Chapter 52 - Consolation and Conciliation (Patreon)

The trio slowly made their way through the once-lush green fields of The Eternal Battlefield. Millennia of bodies being left underground for new growth to feed on had been raised and torn up the place.

Fumi had them all stop as she focused her Quintessence into her Aether Shard. “Reseed this land with life,” she said softly as her green energy exploded outwards. Within seconds of the energy wave passing over the land, new, green growth sprouted up – grass, trees, foliage.

She leaned on Echo and smiled softly, “This place is special to all Gori and Ogo. We should leave it as nature intended.” She was obviously winded from putting a massive amount of Quintessence into the Aether Shard, and he held her up.

Rose chuckled, “Sentimentality is not something I expected from the Maven of the Blade.”

Fumi glanced over at her, “This is my homeland. I grew up here. I bled on this battlefield countless times.” She squeezed Echo. “I want you to see it how I saw it.” She blushed slightly, “Minus the corpses.”

Echo wrapped his arm around her waist.

BREED.

The instinct was stronger than before – amplified by their upgrade to Evolution Instinct - and the two monsters could not even contain themselves or try to fight against it as they fought and wrestled for control, ripping each other’s clothes off and discarding equipment as they tumbled into the grass, growling, and ripping into each other’s flesh.

Rose smirked and walked off to sit on a rock, reaching into her bag and pulling out a book as she waited for the two monsters to work out their carnal desire.

Hours later, as night fell, the trio exited The Eternal Battlefield and set up a simple campsite. There were faint sounds of birds off in the distance as Echo used his fire Affinity and a simple spell to start up a blaze as he cooked the trio a meal from their rations.

He looked up into the sky, able to see the Afterlives passing overhead – not a star in sight. The thin blue line of The Deluge was a ribbon in the darkness, wending around the Three Moons.

“I wonder if Ingrid is up there,” Echo muttered.

Fumi looked over at him, “Who?”

Echo grimaced, “An ally. One of the first people I ate.”

Rose put her book down and leaned forward, “You ate one of her clerics?”

“Yeah. She was the first one I ate.”

“And Aqua did not punish you?”

Echo shook his head, “I doubt that she knew I was the one who killed her – I struck from behind.” He shook his head as he relived the memory vividly, the taste of her flesh coming back to his mouth as he turned around, gagging whilst Fumi patted his back.

Rose shook her head, “Why be revulsed at your nature?”

Echo wiped his mouth and turned back, “I wanted to be a hero. But instead? I’m eating people for power. It’s…wrong.”

Fumi squeezed his arm, “It’s not wrong to be strong.”

“You both don’t get it.” He stood up and paced to the edge of the firelight, gazing out on the vast grassland. “I was raised with strict morals and ethics. Raised with an idea that I would burn eternally if I didn’t like a good, righteous life.” He turned back to the two – Rose looked on with intrigue, whilst Fumi looked on with concern. “I know now that my old religion wasn’t ‘the one’ religion. But it’s…it’s difficult to overcome that. I don’t want to cast my morals aside for power.”

Rose nodded sagely, “You’re told your whole life to do one thing, and suddenly your worldview is turned upside down.” She gestured to herself as she took off her ring, resuming her ghastly, undead appearance. “I experienced this firsthand. But I have had millennia to think on the ramifications.” She put the ring back on, “In time, you will realize that only you and the things you love matter.” She had a distant look as she said this, staring off to the South.

Fumi put her arms on her knees and stared into the flames, “It’s okay, Echo. I’ll be ruthless for both of us.” She glanced at Rose, “Who did you lose?”

Rose looked back, “Why would you assume that?”

“Instinct.”

Rose’s demeanor shifted. The icy exterior gave way to a warm, fond, memory-recalling visage. “I had sisters. They were wonderful. But they died. Everything died when The Void came…well, almost everything.” She chuckled, “I remember them fondly – we would go into town when visitors from other worlds came in their amazing flying boats and buy sugary treats.”

“Candy,” Echo muttered, chuckling. He returned to sit next to Fumi, “So in your time they had interstellar trade?”

Rose shrugged, “Trade with other worlds? Yes. Caelum allowed foodstuffs and drinks to be imported under strict regulations through his temples.”

Echo shook his head and stifled a laugh, “You’re telling me that this fantasy world had trading partnerships with intergalactic trade organizations?”

