She was in your custody. It is your duty to–
An attack. When. How severe was the breach? Was it Ori-Thaum? Where is Elder D’Rongo. I wish to have words with her–Then I wish to have words with Naeko–
“He will be on a ‘Stormjumpers’ marathon for the weekend, so he won’t answer.”
…
You… Enough! Listen. Hear my words.
I need you to release my daughter into my custody. Your shambolic attempts in preserving the sanctity and agency of a FATED are appalling. The Paladins and Exorcists have shamed themselves enough this one day, do not give me a reason to compound it.
You will relinquish my daughter to me…
Voidwatch? What do you mean she is with Voidwatch? How do–
No!
Do not transfer me to Guild Affairs! Do not! I have a right per the Articles–
[THIS CAST HAS ENDED. THINK ABOUT A PUPPY IF THE QUALITY WAS GOOD. THINK ABOUT A RAINY DAY IF THERE ARE ASPECTS THAT CAN BE IMPROVED. FOR OTHER INQUIRIES, FOCUS ON FORMING A QUESTION MARK…]
RAGGGHHHHHHHHHH!
[WE’RE SORRY: THE GENERAL VIOLENCE YOU’RE IMAGINING DOESN’T FIT ANY OF THE MENTIONED PATHINGS. PLEASE TRY AGAIN.]
-Uthred Greatling Experiencing “Technical Setbacks”
15-5
The Cult of the Unborn
Avo''s question of ontologic distribution was promptly interrupted by footsteps ascending the staircase below.
Apparently, his return did not go unnoticed by the absent members of his party. Nor did the infernal brightness of his accretion do favors for his subtlety.
First came Sunrise’s drones as a stream, and as the veil of particulate-sized bodies passed, so too followed Essus and Denton.
Denton had a comforting hand supporting the man by the arm as he staggered up the stair step by step. A momentary widening of her eyes was the only sign of surprise she betrayed with regard to the faint static now clinging to his Conflagration. Still, her task remained foremost. Supporting Essus as he continued onward.
It took one glance from Avo to see that the man had been crying again. Whatever the voiders were doing to him in this “therapeutic” session made his mind raw with pain and embrittled his ego’s integrity. There was an absence to his stare and a redness in his eyes. That, and the thinness of his thoughtstuff showed just how present he was. An additional oddity stood out to Avo in the cotton blanket Essus had wrapped around his body–and the tightness to which he clutched it.
The room wasn’t that cold. For what need could–
[It’s for shock,] Benhata said, adding points of interest to Avo’s cog-feed. [A very primitive method for treating shock, but whatever the voiders are doing, they know better than us.] He made a noise that was barely a laugh. [Still. It’s easier to just cut the memories out from him. They’re wasting time with this therapy thing if you ask me. I had the negative emotions tied to my sister’s death removed, but I can still remember her. It’s not that complicated. You can probably adjust him easier than they can… His mind’s just not going to be worth much is all. He’s not suited to help us in any way.]
The pang of anger Avo felt came as a surprise to even him. The Glaive’s words offended him. They insulted him.
Essus was a flat; a vulnerable creature in flesh and mind, but by Avo’s effort and will, he survived. Avo chose for him to live. The templates judge the man for his weakness, but the absurdity of their prejudice stood naked – from what world did Essus come, and to what hell did he arrive? What strength could have protected him from the eldritch distortions that infested New Vultun? And if he was to be mocked for his softness, then what say the Guilders and Godclads who fell to Avo?
A rank ghoul of all creatures, besting and brutalizing the elites of this world.
His templates recoiled as if lashed, and only a few stood unshaken alongside Corner. The former squire simply gave a laughing sneer. [You dumb motherfuckers done did it now.]
Benhata scrambled, fear exploding in his heart as he realized what torments could be visited upon him in this cage of consciousness. [Wait, that’s not what I meant–]
+All can be changed,+ Avo said, the ire leaving him in a rasping sibilate. +Me. You. Him. That is the truth of our reality. Change. Position? Power? Privilege? Bloodlines? Comedy. Delusion. All can be taken. All can be lost.+ And to end his words, he focused his attention anew on Essus as the man approached. +All can be granted.+
[I was… referring to the difficulty of his station,] Benhata tried to remedy.
