CHAPTER 1 – THE AFTERMATH OF A DREAM
Umbra Mortem – Erebus
***
Lightning crashed across the cruel sky as Wyverns maimed and slaughtered, and Gideon, watched, wrapped in spectral chains, watched in horror as all the people he cared about, died. He could do nothing, the chains tightening the more he attempted to break free, Skald useless in a hand pinned to his waist.
The Wyverns killed everyone with hate in their eyes and a horrific gluttony. They tortured them, then they ate them, slowly; Orin, Unra, Dori, the list went on and on, even people Gideon knew to already have passed the wheel, Budko, others, but the best or worst were saved for last. L’Sana threw violet pools of anguish and hope that he would save them, Ari torn into small bite-sized chunks before his eyes. Then Shira, Shira, a half-burned corpse, hammering her small little knife on the Alpha while he gleefully ignored her, chewing on L’Sana’s leg.
Gideon screamed his throat raw. His anger became a volcanic explosion into the sky, black waves of umbral runes emanating from his scales in an avalanche as the entire universe broke and rain and lightning talked, struck in violent response, friend and foe alike, charred corpses to its fury.
The chains fell to nothing and Gideon dropped to his knees, an empty husk gazing upon a field that had become a grave, a cemetary filled with all the people he cared about, and those he deeply loved. Shira’s empty eyes stared at him with shattered dreams. It was all his fault. Everything died in his hands and his alone. A burning ember of murder danced in the emerald green of his hard stare. The System and everyone in it would pay the cost of what he’d lost this day. This, he vowed. He would slaughter his way to the throne and topple it.
***
Gideon’s eyes opened, not to a graveyard, no, not a reality carved in macabre ink and bad decisions but instead, the ceiling of what he recognized as his room. He escaped his dreams to instead be chained to an entirely different nightmare, his entire body and soul and mind on fire, excruciating undiluted fucking agony. Everything hurt beyond the word ‘hurt’ being able to do justice to the sensation. And no matter how much Will he pushed he couldn’t move anything, his limbs, fingers, eyelids, well no, not eyelids, he could blink. For whatever good that did.
For a moment in the breath between spikes of pain stripping his flesh, beyond just the shivs, he realized something was seriously seriously wrong. He didn’t even feel [Pain Resistance] kicking in. Even through the stripping of his mind he couldn’t pull up his [System Template] no matter what he did. Breathe Gideon. He’d spent years working through wounds and trauma way before the System had ever shown it’s ugly maw. He’d been a Ranger, HRT, this shit was nothing.
He ignored the trembling, focused past the nerves pulsating flames to his brain. A breath, two, three. Clarity inched its way past it all, through the maze of burning and scars carving pictographs of the dead from his dreams.
There were a shit ton of Notifications. His focus wavered for a moment as another wave of agony played rope’a’dope along his spine. Notifications. He would get to them. He managed to tilt his head enough to see a blank wrist. Freddie wasn’t where he should be though his cloak was wrapped snugly around him. He struggled to feel her spirit as he usually would but couldn’t connect to her. Still, she somehow knew he was awake and shifted a part of her fabric to caress his cheek, almost, like a Mother would a child.
He pushed his mind to find the threads that connected them, the bond between their souls but came across nothing. It was like she was on the outside of his perception, a barrier between him and her, and in reality, everything.
Freddie gone combined with Gideon being in his room was most likely a good thing, meaning Ari was probably alive. He had vague memories of her protecting Shira’s small burned defenseless body against the Alpha Wyvern, then, then, Skald to his hand, and Moonshadow Lightning, powerful, unrelenting. It got a bit vague after that.
Spikes riddled his brain and shook his thoughts. Focus, breathe. He wasn’t sure how she would’ve gotten Freddie off his wrist without him handing it to her but he had a feeling his little AI buddy had figured out how to infiltrate Gideon’s System like he had the Party messaging System. Either that or the same thing that was preventing him from sensing anything or pulling up his [System Template] had kept the Soul-Bound effects from functioning.
