Defiance of the Fall

For a second, Zac had thought Kator wanted to extend an olive branch after their initial friction. It turned out the gesture was just another way to mess with him. The tranquility he'd seized was almost blown away, but Zac pushed down the anger as he wordlessly stared at Kator.

"Don't give me that look. Want another beatdown?" Kator laughed.

"There is no way he'd be up and walking if he was just turned," Zac squeezed through grit teeth. "You promised you wouldn't touch him until our duel. Is your word only worth this much?"

"I promised he'd be alive and well. I never promised I'd keep him a Dreamer," Kator said, scratching a small scar on the chest where Zac struck him before.

"Killing Boje and awakening a Revenant can't possibly be considered alive and well!"

"Oh, but I didn't awaken him," Kator said before turning to the Alchemist, who had hesitantly stopped at the doorway. "Buddy, introduce yourself."

The man looked back and forth between Zac and Kator for a moment, fear and helplessness evident on his face. Eventually, he released a helpless sigh. "… I'm Boje Zethaya,"

Zac's eyes thinned. There was something about his face and voice that was so familiar, and not in the eerie way he'd seen with his enemies-turned-followers. The newcomer didn't seem to be lying. Revenant was really Boje Zethaya unless they had managed to steal his memories before raising a Revenant spy.

"You—" Zac slowly said, realization finally parting the clouds of anger that had built in his mind.

He'd heard it was technically possible to turn cultivators into Revenants while retaining their memories, but it was exceedingly difficult and expensive. Only the most talented Liches could accomplish such a feat, and it required exceedingly rare materials. Zac even doubted there was anyone in Zecia who had the skills necessary. Even then, there was a decent risk either soul or body would succumb from the transition, to the point that even living Death Cultivators were leery about taking that step.

Why would Kator do something like this? Was it really just to mess with him?

"You don't think I understand how your greedy little mind works?" Kator snickered upon seeing the confusion on Zac's face. "You wanted a chit for the Zethaya Pill House, which you could use to further the cultivation of Zachary Atwood and the Dreamers of your faction. Something we explicitly said might work against our goals."

Zac didn't bother denying it. After all, it was true that Boje's access to the top-tier Pill House was an important reason he'd shown up today. And even if it wasn't the only reason, so what? Should he try to explain himself like a defendant on trial? That would only make him look like a hypocrite.

"Besides, you really thought I'd just let a Sealbearer go?" the reaver continued. "You'd send him back, but do you think those weak Alchemists would dare hang onto him? The brat would be sold off to one of the outsider factions before he could bring down a calamity on their heads. Then we'd be left with nothing while our enemies grow stronger."

"This kills two birds with one stone. Young Boje here is now one of us, commandments and all. There's no way for him to become part of someone else's cycle. Realignment should be the optimal choice, superior to awakening or digging the seal out of his chest. After all, the seal chose this guy for one reason or another. This way, we keep the original, but in a more suitable form."

"Three stones, maybe," Kator added after some thought. "Seeing your constipated face is quite a delicious bonus."

Zac inwardly fumed but knew he had no leg to stand on. Kator had obviously twisted the meaning of his promise, but that didn't much matter at this point. He could have raised a stink if he'd won, but he couldn't complain about Boje's fate.

"Enough," Toss said as he stepped through a crack in space. "Our mission takes precedence over everything else. This is already a good outcome for the child."

"Kator managed to bring a highly skilled Lich for this very purpose," Laz added. "Native sealbearers are expected to be more useful inside the trial zone, so we've spared no expense to ensure there are as few lingering drawbacks as possible on our new members."

"I know today didn't go as you hoped, but don't let it sow seeds of doubt in your heart," Pavina said.

"Thank you," Zac said. "Don't worry about me. My cultivation path has been nothing but hiccups and roadblocks since day one. This is just another Tuesday."

"If there's nothing else, we'll take our leave," Laz Tem'Zul said, ushering Zac and Boje from the dojo.

An unexpected scene waited on the other side. It was a huge training square where thousands of warriors fought. Only a few were Draugr, with Revenants and Corpselords having a roughly equal distribution. A bloody air covered the arena, except for a solitary spot of darkness where he found Tavza waiting. She briefly glanced at Boje before leveling an even stare at Zac.

"You knew about this?" Zac asked.

"Some battles have to be ceded for the greater picture."

Zac snorted with displeasure, but he followed when Tavza turned around and walked toward a gate on the opposite side of the room. It was like an invisible hand pushed the combatants aside, creating a path for their small group. No one said anything for a minute until Tavza finally spoke again.

"For a moment, I thought you'd subvert all expectations again."

"Wasn't enough this time," Zac shrugged. "I'd probably be dead if it were a real battle, with escape the only other option. And there might be hundreds of people like him in the trial."

"Hundreds? Unlikely. The deeper your foundations, the harder it is to push for Late Hegemony within a century. Besides, there's a reason there's only Kator and I at this level from the Empire," Tavza said. "All factions are fearful of diluting their fate by being greedy. While our estimates indicate there'll be hundreds of sealbearers, the vast majority will be Early or Middle D-grade. There shouldn't be more than twenty people at Kator's level."