+In part.+ The template couldn’t deceive Avo. It would be as if a current lying to the sea or the less lying to the whole. +But your love for pedigree remains. Know who has eaten you. Face the bitterness of your own truths. Judge my decisions if you want. Do it all you like. Won’t torture you for it. But I will do the same in turn with your beliefs. Your words.+
The remainder of the templates existed at his whims, and he addressed them not as a tyrant looking down, but a voice–a concept running deeper than bone or sinew–from within their own egos. +Hear me now. You are dead because we were enemies. This is a city at war. Forever. Everywhere. Everyone. We warred. You perished. I remain. Might just be your misfortune. Might be my power. Might be my skill. But indulge in no delusions. You are here because this is our environment. You are here because New Vultun does not care. Didn’t care about him. Same what it doesn’t care about you. Only power is true. Power. Knowledge. Control. And what they let us choose.+
[You’ve been real high off your shitty new philosophy ever since you gave your mind-dad a Frame,] Abrel muttered. Template or not, her will was adamantine, and she betrayed no hint of dread at her potential fate. She knew he would draw on her again. More, she knew this instance of her wasn’t real. [You’re right though. We did fight. I did lose. You earned my mind and my deaths. Blessed be the worthy. The oath abides. But he isn’t worthy. He’s broken. And much as I’d like this Silver-fucker to get cast as one of Dannis Steelhard’s wound-holes while a be-cocked fem-ghoul from one of Chambers’ shows–] her words drew a whoop from Chambers’ template. [–teaches him some ‘romance,’ letting Essus keep that Frame without changing him entirely is going to be a hard shit to pass.]
This was known to him, but something was beyond their sight. The limit of their imaginations was appalling.
Abrel sighed. [What? What aren’t we seeing that you are? No offense, but beyond jacking you’re pretty lacking on your own. I would’ve had you in the lightrail without the Reg.] No she wouldn’t. [And I guess the ‘no being delusional’ rule can go fuck itself when it’s you doing it, huh?] This wasn’t delusion, it was hypocrisy. [Fuck. You.]
+He matters unto himself,+ Avo said, ordering the templates to recede as he focused on the real again. +What matters was that he survived. Symbology. Mythology. A saint to be fashioned.+
[A saint for whom?] Abrel asked, her presence a fading whisper.
+The FATELESS. The meek. The weary. The untapped.+
Fashioning his conflagration in a template of silence to muster his focus, Avo extended an Echohead and beckoned for Sunrise to settle upon him.
“Essus,” Avo said, as bees began to dot his transplanted tendril. “How are you feeling?”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.The man opened his mouth and, after a beat, settled on honesty. “It is hard for me to yearn for life still. The Frame took my pain. Cut it from me when I died but… the emptiness. It remains. It doesn’t cure nothing. And I don’t want the nothingness to go away. I lost something. I will have always lost something. The absence is right.
“Look at you. Acclimated to the city already.”
A quiet wheeze escaped from Draus before she caught herself and forced a frown back on her face. He flashed his fangs in a broad grin. “Usin’ other minds to generate jokes for you is a lousy trick, rotlick.”
[Pretty humorless half-strand before, weren’t you, ghoul?] Corner asked.
+Being funny doesn’t kill people.+
“Part of me now,” Avo said. “Like sustenance fueling a body.”
“Once a ghoul, ever a ghoul,” Draus muttered.
Avo turned his attention back to Essus. “Came up just in time. Have ontologics to share. And something new we can do.”
“Avo,” Essus sighed. “I… appreciate your gestures. I appreciate your efforts at keeping this fool alive, but this power… I… I can’t…” He looked down at his hands as they began to shake. “I was not enough.”
“No,” Avo agreed. “Me neither. Watched me die in the Crucible. Remember? Again. Again. Again.”
“I do not know if I can bear it,” Essus replied.
“Don’t need you to,” Avo said, heeding directions from his borrowed intuition. He needed to play a delicate game right now; too much force, and Essus would crumble before he could ever be guided to true promise. “I just need you to get better. For yourself.” He wanted to say for the boy, but the boy was gone, and a reminder would only amount to dripping his tongue into Essus’ psychic wounds.
Casting an appreciative look at Denton, the man nodded slowly. “I am trying. I am… talking. Facing the problem. But… I understand if you need to take the power away from me if I don’t use it. I will not fight you for it. I didn’t want it to begin with and–”
“Keep it.” Avo caught the startlement in Essus’ eyes and knew the man’s weakness. All these words were wrapped in grief, but the length and what he built to was simple.
He, too, enjoyed having a Frame now. And to lose it would be a deprivation, brief though his time might have been with it.
“Keep it,” Avo repeated. “You can even have a new Heaven. If that’s what the cadre decides.” Pulling his focus back from just Essus, Avo spoke to the room. “I killed four Fallwalkers. Not a real cadre. Claimed three usable Heavens out of the deal.” He neglected to mention his encounter with Raldi and Reva. Such a secret was for his mind only, for his trust of Cas and Denton ran only so deep with how they belonged to Zein.
Perhaps Draus could know later. Draus, and maybe Kae.
Chambers was sloppy in action and thought, and with all the time Essus was certain to spend with the voiders, there was a high potential for compromise on his end as well.
“Seems like you got a bit more than just a few Heavens,” Denton said, making gentle inroads to the new shift in his consciousness. “Did you encounter someone from Omnitech?”
“Already know the answer to that,” Avo replied. “Still learning its nuances.”
Sunrise fused into form over his shoulder and with every drone added to the swarm, Avo saw threads of information running through them like conduits. Junctions of data and cognition. More than just through them, however, there was something tunneling inward at the very core…
“What you’re seeing as a hyperwave transmission,” Denton explained. “I have an implant that allows for it as well. You already have guessed that.”
