Chapter 1047: Far From Where We Want to Be (Patreon)

Elia had never known the city of Boko. It had been destroyed before she was born, but it had once been home to most of the adults she knew. To her, it existed only in stories. She’d listened to her parents and their friends as they spoke of another world and how their home had died. Angels had tried to kill a man, but that man had not really been a man at all. Just the act of wounding him had unleashed so much power that the city was dropped into the sea.

The man whose power destroyed Boko had rescued the people who lived there from the annihilation, although no one seemed sure exactly how. So many people had been there that day, yet each person’s story was a little different. Elia had paid attention, listening to what changed from person to person and telling to telling. Her Aunt Kika, after a few drinks, would regale anyone in earshot with the tale of being lifted from her home like a leaf on the wind. It was one of the stranger elements, yet it was the most agreed upon fact of all. Tens of thousands rising into the sky, carried to safety as a host of angels descended from the heavens.

The angels had sent an army to kill one man, and destroyed a city instead. A man who wore the night sky as a cloak, who had come to be called the Starlight Man. He turned into a great bird and slaughtered the angels, until the king of the angels himself came to surrender and stop the killing. What was left was the people of Boko, standing where their city had sunk into the sea.

Rather than leave the people in the desert, the Starlight Man took them to another world entirely, one that belonged to him. He created a new place for them, out of nothing, bringing an oasis into being before their very eyes. He raised a city from the sand, giving even the poorest beggar a roof and a bed. New Water was the city’s name, and that had been where Elia was born.

Elia had never been clear on what the creator of her world was. Some called him a god, while others said he was just a very powerful person. She had been sceptical of all the stories, but there he had stood in his cloak of darkness and stars. He had been with a woman with pale skin and pretty hair, very different from the dark-skinned people of Boko. Elia’s father had said she lived in a city far away, where the buildings were living trees. That might have been the start of her longing to see the world.

As she walked down the street on a shopping errand from her mother, she wondered why these thoughts had come upon her, unbidden. It felt like a strange day, although she wasn’t sure why. There was something in the air, a strange tingle. It was as if the world was more solid somehow, more real. It had her thinking about the man who had supposedly created the whole world.

No one had seen him in years. A few claimed they had, but no one believed them. They were the kind that told tall tales and liked getting attention. They agreed he was gone, but everyone had their own idea as to where to or why. Some said he was fighting a war in another world, others that he’d been chained up to a star by a god. It had always struck Elia as strange that everyone seemed so certain about who he was, what he was and where he’d gone. The stories couldn’t all be true, and she had learned that adults were not always as right as they seemed to think.

The streets got busier as she neared to the great market square. Her mother said that, in their old city, places like this were where people met their gods, but there were no gods in this world, only the Starlight Man. The sun shone from a glorious blue sky, making the market goers seem even livelier than usual. The scent of cooking food mixed with the aromas of cut flowers, ripe fruit and perfume, all available for purchase. It was almost intolerably loud, vendors hawking their wares or farmers shouting at each other as they navigated their wagons of produce.

In the market proper it was shoulder to shoulder, and Elia was careful with the basket she was holding. She grinned to herself as she shuffled through, making the most of her slight frame. This was an old game to her, although being allowed to go alone was still new. Her father had slipped her a few extra coins to buy herself a treat once the shopping proper was done.

By the time her basket was bulging with wares, she was browsing the food kiosks for the most tantalising option. When her eyes fell on a particular stall, her eyes went wide and a grin split her face. The man making sandwiches had a good-sized line, despite being clearly one of the uncommon outsiders. He was lighter skinned than the locals, with a neat beard that couldn’t hide his sharp chin. He was dressed as outlandishly as she remembered, with his garish flower-print shirt.

“Well, if it isn’t little Elia Nagoto,” he greeted, with an easy laugh as she reached the front of the line. “Although not so little anymore, I see. I remember a young girl who could barely hold up that basket, trailing behind her aunt. How old are you now? Nine? Ten?”

“I’m twelve!” she insisted, but immediately composed herself before firing back accusingly.

“Where have you been? I haven’t seen you at market in years.”

Sadness flashed in his eyes, vanishing so fast that Elia wasn’t sure it had been there at all. He gave her a smile

“Sometimes we have responsibilities that take us far from where we want to be,” he told her as he started making a sandwich, not waiting for her to order. He reached for all her favourite ingredients, even the spicy sausage, which she didn’t think she had eaten when she was younger. She must have, though, if he remembered it from back then.

