by Unknown
“What, you don’t remember me?” the woman asked, glancing around the crater with a slow, angry smile. “I would have thought you would, after you left me for dead.”
“I don’t know who you are, but you can die now, you mortal—” Eretha snarled, lunging toward the woman, swinging her axe with enough force to topple a mountain.
The nymph made a simple gesture, like she was shoving something aside. An instant later the net above her rippled, and a massive hand formed of pure magic erupted from the web and slammed into Eretha with such force that the goddess bounced off the ground and into the net opposite the hand. The woman screamed in agony as the magic wrapped around her, searing blackened lines into her armor.
“Unhand her!” Erethor snapped, raising a hand which was wreathed in black fire, but before he could do anything the nymph smiled even more, flicking a finger, and a bolt of energy descended from above like lightning.
This bolt was shimmering orange, and it slammed Erethor into the ground. The impact shook the entire crater as a circle thirty feet across was crushed into powder, and the ground itself descended over a dozen feet where it’d hit, causing Tyria to bounce. Erethor had been forced to his hands and knees, and Tyria could see blood dripping from his lips, to her utter shock.
“Did you really think that I would challenge the two of you without certainty that I could face you? That I would face a pair of gods of destruction without preparations?” the nymph asked, her words soft and angry. “Oh, last time you struck from the shadows, taking us by surprise. Even so, we fought. We even managed to injure you, if only a little.”
The words caused Tyria to freeze as inspiration struck her at last, her memory stirring, and she murmured, “The Eternal Empress.”
The nymph’s smile widened as she glanced at Tyria and spoke pleasantly. “Ah, I see that someone recalls who I am. It is nice to be remembered.”
Tyria could hardly believe what she was seeing, after all the dead she’d seen around the crater. The Eternal Empress had been the nymph ruler of the Eternal Wood, and the guardian of the world tree. She’d only seen the woman once from a distance, but the nymph had struck her as one of the most powerful mortal beings in existence. That she was still alive, here, seemed impossible, though.
“You… how can you be doing… this…!” Erethor gasped, trying to force himself to his feet.
“Have you never heard of high magic? I assure you, I certainly have,” the Eternal Empress said, her voice cooling again as she looked down at him, the glowing red-orange magic still weighing him down. “I spent a few centuries making preparations for if you returned, since I didn’t wish to leave this place. Every few decades I made certain that the circles were intact and didn’t need repairs, all so I could destroy the two of you if you returned. Assuming you were alive, of course.”
“Impossible! Nothing could survive that!” Eretha protested, struggling violently against the massive net, which only made it dig deeper into her body.
On the other hand, the black fire trapping Tyria was weakening even more rapidly, and any moment she hoped to free herself. Baldwin looked like he was just trying to avoid notice as he watched the Eternal Empress warily, and Tyria couldn’t say that she blamed him. There were legends about what happened to those who offended the fey, and even deities tended to leave them alone.
“Impossible? I am tied to the world tree, you ignorant godling,” the Empress retorted, the fire in her eyes flashing brightly. “So long as it lives, so too shall I, and you did not kill it. Have you never heard the phrase do not a small harm? You did a small harm, and did not finish the job. And so, I believe it is time to nail you to the sky.”
Tyria broke the net at that moment, gasping as the dark magic stopped searing her body, but when the Empress raised her hand to the sky, she froze. The nymph’s voice rose in song, but it wasn’t the beautiful songs of the fey that were spoken of around campfires. No, this was the type of song whispered of in tales of horror and dread, of the baying of hounds and war cries of the deadly wilds.
The net directly above her opened and a meteor descended, blazing with fire like the sun itself, fire which even Tyria would beware, and the goddess staggered backward, shielding herself with her wings as it descended on the Eternal Empress… yet no explosion came, and when Tyria’s wings lowered, the nymph was holding a glowing, molten stone in her hand as magic shaped it into a spear a dozen feet long, seething and shimmering with starfire. The Eternal Empress smiled as her song came to an end, cocked her arm as she took aim at Eretha, and threw the spear, which left her hand as a mere streak of light.
