Years Since Creation: 3993
Location: Significance Plane, Space System, Furin
A blast of shadow hit Darvon in the face, blasting apart his crystalline armor and sending him slamming straight to the ground. A groan nearly escaped him as his head bounced off the sand, yet he chocked it down and instead forced Clot to raise him higher at the same time that he sent Kaiser spinning toward the shade who tried and failed to dodge. As soon as the elemental touched it, its shadowy form stilled for the few seconds Darvon needed to struggle back to his feet.
“Chest.” Darvon spat out, ordering Clot’s armor to twist away from his bolt shooter, letting him send a single bolt full of acid slamming against the creature. “Fuck you!”
A wave of green exploded on the stunned shade, yet all it did was wake it up and dissipate a twentieth of its armor which vanished into the wind nearby as it began sprinting forward. In seconds its steps devoured the ground, forcing Darvon to desperately float high into the air. Yet not quickly enough, for the shade merely bunched its legs up and exploded into a twenty-foot jump with its claws outstretched.
Right where Darvon wanted it.
A flash of purple light appeared around it, Vigil in its gate form slamming into it from his position in the ground, completely enveloping it which caused the shade to fully freeze. Taking the carefully curated opportunity, Darvon flashed forward and with a nine tailed Clot he thrusted towards the chest of the Shade, his every movement carefully calculated to deal as much damage as possible. The whip tips were calculated down to the nanometer, the propulsion perfect for an attack, and even as his armor thinned due to Clot expanding Darvon couldn’t resist the smile forming on his face. It was a perfect hit.
That it dodged effortlessly.
In a burst of speed, the Shade destroyed Vigils physical form sending him streaming back into Darvon, weaved under Clots form, and even dodged Kaisers retaliatory attack. Within a single moment, which felt like an eternity under Darvon’s sped-up eyes, the Shade destroyed his plan and slammed a palm through his armor and onto his head, a wave of force snapping it backward while sending his body flying to the ground where he while briefly blacking out.
“… okay result if a bit messy at the end.” Sol’s voice sounded from behind him, his voice slipping in an out of Darvon’s ear as his head pounded in pain as he woke up a few seconds later. “You need to remember to be in constant communication with your elementals, you must always share senses in order to understand if they have actually done their job properly. Truly in many ways elemental manipulation is very similar to necromancy.”
“Ugh.” Darvon grunted out, his eyes doubling the white ceiling above him, turning the hundred thousand sun stones into millions. “Hurts.”
“Oh right, the injury illusion.” King Sol said with an embarrassed voice, stopping his lecture. “Let me clear that up for you.”
A snap echoed out, and in the same moment Darvon’s head pounding vanished, his eyes returned to normal, his gathered wounds faded, and even his elementals mass was returned to them. He would never get used to that feeling, it was almost worse than the pain of actually getting hit. Almost.
“Come on, get up Darvon, the training shade still has a couple rounds left in its tank.”
“Let me just rest for a few minutes. The wounds may be fake, but my exhaustion is very real.” Darvon said, keeping his eyes closed.
“Hmm. I guess you can have the afternoon off since I need to talk to Mother anyway. But be prepared for more training when I get back later today.” King Sol said, a portal whooshing open next to him with a loud caw that made Darvon wince. “You need to be prepared for next week’s field training.”
“Sure.” Darvon said, barely paying attention to the parting words as the world around him faded into dream land.
“You good Darvon? You seem exhausted.” Saria’s voice startled Darvon awake from his dream of jousting King Sol while riding crows with a pair of Clot’s as lances.
“Yeah I’m fine, just tired after practice.” Darvon said, blinking his eyes open to the sight of a huge grin on the blondes face in front of him. “What’s got you so cheery?”
“I’m officially a Doyen of Personal Teleportation!” she yelled out, as she dragged Darvon’s limp body into a standing position, letting him see a smirking Vadim sitting on his father’s lounge chair.
“That’s great, but have you seen any–.” Darvon went to say, only to freeze as his brain finally caught up with what she had just said. “Wait you advanced?! How?! It’s been literally four days?!”
