Chapter 192: Boneclock Epilouge II

And so, we come to Mori, the focus of our story so far. She stands at the crossroads of history, with the ability to save untold numbers of lives and where one slip up may lead to the death of all that is divine. But the final act of this story begins not in a conference room, nor a battlefield. Not a workshop or a laboratory. It begins in a bed, with the awakening of a newly made Riftborn.

 

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Mori groaned as her mind returned to her. She had not felt pain like that since she first became a lich. It was as if she was being ripped apart, twisted around, and reassembled all at the same time. It was not something she wanted to relive, but such was the cost of being Riftborn, which as far as she knew did not help her much. The gods had mentioned something about an increase in power and eternal youth, but she could do the former by herself and the latter might have interested her if she were a living person.

But she was a skeleton, so it did not appeal.

Nevertheless, she was offered that whatever-it-was by her hosts, and she doubted that it would be in good form to refuse it. She internally sighed and looked around once she finally woke up fully, noticing three things. The first was the three beds set up for herself and her group, the other two having Fara and VII in them. The second were the six suits of armor, walking around the beds and making sure that everything was clean and tidy. The suits of armor were plate mail, made of some glistening black metal. In their eye slits, glowing flames licked the edges of the metal, spilling from their helmets a bit. The final thing Mori noticed was a certain goddess sitting beside VII’s bed.

Mori’s movement drew that goddess’ attention, and she looked over to Mori with a smile on her metallic face, “Ah, Mori, good morning. I hope you slept alright?” En’gem’ia asked.

Mori shook her head, “I feel like I’ve been run over by a semi-truck,” she replied, “Before I became invincible.” The next moment, she felt something slither up her leg, and she looked down, only to see Unio under the covers. Lifting up the sheet, the little slime was melting into her armor once more, slithering into the cracks of her armor, “Huh… why’d you leave, little guy?” she asked.

“Ah, that’s because of what happens when you become a Riftborn,” En’gem’ia answered, “Your soul undergoes a drastic change, along with the vessel your soul is contained in. Seeing as how your soul is… contained within itself, it seems, your body underwent an even more drastic change than normal. I suspect that anything within your body would have been destroyed if it was there during your ascension.”

Mori froze. There was something in her body during her ascension. The soul of the Forgeheart, which she wanted to give to En’gem’ia to do with what she needed. She suddenly felt awful, “I… had something in my body…” she said, finding it hard to meet En’gem’ia’s gaze, “I had the soul… of your Forgeheart…”

The goddess looked at her for a long moment, then tilted her head in confusion, “You were keeping that for me?” she asked, her face sprouting a smile, “That’s sweet, but I had expected you three to kill it when you won. I’m surprised you went through the effort, even. But, I suppose it’s gone forever now. It was not that great of a loss. And I know your stance on these things, but… you need to get used to this. We cannot preserve everything.”

Mori wanted to pout, but she knew that En’gem’ia had a point. The Forgeheart had caused them many problems, killed many people, and hurt one of Mori’s friends. Sure, she could accept it, but that did not mean that she had to be happy about it, “I… Fine. I’ll deal with it. But… what now?”

Before En’gem’ia could answer, Sa’ar’kik burst through the door like an exploding ball of uncooked pork, mouths, eyes, and other facial features. She wrapped herself around Mori with a laugh, “You’re awake! This is wonderful, dear, you’re just so powerful! I can feel it! Before that, I’ve got something to give you!” Mori just stared at Sa’ar’kik, startled by the appearance of a goddess, “Oh, don’t be like that, dear. Just open your palm and let me just give it to you…” Mori numbly followed the instructions, opening her palm and letting Sa’ar’kik put something into it, “Ta-da! It’s your very own mana crystal! Do you know what’s in it? Guess, come on!”

