Okay, well, admittedly this situation could’ve been better. The revelation that this whole place was some sort of evil Reaper prison and that they were the ones who had actually allowed us to enter it just to use us to get free so they could go back to their universe-ending genocide efforts was… a lot. Hell, the whole reason I’d wanted to come here in the first place was as part of a plan to stop the Fomorians from wiping out all life in the universe, and now it turned out that I might’ve come a step toward unleashing another, potentially worse threat? Yeah, not exactly good news.
Still, I tried to stay as calm as possible given the circumstances. While the others were processing that, I focused on Bastet. “So you’re saying we’re trapped in here and these imprisoned Reapers aren’t going to let us leave. There’s no way out?” Just to test that, I tried focusing on my own teleportation power. Sure enough, nothing happened. Which I’d expected, but still. It would’ve been a very nice treat to actually head this whole problem off at the pass like that.
Bastet, meanwhile, met my gaze with narrowed eyes. “Yes and no. The Reapers won’t let you out. I mean us… they won’t let us out. Fortunately, there may be a way to deal with that. But before we get into it, I need to know what I’m dealing with. So, without punching holes in the timeline and destroying the future, what are you and why are you here? More to the point, what are you capable of?”
Behind me, the woman who would one day be my headmistress cleared her throat. “Ah, I am known as Gaia. I have a great deal of experience with various forms of spellcraft, and I have been blessed with the ability to manipulate advanced forms of machinery and other crafted works. At least, in most cases. Here, I can sense the equipment through the walls, but it has thus far resisted my efforts to control it.”
“Yeah, Reapers tend to protect their equipment from that sort of thing,” Bastet confirmed. “Hells, just the fact that you can sense it at all means you must be one of the strongest technopaths on the planet.” She looked at Persephone then. “And you’re one of their creations.”
“She’s Percy,” I interrupted. “And she’s not one of theirs. No more than you are.”
“Jacob is correct!” the girl in question piped up. “And so are you. I am a Revenant, of sorts. But I’m not like my other people. I am… what you would call a mutant.”
Behind her, I heard Gaia make a noise in the back of her throat. Did she recognize the name Revenant or something? Crap, I really hoped that minor thing didn’t change the future. It seemed innocuous enough, but still. Just another reminder of how careful we had to be.
Yeah, real careful. I had walked all of us into what amounted to a Hangman prison with no way out. Clearly I was the queen of careful.
“And I am Laein!” the pint-sized figure nearby put in. “The soon-to-be empress of the universe! I accept your challenge to tame the beasts in this structure. In time, they will come to recognize my inherent superiority and prostate themselves before me.”
“Prostrate,” I corrected her idly before addressing Bastet once more. “Anyway, my name isn’t Jacob, but it’s what I’m going by for timeline preservation purposes.” I wasn’t sure exactly what information she’d already gotten from Sonoma, but if she wanted to talk through this as though she hadn’t spoken to her at all, I wasn’t going to contradict or question that. “Laein and I are both Necromancers. Which is probably what made the Reapers here let us in. At least, I assume they need some sort of Necromancy done, if this place really is full of artifacts related to it.”
“Yes, I noticed the Necromancy thanks to all the zombies you have following you around. And of course there’d be two of you,” Bastet muttered before giving a heavy sigh. “You’re right, from what little I understand about this place, they need some very powerful Necromancy to completely wake themselves up. The artifacts you mention are all from other Necromancers who have been lured here to try to do the same, before the tower defenses killed them. Unfortunately–or fortunately, depending on how long-term you’re thinking, those defenses have been worn down after all this time. They would already be in rough shape after so many millennia with little to no maintenance, and the constant efforts from the tower’s prisoners have degraded them even further, to the point of being barely functional. Still a threat, of course. But nothing like they were before. These days, the Reaper prisoners control most of the tower’s functions.”
“So why don’t they just let themselves out?” I had to ask. “I mean, if they control basically the whole structure to the point of being able to decide who can come in and stop us from leaving. Can’t they just, you know, open the cell doors or whatever?”
Squinting at me once more, Bastet paused before carefully replying, “While the general protections on this building have degraded over time, the ones protecting their individual… cells are much stronger, and have been automatically maintained in various ways. But you don’t need to worry about the prisoners actually escaping.”
“We don’t?” I found myself starting, before realizing. “Oh this is bad news, isn’t it?”
Her smile was humorless. “The Reapers–the ones who put them here– wanted to ensure these creatures could never let themselves out. But they knew there was always the chance that a sufficiently powerful Necromantic spell could undo their efforts. So, to prevent that, they installed a failsafe. In the event that the… cells are opened, the tower will generate a blackhole, destroying itself, the imprisoned Reapers before they gather enough energy to escape, everyone else inside, and likely this entire solar system.”