“I know! I had this whole plan of using my External Impact to grow my stamina enough that I could carve an anchor as a protege, but it turns out all I needed to do was figure out my path!” Saria said, her smile practically splitting her face as she pointed to Vadim. “Which this guy helped me figure out by taking me to the Image statue garden.”
Darvon nodded along, half paying attention as he opened his third eye and sunk into the Significance Realm to check if it was true. And it was. Floating in front of him was the Image of a nanite filled golden eye with a shattered chain ringed around the pupil, every inch of the structure filled with the faint vibration which Darvon had long ago learned to recognize as Personal Teleportation. She had done it.
“… And so I ended up deciding on following the path of helping others break free from their broken societies. Which I am hoping you can help me figure out once we set up a proper bond between us.” Saria said, crushing a black crystal to teleport a couple times around the training field as she talked. “When are we doing that by the way?”
“As soon as I find a trustworthy binder.” Darvon said distractedly as he watched Saria teleport around while swinging her knife into the destroyed forms of the golems with ease. She was already a menace with that piece of metal, now she was practically the perfect assassin.
“I can help with that.” Vadim piped up from the side, chewing on a pastry he had pulled from thin air. “My family has a couple binders on retainer, they would be more than willing to swear an oath of secrecy if I give the word.”
“Perfect, than let’s go do that right now while I still feel inspired!” Saria said, vanishing to appear next to Darvon. “That sound fine?”
“Yeah, that works.” Darvon said with an absentminded nod, his mind elsewhere as he blindly followed after the chattering pair in front of them.
Saria had become a Doyen.
After four days of practicing.
That was insane.
Ignoring her somehow completing a branch that is next to impossible to do without being a doyen already, the fact that she could understand the process of merging with the wormhole so intuitively as to do so within moments was insane. He had heard that she had spent what felt like years travelling through the void between space to reach Significance, but even considering that, it was still ridiculous.
But that wasn’t the real problem. No, the real issue was that she could already master another branch whenever she wanted. He had passed on all he knew about Extranar Teleportation, and he was well aware that was practically completed already. She could, with just a few more days of practice match his years’ worth of progress.
That was INSANE!
He had been labeled a genius his whole life. Graduated at the top of his class, invented new unheard-of schematics, fought with overwhelming artificial grief for years, and had even created a new method to sacrifice emotions. Yet all of that paled before Saria’s success.
He was nothing compared to that.
“Hey, you want a burger Darvon?” Saria’s voice came from next to him, piercing through his thoughts and dragging him out of his depressed state to properly take in the sights around him.
He was outside of the compound, in the middle of a busy road with thousands of different people of all species flitting about next to a massive fountain of Maroc spewing out water from a hole in his chest. Saria and Vadim were currently in line in front of a popular looking stand manned by a heavily altered Zhra who had three arms sticking out from his back, each independently cooking on their stove and handing off ready burgers to the front two who would than pass it to a customer in front of them.
It smelled divine.
“Yes I would.” Darvon said, pulling out a couple flat metal crystals from his pocket to toss over to Vadim. “Get me a double cheese please.”
“You got it.” Vadim said, looking at Darvon with a strange smile as he drifted into the line in front of them, leaving Saria to turn to the alchemist with a grin.
“So have you given any thought as to what you want the oath to hold?”
“Of course I have. I spent like five hours after the ascension outlining a couple rough drafts in my head, which with nanites is like five days’ worth of planning.” Darvon said, slapping away a drifting hand that got to close to his pocket. “How about you? Any solid ideas?”
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“Yeah, I got plenty.” Saria said, openly staring at the sight of a Gos flying on a large wyvern overhead. “Mostly on restrictions on betrayal, but also on some specific ways we have to support each other.”
“Yeah same here. Though when we do meet the binder I recommend letting them look over what we got first. If they are a Horus, which they most likely are, then they will definitely be experts on legalese.”
Saria turned at that, her eyebrows raised. “That sounds a bit speciest. Why would them being a Horus matter in terms of expertise? I know they can engrave bonds into their skin, but that’s hardly enough reason for mastery.”
