At first, John thought that Aldara had come completely alone. However, she happened to be carrying someone- and she had a follower. Specifically, Cuah’arn appeared to be following behind her. The spirit beast kept her distance, but must have pursued her across the whole region.

  Aldara was still the only relevant intruder. The woman she carried was had her cultivation bound and was covered in wounds, though not to the point it appeared she was likely to die in the near future.

  John took note of Aldara’s rate of approach, then flew upwards to meet her before she approached the barrier over the city. She might be able to break through on her own- though John sincerely hoped not- but making her try would be a problem. Cuah’arn remained at a distance, though it was clear the bird of light was prepared to act at any moment.

  Once John could properly look upon the second woman, he was certain he didn’t recognize her. Then again, Empress Aldara’s face and physical form had also faded from his mind. His spiritual energy senses had kept telling him that she was Matayal, and that memory was stronger. But looking at her new body, there was barely any similarity… except for how she carried herself. Confidence radiated from the woman in front of him.

  “Who is this?” John gestured to the chained prisoner. Mostly, he could tell she had the aura of the Bright Trinity, Aldara’s origin sect.

  “The short explanation is she is responsible for much of how communication between our empires continually failed.”

  “This isn’t an empire,” John commented.

  Aldara tilted her head. “Perhaps it should be. Anyway, this is Erea.” Aldara tossed the woman towards John. He didn’t bother to catch her, and Aldara’s eyes followed her motion as the woman bounced off of the barrier and rolled outside the walls of the city. John didn’t look away from her for a moment. “... You didn’t want that?”

  “For what?” John asked.

  “A public execution, maybe. And to hear a confession.”

  John shrugged. “She didn’t seem to be in a state to speak truthfully.”

  Aldara frowned. “I’m sure you could have managed it.” Her eyes settled on his face once more. “You still hate me.”

  John didn’t think his expression was that obvious, but on the other hand Matayal had been able to pick up on his most subtle expressions. Perhaps it was the flow of his spiritual energy. Was it too steady? Well, it didn’t matter. He hadn’t been exactly hiding it, but open hostilities wasn’t good for their continued coexistence. “It’s not so easy to forget about you killing my wife.”

  Aldara nodded. “You shouldn’t. I… the results aren’t any different, but we did not kill her with our own hands. If you wish to hear about her final moments…”

  He really didn’t. But he should. “Tell me.”

  “We were looking for you,” Aldara said. “Having received word of your presence.” She took some time to formulate her words. “We tried to capture those of high status. We failed with the Molten Sea cultivator. I still only hoped that you were… you. But I didn’t want to cause any pain. After I captured Astrid, I began to ask her about your location. She was quite stubborn in her resistance, and perhaps seeing no way out she chose to take her own life. Restraints can only do so much.”

  That story matched the remains John had witnessed. He didn’t think it made him feel any better. “You didn’t have to capture anybody,” John commented. “You could have just talked.”

  “Nobody was particularly eager to speak to a foreign Empress…” Aldara said. However, he could feel her shrinking away. He hated that it reminded him of Matayal when she realized her actions weren’t the best. She had grown up steeped in the culture of cultivators- violence was paramount. Now, she had done so twice. The partial memories of her previous life hadn’t been sufficient to change things. Aldara looked down at the body. “This was all I came for. And to tell you that we will be sending an envoy. I will personally escort her and her team to wherever you please. We can properly negotiate.”

  “Would she have more authority than the empress? We can speak directly.”

  Aldara just gave John a look. “No, we can’t.”

  She was right about that. He was about half a step away from either trying to kill her again, or breaking down crying with the whole city watching. Or both. “The location will be the Burning Delta. Give us three months to spread the news to the people of the Molten Sea.”

  “They wouldn’t be able to stop us.”

  “That’s the point,” John said. He didn’t know whether he wanted join with them to kill her, or to warn them so they weren’t hurt. Of course, it was probably both still.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Aldara considered, closing her eyes for a few moments. “Very well. Three months from now it shall be.”

  She made no mention of Cuah’arn, even as she set back across the skies with the spirit bird following her. It was probably best that Aldara have an escort like that… though mostly for the sake of any fools who might try to attack her.

  -----

  It didn’t take three months to spread information across the continent, and though the Molten Sea was lacking in certain convenient structural elements, they still had ways to communicate. Sometimes sending a ship was the fastest option, other times they made use of various homing birds. There had been some success with taming various creatures that lived beneath the lava sea, but the extra effort required to keep a message safe meant they weren’t a viable option.

