Just Fine

Fate strode into the village, stopping a few feet away from the line Cait and Ythmun had made of the villagers. The line was fairly long, stretching back for a few hundred feet as thousands waited for their turn, clustered together in a column four people wide. Cait stood at the front, with Garrett to the front and left of the villagers and Ythmun to the right and back, to make sure none of them tried to run.

One by one, the villagers would step up, get scanned by Cait's aura, then be directed to stand in front of one of the houses with the others. There were two groups, one in front of the house on Cait's left and one on her right. The group on the right had only five people so far and was much jumpier than the group of dozens on the left.

The group on the right was forced to stand side by side so each one was easily visible, but the left group was allowed to bunch up and crowd around the front of multiple houses, having been cleared by Cait.

All of the villagers were trembling with fear, their eyes constantly scanning their surroundings as if a boogeyman was going to jump out of the shadows and kill them. Fate guessed confidently that their behavior was due to the bodies strewn around the village, some with caved-in faces or smashed chests and others reduced to mummified bodies.

Fate crossed his arms. "Need me to help with anything?" he asked.

"Go stand where around the middle of the line and watch for runners," Cait told him. "Ythmun and I have a long range for our Divine Reach, but redundancy doesn't hurt."

Fate nodded and did as he was told, leaning against a house as he watched the procession slowly move forward. He kept a close eye on them the entire time, paying special attention to the small group to Cait's right.

The process took a little over an hour, thanks to Cait's efficiency. During that time, there was only one major incident, when Garrett noticed a few of the villagers pull out indiscreet pens.

He immediately trapped all of the offending villagers in a small time loop, stepping up to one and yanking the pen out of their hand. He turned it around in his hand, studying it by poking and prodding it. Fate and Ythmun spared the man a short glance before training their eyes on the rest of the line and the small group of villagers, watching for any more people trying to pull a pen.

A click rang out as Garrett pressed the pen open. Instead of a point, a clear crystal protruded from the writing end and projected a small hologram made of shadows instead of light, so as not to catch the eye.

A screen was formed of these shadows, with several options such as 'call,' 'report,' 'discreet report,' and 'compromised.' The older man wisely stopped messing with the device upon seeing this, dropping it and smashing it under his boot. The hologram fizzled out, and yelled "Watch for pens!"

"What's a pen?" Ythmun shouted back. They didn't exist on this planet, the inhabitants instead wrote on clay with rocks. Garrett only knew of them from Fate's memories when he delved into the latter's mind, which is why he became suspicious of the objects."

"It's a cylindrical object used for writing," Cait yelled over to Ythmun.

"It'll look like something you don't recognize," Garrett added. "Look for anything out of the ordinary!" Having warned the others, he released the caught villagers from the time loop and instructed them to go to the smaller group.

One tried to run when he gave the order, put down swiftly by a Manifest Power flex from Ythmun. The others shambled quietly over to the indicated spot, confiscated of their pens first by Garrett.

Cait, from then on, focused half of her attention on the small group to watch for any more attempts at communication. Despite her diligence, or perhaps because of it, there were no more eventful happenings even as she sent the last person in line to the group on the left. She wipe her brow of nonexistent sweat as the other three Embodiments made their way to her.

"Well?" Ythmun asked, black eyes gazing dispassionately at the smaller group, made up of only forty-three people. "Are these the traitors?"

"The ones I could find. They either had a severe desire for self-preservation, more than any of the others; an intense hatred for you or one of us; or a deep desire to inform someone of what is happening. A few of the first two groups could very well be normal villagers. After all, you did crush quite a few people and destroy a couple of houses. I suppose the same could be true of the last group, although it's unlikely."

Ythmun waved his hand, thick ropes of Divine Energy shooting out from his arm and latching onto each of the villagers in the group. They shriveled instantly, dropping to their knees and then collapsing into dust. He retracted his hand, his apathetic gaze giving nothing away as he turned to the other group.

They flinched when his eyes raked over them, eliciting a cruel smile from him. Fate didn't react much; he'd worked for worse, and if they had left one alive by accident, it would've meant the death or enslavement of everyone on the planet.

"You can all return to your homes. But remember what I've done here. Turning on me is turning on all of your neighbors, all of your friends and colleagues, and everyone else in this world. You all will hear from me again in..." He turned to Fate, whispering "When will they be here?"

"Three days," Fate whispered back.

"In three days!" He declared. "Those who refuse my call will be put down as treasonous scum. Farewell!" He pivoted on his heel and walked off in the direction of the castle. Fate exchanged a look with Garrett and Cait before they jogged after the man.

"I just realized something," Cait huffed as they were catching up to Ythmun.

"What's that?" Fate asked.

"You think Cornelius survived the explosion earlier?"

"The snake? He can burrow underground, so most likely. We'll find him later today if he doesn't find us first."

A hiss went over the plains as the three caught up to the monarch, and all four turned their heads to the sound. Miles away, a snake fifty feet in diameter and four miles long slithered toward them, dirt covering some of its scales as the majority of them glimmered as the sunlight bounced off the dark green snakeskin.

"See?" Fate said. "He's just fine."