by Tony Corden
You have achieved the title: Pandemic
When she’d finished, she walked toward a Günahkâr who had turned to face her. She heard him in her head as he said, “War Leader, all five Onbin await your arrival before the Arch.”
Leah checked her Teleport Spell and using the Psychic Mana connection she said, “I can take ten guards with me and the glitchwolves.”
As she connected through the Günahkâr to the five Onbin, she could hear the local leader identify ten Günahkâr to accompany her as an honour guard. She asked the five Onbin to show her the field before the Arch. When she had the image clear in her mind, she teleported herself, the ten guards and the three glitchwolves.
She arrived standing before the five Onbin and what she instantly knew to be nine thousand eight hundred and forty-three Günahkâr standing in formation before the Arch. Leah didn’t turn to face the Arch but allowed her Psychic Mana connection to slowly reach out and touch each of the assembled Günahkâr through their leaders. She understood through the link that the Günahkâr had all accepted the change in leadership and were waiting for orders. They wanted to move forward in their quest for martial perfection. Leah asked for a table to be brought and asked the five Omban to approach. When everything was ready, she spread a map of Vatan out on the table and indicating places with her finger said, “My name is Atherleah, Empress of Vatan. I am Queen of the Elfaun here, I am Queen of the Dragonblood Dryad’s here, I am Queen of Yilanlar here, and over its surrounds. I am the First Mage of Vatan which is centred in the Citadel of Magic at Sihirbazlari, and I am War Leader of the Günahkâr.”
Leah drew a circle around all the areas she knew the bell had rung. She said, “In these areas, I am known, and they await my arrival before I will formally be declared Empress. I appoint the Günahkâr as my Imperial Guards. Your mandate is to protect both my people and my land. In addition, I have businesses and banks throughout the continent and in every major city. I have mines and workers who also need protection. As my Imperial Guards, it is your duty to protect my employees, to protect the caravans which transport my goods and to protect the facilities under my banner. Through your Onbin, those who so wish will be appointed to one of these tasks or to other, yet unknown situations where I require your skills. You are free to travel, but you must only fight to protect yourselves, to protect my interests, or to protect those who are being oppressed. Yesterday you heard my will in these matters. Will you accept this charge?”
The blast of Psychic mana directed to Leah almost blew her off her feet, and would have if she hadn’t begun diverting most of the mana streaming through her connection with the Günahkâr to either side of her. She forced it to run along and then down her arms as she collected it between her hands. As she diverted it, she noticed specks of light silver mana spread throughout the mana. On her first day in Dunyanin Mage Jonathan had shared this was the mana relating to a pledge. Leah understood that the Günahkâr were giving her their oath of allegiance. Using her experience with the shrouds, Leah willed the mana to form small molecule-sized spheres which she connected together with nanofilaments of the silver mana to create a long nanotubule the height of her body. She then formed another nano tube layer on the outside of this and connected them with more nano filaments. She multiplied the number of nanofibres until she began to see a rod forming in front of her which looked like the old pictures she’d seen of fibre optic cables.
The five Onbin saw what she was doing, and each called their family to add additional elemental mana through their link. As Leah saw the elemental mana arriving she formed separate nanofibres with them and slowly built up finger width cables of spirit, fire, air, water and earth. She had used all the pledge mana to form five Psychic rods, and instead, she added mana from her two shrouds building a spiral of divine light connections which wound its way up the cable followed by a spiral of shadow connections. Finally, Leah formed a strand of gravity mana and spiralled the five oath rods around it. As they wrapped around the centre, they were pulled inward, which increased their overall density while maintaining their form.
Leah then wrapped the five cables of elemental magic around the solid mana oath-focussed core. Each of the elemental cables were also compressed until Leah was holding a staff a few inches taller than herself. It had cords of elemental mana which spiralled slowly along its length. As Leah reached out and took hold of the staff, she could feel the texture of the five cables and even the pattern of fibres within each. Leah lifted the staff and held it before the assembled Günahkâr. She said, “I take your oaths freely given and will keep them as my Imperial Sceptre. I will use it as I use you, to protect the innocent and to punish those who oppress others.”
At that, every Günahkâr went to one knee momentarily then stood. Some began moving away as the five Onbin stepped forward. Pudra said, “We accept the mandate and will make haste to our assignments. War Leader, where do you go and how many will you take with you?”
Leah knew she would be expected to take some guards, as protecting her and her interests was now the purpose of the Günahkâr. She said, “I must visit Lord Geckiş and complete my quest. I do not know where I will be headed after that, but I need to visit Sihirbazlari and find some companions who I seem to have misplaced. I also must travel in my dreams to other realms, and I do not know how long I will be away.”
She turned to the glitchwolves and said, “I release you from my service. Please inform Kurtlarin of all you have seen. Tell Kurtlarin that should the king of the Fae question my actions, he must discuss it with me rather than taking it out on my subjects.”
Ruhani said, “We would join you.”
“Thank you, but for now I would have you return and discuss these matters with Kurtlarin and the other glitchwolves. If you still feel this way when we meet again, then you may travel with me. Talk with any of the Günahkâr, and they will show you where I am.”
