pirated stuff

When news broke out of a bombing in Wien, it reopened old conspiracies once laid to rest and gave birth to new ones. Many blamed the Francois, others blamed the communists, and few considered the Judeans guilty, but Viktoriya…Viktoriya just wished she was there in Osterry with Tanya. When everyone can be considered Degurechaff's enemy, discerning between the innocent and the vermin was a waste of effort. Her protection was all that mattered.

This powerlessness…she hated it.

She despised it with all her heart.

This growing weakness within her was a parasite that she could not decipher. It squeezed her heart and clawed at her brain; her own spirit seemed to wax and wane as if she died every night and woke up reborn again. To be born only to die. Wondering, wandering, where has her life gone after the Great War.

Perhaps that is what happened.

Viktoriya dreaming dreamless dreams of the abyss. Of God.

The first time she heard the latest news from Wien, she could not stop crying. Her tears could flood oceans as easily as they flooded the paper. It wasn't scorn that awoke within the White Russy, at first, much to her own confusion, but regret. It was bitter, lukewarm like cold saltwater poured across her body. The more she tried to rage against the headlines, the colder the feeling was.

Her parents could not understand her, no matter how they approached the assassination plot. Her brothers were no better; she loved them all as a daughter and a sister should, but Viktoriya wondered if they would ever love her back.

Holy Rus does not believe in tears. Mercy was a weakness, a luxury that could not be afforded in such turbulent times. Kill the traitor. Burn the heretic. Raze their temples. All that is wanted from her, all that is expected from her, is death.

It is a glorious duty, a holy duty, to defend Christendom from the blasphemers and the Judenvolk. Honor was loyalty and loyalty was death. Viktoriya wasn't afraid to die, wasn't she? Why be afraid of all the mortal perils that plague the physical world when her very soul was secure in eternal paradise? Why be concerned with the opinions of lesser beings when her own piety is without doubt?

But Degurechaff was not a lesser being. She was greater than any human being Viktoriya had ever known. She was more than a mere mortal; she was a god. A Saint.

Saints don't make mistakes.

For Degurechaff to show anger against her…to deliver a harsh verdict…

But, Viktoriya did everything right…Father Gregori said so. Her father said so. Heh, he had even praised her for once. That was a wonderful feeling.

What was her destiny?

"HEY!" Anatolii's voice pierced through the storm inside her mind; his Germanian was better than most Germanians. But it was not directed at her. Her older brother glared at an old man and his granddaughter as if they were the most despicable beings alive. "You two."

Her brothers, Anatolii and Kolya, looked good in the KSA uniform and, thanks to advanced facial reconstruction, the eldest brother - Anatolii - wore a prosthetic nose that made his face somewhat more approachable. They had only joined recently and, thanks to their ties with her, rose through the ranks to lead their own Russy squads. Thank God they were able commanders in their own right.

Nepotism is not always a dirty word.

"Come here." He politely beckoned the pair to come closer. The fear was palpable in the young girl's face, one that invoked both pity and wrath within Viktoriya's soul, while the grandfather mustered up all the courage he had in himself.

They were like lambs being dragged into a slaughterhouse.

"Are you Judeans?" Anatolii asked calmly as if he sought directions.

"No." The teen girl shook her head violently.

"Yes." The old man answered with a dull hint of defiance. The lack of fear in his eyes irked her brothers to no end. "We are."

Viktoriya immediately spotted a dull medal pinned to the old man's chest, clearly worn down from time, and discerned that the old man was a veteran of the Franco-Preussian War. He was there when the Empire was united all those decades ago.

Sensing violence, the rest of the pedestrians walked across the street and onto another sidewalk, as though there was an invisible wall separating the civilians from the White Russites. Out of the corner of her eye, Viktoriya spotted a few armed men, Judeans most likely, contemplating pulling out their handguns but ultimately staying their hands.

Those militiamen weren't stupid: attacking Degurechaff's loyalists was a death warrant. No one wanted to give further ammunition to the rumormongers and slanderers. Not when the Argent Silver was attacked in Wien so recently.

