Vitae Memorandum

65-Archived Inheritance

Calm was restored at the battlefield, the siege having ended, if only for now. However, away from the front lines, things weren't quite as serene.

Khaexyn watched his instruments, observing even the final moments of his Colossal. Somehow, even his whole armada had fallen, which still felt in overall far too irrational. The colossal alone had the firepower to wipe the floor with several elites, its weaponry far too capable against the simplistic elemental properties of the gift, and overall vastly superior to other conventional weaponry. However, he did remember the kinds of forces that had assaulted his fortress, kidnapped his family, and murdered one if not both of their hostages.

While being also irrational, they had also been making use of their own mechanical stronghold, visibly using weaponry even he wasn't familiar with. There was as yet an unknown element to this whole situation, something directly competing with him. He had predicted they would have been left unable to deal with his assault, but they would have been the only feasible element that could have done anything about it. From his measures, considering that all four fronts of his assault had been handled at the same time, there was more than one such person behind this, but by his calculations, there couldn't be more than a score, maybe not even a dozen.

His massive direct force had been faced, and had fallen as a result. Meanwhile, none of his enemies had ever resorted to direct attacks. He thought back to the history of deaths. All attacks against his wife had been by an assassin, in fact there was belief that his parents had fallen because of an assassin. Measures of force were too predictable and too easy to deal with, that was becoming far too obvious. However, every success against him had been dealt from the shadows. If he wanted to deal with this threat, maybe it would be time to take from it's example.

He had two solutions in this mentality, and both would probably be a good move. One would take a lot more time, and still would involve some measure of force, but would be capable of no small measure of surprise. It was a project he had been working on for a while now, and it might be about time for him to personally oversee it. However, first he would have to make use of his other solution. He would need to find a way to provide his own assassin, one that was a collection of the greatest elements of his life's work, all composed of what would be needed to sneak into their sanctuary, and bring death to them before they could react. Fortunately, he had just the proposal for such an endeavour, already ready to go.

Lwyn blinked awake to the faint light, finding Mhyl tending to herself with healing energies. Lwyn looked up at Mhyl, both sharing an expression that still remained exhausted. Nearby, Qheria relaxed, not looking quite as tired, but still very worn down. Thanrie was the only one of them not present. "Where's Thanrie, is..." "Don't worry, Lwyn. Thanrie is fine, she's just dealing to matters of.. politics." Lwyn relaxed again, hearing from Mhyl that things were fine. Qheria silently brought the two elf-kinds some tea, not missing how tired they both looked. She kept some for herself as well, it could only help at this point.

Lwyn sampled the tea provided to her, finding the flavour unfamiliar, but the scent memorable. It was like a sample of nostalgia, this was a tea she hadn't worked with since back at the Citadel Inn, tea she actually had never been able to try for herself. Mhyl finished with her treatment as she also set to enjoy the tea, it being a blend she had never tried before. She knew the elves took to trying other teas than humans, so that was probably why. Even in her single time in the Citadel Inn, she had never taken the opportunity to try such a thing. To her, it felt like exploring a brand new culture all over again.

Qheria however fully remembered this tea, reminding her of where she had returned to. They might have saved the day, but they had put themselves on a stage by doing so, their reputation soaring in hardly any time at all. There were rumors following the battle just how powerful the Crystalline Blossoms actually were, exactly how much power they commanded. People had already spoken of what little they had seen in the display of their actions across four battlefields, but it wasn't like the things they did were small at all. She could only imagine how dramatic her own actions would have looked to anyone who didn't know the things she did, to the kind of person she used to be before this had begun. This was much like how her mother had become a hero, just magnified several times moreover.