Chapter 070: Taking a break

A fallen archdaemon of Locust, now serving the Pentagram was about to enter the room we were in. Right after we murdered his lovely waifu and forcefully aborted a lot of his unborn children. Not to mention wiping out the stillborn ones outside, but I’m not exactly sure if he cares about them anymore.

Yeah, we are fucked. We are not ready to fight an established and (little) known to the world archdaemon. Especially when he is SO PISSED OFF. He will probably willpower himself into overdrive at the first sign of losing. Besides, as an archdaemon, he probably has a way of doing mean stuff to us that will not disappear on its own after the resurrection.

“Plan B!” I shouted when the hateful pile of filth, rotting plants and tentacles began to pour into the room through the growing portal.

Then I fired my strongest Destruction Magic hex. On myself.

***

“I think we’ve been committing suicide too often recently.” Leria commented back in the Hold after we more or less collected ourselves. The part about spawning naked in front of new trainees would be a pain. Though lesser than it used to be. I no longer really cared and every native was much more chill with seeing naked bodies than I’d prefer.

“Unexpected perks of resurrective immortality.” I answered. “It’s useful and works, so we’re doing it. A single cast of the spell and there is no slow and painful murderfuck made by tentacle monster whose children and wife we murdered. Simple as that.”

I probably shouldn’t joke about their deaths, then again they weren’t exactly HUMAN in any way. Besides, they wanted to kill us first, so...

“To be honest, you might have made a mistake this time.” We all almost jumped when Yhrezerach suddenly joined the talk. He wasn’t here in a physical sense, still being self-imprisoned in the vault behind the cathedral. But his voice was ever-present, coming from all directions at once. “He is still there. And he wants you all dead. Though he might also settle for laying more of his children in you.”

… Seriously?

“He didn’t despawn?” I expected him to do that.

“Nope.” Crap. “When he became corrupted by Pentagram, Locust just severed all ties with him and left him in the Light. He has been physically manifested ever since the Dawn War ended, he just hasn’t moved an inch from the Black Woods.”

So he spends about three millennia waiting for his damnable spawn to be born… and then we come and murder it. Wonderful.

And since being physically manifested, he didn’t have to be summoned from the Dark. The portal probably led to a lair in a pocket dimension, not unlike the one of the late Mr. Cuddles. Which meant we provoked him into taking a look at the surrounding countryside... for the first time since the Dawn War.

“If it makes you feel better, he has more incubators like Forsaken in his lair.” It doesn’t. “He’s still furious and hellbent on murdering all of you while using all women among you as replacement incubators.” Ew. “Not furious enough to assault the Hold, though. He knows I’m here. And he won’t charge at Ambryxis. The nearby villages will have a bad time, though.”

So, we let one more mean murderous thing out.

I could hear Leria clicking her tongue.

“That’s not exactly what I hoped for. We’re supposed to be the heroes. Heroes don’t unleash monsters like that on the world.” I had to admit Leria had a point.

“Sometimes it has to happen.” Is Yhrezerach going to console her now? Is that a part of a (de facto) demigod’s job? Consoling Chosen Heroes? “Overtyrant didn’t tell me any details, but I understand enough to guess. You could uncover the truth by defeating Khyzarich the Defiler in the Descent, but after the mess in Vanvyra, there is not enough time. The Black Woods were much faster, mostly because you didn’t have to defeat its final boss.” Makes sense. “It was the only way of saving everyone in the region… and, it seems, Overtyrant’s will.”

Not an argument that would work on me, but Leria…

Leria only nodded and looked away. I can scarcely believe myself, but I think I preferred her in her early crusader mode. Recently, she… she seems awfully moody. I’m thinking it could have been a good idea to talk with her about that. Then again, if she wanted help, she’d probably have spoken to someone already…

… I guess I’ll try asking Yhrezerach. He hears everything that’s said in his domain. That is, Tyrant’s Hold. If she really needs help, he’ll probably tell me. I’ll just have to wait, since if I try to do that with anyone (and Leria especially) around, it might get nasty.

