Chapter 321. Goodbyes (Patreon)

I wait until Lucinda and Cursory are completely beyond my perception, then sunder the void and enter a new plane, a dusty flat of tan rock. As soon as I’m inside, I take the energy of the Blade of Revelation from Maria, forcing her back into her human form.

“Finally alone,” she says softly, supporting me as I stumble.

I smile and grab her hand, squeezing. I take a blanket and pillow from a void storage. Maria drapes the blanket on the ground and lightly punches the pillow. With a serious expression, she bows and gestures to the pillow. “For you, your Ancientness.”

I roll my eyes and chuckle as I scoot onto the cloth and stretch my legs, resting my head on the pillow. I withdraw Cayeun Suncloud’s transmission artifact and rub a thumb across it.

Maria knows what I’m doing, even if neither of us wants to say it out loud.

I’m saying my goodbyes.

Just in case.

Just before I click the activation button on the artifact, I change my plan on a whim. “Maria, can you find a plane that’s more aesthetically pleasing? Somewhere a bit more… fantastical?”

She nods. “Should I leave you here alone?”

“Yeah, it should be fine.”

Maria wastes no time. Blue energy builds at her fingertip and she pricks the sky, splintering it. Crumpled edges peel away like the petals of a rose. We’re not at the Edge of Eternity where the veil is unstable, and Maria isn’t exploiting a veil vulnerability like the one we took from the void, so she creates an opening that’s treacherously thin. She darts through it with confidence, entering a plane that smells like rain and damp soil.

The veil seals behind her. My muscles protest as I grab the Blade of Revelation and hold it to the transmission artifact, slashing it out with an infusion of ascendant energy.

When I activate the transmission artifact this time, my consciousness isn’t transported. Instead, I draw someone else to me.

“–looking for adven…”

I turn my head and grin. “Looking for adventure?”

Germaine gapes at me and the unfamiliar surroundings. She narrows her eyes. “Y’jeni, Ian, what did you do to your face? You look ghastly.”

I laugh and force myself to my feet. While Germaine is here, I don’t want her to notice my weakness. “It’s only temporary. I could release the transformation effect, but that would weaken me.” I brush off the dust on my pants. “It’s so like you to critique my appearance before anything else.”

She walks over, holding up her arms. “So… I’m like you, when you come to visit me.”

I nod.

“And that means that this place… it’s in Eternity?”

I smile and hold out my hand, even though I know we won’t be able to physically touch one another. She smiles and gingerly grabs at my fingers, though her digits pass through mine. She frowns. “Really, Ian–claws?”

I scoff. “Look, that isn’t my doing.” I hold up the Blade of Revelation and point to my ring of flesh shift, the one that makes my facial features more aquiline and gives me wings. “I use these to transform my body. I have little control over what the transformation looks like when using the dagger.”

She blinks. “So it’s random?”

I shrug. “Often seems to be.”

She purses her lips. “So, this thing ‘randomly’ transformed your body into the epitome of a ‘scary necromancer practitioner’? You look like something from a horror program.”

“Keep making a stink and I’ll see what it transforms you into,” I tease. “Maybe this transformation runs in the family.”

She smirks. “It would look good on Mother, not going to lie. Oh wait–what’s happened to my body back home?”

I rub my jaw. “It’s probably collapsed, like you’ve just fainted.”

“I wasn’t alone, so people will worry, but I’m not sure how I would explain why I fainted, anyways. I’ll deal with it when I go back.” She shrugs, but then her expression falls. “Ian, why have you called me today?”

I sigh. “It’s time for me to meet Achemiss.”

“You’ve tracked down his lair?”

“Yeah.” I point at the sky. “If we tear a way out of this plane, we can exit back into the void. It’s kinda like outer space, though there aren’t stars. It’s just… dark. Empty.”

Her eyes are wide. “Can I see?”

I’m weakened, but I should be able to cut through this plane’s veil vulnerability to the void. I gather energy in the blade, though just along its edge. Then I slash out, peeling back the plane to create a doorway. I hold the blade in place, forcing the plane to remain open. Germaine steps closer, peering into the fathomless abyss.

“The void,” she says, turning to me. “You travel through it?”

“Of course.”

Her face screws up. “I’d get lost. So lost.”

I pull back the dagger and the plane heals itself. Just then, Maria returns. She sees Germaine before my sister takes notice and promptly activates Suncloud’s azure diadem. Her undead pallor fades.

“Germaine,” Maria says warmly.

My sister turns in surprise. “Oh! Hello!”

I’ve told her all about me and Maria, but I can tell that Germaine is still a bit flustered meeting the famous former ruler of Selejo. It’s a bit ironic since she’s on good terms with Euryphel, who now holds even more power than the Eldemari ever did.

Maria laughs, her eyes crinkling. “Your brother asked me to find a better change of scenery. Now I understand why.”

How are you doing? Maria mentally inquires.

Well enough, though I’ll have to rely on you to split the veil.

Maria leads us through a collection of planes. Even the ones that are boring, empty expanses bring joy to Germaine’s appraising eyes. The last plane Maria brings us to is a humid jungle. Immediately upon entering, we hear running water and birdsong. Maria leads us through a copse of trees to a vale of waterfalls. Mist fills the bottom of the gorge, covering the lowlands in impenetrable white. A series of waterfalls feed into one another, water leaping from one to the next, cascading from a mountain peak all the way to the bottom of the gorge.

