Adamant Blood

"Just think about it! I can be a great target for all of you, and I just got into the Chosen system under Freyala!" Derek Kevins happily exclaimed, "I got Union! They got no reason to deny my Inquisitor application now!"

Mark had concerns.

This morning, Mark had gone out with his entire team to Isoko and Sally's normal Inquisitor training session at Inquisitor's Hall. The building was an offshoot of the main Church of the Pantheon, located south of the Farms, beside the river that ran through the settlement. The main church was this big white cathedral thing that would have been more appropriate located inside any major city. It looked fragile. Looks were deceiving, though, because Eliot and a bunch of Hearthswellians had made it to last. If a kaiju stepped on this thing, they'd probably impale themselves on the pinnacles, fleches, and spiky towers. With all those adornments, the church would be like a serrated arrow.

Mark was pretty sure if a kaiju actually stepped onto it that the church would turn into a giant firebeam and incinerate any monster directly overhead. Eliot was simultaneously looking forward to that inevitable day, and also dreading what such a day would mean. The church fire beam, or whatever special thing they had planned, was a rather 'last resort' sort of thing.

Inquisitor's Hall was a lot less impressive.

It functioned.

A pair of long, low buildings, with high walls around them, and anti-sight enchantments on the walls, the Inquisitor's Hall was a place of secrecy, and not much power at all. It was a place for Inquisitors to meet and discuss dangerous things like 'What are demons?' and 'Do we suspect this or that person of being a Cultist?' and the inevitable 'Who are we killing today?'.

Mark was appalled at the whole entire idea that humans should harm other humans, for any reason whatever. He had also seen, first hand, what some Cultists could do if they were told to do something by their demonic overlords. So he was still conflicted.

'The Hall', as some people called Inquisitor's Hall, also had a 'public' space in the front. It was a rather square room, maybe 10 meters square, with a big door leading to the actual Hall, and a counter to the side.

Inquisitor Joon was the Hallkeeper, and the place was only open when he was in residence. Otherwise the Hall was closed to everyone. Joon was currently sitting back there, at his counter, but he wasn't ready to open the Hall right now; he was sipping coffee. The only reason he was out here, probably, was because Derek was here, waiting on a bench inside the front room, because of course he was here, since he was probably in tens of places all across the settlement right now so why not come here early.

Mark and them were early, too, at 7:30 AM, because Mark had told his team what was happening with Derek, and Mark wanted to be here earlier to talk to Lola when she showed up, which was usually at 7:40.

No one else was here.

Derek was excited. He was a 20 year old guy, just one year older than Mark, and he… Well. He looked different than the last time Mark had seen him, actually. He had been a skinny nerdy guy who threw himself at his problems with relentless numbers of clones (and especially when Mark made the mistake of trying to save his bodies on kaiju battlefields, which only allowed him to make more clones, and fast), but now? He was not so skinny. He was maybe even a little buff.

Derek excitedly continued, "And I'm not a weakling anymore! I can do more than pick up the guns that my dead selves carry into battle. And I can certainly do more than monitor 10 screens at a time… So can I please please please join your team?!"

Everyone had been prepared for him to ask.

Somehow, Mark still almost recoiled.

Mark was going to say 'no', completely. He had already pretty much decided this, and he had made the same decision for hundreds of other people who asked the same thing, but Derek was looking physically stronger, which meant that he was applying himself since the last time Mark saw him.

Aurora had been correct, that Derek was worth keeping around. He was obviously applying himself.

Mark decided, "I'm not taking you on the team, Derek. We're full up. Nothing personal, though; I've had to tell lots of people that we're not expanding the team. BUT! Tartu needs another guy, and I want you to go to him, and I'll talk to him. Also: if you want to be involved in whatever eventual expedition we do into Endless Daihoon for Resurrection magic, then that's very doable, and we do need allies, and Eliot has a lot of work for a lot of guys, and you're a lot of guys. But we have no plans for Endless Daihoon yet."