“I don’t want to interrupt anything, but what do we do now?” Simea interrupted us. “Any plans?”

Yhrezerach was, of course, utterly silent. Great Game, dammit.

“Well… I guess we’ll spend a while in the Hold.” I answered. Black Woods were out of the question, Kovacs’ group was already in the Descent (he took advantage of a moment without a snowstorm raging around), and Ambryxis was in such a mess I wanted to steer clear for a while.

Especially with witch-hunters going insane while searching for Red Mist’s lackeys and the people responsible for letting in Freedom. Knowledge about Malice’s Chosen One spread as rumours (probably willingly spread by the cult in question), and it whipped the Masked Council (and the witch-hunters/Brides of Ambryxis) into a frenzy.

According to pieces of information leaking from the city, they burned forty people on the plaza in front of Woe. And that was only yesterday. The actual damage dealt to the Red Mist’s cult depends on whether any of them was really a member.

***

Maybe an hour later I finally got enough time alone to do what I wanted.

“Yhrezerach, you’re there?” In a way, it’s almost a prayer, to be honest. Though that particular demigod equivalent can answer much more straightforwardly. “We need to talk.”

“About Leria, isn’t it?” Right, of course he can read my mind. “Spend a thousand years doing nothing but watching over people and you’ll be able to read their minds without reading their minds, trust me with that.” I guess. “You’re much simpler than you think. The occasional complications only make it more visible.”

The way gods, demigods, archdaemons and daemons looked at mortals was a topic difficult enough to fill entire libraries with content. No way I was going to go for philosophical talks here.

“So… should I talk to her?” I could hear an immaterial sigh surrounding me.

“You should talk to her. The only question is whether you should talk to her about her problems.” Don’t go cryptic on me, please. “Listen, every single one of you has problems. Bigger or smaller. Most of them ridiculous and easy to fix if you could just chill out for a while and talk openly with other people. Right now, you should urgently have serious talks with Leria and Lena. You should have serious talks with Simea and Vaera. And you probably should have serious talks with pretty much everyone else in the Hold, with the exception of Syna and your cat. I don’t count the villagers since they are their priests’ and family members’ responsibility. The problem is, if you do try to have that serious talks with them, it might make things worse. Or they might refuse to talk. You were in the same situation before your teammates learned of your… interests. You, too, needed a serious talk urgently but wanted to avoid it as much as you could.”

“Well…” I said. “I guess. Wait, if you know all that, can’t you…”

“I’m here to prosecute a war against creatures that are trying to murder or corrupt every living being on this continent… or even the world. Not to nurse you.” Ugh. “If all the daemons of the good-natured gods acted like nannies to you, you’d only end up depending on us even more. Learn to fix things on your own.”

“Can’t you at least help me?!” Please!? I would make a begging face, but I don’t know which direction I should face when doing it.

“Eh. Count yourself lucky. I have a soft spot for people genuinely asking me for help.” … I think it’s called prayers, normally. “Besides, not helping you right now could be a serious threat to the Flame. So I’ll help you.”

“Let me guess, you’ll not just tell me what their problems are, right?” And instead, be both vague and cryptic in your pointers that I’ll probably overlook or misunderstand as a whole.

“Let’s just say I’ll try to push you in the right direction.” I suddenly heard his voice… coming solely from behind. What?

I turned around… to suddenly feel my jaw falling.

What stood in front of me… was a boy? Girl? Young human (10-12 years old?), but I completely couldn’t figure a gender. There was also something wrong with its face. Uncanny valley strong in work, no idea why. It wore a pure white (and simple) dress, with only some gold embroidery on the edges.

I tried to appraise it, but… nothing came up.

“They might think you’re insane if someone sees you talking to me.” It said, bending its neck a little. “So I’ll just accompany you like that.” Yhrezerach?! “I’m just projecting myself onto the eyes of all people in the Hold. The tamest way of manifesting I have. I could make myself look eldritch enough to cause sanity damage to you even in this form.”

