The Fusionist

Thankfully, none of those listening to Larek had any objection to his statement.

“Uh, alright, but what exactly does that mean, and how exactly are we going to make it happen?” Kimble asked.

It quickly became clear that just stating his objective didn’t automatically make it easy to accomplish, so Larek began to reveal the barebones skeleton of his plan. The next few hours or so were spent hashing out the details, with dozens of messengers coming in and out of the main office to get Volunteers started on specific tasks that they came up with. By the end of their planning session, the Fusionist felt nearly as mentally worn out as he had after the fight with Chinli, but fortunately he didn’t have to spend a week recovering.

“So, we’re all in agreement? This is definitely the route we’re going?” Nedira looked around at everyone as she asked the questions, getting tired nods in return. She sighed, before turning her attention to Larek. “It’s dangerous, ambitious, and likely to fail at one of many different points along the way. That being said… It’s the only way I can see that will allow the most people to survive. It’s asking a lot of you, though.”

He shrugged. “I know, but it’ll be worth it to get the SIC off our back for good, while also helping everyone in the Kingdom.”

“Before we break, for now, at least, let’s go over everything one more time for clarification,” Kimble proposed. “There’s a lot of different pieces, after all.” When no one objected, despite wanting to be done with it all for the day, the Volunteer leader continued. “First, the Volunteers are going to finish disseminating throughout the former Calamity’s territory, establishing a routine of clearing and closing the Apertures that are now our responsibility. This was something that was already being done, and the majority of it should be completed within a few days, with additional improvements and changes rolled out as necessary. Of the 126 Transports and their respective teams that are available, this duty will only require 40 of them to maintain the region in a state of equilibrium. These teams will be traded out weekly to provide them a period of rest, while also allowing other teams to acquire the Aetheric Force necessary to keep developing.

“Simultaneously, we will continue training new and existing Volunteers in their Mage-related Skills, as they continue to be more difficult to advance in comparison to Martial-related Skills. We have noticed that, once they are able to actually start casting spells, their progress speeds up dramatically, so that will be our goal for all new and existing Volunteers before they are released into rotation.

“In addition, Larek has agreed to begin teaching how to create Fusions to those with the aptitude, of which I’ve already heard of dozens that I believe would be suited toward that end. Diversifying our abilities and allowing the Volunteers to contribute their own Fusions is imperative if we don’t want to rely on our resident Fusionist to supply every Fusion for tens or hundreds of thousands of people throughout the Kingdom. It is also our belief that, while any new Fusionists may not have the same sort of ability to create insanely strong, permanent Fusions as Larek does, the simple fact is that having access to the entire gamut of potential will nonetheless improve their abilities. We’ll just have to see just how much of an improvement this is after some experimentation.

“While all of that is ongoing here and around the former Calamity region, the remaining teams of fighting Volunteers will be continuing our current campaign to liberate the towns and cities that have already fallen or are in the process of falling to the mind-controlling bugs. If we can get ahead of the spread, that would be great; most likely, at least from the information we’ve gathered, it’s already too late to completely quarantine the region, as there are reports that it has spread so far that there is basically no stopping it without drastic measures that would only play into the narrative that the SIC is spreading around about the Volunteers.

“As such, we are left with only two choices: Let the bugs spread on their own and liberate everyone afterward, or take action immediately to stop the spread, putting us directly against the SIC and the Factions that they have convinced that we are trying to take control of them. In the former, we run the risk of something such as what happened with the Mages and Martials around the southeastern Calamity happening again, and the last thing we need are thousands of our people getting slaughtered again if the Gergasi – or even the SIC – decide that they are a threat.

In addition, the defending that each town and city does against surrounding Apertures would be interrupted, leading to another Calamity expanding or potentially new ones forming, and we’d be playing catch-up the entire time. Even if this whole process went smoothly, we’d still be under assault by the SIC and the Factions, as they wouldn’t stop their crusade against us even as their numbers dwindled. When you add in the fact that there is no guarantee that the Mages and Martials we freed would even be thankful for their freedom, as unlike those we’ve freed around here, they weren’t “abandoned” by the SIC; as such, they might be personally thankful, but would work to undermine us as agents of the SIC.

In the latter, as explained before, we would be going directly against the SIC and Factions in a head-to-head battle on hundreds of different fronts, which is not an ideal outcome. No matter who wins, we all lose, as the lives of those who are killed in the process would then not be able to help against the Apertures, and the survivors on the other side aren’t likely to want to work with us if, no, when we win.

