Chapter 642: The General Without an Army

For the next forty-five minutes, Kael did something he would normally consider far more difficult than facing twelve hundred dead soldiers marching toward him.

He waited.

He was not standing still, exactly.

He helped Sylphie remove the organization’s agents from the hall, forced Varon to remain under containment beside the others, and followed two conversations at once through the crystals while Irelia rebuilt Meridia’s legal continuity document by document.

Even so, every time the image of the First Regiment appeared advancing along the old roads, with hundreds of bodies made from different bones maintaining the same perfect cadence, his instincts insisted they should already be there.

Irelia would not allow it.

"If you leave before I finish and this structure decides Meridia is still the capital of Vael, everything we did with Aldren may lose its value."

Kael leaned against a column with his arms crossed.

"I didn’t say anything."

"You’ve been staring at the door for seven minutes."

"Maybe I like the door."

"You don’t."

Sylphie, seated on a nearby root, continued following the Garden’s movements through Yggdrasil.

"The First Regiment is maintaining constant speed. It is not running. No formation has left the old road yet."

"Distance?"

"One hundred seventy-three kilometers."

Kael looked at her.

"They covered twenty-seven kilometers in less than an hour?"

"They don’t get tired."

"That’s inconvenient."

"On the positive side," Umbra said, emerging from beneath the former throne, "they don’t look very intelligent either."

Varon raised his face.

"They don’t need to be."

Everyone looked at him.

The agent took a deep breath before continuing.

"Each regiment has a function. Some units advance. Others defend. Some build positions. Others follow supply routes. The problem was never individual intelligence. It was coordination."

Kael left the column.

"How many regiments?"

Varon hesitated.

"Twenty-one identified."

"Total?"

"The old records indicate twenty-four thousand dead. Not all of them belonged to units that received the final oath."

"How many did?"

"Seventeen thousand and some."

Kael slowly rubbed his chin.

"So there is still room for things to get worse."

"Yes."

Umbra looked at him.

"He’s getting good at this."

Irelia ignored them all.

Meridia’s reconstruction continued in the center of the hall, where modern documents now occupied the space once reserved for sovereign inscriptions.

The problem was not simply declaring the city independent.

That already appeared in hundreds of records.

It was necessary to make the historical system recognize that current authority did not descend from Aldren, Maelia, or any other monarchical continuity, but from the political community that arose after Vael’s collapse.

She did not replace one king with another.

Nor the throne with the council.

She created a rupture.

In the final document, she wrote:

The extinction of the Crown of Vael does not invalidate persons, property, institutions, civil obligations, or rights later established by Meridia. Current legitimacy derives from the continuity of the community itself, not from extinct sovereign authority.

The calcite remained dark for several seconds.

Kael noticed that even Irelia was holding her breath.

Then a white line ran across the floor.

ENTITY: MERIDIA.

STATUS: CONTINUOUS.

SOURCE OF AUTHORITY: CIVIC.

DEPENDENCY ON VAEL: ENDED.

Irelia sat down on the floor.

"Done."

Kael looked at her.

"Are you all right?"

"Do not speak to me for five minutes."

"Understood."

"And don’t look at me like you’re about to run."

Kael was already picking up the crystal.

"Four minutes?"

"Kael."

"Five."

Amelia entered the communication before the argument could continue.

"We have the custodian’s exact location."

A map appeared above the crystal.

The old Garden of Bones was not merely a forest.

It stretched across a strip nearly thirty kilometers wide over what had once been Vael’s primary defensive line.

The highest concentration of records was on an elevation at the center of the region, where old trenches had been covered by trees over generations.

"Yggdrasil found an area where no root is responding to the activation," Amelia explained. "It is a circle approximately two hundred meters in diameter. Everything around it is releasing bodies. The center remains still."

Kael observed it.

"Edras."

"Probably."

"Violet?"

"Evacuation continues. All three villages will be empty before the First Regiment reaches the halfway point to Meridia."

"I don’t want the dead getting near the city."

"Neither do I."

Sylphie stood.

"Then we go talk to the custodian."

Irelia raised her head from the floor.

"You do."

Kael looked at her.

"You’re staying?"

"I need to remain here until I confirm the new legal foundation does not try to unravel when the Throne ceases to exist completely."

"Fair."

Seraphine approached.

"I’m coming too."

