Fallen Gor'achen II

The Aether

Unknown

Feeling a stirring inside my Core Realm, I remove one of the crystals given to me by Life, one with contains a fragment of Her Mind and Soul, the red one. Without so much as a flash or flicker, an image, a Projection, of Life appears around the crystal. This time, she wears a plum colored kimono, with an elaborate obi. It can barely qualify as translucent. I looks more like a mirage.

"I thought had gone to sleep."

The Projection frowns. "I am no more than the tiniest fragment of the Mind and Soul of my true self. I can only appear outside this Soul crystal for a limited amount of time. There are changes and events I must set in motion on Earth and in the my sealed prison universe. Once those tasks are complete, I will merge into the wards sealing the prison universe."

The projection stares at Gor'achen and frowns. "That should not be here. Be careful in dealing with it, Marek."

I look around in an exaggerated manner. "We're alone here. There's now way Queen Bitch can hear us from the quarterdeck. Besides that, I don't think her real name is Marek. Who are you talking to?"

Life's projection turns and glares at me. "You are a complete asshole."

"I already told you, I NAMED myself Brand."

As I say NAMED with as much of its Elemental meaning as I can put into it, the Aether around me seems to tremble. I feel as though the entirety of my being, Body, Mind, and Soul, is trapped within a high pressure chamber. It seems like I am not quite ready to deal with the full meaning of Elemental Names. I lack the strength and reality to stand up to them.

I brush my awareness across the stern of the Night Raven .

Alyssa, the former Queen Bitch, lies collapsed, unconscious, on the gleaming obsidian stone of the quarterdeck. I did not speak loudly. She should not have been able to hear my words as more than an unintelligible whisper, but the use of an Elemental Name was too much for her to withstand. She could remain unconscious for days.

"Night Raven, take care of the slave."

"Yes, Master."

One of the automatons serving as a deckhand, picks up the girl's unconscious body and takes her belowdecks. With her gone, I put any thoughts of her out of my mind.

While bathing in the pollution of Chaos, I came to the realization that whether it was Chaos, another Primal Power, or Elemental existences, they were all more real than me, to say nothing of normal Amalgamate existences. Amalgamate Realms and Amalgamate life are nothing but shadows when compared to the Elemental Realms. And from what Life has said and what is in the data She gave me, the Primal Powers stand a step above the Elemental Powers and Elemental existences.

If I am truly the child of Life and Death, why was I born as nothing but an Amalgamate shadow? I cannot find an answer. If Life knows why and is not just hiding the truth from me, why has She not told me?

Life's Projection stares at me with an angry frown. "Can we return to the important topic now?"

I shrug. "Go ahead."

"You must not waste time dealing with Gor'achen, but there is something corrupt hiding within that decrepit hunk of rock that cannot be allowed to live, if it is even remains still truly alive. The Od would probably direct you toward the corruption even were I to remain silent, but it might not. This corruption is tied to the corruption from Earth. You brought half of the source to Gor'achen yourself. A corrupt being that already lay hidden in the bowels of Gor'achen merged with it in a manner of speaking and a greater corruption was born. You need to clean up your mess.

"There are others on Gor'achen. If you do not step in, they will fall prey to the corruption. They have…" The Projection of Life's words die out mid sentence, and she just stares at me with a pensive frown.

I narrow my eyes. "You were saying?"

The Projection shakes her head. "Nothing. You will understand when you meet them. You will have to draw your own conclusions."

I frown at the Projection, but it remains impassive. No. If anything, it looks a bit smug. "You have your Earth waiting beyond that ward wall."

Turning my eyes back to the wall of silver and green Power, my frown deepens. "What exactly is that wall. Its pattern is beyond my understanding."

Life's Projection looks at the wall of Power and smiles. "Something created by dear, old Boran. He based it on my seal for the singularity universe that should not exist and trapped your Earth's solar system inside."

Sullen anger rises from my Soul. "Stop calling it my Earth. I never asked to be on that shithole. If you had not abandoned me, I would never have been there."

Life's Projection looks into my eyes. "Be that as it may, you have tied yourself to the world through your actions, thoughts, and emotions. You are the one who has chosen to retrieve the core logic for the Delphi program from the Earth. Ten millennia passed while you re-Made yourself, yet, your thoughts cannot leave your Earth behind. Your thoughts and emotions ties you to that corrupted world.

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"Bring the connections between you and your Earth to closure. Sever them. You have a long life ahead of you; one that goes far beyond your Earth."

With my sullen anger turning hot, I glare at Life's Projection. "I would never have had to deal with the Earth if you hadn't just dumped me with some random High Man family as their child."

Looking almost ashamed, Life's Projection lowers its head. "I am sorry, Marek. Circumstances made me think you would be safer growing to adulthood among Mortals. I am neither all-powerful nor all-knowing. I am not a Goddess. Those calling themselves Gods or Goddesses are delusional I still do not understand why you, as my child, were born Mortal. The interference of the Dragon, who Named himself God is the most likely cause, but it could also be direct interference from the Great Old Ones, the most powerful existences that dwell deep within the Primal Powers. I just do not know.