With being unable to move and needing something to keep his focus away from whatever was eating his soul like it was butter pecan, he pulled the first Notification.
Congratulations Citizen, you have defeated the Final….error….error….Catastrophic Damage to Citizen’s Soul-Pillar, System cannot access connection….error….error…..Please see local AI Liaison. One becomes available after all Three Challenges of the Integration have been completed. If one is not available we suggest you rid yourself of your life for you are a waste of the Multi-Versal System’s mercy.
Dammit and giant fuck yous in neon to the System. Where the hell-born corner hustle was Freddie? This would be his prime time to explain the System fuckery, his time to shine and pontificate. He attempted to smile at the image but instead shivered a grunt. What did it mean his Soul-Pillar and catastrophic damage? Was that what was doing everything? Sending never-ending pulsations of horror story access through his nerves?
He needed to stay calm and keep his head clear if he was going to somehow function with the non-stop spikes riding his scales. Scales, even with the fuck all pain, that he subconsciously referred to scales instead of flesh as if that was anywhere near normalcy in the world, was mind-bending. He was no longer human but some long extinct race that was draconic in nature, Nocturne. That had somehow slipped into his reality as a given which in itself was how far in the rabbit hole he’d slipped.
He pushed everything he had to shift his body like some slow-mo cripple up and attempted to push himself to his feet. What he instead accomplished was a half-fucked up tumble off said bed face first into the floor. The pain was beyond anything he could fathom, not from the face-plant but from the jolt to his focus and the wall-wave of agony resonating from deep within to every part of who he was. Breathe. It irritated him how reliant he had become on [Pain Resistance] and his super-human Attributes. He seemed to have been reduced to normal human boundaries along with everything else.
He wasn’t going to move anywhere anytime soon no matter his intent or want so he might as well look at any other Notifications of import that didn’t just scream error, error, over and over. Granted his face flush with the floor on his stomach wasn’t a covetous nor comfortable place holder but when in Nebraska, do like or was that Rome?
There were a shit ton of Notifications flaring willy-nilly like some crack fiend on a street corner. He quickly tossed through them throwing away the endless repeats of the earlier one. He had no doubt they were actually attempting to tell him different things like becoming the Shadowborn’s Champion, finishing the Monster Waves, Level-ups, etc…None of that was going to go through with whatever the fuck was going on with his Soul-Pillar. He was slowly coming to terms with the fact he’d fucked up somewhere along the track.
He was about to give up on the Notifications when his brain tried to encompass what he was seeing in his vision. A giant pitch night-shaded claw, and not the whole claw mind you, one single digit of a claw and just the sharp pointy part of itself, a single monstrous sharpened thing that touched one Notification that began to emanate night-candied dark hues then with a slight flicker of said digit, tossed it out where it enveloped Gideon’s sight.
It was literally a message from ‘The one whom shall not be named’. He laugehd that turned into a hiss of pain from the jostling. Ugh. Gideon had seriously been around Ari and Freddie far too long, recalling an hour long back and forth on the qualities of Harry Potter, books or films? Now he was quoting the damn writer. Sigh. It was a good thing the spikes of pain kept himself from following that dumb-ass train of thought.
Once he got past the part about who it was from, he got to reading and his eyes grew large. He’d shattered his Soul-Pillar? Another Proving? When he finished he saw the enormous claw once more flick another Notification at him. He pushed it to the side for now. Damn, who knew Primordials could be so fucking pushy? A smile began which twisted to a grimace as more thumps of hammers on his bones rolled on through.
He needed to find out what happened in the aftermath of the Final Wave and whether everyone was still this side of the grave before he could do what needed to be done. L’Sana was going to kick his ass. She wasnt going to be a fan of what came next.
As usual, the System threw fence after fence pitched for him to climb endlessly. Erebus and the System were a non-stop act in misery and death. He gritted his teeth in his attempt to smile against the barbs. Images of Ari and L’Sana and Freddie and Shira and Unra did merry-go rounds in his head. He had to admit all the chaos was where he’d always thrived, and there were flowers and beauty along the way.
