The chairman gestured for the others to sit and said, “Welcome, Vydor. We have reviewed all your reports, and heard Larath’s testimony about you, but we are a bit baffled as to why you are here. We sent no order for you to come.”
“I sent the order,” a voice said from behind us. I turned to look and saw the Emperor himself walking in. He was wearing his regal black robes of office, and carrying the scepter of authority in his right hand. He was much older than I had expected but still had a powerful stride and a confidence built on the might of the Empire itself.
“Greetings, Honored One,” I said as I made a small formal bow. The rest of my wizards mimicked my bow in perfect unison.
“Sire, I apologize, but I was not informed of this order,” said the chairman as he and the others scrambled to their feet.
“That is fine, please remain seated. I want to hear Vydor’s report,” said the Emperor as he took his seat on the throne.
“Get shields up on everyone but Larath, especially the Emperor,” I said to the wizards via our link. “I am about to tip our hand and things could get ugly.”
I walked a few steps towards the Emperor and said, “Honored One, I cannot, for a traitor is in our midst.” This brought a gasp of surprise from several members of the High Command.
I turned and looked right at Larath, but before I could make my next move he pulled out a wand and yelled, “Your feeble Empire is no match for us!” He then fired three bolts right at the Emperor in rapid succession. The bolts hit Darnath’s shield and burst into harmless light.
I moved towards him and he lowered his wand at me. Before he could fire the wand flew out of his hand, thanks to quick thinking by Jerran. As I neared him, my anger over the loss of the Dark Knights welled up. My voice was dripping with venom as I said, “I have a message for you to send to your masters.” I saw fear pass over his face just before I swung my staff, battering him in the side of his head with great force. He crumpled to the ground. I picked up his wand and finished him off. It took me a moment to regain my composure, but thanks to Andreya’s illusions no one knew.
Before I could say anything, security forces rushed into the room and surrounded all the members of High Command and the Emperor.
“The situation is under control. Dispose of the body, and stand down,” ordered the Emperor.
They moved to comply with great precision and speed. Once they were gone, the Emperor said, “Now would you share your report?” I was somewhat surprised at how fast he could move on.
“Sire, I would like to know more first about what just happened,” said the chairman.
“I fully expect that to be part of Vydor’s report,” stated the Emperor.
As was the proper custom, I faced the Emperor directly before speaking. This put my back to where High Command was sitting, which felt a bit rude, but that was not for me to decide, I guess.
“Yes, Honored One. War has come to the Empire from a new quarter. A group of aliens who call themselves sorcerers have already invaded our realm and attempted to set up a base on Arken IV. This attempt was defeated by the combined efforts of the Black Adders and the Dragon Claw’s fleet. The sorcerers wield great power, and have already infiltrated our highest ranks with their spies. Larath was one of five known spies in top consular positions throughout the fleet. These positions give them access to sensitive information which no other position in the Empire could give.” I paused here to let that sink in a bit. “Larath’s attack on the Emperor was uncharacteristically drastic for them, but I blame that on the fact that he was only an apprentice, and relatively inexperienced in his art.” Since Larath was so highly respected for his skill, I wanted to make sure I cast him as weak amongst his peers to give a proper respect for the power of our enemy. “Honored One, with your permission I have a visual presentation to better illustrate who our enemy is.”
“Proceed, Vydor,” said the Emperor with a tone of curiosity.
“Andreya, please show the fleet demonstration,” I said aloud, then across our connection, “Can you make an illusion of this?” and sent her a series of mental images.
“Sure, Vydor, but next time how about a bit more warning?” was her reply across our connection. “Yes, Master Vydor,” she said aloud with a tone of extreme respect. Our group then spread out into a circle. Jerran helpfully reached out and lowered the room lights a bit as a 3D image of the Dragon Claw’s fleet appeared in the center of the circle, high enough up in the air for all to see.
“Honored One, what you see here is the most powerful arm of the Navy, the Dragon Claw and her fleet,” I said. Then the image shrank a little and off in the distance we saw a small shuttlecraft. “Here is a single, simple shuttle to represent the number of sorcerers needed to completely defeat the Dragon Claw. Now watch how it plays out. Andreya, play it through to its conclusion without stopping.”
“Yes, Master Vydor,” she replied.
The scene that followed brought gasps from all of High Command and a look of worry on the face of the Emperor. What I had Andreya show was the fleet turning on itself, ship against ship, and crewman against crewman. It was a bloodbath, the like of which had never been seen in all of history. When the illusion finished, the lone shuttle was left flying through a graveyard of destroyed ships.
“Honored One, that is what will happen when the sorcerers decide to move in force against the Empire. What you saw there was one of their simpler but devastating attacks. This is not a theory or a guess; they have already used it on us once. It is a combination of a fear weapon and a hallucination weapon. In short, they can turn us against each other completely eliminating any chance for an Imperial victory,” I explained, then over our connection I said, “Andreya, can you display the invasion of Lieutenant Tom’s forces?”
“No, I did not witness it, but I did see the final battle of the Dark Knights. Would that work?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said with some hesitation. I was not sure I was ready to see that yet, but this was too important to stand in the way. Aloud I said, “Andreya, please show the final battle of the Dark Knights. Just bring up the initial scene and hold it there.”
“Yes, Master Vydor,” was her reply.
