TS5 - Chapter 2 (Patreon)

“Are you ready?”

Hearing Velin’s question, Thorn turned to look at her. The battlefield where they had fought against the Anazi and the earth elementals was empty, and all that was left was for them to walk in through the large double doors that led into the throne room. He could sense that there was more to her question than appeared on the surface, so Thorn raised his eyebrows as he waited for her to elaborate. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, Velin gestured to the door.

“We’re about to finally find out what the elemental kings have been aiming for. They’ve clearly set up this whole thing to benefit us, and if it wasn’t for our deliberately slow pace, we would have arrived at this point much earlier.”

“Velin’s right,” Corvo said, joining them in front of the door. “The amount of strength behind that door is enough to crush us a few times over, so the fact that they haven’t increased the difficulty of the labyrinth to the point we can’t complete it is an indication that they want us to win.”

Thinking for a moment while the others gathered, Thorn suddenly nodded and snapped his fingers, recalling a memory from his first conversation with the elemental kings.

“That’s right. They spoke of it being time, though for what I’m not sure. But they requested that if we win, they be allowed to pledge to me, whatever that means.”

“It means that you’re as much a cheat as always,” Mina said, sticking her tongue out at him. “But I wonder if it has something to do with the coming crisis?”

“I’m not sure,” Thorn said, “but it very well might.”

“Best way to find out is to enter and talk to them,” Velin said, patting Thorn’s arm. “Will you do the honors?”

Nodding, Thorn stepped forward and took hold of the large handle, pulling it open. Immediately, a bright light shrouded them and he could feel a thick force pulling them through. Familiar with the feeling, he didn’t resist, and a moment later they were standing in the center of the elemental king’s throne room, being glared at by four disgruntled elemental lords.

“What took you so long?” Frost Wind snapped, her words accompanied by a frigid breeze that caused the temperature to drop.

“You made us wait, and we don’t like waiting.”

Shore Breaker’s words were slow and ponderous, but carried the force of a tsunami, crushing the air around the group.

“I didn’t realize there was a hurry,” Thorn said, not at all bothered by the heavy pressure that the elemental kings were exuding.

Next to him, the others were under a bit more stress, but Velin tapped her staff and a gentle golden glow spread across the floor to envelop the party, shielding them from the four clashing auras. Even though any one of the elemental kings was exponentially stronger than her, on Verdant she had near absolute strength thanks to her connection to the World Tree.

“It’s not many people who have the guts to make elemental kings wait,” Deep Flame said, her expression half amused, half angry.

“I’m not many people,” Thorn said, shooting a glance at her as he turned to face Mountain Shaker.

The elemental king of earth was sitting on his throne of boulders, his heavy chin resting on his fist as he watched Thorn speak with his brother and sisters. Always quiet, there was an anticipation in his eyes that piqued Thorn’s curiosity.

“We have completed the labyrinth,” Thorn said, bowing his head slightly.

“So you have.”

When Mountain Shaker did speak, the other elemental kings fell silent and even their auras stilled, as if giving way to the tremendous might that rolled from Mountain Shaker’s body.

“I, like my siblings, expected it to happen sooner, but so long as you got what you needed from the experience, I would consider it a success. Which leads us to the reward. We will not challenge your rule of this world, but in return, we hope that you will consider allowing us to pledge to you.”

All around the room, the other elemental spirits fixed their eyes on Thorn, and despite their feigned disinterest, he could tell that they were all waiting for his answer with bated breath. Letting the moment hang, he slowly turned around, looking at each of the elemental spirits in turn. They were considered calamities, as their power was so great that their very presence in a world was enough to disrupt the elemental balance, so he couldn’t help but wonder why they would want to pledge to someone as weak as him.

“Before I answer, I would have you explain why you are interested in such a thing,” Thorn said, his gaze coming back to meet Mountain Shakers. “Why do you want to pledge to me, and what is it that you spoke of when we first met?”

