NOVEL WEB 370. Explaining Everything
Across the city to a nondescript door in a back alley. Scar opened it, revealing a dusty backroom. Ike went to step inside, but before he could, Scar closed it again, whispered something he couldn't make out, and opened it again. This time, it opened to a sumptuous lounge, full of overstuffed furniture and heavy drapes. Light struggled to filter through closed windows, but only succeeded at lighting the dust motes floating on the air.
"What the…" Ike muttered, staring into the room.
Scar thumped him on the shoulder, pushing him through. "Go on already. We can't keep this open long, or he might find it."
Ike nodded. He stepped inside, and Wisp and Mag followed close behind him. Scar glanced over her shoulder, then shut the door.
"So what did you mean by, 'did you remember?'" Ike asked. "I'm guessing this has to do with the Prince and the King? Or rather, the greater being that I'm made from a piece of… or whatever?"
"You know that much, then," Scar said, nodding.
Wisp thumped down on one of the overstuffed armchairs and crossed her arms. "Spill it, already. What's going on? Ike's explained, but I still don't get it."
"I don't get this part, either," Ike muttered. He'd never remembered something he hadn't experienced before. Not only that, but he'd quietly consulted with the King and the Prince, and neither of them knew what was going on, either. The infants had nothing to share, not that he'd asked them. He could already feel them melting away into him. They didn't have much personality to begin with, and they were quickly falling apart, submerged in a greater being with a much stronger force of ego than any of them. It wouldn't be long before he absorbed them completely.
Scar nodded. "You saw her, didn't you? My mother. She was one of your retainers."
"The greater being's retainers," Ike corrected her. Another retainer? It explained why he'd recognized her, at least… or had that strange moment. Ike frowned, a bit perturbed by the implication. If that was truly a result of the greater being slowly merging with him, then how much would he lose, to remember everything that the greater being was? If he remembered everything, would he even be Ike anymore, or would he only be the greater being?
He shook his head, forcing the fears down. He'd always be him. He was sure about that. Even if he had to face the greater being down and cut it to pieces himself, he would be the one to survive. Not it. Not that other being he'd never met. But him. Ike.
Scar opened her mouth, then nodded. "Right. The greater being's."
"What was he? If she was your mother, then surely you know. Or… can I just talk to her?" Ike asked. Mages lived for centuries, and if the greater being was stronger than him, it was at least Tier 4, and more likely 5 or even higher than that. Any retainer of such a powerful being would at least be close to its power, which meant 3 at the minimum, by his estimate, and at Rank 3, he was pretty sure he could live for a long, long time.
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She shook her head. "Like him, all his retainers were punished. My mother… by some accounts, she got off easily; by some, she was one of the most harshly punished. Her magehood was ruined, and she plunged down to Rank 2, but she retained her human body, her will, her sanity, and her memory. Some were not so lucky."
"Like Brightbriar," Ike said.
"By some accounts, he got off the lightest of all. By others…"
"I know. I met one of the greater being's retainers in the fog, beyond the limits of this realm. She mentioned that."
Scar raised her brows. "I didn't know other retainers still survived. My mother birthed me at the limit of her lifespan. As part of her punishment, she was no longer able to advance as a mage, and even with her vast knowledge of the world, could only extend her life so long. I was born when she was close to the end of her life, and she lived just long enough to watch Brightbriar burn down everything in the region she chose to call home after she was banished from her true home. Other than Brightbriar, she was sure all the other retainers must have died long ago."
Ike nodded. "I'm not too sure that the retainer we encountered was alive. She seemed to be as much mist as woman."
"Another strange punishment," Scar murmured. She shook her head. "The point is, I'm not only a victim of Brightbriar, but also the child of your former retainer… of the greater being's former retainer," she amended, before Ike could correct her. "You do realize you're him, right?"
"And so is the King, and the Prince, and Rosamund and Llewyn and gods only know how many other puppets. We're all nothing but shards of something greater. It's presumptuous to call myself 'him,' when Llewyn or Rosamund has as much a claim as I do," Ike said.
"You have the King and the Prince, though. What's the Prince, by the way? I've never heard of him."
"He's another fragment like the King. One that Brightbriar mourned, rather than punishing, as he did the King," Ike explained.
"And the King… you got him from the trial, right? He's a fragment of that greater being? One Brightbriar punished? We weren't aware of this," Scar said, frowning.
"Brightbriar has made many—"
"Many fragments, yes. We know that. But as far as we were aware, they were limited to puppets and kept close to hand—Rosamund, Llewyn. We weren't even sure about you… but it seems like you are a fragment, despite being flesh and blood. That'll cause some debate amongst the others."
"Will it?" Ike asked. It came out a little sharper than he'd intended. He'd been challenged about his identity a lot today, and he was done with it.
Wisp, who was not done with it and would never be, giggled evilly in the corner.
"Yeah, there was a lot of disagreement over… well, it doesn't matter." She waved her hand, dismissing the subject. "Sorry about that, by the way—about telling you Llewyn was Brightbriar. It was simpler than the truth, and honestly, you weren't ready for it yet."
"It's a lot to take in," Ike admitted, not holding it against her. He'd struggled to come to terms with it, and he'd lived through merging with several pieces and delving them to understand them better. If someone had just told him he was a fragment of something bigger without any of that, he would have just laughed them off and ignored them.
"Still, you're telling me that he's been building these fragments for ages? Putting them in flesh-and-blood infants, somehow?" Scar asked.
Ike took a deep breath.
Wisp snickered. "Sit down. It'll be a while."