– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 220, Season of the Rising Sun, Day 27 –

  Once again, Terry felt decidedly awkward. For once, however, it wasn’t because of anything he had said or done.

  No, it was simply because of the endlessly ongoing silence.

  Silence that was only disturbed by ancient elven fingers flipping pages and skimming through Terry’s favorite book.

  Terry wondered what was going on in the head of the Blasphemer.

  Must be strange to read a ‘historical’ account of things you were personally involved in.

  After Terry had briefly introduced himself and given a rough outline of how he had arrived in the Court of Gods through the realm cursed by the Wrath, Swen had asked to see Terry’s first edition of the Path of a Mage.

  Terry hadn’t thought anything of it, but couldn’t help but be curious. The living Faithless Saint in front of him must have had reasons for cautioning Terry about displaying the book in public, but Terry had no inkling of what it might be.

  Weren’t the contents of the Path of a Mage public knowledge?

  In Terry’s realm there was barely anyone who had never heard the story. The legend was part of the public’s consciousness, no matter the Empire. The public perception might not be entirely accurate, and it certainly varied across different cultures, but still.

  Terry observed the legendary vampire. He noted the ritual-inscribed fingers tracing words. He saw the ancient eyes skimming the pages to search for something Terry didn’t know.

  Terry watched when the elven face contorted into a frown, so he wasn’t surprised when Swen warned him again to never show the book outside the chambers guarded by the Judge’s authority and by the Order of Leviathan.

  Terry furrowed his brow and wondered what had caused that reaction. He knew the pages by heart, but couldn’t guess what specifically was causing the Blasphemer’s worries.

  Terry had many questions, but he didn’t find it in him to voice them until the elf of legend was finished with the book. Something about the act appeared extremely solemn to Terry, and he didn’t want to disturb the moment.

  Involuntarily, Terry recalled the moment he had sat with Devon and the dogs within the ashes of Syn City. Devon’s words echoed darkly in Terry’s mind.

  ‘They always die… I never do.’

  Terry swallowed and bit his lips.

  I thought everyone in the Path of a Mage was dead. Even if the Blasphemer is alive… it doesn’t change the general sentiment, does it? Swen is reading a retelling of a past he was involved in, with people he used to call friends and companions. People that are long dead.

  Can’t be easy…

  Terry continued waiting patiently while paying attention to the Faithless Saint’s reactions and memorizing which pages triggered them.

  ***

  Swen finally closed the book. His eyes closed and a heavy breath of air escaped his lips before he turned his attention on the first mortal from his home he had met in… how many years had it been? It was hard to keep track after the first five hundred.

  Swen briefly considered incinerating the book to be done with it, but even he could tell the book was important to the young man in front of him. He didn’t want to offend the first potential ally whom he might truly trust in the Court of Gods. Even he wasn’t that socially inept.

  “We have to think of a way to protect this.” Swen slid the book back to Terry. “I’m sure your storage items are fine, but this isn’t a risk I’m willing to take. This must not fall into the hands of faith users.”

  ‘Faith users’?

  “I have a way, actually,” said Terry.

  “Oh?” Swen’s face contorted into open skepticism. “Prove it.”

  Terry didn’t take long to create an oscillating container for the historical account of the Veilbinder’s legend. Ever since Thanatos, he always had a set of containers prepared whose mana he just had to renaturalize to make them usable.

  The oscillating containers were invaluable for protecting items against undesired access, but, as he had recently reconfirmed, it also invited the risk of losing the items forever if the dimensional storage carrying the oscillating containers got destroyed.

  An acceptable trade-off here…

  Terry waited for his oscillating mana to decay and offered his storage bracelet to Swen. “Try for yourself.”

  Swen accepted the bracelet without comment. He was prepared to try the few tricks he knew but quickly realized there was no protective magic on the storage item. He raised an eyebrow and glanced at the young man before trying to retrieve the book from the storage… only to fail.

  “Alright, this is strange…” Swen slid the bracelet back to Terry. “But I’m not a professional pick-pocket, either. I don’t think you understand how it works around here. The False Gods have the strangest ways. The younger faith users have more mana than they know what to do with. The concept users are… particular, but powerful. Are you willing to bet our connected realms on this keeping them out?”

