--- Atrog ---
The enemy was behind an indestructible wall, and Atrog was uncertain what to do.
He was just glad to hear that the enemy's vampire dragon lieutenant wasn't around. That sounded utterly terrifying, and he was more than slightly disturbed that Rania seemed to be looking forward to that fight, based on the feelings he got from her through the telepathic bond.
"*Balron, you said it would be a waste of energy to destroy the Wall of Force.*" He said. "*I suspect that the enemy is using it as a distraction. They might be sneaking up on us right now.*"
"*Way ahead of you.*" Balron responded. "*I activated some of my divination items earlier. They all came back negative, there is nobody sneaking up on us. We should remain on guard of course, but I'm fairly certain this is just bait. I suggest we just let him talk. There is no need to let him know that we are onto him, and maybe we can get useful intel out of him that way. Just keep a look out for sudden movements if he moves close to the barrier: He will be able to leave the wall's safety to attack us, but he won't be able to return to it if he does.*"
"*So what you are saying is that even now, with Tonos weakened and the spirits mostly silent, we should still let Rania do her thing and engage the enemy in conversation?*"
"*That seems like the most prudent tactical choice to me, yes.*" Balron responded.
How had it come to this? Atrog was overcome by a deep feeling of despair.
"Where are my manners?" Sophus said conversationally. "I should introduce myself properly while we all wait for the ritual to finish and kill you all."
Yeah, that wasn't very subtle, Atrog thought. He was definitely trying to bait them into attacking.
"My name is Sophus, and I am the Head of the Teachers' Union of the Living City." The kobold stated, with intense pride in his voice.
Galanys started laughing. "Your name literally translates as 'the wise' in Common and your title is 'Head of the Teachers' Union’. I have to say, that sounds very underwhelming. I give it a four out of ten. Would not read a story about you."
"Yeah, it's kind of cringe, to be honest." Rania said sadly. "I don't want to become known as the hero who beat up a teacher with a cringy name."
"Yes, there would be no glory in that." Galanys added with a devious smile.
"My name and title ...are cringe?" Sophus responded in disbelief.
"Don't get me wrong." Rania said. "I appreciate that being a teacher gives you a nice in-universe reason for a villainous monologue. You are probably very practiced at it, too. It's just that it really, really doesn't sound impressive, at all."
Sophus spent a few seconds looking both confused and insulted before he responded: "...I am very good at monologuing, yes. I am good at many things.
"I had to be, to reach the position I now have. You laugh and joke at my title, but all that tells me is that the civilization you come from is pathetic. Without competent teachers to guide them, how are children supposed to achieve their full potential? How wasteful is it, when a genius never achieves the greatness they are destined for, just because their educators were not up to the task?"
He indicated Myr with his hands, as he talked about geniuses.
"That you do not understand this is a great failing on your part, and just one more proof that the society created by the Living City is superior to any other. There is none among us who fails to achieve their potential. Even the poorest citizen will receive the best education possible, so long as they prove worthy of it. And once someone has shown the height of their potential, they can become the highest of nobility, no matter their origin. What other country can claim to reward people fairly for their own achievements, as we do?
"And who could be better at deciding which children deserve to be raised above the others than their teachers? It is no empty boast when I claim that I am one of the smartest people alive. You mock my name, because you do not understand that I had to earn it. I am called Sophus as an honorific, and I am the only person in the Living City who is allowed to go by that name.
"I could easily have become one of the greatest wizards alive, but I chose a different path. I help others on the path to greatness, so that they might achieve even greater glory in my stead. I have become the most effective educator in the world, and as a reward for it I have become the Head of the Teachers' Union.
"If you think that title is empty, think again: It is the teachers who decide which students become nobility, and which are a lost cause that are useful for nothing more than slaves.
