The door to the cellblock opened and someone stepped out. It was not the human warden, but a troll photographer. To be specific, it was a troll head on top of a human body.
“Grunt!”
“It’s Gruffle; Benjamin E. Gruffle. For that, I’d leave you to rot if it weren’t for orders.”
“Orders?”
Gruffle brought out a two-way video camera and flipped it on. Instantly, the screen showed Lunas sitting at his desk in Blayce, Latrot. Standing behind him was a green-haired beauty. She wore the same sort of collar he himself forced on Annala, but hers was made of silk.
“Greetings, Nulso. I trust you are miserable.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Every second without ordercraft leaves me empty and the seal compressing my soul is agony.”
“Glad to hear it. Kidnapping the elf girl was not part of the plan. You were supposed to collar her and then back up the Obelisk. Your obsession with revenge and, dare I say it, carnal pleasure is the reason I am not sitting on Ataidar’s throne right now. Thus, you have no one to blame for your pain but yourself.”
Nulso prostrated himself. “Please, Your Highness, forgive me. I beg you to pardon my transgressions. Give me another chance and I will not fail you again.”
Lunas made a show of thinking about it. “In any other case, I would leave you to your fate. However, there is a mission that someone of your background is uniquely qualified for.”
“Anything, Your Highness. Name it and I will do it.”
“The Mana Mutation Summit will reconvene in Dnnac Ledo. I can think of no one better suited to crash this meeting than the man who originally reached out to them. If you can do this, then all is forgiven. If you can destroy the village in the process, then my father will reward you with a couple of elven slave girls. They may not be the one you want, but I’m sure they will serve your purposes, and you will obtain her eventually as a reward for future success.”
“I look forward to fulfilling your command, Your Highness.”
“Rise to your feet.”
Nulso stood with hope in his eyes and joy in his heart. This puzzled him. He hadn’t honestly felt those emotions in years. In fact, it was ever since...
The light in the camera’s screen shifted from electric projection to the eldritch light favored by Order. Lunas raised his hand and created an ethereal hand. This hand reached out of the screen and struck Nulso in the forehead.
“Cast in the name of thy god; Ye Not Guilty.”
The chains restraining Nulso’s power emerged all at once and, all at once, they shattered. Power returned to his soul and strength returned to his spirit. His eyes glowed with it and he smiled. Then his ponytail resumed its suffocating grip. All hope and joy left his heart. In its place was cold duty and obligation.
“If you are sufficiently successful, I may solve that problem for you as well.”
Nulso kowtowed again. “You are a benevolent superior, Your Highness.”
“Leave, both of you. If that ugly fire ghoul has not detected you by now, she will soon.”
“Understood, Your Highness.”
Gruffle switched off the device and opened Nulso’s cell with a stolen key. Then he waved him forward. On their way out of the cellblock, they passed by two dead and shriveled bodies.
“How many years did you gain?” Nulso asked.
“Eighty each; that can also absorb a bunch of fatal wounds, you know.”
“I wouldn’t know. Order’s power makes me invincible and immortal. Once I get my hands on an elf, my eternal life is guaranteed.”
They walked up the stairs unopposed until the top. Guarding the doorway was Taylor Jones. She stood politely on the top step and regarded them with a neutral expression.
“Nulso Xialin, return to your cell. If you do not, this humble one will force you to.”
“Gu-fey, how did you get past her the first time?”
“It’s Gruffle and I snuck past her. She pees like clockwork; 7:45 on the dot. Why do you think I waited until now to spring you?”
Taylor blushed slightly.
“Thank you, Mr. Gruffle. This humble one shall randomize it in the future. By the power vested in this loyal ordercrafter by Her Majesty Queen Kasile, you are charged with attempted jailbreak, two counts of kon theft, two counts of murder, and trespassing. Now please, join Mr. Xialin in his cell. Your trial shall take place as soon as possible.”
“I don’t think so, sweetheart!”
