Following Mage's advice, I've made some time to record past experiences and jotted down the highlights I'd want to remember, in posterity, of what has transpired the last few months. That would be the last few months in my time because my little jaunt to the Abyss was a bit dramatic in it's time contraction. Apparently time has a type of gravity all it's own and the destruction of two Tier IX artifacts caused some sort of... who the hell cares. Point being, minus my observations here, nearly a year and a half poofed on me in the mortal realms.

Shit's not going to be written down in perfect chronological order but it's not a big deal since this is for me anyway. If someone else other than some memory crippled, future me is reading this, fuck you for invading my privacy, (possible inheritor excluded.) I hope it gives you some kind of lethal OCD episode...

After popping world side with Sable and finding out about some pretty wild stuff, gushy bleeding heart that I am, I and my crew got roped into helping Malkanthor get things back under control. Roz and Chanda helped the Umberdown running band to track down a surviving group of Grimshadow loyalists who popped the cork on Aaron's cannibal mermaid trap. Lot's of damage was done before Ephyra arrived from Seaside to fix it, so several surviving Grimshadow house members were ripped apart by angry mobs before Glaucous arrived to claim the younger branch members under his protection and fobbed them off on Malkanthor... My money for how the end played out lays on some non-hostile revenge for eight centuries of indentured guardianship...

It took some time for Sable and I to track down survivors of or linked to Sable's pre-Abyss romp but it wasn't good news. As far as I was able to determine, he had one confirmed and one potential boy who did not survive. The only other lead I could find was a woman who had delivered still born and had been saved by Healer.

While Sable observed a three day period of mourning with a widower who had lost an arm trying to wrest wife and child from a young feral mermaid, I had an idea to sweep through the Grimshadow branch orphans. With Healer's help, the search bore fruit and we discovered two grandchildren of Sable's, A sixteen year old 'incubator' and a thirteen year old boy. Ultimately, after the dust settled, the thirteen year old boy was taken into Rohna's retinue because of their similar gifts and the boy's distrust of men and lack of desire to accept Sable as family.

The shy older teen, Shisa, took to Sable almost immediately. As of the time of this journal entry, Shisa currently enjoys 'his' bonding time with Sable and dual discipleship under the patient and caring guidance of Daphne and Pear as well as 'her' deepening friendship with Samskara. I get the distinct impression that Shisa's empathic gift and history has made him indifferent to gender. If not for Samskara getting a fairly threatening ambush lecture on romantic sincerity and my ban on practicing curse twisting upon house members, Shisa might already be not only a her but a pregnant one...

Awhile back, Chanda asked to officially become vassal lord over 'Viganda Forest', all four trees and six hundred saplings of it. After Vigna and her three people shy sisters agreed, as long as Chanda takes his 'husbanding of the land' seriously, I made it official with a 'Why the hell not.' After all, Vigna and Maple were already showing early aura signatures of how serious Chanda had already been taking it. The two sisters hadn't informed him and I wasn't about to ruin their obvious intentions to keep him earnestly currying their favor or mess up their nutty sisters' chance for equal attention before he started showing any affectionate favoritism.

Roz came sobbing to me, out of the blue, when his dick barbs disappeared and Pomegranate dumped him the next day. When it became apparent that the real reason he showed up was to demonstrate how much easier it was for him to get it up for me, I handed him a vial of 'absolution' and told him to get lost before I kicked his kidney bean colored ass. After stealing a sloppy kiss and unsuccessfully dodging one of Sable's casually thrown daggers, which earned him a nicked ear, he dashed off laughing and shouting something about enjoying some apple and peach pie if he managed to earn some wings. It took me a minute to figure out what he was referring to but, in my defense, I was contemplating how 'playful' Sable was actually being. To be safe, I gave Apple and Peach a heads up but their matching malicious smiles when Apple said they'd show him a 'good time' had me more worried for Roz.

