Interlude II: In the Shadows of Giants

[July 15, 2152 | Trabia Garden, First Floor, Dormitories | 9:19 AM]

It had been a little over twenty-four hours since the defeat of Sin by the alliance of Garden, Dollet, and Estharian forces, and Ben was still recovering from the conflict. Not just physically, but mentally as well. He'd been exhausted when the fighting was over, and after being recalled to Garden he'd had just enough energy and willpower to patch up his injuries before falling into a deep sleep. Twelve hours later, he'd awoken and busied himself with figuring out the state of things following the titanic clash...and what he'd found wasn't pretty.

The allied forces had suffered heavy losses in the engagement, with roughly fifty percent dead and another twenty-five to thirty-five percent injured or incapacitated in some fashion. That meant that over twelve hundred Trabian SeeD had lost their lives in the fighting, with another few hundred unfit for immediate duty. The Headmasters of each Garden had removed all SeeD involved from mandatory duty - only allowing volunteer effort once cleared by a physician - until the conditions of everyone who had fought could be evaluated. Ben had gone back out to the field to assist Estharian forces in cleanup efforts, and the sight of it was enough to bring tears to his eyes. The entire field had been turned into a mishmash of tents, vehicles, and personnel scrambling everywhere as they finished recovering bodies of the fallen and remnants of destroyed equipment, and Ben had felt an uncomfortable similarity to the sights of hurricane cleanup back home as he had begun to help. He didn't know how many Estharian or Dollet soldiers had died, and he only hoped that their losses hadn't been too severe. Several hours had passed in what seemed like the blink of an eye as he helped late into the evening with the crews from Garden and Esthar before returning to catch a few hours of sleep at Garden.

"Hey...Manes," he started, forcing the last bits of tiredness out of his voice.

'What is it?' the Daiesthai's voice replied, ever-present at the back of his consciousness.

"You mentioned something about 'the Espada,' back when I was going off to take on Sin."

'And?'

"Who are they?"

For a moment, Manes was caught off guard - there was none of the annoying prattling he'd come to expect from his Hume host, nor tired arguments about how superior mortals were to the ones they called mere demons. Just a straightforward question, devoid of shallow fluff and posturing.

Surprising even himself, he began to answer.

'They are the swords belonging to the Overlord - the ten strongest Daiesthai in all the Nether Plane. His personal guardians and soldiers, to be blunt. Why?'

Ben stifled a yawn, heading out from the small room with his bed into the larger area serving as a living room. "I just wanted to know. The only things I know about the Nether Plane are what Lady Inihara and Lady Kuroki told me about, and I wanted to start learning more about the planes I don't know much about."

'The Nether Plane is a harsh, unforgiving place,' Manes said, warily wondering exactly what had brought about such a strange attitude shift towards him. 'Only the strongest Daiesthai can survive - the weak are consumed, killed to fuel the evolution of those willing to adapt and overcome.'

"Pure 'survival of the fittest' mentality, huh?"

'Of course. The strong survive, the weak perish. To a Daiesthai, survival and conquest are everything. The Overlord is a ruthless ruler, and to have a spot by his side is to declare your superiority to the entire plane.'

Ben started to digest the information as he rummaged atop the desk he had set up in the room, pulling aside a few papers and a book along with what looked like an inkwell. His stomach growled loudly as he searched for what he was after, and he sighed, obligingly deciding to head to the kitchen to fix a snack before he started working. "And you were almost there, weren't you?"

'I am number fourteen...and had I not been imprisoned here, I would have dethroned that impudent pink-haired Decima by now and taken my place in their ranks,' Manes growled, the mention of one of the Espada sending a series of brief flashes through Ben's mind, images of the one he was talking about.

"...Wait. Her? She's number ten? That's the most harmless-looking little girl I've ever..." Ben started, then abruptly stopped. "Oh yeah...harmless looking things usually mean horrible death in video games. Never mind."

