I despise those who dub themselves gods after claiming a paltry pittance of power. “God” should mean something more than just being a Pathbearer. Some argue that ascending to Legendary ascends you to a sort of demigodhood. I would retort that some are simple-minded creatures who are easily awed by charlatans conjuring flames and spitting pretty words.
A Legend is not a god. A Legend is merely someone who is capable of affecting the concepts sustaining their Legendary-Tier Skill. As a Legend of Physicality and Theft, I can steal other people's greatest feat of strength and use it against them. It can do this against almost anyone in existence. Does this make me a god? I would say not. It merely makes me powerful.
Gods are not powerful. Gods are absolute. Gods create new things. Things that are entirely unique—or at the very least, rare.
The Great One is a god. This is beyond debate. Should you walk the Lowest Paths, you will experience wonders grave and beautiful, and be claimed by them more likely than not.
Should you enter the realm of the Challenger, you will experience war like no other, struggle like no other, and bloodshed and carnage like no other.
Gods possess domains of power above simple skills. These domains are Axiomatic. Self-evident truths from which new worlds are born and shaped.
And due to this, there are gulfs between even the gods themselves.
But just because one faces a god does not mean they are doomed. For some gods are less than others, and some gods are but gods in the narrowest of senses. And life is about breadth. Life is about learning, evolving, and expanding yourself beyond your limitations.
This, more than anything, is why the gods can be defied—and why unworthy gods should be defied. Why should a Legend kneel before a God of War when his heart is so easily wounded by a bladed tongue? Why should a God of Lust command us to betray our virtues when our minds are stalwart and our ideals are true?
Remember this, Pathbearer: There is a truth before all other truths, an axiom above axioms, and a divine beyond divinity.
The System demands struggle, and to rage against the impossible is the finest form of struggle there is.
-Valor Thann
182 (I)
Dark [I]
Shiv eyed the faint glint of Necromancy charging Adam’s arrow and tried to keep himself relaxed. He didn’t know what had Adam this spooked, but he could guess. Probably a damned shapeshifter running around here.
Instead of saying anything, Shiv summoned a swirl of Vitae atop his palm and then blinked out of context for a moment. When he returned, Adam did a double-take, and the notification registering Shiv as the Deathless flashed as well. “How’s that? Can fake-me do that too?”
A haggard breath escaped Adam as he let his bow go slack. He marched toward Shiv, and the two Pathbearers following in his wake trailed behind. Both of them had their eyes locked to Shiv, and the Deathless stared back without any hint of fear. The burning bone guy looked a bit out of it with how the two bright spots he had for eyes kept flickering, but the Chronomancy-quilled goblin had the vibe of a proper killer.
Go for it, Shiv communicated through his flat stare. She was unimpressed. That changed when Shiv drew upon his Shape of Monstrosity and activated his Dread-Tainted Feat. Then, the goblin’s eyes went wide, and she started vibrating at intense speeds. She caught a glimpse of what he did to Daughter, and when she took a step back, Shiv couldn’t help but offer her a near-feral grin. Yeah. Keep yourself alive. Don’t make me add you to my next Delve.
“Young Lord Arrow,” the Raven leading Shiv said, trying to intercept Adam. “Please, hold. I wish to know what has happened with—”
Adam walked through the Raven as his body briefly turned fluid. Shiv blinked before letting out a laugh. “Shit, Adam. Did you evolve your Physicality? Is that why you’re all soggy now?”
“Shut up, you bastard,” Adam said with an exhausted sigh. After he passed through the Raven, he released the Hydromancy comprising his body in a burst of moisture. It didn’t splash down around Adam like a waterfall. Instead, it formed a faint shroud around him—became something he could call upon at any moment.
Shiv was about to ask Adam what kind of Skill Evolution that was when the Gate Lord slammed into his chest and hugged him. Shiv blinked. He was usually the one to initiate these, the rare few times they happened. The mocking smirk on Shiv’s face faded, and in its place came a grin of genuine joy. “Rough day, huh?”
