The Ruler of Ruin

The elevator ride felt long and awkward. I would much rather have been with Amaranthine, but there I was, alone in a box that travelled in ways which seemingly defied conventional directions. Were we even moving? The information that swam in my vision for the elevator indicated that yes, we were moving, but not in a linear fashion.

“Your mind is not ready for quantum physics. Do not run before you walk, some things are far beyond your understanding.” Arx Maxima warned me in a not unkindly way, but it was hard to take her warning as anything other than a dismissal of my intellect. Which, I guess, was fair from her point of view.

The brief sensations of motion subsided, and with a whoosh the door opened. A single hallway led directly to a black EternaStone wall.

“Did we come to a dead end?” I asked.

“No, follow me.” The golden diamond floated ahead of me, and I followed obediently. It was only a twenty-foot walk to the black wall.

“Look inward to Wealth of the Enclave. Feel the surge in power it grants you, seize the authorization you granted yourself. Actualize it as a word., and the Vault will open for you.” Arx Maxima’s cryptic instructions no longer threw me off. Improvisation and blindly grasping at straws seemed to be the order of the day for everything regarding my conceptual powers. If I thought I could do it, I could find a way to do it.

I ran my mind across the Wealth of the Enclave, the massive energy influx and reserves that complimented my own astral collection and my vast reservoir of power. I briefly considered the odd generation of Enclave Credits that my ability produced in a sub-space I couldn’t even access. I still hadn’t found anywhere to use Enclave Credits, so my ability to access them didn’t seem to matter. Finally, there was the access to the Vault’s of the Stellarae Enclave, the stolen wealth of innumerable planets.

“Ruin,” I said.

The black wall shimmered, and a white line the width of a hair appeared. The line unfolded into a doorway. The process seemed nonsensical, my eyes burned with unshed tears and my brain ached with the impossibility of EternaStone folding and bending. And yet, as simple as that, a doorway loomed before me.

“Let’s go in,” Arx Maxima encouraged me.

I stepped into the light. It felt like every tiny, invisible, piece of my body was broken down, transferred, and put back together.

“What the hell was that?” I demanded. The pain faded quickly with no ill after-effects that I could notice, but it didn’t change the fact the process had hurt. We stood in a place of whiteness. No shadows. No reflections. Everything was a dull white. I looked around repeatedly, and no matter how I moved or shifted, not a single shadow was cast.

“Necessary precautions the early leaders of the Enclave found to prevent shadow fey from breaching our security. No shadows, no reflections, no echoes. This is not for your betrothed, unless she would join the Enclave.” Arx Maxima’s candid revelation about the precautions here made me think that there were a lot of other security efforts that she wasn’t telling me about.

“Okay, so it’s a big white room. Why’d we come here?” I felt a little disappointed.

“Retrieve Melchior,” Arx Maxima commanded.

Moments later an EternaStone statue materialized. It towered over me, easily ten feet tall. The man depicted in the statue seemed to be human, other than the large obsidian wings behind him. The wings were the only color variation of the whole statue, the sculptor had gone out of their way to enhance the darkness of the wings using a more jagged, barbaric style than the smooth lines used on the man. He looked old, despite having the features of someone in their forties. I couldn’t put my finger on what trick of lines had been used to convey age so effectively, but maybe it was the EternaStone itself that lent the air of antiquity.

“Who’s Melchior?” I asked when I had finished my investigation of the statue.

“Elder Melchior was one of the three High Elders of the Stellarae Enclave. He was called the Sage of Prosperity. Melchior’s wisdom guided the Enclave on matters related to material riches, physical harmony, and societal wealth. His knowledge will prove useful when we turn our focus on building Monados in truth.” Arx Maxima praised the statue as if it were alive.

“What do you mean his knowledge? Is he in that thing?” I refrained from knocking on the statue to see if it were hollow, but I really wanted to.

“No. Unfortunately Elder Melchior died with the rest of the Enclave upon impact. However, an old copy of his neural network, knowledge, and basic personality were backed up with this statue. While not fit to be considered the Elder himself, the synthetic Melchior will be more than adequate for city planning, social administration, and other mundane tasks that we may require of it. Sage Melchior will be ready for consultation in five days.” Arx Maxima explained in an informative tone.

“Okay, so, we came down here for this?” I felt let down. Maybe Fake Melchior would be useful, but it absolutely felt like this could have waited.

“No, the process to awaken the synthetic Melchior was not our primary goal. However, given it is a time intensive procedure I thought it best to proceed with the awakening first. Our true objective was this. Retrieve Light’s Demise.” Arx Maxima commanded.

A dagger appeared. It had two edges, a warbling wavy blade, and a black EternaStone hilt.

“What’s this?” I asked, curious and hopeful. Something with the name Light’s Demise might even be associated with Mithras.

“This Kris was forged by Elder Gaspard, with the intent to neutralize Mithras should the need ever arise. If you stab Etienne with this it will afflict Mithras with a wound as lethal as you deliver to Etienne. If you were to stab him in the heart with this, it would likely kill both your brother and Mithras.”

“I thought we were going to free him from Mithras?” I asked anxiously.