Kael evaluated the woman for a moment.

She had already gone through reintegration, old memories, and direct contact with the Hollow Throne that same day, yet she remained stable.

"Why?"

"Because those wars happened during my time."

"You remember them?"

"Fragments."

"Useful enough."

Varon stood inside the containment circle.

"You need me."

Kael looked at him.

"That sentence usually makes my mood worse."

"I know the Garden’s protocols."

"You tried to restore a dead king less than an hour ago."

"Because if the Throne ended without preparation, this would happen."

Varon pointed toward the image of the marching dead.

Kael did not answer immediately.

It was a poor justification for keeping Aldren imprisoned.

But it was not useless information.

"You’re coming in restraints."

"I am not a prisoner."

Kael stared at the containment circle around him.

Varon exhaled.

"In restraints."

The portal was opened far from the Garden.

Kael did not allow Amelia to place them directly in the center.

If the custodian interpreted presence, territory, and command, appearing inside its zone of authority without understanding the rules would be a particularly stupid way to begin.

So they crossed over to a low hill six kilometers from the forest.

Kael.

Sylphie.

Umbra.

Seraphine.

Varon.

Violet was already waiting for them with four agents.

From a distance, the Garden of Bones looked beautiful.

That was Kael’s first thought.

Tall trees covered the hills in strangely regular lines, separated by narrow clearings that looked like natural paths from afar.

Leaves in shades of green and gold moved with the wind.

Small streams crossed the lower areas.

There was no mist, artificial darkness, or unpleasant energy floating over the region.

Then a tree leaned.

Its roots opened the earth.

A body of bones emerged from beneath it.

Another appeared a few meters farther ahead.

Then five.

Ten.

None showed any interest in the group.

The dead simply organized themselves and began walking west.

"How many have risen already?" Kael asked.

Violet answered:

"More than four thousand."

"Regiments?"

"Four complete. Two are still forming."

Varon watched the movement.

"Third, Fifth, Sixth, and Twelfth."

"You can tell just by looking?"

"By the trees."

Kael then noticed that each group of markers used a different species.

Oak.

Ash.

Willow.

Pine.

They had not planted trees merely to remember units.

They had turned the forest into a military map.

"Which one is the central circle?"

Varon pointed toward an area of white trees.

"Command."

Kael began descending.

Sylphie followed.

As they approached, the organization of the dead became more disturbing.

Those bodies were not reconstructed individuals.

One warrior had the skull of one man, the ribs of another, and arms from two different soldiers.

Armor held everything together while old inscriptions ran across the bones like seams.

There was no attempt to restore identity.

The Garden used remains as material to rebuild functions.

Infantry.

Archer.

Standard-bearer.

Engineer.

Kael walked beside an entire line without being attacked.

"Why don’t they recognize us as a threat?"

"We are not interfering with the order," Varon answered.

Kael extended a hand and grabbed the shoulder of a marching soldier.

The figure stopped.

Every other soldier in the same line stopped with it.

Varon went pale.

"Let go."

Kael released it.

The unit resumed walking.

"Interesting."

"Don’t do that again."

"I needed to confirm."

"Confirm what?"

"That they share response by unit."

Sylphie watched the line.

"If we try to fight them, we won’t be fighting thousands of individuals."

"We’ll be fighting regiments," Kael finished.

That was exactly why he did not want to do it.

Destroying bodies would be easy.

Solving the order was the real problem.

They reached the edge of the central circle twenty minutes later.

The white trees formed a natural wall around a perfectly round clearing, but no root crossed the line marked on the ground.

Kael stopped before it.

"Varon."

"Yes?"

"How do we enter?"

"Request an inspection."

"From whom?"

Varon pointed toward a small stone plaque between the roots.

Kael read:

CENTRAL INTERPRETATION POST.

PRESENT ORDER, RANK, OR CONTRADICTION.

Kael looked at Sylphie.

"Finally, a structure that accepts problems at the entrance."

Umbra emerged beside him.

"You should get in for free."

Kael ignored her.

He approached the stone.

"Contradiction."

The entire forest stopped.

Not gradually.

Four thousand dead soldiers halted in the same instant.

Violet placed a hand on her sword.

Varon went rigid.

A voice came from within the white trees.

"Present."

Kael answered:

"The frontier that received the order no longer exists."

