Chapter 648: Blessing of Dariya
“I underestimated you,” said the elven oracle as Mason carried her back through the fey. He said nothing, just raising an eyebrow as he followed the godpaths. “That was an impressive bit of manipulation,” she added. “But I wouldn’t expect the council to do anything. Not unless they’re forced to.”
He shook his head, remembering the seer served a goddess renowned for her ‘neutrality’, and that she’d played both sides in the mythology of the last doom.
“I grew up with someone like you,” he said, not intending it as a compliment. He met her eyes. “The real tragedy of being a liar—you can’t trust anyone else, because you think they’re all like you.”
The seer’s cunning, rheumy eyes narrowed.
“So you were what…merely sincere? You gave away one of the most powerful artifacts in existence so a people not your own could…make babies?” She blew air and shook her head. “No. You need their help, and thought that was the best way to get it. Don’t pretend we’re somehow different.”
He realized she really believed that. It was yet another insight into his brother Blake, and probably many other people like this. They thought everyone in the world was manipulating everyone else to get what they wanted. Because that’s what they were doing.
A part of him despised it, but he understood it was a part of nature. An adaptive trait. A behavior maybe required from weaker things to deal with something strong and tyrannical. He stopped and sighed.
“You’re right about one thing. I don’t expect the elven council to do anything. I expect absolutely everything that can go wrong will go wrong. That your people will fail. That most of mine will. But I’ll give them all the chance to disappoint me. And I’ll fight alone, if I have to. Any more comments or criticisms before I carry on saving the world?”
Dariya looked unsure how to respond to that. Mason kept moving, and took her back to Nassau, crossing so easily now he hardly paid attention until he’d stepped out into the nymph’s empty grove. He felt the warm welcome of the great tree before it went back to humming to itself, lost in whatever thoughts and dreams great trees had.
He carried the elf back to her building, about to leap off again before she put a hand on his wrist.
“Forgive me. For before. I’ve lived too long, and been disappointed too many times. I’ve not met many true warriors.”
He nodded, mind too busy with a hundred other tasks to worry about how the old seer felt about him or anything else. She gripped his wrist, though, and he felt some kind of magic stirring in the old woman’s chest.
“Please tell the ladies of House Anshan, to serve their house was a great privilege. If you survive, protect Naya. She may birth a line of great kings. Children born of the moon, and the earth, of man and elf, of fey and prime, with the best of all.”
“I’ve sworn to it.” He met the old oracle’s eyes, not sure he understood, trying not to be paranoid. “And you can tell them yourself.”
“No, young druid. I am too old and frail for the power gifted to me. I’ve walked alone too long. But I think now I can rest.”
Whatever the oracle was doing cranked up to eleven. Power flooded from her eyes, bathing the room in white light. Mason tried to pull away, but he felt frozen like he was in a Maker hall. Dariya’s voice warped like she spoke through water.
“I am the last of our kind from the ancient days, young druid. When Gaia and Cerebus were but dreams of a lonely star. My mistress is not a moon goddess at all. But her light must be reflected, softened, or else even her loving gaze would burn her children. I apologize in advance.”
Mason didn’t have time to ask questions. The power he’d felt exploded, reflected from above by the full moon, all of it centered on Dariya and blasting into him like a lighthouse aimed at a mirror.
For once there was no pain, and it was over as quickly as it began. He blinked and looked down at his wrist, still feeling the old woman’s grip like a burn on his skin. But Dariya was gone. Just…gone.
Through the skylights of Dariya’s building, he could see the clouds part, the sun emerging with a brilliant white aura. Somehow it hurt his eyes less than it should have, and he could stare straight at it without squinting.
[Blessing received: Blessing of Dariya. You have been blessed by the last Star Druid. The star-god’s power is so vast and terrible, even her followers only used its reflection. Hidden, unique Druidic rune gained: Solar.]
[Objective complete: Obtain a blessing from every ancient druid. Reward: improvement to all individual druid blessings.]
[Title received: Blessed by the Wyrdwalkers. Received every druidic blessing available on the prime. Non-druidic primary class detected. Unique Ranger class reward received: Summon all animal companions, with no restrictions.]
