(Photo by Mikhail Nilov)

Outside was utter chaos. Squads of Ka’Raks were everywhere, striving to sift through the rubble and treat any survivors they found, while at the same time the sky above screamed with engines as Insef’s air force began to arrive and rain down showers of anti-infantry fire. For better or worse, however, the vast majority of the Ka’Raks simply shrugged off the burning plasma and hyper-sonic rounds just as Li’Ko had done when Immolator Gres had shot him just minutes ago.

Listening to the Ka’Raks, Fas could hear them as they learned to see and to believe as Li’Ko did. It was a terrifying thing to witness. These Ka’Raks were, more or less, invincible now. It was a small relief to have them on her side since Fas couldn’t help but wonder how long this allegiance would last. What would happen once they decided they no longer needed to obey Fas. She wasn’t even sure why they were following her so readily to begin with.

Static shot through the neural network as it blinked on before jolting back off. Both Fas and Immolator Gres grunted from the shock and held their heads tightly against the pain.

“They’re trying to repair the network,” Fas said through gritted teeth.

“I noticed,” Immolator Gres growled back.

The network flickered again, this time less painfully than before. Immolator Gres, regardless of the pain, gave Fas a knowing smile. At first she didn’t understand, but as the neural network pulsed again and stayed open a bit longer this time, Fas noticed the information Immolator Gres was beginning to get out to the others on Insef. Information about Fas, claiming that she was a traitor and to not trust her or any of the Ka’Raks. Information about how to try and convince the Ka’Raks that they weren’t invincible, or even to try and convince the Ka’Raks that they should fight themselves.

The information that Immolator Gres was actually getting through was mostly corrupted so it wasn’t likely for anyone not yet familiar with the situation to understand it. Still, it wouldn’t be long now before Immolator Gres would be able to get enough of it through. Whether Immolator Gres would be correct in her assumption that the Ka’Raks could be convinced back into their more vulnerable state wasn’t clear to Fas. Besides, Fas was more worried about stopping the fighting altogether. They were too close to being able to end the war against the Ka’Raks to lose it all now.

The neural network blinked on and this time it didn’t shut back off. Immolator Gres began her upload once again and there was nothing Fas could do to stop it. She had to convince them that the Ka’Raks were not a threat, but how?

“Grant them full access,” Li’Ko said from beside her. “Let them know your whole mind.”

Fas looked at Li’Ko in surprise for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

“How do you know about that?” she asked.

There was a way for a person to essentially have their entire mind uploaded into the neural network, revealing any secret, any memory, any thought. It was something only ever used when the full, unbiased truth was required. It was also an excruciating process that, if carried on for too long, often resulted in the subject being left in a catatonic state for the rest of their lives.

“For once I think I agree with the Ka’Rak,” Immolator Gres said, her eyes still somewhat glazed over as she maintained her connection with the neural network. “In fact…

Immolator Gres’ voice trailed off and a new data stream began to issue forth from her mind, this time directed towards Fas. The command struck and Immediately forced Fas to open her mind, lowering all protections and safeguards. Fas screamed as what felt like burning fingers tore through her mind, ripping and tearing as they searched through her.

“Everyone will see you for what you are,” Immolator Gres was saying, over and over again, or perhaps she’d only said it once and Fas’ mind was stuck repeating it.

The events of the battle were pulled out of her, revealing to all the truth of what she’d told Immolator Gres regarding the Ka’Raks. There was, Fas could sense, confusion from Immolator Gres at these revelations, but she didn’t stop as she pushed deeper and deeper into Fas’ mind.

Skith and his battalion, and all that Fas had done to them, played out as each memory was extracted by Immolator Gres and examined. Before long, Fas and her battalion were arriving on Insef, and then she was being promoted to Conflagrator. Soon she was in orbit around Isarch, explaining to the Novae how the Ka’Raks were now loyal to the empire rather than to the rest of the Ka’Rak race.

Fas pushed against the continued intrusion into her mind. Immolator Gres had seen the truth of her words, that she hadn’t called the Ka’Rak invasion but rather had been the means of preventing it from succeeding. Through the searing pain, Fas could faintly make out the presence of other minds in the neural network observing what was going on. Those other minds agreed with Fas, concluding that she was indeed vindicated, and yet Immolator Gres persisted, insisting that they would find it, find something, in Fas’ past to reveal her for the traitor she was. The others disagreed with Immolator Gres but nonetheless allowed her to continue. They were, they admitted, curious to learn more regarding Fas’ time on Isarch. What was the harm, they reasoned, since Fas’ mind was likely already damaged beyond repair? A pity to lose such a fine soldier but there were millions of fine soldiers.

