Chương 50: The Ruin of Vixia

The Historian had somehow managed to eat between moments of speech and reminiscence, and Scarlet was entranced by way the mana now moved around him. No doubt a result of the Fox-Fry's special effects. The heavy, surreal air around them rippled, History colliding with the present, bridged together through words and illusion.

"We call her the Matriarch now. Her true name is lost to time. Any who might know of it know better than to speak it aloud. Names, like titles, carry power. At least to those who know how to wield them. Scarlet." Her name on his tongue sent a shiver down her spine that had less to do with feeling than pure animal instinct. Scarlet thought back to the first time she'd met the Historian, used Inspect on him, and found his name redacted.

She was glad now that all personal details, including names and forms of address, had been completely covered by the confidentiality clause in the contract they'd signed.

'Sometimes paranoia pays off,' she sent to Maus.

"So, the Matriarch entered a Portal World. It was a hidden world, one that had been kept secret by a faction of Esoteric scholars who had the misfortune of being discovered by the Matriarch. The Portal World's Administrator was subjugated instead of killed. What appeared to be mercy on the surface was also insurance that kept a target off her back.

She had seen what was coming, searched for an adequate solution, gathered a few loyal followers, and recognised that it was too late to address what was happening in the time they had left. So, if time was what was needed, she'd make her own. She left the world in the sixth year of the System Integration and did not return for another Vixian century. For her, it was much longer.

"Many who left with her were those who might have helped stabilize the situation, though none could have corrected the course the world was headed on.

"So Vixia began its inevitable descent." The Historian smiled self-deprecatingly before continuing.

"Though I had yet to be born, I truly can't say I would have done any better than those left behind. Not with so little knowledge of the tricks and traps the Factions lay for the worlds they conquer.

"I wish I could say we lost our world in war. That we fought, and bled and died in righteous battle, over resources, land, passion, and people. But those kinds of battles only happen when both sides know they're fighting. This was a quiet, much more insidious, much more effective form of defeat. One where the opponents never even know there's a battle being waged. Though 'opponents' is a generous word.

"Truly, the people of Vixia believed their world was on the rise. That with the backing of the System, they were advancing to heights unknown.

"It began while the world was still in it's Assimilation period. There's a sort of understanding among the Factions, a due process, if you will, for when a new world appears." He gestured to the room around them, to the illusory mountains and valleys, and the much more concrete bookshelves and walls.

"First contact is always made through the Portal Worlds. They are the only places where the Factions and the newly Integrated can connect." He looked at Scarlet.

"If I'm not mistaken, it takes a while for your System Guides to provide you with information that is, well, common knowledge to the Factions." He waited a beat for Scarlet to respond, and when she didn't, he continued.

"The pattern tends to stay the same. Before the assimilation period is over, the Factions cannot plant their people on the planet, so instead they work by proxy.

"Those proxies are particularly useful, and often well rewarded. Most often, those whose talents shine brightly enough to enter a Portal World and survive long enough to meet the Factions are simply absorbed. They step through and never return. It's those who are those deemed useful, but whose talents, ambitions, or personalities are otherwise deficient in areas that would see them Integrated, are sent back to their world to act as the hands and feet of the Faction. Often without their knowledge.

Why reject a benevolent benefactor.

"To those on their homeworld they simply appear to be supremely talented, lucky even. The strong getting stronger in sudden spikes that would otherwise appear abnormal to any who had an idea what 'normal' truly was.

"The strong will always have influence, whether through strength of arms, economy, or tradition. The Factions used that influence for their own ends." Scarlet gave him a pointed look. She had no interest in being a lackey to a Faction, let alone one whose representative had already tried to betray her. Was this whole thing a trap she was walking into with eyes wide open? If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

The Historian continued, unaware, or more likely unconcerned with her thinking.

"The pattern was slow to reveal itself. While the Empire of Flame had fragmented, those with the fire affinity were still prone to simmering grudges and sudden flares of temper. The scattered Water Clans still trended to negotiation, soft power, and economics over blade and magic.

"The Earthen Holds were less covetous of their knowledge. Disseminating it freely within their families and factions while jealously guarding their secrets from outsiders. It's probably how they avoided much of the Integration chaos. While they grew more slowly and had few individual standouts, they grew together. Perhaps if they had been less insular..." He drifted off, something like regret in his voice.

"Those with air affinity drifted to all corners, while the Esoterics were entirely unpredictable in their development. Despite having been the centre of progress, they were the fiercest guardians of their knowledge. Though, in their defence, their knowledge was often the most difficult to acquire, their growth less linear, their paths less well trodden.

