The Daimon’s Tankard, Alva, South of Vorthe
Lulu watched in fear as he and the five others with him were stripped down and searched. The guards at the Daimon’s Tankard were thorough — and rough. There were four women and two men in total. And they stripped them all bare with no regard for the nakedness of the women.
Lulu had two wives and five daughters. He would never take it lightly if any man put his hands on his family like that. No man should do such a thing to women. But who was he against these sacred artists? They were gods in his sight and they would crush him with a vengeance if he disturbed their fun.
Fortunately for the women, the guards were only doing a search. That would change, though, when they go into the private room of the Alvric lords to wait on them. They had been given an earful of what to expect. The Alvric lords were perverse and would get down, even with a man to sate their lust.
Thankfully, his master had promised him that nothing of the sort would happen to him. He just needed to be near the Alvric lord inside the private chamber. Near enough that his master could execute his plan. Lulu didn’t know what, but he was sure his master had put something inside him. Something these guards didn’t find. Something that would help his master in there.
Shame-faced, the women did their best to cover their nakedness. Their beautiful, fair skins turned a shade of red causing him to feel an imminent arousal. Blood flowed south of his body and he did his best to think of something else. The other male with him straightway turned away from them not wanting to embarrass them further. He was in shackles, something that was strange to see on someone who was going to be a waitstaff. But, it seemed there were still some decent people left in Alva.
The guards, on the other hand, were busy leering at the women. A few of them even reached for their crotch, caressing them as they stared lewdly at the women. Lulu turned away. If he acted on his impulses, he’d ruin everything. The guards soon turned to the men, leaving the women.
“A fooking cunt with a name, eh?” one of them said.
“Oi, d’you know this one has a name, eh? Called himself, Moss.” they all burst out laughing.
Lulu kept his gaze down, afraid for his life. He just had to go through today and he may never have to deal with these sacred artists again. He may never have to deal with the turmoil of Alva. He’d take his family North to the central region where mere mortals were treated fairly.
That is if he could even cross the new border between Vorthe and Alvric lands. Numerous battles had long broken out since Alvric seceded from Vorthe. He witnessed soldiers coming back from the border with their wounded and dead. Many dead. And from what gossip he had heard, the majority of those who fell were not soldiers. They were those unfortunate enough to be dragged to the border and have a weapon slapped into their arms: serfs bound to farmlands on the border, slaves, and even freedmen — all those who didn’t have the authority or strength to defend their freedom.
The only thing preventing civil war in Alva and its surrounding towns and villages was the power of the sacred artists who helped Alvric enforce their rule. None could leave. At least not without bribing the border guards. But he had two wives and six daughters. How by the wind could he get his family across? The guard would ask for a bigger compensation. One he knew he couldn’t pay. His only hope right now was his new master.
The guards picked up the other man by his shackle and shook him relentlessly. The skinny man grunted in pain but refused to cry out. Lulu felt like he heard a bone pop before they slammed the man into the ground laughing.
Was this man really going to wait? Why were they doing this to him?
“Get in here, you fooking cunts. The lord awaits,” one of the guards said. He seemed to be the leader.
One of the females reached for her robes but her fleshy butt was smacked causing her to stumble, almost falling. The guards laughed with one another. “You don’t get your fooking robes back until after you serve,” one of them said and they burst out in raucous laughter again.
After the search and delivering their message, the guards opened a heavy door in the wall and pushed them through. Lulu rushed to help the man on the ground but was stopped by one of the guards.
“Leave him be. He’s no wait staff. Ahahah! He’s for the pits!” the guards burst out laughing again.
Lulu scrutinized the man better, seeing multiple scars on him that hadn’t healed properly. The man got up on shaking limbs. Lulu could tell he was in so much pain.
“What ya still waiting for?!” a guard roared at him. Lulu dashed into the next chamber, following the women.
~~~
Terra Praeta
“Impressive,” Nyx said as they walked through the barrier separating the void world from the dark forest.
The instant they walked through, Jerome sensed something change about her. Darkness usually clung to her like it was protecting her — like living shadows. But all that melted away when they crossed into the void world. He guessed the darkness couldn’t compete with the vibrancy of the world.
The world before him was like a mesh of concentrated essence. The essence was so rich that it was visible on the optical spectrum; you could literally see it in the air as clouds of mists swirling around the floating mountain.
The essence came in myriads of colors, some of which were shades of colors he knew but couldn’t even name. The field around the pool was also brimming with plant life. Flowers of every kind grew here and there in clusters. There were trees as well but they were few and far in between.
