by Chris Fox
Anu landed roughly, and placed a hand on her side. I realized I’d never fully healed her, and rested Dez’s barrel against her side, then fired off another heal spell.
“Thank you.” She rose shakily to her feet. “The temple staff have already seen us, and are likely gathering warriors just to be certain we are no threat. Now would be one of those times to remove your helmet.”
I glanced behind me instinctively, just in case, then complied with her request. My helmet slithered back into the armor, and that few seconds caused my heart to race. I always assumed someone was trying to kill me now, and I felt like a lot of the time I wasn’t wrong.
A pair of burly hatchlings approached, and they flanked a Wyrm in their shifted form. This one had white-blue scales, unlike the brown hatchlings, and seemed vaguely familiar.
I studied him as he approached, but I was positive I’d never met him before. I’d definitely remember that face…but it danced maddeningly out of reach.
“Dude!” Briff’s voice issued from the stranger’s face. “Check. This. OUT. I learned how to shift. I can basically be a human now, but keep all the cool parts of being a dragon. I don’t even have to shed hair, like you mammals do.”
Relief burst in me and I sprinted to my friend and seized him in a fierce hug. After everything I’d been through in the last couple days, seeing my friend unexpectedly proved exactly the balm my spirit needed.
“Dude, this is incredible.” I released him and stepped back. “You look amazing! I thought it was supposed to be really hard to master shifting.”
“Nah, super easy.” Briff stifled a yawn. “I had it down in like two hours. I’ve spent the rest of the time reading up on local history, and visiting other temples. They have a temple where all they do is play Arena. Real Arena, video game Arena…it’s like their whole life. This planet is awesome!” Then his face fell as he took in my ruined armor. “I mean…the part of the planet I saw. What the depths happened to you, Jer? And who is your friend?”
“This is Anu.” I indicated the exhausted Ifrit, who’d removed her helmet and now held it under one arm. She nodded briefly at Briff, but moved off a little ways to talk to the hatchlings. “She’s a student at the Kamiza where I was studying. The curriculum is, ah, pretty crazy. And very lethal. We started with three other students in our class. Only Anu and I survived, and then I got expelled for pissing off a goddess.”
“Jerek.” Briff’s voice was utterly scandalized and his tail lashed behind him. “We’ve only been here like two days. How did you piss off a goddess? Who did you piss off? You need to tone it down, man. I don’t want to get kicked off this planet.”
“It isn’t his fault.” Anu spoke up as she turned from the hatchling she’d been whispering with. “He’s landed in a war he knows nothing about, and because he’s seen as being on our side, the side that’s taken you in, Elder Briff, we are all involved.” She inclined a respectful nod toward him, like one would to the minister or someone of a similar position.
“It was totally my fault,” I admitted with a sigh. “I refused power from Nebiat, and she took it personally. She’s kind of…well, let’s just say I’m inclined to believe every word of the documentary. She’s unbalanced. Anyway, I survived her assassination attempt, but they felt I’d be safer here, because if I stay at Ghora’s Kamiza they’ll just send more assassins.”
“Oh.” Briff blinked at me a few times. “Well, let’s get you situated then. Atum sent me to get you. He’s meditating at the inner pools and we’re supposed to join him there. He’s pretty cool, and very wise, but kind of an asshole when you spank him in Arena. I don’t think he likes me very much.”
I stifled a smile now that I wasn’t wearing a helmet, as I didn’t want the guards, and possibly Anu, to think I was dissing their boss. Briff led us into the cave, which opened into a vast cavern. Much of the mountain had been hollowed out, and each floor contained rings of buildings where robed scholars moved slowly about their business.
Below us the ground sloped into a series of placid gardens, and at the very bottom a male hatching sat in a lotus position, eyes closed and tail curled pristinely beside one foot.
A dozen acolytes in similar dun-colored robes knelt across from him in rows, they the students and he clearly the master. His scales glowed in morning light, which I realized filtered through holes in the mountain that were channeled using well positioned mirrors.
