Chapter 208: CHAPTER 208- SELF CONFLICT

Dark clouds hung in the night sky, casting the world into darkness, threatening to add to the snowy tundra below. Harsh winds pierced through the meager layers of clothing and battered against the walls and shutters.

Very few left the protections of their homes. Even the Guards were hesitant to leave their blazing braziers and small outposts. They huddled under their cloaks, wishing they had brought more than one.

Yet the harsh weather had little effect on the large, cloaked figure.

Fenrir was returning to the small, abandoned building he had claimed as his own. He had just left a meeting with the other self-proclaimed leaders of the slums. Under his supervision, they were able to work together to further improving the Slums.

At the rate it was going, it wouldn’t be right to continue calling it the slums in a few weeks. The roads were being cleaned, the walls scrubbed, roofs repaired, and even businesses springing up. All of these created jobs that Fenrir was willing to pay for with his vast fortune. He didn’t really have any other use for the coin.

Fenrir snuck into the building and climbed the stairs. The same building he had first met Michael and later Timothy. The wood creaked under his immense weight, but held together.

Fenrir knew he needed to continue to refine his plans. If he was going to disable the defenses on the walls, he needed to be able to get someone inside to look at how the defenses worked. This proved difficult, but not impossible. The last attempt had revealed a flaw. A flaw that he could use to infiltrate and study the enchantments and mechanisms. He would then leave a Shadow Assassin there who could sabotage the defenses when needed.

Fenrir opened the door to see the large map on the table and his Minions at the edges of the room, just as expected. What was not expected was the man seated at the far wall, casually looking at the map.

“What are you doing here?” Fenrir growled, he did not like being surprised like this.

Alaster looked up from the map, “We need to talk.”

“About what?”

Alaster stood up, “Oh, we aren’t talking here.”

Faster than Fenrir could react, Alaster appeared before him, his open hand gripping Fenrir’s face.

The next moment, they were deep in the forest near Zolis.

The momentum of Alaster’s charge threw Fenrir back, skidding through the snow with ease before slamming into a tree trunk. Its massive five-foot-thick trunk proved sufficient to hold up against the impact, but it shattered around the area.

Fenrir felt the armor on his back dent in from the impact, something that would fracture the spine of the average person and causing severe internal damage, but Fenrir did not have an organic body.

His body immediately began to heal the damage, but it would be several minutes before his body recovered completely.

“Get up.” Alaster commanded, standing in the middle of the clearing.

Fenrir stood up, “What was that for?”

“You kept secrets from me.” Alaster began walking towards his second body, “You kept Mike and Tom away from me. You kept Evelyn from me!”

Alaster exploded forward, but Fenrir was ready.

He parried Alaster’s punch and stepped back from the retaliatory kick.

Fenrir launched his own kick from the side, but instead of blocking or avoiding it, Alaster grabbed Fenrir’s shin and swung him around, slamming Fenrir into the same tree.

Fenrir fell to the snow, slow to get up as his knee had critical damage. All of his healing capabilities focused on the joint. It would be repaired in moments.

“I created you to serve as my second body. So I could be in two places at once. Not to make your own decisions. Not to keep things from me. Not to act on your own.” Alaster growled at the prone Fenrir, crouched down on his haunches.

“I concealed them because you would have acted differently.” Fenrir grunted, “You let your emotions control you when it comes to Evelyn.”

Fenrir rolled over to his side, staring back at Alaster as he leaned against the tree.

“That is not your decision to make.”

“But I made it, and you and I both know that it was the right decision. If you had known where to find Evelyn, without needing to infiltrate the Castle, you would have simply taken her, killing everyone who stood in your way. This would have not only created a war with Lissura, but also would have caused her to despise you.

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This way, you have a chance to learn more, while being near her, and figuring out every person who was a part of our parents’ death.”

Alaster gripped Fenrir’s throat, lifting him up off the ground, “My parents, not yours.”

Fenrir grabbed at the arm, trying to pry away his fingers and get away, but failing, “You and I share the same soul. Your family is my family. I didn’t do anything against you. We both still have the same goals and intentions. I simply went about it differently than you would. And you can’t blame me for that. You designed me like that. You made me to think differently from you.”

Alaster slammed Fenrir into the tree once more before letting go. The repeated impacts had created a pocket that Fenrir slumped into.

“You’re right. But things are different now. What do you have Mike and Tom doing?”

Fenrir rolled his shoulders, feeling the cracked metal creaking, “I asked them to grow their strength as quickly as they could. With you and I monitoring her safety, I felt like they would be unneeded, at least right now. They are both capable combatants, but with the scales we are up against now, it would not be enough.

