Chapter 324 - Carved in Stone

Nate studied the creature that Ankh had pulled from the fractured space surrounding them. At first the creature, with skin as dark as the night, had squirmed in a futile attempt to escape. The moment it had realised the futility it had gone limp. The creatures face had two slits for a nose and eyes that shone like stars, with elongated arms and legs that ended in three toes or fingers respectively. From the creature's eyes Nate could sense a Skill along with a Concept. The most pervasive Concept leaking off of the creature was that of the Void. A space between. Divine Energy dripped into Nate as he catalogued it and though it got a few glances from those around him, it was mostly ignored.

The Concept from the creature's eyes was Parting. An interesting mix in Nate’s eyes as Void, Parting, and Space were likely how the creature managed to spy on them while occupying a separate layer of space. Nate guessed there was likely one more Concept in the creature's Skillsets that made it difficult to detect. Apparently not so difficult for Ankh’aris though.

“How did you notice it?” asked Nate curiously.

“It was using a form of Erosion to thin the layers of space so it could watch,” answered Ankh in his deep baritone before putting his car sized head closer to the creature and asking a question that was clearly a demand. “Who or what are you?”

“I can answer that,” interjected Crastor. “That would be Vicoli, Disciple of the Void and Herald of the Wanderer.”

Nate had suspected the being was related to Arikanvil given the nature of the Vicoli’s powers and the pressure of a Greater Divinity it gave off in his Conceptual Sight. Still, he’d hoped it wasn’t the case. If Arikanvil trusted him this little, then Vicoli could have been following them ever since they left Galle. Just how much had he seen or heard? And what had he reported back to Arikanvil?

“Is that true? Do you serve that little runt Arikanvil?” asked Ankh’aris.

Everyone else had stopped to listen and watch. Kiri was still next to Nate while Gwen was kneeling to Fili, who hadn’t gotten up from the ground yet, with Jak kneeling next to her. Wulfgar had somehow moved even more behind Grommir’s shield, while Crastor had approached to stand on Grommir’s other side. Even Frick and Luci had paused their play fighting to listen on.

“Yes,” replied Vicoli, its voice surprisingly musical.

“Willingly?” asked Crastor.

Vicoli paused to glance with starlit eyes at Ankh. When the ancient dragon didn’t say anything Vicoli answered.

“Bound by Reciprocity.”

“Are you able to tell us your purpose here?” continued Crastor, the Grand Strategist clearly ferreting out the relevant information.

“Yes. Sent to watch over the Second Evolutions and report back if there were issues.”

“Have you reported anything back to The Wanderer?”

Vicoli shook its head. “Nothing yet.”

Grommir looked confused but Crastor’s lips twisted into a smirk that lit up the orcs face.

“Why is that? You would think their successes in the World Reaping alone might warrant a report.”

“Not an issue. Success is a good thing. Issue is a bad thing. No bad things, no reports.”

Ankh snorted in amusement before lowering Vicoli to the ground.

“So, you do not like your master?” mused Ankh’aris.

Though Vicoli’s face was alien in nature, Nate could see clear signs of displeasure at the mention of the word ‘master’.

“He seeks to unchain himself from the ties that bind him, yet thinks nothing of binding others to his purpose. Hypocrisy. Reciprocity demands balance, not loyalty. If he dies, I am free.”

The words were simple but the message was clear enough. Vicoli held no allegiance to Arikanvil. If anything, it sounded like Vicoli hated his master. 

“An individual bound against its will invariably turns on the one who holds its chain.”

Crastor's words mirrored Nate's own feelings on the matter.

“Do you know what The Wanderer seeks?” asked Crastor.

“Yes. Three artifacts. The artist holds one of them.”

“Do you know why he seeks them?”

“No. Never told and am bound not to spy on him.”

Crastor tapped his chin in thought then sighed. 

“I hate to impose, but do you have a way of keeping him imprisoned?”

Crastors question was directed at Ankh’aris.

“Yes. But I won’t. I will not be so inconvenienced. Especially when one of my Disciples has dumped new prospective students on my doorstep. Since he is occupying my time, he can do it.”

Rather than feeling put out, Nate was actually pleased with the response. He didn’t want to hurt Vicoli, but at the same time they couldn’t afford the chance of Reciprocity making a demand on the Void Disciple to return and report to Arikanvil. Plus, it was a new problem to solve and a new chance to craft. Even if what he was crafting was effectively a prison. It would only be temporary anyway. Once they had all three items that Arikanvil desired in their possession, Nate would feel more comfortable with freeing Vicoli. 

