[MA] 382. Seed (Patreon)

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[A/N: Chapters this week: 3/3

Next chapter: Tuesday]

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Hundreds of high-elven and drow B-ranks stood by the edge of the Voided Corner of the universe, waiting for the call to move forward. A Node had been destroyed, and Reality had lost its hold over everything the Node had once supported. The Void had been quick to advance, destroying everything in its wake. Now, Space abruptly ended and gave in to the Void where countless galaxies once stood. That universe was permanently crippled beyond repair. The other Nodes were strained and it was only a matter of a few Standard years before everything was gone.

Everyone from C-rank and up in the now-extinct Samir Node had been teleported away in time. D-ranks and lower had been teleported in order of importance. Their rank obviously came first, then their service history, then their perceived loyalty to the Alliance, and finally, their background.

Countless lives were lost. The Republic of Imperia suffered its most terrible loss since its conception.

The gratitude the Queen of Spring and Autumn felt for Imperia's Grand Senator and Long Hei for sending her race away just before disaster struck was part of the reason she accepted the deal she was offered. Another reason was the price Liya was willing to pay.

Yet, foremost among all reasons was her motherly love—or so Darla claimed.

"The proud hot lady won't tell you that..." Darla said through her Realization, which Liya had allowed to enter her body. Not that resisting it would have done her any good. "...but she's thankful for the opportunity to send her child away. She's afraid of the Void Tide and incoming war and wants a seed of her race—and her own blood, of course—far away from the Alliance. It's a shame we'll need to kill the baby. And her, obviously. I don't want a Titled A-rank with a vendetta on my tail."

Liya wouldn't be able to control her shock without Darla's Realization holding her firm. "What?!" she replied eventually, using her atoms to speak by moving them inside her body.

Darla looked at her as if she were an idiot. "Wait, did you mean it when you said you would become her servant for a hundred Standard years at B-rank and another hundred more after reaching A-rank? You're a stupid little drow, aren't you? We're killing the baby, of course. Her Realization isn't strong enough to birth the thing we'll put inside her unless we steal the miracle of life from the legitimate fetus."

"I won't allow that," Liya said firmly.

"You'd rather Shen die?" Darla asked.

"Yes," Liya confirmed without thinking twice.

Liya's hands were tainted with the blood of her enemies, but killing an innocent baby and their mother to save someone else crossed a line. Stealing the "miracle of life" sounded bad, not to mention Liya had begged that mother for help.

Liya was drow. The drow understood the pain of betrayal better than most races. Darla would understand it if she were a true drow, but it seemed the Denier also denied her own essence.

Liya still didn't know who Darla was, but she was twisted.

"Would you rather owe the boy for all eternity without ever being able to repay it?" Darla insisted. "You won't be able to advance your Realization like that. Your Realization and your heart have been split by Shen's erasal. You must go ahead with this to realign them."

"It's also because of my Realization that I can't accept such death!" Liya countered. She was Karmic Balance. Such a vile act was against everything she believed in.

Darla sighed. "So be it. Go ahead and cancel the ritual. It won't work without the sacrifice." She removed her Realization from Liya.

Liya waited for a big reveal or magic solution that never came. Darla was serious. They either killed the Queen's baby for Shen, or he would not come back to life.

She froze for a moment. She had already paid a lot to bring the Queen and all those B-ranks here during a Void Tide. Not going ahead with it almost felt like choosing to let Shen die.

Yet, Shen himself wouldn't want to be born by killing the brother of his high-elven friend and his mother. Honoring his wishes would also lower her debt to him in her heart.

Liya wondered if Darla had handcrafted such a situation to help Liya after she refused to go on—or if she believed Liya would accept such a thing for her Realization.

She turned to the Queen beside her and said, "Darla wants to kill your baby."

From the absolute surprise Liya felt in the A-rank drow, Liya guessed Darla had also miscalculated how much Liya hated her. Darla had stopped Liya from getting to Shen. Darla was manipulating not only the Queen but also Liya herself. This entire situation wouldn't exist if Liya had gotten to Shen—even if she died in the process. Liya's Realization, everything she believed in, had been denied at that moment, and it irked her.

Darla had also lied; she had said the matter in the Node would be good for Shen—yet Shen was gone.

The Queen immediately teleported away while Liya screamed, "Kill the traitor!" and charged against Darla with the hundreds of B-ranks from Shar'Talon. They obeyed her command rather than the random A-rank. Darla was drow, but she wasn't one of them.

The high elves also attacked Darla after an instant, obviously following an order sent by the Queen after leaving.

Liya felt goosebumps when she felt Darla's surprise turn into pleasure.

"Oh, girl, what a pure Realization!" Darla said. "What a sense of justice! But can you feel it? The missing karmic debt from these people to Shen because he no longer exists? You can't, can you? How about... now?"

