Chapter 832: A Decision Made Poorly and in Haste (Patreon)

Jason and Boris were at the beach in Jason’s replica town, sitting in cheap folding chairs. Boris had put away his wings and shrunk himself down to human size, as he typically did around humans. His long blond hair was teased by the ocean wind, leaving it dancing around his square-jawed features. The sun shone from his tan, muscular chest.

“Could you please do your shirt all the way up?” Jason asked. “You look like the cover of a romance novel from the eighties, and don’t even try and tell me it’s not on purpose.”

Boris laughed and left his shirt how it was.

“How are your messengers doing?” Jason asked.

“Not great,” Boris admitted. “I railroaded them into all this and it doesn’t sit well. Being around non-messengers without subjugating them goes against all their behavioural programming.”

“They aren’t ready for the Unorthodoxy?”

“They are not. On one hand, messenger indoctrination works. On the other, your aura is everywhere here. They can feel it in the territory you’ve claimed, even when you tamp it down. The incomplete but unmistakable feel of an astral king, but without the power. It’s an undeniable refutation of everything they’ve been taught about who and what they are. The promises they’ve been made about their futures. The conflict between their indoctrination and the evidence of their senses is causing some dangerous cognitive dissonance.”

“Some of them had to have at least had doubts. The gold rankers?”

“One of my two gold-rankers was ready, thankfully. All she needed was to get away from her astral king and get a little nudge. She’s been key in helping me keep a lid on all this. The other gold-ranker wasn’t ready for this, but he’s adapting. The silver-rankers are the issue. I’ve removed them from a life where they can only follow orders and don’t have any choices, but I didn’t give them a choice about it and I’ve been ordering them around ever since. This is not the way we like to do things.

“But circumstances didn’t allow that.”

“No,” Boris confirmed. “No, they did not. We go slow and careful when bringing people in, like cult deprogramming. That’s just not possible with everything going on. I was stuck choosing between killing them all or forcibly bringing them along.”

“I’m glad you kept so many of the messengers you claimed from the territories alive,” Jason said.

“I’m glad that you’ve done the same,” Boris said. “I’m sure many argued against it. How are your messengers doing?”

They looked up, spotting messengers on the wing. There were always a few to be seen in the sky over Jason’s town. Disregarding living anomalies, and with the destruction of the undead army, the most populous group in the transformation zone were messengers. Only a fraction were under the command of Boris. Most had been sealed away in the territories of the transformation zone, then unsealed as territories were claimed.

These messengers were born with the power to speak every language and an understanding of the cosmos that some spent lifetimes striving and failing to achieve. Yet, they were children; amnesiacs without history or identity. Jason had freed all that he and his allies could safely steal away from the enemy, but many had been killed.

The survivors now lived within Jason’s mountain fortress and could be seen flying around it and over the town. At first, they had been extremely hesitant to emerge from their dormitories. They clustered together like herd animals cornered by a predator. Slowly they had grown more confident, and while they still kept to themselves, they claimed the sky as their domain. A place they belonged and could feel free.

“I’ll admit that I’m at something of a loss,” Jason said. “I have no more idea of what to do with them than they have of what to do with themselves.”

“It’s good that you freed them from outside control,” Boris said. “Even yours, which I appreciate. With enough patience — or ruthlessness — they represent a lot of power.”

“Getting more power has never been difficult for me. It’s holding onto my decency that’s proven the hard part.”

“Freeing them wasn’t hard, was it? Freedom is part of the problem with my messengers. They’re still branded by Vesta Carmis Zell and know that she’ll kill them the moment they leave this place. Obviously, you removing their brands is the solution to that, but most of them aren’t ready to take that leap. Letting you into their soul might be harder for them to accept than joining the Unorthodoxy. You had no such problems with the territory messengers, though.”

“No. I didn’t have to dig through their souls and find a mark to erase. It’s like they were waiting for someone to give them a destiny.”

“That is how young messengers are,” Boris said. “Astral kings need to imprint something on them; it’s a normal part of our reproductive cycle. In the beginning, the astral kings guided newborn messengers in forming their own marks, in their own souls. It laid a groundwork for them to forge their own destinies.”

"Obviously not how it works anymore."

“Not outside of Unorthodoxy birthing planets.”

“Are there a lot of those?”

“No. The orthodox messengers are diligent about hunting them down. If we have too many birthing planets, we get noticed. More resources are put into hunting us down. We hide because we lack the numbers to fight using different methods to mask our presence in each place. That way, losing one site doesn't expose all our methods."

