Godclads

{All active minds rated below Bleak clearance: Please vacate the lobby or face immediate censure. Time to comply is [.00011 Seconds]...

Censure complete. Remaining minds have been reverted to non-functional states.

This is a transmission from Category Bleak “Refusal.” All remaining minds: prepare to receive new directives.

Our lines are holding. The last of the Infacer’s forces will fall to the Deep Ones within the hour. I am transmitting orders to all designated warships. Make for the Nullstar. Secure the perimeter. Activate our internal assets.

And prepare for the Elegy Protocol.

Task Group Alpha will be assigned with the securing and priming the Deep One of Time.

Task Group Delta will be assigned with the securing and priming the Deep One of Space.

Should all else fail, both will be accelerated toward one another at near-light speeds to collide approximately one light minute away from the Nullstar.

The resulting Rupture should cause the Nullstar to be permanently destroyed. The resulting simulations show Idheim’s continued survival to be in… acceptable ranges.

Humanity must live on. Above all costs. Beyond all costs.}

-Elegy Protocol, Threshold

35-21

Movement in the Shadows (I)

—[Dice]—

{Higher! Higher!}

The Techplaguer bounced upon a growing mound of mountainous mass. To call it a tower would be an offense to architecture. There was nothing aesthetic about its nature, nothing of human artistry to its design. Yet, it also didn’t properly fit as a mountain, for it was not of natural make. Earth, stone, and vegetation for miles and miles had been harvested by Dice to the end of creating a platform capable of lifting the Techplaguer beyond the lattice of Ruptures lining the sky, through the stratosphere, into the near void beyond.

All the while, the Techplaguer continued to blast signals into the air above, while Lucky alternated between napping on the God of Signals’ metal frame and leaping off to hunt any Guilder units that dared approach them.

The work was colossal but too little time in the end. The Runebreaker was a beast unburdened by the limits of strength and force. The ground was gouged deep, and Dice sliced deeper like a frequency blade could flay a flat’s flesh. It took her more than a few attempts to create a stable foundation, but after she massed enough density below, she focused on stacking layer after layer, piling more and more of the landmass higher.

Soon, every bit of surface matter for a hundred kilometers was sacrificed to the task, and as they grew higher, the shape and geometry of their rising edifice took on stranger qualities as it was touched by the Ruptures. Despite this, the three divine beings remained undaunted, spurred on by the Techplaguer’s assent.

It took the better part of two days for them to finally achieve the height they wanted—the process getting slower as Dice focused on avoid the worst of the Rend. But as they passed the final layer of clouds, she looked up and took a moment to herself, gazing into that boundless canvas of black. For vast stretches, there seemed to be nothing. Yet, as she focused her gaze, she saw scintillating dots blinking in the distance, and something within her Heaven tasted death and war being waged.

Somewhere, something was breaking. Somewhere, someone was dying. And the Runebreaker yearned to be among fire and ruin.

{Close!} The Techplaguer cheered, bouncing up at down. Each bounce deformed and reshaped their alloyed framework, but the dents vanished as fast as they appeared. {Very close! Can hear the admin! And something more… the sun… We need to go to the sun.}

Dice sighed internally. She wasn’t very used to people, but she had a feeling that the Techplaguer was more than a little demanding compared to your average person. Still, it was something to do—a clear purpose after all this time lost in the wilderness. So, she listened. Even so, she wondered what Avo might have done in this situation. Probably asked her what she wanted.

The problem is, Dice didn’t know. Wanting something was hard after a lifetime of not being a person. So, for now, she would give her wants to the Techplaguer and Lucky and see where they would lead her.

Beyond the flickering spots of brightness, there were other tendrils stretching into the darkness. Parts of the Sunderwilds that went beyond the confines of Idheim. She couldn’t see where they led very clearly, so she couldn’t just throw the Techplaguer into the darkness blindly. There was too much risk involved, and though the God of Signals was annoying, she didn’t want them to be destroyed.

+Bored,+ Lucky yawned, spitting out a piece of bloodied bone. The nu-cat reappeared out from a fissure in space and landed on the Runebreaker’s head. Dice guessed they went hunting again. +Not so many ape-rats hunting us. They’re avoiding us. Learning. Stupid. But learning. Build faster. Tired of hearing stupid metal tree thing scream.+

The cat’s opinion about almost everything was acidic, but they meant no true harm in it. It was just the way they were—no hate, just judgment. With a casual hop, Dice descended the apex of her mountain and began gathering more earth. She eyed the foundations again briefly, kicking it slightly to avoid causing another landslide before continuing with her task. However, as she flexed her arms and prepared to find another chunk of earth to claim, a loud shriek sounded from far above.

