Okay, now everyone was looking at me. I rocked backward on my heels, feeling their eyes staring. Tabbris’s hand touched my back, her mouth silently moving in a single word, ‘What?’ She was so taken aback by the whole thing that she didn’t even use our telepathic communication thing.
Meanwhile, my head shook as I stared back at the woman. I’m sorry, what the fuck are you talking about? And what does any of that have to do with why you sent my mother here, and took Nevada and Mercury? Actually, where the hell are they? What are even you doing here? Why are you trying to distract us with some bullshit about me and the Fomorians? I could have blurted another half dozen questions or so, at least. But that last one was the most important. Why was she trying to distract us?
Denuvus chuckled silently, glancing away with a thoughtful look. Then new words appeared on the board. ‘You’re right about the distraction thing. But then, it’s also not a lie. The best distractions are the truth. And believe it or not, the two things are connected. You want to know why I’m here, why I’ve done all this? It’s connected to what I’ve already said.’
You really expect us to believe that the people of this world are ancient Seosten? That was Asenath. Because that sounds an awful lot like a story you’re making up just to sound interesting and confusing enough to keep our attention. We already know you’re in a rush. You sent your mind-controlled goons just to slow us down, and now you’re willing to stand here and tell stories about ancient Seosten and how Flick’s supposed to stop the Fomorians?
There was a moment of silent contemplation from Denuvus. She seemed to be considering how to respond to that. Then she simply raised her hand and snapped her fingers. As she did so, the force field disappeared and there was a pulse of energy that shot through the whole area. It felt like static electricity passing through me twice. It all happened before I, or any of the others, could even react. And when it was over, I heard the woman speak out loud. “Let’s be clear about something, you are not the first to think of ways to bypass or counter my abilities, and you will not be the last. It was a good–”
In mid-sentence, Denuvus stepped aside as Asenath went after her, using a bit of Bobbi’s power for even greater speed than she was capable of on her own. What followed was a rapid series of blindingly quick motions. The vampire girl had a knife in each hand and swung seven, eight, nine times within a second or two. But each time, Denuvus avoided the blade by twisting that part of her body out of the way. She barely seemed to put much effort into it, like she was in the Matrix or something. She dodged everything before tapping a finger against the girl. Immediately, Senny was set up to the ceiling and pinned there.
Shiori, Twister, and I moved that way immediately, but Denuvus held up her hand and green flames appeared between us. “I have no particular desire to harm any of you unless I am given no other option,” she informed us. “Look up, you’ll see your friend is fine.”
I did so, and she was right. Asenath was simply pinned to the ceiling and held there. There didn’t seem to be anything else wrong with her. Well, aside from the fact that she was clearly pretty angry about the whole situation. Seth appeared and went floating up that way to say something to her, giving the dangerous woman below a look that told me he wasn’t any happier about this than Asenath was.
Once we had taken that in, Denuvus lowered her hand and the flames vanished. “As I said, I have no desire to injure or kill you. I will defend myself, however. That is something I have grown quite accustomed to and skilled at, as you may have noticed.” She paused pointedly before adding, “As you also might have noticed, I am not using my voice to control you. Consider that an attempted olive branch of peace. I recognize that you have every right to be angry with my actions. But, if you will be still and allow me to speak, you may find that we do not have to continue or end this encounter as enemies.” Her eyes met mine. “Your mother is well. I required her assistance, not her pain or injury. When this is over, she will be returned to you.”
“You puppeted Miles and his friends and sent them to attack us,” I shot back. “Wait, where is Miles? Add that to the list. We know he ran up here, so what’d you do with him and the others?”
Twister, standing a few feet to the side, spoke up then. “Yeah, babe, it’s hard to say you’re trying to play nice when you mind control a herd of baby Heretics into ambushing us.”
“Miles is assisting your mother with the last of what I needed her for,” the woman coolly informed me. “And yes, I did send them. I sent them to delay you and hurt you if need be. They were specifically told no lethal attacks. You all have healing capability and have likely been damaged just as much, if not more, in your training sessions. As I said, I will protect myself. That extends to protecting my goals, particularly those I have spent this much time and effort toward. But, you have made it this far. That by itself is to be commended.”
As she said that, Denuvus gestured with her finger and Asenath was lowered back to the floor. “So, you have a choice. You may attempt to fight and force me to defend myself further. Or, you may allow me to continue giving you the explanation you actually want. I leave it entirely up to you.”
Oh boy there was a lot I wanted to say to that. And a lot I wanted to do. But I forced those instincts down and simply took a long, deep breath. I had heard, and now seen a hint, of just how dangerous this woman could be. She had been said to be a contemporary of Fossor, and we didn’t have a whole army here to fight her like we had with him. It was just a few of us. Hell, she hadn’t even bothered to use her real power yet, as she’d pointed out. I knew this whole thing was specifically meant to delay us while she got exactly what she wanted, but what else were we supposed to do? She’d literally disabled our defenses against her with a snap of her fingers. And now she wasn’t bothering to even use that power. Not yet anyway. Unless we gave her a reason.
