Chapter 302: Karl’s Act
(Time-stilled world, The floating island, 14 Minutes After Leo’s Fall)
Karl sat in silence near the edge of the platform, his breathing shallow, his hands still trembling slightly— not from guilt, nor from grief, but from the act of remembering exactly how to appear broken.
The shiver in his fingers was subtle, well-practiced, while the dampness in his eyes was intentional.
Right now, all he needed to be was devastated.
"All I had to do was grab his hand..." he said quietly, his voice carrying just enough pain to seem raw. "His fingers were right there. I tried... he just didn’t jump far enough."
Raiden turned away sharply, dragging a palm across his face as he kicked a loose chunk of stone over the ledge, watching it tumble into the abyss.
"Fucking hell," Raiden muttered under his breath, louder with each word. "We just lost Leo. Just like that. First Cipher, and now him? What the hell is going on with this goddamn world?"
Bob didn’t say anything.
He just sat upright, fists clenched tightly, his knuckles pale, his jaw grinding wordlessly as he stared at the spot Leo had jumped from.
The spot where the wind still hadn’t stopped howling.
Karl kept his gaze down.
His shoulders hunched, his fingers twitching ever so slightly, just enough to show the pain he wasn’t voicing.
"I tried," he said again, softer now, barely above a whisper. "I swear to you, I tried. We touched. I swear we touched... but I just... I couldn’t hold on."
Raiden spun back toward him, his voice now sharper, his tone filled with disbelief and rising anger.
"Couldn’t hold on? That’s all you’ve got? We were right there, Karl! You had one job! One fucking job!"
Karl looked up slowly and met his eyes.
There was no defiance.
Only a fake pain.
"...Do you think I don’t know that?" He said, sounding aggrieved, as Bob finally stood up.
He cracked his knuckles one by one as he approached, stopping just short of Karl and jabbing a thick finger toward his chest.
"You better not be playing the victim here. You let him fall. I don’t care if it was bad timing or if your hand slipped, the fact is, you let him fall."
Karl didn’t answer.
He simply nodded, slowly, like a man being sentenced, as he bit his lower lip hard enough to break skin, the metallic tang of his own blood grounding him, reminding him to stay in character.
Silence returned.
Heavy and bitter.
But beneath that silence, deep within Karl’s mind, something darker simmered quietly.
A small flicker of satisfaction.
A breath of relief.
Because despite Raiden and Bob’s angry reactions, the two seemed to believe him.
They seemed to believe that he tried his best to save Leo, but fell just short.
That he was just as aggrieved about Leo’s death as the two of them.
Which was actually not the case at all.
As the wind picked up once more and the island beneath them began its slow, swaying shift, Karl looked away from them both and turned his eyes to the drifting horizon.
Not to measure the path forward for the team.
But for himself.
Because now that Leo, the strongest fighter amongst them, was gone...
... Getting rid of the other two was going to be simple as well.
—--------
(Meanwhile, Back in the real world, Planet Tithia)
The First Elder returned to Tithia promptly after his meeting with Soron concluded, as he needed to prepare for the upcoming emergency elders meet that he himself had called for.
The moment his boots touched the stone of the landing platform, he was already issuing orders and reading reports, as there was no time to waste.
"Have the Twelve Seats polished and reoriented. The Godflame must be lit by noon sharp. And summon the record scribes. I want them to be present in tomorrow’s meeting, taking notes of everything that’s being spoken."
His subordinates moved without delay, nodding once before vanishing into the compound’s many archways, as they scrambled to carry out his instructions. .
Mavern continued walking.
His internal thoughts— sharp and resolute, as he knew exactly what he wanted to achieve from tomorrow’s elder meeting.
’I need the other elders to start preparing for war. I need them to acknowledge the threat we are under and begin making preparations before the enemy strikes first. And from tomorrow onward, I need to start rallying support behind Leo Skyshard as well.’
’Although the boy is not my first choice to become the next Dragon, I have no luxury of preference anymore, and must now start playing politics— securing votes and gathering backing before the Fourth Elder gains any more ground within the Council and pushes his own candidate further.’ Mavern thought, as he grit his teeth and let out a slow exhale.
He was still not at peace with the fact that his life’s work was unraveling and being torn apart by the purge the Righteous Alliance was currently carrying out.
However, after speaking with Soron, he had come to accept the fact that he couldn’t afford to remain trapped in that loop of helpless despair.
He was still the First Elder.
The leader of the Elders Council.
And that meant he needed to carry himself accordingly, with his eyes fixed firmly on the future.
He couldn’t allow grief to override responsibility. He couldn’t abandon his duties simply because the tide had turned against him.
Because his position as the first elder required him to give it his all and steer the cult towards a brighter future, no matter the crisis he found himself in.
’I wasn’t firm enough when you pushed through the proposal of the attack on Sky-God Arena.
However, I will let you have a free reign over the council no more.
It’s been a couple decades since I have actively been involved in elder politics, but I will make it my life’s mission to disband the block you have made.
As no matter what, I will never let you make Veyr into the next Dragon–’