Krivax was rendered speechless as he stared dumbly at the Vizier. He had expected that Hadix would show an interest in news of people from a different continent, but he had not expected the Vizier to brazenly teleport into his temporary home. He had not been prepared for such an… intense reaction from the normally aloof Hadix.

Krivax glanced worriedly at the doorway, half expecting Elder Wumni to come running in and start berating the Vizier for entering the village uninvited. Understanding his concern, Masruk quickly moved closer to the entrance and positioned himself so that nobody could come in without pushing him aside.

“Cease your worrying,” Hadix said dismissively, one arm waving through the air and trailing arcane energy. “I have already placed privacy wards that will ensure we remain undisturbed. Now, repeat everything you have told me.”

Seeing no other option, Krivax once again told the Vizier everything that Wumni had heard about the foreigners from lands across the sea. While he did, the Vizier stared at him with an intense focus that made Krivax feel distinctly uncomfortable. For as long as he has known the Vizier, he has always given off a feeling of disinterest in nearly everything not related to his own studies, so his current focus seemed distinctly out of character.

When Krivax was done talking, the Vizier continued to stare at him silently for a few moments before speaking.

“From now on, finding evidence to support or disprove these claims is your highest priority,” said Hadix, more serious than Krivax had ever seen him. “This is more important than your shellfish or the tuskarr’s shamanism or your desire to make ‘friends’ with the surface races. If you fail to find this evidence then I will find it myself, and I doubt the tuskarr will be as welcoming anymore when I am done. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Vizier Hadix. I understand,” said Krivax. It was fortunate that this was already his highest priority because he could tell that the Vizier would not accept any other answer.

“Good,” said Hadix. After Krivax signaled his acquiescence the Vizier relaxed significantly. He even decided to walk over to one of the baskets of shellfish sitting in the corner of the house and pick it up with a look of faint curiosity. “Go ahead and ask your questions, Initiate.”

Krivax calmed down as the Vizier seemed to relax. If Hadix was inviting him to ask, then he didn’t see a need to hold back.

“Yes, Vizier. Why did you decide to come here personally?” Krivax asked hesitantly. “Why not simply tell me this through the scrying crystal?”

“Hmph. I suppose my reaction must seem disproportionate to you,” said Hadix as he picked up one of the shrimp and examined it. “You are young, and there are many things about this world you do not yet know and I cannot yet tell you.”

The Vizier bit into shrimp and his expression turned into one of pleasant surprise before quickly fading back into its usual stoicism.

“I decided to come here for three reasons,” Hadix continued. “First, I wanted to be here in person as you retold me the shaman’s words. Second, I wanted to impress upon you the seriousness of the situation.”

Krivax watched as the Vizier cracked open a lobster with one of his hands and started to pick apart its insides.

“And the third?” Krivax asked cautiously.

"I wanted to bring you this," said Hadix. The Vizier idly pulled out a small black and gold figurine that was shaped like a spider from a small spatial bag tied to his robe with one of his back arms. Krivax could easily feel the magic it radiated. "This tool will allow you to telepathically control a few of the non-sapient skitters or flyers, while also allowing you to control larger groups of more common insects and arachnids if the need arises."

Krivax looked at the enchanted figurine in disbelief. He knew nerubians had a natural ability to control and dominate non-sapient spiders, bugs, and the like, but unless you were a Spiderlord that was usually on the small scale. He had heard of these things before, but he had never seen one in person. As far as he knew, only the higher castes would possess these magical artifacts, so Krivax was immediately suspicious of Hadix's motivations for giving him one.

Still, it wasn't as if he could say no, so Krivax hesitantly took the figurine and stored it in his own spatial bag. There would be time to examine it later when there wasn't a Vizier standing right in front of him.

"Thank you, Vizier," Krivax said while bowing low in an expression of gratitude. "But if I may ask, why have you chosen to give this to me?"

"That's simple. Because your time has significantly grown in value and your safety has become more important to me," Hadix said matter of factly. "The skitters and flyers will not only offer you additional protection but they can also be used to transfer trading goods between Kilah'Kuk and this village. I want you to gather evidence, not waste time acting as a courier."

That made sense to Krivax, even if he was still suspicious of the Vizier's intense interest.

"I understand,” said Krivax. While Hadix was here—and since he was already eating it—he might as well get the Vizier's opinion on the shellfish. “On the topic of the shellfish, do you believe they will be popular as a long-term trading good, Vizier?”

Hadix paused as he was lifting a crawfish to his mandibles. “They are adequate, Initiate. I believe these ‘shellfish’ will be popular amongst the city’s leadership. I suspect the funding our Division will receive will increase significantly as a result. Well done.”

