Divine Apostasy Book 11 - Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Ruin sat cross-legged on the battlefield and considered his interaction with the Dark Tower as his friends destroyed the last of the creatures. He had been so focused on testing the defenses of his new transition area that he’d failed to get much information on the Dark Tower itself. What had he been talking with? It had appeared in an avatar shaped like a Saraph, but he could feel the alien nature of the entity despite its ability to communicate.

Silver motes appeared across the plain, so thick it looked like snow. He acknowledged the loot with a mental touch and a summary appeared.

Currency

DeN: 233,900

Reputation

Dark Tokens: 6,100

Threads of Fate

Positive: 2,150

Negative: 2,110

A small grid filled the bottom of Ruin’s vision and it contained thousands of items. He willed it to sort by quality and glanced at the three items with the most value.

Name: Buckler of Flickering

Armor Class: 350

Effect: Flicker - 10% chance to absorb magical attacks and shift 50% of the damage into a neighboring dimension.

Effect: Strobe - 20% chance to convert the energy of a blocked attack into a blinding flash that disorients nearby enemies for 1 second.

Description: Small shield covered in black gems that shift between realms.

Name: Distilled Destruction

Uses: 1

Effect: When harvested, increases core tier by 1% to 10% depending on tier.

Description: A glowing thumb-sized sphere that pulses with destructive energy.

Name: Amulet of Reforging

Effect: Forge - Once per week allows the user to repair any damaged or broken item instantly.

Description: A delicate silver chain with a pendant resembling a hammer and anvil.

“There’s something in the pit,” Overlord yelled.

Ruin dismissed the summaries and teleported next to his friend. He examined the hole he’d created when he’d scooped up the dungeon boss.

Sigils, lined up in neat rows, covered the bottom.

Ruin jumped down and discovered the sigils existed in three distinct groups. The first group had a single sigil. It matched the one he’d briefly glimpsed inside the dungeon boss. He read its description.

Name: Sigil of Hardening

Tower: Dark

Description: Grants enhanced durability, increasing the maximum pressure the Dark Meridian can withstand by 1%.

The Sigil of Hardening was the one everyone received, and the remaining four Dark Tower dungeons would reward the other four hardening sigils. It would result in an almost indestructible Dark Meridian.

The second group of sigils had become available because Ruin wore the Band of Authority for the Spire of Remembrance. When he’d entered the dungeon, he’d received this Notification.

Child of Remembrance your presence is honored. Spire paths unlocked.

Instead of a single sigil, forty hovered before Ruin. Just like when he’d seen the sigils on the outside of the towers, his mind itched as his Cleverness Attribute tried to activate. He gave the sensation room to grow but after thirty seconds no epiphany arrived, so he studied a few. Maybe more information would act as a catalyst and reveal whatever mystery existed here.

Name: Sigil of Plenty

Tower: Dark, Death, Fire, Chaos, Air

Spire: Remembrance

Description: Increases the maximum number of sigils a Meridian can sustain.

Name: Sigil of Velocity

Tower: Dark, Death, Fire, Chaos, Air

Spire: Conflict

Description: Increases core power creation by 1%.

Name: Sigil of Force

Tower: Dark, Death, Fire, Chaos, Air

Spire: Might

Description: Increases essence density by 1%.

Name: Sigil of Purity

Tower: Dark, Death, Fire, Chaos, Air

Spire: Blessing

Description: Increase essence purity by 1%.

The Sigil of Plenty fascinated Ruin because it implied a Meridian could hold more than the five sigils everyone received. All the sigils in this group had value; picking just one would be difficult.

Once again Ruin’s Cleverness attribute surged but after a minute nothing else happened, so he moved on to the last group which contained a hundred sigils. These came from the very first Notification he’d received when he’d entered this dungeon.

Child of Void your presence is revered. Sacred sigils unhidden.

Ruin scanned the sigils, trying to understand their relationship to each other and hoping his Cleverness attribute would trigger completely.

Name: Sigil of Nullification

Tower: All

Type: Sacred

Description: Grants 1% Void Resistance and increases spell durability by 2%.

Name: Sigil of Sight

Tower: All

Type: Sacred

Description: Increases Void Perception by 1% and enhances all sight and illusion spells by 2%.

Name: Sigil of Overcharge

Tower: All

Type: Sacred

Description: Absorbs ambient Void energy increasing potency of spells by 1%.

Two things jumped out at Ruin. The sigils didn’t specify a Meridian, which implied they could work on any Meridian, not just the Destruction related ones. Secondly, all the sigils related to the Void.

Ruin’s Cleverness Attribute hadn’t quieted down, but it hadn’t activated either. It meant he had missed something important. But what? He needed more information.

Focusing inward, Ruin called for Deryssa, and a moment later she appeared in his peripheral vision.