Rose raised an eyebrow quizzically, “You find this humorous?”

Echo quickly explained the concept of science-fiction settings and the ideas of interstellar trade, drawing on his knowledge of Star Wars and Dune to provide examples. Rose smirked as he finished the explanation, whilst Fumi had pulled out the tent and went inside – bored of the conversation at hand.

“Yes, that about summarizes it. Heimfold had its own interworld transition spells, none of those flying vessels. We used magic to travel across these ‘galaxies’ as you put them.”

The two continued their conversation into the night as Rose probed Echo for more and more information about science fiction in general.

Lux simmered.

How dare he?

She manifested her Heat and opened a portal to The Last Light temple – something that every God could do. Although she could not walk through to that vaunted place, she could talk to The Arbiter of Souls.

“Ah, Lux. What do you want?” Kalinor asked as he glanced sideways at her through the portal.

“My cleric. He was given a body and his mind restored against my will. He died once more, but his soul has not come back. I have waited longer than required. He should be through the queue of souls by now.”

Kalinor chuckled and gestured as a drone flew through the portal in front of Lux and displayed an illusory message of its conversation with Rickard’s soul.

Lux screamed and tried to hit the drone with her hand, slapping it to the side, but her hand bounced off the object as it wiggled its wings aggressively and flew back through the portal.

After all I gave him? He spurns my light? My grace?

“See? I just followed his wishes. No soul poaching, I assure you,” Kalinor stated with boredom.

Lux crossed her arms, “You remember who made you a God, right?”

Kalinor sighed, “How could I forget? I lay paralyzed and my now-husband used an Aether Shard and your guidance to heal me.”

“And we did this because?”

Kalinor shrugged, “Because you wanted to pull one over on your sister.” Kalinor grinned and his tone shifted to mirth, “Bet you didn’t expect that she would ally with us, eh? The Destined, I mean.”

“Listen to me you little shit-”

Kalinor stood from his throne and walked through Lux’s portal – entering The Sun against her will – and his form coalesced with stars as a black and purple aura surrounded him. His countenance dimmed and his voice filled with anger. “You may have made me a New God, but I claimed the mantle of Prime God of Souls – The Arbiter of Souls – myself.”

Lux backed away from him as her angelic host readied to attack this invader, but she held her hand up for them to stay back. “You will not interfere with Heimfold further?”

Kalinor nodded as the starlight lingered around him and folded over his form, shrouding his expressions and movement. “I don’t interfere with worlds directly, despite what you think.” He stepped back through the portal, “The Destined Pantheon will always support Heimfold, even if our duties take us elsewhere.” He raised his hand as the portal slowly closed – despite Lux trying to hold it open. “Take care, Lux. I hope you don’t continue to descend into madness.”

She screamed and attempted to fire a beam of divine fury through the portal, only for it to splash against the aperture. “I’m not going mad!”

Laughter was the only response as the portal shut.

She turned to her angelic host who regarded her with reverence and fear.

“Heimfold is mine to keep pure,” She whispered as she returned to her throne.

They can’t directly intervene on Heimfold save for the Guildmaster.

That, at least, brought her some comfort. She could fight any single one of those deities in Kalinor’s pantheon one on one. If she had her siblings at her back, she could fight all of them. But not Kalinor. He was in another league.

But he cannot leave Last Light for long.

She summoned forth her heavenly hosts. “Go, seek out my most devoted clerics. The strongest we have. It is time for a true crusade. To purge Heimfold once and for all.” The angels dispersed in glimmers of golden and white light.

No undead. No monsters. No aberrations. They all will cease.

Morning came and Echo and Fumi had another bout of giving in to their instinctual urge, followed by using their Aether Shards to sate the black hole of hunger that began to gnaw at them. The instinct was stronger than before, and the two had to make several more stops as they engaged in their amorous activities, whilst Rose would just stand aside and pull out a book.

The rolling hills gave way to a sparse woodland that continued up until they were traversing rocky slopes. Fumi explained that the Soju clan trained upon the mountains, making them their stronghold, and carving many caves and tunnels in their city. “Build inwards and strengthen oneself, rather than outwards and weaken your form,” as Fumi put it.

Eventually, days later, they reached Soju itself. The enormous city was built from the mountain itself, carved from the landscape. “We took the top off of the largest mountain,” Fumi explained. “And then we dug downwards to create the walls. It’s a giant bowl.”

