“No.” She shook her head. “The only person I saw was Crystal. She told me to come find you and let you know about my plan.” She smiled brightly at me.
“Right, okay, sorry.” I made a mental note to ask Crystal about it because no one should have let the angel wander around alone. For one, she was an angel, for two she was new, and I couldn’t see her stats. That made me wary. Since it seemed like she had joined our motley crew, I should have been able to, but I couldn’t. It was strange and more than a little troubling.
“So do you want to hear my plan?” she asked, practically bouncing with excitement as she hopped from foot to foot. “Because it’s really very super good. I’d probably get a medal for it back home.”
“Really? Do you normally get medals for plans in Heaven?” I asked, arching an eyebrow before I waved off the thought. “Sorry, just tell me what it is. I’m excited to hear it now.”
“Yes, okay. Well, I need you to take me to the Stairway. Then I thought that perhaps I could speak with Uriel and get some reinforcements to help find the Armaments.” She bit her lip. “She doesn’t like me much, but she might help even though this is my super-secret mission given to me by Michelle herself. I really can’t screw it up, so I thought I’d get help.” She nodded a bunch more times, reminding me of an over eager puppy.
Her plan was impossible because we didn’t have a stairway, but that wasn’t the worst part. No, the worst part was how she phrased her words. They sounded off, and not in a good way. No, in the way you give the dumb guy at work a stupid job, so he stops bugging you while you’re trying to get real work done.
“Wait a second,” I said, pausing to look at Gabriella. “Can you tell me exactly what your mission is? I might be able to help you help me better if I knew.” I smiled at her. “What exactly did Michelle say?”
“She told me I had a very important job that only I could do.” She glanced up at the sky as she spoke. “Michelle said that I needed to venture to Earth and find him.” She turned her gaze from the Heavens and met my eyes. “I thought it would take a while since Earth is a big place, but luckily, my book sensed your sword.” She pointed at my book. “It was a good thing too because I’d been waiting a long time. Much longer than I expected.” She let loose a sigh. “It got a little tricky because I went to your domicile, but found you’d left, so I came down here. It was super lucky because even though Michelle told me not to come back until I found you, I knew I needed to hurry. She’ll be so proud I already found you.” She smiled so brightly, I legitimately felt bad for not being the hero she’d sought out. “That’s why I think Uriel will lend us some women-at-arms.”
“Wait, you didn’t know I was here?” I asked as dread welled inside my belly. “Um… how long were you looking for the builder on earth?”
“Only a few centuries.” She rubbed her chin. “At least I think so. Michelle put me into a deep sleep to preserve my powers. I hadn’t heard of a thing like that, but either way, I woke up when you awakened.” She beamed at me. “It’s okay though because I found you.” She gripped my wrists and shook me. “Now please, let us go to the Stairway.”
“Okay, so we can’t actually do that,” I said, taking a deep breath. “We don’t have one.”
“You don’t have a Stairway?” Gabriella replied, confusion filling her voice as she looked at me. Then she reached out and grabbed my face with her hands in disbelief. Warmth invaded my mind. “You aren’t lying, but how can that be?” She released me and paced back and forth for a second. “Think. Think. Think.”
“We never built one,” I said, shrugging.
“Oh! That’s right. Michelle said that might happen!” Embarrassment colored the angel’s cheeks as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a thin wisp of paper. She held it out to me. I couldn’t read it, but like usually happened with things like that, the recipe appeared above it in a menu.
Recipe: Stairway to Heaven
Discipline: Alchemy
The user can fuse the necessary ingredients into a Stairway that creates a portal to Heaven. Doing so will allow the portal to be opened at the user’s will. All ingredients will be destroyed. 10% chance of success for every Rank in the Skill.
Ingredients: Harness of Crystal – Guild Head, Harness of Wood – Guild Head, Harness of Clay – Guild Head, Harness of Steel – Guild Head
Requirements: Special: 95+, Agility: 95+, Special: 95+
Since I didn’t know what the harnesses were, I opened their tooltips.
Harness of Crystal – Guild Head
Material: Gemstone
Grade: S
Crafted from Essence of Crystal by the Head of the Alchemy Guild.
