The Court of Souls?

by Andur

  “This is not what I meant when I said that I don't want to go under it and you know it!” I call out, running faster. Now we even have the attention of one of its heads!

  “What's left if you don't want to go under it? Going left or right would have taken more time. I admit that we could have tried to go through it, but I doubt it is a pleasant experience.” Shade rolls to the side as the monster's head comes back down to snap its jaws shut. I use the chance to place a kick on the creature's chin, dazing it.

  Then I notice that someone is fighting at the portal. Moonray and his underlings emerged from an underground tunnel and used the chance which was provided by the hydra. When it emerged from the portal the flow of small spirits slowed down. There are still some spirits coming through, but not as many as before. The number is manageable.

  I point at them. “They are trying to flee through the portal!”

  Shade throws himself onto his belly as the hydra tries to bite him, then he slides down its tail and I join him, falling on my butt as the climb gets too steep. The smooth scales allow for a fine ride to the ground.

  We land rather unceremoniously in the dirt and are immediately attacked by small spirits. I slice and stab to clear a path, following Shade.

  “He is trying to flee through the portal!” Shade dissolves into shadows and swallows one of his attackers. Then he surges towards the portal where Moonray seems to be waiting for us. I speed up, following as fast as possible.

  Right before Shade reaches Moonray, his shadow form runs into some kind of barrier. It flattens out and spreads right in front of Moonray who is watching us with a raised eyebrow.

  “That won't work. This barrier is fed directly by the storm.” He says with a bored voice.

  I reach them and slam a fist into the invisible shield, releasing my energy into it. My knuckles break and the sheer force sends ripples of blue energy spreading out from the impact zone. It doesn't look like I achieved anything. While setting the bones in my hand, I turn my attention to Moonray.

  “Thank you for distracting the spirits. Otherwise I doubt that I would have accomplished my goal. But I guess that the outcome was inevitable. Tell Doreen goodbye from me,” Moonray gives us a slight bow, as if we just finished a friendly duel.

  “That's all you have to say for yourself? After everything you did, you even create such an abomination to release even more spirits into this realm?” I gesture at the portal behind him.

  He turns around and spreads his hand towards the ring of orange energies. “Oh, you misunderstand. The spirits are just an unfortunate by-product. Their realm is trying to invade all the other realms. They are always on the lookout for someone or something opening a portal to bridge the gap between dimensions. Their hate for everything that's not as twisted as them is without comparison. When they get a response, they immediately launch an invasion. All I want is to go home.”

  Shade returns to his human form. “Home!?”

  “That's right, I guess. You see, I am not a native of this realm. I was thrown here a few centuries ago. My experiments with dimensional travel led me to explore the mana storms, which are zones in which the gap between dimensions is almost non-existent. Unfortunately I had an accident and was pulled into this horrible dimension. Ever since then, I've worked hard to leave.” He gestures at the battle behind us. “But that's not a simple task as you can see.”

  Shade levels his spear at the barrier. “You won't escape. No matter where you run, I'll find you.”

  A lance of white energy stabs out at the barrier and sparks fly. The barrier doesn't break, but it is clear that Shade's attack has some kind of destabilizing effect.

  “Yes, I've heard about your previous reincarnation. If I had heard about you earlier, I might have consulted you for a better way. But things are as they are. Honestly, I am surprised that you were reincarnated into a realm like Dedessia. I doubt that there is a dimension which is worse to live in. Even the spirits' native realm is friendlier. It's a place which is littered with mana storms, but that's to be expected. They are beings which are born from natural magic after all.”

  Moonray's attention wanders towards the barrier which is showing signs of breaking down. “I fear I have to go now. You should close the portal instead of following me. Currently the portal isn't spitting out spirits because I attuned it to my realm. Once I am gone, the spirits will reconnect to it.” He turns around and walks into the portal, disappearing from sight.

  Shade screams and the barrier shatters. He jumps forward, but I grab him and hold him back. “Don't be stupid! We can search for Moonray after the portal is closed. Who knows where you might end up if you simply jump through.”

  “It could take forever to find him again. Who knows how many realms this multiverse has!?” Shade points his staff at the portal. As if on command a spirit comes through and I use a surge of power to blast it apart. “Is it worth leaving everyone behind!?”

  Shade curses and takes off his backpack. Then he throws it at the portal. The cloth disintegrates and reveals the seed. It greedily starts absorbing the portal and the storm's energies. While doing so, it grows and casts out a fine web of roots which grow thicker and thicker.

  Shade curls the corners of his mouth downwards, watching the scene unfolding. “Say, have you ever thought about what the seed will feed upon if the storm doesn't provide enough power?”

  I look at him and study his furrowed forehead. “It feeds on any big mana source it can reach, why?”

  “What's the second biggest mana source aside from that storm?” He asks calmly.

  I return my attention to the growing seed. The biggest mana source aside from the storm...

  “Gods!”

  Both of us turn and run for our lives.

  “You could have thought about that earlier!”

  “Why!? I didn't intend to be anywhere near it!”