“No!” Erethor cried out in panic, but he could do nothing from the spot where he was trapped. Nothing but watch, that was.
The streak of the spear was unstoppable and unerring, and for an instant Tyria’s heart almost stopped, wondering what would happen if yet another deity died in the heart of the mountains. In that instant, someone stepped into the way.
A man with silver hair and eyes stepped into the path of the spear, wearing white robes that gave him a distinguished look. Fate raised a hand, and a bubble of silver light flashed into existence, just in time for the spear to hit it. Tyria heard the deity grunt as the spear drilled into his barrier, then the shield shattered and the spear slammed into his palm. That stopped the spear, but her eyes widened as she saw that a black mark was in the middle of Fate’s hand.
“Enough!” Fate snarled, his words echoing through the crater loudly, and a ridge of ice shuddered, then collapsed with a rumble at the echo.
“Fate,” the Eternal Empress said flatly, looking at him with narrowed eyes. “You’re going to interfere with my vengeance?”
“Only because I have no choice,” Fate spat, glaring at Eretha angrily enough that the goddess recoiled slightly. “If I had my way, you’d get to kill these two and good riddance to them! Unfortunately, the rules about not allowing gods to fight in the mortal world were decided upon for a reason, and I can’t allow them to be killed here.”
Tyria took a breath, wondering if she should say something, but before she could Fate added, “Also, this was decided by Time herself. She saw this event coming millennia ago and left a message that I was to interfere. So if you want to take it up with anyone, argue with her.”
Everyone fell silent at that, and after a moment the Eternal Empress folded her arms and spoke, her voice cold as ice. “Fine. If it were any but a primal god, I would not set aside my vengeance for now, but I know better than to argue with them. This isn’t the end of it, however.”
“I’m well aware of that,” Fate said, growling under his breath. “Now, release them.”
“Thank you, Fate, I—” Erethor began, but Fate cut him off with a snarl.
“Shut up! You think I don’t know just what you idiots were up to?” Fate said, anger seething in his voice. “I’ve already called for a trial of gods, and there’s no question of what the verdict is going to be. If you so much as set a toe in the mortal world for a century, you’re going to be stripped of your powers and thrown to the lower planes, mark my words.”
“As to that, ah…” Baldwin began, but hesitated as Fate glowered at him, then at Tyria.
“Fine, perhaps I need to lay down the law. None of you are allowed to interfere in your churches unless they ask for assistance. You cannot fight on their behalf. Let them damned well figure out their problems for themselves, because that’s what we all agreed to do,” Fate said, looking around at them, and his eyes narrowed as he looked at Tyria. “You are a special case, but you’d better tread carefully as well. I don’t care if you have a direct connection to the mortal world, you’re still treading on thin ice.”
“Mortals were the ones who bound me. I simply shifted the bond to another mortal,” Tyria replied, folding her arms as she tried to retain a sense of poise, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the twins, neither of which had been released yet. “Unlike them, I’ve been trying not to step out of bounds.”
“Yes, but
speaking of them—” Fate began, only to have the Empress interrupt.
“I’ll let them go when I’m ready to, Fate. You are a powerful deity, powerful enough that you might be able to kill me, but I think I could do more damage than even you would expect if you push me,” the Empress said, looking at him coldly. To Tyria’s surprise, he seemed to back down rather than meet her glare, and the nymph smiled and continued. “Now, I just have one thing to say to you two utter fools.
“I know you’re alive, now. Before you came here, I knew you might be, but you’d attacked other deities, and I wasn’t sure. I was dying by inches anyway, and didn’t have the time to find out, since it would have taken me away from my grief,” the Eternal Empress explained, and her smile turned almost cruel as she tilted her head at them. “I’m afraid that has changed, though. Now I know you live. Now the hunt shall begin, and no matter how long it takes, no matter what roads I may have to walk, I will find you. And when I do… you will die. That I promise, by the world tree itself.”
