Chương 192: 187 — Book 4, Chapter 31 — The Black Vault, Pt 6

Cale was getting tired, though he did his best not to let it show. It was difficult, facing so many of his past mistakes—and many of these he did consider mistakes, no matter that people hailed him as a hero for them. The lesser of two evils was still an evil. No matter how often he was forced into the choice, it remained a fact that things should never have gotten to that point. There was a cruelty to whatever twist of fate had given him the power he wielded.

It was, as far as he knew, very nearly absolute: there were few things in the Great Realms that could stand up to its raw intensity. Oh, they existed, certainly. Creatures from the Outer Planes, critters that had incorporated some spark of power from aberrant pockets of reality, and the occasional individual like Seer, who had stayed outside the world for so long that he had become a twisted aspect of reality unto himself.

It would have been stranger if he had never encountered anything in all his lives that could force him on the back foot. Situations like these were not common, but no amount of raw power could solve some problems. It was why he wanted so badly to be able to perform the small, delicate sorts of magic. If he could wield all that strength for something other than violence, how much more could he have solved? He supposed he was being given the opportunity to find out.

In a strange way, he was rather grateful to Seer for it. What he did not appreciate, though, was having to face all these past foes back to back. Seer had apparently forgotten about the very human need for sleep. Cale could use his mana to burn away some of the need for it, but that didn't mean he didn't want to! He had no idea how long he'd been fighting and negotiating his way through these monsters at this point. It had to have been more than a day, though.

Time felt like it was being stretched thin around him, which was no doubt Seer's doing. He'd spent so long in his little pocket dimension that he'd gained a sort of vestigial authority over it. It wouldn't be the first time Cale had fought off someone like that. Unfortunately, once you were inside their domain, there wasn't much of a way to leave. Short of finding a loophole in the nature of the domain or convincing them to let you go free of their own free will, anyway.

Cale's options were limited to that or blowing the entire realm apart and swimming through the Abyss on his own, and while he'd done that once, he was pretty certain Irides wouldn't survive the trip. So! He was going to wait for rescue. That was fine; he was pretty certain his apprentices would find a way to get to him. If this kept going for too long he'd try the Abyssal swim and put Irides in a barrier-bubble or something.

He wasn't sure that would actually protect a fellrune from the pressures of the Abyss, so it was very much a last resort. He glanced up from the snarling, gibbering thing he currently had pinned to the ground (which was not, in fact, snarling because it was angry at him; snarling, gibbering things were common to the Planar War, and the snarling was more a default mode of existence than a response to anything.) Seer was still staring at him, because of course he was.

Irides had turned purple from his original shade of light blue, which Cale hadn't realized fellrunes could even do. The runelines that composed his body were slowly drifting apart. Every so often, he remembered to pull himself back together and did so, but then he would start drifting again.

"Are you... doing alright, there?" Cale asked, raising an eyebrow. Irides jerked.

"I'm fine," he said.

"Just... just looking for ways to expose you, that's all. You can't have been to all these realms. You just—you can't have."

"I think all the creatures of the Realms I've been fighting would disagree with you," Cale said dryly.

"What even is that thing, anyway?" Irides couldn't seem to help himself. He drifted closer, his gaze fixed on it as it squirmed.

"What are you doing to it? It looks painful."

"Oh, this little guy? He's not in pain, don't worry." Cale made a face.

"It's a face-eater, one of the many species of wrigglers that went extinct at the end of the Planar War. If you let it, it'll attach to your face, eat it, then reshape itself to copy your features. Species without faces are safe from it, of course. Do you want to pet it?"

"No!" Irides recoiled.

"Why would I want to pet it? That's horrifying!"

"Eh. They're harmless, compared to some of the other stuff I've seen." Cale gave a mock shudder, shaking his head.

"They're only really dangerous when combined with the cults that used them. You can get them to detach if you know how, and there was this cult that would use them to erase their own faces. After that, they'd swap the face-eaters between one another like masks. Kind of unsanitary, honestly."

"But—but why?" Irides asked, drifting closer, like he was transfixed. He seemed to have forgotten that he was supposed to be questioning Cale's experience with all these different realms.

"Oh, they believed in this entity called the Mask of Many," Cale said.

