283 Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty-Three – Doing the Job Righ (1/2)
”Well, I think it was done for me to set up things to fight the Hag Curse... and because a very, very strong Null is needed to really do the job right.” I nodded in the direction of the Rift in the distance.
”You intend to do more than close it?” He arched a bushy eyebrow, and scowled.
”I'm the only one who can, and it's the right way to seal the deal. I have the Ironblood set up. I have my little Sisters at Ten and ready to carry on everything. I have you here, able to powergame them and keep them safe, lead them without hesitation. And,” I leaned forwards, ”What do you think the Glory Award is going to be for forcibly reconnecting the realm of the Warp Gods back to general Creation?”
He smirked despite himself, violet eyes burning. ”Shit, girl, that'll pay for ALL the Levels...”
”And get me on the really, really good side of some Divinities, I think.” I fished out an Amulet from under my hair as he watched. ”I had Estemar make this. It provides a once a day Divine Heart right to Mithar, no muss, no fuss. He can look out of it at any time, and even track me if He desires.”
”A willing Forsaken pawn of Mithar?” He pursed his thick lips. ”Damn, girl, you do not think small.” He rolled his eyes up thoughtfully. ”You want Him looking when you prop that Rift open, and guiding what happens next, probably with help?”
”Hey, I might have a question or two for Him, too. Just to advance the bigger scheme of things.”
”And then thinking even bigger. I'm not sure I want to consider how smart you are right now.”
”It's a good thing I can still talk in mouth speak, because it's really slow compared to how I think,” I admitted.
”Probably why you do it. Anything specific you want me to do?”
”Take care of my Gear.” I gestured at the Weapons and stuff heaped on and about a chair over there. They found our nights very gossip-worthy, I'd found out.
He looked surprised. ”You're not going to take them with you?”
”Every scenario I have involves me standing there holding a Null open while universe-changing powers swarm all around me. I don't think anything not below the surface of my skin will endure. I'm also pretty sure I'm going to lose the links to the Markspace and all my Marks to the level of erosion going on.”
”So much for communication across dimensional barriers...” he murmured, huffing. ”I wondered why you were making yet another Sword. Bloodphasing keeping it inside your Vajra, sure... but all your Weapons Named themselves into Psychic Weapons, right?”
”Yes, with five points of regenerating Psi, meaning they are self-powered now, they don't require Essence to wake up. Chalice is a pure psionic Weapon, no Magical additions as yet. I'm 90% sure that bringing a magical Weapon into the Warped Realm is a bad idea, based on the stuff they've been bringing out of the Rift. Even my Tats are going to be pretty useless if I can't convert them to Psionic usage, and Vajra them to usefulness. Same with Marks...”
”Aru in a bucket.” He made doo-do-do Pac-man dying sounds. ”Losing that much Gear Investment?”
”I might be able to salvage them with the Vajra, won't know until I get there. So, no reason to drag all this stuff along that I'm going to lose anyways.”
”Got it. Anyone you want them to go to?”
”Let them decide. They are Intelligent Weapons, they have their own preferences. The girls have their own stuff... maybe they can help overgear any new Hagchilds you find.”
”You can count on me,” he said seriously. ”If you're going to do it, do it right.”
I smiled like all the sharks and wolves of the world would love to. ”Oh, have no godsdamned worry about that. It's going to get done very right, indeed!”
======
Present time, outside the Rift...
Briggs and the Void Brothers were ejected from the Rift like leaves in a hurricane, vented out into midair as the backwash vented out –
Pure vivic energy tossed them away as they twisted and broke formation, feeling the familiar laws of reality around themselves, latching onto the air with their souls and getting control of themselves.
The River of Reality going in was now reversed, and what was coming back was a universe being fed upon. Vivic energy shook and dissolved into the fabric of the world, mending the cracks and strains all around, shutting down the wild magic and tattered threads of the Ley Lines, plunging deep into the ground to repair all the damage wrought by the cataclysm a millennium ago.
In Yle Tyorm, the Shardrings quaked, but the still-functional Obelisks and their connection to the Hole kept them intact, deflecting the repair work around themselves, and the outer Shardzones with them. But the fractures and tears extending off from the city were being rapidly soothed over and healed away, isolating it from the rest of the world within its bare walls.
Creation was feeding. Not all the power was going to the local Land, but enough, more than enough...
The Stars were right...
---------------
The Empire of Rosencrux, pretty much all over the place...
The skies opened up, the ground caved in, and the waters whirled and vomited forth what lay Below.
They fell from the skies in numbers uncounted, they swarmed up from buried kingdoms and empires, and they rose from the depths of the waters in unstoppable numbers. With them came horrors from beyond space and time, the avatars of the Old Ones, and their progeny, peers, and rivals, the Elder Gods, beings of Creation, but lost to the ages and dreams forgotten, now rising back up and demanding for themselves a place in Creation once more.
Cultists of nameless faiths howled in ecstasy as their Elevation came upon them. Bodies swelled and rippled, power swelling and invading them, remaking them from human to something worthy of serving their respective Lords Now Come. Howls and cries from throats no longer mortal rose in zealous tribute as their dead gods came down, and delivered what they had promised.
And if they were slaves for eternity, souls yielded up to the coming of their Masters, they no longer cared as their twisted voices rose in worship to things older then humanity.