There is no higher sin than love, there is no greater transgression than to want, there is no greater failure of humanity, of existence, than our inability to face things as they are.
No more.
I will see us make this mistake no more. Love will hurt no more. May only awareness ache when I think of those I lost.
New Vultun, I proclaim to you now, on the end of days, this day of all days to co, no more.
No more tyranny.
I free all of us from the tyrant that is love.
May a peaceful eternity follow thereafter.
-Kae Kusanade, Murderess of Love
27-13
Last Days of the False Peace (III)
–[Veylis]–
Veylis glided over the districts she held in sway. Even now, she could feel moats of the Drear’s sickness trickling in, registered as spreading spots of infection. Loci went dark. Rendbombs were detonated at critical installations. Millions simply collapsed, their minds shattered and winnowed of shape. With each passing second, Avo, the Knower of Totality warred against her. And with each passing second, she appreciated his efforts more.
Finally. For a ti, with the absence of her mother, she thought there a lull in her strain. A ti for her to recover from all these centuries of focus. Not so. He was rapidly becoming a worthy replace in both angle and operational intensity. A different kind of adversary anyway. One that nursed her interest and vexxed her strategies.
Her mother spent echoes like strikes. Was always escaping forward into the future.
Avo was a tide. A flood. An infection. Always assailing her walls. Always demanding that she remain focus or suffer losses. And with each passing day, the frequency and intensity only grew.
“His strategy remains unchanged,” she back, speaking across her own path. “But his operational capabilities… his tactics. Those have beco infinitely more varied and complex. The amount of Nether-based attacks striking our lobbies will likely surpass Ori-Thaum twice over before the end of this month.”
{You sound way too pleased,} the Infacer said. {Like a girl. With a new toy to break.}
“It’s learning how to break a being so unique that interests . He has beco an axiom unto himself: an Overheaven of Conceptualization, a God of Minds and Consciousness. What a grand Domain to govern. What a foe to face with ti.”
A Knot of golems detonated within one of her factories, causing a chain of explosions before she cleaved its progression. Ti moved like a blade in her hand, and across ti she cut as well, her miracles serving as both weapon and canvas, splitting the devastion years away, never to register in the present.
A clean severance of fading gold left an entire complex bifurcated. Her riposte would go noticed by the other Guilds, but taking the damage was ugly calculus. She needed the facility preserved should Stormtree attempt to seize the Sovereignty. Every bit of production mattered.
In the Nether, the ghoul was spreading, launching traumas against fortresses, subverting critical personnel at an alarming rate. The Infacer had taken to routinely detonating entire areas, as if trying to gas a den of aratnids into submission. Through the integration of Omnitech’s Noosphere, they kept the Drear at bay with the thaumic encryptions, but that wasn’t going to be a permanent solution.
The Infacer assud its quality of delay to last weeks to months at most.
anwhile, the best asset Avo had in the real was clearly forr Guard-Captain Jelene Draus. The regular was unfettered. Gleeful, even. She died in the thousands, millions, soon to be billions, attacking various installations, fighting with brutal efficiency no matter what body she was woven into, no matter what equipnt, what implants, or support she had.
Another reason for Veylis to exert her displeasure on the Chivalrics. Their incompetence cost her more than they could ever know. But part of her was pleased to see one of her forr daughters so joyous. Be all the other Regulars as euphoric as she soday. Perhaps they will et each other in glorious ends, dying to claim a final tomorrow. No greater glory. No greater end.
The others Guilds were also suffering, recoiling and confused about the random attacks ripping through them. Already, she could see Stormtree, Ashthrone, and Sanctus savaged by Nether-based attacks. Entire districts were dark. Phantoms flickered over their skies, glitching and broken, while entire divisions and departnts lay dead or subsud.
And despite the Inner Council of Ori-Thaum’s capabilities at contending with beings like the Hungers, despite the Longeyes’ ability to peer through all destruction, past, present, and future,, despite Sanctus's ability to shift across ti, and Ashthrone ready to take everyone with them to a final end, they had no idea what they were fighting.
