Chapter 49: Contracts, Capitalism, and Chosen Ones
In which Vellum reveals his master plan and Caelan becomes suspicious of long-term investment strategies
With the memory of Arachne's visit still hanging unpleasantly over Gilded Hollow, Caelan, Luminel and Stormmane eventually found themselves sitting beside the old fountain in the central plaza with a basket of toasted bread that one of Vellum's assistants had delivered as compensation for what he had described as "an unfortunate disruption to the morning atmosphere."
Caelan suspected Vellum had simply discovered that giving away a little bread was cheaper than dealing with nervous customers leaving the city.
Stormmane had no such concerns.
He had discovered butter.
A dangerous development.
"I think we're fine for now," Caelan said, leaning back against the fountain and watching the clouds drift over Gilded Hollow. "She's gone."
Stormmane bit through another slice.
"She'll come back."
Caelan glanced toward him.
Stormmane swallowed.
"That one doesn't leave things unfinished."
Luminel had been unusually quiet.
He hovered near the fountain, one hand resting against his spear while his surviving damaged wing moved slowly behind him.
Then his expression changed.
"Actually..."
Caelan looked at him.
Luminel scratched the side of his head.
"Something Arachne said reminded me of something important."
Caelan immediately disliked the sentence.
"What?"
"When she offered to recruit you."
"Yes."
"I may have forgotten to mention that Arachne has a method of controlling other Aetherkin."
Silence.
Stormmane slowly stopped chewing.
Caelan looked at Luminel.
"Explain."
Luminel shifted uneasily.
"Parasites."
Caelan's expression became extremely still.
"Parasites."
"Small ones. Usually."
"That wasn't the part I was questioning."
Stormmane sat upright.
"She can control people?"
Luminel nodded.
"She implants parasitic web-creatures into them. Once they're attached properly, she can interfere with thought, movement and instinct. Aetherkin weaker than her are especially vulnerable."
Stormmane's ears flattened.
"What about stronger ones?"
"Harder. Not impossible if they're mentally weakened or compromised."
Caelan continued staring at Luminel.
The fairy finally threw both hands into the air.
"Don't look at me like that."
"You knew this."
"I forgot."
"Before she entered the city."
"Yes."
"While we were specifically preparing to fight her."
"She's ancient! She has a great many unpleasant abilities!"
Caelan rubbed his forehead.
Luminel continued defensively, "And in my defense, I recently had one wing torn off."
Stormmane looked at him.
"That is a decent defense."
"Thank you."
Caelan sighed.
"So when she said she wanted me beside her..."
"She may have meant exactly what she said."
Luminel paused.
"Just without asking permission."
Stormmane growled softly.
Caelan considered the problem.
If Arachne entered Gilded Hollow with an army and managed to compromise the defenders, their numerical advantage could become a liability almost immediately.
"We'll need a way to identify anyone she affects."
Luminel nodded.
"And prevent it if possible."
Caelan raised one hand.
A thin golden thread appeared between his fingers.
Thread Command.
He watched it carefully.
"If I link a small portion of my Ki to the fate threads of the defenders, I should notice if an outside influence starts pulling them."
Luminel tilted his head.
"And reinforce their resistance?"
"Possibly."
"Against Arachne?"
"Not indefinitely."
Caelan closed his fingers.
"But enough to interfere. And if she takes someone, I'll know."
Stormmane looked relieved.
"Better than becoming a spider puppet."
"Much."
Luminel nodded thoughtfully.
"A thin stellar mantle would also reinforce weaker fighters somewhat."
Caelan glanced toward him.
"Not much. I'm not wasting enough Ki to make an army dependent on me."
"Obviously."
Stormmane returned to his toast.
"I refuse to become part of a spider choir."
Caelan looked at him.
"No one mentioned singing."
"She seems like the type."
Before Caelan could answer, footsteps approached.
Alex emerged from one of the nearby streets.
Frostfang's new Adult form made him considerably harder to overlook than he had been four days ago. White fur flowed over his larger frame, blue-violet markings stretched across his body, crystalline ice structures rose along his shoulders and back, and massive dark-blue claws clicked softly against the stone.
Stormmane looked at him.
"You're getting used to being large."
Alex's expression remained dignified.
"I was always large in spirit."
Stormmane stared.
Caelan looked away before either could begin.
"Renji sent you?"
Alex nodded.
"He and Daichi have been discussing the situation."
Luminel folded his arms.
"That sounds dangerous."
"They think we should speak properly with Vellum."
Caelan's eyebrows rose.
"About Arachne?"
"About everything."
Alex sat beside the fountain.
"We've spent several days treating him as something between a useful merchant and bait."
Stormmane looked thoughtful.
"Accurate."
Alex ignored him.
"He refused Arachne."
"Also accurate."
"She offered him money."
Caelan nodded.
"And threatened his city."