Another flash of L’Sana and those fangs slipping from lips and the hunger in those violet eyes. Granted, the flowers had a few thorns but that was half the fun or at least she was half the fun. Another wave of edges shimmied along his spine as he lost focus. He closed his eyes attempting to gather his Will when the voice went right through him. Ari’s melodic sing-song was the sweetest sound he’d heard in a long time even if the shock of it sent another shimmie of fuck you lacerations through his flesh. Then energy burst through him as he felt the silver rivulets of her healing. It did nothing.
“Oh my God Gideon, you’re awake and on the ground. Your face is smushed smushed, kissing floor. I don’t think my healing will help cause I already tried and tried and tried but healing doesn’t do nothing, less than nothing. I can’t fix Shira. I can’t fix you. I am worthless.”
Freddie’s voice was a close second to hers on hearing it’s British posh.
“I will hear no such thing from you Princess Arizelle. I have told you one-thousand-three hundred-and-thirty-two times no healing can fix a shattered Soul-Pillar. It is not only improbable but impossible. In fact before Gideon did such a thing I had no idea it was even possible. And Shira? You saved her life! Is her life worth so little? So she has some permanent scarring? So what, she lives! Perhaps when the Sanctions are lifted, a Silver or Gold Rank Healer can be found that might be able to mitigate some of it but not likely as that is a part of the diabolical machinations of the System, scarring is not healable. The System loves it’s scars and disfigurements, unfortunately. It makes Dr. Evil look like a vaudeville comedian.”
A chiming laugh flowed out of Ari like two long lost lovers.
“I’ve told you a ton of times Freddie, I don’t know how many? I don’t keep track of that stuff like you but I have told you again and again, Austin Powers is a comedy, not a horror, a thriller or a mystery like you always say, well, it is kind of a mystery.”
And right on queue they laughed and said ti together and Gideon groaned.
“Man of Mystery.”
“Man of Mystery.”
He didn’t think he could feel any worse but them talking Austin Powers might be the tipping point. At the very least hearing Shira lived had lifted a mountain of guilt and emptiness from his gullet. Walking through the future without her giggles and smiles and the way she said Giddy was not one he would be happy to step upon. The scars meant nothing. Anyone that made fun of her would get him in their grill and not in a nice or understanding way. Dark clouds of umbral drifted off his scales and with it came an escalation of pain that had him clamping his jaws to keep it in. Bloodline still worked to a degree but whatever it drew from, at a guess, was broken shit. He spat words harsher then he meant them, his tone riddled with nerves firing.
“Hey everyone? Stop! Please, for the sake of all that is holy, unholy, atheist, I don’t give a shit! Can someone go find L’Sana or anyone that can get me off the fucking floor!”
Gideon peeled his eyes open to see Ari staring at him, liquid in her silver eyes, hovering in mid-air before she flew down next to his head and started gently rubbing his crown. His cloak joined her, animating to wrap around him as if to protect him though nothing either did would change what was broken inside. Ari’s voice was a whisper.
“L’Sana should be here any moment. We talked her into taking little Shira down to the Play Pen to get both of them doing something other then just sitting here watching you. We’ve all been doing that non-stop for the five days since you’ve been, well, sleeping.”
Freddie piped in as usual, needing to be accurate.
“That would in no way be construed as finding rest Princess Arizelle as we have conversed upon. He was comatose, rest of the dead, hibernating within deep trauma...”
Gideon tuned him out his endless lecturing. Five days!!!??? What the fuck???!!!! He tried to fathom how far on the edge he’d ridden himself with his stunt. It still only came in flashes as if something other than him had moved his body, mind, and spirit and he knew his cloak had been a part of it as if he had been a conduit for something greater.
He remembered his conversation to a degree with the Shadowborn, becoming his Champion. He’d been a bit preoccupied with, well, everyone he cared about dying. He remembered the Lone Wolf saying there was a high probability he’d die but that was a given. He’d lived that tightrope for years upon years. From the Army to the FBI, it’s all it was, slipping feet on borrowed time, always.
