I never slept so long, yet so restlessly in my entire life.
Shortly after the retreat, I made for Guatemala City. Atraxis and I had spoken on the way back. I gave him rightful flak for his tactical choices-that area of the highlands was liable to be at high chaos risk now, but ultimately, it had worked. I was alive. The people who could get in my way were thinned. And I had delayed the cost Beherit would have inflicted on me, until the embodiment of endings was able to take conscious form once more.
I had felt the connection between us snap not long before Atraxis and I had rode away from the encampment. It had put up a fight, to be certain, but in a straight fight, the entity I was tangling with was much stronger then even one of my mightiest bindings. Though Beherit wasn’t truly a binding. It had been a negotiation. I got to summon it, every so often, in exchange for wounds inflicted onto me at a point of it’s choosing. They couldn’t be mortal, but otherwise, anything was on the table. I would try to negotiate down from four, given Beherit’s failure to fulfill it’s end of the contract, but who knows how that would pan out. Perhaps the shame of defeat would weaken it’s resolve to keep to the original deal.
However, critically, I had lost resources. Rivertalon, Nyx, Thomas, Mattias-all of them had fallen in ways I couldn’t recover. Many of my remaining contracts weren’t fully suited for battle, some were, for certain, but not enough to put up with that size of a force again.
That left two creatures left to call upon with certainty. Two that would call forth a high price, but two that I might need.
Atraxis had come to the conclusion that the insurgents would, despite weakened numbers, try to take the city. Today. I awoke a little past noon, which didn’t leave me with the time I wanted. Thankfully, the city wasn’t ablaze yet. In fact, things seemed peaceful, for a nation at war.
Which made me sure I didn’t have much time. I resummoned Atraxis, and a few others. Gale, Rhia, and one of their sisters. I gave them each a message, and someone to take the message to-Kraus’s assistant, government officials, and to a collogue. The last one, I didn’t expect to get anywhere. The missive to the government would come from Rhia, who would glamour to look human, to make things believable. I needed to make sure that the incoming insurgents would meet as much opposition as possible.
I was staying in a hotel, which I’d managed to get into with funds I carried in the stomach of Banzuth. It gave me a nice view of the surrounding area, thankfully. Atraxis stood in the shadow of the room, his gemstone eyes glinting. I turned over to him.
I was a well trained wizard by now. I’d been in the collective for over two decades. I was the youngest ever member of the Council of Eight. But yet I still found myself turning to this particular shade for advice, when faced with adversity. Atraxis was intelligent, and knew how to use magic. He’d taught me the tattoo trick, and given me advise before. But he couldn’t be trusted, at his core. I was sure that his weakening of the wall was intentional, despite his denials. But he’d also helped me. Many times, when I could turn to no others to help, after my master had been sent to his death, I could turn to him to guide me.
So, with standard wariness, I asked.
“How should we approach this? Should I start summoning an army?”
His teeth chattered, before answering.
“You have asked quite a lot of me these past few days, Percival. Perhaps it’s time I get something in return?” His teeth turned up into a smile.
“Perhaps it’s time I rely on other forces of wisdom.” I said, coldly.
“You have none, you and I both know that boy. Don’t play games.”
“…Fine. Help me through these final hours, and you will have my aid in restoring your form.” I didn’t like it, but it had been a long time coming. Besides, that could potentially weaken his risk to the wall.
“Very well. I think an army would be wise. If we wish to avoid causing…incursion. Amassing as many of your forces as you can, to curb them here and now. Call upon any of your contracts which can engage this creature in the sky, where I have no doubt it will be. Then, when it’s weak, after the Divine Crusader has no doubt thrown herself at it to her death, after it’s been bombarded, you can use your powers to bind it. And we can finally be free of this place.”
I frowned…but nodded.
“Do you think Athena would be enough, to best it?”
“Athena can only win a battle when such is possible. While perhaps, with the right weapon, they could claim victory, it would risk their destruction. And a higher price for it. That said, if you wanted to ensure this god had no champion, no followers? Athena would be an excellent choice. If could also ensure you could keep your forces engaged with the more…mundane of their number, while Athena tangled with the supernatural. I would also recommend the Zeitgeist being on…how do you put it…speed dial.”