Briff walked boldly down to the class, and shifted back and forth from foot to foot as he waited for the elder to notice. Tight lines formed in the scales around Atum’s eyes, but they remained stubbornly closed. I noticed a few students peeking though, and after a moment a snicker rolled from the back row.
Atum’s eyes shot open and the monk fixed Briff with a baleful stare. “Yes, Elder Briff? As you’ve already interrupted my class I suppose I should grant whatever ‘request’ you must want to make.”
“Dude, you literally just sent me to go get Jerek.” Briff pointed at me. “And I came back. Were you not expecting me?”
“I thought you might have the grace to wait until we’d completed our meditation before returning.” The monk rose smoothly to his feet, and in that moment I realized something.
They were all shorter than Briff. They were all shorter than Briff had been when he’d been a hatchling. These hatchlings were young. Some might be older than me, but I don’t think any were close to molting. Now that I thought about it none of the hatchlings had been close to molting.
Did they respect him because he was older? There were Wyrms here, and those Wyrms were probably older than Briff, but on this part of the planet, at least, he seemed to be the only adult Wyrm.
I filed that fact away for later and waited for Briff and this Atum guy to finish verbally sparring.
“I’m sorry, Atum.” Briff’s tail fell. “I guess I should have waited. That was pretty disrespectful, and I apologize for interrupting your class. Do you want to finish up? Jerek and I can go get lunch or something.”
“No, that’s quite all right.” His tone said it wasn’t at all “all right”. “Please stay. Jerek, you’ve caused quite the commotion upon our world, and I’d like to speak to you about it. Class, you are dismissed for the day. Please find a quiet pool, and contemplate in solitude until you find your center, and then you are free to go.”
Atum waited for the pools to clear before speaking, and when he did he turned to Anu first. “You did right in bringing him here. Thank you. Go and get some rest, and tend to your armor. I will speak to Ghora and we will send you back when it is safe.”
Anu offered a grateful nod, the heat rolling off her flaming face as she turned and departed. I thought about offering an awkward goodbye, but she never even glanced in my direction as she walked away.
Once she’d departed Atum turned his attention back to me. He pointedly ignored Briff, as best as he could. “Please, walk with me. I’d like to show you something known only to a few.”
I followed Atum to the edge of the far pool, against the rock face. He touched the rock, and it rippled away as water would to reveal a narrow passageway. Atum folded his wings and scrunched inside.
I ducked in after him, and rose into a wider passageway after a few meters. The path sloped down in a gradual spiral, and Atum plunged down it with purpose. He began to speak the moment the rock wall sealed behind us.
“I am the high priest of the Memory of the Earthmother.” He straightened with pride. “We venerate the Wyrm who created us all, even mighty Nebiat. The Earthmother seeded this world. She gave us life. Nebiat merely breathed upon the ember that remained of our mother’s original work. And because we venerate the Earthmother the followers of Nebiat bear us no love. The followers of Frit think we are obsessed with the past, and that we should let the Earthmother go. They do not know of what you will see, and I must beg your discretion. Please, tell no one what you witness here.”
Briff eyed me sidelong, but said nothing as we continued down the trail.
&
nbsp; “Of course,” I belatedly agreed. “I won’t repeat or relate anything I see here to anyone else.”
A warm autumn glow came from below us, one that lifted my spirits and filled me with a sense of peace. Of purpose. Of the knowledge that something greater and wiser than myself existed in the universe.
Stronger and stronger the glow became, and I resisted the urge to run as the peace filled me. Finally we reached the bottom, and I spotted the source of the glow. It came from a transport sized egg, one far larger than any dragon egg had a right to be.
“This is the Memory of the Earthmother.” He turned and raised his arms expansively. “One day she will rise, and reclaim her place. Even now her mortal form is out there, somewhere, lost and trying to find her way home, to this place. Each life she tries again, and one day she will succeed. And when that day arrives we will be here, caring for the body she left behind.”