He asked Ari to help push him onto his back and she literally had no weight or a lot of Strength to do it. Still, she was a part of the System, enhanced, which was more than he could say currently. With some excruciating heaves from himself and her pushing for all she was worth, he landed with a thud and a curse littered grunt on his back.
Alright, ceiling view while not great was a vast improvement over the floor. Ari and Freddie spent the next few minutes talking about the last few days. They’d lost a lot of people but all the Elites had survived, including Gritzdek with his one peg-leg still intact, in addition to the Tempest Scion who with one remaining Conclave Soldier left a few days back towards Oklahoma.
Gideon had to remember to thank her profusely. He had to rearrange his thinking on the Conclave and throw truth bombs at himself. Between that woman whose name he couldn’t remember, cause well, he was shit at names, and Ezekiel, all they’d done is help. Maybe the Lady of Secrets, just maybe, wasn’t full of shit, and had actually instituted an about face.
A dime for a dollar. Not here and not now. Maybe if he survived what he had coming he’d pop over to Oklahoma and have a chit-chat. Listening to the two he realized an insane amount of shit had been unleashed with getting past the First Challenge as if the System held back a lot of the goodies to see whether the people in the Integration were worth bothering with.
The tools and toys revealed had changed everything drastically. All of it coming into play during his nappy time. Ari and Freddie made a point to make a point, and seriously, a bull elephant couldn’t stop both of them from talking up what they considered the most important aspect, the cream of the crop as far as they saw it. They roostered about the boost in morale that made it such a pivotal purchase. The set up was laid on so heavy Gideon sighed knowing he couldn’t just leave the room frozen and weak. Freddie had him right where he wanted him, finally. He knew the AI was probably giddy as a kid at an ice cream buffet.
And of course all the preamble was a set up for them to talk about the dream they’d had for a moon in slow-mo. The machine that would and had allowed Freddie to download his purloined catalog of all TV and Film Earth ever made, even the indie shit that had just been on Youtube and the encrypted Vimeo accounts. They hadn’t made a movie night yet but it was high on the priority list to have a one day a week event for everyone who wasn’t on guard duty or otherwise occupied. They then spent five minutes going over all the different choices for the imaginary debut bonanza. Gideon wanted to shoot himself. Someone please end it.
Kidding aside, If he wasn’t riddled with an immense non-stop avalanche of pain he would be smiling at their antics, and if he was throwing truth bombs once again, he wouldn’t mind taking a watch on the old Star Trek episodes with Bones, Spock, and Captain Kirk and his pregnant pauses.
After the myriad ways of explaining how important the acquisition was which told him they’d practiced it together and was probably the long winded pitch they’d given Unra until she’d bought it for them, more then likely to get rid of them as opposed to the actual merits of said argument, they moved onto more momentous changes.
The Issian Corp had started deploying their camera stealth bots. A couple of the Settlement’s high Perception Classes had already spotted a few which then led Unra to buying upgrades to Umbra Mortem’s stealth detection capabilities on it’s camera network as well as the full upgrades for the Communication Center. Ari said she was super excited as the Entertainment Network for Erebus would have its big kick-off the following week.
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It seemed to be a staple of every Integration according to Freddie. It was the main entertainment event for the entire Multi-Verse and the uniqueness of this Integration would mean it would probably break viewing records. Gideon felt nothing but a growing anger that people found murder and death of people as food for a good evening watch but he had to clamp it down as it instigated whatever the black wisps of energy were rolling off his scales, which then caused heavy spikes of pain on the interaction between it and the Soul-Pillar that was busted.
The System had opened up a whole slew of Upgrades especially given the Settlement’s Prime Ranking. They couldn’t afford most of them as the money and BP coming in was nowhere near what the Upgrades cost. It figured at the very least people would be into Silver Rank and fighting Silver Rank beasts by the time anyone had created a Prime Settlement.
