Divine Apostasy Book 9 - Prologue (Revised)

[Author's Note: I made some critical changes to this chapter so I'm reposting it.]

Prologue

Naktos materialized fifty miles from the meeting point the summons had detailed. He glanced down at the slowly turning planet of Grave, the vacuum and coldness of space irrelevant to his Divine body. Terror still filled him, and not only from the impending meeting with the adjudicator.

Less than a day ago, Naktos had witnessed two peak deities killed in moments, while a third suffered grievous spiritual harm, the damage beyond repair. Worse, he had no idea how it had happened, which made defending against such an attack impossible. Adding to the confusion, Lalquinrial had abandoned them almost immediately.

Naktos folded his stone wings around his body, providing additional protection against any kind of attack. The brightly glowing form of Miranda hung in space like a miniature star, and despite every instinct telling him to flee, he teleported to a location just two miles from the serious looking deity.

The summons had gone out to everyone, because Naktos glimpsed many of the weaker deities he’d not seen for thousands of years. That relaxed him a little as it was unlikely Miranda would attack them all.

Izac hadn’t come, despite the danger ignoring a summons from the Adjudicator created. Naktos had spoken with Izac briefly and would go to the god directly from this meeting to update him on what transpired here. Assuming Naktos survived.

Dozens of gods and goddesses hung in a semi-circle in front of Miranda, none of them closer than a mile. A sphere five miles in diameter surrounded them with air and warmth.

Miranda didn’t look at Naktos, but she spoke as he appeared. “The quorum is met, and I decree the ninth conclave in order. All present bear witness or state your objection.” She waited for ten seconds before continuing. “In direct violation of the Pact, members present and absent conspired with an outside force against the interests of a fellow Pact member. In addition, this same intruder orchestrated an attack on me directly, effectively keeping me from interfering.”

A chorus of gasps filled the space, but the revelation didn’t surprise Naktos. Izac had insisted Lalquinrial join them on the attack against the Starfield boy. Naktos had strongly argued against it for this very reason, but Izac wouldn’t budge. He believed Lalquinrial should only receive the benefits of taking Eiru’s lands if he shouldered some of the risk. Izac reasoned that with Starfield and those surrounding him dead, no one would even know of Lalquinrial’s involvement.

Eventually they agreed on two mechanisms to make the plan safer. First Lalquinrial would create a critical distraction to take the Adjudicator’s attention, and second, they would initially send in the Infernal Realm’s Aspects. Based on the interaction with Starfield just days before on Savage Island, the Aspects alone should easily kill him.

Naktos had thought it worked, too. Eiru had appeared to protect her people, obviously weakened by the loss of her Architect Role, and Starfield had been with her in his Uru’s Shadow avatar. As expected, the Aspects had easily killed the disguised Starfield, and even managed to kill Eiru, the Material Realm depriving her of any regeneration.

That should have been the end of it, but Lalquinrial’s Aspects had moved to attack the gathered army, and everything had gone sideways.

Confusion and muttered questions rippled through the gathered deities, and Miranda held up a hand to silence them. “Izac, Naktos, Haffa, Quintyn, and Wenquian cooperated with Lalquinrial in a direct attack on Eiru.”

“They killed her,” Kartyr said, opposite of Naktos. “And why are so many of the accused absent?”

Wenquian, not hiding her shock and fear as well as Naktos replied to the god. “Eiru’s death is not confirmed, and we didn’t attack her. Lalquinrial’s Aspects did. We were there for her Champion who is fair game, and not a violation of the Pact.”

Kartyr responded. “Fifty thousand witnesses plus the Aspects believed Eiru died. Multiple sources confirmed it, and you never answered why the others are absent.”

Wenquian stared at Naktos, obviously reluctant to continue, so he spread his wings and answered. “The answer to their absence lies at the heart of our actions.” Silence followed his statement as the deities focused on him.