“This is amazing.” I lacked words to describe the feeling that filled me, but for the first time since encountering something that could be called a god…I experienced true divinity. Something greater than a mortal with power.
“This is pretty cool.” Briff cautiously approached the egg. “Are we allowed to touch it?”
“No!” Atum interposed himself between Briff and the egg. “Only him. Only he is permitted. And only because he is our champion against Necrotis. He will need the power and the fortitude that earth can offer. He will need the strength the Earthmother gives him. You? You are merely—”
Something twitched inside the egg, and it rolled over and the leathery shell brushed Briff’s shoulder. A wave of power surged through it, and my oldest friend’s face fell into rapture as he gaped at the egg towering over him.
Briff blinked several times, then gave me a razored grin that reminded me of the way he’d looked as a hatchling. “You got to get in on this, bud. Touch it. She’s giving this to us. It’s a gift.”
I reached out and rested my hand upon the shell, and a wave of peace surged through me. That peace took root in my heart, and filled me with a tiny bit of the serenity this place exuded.
“I have earth magic.” I removed my suit gauntlet and held up my hand, and acid pooled in my palm. The caustic liquid hissed, but didn’t burn my skin as I’d have expected. Earth magic came with earth resistance, of course.
“Me too!” Briff raised his hand and it also filled with acid.
Atum’s jaw worked, but the hatchling couldn’t summon words for many moments. “I…I do not question her will. You must be worthy, Elder Briff. I am sorry for my hasty judgement. Please, let us head back. Again, tell no one of what you saw here. I will have quarters prepared so that you may rest. Basking in the Earthmother’s magic is…exhausting for mortals.”
“No need to worry about quarters.” Briff waved a hand at the high priest. “Jer can crash with me. There’s tons of room in there.”
“As you wish.” Atum gave a deep bow to the both of us. “Go with her blessing, and please, tell me if there is anything you require.”
* * *
Interlude V - How to Construct a Religion
Necrotis overlooked the illusory map of the sector dominating much of the bridge as she surveyed the latest updates on Confederate troop movements. They’d predictably focused the bulk of their forces around Shaya, which included the Spellship and the Flame of Knowledge. She’d have expected them to group the Vagrant Fleet together, but both the Word of Xal and the Earthmother’s Bulwark were blessedly absent.
Xal’Aran and his demonic horde were a serious problem, one she didn’t have any desire to confront head on until she’d removed far more pieces from the game board. As for the Word of Xal? It could destroy her vessel, were it properly powered and manned. Neither threat being present with the Confederate fleet presented a tremendous opportunity.
Footsteps sounded in the corridor, and she glanced up as Kurz entered the bridge. The fiery-haired soulcatcher neither smiled nor greeted her, but he did incline his head in a nod, which was more than he’d done the day before. Bit by bit.
“You’re about to attack another planet, aren’t you?” Kurz’s contempt flavored the words, but he’d used less seasoning than before.
“Possibly.” She began touching systems within the illusion, seven in total, and each flared on the map as she did. “These four worlds are still inhabited. Each has a substantial population, and all will be useful in building our power base. The remaining colonies have fallen entirely, but the bones of the dead, no matter how old, can still be harvested to construct our weapons of war.”
Kurz said nothing but she noted his curiosity as he surveyed the map. She tapped her first target, then willed the Maker’s Wrath to open a Fissure. In this instance the Umbral Depths would be far more expedient, and would make for a more terrifying entrance than emerging from the spirit realm.
They slid into the Depths, and the Fissure snapped shut behind them. She willed the course, and instructed the ship to alert her in a few minutes when they arrived at their egress point.
“I chose this first world based on proximity,” Necrotis explained as she made a throwing gesture toward the scry-screen, and the planet’s metrics appeared in the lower corner. “They are post-industrial, and have spaceflight, but have long since lost every relevant technology their ancestors arrived with.”