Even though I can’t properly hold Germaine, I can use my practice to make a platform big enough for her not to slip through. Bones stream out of my void storage and form a round disc two feet thick. Unbothered by its macabre composition, Germaine steps onto the disc and gives me a thumbs up.

I nod to Maria. She pushes off the ground, fire erupting around her, leaving the earth scorched. Germaine watches with glee. “Beautiful.”

I smile and fly up using my decemancy, dragging the bone platform up beside me.

We’re going pretty high, I transmit to Maria. It’s going to be hard for me to remain conscious like this.

Just a bit further, Maria says. You wanted fantastical–how could I fail to deliver?

At last, Maria stops. Hands joined, she and I join Germaine on the platform, the three of us standing comfortably close.

Like family.

Below us, the waterfall seems so tiny. The perspective reveals the intelligent hand of an ascendant. The myriad waterfalls form the winding length of a water dragon, with rivers forming the whiskers on its head and the spines on its back. The mist below is the smoke gushing from its mouth. And up above us, the false sun radiates the palest blue light. I could imagine that from an even loftier height, it would form the dragon’s eye.

“How did you find this place?” Germaine asks, breathless. “I thought you said that you were in the middle of nowhere.”

I had said something to that extent on the way over. “Eternity is full of surprises. You can go anywhere and find anything. That’s the point.”

“A place where nothing is impossible. You told me that before, but it’s hard to internalize.” She shakes her head as though in disbelief. “I could travel forever and never run out of inspiration. It’s heaven.”

Maria and I meet eyes.

“But what if one day, you grow tired of drawing and painting? Say you’ve visited countless of planes, seen a thousand deserts and jungles, sketched innumerable living things.” I pause. “What if your passion dries up?”

Germaine takes a breath. “Then I guess heaven would become hell, inspiration out of reach.”

We return the way we came, the atmosphere darker. When at last we return to where we started, Germaine’s expression becomes fierce.

“Ian, please don’t die. If when you meet Achemiss, you realize you have no chance at winning… please just go and leave this mess behind. Even if he intends to destroy our world, he can only do so indirectly without descending himself. We have returned ascendants who might be able to thwart him, so please. Don’t take on a fight you can’t win.”

“I don’t plan on dying,” I reply, holding out my arms for a hug. She rushes into them, her arms half passing through my ribs. “Hopefully the next time we meet, it’ll be in person.”

Her smile, as always, is the sun.

I send Germain back by clicking the artifact.

The next person I contact is Karanos; this time, I use the transmission artifact the normal way. When he sees me, he immediately understands.

“This is it, then.” He’s as stoic as ever, his face impassive, his arms folded across his chest.

I nod. “This is our last stop before we meet Achemiss.”

“Red has already made his way back. He’s shown me how much you’ve grown since you set off.” He stops for a moment as though considering his words. “Before, when this all started, I wished to gamble your life for Achemiss’s in the hopes that you’d end him with the element of surprise. Now I wonder if this is the path toward my own descent into madness. Losing Ari, I raise another protégé and send him to his death, too.”

“I’m not doing this because of your grudge alone, Karanos. Trust me.” I smile. “Besides, I’m a Death practitioner whose specialty was dying and coming back. True death, where the soul dissociates from the body, mind you.”

“That only makes me more concerned you’ll do something unreasonable,” he says, but his words are spoken halfheartedly. “Good luck, Ian. You have long roads ahead of you. Don’t let them be cut short.”

I deactivate the transmission again. Maria pulls a bottle of water to my lips as I return. My body is lethargic.

“Maria, I think it’s time,” I state, grimacing.

She lays down next to me on the blanket she spread out earlier, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

Hopefully, this won’t be the last time I can ever hold her. But it might be.

She leans against my chest, her every movement precise and careful so as not to hurt me in my weakened state. After a while, she angles her head up and kisses me tenderly, first on my throat, then on the lips.

With one hand tangled in her hair, pulling her closer with all the strength I have left, my other hand reaches for something else.

When the kiss ends, and she leans against my chest and shoulder again, I press a weathered bronze key from my hand into hers.

She stares at it, her eyebrows drawing together. “I’ve seen this somewhere before.”

“I’m not sure how that could be,” I say softly. “I’ve never shown you this key before. It’s the old key to my mother’s apartment in Jupiter.”

Her fingers begin to shake. She must realize what I’ve brought out–and why.

“You did show it to me,” she replies, breathless. Only with Suncloud’s diadem can she appear this way, human and fallible. “You showed it to me when I entered your soul, when you showed me your past.”

I blink, surprised. “Oh.”

She holds the key up, her mouth a thin, bitter line. “I want to reject this. I want to force you to take my phylactery so you’ll be more careful with your own life, but I know that it’ll only make you worry.” She grabs for the Blade of Revelation. “I won’t say what you already know.” Eyes flashing with anguish, she stabs herself and initiates the transformation. The regalia forms upon me, giving me an instant burst of strength. In moments, I’m good as new.

There’s just one last person I need to call.