The front gates were open – shattered Ironwood hanging from beginning-to-rust hinges. Fumi held Echo’s hand as they walked through the abandoned city. She pointed out the many buildings and their functions as they made their way to the highest point of the former stronghold. When they reached the highest point of The Upheaval Mountains, the trio looked back.

The whole of the Krekyo Dominion was seemingly laid out before them. The horizon line ended at The Eternal Battlefield, and Echo pulled out a map as Fumi pointed in various directions, describing the Clans and what they were known for.

Rose was enthralled at this learning and was taking notes furiously.

Echo was just embracing this new Fumi. No longer reserved and shy like he found her in the tunnels, and not just in her serious mode. She was speaking at length about topics that he thought would bore her. But the passion with which she spoke of her heritage, her culture, and her people was captivating.

She teared up at a few points as she recounted stories of her Clan’s accomplishments, wiping the tears away or pausing to sniffle gently at a fond memory. The trio stayed up there for hours, through the night and the next morning, listening in rapt attention to her recounting.

She looked around once more as she finished telling the tale of her Clan going to war against The Empire several hundred years ago. Her capture. At this she turned to Echo and held his face, “And you saved me. You’re my family now.” She looked over at Rose, “You too. Like a grandma.”

Rose smirked, the gentle smile belying a hidden anger. “Thanks, Fumi.” Her voice was laced with sarcasm. But there was an undercurrent to her words. An appreciation.

Fumi pulled Echo in for a gentle kiss before they separated once more. “I may be Xulatar, but I will always be your Fumi first.”

Echo brushed her gorgeous hair behind her head and kissed her. “Good.”

The trio descended and Fumi asked Echo to use his magic to return the Soju stronghold to the mountain it was carved from. “They are dead and will not come back. I won’t rebuild the Clan a second time.”

Echo complied and used his transmutation Affinity to cast several spells that returned the buildings to the stone once more. Glancing up at the cut-off peak he glanced over to Fumi, “Do you want that back?”

She nodded, “But we’ll carve into it. An epitaph.”

Echo set to using his Quintessence and tapped into his earth Affinity for the first time. “Raise Mountain.” His silver magical energy flowed downwards and cascaded throughout the mountain range as it regrew, the same granite forming a new peak.

But Echo put a special twist on it. As the mountain face formed, he willed it to flatten, and in bas-relief it showed Fumi at the head of a great army of Gori berserkers and Ogo swordswomen. A tapestry depicting the various feats that she had been regaling them with. A story sewn into stone.

Fumi gasped in shock and delight, gripping Echo’s hands as he finished the spell and sagged, winded from the effort. “It’s…” she turned to him and hugged him. “Thank you.”

Echo held her close. “Now no one will forget the Soju Clan or the woman that built it.”

Tiberius walked amongst his various specimens. All held in stasis.

People he had captured from across Heimfold’s history. Those with rare abilities. Those that could survive that transformation while keeping their sanity…mostly in check.

“It’s time for further change,” He whispered as he held the cube aloft and the sparking purple and brown ooze spread outwards. “You won’t be yourselves anymore, failed subjects. But you will feed the rise of the strongest life form in The Universe.” He knew that this improved Mimic Cube would overwhelm what little sanity was remaining and turn these individuals into ravening monsters.

As the Mimic Cube did its work, Tiberius closed his eyes and focused on the location of several monsters. The earlier statement to Echo and Fumi in the skies above that battle was a bluff. He had not released all the monsters. He had not released any.

One region at a time. He knew that he could draw them to his various lairs, region by region.

I lure them in, release monsters nearby, they kill and devour it. Rinse and repeat.

Until they had eaten every monster he had created since he absconded with Malvir’s artifact.

And then, this final wave.

If all went according to plan, then Tiberius would succeed where even Malvir, the strongest deity who controlled life itself, failed.

The Essence Isles were close. He knew from his divination spells - that he had kept far aloft to keep the monsters from spying it – that they would participate in The Choosing on behalf of Fumi’s new Clan.

Yes, Dragon’s End would be a good start for them. Close enough to where they will be.

He opened his eyes and willed an ancient spell, cast long ago, to be cancelled. One of his first experiments.

A new monster was unleashed into the world.

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