However, Ankh had just revealed something that Nate had been hiding. Crastor and Grommir were both glancing between Nate and Vicoli.

“I know he is powerful as a Second Evolution, and I don’t doubt that you have trained your Disciples to be incredibly effective… but the Void Disciple is not a fresh Greater Divine like the one Nate defeated in the World Reaping. Are you sure he will be able to hold him? We have some spatial specialists ourselves but only one at the Greater Divine level, and he doesn’t specialise in spatial layers.”

Ankh’aris casually ignored the latter half of Crastor’s rambling.

“You defeated a Greater Divine?” asked the ancient dragon.

Nate held up two fingers, pretending not to notice the looks of surprise or shock he got from his companions who hadn’t been in the ‘know’ and the Golden Tide True Divines.

“Who were they?”

Before Nate could answer, he felt a stone flicked to Ankh’aris by the Grand Strategist. The Concepts of Information, Illusion, and Sound filled the small stone. A recording of the World Reaping Nate guessed. If it was, it took Ankh’aris less than a few seconds to watch and absorb the entire thing.

“The fresh Greater Divine I saw. Well done. The other?”

“A Demon Lord in one of The System Challenges,” answered Nate.

He saw the look of recognition on Grommir and Crastor’s face. Their expressions were the complete opposite of the horror on Fili’s. As for Ankh’aris, he seemed amused.

“You were slightly less than halfway?” added Ankh.

Nate could recognise his master was referring to how far along his Divine Vessel had been at the time. Less than halfway was accurate as he’d only been at two point two percent at that point while his Vessel was now at five percent. Whatever that meant. Nate had just continued to use the same mathematical formula that The System seemed to be using to track his Vessel's progress. 

Nate gave a little nod of confirmation for Ankh, who turned his attention to Kiri.

“I saw your fight with the broken one. She had reached the first bottleneck. You were barely past halfway. You made me proud by putting her down.”

Kiri lit up at the praise, only for Luci to appear next to her, flaring her shining wings.

“Now me! Now me!”

“You are sunlight made manifest. Shine on those around you or burn them to nothing as you see fit.”

Luci vanished in a flash of light and appeared next to Ankh, nuzzling one of his titanic legs, clearly happy at being praised.

“Back to your question, little orc. Nathaniel is more than capable of defeating or imprisoning this little minion. Go ahead, Nate.”

Nate nodded.

“This could take a little while,” he added.

He’d already been preparing the moment Ankh had suggested his involvement. Within his Created World, Nate used Runic Reality to carve out a large section. He could’ve made the prison small, but he had no reason to make Vicoli uncomfortable. More importantly, there was no guarantee that this would be the last time Nate was forced to imprison someone so he thought the prison should be large enough to accommodate more than one individual and nice enough that they didn’t feel too terrible about being locked away. With most of his mental focuses on the crafting of the prison, Nate used the leftovers to follow the conversation.

“Will you be staying, Lord Ankh’Aris?” asked Crastor.

“Yes. We can discuss payment for my assistance, and what that assistance will entail, later. I have Sect duties to attend to first.”

Nate ignored the glance Ankh shot at him.

“Very well, we will find you appropriate quarters that befit your rank.”

“Unnecessary, I will stay in that mountain.”

Ankh pointed to some craggy mountains in the distance with a claw. Then a wave of Destruction laced with Divine Energy billowed out of Ankh. Nate picked out a number of sub-Concepts within the ability. Change and Erosion were foremost but he shivered a little as he felt just a shred of Entropy buried within. The wave of Divine Energy washed over the mountain and carved shapes into it. Pillars stood on either side of a gaping dragons maw that led into the mountain, large enough to fit Ankh’aris in his draconic form. Atop each pillar was a rearing smaller dragon in the shape of Luci. Nate cast out Conceptual Sight and felt what lay within the maw. Rooms set aside for all of them, bereft of furniture, as well as a large training room and a central chamber not unlike Ankh’s own throne room.

“I see… “ muttered Crastor, a look of consternation on his face. “We will have furniture delivered and I will inform our officers that they are to avoid this satellite facility of the Risen Sun Sect. We can send a message when you’re ready to discuss our… partnership?”

“Agreeable,” answered Ankh. “Come children. We will see which of you are worthy of joining the Risen Sun Sect and which of you will only be allowed to serve.”

