Broker

Prologue

The tribulation was coming. There was no stopping it, only keeping it at bay. Chunhua clenched her teeth as another tremor rocked through her body. She’d left Bluestar and the others behind back at the dungeon camp. The Pandora official hadn’t been happy about it, but she had no choice. This tribulation feels like it’s going to be different, she thought. If I went through it in the middle of a populated area, I don’t even want to think of what might happen. She fixed her eyes on the distant, bare peak. There were too many trees in her immediate vicinity. It’ll start a forest fire if I-

THUMP

The power raced through her meridians again, and her muscles bulged. She winced and nearly fell off her sword as it carried her over the Indian forests. Hang in there. Almost there. She leaned forward and willed the sword to accelerate, turning into a streak of glittering flecks of pink light to anyone watching from below. The impact came a moment later, a small crater forming where she landed in the rock. She coughed and called for her sword. It leaped into her hand, and she used it to push herself to her feet before glancing around, a vein throbbing in her neck.

“This will have to do,” she panted before glancing down at the object in her other hand. The enormously heavy sword in a stone scabbard hummed with the power of a Heroic dungeon. It had rejected her as its owner, but she didn’t mind that. It would be a good gift for Lillian. I just hope it survives being in my proximity during the tribulation, she thought and moved to sit down, only to gasp as something small skittered down her left arm. She turned to look at her hand and blinked. A spider the size of her thumb hopped off her knuckle and landed on the ground.

Strange, she thought and knelt down. “You hitched a ride with me?” she asked. “That was dangerous. You should get away from here, little one.”

She raised her hand to shoo it off, and it skittered to the left, dodging her. She pulled her head back, and the little creature began darting around, hopping left and right and… Is it weaving a web? She stared in disbelief as an amount of thread that shouldn’t be possible for its little body poured out, the amazement distracting her even from the growing pain of her impending tribulation. In a matter of seconds it had created a small ring on the ground made of webs, barely a foot across. Her eyebrows furrowed when she noticed the runes around the ring and then rose when the space at the center of the ring opened into a black void.

“What the?”

She nearly readied for a fight when nothing but a small, folded piece of paper fluttered out of the hole. She snatched it up and unfolded it. She read the text quickly and then looked down the hole with a frown. The little spider swayed wearily next to it, clearly exhausted by its miraculous work. She held the stone-clad sword up and looked at it, then the hole again, before nodding and dropping it inside. “Thank you, stranger.”

She sat down with a grunt and crossed her legs as the little spider stumbled into the hole as well. She smiled, happy the tiny little trooper was safe, then let it all come out. When the first bolt struck and her open meridians gave way, when the clarity rushed through her mind and another level of enlightenment tugged at her thoughts, memories came rushing back that were locked away by an external force. Realizations, urgency, and a name. Webster?

Then the visions began.

Dreams of past cultivators were always the first things she experienced in her visions, before the images that Pandora gave her. Tales of their traditions, their long storied paths, their techniques, and their ways of life. Lord of Jianghu, her ability, was a testament to their legacy and, in a way, a refusal to be forgotten. The visions this time were even clearer: thoughts and memories of the previous user of the ability as he prepared for the end of their world and poured all of his wisdom and the wisdom of those around him into his very soul.

One vision after another hit her, and she lost track of time, coming out in short bursts as another clap of thunder roared overhead, and she was struck again. She endured, always endured; she had to endure; she had to finish this and get back to Sonya. I need to tell her- Her thoughts were cut off once again as another vision became her whole world…

They were running down a hallway, architecture that seemed almost alien on either side. Craggy, artificial, but somehow still seemed to be made of natural stone. The point of view of the vision was fixed on a distant set of doors. Chunhua felt her mind slip into the dream world, and for a time, she became that long-lost soul.

“Hurry!” she shouted. “We’re almost there!”

Up ahead, two figures stepped out of a side hall, feathery wings spreading at their backs as they drew swords made of glimmering stone. Both of their bald heads twitched as their mouths gaped, horrible screams ripping out of them. She cursed and glanced at her friend on the right. The white-haired man’s violet eyes glimmered, and he nodded before shooting forward in a staccato of afterimages. He was behind the two creatures before they could react, his hands around their throats. In a matter of seconds they aged, their time warping forward until nothing was left but twisted bones and dust.

Another pair of winged monstrosities extricated themselves from yet another side passage further down and lunged at him. He turned, but a dark shape slammed into them. She turned to her left and saw that her other companion had already moved. Up ahead, a massive black-furred creature tore the head off of one of the creatures before crushing the other’s chest with his bare hands. She kept running, darting past the handiwork of her allies before sliding to a stop at the doors. She looked around. The key has to go somewhere. Where? There!

