Important notes – please read:
Spoiler :
I’d like to officially declare that I will be creating a rewrite of the first ‘book’ of BKR, however, after thinking about it, I will not be doing so before I finish writing to where I want the first ‘book’ to end.
This will let me keep writing while I set up my next project and then do a massive rewrite of BKR – preferably at the same time that I am doing a much lighter project. This will likely take place in November as I plan for the first ‘book’ to end around chapter 40 – leaving me with 17 weeks for 15 or so chapters (including epilogue for the first ‘book’)
The purpose of the rewrite will not be to change the world itself or the character, but instead to let it flow so much smoother and make small changes to eliminate all the little clues and pieces for events and actions that I ended up removing from the story. I also hope that everyone will be able both to enjoy the story more as well as follow it more easily.
To further explain:
Current story: chapters 1-3 are explanation and introductions chapters while 4-25 are Bella/DeMorte setting up themselves and the world in which they live. Chapters 26-29 or so will revolve around the ‘Capital’ and the workings of it while chapters 30-35 will likely visit the dungeon. The remaining chapters will take place after Bella/DeMorte turn 15 and the Nalks decide to royally screw with them both.
Rewrite: chapters 1-3 are the same. Chapter 4 starts with Bella being 10 and already dealing with the modified humans across the fear runes/northern Ketchdown River. Chapters up through 15 or so would deal with the villages, the histones/Xiphos arriving, Nathan becoming a noble, Janeen’s fate, John’s rejection, Dras’ ‘modification,’ etc.
After that, it would be up in the air and based off of what I write in the current story.
The reason I am not rewriting it immediately is that I want to continue this fiction page as an ‘over-arching’ story line – which will allow me to make more mistakes in a ‘story’ setting and see where everything goes on a week-by-week basis.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns PLEASE comment or PM me so that I can get your feedback. Even if you think I am an idiot for doing ‘X’ or not doing ‘Y’ I will try my best to receive your feedback as neutrally as possible and use it to make the story better.
There is this wonderful new review that I recently received that is a prime example of excellent feedback, but even basic comments qualify as feedback and are appreciated
Oh, on a slightly related topic, I rewrote the part with DeMorte/Bella and their mom so many times that I cannot see straight. So I will apologize in advance if you find any discontinuities – I swear I do look and try to remove them but I feel like I am going text blind right now.
All in all I sincerely hope you enjoy the chapter,
B_S
Chapter 25: Receding Storm
“Heh’s arsehole!” The army mage was furiously cursing in ways that only a veteran solider could and by the how raw his voice sounded, he had doubtlessly been at it for a while.
Was it just me or were the people here slightly obsessed with their god’s not-usually-mentioned areas?
…I am… inclined to agree.
I almost asked Bella if she was okay, but I thought better of it. She had chosen to actually cast the spell that killed the 3 individuals inside the home – so there was no way for her to be totally okay, but this time was easier.
I wonder what we saw… that I felt so… vindicated after it was over?
Some people think differently than others and choose not to control themselves. People like that, people who act out of bottled up rage or even a sense of entitlement, can be objects of pity or disgust.
I see…
I did not intrude on Bella’s thoughts, although I had little doubt that she would come to the same conclusion that I had: Everyone deserved the chance to live, but some people needed to die.
I walked forward quietly, gracefully sliding between people, waiting for the inevitable to occur.
Dawn had only just broken and the crowd that was watching the mage vent were what I would call the less intelligent members of the village. The more intelligent individuals were making sure that the children were far away. Although I was unsure if they were doing that because of the angry mage or the reason the mage was angry.
News traveled fast in small villages and bad news traveled faster, but it was still very early. Nathan was likely awake, but only just hearing about the commotion.
Quickly, the army mage saw me and stormed in my direction. He was angry and not thinking straight, but I was only going to extend so much lenience for that type of excuse.
He reached the end of that leniency when he pushed some of the people in the small crowd aside to grab at me.
I was about to remove a finger when, both fortunately and unfortunately, Mathalaus – the currently dormant volcano – loomed up abruptly next to the mage and grabbed his outstretched arm just below the wrist.
Non-mages did not stand up to mages, of any level of strength, however, this mage was apparently too distressed to concentrate his magic within the few moments between their exchange of glares and my speaking up.
“What is wrong? What happened?” I tried to put a bit of honest concern into my voice, but Mathalaus might have seen through he gave me a very curious look.
The mage glanced from the looming volcano to me and back. After taking a ragged breath, he ripped his arm out of Mathalaus’ grip and composed himself. “Come with me.” He ordered shortly, only glancing at me long enough to confirm that he was talking to me, before marching off towards the house.
I said nothing as the army mage walked me through the front door, although I did take note of the ward that he had cast to keep bugs and flies at bay. There were also 3 smaller wards inside to catch the smell coming from the bodies and contain it.