“It is our belief that the SIC desires the latter outcome, as no matter what happens, their position will only be strengthened if we are seen as the aggressors. Whether they believe the threat from the first is real or not is up in the air, but it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is the choice we make in what we do next, as neither of the options presented to us is really viable.

“Therefore, at Larek’s suggestion, we’re choosing option three. In other words, we’re going to do something a bit more drastic.”

Larek looked over at Bartholomew, and the stony expression on the former Noble’s face pretty much summed up how the man felt about the plan. Yet, he didn’t object, as it was largely because of his input that this plan would either succeed or fail.

“This option is a bit more dangerous because it will have multiple moving parts, any of which is subject to failure at any time,” Kimble went on, either oblivious or simply ignoring Bartholomew’s expression. “First, we have to address the SIC close to home. Rather than attack them before they can attack us, which would neutralize the threat they pose but would both put the people they are defending in danger and play into the SIC’s hands, we simply make the Factions change their mind. How? By making them prioritize what is more important to them: Attacking us, or fulfilling their duty to protect their people.

“This all depends on whether Larek can deliver the Fusion he’s promised, but I have no doubt that he can achieve whatever he puts his mind to. That being said, if it all goes to plan, the nearby Factions being spurred on by the SIC to attack us will have no choice but to stick close to home, as they will be too busy to think about assaulting the Volunteers. At the same time, we’re going to train small teams to infiltrate the stubborn towns and cities arrayed against us, with the intent to liberate those who have already been infected by the mind-controlling bugs. We may not be able to completely stop their spread, but we will do everything we can to slow it down.

“But that doesn’t really solve the entire problem with the SIC. Even if they are kept busy around here for a while, it’s only a matter of time before another force coming directly from their main headquarters comes after us. Most likely, once they finish their closure of the Calamity to the northeast, they will then turn their full attention to us, and getting out of a protracted fight will be difficult at that point. Therefore, the most dangerous part of this third option is to stop that from happening.

“In other words, we need to strike at the SIC leadership, ‘cutting the head off the snake’, if you will. With the speed at which our Transports can move, getting to SIC headquarters isn’t that long of a journey, so Larek and a hand-picked strike squad will be going personally to… take care of this.” Kimble cleared his throat. “Once, uh, the SIC leadership has been dealt with, new orders will be passed down the chain, designed to retract the SIC’s position regarding the Volunteers and to order them to work with us. Ideally, the objective would be to merge our two organizations, where a cohesive whole is better than the sum of its parts, but whether or not that happens will have to wait until we’re in a position to make that objective a reality.

“There are more details regarding each of these parts of the plan, but that sums it up fairly clearly, I would say.”

As Larek had noted, this approach was dangerous, drastic, and ambitious, but it was also the only plan that had the potential of working. Anything else they did would only solve some problems while creating others simultaneously, and Larek thought it would be better to be proactive than reactive, as either of the two options originally presented to them would be.

And as Nedira had pointed out, there was a lot riding on the Fusionist. First, he would be leading a team toward the SIC headquarters to “take care” of the organization’s leadership; while it hadn’t been expressly stated, he was 99% sure that the others figured that it meant he was going to go in and kill them all and take over. However, he had some other ideas of how to go about eliminating the threat of their leadership which didn’t involve simply executing them all – though if that was what it took to get their objective done, he wouldn’t hesitate to do it.

They had ordered the attack on Thanesh which killed innocent people, after all, and it would only be fair if Larek reciprocated.

At the same time, the leadership of the SIC was in charge for a reason. Most likely, it was because they were high-Leveled and strong, but they could also lead; they would know their people, would be aware of where everyone was located, and were cognizant of their relationship with the Factions. There were reasons why eliminating the leadership would significantly affect the organization, as they were important to its running.

Then there was the potential of those slightly further down the chain of command becoming a problem as they attempted to take control of the SIC after their leadership went down, meaning that Larek would have to kill even more of them in order to handicap the organization. At that point, where would it stop? Again, if it was necessary, he would eliminate as many as necessary, but there had to be a better solution – and he was already thinking of ways to get what he wanted. The only drawback was that he might need to tap into his Dominion magic, which was something he’d rather not touch again; once he started down that road of using it to get what he wanted, rather than as a reactionary impulse such as what he’d done with the SIC members who had attacked Thanesh, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to stop. He was just thankful that he couldn’t use it against his friends and the Volunteers… unless he altered their Fusions to make his own Dominion magic an exception.

