The Newt and Demon

There were too many people in line to handle in one day. Without Alise, the core exchange process would have been impossible. She not only organized the line, but triaged the people to ensure the most important ones got their cores swapped out. Tero’gal gave cores related to themes of defensive powers and stealth, which wasn’t even remotely surprising. It took parts from both Theo and Tresk, resulting in cores that were a mix of both their personalities.

It wasn’t the end of someone’s life if their aligned cores lost their alignment. But unaligned cores were often far less powerful than the aligned ones. Theo inclined his head on the third day of the core exchange program, watching as Zarali and Xol’sa walked into the temple. Zarali had been placed at the front of the line by Alise before she insisted she be placed at the back of the line. They were among the last to enter the temple, although Xol’sa seemed adamant about refusing a core upgrade.

Zarali’s Drogramath Priestess Core had been upgraded in a path Theo didn’t expect. It had become a Tero’gal Healer’s Core, removing all mentions of worship to her false god. Theo was shocked she didn’t take the change worse, but everyone had enough time to accept the truth. In a world of constant change, it appeared even the gods weren’t safe.

“That’s it for the day,” Theo said, sighing. “I’m tired.”

“Well, you must rest. We’re preparing for the wedding,” Xol’sa said, bringing a reminder Theo needed. He almost forgot about it.

“I’m not responsible for planning anything, am I?”

“Of course not!” Zarali said, clasping her hands together before her chest. “Your attendance will be more than enough. Oh, I must test this core out at my workshop.”

Zarali scampered off, leaving Theo and Xol’sa mostly alone in the temple. The alchemist felt a tension build in the air, but that might have been from his apprehension. When the extra-planar wizard turned to him, he knew his fears would come true.

“I don’t mean to prod, but have you made progress?” Xol’sa asked.

Theo grit his teeth, drawing in a deep breath. The space elves had been locked away in a prison of their own making for thousands of years. What was a few days? Lying to Xol’sa was the last thing he wanted to do. “Bad news on that front.”

“What happened?”

Taking a deep breath, Theo thought of the best way to broach the subject. Xol’sa was a logical person, even with Intelligence of the Soul. “Your people created a proto realm out in the void. They tried to use the power of the shards to stabilize the realm, but it didn’t work.”

Xol’sa nodded. “I suppose that wouldn’t work. No matter what the shards are, they lack the required underlying structure to support mortal life. I think I knew my people were gone.”

“Well, that’s where it gets weird. They’re not dead.”

“What?”

“The Bara’thier are… insane and undying. They lurk around like statues, only moving when you aren’t looking.”

“We must go,” Xol’sa said, grabbing Theo by the arm.

Theo winced, unsure that was such a good idea. “I don’t know, man. It isn’t a pleasant sight.”

Xol’sa grabbed Theo by the shoulders, looking up at him with an intense glare. “If they aren’t dead, we can fix them. Right?”

Maybe. Except the only guy who might have the power to fix someone’s mind like that was currently sitting as Hallow, the new healing god. The restrictions placed on him would be serious enough to prevent him from curing an entire race of their disease. If it was a disease at all. Theo had no potion that could fix them. Bilgrob had been stripped of his healing power from Spit.

“How could we possibly fix them?” Theo asked.

“I won’t know unless I see them.”

Theo sighed, nodding. “You’re right. If they were my people, I’d do everything I could. Are you ready to go?”

Xol’sa nodded eagerly.

Using his Passage ability, Theo slipped through the veil with Xol’sa. The elf screamed. Of course he did, the void had changed enough that no one that had been there before would recognize it. From a distance, it looked more like a dark solar system of swirling black and dots of sparse color. The sun-like object forming at the center became brighter by the day. Order had been restored to the endless void, in some chaotic way that was difficult to describe. The void wasn’t meant to stay still.

Theo angled them into the deep void, leaving behind the comforts of the tides. It was only easy to find the floating rock in infinite nothing because of the shards. Each put off a distinct signature that was easy to follow, allowing the duo to approach. Xol’sa had stopped screaming. It was harder to find a place to land than the alchemist expected. He tuned into the energy of the shards, although it was faint. A moment later, he stood on the steps of the ziggurat, looking down with a grimace.

