Chương 517: AF Chapter 516 – Epilogue 2: Aelryinth

Aelryinth, on the way home… Finally. So many goddamn sidesteps and diversions on the way, but this time I should make it to Zeks. I had to wonder at the higher, profound planning of my erratic course across Creation. I mean, seriously, diversion through multiple multiverses? How did that happen? I didn't seriously cut through so many places on my way out, did I? Well, good enough. I cut through the Veil on this multiverse, Find the Path at VIII+1 picked up the trail of Zeks, and I veered towards it…

And then was suddenly shooting off in a different direction as Zeks went through an abrupt spatial displacement across space and dimensional boundaries. The Hell did she start world-walking so fast? I shouldn't be surprised. I was jumping through hoops, why couldn't my Shards? Zeben had done pretty much the same thing, and wasn't that a heck of a "Hi! Bye!" scenario. Hopefully bringing in Aru was enough to accomplish what she needed done, I hadn't even gotten a chance to talk to her.

The astral and ethereal realms seemed pretty conflated here, didn't know what that meant as I hurtled through this aether-place like a bolt of lightning. I could sense the Domains of some extremely powerful beings around me as I flashed past them. Not True Gods, but certainly beings of deific power. I was not impressed by their Alignment harmonics in the slightest, however.

I flashed by some extremely powerful hivemind that seemed to be moving in the opposite direction that I was, and even a casual survey of it indicated it had been in sync with my destination at some point. I didn't know what that portended, nor the fact that the partial aspects of at least a dozen different Entities had tendrils or connections of Faith or its closest substitute to my destination point…

I came out of the aetheric space above the planet, losing my Div Lock on Zeks just after centering it on… fuck, that was an Eternal-class Wardfield. How the Hells did she end up under that thing? Regardless, I was still coming down, down, fast… FWOOMP! Miles-per-second velocity was dumped out in all directions around me in a quarter-mile radius of steam and dust, blowing out a nice crater and rising a good ways into the sky.

A splatter-impact was reduced to a smacking and a groan, my Heavenpact letting me know that I was really pushing it with these meteoric arrivals, and I definitely should arrange another way of getting somewhere other than crashing into a planet in my way. I grumbled that it wasn't MY idea, and if I could have burned the soul of that damn Death Titan Demi-lich again, I definitely would have!

Spitting out dust, I stepped up on the air, and immediately registered a strong prohibition against aeromancy that did NOT want me getting very far off the ground. I so noted the restriction on altitude, but it didn't prevent me from stepping up and out of my arrival crater. Ho, there was an active Pyramid Power Field here! Furthermore, the magical signature was VERY harmonic with my own, if weighted a great deal in the direction of the local manafield.

Well, after Zeben's world and THAT veritable flood of excessive Elemental mana everywhere, this was nothing. It did basically confirm that Zeks was alive and doing well, which meant I could throw off a Sending to her. -Zeks! Aelryinth here! I just arrived and am available to help if you need it! - I Sent out to her (pretty sure a her after two other Shard confirmations and all the Clones I'd left behind on other worlds), climbing out of the pit and over the long yellow grass.

I seemed to be in an area of scattered copses and plains, no bipedal sentients in sight, and the native wildlife seemed to have run off in the face of the cloud of dust I'd stirred up. The manafield was strong and vibrant, much moreso than Terra-Luna. I had no problems getting my magic off, although I didn't flex by using the local Sublime Chord. The return Sending was remarkably quick, and I sighed in relief. Zeks was alright.

-You've got maybe five minutes before a XV Warding takes action, - was the first thing that came through in a strong, smooth woman's voice, and my blood went cold. I did NOT want to put up with something as strong as that Death Curse again! -Get to the Pyramid here, - Detect Location coordinates reeled off, -bring in Aru if you can, we really need direct Divinities, and get out of here before your Master Archtheurgy gets you in trouble. -There's a swag bag under the altar. Take it and go.

Use all the Faith, that's what it's there for. -"FUUUUUUUCK!" I shouted in pure reflex, but it didn't stop me from acting instantly on her words. The Pyramid was thataway. I oriented in that direction and Linejumped away with a crack of lightning and moving matter.

