The Strength of the Few (Hierarchy, #2)

by James Islington

FEAR, MY FATHER ONCE TOLD me, is simply our realisation of a lack of control. And that is why when we are afraid, sometimes the only way we can cope—the only way to dull the edge of that lack—is to put our faith in those who appear not to suffer it.

“I suppose the war is the easiest place to begin. It started thousands of years ago, against an enemy called the Concurrence. They were bent on enslaving everyone, and from what Veridius and I could tell, at one point they were winning.” His mouth twists. “So our side split the world into three near-identical copies. Res—where we’re from; Obiteum, which is here; and Luceum. Don’t ask me how,”

“Physically the same, down to the last detail. But the nature of Will was what they were trying to limit. The three worlds were created because they wanted to diminish it, restrict how it could be used. Split its capabilities.” He presses on before I can ask any of my myriad new questions. “People called it the Rending. Afterward, the war continued, but the resistances on the three worlds began to have their own levels of success in the fight. Different capabilities with Will. Different choices. Everything diverged.”

“They’re culls, Vis. The Cataclysms are culls by an enemy that everyone on our world has forgotten. That one those architects were trying to prevent? It was the eleventh. The eleventh in three thousand years. And even with all their knowledge, they failed.”

“They’re called iunctii. They don’t need to eat, or sleep, or breathe. They don’t age or bleed. They do still remember who they were, feel things the same as you and I—but they cannot do it without the Will of the person who brought them back.”

“Mechanically, everything works the same as on Res—ceding, self-imbuing and imbuing. Except that back home, you imbue in order to strengthen and manipulate. Here, you do it to restore and sustain.

haven’t even been through the Aurora Columnae.” A protest, albeit a weak one. “Actually, you have, now—the Gate on Solivagus is a kind of extension of them. That’s why it won’t work on anyone who’s already been through the ceremony.”

A man who would remain untouchable so long as he alone was present in all three worlds, because it meant he had dominion over Will. Would be the only one who could control it as it had been before the Rending.” He glances at me. Assessing. “Synchronism, they called it.”

“The husks—the iunctii—who had the control bracers for the Labyrinth. They said they were being punished because they attempted to ‘gain synchronism and remove the seal to Obiteum.’ ”

it's all coming together...

“The plan is to stop Ka, no matter what it takes. Veridius will undoubtedly be trying to do the same to his counterpart in Res—and

gotta wonder who this could be

But he made it sound like the whole thing was a game to him. Like some sort of sideshow for his amusement.”

Is he the Res version of Ka?

“It is unpleasant, but this is the world you and I live in, now. Men must be bought or compelled, rather than relied upon to do the right thing.

ain't that the truth

“A request from Princeps Kavius.

ka = kavius? it can't be that easy can it??? lmao

“It will return in time, as you learn to look for it. Assuming all remains well in Luceum.”

so he is ka? or working with him? if he knows about luceum. hmmm...

“I have repurposed them for our fight, warrior. Their processing capability is limited,” I murmur in Vetusian. He frowns at me. Not understanding the language. “What?” I shake my head uneasily, trying to clear it. I didn’t mean to say it; the words were just… there.

hmm, is this the same thing happening to lanistia?

Udar Pádraig.”

uther pendragon is that you? lmao

Aequa’s lips twitch. “So would you describe yourself as… forbidden?” She says the last in a seductive whisper. Eyes wide.

lmaooo

“Proof that evil powers are at play,” adds Eidhin gloomily. I glare at him. He holds my stare for a long, long second. Expression unchanging. “Three of you. By all the dead and rotting gods.”

a man is known by his failings until he is known by his actions.

You act as though we’re enemies, but you want to protect others from our fate as much as I do. And you may not want to do it with violence, but… gods. What other choice do we have, now? We can spout a lifetime of words and they will echo and fade, and history will not

remember a single one. I don’t like it either but when power is so entrenched, so impossibly distant, blood becomes the only possible currency of change.”

“Three Princeps,” finishes Ostius quietly, face inches from his uncle’s, gazing into his eyes as if nothing had happened. “All ceding to the man who is planning to kill us.”

huh??? are they ceding to ka???

“Hail, Diago,” says my father.

YOOOOOOO!!!

“A society cannot make a man a monster, Diago. But it can give him the excuse to become one.”

Grief never really leaves you, but at some point it becomes remembered rather than enveloping.

“What is it?” I look at the stone mistrustfully. The last gods-damned Vetusian test I went through cost me an arm.

lol

The Hierarchy is a monster that has to feed to survive. And inevitably, once it has eaten everything else, all that is left to consume is itself.

Aequa’s head caves in.

OH FUCK

What is it they say, again? The needs of the many will always be loud.” He leans forward. Hooked nose inches from mine. “But in the end, it is only the strength of the few that matters.”

“My name was Caeror.” He says it in Common, harsh to my ears after so long. “I arrived here almost eight years ago, the same way you did.”

whaaaaa

“This chamber holds the most recent, but there are dozens more like it. Your people have filled this place with the slain of a century of conquests. Everyone from great leaders, to the lowest servants who may once have overheard something important. Anyone and everyone who may have something valuable still locked away somewhere in their minds.”

jesus