  Terry bit his lips. He also had the more usual storage precautions. His dimensional bag which could be configured to only allow retrieval when putting a hand into it. His crafter’s pendant with a personal signature lock.

  But Terry knew that with enough skill and time, those could be bypassed as well.

  Does he want me to destroy the book?

  Terry inwardly recoiled at the mere thought. “Is this really such a concern? Doesn’t the Judge enforce order here?”

  “Yes to both.” Swen shook his head. “Direct enforcement requires a contract enforced by the Judge, which is what the arena trials are all about. General order is a separate topic to contract law. Sure, stealing is prohibited and the Order would intervene when they observe such an act, but that’s a big enough ‘if’ that you have to be careful. In contrast to the loss of life, the loss of possessions is not automatically detected and ruled by the Leviathan itself.”

  “What if it’s detected?” Terry asked with a spark of hope for preserving his most cherished possession. “My mana sense is quite good… And I could also link this.” He held up his shadow bangle that was currently linked to his king spear and allowed him to attach the shadow weave to it at all times.

  “When faith and concepts are involved, senses are often a fickle thing,” warned Swen. He frowned. He would have loved to simply get rid of the book, but then again… If the rest of the man’s story was true, then his worst suspicions were confirmed and the information was already spreading. As always during the many cycles that had flown him by, he could only do his best to delay the inevitable.

  Swen sighed. “Forget it. Whatever precautions you have, we just use that shadow seal on top and hope for the best.” He tilted his head. “But why haven’t you awakened the seal yet?”

  Terry blinked. His mouth opened without saying anything. He tilted his head.

  “So you didn’t know that was a thing?” guessed Swen with a snort. “Alright, I know a guy here that can help with that. I’ve seen these before in the Deep. They were old even then. Rare, too. These aren’t just meant to attach shadow weave. Sure, that’s one function, but in its awakened form, it can place and summon the linked item through a separate shadow plane. It doesn’t act as a storage, but if you ever need to summon an item from anywhere in the plane, then it’s about as good as it gets.”

  Swen rubbed his chin in thought. “There’s also a concept crafter here who should be able to add some additional protections to your storage items. His work is enforced by the Leviathan, so it’s worth trusting. I’m sure he could add more modifications. I’ll introduce you to him.”

  Terry tried hard to not get giddy at the prospect of so many interesting new magic applications. He cleared his throat. “Can you tell me what’s all this caution about? This book is common knowledge where I’m from.”

  “Do you know what they call the realms we’re from around here?” asked Swen.

  “Uhm…” muttered Terry eloquently. He had never thought about this. He had only recently left his own native realm, and only seen one other realm before landing here. However, it appeared obvious that a place like the Court of Gods would require some kind of system for referencing different realms.

  “The Twin-Death realms.” Swen answered his own question.

  “What?” Terry creased his brows. “But they’re…”

  …dead.

  That name kind of made sense… historically. Their realm and the connected oldfolk realms had been ruled by the Twin-Gods of Death.

  But that was entire eras ago.

  The Twin-Gods of Death were dead. They had been killed by the Veilbinder and his companions. It was the spark that had triggered the Faithless Wars and led to the liberation and magical emancipation of their realm.

  “Yes, they are,” said Swen. “But that’s not news we spread. We kept it close to our chests. As cowardly as the False Gods are, they are quite haughty. Hells, even after all the gods I’ve personally killed in the arena, they still think me beneath them for the mere fact that I’m not relying on faith for my power. The faith parasites only truly fear other faith parasites. That’s not going to change, either.”

  Swen shrugged. “The Twins’ reputation was fierce. It is mighty effective at repelling interest in our realms.”

  “Wouldn’t they then fear the one that killed them even more?” asked Terry.

  “After Sophis and the Leviathan, there were plenty of gods that feared Day. Gods that stood in awe and terror of the Mortal Godslayer, but such sentiments rarely stop the parasites from thinking they can get away with something. Sophis is just the best example. Day was already infamous among divine circles before Sophis pulled his crap.”

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  Swen scowled at the table. “The reason the Leviathan’s reputation can enforce rules, even when Day’s reputation couldn’t, is that Leviathan is a proper god. He’s been around forever and he will be around for so much longer.”