Right. Most of the powerful beings had at least several ways of showing themselves to people. Most of the Imperial Religion gods had at least three different forms. And there was no rule that the stronger the being the more varied its manifestations.

“Your sister finished her current training session with the village’s militia.” Yhrezerach suddenly interrupted my thoughts. “It might be a good moment to talk with her.”

“You will accompany me?” It nodded. Weirdly direct for a de facto demigod. The ‘de facto’ part was because it was hard for a being in monotheistic religion to be called ‘demigod’, and the ‘saint’ part refers mostly to a handful of ascended worshippers.

Yhrezerach was officially an archdaemon. One that easily surpassed most deities and demigods (then again, at least the archdaemons and deities mostly overlapped themselves in power ratings, with the strongest ones on par with the weakest demigods).

Professional terminology was one thing, and the religious state of affair was something else. Yhrezerach was considered a saint (like Saint Michael the Archangel in a big part of Christianity and Judaism) and a patron of all people taking arms to fight evil. Which included the War of Symphonies, people taking the vows of Fylak Var like Syna, militant orders like the Ardent Flame, etc.

Made me wonder how he was doing his part of the job of running the Khardism religion when he was busy sulking about Overtyrant’s decision to abandon the Flame. A demigod’s view on time was much more linear than one of real Gods, so he did spend a lot of time here. Reacting to prayers was still a thing, besides Overtyrant could probably do it for him (Yhrezerach was kinda his deputy/intermediary after all).

For now, let’s follow him.

***

Leria has already wiped her sweat (if the trainees even got her that far) and was busy eating a meal in a faraway corner of our mess hall. Alone.

Yhrezerach got several weird looks from people. The uncanny part of him (I settled for that, using ‘it’ was just too weird) was probably limited to people having things on their conscience. Genuine sicko would probably flee screaming. I only had that constant feeling of wrongness when I looked at him.

There was something vaguely feline in his movements, but once again I couldn’t pinpoint the exact thing. It made sense; after all, the first Khardics were all beastmen. Even if the growth of non-beastmen adherents shifted the portrayal of Shards to more… randomized outlooks (humans made up for the biggest part of the local population from all species), some tiny bits of their first looks remained.

It made it easier to recognize them when one didn’t have a kickass Appraisal skill. It was the least acknowledged of many things in which Players excelled over NPCs.

Yhrezerach disappeared somewhere when I came close to Leria. Letting me do all the talking. I got the hint - he didn’t want Leria to know I’m coming with a genuine divine authority on my back, to have her not feel forced to answer. So… let’s do it normally.

“Hi!” She answered with a nod. “You have a while?”

“Sure, what is it?” Neither hostile nor thrilled about that.

I sat on the other side of the table. “So… what’s going on?”

She answered me with a questioning look.

“You got awfully quiet recently.”

“Eh. Well, the war against Ambryxis is finally progressing… plus the thing in Vanvyra… it kinda weighs on my shoulder.” Hmmm. “The number of people dying around is big even for a person with a past such as mine. I’ll be fine.”

Hmmm?

“Are you sure?” She nodded. “100% sure?” She nodded again, this time with irritation. “If I can help you somehow, you know where to find me.”

She nodded again. “Now go bother someone else.” She added. “I need to finish the meal quick. Another squad of trainees is waiting.”

***

When I left the mess hall, Yhrezerach showed up from nowhere.

“And?” He asked. He knows how the talk went and only wants to hear my impressions.

“Well, she is getting more and more nervous because of the casualties accompanying our mission, which is kinda expec…” I stopped, because of a look of pity I got from Yhrezerach. What?!

“Your empathy and ability to discern the truth from what others’ say is on the level of a dung beetle.” WHAT?! “Understandable because of your past, breaking people doesn’t really require that skill as long as you’re good at the carrot and stick usage. But still rather pathetic.” WHAT?! “It’s also amazing since literally every single word she said were lies. It’s Selfishness, Dishonesty and borderline Disloyalty.”

