Chapter 56: Book 1: Chapter 22 (Part 1 of 3)

I came back to my senses with a start and realised I was no longer in the Brig but on the black silk sheets of my bed. Shana was lying beside me, huddled in close, and my sudden movement disturbed her.

Her eyes opened blearily and then she noticed me smiling at her. “Torin!” she yelped. “You’re back.”

Then she manoeuvred herself on top of me and kissed me soundly. We made out on the bed for a few minutes before we had to come up for air.

“I was unaware that I’d gone anywhere,” I joked as our lips parted.

She slapped my arm playfully. “Don’t be an ass. You had us all worried,” she pouted at me.

<I wasn’t worried. I knew as soon as the Shattered Goddess’ awareness withdrew, and you weren’t already a soulless husk, that you would recover> Quixbix assured me smugly.

“Cheers, dude,” I snarked at the imp.

I lifted Shana off my chest and sat up in the bed ready to question him about what had just happened. As I did Anastasia walked through the door and into the room.

She scowled at me with a look that was one part aggravated, one part seemingly relieved. “You’re back with us just in time, sir. The sun is up, and we should cruise into the bay at the northern tip of Beaver Island in about fifteen minutes.”

“Whoa, we’re almost there? How long was I out?” I demanded from the room.

“Almost ten hours,” Shana whispered. “Now, do you see why we were so worried?” She finished by darting in for another quick kiss.

“Okay,” I shook my head to clear the cobwebs. “I hadn’t realised it had been so long. Quixbix can you tell me what the hell happened?”

<You had an encounter with one of the Divine, the Shattered Goddess, and pledged to perform an act in her name. Namely, dismantling Luca Gattosi’s organisation in Grand Rapids and then killing him within a year> the imp related, underselling for all he was worth.

<Don’t get me wrong> he continued before I could respond. <I’m happy you’ve got the attention of the Divine, only the real movers and shakers get personal audiences. But did you have to pick the Shattered Goddess? You had the whole of the Chaotic and Dark pantheons to choose from, why did it have to be her?> he finished with a genuinely worried wail.

“I don’t think I’ve heard you this despondent before Quix,” I commented in surprise.

“Probably because this is the first time his ass had been on the line too,” Anastasia sniggered as she plopped down onto the edge of the bed.

<So is yours, Bunches> he snapped back at the dungeon avatar.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Quixie the pixie. I can’t be separated from my core crystal, even by a goddess. For once, I’m the only one not at risk,” Anastasia needled the imp.

<How dare you call me a pixie, harridan. That’s what you are, a bitter old harridan.>

“Stop!” I commanded. “Sniping at one another isn’t helping. We need to talk this out sensibly. I’ll begin by saying I didn’t pick any deity. I’ll be honest, I’m not even sure where my pledge came from, it felt like something buried deep within that awoke, emerged, caused a ruckus and then fecked off back where it came from. I’d never heard of the Shattered Goddess until I said her name. For fucks sake nobody even told me that God’s were real. Quixbix are God’s real now?” I finished.

Quixbix took an unnecessary deep breath, the subtext that he was shaking his head clear. <Damn it. It’s so easy to forget how much you don’t know about the Darkwyrlds. Yes, the Divine are as real as everything else. They are only able to affect the Darkwyrlds through proxies, those they have communed with. Which now includes you.>

<They each have their own demesne, of course. In those places their power is staggering, but they can’t physically leave them. This limits their influence everywhere else, which is fortunate, as a lot of them don’t get along with each other and would likely annihilate large swathes of the galaxy if they were free to try and off one another> he finished.

“That does not sound good,” I said with a sinking feeling.

<Yes and no> he answered. <Usually, being chosen is a good thing. The deity in question has a vested interest in their chosen actor succeeding and will often aid them in that regard. However, the Shattered Goddess is…mercurial. She might choose to aid, to hinder, or both at the same time. It rather depends on what aspect of her fractious personality is dominant at any moment.>

“Damn, I picked up on the conflict but hoped there was a better explanation. Her words in my head were often…contradictory” I said.

 <I think the phrase you were searching for is batshit crazy> Quixbix sort of agreed.

“I think I like her,” Anastasia piped up. “She sounds just like my kind of goddess.”

<You won’t be saying that if she has a dark turn, kills Torin, and consumes he rest of us> Quixbix argued.

“She could do that?” Shana cried with concern.

<Maybe, though probably not directly> Quixbix answered. <She could choose to aid Luca instead of us, which would amount to the same thing when a year is up. Therein lies the rub, you can’t reason with her. While one aspect of her personality might sympathise, another will simply shred you down to your essence and devour you. Which includes me, Shana too, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she can use the Canon to gobble up the boy sorcerer as an aperitif.>

<The good news is that any quests I give towards Luca’s demise are divinely super-charged. The bad news, I can’t control how they are super-charged and given her nature, the rewards could be something like an epically powerful sword with a pommel made of razor blades. The gifts she offers will be exceptional but may come with unwanted requirements or side effects.>

“Fine, should I be concerned that I’d never heard of her before I said her name? Did she force herself upon me?” I asked.

<No, Acheronians are the children of Chaos and the Dark, primarily Chaos. As an Acheronian you will have an inherent connection to those pantheons. Shana too, though for the shadowborn elves their primary connection is to the Dark pantheon over Chaos> Quixbix answered.

Shana nodded her head in understanding. “I’ve found myself thinking along those lines and muttering Goddess of the Dark a few times, but her exact name is on the tip of my tongue, and I can’t quite voice it.”

