Legacy of the M'Zee Chapter 32

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

So, I just finished chapter 35, and wrote To Be Continued on it. I'm not sure on the ending, but it felt like a good spot to stop. Expect the next few chapters to come fast. I do have a few bits to go back and add, and then we'll see how things go. I scheduled sending the final draft to my editor on 19 September, so that's the deadline, and I might end up taking the week prior to that off. 

In other news, Energy Barons is out today! It's not on KU yet, but will be moved there on the 1st. Thanks for all your support!

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

Nothingness surrounded me for a few seconds, and then I found myself in a gallery. The room was ten meters wide and twenty long, with fluted columns reaching to the five meter high ceiling two meters away from the walls to either side. Ghostly figures stood at attention between the columns. At the far end, a throne rose out of the ground, six steps leading up to it. “Come forward, supplicant,” Spirit’s voice boomed at me.

I looked down and saw that I was wearing my keikogi, even though I hadn’t brought it with me. Examining it closer, I discovered it was made of a very high level thread, and my Aether Sight revealed Inscriptions covering the inside. I guess I did get a reward, I thought. I snapped to attention, then bowed to the throne before standing straight and marching down the gallery with a slow, measured step.

The ghosts lining the walls turned to follow me, their eyes glowing brightly. They were all androgynous, shaped similar to Spirit as tall, lanky elves. Half wore something like a Roman toga, while the other had on armor most reminiscent of ancient samurai, helmets including the oni mask held at their sides. As with Spirit, I couldn’t distinguish gender, if they had such a concept in their people.

It took me two minutes to march my way to the base of the steps up to the throne. Spirit sat upon it. They were in full color, their skin a deep mahogany, surprising my American media expectations. Spirit’s robes were a massive, sparkling affair, dozens of colors melding together in a way that was somehow both pleasant and overwhelming at the same time. A crown, matching the one on the history mural I saw back on the second day of our journey, sat upon their brow.

I paused upon reaching the base of the stairs, then bowed a full ninety degrees at my waist. I held the bow, waiting until I heard Spirit say, “You may rise.”

I straightened up, and the gallery vanished. Spirit, still wearing the ostentatious outfit, was standing two meters in front of me. Two chairs separated by a solid white table were in front of us. “Please, sit down,” Spirit told me, gesturing at the chairs.

“Uh,” I started to say.

“I hate all the pomp and circumstance,” they said. “Which is a great way to describe it, by the way. Your English is an interesting language.”

“I don’t know how many back on Earth would call it that,” I said, sitting down with a laugh. “If you hate the ceremony, why go through it?”

“Because you would appreciate it,” they said. “You have earned this last interview, with my full aspect to question you.”

“Is that why you are in color?” I asked.

They laughed, “Yes!” It took a second for them to gain control of themselves, and then Spirit’s jovial grin faded. “But we should proceed upon your questioning.”

“What about the others?” I asked.

“Your only real competition was Princess Aleksandra, Prince Gunther, and (Name). The Ashkhas heir would only use the Legacy to strengthen their family’s position, selfishly hoarding it for their own benefit. The Craesti and Volk heirs, at least, would share the majority of it, only holding back the strongest techniques for their families and nations. They are also behind you, having completed fewer challenges overall. Yes, your challenges with your compatriots counted for your wins. Now, why do you seek the Legacy of the M’Zee?”

“I’m not from this world,” I said, taking a deep breath afterwards. “I’m sure you saw that from my memories. I lost everything I’d been building there. Darkness gave me a chance to make a difference here, only exhorting me to grow stronger. Ma and Pa took me in, even though I was an invader in their son’s body. They gave me a family, something I did not have on my old world. Jon quickly became my best friend, and then I met Jamila and Vaya.”

I smiled softly, “At first Jamila got my attention because she looked and acted so similar to Jasmine, my fiancée from Earth, but she was awesome, and funny, and kind. She wants to be a great healer, learning to fight only to defend herself and her patients, and she is one already.”

I laughed, “Then Vaya was put on my team, strong enough to keep up with me in a fight, and feisty enough to push for what she wanted. After we became close, she kissed me first. She wanted to pursue me because I was someone she could choose, at first at least, but we’ve grown ever closer. She is strong, smart, and a great healer as well as a great fighter. I cannot wait to see how she grows.”

I shook my head, “Then there’s Aleks. Princess Aleksandra, the heir to the throne of Craesti, who just wanted someone to treat her like a person instead of an object to be sought after. She is self-sacrificing to a fault, which I’m sure almost spelled my own end. She still wants to fight me, sometime when we’re both at our full strength, rather than the times where one or the other of us have been injured or exhausted from fights. Her greatest desire is to be a good queen for Craesti once her father retires, and that is amazing to me.”

