Divine Apostasy Book 12 - Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Everything inside the sphere of Fortune’s Discovery inverted, causing the leprechauns to turn translucent and the wispy dragons to materialize. The dragons glided through the ethereal leprechauns and targeted the golden energy revealed by the alchemical spell. The thin tendrils of black smoke connecting Ruwen to the harvesting dragons pulsed, and golden light streaked toward him. The light collected around his Void Band before disappearing.

The dragons struck with the precision of a Shade Thief, their jaws closing around the glowing pockets of energy and funneling it to Ruwen. The leprechauns tried to attack the dragons but their ethereal weapons passed through the harvesters and did no damage.

After two seconds the last of the golden energy faded into Ruwen’s Void Band. As the spell’s sphere collapsed, he glanced at his Inventory and found all the items there. The harvesting dragons used the last moments of their existence to climb into the air.

Ruwen used a fraction of Last Breath to slow time. The dragons circled above him, playfully snapping at each other as they wove complex patterns. He stood at the bottom of a living tornado, filled with claws, fangs, and penetrating eyes that missed nothing.

The dragons slowly turned translucent as the leprechauns rematerialized. The spell ended and the dragon tornado disappeared. Ruwen reluctantly released Last Breath, still entranced by the flying dragons.

The leprechauns stood in shock for a heartbeat before they desperately checked themselves for damage. It appeared this method of harvesting wasn’t fatal, at least not for these Creation Realm creatures. Ruwen wondered what dragon harvesting felt like but guessed the leprechauns wouldn’t want to discuss it.

Green runes flared across all the leprechauns as rage replaced their shock. The runes lifted from their skin and began assembling a larger more complex rune. Ruwen didn’t want to experience whatever that produced so he summoned his modified lute.

These leprechauns had hidden their treasure anchors some distance away, making it difficult to destroy them all quickly. Thanks to the last leprechaun, Ruwen knew he only needed to destroy the connection between the leprechaun and its treasure to kill them here in the Material Realm.

Ruwen had summoned his lute, but didn’t intend to attack with it. He’d memorized the destructive harmonies in his previous fight and planned to replicate them without an instrument. Since the leprechauns could relay information with others of their kind in some fashion, he wanted them to believe his lute was required for what he planned next.

Strumming the lute, Ruwen hummed under his breath, and a jagged shard of discordant chords appeared in front of him. The twisting tones made his stomach turn, and he formed a Harmonic hand to throw the shard at the leprechauns. The harmonies unraveled before he could grab the destructive knot of chords.

Green energy gathered around the scouts and their runes linked into a larger version. Ruwen stepped to the side and swung his lute at the mass, humming to create a coating of identical chords along the bottom while reinforcing the lute itself with normal harmonies.

The lute struck the shard and for a moment Ruwen thought it would work, but after a brief resistance, the discordant mass shattered his makeshift lute-shield, and the instrument disintegrated.

Green energy arced across the massive rune, preparing to discharge at Ruwen. He did the first thing that came to mind.

Ruwen raised his hands into the air as if surrendering and the lead leprechaun grinned evilly.

“Too late, Pumpkin—”

The leprechaun never finished, as Ruwen swung the Wrathful Crow Beater that had materialized in his upraised hands, striking the discordant shard.

Instead of acting like a bat, the Wrathful Crow Beater absorbed the jarring harmonies and then released it like a beam as Ruwen swung.

The Wrathful Crow Beater acted like a scythe, slicing through everything in the arc of Ruwen’s swing.

The staff dissolved in Ruwen’s hands, unable to withstand the destructive energy any longer. He immediately resummoned the staff and to his relief it reappeared unharmed. Only then did he turn to see what he’d done.

The leprechauns had disappeared, replaced by fifteen glowing loot drops. Lava surrounded Ruwen, long since burning the jungle to ash, and he couldn’t see any extra damage from his leprechaun scythe attack. It usually took him awhile to get the hang of new magic—to find the balance it required. It was great he’d figured out this new harmony so quickly.