“Whoa,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t even know what those things are, but they don’t seem easy to get.” I sighed. “I’m not sure how we can craft something that requires the guild leaders to do work. Even if we could get them to do it, we’d never be able to afford it.”
“What do you mean?” Gabriella asked, shaking her head. “They should be willing to aid in your battle against the Darkness. That is their sole purpose.”
“It’s not that way here. The heads of the guilds are pretty much only in it for themselves.” I shook my head. “That’s a non-starter for now.”
“Then how will I get home?” Gabriella asked, worry filling her voice. “How will I return to Michelle with you?” Tears filled her eyes. “No, I can’t fail.” She took a deep breath and met my eyes. “Please, Arthur. We have to build this. Otherwise, Dred will kill us all. He doesn’t need many more Armaments.”
“And how do you know? You’ve been gone for centuries,” I said, knowing she was right. We’d have to find a way to get the heads of the guilds to help us. I just wasn’t sure there was a way to do that.
“If he had them, your lands would be a smoking ruin.” She shook her head. “They are not, so he must not have all of them.” She bit her lip. “There is still time though. So I can’t give up. I’ll just have to think of another way.” She shut her eyes and began humming to herself.
“Um… Gabriella?” I said as I watched her hum to herself. I was starting to think the other angels had not expected her to succeed and had just wanted to get her out of their hair.
“Yes, Arthur?” she said, opening her eyes and watching me. “I haven’t thought of something yet.” She looked down at her feet for a long while before meeting my eyes. “I’m not actually that smart so it will take me a long time, but I promise I’ll try really hard, okay?”
“I believe you,” I said, nodding at her as I put a hand on her shoulder. “But don’t worry. We can get this made. What’s more important is finding the Armaments. If we can’t do that, it won’t matter.”
“You’re right,” she said, wiping her face with her hands. “Sorry.” She forced a smile on her face. “Let’s do that, okay?”
“Okay,” I affirmed, glancing around. “Now, can you help me find Gwen? She has to be around here somewhere.”
“I will!” Gabriella said, taking my hand and pulling me down the street. “Maybe she’s over there?” She moved toward where the last of the statues from the Graveyard of Statues sat. Not all of them had thawed yet, though I wasn’t sure why.
“I don’t see her over there,” I said as she dragged me toward the final remaining statue. It was of a fierce-looking woman with short hair dressed in expensive looking clothes. “That’s just a statue.”
“No, it isn’t,” Gabriella said, touching the statue as thunder crashed overhead and rain began to fall. “It’s a person. She’s just stuck. Here, give me a second.” She bit her lip as her outstretched hand began to glow with golden light.
The statue shattered into a cloud of debris that cascaded around the silver-skinned women who had been encased in stone only a moment before. Her face was all sharp angles, making me think she’d actually been carved from stone. She brushed the last bits of debris from her expansive, well-fitting silver and gold tunic before running one hand through her tangle
of silver curls. Each movement sent glittering sparkles flashing through the air.
“Who are you people?” she asked in the same voice customers used back when I was a Slurpee Monkey. That tone told me she wasn’t seeing a person. No, she saw a means to an end and nothing more than that.
“I’m Arthur,” I said a little angrier than I probably should have. As the woman’s gaze focused on me, sizing me up in a way I’d never quite experienced before, I jerked a thumb at Gabriella. “This is the archangel Gabriella.”
“The dumb one?” the lady said, her money-green eyes flitting to the angel for half a second before refocusing on me. She took a step forward, her eyes absolutely predatory as she surveyed the surroundings and licked her lips.
“Don’t call her dumb. She broke the curse imprisoning you,” I said, suddenly feeling protective of the angel. Sure, she didn’t seem like the sharpest knife in the drawer, but there was no reason to be rude. No. This woman owed her freedom to Gabriella.
“That’s why she’s dumb.” The woman shrugged. “Still, that deserves a reward.” She tapped her chin with one long finger. “Oh, I know.” Her teeth gleamed as she smiled at me. “I will not ask you to give me this town as tribute, though you may wish you had, Builder. It would save us both a lot of trouble.” She gestured at Clarent off-handedly. “You see, I’ve never had a Builder in my collection before, but I’ve always wanted one. You will be mine. I have decided it.”