"And then there was Purity.

"These masters of politics and rhetoric were both least likely to be absorbed by a Faction while also being most likely to accept their aid. They clawed for power through whatever means necessary. All did, but they did it with uncontested fervor and zeal. They signed deals, made agreements, created infrastructures, and built information networks that spanned Vixia and beyond. They made our planet's descent seem almost civilized.

"It began with infighting. A merchant would offer a favourable contract to one port while leaving another convinced it had been excluded. Both were Water Clan ports. Both once worked in harmony. Now they were competitors, each wary of the advantages granted the other while failing to recognize any difference in circumstances.

"The Earthen holds were convinced to accept foreign instructors because despite their growth, they couldn't compare to the tutelage of those granted favours by the Factions. The scholars of the Esoterics were convinced to create exchange programs through strategically chosen Portal Worlds that led to Faction nexuses. Many of those promising scholars never came back. If they showed enough promise, they were recruited. Those resistant to recruitment often disappeared regardless.

"Those zealots, emboldened by gifted power would stir conflict among communities. When infighting broke out the Faction lackeys made away with the profit, selling arms and armour, only ever slightly tipping the balance one way or another, stirring things up any time the cooled.

"Then, of course, came benevolent aid. External help in the form of our own people.

"Healers who had been trained off-world came back to providing aid for wounds caused by Skills we did not earn and did not yet have the knowledge to heal. Advanced technologies were introduced but tightly controlled by outposts that seemed to conveniently spring up around war-torn territories.

"Both the wound and the weapon. Both the harm and the healing were done to our people, by our people. But the methods and the motives were never our own.

"Even discounting the external meddling, the Adaptation Phase meant even geographical stability was still a way off. The Factions simply exacerbated or took advantage of the chaos. It is no wonder the best of us left. Unfortunately, the departure, or neutralisation our World's best talents left us bereft of those who would have made the most difference.

"Knowledge of the opportunities provided by the wider Network made many resent being 'trapped' on the very land so coveted by those Factions. Not that it was their fault when they were hindered from progress by those who had already earned, or borrowed, power.

"Those left behind became reliant on external aid and external knowledge. Native research slowed. Innovations brought back by those who had monopolised access to the nexus Worlds were seen as more valuable than the discoveries of those brilliant minds who remained behind." His expression became dark, the room around them dimming with it.

"People celebrated accomplishments that had been spoon-fed to them. We sold out our people, our land, our paths to power. Our leaders traded away the lifeblood of their people for scraps to line their own pockets, forgetting or ignoring the value of what they had.

"The early burst of growth was gone. Injustices went unaddressed under the tyranny of Tier. People hoarded what little knowledge they discovered or gained. Those at the bottom were starved out of progress. Stats stagnated, Skills came with fewer frequency, and Levels plateaued.

"On the day the planet opened, two things became apparent.

"First, Vixia were woefully unprepared for full Integration into the Network. We'd been so busy aiming mana bolts at each other that when the true Faction powers descended, there was nothing we could do.

"Second, it became very clear, very fast, that the world was no longer ours. Before the first Faction representative set foot on Vixia's soil, the planet had already been sectioned off and subdued with no input from those who lived there. They arrived having made deals and agreements amongst themselves without ever considering the will of the people of Vixia. Why would they? We were weak.

"We fought with their Skills, depended on their knowledge, their healing, their technology. We had built nothing of our own, and anything that we did manage to innovate was quickly appropriated by the factions.

"Our backs did the labour, and they took the gains. Our children went hungry while theirs feasted upon our wealth.

"Now that they had access to our planet, and could bring their full power to bear, they no longer had any need for pretense." The world twisted and warped with the indistinct sound of foremen shouting, and children crying. The smell of fine food was disrupted by the stink of rot, acrid smoke, in a distinctly ozoney smell Scarlet was beginning to associate with mana.

"It is a miserable thing to realize you're on the losing end of a war you didn't even realize was being waged against you. That you are less than a footnote in a history that has repeated itself over and over for longer than living memory.

""Of course, eventually the Factions gave up the pretense. The world, once claimed by proxy, was swiftly claimed in truth. Any remaining talents were offered opportunities with the Factions. Any who resisted or refused were eliminated. However, those were the minority. The offers were lucrative and enticing enough that most took the deals."

"You catch more flies with honey than vinegar," Scarlet nodded.

'You catch the most flies with poop!' Maus sent over the bond. Scarlet stared at her Familiar for a beat before speechlessly scooping him onto her lap. To her utter astonishment – and mild incredulity – he'd gained a point in Intelligence.