For ease of clarity, Immolator Gres dug into Fas memory and began from the beginning of the crash and moved forward, rather than having it play out in reverse. It was easier for the viewers to understand the events that way but was exponentially worse for the one whose mind was being flayed before them.

Fas lost all sense of herself as the crash onto Isarch consumed her in a flurry of pain and confusion until she was suddenly walking through the jungle, searching for something. Fas stepped through, into the clearing left by the force of the impact and approached the burning debris with caution. There were others, Ka’Raks, following along behind her.

She reached the center of the crater where a mass of half molten metal formed a sort of cage, inside of which was a soldier. Their limbs were contorted from the force of the impact and blood trickled out through cracks in their suit. She reached through the cage and removed the soldier’s helmet. Fas’ limp head drooped forward; her eyes open but unseeing. The side of the helmet bore her rank insignia and name.

“Igniter Fas,” she read, mildly amused, and then put the helmet on. “I am Igniter Fas,” she said and the other Ka’Raks laughed. “I am so strong,” she continued, enjoying the joke. “My people are so tough. Stupid Ka’Raks think they can kill me. Hah!”

More of the Ka’Raks moved up to the wreckage and began pulling it apart so they could also get at pieces of Fas’ suit. The whole time, they were laughing at their joke, elated at their victory over the invaders.

They were back at their main base and Fas now wore the entire suit, the others maintaining the farce that they had captured a survivor.

But she wasn’t a Ka’Rak. Fas knew she had survived the crash. They had found her and dragged her from the wreckage.

She ran through the trials all over again, reliving the fear and anger while the Ka’Raks mocked her. And yet, sometimes the trials weren’t to punish or torture her. Sometimes they were training exercises that all Ka’Raks went through. Fas impressed the Ka’Raks with how capable she was after completing all the trials.

“The greatest among you ought to lead,” Fas said before the assembled Ka’Raks. “Isn’t that how you govern?”

They nodded their heads.

“I will accept any challenger,” Fas declared, “and any challenge.”

The Ka’Raks hung their heads.

“We hear you,” they said, “and know that none of us can match you. We submit.”

“You will build me a beacon so I may contact the empire,” Fas instructed. “They will send a fleet and you will swear allegiance to them.”

“Enough,” a voice cut through the pain and the memories and Fas found herself lying on her back at the base of the Ka’Rak ship, Immolator Gres was standing beside her and Li’Ko kneeled on her other side. Fas was covered in a cold sweat and her body felt stiff and foreign. She tried to move, to even blink her eyes but nothing seemed to respond.

The voice that had spoken, that had interrupted Immolator Gres in her quest through Fas’ mind, was one that she knew intimately. It was the first voice that spoke to her when her neural implant was installed. It was the voice that pronounced every promotion. It was the voice of the True Flame, the ruler of all.

Immolator Gres fell to her knees, her face screwed up in either pain or grief, though whichever it was or what the True Flame was doing to her was beyond Fas. Above them, the air force was pulling back, no longer attacking the Ka’Raks.

Fas’ breathing was slowly returning to normal as she recovered from the shock to her system, though her body continued to refuse to respond to any attempts at moving. In that state, she was left alone with only her thoughts and the memories that she had just been forced to relive.

I’m not a Ka’Rak, she thought but without certainty. She remembered the landing, remembered climbing out of the wreckage, wounded and bleeding but alive. The Ka’Raks had found her soon after and dragged her back to their base, parading her around, laughing at her.

But she also remembered finding the crash site and removing Fas’ armor and dressing up in it. She’d always had those memories but tended to remember them as being from a dream she’d once had. But she’d seen now that those weren’t memories from dreams.

I’m not a Ka’Rak, Fas thought again with the same lack of conviction.

“You aren’t a Ka’Rak,” Li’Ko said softly from beside her, and then to answer her unspoken question of how he knew her thoughts he added, “We hear you.”

Fas had stopped paying attention to the Ka’Raks but as she turned her attention back to them she found that she could still hear them.

What am I?

“You are Conflagrator Fas.”

No, what am I? Not who am I.

“To us it is the same thing. You are Conflagrator Fas because it is who you are. It is what you are.”

Fas died on Isarch.

“Obviously you survived because you are here, and you are Conflagrator Fas.”

I became her, Fas thought bitterly, because the Ka’Raks believed it.

