Chương 221: The Human Race Ch. 8-219 – If Wishes were Fishes...

"... where rest the weary, and dream of the wind at dawn." Here in this land where day was currently almost all day long, and the wind wasn't stopping, and carrying madness on it... and it all seemed to be channeling towards the South Pole. Magnetic readings gave me a Visual File fix on the Pole via triangulation, and it was plain these mountains were curving towards it, having bent away from the Antarctic ridgeline a couple peaks back.

Even the Haze was responding to it, swirling in chaotic storms around the peaks that poked right up into their layers. The hate lightning here was subdued, as if drained away by those uncaring peaks, cold and aloof in their isolation and the darkness above the white of the eternal ice. The air was totally dry here, so there should have been no precipitation except blown bits of ice, yet there were still occasional gusts of snow here and there, descending from the Haze...

or perhaps carried up the mountains by these monolithic tributes to insanity and however they were warping the weather. -Any dimensional bending going on? The landscape seems quite odd for such a massive disruption... - Scout/4. Net +1 to all Stats. Nog Mastery, Strength to base 18. Yay, Perfect Body Amazon stat-line me. 44 Int, 32 Dex, 33 Cha, 24 Str, 30 Wis, 29 Con. Nogging all done. My Secondary Matrices were gutted by the cost, but I didn't much care.

There wasn't much I actually wanted out of Nogging other than the Stat line, but there were still things I could take out of it in the future if I wanted to. Talent: Sniper's Eyes, Sneak Attack damage on all ranged attacks from concealment or surprise. If they couldn't see me, they could eat an extra +3d6, thank you. Well, for a Rogue Talent, it wasn't bad, just more damage on the stack... and you never know when you need more damage. Purchased Feat: Hidden Flight: Run or Charge while maintaining Stealth.

Well, the former seemed much more likely than the latter... Finishing out with Silver Mastery/4, d6 burn damage persisting for a round after being wounded by my Fire spells. Came with another Silver Smiting use per day, too. Not particularly impressive on its own... until you combined it with other flaming Kicker effects that would persist, too. It would also really accelerate the vivic consumption of the dead, too. Feeding the Land even faster, yessirree...

At Master Fred's question, I turned to look at the mountain jutting up into the Haze miles away. There were literally a couple miles of ice beneath us, and that peak was thrusting right through it all, and up into the Haze, lost to view, but not to ear. That windsong carried for leagues... -It's all completely suppressed, but just based on ice patterns, the break was there. - A light gleamed along the ground about fifty feet away where there didn't seem to be anything.

- Regardless of the modulation harmonics, they can't get the crystal patterns to line up. Test it with your tremblesense. - He obligingly walked over, and paused next to the line of light, tapping his booted toe softly. -Yes, there's a clear break line here, fit together with geometric precision. - He looked left and right, and as a ball of Wrath appeared on his hand, he waved it through the air. -It feels like there should be something here, but there is not.

- He looked up at the roiling whorls in the Haze above, spinning in different directions slowly from each peak, streamers of not-cloudstuff playing back and forth between them. - Totally suppressed. Should tell you how powerful the Shroud is. - -I am impressed, - he /agreed. -Let's get our discussion with the Bey over with, and see what he has to say. -

"Bey 'Azzar, if you could attend me." It wasn't a request. Smoke swirled out of the genie prison in two streams, the Bey materializing, and his veil-clad attending lover hanging on his arm and shoulder. There were two Disks waiting for them, Control Temperature had moved the temperature far above the freezing level, and the two of them hastily sat down when they saw me doing the same on my own Disk, with my main loot-carrying Disk flattened and forming an impromptu table for us.

"Lady Traveler, Mistress," the efreet bowed precisely, before taking the Disk which could take his weight easily, and the succubus did the same, scooting hers up next to him. I gave her a look which suggested she be absolutely silent unless called upon, and that included telepathic games. She was smarter than the Bey, with even fewer morals, so yes, she had little problem manipulating him, and he probably thought it all good practice for efreet politics.

"I trust the Wishes I've been asking of you have not been too distracting, Your Grace." His face flickered in some confusion. I had not actually asked for a personally profitable Wish from him, especially one he was inclined to twist to punish me. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Bey 'Azzar, I request a Wish!

"I Wish for a proper seraglio in this genie prison for a noble of the stature of an efreeti Bey.

"I Wish for a proper wine cellar in this genie prison, assembled from alcohol otherwise lost or broken in conflicts or fires since the coming of the Shroud.

"I Wish for a proper reading room in this genie prison, to be filled with classics in all languages and cultures of the Earth otherwise lost to time or flames, and current copies of the top fifty most perused news magazines or papers put out on a regular basis."

"I Wish for a proper gameroom, to be equipped with gaming equipment that will run current and past games and appropriately sized for those using them, with a set of fifty games beginning with the beginning of the video game age, and updating with a new one whenever an old one is mastered."

"I Wish for a proper viewing room, with random scenery of landscapes and cityscapes around the globe, changing hourly for the viewing pleasure of the prisoners." These and other, similar whimsical Wishes for the safety and pleasure of my prisoners had been the sum of my Wish requests from him.

