Chapter 112

***This article contains spoilers.***

## Highlights

* Legions of mist creatures are homing in on Athena's Astral plane, due to Alyssa Marant's confrontation with the Kirrix Hive Mind, which took phenomenal amounts of power.
* Amlaril arrives at Ashana and Ilyana arrived at Trankara for refits.
* Helene's new gift is sharing her emotions.

## Notes

### Miscellaneous

* John Blake fell asleep into Athena's subplane, just like he does every night since Alyssa Marant created her personal subplane.
	+ The throne room contained portraits.
		- Right wall: Portraits of the Invictus crew
		- Left wall: Edraele Valaden's inner circle
		- Center: John Blake surrounded by the invictus crew, their portraits merged with his, a reproduction of the images Alyssa Marant described to him.
	+ Athena pointed out there are legions of mist creatures searching for their Astral plane, and started homing in on their location that day.
		- Although John destroyed the testing ground for neophyte Progenitors and vanquished the creature that ran it, it's probably been rebuilt, because the overlord of that domain is powerful.
		- The testing grounds was a place of temptation that turned into terrible nightmares when John refused the ancient horror's visions of conquests.
		- You need to know the specific location of an ethereal construct before you can visit. That's why the Ashanath subplane has stayed safely inviolate for millenia.
		- Alyssa's confrontation with the Kirrix Hive Mind took phenomenal amounts of power, which sent echoes deep into the Astral, drawing the creatures towards them like a lodestone.
		- They're safe for now, but another dramatic display of psychic power would be like shouting their location from the rooftops.
	+ Progenitor John had a sinister reason not to fight to prevent John from entering into the Astral plane during nightmares. Just like Alyssa were to be killed on a spirit walk would destroy her consciousness and free Athena to take control over her body, a similar outcome would happen to John.
* Faye envies Helene for being organic, thinking that's the reason John hasn't become lovers.
* Faye lands the Invictus on Valley Falls City, the capital of Brecken's World.
* Helene's new gift is sharing her emotions.
* Helene shares about how it was to be an Abandoned
	+ Elders told them not to talk about the history of their people in the village, but they'd visit them in the kelp beds and teach them the old tongue and stories.
	+ They were tought that long ago, the Brimorians used to often come to the villages to take away unmated women who would never returned. They were warned that the Brimorians would know if they spoke in the village about forbidden things, and they would make an example of those who broke their laws.
	+ This means the Brimorians probably have surveillance equipment monitoring their village.
* John talks about the Callopean Shoals.
	+ In the Brimorian Enclave, near the border with the Terran Federation, are dozens of star systems known as the Callopean Shoals.
	+ Roughly a hundred years ago, before first contact was made with the Brimorians, Terran explorers stumbled across the Callopean Shoals and discovered many beautiful atoll planets. That triggered a huge rush of Terran colonists, with hundreds of thousands of people eager to make planetfall and settle on those unclaimed worlds.
	+ However, the Brimorians had already claimed them. Their cities were deep underwater so they weren't detected by planetary surveys. When the colonists landed, the Brimorians attacked, capturing all the Terran civilians. The Terran Federation declared war in retaliation, but their fleets were too evenly matched with the Brimorians and the war ended in a stalemate.
	+ The Terran Federation abandoned the colonists, and the Brimorians traded the male colonists to the Kintark in exchange for genetic modification technology which they used on the female colonists. The survivors of the experiments were changed so that they could breed with the Brimorians. They were then raped repeatedly for years, forced to give birth to thousands of hybrids, which became the first generation of the Abandoned.
	+ John wants to liberate the Abandoned.
* The Maliri battleship, Entheas Alari, arrived on Ashana to bring them minerals for use on refitting the Maliri's vessels and the construction of the Ashanath's advanced warships.
* Gabrielle Lynton and Jehanna Elani discuss Kintark prisoners, possible Brimorian invasion, and their connection to John Blake.
* John Blake and Faye go on a date.
* Lilyana arrives at Trankara to install new shield generators in the Maliri battleships. She met with Niskera and Thandrun to discuss strategy regarding refitting and Kirrix.
* Niskera feels isolated due to her people's worship of her.
* Faye gave John Blake a blowjob, wishing to become a real girl, and then wept when it didn't come true.

### Minor Characters

* Stefan Vaughn: The planetary governor of Brecken's World.
* Ularean: Ashanath Senior Councillor.
* Amlaril: Maliri Fleet Commander of Entheas Alari.
* Rathus: Ashanath Councillor.
* Niskera: Trankaran Chancellor.
* Thandrun: Trankaran Fleet Warden.
* Lilyana: Maliri Fleet Commander.
* Almari: Maliri.
* Ilyana: Maliri.
* Brokurlun: Trankaran Warden.

### Planets

* Brecken's World: A frontier colony with cheap land because it's lacking settlement facilities.
* Trankara: Trankaran home world.
* Ashana: Ashanath home world.
* Dun Gerluhr: Trankaran planet.
* Negbhaldum: Trankaran planet.