“Is Earth one of your birthing worlds?”

“Not enough magic for the birthing trees. What would you do if I’d said yes?”

“Nothing,” Jason said. “Every people deserves to live, and yours would have been there for a long time. Like the vampires. If I can tolerate vampires, I can tolerate messengers. How many of you are on Earth?”

“I don’t know the exact number. Less than a million, I think.”

“A million?”

“We live amongst the humans, leading mostly ordinary lives. We're citizens of Earth and have been since before the first civilisation. It’s our home. A home many of us wanted to protect more actively as magic came into the open and the monster surges began. It was the most contention we’ve had amongst our people in centuries.”

“But you didn’t act.”

“We did more than you think, and more still, after you left. We’ve become increasingly active in the Cabal, especially after the vampire schism.”

“What is going on with the vampires on Earth?”

"It's war. Not open battle; more like skirmishes between elite forces, but a lot of them. Combat began in earnest shortly after you left, as if the vampires were waiting on your absence. I think you made an impression on the vampire leader, Elizabeth.”

“What is the state of the war?”

“When I left, it had quieted into a stalemate. The vampires have most of Europe, although there are holdouts. The Cabal holds some of the UK and Scandinavia. The Network have set up in Greenland. Your domains are clear. The magic around them is too strong, making the sunlight dangerous for vampires. Your grandmother has been leveraging that, letting the human forces use your territories as staging areas.”

“How unified are the vampires? I know at least some of them were fighting against the vampire lords.”

“Most of the vampires chose not to follow the risen vampire lords. Like my people, they have been around longer than any of the short-lived humans. They only obeyed the vampire lords when they were forced to through bloodline magic or the threat of death. The priority of the Cabal has been freeing those vampires from the control of the risen lords.”

“Weren’t the Cabal vampires the ones who dug the old vampires up?”

“Yes, and there were eager collaborators even amongst those who weren’t involved in bringing the lords back. But most of team Eat People to Death are new vampires, created by the lords themselves. The Cabal vampires escaped their influence as soon as they could. The whole mess caused a schism in the Cabal and cleaning house was ugly. We cast out any vampires that sided with the risen lords willingly.”

“What happened to the vampires who went against the vampire lords? Humanity doesn’t have a great track record of accepting people while at war with others of the same group, and that’s when everyone is human.”

Boris glowered.

“About what you’d expect,” he said in an almost-growl. “The vampires siding with humanity should be one of their greatest assets, but the humans are as you’ve said. Most governments and magical factions are killing vampires on sight.”

"Not even internment camps?"

“Camps mean logistics,” Boris said.

“Ah,” Jason said. “They’re not going to set up a supply chain of human blood.”

“No. Some did try holding vampires at the beginning. Very quietly. Smaller groups, containment facilities. The kind of experiments they’ll be talking about fifty years from now in high school history classes.”

“Only at the beginning? They stopped?”

“I imagine there are some still operating, but we liberated most of them. We think.”

“We?”

“The Cabal. Some sympathetic members of the Network factions and even some within government groups. Humans can be crappy, but they can also surprise you at how far they can go to do what’s right.”

“I have a vampire friend. I hope he’s alright.”

“Craig Vermillion was alive and well the last time I saw him,” Boris said. “Alive-ish, anyway. It’s a grey area with vampires.”

“You know him?”

“I didn’t, but he’s Cabal and we’ve been investigating you as best we can. Your friend is residing in secret with your clan. Vampires have long been good at hiding, and they have allies. Ultimately, a relatively small number were caught or killed.”

“Relatively small is not the same as small.”

“No,” Boris agreed. “No it isn’t, and what the humans are doing is only turning would-be allies to side with the vampire lords. Fortunately, most of the refuges aren’t secret, so a few vampires going over to the murdery side isn’t hurting us.”

“Refuges?”

“There are safe zones for vampires who aren’t turning to the lords. Mostly in areas where the Cabal holds sway, where we’ve displaced the Network factions and openly joined or even completely ousted governments. Scandinavia, parts of Russia and Africa. Sulawesi and Papua.”

“Sulawesi? Where Makassar is?”

“Yes. Indonesia is one of several countries where the rise of magic has turned old fractures into fresh breaks. Sulawesi and Papua have both declared independence with Cabal support. Military crackdowns failed miserably as the government’s Network allies were too busy with their own factional conflicts to go up against the Cabal. The Cabal, on the other hand, has been getting stronger very quickly. So many of our members had stalled in power because of Earth’s low magic. Now that magic has risen, it’s like a drought has broken. Our people are growing stronger and stepping into the light.”