Mason wasn’t a man easily surprised. But he stood there stunned. As he sensed nothing left of the old seer, who maybe wasn’t a seer at all, he felt a strange kind of loss.
There’d been no obvious portal magic. He didn’t think she’d turned invisible or gone to a different plane. She’d just…vanished. He was wondering what the hell he’d say to the other elves when he felt the sun’s light from above.
He looked up again, and it was like it was some great eye had turned towards him, seeing the world with a single, radiant pupil of fire. It was too bright now and he tried to look away but found he couldn’t. He was frozen, worse than the Maker halls, not even able to blink as the light seared his retina. As it became hotter, and hotter.
Heat grew, swelling from the feeling of a hot Texan afternoon, to the warmth of a campfire if you’d come too close. It started moving around him like a living thing, like it was testing him, searching for a way in. And then his face was on fire. Maybe literally.
It expanded until it swallowed him, a bath of flame until his vision went dark. It felt like his eyes were boiling in their sockets, eggs poached in bone cups.
He suffered it in silence. He didn’t scream, didn’t make a sound. He just stood in the horrible light of some new god’s gaze and waited, enduring because he had no choice. Because at the end of that suffering was maybe another weapon to protect everything that mattered. It finally ended, and he collapsed to his knees, the paralysis over, his head swimming with agony, eyes blind.
[Divine Title received: Vessel of the Sacred Flame. You have looked upon the radiant god, and lived. All star magic spells increased in power and efficiency.]
Mason shivered as his body started to heal. His eyes re-grew themselves, nerves on fire as Transformation re-built what the sun had destroyed. Star spells? He didn’t have any God damn star spells. But he supposed he’d just learned the rune and maybe now he could test and figure it all out.
A day ago he’d have considered it mostly useless with his modest mana pool. But now? With Lilith’s belt…just how much mana could he force out of his body? Could he stand on some hill blasting with star magic, draining and regenerating all day? He didn’t know, but he intended to find out.
He could still ‘see’ his profile, even with half burned eyes, and he looked at the new titles and items gained in a matter of days and smiled with scorched lips. He could summon all his animal companions? It was time to find out how many more he could bind, as quickly as possible.
And he’d go back to Eve and see how much magic he could learn in the time he had left. Maybe Thea could help, too. A few weeks of ‘fey time’ with the two of them and maybe Demi in the great tree up north sounded like a pretty nice ‘magic training’ exercise…
All that was left was to explore the west, and shore up his potential allies. To finish the Nexus. To build the other players as much as possible, than prepare the defences for a god of destruction.
He breathed as his body healed, blinking back to reality to find a dozen elven women had arrived to stare. No doubt they’d seen the light. When he saw Kitya the beast master was with them, he smiled.
“Are you alright, lord?” she said, all concern in her kind eyes as she and the others came forward with bandages and some kind of tea. They even tried to help him stand, but he was almost fully healed now. He stood and smiled politely, genuinely touched at the worry. He decided now wasn’t the moment to tell them their seer had just vanished in a giant beam of light.
“I’m alright. It’s…human god business. Don’t worry. And you’re just the person I was hoping to see next, Kitya. How’s our sleepy purple worm doing?”
The dark-skinned elf fought some shyness, pushing some hair behind an ear.
“Me? She’s doing fine, lord. And the bear and wolves, as well. They get along quite well now, actually. The new pups play on him while he’s sleeping. I think he pretends because he enjoys it. And the mothers like the break. He’s really very gentle. Once he’s been fed.”
Her joy in the animals was so genuine Mason almost forgot he’d just had half his face burnt off. He grinned and gestured towards the kennel, then held out an arm for the beast master to take.
“I’d like to see everything. And especially visit Violet. And how do you feel about helping me find some new animals to bond? Is that a thing you can do?”
“I…yes, I think so. Are you not happy with your current animals, lord? I must tell you…they’re very impressive. I doubt very much I can find anything better. Though there is one or two…but…well I’m not sure, so I’d be reluctant to…”
“I don’t need better,” Mason said, waiting until the elf shyly took his arm. “I just need different. More options in general.”
Kitya pursed her lips and nodded, like she was about to ask what sort of options he was looking for. He smiled and imagined himself in the air with a bow and limitless arrows, and now a nearly endless supply of mana.
“I need something that can fly.”