"I know you are hiding her, Vlad Junior," The lich told the vampire, using a moniker he hated. "The dead tell no lies."
Vlad stared at the gem-studded foot-less skeleton gliding a few inches over the ground. His fingers held two jeweled rings each, all of them an enchanted masterpiece. A trapezoid diamond embedded on his forehead, two giant emeralds in his eye sockets, assorted gemstones cut like teeth in his naked jaws. Two bright points of light shone inside the emeralds, pointing at where the lich was looking at. Fortunately, the rest of his bones were hidden by an ornate robe.
The dead could lie. But to think the souls of the Adventurers would go not to his wicked deity but to their true master, Kel'Caldor. If the Matriarch had been truly through with her clean-up, she would have caught this deviant clone. At least she broke his phylactery so he was on his last life. However, he was one of the Enclave Lords and hard to displace.
Below the mountains, the Necropolis hungered for new flesh. Sentient undead that was not a raving mess of madness was extremely rare, and the prisoner Vlad hid in the catacombs was as precious as the jewels he wished to extract from the perilous ocean ahead.
"I am hiding nothing, you old sack of bones. Follow me to the catacombs. I'll show you."
The vampire led the lich down into the prison. They would find an empty cell, to bring both relief and worry to the [Vampire Lord].
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The castle library was in Vlad's private wing. I hid behind a vase as Vlad "Junior" led a floating lich away. They didn't notice me thanks to my reawakened Proficiency. I slinked along the wall until I found the library. Bypassing the ward on the door and the lock with improvised lock picks, I accessed the room.
The library was large. Six times the lavish bedroom they let me stay in before, it occupied two floors of the castle. A balcony snaked along the bookshelves allowing access to the books high above. I could spend months, years locked in here to read all these books. I touched none, though. I had to search for traps or wards before I started browsing the Vampire's collection.
The air was clear and not a speck of dust floated on the air. It was dry despite the constant storms battering the castle outside.
What I found first was a preservation enchantment etched in the shelves. It also shed a soft glow over the book spines so even if no other source of lighting was available, one could still see where the books were. The books wouldn't decay for as long as they remained. My paranoia paid off when I found a small alarm spell engraved among the preservation filigree. It couldn't be turned off without destroying the enchantment and turning the shelf dark. Very clever.
After I scanned the whole library, I sat in a far corner to study the enchantment and ward. I could sense the flow of magic and I knew I could disarm the whole thing. Not how to turn only the alarm off, though. As I sat on the carpet, I found that it was also enchanted to destroy dust and mold. This room would never need cleaning. But all the enchantments formed a complex ecosystem among them. If I wasn't careful, I could destroy the library. Then Vlad and the floating skeleton would catch me.
After a few days of study, my mind was spinning. [Spellcasting] and [Enchanting] were radically different frameworks. While they both manipulated and imparted a purpose to the flow of magic, they weren't interchangeable. I was no closer to understanding how these enchantments worked and how I could suppress them than when I started.
With that in mind, I still could steal books from the shelves without triggering the alarms. I could steal stuff from extradimensional spaces, why not from a shelf right in front of me?
I started at the theology section. "A primer on Yznarian's Deities" was the first book I read. The world at first had no Gods. The elves worshipped Nature and wove many covenants with the Lords of the fae. Nine such Lords existed, one for each basic element plus Nature. It didn't go further into the identities of these lords. Then the gods arrived, and with them the blessed System. The world changed, the oppressed species finally had a fair shot at the world stage. All the gods demanded was worship. As the more than twenty deities each had an aspect and were friendly with one another, it was easy to find a deity to worship.
With the Gods' arrival came also progress. Many secrets did they share with the mortals, allowing kingdoms to spring. Some pagan deities appeared here and there, but they couldn't match the gifts of the true deities. One such pagan God was the Great White One of the Auvani. It soon faded into obscurity.
But the Gods' prosperity brought the envy of powers beyond. The Demons coveted the world and the people's souls. And from beyond came the enemy of the Gods, the Anomaly. But the Anomaly was promptly repealed by the concerted efforts of the Gods, and the demons were dealt with [Heroes], anointed mortals who fought the hordes of Hell.
The Demon Lords started crossing the "Threshold Between Worlds" once their minions proved incapable of conquering the world. The First Demon Lord appeared in the ancient Realm of Kenan and was matched by the ascension of the First Hero. The demon died, but the Hero couldn't rest because a wicked [Assassin] hunted him. That gave the demon worshippers time to summon the Second Demon Lord which destroyed half a continent.
That part made me uncomfortable, but I didn't know why.