I stopped for a second, then continued. “I want to travel to the Weltreich and see Gunther’s home. He felt like a great guy to get to know. I want to explore the world. I want to find some good Illyrians and bring them into power. I want to be the hero everyone cheers, who gets all the girls, to somehow figure out how to manage three relationships at the same time and still make all of them feel special and unique, because they are. I want the Legacy to be strong enough to forge my own destiny, and to save this world I’ve come to call home. If that means sharing every bit of it with every person I know, then so be it.”

My gaze turned into a glare, “I will save this world, no matter how hard I have to work, without sacrificing its people. You insinuated that I would sacrifice the Craesti if it would save everyone else, and I deeply resent that. I would not sacrifice even the Illyrians, as I know there are innocents there as well. Not all of them can be giant jerks, even if they will require a lot of time and help to get beyond the lies that their culture has taught them.”

Spirit just laughed, “That was a challenge for Princess Aleksandra, not yourself. She needed to be sure of her trust in her friends, and to be willing to look beyond her fears. Of course, her love for you was the easiest button to push to get her past that hang up. She is currently working her way through the platforming room. Thank you, by the way. That room came from your memories of video games.”

“How much of this is real?” I asked. “And how much is a simulation?”

“About half and half,” Spirit said. “The rooms that looked like they were a part of the tower actually were. The ones that were much larger were a simulation, similar to the Training Pagoda at your Azyl Academy. In many ways, your Pagoda is a better system, and my true self would have loved to study the runes and Inscriptions that make it up. Your Master Narwan would have been someone I could have gotten along with.”

“Will the portal you want me to create allow those over Condensation to enter this realm?”

“No,” Spirit said. “The restriction is inherent to the plane. Anyone stronger would destabillize it, so the Formations that created it also empowered the barrier to reject those who are stronger.”

“How did Sia get in?” I asked.

“His Bond with you and nature as an Elemental Zarorzel allowed him to shed his strength into the barrier, rather than being pushed out from the plane,” Spirit answered. Their gaze hardened for a second. “What will you do with the Legacy of the M’Zee?”

“Uh, that depends,” I said. “Entirely what does it entail?”

Spirit huffed a laugh, then said, “It is the collective knowledge of the most powerful of my peoples, organized by category and strength required to utilize, along with a dozen of our strongest relics. You should convince your king to create something similar. My people were destroyed in our war, and the only reason this exists is the forward thinking of an advisor.”

“I will, if we don’t have something like that already,” I said seriously. “Uh, to answer your question, I’ll probably share everything that won’t cause significant problems. I don’t want to destabilize countries or economies with too many changes too quickly, though, so it will probably take time.”

“And how would you decide?” Spirit questioned me.

“My knowledge, advice from my friends, Librarian Narwan, and King Craesti,” I said. “Though I will make sure that we give what we can to the other nations. The Ashkhas and Volk are our allies, though there may be pushback from helping out the Topraki, or especially the Illyrians, once we have removed their current rulers from power. I will force it, though, if I have to. We will not be able to stand alone against what is coming, and only a world united will have a chance at success.”

Spirit nodded, “Good enough,” they said. “Follow me.” They stood and turned towards the right wall. A door appeared, almost like a sheet covering it had been pulled away. Spirit glided forward, and the door opened before they reached it.

I leapt to my feet and hurried after them. The door opened onto a set of stairs that wrapped around the inside of the tower’s walls. We went up a hundred meters, passing three landings before the stairs ended.

Again, the door in front of Spirit just opened, and I found myself in the topmost chamber of the Tower of Trials. A large display table filled the center, easily six meters long and made of a gorgeous dark brown hardwood. Fifty knowledge stones, larger than any I’d seen to date, sat upon cushions to either side of the center.

In the middle of the table, twelve items  were displayed. A sword took the center, blazing with power in my Aether Sight. Beside it, a helmet and breastplate glowed with a silvery Aether, darker than Metal but feeling even stronger. A spear, a necklace, a belt, a cape, a metal plate, a rolled up piece of fabric, and a shield filled the rest of the space between the knowledge stones.

Behind the table, a two meter tall and one meter wide metal surfboard leaned against what looked like a small hut. The hut made everything else I’d seen with my Sight besides Behemoth look dim, and I instinctively knew that it was peak Soul Strengthening level artifact. Nothing on the table was less than Perfect Core level, with several, including the sword and helmet, giving off the same amount of power as Librarian Narwan did to my Aether Sight.

