Debauchery of a Soul-Eating Wraith

Silence dawned upon the room and then Astrid sighed and shook her head,

"You've been here, how long?" she asked.

"A few hours," Evian answered calmly.

"And you believe that gives you enough grounds to stand there and advise me on how I should lead my forces?" Astrid asked.

"Well, I happen to have a unique outlook that I doubt anyone at the war meeting would have considered," Evian said.

Astrid put down the map in her hand and took multiple steps forward until she was a foot from Evian. Zayda stretched an arm across between them to caution Astrid against taking another menacing step.

Astrid went from looking at Zayda's arm to looking up at Evian again, keeping his gaze for a whole minute before she finally let out a sigh and looked away,

"Look at you looking all giddy like you've made a brilliant breakthrough. Your plan involves infiltration and confrontation, you said. That tells me all I need to know about it."

Evian blinked,

"It does?" he asked.

"It does.

Deducing on account of one particular skill you showed when we battled, which is a term I use generously by the way, I'd assume 'infiltration' refers to you Phasing your way over to the enemy's camp.

It's not a bad idea. If they had Wraiths on their side, I am sure they would have considered doing the same to us only to fail when faced with our barrier.

However, You will face no such issue because their camp is a makeshift one, and a powerful defensive barrier that runs as well as ours does require stable structures to act as Anchors which the Verlice Kingdom achieved with the use of Forts that the enemy is unable to reproduce on neutral ground and such short notice.

The most the Arkadae forces can do is to have perimeter sensors all around their camp to alert them of an intruder but since the sensors don't extend underground, they are security measures you can bypass so long as you know where they are which I'm sure you think works out nicely because you never planned to go alone.

After all, for the 'confrontation' part of your idea to work, you require someone with enough strength to confront and draw out the Enemy Commander's strength so you can inform us beforehand.

As for why you have come to me with this 'idea', Well, it must be because you need my permission to not only exit the Fort but also take along a Captain. You're here to ask to take along Zayda who stands beside you."

Zayda looked from Astrid to Evian and then back, completely stumped by what she was hearing. On their way here, Evian had declined to talk about it but apparently, she was right to have feared the worst because of his secrecy.

Meanwhile, Evian's eyes went wide and then he chuckled,

"Impressive deductive abilities. I'd expect nothing less from the Golden Child."

"Oh please, it's light work," Astrid said waving him off, "Anyway, your plan is simple and juvenile but it does have some merit."

"Please, with how well you've explained it without my input, I feel wrong to even claim it as my own."

"Oh, do claim it.

More importantly, I'd like to know why you think I can be manipulated."

"What are you talking about?" Evian asked.

"You just think me a fool if you expect me to believe this is all suggested because of your patriotic heart. You have something you want," Astrid said.

"Don't we all?" Evian asked with a smile.

"What is it?"

"That's between me and the person I take along with me," Evian said with a glance toward Zayda whose eyes were wide with confusion.

Astrid paused and then smirked,

"Well, good. Then tell it to me," She said.

"What?"

"It's not Zayda you'll be taking with you. It's me," Astrid said calmly.

Evian let a few seconds of silence pass and then, when he spoke, he did so slowly, as though to emphasize every word as it left his perfect lips,

"Are you serious?"

Astrid shrugged,

"Of course. A plan this dangerous has grounds to fail and I trust no one better than myself. Besides, who better to confront the Enemy Commander and draw out their full Strength, if not me?"

Evian raised a hand to his beardless jaw and stroked with a studious look like Astrid had just thrown a wretch in his plans and he was attempting to still make it work,

"Hmm, You do make some good points," he said quietly in a musing tone.

'What a faker!' Astrid thought with a sweet smile on her lips. She knew Evian 'thinking it over' was all an act. The moment she suggested to come along, Astrid saw the glint of excitement in his eyes and she guessed this was what he was after from the start.

She wasn't entirely wrong or entirely correct either.

Evian would have 'preferred' to have had Zayda come along with him because she was the strongest Knight at the Western Fort that he could trust which was already shaky ground since Zayda had not totally come to terms with him being a Wraith even if she tried not to let that show.

Anyway, if having Astrid herself come with him was the alternative, then it was a damned good one that worked out probably even better than he had hoped.

She already knew he was a Wraith and did not care and who better to help his Soul Eating than the strongest Knight at the Western Fort and the greatest among the young generation of both the Martial Temple and the Arcane Church.

Evian allowed himself a few more seconds to 'think' and then he let out a sigh,

"Alright, let's do it."

"Excellent!" Astrid exclaimed.

Zayda looked between the two and went back and forth so many times and so fast that she looked like she was about to get whiplash,

"Wait, you're agreeing to this. To this unpolished plan?!" she asked.

Astrid shrugged,

"Of course. It sounds like fun."

"Fun?" Zayda asked and then her voice went up a good number of octaves as she repeated, "FUN?!"

Astrid stared at her like a crazy person and that only set Zayda off even more as she took a step toward her,

"Listen, Astrid, I don't like you having the authority to boss me around but you ARE the Commander of the Combined Forces and as such, you have a responsibility to everyone at the Western Fort, who is gathered to fight to defend the Kingdom."

"And why do you think I'm doing this? What happens to everyone at the Fort if the enemy's strength catches us by surprise?"

"How likely is that, really? I've seen you fight. Begrudgingly, and to no enjoyment of mine, I have watched you grow and I know probably better than many others currently at the Fort just how formidable you are.

Just what chance does the enemy have of defeating the great Astrid Renan, the Martial Temple's Golden Child?!"

Astrid chuckled,

"Sweet of you to look out for me but I know what I'm doing."

"I'm not looking out for you, I'm looking out for myself," Zayda said and rounded on Evian with an accusatory glare and tone, "I'm also looking out for this 'boy' who clearly doesn't realize the magnitude of the danger he's convincing you to undertake with him."

"How much safer can I be? I'll be with her!" Evian said with a head gesture at Astrid who gave a mock curtsy.

"Damn it, Evian, I regret telling you anything about the War meeting. Should have shut my mouth when you started getting that crazy look in your eyes."

"Alright, that's enough naysaying," Astrid said to Zayda and then to Evian, she said,

"When do we leave?"

"Right now?" Evian suggested.

"Right now is good," Astrid said with a nod, "Preparations for battle will begin in hours and we should be at the enemy camp by then."

"Excellent," Evian said before turning away and acting like he was preparing himself for a difficult undertaking. He was not.

Astrid flicked her wrist and retrieved a Seal that she handed to Zayda,

"As the only one aware of this undertaking, Zayda, you are now my emissary. Wait a few hours and inform the Leuitenants and other Captains of my plan.

Tell them the match-out should continue as planned and should fortune smile on us, you shall all be facing Enemy forces who have lost a Commander."

•••

When she became Commander of the Combined Forces, Astrid Renan was given the right to allow entry and exit through the barrier. A right she shared with select Commanders so they could make the decision in her absence as they would now have to.

Anyway, she and Evian passed through the Barrier by her authority.

Evian looked as he always did but Astrid's hair was now a shiny black color, completely devoid of its usual golden shine which she claimed was much too eye-catching. As she was, she looked even more like her Mother, Frida Renan.

Her blue eyes remained as they were and she had replaced her previous dress with something more— Common.

"Your hand," Evian said as he stretched his forward.

Astrid eyed it and then she grabbed it. She accepted the Eldritch energy that infiltrated her body until she was weightless and vanished through the ground and out of sight.