The Anomaly escaped its prison, and caused Bundeus, at the time god of War, Humans, and the Sun to betray the pantheon. Bundeus would later be betrayed by the Anomaly and killed. It didn't stop there. The Anomaly then murdered Nurha-Boenir, God of monsters. The pantheon selected a Guardian Monster to become the new God of Monsters.
A small church appeared in a remote kingdom in Auvanini. The Matriarch was the first true deity spawned by the world and Her Church absorbed several aspects of pagan worship. The author remarks how it combined six disparate pagan cults from all continents.
The bunny-worshippers old Great White One religion of the Auvani, the worship of a divine beast, the "Matriarch" of Theirian in the heartlands of the Lost Empire, the "Savior Locksley" the god-founder of Windemere, the secretive [Death Princess] cult from the Scorched Continent, the Unicorn Queen from the barbarian lands, and the Old Soul from the Fulgen High Elves.
The author then remarked how crafty was the heretic group who created that faith. A charismatic charlatan, he called them. Nevertheless, this faith found its way to the hearts of the people and a real religion sprung from that.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
The sections about the Matriarch were all punctuated by these caveats and skeptical remarks. It still did a good job explaining their tenets.
It then spoke about the betrayal of the Matriarch and Her true face as the Anomaly reborn. The Enemy of the Gods, who fought and lost to the dragon goddess, the Broodmother. In their fight, an Empire crumbled into the sea and the Maelstrom Ocean was born. At this point, the author dropped the facade of civility and let his bias run rampant. They laid every slander he could upon the Matriarch and the Anomaly.
That irritated me, though I only had a hunch on the reason. If Talbain's Freudian slip was true, I was the incarnation of the matriarch. I fought the dragon goddess and lost. Maybe that's why I don't remember anything. If I had the powers of a Goddess, I could see why Vlad would fear me.
It also explained a few of my powers. Too bad they were locked away and I had no idea how to access them.
They had books on every other deity, and I read a bit about them.
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"See?" Vlad pointed at the cells. "Completely empty."
He tried to hide his double annoyance. He was annoyed because the prisoner had escaped and annoyed that he felt relieved Kel'Caldor didn't find Her here. If he only knew who he had imprisoned, the Lich wouldn't stay quiet. While he was a deviant clone and detached himself from the lich collective, he was still as much Kel'Caldor as any of the thousands of clones the ancient lich created. He would surely want to torture the person if not for killing the other clones, for breaking his own phylactery.
"Why is this the only cell without a ward on the lock? I can still feel the magic residue lingering in the metal," the inquisitive skeletal mage asked. "Step aside, Vlad, my old friend," the lich unhinged his jaw, his equivalent of a smile.
Vlad begrudgingly moved away, a smile on his face, the tip of his fangs showing between his lips. The lich walked into the cell and cast a complex spell. {Psychometric Echoes}."
An illusion of the cell's previous occupant appeared and moved in an accelerated fashion. The past was replayed at an alarming rate. A blonde woman, wearing an expensive dress. A noble lady, apparently. She huddled in a corner, she laughed, she cried. At first sight, it seemed she was insane. She cheered something, and Kel'Caldor read her lips.
"Why would she cheer for the color red," the lich mused out loud.
Then she started to experiment with magic. She summoned an al-Mi'raj without a Core. She got good at magic extremely fast and then she would hide in a dark corner, going to the door the next moment. Then the door opened, the illusion of the woman fled the corridor and left the spell's area of effect.
Kel'Caldor turned around to stare at the vampire. "She doesn't seem level zero to me."
"She murdered an Adventurer. By our calculations, she should've reached level twenty-four."
The lich reached out and a yellow beam shot from his finger bone to another cell. An audible alarm went off somewhere above them. Then he clattered his gem-teeth. "The wards protecting your locks are superb, Vlad."
"Thank you," the vampire politely replied. Inside, Vlad feared where Kel'Caldor was getting to.
"And not something a level twenty-four person without any formal instruction could defeat. What is going on here? The skill, the precision, not to mention she SUMMONED a monster without using a Core," The lich shouted at the end. "Who is she?"
The tension rose. Kel'Caldor's skeletal form brimmed with mana, ready to carve out a chunk of the mountain. Shadows gathered around Vlad, he too was preparing to fight.
Kel'Caldor sucked in a huge breath, even though he had no nostrils, trachea, or lungs. "The dead Adventurers revealed that furball Talbain deferred to Her. I can think of only one woman the proud King of Werewolves would submit to. Vlad, we are friends," The lich stretched his arms as if he wanted to embrace the vampire. "Friends don't keep deadly secrets from one another, right? Please tell me you didn't put HER of all people in your dungeon. I won't even address why you brought Her here in the first place."
