by Chris Fox
“And the worshippers,” she supplied with a laugh, “will begin converting others. Anyone who takes covenant is spared. They will launch their own purge, and I need do nothing. I have created an isolated source of worship that will continue to provide for centuries, unless another god locates it and steals it, or removes it. I will need many more in the days ahead. There is never enough divinity to accomplish what I must.”
“Divinity?” Kurz inquired with a hunger she had prayed to glimpse on his features. Caution vanished.
“Yes.” She turned her smile on him, sultry and inviting, but not to partake in anything physical. “The raw currency of the universe. Divinity grants the ability to make manifest your will. I decide it is, and thus it is so. You’ve seen divine acts from your pathetic pantheon, but those were stunted, worthless miracles. Imagine a galaxy where twelve thousand space-faring worlds, and countless colonies, stations, and independent beings all believe the same thing. All believe that dragons are the pinnacle of creation. That is how the flights maintained their power. It is how we bested the necromancers, in the end. They did not cultivate followers. They would have found social media abhorrent, whereas the dragons basked in the attention. And so my masters harnessed the will of countless subjects, and used them to enforce their own servitude.”
She paused then and glided over to kiss his bearded cheek. “You can be a god if you wish it, Kurz. But claiming power in my religion means embracing my goals. I will never attempt to coerce you. I will never force you. But I will show you how power is acquired, and used to create more power.”
“Why?” Kurz’s naked greed overpowered all reservations but that single word.
“Because you are my son’s ward.” She turned back to the scry-screen, which showed her newly acquired world. “And because power is meaningless if not shared.”
Then she continued past him, and into the corridor. It wouldn’t do to press too hard. She’d made a bold bid, and now her new soulcatcher would have to make his own final decision.
A night perhaps? Three at most? When he observed Yanthara and saw what happened to his gods he would come to her for certain, and she would mold him into a fitting replacement for Utred.
Many millennia would pass before her work was done, and she would be lonely during that time. Nothing said she had to endure it in solitude, nor did having attachments prevent her from doing what she must.
Unlike her daughter, Necrotis had no wish to destroy anything, much less murder as much of the sector as she could. Sometimes difficult choices had to be made to protect a future.
A future she ruled, of course, but a future as opposed to oblivion, as the nameless ones sought.
15
Milestones
When my eyes fluttered open, and I observed the chronometer in my HUD’s corner I realized I’d been asleep for nineteen hours. I’d become a new man while sleeping, and all the hurts and exhaustion had fallen away. The armor’s paper doll showed black had faded to red, and red to yellow. Not great shape, but functional.
I leapt from bed and surveyed my surroundings, a small room with no furniture, just a large slumbering Briff with his back against one wall, and an Arena controller in his limp hand. He still wore the gaming console’s holomask so the light wouldn’t keep me up.
A casual stretch from me caused something to pop, and Briff snapped awake with with a snort.
“Jer?” He tore the helmet off his head, and tossed it on the control unit. “So glad to see you’re up. Ghora showed me the footage of your training, and…wow, you had it rough. No wonder you slept so long.”
I willed my helmet to slither off and stifled a yawn as I tasted real air for the first time in what felt like days. “Guess all the magic really took it out of me. So Ghora’s here? I didn’t think she could leave her mountain.”
“Yeah, she came this morning to speak to Atum. They talked for a long time.” Briff rooted around in a pile of empty energy drink cans near his feet until he found one that hadn’t been opened. He cracked the tab and took a pull before continuing. “Ah, that hits the spot. From what I gather, Ghora has to officially recognize you, and that has to be witnessed. Because of your, umm, popularity, she thinks it should be held here. She’s invited Kahotep to attend. I guess he’s a real big shot on this planet. He seems pretty cool from the little I’ve interacted with him. I really like the guy.”
“I guess I should probably find out about this ceremony then.” I ran my fingers through my hair as best I could, then willed the helmet to slither back into place. The HUD lit a moment later, and my reflection showed that my hair was messed up again. Oh, well. “Can you escort me to wherever Ghora is? I want to get this over with as soon as possible, and get back to the Word if I really am done here. They didn’t give me much training. Mostly just tried and failed to kill me.”
“That counts as training, I think. Like making you play a lot of Arena against better players to improve.” Briff nodded as if the training made perfect sense. “It’s working. You’re way better than you ever have been before. You move faster, and with more confidence. Plus you have a bunch of tools and spells you didn’t before. You can just look through floors and kill people. That’s crazy.”
I guess it kind of was when he put it like that. Still I didn’t feel that much stronger. Certainly not strong enough to go toe-to-toe with Necrotis. Everyone else involved was a real god, with worshippers and powerful followers. I’d been at this for what, a year? Less really. I wasn’t ready. But I was what we had, so I needed to get ready, whatever it took.
“Implode is nuts,” I finally got out to keep the stalled conversation moving. “I can’t wait to learn disintegrate some day.” I almost mentioned the earth magic we’d received, but noted Briff eyeing me in consternation. He wanted to talk about it too, but we’d agreed not to. Certainly not where there was any chance of being overheard.
