52. The named Vow

Our trio passed under the ruins of the arcane gateway and entered the Alanian tower.

[Wait… if the Rewind weakened her soul’s connection to the body,] Delta mulled. [Then we don't need to do much. I can just bite her a few times and then let her soul float away into the Astral! She will be Vow-less and skill-less. It’s perfect!]

[Are you so sure that’s what’s going to happen?] I asked.

[You survived for twelve years without a soul! You’re clearly fine.]

[I am not fine! I didn't survive on my own.] I shook my head. [I don’t think that a body can survive without a soul.]

[How are you so sure?] Delta's ghostly image squinted at me.

[How long do the insects live after you eat their souls?] I asked.

[Um… a couple of days,] she replied. [I eat their mana too, you know. I... have needs.]

[What happens to an insect after you remove its soul?] I inquired.

[Massive cellular decay,] Delta said. [The Overseer is a lot bigger than a bee though…]

[Look, permanently removing her soul isn’t an acceptable solution!] I said sternly. [I know that you don't like her because you think she's stealing my attention from you, but it's not a reason to make her soul-less.]

[Hrrrrrmmm, then how did your body survive?] Delta ran her Infoscope threads over me. [I don’t understand what you’ve had that took over the soul’s function…]

I lifted my eternally icy left hand to her face and her Infoscope threads automatically ran over it.

[Oh… oh right, that’s… that’s not good. The infection has these little, barely noticeable hooks all over your body…] She examined my arm.

[The Infection is what kept me alive. I'm certain of it now. Sasha has been digging through whatever memories had remained in this body for twelve years, keeping it alive on purpose.] I pointed out. [The infection is a seed of a phantom. It’s how they propagate. I’ve got a growing, little phantom in my arm. Whatever the Empire has been doing to exterminate aberrations is... utterly flawed. They’re as ignorant as the Alchemists or Mediaeval Earth doctors that tried to cure diseases with leeches and bloodletting! If things like Phantom Sasha can infect a person with microscopic bits of themselves, there are hidden aberrations all over the place!]

Delta gulped.

I took the backpack off, hung the hex-lantern at the front of my tent and told Kliss to help me gather some firewood. As we set about this task, I dove into my Mindspace and examined my stats.

The Soul-Repair skill had managed to fix some things, but I was still relatively deep in the minuses. I pulled [Universal] out and inserted the [Soul-Sacrifice] spell Delta had learned from Kliss into the empty channel slot.

I memorized the new spell ten Omnicode patterns deep before Bessie ran out of processing memory. It was unfortunate but I had finally ran into the Intelligence limit. The active memory of my soul wasn't limitless. To create more high level spells I needed a lot more Intelligence.... or I would have to delete something.

I glanced back at the chart. The [Soul-Sacrifice] spell formation was now level 10. It wasn't enough for what I needed to do!

Kliss piled up a bunch of dry branches into a rock campfire I had built last week next to my tent. I lit them up with a magic lighter I had pawned from Dad’s workshop.

Kliss sat down beside the fire. Even on the edge of her life she seemed relaxed, at peace.

As the kettle above the flames heated up I made hot tea for both of us and we slowly sipped it. Night fell over Skyisle, stars and purple galactic nebulae shimmering above the glacier-covered mountains. The rings of Lunaria lit the tower from above, painting the world blue and purple.

With a sigh, I went back into my Mindspace and reduced the computation of the [Wardsmith - Rewind], [Lucid Dreamer] and [Improved Mana Regen] skills to Level zero. I used the gained memory to compute the [Soul-Sacrifice] up to Level 76. 

I drank some wine to bring up my mana and watched as it slowly ticked up.

I was as ready as I'd ever be.  There was just one more thing to check.

[Delta?]

[Yes?]

[When the Alanian beacon pulled my soul into it… did it also take my Vows with it?]

[It did,] she replied. [Vows are attached to the Soul. The beacon pulled them right out, halfway into itself.]

I smiled. Just as I suspected. It was time.

“Kliss?”

“Yeah?” The redhead turned to me.

“I can help you, but I need you to trust me. I need you to obey me, no matter how ridiculous my request might seem.”

“I… trust you,” she whispered and shot me a soft smile, light of hope dancing in her eyes. 