'I will never understand this banal fascination you have with these so-called video games and...television,' Manes said.

"You have to relax somehow," Ben replied, shrugging as he finished making the sandwich he was after before taking a big bite. Casually, he stepped back over to the desk and set the sandwich and plate down on it before picking up the book and fumbling it open to one of many pages that he had marked inside.

Ben, like most SeeD, spent a large portion of his free time training, be that against monsters in the nearby plains and forests or against other SeeD. He'd made friends with quite a few other SeeD across his classes, with Tetsuya and his own group of friends some of whom he often practiced and discussed techniques with. While in one such training session, Naoki had absently mentioned something about seals to Sumiko, which had led Ben to ask what that was. In the conversation that ensued, Ben had been instantly hooked on the subject of the sealing arts that Naoki and Sumiko were familiar with and had all but begged them for some research material so that he could learn more about it. Naoki had gotten a few books from home several weeks later and lent them out to Ben, and Ben had spent a good portion of his time over the few weeks that followed just trying to understand the rather esoteric art.

The basics weren't too difficult to understand, but the more complex seals were creations of picture-perfect lines and swooping, intricate curves combined with enough energy to fully create and form them that even Ben was a little leery of trying too much too quickly. He'd had to carefully measure and practice even the most basic seals given how shoddy his overall artistic ability was, and it felt like it took him ten times as long to do even the simplest diagrams and patterns than it did even a relative novice like Sumiko.

What he had been working on for the past three weeks was something that was relatively easy to begin learning, but that would become vastly more complex the more he tried to do with it - a seal that could store mana for the bearer. Simple storage seals of the type only held a small amount but were simple to craft, but the concept seemed to scale infinitely and the complexity of the patterns exponentially as you tried to contain more mana in one seal. Compared to a lot of SeeD, Ben still struggled with low mana reserves even with his extensive otherworldly training, and the idea of having a sort of "battery" to draw on in desperate need was one that he thought was worth looking into deeply. There were so many variations on the basic forms that he knew he'd never be able to learn them all, but the very concept was so fascinating that he didn't mind the often-confusing and seemingly never-ending rabbit hole of ideas that the art gave.

Of course, it wasn't the only thing he was working on. His alchemy skill had grown by leaps and bounds, given that it was an art that he could apply practically to any number of things over the course of any given day, and he'd eventually started asking some very pointed questions about the higher levels of the art...including why some things were considered taboo. His instructor had frowned on the questions at first, but she eventually relented some as Ben's reasoning for asking became more clear. Human transmutation was the most grave sin of all when it came to alchemical studies, but transmutation on a human was a different matter entirely. The forbidden art of human transmutation was based around the idea of bringing beings back from the dead, using alchemy to harness enormous amounts of power and recreate their very soul...a process that never turned out well for either the practitioner or the one they were attempting to revive.

Performing transmutation on a human, however, wasn't quite the same thing. As long as you weren't attempting to revive the dead, it turned out that the art of alchemy had some very versatile applications when applied to things like healing or correcting deformities. Ben already knew how to do magical healing through simple spells like Cure magic, but the idea of knowing multiple ways of accomplishing that aim interested him, especially because there were some things that curative magic simply couldn't fix. Restoring lost limbs was something typically considered out of the realm of possibility for even the most advanced healing magic, but with alchemy and the right materials, it could be possible to reconstruct a lost limb along with all the nerves and muscles it contained.

Granted, he knew it would take absolutely staggering amounts of both medical knowledge and mana reserves, but the potential that lay within it was too much for him to pass up and he had begun to spend some of his free time studying anatomy and physiology to see if his ideas would bear any fruit.

He had only been reading through the book and the loose papers of scribbled notes tucked within for a few minutes when a knock at his dorm room door disturbed him from his thoughts. Wondering who it might be, he stood up from his chair and walked over to the door to pull it open.

"Hello, Benji."

