Amdirlain’s PoV - Veht?

  While the discussion between the avatars went on in the Outlands, Amdirlain took in more of the changes around Veht?. The repopulation of the Anar and Lóm? had continued, yet they weren’t the only elves with greater numbers. Though she’d expected the Andún? to expand, having them now five times more than before she went to the plinth was a bigger expansion than she’d anticipated. What surprised her was that the Oron in the snowy northern mountains had reversed their decline.

  With more Andún? and materials, they can help take pressure off the Oron settlements. Do I stay away from the Anar and Lóm?? My last few attempts at conversation haven’t gone well, with all the baggage I was carrying. I’ve got other matters to deal with at present, and I don’t plan to go back to hiding among them.

  Through the night and early morning, thousands of uses of World Step signalled Anar and Lóm? venturing between worlds from their settlement. However, the themes within the Power activations showed that at most a few hundred went to any single world. The temptation to teleport to visit continued to niggle at her, but she stayed put.

  While she waited in the hope that the Jade Emperor would visit, Amdirlain sent out a signal—a melody that rippled through the surrounding dimensions. The tip of a dark tendril showed and wiggled at her before Lutu slithered into existence beside her.

  There are still tricks to Protean that I need to relearn. The way Protean allows mass to be folded into other dimensions to ensure survival also lets Lutu fold herself between places.

  “Hi, Am,” Lutu chirped from multiple mouths as her body briefly enfolded Amdirlain’s legs, before reforming into a black panther sprawled across her lap. “Back scratch?”

  “You could do that yourself,” Amdirlain laughed.

  “No, I can’t give myself a back scratch from someone else; when I do it myself, then it’s only scratching. Far less enjoyable—you just can’t relax into it.”

  Amdirlain formed a dozen tentacles and scrubbed hard at Lutu’s back, drawing a satisfied groan. “I stand corrected.”

  “Do you have any new enemies I can eat?” Lutu asked, a dozen eyestalks popping out and scanning their surroundings.

  “There is going to be some trouble in the Outlands,” Amdirlain admitted. “It’s why I signalled you.”

  Nests of eyestalks sprouted over Lutu, their eyes all fixed on Amdirlain. “Do I get to zap lots of things?”

  “Would devils and demons do?”

  Eyes bobbed eagerly. “If there is going to be trouble there, why are you here?”

  “I’m here and there simultaneously. I’ve debts I want to repay, and it will teach me some lessons depending on what they want.”

  Lutu hummed thoughtfully. “Do you expect the fighting to break out soon?”

  “The forces are still gathering in the Outlands. Why?”

  A group of frond-like tentacles erratically tapped against each other before Amdirlain, and Lutu’s eyestalks dipped shyly.

  Amdirlain poked the closest frond. “What’s with the coy act?”

  Lutu giggled playfully. “I was about to ask a favour, and I was told certain etiquette was required. Didn’t I do a good impersonation?”

  “Of what exactly?”

  The tufted ears of the core panther form grew longer, and the eyestalks all bore big anime-style eyes.

  “Who have you been talking to while I was unavailable?”

  “Rachel visited a few times,” Lutu rumbled. “She told me all about anime monster girls, how they get head pats and ear scratches.”

  Amdirlain added more tentacles to massage Lutu’s ears; the rumbling purr she gave in response drew a laugh.

  “I’m glad I amuse you,” Lutu murmured as she assumed a regular panther form.

  “It seems Rachel left out some details, but that’s fine. What was your request?”

  “Do you have somewhere little ones could get strong before trouble hits?” Lutu groaned, body wiggling with pleasure.

  Amdirlain didn’t stop tending to her ears. “How many little ones have you had?”

  “I’ve not split them off yet. I want to take the time to ensure they can take care of themselves before I help.”

  “That will leave you weakened.”

  Lutu’s fur rippled. “Not if I just grow tiny ones, but that’s why I was after a place for them to gain strength.”

  Amdirlain attuned a crystal to an old trial chain and held it up for Lutu. “You’ll need to see if that’s too dangerous; I can’t remember the strength of your tiny ones.”