“The godsdamned worst,” Adam replied.
Shiv patted Adam on the back, indifferent to all the eyes on them. He didn’t care that there were dozens of Legendary-Tier prisoners who knew how much he cared for his friend. He didn’t care that they were still in this miserable shithole of a prison. He didn’t care that the Ascendants were probably right on Adam’s ass, and another ugly fight was coming their way.
The Deathless had found his favorite asshole again, and now, some of the loneliness inside of him winked out like an extinguished candle.
“Shiv. Telepathy.” Adam’s muttered request made Shiv cock his head, but he didn’t hesitate beyond that. He projected his Psychomancy into Adam, and then found himself surprised as time itself seemed to stop. Yet this wasn’t a feat of Chronomancy but an accelerated perception of some kind, as his body was still frozen. More importantly, it was Adam doing it.
“Shit, Adam, just how many skills did you evolve?”
“Four, technically,” he replied. Shiv could feel the Gate Lord’s skull slowly fill with building strain and heat. The cost to this skill was making itself known. “This is Commander’s Foresight. It evolved from my Tactical Overseer Skill. It gives me time to think and… Well, I have figured all of it out yet. I wasn’t even sure if you would be included when I pause the world outside my head, but it seems my guess paid off.”
And these were the times that Shiv remembered Adam was a prodigy. If not for my Path, how would I match up against him? he wondered.
“Like a sparrow trying to flee a hawk,” Adam suggested.
And then Shiv remembered their minds were linked. “Yeah. Sure thing, little bird. Keep moving your beak.” Shiv made the noise of a chicken, and felt Adam’s annoyance rise.
For this moment, at least, all was good in the world.
Adam quickly caught Shiv up on everything that he'd missed. As the Gate Lord recounted Blackedge’s escape and his near-death at the hands of the Tarrasque, Shiv shuddered with fear. That shudder became a trembling avalanche of building rage when Adam told him about what Stormhalt had planned to do.
“I’m going to skull-fuck that skill-broken bastard with his own cock,” Shiv said casually.
“As much as I would love to hold him down while you do that, I think we need to finish planning our escape first. Listen, Aviary supposedly has a plan to get us out.”
“Really? What a surprise. I got a plan to get us out too. It’s called putting you and everyone that matters in my cape and slipping past the damned time loop surrounding this place.”
“I considered that, but there are a few problems. The first is the Orichalcum cubes that—”
“Ah, that’s not an issue. I’ll just rip my way through them.”
Shiv felt Adam’s mind churn with confusion and then with disbelief. “You’ll just what?”
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“Rip through them. They’re not that hard to punch through. You just need to outpace its climbing Toughness with your Legendary-Tier Physicality and Magical Resistance Skill Fusion.” Shiv hummed thoughtfully. “It’s really not that complicated. If you have the right skill, you know.”
A low growl of agitation and amused disbelief came from Adam. “I regret ever worrying about you, you absolute shit. Magical Resistance? Physicality? Skill Fusion? That’s just…”
“Bullshit?” Shiv provided.
“Will you tell me what poor monster you stole this skill from so I can hate you properly?”
“You know about Void Leviathans?” Shiv asked. A pang of absolute disgust came from the Gate Lord. “Oh! You do!”
“Shiv. Just kill yourself. Kill yourself a thousand times painfully. What was Udraal even thinking when he twisted your soul?’
At the mention of the Udraal’s name, Shiv’s mood darkened. “I don’t know. But if I had to guess, he probably wanted to use me as a weapon against the System itself. Maybe even Integration. I feel like a tumor, Adam. Like I’m something that shouldn’t exist. The System put a Hidden World Quest on my head. I think that’s a pretty clear sign that it doesn’t want me to exist.”
“Perhaps,” Adam said, sounding less certain than Shiv. “But it hasn’t tried to strike you down directly. You’re still evolving more skills. You’re still getting Quest rewards. If that’s the case, then… I can’t tell what the System wants when it comes to you.”