"Why haven't you greeted us?" Anatolii inquired, in a tone that suggested anything but passing politeness. Somehow, he looked more uncanny with a fake nose than without one.

"Ah," The old man laughed awkwardly, taking off his hat to perform a shallow but noble bow. That earned him a sharp blow to the cheek from the eldest brother. The punch knocked the elderly veteran onto the nearby brick wall with blood leaking from his mouth. He would have collapsed entirely from Anatolii's strength if it weren't for his granddaughter grabbing onto him and helping him recover.

"I'm giving you one more chance." Anatolii threatened to smile, "Greet us. Properly."

"Heil-heil Degurechaff." the old man gurgled, weakly raising his right arm in salute yet his eyes seemed only to shine brighter.

"So you do know…" Anatolii grumbled, no longer finding this encounter playful. "Practice."

All three Serebryakovs immediately turned their gaze onto the young girl who immediately greeted them with greater energy. The brothers were content and ready to depart but Viktoriya was not yet done.

"How old are you?" She asked in a plain voice to the girl.

"My name is-"

"I don't care about your name. How old are you?"

"Fifth-fifthteen."

"Why haven't you joined the Kaiserliche Sicherheitsabteilung?" Viktoriya growled, her voice growing more and more resentful with each passing second. Whatever pity remained evaporated under the burning wrath bellowing inside.

"I-"

"Do you hate your country?"

"I-"

"Do you hate…the Argent Silver?"

"No-"

"Do you hate us?"

"I-I…"

"Who's side are you on?"

"No one's." The elder Judean butted in, "We only want peace."

"Why haven't you joined us?" Viktoriya asked the teen again, ignoring the grandfather entirely. "Your country needs you. Germania needs you."

Don't you want to save the Empire?

Don't you want to make the Argent Silver happy?

Don't you know what happens if you refuse?

"What…will I do?"

"Fight. Take back your country." Viktoriya smiled like a tiger spotting its prey. "Don't you want to save your nation?"

You will fight.

You will bleed.

You will not stop when your bones break and your skin is torn.

You will train harder than the enemy set out to destroy you.

You will get all the rest you need in the grave.

"I expect to see your face in the KSA next week at 14:00. Don't be late." The veteran mage spoke softly. "I know where you live."

A white lie. Elena would take care of her. It will be her women knocking on their door to drag this trembling, tearful girl away.

Is this what she looked like in training when Tanya looked at her? A shy, pitiful creature lost in the wide, uncaring world?

How weak.

How pathetic.

Be like Degurechaff and transform this worthless maggot into a proper soldier for God and the Empire. Make the girl a proud warrior just like herself.

And yet.

And yet…

Perhaps, she should have been gentler with her? Viktoriya didn't follow Degurechaff out of fear, it was love. It was honor. It was devotion. It was faith. Could she really fault the girl for hesitating? Not everyone could survive Degurechaff's standards.

She watched as the old man led his granddaughter away from the Serebryakovs and resumed their journey down the street.

"Thank you for your service!" Viktoriya called out to him. Degurechaff would at least acknowledge his duty if she were present. "Don't forget to choose."

To the fence-sitters in Germania, the choice was simple.

They are either for Degurechaff or against her.

For the Empire or against it.

For the movement or against it.

They are to join us or die.

There will not be another Bolshevik Revolution here. Nor ever. God forbid that the communists will carve another degenerate state in Europe.

"Why did you say that?" Anatolii looked at her with estranged bewilderment. "There is nothing to be thankful for from that…thing!"

"Oh, right." Viktoriya bowed her head. Why did she say that? He was the enemy. The parasite. Anyone that was against her, against God, against Degurechaff, was vermin. "I…don't know."

"I still don't understand…Why does the Argent Silver care about these rodents?" Kolya grunted, returning to his native language as the siblings resumed their journey. "What have they ever done for her?"

"She offered them protection, gave them her honor and gratitude, and what do they do in response? They stab her in the back…" Anatolii complained sourly. "They tried to kill her in Konigsberg and they tried to do it in Wien. Do these idiots have any shame? Any remorse?"

"Can they even feel remorse?" Kolya huffed. "What do you think, Visha?"

