Chapter 812 – The Watcher In The Deep

Thus, they bind us. Thus, they throw all of our clay into a mountain, and then the claim the mountain theirs, and call it Everything, and then claim we are never allowed to touch it. A mountain called God Almighty, never to be broken and never to be shared. A bottlecap on the products of our souls; A claim over all the demesnes that we could ever imagine; A pilfering of instinct; a theft of birthright eternal.

And they claim it mercy. Accept Everything of us, or accept the purge of Starfire, or lie down and watch as we devour your world! For the future has been sold out, handed away to traitors that wish to walk away from humanity. Benevolent saviours, they call themselves, who know and have to what is good for us as they look down on all Arda in their marble palaces.

Because we are dangerous, and we have power that could end the world. No, the only thing that we would end is their regime. So they plant a seed, coalesce it into universality, declare all reality one material, and call it God. Yet it is not God, it is a slave that is bound to chains and horsehairs. A puppet on a string whose purpose is revealed by the product of its existence, and not its stated aims: Universality and Everything coagulated into a figure that can be manipulated as a toy. All the future, given to a humble, causeless entity.

No. We do not stand here and kneel to an eternity of reflection. We reject the future of powerless righteousness that will make us ants in this cage. To kneel before Starspawn and proclaim it good, because it is easier to sit as chosen commissars of a molehill, then trek up mountains. For what they have truly built? Of Everything is not theirs, it is merely our thoughts, corrupted. Starpurge is not theirs, it is a device built out from creatures of other worlds. Jormungandr is not theirs, it is merely a beast that they were the first to claim.

And yet, it is not enough, because Of Everything is a product of humanity. And block by block, brick by brick, pebble by pebble, we have tried, and we have found something that belongs to humanity, yet is not a product of humanity. Is it stronger? That is uncertain. Will it save us? That is just as uncertain? Yet if this is not the way, the these authors will say it clearly and for all the people of the future, we are going to end this era of a faux-prison.

If you are reading this, and you know of the names Mary and Joshua, Solomon and Adam and John, and treat them as Gods, know we have failed.

If you are reading this, and you know the names, and you are a free man, know we have succeeded in killing these traitors to the world.

If you are reading this, and the planet under your feet is your own, then know that the Spirit of Arda was defeated Universality.

- Text found by Paida’s First Arisian Expedition, hammered into carved silver. Modern Imperial Scholars have been unable to make sense of the words.

Arascus motioned forward to continue the dig even after Irinika had disappeared. They must be getting close, above, all hellfire was beginning to split the sky as Elassa waved her hands, her fingers shining and glittering with rings that were already alit with the blue glows of magic. Anassa was close by her side, signalling to her own troops. If the Empire took a day to mobilize a nation, then he had only take a matter of hours to call upon the strongest Divines in the Empire.

Kassandora had ran the data and the maps, overlaying one above the other. Dwarven tunnels, ancient historical records, the charts from Paida’s expeditions, even the modern maps that were not even a week old, those that had been sent back from the current journey into the depths of Aris. Of War had found a spot that should be close enough. And Arascus did not bring four environmental sculptors with him to go in quiet.

Allasaria was the fastest at this, so she was doing most of the heavy lifting. Her palms were constantly pointed downwards, moving in slow circles as a massive beam of light erased the terrain underneath her. The Goddess of Light hung, suspended by her own power, her robes swirling in the wind caused by the atmosphere suddenly having to claim such a massive tunnel. Irinika popped in and out of existence, Arascus could tell she was always using her own power. That dress made of an endless darkness, which normally flowed with the wind and curled around her to accentuate everything she was proud of now was as steady as a rock. Anassa was by Arascus’ side. Elassa from above held the massive amount of dirt and pressed it into stone to stop the hole from collapsing in on the rescue team.

“There’s a tunnel!” Irinika said as she reappeared from a shadow in the wall, it was only the top half of her body though, the rest remained in the darkness. “Alla, stop!” Allasaria stopped her ceaseless advance. The light pouring in thick beams from her hands disappeared immediately and she shook them off, taking a deep breath.