Mori looked down and felt something… familiar. It was like an old memory, something that she had let slip in her mind. But, with the crystal in her hand it all came rushing back. Desperation, defiance, hope… the willingness to give anything up for one more chance. “It’s… the mana I used…” she trailed off. There was an instinct in her, one that was telling her that the mana was meant to be with her. Not just used by her, but with her. As if by instinct, the dark threads that made up her soul-hand began to part for the crystal, devouring it and taking it into her body. Mori vaguely felt the interest of two goddesses on her, but, as when she first used the mana type, she barely noticed them. As the mana dissolved into her body and began to reform into another mana crystal, she thought to herself, “Why do I need to deal only with whatever is on the other end of this mana?” she thought. She was an archlich, creator of thousands of undead, savior of the world of Granulous. Why did she have to go through some mana to do something, or get knowledge? It existed elsewhere, obviously, so why could she not just trade it with others, instead of trading in memories every time she wanted something extraordinary done.

Slowly, that feeling seeped into the mana crystal, and, when it formed in the center of her forehead, it had changed from a deep purple to a prismatic blend of gold, purple, and black. A moment later, Mori’s eye flames flickered, and she was broken from the spell. She looked around at her audience with a confused expression, “What happened, Mori?” Sa’ar’kik asked, concern in her dozen eyes, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah… Yeah, I’m alright… I think,” Mori replied, “Now I really feel like I got hit by a truck…” she groaned, “But… I think I get it…” she said, pointing to her head, “I can make deals… Better deals, hopefully.” She closed her eyes and plucked a bit of mana in the air-- of which she doubted she could ever run out-- and pushed it through the crystal in her head. When she had a bit of the gold-purple mana, and told it to burn like a fire. In return, it demanded mana. Less mana than she had been using before, in fact. She readily accepted, pulling mana from the air and putting it into the gold-purple mana. A flame burst into being at the tip of her finger, and she felt herself smile, “I get it,” she said.

“Ohh…” En’gem’ia said from the side, “That’s quite interesting, Mori. What else can you do?”

Mori looked back to her finger, and to the flame atop it, and told it to create ice. It demanded mana, much, much more mana than she had used to make the flame, but she obliged. A small shard of ice formed above her finger, continuing to float there. She then asked it to melt the ice, which cost her a pittance-worth of mana. After the ice melted, she told the mana to refreeze it, which cost just as much as it cost to melt it in the first place. While the ice shard floated around her hand, she turned to one of the living armors and tried the second portion of the mana type, the one that she unconsciously made. [Raise your hand and I will give you this shard of ice.] The power with which she made the offer took her aback greatly. It was reminiscent of the way that the gods spoke, if much less powerful. The living armor hesitated, then lifted a hand, upon which the shard of ice floating around Mori’s hand flew into the armor’s hand.

After a moment, En’gem’ia huffed, “That didn’t help, Mori,” she said, turning to the living armor, “Did anything happen?”

“Yes,” the armor replied, her voice gravelly, “Her voice… it was that of the gods…” she said, shaking her head.

That got the two goddesses' attention, “Like a goddess?” Sa’ar’kik asked, “Oh, now this is interesting! Ginny, try to pray to her!” she said. The living armor stared at Sa’ar’kik, her head drawn back, but she nodded a moment later and lowered her head. After a few moments, Mori felt something tingling in the back of her head. It was like the Connection with Unio had been tugged, but it did not come from him. Instead, it came from the crystal in Mori’s forehead. At that moment, the living armor looked up and nodded towards Sa’ar’kik, “Did you feel anything?” she asked.

“I… did,” Mori answered, “It feels like this little tug in the back of my mind, one that I have to pay attention to. But I don’t know what it means… Am I…?”

“You may just be. Eventually. I can’t tell you how that works… The only Riftborn gods we know are either us… or one of Ei’van’an’s angels, and besides that, we have never found a way to create new great gods. But, you may just change that…” En’gem’ia explained, “For now, though… Sa, should we invite her to the meeting? She is a goddess now, if a fledgeling one.”