I came in a mile above the Pyramid, impossible to miss it below me. I didn't wait to fall down, immediately Linejumping again straight down onto the apex of the place. My feet hit the stones, and the Pyramid lit up in acknowledgment of a Lord of Pyramids being on-site. Even a casual perusal of the Runework indicated patterns and styles I knew very, very well, accented with some very interesting new stuff I could have spent a LOT of time getting to know better.

The cubbyhole under the altar there opened with a tap of Mortus Dius, and the backpack lathered in time-locking Quintessence inside came up to my hand and was immediately dumped into my Masspack. I'd go through the contents when I had time. I looked up, and could see the power of the Ward already starting to gather here. The PPF seemed to be making matters difficult, however. Well, not much different than I had done with Zeben, then. I reached down into the Pyramid's magic, looking for how this was arranged.

Ah, clever. Subroutines broken up and linked among nearly thirty Pyramids scattered over an island here. The ley line network fairly shone in my mind underneath the interconnecting PPF's, and the interplay of fields of magic geared to very different purposes flared against the manafield with dangerous complexity and purpose. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Damn, what were the bastards Sealing under here?

More to the point, what kind of unholy soul-binding shit were they using to do so? I grit my teeth as some of the machinations of a magical System of nasty complexity and purpose were clearly apparent at only a glance from me. Zeks must have been very careful putting up these Pyramids without disrupting that Eternal-class Ward centered over there, something that could definitely bind a pretty powerful Mythos Entity underneath it, with a whole lot of convoluted applications of power.

Definitely including draining souls to do so! Clever girl had gathered up the accruing Faith, and instead of sending it on to Heaven had concentrated it in the local Pyramids as an intermediate solution via Ur-manipulation, waiting for the gods of Heaven to come down and claim it instead of it dissipating uselessly in the local aetheric space that might not even have a Heaven to gather the stuff. A normal Priest couldn't do such things, only an Ur-Priest...

Also very intelligent, and by subdividing it, she kept it below the radar of any of the too-many suspicious Entities with aetheric presence around this world, not to mention that Ward there. NOW I hit the Sublime Chord. The manafield was different, but it was like playing an instrument with a different attunement, then rewiring your reflexes to accommodate it, all on the fly. An Intellect of 60 had no problems doing such a thing.

I went through the scales, analyzed it on the go, reworked my methodology for the manafield here, and flexed as I began to pull power through the Pyramid grid. The Wardfield might have tried to stop it, but the channels of the PPF were independent of its authority and it couldn't interfere. Moreover, I had the Caster Level advantage, if not by much, which meant I could stave off the XV effect with impunity until it built up enough power that its higher Valence would carry the day.

It didn't have time to stop me while that happened. Every stone on the Pyramid beneath me blazed with The Light as power and Faith poured through them. Symbols and Glyphs of Sacred power wrote themselves across the sky in Truth, Hope, and Valor, peeling back the blue of the sky and opening up the stars of the heavens to dance and wheel… and if something made of stars was winging by up there to watch this moment, I wasn't going to tell it no.

Faith sang around me, belief and intent and harmony adhering to a greater Good Cause. I could sense the touch of the souls, depth of their sincerity and belief, and was impressed by the richness of what was coming through. It wasn't a LOT, nothing like the accrual of Zeben, but in quality and the power of the souls backing it, it was impressive for its size. Gratitude and a desire to repay the grace that had been shown them was a part of this offering.

I could feel the touch of a lot of souls having escaped the System's clutches here, all of them willing to repay the support that had been given to them. Well, it was coming. My Find the Path at VIII+1 for Earth Spell, lit off, looking for the road home and on the way to Funf.

It was in the exact same direction as a non-finite point of life and light and Goodness, radiating across the Heavens of a different, distant multiverse, turning now His eye in this direction, where sincere worshipers were calling for His attention. With a roar of dumped Valences, praise the fact I had a lot to use, I was sent roaring on my way again. In the other direction once again flowed the awareness of a much greater Power than I, coming once again to the call of His faithful in a new realm, a new place.

"Holy fuck!" Lord Mick summed up for everyone, gaping at the stars out in the middle of the day, and the Pillar of Light that had launched straight up heading for them.