  66. ~Closed Portal.~

  “The nature of the nephilim is complicated by the ambiguity of Genesis 6:4, which leaves it unclear whether they are the "sons of God" or their offspring who are the "mighty men of old, men of renown". Richard Hess in The Anchor Bible Dictionary takes it to mean that the nephilim are the offspring, as does P. W. Coxon in Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible.”

  The Journey to the Afterlife

  Dedessia, the Sea of Souls, Mana Storm

  Shade

  The portal is gone, which is a victory if Moonray's disjointed bits and pieces of information hold a grain of truth. Not that I would give a shit about something that came from his tongue. Once we are able to, the information has to be verified.

  I turn my attention to the almost invisible web of pathways which are spreading from the storm. Our seed took root and switched to an immaterial form, fulfilling its purpose in connecting the various realms and locations to each other. After an initial growth spurt the process slowed down and is now advancing at walking speed. That's quite good if we keep in mind that the roots are currently reaching out towards several different realms.

  The mana storm is still there, but smaller and diminished. The reason for its existence isn't gone, so it will continue to feed the seed until it spreads throughout the entire multiverse. When it reaches other storms, it will use them too.

  The process will take a while, but it's not like we don't have the time to watch. However, there are still other clans to be taken over, alliances to be made, spirits to be killed. No, I doubt that I'll run out of things to do any time soon. And once the seed connects to the other realms I will have find out what this new multiverse looks like.

  And once I am done with this realm...

  Elona flashes into existence right next to me. “These new pathways are a bitch to use. I had one hell of a ride just to get from the camp to here. Why are you standing out here all alone?”

  I shrug my shoulders. “Just watching the seed doing its thing. There would be hell to pay if something went wrong. And I think the reason for the bumpy ride is that the mana storm sen
ds an energy resonance through the pathways. But I think the effect will lessen once the network grows enough to compensate for the chaos magic of the storm. Until then we shouldn't grant any lesser gods access to the pathways.”

  Elona purses her lips and crosses her arms in front of her chest. “I am not sure if we should grant anyone access? We should just keep the network to ourselves. It's not like we owe the multiverse something. And just look back at the past. It's not like free movement did the gods any good. All it caused was even more chaos and bloodshed than we would have accomplished on our own. A god shouldn't have more than one world to play with.”

  I nod. “I certainly won't give them free access to the pathways. Certainly not with all the new features which were added. But if Moonray's words hold a shred of truth, then we need more people to be able to travel around. If this multiverse is as complex as the previous one, then we will need a lot of people to explore it.”

  Turning, Elona takes a look at the hydra's corpse. “At least our immediate food problems are solved. That will last us for a while. Add in all the small ones and we are topped off.”

  “Are you are sure that it is edible? From what I heard, Manti shot quite a lot of her poison darts at it,” I ask, not trusting such a food-source.

  “It will be fine once the flesh is cooked. Manti's poison might be extremely deadly, but it dissolves at high temperatures and becomes harmless.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “Sounds like you already studied her poison?”

  “As you tend to accuse me of being a 'witch', it would be highly embarrassing to be killed by said poison or anything else of the sort.” Elona raises her chin in defiance.

  “Though I doubt that Manti would have done that. She isn't the type.” If she wants to kill someone, she challenges him or her in the open.

  “When we first met she was quite hostile. And I had no way of judging her character that fast, so researching such a dangerous weapon was the obvious thing to do. But after I found out that high temperatures counteract the poison I quickly stopped wasting time on it.” Elona twirls a lock of hair between her fingers.

  I scratch the back of my hand, feeling an uncomfortable itch. “Though high temperatures can be quite deadly too? Especially if they have to be high enough to cook meat? It sounds more like having to choose between two different ways to die.”

  “Oh, that's not true. There are ways to cook someone and keep him alive at the same time. There is a little bit of healing required, but I think it's preferable to dying. Don't you have something similar in one of your torture chambers?” Elona asks with an astounded expression.

  No? I would have never gotten the idea to cook someone while keeping him alive! My stomach turns just by thinking about it. “I think there are better ways to torture someone. My techniques are all aimed at motivating the targets to spill their secrets. I doubt that cooking someone allows them to talk. It would probably end up in a lot of gurgling and gulping down hot water. And then they can't speak because their tongue is too swollen to utter a single word.”

  “But it certainly sounds like you already tried something along the line. Who said that you have to submerge them completely. Just cook the lower half and the problem is solved. But enough of this. We should return to the camp and have a talk with the family. This battle did cost us and we have to mourn the dead. Then we have to rebuild our strength. Moonray will pay for his deeds, may it be tomorrow, or in a few thousand years. He angered the only two people who hold grudges for quite some time.” Elona links arms with me and turns us towards the camp.

  A small smile steals itself onto my face. “You are right. It wouldn't be the first time that we hunt someone for millennia, just to get some petty revenge. We don't forget that easily.”

  Elona kisses me on my cheek. “That's right. Moonray will have a bad day once we find him again. He will regret that he is giving us the chance to rebuild our strength.”