“Look, lady, I don’t know who you are, but—” I started to say before she interrupted me.
“I am Mammon. Princess of Greed and the rightful owner of everything.” She dropped into a curtsy then. “Know that one day you will serve me. You will do as I wish, and you will do so willingly, presenting me with anything I ask for on a silver platter. Your entire world will revolve around pleasing me, around getting praise from my lips. You will serve me, and you will love it.” Then, before I could rightly process what she’d just told me, she grinned defiantly at me. “Now, let’s see how many of your people are truly loyal, shall we?”
She snapped her fingers and disappeared in a flash of silver that rang through the air like the sound of a thousand coins hitting a tile floor.
4
As Mammon’s words rang in my ears, more flashes of silver light erupted all around us. Bolts of silver shot up from the town like bottle rockets before vanishing into the ether. The whole of it only took a couple seconds, but it felt like much longer. As the crash of it faded from my ears, I realized nearly everyone was gone.
Hell, even the girl who had been carrying lumber across the street while we’d been speaking with the Princess of Greed was just gone. The pile of wood she’d had in her arms lay strewn about the ground. As I took a step forward to investigate, Gabriella put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me.
“Don’t move,” she said, her other hand clenching her golden mace as her eyes narrowed. She surveyed the surroundings, looking for signs of danger. “It could be a trap.”
“No shit,” I said, pulling free of her grip and sprinting toward the dropped lumber while pulling Clarent free. Only the moment I did, I realized the problem was bigger than I’d expected.
We’d had tons of people after rescuing the Graveyard of Statues from the Darkness and claiming the land for ourselves. Only as I held Clarent, I realized they were all gone. Not just that, but nearly every refugee was gone too.
I knew because was able to feel the presence of my people. Not individually per se, but as a group. And I could tell from the strength of the feeling about how many were here. If it had been one or two missing, I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell, but that wasn’t the case. No, if I was reading the town right, we’d gone from a thousand plus people to maybe ten. How was that possible?
“What’s going on,” I whispered, kneeling down by the dropped lumber and running my hands over the dirt. I felt the tinge of magic in the air, and as I focused on it, I realized it felt like Mammon. I couldn’t say for certain because I wasn’t good at reading magic or anything, but the feel of it was similar to what I’d felt in her presence. Had she done this?
“Mammon has taken them,” Gabriella said, kneeling next to me. Like me, she had one hand outstretched toward the spot, but unlike me, wisps of silver light danced around her fingers. As she turned her eyes to me, she flicked her wrist, banishing the sparks. “She has taken everyone not directly bound to you and this town. Those who have no real allegiance to you.” Gabriella stood. “We must hurry and strengthen the bonds between you and those who remain.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, staring at her completely shocked. “I was in charge of all of them. They were in Lustnor, and I’m running the town.”
“I’m not sure what to tell you,” Gabriella said, biting her lip uncertainly. “I can just tell you what has transpired based upon what the magic feels like. It was a seeking spell, designed to take that which has no owner.”
“Well, come on. We have to find them.” I got to my feet, moving to head toward the gate. I wasn’t sure where Mammon had gone, but it couldn’t be far, could it? Besides, I had a Nexus Gateway Conduit. I could go anywhere relatively quickly. I’d find her and make her return my people.
Instead of following my lead, Gabriella sighed. “It is likely pointless to try to find them now.”
“What?” I asked, surprised. The way she’d said the words seemed so final. It reminded me of the way a judge handed down fines. No appeal, no more talk. Just a cold, dispassionate sentence.
“They are likely already bound to the Archangel of Greed.” Gabriella shrugged. “And even if they are not, she will not allow you to take them from her. She is Greed. It will be far easier to find new people.” She reached out toward me. “Now let us save those we still can. We likely do not have much time. No doubt Mammon’s power is already whispering in their ears, enticing them to join her.”
“Those were my people.” I glared at the angel like it was her fault. I mean, okay, it was because she’d awakened a Princess of Hell, but she hadn’t been the one to take the townsfolk. No, Mammon had.