Zac nodded, but her phrasing made Zac look over with curiosity. "Between you and Kator, who'd win in a spar?"

"In a spar? Kator," Tavza said with equanimity. "Those practicing technique will always benefit in situations limiting one's other powers. In a life-and-death battle? Impossible to say."

Zac was slightly surprised that Tavza felt confident standing toe-to-toe with Kator in a death match. A young princess of the AzoL bloodline obviously wouldn't be weak, but Tavza's role in the mission seemed more like support. She had her Domain-like Bloodline that could provide Miasma and a deep understanding of Arrays and ancient history. Meanwhile, Kator was a pure combatant.

The conversation stalled again, and Zac eventually turned to Boje, who had nervously followed a few paces behind.

"How are you feeling?"

"I am fine, thank you," the Alchemist quickly said. "I… May I ask for young master's name?"

"You don't know?" Zac said with confusion.

"Boje Zethaya entered Middle D-grade just before Kator found him," Tavza commented. "He wouldn't know."

No wonder Boje had looked like a question mark since the beginning. Zac's Draugr appearance was only vaguely familiar to his original features after awakening, and it was almost impossible to draw the connection unless you knew they were the same person. However, he'd figured Boje would've figured it out through the two aliases on the ladder.

Turned out Boje didn't even have access to it. Less surprising was that Kator hadn't bothered filling the poor Alchemist in on the situation.

"You're already Middle D-grade?" Zac said with surprise. "Your cultivation is even faster than Reoluv Dravorak's?"

"My, ah, previous status came with some advantages," Boje said wryly. "The Zethaya Clan is one of the wealthiest factions in the sector, and war was coming. The Matriarch chose to pour vast amounts of resources into our people. That way, we'd be better prepared while reducing our attraction as a target for ransacking. Then… I—"

Boje's already pallid face grew even paler as he lost his words.

"The Kan'Tanu forcibly raised his cultivation with taboo methods after he was captured," Laz said.

"Then—" Zac hesitated as he glanced at Boje's chest.

"No, they don't implant sealbearers with Heart Curses," Tavza said upon seeing Zac looking at Boje's stomach. "We believe they are selling sealbearers to outside factions and don't want to spoil the goods. After all, those things feed on fate, in a sense."

"His cultivation was already resource-heavy, and the ritual damaged his foundations even further," Laz said before turning to Boje. "Don't consume more treasures or gain any levels over the next three years. Focus on purification and learning what we imparted."

"I—I understand," Boje stuttered, clearly unnerved by the gaze of the Draugr Monarch.

Zac was about to explain the situation, but they had reached the teleportation square—or rather, one looking mostly like it, except for a few minor differences. Zac guessed there were dozens of them in the sprawling mansion of the Kavriel Clan.

Boje was surprised to hear they were leaving the Kavriel Clan's ancestral manor, but he welcomed the news. It almost looked like he didn't care where they were going, so long as it was away from all the scary overlords of the Undead Empire.

Zac exchanged a few words with Laz before activating the teleporter, indicating Boje to get inside. Just as they were about to leave, Zac heard Tavza's emotionless voice in his mind.

'Don't return to Kavista before the mission. The situation has gone out of control.'

The teleporter swallowed him and Boje before Zac had the chance to react to Tavza's message, and they soon appeared by his Nexus Hub. Boje curiously looked around, his brows slowly scrunching together as he sensed the environment outside.

"What's this?" Boje muttered. "I sense something sinister… No, wait… is that—"

"It's the Dao of Life," Zac sighed. "You'll get used to the change in perspective. Trust me, I know."

"You—"

"I know you have questions. I'll explain everything, but let's relocate before anything else," Zac said with a shake of his head.

The two teleported once more, appearing in Zac's Compound. All the while, Boje only got increasingly confused as he observed the surroundings. Finally, they settled in his Death-attuned compound, where Triv served refreshments before retreating.

"We're not on Kavista anymore, are we?"

"No. Not in the Kavriel Province at all, in fact," Zac explained. "I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Arcaz Umbri'Zi, but you know me better as one of my aliases—Zac Piker."

"Ah, of course, I—WHAT!" Boje blurted a storm of emotions fluctuating across his face. It took him over a minute to recollect himself, at which point he looked at Zac with a complicated expression. "They got you too? No wonder we haven't heard from you lately."

"No," Zac said with a wry smile. "Well, not in the same sense. My situation is more complicated. I was already Half-Draugr when we met the first time. I had something similar to a deviation when entering hegemony and was split in two. The half you're more familiar with should currently be leading another campaign for the Atwood Empire."

"So that's where we are," Boje said, his eyes widening in comprehension. "I recall reading a missive mentioning your world had pockets of Death after the Undead Incursion. To think it was to this extent."