"I am the Kingmaker. I decide who will rule and who will serve, and I stand outside of everyone else's politics. Even the greatest lords can not touch me, for the Living City itself has granted me its protection, so that I may continue to mold my students into the best possible versions of themselves and turn them into people that we can be proud of."
"*Wow, this man really likes hearing himself talk.*" Atrog said. "*If you can think of some way to get useful information out of him, please go ahead. I've got nothing.*"
"I'm not going to lie," Dov began, "that actually sounds pretty great, and you have my respect. As a follower of Brytius I do appreciate hearing that someone is putting this much effort into helping people learn. It would be even better if you could focus on the 'raising geniuses up' part and chill it on the 'cast the losers into slavery' part, though."
Dov was a follower of Brytius through and through. Atrog wondered what Cilia Ulein made of the Living City. As horrific as the place was, it was also built in just the right way to appeal to someone like her.
"I thank you for the compliment." Sophus responded genially. "At least some people from your barbaric countries have a proper appreciation for the importance of education. A decent religion can bridge many divides.
"But we will have to agree to disagree on the importance of those who prove unworthy. If people fail to distinguish themselves despite all of our best efforts to give them a chance, they get no pity from me. And their sacrifice matters: It is only through their labor that great people like myself and Myr can achieve even greater glory.
"Myr is a perfect example in many ways. They have many bodies, and so they make up for many inadequate individuals all on their own. Through their parallel lives, they can experience all aspects of society at the same time, and live among both the high and the low, and gain experience in interacting with all of them. Myr has seen first hand that the success of the worthy is well worth the oppression of the unworthy.
"And every single one of Myr is worthy, because their minds merge at the end of every day, and those who were successful and effective naturally come to dominate their collective thoughts. Any weakness or failure is expunged and replaced with the success of the others.”
One of the women from the Myr collective looked at Sophus as he spoke. She kept chanting the ritual, but her face and eyes showed skepticism and the faintest traces of disgust as she looked at her teacher.
"*What an interesting reaction.*" Galanys commented.
"They are the most notable student I have ever had the pleasure to teach." Sophus continued, oblivious to the Myr. "After all, the ritual they invented that made them what they are now was so groundbreaking that it triggered an intervention by Akash, to ban the spell, and an intercession by Unir, to make Myr exempt from the ban. They are now unique in history, and there will never be another mortal able to replicate what they did.
"The god of creativity himself acknowledged him. I am proud that my teachings enabled him to achieve this, and all those slaves and other unworthies who failed to become notable themselves can at least take pride in the fact that their work gave Myr the time and resources he needed to achieve something nobody else has ever done, or ever will do again."
Atrog knew all of these things already. Myr was monologuing about it just minutes ago, when they were under Lilian's spell. But why interrupt? Maybe Sophus would say something new and useful at some point.
"*I'm happy he is repeating all this for the benefit of people who weren't listening the first time, like myself*" Rania commented, correctly interpreting his thoughts through the telepathic link.
"Myr's method really is ingenious." Sophus continued. "They start by casting a summoning spell, wait until the spell has fully formed a body, and then just before the extraplanar soul can enter the body, they banish it back. And before the empty body has a chance to dissipate, they copy their own mind into it, by exploiting a connection through the dream realm."
The kobold sounded very excited by all this, but frankly Atrog did not care. He kept playing through combat scenarios in his head, because he wasn't quite convinced yet that this wasn't a trap. He was disappointed to see that the entire rest of his team seemed fascinated by what he was saying. Well, almost the entire team. Aranea mostly just seemed to be confused and he noted that she was mentally prompting him for instructions.
He realized that the giant, mutated, sapient spider was the most disciplined member of his team right now.
"At first the mental mergers did not work correctly." Sophus droned on. "But then my student had his brilliant idea: Instead of summoning extraplanar creatures, he would use secret knowledge of alternate planes that I shared with him in order to summon alternate versions of himself. And since they were similar to himself, the merger worked. To be honest, I don't fully understand the method myself, and as a teacher, nothing could make me more proud than knowing that my student surpassed me."