She slid a small cylindrical block of stone into a hole hidden in part of a carving of a man with his hands raised over a crowd of prostrated people. Her nostrils wrinkled in disgust as the door shuddered and slid open. Her friends were at her side a moment later. The white-haired man grabbed her arm and tugged her around to look her in the eyes. “You need to slow down a little. I know we’re in a rush, but if you run ahead, who is going to protect you?” he demanded. “Damn it, Ningal.”

She scowled at him. “I’m fine, Chronos,” she snapped. “We need to help him. He’s our only hope. We can’t waste a moment like this one! You of all people know the importance of time.”

Cronos clicked his tongue and looked away. “You sound like Gaia.”

She frowned at him but took a breath and put a hand on his arm. “I’m fine,” she said before glancing back at the hulking mass of stoic muscle standing behind her. “Thank you, Set.”

Set closed his eyes and turned back into the handsome young man she knew so well. His dark curly hair and statue-like looks always struck her with awe. He turned his dark eyes towards the door as it slid open. “I only hope you are right about him. Do you truly believe he’s-”

He trailed off as his eyes went wide and he straightened his back. “Blood and sand…” he breathed. “What manner of nightmare is this?”

She turned with him, and all three of them gaped in horror at the sight before them. A lone man knelt on a platform suspended in the air over a deep pit. His entire body was wrapped in burning chains made of mercury infused with the concentrated threads of the sun’s light. His head hung forward, his body limp, as silver blood seeped from his throat and into a golden chalice set before him. She raised her hands to her mouth. “...Stars… With his own power? This is horrible.”

“We need to get him out of there,” Chronos said darkly. “I may not like the man, but no one deserves this.”

She raised her hands with a sharp gesture, and a panel of glimmering starlight formed beneath them, lifting them up and shooting them across the expanse to their destination. They landed, and she raced forward. The chained man shuddered and tilted his head up, his eyes going wide. “W-what are you doing here?” he croaked. “Ningal, you shouldn’t be here!”

She slid to a stop, dropping to her knees and cupping his face in her hands. “Lucifer,” she breathed, running her hands over it, brushing his golden hair away, and inspecting every inch of his shimmering metal-brass skin. “You’re alive.”

His smile turned wry. “I’m too useful to kill.”

She took his lips in a kiss and pulled back, inspecting his face again, memorizing it over and over before looking down at the thing his blood was being used to fill. She reached for it with a snarl, and he jerked his head. “No! Don’t touch it!” he gasped. “It’s evil!”

She pulled her hand away and looked up at him. “Lucifer, how can I help you?”

“Nullify me for a moment,” he said.

She looked at his throat. “But you could bleed out.”

He smiled. “Then be quick. I trust you.”

She rose to her feet and brushed her robes back, reaching out to put a hand on his head. She didn’t have time for the incantation. More of that nightmare’s minions would be coming any second. She turned to her friends and found them already standing with their backs to her, facing the door to this awful cell. She smiled at them and concentrated. “I rebuke you,” she intoned, shortening the casting. The chains of liquid metal evaporated, and the flames left his body. He started to fall, and she quickly caught him. “I restore you! I restore you!” she shouted, and his body began to glow.

In a flash of sunlight and living flame, the Morning-Star rose to his feet with her hands clutched in his. “You came,” he said.

“I always will,” she answered.

He looked at the others. “Where are Nyame and Yudi?”

Cronos whirled with a frown. “Holding the bastard off,” he said. “We lost Tlaloc. I hope you’re worth it.”

Lucifer looked down at his feet, and Ningal rounded on him with a frown. “Cronos! Now’s not the time to-”

“It’s fine,” Lucifer said behind her, and she turned to look up into his face. There was a determination there that both terrified her and filled her with love. She reached for his face, but he took her wrist in his hand. “There’s only one way to stop a Supreme.”

The world trembled, and she felt her heart bottom out. “I-I can’t perform the ritual here. A worldpact needs… so much more than we have. But with you, we can…” she trailed off when he met her gaze, and she felt tears well in her eyes. “You can’t ask me to do that.”

“Ningal.”

“I am not going to do that to you! You are a Great One! Your engravings are part of who you are! If I take them, then- then there’s nothing left! What about your sons? What about our-” she trailed off and looked down. “What about me?”

“Mother!”

The voice sent an electric charge through her entire body, panic welling in her as she turned to see the source. Three figures darted from the entrance to the cell and landed across from Set and Cronos. A burnished-haired boy with a bandage over his eye, a white-haired lad with a pretty face, and… “Inanna,” Ningal gasped. “My sweet love, what are you doing here? This is no place for a mere Claimant! Odin! Zeus! You were supposed to be watching her!”

The two boys shifted on their feet, and she groaned. “You boys and your infatuations! You brought my daughter into this place!”

“It was my decision!” Inanna shouted back. “I know he’s my-”

“That is not an excuse-” Ningal began, but the world trembled as a shockwave rippled through the karma that bound them all together.

Set lowered his head as a horrible feeling of loss filled their hearts. “...The Jade Emperor has fallen.”