  During the time of waiting, John was flooded with visitors- mostly unrelated to contact with the Empire of Elements. There were a few groups that wanted reparations from specific sects or what not, and John diligently took notes. He didn’t overpromise on what might be delivered. Peace with the Empire of Elements was more important than getting any particular group paid. However, some sort of concessions might be helpful. The Molten Sea, however, had already received a significant boon indirectly. Since the Empire had withdrawn from the Molten Sea entirely, they had all of the resources for approximately half as many factions… and less than half as many people.

  The rest were there to congratulate John on reaching the Exalted Soul Phase. Many people were afraid of him- usually those who were less familiar with him. However, there were also a few that had been troublesome, leveraging their own power frequently. Now John was practically a unique entity, the increase in his strength obvious- even if people didn’t know exactly how many times stronger he was. John didn’t either- the battle with Aldara had revealed a lot, but that was with the two of them advancing mid-battle. Now they were more stable, and probably at least another step stronger.

  This world respected power. No, that was always the case- on Earth it had often been more tied to money and political connections. John had ended up with both of those things, but he was also effectively the military of a small nation all by himself. He wasn’t actually certain that ‘small’ was a correct qualifier either.

  It was no surprise that everyone was sucking up to John once more, but he would always remember how people had acted along the way. He wasn’t interested in stirring up trouble for old insults or anything like that, but he also didn’t have to give any useful insights to people he didn’t care for.

  Obviously friends and family got the best explanations he could manage, without even needing to ask. John would have been quite pleased if specific others around him could reach the Exalted Soul Phase. However, not for lack of talent, it didn’t seem like most of them were any closer than he had been before encountering Aldara. That had been a special occurrence that wasn’t replicable. So many factors came together… opposite direction full cycles was one thing- but being his reincarnated first wife was a unique factor that couldn’t quite be accounted for.

  John’s best advice was that elements were more strongly tied together than anyone had believed. Not just for him- he was certain of that- but even for those that didn’t practice a full cycle of elements. It might not be necessary for them to view the world quite like him, but it would certainly aid their advancement to the Exalted Soul Phase.

  Being more than a full phase ahead of them, John was also able to provide excellent advice to his disciples . Those with the best talent had reached the peak of the Consolidated Soul Phase over the course of the war, and he would be able to give them more concrete advice other than picking hybrid totems. He might even be able to guide some people how to step towards light or darkness if they were feeling wild… though he didn’t intend to proiactively bring that option up.

  It wasn’t that John was going to intentionally keep anyone in the dark. He certainly wasn’t trying to limit their growth so nobody could match him. It was just… dangerous. Even if he was certain he could train someone with proper talent five phases into a full cycle from the beginning- and there were a few people who had taken that path starting by folding in light or darkness early on- he still wasn’t certain about the Exalted Soul Phase. He had some insights, but there were things he simply didn’t have the words for.

  How did light and earth go together? He couldn’t explain it. Nor could John truly explain any of the connections between elements across the allied divides, except as it related to the cycle of dominance and weaknesses. He knew that water overcame fire, but he couldn’t precisely explain how water was fire.

  John didn’t think it was something so base as everything being made of molecules with the same fundamental building blocks. That wasn’t right, especially since spiritual energy wasn’t physical and didn’t even always act on physical things. Perhaps it was a similar idea. Maybe someday he would think of the words- maybe he would have to invent them- but for the moment he was merely an early Exalted Soul Phase cultivator.

  Oh yes, there were additional ranks within the Exalted Soul Phase. John couldn’t see a path beyond it to a next phase- and he usually had up to that point- but whether that meant there was nothing beyond or he simply couldn’t fathom it was an open question.

  -----

  In the last few weeks before Aldara’s theoretical arrival- John couldn’t determine precisely how fast she would travel across the Molten Sea without knowing how large of a retinue the envoy was bringing- he was actually focused on another issue. One that hadn’t been completely resolved.

  Specifically, the Windswept Sea. Just because he’d killed Zelma and some other Mozdar clan members didn’t mean the problem was suddenly gone. Even if he’d eradicated every issue from that clan, the continent could easily have more traitors. No, it would. They needed to be rooted out and destroyed. Then he needed to make a move against the Windswept Sea. For that, he would have to learn more about which specific groups were involved.

  It wouldn’t be a short task, but at least he could rely on his allies to help investigate. And any uninvolved parties that wanted to get on his good side, though John made it very clear that people shouldn’t act against their neighbors without very solid evidence. As for infiltrating each other and spying… they were doing that already anyway. They simply might be doing it more after the incident.

  Then came the time that Aldara should be approaching. John wanted to be there to meet her. In case she was going to cause trouble, maybe. And if they truly wanted to open up diplomatic relations, it was only appropriate that he be there personally to make certain the envoy made it through their territory unscathed. There would doubtless be some people who weren’t happy about such a presence regardless of whether they were technically traitors or not.