Godclads

Chapter 5-5 Immortal Architecture

Death is the only bridge between man and god. Of course, it is. What else can a mortal do that’s more absolute than death; more total?

The gods… I would never have called them omnipotent. Such a term would be absurd–moreover if one’s power has no borders how are they to define the differences between themselves?

But the gods are absolute. From greatest to the smallest. Parasitic to the broader tapestry of existence, but still—absolute. Each holds a specific aspect of a Domain—no matter how small. It is in carving these little grooves–these niches of absolute sovereignty–that god can hold shape in reality, can influence the world.

But then again, it might just be because they didn’t want a rival god of the same Domain to eat them. After all, how should reality delineate between two gods that can “weave fire from the air.”

It’s too vague. Again. Borders. A Heaven only has as much shape as its clarity allows…

-High Agnos Ossam Hariruda, “On the Eldritch”

5-5

Immortal Architecture (I)

+When do I start dying?+ Avo asked, his attention fixed on two schools of squirming fish clashing in the overhead aquarium. Beneath him, the lung bed breathed while its skin folds struggled to find the right temperature for his body. Within his body, he briefly considered surging the manticore toxin through his system until he realized that would inflict him with a debt of Rend.

Through the sculpted arteries lining the insides of the Second Fortune, the haemo-aquatic lifeforms made war on each other constantly, their patterns of slaughter, feeding, birth, and death all a chaotic orchestra, yet never overwhelming. There was always enough fish to fuel the slaughter. Always more emerging from the suppurating womb canals that dotted the ceiling.

Seated demurely on the other bed, Kae, Draus’ Agnos, swallowed. She studied him wordlessly as her left index and middle fingers beat a steady rhythm, trying to wrestle calmness into her heart, the unruly organ shoving blood through her system in uncontrolled staccatos.

+I-it take-take much longer than… uh… Not much longer.+

Avo let out a low breath and tried to think of anything but brutalizing the waifish woman not eight feet away from him and plucking each rib of her exo-cortex out from her skull. The murderous desire grew with each inhalation, the scent of her chrome working up through his nostrils like a whetstone.

+Don’t know why you can’t do it.+ Avo said.

+Told ya,+ Draus replied, sounding annoyed, +We gotta do this real subtle-like. Don’t need Green River learnin’ anything more ‘bout you than we need. That you…+ A wave of self-inflicted delusion crashed over her surface thoughts. Avo knew the flavor well. +The Liminal Frame she mentioned. It don’t necessarily–+

+Yes. It is.+ Avo said. +I have it inside me. Have a Meta-Fac. Only reason I probably survived the Scalpers earlier.+

The Regular was busy assembling some kind of microdrone. It looked to be a drone the size and shape of a nu-bird. Canary or a sparrow perhaps. Avo’s knowledge of nu-ornithology was only slightly north of none. The diminutive machine held no weapons but possessed a bulb-like camera on its underside. Scouting implement. Like his Whisper. Always useful.

Outside, her facial demeanor was one of pure focus. Inside, her thoughtstuff tensed, drawing together as if anticipating a ward breach.

+I ain’t gonna lie, Avo.+ Draus said. +We’re in a world of shit.+

We, Avo wanted to ask her using his ghost. Except his words grew slippery, while his thoughts dissipated like smoke. He blinked. He forgot why he blinked. He wanted to move his arms, but lead seemed to line his muscles and veins. He made a noise then, a sloppy gurgle as his tongue slipped free out from the corner of his mouth. It looked akin to a dead serpent hanging from a ledge in his periphery.

Spots formed in his vision embers singing through old rolls of film. Dappled blankets of spreading blindness formed like snowflakes over his perception, each epicenter flattening out to join the others. The last thing that greeted him was Kae, her face rapt with curiosity, more student greeting specimen than broken Agnos quailing away from a ghoul.

A single shining tear was sliding down the corner of her right cheek. Strange, how it shone…

+W-wow. Took three minutes t-to achieve pa-paralysis. It–he m-must particularly resilient, even for a ghoul.+ Through the narrowing tunnel that was his mind, a final dollop of thought dripped. +Un-unless he has s-something that is actively-actively tuning his s-synapses…+

And then, for the briefest of moments, actual nothingness. It was like true slumber. It was silence. It was bliss.

