IV-30 Decider

Animancy might just be the single most complicated art form anyone can learn. On top of being an art form, it is also a science, for it has to do with every magical lore in existence and every natural law in existence. In summation, it is a collision between the mutable and the historical, coming together to form the fullness of someone's legend in relation to the system.

This is also why most practitioners of Animancy have a tendency to kill themselves when things go wrong. For you see, the system is aware of what you are doing, but it doesn't appreciate it. It might not be conscious, it might not have a sense of personhood, but it does have a sense of self-preservation. And if you can tweak its narrative, if you can adjust its variables, then what worth is the system? No, the system is put in place to give structure and to lead us down a specific path. A path of struggle, strife, and growth. A Path that further shapes our souls by feeding the skills that comprise us.

Before one takes up Animancy, it's best that they understand the depths of necromancy, of divination, of most magical skills, the fundamentals of engineering, the archaic laws of the pre-integration, paired with a grasp of mythology and storytelling. Things only become more complicated from here.

No two Pathbearers are the same. No two Pathbearers share the same experiences. And when you reach into their skills, when you try to adjust who they are, you have to do it carefully, in a way that flows naturally with the narrative. You can't simply change someone's internalized legend at a whim. You will be struck down for this.

The past, to some extent, is quite immutable. The system remembers, and it will know if you try to forcibly change things, as mentioned before. As such, someone who evolved their physicality by besting a were-tiger in a wrestling match cannot simply have their evolution changed when an Animancer adjusts their legend to having them overcome a dragon, or even two were-tigers, to a lesser extent.

But this doesn't mean that legends are unchangeable. In fact, if the Pathbearer in question further evolves and does overcome a dragon or two were-tigers, then the connected skill, or another skill in relation to the skill you're modifying, can be used as a transplant. Legends can be drawn from one place to another, rearranging the structure of said person. It is still a delicate art, and assembling this narrative badly will result in death, or the bleed-over.

And this is where Animancy becomes a potent weapon, for you see, everyone exists in relation to the Integration, and with the slightest touch, you can see one blended with the greater narrative that rules over us all.

So, Animancer, wield your power carefully, for it is double-edged, and there is another hand holding it, always.

-Animancy: The Tale of Tales

IV-30
Decider

Shiv seized a blast of Vitae before it could fully burrow into his soul. With gritted teeth, he pushed back, using his own Vitaemancy to wrestle against Udraal. The Abyssal Lord might have copied his power, but that didn't mean Shiv was going to lay down and accept his fate.

Sullen cried out. Adam bit back a piercing wail. The orcs flinched, giving wide berth to the unfolding chaos within the guard station. Besides Shiv, Gone shivered, a vibration of chronomantic speed running like electric volts through her body. Her eyes narrowed at Udraal, but she did nothing. Fear ruled over her, and she chose her life instead of risking it for Shiv's.

"Truly, you're going to wrestle with me right now?" Udraal said, sounding more fascinated than offended. “Why? Why are you so determined to make this pointlessly difficult?”

"I told you before, I'm not your dog." Shiv's words ended in a growl as he left context once more. A twitching mass of vitae erupted out from his body just as Udraal's power tore through his physical shell. He felt his vitality plunge, but the space between him and Udraal was but a scant few meters. He slammed into his maker once more, but rather than targeting Udraal himself, he seized his ghostly clone and tore it apart. Vectors sliced into the ghost's body, and bursts of red and white mana sprayed free from its rupturing form. Meanwhile, the Deathless himself turned his Vitae on Udraal.

Shiv drew hard on Udraal’s vitality. A channel formed between the Deathless and Integration itself. But a counterforce dragged at Shiv’s core. A wrenching pain clawed its way out of the Deathless’s wounded soul as he felt Udraal wrench his vitality as well. “Come now, Deathless,” Udraal said. “You’re not the only one with that skill. You cannot have my vitality. But here. Have my soul.”

The right side of Udraal's lip curved up in a faint smile, and he held out his arms. Instead of resisting Shiv, he let the Deathless pour his Vitae in deeper. Shiv unleashed a flood of red and white inside Udraal, and he began groping through the depths of the Abyssal Lord's soul. However, he found a resistance waiting for him. A flare of faint blue ignited at Udraal's core. It promptly collapsed around Shiv's vitae, and it burned him. It burned him like nothing had burned him before.

The Deathless howled. Blackness burst behind his vision as he nearly toppled, but against all odds, he remained standing. It might be because of his anger. It might be out of sheer stubborn defiance, but he landed on his left knee, and he forced himself back up. He was beyond pain now. His body was practically coming apart. His skin tumbled free from his flesh in thick clumps, and it felt like his veins were flooded with molten liquid as Shiv shuddered.

Udraal loomed over him, simply waving a single finger. Spell shapes formed from Animancy danced around Shiv, becoming a constellation that left him enchained. The Deathless heard Adam cry out for him, saw three more Veilpiercers slam into Udraal's chest. Each of them dissolved, as the Abyssal Lord unleashed his Animantic aura. It folded over Shiv, burning him even worse.

Shiv felt like he was being shredded apart. Entire sections of his flesh were hissing free from his bones. It was like he was being turned into gas.

Yeah. Ow. Six out of ten.

Udraal’s casual smile flattened in a disbelieving stare as Shiv held on. “Are you… Does this not bother you?”

“Just pain,” Shiv growled. “Nothing more.”

The Abyssal Lord’s jaw dropped slightly. “Just… pain? Aren’t you a tough one.” A beat followed. “System, not even a scream from Animancy burns. Well. I can’t complain about your pain tolerance for one.”

But Shiv never drew his vitae out from Udraal. He kept it sheathed, and he continued pushing deeper. Even if this was going to burn him to death, he would find a way to tear Udraal asunder. He would leave the man with an eternal wound. Shiv shaped his vitae into a pair of tearing claws. They cleaved out in opposing directions, but he found Udraal's soul to be harder than Orichalcum. Harder, perhaps, than even the Tarrasque's crystalline shell. All the while, Udraal continued burning him. Slowly, the faint look of amusement on Udraal's face faded, and it was replaced with an arched eyebrow.