“Fine,” I finally managed through gritted teeth. “Tell us the truth then.” Though even as I said that, I wasn’t sure what she told us would actually be the truth. Still, we didn’t have much choice other than to listen and decide for ourselves.
From the small smile on the woman’s face, she knew what I was thinking. But she didn’t address it, simply taking a moment to glance around at all of us before starting to speak again. “As I was saying, those ancient Seosten people did come to this world and they began to plan on how to deal with Cronus, as well as his burgeoning Fomorian people once that particular issue presented itself. They saw themselves as the true Seosten people, as those who had stayed behind were all… mutated to gain their possession power. A bit of prejudice, yes, but also fear of what Cronus’s infection could have done to them. In any case, they believed that it was up to them to come up with a way to defeat these Fomorians. And over time, as they put themselves toward that goal, they learned the real issue. Specifically, the fact that it is, for all intents and purposes, impossible to truly kill a Fomorian.”
We all blinked at that, before Tabbris spoke up. “Um, they’re tough, but they’re not impossible. We saw some of them get killed.”
“No, you didn’t,” Denuvus started, before amended, “Well, technically in a way, yes. But not permanently.”
With that, she proceeded to tell us the real story. She explained that when a Fomorian ‘died,’ they simply respawned back on their homeworld or wherever, in a new body. Which was part of the reason they were so impossibly dangerous. Every time they were killed, they learned from those mistakes and weaknesses. They died, then they appeared in a new body and adjusted themselves to be stronger and to counter the thing they had been killed by. No wonder the Seosten were having so many problems beating them. They were fighting a losing war because their enemies would just keep learning and improving from every fight. Hell, if that was true, it meant they were still fighting the exact same people their original ancestors fought at the very beginning of this whole war. Which was just horrifying and depressing at the same time.
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Shiori spoke up slowly as we all absorbed that. “So, wait. You mean there’s the exact same amount of Fomorians now as there was back then? You just said they don’t procreate.”
“That’s… sort of true, they don’t in the way that you’re thinking,” Denuvus confirmed. “But no, there are more than they started with.” Before we could all be too confused, she continued. “You see, captured Seosten are not killed. They are turned into more Fomorians.”
Okay, that made me rock backwards in confusion. “Wait, what? What the fuck are you talking about?”
So, the woman explained further. This whole reincarnation thing wasn’t just something that some species known as the Fomorians was capable of. It turned out that every single original Fomorian was actually given the mind and… soul or whatever of one of the Seosten whom Cronus had absorbed back in the very beginning. When this whole thing had started, the original Cronus absorbed all those Seosten people into himself. Then he found these other people, the pre-Fomorian species and sort of… injected those absorbed minds into each of them. That created the Fomorians we knew. And now, whenever they captured a regular Seosten, they would…. they would take them back to Cronus and turn them into another Fomorian.
Beside me, Tabbris made a noise of alarm and fear, covering her mouth with both hands before mumbling, “Is that really what happens to them? They–they really… but why don’t they ever say anything? Why do they all work for Cronus after that, after they get… transformed?”
The woman shook her head. “I’m afraid I don’t have all the answers when it comes to that. It’s taken a lot just for me to find out as much as I have, believe me. My guess would be that they are somehow bound to him, or their memories are erased in some way. Perhaps a bit of both and more. Whatever the answer, that is what happens. It is why the Seosten are doomed to lose this war, eventually, if something does not happen to change the rules.”
Slowly, the others turned to look at me, following the woman’s gaze. I swallowed before straightening as I stared right back at her. “That’s what you were talking about before. These people, the ones who came to this world, they gave themselves Necromancy so they could stop the Fomorians from respawning or whatever. They wanted to grab onto their souls when they were killed.”
Again, Denuvus offered me a faint smile of approval. “Quite right. It took quite a bit of effort and a long time on their parts, but they eventually seeded that power into themselves, into their genetic line. There, the power would grow, mutating and adjusting with each generation. It would pop up now and then, but they needed it to be stronger. A normal level of Necromancy wouldn’t do. They needed one powerful enough to actually do what they wanted. That required many generations of growth. Unlike the Seosten back on their homeworld, the ones who came to this world did not expand their lifespans out to thousands of years. They lived more human-like lives. And with each generation that passed, the potential of their seeded Necromancy grew stronger.”
I was so taken aback by all this, trying to come to terms with what she was saying, that I couldn’t find any words. Asenath did, however. “So why did they just forget all that? You can’t tell me these people remember anything about where they came from. Fossor sure didn’t know, and if Rahanvael knew, she would have said something to Flick.”