They knew nothing of the plague eating away at them.
As the new variables entered her Heaven, she resimulated her paths, and saw a 51% chance that the bulk of the Massist Guilds would be captured by Avo before the year was over. That was, if she didn’t find a way to put an end to him before that.
"There is one thing he's doing. Sothing that I can’t quite predict," Veylis said, expanding her paths now, directing them across the Sunderwilds. Her core location was still enclosed in the city, close to her many protections in the Tiers. There were too many threats to risk being backlashed. She needed to do this as subtly as she could.
The sanctuaries were effectively lost to him. She could see them destroyed now; would it be a pointless thing. As would the murder of that unfortunate soul, Essus. Kae’s mories depicted a man who was broken after the death of his son. Not vengeful, not fueled for change, not even driven to claim the Ladder himself for a chance at fixing this great injustice. No. Simply broken. A pity.
She would have to shape a better life for him, feed strength into both him and his boy so that they can face the life and every life to co. It would be a gesture of esteem to those who stood with the Drear. Sothing that would have never been granted to the man otherwise.
Alone. He was damned. Weak and cursed by predestiny. Only through Avo’s choice was there true weight to his being. Weight to his existence. The sa could be said for Aedon Chambers. The sa could be said for countless others.
“Do you think he’s being honest with us about Noloth?” Veylis finally finished her question. Looking beyond the borders, she studied the crawling tendrils of the Sunderwilds consuming the horizon. Seven hundred kiloters away, there was an enclave she needed to burn.
{Yes. I think that he despises them more than we do. The Hungers are an impedint, sothing we need to remove, completely reintegrate with the Ladder before its final deploynt. For him, they likely represent sothing… disdainful. The murderers of his father. The mistakes of the past. A personal adversary. Or maybe he simply desires to devour them, to take their place and make better whatever dreams they had.}
The Infacer chid with wry amusent. {That last part, I think, is the most likely. I can say a lot of things about the Burning Drear, but his appetite stands out even among all the foes I have faced. What a palate. What a diet.}
The EGI made a few biting noises, teeth clicking together, and Veylis replied with a noise that was almost a laugh.
“Then we should accommodate him on this," Veylis said. "He presents both a unique challenge and also an opportunity. He can engage the Hungers on their own territory to take hold of the Nether."
The Infacer considered her words. {You wish for him to completely capture the Nether, don't you. So we can collapse it all at once?}
“A potential path. But there are others I have planned.”
{Oh. Agnos Kusanade’s project. I do wonder how you intend to hurt him with the Heaven of Love.}
Naeko’s face flashed into Veylis mind, but she pushed his shadow away from her, raw discipline surmounting base emotion. “That’s not for him. That is for our victory. To cent our final alliance.”
{Oh. He’s not going to like that. What you plan to do to him.”
“He will co to accept it. I will have the rest of eternity to win his forgiveness, after all.”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
{And you’re not afraid he might fall for soone else in the anti.}
The High Seraph snorted. “One does not yearn for a lesser fla.”
{Oh. Hello, Zein. Glad to talk with you again.}
“Do not mock .”
{Do not speak exactly like your mother, then.}
The two shared a bemused silence thereafter. Understanding was precious. So was a reliable equal. {The No-Dragons are making worried again. They’re talking more with Stormtree. Sending out diplomatic missions. Even pledging support to the Paladins.}
“Yes. The Dowagers are plotting sothing. Sothing they do not wish to share with us. They are speaking through their plague forms. I managed to contain so subjects for you. Do you think you can decipher what they’re planning.”
{Maybe. It will take ti. Ti I do not think we have. Whatever the case, I think this is just another bout of internal politicking. A great many First Sisters are about to reach the end of their cycles, after all.}
Veylis began creating new paths for her erstwhile ally just in case. “Offer everything we have on the nodes of Noloth we captured. Give the Drear what you preserved of Defiance as well in exchange for a favor.”
{My choice.}
“Yes. You are the one with rapport right now. He is your companion. It would see more natural if you did it.”
