Washington, D.C., Winter, 2050
“If I had a nickel for every time a group of young people are given powerful artifacts from other worlds to commit atrocities with I’d have two nickels,” Cal said.
“I was only responsible for one. As I’ve proved by generously consenting to your tests,” Kerkestis said. “I dislike repetition. You know that I have not violated our agreement. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be so polite, would you?”
She had upgraded her temple to Sunor a while back, moving from the cramped chapel in a government bunker complex to an actual church.
The architecture and iconography inside and out had been completely transformed through the work of skilled artisans and magic judging by the miniature diorama of what looked like a galaxy that continuously spun centered on the tallest steeple.
“Remember anything new about the barrier?”
“A spell barrier is a spell barrier. I refuse to render an opinion without exhaustive study and I am far from an expert. The data you’ve provided is insufficient. Perhaps the next time you can bring me to the site… alas, the agreement prevents my travel beyond these lands.”
“You’ve lived a long time. Are you sure you aren’t just forgetting seeing something like that before? I’d imagine it’s not exactly a rare tactic since it’s effective.”
“This line of questioning will only lead you to a place you reached the last time we spoke.”
“Still nothing on the symbols?”
“I’ve already shared what I know. The pantheon worlds are innumerable in number. They are as grains of sand on a beach. Even a long-lived being such as I have only visited a fraction.”
“Okay. Great talk. I hope the next one isn’t in the near future or far for that matter.”
“A moment of your time?”
That was new.
The Eidolon of Sunor wasn’t one to ask questions. She had gained a quick understanding of their dynamic. She harbored grand ideas of bringing him into Sunor’s service. Not as a so-called ‘God’, but on a level lower in the hierarchy occupying the same space as the demigod children.
“Please observe.”
She thrust her arm toward the altar framed by exquisitely carved marble pillars in the shape of a scythe and a sickle. One to the right and one to the left.
Light bloomed, driving the shadows away from the fields of wheat carved into the marble floor.
It obscured the relief of a great city carved into the marble wall behind the altar, hiding the intricate details, leaving a dark silhouette.
The light coalesced into a life-accurate 3D projection even better than Threnosh holographic technology.
“Aeonia, capital city of Sunor, Ninth World of Its Name. One of the core worlds of my God.”
The projection zoomed in from above. The distance traveled made it clear that the city was the size of a state to use a frame of reference he was familiar with.
It focused on one of the many spires in the city.
The silvery surface shimmered.
Space distorted, rippling outward.
A man appeared.
God-like in all physical aspects despite unkempt black hair and beard.
He had dark brown skin, almost black, but features that harkened to Cal’s own.
Dark tattoos covered his massive, muscular body.
He wore no armor or clothing aside from what looked like animal skin pants.
Yellow lighting crackled around him as he raised his arms to the sky.
A bolt struck and when the smoke cleared the man held a weapon in each hand.
The sickle and hammer looked plain. Not even steel, but battered iron.
“That is— was a demigod. Son of a primordial Goddess of the storm, the harvest, and countless other things. She is of a rival pantheon. He was one of her older children.”
The demigod leapt into the air on a streak of lighting.
Crackling, yellow bolts bombarded the city.
Defenders appeared and the battle commenced.
It was apocalyptic.
In the end the state-sized city was a charred ruin.
Buildings that had once stood proudly as they reached the clouds were broken like trees after a lighting storm.
Millions of sapients across a myriad of species lay dead or joined the ash clouds sweeping across the landscape.
“Just one demigod did all that?”
“Truly ancient ones are often more powerful than young Gods.”
“What is considered young?”
“Several hundred centuries after apotheosis. A century after birth. Such things vary. The size and scope of one’s demesne. The number of faithful. Whether other Gods hold or challenge claims in the same demesne. It is fluid. Like words written in a river. Unlike your people’s pathological desire to carve your rankings into stone.”
“How long ago was this?”
“I received it three months ago.”
“My condolences for all the innocent sapients that had their lives stolen by evil people. Thank you for sharing. It strengthens my resolve to never become a part of a system that perpetuates slaughter because of a pathologically selfish desire for power. Maybe Sunor needs to reconsider how your pantheon is doing things?”
