Vol. 4 Chap. 10 One Wierd Trick

Vol. 4 Chap. 10 One Wierd Trick

Truth sat and read the spellbook for Earth Folding Step. It was the longest single spell he had ever seen, blowing past Incisive and Cup and Knife. The Meditations would be practically a footnote in comparison. He got it, though. Those spells were intended to grow based on your understanding of them. Learn them early, and they will evolve with you. Not Earth Folding Step. You had to be in the upper middle levels or even the lower high levels to even begin studying it. Using it safely was a whole separate issue.

Merkovah just sat and watched him. Truth wondered what his real body was doing in Siphios. Sitting in his cell at Nag Hamadi? Bullying courtiers at the Palace?

>

Truth nodded slightly, flipped through the book again to make sure he hadnt missed anything, then closed it with a snap.

Did you know that, historically at least, one of the most common requests summoners made of Angels was for a perfect memory? Merkovah smiled slightly. A lot of our laws and traditions were passed on orally, and the definition of a scholar was someone able to instantly recall the text of the scriptures and commentaries. To say nothing of other religious, philosophical and magical works.

I believe it. When I think about the number of hours I spent grinding for the SAT, I feel a little sick.

Not wasted time, Young Man, not wasted time. If nothing else, it did a remarkable job polishing your character and honing your discipline. Things that will serve you a lifetime, rather than the fleeting value of technical knowledge.

Truth laughed softly. Who says a poisonous tree can only bear poisonous fruit?

Me. I say it. Merkovahs smile turned fierce. That you have turned your slave training into something personally valuable is your own virtue, not that of Starbrite or Jeon.

Truth snorted, but didnt say anything. What was there to say? He agreed.

So, given that there is likely no power in Heaven or Hell that would compel you to become The Hell Prince and lead a glorious revolution that sweeps away the wicked and corrupt from Jeon, what do you plan to do?

Actually, I was kind of waiting for someone to try actually compelling me.

With everything I have built into you, that would be spectacularly dumb and incredibly costly even if successful. You dont have many friends in the Foreign Service- no government agency is really willing to tolerate a rogue element. However, you have been so immensely useful and so utterly deniable, they have no real desire to reign you in. In fact, the more controlled you become, the more of a problem you are for them. Diplomatically speaking. We are already considered a state sponsor of terrorism, after all.

I mean

Didnt say they were wrong. Even if I strenuously disagree with your considering yourself a terrorist. Or me a terrorist.

Truth felt the snappy answers welling up inside of him. He could accept that he had hurt a lot of people. Killed a lot of people. In awful ways. But he didnt have to like it. He didnt have to pretend that he was doing anything good. Then he breathed out heavily, letting the words go. If he had thought of it, Merkovah had thought of it centuries ago. And accepted it. It would be a pointless argument, and the old monster really didn't have a lot of free time.

Cup and Knife?

Here are the improved versions, along with a combined spell manual. Read them here and leave them. The combined spell manual in particular cannot leave secured rooms in secured facilities without a great deal of very tedious, very necessary, procedures.

Truth nodded and started flipping through. He would study them later.

While I have you- what do you think Manda was after with that spell? He is the Angel of Revelation, so I keep coming back to the idea of the spell revealing the truth of something, but it doesnt do that at all.

Matter of opinion, I suppose. If it corrects things, it is showing you the way Manda thinks God thinks is correct. Merkovah flicked his fingers.

Right, but the mage is indicating what needs correcting and how it should be corrected.Updated from n0velb(i)n.c(o)/m

But the spell is famously unreliable, often requiring an immense amount of effort to make trivial changes. Merkovah spread his hands. Which suggests to me that the amount of effort corresponds to two things- how much the thing to be changed is not right and how close the correction is to the right answer in Mandas opinion.

A revolution of thinking. Right now we have people fighting over which rat gets to wear the captains hat as the ship plows into the reef. Some rats are still hoping to flee, others plot to rule the wreck.

Merkovah nodded.

I think now is the perfect time to build a new kind of boat. I dont even know what it should look like, really, but given the old one is useless and soon to be scrapped, what have we got to lose?

Merkovah looked at the blythe expression on Truths face, and laughed himself sick. Once he could gasp enough air, he wheezed- And Starbrite?

Every revolution needs a head to hang. Proof that the old order has died. His will do nicely, as will a select few others. We keep pushing until something cracks- that much I agree with.

Alright. And your happily ever after in the northern mountains of Siphios?

I dont know. I really dont know. My brain says run off-world as fast as I can. My heart says Etenesh would look beautiful pregnant, and I can keep an energy gathering array going around our house. It will be thin stuff, but it should be enough to keep her apertures from collapsing.

You probably could. It would be a bigger job than you think, but shes an expert in building rituals and arrays.

Then there is the rat part of my brain. Truth shook his head, looking down at his hands. Trying not to stare at the wooden ring Sally gave him.

Oh?

The Shattervoid promised to take what? A few thousand people? Ten thousand? Something like that.

A few tens of thousands, from your billions were their exact words. Merkovahs voice was wry, but the tension in it wasnt hidden.

Well. Who says they take anybody at all, even if we do kill Starbrite? What if they are just hanging around to make sure Starbrite goes down with the rest of the planet? Not like anyone will be around to tell the universe the Shattervoid dont honor their promises.

Merkovah sighed. He made no reply.

An hour and a big meal in the cafeteria later, Truth left the Siphios embassy. He acquired ten kilos of good coffee on the way out. Waste not, want not and all that. His iron horse was right where he left it- being carefully watched by concerned parking attendants.

Does it bite?

Not yet. Truth smiled. Based on what little he had seen of the spell, the earth folding step didnt actually require the mage to step. He was looking forward to racing down the road on his iron horse, stepping across tens or thousands of meters per cast. Flying down the road, into the sunset.

He felt lighter. Happier. Just being able to talk to people, even if he couldn't tell them everything, it made all the difference. To be real again, not just wading through a world of ghosts and paper houses.

Thrush flew down onto his shoulder as he picked up speed on the highway.

Where to next, Master?

Back to Jeon, Thrush. The world is going to Hell, but the people dont have to go with it.

Oh? How surprising. I was quite certain they did.

You and everyone else, Thrush. Come on. I can hardly wait to spread the good news.