"What is your plan, exactly?" Udraal asked. “Beyond impressing me with your staggering durability.” 

Shiv didn't reply to him. He focused every bit of his effort on leaving Udraal broken. He used his Causal Scar-Giver and his dread-tainted feats. He activated his Icon of the Paindrinker blessing, and as he wielded all these things in tandem against Udraal, the Abyssal Lord waited for him to offer a reply. When Shiv didn't say anything, content to use violence to speak for him instead, Udraal rolled his eyes and gently took Shiv by the arms.

"No, no. Stop, stop. Boy, stop."

Shiv ignored him.

Udraal sighed. He placed the palm of his hand on Shiv's forehead, and he spoke aloud. A wave of Psychomancy crashed into Shiv, but it was accompanied by something else. A feeling of peace and overwhelming calm radiated out from Udraal and suffused Shiv's consciousness. Every fiber of his being demanded that he surrender, that he obey Udraal's request. Shiv's shapeless tides held the Psychomancy at bay, but the other aspect, the social aspect, tore through and wreaked havoc on Shiv's Psycho-Cartography skill.

Psycho-Cartography: You should listen to him. He is the wisest man you will ever know. There is no harm in listening to him. You will learn much if you listen to him.

Despite all this, despite having his emotions compromised, the Deathless clung on to Udraal's soul. He never stopped trying. He would never stop trying. It didn't matter what Udraal did to him. He knew that he needed to protect Adam, to protect other prisoners, to protect himself. He wouldn't be anyone's slave, no matter what.

Udraal's mouth formed a perfect 'o' by this point, and a look of growing surprise crawled over him. "I see that the Tarrasque mind template I put in you is more potent than expected." He let out a slight chuckle, and then he withdrew his hand from Shiv's forehead. Afterward, he cupped both hands behind his back, as if a master beholding the astonishing efforts of a disciple.

Shiv continued, lashing at Udraal's soul over and over again. A building sense of futility was born within him as he realized nothing he did thus far affected Udraal at all. But the Abyssal Lord remained passive as well. Instead, he simply observed Shiv. Sometimes he closed his eyes, feeling what Shiv was doing to him. At other moments, he lashed Shiv with bursts of Animancy. The Deathless cried out. The pain was incredible. But by now, pain was a neighbor, an old acquaintance. And it would take far more than pain to make Shiv stop, to turn from his chosen path. Nothing was going to stop him. Nothing—

A sound came from behind, the sound of a body hitting the ground. Shiv stopped. He turned around and saw Adam lying there, unmoving. He cast his Biomancy at the Gate Lord, wrapping him in a mana hydra. At once, Adam's many wounds were rendered within Shiv's mana field, and a roiling sense of horror built within the Deathless. Adam's burns were severe, and his organs were shutting down. His heart was slowing, his eyes were fluttering. He had managed to keep standing for a long while, but his righteous dawn had finally faded at some point. He was spent, utterly, spiritually, and physically spent.

Instead of focusing on Udraal, Shiv cast his vitae into Adam. The Abyssal Lord did nothing still. He continued watching, as if just an observer to the unfolding scene.

"Shit, Adam, Adam, listen to me, you're gonna be fine. I'm going to..." Shiv wasn't fully sure what he planned to do, and for a brief moment he almost panicked, but then he remembered how he mended Adam's mother, and he repeated the very same action. He began cycling vitae between himself and Adam. Their wounds shifted. The Gate Lord groaned weakly, yet Shiv continued on. He continued until he managed to filter more of the injuries over to himself, and as Shiv took on more of Adam's burns, he felt himself grow weaker. It didn't matter. He could deal with pain, he could deal with weakness.

When he drew away all of Adam's damage, he would reach out to reality or someone nearby, and for the first time, Shiv's eyes snapped to Sullain. The vicar was huddled in a ball, and his eyes were wide with terror.

“Not many options left, it seems,” Udraal muttered.

“Fuck you,” Shiv hissed. But Udraal was right.

Immediately, the Deathless reached out, casting a net of red and white around the Vicar.

"No, please!" Sullen cried out, but Shiv had no easy options, and he was done considering the ethics of what he was about to do. It didn't matter that he might be playing into Udraal's hands. It didn't matter that he felt uncomfortable. Shiv would inflict far more than just murder on Sullain if it meant Adam's restoration.

Soon he began cycling his own wounds over into Sullain, and the vicar screamed like a dying pig, squealed like a dying hog. What Shiv knew to be incredible agony was utterly unbearable for Sullain, and soon Adam's torment was added on top of that. By the end, Sullainwas shaking, foaming at the mouth and wrapped in so many burns he barely looked human. He was little more than a lump of flesh, held together by charred bone and exposed organs. He gasped violently, his heart hammered inside his chest, his lungs pulsed, but then a wheeze left his throat as they deflated.

Then Shiv caught sight of something. There was a glint of the faintest blue inside the vicar. It was a glint that circulated between various spots inside his soul. It jumped from place to place, but as Shiv focused his Awareness, he saw that glint circulating faster, as if there was a circuit or a network it followed. And at that point, Shiv saw his foresight level up. There were no more errors. The Deathless's eyes widened as he realized he had managed to expel the poison left inside him. He had managed to cast it over into Sullain’s soul.

A massive surge of levels and relief pulsed through Shiv as everything bottlenecked within him began to flow once more.

Leviathan of the Shapeless Tides 500 > 501

Pillar of Orichalcum 232 > 245

Inertial Overdrive 140 > 161

Aegis of Assimilation 114 > 116

Psycho-Cartography 68 > 75

Shape of Monstrosity 123 > 139

Vitaemancy 97 > 110

Vitality Drain 96 > 122

Golemancy 15 > 22

Farsight 64 > 71

Frictionless Vector 76 > 88

Deception 27 > 33

Multi-Tasking 30 > 38

Dodge 22 > 31

Philosophy 18 > 24

Striking Proficiency 45 > 50 (Skill Evolution Imminent)

"Well, it seems that you've achieved an instinctive understanding of vitality transference from your previous experience," Udraal clapped, and there was nothing sarcastic about his action. He seemed genuinely proud of Shiv. “Your intuition is proving to be most useful. Very good.”