And from his muted paradise, Avo fell, his consciousness tearing through the thinness of mortality down into the eldritch resplendence of his Soul. It was brighter than he remembered. Wider.

INITIALIZING RESURRECTION - 1%

SIMULATING LIMINAL FRAME

And floating across the crimson sheen that was his Sangeist, a new presence greeted his descent, the sound of howling winds rising, beckoned by his arrival to the clapping of thunderous hooves.

Like an arrowhead cast into a pool, he felt his consciousness plunge into his Heaven, the blood pulling upon him, embracing him. As the inner confines of his ontological vessel manifested with another ripple of radiance cast from his Soul’s ever-turning flame, the winds around were alive with motion.

Across from him, gripped in a thin sheen of translucence was the Galeslither, its presence forming and fading with paltry sups of secondhand light spilling loose from within the Heaven of Blood Avo had grafted unto himself. The separation between his Heavens lay in a place beyond his understanding.

Fortunately, this time, another presence descended. It was the shine of a falling teardrop of crystalline, its bright drinking from his.

INITIALIZING RESURRECTION - 7%

Like a division line, the comet trailed between his current Heaven and the Galeslither, a partition; a sage sent from on high. It was then that Avo realized what looked to be a comet was no comet at all, but a dais–an altar formed from tessellated matter, celestial and ineffable in its patterns.

And as the platform descended to a hover, its empyrean-bright archway greeted him, its position to him so close that its curves looked like the doors to a stable, with the Galeslither's three heads swaying dormant, existing only instants between brushstrokes of wind.

Atop the dais, then, came the form of the Agnos, Kae. It grew obvious to Avo why it descended as a teardrop. The entirety of this platform–this False-Heaven–was streaming out from her right eye in streams coruscating and pellucid. Her tears parting, the structure of her vehicle bent and fused above, around, and beneath her. An altar shone in front of her speck-like figure, the shape and size of her being dwarfed by his Sangeist.

It was the difference between a hawk and a gnat.

“Avo?” Kae asked, her voice surprisingly stable here, her tone fluent. “Can you sense me?”

“Yes,” He said. Across his Heaven, the blood rippled, and the twin patterns that burned atop him shone down on the Agnos like a glowering spotlight. Here though, she quivered not before him. It was a contrary thing, how frail she was in reality compared to this… self-actualization of her being, come to greet him.

Stepping forth, a trail of tears descended from her cheeks and formed steps away from the dais. Her skin was like marble then, cast in the glow of an ethereal shine. With a frown on her face, studied him, her expression that of an artist critiquing a piece of work. “That’s not right… Not right at all. A standard Sangeist doesn’t have that…”

“Doesn’t have what?”

“Shh,” she said, “I’m focusing. Focusing, yes, yes, that’s native. The mouth at the center–the second pattern… New. Both new.”

INITIALIZING RESURRECTION - 12%

Her face scrunched in annoyance. “Slow your resurrection.”

“How?”

She shot him a strange look. “By accessing–oh, right. You’ve never been to an academy. No. No, you’re a ghoul.” A sudden look of shock seized her. “Oh… Oh, Jaus. A ghoul with a Liminal Fr–”

He cut her off before that became a thing again. He was growing weary of these reactions. “Kae. Focus. Tell me what to do. No more shock. No sudden epiphany. Master yourself. Teach me to use the Frame.”

She blinked, and drew in… It wasn’t exactly a breath, for there wasn’t actually real air here. Suppose she solidified her resolve, then. “Right. You have a list of commands. Commands, yes. Um–dive further into yourself.”

“What?”

“Just… do it. Try sinking deeper into the… the fires. The meta-root access should still be the same from your Frame.” She looked around. “Should be… I… it’s been a few years, a few-a few. The design… it’s a bit different.”

Noting her apprehension, Avo tried descending further, dropping the center of his consciousness through the enwreathing flames before it could clasp over him. Immediately, he greeted a threshold, and, with another press, snapped down and slid deeper into himself.

Suddenly, his Heavens, Kae, and even the simulated expanse of metaphysical reality within him disappeared. In its place, what greeted him was raw information, conjoining with his mind.

[STILLBORN] - DEVOURER-CLASS LIMINAL FRAME

  STATUS: IMBUED

  SUBJECT: [CLASSIFIED]

LAST INSTANCE OF ONTOLOGICAL REVERSION: 2 MIN AGO

  HEALTH: OPTIMAL

PRIOR REVERSIONS AVAILABLE - 31231231 INSTANCES

REVERT?