"You were born trillions of years after your youngest siblings. I thought I could not longer bear children of my Body. I thought that the Creation of universe and races of beings was all that was left to me. But them I became pregnant once more. Unfortunately, unlike your siblings, you were born Mortal. After your birth, I kept you sealed for trillions more years, while I sought a solution to your condition. In the end, leaving you to find yourself and your destiny by rising from among Mortals seemed to be the best option. I sought to allow you the same chance as Death and I, to rise to Transcendence on your own."

Life frowns. "But the Dragon called God had to stick its corrupted claws into your life. It manipulated your life so you wound up on Earth. Now, it is time to end the legacy of corruption that God left for you. Once you are done with your Earth, toss my red crystal into your Earth's sun, and Boran's wards will be merged into the my sealed universe. Your Earth will have the opportunity to be cleansed and the Souls of its humans purified. Once the cycled of purification is complete in my sealed universe, the Souls of those humans will rejoin the cycle of Life and Death in the main metaverse, freed from your Earth's corruption."

"Why is Gor'achen here?"

With a somewhat cold look in her eyes, Life's Projection stares at Gor'achen. "It was drawn here. The circuit stamping machine you left on it has drawn it back to Your Earth. It serves as the source of the legacy of corruption you left behind. Once you should deal with it and your Earth, perhaps, you will find it within yourself to cast of the mental shackles of the world where you grew to adulthood.

Life's Projection looks at me and smiles. "I wish I could remain outside my crystal and talk with you, my son. But I am wasting Power I will need on Earth. Return me to your Core Realm." As it finishes speaking, the Projection disappears.

With the crystal back in my Core Realm, I stare at Gor'achen. By adjusting my vision, I make it like I am looking at the citadel with a hundred power telescope. The individual buildings and roads of the First Layer that fall within my view lie shrouded in darkness. Despite its apparent brightness, the green and silver Power in the ward gives off little illumination, and no lights can be seen in the buildings or on the streets.

Time and the Aether have not been kind to Gor'achen. Many of the building show signs of partial collapse. Some are little more than piles of rubble. The ones that remain standing look badly weathered. Many have cracks and fissures on their surfaces.

If Life's Projection did not tell me something lurked within, I would think the citadel was dead and abandoned.

"Night Raven , circle Gor'achen. I want a better look at it before we go in. Do not move between Gor'achen and that ward wall. I do not want to be silhouetted against it for anyone looking up. And change our orientation so Gor'achen remains thirty degrees above out starboard rail.."

"Master, I have a cloaking function in my dimensional barrier."

"Can you tell me nothing can see through your cloaking, especially our here in the Aether?"

"No, Master."

"Don't silhouette yourself against the ward wall."

"Yes, Master."

Looking up at Gor'achen, while we circle it, considerable damage can be seen. Some of it looks to be battle damage. Since I was last on Gor'achen, at least, one major has been fought there, but from my point of view, I see no signs of who the combatants might have been. But other damage looks more like the result of extensive weathering, far more than a mere ten millennia give or take. Whatever has happened on Gor'achen since my death might be an engaging tale unto itself, but unfortunately, I am not likely to learn much of it.

The DokkAlfar clansmen and women, who once filled the streets of the First layer have long since left or died. Most of their compound and towers look unlivable. In place, spirits wander the ruins. Spirits are the remnants of slain beings whose Souls were torn, or so badly damaged, that fragments remained behind with some amount of their Mind still attached. Depending on how much of the Mind remains attached to the Soul fragment, their intelligence levels vary widely, but most of them resent the living A spirit that bears no ill-will to the living is rare, and the living need the ability to directly damage the Mind or Soul to fight against a spirit.

Several airship docks exist in Gor'achen, and like parts of the first layer. They all show signs of battle damage, significant amounts of it, leaving them unusable. Until the military docks attached to the Fifth Layer come into view. The gates were destroyed at some point, but the docks still appear usable. And visible through the open gates, somewhat large airships lie berthed in three of the docks.

The airships appear to be modeled on the atakebune used by medieval Japan. Ranging in length from about four-hundred-fifty to five-hundred-fifty feet, their have beams of a good hundred-fifty feet. They look ungainly, but their design gives them considerable volumes of interior space. A mix of dozens of gunports and oar ports line the sides of each of the ships, and sever large metal-clad gun turrets sit on the decks of each. The last thing I ever expected to see were Japanese style airships in Gor'achen, but the design is probably serviceable for use in the Aether. None of the crew needs to be exposed on deck with a galley. All three airships show signs of battle damage, but none of it looks bad enough top keep them from flying. However, none of their crew can be seen.

Without a dimensional bubble, like the dimensional ripper provides, travel in the Aether can be extremely dangerous. Numerous fields of dangerous energies exist, and countless hostile beings and entities lurk in the clouds of proto-matter, searching for fissures they can use to slip into Amalgamate Realms. Most originate from the Elemental Realms, but other come from beyond the metaverse's boundaries, from within the Primal Powers. The majority may be the weak, which could not hold their own in their Elemental Realms or Primal territories they come from, but they have the strength to easily overwhelm most Amalgamate beings.

As the docks disappeared behind the curve of the huge chunk of rock Gor'achen is built into, I see what I really wanted, a narrow ledge leading out from a tunnel. If I can still activate it, a gate used to connect that ledge to Thrall's territory in the Blood Rose Stable.

Forming an image of the ledge in my Mind, I project it to the Night Raven's spirit. "Take us near that ledge.

"Yes, Master."

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