Spellheart 10: Chapter 29

Putting on the earpiece was the first thing I did. I silently directed the fairy to her cupcakes as I fiddled with the buttons on the device. One of these had to activate it... there we go!

I heard something buzzing to life. I held back to wait and listen. While I was normally a talkative sort, sometimes keeping your mouth shut and ears open led to learning more.

Seconds ticked by, and I feared perhaps I hadn’t really activated the item after all. Those fears were proven unfounded a moment later when I heard Louis’ voice on the other end of the line.

“So, finally done messing around? You waste far too much time with those little elven playthings. It’ll take ages to reach Immortal Ascension at this rate,” the voice began.

I kept silent, waiting and listening. What was this voice? It sounded like Louis, but something about it wasn’t quite right. The voice was his, but the words were not.

When I didn’t speak, the voice continued. “Good. Now I want a report. How is the operation to take down that last opponent going? Is the spatial tunnel through the Primordial World complete yet? Remember to send in the void monsters first to over-saturate those troublesome towers. You’ve already lost many elves, and we’ll need plenty to drain for the final push to Immortal Ascension. Taking this man’s women may not be enough for that since most of them are only Sorcerers. They're also quite loyal to him and all strong willed, so I doubt very many will survive the destruction of their minds.”

Still, I remained silent. But in my head, my mind was whirling. A tunnel through the Primordial World? Why hadn’t I thought of that? Of course, that was something Louis would try. He’d opened those rifts after all. I to fire up the Trans-Reality Occulus, scout it out, and shut it down.

But meanwhile, I continued to watch and listen. I was increasingly certain that I wasn’t listening to Louis anymore, despite the person on the other end of the line mimicking his voice. Was this the true mastermind behind the Cult of the Unblinking Eye?

But if that was the case, why was he talking through an artifact? I was certain that’s what this was. These communication devices had been long outdated when Louis and I left Earth. Everybody used a brain implant.

Even if Louis had lost or damaged his, he surely could develop a magical form of communication. There were no cellphone towers to make this sort of thing work on the World of Sanctuary and Serenity.

This could only mean the voice I heard belonged to the artifact itself. But why was it using Louis’ own voice to speak to him?

There was some sort of trick going on, and for once, I wasn’t the butt of the joke.

“Once you’ve taken The Wanderer,” the voice continued," we can scrap it for parts. The Challenger will, at last, unlock its full, unbridled capabilities and be capable of traversing the length and breadth of the Ten Thousand Worlds, from its first moments to its last, and all the possible realities between. It will be glorious. You’ll finally be able to meet your future self in person. I’m terribly excited. Can’t you wait to meet me?"

The silence that followed those words stretched on and on without end. Clearly, the voice on the other end of the line had grown suspicious of my silence and was waiting for a response.

“Sure,” I replied, hoping that by keeping things brief, he wouldn’t be able to tell that I wasn’t Louis. I had no such luck, though.

“Wait a moment... who are you? Where is Louis?” the voice demanded.

It seemed like I wouldn’t get any more information out of the artifact for free. The person on the other end claimed to be Louis’ future self, but why wouldn’t he remember getting his earpiece stolen if that were the case?

“This is Louis’ secretary. Please continue where you left off. I’ll be certain to report it all to him,” I told the voice.

“Bullshit. I know who you are. You’re...” the voice trailed off, suddenly going silent.

“Hello?” I asked into it. “Please go on. You were just getting to the good part!”

Still nothing.

Damn it. I hated when the villains realized they were spilling their whole evil plan and cut themselves short. Whatever happened to bombastic braggarts who’d boast about how clever their schemes were and how useless my resistance was?

I sent a few messages to scout for that spatial tunnel the voice had mentioned. We needed to shut that down before it opened up in the middle of the city. That was probably the next attack waiting to happen. As soon as those rifts opened up, Louis and his besiegers would attack us again with a plan to overwhelm the walls and break in.

That would not happen now. I’d shut down this and any attacks like it, buying myself that much more time to make more Demigods. Time was on my side, I just needed to continue to be cautious and patient.

While I talked to Mac and ensured our spatial cultivators were dealing with those tunnels through the Primordial World, I carefully watched Louis. The more I watched him, the more it seemed like he had lost his mind. He was tearing through random tents, ripping them to shreds as he howled in rage.

He hadn’t been this angry even during the middle of our last fight. I watched Ethan hastily make himself scarce after a brief exchange. Thanks to a sound barrier, I wasn’t sure what they said, but Ethan was definitely not on Louis’s good side at the moment. Nobody was, it seemed.

Eventually, Louis settled on throwing rocks at my wall. Enormous boulders, each the size of a school bus, came flying one after another. They crashed into the shield surrounding the actual walls, bending it, but if it had been so easy to break through the shield, they would have smashed their way in during their last attack on the city.

“Theo! I know it was you! I know you took it!” Louis snarled as he threw another giant rock.

I stepped onto the wall. My guards had taken a few steps back. It was hard not to when somebody was throwing giant boulders your way, even if a faintly shimmering shield protected you.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Louis!” I yelled back at him.

“Lies!” Louis snarled. “My earpiece. Give it back! I don’t know how you stole it, but it isn’t the only item of mine to go missing!”

“Give it back... or what?”

“Or you’re never going back to Earth! Not now, not ever!”