Still, some of the lower Upgrades she’d been able to nab. One that stood out to Gideon as he listened, a captive audience, literally, plus all the info helped him focus past the pain. It was World Portals that had caught his attention. A Teleport Portal that once built could connect to any coordinates of others as long as said coordinates were given or stolen. Though there were a bunch of defensive measures one could purchase at exorbitant prices to make sure some invasive force didn’t steal the coordinates through some spy-craft then roll on in with overwhelming violence.
He was also told about the World Council in two months, a month before the Second Challenge began which would be announced at said Council along with the debut of the Ranking Boards, both Individual and Faction based. Though the Ranking boards would come a month earlier, no doubt to raise tensions and conflict knowing the asshole System.
The System had hinted at other important decisions being made at the Council but as usual was tight lipped with the information just that more would be coming as it got closer. The Ranking boards would be put up on the new System version of the Internet which would be supplied by the Issian Corp in the next week. Now this, both Ari and Freddie said Unra, and Virasa of all people, were excited about as it was a way to recruit.
Umbra Mortem had been devastated by the Monster Waves. They were down to maybe forty fighters and mages with only a few healers. Many of the injured and the few healing Classes had been slaughtered when the Wyverns got into the Fortress. Virasa, Dori, and Iona, had been too late to save all of them against the rampaging beasts that had slipped past their battle lines. In fact they had been hard pressed still when Gideon had timely killed the Alpha, sending the rest of the beasts back to where ever they came from. And they were only up to the numbers they were able to scrounge together cause of some more refugees being brought in by some scouting parties sent out for that direct purpose.
All of this was great information but without [Pain Resistance] his normal human level Attributes and Will were only accomplishing so much to keep the constant nerve-edged scalpels from making Gideon pass out. He would be forced to hit the System notification the Umbral Primordial had thrown at him. Ari had gone back to curling up next to his head and purring.
She’d sent a message and L’Sana was on her way. His Party Chat like everything else was a no-go and gone the way of the Dodo. During the wait his eyes did a triple eye-blink. He finally realized he couldn’t feel his dagger sheaths on his back since he was laying on it, and his irritation rose quickly for taking that long, pain or not, to have spotted their absence. That shit would get him killed on the quick. He sighed as his eyes locked onto them on a coat post coming off the wall near the entrance to the bedroom. He sighed but then his eyes and mind snapped back as he realized he didn’t catch Skald anywhere. Did he destroy the insanely powerful weapon he had just crafted?
Ari and Freddie had gone off on a tangent once again but he interrupted them, irritation with himself slipping through.
“Hold up everyone, where is my fucking spear?! Did I destroy Skald?”
Ari giggled and put her snout and silver eyes an inch from his face.
“Of course not silly. It’s a Soul-Bound Growth Item, and Ancient Rank, even if it is only Copper. You’d have to do a lot to destroy it but it was a bit charred. It will be fine as soon as you put a bit of your Spirit in it.”
She gulped as she realized she mentioned something that was broken in Gideon and he hadn’t shared the messages yet from Voldomort and the chance to heal up or well, as usual with the System, die.
“It’s fine Ari. I haven’t told you all yet. I wanted to wait till L’Sana was here and I laid my eyes on Shira. So give me a moment. There is a path forward, a chance, that my laying on my back unable to do shit can be fixed.”
The hope that shifted in her eyes brought a half-smile as if she didn’t know if she should believe him.
“Well Giddy, all that happened when you protected Shira and I so if it, whatever it is, doesn’t fix you, know I’ll be there for you, to feed you, bathe you, whatever it takes, well not me per se as I’m a Princess and that type of manual labor is beneath me but I promise I will choose someone great that I will oversee. Yes, that sounds perfect. I’ll check in on them to make sure they are doing their job and bring you sweets.”
She put her claws to his face, snout and eyes, a butterfly’s breath from his own.
“I’m a giver Gideon. I would sacrifice for you. Do you know how many Princess’s would give up their ‘Me’ time to supervise a menial laborer to help you? Not many I can say for sure sure.”
He could see the twinkle in her eyes. She was such a drama queen, a very cute one, still, a handful. He began to laugh which twisted to a groan as pain once more took a heavy hand to his nerves, the heat inside his chest feeling like a volcano had taken roost. She wiped the sweat off his brow.