Sa’ar’kik pursed her many lips, rubbing her singular chin, “Maybe… Mori, could you be a dear and do what you did for Ginny with me?” she asked. Mori once again made a shard of ice and used a Connection to offer it in exchange for her raising her hand. The echo in her voice came back in force, and Sa’ar’kik showed a wide dozen smiles at that. A moment later, Sa’ar’kik raised her hand and received a shard of ice in return, “Oh, this is wonderful!” Sa’ar’kik shouted “You have to come with us! I mean, if it goes well, we might have the seventeenth Great Goddess added to the ranks! Now, come on! The rest of your entourage are becoming Riftborn right now, so you’re coming with me! I’m going to make you look amazing!”

Mori could not even get a word in edgewise as Sa’ar’kik pulled her up from her bed and dragged her out into the hallway. Mori had a bad feeling, but even if she somehow became a goddess, she could not contend with Sa’ar’kik.

 

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Mori laid down on her bed with a sigh. As it turned out, Sa’ar’kik’s idea of ‘looking amazing’ consisted of taking samples from a truly staggeringly large supply of mana crystals and offering them to Mori, casting a spell onto her so that she could vaguely feel if they would help her or harm her. Most of the mana types did not inspire much of a reaction in Mori, but more than a few made her feel nervous. There were a whole five mana types devoted to slaying undead in it. When Mori told Sa’ar’kik that the mana types made her feel uneasy, the goddess was surprised. Apparently they were supposed to cause abject terror in undead around them, and the sensing spell Sa’ar’kik cast on her only made the effect more pronounced. So, with Mori barely feeling anything from them, it really drove home how far she had come.

Either way, Sa’ar’kik insisted that Mori absorb a ‘Control’ mana crystal, which let her model her body more precisely, control her soul’s movements, and use her S. energy more precisely. The only problem came when she tried to alter her soul’s movements, and it caused a moment of abject bliss in Mori’s mind. Once her mind let the movement slip, and she was back to normal, Sa’ar’kik explained that altering her soul’s natural movements caused changes in her mental state. It was like pulling a cluster of neurons in a normal human’s brain, just a bit less damaging to Mori compared to a human brain.

Either way, Sa’ar’kik was done with her and Mori could wait for VII and Fara to wake up. En’gem’ia actually left a few minutes before she arrived to prepare for the summit as well, Mori was simply lying in her bed, waiting.

She decided to be proactive in her preparations, and began to shape her S. energy into a suitable outfit. Really, such a thing was not required, but she was just given a nice little boost in her bodily control, so she wanted to make use of it. She stood up, barely noticing how the living armors worked around her, and began to shape her S. energy. She wanted something classy, unique, and fitting with her personality. After ruling out things like a toga, robe, or suit of armor, she narrowed it down to either a dress, or a suit.

She felt that a dress would be interesting, especially if she played with its design a bit, but she also felt that a suit would be a bit more professional-- or at least more professional than the dress she was thinking of making.

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In the end, she went with the dress, choosing a simpler design than the ball gown she wanted to go with. She chose a red dress not only because she did not know how to play with the colors of her S. energy yet but also because she thought it went well with her focus on her soul. With the dress done, she twirled around in it, judging how it looked. She liked it, but it felt off, like something about her was lacking. She could not figure out what it was, but she still could not ignore that feeling that something was missing, so she just scrapped the dress idea and went with a red tuxedo and a red overcoat. She looked at herself again and shrugged. It was fine, but not exactly dazzling. Then again, she was entering a meeting full of gods and goddesses, and while she had some wacky nonsense going on in her soul, she was no great goddess.

With her outfit settled, she sat on her bed and looked through her soul to figure out how to become stronger. She had a hunch that it was a matter of how powerful her soul was, but she could only guess without looking into it. And, as it turned out, she needed more than her normal senses to pick up on such things. She would have to ask one of the gods for something to help her. Before she could even think about doing that, though, Fara began to grumble, her eyes opening slowly.

Mori smiled as she watched Fara slowly wake up. The only changes that she could sense was the power of her soul, which increased dramatically, and the color of her skin, which turned bluish, similarly to VII’s. “Morning, sleepyhead,” Mori greeted, still smiling.