  Swen shook his head. “These parasites might fear us in the moment, but their eyes are always ahead, greedily seeking the moment they can take over. Their faith magic grants them more mana than they know what to do with. It keeps them alive while even the most powerful mortals eventually perish. What do they care for a mortal with power? They can just wait and outlive them. Wait until a future generation of mortals is less troublesome.

  “No, the thing they truly fear is other gods. Those that might stand in their way for eternity. Those that might bide their time and get back at them over a grudge from an eternity ago. Every non-faith user has to prove their power through unfathomable eons before being taken seriously.

  Terry subconsciously clenched his fists. Something about this really irked him to his core. To think the struggles and legends of his realm would be diminished to such a point in the eyes of these so-called gods. “But the False Gods were thrown out! Not just the Twins…”

  “Yeah, well, aside from the Twins, that just meant their cults have been cleansed,” said Swen. “The Twins were the only gods with their true selves in our realms. They ruled the realms, even while other gods were trying to encroach on their territory.”

  Swen rubbed his bald head with a hand. “After I arrived here, I learned that most didn’t even believe we were fighting independently. They didn’t believe in a faithless uprising, but considered it a ruse by the Twins to cleanse their realm from other gods. No one believed that faithless mortals could have run rampant under the gaze of the Twin-Gods of Death, who ranked highly among all known gods even then. Powerful targets of large faiths. A strong connection to one of the strongest concepts in existence. Double-dipping into godhood through both.”

  Swen shrugged. “When we came through here, we didn’t think it wise to correct them. Day wanted to investigate the rumors and a specific request for help from the next realm cluster. Given that I never heard from him again, I think we made the right call. The Twins’ reputation does a lot to keep the majority of parasites from eyeing our realm.”

  Swen shook his head. “I’m not sure they would believe it, even if we hadn’t kept it hidden, but that’s not a good gamble to make. Some would want to investigate or take the chance to probe our realms with their parasitic tendrils. As it stands, the oddity of the Twins retreating from the public makes them wary, even beyond their initial paranoia. When the veil distorted to separate our realms from others, they took it just as further evidence that something fishy was going on. Something too far-reaching to ever be considered caused by faithless mortals.”

  “But some must know the truth,” said Terry. “There are a lot of channelers in our realm. If their gods pay any attention, then—”

  “What?!” Swen jumped up from his chair. “Channelers? You mean cultists! What do you mean there are a lot of cultists in our realm? How did that happen?! We had the cults at the brink of extinction when we left! What did the fat bat and the other numbskulls do to mess this up?!”

  Swen’s eyes turned fierce while he clenched his fists. “That’s why some stopped challenging me in the arena… They’ve found another way to crawl back into our realm. No wonder… No wonder…”

  The Faithless Saint focused on Terry. “Tell me everything. Which cults have reemerged? How did they let this happen? What about the Faithless Alliance of our folks? Why is it only you that came? Which other otherrealm threats are present? Who is defending the connected realms?” He exhaled sharply and growled to himself. “Fucking hells!”

  Terry gulped. He wasn’t sure if he could answer all the questions the Blasphemer had for him. He would try his best, of course, but a part of him regretted his waste of a storage item. He could have carried around entire libraries without a problem, but he only carried a single historical book with him and it was the exact history the Faithless Saint would already know well enough.

  Terry took a deep breath and tried to remember his history lessons from the Greenhouse before stretching his memory to answer the Blasphemer’s remaining questions.

  ***

  “Wait, give me a moment…” Swen rubbed his temples. “Alright, what you describe as the Wastes sounds suspiciously like something Day once mentioned about the Chaotic Hells. Something about the aspect archons.”

  Terry’s ears perked up. He had never heard about the phrase ‘Chaotic Hells’ before. Even the term ‘hell’ was quite ill-defined in his native realm. Most people used it as a synonym for the Abyss or to refer to the origin of the hellspawn tearing up the realms, but he was vaguely aware that neither of these were quite correct.

  Perhaps I can ask that later…

  Archons or hells had never been of particular interest to Terry, but the mere possibility of a Veilbinder anecdote from a living Faithless Saint made Terry immediately sit up straighter.