What spells would earth unlock for me? More armor? More offense certainly. Also I could probably make plants angry or something. Man, I needed more time to research. It also opened up the greater path of Summoning, which Atum could apparently help me learn. Summoning was frowned upon on most worlds, as it made policing tough when you could summon a Bonecrusher demon, have it kill a dozen people, then disappear without any obvious connection to you.
Briff led me back to the pools where I’d first met Atum, and the hatchling was there, but this time Ghora knelt across from him, and she wore her black eradicator silks, which contrasted with his own lighter robes.
A third figure knelt, this one much more like Briff in appearance, and I realized the brown-scaled Wyrm must be Kahotep. We hadn’t met in person, but there weren’t many of his people with such a form.
Kahotep sat with perfect posture, and even his wings were at a precise interval behind him, his tail coiled artfully to the side. He opened his eyes as Jerek approached, and delivered a relieved smile, human save that the teeth were all razored like a Wyrm’s.
“You survived.” Kaho rose gracefully and bowed at the waist, then straightened. “I am so pleased. I feared that you might perish during the first part of the training, but could say nothing over an open channel lest I throw more fuel on the blaze consuming the minds of our people.”
“Now that I look back on it you warned me as best you could.” I gave a bow of my own, then sank into a lotus position. I willed the mask to slither from my face, and caught a sharp frown from Ghora when I did so. “I am not safe here. But I will not hide my face. If they wish to come for me again…I will eradicate them.”
Ghora began to laugh, and fixed him with her good eye. “I will miss you, pup. It was brief, but profitable. You learned much, and now know that you can survive on your own when you have to. That type of courage cannot be purchased any other way. That is what makes a true eradicator. You will not flinch in combat now.”
“Thank you.” I gave a seated bow to Ghora. Her words were strangely impactful. “I wish I had more time. You said first part of the training? Th
ere’s more?” I still had no idea what their process entailed.
“This time I get to go.” Briff sat heavily, and wrapped his tail around an edible pod off a plant near the edge of the pool. He pulled it down off the tree, and popped it into his mouth. Both cheeks bulged when he next spoke. “We’re going to fwight skoo.”
It took me a moment to puzzle out the words flight school. I blinked at Kahotep. “I get to learn to fly those fighters?”
“Indeed.” Kahotep also drew a pod from a plant, but pulled a single leaf from the exterior and savored it between his fangs. “All our eradicators must first learn to survive on their own. Then they must learn to fight as part of a group. You will work alongside the surviving war mages. You, Briff, and Anu will be integrated into the next class. I must caution you, however. It is less likely someone will make an attempt on your life, but the training is just as lethal. You could die.”
“I see.” I closed my eyes and inhaled a deep breath through my nostrils. I still had no idea what was going on with the war, and I hated being isolated, but this was important. I opened my eyes. “I’m committed to this for the long haul.”
“Excellent.” Kaho fluffed his wings behind him. “Then allow me to offer a small courtesy at least. You may return to your ship until the next class begins. That should give you something on the order of one planetary revolution to tend to personal matters so that you begin training with a clear mind.”
I definitely liked the sound of that. One day should be enough to get anything done I had, and then I would get to learn to fly fighters!
16
Fun Town
It felt like cheating to have the Word of Xal teleport Briff and me from the temple directly to my quarters. No one saw us leave the planet, and no travel time passed. Man, I loved teleportation.
The ship’s designers had clearly had Wyrms in mind, and Briff could easily have gone to his full form and not crushed my bed. Suddenly the ostentatious room size made a bit more sense.
“Make yourself comfortable.” I waved a hand over at a hovercouch. “I need to check in with Bortel before I do anything else. I want to see where we stand as far as the war is concerned.”
“Hey, that sound great, Jer, but ah, I was going to spend my night hanging out with your sister.” His tail drooped and he refused to make eye contact. “Rava and I haven’t had any time to kick back together in a while, and I kind of want to show off my shifted form. She might, you know, think I’m handsome, since I mostly look like a human. A scaly human. I mean, I hope that’s okay.”
I’d long suspected his feelings for Rava, and I’d wager she returned them. I was also about a thousand percent sure she didn’t want me butting in, though.
“Have fun.” I stifled another yawn with my free hand. “I’ll meet you in the cargo bay tomorrow morning before lunch?”
“Yeah, sounds great!” Briff’s relief was total as he hurried from my quarters as if I might change my mind. He’d never dated anyone that I’d seen, and I hoped Rava didn’t hurt him, or get hurt.
None of my business.
I moved to the scry-screen on the wall, and activated a missive to Bortel. He appeared in his quarters in a plush brown bathrobe, sitting before a roaring fire, with a glass of scotch on the nightstand and a pair of spectacles perched on his nose.
His hands worked a pair of knitting needles with feverish intensity and stitches quickly multiplied on what appeared to be a blanket with some sort of emblem emblazoned on it. Bortel did not look up, though he did take a moment to draw from his vape pen. “You’re back early, son. Are we getting out of here, or do you have news to report?”
“I finished the first leg of my training.” I folded my arms, and leaned into his sarcastic tone. It was an acquired taste. “They gave me one night. Most of it I’m going to use boning up on piloting, as that’s the next part of the training. Before I hit the books I wanted a status report on the situation with the Confederacy. Has Necrotis done anything since Colony 3?”
