The world twisted and Kal found himself falling through the world of light again before it all came crashing down around him. He gasped as he came back to himself soaking in sweat and the small room spinning all around.
Nearly a dozen Fyborhs stood in front of him, all of them swaying on their feet, “Sorry…I couldn’t hold it any longer…” he said, trying to catch his breath.
Kal couldn’t move as the room continued to spin, “Gods…” It was terrible, it was like he had just been forced to drink a thousand of Dalen’s worst brews. His arms moved wrongly as he tried to put his hands over his eyes, one knocked the tray of the pile of books and the other gripped the arm of his chair and shattered it before he managed the task.
“It’ll pass in a moment, don’t worry,” Fyborh chuckled, the apparent exertion already completely gone.
It felt like an eternity but after a few minutes, the disorientation vanished completely. When he was sure it wasn’t going to suddenly start again Kal looked up from his hands at Fyborh, “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. Before you ask, yes Jayne is fine too. She was the least affected by that horrible day than anyone,” Fyborh said as he sat back down in his chair.
“What really happened then? And why did I remember mourning my mother but none of the events around it until I came here? Are you really a god?” Kal asked, his family was alive but Fyborh still had some explaining to do.
“Astral Falls Kal you haven’t changed at all,” He said with a smirk, “I’ll answer those in an order that makes the most sense. Am I a god? Sorta, I’m related to a few who claim as much and I have been called a god a few times but I have never really been a fan of worshippers or disciples. As for your first question, my traitorous brother attacked your home with his minions and you and your soul wouldn’t stand for it. That I’m sure you remember. I kept my promise and did what I could to spare you from doing harm to your family. It was difficult but your soul can be fooled like any other if you know the right tricks. You did break your father's arm before I could intervene though,” his face darkened, “But I’m sorry Kal. Your mother was killed along with much of the house staff moments before you broke out of the room.”
Kal had hoped since his father and Lillian survived his mother may have as well but he had known from the start that it wasn’t the case, “Why lock the memories away?”
Fyborh frowned, “I had to. Your soul had broken your mind and the only way to make you stop was to wipe all knowledge of the events from your memories. I couldn’t just remove them however and was forced to store them in my mark. This came with complications but we had little choice.”
“What complications!? What do you mean we?” Kal asked, anger leaking into his voice. Fyborh spoke so casually of manipulating him that it put him on edge. If he had done it once, why couldn’t he do it again?
Fyborh frowned, “Any reminders of what happened risked both breaking the mark. You would lose yourself again Kal and shatter the new core I forged for you. As for who the other was, it was your father. Darian didn’t know me but with no other choice agreed to my decision to bind your memories,” Kal’s face darkened but Fyborh continued, “Don’t blame your father Kal, he lost two loved ones that day. To allow you to live at all he had to abandon you. Lillian hasn’t forgiven him even though she understands why.”
“What about the times I visited them after it all? And what about Jayne?”
“A risk they shouldn’t have allowed though I understand why. As for Jayne she also despises your father, believing he really did simply abandon you for the sake of his reputation.”
Kal looked away as the thought of his family falling apart ate at him, “I remember your voice from that day and I just remembered a time from when I was a child… When I was taken,” saying the words out seemed to solidify the memory in his mind. It was a strange feeling but it felt like he had become more whole somehow, “Why didn’t you speak to me after that day?”
Fyborh’s face fell and Kal saw real sorrow in his eyes but it was quickly smoothed away but that's when Kal saw it. Since he had been shown Lillian and his father Fyborh looked somehow less present. He wasn’t transparent but he seemed insubstantial.
“I died…”
“What?! Why-”
Fyborh leaned back into his chair and chuckled, “Oh don’t worry about it. I told you there was a price and I paid it. I like to think of it as a win-win either way. I helped a friend and got to give a final fuck you to my dear traitorous brother before the end.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Kal sat in silence for a moment, “How can a god even die? And how are you here if you died what? Seven years ago? ”
“Easy, you kill’em. As for how I’m here, well I died here but it was closer to seventy years here on fallen Kartha or the first layer of the abyssal horizon. But then again time flows strangely between universes especially when the 1st is involved. But I know that's not what you meant. I am both dead and forgotten, the latter is exponentially worse than the former but both are less than ideal.”
Fyborh stood up and waved Kal to follow, “Come on we can talk while we walk,” Kal followed Fyborh back into the halls of the strange building, this time more able to appreciate the engravings. They were obviously Fyborh’s work, they all looked just like the ones he had seen in the bunker but they didn’t glow with the luster those ones did. Seeing them reminded Kal of Mira it had been over a month since he had met her. He added to his list of things to ask.
