Chapter 19: Side Chapter 2- Behind the Curtain

The ways of the Creators are not for our mortal minds to know. The whys of the Creators are not for us to know. The whats of the Creators are not for us to know. Were it not for their endless compassion we would be grasping in the darkness, never knowing the wonder they have brought upon our world.

It is only the chosen few that should wield the Creator’s strength. For the rest of us faithful, we must take power from the Demon of the Clock and use it in the service of our lords. If we are not able to do that, or we require their power, or we do not show our faith in the scrap of our enemies, then we have failed.

-Excerpt from the Sermon of Blue Robe Gatous, Gribnik

 

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Mana tore at the fabric of reality in the place between worlds. Mana, denser than anything most could even fathom, condensed even further into a form that suited its master. As it condensed further and further, a hole opened up in reality. Opening to a marble temple, lined with blue robed priests. A human skeleton, shielded from sight and animated through unknowable divine mana, unceremoniously kicked an old sword through the tear and closed it with a flick of its wrist.

Behind the skeleton, a figure shrouded in black and green stood, staring at the skeleton’s work. It turned and addressed the figure in a female voice, “That all you need, boss?”

The figure swayed like a calm ocean, “That is all, Uwyth. You may return to your duties.” The skeleton nodded, almost sarcastically bowed, and walked away, leaving the figure alone. With a weary sigh he conjured a chair made of water and sat down, placing a hand on his skull, “Yes, Sa? Do you need my help with something,” he asked.

Another tear in reality split open, leading from a room overgrown with flesh and sinew and gore sticking to the walls and floor and ceiling. From the tear a mass of flesh and bone walked forth, roughly in a womanly, humanoid figure but rapidly shifting, and conjured a chair made of bone next to him, “I just wanted to see if you were alright, Kel.”

Kel’rk’ath turned his head and stared at her, “I’m fine. I just… need a breather…” he admitted.

Sa’ar’kik slapped him on the back of his head, causing a resounding, wet clap to thunder throughout the chamber, “How many soul-clones are you running?” she demanded.

He rubbed the back of his head, “700…” she gave him a dozen critical eyes, “Fine, 900.”

She sighed, “You know that we get the most out of only running 600 soul-clones. You’re 50% over that. Is that Bargain Mana such a powerful thing?” she asked. 

He chuckled, “Powerful? No, not really. We consider ‘powerful’ something that can annihilate one of these islands and send it careening into the rift. No, this is not that. It’s the ability to bargain with mana, Sa. Imagine it. We can spend souls to gain something more, like knowledge or… well, that’s what I’m figuring out right now.”

She sighed, placing one of her lips on the skeleton’s watery jaw, “You can’t do that without being in proper shape. Like I said, cut down on your soul-clones, at least for a day. For me?” 

“I… alright, I will.” Suddenly, the water that composed his body began to thicken, becoming viscous and nearly solid. With a sigh, he turned back to his lover, “Alright, was there anything you wanted help with?”

She shook her head and merged her chair with his, making a watery, boney, couch-chair hybrid, “Nothing in particular, really. I just wanted to spend some time with you, you know? We’ve been so wrapped up in work and boring stuff that we haven’t been able to have a little fun…” she whined, snuggling up to his shrouded form.

He sighed, “If we’re going to do that then I ask we not do it here; I don’t want my angels to have to clean up after us.”

She giggled, placing another kiss on his face, “No, no, not that. If you want to unwind a bit, then we can do that later. For now, I don’t see why we can’t just check out what some of our mortals are doing.” Mana rushed forward and solidified into a blue screen in front of their couch-chair. With a swipe of her finger, the screen changed into a scene of a man standing in front of a dragon, an army at his back and his wives beside him. “Ah, what a classic! The valiant king and his kingdom slaying the dragon that plagues their lands! Let’s see how this plays out.” She said as she rested her head on his shoulder. The battle was one of epic proportions, with the dragon spewing poison onto the battlefield and the knights under the king shielding him and his companions from its hissing fury. The battle reached a crescendo with one of the wives being struck by the swipe of the dragon’s claws. The king rushed to her side and was just barely able to stabilize her with healing mana. With hate in his eyes, he charged the dragon and slew the beast after a long, dangerous battle.

“Which one was that? We have a few mortals we keep an eye on across the worlds, but I don’t remember a king being one…” Kel’rk’ath mused.

