Chapter 13-360: Words of Destruction

A balefire eye studied Legion intently. -You stink of angels, lilitu,- the dragon /rumbled suspiciously.

-My mortal host is very unusual. I should also burn of the infernal and bear the sweet scent of the dead and damned.- They corkscrewed lazily, long tail flaring with the unmistakable branding fire unique to the lilitu, displaying their erinyes and angel wings. It did not stop the wide smile on their eyeless face. -This one bears the Elder no ill wishes. If this one is beneath you, by all means dismiss her. This one is in something of a hurry as it stands.-

The dragon grumbled at nothing in particular. -I am Grobriundlarsh of the Abyssal Maws. Ask your question, succubus queen. If it aids in bringing down the suppression which binds me here, I may answer you.-

-The Elder is wise. Has the Elder visited the surface world as yet?-

-The means are tightly guarded by powerful forces, and I had no true need to be seen in more places.-

On the other side of the planet, Commander Haru’Ara harrumphed. “If he had showed himself in the outer world, he would have been hunted down and killed without delay!”

-Well enough. The Elder and this one are confined to this world by a deity-defying effect called The Shroud. It severs the living and the dead from the rest of reality under its Shroud, trapping the souls of all that live and die here.

-We should all be undead by now, slaved to the Hierophant which brought the Shroud to this world, but the World-Angel sacrificed himself to stop the effect and curse the hundreds of millions of undead born with its arrival to return to their place of origin with the sun, and so they have been unable to spread and conquer.-

-Ahhhhh,- the burning dragon rumbled, a sound like a furnace fueled by bones burning them to ash. -The black zones.- His head turned up and in a certain direction forward. -You have seen the Wight in his little mountains. The mummy in his desert is that way.-

-This one thanks the Elder,- Queen Rayeti /said. -That is not the question this one has. This is about Destruction.

-An Aberrant has come here. This one believes it conspired to bring in a soul who had knowledge of the vivic fire, which it has spread among the mortals here, and so they have been able to wipe the native undead slowly, using it to burn down the scattered Shroudzones thoroughly. If they can do so to the invaders, then inevitably the mortals will eventually destroy them, and free this world from the Shroud.-

The wyrm’s burning eyes narrowed. -It will seek to act before that happens. It will seek to break the Curse of the World-Angel by force... but a Death Curse from such an entity is no small thing.-

-This one believes that is also the intention of the Aberrant, but does not know how the creature would be able to do so, given that calling upon greater Powers is impossible... and it is certainly manipulating the undead.-

-The Aberrant do not have clear motivations. Do you know what this one might be after?- the dragon /inquired after a few moments of thought.

-It has lost a great deal of power. It may once have been a world-eater, and its might was savagely consumed by the Mazakeem.

-Thus, this one is concerned that it will give the undead Hierophant a means to destroy this whole world in one fell swoop, thus breaking the Curse and completing its Shrouding of all on this world... and it will attempt to use that means to regain its own power.

-This one wonders if the Elder might know what manner of destruction the Aberrant would use to work its will here.-

The rumbling of burning ash and charcoaling flesh deepened as the two of them glided along underneath the sullen orb of the molten sun and nearly empty layers of cloud tiers above them. Legion stayed silent, unafraid of the dragon.

After all, they BOTH could fly at this Tier. By the powers of magic, that basically acknowledged them as equals in some ways. The dragon was a brutal engine of destruction of great size, however, and lilitus, while known for deadliness, were not known for their might.

They would probably truly surprise the dragon if it came to a contest of strength right now... and they had already proven they could move much, much faster a-wing.

-Guiogg, the Corpse of the Moon, The Devouring Moon,- the dragon /ventured at last, probably with false confidence, yet it was obviously informed. -Know you of it, succubus queen?-

-One of the Elder Evils, a World-Ender,- Queen Rayeti /responded quickly, getting help poring through old memories heard in passing in Demonium. Demons, like many innately telepathic races, were incessant rumor-mongers and gossips. One reason demons were so well-informed was the sheer speed and variety of information that was batted back and forth constantly about them.

-The means of Calling it are known only among certain Doomsday servants, and the Aberrants it is a member of. One Summons it to come down from the darkness between the stars and kiss a world, draining it and all that lives upon it of life in one fell moment of annihilation, leaving only the cold corpse of a world behind.

-If it could be interrupted in that process, and the energy redirected to another, I believe that would serve the desires of this Aberrant you describe, especially if it was also a thing that ate worlds.-

-This one understands. This one also wonders, would the Elder happen to know a way to set that whole process on fire? This one would punish the thing that seeks to eat this one, and the Elder may deign to let it know it is not all that.-

The dragon’s eyes opened slightly, burning brighter. This was more something up its alley! -Without the actual ceremony itself, I can do nothing. Bring to me the details of the Ritual, and I can make some... adjustments,- the wyrm /replied, with a mild undercurrent of anticipation.

That would doubtless create a very big boom, indeed. If it didn’t kill all involved, and possibly a good chunk of the planet, too.

