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The dark breath of power that Nyrielle unleashed might have stripped away Aspakos’s attempt to conceal himself by diminishing his presence in the meeting, but it did nothing to strip away the bloody aura of power and mystery that clung to the Dark Feathered sorcerer.

The veins of gold that held the shards of his broken beak glittered in the flickering light of the formal dining room’s many oil lamps, providing a singular bright spot in his otherwise dark appearance and drawing all eyes as he responded to Nyrielle’s question.

"My Lady," the aging sorcerer said in a resonant tone that commanded the attention of the entire room.

"The Sorcerers of Sundered Earth cannot take part in this war.

The blood that will be spilled if we do will be enough to turn rivers red and make the heavens weep," he said.

"Do not force our hands. It is unwise for you and your people for us to become involved too early. "

Sitting next to the ominous sorcerer, Hauke shifted awkwardly, trying to put a bit of distance between himself and Aspakos.

The way the man spoke was eerily similar to how he’d spoken after using strange sorcery to divine Hauke’s destiny, as if he could see certainties of what was to come rather than speculating about possibilities.

When he’d spoken of Hauke, he’d said that the world would be a darker place without him in it, and at the time, the young lord was grateful that whatever vision Aspakos had obtained had swayed him to help the cursed Frost Walker.

Now that he was speaking of rivers of blood and the heavens weeping, the mysterious man’s dark sorcery felt much less reassuring.

"Don’t resort to parlour tricks and cryptic phrases in front of me, sorcerer," Nyrielle said as darkness gathered around her with midnight blue energy swirling in her dark eyes.

"A mended beak may break again, never to speak again if its owner can’t keep his promises," she said. "You said you came to face the ones who had followed the stars across the seas, to fight against the misguided children of the heavens who had seized power they weren’t meant to hold. Now that we’re preparing to face them, do you intend to go back on your words? "

With each word she spoke, Nyrielle’s presence in the room grew colder and heavier, and her voice sounded more and more distant, even as it grew louder, as if she spoke from the depths of the void.

Seeing the faces of Ollie, Heila turning ghostly pale, along with the faces of the remaining living members of the council, Ashlynn moved quickly, returning to stand behind her seat, summoning a faint aura that resembled a vast oak tree, sheltering the people at the table from the cold winds of the void that flowed through the room when Nyrielle spoke.

Even Thane moved, allowing shadows to gather around his shoulders, forming a great cloak that shielded the vampires in the room from the call of the void that accompanied Nyrielle’s display of power.

Though Zedya barely seemed to suffer under the effects of Nyrielle’s power, Lennart slumped in clear relief when Thane unfurled his cloak of shadows, and even Savis and Tausau looked relieved that they weren’t the target of Nyrielle’s ire.

"I will not be intimidated, Lady Nyrielle," Aspakos said, raising a taloned hand that was shrouded in a dark crimson aura. With the point of one talon, he tore through the dark flow of energy that blew from Nyrielle, parting it like a stone in a river and allowing it to flow harmlessly around him.

"I have told you already," he continued firmly.

"The Sorcerers of Sundered Earth are not for you to command against puppets and misguided sheep. You have more than enough strength to slaughter the lambs with the other forces you’ve gathered here," he said, gesturing to Thane, Tausau, Savis and Bassinger in turn. "My men will not move for this."

"Not your men," Ashlynn said, inserting herself between her lover and the dark sorcerer. The instant she did, the dark wind blowing from the void seemed to ripple through the leaves and branches of Ashlynn’s own aura becoming something that was both dark and haunting while at the same time possessing a life and will of its own to stalk around the room, wrapping around Aspakos like the roots of a tree winding around a stone.

"Not your men," Ashlynn repeated. "Just you, for now. We have plenty of sorcerers from half a dozen clans, each with their own traditions and talents. They need leadership, and they need to learn from each other if we’re to make the best use of them in this war."

"You think I would rain down less blood and fire without the remainder of the Sorcerers of Sundered Earth marching under my banner?

" Aspakos said with a dark, self-deprecating laugh.

"Mother of Trees, my men are my shackles.