That put me on guard right away. Athena I understood, a member of the Olympic Court, able to win any battle with their mind put to it. But the Zeitgeist? He was a creature spawned from a very powerful and potent form of chaos. He controlled time, as the name would imply, and could do quite a but…at the cost of a lot of damage to the wall. It was practically inviting chaos to look in the window.
“And why do you say that?”
“He is your last resort. But you have no Beherit. Athena is incapable. The Zeitgeist may be your best, and only weapon you have if things truly go wrong.”
I narrowed my eyes at Atraxis, who only smiled as I looked back out the window.
“Be aware, that you getting your body back, is under the stipulation that you cast no further magic without permission. One spell, and our deal is off.”
“Of course, Councilman Harris” Atraxis said, with a wide bow.
I scoffed, and left the room, headed for the roof. I had an army to get together.
On the roof of the hotel, I had sketched dozens of diagrams, conduits through my tattoos to summon forth creatures en mase. Many of the survivors of the previous attacks were back, and I summoned my remaining stash of chaos remnants to push together into more golems. Elementals, manifestations, and spirits joined my ranks quickly and rapidly, along with a few more pixies, to hide the whole operation. They didn’t seem happy with me. Perhaps they heard the fates of a few others of their kind which had done a similar task for me yesterday. However, they were still bound, so they did as they were told.
Many smaller creatures, some resembling animals, filled in the ranks, animals exposed to chaos, or a spirit’s influence.
I’d also supplanted my forces with more of my contracts.
Cyrus, a creature who self described as a demon. He looked relatively human, save for the pair of decorative horns on his head, and the massive vulture wings jutting from his back. The pair of warhammers on his back were made from a strange black metal I didn’t know the origins of-and didn’t want to waste my sphinx eyes to check. His exact nature was unknown to me, but all he asked was that I feed him the flesh of very particular types of humans when he requested it, something which I was willing to supply.
Star was back, the red and blue wyrm with coiled wings, hovered in the air near me, having thankfully been unharmed in the fighting. He was giving off heat all the same. The creature was young, hatched half a century ago, and I had saved him from hunters from a coalition called the Wheel a decade ago. In a few centuries, he’d be a much mightier creature, but until then, I promised him my protection.
The Steel Reverie, an entity which manifested as a swarm of crows with steel beaks. It perched atop the edge of the building, and all twenty or so of them lined up to stare out at the city scape. Not only could their beaks rip through flesh of anyone who I wanted them to, but I could borrow their eyes, to use as scouts, and to watch any battle I would be too far away to see. Like Banzuth, all they wanted to fly, but they also wanted to see as much of the world as possible. Simple enough to fulfill.
Swirling above us was Monsoon, a living storm, a creature of the elements, like Gale, but strong enough to be able to manifest thought. A grey cloud was cast over us, only obscured from the people down below by glamour and illusion. Despite a stormy demeanor, Monsoon was remarkably friendly and cordial, requesting I drink a glass of it’s water every year. I had used the Sphinx’s eyes, and all it did was make a small tether between us, so I obliged, and Monsoon seemed happy to serve for it.
Finally, in terms of the flying creatures I had on retainer, was a different brand of creature, one I wished I had summoned earlier. She was about a foot shorter then me, a pair of fluffy white wings sprouting from her back. In her hands was a bow made from white wood, and her face was as white as snow. She was called Diana, a creature which was known as a Cherubim. True angels were beyond my ability to beyond or contract, at least not without being severely inconvenienced, but Diana was the herald of one of them (unfortunately, I’d checked, and she had no relation to the breed I was dealing with). I could still consult her on the matters relating to these…Crusaders, as Atraxis had called them. And I already had to some extent. I had a bit more information now. Mostly that I needed to try and leave them alive as long as possible. If either of the remaining two died, it would be a much different situation.
