MEANWHILE IN THE EMPIRE , PART I
The wind over the Imperial capital always carried the same scent, hot metal, alchemical ash, and the faint sweetness of the aether engines that pulsed throughout the city. Steam chimneys along the battlements vented in staggered bursts, humming in time with the machinery that filled the heart of the Empire.
Below the highest tower of the citadel stretched a courtyard built of dark stone and reinforced steel plates. At each of its four corners, rising like silent sentinels, stood the Empire's great aether towers, sleek spires of metal and crystal glass, their walls veined with circuitry that pulsed in soft light. Each tower housed its own research chamber underground, and each chamber in turn guarded one of the titanic aether crystals the Empire had been using for decades to power its grandest machines.
Tonight, mist clung low to the courtyard as if the land itself exhaled. The moon was dim behind thick clouds, and the soft glow of the towers provided the only consistent light.
Down one set of reinforced metal stairs, beneath the southeastern tower, lantern fixtures flickered awake as doors slid open.
A man in a long, ash, colored coat swept inside.
Commander Cecil moved without hesitation, boots echoing sharply as he descended. His expression was as carved and stern as ever, but there was tension at the corners of his eyes, tension he did not bother to mask. He wasn't supposed to be here tonight. His presence was by special summons.
Waiting below.
At the bottom of the stairs, double doors sealed with runic locks slid apart, revealing a wide laboratory bathed in harsh white light. Dozens of crystal lamps were mounted along the walls, refracted through polished glass, casting sharp angles of illumination across rows of instruments, crystal readers, drafting tables, and stacks of thick notebooks bound in metal clamps.
And at the far end of the chamber, looming in its reinforced frame, was the massive aether crystal assigned to this tower.
Cecil involuntarily slowed.
Even after all these years, the sight of one still sent a chill through him.
The crystal rose three stories tall, suspended within a lattice of thick alloy beams. It glowed a muddy yellow, brown, the color shifting and swirling like thick smoke trapped behind translucent gemstone. Its surface was fractured, spiderweb cracks stretched across the outer layers in patterns that had grown longer and more erratic over the past several years.
A handful of researchers hovered near its surface, studying the cracks, taking measurements, comparing charts.
And standing in front of the crystal, arms lifted as if conducting its rhythm, was Lead Researcher Marro, the Empire's foremost specialist in aetheric application and anomalous crystal physiology.
Marro lowered his hands the moment Cecil entered.
"Commander," he said, voice smooth but tired, "I trust the summons reached you at an acceptable time."
"It reached me," Cecil replied. "No more, no less. What is so urgent the Emperor demanded I come personally?"
Marro's lips twitched, almost a smile.
"Gestahl is on his way now. You have arrived just before him."
Cecil's jaw tightened. He disliked being kept in the dark, and he disliked even more being arranged like a piece on the Emperor's board.
But he did not voice it. Instead, he glanced again at the towering crystal.
"It looks worse."
"It is worse," Marro said. "Considerably."
He gestured Cecil forward.
The commander stepped closer, eyeing the newest fracture along the lower third of the crystal, a jagged, lightning, shaped line that hadn't been there during his last inspection two months prior.
"What did you do to provoke that one?" Cecil asked.
Marro gave a quiet scoff. "We did nothing. That is part of what concerns me."
Before Cecil could respond, the doors at the top of the stairs hissed open again.
A pair of Imperial guards descended first, armor polished to mirror sheen.
Behind them walked Emperor Gestahl.
He wore no crown, no heavy cloak, simply a long dark coat threaded with aether filament, its inner lining glowing faintly. His eyes, sharp and cold, swept the chamber in a single smooth motion.
"Report," Gestahl said, the word crisp and heavy with expectation.
Marro bowed slightly, not deeply, never deeply. He was too valued for that. "As you wish, Your Eminence."
Gestahl approached, hands clasped behind his back. Cecil followed a step behind him.
"The crystal's condition continues to deteriorate," Marro began, tapping a panel that activated a holographic display. "We've been tracking its internal resonance signatures for six years. The cracks first appeared five years ago. Since then, the crack pattern has been expanding at an accelerating rate. We estimate the rate has doubled since the last cycle."
Gestahl studied the projected diagrams without blinking.
"The power draw?" he asked.
"Holding steady, for now," Marro answered. "But my analysis suggests that maintaining current levels for another year, perhaps even less, will cause fracture spread that could destabilize the entire crystal."
Cecil frowned. "Destabilize? As in shatter?"
Marro's expression hardened. "If it shatters, Commander, we lose far more than a power source. A crystal of this scale contains enough aetheric density to level the entire tower and much of the surrounding compound."
Gestahl gave no visible reaction. "We cannot reduce the power draw. Our expansion projects demand it."