“Someone could live here forever,” he muttered. If he could turn his void space into something like this, it would go a long way, not just for him. But for his family as well. This place felt like home. Jerome sighed contentedly as he cycled, absorbing the rich essence in the air.
“Hmm. Not me though,” Nyx replied. “I need my darkness.”
“Is that why creatures from the mountain never come into this void world?”
“That and, many of them would crumble to dust the moment they step foot here. Light and Darkness do not mix. And the Light reigns supreme here.”
“How are you still standing then? Shouldn’t you at least be weak or something?” Jerome said, eyeing her.
Nyx gave him a sideways look and smiled. “I seem to remember a certain person who used vital aura — which is a by-product of Light I must add — to give me a name. How else do you think I can stand here.”
Jerome’s mind reeled at the information. Vital aura was a by-product of Light? Who knew? But he guessed it made sense. Light from the sun gives energy and energy is vitality. Even plants use sunlight to break down their food so it did make sense. He just wondered why he never thought about it before.
“You owe me, you know? What I did for you is far more than you stopping yourself from eating these two—” he gestured at the two Sprouts still passed out in their arms. “—and if I wanted to escape then, I would have. You wouldn’t have been able to stop me.”
“Alright, I owe you. Happy now?”
Jerome looked over at her, suspicion written all over his face. He could almost not believe he heard her right. What was she up to?
“You weren’t expecting that, were you? Even I understand gratitude, love.”
“Hmm. We’ll see,” he took a deep breath as he walked forward. The air was brimming with so much condensed energy, the likes he had never witnessed before. He remembered the Sovereign’s words as he watched the Sprouts from the Fei Clan.
The Sovereign had mentioned that this clan was mysterious and had a way of progressing faster than sacred artists from other Clans. So this was their secret. This place that nowhere in Terra Praeta could compare to.
But if this was their secret, and they couldn’t have entered Terra Praeta within the last 600 years, then how did those who didn’t enter become mysteriously powerful like the ones before him right now? And these were more powerful than they were before he left them. Even the Itakars.
Jerome looked around until he found Ms. Tara and Sheela with the Itakars. He smiled as he rushed forward into the pool. He could sense the newer depth of their presence and aura. They were significantly stronger — every one of them.
Csala was nowhere to be seen though. But she might just be out of sight. He got to the edge of the pool — a small lake, really — and dropped the Sprouts. Both teams of Sprouts had gathered at the edge of the pool waiting for him.
“They’re alive, just drained,” he said to everyone waiting. “Everyone, this is Nyx. Nyx, everyone.”
Nyx waved lightly to them with an innocent smile.
“Guess it’s time to take a dip myself, huh?” He dived into the pool without hesitation.
The moment he hit the water, he felt his concentration sharpen, his mind settled and strengthened. Yet fatigue reared its ugly head almost immediately and his head drooped, sleep surfacing. Though he could feel his senses become robust.
His perception didn’t expand though. It had already expanded to the limit he could bear in his current Realm when he siphoned psychic energy from Csala. Sleep took him at once and Jerome didn’t have the power to resist.
~~~
Achilles
“Show yourself!” Achilles roared. He’d been watching and waiting for the perfect time to reach out to the entity that was posing as a human around Jerome. An entity that had found a way to tether itself to his ward and master.
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“What!” a female voice snapped. “Can’t a woman sleep in peace?!”
Achilles was not moved. “You are no woman! Who are you?! ‘What’ are you?! And why have you attached yourself to Jerome?!”
“Oh, I see now,” the entity purred. “You drag me into this mental void. You question me as if you have command over Jerome. When in fact, you are a soulless lapdog of Ilyrrah. Am I right, guardian of Sanctum?”
What?! Achilles was taken aback. No entity in this world should know who or what he was. He shouldn’t even exist in the minds of the creatures on Terra Praeta. Yet here was one who stated his whole existence in but a few words. Achilles knew he was walking on eggshells now. He wanted to know how much this entity knew about him and what it was.
Its soul was morphed — a mutation of its former self because it tied itself to Jerome. To take such a drastic measure was to condemn oneself to slavery and possibly death. But with this, it could go under the radar of any other powerful being. Achilles was only able to sense it because of his connection to Jerome.
“What are you?” he asked.
“Ooh. You haven’t figured that out yet? There are only a few races left that can scry fate in Terra Praeta.”
“Dragons. You’re a dragon?!” What was going on? What did the dragons want with Jerome?
