Xavier stared at Derrida, the ancient Wanderer who’d shown up on his doorstep unannounced, frozen Adranial, blocked portalling, teleportation, Communication Stone access and his ability to talk to Roln.
He was beginning to tire of her interrogation.
“I need to secure my empire,” he replied, answering her question about why he hadn’t advanced his own individual power more before going after Jhanku. “As strong as I am connected with the other Xaviers, if a threat came that I wasn’t able to face alone, we’d all face it at the same time. They wouldn’t be able to help me, and I wouldn’t be able to help them. That’s why I’ve created my inter-universal armies. And I went after Jhanku before advancing because I knew I was strong enough to defeat him.”
The ancient elven Wanderer shook her head. “No. That isn’t the only reason you didn’t advance first. You had some doubts when you went after Jhanku. You didn’t think it would be as easy as it was. You didn’t believe it could be that easy. You thought it would be a challenge. You hoped it would be a challenge. You crave challenges. You want something to be hard. You want to almost die to achieve your next goal. You want to be tested. Not only that, you need it. That is why you haven’t advanced your own power, Xavier Collins, and you know it, even if you don’t know it on the surface.”
Xavier sat farther back on the couch. It was as though each sentence she’d uttered was another attack, beating him backward, getting past the layers of reasons he came up with to do things the way he did them. To throw himself into such difficult tasks—like, for instance, taking on the entirety of the Empire of Servitude’s three-million strong armada of spaceships, each filled with a single A Grade and a hundred thousand B Grades…
Or taking on the S Grade True Dragon that should have been far too powerful for him to ever defeat…
Or going after one of the top ten most powerful beings in the universe before even advancing to A Grade…
“You throw these things at me as though they were bad things.” Xavier straightened. “Acting in the way I do is what has gotten me this far in the first place. I’ve heard enough warnings in my time—”
“And ignored them,” Derrida muttered with a sly smile.
“—I know the risks, and I know what the rewards have been.” He bent forward. “Now, tell me, why are you here? What is this next step you’ve been debating?”
What she’d said about his taking over this universe being inevitable… it was something he’d been feeling himself lately. Yes, it was his goal. Yes, it was what he planned to do. But taking down Jhanku…
The woman was, frustratingly, right. He’d not only thought it would be a challenge, he’d hoped it would be. He’d achieved every goal he’d gone after, and some of those goals had been harder to achieve than others, but whenever a true challenge came his way, it made him grow stronger.
Facing Jhanku hadn’t made him grow stronger. It had been the same as taking over another sector—he and the other Xaviers were just going through the motions. Yes, if they hadn’t been careful the demonkin might have been able to do some serious damage to them. But they weren’t fools, so of course they hadn’t let that happen.
Derrida seemed to weigh her next words carefully.
It was strange to see a being so ancient—even if she didn’t look it—struggle with a decision. She must have had more wisdom than this entire corner of the multiverse combined. And yet she’d come all this way and still appeared to be considering whatever it was she was about to say.
Finaly, she spoke: “It’s time I brought you out.”
“Out?” Xavier stiffened. “Out where?” A thousand fears flooded his mind. Fears that this woman would take him away from his home world, his home universe, and never allow him to come back. She had that kind of power, after all.
And why else would she cut him off from everyone?
“Out into the wider multiverse.” Derrida bent her head forward, locking eyes with him. “It’s time you learnt a thing or two about real power.”
Xavier wasn’t sure what to say, though he knew what his thoughts were telling him. Despite the fears he had about this woman’s level of power, just about every part of him was screaming to accept the offer.
Here was one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse, in all of known reality, and she was sitting across from him offering to teach him about power.
How the hell could he pass something like that up?
But Xavier had responsibilities. Many responsibilities. Ones that meant he couldn’t just up and leave without telling anyone.
Besides, he wasn’t about to do something like this without asking the woman a few more questions. He licked his lips, mouth feeling drier than ever. He felt like a man who’d fallen in love with a car at a dealership but needed to pretend he wasn’t all that interested in order to get a better deal.
Except, the dealer could read his damned mind.
Derrida smiled.
All I felt like doing today was finally taking a break to read some books and spend time with Adranial. This was the last thing I thought would happen…
“I can’t just leave,” Xavier blurted out.