Given how much it looks like you’re enjoying them, I think they’re a little more than adequate…

“If there is nothing else, then I will make my departure,” said Hadix. “I will arrange for the skitters and flyers to be sent to your location. Inform the tuskarr before they arrive. It would be a waste if they were needlessly killed.”

Without waiting for a response, the Vizier disappeared in a flash of violet light.

Once the light faded and the room became quiet, Krivax only had to spend a few moments thinking about their conversation before he reached an obvious conclusion.

Vizier Hadix was hiding something.

Krivax had known the Vizier for over a year and in all that time he had never seen Hadix show this level of interest in anything. He often wondered why the mage was assigned to the Surface World Research Division when he never revealed any actual interest in the surface.

The more he thought about it, the more Krivax realized how little he knew about the Vizier who had supported him since he joined the Circle.

“Krivax, is the Vizier always like that?” asked Masruk as he returned from guarding the entrance.

“No, he’s not usually that intense,” said Krivax.

“Then you should be careful. Until you understand his motivations you should be wary of him,” Masruk said with concern in his voice.

“I’ll be careful,” said Krivax. “But I think we should be fine. It’s not like he asked me to do anything that I wasn’t already planning on doing anyway.”

“I will ask the warriors what they know about the lands beyond the sea when I speak to them tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Masruk,” said Krivax with genuine gratitude. “I appreciate your help, buddy.”

“It’s not a problem,” said Masruk. He paused before continuing to speak with slight hesitation. “The surface is… much more interesting than I had expected. If these unknown lands exist, then I believe I would enjoy seeing them for myself.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” Krivax said fondly. Masruk had really begun to flourish during their stay in Kamagua. Not only had his skills as a warrior improved by being exposed to new fighting styles, but he had also become slightly less reserved amongst the friendly tuskarr and shown an increased curiosity in the world.

The two nerubians spent a few more minutes discussing their plans for the coming day, before deciding it was time to go to sleep. They both knew that tomorrow was likely to be an eventful day for Krivax.

It was still funny to see how confused Masruk got about the day-night cycle of the world, and how most creatures slept after the sun went down.

Tomorrow he would need to have another conversation with Wumni and the Chieftain so he could attempt to negotiate for him to be introduced to the Moa’ki clan. Krivax had intended to wait a little longer for him to earn some more trust, but Vizier Hadix had made it explicitly clear that waiting long without showing results was not an option.

However, he was not too worried. Krivax did not believe Wumni would be particularly opposed to arranging a meeting as long as he did not cause any trouble for her people.

Just as Krivax started to skitter over to his nest of pillows and webs after having decided that tomorrow’s problem could wait until the morning, he realized something important.

Vizier Hadix had stolen all of their shellfish!

Hadix shrugged off the discomfort inherent to long-distance teleportation with practiced ease as he reappeared in his laboratory.

Placing the basket full of delicious aquatic arthropods somewhere safe, Hadix moved quickly to clean up his alchemical experiments. He had believed that he would have enough time to finish brewing a few experimental elixirs after his meeting with the Initiate, but he now had more important things to do. Unfortunately, these elixirs were not stable enough for him to leave them unattended for long, so all of the expensive reagents that had gone into them would be wasted.

How unfortunate.

Still, compared to even the slight possibility that the rest of the old world had not been completely destroyed in the Great Sundering, even the most expensive of elixirs were a trifling matter.

Once Hadix ensured that his laboratory would not explode in a violent magical reaction while he was away, he started making his way to his personal chambers as quickly as he reasonably could without drawing unwanted attention. After all, a Vizier sprinting down the ziggurat’s hallways would raise more than a few questions.

Hadix paid no mind to the startled Initiates who scrambled out of his way. They were unimportant.

Once he was within the nondescript chamber in one of the ziggurat’s many rooms, Hadix shut the door behind him and cast his most powerful anti-scrying wards over the room. Some might consider his actions to be overly paranoid given the measures he had already taken to protect against spying, but Hadix felt it appropriate given the circumstances.

After he finished casting the wards, Hadix cast a deceptively complicated spell that caused a portion of the wall near a random bookcase containing basic tomes and scrolls to fade away. The illusion itself was fully solid until it was removed—something that very few were capable of—so it was the perfect place to hide things one wanted away from prying eyes.

Hadix ignored all of the valuable magical artifacts hidden in this secret alcove and retrieved an unassuming scrying crystal.

After placing the crystal in the center of the room and casting the spell to activate it, Hadix settled down to wait. He knew that the Vizier he was attempting to contact was frequently busy, so it would take some time before he could establish his own scrying orb in a secret location.

Thankfully, it seemed that the Vizier was able to move somewhere private quicker than Hadix expected because it was only fifteen minutes after he cast the scrying spell that the visage of Seer Ixit appeared in the scrying crystal.