“That is true,” Denuvus agreed. “They did forget their own origins. Why? I’m afraid I don’t know. I’ve looked for that answer to no avail. I only know the truth because I have found records from their ancestors explaining what they did, their history and what their goals were. Many were… let’s say terrified by the idea of modifying themselves to install that seed of Necromancy. They saw it as corrupting their own species, the last of their species. In their minds, there would be no more original Seosten after that point. But they also saw it as the only solution to the Fomorian problem. It was something they knew would take many generations before coming to fruition. Perhaps they cut themselves off from the outside universe in order to give that seed time to grow. If the Fomorians had found them before then, they would have been culled quite easily. It’s possible they erased those records from their own society themselves in order to protect their mission. Maybe they intended to have those records restored, their descendants made to understand their true history at some point, when the time was right. Which is why they were available for me to find.”
“And maybe Fossor fucked that whole thing up when he took over,” I put in. “Whatever, that’s all speculation. Now you think he was the one those original people were waiting for. That ‘seed of Necromancy’ finally blossomed in him. It’s why he was so much stronger than the others.”
Denuvus beamed a bit. “You truly are a credit to your mother. Yes, that is basically correct. He began already quite a bit stronger than others of his kind. And then he proceeded to increase that power exponentially over the millennia that followed. The power itself was growing as expected, though the ancestors involved in its creation might have been a bit disappointed about who it ended up in. But then, it didn’t end in him.”
Swallowing hard, I finished for her. “It ended up in me, and then combined with Manakel’s power.”
“Making it even stronger,” Twister added. “So now you think she can actually stop those Fomorians from respawning or whatever?”
Denuvus, however, shook her head. “Not yet. She might have the raw power, but she’s nowhere near the level of skill and control that would take. But as far as potential goes, sure.” To me, she added, ”You just need a lot more training. But from what I hear, you’ve got the right teachers. So, you know, good luck. I don’t particularly want to see the Fomorians take over Earth and kill everybody either.”
This… this was too much to take in. I had no idea how to actually react to it. Being told that I had the potential, and therefore the responsibility, to help stop the Fomorians once and for all? What the hell was I supposed to say to that? How could I even start to respond?
I had no idea. So I didn’t try, not right now anyway. I needed time to process. Instead, I took a breath before asking, ”But what does that have to do with why you’re here and why you brought my mom and the others? You said it was related to that, but Fossor didn’t know any of this.”
“You’re right, he didn’t, not exactly.” With another small smile, the woman continued. “He didn’t know the origins of his people. But he did locate their control room, the ancient laboratory where they did their work. I say ancient, though to his people, it would’ve been incredibly futuristic. He found the hidden lab and vault where all their tools and treasures were stored. Treasures they had gathered from across the universe on their journeys. The man was incapable of understanding their history or records. But he did know power when he saw it. He sealed the place off to all but himself. Or his blood.”
“Ammon,” I immediately put in. “Wait, they used your blood to give him his powers. You did that on purpose. You let Ammon have your blood so it would connect you to him.”
“A credit to your mother indeed,” Denuvus replied. “Yes, Ammon receiving my blood was precisely what I wanted to happen. And, as expected, Fossor did eventually bring your mother here while she was pregnant with him. You see, in order to access some of the systems within the lab, it required proof of genetic offspring. They wished to ensure that the seed of power was being continued. Thus, to access everything he wanted within those hidden rooms, he had to prove he had a child.”
My head shook. “But what else did he access in there? And what is it you’re after?”
In response to that, the woman seemed to consider for a moment before shaking her head. “I couldn’t say precisely what he gained from those rooms. Though I imagine it was quite dangerous. And as for myself, I have but one goal in this life beyond maintaining my own freedom and comfort. And that is to kill the monster who imprisoned my sister and me all those years ago. The same monster who killed my children. I believe the hidden chambers here hold a key piece of the puzzle of how to do that. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but it’s here. That is why I brought your mother here. When Fossor keyed Ammon into the secret lab, he created a loophole in which if your mother and I were both together, the system would allow us access. My blood mixed with hers in the same relative area was almost close enough for it to accept. It required one other thing, a Seosten genetic pattern.”
“Mercury,” Tabbris finished for her. “That’s why you made Flick’s Mama bring him too.”
Denuvus nodded in confirmation to that before gesturing. “But with all that said, I assume you would like to see your mother by now. They should be just about done transferring the contents of these rooms so I can go through them at my leisure to find what I was looking for.”
“Wait,” Asenath put in. “What about Nevada? Why did you want her here?”
Again, Denuvus smiled faintly. “It’s not her I want at all. It’s the person she was born from. The person whose death created her.
“I want my sister back.”