Mr. Hunter, Atuza had said.

  Had he heard his conversation with Os?

  He could feel Atuza’s aura. It wasn’t as strong as June’s had been before he’d broken through to Adept, but it was the closest thing Hunter had felt so far.

  If Atuza wasn’t a peak Elemental Initiate, he was very close.

  His mind was as paralyzed as his body. He did his best not to show how afraid he was.

  The man seemed disgusted by Hunter’s lack of response. He sneered.

  “Follow me,” Atuza said. Hunter was still frozen, and he feared what would happen if he didn’t obey Atuza immediately. He hurried after the man, trying not to get too close. Atuza stopped and looked back at him.

  “I won’t kill you as we walk. You’ve nothing to fear, yet.”

  He turned back and continued along his route. Hunter’s dread deepened. His hands shook in his pockets.

  Despite Atuza’s words, Hunter was very afraid. Something told him that Atuza had meant to have that effect on him. He could not run from this man, nor could he fight. Everything felt like it was falling out of his control.

  Yet, as afraid as he was, Hunter knew he would never give up the Seedhans. Nor would he give up his friends in the camp. He’d been prepared to die for them, but he’d hoped for more time.

  Time to help his friends ensure their liberation. The Seedhan’s as well.

  But he was getting ahead of himself. He’d have to take things as they came.

  Atuza led him on a winding route through the camp, and then up a small hill which overlooked the majority of the camp and even a significant part of the plains stretching beyond. Hunter couldn’t see the lodge from there, thankfully. A large structure had been built on that hill, quite like a miniature castle.

  “My home,” Atuza said. The door opened and a small man emerged. He bowed to Atuza.

  “Welcome,” the man said, “should I prepare some tea?”

  “Prepare a plot in the guarden. It should be able to accomodate this young man’s size,” Atuza said. Hunter’s mouth went dry. It hadn’t even seemed like a threat.

  Atuza was already preparing to dispense with Hunter’s corpse.

  He almost dropped to his knees, then. But he shoulered forth.

  Hunter would not kneel to this man. He would never kneel to a Peacekeeper. Clenching his jaw, he marched forth. Atuza sat on a couch, and waved for Hunter to sit opposite from him.

  Atuza’s was assessing him. They stayed silent for a moment. Hunter started to sweat, but he refused to break eyecontact with the man. When he was done, Atuza clicked his tongue and nodded.

  “You handle my killing intent like seasoned Initiate. Is it a technique, or is it something deeper?”

  It took a moment for Hunter to realize the question wasn’t rhetorical. It took him a second to find the words, and then another to kickstart his mouth into motion.

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  Atuza’s sigh was one of relief.

  “Not a single stuttered syllable. Your fear is evident and yet you remain defiant. You, a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Do you know how many of you I’ve dealt with? I don’t mean killed, but consider that as well. Even when I was at your level, my killing intent was refined to a prodigious degree. Granted, my cultivation has stalled out over the last little while, but the spiritual weight i’m throwing at you should have you grovelling for your life at best. At worst, well yours wouldn’t have been the first mind i’d broken.”

  He sat back. Hunter didn’t know what to say, let alone what to think about what the man was saying. Maybe his breakthrough had strengthened his soul. Maybe his exposure to the Seedhans had done something to him at a deep level.

  Hunter shrugged.

  “Put so plainly, yet not a word spoken. I feel like I could come to enjoy your company, Hunter. If only to be in the presence of a man with a spine. Alas, I fear your fate is still uncertain. Whether you walk out of that door,” Atuza said, pointing to the door they’d entered from, “or are carried out into my garden to be buried, will depend on how you answer my questions.”

  Hunter said nothing. What was there to say? Hunter doubted there was any room to negotiate his options.

  The servant returned with a glass of a purple liquid. Atuza took a sip savoured the taste. He let out a satisfied breath and relaxed.

  “Tell me what you know about Mouse,” he said, swirling the drink in the cup and watching as it swirled.

  “Mouse?” Hunter asked. He’d expected to be asked about his dealings with Os. Hunter could only assume that this was regarding the double-down match the previous evening.

  Had it only been a day ago, that Mouse had come to his rescue?

  “I know that he’s called a Champion, or something. I didn’t think much of him at first,” Hunter said, surprised by how easily the words were coming. “Is this about fight night?”

  “This is about Mouse,” Atuza said. “What else do you know?”

  Hunter wondered about the motive behind Atuza’s questions. Why was the man so obsessed with Mouse? How much history did they have?

  “I see you calculating. Don’t do that. Just answer the question.”