Cecil resisted the urge to turn his head sharply. "Your Eminence, if Marro is correct, "
"I am correct," Marro said simply.
", then continuing at this pace invites catastrophe."
Gestahl turned to face him fully. "Then we will find a way to keep the crystal stable while maintaining output. That is why I called both of you."
Marro nodded slowly. "We are working on it. But… there is something more."
Gestahl raised a brow.
Marro motioned to a stack of papers on the nearest table.
"This," he said, "is the latest data set collected from Researcher Serra's field instrument."
Cecil stiffened. "I was not informed there were new readings."
"You weren't meant to be informed," Marro replied. "Serra herself does not know we've been mirroring her data streams. The moment she activated the original device prototype years ago, she granted us an opening. Her work is exceptional, but she is… naïve regarding how valuable it is. And so needs to be closely monitored."
Cecil's eyes narrowed. "She is loyal to the Empire."
"Certainly," Marro said. "And her loyalty is precisely why she does not needto be disrupted by letting her know how deeply she is being observed."
Gestahl stepped closer to the papers.
"What did the device detect?"
Marro's lips curved, excitement edging into his voice.
"Anomalies. Significant ones."
He activated another display, a waveform projected into the air, jagged and erratic, marked with spikes.
"This signature appeared twice in the last cycle. At first I assumed it was interference… until I cross, referenced it with readings recorded from the cracked crystal."
Cecil's gaze snapped up. "You compared the two?"
"Yes." Marro's smile widened. "And, interestingly, the pattern aligns. Not perfectly, but close. Very close. The aetheric resonance Serra's device detected in the field mimics certain tonal oscillations arising from this crystal."
Gestahl's eyes sharpened.
"You're suggesting the anomaly she recorded is somehow connected to this crystal?"
"I'm saying the possibility is high," Marro said. "Something, or someone, in the field generated a resonance that corresponds to this specific crystal's internal fluctuations. And this crystal has always exhibited behaviors distinct from the other three."
Cecil's stomach tightened. "How distinct?"
Marro tapped his files again. "This one is the only crystal that changes rhythm when external aetheric events occur. Storms. Magnetic surges. Major aether displacements. And now… whatever Serra and her convoy encountered."
Gestahl folded his arms, considering.
"There were no major reports from that region," he said. "No disasters. No monster disturbances of exceptional scale."
"Which is why the reading is so concerning," Marro replied. "Whatever caused this resonance spike was localized. Controlled. Singular."
"And Serra didn't report anything unusual from within her convoy?"
"Only minor field observations. Nothing that would suggest she recognized what her device captured. Her notes mention standard fluctuations. Nothing else."
Cecil exhaled slowly, thinking.
"Do we know the source? Was it a person? A monster? Aether flux?"
Marro shook his head. "The data is incomplete. But I can say this: whatever produced the signature was powerful. Resonance on this magnitude has never been recorded from an individual before. Not even among our military's elite channelers."
Gestahl's eyes narrowed.
"Could it be a threat?"
Marro bowed his head slightly. "I cannot answer that. But it is something new."
The Emperor turned away, pacing toward the towering crystal. The yellow, brown glow painted harsh light across his face.
"New," he repeated. "And perhaps exploitable."
Cecil followed him. "Your Eminence… with all respect, you should not assume this is something we can harness."
Gestahl paused, gaze cold. "Everything can be harnessed. The Empire has proven that."
Cecil did not look away, but he lowered his tone. "And some things cost more than they give."
Gestahl brushed past the comment as if it were a harmless breeze.
"Continue your analysis," he ordered Marro. "And pull every one of Serra's recorded data files, past and present. I want to know precisely when the resonance first appeared and whether it is growing."
Marro bowed again. "I already have teams assembling the full archive. We will have answers."
The Emperor turned to leave, but stopped, glancing once more at the massive crystal behind him.
The cracks seemed just a little longer tonight. The glow a little deeper.
"Make sure," Gestahl added, voice low, "that Serra continues her work uninterrupted. She is more useful when she believes she is being trusted."
Then he ascended the stairs, guards falling in behind him.
Cecil lingered a moment longer, staring up at the colossal crystal.
Its fractured surface pulsed with slow, steady light…
…like the breathing of something dormant.
When Cecil finally turned to leave, Marro stayed behind, eyes gleaming, thoughts racing.
For the briefest moment, just as Cecil reached the stairwell, the crystal shifted. Not visibly, but the air near it deepened, humming in a descending tone just at the edge of hearing.
Marro's head snapped toward it immediately.
But the sound faded. Nothing moved.
He stared for several long seconds, waiting.
Nothing.
At last, he exhaled and wrote something quickly into his notebook.
Then he extinguished one lamp at a time, leaving the room dark except for the faint amber glow of the crystal.
It pulsed on, steady and patient.