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"How do you even know about all this?" Dov asked. "The knowledge of alternate universes is an infohazard. Denissa Mardok does not allow people to know it."
"The Living City has always known." Sophus responded. "And it shares its knowledge with its most trusted servants. Nobody else in this building except for you, Myr, and myself, knows this secret. That is why I am so happy to talk about it: You already know about the multiverse, so there is no additional danger in telling you this, and maybe I will learn something interesting from you."
"*I can't believe it.*" Atrog said. "*He is claiming that his monologue is intentional, because he is trying to get information out of us, just like we are trying to get information out of him.*"
"*It looks like his in-universe reason for monologuing is even more plausible than I thought.*" Rania responded approvingly.
"Myr's method doesn't even have drawbacks." Sophus continued, seemingly oblivious to their telepathic discussion. "When they summon a copy, the original remains unharmed and unaffected and barely even realizes that Myr just created a copy patterned after their body. The Myr in other universes are likewise making copies of the Myr in this one. Instead of moving bodies from one universe to the next, they copy them, allowing them to build up an army in all universes simultaneously.
"And soon they will master the next stage of their unique spell: Body-snatching other types of summoned creatures. Alien and powerful ones."
Sophus pointed dramatically at the Myr behind him, who were still chanting around an ominous orb.
"In just a few minutes, the ritual will finish, and Myr will possess an entity whose very name is anathema to mortal minds. And you will be the first test subjects to find out just how destructive such a creature can be, when it is controlled by a humanoid mind and possessed by rational thought."
"*He is lying.*" Balron responded. "*The ritual is far from done. This is proof that they are trying to bait us. He isn't lying about the creature, though. This ritual is definitely summoning some kind of aberration.*"
"I knew it!" Rania shouted. "This place is a temple to an Outer God! That's so cool!"
"What? No. Whatever gave you that idea." Sophus responded. "This building is related to Akash. How summoning factors into that is very complicated and I won't waste my breath trying to explain it to you, since you don't understand the first thing about wizardry."
"But it checks out." Rania insisted. "Aberrations think very differently from humanoids or other spirits, and that causes lots of cultural misunderstandings."
"Other spirits?" Sophus interjected. "I think you might be very confused. Aberrations are not spirits."
But Rania kept on talking heedless of the interruption. "When the aberrations misunderstand how people work, then people tend to go a little mad because the cultural differences are very, very large. And when they misunderstand how physics works, and the weaker spirits are too nervous to correct them, then physics starts going wonky, too. It would explain why the spirits around here are so quiet and nervous."
"...that is a stupid explanation, but it isn't even entirely wrong." Sophus responded. "Honestly, I'm a little impressed. As analogies go, this one isn't half bad. I may want to steal it for my lectures in the future. That said, you are still wrong. It is a common misconception that all aberrations twist physics around them and drive people mad. This one only does the latter, and it mostly affects gods, not mortals."
"The only one around here who twists physics is you." He said, pointing at Galanys. "I saw what you did to my vampire servants. A very impressive trick, although now that we know it is possible to de-euclidianize vampires in this manner, it is rather easily countered. It is a shame that your talent is wasted by the inferior education of Oruk. You could have gone far, in the Living City."
"Oh no, you guys! I'm feeling tempted to betray you all and join him." Galanys deadpanned. "Clearly the most evil place in existence will appreciate my talents more than you do."
Sophus shrugged. "It was an honest compliment. Take it however you want. Just because I am planning to test our latest and greatest living weapon on you doesn't mean that I can't be civil about it."
"So you are saying the aberration you are summoning is less weird than what Galanys did?" Rania asked. "It sort of makes sense. The Living City is only making the spirits passive, but Galanys actually made one of them cry."
"Wait, I did what?" Galanys asked.
Rania looked thoughtful for a few seconds: "Maybe that means that the real eldritch horrors are the friends we made along the way?"