I handed her a bottle of the incredibly overpriced wine. “Drink. You’re going to need the mana.”

She nodded, quickly gulping the offered Mana-restoring wine.

“Don’t ask questions. Don’t allow rational thought to manifest for the next hour,” I told her, hoping that her primary Vow wouldn't guess what I was planning if she wasn't thinking clearly.

She nodded.

"Get up and go sit facing the hex-beacon,” I ordered. “Put your arms around the stone, hug it tightly and wrap your fingers together.”

She obeyed, relocating and pressing her body against the hex-gemstone.

"Do you want to learn about where I come from?” I asked. “Do you want to know about… Earth?"

She nodded eagerly.

“Good. Listen to my words and relax…” I spoke slowly and deliberately. “Relax and let your mind drift, let your imagination paint you a picture of another world and another time…”

Kliss nodded again, staring at me with conviction.

"I was born on another world called Earth, in the year 1932, in an Empire called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It was a mighty, globe-spanning nation that promised all of its children fairness, peace and equality…" I began to narrate my life to her.

[Delta, get your Infoscope over to Kliss. Let me see through you.]

Delta complied. I pulled her threads with the Tether, slowly fusing the arms of the Overseer to each other and also to the large gemstone atom by atom as I continued to narrate to Kliss.

[Ohhhhhh… I see where this is going!] Delta commented giddily. [We’re imprisoning her forever! I like this plan!]

As Delta's threads passed through the arms of the Overseer, she helped me fuse the muscles of the story-preoccupied girl to the matted black surface of the enormous gemstone.

It took me a few hours to completely attach Kliss to the beacon. She didn't complain, didn't move a muscle throughout the procedure, hugging the large, obsidian gemstone tightly. She excitedly listened to my words as I slowly weaved her a tale of the world without magic and a young boy named “Slava”, whose name stood for the word “Glory”. A boy that was born in a time of unstoppable progress pushed forth by a united people tirelessly working together for a better tomorrow for everyone.

I told her about the achievements of Soviet people in agriculture and architecture, in machine building and computing. I told her about a nation of 280 million people that stretched 22.4 million km² from the Baltic to the Bering Sea. I told her in very simplified terms about breakthroughs in geology, physics, mathematics, chemistry. I told her about sea-holding dams, steel tanks and planes, zeppelins, trains... and rockets.

I spoke of Soviet heroes, achievements and accolades. I described Sputnik and spoke of Yuri Gagarin’s trip to outer space beyond the boundary of the Earth. I told Kliss about BESM One and how I helped build the first Soviet Supercomputer, a machine forged from inert materials that could do mathematics better and faster than any human alive. Her eyes sparkled at each of my fantastic revelations.

I drank another wine bottle to top up my mana and stood up, the campfire casting long shadows behind me.

“I will tell you more… later. For now Kliss, I want you to shut your mind down as much as you can. Meditate. Close your eyes. Let go. Hide in the back of your head. Let me speak to your Primary Vow. It can control your body, correct? Let it take over one hundred percent. Don’t hold it back, don’t ask your Friendship Vow to fight it.”

“Okay, Slava...” Kliss closed her eyes. In a few minutes of silence, her breathing became deep and slow.

[Sing the Alanian song, Delta! Sing it slowly and very very quietly at first and then louder and louder… but do it with slightly wrong tones!] I ordered. [Kliss has no Soul-Shield, right? Grab onto her soul with your blades. Wobble it harder with every stanza but don’t actually rip it out of her body.]

[You got it, boss.] Delta replied.

Looking through Delta's Infoscope I relocated my Tether, connected myself directly to the monstrous, mushroom-shaped, shimmering Vow hanging over Kliss.

When the Tether connected with the Overseer's Vow, I realized something of great importance. The Vow was something akin to Delta - a homomagicus construct made from currents of magic!

The eyes of the Overseer suddenly snapped open. It wasn’t her looking at me. The soft smile was gone, replaced with a still, barely moving, neutral face. It was something, no… someone else behind the emerald eyes of the girl.

A pale shape of a muscular, faceless man in an Overseer's armor manifested atop her body. The thing looked at me curiously.

“I’d like to address the Overseer’s Vow,” I said. “Hopefully you’re smart enough to understand my words. If Kliss got you when she was ten then you are twenty one now, correct?”