"Yes."
Alex's orange eyes remained steady.
"And he still refused."
Luminel frowned.
"Because of the contract."
"Precisely."
Alex's tail moved once.
"Renji believes it's unfair to continue acting as though Vellum is inevitably going to betray us simply because he's greedy."
There was a pause.
Luminel muttered, "He is extraordinarily greedy."
"That wasn't disputed."
Caelan looked toward Eggshell Haven in the distance.
They had used Vellum's protection deliberately.
They had brought Arachne to his territory knowing exactly what that might mean.
Yet when Arachne came personally and offered him an easier path, Vellum had kept the agreement.
Not because he loved them.
Not because he suddenly believed in heroic sacrifice.
Because he had signed his name.
That was enough for him.
Caelan stood.
"Fine."
Luminel looked surprised.
"We'll speak with him honestly."
Stormmane finished the last piece of toast.
"And if he charges us for the meeting?"
Caelan looked toward him.
"I'll let the Gloomimps know where he keeps his ledgers."
Luminel stared.
Stormmane grinned.
Alex sighed.
"I'll tell Renji you're willing to negotiate."
He started away.
Then looked back.
"Please don't mention attacking the financial records."
"No promises."
Vellum Goldvein's office looked exactly like the office of someone who believed wealth should be visible.
The carpet was deep red.
The desk was enormous and polished.
Gold-framed maps covered one wall, each marked with trade roads, mining sites, ruins and territories that no longer existed.
Behind Vellum's chair hung a portrait.
Of Vellum.
Wearing a business coat over his eggshell.
Holding a glass of something expensive.
Caelan stared at it.
Beneath the portrait was a framed sentence.
TRUST IN CONTRACTS. THEY OUTLIVE KINGDOMS. — VELLUM GOLDVEIN
Caelan looked toward the demon ruler.
"Did you quote yourself?"
Vellum turned slowly in his chair.
"Naturally."
Luminel groaned.
"If you don't value your own words," Vellum continued, "why would anyone else?"
"That isn't how quotations work."
"It's how branding works."
Renji and Daichi were already seated opposite the desk.
Daichi had brought a notebook.
Caelan glanced at it.
Daichi adjusted his glasses.
"Someone should record the important parts."
Stormmane sat beside the door.
Frostfang settled beside Renji.
Vellum folded his claws comfortably.
"Now."
His golden eyes moved around the room.
"You want to discuss our shared spider problem."
Renji nodded.
"Arachne isn't just pursuing us generally."
His expression tightened.
"She's specifically after Yuto and Michael."
"I know."
Vellum sounded almost bored.
Luminel frowned.
"You knew?"
"I suspected there was more happening the moment the child agreed to restaurant work without attempting to negotiate a free dessert."
Daichi blinked.
"That was your warning sign?"
"One of them."
Vellum gestured toward Daichi and Renji.
"Humans are rare."
Then toward their Resonance Linkers.
"Humans carrying those are substantially rarer."
Caelan leaned slightly forward.
"So you've known what they are."
"Of course."
"Bonded humans chosen by the Grand Archive."
Vellum nodded.
"Archive-selected variables."
Daichi stared.
"You say that like it's ordinary."
"It isn't."
Vellum's golden eyes brightened.
"That's why you're valuable."
Renji frowned.
"Valuable how?"
"Investment."
The room became quiet.
Caelan had expected the word eventually.
He had not expected Vellum to say it quite so proudly.
Daichi slowly lowered his pen.
"Investment."
"Yes."
Vellum leaned back.
"You children aren't merely travelers wandering through an unfortunate era."
He gestured toward the window.
"The current cycle is collapsing. Everyone with enough intelligence understands that."
Luminel remained silent.
Vellum continued.
"Kingdoms disappear. Trade routes vanish. Entire regions are purged. Most people respond by abandoning long-term plans."
He tapped one claw against the desk.
"Which is precisely why long-term investments become cheap."
Caelan stared at him.
"You are investing through the apocalypse."
"Of course."
Stormmane looked impressed.
Luminel looked horrified.
Vellum continued happily.
"The Grand Archive chose these humans for a reason. Perhaps they save the world. Perhaps they influence whatever comes after the Reset. Perhaps they survive long enough to become people whose names open doors."
He lifted one claw.
"And if I protect them now?"
Daichi understood.
"They remember you later."
"Exactly."
Renji frowned.
"So you're helping us because you think we'll be useful in the future."
"Among other reasons."
"Such as?"
"Contracts."
Vellum lifted a sealed parchment from the desk.
"Agreements matter."
Caelan looked at it.
"Even after a Reset?"
Vellum's eyes gleamed.
"Proper ones can."
That caught Luminel's attention.
Vellum tapped the parchment.
"Not every contract. Cheap agreements disappear with the parties who made them. But old binding systems, properly registered and anchored deeply enough?"