“You cleared a sigil dungeon,” Deryssa said. “Well done. Dark Tower it looks like. What are those?”

“They’re the sigils the dungeon unlocked when it sensed the Void energy inside me. It called them sacred sigils and they all relate to the Void.”

Deryssa approached the sigils and studied them. Without looking up she spoke. “We need to talk about this Void association. Not only how you survive its touch, but you unlocked an entire Array linked to it. Plus, it already contains a gem.”

“I know, but can we do that later? These sigils contain something important. It’s right in front of me but I can’t see it.”

Deryssa turned and focused on Ruin. “How can I help?”

“Has anyone ever had more than five sigils on a Meridian? How much space do they occupy on the surface? Is it normal for sigils’ properties to overlap. Is the sigil location the same for everyone? How—”

Deryssa held up a hand, stopping Ruin. “Void take me, do you spend your whole day thinking up questions?”

“I’m a curious person.”

“Curiosity is dangerous.”

“So I’ve heard, but it’s who I am.”

Deryssa sighed but answered Ruin’s questions. “Legends and stories usually give the hero eight. One for each side of the Meridian.”

“Wait, Meridians have eight sides?”

“Of course. Didn’t you learn that during refinement?”

Ruin suppressed his embarrassment. Varthon had scolded both Ruin and Rami for the terrible state of their spiritual network. Until that moment, Ruin hadn’t known a person could improve their pathways and Meridians.

“I’m still working on that.”

“You and I are different because we have access to the Spire sigils, but most only have the hardening ones. Which of the Meridian’s eight sides you choose doesn’t seem to matter, but once you pick, all the rest of the hardening sigils appear on that same side.”

“And the Spire ones?”

“Sometimes a Spire sigil attaches to the same side as another Spire sigil from a different dungeon, sometimes they attach to an empty side. In fact, I heard a story that a Spire sigil actually ended up on the same side as a hardening sigil. No one knows why the sigils act like this. Nothing has ever been found that influences them. It’s like they already know where to place themselves.”

Ruin’s Cleverness Attribute surged but still didn’t make a final connection. The sensation was really bothering him.

“So the normal hardening sigils that most people get always go to the same side of the Meridian leaving seven empty sides. Those of us with access to the Spire sigil rewards from the five sigil dungeons could end up with a single sigil on five different sides leaving three sides bare.”

Deryssa nodded.

“Can you draw how they appear on the Meridians?”

“Not accurately. You should just buy a book on the Tower sigils.”

Ruin turned his whole attention to Deryssa. “Why?”

“Most will have drawings. Scholars discovered long ago that the hardening sigils can also be found in the mass of sigils covering the Towers.”

Ruin closed his eyes at the burning sensation filling his mind.

“Are you okay?” Deryssa asked.

“I’m fine. Are the Spire sigils Band of Authority wearers have access to also on the towers?”

“I’m not sure. Very few have seen those, and I doubt anyone revealed what they saw to scholars or academics.”

Ruin recalled the details of the book he’d recently purchased.

Name: Enigmatic Sigils – a comprehensive Iconography of the Towers of Vyrelion

Author: Royal Circle of Aetheric Illuminators
Description: A compilation of the sigils found across the Towers of Vyrelion grouped by Tower and cross-referenced by the holy five churches.

The description reminded Ruin of something Deryssa had mentioned earlier.

“I bought a book that only mentions five churches, but I thought you said there were six.”

“A church exists for each Tower although most of their teachings are the same. The sixth religion isn’t centered on the Towers but on the Last Emperor. They’re considered a cult and are generally suppressed. The Val’dor lands and cities contain the greatest number of them because our Spire holds the prophecy of the Last Emperor, and they associate his coming with our family. Ironically, they understood at some level what no one else believed. Such fanaticism will be very useful when you return.”

Ruin swallowed his response. Now wasn’t the time to argue about his future. It was a reminder that Deryssa had a heart of ice when it came to reaching her goals. She would sacrifice these cultists in a heartbeat to gain even a small advantage for her family.

Ruin retrieved the sigil book from storage and found the section relating to the hardening sigils. Detailed drawings were surrounded by academic commentary. Each of the five sigils occupied the same location in everyone, as if preassigned.

That thought caused shards of pain to explode outward. It reminded Ruin of his early days with the Cleverness Attribute. He hadn’t experienced much pain when Cleverness activated lately, and he wondered how big this revelation was that it caused such a reaction in him.

Ruin studied the picture, memorized it, and closed his eyes. The five sigils hovered in the air. He rotated them in every direction, trying to understand what mystery lay in front of him.

A memory struggled to reach Ruin. He could sense it, but didn’t know what it contained. It existed in a sea of quicksand—if he tried to help his mind would bury it deeper.