Darla's Realization reached the boundary between Reality and the Void—and beyond. From nothingness, she pulled a "cable" of Void Energy. It evidently connected two points, and Darla was stretching it.

As soon as it manifested in Reality, every high elf was touched by the Void. There was no link extending from the cable to the elves. In one instant, they weren't tainted by the Void. The next instant, they were.

Liya thought she glimpsed something about cause and effect, and its destruction, and its permanence through the impermanence of the Void, determining those people were to be tainted—

She shook her head. Not the time for revelations.

Liya's Realization-fueled attack failed to reach Darla, just as every domain and attack thrown by everyone else. The damn A-rank was that powerful. Liya had hoped otherwise.

Darla let go of the cable, which disappeared back into the Void. Her smile widened, and she said, "You are forgiven, youngling Liya. Contaminating these people eased the risks on me. Now, I can move freely without fear of being contaminated myself. It's a shame for the boy, but that's your choice to make. We'll see each other again if you survive the Void Tide."

She disappeared. She didn't teleport away but just ceased to exist at that point in Spacetime. Liya had never seen something like that, and it helped showcase the difference between them.

She sighed as she turned to her people and the high elves; she had a diplomatic incident to solve.

As for Shen...

Her heart ached, but she was used to losing people. Still, her heart also eased. She knew she had made a choice he would approve of. She would keep honoring his memory.

"Goodbye, my almost love," she thought and got to business.

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"No," Long Hei replied.

Darla frowned. That was not the answer she was expecting. She hadn't had the time to assess how the recent events had affected everyone, but her guesses, in this case, were way off.

"You'll let him die?" she asked.

"Can't you see I already paid the price for associating with him?" the lizard replied unhappily.

In the darkness of the Abyss, Darla looked at the abyssal dragon's body. He was missing half his body. Being in the middle of a Node during its destruction was terrible for his health. Not even S-ranks could destroy Nodes—not alone, at least—which reflected how much power had been present when Shen killed Sharendil.

The cthulhu holding the chains to the dragon's soul had fared even worse, now no more than a head and a couple of tentacles. It had already been almost a whole Standard month, yet they had trouble healing.

"That's not on him," Darla countered. "Reality and the Void did that to you, not Shen. He's as much a victim as you. More, actually."

Long Hei didn't even reply.

"One scale," Darla insisted. "It won't matter to you. I can buy it."

The dragon closed its eyes and went back to sleep.

Darla considered her options. Taking the scale by force would be easy but set the Primordial Brigade against her. The dragon was their property, and they wouldn't like it being damaged or pillaged.

She sighed and left. It was time for a much more complicated conversation.

Ah, the things she did for her people!

At least the gambit with Youngling Liya had already paid off. She really liked that little one. So much potential paired with the correct principles! As soon as Liya stepped into the A-rank, Darla would allow herself to risk her life attempting to elevate her Realization and reach S-rank. The drow would be in good hands with Liya if anything happened.

But that was for later. Now, the focus was saving Shen.

She'd be damned if she let the big bitch called Reality use and discard a drow like that and did nothing about it.

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"I accept," the Gardener said.

Darla's eyes widened in surprise. She had not expected the old asshole to accept it so readily. "Did you understand my plan?"

The white-haired and long-bearded golden-skinned humanoid smiled. The S-rank wore a white E-rank robe and sat on a simple wooden stall in the cozy but not very stylish café. His blue eyes were filled with enjoyment at her confusion. His warm smile radiated mature kindness.

Heavens, how Darla hated his existence! It was anathema to her! He was so sincere and his Realization so firm she couldn't Deny its influence on her. She felt herself warming up to the guy!

He replied, "You a seed of the World Tree, of which there is only one every million Standard years, to consume the Undying Emissary and be corrupted by the Void, then use it as a catalyst to bring back a kid from the dead."

"Not the dead," Darla corrected. "He never died. The Undying Emissary wouldn't be 'undying' otherwise. It lives as long as Shen's essence is frozen in time and existing." That was important. Bringing people back from the dead was much more complicated.

"Yes, I understand," the Gardener said, sipping his tea.

The Void Spawn that Shen had set loose on the infernals had wreaked havoc in the Fire Ocean before an S-rank bothered to intervene. The infernals had lost two of their three A-ranks just like that. The third had hidden away while the creature killed countless infernals.

It had been glorious.

That S-rank quickly discovered that mutated Emissary couldn't be killed for good. No S-ranks knew why, as far as Darla could tell. They lacked the context.

Darla knew why. After the Emissary killed the first A-rank infernal, its target, it reverted to targetting Shen, the original target. But Shen was also impossible to kill in his current state. So, that Void Spawn just existed in a kind of limbo. An S-rank was holding it prisoner at all times.

