The Ruler of Ruin

The consoles in the command deck all blanked off, and a series of red lights blinked alternatingly, bathing the bridge in a flashing red hue. The whole structure shook, and outside, the chaos storms, already incomprehensible, danced like a school of fish trying to escape a predator. There was no escape. There was only the power of Arx Maxima.

“I thought you said you weren’t destroying the Gossamyr, Arx?” I questioned the crystal.

Arx Maxima had floated to the command center of the bridge, and streams of light pulsed from her crystal into various parts of the advanced systems I didn’t understand.

“There will be no destruction. All is proceeding as planned. Thanks to the DarkStar Core I have actualized the command plate from subspace into actuality. Behold, Arx Maxima! Behold my glory, witness our home reborn.”

The screen suddenly filled with an immense discus, a fully operational and perfectly intact component of the totality of Arx Maxima. It was huge, and waves of power wafted off if it. The number of vectors that registered while I looked upon it shocked me, and sensory overload made me mumble incoherent bullshit, words I had never heard before that I couldn’t even focus on.

“Transport initiated.” The docile version of Arx Maxima chimed in, from one of the bridges consoles. A strange sense of distortion washed through me, and now the viewscreen showed Subterra drifting away from us into the darkness, a large portion of the Plate had been left behind as Arx Maxima had promised.

The bridge changed. No, we were in a different bridge now. This one had more command seats, more displays, and all of them were active. Numbers flashed on multiple screens, a countdown, I quickly realized. It currently showed 97 seconds.

“I knew the Ruins were big…” Chrys muttered, trailing off as she got a glimpse of Subterra and the ruins we’d left behind.

“Please explain to us what is happening, Arx Maxima.” I asked nicely, but it wasn’t a request. If I had to, I would summon Katrina here, not that I knew if Katrina could do much that these so-called chaos storms couldn’t. Was Katrina the child of one of these storms, or was it the reverse? I couldn’t tell, but a voice inside of me said Katrina was more powerful.

Arx spoke through the command consoles, so Chrys could hear her too.

“While initially created to remake all of Existence into a single, unifying plane from which the Stellarae Enclave could uplift other life-forms to join our Utopian society, I have modified the procedure to much more simply generate a point of primary polarity to the chaotic web that is the Gossamyr. Nothing will be destroyed or lost. As a direct result of defined chaos, the conditions to which realms dissipate will be more defined, reducing the loss of unstable fragments. This will also reduce, but not eliminate, the strain upon Mist Lords, who must subsidize the existence of their realms at a great personal expense.” Arx Maxima explained, or perhaps thought she explained.

Most of it went over my head, but I got the basic concept.

“What’s the upside for us?” I asked. The display continued to tick down and read 54 seconds.

“We will build Monados at the center of the Gossamyr, we shall be the hub for all beings who wish to find peace from the terrors to be found elsewhere. Is that not what you wished?” Arx Maxima asked candidly.

Chrys snorted.

“Good thing the crystal found someone so innocent, Emery. Or we’d be looking at something very different being made,” Chrys chortled at my expense, but I could tell she was trying to hide her own anxiety. Neither of us had thought Arx Maxima to be this powerful, and the unpleasant and abrupt truth hit like a ton of bricks.

“That’s remarkable. That’s what I wanted to build. Alright, do your thing.” I couldn’t very well say I wanted the credit for it, or to build it. Arx Maxima and I were partners though, so what she did, I did? Maybe? I helped. It wasn’t a one-sided affair. I felt useless.

“For your own safety I will now neutralize your senses, sleep peacefully.” Arx Maxima answered, and everything went dark.

I woke up feeling refreshed, despite the fact I’d gone to sleep unwillingly. When my eyes blinked open, I saw Chrys lying on the floor. On the big central view, the chaos storms had diminished, but still flowed, and I could see the Plate below us. If the command bridge were a spire rising up out of the plate, it did so from what appeared to be the center of the large discus shaped construct. Other realms of the Gossamyr danced beyond the abyss surrounding the Plate, and it really looked as if the storms were reshaping themselves into tethers that tied the realms to Arx Maxima.

