The next attack hit my crumpled form with such force I was amazed I was still alive. The pain was the worst I could recall feeling. Even when my eye was gouged out by a roaming monster during my acolyte years, that pain couldn’t compare to the pain of just touching the tendrils of the remnant.

Their corruption burning against the divine energies I was suffused with, trying to break through. And the gaze, even after that massive hit, I couldn’t shake its effects. Suddenly, energy filled me, lifted me to my feet, and threw the monstrosity back.

I felt her presence descend upon me and then as she enacted a shield to protect me. A shimmering, flickering bubble standing between me and oblivion. It was barely holding on, the energies of the remnant undoing the enchantment only slightly slower than Justina could manifest it. I could see a similar light from beyond the monstrosity as well. This was a losing battle, one I couldn’t retreat from. Milady! Her voice rang through the chamber, filling me with renewed hope and determination.

The thing raised a tendril to blast my flimsy shield with a massive slam, but was recoiled, not by the shield, but the light flick of finger. In front of me was a winged woman. There was only one celestial I could imagine this to be. “Lady Indella? Oh, thank the gods.” She turned her head, the long mane of silver hair flowing behind her, disobeying gravity as she did. Her cerulean eyes looking at the monstrosity, not with hostility but… pity? Before I could ponder what was going on, there was a yell of surprise from beyond the monstrosity, followed by an angry hiss as something pushed the monstrosity back from Lord Sarvus.

“Lady Assilantra, just rest for now, we’ll take it from here.” I nodded slowly, and found my body obeying me again, the power of the remnant’s gaze dissipating along with the shield. “As you say.” My voice was barely a whisper.

The monstrosity lurched, as a silvery light struck it, and it gave out a horrendous cry that forced me to grab my ears. Lady Indella seemed unfazed, as she floated towards the thing, silvery energy enveloping her hands. Its tendrils flew out, but as it hit Lady Indella, it burst into silver sparks that ate away at the thing.

The monstrosity’s eyes fixated on us, and the same energy that immobilized me hit her. But Lady Indella didn’t even seem to notice. By now, the monstrosity was shrinking back, folding in on itself to get away from Lady Indella and something beyond it on the side where Lord Sarvus was. It was pushing itself towards the wall. And in the many twisted eyes faces across its body, I could see… fear?

These monstrosities felt emotions? I never even considered that. I pushed the thought away, as the monstrosity now compacted itself to the point I could see beyond the thing. There was another person, enveloped in the same silvery light as Lady Indella, also pushing towards the monstrosity. As the two women reached the cornered and now tiny monstrosity, I could once more hear Milady speaking in my mind. Taboo? I shuddered. Divine secrets are not meant for mortals. It was a heavy burden to know one, but one I would carry willingly, since they wished for me to know.

The two women reached the monstrosity, and the black-haired one reached out and touched it. The growling, screaming cacophony intensified to unbearable levels for an instant. Then, a bright silvery flash filled the room, and the screaming was replaced by a terrified whimpering. I flinched as I saw it. A brief memory of my brother’s twisted face vanishing similarly came unbidden to my mind. I looked towards the two women. Lady Indella was looking at her companion with a somewhat sour expression. “Was that really necessary?” The black-haired woman looked over at her. She was holding something in her arms. “Depends on your perspective.” I shivered. I knew that voice.

“Lady Labyrinthia? I…” My words died on my lips as I noticed what she was holding. A small, misshapen blob of smoke-like colors, that was slowly coalescing into a physical and constant humanoid form. She noticed my gaze. She looked down at the thing as well. “There, there, Phobia, nothing to worry about, just sleep. You will meet your new siblings soon.” She looked up at me. “I would tell you to keep quiet about this, but my aunt beat me to it.” A small gossamer cloth faded into view, and she slowly swathed the… Thing, in it.

“Lady Labyrinthia what... is that thing? If you don’t mind me asking.” I felt no corruption from it. In fact, the corruptive influence of the room was rapidly disappearing. And yet, it was giving me goosebumps. Lady Labyrinthia, or rather, her Avatar, handed the thing over to Indella, who took it and then promptly vanished.

“If you want to know, what I tell you falls under the same gag order as the one my aunt put on you. Is that acceptable?” I didn’t even hesitate. I needed an explanation, my curiosity overriding my usual caution. “An Embodiment. What you just witnessed was the birth of a new Embodiment.” Wait, the Embodiments were…? “Yes, all Embodiments used to be Void Entities of varying levels of power, reborn to serve a new purpose.”