“L’Sana takes Skald whenever she moves around the Settlement as a symbol, to let everyone know you are still with us, and the sacrifice you made to keep everyone alive.”
Her eyes got serious serious, unusual for the small Dragonling.
“Gideon, be prepared. Shira, well. I was able to heal her but it’s as Freddie says, the System likes scars. My healing did nothing to heal them and she is, well, the scarring was bad. The ugly beast’s acid was strong. And the kids, the kids haven’t been nice, well except her bestie, Tolk, Gritzdek’s son. He’s been in three scraps already cause some other boy made fun of our Shira, twice with boys twice his age and twice his size. The boy’s gonna be a menace, a super duper scrapper. I wonder what Pillar he’ll resonate with? I believe his Daddy is a Primal Martial Class.”
He hoped L’Sana hurried her ass up. He tuned out Ari who started urging Freddie to tell her all the ways he thought she was an amazing Princess and the naivety of the AI was only surpassed by his love of blathering. He heard steps coming through their apartment.
He heard that low husky voice of all things singing a low toned melody and it was music to his hearing holes. He tilted his head edging a burst of more flames along nerves but it was worth it to see her walk in, Shira on her hip, Skald in her other hand, somewhat charred up as Ari had said. But it was those violet eyes, teary eyed, as they locked to his that made his heart skip a beat. Then she snorted, seeing him on the floor, eyes darting to the bed, then back to the floor. He notched that Shira had her hair draped across the left side of her face and gloves on her hands, and pants, literally everything covered.
“Gideon. Damn, fucking awake at last. You humans sleep so damn long.”
Ari let out a giggle as he did his best to tilt his head further so he could try to draw out Shira but she stayed pressed into L’Sana’s chest, her small gloved hand glued to her small knife which looked mutilated, the grip only half there, pitted and the blade half gone, and what was left, a corroded thing. It hurt his eyes and heart to see it. This little girl had to be the bravest person he’d ever known. The image of her flying off the balcony on top of a fifty foot tall Alpha Wyvern at five years old yelling something about her family. It would be forever etched into his head. Her voice was a whisper, a far cry from the confident excited young Shador girl he knew.
“Sana, you said a lot of bad words.”
“Nonsense Shira, they were colorful addendums for emphasis. I’m just a creative soul down deep, like so deep, most will miss it.”
L’Sana was in her Bone-Umbral Soul-Bound medium armor, something he’d crafted what seemed an age ago. He remembered the look of love and excitement, then her suffering under a debuff for a while without telling him cause she didn’t have the [Light Armor] Skill. The Troglodytes, mean bastards, then her first run in with her Goddess. He remembered the joy in her eyes when she came out of that with a new friend, a new outlook and an Upgrade Stone for the armor from the Goddess herself not only making it Medium Armor but a Soul-Bound and Growth Item but more importantly, to her, allowing her to keep the armor he’d made for her. He sighed. He didn’t regret the cost to saving them all even if he ends up being put in the dirt attempting to get his Soul Pillar back.
L’Sana was now the Champion of Liestra, the Widow of something or other. He remembered after the Second Monster Wave when he’d found out he wasn’t quite sure if was happy about it. The trust factor between him, the System, the Factions and Gods was on the low side to say the least. It would be a bit of hypocrisy at this point since he was now the Shadowborn’s Champion. That in itself was strange as fuck to say, even if it was only in his own head.
Gideon stared at L’Sana who just stared back at him, a slight fanged grin on her lips while Shira continued to hide. He growled through pain and irritation.
“Dammit L’Sana get my ass up off the floor!!”
She laughed but the kind of laugh that had tears riding the edge of upturned lips. If his Insight was actually working it might have said she was depressed and thought the man she loved was going to spend his life as an invalid and she was trying to crack jokes instead of emotionally crumbling. She set Skald against the wall and Shira down on the bed where the little girl immediately grabbed the covers and used it to hide her face from him. It broke his heart.