Derek kinda faltered under Mark's first words, hope crushing under expectations. This had been a long shot for him, and it remained a long shot. But then Mark kept talking. The mention of Tartu had caused a visceral 'oh gods' sort of reaction… Which was concerning. But understandable. Tartu was Tartu. At mentioning working for Eliot, though, Derek was… interested?

Derek wasn't sure how he felt.

Eliot took the lead, saying, "We're several years out from Endless Daihoon, but we are headed that direction. Is that something you're interested in? Because I do need factory workers capable of using magic tools to make magical components of otherwise mundane things. Machines do all of the rest."

Derek had a think, and Mark felt as the vector inside of 'the Derek in front of them' sort of flowed outward, joining with something else not too far away, and then that vector pinged onto other vectors, and Mark recognized what he was seeing. Derek didn't always do this, but sometimes he was more of a hive mind than a set of clones. He was technically both, all the time, but sometimes he flowed more heavily toward one or the other.

Derek came back, consciousnesses separating into individual people, and he said, "That's all fine. I can go with Tartu's team, but what I want is to work with you guys. You're the ones headed off to see dragons and kaiju and other things up close, and that's what I want to do. But I can certainly do artificing if you have a teacher. I haven't been able to find anyone willing to teach."

Eliot said, "We have Julie Sacredcut and the Sacredcuts as artificers. You've met them, yeah?"

"Yeah, they wouldn't teach me. Said it was too easy for me to abuse it all." Derek gestured at the Inquisitor's Hall, adding, "That's why I'm here. Why I finally signed up with a god. They do deep vetting and I'm planning on going full-in on Inquisitoring, so that people can trust me at all." He looked at Mark, adding, "That's why I wanted to work with you. You're going places. Tartu is not."

Mark didn't want to say anything else, and he didn't have to.

Lola Turner was just outside, walking this way. She stood tall in her white robes of the Inquisitor, her chest piece looking almost like a breastplate, but not. She heard the last of Derek's words, and so she asked, "And what do you expect to find from the Inquisition?"

"Revenge," Derek easily said, standing tall and addressing Lola. "Against monsters, against kaiju, against demons. Against Cultists." His eyes shone with sincerity, and conviction. "You have no idea how many times people have tried to to corrupt me, how many monsters have killed me, how many times I've died for the cause— And I am fucking SICK and TIRED of people denying me from learning more, from learning everything. So I'm here, sticking my hand in the biggest anthill around, and trying to become an ant."

Lola nodded. "And the Inquisition accepts you, now that you've actually committed with a god."

Derek smiled wide, his vector turning thick and distant. A quiet joy pinged off of many people, outside of here. Mark imagined that news was traveling fast. Mark had not imagined that Lola would accept Derek into the Inquisition that fast, though. But, upon second thought, of course she accepted Derek. Freyala had done the vetting, so why not bring him into the fold.

Derek bowed fast. "Thank you, ma'am! Inquisitor Lola!"

Lola turned toward Mark, saying, "I'm glad we're finally able to accept you, too, Mark. It's been a long time coming."

Mark grinned. "Thank you, Lola."

Eliot said, "But I'm not staying! Hey, Derek? Can you make a copy and come with me and talk about factory work? We can go meet Julie, too. Not sure what will happen, but a talk is a good start."

Mark was a little worried about Eliot walking off alone, but… They didn't really need to be on the buddy system anymore, and Eliot was most powerful inside the city. He was fine.

Derek stepped left and right at the same time, and then there were two of him. The second one wore a plain white webweave, while the first one was still wearing normal clothes. Mark didn't know how that worked, exactly, but Mark had a bunch of magical gear that repaired his clothes all the time, so Derek probably had something that gave him basic white clothes every time he split… Which was different than before. Mark remembered a bunch of skinny, nude bodies on several kaiju fields, before they vanished into the ether, unmade by the ending of their spell.

Derek-in-white walked off with Eliot, and Eliot began to speak of factory work, asking questions about what Derek could already do.

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Derek was still in the room, though, wearing plain, yet nice clothes, and ready to learn.

