Black Magus

2nd of Quartutus.

***

The unsettling thing about ascending to Godhood was the number of fronts it opened to my horizons. Or rather, the number of fronts it made apparent to me after all this time.

The Gods of the Mortal Plane have had their eyes on me since my birth. A few had made some measure of an introduction through their followers already. Sutark via Bazzric, Tiamat via Urshure, and the dwarven deities: Myrthilda, the Forge Mother; Amphroduhn, the All-Smith; and Rangorakh, the Fire Mountain, via Elsgril; Faenya via my mother. Others would make their introductions relatively soon. Caelarin via Corym; Lilith via High Matron Etyl Za'Darmondiel.

It was those last two who put things into perspective. The Gods- especially the Youteran ones- expected something of me, Telin's Champion. Thanks to Etan, I had an idea of what Lilith wanted- for me to be the catalyst in the evolution of drow. The stimulus that would make them paragons through the vehicle of war. As my mirror, I assumed Faenya wanted something… passive. Something that would happen regardless of how I lived- like this spread of arcana, making those who worshiped her more potent. But Caelarin…

For whatever reason, Caelarin wanted me out of the picture. I refused to believe it was solely because of Carbury, but in truth, I didn't care. A war was brewing between me and his followers, and I was certain he wouldn't like the outcome of what I had in store for King Corym. When coupled with the almost imminent battle with the Queen Demon Spider's cloth, it was a lot to add to the inevitable war to retake Ulai. Not to mention the eventual war against Polaris, either within the coming years or the next several centuries.

To make matters more interesting, all of that would be coupled with the chaos released from my evolution. The realm itself changed and kept changing now, some six days later. This small fraction of the Mortal Plane had become great, filled with the strong, the arcane, and the exotic overnight; and not even I knew what would become of the beam on its way to Maru.

If that was the effect of my becoming a Demi-Eternal, it was hard to imagine what things would be like much later down the road, when I reached my next evolution at the 10th step. If the Gods were already angsty before and recent events made them upset, then that would certainly make them just as pissy as Caelarin; creating all the trials Telin promised me for the rest of my or their days.

That wasn't to say I was unprepared, however. On the contrary, my Legions were designed to be strong enough to fight against the divine from the start. Like many things, that was exacerbated by my evolution. Only one of my Legions made fighting the divine their specialty, however.

Naturally, it was the most obscure Legion of all. The 5th Legion, the Deliverers. While they also had Rua's Merciful Monks and Phelia's Healing Corps amidst their ranks, the core of the Deliverers was composed of Valkyries; and so, Deliverers were known for being Valkyries. The divine agents of me and my pantheon who ferried souls above and below without pause, leaving them unseen by the eyes of many mortals; and thus, obscure.

It was that obscurity, coupled with their role of having one foot in each plane, that led to them being the only ones who bore witness to the changes seen in Eotrom. They alone saw Eotrom expand in volume just as the mortals of the Plane saw Mani expand in radius and distance itself to binary star levels. They saw their woven worlds within Eotrom become like stars and their moons like planets, connected by the nearly imperceptible branches of my divine tree- the very tree my Troupe was evolving under. But not before they caused an evolution in the Legions.

They wove their worlds amidst the drifting incorporeal roots of my divine tree, connected within the interior of Mani. Such a connection bore nutrients in the form of power that was fed to the worlds drifting among the cosmic branches of the divine realm- Sponsorships from my Troupe to my Legions.

By seeing these things, by learning of their sponsor, the Deliverers came to terms with the front- or rather, the force that often went unnoticed in the Empire. Even the civilians and the few Legionaries who dwelled or operated on those worlds far above the Mortal Plane rarely thought about those who dwelled inside, beneath, and subsequently outside the core of those woven worlds- the reincarnated celestials, residing beneath the boundless skies of Eotrom. Thus, it was to no surprise they seldom thought about the future of those beings.

The Deliverers knew, however. Even before I did.

They knew, one way or another, that the laws, matter, and energies of my realm would one day bleed through the Mortal Plane. Eventually, the universe would, for all intents and purposes, become like Eotrom whether I wanted it to or not, sparking a divine war to be fought by the cloth of the Gods, commanded by their celestials, led by their demigods and lesser deities. And so, while her Court of Valkyries sought, saw, and delivered, their Empress planned accordingly.

As one other Prime had, Lucia scoured the net to learn all she could of the Sol System's history of special operations forces to organize the fourth side of her empire into an industrial black ops unit without the secrecy, fielded by a quasi-hive mind of celestials. The Einherjar.

Building the Einherjar's foundation was an act that was inspired by the events that transpired the day before. While I'd been ensuring Zaos got home safely, Lucia and thus another part of me were watching a pillar of crimson light descend from the surface of Roheisa's planet Edinda, seeking.

Elara Aghagan saw Ranren Torhorn be bisected by Elurial's macuahuitl, just as I did. Thus, she descended to the Mortal Plane to deliver his soul.

At a cost.

A great neigh echoed from the heavens behind Elara just as her boots touched down to approach the liberated soul, bringing my eyes and surely many more to the Steel Volcano of Kasia, wherein an elf-faced celestial quadrigae swept past the young Valkyrie in a blur of white, sprouting a chariot of spectral vines from their hooves to take hold of Ranren's soul and lift him skyward.

They had landed to grab Ranren's soul and ascended before Elara could draw her bow and turn. Quite auspiciously, might I add, for her sights quickly aligned with the four winged elf-faced unicorn-things splitting their formation in half. Accelerated via magnetism, her crystalline arrow sailed true, its steel tip digging into the beast's left hind leg, causing it to stagger behind the other three abreast. In response, the two carrying Ranren's soul began a mad dash, flying faster toward the clouds while those in the rear banked around and fell back to sweep in from either side.