“Really? You think you will last long enough to catch us? Your precious tree is dying, and when it does, so will you,” Erethor sneered, looking up with a good deal of effort. “You caught us by surprise, but—”
“Erethor, shut up,” Fate interrupted, a flicker of worry crossing his face. “As soon as we’re done with the trial, I suggest you two find a good hiding spot. You’ll need it.”
“What? You… you can’t be serious! She’s a mortal!” Eretha protested in disbelief.
“Yes, and if I hadn’t intervened, she’d have killed both of you,” Fate said, and looked at the Empress. “Now, would you please let them go? I don’t want this to take any longer than it has to.”
“Very well. But if they attack me after I release them, they will die,” the Empress replied and snapped her fingers.
All around them the spells faded away, and the vortex began spinning once more. The moment it did, the twins quickly jumped away, grabbing their weapons and looking at the nymph warily. Thunder cracked all around them, and Tyria blinked as lightning suddenly wreathed the entire vortex, startled by the change.
“And there was your backup plan, if they somehow managed to pierce your barrier,” Fate said, eyeing the vortex warily. “You put a lot of work into this trap.”
“Yes, I did. Now, take them away. My anger may be cold now, but it’s everything I can do to keep from finishing them off here and now,” the Empress replied, her voice seemingly calm.
“You’ll be destroyed,” Eretha said, glaring at both the nymph and Tyria. “If it’s the last thing I do, it’ll happen.”
“After you,” Tyria said, deciding to keep her reply as brief as possible.
“I hate all of you,” Fate muttered, and with a gesture he snapped out of existence along with the twins.
Tyria let out a breath of relief as they vanished, and glanced over at Baldwin, who was still cradling his shattered arm. He looked back at her dourly, and she shrugged.
“Would you like me to heal your arm?” Tyria offered, figuring that an olive branch was in order. “I wish we hadn’t been ambushed, but I suppose this is better than the alternative.”
“If you wouldn’t mind,” Baldwin said, grimacing as he shrugged carefully. “If you want, I could even fix your armor.”
“I believe the two of you are forgetting something,” the Eternal Empress said, her voice cool as she looked at them calmly.
“Yes, of course. My apologies,” Baldwin said, bowing his head slightly. “Thank you for the timely rescue, Eternal Empress. I… was not aware you still lived.”
“Nor was I. It took me a surprisingly long time to realize who you were,” Tyria added, nodding as she spoke. “You also have my thanks, as I feared I was about to die.”
“Were it not for my bond to the world tree, I would have long since perished,” the Eternal Empress said, glancing at Tyria as she smiled. “A bond which you and I share, if not quite in the same manner. How is the sapling doing?”
Chapter 26
“The what?” Baldwin demanded, the man doing a double take as he stared at both of them, and Tyria couldn’t help an instant of surprise either.
“How… how do you know about that?” Tyria asked after a brief moment of shock, looking at the Eternal Empress in disbelief. If the woman had been here for the last six millennia, there was no way she should have known about Sistina.
“Oh, come now. Do you really think a seed from the world tree could leave the Eternal Wood without my permission?” the nymph asked, almost scolding as she shook her head. “No, I personally handed over the one seed which ever left the forest, to a lovely young lady from Everium. Not that she knew what she’d been given, just that she was supposed to keep it close. And she did, even after her death.”
Tyria’s breath caught in her throat, feeling almost strangled by the information. Baldwin wasn’t taking it well, she didn’t think, as the man flushed bright red for a moment, then spoke, his voice unsteady. “You’re… you’re saying there’s a new world tree? And that Medaea is bound to it?”
“Of course I am. So you’re Medaea?” the Eternal Empress murmured, studying Tyria for a moment, then smiled as she added, “My, you’ve changed. As for that, yes. Weak and immature, but its growing nicely. I look forward to feeling it come into its full power at last.”
“Ah… I’m afraid something odd happened to the tree,” Tyria eventually managed to speak, taking a deep breath, and when the Empress gave her a sharp look she flinched, remembering that spear. Still, she forged onward. “I don’t know how it happened, but somehow the soul of a demon merged with the seed, and they became a dungeon.”
