Chapter 43: 41 : The Heaves of Brewing Wars

While Tsuki and the group were still stuck in Naraka, much happened in the world. The first event was accidentally caused by Tsuki. Whenever she spread her flowers, it would do so to every single flower she ever infected something with.

Back at the fishing village, she had for a fact infected the giant tentacle-like hound of Scylla with the aspect of the body. Half its face was infected as it lamented in pain at the bottom of the sea. Its long body was strewn with deep reaching roots that couldn’t be removed without risking killing it.

The poor creature screamed in pain, Tsuki had just killed Paundraka and made more flowers spread. They ate at the snake-like body while splitting its flesh to go deeper and further.

A small being linked to this beast in pain detected the flowers and made a path for them. They responded in kind like knights sent to rescue a princess. They braved the dangerous acid and digestive fluid, pushed the muscles, tore the fat, ate the nervous system, and drank the blood of this godly creature. They routed the white cells trying to cut their rank and diverted the bacteria that were no better than hungry wolves.

Those flowers of white and black, two armies fighting in perfect unison, they fought bravely at the behest of someone in need. They fought until they walked atop divine flesh.

Fort after fort were built before them, with high walls they could never brave. They bundled their roots and called to arms. This was their last fight; those marauders from a distant land had no shield against the divine.

They called their last hooray and walked forward as arrows filled with the power of the sea rained down their soft petals. The king of the black called his warrior to summon walls of roots as they moved forward. They used magic like clay to an artist and sculpted shields that broke off the flowing river of divinity produced by Scylla.

The walls came close, and the king of the white blew on a conch looted during their pillages. His most trusted knights came with lances able to pierce the heaven. They broke the first wall, the strongest of them, and an enemy cavalry with red armor used this opportunity to come out to cleave the heart of their operation.

When the first horseman came with his weapon ready, he fell to the ground as the scream of the new king of the yellow scared his steed. This king had only recently joined them but proved his use almost instantly as he fought like a beast no one could content with.

The three kings looked at one another and then at the hole in the wall that was mysteriously closing. They took one another hand and became one. The body was the king of yellow who wielded the king of white in the form of a spear while protected by the king of black as an armor of exquisite craftsmanship.

The army behind did the same and followed their kings who headed into the land of God.

They fought their hardest fight and barely managed to move deeper into enemy lines. Still, they fought even when many died. The battlefield was filled with countless bodies with the two sides constantly recovering with endless reinforcement.

But it was all stopped when the three kings supply line was cut. They had created many paths by sending battalions to open more walls and this wasn’t the issue at hand. Their kingdom itself was destroyed…

Scylla had had enough and ripped her infected son from her body; she would destroy the infection at a later point and re-consume his body to birth it anew again.

The enemy forces closed in on the kings who had no choice but to follow the path made by the mysterious traitor. With no food or water to nourish them, their number kept dropping down. They tired but fought, their blades raised high with moral burning bright, they killed their way forward.

They found a large castle and clashed against its heavy door. Without any protection against arrows, they were almost annihilated. The king of the yellow screamed and smashed wildly against the castle’s doors while arrows and blades pierced his body and finally, only when the three kings remained did they manage to enter…

❖

 

Pleione, the girl who never was born, saw a strange flower enter her abode.

She ran towards this intruder, stumbling along the way, and looked at it intently. It was the first thing she ever saw other than her prison of flesh. It was beautiful, mesmerizing…

It smelled of licorice and abatina; wild and sweet with hints of tangled freedom. It felt wrong like an abating nightmare waiting to surge back at any moment notice.

Still, the unborn girl imagined the flower creator. It was just a strange figure in a colorless field at first but soon details filled the painting with flower blooming. Pleione imagined herself in this strange imaginary world. She ran toward the figure with her hand drawn outward. Because she wasn’t used to moving, she tripped on a root.

She closed her eyes, scared of the coming impact she had never experienced before. It never came. She surprised herself by opening her eyes to see herself caught by the figure she was chasing. Green, such beautiful green eyes looking down at her. It was the first time she saw this color and she was entranced by it.

She wanted to know more about this person, to be by their side, to be saved by them, and for them to call her name… Little Pleione got closer, put her head on their shoulders such that their hair tickled her nose and whispered her name into their ear, “Save me, and Pleione will be yours forever.”

؞

 

Scylla screamed at the death of her son, which she was greatly at fault for. She wanted to catch the weak humans she had allowed to escape but was stopped by her own daughter. Her rage was so great that she wanted to rip this disloyal kid. They fought with one another which led to the daughter clamping her jaw onto the mother’s large belly; it was a threat that if she didn't calm down, she would lose everything.