Derrida tilted his head to the side. “Why not? If you think the time dilation field you can power is strong, well… you should feel the one I have available.”
“My empire—”
“Will be safe.”
“The risk—”
“Is non-existent.”
“The other Xaviers. They should—”
“Should what, share in this experience? You want me to take two thousand versions of you straight out into the wider multiverse? Train all of you at once?” She shook her head. “That can’t be how this works.”
He shut his eyes. “That wouldn’t be fair to them.” The other Xaviers weren’t merely allies or friends. They didn’t even just feel like brothers. When they were all psychically linked like that… they felt like other parts of him.
Doing this alone felt like a betrayal.
But if doing this alone was the only option… well, he knew every single other version of him would make the same choice. And they would want him to bring that knowledge back, to strengthen the collective.
And the new unfoldings I could make after I gain more power, those Xaviers would benefit directly from everything I learnt. If I think I’m unstoppable now…
“There is another reason I don’t wish to bring the other versions of you along. This is a challenge only one of you should face. And believe me, this will be a challenge. The type of challenge you’ve been craving. More than one, at that. I know you have you to venture to the end of the Tower of Champions, but the thousandth floor?” She grinned. “It’s mere child’s play compared to what you’ll be building up to. Compared to what you’ll be overcoming.” Derrida glanced away. “Besides, as powerful as I am, even I can’t guarantee your safety out there. It would be wise to keep the other versions of you safe at home. Just in case you… well, failed.”
“In case I died, you mean?”
The ancient elven Wanderer waved a hand. “Indeed.” She raised her chin. “Now, what say you, Xavier Collins? Are you ready to face something more?”
“This breaks every rule you’ve ever made for your faction.”
Derrida smiled. “Rules are made to be broken. I think you’ve learnt that well enough along the way.”
“How can I trust you?”
“Oh, you know that’s a foolish question to ask. You’ve already thought more than once that I could squash you like a bug. If I wanted you dead, or hurt, or your memories altered, I wouldn’t need you to trust me to make any of that happen. I’m not luring you into some sort of trap. I don’t need to go to such lengths.” She looked down at her boot. “All I would need to do is raise this, then let it fall.”
Xavier closed his eyes.
This was one of those times where he’d love to be able to speak to Roln. The dead Wanderer would surely have an opinion about all of this. More than one opinion. And while Xavier didn’t always welcome the mental construct’s opinions—he tended to give most of them unsolicited—right now he very much would.
“You gave me Roln, but now you’re blocking me from using him. Are you going to give him back for… whatever this is?”
The elven Wanderer stood. “I haven’t decided.” She reached out to him. “Now, take my hand.”
Xavier didn’t move to grab the woman’s hand. He looked over at Adranial, frozen where she stood, and wished he could speak with her. Wished he could tell her where he was about to go. “Can I?” he said, not having to explain the question to someone who could read his mind.
“There are certain things I wish to keep from the System that governs this corner of the multiverse, Xavier. My presence being one of them. Be careful with how you tell her.” Derrida looked over at Adranial. She didn’t so much as wave her hand or utter a single word, and yet Adranial was no longer frozen.
Adranial hadn’t been facing the library when she’d been frozen, but she whirled to face it now. She looked at Xavier, then at the elven Wanderer, eyes widening, though she had a handle on her fear.
“Xavier?” she asked, her gaze locked on the elf.
Xavier stepped over to her and took both her hands in his, then touched his forehead to hers. There were things this woman didn’t know. Things he’d not yet shared with her.
Things he’d been afraid to share with her…
When his forehead touched hers, he asked quietly. “May I enter your mind?” Technically, he didn’t need her permission. He could force his way into her mind as easily as opening an unlocked door. But that wasn’t something he would ever do to her—not unless for some reason it was life or death that he did.
“Yes,” she said, without question or hesitation. The trust Adranial had in him was rock solid. She wouldn’t have chosen to forsake her family to be with him otherwise.
Xavier created a mental space that was identical to the tower library in their house, and that was where the two of them found themselves standing. Here, the System wouldn’t be able to listen in to what he told her.
It was finally time he told her about the mental construct, Roln.
And about where he was about to go—even though he didn’t really know himself.