Chapter 5-128: From Fire to Shadow

The Autumnal Equinox was a time of handing over the bright to the dark. It wasn’t the apex of dark power, like the Winter Solstice was, but it was significant, the inevitable power of the Dark overcoming the Light, until it reached its depths and began to climb inexorably once again...

Whatever they were going to do to that baby, they were going to do at the equinox. All my instincts were screaming at me, my rationality was agreeing after I’d spent all that effort locating where they were, and they had to know the splash I was making at Heavenbound Hall.

I knew where they were. Word had gotten out. One way or another, without my asking, there were a lot of interested parties down in Mexico investigating things going on there... and not at all accidentally, violently removing certain parties allied to a training temple of Shoul and Sinbound down there.

Only the fact they were in a Shroudzone, and reportedly with a lot of shielded undead and other creatures in the vicinity, had kept their base of operations unassailed directly.

That was going to be my job, and oh, they were not going to like how good I was at my job...

This was the 58th night since I’d entered this world, I’d arrived here on July 1st, 2018. It was August 27th now, coming to a close.

I had 26 days to go get him. 25, really, and if I waited until then, I was a blooming idiot.

It looked like my plans for reaping fire beings were going to be taking a back seat, as there was no way I was going to wait until the last minute for a rescue.

By my calculations, I would need seven more days to round out this set of Class Levels at Four. Then Five would arrive... and things would start taking off.

But I had less then a month to work with. I had wanted to blood everyone on fire and the burning undead, but it looked like things would be happening much sooner.

Well, the fire resistance wouldn’t be going to waste, but I’d have to tell everyone about the change in plans. The Firezone could wait, the supervolcanoes and Yellowstone weren’t going anywhere.

I glanced back at Master Fred, waiting calmly there out of sight, silent and unobtrusive. He caught my eyes, and I could see a fatalistic quirk in his gaze as he realized this time of day had thrown me another loop. SOMETHING HAPPENED?, he asked in letters of flaming gold.

“I took my Skill Ranks in Astrology and Astronomy. You know that whole saying about ‘the stars are right’, which usually means the stars are very wrong for us?” He nodded slowly. “The Autumnal Equinox is coming. It’s a handover time from the light to the dark. How might that be impacting me?”

His nonesuch eyes narrowed, and he thought quickly. He glanced at my waist, and then turned to look southeast.

YOU WERE PLANNING ON HEADING THERE AFTER YELLOWSTONE, AS I RECALL. CHANGE OF PLANS?, he asked grimly.

“I’m certainly not going to wait until the last moment. That’s their job.” He smiled thinly at that. “It does mean I don’t have time to complete everything I want to get done... but some of that was Firezone-dependent, so I really don’t care.

“We still need those Amulets completed, but that should finish up in eight days. Then we’re going.”

NOTED. I WILL MAKE THEM AWARE OF THE CHANGE IN PLANS. There was only a moment of hesitation, and then he smiled. YOU KNOW, THEY’LL PROBABLY BE HAPPIER ABOUT GOING INTO THE SHROUDZONE ON A HEROIC RESCUE ATTEMPT THAN JUST BUTCHERING FIRE CREATURES FOR KARMA...

“There’s going to be mountains of Karma either way, from our perspective. Coldphasing just isn’t as mandatory... and there’s not going to be as much money made.” I thought about that. “I think I’ll have The Mick haul along some raw gemstones, just so he doesn’t feel put out at the lack of income...”

A GOOD IDEA, he agreed, and just like that, all the plans changed once again...

------

Two days later...

“Come in, Brother Firesword. I don’t bite.”

There was suddenly a presence outside who was very startled that he’d been noticed. I was in the middle of learning a few Native American languages that were ready to go extinct, and had plenty of time to waste.

Master Fred shot me a startled glance, and looked at the door. He’d only heard me mention Void Brothers a couple of times, and had memorized the names and terms, but he’d definitely never seen one, or even knew they really existed.

Then again, he was just a Warlock, playing his part in the Alignment War. I was a Powered Caster making waves. Of course a Void Brother would notice me!

The man who stepped in was on the thin side, with dark eyes that glanced about keenly, looking for surprises, and loose black hair. He looked sort of a like a young slacking Keanu Reeves, alert for treachery and hidden tricks and traps... and kinda surprised there weren’t any.

“You too, Brother Shadowknife.” I lobbed a pencil over my shoulder into the corner of the room furthest from me. Master Fred tracked it with astonishment, and when it stopped in midair, not hitting the wall, he rather frowned.

The halfling in the grey hoodie was just abruptly there, too, looking at me in some alarm. I ignored his surprise and a chair zipped into place across from me, while a Disk hovered at an appreciably higher height after blinking into existence.

I went back to reading traditional tales of the Sioux while the two Void Brothers looked at one another, looked at Master Fred, weighed what to do, and then mustered up the confidence in themselves for this unusual situation, and took up the two proffered chairs.

