Article IV: All acts unproven and memories unverified cannot be used as justification for the impingement of another or justification for actions taken against their person.
Article VII: All FATED or Ensouled will be allowed the merit of guardianship under a neutral third party (Default Standard set to Voidwatch) per the Accords of Ao between all the Guilds. Amendment: Article to be suspended in case of official declarations of war.
--Articles of the Spiral
11-1
Articles of the Spiral
Naeko’s right eye twitched. “They’re yours?”
“Yes,” Denton said, shrugging off his suspicious glaze with a turn of her shoulder. From the corner of her eyepiece, she shot a glance at the stretching shadows of the megablock and pasted a smirk on her face. “You all did very well. The imps have been transferred to your proxies. Contract closed.”
Avo and the others remained submerged still beneath the puddles of darkness.
+No clue what this one’s playin’ at.+ Draus said. Her mind was clicking, shifting from thought to theory like the snap of turning gears. +Ain’t no reason for the Silvers to get into this mess with us. Can’t think of one, anyhow.+
As Avo studied Denton, he found his insight crippled by the dissolution of the Nether itself and caution strangled his ability to expand his Sanguinity. He could solidify the shadow into a demiplane and shift back over to using his Woundshaper again. Still, the last thing he wanted was to provoke a deliberate reaction from the Paladin. As Denton looked down at Abrel, however, Avo caught something in the way she stared at the Instrument''s prone form. It was the same way Draus looked at angles around buildings and joints on a person, seeking a vulnerability to exploit.
“You should thank them when they come out, Chief Paladin,” Denton said, pushing the conversation in her desired direction. “Why, it’s all thanks to them that a rogue cell within our Guild was stopped and the assassination of one of my colleagues was prevented. I believe you have met one Ambassador Valhu Kitzuhada?”
The Chief Paladin just stared at her. “Please. Please no.”
“What?”
“No,” Naeko repeated. He slapped his leg. He wagged a finger momentarily and tapped the side of his temple. “No. No. No, no, no, no, no. No. No. No. I came out here to deal with a shit-fit between two cadres that got out of hand. That’s what I stopped my game for. What I put in my overtime for. Just a simple, messy, bloody stupid thing caused by simple, messy, bloody stupid Godclads.” The palms each offered a rude gesture. “Now. Tell me you’re mistaken. Tell me that I just… hallucinated what sounds like a conspiracy that will see me and my corps serving as honorary guard dogs in a month to stop all you colors from killing each other at some conference. Tell me. Say it.”
Denton let a beat slip by as she offered him an apologetic look. “Sorry, Elder Naeko. It’s worse than you think.”
He closed his eyes.
“Chief Paladin?” she ventured.
“Shh.” Several of his floating palms rose in a pleading gesture. “Let me imagine. Let me imagine I have the Heaven of Counter-Politics.”
“Of course, Chief Nae–”
He shushed her again. “Glaives bring nothing but problems and conspiracies to me every time we meet. There are no annoying Glaives in my imagination. Just peace. Peace. A nice walk. Alone time. No mass deaths.” He took in a breath. He let it out. He opened his eyes. “I tried. I tried very hard to will you away without ever being. But it seems I don’t have the right Heavens for that.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. If it would make you feel better, you could stab–”
She let out a choked gasp as one palm speared clean through her chest. Thick, white rivulets flowed in place of natural blood. Unshaken by the sudden stabbing, Denton nodded amiably to Naeko as she hacked a mouthful of blood. “Feel… better?”
Naeko considered it for a second. “Yes. I appreciate the offer.” Another one of his palms snapped forward in a rush of wind and her skull unraveled before its fog-like caress. His other hands drifted forward and dismantled the rest of her body in the neatest process of mutilation Avo had ever seen.
Essus shook. His door-like frame rattled and geometric vertices rose from his hinges like dust from a normal doorway. +Artad. Is there no end to the death and killing? What was the need for this…+
Avo thought it was obvious. +Fun. Pleasure. Also think she’s a ‘Clad. Or has a phylactery. Doesn’t seem to fear death.+
+Yeah,+ Draus said. +‘Cept the Silvers ain’t too big on singleton ‘Clads. Ain’t see no cadre or drones hovering over her, and the Nether’s down.+
True to Avo''s guess, a death anchor manifested over Denton''s corpse. The metaphysical scab slowly thickened even more blood spilled out from the Silver''s mangled remains.