“Hadix? Why are you scrying me? Has something happened?” said Ixit with audible tension.

“Yes, something has happened,” said Hadix, straight to the point. “An Initiate that I have been personally instructing has potentially discovered something that would be extremely important to the Order, and I intend to discover the truth of the matter as soon as possible. Your skills as a Seer would aid me greatly in doing so.”

“What is it, Hadix?” asked Ixit, his tension only increasing. “Speak clearly.”

“Very well.”

Hadix quickly told the Seer everything that he knew about the possibility that other portions of the supercontinent of the old world had survived the Sundering. Once he was done speaking, Hadix could see the concern he felt reflected in Ixit’s expression as the Seer agreed to use his magic in an attempt to divine the truth.

Using magic in an attempt to see the future or discover secrets was—more often than not—extremely unreliable. Not only were there very few people with the necessary talent, but there were simply too many complications inherent to such magic. The future itself was uncertain and trying to discern the more likely possibilities from the infinite timeways was a skill that required a lifetime to hone. It did not help that even if a Seer could accurately divine the future, the information they received was not always useful or only expressed in a cryptic manner.

Every Seer in Azjol-Nerub had received the same visions of a future in which a tide of death swept over their kingdom, but what were they supposed to do with that information?

Was that tide of death the result of a plague? Was it the result of a civil war? The reawakening of the vrykul?

Preparations had been made for a number of possibilities, but without knowing specifically what they were preparing for there was very little that they could do.

Fortunately, Hadix hopes that Ixit would be able to give him more useful information. Not only was Ixit the greatest Seer of his generation, but the information he was looking for was the kind of information Seers excelled at finding.

If the claims made by the tuskarr shaman were true, then the future had likely changed significantly the moment Initiate Krivax had brought the matter to Hadix’s attention. If Azjol-Nerub were to discover the existence of lands beyond the sea, then the future consequences of that should be large enough for Ixit to uncover.

Especially since the Seer knew exactly what to look for.

Hadix waited patiently as Ixit attempted to divine knowledge from the indeterminate future. From an outside perspective, watching the Seer quietly mutter to himself for several minutes was rather uneventful.

When the Seer finished his divination and turned his attention back to Hadix, his expression was solemn.

“I foresee a period of great political upheaval and an era of change in our kingdom’s future,” said Ixit.

Hadix and Ixit both remained silent for several moments as they allowed the implications of that to sink in.

“How could we have possibly missed this?” asked Hadix in disbelief.

“You know how insular and stagnant the leadership in the capital is,” Ixit said wearily. “The village of tuskarr who have supposedly met with people from across the sea is in Dragonblight. It’s not surprising that this would escape their notice.”

“I know better than anyone how useless those self-important fools are,” Hadix said derisively. “I’m not asking how they missed this. I’m asking how we did.”

Ixit was silent for several moments before he responded. “The Order’s observation of the surface races has only ever been conducted with the intent of searching for the Old Ones’ influence. If we didn’t find anything, then I suspect we simply moved on without looking any deeper.”

“Well, that was obviously a mistake,” Hadix said bluntly.

“There is still some chance it’s not true,” said Ixit, sounding as if even he did not believe his own words.

“I doubt it.”

While Seers were not always reliable, this was already enough to convince Hadix of the shaman’s claims, even if he recognized it would not be enough to convince the kingdom’s leadership. They would no doubt care little for the words of a primitive shaman from a ‘lesser’ race, and they would likely also dismiss the findings of the Seer.

Azjol-Nerub took great pride in being the most advanced civilization in the world, but how could they continue to make such claims if they didn’t even know what else existed in it? There would be many who would wish to dismiss the existence of lands across the sea and continue to believe that only their land was what was left after the Great Sundering.

However, while Hadix did look down on the more primitive races, he was wise enough to recognize that primitive was not the same as stupid. The tuskarr possessed the most significant maritime tradition of the known surface races; the idea that someone could have fooled them into believing in such a lie was far-fetched.

There was also simply no perceivable motivation for somebody to tell such a story if it was not true.

Hadix and Ixit spent the next hour discussing what they should do with this information. Eventually, they both decided that it would be best for them to acquire stronger evidence before they could bring this to the Order or the kingdom’s leadership.

Ixit agreed to send a few flyers to surveil the tuskarr in Dragonblight.

Once they were done, Hadix returned the scrying crystal to his secret alcove and allowed himself to take a moment to come to terms with the implications of what he had learned.

All of his instincts were telling him that the lands across the sea existed.

If they did, then that meant the prisons of the other Old Ones likely still existed as well and were potentially accessible to any mortal who finds them.

If that were to be the case, then that would change… everything.