Last Command of the Witheld Arc 1: Rebirth

Xander Vasilias, ☆☆Graviton Knight, Stone lvl 14

Vasilias Compound, Town of Heldon, Aragonia

The Situation Room had been emptied to allow for Xander’s secure communication with the High Lady Vasilias. He sat at the main conference table in the center of the room and set up his Systablo, settling himself on one of the task chairs arranged around the table. The secure connection to the Systablo was an advanced anima configuration—most Stone rank Reborn couldn’t accomplish it but Xander had always been a natural at anima configurations—and took several minutes of careful manipulation to enable without wiping out the Systablo and engaging the House security measures.

The complex spells and devices layered over the Situation Room that ensured the rare long-distance communication over System-linked Systablos was secure made the entire process costly (the System charged a super premium price for the privilege of using it for communication over any distance) and potentially dangerous. High Lady Vasilias was a gifted Datamancer Class so she had powerful Class abilities and grafts that would guard the connection and ensure data integrity, but she was not the most powerful datamancer in the Empire and there was no telling who could insert a slippery hacking eidolon or multi-stage virus. Entire Houses had been destroyed by a well-timed cyberattack, but her instructions had been quite clear: as soon as he was well enough to resume training, he was to contact her via the System.

He'd been dreading this. His convalescence had taken far longer than Culvis had anticipated. He hoped the extra time had cooled his mother’s temper somewhat, but he doubted that it had. The Tyrannoarchiteuthis’ venom had proven to be much more tenacious than they’d expected and Xander’s weakness had persisted for almost four long weeks; time enough for his mother to stop being angry about his Dungeon delve and start being angry about being put off for so long.

The Systablo lit up as his anima completed the secure connection. Through his anima connection, the Systablo painted the House Vasilias dataspace in luxurious detail. Other Houses had dataspaces as beautiful as this, but none could boast the integration of form and function that Rikael Vasilias had here.

The virtual world of the House Vasilias dataspace was functionally endless, limited only by storage capacity and computing power. Lady Rikael Vasilias and the datamancers of House Vasilias for generations past had been tinkering and designing and optimizing their dataspace until it resembled a tranquil paradise. Xander found himself in the middle of a vast and fragrant garden. He stood on a wooden bridge overlooking a winding brook with the vibrant orange petals of spiny plum tree blossoms floating along it, taking in the view as he centered his thoughts and tried to prepare himself one last time before he met with his mother.

The best way for him to focus was to remind himself of the utility behind each aesthetic choice. The water in the brook, so realistic in its burbling, splashing progress, was more than it appeared to be: like everything here, it was a virtual representation of something else. Usually, the water was the aggregated news feeds coming from all over the province from official and unofficial sources, but he hadn’t accessed the House Vasilias dataspace since before his delve so he wasn’t sure what the stream represented now. Frankly, it was a little exhausting keeping track of everything, but that’s frequently what it felt like to talk to his mother—at least sometimes.

He felt her presence before he saw her. One moment she wasn’t there, the next she was. She had rose-scented perfume on, of course. Xander looked down at her cautiously, trying to gauge her emotions by the expression on her face. It was impossible of course.

Rikael Vasilias had schooled her face into serenity, her large brown eyes heavy-lidded like she was barely paying attention, though she had perfect posture with her shiny black hair tumbling down her back in unconstrained waves. She had chosen to appear in her official Imperial Senate robes, presumably to impress into Xander’s head just how important she was. It was a deliberately confrontational decision and Xander felt himself bristling before they’d even spoken a single word.

I can’t start this conversation angry at her or it’ll only get worse, he thought. I don’t want to get into a shouting match with my mother. She’d win. Let it go, Xander. Just let it go. Let her do her control thing and then take the course of action you know you’re going to take anyway. That was the only way he’d found to deal with Rikael Vasilias. At least this time, her goals and his lined up in a broad sense so he felt somewhat justified in disobeying the letter of her orders so he could fulfill the spirit of them.

Rikael examined Xander critically, her sharp gaze catching every detail. Xander felt like squirming but mastered the urge. Even though she was almost half a meter shorter than he was, her eyes were imperious and demanding, holding him still as surely as if he’d been paralyzed by the Tyrannoarchiteuthis venom again. He felt like a little child in her presence—one that had just gotten caught stealing sweets or with a broken palace vase at his feet.

Rikael let the silence build between them for several long seconds—almost an entire minute—before she opened her arms and beckoned him in for an embrace. Feeling himself relax, Xander smiled slightly and stepped into his mother’s arms. Her warmth enveloped him as they hugged and for a moment, he forgot she was the High Lady and he was a House Scion and they were simply mother and son. It was only with reluctance that he let her go as he felt her arms relax.

