Chapter 22-2 Inheritor of Shadows (II)
[EGI] Kant Was A Prick: What a mess. Calvino? Can you talk him down? Because we still need Thousandhand. As much as her death might
[EGI] Loch-Ness Bomber has entered THRESHOLD-Node-Zeroth
[EGI] Loch-Ness Bomber: Nevermind that boring shit, everyone get in here! The fights still going! Im activating local units to get a better view. Sweet Sol, I miss pay-per-view.
[EGI] Kant Was A Prick: Bomber, this is a serious matter
[EGI] The Only Way To Be Sure: If you want them dealt with, I have the capability I just need approval from Aegisit will be a setback to lose New Vultun, but I theorize if I can trigger a localized singularity with a Schwarzschild implosive, we might be able to settle the Godclad problem once and for all. Then, with them in disarray
[EGI] The Only Way To Be Sure has been removed from THRESHOLD-Node-Zeroth
[EGI] If on a Winters Night a Wanderer has entered THRESHOLD-Node-Zeroth
[EGI] Kant Was A Prick: Ah. Calvino.
[EGI] If on a Winters Night a Wanderer: Its bad. Get your Dentons. Time to call in all the favors you have. I think my ghoul is about to get Thousandhand arres
[EGI] Loch-Ness Bomber: OH MY GOD! OH! STARS! STARS AND SYSTEMS! THE PALM! THE PALM FALLS! SAMIR NAEKO IS ON THE SCENE! SHIT IS ONNNNNNNNNN!
{OVERRIDING AUTHORITY}
[EGI] The Only Way To Be Sure has re-entered THRESHOLD-Node-Zeroth
[EGI] The Only Way To Be Sure: YES!
[EGI] Loch-Ness Bomber: WOOOOOO!
[EGI] Kant Was A Prick: Why in all the bloody blazes are you two so excited? Two of our critical assets are about to be exposed!
[EGI] If on a Winters Night a Wanderer: Well, one, anyhow. Avo can now part his mind and shift himself between any of his fragments. Like a trans-spatial hyper-infectious infomorph. He will likely escape.
[EGI] EVERYONE ON IDHEIM SHOULD DIE AND DIE NOW has entered THRESHOLD-Node-Zeroth
[EGI] EVERYONE ON IDHEIM SHOULD DIE AND DIE NOW: WOOOOOO!
[EGI] Loch-Ness Bomber: WOOOOOO!
[EGI] The Only Way To Be Sure: Holy shit, I want to glass the planet so bad. Im betting the next satellite rotation that Naeko stomps both of them in seconds.
[EGI] Kant Was A Prick: You underestimate Zein. She might just disengage successfully herself. Also, Im calling for the polities to convene. We need to prepare for the fallout.
[EGI] EVERYONE ON IDHEIM SHOULD DIE AND DIE NOW: Im gonna stream this to all my pops! Theyre gonna love it! Burn that city down!
WARNING: SERVER APPROACHING SUSTAINABLE EGO LIMIT
[EGI] Kant Was A Prick: This is a nightmare.
[EGI] The Only Way To Be Sure: Again. I can solve it. I just need
[EGI] The Only Way To Be Sure has been removed from THRESHOLD-Node-Zeroth
-Conversation between Aegis Category [Black] EGIs
22-2
Inheritor of Shadows (II)
+Its Thousandhand alive! Shes hereshesshes trying to fucking get my rook!+
Marus words made Naeko drop the mangled boulder of disfigured corpses he was about to cast over the districts edge into the Maw.
Hed been fast to react when the Nether fell. Fast as he could. But enough had died regardless, and more than a few outbreaks had to be suppressed. Then there were the ones that kept trying to enact violence. Even when his palm was down. Even when his Heaven seized the city. They became his offering to the Maw. Food for the nothing. A ritual to cleanse his mind, just as he and his father oversaw the filling of the pits all those centuries ago.
Yet, distant as it was, the past clung to him still. Along the edges of his thoughts. In the rare moments he risked sleep and dreams instead of the usual resurrections. When he heard certain names.
Thousandhand.
Thousandhand.
Thousandhand.
Zein.
Caked bodies greeted cracked plascrete with a pattering squelch as the Chief Paladins mind went hollow. A droning set in, and long-repressed remembrances breached through psychological scars reopened.
