In camp, after the stone shepherd and the stone sheep, a natural snow storm brewing, Rask catches Alexis attention.
“That creature in the stone carvings back there, you talked about the gems it had seeming similar to ours. But it’s not Sagi? Not the six-armed creature right? But it had horns?”
“Gus felt like there was something special there too…”
Rask looks over at Gus.
“Horns, not antlers.. What do you think it was?” Rask asks Alexis
North. It’s known the way one knows their own pulse, without being told and without being able to say how. How far? As far as the edge of the maps, where words stop and only vague pictures continue?
A hall of black stone, and the whole of it is a working. Rings cut into the floor, one inside the next, the runes in their grooves lit purple. The grooves are wet.
Along the walls, figures hang in iron, and the channels beneath them feed the rings. Demonic figures stand at the edges in the dark and chant.
At the centre Utiog kneels, and every line in that floor ends at her.
The silver circlet is still on her brow and the blue stone in it is still bright. The gown was white once. The irons fit her wrists exactly, and the blood grooves come to them. The stone under her knees is worn into two shallow hollows.
The thing bent over her stands twice the height of a man and has to fold itself to reach her. Six arms. The lower body coiling. An Abyssal Lord. The face too calm for her body.
The Abyssal Lord is not angry. The Abyssal Lord works Utiog the way a man works a hide: not in temper, not in haste, simply without stopping.
One of the arms comes down. Utiog does not brace. When the Abyssal Lord lifts her fist away Utiog’s head is sagging more and with more blood.
The chanting climbs until the words run together. Then all of it stops at once, and the silence is worse than the sound was.
Purple tendrils come up out of the grooves and climb the walls.
Two of the arms take Utiog’s shoulders. Two hold her hips. The last two set themselves against her ribcage and open her the way you open a shutter.
What comes out of her is light-blue light.
Utiog fights this. Her body suddenly full of a vigor for fighting, but she’s also too weak from all the torture.
The Abyssal Lord goes in headfirst, slowly. One arm follows. Then another. The coil of it narrows and narrows and feeds in behind the Abyssal Lord, and Utiog’s ribs stand open the whole while, and the blue thins.
And behind all of it, faint, the way a thing is seen through water: a far greater god, opening in the same way, taking the same purple, and not resisting at all.
The last of the coil goes in. Her ribs close.
The purple goes out of the walls, the grooves and the runes, all at once, inward.
Utiog lifts her head. The stone on her brow is now red.
The thing looking out Utiog’s eyes gazes, knowing she’s being watched. She smiles. “My servant is coming for you.”
Thing happen fast, sometimes. Even when one can stop time! Battling Ezrin– a foe my companions used to trust– I used the time amulet received when we entered this new world, to pause the flow of time, heal my grievous wounds from fighting the undead minions the wizard deployed, then ran to a fighting position, where I joined Rask in battling the wizard at sword point. Rask dealt him a flurry of mighty blows, maiming him grievously. He teleported away, leaving his severed arm in the dirt, and we ran him down to deliver the coup de grace.
Even as his last breath left him, Ezrin’s body split and a demon came out of the accursed armor he wore! I was preparing to Dismiss the demon, when a rider appeared! She dispatched the demon with her powerful magic sword, before I could cast my spell.
My fellows knew this warrior woman, and they spoke. She told them she had now dispatched the last of the Abyssal Lords (meaning, the demon she had destroyed in front of us), and that she was now resuming her quest to “kill the gods.”
My fellows tell me that she is in earnest. She was gifted a uniquely powerful magic item, the sword chaotic, to accomplish this quest. My fellows tell us (for Rask, also, did not know this warrior) that they convinced her to kill the Abyssal Lords first, before starting her quest to kill the gods. With that quest complete, however, by her words she vowed to kill Hood, the God of Death.
Could I have stopped her from riding off? Could I have dismissed the demon more quickly, and in so doing, prolonged her quest?
I have a holy charge, to free the land from the corruption of the Dark Hand, and I cannot turn aside from that quest. But in all the world, only we few people know, that a fell warrior woman now seeks to kill the god of death, and if she succeeds, the world will be forever changed. How? We don’t now know. But to me it seems clear, this would be a Bad Thing.
If I did not have the power to roll back time, my dismay over this turn of events would feel less onerous to me. But I alone could turn back time, giving up years of my life to do so, in order to repeat the moment when she dealt the mortal blow that killed the demon. Not only did I err, by letting her kill the final Abyssal Lord, but– though it took minutes for the tale to be recounted to me– I also failed to turn back time and try once again to prevent these events from unfolding.
Raiden help me, I am weak– I could not give up those years of my life to roll back the relentless tide of time’s passage, for a possible intervention in those sudden actions. The certainty losing years of future life, in exchange for only a possibility that, knowing what I know now, I could have stopped them from unfolding, was not a worthy exchange.
Add one more quest to the growing list of wrongs to right. If we eliminate the Dark Hand, without dying, and if we fulfill our promise to retrieve and turn over Dauntless, then I have a deep conviction that thwarting Earica’s quest, must be in my future.
