Chương 51: The Reclamation of Vixia

For the moment, both Scarlet and the Historian lost themselves in memories of the past.

"They're going to try to do it to my world. My homeworld I suppose," strange to think there were other options now, but she was adapting. The statement sat heavy in the room.

"They will."

"Your faction as well?" Scarlet met his eyes.

"Yes,""Tareth," She said his name like it was an expletive. The Historian didn't deny it.

"Yes." Scarlet turned and looked out the window at the scenery: nothing but barren land, compact soil. Earth so valuable her mind buzzed with the knowledge of it, and yet nothing flowered, nothing bloomed. It was just dirt and a pit.

"Not you, though," she said with a certainty that resonated with the energy within her.

"You are no representative sent to discover new worlds and subjugate them." If he was, it was definitely not his own agenda, and obviously not one he planned to follow. He voiced the question in her eyes.

"What do I gain?" he asked, with that annoying, vulpine smile of his. All teeth no answers. Scarlet let the matter go. She had her own ideas.

"So, Vixia," she prompted. It was obvious the history lesson wasn't finished. She hadn't received any notifications about Quest completion. The Historian's eyes went distant again, as the illusion in the room shifted"The Matriarch and her Portal World," he began.

"It bought her the time needed to grow. While only a century passed on Vixia, for the Matriarch and her people it was closer to four hundred years." Four hundred years. Scarlet made a note about differentiating rates of time dilation between Portal Worlds, something she'd have to investigate when she got back.

"Four centuries in the Portal World was enough time for even the most obtuse and protected of the newly Integrated to become something more – given they had the gumption and the guidance." He paused.

"And that they survived.

"Portal Worlds, as you may well have noticed, are not the safest of places. Those who survived long enough to subdue the world made it their home.

"Generations passed, civilization appeared, new traditions emerged, and the people grew through hard work, iteration, and the Matriarch's stubborn refusal to let them fracture." Scarlet turned back to face the Historian.

"So, in the end, it still comes down to power." The Historian shrugged.

"There are different kinds, but yes. Is it not the same in your world?" In her world? She thought about the wealthy sperm donor she had the misfortune of being sired by, his poisonous wife who had cost her a childhood, and whose progeny had taken her innocence and trust. None of them had faced any real consequences. On the contrary, in most cases she'd been the one to pay for their abhorrent behavior. Almost by reflex, she reached for Empathy to throttle her emotions.

Then Maus Blinked onto her shoulder and began grooming the small coil of hair at her temple. It was soft, familiar, warm.

'Thanks, Buddy,' she sent him even as she responded to the Historian,"I suppose the specific world doesn't really matter. Regardless of where, with sufficient power, very little is impossible." Her face remained blank as she spoke, her voice steady with just an edge of hollowness creeping in on the edges.

"It'll be worse for your world," he said, voice certain before he picked up the threads of history once more.

"The System is absolute in matters of bureaucracy," he tapped the spot on his chest where the System contract had settled.

"No unauthorized entry into a claimed Portal World without administrator approval. Of course, a Portal World it can be simply 'unclaimed' by eliminating the administrator, or administrators."

"There is a phrase that is taught to those born within the network, most learn it young: claim what you can keep. This is especially true when it comes to Portal Worlds, as the only way for a weak administrator to avoid being caught is to either hide their status, though there are methods to reveal information like this." He gave her a knowing look, no doubt recalling their first meeting and her use of inspect. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"If an administrator can avoid detection by those Skills, the likelihood is they're already strong enough to keep what they've claimed. The other method is to flee within the claimed World.

"Normally this isn't a viable solution as most Portal World Trials have fixed timelines and forced exits. Those that don't are often too dangerous to survive within. The very few that aren't are so valuable that worlds have been destroyed by the wars fought over them.

"These types of Portals appear most frequently on newly Integrated worlds. The less mana the world contained before Integration, the longer its adaptation period, and the more likely such rare Portal Worlds will appear." He trailed off, though the meaning in the silence was clear: Earth was one such world, its adaptation period double that of Vixia. The Historian gave Scarlet a critical once-over, pressed his lips together, and turned back toward the barren landscape just outside the window.

"I've rarely seen a Portal World held by anyone under Tier 3. Even then, such a person rarely is likely to have incredible backing. Certainly enough to keep what they claimed. Truly, the only way for such a weak administrator to survive being hunted is to be strong enough and lucky enough to fell into their Portal World and survive its trials. Few do. Even fewer do so with a civilization's worth of entrenched power behind them.

"The Matriarch was one such individual.

