Ch. 24 – Invictus (X) (Patreon)

Cowler Fent walked through the guards and knelt next to it, “It appears to be cobbled together from corpses and reanimated with some sort of necromancy.” He looked to the emperor, “This confirms my suspicion. The rebels have someone aiding them in Mourndale.”

Felix walked over with Tinuriel to Roy, “What’s Mourndale?”

“It’s the place where Invictus has all of its graveyards, cemeteries, and a necropolis for the common folk. Unless they are part of the emperor’s family, then they’re buried behind the palace here in Hearthstone,” Roy replied.

Cowler walked over to the four, “You’ve thwarted a rebel attack and prevented a poisoning attempt.” He looked over to the emperor, whispered something in his ear, and then whispered in return before he addressed Felix once more. “The emperor requests your service once more. Please, to the council room.”

Felix nodded and Cowler led the four travelers along with two household guards to the council chamber. Roxanna, Lionel, and Lessira joined them as they took seats. Roxanna looked at Roy, “You still planning on going to Dirge?”

“Yes. I have to see this through.”

She nodded and Lionel shared a look with her as Cowler looked between the two, seemingly trying to game out what they were referring to. He seems like the type who doesn’t like being left out of the loop, Lucifer thought to Felix.

I would be too if I was a master of intelligence. Felix addressed Cowler, “We can investigate Mourndale, but then we’ll keep going around the Tier until we arrive at The Dark Ascent. We need to get up the Tiers to put Melanie back on her throne.”

Roxanna stood up, “I’ll prepare an escort.”

“Hold on,” Felix said. “I have a better idea. Let us go. My party, I mean. No pomp and circumstance. Just a small group.”

Cowler nodded and put an amulet on the table, sliding it across to Felix. “I use that to communicate with agents up and down the Tiers. You seem trustable enough.”

Felix held his hand over it. Lucifer, can my Magic/Powers be seen by other people?

The Detection Affinity stuff – no. Only you and your Escorts can see that. The Hellfire and Netherlight? Yes; those are much more obvious.

Good. Detect Properties.

The System message showed up across his vision.

[Item Description: Amulet of Spies]

[Enables long-distance communication. The holder of the Master Amulet can hear and see anything the user hears or sees.]

Tricky bastard. Felix put the amulet into his inventory. “We’ll head out immediately.” He stood up, and his party did as well, followed outside by Roxanna, Lionel, and Lessira. The fraternal twins nodded to Roxanna and split off down a side passage, and the Grand General led them to the front of the palace and off to the side where there were enormous stables. She turned to the group, “What’s your plan?”

Felix crossed his arms, “I’m going to talk to the rebels. We’ll convince them to hold off on any plans until Roy is ready to take the Tiers.”

Roy looked at him, “A reasonable plan. I will be able to use my forceful personality to get them in line and coordinate efforts.”

Roxanna stared at Roy, “What we are talking about is treason. I’m still on board, as are the twins. But if we get found out…” she trailed off to let their imaginations fill in the blanks.

“We have a Versewalker,” Tinuriel replied. “And we saved the Tier. I think that buys latitude in our actions.”

Roxanna turned aside and spoke briefly with Roy. Tinuriel and Felix walked over to the various horses, and Tinuriel gently brushed a large destrier’s mane. “Have you ridden before?” She asked him.

“No. It’s an experience I wanted to have, galloping across a field at full speed.”

Tinuriel looked at him with a glint of enthusiasm, “Oh? Then I’ll have to teach you. First, let’s get these saddled up.”

Roxanna left, and Roy helped Melanie with her mount whilst Tinuriel taught Felix. All other three had seemingly learned how to ride at some point, so Felix was the only one floundering much to the delight of his lover. He took the jokes in stride, but they stung his pride. And that stood out to him. Felix had never really been a proud person. He had scraped by most of his life and just tried his best. Coming up short had not bothered him. Being insulted had not bothered him. He just shrugged it off and let the insults flow off him like rain off a roof. But something had changed.