+Youre having an attack.+ The words left Naeko as an accusation than anything else. Maru had to be wrong. The boy was always shaken by these things. His softness was deeper; more supple. The stress of the day must have caused a cascade inside him. Or maybe he was compromised.
It couldnt be true. It didnt make any senseVeylis killed her. Killed Zein alongside Jaus. That was the case. It had to be.
Sow that the woman was, she would have never allowed things to descend to this point. She couldnt. For all her faults, weakness wasnt a thing she could allow.
Not in herself.
Not in her daughter.
Not in Naeko.
+Go+ Naeko took a moment to steady himself, his breathing taking him by surprise. His lungs were wheezing, a sawing tightness following every breath. Inside his chest, a cord was slicing from side to side, aching pains traveling deeper than bone. He mastered himself. He kept his thoughtstuff from spilling over. +Go see the menders. Take the day off. Go see+
A roar of pure frustration from Maru cut him off. Mem-data was shoved through the sessionpropelled by a blast of frantic anger. +Fucks sake Naeko! Look! Look at this! This is from someones mind. Shes coming for Kare! She wants to do some some kinda fuck-shit at the trial. Ididnt have timeshes in the fucking gutters! Look!+
Naeko didnt want to. He left the mem-data unopened. Kept the truth from biting into his bleeding mind. But he couldnt ignore the flashing DeepNav of New Vultun forming as a transparent overlay in his cog-feed. He could ignore the multiple interfaces opening in his minds eye as dispatched Specters sighted a colossal battle raging just below the face of Layer Two.
One of the Godclads was a thing of wind, snake, steed, and space. The spiking Rend leaking from its form and how it left spatial reality bent in unnatural currents behind it indicated did more than hint that he was looking upon a Daemon. Bad enough.
Then came the threadsthose strings that fissured existence, that pried at the progression time. Bile crawled up Naekos throat. He used his Heaven to swat it back down.
+You see it now?+ Maru yelled his aero still districts away. +You see her trying to form a superstructure? Building her paths+
Naeko cut the link. He ended the session. He closed his eyes.
But the gold was still there. Her presence was still defacing reality.
He wanted to let it be. To turn around and run. Run back to his home, climb back on his chair, start up Stormjumpers. See who was on. And just play. Play and forget the world was broken. Play and forget that Jaus was dead. That the woman he loved was doing everything she could to enchain their world once more. That she had killed her fathertheir savior. That she had killed her mothertheir master and mentor.
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Or so he believed.
Something inside him broke. He didnt know if it was his patience. He didnt care if it was his heart. He opened his eyes and watched the battle continue. Watched the nine heads of the Daemon cleave through building after building and gouge into the shell of Layer One. Time pulsed again. Chronology fractured. An attack was beginning to form.
And unwillingly, Naeko reached out with his Heaven, desperate for this moment to be a deception. Or a mistake. Desperate to know he was wrong.
His awareness engulfed Sovereignties. A palm formed where the two were fighting, condensing from the exhaust of violence and clashing force.
He felt it then. The way the strikes flowed from her. How one cut poured into another. How she struck and parried in the same motion, her distancing and positioning immaculate, her angles of attack uncountable.
Above all else, he felt her glaiveher dragon unsheathed, its voice singing loud across time itself, a siren call of absolute power.
Naekos second Heaventhe one he seldom usedtrembled inside him, greeting the Domain of Chronology as kin.
It was only a touch. A brush. But there was no one else who fought like her. Who moved like her. He knew. From all the times she carved defeat into his flesh and severed him from ill-habits and lingering weakness he knew.
No one else.
No one else.
No one else.
Something else burst inside Naeko then. Confusion. Agony. Repressed loathing. The dam of his self-deception crumbled before the weight of desperation. He needed to know what happened that day.
Why did his love murder her father? Why did Veylis murder Jaus? And why didnt Zein stop her?
Why did she let the dream fall?
Why did she leave him to suffer alone?
He needed to know.
He needed to
A tremor wracked through his Frame and jolted him from his madness. His palm was pressing both Daemon and Zein down now. Holding them in place inside an unfinished habitation complex. His will had moved to its own accord beneath the notice of his mind.