“That which you’ve just watched is transpiring across infinity. That demigod reached Aeonia through your Terminus World. This has been done many times and not just to my pantheon. We’ve done the same. All war in chaos. Sunor cannot allow that to abide for much longer. The longer your world remains free the more such chaos thrive, spreading until it consumes the pantheon worlds. And so, I come to this warning from my God. Your time grows short. Service to Sunor will bring you power and resources enough to gain control of your world. It is the only way to prevent further suffering. You will find my God’s touch fair and kind above all others. Continue to refuse and bear the consequences for the fates of every living Earthian.”
“How about you all just not kill each other? Tens of millions of people? Eidolons? Demigods? All dead and for what?”
“That is not the natural order of existence. Life and death. It is the struggle of all living things.”
“I take it back. This was not a good talk. Thanks for ruining my Christmas.”
----------------------------------------
Time and space placed them in moments. Some extraordinary, some mundane. All important in their own ways whether to the person or those around them.
Take the beginning of the year.
Eron sat on a park bench.
His daughter and partner were with his sister in-law and nieces doing girl stuff, whatever that meant.
Thus, he had a rare moment to himself while not having to do anything.
Vacation had been mandated by everyone and truthfully, he had resisted. There had been an incident over the summer. Near disaster involving a dam and a monster that liked to destroy dams for some reason.
He had slipped and gotten too close to disaster for the people down river.
Physical fatigue wasn’t really a thing, but the mental side of it was real.
So, back to the closest thing he had to a home.
Sacramento.
One of his go to burger places had apparently re-opened a decade ago.
Thus… cheeseburgers and curly fries.
Several bags worth shared the bench. Along with a milk shake. Cookies and cream. From another old favorite.
To think he had thought that they would never grace his taste buds again.
“I should eat food more…”
He chewed slowly, savoring the juiciness, the char, the grilled onions and melted cheese.
Sure, having the power of the sun in every cell of his body was handy. No need to worry about food and consequently, starvation. But, a human, even a super one needed to do the human thing. Otherwise he might forget.
Cheeseburgers, fries and a shake.
A perfect reminder if he could say so himself.
“Excuse me?”
He had heard the young couple approaching, had hoped they wouldn’t bug him.
They had a clipboard and a bunch of fliers.
He suppressed a sigh, although he brightened for a moment.
Political solicitation was a good thing to see. It meant that things for the people of the city weren’t that dire despite the near constant fire works show from the walls.
Bountiful Decade?
More like bullshit decade.
Damn it!
He was reminding himself of his self-appointed duty.
He had promised though…
“Sure, I have plenty. Have a some, please.” He held one of the burger bags up.
“Oh, no thanks. Um, that’s not why… um, let me introduce myself, my name is ‘Cassie’ and this is my husband ‘Jose’.”
“I’d shake your hands, but they’re greasy. Nice to meet you.” He guessed. He peeked at the clipboard. Looked like signatures. “You can put one of those pamphlets down here.” He made space by pushing the burger bags. “I’ll definitely read it after I finish my lunch,” he lied.
“Wow! That’s a ton of food! You’re going to eat all of that?” Jose said.
Nice smiles on them.
Handsome couple.
Didn’t really give him a weird vibe.
No weird magical energies or sounds of hidden spells building up to shoot him in the face.
Normal clothes for the area and weather.
A stray thought that they looked in good shape for not being on the wall helping the defense, but then he chided himself. They could be on break or didn’t have good classes for fighting. Maybe they cooked enhancing food or made bullets and other supplies. Grew fruit and vegetables?
There were many valid and valuable ways to contribute beyond combat.
Honestly, he’d rather be doing something like that.
Probably not bothering people in the park while they were eating a few dozen cheeseburgers, though.
“Trying.”
“I’m sorry to bother you. We’ll be quick then.”
“Sure, why not?” He took a bite and chewed slowly.
“Um, well, as you know the, um, population plummeted drastically at almost exactly 30 years ago,” Cassie said.
That was an understatement.
The young couple wouldn’t have even been born yet.
