The General sat quietly in the room alone, but it was not long before three people entered. He looked at them standing neatly in a row, their faces both mired with seriousness and confusion. They had been watching the entire interrogation from the other side of the wall. Although to say that they were watching was correct, they could not actually hear the conversation.
It was not because of the lack of technology, but because for some reason, none of them were working. Uriah had made it so that no one could hear his conversation with the General. Which was why their hearts nearly leapt out of their chests when Uriah turned to look at them through the one-way mirror on the wall with a cold smile before vanishing shortly after.
"General Miars, what happened to the prisoner?"
"He's left."
"We can't let him escape! That man was likely an Ascendant! Although we couldn't kill him, we could still contain him! What if he attacks the Prime Station or Rima?!"
A heavy pressure bore down on the three, immediately silencing the one who had been raising his voice in dissatisfaction. These three were the ones who were originally in charge of dealing with the prisoner, but because of the danger posed by Uriah, the higher ups had to rely on General La'ar Miars instead. They were understandably angry when the prisoner they were in charge of suddenly disappeared, but they had forgotten who they were talking to.
La'ar Miars, despite not having chosen a path, was more powerful than most pathstriders. The Crucible seemed to favour him, granting him more power than others despite being a mortal. All this just because he led Rima to fend off the invasion of an army intent on spreading their path to even the fringes of the universe.
The General turned his head slowly to look at the three of them. As a General, he led by example and thus despite the hidden turbulence within Rima, he never once showed his soldiers even a hint of suspicion. He showed them his trust and his confidence while leading with a stalwart heart in the face of a war that could potentially destroy their world. Internal strife had no place in Rima, now of all times. They needed to be united, to push away the encroachment of the Paths and steer well clear of the Pinnacle War. But he could no longer turn a blind eye, not after what Uriah had said.
La'ar Miars was blessed by the Crucible itself, granting him a nigh inviolable authority over the forces of Rima. With the growing strength of Rima, he too would grow. But he had realised for some time now that his growth had become a mere trickle despite the continuous progress of Rima as a world and as a civilisation.
As he rose from his seat, his gaze locked onto the man who raised his voice. He walked toward him, the inviolable pull of his power prevented the man from stepping back or even turning his gaze away. He could only tremble as he felt powerless in front of an obviously superior being.
"Tell me, General Milan, how many times have you been to the frontlines? Better yet, how many times have you set foot on Torval?"
General Miars stood imposingly in front of the trembling man. These three were also Generals, but compared to La'ar Miars, their ranks were merely for show. They were not at all powerful. At most, they would equal the elite squads of the army, those sent out for especially dangerous missions. But even then, these three had only ever fought in minor skirmishes within their star system.
They had never seen the true brutality of the Pinnacle War, the one that Rima was fighting in the distant world of Torval. And yet, even this war on Torval was not the true Pinnacle War. It was more of a conquest, an invasion of Pathstriders to solidify the position of their Path, to win the Pinnacle War. It was the last vestiges of the war dating back to the invasion of Rima about fifty thousand years ago.
The three Generals could not speak. They had no answers to give him. General Miars knew this. These three were bureaucrats who had nothing in their heads but politics and schemes. They were among the cancerous tumours of Rima that he wanted to eradicate. But he could not do it just yet. His brows furrowed as he raised his hand. The Graven Lord's words still echoed in his mind. Many have already chosen a side. His blood boiled in rage as he struck out his palm against General Milan's chest.
The three were shocked at the sudden attack, but they could not move. And Milan was even more shocked the attack did not send him crashing to the wall. His body remained still even as he coughed out blood. And then he felt General Miars's hand grab onto something. His grip was incredibly tight as he dragged it out of General Milan's body, the latter grimacing in excruciating pain.
Something deep within him was being tampered with, something so close to his source of life. He was absolutely terrified, but there was nothing he could do. They did not know how truly powerful General Miars was. And shrewdly, La'ar Miars never revealed the true extent of his power. This was the first time he used it in such a way. And from General Milan's chest, he dragged out a dark purple strand of energy pulsing with a malignant glow.