Sa’ar’kik giggled again, “He’s not. We have about a dozen mortals we interact closely with, and you’re right, he’s not one of them. He’s actually the one who killed one of the ones we were working with.”

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He turned to her and sighed, “Sa, that’s not a good thing. Did we at least get his soul?” he asked.

She nodded lightly, “Of course we did. This isn’t one of the worlds Gem has her grubby mits in, so it’s child’s play. Also, it’s better than the alternative.”

“And what’s the alternative?” he asked.

“Remember that incident with bone tree disease?”

He shuddered a bit, “Of course I remember the bone tree. Well, that’s good then; the poor guy isn’t stuck in a tree of his own bones… By the way, is this guy a good one for us?” he asked, pointing to the king cradling the unconscious woman in his arms, his other wives around him.

She nodded her many-eyed head, “Of course. I would have smote him if he weren’t. Do you want to have him be our champion in that world?”

He shrugged, “Do we need a champion in that world? Is it really that important?”

She stood up and widened her arms, expanding the screen to cover the entire wall in front of them. With a flick of her hands, dozens of wide shots of planets appeared. Some of them housed spires that climbed tens of miles above the surface with cities that flew with the clouds. Others, however, were wastelands of fire and brimstone. Even from their view, explosions and infernos could be seen reaching for the heavens. “I see. So that’s your plan…”

“I think it's a pretty good idea, honestly. I mean, we can’t send any riftborn for too long, so this is the next best idea,” she explained, pointing to one of the largest spires they could see, “We need to take this one. It’s the main shrine of Ei’vit’net and if we take it… well, he would have less solid ground to work with in the planetary realms.” 

He chuckled at her explanation, “I know that, Sa. But do you really think sending a bunch of medieval knights against one of the lazy bastard’s citadels is a good idea? I mean, maybe we could do some raiding and… that’s your plan, isn’t it?”

She grinned with a dozen different mouths, “Send a seemingly useless force and distract them, then follow it up with a crushing blow. It normally wouldn’t work, but… you know how it is with Ei.”

“Well, he is the Great God of the Resting Laurels, after all; arrogance runs through his veins. As if his personality could be summarized more succinctly… Anyway, that’s why you want to have that guy be our champion?”

She shrugged, “Not really. I just want to gain more power in that world to take over the manabeasts and so you can get more undead. They could be our opening force against Ei,” she explained, “But enough about that, I wanted to get you to chill out for a while. Let’s look at what our little lich is doing…” The massive screen narrowed and came closer, switching its perspective to a skiff sailing through the desert. A skeleton, cloaked in black silk, grappled up to the skiff and began her battle. Brutality, of which the two gods found normal after so many years of war, reigned in her battle. Mori’s undead were also strangely effective in combat, slaughtering the eventually-disorganized pirate band without any help. The captain, on the other hand, was a different beast entirely. His level was high and he had years of experience under his belt. The two gods sat comfortable while Mori’s rage reached a fever pitch and she yanked his eye out. What surprised them was when she became calm enough to simply execute the lizardman instead of torturing him. “Huh. Now I’m starting to see why you’re so interested in this new mana type.”

Kel’rk’ath nodded, pointing to her crystalized soul, “Exactly. Normally, liches have something that differentiates their minds from a normal human’s. But here… well, she’s basically a normal human in a lich’s body with none of the messy soul drift that happens normally…”

“And the only other one to do that is you. Yeah, I see how much that means now. Do you want to watch her for a little while longer?” she asked.

“Sure, sounds like a good way to relax.” They watched as Mori and Fara dealt with the aftermath of the battle, as well as the admiral that followed the pirates, and were about to switch channels when something caught Kel’rk’ath’s attention, “Wait, she picked something odd… let me check this…” He pulled up a Sa’rk system Mk. VI window and examined her Trait Choices, “What in the… Since when did we add [Psychic Affinity]? For that matter, when did we add [Psychic Flail] or [Psychic Conduit]?”

“Hmm?” Sa’ar’kik asked, pulling up a system window as well, “I’m not good with soul manipulation, hun. And, you would remember if you gave her something like that. Do you think the system seal was changed when we put it on her soul?”

He looked back to the screen, seeing Mori tell her tangent-filled story, and sighed, “That might be it. It could be anything from that old automatic Trait generator part we had to deactivate to the seal becoming sentient and sapient.”

“Hmm… yeah, that makes sense. Either way, I think it works in our favor.”

“Agreed. Let’s just warn her when she comes to talk with us.”

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