Shiv grunted with displeasure. “Me neither. Alright. Who are the two crazies you’re with?”
The world had switched to a sort of top-down view that pierced through the ceiling. From there, Shiv eyed the goblin and Pyromancer that accompanied Adam.
“The goblin is called Gone, and the burning one is Candles. I managed to gain their aid and trust while I was escaping myself. They’re reliable, for now.”
“They made eyes at me earlier. Managed to get the goblin to look away.”
Adam sighed. “I warned her against that. What about you? You seem to have recruited a small army.”
“Yeah, well, they’re not mine. It’s more like they’re a group of enemies I managed to talk into uncertain allies instead. Had to beat the shit out of the Chronomancer elf first, though.”
“Chronomancer elf? The one standing near you?”
“Yeah. That’s Kura. The other few you should know about are Five—he’s the wolf-guy. Also an Aviary agent.”
“What? Just how many bloody agents do they have in this place?”
“Knowing the answer might make me go Berserk and break something or someone,” Shiv said. “And the guy who’s half-man, half-automaton is Rebis. He’s apparently supposed to be a future Avatar for one of the Ascendants, so he’s not doing that well either.”
“And who’s the Vulteg?” Adam asked.
Shiv paused and winced. “That… is High Marshal Urri. Shit. He’s, uh, probably going to make a go at you soon. I can’t believe I forgot about his ass.”
“Oh, good. See, Shiv. The System wants me dead too. What solidarity I feel right now.”
“Yeah. Us against the entire world, huh?’
Adam didn’t reply to that with his usual vim. Instead, a faint hint of the depressiveness boiling inside him spilled over. A headache was beginning to build in Shiv’s skull as well.
“Seems this skill allows for cognitive strain to be shared when there’s a telepathic connection. Good to know.” Adam sighed.
“You alright?” Shiv should have asked this question earlier, but he had a feeling he knew the answer.
“Not really,” Adam replied. “Everything I believed in was a lie, Shiv. The Ascendants. The Auroral Council. All of it. All my life, I’ve dreamed of serving the Republic, of being a champion of its people and guarding them from harm. I never thought the source of harm was hiding within the Republic, though. Within and at the top.”
Shiv nearly spat something thoughtlessly reassuring when his Psycho-Cartography stopped him.
Psycho-Cartography: Shut up. Don’t spit out the first words that come to your mind. Adam wants you to listen right now. You might have never cared much about the Republic thanks to Roland, but Adam loves Yellowstone. Adam believed in the Ascendants. Adam would have died for them. Now, he’s here, and he’s fighting against them and willing to die for you in this miserable dungeon. Just listen first. You cannot fix a broken heart. You know this.
“I’m sorry, man,” Shiv finally said. “I know I—It’s not the same for me, but I know it mattered a lot to you. I’m sorry our gods are bastards.”
Adam hummed listlessly. “Indeed. I think I am sorry as well.” It was only then that Shiv felt the sheer amount of stress and trauma Adam was holding at bay. “I’m… I’m tired, Shiv. I really am.”
“I know. I’m tired of a lot of this shit too. I guess all I can say is that we can be tired together? I don’t know.”
The Gate Lord laughed. “I wish I had your constitution right now.”
“I wish I had your morals earlier. And your education. We’re probably going to need that soon because Cripple—Oh, shit! This might cheer you up a bit. Cripple might be willing to work with us.”
Surprise bloomed in Adam. It was the heat of hope veiled by a fog of doubt. “Are you certain? Why?”
“He helped me survive Daughter’s ambush earlier. I got a way to contact Cripple—or for it to contact me. I was supposed to call it when I found you or something. It can help us escape. And yeah, I was paranoid too, but there’s really no point in Cripple betraying me. It could have helped Daughter in the fight earlier. I barely survived her. Both of them would have torn me apart. Anyway, Cripple wants to speak to us and then the Starhawk as well. I think it's about as tired as this shit as we are.”