“There’ve been some attacks on small Ternus colonies. Too small to be anything serious. Smells more like a terror campaign to rile up our people.” Bortel exchanged the vape pen for his scotch, and downed the liquid in one swallow with a resulting grimace. He set the glass down, and finally removed his spectacles to look my way. “She’s coming though, and soon. She’ll hit something vital with overwhelming strength. I can feel it in my bones. I’ve been getting us ready to move swiftly, and am pleased to report the ship is at seventy-six percent containment. The remaining areas are isolated, and don’t hold much we care about.”
“Three quarters of the ship is a massive achievement.” I shuddered as I remembered some of the things loose in the remaining quarter. “All major systems are repaired? We can fight and defend ourselves?”
“More or less.” He leaned off screen and retrieved a bottle of scotch. “Enough that I’m taking the rest of the night off. We can fight, though magic is an issue. We need more of it. Always more. You need to find a way to fill that reactor, son.”
“Thanks for the update. Enjoy your night, Commander. You’ve earned it. I’ll let you know the moment I’m done with this flight school.” I gave him the bro-nod he seemed to prefer, then killed the missive.
I considered the terror campaign he’d mentioned. Wipe out the food supply. Show that no colony is safe, no matter how small. The average citizen would be terrified, all right. And profiteers would begin the hoarding. Prices would skyrocket for basic goods.
Every world would be wrestling with that right now, and it would only worsen as Necrotis hit more targets and removed more things citizens needed in their daily lives.
I mentally ticked my way down the list of all the ways I could spend that day. I could talk to Seket about piloting, and see what advice he could offer. I could log some flight sim time, and try to shake off the rust since it had been a long time since I’d had to pilot anything smaller than the Remora.
I could go to Vee and get a status report on her artificing needs to make sure we acquired them when we made the next Confederate port. I could even have dealt with the awkwardness between us, and the knowledge that what I wanted wasn’t possible, and we needed to let it go officially and just be friends.
Nah. Why confront your problems when you can avoid them?
I decided to go to bed. Yeah, I know I’d just slept for nineteen hours, but the egg had definitely done something to me. The earth magic still seeped into parts of me, methodically touching every cell as it altered my body in a way none of the other Catalysts had.
They all seemed to be unique in their own way, so I didn’t panic, but man, could I have used another nineteen hours. So I headed over to the bed, but slowed and snapped Dez from my holster when I saw a form rumpling the covers of the bed.
I twitched aside the blanket, then leapt back with my pistol in both hands. Miri’s naked form blinked up at me, then frowned crossly as she snatched the blanket to cover her bare legs. “It’s cold! You can come in, but don’t steal blankets. It’s bad form.”
When I say naked I mean arouse-the-primal-need-to-mate holy-crap-she’s-naked kind of naked. That had most definitely never happened before, not in my bed. But I was so tired…I couldn’t deal with it. I moved to the corner and sketched the void sigil that released me from the armor, then trudged wearily to the bed.
I flopped face down, unable to find my way under the blankets. It seemed complicated. I heard the rustling of sheets, and then Miri’s hands began the most wonderful thing with my neck and shoulders. It released a tension I hadn’t known I’d been holding and I relaxed into her confident hands.
“I took care of a problem for you,” she whispered into my ear, the hot breath making me shiver somehow. “I told Vee I was coming here tonight to seduce you. She told me she wishes you to be happy. So…I’m going to make you happy.”
At first I thought she meant, you know, but she just kept massaging me, and it was way more effective than your average binding spell at
keeping me pinned in place. After maybe fifteen minutes she kissed the back of my neck, then snuggled back into the blankets on the other side of the bed.
I had a long moment of introspection, and then I followed her into the sheets. I deserved some happiness, and taking my mind off things. Miri probably could too. And it didn’t have to be anything more than that.
What followed is outlawed on nineteen worlds. That’s a total lie—it was boring, garden variety, Jerek goes to fun town.
Man, I missed fun town.
Interlude V - Indoctrination
Necrotis adjusted Kurz’s silks and his bandolier until he appeared every bit the royal soulcatcher, then adjusted his stance to place him just so, a bit away from her soulmatrix.
She moved to stand before it and when she was ready activated the scry-screen, and projected her image to the world below. This time she utilized their own primitive radio transmissions, so that every person on their planet would have access to her words.
That would be necessary, as many now huddled within their homes, or underground, or in whatever other shelter they could locate. The unliving had come from the seas and attacked the heart of every continent. In the past seventy-two hours every person on the world had known someone taken by a wraith, or turned into a wight.
“People of Kessai, I have returned, as promised.” She smiled magnanimously at the camera, the benevolent ruler. “If you number among the faithful, then you already feel our connection. I have granted some of you power. Others knowledge. The time has come to repay those gifts. I require a sacrifice. Over the past three days you have seen what comes to those who do not believe. Many heretics remain, however. Gather the nonbelievers. Gather those who refuse to accept my grace, and bring them to the shores of this world. To the oceans where my tormentors watch, and wait.”