  A tentacle claimed the crystal and pulled it into Lutu’s side, before she resumed a boneless slump across Amdirlain’s lap, enjoying the scratching. A comfortable silence settled over them for some hours before Lutu left to explore the trial. Throughout that time, Amdirlain had contemplated the shifting energies across the world as people went about their lives, undergoing the natural transformations of mortals. She double-checked the world she’d once intended to provide as a new site for their civilisations, and pestered Gideon with thousands of questions to calculate possible adjustments.

  The conduit of the Dragon Staircase formed in a discrete courtyard within the imperial city, and Amdirlain took in the link melodies of their heavenly plane and Di Yu. The Jade Emperor stepped from the Dragon Staircase as an old man in black and silver clerical robes.

  Despite the obstacles between them, his gaze found her. “I heard of your advancement, yet you are stronger than I expected.”

  “A friend provided me with some suitable exercises, and it allowed me to progress my understanding.”

  He appeared before her, and after an exchange of bows, they knelt across from each other on the cliff top. He placed the puzzle box on the stone between them. “Do you remember the song you left with me?”

  “I do, and its purpose. There are several methods for undertaking what we discussed.”

  He smiled warmly, deepening the crinkles around his eyes. “You do like to provide choices. Given the changes being made to this world, I take it the first is to remain here unchanged.”

  “Do I even need to tell you what the options are?” Amdirlain asked.

  “We’ve spoken of the limitations this realm puts on foresight, so I’ve not looked where this conversation might lead. The obstacle is the path. If I can choose the obstacles to face, will not all our growth be limited by my understanding of this realm? Better for it to be in the hands of one whose nature is suitable to affect change.”

  He can sense that?

  “Does that come from experience?” Amdirlain asked calmly.

  “I’m confident you wouldn’t have come to speak to me unless your natures were suitable to the undertaking.”

  The tension eased from Amdirlain. “If I do what I need to do, it will put the Jade Court on a broader stage.”

  His smile didn’t waver. “Then, our obstacles will be greater and require us to grow.”

  It puts them in danger, but if I do this, it will also prevent the immortals from acquiring unwanted mantles that risk distorting their paths.

  “I was once told that the punishments in Di Yu are because the souls of the dead experience things differently. I hope what I’m about to do doesn’t seem like a punishment, as that isn’t its intention, but it will certainly be a potentially substantial change. The establishment of a communal Domain means that it will still provide comfort to all, even if the Plane itself isn’t suitable to everyone within.”

  “Do you require any help from us?”

  Amdirlain smiled. “Though three others helped stabilise the planar framework during creation, the rules allow only my Patér and me to effect a change of this nature. Gideon has provided me with the necessary information on your heavens and Di Yu.”

  “I take it you still have the headband.”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  I’ll ask Maker if I can store it in one of the training realms before I align their planes to the primary axis. I’d better get this done before the hole I made in Hades seals over.

  “It’s secure. I’ll decide when and how I return it to him. Given it came close to either trapping or destroying me, I’ll have to weigh things carefully so the repayment is fair and not done from anger.” Amdirlain smiled. “I’d better get to setting obstacles.”

  He still won’t be staying in this realm, no matter what I end up doing to him.

  “Do you need to head off so quickly?”

  “I need to take advantage of some planar aftershocks, and forces are moving against my Domain, so it’s best if I get this tended to now.”

  “Your foes are gathering?”

  “I’ve always had enemies on my heels. Thank you for your time today,” Amdirlain said, before Planar Shift took her to the Outlands.

  She arrived high on the Spire, where the entrance to the Custodian’s vault lay. A small exercise of will created a shielded bubble that adhered over the concealed entrance, giving her space to work. The first key she retrieved from her inventory as she yet again checked her calculations.

  I need to adjust the rotation pressure on the Jade Court’s planes so they’re ready for the following changes. Just a mechanic tinkering under the hood, nothing to see here, folks.

  A tug at the link between the key and the shackles holding its Eldritch prisoner caused a coffin-length tube to appear beside her, carrying residue from the Abyss. Within the cell, the creature wriggled and squirmed, fighting against the material that held it. She created a mirrored barrier of order that reflected the Eldritch energies onto itself, binding them to a fixed version of their own form before she ignited it. While she worked, she kept her daughters updated on the gathered troops, allowing them to plan how to deal with the complex being established for staging assorted allied forces.

  As she progressed through the weakest of the imprisoned Eldritch, she formed a framework tuned to the harmonics of the Jade Court around the spire’s base.

