#Lore24 – Entry #352 – Sci-Fi Month IV #17 – Getting Personal During the Imperium War
Transcribed From the Personal Recording Implant of Andra Ganim, Chronicler of the Codex Infinitum
AG: “I could help but notice that you have something of a…fascination…with Lila Darius. Did this begin during the Imperium War, or was there something going back to her incarnation during the Age of Legends?”
Note: Rivalle’s assistant is looking rather uneasy again. I believe I may be treading upon a very touchy subject.
RV: “There was actually something during the Age of Legends. I witnessed some of her exploits from afar, but since I never interacted with her myself, I didn’t realize the true nature of the subtle feelings I had about her then. There was always something about her that rubbed me the wrong way, some little thing that just made me dislike her. Not simple envy or jealousy over her looks or personality, or any other such drivel, but something on a more instinctive, baser level. I had experienced the same feeling with Marcon to an extent, but given his rather unique nature, the effect was greatly lessened. It was when I finally met Marcon’s children, felt that same kind of unexplainable dislike as I had toward Lila Darius, that I realized there was a much deeper meaning to my obsession with studying draconic history. During the Imperium War, though, that innate dislike was magnified by her constant interference in my plans.”
AG: “How did your first encounter with this incarnation of Lila Darius start your rivalry?”
RV: “This was a year or two after the Auralus incident. I, or rather, Ruvaen, had been tasked, as he typically was, with hunting down yet another rebel cell and crushing them under the might of the Imperium. In this particular case, the rebels had actually managed to acquire knowledge that I personally was quite interested in, relating to a draconic ruin that was unknown to me at the time. There was potentially something there that had drawn their interest, enough so that this particular group had devoted a significant amount of their time and resources to locate.
I, in the guise of Ruvaen, pursued the rebel courier who had come looking for one of the many Chroniclers who had gone into hiding, hoping that the Chronicler could decipher the mysterious artifact they had. The courier had brought the artifact with them, and I intended to have it. They proved to be quite a wily opponent, however, and would evade capture for some time. Eventually, though, their luck would run out, and I would have them, though before their capture, they managed to hide the artifact on some backwater world, which, it just so happened, placed it within the hands of Lila Darius.
As it turned out, Darius was a most talented arcanist during this incarnation, and nearly as skilled with a blade as I was. Once I had discovered where the courier had hidden the artifact, I would return to the world only to discover it gone and would begin my hunt for Darius. She would prove quite elusive, managing several vexing defeats of my soldiers through her own wits and luck, and those of the courier and a defector who had managed to escape with the courier while I was searching for the relic.
It was some time later that we had tracked the rebel cell down to a mustering point for their tiny fleet that I would first face Darius in combat, aboard one of our space citadels. Though I had her defeated in our personal battle, that defector managed a lucky strike with a missile launcher, and they escaped. It turns out the courier had managed to steal Ruvaen’s personal starfighter and led the rebel group into the depths of the citadel, destroying its power core and setting up a destructive reaction.
I must admit, I was rather angry to have been foiled in such a way, and my frustration would only deepen as Darius and the rebels would continue a series of unprecedented victories against the Imperium. Granted, our goal was ultimately the same in the end, but my own foundation had not yet been settled, so these losses were detrimental to my ultimate success. I would say that the setbacks Darius and her FPC allies caused set back my plans at least a decade or more, and extended the Imperium War further than I had originally intended by perhaps another five years.”
AG: “How many times would you face Lila Darius in battle during the war?”
RV: “We fought personally on half a dozen occasions. Each time but one, it seemed that the fates would favor her, and though I had carefully planned how I would entrap her, she would find a way out, through her own guile, her allies, or in at least one case, pure luck. I’m not too proud to admit that I may have lost sight of my goals for a time during this period, so focused was I upon seeing that woman defeated. She, and further incarnations, would be the only beings that would confound me so over the centuries.”
AG: “In spite of the defeats the Imperium suffered, they remained firmly in control of the core worlds surrounding their capitol of Anyllion, and would prove most resilient to the FPC’s efforts to eradicate them. Can you elaborate on the use of cloning technology during this time to bolster the Imperium’s armies?”
RV: “Though I was quite familiar with the arcane technique for creating clones, Halaxaes’ scientists had indeed developed a method for creating clones that did not result in immediate attempts to kill the original, though the effectiveness of these clones was never especially great when compared to the originals. Though they were certainly capable of serving, they were simply inferior to the originals, lacking their abilities to adapt quite so well and to think as quickly. They made excellent fodder, though, and in the numbers they were eventually produced, would serve the Imperium quite well.
The locations of these cloning facilities were a secret known only to the Emperor, Ruvaen, myself, and a handful of others, and were always at the top of the FPC’s list of targets. I would again face Darius during one of the rebel’s assaults on one of these facilities, and it would be the one occasion I would best her in combat, though I have since questioned whether it was her plan to be captured in the hopes of doing exactly what we did later. Though we are most often against one another, occasionally we seem to align in a strange way.”
AG: “So you’re saying that you allied with Darius? Could you explain?”
RV: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend, as the old saying goes. I took a chance that had to be taken. I had learned some time before this that Halaxaes had a private bunker somewhere that Ruvaen was not even aware of. The Emperor’s growing paranoia had led him to secret this away even from his own son, and I suspected that he had a reason for this. I suspected that he had a clone body waiting, and that he had already made preparations to transfer his soul to that body should he die. It was exactly what he had originally wanted for Ruvaen, but he had grown wary of Ruvaen by this time, sensing perhaps that all was not as it should be, that perhaps the golem body his son possessed was exerting a negative influence upon him, or perhaps, spite of the loyalty that had been displayed, there was an underlying threat there.
His instincts were quite correct; we elves are rather talented when it comes to our scheming, after all. So, I made the decision to test my theory as to whether he did indeed possess a clone. At the time, either it would be proven true and I could use the various methods at my disposal to find this secret bunker, though it would be somewhat complicated by the fact that Ruvaen would be seen as a traitor, or Ruvaen would be elevated to be Emperor of the Imperium, thus allowing me to advance my original plan by some many years, should there be no clone.
So, when Halaxaes had Darius brought before him, I gave her a few subtle hints that she managed to pick up on, and, though she did not trust me in the slightest, she too saw the potential gains. When the time was right, I sprung the surprise, allowing Darius to deliver a surprising, fatal blow to Halaxaes, before I would aid her in her escape.
As it turns out, Halaxaes indeed had survived, his soul transferring to a cloned body; within the hour he would be in command once again, though the Ruvaen faction of the Imperium was firmly in my control. However small it was in comparison to the rest of the Imperium’s forces, it was quite powerful, for I had the bulk of his arcanists on my side. This fracture would be the beginning of the end for Halaxaes’ empire.”