Tiria and Chum followed Krayli up the mountain. Evidence of yesterday's battle was still everywhere. The stink of bodies rotting in the heat assaulted her nose and walking over crushed caves or open cracks caused the ascent to take much longer than normal.
The battle had since ended and all the monsters on the mountain seemed to be in a daze. Many of them had lost their Progenitors and even those with some sense of their faculties were trapped on the mountain. The humans had isolated both Igna and Myshk and the only way away from their systemic purge was into the waters or to charge directly into their ranks as the Badlands would only delay the inevitable.
Yet, no leadership rose up for a counterattack. Tiria was sure that some of the Sky Clans had to have survived and she knew that the Myshkin leader had, but no one came to guide these lost monsters.
So, they wandered and despaired.
Their group continued, moving through the Commons and the Bazaar to arrive at the Fort. There was finally a little bit of life there.
Both goblins and leaf elementals were standing guard outside of the Fort, but they didn't do anything to stop their party from entering. In the grounds inside, it was packed. There were dozens of Toucans milling about with half again as many monsters running formations.
"Guess they aren't willing to roll over," Chum commented under his breath.
Krayli's eyes glanced up through the stone of the mountain and flashed teal for half a moment before she continued on into the main building. Captain Mesano was inside along with his Brain Goblin assistant who'd avoided the Holocaust that Gi had wrought upon them.
Captain Mesano's fur seemed disheveled and his normally boistrous mood was muted. Despite the presence of two Gang Otters who'd destroyed his entire clan, the Brain Goblin didn't seem much perturbed.
"Captain," Krayli said and the manticore looked up.
"Hmph. Some spy you were," he said. "They were on us before we had a chance to muster a defense." Krayli, clearly used to the monster, just waited. He got back to his feet. "I suppose it doesn't matter now. None of the spies were worth a damn. I never thought the Queen would fall."
"I need a pair of wings to get to the Sky Tiers."
The Captain snorted. "Like I have any authority over them anymore." Assuming he wasn't useful, Krayli turned to leave, but the Captain's voice stopped her. "If you see any monsters up there, bring them down. At some point, we'll have to fight back if we don't want to be butchered like cattle."
"I can do that," Krayli said and then left. Tiria and Chum didn't speak, but it was easy to tell that even the Captain felt lost. Had he joined one of the Sky Clans who'd had their peak broken? Or was that simply the normal reaction to ending one horrific war to immediately starting a seige.
They exited the main building and Krayli quickly forced one of the Toucans to give them a ride up. It was a rough take off, but soon they were floating up towards the Breeze tier. From here, it was easy to see the hundreds of ships that had formed the blockade the humans made that walled them off from dozens of islands in the distance.
The Breeze housed the Fighting Drakes barracks, but it was forlorn and empty. Krayli's eyes flashed teal again as she swept her gaze over the mountain and then she pointed even further up. The Sky tier had a bit of movement from some of the remnants of the Sky Clans, but it mostly seemed to be Fire Elementals that Tiria saw at least.
The Sun tier was just as empty as the The Breeze. Tiria knew that was the home of the Faithful and while she expected it to be still, she hadn't expected it to be lifeless. Where were their Children? Their Adolescents? The Underbridge Clan had decimated their Classers, but there should have been no way that they died to the monster.
She supposed it didn't matter. She didn't have any room in her to help anyone other than herself, and even if she did, she would be the last person they would accept help from.
That wasn't their stop anyways.
Kralyi's eyes remained a glowing teal and her teal bow appeared at her side. Unlike her eyes, the bow itself seemed to glow with shadows. Tiria didn't see the need to ready herself to fight. She needed knowledge not more violence.
They touched down at the entrance to a massive cave entrance. It towered far above Tiria's head with enough space to fit a dragon. It was the Throne tier. Not even Gi had ever been up here.
Just inside the entrance of the cavern, it was difficult to see anything as shadows clung to every surface, rejecting the light. Little wisps of fire floated above the ceiling of the cavern, but even their light seemed to be a muted flicker.
"They're inside," Krayli said and the three of them headed in.