  “Sorry,” Hunter said, and Atuza rolled his eyes, “I don’t know much else. I don’t know why he saved me. Nor why—”

  “I will kill you, Hunter. I will not hestiate to do so. Let me tell you what I know so that you don’t feel tempted to lie any further,” Atuza said. Before Hunter could defend himself, Atuza leaned forward and continued.

  “I know of Osmund and Tarryk’s little cabal. I know that there are others who are working with them. If you were not useful to them, they would not have made the effort to save your life. Mouse would not have declared his intention to resist if you were not worth the risk inherent in that declaration. Do. Not. Lie. To. Me.”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  Hunter’s fear multiplied, and it was like a weight was pressing on him from all around. He’d felt something similar from the Peacekeepers that had taken him from Skyhold.

  He saw blood spilt. He saw heads leaving bodies, he saw dismembered corposes. He saw an endless stream of conquest, he saw a lust for victory, for battle, for challenge.

  Intent.

  Killing Intent.

  Something clicked.

  Rue had called his experience of the congregation a Vital Intent.

  Intent.

  Desire.

  “Oh,” Hunter whispered.

  The room fell away. He was returned to the dark space where he encountered the glowing, etheric forms of Rue and the other Seedhans.

  The Pattern hovered above him. Its detail was mostly obscured. What little he could make out was like a siren song in a storm. He didn’t have to try and focus on it, because it was as if it were a part of him.

  It was as if his soul was written in that circuitious pattern. Laid before him. Exposed, plain, and so obvious.

  He felt the etherium with him stir, accelerating far beyond anything he’d felt before. It felt so natural.

  The small segment of The Pattern began to glow even brighter, and he felt himself pulled towards it.

  As he grew closer, he could see every synergy that he’d discovered and codified. He could see their connections, things he’d missed. He could see new ways to use them, and he saw more. He saw deeper.

  Etheric charge, etheric desire, etheric intention.

  “It knows itself. There’s a will,” he whispered. The feeling that followed his words was like an explosion of pain and pleasure, both. He could almost make out Atuza’s voice, but he was so focused on what was going on within him, and observing The Pattern, that he didn’t care.

  Shouldn’t he? His life was at risk, after all. He almost wondered if he’d somehow been dosed with Bronze Ambrosia, again.

  But this was different.

  He felt so alive. Hunter felt inspired. New connections came, even faster than before. It was like the more he saw, the more of the surrounding pattern revealed itself. The circuits, he realized, weren’t solid lines. They were like microscopic formations, built of hundreds of symbols each. He feared that he could explore a microscopic portion for a lifetime and only find that it went deeper.

  “How is there so much?”

  He heard a sigh. It did not belong to him. It did not belong to Atuza. It came from everywhere around him.

  Are you the one she promised to send?

  Hunter returned to the room. Atuza was staring at him like he’d just grown a third eye.

  “What just happened?”

  Atuza shook his head, and muttered something to himself.

  “I just decided not to kill you, is what happened,” Atuza said, taking a final sip of his drink before putting the drink back on the tray it had arrived on. “The full force of my killing intent forced you into an epiphany.”

  Atuza chuckled. His chuckle grew into a laugh. He grasped his belly as he bellowed, his roar was like an assault on Hunter’s ears. When he calmed down, he wiped tears from his eyes.

  “I’ve not laughed like that in a long time. Everyone here is so dreary and dead. Either that, or anxious and starving for a leg up. Its quite tiring.”

  Hunter could only keep half of his attention on Atuza. He felt like his mind had just expanded, and he wanted to write everything down.

  “Ephiphany’s precede’s elemental enlightenment. Enlightenment is a necessary element for breaking through into Elemental Initiate. In fact, you’ll find its necessary to advance along any stage of cultivation. The depth of your enlightenment will determine your degree of mastsery over your elemental calling. Your degree of mastery will determine the strength of your foundation. The strength of your foundation determines the heights of power you can reach.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” Hunter asked.

  “I find myself compelled to, young Mr. Hunter. Perhaps i’m starting to see what Mouse saw in you, and why your compatriots have gone to such lengths to preserve you.”

  Atuza had said that he’d decided not to kill him, so Hunter decided to take a small risk.

  “Would you believe me if I told you that I really have no idea what you’re talking about?”

  “I just sensed your soul, Hunter. Not much of it, mind you. But enough to know that you’re a straightforward sort. I can see that you calculate, yet you can’t help yourself but to hope for the best and proceed according to it. Believe it or not, I respect that. In a way, you remind me of myself at your age. To answer your question, before your epiphany, no. I wouldn’t have believed you. Now, maybe i’d be inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt. I had brought you here to gain clarity, yet I’m now left with more questions.”