Gruffle jumped forward and swung his club with the strength of four hundred stolen years. She blocked with one hand, stole one hundred of them, and then blasted him with them. He sailed into Nulso like a peach into a brick wall and cracked his head open. It cost him eighty years to mend the first and another two for the second and he still had a headache.
“This humble one is powerful here. She is fulfilling her mistress’ command to uphold her laws in her own castle. You cannot beat this humble one here.”
“If that is the case, then I will not fight you,” Nulso said.
“You are surrendering?”
“No. I’m retreating.”
He punched through Gruffle’s chest and grabbed his heart. The troll howled and swore at Nulso in fury. Then he noticed the beautiful white light streaming out of his body and into Nulso’s. Savagely, he kicked and smashed his treacherous ally, but they were no more effective than his strike against Taylor. His body grew pale and withered, and his blows weakened until he could no longer hold his club. In contrast, Nulso glowed brilliantly with stolen life energy.
“So many lives,” the ordercrafter mused. “More than enough for my escape.”
“By the Power of Order,” Taylor intoned, “QUARANTINE!”
In a square box, reality constricted around them. This stretch of the hallway now existed in a separate dimension and no one could leave either by physical, spiritual, or magical means without creating a portal. No portal could be opened without her authorization. It wouldn’t matter how many years he stole, Nulso was trapped. If this concerned him, he didn’t show it.
By now, Gruffle was a withered husk.
“I’d take your soul as well, but a being greater than I has already claimed it.”
“From the depths of the Abyss, I stab thee….” Gruffle whispered. “For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee….” He took a breath so deep his lungs burst. “TWILIGHT SPEAR!”
The troll’s ruined body burst into black flames. Nulso tossed it at Taylor, who stopped it with a barrier. It fell to the stairs midway between them and burned to ashes.
“This humble one pities you.”
Channeling all the many decades he stole from Gruffle, Nulso formed a circle of instant runes beneath his feet and a second behind his back. They described the mechanics of the spell he was about to cast: place of origin, destination, fuel for the trip, and compensation for the factors in his way. Aside from normal ones such as mana levels, solid structures, and the Pull of Death, there was a unique one containing information to cross dimensions.
“By the Power of Order....” Nulso intoned, “Zeroth Law Exception! Teleport!”
The second circle became a window into a barren and snowy field.
“Stop!”
Taylor threw ethereal hands after him, but he blew them away with his own power. Smirking at the surprised girl, he jumped backwards through the portal and bowed as it closed.
“This humble one shall be yelled at by Kim.”
Remorseful, she released the quarantine and stepped onto the ground floor to make her report. On the staircase, Gruffle’s ashes stirred. An ethereal head resembling his thrust its way out, followed by his neck. His left arm burst out, followed by his right. Finally, he pulled himself out and onto the stairs and slumped.
“Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.”
Pain racked his spiritual body; such pain as he’d never felt before. A burning fire and at the same time an intense emptiness that swallowed all his mind and will. It felt like an eternity before relief was
hed through him. He opened his eyes to see a pale-skinned, red-eyed lady wearing a black gown.
“This is precisely why Eric should have made a contract with me. I’m too busy to look after all the souls in this world fruit. I have enough—oh, are you conscious?”
Gruffle could only nod. She placed her hand to her chest as she recalled seeing human women of her station do at times.
“I’m terribly sorry you had to go through that. Normally, the reaper on duty is able to arrive and pull necrocrafters away before their bodies disintegrate. In accordance with our contract, you will be granted a Final Wish before we go.”
“Did you say that it was Eric’s fault? As in Eric Watley the Trickster’s Choice?”
“The same.”
“Then my Final Wish is this: I want to avenge my own death and, to do this, I will kill Lunas Latrot, Nulso Xialin, and Eric Watley.”
Chapter 10 Dnnac Ledo, the City of Trees
For the second time in two days, Eric stood in the Royal Office while an angry queen sat in judgment, but this time, he wasn’t the one being judged. Taylor Jones stood at attention between the desk and door. Although she projected a professional stoicism, Eric could see a small quivering in her stance.