I let out a low chuckle. “Louis, I already refused you once. I told you already that this was my home, didn’t I? Well, surprise! I meant it. I don’t care about your offer to return to Earth.”

That only made Louis howl all the more. He had no leverage over me, and he knew it.

It was interesting to see him lose his cool. Either that little earpiece had meant more to him than I thought, or the version of him on the other side of that earpiece had been the real decision-maker behind the Cult of the Unblinking Eye. I wasn’t sure which was more likely just yet, but I was leaning toward the latter.

“Damn it! You don’t know what you’ve done!” Louis shouted. “You’ve ruined the future! Ruined it! If you don’t give that back right now, it’ll be impossible to recover!”

I chuckled. “That doesn’t sound like my problem. Besides, any future where you win doesn’t sound like one where I win.”

Louis growled. “I didn’t want to do this, but you’ve left me no choice.”

“Don’t make me laugh, Louis. Anyone with eyes can tell how desperate you are. My offer’s still open, though. Lay down your arms and flee to a world far from here. Abandon the Cult of the Unblinking Eye and leave this world to me. That’s your only chance to live.”

Of course, the enmity between Louis and I had grown insurmountable at this point. Given half a chance, I would hunt him down and finish him off. But one Demigod could hide well in the vast expanse of Ten Thousand Worlds and who knew how many alternate timelines. Odds were good he’d be able to hide from me for a long, long time. But there was no need to tell him that.

But as I expected, Louis didn’t accept my generous offer.

“Enjoy your last few days alive, Patriarch of the Hearthwood. You and everything you’ve built will die soon...” With that dark promise, Louis leaped into the air and took flight. The two Immortal Ascendants followed him, and a moment later, Ethan hastily scrambled after them. They abandoned the rest of their army where they stood.

“Did all the powerful members of the enemy army just leave?” Queen Lyanva asked, clearly thinking the same thing I was. She had joined me on the walls to listen to Louis’ angry rant.

“Looks like it,” I shrugged. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Victory party!” Queen Lyanva threw her hands in the air. A moment later, a wave of spatial zeal swept out over the encampment around us, wiping out a third of the Cult of the Unblinking Eye’s surviving forces with one blow.

After Queen Lyanva tested the waters, we discovered no trick or surprise for us. The remaining forces of the Cult of the Unblinking Eye were helpless without the upper levels of their power. All it took was a few of us Demigods to route them.

Defeating them had suddenly become so easy that slaughtering them all felt wrong. They were all thoroughly mind-controlled, so all we had to do was capture those with enough autonomy to order the others around. We finished off the forces of the Cult of the Unblinking Eye.

There were lots of powerful Wizards and Sorcerers here, and this had to represent a considerable portion of the Cult of the Unblinking Eye’s remaining forces.

Why had Louis abandoned them? Surely, this was a massive blunder on his part. The theory that the voice I’d spoken with over the earpiece was the real mastermind behind the Cult of the Unblinking Eye was becoming more and more likely.

We slapped zeal-restricting collars around the last half of the Cult of the Unblinking Eye’s forces. It was a good thing we’d expanded the prison dramatically otherwise we wouldn’t have had a chance at holding this many. As it was, we’d probably have to release a good portion of the True Mages we had down there. Wizards and up would generate many more zeal crystals to power the city and were a better use of cells.

When things were well enough in hand that I could pass the job off, I let Illiel coordinate with Mac and take over. Meanwhile, I picked up that earpiece I’d gotten back up and stuck it in my ear. I had to fiddle with the buttons to get it working again, but sure enough, it booted fine. I also noticed that the battery was still fully charged, which proved that this was a genuine artifact.

“So, who is this, really?” I asked the voice as soon as communication was reestablished.

There was a long silence in response.

“What? Hoping I’ll fall for the same trick you did?” I chuckled. “I’m afraid not, pal. I only play the villain in the bedroom.”

Finally, a voice came from the earpiece again. This time, the voice was my own.

“Well, well, if it isn’t my younger self. Running around defending the Hearthwood from this and that, huh?” the other version of me chuckled. “I remember when I used to do that. Not anymore, though. Not much challenges an Immortal Ascendant as strong as me.”

“Cut the crap. I don’t sound that full of myself. And why are you using my voice? Go back to pretending you’re Louis. Otherwise, I’m going to hang up.”

The voice on the other end of the lie let out a long sigh. “Come on, little buddy. You’re a younger version of me, aren’t you? That makes you basically a little brother. Or a less experienced twin.”

“My experience with magical clones is that they’re always evil. I’m going to assume you’re the same,” I replied.

“So reluctant to trust!” the voice on the other end of the line clicked his tongue. “But that’s alright. I’m sure I’ll win you over eventually. After all, Louis trusted his older self.”

“That’s what you’re supposed to be, huh? Let me guess, you told him that’s what this artifact does? Put you in contact with a more experienced version of yourself?”

“Thank the heavens! I was afraid I used to be a dumbass...” my older version chuckled.

“And you know everything about my present situation?” I asked.

“As best as I can remember. But you know how time is. All wibbly, wobbly, and whatnot. Some things bend and change. Maybe break entirely if you screw with them hard enough. I promise to do what I can to guide you, though. And let me tell you, you’re going to need it.”

“Why? What’s coming?” I asked.

“The Challenger.”