In the morning, under the hip bone of a giant creature, Rask absentmindedly addresses the whole group:
”Where and when -ever we are is where Raiden wants us, no doubt…”
“I think there are… is? Not really more than one timeline. You all know more about magic and crow-know-mancy than me, but it seems like as little as possible has changed since we saw the Dragon in Nodden Tor compared to before we used all four keys.”
He looks towards Alexis briefly,
”You’ve talked about threads weaving themselves together around Frostbite Pass… you said you saw… various versions of Hadonis and Alikimo… What if those are POSSIBLE versions not different versions?”
”’Our’ Hadonis… he saw the tear twice? He’s different from everyone else you’ve looked at, that way…”
“Somehow Time or The Dragon compensates…”
“or something…”
”No matter. We are here. Now. To stop Sasherak and Bandesing.”
The group stands in front of the, now cracked, altar of Razar. Ca’armine has just finished unleashing the power of Raiden at the undead and at the altar.
“Did you feel that? There was a moment where it pushed back.” He nods slowly. “And then you overpowered it; brought Raiden against it.” He looks at Ca’armine, smiles, and clasps him on the shoulder. “That’s what a champion of Raiden looks like, Carm.”
He turns to the cracked altar and tilts his head slightly.
“Although it would have been easier to study intact.” A small shrug. “Or carry back as treasure on our way back.” He chuckles.
He heads back toward camp with the group.
Since the thoughts about Ilceros and Eellos, Alexis has clearly been thinking about this same topic. He speaks to Ethelred as they continue north.
Patting his belt pouch “This Tear can make a god. Or complete the ritual to make one. Ilceros and the Dragon had it the whole time.” He glances down at his hands and the rings on them. “And in this timeline Ilceros won. Beat back a power so strong his shadow is still warping reality around us.” He looks back up at the road ahead. “Did Anashar not elevate him for that? Or did he, and humanity of this timeline just forgot, because it scattered after the Great Betrayal and took its memory with it?”
A comfortable silence.
“You Aegierians keep saying Raiden was ascended. Lifted up by Anashar.” He glances sideways at Ethelred. “Was what he did so much greater than what Ilceros did? Than what the Dragon did?” The last question lands with more weight than the others.
“Or did Ilceros get elevated, and then forgotten, and then Raiden came along and channeled whatever was left of that into something new? Is Raiden Ilceros reborn? Same warren? Different warren?”
He shakes his head slowly.
“The second league had artifacts and workings this age has never come close to matching. The hourglass. The Tears. How many of those were made specifically for achieving godhood? How many names do we not know because they succeeded and then faded with the empire? How many ended up like Shasharak, or were simply obliterated when they failed?”
He turns the Spider Ring once, almost without noticing.
“In this timeline I find it hard to imagine Anashar not uplifting Ilceros. The Dragon too, maybe. And if that happened here and not in our timeline.” He looks up briefly at the daytime sky. “Maybe that’s why the stars are different.”
He keeps walking, and his thoughts shift to a slightly different topic.
“What does it mean for a god to be tied to a place? As a Sutheroni, that concept sits uneasily with me. A god spans the world, or at least all humanity. The power is constant, from time immemorial. Anashar. Avv. Hood.” A shrug. “Although some in the Collegium have their doubts about Hood.”
He glances briefly at Gustav and Rask, then back at the road.
“But Raiden is tied to the land. And I think this same land might have been Eellos. And Ilceros was connected to Eellos. And was clearly a great power. Possibly much greater than Raiden.” He pauses. “How many other gods have come and gone? Come and failed?”
He doesn’t say anything else for a while.
The group has left the time-vault of Nodden-Torr. A few days have passed. Alexis waits until the camp has settled, then moves closer to Ethelred.
“Something’s been sitting with me since we came through.”
He keeps his voice low, not quite private.
“Raiden Ascended. Fixed point, 687 SL.” he flips through his notebook aimlessly. “Stand before that point and Ca’armine can’t reach him at all. Makes sense. The warren existed, but Raiden wasn’t in it yet. Some in the Collegium would stop right there: you attune to a region, not a person. No region, no attunement.”
He nods a couple times.
“But we came home through a sky full of possibilities. Every point of light another timeline.” He looks at the page, not really seeing it. “Which means somewhere out there there could be a timeline where Shasharak succeeded. That shadow-fiend that came for us in the hourglass room could be Shasharak or a minion of his from that alternate timeline trying to ‘correct’ all the timelines.”
He closes the book.
“If a god begins at a fixed point, does it exist in every timeline after that moment? Seems unlikely. But Raiden said we were looking at it too much like a road, when it’s a tree.” Alexis shrugs “Or it’s an agreement.” Alexis shrugs again. “Is a single Hood collecting souls from every timeline or is there a Hood for every timeline? And if so, do they know about each other? Do they compete?”
He looks at Ethelred.
“Is Shasharak already a god somewhere? And if he is, can the ‘him’ here get help from the god there?”