Turning back to Pudra, she said, “I will take one hand with me.”
Leah could sense the rapid interaction of psychic mana around the entire group of Günahkâr who remained. From among them, five of the dark elves stepped forward, one from each of the families. The Yargin Günahkâr was female, and she stopped in front of Leah and said, “War Leader, I am Yürek, Baş of this hand.”
“Well met Yürek. Gather what you need, for we leave soon.”
Gèng said, “You’d best hurry, the police will be arriving in less than half an hour.”
“Why so soon?”
“Leah, it took you almost seven and a half virtual hours to form the staff. When you come back from the police station, you need to look at the final crystalline structure of the staff. Your subconscious brought together a complex array of braids. It took those you have been considering and wove them together into a single coherent strand. I recorded the process and have already reviewed it twice. I cannot find a reference to such a formulation in any of the literature.”
Leah looked around and could see the changed shape of the shadows. She turned to Pudra and said, “I apologise for taking so long to accept your oaths.”
Pudra smiled and said, “Each Günahkâr was aware as you placed both their oath and their element specifically in its assigned place within the Sceptre. Although we act as one, we also highly value our individuality. Your care showed us that our lives would not be spent on a whim and that each one would fulfil their purpose. Your precision confirmed the prophecy. We have waited for the one who would find value in our dream and help us to attain it. At each awakening and at each birth we would look for the ‘Broken One’ among our people. We searched for the one who would bring freedom and wholeness to pursue our purpose even though we did not understand the words. The prophecy said,
Between the shadow and the light,
between earth and sky,
between here and there walks the broken one.
With thorn and flame,
with sword and venom,
with hands of lightning walks the broken one.
As one or many,
>
as light or dark,
as beast, fae or dragon, she walks,
the broken one.
In her hands our future,
in her hands our fate,
in her hands our life.”
Leah knew the AI had changed history to make the situation fit, so she nodded as if she understood. The five Günahkâr who would go with her approached at a run so she added some final instructions and informed the Onbin that the rest of her current Empire would be waiting for the Imperial guard to arrive. Finally, she sent a Psychic farewell to the Günahkâr and turned to face the Eastern Arch of Lord Geckiş.
As she turned, Yürek stepped beside her while the other four formed an outer ring. Leah used the Psychic connection to discover their names. Yürek was Yargin, İşaret was Yalet, Orta was Rüzgâr, Yüzük was Sula, and Küçük was Toprak. When they were in position, they stepped through the arch as one.
85
Chapter 85
December 19, 2073 - Morning - Part 2
DUNYANIN
Leah had expected the portal to be instantaneous, but it seemed she was sucked into a vortex which showed her glimpses of her journey through Dunyanin. As she spun faster and faster, she caught flashes of friends and enemies and the myriad of creatures and MOBs that she’d killed. As everything eventually became a blur, she closed her eyes and fought down both a rising panic and vertigo that threatened to overwhelm her. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped. Leah grounded the Sceptre in front of her before opening her eyes.
She was standing in front of a throne on which sat Lord Geckiş. He was surrounded by hundreds of courtiers, all of whom looked familiar. She took a second look at Lord Geckiş, and for the first time, he had a single face, and when he spoke, he had a single voice. He said, “Well met, Atherleah. I had feared for some time that you would join the others who failed in this mission, but it is not so. My daughter was so certain you would die amongst the Günahkâr that she looked away. Once more, you have become more than you were. I see the confusion on your face, these others are also me. We take it in turns to sit upon our throne. You should be thankful you were not here yesterday as my speech was so archaic even I didn’t understand half of what I said. Please release my son.”
Leah took the crown from her pack and held it out. There was a flash of light and before her stood a younger version of Geckiş. He bowed and said, “Empress, thank you for bringing us to our birthright.”
Leah could see his face transitioning between the various personalities in the same way as K’Calama’s had. Somur T’kan then turned to Lord Geckiş and said, “Hello fathers. We are finally ready to be what we must become. Where is our sister?”
K’Calama appeared to one side of Lord Geckiş and said, “We are here, oh gutless, legless one. I’d hoped the Günahkâr would kill Atherleah and your crown, with you in it, would be lost for all eternity.”
Somur opened his mouth to reply, but Lord Geckiş raised his hand and said, “Lady Atherleah, I see Umut’s hand upon thy shoulder and wish you had some hope that I might find a less fractious way through my final transition.”
Leah had been wondering the same thing and had an idea she wasn’t all that comfortable with, but still, she thought it might have merit. She said, “Indeed Lord Geckiş, it would help if I understood the full scope of thy purpose.”
“I understand change, the flow of time, the movement of the seasons. I exist to ensure continuity through the diverse experiences of life. I exist to ensure that life does not stagnate upon Dunyanin and that it continues to grow, to mature, to live, to die. I exist to help the world and its individuals move past events that would isolate, imprison and destroy them. I exist to stop people living in a moment that has gone and will never be again. I exist to help the young boy become a young man, to encourage the young man to be an old man. I do not pass judgement, I leave that to the other Gods. My task is to war against stagnation. I help bring order from chaos and chaos from order…”
Leah let Geckiş talk for some time then said, “Pardon Lord Geckiş, but please allow me to transition your speech into my suggestion.”