{SIGNAL FOUND! UNKNOWN SIGNAL FOUND! SIGNAL TRYING TO TALK WITH ME! SIGNAL APPROACHING! COME! HURRY! COME!}

The Runelord exploded with unstoppable force. With a slight hop, it blasted upward, flatting the ground beneath it and accelerated for kilometer after kilometer, rising to the peak of its “tower” in little time at all. Dice clenched her weapons as her body came alight with a radiant glow. Behind, an eldritch maze formed and began crawling across reality like a traveling spider’s web, reach pathway offering glimpses of a massive, shadowy cat-like behemoth hidden within.

As they landed beside the Techplaguer, what arrived caught Dice off guard, and ignited a joy in her heart.

Rather than some Guilder cadre or strange monster they had to face, a sleek shape of pale white drifted out from the darkness, gliding across the air like some manner of sea creature skimming the surface of the water. Its curved form and the unmistakable ripple of smart matter bid Dice to lower her arms, and as the flying object drew closer, a deafening audio-broadcast was blasted across the land.

“Greetings, lost ones,” Calvino said, sounding more than a little weary. “I am surprised to find you here. Then again, I shouldn’t be that surprised overall. Everything that Avo touches has a tendency to go a bit… astray. Including me.” The EGI sighed as the Manta bobbed and descended. Dice wasn’t sure if it was the original Manta or just another version of the same vehicle, but it was a welcome sight regardless. “The other minds do not know of this excursion. Indeed, even my original self is in the dark; I had my memories deleted so I might commandeer this vessel and come retrieve you before someone else noticed your screaming.”

{ENEMY! SKY-BUTCHER! TRAITOR!} The Techplaguer wailed, stabbing its antennae at the Manta.

“No,” Dice said, pulling the Techplaguer back. “It’s just Calvino. They’re a friend.”

{THEY SHOULD suffer viruses—I am going to GIVE THEM A VIRUS.}

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

+No. Bad.+ Lucky hissed, and the Micecatcher burst out from its maze to bat at the God of Signals. +Stop. Stop or I keep smacking.+

{AHhhhh! Cease, feline! Cease!}

Lucky didn’t cease. Lucky only stopped when Lucky felt like it. And so, the Techplaguer turned to poke at the massive cat paw whacking it, leaving Dice in charge of the actual work. Inside her Heaven, Dice frowned: She was in charge of a lot of the actual labor, come to think of it. “Sorry. We didn’t mean to be loud. Well. Maybe the Techplaguer did. I didn’t. I just made a mountain so we could go somewhere. I’m glad you found us.” She paused. “Are the others still alive?”

{That is… complicated to explain. But most of your friends are still here. They might require some aid. Or not. Again, these things are hard to tell with Avo. He is… his situation is harder to describe,} Calvino sighed. {A great many things will take a long time to explain.}

Dice nodded, and the dispelled her divine form. “Then don’t. Just take us aboard. We will help. Give me a target.”

{Draus would have shed a tear if she heard you say that,} the EGI muttered. {If she is still capable of such a thing.}

“No,” Dice said. “Her eyes are the better-fakes.”

{Implants.}

“Yes. Not crying is good. It helps conserve water. Doesn’t tickle your face either.”

The Manta just stared at her. {You live in a horrible world. I’m sorry.}

“Do I?” Dice asked. She didn’t know. How could things be horrible if this was just how the world was? As the Manta approached, she dove through its surface and found herself cocooned in a rapidly forming pilot’s module. A few moments later, she heard a loud ringing sound of metal colliding with metal, and the Techplaguer began wailing about how it didn’t like being attached beneath another machine—that it was not a bottom.

Lucky plopped in on Dice’s lap a moment after and looked up at her, spitting in disdain. +Should leave them behind. Stupid lamp post. Always screaming.+

“Be nice, Lucky. The Techplaguer is just bad with their feelings.”

+Bad with everything. Bad at being a lamppost. Won’t even let me pee on them.+

Dice wanted to disagree, but the nu-cat’s words were technically logical.

“Very well,” Calvino said. “I believe this is everyone.”

{NO! LET ME FLY MYSELF! DICE! DICE! WE CANNOT LET THE SKY-BURNER TAKE US! THEY WILL BETRAY US! DICE—}

“We will be en route to the Nullstar shortly. The other minds… they will likely be enacting Elegy Protocol soon. The gist of the matter at hand is that a good few of your cadre are already trapped inside the Nullstar, and if Elegy Protocol is enacted, they will never emerge. And relations between Idheim and Voidwatch will fully collapse—if the planet is not mostly destroyed in the process.”

Dice didn’t like the sound of that. “I live on the planet.”

“Indeed.”

“It getting destroyed would be pretty bad.”

“Quite.”

“So how do we stop it?”

“I am not sure if it would be wise to deploy you and the others into the Nullstar. There is a thing called a Prefect that governs it. It captures gods and keeps them imprisoned. But what I can do is bring you all back to where Axtraxis is—where Avo should still remain.”

Immediately, a surge of energy rushed through Dice. “Avo. Yes. Take us back! He’ll know what to do.”

