Divine Apostasy Book 11 - Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Ruin explained, as best he could, Deryssa Val’dor’s relationship with the Scarecrow Aspect and how a part of her remained in his head. He skipped the details about upsetting the Outerverse factions. The important thing was that one or more of those factions had agents here who might act against them.

“One more reason to keep the God Stone as secret as possible,” Blapy said.

“Maybe Lalquinrial is this bad guy,” Sift said.

“He’d be more powerful if he came from the Outerverse,” Lylan responded. “He would’ve wrecked all of us a long time ago.”

Sift looked from Lylan to Ruin. “Maybe Lalquinrial is hiding his strength. From what you explained, he mostly killed you.”

Hamma had let Ruin go, their desire to touch overpowered by the constant healing required. She studied Sift thoughtfully. “You’re right, Lalquinrial is suspicious. He figured out how to make those Aspects and kept himself separate from everyone else. Not to mention his knowledge and control of soul abilities. He created those crossing gates with soul power and filled his realm with demons he’d created by altering peoples’ souls.”

Ruin’s frown deepened. “The Luminara are the only Outerverse faction whose source of power, the soul, is widespread here. Deryssa told me the Luminara have a hundred of these special fighters called zealots. She said zealots had destroyed entire universes in a crusade of purification.” He shifted his gaze to Miranda. “You knew Lalquinrial better than any of us. What do you think?”

Miranda seemed deep in thought, and Blapy responded. “An entity like a zealot would possess means to camouflage themselves. I’m sure in the Outerverse the other factions have beings equal in power to zealots. That means they all need ways to hide themselves completely. I agree Lalquinrial is suspicious, but it makes me wonder if even that is another layer of concealment.”

A heavy silence followed that statement. Finally, Miranda spoke softly. “It’s hard for me to believe its Lalquinrial. Until the Darkness arrived and shook his faith, Lal was like a star, shining with light and burning with warmth. Pen loved him.” Miranda shook her head. “The arrival of the Darkness pushed him into a nihilist obsession that makes little sense in the context of a zealot.”

Ruin considered all the times he’d interacted with the Infernal Lord. “That obsession offers convenient cover though. His attacks against others are written off because of it. Even his desire for Nameless might have been a way to evaluate me. To see if my power had risen to the level that he needed to act.” Ruin held out his hands, turning them as he studied his strange skin. “We can all see the result. He certainly meant to kill me.”

“If this secret entity exists,” Miranda said, “it doesn’t change anything for us. We focus on the Godstone, becoming Axioms, and returning the Spirit.”

Ruin nodded, sighed, and stepped up to the table. He studied the unassuming dagger stuck in the wood. “Hey, Io. Deep in the Destruction Realm some things became evident, especially after Lalquinrial destroyed my body. Specifically, my mind is full of Creation essence from when you helped Rami piece my mind back together in the Spirit Realm. I’m assuming without your help I would’ve never recovered, so I can’t thank you enough.”

Ruin bowed to the dagger, and then continued. “I’m not sure how things would’ve turned out in the Destruction Realm without that Creation Essence in my mind, so you might’ve saved me a second time as well. Overlord, Uruziel, and Rami have helped me piece together what you did and how your actions helped create what’s happening in my mind. Deryssa Val’dor provided more details about your identity, but I’ll keep them to myself—they’re your secrets. I do have a few questions though.”

“What secret identity?” Sift asked his face confused.

An awkward silence filled the room.

“I’m sorry, Io,” Ruin said again. “If things weren’t so dire I would’ve kept my silence. From what I can tell, you’ve been helping us from the beginning, so I’m hoping you’ll continue.”

A soft sigh came from the dagger. Not in Chat, but audible.

“Are you faking, Io?” Sift asked, his voice unable to hide his surprise and distress.

“No,” Io said, “you have it backwards, Sift. I’m myself with you. The rest is what I consider fake.”

Ruin wanted to reach out to Sift and support him, but Ruin’s Destruction body made that awkward. It was always difficult to find out someone wasn’t who you thought they were.