“How did they lose it?” Kurz raised an eyebrow. “I mean, I assume it’s something similar to what you did to the lurkers, right? We were only given scraps of knowledge, and equipment, and gradually lost our identity as you shaped us for your own purposes.”
“Would that I could take credit.” Necrotis gave a tiny laugh, one that made the lines around Kurz’s mouth tighten. “Your people were molded for a purpose over many centuries. This world lost its way, because it lacks resources. They arrived through magic, you see, but eventually their void mages died. That left them stranded without the magic to leave their system. The Umbral Depths have been closed to them for millennia. It’s a fairly common problem. One we saw often during the era of the Dragonflights. One of my responsibilities was locating such worlds, and bringing them back into the fold with the flame of knowledge. Figuratively, not the Great Ship.”
She approached the scry-screen, and took several moments to repair her appearance, until she truly resembled a proper goddess. First impressions mattered.
“So what? You’re going to offer them a way off their world?” Kurz crossed the bridge, but not to stand with her. He moved offscreen so that he wouldn’t be visible to whomever she spoke with.
“Something like that. Observe.” A clock in the lower right corner counted down the remaining three minutes, and just like that they arrived at the closest egress point to Sanctuary, a world no one had the slightest hint even existed.
When the timer hit zero the Wrath opened another titanic Fissure, and they slowly slid through back into normal space. They appeared high in the skies over the massive world, far larger than her own home world had been, and with a correspondingly higher gravity.
Satellites ringed the planet, but they were simple things, and not terribly well defended. Why would they be? So far as the eleph that dwelled here knew they were alone in the cosmos. They scanned for radio waves, and had no idea that Quantum even existed.
After a suitably long interval Necrotis sketched a fire sigil, and activated the scry-screen. She projected an illusion of herself towering over the skies of the world, and smiled magnanimously down at them.
“People of Kessai.” Necrotis let the three words hang as her spectral projection stared benevolently down at their world. “I am your goddess, Necrotis. I have returned at long last to reclaim this world. For so long you have been separated from your people, and you have wondered where you came from. Today you have witnessed the miracle of my arrival. You can see my divine vessel in the sky.”
Her smile faded, and became a frown. A frown of judgement. Their cameras and their eyes all belonged to her as they studied the first “alien” arriv
al their culture had witnessed in living memory.
“Unfortunately I am not a kind goddess.” She raised a hand and the spectral footage of her assault on the Inuran trade moon played across the sky for all to see. Well, all on that side of the planet anyway. The rest would make do with the flurry of panicked transmissions. “I am a goddess of wrath. I have come to punish those who have not kept the faith. Today, this day, is a day of absolution. But also a day of reckoning.”
The Wrath’s main cannon began to hum, and then it began to glow. No one on that world could miss it for what it was, a catastrophic weapon. In this case it discharged a measured response. Instead of a full stream of souls, a single ball containing only a few hundred thousand slammed down into one of the world’s oceans.
It did no damage. No cities ended. But under the water hundreds of thousands of malicious souls swam off in all directions, ready to work her will.
“I have just deposited tormentors to punish the wicked.” Necrotis’s benevolent smile returned. “If you are one of the faithful, and wish to be saved, all you need do is offer yourself to me. Take covenant. The words you use do not matter, only intent. Pray and I will hear you. Or remain silent and hope that the unliving do not hear you. For they are hungry. Eternally hungry.”
Then Necrotis ended the illusion and returned her consciousness to the bridge. Within moments dozens of prayers flooded in. Then hundreds and then thousands. It did not grow much beyond that, for these people had nothing to fear yet. By morning, once the killing began, her followers would number in the hundreds of thousands.
“I don’t even have words for what I just saw,” Kurz choked out. He’d paled, but stared at the scry-screen with rapt attention. “You’ve secured this world, and done so in moments. They’ll have no choice but to worship you, or die.”