Chapter 9-291: Of Shrouds and Death

Their jaws were dropping, and then dropped further as I said that, while behind me arose a derivation of the solar system, with Earth in it... and a Shroud came down and swept us away, leaving the orbit blank behind me.

“The reason for that is, of course, the Curse of the Dawn.”

That got them going down another train of thought, while the dawn broke behind me over an illusionary horde of undead who all burned away, and the image was replaced by that pattern of colored spheres charting the advance path of the Shroud across many worlds.

“I have more information that may shock you, and yet should be totally believable. It seems that the assault on the Earth by the Shroud was a bit of a test run.”

They all blinked as the view on the globe zoomed in, and the blue world of Earth linked backwards to a green world before us.

“This is Pentara, a world with no humans, elves, or dwarves, populated by creatures we would consider alien. Skeletons seen in the Russian Shroudzone are largely made of the native creatures of Pentara.” I brought up images of them, and filled them in, resulting in images that were humanoid, bipedal, but clearly different... and not obviously even mammalian. “The vast majority of the souls brought here to form the initial Shroud were from Pentara.”

“Ahhh...” some of them murmured in understanding.

“Pentara is now free of the Shroud.”

They all blinked, as a new scene came up behind them.

An assault of vivus, thousands of men and women in armor and robes, hurling forth amounts of magic and profound forms that froze those watching in awe and horror at the power they were wielding.

Undead armies that covered hundreds of square miles were blown through like chaff, and behind them they left an ever-increasing circle of white... and opened the Shroud to the sky and the sun beyond, cleansing the dead land that the world never should have been.

They saw undead Land Spirits force themselves out of the ground, and they saw massive spells detonate on them and send them falling like skyscrapers. Numbers of undead meant nothing, fed into a relentless, furious advance as endless statues to the glory of Death were Animated and then pounded to rubble.

This scene of relentless fury, total domination, and expertly wielded power continued, marching across the entire planet, bringing down stronghold after stronghold, volcanoes igniting, vivus pouring into the land, and the undead masters of Pentara were brought low.

The scene of the final fortress, an entire lonely grand mountain turned into a maze and trap designed to chew up intruders, appeared before them, as did the scene of the strike force that went around the maze, Shaping a tunnel from the peak of the mountain all the way down inside it. There they confronted the creature that had been Dark Hierophant of an entire world, a black skull as tall as a human with teeth of glittering gemstones, and they watched it die.

Outside, the last of the Shroud on Pentara vanished, and everyone there gasped in awe and shock as reflected sunlight filled the whole room, and green began to return to the world.

The image split into six, and the victorious mood sobered instantly as the great black arches were split and reflected behind me... except there were only five. The sixth one was collapsed and in ruins.

That one was zoomed in on, and there it stayed. The link from the blue shell back to the green came up behind it.

“That is how they came to Earth!” the Archmage of the Magi blurted out, rising to his feet.

“Yes. Something on our end shattered that Deathgate and its link, breaking the full power of the Shroud.” That image shrank and set off to the side, and another Deathgate rose. It was a familiar one, one they’d seen in the early fighting vids, where the first army of undead had perished to the attackers.

The green world glowed, but oddly enough, this time it pierced backwards, down through the layers, which peeled aside and grew as the red at the center rose...

The green pushed past it to the world below that knot of red and yellow and orange, which peeled open to reveal a world very familiar to all those there, albeit one now in the orbit of a great and massive red world, yet with moons still of its own, one of which was the twelve-fold nexus of that great sphere of the Shrouds.

“A-Another Earth?” blurted out the Master of the Alchemists, eyes blazing. “There are alternate Earths in other dimensions?” he repeated for confirmation.

“Yes,” I indeed confirmed. “It seems that we were a test run to link into the existence of those alternate Earths. Rather than trying to randomly locate worlds out in Creation that they couldn’t see, they managed to find this Earth, and using it as a basis, branched off to locate other alternate timelines to assault as well.

“But, it seems, they chose their next Earth poorly.” The vivisized world of Pentara rose behind them. “As you can see, that Earth is also not where it is supposed to be, and its situation is very different from our own. It is now a moon of a greater world that seems to be about the size of Jupiter, yet retains moons of its own. And one of those moons... is the original homeworld of the Shroud.”

The black dot that was Shoul was zoomed in on, and those watching swore as the deathly still landscape, bereft of any motion but the decaying mad dreams of departed souls, rolled past.

Twelve Deathgates rose from that world: still, silent, and empty.

“Here is where the Shroud came to be, concealing a world of undead from the eyes of the Divine. They, in turn, wrought the Deathgates, one by one, and the first Dark Hierophants marched out with their armies of millions of undead, and took twelve worlds.” From the red, twelve lines reached out to the orange. “Those worlds in turn died, built up undead armies, formed their own Deathgates, and went forth to conquer. This cycle repeated.”