"They're one of the gods from the Outer Planes. They embody dissociated identity, hive minds, the slow erosion of your sense of self, that kind of thing. I think the face-eaters are technically their spawn, but they aren't very attached to them." The fluttering runelines of Irides's body went still for a moment.

"The Outer Planes," he said faintly.

"Have you... have you been there, too?"

"Oh, so now you believe me?" Cale scoffed.

"No, I haven't. I mean, I've been there for the occasional visit, but the rules of magic don't apply in the same way there. They're incredibly dangerous, even for me."

"Even a Monolith is but a mortal when no longer subject to the Great Realms," Irides muttered, quoting one of more famous lines from the first mage-scholar that had discovered the Outer Planes.

"Viridea was a wise woman," Cale agreed with a nod.

"... You say that like you knew her."

"Sure did. Fantastic mage and an even better explorer. She created the modern [Fireball], you know."

"Now I know you're lying," Irides said. He didn't have any arms to cross, but his runelines flickered over one another, like he was attempting his best impression of it.

"Everyone knows Keravak created the modern [Fireball]." Cale snorted.

"That creep?" he muttered, shaking his head.

"What kind of books are the dungeons leaking through these days? Keravak published the spell and gave Viridea a lot of her funding, yes, but he didn't invent it. Look, you're a fellrune, right? You must've looked at the spell construct at some point. Viridea leaves a little signature in her constructs; check for the third, fifth, and seventh runes." Irides fell silent for a long moment, and Cale looked back down at the face-eater. It was still squirming, though its movements were finally slowing down.

"Now that I think about it, Monoliths technically can't leave the Great Realms," Cale muttered to himself.

"I wonder how she found out what would happen to them if they did? Maybe they found a way... What would even happen to their Law? They'd be forced to leave it behind in the Great Realms, wouldn't they? That sounds kind of dangerous."

"It's there," Irides said, sounding shocked, and then he processed what Cale was muttering about.

"... What? I thought it was a theory. You don't think she actually brought a Monolith into the Outer Planes, do you?"

"I wouldn't put anything past her," Cale said with a laugh.

"She'd stop at nothing to learn something new, that one. I never did find out what happened to her. I wonder if she's still out there somewhere..." He trailed off, his voice tinged with a touch of wistfulness. Viridea had been one of his very first friends; she had introduced him to the Great Realms and how they worked, and without her, Cale was certain he would be nowhere near the mage he was today.

He hadn't had cause to think about her for a very long time, and that was so long ago that he struggled to remember the details. Cale didn't think he had a lot of power then—he'd likely still been an average mage, if that. Perhaps they'd met at a time when he could cast freely, and she had taught him one of his first spells? It was a nice thought. He wished he could remember more.

"What are you doing to that poor thing?" Irides suddenly demanded, his runelines flashing brightly.

"You never answered the question! You just started talking about cults and the Mask of Many!"

"Oh, yeah. I do that sometimes." Cale blinked.

"Uh, face-eaters are mimics with the potential to become sapient—basically they can mimic mental traits as well as physical ones. The problem is that they need to spend enough time 'attached' to a host in order for it to work." Irides flashed an unsettled yellow.

"Oh," he said awkwardly. Cale raised an eyebrow.

"You thought I was doing something weird, didn't you?"

"I—you said he wasn't in any pain, and you're gripping him very tightly!" Irides said defensively.

"And it's not like it would be anything new with how you've dealt with some of these... these menaces emerging from the portals! All organic squirming looks the same to me. How was I supposed to know—why do you even need to pin him down like that?" The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"It mimics how they grip on to a target's face," Cale said dryly, though internally he was deeply amused by Irides's assumptions. The fellrune claimed to be disgusted by organics, but if he was thinking about them that much then he probably needed to re-evaluate those feelings.

"And face-eaters are just always snarling like this before they've attached to a target. Honestly, I don't know how they're supposed to get any victims. I think the Mask of Many pulled a mean joke on them with that one." Irides flared a bright pink, his runelines separating from him in a way that made it look like he was throwing his hands up with frustration.

"I don't know how I'm even supposed to respond," he said.

"This has to be a fucking setup. You... you made an illusion to fool me, or something. And you knew about Viridea's signature because you've studied her work already."