“That concludes this humble one’s report, Your Majesty. Does it satisfy you?”
“No, it does not,” Kasile said coldly. “If you quarantined the area, how did he escape?”
“He used the Zeroth Law Exception, Your Majesty.”
“Yes, you said that, but what is it?”
Taylor said nothing, but her trembling increased.
“Taylor, your queen and mistress asked you a question.”
The girl gulped. Eric had never seen an ordercrafter look so vulnerable before. Now that he thought about it, the oaths of loyalty they made to Kasile meant they had to obey her without question. It was something akin to slavery.
Taylor cleared her throat and said, “The Zeroth Law Exception is a branch of the Philosophy of Law and Control, the scholarly understanding and application of Ordercraft. It states that an ordercrafter may break laws, ignore hierarchy, and otherwise take part in chaotic behavior if such behavior advances the cause of Order. It is derived from the fact that because all things arose from the Sea of Chaos, Order himself is chaotic and is able to take chaotic actions. Because Order does not allow hypocrisy, he would therefore allow ordercrafters to take chaotic action as well.”
“I see.” The chilly tone made Taylor wince. “Then oaths made by ordercrafters are not so unbreakable after all.”
“Your Majesty, please, allow this humble one to explain further.”
Kasile nodded and Taylor took a breath before beginning again.
“It is only a theory devised by mortals, most of them not ordercrafters themselves, and not at all accepted by the ordercrafter community. Indeed, it is more of a fringe theory espoused by dualists who also argue that Lady Chaos and Lord Order are the same being and that Noitearc is just a metaphor for their cooperation and does not truly exist. It’s crazy if you think about it, really, because how would we have priests of Noitearc empowered by Noitearc if…”
“Ad hominem fallacies will not convince me.”
Taylor clasped her hands behind her back because they were starting to fidget.
“It is dangerous, Your Majesty. The Zeroth Law Exemption is not a loophole that corporations use to avoid paying you the taxes you lawfully deserve. To invoke it is equivalent to saying, ‘Screw orderly systems; I’m doing the anti-thesis of orderly systems and I want the founder of orderly systems to help me do it because the ultimate result of this action that harms orderly systems is to create and/or maintain an orderly system.’ It is a hypocritical statement powered by mortal arrogance, shortsightedness, and selfishness. It is a quintessential chaotic sentiment and would surely lead to depowerment at best and soul implosion at worst.”
“Regardless, it is something that all ordercrafters may do at any given time. Correct?”
“No!” Taylor blushed and her shoulders tensed as she squeezed her hands. “I…What this humble one means to say is that Order does not abide lies and nor does he allow hypocrisy. This is a fundamental principle of ordercraft because to do otherwise is deception at worst and easy loyalty at best. Both of them are chaotic and Order abhors the chaotic because it is anathema to him. This is why he cannot allow ordercrafters to be chaotic and why the dualism I mentioned earlier is nothing more than an omnipotence paradox for ivory tower academics.”
“Why is that?”
“Unlike Lady Chaos and Noitearc, Order is a finite being with limited essence. He cannot generate new power for new ordercrafters. He has to connect with them spiritually. This is why ordercrafters like this humble one implode.”
“What?!” Eric exclaimed. Kasile shot him a look and he asked silently.
Listen and see.
“As this humble one was saying, we are compelled to tell the truth in all circumstances because Order must do the same. This humble one swore numerous oaths to you before and after she accepted this power. One of them was ‘you shall obey me, Kasile Landros Ataidar, and no one else, including Order. I shall be your highest authority and ultimate master.’ Even if it is not in his best interests, Order must not only allow me to fulfill this oath but compel me too.”
“You still haven’t explained, to my satisfaction, why you can’t use the Zeroth Law Exception whenever you wish.”
Taylor started to sweat.
