CHAPTER 625: ZACH

Ethereal Recon

The Ethereal Realm was the realm of will, of imagination, of change. At least it used to be, back before the death of the Grand Spirit of Change. Now… it remained largely the same, except for one big difference.

The Ethereal Realm didn’t shift and change on its own anymore. Now, the change came from its inhabitants. A spirit of fire thinking about flames could bring them into being, could transform the landscape with thought alone. The Ethereal Realm was at war with itself; there was no guided change anymore, only chaos.

Zach had known that there would be consequences for the death of the Grand Spirit, but… this was beyond what he had expected. Still, some things remained the same.

The Ethereal Realm was a mirror of the Real Realm, and as such, areas where there were a lot of souls in the Real Realm, solidified it, made it more present. It was a great way to gather information, especially against the Exalted Empire.

Their reach didn’t extend far into the Ethereal, not much beyond some rudimentary protections. It allowed Zach and Naha to scout out and observe the echoes of the Real Realm casting their image into the Ethereal. This only happened in places where there were a lot of people, meaning cities. Or staging grounds for massive armies.

Zach and Naha had used the Ethereal as a way of traveling quickly and without being observed. It was also a good chance for Zach to hunt for some new spirits or shades to replace the Aspect abilities of his Shade Reaver. He hadn’t found any that were suitable just yet, but hopefully soon.

Zach had visited every ruler on his list; some he had threatened, others he had bribed. Most he had forced to give an oath not to reveal their meeting, only a few he had felt were fully trustworthy. His Knowledge Aspect proved invaluable; even over a course of a conversation, he learned more about the person, got insights into who they were, and what drove them forward.

He had paved the way for the Sects, and had even added a few of his own pieces on the board. The Exalted Empire had overstepped, and despite his disagreement with Ryun, he did know that a censure was needed. Perhaps they would realize their mistake when they saw that half the world was turned against them.

He hoped that the war could end quickly without much bloodshed, but that was the choice that they had to make for themselves.

“There it is,” Naha said as they crested a hill and saw a city in the distance.

They had been visiting every major city in the core that was now under the Exalted Empire’s control, as well as their army positions, gathering information and passing it back to their allies. Naha had used her Mirror of Reality to explore without being seen. A lot of Exalted Empire’s command had tools that prevented her from being able to spy directly, but when steering an army and a conflict as large as this one, a lot of information got passed down to lower members that didn’t have such high rank protections.

They’ve learned two things that had caused concern and intrigue. The Exalted Empire was pulling back their troops to a single location, preparing a large counter-attack. And they’ve been siphoning rare materials that seemingly had little practical use, taking them from their vassal states and conquered factions and taking it all somewhere else in the core.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Zach and Naha hadn’t figured out where, yet, but that was only a matter of time. In the meantime, they’ve decided to scout out their army gathering.

Before them stood a massive city, one that had been built for a purpose and recently. He knew that because it looked fuzzy, like a painting that was smudged. Its existence didn’t have the time to solidify in the Ethereal. There were shadows everywhere in the sky, looking like pulsing spheres; what he had learned usually meant a fleet of airships.

Something about the reactor cores of their vessels cast that shadow in the ethereal.

“Finally,” Zach said. “You think this place is a good one to cross over?”

He looked around, trying to see if there was any sign of something that could clue them in what was on the other side. He didn’t want to enter the Real Realm somewhere where they would be observed. They were after all trying not to get caught.

“Wait,” Naha said. “What is that?”

Zach glanced in the direction she was pointing, on the far side of the valley. He hadn’t noticed it before; he had become accustomed to suppressing his skills as there were beings out in the Ethereal that could sense his perception, and they didn’t want to be bothered. There was something moving in the distance, a lot of somethings.

“Spirits?” Zach asked, but he was already focusing his will and pulling on his skills and will. The image of what he was seeing became clear.

“There’s a portal there, to the Real Realm,” he frowned. He could sense cthul, or what he assumed were cthul. He saw the flaws of their weapons, their technology. After so long spying on them, he learned how to recognize them quickly.

“And something else,” Naha said, half of her face shrouded in shadow, probably casting her vision somewhere closer to observe more clearly.

“What is it?” Zach asked. “It feels like souls but…”

“Shades,” Naha answered.

Zach frowned, immediately recognizing what he was sensing. “So many?” There were several thousand individual shades present, and from what he knew of shades, they rarely moved together. They were insane.

“They are wearing something, devices on their wrists,” Naha continued. “Zach… I think these are the shades that escaped with the Grand Spirit of War.”

Zach blinked, remembering. A lot of spirits and shades had escaped after the Grey Horde attempted to get an army of them through her alliance with the Grand Spirit. They’ve never managed to catch all of them. Many had just vanished into the world. Occasionally, Zach would overhear about an encounter with a shade or a spirit, but they were far away in the core usually.

“What are they doing here?” Zach asked.

“They are moving and talking with the empire’s people. I think that they might be allied in some way.”

Zach frowned. “But why are they back in the Ethereal? They fought so hard to get back to the Real Realm, even insane they must know that they won’t be able to go back now that they’ve returned here?”

“Zach, the cthul have strange devices all around them, and those bracelets…”

Before Zach could ask another question, Naha spoke again. “They’re moving.”

Zach could see it from the distance; lines of shades were marching out of the fuzzy city, heading into the wild Ethereal.

“That’s an army,” Zach said. “And if the cthul can open gates… it is one that can pop up anywhere.”

“I believe that might be its purpose,” Naha agreed.

“We need to follow them,” Zach said.

Naha pulled her shadows down from her face, then turned and looked at him. “Or we could destroy them now.”

Zach was confident in what the two of them could do. Shades could get powerful, but their connection to the Framework stopped growing at the moment of their death; it only grew in strength. He wasn’t worried about them, but the cthul.

Up above them, the shadow clouds were moving in the sky. The enemy fleet was departing in the Real Realm.

“Let’s watch for now,” Zach said, they were strong, but the empire had powerful people and technology as well.

Naha shrugged in agreement. The two of them watched from the distance, then slowly followed the army of shades as it traveled across the ethereal.