The face of the Pillar of Destiny was, he reasoned, the absolute last person he would have ever expected to see at his door. His expression soured a little as he stood there, hearing the immediate and rather colorful ranting of Manes in the back of his mind at the sight of the Ethereal being. "Destine," he finally said, trying to remain courteous. "Can I help you?"

"I was wondering if I could come in...I wanted to talk."

Ben didn't answer for a tense moment. He'd heard that Destine had reconciled with Freya, but he'd not seen or spoken to her at all since that time, so for all he knew it could be another trick. Conversely, she also wasn't locked up within the Ethereal Plane, so...

"...Okay," Ben answered, stepping aside from the door to let her inside. As she walked through the door, he noticed something that was unusual and definitely different - a streak of hair that stood out from the rest of her normal dark-colored hair, a piece with a strangely icy and vibrant shade of blue that almost seemed to shimmer under the light. He idly wondered how and when that had happened, but decided against asking. "I'm surprised to see you here."

"I've been helping where I can. Katanas appreciated the gesture, given how much damage Sin caused," she said, sitting down on the small couch in the room. "I've never seen anything quite so powerful before, to be honest. Authors usually don't meddle in the lower planes."

"So you know about Wilhelm."

"I had suspected something was wrong about it when I first felt the power, but when I touched it myself...there was no mistaking it."

"Any clue why he'd do something like...Sin?" Ben hadn't necessarily meant to get on the topic, but he figured that he may as well try to get any information he could.

"I wish I knew. Mother didn't seem very pleased at what she witnessed. Apparently, she has had a...chat...with Erasmus."

A shiver ran unbidden down Ben's spine at the idea of Freya truly angry at someone, and he tried to brush it away as he took a seat again at the desk he had been working at, turning back to face Destine across the back of the chair. "So, what did you want to talk about? I imagine it wasn't just this whole business with a big fish."

Destine closed her eyes, head tilting down as she spoke. "No, it wasn't. I actually came to apologize."

For an instant, Ben wondered what she was talking about before the obvious struck him between the eyes. "Really," he said, keeping his voice level as a hint of anger started to creep in again.

"There's nothing I can do to make it right, I know. For whatever my word is worth, I am truly sorry for what I did to both of you."

Ben was silent for a long while, simply watching Destine with an almost unwavering stare as he tried to figure out how sincere she was being in her words. Infuriatingly enough, he found that he couldn't pick up on anything that might give away the fact that this was somehow another trick...and he didn't know if it meant that he simply couldn't read her, or that she was actually being honest with her feelings. The silence seemed to drag on forever as he mulled it over in his mind, but he found that he already knew the answer the more he thought about it.

"What you did hurt a lot - more Manes than me, if I'm being honest. At least I can still walk around freely. You probably hurt Lady Freya the most, though. How do you think she felt when another of her daughters decided to try and betray her?" he said, the Pillar still shying somewhat from his gaze. "But, you know...you're still here. Freya didn't lock you away for what you did, and that means she must've given you another chance. I guess that's as good a reason as any for me to try to do the same thing."

"...Thank you."

"Don't thank me just yet," Ben said, shaking his head. "You want to make this up to me, really and truly? Two things."

"Name it."

"First, you keep looking for a way to separate Manes from me. I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to spend the rest of his life stuck in my brain, and I'm not too keen on keeping it that way myself."

"And the other?"

"You promise me that you'll watch out for Lady Freya like you once did...be the daughter she needs you to be, and don't try anything stupid like that again. Pretty sure Will would smack you upside the head if you tried to do it again, but I'll throw it in anyway."

Destine's lips quirked into the tiniest of smiles as she gave a faint nod.

"I'm sure he would. I won't let him down again...or Mother."

"Glad to hear it."

Destine stood up from the chair, seemingly satisfied that she'd said all she needed to. "I'll take my leave now - I've taken enough of your time." Ben watched as Destine headed for the door, the Pillar stopping for a moment as she pulled it open. "Stay safe," she added, stepping out and shutting it behind her.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Ben asked, his turn to be caught off guard by a question.