He now had the most comfortable genie prison he could have imagined, with a stocked kitchen, music room, dance hall, sauna, pool, and other amenities you just don't put into a genie prison if you are looking to punish and force something out of a genie. Indeed, such an indolent lifestyle was something that might get a genie to gaff you off for being so soft-hearted. One look into my eyes assured him that I would snuff him in an instant if he got uppity. He bowed his horned head respectfully.

"Your considerations for my long-term comfort are appreciated, Mistress Traveler," he acknowledged formally.

"It was known by many Druidic elements, and through them the werewolves, and even the vampires, that you were Bound into the service of the Fireshroud Lord. With his death, you are assumed to now be a free agent, as nothing has been made of our capturing or killing you, or even acknowledging that we knew you were there at all." I Wish that the Calderic Palace of Bey 'Azzar be buried in the lava it came from to conceal all traces of his presence there...

His burning eyes flickered, acknowledging his understanding that many forces were now looking for him, intending to gain his services for their own. But I had gained them first, and he was now my prisoner, not theirs.

"You... are negotiating for Wishes for your own use?" he asked carefully, knowing this moment was coming, but approaching it warily.

"No. I am negotiating for Wishes granted freely and honorably, for the purpose of tearing down the Shroud. As I have already Wished, success in that will immediately send you home the moment it is achieved, and I plan neither treachery nor wordplay to stop it.

"I am aware that it is the remit of the genie who grants them, and their remit alone, to fulfill a Wish truly, or to twist it around the intentions of the Wisher to punish them for greed, arrogance, pride, or hubris. Is this not true?"

"It is, Mistress," he agreed cautiously.

"Likewise, if a Wish also satisfies the aims of the genie, it may be granted cleanly and without such odious complications attached," I went on easily.

"That is also true, Mistress," he admitted gravely, burning eyes sparking.

"My end goal is the destruction of the Shroud, and the releasing of those spirits bound to it and by it. This even includes your paramour, much as that might be unwise in the long-term," I admitted, not even glancing at her.

"Any Wishes I ask for will be ultimately used for that purpose. Even your comfort and safety while granting said Wishes is solely for your mental health and physical security while pursuing this objective.

"I am aware that you can twist my purpose and reasoning for also possessing greater power once the Shroud has gone, if I can do so. Leaving aside empty compliments, I shall ask you this: Do you believe I can kill the forces of the Shrouds, and their Shroudlords, upon this world?" He'd had a front row seat to my killing of Hastsezini. I had taken the old god's mount for my own. I still possessed His godly Weapons and Shield.

I had annihilated His army to the last trapped spirit, taken control of the Firezone, and had skin as crimson as His own at the moment.

"My Lady Traveler, I sincerely believe that you can," he admitted despite himself. He knew I could kill him just by thinking too hard at him.

"Do you believe I have an ulterior motive that would be detrimental to you, above and beyond bringing down the Shroud?" He considered that at some length, and I did not stop him.

"If I am returned safely to my home, and there is no direct action taken against me... I believe any ulterior motive would translate to general conflicts on views, and if I take no action, I likewise believe no action will be taken by you without cause," he stated slowly.

"I can promise you that straight off, if it will set your mind at ease." He nodded slowly.

"It does, Mistress."

"I will set your mind at ease on another point. You cannot be censured by the Suzerains for overuse of Wishes while under the Shroud. The Shroud warps reality far more than any Wish's power can emulate, and such use cannot be sensed." He bowed his head again.

"The questioning process can be... odious to endure," he admitted, and a bit of fiendishness crept into his smile.

"That is certainly opportune for you, Mistress."

"I am not a fool, and I will not deny that." I lifted my eyes up to the spinning whorls of the Haze, then sideways, to where the Mountains of Madness rose into those clouds. His smile slipped despite himself, hearing the edges of the wailing winds coming to his ears. The succubus was undeterred, but they had to be grating on the efreet, touching the edges of his sanity despite himself.

"But your Wishes do not have the power to release a single soul from the Shroud, allow a single god to look upon us, or free you or any other prisoner on this world from their remit.

"Your Wishes are, in the end, but one more rasp on the file needed to saw away the supports of the Shroud." He considered that seriously, burning eyes looking about at the fell landscape of sky and stone and ice, all elementally hostile and dangerous to his kind.

"So I see, Mistress," he admitted.

"Please, propose your terms."

"One, I will never demand a Wish of you that does not, in the end, support the purpose of bringing down the Shroud. The primary way I intend to do this is enhancing the ability of mortals to fight the servants of the Shroud, not in enhancing my own powers by various means.

Thus, instead of raising up one extremely powerful potential foe of your people to bedevil you, I will be generating stronger, lower-Level people who are individually far less of a threat than myself, but who will make this world stronger overall.

"Two, you can agree not to grant a Wish, and I will not hold that against you, as is your prerogative as an efreet. Indeed, if you simply choose to refuse all Wishes and stay in your Prison until the day it is destroyed, I leave you that right. You can choose to lend your support to your own eventual freedom, or merely desport yourself until the time comes."