L’Sana walked her huge curvy muscles over, leaned down, giving him an eyeful of cleavage then lifted him like a toddler, a whisper in his ear.
“I love you Gideon Sho.”
She gave a light kiss to his cheek then turned and deposited him back on the bed with his head on the pillow, Shira scooting over and yanking the blanket with her to keep her face hidden. Damn, he would need to put an end to this right now. He pushed everything he had to make his hand flop it’s way onto Shira’s little knee under the covers causing her to peek above the sheet.
“What? I don’t get a hug from the bravest little girl in the world?”
Her eyes peeking out above the sheets crinkled and he knew it hid a smile. He did his best to keep the constant needles of pain off his expression as he gave her a warm smile in return. Then her voice almost broke him but he kept his face from showing anything, the expression of the consummate soldier.
“I’m ugly now Giddy. All the other kids think I’m a monster, an ugly monster.”
Gideon pushed with all his Will to raise his arm through gritted teeth. L’Sana sat on the bed and leaned into his side, her hand resting on his leg. He held out his clawed hand in its fingerless gloves towards Shira.
“Look at me Shira. I am covered in scales. You remember what I used to look like? There would be many that would call me a monster. Is that what you think?”
Her voice was quick in rebuttal.
“No Giddy. You are a Dragon Man, a Dragon Hero. You fight all the baddies and keep them safe and I think you look so cool with the scales, and you still have your pretty greenie eyes.”
He forced another smile.
“Well did any of those kids leap off a balcony with just a small knife on top of a fifty foot Alpha Wyvern? I highly doubt it. You are the bravest little girl in the world!”
Gideon let his hand fall as an idea ran through his brain, the passion of it stuffing the pain to the side. He forced his head towards L’Sana.
“Can you please get into the Settlement Interface or have Unra do it if you can’t and announce that Shira Nev will now be know as Shira Nev M’Ras Sho, our child and the Heir to Umbra Mortem.”
He forced his face back towards a little girl who was so in shock she’d let the sheets drop and he got his first look at the damage. The whole left side of her face was just a mass of scar tissue that ran up to the edge of her eye and continued up the side of her head to her hairline and continued down under her blouse. He felt his emotions strain in empathy. A girl so young to have her looks taken from her? Granted, eventually with her association with them there was a high likelihood she would be offered a Bloodline or he would see to it that she would, which might help. Her words brought another smile gritted through his nerves whipping his spine.
“Do you mean it Giddy?”
L’Sana answered, emotion trembling upon her lips.
“We both mean it munchkin. You are ours.”
Tears ran down the little girl’s face and she leapt at Gideon, crushing him in her little arms, an avalanche of tears and crying like all her heart was breaking in joy. Gideon’s voice was gentle and he did his best to keep it clear of what he was rolling through.
“When I get back little one I’m gonna make you a new blade and a half-mask that will have magic and make you look as fierce as your heart is. People will think you are the coolest young warrior in Umbra Mortem by the time I’m done. Do you want moon or shadows or lightning on the mask?”
She tilted her head up and did her best to smile though the left side of her mouth was so scarred it wouldn’t cooperate, so it was more a lopsided smirk. He could however see the joy and happiness in her eyes, and to his contentment, a lack of the fear and pain she’d been holding to. It was a good start. He could hear it in her voice, her understanding life was still good, that excitement she always had.
“The moon Giddy like Ari. I want a moon and a new knife, the bestest knife but where you going Giddy? You’re not leaving us are you?”
L’Sana’s voice joined in.
“Yea, what she said, where the hell do you think you’re going? And how if I might ask? I hate to break it to you Gideon but your legs much less the rest of you doesn’t seem to be working very well.”
Alright time to tell everyone about ‘He who should not be named’.
***
“Are you fucking serious Gideon Sho????!!!!! A Proving?!!! Like we did in the beginning?!!! That’s going to fix you? And not just a normal Proving, it’s going to be some Super Duper Proving by the same asshole System who just cheated like a shit stain to put all of us into the ground???!!! And this is the option given to you by the Shadowborn’s Poppa?!!!!”