Daphne took her stewardship of the garden and discipleship of Shisa very seriously, though she accomplished being both patient and no-nonsense with natural grace. The addition of Hedge, fore mentioned widower who had changed his name and cut all ties with his old life, did seem to add a little extra twinkle to the hawthorn dryad's eyes as they found an easy and comfortable companionship. When I first brought Hedge in, he wasn't keen on anything over needful healing but I left the door open to him so it wouldn't be awkward later if he changed his mind.

I don't know what to make of Samskara. With his father and Roz making huge strides to shake off the demon shackles, if anything, little Sammy's seemed to be getting stronger. It just didn't make sense. Sammy might come off a little strong in the machismo department but was earnest in friendship, even tempered and didn't show any signs of excess cruelty to his animal curse subjects. Sammy's dual spark plugs might appear to be ready to start a car at any moment but he wasn't perverted acting or anything either. When he made a breakthrough to Teir V and sprouted leathery wings, tail and blackening skin with hardening fingernails but only seemed to grow more respectful and differential to me, I finally consulted my living manifestation. After receiving some cryptic nonsense about Sammy becoming 'one of mine by choice', I gave up and decided to let it be unless it became a problem.

As for me and Sable... A few days after our intense interactions, Djehuty showed up for some more intimate conversation that led to some pretty enjoyable activities then showed up again a week later for a much more lingering visit but I haven't seen him again since. That was over a month ago. I'd be worried if I didn't understand that the slow whimpering end of reality meant that there was a lot more to witness.

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, Malkanthor's desperate need for my services, personal pursuits through all the writings and materials my father and sister dumped on me plus contemplation of my ridiculously complex ascension path have kept me old friends with mental and physical exhaustion. With me and Sable being the only Teir IV peeps within the inner circle, both of us are feeling the pressure for improvement. Sure, we could cheat but neither one of us wants to compromise power and stability with speed this early in the game.

Sable had his hands full as well. An emotionally fragile grandson, keeping me safe from swarming masses of needy Delvers and his own path contemplation had him just as familiar with low energy moments as me. Despite that, he still found time to have a half-hearted on and off fling with Pear. A cynical part of me kinda believes they did it just so they wouldn't feel left out. Still, I'm starting to think he has an extra stamina reserve for sex the same way some people, myself included, seem to have an extra stomach for dessert.

On a final note, I had that heart to heart with my living manifestation after I asked about Sammy, leaving with more questions than answers... Demon is now Cor for heart and angel is Alma for soul. They're real peoples now, after all, sort of... Well Cor was awfully chipper and Alma was kind of cranky. It didn't take long to connect the dots and get squalling pop-tart. I admit to a great deal of curiosity to what the particular fulfilling of that set of oaths will bring but they aren't certain. I doubt it will be anything mundane though.

After fine tuning my understanding of Cor and Alma's roles and what they could do for me, afterimages of them rejoined my mindscape and reformed the throne I originally had. That was quickly followed by a notification from Buzz that Apocryphal Throne had been added to my manifestation list and it had a crap tonne of affects. It amplified the chain and ribbon stuff but it also gave me access to summon astral copies of Cor and Alma as well as the ability to summon an astral archetype of any creature that had been in my realm. I could also have an additional power active at the same time, for a total of four. The best effect in my mind, aside from a slew of passive buffs, was its ability to act as a meditation amplifier. A one hour trial had help me piece together more new facets of understanding on Machine of God than I had in the last two weeks combined.

Things took a bit of a weird turn after I excitedly thanked them. I suddenly found myself in an angel and demon sandwich, experiencing some very affectionate skinship. I never really identified with Troy fantasy me and it had been a very long time since that had been me anyway, much less a female version that put Troy's taste in a much more flattering light. Cor was essentially a somewhat demonized version of all the best features of every oath bound lover I have ever had. Once the line between skin-ship and outright molesting started happening, I gathered up my crumbling willpower and extracted myself to both of their lighthearted disappointment. Giving in to that kind of temptation seemed subtly dangerous and likely addictive.

