Masteria Online: Shattering the Dark God's Grand Scheme-Chapter 45 - Afton accepts life

"Focus." Lumi chastised. "Why is she gathering Will Stones, then?"

"What are you trying to say?" Afton asked, though his voice suggested he already suspected.

"I’m saying," Lumi replied, standing slowly. "that you’ve been serving the right person for the wrong reasons. Your Lady Twilight has been fighting a very different war than the one you thought you were enlisted in."

He began to pace around outside the suppression circle, to give the impression of someone in deep thought. "Beryllium interests himself in many projects. Creating the perfect beings, advancing biological and technological science beyond current limitations. Namely, his android project."

He paused, and then proceeded to ask. "Say, whatever happened to Lord Dawn? Isn’t he...?"

Afton nodded along. "In a coma, yes. What does that have to do with Beryllium?"

Lumi grinned. "Now tell me, what do you think Beryllium would do if he had access to the preserved body of a powerful demigod? A vessel of incredible power, perfectly maintained, just waiting for the right... modifications?"

Afton’s face had gone from gray to white. His whole body trembled. "No. No, Beryllium wouldn’t- unacceptable! Lady Twilight would never allow-"

"Where is dawn? For centuries, where is he? Why haven’t you seen him? Lady Twilight clearly must be responsible." Lumi said quietly. "Keeping him safe, keeping him hidden, keeping him away from those who would use him. And you, in your blind devotion, have been helping her. Not the Wings of Darkness. Not the Dark One. Her."

"You’re lying," Afton whispered, but it was the denial of a man watching everything he knew crumble. "This is manipulation, torture-"

"This is the truth." Lumi said firmly. "And deep down, you know it. Every strange order, every mission that didn’t quite make sense, every time Lady Twilight redirected resources away from the main unsealing efforts... it all points to the same conclusion."

He paused, letting the weight of revelation settle.

After enough time, Afton let out a breath, and held it. Then he finally breathed again, and spoke with acceptance. "I see what you are saying. You mean to say she’s been using the Wings of Darkness as a means to an end. And that end has only ever been saving her brother."

"But..." Afton’s voice was broken now, plaintive. "But what about everyone else? There’s so many people. Killing for the cause, even I-"

"You’ve been a tool." Lumi said. "As have most members of the Wings. Though, everyone should know that. What you truly now see is that you’re all puppets dancing to different songs, thinking you’re in the same performance."

"So what now?" Afton asked, sounding lost. "What am I supposed to do with this... this information? You told me this because..."

"That depends." Lumi said, returning to his stool. "You never cared about anything other than her, right? Why withhold information she doesn’t even care about? Why dedicate yourself to something other than her?"

He held his left hand up. "You can be useless."

He then smiled, and presented his right hand. "Or, you can choose to serve your Lady with full knowledge of what she truly needs."

Afton’s gaze fell down to the floor, and he began muttering. "Lady Twilight doesn’t care for the plan anymore...? Or rather, never did." Afton reasoned with himself, making assumptions based on everything he knew. "Her brother... that’s what important to her. Then if I can assist in that..."

Lumi smiled slightly. "Information about plans. Details about resource allocation. Knowledge of who is loyal to who. You know the kind. You know what we want, you know what she wants."

"You want me to betray the Wings." Afton said flatly.

"I want you to truly serve Lady Twilight." Lumi corrected. "Which, if I’m right, means understanding that the Wings of Darkness are as much her enemy as anyone else. They’re just useful for now."

"How do you know all this?" Afton asked, bewilderment breaking through his complicated emotions. "You’re just a child, a First Rank nobody. How can you possibly know about Lord Dawn, about Beryllium’s interests, about-"

"How I know is less important than whether it’s true." Lumi interrupted. "And you know it’s true, don’t you? Every instinct you have, every observation you’ve made but dismissed, every strange moment that didn’t quite fit- they’re all screaming the truth at you."

Afton was quiet for a long moment. Nobody interrupted him. After sufficient time had passed, he came to a conclusion. When he spoke again, his voice was steady but hollow. "The research notes."