L’Sana had been going on this tirade with different versions over and over again for ten minutes. Ari and Freddie once they heard the source from which it sprang had just nodded. Shira had gotten sad again and clung to him, crying like a waterfall. This time though when L’Sana finished her body went rigid, eyes taking on a violet fire emanating out of them like some neon inspired rave sticks. After a few breath the light stopped and her body relaxed.
She grunted and growled and paced back and forth while Shira was finally running out of steam with the waterworks and Ari had the googly eyes which meant she was probably conversing with Freddie about some TV Show or Film. He gently made the commentary everyone knew to be the fact. He was glad he hadn’t experienced any of the Champion God communicato himself.
“I take it Liestra had a word or two to throw in the gumbo?”
Her eyes zeroed in on his then Shira clamped to his chest and Ari staring back at her from the nest shed made of his legs with Freddie around her neck. He’d need to do the Proving just to stop being a piece of furniture for everyone. The spikes of pain that were never-ending kept the smile from teasing lips which noting her body language, he was thankful of.
“Fine Gideon, fine, and yes she said it was your only option.”
She stalked back and forth, claws sliding in and out, in and out.
“”I just don’t like you going alone. You’ve proven over and over again, without me, you are a lost little puppy.”
A slip of fangs and a sparkle of those violet orbs had his heart warm but then she caught another grimace in his face he couldn’t keep back. She slid forward and sat next to him at the edge of the bed, leaning into his shoulder and resting her head on his shoulder.
“Be careful Gideon. You promised to never leave me and I’m holding you to it for eternity. I need you, we need you or none of this works. It’s not called Team L’Sana.”
He forced a smile to his lips through the pain.
“Are you doubting that I can beat the damn System? Oh ye of little faith.”
Shira clung to him harder.
“I will miss you Giddy and ‘member you promise you make me a moon mask and a new knife.”
He gritted his teeth and forced his hand to touch her hair. He couldn’t do more than that even though he tried. Holy shit this sucked. Ari slithered up onto his chest taking up his entire line of sight.
“Your Princess demands you survive and come back to us and please, pretty please take care of my bestie.”
She slid the bracelet off her neck and clasped it to his limp wrist. Freddie on the other hand was oblivious to everything except for what she said. He whispered it into Gideon’s ear over and over.
“Gideon. She said I was her bestie! Did you hear? I didn’t mishear her right? She said bestie!!!”
He whispered back.
“You heard her right Fredster. Are you sure you don’t want to stay behind?
There was a pause as if the decision would define who he was, the little AI gulping the serious straw.
“No Gideon. It is tempting, truthfully, right when I and Princess Arizelle’s relationship just transitioned to a much deeper layer of communion. To me, an historic moment of cosmic ripples. I am the first AI in the history of AI’s to have a bestie. I will be adding it to my memoirs definitely and also submitting it the AI weekly..”
Gideon stopped him before he jumped on the tangent train.
“Freddie.”
“Oh I apologize Gideon. It is difficult with such a transient data base of almost limitless intellect and storage space to not jump upon the endless threads of fate that make up my unique road. As I was saying. I am the Personal Assistant of one Gideon Sho, Forerunner and future Monster of the Multi-Verse. There is no other place that providence would dictate I should be than by your side, well, wrist I guess would be more accurate. It reminds me of Braveheart when Mel Gibson’s character….”
Gideon tuned him out as L’Sana waved Ari and Shira off him. She lifted him with one arm, once more like a child, as she clasped his dagger sheathes where they belonged. She kissed him on the cheek then leaned out of his perception and came back with Skald setting it into his lifeless hand. She stepped back and gave him a hard look, one she usually reserved for fighting or fucking.
“Kick it’s ass Gideon.”
He did his best to nod then pulled the flashing Notification. Everything inverted, his entire existence ripped from flesh and scales to the beginnings of a new birth. The increased pain made what he’d just been experiencing similar to a paper cut. His screams were as endless as they were silent when you had no mouth or throat with which to let them out.