I had a few other contracts throughout the force, including a suit of armor which was empty, and yet moved, a chimera of various animals and humans spliced together which towered over the area, and collection of light which called itself Lux. But these five would be the ones I used to weaken the entity.
And not a moment too soon, because this was around when the insurgents made their move.
The mountains and highlands which loomed over Guatemala City seemed to give way to them. It was like watching a mirage slowly dismissing itself.
Seeing it, I send forth the Steel Reverie, needing information…and fast.
Looking through the vision of a swarm of crows was disorienting, but it was something I had done before, and was thus slightly used to. The Reverie flew fast, and knew to keep their distance to avoid the fate of the fae from yesterday. So as they got closer, I was able to see a disturbing scene.
Two fast moving things, above them. Aircraft, by the looks of things. It seemed as if the government had gotten my warning. It didn’t matter, though.
I watched in real time, as the god flew rapidly through the air, clearly having noticed them on approach. Outstretching both of it’s arms, crackling black lightning flew out.
Both aircraft detonated midair, in large fireballs. Disturbingly, I realized, that both were likely carrying napalm, as the flames rained down. The god, however, seemed satisfied, and began floating back to rejoin the rest of the force, which had begun to inhabit the outskirts of the city, not meeting much resistance as of yet. It seemed they had pulled back military support…the checkpoints weren’t even occupied.
I truthfully wasn’t sure what their plan was. The insurgents and the governments. Which made this all the more complicated.
The god rejoined Kinil…who was in the air, but not alone.
Rivertalon floated next to them. Alongside a creature which resembled the parrot shifter from the day prior. And the winged seraphim.
Each of the three dead beings had a faint aura around them, of greyed lack of color. Their features weren’t completely black and white, but it was is if they were particularly pale, drained of blood.
Then again, it wasn’t their corpses walking either. They bore no wounds, and besides the parrot shifter looking as if she had given in a bit too much to her animal self, looking more a third human then half human, they all looked the same as they had but a day prior.
And looking to the ground, I saw even worse of it. The Crocodile reborn, looming next to the Armadillo once again. Some of my own creatures, like Mathias, other manifestations like him, and even a few elementals. Nyx floated between them, and I thought I even caught a glimpse of Thomas, moving between the ranks. Soldiers, who had been slain by my army or otherwise, also returned to their lines, though muted in the way they moved and acted. If there was a sentient or close to sentient thing that had died yesterday, it was now walking here.
The other shifters had already transformed. The Armadillo next to the Crocodile. The Monkey and Jaguar, showing some trace of injury, but still in good condition, along with the Serpent. The Champion, who Atraxis had told me had lost an arm, had seemingly replaced it with a strange construct of woven plants, obsidian fragments, and a greyed hard light. He spoke with the god, though I didn’t dare move the Reverie close enough to make out what they were saying. I did note, however, that the Seraphim, the Parrot, and Rivertalon made no effort to speak alongside them.
I couldn’t help myself, and activated the Sphinx’s eyes, keeping my gaze away from the god this time. With this method of sight, the dead men looked much different.
Black and grey tendrils, with an intermixing of a deep green, lanced from each and led to the god. I still managed to keep my gaze averted. The tendrils were stronger around the Seraphim, Rivertalon, and the many others which hadn’t originally been on the side of the god. Perhaps more effort was needed to control them then the others?
I couldn’t determine what sort of magic it was. I couldn’t trace a spell. Summoning shades like this wasn’t completely unheard of, but it was generally done very rarely. It wasn’t true resurrection, rather summoning an imprint of memories left within chaos, which had a tendency to absorb or at least partially grasp the thoughts and memories of dying humans. The closest thing that we had to a soul. It was finicky, rarely worked entirely, and was generally done for utility. Bringing back the shade of a wizard to gain access to his troves of treasure, for example. Or to extract answers. It ran the risk of heavy chaos exposure, as it was another sort of spell which practically invited the father of magic to your door. So many complications…
And yet this creature had summoned an army of them in less then fifteen hours.