“It’s glorious to behold, isn’t it?” Arx Maxima, still levitating over the command console, asked me.

“It worked?” I asked only a little bit surprised.

“Yes. Monados has been born. We shall create utopia, after you have scolded Mithras for being an intolerable brat.” Unspoken I heard the words ‘and for what he did to me’, but Arx Maxima didn’t seem to want to make it about her, when I was worried about Etienne. Yet her phrasing seemed intentionally chosen to satisfy neither of us. Was I rubbing off on Arx Maxima?

Why did I keep doubting her as a partner? Mithras casting me aside so easily should not have put so much of a burr under my skin, it wasn’t like I was that devout of a follower. Or did I expect to lose her, the way I lost my parents and the Dustwalkers? Even Amaranthine had stormed in and out of my life. I think I found the heart of my fears. I was terrified that Chrys and Arx Maxima would abandon me or leave me alone.

“We are partners, Emery. You cannot leave me, no more than I can leave you. We are bound in flesh, thought, and essence. Be at ease,” Arx Maxima, not for the first time, picked up my thoughts without me broadcasting them. The invasion of privacy would sting, but it’s not like I had a lot going on in my head compared to the vast universe she had experienced previously. It did not, however, make it any less embarrassing.

“So, what now?” I looked out over the surface of the Plate. At the very base of the spire, the metallic exterior of the hull seemed to be growing dirt on it.

“While we deal with Mithras I will create a livable environment. Dirt. Water. Soil. Light. We will have a city to build when we free your family from the tyranny of Mithras.” Arx Maxima conjured a small image of the plate, with a city built around a spire.

“Are you going to wake Chrys up?” I looked at the still prone artisan.

Chrys slowly stood up and coughed. “Sorry. I thought maybe…”

“That we would be more forthcoming with our plans if you were still asleep?” Arx Maxima’s voice remained through the console, so Chrys could hear it. I realized, really, she’d been talking that way earlier too. Had she done so intentionally to put Chrys at ease? I’d never stopped to consider how intelligent and cunning Arx Maxima might be.

“Oh, stop Emery, I’ll blush,” Arx Maxima demurred in a mocking voice.

“So, is the Stellarae Enclave taking new members?” Chrys asked a question I didn’t have a clue to the answer on.

“I can only enlist Envoy’s; other recruitment vectors must pass through one of the Three Elders. Emery, as a Herald, could enlist you within his personal retinue. This would give you System access, as well as entry to my halls. Something those who come to Monados will not be allowed, as access to my sacred halls are limited to the members of the Stellarae Enclave or must be invited by an officer of the Enclave.” Arx Maxima explained.

Chrys turned her immaculately sculpted face to me, and I laughed.

“Would you like to be part of my retinue, Chrys?” I asked genuinely.

“I would, thank you, Emery.” Chrys walked over, and hugged me. It was strange. She had the physical form of an absolutely stunning woman, the blue-green stone that made her body up was enchanting, the copper accents breath-taking, and her bosom magnificent. Yet, maybe due to the fact she was stone, I didn’t feel any stirrings of arousal despite her proximity. I realized then that I viewed Chrys more like a cousin. I could recognize how beautiful she was, but she wasn’t for me.

“I will create your security clearance now, Science Advisor Chrysocolla,” Arx Maxima might as well have said Chrys was getting all her hopes and dreams for a holiday gift.

“So, how do we get out of here?” I wondered aloud.

“Create a Portal there,” Arx Maxima instructed, and a light illuminated a clear section of the command bridge.

“Okay, so we teleport out. Where are we going?” I didn’t know who t try and get help from.

“I have a suggestion,” Chrys murmured. “It is said that on the Plains of Valor a warrior fights all who would challenge him to continuously hone himself. He lets all know that he is in search of an Enkindler who can bless him with what he seeks, Ultimate Freedom.”

“A very promising lead, Science Advisor Chrysocolla,” Arx Maxima complimented the artisan.

