I Am The Truth II

Chapter XXVI: The Power to Wield A Song

This was the hideout of the Necromancers: a shit-hole of an old tavern-like building named Mount Tempus that was right on Felden's eastern border. This was where Lucan had been taken.

He had promptly been tied to a chair in what appeared to be a small storage area reformatted into a conference room. And it was here that he first met Xaria in-person. He was a tall, gaunt man. His dark hair was combed rather neatly for someone Lucan thought to be devoted to nothing but a machine. He wore semi-formal clothing, as if he was an office worker.

"This is the guy," Xaria stated, more to himself.

"What do you want from me?"

"I don't want anything from you," Xaria replied bluntly. "You were yet another spy sent to investigate us, so I had you removed from the scene. Simple as that."

"But you didn't kill me."

"I won't have to," Xaria said. "Because by the time our work is done, you will be returning to nothing but desolation."

He straightened his glasses for a moment.

"Necromancers don't kill people," He continued. "It is beyond what we can do."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Xaria said, nodding. "The people that do the rough work for us are the Legionnaires."

"Like the goons you sent after me?" Lucan spat.

"Yes."

Xaria leaned forward, clasping his hands together.

"I'll tell you what I know," He began. "Firstly, I know plenty about you."

Lucan raised an eyebrow.

"No really, I do," Xaria continued. "All your life, you've been used against your will. The ultra-nationalists forced people like yourself to do their work to keep Felden isolated, and then when credit is due, they shun you. And so, you live the life of an outcast, yet you are always cast into danger."

Lucan was speechless. He slowly shook his head, unsure what to say. 

"Tell me anything that I said was untrue," Xaria began, testing Lucan's resolve.

"... no," Lucan finally said. "You're right."

As much as he hated to admit, Xaria was quite right about it. Kiyoshi hadn't done anything at all to make Lucan's life easier. He may have committed a minor robbery against the captain long ago, but it didn't warrant this kind of treatment. 

"Secondly, the time is upon us," Xaria continued. "We've waited patiently for the coalition's voting day to arrive, and it has. Though Felden doesn't have much to do with the coalition or the voting drama, His Majesty and his main cabinet has been subtly trying to undermine the human race here. It is why we've come into existence, and it's why the Legion is involved here too. Any royal bloodline will inevitably meet its end."

"You're going to stage a revolution," Lucan said, almost shocked. 

"No Lucan," Xaria said, shaking his head before pointing towards the doorway. "The people of Felden will. We Necromancers are merely setting the initial conditions. And as for your friends-"

He leaned even closer.

"They will be taken care of. I can thank your friend, Eddie, for that."

Lucan was appalled. Xaria's last words echoed in his mind as he slowly digested what he heard. So it had been Eddie all this time. The drunkard in the background that Lucan had considered to be one of his few friends? And the more Lucan thought about it, Eddie being a spy made more sense. He had never left Lucan alone, regardless of where they were.