“Um…ah… This humble one understands the Zeroth Law Exception academically, but that d-doesn’t mean she can use it b-because it is outside the s-standard ordercraft mindset. It does not lead to insanity, but it is a product of insanity. Only elves and crooked lawyers treat a contradiction like a sound argument.”
“Elves, do you say? Miss Enaz, what do you think?”
Annala stood next to Eric. Until now, neither of them knew why Kasile had invited her to this report. Dressed as an aspiring scholar instead of a noble lady, Annala realized that she was to be a character witness.
“When Nulso kidnapped me, he stole part of my Seed of Chaos. I imagine he planned to use it to power another teleport into Latrot, but instead, he was captured and his power sealed. This forced the chaos deep within him, which then mutated him both physically and spiritually. I believe this caused his insanity and enabled him to use the Zeroth Law Example. Otherwise, it stands to reason that he would have used it to avoid capture in the first place. It would certainly have been easier at that time.”
“In the meantime, Y-your M-majesty, I s-swear to you, as my queen a-and ultimate sovereign, that I will never ever ever use the Zeroth Law Exception unless you specifically grant me permission. So please….” Her shoulders shook and a single tear fell. “Forgive me.”
Kasile arose from her desk, glided to Taylor, and pulled the girl to her chest.
“You are forgiven and you have my permission to cry.”
“T-thank you, Y-y maj…”
The rest was cut off by in-elegant blubbering. Kasile rubbed her back and whispered her next mission in a gentle and confiding tone. She nodded, and when Kasile released her, she wiped her eyes.
“I won’t fail you again, Your Majesty.”
“I know you won’t because I count on you.”
Taylor saluted, turned on her heel, and marched out of the room. Kasile turned to Eric and Annala and smirked.
“That was mean. You knew all that ZLE stuff to start with,” Eric said.
“You’d be surprised how much emotion there is in ordercraft,” Kasile said loftily. “So much faith is involved; in Order, in one’s leader and in one’s purpose. An ordercrafter that believes in me and wants to be useful to me is more effective than one just following orders.”
“Did you invite us here for a reason or did you just want to show off?”
Kasile resisted the urge to smack him on the head. Instead, she returned to her desk and organized a series of papers.
“I wanted to war
n you that Nulso is loose and will be coming after you. After defying Order and invoking the Zeroth Law Exception, little will remain of his sanity and so he will cling ever tighter to the one thing strong enough to hold his mind together.”
She looked to Annala, who looked away.
“Revenge on your mother and fictive aunt through your enslavement. If you meet him, I recommend a Fabian Fight. A prolonged battle of any kind will make him implode.”
“Thank you for your advice, Your Majesty,” Annala said softly.
“Are you packed and ready?”
“My apologies, Your Majesty, but we are not.”
“Do not worry about that. The Arch of Kresnik isn’t ready for you anyway. We haven’t used the one for sending living matter in over eight hundred years. The Knight of International Relations hasn’t finished preparing it for your use. The whole department went into a tizzy when you made that spur-of-the-moment arrangement, so make sure you thank her.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Thank you, Your Majesty.”
This is what I have to put up with every day. At least your girl is sincere.
We both are. We will make this work, for you and my fellow demons-to-be.
You’d better. I have a lot riding on...She trailed off and took a subtle breath. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be short with you. All I can ask is that you do your best and I will do mine. Try to have fun if you can.
Thanks, Kas.
If Kasile was stressed, then Annala was a bundle of nerves. She hadn’t stopped tugging her ear all day. This was her first visit to her hometown in a year, and not only was she supposed to convince them to allow humans inside for the first time since their last great war, but she had to do it with a Subjugation Collar on her neck. Eric was amazed that she retained any sense of composure at all.
For him, the journey to Dnnac Ledo was firing off all kinds of threat warnings. His purpose wasn’t political but personal, and that made it all the scarier. He had to meet, and be evaluated by, her family.
Mana Mutation Menace (Journey to Chaos Book 3) Page 38