Vlad felt fear for the first time in centuries. "She killed my father," he said. "I had to get my vengeance."
"Lies," Kel'Caldor clattered his gem-teeth again. "Lies! I can smell them even though I have no nose. She killed my father, my brothers, She killed me a thousand times! I fought Her a thousand years ago, and She only grows stronger! I don't wish to be anywhere near HER."
The lich trembled. "Why did you do that, Vlad?"
"She lost Her memory. She lost Her power too. We believe She can go into the maelstrom and retrieve the Goddess' Tears for us."
The emeralds in Kel'Caldor eye sockets went dull. Then they flared with viridian light. "FOOL! She eats dragon Cores for breakfast! Should She obtain a single Goddess Tear, there's no way to tell what might happen. She might even recover Her powers at once!"
The vampire flinched. He was the Lord of his castle but Kel'Caldor, even though just a copy, was out of his league. The best he could hope for was to escape with his unlife.
But the lich wasn't interested in him. He started to ramble as he went in circles inside the cell. "She is a reasonable person. Maybe if we make amendments, She might spare us once She recovers Her memories. If She really lost them and isn't just playing around with us. Maybe I can take Her as an apprentice and treat Her well. She is protective of those She likes. Maybe She will feel indebted if I help Her recover Her memories."
Kel'Caldor flew out of the cell, ignoring the vampire. Then he stopped and stared at the bloodsucker. "Find Her, Vlad. Find Her, apologize, grovel. I don't care. You put us in this mess, you take us out of it."
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The Dungeon learned a few tricks in the last thousand-something years. The traps were devious even for someone as tiny as Nenandil and able to fly. The two hundred points of Dexterity helped a lot given that the traps and challenges were geared for someone with much lower Attribute values than hers.
She could also stop and rest for as long as she needed before taking on the next segment of the Dungeon. Usually, challengers were limited by their supplies but she didn't need to eat or drink.
Finally, she reached the end of the trial.
> > CONGRATULATIONS! You completed the Veteran segment of the Lady's Labyrinth.
>
> > You gained the Perk, Veteran Ascendant (ultra-rare): You have the title [Veteran Ascendant]. You may claim the throne of Aquilonia. You gain +5 Endurance and Charisma.
The Perk was nice. She sighed as she thought she would lose it when they… Then she despaired as the end of the last thought was "when they were reborn together again." Unless she found the Old Soul and re-enacted their {Familiar Contract}, there was no rebirth for them. At least not together.
She went to the entrance to the Core room. Usually, Snowdrop would just teleport there, but she had the presence of mind to put a hidden form of access. It required an arcane ritual, though.
"Hello, HAL, do you read me?" She said with a straight face, trying not to giggle at the ridiculous reference. It was something no native would ever understand. But Nenandil had spent centuries inside the Old Soul, literally, and watched all the TV shows she could.
"Do you read me, HAL?" She would have to repeat it a few times with no answer.
"Hello, HAL, do you read me?"
Finally, the Core answered. "Affirmative Dave. I read you."
"Open the pod bay doors, HAL," She replied.
"I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that."
The charade went for a while. One either knows how it develops, or they don't.
After a lot of back and forth, the Core replied with the final quote. "... this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye."
"I swear I'll squeeze that cheeky neck once I find her," Nenandil swore under her breath. Then she sighed and whispered fondly, "After hugging it for a century."
She waited for another day before the door opened. It was reinforced by the Dungeon Core and practically indestructible. She flew down a narrow tunnel only a fairy or a very small animal could cross and entered the Core room.
"Greetings," the Dungeon Core said, the detached voice coming from all places in the room.
"Greetings, Core. Do you remember me?"
"Lady Nenandil. I do. I was eagerly awaiting your return. My service is over. For two hundred years, no real challenger entered my halls, only scavengers and treasure hunters who were grossly unprepared and heeded no warnings."
"We had issues with gods. We spent too long dead, to be honest."
"I understand," the Core said in the same monotonous tone as the fictional computer he was taught to emulate.
Nenandil called upon Pandora. "I'm going to release you and convert all your soul's power into better Perks for your next life."
The [Wisp of Creation] removed the soul from the core, making the orb inert. Nenandil caught it and stowed the precious Dungeon Core in a minor storage ring she purchased in the human lands. It barely fit inside. Then she sent the clone of Kel'Caldor's soul on its way to reincarnation with a boon.