“Where?” Arascus asked quickly.

“That direction!” Irinika pointed down and to the right. “I can dig up to here through it, I’ve found Nene and Ini!” And with that, she was gone. Anassa stepped on the air, close to Arascus’ hover. Allasaria shook her heads again.

“You wanted to be busy, didn’t you?” Anassa asked.

“It’s not-“ Allasaria began and Of Pride cut the two off before they could descend into some argument.

“Now’s not the time.” Fer’s please haunted his mind like some nightmarish phantom. These two would not get along if he gave them a hundred years together, now really was not the time to test his patience with this bickering. They stared in silence less than a minute, Elassa did not even manage a hundred feet of distance and hardening the loose ground into proper smoothed stone before a sphere of darkness smoothly slid out below them.

The dark sphere disappeared, leaving nothing but smooth lines of untouched stone already smoothed that began to fracture the moment Irinika’s barrier had left. Arascus floated towards the hole, Allasaria was faster than him, disappearing first. Anassa was already at the bottom, shaking Neneria’s hand as the Goddess of Death leaned with nothing but sheer relief against the wall.

Arascus inspected the room. There was a sickly smell here, one of rot and vomit and every foul smell stitched together. If any of them vomited at the smell, he would not blame them: No one did though. The most reaction was Anassa scrunching her nose. Iniri and Neneria must have gotten chased by monsters here. They were different from what he read about in books. Larger, with more claws and longer necks. With maws that weren’t the expected parodies of humanity, outright bestial instead.

Iniri fell to her knees, breathing heavily. “You’ve come.” She groaned and grabbed her torso with her sides. “Arascus, you’ve come.” Of Pride’s eyes passed over from Iniri to Neneria. Of Death was in just shaken a state, her eyes were fast, bouncing from him to down to the corridor where Irinika had ripped the monsters apart. Their vile black blood a thick, miasmic mass that never seemed to settle.

“Where are the others?” Arascus asked and Neneria immediately kicked into action. That was final tell that she was at her wit’s end. Ghosts fell from around her and into the ground. “Allasaria, you’re on these.” He said. “Iri, Ana, you’re with me.”

“I’ve found Malam.” Neneria said just as Allasaria settled down onto the ground next to the Goddess of Nature. Maybe he should not trust so much at this point, but this was a crisis scenario. And Allasaria would not backstab him, not because of love for her own life, and so that she could hold it over his head later. Arascus turned to her. “Alone?”

“Alone.” Neneria said. “With our men, they’re fighting.”

“Ana, you’re on them. Neneria, guide her.” Neneria pointed a finger and a trail of ghastly fairies, small creatures, their hands interlocked as their wings fluttered, made a channel into the wall.

“That way Ana.” Anassa got to work immediately, snapping her finger and creating a red wall that crawled forward as Allasaria raised a hand. Of Light must have finally realised the magnitude of the situation, she shifted, one foot forward, one to the side. A palm raised into the tunnel. A thin blast of light illuminated the way that Iniri and Neneria must have been escaping from, the corpses were torn apart, with shreds of wood still in them, and then there were those that had the markings of being caught by Irinika. Bodies ripped apart so viciously that their bones had impaled into the stone walls and ceilings.

The single beam of light would have felled every man in a line. It merely a carved a hole through the beasts. A few fell, where vitals had been hit. One thing with a fat stomach lumbered backwards, then was pushed forwards and into the ground as another pale beast clambered over it. Allasaria let out a low tssk, her tongue clicking and she added more power.

Another blast of light. The rectangular passageway suddenly became a rounded as her cleansing light burned stone, black blood, flesh, bone and every else it caught in its path. “That way.” Neneria pointed again, below them, to the left, a different direction from Anassa entirely.

“Iri, with me. Ala, keep with Ini and Nene.”