Speaking of temptation, I've been starting to have some pretty strong fantasies of intensifying my fraternization with Sable but I've been pushing it away. I still have one hell of a huge piece of unresolved feelings and until I address it, I won't risk crossing or blurring anymore lines with my closest friend and pillar. I couldn't forgive myself if I did something to hurt the guy. Not that he'd ever let me know.

I don't feel like I owe Knight anything but Petre's in there and I can't deny that the huge chunk of the foundation of me that's Oscen is heartsick over not having that explored for reunion or closure. The more time passes the more I lean towards the later and if that's what Knight wants I... Damn it, what is he fucking waiting for!?

***

“I can't believe Lilly actually took up that Djinn's offer and visited his family. I mean, I know Troy, Liita and Bress went with her and we made sure she didn't go empty-handed but what the hell are we going to do if he does a 180 on her and holds her friends hostage or something?” Wren said worriedly to Malkanthor.

The deceptively frail looking fae replied, “Djinn are notorious for being able to weasel out of oaths and twist words but have faith in your friends. I doubt Troy would have volunteered to accompany if it was anywhere near as dire as you make it. Lilly might be a bit too headstrong for her own good but Bress is surprisingly resourceful and Liita has become a destructive little bag of tricks under Assassin's tutelage. How he managed to convince her to discard spear is beyond me. As last resort, there is Troy. He is far more capable than he allows others to know...Very capable.” Malkanthor finished with a smiling contemplative look on his face.

Wren shook his head but conceded before moving on with, “Seaside is close enough to where it needs to be that you shouldn't have any problems finishing it with the resources at hand. The resort and safe-zone are complete with replacement materials on hand to deal with the next three potential storm seasons. Jaden's roost is finished so him and his family can move here soon. Aaand a fully outfitted, all year capable agricultural zone is gearing for it's first harvest.

“I've given what I'm willing for your academy and armory. You're not talking me out of more. I'll give you credit for being a great deal more shrewd than I had originally credited you for, though... Don't even think of asking to join my house again either. You're a hella better at running things than anyone else here.”

Malkanthor chuckled and said, “It was mostly a jest but if you'd have me, I wouldn't hesitate.”

Wren hesitated for a moment before he said, “Satyra sent me a message through Pops. She's decided to choose humans as her planet's inheritors to take advantage of Origin's last gift. Don't ask me what that is because it has to do with aspects of existence that aren't a part of my path. Translation; I know next to nothing about it... What I do know is that once she made that decision, the space around Satyra started drawing energy from the Astral Plane at an alarming rate, binding with the adjacent void space. That means all those science books and whatnot will be a lot more valuable than magical tombs in a few generations.

“In the next couple decades or so, ambient arcane essence will plummet. Though they'll never completely dry up, the arcane wells will slow down to a trickle over the next century. Cherry, Holly and Ash have made alliance along with the last unicorn pair and their foal to protect the secret valley from other migrating magical beasts. Aside from a moss hag, er, maiden who may join them, they don't want much more competition for this ley-line node.

“What all this means for you is that you have about fifteen years to bring in fresh blood before all the magic folks and critters of this world start a war to claim all the wells and nodes. Focus on fostering the spiritually and psionicly gifted but don't let the knowledge of magic die because rare individuals are born with their own sources and there will be enough juice from the well to keep the enchantments of this city and a handful of academic mages in good standing indefinitely.

“Once the inert insulation of void and matter reach the point where spiritual gifts start to suffer, right around when the mirror barrier breaks, I intend on being here to do a batch of recruiting. It's not too late to reopen this conversation then. Try to keep your next batch of little ancestors down to a reasonable amount.

Malkanthor frowned and replied, “That's dire news...And what was that last part? I explained very early on that I had no intention of expanding Umberdown to such a degree again. It was Rohna who approached me with the suggestion of reintegration through marriage and even though she is my fiancee in name, she holds all power of choice for when she is ready for intimacy.”