It was effective and the mother stopped. She was dejected at her misfortune, but her mood improved when this same unfilial daughter drew a map in the sand below the sea. It was a war map with a plan of attack perfectly laid down. It dictated that Scylla needed to head south while following the coast to go around the Forest of Mirrors. Then intrude the free kingdoms. It was a land of poverty and war with many lakes and swamps. It was perfect as a source of water for the goddess’s fish-based army. She only needed to infect them with her miasma, and they would become advantageous outposts. From there, she would need to go north-east and attack a fort from its south – where it was less defended. It had to be where the survivors would go.

Scylla accepted with glee and instantly mobilized her forces. The dead son was carried along while small fish ate the uncorrupted flesh only to then be consumed by the goddess. The sickly son whose disposition hadn’t improved since his time as a human, dragged along the sea floor which would have long lasting repercussions. A new hound followed with strange spasms while whispering, “Farishta, ho dear Farishta.” It was Carlson… He was after all the grandfather of her kids.

While they went their merry way, the daughter who couldn’t speak had a wicked smile. She was the only one with a conscience that wasn’t corrupted by Scylla. She was blessed with a great mind yet lacked emotion. This became more of a blessing than anything as she became virtuous without emotions getting in her way. While still young, she understood the reason behind her brothers’ death and escaped the fishing village to seek revenge. She wanted this person, that used to be her mother, dead above all else…

⧻

 

Back in the snowy mountains in the north, the one that Yuu had found powerful monstrosities ready to invade the world, the Devourer who was wounded by Yassil and two other gods was hiding in a cave. It first wanted to go back to the top of the highest mountain but was attacked by the monstrosities that seemingly appeared from thin air.

This misfortune had allowed it to find the entrance to a strange world of rusted mechanical parts. They barely moved and did anything. As a god of gluttony, it wanted to simply consume everything, but its life experience taught him the use of nurturing things. A sack of seeds could act as a snack, but if they all grew, they would be a delicious meal.

The hungry beast began to slowly eat at the rust to heal its wounds. It was curious about this mechanical world which led it to explore and tinker with it. It soon understood the marvel of what this was; a weapon of unimaginable power made during the war of creation…

Outside the cavern, the abominations of change trapped in Yuu’s seal had already managed to break free. They had sent scouting parties in the surrounding area. Their ruler was somewhere, waiting to be rescued; they simply didn’t know where it was. In total, six groups were formed with two of them disguised as normal people of this world.

Those monsters were the spawns of the river of change. Always changing, never the same. They were both destructors and protectors. An abomination to stagnation and eternity but a blessing to the weak and mortal.

۝

 

In the chamber of a castle floating above a sprawling city, a messenger appearing from thin shadows got on his knees while breathing heavily. Shadows entered his body to set him straight while forcing him to talk, “Majesty, grave news have bro---” His body twisted like a wet cloth someone was wringing. He fell dead, without a word, on the ground as blood started spreading over a violet carpet displaying a king saving his people.

A man hiding behind a curtain only letting his shadow be seen snapped his fingers so that strange shadows entered the dead messenger and raised him as an undead. He spoke under the control of his creator the messages that were entrusted with his life, “General Arthur has deserted his post; the south is lost to the savages. We lost all communication with the ship sent into the sea of void. Reports of many gods sighting as follows: Devourer noticed in the sky above the moonlit forest, a fishing village destroyed by its local god, and the river of change found in the mountains. Message from the revolutionary movement said: Calaeno will be born.”

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The last words of the undead were followed by the explosion of his body. Sharp metal spikes were sent all over the room. It was an assassination attempt on the emperor. Sadly for the revolutionary movement, the assassination had failed remarkably. The spikes had destroyed the curtain, but there was no one behind.

Then a warm and commanding voice whispered in the right ear of everyone still alive in the room such as wounded guard or lucky servant, “Investigate everyone this messenger talked to. EVERYONE!”

A guard who had distinguished himself for his service to his lord dared respond to the voice, “Those fake gods! What should be done with---” Then the guard froze in horror at the shadow that appeared in front of him. It was almost like a creature pulled directly from the worst kind of nightmare.

It was unimaginably disgusting to look at as the creature – the emperor – lifted the poor guard by stabbing his shoulder with a meter long finger. It was red, meaty, and made of many sections the same length of normal fingers.

