“There are four, disciple of the Synod. Exactly four. Your masters of the Synod and the Church they founded to take over our world for their Light number four.

“Now, disciple of their Light, how many Lords of the Netherworld are there? We all know that Light has the advantage in an even conflict with them. So, how many Lords of the Netherworld are there?

“Ah, you still don’t know? Let me posit another question, then. If the Lords of Light could come down and take this world from the Netherlords, wiping away the Great Beasts in passing... why have they not done so? Do you think it is from lack of power? Lack of devotion? Do you truly believe they need such things to do so, and that the utter removal of those creatures which would detract from said worship is not the very best thing they could do? Why, they could come down, kill all the Dark Mages, wipe away any presence of the Netherworld, slaughter all the Great Beasts who do not submit to them, and there would be only the Light of Nirvana to serve!”

I clapped my hands together lightly at the image. “Why, that sounds so sanctimonious and wonderful! So, tell me, disciple... why haven’t they done so?”

He couldn’t answer with facts, only faith, so in this instance, forced by magic to speak Truth before me, so he could only answer, “I don’t know...” despite how much he wanted to bawl out fanatical mantras and statements of belief.

“It is because there are AT LEAST four Netherlords.” His face fell at the fact, as everyone else gasped. “Not even the Beast Emperors know if there are more for certain... but the very actions of the Lords of Light would seem to indicate there are.

“They do not invade and conquer this world because they cannot. The Dark will hold them back!

“And the instant either force moves onto this world with the advantage, the Great Beasts will also move, because they know they are doomed. They will kill every single ally and potential minion of the Dark or the Light that they can, and you know, you just know that the losing side will thwart their opponents just enough to let them do it!

“Humanity will be obliterated. The Synod in its unconquerable ancient city will be buried under the sands of Infinite Sands Emperor, regardless of how much the Archangels scream for succor from their Lords. Thousand-foot tsunami will inundate the coasts as the cities of Humanity are entombed beneath the wrath of ALL the Emperors of the Sea. Earthquakes and Beast Waves will bury all the lands of Humanity as every single Magical Beast in the world makes sure that Humanity is not there to inherit any world that is left behind as it is buried in a frozen hell.

“For certain, some Humans will survive. Perhaps a few thousand, or tens of thousands, directly sheltered by the Lords of Light or Dark. They will inherit a world and civilization reduced to ash and rubble, and they will be the slaves of their masters until the end of days, doomed to grow in numbers, do battle again, and smash their world to dust and ruin over and over again for all time, for the glory and praise of their masters.

“But Humanity, and all that we have wrought, will be dead. There will only be slaves of the Dark or the Light, doomed and cursed and ignorant of all that went before, cast down in the dying shell of a ruined world.

“That is the future your Church promises to all if they turn to them. Rest assured that your glorious Synod and the Archangels that compose it will not survive to see that day. The Emperors know who they are, they watch them, and if it comes that time, they and the truly faithful they surround themselves with will indeed be the first to die.

“Wait, wait, before you go yammering on about how it is no different from being forced to fight the Beasts,” I waved my hand to interrupt what was coming, not that he could speak without my permission. “The very Beasts that first gave Humanity magic – yes, Humanity had magic before the Netherworld and the First Prophet arrived, stop trying to lie, you’re just wasting air, disciple. The very Totem Beasts that first protected us and sheltered us. The very Beasts that allowed us to grow to the heights of the magical civilization that we now enjoy.

“Yes, you idiot. The Emperors of the Beasts could have wiped Humanity off the planet a long, long time ago, and they still can. The whole diatribe of Human Supremacy and Predestiny over the Beasts is only a mantra of your religion, and a lie foisted upon Humanity. You wish to claim our success is because of their Light, driving us to take this world from the Beasts. I claim it is because the Beasts were watching to see what we would become, and what we have become, and they held back, allowing us to test ourselves, grow, and become something strong, together!

“We have become a Tribe of Beasts that has the collective power to break The Great Flood of The Ice Emperor, something no other Tribe of Beasts can do... and we do not need to call on and become beholden to the Netherworld or Nirvana to do so! We can do it by our OWN POWER!” I raised a hand and clenched it before him, arcane fire lighting up around it, defying his shocked expression.

“We are a Tribe of mostly nigh-powerless Beasts of this world, who nonetheless are being given the chance to prove our unity and our strength, instead of running to hide under the skirts of alien powers who protect us only if we promise them our souls!

“YOU seek to chain us to the wills and words of the Lords of Nirvana! The Black Curia wishes to spark an uprising of Sin and Chaos and deliver us unto the Netherworld! Both of you seek to damn all of Humanity and make of us slaves forever, something the Beasts of this world never bothered to do, and many Beasts fought and died to protect us from!

“Your promise of protection is ash and grit! The instant Light and Dark move, this world, and Humanity upon it, dies at the hands of the heartless alien powers who seek our souls, no more, no less!

“Your Church and its Synod are neither kind nor merciful! The Beast Emperors are fully aware of the holocausts, disasters, and catastrophes they have wrought upon the world, and if the rest of the world is ignorant of the atrocities and treacheries to be laid at their feet, the Beast Emperors know and watched it all.

“They know, little disciple. They have always known.”

There was a rather large amount of Truth in the air, riding on subliminal Song and Psychic power. It was keeping this guy from ranting and reciting prophecies and mantras and extolling and haranguing everyone, because none of that was Truth and could not be voiced here. He was trying really hard, but it was a big Zone of Truth, with a tyrannical Save of at least 40, 47 to his Ruby Aura’d arse, and he couldn’t say a damn thing against me.

