Asterin passes alone into the hidden route, her diminished radiance trailing across the threshold. The passage closes behind her, leaving Delfarius beneath the silent throne with Morghain, Past, Future, Neron, and Kilzthar.
Delfarius
What are we going to do with you now? Hmm?
Delfarius circles Kilzthar like a wolf. Void gathers around him, hardening into snarling, gnashing shapes, while his eyes turn completely black.
Delfarius
Answer me!
All his lifetimes speak through him at once all of the parts of him that were once lost and fractured, rising from his throat like an eldritch choir of voices until the throne’s crystal ribs tremble. Kilzthar’s stolen crown-mark fractures across his sternum.
Kilzthar
The central binding lies beyond the Astral plains. Break it, and Cael Veyr loses every copied authority, but the lattice will consume what remains of my identity to defend itself.
Morghain
Then we have a direct road to the command nexus. Kilzthar is the key, but the lattice has begun devouring him already.
✓ Quest Accepted
Preserve Kilzthar’s identity as the command lattice is broken
“I fold my arms over my chest as I regard him coldly. I feel good...powerful. No no..."Morghain, can we stall the lattice's feast of this pathic elf long enough to tear the nexus apart." Past and Future Delfarius walk up to me and share my anger and darkened look.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Void Manipulation, rolled +1)
Delfarius folds his arms across his chest and regards Kilzthar coldly. Power settles through him, dark and steady, while his blackened eyes remain fixed on the envoy.
Delfarius
Morghain, can we stall the lattice's feast of this pathetic elf long enough to tear the nexus apart?
Past and Future Delfarius stride to his sides, sharing his anger and darkened expression. Their combined presence makes the throne’s crystal ribs shudder.
Morghain
Yes. Hold him in your shadow, and I will suspend the lattice’s hunger. The nexus will remain exposed until you finish tearing it apart.
Morghain raises both hands. Violet mystery coils through the command lattice, halting its consumption of Kilzthar and pinning the devouring threads in place.
Kilzthar
The feast has stopped. I remain myself, for now. The central binding is exposed beyond the throne.
Void pours from Delfarius and his two selves, wrapping the nexus in crushing darkness. Its copied authorities split apart, leaving the command core bare beneath the silent Astral crown.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure Kilzthar’s release of the reversed channel
“I smirk and the power of the astral inks rises in me. I laugh darkly. "What was it you said, it was yours given by authority? Intriguing." I reach down and use the once stolen inks now returned to me to unravel and unweave the lattice. A lattice is just a weave, like a loom. Just a tremendously large loom. The strand that is known as Killzthar is freed from it and not part of the pattern. His weft is already cut from the loom.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Void Manipulation, rolled +1)
The returned Astral Ink rises through Delfarius’s veins, black-gold script coursing beneath his skin as the exposed lattice shudders before his outstretched hand.
Delfarius
What was it you said, it was yours given by authority? Intriguing.
Delfarius laughs darkly. His void gathers around the command core, not striking it, but finding every strand, crossing, knot, and borrowed signature within its vast weave.
He draws the stolen Ink through the lattice like a master hand through a loom. Astral commands loosen, copied authorities unravel, and the immense pattern comes apart without resistance.
Kilzthar
The pattern is releasing me. My authority is gone, but so is the binding. I am no longer woven into Cael Veyr’s design.
The strand called Kilzthar separates cleanly. His weft, already cut, slips free as the remaining lattice collapses into harmless threads of fading starlight.
Morghain
You did not replace the pattern, Delfarius. You unmade its claim. The nexus stands stripped of its borrowed authority.
Quest Complete
Sever the command lattice beyond the Astral plains
Skill Upgrade: Void Weaving Mediocre→Fair
Quest Complete
Preserve Kilzthar’s identity as the command lattice is broken
Skill Upgrade: Reality Anchoring Fair→Good
“I ball up the lattice like a ball of wool. I hold it and walk up to Kilzthar with it showing him it then tossing it to Past who looks at it amused then tosses it to Future. "So we can do that, little star spark." I smirk it growing more dark and more ancient and menacing. "Choose your next words terribly carefully, Killzthar." I walk up to him glaring at him with my fully black eyes and the void swelling around me like a hungry wolf gnashing around Killzthar. "What are you going to do that makes me not devour your pitiful soul? Hmm?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Intimidation, rolled -1)
Delfarius closes his fingers around the fading lattice. The Astral threads compress into a dark, woolen ball, its stolen authority reduced to harmless, trembling light.
He walks toward Kilzthar and holds the bundled lattice before him. Past Delfarius Delfarius receives it with an amused glance, then tosses it onward to Future Delfarius Delfarius.
Delfarius
So we can do that, little star spark. Choose your next words terribly carefully, Kilzthar. What will you do that makes me not devour your pitiful soul?
Delfarius’s eyes become wholly black. Void swells around Kilzthar like a hungry wolf, gnashing without touching him, while the chamber bows beneath the ancient menace in Delfarius’s presence.