That filled the Deathless with nothing but fury fury.

He turned on Udraal now. His body was mostly healed, his soul restored and stable. His period of vulnerability was over, and Shiv was tired, tired and pissed, and done with all this bullshit. Done with the ascendants, done with Udraal, done with being dragged from one place to another, running into one problem after another. His rage boiled at a breaking point. It had been so long since he had snapped that his hands were shaking. He was long since past his threshold for violence and struggle. And here Udraal was, goading him on, looking at him as if he was a prized pupil.

And as Shiv snarled at Udraal like a ravenous mastiff about to tear into someone's thigh, Udraal himself seemed pleased. "Now, now, enough of that. It’s meaningless. You've done what I wanted you to, albeit in a very roundabout, very pointlessly violent way. Was all that you did earlier necessary? You know you cannot hurt me, Deathless. Not as you are now.”

"Don’t give a shit," Shiv hissed. "You don't touch me. You don't touch Adam. Not unless I tell you to. Not ever."

"And you think that's up to you? That you can demand this of me?" Udraal asked. There was no threat in his voice. It was a sincere question, and it just made Shiv want to beat the Abyssal Lord to death.

"I don't care who you are. I don't care how powerful you are. I will find a way to hurt you. I will tear into your soul. And if I can't do that... if I can't do that..." For the first time, Shiv stopped for a moment and thought, thought about how he might be able to wound Udraal, or at least threaten him.

The Abyssal Lord was powerful. He intervened on Shiv's behalf and stalled the Ascendants. That meant that he was at least a legend. At least. A legend was helpless against the combined might of the Avatars. Shiv and a small army of prisoners were overwhelmed, cornered, and would have been recaptured if not for Udraal's sudden intervention and the Composer's delay. But Udraal had made several things known. First, he was here for Shiv. Not only for Shiv, but mainly for Shiv. That meant the Deathless had value to Udraal. That meant he mattered. 

And that gave Shiv an advantage.

"No other Deathless but me, huh?" Shiv suddenly muttered.

Udraal's eyes narrowed. He quickly realized where Shiv was going. "Boy," he said, and for the first time, hints of apprehension leaked into his voice. “You wouldn’t…” And then he stared into Shiv’s eyes, and let out a grunt of disbelief. “Oh… You actually would. System, you’re actually fearless. How… Disconcerting.”

Shiv simply chuckled humorlessly, darkly. "Yeah. Some of us learn to handle our problems with death quietly. But I'll tell you this again right now. You don't touch me. You don't touch Adam. You don't do anything unless we let you. And if you do, I'm gonna let myself fade out of existence. I'll just go Non-Sequitur. I'll break my vitae anchor, and I'll wait. I'll wait until there's nothing left."

The Challenger is watching intently

Udraal blinked, utterly flabbergasted. "You would kill yourself to spite me. You don't even know what I'm about to say. You don't even know me. You don't know what I want."

"I don't give a godsdamn what you want!" Shiv snapped. "I don't give a shit what anyone wants! I have a hidden quest that has practically everyone in the world hunting my ass! I got thrown into a prison by the people who were supposed to be my gods, my government! One of my orcs just died! I barely escaped capture from said felonious gods! I have people I care about that are still missing, that I don't know where they are, that I don't know what their condition is, and I need to get them back! And here you are, out of nowhere!" 

By now, redness was crawling across Shiv's vision. So much anger burned inside of him that he nearly lost control, that he nearly went berserk again, but Shiv held himself together. Swinging blindly like a flailing child would not protect him against Udraal. He was learning that lesson over and over again. His anger needed to be spent wisely, with focus and precision. The first hint of worry on Udraal's face was Shiv's threat to end himself, and he would continue exploiting that threat if need be. He would go through with it without hesitation if need be. But only as a means of controlling Udraal.

Psycho-Cartography 75 > 76

"And here you are," Shiv continued, "all these years later, after whatever fucked up deal you made with my parents to make me, after everything you did, for whatever reason you did it. You're here, taunting us, playing with us."

"I saved you," Udraal said, sounding almost offended. “Where would you be without me?”

Shiv scoffed in disgust. "Is that what you did? Yeah, I guess you distracted the Ascendants and helped us get away, but this doesn't feel like a rescue, Udraal. This feels like we are trading one captor for another."

The Abyssal Lord frowned and shook his head. "What an absurd notion. I have no intention of taking you as a slave. I just want you to continue the experiment."

"So I'm less than a slave then," Shiv said, his voice falling lower, the menace inside of him growing. "Just a thing for you to use, to learn about the system so you can strike it down from the inside?"

"We are all just things to the system," Udraal replied. It sounded like he repeated this line a lot. "And we are all used by someone else in one way or another, used by ourselves as well. But fine, I'll accept your demand for agency, at least for now. I don't need to forcibly control you for you to do what I want. In fact, I expect you to do what I want because our interests are quite aligned."

"Yeah, somehow I doubt that," Shiv replied.

"You doubt that I want you to grow stronger?" Udraal said. "You doubt that I want you to trigger the largest incursion Earth has seen yet? Say otherwise right now, and I will bow down and offer my sincerest apologies.”

Shiv fell silent.

"You doubt it because you're doubting things out of spite, boy. You don't even know what I want. You don't know the deal that your parents made, why you exist, what the point of the Deathless project is. You don't know a great many things. Now you stand before me raging and raving like an angry child faced with a long-absent father." Udraal pressed his lips together and shrugged. "It's understandable. I, in fact, understand and see your perspective. How could I not? I'm not offended by your anger, your distrust. I'm disappointed in your blind anger and your stubbornness earlier. You should have tried a few different strategies instead of grabbing at my soul and letting me burn you with animancy for so long. By the system, what was Roland teaching you?"

"Roland didn't teach me anything!" Shiv shouted. "Roland couldn't decide what he wanted to do with me! I spent my entire life as a pathless! I haven't been Deathless for long! I've been nothing for a long time! Nothing! For most of my life, I was nothing! And now you come back to stick your fingers in my soul? Take my skill? Yeah, no. I’m not taking that shit.”

"Wait, Pathless?" Udraal frowned. "Yes, I haven't checked in for quite a while, but how long were you Pathless? You were Pathless as a child, up to the point you were ten, but past that. How long?"

