouble, there should be sufficient warning. Otherwise… Chidi will still be here. And all of the rest, with the exception of Tauno.”

“During normal times it would not be a concern,” Zazil agreed. “But in the last decade we have had far too much contact with Domination cultivators. And that attack in the lower realms…”

“Between realms, really,” Catarina said.

“It doesn’t matter where it was. But the assassin seems to be… a risk.”

“We know his name,” Catarina pointed out.

“And yet, none of us are eager to say it, are we? So what is the plan?”

-----

It was difficult for anyone to stop Catarina and Timothy doing as they wished, especially since ignoring Everheart would likely be a mistake. They soon learned that the ‘invitation’ had not gone out to just them but also… everywhere.

It seemed unlikely that every Domination cultivator would simply come to his beck and call, but as immediate neighbors the Alliance needed to make a showing. They couldn’t tell who else would show up, especially given the short notice. One year meant that those on the far ends of the great powers would have to leave immediately. It was likely on purpose, since Everheart liked being an inconvenience to people. And it would make it harder for them to make counter-plans to whatever his scheme was.

“He just wants Devotion, right?” Timothy suggested to Catarina. They would be among the first to arrive, but they hadn’t left too early because Timothy was monitoring the paths of other groups. “But he definitely also stole that star because Anton was getting away with a planet. So we can just be unimpressed, right?”

“I’m not going to be filled with malice or devotion after this,” Catarina said. “Though I might be a bit impressed if he picked a good method to steal a star. Given what our spies say, it was gone for years. Though that’s not unreasonable for such a trip.” Ŕ𝘢𐌽Ổ𐌱Ě𝐬

“Fair enough,” Timothy said. “I’m going to be completely neutral about everything. Including the bring your own food thing. You think he’s fallen on hard times?”

“Maybe he just doesn’t want people to be worried about poisons. Though Velvet will be worried if he’s somehow poisoning our personal stores.”

-----

Catarina’s prediction about Velvet was pretty much correct, but Velvet was more worried about who else might try it. If necessary their higher ups could just not eat on the return trip- and it wasn’t so far that the weaker cultivators they brought along couldn’t get by without food- but a few days without water would be a bigger problem. So she resolved to watch their battleship. It would prevent her from getting too curious when inside the palace Everheart had thrown up near his new sun, isolated all by itself as the normal star was where all the planets and formations were.

All the formations except the ones on the massive structure surrounding the star. Velvet knew it had been stolen from the Imbued Fragments, but seeing it in person was actually rather unnerving. Even if it was flawed and didn’t completely capture the energy it felt unnatural to sense something so large.

Then a stupid face appeared in front of hers. Velvet didn’t recognize any of the features, yet it was also entirely familiar. The man grinned, waving. Then he pointed towards her. Velvet frowned. He pantomimed opening a door. Then punching the window in front of him.

Velvet rubbed her forehead. “Just wait there. I’ll come out.”

The man folded his arms, then began tapping his foot impatiently.

Velvet kept her senses locked on him as she ran for the nearest exit hatch. Waiting for it to depressurize was a pain, but it could be annoying to replenish the air supplies of a ship in hostile territory.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Velvet moved along the outside of the ship until she found the strange man. She projected her voice through the small distance between them. “What are you doing here?” It had to be one of Everheart’s projections, since she could feel him off in his palace, along with all of the guests of honor.

“You didn’t want to come to my party?”

Velvet glanced at the window. It was just one in a corridor that people could walk by. “Is it a party if you’re not even serving food?” She gestured. “Come on, people can see you there.”

“I can’t believe you’re so mean. Thinking people can see me if I don’t let them.”

He’d certainly snuck right up to the battleship. But Velvet was fairly certain if he’d tried to sneak onto it, it would have given off an alarm. Though maybe he had other projections doing that just now. Could she make use of her senses to search the ship while keeping this meeting secret?

“So what do you want?”

“So rude. I can’t believe my niece is your friend. Kids these days.” Everheart- because he was definitely

an Everheart- looked at his nails. “I think I made a mistake.”

Velvet’s eyes narrowed. “That doesn’t sound like something I’d expect from you. Regretting snatching a star? Do you even need a second one here?”

“Like I’d ever regret that. I just made poor estimations of some of you.” He pulled a tome out of a bag at his side. “Most of this is trivial observations and speculation. But its everything I know about about the man and a counter technique for his stealth capabilities.”

“Really?” Velvet raised an eyebrow.

“Incomplete, sadly,” Everheart shook his head. “But it should be a good start, I think.”

“What’s the price?” Velvet asked.