Lylan hugged Sift from the side and whispered, but Ruin’s hearing easily picked it up.

“We’ll get the details later, Sifty. Let Ruin get his answers first.”

Sift nodded at Lylan and relaxed.

“Sorry,” Sift told Ruin.

Ruin gave Sift an understanding nod. Then turned back to Io. “Do you know if there are Outerverse agents here? If so, how do we find them?”

“I only became interested in the Material Realm fairly recently. Maybe ten thousand years ago.”

“That’s around the time the Darkness appeared,” Ruin said.

“That isn’t what brought me here. I came because I needed help. But I guess, thinking about it now, the Darkness and my problem are likely related.”

That answer shocked Ruin. The Void Wyrm, Varthon, had revealed Io’s true name, Io’amar Thal’ara, along with the fact Io was the Creation Realm royal in charge. What could someone like that need help with?

Io continued. “To answer your question, I know little about the factions that make up the Material Realm in what you call the Outerverse. So, recognizing one of their agents would be difficult.”

That deflated Ruin’s hopes, but he didn’t give up. “What did you need help with?”

Io sighed. “I guess the sprite’s out of the forest. In short, there’s a balance between the Creation and Destruction Realms, and someone down there purposefully disturbed this equilibrium. It created problems for us and forced me to enter the Material Realm to find a solution.”

“Because you can’t survive in the Destruction Realm,” Ruin stated.

“Yes, exactly so.”

“Why didn’t you just ask for help?” Sift asked. “You know we’d help. Why this act?”

“It wasn’t an act,” Io responded immediately. “I’ve never been happier. The Destruction Realm is dangerous, and I didn’t want to risk my friends. So, I’ve waited.”

“For what?” Sift asked.

“For you to get strong enough that I didn’t need to worry that I’d lose you.”

That seemed to strike Sift hard and he turned silent.

“What specifically is wrong?” Ruin asked.

“In simple terms, the flow of energy stopped.”

Ruin pictured the massive sea of power that surrounded the island with the towers.

Hamma gasped. “The connection between the sun and shadow. I’ve seen it. It’s like rain—falling from the clouds to be trapped in the oceans until the moisture rises into the clouds once again. It’s the same cycle but for magic.”

“An excellent comparison,” Io said. “I’m shocked you could see how the sun and shadow are bound considering how faint the connection has become.”

Ruin recalled how interested the Inquisitor and Lalquinrial were in that ocean of power at the bottom of the Destruction Realm. They’d wanted the soul immunity potion so they could navigate its depths. Now Ruin knew that sea of energy wasn’t natural, at least not at its current size.

Considering Hamma’s analogy of the rain cycle, the Destruction Realm somehow blocked the magic’s return to the Creation Realm.

Ruin stated what he’d pieced together. “You need someone to remove the blockage at the bottom of the Destruction Realm so that energy can make its way back to your realm.”

“Yes,” Io said. “And not to reveal anyone’s secrets, but a vast influx of energy into the Universe would most certainly rupture the Destruction Realm as that energy eventually made its way downward. That rupture would destroy the Destruction Realm and pull the Material and Creation Realms along to their doom in the void.”

Ruin pinched the bridge of his nose, realizing he needed to fix this issue as well.

“Do you have any ideas on how I can get my body back?” Ruin asked.

“Yes,” Io said, and Ruin held his breath in hope. Io continued, “but you need to find a temporary solution first.”

Ruin slumped. If he found his own solution, he wouldn’t need Io’s.

Instead of helping, Io had only given Ruin another required task.

Blapy gathered the colored wax in front of her and Sift, placing them in a golden box. The container labeled as Crayons disappeared.

Blapy pointed at the remaining box sitting on the table. “I’ll leave those for the three of you. I’ve got some deliveries to make. See you later.”

Blapy and Miranda both disappeared, and an uncomfortable silence descended.

Hamma looked down at her necklace. “Have you ever seen Blapy and Miranda together?”

Ruin knew Hamma spoke with Archie, the disturbing eyeball plant that could appear almost anywhere. He started to ask Hamma a question, but she spoke first taking the words right out of his mouth.