Shiv stared at him. "A few months ago, at most." His life was a lot to process. He had lived through a great many things in a short amount of time.

And Udraal's expression turned astonished. "So late. I see. It activated upon your first death." He tapped a finger against his head. "Interesting, interesting. We’ll need to talk more about this. But first, tend to Pathbearer Arrow. He is coming around.”

A groan came from Adam, and Shiv rushed over and propped his friend up. The Gate Lord's eyes opened, and he found himself staring up at Shiv.

"You all right?" Shiv asked.

Adam felt at his body and realized he wasn't burned anymore. "Oh no!" Adam groaned. "I had a terrible dream. I had a dream that the person who engineered the ritual that resulted in my mother and sister's death is here. Oh, bloody hells." Adam looked past Shiv to see Udraal, and his eyes went from fluttering blinks to a hardened glare.

Nearby, other prisoners groaned. Shiv realized then they were burned as well, and winced as he understood what he needed to do. Sullain was still rasping nearby, rolling around on the ground. He could still be used, but he wouldn't survive all the burns. Something felt wrong about transferring all these soul wounds into Sullain, but that something was already past the point of no return. Shiv had already unleashed his power on Sullain, done what Udraal wanted him to. 

For a moment, Shiv considered if he could transfer the burns afflicting the other prisoners onto Udraal himself, but something inside him told him that it wasn't likely. Udraal was powerful. Udraal knew Animancy far better than Shiv, and with how he wielded his own Vitality Drain Skill, Shiv didn't think he could touch him at all. Not like this.

"Welcome back, young Lord Arrow," Udraal said flatly. "I do suspect, though, that the reason why Roland didn't train you properly, my Deathless, is because he's still alive." Udraal took a few steps closer, looking down at Shiv. "Yes, in fact, I'm sure of it. Do you know that your father has a very brittle psyche? If you died, and he was left with absolutely no one, something inside him would have crumbled, and he would have made one of two choices with my Deathless. The first would be to murder the child. A possibility, of course, but not a very high one. He was always too kind." 

Udraal gave a smile, as if he was amused by the fact. "The second, and far more likely outcome, is him adopting my Deathless. With that, there would be a most broken family. The man, and the only thing left of his original family. A creature born of violence, bloodshed, trauma, but also his final link to the friends that betrayed him, and to the ones that he lost. This was all but assured to me through Psychology.”

A cold feeling gripped Shiv as Udraal recounted his plan. Adam was supposed to die. Adam was supposed to die, and that was supposed to unbalance Roland enough that he took Shiv as a sort of adopted son. Shiv couldn't imagine such a life. Couldn't imagine Roland taking him in after everything else that had happened.

But as he considered it, his psychocartography activated. It's possible. We don't know Roland very well, but he's emotional. And when people get emotional, when people are personally afflicted, they can do all manner of strange things. All kinds of strange things.

"You absolute monster," Adam gasped with near feral hatred. “You godsdamned fuck!”

Udraal considered the Gate Lord's accusation and angled his head. "I potentially half-agree with that statement," Udraal answered. "I wouldn't say I'm an absolute monster, but I'm willing to do a great many things to see my goals furthered. I didn't personally intend to hurt your family. It's just that you are born to a powerful lineage. Your father, especially, is a remarkable Pathbearer. He survived a great many things that he shouldn't have. And that is why I chose him. That and the fact that he managed to best one of my vessels. I guided him to the depths of the Abyss afterward. And there he and the rest of the Eclipse Breakers entered the Great One's dreaming. Roland was changed. Your mother was somewhat changed. The others..." 

Udraal trailed off as he looked at Shiv. "Your parents, however, they were lacking in certain ways. They were terrible Pathbearers, but they didn't have the... how should I put it? They don't have it. That special thing that makes you go beyond the limitations of your skills. That special thing that makes you a true struggler. They didn't have it, but I think you do. In fact, I know you do. Anyhow, it's because of that moment that your fates were sealed."

Again, Udraal spoke so casually that Shiv felt a rush of nausea pass through him.

"Life is terribly cruel," Udraal continued. "Don't think I don't understand that. In fact, my parents know that more than I do. I had a mother once." The Abyssal Lord paused, and Shiv caught a flash of pain behind Udraal's eyes. "Technically, I still have a mother. She isn't truly lost. She's just been cast out, forgotten, taken from this world by the Great One's dreaming. The system still has records of her. And someday, someday soon," he grinned at Shiv, "I will see her brought back. I have the means now, anyway. Right here before me.”

And Shiv had a feeling he wasn't going to enjoy this. "You're going to implant her in one of my skills," Shiv said. "You're going to make me bring her back, just like I brought Rose back."

"Correct," Udraal said, "if it is at all possible. I aim to keep my hopes contained. Rose Van Erren was a special case, infused through transplanted skill and ritual. I expected her daughter to be birthed first through you. She was a clean slate, someone without a designated Path and without an accumulation of legends. It should have been an easier rebirth when you devolved a skill suited for her. But it seems that your Path has surprised me once more. She really should be back by now… Her absence is troubling.”

The Abyssal Lord sighed as he began to stroll around. He walked back toward the center of the lobby and placed a hand on his Animancy banner. "There are a great many things I'm learning right now still. I can't confess to saying... I can't claim to be omniscient or omnipotent. In fact, I'm very fallible." 

He placed something within his banner and then turned away. "So far, Deathless, you're proving to be more a surprise than anything else. I've had a great many expectations about you and theoretical guesses as to how you might turn out, but now, standing here looking at you, you are outside the context of my expectations. Part of that is pleasing, and another part is very frustrating. It's the loss of control, but also the discovery of things I didn't think of before. Like that skill you keep using on me, the one that makes me forget you exist for a few seconds of time when your body is destroyed. What is that called?"

Shiv didn't tell him.

Udraal stared at him for a moment, and then his eyes flashed with faint blue. "Outside Context Problem, is it? No, that was the previous evolution. What's the current one called?"

Shiv still didn't answer.

