The Gamer Chapter 1128 – Back in Black 11 – Two Prides (Patreon)

As they walked through the mansion, John silently investigated the numerous little tingles triggering his barrier-sensing. Reaching out with his mind was all that he needed to do to that end, given how close he was to the sources. It turned out that the entire estate was filled with small to medium sized barriers. What was inside them was anybody’s guess, but the structure lent itself to increased secrecy and made it difficult for invaders to properly coordinate their efforts. The upkeep on the entire system must have cost a fortune, especially with the lack of Fateweavers within the Order itself.

Ultimately, John and Momo were led into the conference room. Its medieval display was surprisingly barren, with only a large and majestic table at the centre showing any sort of grand splendour. With its size and circular shape, it could have come straight out of Arthurian legend. The number of seats didn’t match, however, and neither did the large golden rose that filled out the polished smooth surface leave any doubts about who this actually belonged to.

At first it was just the four of them in the room, then the rest of the harem also joined them. Nobody had to ask whether the meeting would be held only between the two Brightons and the entirety of John and his harem. It was all too obvious that this place was an entrance to a specific Protected Space.

“Stand there,” William instructed John and pointed at a dark red circle in the grey stone floor. Wanting to hurry this along, the Gamer obeyed without snide remarks. The leader and the Warden of the Order went to the other side of the round table, and then raised their arms. John copied the motion.

John was tense for a few seconds upon entering the Illusion Barrier. If there was an ambush to be sprung on them, it would have occurred at this moment. No hostilities were thrown their way. No open ones, anyway.

The previously blank and vacant room was replaced with one drowning in dazzling light and activity. Only red and gold banners, decorating the walls, changed the hall itself. All other splendour came from the various groups that stood in triangle formations of ten at perfectly spaced distance around the room.

The head of each formation was typically a heavily armoured knight, with their helmet under their arm. Each row behind them was slightly less impressive in their equipment, ending with soldiers who only had metal additions to leather armour and tabards. Shields were almost universally worn, while the proper armament varied.

Those formations John had previously seen at New Alexandria. Obviously, not the entirety of that army was cramped into the room. It must have been an honour to attend this meeting, even for soldiers that had no role to play in diplomacy regularly. They were also joined by various non-combatant roles standing in formation, such as the overseers and the regular seers. Lorelei stood in the second row of the seer formation.

Looking around, John found that each of the formations stood in one of the red stone circles, with the leader staring unwaveringly towards one of the many seats arranged around the round table. Six servants stepped out between the formations closest to William and Moira, carrying various pieces of plate armour.

‘This must be your personal heaven,’ John remarked towards Beatrice, while respectfully waiting for the leadership of the Order to have their armour equipped. ‘Everything is nice and orderly.’

‘Complaint: the candles on the chandelier are unequally burned.’

John looked up at the brass construction under the ceiling. He hadn’t paid attention to it before, but now that she had said it, he couldn’t unsee it. ‘Goddammit, Bae.’

William raised his voice and his two-handed sword. Of all the sturdy suits of knight armour around, his was the least decorated and he was also the only one to not wield a shield. As he spoke, his voice boomed with authority. “Members of the Order of the Golden Rose, sworn to service to the Wardens of the Shield, sworn to the Lady, let your oath be heard for our guests.”

“”For the Lady, we live. The innocent, we protect. Our duty for the safety of all, to curb the excesses of magic, and to ensure the radiance of another golden day. May the roses blossom in the garden whose walls we patrol!”” The chorus of voices echoed from the walls with religious fervour. Armoured and naked feet all together stomped once to signal the end of that oath.

‘Golden day, blossoming roses… wonder if the name came from that or if the oath was adopted to fit the name,’ John thought. As impressive as this whole display was on paper, he had seen so many other things that a magical order of paladins displaying their discipline was nothing more than flattering. By the way they behaved, it wasn’t meant to be more either. This was basically the Abyssal equivalent of a small military parade welcoming a foreign leader.

“Knights and leaders, step forwards,” William ordered, taking the first stride towards the table himself. He placed his large blade an arm’s length before him on the table. The other knights did the same, while the non-combatants among the leaders put down items representative of their craft at the same distance. Following the example of the Lord-Protector, they all sat down afterwards. Three chairs were left open on John’s side of the table. “We greet today: John Newman, the Gamer, blessed by the Lady, carrying her favour, and president of Fusion. As much as we would like to honour the entirety of our guests, the size of our table is limited. Please, three of you, sit down. The rest may stand close or at the back, however you prefer.”

That was reasonable enough and John gestured for Momo to walk towards the leftmost of the three chairs. Either Beatrice, as a member of the government, or Rave, as the First Lady, should have gone into the rightmost one. John decided to go with the former. He also decided to break convention by having the latter take the middle seat. Rather than sit down himself, he sat behind his pleased girlfriend and scratched her behind the cat ears while leaning against the tall, stone backrest.