"You acted as if my own situation troubled you more than sharing your mind with me. Why? Surely you aren't expecting me to repay you for some...falsified concern."

"Oh, that's what you mean," Ben said, getting up from the chair to make himself more comfortable on his small sofa. "Let me just..."

He closed his eyes, focusing on trying to disconnect himself from the outside world as he turned his awareness inward and dropped into his mindscape. Kari had taught him a lot about the concept of his inner self and mental state of being, and it hadn't taken him long to learn the basics of shaping a place within his mind to his desires. The transition of his awareness between outside and inside was still a bit jarring, but he figured that it would only get easier with practice. He found himself face to face with Manes as he regained his senses, the Daiesthai standing in the middle of the study-like room that he'd crafted as a place of relaxation and meditation.

"Sorry," Ben said, shrugging. "Face to face chats are a bit easier...especially since, you know, I can actually do that now."

"What kind of game are you playing?" Manes asked, folding his arms and frowning. He was sure his host was up to some kind of trick, something which was becoming even more suspect after the conversation not long before.

"I'm not playing any kind of game," Ben replied calmly, looking back at Manes with a slight grin on his face. "It just took me a little while to realize some things, that's all. Like the fact you aren't really my enemy, for starters."

"I would like nothing more than to rip your still-beating heart from your chest, and you label me as someone not an enemy?" Manes said, mockery filling his voice. "Do tell."

"Think about it. You said it yourself earlier. When you get right down to it, what do you really want out of your life? You want to be stronger, to be an Espada...to rule the Nether Plane, even."

"Of course. I told you that Daiesthai live for conquest, didn't I?"

"You did," Ben said with a nod. "As for me, I'm a Planeswalker for an entirely different plane that isn't even at war or at odds with your own. My entire position exists to be an envoy to other planes of existence and carry out Freya's will. What part of our two goals even intersect with each other, let alone get in the way?" Manes didn't answer, his face a picture of stony silence as he seemed to contemplate the idea.

"Let us suppose you're right in this naive assertion," Manes said slowly, sizing Ben up. "What is your point?"

"Simple," Ben said, a smile creeping over his face. "I want to make a deal."

The look Manes gave Ben was one part confusion, one part "you are clearly insane" as he watched the young Planeswalker, who was grinning like the cat that ate the canary.

"A deal, you say."

"A deal. If we're going to be sharing headspace for the next who-knows-how-long, I want it to at least be a livable arrangement instead of me yelling at you and you wanting to rip my head off every minute of every day."

"And what kind of...deal...are you proposing?" Manes asked, putting as much sarcastic emphasis as he could on the word.

"It's simple. You tone down the high and mighty, 'fear me puny human' rhetoric a little so that I don't go completely crazy, and I'll help you get stronger so that when you do get out of here, you can go curb stomp the Espada and take the place you deserve. The way I see it, it's win-win."

Realistically, Ben knew that even attempting such a frankly absurd plan was borderline crazy...but at the same time, he felt it had a better chance at working than even he might have thought. He'd been giving lots of thought to what Mai had explained about being a Planeswalker and the responsibilities that came with it, and the talk had opened his eyes to the realization that his primary duty and biggest responsibility was going to be diplomacy no matter what his patron actually tasked him with. Sending someone to a multitude of different planes wasn't something an Ancient was going to bother with unless they knew that the person could be level-headed, diplomatic, and attempt to make alliances and peace...no matter who or what they might be dealing with.

What better place to start practicing than with a Daiesthai that was stuck with him, for better or worse?

"Do you have any idea what you're suggesting? I could just as easily use whatever help you offer me to take over your mind and body for my own."

"Actually...no, you couldn't," Ben said, unwavering. "The moment Freya got wind that something had happened to me? You'd have nowhere to hide. I'm not the only Planeswalker she has, after all, and I'm sure she'd deal with the problem immediately...however you want to interpret that. It wouldn't end well for you, I'm sure. Wouldn't you rather get something out of the deal instead of throwing yourself into a situation you don't have a chance of escaping?"