A stunted array formed in front of Xol’sa. His spell wouldn’t form properly. Not that it would do much to the hundred space elves standing like statues below them. Motionless.

“This is horrific,” Xol’sa gasped, looking between Theo and the crowd below. “How many are there?”

Theo would have reached out with his senses, but he didn’t want to use up what little power his Zaul core had left. “At least that many,” he said, unhelpfully. “Aren’t they creepy?”

Xol’sa gave him a reproachful look. “Those are my people.”

“They can be your people and still be creepy. Why don’t you go touch one, see what they do?”

“I’m absolutely not going to touch one. Ah! That one moved!”

“Why do you have to call the guy ‘that one’? He might be your uncle.”

“You’re not helping. And my magic isn’t working here.” Xol’sa folded his arms, turning back to the shard behind them. “Aren’t you supposed to bring that back to the mortal world?”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Yes, he is.” Void stepped out of nowhere, hands on his hips as he glared through his spiral void of a face at Theo. “He is delaying.”

“Have you ever moved powerful crystals across dimensions?” Theo asked. “I need to understand a lot of crap before I can consider moving them from where they are. So, yeah. I’m delaying because I don’t know how to do this.”

“That is troublesome, isn’t it?” Void asked, looking down at the space elves below. “Why do they have to be so creepy?”

“That’s what I was saying.”

“Wait.” Xol’sa looked between Theo and Void. “Is this… a true god?”

“I forgot you guys haven’t met. Void, this is Xol’sa. He’s a space elf, but he isn’t acting like a statue.” Theo gestured between the two men.

“Nice to meet you. I guess.” Void seemed more grumpy than normal.

“Should I bow? Or grovel?”

“That’s the fun part. The new gods have less power over mortals than the old ones.”

“The ascendants were never gods.” Void grumbled. “They were pretenders. A god’s responsibilities aren’t to meddle in mortal affairs. Speaking of, there are a few things I need you to clean up.”

“So you’ll just meddle through the Throne Holders?” Theo asked, shaking his head. “I get it. How many pieces of Balkor are left on the mortal plane?”

“Too many. But your concern should be the shards. I have a location for each. Although after Fenian carved up your continent, I’m not sure where to place that one…”

“My people…” Xol’sa said, gathering his thoughts. “Do you know how we can cure them?”

“Take them from here would be your first move. Before the shards go.” Void shrugged before nodding into the distance. “There are about five-thousand here. So, you’ll need somewhere safe to keep them while they recover. Somewhere secluded.”

“Tero’gal?” Theo asked.

“That might work. They’re touched by the void. Which means they’ve absorbed too much void energy. If they absorb the energy from another world, they should recover.”

Perhaps that was a bit too easy. But if there was anyone who knew what he was talking about, it was the guy named after the problem. Void hadn’t led Theo astray so far. He was a hardass, but their goals aligned almost perfectly. Bringing order to a disorderly world was something he could get behind.

“Can I ask a question before you vanish without warning?” Theo asked, turning to Void.

“I might not answer. Or I might vanish mid-question.”

“Who made this world? Who brought us here?”

Void laughed. “Oh, boy. Interesting questions. Can’t answer the first one. But you know who brought you here. That bird-guy did.”

“Why did he bring us here? Just to save us from Earth?”

Void took a few long moments to plan his response. “I’m not the best person to ask. Elrin, Meya, Zeal… even Cakes would give you a better response. I’ll give you this, Theo. What happened to Earth is more complicated than you might think. The sun’s expansion was a purposeful act to work against something someone had done to destabilize the world. The bird had to jump through some serious hoops to make everything work together.”

“I’m not really sure… And he’s gone.” Theo sighed, looking at the spot where Void just was. “I’ve heard that name before. Elrin.”

