Sula’s black miasma barely slowed the divine’s hammers. With a quiet sigh, the necromantic shield collapsed inwards, and the god’s weapons buried themselves in the Reaper’s frail form.
And as simply as that, Sula was no more.
Eld has killed Sula with a vital strike.
Spectre, Tiara Dechalan, is no longer enslaved.
The audience chamber fell silent. Eld’s wings snapped shut and he dropped lightly to his feet next to the slain necromancer. Peering down at her, he appeared lost in thought.
The silvery bubble surrounding Tiara faded away, and the spectre spun to face the battered elf crumpled on the floor. “Cila?” she whispered.
“It’s me,” Cilantria gasped. The sisters exchanged a glance full of meaning. After centuries together—both living and undead—they did not need any longer to assure themselves that the other was alright.
Cilantria pushed herself upright, wincing in agony. Even though she had only been under the necromancer’s care for a few minutes, Sula was an expert torturer. She shuddered in remembered pain as she set about healing the damage.
Glancing up, Cilantria saw that her sister still stared at her. Tia’s face was creased with worry. Cilantria jerked her head towards the forlorn figure of the aspect, signalling to Tiara that she had the task of questioning their god. Tiara had always been closer to Eld than Cilantria herself, and was better suited to obtaining the answers they both eagerly sought.
“Master?” said Tiara reverentially as she approached the aspect’s statue-still figure.
Eld raised his head and turned to her. “Daughter,” he acknowledged, his golden eyes brimming with sorrow. “I am sorry for everything you have endured in my name.” His gaze darted to Cilantria, including her in his apology.
“It does not matter, Master. It is done,” Tiara said, brushing aside centuries of suffering more easily than Cilantria could have. “But Divine, what happened? Where did you go?” asked Tiara, her voice twisting with emotion.
What her sister did not ask, but Cilantria knew lay at the centre of her thoughts, was, ‘why did you leave us?’
Yet even though Tiara left the question unspoken, it hung heavy between the three.
“I fled the Game, Daughters,” Eld said softly. “Crotana was lost. I thought… I thought to spare my people further harm. I hoped if I left, the others would stop—that they would not wreak further vengeance on the innocent.” He bowed his head. “I was wrong.”
Cilantria blinked. Eld had fled Myelad? That was supposed to be impossible. She did not know how her god had managed the feat. He, himself, had designed the essence shield surrounding the world to hold its immortal prisoners captive. But she did not doubt that if any could accomplish the deed, it would be Eld.
Eld continued, seeming intent on unburdening himself fully to his former high priestess. “But I did not only abandon my faithful to spare them, Daughter. I had other motives too.” He met Tiara’s eyes without flinching. “I left Myelad to search for one who could do what I had failed to. I went in search of a free agent.”
Cilantria’s mouth dropped open, and for a second she could only gape foolishly. “A free agent?” she whispered.
Eld glanced her way. “One without any spark of the divine,” he explained, mistaking the reason for her surprise. “A mortal, who would be unbeholden to any god.”
“Did you succeed, Master?” asked Tiara.
“I found only one,” said Eld sadly. “Even now he roams the Game. I have left him an impossible task, but I still have faith he will succeed.”
“Where is he, Divine?” the spectre asked curiously.
Eld sighed. “I don’t know. He is hidden to divine sight.”
“I do,” said Cilantria.
Chapter 14
02 Novo 2603 AB
Liches are at the pinnacle of the undead world. To be a lich is to be both living and dead. To be a lich is to have unbridled power. Becoming one is the closest most mortals come to achieving immortality. Yet the lich spell of transformation is said to require a supply of essence that is out of the reach of most ordinary mortals. Necromancers, though, have found a way around this. To transform into a lich is the dream of every necromancer. —Talys Madisine, necromancer.
“Astonishing,” Eld exclaimed after Cilantria was done with her tale.
