Level up x 5!
You have gained 100 spirit and have 100 stat points to spend
I looked at the level up notification for the third time in as many minutes. “Seriously?” I asked to nobody in particular. I only gained five levels for destroying a calamity? When they said that experience gain slowed down, they weren’t kidding! Either way, I did have a boat load of points to distribute, but I wanted to hold off on it for a bit. I did spend ten points each into constitution and endurance, as I just didn’t feel comfortable with my spirit being higher than my health pool. I’m sure Elendria and the others would have some opinions, though I was sure that a good portion was going to be dropped into bringing my health pools back into line. I took off towards the south, though I really wanted to head to see Elendria. The souls trapped in that crystal needed to be taken care of first, even before the flashing notification about unlocking another major adaptation.
It didn’t take me long to reach the garrison, and I heard a horn announcing my arrival as well as a bit of swarming from within the fort. I easily dropped down into the courtyard, noticing that Gronig and Brom were heading my way with concerned looks on their faces. “Sean, good ta see ya again.” Gronig said, slipping into a bit of an accent.
“What happened?” I asked, getting an immediate relieved look from Brom.
“Helena. We were watching the crystal, and as soon as the worldwide notification went out, the crystal got a large crack in it. Helena touched it, and it started sucking the mana out of her. She’s ok, but said it’ll take an enormous amount of energy to keep it stable,” Brom interrupted before Gronig could speak.
“I’ll take care of it, thanks,” I said, darting past them and into the stables where I somehow sensed it was. Inside, Helena was on a cart as the elven herbalist tended to her. I gave both of them a nod before using telekinesis to bring the crystal over to me and gently touching it with a hand. I felt it greedily sucking mana, but after the initial rush it slowed down. So much so in fact that it matched my regeneration. Even so, I could sense the crystal would give a tiny tremor every now and again. “Damn, it’s taking it at a rate of almost 400 mana per minute and it still isn’t enough to keep it stable. Helena, thanks for trying. I’ll be taking this straight to Shineheart.” Before the girls could do anything, I was out the door with my wings extended. Conjured bands of metal formed a cage around the crystal so that it wouldn’t jostle about easily, and two bands secured it around my chest. The scale of Apophis was encased in lead and connected to the straps as well. Without another word, I shot into the air and headed east.
The previous journey had taken several days. The crystal would be long shattered before if I went at a caravan pace. Instead, I turned my body completely horizontal and created a sloped shield ahead of me while sending jets of flames out of my feet. I’m sure I cracked the sound barrier and terrified the local wildlife, but I didn’t care. It was barely an hour before I rocketed towards a mountain entrance, slowing down so that I wouldn’t startle the guards too badly. Already I could see them tensing up and ready to close the city, the line having been stopped from entering.
“Emergency request for the Temple of Bruin!” I shouted at the guards.
“Why should we?” An arrogant captain sneered at me, and I unleashed my aura.
“Because I just killed the Second Calamity single handedly, and the crystal that has all the souls who ever perished in the Bog of Eternal Shadow is strapped to my back and cracking as we speak! So while you waste time letting me know just how much power you think a middling little twerp like yourself has, there’s a chance that several souls will be consigned to oblivion. Now, are you going to try and stop me?” I snarled, brushing past the petrified captain. I turned after I had passed a few steps and called back, “Good choice.” With those parting words, I again took to the air, though I didn’t use flames to boost my speed. I shot through the city, dodging around the supports of the aqueducts, making a beeline for the temple.
“Halt!” Twin voices called out as I approached the walls.
“Damnit, I don’t have time for this! LODRANO! I’M SORRY BUT I’M GOING TO HAVE TO BREAK YOUR DEFENDERS! I’LL TRY MY BEST TO PUT THEM BACK TOGETHER WHEN THIS IS DONE!” I called out, using magic to amplify my voice. Before the guardian golems could react, tendrils of mana had grabbed each of them, slammed them together several times, then slammed them into the ground a few more times for good measure. It wasn’t enough to destroy them, but it did cover them in a nice webwork of cracks.
“Tough sons a bitches,” I muttered. I encased them in a thin film of water, then rapidly froze and thawed it as fast as I could. Erosion at warp speed! The cracks spread, and within ten seconds the golems had shattered into chunks of inert rock. I grasped both golem cores, glad to see they weren’t damaged, just as the gates opened up.
“Sean? What?” Lodrano asked, confused as to just what I was doing there.
I shoved the cores into his hands and brushed past him. “I’ll explain on the way, take these. First, a quick prayer. OI! BRUIN! NEED YOUR HELP AS FAST AS YOU CAN!” I said, dumping thirty spirit into the prayer and keeping a portion of my mind on it as it shot off towards the statue. “Come on Lodrano! Time is of the essence!” I called over my shoulder to the stupefied gnome. He shook himself from his stupor and trotted after my pace, catching up just as I got to the front doors and walked in.