The Harbinger caused the sun to expand, destroying Earth… but why. That entity never seemed as though he moved against Earth or this new world negatively. Theo had always thought he was there to do a job as an observer. He had expanded the sun to work against something someone had done to destabilize the world. What did that mean? One thing was certain. There was a connection between that and the ‘other place’ Jan talked about. The grizzled detective would have some questions to answer when Theo returned to the mortal world.

“How much research can you do about your people back on the mortal plane?” Theo asked.

Xol’sa considered the question for a moment, scratching his chin. “Well, I can view the energy here. I suppose I could investigate the magic and come up with a plan.”

Theo pointed at a space elf that had moved a finger. “I saw that. I was still looking at you, weirdo. Anyway, I’ll ask around for a cure. We can’t predict what happens if we snag the shards and bolt.”

“Let’s go,” Xol’sa said, shivering. “Although the faces are familiar, they’re giving me chills.”

Slipping back through the cracks, Theo let his mind rest as they traveled through the void. There was enough to think about without creating problems in his thoughts. Bringing the shards back and helping the space elves rose to the top of his list. Although the power in his Drogramath cores was fading by the day, bringing up another concerning problem. At least the alchemist had made all the potions he could, earning his absurd amount of attributes.

Xol’sa looked dizzy when the duo returned to the mortal plane. He leaned against Theo, but was soon supported by Zarali.

“I hope it went well,” Zarali said, her tone revealing that she suspected it went poorly.

“It went better than expected.” Theo shrugged. The trip really could have gone worse. “Xol’sa has some things to think about. Perhaps you can offer some insight on the space elves, Zarali.”

“Well, I’m happy to try. Perhaps we can work with Sulvan. His cores are just as strong as ever.”

Theo watched as the pair headed off and heaved a sigh. Things hadn’t been going wrong, but they weren’t going right either. It had been a week of turns he hadn’t expected. As he talked about it frequently enough, Jan might have some insight on what Void said. The alchemist remained in the temple for a few minutes, checking the power of the cores within his chest. Zaul’s core was behaving strangely. It hadn’t lost most of its potency. Perhaps that was only because he tried to use it as little as possible. But at the point of never using it, he might as well not have it.

Theo stopped by the Newt and Demon before heading over to the Adventurer’s Guild. While Salire was the first person to get her hands on a Tero’gal Alchemy and Tero’gal Herbalism Core, she promised not to create any potions until he was ready. It might have been a good idea to split the attribute points between them, but he hadn’t decided.

“Have you found anything?” Theo asked.

Salire offered him a sheepish smile. “You won’t like it.”

“What?”

“We won’t be making as many potions. And we’re going to need a lot more equipment.”

Theo smiled, patting a hand on her shoulder. “I expected changes. Anything noteworthy?”

“From what I can understand, we’ll need to do some intense refinement of reagents. I don’t have my head around it yet. Not completely.”

Theo tapped his foot, gritting his teeth for only a moment. Did it really matter? A new path for alchemy would be fun. And if Tero’gal built it off of Drogramath’s version, it wouldn’t be too different. “You already put an order in to Throk, right?”

“That’s right!” Salire struck a pose.

“You’re the best. I’ll be back later today so we can start.”

“Take these,” Salire said, handing over her notes.

Theo flipped through each page before handing the notes back. He tapped his temple. “312 Wisdom. Thanks, though.”

Salire laughed as Theo made his way from the building. She had come to a conclusion about the new form of alchemy, but it was all theory. Based on the class core description and ability descriptions, they would need to do the same form of alchemy as before. But instead of distilling the essence at a one-to-one ratio, it would be far less. And the resulting essence would be far more reactive. Which meant more explosions.

“Is Aarok around?” Theo asked, tapping his fingers on the front desk of the guild.

“He’s looking for you,” A half-ogre man said. “Up in his office.”

“Oh, that’s always good,” Theo said, pushing off from the counter. He ascended the steps, cracking Aarok’s door before entering. “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”

“You remember that guy you wanted us to trust?” Aarok asked. “He ran.”

“You’re joking. Where did he run to?”

“North as far as we can tell. No one can catch him—even after they figured out he was gone.”

Theo closed his eyes. There was no way he got that many levels in such a short time. “We’ve been deceived.”

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