Chapter 128: [VOID]
The report arrived in Kai’s system at eight in the morning.
[System — A_D_M report]
[Classification: warning]
[Entity: Streamer registered as [VOID]]
[History: 12 events in 90 days]
[Event classification: unclassifiable as combat]
[Magic used: active area corruption]
[Current location: eastern sector]
[A_D_M considers Kai Reno’s group the most suitable variable for intervention]
[A_D_M provides no further information]
Kai read the report twice.
"Twelve events in three months," he said to the air.
"What kind of events?" Lira said from her chair.
"The system can’t classify them as combat."
"Then what are they?"
"It doesn’t say."
---
[DraconicLegacy]: 12 events the system can’t classify as combat. that’s worse than combat.
[Stephen_Summers]: A_D_M sending a warning directly to Kai’s system. that hasn’t happened before.
[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ [VOID]. active area corruption. eastern sector. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
[Martijn_Wiersma]: the A_D_M that wants to erase Kai asking him for help. the irony.
[Bangsund]: what’s the difference between area corruption and the time magic from the borderland Streamer?
[Drakeking]: @Bangsund the borderland Streamer anchored time without intent to harm. active corruption has "active" for a reason.
[Zerox]: [VOID] — no additional info. A_D_M knows something it’s not saying. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
---
Aldric read the report over Kai’s shoulder.
He drank his coffee.
"Eastern sector," he said.
"Yes."
"Are you going?"
Kai looked at the others. Serah with her markings in reading mode. Lira with her coffee. Mara staring at the report from the floor with her arms crossed.
"We’re debating."
"It doesn’t look like a debate." Aldric looked at Mara. "It looks like a decision waiting for someone to say it."
Mara looked at him.
Aldric drank and went to the kitchen.
---
[DraconicLegacy]: Aldric reading the situation in two seconds. that man.
[Stephen_Summers]: "it looks like a decision waiting for someone to say it." Aldric translating what the group doesn’t want to say yet.
[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ Aldric looking specifically at Mara. he knows the decision depends on her. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
[Martijn_Wiersma]: the #Sinpaisaje chat wanting them to go. the other fandoms too. rarely happens.
[Bangsund]: all fandoms agreeing they’re going. first time in months.
[Drakeking]: it’s because [VOID] with twelve unclassifiable events scares everyone equally.
[Zerox]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ Mara has the answer. Aldric knows it. chat knows it. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
---
Serah set the report on the table.
"Active area corruption is different from the borderland one." She said it looking at the document. "The borderland Streamer anchored time without wanting to affect anyone. Active corruption has direction. Someone decided it was going outward."
"Twelve times?" Lira said.
"Twelve times in three months."
"And A_D_M didn’t intervene directly."
Kai looked at the report.
"A_D_M is sending the report to us." He left it on the table. "That means they can’t or won’t."
"Or that they want us to do it for them," Lira said.
"That too."
Silence in the room.
Mara kept staring at the report from the floor. Arms crossed. Still not saying anything.
---
[DraconicLegacy]: "active corruption has direction." Serah with the correct analysis.
[Stephen_Summers]: A_D_M, which has level 7 administrators, can’t or won’t intervene on [VOID]. that’s scarier than the twelve events.
[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ "or that they want us to do it for them" — Lira being Lira. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
[Martijn_Wiersma]: Mara silent. staring at the report. the group waiting without pressing.
[Bangsund]: why can’t A_D_M intervene directly? does [VOID] have something that stops them?
[Drakeking]: @Bangsund good question. area corruption could affect A_D_M’s systems. pure speculation but it makes sense.
[Zerox]: Mara with her arms crossed. that posture has meaning for her. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
---
Kai went to the inn’s backyard.
Mara was there three minutes later.
Not because Kai called her — because Mara had processed enough.
"The eastern sector," Mara said.
"Yes."
"It borders the main Orc territory."
"I know."
Mara looked at the yard. The stones. The northern sector behind Valdris’s rooftops.
"Two years." She said it without emphasis. "Two years since I left. The Council declared me a traitor six months after I left."
Kai waited.
"If we go to the eastern sector, meeting the territory is inevitable. Not with the Council directly — but with its scouts, its patrols. They’re going to report that I’m there."
"And?"
"And the Council is going to want to know what I’m doing in their territory."
Kai looked at her.
"Do you want to go?"
Mara didn’t answer right away.
She looked north where Mount Heiguers was even though it wasn’t visible from Valdris.
She looked east where the Orc territory was even though it wasn’t visible either.
"I want to see how everything turned out."
---
[DraconicLegacy]: "I want to see how everything turned out." — two years away. Mara needs to know.
[Stephen_Summers]: she didn’t say she wanted to go back. she said she wanted to see. that difference matters.
[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ Mara went to the yard alone. Kai followed. the group left them alone. that says something too. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
[Martijn_Wiersma]: the Council declared her a traitor six months after she left. not immediately. afterward. that’s political.
[Bangsund]: "I want to see how everything turned out." — that includes the original camp she saw in Chapter 104 of the outline. Mara has history there.
[Drakeking]: Kai asked "do you want to go?" without pressuring. without arguing why they should go. just asked.
[Zerox]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ Mara decided. the group is going. Mara is leading. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
---
Kai nodded.
"Alright."
"No more questions?"
"You have enough reasons." Kai. "I don’t need more."
Mara looked at him.
Her ears moved.
She lowered them.
"When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow. If Lira finishes the report for the vampire kingdom she’s been two days not finishing."
Mara looked inside the inn where Lira was with the report.
"How much is she missing?"
"I don’t know. It depends on what Vayne told her."
Both looked inside.
Lira looked up from the report as if she sensed they were watching her.
She went back to the report.
"Tomorrow," Mara said.
---
[DraconicLegacy]: "you have enough reasons. I don’t need more." — KAI.
[Stephen_Summers]: Kai didn’t ask for an explanation. didn’t question. accepted what Mara said and moved on.
[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ Lira sensing them watching and going back to the report. that vampiric sixth sense. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
[Martijn_Wiersma]: Mara’s ears moving and her lowering them. the process is routine now but no less significant.
[Bangsund]: Kai referencing Lira’s report as a condition for tomorrow. indirect way of including Lira in the decision.
[Drakeking]: Mara said "tomorrow" as confirmation. the group is going. Mara is leading. all clear.
[Zerox]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ the eastern sector. [VOID]. the Orc territory. what Vayne told Lira. everything in the same trip. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
---
That night Kai opened the stream before sleeping.
"Tomorrow we’re going to the eastern sector," he said. "To find [VOID]."
Pause.
"Mara leads."
He closed the stream.
---
[DraconicLegacy]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ "MARA LEADS." TWO WORDS. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
[Stephen_Summers]: Kai announced the plan, gave credit to Mara, closed the stream. total efficiency.
[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ viewers climbing with the announcement. chat in motion. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
[Martijn_Wiersma]: #TeamMara leading the group to the eastern sector. that’s the power of Chapter 100 to 101.
[Bangsund]: "mara leads" — in two words Kai gave Mara leadership of the next arc. without ceremony.
[Drakeking]: that’s how Kai does things. no speech. no protocol. "mara leads." and that’s it.
[Zerox]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ to the eastern sector. [VOID] awaits. the Orc territory awaits. the arc starts tomorrow. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
---
[System — notification]
[The system notes that the group accepts to intervene with [VOID]]
[The system notes that Mara leads]
[The system notes that Mara wants to see how everything turned out]
[The system notes that Lira still hasn’t finished the report]
[The system considers that Lira’s report will be finished tonight]
[The system also considers that what she writes in that report matters]
[The system waits for tomorrow]
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