The Oracle Paths

Will, consciously or not, inserted another pause into his narrative, punctuating the drama. It might have been an old salesmanship trick resurfacing, but at that moment, Jake and his friends could nearly hear the Wendok mentally blasting their friend with a symphony of colorful curses, if the bulging, bloodshot eyes were any indication.

Jake considered himself to be fairly patient, but considering the severity of the news, his tolerance was on thin ice. As tactfully as he could muster, he said, "I understand it's been quite some time for you since we last spoke, but for us it's only been a couple of hours. We've got a particularly sour Rank 3 Aetherist kindly footing the bill for this call. If you value your life, I suggest you spill the beans..."

Aware that every second burned hundreds of quintillions of Aether Points, Will froze on the other end of the line, breaking into a sudden profuse sweat.

"Cough, cough, my bad. I'll pick up the pace..." He quickly apologized, feeling a wave of oppressive killing intent momentarily causing him to doubt if he was hallucinating. Regardless, under pressure, he started to spill everything as if his life depended on it:

"Ahem, where was I? Oh yes, six months into the Digestor offensive... To simplify, the vampire clans backing Wyatt hadn't anticipated the ennui and scarcity of provisions that came with our forced quarantine... High-ranking vampires can go a long time without blood, and Progenitors can forgo it entirely, consuming regular food without issue. The problem was their civilians. Without fresh blood at regular intervals, their aggressiveness would spiral out of control, and forced hibernation isn't exactly a popular political move, to put it mildly...

"Of all the potential solutions to this blood shortage-from rationing, to hibernation, to mandatory participation in their first four Ordeals for resupply- they chose the most direct: To demand, or rather, insist that we and the Velseyel clan provide them with fresh blood from willing donors."

"Hmmph, these greedy bloodsuckers," Lucia sneered, wondering if they would have had the audacity to make such a demand if it had been her or Jake calling the shots.

"Hehe, that's exactly how we reacted when we first heard their request," Will chuckled with a hint of disdain and arrogance in his voice. "We expressed gratitude them for their visit, promising to discuss it with our comrades. They made the same demand of the Velseyel clan, and they were even colder than we were.

"To be completely honest, after discussing it with Wyatt, who had a foot in each camp, I softened my stance when I realized the hunger these ordinary vampires were enduring was a hellish mental torture. I passed their request on to the others, offering contribution points to willing blood donors. Unsurprisingly, it was quite unpopular. The donated blood couldn't even meet the needs of 10% of their population. Still, it temporarily alleviated the pressure on their end, allowing them to better manage the crisis."

Jake kept his opinion to himself, but he was internally surprised that Will had agreed to such a compromise.

"Tell me at least you charged them for this?" Ulfar asked, looking incredulous.

"Well... That's what I told them when they asked for more blood a few days later,"

Will conceded wryly. "They also demanded higher quality blood, asking our active Evolvers to participate in the donations as well..."

"WHAT?! They dare?!" Lucia exploded upon hearing the merchant's confession.

"Don't tell me you agreed to this? If so, I swear, I'll show you exactly what I'm made of when I return. And I warn you, right now I'm a Stage 9, 96% Corrupted Myrmidian Princess..."

Her final words were half boastful, half jesting, but none of her companions, especially not Will, were in the mood for laughter.

"I didn't..." Will defended himself a few seconds later, his face darkening. "After that, I won't lie to you, our relations quickly soured, and Wyatt soon found himself caught between a rock and a hard place. Thanks to the energy shields protecting our respective Floating Islands, this uneasy balance lasted just over two years.

Wyatt took matters into his own hands and managed to persuade the non- combatant vampires to participate in their first four Ordeals. He hoped to strengthen them and make them more capable of handling blood deprivation upon their return, or perhaps even restock their supply of fresh blood during their Ordeals. Some met these expectations, but for most, these Ordeals only fortified their vampiric arrogance. The average vampire being much stronger than a normal human, the power disparities only widened over time. There were also a few rare talents that emerged after being reforged by the fire of these four Ordeals.

Emboldened, they didn't stop there but ventured into their Fifth Ordeal. It was a bloodbath, but some of the survivors then dared to attempt the Sixth one...

Among them was one of their senior supremacists, Vasilis Yelmaer. Perhaps you remember his great-niece, Seren Yelmaer. You can probably guess where she got her influences..." Jake, vividly recalling the vampire's insufferable personality during their third Ordeal before instilling a seed of fear in her, could not help but facepalm at the mention of her name.

"Let me guess," Jake surmised, eyes closed as he rubbed his temples. "One day, they decided to attack one of our Floating Islands, probably mine since it houses most of our civilians. If there are some Sixth-Ordeal extremists among them, given their clans' vast legacy, they must've used some sort of artifact to breach the shield, and launched a raid to capture our members. You then had no choice but to retaliate."

Will remained silent for a heartbeat, then reluctantly admitted, "Almost. We had internal troubles well before... Seeing their Vampires return from their Fifth and Sixth Ordeals, many of our members sensed the tide turning early on. It was even more evident as these vampire clans weren't really part of Wyatt's faction. As disputes flared, they left Pureblood one by one, forming their own factions around these powerful vampires who'd completed five or six Ordeals. Pureblood is currently comprised of the Griffith clan and a tiny fraction of vampires who owe them and are loyal. Ironically, Seren Yelmaer didn't follow her great-uncle, so at least take some satisfaction that you left an indelible impression in her memory. Or maybe Wyatt managed to reform her?

"To get back to the point, although I advised them to wait for your return, after two years, asking them to continue waiting was increasingly difficult as we had no news of you. When a conflict with the vampires seemed inevitable, Grimwald and Xaverie, Aisling's parents, chose to participate together in their Fifth Ordeal with their respective clans... Demons and vampires growing stronger, you can guess what happened upon their return. In response to their gloomy silence, Will chuckled mirthlessly,

"Yep, you guessed right. After losing 90% of their respective clans in the Fifth Ordeal, they came back... changed, to put it mildly, but they also made new friends there. A lot of friends... Grimwald and his surviving vampire clansmen began demanding fresh blood in exchange for their allegiance to Myrtharian Nerds.

"By then, everyone had long realized the Aether Network had become irrelevant, rendering our island shields about as reliable as paper tigers, no more substantial than a cardboard wall. Thankfully, due to their daughter's intervention, the situation remained under control. Just so you know, she chose not to participate in the Fifth Ordeal with her parents, deciding to stay behind for her little sister.

"Still, it was a stark wake-up call reminding us that we were safe nowhere, and that even members of the same faction were not entirely trustworthy. Hence, some of our core members, threatened by their lives, enlisted for their Fifth Ordeal. Back then, I was in no mood to stop them, as we desperately needed a counterbalance. Among them were Kenway, Lysander, Qewie, and a Myrmidian named Pyrrakles..."

Jake frowned, not recognizing the last name despite having memorized all their faction members' names. It was a cakewalk for someone like him. Turning to Lucia, he asked, "Ring any bells?"

"Not at all..." Lucia shrugged.

"That's because it shouldn't," Will sighed, his tone weary and slightly shameful.

"You know him better as Asthenes... I'll be upfront with you, it's not me pulling the strings for over a year now, but this guy..."

Jake, Lucia, Hade, and Ulfar squinted, trying to remember the man, and then their eyes widened in unison as they blurted out, "You've got to be kidding, right?" Asthenes, aka Pyrrakles now, was the weakest Myrmidian in their memory. Of all the Myrmidians capable of emerging as a future leader, he was the last they would've thought of.