{Fine. Ashthrone is not going to like what is coming.}
“We should also identify and isolate the remaining nodes of Noloth as well. Expose them to the Drear and have him exterminate the Famines. Observe him. See how the remnants of Noloth react. See how he faces them.”
{Trying to collect so more variables to nail down how our ghoul might operate?}
“Yes. And I would most appreciate soone else dealing with the pests. Why not have it be done by a plague.”
{Not exactly the weirdest gig I outsourced. And speaking of using soone else to our advantage… have you decided on what we are doing with Vator and Uthred Greatling? They seem to have caught a bug.}
“Yes. A wondrous occurrence. I thought I had wasted them — the threat they faced now far eclipses their capability to contain, capture, or kill. But this is fortuitous. I intend to have them hold course. See what the Famine is planning to do through them. Perhaps Instrunt Vator Greatling will surprise . As he has done so many tis before. Perhaps his father will rediscover so of his old ttle. Whatever the case, they can be used against Noloth and the Drear both.”
{More and more pawns by the day,} the Infacer sighed. {You always did like your sacrifice plays.}
“There is a weight to loss. It grounds you in victory thereafter.”
{There is also a benefit to not losing anything and just fucking destroying the other asshole.}
“Yes. But what kind of story would that make for.”
{A cody. Or propaganda.} A comfortable silence settled between them briefly. {You know he'll also be coming for us in the anti. He won't let you keep her.}
“I know. And I am counting on it. All paths lead to the trail. And so, at this junction, he will strike at us. He will attempt sothing while the city’s attention is captured. I look forward to his attempt.”
{And what about his enclave? Are we still going to burn it down during the trial too?}
“Oh, indubitably. It will be trapped and waiting for us. This will be a useful opportunity to feed him so wins. Nourish his morale further. Shape his behavior and portray a false pattern for him to latch onto.”
{We will still need to make a proper effort. Actually lose sothing substantial enough to make him things we were not faking him out.}
“Of course. How about a few hundred Chivalrics on a quest of atonent?”
{Dear girl, I keep forgetting how much I love your pawn-plays.}
This ti, Veylis did laugh. Then, the oddest emotion followed after. Doubt. “Infacer.”
{Yes.}
“Do you ever get the feeling that things are on the verge of going terribly wrong?”
{All the ti. You?}
“With every new path I simulate.”
***
–[Draus]–
Hey, Avo, Draus said, taking in the reflective lining the installed across a forth of the planetary ring. Most of its middle spines glead in the darkness of space, each of vitrified internally and externally, like polished studs embedded over an alloyed hoop.
She was sitting on the edge of the ring next to a ss of half finished radiators. Behind her hovered rings of circulating guns forming the shape of the Arsenalist, and beside sat the Simulacra, reflecting the glory of Idheim with its body.
“Everything,” the Simulacra said.
Hm, Avo said, finally responding. Draus knew he was up here with her sowhere, trying to get his new Heaven to work. She felt more than a few tugs in the darkness. He was doing sothing to void. Made it ss with weight or sothing. Done?
Almost, Draus replied, watching the world from behind the helt of her ldskin. Never expected to get so far up here. She wondered what it was like fighting weightless wars. She might just take up Only on their offer soon. The EGIs are connecting the Manta to the rings interior habitats. There are so unfinished facilities it can integrate with. Start pumping oxygen through the entire place. Get so hydroponics going.
Good. Ahead of schedule. Still a bit over a day left.
Yeah, she said. The trial. That was coming. While all those different variants of her got to run around, one of her and Kae’s clones would be going in to jion the circus. But sohow, it all felt so godsdamned final.
Didn’t help that Veylis had Kae. Kae. An uncomfortable emptiness ford in Draus when she was captured. By the High Seraph, not less. Now, they were going to try to get her back. Avo had an entire mad run planned, and Draus was supposed to run heavy diversions in the anti.
The risk, as always, was high. So high it might as be suicide for most. But ghoul made a habit of telling the impossible to go fuck itself, and their cadre—despite being made up of freaks, rejects, monsters, and weapons—was proving itself to be…
Hard to kill.