  “What’s that?” asked Terry. “The Chaotic Hells?”

  Swen waved him off. “Horrible realm cluster. Never been there myself, but Day was thrown there once. Some dickhead god was planning to make a move on another god’s territory and, as usual, the mortals were trapped in the middle. Well, Day kind of fell head-first into the plot when he wanted to lend a hand to some poor beer-brain who had discovered a huge tunnel system underneath his inn’s monster-ridden basement.”

  Swen chuckled. “Funny story, actually. The dickhead planned to lure one of the few non-faith-wielding beings the gods fear as an opening move. She connected her rival’s realm to an archon realm cluster. The presence of mana users would do the rest to invite a war between the aspect archons and the local parasite. Aspect beings against faith users. An internecine war for eternity, until the dickhead can swoop in from behind to take the spoils of war for herself.”

  ‘Archon.’

  Terry suddenly recalled the monster’s words. Anand’s words.

  ‘Do you know why the mana corruptions and aspect being appearances keep increasing cycle by cycle?’

  ‘There are transient gate manifestations of archon realms and their cursed mana is infecting us!’

  Terry knew about archons, but only in name, and little more than that. An archon was the term for the pinnacle of power among pure aspect beings. Pure, as in straight evolutions from elementals instead of possessed bodies like demons.

  Archons were way beyond the introduction courses Terry had taken as a Guardian in Arcana or Tiv. Archons were empire-level threats at the level of the lich kings or magic sovereigns.

  While Terry’s thoughts were racing, Swen grinned with schadenfreude. “The dickhead thought she could just throw Day into the archon realm and let them take care of the mortal who had exposed her secret. She didn’t count on Day being able to tame an army of elementals himself before the week was over. He basically foiled her entire invasion plan while opening a backdoor between the archon realm and the dickhead’s favorite shrine.”

  Swen shrugged. “The hellspawn you mention are known everywhere. We call their realms the Eternal Hells. No other realm is safe from them. The hives’ soldiers are no threat to those at the god-level, but they’re like cockroaches. You’d have to torch the entire realm and still couldn’t be sure the infestation has been eradicated.”

  Swen shook his head. “But of all you’ve said, the part about the abyssal deathcults is the most troubling to me.” He scowled. “The Abyssal Hells are no joke. Even the parasites stay away from that realm cluster.” His expression darkened even further before focusing on Terry’s face. “Are you sure it was the Devonian Lord that made a connection to our realms?”

  Terry nodded. He was surprised that this was the stickling point to which Swen kept returning. “Yes, but that’s under control. Devon would never give in to the Abyss Lord, and he has good friends to watch over him, too.”

  The Captain and Lizzy never leave him alone for long.

  Swen closed his eyes. “The Devonian Lord is not something you can keep under control.” His facial expression shifted and the hardness left his eyes. “But from what you’ve said, that man is putting up a commendable struggle. He sounds like someone I would’ve liked to know.”

  I’m sure Devon would be excited to finally meet someone that’s actually older than him, too. Normally, Lizzy always has to disappoint him when he pops that question.

  “But I guess that’s not to be.” Swen looked expectantly at Terry. “I can’t leave here before wrapping up a few things, and I can’t do that without a helping hand, which brings us back to the usual parasites.”

  Swen rubbed his eyes before moving a palm over his bald head. “What you’ve told me about that Carlos fellow is worrisome. That idiot sounded close to opening a direct connection to his god. I don’t recall a cult named Serenity of Pax, which means their false god never made it to the Court of Gods. Could mean they’re not that strong, but could also mean they’re smart.

  “Of those you mentioned, I’ve only heard of four. The Shapeless Pond is infamous, even though it never made an appearance in the Court. The reason is that its followers tend to be scourges on every realm they visit. The Pond doesn’t appear to impose any rules on them as long as they sacrifice souls to it. That attitude would normally get a greenhorn god killed quickly, but the Pond is similar to Sophis in that it can’t be easily killed. Some gods have tried. All have failed. It’s literally an entire world of sapient liquid. Whatever other life might have been there once has long been dissolved into the Shapeless Pond.”

