(II) Affliction

72 (II)Affliction

Practical Metabiology > 32

Silhouette > 63

Shiv guffawed with laughter as he heard the Gate Lord’s roar of rage from kilometers away. Uva covered her mouth and tried not to double over. Adam was doing his best not to smirk, and he was failing. Off by the side, Valor and Can Hu chuckled along.

“Okay, fine,” Adam admitted with a sigh. “It’s a bit funny.”

Shiv wiped a tear out of his eye. “It’s the funniest thing I’ve ever done.”

“Even funnier than pretending not to know me and lying to me about the Weaveresses’ breeding habits?” Adam asked.

“Much funnier than that,” Shiv said, grinning. “Sneaking in and casting the spell on their military rations was a good idea, Uva.”

“I suspect we will be seeing a great deal more dimensionals and automata on patrol soon,” she said, looking proud of what they’ve done. “The Gate Lord cannot be everywhere, and his lesser facilities will soon be vulnerable. He will be consolidating his forces soon—trying to hold what he can.”

“And that will make him vulnerable,” Valor said. “If he wishes to keep this place’s mana core stable, he will need to battle to assert his control. And I fear he has neither the character nor the competence to achieve that. We have a major opening. And Adam and I might have a solution to the Animancy Core problem.”

“Might?” Shiv asked.

“It’s quite straightforward, but it will require a bit of…” Adam grimaced. “Precision. I examined the damage Confriga’s Necromantic whip left on the surface of the elevator. It was substantial. It corrodes adamantine like any other material, and perhaps with a few more hits, he could have cut clean through. Now.” Adam pointed at his vambrace. “I have a means to contaminate a dimension with Necromancy. Theoretically, if we create a layering of spatial pockets or even minor dimensions around the elevator and corrode them all at once, I should be able to cut through the elevator itself before the Animancy Core is shuttled across to Vulketh.”

Adam paused and narrowed his eyes at Shiv. “If that happens, I fully expect you to dive across another dimension, try to fight a god, die horribly, and then somehow come back with the core anyway.”

“Seems to be the way things go for me,” Shiv said. “But yeah, that sounds pretty good. We can snatch the core and put it in the cage when the elevator ends up in freefall.”

“That is the general idea,” Adam said. “We just need a proper distraction for the Gate Lord. He moves quickly, the mana core of the gate can teleport him, and the only person here who can reliably face him directly might get us all killed if a Necromancy spell strikes them.”

“Such is where I come in,” Can Hu said.

“Not quite yet,” Adam corrected. “Not until we are truly desperate. I am thinking of a third party distraction. Since we’re planning to infiltrate Little Gomorrah to target the local underworld soon as well, I think Uva should plant the idea of a mass escape for a few of the mercenary groups. Then, we inform Leu, she informs Confriga—but only at the last minute as they are fleeing out of the Abyssal gate. He will be so busy trying to react to this that we’ll have an opening. Then, we make it seem like the Corpse-Shedder was working with some mercenaries at Little Gomorrah all along, increasing the internal tension of the gate, and forcing a crackdown on the underworld as well.”

“We’re making Confriga break even more of his gate.” Shiv nodded. “I like it.”

“This will also have the double effect of collapsing his authority entirely,” Valor said. “Do you understand how one becomes Gate Lord? Or the lord of any place?”

“Not exactly,” Shiv said. “Leu told me a bit about it—mostly about how Confriga can use the core’s mana to power himself and do things too. Mostly, he has just been blasting the gate with blizzards, but apparently, gates have their own skills as well.”

“Indeed. But the way a Gate Lord is decided is through authority and recognition. When the population of a gate believes and recognizes someone as Lord, that begins a process of mana synchronization. After a certain period, when the core is fully synchronized to someone’s mana, they will be able to direct and wield the gate’s mana and shape its development.”

Shiv hummed. “So, if people stop recognizing Confriga’s authority—”

“His is a slightly different case,” Valor said. “His authority is recognized by the lawyers of Compact, who the population accepts as their thought leaders. With many of their number dead and the gate in chaos, however, the outcome is the same. When a sufficient number of people stop accepting someone’s authority, a desynchronization will begin, and the Lord of the domain will only have so long to settle the problem. And during this time, challengers might emerge, and only when all other challengers choose to submit or are eliminated can a single Lord be ordained once more.”