It always struck him as something monumental that there was a line in history that shifted the paradigm of human existence so drastically.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Obviously, population growth didn’t really happen in the years immediately after the spires emerged.”
“Hard to think about starting families when people are just trying to not get eaten by the monsters,” Jose chimed in.
“Right! Now, um,” Cassie hesitantly held out a pamphlet, but then placed it on the bench next to him, “I won’t go into the details, but it’s all in there. We didn’t really do a census until 2033 because that’s when things looked like they might get more stable.”
“That’s only for Sacramento, right?”
He traveled to communities of all sizes as part of his self-imposed duty.
He had no idea if they did official censuses.
Didn’t really need one if their town had less than thousand people.
Did SoCal?
More importantly, did he care?
“Yes, that’s correct. Although, we’ve reached out and had people reach out to us from all over the world,” Cassie continued.
“Not everyone though, some places have been kinda rude about it,” Jose said.
“So, how’s the study going? Population going up? Down? Do I want to know?”
“Well, from 2033 to 2040 the population stayed level. There was a slight uptick from 2040 till 2047 and a slight downturn to today.”
“Terminus Decree and Bountiful Decade.” He nodded.
They nodded.
“So, what’s this thing about?” He pointed to the pamphlet. “I hope it’s not a forced breeding thing. I’ve… heard about camps… over the years. From my understanding. None of them turned out well for obvious reasons.”
Yeah, there was no way that was gonna fly here.
The young couple looked horrified.
“No! No way! That’s terrible! Those were real?” Cassie said.
“Oh yeah… I heard…”
“I hope those were just stories. Exaggerations,” Jose said.
“That would never happen here. What the measure aims to do is provide incentives for loving couples to have children. A stipend of Universal Points will be provided for childcare no strings attached. We’ll create childcare centers staffed by qualified and more importantly, people that want to be there for the right reasons. So, like, if the mom is a fighter and she wants to be on the wall or do a challenge then she can be secure in the knowledge that her babies will be properly taken care of.”
“We’ll also establish a system to take care of kids in the event that their parents, um, don’t return.”
“They used to have similar systems back in the old days.”
Their brows creased slightly.
“That is to say, my…” He did some quick math, “parents told stories. Apparently, it was filled with abuse. Government workers were overworked and people generally treated children as dollar signs and numbers in the system.”
Good save.
Sometimes he forgot that he didn’t look that much older than people the young couple’s age.
“We’ve heard the same stories too.” Cassie’s face fell, before brightening. “It’ll be different this time. It won’t be work and there are ways to test if people are appropriate for the responsibility.”
“We’ve discussed all the potential problems for the children. You see, they’re why we want to do this in the first place, so what’s the point if the experience isn’t as close to perfect as possible for them?”
“That’s a good attitude to have toward this measure. I would like to sign.” He wiped his wand on a napkin, then did it again because the napkins sucked and the burger was perfectly juicy. The nostalgia brought a smile to his face.
The young couple’s heartbeats never changed through the course of the conversation.
They believed the truth in their words.
Didn’t even push the Bible angle.
He heard the crucifix dangling on the chain under Jose’s shirt and saw the small Bible sticking out of Cassie’s bag.
That earned them points with him.
Doing good for the sake of doing good was always better than doing good because someone tells you to or because you’re afraid of the fires of hell.
He vaguely remembered some guy saying something to that effect a long time ago.
Was it Jesus?
It was probably Jesus.
He signed his real name.
“Oh, I’m actually not registered to vote.”
Did they still do voting?
Damn, he was really getting out of touch.
“Oh, that’s okay!” Cassie smiled. “You don’t have to be.”
“But, then how will they know that those signatures are legit?”
Cassie showed him the sheet.
Next to the names was a shiny green check mark.
It reminded him of those gimmick foil covers for comic books back in the day his idiot brothers had wasted their chore wages and allowances on.
“The paper is enchanted! It’ll turn into a red ‘X’ if the name is not genuinely the signer’s.”
“Cassie invented it!” Jose beamed proudly.
“Yeah? Really? That’s pretty cool!”
She blushed.
“Thanks, it’s not a big deal.”
He snapped his fingers.