"I have studied her work," Cale said agreeably. Irides seemed to be deep within the denial stage, even if he couldn't help but engage with the evidence right in front of him. Cale was quite enjoying it. Most other mages would have been convinced by now, given the sheer variety of magic and technical knowledge he'd been displaying, but Irides was an especially stubborn sort.

"See!" Irides said triumphantly.

"You admit to—WAUGH!" That was probably the fifth time Irides had made that exact noise; Cale had begun to keep track, mostly because he found it funny. He turned to see what had shaken the fellrune so badly. Seer had clearly decided he was having too easy of a time with the face-eater and wanted to throw a wrench into the works, so what would he be pulling out... now... Cale's thoughts trailed off as he stared up and up at the horror emerging from the Nothing.

It was a thin, gangly creature, three times as tall as he was yet barely wider than three twigs tied together. It barely looked real. There was a scratchiness to its appearance, a way its torso and limbs seemed to fuzz and shift with every movement it made. That would have been unsettling on its own, but on top of all that, it had a set of human eyeballs all bunched together in place of a head. Rather like a large, incredibly morbid bundle of grapes, Cale thought.

All seventeen of those eyes stared directly at him, though it wasn't like this creature could do anything except stare; it didn't have any eyelids to speak of. Irides had jolted backward to get out of its range, having assumed—quite reasonably—that it was a terrifying creature he didn't want to be anywhere near it." The See-All," Seer murmured behind them." Quite the inspiration to my work, I must say, and as I recall it gave you quite a bit of trouble before you found a way to kill it.

I don't suppose you have any conveniently-accessible angel prisms this time around, do you? I wonder how you might deal with it, without your friends to help you." Most villains would have meant that as a taunt, but Cale was pretty certain Seer was being entirely genuine. He sounded eager, even. Cale sighed. He really needed to stop indulging his fans.

"I'm not sure I need to," he said. Seer paused, and though none of his features were visible, Cale could tell he was frowning." What... what do you mean?"

"Cale?" Irides asked. His gaze was fixed on the See-All, terrified, but he had drawn his mana into himself and seemed ready to fight.

"If you need me to help—I might be able to conjure an angel prism. Whatever that is. You'll have to explain it to me."

"Oh!" Cale turned to beam at Irides.

"I appreciate it, thank you."

"Cale, what are you doing?" Irides hissed, alarmed.

"Don't look away from—" Right at that moment, the See-All's eyes separated, revealing an abyssal maw nestled within its head. A long, sinuous tongue drooled out amongst countless sharp teeth; it took a deep breath. Then it let out a high-pitched squeal and ran right back into the Nothing.

"Yeah," Cale said, giving both Seer and Irides a somewhat uncomfortable shrug. They seemed stunned.

"Our last meeting didn't really go well for it. I think it might still be traumatized. You didn't see that part?"" I... there are parts of your history still obscured to me,"Seer said, his voice strangled." But I did not think..." Cale patted Seer on the shoulder.

"Sorry you didn't get the show you wanted," he said.

"I'm sure you'll get it next time."" Next time...

"Seer seemed to shake himself out of his reverie." Yes. Very well. If the See-All does not pose enough of a challenge, then perhaps another. One that took you many tries to defeat, one that you still think you defeated only through luck..." Cale narrowed his eyes.

"Seer," he said.

"There are some things that are better not to bring back." It was exactly the wrong thing to say if he wanted Seer to rethink the choice. It was, however, the right thing to say if he didn't want Seer to pick someone worse. Cale had made many, many enemies throughout his lives. He suspected he knew who Seer was about to call on, and while he had no desire to see Valav-yetah again, there were far worse things he could have called on. Still... this would be a dangerous confrontation.

Seer had already raised a hand, and Cale could feel that he was right. The tremendous force that was Valav-yetah pulling himself through the Nothing and back into the world. This was a creature that ached for existence—that had fought with every scrap of his being for his right to live. Like Seer, Valev-yetah had gained dominion over a space of his own and merged partially with it, becoming a thing that wasn't quite of the Great Realms. As a result, not even the Monoliths could face him.

They had been forced to call in Cale, and Cale lost count of how many times he had died trying to beat him. In the end, he'd found a minor chink in his armor that he'd exploited to erase him from existence. He doubted he'd be able to do that the same way again, though. If there was anything one could count on when it came to Valev-yetah, it was that he would never die to the same thing twice.

