Clarissa

I rubbed my forehead as I looked at the latest message that had been rushed to my desk. The Divine Empress was making moves. Our time was short, but the timeline couldn’t be moved up. I tapped my fingers on the desk and considered my options. Everything was stretched to the breaking point.

While I had dispatched a high level team to retrieve the necessary crafting crystals and had assigned more people to working out the type chart, it was a race against time. If we managed to make it to the City Upgrade, then it would be a rush to enchant the astrolabes.

That was another headache, reverse engineering them and working out first principles. The Astrologer gave me as many headaches as he gave Michael, except in terms of working out his nonsense. There just weren’t enough intelligent people to draw from.

That was where modern society could do well compared to ancient society. Even if only one percent of one percent was actually useful, there was a much bigger pool to pull from. Here the talent was lacking or had mental health issues.

I hated the idea of fleeing, but I was not about to be captured by a foreign power. It could easily be argued that I was the real power behind Michael and I knew he wouldn’t go out of his way to rescue me. I needed to look out for myself.

The worst part was there was no way to counter attack or plan to defeat her. Just to run and hide. Michael and I had discussed this at length, but neither of us had any ideas except him grinding up stat points and hoping the Astrologer would do something. We both agreed that was unlikely if he had been trapped for as long as he had been while she had been growing in strength.

Preparations were being made to leave a ruin behind if the Divine Empress came. Already, this building was being heavily trapped. I paused and considered the issue of resonance. While unlikely, it might be possible to reverse track people through their building ownership. Dammit, I should have asked the Astrologer that.

Well, there were some funds I could move around, and I would begin transferring properties to one of my personal guards. Then I would dispatch them to a tertiary fallback point to see if they were tracked down, or perhaps I should hide them inside the city itself? No, that wouldn’t work with the City Map upgraded the way it was. I rubbed my forehead again and looked through the plans once more, looking at anything else I might need to adjust for when the Divine Empress came.

Naran

The side of my face hurt, but at least people had mostly stopped staring. “Good, now brace!” I said from the side. The group of five people stood their ground with spears as the scorpion charged them. They managed to stab it. They pushed and slowly killed the monster without coming in range of its claws or tails.

The enchanted spears to melt through monsters were quite useful. One of the people picked up the crystal. “Good job,” I said. They thanked me for keeping an eye on them and helping them get going. I smiled, it was nice helping people.

Clarissa had arranged this for me after pressing me to do something. I liked teaching people and it was simple. No life or death fights. I could protect the people in front of me. I knew that Fethee and Heba had landed on their feet as part of a Union team.

It was nice that things were finally coming together. Even my eyesight was coming back to my eye and my hair was growing slowly, with a silver tinge to it, but it was coming back. I had been told it would take ten to twenty years, but I should recover.

I was hoping for less than that. But I wasn’t about to complain. I wondered how Michael was doing? He was probably grinding somewhere by himself. I didn’t want to step back, but I just couldn’t keep fighting at that level anymore. Other people could step up and be on his Immortal Council. I was content to fade into the background.

I had never wanted to be the Lord of Truth. Now that the city had completely wiped, it was all the confirmation I needed to know that the place was truly cursed. It had been a good decision to never go back there.

I caught up with the team as they confronted their next scorpion. I was their safety net for the day. But after this, they would be on their own. To make the entire process routine and safe. I was glad everything was working so well. I didn’t have a moment of regret, stepping back.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Doctor Katz

“I am not a witch,” I muttered for what must have been the millionth time. It was my official motto now after getting dumped with crystal healing. Crystal healing!

It felt like all the hard work to earn my medical degree, the years in the military, had all been pointless. Just slap some crystals and fix the issue. Well at least I managed to help fix Naran with a bit of surgery, but it was still mostly witchcraft in my opinion.

Looking at the burnt body of what was the Astrologer was disconcerting. The thing was alive as far as I could tell. I had bandaged its wounds and had the bandages regularly changed. Water cloth dripped into its mouth, but I was not sure if that was doing anything.

I had used a life crystal and poured the dusted liquid over the thing. But it was hard to tell if it helped. The eyes darted around and it let out an occasional wheeze, but didn’t say anything. Did it even eat? Should I use other crystals? I had no freaking idea.