  A figure composed of shifting gears formed from refracted light appeared beside her, and Amdirlain nodded politely as she worked. Memories of the realm’s formation identified them as the Aspect that controls the boundaries of the planes.

  Words sighed from the figure's shifting gears. “Adjust it further into the depths to give clearance, Amdirlain. Gideon’s information is accurate, but I’d like to insert an additional compression buffer.”

  “Horizó,” Amdirlain nodded cordially. “I wasn’t sure if you’d show.”

  “I couldn’t help you with Atonement or the others because of your state. If I had spoken with you, it might have been too tempting. Gideon has cautioned us all not to interfere so that you can achieve growth at your own pace.”

  “Does it feel like watching a child stumble around?” Amdirlain asked as she tripled the separation she’d allowed.

  Horizó twitched the radiating light further downwards. “I wouldn’t know. Allow much space, please.”

  “Five times that distance?”

  “Twelve times the distance you started to set it at,” Horizó stated. “Sorry, I’m distracted by repairing the mess Kháos made.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “What you asked them to do was possible without damage, but a mess adds to the Chaos of the realm and thus is desirable to Kháos,” Horizó clarified. “Your demi-planes have been floating in the chaos stream between planes, so I’ll put something in place to ride the wave of this shift and make that more orderly. Hence, there is a need for a compression barrier. Would you explain how you can even do that to the Eldritch?”

  “Chaos reflected onto itself is a pattern, which prevents it from being pure random Chaos. Since Order is anathema to the Eldritch, that alone would cause it issues. Since I’m using an Order effect to facilitate the reflection, it magnifies the result.”

  The destruction of an Eldritch released streamers of raw Chaos that her will transformed into pure energy, and empowered the creation of the planar gear.

  “I’m sure there is more to it than that, though it looks somewhat like the Chaos Shaping that species in Limbo use.”

  “Except instead of crafting objects, I’m using its responsiveness to strip the Affinity from it. Do you have any feedback about what I’m doing? I really don’t want to mess this up.”

  “Since you asked, you are on the right approach, but you’re using the original methods. I was going to adjust it once you’d finished.”

  “And that’s why a code review by peers is important,” Amdirlain noted.

  An illusion of a churning column of multi-dimensional gears and cogs appeared between them. Near the bottom of the stack, an interlocking cluster turned jade green, and near them was her new one in its wireframe state. Energy floated between them, serving a purpose similar to that of transmission fluid, allowing the pressure to turn others without direct contact.

  “You’re looking to have the tension from your new assembly shift the axis tilt to bring it into alignment with the existing outer planes, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is that why you made the massive hole in Hades?”

  “It wasn’t when I created the black hole, but Hades is still repairing itself, so I thought I’d make use of it.”

  Horizó brightened briefly. “Do you want me to suspend Hades’ repairs so you’re not rushing?”

  “It’s alright,” Amdirlain laughed. “Time pressure makes an excellent catalyst for inspiration.”

  She continued to work while monitoring the armies being staged into the Outlands by powers from Hell and the Abyss. Though tempted by different offers to create a combined Domain on another plane, Amdirlain held off.

  Two downsides to those offers: I want to draw my enemies into Lilith’s trap and it’s also hard to undo and could cause issues with the alliances the others have formed.

  Amdirlain worked in silence with Horizó, updating the illusion as the wireframe filled out into a solid.

  “That should allow you to adjust the Jade Court and expand its altitude. When you start the gear moving, you’ll need to be careful of your anchor points,” Horizó cautioned before they vanished.

  Now, to make a realm-sized lever to kick this thing into motion. I’ll need to rebalance my home planes, but I’ll have to leave some of them off, as I can’t handle that many. An advantage of doing this is that even if I’m Planar locked, I’ll be able to screw with my enemies from all directions.

  [Refined shards:

  Creation: +5

  Destruction: +9

  Energy: +9

  Transformation: +8

  Primordial Will [S](18->19)]

  Amdirlain shifted the Outlands to be her primary Home Plane before she hopped between Laurelin and Hades to set each in place. The conflict between the upper and lower planes drew tight lines within her consciousness. Amdirlain observed the balance points of their energies and let the insights into realms tickle at the back of her thoughts. She continued the circuit back and forth across the outer planes, hitting oppositional locations, but stayed away from Arborea, Hell, the Abyss, Celestia, Limbo and Mechanus. With the outer layer holding her tight, she ventured through the primary elemental planes and examined the pressure they caused. The image of a spider’s web with its interconnected links inspired her to braid the strands of energy, transforming the links into cables.