“Yes,” Li’Ko agreed. “So, you are Conflagrator Fas.”

No, I’m a Ka’Rak who thought they were Fas.

“No,” Li’Ko replied. “There was a Ka’Rak and there was Igniter Fas. Now you are Conflagrator Fas.”

Ka’Raks can’t channel magic, Fas thought with dawning realization, and I haven’t been able to channel magic ever since Isarch.

“Do scientists channel magic?” Li’Ko asked. “Or do your mages design your ships?”

No,Fas conceded, but that’s not because they can’t.

“It is,” Li’Ko told her. “There are records on the neural network detailing how it is impossible for the one to perform the other’s task.”

What’s your point?

“We believe,” Li’Ko said, “and a believer can neither invent technology nor channel magic.”

Exactly, Fas thought. Only Ka’Raks believe.

“No,” Li’Ko said. “Many besides Ka’Raks believe.”

This was new to Fas. She had assumed that the power of belief was unique to their race.

“Not every mage is as powerful as another mage, just as not every inventor is as inspired. The same is true for believers. And the more of any of them that you have together the more powerful they all become, whether they use magic, science, or belief. The believers among the other races are often isolated so their power is diminished.”

How do you know all this?

“Did you think the Ka’Raks would ignore magic and technology when we saw what they could do? Just as you have been studying us and our belief, we have been studying magic and technology. It wasn’t until you opened our eyes that we understood why neither of those powers worked for us, but now it is clear. It’s why you cannot channel magic anymore, because you gave it up in exchange for belief.”

Immolator Gres cried out, shocking Fas and cutting her conversation with Li’Ko off.

“Please!” Immolator Gres begged, “I was wrong, but how could I have known it?”

Fas could almost sense what was coming; Immolator Gres was going to be executed. It was incredibly rare, but everyone knew that the True Flame could, at any moment it desired, execute anyone connected to the neural network.

The Ka’Rak voices grew suddenly intense, drawing her attention. They, like Fas, didn’t think it right for Immolator Gres to have to die for how she’d misjudged Fas. They wanted Fas to intervene but in her present state she didn’t know what she could do. She couldn’t even access the neural network on her own.

“You can believe,” Li’Ko said hurriedly.

It took Fas only a moment to consider Li’Ko’s words. Whether or not she was a Ka’Rak, she did indeed have her belief. With hindsight it was easy to see it. It had been she who created Skith’s effigy, not the other Ka’Raks. She had been the one who believed she could succeed at the Ka’Rak’s trials on Isarch. She had been the one to believe in all of the things she’d told the Ka’Raks to do ever since arriving on Insef. So what was stopping her now from believing that she was whole once more?

“STOP!” Fas shouted, sitting up and reaching out towards the True Flame in the neural network.

“My judgments are final,” the True Flame replied and Fas sensed the execution order begin to proceed.

Fas stopped believing that Immolator Gres was connected to the neural network. Immediately, Immolator Gres relaxed, her eyelids still fluttering slightly but otherwise seemingly alright.

“HOW DARE-

The voice of the True Flame cut out as Fas stopped believing that she was connected to the neural network as well. This was not the most diplomatic course of action she could have taken, however, since she’d effectively cut herself off from her most powerful ally within the empire. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to undo her actions. She’d never liked the neural network, never agreed with how invasive it had felt. Of course, the Ka’Raks listened to one another in much the same way that the neural network functioned but that felt so much more natural. Even when the neural network relays were down, Fas was realizing, her connection to the neural network had never been fully severed.

There is a strange phenomenon where, if the same stimulus is given over and over again, the subject will eventually stop noticing it. A person could stare at a dot, hear a noise, and so on, and if it remained constant for long enough then the person would eventually stop being aware of it. So it had been with her connection to the neural network.

Before, she had thought that with becoming a Conflagrator that she had been given the ability to disconnect herself from the neural network as she pleased, but now she realized it had only ever been a partial severance at best. The sudden and complete absence of it in her mind revealed just how deep that connection had truly been, influencing her thoughts, skewing her perceptions. The wars she had fought in were acts of conquest, not liberation. Where she’d previously seen the Ka’Raks as the enemy, she now realized that it was the empire that had been aggressor, expanding into Ka’Rak space and seeking to conquer their worlds.

The neural implants, Fas was quickly realizing, were not just a means of sharing information and delivering orders. They were how the True Flame kept order within the ranks of the military. Diminishing doubts, manipulating perceptions, and generally skewing everything towards keeping the persons thoughts and opinions regarding the empire as favorable.