“It must be nice to travel, though,” she said longingly. “Where did you go? I’ve heard that most of this world is empty. Was it to the forest city? They say there aren’t many people there either, though.”

“You’ll find that’s changing,” he said. “And I’ve travelled quite a bit further away than that.”

“Were there monsters? I’ve heard that there are monsters in faraway places.”

“There are, although you shouldn’t be so keen to see them.”

“I’ve heard stories from people who used to fight them. They keep saying it’s scary, but it always sounds like they miss it.”

“Adventuring can be a good life, if you can handle the bad days. It’s not for everyone.”

“Are you an adventurer?”

He finished her sandwich, cut it in half and wrapped it in wax paper.

“Here you go,” he said, handing it over. “If you want to travel, I’m sure you’ll get your chance. Just remember that you don’t have to be an adventurer to have adventures.”

She wanted to keep talking but there were people behind her in line. As she walked away, she realised that she didn’t know the sandwich man’s name. She’d kept meaning to ask, today and back when she was little, but it always slipped her mind when she found herself in front of him. It oddly felt like she knew exactly who he was, making the idea of asking seem silly.

***

Farrah was walking the streets of Arbour, the living city, when a cloud of orange and blue sparks erupted in front of her. They coalesced into the framework of a person that eventually filled in, forming a complete avatar of Jason. He grinned and gathered her up in a hug that she returned fiercely.

“You got out of Knowledge’s trap.”

“You’ve seen me fight gods before. When do I not win?”

“Still smug and self-impressed, I see.”

“Always. There are some complications, though.”

“There always are, with you. What nonsense have you gotten yourself into?”

“It’s not that bad. I just have to fight a demigod and cleanse a corrupted afterlife, then I can start looking into how to kill a god.”

“Haven’t had any ideas on that front, then?”

“I’ve had one. I’ll look into it once I’ve dealt with this other situation. My prime avatar is heading there now.”

They finally let go, although Farrah grabbed Jason’s hands in hers, as if to stop him from flying off.

“Can I help?”

“Not with what I have to do now. You’re not dead enough to go to that place.”

“I know Humphrey has told you off about doing these things alone.”

“It’s fine. I have Thadwick with me.”

“Thadwick? Idiot-turned-energy-vampire Thadwick?”

“That’s him. He’s definitely going to stab me in the back.”

She rolled her eyes.

“I see being diamond-rank hasn’t changed you. I felt it, when it happened, but I was expecting more fanfare. Comets, volcanoes. That sort of thing.”

“I try to be careful about that kind of thing, now. There’s a lot of people I don’t want to scare. I’ve been using some avatars to look around the place, check in on people with my own eyes. It feels better than just being an omniscient observer.”

Roots burst from the hard dirt road, growing into a human shape until, like Jason had done, they formed a human-looking avatar. It could have been a sister to Farrah, but with light brown skin and hair like autumn leaves, glorious reds flecked with gold. She was draped in a simple yellow and brown dress.

“Nice,” Jason said to the manifestation of the living city. “Your avatar creation has improved considerably.”

“You should talk,” Arbour told him as they embraced in a hug. “That avatar is incredibly sophisticated. It makes even the prime avatar you used before look like a child’s drawing.”

“When can you go back to Earth?” Farrah asked.

Jason frowned.

“Not soon. There’s a lot more people praying to me than there used to be. I’m guessing a lot of them are looking for a saviour. I need to get back there before they start deciding that Knowledge fits the bill. But if I go there as a diamond-ranker, it opens the floodgates to whatever diamond-rankers Knowledge has waiting. Using any active power on Earth, even opening a portal for you to go there, would break the World-Phoenix’s rank limitation.”

“Then I go with you,” Farrah told him.

“Absolutely. I need to deal with this demigod situation, then we can go find a way to kill a god. Together.”

***

As the war went on into its fifth and sixth years, even the most secure place on Earth felt like danger hovered over them. Asano Clan territory was the last stronghold that Earth would have, and every clan member inside it felt when the change came. Power surged through the land, permeating the ground beneath them and the air they breathed. They felt the renewed presence of their long-absent patriarch.