“That is greed talking.” Gabriella shook her head. “You must fight it. You cannot beat greed in this way. It will not work.”
She had a point. Getting frustrated now wouldn’t help. Mammon had taken my people. That was done. Now, though? Now, it was time to find a way to beat the bitch.
“What did you do?” Gwen snarled as she dropped down beside me, her huge bat wings drawing close to her body before folding into her skin like a well-detailed tattoo. She pointed at Gabriella accusingly. “Everyone’s gone.”
“I did nothing,” Gabriella said, turning to look at the succubus. “Mammon has done this.”
“Mammon?” Gwen replied, eyes narrowing in anger. “Mammon isn’t even real. The princesses are just a myth!” She shook her head before swinging her gaze to me. “Arthur, what is this idiot babbling about?”
“Firstly, she’s not an idiot.” I rubbed my hand and trying to resist the urge to lash out at Gwen. That wouldn’t help things. Besides, the succubus had a way of getting ten times angrier at me than I ever would be at her. Then she’d take it out on me when we were alone, and not in a good way.
“I already told you what happened. Mammon has taken them.” Gabriella gestured at the wood pile. “If we don’t want her to take more, we must hurry and bond everyone else to Arthur. If not, she will take everything until we have nothing left.”
“Is she serious?” Gwen said, still pointedly turned away from the angel as she stared at me expecting an answer. It’d only be a moment before she started tapping her left foot impatiently. You might say I’d done this dance a few times before.
“Yes, she’s serious,” I replied, pointing back toward where the statue had been. “Do you notice anything different?”
Gwen’s head swiveled toward the spot, and she let out a long, slow breath. “The last statue is gone.”
“It contained Mammon, Princess of Greed,�
� I affirmed, taking my own deep breath. It was hard not to freak out. We’d worked so hard to build up the town, to gather people, and now they were nearly all gone. Only that was the key. Not all gone, just nearly all gone. It was time to find out who was left, confirm their loyalty or whatever, and then figure out what to do.
“I didn’t know she was even real,” Gwen said, taken aback as she turned to look at me. “This isn’t good. The princesses were supposed to be practically gods.” Gwen’s eyes got wide. “And if she was trapped by the Darkness…”
“Then the Darkness is even stronger than her.” I glanced at Gwen. “Yeah. Doesn’t bode well.”
“Mammon failed to defeat the Darkness, not because of a lack of strength. No, she failed because she went after it alone. She sought to have the glory all for herself and fell. It is one of the reasons why Heaven is in so much better shape than Hell.” Gabriella shrugged like she was pointing out the obvious. “Where Hell is divided, Heaven is united.”
“Yeah, great,” I said, taking note of that. “Neither of those things helps us right now.” I was about to say more when Gwen broke in.
“How do you know so much about Mammon?” she asked, fixing an accusatory glare upon the archangel. “Do you know about all the Princesses of Hell?”
“I don’t understand. What is a Princess of Hell?” Gabriella replied, confused. She scrunched up her face. “Mammon is not a princess. She is my sister. That is why I was able to free her from the stone. My blood called to her blood.”
“Your sister? You mean the princesses are all archangels?” I said, turning my gaze upon the angel who stood there looking even more confused. Then her cheeks turned red, and she fidgeted, clearly uncomfortable with the scrutiny.
“It would seem so. I do not know why they have given themselves such titles.” Gabriella rubbed her chin. “Then again, that would be like Lucifer. To make titles to ease her pride.” She shook her head. “Either way, to answer your question, yes, they are all archangels. When Lucifer gathered her allies, there were no demons, nor was there a Hell. There were only angels, and that is who she recruited. Mammon, the Archangel of Greed was convinced she would own everything and believed Lucifer’s words. Fortunately, that was not to be, and when she was cast from our hallowed halls, she became the embodiment of it. Now the only thing that will soothe her tortured existence is the acquisition of more wealth, yet, hers is an appetite that can never be whetted. That is her curse to bear now.”
The Builder's Greed (The Legendary Builder Book 2) Page 3