I felt stunned. Embodiments were something I encountered multiple over my long career. Every time they helped mortals find mental stability through their actions and presence. Though I didn’t know how they did it, they were a positive force for the world.

In the aftermath of the last Void war, they helped many regain their sanity after getting too close to a Void Entity. Even I was helped by the Embodiment of Hope, allowing me to push through the despair I felt at the loss of my younger brother. I closed my eyes for a moment, then as I opened them again I wanted to ask another question, but Lady Labyrinthia was gone.

She left me with more questions than answers, which made sense, given her nature. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder. Was the Embodiment of Hope, my brother? The mutated monster he became disappeared in a similar silver light, after all. I closed my eyes again for a moment. I believed it to be so. As its behavior was, in hindsight, a bit too similar to his. A noise snapped me out of my thoughts.

I turned towards its source and saw Lord Sarvus lying on the ground. He was stirring as if from a deep slumber, so Lady Labyrinthia likely knocked him out, so he wouldn’t witness this. Did she let me see everything, so I could have closure? Maybe. As always, she was an enigma. With no answer forthcoming, I rushed over to help Lord Sarvus to his feet.

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I could hardly recognize the camp now. We arrived here half an hour ago, but that’s all it took for drastic changes to occur. Where there once was a small earthen mound, there was now a huge stone wall. Not just a normal stone wall, but a stone wall made from a single massive piece of stone, three meters wide and seven meters high. It was perfectly smooth, with no cracks or handholds to climb up, and with rounded edges that didn’t allow grappling hooks to latch on to the battlements.

That wasn’t the only thing that was going on. I was at the forge, crafting weapons and armor for the beast-kin with dad and a few others. Most of us would have been there, but the facilities were lacking, compared to home. This did, however, give me the opportunity to practice with Leyline Smith, and it quickly became apparent that the gear made by it exceeded what I could make at a normal forge, by a good margin, at that.

I was in a small enclosed area by myself next to the main forge, as the sheer heat from my Leyline Smith was too much for everyone else without strong heat resistance enchantments. Dad and the others were hammering away with steel given to them by uncle, who conjured it after finishing the wall.

I knew uncle was immortal and possessed a ludicrous amount of mana, but he was pushing himself hard. I shook off my dour thoughts and looked up, only to notice Sarirrva sitting nearby, watching me work. “Oh, sorry, didn’t notice you there.” She gave a small, amused grin.

“So I noticed. The focus you have while forging these marvels is quite remarkable, considering I have been here for the past 10 minutes and despite you looking my way multiple times you never acknowledged me. It was as if all that existed to you was that blade.” I looked down at the half-finished sword I was shaping from molten metal brought up from deep within the earth, then up at her. “When I use [Leyline Smith], it’s like everything but the power of the earth itself, the material, and my idea of what it should become, vanishes, forgotten and unimportant.”

Sarirrva picked up one of the other swords, its blade red-hot from a potent fire enchantment that was woven into it as part of the smithing. “I must admit every one of these blades is screaming at me to take them back to my horde as a prize. Do you have any idea what this one alone is worth?” I looked at the blade, then at her once more, then gave a crooked grin of my own.

“No idea, but considering you’re almost salivating from looking at it, I can venture a guess and say a rather large fortune.” Sarirrva, looked at me for a moment. Then, after a few seconds of silence, she laughed. “Fortune? Kid, this blade alone is worth more than the entire motherlode you found the day we met. If every blade and armor you have forged so far were gathered into a single horde, it would be worth more than all the metal of Therinos, my hoard included.

I needed to steady myself for a moment at that news. “Why is it so valuable? I mean they are powerful items, no doubt about that, but nothing that other skilled smiths and enchanters couldn’t duplicate.” Sarirrva’s mirth melted away. “Titan-forged items are in a league of their own. Besides, all the titans went extinct in the first Void War. Well, more to the point, they were extinct.” She paused and eyed me with a similar expression to that which she gave uncle now and then when he wasn’t looking.

When Sarirrva noticed I was staring, she cleared her throat and got serious again. “Because of this, the value of what you’re making is skyrocketing because of its rarity. Each of these pieces would be national treasures and dynastic artifacts or relics in most nations, and you, child, you who can make these, you are the most valuable treasure of all.” Treasure? I didn’t like being likened to treasure. Not by a dragon, at any rate.

However, what she said gave me a lot to think about. “I… think I saw it.” Sarirrva tilted her head. “Hmm? Saw what?” I looked at her in silence for a moment. Then I drained the heat from the blade and cancelled [Leyline Smith] before I responded. “The extinction of the titans. When I slept last night, I dreamt that the titans and several smaller races fought something massive and horrible during a snowstorm, before they were devoured by a bright flash of white light. The dream was too vivid to be normal, and after I woke up I saw I now possessed two new skills, one of which was Ancestral Memory.”