The tension that had been building between them had dissipated somewhat. Rikael took a deep breath and turned to look at the brook winding through the gently swaying plants in the garden. “My son, I am so happy to see that you have healed from your little adventure in the Water Temple. I must say, I was quite…surprised…when I got the Dungeon report that day but no communication from you beforehand.”

Here she goes, Xander thought. The veiled threats, the barbed insults that don’t sound like insults. I’ve stopped being her son now and I’m now just a House Scion.

“I am a Classed, Stone rank Reborn, mother, not a child,” he replied, trying not to sound petulant. “And I had every right to direct my team to the Water Temple for a delve. We still had a quota to fill.”

She sniffed sharply through her nose and said, “You and your quotas! This is becoming more than tiresome, Xander. It is becoming exhausting. I pay the Imperial tax collectors a premium to allow you more noble pursuits so you don’t have to go grubbing about in Dungeons filling ethershard quotas like some…some independent! We have a reputation to maintain.” She said the word ‘independent’ like a curse.

“Mother, it’s against the Last Command to shirk our duties, you know that!” Xander replied, feeling the old anger spark. Rikael Vasilias did know how to push every single button to make him argue with her. “The Witheld gave all Reborn the Last Command—”

“Oh come now, Xander, the Witheld and all their Commands are a child’s bedtime story. You are old enough now to have outgrown those silly ideals.”

“They are not silly—”

Rikael cut him off with a gesture, “I am not spending ten thousand credits a minute to argue this point for the hundredth time. I am not even angry that you risked your life on a delve.” Her voice got sharp enough that Xander was surprised his ears weren’t bleeding, “The real problem was that you did not even include a PR team! If you’re going to be risking your life despite my wishes…as all young Stone rank Reborn do, you should at least have marketable vid files for it.”

Xander ground his teeth and wanted to argue with her, but he really couldn’t. It had been foolish to waste the opportunity. That Boss fight would have been incredibly popular and with his House’s new status, he could’ve gotten it out on the System’s entertainment channels. It would have gained them status—even the defeat—and in the Empire’s constant political shuffling, any rise in status was a rise in power and influence. He could have also earned several hundred thousand credits at least just from the combat footage.

In the end, he just had to accept that he’d made a serious misstep here. “I’m sorry Mother, I let the House down.” He bowed his head and decided to be completely truthful with his mother. She would find out sooner or later anyway. “I…I was so concerned with how you’d react about Zahara joining my team that I was negligent to my duty to the House.”

“And why would I react poorly to Zahara?” Rikael asked, her voice sounding sincere. “She is an Ivory-rank owner and operator of one of the most successful entertainment venues for both noble and commoners alike. She’s quite the catch.”

Xander suddenly had a cold feeling in his stomach. Did his mother truly not know? He caught the subtle twitch on his mother’s virtual cheek and felt like a fool once more. Of course she knew. “You knew she’s a Bardoul, didn’t you?” He asked, defeated.

“You think there’s a single man, woman, or other being to whom you would so intimately attach yourself to that I would not know everything about as soon as possible?” She snorted indelicately through her nose and shook her head. “I knew you were sleeping with the Bardouls’ estranged middle daughter. Did you truly think you were being secretive?”

Xander had nothing to say to that. Today would be one of those days where his mistakes just cascaded on one another. This was why he had been dreading this meeting: his mother always knew just how to make him feel like a complete fool.

Rikael snorted out a little laugh at his silence. “Come now, my son, do not be so downcast. You should be glad you have a mother who loves you like I do! Now, imagine the vidreels and coverage you could have gotten from the unfolding drama of a Bardoul outcast with a Vasilias Scion risking their lives together. You begin to see why I am so upset at the lost potential!”

She let that sink in for a long few moments. Xander wisely kept quiet. He had been well and thoroughly rebuked, but she had not levied any kind of punishment or material consequence against him. As High Lady, she was well within her rights to do so for any perceived infraction let alone his blatantly careless actions.

Rikael strolled along the bridge until she reached the other side, leading Xander along. They walked together in silence along the gravel path of the garden, taking in the artful arrangements of virtual flowers and enjoying a carefully configured and controlled virtual gentle breeze. The silence stretched as they walked. To Xander, it felt surreal. He had expected her to be angry for carelessly risking himself. But no. That wasn’t it at all.

Finally, Rikael broke the silence, “There was another reason I wanted you to contact me when you were well. I have finally managed to trace the location data from the System’s log messages for the Scions who made us a Great House.”