My mouth felt dry, and I had to put a hand out to steady myself. Behind me, both Eurso and Cerberus whimpered. Meanwhile, Laein took only a second before announcing, “Upon reflection, I believe the subjugation of this universe can proceed adequately without wasting any further time or effort in this foolish building. I would like to leave now.”
Gaia spoke next, with a more pertinent point. “If it was possible for the other Reapers to destroy their imprisoned counterparts that way, why didn’t they do so to begin with?” She paused then before amending, “Upon a less populated world, of course.”
“A fair question,” Bastet replied simply. “Unfortunately, the answer is not going to make you feel any better. The Reapers were concerned about the possibility of… feedback from the deaths of their imprisoned counterparts. The short version is that they are all connected, both the free, transformed Reapers and the imprisoned violent ones. It is… possible that all of these ones dying like that could potentially transform the remaining ones into their more violent previous selves, undoing the changes that made them so much less… omnicidal.”
“Okay, I feel like I’m missing a lot of context for all this,” I started slowly before looking toward Gaia. “And if I’m missing context, it must be worse for you. But I think the main takeaway from this is that the good Reapers couldn’t let the bad ones die because it might transform them into bad ones again. But they were willing to take the risk of that possibility if it was the only thing left to stop the already bad ones from getting out, right? That’s why they left it as a failsafe, which only goes off if the bad things are about to leave. So here’s the bigger question, where are they now? The good ones, I mean. Seriously, if we were this close to accidentally letting those things out, why aren’t they here? Sure, maybe this place is rundown, but they could show up and fix it right now, couldn’t they? If they really want to make sure their monstrous cousins stay put, they should just snap their fingers, show up here, and do it.”
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“They’re afraid of what might happen if they do, aren’t they?” That was Percy, her voice thoughtful and quiet. “It’s like a mortal person handling very dangerous chemicals that might infect and kill them. The more exposure they have to it, the bigger risk that there could be a breach in their protection. They probably aren’t even certain exactly where the risks lie, or how much of one there is. But that’s not something they want to test at any point.”
Bastet gave a short nod after examining Percy curiously for another moment. “Yes, exactly. The risk would have been fairly minimal when the tower was first placed and converted into a prison. But over all these millennia, as the influence of the creatures contained within has spread and gotten stronger, the risk of infection has grown. At this point, they see it as more dangerous to show themselves here than it would be to simply watch and hope it works out.” She paused briefly, looking away before turning back to us. “That’s why they’ve dropped this knowledge in my head.”
“What–you mean you didn’t know this before?” I blurted uncertainly. “They just–when did they tell you?”
“Rather recently,” Bastet replied dryly. “And yes, my father’s people won’t say anything else to me, but they will give me just enough information to let me know how dangerous this is, and how vital it is that we find a way out of here without making the situation worse.”
Pushing all other thoughts, including a lot of loud mental cursing, out of my mind, I asked, “You said you had something for that, right? Something about getting out of here even if they don’t want to let us leave. Please don’t tell me it involves making our way through this entire building.”
“The good news is no, it does not involve hiking all the way to the top,” the half-Reaper assured me with a slight smirk. “You will have to take a little walk partway inside, but it turns out the best… and perhaps only way of escaping this tower without releasing the monsters contained within is to do what the other Reapers could not manage the first time.”
Thinking quickly, I did a double-take, a curse escaping me. “Oh fuck, wait, you mean transform them so they’re like the others? So let me get this straight, our options here are either to let a whole bunch of evil Hangmen Reapers who want to destroy all life in the universe escape, or to transform them into their good selves so they don’t want to do that anymore. Which, for the record, is something the entire collective of good Reapers already completely failed to do before despite how powerful they are.”
“If it makes you feel any more confident, it’s not just about power,” she informed me with a little shrug. “There’s a lot more to it than that. A large part of it is convincing the Reapers inside here that life has more meaning to it than just dying. It’s about showing them why you want to live, why others should get to live. It’s not just that, there’s other stuff too, including some pretty potent magic. But I think between the celebrated witch there, and myself, we can handle that part.” She paused briefly before adding, “Perhaps Laein should aid us too, it is some incredibly advanced magic.”