The paladin had raced through the story, filling him and Tiara in on only the bare essentials. She had no other choice; Eld’s time was short and soon his physical aspect would be banished back to the ether.
Yet she had told Eld enough that he could guess at the whole of the matter. “Remarkable,” he repeated as he worked through the implications. The paladin’s tale gave him hope. His wild card had accomplished far more than he had expected, and Eld now knew what needed to be done.
“Cilantria, you must give the free agent back his body,” he said, heart heavy that he had to ask that of her.
The paladin bowed her head. “Of course, Master,” she said without the slightest hesitation.
“But if she does that,” exclaimed Tiara, “you will be left without champions again.”
“My time is done, Daughter,” said Eld. “The free agent is more important now.” He smiled. “And it would be poor repayment for what he has made possible this day.”
“You are right, Master,” said Tiara, acknowledging the point with a sigh.
“Don’t forget, Tia, he is the Bearer too,” Cilantria said. She lifted the gleaming amulet in her hands. “With this, he can restore the line of Eld’s champions.”
“Of course!” said Tia, her eyes gleaming with hope.
Eld nodded. It had been a shrewd ploy by Zarr to give the free agent the lockbox. But only a moment later, the smile slipped off his face. Zarr’s actions had come at grave cost to himself and his people, and it left Eld with a debt he was at loss on how to repay. He would have to think more upon it later.
Eld turned to the twins. “Now I must leave, Daughters. The Tower has shrouded my presence here, but the other Powers will have sensed a disturbance and even now must be searching for the source. The gods cannot know I have returned.”
“Wait, Master,” Cilantria said. “I have a Boon to beg of you.”
“Cilantria,” said Tiara in warning. “Our god is in no position…”
Eld waved aside his high priestess’ concern. “Let her speak, Tiara,” he said gently. He turned to his paladin. “You have more than earned the right, Cilantria. What do you require?”
The paladin pulled out a set of plain, unadorned rings and a handful precious gems. “It is not for me, Master,” she said quietly. “I ask that you enchant these items for the free agent, Kyran.”
Eld looked from the objects to his paladin. “I wish I could, Daughter. But I have insufficient divine essence for the task. My defeat has left me with little resources,” he admitted.
Cilantria fell silent for a moment. Breathing in deeply, she met Eld’s eyes. “Then use me,” she said.
“What? No, Cila!” Tia burst out. “You can’t do this.”
Cilantria turned to her twin. “I must, Tia. I have a debt that I must repay to the Bearer, both for your own freedom and for making possible our god’s return.” She turned to Eld. “I have met the free agent, Master. You chose well. I have faith in him too.”
“You know the cost of what you request?” Eld asked. Cilantria nodded. “Your spirit will not return to the Wheel. So long as the object remains whole, you will be bound within it. That may even be for centuries.”
Cilantria smiled. “I have endured for centuries already, Master, I can manage a few more if necessary.”
“So be it, Daughter.”
“I, too, will remain, Master,” said Tiara determinedly.
“No, Tia—” said Cilantria.
“The debt is as much mine to repay as yours, Cila. I will not re-enter the Wheel without you.” She paused. “And you are right. We owe it to the one who has made all this possible.”
Eld smiled.
“Very well, Daughters. I will fulfil your requests. But we must hurry. Time is short. Give me the rings and gems, Cilantria.”
He queried the Game. The Spire agreed, as Eld had known it would. Both Tiara and Cilantria were deserving of the Boons. He was permitted to create the items the twins requested.
He had to hurry, though. There was barely enough time to craft the rings before his aspect’s time on this plane lapsed. And while fulfilling the Boons would cost him no divine essence, the increased time he spent on the physical plane would multiply the damage his spirit sustained—damage he could ill-afford.
It would take him months to reknit his spirit after this manifestation. But he accepted the cost gladly. Because he, too, had a debt to the free agent, and it was time he began repaying it.
“Do you know what gifts you wish to bequeath the free agent?” Eld asked Cilantria.