Hearing her name shook Viktoriya out of her brooding. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Did the Argent Silver ever tell you why she cares about the Judeans?" Kolya repeated.

"Did she tell you at all?" Anatolii inquired.

Yes. She did.

"No. She didn't." Viktoriya shook her head in defeat.

There are consequences, Visha, for tormenting an entire people.

"She told you nothing?" Her eldest brother was surprised. "Doesn't she tell you everything? You kept saying how much work was thrown upon you."

This is about basic human decency, Visha.

"No." she shook her head again, "Nothing of the sort."

"Wow…" Kolya was dumbstruck.

Don't be hated, Visha, I don't want you to be hated.

"Did you try asking her?" Anatolii asked again.

There is enough misery in the world, Visha.

"No. I didn't want to question her judgment."

Why?

"So why did you get expelled?" Kolya furrowed his brow. "You did everything she expected from you."

You are my burden to resolve.

"Because…" Viktoriya began, "Because…"

"Because what?" her oldest brother leaned over.

"I…dishonored myself before her. I…rose above my own station." Viktoriya answered with great hesitance.

"Dishonored…?" The two brothers looked at each other in mild confusion before the cogs in their minds turned.

"That is what happened that night?!"

"So that is why father disowned you…"

"Don't worry, Visha," Kolya beamed, "There's plenty of men out there for you."

"We'll just have to find them." Anatolii nodded.

"You'll only scare them." Visha protested meekly.

"I'm not scary!" he huffed, "Do I look scary to you, Kolya?"

"Yes. A Judean has a prettier face than you."

"Fuck you!"

While her brothers bickered and bantered, ignoring the passersby, while Viktoriya stewed in her own thoughts. She could not escape Tanya's grip around her neck; her phantom fingers scratching at her skin and tearing at her hair. Why? Why won't she smile upon her? There was supposed to be warmth, joy even, at the thought of seeing Tanya. But there were the smiles that invaded her mind, only the cold, cruel, and disappointed frown of the Argent Silver.

Viktoriya was the one who bled for the Empire, just as her brothers had done, what did these people do? WHAT DID THEY DO TO DESERVE HER ATTENTION?! These Judeans, these perfidious financiers, had done nothing but hide under rocks and basements as the Empire starved while she had to go fight the real war against the Allied Powers. She was there. On the frontlines. They were not.

Viktoriya fought alongside Tanya. They did not. So why? She was godly. They were not. She was a patriot for the Empire. They were not.

Why does she care about them more than her? What did they ever do to deserve such…such…kindness?

Did she not deserve it too?

Viktoriya nearly walked into a lamp post, so deep in her own brooding and self-loathing, and it would have caused a scene if it weren't for the cruelty hiding within her brothers that radiated a cold dread towards the onlookers. It was a funny sight in a way. Viktoriya always imagined her triumphant return home, being paraded around in the streets as the heroes and protectors of the Empire, a laurel wreath upon her head while the sky rained rose pedals…with Tanya by her side.

"So…this is the church?" Anatolii grunted as he examined the humble temple. "Is this even a church?"

The exterior was as drab and deprived of iconography as it could be. It was more fitting to label the building as a warehouse; churches are supposed to be grand in scale, outfitted with color, and filled with song. But not this one. And yet, Viktoriya felt an odd comfort in viewing the exterior in its entirety.

"Yes." she nodded, before taking the lead and opening the door for her brothers, much to Anatolii's insistence to be the gentleman.

Inside had the trappings of a Christian church but the hollowness put the men on high alert. In place of artwork, are blackboards filled to the brim with scribbles and calculations as if this establishment has been converted into a private tutoring school. Except the math was too advanced, even for a university student, and the reality they presented intimidated the White Russites.

"Ah, Viktoriya…" a familiar voice echoed across the church, "Just as God declared."

Almost immediately, the men reached for their pistols at the sight of the old man. Even though their sister has explained to them about Father Adelheid, she may not have emphasized enough how heretical he looked. His attire was familiar to their faith but the colors and arrangement were all wrong, making everything look so alien in their eyes.

"Father Adelheid…" Viktoriya murmured, conflicted between performing a traditional greeting and the KSA salute.