Both kept their eyes locked on each other, neither one willing to give an inch as they continued their staredown. It was Manes, however, who finally broke the silence.

"...Very well. If you're offering yourself to be a pawn in my inevitable supremacy, far be it from me to refuse."

Ben let a small smile creep across his face, recognizing the words for what they were.

"Then it's a deal."

He felt his consciousness flow back into reality as he broke his focus on his mental world, snapping back to awareness all at once like a rubber band stretched too far - the transition was still a bit rough for him, but he'd been warned that he would need plenty of practice to improve on such a skill. He shook his head a little to clear it as he stood up from his seat, heading back towards the small section of the dorm that was his bedroom. The Diviner he'd been given rested neatly above his bed on a small mount, the green sash attached to the sheath folded carefully so as not to drape down onto the bed, and he stepped over to pluck it from its place as he readied himself to leave. Darius had wanted to train today, he remembered, and he wanted to make sure to at least grab a snack from the cafeteria beforehand.

"Greetings, child."

He almost dropped the entire blade and sheath in his hands as a voice echoed through his mind, something half-heard but enough to send a chill down his spine as he realized that it belonged to neither Manes nor Shiva.

"What the..."

"It seems that Inihara finally found someone she considers a worthy successor for my power."

That stopped him dead in his tracks, and he had to take care to wrap the sash around his hand to make sure it didn't fall from nerveless fingers as he realized exactly what he was hearing all at once.

Maybe, just maybe...Darius would be okay with training alone today.

[Nether Plane, Chateau du Suzerain, Overlord's Throne Room]

Aizen Sosuke was, above all else, a patient leader. One did not lead the Nether Plane for hundreds of years without being able to see the big picture and calmly, quietly, and effortlessly move pawns into place to maintain control and order among a world full of rampaging, instinctual beings. He was accustomed to waiting months, even years to accomplish his aims and whims, and prided himself on the careful and methodical approach that he took to any problem that presented itself. The solutions took many different forms, but one thing remained the same - Aizen's plans would give no quarter, and the obstacle would be crushed, be that an arrogant Daiesthai or a quiet shifting of power within his inner guard.

"You summoned me, my Overlord?"

However, equally important was knowing when timetables needed to be adjusted...even accelerated. Aizen looked up from his position atop his throne and smiled as he heard the mocking tones of a female voice fill the room along with the rumbling of the throne room door.

"I did, my lovely Xeria. I've an errand for you to run that is of some importance." If Aizen was at all affected by the woman's mockery, he didn't show it, merely continuing to smile as he watched his subordinate enter and bow with equal amounts of grace and disdain. She was quite the beautiful specimen, as Arrancar went - tall and slender, with a dark purple dress that went all the way to her feet and showed off quite a bit of her voluptuous assets. Her hair was jet black and went all the way to her feet as well, long and straight yet flowing with unnatural grace behind her like a dark curtain, broken only by the hint of white that rested hidden underneath her bangs.

"I'm sure," she said flatly, standing stiffly in front of Aizen. She hated how smug he acted, how he lorded his position over everyone without ever saying it outright...even the way his throne elevated him above those he spoke with irritated her, reminding her of how far she had to go to be able to rule. "And what errand, pray tell, do you have for me?"

"A simple request, nothing more. I wish for you to retrieve a certain someone for me."

Xeria scoffed. "Retrieval? You would send an Espada on nothing more than a...babysitting errand?'

"I would," Aizen said, focusing his reiatsu onto her in a show of force even as the smile on his face never wavered. "Those in this plane are mine to command as I see fit, my lovely Espada...you would be wise to remember that." She didn't cower or waver in the face of the Overlord's power - to do otherwise would be to show weakness, which was unacceptable for one of her station - but the threat was clear enough despite the calm words.