As the army mage took me into the house I had to admit that I was vaguely impressed with the way he kept himself contained and seemingly disconnected during the whole process of showing me the bodies. I asked him a few questions as I went through and systematically destroyed any and all evidence that a specialist mage might manage to pick up on.
Assuming that he would even preserve the bodies that was, no one liked keeping corpses and it would take a seriously determined man, with strong evidence or connections, to convince his superiors to allow a body to be preserved for any investigation.
I approached the bodies, trying to show some hesitation, but I needed to have direct contact with them so I could not draw out my hesitation too much.
Direct contact with the bodies, although disgusting, was something that I could easily stomach for the benefits. Specifically, when I cast the spells that would remove any lingering proof of my interference. The mage could only tell I was using magic and had no idea exactly what magic I was using. He likely attributed it to my youth and inability to use much magic beyond my ‘talent’ and assumed that I was simply trying to identify what had killed them.
I would not have chanced such a thing if not for the fact that I was in a young women’s’ body at the moment. I already knew what killed them and normally I would have waited for witnesses to hear what the mage had found, but a double cross would make no sense when the other party was a young woman. Still, I needed to confirm that my ‘fail safes’ had activated as planned.
They all had, with the only exception of one, but no-balls’ brain hemorrhage had taken longer than it should have to ensure his death. He also suffered a more painful death than I originally intended because he accidentally fell on an exposed nail… The location of said nail in his body was something I avoided discussing, but the end result was the same: a screaming mage.
“What Elven magic could be at work to convince you that THESE YOUNG MEN ALL DIED OF DIFFERENT NATURAL CAUSES ON THE SAME NIGHT!?”
I watched carefully as his magic boiled around him, responding to his emotions in a way that was supposed to be trained out of anyone with magical talent before they could even be called ‘mages’ in the first place. Of course, that was the official statement that they kept repeating in my previous life. I certainly took it seriously enough when training myself, but I always ended up wondering if it was true.
“I mean that all three of them died as a result of certain key parts of their body naturally failing. These failures also have no observable signs of being magically triggered. You can check them yourself if you want, but only my magic has touched them and only after they were dead.”
The mage was fuming and I found myself idly wondering if he was not about to start foaming at the mouth. I then heard a commotion from outside, but before I could investigate the mage continued talking in a much more quiet and focused voice. “I checked all of the bodies myself before I called you and could not find anything wrong with them that seemed to be magically based, but you bring up a good point.” He stepped closer, with his magic boiling around him dangerously. “You are the only one who used magic on them in the last few days and you are friends with that whore. Plus this type of thing is your specialty is it not? It is not like you hesitated when it came to touching dead bodies either.”
DeMorte, put those thoughts of turning him into an overly sensitive woman into the back of your mind please.
It would be a good experiment. Besides, you added the overly sensitive part. It would already be hard enough to transform him into a woman, not to mention turning him into a nymphomaniac on top of that.
Did not. Besides, that would be more you getting vindictive over him calling Janeen a whore, than it would be a good experiment.
No, that would be a bonus, but overall it would mostly just be a good experiment.
I opened my mouth to remind this fool of who called me into the building when a loud sneeze announced Nathan’s arrival at the door. He pushed the door open and staggered inside with bloodshot eyes and a handkerchief held over his mouth and nose.
I suppose that was just a bonus as well?
Naturally.
I stepped around the mage, openly cladding myself in thick mana armor, to stand next to Nathan. Who then asked me something that sounded close enough to “Bella is that you? Would you mind?” that I went ahead and touched his hand, sending a specially made anti-allergy spell through him.
His allergy was a new discovery as it was caused by a very specific plant from the Northern most area inside the fear rune area. It took a while after I picked a few up of them for experiments before I realized that he would react on occasions when he visited Loco and I, but I eventually identified the cause.
Instantly he stood up a little straighter and his eye stopped watering as much. He thanked me through a stuffed nose and I quietly put some distance between myself and the small crowd that had followed Nathan in. The crowd included Mathalaus, Loco, a River Stalker who I was unfamiliar with, and a murderous looking Stark.
Stark had a pair of empty sheaths, one for a sword and another for a working knife, where someone had clearly disarmed him, but he was occasionally reaching for his side where I would bet a blade was hidden. I spared a moment to wonder how he got permission to be here, but then realized that, based on what I knew about Janeen’s choice in men, he had likely not asked.
I barely spent a moment longer to wonder if Janeen had told him about the parentage of her unborn child – something she had decided to carry to term – before I turned my attention to the others in general.