Letting a little agitation slip through, Wren said, “That's just the issue. You've developed the habit of being a guy who can't say no to a pretty girl. Why do you think she approached you to begin with? It's because you've accepted nearly a dozen requests for 'comfort' since I've been here. Half of them have been from purple sash women still capable of carrying. I know you've been careful and I get how much of a relief it must be to be able to do casual without consequence but there's actually still a consequence. Any bun you get in an oven has greater claim of leadership by blood than any living Delver.

“Don't get me wrong. I think Rohna was more than willing to approach you on merit of personal appeal. You're a good combination of nice guy and no-shit taker. If at some point down the road, you actually tie the knot with Rohna, be ready to put away your sexual celebrity status. If you make her miserable by making another harem, her father is not the only one who'll come looking to break your legs... I'll start with the middle one.”

Malkanthor responded morosely, “You wrong me. I have taken no request for comfort since I have agreed to Rohna's proposal, though I have made one request of my own, which Rozke... Rozech...which Roz denied. If I feel the need to find relief I know where to look for it and where not. My gratitude and esteem for you is too great to take offense but know I have spoken with Rohna in great length on the subject in openness and honesty.

“For instance, we have both discussed the pure fantasy prospect of her observing you dominating me with great verbal enjoyment. If you ever find yourself awakening to the want of such an indulgence, inform us. Any more than that is not yours to know, in fairness. Agreed?”

Wren muttered, “Point taken,” before hastily excusing himself.

Lilly, Mal may disagree but I think your friendship with Rohna has been a terrible influence on the girl... I'm a little sad over us not being as close as we were before in this iteration. Maybe then I could have talked you out of going to the domain of an outsider, the domain of an outsider who's son lost an avatar during an invasion war... You're going to play dress up and meet the family with reality pirates.

To be fair, they're more like scavengers. Dirty, opportunistic scavengers of our reality, Lilly. Troy will probably be looking for one to get a different kind of dirty with too. He's just as likely to get screwed as you. Mortals are just toys to be played with until they break for those guys. Don't mind me, imaginary Lilly and Troy, I'm just gonna keep shitting bricks till you get back.

With a quick swing through the newly established academy to drop off the latest and last set of equipment and materials, Wren went to find Healer's home. A surging scream of dimensional tearing broke his train of thought before a blood lust of soul shaking proportions washed over him. In the brief fraction of a second before emotionless calm claimed him, Wren caught glimpse of a madness inducing face. Activating his embodiment, Echo of Creation and drawing on the bolstering effects of the Apocryphal Throne, what started as reflexive action turned to concentrated effort as Wren sealed and anchored the surrounding dimensions of reality.

Ignoring the voice infected with lethal amounts of existence destroying corruption, Wren flew and blinked then summoned spectral transportation to distance himself from any and all life. For hours he fought against the pressing malevolence he was barely capable of withstanding due to being on the good side of reality resistance. All the while he was slowly losing a battle of attrition with the voice of corruption eating away at his astral body and power of existence.

Finally, Wren reached the destination for his last stand. Within a matter of seconds Wren dropped his personal tank and domain reserves to dangerous levels as he desperately reached to repair old and broken sigils within Rozchereck's previous prison. As the sigils began flaring to life, a dimensional trap composed of locks beyond Wren's current ability to reproduce, gnawed toothless on the foreign assailant as it laughed at the fruitless struggles of the Tier IV existence it was bent on dragging to oblivion.

Wren experienced a momentary breath of relief from the pressure when the sigils showed their last deceptively simple lure, drawing upon the expelling essence of the intruder to fuel its effort. While stimulated maelstrom wells began spitting structure bruising hailstones of condensed and mixed pieces of essence against the inner walls of Wren's astral body and miniature astral realm, a laughing humanoid form coalesced within the cave. Downing a few of his most precious restoratives, Wren examined the entity out of the corner of his eyes.