Fara looked up at Mori, “Morning, Mori. Urgh… that hurts…” she groaned, “How are you so chipper?”

“I wasn’t. Not an hour ago, anyway,” she chuckled, “I felt like crap. But I’m better at dealing with that kind of pain than you are, so I get to sit here and feel fine. Anyway, do you want to come to the meeting with me?” Mori asked, “I can bring two people and I’m pretty sure that En’gem’ia is bringing VII with her. So, what do you say?”

Fara looked at Mori, then sighed, “I was wondering why you were wearing a suit… Fine, I’ll come along.” Mori laughed and gave Fara a hug, which she quickly reciprocated.

 

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“Are you all ready?” Kel’rk’ath asked.

“Are you? You don’t have anyone coming with you other than Sa,” En’gem’ia asked back, “I’m bringing my daughter, Mori’s bringing her girlfriend and bodyguard, and even Sa’s bringing her little chipmunk.” Mori gave En’gem’ia a confused look, then shared one with Fara. While they were not in a relationship, Mori wondered if that would change, considering the fact that they now had eternity to live together.

“I do not need to bring anyone. I am sure that not all of them are bringing advisors, either, so I will not be the only one out.” Mori looked at Kel’rk’ath, then at Sa’ar’kik. They were probably the best advisors for each other, she thought. She also did not know where the six legged rodent curled up on Sa’ar’kik’s shoulder fit into it all, but she was beyond asking at that point.

“It’ll be fine, En,” Sa’ar’kik said, smiling her dozen mouths as the other goddess, “We are fine without an entourage. Speaking of, you found quite a nice dress for X52,” she said. Mori looked at VII’s dress, which was one of the ones Mori would have thought was a shirt and skirt rather than a dress. Fara, though, wore a suit, similar to Mori, though hers was black. Idle, who stood behind them, wore her normal tunic and pants. She wanted no part in dressing up, and Mori could not convince her to do otherwise.

“Thanks, aunt Sa,” VII said, giving a smile.

“You’re welcome, dear. Now, are we all ready? We don’t want to keep them waiting, now do we?” They all shook their heads, and Kel’rk’ath waved a hand. A tear in reality opened, showing a large atrium. They walked through, and the noise hit Mori all at once. There were voices, divine and not, coming from all around. There were people made of many things, from stone to wood, people who were not even humanoid, like the giant wolf with a familiar woman attending him or the odd massive snake, to a corner that was filled with shadows.

Before they could go further, the shadowed corner shifted, then appeared in front of Kel’rk’ath. They shaped themselves into the shape of a girl, a bit shorter than Kel’rk’ath. Her arms were wrapped around Kel’rk’ath and her head was in his chest, “Hey… brother… I’m sorry,” she said, “I… didn’t know. But… I know now,” she said.

“What do you mean?” Kel’rk’ath asked. They began to talk in whispers for a few moments, then Kel’rk’ath nodded, “In that case… leave it to us, sister. We can deal with it.” Mori gave him a confused look, but he just shook his head towards her. Apparently, it was not something she had to deal with, since she was not part of the war.

That really set the tone for the summit. Mori was the odd one out there, with no one knowing who she was. A few of the gods talked to her and, when they learned that she had some powers reminiscent of a goddess herself, offered to help her. They were all quite nice. All but one. He was an angel of Vel’lav’eck, the Great Goddess of Fervent Exploration, and while he was respectful and kind, Mori could tell that he was faking it. When the two groups turned away to look for someone else to talk to, Mori could feel a calculated gaze on her. Just to be safe, she glanced back with her soul sight and saw… something off. Many somethings off. That soul looked like the center of a spider web, an ocean, and an eye all at once. The eye snapped to Mori, and she reflexively braced. She felt it lash at her soul, and since her soul was her body she was thrown against the wall on the opposite side of the room.