The night the group makes camp on the platform at the top of the eroded hill, while Gustav has the first watch. Alexis pulls his hat off, sets it beside him, and sits down.
“Those blessings you’ve been losing every morning, Gus. It turns out that was me. Or a new skill out of the Inner Watch, which probably amounts to the same thing.” Alexis turns the Collegium ring once around his finger.
“The trouble with the Inner Watch is that most of it has been lost a very long while, and as far as I can find, nobody left a guide.” He gives a small shrug. “So I learn what a working does by doing it.”
“Before you ‘prayed’ at the grove that morning, I’d already invoked the old working and pointed it at keeping us protected for the day. I held the protective side of… your… our god in my head, and the road ahead of us. In hindsight, the warren of Raiden took my intention and your power, put the two together, and stretched our passing from a quarter of a day to half of one. I’m still not certain how it settled on you to pay for it.”
“That first working ran four days. Your grove may have had a hand in that.”
“Before I tap into that part of the weave I wanted to let you know. It was new to me then. It’s turned out well worth having, but maybe you disagree.” He looks over at Gustav. “I’m sorry for being a part of your crisis of faith.”
Alexis waits to see if Gustav has anything to say.
Alexis dreams he stood upon a vast grassland beneath a gray morning sky.The grass reached nearly to his knees and rolled away in every direction, untouched by road or wall. Far away stood the dark line of a forest. Beyond it rose mountains crowned with snow. There was no temple. No throne. No choir. Only wind.
Then Alexis noticed a man walking toward him through the grass. He was tall and weathered, dressed not as a god but as an old warrior returning from a long campaign. His cloak was patched. His boots were muddy. An ancient sword hung at his side, and across his shoulders he carried a bow. His face seemed softened by humility. His eyes were tired. But kind. Alexis knew him immediately. Raiden.
Raiden stopped beside him and looked toward the mountains. For a long while, the god said nothing. Finally… “Men build walls when they are frightened.”
Raiden picked a blade of grass and rolled it between his fingers. “Then they build higher walls because the first did not make them less afraid.” He looked toward Alexis. “Shasharak built no wall of stone.”
The wind strengthened. The grassland vanished.
Alexis saw an ancient city beneath a burning sky. Armies marched beneath banners he did not recognize. Orcs, goblins, elves, humans, and creatures stranger still fought among shattered towers. Standing above them was a figure Alexis could never see clearly. Tall. Thin. Neither elf nor orc. Both elf and orc. Every time Alexis tried to see his face, smoke crossed the dream.
Raiden spoke beside him. “He believed the world had failed because those entrusted with its protection were too weak to command it.”
The scene changed. Shasharak stood upon a mountain surrounded by bodies. Above him burned lights like stars. The Gods. Shasharak reached toward them. And the heavens recoiled.
Raiden said: “He mistook obedience for unity.”
The vision changed again. Now Alexis saw Shasharak falling. But his shadow did not fall with him. It remained standing. Waiting. The centuries passed around that shadow. Kingdoms rose. Kingdoms disappeared. Forests grew where cities had stood. Still the shadow waited. Then someone approached it. A man carrying the symbol of a black and red hand. Bandesingh. The shadow turned toward him.
Raiden’s voice became grim. “Some enemies need not survive in flesh. Hatred can preserve a man longer than blood.”
Alexis asks “Is Shasharak returning?”
Raiden does not answer. Instead he draws his sword and drives it into the earth. The ground splits. Deep beneath it Alexis sees something crimson glowing in darkness. The Tear of Avv.
Raiden looks directly at him. “The old powers are moving again. Some will tell you that power must be destroyed. Others will tell you that it must be possessed. Beware both.”
Then Raiden steps closer. “You hold something kings would murder nations to possess. Do not ask whether you are strong enough to wield it.” His expression becomes severe. “Ask whether you are strong enough to surrender it.”
Then the wind rises. Raiden disappears.
But his sword remains buried in the earth. Wrapped around its blade is a single strand of crimson thread.
Alexis awakens.
A week into leveling up
Ethelred has been keeping on a eye on Alexis since we left the dwarven cave with the Tear of Ave.
Red approaches Ca’ramine.
“Car’mine… I want to ask you about Alexis and his keen focus on the Tear of Ave. Let me explain.
When I first met Alexis he was following the god of luck. He always had a coin and took the whims of the world as a challenge.
Then he switched to Ave. I never fully understood this choice, but saw the benefits and the meaning it brought Alexis.
When you and Rask joined the balance of the party changed in many ways. The obvious was the push for conflict resolution through strength. But the more important shift was towards Aigeir and towards Raiden. Once again Alexis switched to newer god. And I get the reason and I see the many benefits.
But now we find ourselves at yet another crossroads. I see two paths. One where Alexis stays with Raiden, and the larger party. One path where Alexis get pulled back towards Ave.
That gem is powerful. More powerful than I think we fully yet understand.
I ask you to keep an eye on Alexis. Especially if we want to keep him on the path of Radien.”