"...Fine. Who do you want me to retrieve?" she asked, still holding the defiantly biting tone to her words.

"A Hume of interest," Aizen remarked, gesturing and creating a viewing portal with a quick spell so that Xeria could observe. "I believe it is time for me to choose another champion...this girl will do nicely."

Xeria put a hand on her hip after a few moments, looking unimpressed. "She's young - you think her capable of standing with us?"

"Young, to be sure, but in time...she may yet eclipse all of you," Aizen said, dismissing Xeria's objection with a haughty wave. He didn't know that to be true, admittedly, but he knew his words would only prod the defiant Espada into compliance through the hopes of watching his chosen fail. Aizen could see the miniscule tightening of her jaw and clenching of teeth, and the way her body language shifted as she crossed her arms let him know his barb had made its mark.

"Humph...fine, then. I'll retrieve your precious little Hume for you," Xeria said. "When she fails to meet your expectations, I'll be sure to mold her into a Fraccion worth having."

She spun on her heel and stormed out of the room before Aizen could say anything else, the planar leader watching with mirth as she exited in a huff. He was always amused at how easily he could get under the skin of his Novena Espada. He was about to stand from his throne when he stopped, feeling the energy signature of one of his chosen emerging from a Planeswalk inside his throne room. If he didn't know any better, he would have said that they were simply waiting for the Espada to leave before entering...which made sense, he reasoned.

"You called for me, my lord?" Katanas said, offering a polite bow to Aizen as he arrived.

"I did, Sir DeValle," Aizen replied with a slight nod. "I have something that I would like you to arrange for me."

"Oh?"

"In light of...recent events," Aizen began, "I've decided that the situation in the outer planes may be more unstable than we suspect. I would like you to travel to Soul Society and arrange a meeting with the Lord Sovereign to discuss...a shared interest in the stability of our planes." Katanas was no stranger to Aizen's wordplay, given how long he had been serving as his Planeswalker, but the meaning behind his carefully chosen words was somehow unnerving to the young chosen. Recent events in the outer planes had been rather quiet, in fact, except...

"I understand," Katanas said, his words' double meaning likely not going unnoticed to Aizen even as Katanas' mind raced. The only plane with recent turmoil was the Ethereal Plane, something which had not gone unnoticed by either of the two other planar leaders. He knew from his contacts in Soul Society that Byakuya hadn't been particularly concerned with the goings-on therein at the time, but something could have changed now, he knew. Particularly, in fact, if Aizen himself were involved.

"I assume you would like it to be soon?" he asked Aizen, trying to dig a little deeper with the innocuous question.

"I would, though I understand that the Lord Sovereign has his own business to attend to. The meeting can be done at his convenience," Aizen replied in an even tone.

Good, Katanas thought to himself - he would likely have some time to think. Byakuya Kuchiki wasn't one to do things in half measures or without thinking them through, so he would almost certainly have some time to try and figure out what Aizen's game was before anything further happened. While he was a Nether Planeswalker and still loyal to Aizen, Katanas believed first and foremost in preserving the balance between planes and realms, and he had no desire to see any more conflict involving the other planes.

"I'll see to it immediately, my lord," Katanas said, earning a brief nod from Aizen as both an acknowledgement and a dismissal. His mind still awash with thoughts and conjecture, he turned and stepped into a Planeswalk without a sound that took him away from the Overlord's palace. No sooner had Katanas left than a knock came upon the large doors serving as the entrance to the throne room, causing Aizen to chuckle lightly - it would seem he was at the middle of a flurry of attention today. That was good, as it meant that those who served him were punctual in their duties. Nothing less would suffice for someone who served under the Overlord, after all.

"Enter," he said, watching the large and heavy door creak open slowly as a blond woman in a white dress with black trim stepped inside - one of his aides, he realized. She wasn't as strong as the Espada by any means, but she served her purpose in other ways which were more important than simple combat.