Formed of a darkness that defied description, the man stared at Wren with eyes a color of blue that no mortal should ever be forced to observed as the entity of corrupt entropy said, “I lamented not being able to fully destroy you in person. Yet behold, you have given me a way. In the process, you have given me a way to focus upon and access this verdant little rock. My most favored offspring will enjoy devouring it before we depart for more sustaining realms.”

Still struggling to repair and empower the partially completed and hopelessly damaged prison, Wren said flatly, “Not that it matters but why?”

The entity responded, “You sullied what I had twisted and claimed. Most of the enjoyment of my successful conquests lie in the hows but you... you have incited me to a swift and vengeful answering of that particular why... I have no desire to enlighten you further.”

Wren knew far more was at stake than just himself so despite knowing he would lose, he held his ground. Reaching out to all in his realm, his bonded and his father, Wren drew what essence could be offered and asked for what aid could come as he tried to fortify imprisoning sigils and the splintering stability of existence. Blinded to all but rapid calculations and spiritually excruciating conversion of power influx to usable essence, Wren received minute slivers of sensory perception. Soothing insulation of void power was briefly joined by uplifting golden brilliance before a confusing assortment of essences cycled through him that held a strong flavor of nature and a more subtle but unmistakable tang of the Abyss.

Unknown time passed before, more broken than whole, Wren heard a young voice speak words of rejection so far beyond conscious comprehension that BZ translated them as wingding. Seething sounds of vile and tainted entropy infected and twisted them into something cancerous before the two voices were joined by one so steeped in forgotten mystery it wouldn't even have registered as sound if it wasn't the only thing capable of being heard. Shaken beyond ability to resist by the overwhelming presence of the ancient voice, Wren's ruined body and soul lost it's last bit of will sustained tethering as it started disintegrating to corruption stained motes.

A demanding but love filled woman's voice crooned her laments over a sigil etched orb... The despairing wail of a heartbroken boy joined the sensation of tears, hotter than beating desert sun. Voices, so many, plying power and pleading, demanding to be heard.

An endless stretch of inert potential awaiting anything to give it form bled to a swirling chaotic storm of concepts. Within the storm, a single grain formed layer after layer of randomly formed structure. Swelling, a sphere that's a circle that's a sphere and in turn a tesseract... From that, more but hidden, beyond the ability to conceive. Within, in a remote place, a Shakespeare sonnet is composed by the random typing of a primate. The machine, God's machine, is pieced together from microcosm to macrocosm but begins deteriorating before completion... It has no completion but it does have cycles, endless cycles.

Where the broken parts go, where bits and pieces of other things foreign to the machine appear... destruction, entropy and ending. Decomposition builds gravity and pulls till the weight pierces back out to the endless stretch of inert potential, like fertilizer, to ferment and build till it bleeds to the storm, till it forms the pearl, till God's machine appears. Then one machine ceases to be many parts, becomes a whole and...

A muffled and distorted shout of, “Lives,” announced to Wren that he was conscious again.

A cocoon of ribbons and chains fade away to a much different cocoon of complexly scented linen and dense, life spirit enriched power.

As Wren tore his way out, he thought to BZ, “Catch me up from the moment I nearly got axed by the blue eyed boogeyman.”

BZ intoned evenly, “Congratulations on achieving Tier V. Upon encountering the first entity with a SYSTEM augmentation I will need to update your file, though it should stay off any viewable records as it is director locked. It is inevitable that it will be leaked at some point, however... Mortal protections have been partially removed. Tier VI faction and alliance members may now approach to recruit. Many lesser organizations have been known to use questionable methods to acquire members from the unaligned remainder after the ten year grace period has elapsed.

“Due to distortions within reality proximal to you, I know little beyond the method used to save you and the passing of time. A lost method of sacrifice resurrection was used. When the procedure began, you were still alive but only so. By extracting what remained of healthy physical and spiritual components, a Tier VII or higher entity reintegrated the usable portions and filled the rest in with their own life spirit. The entity that did so, was highly skilled in the procedure. There is less than a thousandth of a deviation from original composition suggesting a familiarization with organic and astral body patterns of self aware beings beyond currently recorded highest record holders in both fields.