“I know! You can make the people you’re going to have take care of the kids in your daycare centers sign employee contracts that’ll prevent them for hurting the kids in any way.”
“Yeah, we’re trying to figure out the perfect verbiage for that,” Jose said. “There’s a difference between accidental harm and intentional.”
“The language has to be really specific too,” Cassie sighed. “And I’m too low level to do some of the things I’ve only heard about through the spires message boards.”
“Some of those stories get pretty dark, but you seem like good young people.”
They looked at him oddly again.
He smiled and held up a burger bag.
“You sure you don’t want some for the road?”
“I mean…” Jose shrugged.
“Take it. Still warm and I’ve got a lot.”
“Wow! It’s pretty chilly out here and they’re still warm? You must’ve just gotten them and you’ve already eaten so much!” Jose eyed the crumpled bags on the bench.
The young man accepted the generous offer.
They even extended an invitation to one of their group’s meetings.
Naturally, he demurred.
With that the young couple went to hassle someone else enjoying the park.
----------------------------------------
Time and space moved on.
A couple of weeks and several thousand miles northeast to a land whose name was a lie.
Snow and ice covered the jagged, mountainous landscape while glaciers ground everything beneath.
The vast majority of the land’s pre-spires population had lived in the fjords on the southwest coast where the climate was relatively mild compared to the bulk of the land.
It had never been heavily populated. Tens of thousands at its peak.
That number had dwindled to a few hundred by present day. Those that remained did so by choice. Many had taken the offer to moved elsewhere. It wouldn’t be long until the only inhabitants would be monsters and outworld invaders adapted for the icy hellscape.
Howling winds whipped snow across the land.
A thunderous boom rocked the sky.
Alcaestus flew.
It was an impressive arc.
He saw faint lights spinning around him through the snow storm.
Wait…
His head cleared.
It was he who was spinning.
The bear-ish man had hit him pretty hard.
He poked at a tooth with his tongue. Looser than he remembered.
Golden lines covered his bare, lavender arms and his face.
His opponent hadn’t used magic or a Skill. Just pure physical power and good punching technique.
As far as he could tell, the man’s class was something nature related, probably related to the control of animals.
He hit the ground, sending up a giant puff of snow and starting a small avalanche down the gentle slope. He rolled, coming up in a combat stance.
The small community wasn’t that far now.
His opponent was nowhere in sight.
That sort of strength meant that the man should’ve been able to jump right after him and yet he was alone with the snow and wind.
It appeared that his opponent was still content to walk him down.
“Well, well. Fancy running into you here. Small world.”
Al recognized the voice. He breathed a sigh of relief.
The villagers were now safe from the bear-ish man and his polar bear army.
“Relentless one,” he nodded. “Your presence is a Godly boon. A mighty foe approaches yon village. He is more beast than man with the strength of the former and the mind of the latter. He leads a fearsome army of the white-furred death of these frozen wastes.”
“Sh— crap. You could’ve just said a really strong beast man has a polar bear army.”
Al paused.
He just noticed that the relentless one wasn’t alone.
A child stood near clad in plate armor and full-faced helm that appeared to be made from unworked iron. He could even see the telltale marks of finger prints where he could imagine mighty hands shaping and molding it to fit the girl’s thin limbs.
Next to the child stood— something?
A dark void.
He saw shadows.
Heard the rustle of feathers.
A hand laid protectively on the girl’s shoulder.
Talons?
His keen hunter’s senses struggled to pierce through what had to be a spell or Skill of concealment.
He regarded the girl for a moment, searching, but all he could see of her features were her dark brown eyes.
Had the relentless one mated with some manner of Fae?
It had been done plenty of times. Though he knew none personally, he trusted the accuracy of recorded history. Half mortal and half fae. Such beings were always dangerous.
“Why are you bleeding gold?” the girl said. “Mom, why is he bleeding gold?” She looked up to the dark, feathered void next to her.
“He’s an eidolon. It’s what they do,” the relentless one said.
The girl nodded with understanding.
“Are you going to fight him, Dad?”
“Nope.”
“Then he’s not why we stopped here?”
“Apparently, it’s cause of the bear army guy.”
“But I thought you beat eidolons up?”
