Divine Apostasy Book 12 - Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Ruwen had awoken in Master Pine's house. Ash’s bedroom if the posters were any indication.

"The others will want to know you're all right,” Rami said heading for the bedroom door. “And I can’t leave poor Echo alone in the kitchen with Sift. It takes two of us to keep him from burning the house down.”

Rami disappeared into the hallway and Hamma turned to Ruwen. "What happened?”

Ruwen sat up, sliding his legs off the bed. He looked down at his attire: underwear and boots.

Hamma followed Ruwen’s gaze. “Those are new.”

“I got them from an Outerverse faction quest. They’re part of a Harmonic armor set and I’m still getting use to them.” With a thought the boots disappeared, revealing his bare feet.

Hamma squinted at Ruwen’s feet. “They’re still there, aren’t they.”

“Yeah, they provide protection all the time, but I can hide them.”

“Very nice. Speaking of Outerverse quests I assume the new displays and quests were your doing?”

“It felt like the right thing to do. I assume Echo told you about her dad?”

“A little. She isn’t the type to trust others, but she fits in surprisingly well. It helps that she likes poking Sift. It’s like common ground for us to bond on.”

Ruwen assumed the “us” meant Lylan and probably Rami. No wonder Sift had said “everyone here thinks they’re my boss” earlier.

“That’s good to hear,” Ruwen said. “I leave the details for her to tell if she wants, but I’ll say Lalquinrial is dead and that in the end, he did the right thing. Echo might not ever see it that way though and I know she resents me for my part. Anyway, the point of all that is Lalquinrial is gone and he was my biggest worry. The Zealot doesn’t matter because he’s from the Outerverse already and has all those resources. So, I couldn’t think of a valid reason to hide these leveling advantages from everyone else. All those worlds without Spirit can at least learn to master their Soul or chakras.”

Hamma considered Ruwen’s words for a few seconds. “I think you did the right thing. If conflict reaches our universe, they will have the tools to defend themselves.”

Ruwen felt more relief at Hamma’s approval than he’d expected. Maybe she’d sensed his uncertainty and guilt around implementing such a sweeping change. She was good at doing that before turning into a goddess. Who knows what she could tell by just looking at him.

“I can’t read your mind,” Hamma said.

Ruwen’s eyes widened, and Hamma laughed.

“Seriously, I can’t. I know you well enough to read your emotions better than most. Honest people are always like that.” Hamma leaned closer and kissed Ruwen. “I hope that never changes. Now spill the details.”

Ruwen gave Hamma the highlights of what she’d missed after getting into the Fortification cocoon. He ended with the Guardian fight and his chakras all getting ripped open by the mix of leprechaun chakra magic and the Creation energy. The Divine chakra had sent him adrift.

“What happened after the Guardian explosion?” Ruwen asked.

“I know ‘what’ we found, but not ‘why’ it occurred. When we got to the farm you’d been gone for over a week. Grandpa Pine and Echo weren’t worried because,” Hamma waved a hand at Ruwen’s body, “because you’re you. I only went looking because I wanted to see you. It surprised everyone when we located you. Grandpa Pine and Echo still hold guilt over ignoring your absence.”

“What did you find?”

“Whatever explosion occurred ripped multiple holes between the Material and Creation Realms. Sift knows more details, but the leprechaun clans attacked the vampire tribes for some unknown reason and the two races had gone to war. That war had spilled through the rifts, and strangely, seemed centered around your body. The leprechauns seemed intent on destroying your body and the vampires were trying to protect you. Any idea why?”

Ruwen winced and placed his head in his hands.

“Sift was right,” Hamma said in amusement. “He was positive you caused the war somehow.”

Ruwen looked up and stuck out his tongue. Hamma raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. He quickly offered an explanation.

“I want you to check if it’s still green,” Ruwen said and stuck his tongue out again.

Hamma nodded in understanding and after a quick inspection answered. “Yes. How did that happen?”

Ruwen considered how to answer. He didn’t want to go into the cursed carrot or the orange skin or the Pumpkin Spice alias.

“It was a misunderstanding,” Ruwen said.

“Why do so many of your stories start that way?”

“Honestly, I think the System or Systems or whatever is messing up my life on purpose. Nobody’s life should be this complicated.”

“Stop deflecting and spill it.”

“The leprechauns got upset when I took their gem vaults and went nuts. In the process of protecting myself a super tiny bit of leprechaun blood got in my mouth. When they discovered I was an Alchemist they went even crazier. Alchemists, and as I soon learned, vampires, both treasure leprechaun blood. Since I didn’t show them my tongue, because I’d accidently turned it green with their blood, they assumed I was the worst thing possible, a vampire alchemist and that’s when things really started to get out of hand.”