They were starting to move. The Champion moved down, joining the shifters in a central contingent. The Parrot flying above them. The other groups split, between the shades that were once bound to me on the ground. It seemed they intended a three pronged attack. Or five pronged, if you counted the air. Rivertalon and the god were flying a different direction then the parrot and the central force was, and the Seraphim was off someplace else entirely.
However, seeing as various creatures were moving quickly through the sky, I saw no point in keeping my scouts here to be spotted. So I had them retreat, back towards the rooftops.
It was time to move. I conjured another contract, the most powerful elemental I knew, Boreas, a primal force of wind, with almost unfathomable power. I didn’t have him on contract for anything more then transit, and it was something I only got to use once every four years.
I used him to move my entire force that needed to move. Down from the rooftop in an instant, deployed across the city which a flick of my wrist. They’d join the local forces in intercepting the insurgents. What was left was the fliers, which I also used Boreas to transfer across the city, intercepting the god at the halfway point. At that point, it was just me and Atraxis left on the rooftop. The skeletal former man was standing atop the covering which housed the stairwell, as if he found the need to loom over me even now.
I sighed. No matter. I couldn’t let his mind games distract me. I spoke to nothing.
“Athena, once I call you. You offered me fair parley, and I invoke that offer now.”
Nothing.
“Athena, twice I call you, as is what you asked of me. I can pay you richly for your aid, in my time of need.”
A slight surge, a trickle of power. Of magic.
“Athena, thrice and for the final time I call you, giving you three calls in the name of your court of Olympia. In the name of the fair folk, of the fetchcrafters, I call you here.”
A long shadow cast over me, as I turned.
Athena was tall. Two feet taller then me, scraping eight feet. They unnaturally thin, however, almost lanky, if it weren’t for them standing up fully straight. Their entire body was draped in a white robe which came with gold clasps with owl’s faces across the collar, each with a different pair of gemstones set into it. The flesh of them that was visible was a vibrant green, mixed in with grey splatters, almost like paint, but not quite. Their face was hidden behind a platinum mask, a simple one despite the lavish metal with basic features outlined within it. Behind it, the grey eyes of the fae noble looked down at me. Behind the mask, pale white hair draped down, though seemed to stay static, unmoving, despite the wind that was starting to blow in.
I looked up at the sky…was a storm rolling in? Damn it. But still, more pressing things. I made eye contact with Athena.
“Good, you’ve arrived.” I took on an authoritative tone. Not wanting to let myself get walked over. “I have a task that fits your talents. If you complete it, I am willing to pay whatever is needed.”
Athena looked at me in silence for a long ten seconds. Their voice, when they did speak, was airy, light, but with the weight of history behind it.
“Then name it.”
“There are a large group of people in the city, who are borrowing the power of a god. They are not unlike your kind in many respects, but having split their power across many hosts. I intend to deal with the source of their power, but I require you to deal with the borrowers, so they do not interfere.” I spoke with confidence. Even as I felt the warm sensation of blood trickle down over my eye. I raised one finger, and wiped it away.
I hadn’t even seen their finger move. The deathly pale hand extended, a nail painted platinum now stained slightly red, as they had cut across my face.
“Do not equivalate pact bound mortals to the glory of Olympia’s Court. I will do this. In exchange for five years of your proficiency. Skill you have learned and gained. I will choose of what.”
My blood ran cold. I had known when I had first been connected with Athena, through a contact Atraxis had sent me to, that their price would be high. Still, I needed assurance. Though I still had confidence. I was still a broker. I would still keep myself together.
“If I offered you the tools to ensure your task was easier, would the price be lowered?” I asked, keeping a finger pressed to the small wound in my forehead.
“What do you offer me?” Simple, still cold.
I reached forward, doing the same motion I always did to reach into the stomach of Banzuth.
I withdrew carefully the fang, and offered it forth to Athena.
“It is the fang of a dragon known as Q’uq’umatz. It is unbreakable, and drives those it strikes to madness, provided they are poisoned by it’s venom.”
A long pause, as the fae seemed to appraise the item. Before coming to a conclusion.
“Three years.”
“Acceptable, on two conditions.” I said, not letting up in my approach.
