Divine Apostasy Book 12 - Chapter 74

Chapter 74

Ruwen Blinked to Rami, taking a defensive position in front of her.

“Protect the rear,” Ruwen told Lyra without turning. “We just poked the library and I’m not sure how bad things will get.”

The library increased its suppression and Sift dimmed across the chamber as his Soul energy faltered.

Ruwen growled and poured energy into his Mental Domain. The chamber brightened as Sift regained access to his Soul power. Ruwen exerted his Will on the area, stopping the dimensional portals from expanding. His Will here in the Material Realm paled to its power in the Destruction Realm, but it was effective enough. If things got serious, he would shift to his Saraph form.

The thought caused Ruwen’s five Destruction Realm Meridians to suddenly burn. His Sacral chakra amplified the feeling, and his anger and frustration crystallized his thoughts. He spoke under his breath, knowing the library could hear him.

“I don’t know what you are yet, but I know where you’re from. I’ve also figured out I’m still on Earth and you’re the same System as the dungeon there. In fact, I think you are THE System. If you think this level of suppression is fair, leave it, and I’ll escalate this fight right now. If you think you know me, or what I’m capable of, think again. As powerful as you are, it doesn’t extend into the Void, and trust me when I tell you, I won’t hesitate to take us and this entire library there right now. So, fight fair or let’s do this.”

“Fairness only matters to a judge,” Lylan said, her voice clear despite being on the opposite side of the chamber.

Ruwen realized too late his friends all had Divine Perception now, and whispering was pointless.

“I’m not gonna lie—that’s a scary voice,” Sift added. “It made me shiver.”

Ruwen glanced at Hamma, a little embarrassed now by his tough guy speech. She had an approving smile, though, and winked at him.

“Let’s do this,” Sift repeated, using his best Ruwen impersonation.

The last of Ruwen’s embarrassment evaporated, replaced by a more familiar emotion—irritation.

Ruwen turned toward Sift. “That’s counterproductive. It won’t think I’m serious if you mock me.”

“Oh, it knows,” Sift said from across the room waving a hand at all the frozen half-formed portals. He gave Ruwen a quick bow. “And I wasn’t mocking you.”

Ruwen’s irritation disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and once again he felt a little embarrassed for jumping to such a quick conclusion. His Sacral chakra amplified powerful emotions and he needed to get better at controlling both..

The suppression pushing against Ruwen’s Mental Domain drastically reduced as the library decided. He stopped the flow of Mental energy into his Domain and withdrew his Willpower.

 Portals resumed opening and the chamber erupted into chaos as creatures poured through. Geometric forms of crystallized data, floating equations with razor-sharp edges, and living footnotes that screeched as they materialized.

Rami's Superior Telescopic Touch expanded, visible to Ruwen with Harmony as blue waves expanding outward in ripples. The Shelf Wraith broke apart in the tidal wave of vibrations Rami generated and sank slowly into the vortex of her mind. With each new arrival from the portals the strain on her face became more apparent.

“Reel it back, Rami,” Ruwen said.

A cluster of fist-sized geometric shapes appeared in the hallway behind Rami. They stopped suddenly as if surprised by the encounter and hovered silently three feet off the floor. Without any indication, they launched themselves at Lyra, who raised her hands defensively.

Ruwen’s Mental Domain provided enough information that he knew his friends were safe at the moment. He considered creating a Shed or some other barrier to block the shapes, but he needed to know Lyra’s capabilities, so he did nothing.

The space around Lyra shimmered, and steam rose from the floor—pure water vapor, drawn from the air’s moisture.

Harmony revealed Lyra’s harshly bright circulatory system as it surged under her skin. She manipulated the water in her own blood to create steam, which she pushed from her body. It merged with the more plentiful vapor she’d summoned from the surroundings.

The data-forms shrieked, the sound like tearing paper, as the moisture enveloped them. And like sugar in warm water, the creatures’ crystalline bodies dissolved.

Ruwen recognized Rami’s stubborn expression and didn’t bother telling her to stop. She believed she could handle this fight, so he needed to trust her.

Rami didn’t glance at Ruwen as she whispered an explanation. “I can handle this, but I can’t process all the information. I’m almost at my memory limit and I’ll start discarding data shortly.”

The sadness, frustration, and disappointment all colored Rami’s admission. No one liked to destroy information, but it proved especially difficult for Perception Wyrms and Librarians. It was the equivalent of burning books.

Ruwen knew the solution. He needed to restore the mental connection their bond provided. Then Rami could spend an eternity filling the vast dark expanses that his mind contained.

The Saraph transformation had altered his mind enough that his mental bond with Rami had become unusable. He hadn’t put any thought into fixing it because there hadn’t been time or a real need. Now though, he needed to try.

Ruwen took a moment to check on his party. Lyra’s steam generation had slowed and damaged the new arrivals, and she finished them off with kicks and strikes from an unknown Step Clan. Echo's scythe carved through everything it touched, leaving empty shells that collapsed into dust. Sift continued his relentless assault on the Lexicon Sentinels, but the creatures' regeneration had left them mostly undamaged. Hamma and Lylan fought together. Hamma with her staff and Smites and Lylan with a whip and occasional Blood magic.

Stepping closer to Rami, Ruwen searched for the remnants of their bond with Harmonic Sight, but he detected nothing.

Ruwen reached deeper into his consciousness, past the familiar structures of his Mental Domain, searching for the severed connection with Rami. His newly Awakened Divine Chakra pulsed at the top of his head, and it occurred to him he might be looking in the wrong place.

The Divine Chakra acted as a gateway to higher dimensions, or maybe it functioned like a lighthouse to guide him. He tapped the power there, weaving the chakra’s energy into his surroundings with Harmony.

 Ruwen felt lightheaded as Harmony mixed with the Divine Chakra’s power. He distantly felt Overlord appear at his side, supporting him. Uruziel and Sivart materialized as well, both taking defensive positions around him and Rami.

Harmony and the Divine Chakra both grew stronger, feeding off each other in a way Ruwen had never expected. His chakra thrived on the expanded reach Harmony provided, while Harmony gained clarity of yet another layer in the universe.

Ruwen’s Divine Chakra pulsed, and Harmony traced the ripples into higher dimensions. Those dimensions remained cloudy, like viewed through fogged glass, but for the first time, he could see them.

Survey triggered at this new discovery and painted Ruwen’s vision with colors borrowed from Harmony. It helped bring his surroundings into better focus and it became obvious the fogginess he’d experienced came from thousands, perhaps millions, of threads stretching outward from him and into the distance.

Most of the thickest threads connected to the people in this room, and Ruwen concentrated on the one between himself and Rami.

The connection remained intact however, which meant these threads attaching him to others weren’t bonds, at least not like he had with Rami.

Pushing the disappointment aside, Ruwen intently searched for other connections between himself and Rami.

Not finding anything, Ruwen pulled energy from his other Chakras, hoping they’d offer some assistance in this higher dimension. Unsure what to do, he funneled the other seven chakra energies through Harmony and into the surroundings his Divine Chakra had helped reveal.

These energies swirled around Ruwen like a multicolored tornado, painting the thickest connections to him with a multitude of colors. His mind and body itched as thousands of tiny vibrations traveling these threads suddenly became noticeable.

Rami gasped, as did Hamma. Echo cursed, Sift muttered Ruwen’s name, and Lylan laughed.

More importantly, light from the now colored thread connecting him to Rami had revealed another, hidden connection—their bond.

Ruwen had assumed his Saraph transformation had broken his bond with Rami, and maybe it had contributed, but the real source of the break was now clearly visible to him.

Rami had caused it.