"Irides," Cale said calmly.

"Get as far away from here as you can. Let Seer transport you, if need be."

"What?" Irides asked, confused.

"Do you need help? Is this guy that dangerous?"" I will not let anything happen to your friend, so long as you give me the show I desire,"Seer said, scoffing. He waved a hand again, only to suddenly falter and turn pale. As pale as it was possible for a shadow to turn, anyway."... Why will my domain not obey me?"

"Because you just summoned the king of vestigial domains," Cale said dryly. Already, a white-gray color was seeping into the Black Vault, overtaking the yawning void that had otherwise defined it.

"You're strong here, yes, but this guy was you long before anyone else. You might be able to match him if you'd waited another millennium or two, but as it stands, do me a favor and get Irides somewhere safe." Not that anywhere in the Black Vault would be safe, really, but as long as Valev-yetah's attention was focused on him, they would be fine. And it was very unlikely that his attention would be focused on anyone else, considering their last confrontation.

A splash of pure white now poisoned the void of the Black Vault, as if paint had been crudely splattered across it. From the center of the new domain—the new realm —emerged Valev-yetah, tearing his way with a howl through the rift into the Nothing that Seer had created. He was no less impressive than when Cale had first seen him. Valev-yetah had been born as an astral wisp, little more than an ethereal speck of mana and mind.

Over the years, he had sculpted for himself a body that suited his self-image, solidifying his magic into a form that suited his might. It said a lot about him, perhaps, that he paid little attention to his face. He gave himself little more than two eyes to perceive the world with, but what need did he have of a nose or a mouth when he could simply speak his words into the ether?

Nor did he bother to complete the look—he sharpened his features to look bestial and threatening, then simply allowed his magic to flow, so that it formed a billowing cloud of mana behind him that could function as his hair. His body, on the other hand, had been built almost obsessively. He was broad and tall and strong, his arms thick with muscle and his legs built for bursts of terrible speed.

His limbs were painted with lines of yellow soul-mana, and they were a little too long for him; it gave him an almost feral, wild look. Indeed, more than once, Cale had seen him drop to all fours to chase after him. Yet for all that raw physicality, the true danger that Valev-yetah posed had nothing to do with the form he'd obsessed over.

Rather, he possessed an unparalleled level of magical genius, and in his desperate search to invent true immortality, he had found a way to bind one of the Outer Planes to his soul. Not only that, he had found a way to contain it within his soul. That, it turned out, made him exempt from many of the rules governing the Great Realms. So pleased he was with this accomplishment that he had given himself a title: he called himself the Outer Lord, the lone mage to surpass the Monoliths.

He'd only had to sacrifice a whole realm to do it. Cale had never forgiven him for that. Just as Cale predicted, the moment he emerged from the rift, Valev whirled around, attention fixed immediately on him." Cale," Valev hissed. Cale, at some point, had stuck his hands into his pockets. He lifted one hand free now, in a casual wave.

"Been a long time, Valev," he said.

"Or did you prefer 'my lord'?"

"Wretch," Valev snarled.

"Traitor. We had a bargain."

"We did," Cale said. His expression flickered with something complex—a hint of regret, a lot of anger. Thankfully, no one was there to catch the lapse.

"Then, you know, you went and killed everyone I cared about. Not sure why you'd be calling me the traitor, all things considered—""They were NOTHING!"

"And that," Cale said, "is why our bargain would never have worked out."

"You think you can beat me again?" Valev-yetah thundered, taking several steps closer. The white around him painted the void with every step he took, like he was staining it with ink.

"You got lucky. You found a weakness in my armor, and you had your friends engineer a way to exploit it. But I have erased that weakness, and you are alone. I will kill you, Cale Cadwell Cobbs, and I will bind your soul to my inner realm so that you may never live another life—""Didn't work the last time you tried that," Cale pointed out.

"A minor flaw," Valev said, his eyes narrowing.

"I have accounted for that. Your mana will not save you. Your power will not save you." Valev's voice turned mocking, and he began to stalk a circle around Cale.

"If only you could cast," he said.

"Such power is wasted when it cannot even be used. You still wish to cast, do you not? I can see that love for magic written into your face. A mage who loves the little spells, cursed to do nothing but use blasts and barriers... do not worry, old friend. I will be sure to use it well in your stead."