Ruwen Blinked to the closest loot pile and when he touched it, all fifteen disappeared. Minimized Notifications flashed at the bottom of his vision. The volcano had calmed somewhat, and the amount of erupting lava had decreased. It looked like the volcano had run out of steam. This was all wrapping up quite nicely.

The leprechauns had sapped all Ruwen’s luck, and it hadn’t recovered yet, which made his success here even more satisfying.

Before opening the first Notification, Ruwen noticed a new lava flow had appeared near the base of the volcano. He frowned at the perfect line that oozed molten rock. Nature usually didn’t produce such symmetry.

Ruwen’s Divine hearing picked up a low rumble, far below normal human hearing. He studied the upper portion of the spewing mountain where the sound originated. It reminded him of highly pressurized rocks squeezing past each other.

That’s when the entire mountain moved.

“Oh, no,” Ruwen whispered.

Ruwen pulled up Survey and the volcano’s structure hovered before him. He rotated the display, expanding and compressing the view. The low rumbling was audible to anyone now and the mountain continued to slide toward him.

Overlord appeared in Ruwen’s peripheral vision but didn’t speak.

Ruwen turned to his friend. “Is everything okay?”

“I just came to see the fireworks.”

Ruwen waved a hand at the accelerating mountain. “I think it’s about over.”

Overlord smiled, keeping his eyes on volcano. “After everything, how do you keep your optimism?”

“What do you mean?”

Uruziel appeared next to Overlord. “Did I miss it?”

Overlord put an arm around Uruziel’s waist. “No, you’re just in time.”

Ruwen frowned when Uruziel appeared. Overlord he could ignore, but Uruziel had far more Wisdom and rarely misjudged things. The fact she’d come to watch caused Ruwen to turn back to the volcano and reconsider his…what did Overlord call it…optimism.

The mountain had gained considerable speed as it slid toward Ruwen. In the worst case, he’d moved the mountain a few miles from its original spot. That hardly seemed like a big deal.

Sivart, Deryssa, and Lir appeared next to Uruziel.

“You okay?” Sivart asked Deryssa.

The seven foot Saraph stood frozen. After a moment she slowly turned, looking around. She knelt and touched the lava flowing under their feet. Standing with a smile she responded to Sivart. “I never thought to see the world again.”

Ruwen realized this was the first time Deryssa had exited his inner mind. It seemed strange to pick now for that.

Stone Echo and Sixth Sense had kept Survey updated and Ruwen projected it in front of the group. Sixth Sense penetrated five thousand feet into the earth and Stone Echo provided additional details for the first twenty-five hundred feet.

A central lava tube ran from the bottom of the volcano straight down until it exited Stone Echo’s range.

Ruwen pointed to the projection. “It’s good to see you Deryssa, but you picked a strange time to brave the outer world.”

Deryssa faced Ruwen and bowed before quickly returning her gaze to the mountain that had come within half a mile of his location. At the speed it was travelling it would be here in less than thirty seconds.

“Lir assured me coming was worth it,” Deryssa said. “He predicted a seven on the Ruwen scale.” She asked Lir a question but kept her gaze fixed firmly on the volcano. “The magma cap is deeper?”

“Yes,” Lir responded. “Approximately another half mile past Stone Echo’s range.”

A dozen questions fought for attention but one concerned Ruwen the most. “Ruwen scale?”

Lir faced Ruwen. “Correct, has Rami never mentioned it? She created the scale to help organize the chronicle she’s compiling.”

Ruwen shook his head. He’d get more information later. “What is a magma cap?”

Lir’s silver mask hid his features, but Ruwen could almost hear the excitement in Lir’s voice. “They sit atop large magma chambers and suppress heat and pressure while allowing small amounts of gas to escape. They decrease the risk of catastrophic eruptions.”

“It’s a cork?” Ruwen asked.

Lir shook his head and pointed at the mountain that had almost reached them. “No, that was the cork, and you just released it.”

