Divine Apostasy Book 11 - Chapter 1

[Author's Note: This chapter is still a little rough as I'm trying to refresh the reader's memory of how we ended book 10. I know right now that is fresh in everyone's memory but it won't be like that 6 months from now.

I have chapter 2 done as well, but it needs about 30 minutes of work before I post it and I'm already really behind on my writing schedule today. So, I'll go over it and post it tonight after I have the kids in bed.

It's exciting to be starting book 11. It's going to be a fun one. Thanks for being here.]

Chapter 1

Five towers, each unique and powerful, surrounded Ruin as he sat cross-legged in the pulverized remains of a throne at the bottom of the Destruction Realm. A cracked shield served as a mirror, but it remained in his lap so he could avoid looking at his new face and body.

Rami, in her human form, sat cross-legged in front of Ruin and she broke the silence.

“What if Lalquinrial comes back? Maybe we should move?”

“There’s no reason for him to return. He thinks he killed me.” Ruin glanced around at the towers and the empty island they sat on before continuing. “At least here, nothing can sneak up on us.”

Ruin returned his attention to his palms and studied the swirling patterns of black and white that constantly shifted his skin color across a spectrum of grey. The surface of his skin faintly refracted the light like a thin layer of oil floated across it. He knew the rest of his body had fared no better and recalled the terrible details.

Now at least seven foot tall, Ruin’s face had become narrower and longer, his features sharper. His light blue eyes remained, their color producing a shocking contrast to the black and grey of his skin. The ever-present frown remained, and his black hair had become coarser, taking on a dark bluish tint, and it all stuck up even more than before. He looked foreign and unnatural—and also himself.

Ruin’s real body had been sculpted to perfection with years of intense, obsessive Step practice, giving him an athletic build and inherent strength. This body was lean, sacrificing bulk for agility and speed.

“What if something comes out of those towers again?” Rami asked.

“I’m pretty sure I killed everything when I cast Prelude of Stillness. If anything survived, they’re too scared to come out or we would’ve already seen them.”

Rami stared at the silver band between Ruin’s bicep and shoulder. It glowed with an internal light, and dense runes covered the surface. The band’s light increased the twisting rainbows across his skin and the smokey tendrils of white, grey, and black that shifted under his skin, creating chaotic patterns.

“Tell me what happened again, but this time slower,” Rami said.

“You can’t read my memories yet?”

“No. I can feel your mind, which is why our telepathy still works, but the structure of your brain has changed, and I don’t know how to translate it yet.”

“All my plans had failed and I knew it would only be a matter of time before I became too weak to fight back.”

“How did they all fail? You seemed truly confident that you could escape.”

Ruin frowned. “The Scarecrow Aspect took on a life of its own and refused to leave. It thwarted every attempt I made.”

“Why would it do that?”

“The aspects were constructed with destruction essence. That Havoc Sovereign killed the leaders of each tower and gave this essence to Lalquinrial. The Scarecrow was made from whoever the overall ruler of this place was, and they didn't want to leave again.”

Ruin picked up a handful of dust and let it fall slowly from his hand. “I ended up using that Havoc Sovereigns core to purposefully contaminate myself with Destruction essence. I hoped a partially contaminated body would allow me to resonate enough with this realm to make my magic more effective so that I could escape. Everything was going fine until the core broke and—”

Ruin looked at the Silver Band below his right shoulder. With a sigh he continued. “Then this thing appeared. The Havoc Sovereign had hidden it in some type of core slot and the power it contained dwarfed the core’s power. I couldn’t react in time and it converted me completely to Destruction essence.”

Not completely, Overlord said in Ruin’s mind.

“Right,” Ruin said out loud. “Not everything. My mind remained safe, a combination of my mental strength and what we believe is Creation essence. Which brings me to an important question. When I broke my mind in the Spirit Realm and you put my mind back together, was Io involved at all?”

Rami hesitated, seemingly surprised by the question.

“What is it?” Ruin asked.

“Yes, Io helped. A lot actually, but he made me promise not to mention his involvement. He said it was because of the Pact, which made sense to me since elder weapons weren't supposed to interact with a deity’s Champion. Why is that important?”

“Unfortunately, too late to help, we discovered some details in my body that all seemed to point to Io’s involvement. To make a long story short, I think Io is from the Creation Realm and used Creation essence to bind the pieces of my mind together and, before that, used Creation essence to help Uru attach my pathways to the Dark and Chaos Meridians.”

Rami leaned forward. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, and the Destruction essence doesn't like the Creation type, and since my mind is literally filled with it, it remained protected.”

Don't forget about the lights, Uruziel said.

Right, thanks.

“When Lalquinrial destroyed my body, which had mostly been consumed by Destruction essence, my consciousness got trapped outside my mind. It was then that I saw a constellation of lights and they disappeared into a cave. I felt afloat like on an ocean and I sensed other things near me. I instinctively gathered them all to myself. Not knowing what else to do, I placed all those items in the same cave the lights had entered before I blacked out. The next thing I remember is Overlord and Sivart finding my consciousness and bringing me back to my mind.”

