REAPER: The Young God

Chapter Seven

The royal summit was underway and all members were seated in an oval room with Ogmios in the centre.
"My fellow royals, I trust you are all well. Welcome to the 618th summit," the Tykonion king spoke.
Notably, each royal was focused on Ogmios but their escorts would be scanning the room every second, on guard for the sake of their royal. Trent also eyed the room, raising his awareness.
"It's my pleasure and honour to host this session, and I believe it's something we'll all want to benefit from," Ogmios continued. Robyn walked into the centre, pulling in the giant shard.
"I present a crystalline shard, the very same shard feeding essence to all citizens within each of our empires."
Every person in the room was shocked. The shard glowed with a bright blue light, mortals would not even be able to look directly at it without hurting their eyes. Crystalline shards were granted to each royal family and provided passive and neutral essence within a continental space to all who walked the lands. 
Trent, having never actually seen a crystalline shard in person, simply thought it was just a shard that Ogmios asked him to retrieve. And with it coming from the eighth realm where no royal family from there was present at the summit, Trent was beginning to jump to conclusions.
His mind filled with questions but a hand was raised.
"Where did you get a crystalline shard?" one of the women from the Matriarchs asked, "as we all know these belong to royal families."
"I had heard that it had been dug up by thieves in the eighth realm, who were likely attempting to steal it." Ogmios said and looked back at Trent, "Thankfully, a captain of the Council was able to retrieve it."
"Eighth realm..." Andreyus spoke, raising his eyebrow, "You have their shard and yet, they're not here right now. And how is it that they didn't detect their shard being stolen by these 'thieves'?"
The room fell in murmur as each family member discussed amongst themselves and Ogmios forcefully kept a grin on his face. Nobody had seen or heard from the eighth realm since the last summit, two centuries ago.
"That's beside the point, Andreyus. But perhaps we can leave that to the Council to investigate. I'm also happy to leave the shard in the Council's hand after I show you all why I summoned you here today."
Ogmios laid his hand on the shard and shimmering light surrounded him and his essence began to swirl through him. The very same took place within the shard as the room watched the essence within begin to twist.
Ogmios laid out his other hand to the side and his eyes began to glow as bright as the shard. His other hand began to crystalise on his palm, and from it grew a shard as big and as crystalline as the original.

Every mouth in the summit hall dropped in awe and a powerful pressure filled the room, with the ground beneath Ogmios cracking and smaller objects in the room began to be crushed from the pressure. Ogmios looked to the newly created one, clenching his teeth. Simz and Choko watched in awe, using their Weaver's vision, as their father's body was being used as a bridge. He was using his own essence to create a nucleus within the new crystalline shard which used up a substantial amount from him. The nucleus successfully formed and the original shard's essence flowed through Ogmios to the new shard. The Tykonion held one long enough for the new shard to gain it's own regeneration. He soon fell to the ground with almost all of his essence used up.
"Wh...What have you just done?" Gaya stood up, wide-eyed and concerned.
With the new shard now glowing as bright as the original, the summit hall began to crumble. For within the room now stood two crystalline shards enough to power two continents.
Trent and Robyn stood in complete shock, as the acolyte looked to her captain.
"Captain, is this even allowed?"
Without looking back at her, all Trent could mutter softly was that Royce was right.
"I don't know, but we need to take this information to the rest of the Five immediately," Trent said to Robyn.

Ogmios regenerated enough of his essence to stand up, "See, with this, we can empower our people even more. Double the essence, strengthen our people! We as royals will soon not depend on the strength of the Council or guilds."
"This could cause wars Ogmios!" Venti yelled. Each royal empire is provided one shard. What's to say you won't just make more for yourself?"
"Are we forgetting the fact that this is the eighth realm's shard? This is already a crime for you to have it here!" Andreyus added, each word like a lion's growl.
The room broke into an argument whilst Ogmios listened to his peers yell at him and point fingers.
"I was just trying to empower us as royals," he said, "You all speak of where the eighth realm's royal is, accusing me of stealing their shard." He snapped his fingers at Trent.
"Return this to the eighth realm, and send my apologies."
Queen Mthaniya stood, and the rest of her matriarchs also stood, "We would be grateful to receive a second shard, Ogmios."
The Tykonion was shocked, but it soon turned to a grin.
"Mthaniya, you can't be serious..." Andreyus said.
"The Matriarchs have forever relied on their own strength, having never once called upon the Council for anything. Above all else, our realm is both royal family and guild in one. And we produce more souls by the hour. We could truly become a powerful realm if we had enough essence to provide our people."
Andreyus clenched his jaw. He turned to walk out and Harambe followed behind him, "The fifth realm will play no part in this."
Both Gaya and Venti stood up and echoed the same for the sixth realm. 
The room emptied and left behind only the Matriarchs.
"When can we expect our shard, Ogmios?" Queen Mthaniya asked.
"We'll try this new one and provide you with a report. It'll give me enough time to gain my essence back in order to repeat this process. Give me one mortal moon cycle."
The Matriarchs nodded in unison and left the hall, thus bringing the summit to an end.
"See to it that this finds its way back to its owner," Ogmios said to Trent, regarding the original shard.
"Wait," Trent said, "Knowing it was a crystalline shard, why did you send me to retrieve it knowing it belongs to a royal?"
"I didn't know it belonged to them specifically. Head to their palace and dig in the ground yourself to confirm. But if you're assuming I have something to do with the absence of Kristov, that would be a severe accusation that won't end well."
Robyn twitched at that threat, clenching her fist. She took a step forward.
Trent stretched his arm in front of her, answering Ogmios, "Fine. We will investigate Kristov's palace." 
Ogmios called to Simz and Choko, and Choko used her essence to lift the shard as they were leaving.
Simz approached Trent, "When last was the eighth realm family seen?"
Trent answered, "Not since the last summit."
"And the Council never questioned why?"
"Kristov, like most royal families, lost faith in the Council. Asked that we never step foot in his realm again. I figured since your father sent me on a mission there, that an agreement was perhaps in place."
Simz pondered on that information. He held out his hand to the captain.
"Allow me to help you investigate this, as your subordinate when I join your division."
Being the son of Ogmios, Trent hesitated and looked Simz deep in the eye.
The prince's body stiffened and his eye widened in fear. Trent's pupils turned to slits as it felt like a constrictor wrapped around Simz's body. 
"I don't know what angle your father is taking, but if you so much as cross me, I will break the number rule of the reaping world," Trent said, "This is my one and only warning."
The rule he referred to was that if any soul is to kill a royal, the Council of Five shall execute that soul with immediate effect.

The captain lowered his pressure on Simz and shook his hand, "Welcome to the Fifth Division."