Published at 9th of September 2025 12:39 pm

Book 5: Chapter 30 Disposal Team [Part 1]

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Kakupuna is a luminous plant native to the Everdark. It boasts a remarkable seed dispersal mechanism: the first creature to touch its petals triggers an “imprint,” prompting the flower to form a miniature replica of that creature as its seed. This facsimile then wanders off, searching for others of its kind. The precise workings of this process remain unknown, and the evolutionary reason behind it is equally mysterious.

- The Fanciful Travels by Beron de Laney 376 AC.

Under our careful ministrations of interrogator Malik, the prisoner sang. Lelinae the elf, or one of the “First Children,” as her people refer to themselves, revealed many things. One thing was the existence of blatant elitism within their so-called “advanced” society. They viewed the elves on this continent as lesser creatures, tainted by interbreeding with other races. From a biological perspective, this was fascinating. If humans and elves could intermingle, and Larynda was living proof of this fact, then it implied that both species had once shared common ancestry.

More pertinent, however, were their objectives. Though they claimed to be on a war of conquest, the reality was far more grim. They had come to pillage and burn, a pastime these so-called “First Children” seemed to relish inflicting on what they deemed “lesser” races. With their extraordinarily long lifespans, they sought new experiences purely to stave off the endless ennui that plagued their hollow existence.

She offered a most tantalizing piece of information: the elves had among their ranks a Visitor from my world, a man called Alexandros. Intriguingly, he was not human at all but occupied an elven body—perhaps he had chosen a different race when he first “started the game.”

I found myself salivating at the thought of what powers he might possess. Harvesting him for experience points would be the sweetest prize, but I planned to savor it first, toying with him just enough to give him hope before crushing it entirely. The rush I felt from killing my previous Visitor still lingered, and I longed to experience it again.

When I pressed Lelinae on how they managed to summon Alexandros, not even Malik’s torture skills could pry out the secret. She simply did not know. According to her, only their king possessed knowledge of the summoning ritual.

However, Lelinae had been privy to one of their more secret aims: they were searching for a “Daughter of Chaos,” intending to kill her before she could fulfill a prophecy heralding the end of the world. It all sounded like nonsense, yet the conviction in her words set my teeth on edge.

Larynda was, after all, a Chaos Mage—and Hamsa had sent her away to a supposedly safer place outside Ansan. And now, Ansan lay at the bottom of a new freshwater sea that was far too big to be called a mere lake. If the stories I had heard were true.

It was a rather damning coincidence. Still, I doubted an old Alchemist could possibly know about some obscure elven prophecy from a distant continent. In a world without anything resembling the internet, the dissemination of information would be slow at best.

“Lelinae,” I spoke her name softly. “Lelinae Zansforen.”

Her eyelids fluttered open, heavy with exhaustion. “What is it, Father? Is it time to tend to the groves again?”

I nodded. “Yes, daughter,” I answered, tossing a seed that looked like a shriveled embryo onto the packed earth floor. “It is time.”

It felt like the right thing to do in the moment—an impulsive act, but somehow fitting. The pale, twisted seed writhed in the dirt, sinking with frantic energy into the ground below. Malik flicked his gaze at me in alarm, but I held a single finger to my lips, demanding silence.

Truly, Malik had broken her.

Though he was gifted in his craft, Malik disgusted me. He reminded me far too much of Overseer Degei in Ansan: a man who relished inflicting pain as though it were a delicacy. His countless hours of practice in the art of torture had honed his skills to a fine edge, and I had witnessed enough of them to last a lifetime. But I had also learned what I needed. And now, I believed it was time to, if not fix exactly, then render into a shape that would be useful to me what was left of the elf.

“Freedom,” I whispered. My voice sounded strange to my own ears—weighted with a mad certainty. “That, I cannot give, for I am not truly free from that which binds me. But I can grant you a fair measure of vengeance. How much do you desire it?”

I waited, looking for some spark of will that the interrogator had failed to scrape away. There it was, an ember of anger blazed to life in her sea-gray eyes.

“Vengeance?” she rasped. “Though I am dead, I would have it… Give it to me. Give me justice.”

Across the dim chamber, Malik gave me a wary look, clueless as to my intent. I only shrugged, offering him a wink and a sly smile. He smirked in return, as if eager for yet another twisted game.

“But what will you give?” I asked with a slight echo in my voice that was not mine.

She answered in a hushed, raw voice. “Anything…and everything.”

I inclined my head. “Then rest for now and abide a while.”

My words must have held within them a hypnotic suggestion, for she fell into a forced sleep.

“Samasa, what is it that you plan?” Malik asked, and I clenched my jaw to keep my revulsion in check; my mind kept superimposing Degei’s features onto his face.

I forced myself to sound thoughtful. “This one might still be hiding something—unwillingly, of course. The elves must have placed some sort of mental block upon her mind. It is possible we can unlock it, bypass them, if we work through her subconscious.”

My Charisma had recently improved, but was it enough to make this deception work?

Malik pressed closer, chin in hand, curiosity piqued. “A fascinating approach, yes…an appeal to the subconscious mind. I must make note of this—”

People, it seemed, had the gift to believe what they wanted to believe.

I prattled on, feeding him a line. “Indeed, the subconscious is tricky. It takes time for our suggestions to undo what was planted there. Eventually, the blocks and seals may come undone. It is worth a try. For the good of Al-Lazar, we must extract what we can from her.” Inside, I laughed at the ridiculousness of my own words.

Malik nodded in fervent agreement. “So we must wait, then, for these suggestions of yours to do their work?”

“We must,” I replied with a tired smile.

Time slipped by in that stifling chamber. Interrogation exacts its toll not just on the victim but on the questioner as well, and Malik, lacking my Stamina, soon succumbed to weariness. He slumped onto a wooden stool in the corner, eyelids drooping, and eventually dozed off.

I crept to Lelinae, who slept fitfully, her brow knitted in distress. Gently, I stirred her awake. She murmured like a child before opening her eyes.

“Father,” she breathed, unshed tears shining in her gaze.

“The time for suffering is over,” I said quietly. “The time for vengeance is now.”

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