“What…

Immolator Gres moaned and rolled over on the ground, holding her head and nursing a mild nosebleed.

“What’s happened?”

Fas laid a steadying hand on Immolator Gres’ shoulder and eased her into a sitting position. What should she tell her? Fas wasn’t even sure herself what all her actions would lead to. She tried to believe that they were all away someplace else where the empire couldn’t find them but it didn’t work.

“We have tried that too,” Li’Ko told Fas having obviously sensed her attempt. “It seems there are things we still don’t understand about the limits of belief.”

“The empire won’t just leave us alone, though,” Fas observed, looking up as air ships began to streak across the sky once again.

“No, they will not.”

Immolator Gres rose unsteadily to her feet. There was understanding in her eyes as she, like Fas, came to realize the effect the neural implant had been having on her.

“You weren’t supposed to save me,” she said to Fas. “I think the True Flame wanted you to replace me and then use you to finish conquering the Ka’Raks.”

Fas nodded. Her success on Isarch and then her sudden promotion and transfer to Insef were clear enough evidence of the True Flame’s objective.

“I guess the Ka’Raks will be conquering Insef after all,” Immolator Gres said with a heavy sigh.

“Maybe,” Fas admitted, “but we might not have to fight as much as you think.”

Fas turned to the console, built into the side of the Ka’Rak ship even though it was clearly of the empire’s design. She accessed the neural network remotely and immediately began searching for the hidden signal. Believing that it would be easy, she quickly located it, hidden almost in plain sight. Unfortunately, finding it wasn’t all that she needed to do. She needed to disrupt that signal and, as Li’Ko had pointed out before, gaining the power of belief meant she couldn’t channel magic or wrap her mind around technology beyond the most basic of functions.

“I need Igniter Skith,” Fas said.

Skith had always been adept at this sort of thing. Perhaps that was why he’d always reacted so poorly to magic.

“I’ve sent for him,” Li’Ko said. “He should be here shortly, I believe.”

Fas looked up in time to see the Ka’Rak runner heading off into the distance. She’d mourned his death and the deaths of all her soldiers when the anti-orbital arrays had been destroyed, but of course her soldiers would have seen the bombardment coming. They would have anticipated it and known that they would have been primary targets. It would have been an easy thing for them to set the final targets for the arrays and leave them to keep firing while the soldiers found cover. Their connections to the neural network would, of course, already be severed.

“Skith will know how to disrupt the True Flame’s influence in the neural network,” Fas explained. “Once that’s done, I expect this war will take a very interesting turn.”

“It’ll be mass confusion,” Immolator Gres gasped. “Millions of soldiers across the entire empire will turn on one another! How is this a better solution than simply taking over Insef and leaving it at that?”

“The True Flame will never leave us alone,” Fas pointed out. “They’ll never stop expanding, conquering. We have to put a stop to it.”

Skith, along with most of the battalion, arrived moments later. Fas explained to him what she needed to be done and he set to work.

“We can’t stop the True Flame from broadcasting their signal,” he said, “but if we can match it and rebroadcast it out of phase we should be able to cancel it out.”

“Do it then,” Fas said, not really understanding what Skith was saying but nevertheless believing that he could do it and that it would work.

“Okay,” Skith replied after a series of keystrokes, “Here it goes.”

There was an immediate shift in the noises above them from the airships as the pilots and crew were struck by the sudden absence of the True Flame inside their minds, manipulating their thoughts and actions. Fas held her breath and waited, hoping the people would see things as she had seen them and reject the True Flame’s insatiable desire for conquest and expansion.

Predictably, some did choose as Fas had chosen while others did not. Turning to the console, Fas read report after report coming in from across the empire as every branch of the military began to fall apart and turn in on themselves.

“Come on, we need to get back into orbit so we can better coordinate the ground forces and repair the ships still up there.”

“It’s just the beginning, you know,” Immolator Gres said, joining Fas at the console. “You’ve started something much larger, much more destructive, than the wars that were already raging.”

Fas shut down the console and began walking back into the Ka’Rak ship. “But now they know what they’re fighting for,” she said. “Just like us, they’ve made their choice.”

As soon as fighting on Insef was under control, she needed to have Skith begin recruiting mages and scientists. Belief alone wouldn’t be enough to win this war. Just as magic and technology complimented one another, she was excited to see what could be done with belief added into the mix. But all of that would need to wait. For now, she had a planet to conquer.

The End.