“A warrior?” I asked dubiously, but then realized that for all intents and purposes, I would be called the same thing. I wasn’t a mage, but I could throw lightning and change a large amount of things around me with a thought.

“Yes. His name is Xian the Chained. He is bound to the Plains of Valor by a curse, according to legend. I couldn’t say how long he’s been there, or if he’s still there, but it’s a lead to a powerful potential ally. You’re very strong as an Enkindler, Emery, so if you can give him what he seeks, his help could be very considerable.”

“In more ways than one. Such a concept could dramatically ease your ability to escape the realm of Mithras once you have obtained your family and are ready to abscond with them,” Arx Maxima floated up and down in the air, as if she were nodding along with her words.

“Xian the Chained,” I murmured. I had been about to suggest we visit Amaranthine, but if I had more powerful allies first, negotiation with her would go much more smoothly. I would have to content myself with the mirror version of Amaranthine for now.

“One problem first,” Arx Maxima interjected. “You will need a Mistwalker.”

Chrys and I looked at one another, then at Arx Maxima.

“The connections are nascent, I can only catalogue so many realms at once. If you wish to find this Xian in a timely manner, you will need a Mistwalker to get you there.”

“I know a Mistwalker,” I said with a laugh.

My, or Amaranthine’s, shadow laughed with a sound like tinkling bells.

“The precious Mistwalker of the Dustwalker party? She searches for you, even now. Would you like me to push her in your direction?” Amaranthine asked.

I looked blankly at Chrys and Arx Maxima. You weren’t supposed to get help from Fey, and never without discussing prices.

“What’s the price for your help?” I asked warily, expecting an answer such as my firstborn, a drop of my blood, my name, or something else.

“You will join me in my glade for a month,” Amaranthine floated her proposal.

“A day,” I countered, even as my heart threatened to beat out of my chest.

“A week,” Amaranthine said with a tone of finality.

“Seventy-two hours as measured by Arx Maxima, you return him to us in combat ready condition similar to what he leaves us in, and you provide transport for me and Emery to this Mistwalker at the conclusion of your time together.” Chrys stepped in when I was about to agree.

“Very well, those are the conditions. Take my hand, Maxi dear.” No hand came forth, but a tendril of chaotic black and red powers flowed from the myriad realms of the Gossamyr to connect to the new nexus of reality. A similar flow of power, gold and purple, met the dark flow of power and swam together, to become a bridge to a place of dark boughs and vibrant flowers.

“Get walking, sloshy. Arx and I will talk business while you’re gone,” Chrys laughed with a barely suppressed obsessive cackle.

“You’re part of my retinue now, shouldn’t you at least call me Sir Sloshy?” I countered.

“Enjoy the Glade of the Evernight Rose, Sir Sloshy. Not many people return from it,” Chrys even saluted me.

My stomach churned. I wasn’t ready to see Amaranthine Sadow again. I’d planned to be much more powerful before we encountered one another, I wanted to be more than a worm she could look down on. The anxiety had nothing to do with equality though, and everything to do with my inability to get the Fey out of my head. Would I be able to endure the force of her glamour for seventy-two hours?

A timer popped up in the corner of my vision, courtesy of Arx Maxima. It sat at seventy-two hours, but wasn’t yet counting down.

What did Amaranthine even want me for, anyway? I doubt she’d pull that kissing with tongue thing again, now that I had a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth. That thought didn’t make me happy, if anything, it made me sad.

“I have transferred your reward for reaching the rank of Herald to your belt. Open it at your convenience,” Arx Maxima spoke directly into my mind, instead of over the speakers. I wondered why, but figured I’d have time to deal with it soon enough.

“Enjoy your Fey vacation, and I do not need to remind you to be wary of Corvusol,” Arx Maxima said before a portal of roses appeared in the air, and on the other side I saw Amaranthine Sadow, Marchioness of the Black Sun, clad in a black dress I could only describe as sexy, lazily snacking on grapes while lounging on a divan made of rose vines.