Dreadgod (Cradle Book 11) (21)

“I understand, so if you could speed this up…”

[We hang under the cloud of doom, and yet we stand up in our futile struggle, never flagging under the weight that will surely crush us.]

Lindon gently grabbed Dross and turned him to look into his large purple eye. “It’s not futile, Dross.”

He could feel the spirit shifting uncomfortably and looking for an argument, but finally Dross’ arms drooped and he sighed. […no, it’s not. But wouldn’t it be more exciting if it were?]

Lindon let Dross drift sullenly into the air and answer his question at last. [There is no substitute for experience…so we’ll steal theirs.]

A grey-and-white copy of a younger Northstrider appeared in midair, projected by Dross. [I have recovered many of my memories from inside his oracle codex, and he left an echo of himself behind in the labyrinth after his exploration. I suspect we’re eighty percent to a combat solution.]

Another echo appeared next to him, this time of Reigan Shen with his chin tilted proudly up. [The trouble with Reigan Shen is that he can change his resources at any time, crafting cruel weapons to tear our souls to pieces…ahem, so we can never have a one-hundred-percent accurate model. But we are close, so close, enough that we can taste success with our outstretched tongues.]

Most Monarchs had never set foot into the labyrinth, but three had. Fortunately, they were the ones Lindon was most concerned about.

The third Monarch appeared, drawing back her bow with a smirk on her face. The young Malice looked like she could be Mercy’s sister.

[Akura Malice. Her powers have grown and evolved since she was the Sage of Eternal Night, and she did not use the full extent of her power while she was inside the labyrinth, suffering as she did from both the degradation of hunger madra and the suppression field. However…]

Dross projected a violet book into midair. […with the knowledge we have of Mercy’s Book of Eternal Night, we can sneak a glimpse into Malice’s dark powers. The Book is an idealized version of her Path, not the one she truly follows, and thus we will be always plagued by uncertainty. But we are close to understanding. With some more observation of her, and perhaps a peek into Mercy’s Book, we will treat Malice like we did Harmony.]

The spirit giggled at the memory, which made Lindon shiver.

“That assumes we can fight her on equal terms,” Lindon pointed out. Which they couldn’t yet do.

[Yeeesssss…if we faced Malice now, she would kill us from miles away. If she were merciful. More likely, she would pull us into shadow and torment us, or twist us into her loyal lapdogs.]

Lindon shivered again and changed the subject. They had other projects than just combat reports on the Monarchs.

“What about advancement for the others?”

[If they were willing to replace their limbs, I would be finished already.] Dross stared pointedly at Lindon’s right arm.

That wasn’t as simple as it sounded, and Dross knew it. Though they had enough hunger madra to now supply anyone they wanted, an arm would have to be compatible with its host spirit. They would also need a spirit Enforcer technique to separate the madra they drained. And without a mind-spirit to filter out stolen thoughts, they would risk losing their identity to the stolen memories.

These were solvable problems, and Lindon had considered looking for the solution. There were still hunger spears stored in the labyrinth, the ones that had once been made for Gold-level soldiers, and there was no reason he couldn’t create higher-level devices made for more advanced stages.

But he needed to work more quickly. He had to bring the others up to the level of being able to fight Dreadgods and Monarchs as soon as possible.

Dross made an irritated hiss as he sensed the direction of Lindon’s thoughts, and began spooling out new projections. [Among the memories of the echoes and some records still stored in the labyrinth, I have options. But I need your authority to explore them, so it is on your decision that our fate rests.]

Lindon looked from a buried elixir that would greatly increase the advancement of anyone on a force Path, perfect for Ziel, to a castle where a black dragon’s Herald Remnant had been frozen in time for hundreds of years.

He pulled up a chair and opened himself to the memories.

“Gratitude, Dross. What’s first?”





3





Lindon strode onto the large stone wedges that made up the platform of the Soulforge. Each wedge was marked with a single symbol so that together they formed a simple script-circle. Starry sky surrounded him in all directions, though Lindon suspected they were points of condensed power rather than actual stars.

From his soulspace, he removed Genesis, his newly crafted Soulsmithing hammer. It was two-headed and small enough to fit in one hand, with one head tinged red and the other blue. Made to bind his powers together and focus them on creation, Genesis was intended to advance his Soulsmithing to the next level.

He had used the hammer only briefly, and he was looking forward to any excuse to wield it now. Though the occasion did dampen his enthusiasm.

“I need a plan, Dross,” Lindon said.

They had discussed this before arriving in the Everwood continent, knowing they were indirectly confronting the Silent King. Dross had begun theorizing countermeasures against the Dreadgod’s possession.

Of course, the situation had become more urgent than either of them had expected.