Atrog could feel a mental shudder from Dov at the thought as the normally stoic woman's heart rate spiked.
"*Oh no! Don't be afraid!*" Rania told her. "Just because your girlfriend is horrifying doesn't mean she doesn't love you. She isn't actually planning to betray us, you know?"
"*...you have a point.*" Dov responded, and Atrog could sense her sudden panic attack slowly subside again.
He felt like part of that conversation had gone past him. And past Rania, too.
"As I was saying", the kobold continued, "this entity does not affect spirits, but it does affect the divine. The being we are about to summon can suppress divine magic. And we are bringing it into a temple to Akash, the Rule-maker.
"Can you imagine what we are about to do?" He asked. "It's a serious question. Come on, take a guess. I want to know if your education is really as lacking as I have been told. Your answer will be graded. If you guess it right, I will tell Myr to grant you a quick death."
Atrog could not in fact imagine what an entity like that could do in a place like this. He lacked the education for it. But whatever it was, it was almost certainly going to be horrifically dangerous.
"Nevermind what it is going to do." He said. "You are summoning a creature like that in a place like this as a test? And you are telling me that you are called 'the wise'? I'm almost afraid to imagine what other leaders in the Living City are like, if this is the height of wisdom for you."
"Of course not." Sophus responded. "We are professionals, not some reckless buffoons out of a story book who neglect proper safety procedures. If you were hoping that we would make amateur mistakes and get consumed by our own hubris, I am going to have to disappoint you. The ritual will succeed, and you will be our first test of the creature's destructive abilities."
Atrog felt a surge of disappointment from Rania. "*Oh no. I was really hoping they would overreach and get hoisted by their own petard, but now that he addressed that possibility explicitly, it's no longer likely.*"
"We could have done this years ago, but we took the time to run proper tests in a safe environment." Sophus continued. "We have already verified that the ritual works on other types of extraplanar creatures. Some of your companions out there should be able to attest to that, if any of them are still alive once Myr is done with them."
Atrog was quite sure this was an empty boast. They contacted their allies earlier, and they were all doing much better than team Nundru. It looked like the enemy had focused their attacks on themselves, leaving relatively little opposition for their allies.
"You will never get away with this!" Rania suddenly shouted dramatically. "We will stop you, disrupt the rite of Az'ule, and save our friends! The Power of Friendship will prevail!"
Sophus looked at her in disbelief. "And you called me cringe, earlier? Seriously?"
He had a point there, Atrog had to admit. The second hand embarrassment from that was more painful to him than any of the wounds he had taken in the fights today, so far.
"I am going to have to disappoint you." Sophus continued. "This isn't even the rite of Az'ule, it just has a similar effect. We made that up to mislead you, and you fell for it. Lilian Weaver is currently off chasing an imaginary threat. Without Tonos to guide her, she is as easy for the Living City to manipulate as anyone else."
What? Had they fallen for a trap? Atrog hoped he was lying.
"The Living City is all-knowing." Sophus declared grandly. "Months ago, it arranged for one of the Shan military advisors to taunt Murphy, and ever since then we have been playing you like a fiddle. Since it tricked the advisor into it, Murphy was never actually incensed, and the trope was never in effect. Tonos did not care one whit about what happened in that tent. But Lilian does not know that, and the paranoia made her easy to control."
Atrog felt intense worry from Rania.
"Fighting Tonos directly would be foolish." Sophus continued. "But why bother, when his agents can be subverted like anyone else? Tonos made sure that you held the key to our defeat when you entered this place. We just planned a few steps ahead of him and made sure that Lilian would run off with it once Tonos' influence was suppressed and he could no longer guide her. His own manipulations have put you in a position where you could only win in a single, dramatic way, but now that way has been barred to you."
