Hlaeth Chapter 52 – A Sharing of Lore

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“The Yellow is a mere symptom of a massive magical infection upon reality, a disruption of planar influences leaking extra-dimensional energy into the world and corrupting it slowly and thoroughly… but it is nothing that cannot be undone and profited from, and that includes the world itself,” I informed Bard Pursyr.

I turned to wave my hand at the great dome of the Pyramid’s Domain, little eruptions of mist constantly exploding at the perimeter, falling down like small clouds that evaporated before they hit the ground… save for the heavy massive central fall plummeting from above, washing down onto the apex of the Pyramid and further empowering it. “Streams of power, Master Pursyr, are flowing into the world from the Apertures. All of them are alien, hostile, corrupting to the purity of this world.

“All of them Burn in the unwhite fire of vivus.

“As they Burn, their power is fed to the Land, Master Pursyr. All that corrupting power and Taint, turned into the strength of the Land, making it ever stronger and more vital.

“Your Druidic compatriots are perfectly aware of this, and that is why they are not moving, despite their fears of the return of the Divine. The Land about us is EXULTING, Master Pursyr. It is singing in joy, its jaws open wide, and it is feasting at the same time as a great pain is being lifted from it.

“There is no Druid who can Commune with the Land who is unaware of this. To act against me and what I am doing here is very, very much to act against the will of the Land, and the leashing and destruction of the Yellow is far, far more important to the Land than the irrelevant return of the Divine. Striking at my efforts will likely result in the Land abandoning those who think that because the Land has favored them before, they determine its will and how to use its power.

“If they care to come and butt heads with me, I will put them in the ground. The Land might even encourage it. If they are stupid enough to allow the Yellow to endure, the Land may as well be rid of them entirely.”

The Bard was studying me silently, digesting the Truth of that, and naturally enough he believed me. I wasn’t certain about the exact why of the withdrawal of the gods, but I was absolutely certain that Hlaeth wasn’t abandoned by them, and he could sense that.

“Some of the Druids have even said that it was the Land itself that kicked out the gods…” he got out slowly, and I just had to smile.

It was not a friendly smile.

“Lies repeated loudly enough and frequently enough start to sound like truth to the uninformed. I would be very, very careful of the sanity of any Druid of the name or cultist saying such things, Master Pursyr. If they act on those beliefs, they are going to find out some very unfortunate truths about the Land, their service, and their place in the scheme of things.”

He exhaled slowly, nodding to me. “Not just a squabble between rival religions, then?”

“No. It is a truism among spellcasters that magic goes to the head, and among those favored by greater powers, delusions that they are infallible in their beliefs, simply because their trust and faith in their Patrons is so strong. Trusting in the Land and following it absolutely does not mean you know all that the Land wants or wishes, or that what you think is best for it is true.

“The Yellow will fall because mortals, the Land, and the Divine come together to see it fall. The Divine will return, and there will indeed be a Reckoning, but that Reckoning is not going to strike those who the most fervent wish it to, blindly secure in their prejudices and belief that it is not they who will be struck down.

“Blind faith can be very dangerous indeed, Master Bard.”

His eyes flickered, doubtless having met more than a few representations of such things. They were actively encouraged by many Churches, after all. Zeal and Faith without tolerance made for great weapons against other religions.

“Then I believe I have a bit of lore that may be of great interest to you, Master Aelryinth,” he said softly, glancing subconsciously around to see who would be listening.

I made a gesture, and magic flickered with a Note of sound he could appreciate, reverberating in his heart and making him aware nobody would be listening to us. He swallowed at the casual use of multiple Theurgies coming together.

“Have your heard aught of the Ruling Rings of Regency?” he asked formally.

Something twinged against that thread of Destiny that had somehow latched onto me, damn Heaven getting around my Beyond Law and Chaos. Maybe I shouldn’t have a Pact with it, or something.

“I have no knowledge of such a thing, but it seems uniquely important. Please continue, Master Pursyr.”

He nodded, taking a breath before reciting, “Before the fall of the Empire, there were four great Masters of Elemental Magic spread about its lands. Each such great Master wore a Ring to command and tame the Elements, stronger and mightier than the lesser such Rings worn by their students and aspirants to their Mastery. It is said that the Ruling Rings would allow one to gain dominance over Hlaeth’s Elemental forces once again, and disrupt the operation of the Yellow in so doing,” he finished breathlessly.

I eyed him for a moment, then turned to look back south, thinking as I pondered a sky filled with tiny eruptions of vivus.

“You’ve seen the Apertures, Master Bard.”

Master Pursyr nodded carefully. Their existence had spread like wildfire among the learned, as had the many precautions being taken to make sure nobody passed through one. Most of the people here had witnessed what happened when Yellow creatures were drawn to one and passed through it, changing their very nature, form, and abilities… and growing stronger for it.

