Re: Part 61b - Aftermath - the mountain
D'Ombra hunted and filled himself as the man inside thought.
Devlin, in some ways, hated what he was doing. He'd wanted Trista to go with Chance, but not to locate this Sephiroth, indeed he thought that would be a dead end, as he thought going to Harbonoh's fortress would be. As was discovered at Charyk, they did not stand a change of combating the Archon, they needed something that could control them. He felt little could be gained by engaging those they sought to defeat.
...But one never knew, he reminded himself. There was a chance they could discover something of use....
He wanted Trista to take that route so that after they were gone he could suggest a path or two that the others had not discussed. Just as he thought it wise to keep secrets from Amber, there were reasons to keep things secret even from each other. It was not, as he'd recently explained to Serena, that he did not trust members of the group, but outside the group they had no idea who could be trusted. There was no way of knowing if something said would end up being discovered by the enemy, better not to have the knowledge in the first place, better there was little chance of the wrong people overhearing.
He was being secretive, and misleading, and plotting to keep the actions of some secret form the rest. He hated himself for what he was doing, even if understood why he was doing it. He was hoping to be a distraction while someone else did something that might truly make a difference. If he could he would go to this fortress himself, send the others elsewhere. He felt that their chance of returning was not good.
And in the end Trista and those that traveled with her might simply reject his idea outright, but he had to try nevertheless.
He waited until he was sure Trista would be gone and then he sent his message to the messenger.
Full, D'Ombra started back toward the hut and tried to think of a way to keep the others out of the danger he was throwing himself into.
He also worked on increasing his mass once again while he was well away from anyone he could injure. Carefully he reached out, avoided touching anything living, and tried to draw the stuff of shadow into himself. He thought for a moment about that, he called it shadow, but it was no less real than anything else, so he was trying to draw the stuff of this reality, this world, into himself. It would cease to be whatever it was. When he succeeded he wondered what would become of that matter when he expelled it again in order to return to his true mass.
He got closer this time, he could feel the material around him begin to dissolve, as the meat had done in the hut. Soon, very soon, he would master it. ...This information too, he sent to the messenger.