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Now that Shana mentioned it, I did recall her screaming something about the Goddess of the Dark during our recent bout of sexy time.

<There are several goddesses in the Dark pantheon> Quixbix cut in. <Although you are likely referring to Tulanna, she is particularly favoured amongst the shadowborn women.>

“Tulanna!” Shana cried. “Yes, that’s the name. Oh, that feels better, it has been bugging me for days.”

I chuckled at her innocent relief at something so simple.

“So, what you’re saying is I could have picked any of a number of different Divine beings, the existence of which has been automatically downloaded into my noggin, but I happened to choose the mad hatter of the group,” I said.

Although, like Shana, something bugged me about that. It wasn’t quite right, but I couldn’t place why it wasn’t right. I had a feeling there hadn’t been a choice at all, neither for me nor the Shattered Goddess.

<That about sums it up> he answered.

“Great. What else have I missed during my communing?” I asked the group and shifted off the bed. I felt the need to pace the room a little, burn off some of the pent-up nervous energy.

“We’ve not been idle, Torin,” Shana assured me. “After we got the remaining attackers into the cells and settled you on the bed in here, Ana and I interrogated the prisoners.”

“Really? How did that go?” I inquired.

“Very well, sir,” Anastasia replied, taking up the baton. “The three lackeys cracked like fragile eggs and told us anything we wanted to know, though that wasn’t a lot. Marco resisted for a bit longer, but he capitulated after a little extra pressure too.”

“We learned that the top guy in Grand Rapids is a Leonid by the name of Luca Gattosi. The Gattosi are an organised crime outfit based out of Detroit. The ‘Don’ is Luca’s father and Luca was sent to Grand Rapids to oversee the family’s interests here. Apparently, Luca has always fancied himself as his father’s natural heir to the criminal empire and the apocalypse has given him an opportunity to prove it. According to Marco, Luca has an advanced class called Criminal Kingpin that has allowed him to seize control of rival groups of criminals.”

“Criminal Kingpin? Is that what he was trying to pull on me over the walkie, Quix?” I queried.

Quixbix answered. <Yes, Criminal Kingpin is an M-grade class, part of a Noble branch that opens up in tier three. M is only one grade below you Torin. Although Criminal Kingpin is top of the third tier and Dungeon Corsair Captain is in the fourth and that tier gap makes a big difference. Criminal Kingpin, like all Noble classes, is big on leadership qualities and allows people to build power through minions rather than personal strength. Dungeon Corsair Captain is a special hybrid of the Noble and Combat branches, boosting both capabilities.>

<As someone who acts outside the law you were technically vulnerable to his ‘Accumulate Minions’ ability. Although you proved too strong to be coerced by Luca.>

“M-grade. Okay, I was under the impression from what Dean told me that only the ‘Creators’ would get boosted up classes like mine. This guy doesn’t sound like one of them,” I said, talking mostly to myself.

“Creators? Who the fuck are they?” Anastasia swore.

I silenced her with a hand gesture. “I’ll tell you later,” I promised.

<You aren’t wrong, Torin. I would have to be in his presence to confirm this but according to the prisoners he has a twin sister, Claudia> Quixbix said.

“Why is that significant?” I interrupted.

<I’m getting to that> Quixbix scolded me for my impatience. <Because there is a rare occurrence that can happen with twin births, known as being Twin-souled. Out in the rest of the galaxy, this condition is usually identified early on, and the souls of the twins are harmlessly separated. With the freshly integrated it can result in adults in a twin-souled state. The Twin-souled are typically separated, as otherwise, it allows one sibling to essentially steal the character aptitude of the other. I think this is what has happened with Luca and Claudia Gattosi.>

“Right, so you think Luca overpowered his sister during character creation, took her aptitude and used it to get a much better class,” I pressed.

<He wouldn’t have overpowered her. It’s an odd quirk of the Twin-souled that it is only the weaker of the two that can take the aptitude from the other> Quixbix clarified.

“That must have stung his pride. I didn’t talk to him for long, but his arrogance was readily apparent. He struck me as the kind of guy to take out his inadequacies on others. Did our prisoners know if he killed her?” I asked the room.

<He can’t> Quixbix related. <While the benefits of taking her aptitude are obvious, there are several downsides for the soul thief. They are intrinsically linked to the victim. What happens to her, happens to him. The reverse is not always true, though she is prevented from acting against him and would be forced to obey his commands.>

“Sounds familiar,” Anastasia muttered to herself and winced when she saw me noticing.

Another round of corporal punishment was in her near future it seemed.

<Technically she has the same class and species as him but gains none of the benefits, while he lives. Should he die, she inherits everything, but might not be able to change any of the decisions he made. Information is a bit patchy as it is a rare occurrence.> Quixbix continued, ignoring the avatar’s interruption.

“That is excellent news. A real weakness we can exploit to take him down,” I enthused.

“We could kill her, to kill him,” Anastasia mused.

“As a last resort, yes. Although it’s not that simple,” I said with a concerned frown. “I pledged to take all that he has, leave him broken and destitute, not just kill him from afar. Quix, if we could get our hands on Claudia is there something we can do, I don’t know, to reverse the polarity of the twin-soul thing?”

<Not that I know of, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. Like I said adult Twin-souled are so rare there is much about the condition that is unclear. Plus, with the Shattered Goddess’ involvement, we can rule nothing out. You may not like this, but Dean would know for sure, and that would mean talking to him again when you level up> he replied.

“Well, that makes me feel much better,” I smiled. “Not the talking to Dean part, but I suspect I would have to do that anyway.”

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