The paladin smiled. “I do.”
“Then let’s begin.”
✽✽✽
Xetil was in Morgta’s mind again.
He was not pleased with his champion-prime, and he feared if he’d stayed in Yiralla’s mind much longer, he would have done something he would later regret.
Self-restraint had never been Xetil’s strength.
Many a time, he had felt the nearly irresistible urge to order Yiralla to slaughter one of her men for his entertainment, if only as an escape from dreary boredom. Yet for all that his champion seemed to think him blind to her soldier’s emotions, he knew it would destroy what little morale they had remaining.
Normally he wouldn’t care, but the unpalatable truth was that they were the only tools he had at hand near Crotana at the moment. Once the free agent was dead… well, maybe then he could indulge himself.
The repairs to his spirit, while nearly done, were not complete, and much to his disgust he was still forced to remain disembodied. Only a little longer, he thought sullenly and turned his attention determinedly back to the battle raging in the ‘real.’
The baying of hounds, grunts of trolls, and the yapping of kobolds filled the air. But despite Xetil’s best attempt, the slaughter of men and elves failed to interest him. Where normally such carnage would have delighted him, today he could take no pleasure in it.
Today, Xetil was troubled.
The free agent was already in Crotana, he suspected. The quest notifications all pointed to it. Seemingly, the wretched elf was thriving.
And then today… a strangeness had entered the air, and following hard on its heels Xetil received another quest completion notice. The free agent had slaughtered a necromancer.
Whatever the disturbance in the ether was, Xetil did not doubt somehow the free agent was caught up in it.
That did not bode well.
The elf was proving too dangerous. He had to kill the wretch. Whatever it took.
Xetil turned his eyes back to the battlefield and forced himself to ignore the ether’s new strangeness and the free agent’s doings.
Soon, I will be able to do something about the worm. Until then, I must remain patient.
✽✽✽
Kyran returned to awareness slowly. Opening his eyes, he looked around.
It felt like only a second ago he had been wrenched out of his body, but judging by his surroundings he realised that was not the case.
He was in the audience chamber, his body slumped over. A few metres away was a burned-out corpse. Sula’s, he knew instinctively. He smiled. Cilantria did it. Only a moment later, the smile slipped off his face as he took in the empty room. But where is she?
He looked down. Three items and a note were clenched in his hands. He set aside the objects—one of which was a wand—and turned first to Game alerts blinking for attention.
Cilantria has cast spirit mend on Kyran. All damage to your spirit has been restored.
You have regained control of your body.
Welcome back to the Game, Player Kyran.
Congratulations! Sula is dead. Although you played no direct part in the necromancer’s demise, your role was pivotal to her defeat. You have completed the quest: Kill Sula. As reward, you have gained Cilantria’s Wrath and Tiara’s Grief.
You have equipped the Amulet of the Prime. Warning: You do not meet the pre-requisites for this item. Special properties disabled.
At the last message, Kyran’s brows drew down in confusion. “Amulet of the Prime?” he murmured. He did not carry any item called that.
He looked down. Draped around his neck was a metal band inscribed with divine script and embedded with six large diamonds, one of which blazed with an active enchantment. Removing the item, he held it in his hands while he cast insight.
Found: Amulet of the Prime.
Type: Divine artefact. Rank: Unique. Requirements: Divine magic.
Special properties: Grants the bearer 6 traits. 5 / 6 traits locked.
Description: The amulet of the Prime is the holiest of relics, bestowed upon only the most favoured of a divine’s servants.
Unlocked traits: Chosen One.
The item’s description was maddeningly vague. Yet it was evidently of divine origin and obviously powerful. No other item he had come across had granted even two traits, much less six. Where had it come from? Surely not from Sula.
He glanced at the note in his hand. Perhaps it contained answers. Unfurling the tightly rolled paper, he began reading.