I gave them both a bracelet that could light up when I needed them to return.”

“What are you doing?”

“Improving the slums so we have allies, and even possibly discovering the source of the prejudice. That however is a side goal. I am also studying the defenses of the city, figuring out how they work and how to disrupt them.

With Lezrem forced to remain outside the city, if we needed him to attack, it would be pointless if the city’s defenses remained active.”

Alaster nodded, understanding Fenrir’s reasoning, as he knew he would. They shared the same soul, the same goals. They merely went about accomplishing it differently.

“From now on, send Minions to do all of that. I know you have created your own personal elite squad of capable werewolf Undead. They are intelligent enough to avoid detection. Have them monitor the Slums and study the defenses.”

“They are no where near as effective as I would be.”

“They don’t need to be. I will have my Death Knights also study the defenses, and by now, the Slums are largely self-governing, they just need the funds.”

“Then what do you want me to do?”

“I need you to create a third body. I will work on the soul split, but I won’t have the space to secretly create the physical body while I remain in the Castle.”

“What do you want it to be?” Fenrir asked as he pried himself out of the tree. The fight before had meant nothing more than stress relief. Alaster was frustrated that Fenrir had kept those secrets, but he understood why.

“I need a body that specializes in stealth, infiltration, assassination, disguises, and sabotage.”

“We have the Shadow Assassins to do that for us.” Fenrir pointed out.

“Yes, but while they are effective, they are crude and simple minded. Simple detection wards are enough to hinder them. I need someone who can not just disable the wards and enchantments, but slip through without actually disabling them. I need someone who can prioritize targets. Someone who can fool others with deception. Someone who can eliminate targets and get away without being seen.”

“Then what do you want the body to be?”

Alaster smirked, “A shapeshifter. Preferably a female one.”

Fenrir froze, and looked up from his stretches, “Female? You do realize that we are guys right? Why do you want it to be a female?”

“Because there will be some situations where shapeshifting could be detected, so they will need to infiltrate while in their natural form. Women are seen as less threatening to most. People let their guard down around women.

And I’ll be honest, it’s because I want to see if it’s possible.”

“And how will you mange its soul? We are men, if you put a male soul into a female body, the two will reject each other.”

“I know that, but I think that if I can capture the soul of a Female Expert, I could implant a bit of my own soul into it, and make it work.”

Fenrir sighed, “This seems like a lot of work for something we aren’t even sure will work. Where will you even get a Female Expert’s Soul from?”

“I heard rumors of a bandit party near the Julic Lake that are commanded by a Female Expert. I was thinking of sending Lezrem to destroy the group and capture the soul. Besides, we both know that Lezrem is more knowledgeable about Soul Magic.

If he can’t capture her soul, I doubt we would.”

“I still think this is a waste of time, though I understand the reasoning. And gods this sounds wrong to ask, any preferences for the body?”

Alaster smirked, it did indeed sound wrong, “Slim, but attractive. Slim so it can be quick and agile, but attractive so it can distract and lower guards. I don’t really care about the hair, but black would probably be best.”

Fenrir sighed louder than before and slumped down to the ground, “Let me guess, you are giving me this task because you don’t want to be the one creating an anatomically correct body.”

Alaster smirked, “It certainly played a role. Ask Catherine and the other Death Knights for help if you need to.”

“Putting aside how awkward that conversation and construction will be, making it a shapeshifter will be complicated. Even with me spending all my time on it, the creation will still be slow.

Do you want built in weapons? A second form, like me?”

“As a shapeshifter, it doesn’t really need a second form, but perhaps give it built in daggers and blades on its arms like the Night Children.”

“The Night Children? Damn its been a while since we’ve used those.”

“Yeah, I don’t even think I still have any in my Soul Domain. A nice ability of this third body would be allowing it to turn into a bird so it can get to inaccessible locations or make a quick escape.”

Fenrir thought for a moment, “Possible, but not certain. I’ll test it and let you know. How did you get out of the Castle undetected anyway?”

“The Shadows. I left a few out in the city so I could get in and out. Speaking of which, it seems I have a visitor coming to my door.”

Fenrir waved him away, “Go. Go back to your lavish suite with fine food and wine. Meanwhile, I’ll go back to my cold dark room.”

Alaster rolled his eyes, “You like the dark and the cold doesn’t bother you.”

Fenrir opened his mouth to retort, but Alaster had already vanished. Instead, he stood up and looked around. The tree creaked in the harsh winds and as it began to snow, the tree fell, crashing through the canopy and toppling to the snowy ground, sending up a cloud.

Sighing, Fenrir mumbled into the cold and lonely night, “Rude.”