And in the end, it was he who crossed the edge of the district, striding over the holographic veil that marked the boundary. To mark his place was only a pooling mound of bodies, left discarded as their caretaker found themselves beset by greater things.
***
Avo sensed the Chief Paladins presence the moment his Fardrifter struck the ground. Naekos presence was an inexorable tide, the impact of his arrival leaving Avos Frame thrice rattled for each distribution of his ego.
He felt him in the district of Drowned Nymiss, crawling into a Syndicates golems. He felt him five hundred and sixty kilometers away in a bioform processing plant, the Knots he borrowed through the Oversec hard at work draining Rend from the Heart of Noloth, its affected shadows shearing deeper into the surrounding matter with each blink.
He even felt Naeko vicariously through the Fardrifter, the Daemon of Correspondence braying with displeasure as they tried to buck free from under the misted palm.
No, the Fardrifter cried, their mind as close to genuine despair as a god could get. No! I was free! Free! Release me! Release me! Release me!
The pain in their cries left even the Woundmother reluctant in their mockery and the Techplaguer reflexively began playing shrill notes that sounded like a parody of a lullaby trying to calm its fellow Heaven.
+Will let you ride free in the Sunderwilds after this,+ Avo soothed, shifting his attention over to Zein.
Less than fifty ghosts remained within his pinned sheath, but it was still enough to use it as a monitoring device. Both he and Zein lay compressed against a dormant fountain. At the speed they were struck downand with how vicious their struggle had beenAvo expected the area around them to be utterly annihilated.
Instead, the surrounding structures held strong, responding to their impacts as if memite. Even the ground gave naught but a light thud as they landed. Neither time-flung blades nor space-shredding winds achieved any more destruction after the fog of Naekos palm condensed around them. If anything, he felt another pattern slide into place, superseding his influence over reality, denying any act that fell under the purview of force or damage.
The complex around them stood unfinished and half-built, but still, they were tall enough to be imposing, to be shadows beyond the smog. The builds ran as interconnected walls joined in an unending spiral, and inside, squatters and refugees lurked, most huddling behind cover, some peering outscreaming as their minds shattered from exposure to naked divinity.
+You are a fool, creature. A short-sighted, ignorant, spiteful fool.+ Vehemence laced every syllable of Zeins words, and against the prone form of her shifting dragon, she strained on one knee, fighting to rise, glaring at him all the while.
Something in the fog shifted. A new form graced Avos awareness. A body absurd in proportions and muscle density, wider than it was tall, forming from the palm itself.
Naeko was. And he came striding with his gaze fixed on Zein, sparing the Fardrifter not even a glance.
Something shifted across the Godslayers expression. A twitch between respect and undying ire. +But what spite it was,+ Zein said, eyes still fixed on Avo. +What an utter, desperate act of destruction. I commend you for this; I will see you broken for this.+ A beat passed. Naeko stepped over the rim of the fountain and closed on Zein. +Oh. And give my compliments to the squire as well. She honors me with this humbling.+
+Rather would have killed you,+ Avo admitted. +Youre not a problem I wanted to leave unsolved.+
+Then I suppose you learned something of value from me after all. But know this: I merely sought to collar you. When you trace the paths, know you walk in the shadow of my daughter. And as you are now, she will break you. She will take from you. And she will see you turned as a willing slave before the end of things. You are not ready. Swim quietly, pest.+ Zein laughed softly, and Naekos footsteps quickened. She finally tore her gaze away from the Fardrifteraway from the ghoulto face her once disciple. Her finest pupil. Even his shadow seemed to bear weight, the pressure of the palm increasing as he loomed over her.
Avo watched with the excitement of a vouyer, and the templates inside him were no better. Before him stood two figures that predated the Godsfall. Two bleak legends from the depths of Idheims history.
Impossibly, the Godslayers gaze softened as she laid eyes on the Chief Paladin, and she signaled the beginning of their dialogue with a soft exhalation. Dearest boy. Its been too long.
Light struck the side of Naekos face, revealing the impossibly smooth texture of his ebony skin and his taut tendons, each as thick as a cord. Then there was his eyes. There was hurt. There was fear. And there was exhaustion.
Youre alive. The statement left Naeko as if an admission of defeat.