“Correct,” Something spoke with an icy voice directly to me through the Tether. It didn’t sound quite right, wasn't human. As it spoke the lips of Kliss moved in sync to the alien voice.

“Excellent, so you can talk,” I smiled. “You are level twenty four, yes?”

“I am. What do you want of me, aberration?” The Vow asked. "What sort of dark magic have you used to reach out directly to me?"

“I’m going to call you Vovan,” I said, ignoring the question. “On the account that everyone needs a name and that you’re a very naughty Vow.”

“Names are irrelevant,” the Vow said. “Your tricks have fractured the Soul of my host. I cannot keep her alive for long. When she dies, our Empire will kill you and your kin. A fitting end for a vile transient phantom and its allies.”

“You’ve killed my parents and killed me twice, yes?” I asked casually. “That wasn’t Kliss, doing the deed was it? She was too scared to execute me, correct?”

“She is indeed weak of will to act. I did what she could not,” Vovan affirmed what I knew, confessing his crimes. 

"Why?" I asked.

“I do as the Law of Equality requires. I exist to obey the Word of my Goddess."

“You don’t seem to be afraid of dying along with your host,” I noted. “Why is that?”

“I belong to Equality. I eagerly await for her embrace,” the Vow replied. "When this human dies, I will take her soul directly to my Goddess."

“Ah, but there’s been a slight change of plans, I'm afraid. You aren’t going to Equality.” I circled the redhead’s body overlaid with the ghostly avatar.

“What?” Vovan squinted at me with Kliss’ eyes, tracking my movement.

“I’m a bit miffed at you with the whole getting stabbed in the head business,” I said. “Fortunately everyone has their uses. Even stubborn Vows. Do note that you are bound to an Inian necromag device. While we started talking my sister had already begun its activation!”

“What?!” The Vow barked. It tried to move Kliss away from the rock and failed. “You wouldn't dare to meddle with an Archangel of Equality, human!”

I blinked. So... the Vows were Archangels, creatures that belonged to the Gods and this one was Level 24.

“Oh, I would,” I bent down with a devious smile. “I’m not quite human. I am an aberration from another world, a villainous ghost, remember? Don’t you hear the song of the All-Mighty Necromancers? Try as hard as you might - you won’t be able to separate your hosts’ body from this crystal. You are now fully bound to the Inian device along with her!”

The Vow tried to move Kliss away from the rock again with more vigor. He perked up as he noticed the Vox Colony resounding the fake Inian song louder and louder, more bees joining in on the chorus.

[Add more drama!] I ordered.

The bees took off, spinning in a storm-like formation around us. Their stingers lit up, painting a hurricane made of fire rising above me into the air.

“I’m the last Inian Sentinel and this tower belongs to me!" I laughed dramatically, amplifying my voice through the Vox Colony. 

I tried to make myself sound like Koshei, a prominent villain from Soviet fantasy films.

"You see, Vovan, I really need to feed a soul to that crystal to awaken the arcane weapon of Almn-Inia. You were there, were you not, when the echo of the old Necromancer spoke to me from this crystal?" I pointed at the beacon. "I’ve been told you remember what Kliss does not. You remember what happened during the Rewind yes?"

"Yes," Vovan growled, desperately trying to tear Kliss away from the large gemstone.

"I'm not afraid of the pathetic humans from the Gregarious Empire! The Tricameron Citadel in the Valley below us and all of its armaments belong to me by right of this body's lineage!" I jubilantly declared waving an open hand at the Valley of Death. "As powerful as the Imperial ship is, I doubt that it will stand up to a real Necromag warship from before the Age of Darkness!"

I saw that the Vow shuddered. My psychological attack was working.

"An Inian warship 'Nemesis' is buried beneath this very tower!" I announced. "She is eagerly awaiting the sacrifice of one foolish girl with two Vows on her soul!”

“No, no, no! Damn you, Necromancer!” Vovan looked around wildly, panic painted on the girl's face beneath the blank ghost. He realized that I had played him, believed my beautifully packaged lie. He was terrified, afraid of the Alanians! The Sentinel's Song had a kernel of truth in it. The ancient Mages truly tried to bring down the Gods themselves! They possessed magitek tools that could imprison, take apart their servants - the Vows!