Al didn’t like the way the girl’s eyes remained steady on him.
She was confident.
Then again if he was the spawn of the relentless one and some manner of powerful Fae, he’d probably be the same.
“Alright, team!” the relentless one clapped. “Huddle up.”
Ah!
Al knew what that meant.
He approached, looming over them like the mountain peaks in the distance.
“You guys,” the relentless one pointed at the girl and the feathered void, “head to the village and get them ready for the evacuation. We,” he gestured to Al, “will deal with the army of white-furred death. Break!”
Al stepped back quickly.
Standing next to the feathery void had been unsettling even for him who had seen and killed all manner of horrors.
They vanished in a swirl of raven black feathers, leaving him alone with the relentless one.
He reached out for a feather before the howling winds took it away.
“It is a feather,” he proclaimed before releasing it to join the rest on their journey to the unknown.
“Concussion?”
“No.”
“Oh, that’s good. I thought you might have one judging by your face.”
“The villagers refused to evacuate.”
“The last ones are always stubborn. Can’t blame them. This place is the only home they’ve ever known. Plus, they’ve spent all this time and effort to level up classes that makes all this,” the relentless one gestured at the barren white expanse, “livable in ways it wasn’t back in the old days.”
“They will be eaten by the monsters.”
“Or killed by you invader-types.”
“Don’t align me with them. We are here to help, to lift.”
“Yeah, I remember our last talk.”
“I wouldn’t refer to it as a ‘talk’.”
“Whatever, man. I remember mostly talking,” the relentless one waved a hand dismissively. “So, how do you want to do this? Want to get payback on this bear guy? I can handle the bears.”
“I don’t know his class, so it is difficult to prepare tactics.”
“Some kind of wild caller thing. Low 30’s in level. Less control animals as extensions of himself and more point them in a direction and simple commands like, kill, stop… you know?”
“Thank you for sharing information.”
“Right, so, I don’t want to step on your toes. You saw him first, but maybe I should take him and you use your gravity trick on the bears. They’re basically just polar bears. I figure you can handle a hundred.”
“No. My honor demands—”
“C’mon, man! Get out of here with that honor shit. Lives are at stake, if you forgot? Listen up. This is just constructive criticism, but you can’t beat bear guy. Oh, you’ll make him work and the fight might last days, but in the end…”
“You don’t know this.”
“Look, in terms of physicals you’re, like, a Class 50. Maybe close to 60 if you amp up. That guy up there,” the relentless one pointed to the top of the mountain, “is more like a Class 100, shift-x.”
Al squinted and saw nothing except white.
“I’m not familiar with your classification system. It might help my assessment if you share where you place yourself on that scale.”
“Nice try, but you’re not getting any of my secrets.”
“I believe I have already discovered your greatest secret.”
“What? My partner and our child? Not much of secret anymore since she’s out and about more often these days. It sucks, bro. They grow up too fast. Stupid spires pushing us against the wall.”
“That is existence and I speak with honesty when I say that if your daughter is anywhere near you then that is a cause for celebration. Though, you grate with your casual disrespect I can’t deny that you’ve helped many people and that is always admirable.”
“You know what, Alcaestus. You’re not even lying or playing games. You genuinely mean that.”
“Why speak if you don’t mean the words?”
“I don’t know. Why don’t you ask your fellow eidolons?”
There it was again.
The insolence.
The lack of concern at the threat he posed.
The relentless one was quite like the few Gods and demigods Al had interacted with over the years.
“I will face my opponent. I won’t object to assistance after you slay the bear army.”
He had to stand tall in the face of the more powerful man.
His pride and honor as Adras’ sole representative on this world demanded no less.
“Alright, suit yourself.”
The relentless one floated slowly upward.
The snow and ice battering the man began to melt before they reached his dark, skintight clothing. The powder on the ground turned to warm streams, forcing Al to sink down to his knees.
The relentless one vanished with a loud boom that momentarily cleared an enormous area of the falling snow and sent a great cloud of the white billowing outwardly.
With the man gone, the water quickly froze again, trapping Al for a moment.
He sighed and freed himself, preparing for his fight with the bear-ish man to resume.