With his command, Frick released the Solaris and everyone boarded except for the two dragons. Vicoli, still clutched in Ankh’s claws, was unceremoniously carried as Nate and the other members of the Risen Sun Sect flew towards their temporary mountain home.

*************

Grommir watched the Risen Sun Sect fly away towards the freshly carved mountain home. He didn’t know what to think about what he had just witnessed. Could he carve a home out of a mountain in an instant? Definitely not. But a True Divine with the Skillset to do so, possibly? Could Prim have created a forest home as quickly and neatly? Grommir thought that maybe she could. But her Skills were all about growing and shaping plants. That dragon was a creature of pure Destruction. Its Skills should have been geared towards erasing anything in its path. That was the sense Grommir got from just being around it. Yet it had carved the mountain with such careful attention to detail that if Grommir hadn’t witnessed it, he would’ve said it was created by sculptors. Perhaps Crastor could make sense of it.

“What do you think?”

“I think many things, old friend. I think that there is something going on that we have not been privy to and that the missing piece of information will make the entire convoluted web make sense,” answered Crastor.

Grommir appreciated the Grand Strategist in a similar way to how he had begun to appreciate Nathaniel. They were both cerebral individuals. Everything was a puzzle to be solved, to be put together. Grommir needed Crastor to use his mind to solve this puzzle for them, so that the Golden Tide might have a future.

“I did notice a few things,” agreed Grommir. “They spoke of something that seemed to be present with Nathaniel, Kiri, and the Severing Blade’s daughter.”

“Yes, they did, didn’t they? While that is the missing piece, it is not the most interesting one.”

Crastor had a sly smile on his face. It was the same one he always wore shortly before they were victorious in a conflict. Grommir’s heart beat just a little faster in excitement.

“What was it then?”

“I felt no demands from Reciprocity when I considered asking Nathaniel some questions directly,” replied Crastor.

Grommir’s lost control of his facial expression as he glanced in shock at Crastor.

“He’s already a True Divine? Is that why they wanted to rush him here?!”

Crastor laughed softly.

“It’s possible, but I feel the truth in this case is a far more unlikely outcome. I felt nothing from Reciprocity either with the young dragon they call Luci. From this, I suspect that Nathaniel no longer possesses a Class Core. And I think that Lord Ankh’aris doesn’t either. We’ll have confirmation soon though. Lord Ankh’aris treats the one called Kiri like a treasured Disciple as well, and I still felt the bindings of Reciprocity from her. If that vanishes soon, I think we can guess that my hypothesis is correct. We will ask for confirmation.”

Grommir shook his head. “That shouldn’t be possible. Interfering with the Class Core in any way triggers a violation. The System would punish them for even touching it.”

“Unless The System owes them. Then Reciprocity could be satisfied.”

Grommir shivered. He knew what The System was, even appreciated it to some extent as it kept a semblance of Order present throughout Reality. He had heard of it making deals with beings under its aegis before. But not for something like this. If they were unbound by The System, by Reciprocity…his jaw dropped.

“I see you’ve realised it, my friend. They can punch down freely if I am correct. They could make Belori’khan’andur’s numbers meaningless.”

“Yes, but if they’re not protected by The System he could send his True Divinities to take care of them.”

“That is where we come in.”

Grommir slowly began to smile. It was all hypotheticals for now, but if Crastor was correct, and he usually was, then Grommir could see a path to victory. Not a temporary victory. Not a single battle won. But an end to the war that had been Grommir’s entire life growing up in the Golden Tide.

“How do we convince them?” asked Grommir.

“We start by talking to the Eternal River Sect. You organise a meeting. I’ll start pulling in the relevant individuals for planning and making sure our guests have everything they need and no reason to change their minds.”

Grommir glanced at the carved mountain, the draconic maw staring back at him as though alive.

“Do you think he will take the field?”

Crastor followed Grommir’s gaze.

“If he does, the war will be over in an instant. But I don’t think he will. He spoke of teaching the one called Luci. If he intends to put his Disciples through the crucible he will likely act through them. But he may come out for Belori’khan’andur, and that is all we really need.”

Hearing Crastor say it like that made Grommir think that Lord Ankh’aris’s training methods verged on the cruel. But then again, looking at Nathaniel and Kiri, it was hard to argue with the results. Grommir turned away. He had a meeting to organise and the Eternal River Sect wasn’t known for acting quickly.