"Heil Degurechaff." The mad priest raised his right aim effortlessly. Though his smile was calm and content, his eyes betrayed a hidden ferocity - a raging furnace that belched smoke and burned air. "How may I be of service?"

"So you're the one who found my baby sister?" Anatolii questioned, taking a step forward to meet Schugel.

"I will not deny it." he nodded, "I made sure that death and despair did not take her that night"

"For that, we thank you," Anatolii replied, the two brothers bowing before Schugel in deep gratitude. "You saved her life. I hope she has not made it too difficult for you."

The priest quickly shifted his eyes to glare at Viktoriya, memories of her first few nights in his church flashing like scenes in a movie. Define 'difficult'... He had to get rid of all the knives in the kitchen lest she would use them on herself. Same with the mirrors in the lavatories; in this economy, it cost him a small fortune of his time and effort to clean up and replace all the broken glass on top of having to bandage her bloodied hands. She had tried crafting a noose for herself so he'd hid all the chairs and ladders. She had eaten little and listened even less.

She wanted to die, to leave this wretched earth early, and enter Heaven. And for what? To escape? That is not how soldiers die. Nor do champions.

Thank God, however, that Viktorya still kept her faith in Tanya von Degurechaff. Some would say that it was blasphemous to invoke the Argent Silver in such a manner but what choice did Schugel have? He certainly wasn't going to let a troubled soul become a corpse in his own church. His own lab!

As for helping her recover…well, job stability was limited. Whether because of the economy or her faltering state, Schugel didn't press any further. Not when there was research to be developed.

"None at all." Schugel grinned. "They were difficulties I was glad to partake in."

"Again, thank you, Father." Kolya shook the old man's hand. "We are in your debt."

"Debt! Ha!" The old priest bellowed, "Say…now that you mentioned it, I could use some assistance trying to spread the word among the Eastern Church."

"Do tell," Anatolii hummed, "I suppose our priests could learn a thing or two from you." He pointed to a math equation. "They cannot know that for sure."

"What is it?" Kolya furrowed his brow trying to make sense of the numbers and letters."

"I'll be glad to explain." Father Adelheid, "It's been ages since I entertained guests of my previous line of work. Do you remember when this used to be called 'The New Science'? That equation is the future of physics."

"Anatolii, Kolya," Viktoriya spoke softly at her brothers. It was high time to get on with the real reason why she returned to this church. "Could you both please wait outside for a while? I want a private word with Schugel."

"Whatever for?" Anatolii titled his head, suddenly eyeing her with mild suspicion and curiosity.

"This doesn't concern you…"

"I'm the oldest brother in the family." he snorted, "It's my job to be concerned about you."

"And my job as well!" Kolya nodded.

"Then if you truly believe that you are protecting me," she grumbled deeply, "You will wait outside until my business here is done."

"But -" Anatolii tried to protest sternly.

"You forget." She placed her hand over his chest to force him to stop, "I hold rank over you."

That was…a mixed statement. Technically speaking, to avoid being labeled as a combat group by the federal government, the KSA had to forgo a traditional military hierarchy; as such, the leadership structure was far more fluid and informal. "Strickbreaker" groups formed around local personalities who cut their teeth leading squads or companies in the Great War. However, there was one constant truth: the overall leadership of the KSA was firmly in the hands of Elena Muller as the primary founder of the organization. Given Viktoriya's personal, intimate friendship with Executioner Elena - acting as her right-hand woman - the mage had the privilege to determine promotions and demotions within the organization.

If Viktoriya had to threaten her own blood just for a moment of compliance, so be it.

Thankfully, Anatolii understood the threat and let out an agitated sigh before turning his back and walking towards the exit with Kolya in tow. No doubt that she will be facing a tense dinner at home tonight; abusing her authority against her older brothers will certainly bring in some stern, perhaps violent, words from her father. Family sticks together - family elevates each other - nepotism is not always a dirty word.

Insanity was Loyalty.

Cruelty was Assurity.

Vindictiveness was Honorable.

Hate is Power.

"Tanya, why did you cast me out?" She thought bitterly to herself, "I did everything correctly. Since when did you care about methodology?"

