Professor Orden raised a hand to her chin. “You’re still dodging the real issue, Vera. Why don’t you tell us exactly what Echion is?”
“He’s…” Vera glanced from side-to-side. “His attunement is unique. It’s not like a human attunement. It’s structured more like the power used by a god beast.”
Okay, Orden might have succeeded at deflecting our attention after all. Everyone’s eyes shifted to Vera. I replied first. “Wait, what?”
Vera scratched the back of her head sheepishly. “We’ve been able to replicate existing attunements for years. Echion is our first success at making a completely new one. It’s distinct from what the goddess grants, and vastly more powerful than any individual standard attunement. He’s still learning how to use it, but eventually…”
“Eventually he’ll be like a human with the power of a god beast,” Jin concluded.
That’s a line of research I wouldn’t mind hearing more about, but it obviously has the potential to be dangerous. And it sounds like they weren’t careful enough.
Vera closed her eyes. “That’s the light of it. We brought him here to test him in the tower, but someone must have tipped Tenjin off. Carter or Elora, I suppose. I still don’t understand why. They were both a part of the project.”
“Because you lacked foresight.” Professor Orden raised a hand and pointed up. “Tenjin was always going to find you in the tower. We just expedited the process. And we saved you from him. Tenjin would have annihilated your group. I know because he told me. I am one of his Whispers, after all.”
Vera stepped toward Orden, arms folded. “Well, if you were doing us such a great favor, you could have told us about it. And, you know, not beat the pants off of us afterward?”
Orden opened both hands in a gesture of peace. “If all had gone according to plan, you would have woken up safely in a lab with the rest of your companions — who are all safe, I assure you, and cooperating quite nicely.”
I sincerely doubt that last part, unless by “cooperating” she means “under the control of magic rings”.
Orden glanced away from Vera. “Unfortunately, Tenjin didn’t fall quite as easily as we expected. He managed to cast a spell to summon help before he lost consciousness. We were forced to grab the people closest to us and flee. Sadly, that led to Katashi finding your unconscious body at the scene and throwing you into prison. It took some time before one of my fellow companions was able to make enough adjustments to lead someone to your prison to free you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “If you had influence over the tower, why not just free her directly?”
The professor opened a hand. “If he’d simply freed Vera directly, he’d have been noticed, but Whispers work within the tower and often make layout changes. Making a trail for you just looked like he was doing an extension of his normal work. Katashi would have discovered the tampering if he checked the prison in any detail, of course, but he’s never been much of an investigator. We gave him a false enemy and he followed that lead instead.”
“Keras,” I realized. “When we freed him at the same time as Vera, he became the primary suspect. Both for me and, presumably, for Katashi as well. You used Keras to distract away from what you were up to.”
Sera pointed her sword at Orden. “And all those Edrian troops began maneuvering. Your work as well, I take it?”
“Oh, goddess, no. None of this was ever truly an Edrian conspiracy. They’re always maneuvering. I did enjoy deflecting investigations in that direction, however. I have no doubt that there truly are Edrian spies and agents in our midst, but I am not one of them.”
Orden sighed. “In fact, protecting our nation from Edrian influence is a large part of why we took the actions we did. They have had decades to grow unchecked, with full access to two towers. Our spies believe that Melkyr, one of their visages, may be training their forces directly. Our defenses are insufficient — and that is why we must take drastic steps.”
Orden turned to Vera. “Echion was an excellent start, but one artificial attuned is insufficient. Our tests indicated that he’s probably around Derek’s level of strength and still growing stronger. Quite impressive for a child, but not enough to defend a nation on his own. And certainly not both Caelford and Valia.”
“You want to make more of the new attuned,” Vera surmised. “That was always the plan, but we needed time—”
Orden waved a hand dismissively. “And that’s why we acted, darling. Because you and your friends from Caelford spent years monitoring one test sample when you could have been growing dozens. We would have given you the resources.”
Vera set her jaw. “This ‘we’ you’re referring to. It’s not just a small conspiracy, is it?”
Orden shook her head. “Not at all, dear.” She turned toward Derek. “Derek, dear, stop trying to free yourself.”
A glance toward Derek showed him tremble, then go still again.
“Now,” Orden continued, “Where were we? Ah, yes. I’m working as an extension of the Council of Lords. There is no conspiracy. Just covert actions taken without the knowledge of the general populace. All for the sake of Valia’s survival.”
I could understand the logic.
I had some moral questions about the idea of creating new attuned for the express purpose of warfare — even if they were meant to be deterrents to an invasion, rather than offensive tools — but I still could see where she was coming from.
In some senses, I wanted to agree with her. Learning to create our own attunements so that we didn’t have to send more children to die in the spires was a noble goal. Making new attunements that were better than the existing ones had a strong appeal, too. I’d be researching it myself if I had the capability.
I didn’t even mind being lied to or manipulated. I was a little hurt, but I’d be deceptive if I had to do it for a cause on that scale.
I saw flaws in Orden’s plan on other levels, though. More practical ones.
“You said before that Tenjin would have destroyed everyone if you hadn’t incapacitated him. What happens when the other visages find out about this? You can’t conceal working on a bunch of artificial attuned forever. What’s your plan?”
Orden nodded. “If you’re all willing to cooperate, I will take Vera to the rest of her team. They need her help in order to continue their studies in an efficient fashion. Vera quite wisely did not share all of her data publicly, and while I’m confident she has records somewhere in Caelford, searching for them would take some time. Cooperation would be far preferred.”
“After that,” Orden glanced from side-to-side, “Katashi would need to be dealt with. Ideally, before your little seven day deadline.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You want to kill Katashi?”
She shook her head. “No, no. Killing a visage or a fully grown god beast is a terrible idea. Their mana density is too high. They’d explode like a bomb, probably leave the city a crater. We’d have to incapacitate him somehow, ideally in a way that makes Edria look responsible. Dalenos will undoubtedly seek revenge if he vanishes. It would be best to point them in the direction of our enemies.”
Jin trembled silently, clenching his jaw tight.
I took a step closer to Orden, balling my hands into fists. “You’re talking about starting a war over a lie — and that’s operating under the assumption you could even hurt Katashi in the first place.”