“What the… Leria is lying to people?!” Not a smart thing with a First Shard of Zealotry running her home.

“To people… and to herself.” Yhrezerach sighed seeing the face I made. “I’ll try to be as simple as possible, without trying to impersonate a chimpanzee. Maybe you’ll understand.” Hey! No need to be rude here! “Listen, what’s the first ‘problem’ that comes to your mind when you think about Leria?”

“Hmm… lack of a boyfriend?” I still remember that fallen angel from the cemetery and how much his taunts triggered her.

“Precisely.” Yhrezerach nodded. “You are less socially inept than I thought. Or you have a good memory.”

“Do you have to offend me in every sentence?! And what does not having a boyfriend has to do with her being gloomy?! If she’s too horny to act normally, can’t she just…” Yhrezerach suddenly facepalmed, interrupting me.

He didn’t have to do that. Archdaemons and above rarely acted in such an over-the-top way unless they were explicitly known to act like fools. He perfectly controlled every detail of his action. He wanted to show how much an idiot does he think I am.

“Listen, I know of your past… you talked about it enough.” He spoke. “But this is getting ridiculous. Stop associating or explaining everything that way. You, mortals, are much too busy with sex. It might be a shock to you that aside from making new mortals it’s really not that important.” I know many people that would disagree. “Leria is alone. In a purely emotional meaning. And do you know what happens when you feel alone like that?”

I wanted to say something alongside ‘they get themselves a lot of cats’, but I suddenly had a feeling he would punch me. Or just give me a nasty curse (like temporary sexual impotence) to give me a lesson. Instead, I shook my head.

“They accuse themselves of causing their misfortune. Hence wallowing in self-pity, and occasional thoughts of wounding themselves. Especially when there are parts of you that you can use as a focal point of blame. And don’t you dare compare this to masochism or I’ll smite you.” I—well, maybe I was going to. “Add a lot of stress she’s living in, and she knows that the cause for the on-going war between Hand of Freedom controlled Vanvyra and Ambryxis is that the Ardent Flame did not grow strong enough fast enough… and you get a growing depression. With thoughts of death, though not of suicide. Not yet.”

“That’s… wait, you claim Leria is in such state?!”

Yhrezerach sighed. “I KNOW that Leria is in such a state. I can feel sins. All seventeen, if needed. As a Chosen One, her difficulty bar on that part is much higher, so I feel every single tiny mistake she does, even in her thoughts. Each time she goes for ‘Overtyrant shouldn’t have chosen me’ it’s, paradoxically, a Primeval Sin of Pride.” What? ”A Chosen One claiming that God has made a mistake? It automatically means thinking you know better than said God, and that’s automatically pride, especially when you know that said God is omniscient and omnipotent. Plus the disharmonies I mentioned earlier.” He looked at me, with an irritated expression. ”It’s slowly getting worse, and you literally noticed nothing.”

…

“Well… I guess I was too busy with all the…” The look on his face was briefly downright terrifying.

“That’s one of the shitty explanations I and my colleagues get to hear each time someone’s child commits suicide because of stuff like that. Spare me that.” Ugh.

“You want me to do something with Leria’s problems?!” Let’s change the subject. “How am I supposed to fix her problems if she doesn’t even want to speak with me?!” Yhrezerach shook his head.

“Ah, one of the chief problems of every good-natured God. Together with ‘how am I supposed to make them listen without establishing a totalitarian regime literally written into the laws of physics’. Well, just try. She’s slowly sinking. And I hate having my wards sank into that. It’s doubly important for a Chosen One, since if guided well she can guide a lot of people on her own. Well…” He suddenly looked up at me. “How about we meet with Lena?”

Oh, sure.

***

Yhrezerach led me to the second level of the Hold, right towards the villages. A few of the villagers (all of them busy living their lives) actually cared to notice him, and those that did, ignored him.

I guess his current form isn’t the weirdest thing these people have seen recently.