“All fair questions,” Mountain Shaker said, straightening up, “and ones I am happy to answer. Let me start with the second, as it will illuminate the first. Every so long, the endless worlds goes through a period of chaos, heralded by the disappearance of the Titan of that age. Without the guiding hand of the Titan, the influence of the evils that they balance begin to grow and the lust for power begins to overtake the mortal races once more. Wars break out, destruction grows, and mortal hubris leads to terrible mistakes. This period lasts until the next Titan appears, at which point the conflicts are brought to a head and the Titan and his ancient foes fight once more. Those of us who belong to the immortal races must chose a side or face getting drawn into the conflict against our will. We would choose your side.”

“Ancient foes?” Thorn asked, his brow furrowing. “Who are my ancient foes?”

“Devils,” Deep Flame said.

“Dragons,” Frost Wind whispered.

“The Unmaking,” Shore Breaker thundered.

“Oh my?” Mina said, looking around with an innocent expression as Corvo rolled his eyes.

“Those seem like a pretty serious list of enemies,” Thorn said, shooting Mina an amused look. “What, by the way, is the Unmaking?”

“A race that seeks to end all life in the endless worlds,” Mountain Shaker said, his voice heavy. “No one knows where they appear from, or how they enter the endless worlds, but they appear during every age ending conflict, and their armies sweep across the worlds as they try to take the tower. No one knows what their ultimate goal is, but part of the role that the previous Titans filled was to unite the worlds against the Unmaking, eradicating them. This has played out countless times before you came to exist, and will continue long after you are gone. It is just the way of the Endless Worlds.”

“And the Dragons,” Thorn said, “you speak of the Dragon Emperor?”

“Karramoor the Ascendant Emperor, yes. His thirst for domination is insatiable and his adherents are everywhere. We would aid you in your fight against him and the other enemies, should you accept our fealty," Mountain Shaker said.

Taking a deep breath, Thorn looked around the room, his gaze resting on each of the elemental kings in turn. He saw nothing but eager sincerity from them and found himself wondering what the harm could be.  Velin, clearly not as trusting as Thorn, stepped forward until she stood next to him.

"What do you gain?" she asked, her gaze fixed on Mountain Shaker. "What do you gain by pledging to the Titan of Earth?"

"This conversation is not with you," Deep Flame spoke up. There was nothing dismissive about her tone; her words were simply matter-of-fact.

With a sweet smile, Velin looked over at the woman lounging on the burning throne as she took Thorn's arm.

"On the contrary, it has everything to do with me," she said. "I will not allow my husband to make a bad deal. And the four of you are clearly too old and too smart to make a bad deal, so there must be something in it for you."

After a moment of silence, Deep Flame nodded.

"That's fair," she admitted.

It was Mountain Shaker that answered the question, leaning forward on his throne. An eager look on his face.

"Do you know how elemental emperors come to be?" He asked.

When Thorn shook his head, he held out his palm, using Earth Mana to create an image of a simple-looking Earth Golem, whose body was perfectly formed and seemed to carry the weight of an entire world. Though it was only a few feet tall, the image radiated a tremendous amount of power.

"Though you have never met him in person, he has looked upon you favorably," Mountain Shaker said. "This is the Elemental Emperor of Earth, Terberus, who blessed you. He was not always the Elemental Emperor, but rather ascended to his position, thanks to the one he served."

"A Titan?" Thorn asked, picking up on Mountain Shaker's words.

"Indeed, he served Kagma’Tal, the last Titan of Earth. During that era’s crisis, Terberus, or Menhir, as he was then called, pledged himself to Kagma’Tal in order to help the Titan in his fight against the Dragon Emperor of that age. In doing so, he gained the strength to ascend to the position of Emperor.”

“What happened to the Emperor before him?" Thorn asked, his eyes narrowing. "Or, more relevantly, if you were to pledge to me and follow in Terberus’ footsteps, ascending to his position, what would happen to him?"

The look of eagerness in Mountain Shaker's eyes intensified, and his craggy face split with a smile.

“Your concern for this issue encourages me, but you need not fear. Elementals as a race do not exist in the same way that beings like you exist," he said. "When an Elemental grows in strength, becoming equal to or surpassing the previous Emperor, they simply join, the greater ruling the lesser, the lesser subordinating themselves to the greater. By virtue of this, the Elemental Emperor Terberus grows ever stronger. This is the greatest honor an elemental can have, to join the strongest of their race, and by doing so, ensure its continuation."