RESURRECTION IN PROCESS…

  20 CYCLE-RESURRECTION PACE (STAND.)

    ADJUST CYCLE?

      MAX/MIN

        MAX  

RESURRECTION RESET

  100 CYCLE-RESURRECTION PACE

  ESTIMATED FRAME PERIOD FOR RESURRECTION: 12 HOURS

  ESTIMATED REAL PERIOD FOR RESURRECTION: 12 MIN–

With a strained thought, Avo tore himself free from the root functions of his Liminal Frame. It was too much, like swimming against a current while drowning. He couldn’t tell where he began and the Frame ended–if there was a beginning and end.

Nestled back in the Sangeist, back before Kae, she was still finishing the last sentence that she was speaking upon his descent. A beat of silence ran between him as Avo strangled the whirlwind of command lines and mem-data flooding through him.

It was like running ghosts direct into his base mind instead of using a Meta.

INITIALIZING RESURRECTION - 13%

“Did you do it?” Kae asked. “Maximize your resurrection period?”

“Think so.”

“Good. There’s… there’s a lot to go over–but before we begin, I need to know something.” She pointed at his Sangeist. “Was your Heaven this way when you first had it grafted?”

He considered his answer. Instinctively, he wanted to lie to her. Only Necrojack habits. You didn’t let a rival see your sequence, it exposed your methods; leaving you susceptible to a counter. But right now, he wasn’t a Necrojack. He was Godclad. One who didn’t know what he was doing, and she was a broken Agnos specifically requested by Draus. If he couldn’t even work with her, then he was well and truly out of options.

“No. Made changes.”

Her reaching hand clenched into a fist as she looked up. “I–I knew, I just knew. But… when? Which Agnos worked on you? And using what methods? Your radiance… the splashing… the storage of an unused Heaven… this should all only be theoretical. Experimental thauamturgy.”

“Experimental might be right,” Avo said. “No Agnos. Except you. You’re the first.”

Kae froze. From her right eye, the shine of her False Heaven flared. Streams of silvery tears slashed over him as she peered into his ontology.

“What are you doing?” Avo asked.

“False-Heavens… used to be called Oracles. The thing that gods would gift us. Mortals. Usually took an eye. Gave a piece of anomalous glass or marble. Let them gaze through the ancients they chose. But… but we learned how to turn it around. Learned how to use it to peer back through them.”

Between the flowing strands of shimmering pale flooding from the pinprick that was her right eye and the twin burning symbols boring down from the jaw-like spire of his Sangeist, it looked like they were cleaving at each other with blades of clashing light.

“Avo. I–I need you to bring up the specs for your Sangeist. And your First Circle.+

HEAVEN - [SANGEIST]

  DOMAIN: (BLOOD/MATTER)

  THAUMIC REQUIREMENTS - 40 thaum/c

HELL - [FIRST CIRCLE]

  DOMAIN: (MATTER/ENTROPY)

  THAUMIC REQUIREMENTS - 10 thaum/c

  REND VENTS ONLINE

Her tears dripped in through the veil of his exterior, interfacing with the fires of his Soul. “Canons and hubris too, please.”

DOMAIN OF (MATTER)

CANON: ALCHEMIZATION - THE MASTER OF THIS DOMAIN CAN NOW SUBSUME AND MIMIC THE STRUCTURE AND EFFECTS OF ONE PIECE OF PHYSICAL MATTER; ONLY ONE PIECE OF MATTER MAY BE MIMICKED AT A TIME UNLESS THE CANON IS ALTERED

CANON: HAEMIFICATION - THE MASTER OF THIS DOMAIN CAN NOW SUBSUME SOLID MATTER INTO BLOOD; THE CONVERSION WILL ONLY PROCEED ON TACTILE CONTACT AND IF THE BLOOD SUBMERGES THE MATTER ENTIRELY

HUBRIS: ONLY SOLID MATTER CAN BE CONVERTED. ANY ATTEMPTS TO MIMIC LIQUID OR GAS WILL RESULT IN THAUMIC BACKLASH (x2)

DOMAIN OF (BLOOD)