The dragon giggled coquettishly. If he had a body, he would have been moved, but thank Ilyrrah he didn’t. “What do you want with Jerome, dragoness?”
“If you can’t figure that out yourself, then you have no business knowing. And my name is Nyx. Jerome gave it to me.” she giggled again.
What have you done Jerome? What unknown hell have you released upon the world? Achilles’ mind began to race as he tried to predict the fate of Terra Praeta and even Jerome’s world. He picked up the threads of fate in his nexus, scrutinizing each probable future and following his prediction as far as his nexus would allow him.
Some minor things seem to have changed. Some other future events were in flux. But the singular event horizon in Jerome’s immediate future was still the same. In the grand scheme of things, nothing was changed. What was he missing? The future was a fickle thing and could obscure itself when there was no predetermined destination for those involved. But a dragon wasn’t just any being. They created waves in the river of fate with every move they made. Especially a powerful one.
“Are you done scrying?” the dragoness asked in a mocking tone.
“Leave Jerome alone. Your entanglement with him could mess up fate.”
“Oh, no. I’m going nowhere,” she chuckled. “He would lead me to what I want before I let him go.”
“... ‘What you want’? You mean what every dragon seeks. You all are chasing myths.”
“A myth to you, you soulless—”
“I have a name!” Achilles roared, causing the temporal void to quake violently. “And it’s Achilles!”
“Let me guess; Jerome named you. Not that it matters since you have no soul. You’re just a thing.”
Achilles pushed against the walls of her soul, constricting her and amplifying the pain she felt. Nyx screamed in pain, her soul feeling like it would be torn to pieces.
“You’d do well to watch your tongue, Nyx,” he spat out her name with venom. “Out of respect for the Chosen of Ilyrrah, I would call you by your given name. I suggest you treat me with the same respect!” He let go of his hold on her. But the threat was still hanging over her head. In this place he was god. And he could imprison her here for good.
“Fine. I might not be as powerful as you are, Achilles. But know that I can hurt you too someday. I will grow powerful enough to do it… someday.”
“Keep dreaming. Now speak. What myth do you chase?”
Nyx kept quiet for a while, gathering her thoughts and Achilles waited. The sooner he knew what was going on the better. If he was to direct the situation to Jerome’s advantage, he needed to know what this Nyx wanted. He was sure she would not tell him everything though, only the bare minimum.
The dragons had lots of myths. Many he didn’t know. Even Ilyrrah only knew a handful, but he took them at face value. Achilles however, was a sapient construct of intelligence and magic. Soulless, yes. But created with the sole intent and purpose to guide the Chosen of Ilyrrah. He would not overlook information from any source, even if it was considered a myth.
The one myth that he knew all dragons chased was to bring back Aether, The Dragon God. Or so they called him. Whole breaths passed but Nyx said not a word.
He couldn’t keep Jerome asleep for long. It wasn’t a problem, but he was still with other Sprouts. It was best if they didn’t start asking questions. Jerome might be growing in power, but there were sacred artists in his world who still wielded more power than he did. It was best to still stay under the radar for a while.
“I’m looking for something and Jerome can lead me to it. It’s something only a dragon can sense.”
“Then why do you need Jerome?”
“Because he can lead me to it. That’s what the prophecy said, ‘the Chosen of Ilyrrah would lead the dragons to the beginning’.”
“The beginning of what?”
Achilles received a mental shrug from the dragoness. She was done talking and wouldn’t say more.
“I’ve told you what you want to hear. Now let me out of here.”
Achilles was silent for a while.
“I will be reporting all this to Jerome. I will also do my best to explain how much more power you obtained from your naming and the kind of destruction you are capable of. Jerome will not be pleased you kept that from him.”
She quickly became alarmed and wanted to say something but he banished her from the temporal void.
~~~
Jerome’s eyes fluttered open and he felt the pressure of water all around him. He was underwater. In fact, he was at the bottom of the pool. Nyx sat beside him in a meditative pose with her eyes closed. Was she protecting him? He looked around but only plants surrounded him. Hydrophytes. Plenty of them. And there was a coral reef some distance away.
Incredible, he thought. There were no animals habiting this void world — even aquatic ones — so how the hell did corals get here?
Nyx swam past him, dragging her scaly tail across his cheek. The tail was huge up close, and cold to the touch. Much colder than the water they were in. but somehow, it didn’t seem out of place on her. He looked to where her tail connected to her body and found a hole in the garment.