  Swen yawned. “The Bodhi Tree is rumored to be ancient, even among the parasites, but from what I know, it’s not really of a conquering nature. I’m surprised it somehow lucked into acquiring followers in our realm.”

  Swen’s expression turned into one of disgust. “The ‘Bright Lady’ is a bit of a misnomer. I’ve never heard that title before, but I know the powers you describe. The toad is a pervert, but harmless, as far as parasites go. She’s actually here in the court, but far from powerful enough to ever step into the arena. Just…”

  Swen looked as if he had swallowed a fly. “Just don’t get involved with her if you can help it. She’s a goddess of openness and exhibition. A similar brand of creepiness to those knowledge gods like Sophis, but the toad thrives on exposing secrets instead of learning them. Gossipy pervert.”

  Swen paused himself when he noticed Terry’s expression. “What? Your face is spazzing out again. What did I say?”

  Toad? Pervert?

  Terry had held many conflicted feelings for the Circle of the Bright Lady.

  Bright Willow had been a monstrous witch who had plotted with Anand to kill Sigille and sell out Matteo.

  Harrison had been a reliable companion until he had turned into an enemy of his whaka by following Willow.

  Cadence had been a good person and trustworthy ally, even if she hadn’t joined the fight to avenge Sigille and protect Matteo against Willow’s faction.

  In the Freedom Cooperative, the man named Georg had been trapped in an ambush meant for Terry and lost his life because of him.

  Bright Akemi had saved his life from the clutches of death more than once.

  Terry had held many thoughts about the creature they all worshipped, but…

  ‘Pervert’ had not ever entered any of these thoughts.

  “I’m serious,” stressed Swen. “When I say openness, I don’t just mean openness to ideas or some shit. The toad is literally trading the stories and images of her followers. Don’t get involved with these kinds of gods, unless you’re secretly aspiring to become a nudist without a single shred of privacy.”

  Terry’s eyelid twitched. He remembered the Deathguard Varnika from Tiv, who had worn armor that looked more like underwear than proper equipment. He didn’t recall his acquaintances following the Bright Lady ever having displayed similar exhibitionist tendencies and he very much doubted they were secretly harboring those.

  Terry couldn’t help but smile wryly while he imagined his aunt Sigille snickering.

  Perhaps Auntie should have included that in her rants about the risks of selling your soul and opening your mind to otherrealm influence.

  Less focus on potentially dooming the realm and instead more emphasis on this potential… pervert stuff.

  Forget the potential repercussions for the realm, just keep your mind closed off if you don’t want to expose yourself to the entire world!

  Terry grimaced when he realized he would eventually have to decide what to do with this particular shitpile of information the next time he met his channeler acquaintances.

  “Anyway, the one really problematic cult you mentioned is bound to be the one you met before coming here.” Swen glowered at nothing in particular. “These abilities belong to Seth. He’s actually here in the Court. I didn’t think he had a way to bypass the portal I’m holding. For so long, too.” He clenched his fists. “If it’s true that his dipshit followers got Thuzar killed…”

  Swen’s eyes promised bloody murder. “Then there’s more than one reason to drag him to court.”

  Swen glanced at Terry. “It’s good that you pissed him off. Means he’ll come to us sooner or later when he hears about your arrival. Better this way. If he really plotted to block the entrance from the other side, then I suspect he is one of the few who might really believe the Twins’ deaths. We have to settle him quickly, and I’m afraid you’ll have to be the bait. If we can get Seth to focus on his vengeance, then he might not spill what he knows about our home to any other parasites.”

  Swen slammed his fist on the table. “Okay, that adds this topic to the one I already had to deal with. It’s better to start preparing. I can fill you in on the go. First, we’ll have to get you set up and sorted out. Allvoice, presence defence, the shadow seal awakening, crafting upgrades, and modifications. My treat until we find a way for you to pay for stuff yourself.”

  Swen stood up. “Don’t worry, the market is safe overall. Unless you go out of your way to get into trouble. So don’t. You don’t seem like the arrogant newbie gods arriving here, so I don’t think it has to be said, but just don’t. Believe me, you don’t want to clash with the Order. Oh, and never agree to anything in front of the Judge’s operatives, unless I’m there to ensure your mouth doesn’t promise debts your ass can’t pay.”

  ***