Naktos contorted the truth with the facts they’d learned too late. Perhaps he could survive this conclave after all. “It is true,” he said, looking around at his peers. “We enlisted Lalquinrial’s help. My friendship with him is no secret, and considering the danger to us all, I felt compelled to recruit him. What danger, you’re asking yourself. What could justify subverting the Pact?” He paused for a few seconds to let the tension build. “You asked why the accused are not all here. The answer is simple. Eiru’s Champion, the Starfield boy, killed two of them and gravely injured a third.”

Disbelief and confusion erupted as the deities muttered to each other. Naktos glanced at Miranda, who stared at him with a grim face. He swallowed his fear and continued.

“It’s not impossible,” Naktos spoke over the conversations. “Eiru has secrets of her own. Behind our backs, she engineered a weapon to kill us all. You know how she holds herself apart from us, and now the reason reveals itself. She created a Divine Apostasy.”

Shouting erupted and Naktos let it continue for twenty seconds.

“It’s true,” Naktos shouted. “The proof is the death of Haffa and Quintyn, and the destruction of at least one of Izac’s pathways.”

Gasps of horror filled Miranda’s sphere.

Kartyr spoke again. “And you left them in the Material Realm?”

Naktos looked down for a moment before responding. “It is no secret I dislike direct conflict. I am ashamed to say I fled the Material Realm immediately, terrified I would be next. Even so, I returned an hour later to retrieve our brothers, hoping I could take them to their Divine Realms, but the apostate had taken them.”

“Taken them where?” Kartyr asked. “That much Spirit and essence should take weeks to consume? Perhaps you did find the bodies, and plan on Harvesting them yourself.”

Naktos didn’t react to the obvious baiting. He remained focused on surviving, and that meant not getting distracted from his narrative, so he only briefly answered the other god. “You all know I would find the idea of feeding on another deity abhorrent. I might be a coward, but I am no scavenger.”

Naktos waited a few seconds to see if anyone else wished to comment, and then continued. “With our brothers’ deaths, you can see the need for Lalquinrial. How better to fight a god killer than with another god killer. In fairness, Eiru’s creation of an Ascended Harvester trained specifically to kill us, had to be dealt with by any means necessary.”

“Such noble motivations, Naktos,” Miranda said. “What a pleasure to see your selfish nature mature into this valiant protector of your brothers and sisters. I’m curious. What happened to Lalquinrial? How did you convince him to help you? The Divine Apostasy sounds dangerous after all, and we all know Lalquinrial would not help you for free, friendship or not.”

“Indeed, Adjudicator, although the price was lower than you think. Lalquinrial’s wife was the first victim of this killer. As the vulnerable woman transitioned from Gem to Divine, this vile assassin ripped the Core from her body, destroying her center completely. An act of unheard brutality.”

Naktos waited for the alarmed conversations to quiet, before continuing. “I agreed to research an elixir to ease his wife’s constant spiritual pain, along with a small amount of personal terium.”

Naktos could see the gathered deities’ anger had turned to understanding and even sympathy. He had worried his fellow deities would demand his death for breaking the Pact, but now, he had likely gained many allies. They could continue to use the umbrella of the Pact to safely pursue their goals, protected by the same rules they subverted.

This victory would surely infuriate Miranda, and Naktos carefully kept his gaze away from her. She could still punish them for breaking the Pact but killing them at a conclave would require a majority vote, and his manipulation had circumvented that outcome.

Something about this bothered Naktos. Miranda hated, or at least disliked, all the deities here on Grave. She had never hidden that fact. Why had she allowed him to twist events she surely knew the truth about? Did she want all the deities here on his side? How did that benefit her?

Naktos frowned and risked a glance at Miranda, only to find her smiling at him. The expression of an apex predator finding her prey trapped and vulnerable.

“Is there anything else?” Miranda asked.

Naktos paused, desperately trying to understand how the wyrm planned to benefit from this. He considered telling the assembled deities that the apostate was also an Axiom, but his current story had already convinced them, and the revelation of an Axiom would likely scare them away from the conflict, not rally them to his cause. Eventually he responded. “No.”