Lola told them all, "It appears we have two new people today. Sally, we also have an Executioner coming in later, who will want to speak with you. It's Executioner/Sentinel Walter Volkov, of Okuana."

"… Walter?" Mark asked. Mark had a weird moment, and he was not the only one. "The guy who tried to get me into a cage for Okuana before the Battle For Memphi, when it was still Attack the Gate?"

Lola said, "Yes. He's also the one that threatened me with expanded human experimentation charges— Well. He mostly stood in the back, menacingly, while Saikou was the one who threatened. I'm rather certain that's why Walter is here instead of Saikou. Saikou was the one pushing the agenda last time, and now Walter gets to have his chance."

Mark frowned deeply.

Sally asked, "We're really getting that fucker?"

" 'Volkov' means he's really fucking serious about Drakarok, right?" Isoko asked.

Drakarok was the God of War and Murder, but his original name was Alexander Volkov. Anyone who took the last name of their god was both highly approved by their god, and very serious about aligning goals with that god. Lola Turner had taken Freyala's human last name as her own some time ago. She was the same as David Turner, the 35x speedster who had saved Mark's life a few times.

Those sorts of people usually got direct communications from their gods all the time. David had once gotten a communication from Freyala to pull Eliot out of an incident that Mark caused, so that Eliot didn't experience a 'mental' attack, which would have been really bad for him. Trauma-level bad.

People like Isoko, Sally, and Eliot, only got messages from their gods when it was vitally important for them to know something.

Isoko continued, "Does Walter have a Quest to come here?"

A big 'Q' Quest; from a god.

Lola said, "I don't like it much either, but yes, he does, and the timing happening now, with Mark finally getting approval for Inquisition training, is important, I am sure, though what am I sure about? No idea. I expect him to make a stink about something, or he's here to deliver a message, or… or whatever. I hope to interact with him as little as possible."

Mark asked, "Quark. Requesting settlement surveillance location for Sentinel/Inquisitor/Executioner Walter Volkov."

Derek was the one who spoke up first, though, saying, "He's a big spiky guy walking down the road out there, right?"

Everyone turned toward the open doorway. Mark felt out for vectors down the road, and—

Quark answered, "Walter Volkov is about 300 meters down the road and headed this way."

Derek quietly, excitedly said, "I have a body out that direction. See! I'm useful!"

So yeah. That vector of spikes was a Retribution paladin alright, and a strong one. So Volkov? Sure.

Lola stood tall, saying, "Best we wait, I suppose."

Soon enough a big, imposing guy with Daihoonian grey hair, and scars all over his face, walked into the front door of Inquisitor's Hall. He was wearing adjustable armor that looked like it was in reserve mode right now; it was a breastplate but it could flash out and cover his body at a moment's notice. Otherwise he was wearing nice-ish clothes; like an office guy whose office required him to act as a bouncer for some reason.

Sentinel of Okuana, Executioner of Drakarok, warrior for the War for Life, Walter Volkov took notice of everyone, and said, "I'm here to talk about big shit. You, kid. I don't know you, and you're all magical and not even here. Leave. Now."

Derek paused, caught in the crosshairs of Okuana, and he said, "I'm a paladin of Freyala and—"

"I don't give a shit. You're not here in person, and that means you're elsewhere, so piss off."

Derek looked to Lola, and then to Mark, seeking help.

Mark said, "I don't know, dude. He can make your life hell, or you can come back tomorrow."

"I… I don't have a real body anymore!" Derek said, "It's all me!"

Oh. He had had a breakthrough, huh?

Walter paused. He frowned. "I'm not dealing with that, or with you. I need to talk to you, Mark, and Lola. Isoko and Sally can stick around since Mark will probably tell you about it anyway, and Sally, I'm going to be your teacher for Retribution for a while. And that's all I'm saying in public." Walter walked forward, ignoring everyone, going up to Inquisitor Joon, who oversaw the Hall. "Executioner Walter Volkov for use of the Hall."

