Divine Apostasy Book 9 - Chapter 10 (OLD)

[Author's Note: I have significantly altered the storyline and this chapter is no longer valid. Please see more recent releases which will contain the information I plan on using. Thanks]

Chapter 10

Chip pointed at Ruwen while speaking to Stump. “Well, that explains it.”

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 and 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 while I waited.”

Ruwen grinned and took the jar, bringing it to his lips but not drinking it. His lips, mouth, and tongue tingled before going numb. The vapors from the jar made his eyes water and burned the inside of his nostrils. He handed the jar back. “Thanks, it tastes just like I remember. I’m sorry about not visiting. My last two years have been eventful, but I hope things will slow down soon. Depending on what this is all about, maybe we can even spar here.”

“You don’t know either?” Stump asked. “The old wyrm told us to step through the portal, find the other idiot, and our combined stupidity would deter anything.”

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, and I was just about to tell Ruwen what happened.”

“Did you just arrive too?” Stump asked.

“Not exactly, but I’ve only been awake for about ten minutes,” Ruwen replied.

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

“So, a few days ago, Archie discovered—”

Chip interrupted. “What! The old man is here?”

Stump turned to Chip. “I knew we didn’t leave the pyramid.”

Chip looked around. “It’s hard to tell.”

Rami started her explanation again. “There’s a hole nearby with a lot of Spirit, which may or may not be responsible for the appearance of this anomaly. Over the time we’ve been here, Spirit has seeped into the stone, and now, twenty feet below, Archie discovered a passageway.”

Ruwen’s thoughts immediately went to the reference in his logs when the System had upgraded his Architect Role. It had activated something it called “rifts.”

“A passageway to where?” Chip asked.

“That is really the issue,” Rami responded. “We don’t know. Archie poked his eye through the shimmering barrier, but he didn’t discover a lot. It’s dark on the other side, but it contains a firm surface. There’s very little air and the time dilation seems to have synched with ours exactly. That’s why Mom thinks this new place is connected to us, not just a portal to somewhere else.”

“Why are we here exactly?” Stump asked.

“Archie left a clone down there to observe, and a few minutes ago, a probe emerged from the other side, scanned him, and retreated. So whatever lives in this place has found the doorway as well.”

The idea of something completely unknown twenty feet below made Ruwen nervous, and only more information might cure that. Miranda probably felt the same way. “Your mom wants us to explore the other side and learn what we can.”

“Exactly,” Rami said. “Gather information while staying safe before retreating and destroying the connection.”

“We have a problem,” Ruwen said as he moved past Chip and Stump. He stopped in front of the two gate rune doors on the massive portal stone. His door had the gate runes for the Dungeon Master’s Lair in the Shattered Sun, while Chip and Stump had come from the Black Pyramid’s Blood Gate.

Ruwen pointed at the doors. “I’m worried about leaving these here. If something gets past us, nothing will stop it from passing through one of these doors.” He tilted his head in thought. “I could go back home, retrieve my portal chalk from Inventory, and return. Then we could erase these doors and create new ones when needed. I’d have to carry the chalk around though or hide it somewhere around here.”

Ruwen moved to step through the portal.

“Stop!” Rami yelled.

Ruwen froze.

“Sorry,” Rami said. “It’s just every second on the other side of that doorway is three days here. That is a long time to wait when we have a mysterious door right below us.”

Ruwen raised his eyebrows. “Great point.”

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 stepped up to the portal stone, and stared at his right index finger, willing soul power to it. The tip grew bright, and he drew the outline of a door next to the other two. With practiced ease, he sketched the familiar runes for the Blood Gate.

It looked correct, but how could Ruwen test it without experiencing the time difference.

Archie appeared in front of the door, materializing out of thin air. His eyeball stalk grew longer and a moment later the eyeball disappeared through the door. Ten seconds passed and the eyeball and stalk returned to the Divine Realm.

“Good show, old man,” Chip said.

“Archie confirmed the rune portal worked,” Rami added.

Ruwen squatted to meet the eyeball’s gaze. “Thanks, Archie.”

Channeling Melt, Ruwen ran a hand over the three doors, removing them from the portal stone. “Now we don’t need to worry about some sort of invasion happening back home.”

“Instead, we can worry about being 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. “We are mildly concerned about being trapped. If you die, the old wyrm might strand us here.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Rami said. “If Ruwen died, Mom would show up.”

“Well, that’s even worse,” Chip said. He turned to Stump. “We can’t let the kid die.”

Ruwen didn’t plan on dying, but they had no idea what the rift led to. What if he needed to draw the gate runes quickly? Memories of Sift firing bolts of soul energy gave Ruwen an idea. He stepped back from the portal stone ten feet.

Taking a moment to visualize the result, Ruwen flicked his eyes up to the portal 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 Miranda’s massive portal stone.

Rami shook her head.

Chip looked up at Ruwen. “Did you do that with soul power?”

Ruwen smiled weakly at Chip but didn’t answer. He worried he didn’t have the control to use the Architect’s Creator Role to fill in the missing rock, and that if he tried, it would make things worse. 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. 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 portal 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 looked down at Archie. “If you’d be so kind.”

Archie shoved his eyeball through the door, and shortly, it reappeared.

“Success,” Rami said.

Ruwen grinned in satisfaction. He could now create instant gate rune portals. With a glance across the large portal stone, five more rune doors appeared. None of them looked like a rectangular door, their shapes ranging from circles and ovals to thin lines.

As Ruwen used Melt to clean the portal stone of all the rune doors, and 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 lizard-dragons faced the portal 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 portal stone 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 me and Stump haven’t yet 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 a way to make your own gate rune doorways, I want to learn your soul vault method, your body enhancement techniques, and 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 this door,” Ruwen said.