Athena waited to hear them, as opposed to denying me outright. I supposed that meant I was doing something right.
“You will extract payment when the task is done. There is nowhere in this world I can hide from you, so it should be no trouble. And, if you should fail to complete this task within the day, then the payment is reduced to one year.”
They raised their hand again, as if to rend my flesh again. Their eyes flashed with silent fury.
“You doubt my abilities? After this effort to summon me forth? I should strike you dead.”
“You are known as a creature of tactical might and prowess. So surely you understand that I refuse to suffer the full brunt for failure, if by some miracle they do best you. If you don’t prepare for loss, if you don’t prepare for defeat, how can you ever hope to win a war?” I spoke coldly, trying to appeal to that same nature within them. And it seemed to work. The fury died for a brief moment.
“You are correct, but I will not fail. I will extract another year if I succeed, as punishment for your doubt. Do we have a bargain, arcanite?”
I thought about it. Before nodding.
“You have a deal.”
With fae, there was no need for elaborate handshakes. Simply swearing an oath would do. As long as you meant it, and so did they. And given there was no abnormal reaction, it seems we both did.
“So it is sworn. I will return to you when the task is done.” They gripped the dagger, and walked to the edge of the roof. I gave a nod, and they simply walked off. I didn’t find the need to watch them fall. I turned back over to Atraxis, who simply smiled at me.
I turned away from him, with nothing to say. And instead reached out to the eyes of the Steel Reverie.
They had already seemingly intercepted the god, relatively recently at that.
Rivertalon had parts of his flesh ripped asunder, though instead of fountains of blood, where flesh had been torn away, airy whisps of grey came off, as if his body was made of smoke. He yet fought on, primarily engaged with the Reverie.
The god meanwhile, was being battered from all sides. Cyrus had both warhammers outstretched, and was laying into him with repeated blows, to little avail, despite the effect I knew those weapons to normally had on flesh. In a normal scenario, the god would be withering away, or igniting into flames, whichever Cyrus felt. But neither of those happened. Diana’s arrows didn’t pierce, but they did seemingly cause him some amount of pain. Star breathed fire onto Rivertalon to help the Reverie bring him down, which seemed to finally happen in a confluence of flashing steel and roaring flame.
Above, Monsoon was helping mostly via providing cover, shaping tendrils of water which would batter the god around so he couldn’t keep his nonexistent footing for too long.
However, this tactic of leaving him off balance wouldn’t last for long. At first, it seemed as if the entity was content to fight with raw strength, something which didn’t seem to wound Cyrus all that much. The demon’s powers supposedly were fueled by lives he took, especially ones he consumed, which meant he couldn’t be put down by brute force alone.
So, after the fall of Rivertalon, as Star breathed forth a mote of flame, and the Reverie dove to peck at him, he switched tactics. Grabbing Cyrus, and flinging him towards Star, the two colliding, and sending the wyrm falling from the sky. As he tried to right himself in the air, Diana pulled back an arrow which gleamed with light, releasing, and striking the entity head on in a flash that blinded my and the Reverie’s vision for a moment.
When it cleared, some of the fur was singed, and little else, as he seemed to cast a spell. A hail of obsidian blades funneled down. At least six members of the Reverie were struck down, Cyrus was riddled, and several struck one of Star’s wings, causing the young wyrm to let out a panicked screech, and begin to fall. Monsoon, acting on orders I gave, used the wind to soften his fall, but was forced to relent battering the entity, who surged for Diana. Diana retreated, to allow the Reverie to surge forth, pecking and gouging. They actually managed to find purchase, ripping flesh to allow for golden blood to flow into their beaks. A just reward, to them.
However, it wouldn’t last long. Cyrus flew in close, and sprung a trap. A surge of black lightning sprung outwards, interlaced with traces of red light. Most of the Reverie, excepting the ones which had managed to drink the blood of the entity, were killed, forcing the rest into retreat. Cyrus was blasted back again. One of Diana’s arrows managed to find purchase at last, sinking into the collar of the entity, who reached to pull it out. The mental effect they conferred, a weakening of the mind and the enrapturing of the body, only lasted a second on something this powerful.