From the middle of the figure came out a head cloaked in darkness. At its sight, everyone felt dizzy. Even the ground started to crack with odd light posts coming out from the holes. Maybe reality itself was trying to light up this shadowy figure but it simply made it worse by contrasting with everything else.

The guard was forced to take it all in. He was an honest man who accepted to be a guard out of admiration for the emperor… Those were just propaganda he believed…

“Deal. With. It. Yourself,” said the emperor before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

An emblem was left on the ground just in front of the guard. He had technically been promoted, but now needed to deal with a bunch of gods by himself… He wanted to kill himself right then right now… Alas this wasn’t something he could afford to do. He was the eldest of five brothers and two sisters who needed to eat. With no parents to care for them, he was the only one left.

The guard got up with pain, the emblem in his pocket, and clutching his bleeding shoulder, he left the floating castle. Not known to him at the time, he would return years later as a hero loved by the people…

As for the capital, it had stagnated because of the emperor who was more interested in immortality than taking care of his people. Those were all so appetizing to the river of change…

҉

 

The puppet of Yuu who had rescued the villager from the nemwer in the snowy mountain had finally reached a village. She had sent a few letters of her finding to important people and was the reason this information managed to reach the emperor ears.

She was getting ready to leave the village and go back to Daybreak. The mushroom boy she rescued wanted to follow her to see the world outside his secluded city.

The puppet wasn’t equipped with making big decisions and thus couldn’t really refuse. Along the way, a few people joined them to be safer on the road. The trip would only take a week at most, meaning she would arrive in the village before Tsuki does.

֍

 

Another odd event that took place was the awakening of the lord of dreams – the being Fi had seen floating above Paundraka’s corpse. She was a hero from another planet, the one visible in the sky which Tsuki had managed to take a glance off in the calm night sky. A planet that was destroyed by the greed of one ruler…

With the awakening of the lord of dreams, partial as it may be, a fissure was made in the Forest of Mirror of which nightmarish creatures came out.

The moment such monsters manifested, Alphonse, with the others, had reached the location the lightning snake pointed to. While he was collecting twigs for a nearby fire, blood started leaving his body from every single orifice.

The poor boy dropped what he collected while turning with pleading eyes to his fishy hero, he was too far away from him. He stumbled forward, the twigs breaking under him, and he crumbled down heavily on the grass floor. Luk appeared behind him without making a sound and caught the boy before his head could crash against a pointy rock.

Luk became curious of the boy the moment he touched him. Alphonse’s soul had left his body, yet he was still alive, just unconscious. “Here I thought he was just a normal guy… Maybe my judgment of him was too harsh. Maybe I can use him…” said Luk who was at a loss for words when the fish-like creature came next to him. It had walked toward him when he wasn’t looking but never felt it come closer.

Either its presence was this minuscule or it was an adept assassin. The latter is less likely than the first.

❀

 

Back in Naraka, the group was taking a short rest around a fire. The haggard man turned out to be the one who used to manage every document in the temple. With everyone dying and all hell breaking loose, he barely managed to survive while hiding in the flooded basement. He called himself Gupta. Although Hoomaikai called him out that he had to be hiding something – otherwise, how could he survive for this long – but Fi was the one to respond by saying that everyone had to have their own secrets.

After he was freed, he left to calculate the damages in the lord’s room which he couldn’t enter up to this point. He wanted to repair the temple to its former glory. With a heavy sigh followed by the realization that the reconstruction of the temple was impossible for him alone as he was but a glorified bookkeeper, he went back to the group and questioned them as follows, “Who among you is the leader? For I can reward them with delayed riches for helping Paundraka be reborn.”

Tsuki, at the promise of riches, got up and declared herself the leader. Gupta thought it would have been the flying spirit but nonetheless gave a violet gem like no other to the girl. He added that other than its beauty, it could be used to create a gate leading back to this temple. There were many other gems like this one, most of worse quality that were used by servants, but one was said to be more wonderful than the one in Tsuki’s hands but was in the possession of the missing lord. While he was away, Tsuki had complete control over the temple affair. If she wanted, she could help in its repair and once it was able to run as it used to, would receive all the ablation she ever wanted…

-

 

*Gupta took a broom and started cleaning the master room and the adjacent corridors.*

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*Gupta was attacked by a blob and the cries disturbed him. Gupta started researching how to deal with them.*

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*Gupta found a large chest with something inside. He lacked the tools to open the chest.*

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End of Gupta’s progress for the week.