Advent of Eternity - Chapter 139 (Patreon)

Knell and Emma stepped out of a wall. Shadows slithered across the ground beneath them before vanishing into a thick fog that covered the ground in the cave they’d emerged into. The air prickled against Knell’s skin.

Firelight flickered off an obsidian throne in the center of the cave. A tall man sat in it, somehow still cast in the shadows despite the twin braziers at his sides. Ribbons of red cloth fluttered from his tricorn, obscuring his face like a veil. His hands, covered with cuts and scars, were adorned with heavy golden rings that shimmered in the flame.

Emma dropped to one Knee. Knell made no such motion. He leaned on his staff, studying the seated man. It didn’t take a genius to guess who it was.

“Veil.”

“Knell,” the Veil responded, inclining his head slightly. The tangling red threads danced with the motion, but they somehow kept every part of his face obscured at all times despite the motion. “Emma, you may rise.”

Emma remained kneeling. “It would not be proper, Lord Veil.”

Veil reached up beneath the red strands covering his face, making a motion like he were rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Very well. You may leave. I will speak with our visitor on my own, with no interruption.”

“As you wish, Lord Veil.”

Emma vanished into the shadows, leaving the two of them alone. A second of silence passed, and Knell pressed his lips together as a wave of energy washed over him. Emotion warred with logic as Knell’s heart yelled at Knell to retreat while his mind refuted the demand.

Knell cocked an eyebrow and tapped his staff on the ground.

“You called me here for a reason beyond posturing, I assume?”

The oppressive aura faded and the Veil inclined his head in a slight show of respect. “I did, but some things must be confirmed in person. It is difficult to get a sense of another when you have only observed them through others.”

“I’d agree with that. You’ve sent your assassins after me three times now. What interest do you have in me?”

“You are an Advent.”

“There are others. I don’t think I need to speak with them to confirm that they haven’t gotten an equal amount of your esteemed attention.”

The Veil chuckled. “Yes, you are correct. I have spent little time with them as of late, with the exception of the Ferryman. The Advents have done little in the past years, and I grow impatient. The false gods have ruled for too long.”

Knell tilted his head to the side. “I was under the impression that Joseph was taking action against them.”

The Veil shifted, leaning forward in his chair and bracing his hands against the armrests. Stone creaked beneath his weight. “Yes, he takes action, but he is the Advent of Extinction. He moves in steps so small that they are practically nothing. In hundreds of thousands of years, perhaps the Fragments will fall to his plan. I will not wait that long. Not all of them.”

“And you wish to work with me in order to achieve this goal?”

“Are you in a position to refuse allies?” the Veil rose from his throne. The mist swirled around his feet as he stepped to the ground and walked over to the other end of the cave. The wall parted before him, peeling away like the skin of a fruit.

Knell picked up the unspoken request and obliged, following after the tall man. He didn’t particularly care where they met.

“Yes,” Knell said. “I have no need of allies that are not of use to me. Joseph is already hardly trustworthy, but I have seen his strength. What do you provide that he does not?”

“Information. Riches. Power. In that order,” The Veil said, a note of humor flavoring his voice. The stone opened up before them, overlooking a mist covered valley. Knell and the Veil stopped at the edge of the cliff, looking down into it.

Enormous bones poked up from the mist, bleached white from years under the sun. It was a sea of jagged white – everywhere Knell looked, there was only bone.

“Ominous,” Knell observed. “What are these?”

“Gods.”

Knell paused. “What?”

The Veil chuckled. “Yes, I thought you might have that reaction. Most Scions do, when I bring them here.”

Knell’s hand tightened around his staff, but the Veil made no motions toward him. Still, Knell’s eyes lit golden as he peered into the future. A frown crossed his lips and he took a step back from the cliff, not taking his eyes off the Veil.

“I’m not going to humor you with the question. You already know what I’m thinking.”

“On the contrary. I cannot see into the future,” the Veil said. He gestured to the valley below them. “And this is testament to that. If I had more strength, this valley would be piled into a mountain. However, what power I do have is more than sufficient to kill any Fragment foolish enough to challenge me.”

“You’re claiming to have killed gods?” Knell asked.

“The emphasis you put on the word god is far too great.” The Veil scoffed. “They were never gods, not even before the Shattering. They are not impossible to kill, but they are very slippery. They send Scions in their place to die. In ages past, they were bold enough to put more of themselves into Scions. Some used giants, others dragons. You see where they ended.”

“Scions are not Fragments.”

“Are they not?” The Veil turned back to look at Knell. “I would argue otherwise. Fragments give away parts of themselves to their Scions. Should you remove enough of a Fragment, what are they but their Scions?”

Knell inclined his head. “I’ll give you that, but no Fragment will give their entirety away. Claiming to have killed a Fragment is far different than killing Scions.”

“I have killed both, but I fear I have left nothing of the Fragments I slay. Their strength is too valuable to leave lying around as a show piece.”

Knell pressed his lips together. It was incredibly difficult to read the Veil. His body was unnaturally still, and the man gave Knell far more questions than he answered.

“Let’s cut to the point. I value my time too much to run in circles. Do you know how to kill the Fragments in their current form?”

“Yes. Run them through with a piece of their own body.”

Knell’s back stiffened. The knowledge had burned in the back of his mind for years, but actually hearing it out loud felt like sacrilege. It was as if the gods would pick up on their discussion and intervene, ensuring his plans never came to fruition.

“Fear not. The false gods cannot hear us here. Our conversation is perfectly secure – even from the Ferryman.”

