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.
Dross projected the image of a fist-sized ball, little more than a binding wrapped in dead matter, with a simple trigger and a straightforward effect. It looked something like a purple-and-white striped clamshell, and Lindon grabbed the image in one hand and inspected it.
On the inside, it was more complicated, blending Ruler and Enforcer techniques of a few different aspects at once. But it was still straightforward, effectively boosting the body’s inherent spiritual resistance while attacking the Silent King’s parasitic technique with similar aspects.
“Let me see it work.”
With only a weird laugh, Dross spun it out.
The example he used was the sword-Path Archlady from Everwood with the halo behind her head. Dross placed the clamshell construct in her soulspace, and immediately the madra from the Silent King’s control activated it. Power ran throughout her madra channels, and she shivered until the halo disappeared.
[It will do nothing to resist the Silent King’s focused attention. And it can’t hold him back from stepping on you.]