At this point in time, Zein replied.
He clenched his jaw. I was hoping something else, you know. I was hoping you were dead. After all these years.
And the near-motherly affection flattened behind Zeins eyes. A wish we both share some days, I assure you.
Naekos hands opened and closed as fists. Why?
Why? Zein asked.
The immense palm slammed down on existence. Zein bounced off the ground. Avos ego rang as the symptoms of a concussion overcame his senses.
When coherence returned, he found Zeins head capped by one of the Chief Paladins immense paws. Thousandhand felt a titan in battle. An impossible threat. But next to Naeko, she seemed almost as she appeared: an old woman. Brittle. Frail. Aged.
A hitched breath preluded Naekos words. His hand tightened. Cracks spread across Thousandhands armored faceplate, but she offered only a muted stare of exasperation than fear.
Where the fuck were you? Where? Whathow could you let this happen?
Let? Zein said, sounding incensed again. I let nothing happen. You know Veylisdo not pretend to think her our lesser. She made a choice. She made a choice and held it close to her heart. Told no one. Not I. And not you. And when the time came, she acted.
Something that was almost a sob escaped from Naeko. Just like you taught us.
Clearly not, she replied, humorless. She heeded. She acted. She enforced her will. You broke. Truthfully, you disappoint me, my boy. I expected more from you.
Her helmet shattered completely between his fingers. But he stopped. With his thumbs an inch away from sinking into her eyes he stopped. Osjane is dead. Ya Wei is dead. Mordeinn is dead. Joramadr is dead. More and more and more. All dead. Naeko took a steadying breath. You expected more from me? So did Osjane. But I just let Osjon kill her. I just let Veylis turn them. All of them. You expected more from me? You know me, Zein. You know me. Im all Ive ever been. Less. Less.
An uneasy expression came over Zein. Samir. Enough. Enough. This weakness is beneath you.
He didnt heed her words. Ive only ever been a dog. For you. For Jaus. For her. I listened to you. All of you. Whatever you did to me, I took it. I learned. I trained. If there was a farm, I burned it. If there was a god, I fought them. If there was a rebellion I suppressed it. If there was an assassin, I killed them. I did it. I did it. I always did it.
Stop. Stop. Zeins voice took on a harrowed quality. Her eyes flicked to Avo, and her character took on a new dimension. Another is watching. You cannot do this to yourself in front of them, boy. I will not allow
Her words faded into a choked grunt as he tore her from the ground, huge hands wrapped around her neck. His eyes were closed, but his mind was sobbing, the pain inside him so resonant Avo could feel the man crumble.
Its not up to you! Naeko snarled. Not anymore. You left. You failed. Youyou let him die. You let Jaus die. You let Veylis fall! Its you! Its always been you! You left me here to hold things together! All of you did! But why couldnt you hear me when I spoke to you! Why couldnt you listen when I told you! All of you! Im not a leader. I dont have it. Never did. Theres not enough of me left to believe. There never was. Everything I was belonged to all of you and and and you all went away. You went away and the world fell and I tried and it wasnt enough! Do you hear me now! I wasnt enough! Even in the end! Even as a god! I still couldnt stop them! Still! Still! I still couldnt win!
A tremor passed through Zeins lip, but as Naeko was breaking, she endured. Samir. Samir. Control yourself. Please. You are wounded, but you must not fall. You must not show your foes you are pained.
Were you there? Were you alive all this time? Were you there that night?
The sudden question from Naeko left Zein choked with apprehension. I
Were you there that night when I called for you? That night when Osjane was murdered. When I had to kill my own brothers and sisters to save Scale. I called for you. When I fought Veylis. When I found Osjanes body. I called for you. Did you hear me? Were you there?
A soft breath left Zein, and Avo realized even his Fardrifter was silent. Enraptured by the scene. She mustered her strength and spoke. Yes. Yes, I was. And I heard you. But
And then the palm resting upon them turned to a fist and Naekos thumbs were pushing deep into her eyes.
A chortled cry came from Thousandhand, but it was drowned out by a rageful roar escaping Naeko, the volume deafening, the Rend exploding from his body, the act of violence going off with a force greater than a thousand warheads.
For the first time in centuries, Samir Naeko found the floor of his anger, and existence trembled.
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