Divine Apostasy Book 9 - Chapter 9

[Author’s Note: I have made significant changes to the storyline and this chapter is part of the new direction. I am reposting this chapter with the current changes and marking the previous chapter as (OLD). Sorry for the confusion as I work through the best way to tell the story. Thank you.]

Chapter 9

Stump nodded and smiled, at least Ruwen assumed the sudden display of razor-sharp teeth was a smile. He returned the smile and strode toward the pair. The last time he’d seen them was at the semi-final match of the Step Championship. Sift and Ruwen had fought the pair and then almost died after the match ended when they’d sipped some of the pairs’ homebrewed alcohol.

Chip had given Ruwen the quest Hard as Diamond and he recalled the specifics.

Hard as Diamond

Chip has challenged you to a rematch in the Black Pyramid.

Reward: Chip’s secret method to creating his Soul Vault.

Restriction: Must win two of three matches to trigger reward.

Now more than ever, Ruwen wanted to finish this quest, as he finally had access to the soul energy needed to power it. Not only that, Chip possessed body enhancing skills while Stump could create illusions, and Ruwen hoped to pick up some of those abilities as well.

As they approached each other Chip held out his jar. “I thought you’d come by for the rematch before now. I’ve been waiting patiently. It’s a good thing Stump found me something to sip in the meantime.”

Ruwen grinned and took the jar, bringing it to his lips but not drinking it. His lips, mouth, and tongue tingled before going numb, while the vapors from the jar made his eyes water and burned the inside of his nostrils. Even with a Divine body the liquid still acted more like poison than a refreshment. It effectively confirmed the two drakes brewed the alcohol with Soul Energy.

Rami left Ruwen’s ear and took her human form, giving both drakes a hug.

Ruwen handed the jar back. “Thanks, it tastes just like I remember. I’m sorry about not visiting. The last two years have been eventful, but I hope things will slow down soon. Depending on how long this rift takes, maybe we can even spar here.” Now that Blapy had destroyed his dreams of using a temporal shortcut to reach Peak Deity, he wasn’t as rushed as before.

“A rift,” Stump said. “That’s a new one. The old wyrm told us to step through the portal, find the other idiot, and our combined stupidity would pave the path to victory.”

Chip held the jar out to Rami, who immediately shook her head. “Mom would kill me. Assuming I survived whatever you’ve brewed in there.”

Stump laughed, the sound like stuttered hissing. “That old wyrm is always worried about the wrong things.” He turned to Chip. “Have we ever caused any trouble?”

Chip tilted his head. “Not that I can remember.” He took another drink from the jar.

Rami laughed. “I’m glad you’re here. I was afraid we’d need to explore that thing by ourselves.”

“Did you just arrive?” Stump asked.

“Yes, we ended up here unexpectedly,” Ruwen replied.

Chip’s eyes widened. “Now that I understand. It wouldn’t be the first time I woke up in a strange place.”

“What are we doing again?” Stump asked.

Rami pointed at the nearly invisible rift. “We’re going into that dimensional disturbance.”

“Why exactly?” Chip asked.

Ruwen skimmed over all the details. “To see what’s in there.”

Chip and Stump bummed their jars together and spoke in unison. “Adventure.”

Ruwen smiled at the easygoing attitude of the pair, and it cheered him up a little.

“We’ll gather information while staying safe and retreat,” Rami said. “Then Mom will try and destroy it.”

“Speaking of retreating,” Ruwen said, “what if that thing is only one way, and we get stuck.”

“You have portal chalk,” Rami said.

“What if my Void Band doesn’t open,” Ruwen replied.

Chip lifted his jar and pointed it at Ruwen like a finger. “Not much of an optimist, are you?”

Ruwen shook his head. “I have really bad luck, and I don’t want to carry around a stick of chalk the whole time, not to mention if it gets smashed or vaporized.”

We have options, Overlord said over their mental link. Portal chalk is Divine blood, so you could slice a finger and use your own blood now.

Maybe, Ruwen responded. We’ve never tried it and what if it requires Peak Deity blood.

Fair enough, but we’ve seen a method we know works. Remember the Addas and the Founders creating gate runes with soul power? Try and replicate that.

What a fantastic idea.

Ruwen used Stone Echo and Sixth Sense to detect a large boulder twenty feet below them. Using a Spirit enhanced version of Retrieve, he ripped the stone to the surface. Stepping up to the rock, he stared at his right index finger, willing soul power to it. The tip grew bright, and he drew the outline of a door on the twenty foot surface. With practiced ease, he sketched the familiar runes for the Blood Gate.

It looked correct, but Ruwen wanted to test it. “Be right back.”

Ruwen stepped forward and braced himself to bounce of the stone, but he entered the gate rune door without any effort and entered the Blood Gate. He grinned, turned, and strode back through the door. A wide eyed Chip and Stump stared at Ruwen.

Channeling Melt, Ruwen ran a hand over the door, removing it from the stone. “Now we have at least one way back home. Assuming this place even allows that type of thing.”

“I’m worried if we get separated, we’ll be trapped,” Chip said.

“Worried is a strong word,” Stump responded.

Chip faced Stump and nodded, holding up his jar. The two clinked their mugs and drank.

Chip turned back to Ruwen. “I am mildly concerned about being trapped. That old wyrm would be happy to strand us there.”

Ruwen didn’t plan on dying or losing the drakes, but none of them knew what to expect. What if he needed to draw the gate runes quickly for instance? Memories of Sift firing bolts of soul energy gave Ruwen an idea. He stepped back ten feet from the large rock.