The mood in the room was one of angry confusion, but I felt that the least I could do was stick around long enough to help settle things. It was unlikely that I would ever meet any of them again. Everyone’s body language suggested that they would be happy to ‘help’ out any injured in a way likely to cause more injuries, or perhaps a fatality or two.
“Darn allergies.” Nathan spoke, much more clearly now, after he blew his nose clear. His annoyed, slightly pathetic, and somewhat distracted voice helping to suppress some of the tension in the room. “Never know when they might hit me. Now, ah.” He turned to the mage who had managed to put on an outward face of composure, but was still unable to control his mana completely. “I heard that there was a death?”
The question was so innocent I found myself caught between the desire to laugh and take notes.
“All of my soilders died and according to her,” the mage jerked his head in my direction, his voice was clearly angry, but in control, “it was completely natural.”
Everyone turned towards me, expectantly, I noticed that Mathalaus’ eye seemed to be focused more on the wall behind me though and… if I did not know better I would say that they were watering. Stark, who had clearly been looking for an opportunity to slip away and slit some throats, looked astounded and confused. While both Nathan and Loco, merely looked at me curiously.
“That is at least partly true, as far as I can tell they all died of natural causes. Skipping the particular details, one’s heart gave out, one’s lungs stopped working, and the final one’s brain suffered a major injury. I did not say that it was completely natural however.” I explained it all coldly, not letting anyone speak up to interrupt or ask questions. I likely should have been more compassionate or at least hesitant in my explanation of what happened, but everyone here should have known my opinion on what those individuals deserved.
“What?” The mage ground, doing a passible imitation of Mathalaus with boiling mana.
So much feeling in one word… is he angry because of his kin being killed or because it happened when he was supposed to be protecting them?
Probably both.
“I cannot think of how these individuals could have been killed on purpose by magic as they DID all die of natural causes, however, I think the timing of all three of them happening in the same night is too suspicious. So, if we can confirm that the guard was present all night-”
“Of course I was!”
“Within range of your third eye?” I asked. That got an odd reaction from the crowd as they looked at the mage oddly. I realized that non-mages would have a hard time figuring out what I meant, but it was odd to me that even Nathan seemed confused. Quickly racking my brain, I remembered what Xiphos called it, “mage sight.”
There was suddenly collective understanding as I rolled my eyes and looked over at the mage to see that even HE had been a bit confused. He did nod however, before commenting that his range easily encompassed the house from outside. It was not a large house, but I had to be sure before I finished explaining.
“Since you were here the entire night and did not feel magic, despite the fact that they likely all died within a brief period of time – otherwise the others would have noticed the smell and alerted you – I can only think of one explanation.” I took a deep breath and prepared to contain any outbursts of magical anger from the mage. “Devine action.”
The room seemed to stop moving for a moment. Only the buzzing of flies from outside the wards was audible.
Mathalaus spoke first, grounding out his approval. “That is the only thing that makes sense. Nathan?”
“Given the facts that we know, I agree.” Nathan said quietly, not looking away from me. “Unless someone else has a theory?”
After a moment of silence, the strangled voice of the mage let out something that sounded like a squeak of mixed disbelief and outrage. “You –You cannot be serious! I-”
Now Nathan turned around. “Mage Piolet! You, admitted that no one seemed to use magic on them the moment you asked my daughter to investigate their corpses! You also admitted that you were watching over them the whole time and know that they were untouched by any magic that you could see. Now, would you like to confess to killing them yourself? Or are you going to be foolish enough to try and accuse one of the local menders, MY daughter, of killing them? Because unless they managed to eat the same food and then get affected by three different poisons, those are your only other options.” He stepped up, much closer than he should have, to the mage. “Now do you REALLY want to state that the gods had nothing to do with this?”
Mage Piolet tried to come up with a response, but he was rapidly losing energy and giving in to our logic. Mages were human too and the argument that he would have to make – to an angry Lord of the area he was garrisoned in – would be too much effort over someone whose body had already cooled.
Although I was still standing ready with my magic to blast the emotional mage off his feet if necessary.
Wow. Angry Nathan is angry.
I suddenly wish I had not fixed his allergies.
What are you talking about?
The way he phrased that will be misinterpreted. The people outside will hear from the other side of the village and they might assume that I helped the ‘gods’ with their justice. People outside the village will certainly assume that if they even hear the possibility.
They would rather assume that some young women was responsible than the gods?
For the religious, the gods move in everything and they would see their work here even if we claimed responsibility. For everyone else, they will likely be wondering how much of the stories they hear are the truth… It is just as well that it is time for us to go.
Mage Piolet had given up by this point and lost his energy completely. The mana that had been boiling earlier had receded into him and he just looked exhausted, which he likely was as he had stayed up the whole night. He barely managed to ask Nathan to have someone to check for poisons and Nathan only agreed after the mage promise to burn the bodies himself if there was no poison.