"*Wait. I have an idea for how to turn this around! With subtlety!*"
"That sounds very concerning." Rania said out loud. "You mentioned that Lilian ran off with the key to your defeat. So, what is the key to your defeat, anyway?"
"I don't know either, to be honest." Sophus replied. "That ridiculous bard is carrying so many artifacts with her, at least one of them was bound to be the key to our defeat. But it won't matter now. She has already left the building and won't have a reason to return."
"That makes sense." Rania replied sadly. "Tonos probably hadn't even decided yet which of the artifacts was going to be your downfall. Pebble agrees. He says it must be difficult even for a powerful spirit like the Living City to address a quantum entanglement of so many different situations for each possible instantiation. so it would be easier to use plans that address the entire superposition of possible plotlines at once."
Sophus blinked at her in disbelief. "There were a lot of weird things going on with what you just said. In any other circumstances I would love to talk about this more, so that I can figure out which particular kind of crazy you are, and if any of that might be true and useful after all.
"But I am afraid it is too late for that. It is clear by now that you aren't going to take the bait and attack me to tire yourselves out. It looks like I will have to kill you myself before the wall spell runs out and you get a chance to attack the Myr and disrupt the ritual."
"*Told you so.*" Balron said. "*The wall is going to last only a few more minutes.*"
"*A few minutes is plenty.*" Atrog responded. "*A fight should be over faster than that. The Myr will be effectively irrelevant. We can deal with them after we have killed Sophus.*"
"Now for a demonstration." Sophus said as he withdrew an ornate magical rod from his robes. "I have never fought a day in my life, but with the Living City guiding my hands, none of that will matter. Your fate has been preordained by an intellect infinitely your greater, and all possible paths will result in your death."
Then he shouted "Communion!" as he cast a spell on himself.
When it was done, he held himself slightly differently. Where before he stood like a civilian, Atrog's experienced eyes could now make out the bearing of a warrior in the little kobold.
That was concerning. Still, he could confirm the 'no fighting experience' part. Only a moron would explain that he was about to attack. If Atrog was in Sophus' position, he would have cast that spell under some pretense, then continued talking for a bit, before attacking suddenly while the enemy's guard was down. There was a difference between honorable behavior on one hand, and needless showboating that could get yourself and your allies killed, on the other.
"Oh come on!" Rania suddenly shouted in dismay. "You did this whole speech with an ominous ritual in the background, clearly leading up to a big reveal! And then you suddenly say 'nevermind, it's not ready yet, after all'. That's such a letdown!
"I feel cheated. It's just bad storytelling. The Living City really did a number on the spirits here if they are letting you get away with this. I'm so sad for them. Fighting that aberration sounded so awesome. Almost as cool as the vampire dragon lieutenant you mentioned earlier.
“Oh, I have an idea! Could we just promise to wait until the ritual is done so that we get a cooler boss fight?"
"No." Atrog and Sophus said at the same time.
"Well, alright then." Rania responded sheepishly. "It would probably have been a bad idea anyway because we are super exhausted. I just got carried away a little by the excitement and thought I should at least ask, and check if my team was ok with it, just in case.
"So I guess that means we are fighting you as the Boss Bad Guy now. But before we do this, I just wanted to say, even though I keep making fun of you and criticizing you, Sophus, I really do like that you have such a good in-universe reason to make villainous monologues. It was a little long and heavy on exposition for my taste, personally, but you are a teacher, so that is in-character for you. And I guess all that exposition was only to be expected, since we used the Plot Hole to skip ahead and missed out on a lot of stuff that still needed to be mentioned somehow.
"I appreciate the effort the universe put into making this plausible even when the local spirits and Tonos aren't paying attention."
Hearing Rania say this made various narrative forces very happy, but unfortunately for her they could not be bribed this easily and the events to come were already plotted out a while ago.
"I think I'm really going to enjoy killing you, in particular." Sophus told Rania.
Then he walked through the wall of force as the Myr continued chanting in the background.