“Here’s the thing though, I would like to keep Kliss to myself for a few decades, if you know what I mean...” I idly noted, winking at the hate-filled eyes of the Vow. “But not with you around. You are making her... unappealing to me. In but a few moments this crystal will activate and consume both of you. Your choice. Either you surrender and let go of Kliss… or my hungry, hungry dark crystal devours you.”

“I cannot depart from my host! The link between us is reinforced by the Goddess herself! It cannot be broken! Stop your infernal machinery, necromancer!” Vovan cried. “I will surrender control over the girl for her lifetime, however long it may be! I will give you my host’s body to do with as you desire. Do we have a deal?”

“Swear an unbreakable Vow,” I said. 

“WHAT?!” The Vow gasped.

“You heard me. I can’t just trust you. I want you to swear a Vow to Equality… to surrender all of your core skills, whatever they are. You do have skills, right?”

“This is madness,” The Vow muttered. “You… are insane!”

“Have you paid no attention to my story, Archangel? I’m a scientist from another world, an intelligence operative from a globe-spanning Empire called the USSR,” I noted with a headshake. “I’m an outsider to Novazem. I spent my entire life designing death. I refuse obey the idiotic rules of your world. I don’t see you as a Vow to Equality or an Angel. I see you as a vile being who preforms vile deeds for an even bigger monster. I see you an organism made of mana currents, someone that can be hurt, broken, snuffed out, imprisoned forevermore, digested.”

The fake Inian song around me preformed by the storm of bees intensified its chorus, rose another octave.

“Forty heartbeats before your host’s soul and you are sucked into the crystal,” I said. “Thirty nine…”

The Vow of the Overseer seemed unsure.

[Delta! Bite her Soul with your Soul-Devourer skill!] I ordered, switching the Tether to my homomagicus sister.

“Aaahhh!” Vovan gasped with the voice of Kliss. He must have witnessed the reduction in Soul on Kliss.

“The process has begun,” I commented. “My necromag core is hungry! Soon you and your host will serve as my power source, pay for your insolence by being my batteries! Thirty heartbeats to full activation!”

“I swear a Vow to Equality to sacrifice my skills… to bind myself into inaction until my host's death!” Vovan barked.

“There we go, now that wasn’t so hard was it?” I asked. “Best agree to the prompt! Ten heartbeats!”

“Yes!” Vovan cried. 

I saw through the Infoscope as the shimmering threads with which the Vow held Kliss turned against the construct itself, loops upon loops of ghostly thread winding and tightening around the alien mushroom superstructure, choking the life out of it.

Then Kliss started to scream. It’s scream was horrific, inhuman, raw and incomprehensible like a thousand violins being rubbed together the wrong way. With a winding, final choke, the scream of the Vow faltered and fell silent. The Vow began to lifelessly drift above Kliss now bound, restrained, entangled its own threads.

[You… you actually broke a Vow!] Delta cried, sounding flabbergasted. [That was freaking amazing, Dante! Wait… She’s dying. There’s nobody holding her soul to the body now!]

I snapped my Tether to the Soul of Kliss, trying to hang onto it.

I leapt towards her body. I reached out with my hands, put them on her shoulders and cast the [Soul-Sacrifice LV 76] spell I had learned from her. Emerald fire ignited on my fingers as my Soul-stat started to drain away.

[-1 in Soul]

[-1 in Soul]

[-1 in Soul]

My body began to ache horribly. My head started to spin. I kept an eye on my Soul stat.

[79 [-39]]

[79 [-40]]

[79 [-42]]

Each moment, each breath was now filled with horrific pain as if all of my bones caught on fire.

[79 [-43]]

[Stop! Stop! Her Soul is safe!] Delta yelled. [It’s fully tethered to her body now! She’s safe! Her Soul-Repair skill just kicked in!]

Kliss gasped, her eyes shot open. The emerald flames on my hands winked away. I let go of her shoulders. The world around me dimmed and I fell, slumping down onto the mossy earth. With my last breath I shoved the last two investiture points I had into [Soul] and activated the Level up, hoping to drive away the all-consuming, blinding pain with the blissful embrace of the Soul-upgrade.