“What do you see, Sultana?” Zephyro asked. I had almost forgotten he didn’t know what was going on. Morbid curiosity tempted me to disable Ardor and see the world as he did for a while, but I didn’t want to risk it.
“The Scorpion is almost done with one of the spiders. It’s controlling the small ones, I think, using them as a living weapon.”
“That seems to be the case, Sultana, and it is remarkable. It is a skill we have seen in very few Ferals. If what my scouts tell me is true, the humans would wage wars to have even one shackled with the ability to produce more of itself, and guard them like a dragon his hoard.”
We were almost halfway there, and the battle raged on, unabated. I motioned for Zephyro to stop.
“Alright, let’s slow down a little. Let them wear each other down before we engage, then swoop in for the kill. I don’t think we will be able to fight them anyways without the turr— without the Old Guard.”
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Zephyro considered for a second, opened his mouth as if to say something, but then he shook his head. “Yes, Sultana.”
“No, come on, spit it out,” I said. “We have time.” The Spider-Mind had untangled itself from the scorpion and was in the process of trying to drown it with spiderlings. The snake still tried to coil on itself like a bodybuilder on steroids trying to cross his arms. In my professional opinion as a general, they weren’t going anywhere soon.
“It’s just that… I understand you have been getting stronger whenever the divine bell tolls?”
“Yep,” I said. “Sorry about the noise, by the way. That always happens when I tap into my Wish, and I have no idea why, or how it works.” Even when I was alive, the noise had been an issue, but I had been able to work around it, towards the end. I had lots of opportunities to practice. After all, there had been a small army to be equipped with guns and armor.
“Allah be praised…” Zephyro said, pulling me out of my memories. “That I am to behold such wonders! But that is not why I asked. I am sure that in your unending wisdom, you have already understood this truth, but if it pleases you, I beseech you to tell me, have you not questioned why I wouldn’t simply give you a weapon?”
“Uh, you tried, remember? It was too heavy for me.”
“Ah, true, Sultana. But while Alqamar Faw Alqasr is a mighty weapon indeed, and perhaps too mighty to wield as your first, might I not have given you a weapon from one of our guards?”
“True,” I said, frowning. “So, why didn’t you?”
“Because my guards have no weapons, Sultana,” Zephyro said, looking almost sheepish at this verbal game of cat-and-mouse.
“I’m pretty sure I saw them firing crossbows,” I replied, noticing I had started to chew on my cheek.
He nodded, smiling wistfully, and the anger faded again. “Yes, but while they looked like crossbows, they were not weapons, Sultana. Instead, they were a part of the soldiers, both in the Real and in my Domain. You or I couldn’t use their crossbows to shoot an enemy, just like we couldn’t use their legs to walk.”
An image of someone bludgeoning someone to death with their own arms shot through my mind and stayed longer than it should have.
“So you’re saying their crossbows aren’t, um…” I snapped my fingers, trying to remember the term.
[Pharus, Fury of the Torchbearer] v. 1.0 - Electronic Warfare Suite
I winced as the sting faded. “Thanks, Chris.”
Beep!
“So what I meant to say: the crossbows aren’t Electronic Warfare Suites? ”
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Even though he grimaced at me breaking the fourth wall again, Zephyro nodded. I still didn’t get why he didn’t just call things as they were. All this metaphorical bulshit was wildly ineffective.
“They are not, Sultana. Instead, if you will, my guards are my swords and my shields, exerting my will far beyond my reach. My scouts are my eyes, and my builders my hands.”
I looked over at the spider-mind, surrounded by its children. They climbed on top of each other with blinding speed, forcing one of the horrid mouths open instead of sinking its teeth into their host.
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“So you’re saying…” I didn’t finish the sentence, thanking God that for once, I had been able to keep calm and my mouth shut. Had I been tapping into my rage, I doubted I would have cared. I had been surprisingly calm, for the last couple of engagements, really. Perhaps… no, I would worry about that later.
Zephyro said nothing, watching the monsters fight their three-way stalemate.
Another thought occurred to me then. “Wait, you said the Ferals came first, then the humans, right?”
“Yes, Sultana.”
“How far were they apart?”
“Hours, perhaps? It happened fast, by the time we had word of the attack, our sentries were already dead.”
I frowned, thinking through the scenario like the general I was supposed to be. It could have just been a coincidence, but something didn’t add up. As Zephyro said, the Ferals should have stayed out in the city for far longer, trying to devoid the buildings. Plus, they had already been far inside when we saw the first Shackled, right? Yes, perhaps they had been sent in here to get stronger, but if so, shouldn’t they push in as fast as they could to be the first to get to the Logic? If Logic behaved the same for everyone, a large part of it evaporated every time it got released, so letting the Ferals have their fill made little sense, unless… unless they needed them to soften their target.
“I don’t think they followed the Ferals, Zephyro. I think they herded them here.”
The vizier turned to me. “Do you think they knew about your sacred resting place? That they are here to plunder your body and mind?”
I shook my head. “No. To be honest, I doubt they even know I exist. Or that…” I gestured at myself helplessly. “That I am in here. I guess they tried to shackle me because I’m… the laptop sits behind all those important-looking doors. But no, I’m not their goal, Zephyro.”
“…You are.”
He laughed, but then his expression softened. His hand fell to his saber, his eyes unfocused. Neither of us said anything. An anxious symphony—the low roar of dying flames and the odious screeches of the Ferals—stuffed the silence.
“That… That may be true, Sultana. It would make sense, if... Hah! The infidels might even think it is I who rings the Divine Bell above the city.”
He laughed, a sad little sound. “Oh, how little they know.”
The fight was turning. The scorpion had shoved his opponent into the other fight, and it had devolved into a free-for-all. Whereas before the spiders had been able to make use of their adaptability to keep the other Ferals in check, they were no match against their combined powers.
“We should go, Sultana.” Zephro said, stretching his neck.
“Sure, in a second, I’m still confused as to why you asked me about the weapons. I mean, it’s good to know, but what does it have to do with…” I waved my hand towards the Ferals. “…These things?”
“Ah, Sultana. Humble apologies. While the Ferals prefer to dine on your Blessing, that is; they seek to devour those of us with a clear mind, they also have the ability to devour each other. They rarely do so, however, because a Feral’s essence is so corrupted, only little of it can be recovered as pure Blessing. We do not understand where the rest goes when a Feral dies, unless…”
“Unless another Feral eats it?”
“Yes, Sultana. In that case, it takes part of its victim’s essence into itself and merges with it, thus becoming more and less at the same time.”
At that moment, the Eternal Riddle bit into its own tail and began swallowing itself, forming a rapidly shrinking circle around the Spider-Mind.
“We need to move, NOW!”
But it was too late.
The Skittering Mind tried a last, desperate maneuver in building itself a platform out of spiderlings, but the uncounted mouths of the eternal riddle, endlessly gnashing and grinding, ate away faster than the lower-ranked spider could reproduce, and the last I saw of it was a teal scream of light. Then the abomination swallowed itself over and over, its head emerging from the mass of hardware with eyes raging red, at impossible angles only to dive into itself again, faster and faster until it was covered in an aurora of crimson afterimages.
Then all movement stilled. Even the scorpion and remaining skittering mind took a few steps back as if awed at what was happening.
Then, as majestic as the gilded carcass of a tyrant king, the snake rose, solar sails made off of server racks opening on either side of its head, fusing together until they resembled a cobra’s hood.
I stared at it. I couldn’t help myself.
[The Skittering Riddle, Rapacity Perpetual]
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