"So everyone agreed on strictly enforcing the Law of Preservation," Fulvia saw the pieces fit together. "Limiting the possibility of a powerful zasshu ever arising. There wasn't much on the marks in the libraries, but what little there was took some digging to find."
She sighed.
"Whatever the case, Aeric knows how. He could build an army if he wanted..." Fulvia pondered.
"You dismissed that guy just now, and have been talking low since. I take it, you haven't shared your receiving a mark with anyone," Tymon noted.
She sighed again, admittedly.
"Being Ryfa Pakt makes me the representative of Forgeton and leader of the Klevonian Army. Stealing power from others is acceptable within reason – we prefer to bring other klevonians into the army. But being branded by the enemy is a grave offence that would normally have my people revolt and shun or even kill me," she said grimly.
"Yet you're fine with me knowing," Tymon pointed out, confused about her vulnerability about something that big an issue.
Fulvia's eyes slowly widened as she realized she'd been showing weakness in front of someone, but when she looked Tymon in the eye, her concern faded.
"I don't know. Now that I know you're not an enemy, for some reason it's easy to talk to you. Besides, you're not one of my guys, so I don't have an image to uphold in front of you," she shrugged.
"You sure that's wise?" Tymon asked flatly.
"Well, despite your aura, you actually seem trustworthy," Fulvia replied frankly. "I trust my gut."
"Anyway, back to what we were discussing," Fulvia waved her hand, and the scenery changed to match her memories.
"I told you that I accepted this zenith mark so I could protect my people from the pneumarians. Don't you find it odd that I would, considering no Ryfa Pakt before me had to?" she asked as their surroundings reflected a memory of klevonians leaving Forgeton to go to Pneuma City instead of joining the Klevonian Army.
"For a while now, times have been changing for the worse for klevonians," she declared. "The balance that was once perfectly even has now tipped too much in the pneumarians' favor. With all the infighting among the uninitiated klevonians and their desperation for survival, too many have lost their racial pride and have gone to submit to pneumarians in hopes of earning an ascension mark from them."
Rewatching the scene of so many giving away their freedom, her heart broke again as if reexperiencing their sharp words, their refusal to stay with their kind. Somewhere deep inside her, she felt a twinge of anger at their willingness to do so, but then the preverbal slap of hypocrisy washed over her as well, messing up her concentration, and the visuals returned to normal.
"I'd like to say they're wrong for doing so," Fulvia said in a lowered tone, sinking in her seat as her eyes welled up for the first time in she didn't know how long. She'd spent countless nights bottling up her doubts about her decision and stuffing them down. Now that bottle was on the verge of bursting. "I tell myself that what I did was different. That this was for my people's greater good. But what does accepting this really mean for me – for my ideals? Am I any better than them?"
"It means you're a good leader who cares for her people – enough to throw away your vices," Tymon spoke with conviction, his guarded intensity held Fulvia's gaze as she slowly raised her head. "A leader who won't let her pride be the destruction of her race. You shouldn't let your decision bother you. You saw the tides changing and did what was necessary to ensure you can protect them. If they find out and can't look past your mark to see that, then they're too stupid for their opinions to matter."
Fulvia double blinked in astonishment before smiling as she wiped her eyes.
"That's a bit harsh. But I understand."
She looked at him intently.
"I get the feeling you firmly walk with that belief. Like you've done some awful things for the sake of your friends already."
"Some of them may be aggravating, some naïve, but I'd do anything to protect them. Even if it means doing something they'd disagree with." Tymon's unflinching gaze locked in with hers. Fulvia almost felt herself subconsciously look away.
Instead, she nodded solemnly, grasping what kind of man he was. She straightened herself, slipping slightly back into her mature, leader role.
"I've been around for a while. Allow me to give you some sage advice. You seem like a decent guy underneath the dark exterior, and your principle is noble, but don't let your belief become your reason to do deplorable things. Those you protect will distance themselves from you if they start to see you as a monster."
Tymon looked out the window as he contemplated that. From what Fulvia could tell, the thought had already crossed his mind.
"Hey, want to know something?" she chuckled, changing the subject. "I almost didn't become Ryfa Pakt. There was another contender other than me who qualified to challenge the previous Ryfa Pakt. We both fought each other to determine who would have the right to challenge the Ryfa Pakt, and I lost. The only reason I moved on to challenge the Ryfa Pakt was because the other competitor said he didn't really want to be Ryfa Pakt. He just enjoyed the competition for it."
"I later heard he'd left the planet," Fulvia traced a finger on her desk as she thought back. "Crazy thing is, had he become Ryfa Pakt, I have no doubt he would've become the greatest Ryfa Pakt Forgeton's ever had. He was a rare klevonian made of energy like pneumarians. He also had a cintracy that came with a cost that would've been too heavy for most klevonians, but it let him continuously double his already amazing natural power and put him above most pneumarians. In a time like this, he wouldn't have needed to receive any mark to protect us."
"Hm, so the official way to become Ryfa Pakt is through a challenge?" Tymon said next.
"Yeah. Either you challenge the Ryfa Pakt yourself after your strength is recognized, or the Ryfa Pakt can challenge you. Although most Ryfa Pakt don't challenge others since the last time that happened, the Ryfa Pakt was defeated and only remained Ryfa Pakt because the klevonian that defeated them was just passing through, supposedly. That was the most disgraceful day of that Ryfa Pakt's life, most likely."
****
"They displayed incredible neta-based abilities," Tymon heard the raspy voice from earlier declare as the four-armed red colossus emerged from a red rift again. "If the legends are true, they were abilities never before seen."
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