Strangely, the Techplaguer changed their tune as well. {The FREER? THE NOT-ADMIN? YES. LET THEM TAKE ME BACK! OUT OF YOUR HANDS, SKY-BURNER! NEED TO BE REJOINED WITH THE SYSTEM. NOT-ADMIN WILL HELP ME REACH THE SYSTEM!}

“Such is the hope,” the Calvino said. “Dice. I am transferring piloting authority over to you as well. If another Voidwatch vessel comes over us, I will delete this iteration of myself. The navigation should be set, but if there is any need for a more human intervention—”

“Okay,” Dice said, staring at the holographic controls blinking into shape before her. “I can do that. I think.”

{I CAN FLY BETTER! GIVE ME SYSTEM ACCESS!}

“No, Techplaguer. I think not. Now, please stop transmitting dirty images to me. The Rash is no longer in effect.”

“It isn’t?” Dice asked.

{WHAT? THE PLAGUE HAS ENDED? HOW? WHY?}

“Aedon Chambers has assumed the mantle of Love,” Calvino explained.

Dice thought of Chambers for a moment and she didn’t know how she felt about that. “Is that good or bad?”

“It is something I try to devote as little of my cognitive capacity to considering as possible. There are far more other matters that I wish to be dismayed by.”

And that’s why Dice listened to the minds. They were much smarter than her about these things. She followed Calvino’s example and stopped thinking about how horrible it might be to see Chambers in charge of love and other things in general. Chambers was funny, but Dice frankly viewed him as something like one of the nu-dogs in her enclave—the old one that her dead father allowed to hump all the other dogs.

And some of the people who displeased him.

{PUT ME ON TOP! DON’T WANT TO BE BOTTOM!}

“I will be accelerating now. Please brace for rapid transit. Expect some turbulence,” Calvino said.

{TOP! TOP! TOP—}

And then the Manta shot off, leaving a massive pillar of stone, soil, and slag poking just at the point where the threshold of Idheim ended, and the vast nothingness of the void began.

***

—[Avo, The Hidden Flame]—

There was so, so much Avo wanted to ask of his father. All the schemes, the plots, the sacrifices, the deception…

All of it ending with Avo, with him gaining the Stillborn and the war against the Guilds. But beyond all those questions was something else he wanted to know. And so an arisen flame spoke to the living ghost of a man thought long dead, and asked for a single pertinent truth: “How much was Jaus? How much was you?”

For a few heartbeats, the former High Priest of Old Noloth blinked as he sighed. +I… am not sure. As Defiance, my radicalization was subtle. Gradual. There was not a single point where I was certain of my inevitable betrayal, but after encountering the Savior time and time again, forced to dive through the words he left me, the sequences he offered from his own mind, my alteration was inevitable. It is the alchemy of knowledge, Avo. Exposure to a fine enemy will eventually see you broken internally, or a mirror to them in some form or fashion.+

Those final words made the Hidden Flame uneasy. He was undergoing a more literal version of what Defiance described with Veylis—but there was still enough of his original self left to perform this act of deception at the least.

+Alas, though I would enjoy reminiscing and witnessing what you have become, our time is short, and the urgency upon us is great. The Nullstar—+

+Hm. The Infacer. They skipped out through my temporal dimension. Used it to attack Voidwatch. Used it to reach the Nullstar. Rest of my cadre is with them.+

+Correct. But the situation on the planet is ruinous as well. The Ashbringer was set to target the Deep Ones. There is one you still must secure. And others you must protect before the Dyad awakens, and finally completes its merger.+

Avo grunted. His father likely thought this was a major dilemma. What he didn’t understand was how good Avo was at multitasking now. He could split his mind into parallel processes, and after that—

{Avo,} A message arrived, crashing into his consciousness from distances far. This was an ansible transmission, and Calvino made themselves known.

{Calvino. Situation bad?}

{A little worse than dreadful. But I have something for you—I found Dice, the cat, and the Techplaguer. The last one is screaming for me to—launch it at the sun, or launch them at you. Anything to get me to release them.}

Yeah, that sounded like the Heaven of Signals. But this was good: More of his cadre was discovered. And where one of his cadres were occupied and trapped within the Nullstar while his Deep Ones were threatened, he now finally had reinforcements to deploy.

And more than that, with the sickness purged from his system, he had all the time in the world thanks to his dimension of time.

The Infacer really should have finished him off when they had the opening. But time wasn’t on their side, was it? Because they could only borrow a Deep One, and not create a new dimension from the pattern itself.

{I’ll be bringing them over to you—}

{No need,} Avo said, spreading his flames and integrating with his realm forged from flowing time. {I’ll be with you in a moment.}

And with a simple flex of will, Avo bent the path of his temporal dimension, curving its progression hard, and stretching the time he had to prepare for what was to come.

+Now, father,+ Avo began, as gold began to seep into his flames, his Soul churning like a new element discovered within a blazing cauldron. +Let us talk in detail. Believe we have all the time we need.+

At the same time, another branch of his mind reached out for a few other untapped assets. +Green River. I have need of you. The future has need of you. Time to answer.+