Kilzthar
I will lead you to the living refuges Cael Veyr concealed. I will name every route, every surviving custodian, and every safeguard protecting those worlds.
Kilzthar
I will testify before Asterin and the survivors that her pattern was stolen and misused. I will surrender my knowledge freely, without crown, command, or hidden binding.
Kilzthar lowers himself to one knee beneath the circling void. The offered terms settle plainly between them, while Past Delfarius and Future Delfarius stop tossing the harmless bundle and watch Delfarius for judgment.
“"You are just A commander. There are thousands of you. I saw it when I was unravelling the whole mess." I lift him up to my dark eyes. "Try again." I growl.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Intimidation, rolled -2)
Delfarius
You are just a commander. There are thousands of you. I saw it when I unravelled the whole mess. Try again.
Delfarius lifts Kilzthar until those wholly black eyes fill his vision. Void snarls close around the surrendered elf, and the throne’s remaining starlight bends away from his shadow.
Kilzthar
Yes. I was one commander among thousands, each assigned to a branch, a refuge, or a world marked for judgment. I was not the authority you sought.
Kilzthar’s composure breaks. His fingers clutch uselessly at Delfarius’s wrist, and the admission costs him the last dignity of bargaining as an equal.
Kilzthar
The true command belongs to the Concordance beyond the nexus. It selects custodians, assigns patterns, and orders the destruction of realities deemed impure. Cael Veyr served it, but did not create it.
Kilzthar
I can lead you there. I can name the surviving commanders and expose the refuge routes, but I will not pretend I am more than a replaceable hand in their design.
Past and Future Delfarius stop watching the bundled lattice and turn toward him. Kilzthar’s fear is now unmistakable, and whatever trust he offered has become obedience under terror.
“I drop him and growl as I pace around him laughing darkly. Past and Future join me in the laugh. "Concordance, Conventant, convergence... I am sensing a pattern here." I laugh louder, shaking my head and snarl above Killzthar, leering down at him the Void still wanting to devour him, my eyes still pitch black. Past remarks behind me with matching black eyes that he can smell the bullshit. "Tell me who is in charge." I say calmly before I let the chorus of my lived and experienced lifetimes yell at him "Name him!"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Intimidation, rolled -1)
Delfarius drops Kilzthar and begins pacing around him, black eyes fixed downward. Past Delfarius and Future Delfarius Delfarius join his dark laughter as void-shapes prowl close without touching.
Delfarius
Concordance, Covenant, convergence... I am sensing a pattern here.
His laughter swells across the throne chamber. He shakes his head, then snarls above Kilzthar, leering as the hungry Void coils around the surrendered elf.
Delfarius
Tell me who is in charge.
Past Delfarius
I can smell the bullshit from here.
Delfarius
Name him!
The command erupts through every lived voice in Delfarius, making the throne’s crystal ribs tremble. Kilzthar folds beneath the pressure, staring into those pitch-black eyes.
Kilzthar
The one in charge is the First Concordant. His name is Cael Veyr, and the Concordance obeys him.
Quest Complete
Secure Kilzthar’s release of the reversed channel
Skill Upgrade: Rift Stabilization Good→Great
“I look at him the Void and Shadows still lashing around me like hungry gnashing wolves wanting to devour this little astral elf. I regard him coldly. Do I believe him. The name is the same as the city...that sounds like a rehearsed answer that was easy to give under duress. Like Solan trained his fucking followers....his followers. "It is Solan, isn't it. A fracture that escaped and persists beyond my reach, one that was beyond my sight before...oh but not now little star dust." I leer at him. I say calmly which is more frighting than me yelling because I get deadly calm and cold. "Tell me the truth."”
SUCCESS (Great Interrogation, rolled +1)
The wolves of Void and shadow gnash around Kilzthar without touching him. Delfarius studies his face in deadly silence, black eyes weighing every rehearsed syllable.
Delfarius
It is Solan, isn't it? A fracture that escaped and persisted beyond my sight. But not now, little stardust. Tell me the truth.
The coldness cuts deeper than his command. Kilzthar’s breath catches, and the crystal throne answers with a faint, frightened chime.
Kilzthar
No. It is not Solan. Solan is dead, and no surviving fracture of him commands the Concordance. I gave you the answer they trained us to give.
Kilzthar
Cael Veyr is the name of the city, the covenant, and the office. The First Concordant wears that title, but the authority belongs to the Concordance itself, not one hidden soul.
His confession settles with the clarity of a blade laid bare. The stolen Ink around Delfarius’s fingers illuminates every concealed oath, and none bears Solan’s signature.
Kilzthar
The name was chosen because it sounds singular. That was the deception. Cael Veyr is a collective will, and its current Concordant is no escaped Solan, but the voice appointed to speak for it.
✓ Quest Accepted
Have Kilzthar reveal the Concordance's route