Loco, already there, immediately went to go get his supplies, giving me a smile and a nod on the way out.
I slipped out the door soon after and was followed by Mathalaus, a confused looking Stark, and a pair of River Stalker clansmen.
In a small village like this one, everyone knew what happened already and was keeping their distance. Unlike the events with Janeen, everyone knew that there were dead bodies and so were trying to stay as far away as possible.
Wait, there was only one stalker earlier, where did the second one…
He was probably stalking around outside, just in case the rumors that must be circling about those 3 being dead were exaggerated.
You mean that if we had left it to them…?
They would have run into the army mage. Iron arrows or balls can only do so much to minimize damage against a trained mage, even in an ambush, even if this one is weaker than John is and has emotional problems. It would likely have ended with the mage dead and plenty of river stalkers dead with the others. Not to mention we have been hurting for rain recently and using fire is the most common method of attacks among mages.
Mathalaus spoke quickly and quietly to the others and I saw their eyes widen before they immediately set off in the direction of Loco’s lab. Both because of the low volume and because of my inner conversation with Bella I missed what they were talking about.
Mathalaus turned back to me with his typical stony face. “Shape ears?” He asked, looking at me with a look that I could not quite place.
“I did not listen in if that is what you are asking, although my ears are good enough that I could have.”
He nodded. “I heard things and assumed that you made,” His eyes wondered over me, but not in a perverted way, “changes.”
I kept up my own face perfectly still, “I wondered how much of Janeen’s intelligence was from her mother.”
His face changed, growing softer and full of regret as his fingers reached up to touch his throat. I did not see any scar, but I suddenly wondered if his reluctance to speak did not have some physical motivation, rather than psychological. (When I thought about it we had never treated him as a patient) “Her tongue yes, her mind…” he shrugged. “Old enemies took her mother.” He glanced over at the home where Nathan was just exiting from. “Time to find them.”
Mathalaus turned to me and reached down to grab my hand. I was curious to see if he actually had some damage to his throat so I sent my talent into him as we touched. I nearly stopped breathing as I realized the extent of some of his injuries. He had next to no scars somehow, but his bodies had signs of damage from magical torture sometime in his past
Not my version of torture either, which was purposeful and mental. It looked like someone had played with the man’s vocal cords as if they were strings on an instrument.
I belatedly realized that he had pressed something into my hand and was looking me dead in the eye. “We will meet again, little Bella.”
He turned around, leaving me to try and comprehend how anyone could have so many old wounds, improperly set bones, and barely covered bruises. The daily pain must be mind bending.
I agreed with Bella about the pain, but I knew how the human body could adapt one day at a time to small pains.
“Nathan.” Mathalaus spoke in a louder voice, letting it easily carry past me. “My people are leaving and I want no mistakes made.” He loomed over Nathan, who was doing a very good job of keeping his version of Mathalaus’ stone face, despite the known feelings of discontent between our families. “All our debts are settled.”
Nathan looked like he had been slapped, but Mathalaus just turned and walked away, leaving Nathan standing alone with his mouth open.
I turned my attention to the disk that Mathalaus gave me. It was a round disk of some white-silver metal that sparkled oddly. If not for its lack of inscription I might even think that is was some coin, given the size, but I did not know the metal as it certainly was not silver.
Walking over to Nathan, I saw that he had turned and was now staring at my coin. I raised an eyebrow at his reaction and slipped the coin into my bone armor, which I morphed around it. “Care to explain?” I asked, deliberately leaving the question vague.
Nathan glanced at the house behind him and shook his head. It did not matter to me, there were more mysteries in this small community than secrets in the old halls of Abukir.
“I told you I was leaving.” I said simply. “Now seems good to me.”
Nathan flinched and looked at me with a complicated expression. I was honestly a little more than surprised that he was hesitating, but he might just have stronger parental bonds than I thought.
Anything you want to say Bella?
Promise not to stop me this time?
…Alright.
Nathan spoke before Bella though. “I have something for you in my office in Entrials. I hope that you will let me give it to you before you go.” He looked conflicted, as if about to say something else, but Bella cut him off with a quick hug.
“Thank you for everything, but I want to go without drawing this out too much. I still need to say goodbye to mother.” I felt her hesitation and gave her a small push. “Goodbye dad.”
Nathan made a strangled sound before he simply hugged Bella as tighter than we thought possible. “Goodbye Bella, please…” His voice was cracking up and I felt tears. “Please take care of yourself. You will always have a home here.”
“Thank you. All of you are important to us, so please take care of yourselves.”
“I will.”
Bella broke the hug and walked away quickly, brushing at the tears trying to form, as I just tried to let her sort herself out.
Done?
Yes.