Udraal shook his head. "I will find out eventually. You're just making this frustrating. Regardless, now that you've pulled most of your burns out of your body, we can continue on with our education. Sullain ? Vicar, are you still alive?" Udraal called aloud.

Sullain shook on the ground, and from squeaking lungs, he muttered prayer after prayer. "Great one, great one, rise. Great one, rise from your slumber and save me. Great one, have I not been a worthwhile servant? Have I not been faithful?"

"He's still alive," Udraal said dryly. "That means we can keep using him as a subject. So, have at it." He gestured toward Shiv. "Make sure the rest of your little fellowship is restored. It's good practice for you."

Shiv glared at Udraal for a long moment, but the Abyssal Lord just looked back at him with a flat expression. "My boy, you've already broken him. You've already condemned him to a forthcoming death. You shattered his skill, you've left him crippled, broken at the spirit, and now you've moved all your burns into him. What more can you possibly do to remedy this situation? Are you going to pull the burns back out? Are you going to reassume that ownership over these many wounds?"

Shiv knew Udraal was right about that fact, but still, going along with the Abyssal Lord felt wrong. And that made the Deathless take another option.

"No. You heal them instead," Shiv snapped.

Udraal blinked. "You want me to fix them?" He gestured at the other prisoners.

"I’m telling you to do it," Shiv said without any hint of shame. "You are going to fix them, and I want you to do it without bargaining or rejecting it. You owe me that much."

"I owe you?" Udraal replied with a near cackle. "I owe you. I..."

"Yes," Shiv said with a building growl of anger. "You made me. I didn't ask to be. I didn't ask for you to make me with an atrocity. Adam didn't ask you to murder his mother and sister. Roland didn't ask you to break him. No one asked for this. It was your doing. So right now, you're going to do me a favor. A free one. Fix them. Or I end this experiment right now.”

Shiv immediately cast out some of his Vitae—and promptly started shattering himself into puffs of mana with his Shapeless Tides. He kept going without slowing, breaking more of and more of himself as death drew close.

Udraal fell silent for a long moment, and he folded his arms. He briefly considered being petulant. Shiv could read it on his face as well. But then, finally, he threw his hands out by his sides and shrugged. "Very well. I will educate you directly. You're being very, very immature about this. What pointless brinksmanship—pointed at me, no less. How unreasonable.”

"I’m being perfectly unreasonable, asshole," Shiv shot back. "I'm just my own man. Not someone you can goad around. Especially after what you did."

"What I did," Udraal muttered, "is save you. You don't seem to be fixating on that. No. Always the long-distant past. The dark and troubled atrocities that were made, never the wonders I've created. Everyone's always so ungrateful, caring nothing about my urge to see the system struck down and utopia to be created.”

Udraal waved a hand, and a splashing wave of Animancy emanated out from him. The orcs down the hall immediately fled. Several teleported. The rest blurred as they turned into a burst of motion. Gone was a bolt of lightning as she escaped. She tore down the hall along with most of the orcs as the Animancy splashed over Candles and Five.

A pang of pain washed through Shiv as he remembered Bonk. Bonk had been burned too, but Bonk had died. The orc didn't get a grand finale. No final blaze of glory. One moment he was pulling Shiv away from the carnage, the next, Veronica had spat a command and the mass of the orc was split in two. For all the system cared about having people struggle, for having people overcome challenges, it gave no quarter, no hint of remorse when the moment came.

Udraal shaped Animancy spells of such staggering complexity, Shiv could barely decipher them. Adam's eyes widened as well, and Shiv found the Gate Lord taking a step back. A flood of different patterns swirled out from Udraal like a twisting chain. Soon those twisting chains became even larger spell symbols, and the spell symbols expanded into strange patchworks of geometry. 

They crashed down around the two burned prisoners. The Animancy slid along the walls, coiling and expanding until it was wide enough to encompass the entire hallway. Complicated circuits and interconnected symbols conveyed the abyssal lord's intent. The air was so dense with mana, so choked with magical expression, that Shiv found it hard to breathe. 

Udraal, meanwhile, had a bored look on his face. With a final casual gesture, the spell collapsed inward, and a wave of Animancy crashed over the two prisoners. Their burns were wrenched free from their bodies, and they faded into flaking pieces of ash. When the Animancy settled, both Five and Candles were entirely restored.

"By the Scarred One's Tongue," Kura gasped down the hall. She was staring, peeking out from between the massive bodies of a few orcs, and the grayskins, usually clamoring for violence, were silent as well, as if wary of Udraal, unwilling to draw his attention.

Five shook. The wolf-man groaned. As he turned over, he looked up and saw Udraal Thann. He saw Shiv and Adam staring at him, and slowly, Five placed his face back down on the ground, pretending that he didn't see anything at all.

Comparatively, loud laughter came from Candles. He patted himself. "Ah, the burns are gone! The flames like me again! Yes! Yes!" He pumped his fist in the air. His body came ablaze once more, and a sweltering heat choked the guard cube. "Yes! Oh yes! No pain from the burns! Ah, I'm so sorry, babies! I didn’t mean what I said earlier." He started kissing his fire, and the absurdity of his antics made Udraal laugh.

"I do like the insane ones," Udraal said. "They're most often the best Pathbearers, or the ones that have the deepest insight into certain things. Sanity is such a detriment sometimes. I wish I was more insane. Anyhow, did you get any of that?" He looked at Shiv, deliberately provoking the Deathless with a large, toothy grin.

Shiv stared at Udraal for a long moment. "Fuck no. I have no idea what you just did, Udraal. You waved your hand, a bunch of shit came out of it, and now they're all fixed."

"Well, you are technically correct," Udraal replied. "I did wave my hand. Animancy did come out of it. Not shit. But yes, that is fundamentally what I did. Now, in detail, I managed to undo the damage marked into their beings. Animancy damage is a strange thing. When you are wounded at the soul and your vitality is compromised, a great many people regard that as fatal or an eternal injury. Not so. It's very easy to mend if you know what you're doing. The problem is, most people don't know what they're doing. Would you like to know what I did?"

Psycho-Cartography: He's making you engage with him. Forcing you to deal with him. He's trying to build rapport. Be wary.

Shiv narrowed his eyes at Udraal. When he finally answered, it was, "Sure. Let's hear you boast."