As the last pieces of Denton vanished. Naeko stretched slightly and shot the darkness a look. “Alright. She’s gone. Now. It’s rude of me to call someone a liar while they’re dead, but I’m going to give you all one more chance: Come out. Deal with me instead. I’ll be straight–you’re probably not going to enjoy your stay in the Unwhere, but it’ll be safe. But. If you don’t. And if I find out that she’s trying to juke me in any way…”
He cupped his hands together and drew them apart. Between his palms, the density of spatial reality thickened as cords of coursing explosions fused between his fingers like a chain. No. Not just any explosion. The ones made by the Woundshaper. Avo could feel the full intensity of all the conflagrations created by his acceleration moments prior during the battle dancing along the man’s fingers, stretching and compressing enough energy to shred the lower Warrens down to bedrock as if it was clay.
“So, Stillborn-pattern… that sounds like a new Frame,” Naeko said. Avo waited if the man would say anything more about his Frame.
He didn’t. Instead, he did something else. Passing the compressed blastwaves to his other palms, he flicked a finger over the darkness.
Avo’s cog-feed wailed. He felt the dark around him shuffle and splash as a battle between metaphors commenced. Naeko''s power was beyond potent. He was the sole arbiter of force, of peace, of violence itself. Following the Paladin’s will, the outer skin of darkness slipped open like a curtain. The shadows holding Avo and his cadre parted. Whatever Heaven or Heavens Naeko had, its touch ran deep and wide. Strangely, Avo couldn’t quite parse how it felt, the full ontology of the Paladin’s power incomprehensible to the ghoul.
The Chief Paladin cocked an eyebrow but didn’t pursue any further actions.
The Lushburner came afire within the dormant Woundshaper. Avo’s unused Heaven flickered over his Galeslither as Chambers attempted the beginnings of an ambush. +Let’s get ‘em–+
Fractals of glass spilled over him and diverted him back through the liminality of reflection.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
+No,+ Draus chided. +No rash. He ain’t snuffed us yet. Let’s just… give it a moment, yeah? See what else we can come up with.+
The veil of darkness slipped back into place. Naeko right hand hovered in the air as if he was confused about something.
“I’d like to ask you what Agnos you got to make these canons. Blood and lightning. Very loud. But a hell of a punch. It’s a bit simple. Obvious paradox-vector. Kinda amateurish, but I like it. Raw acceleration always packs a decent punch, if nothing else. Easy to counter, sure, but also reliable and easy to use.” He paused and clasped his fingers together. Even the floating ones. “It''s–uh, it’s pretty promising, but you need subtly too. Take it from a post-centenarian Clad. And hide your Heavens better.” A beat passed. “You know. You could come out. I’m really not big on the retributive violence thing. Already did that already.” He glanced briefly in the direction where Valerie was murdered. ‘Course, I’m regretting that now, since it’s what got me trapped in this position.”
He snorted a laugh. It wasn’t a happy laugh. “Yeah. Maybe you’ll believe me and come out. And maybe Jaus will come back tomorrow and fix this mess.” He looked down at the ground. “I sure can’t.” A crack rang through his wrists. The explosions he clutched vanished.
+Dammit, consangs,+ Chambers said. +His guard looks down. We can–+
Draus cut him off. +Shut the fuck up, Chambers. Avo, think you might be able to jack into his mind?+
+Yes,+ Avo said. He had canons. Options. But instinct and his two Heavens begged him not to. He felt the weight, and if Abrel could bulwark the structure of her mind, what meta-cognitive miracles could a century-old Chief Paladin bearing a Sphere Eight Frame do?
“This one here’s Abrel Greatling. Her mind’s pretty obviously fragged, so if you’re not with her, I’m assuming one of you did that. Doing a Godclad in freefall with all that fire and chaos. Yeah. There’s pretty nova Necro in there with you. Bet you have more than a few implants running beneath the skin.”
Avo felt a pit open inside him. The Paladin’s eyes were fixed on the darkness again, but instead of plucking at the domain, he just smirked. "The thing you’ll learn about me is that I’m lazy, but not that stupid. I remember how the Ori fought using their vivianite, so the Nether being down isn’t the end-all-be-all." Despite the man’s unwrinkled appearance, the age of his eyes came through from his flat grey irises.
Those flat, juicy irises.
+Be a godsdamn rotlick later, Avo,+ Draus muttered.
There was a lethargy conveyed by his stare—one beyond Avo’s ability to grasp or comprehend. Denton suddenly flickered back into reality. Her faint death-scar pulsed and vanished as it fused around the returning Silver.
“Ah, good evening Glaive Denton. Welcome back.” Naeko spoke as if he was greeting her for the first time tonight. “I suppose you’ll be invoking the Articles of the Spiral to convince me to release your cosangs here without further examination.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” she said.
Naeko nodded. “It would not. I must admit, this is the perfect situation for it. Nether’s down. No Necro-verified eyewitness accounts about the involved parties other than Instrument Greatling here and her cadre.”
The near-nulled Godclad made a whining noise in response to her name.
“The Stormtree Bloodthanes were also involved,” Denton shook her head. “A tragedy what happened in Nu-Scarrowbur.”