He gave the parchment an affectionate pat.
"They can survive governments."
Daichi stared at him.
"You're planning to rebuild your business after the world ends."
"Naturally."
"Using people you've helped before the Reset."
"That is what relationships are for."
Luminel folded his arms.
"Most people call that friendship."
"Friendship is financially difficult to audit."
Stormmane looked toward Caelan.
"I like him more every day."
Caelan ignored him.
"So all of this is future profit."
"Not all."
Vellum sounded faintly offended.
"The sanctity of a signed agreement matters on principle."
Daichi looked toward Renji.
Renji looked back.
Neither argued.
Whatever Vellum's motivations, he had already proven that part.
Daichi asked, "You understand we might die before any of this pays off."
"Of course."
Vellum shrugged.
"Investments carry risk."
Luminel covered his face.
Caelan leaned back.
"So you're willing to oppose Arachne because Yuto is an investment."
"And employee."
"And Michael."
"Also employee."
"And because breaking their contract damages your reputation."
"Correct."
"And because you expect possible returns after the next cycle."
"Precisely."
Caelan stared at him.
"Your plan for surviving the end of the world is capitalism."
Vellum's eyes brightened.
"Long-term capitalism."
Daichi quietly wrote that down.
Luminel looked at him.
"Why are you recording that?"
"I want proof this conversation happened."
Renji was quiet for several moments.
Then he looked toward Vellum.
"Whatever your reasons, you didn't betray us."
"No."
"You haven't lied about the agreements."
"No."
"And when Arachne offered to buy Yuto from you, you refused."
"Naturally."
Renji nodded.
"Then I think we can work together."
Vellum raised his tea.
"Excellent."
Daichi sighed.
"I think I trust him too."
Stormmane looked toward Caelan.
Caelan considered Vellum.
He did not particularly like being described as an investment.
But Vellum was predictable.
Predictability had value.
"I'll work with you."
Vellum gave a satisfied hum.
Luminel floated closer to Caelan.
"You realize we're trusting a glorified merchant inside an eggshell."
Caelan glanced at Vellum.
"Yes."
Vellum raised one claw.
"I heard that."
Caelan continued.
"But he's our merchant inside an eggshell."
Vellum considered this.
"I'll allow it."
Their agreement had barely survived an hour before Gilded Hollow's alarm sounded again.
This time nobody needed Luminel to explain it.
The first impact struck the outer barrier hard enough to make windows rattle across the district.
Caelan appeared on Eggshell Haven's roof almost immediately.
His Azure armor manifested around him in silver-white and deep blue, sealing completely over his body until only his golden eyes remained visible behind the helmet.
Below, the streets erupted into motion.
Wardens rushed toward defensive positions.
Roadstreakers screamed down prepared routes.
Gloomimps shot through the sky carrying messages.
Scrapreavers gathered near the gates.
Beyond the walls...
An army moved.
Not a hunting party.
Not several dozen creatures.
Hundreds.
Juvenile and Adult Aetherkin poured from the forest in a black, shifting tide and hurled themselves against Gilded Hollow's barrier.
Behind them came the Elites.
A towering tentacled creature emerged from the trees, dark robes hanging around a body that seemed half sea-monster and half nightmare. Its head was crowned by writhing feelers, and cold blue eyes glowed beneath them.
Luminel saw it.
"Dreadtide."
Another Elite followed.
A colossal earth-dragon called Quakewyrm, thick with stone-like armor and massive enough that every step sent tremors through the ground.
Then something considerably smaller rolled between them.
A round metal creature with compact arms, furious little eyes and far too many explosives strapped around its body.
Stormmane stared.
"What's that?"
"Blastcore," Luminel said.
Blastcore pulled out two grenades.
Stormmane nodded.
"Of course."
Inside Gilded Hollow, defenders assembled.
Adult fighters took the front.
Juveniles prepared ranged attacks or support.
Gloomimps took positions across rooftops.
Roadstreakers began rapid-response circuits along the walls.
The Elite Scrapreaver Caelan had been sparring with earlier strode toward the gate beside Vellum himself.
Two Elites.
Against several outside.
Not enough.
Caelan raised one gauntleted hand.
Golden threads spread outward.
Hundreds.
Thin.
Almost invisible.
They touched the allied fighters throughout the defensive line.
Not controlling them.
Connecting.
A faint mantle of stellar-gold Ki settled around each linked Aetherkin.
Stormmane looked down as it covered him.
Luminel's eyes widened slightly.
Caelan concentrated.
"I'll feel anything foreign pulling on their threads."
Luminel nodded.
"And the Ki?"
"Enough to reinforce them."
Not Myriad-Star Fate Body.
Nothing remotely that powerful.
But the thin layer strengthened movement, sharpened reactions and placed another barrier between Arachne's parasites and the minds beneath it.