“This will work for us,” the Gamer told everyone and looked over his shoulder. The majority of the harem fell back to the wall, not particularly interested in politics. Aclysia stuck close, Gnome and Stirwin manifested to represent the elementals, and Nia remained only a pace away.

“…As you say,” William Brighton responded, his voice reflecting mild annoyance. He made a simple gesture with his hand and Lorelei pulled out from her formation along the wall and positioned herself between the chairs of the Lord-Protector and the Shield Warden. “Our most talented seer, Lorelei of house Varnik, will assure us that you speak the truth during this meeting.”

John turned his attention to Lorelei. The focus of his gaze did make her tremble for a moment, but the usual blushing and squirming was suppressed by her clenching jaw. Clearly, she was doing her best to keep it proper. With a glance at the ring on her finger, a ring he had gifted her, the Gamer made it easier on her and reduced the intensity of his presence. “I will allow it, in this instance,” John said in a serious tone. He hated it when people dug into his mind.

“Then let us begin with the original reason for this meeting,” the Lord-Protector said, taking control over the procedures. “Although you have illuminated the world on much regarding what has happened in the Death Zone, you promised a reveal of it all. If you would.”

“Alright,” John straightened up behind his puring girlfriend and clapped his hands. The level of stuck-up-edness they displayed made his contrarian side demand that he was almost idiotically jolly. A growl by Stirwin recommended a more grounded course of behaviour. The Gamer stuck to that advice. “To begin with, I want everyone here to swear to secrecy. Nothing that I will share with you here should be discussed with anyone outside this room at this moment.”

“In the name of the Order, I swear,” William responded swiftly. At least this was a topic they saw eye to eye on. “Continue with your report.”

“I’m not one of your underlings, William,” John responded warningly. The two prideful men just stared at each other for a number of seconds, before Moira leaned over to her father with a pleading look.

“Inform us on what you have seen, please, Gamer,” the Lord-Protector rephrased, grinding his teeth.

John moved on as if nothing had happened, walking between the three chairs afforded to his side as he spoke. “The official reports we have given out are true in the broad strokes of things. We lost soldiers along the borders, eventually I decided to go in myself, taking the combatants among my harem with me, and try to eliminate the heart of the problem. We were pulled into the Death Zone and found a Lorylim infestation that had festered for decades. The fall of the Gestalt guilds provided an excess of bodies for them to fuel their efforts, so my theory. Overseeing the entire operation was Enki, the god of stars from ancient Mesopotamia, along with a respectable number of Metracanas. They were all being controlled by the goddess of chaos Tiamat, however, who had melded with the Lorylim between two and three thousand years back.”

“Melded with?” Moira picked out on the discrepancy in this report between what John said now and what he had left out when addressing the public. “We were under the impression that we had finally tracked the source of those vile spawns.”

“The truth is annoyingly quite complicated and I don’t know the entirety either,” John responded, stopping behind Momo’s seat for the moment. “When it comes to the origin of the Lorylim, I’ve theorized, and the Horned Rat agrees with me on this, that they are the remains of a pre-human civilization of fungal lifeforms. Lorylim was either their name or the name of the god of genocide they produced that then wiped them out, absorbing all their souls in the process and forming the schizophrenic hivemind of hatred that Gaia then locked away for unknown reasons. Similarly unknown is why Gaia would then throw Tiamat into the same prison. Either way, the goddess of chaos exerted her will on that mess of self-hating energy and infected it with discord.”

Momo seized a small break in his announcement to add, “We aren’t against informing the public about this particular bit, we just haven’t verified enough to warrant an update on our previous story.”

“More important is the third aspect of the Lorylim that we keep being in contact with,” John continued after a nod. “A former human, called Izha.”

The Gamer left it there and let the implication of those words settle in by themselves. Refreshingly, he was talking to people whose main concern was the corruption of innocence. They instantly realized why John would keep that particular part of the story a secret.

“Gamer, do you mean to tell us that it is possible for humans to attain leadership over the Lorylim?” William asked, just to be certain.

“In a way, yes. Although I wouldn’t guess there’s much left of the original person,” John responded swiftly. “His will pulls the Lorylim in certain directions, just like those of Tiamat and whatever remains of their original consciousness do. The good news is that they’re typically at odds with one another, adding to the already chaotic mess they are.”

“What does this Izha want?” the Lord-Protector asked.

“Nothing.”

“What a joke, I thought you were here to be-“

“Milord,” Lorelei interrupted, before John’s dark stare could, “the honoured Gamer is speaking the truth.”

“Izha is a nihilist, through and through. I don’t know if that was a requirement to get where he is or an unfortunate side effect. Regardless, the only thing he seems to want is for everything to end and for everyone else to accept that the end is the only valuable thing that exists,” John got through his explanation.

“You could have said that and spared us the misunderstanding,” Willian complained.

“I anticipated at least a moment of patience from you,” John shot back.