Not long after we come we encountered a big crowd of children coming out of the villages. According to the words I heard, they were planning to play outside. Which wasn’t really any danger, since Yhrezerach cast a weak protection magic that was enough to stop any normal person from accidentally falling over the edge. I think I even saw the Leria's ward (with the cat) among them, but they passed me too quick to be sure.

One of the kids - looked like the boss of that group - gave me a cold look. In his face was something uncanny, and his movements were vaguely feline.

I looked back at Yhrezerach. He shrugged.

“Somebody has to teach them how to be children. You’re out too often to do that.”

So, Yhrezerach is using very similar (but younger looking) way of manifesting himself… to run around the Hold with the kids. Understandable, due to us being a more or less religious (and tight-knitted) community he had a bit more leeway with interactions.

Kids, with their general innocence and vibrant imagination (one of the cornerstones of the Dark) were always in the centre of attention of the supernatural. Even the scary First Shard of Zealotry obviously had a soft spot for them.

Then we saw Lena. Fishing. With a pole. Weird. I didn’t hear about her doing that. I guess I haven’t heard about a lot of things.

“Well then. Good luck.” Yhrezerach this time decided to disappear in a less magical way and simply walked sideways, hiding behind a pillar.

Why is he so forceful with the whole talking part? I can scarcely believe that he suddenly decided to kick me in my ass for my apparent lack of in-depth understanding of at least some of my allies.

Was there something else to that?

Wait a single second.

I looked at Yhrezerach. He looked back at me. After a short while of an unspoken contest of minds (I lost, he could stay like that for a thousand years easily) I spoke.

“There is something happening, right? That’s why you suddenly got interested in acting directly.” He continued looking at me. “Something equal to the mess at Vanvyra. And you somehow know of that. So you decided to act, seeing growing problems with our group and fearing that they will culminate in us failing?”

He decided to stop looking at me with a poker face.

“Maybe you are actually a bit smarter than an average chimpanzee.” … Hey! ”Yes, there is a probably very messy thing going to happen soon. Unfortunately, your entire group is badly unprepared. You are pretty much a ragtag group of misfits that the Overtyrant improvised from people available to Him in this Godforsaken place. If I had an Ardent Flame from its prime instead of you, both Ambryxis and Vanvyra would be cleansed already.” He might have been a nice guy… if he wasn’t so abusive. Ugh. I hate it. Doubly so because he, technically, is right. “Unfortunately, I don’t, so I plan to use what I have as much as possible.”

Trying to fix us so we don’t break under strain might be sensible then. I even have a faint idea of what might be the problem. Or at least how it will come to the Hold.

The elf ranger that found us a dungeon was absent. Taking advantage of a brief stop in snowstorms to check out the lands near the Hold. But… what if the snowstorms caused something. Like an avalanche. Enough to uncover something hidden. As a part of the community overseen by Yhrezerach, the Shard should more or less know what’s happening to him, as long as he isn’t too far.

I kinda expect him to barge into the Hold any minute now. That’s, of course, if he survives the encounter. Though I doubt that Yhrezerach would allow the kids to move to the ledge outside if he was afraid of an incoming attack.

Overtyrant didn’t tell him that a shitstorm was going to happen. Yhrezerach was made to be sufficiently intelligent to figure out himself. If our elven scout saw something, the Shard saw it too. Even if the elf didn’t understand what he saw, Yhrezerach was a completely different matter.

Besides, he could always ask other Shards. Somebody had to know something. And they were a rather tight community themselves. Infighting between supernatural servants of the same monotheistic god was almost impossible. Even rivalries rarely happened.

“You won’t give me any pointers?” Yhrezerach shook his head. “Neither about the thing that’s going to happen, nor about Leria’s problems?” He shook his head again. “And you’ll be nice to me even if I fail?”

This time he gave me a look of displeasure. ‘Stop wasting time and go for it’, if I deciphered it properly.

Ugh. Let’s hope Lena will be easier to understand.