Joon stood and activated his Power at Walter. All of Walter glittered with spiky golden light, but Joon's eyes held Castellan Fire in them, and Joon's eyes bled, but he kept it together. He blinked, and his Power ended. "Welcome to the Hall of the settlement, Executioner Walter Volkov."

Joon dabbed his eyes with a tissue.

Mark wasn't exactly sure what Joon's Power was, but he was pretty sure it was a sight-based detection magic. Probably 'Detect Evil', or maybe something more esoteric and less prone to false-positives, like Detect Sin. There was probably some Castellan stuff going on, too, since this was Joon's domain.

The door to the Hall opened up and Walter walked into a scanning chamber, and then the door closed, and Mark wasn't sure what happened after that. If there were vectors beyond that closed door, then they were lost to him; the entire area back there was a great big blank to his senses.

Lola said to Derek, "I will meet you somewhere and speak with you later, Derek. You're still in the Inquisition, I am sure. All of your paperwork is settled. But I'm not eager to countermand a Sentinel at this particular moment, even if it is a Sentinel I personally detest. I apologize."

Derek wasn't so much disappointed or angry, or anything. He was resigned. He thought he was being brushed off, and that Lola would not keep her promise of another talk.

Lola noticed, too. She said, "How about 3 PM today? Pick a place."

Derek jolted, then said, "Uh… Here?"

"Not here. He won't be gone from here, and we won't be talking about serious topics. Basic things only. You're still only a week or so after getting Chosen by Freyala, yes? We can do Union lessons somewhere."

"Sure! Yes. Uh… Wherever?"

"The park out there by the lake, right down the tram line, by the exit river. It has several nice benches by the water and on the hills. See you there at 3."

"Yes!" Derek bowed, and then started eagerly walking away, saying, "See you!"

And then it was just Mark, Isoko, Sally, Lola, and Joon…

And Lola was just standing there, while Isoko and Sally and Mark wondered what was happening.

Lola shook her head a little.

They waited… Ah. They waited for Derek to get further away.

"What did he register as, Inquisitor Joon?" Lola eventually asked.

Joon said, "He's not here. That's a magical construct that's not really him at all. What he said about not having a real body concerns me. But he is a Chosen of Freyala; he does have Union."

Lola frowned a little, took a breath, and said, "Freyala already sent me a note that she wants him as an Inquisitor. No one else is giving him any chances besides basic work… and I can see why... But! Leaps of faith, and all that. So I'll take him on as an apprentice Inquisitor when the Sentinel isn't here."

Joon gave a tense nod.

Lola asked, "Mark, Isoko, Sally?"

"Cleared," Joon said.

Lola nodded and walked into the open door into the next room… And Mark realized he needed to follow, so he did, nodding to Joon on the way past. Isoko and Sally picked up the rear, and soon the four of them were in the quarantine chamber for the Hall. Mark could still Union in here, but his Unionsense was a suddenly dull thing. His sense of vectors vanished about a meter from his skin.

Mark got a little worried about not being able to sense through the walls, like he was back to being a baseline. That fed into fears about being taken prisoner by Okuana... but that was fucking ridiculous. Any minute now, when the machines in the walls finished working, the door forward would open—

The floor began to descend and Mark threw his hands out to steady himself, looking around—

Isoko chuckled.

Sally smiled, saying, "It fucked me up the first time, too."

Mark frowned at them, but they were both grinning, so Mark tried not to feel weird.

Lola said, "The real Inquisitor's Hall is not that hidden thing up top, where vectors and such are hidden and untouchable, but where we're going right now, to a place where the vectors seem normal, and anyone viewing from the outside, from any direction, would just see empty dirt. I believe you've seen the same trick once or twice out there, and soon, I will teach you how to do this trick yourself."

Mark felt less worried by every word Lola spoke. Mark recalled the 'invisible space' and also a 'normal space' he had seen elsewhere, besides here at the Hall; both times were just before the Battle for Memphi, at incidents with the Collective.

"That'd be a neat trick to learn," Mark said.

Lola grinned a little. "Quite."