  You and me both, asshole, Hunter thought to himself.

  “That being said, I’ve been tracking you since you returned to the camp. I heard your conversation with the merchant. You know more than you let on, and I won’t be content until I find out what exactly you’re hiding.”

  “Then you’ll have to kill me,” Hunter said. He didn’t even have to hesitate. The high from his epiphany must be helping him stay focused and present. For the moment, he didn’t fear Atuza quite as much as he had just a few moments ago.

  “Oh, little Mr. Hunter, your resistance only strengthens my desire. If you’re worried about Osmund’s safety, I can promise you i’m not interested in ending his life. I don’t care what he’s hiding from the Peacekeepers. I don’t even care that he’s working with Mouse. If you’re worried about Mouse’s life, I can assure that i’m less interested in killing him than I am in using him towards my own goals. I just want to fight the man. Is that too much to ask? Tell me where he is, or point me in his direction, and I’ll let you go. Otherwise, you and I will be here for a long time.”

  Hunter felt stuck

  He couldn’t tell Atuza anything. But Atuza just said that his refusal would only convince him that Hunter was more involved with whatever Os and Mouse had going on than he actually was. If Atuza was right, then their relationship was more than strictly one of a service provider and his client. But then again, Atuza was pretty far off the mark with Hunter’s involvement. But if he was in Atuza’s shoes, might he try and throw Hunter off guard? Say, making him fear for his life if he didn’t speak?

  If that were the case, he’d just given that advantage away.

  I just want to fight the man. Is that too much to ask?

  Wait, is that why he’d decided not to kill Hunter? Or, was it something even simpler?

  “Were you actually going to kill me?” Hunter asked.

  “No,” Atuza said. “I hadn’t planned on it. Of course, I was ready to do so if you tried anything stupid. But don’t get me wrong, little one. I can keep you here indefinitely, and no one would care. I imagine you wouldn’t be too happy about that.”

  Hunter folded his arms.

  “What makes you so confident about that?”

  “I caught a small glimpse of your soul, remember. It was only a feeling, but I saw a resolutness of will and a great desire to move. You are a dauntless soul, Hunter. When you’ve decided to do something, you won’t stop until it’s done. Even if whatever you’re doing seems impossible. Something tells me you aren’t too happy about your internment.”

  Hunter tried to school his features, but Atuza just scoffed.

  “What, you want to tell me that you love it here? Please. Pick any slave, loyalist or not, and you’ll find someone who’d wish they could buck the Peacekeepers hold on them. You aren’t unique in that regard.”

  As Atuza spoke, Hunter thought.

  The man was a Peacekeeper now. One held in high-regard, if he wasn’t wrong. Why was he so casual about Hunter’s potential rebelliousness? The Fleet Commander, and Rin, seemed especially concerned with rooting such behavior out.

  Then he recalled how Atuza had regarded the Peacekeepers.

  The Peacekeepers. Not we Peacekeepers, or us Peacekeepers. Maybe he was overthinking it. But he’d also said that Hunter reminded him of himself at Hunter’s age.

  He had an idea. Maybe he could sastify a bit of Atuza’s desire without risking the lives of his friends or the Seedhan survivors.

  “Would you kill me if I found out that I was trying to find a way to escape?”

  “No,” Atuza said, “so long as it doesn’t interfere with my plan.”

  “What is your plan?”

  “To grow stronger.”

  Hunter nodded.

  “A few months ago, a Peacekeeper fleet appeared over my world. We defeated it.”

  “You’re lying. You wouldn’t be here if you’d defeated them.”

  Hunter shook his head.

  “A cloaked Peacekeeper ship had snuck past our navy. I was walking through a forest near my home when they appeared. They took me before I could call for help.”

  “I can feel you lying, Hunter. I can see your pulse racing. I can see you tense. I can read your emotions as they shift beneath the surface of your skin. You can’t hide from me. But what’s interesting is that you only lied about coming here alone, and probably about where they took you from. You didn’t lie about the fleet being destroyed.”

  Hunter sat back. He’d taken his risk. If his read on Atuza was right, then the man didn’t give a damn about the what the rest of the Peacekeepers wanted. He might just be using them for his own ends. But he wasn’t sure if this was an appropriate time to ask whether his guess was accurate.

  “You’ve given me a lot to think about, Hunter. You may leave.”

  A cold wind blew, something which Hunter almost revelled in if it doesn’t carry the whispered echoes of agonized screams. Atuza disappeared.

  Hunter didn’t hesitate.