Is this because you’re with me? Felix thought.

I’m sure some of my personality is rubbing off on you.

That thought troubled him. The idea that his personality was being affected by an external source. The concept that maybe he was slowly being changed. Not corrupted, Felix knew that a healthy amount of pride could push someone to their best. But it still felt odd. Maybe it’s because I am this super amazing Versewalker that has inflated my ego.

Possible. Lucifer mentally patted him on the back. Don’t worry about it. It’s normal to be a little insulted when someone jokes about your inability to do something.

Felix got onto his steed and followed Tinuriel, with Roy and Melanie behind them. Tinuriel had tied off a long length of rope between her saddle and Felix’s, just to keep him from going too far off course while he figured out how to ride a horse the hard way.

Once they broke free of the capital, Tinuriel took the lead off of Felix’s saddle and fell back to ride alongside him. She slowly taught him how to control the mount with his knees and heels. It was a rapid process. Within an hour Felix was confident in the saddle and able to move his mount around primarily with his legs. Once he had hit that point, Tinuriel pushed her steed to a canter, and he had to stand up in the stirrups like one would if they were riding a mountain bike. That was something Felix was familiar with, having used an old bike on the hills in his childhood neighborhood going over cracked ground and shattered asphalt.

As they rode he admired Tinuriel all the more. Her solid stance in the saddle, her sure hands as she was able to sharpen her blade whilst riding at the pace as her muscled thighs held her tightly in place. I’m lucky, he thought, that she took a liking to me.

If I wasn’t a higher being, I’d have tried to get with her. Lucifer laughed, and then his voice rapidly shifted. I’d be cautious, though.

Why?

You’re going to live forever. Versewalkers are immortal to aging. And since you have the Inviolable Will Skill, you’ll never suffer negative maladies or afflictions for long. He sighed, Elves like her might be long-lived, but she’s got another 800 years or so of her Verse’s time.

Is there a way to fix that?

Maybe. I can check the Shop. In the worst-case scenario, you add a function to the VBV that prevents aging. But that would mean the effect only functions while she’s in there. Eventually, you may have to ‘retire’ Escorts in your travels if you want them to live eternally.

Felix went silent as he contemplated what that implied. If he ended up doing this Versewalker business for a long, long time – eventually he’d have to leave people in the VBV and go for lengths of time without them. It had only been about a month of traveling with Tinuriel, but he already was extremely close to her – their travel time having provided them ample bonding time.

Well, I’ll find a way. I’m sure there’s some ‘Verse with something that stops aging.

Doubtless, that is accurate. All things are possible with infinite ‘Verses. Have you given thought to your sister’s situation?

Yeah. I’m going to use one of my Functions for the VBV to make it so her disease is gone.

Think about the ramifications of that. You’d be taking her from her reality and putting her into an interdimensional space.

It’s going to take me a long time to get to Core Level 50. I think the VBV will look a lot different by then. Felix was already thinking about ways he could improve the interdimensional space to bring whoever he wanted into it, from across any reality. The foundations for an interdimensional miniature kingdom. A place where he made all the rules and never wanted for anything. Somewhere that Penny could live a happy life, and he could live in luxury.

Alright, as long as you’re giving it some thought.

They traveled for two days, going into the VBV as night fell each time before they arrived at The Gateway – the city that guarded the entrance to Mourndale. Felix held out his hand, “Alright, let’s see where they’re holed up. Detect Object.” He was targeting the rebel base.

The golden line shot out from him and led down the main boulevard towards the outskirts of town, on the path to the necropolis which Roy had explained in their travels, was on the farthest edge of this wedge of the Tier. They pushed their horses as a trot as citizens went about their business. The mood of the place was one of somber introspection. There was not the rush and hubbub of the other cities they had passed through on Invictus. It was solemn.

