Elody tells Vrasha of her future

"Anyway." Elody said. "We had an agreement, didn't we? I wanted the pleasure of your body, and that I certainly got. So, I suppose in return you want the information I promised?"

"The paths of the future." Vrasha nodded. "You said you could tell me what was going to happen."

"No." Elody corrected. "I said I could tell you what might happen. Spirits don't view time in the same way as you do, but we're still bound by it in a sense. I can tell you what's likely to happen, but I cannot say for sure what will."

"All right then." Vrasha said. "I can understand something like that. Do your best then, and tell me what you think I need to know."

"All right." Elody said. She was silent for a moment, Vrasha felt the world grow a bit colder as she reached out. Something flowed passed her, but she knew not what. The forest seemed to still, as though every animal, bird and insect within it had simply fallen away, and only Vrasha and Elody remained. Vrasha shivered, remembering that Elody may have looked like a young woman, and may be somewhat adorably inexperienced when it came to sex, but she was still an ancient forest spirit, and she had powers that no other creature had. She really could fight armies. All spirits were dangerous, but forest spirits were more than most. Within the bounds of their woods, they could do almost anything. Crushing men with giant vines was honestly only the most obvious of their many weapons.

Suddenly, sound flowed back into the world. Vrasha gasped as it did, so quickly did it happen.

"Did you see anything?"

"I did." Elody admitted, looking up from the fire. "Your future may not be a happy one, Vrasha of the Windblade. There are things in front of you that you will need to confront. You may not succeed. I fear for you."

"Fear for me?" Vrasha said. "What did you see, Elody? Don't worry about telling me, I am not going to be angry at you. I'm a soldier. My job is to deal with dangerous things."

"Not these things." Elody said. "Your brother, Kanor he is the one you are travelling to meet with?"

"Aye." Vrasha said. "He will be the next emperor by the looks of it, and I want to be sure that his plans don't need the army for at least a few years. We need to train, to rearm, to rest and to recover. We're worn thin. We can just about defend the country. Another war would push us over the edge."

"He does not intend to use the army for a few years." Elody said slowly. "That much I can see... but he does intend to use it again. In all futures I can catch, there is more war. Always more war. Your brother is a driven man, Vrasha. I can see much of you in him. But he is not soft like you are."

"Soft?" Vrasha scoffed. "I don't know how many of my soldiers would agree with you, Elody."

"Soft as in you care." Elody said. "You care about your men, your soldiers, your armies... they matter to you. But not to him. He cares about how well they run, he cares about how elite they are, how well they are trained... but as people? He has no sympathy for them. They are merely a tool to Kanor. Most things are merely a tool to Kanor. He is much like his father in that respect, but more dangerous, for he is cunning and canny, and cannot be diverted the same way. The old emperor was a warhorse of a man, but he had no bold ambitions beyond war to fuel his empire. Your brother wishes to expand. He would conquer and conquer until he was stopped, or there was nothing else to take. he will do this smartly, not as a fool. Spending years, decades between wars. Training his armies, expanding his industries. The old emperor ran his men ragged, but the new one will not. He will take them, and make them into a tool to bend the world to his whim."

Vrasha nodded slowly.

"I see." She said. "Kanor always was the planner of the family. But even so, I don't think I should stand in his way."

"You're a hero, are you not?"

"A hero of the empire." She said. "I am a general, I am sworn to serve the emperor, to protect our people. If he was going to run us ragged, I would have to oppose him. But what you're telling me is that he intends to do this the intelligent way. I can't say that I love his desire for conquest, but he is the emperor, or will be, at any rate. I am just a soldier."

"You are Vrasha. You are the Windblade."

"My job is to protect my people. To serve my emperor, to defeat my enemies. That's all, I am not some paladin from the stories, Elody. All I can do is save my own."

"He will use you as a tool." Elody said. "If you serve him, you will be nothing more than a weapon to be wielded in his constant war. You may bring him victories and glory, but he won't care about you beyond that. Kanor will not care about anyone but himself. He is self-serving, and his children will rule in the same way that he does."

"If I act as his general, what will happen?"

"You will become famous." Elody admitted. "You will become powerful. Feared and dreaded by all of your enemies, loved and respected by your people. By your hands, countries and empires will die. You will be the very symbol of the Empire. And yet, you will be seen by all others as evil, as the right hand of a tyrant, a slayer of heroes who must be stopped. Your brother will treat you well, and over time perhaps, you will come to be like him. That softness in you that I see will be worn away, and in its place, there will be flint. Cold and sharp. You will do things that you would never do now. When your brother dies, his children may take the throne... or you might, I cannot say. The future splits and changes. But if you rule, it will be no different than when he did. For you will be him in all aspects that matter."

"And if I were to oppose him?"

"Then you would face a great struggle and many trials." Elody admitted sadly. "Some of them would be very hard for you. The future shifts, so I cannot even say that you would succeed. You could lead armies against him, but how many would be willing to turn on their emperor? You are the Windblade, but he is famous as well, and has much support or else he would not be chosen to rule. I see many futures for you, Vrasha. in some, you defeat him, and rule in his place. In others, you are defeated, but flee and survive. Sometimes you are killed, in many, you are captured. made into a **** like the princess of Silyir."

"The princess of Silyir?" Vrasha blinked. "Which one? There were several."

"The youngest." Elody said. "She has fallen into your brother's hands and he torments her. Stripping her naked, and putting her on show. He wishes to break her, to make her into a ****. Her future is grim, I am afraid. She may break, and if she does, she will be everything that he wishes her to be."

Vrasha scowled, looking towards the fire again for a moment.

"Slaves aren't something that I approve of." Vrasha said softly. "Legally, he's allowed to do that, but the fact that he does so freely and willingly..."

"There will be many slaves before he is done." Elody promised. "In some futures, you are one of them."

"I don't understand." She said. "You say that I would be treated as the princess, but his desire for her is clearly carnal. I am his sister."

"The fact that you are his sister matters less to him than the fact that you are a woman." Elody said, bluntly. "He wants power, dominance, control. If you defy him, he will try to assert that in any way he can. Through his will, through his army, or through his body. He would want you broken. The how doesn't matter so long as it gets done."