They restrain the darkness that clings ever tighter to my soul and remind me of the promise our order made to the Sovereign of the Stars so many years ago. "

"Without them to hold me back," he said, flexing his talons that seemed to drip with an aura of blood and darkness. "Do you truly think I can be trusted on the field of battle?"

"You can be trusted," Ashlynn said, slowly walking down the length of the table until she stood before the Dark Feathered sorcerer, close enough that his murderous, bloody aura brushed against her skin as he loomed over her.

"This darkness that clings to you," she said, reaching out and running a hand just over the surface of his cracked and broken beak before gently stroking his feathered head. "It doesn’t belong to you at all."

"What..." Aspakos said, momentarily so flustered that his dark aura began to recede beneath Ashlynn’s gentle touch.

"You aren’t like the rest of us," Ashlynn said, glancing briefly back at Nyrielle, Thane, Zedya, and Ignatious.

Ghosts of suffering, long-lost loved ones, and hurts that no amount of revenge could heal lurked in each of their shadowed eyes as Ashlynn confronted the mysterious sorcerer.

When she spoke, her voice carried the pain not just of the savage beating she suffered at Owain’s hands or the burial that happened afterwards, but the years of isolation and fear of discovery that made her a prisoner within her own home, constantly guarding herself against discovery by the Church and their Inquisition.

"Your world has never been torn apart, no matter how sharp your talons are," she said, gently taking his dark talons in her hands and holding them as gently as she would hold a delicate flower.

"Even though the men leading the Church of the Holy Lord of Light are your enemies, you don’t hate them the way we do," she said softly.

For a moment, Aspakos wanted to protest. His quiet life as a researcher had ended the day rumors of the ’treasures’ in their vaults began to spread across the Eldritch lands, sending dozens of would-be conquerors to their doorstep.

He’d stained his hands with blood, unsealing the potent sorcery of the Sorcerers of Sundered Earth for the first time in centuries, slaughtering any who dared to invade their ancient fortress in the Forsaken Lands.

But had he really lost anything the way these people had?

His order had yet to face a threat that could breach their walls, much less claim their lives.

Certainly, he’d lost his ability to see the world in with the distant gaze of someone who had long ago removed himself from its concerns, but who in this room hadn’t faced harsher realities when they left their childhoods behind and took up the burdens of their people?

When he made the decision to practice the Founder’s lost art, he’d cloaked his own destiny in blood and darkness, surrounding himself with a mantle so fearsome that even children ran from his presence, but did that darkness really belong to him?

Or was it just a spectre of events that had yet to unfold that led him into acting as though he was already a man who had lost the light of the stars and wandered beyond redemption?

"So yes, I trust you to lead our sorcerers in battle," Ashlynn said, looking directly into the powerful sorcerer’s eyes and pulling him out of his inwardly spiralling thoughts. "Because you’re still trying to avoid conflict that would force you to kill the men you call ’puppets and misguided sheep. ’"

"We want you to lead our second most dangerous force," Ashlynn said firmly.

"Because the others we might place in command have far too much reason to give in to the darkness that dwells within their own hearts, while you only contend with the darkness that you’ve dipped your talons into," she said to a shocked-looking Aspakos.

He had been completely seen through, he realized.

Perhaps seen more clearly than he’d been able to see his own reflection in the mirror, and by a woman less than half his age.

It was a humbling feeling that left his feathers twitching in disbelief but it was also one that contained a thread of hope.

... Hope that maybe, just maybe, this witch could find a path forward that wasn’t as dark as the one he’d seen.

"So," the young witch asked the Dark Feathered sorcerer.

"Will you take up this burden, along with the darkness that clings to you, Commander Aspakos? Or will you leave the destiny of our sorcerers in someone else’s claws and accept whatever horrors they choose to unleash upon your long-lost brethren? "

"I..." Aspakos started to speak, only to be surprised that his mouth had gone dry and his throat closed up when he began to see the faintest glimmer of a brighter future leading from this moment. Not just brighter for the extraordinary woman in front of him, but perhaps, for himself as well.

"I would be honored to, My Lady," Aspakos said as he slowly descended to one knee before the Mother of Trees.

"I still have my reservations about joining the Sorcerers of Sundered Earth to your cause against these minor lords," he added as he lowered his head in submission.

"But so long as you only wish to command me, then my talons are yours to guide. "