“Yes. However, if you cannot do so, this weapon may prove your only means of retribution for what Mithras has done to your brother. It is a last resort option, or alternatively, a compelling reason to convince Mithras to surrender Etienne to you. Mithras prizes his survival over all other things, and thus you may avoid the hard decision of having to kill your brother.”

I grimaced and grabbed the knife. It was light but felt comfortable in my hand. I stashed it in the Belt of Diana.

“Would it work on anyone other than Mithras?” I asked as ideas and possibilities coalesced in my mind.

“Only as a regular knife.” Arx Maxima answered.

That wasn’t the answer I wanted to hear, but I let my disappointment slide away. I didn’t need to kill Corvusol anyway. He was a dick but seemed to be predominantly on our side. Plus, Amaranthine had his concepts bound, so I wouldn’t want to adversely affect her.

“Retrieve Staff of Avalon,” Arx Maxima commanded the vault.

A tall, ancient staff appeared. It looked a little weathered, and to be carved from a tree of the yew variety. Maybe. I vaguely recalled yew being the talk of staff makers in Havenstone. A large crystal topped the staff, and it pulsed with multi-hued bursts of arcane power.

“Your Uncle’s staff is adequate for an adventurer, but now that he is part of your retinue and a member of the family of the Emperor of Chaos, an upgrade is necessary. The tradition of Merlin, or magical super-geniuses, are well documented prior to the cataclysm that formed the Gossamyr.”

“I’m sure he’ll love it,” I chuckled. It looked very Remy-esque, old and worn, haggard and powerful.

“Retrieve Constructive Ruin,” Arx Maxima commanded again.

A huge hammer appeared. The thing was barely shorter than I was, with a dense EternaStone head and a strange black metal handle.

“I’m guessing that one is for Chrys?”

I made a lot of assumptions there, simply off the name. Constructive meant making things, and Chrys was the only crafter amongst us that I knew of. Miyuki, Xian, and me were all warriors. We didn’t make things. Arx Maxima had just given me a staff for Remy. That left Chrys. Claire couldn’t lift the hammer, I knew, the moment I grasped its haft and gave it a tug.

“Correct. It will allow for Chrys to explore the intricacies of her Eureka concept with more creative freedom.” Arx Maxima explained. I deposited the hammer into the Belt of Diana, and marveled at the idea that a gigantic hammer fit inside my tiny belt, and it didn’t even add any weight.

“Nothing for me or Claire?” I asked hopefully.

“Retrieve Claws of Mikhail,” Arx Maxima commanded.

What appeared looked nothing like gloves. They were four rings that were simplistic metal bands that looked very much like brass.

“What happens when I put these on?” I asked cautiously. I let them float in the air while I examined them.

“These created from the bones of Misha, the slayer of Lucifer, after Azazel slew him in turn. They greatly increase the physical might of the wearer and grant absolute immunity to fire. It is likely to increase your musculature slightly. If it has other cosmetic effects, I am presently unaware of them.” Arx Maxima explained the power and origin of the rings.

I didn’t hear anything too ominous in the effects or possible outcome, so I grasped them in my hand.

“Index and fourth finger of each hand,” Arx Maxima instructed me, and tied the ring to the proper finger with a glowing string of light. I wanted to tell her I could have figured it out from instructions, but the visual aide did make the process much faster.

When the final ring, the fourth finger on my right hand, slipped into place all four rings glowed with a powerful yellow-orange glow. Each ring turned into a band of weirdly sacred fire, which then melted between the scales of my fingers and into my body. There, the fire ignited my blood, and torrents of pure heat circulated through my body. The heat blasted through my two hearts, my lungs, my brain, all of my appendages in a painful and glorious internal rebirth.

Something changed about the world while the sacred flame burned my essence, seared my soul, and tempered my flesh. I didn’t have anything to compare it too. You used fire to make food taste better, but in this scenario, the fire made everything about me better. It burned away some things. What did it burn away? I couldn’t put my finger on it, so obviously, it wasn’t anything important.

New Vector unlocked: Purifying Flame.

Mask of Azazel, Armor of Azazel, Choker of Ruin, and Claws of Mikhail detected. Synchronizing…. New ability available: Lord of War. Assume control of Lord of War?

“I would agree to that,” Arx Maxima suggested nonchalantly, as if it didn’t matter if I did or didn’t agree to it.

Of course, I wanted to agree to it. Lord of War sounded amazing. Would it let me be an even better warrior? Maybe I’d have sword arms, or sword wings, like Xian had chain wings. Not that I was jealous of Xian, and his amazingly awesome wings, but if I had sword wings, I might be on even footing with him. Although, sword wings would fit Miyuki better than me, since she had al those flying swords. I shouldn’t encroach on her territory.

I realized I hadn’t answered the Mask of Azazel yet. Something in the pit of my stomach had me worried about the consequences of this. My gut told me this was a bit like when Arx Maxima repolarized the Gossamyr to chaos.

Fuck it.

“Yes,” I said.

My mind expanded so wide that Arx Maxima was but a speck in the center of the churning Gossamyr. The Astral Weaver looked up at me, then vanished into its dark hunting grounds once more. I fell away from the Gossamyr, away from Arx Maxima, into the absolute void.. until a flash of light swallowed me whole.