Good, because getting used to all of this touching is a bad idea. Now, why do we not give Mathalaus a parting gift before take our stuff and go take care of the plants?
Sounds good… I still cannot believe that we killed 3 people with pollen.
Technically, the pollen was just the trigger, but you knew that. Now, where did he go? I would like to be past Entrials and on the road to the capital before noon…
I redirected us from the village perimeter towards the travel bag we left with Janeen. We would say goodbye while we did.
Stolen novel; please report.
Sorry.
It is fine.
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We had grabbed our travel bag as Janeen was in the middle of almost being carried off by her father and tapped his back as we ran past him, letting our healing spells spread throughout his body. We left immediately afterwards without pausing or answering Janeen’s questioning calls and used a bit of internal energy – of Gía – to put some distance between us and the village.
Now it was midmorning and we were at the place we had called home for the last few years to say the final goodbye.
Elizabeth – Mother – had already finished with her morning chores and was talking to Hoplis’ (eldest brother’s) widow. Seeing me she sent the young mother back inside carrying my nephew.
Life always goes on, I thought, more to myself than Bella. Everything changes and yet it stays the same.
Mother watched us as we took our time walking to her in front of the house. Given the time of the cycle, I was tempted to go inside with her to get out of the sun, but instead I ended up asking what Carlatus was doing.
The question was abrupt and awkward, but Mother handled it well, telling us that he was currently visiting with some of the tenants and would be back soon. The previous tenants had left when Nathan had gone to the capital to be formally declared the Lord of the area surrounding Entrials. The new ones were not locals, but they were thankful for the jobs because it saved their various body parts from being removed by the city justice system. The perks of working for a Lord.
After we heard that, we asked to talk in the barn – where we slept for the first few years to dodge the pervasive smell of traxico smoke that used to stalk the house – we did not want to be overheard or interrupted by our nephew or his mother.
…In the barn, the awkwardness continued and we ended up feeding one of the older horses briefly before I managed to separate from Bella for a moment.
We are dragging this out.
I know but…
No ‘but’ Bella, it is time.
I let Bella concentrate for a moment before I took the lead. “It is time for me to go.”
Mother, who had been patiently watching us for a while now, just breathed deeply.
“I will not be back for a long time, if…” Our voice drifted a little and it became harder to say ‘if ever.’
What got me was the fact that Bella’s emotions were bleeding through rather badly, just like they had when she said goodbye to Nathan.
Mother spoke up for the first time at that point. “Why do you feel that you have to go now? You are 13 Bella!” She sighed and walked up to us from behind. Out of an instinct that I was retraining into us, we turned and sidestepped a hand that she tried to put on our shoulder. She looked hurt by that and her voice confirmed it. “Why are you always so eager to get away from me?”
We both flinched at that question. “It is not you…” We spoke together in a quiet voice, feeling very young for a moment before I managed to remove myself again.
I might have to leave this talk to you Bella, I keep getting too caught up in it.
“Please do not.”
“Do not what?” Mother asked, trying not to press too much for one reason or another.
Deliberately concentrating, I tried to direct the conversation in a different direction. “I lied.”
That got her to blink. “Bella what are you talking about?”
“I told you that I was barren, that I had always been that way, but that is not true. I made myself like that.”
Mother looked like she had been slapped across the face and her tone changed dramatically. “Why in the name of the gods would you do such a thing?!”
I looked Mother in the eyes and told her a version of the truth, that I had not wanted to disappoint her, but I hated the idea of being with a man like that – and I made sure she understood that I knew EXACTLY what that would entail – before I dropped a few vague lines about having an idea of what it would felt like too.
Mother was upset, but she eventually accepted that we *cough* were more fond of women, like Janeen, than what we knew was ‘normal.’
Around that point however the conversation started to drift back towards why we made ourselves barren. Since we could not explain the magical device that was currently lodged in the same location as our sex organs would like to finish developing into, we went with the idea that it removed consequences from any possible ‘unwanted intrusions.’ A possibility that made Mother furious and brought her back to why we were leaving while we were so young.
I gave her a few reasonable explanations of how mages needed to leave earlier than others (before they learned how to pull magical pranks on siblings usually) and how I needed to get started early if I wanted to proceed in any church’s hierarchy. Neither of which seemed to help the situation.
Do you have any experience with mothers? At all?
Of course, I just tended to leave them to their children until I wanted them back in my bed. So, with a few exceptions, my experience is minimal.
It shows.
Logic should work regardless, it is not like they are a different species!
As Mother digested everything that I had told her so far I felt some dark memories come back. They had been prompted throughout the conversation and I could only push them so far away when the conversation was going like this. They were the memories of how desperate I was at one point. Memories of how I let myself be sold as a slave to a noble couple of a truly infamous reputation… back then I was half convinced that they would just have me doing something disgusting like plowing animals and I had actually prepared myself for that.