Lumi raised an eyebrow. "Research notes?"

"Beryllium requested copies of all research related to Will Stones three months ago. Lady Twilight redirected his request, said it was on a need to know basis. He was... unhappy. I thought it was just organizational friction, but..."

"But now you understand why." Lumi finished. "The real motives behind both."

"The facilitation chambers." Afton continued, almost to himself now. "Beryllium’s been modifying them. He’d been adding restraint capabilities that wouldn’t be necessary. I thought it was just his usual over-engineering, but if he’s planning to work on a demigod’s body..."

He fell into a grim silence.

"Lady Twilight had me destroy three facilities last year," Afton said, his voice gaining strength as pieces fell into place. "She said they were compromised, but they were all Beryllium’s secondary labs. They were places where he might have been able to conduct research away from her oversight."

"And you never questioned it?"

"I... no. She said they were compromised. I wouldn’t question her. I believed her."

"You were right to believe her," Lumi said gently.

Afton’s shoulders sagged. "What information do you want from me? I’m not stupid, this doesn’t mean I’ll tell you everything. My Twilight..."

"Everything." Lumi said simply. "Everything you know about the Wings’ operations. Safe houses, command structures, ongoing missions. Not to hurt Lady Twilight, but to help ensure she survives what’s coming."

Afton’s neck snapped back up. "What’s coming? Don’t tell me it’s Beryllium. It has to be. Don’t tell me he’s really going to... but if she knew she would have already acted against him! But she did send me to destroy... no, she would have acted directly! How would you know then!"

Lumi gave a shrug of his arms, and explained. "Beryllium is patient, but not infinitely so. How long do you think Lady Twilight can maintain her deception? How long before her suspicious activities reach the wrong ears..."

Afton’s face crumpled. "She’s in danger."

"She’s been in danger for centuries." Lumi corrected. "But it’s accelerating. You know the situation, how things truly are. Lady Twilight will have to choose what she really wants and what she pretends. What do you think Beryllium will do when that happens?"

"He’ll..." Afton swallowed hard. "He’ll destroy her. Use her failure as justification to take Lord Dawn for his experiments."

"That will happen." Lumi stated. "Unless she’s prepared. Unless she knows exactly who she can trust, what resources she can call upon, which battles to fight and which to concede." Lumi leaned forward intently. "That’s what your information can provide. From us."

The interrogation chamber fell silent except for the humming of the recording crystals. Everyone waited to see what Afton would choose.

Finally, the puppeteer raised his head. "Beryllium’s been recruiting." Afton explained, his voice growing stronger. "Not openly, but I’ve seen the patterns. Engineers, magical theorists, anyone with experience in consciousness transfer. He calls it advancement of the unsealing ritual, but the skill sets are wrong for that. They’re right for placing a consciousness in a new vessel. For creating the perfect puppet- no, android."

Afton shook his head miserably. "I helped with some of the recruitments. I thought I was serving the cause. Serving her." He laughed bitterly. "I’ve been helping build the weapon that will destroy her."

"But now you can help protect her." Lumi spoke seductively. "Every name, every location, every project you’ve touched. All of it can be used to prepare defenses, to create contingencies."

"She’ll never know, will she?" Afton asked quietly. "Lady Twilight will never know I tried to help her."

"Does that matter?"

The puppeteer considered this. "No." he said finally. "No, I suppose it doesn’t. I love her. You seem to know this very well. I will serve her, even if she never knows my name."

Lumi waved his hand as if waving his concerns away. "That doesn’t have to be the case." He gestured towards Divan.

Divan, seeing the signal, gave a nod and spoke. "Depending on your actions, you don’t necessarily have to stay locked down here. There is an extent of freedom we could grant, depending on your actions and those of Lady Twilight in the following years."

Afton looked up at that, straight into Divan’s eyes. It was like he saw the knight in a new light for the first time. He looked between Lumi, Divan, then he straightened in his chair as much as the suppression circle would allow. "Very well. I’ll tell you everything. But I have one request."