This wasn’t about belief. This was about Truth, and I could see his soul and those of his compatriots cracking under the weight of realizing everything I was saying was absolutely true! Faith smashing headlong into Truth often had grave problems if they weren’t the same...

It was going to be horrible for them when the people all over the world who watched this video got Truth to the face and realized it, too!

“This is OUR time, not the time of your alien overlords! This is OUR test, not the chance to fall down and bleat like sheep to be slaughtered before soul-harvesting entities who think of themselves as gods!

“We are NOT going to kowtow and accept our mewling fates by uncaring godlings who only see us as fuel for their schemes!

“We are NOT going to run screaming to the Church who set all this up in order to enslave us! The Synod and its minions in the Mage Association can kiss the world’s collective ass!

“The Sea Emperors are heartless, arrogant bastards who have no more regard for our lives than they do plankton, and they are coming to play the game of strength and evolution they have always played! Humanity is going to prove to the world and the Emperors upon it that we can play that game, too, and that our growth over these thousands of years, with and without their help, was not a joke, nor lies wrought from the uncaring lips of the Luminous, but born of the strength of Humanity itself!

“WE CAN DO THIS! WE WILL DO THIS! And we won’t need to whine and beg to uncaring Lords from another entire Plane of existence to do it for us and so enslave us forever!

“Goodbye, and good riddance!”

I waved my hand, and Void Magic seized the lot of them and threw them across the world.

It was late evening. They and their glowing Faerie Fires were very obvious when they materialized in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, before the Basilica of the Synod. Especially so when they were onscreen on TV almost instantly.

-Your eyes are glowing silver,- Sama /told me, chuckling under her breath. I snapped them closed, got my emotions under control with visible effort, and looked out at the rather breathless array of reporters and powerful or influential people, as well as a bunch of much-more-somber students there.

“Hmph!” I snapped my eyes back open. “Anyway, Coralost’s people who are old enough and can fight are either going to relocate to the shore communities or be rotating in and out of them. This will open up spaces for families to be able to move to more secure lands here, where the children will have a chance to grow up... and learn magic to protect us all, be it Typeless or Elemental.

“That is not enough, of course. You all know that children are our future, and they will be living in war zones. This must be addressed.

“If you are retired now, now is the time to move from these safe, secure inner lands and head to the sea, trading your security for the future of the next generation. You very well might die there, aye... and in doing so, you might help save the future of Humanity. If it is the only way that you can contribute, then now is the time to contribute!

“The Beast Emperors are watching. They will not reward you for doing that, but they will acknowledge it! That spirit is what they are looking for!

“The wealthy are going to be offering fortunes to swap their families for those here. Charge them whatever the market will bear. Heck, we’ll set up auction sites to help you out here, if you want to shaft them hard. Just make sure you don’t trade with those who can fight and are fleeing like cowards.

“I will be out there fighting, you’ll see me in the Littoral Zones. I will be going here and there around the world, expanding my reach where I can, especially in places that don’t have the power to defend themselves.”

“Lady Fae!” a swarthy man interrupted, a gleam in his eye of pouncing upon a weakness. “Are you going to be reducing the pricing of your Spellhouses, or giving them away for free?”

“No,” I said bluntly, not needing an instant to think about it, startling him with my decisiveness. “That money pays for this Academy, and the College it is attached to. It helps pay for the Vivic braziers going up in so many places that help eat at the Dark Mana of the world. It pays for the weapons and research of the Typeless Mages who are starting to revolutionize how normal people can defend themselves against the weakest Beasts, without needing a mage around to do so. It pays for the resources of those graduates who are going to be moving to the shores to defend, for their clothing and food and lodging and cultivation and whatever they need.

“No, Mr. Parmocci, I am not going to reduce the price of my Spellhouses a single dollar. I do not spend that money on me, unlike many would.” His smarmy smile faltered and died under my stare. “Nor do I spend it on fripperies or tributes to my towering ego. That money is put to work, and for the next five years, at least, that work is going to be deadly serious.

“Furthermore, the Adept Spells will continue to be rolled out at the same rate. Ah, so glad you brought them up, I had forgotten an important point.

“There are more Emperors who have agreed to pass on Mage and Archmage spells for you!” My smile was mirthless. “Of course, you must be able to tolerate the gaze of a Beast Emperor sweeping over your soul, be VERY respectful, and not have a history of being a pretentious arse behind you. We’ll set up samples of the proper etiquette to use so you don’t help yourself into their jaws due to your own overwhelming egos.

“The sons and daughters of the Volga should be very interested to learn that White Death Wolf Emperor is one of those Emperors! If you are respectful, if you hold the Volga and its lands in your heart, and you have the courage to fight, White Death Wolf Emperor will pass to you the six spells each of Ice, Void, and Wind for Mages and Archmages. For Sage Spells, well, I imagine the standard will be... somewhat higher...” I let them contemplate that idea.

“If you aren’t of the Volga, I hope you have an honorable and brave heart, because White Death Wolf Emperor will know if you don’t, and you will be wasting His time, which means you become a snack.

“Then again, that’s rather a condition for most of the Emperors, so really, if the people around you agree you’re an arse, it would probably be a bad idea for you to go ask a Beast Emperor for the additional spells available in the Elements to a Mage or Archmage. You can do just fine without them.”

My smile looked warm and kind to a bunch of them, grim and judgmental to most of the rest, and to a specific lot of them quite merciless and eager to see them die. An Aura of Menace is an interesting thing to possess.

“Let me list out the Emperors who have agreed to do this. I’m sure you’ll be surprised by some of them, and not by others...”