“What about ideas for Ruwen getting his body back.”

Ruin waited hopefully and glanced over at Sift and Lylan to distract himself.

They both studied Ruin.

Ruin looked down at his body self-consciously. “Weird, right?”

Lylan raised one eyebrow. “It’s kind of sexy. Reminds me of Infernal Soul when High Priestess Shelby got sucked into the Infernal Realm and became the prisoner of a demon lord. It took a lot of…therapy for the priestess to save the demon’s soul.”

Sift half-stood and looked Ruin up and down. “I bet you lost your—you know. Is that why you want your old body back?”

Ruin frowned. “I didn’t lose anything, and I want my body back because…well isn’t it obvious?”

Sift frowned as well. “I don’t see much difference. Your eyes haven’t changed, and you still have that sour expression. Basically, the same. In fact, I think your hair is better.”

“Basically, the same?” Ruin repeated slowly. “Have you gotten dumber?”

Sift scoffed, reached for the red crayon in front of Lylan and took a small bite.

Lylan slapped the crayon out of Sift’s hand. “Blapy told you to stop eating the crayons.”

“What?” Sift asked. “She’s gone. And they taste weird.”

“Then why are you eating them?” Hamma asked.

“Research,” Sift responded trying to grab Lylan’s yellow crayon.

Lylan slapped his hand again. “Stop it.”

Ruin turned and looked at Hamma. “Anything from Archie?”

Hamma looked sympathetic. “No, but he’ll research it.”

Ruin sighed. “Since I woke up in this body, I’ve been worried sick at the reaction I’d get when I returned.”

“Why?” Hamma asked with a smile.

“Because I’m not me, and I thought it would be harder to convince all of you,” Ruin said with a frown.

“There,” Hamma said. “That frown. I’d recognize it anywhere. The eyes, the way you stand, the words you choose, how you process your surroundings, it’s all so obvious.”

Ruin didn’t think he could say the same. Would he recognize Hamma if she suddenly turned into a Celestial or something? He wondered if this ability to see him clearly despite his new body had something to do with her Conceptual magic. She had trained herself to see details and how those details interacted with the surroundings. It gave her a more connected view of the universe than he had.

Ruin pulled Hamma into a tight hug, only briefly since his skin caused hers to blister. She gave him a kiss before healing the damage to her body.

“Hey, I have something for you,” Ruin said. “Can you get that portable altar for your Chapel?”

Hamma removed her Black Pyramid Priestess robe from her Inventory and held it over her arm. She found the pocket and pulled it open as she whispered, “Open Hand.”

Ruin felt the surge of energy surrounding the pocket. “Is it ready?”

Hamma nodded. “Yep, a dimensional pocket in a pocket. Who says Blapy doesn’t have a sense of humor. Anything you drop in there is automatically donated to the Chapel and gives me Prayer points. Did you find a few things down there?”

“Yeah. A few,” Ruin said, trying to hide a smile.

“What a surprise,” Sift said dryly.

Ruin wanted to look through the unique items, so he removed everything with five or less quantity from his donation before willing the remaining items into Hamma’s dimensional pocket.

Hamma’s eyes grew wide, and she gasped, almost dropping her robe.

“What was that?” Hamma asked in a whisper.

“Loot from five full towers and a horde of demons.”

Hamma yelped in delight and jumped into Ruin’s arms hugging him tightly despite the damage she suffered.

Ruin laughed and caught Sift’s gaze.

Sift shook his head. “Why can’t my girlfriend get excited over junk.”

Lylan snaked an arm around Sift’s neck and pulled his head down kissing him on the forehead.

“One pirate’s wreckage is another’s treasure,” Lylan whispered.

Sift turned his head and looked at Lylan. “You’re my treasure.”

Lylan’s eyes glistened and she gripped Sift’s cheeks to kiss him. Sift reached onto the table and quickly grabbed the red and yellow crayon while Lylan was distracted.

Ruin shook his head at Sift who grinned back and winked.

Nothing had changed despite Ruin’s new body, and for the first time since he’d awoken like this, he truly relaxed.