CANON: HAEMOKINESIS - THE MASTER OF THIS DOMAIN CAN NOW ACCELERATE AND MANIPULATE ALL BLOOD THEY ARE IN CONTACT WITH; SPEED AND FORCE OF THE BLOOD WILL MIRROR THE MASTER’S NATURAL LIMITS UNLESS THE CANON IS ALTERED

CANON: LINGER - THE MASTER OF THIS DOMAIN CAN NOW EJECT THE CONSTRUCTS THEY SHAPE FROM THEIR BLOOD; A BINDING PERCENT OF REND WILL BE GENERATED FOR EACH CONSTRUCT FABRICATED IN CORRESPONDENCE WITH THEIR SHAPE AND MASS

HUBRIS: ONLY UP TO EIGHTY TONS OF BLOOD CAN BE MANIPULATED AT ONCE (x2)

HELL - (FIRST CIRCLE)

CANON: THE BREATH OF THE WITHERED - THE MASTER OF THIS DOMAIN CAN NOW EXPEL THEIR TOTAL REND INTO AN ENTROPIC GUST OF WIND THAT CAUSES THE RAPID DESTABILIZATION OF MATTER; ALL PHYSICAL MATTER WILL BE AFFECTED ASIDE FROM THE MASTER - THIS CANON IS ABSOLUTE

DAEMON: EXPELLING EXCESS ENTROPY INTO A SINGLE POINT OF MATTER WILL BIRTH AN ANATHEMA OF RUIN TO SERVE AS THE MASTER’S ANATHEMA; THE ANATHEMA CANNOT BE SLAIN AND MUST BE STARVED

“Two extra canons?” She uttered. “Where did they–”

ATTENTION: (PROTOTYPE) META-FAC FUNCTIONS ACTIVATED

“My… my gods,” Kae whispered, disbelief stretching her eyes wide. From the roots of his Frame, the mem-data flowed up her tears and into her skull. “They… they couldn’t have. This… it’ll make the Agnostics useless.” A sudden understanding flashed across her face. “Make us obsolete. Thaumic cycler. Show me.”

THAUMIC CYCLER: 57 thaum/c

“Fifty-seven… Fifty-seven.” She was pacing before him, running her fingers and counting strands of hair again. “You’ve killed… fifty-seven people.”

“About. Draus got some. Took them afterward.” Come to think of it, why hadn’t that happened earlier with the pilot of the Galeslither?

Kae, interfaced with his being, drank in his thoughts. “It didn’t happen because in the… in the Crucible there’s…. No Sovereignty. No… no pre-marked Soul for delivery. When… when you kill on the surface, it’s been direct? You’ve made contact with their vessels using your Heaven?”

“Yes.”

Kae threw her head back and let out a squeaking laugh. “You… you’ve been stealing Essence from the Guilds. Echoes that belong to them.” Kae looked incredulous. “How… how did you even get this burned into you… It couldn’t–No, right, Draus said you couldn’t remember.”

That drove a spike of displeasure into Avo. Draus had given away too much. Revealed too much about him. Between Necrojacks, this would have been grounds for a nulling.

“But–but,” Kae said, her expression beaming, a new vigor alight behind her eyes. “This is new… it’s very new. But I can figure it out. Show you how it all works. You can… store Heavens. It… remembers Heavens. It doesn't just implant them. That’s… that’s why the fire ripples! It’s alive. Or… or simulating your thoughts. Like.. a… like a Metamind. It’s brilliant. Its design is fantastic. It’s…” She paused. “Let’s start with something simple. Open the Sangeist. Show me your bare Soul.”

Taken aback by the Agnos’ sudden explosion of passion, Avo did as she asked slowly, warily, wondering just how much more she knew compared to him. With a slight thought, he compelled the blood to open around his Sangeist as she peered in.

As she stood, bathed before his eldritch furnace that was his heart, Kae’s mouth opened slightly in wonderment.

“Your flame… it burns inwards… it's pouring down into you… It’s inverted. Soulfire shouldn’t be inverted….”

“Meaning?” Avo asked.

“It means that… I have a theory.” She turned then to stare at the dormant Galeslither hovering behind her, head tilting. A thoughtful expression took hold of her. “Perhaps, it is time for me to… impart upon you the basics of Agnosticism. And how our blessed Frames were meant to be used." She giggled again. "They... they can't excommunicate me again... again."