Being made the ‘women’ by both of them as they forced various potions into me, was not what I was prepared for. I hated nobles before that night, but after I slipped out and razed their land to the ground, I truly hated them.
It took my wife to finally make me let some of that hate go…
Yet, here I was. Once again I had become a ‘noble’ through deed (albeit not mine this time) and that was a bit of a laugh, sick and twisted though it was.
DeMorte? Come back to the present.
The past makes the present, how can you leave either? That is why I chose that symbol – sure it was my ‘mage spirit,’ but it was also the most appropriate.
But your symbol only kept a single eye on the past DeMorte, I remember that. Where were the others?
2 were blind, 2 were on the present, and the final one was… on the future, you are right again little Bella.
Speaking of which, how long are we going to hold back my growth? No one will believe that we are 13 at this–
“Bella?” Mother queried, sounding like she was finished trying to reign in her frustration and was now trying to accept out decision.
We concentrated on her for a moment. “The future.”
“What about it?”
“You asked why I was so eager to leave.” Bella provided, “The truth is that, in the end, I am worried about the future.”
“What exactly are you worried about?” Mother asked attentively.
“We know that we could be great in it.” We spoke together, absolutely certain and absolutely clueless about what would truly come. “We know that we could shape the world into something new if we wanted. It might not be better than the current world, but with our power, with what we know and can find out, everything could change.”
“Bella, please stop speaking like that, you are starting to worry your mother.” Her voice becoming somewhat jovial for a moment, maybe trying to make us say it was a joke or something, but her voice was also shaking a little.
Bella spoke for us. “I am sorry, you are our only mother, but the question must be answered regarding our future. What should be done when someone knows that they will change everything they touch?”
Mother still looked worried, but she did try to answer as she saw that we were serious. “Bella, I am not sure what you are talking about, but everyone changes everything around them simply by… living. Everyone and everything is connected and you can only do what you feel is best.”
We nodded, it was good enough, as far as advice went, but were we unsure if we were capable of doing that. We had decided not to keep our knowledge to ourselves and would spread our accumulated knowledge at some point in the future as best as we could.
It might be hard to explain concepts like DNA, so that would be left out until some way to explain it to at least a reasonable level. All our other knowledge, the knowledge that Anton had taught us, could be passed on at the appropriate time – preferably near our deaths.
Still, knowledge was power, and power would cause changes in society – especially as we would need some level of mass education to truly help others on a large scale. The Histones might be able to help, but either way it would represent a large change from any known pattern of how people treated the low classes.
This plan was partly to make up for how much death and misery we would bring to those who followed our opponents and partly because we both hated the ‘Bandit King’ and the death ‘he’ caused… though we both also respected the good that occasionally came of it.
Not that you have been very good at it so far.
I am out of practice. It is easier to just be selfish or ignore others for the ‘good’ of your own people, but on the whole we have helped quite a few people.
…and killed a few as well.
I killed over a dozen people by your age, we are doing much better than we might otherwise be.
Maybe.
While we were having our mental conversation, Mother and I let the talk slip into silence as we had naturally drifted over to the barn’s entrance and were staring off into the distance. She was standing just behind me and was likely trying to figure out what to make of our conversation so far, but I had a different problem. I did not know what to tell her, what to say in this situation.
Not just because my brain was fractured enough trying to keep track of when she and Bella were talking, but also because I was starting through old memories again. Overall though, I just did not know how I was supposed to explain my mind to either of them, even if Bella could follow them, it was almost impossible for me to figure out how to explain.
… Back then I had been an effective ruler, but I had never thought that I deserved a good life. I earned a better life on my own, but with the amount of people I killed… Well, with every moment that I spent lamenting those deaths with the Guilt I became more certain that I was underserving of a ‘good’ life. A life where I had a family and was happy? In peace? It was so wrong to me that I could not express it.
I was actually comforted by the idea that Gorith would never allow me into the lesser ellipticals. I should have gone to the lower ovals, so stretched that I would never even dream of being sent to Core, the alleged site of saints and the circle of paradise.
Well, that was how it worked in my previous world, Gorith got all the souls and sent them to the various ovals if they were anything less than perfect. Those souls would then work through the decreasing ellipticals until they reached Core, which was supposed to be a perfect place, with a perfect place for everyone to be happy in, which was why it was in the perfect form, a circle.
Here, according to Mother and the few priests in the area, if you stayed faithful to the god that you worshiped and acted well on their behalf they would take you into their unique realms after you died. With the unworthy ones being condemned as spirits until ‘Noes,’ the death god of this world, saw fit to collect them and let Conbra, the goddess of life, give them another chance at life.