“Because of their culture.” Darvon said, pointing towards a passing group of Horus, which was made up of a dozen different dragon like paper beings all flattering a single figure in the middle. Funny thing was, he was definitely the weakest one there, but still they showered him in praises. “Every single Horus is part of the Grand Hierarchy, which is a social system where everyone is given a ranking and a branch, forcing them to follow the orders of those above them. They are inducted into it as a kid, and thus are in constant competition between each other, and since each of them takes an oath of no physical retaliation against each other, it is all in the form of espionage, taking advantage of loopholes, mergers, and whatever other corporate words you can think of.”
“So they have to master understanding contract law in order to get ahead.” Saria said, nodding along. “Sounds intense.”
“You have no idea.” Darvon said, eyeing a pair of peak doyen Zhra guards wearing Azeta uniform hanging a dozen feet away from them. “They have taken their specialty to such an extreme, that even when conquering a plane they only focus on ones with Binding laws, of which they have found only one. Origin, a plane full of devilish beings who are locked under a strict hierarchy where in order to grow in power they must rise in administrative rankings.”
“You guys talking about the devil plane of the Horus?” Vadim said from the side, handing each of them a hamburger before leading them deeper into the city. “I heard that the particularly ruthless top families send their children there to train before joining the Significance Plane society.”
Darvon took a bite and went to speak but stopped due to the amazing flavor that burst in his mouth. It was a damn good burger. Too good. Must have been made by an alchemist.
“How many planes have been conquered by you guys?” Saria asked from the side, munching on the burger with a face of joy.
Darvon eyed Vadim to see if he would speak up but seeing him distracted while glancing at a floating street sign above them he answered. “In terms of fully conquered and under our control we Zhaber have six, the Zhra collective have one, Gos three, Bravin two, and Horus one. As for partially conquered there are hundreds in varying states of success, though you could argue the Golems have such a thorough trade agreement with six that they can essentially be considered under their thumb as well.”
“Why not absorb them than? Seems it would be an easy way to boost power.”
“Because only Zhaber’s can absorb laws, and of the ones we have most of them provide their own unique resource which we desire more than any law they have.” Vadim answered, finally having figured out the sign and leading them to a quieter district full of academic institutions like bookstores, test engravers, lab work, binders and more. “Not to mention the expense in both spatial crystals and lives that it takes to absorb a plane.”
Saria slowed at that, with only someone bumping into her forcing her to keep up with a horrified look on her face. “What do you mean lives? Do you need to sacrifice people in order to absorb a plane?”
Darvon winced at that while glaring at Vadim. He had been meaning to slowly build up that reveal. “No, but when absorbing a plane you can only take one physical part of it, which means that unless you are careful there is a good chance you kill millions of left over people.”
“You mean you plan to kill millions?!” Saria said in a shrieky voice that filled the quiet district and had half the people’s heads turn to them. “I literally just decided to pursue helping the helpless!”
“No, I haven’t.” Darvon said, indicating her to lower the volume as people had begun glaring at them. “When we absorb a plane, I plan to make sure we take as many with us as we can. Which if you truly have a path of helping the helpless, you could likely resolve all on your own.”
“That is insane Darvon.” Saria said in a hissing whisper, as she finally noticed the people staring as they went even deeper into the nicer section of the neighborhood. “You plan to let me have control over potentially billions of lives.”
“Yes. Yes I do. That is the level of commitment we are aspiring towards. Anything below that is worthless.” Darvon said in a steady tone as he regained his confidence after the shock of Saria’s advance. “We are pursuing greatness here.”
Saria had no answer to that, and instead stayed silent as they wove through crowds of people going into various stores. As uncomfortable as this conversation made him, he was glad she was having this realization now, as it would not do for her to falter when they were midway through absorbing a plane.
“We are here.” Vadim said, breaking the awkward silence as they stopped in front of a massive white marble shop that had a slightly glowing sign Orena’s Bindings with some fancy paper on the door confirming their license, as well as their Paragon level of power. It looked grand if a bit empty of customers.