“Yes,” Avo said. “The beaming… you were communicating with someone in the void?”
“Plural,” she responded.
He grunted. Unsurprising. “Ori-Thaum. They don’t know you belong to another? That you’re a voider.”
The ghost of a smirk passed over Denton’s features she shook her head. “I’m not a voider. I was born here.” The way she offered no more information was vexing, but Avo could respect it. It wasn’t like he had been forthcoming about his own details most of the time.
“Might need your help,” he said. “Interested in learning how to use Sprites. Understanding machines.”
“I can do better. Aegis wants to speak with you.” Denton shot Cas a look and the other Columner let out a long breath.
“Welcome to the shit-show, ghoul,” Cas breathed. He sounded far happier than overwhelmed though. “Speaking of which. Before we start splitting these Ontologics or whatever it is you’re going to do, there’s something we should get done first.”
“What?” Avo asked.
“A cult needs a name.”
“Cult?” Denton said, faintly alarmed. “What do you mean ‘cult’? ‘Cas. I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t keep doing this. The last time you sent your fans to blow up a thaumic reactor, a few hundred thousand people died, and I had to spend weeks cleaning–”
“Not my cult, his!” Cas said, pointing at Avo. “He’s going to start the cult. And I think it’s a great idea.”
Denton paused, and then shuffled to face Avo again. “You. You’re starting a cult.”
“Break Crucibles. Kill Syndicates. Redistribute Frames and Heavens.”
Her mouth opened but no sound followed.
Across the room, Cas began to chuckle. “Well. I never thought I’d see the day our great negotiator is speechless.”
“--You need to speak with Aegis today,” Denton finished.
“Yes,” Avo said, agreeing. “Interested in talking to one of your machine gods.”
“Aegis isn’t a god, it’s just an artificial governing administrator.”
It sounded like semantics to Avo, and most of his templates agreed.
“Name,” Cas said, enjoying the moment. “Then, we split the bounty. Then we talk to the boss.”
Denton frowned. “Don’t call them that, Cas. You know they hate it.”
“I’m definitely going to call them that.”
She narrowed her eyes at Avo. “You’re bringing out the worst in him.”
“Didn’t take much,” Avo replied. “Hm. Any suggestions? For the name?”
“Hey, I got one,” Chambers said, giggling. “How about the Thick–”
A blade of glass flashed out from seemingly nowhere and decapitated him for the second time in minutes.
Kae flinched. Essus cried out. Everyone was already looking away from Chambers’ body as it toppled.
“That’s my veto,” Draus said, snatching her blade of glass out from the air. “Rest of you better come up with somethin’ good. Hey, Avo? What about the Second-to-Lowest Masters?” She threw her head back and guffawed.
“I would kill you if you had a clean cycler,” Avo glowered.
“The Unborn,” Essus said. All eyes turned to regard him. He winced slightly but withstood the attention. “We are fighting for a future, are we not? For children to be born again? For the Heaven of Love to be healed, for affection returned to the hands of the people? That is our newest goal.”
Silence followed.
“Shit. That’s pretty good,” Cas said. “Cult of the Unborn. Yeah… yeah!”
[Yeah,] Corner said. [That sounds nova.]
[Like one of those shitty heavy string albums Vator listens to,] Abrel muttered.
Chambers’ template, meanwhile, was more dismayed at his death. [Avo, tell the Reg that this is fucking bullshit! I was going to say the Thicket of Unseen Flames!] Avo delved into his thoughts and turned away in digust.
+No you weren’t. You were thinking ‘Thick Meaty Intruders.’”
[A man can change his mind!] Chambers screamed.
“It’s good,” Avo said. “It’s truthful. Good bones for mythology. Good work.”
Essus didn’t smile, but he came closer than before.
+Still think empowering him was a mistake?+ Avo asked.His templates considered for a moment, and responded.
[It’s a nice idea, but yeah, he’s not going to be a good ‘Clad,] Benhata said.
Abrel snorted. [There is no world where he is worthy. He’s going to die. It’s going to be stupid. You’re probably going to be scooping his Ontologics up after he ruptures.]
[If Essus dies, can I have his stuff?] Chambers asked.
Avo growled in frustration, earning him several odd looks in the real. “My mind is unsupportive.”
“I know how that feels,” Kae said, nodding sagely. Out from the veil of her holocoat, she produced a gauss pistol and her eyes grew hard. “What helps me is doing things so… I think we should move on to our suicides–oh! Avo, I’ll examine the Ontologics first! Let me see if there are obvious problems before you graft anyone.”
Before he could respond, the Agnos inhaled deeply, pressed the gun to her temple, and fired.
A welter of brain matter sprayed free, and Draus directed a mirror shard to swallow the flechette before it could hit Cas.
“Gotta teach her to point that thing where other people aren’t,” Draus sighed.
“Thanks,” Cas said, blinking.
“Just don’t pray at me, cult-boy. Now. Who wants me to do ‘em?”