“You have to clap after that fleet arrives,” Everheart pointed. “Also, you’ll be drawing the ire of one of the most powerful Domination cultivators in the known galaxy if he learns about any of this.”

“So you’re going to tell him you told us.” Probably even if she didn’t accept it. Velvet reached out to take the offered tome. “Why now? You already gave us info before.”

“What is Devotion?”

“Are we doing philosophy or cultivation?”

“Yes.”

“A strong conceptional connection to someone else.”

“I like that,” Everheart nodded. “Who makes the best Devotion?”

“Other cultivators.”

“More specific.”

“Strong cultivators.”

“Exactly. Have you ever tried to reject devotion?”

“Should I?” Velvet frowned.

“How should I know?” Everheart shook his head. “But he does.”

“Shelach?”

Everheart twitched. “Yes. Him.”

“Should I not say it?” Velvet had noticed him working around it. But the first bit of info had been secretive. This was much more open.

“I think… you can. But it’s already too late for me. I shouldn’t even reference him. But you and-” Everheart pointed two fingers to the palace he’d built. “-them? You might be fine.”

“Might be?”

“I might have already screwed it up. Or I’m overcompensating in the other direction.”

“This is an uncomfortable amount of admissions of imperfection.”

“You’re telling me. Goodbye now.”

He disappeared. But Velvet was fairly certain she managed to sense his path as he left.

She looked towards the gathering of people. Everyone’s attention was focused there. And now she had something that was probably very important, but she didn’t know how. Opening it… Everheart had underestimated the quantity of speculation.

“... Why would we ever need to know that Shelach might have eaten a meal at a stall on a distant planet one time three centuries ago?” Velvet shook her head. Maybe it was just every vaguely substantiated fact. In which case, it was actually quite thin.

-----

Catarina was having a grand time looking at the palace and the nearby star. “I thought so,” she said. “He used the same principles as the Nighstar Sect.” Even with varied guests, she wasn’t shy about her suppositions. Timothy figured people couldn’t do anything useful with them, or they could figure out the same things as her. After all, this was the level of stuff that she expected he would vaguely understand.

“The solar platforms?”

“Exactly. Obviously he had a different base form of energy capture, but it seems he kept the structure pretty much intact. It’s weird that it seems to be producing natural energy. It doesn’t belong here.”

“Think of all the sects that would fight over this for early training,” Timothy grinned.

“When they fight over scraps of earth and hunks of iron? Absolutely." Part of the invasions of the lower realms were for natural energy infused substances. Something like a star that produced it was incalculably valuable. Though, the star wasn’t quite right for a few reasons, half-busted infrastructure notwithstanding.

Koronis had apparently also taken her relatively close proximity as a requirement to show herself. The Ponderous Turtle Clan actually showed up- with Cynbel. Ultimately, there weren’t any more Domination cultivators present.

Various smaller sects and clans had taken the opportunity to show up, though. Even though Everheart brought great risk, people couldn’t help but wonder what they might gain.

Then there was an approaching group. “You think they’re trying to snatch back their star?” Timothy asked, as Imbued Fragments ships came into sensory range. They had with them Broad-Eyed Harvesters as well, as the two sects were essentially one.

“They should have brought a Domination cultivator," Catarina said. “They didn’t even bring any planet-sized ships. Oh, wait.” They did have one, staggering slightly behind the rest. And it would be a small planet. “I’m surprised they still have so many resources.”

“Vile Everheart!” they wasted no time projecting their anger from the fleet. “We will not allow you to keep the fruits of our labor!”

“Ah,” Timothy nodded as they settled into an attack pattern. “They’re just going for the superstructure.” At the very least, they weren’t headed towards the palace just yet.

“One moment,” Everheart said, his voice filling the palace. He’d been sitting mysteriously on a throne the whole time. “I have unruly guests I must deal with.”

He flickered, appearing outside.

“Teleportation?” Timothy said to Catarina.

She shrugged. “Subspace shenanigans. Our methods are related to it so… effectively.” She didn’t look too concerned that he displayed a similar trick to hers. Though Timothy knew she could go much further within friendly territory.

“Halt now!” Everheart declared. “If you take even a single-”

Before he could finish, they began to shoot- both at him and at the star.

Everheart projected a massive sigh. Then he waved his arm, and a black void opened up. All of the ships which had been charging forward with great momentum slipped into it and then… were gone.

“... Huh,” Timothy said. “I didn’t expect his warning to be so literal.”

Catarina put on a face. “He cheated. That didn’t even lead to a black hole.” She did think a one-way trip into a star was a worthy consideration, though. And there was no shame in copying from the most shameless individual she knew.