“What did you call me?” the fellow in black asked, looking ready to spring up and bolt away at any second.

I held up a finger. “Preferred drinks? Are you hungry?” I inquired calmly, as they fidgeted at how calm I was.

“There’s a new beer call Appold’s I’ve been enjoying,” the Firesword said, looking at me. I smirked at the allusion... of course I’d supplied the formula, as part of my Alchemy Ranks. Gould’s Golden Ale was in the works as we spoke, and my dwarven brewmaster partner, Herr Ulfstein, was already watching the Appold’s fly out the door... and undertaking a crash course in specialized alchemy.

“Red wine,” the hyn with the big eyes and almost child-like face said, watching me closely. I inclined my head at Master Fred, who slid away into the light instantly, trusting I’d be able to handle myself.

“Are you the eldest of your orders, or trainees?” I asked calmly, flipping a weathered page. “Don’t mind me not putting my eyes on you, I’ve got two thoughtstreams and am paying full attention to you with one.”

They glanced at one another again, having that inkling that something very strange was going on. “We are the seniors now...” the hyn spoke up softly. “Our mentors have... passed on.”

“Given the Haze is there... no, they haven’t, as I’m sure you know.” I glanced at one, then the other, calmly. “I imagine that coming into Heavenbound Hall is not something either of you have done lightly, or without careful consideration... probably because there’s not been much to do here. Have you spirited away some of the unthinkable things down in the secure level?” I inquired archly, and watched the hyn twitch.

“Two things,” he admitted, watching me for a reaction.

“Bring them back. I’ll see they are burned in vivic fire, and you can have the mana crystals burned off of them,” I said calmly. “That will take them completely out of play and remove any corruptive influence entirely.”

“This... vivic fire,” the Firesword began.

I flipped up two Darts wordlessly, the unwhite vivic fire burning around the disruptive energy. “Taste it with your Helices,” I said calmly, earning another strange look from them.

Multicolored spirals rose from one, and ghostly pale shades of all sorts of grey from the other. Both Helices extended out around a Dart each, sampling the magic and energy upon them. Both Darts collapsed in seconds, but I just flicked them back up, and let them continue sampling.

That they were sampling my Aura at the same time I was perfectly well aware of, but doubtless they’d been touching traces of my magic that I’d left behind all over the place, so that didn’t bother me, either.

“The vivic fire is the unnatural energy of the Land,” I said, before they could ask. “Or the Prime Plane, the mortal world, if you will. It feeds upon unnatural energies, particularly those of other realms, and converts them to the general energy of the mortal world. It is particularly obvious in its effect on necroic and negative energies, but it will eat Divine and Primal energies, as well as Wild or Stratic magic, just as readily if given the chance.

“Side effects include the rapid consumption of corpses, which are reduced to dust as a side-effect of the negative energy accumulating within them, and a general strengthening of the Veil and planar strength of the mortal realm, as well as a general leavening and ambiance of purified magic in the vicinity.”

Their eyes were looking at other places, even as Master Fred popped back in with a six-pack of Appold’s and a bottle of Chateau Chauvaghn, generally reserved for use in sacraments by the Church of Aru. He set the beer down for the Firesword, popped the bottle of wine with finger and thumb and a pop, and poured the snifter for the hyn calmly.

Despite himself, the hyn picked it up and sniffed it in great appreciation. “French, the Bordeaux region. Hyn make,” he murmured aloud, before taking the bottle and turning it around. “Chavaughn. I shall have to see to more of their vintages...” He took a drink slowly, savoring it in his palate, before swallowing with gusto.

He caught my smile at his antics, and shrugged. “Drinking wine helps me sleep at night.”

“I say the same thing about whiskey,” the Firesword murmured, guzzling down a full can as if he was dying of thirst.

“A few smoked Koeglers, Master Fred,” I told him, and he vanished into the light silently.

Despite themselves, they were relaxing somewhat, although still wary. Hospitality does have a disarming effect, and they’d felt a lot of sacred magic on my aura, among the other stuff that wasn’t so sacred.

“You are acting very relaxed around us, and even have names for ourselves and our Helices. That is... very strange,” the human Void told me.

I picked up two sheets of paper, set them down, Wrote on one, then the other, front and back, and pushed the sheets across to both of them with a flicker of ki.

They picked them up and read them in fascination, their faces twitching as their entire slew of abilities as Void Forsaken was laid out neatly and primly in front of them.

“You have never met Sama Rantha or Commander Briggs, have you?” I asked rhetorically. They wouldn’t be so surprised if they had.

They shook their heads. “Void Forsaken are the rarest of the Forsaken, and it appears the Land is not Awakening more of you for some reason... suppression, perhaps. Are there more of you on each continent?”

“Except Antarctica,” the Firesword replied, startled. “We try to maintain contact and a sort of information clearing as we go about our duties...”