“Is the moon volcano part of this?”

“You know about that?”

Hamma slowly nodded. “You can see it from here.” She took a deep breath and shook her head as if clearing it. “I don’t know how you sidetrack conversations so well. Even when I’m trying to stay focused, we end up on tangents. From my brief experience, leprechauns are prickly at best, but starting a war over this seems excessive, even for them.”

Ruwen went completely still, doing his best not to wince or flinch.

“Let me guess,” Hamma said, “some other accident upset the leprechauns enough to trigger all this.”

“Yes—an accident,” Ruwen said remembering the shocked expressions of the leprechaun priestesses and royal daughters at seeing his naked orange body through the rift window. “Most definitely an accident. They’re really at war?”

Hamma’s expression turned serious. “Yes, and your body was ground zero. The leprechaun clans and the vampire tribes had escalated the fight with fragments. It didn’t help that the entire area was littered with cards and other loot. I assume all that came from your battle with the Guardian.” Hamma read Ruwen’s expression and smiled. “Yes, it’s still there. At least it was a couple of days ago. We can go fetch them later. Cards are rare, and the ones I glanced at all embodied concepts, even if they were lower. It’s insanely rare for a card to drop and when the word got out that this battlefield had thousands of them other Fae joined the fight. Those wanted to kill you as well in the hopes it released the lock on the loot.”

Multiple questions crashed through Ruwen’s thoughts. “You can read those cards?”

“I just told you half the Creation Realm was trying to kill you, and you focus on my reading skills?”

Ruwen gave a wry smile. “I’m kinda hard to kill.” He raised his hands when Hamma’s expression darkened. “I’m not taking unnecessary risks.” He thought about that statement for a moment. “Okay, maybe it’s better to say no irresponsible risks.” He frowned since that statement was also clearly a lie. What words would balance honesty with the truth that he repeatedly risked his wellbeing?

Hamma used a finger to turn Ruwen’s head back to face her, and he realized he’d zoned off while struggling to explain the constant danger he always found himself in.

“I trust your judgement,” Hamma said and then paused herself. “Okay, maybe it’s better to say I trust your ability to handle whatever mess you create. I’d just miss you terribly if you died. Zombie Ruwen wouldn’t be near as much fun.” Hamma looked at the ceiling. “Actually, Zombie Ruwen might be more fun. I need to talk with Echo about that.”

“Zombie Ruwen?”

Hamma refocused on Ruwen. “Her book. She said you gave it to her. She’s a powerful necromancer. Death has truly become her domain. Sift became ten times more careful after Echo warned him she could do whatever she wanted to him if he died. Ten times might be an exaggeration, but he certainly hasn’t been as dumb as usual.”

Ruwen recalled the book he’d given Echo before they’d faced the Zealot.

Name: Grimoire of Mourning
Description: An ancient tome filled with forbidden rituals. The pages are bound in flesh, and the ink extracted from the blood of the damned.

Tower: Death

Quality: Rare

Effect (Passive): +25 Willpower, +20 Intelligence, +15 Wisdom
Effect (Passive): Reduce damage to all minions within 500 feet by 15%.

Effect (Passive): Reflect 10% of damage taken.

Effect (Triggered): Fellowship of Unrest – Temporarily reanimate all enemy dead within 1,000 feet to fight for the caster. Duration and cooldown based on caster’s level, stats, and number of reanimated corpses.

The Zealot had show great interested in that grimoire and the Death Tower had upgraded it for Echo.

“Does it still burn away any flesh that touches it?” Ruwen asked.

“Yes, very creepy. Echo is usually in her Death form when she uses it though so there’s no flesh to devour.”

“Do you think she could turn me into a zombie?”

“One hundred percent. If she can get her spell off before my resurrection magic brings you back from the dead you’re a zombie.”

Ruwen considered this new information.

“Ugh!” Hamma said pinching the bridge of her nose. “This time I sidetracked us.” She narrowed her eyes as Ruwen didn’t respond. “Hey, stop thinking about Zombie Ruwen. You asked about the cards. I can read them because of how my trial turned out. I can’t give you any details but let’s just say I made it far enough that I know all the Creation Realm languages.”

“The leprechaun king said something about a mountain and finding a fragment right before he twisted the surrounding dimensions into knots. Is that the same type of fragment you mentioned earlier. You said the war had escalated to the use of fragments.”

Hamma bit her lip and leaned back. “I’ll explain fragments if you really want to know, but my advice is to avoid any Creation Realm knowledge. The fewer preconceptions you carry the better if you ever need to enter the trial.”

Ruwen completely trusted Hamma’s judgement and let the question drop. “Let’s go see everyone.”