Their path led straight to the enormous necropolis. A monumental structure that was a Gothic take on a step-style pyramid, matching the architecture of the capital city. Roy held up his hand for them to stop as he looked around. “Something is off.”

Tinuriel pulled her blade and looked around, her long ears twitching, “Movement. Around us in an arc.”

Felix manifested his Fallen Flight and pushed his mount forward so that he was in front of the group. He raised his voice, “I’m a Versewalker. I am here to talk. We don’t want a fight.”

A cloaked figure popped out of a bush nearby, holding a crossbow at him. “Stay there.” He ran into the large, pyramid-esque building before returning a few moments later with a rag-tag bunch of cloaked figures. One of them walked forward and threw back the hood, revealing a long mane of silver hair, old, withered eyes, and an enormous, bushy beard. He bowed slightly, “Versewalker,” his voice creaked and wheezed out.

Roy dismounted and walked up, “Pim?”

“You know this guy?” Felix asked.

Roy nodded as he bowed slightly in front of the old man, “This is Pim the Magnificent. He revised the empire’s laws and established a new justice system.”

The old man nodded and stroked his beard thoughtfully, “Have we met, young man?”

Roy put his hand to his sword’s hilt and his Dark Lord aspect manifested over him. “No. But you will know me. I am the Dark Lord, returned once more.”

The surrounding cloaked figures rose from their hiding places and lowered their crossbows. One of them shouted, “You’re here to destroy the empire?”

Roy shook his head, “No. Something far better.” He let the sword go as his normal form returned, “Pim, may we talk inside?”

The old man nodded, and Roy turned to his group, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Felix nodded and rode over to Tinuriel. Melanie got alongside them as well, and the various cloaked figures went about their business. “I don’t like it,” Melanie said. “I don’t like it one bit.”

Tinuriel looked at her with a quizzical eyebrow, “You don’t like allies?”

She shook her head, “Not that. I don’t like the idea of Roy conquering the Tiers and bringing equality. Do you know how many people will have to be hurt to make that happen?”

No, I hadn’t given it much thought. Felix just kind of assumed that most people would jump at the chance to rise and be treated as equals regardless of class, station, or race. But, if his Earth’s history was anything to base his opinions on, Melanie was right. People would die in this massive, Tier-wide war. He might not be around for it, but she would have to deal with it if she wanted to be with Roy. And I’d be directly facilitating it since I was going to use Multiversal Charges on Dirge and Ethdellin.

It's a worthy cause, Lucifer chimed in reassuringly. You’re a Versewalker. You may eventually have to solve a Crisis by destroying a whole world, or firing a superweapon, or casting an enormous, world-ending ritual.

That gave Felix pause. He had always considered himself to be, in general, a kind person. But his actions in the next few days or weeks could lead to the death of thousands if not hundreds of thousands. What would Penny think if she learned that I helped thousands die?

I can’t answer that. But you don’t answer to any higher power other than the System and its personnel now. As far as I know, there’s no one higher up.

Wise council. Thanks, Lucifer. Felix returned his attention to the matters at hand as Roy and this Pim fellow came out of the building once more. Roy mounted up and directed their group to return to the main road. “What did you discuss?” Felix asked.

“He sees the corruption being wrought by nobility and will suspend his rebellion efforts until I continue my plans.” Roy was calm and collected. “We travel to Dirge, where I will claim my citadel once more. From there, I can use my throne to amplify my call to all of those who will listen. We will muster.” He looked at Felix, “In the interim, you and Tinuriel can escort Melanie back up the Tiers, to her home, and help solve that problem to get her back on her throne. At that point, I’ll come through your VBV and conquer the Tiers, one by one. The rebels here on Invictus will act once I have conquered Tiers 1 through 3.”

Melanie rode her horse forward and turned it in front of the group, “No!” she shouted at Roy. “You aren’t going to just conquer the Tiers like that! How many people will die?”

Roy smirked, “Do you want me to tell you the history of the last time I tried this?”

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