“Seriously Sean? Did you have to smash the temple guardians?” He asked, a bit too loudly as it echoed around the church, causing everyone to stop and look up at us.
“Yeah. See the cracking crystal on my back? It’s full of souls and I don’t want them to be destroyed.” I said, striding across the floor to the statue of Bruin that looked over everything. Part of me noticed that almost everyone was now staring at us, and a particulary difficult extraction was just about to overheat. A mana tendril pulled it off the heat just in time as I turned to the alchemist and said, “Careful there. Almost ruined a potion.”
“Huh? Bruin’s Beard, thanks!” He said, immediately dropping back into what he was doing. The rest of the room got the point, and life started going back to normal. A few of the tables were simply sliding simple bandages around trying to look busy while keeping an eye on us, but that was fine. So long as they didn’t try and interfere, I found myself caring a lot less. Of course, after about three minutes of waiting, the slight embarrassment and the urgency of the situation combined to urge me into radical action.
“Lodrano, you might want to clear an area around me, I’ve never done this before,” I warned.
“Done what?” He asked, but it was too late. I was already concentrating on the path the prayer I had sent earlier had taken. As soon as it entered the church and neared the statue, it felt like it gently pushed through a series of strange curtains. I focused on the path it took, trying to remember everything about the curtains. Their resistance, their movements. While I was doing that, I was also mentally imposing the image of another place on the other side of those curtains. A room with white columns, cracked with several black scorch marks. Of the twelve seats facing the central portion of the room, only four remain unblemished.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
When things ultimately get difficult, I always found myself muttering my way through the problem. It was an annoying habit, especially for those studying around me, but it always helped. “Right, time to wing it. Mental picture of the divine realm on the other side, and a doorway bridging the two. Hmmm, if I were setting this up, how would I do it? Mana to create the door, spirit to keep the exact barriers I need to travel through fused within the door itself. That keeps me in the location I desire, provided I do it right. Keep the door simple, no need for fancy. A plain door with dark varnish, and a brass knob. Make sure there is a frame, sealing all the membranes we are moving through and preventing things outside from sneaking in. No need for keys or a keyhole, as being able to create the door is the key.” I felt the magic leaving my body, but just before it would solidify there was a terrible resistance. Something powerful was easily thwarting my efforts to make a portal! “Idiot! Of course they warded their throne room against incursion,” I muttered, exasperated with myself. Instead of fighting the throne room, I pulled the view back to the front of the temple. As soon as I did, the resistance vanished. No, that’s not quite right. It was as if a force was gently guiding my mental image, bringing the door over to a gold and silver seal that I hadn’t noticed before. As soon as the door hit the central portion of the seal, the seal lit up and the door solidified, letting me finally open my eyes. It didn’t awe the senses, or make you terrified of what was beyond it. There was just a normal door standing in the middle of the temple of Bruin, and I knew somehow that once you walked past the plane of the door you wouldn’t be able to see it.
“Sean, what in Bruin’s name is that?” Lodrano asked.
“Hmm? Oh, Bruin is taking a bit too long to respond for my liking, so I’m heading to the divine realms to have a chat with them. Wanna come? I’m certain I could shield you from their divine presence, but I don’t know how your body would actually react to being in another plane.”
“No, no. No that’s quite alright,” he stammered, backing away and looking pale. I shrugged my shoulders and headed through the door, completely trusting how I set it up. I was an Astral Wanderer after all, shouldn’t moving between planes be fairly simple? I felt the brush of divine particles blow past me in a gentle wind as I entered the door, and I reflexively put up a shield. Once I was through, I felt the door shut and dissipate behind me.
“Looks like I’ll have to set it back up for the return trip,” I said to myself. As I did so, I felt a portion of my mind open up. It was as if I just had a Eureka moment after fighting a particularly difficult problem for hours. I knew which P-branes I would need to manipulate to return to Vitae, and that I could make the portal so long as one condition was satisfied. Either I had already made a portal from that location, making return trips indescribably easier, or I had a strong link to a certain location. Even now, I could feel that opening a door to Elendria’s location would be child’s play. I could also return to the spot I originally landed on Vitae, or the training grounds on the Adventurer’s Guild. Odd, this skill wouldn’t allow me to teleport between locations on the same plane. Shaking off my distraction, I turned and carefully made my way up the steps to the temple.