"It's not a boast. It's part of your education," Udraal said. "Something my father should have already showed you. Something that you're going to need to learn how to do when you compromise this place's mana core."

"When I what?" Shiv asked.

Udraal ignored his question for now. "What I did," he began, "is simply transplanted a version of them in the past, in the remembered past of their soul, onto their present. There was a time when they weren't burned at the soul, where they didn't sustain narrative damage. I pulled that moment to the present, and it cost them some legend. However, fundamentally, anyone can do this. It just takes a great many skills, a convergence of different skills, in fact, to effectively have this Animancy spell be channeled correctly."

"You moved someone's past to their present?" Adam breathed.

"A proper instance of their recorded legend," Udraal explained. "There is always a previous version of you inside your soul. It is the collective composition of all your legends from all your skills that makes up who you are. It is how the system views you. Now, I can reach into all those instances using the skill. I can generate a new instance of your soul, and I can use that to replace all the damage inflicting your current soul. However, the current legends that you've built up will be expended in that case, lost because they will be shed off." The words came in a burst of short phrases, trying to elaborate and simplify what he was doing.

Shiv made eye contact with Adam, but the gate lord shook his head. He was as lost as Shiv was.

"So it's a bit like Chronomancy," Shiv suggested. "Like when you're injured but you use Chronomancy to forget your injuries?"

Udraal pressed his lips together. "I suppose that's a crude analogy, and now most analogies are crude, but yes, good enough. Think of it that way. Now, with that crude analogy in mind, you're going to need to use a rudimentary version of this technique so that our escape can be successful."

"Why am I targeting the mana core?" Shiv said. "I have a way out right now. I can slip past the time loop. I know we're inside a volcano. I don't need to do anything that you say."

Udraal thought about Shiv's response and then shook his head. "No, I disagree. You're going to do this because it's simply the most optimal way for you to escape and stay escaped. You see, I know Veronica Chandler. I know how she reacts to certain things. She will not be scatterbrained or overwhelmed in the aftermath of my recent encounter with her. Instead, she will be spreading out her influence, using all the Ascendants' collective power to hold this prison and to make sure that you don't get far. Even if you do escape." He regarded Shiv for a moment. "How long can you stay out of context?"

Shiv didn't answer.

"Not very long, then. Perhaps a few seconds. That's not going to be enough. Even if you make it beyond the time loop, I suspect that she will have Harlock the Midnight, flood this place with darkness. And once he does, that darkness will effectively be a net that you cannot evade as he will devote all of himself to this task. The dark will spread wider, it will be dense, and the moment it touches you, the other Ascendants will know where you are. The other Ascendants will then bring their avatars across, and you will face the collective might of the ruling council. And this time, they will not be held back. You will not be facing the soft hand of what is your grandmother."

And with that final and aburpt revelation, both Shiv and Adam flinched back. "What?" they said together.

"Oh yes, that matter. I suspect Veronica Chandler is your grandmother," Udraal continued. "Your father, he was adopted, see? I dug a little bit into his past, and beyond the faint memories that the Republic likes to dump into all their citizens' minds, he was adopted from an orphanage by the Lowe family, a group of middling, adept-tier Pathbearers who lost their own child during one of the great plagues."

A tornado was tearing through Shiv's mind. He had been hit with far too many things out of left field, and now he was beginning to feel dizzy. Adam clutched his arm. "Shiv? Shiv, are you all right?"

Shiv didn't say anything. He stared at Udraal as one of a million questions tore through him. Instead, all that came out was, "The fuck? What is this shit.” He couldn’t help it, he started laughing. “I…”

"Yes, yes, I know, as if your life wasn't messy enough. But your father had to come from somewhere, and Veronica Chandler did have a special dalliance with a certain Marcus Graves." Udraal shook his head and sighed. "He was a good man, an excellent Pathbearer." And then Udraal clenched his jaw as he stared upward. "It's a real shame I had to kill him, but it was ultimately a mercy after ruining his soul. I was really trying to kill his lover, you see, and Veronica, but he was in the wrong place, and so was she. The wrong Pathbearer died a hundred and twenty years ago. Hm. Those were interesting days.”

And if Udraal's actions with his parents weren't enough, apparently he also murdered Shiv's grandfather.

"Hey, you!" Shiv could barely form the words.

"Anyhow, after I killed him, she made sure that the supposed child they bore together was placed in an orphanage. I suspect that was to ensure that she had no other weak links to exploit. It is difficult being the head of the ruling council. Not only do you have to worry about your enemies, but you have to worry about your friends as well. The things they might use a child to do. The power they would hold over you." Udraal smiled to himself. "My father was lucky when he had me. A weaker offspring would have made him weak and vulnerable. And weak and vulnerable legends don't stay legends for long."

Slowly, Shiv's hands came to clutch his head. A pounding headache had begun, and he was past the point of caring about this mess now. His anger had dulled to a cold hatred for Udraal, but also for Veronica, the Ascendants, and specifically for the system itself. His life had always been complicated. A miasma of misery and death followed him. The title Omenborn had been bestowed upon him since birth. Now, apparently, he was ruling council royalty. A child of Veronica, a grandchild of Veronica Chandler. Or perhaps Udraal was lying. Either could be possible, and Shiv was no longer in the mood to discover the truth.

The Deathless wondered if he was going to have the first stress break of his life. But then, a numbness hit him, and he pulled his hands away. He would deal with the overwhelming bullshit later. Right now, he was going to figure out the rest of Udraal’s game.

"So, why are we going for the mana core, then? You said you killed a few of the avatars. That means the ascendants probably don't have their full power anymore. You still have more bodies. Why can't you go for the rest?"

Udraal threw his head back and let out a quiet laugh. "Do you expect me to do everything for you, Deathless? No. I am not going to be able to replicate my actions earlier. I had the advantage. I had preparation, and killing a few of those avatars cost me dearly. I spent a demigod. Those don't grow on trees, you know." 

