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1057. An Exarch of Act X
🕑 Added 2025-08-27 06:28:35 +0000 UTCAct X had numerous ways of bringing Actors under the influence of the Scripts. Commonly, the area around a designated Installation (Textorium, Nest, Theatrum) was altered so that its inhabitants will turn to the Strings for safety.
Entire ecosystems were disrupted, manipulated, and often artificially created to achieve this purpose. Depending on their needs, Act X often expanded their territories that lacked an Installation or Act X presence using Flowscripters.
These beings were near invisible to the naked eye, utilizing CogitO technology to pay visits to valuable candidates. Never were their conversations forceful. Rather, Act X had a well-established record for leaving that decision to the potential Actor.
Often, however, this invitation was taken out of dire necessity, or when one was so marred in despair that the Scripts granted them their only lifeline to continue living.
A purpose, so to speak.
Then, that person could either become a citizen (Actor) or an Acolyte (Act X initiate). What determined this was not well known even to the Heralds of Act X. Furthermore, most Acolytes and overall Act X personnel consisted of Insectids, whereas civilian Actors came in the form of humanoid races.
Even the dignified Missionaries of Act X were kept in the dark. It mattered little to them. They obeyed the Scripts with unconditional reverence. To question the Script was to question their purpose.
Thus, there was no point for a Missionary to understand Act X.
To live was to serve, as the Scripts intended.
And they wielded Act X’s Commandments like a blade.
*
A Missionary oversaw the battlefield unraveling before him.
His hollow eyes contained an unsettling darkness as he watched countless Insectid Acolytes march to their deaths.
Leading them were Heralds who wielded a great sword in the image of a scissor. Each stroke of their weapon slaughtered the onslaught of endless Corrupted Denizens. When ten Denizens fell, the head of one Acolyte fell with them.
The Missionary was not alone. Several more observed their own battlefields. Their massive, three-meter-tall bodies hunched over. Their long pale drapes made them appear like living willows.
No reaction formed on them even when tens of Acolytes were viciously torn apart, or when they were taken away by Anids, destined to die in their nests somewhere in the fringes of the Audition.
Indeed. Corrupted Denizens, Anointed Anids, and Act X personnel engaged in a violent all-out-war.
The purpose was none other than to fulfill the Commandment.
“Oversee the replica of an old war and ensure of its accuracy.” The Missionary unfurled an ethereal scroll and read from it without looking.
It was impossible to tell as the Missionary did not possess eyes. He continued after furling it up and returning it to his pristine coat.
“By accuracy, it must mean ‘realism’. A playright it is, on the stage. A greater purpose for the Acolytes to seek development in our collective narrative. How far can Actors go in the Audition before their pre-written personas are delivered?”
Few Actors and Acolytes who were brought into the Audition ever made it to the harbor. If they did, then they would need to row against the currents of the rivers. Additionally, this was not ordinary water.
The liquid that flowed between the gaps between each battlefield was called Heavy Water. Heavy Water was the result of processed Anid and Insectid waste, which produced a transparent liquid inseparable from water.
However, as the name implied, it was heavy, viscous, and was a nightmare for vessels. Naval warfare saw them used frequently, though it was far more commonly found in smaller vessels that could not fight larger ships.
The moment a vessel crossed into Heavy Water, then they would immediately begin sinking.
As a result, it was nigh impossible for an Actor or an Acolyte to cross the river outside of a miracle, or a Script granting them a rite of passage.
The Missionary had not yet moved. To an outsider, he appeared like a statue that had been brought by the Heralds to inspire their side. Yet if one knew how a Missionary operated, then that feeling of inspiration would quickly spiral into despair.
The sign of a Missionary was not one to rejoice over. Where Heralds were the messengers of Act X, the Missionaries were the ones who delivered divine punishment to those who disobeyed the Commandments.
Indeed, there should not have been a Missionary overseeing the armies of Act X.
That role belonged to another figure who stood behind him.
“Venerated Exarch. I’m certain the Acolytes and the Heralds are fighting harder in the presence of a regional enforcer of the Scripts.” The Missionary spoke courteously.
Cracking sound, like that of a snapping branch, came from the figure behind. The being was draped in untouched white cloth that tightly clung to their body. They possessed a featureless chest and lacked arms.
Instead, ten arms floated behind them. Five were attached to two wings, and they were wrapped around their torso like an external rib cage. Their face was in the image of an unbelievably beautiful maiden, or a man depending on how one viewed them. A blinding, blue radiance surrounded them like a halo of light, evoking utter authority.
“They fight because fear is what drives those who have not embraced the Scripts.” They spoke with an angelic voice.
So harmonious was her voice that even the Missionary, who were known to never show emotion, trembled inch as if on the verge of kneeling before this being.
As beautiful as they were, hiding behind their heads was a hollow face with infinitely dark holes where their eyes were, and an empty, gaping maw. This was their true face. The beautiful side was no more than a method used by their species to trick predators into thinking they were watching. It had carried over into this newfound role they played.
This was the Exarch, one of Act X’s most powerful personnel. One could view them as the equivalent of the Managers of Act X, though that severely undermined the role they played in Act X.
They were slightly larger than the Missionary, and they levitated exactly one inch off the ground.
Those who possessed the ability to perceive the Strings would find that the strings which were attached to every Acolyte and Herald were coiled around each arm. The Exarch played with the strings, like how a spider did when weaving a web with their spinnerets, and held out one string to the Missionary.
“Severance. One attempted to end their own suffering. They will never know how close they were to becoming pain-free.”
As ordered, the Missionary silently revealed their bastard sword from beneath their mantle, and he ritualistically sent a downward slice to sever that string.
Somewhere, an Acolyte had permanently lost their life, but they did not view it as a loss.
Rather, they saw it as a betrayal worthy of execution.
“One loss must be made up with another ten Actors.” The Exarch sang harmoniously. “The dissonance of self-preservation and purpose must be extracted from those before they can accept greater roles. There is another traitor in the midst requiring severing. Tell me, Missionary of Living Loom Lachesis, if you are feeling the influence of the other strings.”
“I only take my orders from my Script.”
“A suitable answer.”
The exchange was necessary for the Exarch. The reason was because there were indeed other strings present. The reason why there were here was to ensure that those connected to Act X could not become entangled with another faction. Such was the primary role of the Exarch and were only seen in battlefields or encounters where the personnel of differing Living Looms crossed paths.
As a result, they were tasked with handling each strand of every present army like a puppeteer.
However, this was also a method to prevent their personnel from losing their purpose. In this context, this meant becoming converted into a Denizen of a Corrupted. The battlefield was ever shifting, and some had already completely collapsed, whilst others saw a major victory over either the Corrupted or the Anids.
But theirs was an utter bloodbath.
Ideally, magical bombardments and long-range siege magic should be used against land-based armies. Additionally, the Acolytes and Heralds did not use battle formations, nor did they separate themselves into groups or legions as traditional armies did.
Moreover, they had no defensive line. They were simply told to swarm the enemies like warring ants.
The Scripts desired them to fight in close combat to maximize their exposure to death.
That way, they could exhume their sense of self and allow a pre-written person to fit into the husk that remained.
Such was the purpose of the Audition.