"The System turned it into a Dual-attuned world after we passed the integration," Zac said. "Now, we're the only life-death faction in Zecia."

Zac spent the next ten minutes broadly explaining the situation and catching Boje up to speed.

"I understand," Boje said, blankly looking up at the blue sky and the warm suns above. He said nothing more, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

"Are you okay?" Zac eventually asked after the silence had dragged on for a minute.

The Alchemist was dragged out of his stupor and looked over.

"The past couple of months have been…" Boje said, slowly shaking his head. "It's ironic."

"What?"

"I met the Matriarch a few years ago. She told me I wasn't suited for the path of Death and should focus on Life instead. I wonder what she would think if she saw me now."

There was a smile on Boje's face, but even Zac could see the mania hiding beneath the surface. He said nothing, letting Boje continue.

"I followed her suggestion. After our meeting, I shifted my direction toward healing while continuing my studies of Alchemy. I normally stayed far from the fighting, healing our soldiers from within our battlements. But the quest required me to follow the army into the Kan'Tanu Sector, and I got greedy."

Zac could guess the rest. They met a strong opponent, and Boje's army was killed or captured. "Did you get the seal during the war?"

"No, shortly before," Boje said. "The Zethaya have some clandestine… ventures... inside the Million Gates Territory. That chaotic space has a lot of resources you can't find elsewhere. I was sent there after we started hearing the rumors of war and opportunities."

"Should you be spilling the beans on those kinds of secrets?" Zac said with a raised brow.

"It doesn't matter now," Boje sighed. "Those channels are all liquidated. Besides, I'm not even part of my family anymore."

"Those orders…"

"It's not just that," Boje said, looking up at Zac. "I can't return anymore. That skeleton jerk was right in one thing. My family can't withstand holding onto someone related to the Left Imperial Palace. I kept my situation hidden out of fear of becoming a bargaining chip. Now, my situation is even worse. Besides… I can't face my family like this…"

Zac understood what he meant. Boje was caught in a nightmarish situation where he currently didn't quite belong to either side. The Zethaya Clan might not even believe he was who he said he was. His first thought was also that Boje was a spy. Hearing the motivations and seeing Tavza and Laz's reactions wasn't enough to fully dispel the thought. Realignment was simply too rare, to the point that it never happened on the frontier.

"Well, I shouldn't complain," Boje eventually said. "So many people have died in this war, including people I've known my whole life. My situation is much better than that, especially now that I'm out of the eyes of that Izh'Rak Reaver.

"I'd like to send a message back home, with your permission. Just explain the situation to my parents. I won't mention the matter of the Left Imperial Palace, of course. I'll say something like they recognized my potential was too good to awaken conventionally and chose realignment instead."

"Sure," Zac nodded. "How's your situation in that regard? Can you still practice alchemy?"

"Well, I have some relearning to do. Thankfully, I don't cultivate the Dao of Life like some healers," Boje said. "I'm cultivating the Daos of Fire, Herbalism, and Alchemy. The Empire also provided resources and manuals to allow me to continue my cultivation with Miasma instead of Cosmic Energy."

"Let me know if you need anything else," Zac said. "My Atwood Empire can't compare to the Zethaya in terms of riches, but you might be surprised by the stuff we have in our stores. Much of it comes from outside Zecia."

The two talked for another hour, catching up and planning for the future. Zac had to admit, Kator had set everything up quite nicely for the Alchemist. Apart from Cultivation Manuals and Alchemy techniques, Boje had even been provided with a large batch of practice resources and information missives related to his path of study. The Undead Empire unsurprisingly had ample experience taking Alchemic Recipies from the outside and reworking them to suit their races.

It was almost impossible for an Undead to create pills that could be used for the living. After all, the foundation of their pills would be made with Miasma rather than Cosmic Energy, which would leave an indelible core of Death within. For the undead, that energy would simply bolster the effect of the pills. For the living, taking the pill would be akin to inviting Death. A few might be fine, but any more, and they'd face the same situation as the cultivators who had stayed within the Dead Zone too long.

Boje was quite eager to start working on the proprietary Zethaya recipes. In his words, he wouldn't be breaking any of his old family rules if he reworked them into undead pills. They could technically be considered entirely new pills.

Zac could still sense the panic beneath the excitement, but there wasn't much Zac could do about it. The trauma he'd been through wouldn't magically heal after a short conversation with an old acquaintance. Hopefully, staying in the Atwood Empire would let him process what he'd been through. Seeing the undead and living working together might make it easier to deal with his situation.

"Excuse me, young master. You have guests," a voice said from outside, and Zac mentally opened the gates to let Triv inside.

Accompanying him was Joanna and a couple of Revenants who would take Boje to get settled. Soon only Zac and Joanna remained, and he shared the events of his visit.

"That reaver was so strong that not even you could defeat him?" Joanna frowned. "I knew the trial would be deadly, but this..."

"We still have some time to catch up."

"What's next?"

"More of the same," Zac said. "These are going to be a bloody few years."

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