Udraal paused. "Well, not in most realms. I need to revisit Mahoraba sometime. Nonetheless, they will be bringing their full force to bear, and Veronica Chandler will be unleashing her grandmother's full might without any reservations. I will be focused on diverting their attention. I have already freed a great many prisoners, so that will be your smokescreen. However, I don't expect this riot to last very long. The ruling council wants both of you back. Unique Skills and your unique path notwithstanding, they cannot risk anyone claiming the reward for the hidden world quest. Which means they will be hunting you with their full might."

Slowly, Udraal began to grin. "And you have the special ability to be in two places at once. I understand you have a Golemancy skill."

Shiv understood where Udraal was going. "You want me to send a version of myself to escape the loop? Is that what you want?"

"Yes, one to be accompanied by me. One with a vitae signature to be spotted alongside me. Something for the Ascendants to track That way, Veronica will dispatch everything she has. But by then, it should be too late. Especially if you manage to collapse this prison entirely.”

“So, while you're luring them off, you want me, Adam, and everyone else to make a run on the mana core and devastate this entire Rubix Well? Just, dump it back out into the volcano? Is that the general idea?"

Udraal nodded slowly. "It will also be worth your while. Both of you have been abused and driven to the brink. When you collapse this core and all the prisoners slip free, the Ascendants will have to make a choice. Do they risk all the Legends breaking free from their prison and unleashing hell across the capital, or do they try to focus their power in seizing you? Chandler is many things; cold and calculated is one, but there is a limit to how cold and calculated she is. She still loves her Republic. Is it the truest love she has ever known? Truer than the love she feels for her so-called beloved? Definitely truer than the love she will feel for you. On top of this, however, there is a great benefit to collapsing a mana core."

"A special item," Adam said. "Shutting a High Dimension Rating Gate is how my father got my armor. Or so he claimed."

"Your armor," Udraal said. He let out a quiet breath of amusement. "Is that what he told you? Adam. Young Lord Adam, you underestimate your father. He didn't close one legendary gate. He closed five. Five gates connected to a full set of armor. It is the indestructible armor you speak of, yes? Blue, like the color of your eyes. Unenchanted."

A hint of disquiet escaped Adam's expression. "Yes, how do you know?"

"Because I was going for the gates first." Udraal's gaze grew distant. "It was meant to be my armor at some point. You should have seen your father. And perhaps someday you will. At the height of his ambition, he was vicious. He was borderline unstoppable. It mattered little that I was of a higher tier. He came fearlessly. He struck strategically. And he never stopped. The Starhawk chose well. And considering you remain alive, I expect just as much from you. Especially if you wish to be a companion for my great experiment."

Regardless, Udraal wrinkled his nose as he regarded Shiv's Orichalcum blade. "You're due something more useful than a few Master-Tier pieces. I would scarcely call that Heroic, even if it does say so in the notifications. And with this mana core shattered and a new tool in hand, I think you will have good chances to escaping. From there, I think it's time for my father and I to have that long-awaited reunion. Once you lead me to him, of course.”

"The father you broke, you mean," Shiv said.

"The father who decided to get in my way after suffering his own crisis of faith," Udraal snarled with a faint hint of anger. "It's over. It's all well now. I can forgive him. I can." Udraal forced a smile on his face, and Shiv felt a chill crawl through him. For the first time, the Deathless felt truly worried about his so-called mentor. Valor was scattered, still a shadow of himself, and thus far, Udraal had proven a threat to even ascendants. If Udraal meant harm to Valor, Shiv needed to protect him. Shiv needed to protect everyone from the return of this lord. But he wasn't sure if he could, and he wasn't sure how.

"Are you considering how to defy me?" Valor asked.

Shiv stopped himself from shivering. But he didn't lie. "Always," he said.

Valor nodded. "Honesty. Directness. Brutality. You would have made quite the Vanguard, but these are not good habits to have if you want to be a legend for a long time. It'll get you killed."

"Getting killed's what I do," Shiv said. "Just builds me up.”

"Your deaths are to be an education, yes, but don't use them as a crutch. There will be a point where dying has more cost than benefit. I tell you this right now because you should know that your enemies are learning from you. They will adapt their strategies to contain you. And it’s not a good thing, but trapped and eternal. Someone will use you as a tool.”

"Like you," Shiv shot back.

Udraal nodded once more, not even denying it. "Like me, perhaps. But I care. So far, I'd prefer to see you flourish, to see you push this world to the brink."

"What do you want? An incursion to happen?" Shiv said, moving on to the point Udraal mentioned a while ago.

"Because I need the Ambient Mana Threshold to rise. More importantly, I wish for it to be connected to the world I've conquered."

And that was another unwelcome revelation. "You conquered a world," Shiv said flatly.

"Not one," Udraal said. ‘And conquered is a vulgar word. No. I control several. In a chain of escalating Ambient Mana Thresholds. Worlds I need strategically integrated with this one.”

"Why the hell you are you even back here?" Shiv said. “If you’re already this power, what’s the point of this world.”

"With higher mana thresholds, there is more power. There are greater extents of skill, yes, of course. But there is a lack of something." And Adam figured it out first.

"There is no Great One on those worlds," Adam said. "How powerful is the Great One? Why do they matter so much?”

“Now that's the question, isn't it?" Udraal replied, offering the Young Lord a genuine smile. "Quite sharp you are. Perhaps more focused than your father when he was younger. Remarkable what good breeding and exemplary environmental conditions can do. But yes, the Great One. I need something that might be able to rouse it once more. Properly rouse it. Not make it slightly aware while it's dreaming, not make it lucid, but to restore it. And if I wish to restore it, then I need far more power. Far more than what Integrated Earth has right now."

"And so all this conflict, everything you've done, it's all to build up to this?" Adam asked.

"No," Udraal said. "I always have more than one goal. Several, all moving in the same direction. Multiple choices building to the same path. In fact, multiple choices that expand outward. Because the system itself is multifaceted, complicated, it will not be overcome even if I finally awake and mantle myself upon the Great One."

Shiv felt a lead weight build inside his stomach. "Mantle yourself. You're trying to become the Great One?"

"No," Udraal snapped. "Think carefully. What did I use earlier against the Ascendants?"

"I wasn't sure what you used," Shiv said. "I was busy running away."

"What did I say a few moments ago? I had a demigod. I used a demigod to save you. I don't wish to be a god. I don't wish to be constrained and contained in such a manner, to be restricted. I do, however, wish to guide their power. And so a lobotomy is in order."