It was not quiet, either, with her body making so much clanging and banging that every god there, snapped their attention to Mori. She slowly stood and glared at the angel that had attacked her, who reciprocated with an equally hateful glare. She summoned forth her modified bargain mana and offered it as much mana as she could move on her own in exchange to kill the angel. It readily accepted, becoming some sort of chaotic ball of mana that she could not even begin to explain.

Running forwards, she threw the ball at the angel. She was aiming to blind it, but that notion quickly ended when a blast of mana threw everyone and everything back. In the center of the blast zone, a tall figure stood. He was tall, lanky even. Four arms. Utterly black skin. Four eyes, dotted around his head like the jewels of a twisted crown of bone that were his horns. At his side was a woman, with a blank look, along with some strange creatures behind him.

He stood tall and opened his mouth to speak, but Mori was not one to listen to speeches when she could avoid it. “You may not know who I am…” he began, stopping as Mori’s S. energy shot forward, “You are not important. Do not interrupt,” he said, batting away what she shot towards him. She growled, shooting more S.energy forward to seize his soul, making a deal to protect it with whatever mystical powers the mana had, “I said that you are not important. You are a mere fleck of dust in the universe, and I do not have time for you.” Mori kept shooting her S. energy forwards for long enough that the other gods followed suit shooting whatever they had. The only exception was Vel’lav’eck, who had a heartbroken look on her face. Eventually, the being’s tolerance was met, “ENOUGH!” he bellowed, another shockwave dispersing everything they were throwing at him. He stood tall again, but Mori could see that he was hiding his weakness. That move was easy to do once, but the second time cut into his S. energy reserves, “You are all weak! You are a disgrace to what She wished to create! I will wipe you from the face of reality to preserve Her memory!”

He raised a hand and mana gathered, but he had been too distracted to notice what Mori was doing while he threw his temper tantrum. Little strands of her soul wriggled up to his and inched closer and closer to the threads that made up his spider’s web of a soul. Just as she was about to touch them…

She ripped tore into them, snapping the strands and cutting whatever Connection he had with his little army. Mori wanted to give some sort of one liner, but she had more important things to do. She called on her bargain mana once more and asked it to send the being so far that he would need a hundred years to return. The mana replied that she needed to give up most of her S. energy, as well as the soul of something that she loved. She was taken aback at that, but before she could think of something else, she felt something fill the mana, drawing her S. energy with it. Panicked, she looked to find Unio, but could not find him. With a final look at the mana, she could have sworn that Unio was apologizing for what he had to do. [I…] she thought, [I’m sorry you have to do this.] She could feel his resolve in that agonizingly long moment, and she would not spit on it just to keep him in her armored soul, [Maybe we’ll meet again, little guy.]

Unio mentally shrugged in response, and the deal was complete. There was no fanfare. There was no massive burst of mana. The being was there one moment, and gone the next. The hall was silent for a long, long while, before the gods began to recollect themselves. After everyone stood, staring at the little army of people all the while, Kel’rk’ath walked up to Mori’s side, “I believe we need to discuss what just happened,” he said, “Whatever it was, you have done well, Mori.”

Mori just nodded, silently missing the sensation of Unio staying within her body.

 

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And thus ends our tale, in a blaze of revelations and fury. With a deal made, and a life lost. But Mori’s story does not end. Her path will cross mine, I can tell, but now we must move on to other stories, and other players, as the hour hand moves between daylight and twilight on a clock of bones.

 

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Alright, Quickman here. This isn’t a Scribe part (And that is his name), instead, it’s an invitation. By the time you’re reading this, the series of A Day in the Life of Taylor Sava will be publicly available on my patreon. Read that if you want some hints as to the ending. If you’ve read that, and still have questions, I am willing to answer those for the final introspection of Boneclock. This chapter will come out at the same time for everyone, and I’ll wait a week before I begin writing the final introspection. So, again, if you have any questions, put them in the comments and I might answer them. Of course, Patreon backers have higher billing for this, since this is going out at the same time for everyone, but I hope I can clear up any questions that I did not intend to leave dangling.

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