There were, of course, ways to get rid of it. Expensive ones. No one was willing to pay it—except, it seemed, the Gardener, who was known to treasure the World Tree and its seeds more than his life. The only thing he hated more was for the World Tree to be corrupted or linked to anything impure, like the Void or blood from dead beings.

Darla had come prepared to get attacked just for suggesting her deal.

"After using the seed to counter the Emissary's existence and convert it into Void Energy, which will be absorbed by the seed," she continued, "I'll feed the seed the kid's blood essence from when he was D-rank. The rank gap to his last state of existence means I'll also need to feed the seed a lot of orc blood to resonate with the drop of orc blood essence the kid had in his blood. It still won't be enough unless the link between the consumed Emissary and the kid remains in the seed and reacts correctly to all that blood essence. You never know with the Void. The seed might be corrupted for no reason."

The Gardener nodded patiently. "That was clear the first time you explained it to me."

Darla kept going, "Then, I'll use my Heretic Realization to Deny his erasal. If it works, the seed will be consumed to give birth to a mixed breed of orc, human, and tree. I'll then Deny his existence so it looks like he was unmade again, hoping it will fool the Primordials. Half the seed's essence will be used to help me with that. At the same time, I'll remake him as a pure drow, cutting his physical ties with the past so he can't be tracked that way. I'll then bring him to you to deal with the aftermath that will happen in his True Self because his species changed. Then, I'll leave. I can't be connected to him. No one who met him can. I'll Deny my own memories of saving him and let him live his life however it happens." She paused, then added, "He'll be Void-Tainted from birth and remain a Void Harbinger."

The Gardener hated both Void-Tainted people and Void Harbingers. Yet, he nodded kindly and said, "You added no new information."

"Alright, I'll bite. Why would you accept it? You didn't even let me say how much I'm willing to pay."

He caressed his beard and looked at her briefly before saying, "What is the sole rule I enforce over everyone who comes to my World Tree?"

"No politics beyond expected in a small city," Darla replied.

He nodded. "I hate not only politics but also everything it represents. I researched this boy's life as soon as you mentioned him. He was used by almost everyone he got in touch with. His father used him for his own feelings. His race used him for protection. A Primordial used him for hubris. Even his almost-lover manipulated him when they first met so he would grow stronger with drow methods—all because someone made him drow without his knowledge. He had some genuine help, but a good chunk of it was tainted. The cthulhus' Realization Impartation, the military's gifts, your interference to 'help' him when the little drow wanted to assist him." Darla showed surprise at that. "Yes, the system registered it. I think the Admin was nearby. In the end, Reality itself used him.

"And after all that, he was discarded.

"Even if he gets reborn, he'll have no Reality-given talent. That makes no one interested in helping him for what he can give them. His almost lover, according to you, 'honored his memory' by letting him die instead of killing someone for him. The dragon who gave him dragon genes without his knowledge or permission, which led to the Abyss-Primordial Brawl that every abyssal creature resents, is upset at the kid for almost causing the dragon's death. And even you seek to use this opportunity to physically turn him into drow, then forget about him.

"I accepted your plan because the injustice he suffered repeatedly moved my heart.

"He'll be reborn without any of the exceptional things he had before. No first-class talent, no dragon gene, no abyssal connection, not even his unique human unconscious anti-Void quirk because he'll be drow. I'll give him a fresh start unconnected to me. No one here will be interested in him for anything more than what he truly is.

"For the first time in his life, he'll have the opportunity to live as normal a life as he can.

"I cherish it and want to give it to him. I also cherish the opportunity to pay heavily to give it to him—with one seed of my uniquely grown World Tree, no less. It's a form of apotheosis for me. Helping such a creature, who even killed a Primordial yet is so wretched, will strengthen the core of my Realization and deepen my power.

"I help him, he helps me. We're even. He can then live free."

Darla found no falsehoods in the Gardener's explanation. She had hoped Shen's pitifulness would move him, but she hadn't thought it would be to that point. She blamed her lack of information on the enigmatic S-rank, who managed to stay apart from everything in the Alliance and still be a part of it.

She wasn't even sure Shen would be safe-ish in the World Tree, as opposed to being desiccated and studied as soon as she was gone. He had gone through many almost unique experiences, and there should be something to gain by researching him.

"If you say so," Darla replied. "Can I have the seed now?"

"It's already in your spatial ring," he replied. "Good luck." He sipped his tea.

Darla immediately rushed to the S-rank holding the Undying Emissary captive. The less time she spent with an S-tier item in her spatial ring, the better. If an S-rank felt it and stole it... She didn't want to find out how the Gardener would deal with her.

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