"No shit. Damn, that was impressive!" Kris agreed heartily, heads bobbing all around. Even Master Harlune was staring agape at the pillar of The Light that had punched through the gathering might of the Ward above, penetrating it as if it were mere air, despite the Ward being the manifestation of magic complex enough to shake his soul. His eyes were tearing just from the after-images of those holy Symbols that had painted the sky with transcendent glory and purpose. Something moved Up There.

Everyone gaped as for a moment, it looked like a great winged bird, made up of stars and nebulae, seemed to be illuminated by the Light passing it by, and then it was gone into the reaches of the celestial vaults.

"What in the Heavens was that?" Commander Briggs whispered, pale green eyes wide as he carried his new son in his arms, pale violet eyes the hue of his mother's also gaping up there.

"That was a Void Phoenix," Lady Magos Ryin said, smiling widely and not hiding the tears coming down her face as she bounced her firstborn daughter Tsuki on her hip.

"It came to watch, and now it is ceding the Heavens to one greater than itself…" And something opened up there, high in the Heavens. Although it was small physically, it was instantly the only thing any of those watching below could see. A Golden Eye, sweeping across all and settling on them, staring back up at it in open awe. Seeing Them. All of Them. Passing Judgment, and not finding them wanting. All of them fell right to their knees as their souls shook under the Eye of Aru.

And then that Eye shifted, it moved, and all of their heads turned in that direction. All of the magic on the island seemed to tense and make ready to act with desperate power and impetus. Threads of Fate and power bored into every living thing there stiffened up, ready to reduce each and every living thing on the island to dust to power a desperate containment and defense… There was a POP that shook minds, bodies, and souls, and those threads Burned away under His Eye.

Light came down, down out there in the Inner Sea, a column and shaft of glorious power and purpose beyond anything the minds of mortals could even begin to understand. Heaven descended upon the heart of the System of Dereth, and Burned it away as it reached down, down… Something screamed, far in the distance. They only knew that it did, but could feel nothing more than that.

The manafield around the island seemed to turn inside out, especially as the vast reserves of vivic flame incorporated into the Pyramid Power Fields were drawn out and applied at the same time. Almost every Caster there twitched and jerked as the manafield and ley lines seemed to bounce and dance.

Those with more power could feel the Entities of Mythos hastily withdrawing their hands and tendrils from this place in the face of the almighty power whelming here, having no desire at all to contest for dominance with it. The Lady Magos Ryin looked out over the Inner Sea, and saw the magical Ward there break and fall, absent all power as that which it was made to drain and contain vanished.

The obfuscation of the islands remained, but the power radiating out from there was completely crippled, barely able to sustain its own concealment and integrity at that level. She could feel pressure against the Seals on the hundred thousand and more Spawn Points scattered across the land dissipate as the energy to feed them vanished. Even the Shorewards were being depowered to a degree, although she doubted anything of The Deep was going to risk getting near this place now.

Humans would be able to come and go without problems, although magical creatures would still face an impervious barrier they'd have to pound through, if they could pass at all. She would have to pay another visit to the Tech Center again, and this time, it was the Techies who were going to have to be careful not to anger them. They were without purpose right now, so best to give them another one… or be rid of them and their machinations. There was no doubt the undead would be fleeing.

Aru was utter anathema to everything they were, and a display of that level of power would have terrified the lot of them down to their withered souls. She expected them to abandon the whole world with all the speed they were capable of! And Aru would have seen the proud and quiet Gate to Ispar, and the Faith that flowed from there as well, giving Him two new worlds to spread His word and that of His pantheon to. The Sending spoke in her ear. - Well done.

I've got the location locks and the Pyramid network firmly emblazoned, I'll be able to return in the future. I trust bringing in Aru solves whatever issues were dogging you, and we'll have an easier time going forwards. Here's hoping Funf had an easier time than either of us has had... - Ryin Sent off her reply at IX. -Yes. Aru coming dealt with the overriding danger, and effectively has pacified the great dangers of this island, opening up the rest of the world, in time.

We should have no problem enduring what comes next. Good luck and godspeed, oh Null Shard. - She clearly heard the laughter coming back through his /reply, and then there was a mutual exchange of information which could be quite useful to both of them, although she'd made sure to include most of that in his Swag Bag…