But no one’s luck lasted forever. You ever think that, that at any mont we can make another dumb mistake and that'll be that? You'll be dead for good this ti?
Avo paused briefly, considering the question. He humd within Draus’ mind. Yes. All the ti.
Yeah, well, I've been getting that feeling more and more.
Are you developing a fear of mortality?
"Fuck yourself," she said casually.
Where’d this co from? Bored? Tired? Kae?
No. Just got a feeling. It's a hell of a feeling. I felt the sa way when Loraea Greatling or that suicidal final op. We Orphans, we probably all had that feeling. Hells, a few of us joked about it, but we knew what was wrong. We knew we were gonna die for nothing, and yet all of us walked away and did as she said. Looking back, it feels mighty pathetic. What a waste.
Are you expressing dissatisfaction in the path we're taking right now?
No, not at all, consang, she said. I don't mind dying right now, not one bit.
Avo materialized next to her, taking the form of the ghoul he was. Echoheads attached to the open vents of the radiator as he sat down awkwardly beside her.
Ain’t been that long, Draus said. But it sure feels like a lifeti. Feels like I ca out of a dream. Or a stupor. Like I’m not lost in the dark anymore. Up here? After all we went through? Yeah. Makes feel a kind of weight. The kind of weight that makes know what I’m doing is worth it and matters. She paused. She wasn’t sure what brought on this sentintality, but it was here. And she wanted things to be stated plain. I like what you did to , Avo.
I like the fact that we t, Avo replied, earnest and calm. Likely wouldn’t have made it this far. You kept the beast at bay sotis. Early on. The fight we had. The promise of your violence. Saved from straying. Might’ve been Walton’s plan all along. Still. Wouldn’t work without you. You were sothing of my past. Sothing I could understand. Might’ve been what kept centered.
That, and you wanted to eat my eyes.
Yeah.
They both snorted a laugh.
You know sothing? Draus said, thinking back. We never got to have a proper second bout. And now… well, you feel real, but it ain't the sa. You're nothing but ghosts and thoughts and mories. Probably won't feel right to bleed you this way.
It can still be done, Avo said. He let out a slight hiss of consideration. Draus?
Hm?
Do you want to fight a war against ?
She cocked her head and smirked slightly. "Go on."
Our copies. Make them an army. A thousand each. Fight in an open plain. Sunderwilds. Just who we were. No weapons. No powers. Just us. A bloodletting like no other. Other mbers of the cadre can watch. Losing side gets to have a last stand if they want. Or accept terms of surrender.
Last stand? Draus snorted. When did you beco a godsdamned romantic. Ain’t you just about the eating?
Jealous. You got a glorious war during the Uprising. Culled ghouls. Fought Guilds. I hid in the Umbra. Hid from swarms. Nukes.
And it wasn't even you doing the hiding technically, Draus said. It was just so other ghoul that your pa pulled mories from. A sudden guffaw tore out from her as she rolled her eyes. Holy shit. You're stolen valor.
What?
You're stolen valor. You're stolen ghoul valor. Her laughing intensified. It’s too much. You're not even a real ghoul, Avo. You didn't actually fight in the war. You just got mories of ghouls that did.
He looked down and bared his teeth. A low hiss of displeasure followed. Going to kill you. Eat your eyes.
Are you now?
Going to kill you for making think of this.
Hm. You rember what you asked after our first fight?
If you felt real?
Yeah. I still don't feel real. But I don't think anyone does anymore. I don't think any of us will ever feel real until soone finally wins. Until this is over. Until finally there's sothing worth coming tomorrow. You and , we are monsters and weapons. And when this is done, whatever we are now, it can't live in the future. It's gotta go away, or it's gotta be put away. But right now… right now we're the realest motherfucking things in this entire goddamn universe. That’s what I think. I’ll bleed with you, Avo. I’ll bleed with you any day.
He grunted and grinned. I’ll tell the others. See if we can find a mont for ourselves. For everyone.
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