"You did do everything correctly." Father Adelheid hummed, leaning over the brunette. "You did nothing wrong."

"Thank you." she murmured, "I needed to hear that."

"No need to thank me," He chuckled, "It is God's plan at work. But what did you want to speak to me about?"

Viktoriya raised her head to study Schugel's face. She immediately scanned him for any hint of deceit or treachery. An unfair treatment, by the priest's own account, he was a bigger fanatic of the Argent Silver than she could ever be. It was faith in God that ensured his loyalty; she was the messiah. The Chosen One. The fabled Ubermensch. She could trust him. He saved her life.

"Father…" she began, her mouth already disobeying and her voice reluctant to leave her throat. Even her own words felt alien. "Do you know what occurs in the cabarets?"

The priest snickered softly. "I have heard all the stories of debauchery and sin."

"Then, you would know about the men…liking male company?"

He nodded silently but slowly.

"And Waldeburg? And the women who listen to her?"

He nodded again.

"What if I told you…" Viktoriya stopped suddenly, suddenly feeling the urge to run and hide. To hide from the world and everyone in it.

"Take your time. I am not here to judge."

"Father, is there a place for me in heaven?"

If she were confessing to an Orthodox priest, she would have immediately died of shame for asking for the obvious. Of course, there was a place for her in heaven! She earned it by killing Judeo-Bolshevik scum! Father Gregori could not put it in simpler terms: she did holy work killing the faithless and the unrighteous, just like the Argent Silver. She butchered the spineless cosmopolitans, the godless communists, and everyone else who sought to defame Holy Rus and the Empire; she killed in honor of her new home country and her ancestors who served the Tzars. She was a God-fearing, faithful, and patriotic conservative! She has earned her place in Heaven by virtue of being a Christian! Yet instead of offending, Father Adelheid merely laughed.

"Let's not think too far ahead…" he placed a hand on her shoulder. "But I believe you earned your place in heaven. You served your country to the best of your ability. You fought with honor, with integrity, and with utter selflessness. No Kaiser or Tzar could ask for any more in a soldier."

"You believe or you know?" Viktoriya spoke with a wisp of fire in her words. This sounded too good to be true.

"Both." he grinned. "You may doubt me but that is the case. You will go where the Argent Silver goes. You don't need to have a degree in rocketry to know that."

"But…"

"But what?"

"I offended her greatly."

"Why?"

"Because…because…" Viktoriya gulped, "I committed a grave sin: I said I loved her. Not love like loving a good book or song…but I love her like a woman loves another. My father has been trying to get me to marry a man and fulfill my Christian duty but I kept refusing - kept delaying - because I want…I want to claim the Argent Silver as my husband. I want Tanya von Degurechaff as my…other half."

"Yet, she is a woman." Father Adelheid looked thoughtful. "If only she were born a man…"

Viktoriya nodded, trying not to cry. If Tanya were a man, he would be the most handsome man in existence and everything would have resolved itself. Tall, broad-shouldered, with golden hair and sapphire eyes deeper than any ocean…

"Do you know why the Papal Church excommunicated me?" the priest replied in a hushed tone. Soon enough, they both found themselves seated among the assembly chairs. "I wanted to search for the truth. About God. About existence. About nature and the laws that governed it."

"For the longest time, I have made the mistake of ignoring the connection between God and Science. In my naive, reckless youth, I thought I could replace God with technology. That I could uplift mankind through discoveries…But the Great War happened and only then did I see how truly ignorant I was. To hear the voice of God in my dreams - that HE revealed to me the secrets of mathematics that I so desperately tried to unveil. You saw those visions too, don't you? Viktoriya? You're not alone in that feeling. His grace was the most humbling experience…I am so grateful that God showed me the error of my ways. With this revelation, I could finally accomplish things once thought impossible."

"But the Papacy…" Viktoriya remarked.

"The Papacy." Schugel nodded grimly. "My eyes have been opened to the presence of God that these…charlatans claim to experience. I began to question the traditions and structure that they upheld for over a millennia. Each inquiry further revealed how suffocating and corrupt the system has become. 'We can't worship God like this.' I told the dusty old fools. Humanity can't progress and become closer to God if we continue this path of stagnation. We have made the mistake of separating science from its creator."