I had no idea what would happen to me though, especially given my ‘blessing’ from Gorith… The best guess I had at this time was what the ‘haughty duke’ Nalk talked about, with us mortals ‘giving our souls’ away, but even that was up in the air when I was on a different world. Could my soul make it back to Gorith if I wanted it to? Was this Noes just another face of Gorith's?
That was all without going into the traditions of your soul’s weight: If you were reincarnated, did you carry the weight of your previous life’s sins? The Nalks said that no one outside of the gods we gave our souls to would care, but if I gave my soul to Noes, would he see any sins from my previous life? Could I make up for the lives I took by trying to heal more than hurt? Would Gorith still receive my soul after I died or would one of the local gods receive it instead? What about the Nalks? What if they decide that I had not performed up to their expectations, or that I had exceeded it so much that they wanted to play with me a third time?
Whenever I thought about the future, especially about what would happen after I died, my head spun.
The only goal I had right now was that I first wanted to change my body back to being male and merge with Bella, but all I could come up with after that was a few sex experiments. I had once been a king and that was always going to be a part of who I was, so should I try again? I created something greater than myself once, but did I want to go down that road of blood and suffering again?
Life is probably a big question for everyone DeMorte. Just because we have a little more information than some others does not mean that we can figure it out all at once.
Even so, I would prefer to have an overarching goal, even if it was something absurd like…
NO! Please do not even think that one too loudly! We already have enough foreign gods watching us without the local ones thinking that we want to… you know!
Bella was correct, again, so I sighed and resolved myself to concentrating on just working towards my current goal, a new, male, body… We could address the other plans at some point in the future.
No.
Would immortality be so bad?
With you? With the level of power you are thinking of? With what you would have to do to try and obtain it? YES!
Bah.
I cleared my mind and turned to look at Elizabeth – at my Mother. She was looking at me with a worried expression, no doubt at least partly caused by our silence, but what I saw underlying that worry was discomforting. It looked like fear…
Not fear of me, but fear for me. It was an odd sight, especially as I was someone who did not even have a mother until after I died.
We smiled at her together, trying to placate her worry and failing utterly. “Do you remember what the old mid-wife said? About me being blessed?” Mother nodded, clearly wondering where this was going. “She was right Mother, I can feel that I was touched by the gods in some way, that I will change things around me… It actually scares me a little.” That particular admission was painful, but true.
Mother’s eyes widened as she took that in and I reflected on who I was going to become. “Was that why you asked Nathan about the churches?”
I let Bella talk to her and I pulled myself back for some more self-examining.
Right now I felt nothing when torturing others, I only felt slightly worried when I thought about being targeted by assassins, and I had no desire for a family of any type like the one I had in my previous life. Yet, when I stopped to think about what I had done with only a few circles worth of power in my previous life and what I could do with the knowledge that Anton had taught me, I wondered just where my limits were.
I had felt tens of thousands die and pass through me because of the Guilt and now I was in a position to become even more powerful… however, I did not set out to become a king back then. Now, with the chance to change even more, I found myself trying not to go over how I became a ‘king’ in the first place.
The only natural laws of the worlds that I knew existed were that: everything dies eventually and that everything except death changes.
Mother leaned over at that thought and I found myself brought into a tight hug. “You always worried too much Bella. You can only be yourself and I promise that I will love you unconditionally, now and forever. You are still a child, do not think that you have to answer all of the world’s problems all at once, and just take it one step at a time.”
I had tensed up with the hug, but it did feel good, so we were a little disappointed when Mother pulled back to look us in the eyes, unshed tears making own shine. “You are always going to be my little girl, regardless of where you go or what you do.” She gave us a large, loving, smile “Even if the churches try and say you are a prophet come to save us all, you will still be my child, first and foremost.”
We tried to speak, but something was caught in our throat. We would need to look into tighter bodily control while we were… another tight hug.
Bella helped me suppress my instinctual reaction to try and push her away, reminding me that I was safe, and helped me simply enjoy the moment of peace and love. It would not last. It could not last… but we would leave soon enough, so for now, we simply enjoyed the moment… until Carlatus showed up.
* * *
In Leo’s private observation room:
Selaugh was having a mental conflict that had now been drawn out for what mortals would a week now. For her, it was barely a blink, but her mind had still been racing during this week, battling her own desires as she came to the inevitable conclusion.
Finally moving, she sighed in disappointment. Her human body had gotten weak from the lack of nutrition.
She absorbed some moisture from the air and ignored her body’s hunger.
This was much more important.
The being in front of her was angry, very angry. He wanted to make changes, to interfere, to PLAY the Game. He was not allowed to do so however, he was banned for another 17,000 Games.
My poor husband, you were holding out so well too. She walked up behind his human form and looked over his shoulder at the former “Bandit King” as he cast one last look at his newest home before turning away.
