NOVEL WEB 406. One Last Task
Everything went quiet. For a long moment, it was just the three of them, standing on the roof, looking down at the rubble of Brightbriar's tower and all his puppets.
"Should we go?"
"Why?"
"Someone might blame this on us. Demand money."
Wisp looked at him, then away, at the wreckage before them. She spread her arms, taking in the magnitude of the damage they'd done. "Who? Who has a death wish?"
Ike snorted. "Fair enough."
Thump. Scarlet landed beside them. She looked around. "Is that it, then? Brightbriar's… gone?"
"Probably. I dunno. He might have another puppet somewhere, but he's… well, I don't think he's going to cause trouble to anyone in the near future, or ever again, if he's smart," Ike said. Brightbriar was gone enough for him. Or rather… from this point on, Brightbriar couldn't pose a threat to him anymore. Ike had the power to slap him down, and he knew it. If Brightbriar
was still out there, all he could do was gaze on in jealousy and plot while Ike got stronger and stronger, knowing that he couldn't defeat Ike or interfere meaningfully with his 'greater being' any longer.
"You didn't defeat him?" she asked.
"Nah. What would your guys do if I did? You've got a whole organization around opposing him. I wouldn't want to deprive you," Ike joked, laughing. He shrugged. "He's a puppetmaster. I've dealt him a serious blow, but who knows how many backup bodies and escape plans he has hidden away? I'd spend a hundred years just chasing him down and killing them, but I'm sure that Those Who Oppose Llewyn know way more about where he hides away than I do, and have plenty of manpower to hunt him down? I mean, you've got a gods-damned dragon, right?"
"Ruby isn't…" Scar sighed. She nodded. "You are right, though. I've already asked the organization to hunt him down and finish him off; they know we've struck a critical blow, and they're acting with all haste. If he isn't destroyed, he should be set back so severely that he will not pose a threat to the world again, once we're done."
"And now that his goal is forever beyond him, he ought to be a bit quieter," Ike said.
"But… why was he destroying all the regions around this one? What was that for?" Scar asked.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Ike shook his head. "I think… I think it had nothing to do with conquest or anything else. I think he was just trying to create a safe space where his children could grow, without serious danger or severe challenges. When he ringed off this region, I think his only intent was to keep anyone outside from interceding without first having to deal with his puppet army and thus alert him."
"Really? That's all?" Scar asked.
"That's everything to Brightbriar. His whole life was about bringing back the greater being through his children. If he could create a safe place where they could grow, then that was worth an entire lifetime's worth of effort to him."
"That's the part I don't understand. What was the greater being? What was it to Brightbriar? Why would he sacrifice his entire life to bring it back?"
Ike smiled bitterly, gazing out into the middle distance. How did he explain Brightbriar's obsession, fed upon itself until it became its own objective? How did he explain the greater being's punishment, leaving Brightbriar in a state where he didn't know what or why he obsessed, but only felt that endless need, that deep and formless loss with no ability to put words to it? The emptiness of searching for perfection when he didn't even know what he sought? "Even he didn't know."
Scar snorted. "What a waste of time. If I had a puppet army, I'd sweep the regions and unite them as one, not destroy them and leave them barren all over… bringing back one dead guy."
Ike glanced at her, then laughed. "No, I agree. A real waste of time and resources, all told."
"But he did succeed in the end, didn't he?" Scar asked, looking at Ike.
Ike looked around, then pointed at himself. "Me?"
"Yeah, you. You collected all the fragments, right?"
Ike put a hand to his forehead. "The objective… it was a curse, Scar. The greater being can't be revived. Not even with all the fragments. That's Brightbriar's punishment… seeking eternally after something that he can never grasp."
"No, well, yeah. I wasn't meaning to imply that we were bringing dead people back to life, but… you know. You've got all the fragments. Aren't you close enough?"
Ike shook his head. "There's still a big piece I'm missing."
"Really?"
He nodded, looking up at the sky. No… at something beyond the sky. Something he couldn't see at all, no matter how much he wanted to. The System, forged by the greater being. In that moment, that short memory, he'd sensed it: the greater being had put part of himself into the System. A fragment.
The sky shimmered, twisting in response to his thoughts. A hand appeared, formed of strange blue energy shot through with veins and symbols. Scar shouted and jumped back, but Ike had been expecting this, in some part of him that he hadn't quite reconciled—in the memories from the small piece of the greater being who'd survived until now, now dead and buried under the tower's ruins. He reached up as the hand came down, then turned back. "Mag, Wisp… I'm going to need you. Shawn, you too."
"That's alright. I'm always here," Shawn murmured sleepily.
"Eh? Are you sure?" Mag asked, giving the hand an uncertain look.
"We killed Brightbriar, so let's go kill the System!" Wisp cheered.
Ike laughed. "Not quite, but I'll still need your help."
"Ah, phooey. Oh well, I'll take it," Wisp said, and scurried over.
Ike looked at Mag, the only one left. "Mag?"
The bird hesitated, looking around, then at last let out an annoyed huff and winged to Ike's side. "Fine! Fine. I'm coming."
The hand descended, covering the three of them, and their world was subsumed by blue light.