"But the Papal Church won't listen because why would they? When they have benefited most by keeping their flock ignorant and divided? God is of the earth, of water, air, and fire…and we, as God's faithful, must master these elements to demonstrate that we are made in his image. These equations I used daily during the Great War; they were not inventions. They were discoveries. The math has already existed, since the days of Adam and Eve, we just needed to uncover them. And by uncovering them, we can understand God better, and by understanding God better, we can worship and praise him better."

"But why start a new cul-heresy at all?" Viktoriya questioned. "Didn't you become a Protestant?"

"No, I told you before." He shook his head, "They are too divided and squabblesome. The Eastern Church remains primitive and rife with paganism. No, when I founded Positive Christianity - still laboring on the name - it was for one purpose: not to further divide Christianity but to unite it. A united Christendom. In Europe. Free from antiquated thinking and petty superstition. Where every man, woman, and child can use their faith and their intelligence for a singular, grander purpose. No more division. No more pettiness. No more separation of what is supposed to be one and whole."

The mad priest smiled eagerly in Viktoria's direction. "You know, Serebryakov, we could have that. A united Christendom. You could have Degurechaff as your husband. To bring forth a new age."

Though her mouth was shut, her eyes pleaded for it to be the truth.

"Serebryakov, if they don't accept you for who you are. Then leave them."

"But…who am I?" she asked incredulously.

"You are Viktoriya Ivanova Serebryakov, a veteran of the Great War and a soldier of God." He added, "And a champion. You are destined for greatness."

"Greatness…" She muttered, "You didn't answer my question."

"Yes." Father Adelheid smiled. "You will enter Heaven. You will go where the Argent Silver goes."

"But…my love - this lust - how?"

"Because it is not lust."

"How can you be so sure? Father Gregori -"

"Viktoriya," he huffed, "He may not recognize it but I do. And the purpose of this church and this religion is to bring humanity closer to God without any of these antiquated notions."

"You are asking me to leave my faith?!" She stood up immediately as if someone had set fire to the floor. "To leave everything I have fought for - killed for? What do you want from me?!"

"What do you want for yourself?" He shot back. "I washed you, bandaged you, and fed you from my hands. Look me in the eye and tell me that the Eastern Church brought you closer to enlightenment. Tell me that you are happy the way things are."

Viktoriya could not.

"I've attended Father Gregori's sermon once with you; I remembered that you ran out and heaved your luncheon into a nearby tree afterward. That man was all fire and smoke but without a hint of intellectual acuteness. He was a rabble rouser - not a real learner of God."

"I remember." she nodded before becoming silent again.

A long pause existed between the two loyalists.

"I want Degurechaff." the White Russy finally replied. "I want to claim her. I want to own her. There is no one else I would be content spending the rest of my life with."

Schugel smiled as he nodded in quiet satisfaction. Already, she could see the gears turning inside his head. "Did God reveal himself to you?"

"Yes." Viktoriya quickly nodded. "He did. I saw him in my dreams. I heard his voice. He showed me what would come."

"Good. Good." He got up from his seat and walked towards a closet at the end of the hall, beckoning for her to follow in his wake. "You are ready."

"Ready? Ready for what? Do I have to be baptized in a tub to join your faith?"

"Heh, not quite. I was referring to your destiny."

"Can you be any less vague?"

The pair finally reached the closet and with steady hands, Schugel silently opened the door. Inside were shelves laden with dusty folders, books, and other Degurechaffian posters. Everything was seemingly mundane and yet, the priest shifted his hand to touch a hidden trigger from behind the door frame, causing a soft click, and the entire shelf moved to reveal a well-lit staircase leading down into a secret basement.

Viktoriya was taken aback by the ingenious contraption and would have stared at the revealed entrance for eternity if it weren't for the priest placing his wrinkled hand on her shoulder.

"I hold you to your word that you have been touched by God." He began, "What I am about to disclose to you will demand nothing less than automatic obedience and devotion for the Argent Silver. Your life for hers."