“I can sense you have a quest involving finding all of my remembrance stones so I will skip that part of my fate, I can practically feel the system’s ire just mentioning it. But I will say what I can. I was with you every day from the moment Dhoenir stole you from your home until that dark day at your family’s manor. I was with you during the days of torment and I was with you when you broke your chains,” he chuckled, “Now that was a sight! Dhinir was furious.”
“Why? Why would any of the gods want something from me? Was it my broken soul?”
“Oh, no. Your soul was perfectly normal at first,” he stopped and put a hand on Kal’s shoulder, “and Kal, your soul isn’t broken, that isn’t how it works. It was tempered-” The building shook and Fyborh’s form twisted but an instant later it was normal again and his expression was an irritated frown, “Oh come on! They broke the rules first!”
He grumbled something under his breath before he kept walking, “Well I can’t tell you that apparently. Being dead is a pain in the ass, being forgotten can suck my-” Fyborh continued muttering for a minute as they turned down another hall. Kal couldn’t help but grin at the supposed dead god's personality, he really didn’t act like he figured a god should.
“Anyway apparently you will have to wait for those memories to return too. But I must warn you Kal, they aren’t pleasant. But back to me being dead. When I promised to rebuild you I meant it, your core shattered like dust on the wind and you had no way to forge your own at the time. To make things worse I had lost most of my power by that point. So with virtually no power, I had to reach across the cosmos and do some delicate soul forging.”
“Wait if you made my core why could I sense Dhinir’s power when Melisia divined my core?”
“Oh, I don’t know who that is but I was just getting to that. So there I was trying to wrangle up some mana to twist into a core for you. The problem was that I couldn’t use my own. At least not directly, if I did that Dhinir would have known exactly where you were. But what I did have was the accumulated mana of all the soldiers you killed, better yet that helped with obscuring the deaths of several dozen followers.”
Catching on, Kal asked, “So that core was made from their mana?” The idea disturbed him at first but then he realized his current core was the same just using what he generated from slaughtering demons, “Never mind, but how would that have stopped him from knowing they all died? Can’t the gods tell when that happens?”
Fyborh shook his head, “No not really, a god has no special sense regarding their followers. To them it is all just a give and take of mana and because you didn’t have a core at the time you couldn’t integrate their experience so it was stuck in limbo. If you had actually integrated the mana he would have noticed but the forging of a core especially a tier zero core didn’t count. To him, the numbers didn’t change, but to the world, fifty-odd worthless scum became a lifeboat for you. As for the power you detected, well it was likely because he had detected you somehow.”
“I’m not going to pretend to fully understand but you didn’t tell me how you died,” Kal replied.
“I’m getting to that. I told you that I was forgotten, well that is more significant than you’d expect when the system gets involved. The last remembrance stone will help you understand but to explain it while also making sure we aren’t both annihilated for breaking the rules I will have to say it in broad terms. In confining your memories and forging a new core for you I was forced to expose myself to the full force of a sanctioned ruling petitioned by my traitorous brothers and sisters.”
They finally reached a massive black door just like the one at the building’s entrance. It opened as they approached and the light of several runes activating leaked into the hallway, “This is my final resting place. It's a bit fancy for my taste but the caretaker of this place insisted on making it this way.”
Fyborh was right. The entire chamber seemed to be made of a strange marbled stone of red, black, and white. The red and white portions of the stone pulsed with power tracing along long carvings and engravings that crisscrossed the chamber’s floor. Racks of weapons covered the walls containing a vast array of swords, axes, and knives, each perfectly polished and reflecting the red-white glow from engravings.
In the center of the chamber stood a black pillar with countless lines of shining crimson script over its surface. It looked like the remembrance stones he had found but was significantly larger. Fyborh walked over to it and laid his hand on the stone. His body flickered and Kal worried for a moment that he would vanish before it solidified again.
Burial Stone of Fyborh the Lord of Extermination [Divine] [Monument]
Prepared by his first creation and written by his last, this stone and memorial pay respects to Fyrborh the betrayed, lord of extermination and protector of mortal kind. May His Majesty grace the mortal planes once more.
Fyborh chuckled, “Astral Falls… Mira was always more creative than me,” he turned around and smiled, “I know you well enough that I know that you have countless questions but I can feel the system’s ire. Getting you the time you needed to recover was only possible from the meddling of 1st’s demons. I can’t guide you when it comes to your growth but I can in regards to your quest reward.”