And that captured Uva’s attention. “I see. So. Perhaps some people should start challenging Confriga soon.”

“We will need to target someone of sufficient power,” Valor said. “Confriga’s casual cruelty is accepted in this place, so we need someone he cannot easily kill. Several Master-Tiers. The goal here shouldn’t be to have them win, however, but to cause so much civil strife that Confriga is desynchronized from the core.”

“And then we all attack him at the same time,” Adam said. “While his forces are in disarray, with his core stolen, and while he is alone.”

The plan sounded good and clear. Now, the main question was speed and focus. Blackedge was still holding, since the Quest hadn’t failed yet, but they were racing against the clock. And there was also another issue on Shiv’s mind. “What about the third gateway? One leading off to Vulketh? Can you close that off with your vambrace too?”

“Yes,” Adam said. “But not for long. Which is the other thing Valor spoke to me about earlier.” The Young Lord hesitated. “We don’t need to permanently capture the Animancy Core, actually. We can just… cage it, and then destabilize it. Outside of this dimension. After I corrode the gateway for cover.”

Shiv, Uva, Can Hu, and Siggy stared at Adam.

“You want to set the bomb off?” Shiv asked.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“I—kind of.”

“In Vulketh?” Uva added.

“I looked through the gateway,” Adam said. “There’s nothing for miles. It leads out into an ocean of molten metal connected to a submerged military base. It will likely a section of Vulketh’s inner core, but the blast won’t go beyond a hundred kilometers or so.”

“That sounds pretty large, Adam,” Shiv muttered.

“Not on a planetary scale,” Valor corrected. “And not for a world like Vulketh. The main risk here is angering Lord Scorn. And that it might destabilize the gate, should it also destroy the gateway connecting Earth to Vulketh.”

Shiv stared harder. “Well, now it’s my turn to be unsure about this. What happens if that happens?”

“Then, the mana core starts imploding, and depending on if we’re closer to the surface gateway or the Abyssal gateway, we get squeezed out in a certain direction while a surge of unattuned mana washes over us.”

“Oh,” Shiv said, sighing. “Since the mana is unattuned, will it be like Passage, or just a bunch of colors?”

“Well, the ones who collapse a gate are usually rewarded in certain ways,” Adam said. “It’s how my father got this armor for me. Raiding and collapsing gates is practically a way of life for certain Pathbearers. A good deal of the mana will end up back with the System, but we will probably get something from this. However…” Adam winced at Uva. “I don’t think this is optimal due to other risks. Such as exposing the Sister to sunlight, should we be ejected from the surface gateway.”

Uva considered something for a moment. “I am interested in discovering if the Light-Curse can still affect me when I am in someone else’s mind. Wait. Great Valor, you said you traveled the world and have seen many things. Are you not afflicted with the Curse as well?”

“I am,” Valor said. “I simply avoided the light and used disposable bodies when I was forced to face my foes in the open. For your case… It depends on how your Skill Evolution functions, but this is what I suspect: You will be able to hide if you remain tight within a single mind, but if your mana strands emerge, you will be seared by the light, as it burns our very souls.”

The Umbral looked disturbed by Valor’s statement. “That… Do you know why the Curse was placed on us?”

“I do not think it was placed upon us directly. In fact, I believe it was placed on someone else, and we were just collateral.”

“Who?” Uva asked.

Valor paused for a moment. “The Great One fell for a reason. They lay broken for a reason. And there are burns on their body for a reason. We are merely afflicted because we share their dreaming tomb.”

A brief, contemplative silence followed. But it didn’t last. A sudden, blaring siren sounded throughout the entire gate—loud enough that Shiv and the others could hear it clearly in the anchor.

“Oh, what did that bloody giant child of a Gate Lord do now?” Adam said. His eyes flared bright with rosy mana. As he cast his senses out, Uva connected everyone to his mind, and they watched as he accelerated his senses out from the anchor, up through their building, and into the air.