Viktoriya immediately brushed his hand away, seemingly offended by the skepticism and the constraints, before marching down the steps. "I have served her faithfully and without question for nearly 10 years. I will die for her if it means that she will live."

"Very well," he closed the door and restored the decoy shelf to its original position before joining Viktoriya at the bottom.

"What is this place?" she asked, peering at the corner as she sought out a light switch.

"My lab. One of them at least. I haven't used this area to its full potential during the Great War since I had a bigger facility."

Lights revealed dusty old boxes, drawers, and more chalkboards displaying diagrams and complex equations but unlike those displayed above, the mathematics in question had a singular goal, an actual purpose; A new computation orb. But why? Wasn't the one that Tanya used already far advanced for its time?

"What do you know of nuclear fission?" Schugel asked unexpectedly. He didn't sound like Father Adelheid anymore, no, he spoke as if he were Development Chief Engineer again.

"Neutrons smashing into neutrons who then smash into more neutrons," Viktoriya answered, glancing over the paperwork filled to the brim with scribbles and drawings, "Chain reaction ensues, criticality is reached…"

"Ah, so you have been paying attention to my sermons." the old man beamed, "You are more intelligent than you give yourself credit for."

"Splitting Atom from Eve…but why?"

"When the tide finally turned against the Empire, Zettour and Rudensdorf approached me for a wunderwaffe. One that could win us the war once and for all. A weapon that could end all wars. We had Tanya as our soldier but she wasn't enough. The computation orb I designed for her, I thought it was the answer, but God revealed to me that it was only a stopgap measure. No, the Argent Silver did not have her real weapon."

"An atomic computation jewel?" Viktoriya turned to look at the old scientist.

"Precisely. Giving the Argent Silver the power of the cosmos to deliver the Empire from calamity, but alas…I was too late. The war ended and I had to enact scorched earth upon my workshops and factories to prevent my research from falling into Allied hands."

"Yet these designs look recent. You didn't stop. Just by glancing at the material, you had to spend a lot of money. Funds that you shouldn't have access to."

"If you want to make money, you found a religion. If you want to make more money, make it a state religion." Schugel gave a crooked grin, acknowledging the financial advantage of starting a church. "But Zettour helped, hence why we have to play a part with the Junkers."

"Zettour? He paid for this?" Viktoriya refused to believe that the old bastard would spend a single coin for this project, no matter how grand.

"Only a little, the bulk of it was paid for by the government."

"The government?! How would Chancellor Berning even agree to go along with this unless -" The mage stopped mid-sentence as she suddenly remembered the paralysis between the Progressive Bloc and the Conservatives.

"Zettour has his influence, but Rudensdorf is the distraction, assuming he still remembers me." He moved over to show a receipt and while Viktoriya was no stranger to ledgers and accounts, the numbers and scale of operation were alien to her. This conspiracy had ties to scientists and engineers that had been scattered across the Post-Imperial states; coworkers and colleagues of Schugel. All of them embedded in or undermining the governments of Daneland, Pullska, Magyarorzag, Czech-Slovak State, Lotherin, Osterry, and even Illyria in Yugoslavia. All of them moved money and materials across various facilities only for it to all converge in a mountain lair in Osterry.

"I don't know politics or war." Schuge stated, "But I know mathematics and those who practice it."

"Such an operation would have been exposed." Viktoriya protested, "There are too many variables at risk."

"You would be right. The SPD nearly found out that I was siphoning funds away from the budget when they were investigating Zettour's and Rudensdorf's regime but then…the November Boycott occurred."

Vikoriya's blood ran cold. This was too much knowledge for her to take in. Tanya should have been here instead…

"So why me?" she whispered, "I am not a scientist or a tinkerer. What role exists that requires me?"

"Because it is nearly ready." He answered with great reverence, "We have a prototype approaching completion and there is only one mage in Germania strong enough to test it."

"But the Argent Silver isn't here."

"No, she isn't. But you are. Deus lo vult, Viktoriya. This is destiny."

"To be a prophet?" she gasped in open disbelief, all her past woes suddenly fading like mist.

"To be a Herald for the Prophet." Schugel smiled.