The roots separated.

A passage appeared.

"Contradiction recognized."

Kael entered.

There was only one structure in the clearing.

A stone military table covered in old maps.

Behind it stood a man.

Or something that had decided to use the shape of one.

He was very tall, wearing a Vael general’s uniform preserved in almost perfect condition.

The skin on his face was pale but intact.

Only when Kael looked at his hands did he notice the thin lines between different bones beneath the flesh.

The man opened his eyes.

One was brown.

The other blue.

Neither looked like they had belonged to the same owner.

"Edras Morn?" Kael asked.

"Custodian of the Garden."

"That didn’t answer."

"It is answer enough."

Kael sighed.

"Of course."

Edras looked at Varon.

"Maintenance agent. Hollow Throne?"

Varon took a moment.

"Ended."

The custodian’s expression did not change.

"Sovereign authority?"

"Ended."

"Successor?"

"None."

Edras lowered his eyes toward the maps.

"Then the interpretation remains."

Kael approached the table.

"Vael’s capital is not a frontier."

"It is the final territorial point whose loss would imply the complete nonexistence of the kingdom."

"Vael no longer exists."

"No dismissal is recorded."

"Because the one who could dismiss them died."

"Then the order continues."

Kael placed both hands on the edge of the table.

"You know you are sending dead soldiers marching against a city full of people who do not belong to Vael."

"I am not sending them."

"You interpreted."

"That is my function."

Kael looked at the maps.

There were dozens layered over one another.

Different borders.

War notes.

Cities that no longer existed.

Fortifications long gone.

And in the center, Meridia marked with the old name of the capital.

"What if your interpretation is wrong?"

Edras looked at him.

"Then present another."

Kael fell silent.

The answer had been too simple.

Varon also looked surprised.

"You accept contestation?"

"My function is to prevent conflict between orders."

"Not obey blindly?"

"Obedience does not require a custodian."

Kael smiled for the first time since arriving.

"Finally, someone reasonable."

Sylphie looked at the body made from different dead men.

"Relatively."

Kael pointed toward the map.

"The order was to defend the frontier."

"Yes."

"Defend it from whom?"

Edras remained still.

The question passed through something inside him.

The lines over the table began to change.

"Eastern army."

"Which army?"

"Confederation of Salen."

"Does it still exist?"

Edras searched.

Maps began rotating.

Records appeared.

Disappeared.

"No."

"Then does a threat corresponding to the order still exist?"

Silence.

The custodian looked at Kael.

"No."

"Then there is nothing to defend the frontier from."

The entire forest trembled.

Varon stepped back.

Edras did not.

"Defense may remain preventive."

"Against a threat that ceased to exist almost two hundred years ago?"

"Possible."

Kael pointed toward Meridia.

"Then why march to the capital?"

The custodian lowered his eyes.

For the first time, something resembling hesitation appeared on that face assembled from different parts.

"Because I could not locate the frontier."

"So you chose the last point you could still consider Vael."

"Yes."

Kael tilted his head.

"That is not defending the frontier."

Edras fell silent.

"It is retreating."

The word struck the Garden.

All the trees swayed at once.

The custodian closed his eyes.

The thousands of dead remained still outside the circle.

When Edras opened his eyes again, his voice sounded different.

Less mechanical.

"Retreat to the capital without order to withdraw."

"Exactly."

"Contradiction."

"Exactly."

The First Archive page rose from Kael’s bag on its own.

GARDEN OF BONES.

Beneath the title, a new sentence began to appear:

CURRENT INTERPRETATION INCOMPATIBLE WITH ORIGINAL ORDER.

Kael looked at Edras.

"Stop the regiments."

"I do not have authority to dismiss them."

"I did not ask you to dismiss them."

Kael pointed toward the motionless ranks beyond the trees.

"Interrupt execution while you interpret the contradiction."

Edras remained still for several seconds.

Then raised one hand.

Outside, seventeen thousand contracts trembled beneath the earth.

The order did not disappear.

But it stopped advancing.

"Execution suspended," Edras said.

Kael slowly exhaled.

"Good."

The custodian looked at him.

"Now present an authority capable of dismissing them."

The small relief died.

Kael turned his face toward Varon.

The agent avoided his eyes.

Umbra started laughing.

Kael rubbed his forehead.

"I knew that was too easy."