"A lobotomy," Adam echoed. "Gods, you're planning to rip the Great One's mind out?"

"Yes, and store it within a special vessel specifically for fallen gods." And at that, Udraal stared at his banner. It glistened, and from its depths came a chorus of echoing screams, screams that emanated from the hundreds of Pathbearers trapped within. Shiv stared at them, their small bodies gliding along the long length. They reached out. They called out. They struggled to break free, but they were trapped, trapped as if the threshold of the banner was all there ever was, the totality of existence.

"Oh fuck," Shiv muttered. His life had gotten extremely complicated in a very short period of time, but next to Udraal here, Shiv realized things were on the verge of getting even more chaotic.

"Now you see the scope of what's at play," Udraal said. "See? Exciting, isn't it? And whether you like it or not, you're going to be an essential part of this entire endeavor." The Abyssal Lord hummed. "And I do respect your snarling, vicious self-regard. You're right, you're not a slave. You're right, I do have need of you. I wish to use you to do several things. In fact, you will be essential for several things, myself included." He looked at Shiv, and an inscrutable expression came over him. "I will have a special need for you when it comes to the Great One itself. After all, what is dead cannot come back without a proper means."

And Shiv's mind whirled. “Holy fuck. You're going to use me to help you resurrect the Great One.”

Udraal’s eyes glinted with pride. “Oh, he finally thinks. He finally sees.”

Shiv put everything together quickly after that. At least he had a guess. "You want the Ambient Mana Threshold to rise so that I can level faster, so that I can..."

"Exactly," Udraal smiled. "If you can resurrect Rose Van Erren, if you can resurrect my mother in the future, if you potentially could resurrect Adam's sister, then why couldn't you serve as a returning womb for the Great One themselves?"

And the weight that Shiv didn't know existed pressed down on his shoulders for the first time.

"So with all this revealed and everything settled, I think there are a few things we should discuss. A few technical details." Udraal twisted his hand, and an Animancy symbol formed there. He stared at Shiv and Adam at the same time. "There are spells I would like you to learn, spells that will be very essential for reverting the mana core here to an earlier state, to an unstable state. So, are you going to continue resisting me and making a mess of all this, even after I have laid my so-called cards down on the table? Or are you going to play along?"

Shiv looked at Adam and cast his Psychomancy out into his friend. At the same time, the gate lord activated his commander's foresight. Everything came to a halt.

"Holy fuck," Adam said, echoing Shiv.

"Holy fuck is right. What the hells are we going to do about this guy?"

"We're not going along with him blindly," Adam declared. "Absolutely not. He's staying far away from our father. He's staying far away from everyone we know."

"No shit," Shiv said. "Especially Valor."

"Especially Valor," Adam agreed with even more vehemence. "I mean, God, Shiv. What the hells did we dragged into? The Ascendants were bad enough. Now we have to deal with this madness. Multiple worlds. A plot to resurrect the Great One. My sister still being alive inside of you." A sheer bout of stress radiating out of Adam would have given Shiv anxiety most of the time. Unfortunately, Shiv suffered from the same thing. 

It was all getting too much for the both of them. They needed time away from this… all of this chaos.

"Did you mean it earlier?" Adam said, his voice suddenly softening. "Did you mean what you said about ending yourself?"

"Yeah," Shiv replied immediately. "I'm not going to be a slave, and I'm not going to let him threaten me. It's the only leverage I got. He seems to need me alive, so we can use that against him."

"And you'd do it?" Adam asked, sounding worried.

"Yeah, of course I would do it, Adam," Shiv said.

"You're not afraid?" Adam asked, a hint of apprehension in his voice.

Shiv thought about that for a second. He thought about all the times he actually came close to death, close to that final oblivion. He had been slain over and over again and faced pain most people could never fathom. And none of that bothered him. But death, the potential to never be once more... 

Shiv considered it. 

And he considered it a pathetic fear. "Yeah," Shiv said, "I would. You don't get to live forever if you're afraid to die. And there's no living if you let someone else choose who you are, what you are. I'm not afraid of what comes after, if there is an after. I've enjoyed the here and now a lot. Good friends. Good fights. Good life. Short maybe, and it’ll never be enough. Hell, forever might not be enough, but I got to be happy. Truly happy.”

Shiv paused. 

“That’s more than what most people get. But my life’s still not over yet, so…”

"Still not over yet," Adam agreed, though this time it sounded more like a plea than anything else. “Shiv, I—”

"It's alright, Adam," Shiv said. "You're worth my life. You, Uva, Valor, everyone. I would die and stay dead for any of you." An uncomfortable awkwardness filled the Deathless as he admitted that. Vulnerability was a bitter pill. "Yeah, I would. It's just, I don't know, it feels weird to say it."

"I'd die for you too, Shiv," Adam said. “I’m… I just don’t really…”

“I know. You’re not a coward. Never think of yourself that way.”

Adam coughed mentally. “Right. So, um, instead of us dying, you got any ideas about how we can resolve Udraal? I don't think we can even kill him for good right now, even if we do destory one of his bodies." Adam’s attention wasn't on Udraal anymore, however, but on his banner. "That thing is constructed of pure Animancy, and more of him seems to spawn out from that. I think that might be the core of his strength. Do you know what it is?"

"Not a damned clue," Shiv said.

"Then we need a closer look. We need more information about him, and we need a means of understanding him without him noticing. So what does that mean?" Shiv asked.

"That means..." Adam swallowed his discomfort. "I think we play along for now, and we try to figure out who he is. We learn his limitations, we learn his habits, and eventually, we learn how to deal with him. It's like you said, we have some leverage, and we might be able to use him to our advantage as well. Maybe we can finally get a moment of peace after this.”

“Adam.”

“Yeah.”

“I think you’re hoping for too much.”

“Let me dream Shiv. Let me dream. For now, let’s see what he has to offer. It’s him or the Ascendants. And frankly, fuck the Ascendants.”

“Fuck the Ascendants,” Shiv agreed. “So. We’re going with the devil that made us.”

A cold hate returned to Adam. “For now. For now.”