Dear Kyran,
This is Cilantria, speaking to you from the beyond. I write this note in your own hand, and with supplies stolen from the Reaper.
With that out of the way, I am at loss at where to begin. So much more has occurred than I expected. Alas, much of it I cannot share.
But first, as you surely know by now, we have succeeded. Sula is dead, and my sister is freed. I have found the cure disease wand as well. It should be in your hands.
Unfortunately, I was forced to burn Sula’s body and the rest of her things. I’m sorry, but I could not let those evil objects remain in the world. However, you will find the gift I have left you to be more than ample compensation.
Tiara has left you a gift too, and with it a request of her own. She asks that you put the other restless spirits in the Tower to rest, and forever beyond the reach of any necromancer. When you inspect her ring, you will understand how this may be done. You will also find the ring has other uses. Tiara asks that you pass on her greetings to Zarr and to tell him she understands his choice.
Now to the heart of matters. Something extraordinary happened when I took possession of your body. But as much as I desire to tell what transpired, I cannot. It is for your own protection. I know, I know. Such empty words are hardly satisfying. One day, I promise you will find out what happened.
By way of apology for my cryptic explanation, I’ve left the amulet for you to find. It was the artefact I asked you about when we first met. Don’t fear, your Vow remains unbroken—it was I, not you, who removed the artefact from the lockbox. Study the amulet as much as you desire. Just make sure you return it to the lockbox before you leave the Tower. And, of course, tell no one about it.
The amulet is one of only twelve of its kind on Myelad. Divinely crafted, there are few other items of such power in the Game. Now this is important: you will find the amulet’s rightful owner east of here. I don’t know where exactly, but I sense he or she resides not too far away, perhaps in Auriel’s domain, or Balkar’s. When you find the amulet’s owner, you will learn what transpired here today. Please, Kyran, this is important. You owe me nothing, but I strongly urge you to seek out the artefact’s owner.
When you inspect my own gift, you will understand, what has become of me. I do not regret my choice. It has been an honour knowing you. May Eld bless your path.
Yours, at peace,
Cilantria.
PS: Make sure to destroy this note when you are done.
After he’d finished reading Cilantria’s letter, two more Game messages opened in his mind.
Your quest, deliver the lockbox
, has been updated.
Quest 6: Deliver the lockbox.
Update: You have learned that the mysterious lockbox given to you by Zarr contains the Amulet of the Prime. You have also received information that the one the amulet is meant for is east of your current location and have been advised to start your search in Auriel or Balkar’s demesne.
Objectives: Return the amulet to the lockbox before leaving the Ivory Tower, then deliver the box to its intended recipient.
Rank: Legendary.
Reward: Unknown.
You have received a new quest!
Quest 17: Lay to rest the restless dead.
Objective: The spirit of Eld’s former high priestess Tiara has requested you lay to rest the spirits in the Ivory Tower and put them out of reach of necromancers forevermore.
Rank: Common.
Reward: None.
Kyran set down the note, still unenlightened. Cilantria had not told him as much of the amulet as he had hoped. Yet given the item’s power, the fact that there were twelve of them, and that Zarr had given him the one now in his possession, he had a strong suspicion about the amulet’s nature, though not its purpose.
Eld.
Somehow, the amulet was tied to Eld. Kyran scowled. Eld’s former champions seemed determined to intertwine his path with their missing god’s.
What had happened while he was away? What was the great mystery that Cilantria hinted at? Why did she think it would endanger him? And why was Cilantria not here to explain all this herself?
He turned back to the items he had been clutching when he returned to awareness: two rings and a wand. The rings were the gifts from Cilantria and Tiara he guessed. He inspected them first.
Acquired: Cilantria’s Wrath, ring of glamour.
Type: Enchanted item. Rank: Wondrous.
Requirements: Only useable by Kyran Seversan.
Enchantment strength: Scales with the caster’s level.
Sovereign (The Gods' Game, Volume IV) Page 21