But just the thought of doing something like that made him sick to his stomach. Going down that road was almost worse than what the Gergasi had done, and he wanted no part of it. Instead, he would have to figure out a different way to get what he wanted out of the SIC leadership; if it didn’t work, then plan B would necessarily be in effect until they could figure out the issue.

But that was for the future. Larek wasn’t planning on leaving tomorrow or even the next day to go “take care” of the SIC’s leadership, as there were more important things on his plate. First and foremost, he had to finish recovering from his recent ordeal, which he thought would happen within the next few hours with the way his new Pattern Restoration Skill was automatically healing his internal pattern. After that, he needed to make a lot more Fusions for the Volunteers, as they were still expanding in both numbers and area as more places were found and liberated from the mind-controlling bugs, and the necessary Fusions – such as the Illuminated Free Will Fusions imperative to eliminating those bugs – were becoming scarce, even after all he’d made before they tackled the Calamity.

After spending some time “restocking” the Fusion supplies of the Volunteers, Larek would start teaching some potential Fusionists how to create Fusions, thereby starting them on the pathway to an exciting field of study and creation. While he wasn’t necessarily hoping that they would someday be able to completely replace him and his Fusions, having others share the load would be extremely helpful.

But the most important project he would be working on wasn’t teaching or even duplicating his existing Fusions to replenish the ones that had been used by the Volunteers. Instead, it was to create an entirely new Fusion – or Fusions – that would work to keep the Factions contained where they were. To do that, he needed to find a way to make leaving the people they protected untenable.

In other words, Larek had to design a Fusion that would make the Faction members stay to defend the town or city they were in. What was the biggest threat to their people? The answer was fairly obvious: monsters. Unfortunately, a small team of Mages and Martials could easily keep the local Apertures culled and closed while the others left to attack the Volunteers, so they weren’t too much of a threat. A Calamity was much more a concern, but with it recently closed, there were now extraneous Faction members who had nothing better to do than to attack the Volunteers.

So, if the local Apertures around these Factions areas weren’t enough of a deterrent, they would have to import a threat to provide a bigger deterrent.

Fortunately and unfortunately, experience and observation showed that monsters coming from Apertures didn’t typically leave their territory; the only exception to this was when they were from a subservient Aperture inside of a Calamity, and were then able to leave when the Calamity identified a threat. Unlike the older Scissions, the area outside of an Aperture’s territory was relatively safe, as the monsters inside patrolled the territory rather than venture out.

But that didn’t mean they couldn’t. From what he understood of the relationship between monster and Aperture, the Aperture simply couldn’t directly control the monsters once they ventured outside of its territory. But the monsters wouldn’t die or suddenly freeze up if they ventured outside; instead, they would simply attack anything nearby, as was their nature.

It was this fact that they were going to take advantage of, as Larek was planning on finding a way to capture and then transport monsters out of Apertures and place them in these Faction-led areas, forcing the Mages and Martials there to stay near their people to protect them. Sure, it sounded counterintuitive to transport monsters away from Apertures where they could easily be killed by the Volunteers, threatening the lives of innocent people in the process, but they all considered that the risk was worth it. The teams tasked with moving the monsters could also release the monsters with an accuracy that ensured minimal direct danger to civilians nearby, but they were still enough of a threat that the Mages and Martials charged with protecting them would have to respond, perhaps even sending out teams to protect farmers and the like.

Was it a complicated plan that was likely to fail at some point? Absolutely. But it was also the best one they had, and it represented a compromise between directly attacking the Factions and waiting for the Volunteers to be attacked. Besides, if things went well with the other part of the plan with the SIC leadership, the whole transportation of monsters toward Faction towns forcing the defenders there to stay put wouldn’t last that long.

Now all he had to do was figure out a Fusion that would allow them to do that.

“We all good to go?” Nedira asked. When everyone nodded, they broke up and left, each person to their own assigned duties.

It took about 20 minutes to get through the crowded Volunteer headquarters building and back to their home, both Larek and Nedira silent as they thought about what needed to be done over the next few days. Therefore, as his mind was elsewhere, he was caught off-guard when they entered and Nedira suddenly shouted, “Norde! You’re awake!”

It seemed as though her brother had finally recovered from his own ordeal.