chsdbacks BECMI Chapter 489 – Bombardments from All Directions
BECMI Chapter 489 – Bombardments from All Directions
“The foul magicks that did assail our fair city and its noble inhabitants did arise from the uncultured savages of Zanzyr. This fact is known and without doubt!”The new Emperor looked rather wild-eyed and spittle was flying with his emotions, but his words bit hard into the Overmagi of Delpha’s Ruling Council, particularly those who had died to those untamed, chaotic magicks. Calls of support echoed around the Chamber, including many from voices who had been completely uncaring of such actions before.
A direct strike at them, as opposed to emperors meddling in mundane politics that were of no interest to these old men? That had to be dealt with!
“I call for an immediate vote to move the power of the High Council to deal directly with this threat, and begin the immediate razing of the power that would dare to threaten Delpha, while securing the magic and power that enabled them to do so!”
Windrose noted that it took great willpower for Cleossa’s eldest son to not say ‘for the glory of the Empire!’
She naturally knew the boy was deranged. He was shielded from any threats, had no natural empathy for those around him, and had known he was going to be the Emperor one day. He only had to wait, and wait, and WAIT, for his mother to get tired of her job and get out of his way, before he could take the throne and REALLY show the world what Delpha was capable of!
That hadn’t been happening, and the demented little fuck had only gotten his chance when his mother died in the Graystrike, when all the wonder was sucked out of the world with its mana, and Vinndsvoll itself had been directly smote as a whole.
Windrose was technically the first Aeromancer of this world, empowered by betathaumic energies and a Tradition not founded until thousands of years later. This power gave her a great status in Delpha, but even her status wasn’t going to stop the certainty of this vote going down.
Thaum had struck at them all, acting as the fist of Zanzyr, and the Overmagi had no choice but to retaliate and safeguard themselves. They could not be faulted for this, and again, mortals were going to pay for the actions of Immortals.
Thaum could likely kill them all, one by one, immune to mortal magic as he was, although doubtless these archmages hid surprises and Artifacts that could threaten his Avatars.
But the revelation of the Core of All Magic to the Delphans was going to set off a cataclysm, she had no doubt of that. When they appeared collectively to bombard Zanzyr, that was when the real strike against Delpha was going to happen.
Zanzyr could not possibly withstand Delpha’s full magical might, and the Overmagi here were going to be completely non-discriminatory about who they attacked.
There had once been nigh on a thousand Overmagi on the High Council, and all of the survivors were obligated to respond to this vote.
The ‘Ayes!’ began to sound around the chapter, the ‘Nays’ few and dispirited, mostly from Overmagi who’d been outside the city and simply dealt with the effects. But even they had come for this vote, and would grudgingly respond.
She only had an honorary seat and was not obligated to respond, but she would go along as a witness regardless.
It was going to be the end of a nation. Or two. Or three.
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Delpha’s forces poured across the Mouth of Hammanrium, seizing Mesasula in but a day. In but another day they’d be pouring down the road towards the City of Siricil, and the beleaguered forces of Emperor Magni could only attempt to gather in their path to forestall the whelming forces on sky and land coming for them.
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I told the Shaden that something urgent had come up, and I would return in fifteen minutes. Duum and I away cleanly, back to Innspot, where Cirru materialized within seconds of us, shrinking down to her halvyri form as she did so.
The path to the Portal through Time was wide open, and we hurried down in that direction, Duum shrinking down to land on my shoulder.
“This will be the long one,” I informed Cirru over my shoulder. “We need to remain on the Other Shore until the Crimson Cataclysm occurs there. The high-energy event will be critical to establishing Confluence, to one degree or another.”
Her palest blue eyes flashed as we raced down the steps. I just waved at the guards there, who saluted back, and I plunged into the Portal.
The ethereal walkway wasn’t changed. Ten steps later, I was out the misty Portal on the other other side, beneath Castle Doomrose.
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“Mistress, that means we are going to be here for a good seven hundred years,” Cirru pointed out as we headed upstairs.
“Aye, you’ll be undergoing both of your Wyrmsleeps and be a Great Wyrm when it occurs.” Over three hundred years had passed since the Doom of Darkmoor here, and another two centuries going through time in various periods, particularly through the Far Shore’s past in Delpha. Cirru was coming up on her Ancient Dragonsleep, advancing to the ninth Age Category and effectively becoming a Junior Elder of her species.
It would also be her next major size increase, with the last one coming at the Great Wyrm stage at 1200 years.
Master Lalo was behind the counter, smiling as we returned, having left months and ten minutes ago. “How was your trip, Edge?” he asked with a smile as he wiped the polished bar down.
“The Moment of Confluence has begun on the Far Shore, Master Lalo,” I replied calmly, sliding into a seat there. Duum jumped off to his anthroid form, and Cirru primly chose the spot between us.