“Well. Yuulden-Yang’s about to see a bump to their quarterly numbers with all these deaths so how bad could it be?” A slight sneer pried at the Paladin’s expression. “I mean, besides a bunch of Paladins failing in their oaths to protect the small and letting massacre happen right under their noses, how bad could it be?”
+He’s mad,+ Draus said. +Seen that look before. Too tired to show it; can’t hide it completely.+
“I’m sorry, Elder Naeko,” Denton said. These words were the most sincere amongst all those she spoke. “We would have done more to prevent it. If only we knew.”
Naeko opened his mouth and words tumbled out before he could control them. “No. No, you aren’t sorry–” He froze mid-sentence as he regarded Denton a moment longer. Seeming ashamed, he looked off to the side. “Alright. Suppose that just makes the two of us.”
“I have something for you,” Denton said apologetically. “You might not want it, but it implicates all parties involved behind these atrocities. Do you need to kill me again before I ruin your evening?”
He waved her off. “Just hit me–” He jolted. His face twisted into a wince as his spine curled evermore forward. Avo was confused. He didn’t see any obvious transfer of ghosts running between them, but with the way Naeko’s eyes darted from place to place, it was clear he was reading through something. “Well. Looks like my Necros are going to do a bit of overtime with me sifting through this data. You sure about this? Because if you are… me and the Thaum got some talking to do.”
“Taken straight out of Jhred Greatling’s mind,” Denton said. “Him. And a rogue cell of Incubi. Along with various other sources.”
Naeko let out a small breath. “Well. His sister is definitely due for a stay in the Unwhere. In the meantime, we’ll all be bracing for a Moot. Suppose I better cast and tell someone to loop up the borders.” He waved a hand over Abrel and a pocket of force washed over her, inverting her out of existence. Her presence vanished from Avo’s vicinity in a fashion that was disconcertingly similar to how Zein disappeared Vincintine earlier.
The drones and bioforms were flooding into the deltas as well. As thousands collapsed back into single digits, the golems made a sharp turn rightward and blinked out of reality as well.
The Paladin was clearing his units out. Whatever data Denton offered–it must’ve been more than what Avo doctored for Zein since it clearly had the chief more than a little disturbed.
“I will make an arrangement with you right now, Glaive Denton,” Naeko said, spine and tone finally straightened into seriousness. “I will forego their detention for exclusive necro-verified testimony about what happened this day. It won’t be much, but it might stop things from spiraling into another war.”
Denton offered him a near-imperceptible nod. “Done. Are my provided thoughtscans sufficient for contact retainment?”
“For now,” Naeko said. “We might need that Regular to testify in person though. Jelene Draus? Lots of bad blood between her and the Greatlings. Performed a usurpation–” He cocked his head. “Impressive, but messy. Of course, she’ll probably be dead soon if you don’t find a good proxy to hide her in.”
“All the arrangements have been taken care of. You don’t need to worry about that.”
He grunted. “Annoyingly reliable as always, Denton. I release this cadre into your guardianship.” One of his floating palms shot out, index finger pointed straight into her eye. “Don’t go into hiding. I got questions and nothing but time. I’ll find you if you don’t show with them.”
“Of course. I aim to please, Elder Naeko.”
“Well, then you failed pretty damn hard because I’m the very opposite of pleased right now.”
+Shit,+ Draus muttered. +Shit. Fuck.+
Avo wondered if this was part of Zein’s design, or if Ninth Column always intended to use the Regular as a tool like this.
“Alright,” Naeko said. “I’ll be issuing a formal red alert through the Exorcists. Would it be too much to hope your masters up in the Council of Elders haven''t been informed yet?”
“No. I haven’t culminated my operation and reported yet.”
That seemed to please him. “Okay.” He shot a look at the darkness---at Avo and his cadre. “Alright, you half-strands. It’s your lucky day today. Freedom for testimony. You''re in her guardianship now. Stick around. Don’t get nulled or snuffed into a real-death. I’m going to need some of you as witnesses in a couple of weeks’ time.” A beat passed. “You don’t try running either. I’ll find you. And I might be real mad when I do it.”
And with that, the palms cupped over him and yanked down.
He spasmed out of existence.
Reality snapped.
Suddenly, there was no sign of Chief Paladin Naeko. No sign he had ever been real at all.
Alone now with only Valerie Denton, her hovering aero, and the quieted skies above. The Darkstar ebbed softly as the night carried on, though cracks of light still spreading loose from the hypertubes in the background.
A full second passed as the Glaive stood before the dark that held Avo. The collapse of her facade came with the shivering in her hands and the quaver in her breath. As she took a tentative step into the megablock’s shadow, she swallowed and then spoke. “I’m with the Column. We need to go.”