Ruwen turned back to the mountain. “Catastrophic explosion?” he whispered.

Lir was focused on the looming volcano, but Ruwen heard him clearly. “Activating ten percent of Last Breath will allow us to witness the whole event.”

Ruwen did as Lir suggested out of habit.

A low hum reached Ruwen, its pitch causing him to wince in pain. Immediately billions more joined the first as the earth below them buckled upward.

The speeding volcano had almost reached them when the ground heaved. It tossed the entire mountain into the air, lava following behind it like a comet’s tail. Ruwen followed it as it arced over his head.

“Ohhh,” Deryssa breathed.

“That went farther than I expected,” Ruwen said.

Divine Domain lifted Ruwen and everyone else into the sky and he poured Spirit into a massive net that he formed around the hurtling city-sized rock. Despite his effort, he barely slowed it.

“Fine,” Ruwen muttered.

Not trusting Blink to cover the distance accurately, Ruwen folded the space between himself and the mountain and stepped onto the ascending volcano’s side.

A blinding light behind Ruwen was followed by a massive pressure wave. The flying mountain trembled and cracks hundreds of feet long created a spiderweb across the volcano’s surface. Accessing his level two Architect Role he relied on his years of experience reforming Rainbow’s End into a habitable place to keep the mountain together.

“Ohhh,” Deryssa whispered again. “I never imagined destruction’s beauty could manifest so clearly in the Material Realm.”

Ruwen reluctantly turned to see what Deryssa meant and increased Last Breath from ten to one hundred percent.

The shockwave from the magma chamber’s explosion had already outpaced the lava flow. The superheated gases vaporized the trees and foliage leaving nothing but ash. A gigantic lake of lava replaced the mountain’s location, and a mile wide column of molten rock, superheated gas, and chunks of earth climbed three thousand feet into the air.

“How bad is that explosion?” Ruwen asked Lir.

“With so many variables it is difficult to accurately state an outcome.”

“Give me all the one with a ninety percent probability or higher.”

“Everything within one hundred miles will be obliterated. Tens of thousands of immediate deaths. Ash accumulation will trigger mass evacuations and millions of respiratory-related deaths. Regional temperatures will drop by ten degrees and globally three degrees disrupting Asian monsoons and worldwide harvests. Famine is guaranteed. Economic collapse, starvation, and conflict will generate another one hundred million deaths over the next decade. Another—”

“That’s good,” Ruwen said, interrupting Lir. “Thanks. It’s hard to believe a simple volcanic eruption causes that much damage.”

“Without magic their bodies are weak and their options are limited,” Uruziel said.

Ruwen pinched the bridge of his nose. “I just wanted some gems.”

After three seconds, Ruwen’s thoughts turned to solutions. Ignoring this situation didn’t seem to be an option. He either needed to stop it or mitigate its effect on the planet. The problem was the size. He wasn’t confident he could safely move all this with dimensional warping, and a rune gate this large would require a vast amount of energy. He didn’t have the Energy needed to make his Void Band a realistic option. Plus, Blapy was still upset about the exploding crossing ring, no reason to poke her so soon with another disaster. This didn’t look good.

“I could use the Architect Role to fix this,” Ruwen said to his spectators.

“We learned a lot on Rainbow’s End,” Overlord replied, “but you never worked with planetary energies this vast. The situation here is still contained, but if you misjudge anything with the Architect Role the size of your problem might have expanded past your ability to solve. It’s worth thinking of another solution before resorting to the Architect Role.”

“Good point,” Ruwen said.

If reshaping the surroundings was Plan B, then what did that leave. Ruwen had already determined his Void Band wasn’t viable, but the concept still had promise. The energy required for a rune gate, whether in Spirit or Soul power, had two main components: the size of the gate and the distance traveled. He didn’t know the calculation’s details though.

Ruwen tapped his chin thoughtfully as he studied the sky.

Pointing upward, Ruwen turned to Lir. “What if I put it there?”