Without as much as a glance, Elara fired off volleys of feathered blades with each flap of her wings, creating a field of crystal, steel, and magma projectiles that sank into the ethereal 'flesh' of the horse she wounded earlier, leaving it maimed and crippled but healing while the other the horse dodged her volley with ease, corkscrewing and barrel rolling as it fired a trio of gleaming green arrows from its horn.

Chasing Ranren tenaciously, Elara deflected the first arrow off her wings as they reached high, leaving her legs unguarded to the second arrow, which flared like a green flag once it impacted and bloomed into a growth of brambles. With Ranren tickling the belly of the clouds, the relatively healed horse zealously neighed and ferally snorted as the bright vines enveloped Elara's legs, charging and dashing with no regard for its companion dragging the brambles and Elara, pulled out of the third arrow's path.

The horn's verdant hue appeared to merge reactively with the green essence of the impacting arrow, creating a taproot with a woody form that sank towards Elara and the other unicorn-cherub thing, further contributing to the young Valkyrie's predicament. However, while her charge was now burrowing into the clouds, Elara was not distracted. She near-instantly found the connection between the beasts and likened it to the crystalline threads of the RAPHEW, then formed a similar spell to counter it.

Heated by a core of molten steel driven forward via magnetism, Elara's diamond fibers burrowed through the brambles as if they had a mind, racing down the grains like a lit gasoline trail until there was nowhere to go but the horn that conjured them.

In the end, there was nothing left of them but entropy and ash. Heat.

The Vulcan's Heart had awoken.

Elara's wings flared with the tempered rage of a volcano as she swept her metallic wings, turning the very winds she churned into a searing conflagration that pushed her into the sky with a righteous scream. Her speed was such that the two remaining beasts seemed to be falling toward her. Yet still, she was seen accelerating, magnetically throwing volleys of feathered spears on the upward sweeps of her wings.

They sailed true even while the horned elf-cherubs jerked Ranren's soul around evasively, gashing the wing of the left one and dealing much more damage to its companion. Its focus and thus its grip on the soul was lost, creating a spectral bullseye for the steel-feathered arrow being launched from Elara's bow like a railgun.

The searing rod that was her arrow sailed past the now-flailing unicorn-cherub as if it didn't exist, allowing the singing wake to blast the beast directly into the young Valkyrie's path rather than run it through. Uncaring of its plight, Elara poised her spear before her and allowed a contained mass of molten metal to build within; yet the flailing beast impaled itself on her feathered blade anyway, then was sundered to ash when a volcanic spire of molten material erupted from the thrust of her spear.

It was like an invisible volcano had erupted in the sky, pushing out a column of ethereal magma heralded by a gleaming figure of crystal and steel that closed the distance in less than a second.

Grasping Ranren's soul in desperation, the remaining cherub used that time to tuck its wings in preparation to evade, only to give Elara prime targets to sever and flay from the spectral horse's body with two dexterous swipes of her spear. Its wings continued rising from their momentum while the body cartwheeled away under the force of Elara's kick- launch off the beast's body toward Ranren's soul, weeping at its escorts burning in the congealing materials.

Even I struggled to discern which came first; her grip around Ranren's soul or the energy flowing into her wings. Regardless, they flared with a vengeful orange radiance, creating a pillar of light that saw space shift around Elara and the soul clutched in her grasp before the Mortal Plane was pulled to her feet. Seemingly so, until she stopped at the last second to throw the weeping soul to the ground.

He landed unseen with a silent thump in the dirt. Opening beneath him a dark pit of virulence that gave way to a field of reaching hands, clawing, grabbing, clenching, and dragging the weeping, crying, and pleading soul into the darkness while the young Valkyrie looked on in contempt, a cold sneer hidden beneath her faceless helm.

"That is why you are unworthy!" Her words came as a volcanic boom far louder than the sonic wake of her descent. Yet, that prelude was far quieter than the stomp that committed Ranren's soul to the Under. It was like the Shot Heard 'Round the World, coupled with the Starfarer's descent to Earth- an act that would affect everyone for centuries to come, despite few directly witnessing it.

I knew not how it was heard beyond my realm. Within my realm, however, it was heard by both the clone of my teacher and Cononthoth's paired mirror, my resident sphinxes, Ari and Zmon; for the Deliverers were obscure seekers, and so were both the sphinxes and Etan.

In a way, Ari was the opposite of her mate. Whereas Zmon had a robust build with leopard spots, a face of onyx skin, and a matted mane that flowed like grand tapestries, Ari boasted a sleek panther-like body and fur with a face of olive skin coupled with a thick curtain of curly black hair, neatly groomed and tucked beneath a regal headdress of a leafless tree. Their only similarity was the glow of my arcana blooming in their eyes.

As per the arrangement, she was to 'accompany' me in the realms I explored, dwelling in my lair whilst testing the locals who sought my knowledge, technology, or other things while her mate, Zmon, would bring prominent Legionaries to his lair in the core of Etan's world to become candidates for the Troupe's black ops units. With this recognition of the Deliverers and Lucia's Einherjar, however, Zmon would now also choose candidates for what would come to be called the Legions' Legendary Units, for Lucia's was an act that would see the other Imperators create similar units in the coming months; much like my Troupe made theirs.

Ari had something new to seek as well, however- a mirror of what was sought by Zmon. The mortals worthy of gaining my employ and serving my divine needs.

As such, as many in the Troupe had done, Etan became the sponsor of the Deliverers.

As such, Lucia's court of Valkyries was given new things to seek. Divine knowledge. Holy artifacts. The agents of the Gods.

As such, Ari identified one I would seek in due time. A mortal who fitted the criteria to be crowned a Valkyrie and seek, see, and deliver in my name for Zed Legion.

Z'ress Hun'ana.