At Geckiş’ smiling nod, Leah said, “Must there be one answer? Must you have one solution? I assume you have no problem with a plurality sitting on the throne, so why do you shy away from a duality? If a plethora of personalities is best to rule the transitions of life would not two plethora be even more effective or advantageous?”
Lord Geckiş looked shocked for a moment before all the hundreds of his unified self began to chortle and look toward Somur T’kan and K’Calama with a glint in their eyes. The two offspring of Lord K’Calama both had shocked looks on their faces, but before they could respond Lord Geckiş waved his hand and they began to spin around each other as mana formed on the fingers of all Lord Geckiş’ many personalities. The mana began to stream toward the spinning pair, and as it reached them, it began to wrap itself around their bodies until all Leah could see was a massive cocoon. As the cocoon stopped spinning, the ends of the mana wrapping it began to form a series of fibres which rose and attached the cocoon to the ceiling of Lord Geckiş’ mighty hall.
Lord Geckiş looked over at Leah and said, “I was locked in my cocoon for eighty years before I made peace with myself, before I understood all the ‘me’s that constitute me, before I accepted all the different expressions of myself and learned to value them. To understand which parts were private and which public. Which I would allow to speak and which would remain silent. I suspect my offspring may be there for several hundred years. In that time I suspect they will forgive me. I do not have such high hopes that they will find it in their hearts to forgive you, so I suggest you stay away if you hear I have transitioned.”
Leah smiled and said, “I will keep my distance.”
Geckiş said, “Then you are wise. When you leave my realm, you will have your reward for finishing the quest I gave you. You must take your leave soon as the longer you stay in my realm, the greater the changes that you will experience. Which exit will you take? You may choose any except the one through which you came.”
Leah had been expecting to be dropped back where she’d been before being sent on the quest but only took a moment to decide. In her mind, the choice came down to one of two. One was in the centre of the continent, which unfortunately was in the land of the Desert Elves, and the other was at the top of the highest peak. She said, “I choose the high exit at Mount Siddetli.”
Geckiş nodded and pointed toward an arch which had suddenly appeared to his right. He said, “Farewell Lady Atherleah. While you have been on my quest, I have been watching over your companion Shēngmìng de Huǒ. She has grown strong even as she searches for you. She hunts even now at the base of Mount Siddetli. Until we meet again, farewell.”
Leah bowed with respect and then as the hand of Günahkâr fell into step with her, she stepped through the arch. Once again Leah was pulled down a swirling tunnel. This time she saw her life from a different angle. She saw herself through the eyes of her enemies and foes. Leah watched as she cut, burnt and froze life from those she fought.
Before she reached the stage of vertigo, the swirling stopped and she found herself standing on rock hard, windblown, smooth as glass, ice which covered the rocky, windswept peak of Mount Siddetli. A message appeared which she waved away. Beside her was a large chest with gold binding. She put it away without looking as she began to struggle with her breathing, and as her extremities began to freeze.
She used her shadow shroud to tether herself to the ground and shaped the light shroud as a bubble around her and the Günahkâr. She gasped, “Orta, can you control the air inside the shield to provide more oxygen to breathe? Yürek can you heat the inside of the shield, so we don’t freeze?”
Both nodded, and soon they all found it easier to breathe and stopped shivering as the temperature in the shield began to rise. Leah turned to Küçük and said, “Küçük, can you reshape the ground beneath us to form a cave? I know we need to ge
t off the mountain, but I would prefer to do it with proper consideration.”
Yüzük said, “Let me first reshape and move the water from beneath us.”
Leah could sense it as the ice melted from the frozen tip of the mountain and began to freeze on the outside of her shield.
Küçük said, “The rock is stronger than any I have felt before. It will take me some time to reshape the rock.”
Leah looked down and cast Changing Attraction. She realised before she cast that it mostly used gravity magic, so she transformed some of her store of mana into a well of gravity magic and then cast Changing Attraction and willing it to be focussed in a small area rather than spreading out. The spell was so effective she had to step back to stop falling in the meter wide tunnel which opened beneath her.
Küçük slid down the tunnel and said, “War Leader, the tunnel is twenty paces deep. If you have sufficient mana, perhaps you could form a cave here. We can readily survive in such a place while we consider our options.”
When Küçük had climbed out of the tunnel. Leah dropped in and this time cast the spell while willing it to centre itself several metres below her and to spread out in a spherical pattern. Again, the spell was much more effective when she prepared the mana beforehand. There was now a four-metre diameter spherical cave at the base of the tunnel.
When everyone was safely inside the cave, Leah made sure the five would have sufficient food for perhaps a week and suggested if she wasn’t back in that time, they should make their way down the mountain. Leah and Küçük had carved out some sleeping places, and when everything was done, Leah logged out to the Tower.
STORK TOWER
Once back in the Tower, Gèng said, “The police called Olivia and sent her a copy of the warrant. They will be at the front gate in fifteen minutes.