“Insolent little…” The Lord-Protector bit back the remaining words. “Did anything else of note happen inside the Death Zone?”

“No detail that would benefit you in your mission.”

Looking over his shoulder, the redheaded paladin confirmed with his seer. Then, he returned to John. “Then the question of this meeting transforms from your encounter to the Lorylim of how we deal with the Lorylim. If there even will be a ‘we’.”

“Fusion will have no problem integrating the forces of the Order into its ranks,” the Gamer said immediately.

“The Order of the Golden Rose is a knightly organization with hundreds of years of experience in pushing back against the dark forces,” the Lord-Protector pushed back immediately. “Lady as my witness, I swear that you will only benefit from putting your forces under our command instead.”

“With all due respect, you’ve had hundreds of years and an inheritable Innate Ability, and all that you managed to put together is this,” John gestured at the hall around them and then at himself. “I clawed a realm out of the scattered forces of the continent in the span of a year that has the economic power to not just equip a trained core, but a military that can cover the entirety of the realm.”

“Just more innocents to be sent into the slaughter, blinded by the confidence you instil in them,” William growled. “Concentrate on defence if you will, but that power is better gathered behind us, so we can cut the head off the beast.”

“You do not have the power to do that.”

“And you do?”

“Yes.”

“Raw arrogance.”

“Ah, and when you do it, it’s a blessed certainty?”

“The Lady will guide us to victory.”

“Your Lady has blessed me many more times than you in recent times.”

“The power of the Warden is a blessing incomparable to your temporary favour.”

“Whatever you think, it remains true that you joining Fusion would make all of this easier,” John insisted. “The Order of the Golden Rose could stop being burdened by administrative obligations and focus on the pursuit of evildoers. Within boundaries, you’d have my support operating all over the continent.”

“It is correct that Fusion could lift the burden of administration from us. Yet, I see not why your federation shouldn’t do so in service to our ultimate goal of peace for the entirety of her Lady’s creation.”

“Because armies with states are horrible ideas. We call those robber barons.”

“A robber baron is an unjust person. We are not unjust.”

“Maybe you aren’t now. MAYBE. But hogging the entirety of a world power’s resources to elevate your fighting capacity is not something I’d risk falling into other hands down the line. Even as it stands, Fusion will overpower you anyway. If not now, then in another year.”

“You talk so much about your meteoric rise, Gamer, yet you forget the territory we now sanctify.”

“That’s a nice word for conquest.”

“They are better off under us.”

“And they’d be even better off under an administration that doesn’t think it pisses holy water.”

“Arrogant curr!”

“Sanctimonious cu-“

“ENOUGH!” the Celestial Devourer screamed. For a moment, the averagely sized crocodile was enveloped in a light that betrayed the infinite potential lying under those glowing scales. Leaping onto the table, Stirwin hissed at the two leaders in turn. “Your posturing leads nowhere. It took you less than ten minutes of talking to one another to forget the true threat. Remember the terror that lurks somewhere in this world, ready to devour both of you if you stand divided!”

Embarrassed silence, as John averted his eyes and crossed his arms simultaneously. He knew that his light spirit was right. He also knew that any discussion with William would just circle back to this. They agreed that the Lorylim were dangerous. They also agreed that they wouldn’t be subjugated by the other.

The pressure in the room grew, while Stirwin prowled over the table, growling ever-louder. At one point or another, the infinity elemental would snap at them again, unless somebody opened their mouth.

“Alrighty,” Rave surprised everyone by standing up and taking charge of things, “so, let’s get things in order… Momo, ya do that.”

“Me?” the sassy support looked like a deer in the headlights.

“Girl, I can take charge of situations, I have no idea how to actually solve this. So go ahead, use that big brain of yours, while tiger remembers that he has one under that pride of his.”

To the backdrop of John grumbling to himself, Momo cleared her throat and tried her best. “…Okay, so, since Jane is now using me to solve her problems for her… I think we can solve this pretty easily, really. Warden Moira?” The Warden perked up when addressed. “Wouldn’t you agree that there is a person at this table that not only has investment in a peaceful solution but also the necessary foresight to find one?”

The Shield Warden hesitated for only one moment, then turned to the person that stood between her and her father, “Seer Varnik… Lorelei, what do you think the future of Fusion and the Order of the Golden Rose should be.”

“I… Warden, it is not upon me to ma-“ Lorelei began, only to interrupt herself suddenly and turn rigid. Her head turned, her chin raised as if the eyes behind the ornate ring around her head stared into the distance. “There will be violence,” she revealed in a loud whisper. “Little of it, agreed on by both sides, violence by the end of which both parties will laugh and shake hands.”

“The seer has spoken,” Moira announced and looked between her father and John.

Stirwin did the same. “The seer has spoken,” he echoed the words. “Is that good enough for both of you?”

The two leaders looked at each other…

…and nodded.