Plates of a fine small sandwich, a hissing and spitting steak with a dozen sauces, and an assortment of very large assorted bugs boiled in butter and herbs were set down within seconds. Duum and Cirru directly began bickering about one another’s foods and raiding them for tastes like they were not nearly six centuries old.
Emeril’s local android Avatar strolled into the Inn and sat down while I was nibbling away. “Confluence? How are we powering it? We don’t have a power source?” the deliberately tinny voice asked.
“We’re waiting seven hundred years for the Crimson Cataclysm to take place, and going to operate off of that, Em,” I replied calmly.
Both of them considered that, glancing up and around once. “No, it wasn’t as bad as the Doom… in a physical sense. In a magical sense, that eruption tied the reactor to the planet’s entire magical field, and activated the single most powerful Artifact on the planet, one with more internal Immortal Power than a Hierarch possesses. From a magical perspective, it was at least as powerful and dangerous because of the Immortal Power involved.”
“Are all the planar feats done that need to be done?” Captain Emeril asked in disbelief.
“Oh, heck no. We’ve got a LOT of work to be done on that end.” I smiled mercilessly. “On the flip side, they are done on the Far Shore, so we’ve got some great guides on how to proceed.”
“Ah, that will surely help move matters along. And seven hundred years is a lot of time to get work done for this, if not quite the same as the millennia a time-hopper can leverage,” Master Lalo pointed out thoughtfully.
“And we’ve got Eternals and gods to help us out this time,” I also noted to both of them. “We may be rewriting history on this side, but Time tries to force similarity between the streams, and only Source pressure is pushing back. Things outside Thor’s concerns will try to align to previous happenings. All we basically have to do is not expand west and the Cataclysm will happen, while things out in the planes that are not directly affected by us will also attempt to converge constantly.”
“The power of the Gallivant Pantheon is worrying a great many Immortals who are losing worshipers to them. That whole theme of self-empowerment, better days, raising the floor… terribly attractive, massively disturbing to those who want people serving their little social experiments and rampant wars.” Emeril shook his head slowly. “They wrote their legends large, and threw their net wide. It’s paid off, they’re established in many lands, but it’s given them a great many enemies.”
“Don’t forget the Entropics. They’ve managed to piss off ALL the Entropics, you know,” Master Lalo smirked.
“That is actually one of the reasons nobody has picked a fight with them. They are incredibly good at foiling Entropic plans at the mortal level. The Immortals only want them to get roped in and join their society, and are kind of miffed they are all joined together, obviously crossing Spheres in this little Pantheon of theirs and ignoring the Hierarchs. If they start making personal moves…”
“The planet is lost,” I stated with certainty. “Because if the Hierarchs violate Immortal law, there is no Immortal law. They can’t do it, and the gods are damn good at what they do. The big pressure is going to come if they realize Nown is backing the gods, and not them.”
“Well, you’ve formed a great center of power with the tribes you’ve brought into the Ringlands here. The slaves from Siricil you sent through to here gave Kheper’s population a massive boost, and helped out Brightmoor a tad, too. They’ve been able to fend off Sythia with only minor effort so far, and that’s the biggest threat to them.”
“Parallel history on the Far Shore suggests a lot of infighting between Immortals and various minor Empires rising and falling around the continent to manipulations by one another. We’ll take what actions we can as we can, but leave the gods to determine what they need to do. They’ve been playing this game far longer than we, and these Immortals have no idea of what they are going to be going up against. Empowered mortals against reliant mortals is not a contest.”
“Especially armed with decent science,” Emeril agreed, and Master Lalo agreed. “Very well, what are our first plans, then?”
“I have to set up a to notify the gods of what is happening, bring them into the loop. Sif and Thor’s job is to make more Eternals for us the best way, and the gods to help them.”
“Not just more demigods?” Master Lalo said with a straight face, and I had to roll my eyes.
Molniya had received permission from Sif to have a son by Thor, resulting in the birth of their son Magni Thorson, who was definitely taking on the mantle of God of Strength as he built to his own power.
On the other side of things, it turned out Chardon was a Grandmaster of swashbuckling combat, particularly the Rose and Thorn style, and the Night Rose, which meant he got on famously with Sif. Divine status seemed to trump Hag Curse, as their daughter Thrud ‘Thorn’ Sifdottir definitely took after her parents in many ways, and was not a Rantha, either. A wildly fiery-haired and tempestuous woman, she was also serving as Chardon’s High Priestess on Nown!
Molniya’s son Modi by Chardon completed that particular set of children, and if they were supposed to be the children of Thor, well, Brunhilde, Uther, Arthur, and Hjorthriml were all Ranthas, and only happy to have a big family to fart around with, even as they struck out from home to the other continents to make nuisances of themselves elsewhere.
“You both know there are five more quiet Eternals between Brightmoor and Kheper, a huge number compared to Immortals who’ve managed to come about in the same time period,” I just sniffed. One wizard, three warriors, one priest of the Morning!