Having been keeping track of the events surrounding this particular human, she took particular note of what he was wearing, or more specifically, what he was not wearing.
She nodded to herself, understanding her husband’s distress. The reincarnated human had a chance to accept a small mithril chest plate and had declined. The results of that choice, of not accepting Nathan’s gift would affect the entirety of his life and the Game itself.
It was a ripple, a ripple that could disrupt empires if she helped it, or doom him to an early grave if no one played off of his decision.
That was the true calling of the Game though, the chance. The best players did not need to see the future, or have spies in every camp, they were the best predictors, the best calculators, in the multiverse.
Of them all, her husband had been the best at setting up flexibility, giving his players untold chances and paths to take to change their fate. It was one of the reasons that she had so much trouble against him as a player, back then…
Of course, when the flexibility of your Player was so great that it adapts the ability to devour 4 galaxies and almost jump into another universe, it had gone too far. His creations were still playing the Game too, constantly seeking out new life, with the express purpose of devouring it. Even after 20 millennia, his original creature was still directing the entirety of its species to try and slate its endless hunger.
This love of flexibility was the reason that he liked the reincarnated human too and was feeding into his anger. The human’s options had been changed and his likelihood of winning decreased… Although most Nalks were not calculating his odds correctly in the first place, so many would likely miss the possible disaster that this human could unleash on their plans.
Her husband, however, had been one of the few Nalks who changed the Game AFTER the formal rules had been settled and he could see the possibilities as well as her.
Disaster and death were a part of the Game, but he wanted to play the Game and direct the human on a less dangerous path, one in which he would provide the best Game experience for the others and she loved him for it.
She could still not allow it to happen though.
Taking a bit of her energy, Selaugh called out to her husband using his true name for the first time in over 600 Games… Like all Nalks, it was a complete descriptor, instead of a human name.
A human male’s body, with a lion’s head, floating in a scientist’s labcoat and protective gear in the center of an endless tesseract-like dimension, with endless clockwork computers in every direction. All of the gears were spinning, clicking, and rotating in an endless calculation of possibilities. The sounds of the clicks echoed into the eternities and the clockwork filled his name with a metallic taste and smell while giving the feeling of being warm to the touch.
It was a beautiful and complex name that deserved to be sent more in conversation, but everyone, including herself, had gotten too used to simply calling him ‘Leo’ or ‘Leonardo’ while he stayed in his more corporeal form.
Hearing his name, he jerked and turned to see his wife staring at his half-energy half-corporial form. Clearly knowing that he had been getting too caught up in the latest moves of the Game, his energy changed from feeling angry to embarrassed, to humbled before he returned his energy to his human body, recovering himself and becoming ‘Leo’ once more.
Seeing that her husband was back in to the humanoid form that he had been staying in recently, she smiled. “You should give me another child for that my dear, you were losing control.”
“I know,” Leo acknowledged. “Although I do not know how you turned that into a desire for another child, our first is still after my mana for making a ruling against him.”
Selaugh just laughed, happy to have the Leo she had grown to care for back again. I might not lust for this one as much, but I must admit that he is ever more lovable… thinking of which. “Then do not tell this one who its parents are! That is not our way anyway.” She smiled at him hungrily, “Besides, it is the process of creating one that is the most fun.”
Leo just rolled his eyes and turned back to the glass orb that displayed the human. “He has so much potential Selaugh. Still, he is going to leave without uncovering the secrets of the Lord’s mansion, without realizing that his last ‘edit’ to Drasidedi was mutated by a Player, and even without the smallest shred of the power that tools of the Zugoran to the north could represent.” His voice was on edge, not quiet angry, but still upset. “He will barely reach 81% of his possible strength at this rate and that is assuming that he learns to ignore all of these existential questions that suddenly are filling his mind.”
“You have not been reviewing my plays have you?” Selaugh pouted.
“What?” He quickly focused on another glass orb across the room and summoned it closer. “You gave him the mithril disk? Why did you…” Selaugh giggled as his brain caught up to hers, it was adorable.
“That is twice I helped you now my dear husband, I expect my reward to be delicious.” Selaugh licked her lips and stored her precious cloak away in a dimension that would not be affected by their energies.
Leo then groaned as she dissolved her human form and sent him the Nalk equivalent of lord summoning a slave with their finger. As Leo reluctantly shed his human body, she reflected that she really did not jump at him nearly as much as she did in the past. As long as he is thinking about that past though, I might as well think about it too.
A giggling filled the room and spilled out into the next few dimensions.
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So much work to do before I can call my work as good as it is in my mind… Anyway, long road, but I look forward to it :-)
As always, opinion, questions, comments, and concerns are welcome, I just ask that you please keep reading my story as I try to become a better author, sincerely,
B_S.