Chapter 5-129: No Future in This Job (1/2)
“And you’ve been doing so alone, because part of your duties involve monitoring the Powered and everything we’ve been doing.” I waved the fact away. “Yes, I know it means you have a bias in your duties towards the Primos. It is not my concern.
“I gather the constant and steady Wishcrafting brought you here?” The combination of powerful magic and reality-twisting would have definitely got their attention.
Once again, they seemed surprised at my insight. “That is what that was? We are aware of the magical conflicts between the efreet in Yellowstone and the djinn here, but they basically neutralized one another...”
“Windgraf Mochtal has been using his Wishes more directly, as whatever power Bey Garar’azzar has been serving has stopped trying to use Wishes which were Countered as soon as they are made. The Windgraf will resume Countering the Bey as soon as his reserve counter-Wishes have been used up.
“In the meantime, he has been using Wishes to increase the base Stats of certain of the Powered, opening up their path to the future. The burgeoning feeling of destiny and magic you are feeling rising here is because of that.”
“That nexus of destiny seems to hinge upon you, Lady Traveler,” the hyn said, swirling his glass of wine. “At the same time, the tides of it are washing past you, and do not seem to be clinging to you...”
“I am Beyond Law and Chaos. Neither Chance nor Fate hold influence over me,” I replied. “I don’t think I have to explain to you what playing chronal-chess with timescryers is like, and I’d rather not be subject to them.”
“Oh, that sounds like a most interesting state, similar to our own... Void status?” The hyn dropped his eyes to the paper.
I slid across two more sheets for them to read. “Well, it’s much less powerful and very specific. Being immune to prophecy and foretelling can be good and bad, but I’ll live without timesight if my enemies can’t see me coming.”
They studied the details of Null and Source Forsaken with great interest. “That’s what those are!” the Firesword burst out.
“What?” the hyn asked.
“That lot of people being taught by that woman in upper Michigan, the one that looked like a martial school for young people I was telling you about, with all the ki techniques? They had those weird, solid auras...”
“Those were Nulls? Huh.” The hyn studied the notes. “Inert to magic. That sounds... useful? Dangerous to the Powered?” he had to ask.
“All the Forsaken are much more dangerous to Powered then the Primos are. All Primos, if they but knew, could have been, and could still become, Forsaken. They just have to hit Seven, somehow, if they didn’t make the choice at One.” I inclined my head at them. “It’s also the way to discover more Voids to share your work load, if you don’t know.”
They gave me That Look again. “You seem incredibly familiar with Voids, Lady Traveler,” the hyn admitted, pausing as Master Fred reappeared, this time with a plate of steaming smoked sausages for finger-picking, which he set down between them before retreating to his place. Hyn and human looked at one another, then grabbed some sausages despite themselves.
They weren’t Sustained, I noted, and set aside my study material as I began to Write more stuff for them. “Let me give you a bit of a backstory, Brothers, on the Brotherhood of the Void.”
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I went into how the Brotherhood existed on other worlds, was known there, and performed their duties in accordance with the Will of the Land, acting as shooters of trouble, stabbers of trouble, and head-takers of trouble, at which they smirked. I reviewed the various Orders with them, how they were formed, what their general responsibilities were, and how they approached their problems, especially with the Powered around.
They naturally were dying to know how I knew all this, and so I informed them of the truth behind my status. They listened raptly, promptly Helixed me up and down to confirm all the crazy magical shit going on with me, made screwed-up faces at the existence of my Ur and Blighter Levels, and muttered sympathies about the baby boy, but that wasn’t their remit to handle, it was mine.
“This... psychopomp.” Brother Firesword had quickly embraced his name, in the interest of the transplanar organization of his kind, and had rapidly oriented on the main problem without me laying it out for him. “It installed you here, for lack of a better word. You said Divine servants cannot remember the Shroud, but it guided you here, to a world underneath one. That... is highly suspicious.” His instincts for magical chicanery were right on.
“That is correct,” I agreed. “It can only mean it is a non-Divine entity, yet powerful enough to reach past a Shrouded Veil somehow. I did not receive an impression of great power from it... but great skill may substitute for great power, if one knows how to wield it.”
“So... you are saying this thing is dangerous,” the Shadowknife asked somberly.
“Yes.”
“And are its plans related to you?” the hyn asked to ask.
“Are you asking if I’m some sort of magical bomb? You should be able to tell more than I, but I do not believe so.” Both promptly Helixed me again, going up and down and through me, while I waited there patiently, ignoring how much it tingled and tickled. My Shroudbond seemed to be both afraid of and delighted by them. If it was reflecting the will of the trapped souls, they had to know that restoring the proper cycle of souls was one of the things that Void Brothers did, and so these two represented a very dangerous form of salvation. They’d either free the souls, or burn them all away and restore them to the cycle as raw energy.
Either was better than being trapped and tormented forever...
“Your ties to the magic of the Shroud are... very strong. This remnant Death Curse upon you seems to have made it truly firm. The conjoined power of the Bloodlines you burned also strengthened the tie...” Brother Firesword said thoughtfully, seeming a little intimidated, despite himself. “That is most complete and powerful Matrix I have ever felt,” he complimented me, and Brother Shadowknife nodded agreement. “However, I couldn’t feel anything dangerous.” The hyn also shook his head. “Yet the creature clearly planned for you to be here, so it wants you here to do something.”
“There is only one thing that would have happened that it could be sure of when I was sent here, and it even questioned me ahead of time in a roundabout way, to see what my attitude for the task was. It wants me to kill all of the undead here... or rather, it wants me to frighten the undead as I start slaughtering them.”