Cronos looked from his son to Ningal. “If you two are going to do something, do it now. This brat is not ready for the throne, and I have no intention of-”

“Ningal,” Lucifer said, and she turned to him. His eyes were earnest. “Please.”

“I will go with you then,” she murmured in his native tongue. “Not just to seal him away forever, but to prevent a monster like him from ever rising again.” His eyes widened, and he nearly looked past her. She took his cheek in her hand and held his gaze. “She will be ready. We will pass everything to her.”

“That’s a cruel fate to wish on our daughter,” he said. “Queen of the Stars and not even Declared yet.”

“Our time ends with his fall. Never again, Lucifer. Humanity deserves this,” she said, and her hand slipped down from his face as he stepped back with a solemn nod. She glanced back at Inanna, little Ishtar, and smiled at her. “Be good to your brothers.”

“...Mother?”

“Ningal,” Lucifer said, and she turned back to him. He held out a hand as if to shake hers. “Let us bargain, then.”

She took his hand. “A bargain with the world. For the future.”

“MOTHER!”

–

He splashed water onto his face to shake off the images. Memories that didn’t belong to him from a time long forgotten and written off as nothing but myth and fiction. He leaned against the sink and stared into his reflection, letting out a breath as violet turned to silver and white to black. He stood up straight and traced his fingers back through his hair with a frown, looking himself over. “You need to figure out how to make those stop soon. I’m losing sleep again.”

You need a stronger mind, kid.

He scoffed and turned from the mirror, walking to the bathroom door. “At least you didn’t interrupt dinner, old bastard.”

Those stories about me are gross exaggerations. I had a reason for my activities.

“Did your wife approve?” he ground out.

I will remind you that I am not the original, just a copy. No need to be mean, the Legacy Spirit shot back.

“Make up your mind,” Webster grumbled, stepping out of the bathroom and into the dark, lonely space of his bedroom. He frowned at the bed and let out a weary sigh.

You should have invited her back. She liked the new, younger look, I could tell.

He walked over to the bed and ran his fingers up to the pillow. He still couldn’t bring himself to sleep on the left side of the bed even after all this time. He sighed and shook his head. “I’ll… make it up to her. She’s still in town. I just have things I need to do.”

Uh-huh, the legacy spirit scoffed. Sure, sure, you do those things while a woman whose beauty rivals Hel and Aphrodite waits for you to come sweep her away. She’ll definitely stay patient.

“She’s not like that,” Webster snarled, and he whipped his hand towards the center of the room, his webs forming a gateway. He willed mana into the runes, and a portal ripped open. He set his jaw and marched towards it, clothes forming on his skin made of spider silk. “Just… shut up, you old monster.”

Fine, fine, call me when you need me.

“If only it were that easy to keep you quiet,” Webster grunted and stepped through into the halls of the facility he had secretly built over the past year. Agents loyal to him and his agenda walked this way and that down the hallway, some pausing to nod at him but otherwise focused on what they were doing. One of them in particular, a man just a bit older than him, darted around a few of his fellows before sliding to a stop. “Jay,” Webster said with a nod.

Jay looked healthier than he had in a long time, though he still sported a patch on one side of his neck where the tattoo had been removed. The spot had already healed, more than likely, but Jay insisted on wearing it anyway. “Theo, I got news,” the ex-reporter said quickly, chuckling a bit at his own joke before jerking a thumb over his shoulder. “She’s waking up.”

Webster’s eyebrows rose. “Already?” That was remarkably quick, even by his own expectations. The decoy had only recently been confirmed by the Pandora Committee as the ‘genuine article’. Though it helped that as the head of intelligence, he could put his hand on the scale.

“Yeah, come on!” Jay said, and the two of them broke into a run, sliding to a stop outside of a door where a pair of guards in darker versions of Pandora gear stood. They nodded to Webster, and one of them turned to swipe a keycard. The door opened, and they hustled into the room to the sound of gentle singing. The room was a large white box, a single bed set off to the side with a chair next to it. A man was sitting in the chair singing a soothing lullaby to the figure stretched out on the bed. The man turned and raised a finger to his lips, quieting them until he reached the end of his song.

“It should be any minute now,” the singer said. For origınal chapters go to NoveI~Fire.net

Webster nodded and walked to the bed, sitting down on the foot of it and looking the young woman over. Dark hair spilled around her head, her face had thinned, and her eyes were sunken. She looked terribly diminished, but despite that, she was smiling. His eyes softened, and he reached out to squeeze her hand. “You’ve fought hard,” he said as the girl roused. “You still have a long way to go. A mind does not heal overnight. I have a place for you where you can rest and things you can do to help heal that sickened form of yours. Your karma needs to be rebalanced to restore its majesty.”

He watched her eyes start to flutter. “Come back to us. She is going to need you in the future. Don’t give up, Qilin.”