Some guy created this thing and implanted his mind into it, skills, and stats. I didn’t even understand how that was possible. The energy this thing was made of was too dense for me to understand. Like trying to see through a brick. It just wasn’t possible.

Now there was another threat bearing down. It never got easier, and it was always led to more suffering. People just needed to learn to talk and not fight. But that was asking for the impossible.

Envoy Of The Divine Empress

He maintained his kneeling posture beneath the Throne of Tortured Souls, least he be added to it. His head was pressed down against the black marble floor. He kept his breathing perfectly subdued, the picture-perfect image of a kowtow. He was no longer a man with a name, just the Envoy of the Divine Empress, existing to serve only her will.

The screams of the heads flesh welded into the Throne of Tortured Souls altered slightly in pitch. That meant the Divine Empress was close, from his experience serving under her. One would not normally notice the slight change in tenor, but he held no fear. For only those who had names had fear.

He didn’t hear her move or take her seat. Her footsteps perfectly balanced and completely silent. Even her presence could not be sensed unless she wished it to be. The screams quieted in pure terror. He personally believed that even when eternally suffering, they still feared her presence in their very being.

“You have failed me my Envoy.” It was not a question, so he didn’t respond. There was no excuse for failure. “The Astrologer insults me and has disappeared. Including the lapdog he has had running around.”

He felt the pressure of death weighing on him. But he didn’t say anything or move. He would either live or not live. For he had no life or thought beyond what the Divine Empress wished. He was her mouth and will upon the world. A disposable piece to confront and annoy her enemies. “And now he has a new dog. This Champion Michael. Is he the same man as spoken of by our guest?”

That was a question so he could speak. He only raised his head an inch, so his face not pressed to the floor and clouding his words. “Yes, your Divine Majesty. It is the same man.” He then quickly pressed his head back to the floor.

“Hmmm, how interesting. The picture grows clearer by the day. Their combat potential?” Another question, there was no hesitation in answering.

“Beneath your level without the Astrologer, your Divine Majesty. I have found no combatant beyond him who might possess a spark of divinity.”

“You should be ashamed. You failed me, and I hate failure. The Astrologer is free to act and his true whereabouts have not been discovered. You failed to retrieve his homunculus so I could trace his position with resonance. Now the East grows in strength to require me to intervene personally. I am the Divine Empress of the Dragon Empire and possess the Mandate of Heaven. I am not an errand boy. Now I must clean up after your mess. The failures have mounted despite how much leeway I have given you to carry out your task. Speak your excuses my Envoy.”

“I have failed. There is no excuse your Divine Majesty. All I can is to continue to try to the best of my ability, no matter how lacking it is.” He had already reported all relevant information. There was nothing left to report. His failure to pin down the Astrologer was entirely on him.

“You are lacking. You just require motivation. Motivate yourself.” Fear raced up him, but it quickly left. He was merely her will. He would do as she commanded. He raised up from the kowtow and slowly stripped, setting his clothes carefully to the side. Wasting a single point of her generosity would only invite more suffering.

He pressed his knife into his body peeling piece after piece of skin to set before her, slowly skinning and dismembering himself. On top of the skin, he placed an eye and both ears. Blood began to pool beneath him. The pain was immense, but he served. He did not utter a single noise for that would show his lack of motivation to carry out her orders. Also his flesh belonged to her and he had no name to scream out in pain.

“You bore me. Go restore yourself and take your mess with you. It appears that I will have to act personally to flush out my rival. You are reassigned to rebel purging in the South my Envoy. Bring me at least one head to add to my throne.” He didn’t let out a sigh of relief. For it was a kindness to be punished so lightly. If anything, he should beg for more, but that would be insulting to her Divine Majesty. Since it meant he didn’t trust her absolute and one hundred percent correct judgement.

“Thank you for your eternal kindness your Divine Majesty.” For he knew the punishment was light due to his status and how much had been invested into him. No permanent injuries and he had not been handed to the Master Fleshcrafter. He carefully picked up his pile of skin and body parts and put them on top of his clothes. A large piece of skin from his chest would stop the blood from ruining his clothes. He then carried everything out of the throne room even as his body dripped blood and shook from the pain.