“Beacon. You’re talking about Beacon,” Baldwin muttered softly, his expression becoming more complicated.
“Yes, that’s right,” Tyria admitted, shrugging and deciding that hiding it at this point didn’t make any sense. “Sistina said that she was trapped in a gemstone, and just as her soul was going to be snuffed out, she ended up merging with the seed. She’s… an odd woman.”
“Sistina? Not Sistina Constella, I presume,” the Empress said thoughtfully, reaching up to tap her chin. “She died of old age, after all… and I’m fairly confident went on to her afterlife. I do recall she had a ruby pendant she valued a great deal, on the other hand. It gave me an odd feeling, though it possessed no aura of magic.”
“No, it wasn’t her. That much I can guarantee, since we know exactly who Sistina was when she was mortal, ages past,” Tyria quickly said, shaking her head. “Once she served Balvess, and before that, as a mortal… well, you’ve heard of Marin, I’m certain.”
Both of them fell silent at that, the nymph looking thoughtful, while Baldwin stared at Tyria in disbelief. Neither spoke for a moment, which made Tyria distinctly uncomfortable.
“What in all the stars have you gotten yourself embroiled in, Medaea?” Baldwin demanded at last, looking a bit outraged.
“I didn’t do anything! I was asleep, I’ll have you know,” Tyria retorted, and after a moment she reached for his broken arm and took a deep breath before calling on her power to heal.
It took a few moments and she was a bit out of practice, but she felt his flesh begin to knit as his bones started moving back into place. Baldwin hissed under his breath, then tapped his armor, which creaked as it slowly returned to its normal shape. Then the Empress spoke, and Tyria almost lost her concentration.
“Marin. That is a name I have not thought about in a long, long time,” the Empress murmured softly. “I remember her visit… not long after I was bound to the tree. It’s been a long time. Yet why am I not surprised?”
“You met her?” Tyria asked, blinking in surprise.
“Yes, of course. She was middle-aged at the time, and still working on her research. From us she learned about the world tree and the ley lines,” the Empress explained, glancing back at the ruins of the tree as her smile dimmed. “We hoped she would join us and take the risks of becoming fey at the time. If nothing
else, she was a passionate woman, relentless in her pursuit of knowledge, and that is something we appreciate. She left, though, and never returned. I… it has been a long time.”
The tears she saw in the nymph’s eyes startled Tyria, then she shook herself, looking back at Baldwin as she sensed his injuries fully heal. He met her gaze with a nod, looking troubled as he shifted a little.
“I don’t remember her from before she completed her research,” Tyria admitted after a moment. “I think that most deities considered her… insignificant. By the time I’d heard of her, she’d already died.”
“You aren’t the only one. Only a handful of deities had taken note of her, and almost all of them were aligned with magic,” Baldwin rumbled, shaking his head slowly. “The idea of her being reincarnated as the world tree, though… that terrifies me a bit.”
“It shouldn’t,” Tyria said, and the god’s head rose to meet her gaze.
“Oh? Why not? She has immortality, immense knowledge of magic, and the passion to become even more skilled with it than before. While it may render my worries about losing all magic moot, she could be incredibly dangerous,” Baldwin said, his tone challenging.
“Because that isn’t who she is. Think about it, Baldwin. Marin never tried to rule over others, in her first life or in her time in Balvess’s service. Even in her time as Sistina, she has functioned as a guardian and builder, not as an overlord,” Tyria replied bluntly, looking at him a touch more coldly. “You’re thinking about her the way most would regard someone with great ambition. She doesn’t have that. She just wants to protect those she cares about, and possibly research magic even more.”
“Ah, then she has not changed much. Good,” the Empress said, slowly smiling. “I will admit, I wondered somewhat. Even if she was a good woman when I knew her, time can change anyone. Look at yourself for an example.”
“I fell victim to a demon lord’s machinations and was something of a fool after the Godsrage,” Tyria admitted, wincing internally at the thought of her own actions. “Speaking of which… I assume that we arrived after those two had destroyed the tree? I’m afraid my memories of the time aren’t clear.”