Commander Haru’Ara just nodded in the distance. The planetar had taken his Spellcraft to 21 Ranks as well, and had much the same opinion. If the dragon devised something, he could in turn adjust it to a more interesting and appropriate outcome.

There only remained to find that Ritual, and nail down the specifics, and then somehow make the alterations.

That was their job.

-This one will remember your name and return with the desired information, Burning Elder. This one has little more to offer you of any substance.-

Dragons being the egotistical things they were, just leaving would naturally be seen as rude without being dismissed. However, they were absolutely certain he found them very interesting, and despite his pride, the wyrm was also wary of their incredible speed.

Abyssal Maws, like many of the evil dragons, were also perfectly willing to shapechange around and spread their Bloodline among lesser creatures. The fact it had a son ruling an empire here doubtless meant something that was going to have to be put to the sword in the future, sooner rather than later.

-We shall see how efficient you are,- the dragon /permitted her aloofly, with a dismissive glance away and movement of his great jaw.

Legion just laughed, and accelerated instantly, hundreds of feet ahead of the dragon in less than a second, and only picking up speed as they shot away, leaving a burning trail of multiple types of fires behind them as black and white wings corkscrewed casually through the skies.

They could feel the wyrm watching them for a great distance indeed, doubtless desiring to have the power of such speed and control himself. This didn’t surprise them at all, but it also wasn’t going to stop them from doing what they needed to do.

They also had the proper direction to travel in now, which would save them a small amount of time, although in reality just Mapping the whole damn place for a later effort was the most important thing.

Mapping, and seeing what else they might encounter.

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In the end, they did rise up to the 35th tier of clouds, just to see if they could endure it. They found that they could, although constantly being flailed by cutting winds and healing back was anything but pleasant. The amount of damage increased as they ascended to the 36th, and then once again at the 37th, exceeding the limits of their automatic healing. They would actually have to devote bursts of Wrath to the effect if they wished to stay there.

That would slow them down, and they considered their course, finally choosing to plummet all the way back down to the First Tier, and alternate observing above and below the illusion that divided earth and sky, painting a clearer picture into The Map.

They had naturally missed about a thousand miles of detail in the lands below as they swept around the world, but also realized speed wasn’t so important that they couldn’t spare taking a couple extra hours. In any event, they were high enough to observe, but not to experience things in detail, so this would be more about tracking and plotting forces at work for future explorers to investigate more deeply.

There was also no doubt there was going to be some red war and conversions going on, because the influence of Good was basically nowhere to be felt down here, which meant a great deal of work to do in the future. Indeed, it was highly likely that most of the Aruan Pantheon wasn’t known down here at all, and the worship of Old Gods prevailed among the natives, given the number of such entities they could feel in passing as they soared by.

Those Old Gods were not going to be happy when faced with a true Pantheon coming in. Their worshippers and their Free Will was the currency the Pantheon was after, and the Old Gods would spend both like water just to spite the interlopers.

There were empires in the sky, and humans and humanoids numbered only a fraction of them. Likewise, there were civilizations on the ground below, centered around the rivers, lakes, and seas, naturally enough, and humanoids represented only a tithe of those creatures, too.

Alternating altitudes every minute or so, and staying below Mach so as to remain unseen as they flew, they surveyed the lands below in more detail than the painted show from far above, matching up the distant view of the ever-approaching rising horizon with the current landscape below.

The mummy’s Shroudzone seemed to be located in an area corresponding to the western edges of the Indian Ocean above, while the wraith king’s area was out in the middle of nowhere in the Pacific Ocean. They weren’t even sure if there were any islands in the area.

Well, it wasn’t a concern. Getting a proper estimate of the size of the Shroudzones and the forces surrounding them was more important.

It looked like one of the major seas of this Hollow World was ahead, and the mummy’s realm was in a desert area on a higher plateau on the far side of it. Most development of intelligent races took place on port cities, so this would be a good way to determine how far technology had advanced below.

A major city might also have... whoa, what was that?

They braked to a halt in the air just to watch, as one of the enormous, mile-high jungle trees below suddenly ripped and tore free of the ground with a crack like thunder, and began floating up into the air.

The first thing they noticed was that it had a very aborted root system, far too small for something so large, and that it had lost many of its leaves. Now it seemed to have broken free of the grip of the earth, and was rising into the sky.

With a hunch, they ascended the quarter-mile to pass through the illusion, and looked down.

The rising tree was still visible. Legion turned to survey the area, which had a dozen cloud islands floating within five miles.

It only took a minute for the boats and the flocks of flying sapients to appear from the nearer islands and start urgently making their way towards where the massive tree was going to breach the illusion barrier. Given the range the massive tree could be seen at...

They shot a further mile into the air, and rapidly confirmed that there were literally scores of different locations sending creatures and beings off to lay hold of the levitating tree. Furthermore, horns were singing out and lights were flashing to convey messages across the clouds. Distant airships of considerable size in the distance began to turn towards this area, and make sail at full speed.

Airships bigger than aircraft carriers, made from the hulls of forest giants risen into the sky...