Taking a moment to visualize the result, Ruwen flicked his eyes up to the stone, pointed, and willed a door and five gate runes into existence. Tendrils of smoke rose from the stone and the smell of burnt air surrounded them.

Chip and Stump stepped forward, bent down, and looked through the five, gate-rune-shaped holes, that pierced through the entire rock and continued into the distance leaving a burning furrow through the grass.

Rami shook her head.

Chip looked up at Ruwen. “Did you do that with soul power? I couldn’t tell the first time, but I definitely recognize the smell of soul-burnt-air.”

Ruwen smiled weakly at Chip but didn’t answer. Ruwen had a lot of experience using the Architect’s Creator Role to make large sweeping changes, but his fine control wasn’t the best. Not wanting to make things worse, he reached out to Uruziel. Uruziel? Can you fix this?

A light pressure appeared inside Ruwen’s chest as Uruziel pulled Spirit from his Core. The sensation faded as the holes in the rock filled. He stepped around the rock to find the grass had regrown. Thank you.

Ruwen held up his finger to Rami. “One more time. I’ll be more careful this time.”

Rami pinched the bridge of her nose, a pained look on her face.

Once again Ruwen pointed at the stone, but this time his intent contained far less urgency, and instead of burning a hole through the rock, the door and gate runes appeared, faintly glowing.

Ruwen stepped close to the new door and studied each gate rune carefully. Thirty seconds later he felt confident the runes were perfect and stepped through, returning a moment later.

“Success,” Ruwen said and grinned in satisfaction.

Ruwen could now create instant gate rune portals. With a glance across the large rock, five more rune doors appeared. None of them looked like a regular door, instead their shapes varied from circles and ovals to thin rectangles.

As Ruwen removed all the gate runes from the stone using Melt, Chip whistled.

“That is impressive,” Chip said. “I didn’t know you could use soul power to create rune doors. Miranda won’t give us any portal chalk anymore because we’re,” he paused, raised his hands, and dipped his claws for emphasis, “troublemakers.”

Stump tapped a claw against his sharp teeth. “This is a game changer. Imagine if we could make our own rune doors. She couldn’t keep tabs on us, and our distilleries would be safe.”

The two drakes faced the stone and glared at it. After ten seconds the pair stepped right up to the stone and placed their claws against it, closing their eyes in concentration. Ten more seconds of awkward silence ensued until the pair stepped away from the rock and turned to Ruwen, obviously having failed to create the doors with their minds or draw them with their claws.

Ruwen knew what they wanted, and he glanced at Rami.

Rami returned Ruwen’s gaze. “How many ways can you find to upset her?”

“A lot,” Chip said with a knowing smile, answering for Ruwen. “And I just realized Stump and I haven’t reached our potential.”

“She won’t even know it was me,” Ruwen said. “They could have figured that out themselves.”

When Rami didn’t respond, Ruwen turned back to Chip and Stump. They might not be able to mimic Ruwen’s techniques, but he’d seen how the Addas and Founders had accomplished powering the gate runes, and he bet the same method would work for Chip and Stump. “If I teach you guys a way to make your own gate rune doorways, I want to learn Chips soul vault method and any body enhancement techniques, along with Stump’s illusion magic.”

The pair looked at each other for a moment, nodded, and turned their attention back to Ruwen.

“Deal,” Stump said. “Let’s drink on it.”

Rami groaned. “Mom is going to lose her mind.”

Stump grinned, rows of sharp teeth wet with the poisonous alcohol from his jar. “I know, won’t it be great.”

Ruwen smiled as well. Not only would he learn some valuable skills that used his soul power, but Blapy’s attention would stay on Chip and Stump as she tried to corral them, leaving less time and focus for him and Sift. A win win.

“Let’s go check out that rift,” Ruwen said.

Ruwen approached the rift, which looked more like a heat mirage as it wavered above the grass, and he guessed spotting these would take some luck or great Perception.

Rami returned to her bookwyrm form and nestled behind Ruwen’s ear.

Ruwen turned to Chip and Stump. “Should we make a plan before heading in there?”

Rami said, “yes” in Ruwen’s mind at the same moment both Chip and Stump replied “no.” The pair had reluctantly put away their mugs of liquor, and since they didn’t carry dimensional bags, the cups likely ended up in their soul vaults.

“How about this,” Ruwen said. “We’ll step through in a tight group. I’ll assess what lies directly in front of us, Rami will do the same for our rear, and you two each take a side. That should allow us to quickly gauge the situation, and retreat if necessary. Oh, one second, I almost forgot.”

Using Spirit, Ruwen cast the Fighter’s Commander Ability Ringleader and increased its maximum group size to ten players. Then he cast Chat so they could speak mentally. That done, he spent two minutes casting every buff he knew on all of them. By the end, it felt like he’d buffed every possible part of his body.

“Are you guys ready?” Ruwen asked.

“I was just thinking we needed a drink break,” Chip replied.

“That last push across this grass was really punishing,” Stump agreed.

Ruwen shook his head at the two, who had literally walked twenty feet. He wrapped them both with his Gravity Shell. “I’ll take us up so we can enter together.”

The pair nodded and Rami squirmed, her excitement evidently too great to hide. Her eagerness to explore helped calm Ruwen’s nerves. He cast the Spirit version of an Ice Mage shield called Frostburn, surrounding himself, Chip, and Stump in spheres of frigid air. Frostburn would protect each of them for ten thousand damage and slow any enemies within three feet by thirty percent.

A multitude of mysteries had sprouted like weeds after Ruwen’s transition to the Divine tier. Now, they would reveal one of those mysteries, and he moved toward the rift.