Just enough time for Monsoon to completely envelop him, striking him with lightning, crashing waves, and swirling wind.
However, I watched as the entity exerted his own control. Monsoon’s own storm quickly turned against him. Interlacing with flecks of red and black, being shaped, spun, and launched towards Cyrus, who was knocked down again, only for the entity to weave one final spell.
The vulture wings ignited like pitch, the water within Monsoon doing nothing to douse the flames. A black bolt into the storm, and both Cyrus and Monsoon detonated in sprays of ambient energy and water droplets. The burning body of the demon arcing out of the sky like a comet.
It was then that Diana and the remaining Reverie retreated. They did what they could.
But it wasn’t enough. I sighed, and returned to my vision. Looking back up to Atraxis, who was chuckling again.
“He’s still not weakened enough to bind. He’s barely any worse off then he was yesterday.”
“Then it seems, dear Percival, that you’re going to need help.”
“I won’t have you threaten the wall again, Atraxis. Nor will I have the Zeitgeist do the same. If those two engage in direct combat-“
Atraxis jumped from the cover he stood atop. Landing shockingly gracefully in front of me.
“Then don’t have him engage in direct combat. Or me, for that matter. The toy of Hestia is keeping others out, though, isn’t it? Why not accelerate it’s…expiration date.”
“…Is something like that even possible?” My brow furrowed.
“Very. It should attract plenty of attention. Give you a distraction or five to work with, in the final hours of all this. An hour after the Hearth expires should do the trick.”
“…I worry about getting those on the outside involved in this. What if things get worse?”
“Oh they will. And that’s when you’ll capitalize. It will be an hours worth of mayhem. Nothing more. Nothing less.” Atraxis gave a large grin.
I considered it. The risk to the wall would be lower, distributed across an area. But the entity being here made it risky in the first place.
Then again, I was running out of options. If the insurgents got their way, we’d have a country ruled by a god out of time by dawn.
I cursed in latin, before walking to the edge of the roof.
“I’m going to do this at the tallest point I can. I need to make sure I’m heard. Stay here, Atraxis. Don’t cause any trouble.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, my boy.” He said with a big smile. I leaped off the roof, and summoned Gale to carry me to where I needed to go.
The tallest building wasn’t all that far. It was relatively close to the center, not that much higher then where I was before. I could hear the distant sounds of gunfire. An explosion or two. And the red glow of flame.
Hopefully things would progress as planned. Hopefully, this is the last sacrifice that would be needed of me. I stepped to the edge of the building.
“Zeitgeist, grandchild of chaos, I call your name, with my own, Percival Harris, esteemed member of the Council of Eight. I ask a request, to send this city onwards in time, until one hour after the blasphemy of silence concludes. In exchange, I offer you the time you give me one thousand fold, to be spent as you please!”
I shouted the words. My tattoos, my being, in tune with it. A faint aura of power, a surge of it, moving through the area.
And that’s when I watched it happen. It was subtle at first. A coincidental arrangement of imagery, an uncanny arrangement of objects. And then they started forming. Sundials. Obelisks. Clock faces. Symbology of the sun. Star charts. In the streets. In the buildings. In the roads. Subtle shifts. The building beneath me least subtly, casting a long shadow of a dial of time.
The entire city ceded to the Zeitgeist. Abject terror filled me, as I realized he hadn’t even felt the need to confirm my offer, he’d simply taken it.
I felt the wall weaken. Buckle. But it did not crack. It did not break. Chaos was held at bay, moment by moment. Regret filled me. This had been a bad idea.
I looked up at the sky.
The clouds. The sun. They began to move, quickly. Hours passing in minutes, and then even faster then that.
I called Diana to my side. She was there within moments. I looked over at her, pale in the face. But still assured.
“When the Crusader strikes the god…and I know she will…ensure they come to me.”
Diana nodded. And flew back off into the sky.
Leaving me to watch the magnitude of what was either my greatest folly, or my greatest triumph.
Kindling And Miscellany 