"I apologize for intruding, my lord, but you have a visitor who wishes to speak with you. She is...someone of importance," the woman said, looking almost frightened as she spoke the words. Now Aizen was interested, enough so to even disregard his underling's failing to speak the visitor's name in light of his amusement.

"You may send them in," he replied, watching as his aide bowed deeply before exiting and leaving the door open behind them. He watched as the guest in question stepped into the room with him, and his small, satisfied smile returned to his face as he saw who had come to address him.

"I see that my message reached you. Am I to assume this visit means that you wish to bargain?"

Mai Kuroki simply smiled at Aizen, bowing politely before straightening again and putting a hand on her hip.

"Of course. My plans are already in place - I believe we have much to offer one another, given the circumstances."

Aizen chuckled, clasping his hands and leaning forward atop his throne.

"Indeed we may."

[Hueco Mundo, Hana's Domain]

"I've never seen you quite so worried, Will."

The Pillar of the Future sighed, looking over at the one he'd come to visit. Hana - the Author of the First Realm - was one of the few people that he was truly close with, someone that he would trust with his life and beyond. She pushed a strand of inky black hair back behind her ear, watching him with a concerned look as he sat in the chair beside her. Their surroundings were unusually plain for someone of Hana's station, yet fitting all the same, a quaint-looking study with pristine wooden furnishing, filled with bookshelves and antiquities from all manner of places.

"I've never had quite so much to worry about, I think," Will replied, his usually calm voice laced with worry and pent-up stress. "I feel as if I'm running out of time."

"The Pillar of the Future, running out of time? Quite an impossibility, you would think," Hana said, trying to lift Will's spirits. She knew what was bothering him, but to say it outright may attract problems that neither wanted to face...yet, at least. "Why would you think that?"

"There have been...events...in the Eighth Realm, things that have a certain feel about them, and it makes me wonder," Will said, his voice retaking some of its cool demeanor. "How much time I have, and how much he really knows. Or suspects. I can't be sure, of course...but it bears wondering."

"What of your agents? Are they safe?" Hana asked, resting her chin thoughtfully in one hand.

"Yes," Will said, "of that, at least, I am certain. He does not know of them, and with any luck, will not until we are ready to move."

"Then you have at least some position of power," Hana said with a nod. "You do well to prepare the way you do - the assistance we can offer is limited until the time comes, but we will be ready. Even Godric offered no objection to the actions we may need to take."

"As Godric is quite fond of self-preservation, I didn't expect him to object," Will said, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "Even so, he has had ages to prepare...much longer than we thought. And I still cannot see him, not without revealing myself in kind."

"I wish that we didn't have to wait for him to make the first move, but we risk our plans falling to ruin if we don't," Hana remarked, frowning. "If his influence reaches any further, if it reaches one of us..."

"You don't have to remind me," the Pillar stated, shaking his head. "I've seen...several times now. It isn't pretty."

"Several times...?" Hana questioned, looking increasingly more concerned. "Do you mean -"

"I do," Will said, nodding slowly. "Fayt. Destine. Hyne. Each one fell under his influence without even realizing it, without noticing that the fundamentals of reality that they served to protect and assess were becoming damaged around them." He leaned forward, furrowing his brow. "His subtlety has grown since he was imprisoned...we didn't notice what was happening until after all was said and done, decisions made that cannot be undone."

"And all we can do is limit the damage," Hana finished, Will nodding again as she finished his thought before standing from his chair.

"I must go, Hana - Mother may begin to worry if I am gone too long," he said with a smile, both he and Hana knowing that no such thing would happen. Hana stood as well, reaching out to take one of Will's hands in her own as she gave him a solemn look.

"Please, be careful - you, your agents, the other Pillars, everyone. We know nothing about when he may strike next, but I would wager that he is planning even now for another move...the biggest question is where."

"We will," he replied. "I'll let you know if we find out anything further...let's just hope that luck stays mostly on our side for now."