Thorn understood what Mountain Shaker was saying, but he still found himself slightly suspicious. The last thing he wanted to do was inadvertently harm this Elemental Emperor who had blessed him in his days on Angoril. Such a method of operating would be entirely foreign to any race that he knew of, but Mountain Shaker spoke with no artifice or guile, simply stating it as truth. Thinking for a moment, Thorn called for Eve, and she appeared next to him in a swarm of nanites.

"Eve, can you confirm what Mountain Shaker says?"

Blinking as her mind processed through all of the information she had stored, Eve nodded.

"Yes, according to the records, he's speaking the truth. Elementals don't have egos in the same way that we do, and instead operate as extensions of a single unified force. As a result, what Mountain Shaker here is describing should be the case. I'll double-check it, though."

"Thank you."

Turning his attention back to the Elemental Kings, Thorn nodded.

"Fine," he said. "My guess is that each of you is looking to ascend to the Emperor's position. Is that correct?"

One by one, the Elemental Kings nodded, and Thorn let out a small sigh.

"I will accept your pledge," he said.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the four Elemental Kings trembled, incredibly complex spell constructs appearing in front of each of them. Thorn was taken aback as he recognized the same sort of contract that he had signed with Akira. Rather than the normal loyalty contract that he expected, they instead wanted to bind their souls to his, granting him a portion of their own strength. In turn, their souls would grow, eventually matching his in scope and strength and allowing them to borrow a fraction of his power. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as his mind analyzed each aspect of the spell constructs, searching for anything nefarious. Instead, as he and Eve parsed the offered contracts, they realized that they were almost entirely one way, in Thorn's benefit.

The Elementals pledged themselves, body and soul, to the service of the Titan of Earth. But more than that, each had included a clause that allowed him to dissolve the contract at will, while leaving no room for themselves to do the same. Such a one-sided contract seemed bizarre, but when Thorn mentioned something to Velin, she just smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"It's a kindness trap, Thorn," she explained, shaking her head.

"A kindness trap? What is that?"

"She means that they're playing off your good nature," Mina said, laughing. "That's actually quite smart, really clever. They can’t beat you in strength, so they’re playing weak for maximum benefit."

"I'm sorry, can somebody explain what's going on?" Thorn asked, causing the others to chuckle.

"If they put anything into these contracts that benefited them, you would naturally be suspicious," Velin said. "But by going the opposite direction, they're counting on your good nature to ensure the maximum benefit for themselves."

"Lady Velin is correct," Frost Wind said, her whispering voice swirling around them. "We trust that the Titan of Earth will make the correct decisions, and therefore, we grant you the authority to do so.”

“Should we have need,” Shore Breaker added, “I'm sure that you will provide."

Feeling slightly grumpy, though he didn't know exactly why, Thorn nodded and gestured, calling the four spell constructs to him. Activating them was simple enough, and a moment later, he felt them sink into his body, taking root in his soul. Each of the soul contracts held pieces of the elemental king’s souls, and through them, Thorn had a clear sense of the power of each of the kings. Mountain Shaker was the strongest, though only by a hair, with Deep Flame coming in a close second. Shore Breaker and Frost Wind were both weaker than her by a bit, though weaker was relative, as even Frost Wind, the weakest of the elemental kings, was a dozen times stronger than Thorn.

He already had one contract written into his soul, the soul-binding agreement between him and Akira, and as the elemental king’s soul-binding agreements began to engrave themselves on his soul, her contract suddenly flared, sending out tendrils of power that sank into the spell constructs, actively overwriting them. Stunned by the development, Thorn could only gawk as Akira’s contract forcefully rebuilt the binding spells, linking them together into a web, with her contract at the center. It happened so quickly, that even the elemental kings couldn’t tell what was going on, and by the time their own power reacted, it was already done. A moment later, after the contracts had settled in his soul, Thorn heard Akira’s voice in his head for the first time in months.

[Ah, master, what just happened?]