Upon hearing her say that it occurred to me that I was not speaking to the Emperor as a lowly soldier, for I was speaking now as an equal, a fellow ruler. The formal title of master which everyone would have to use to me now scared me a little. Instead of executing orders, I would have to give them. The burden of that was starting to weigh on me as I realized that the future of the Empire might depend on my presentation right now.
“What you see before you is the best of the best, the Dark Knights. At the start of this battle there were twenty-five of them, heavily armed and ready for combat. Earlier in our mission we had discovered how to block the fear and hallucination weapon. What you are about to see here is how easily our elite forces were defeated. Andreya, let the scene play out,” I said.
They all watched in horror as the Knights’ weapons proved ineffective against the shields of the sorcerers. I noticed Andreya had left me completely out of it, which I was thankful for since I did not want to distract from my presentation by explaining how I had lived through it. As she got to the end of the battle I saw for the first time how they had died. One of the seven appeared. Unlike the other sorcerers, he stood tall and did not hide behind a shield. Instead, he walked forward, completely immune to all the weapons being brought against him. He casually lowered his staff and fired a single blast. Andreya masterfully shifted the scene so that everyone’s eyes followed the bolt of energy right down to the center of the Dark Knights’ position. The resulting blast ripped a hole right through to the outside atmosphere, sucking any who might have survived out on to the surface of the planet to die. The sorcerers were safe behind a shield wall, but the Greenskins all perished, as they were with the Dark Knights. The scene faded and everyone was silent.
“Andreya, please bring up an image of that master sorcerer just before he blasted, and nothing else,” I said via our connection.
“Honored One, the sorcerers break up their forces into seven ranks. They are prospect, student, apprentice, journeyman, elite, master and grandmaster. Each level is exponentially stronger than the previous level. We do not have a count of their total forces but we know there are six master sorcerers and one grandmaster who make up their ruling council. This man here is one of seven known to be on their ruling council. As you saw, his power is far greater than any of the others and he does not care how many of his own troops die, as long as he wins. The hard truth is that the Empire presently has nothing that can stand against him, and he is but one of seven,” I explained.
“Vydor, what about the Black Adders?” he asked.
“Honored One, they fought hard and well, killing many of the sorcerers, but when this one and the other six arrived on the scene, they were outmatched and almost all of them were killed.”
“Vydor, you said that you found a way to block their hallucination attack, so we should be able at least to prevent what we saw in your first video?” asked the chairman.
“Yes, I did, but it requires a very strong mind and a dedication that I would say fewer than ten percent of the Imperial forces can muster,” was my reply. I let that sit for a bit. I needed to prepare myself for the hard part: our resignation and request for recognition as a separate nation. Every life in the Empire depended on me pulling this off; I dared not fail. I was tempted to reach out with my powers and force the situation to play out the way it needed to, but a voice deep down inside me that I had not heard in a very long time cried out against that. I could barely hear it, but I knew it was right.
“Honored One, if this was the end of my report, it would be a sad day indeed for the Empire, but there is hope to be found. We successfully contacted a second group of aliens, known as wizards, and through them we learned much about the sorcerers, namely that they are currently locked in a very long and closely-matched war with the wizards. It seems that the sorcerers are in our realm looking for some new weapon which they believe is here, and they believe that weapon will grant them the needed edge for victory in their realm.”
“The enemy of an enemy is a friend,” commented the Emperor with a smile.
“Well spoken, Honored One. A representative of the ruling Council of Wizards who simply goes by the name Mantis contacted us. He is the one who showed us how to create the shield that just saved your life, and how to fight a sorcerer like Larath.” I paused here to think about what I should say next. However, before I could formulate my thoughts, the Emperor stood and raised his scepter. I knew that meant he was about to speak officially and whatever he decreed would be law.
“I have heard enough. I can see how the rest of the story plays out. Do not be surprised, there are after all seven of you,” he said with a smile, and then a serious look came over his face.
“By the power vested in me, I hereby grant Vydor, Kellyn, Andreya, Jerran, Gafar, Darnath, and Luke honorable discharge from their positions in the Imperial forces, and release them from their citizenship. Let the record show these men and women are worthy of the highest honor and respect for their dedicated service. So let it be written, so let it be done,” he declared.
“The High Command witnesses this declaration and shall obey,” came the reply from the chairman, who looked very confused.
“By the power vested in me, I hereby grant official recognition to the Council of Wizards for our realm as led by Grandmaster Vydor, and his ruling council comprised of Master Kellyn, Master Andreya, Master Jerran, Master Gafar, Master Darnath, and Master Luke. I also grant full ally status to said council and commit the full resources of the Empire to support them.”
“The High Command witnesses this declaration and shall obey,” came the reply from the chairman, who looked like he had finally caught on.
Well, he might not have been my childhood god any more, but he sure could still shock me! This really made no sense. How did he make that leap so fast? I wondered if it would be considered proper for me to grill him a little about this.
He sat down, indicating that his official ruling was complete. I promptly said, “Thank you, Honored One, your generosity and insight is without measure.”
“High Command, please leave us. I must speak and plan our defense with the Council of Wizards,” ordered the Emperor. It was a mostly forgotten custom that the Emperor directly handled planning with allies, mainly because the Empire had assimilated all of its allies, but the High Command seemed to remember it since they left without complaint.