Divine Apostasy Book 7 - Chapter 89

Chapter 89

Rami looked shocked.

Friends coming, Fractal said.

Ruwen wanted to take care of two more items before everyone showed up. Lir?

Yes, Architect Starfield?

It’s good to hear your voice.

I welcome your return, Architect. There are items that need your attention.

How many? Wait, just the high priority ones.

One million, two hundred—

Stop, Ruwen interrupted, staggered by the number. That will need to wait.

As you wish.

Sift stepped out of a portal on the wall, and Ruwen knew he only had seconds left.

I need you to find a way to synchronize me. Please study my current state, as I’ve added a few complications. If I revive now, it comes with a catastrophic loss of abilities and knowledge. We need to fix that.

Architect, are you aware of the Divine Fragment you contain?

Yeah, and there are a few million other entities in here as well. I want to save them all. This is a priority. Tell me the resources you need, and I will provide them.

Lylan stepped through the portal, and they exchanged nods. She immediately strode over to Sift and grabbed his hand.

Can you and the other Temples identify when someone is hearing my voice or seeing me? Ruwen asked.

Yes, if it occurs within Uru’s Blessing.

Great. Can you modify what they remember about me? Like the sound of my voice?

It will require specific permission as altering memories is an Architect only privilege.

Understood. I have an idea, but it requires my identity remain hidden from most people. We’ll talk later. Thanks.

Hamma stepped through the portal, and Ruwen’s chest tightened. Her heart thudded quickly, the excitement of seeing him impossible to hide. She glanced around the room and her eyes found him, their gazes locking. He handed Fractal to Overlord and strode to Hamma.

Ruwen pulled her into a hug, breathing in the faint scent of lavender. She hugged him back, their embrace tight.

“I missed you,” Ruwen whispered.

“I’m so happy you’re home,” Hamma whispered back.

After another few seconds, they released each other.

“Sift and I worried about you both,” Ruwen said.

“We’re fine,” Hamma said as she stepped back. She frowned. “What happened? Why do you look so sad.”

Ruwen’s chest tightened, and his heart ached as he thought about his twenty-nine dead classmates. “Later.” He finally got out. Normally he wouldn’t remove these feelings, figuring he owed it to the dead to endure them, but he needed to communicate right now, so he pushed all the self-hate, guilt, and sorrow into the third meditation.

“How are things here?” Ruwen asked.

“That’s hard to answer,” Hamma said.

In a rush, Ruwen spilled his worries. “Are my parents back? Have you seen Ky? What about Bliz and Big D? Is the country in civil war? And is that guy still in the city causing issues?”

Hamma’s eyes widened. “Um, we saw Ky a few days ago, but I don’t know about anyone else.”

Ruwen hid his disappointment. “I had hoped you’d visited Pour Judgement.”

Lylan cleared her throat. “Some Black Pyramid business took our attention.”

“Yeah,” Hamma said. “A lot happened after you left.”

Ruwen’s shoulders slumped. “I’m so sorry about that. Echo was in the Black Pyramid for the Master’s Trial and she triggered my Scarecrow Aspect. I ended up in a trap in the Infernal Realm.”

Hamma’s eyes grew large. “What? The Infernal Realm?”

Ruwen nodded. He touched his chest. “I kind of broke myself escaping.”

Hamma placed a hand on his chest and Ruwen felt Energy coursing through his body as her spell looked for damage. “I can’t find anything.”

“It’s all spiritual damage.”

Hamma nodded but kept her hand on Ruwen’s chest. He placed his hand over it. “I ended up at the Bamboo Viper Master’s trial along with Sift. We rushed through most of it, so we could return.”

“I understand,” Hamma said.

“What happened here?” Sift asked. “That stupid Misfortune Golem told us you were in danger.”

Lylan turned slowly toward Sift. Like his words had stunned her ability to move. “What golem?”

Sift shrugged. “Some golem Ruwen picked up. I think it’s worse than Hamma’s.” Sift laughed and turned to Lylan. “Thank the True God we don’t have any of those things.”

Lylan reached up and touched her earring, smiling weakly at Sift. “No kidding.”

“Well?” Sift asked. “What happened here?”

Hamma and Lylan exchanged a long glance and Ruwen frowned.

Hamma cleared her throat. “What happened doesn’t matter. Or, it does matter, actually, but not right now. Let’s take a second and appreciate this moment, before we rush off to fix the world’s problems. Let’s rejoice that all of us are safe and together. Let’s celebrate what matters.”

Ruwen grinned. “That almost sounds like a sermon, Priestess.”

Hamma looked up at Ruwen and smiled. “It was my last prayer.”

“Well, amen,” Ruwen said as he hugged Hamma again.

Soon, Ruwen knew, they would venture outside this lair, and the world’s problems would test them once again, but for now, they had all finally made it home, and that’s the only thing that mattered.

The End