They watched lines go out and worlds die, in greater and greater numbers. Orange, yellow, green... and now the fifth cycle was beginning, the blue.

President Havier raised his hand. “Excuse me, Lady Traveler. This is something we needed to know, especially that they can be beaten, although the scale...” his voice trailed off for a moment, looking at the thousands of fallen worlds. “But, why is this a Good Thing for us?”

The image on the Holo behind me reverted to the battle scenes of the forces of that other Earth fighting the undead. “Mr. President, what are you not seeing there?”

Eyes narrowed, faces scrunched. It was the Master Alchemist, DiNorittio, who caught it. “They are not using any technology!...”

“That is correct,” I confirmed with a nod. “I am of the opinion that wherever our Earth was supposed to be brought by the Shroud to allow the magic to return, it did not quite get there. And so, we have technology that our counterparts on that other Earth do not.

“And I believe all that stems from the Curse of the Dawn.”

They breathed out again. Certainly whatever entity had broken the encroaching Deathgate had saved their entire world, and was continuing to do so.

“Is this... other world where you obtained your magical prowess?” the queen of Ælfheim spoke up hesitantly.

I inclined my head. “That is my belief, although that which is supplying me the knowledge is more along the lines of ‘learn this NOW’, rather than bothering to explain why, how, or where from.” Which was all actually totally true. “Some may be their own knowledge, some may be from observing the denizens who freed Pentara, some may be from worlds slain before it, whose souls are also in the Shroud.” The unknown yellow and orange worlds before Pentara lit up significantly. “Knowledge shared and exchanged can have incredible results, as opposed to bottling it up tight and used only for the benefit of one’s selves, after all.”

The Magi and Alchemists in particular flushed at that, although the Neutral Churches here weren’t much better. Then again, Heavenbound Hall wasn’t sharing everything, either... but they were certainly sharing far more than these people, and the Bloodbonded spell sales had brought in massive amounts of minor spells and research from different parties, forming a brand-new intelligentsia of recognition and research among spellcasters and Profound Masters.

The world, it was a-changing. The old organizations, which existed to conceal knowledge for the benefit of their members, were going to fracture and die under the Allegiance system, which clove to individuals. They would take that knowledge with them, and at the very least share it among the Allegiance members, who would start bartering it to others.

That had to happen, if they wanted to build something great. Pouring sour milk down the throats of this generation of information gatekeepers was only part of the fun of doing so!

“In summation, this is a Good Thing, because we were brought to a realm where technology still functions at a higher order than intended, if our counterparts on this other Earth are any indication. It gives us an edge, if we are capable of exploiting it... or does anyone here sincerely believe that magical Bows and arrows exceed the power of magical Firearms and ammunition?” I asked archly.

The Ælven queen flushed, as did her son, but they said nothing, not about to argue the point. Gunmages were far, far more common than bowmages, after all, and for good reason. Results talked, bullshit historical trope love walked.

“The Curse of the Dawn saved the world, and prevented the undead from simply marching all over us and killing us all. It also prevented them from suppressing our technology, and turning it against us.

“Now, I cannot guarantee that such circumstances will prevail when the Shroud drops, and the Curse of the Dawn goes with it... but I am reasonably sure that we will be able to maintain at least some level of technology when it does. Enhancing it yet further will likely rely on magitech advancement.”

Pictures of various animal-like vessels of metal and crystal, deploying solar sails and arcing on paths between worlds in space, flowed past on the holo behind me, and they all blinked in astonishment.

“Many worlds have died to the Shroud. There are possibilities of true greatness there, if we choose to grasp them.”

-----

Point Four had partially been covered earlier, and I went into more depth on the races involved, particularly the Mythos races and the Fey, the latter of whom were already a pain in the arse as their normal chaotic whimsy was substantially darkened by the existence of the Haze and the continuous gloom it brought to the local dreamscape. Influenced by mortal dreams, the Fey were literally as bad as people thought they were.

Point Five flashed up, and I turned my eyes on President Havier, then the European leaders here.

“This point is of dreadfully great importance to those countries who think that splitting up geography according to the will of mortal man is a good idea.”

They all swallowed as my voice hovered in the air.

A map of North America rose behind me: Canada, America, and Mexico. Very crucially, there were absolutely no borders drawn on it whatsoever.

“This is America. While it is funny to think that an entire Continent is named after an Italian cartographer, the whole world recognizes Her as such, and so will the Continent.

“As the informed among you know, America has some problems.”

With the hacking of a holographic sword, the borders between the American, Canadian, and Mexican Peninsula were cut into place, and there on the map, they began to bubble and bleed.