Knell tapped his fingers on the hilt of his staff, not letting his emotions show on his face. If the Veil noticed anything, he didn’t address it. He just stood silently, waiting for Knell to speak.

“If you know this, and you possess the strength to do it, why haven’t you already done so?”

“If I were to go after all the Fragments, they would rally against me. The resulting war would rip the Sixteen Seas apart in a second Shattering. I must measure my response to them and only take small actions. But you are different – the Fragments are blind with pride. They would not group together to strike down a mortal.”

Knell studied the Veil. He looked down at the pit of bones, then shook his head. “No.”

“What?”

“You’re lying,” Knell said flatly. “I believe the prideful part, but you’re lying about the reason you don’t go after the gods. If you actually have the strength to kill Fragments, they wouldn’t even notice until it was too late. You could pick them off one by one. Why don’t you?”

The Veil fell silent. Then he shook his head and let out a sigh. “Observant boy. Very well. I am bound to this place. I cannot leave it with my full strength, and so the only Fragments I can kill myself are the ones foolish enough to come into my domain. I am a relic of the past, from before the Shattering. Does that answer please you?”

“No, but it’s more honest. So you wish to use me as a weapon to strike out against the gods?”

“Is there anything wrong with that? It is exactly what you do with your crew.”

“I care about my crew,” Knell said. “But I will not refute that statement. I am not opposed to being a weapon if it furthers my goals, but thus far, you have given me nothing that I do not already know. If any Fragment were to reveal themselves to me and the time was right, I would run them through already. What was the purpose of this meeting?”

“Exactly that.” The Veil adjusted his hat, shifting it around on his head until it was back in the exact same position it had started in. “The time. The Fragments are both prideful and cowardly, but there is one that believes herself safe. She is complacent.”

“Mordrigal. She knows of my goal, but encouraged it because she believed I would inconvenience the other Fragments and get myself killed long before I got around to her,” Knell said with a nod. “I am aware of her, but she would never be foolish enough to show herself in her true form before me. She is not an idiot.”

“Which is why I have been orchestrating events for years. She knows of your mutual understanding and believes that she is safe, which is why she will be the easiest to cut down first. I established a false alliance with Holen much time ago, and he has great deals of bad blood with Mordrigal. I then sent for one of Holen’s greatest Scions and killed them, leaving evidence that it was done by one of Mordrigal’s ilk. He responded in kind.”

“Lillicent,” Knell said, understanding passing through his eyes. “He sent Lillicent after one of Mordrigal’s Scions in response?”

“Yes. Holen did have some suspicions and sent another Scion to me to investigate. I killed them too.”

“Not a very good way to convince anyone that you’re safe,” Knell said with a dry smile.

“It works when Holen and Mordrigal hate each other more than they hate me. Holen believes that Mordrigal has killed two of his Scions, and seeks the head of one of her greatest in response. Mordrigal has invested much in him, and she will not permit him to die. She will intervene before he falls, or too much of her strength may be lost to Holen.”

Knell’s heart started to beat faster.

If what Veil is saying is true, then he’s right. This could be one of the best opportunities I’ll ever get to strike at Mordrigal. But what Scion would she care so much about that she’d risk fully manifesting herself on the Mortal Plane for?

“Who’s the Scion?” Knell asked.

“A creature by the name of Thomas the Merciful. Mordrigal has given him dozens of large Boons, in hopes of creating a weapon strong enough to eventually kill the other Fragments. She believes him infallible of course, but will be surprised when Holen arrives with reinforcements from other Fragments who fear Mordrigal’s strength.”

“It sounds like she’s as good as dead. Where do I come in here?”

“You know as well as I do that no plan will hold up at this level of intricacy – and Mordrigal is powerful. Holen and his reinforcements will materialize on the Mortal Plane if she does, but Mordrigal is the strongest of the lot. She may defeat the other Fragments and our opportunity would be wasted. But, if you were to arrive at the same time, you would have a chance of striking her down and potentially killing two other Fragments in the process.”

“And likely dying while I’m at it.” Knell leaned on his staff and shook his head. “I am not suicidal. How would I get to her and escape? Would Emma deliver me herself?”

Despite Knell’s words, hunger burned in his chest. If Mordrigal were truly distracted by two other fragments, he could arrive under the pretense of seeking the other Fragment’s heads. The distraction could just be possibly enough to buy him the time to kill her.

“Your words do not match your thoughts,” the Veil said. “I cannot offer some guarantee. I have given you the information I promised. Thomas is located in the Creaking Spires. Holen still gathers his forces, but he will set out for him within the month.”

Knell searched his memory for the location of the Creaking Spires but came up empty.

“It is not far from your current location. Two weeks of travel,” the Veil said, noticing Knell’s expression.

“And what then?” Knell asked. “I will not deny that this tempts me, but we have much to accomplish before I think we could stand against the Fragments.”

“Yes, your Boons,” the Veil mused. “You need to turn them into Artifacts to ensure that she does not turn them against you.”

“You know a lot about me. Care to say why?”

“The Ferryman has loose lips. We have an agreement.”

I knew that bastard was giving away information. He evidently trusts the Veil, but it’s clear that the Veil’s got his own motives. Still, they seem to align with mine at the moment.

“I see. Regardless, you are correct. I need them turned to Artifacts, and my Artificer doesn’t have the materials she needs yet. As such–”

The ground beneath the Veil rippled. Shadows rose up, peeling back to deliver a child-sized metal chest. It rose up into the air beside the Veil and he gestured, sending it gliding across the dark fog to float before Knell.

“And that leads us to the second part of the reason I brought you here,” Veil said, gesturing grandiosely to the chest. “Open it.”