“Within cthonic state, a state between life and death, you spent a theoretical time between two to nine-hundred years depending on source reference. Within current temporal space, you've spent approximately eighty-seven years. Time within your domain passed at maximum contraction, a little over a year. Current temporal space has been synchronized with last material plane connection which was Satyrus.”

Wren thought back, “How did my domain slow down and why?”

BZ responded, “Severe depletion of essence prompted the living natural laws of your domain to do so in an effort to preserve current vegetative development and allow for realm recovery before proceeding with development.”

Once Wren's eyes had adjusted to the new volume of light, he was greeted with the sight of a light-skinned man's face peering curiously at him with hetero-chromatic eyes, one dark and the other blue fire opal. They took in each other for a moment before the man smiled and gave Wren a hand getting out of the linen pile.

The man handed Wren a familiar box with two small black dots in it to take care of nude issue as he said, “I was warned against overtaxing you with information or emotional shock but you seem to be much more recovered than originally anticipated. You've even emerged a few decades ahead of schedule. Your astral construct must be amazing... Sorry, I'm Teremun. In every way that matters I'm your younger brother, in a few minor ways I suppose calling you first father wouldn't be inaccurate but lets not. I'm sure that would be better for both of us.”

Wren looked at Teremun, lost in processing that last piece of information before he said, “I'll take your word for it... If that's the case, give me the break down so I can understand a bit better.”

Teremun looked slightly uncomfortable as he said, “Well father consort, Djehuty really wanted to explain it but since he's out witnessing something or other, I'll spill and apologize later... When you had your fling with Djehuty, you kind of knocked him up... A Thoth inherited thing... Only problem was, your stuff wasn't strong enough to get the job done. To keep Djehuty from missing out on his only chance at personal conception, Grandpa Astennu coerced your father into * cough * filling in for helping you out.

“I know it's a bit much but no one really guessed that dad inherited the ability to lay an egg. Blame it on Thoth's followers before he broke free from the power of faith... I'm personally of a philosophical bent about it. No matter how it works, because it did I get to exist. Yay me. Since Pops Amun, your father's honorary name, got to torture another spawn in the name of passing on his combat legacy, he's happy. As for dad, he's actually really happy with how everything turned out since Pops is really, er, nice to him.

“Sorry for chewing your ear off but I've been kind of geeked to see you. Gnarly, no one around here says his real name but I don't like using all the weird derogatory terms, pulled a slick one on grandpa Astannu and messed with dad. You kind of made a loophole for dad to climb out of and stuck your thumb in Gnarly's eye in the process. Needless to say, you're pretty well liked around here.”

Wren managed to get out, “I don't mind but can we walk and talk. Considering people are missing from my domain, I'd like to get that story and I'm sure someone wants to see me.”

Teremun fidgeted for a second before he said, “Pops' avatar is free. Guess we can head that way... Oh, I'm only technically somewhere in my late twenties so you're still the older brother by a stretch. I heard you're not much of a direct conflict kind of guy so that leaves sibling rivalry and bonding through fights out. I like talking about stuff but I'm not much for heavy reading and technical stuff so...”

With an awkward silence hanging around them, Wren said, “If you like getting your hands dirty we can do some gardening... Okay, how bout building stuff? Yeah? Alright, we can do some of that then.”

After chatting about random topics for a couple minutes they reached a set of double doors which opened at their approach.

Teremun sighed and said, “Pops is in there. I gotta get going but you have to let me run around your domain sometime.”

Wren nodded while returning an awkwardly long hug that ended in a cheek kiss before walking in and seeing Hiidan, prompting him to say, “Hey, Pops. Guess I'm not the only one who calls you that now.”

Wren was ready for some banter but sobered quickly after Hiidan looked at him with somber face while he said, “Sit down, son. We've got some things to go over and some of it's not good.”