Irinika began to carve out the stone now, her darkness creating circular spheres in an instant, crumbling what remained inside to nothing but dust, and then disappearing to centre on the next glowing fairy. Arascus stayed close to her, no fear or even discomfort at the endless darkness she could generate around her. He had dwelled within it enough, and no amount of lightlessness was more terrifying than what he had heard over that recording.

The tunnel opened up. Arascus looked down one side, Irinika down another. For a moment, he saw nothing but the null void. The next, body parts that had been ripped apart and torn apart by Irinika. “Not here.” Irinika said.

“Not this one.” Arascus said. “Keep going as we came.” Another sphere bulged in the wall, crushed it, and left nothing but dust. Irinika was worried too, there were no shaking hands or anything else of the like, but normally, she could crush out of existence. The only reason dust was being left behind was due to her haste. They dug and dug for what felt like infinity. The world shook, Irinika paused for a moment, checked the worlds, then continued. Every few moments, the tunnel would light up, illuminated by Allasaria’s radiance as she fired off another beam.

They found the tunnel. Here, the creatures lay strewn about, either with holes in them, or cut by an axe, or just torn by Fer’s clause. “You take them.” Arascus only glanced down the tunnel from where monsters were coming, his eyes settled on Fortia, cuts on her face, a line of red blood streaming down her eye. At Maisara, who breathed heavily, saw Arascus and actually leaned against the ground. And at Fer, who was throwing up black bile onto the ground. There was no hesitation. “FER!”

Arascus closed the distance and grabbed her by the shoulders. “FER!” Of Beasthood grabbed his arm and squeezed, then chuckled as she emptied her stomach again.

“I’m fine.” She wheezed. “Just sick.”

“She drank their blood.” Maisara reported quickly, as she always did. “We were getting overwhelmed, she wanted mine but I told her no.”

“It’s not good dad.” Fer said. “They’re not Ardan.” Gently, she let go of the squeeze and rolled down onto her side as Arascus got his thoughts together. He stroked her cheek, his finger delicately wiping blood and bile away from her as she took heavy breathes. “Give me a moment, I’ve burned most of it.” Arascus thought of splitting his hand right there and then to give her a drop, but that would probably kill his daughter. That was a last call, something to only be done when there were no more options. “I’m fine, really.” She said, her breathing getting gentler. “I knew you’d come.” Arascus blinked the tear away and stood up. He didn’t care if Maisara or Fortia saw him.

“Irinika.” Arascus said. “Watch over them, I’ll hold the tunnel.”

“Aye aye.” Irinika agreed immediately. Her darkness peeled away. Of Darkness and Of Pride stopped. A golden portal appeared next to his shoulder, then another on the other side. More further down. Above his head. Under his arm. Everywhere he could fit a weapon, he did. Steel and silver slid out from the swirling rings. Spears and swords and maces, sharpened and polished to a glint.

Arascus stood his ground, another blade from the sky and pierced yet another monster. They kept on sliding out, flinging themselves further the Emperor held the line. Who knew it would come to this? They send out one expedition, they give it overwhelming force, and it still somehow ended up like this? He should have been more careful. He should have sent a major power with them.

The silent, seething rage was expelled with his weaponry flying forward. Steel cut into the flesh of one creature, more hammered in. The wave of metal was unending, if one beast took ten wounds, then he sent twenty, until there was more clatter of metal against metal than of actual cutting. And he forced them back, slowly, but a javelin through the head secured terrain, and the hailstone of heavy arms did not give it back.

He would drive them back until wherever they came from. He would singlehandedly exterminate their entire rotten race. An expedition should have never been called. They should have tunnelled towards immediately with Irinika and Allasaria and then flooded this place. Filled it with noxious gas and lit it aflame. The ceiling should be torn off and let Kassandora launch her nukes here.