"One hundred years uncontested made the factions who'd colonised Vixia complacent.

"Four hundred years gave the Matriarch the power to contest them.

"The strongest people on Vixia by then were Tier 3 when she exited the portal, bringing an army behind her. The planet was not deemed important enough to warrant permanently stationing a Tier 4.

"That hubris, though well earned, cost them the world.

"There are few known cases of a native population reclaiming their world. Even fewer of them preventing the Factions from claiming their world in the first place. For obvious reasons, such histories are not widely spread." A ripple of disgust echoed out of him, and strain became evident in his demeanor. Whether it was an affectation, a deliberate reveal, something else, Scarlet didn't know. Around them, the energy in the room thickened, merging the past and present until the edges of time blurred.

The Historian looked hard at her; his words coming out as though compelled.

"The Matriarch swept through her homeworld in one massive campaign that pushed her past Tier 3 and into Tier 4. At Tier 4 she was a true power player, and she had an army of Tier 3s behind her. By the time she'd reclaimed Vixia, the Factions were too late to respond.

"Tier 4 earned her a seat at the table. The Faction she'd built meant she was able to keep it, despite the target on her back.

"At that point, the displaced Factions had two options: Force – which would likely see the world they were fighting for destroyed in the crossfire – or negotiation.

"Fair dealings, equitable trade, mutually beneficial agreements; concession and compromise. Things those entrenched in their power and used to uncontested authority absolutely despise."

"She won," Scarlet said.

"In a manner," the Historian agreed. Images of victory, sounds of cheering people, and the scent of decadent food drifted around them. People and power, Scarlet thought. Or perhaps more aptly, the power of people. She stroked Maus's fur with one hand while the other hovered above her notepad, the brass fountain pen unmoving as she considered.

If she didn't want Earth to end up subjugated to the next petty tyrant, enterprising power, or ambitious Faction, she'd need enough power to claim a seat at the table, and enough people behind her to make displacing her the least attractive option. Tier 4. There was something about that threshold, more so than the gaps between Tiers 1, 2, and 3. Tier 4 had taken, arguably, Vixia's greatest genius four hundred years and a global coup to achieve.

Knowledge from Affinity and Me buzzed in the back of her mind along with her thoughts. All pieces of a puzzle she couldn't quite put together, yet. Finally, she dropped her pen and turned back to the Historian.

"Why tell me any of this?" she asked.

"Your homeworld is the opportunity of the ages for many of those in power, and many of those who seek to be," he said honestly.

"You are one such opportunist," she stated.

"Indeed. Though I do not seek your subjugation, and I am not after your resources," he said, and Scarlet could believe it. He wanted something from her world. Though, perhaps not in the ways most might think. Scarlet could see it in his eyes. There was avarice there, in the way he looked at her. As though she were as much an opportunity as she was a curiosity. She steadied herself before she spoke.

"Has there ever been a newly Integrated world, one with such potential, that has stayed under the control of its people?" This time, when the vulpian bared his teeth, the smile was feral.

"To my knowledge," he replied, his voice tight despite his restraint, "no such History has yet been recorded." The air and the illusions shattered, fractured, and then faded.

"Perhaps your world will succeed where mine stumbled. Perhaps it will discover entirely new mistakes. Of course, your world has an advantage ours lacked... or perhaps never capitalized on." The right knowledge, at the right time. Now all that was needed was the right person. Earth's Assimilation was still in its infancy. Not even a week had passed on her homeworld, and their grace period would last another twelve years.

Scarlet had a choice to make: defend her home by claiming a seat at the table, or sell out the world that had done its best to reject her. If she joined a Faction, she could use her early advantage to make out like a particularly fortunate bandit. Either way, she wouldn't be the only one making these choices, though perhaps she would be the only one who understood their consequences. She was no leader, no Matriarch to part the sea and secure a promised land as she pushed foreword from the front lines.

That was neither her forte nor her interest. However, she also wasn't the type of person to sell out an ally or those under her protection. Not that Earth had given her many of those. Maus had at some point crawled into her shirt. His soft sleepy weight spreading warmth through her chest. She had time, though it would be incredibly close She'd have training, though she didn't yet know what that would entail. She even had a burgeoning faction all her own, if STARnet could be cultivated into something meaningful.

It might just be enough. Scarlet was used to working with just enough and making more of it than most thought possible. But did she want to? It was a decision couldn't delay too much. If she was going to be adopted into a Faction she'd need to do it soon. First-mover advantage and all. She took a deep breath as her thoughts raced in circles. The choice would not be an easy one.