Laein, who looked like she was probably fully aware that Bastet had decided that having her work to convince the Reapers the universe was worth saving was a bad idea, didn’t argue that point. Instead, she puffed up her chest and gave a firm nod. “I shall do my utmost to ensure no mistakes are made while the spell is performed. I would hardly like to have to piece together the remnants of my throneworld from the ashes that would be left behind if certain magical bungling leads to its untimely destruction. Only I am allowed to destroy it, in the proper time.”
Right, so, this was a bit much to take in. I was desperately trying not to think about how impossible it all sounded. But I did latch onto one thought. “So, did the Reapers in here just intentionally let Fahsteth find this place so he could get the information to us just to get us to come in here? Were they using some sort of future-sight, or do they just do that with anyone sometimes to see what happens? Or was it all just one giant coincidence?”
Bastet held up a hand to stop me. “I am hardly an expert. As I said, most of this knowledge only entered my mind when I came after you. And they haven’t shared much more than what I’ve already told you. But from what I do understand, it’s more of a combination of those last two. The creatures in this prison cast a wide net attempting to lure in various beings who could potentially grant their freedom. All were found wanting in one way or another. You are simply the latest. And, not to inflate your egos, the best chance they have to date.”
Grimacing, I shook my head. “Don’t worry, I’m not planning on being too proud of being the best chance to unleash a horde of universe-destroying monsters. I think the universe has enough of those as it is.”
“It does indeed,” Bastet agreed with a grant. “But if it makes you feel any better, you’re also apparently the best chance there is to completely purify this place and cure the creatures trapped within.”
Hesitating a little, I looked over to Percy. “Maybe you should wait here with these guys too? I mean, you were born special. You’re not like any of the other Revenants. But what if those things can do something to change you? What if they make you like other Revenants?”
Saying that made Cerberus whine a little while all three of his heads moved to surround his mistress, as though protecting her from all sides.
Percy, for her part, lowered her gaze a little while murmuring, “I would not like that.” Then she looked up. “But I would also not like to leave you unprotected, Jacob. You are already leaving everyone else behind to perform the spell, and you will be vulnerable in there.”
I could tell, from a glance out of the corner of my eye, that Gaia had a lot of questions about this whole conversation, even if she wasn’t voicing them. She was watching me curiously, clearly biting her tongue to contain her curiosity. I couldn’t even imagine being in her situation, only knowing a little bit about what was going on. Even worse, she knew she couldn’t really ask any clarifying questions or risk changing a future she really wanted to come about.
Before I had to think of either something to say to her, or a response for Percy, Bastet spoke up. “The Revenant will be safe with you. Well, at least as safe as anyone else. The Entombed Ones can’t do anything to alter her personality or put her under their control. She wasn’t created by them. She… she is related to my father. He made her. Only he could change her.”
Well, that brought up a hell of a lot of questions, especially for Gaia. Now she was really having to restrain herself. It had to be even more confusing considering she thought Percy was my sister. She still could’ve been, and one way or another, but she had to be questioning a lot of what she had assumed. I felt even worse about having to keep her so much in the dark, but what else could we do?
I could tell there was a lot that Percy wanted to say right then as well, but not only could she not say too much in front of Gaia when it came to her own history and who her host body was, we also didn’t have the time to get into any of that right now anyway. There were more important and immediate things to deal with.
So, with some effort, I forced myself to set all that aside and focus on the immediate issue. “I’ll take your word on how safe Percy is. It’s not like I have any better understanding of how this works. But you guys are really just going to stay down here and do this spell while we… what, start walking through the tower and convince them that life is good and people don’t deserve to die or whatever?”
Bastet’s gaze was unreadable. “Honestly I have no idea how it’ll work. I’m sure you’ll be tested in multiple ways, but as for the details… I don’t know. You need to show those creatures that there is more to this universe than suffering. You must do everything possible to convince them that they are as capable of creation as they are of destruction. And more to the point, that creation is more fulfilling than destruction.” She gave a heavy sigh. “I know how that sounds, believe me. And I know how impossible it would be in most cases. But when you go in there, you won’t simply be speaking to the Entombed Ones. You will be touching the very center of their beings. Their essences are contained throughout this building. They are not one physical form. They are essentially possessing the building. When you interact with them, you’ll be touching their deepest selves. You will be capable of speaking directly to their essence, their soul. If there is any chance whatsoever that they could be convinced to accept Ascension, it is now and from you.”
“Ascension huh?” I echoed. “Is that what the new Reapers call it when they transform into their enlightened selves? They ascend to non-murderous ways?” When Bastet nodded, I offered a weak smile. “Well, then I guess we’re about to go in there, lasso a few evil Reapers, and drag them up.
“Let’s go, guys, those Reapers aren’t about to ascend themselves.”