The mana core was unleashing massive surges of snow and howling winds, practically channeling a constant blizzard over the city, and the temperature was only dropping further with every moment. The core wailed while it did this, and several of its connected chains glowed brightly, painting the dimension with unnatural hues of black and gray. Then, Adam noticed a small army of ice dimensionals flying through the air, heading for a gateway.

The surface gateway.

“What the hells?” Adam muttered. He noticed a single, solitary figure walking across the bridge from the gateway, and his eyes widened. “This— She’s here already?”

“Who’s here?” Shiv asked.

“It slipped my bloody mind in the chaos—the Educator, that Inquisition agent that Sijik said was on her way. She wasn’t due until—not now! She got here way too early! And why is she ?”

The moment Adam spoke the woman's title, Shiv felt a massive blow strike his spirit. He staggered, and his Foreshadowing trembled, the beginnings of a vision creeping in from the corners of his eyes like a rising tide.

“Guys,” Shiv grunted. Uva gripped his arm tightly. “I’m about to have a vision. And I think it might have something to do with our new friend.”

However, as Adam's perception zoomed closer, he cried out as he felt his senses crash into something . It was like a solid wall—a set of wards against perception that extended a good 500 meters around the figure, who strolled leisurely across the bridge. The blizzard didn't seem to bother her at all.

"She has ," Adam hissed. “The bloody didn’t have wards like these.”

Everyone studied the woman through Adam's eyes. Even from half a kilometer away, they could make out some details. Her face was mature, but also odd in the way that Shiv couldn’t tell how old she was at all. She didn't wear armor; rather, she was clad in a black and flowing scholar's robe with a red sash tied to her waist, the fabric fluttering in the wind behind her. She also had a brilliant crystal badge pinned to her shoulder, and on her back was the largest tome Shiv had ever seen. The Educator wore the book like a backpack, and it was bound to her by chains.

Shiv’s Foreshadowing thundered even harder. Something turned inside his stomach. An ill feeling of foreboding came over him like never before. “Adam. I think maybe we should—”

“She's—” a choked gasp cut off Adam’s words.

Everyone went stiff.

The woman was staring directly at them. On her face was a look of wry amusement.

“It’s very rude to peek, you know?” she said, tilting her head. “Oh. How surprising. An Aviary agent with Foreshadowing?” She licked her dry lip and hummed. “Perhaps we should have this conversation , then?”

And then Shiv felt something snake out from her and strike his soul directly. The real world vanished around him entirely as something inside him cracked open. A vision began to swallow him. A vision stronger and more vivid than all the ones before.

Foreshadowing: The Educator's Skill-Fusion of Awareness and Reflexes allows her to peer through her current observers, and she sees the boy looking at her—Ah? A surprise. Roland Arrow’s only surviving child. The one with him, the boy in the skeletal armor… That’s the son of and . So, Roland kept him alive after all. But why are the two of them together?

Then there are others in the anchor with them. A lich. A goblin. A Penitent. And an Umbral. How odd, but interesting. She was wrong. They are not of Aviary. They are something else entirely. And she can’t wait to find out what.

The Educator steps, then. She steps acrossAdam Arrow’s perspective, having decided to make some new acquaintances.

Especially the Lowe boy listening to the System narrate this story right now.

Foreshadowing > 41

Shiv broke out of the vision just in time to throw himself in front of Adam. The Educator stepped out into existence as if through thin air. He slashed at her using his kukri—and she parriedthe blow with a . She painted a stroke of black in the air, and Shiv's blow was sent entirely off course. He cast a laceration into the Educator. His mana detonated against her, and she strode forward unstaggered, ignoring even Uva's strands converging on her entirely.

“Ah, Master-Tier.” She chuckled. “Your parents would have been so proud, Tanner. And Rose as well. Which leads me to my first question: Why do you have a fragmentof Young Lord Adam’s mother inside your soul?”

And just then, a second vision consumed Shiv. Just as Adam fired his first arrow. Just as Valor cast a surge of Necromancy at the Educator. Just the chains holding her tome shattered, as its pages flung open, as the world dissolved and .