Inside, I headed straight down a rather plain looking hallway until I came to a set of gilded doors, easily pushing them open and finding myself striding into the empty throne room. “HELLO? ANYBODY HOME?” I called out, getting silence in return. “Figures. Well, let’s test something, shall we?” I muttered to myself, getting a sadistic grin. I undid a portion of the lead that was sealing away Apophis’s scale, letting the dark divine presence out. Immediately there were four flashes of light, and I found myself facing a set of gods decked out in battle attire. Shalora was in the lead, and one of her blades was already at my throat. Bruin and Ariana were to her sides, each protecting her flank. Ariana was a left handed swordswoman with a small buckler, while Bruin had a one handed sledgehammer and a tower shield. I could feel Lokir somewhere behind me, and I had a feeling he had some daggers poised to pierce my liver and spleen at a moment’s notice.
“Explain yours- SEAN?” Shalora started once she recognized me. “Just what in the hell are you doing here with THAT?”
“Sorry about that, but I needed your attention. Any of you guys good with souls? Because I’ve got this soul crystal from killing the second calamity and the ones trapped in there aren’t doing so well.” I explained as I sealed up the scale and shifted the crystal. I hadn’t noticed, but the divine realm seemed to have stabilized its decay, and it was no longer draining my mana.
Bruin wasted no time, seeing the shape of the crystal as I pulled it off the makeshift harness I had made. He ran a hand over it, glowing with divine power. “They’re in bad shape. Come, I’ll need all your help in my workroom.”
The gods all disappeared, including Lokir. Just as I was deciding whether or not to head back, Lokir popped back in. “This won’t take too long to stabilize, so stick around, ya?” Then he was gone again. With nothing else to do, I plopped down on the ground near Ariana’s throne.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Deep within the labyrinthine tunnels that inevitably accrue as immortals chase new hobbies, in a storeroom that had long since lost its protections against dust, something stirred. The final seal on a painting was released. With a dull thunk that went unnoticed, the final chain binding it to an easel of pure lead fell to the ground. Had anyone been around to notice, they would have seen a bright red flash pierce through the thick dust, causing the dust to fall away and reveal an empty canvas.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Sean, you’ve done us a fantastic service.” Shalora’s gentle voice heralded their arrival as the four obviously drained gods slowly entered the throne room. Each tried to subtly hurry to their throne, though Lokir couldn’t be bothered with decorum. As soon as he was in range, he bonelessly flopped into the throne with a leg draped over an arm rest, head thrown back.
“Did you stabilize it?” I asked, not really concerned with the state of the gods. They could take care of themselves.
“Aye, we did. Some of those poor souls are beyond even our aid though.” Bruin said, sitting down and shaking his head.
“Not only were those poor souls drained of their essence, they were tortured. About a third of them have lost all sense of self.” Ariana explained.
“So, what happens to those?” I asked, “That sounds like a horrible fate.”
Shalora answered, “It is. Even if we were to heal the tattered remains, sending them back into the reincarnation cycle would only give them several lifetimes of insanity. There are several worlds that are advanced enough to handle a few of these cases every generation, but there are far too many souls here for that. We could stabilize them long enough to heal maybe three batches of souls, but that’s still not enough. If a soul spends too long without being reincarnated, bad things happen.”
“Y’all are dancing around this question like politicians. What are you going to have to do with those souls?” I growled out.
“Oblivion,” Lokir said without moving, “Oblivion is the only solution. The guardians who are a level above us will finish shredding the souls, and will use the material to craft new souls. All that these souls could have been will be obliterated, and used to create something new.”
“Thank you, Lokir. Honestly, I think that is the least offensive fate I could think of for those souls. Will there be any issues with the new souls?” I asked with a sigh.
“Probably. Most will be harmless phobias, others will be strange habits. These new souls will be monitored, and sent to those same worlds that are better equipped for that. While we don’t usually take precautions with souls like this, there are rules for extenuating circumstances.” Ariana explained.
“There is still one matter we must address. I don’t think you realize it, but you have freed nearly half a million of our followers from imprisonment. That is a huge increase in our power base, even with a third of that unable to be reincarnated. We have to reward that somehow, but we also have our hands tied. There is a delicate balance that must be maintained, and should there even be a chance we overstepped Apophis could appeal to a higher authority,” Shalora trailed off.
“I see. So you all are stuck between a rock and a hard place. You have to give me a reward, but you can’t determine it yourselves because that could be favoritism with me being one of your champions. Well, I see two options. Either I choose something without your input, and most likely vastly underestimate the reward, or we call upon those higher powers. So give them a call,” I said with a shrug.
“See Ari? This is why you need to ditch those meatheads in favor of someone who can think,” Lokir chuckled, “Give him the barest hint of something, and he can already see the repercussions. Sean, you might want to put up your best shield against divine presence. Even that might not be enough, but if it is, imagine what you could learn.”
I immediately complied, and extended every sense I had. I felt a massive shift in the p-branes, and two presences that dwarfed even the gods that I was surrounded with came through with an ease that made me jealous. I caught the barest hint of a bright light and a lightless black before I promptly lost consciousness.