“So, Nektarios was a spirit?” Lyssa asked.
Samuel shook his head. “No, not a spirit. Something else entirely, something different. An entity from a different plane of existence, not one overlaid on ours like the spiritual world. Our kind has had minor dealings with them in the past, these Far Ones, but their appearances have been sporadic, and we don’t have good methods of dealing with them. Spirit sorcery is only partially effective since they aren’t spiritual entities and are foreign to our reality and its laws.”
“Why haven’t I heard about them?” Lyssa asked. “It might have been nice to know about the possibility.”
“They are spoken of among a select group of trusted Elders.” Samuel looked embarrassed. “But it’s generally been felt that these incidents were so rare and fleeting over the centuries as to not be worth adding extra concern to other Illuminated. They are different types of creatures. Nektarios was rather conventional compared to some that appeared in history.”
“In other words, since no one has a reliable way of dealing with them other than obliteration, you pretended they didn’t exist.” Lyssa groaned. “Do the Shadow governments know, at least the highest levels?”
“It’s not useful to worry them about something so rare.” Samuel shrugged. “He was destroyed.”
Lyssa scoffed. “One of these things almost took over Last Remnant. In a sense, it already had, at least partially. They need to know. Maybe sorcery might not work, but if push comes to shove, I bet they could have nuked him.”
“That’s what you want them to think? They should be prepared to drop nuclear bombs on Sorcerers?” Samuel gave her a tight smile. “The Tribunal will consider how best to proceed in the future when this incident isn’t so fresh. We’re still doing follow-up now, including interviewing all the Shadows who were partially possessed. They kept most of their memories, though there are gaps. From what we can tell, the control was relatively recently established, judging by the people we’ve been able to interview. Our evidence from our available victims suggests they were affected shortly before M-Day, and we believe the primary host was changed at some point in the last few years.”
“Wait.” Lyssa blinked. “You mean that thing has been around for at least five years?”
“Yes. We know it’s been around for longer than that, but it was only in Nektarios and his local servants these last five years.” Samuel shrugged like it was obvious. “We suspect it needed time to fully harmonize with different souls, and it’s a matter of continued research. It does render certain questionable suggestions by the Elder more explicable in retrospect, but our best information suggests it’s only in the last year that his unusual activities reached a fever pitch.”
“Why? What’s so special about this last year?”
“That remains to be determined.” Samuel shrugged.
Lyssa groaned and laid back down. “Tristan said he’s been tracking trouble for decades, though.”
“That is an issue of concern.” Samuel gave her a thoughtful look. “It’s highly likely, given what information Mr. St. James has uncovered, that the Far One has been on Earth for several decades. It has likely changed primary hosts several times until it found one it could operate with greater impunity and fewer obvious problems.”
“Is that your way of saying it conveniently found a guy who was such a flaming asshole that no one would remark on him being one?” Lyssa asked.
“I wouldn’t put it that way, but I can’t deny that might be true. I think it was waiting for its opportunity to find true political power. One interview suggests a major loss of memory associated with being a primary host, more so than the others, but much remains unclear.”
Lyssa nodded. “But it’s not like this thing was pulling the strings of the Society for decades.”
Samuel agreed, “It might have been manipulating individuals, but not the entire Society. It had to move carefully lest it be noticed. As Tristan discovered, it’s not invisible to standard spirit sorcery techniques.”
“Please tell me you tested all the vault tenders and the other members of the Tribunal.”
“Ah, now you’re thinking like an Elder.” Samuel smiled. “Yes, we did that.”
“What do we do if next time it takes over the leader of a country with nukes?” Lyssa asked.
“The thought is concerning, but one thing we know about Far Ones is that they require an Illuminated as their primary host when they come to our world.” Samuel knitted his brow. “That is another reason we don’t want the Shadows to know about them. It could lead to a panic and a call to eliminate potential threats by killing us all.”
“I can see that.” Lyssa grimaced. “To be honest, you sure you should even be telling me all this?”
“You’re good at keeping secrets.” Samuel’s gaze flicked to the guns on the table. “And you’ve earned the truth. For now, we’re going to have to select a new Tribunal member. In addition, we need to spend a lot of time and effort investigating everything Elder Nektarios was involved in to determine what might have been done to weaken the Society these last few years.”
Lyssa’s head swam. She almost wanted to pass out again. She didn’t envy the Tribunal.
“I don’t follow all your Elder politics,” she said. “Any word on who the new member of the Tribunal’s going to be? I hope it’s not Theodora. I don’t want a new Tribunal member pissed at me because I didn’t take her offer.”
The existing members of the Tribunal chose the new member. Sometimes that could cause trouble when they were in opposition, but Lyssa figured no one was looking forward to cleaning up a major scandalous mess.
Samuel cleared his throat and looked away, his face reddening. “They have approached me to make an offer.”
Lyssa clapped. “Damn. Congrats, Samuel. You can now spread your secret herbs and spices throughout the entire Society while thinking about a gritty reboot of Huck Finn.”
Samuel gave her a cold look. “Miss Corti, you do realize that if I become a member of Tribunal, you’ll need