Xander’s eyebrows rose and he found himself interested despite his anger. “You found them! Where?”

Rikael smiled and said, “That is the best part: one of them is in or on Mt. Discovery, right near you!”

“Near me? Ha, it’s practically in my lap!” Xander exclaimed. “Mother, let me and my team go and get the Scion for you. Please tell me you haven’t already dispatched a Sapphire rank team for this!”

She shook her head and said, “Our Ivory and Sapphire rank teams have all been recalled of course, but the nearest one is still two days away even traveling at dangerous speeds. I am tempted to wait for them regardless, but with you and your team already so close…” she paused dramatically, then nodded. “Very well. Go get the Scion and bring him back to Heldon. Do it quickly, do it quietly. Higher-rank teams are on the way to oversee the Scion’s safety.”

Xander nodded and then asked, “You said there were two Scions. One is on Mt. Discovery, but where’s the other one?”

Rikael replied, “Out of our reach for now, in the Cataclysm Mountains deep within an unstable tensa region.”

She walked over to a tree a little off the path with bright magenta flowers and heavy, dark orange gurgha fruits hanging in large bunches. She plucked one from the bunch and peeled it, dropping the peel onto the ground where it melted into the digital dirt. Xander followed her and took one of the juicy, crimson pieces of fruit that she handed to him cocking one questioning eyebrow at her. In response, she popped a piece of fruit into her mouth and chewed slowly.

Xander followed suit, putting the piece of gurgha into his mouth and chewing slowly, savoring the rush of sweetness. As the fruit dissolved in his mouth, a welter of information seeped into his mind, crystallizing there as if it were his recent memory. He now ‘remembered’ that his brother, Ravi, was in the Cataclysm Mountains with a team of his own—heading an entire expedition to claim one of the Cataclysm Dungeons and perform testing on some spell matrices on the monstrous orcs and their ilk. He also ‘remembered’ that this was a House secret, not to be shared with anyone else.

“The Scion in the Cataclysm Mountains is beyond your reach, but not your brother’s. It will only be a matter of time before that one is accessible—they’re in a Tutorial Realm now, inaccessible to everyone, including House Bardoul, the orcs of the mountains, and the nastier monsters out there.” She frowned and shook her head. “We could not pinpoint that one’s location any closer than ‘the Cataclysm Mountains’, which is quite the area as you know. Ravi will be best positioned to track them down.”

Xander nodded. If Ravi can’t find that one by the time they exit their Tutorial, they’re dead anyway, he thought. No wonder Mother wants to move fast to get the one on Mt. Discovery. Aloud, he said, “Understood, Mother. Is there anything else, or shall I begin preparations?”

His mother popped another piece of fruit into her mouth and closed her eyes in pleasure as she ate it. She waited a long few moments, then said, “Go now, my son.”

Right as Xander was about to pull his anima away and disconnect, she said, “And Xander? Don’t forget the PR drones this time.”

Xander was blushing as he disconnected from the dataspace and his awareness returned to reality. His cheeks were still hot from the tongue-lashing he’d gotten. Still, nothing had been ruined. His team would find this Scion on Mt. Discovery and bring him back to Heldon and they’d have plenty of vid content to use for their team reel.

He waved a hand over a small metal plate inset on the conference table with an intricate etheric circle inscribed on it. He pushed tensa into the circle, focusing his mind on his party at the same time. A pulse of tensa lit up the circle and sent a signal to his team and support staff to join him in the Situation Room.

They were all officially supposed to be on leave, but he knew his team and his staff would respond quickly; everyone, that is, except Jess. Jess liked to be late on purpose. They should mostly arrive within the next twenty minutes or so, then after a quick briefing, they’d be to the mountain. They could begin searching right away.

As he predicted, the rest of his team filed in along with the rest of the support staff twenty minutes later, almost to the second. He didn’t comment as people shuffled in, some carrying mugs with steam curling up from them. He was waiting for Jess to come in.

Culvis’s huge, broad frame made the big chair he sat in seem small. Salyyb had brought a magical light with him hovering around his headflower, the ginpaari finishing his afternoon meal as his leaves drank in the light. Zahara arrived kitted out in her performing gear with her djevek resting in its case on the table in front of her.

Jessaline ran in just then, only five minutes late. That was practically early for Jess. Xander raised an eyebrow as she found her seat at the conference table, but she studiously avoided his look. Xander sighed and straightened his shoulders, standing up from his seat. He felt everyone’s attention focus on him like a physical force, but he was prepared for this. He’d been trained for this.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” he said and proceeded to plan out the mission that would secure House Vasilias’ future in the Empire.