"It is a violation of military regulations to take on a path. Do you even know why that is? Do you understand why?"
General Miars stared at the dark purple strand in his hand, his face contorted in disgust. There was something inherently strange and wrong about this strand of power. It was not just impure. It was like a writhing filthy mass that seemed to want to burrow into his hand. He would not let it. He shoved the strand of power back into General Milan, truly sending him flying and crashing into the wall this time.
He had wanted to crush that strand of power, but he could not do it now. That was the power of a path. And only another path could destroy it. He turned his gaze to the other two and did the same. Inspecting their paths to see if there was any difference only to find it the very same disgusting strand of purple. After sending all three of them crashing into the wall, he continued his words coldly.
"With your path, surely you would've known that no one could ever contain that man. If you forced his hand, he would've destroyed not just the Prime Station. Rima would have been annihilated. And all of it because you incompetent fools dare take on a path."
General Miars did not believe that the Graven Lord's visit was the sole reason for his sudden presence in Rima. At such level of power, there was bound to be a profound causality at play. And he surmised that it was precisely the people of Rima choosing paths of their own that triggered causality, bringing upon them the very embodiment of calamity.
And now that they have been entangled with such a being, General Miars knew that Rima wold no longer be safe. They would soon be welcoming an upheaval unlike anything their world has ever experienced. It will make the fall of the Rima Empire seem like child's play in comparison.
General Miars immediately left the interrogation room not even bothering to call any medics to treat the other three. He strode across the halls of Rima Prime Station, his cold and intimidating aura frightened many. He moved with purpose and a barely concealed fury that could be felt by everyone nearby. He did not even stop to look at any of the soldiers he met along the way. He disdained them all, knowing that practically all of them had succumbed to the temptation of power offered by the paths. To him, they were all traitors, and traitors deserved to die.
General Miars soon arrived in front of a door leading to one of the core areas of the Rima Prime Station. There were many soldiers guarding it on all entrances. Seeing him marching toward the doors, the soldiers tensed up. They saluted to him but did not move from their positions. The higher ups of both the military and the Rima Federation were having a meeting inside. No one was allowed to disturb them.
But just as the soldiers were about to speak, an intense pressure bore down on them, pressing them to their knees. They could not even lift their heads or move their arms. They were utterly powerless as General Miars strode into the room. The people talking inside suddenly paused and looked at him in confusion. The person at the head of the conference table looked annoyed as he addressed the new entrant.
"General Miars, we are having an important meeting here. I hope you came with an urgent matter otherwise-"
"The prisoner you caught was a Graven Lord."
General Miars did not even let the man finish speaking. And although the man was angry, his anger immediately subsided when his mind fully registered the words. All the people in the room turned to General Miars in shock and horror. These people were among the few on Rima who knew what a Graven Lord was. And it was precisely because they knew that they could not help but tremble in fear.
They had caught a Graven Lord wandering their homeworld and even imprisoned him in the Prime Station. The implications and consequences of this was something they did not even want to imagine. After all, if a Graven Lord could enter their homeworld without alerting anyone, then how would they know if other similar monstrosities were to appear? They would die before they even knew it.
General Miars did not bother explaining any more than that. Now that he had seen the strands of power from the path of the three Generals in the interrogation room, he could detect the distinct aura of that path in others. And in this conference room alone, over half of them had the same aura.
The others were not pure either. He deduced that this must be a different path from that dark purple one. In short, all of these people were traitors. And all of them had seats at the highest levels of the government and the military. General Miars' blood ran cold as he realised that there truly was no turning back for Rima. They have doomed themselves.
"Congratulations. You have brought the Pinnacle War right to our doorstep. The next visitor that comes might just be the end of us all. Let this day be a warning to all traitors of Rima."
Leaving those words behind, General Miars turned and left. He had no more intention of staying in the Prime Station. He did not even want to go back to the frontlines on Torval anymore. All of it had become meaningless. All his efforts had been in vain. He took his private shuttle and went straight back to Rima, heading home to be with his family.