Yumi Asano drew a sharp breath as the power shot through her like a jolt of electricity. She looked up from her desk, staring out the large glass door leading to her balcony. That was how she saw an approaching figure arriving in a blur. Boris looked more the messenger than usual, floating in the air with his wings extended, draped in a toga-like robe. Yumi tapped a panel on her desk and the door slid aside to grant him entry.

“Boris Ketland,” she said. “To what do I owe the visit? I thought you were leading Cabal forces in Africa.”

“I was, but the time has come for a change. To do something I have been putting off for longer than you can understand.”

“Oh?”

“It is time to put Boris Ketland aside, as much as I have enjoyed being him. I must become Boris Ket Lundi again.”

“Meaning what?”

“My people here on Earth have been fighting Knowledge’s forces for several years now. If the Orthodox messengers don’t know about the Unorthodoxy here on Earth, they soon will. My people will eventually need to leave this world, to prevent a second invasion, but they will stay to protect it until the best way to do so is by leaving.”

“Why do you need to go now?”

“I’ve been gold-rank for billions of years. Greater strength invites greater scrutiny, and I’ve needed to keep quiet for a long time. For what comes next, I’ll need the power I’ve been setting aside.”

“Billions of years. How old are you really?”

“I honestly don’t remember. I’ve lied about it so many times that I couldn’t tell you what the truth is anymore.”

“Is the timing because something happened with Jason?”

Boris nodded.

“He’s diamond-rank now. You can feel it, yes?”

“Yes. His power fills this place more than ever, but will it be enough?”

“No,” Boris told her, shaking his head. “I’ve seen enough of this war to be sure that the people of Earth, for all their valour, are buying time. If Jason cannot find a way to stop a goddess, even this land will fall.”

“You’re a person of Earth too, Boris.”

He smiled with rare, genuine warmth, before resuming his more habitual grin and waggling his eyebrows.

“Are you finally warming up to me, Yumi? You know, I do have time for dinner before I—”

“Get out, bird man.”

Boris laughed, swiftly shooting backward out the door and into the air, still giving Yumi a salacious grin. His wings glowed brightly for a moment and then he vanished. Yumi shook her head disapprovingly but couldn’t keep the slight smile off her lips. She took a moment to school her expression, then hit the intercom to contact her assistant. The clan would need to be settled after the change in aura.

***

The centremost chamber of the temple was a towering cylinder, five storeys high. Light gushed in through the glass ceiling to reflect off the rainbow crystal mosaics that covered the walls, turning the chamber into a giant kaleidoscope. Vibrant images danced in the air, depicting scholars, scribes and explorers at their work.

Standing in the centre of the room was a statue of a woman holding an open book. A door, indistinguishable from the rest of the wall, swung open to admit Lucella Carnes, priestess of Knowledge. It closed behind her as she moved to the statue and knelt.

“Our spies on Earth­­—”

“I know that Asano broke his seal,” Knowledge said, no longer a statue.

“Of course, My goddess. You know all. I seek only guidance on how to react.”

“Start using the cosmic mercenaries we’ve gathered. Become more aggressive in recruitment. Pressure Earth more, even at the cost of casualties. Preferably suffered by the mercenaries and not our own people. Now that Asano is free, he will either go to Earth to join the defence, or seek solutions elsewhere.”

“You want to provoke him into returning to Earth?”

“Right now, we have the absolute advantage in diamond-rankers, but Asano has a way of either aggravating people or drawing them to his side. I want him breaking the diamond-rank restriction on earth before he picks up an army of them for himself.”

“In terms of gathering mercenaries, Goddess, I confess that our recruitment has not gone as well as we had hoped. Asano’s allies have been interfering in key recruiting grounds. Making the mercenaries believe that supporting us is not worth the trouble.”

“Then seek out the pirate admiral, Aractus Jakaar. His diamond-rankers will be of use to us, and too much for Asano’s friends to handle. Perhaps he can even help deal with Team Biscuit and ease our other recruitment woes.”

“He will not be easy to bring into our service, Goddess.”

“He fears retribution but hungers for power and prestige. Make it clear that the Laws of Intrusion will not be violated, and his avarice will do the rest. For all he knows, the Earth is still a treasure trove of reality cores. Tell him so.”

“But it isn’t. Goddess, lying is a sin against you.”

“Against the goddess of Knowledge. Not against the goddess of Earth.”

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