Miranda flicked her gaze around the gathered deities. “Are there any dissenters to this compelling testimony? Any who wish to exact punishment for these Pact violations speak now.”

Miranda waited a few seconds and nodded. “Let us move to the second item of business.”

Naktos felt immense relief, both overjoyed and worried at the turn of events. Somehow, he had turned his imminent death into uniting the deities against Ruwen Starfield. Did Miranda have some reason to hate that boy?

Miranda looked upward, and a scene appeared, the projection massive and visible to everyone. “This is deep within the Black Pyramid. Specifically, in the dimensional vaults I keep for your followers as part of my obligations under the Pact.”

The scene above Miranda flickered and came into better focus, the view from somewhere low to the ground. A gigantic crossing ring, leaning against several identical rings, suddenly came to life as a surge of white energy was sucked from somewhere above but not visible. The area inside the crossing ring glowed brightly.

An infernal Dread Lord stepped through, looked around, and stepped back through the portal. A moment later it returned, followed by a familiar figure: Lalquinrial.

As small group of demons exited the portal and the ten of them waited on Lalquinrial, who had stretched his hand upward in the direction the energy had originated. He clenched his hand, and the scene shook as if an explosion had occurred. Lalquinrial nodded at the demons, who rushed away, and Lalquinrial stepped back through the portal, disappearing.

“Moments later,” Miranda said.

The scene changed, this time the view showing a massive group of people. In the distance, six deities appeared, including Lalquinrial. A lone man strode toward the deities, and Lalquinrial moved forward to meet him.

“The attack on my domain was coordinated to distract me from the battle that occurred on Grave. Naktos and Wenquian along with those absent, whether knowingly or not, participated in this event, making them guilty by association. This conclave, having been informed of the Pact violations, including a direct attack on the interests of the Adjudicator, chose to enact no punishment.”

Dread filled Naktos, as Miranda emotionlessly delivered these facts.

“As such, in accordance with the Pact, the Adjudicator is powerless to overrule the conclave’s will. However, the Pact offers relief to the Adjudicator when a clear violation exists against said Adjudicator and no punishment is executed. I hereby invoke section one hundred twenty-six, paragraph fifty-seven, line thirteen of said Pact, and dismiss myself as Adjudicator, dissolving the Pact.”

Shocked silence met Miranda’s statement.

“I forced this Pact on you long ago,” Miranda continued, “to save what remained of Grave. The Pact no longer serves its intended purpose, and in fact, sheltered many of your misdeeds. The time for refuge has passed. War has arrived once again, and we all need to pick a side. I’ve chosen, and those of you who move against Ruwen Starfield or Uru’s lands will meet me on the battlefield. In addition, you will find the dimensional storage for your followers revoked immediately.”

Miranda disappeared, and Naktos stared dumfounded. The bubble of atmosphere disappeared, and the coldness of space wrapped them all.

The Pact had kept Miranda from directly acting. Now that she had found a way to dissolve it, her claws were no longer tied. It meant circumstances had become even more dangerous, if that was possible.

Worse, Miranda had played Naktos beautifully. Outsmarted him using his desire to avoid punishment. It reminded him, a reminder he shouldn’t need, of her brilliance and cunning.

Naktos had intended to rally his brothers and sisters, urging them to band together against this Divine Apostasy. Now, with Miranda’s warning, his pleas would fall on deaf ears. Only overwhelming force might succeed now, and Naktos worried even that would not suffice.

As promised, Naktos would visit Izac to get a better idea of the damage, and then travel to the Infernal Realm to speak with Lalquinrial. With the Pact gone, he no longer needed to hide his movements. Izac brimmed with anger at Lalquinrial for deserting them before the fight and blamed the Infernal god for Izac’s devastating injury. That relationship might never recover.

The deities around Naktos rapidly disappeared, and helplessness briefly smothered him. Now, in addition to that cursed boy, the ancient wyrm stood in their way. He prayed whatever had taken Lalquinrial away proved to be the miracle they so obviously needed.