The shadows seemed to part like a veil as they entered, and while it wasn't illuminated, visibility improved drastically when they were inside. The sight was so unexpected that it stopped Tiria in her tracks.
The entirety of the walls of the cavern were covered in bookshelves and every single one of those bookshelves were absolutely stuffed with books. That meant there were thousands upon thousands of books in her sight. Every single one of them small enough to be written by a humanoid.
Tiria found herself in awe despite the clinging hole in her chest. The fire danced like wisps near the ceiling and illuminated each of the titles that were all penned in a golden ink. Tiria doubted that Krayli had been here before since this was the Throne, but the orc didn't seem surprised and instead pushed further into the shadows.
It didn't take them long to reach the end of the cavern. The end was covered in a massive rug or perhaps pillow assumingly for the Queen to rest upon. On the back wall was a rough-cut doorway about the size of one of the adventurers that she'd seen in the Dungeon and not quite the height of Samba.
Eyes still glowing, Krayli entered into the small room with Tiria right on her heels. The room was dimly lit by a smaller version of the fire wisps from outside. An old goblin with tufts of white hair in a crown around its head looked up from a book it was reading. Tragically, the goblin's head quivered open and closed like a flower somehow breathing.
The goblin closed its book and set it to the side as he studied the three of them. "Ah, guests. With the Queen's passing, I didn't expect guests. Can I get you some tea?"
"Yes, please," Chum said, her companion the only one who volunteered. Tiria turned to him and tried to give him a look that said, "don't accept tea from a race of monster that your clan exterminated" but it clearly didn't translate well. To him at least.
The goblin chuckled. "You don't have any fear of poison from me. I can read your thoughts. I know that your clan killed the Possession Flowers in both the Brain Goblins and the Angelic Mice. I also know that Krayli there plans to kill me once you get the information you came for."
Krayli growled. "If you know that, then surely we shouldn't trust you."
The goblin laughed again. "Just because we're monsters doesn't mean that we must be uncivilized. You may call me Yoto."
The strange goblin finished putting a kettle onto a small flat stone that seemed to glow hot once the kettle laid on it. Yoto opened a small cabinet that was carved out of the rock and pulled out a dried leaf that was wrapped in twine. Unwrapping it, Yoto poked at a the dried herbs inside.
"Only enough for a single pot. I hope no one is atrociously thirsty." He motioned to a handful of seats and both Tiria and Chum sat down while Krayli remained standing. "Now go on, young Subgenitor. Ask what you must."
"Can't you just read my mind?"
He gave her a kindly smile and patted her head gently. "I'm an old monster who is about to die. Can we not go through the appropriate steps? Me the old wizened sage and you the youthful seeker of knowledge, bursting with a desire to learn? My god used to be found in moments like these."
Despite Krayli's stern demeanor, she didn't seem rushed at all. Tiria did feel some urgency, but knowing the answer was right there made her hesitate. Krayli had said it was possible, but what if it was only technically possible and the requirements were far beyond her. Would she lose all motivation to live?
That thought brought her attention back to the monster before her - the goblin Yoto who seemed to be patiently waiting to die.
"Who are you?"
"An old friend of the Queen's and one of the few clans that remain from before her time. Though I suppose my clan has changed much since I was last part of it. Splitting a peak is quite the undertaking."
"Splitting a peak?" Chum asked. Tiria understood his confusion. The peak was Gi, and yet, it was the path inside her to the heavens. It was both the current and the ocean and Gi all at the same time and she couldn't comprehend how one could "split" the peak.
"The peak isn't quite as immutable as you believe. This world was given an artificial path to the heavens and its loss is devastating, but that is only one manifested truth about the nature of power. In other worlds, they rise to that power without systems or Clans or Progenitors. The path to the heavens is never so cut off as it appears."
Tiria struggled to understand what he meant. The system was power. You took experience from the monsters you killed and slowly climbed stage over stage. How could you do that without having a means to push beyond a stage? Without even knowing there was a stage?
Yoto poured out three cups of tea as he clearly understood that Krayli didn't want any and placed carved stone cups in front of Tiria and Chum. "Careful, it needs a moment to steep for the flavor to be right."
