Godclads

Chapter 33-20 Reunion (II)

It isn’t enough.

A mind is not enough.

A Soul is not enough.

Reality is not enough.

I must feed.

I will feed.

-Avo, the Dreamer of Ashes, Devourer of All Paths

33-20

Reunion (II)

+All right, so what’s the run?+ Chambers asked. Avo couldn’t help but smile internally. The man had grown—and more than he’d expected.

+So certain we’re doing a run?+ Avo replied.

+Avo, we’re always doing a run,+ Chambers replied with a slight chuckle at the end. It sounded like a mischievous child being let in on a terrible—or delightful—secret.

+Is it to do with the Guilds? You know, Naeko’s got them shit-scared. We all got them wrangled up in the planetary ring and Draus. Well, she came up with all kinds of cool ideas. Real nova schemes. She’s actually thinking ahead, and she’s managed stop herself from shooting Mercy this entire time. You should have seen it.+ Chambers’ voice was rife with both admiration and amusement. Avo was impressed, pleased, and on some level... ashamed.

If there was one criticism Veylis was correct about, it was his selfishness. He was hungry. Still hungry even after he became more than a ghoul. He gave his allies Frames and Heavens and upgraded their canons and miracles, but the bulk of his benefits were directed inward. He was always so glad to transform, to evolve, to think about his next stage of becoming.

But for his companions? They were starved compared to him. But still, he continued on. They grew too — were still growing in his absence. It was enough to make his ego swell again. He had proven to be a catalyst for their lives, fuel for combustion—

[Holy fucking shit, Avo shut the fuck up,] template-Draus groaned.

Her voice echoed out from his mind, and both template and the original version of Chambers burst in open laughter. The Hidden Flame gave an apologetic grunt. +Got carried away.+

[Yeah. Everything that feeds your pride carries your ass off to joy-land,] template-Draus grumbled. [Jaus. It’s like you can’t wait to find a reason to suck yourself off.]

In Avo’s defense, he had many reasons to be proud of himself. He was an incredible, unique being, and that was objective fact.

[And there he goes again,] Abrel murmured. Despite her morose mood, she started making suckling noises under her breath, and a few million other templates joined her, actively mocking their “maker” from within. R̃άNőBЁⱾ

Across the link, Chambers started choking from laughter.

As the mirth died, Avo proceeded to business. +Is good to see you. But need to stay quiet. Can’t have my presence be revealed.+

+Oh?+ Chambers asked, his mind ringing with curiosity. +So. Cast me the details. What are we doing?+

+There’s someone I need to talk to through you. Using the Stormsparrow as a vessel. Will act through her. Need to reach my cycler farm. Need to use you to get to the Ori in the meantime.+

+The Ori?+ Chambers’ thoughts sobered with worry. +Is there a Necro here? A Sleeper? Some half-strand using a Heaven of Sneakiness to fuck us? Because... like, Mercy hasn’t noticed shit and Naeko’s got his palm pressed down on the ring. Got Axtraxis contained too.+

+Not exactly a Heaven of Stealth,+ Avo said, wondering if the Majority was watching him right now. Ignorance sensed nothing—and if there was a time for Ignorance to be aware if he was being watched, it would be now. +But close enough. Designed to circumvent your awareness anyway. Isn’t just a Heaven either. Is an Ark. An Overheaven. Works a bit like me.+

+Like you? How the fucking hells did they manage that? Do they have a fragment of your Frame?+

Avo wanted to say no, but he stopped himself. He didn’t actually know. Frankly, there was a lot he didn’t know about the Majority. But he would learn. One way or another.

They are here... No. Not just here. Everywhere. Lingering around Shotin and your cadre too. See patches of shadow looming over Jaus—other delegates. The Ori especially. Can hear them arguing. Trying to understand what is happening. Where the Stormsparrow came from.

The Hidden Flame regarded that with rising anticipation. A trickle of knowledge rose above his subconsciousness like supplies from a sunken vessel. He was getting deeper—and still going. By now, most egos and Frames would be subsumed, but guided by Ignorance, he felt himself pour down a series of deep tunnels that kept going and going. Soon, his Conflagration even ceased to registered on the tapestry.

This was a first. For the first time in a while, Avo was venturing into a path truly unknown, toward a destination he couldn’t perceive.

For all the things he could levy against Ori-Thaum, the Majority was a true work of art. Something masterful.

[Something shameful,] Zein snorted with disgust. [If we held to our traditions and lived up to our worth, what need would there be for such hidden movements? What need would there to create such a silent and impotent Ark.]

Avo didn’t chastise Zein directly. Instead, he drew upon a memory. A memory of her, him, and Veylis all sharing a common death at the end of the trial.

[And what does this prove?] Zein asked. [That they should be lauded because the greatest threats resolved one another. They will not last. Even without us.]

“The Substance failed to consume the Ori. To even displace them. Without Ignorance... wouldn’t have noticed at all. What use is a sword if it cannot protect you against a dagger? What point is a duel if you just die?”

Zein, however, simply sneered. [I would have noticed. I would have found a way to best them.]

He would have called her delusional, but Zein Thousandhand was nothing if not hard to kill. She might have been a stubborn child, but short of Avo himself, Naeko, or someone in their caliber, the direct elimination of the Godslayer was something that could only manifest in delusions and dreams for most.

Just then, Avo felt himself slip past a threshold, and suddenly, Ignorance began to laugh.

See them now. See them hiding in this darkness. Hear them. Hear them.

And a second later, Avo did as well. The Majority’s voice came in desperate chatters and panicked please.

“What is this?”

“Fire! Fire in the nothing! Fire coming to burn us!”

“Calm. Calm yourselves! It is merely an ontological glitch. Calm—it—”

“Vote to collapse systems. Go dormant! Need to go dormant now! We are compromised!”

Then, through the clamoring of a few hundred billion voices came a resounding declaration, spoken from a synchronous chorus that lingered at the core of the Majority.

“Enough! COMPOSE YOURSELVES! This is no fire. No fire at all...”

Avo’s unawareness peeled away as he found himself somewhere deep and dark. He was somewhere else in the tapestry. Somewhere between countless other patterns. The current miracles he danced upon were close to the mind, but not quite the same. They ran analogous to perception, but constituted far more. It was related to knowledge, but was more than the accumulation of details.

His Conflagration shaped itself into the form of the Strix, and as he drifted just a bit closer, he found himself lighting a colossal form. Its body was stitched together from countless dancing shadows, and upon closer inspection, it seemed like a giant of a person made out of countless smaller people.

Yet, there was something else to note about its design.

There was a lack of eyes—showing clean holes where there should have been visual organs on a person. The ears were turned inwards, leaving only a mess of twisted tissue outside. There was no mouth or nose either. Only the shape of a head lingering in place. But the bulk of the Soulfire sustaining this being was rooted at its core, surrounded by twenty-two figures whose shadows loomed over even Avo, as if cast by a bonfire in a cave.

Ignorance let out a soft chuckle. Inner Council. We meet again. Apologies. Would have liked to come see you sooner. Other matters demanded first attention. Other matters. Other interests.

The Majority was about to break into an outpouring of outrage, but the Inner Council silenced them.

“Why are you here, Dreamer. What do you want?”

Slowly, the burning Strix spread its wings wider, and as Conflagration expanded, Avo showed the realm within his Soulscape as well, revealing all his templates standing on the edge of his inner reality, facing the other gestalt with naked judgment and open challenge.

To strike a bargain. To call for an alliance. Feels fitting.