Sarirrva’s expression changed into a ponderous one. “You gained two new skills, just like that?” I nodded. “Yeah, I don’t know how it happened, but I know I didn’t have them before I went to bed. Because the first thing I checked after Lady Labyrinthia healed me was what my skills were.” Sarirrva looked as confused as I felt. “Could it have been a late addition by Lady Labyrinthia, perhaps?” I just shrugged.

“Can’t say. Regardless, it’s the second ability that worries me. It’s a garbled mess.” Sarirrva’s confused expression turned to one of worry as I showed her my skill list. “We should probably talk to your uncle about this.” I hesitated. “He’s got his hands full as it is. We should probably wait.” Sarirrva grabbed me and dragged me out of the forge. “Nonsense, come along, young lady.” Even with my strength, there was no competing with a dragon, so I there was no choice but to follow her.

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“A vision?” In response to Lady Inlas’ question, I nodded. “It has to be. There’s no way it was a dream. It was far too real. It was more akin to a vivid recollection of a horrible memory. Lady Inlas looked skeptical, but I wasn’t finished. “There’s more. You remember how you taught me how to open my skill list yesterday, and how it was the skills I learned while I was still Keari, with no racial skills?” Inlas nodded. I opened my skill list and showed it to her.

Inlas blinked. “What in Rubolg’s…” I just shook my head. “If I knew I’d tell you, but I don’t. Both skills showed up last night while I slept.” Inlas looked thoughtful. “I don’t know what to say. It certainly wasn’t me, and seeing how that first skill is all messed up means it might have been created in an unusual or unintended way.” Wait, she meant both skills were given to me by accident? Inlas seemed thoughtful for a while, then rose to her feet. “I will ask around. Someone has to know something. Although, for what it’s worth, I don’t think it’s dangerous.”

She gave me a reassuring smile, before she vanished, leaving me to my own thoughts. Could it be Pearl? Hmm, no that didn’t fit her MO. Then again, she said she changed over the last century, and I agreed. The old Pearl was far more vindictive, for one. So, I couldn’t rule out this was her doing. While old Pearl wouldn’t just hand stuff like that out without warning, I didn’t know new Pearl well enough. Come to think of it. Did I ever really know Pearl? I couldn’t be called a great friend by any standards back then, which was being mild about it. That was a sobering thought, one I couldn’t shake as I resumed my training in a vain hope it would get my mind off of it.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As the healer left, it took all my willpower to not crush the teacup I was holding to powder. What did he mean by “You are looking better physically than ever before.” Bah, the wretch was as useless as the rest of them. A series of vivid images flashed before my eyes, showing a strange scene right out of a dream. Strange horseless carriages flew along a strange glowing landscape of metal and a sickly yellow-green mist and a frozen crusty ocean down below.

The vision ended as abruptly as it arrived, and the host stirred even more than before. What? Impossible, the host shouldn’t be… There was a sensation of vertigo as the Host fought back for the first time in decades. The Host was still weak and was subdued with little effort. Still, in my current state, it was far more taxing than it should have been. Someone was messing with the seal, that was obvious.

But how? None should be able to brave the raging void energies surrounding it, and even if they did, the visions would drive them mad in their complex and semi-random patterns. Besides, even if they possessed the mental fortitude to take on the visions and the storm, attempting both at the same time would tear apart those trying in both a physical and spiritual sense. The seal would magnify the effect of both beyond anything a mortal could withstand. I continued my musings, but there was no immediate answer forthcoming.

It could have been… No, impossible. The invasion was small, beyond the notice of the gods. Not that it mattered, even if they noticed. They could do nothing. The army was mortal, albeit corrupted, and instilled with a fanatical loyalty. To these people, I was their god. I owned them, body and soul. Besides, the seal was in the mortal realm.

The limitations set upon the gods by Rubolg would prevent them from interfering directly, unless an obvious threat to the world presented itself. So, since the seal was in the mortal realm, and hidden inside a void storm, it would be all but impossible to find. A mortal invasion was no threat to the world threat, and thus would not cause a divine intervention.

That alone was the reason I planned this for a century. To gain the power and a large enough following of corrupted humans to do my bidding with no Void Entity reliance like last time. This time, I would achieve my goal by forcing the gods to watch from the sidelines. Well, almost all the gods, but I would cross that bridge later. Revenge would come, but I should remember to keep my eye on the prize.