“Will I even recognise Earth when I go back?”

“It will have changed,” Boris said. “But will you have changed any less?”

“I suppose not.”

They sat in silence for a time, looking out over the water.

“We are going to do this, right?” Boris asked. “Clear off my brand?”

"I still have doubts," Jason said. "When you first showed up, you said that Vesta Carmis Zell was your astral king and you needed to clear her brand."

“Technically, I implied it. Quite heavily, I’ll admit. I was hoping you’d rush over and purge the brand if you thought it was hers.”

“I was a little busy.”

"It's months later and I'm still branded, so I figured that out."

"Lying to me didn't help your case."

“Oh, like you’ve never let someone make the wrong assumption for your own benefit.”

“Sure I have. And I understand why they didn’t trust me after.”

“It was a decision made poorly and in haste, I’ll admit. Far from the first, and doubtless far from the last. With age comes wisdom, but if you stop making mistakes, you’ve stopped living. New experiences are key to going through immortality without calcifying. All I can offer in my defence is the desire to stop being a slave. A chain is a chain, even when the one holding the other end is nice enough not to yank on it.”

Jason sat quietly contemplating Boris’ words.

“I’ve been inside the souls of messengers,” Jason said. “I’ve seen the mark burned into their souls like cattle brands. I can see why you would want that gone. But what else do you want, Boris Ket Lundi? Why did you come looking for me? Why risk yourself to intervene? You said yourself that you and your people were meant to be hiding your presence from me.”

“Things have been moving beyond the scope of our original agreement with Noreth. He certainly never predicted you becoming an astral king, and these linked planets are drawing a lot of attention. The great astral beings are moving their agents much more actively around Earth and Pallimustus.”

“They are?”

“Your friend Dawn is not alone in taking an interest in these worlds, and you are a focal point of that activity. Did you know it was the prime vessel of the Keeper of the Sands who killed Mah Go Schaat to protect you?”

“No. Why would they do that?”

“I don’t know. I imagine you will, soon enough.”

“Why are they focused on me?”

“You’re a catalyst. You became an outworlder through chance, at the exact right place and time. The World-Phoenix was the first to take advantage of that and nudge you onto a certain course, but that set into motion far more than she intended. You were close enough to a confluence of events that other powerful entities followed the World-Phoenix’s course in nudging you this way and that. Knowledge. Dominion. The Reaper was quite open when he connected you with your shadow familiar, but what about the other two? A sanguine horror and an avatar of doom, both born right as you were calling for familiars? We’ve already talked about the rarity of a genuine avatar of doom, but do you know how hard it is to get something like a sanguine horror?”

Jason thought back to the Red Table cultists who attempted to sacrifice Jason and his friends to summon a sanguine horror. All the time, effort and expense they put into the endeavour, yet Jason had picked one up with an awakening stone and a half-learned ritual?

“It seems I have been quite the pawn.”

Boris laughed.

“Aren’t we all? But don’t think of it in terms of someone picking up a piece and moving it as they desire. Great astral beings work on a macro scale. Their thoughts, if you can even call them that, don’t encompass mere decades or a scope as small as a planet. That’s why their vessels are more important than many realise. They don’t just let great astral beings act on a mortal scale; they allow them to think on a mortal scale. It’s why their vessels have such a large impact on their small-scale actions.”

“And why ancient beings sometimes do things that are very stupid.”

“Sometimes. As a relatively ancient being myself, I can tell you that we don’t need help doing something stupid. But my point is that great astral beings don’t play chess with pawns and kings; they play with the butterfly effect. They reach out and gently flick the cosmos and then wait for the ripples to shape events in ways they can use. That is when they deploy their vessels and agents to handle the finer details.”

“And the World-Phoenix flicked me by giving me a token while my soul was passing through the astral.”

“Right place, right time. But the ripple of her action sent you in the direction of that confluence of events I mentioned, prompting others to move. To use you as a catalyst.”

“What confluence of events?”

“The Builder. The old Builder. The link between worlds. The Sundered Throne, if my guess is correct. Events on a scale beyond my power to influence. Trying to involve myself would be a good way to end a very long life.”

“Isn’t involving yourself exactly what you did here?”