And soon, something was burning inside Adam: A realization that not all of his gods were heartless monsters, aside from the Starhawk. “Alright… Alright! So, we have options now. And if everything fails and you can get us out of this prison, Aviary has its own extraction point as well. Something that can help us hide from the eyes of the Ascendants; a piece of pure technology.”
“Pure technology? Like what? Something from the Forbidden Empire?”
“Exactly.”
And now Shiv was beginning to feel excited. Before this point, he was stumbling around blind with vague plans. Now, with Adam back and their knowledge combined, possibilities and options were branching out before Shiv’s very eyes.
A spike of pain cut through both of their rising hopes.
“Shit!” Adam hissed.
Shiv frowned slightly. “Yeah, this skill feels like mana strain without the mana part, doesn’t it?”
“Now that you mentioned that, it does. Bloody migraines.”
“You know, once we find Uva again, she might just be able to keep it from hurting us entirely. Or delaying it for a while by connecting us to even more people. Wait, hell, think of connecting to an entire army like this.”
“I think that’s how the skill is meant to be used, Shiv. Right. So. I say we get all the prisoners in order, escape from this place before the Ascendants or Avatars are upon us, try to meet with Cripple, and then move on to getting out of this prison entirely after that.”
“Sounds good to me. You gonna do the telepathy Commander’s Foresight thing when shit goes sideways?”
“Absolutely.”
“Great. See you back here in about an hour.”
“Try five minutes, Shiv,” Adam scoffed. “An hour of peace. When did you get so bloody optimistic?”
“Just trying to imagine a better world where I can spend a few seconds cooking instead of murdering every third person I come across.”
“What a beautiful dream. But I think it’s time to step out of it. My headache’s becoming borderline unbearable, so let’s see if the Vulteg tries to kill me in a moment or not.”
“Better not. For his own sake. Let’s see if I can bullshit him.”
Adam ended his Commander’s Foresight Skill, and time resumed. As soon as Adam pulled away from Shiv, a loud gasp came from behind Shiv. He winced.
“Wait… What did you call him? Adam? Young Lord Arrow?”
Shiv spun on his heels and held up his hands to Urri, whose eye was wide open as he stared at Adam. “Yeah,” Shiv said. “Young Lord Adam Arrow. One of the many Young Lord Adam Arrows in the Republic.”
“A very common name,” Adam added, peeking out from beside Shiv.
The huge Vulteg stared at the two of them as Shiv continued his bullshit spree. “Way too many Adam Arrows. Honestly, his dad's… just a dumb piece of shit for not choosing another name. Could’ve called him anything. But his dad is just… not a smart man. Hells, I’d even call him kind of a massive dick.” Something sharp hit the back of Shiv’s head. He ignored it.
Urri’s stare turned into a glare as he studied Adam Arrow some more.
Incoming message from Lord Scorn:
ARROW! YOU FUCK! YOU THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY FROM ME? I CAN FEEL YOUR ASS, NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE! I DON’T CARE IF YOU’RE HIDING UP AN ASCENDANT’S ASSHOLE! I’LL KNOW! MY HATE HAS SPROUTED FREE FROM MY BODY AND GROWN EYES AND NOSES AND EARS TO TASTE YOUR FESTERING MANA SIGNATURE YOU BOW-FUCKING FUCK! AND NOW, YOU’RE GOING TO SUFFER. SLOWLY. SWEETLY. FOR-FUCKING-EVER!
“Oh, hells,” Adam muttered.
“Damn,” Shiv said, trying to maintain a facade of ignorance. “I don’t know who this guy is, but he really sounds kind of pissed off about one of the many Adams in—”
Urri moved. Shiv intercepted. And a flare of azure light consumed by the tunnel they were in. The huge Vulteg crashed hard against Shiv and stopped dead once more as all the force he exerted was converted into Overflow Tides.
“TREACHEROUS HASLAGH!” Urri screamed in Shiv’s face.