Yoto sat down, placing the last cup on a carved stone table near him. "It is difficult to understand, but you've seen it many times since you've been here. Elizabeth, the mercenary, was born from a monster's ability to create undead in a Dungeon, creating a new species. She became a baseless peak and used a similar technique to create a Subgenitor and restore her base.
"Or take the Coastal Goblins. They were absorbed into your clan, giving them a new path to heaven. Yes, the same as both Georgia and Rocky," he said, reading her thoughts. "Though their paths weren't truly broken."
Watching Yoto take his first sip of tea, Tiria pulled the cup to her lips, blew, and then took a small sip. Like much of the water they drank, it was salty, but not as drastic as straight ocean water. The herbs provided a refreshing flavor and some kind of citrus seemed to mute the sharpness of the saltwater base. "It's good," Tiria said.
"It is, isn't it?"
Tiria took another sip and set her cup down. "And... what of Jalx?"
"Is that the path you seek? As I said, there are other ways. As a Subgenitor, you could rise and fulfill the role of the peak yourself and bring your clan back together. It need not be on the path of forced rebirth."
"It's the only path that matters," Tiria said sharply.
If her tone hadn't belied her conviction, her thoughts must have. Yoto nodded. "As you wish then. There are two things you need. A filled vessel of chaos," he got up as he said this and opened another cupboard and pulled out a small unremarkable river stone. "Use this on an entity of chaos. Channel it both with as much Aether and memories as you can manage."
He tossed the stone to her and Tiria turned it over in her paw. Even to her eyes, it seemed just the same as any other river stone, but there was an emptiness to it that resonated with the wound from Gi's absence. Carefully, she placed it in her [Expanded Pocket]. "How do I find an 'entity of chaos'?"
Yoto raised a finger and then reached back into his cupboard that seemed to hold impossibly rare items. He pulled out a compass. It was of a strange design with one half being completely white and the other completely black. There were two meters inside of it, but both hung lifeless.
"Channel your Aether into this. The black side will guide you to an entity of chaos. Once you've channeled the stone over the entity, it should create a doll. Yes, like the strange child Jalx had. Once that doll is created, charge your Aether into the compass again and the white half will guide you to the final step."
"Does it have something to do with the Dungeon?"
Yoto shook his head before settling back into his chair and taking another sip of his tea. "Every entity in this place has a reflection in the Divine Mirror. Even those who've moved beyond the final Dungeon. It's part of the artificial growth mechanism that pulls both monster and human forward. Follow the compass to that reflection and let the doll drain it. Then you will have your Progenitor back."
Tiria blinked. "Use this stone, drain an entity of chaos to create a doll, and then let that doll drain a divine reflection which I assume is a human?"
"That is the short of it."
Chum spoke up for the first time as he set down his finished tea. "How would that work? Gi has passed on. How could he have a reflection any more?"
Yoto smiled. "Good question. My god would have been pleased once. The memories that you channel into the creation of the doll creates a false life. That life isn't a true life, but it is enough to trick the system and align with a reflection of its own. Once you steal the truth from that reflection, only then does the doll become your Progenitor."
Tiria placed her own cup down too, though she wasn't finished with it and leaned forward earnestly. "And he will be just as he was? Our clan will be restored?"
Yoto shrugged. "Even I can not say how death may change a monster, but your clan's path to the peak will be restored, yes." Yoto turned to Krayli who Tiria hadn't even heard step forward. "Krayli, be a dear, and let me finish this last cup of tea. Here on my proverbial death bed, I find myself melancholic for something I have not yet lost. I'm sure you of all people understand that, yes?"
Krayli's face was stone as she looked at the old goblin. Tiria didn't know much about Hillin, the golem who'd also worshipped Noctua Dominus, but she couldn't help but wonder if Krayli saw her old Progenitor in Yoto. Whether she did or didn't, Krayli clearly wouldn't save anyone from her mission.
"You can finish your tea, but I won't delay any more."
Yoto smiled and raised his mug. "Then a toast to death and what new knowledge awaits us within its embrace."