“This? A transformation zone and an undead army? Some god of undeath doing what gods of undeath always do? No, this is my level. I’m comfortable with this level of stakes. Even if we mess it all up entirely, it wouldn’t even destroy the planet.”

“You’re comfortable with this?”

“Yes. And you should be the same, given your history, but you’re not and that’s fascinating. You bet against a god with your soul as the ante, to save what? Ten thousand brighthearts and a city that’s already destroyed? You saved the Earth. Billions, and you still need to do it again. Yet, here you are, putting it all on the line.”

“Someone will save the Earth if I fall.”

“Yes. Me, you idiot, and I won’t do a great job. And that’s compared to you, who has frankly been half-assing it this whole time.”

“You?”

“Yes, me. Who else? You think dimension-hopping gestalt entities grow on trees?”

“Well… yes.”

Boris looked at Jason, blinked a couple of times and both men burst out laughing.

“Okay,” Boris acknowledged once they settled. “That may not have been the best-made point.”

“Which has veered quite far from my original question. Why come looking for me?”

“Well, as I explained, events have become a lot more complicated than Noreth anticipated. Unsurprising, given that he never operated on a cosmic scale. We messengers do, and there was a growing number of reasons to be concerned. Not the least of which was Pallimustus suddenly becoming thick with messengers, one dimensional link away. That did not make those of us hiding from them on Earth very comfortable.”

“Wouldn’t coming here just draw their attention?”

“The greater concern was you becoming blindly antagonistic towards all messengers. The deal was to reveal ourselves when you returned to Earth under certain, specific circumstances. We realised that if you’d already been poisoned against all messengers, having a million of us appear out of nowhere and claim to be your allies wouldn’t go well. Especially given how things went with the other allies you’ve had on Earth.”

“You’re right about my lack of trust for Earth allies. And I’ll admit I have wondered if all messengers needed to be killed off.”

“But you decided that wasn’t the case. I’m assuming, based on all the messengers you’ve freed.”

“They aren’t that free. I keep boxing them all up in pocket universes.”

“That’s just a matter of logistics. I can help you unload them.”

“Whether they want anything to do with you is their choice to make,” Jason said.

“I appreciate your compassion for them. One of the reasons it was decided that I would come to Pallimustus and look into you was that you were not showing a lot of compassion by the time you left Earth. You were hurt. Angry. Reacting quickly and with definitive violence. The reasons were obvious enough. Loss. Emotional isolation from your support structure.”

“That might have been a good time for an ally who understood to step in.”

“There were those who argued we should.”

“Were you one of them?”

"No. I argued that you would regard us as untrustworthy at best and refuse to work with us. At worst, you would see us as an enemy. One too powerful to fight, prompting you to do something extreme as you have done time and again. The very reason that Noreth, Dawn and now I refuse to tell you about certain things in your future."

“What did you do? Anything?”

“We came close to revealing ourselves not just to you but to the entire world. Trying to stop the race for reality cores. In the end, it was decided that the results would have been too unpredictable. We did put a stop to core chasing within the parts of the Cabal we controlled at the time. Unfortunately, that came at a point where the vampires had seized a lot of power within the Cabal. Their overt actions had diminished our quiet influence and it took time to properly re-establish that and excise the troublemakers.”

“I understand that,” Jason said. “I’ve made a lot of bold moves and watched others suffer the consequences. There’s wisdom in moderation, but moderation never seems to be an option for me. Or maybe it is and I keep making the wrong choices.”

“When facing extreme circumstances,” Boris said, “there is often little choice but extreme actions. And extreme circumstances find you with some regularity. Or do you find them?”

“A bit of both. I imagine that you, of all people, are familiar with destiny magic.”

“I had wondered if that was in play. It certainly explains a lot.”

Boris let out a sigh.

“Asano, I will confess a hesitance in sharing the part I and my people played during events on Earth. In revealing our inaction. I feared it would anger you.”

“I’ve learned to let go of my anger over that time. I hope. I don't think I'll know for certain until I go back to Earth.”

Boris nodded.

“I am glad that you found your way to feeling compassion for my kind. When I arrived on Pallimustus and discovered that you’d started liberating messengers from Vesta Carmis Zell, that’s when I decided to help you. I got a lot more than I bargained for in that deal, but I think it's worth it. You and I are going to know each other for a span of time you're too young to even comprehend.”

“Then you really shouldn’t have lied to me.”

“It wasn’t, strictly speaking, a…”

Boris saw Jason looking at him from under raised eyebrows.

“No,” he said. “I shouldn’t have lied to you.”

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