The whole table was incredibly bright, and I wished yet again that I could turn off my Aether Sight. Squinting at it, though, I saw a few signs indicating the topics of the knowledge stones. Inscriptions, Gathering, Smithing, Alchemy, Beast Rearing, Herbology, Farming, Leatherwork, Formations, Boat Craft (Name), Enchantments, and Techniques, which had twice as many stones as any of the others, were the labels, showing what the stones included.

“This is the Legacy of the M’Zee,” Spirit said, gesturing. “And as the one who truly earned it, you receive an extra prize.” Spirit held up a plain, silver ring. “This is one of my greatest accomplishments, using the Core of a Chaos Beast that nearly matched me in power. This ring holds a tiny plane where you can store up to a thousand cubic meters of material.”

The ring floated over to me. I quickly grabbed it and put it on. A tiny stream of Aether reached into it, and I found it had thirty pills already inside. “What are these?” I asked, holding up my left hand.

“The Chosen of the World Hold It High,” Spirit said. “It is a pill that will bring you from where you currently stand to the peak of Condensation, as you call it, and push you harder than you have been pushed yet. It includes Akili, or Geist as you know it, and will also take you to a higher threshold of mental capability.”

Spirit paused for a second, “You will not become smarter. Everyone always asks that. No, it does not involve your intellect or intelligence. What it will allow you to do is control Aether better at a farther distance from your body. Do you understand?”

I nodded, too intimidated by his tirade to say anything.

“Good,” Spirit looked grumpy for a second. “Anyway, do not worry about sharing. There should be enough in the armory and storehouses for everyone that survived the Trials.”

“Survived!?” I asked, incredulous. “Who didn’t survive!” I nearly screamed the last bit, suddenly panicking about my friends.

Spirit looked at me gravely, a deep frown on their face, then they smirked and huffed a laugh. “No one. This is supposed to be a challenge, not a death trap. I deeply regret those that have died in the proving ground outside the Tower, though your group did not lose anyone, which makes me happy. With the portal designs I gave you, no one should die again. There is supposed to be an Aether shield that would detect lethal damage and remove them from the plane before death, while sealing the injury to allow a healer to attend them. That is one reason behind the five-year cycle, to allow the barrier to heal.”

“Got it,” I said, glaring at the jerk for making me worry, “not that I need any encouragement to get the portal built as soon as possible. Now, what do I do with the ring and the Legacy?”

“Whatever you want,” Spirit said. “While the true purpose of the Tower has been fulfilled, the trials will remain, and the majority of the rewards are something I can produce as the Spirit of the Tower. That is another reason for the five year cycle, to allow me time to create additional rewards if they have been depleted. The storehouses and armory contain hundreds of items at the Seed, Partial, and Complete Core level for those entering the Trials from now on.”

“I’ll make sure to negotiate a share of the positions into the Trials for Craesti, since the portal is located on the Ashkhas’ land,” I said.

Spirit looked at me, then said, “Tell the leaders of the Ashkhas that they will be required to allow the Volk, Topraki, and Craesti an equal participation in the Trials. Eventually, I will also require the Illyrians and any other races to participate as well. The Trials were made to reward the strongest and most talented youth, regardless of family or wealth, and I will extend that to include race.” They paused, looking stern. “I will be checking.”

“Okay, um, can I put all the Core and higher knowledge stones into the ring? I don’t want to read them and risk losing the knowledge too quickly,” I asked.

“These can be read nearly a thousand times,” Spirit said. “Yes, knowledge stones created from the core of a Core level gatherer will only last a dozen or so. These were made from the core of Soul Strengthening level gatherers, and will last nearly forever.”

“Is there anything beyond Soul Strengthening?” I asked.

“Yes,” Spirit answered. “But I leave that for you to discover. The Soul Strengthening gathering techniques include information on how to advance beyond, though it is very limited. I was the only one to ever do so, after all.”

“You can’t be the only one,” I said. “I think you are the one referred to as Fire in our myths. There are nine others, though Darkness and Light most likely predated you. You are referred to as their child, after all.”

“We did know of Darkness and Light. As for others advancing past Soul Strengthening, that I do not know,” Spirit said. “I was created nearly immediately after my ascension, to be a guide for the next generation, with the hope that others would arise. Looking upon you, they did not.” Spirit grew said, then sighed. “Please, take this time to gather. You will be here until everyone else finishes the Trials.”

“First thing I’m going to do is figure out which of the artifacts I’m going to keep for my own use. Can you describe them?”

“The Sword was my apprentice’s weapon. She called it Starkiller. When you channel Aether into it, an edge of Sharpness Aether is generated around it, letting it cut through nearly anything. She was an amazing smith and enchanter,” Spirit said. “The helmet and breastplate form the Bulwark of (Name), using Metal, Earth, and Defiance Aether to protect their wearer. They also help resist anything that would move you, defying the momentum of an impact.”