  I scratch my cheek. “Do you think he will realize that the return of the pathways is our doing?”

  Elona's expression shows her uncertainty. “Not sure. He will notice them at some point. We went to great lengths to prevent anyone else from interfering with, or using, the new pathways. Moonray's words of departure sounded like he is interested in dimensional travel, so I think his curiosity will force him to meddle with our creation.”

  “And once he does, we will know where he is,” I finish her thoughts and put on a vicious grin. The gods of other realms will surely investigate the new pathways once they notice them. Which won't be as easy as it sounds. The pathways of old came in two different versions. A bright and strong one, which shone for every god to see. And a weak and diminished one, which required skill and concentration to sense at all. The reason for that was to be found in the amount of energy which was transmitted through them.

  While the bright ones could be compared to the good, old cable wires which use electricity, the diminished ones may be compared to light-wave cables. The two versions accomplish the same thing, but the latter needs a little more skill than the other. And since we created the new pathways, we also have administrator rights. Nobody can use them without our permission.

  We leisurely walk back to our camp. The aftermath of the fight wasn't all that rosy. We may have won the battle, but we had to pay a high price. We lost forty-four of our higher immortals and six hundred of our mids. The corpses are still being sorted from the mountains of creatures which were slain today. To think that there is an entire realm of those things waiting for us makes my back shudder. Regaining our old strength is more important than ever.

  First thing on the list will be to give Dedessia a new culture. The old ways of small, tribe-like societies have to become a thing of the past. If we want to face the other realms, we have to band together and form a unified society.

  For that reason I have to use my crystal technology to its fullest. Not only do we have to create a self sustaining habitat, it also has to be big enough to hold an entire culture. Yes, there is a lot of work to do.

  Up until now we were caught inside a web of action and reaction. Either towards the hostile nature around us, or towards our enemies. This has to end. And I will see to it. The first step will be to create a firm foothold for our society, preferably mobile. We have to travel around in order to gather the other clans. It will be the quickest way to increase our numbers.

  “Shade? What are you thinking about?” Elona pokes my side. “I see it in your expression. You are scheming something. And not without some very shady thoughts.”

  I smile and hug her. “You know me too well.”

  67. ~Time.~

  “Memory is the process in which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved. Encoding allows information from the outside world to be sensed in the form of chemical and physical stimuli. In the first stage the information must be changed so that it may be put into the encoding process. Storage is the second memory stage or process. This entails that information is maintained over short periods of time. Finally the third process is the retrieval of information that has been stored.”

  The Journey to the Afterlife

  Dedessia, the Sea of Souls, Semper Fidelis

  Elona

  “Oh, I am so excited about the ceremony!” I twirl Seria around and a cute giggle escapes my daughter. “Faster, Mom!”

  It has been five years since Moonray's escape and while Shade and I were busy with creating a new society, Seria grew past the stage of a toddler. Everything happened so quickly, I honestly didn't notice the passage of time. And in just a few weeks it will be time for Cylus, Seria's brother, to take the ceremony.

  “Are you really sure that we should allow this?” Shade asks with desperation in his voice. “Seria never was so well behaved. Such a nice child, her current personality is that of an angel. In fact, we should try to find a way to stop her from remembering her previous self!”

  I use one my wings to pull Seria closer and shield her from Shade. “You are just afraid that
she remembers her time as Legna and holds a grudge against you. And if she gets her memories back you can't play the benevolent teacher to her. Seria will get the same chance at remembering her previous lives as everyone else.”

  “In fact, the ceremony is flawed, I can do a much better job at bringing back her memories.” He reaches for Seria, but I whip my tail at the back of his hand, causing him to retreat.

  Then I cross my arms in front of my chest and raise my chin. “You will not meddle with our daughter's mind. I remember a lot of things about mind magic, and Doreen's ritual is a gentle way to make old memories resurface. There is no point in bringing back everything at once. Especially if the person in question is still in the body of a child.”

  Doreen joins the discussion and waves her hand at Shade. “Don't worry! It's a little different from person to person, but normally the earliest memories come back first. So it will be a long time until she remembers her death as Legna. If at all. Her last lifetime was particularly short and violent. Such a memory has to be very strong to resurface earlier.”

  Shade mumbles something, but I ignore him. Instead, I pick up Seria and place her in the chair across from Doreen. My grandmother is, by tradition, the person who performs the ritual on every child once they reach the age of five.

  Seria doesn't really understand what's going on, though I tried to explain it to her. Well, I guess the nature of this world isn't very gentle towards the innocence of children. If we were to allow Seria to grow up without this ritual she would lose her previous memories once her real personality surfaces.

  Doreen places both hands on the sides of Seria's head and starts chanting. Soon afterwards Seria closes her eyes and falls into a deep trance. I take Shade's hand and wait impatiently for the ceremony to end. It is normal that the only people present are the parents and the person who performs the ceremony, so we retreated to the palace's study room. I have no doubt that Doreen has a lot of experience in introducing new immortals to this world. It's certainly much better than Shade's and Legna's first introduction to the slavers.