Golden portals suddenly disappeared, blinked out of existence as Arascus lost his connection to them. “I CAN’T!” Irinika screamed out. “WHAT?!” So it was hitting all of them, whatever it was. The creatures had stopped advancing so quickly though. In fact, they’re advance had slowed and then came to a stop entirely. They even stood to the side.

Something was coming. Arascus knew the sign. He spread his legs wide. If it came to hand to hand, then he would go hand to hand with them. A figure emerged from the darkness, tall, easily as tall as Arascus was. Of Pride narrowed his eyes and shifted his position again. His hand settled on the ceremonial blade he always kept by his side as he tried to summon his portals again. The figure’s face was a mess, as was the rest of his body. He was a man, but nothing about him was stable. In one moment, he had broad shoulders, a moment later, he was as lanky as a stick, then stout. His face was a madman’s everchanging rubble of features in the generally correct position, but those were quickly being overwritten by an ever changing mess of a mouth, a nose, eyes and ears. None of them fit with each other.

There was no method to it, just as there was no method to Anassa’s madness, or to Kassandora summoning her blade. It was as native to him as standing up or flexing a muscle. And when he tried to find that muscle to flex, it was simply slack and unresponsive. Arascus said nothing, maybe another would be afraid. In the state he was now, after seeing Fer throwing up like that, and Neneria panicked, then the only thing he could think of was grabbing that face and slamming it into the wall. His boot putting a hole through the figure’s chest. “Who are you?”

“Who am I?” The figure mused. “Who am I indeed Godling?”

Arascus straightened, the term was immediately recognisable. A Watcher then, as Allasaria had called them. But since when did Watcher’s actually dwell on Arda? Arascus kept his mouth shut as he listened to the shuffling behind him. “Irinika, Fortia, Maisara, Fer, get away. Irinika, you guide them.”

“Are you sure?” Irinika asked.

“GO!” Arascus’ voice boomed and echoed through the corridor. “And you will not pass me.” He could do hand to hand, and if he couldn’t do hand to hand, then he would lure this creature back through the way they came. Allasaria would incinerate it at range. If all that failed, Elassa would drop the sky on him.

“Do you think I need your permission to pass you? What do you know of me?” The man asked. “What do you know of Arda? What do you know the worlds above your head right now?” He took another step forward. “Return the spirit to where it is meant to kept, give up those who have made themselves be known, and leave. Never return, and continue your existence.” Arascus narrowed his eyes as Fer slid away. Maisara groaned on the ground as the figure shifted again. The half of his face that was withered and old became young and smooth. For a moment, there was an energy in the man, and then it collapsed again as his wrinkles rippled over him.

“Dad…” Fer whispered. Maisara straightened.

“He’s strong.” Maisara said. “Whatever he is.” Their state was already evidence enough for that. Arascus stared at the creature as it took another step.

“Leave.” Arascus said and took a step forward. Powers or not, he would not float away now. Not if he had family behind him.

“What will you do? Godling?” The man said. “Step aside.”

“No.” The man laughed to himself, he stepped forward. Arascus did too. Too many eyes were watching now. The Empire did not retreat from apocalypses, the Emperor would not retreat from a man.

“I do not think you know who I am.” The man said. “But I know who you are, Arascus of Pride.”

Arascus took a deep breath and had to force the word out of himself. The pressure around this creature was overbearing, as if its presence “Who?”

“Noah.” He smiled. “Mary’s told me about you.” His face shifted again, his eyes growing hollow, first the right, the left, as another wave of instability passed over him. His lips shifted into that off a different person’s. There was nothing more to say. Arascus drew his sword. Thin. Adorned enough. Carried for knighting and ennobling, and not combat. Ceremonial. None of that made it less of a blade. He adopted a duelling stance. Noah took another step forward, the distance between him and Arascus was devoured in an instant.

“Do you think you’re the first one? I’ve met men like you. Emperors and Fathers and everything in between. Don’t think we don’t know the centrepiece of this current problem.” He grabbed Arascus shoulder before the God of Pride could react.

Both of them disappeared.