Caelan felt the network settle.
Hundreds of tiny threads.
Hundreds of independent wills.
For a moment, his perception expanded across the battlefield.
Then the first wave hit.
The city answered.
Roadstreakers shot from the gates like projectiles.
Scrapreavers slammed into the incoming Adults.
Gloomimps poured attacks from rooftops while Prideclaws met anything that crossed the outer line.
The golden mantles around them flared.
They moved faster.
Struck harder.
Held formation.
Stormmane launched himself into battle with lightning exploding from his mane.
Luminel followed.
Frostfang leapt from the wall, ice forming around his enormous claws as he crashed into the enemy ranks.
Clark and Michael remained farther back with their tamers.
Yuto stood near Caelan.
Renji and Daichi flanked him.
None of the children moved forward yet.
Their surprise mattered more than joining the first exchange.
Arachne had still not appeared.
Vellum stood on Eggshell Haven's roof beside Caelan, looking toward the forest.
"She's waiting."
Caelan's golden eyes scanned the battlefield through the visor.
"Yes."
"For what?"
"For us to exhaust ourselves."
Vellum hummed.
"Good."
Caelan glanced toward him.
"Good?"
"It means she's predictable."
Another impact struck the barrier.
Quakewyrm roared.
Dreadtide raised its arms and dark water gathered above the battlefield.
Blastcore began throwing explosives with terrifying enthusiasm.
Vellum remained remarkably calm.
Then he looked toward Caelan.
"I have something that may interest you."
Caelan did not look away from the enemy army.
"If this is another employment contract—"
"Weapon."
That got his attention.
Vellum reached inside the opening of his shell.
A scroll appeared.
Old.
Sealed.
Powerful enough that Caelan could feel the aura before Vellum fully removed it.
"I own several unusual assets."
"Naturally."
"This one has been waiting for somebody suitable."
Vellum unrolled the parchment slightly.
An image appeared across it.
An insectoid Aetherkin with an armored black body, long bladed mandibles and limbs shaped more like cutting weapons than ordinary claws.
Caelan's eyes narrowed.
"Weapon-type?"
"Razorstag."
Vellum sounded almost proud.
"An Aetherkin capable of assuming weapon form."
The image shifted.
The insect collapsed inward, armored limbs folding and locking together until its body became a long, viciously edged sword-like weapon.
Even Caelan became interested.
"It can cut adamantite?"
"Refined adamantite."
"How much?"
Vellum's eyes brightened.
Caelan sighed.
"There it is."
"I'll lend Razorstag to you for this battle."
"And afterward?"
"If you survive, you repay me with an equal mass of refined adamantite."
Caelan stared at him.
"Equal to Razorstag's mass?"
"Correct."
"Pure?"
"Naturally."
"Refined?"
"Obviously."
"No substitutes."
"Now you're learning."
Caelan looked toward the battlefield.
Quakewyrm had reached the barrier.
Dreadtide's attack crashed down against the defenders.
Stormmane was fighting three Adults simultaneously.
Frostfang tore through another with ice exploding beneath his claws.
The golden threads linking Caelan to the defenders trembled constantly.
He held out one armored hand.
"Fine."
Vellum's eyes gleamed.
"Say it properly."
Caelan looked at him.
Vellum held out the contract.
Caelan almost groaned.
Then he took it.
"I accept."
Golden seals erupted across the parchment.
The contract burned away into light.
Beside Caelan, black energy gathered.
A shape emerged.
Armored.
Insectoid.
Long blades extended from its limbs while its dark carapace reflected the burning light beyond the walls.
Razorstag lowered itself before Caelan.
Vellum gave a deeply satisfied hum.
"Excellent."
Caelan studied the weapon Aetherkin.
Vellum's gaze shifted toward the battlefield.
Then toward a red-and-black blur tearing along the inner circuit.
Razorwind.
"Free advice."
Caelan immediately became suspicious.
"Free?"
"Occasionally."
Vellum pointed toward the Roadstreaker.
"You've already begun forming something interesting with Razorwind."
Caelan looked toward his new friend.
"Ride him."
"I already do."
"Then keep doing it."
Vellum's eyes narrowed with amusement.
"Bond properly."
Caelan looked back.
"Why?"
Vellum shrugged.
"Perhaps nothing happens."
His golden eyes gleamed.
"Perhaps something does."
Below them, Razorwind shot past the gates like a red-black bolt.
Caelan watched him disappear into the battle.
Vellum chuckled softly.
"This world rewards strange partnerships."
Then another explosion shook Gilded Hollow.
Caelan tightened his grip.
Razorstag's body began folding.
Bladed limbs locked together.
Armor shifted.
Within moments, a vicious dark weapon rested in Caelan's gauntleted hand.
Beyond the walls, Arachne's army kept coming.
And somewhere behind it, the Hunter in the Dark was still waiting.