“That’s neat,” I said, impressed.

“Your people can do similar things,” Spirit said. “I have seen many examples of smithing that are equal to ours in your memories, though you did not recognize them yourself. The Spear of Twilight is next, using its inherent flexibility, Air, Darkness, and Shadow Aether to dazzle and confuse your opponent, slipping through cracks in their defenses and piercing through armor as it was not there.”

“Which would win, the Spear or the Bulwark?” I asked.

“That is a good question,” Spirit said. “And the answer is unsatisfying. It depends on the skill of the wielder of each tool, their Affinities for the base Aether used in the Inscriptions, and the strength of the Enchanter.”

“Enchanter?”

“Your people call it Inscribing. Mine separated single use Inscriptions from reusable Enchantments. Though, there really is not much difference. After the Spear, we have the Center of the Universe. Wearing the necklace will cause Aether to be passively drawn to you, enhancing any gathering attempt severalfold. The Girdle of Giants sends a small flow of Strength Aether, a combination of Earth, Water, and Fire, to double your physical might at the Soul Opening, or Perfect Core as you call it, realm. Do not wear it below that realm, though, or you will injure yourself.”

“Got it,” I said with a grimace.

“The Hidden Mantle hides you from others, regardless of their sense. You will be harder to see, smell, hear, your effect on air pressure, bending brush or grass, Aether senses, all of it is dampened or removed entirely. To detect you, they would have to be an entire realm above you. The plate is Inscribed with Connecting the Myriad Peoples. You can use it to enchant eight pendants, allowing a one hour conversation between all holders once per month.”

“What’s the range on that?” I asked.

“I never did find a maximum,” Spirit said. “The pendants are attached to the bottom of the plate. To Call the Heavens was Inscribed just before the final battle, but was never used. It should bring down a bolt of Lightning and Retribution Aether that is at the realm where I was before ascending, killing anything on this world. My apprentice made the shield and called it To Hold the World on High. She was a fan of pretentious names. Anything that impacted it would immediately be hit by an equal amount of Force Aether, negating nearly every impact upon it. The impacts are stored, and may be released as an additional plume of Aether, knocking everything back around. Be careful that it does not run out of storage space, or it could release the Force pulse without your control.”

“Those are amazing,” I said.

“Thank you, my apprentice and her fellow smiths were inspired,” Spirit said. “The last two items are the Skysurfer, a Perfect Core level flying treasure. With Aether, it can expand up to twelve meters wide, allowing you to carry immense weight or a large number of people. A shield of Air and Water is used to keep those on from falling off, and it can use the Aether of everyone on board to travel.”

“Very useful,” I said.

“The last was my own invention, and mine until I left this world to seek vengeance upon Chaos. I called it the Portable Home. The hut you see will shrink to fit in your palm, and all of its weight is pushed into another plane. When placed on the ground and triggered, the Enchantments expand it to the current size. It is a portal to a tiny plane, consisting of twenty rooms. Currently I have a Smithing room, an Alchemy room, and Inscription room, a kitchen, sixteen bedrooms, and the main room that connects them all. It cannot be moved while anyone sapient is inside, but it provides near perfect safety and extreme comfort while exploring the world.”

“Well, I definitely want that,” I said. “But how am I going to divide this?” I thought for a second, “I’d love to be able to leave some here for future generations, but not with a calamity coming down upon us. Am I even the best person to keep anything? I mean, that sword would be perfect for Mentor Jameson, but it would also be great for Ming, Xiao, Bet, or Aleks.”

“Your princess does not need something like this,” Spirit said. “Her sword is already equivalent, though you have never faced it.”

“Well, okay then,” I said. “Not helpful.”

“Take at least two items for yourself, then give the rest to your mentor to distribute if you wish to avoid the responsibility, but you do not have to share. Everyone else will receive a single item from either the armory or storehouse.”

I just looked at him blankly. “Really,” I said after a few seconds, “I could keep all of these,” I gestured, “because everyone else gets something? But I don’t even use a lot of this stuff.”

Spirit just smirked at me. “Use the ring, put everything inside it, and wait for the rest of your competitors and friends.”

“Fine,” I said, then moved over to the area behind the table. There was a large enough clear space for me to perform the Eight-by-Eight Gathering Form. I sent a small stream of Aether into the ring to activate it. I was able to absorb into it the closest two items, giving me a range of about a meter. Quickly running up and down the table to put everything else into the ring. Afterwards, I took a deep breath, looked over at Spirit’s floating form, and then said, “Please let me know when someone arrives.”

“I will,” Spirit responded.

I nodded, then began to gather.