Perhaps noting their attention on the lack of crowds, Vadim elaborated. “Orena is under our retainer, and so receives more than enough money that she rarely accepts random walk ins for less than a couple hundred crests.”
“Don’t worry, we trust your judgement.” Saria said, stepping forward and into the house. “I doubt you would do anything to break that belief.”
Nodding along to Saria’s words, Darvon stepped in alongside her, noting that the entrance room was mostly filled with luscious green chairs and polished wooden tables full of various pastries and drinks all set on a beautifully patterned rug. Towards the back of the room was a large, closed door, and a single desk where a surprised wyvern like Horus who had been reading off an illusion stone sat coiled up on a lounge chair.
“Hello!” The secretary said, hiding her stone under the table as she did so. “Welcome to Orena’s Bindings! We have familiar, oaths, and bond breaking all available at a Paragon level of power. I am Uni, what can I help you with?”
Before either of them could say anything, Vadim shouldered his way past them while summoning an Azeta badge to his hand. “We are here for an oath for a main line Azeta contract, if you could please let Orena know.”
Uni’s inked in eyes widened at that, glancing at the badge with awe. “Right away, young master. Please just enjoy some fresh pastries while I call the Mistress down.”
“Thank you.” Vadim said, already midway through grabbing a plateful while waving at the others to sit down. “We’ll be right here.”
Following his lead, Darvon grabbed a few treats for himself as well, though not before noticing their guards had stayed outside while blocking the door. It was nice to be under such thorough care.
“Have you ever been here before?” Saria asked, as she set herself down on a plush chair.
“I have not, but plenty of my family swear by her. Aelad especially. She claims to have had at least a hundred different oaths sworn here, most of them with rather ‘illegal’ people which Orena has never spoken of. You have nothing to worry about in terms of competency.”
“Thank you for the glowing review young master Vadim.” A voice said from the door, where an ancient Zhra sized yellow paper dragon covered in various ink tattoos floated. Opening his third eye, Darvon got a clear sense of Paragon level energy radiating from an Image of a single scroll which was burning on one end, and reforming at the other all while constantly filling with writing. “I hear you have a binding that needs done?”
“Yes we do.” Vadim said, standing up with a little bow that the others imitated, Darvon last due to his focus on her Image. “My friends here are interested in forming an oath bond between them.”
Orena’s gaze turned to them, and Darvon felt as if all of his secrets were all laid bare to her sight. Seemed she had a high-level bond sense as well, dangerous but useful. “A pair of familiars huh? I can work with that. Follow me.”
Saria instinctively tensed at that, though kept walking once she had been poked by Darvon a few times. Now was not the time to be defensive.
Walking up the stairs after nodding goodbye to Vadim, they passed by various rooms which Darvon saw were full of objects representing oath power. A promise ring, a blood-soaked gauntlet, a legal document, a fingerprint, a stamp, and more. Each one had a little plaque next to it outlining its history parallel to a graph that showed exactly what essence each could make and what oaths would best work for them.
“If you see anything you would particularly like used for your oath, please let me know. While the object doesn’t much matter in terms of results, I can understand if you feel sentimental about how it will be created.” Orena said from the top of the stairs, which she had completely bypassed. “Be aware that the charge will be extra depending on power.”
Nodding along to her, Darvon paid closer attention to the objects alongside Saria until he found a peak doyen level silver grail which Saria agreed was good enough to use.
“Just Doyen level than?”
“Yes, Ma’am. We are merely looking for a bond which will alert us if there is a betrayal, rather than one that will fully chain us down.” Saria answered as they reached the top floor where a fancy room filled with runes which Darvon recognized as oath filled stood alongside a table full of parchment and ink. “Though we do hope that you can consent to an oath of secrecy as well.”
“Naturally, though that will cost you as it will intrude on my skin when I do so.” Orena said, floating over to where a pile of silver oath crystals were, crushing down a few to turn into energy before turning to them. “Now before we begin how about we establish the secrecy terms, as well as what exactly you would like to form.”