I flicked up an XYZ axis in front of me, complete with a sphere about the central point.

“The Apertures are planar disruptions tied to a potentially infinite number of planes, dimensions, alternities, universes, demiplanes, infinities, finities, realms, or other planar phenomena. If the Veil were not hardened, those Apertures could open wide into true Portals, and let through the denizens of those places upon Hlaeth.”

His eyes widened in alarm. “There are, there are… uncounted numbers of those Apertures, Master Aelryinth!” he managed to utter, trying to picture the immensity of the problem and failing.

“Judging by the spacing and the limitations upon the Yellow from massive Wards and such, somewhere in the neighborhood of ten million of them, Master Pursyr.” He looked like he was ready to faint. I could have gone very exact if I’d known the precise limits, but eh. “There are three axes upon which they spin: the Inner Realms of Creation, the Outer Realms of Souls, and the Middle Axis of Mortality.”

I spun the sphere left, forward, and around as Bard Pursyr watched, and multi-colored lights danced and changed hues every time they spun about the fixed spindle of the axes. He swallowed as he considered the implications, because all the turns were not of the same length, nor even the same direction, and sometimes the dots vanished entirely, while new ones lit up instead.

“Now, what you have instead of a perfect sphere is an oblated, irregular mishmash of planar warpage and protections I’m not totally aware of.” The perfect sphere was promptly mashed and distorted in several places all around itself, like the world rejecting its presence… including right here. The sphere zoomed in to show a great broad wall in front of the descending sphere, stopping it from expanding, with an endpoint far above us out of sight, a fact he understood by his instant glance at the misting top of the Pyramid’s Domain, comprehending what was actually up there.

I flipped up the Domain as a sphere upon the world, and colored in streams of Yellow dimensional energy flowing out from the many, many Apertures, trying to get loose in the world and being held back. “There’s an ocean of energy flowing this way, hard to see and sense, but definitely there. What we are doing is blocking that flow of foul and corrupted dimensional water, and turning it into dimensional oil and fuel.”

Crystallizing pulses flickered across the Mountain Ward, upon the Pyramid, devouring the incoming Yellow like fire eating up incoming gasoline… and leaving the Veil harder behind it. Instead of forcing and building up against the Wards, the energy was not being allowed to gather, and instead was being outright consumed!

“So the level and the pressure is going down, and in time the Yellow will retreat. Back, and back, towards the fallen center…” I went on calmly.

“And this process accelerates with every creature we kill, because they are like solid incarnations of the Yellow, versus the trace amounts in the air and ground. As they live and breathe, they gather the Yellow to them, and as they grew in strength, so they grow in volatility when introduced to vivus. The battles taking place are at least as important as the entirety of my Pyramid’s domain. Killing the Yellowed creatures and feeding them to the Land is a great accelerant of what we are doing.”

“I see.” And he did, he was just trying to figure out a diplomatic method of breaking the news to those that had sent him here, I could discern. “Good for all mortals, good for the Land, good for the gods… but not necessarily good for those in power right now,” he stated carefully.

“Oh, how true that is,” I had to agree. “Especially that last. Being held to account for your sins is going to be a really rude surprise when that comes back. I imagine some seemingly noble and benevolent lords are going to be quite willing to stop what is going on here if they truly consider and understand what might happen as a result!” I smiled cheerfully.

“The power you’ve shown seems to be restrained and controlled, Master Aelryinth,” he complimented me. “But the speed you erected your Pyramid at hushed even the dwarves with awe.” Especially since it was floating. “And obviously, your command of lore is the subject of much admiration in my circles,” he added hopefully.

“I am not from this world, Bard Pursyr. The Traditions I come from seem to be more advanced than those I see practiced hereabouts now. But if the elven islands and the dwarven kingdoms I’ve seen have any relevance, not more advanced than once existed here. They were doubtless fragmented and competing with one another, instead of working together and complementing one another. A common fallacy on many worlds, I’ve discovered, much to my combined sorrow, disbelief, and irritation.” I shrugged the fact off as he had the grace to look rather disappointed himself. “These Ruling Rings you mention seem to have come from a very advanced arcane Tradition, I gather, and that level of magical ability is just not seen among humanity today?” I queried knowingly.

He shook his head in agreement with me. “No, it is not, Master Aelryinth. The heart of the magical community was torn out when the Empire fell, and then the remnants did battle with one another to see who was going to lead, even as the Yellow was starting to tear everything apart around them. Each of the great colleges of arcane magic fell, even as the churches were collapsing from the silence of the gods, warlords were eagerly putting to the sword any spellcasters who might prove a threat to their reigns, and war swallowed the whole world.” He took another deep breath. “They have been long, hard centuries, my lord...”

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