But there was no hole for the tail last I checked, he thought. Well, she did something to the cloth so maybe that’s why. Maybe the hole closed and opened to reveal the tail.
He could tell she wanted him to come with her. Jerome followed. But instead of swimming up, Nyx swam down. Jerome reached out to her to tell her he needed to check up on Csala. He didn’t see her when he first came in.
She pulled him along when he gestured ‘up’. Her grip was strong. Stronger than anything he had ever felt. And she swam fast — her powerful tail doing most of the work. They went deeper than the light from the surface could reach. Jerome started getting uncomfortable, afraid that the pressure from the depth would crush him.
Don’t worry, Nyx’s voice reached him. You won’t be crushed by the pressure.
There was mockery in her voice. But what shocked Jerome was that the voice was inside his head, not his ears.
How is she doing that? He thought, surprised.
I can sense your thoughts, Jerome. I can’t read them though. But when you think with words — and it seems you’ve been doing that a lot — I can sense you thinking.
Jerome was flabbergasted. So you can’t hear me? There was no answer. That was good. He wouldn’t want another person inside his head.
Close your eyes. Her voice reached him again. Jerome narrowed his eyes on her.
Nyx rolled her eyes. I want to teach you how to communicate with me like this.
Jerome didn’t believe her. If anything he was now more suspicious. He had only known the dragoness for a day and she had even tried to kill him. And now she was trying to get inside his head. Did she think him that gullible?
Nyx could have left after entering the pool, but she still hung around. What for? Jerome suspected she still wanted something from him. She hadn’t been successful in breaking through the barrier in his mind. Was this another attempt?
Even if I wanted to invade your mind, Achilles wouldn’t let me.
Jerome swam away from her in shock. Achilles? He unconsciously tried to reach out to the AI. But only a void was left of their connection. He was inside a void world that was in the middle of the dark forest. There was no way he could reach Achilles from here. Even Charybdis was not responding when he sent his intentions. There was no way to pass a message across worlds.
Nyx folded her hands under her bust, attracting his eyes. Jerome looked away. He wasn’t going to fall for that. One look at the dragoness though, told him that she wasn’t trying to seduce him.
Fine. If you don’t want to try, just listen. Down there, are some natural treasures you might like. I wanted to show them to you, is all.
She swam deeper still and immediately disappeared totally from his view. For a few seconds, Jerome was confused about what to do. He wasn’t afraid that she might do something to him, but that she might want to reach into his mind. But what for?
That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it?
His hesitation lasted a split second before he followed her. As he went deeper into the pool, his eyes adjusted to the darkness and colorful lights slowly bloomed in the dark depths of the pool.
The corals took on beautiful colors, glowing in the dark. He could see the very essence alive inside them. Plant life was nonexistent here as there was no sunlight reaching them so there was no way to produce chlorophyll.
Jerome caught up with Nyx and soon they reached the bed of the pond. Nyx flicked her tail and the water surrounding them gravitated upward in a circular motion, creating a bubble of air around them.
Jerome didn’t know what to say to her so he just waited to see what she wanted to show him.
“You know, not everyone is out to harm you, love,” Nyx said. “If I wanted to harm you, I would have done so when you were sleeping.”
“Easy for you to say,” Jerome said, shrugging. “If our positions were switched, I bet you’d be freaking out too. And how do you know Achilles.”
“He dragged me into a mental void of sorts… We talked.”
“About what?”
“If you don’t want me around, Jerome, I’ll go,” she snapped.
Well, that was a 360-degree attitude. Jerome could see very clearly that she didn’t want to reveal things but she could do nothing to shut him up. Not that she couldn’t, but she wanted to keep his trust. It was clear as day. It seems Nyx was not used to not getting her way so she lashes out when that happens.
“You can go then. Clearly, you don’t need me either,” Jerome said, looking her dead in the eyes.
Nyx was completely nonplussed by his statement. The different expressions that flitted through her face were comical to watch. But she finally settled on anger. Yet she didn’t leave.
“What? Aren’t you going?”
She bristled. Then stomped up to a spot. “This is where your gift is,” She said, pointing down at the ground.
Jerome raised an eyebrow as if to say, ‘So?’.
“It’s in the ground.”
“Then get it,” he said. “If it’s a gift, you gotta present it. I can’t go digging for a gift. That’d mean it’s not a gift anymore.”
Nyx glared at him as if he had taken away her favorite snack. With a stomp of her dainty foot, the soft muddy ground hardened and then cracked. An intense white-blue light instantly began to pour out of those cracks, attracting Jerome’s attention.