Darvon stepped into the room. “We would just like a blanket oath to not talk about what type, level, or any other details of the bond you will place on us. You may mention that you saw us, but that is it.”
Orena nodded, before waving at the essence floating next to her. “Classic, well formed. Now do you have enough of a grasp on bindings that you can understand the intent behind a contract formed in front of you.”
Giving a slight nod, Darvon opened his third eye and gave the go ahead, upon which Orena crushed down the energy into her skin forming a single tear drop tattoo next to hundreds which Darvon felt clearly represented exactly the layers of her oath.
“Perfect, now if I ever break this while you won’t be immediately warned you can just look at my skin and sense it.” Orena said, before waving her hand towards the table which the pair sat down at. “Now please write down the exact terms of your contract.”
They both nodded, and without needing to reference anything began writing down the various rules of their contract. Perfect memory had its perks.
The oath that Darvon had worked out came out as very simple, which was always useful when creating such an important article. While some did write down thousands of different things to close, Darvon knew that the oath would sense the intent well enough that he didn’t need to be overly complex.
Which Saria clearly didn’t understand from the hundreds of rules she had written down within just the minute he had taken. Glancing up to Orena, who was writing down a list of suggestions, Darvon sighed at the waste of time this was going to take.
After three hours of back and forth between them, they settled on a list of seven rules which were broad enough for both of their satisfaction.
It read:
1. Can’t kill the other without their informed willing consent.
2. Can’t betray the other’s interests or secrets without their informed willing consent.
3. Must support each other when called upon, aside from extreme requests like suicide.
4. When faced with disputes or conflicts, the solution must be found through dialogue and compromise, avoiding unnecessary hostility.
1. Do so through a debate like process, where there is a heavier weight to logic but allowance for emotion as an argument.
5. Must strive to maintain constant transparency of larger scale goals, important skills, relevant resources, and key abilities.
6. Both must insure constant equality of partnership.
1. Not political, or power wise but rather in terms of decision making.
7. Respect each other’s autonomy and boundaries.
1. No mind or body control.
While they both had the same first five in different formats, the sixth was Saria’s idea, and the seventh Orena’s. While he wasn’t sure exactly how they would maintain an equal partnership, as long as the intent was there it didn’t really matter. Apparently mind and body control was such a regular way to avoid oaths that she recommended it to everyone.
“Ok, with the words out of the way all that is left is to actually form the bond.” Orena said, having grabbed the chalice with her claw and floated over to the now glowing circle once they had finished the arguments. “The process is simple enough, with the engraving merely serving as a method to more easily allow for you to sense what is going on. Please stand right next to me, on the two circles right next to me.”
Walking over hesitantly while looking over the engravings, Darvon only relaxed once he felt that it was truly only an amplifier, and promptly stood on the circle with Saria opposite him. He felt a slight prickle enhancing his bond sensing, which he ignored in favor of looking at Orena who had grabbed their legal parchment.
“I will be reading this as we go along, to ensure the intent is correct. As for you two all you must do is not resist, while I can overwhelm your defenses it would be an annoying waste of time.” Orena said, with one paper scaled eyebrow raised at them. “Now let’s begin.”
In a flash of silver light the goblet was gone, and all that was left was swirling argent energy which rushed over to their Image in the form of a pincer. Grabbing hold of the flesh of his grey hand, it began vibrating a full fifth of his Image as Orena repeatedly chanted the set of rules. Across from him Darvon saw the same happening to half of Saria’s image for a few minutes as she read over the document several times, infusing the energy until he saw it forge into a pair of silver earrings showing a eye wrapped in tech for him, and a puppet hand for Saria.
It was done.
From now on if they ever broke their oath, they would lose the resonated parts significance and be warned of the betrayal. While they could eventually gather enough power for the loss to be insignificant, or break the oath through a binder, that would be just as clear an example of betrayal as activating the contract.
They were now fully tied at the hip, which as Darvon glanced at the wide smile gracing Saria’s face he knew she was thinking the same thing.
It was time for the real duo training to start.