“Since we were talking about Creation essence, I assume the lights you witnessed were actually the pieces of Creation essence Io used to attach your Dark and Chaos meridians?”

“Yeah, I'm not sure what else they could be.”

“So what was the cave and what were the items?”

“We haven't had a chance to look yet, but Uruziel has a theory. We know five of the meridians are much stronger in the Destruction Realm, which probably means there are five similar in the Creation Realm.”

Ruin and Rami both took a moment to glance at the five looming towers around them.

“And the last two?” Rami asked.

“Our theory is the Mind and Body meridians are anchored in the Material Realm. It also might explain why a lot of the things that were on or active in my body have now become abilities.”

“Say what?”

“I'll give you the details on that in a second, but to finish our speculation, regardless of whether the Creation essence was naturally drawn to the Body meridian or it was just the closest meridian, we believe it was the cave I saw. It would explain why all the things I gathered and placed there merged into my body.”

Rami’s eyes widened. “The sword you had when I materialized. That was Pen’s sword?”

Ruin activated the blade and a sword appeared in each hand.

Rami leaned forward and studied the blades. “Where is the resurrection card?”

Ruin dismissed the swords and tapped his chest. “It's in here now.”

“Permanent?”

“It looks like that. At least in this body. Who knows if I'll have it once I get my real body back.”

“What else?”

“I still have the Havoc Sovereign’s core inside my center. My core is gone along with all my Spirit. Like all of it, even the Spirit inside my cells.”

Rami leaned back. “Are you serious? Did you lose your Angel fortification?”

Ruin nodded.

“I'm so sorry. I know how hard you worked to reach the Divine tier.”

“It’s not all bad,” Ruin said with a mischievous smile. “All my cells are jam-packed with Destruction essence now and it fortified me to peak Archangel.”

Rami slapped Ruin’s leg. “You’re terrible.”

Ruin’s smile faltered. “Well, I’m an Archangel in this body. Who knows what happens to me when I get my real one back.”

“Is that why you had a second set of wings?”

“I don’t think so. Do you know of any deity with more than one set?”

“No.”

“Then it’s probably from my new race. This body is something called a Saraph. Ring any bells?”

“No, but I’ll start a search through the indexes. So much happened while I was gone.”

“You don’t know half of it yet. Remember those six potions we retrieved from the Havoc Sovereign? I ended up taking all of them to help me control the process of using that shadow core. Now look at these abilities I have.”

Ruin realized he didn’t have any Spirit and didn’t know how to project the details into the air between them.

“What’s wrong?” Rami asked.

“I don’t have Spirit. My soul is still here but it's basically unresponsive and Harmony doesn’t respond to me at all, probably because I’m so out of balance.”

“Have you used the Destruction essence yet?”

“Not really. I was just letting it nibble at my body before it swallowed me whole. The only thing I have a lot of is Mental Energy. That’s probably safer to try, right? Who knows what will happen when I use Destruction essence.”

“I agree.”

Ruin often used his Mental Energy to empower his Spirit spells, especially during the time he’d spent here in the Destruction Realm, so it wasn’t totally awkward to use just Mental power to try and create a projection. Using a tiny fraction of Mental Power, he tried once again to display the details of the new abilities his absorbed potions gave him.

Text appeared between Ruin and Rami and the letters hissed like water on a hot pan, but they remained visible, resisting the Destruction essence that permeated everything.

Name: Soul Well 

Description: Absorb a percentage of soul power based on your level.

Name: Essence Purge 

Description: Once per day expel all foreign essence from your body.

Name: Annihilation Shield 

Description: Increased durability against destruction energy based on level.

Name: Shadow Mirror 

Description: Reflect a portion of all destruction-based damage back at the attacker. Percent increases with level.

Name: Shadow Cloak 

Description: Summon the shadows to camouflage your presence. Percent effectiveness rises with level.

Name: Dark Charisma 

Description: Once per week take control of a Destruction Realm entity. Success and duration increase with level.

Rami whistled. “That’s amazing! It’s too bad you didn’t have more buffs you could’ve become…”

Rami trailed off as she realized how powerful Ruin already was. “Your increased luck is really coming through for you lately,” she finally finished.

“It did. I kept my Scarecrow Aspect abilities and my Ink Lord armor got absorbed now as well. We need to test that soon because it said something about being modified. Here, look.”

Name: Dark Harvest 

Description: Retain access to the Scarecrow Aspect and its capabilities.

Name: Shadow Ink 

Description: Gain access to the modified Ink Lord armor.

“You’ve absorbed two sets of armor now?” Rami asked.

“Yep, and I didn’t lose the Apocalypse Hoop either. It merged with the destruction core I took from the Havoc Sovereign. I have what’s called an Apocalypse Core now and it has my favorite thing. Check it out.”

Name: Apocalypse Core 

Description: Your core contains five slots.

“Just what you need,” Rami said dryly, “more room to hoard stuff. Hamma will be jealous.”