  My cross-strap safety harness is all set, so I shouldn’t toss myself out of the realm by shifting this much inertia.

  With the weeks she’d spent working, the gathering forces had exceeded a hundred thousand at each site staging to attack her Domain. Amdirlain mapped the underground complexes they’d carved out to hide their gatherings. She hopped between sites around the Domain and caught the location of more groups of devils and demons, feeding them back to her Avatar for planning. As she finished the loop, she noticed a tiny disruption as multiple minuscule gates opened in the deepest tunnels they’d bored. A dozen succubi of Naamah’s lineage oozed through the palm-sized openings and shut the gates behind them; all were in the greater tier. They spread across the ceilings of corridors and behind supports, each hiding to spy on the thoughts of Tingeth’s assembled army.

  It’s barely a scouting force compared to the trillions elsewhere, but the Portals they can use only let them bring in one or two at a time.

  Amdirlain paused in a sunlit grove, where the mix of grass, wildflowers, and earthy scent of nearby mushrooms tickled her nose.

  “Lerina, do you have a rough idea of how many of your old kin have Protean?”

  Her voice spilled from a transparent orb that manifested at Amdirlain’s shoulder. “At least a few hundred. That’s a fairly odd question out of the blue. What prompted it?”

  “Twelve greater succubi took up concealed positions in a devil stronghold in the Outlands.”

  Lerina appeared beside her as a midnight-hued Elf, with tight, curled locks in a short cap, and pitch-coloured leather. Her bright smile and the white around her feline-shaped irises were the only breaks from the darkness that covered her.

  “You look striking,” Amdirlain noted.

  “It’s the closest I’ll get to my original appearance. I figured that coming to you would make this easier. Would you share what you’ve sensed?”

  Amdirlain projected the details of all the sites, including all the succubi’s names.

  “They’ll be collecting info on devils, who’ll be dead before they’re aware. You didn’t touch their thoughts?”

  “I’ve been refining my nature, so I don’t want unexpected influences.”

  “We’ve got several thousand regiments inside your Domain now. Have you been playing with dimensional boundaries?”

  “You know me. If you give me a toy, I have to experiment.”

  Lerina clasped her shoulder. “Thank you for giving us the chance to decide how much we’d want to help. Livia has told me you’ve been putting off other routes to protect yourself. While I can’t make your choices for you, Amdirlain, I’m concerned you’ve still got a bad habit of needing to take on too much instead of seeking help.”

  “I just haven’t had the same time to build a rapport as you’ve managed with the multitude of worlds you’re involved with, Lerina.” Amdirlain smiled sadly. “Maybe I’ll have time once the emergencies have passed.”

  “I have alliances that would come to help at my call, without them expecting anything from you,” Lerina said. “I know you’ve got all the constructs that held the entries to Hades, but your boundary doesn’t have the same restricted entry points. Also, Hades’ Domain was a cooperative creation, not one established solely by his power.”

  “I know, and I appreciate that risk. Would it make you more comfortable that we’ve got crystals set up to shift them back to Judgement if the Domain collapses?”

  “That is a piece of news I hadn’t been told,” Lerina allowed. “I’d still like to avoid that happening. Since my kin have the tyrant’s location targeted, can I move to crush these others now?”

  “Your great-grandmother and another are looking to turn various factions on each other. Given that my enemies are their targets, I don’t want to become inaccessible.”

  “You’d risk your Domain as bait for whatever game she’s playing?”

  “I’ve memories of rescuing her, Lerina. Yet I know you’ve had little to do with her, so it’s hardly comforting. Her goal is something I want to achieve: breaking the stranglehold of Hell. She has already destroyed old contracts that could have hindered my ability to do so. If your kin take out her base, then you can strike the others.”

  “Are you sure, Amdirlain? What about if other groups attack first?”

  “I am, but if you want to have the regiments on standby, ready to crush demons or devils against the anvil of my constructs and defensive towers, well, that would be your choice.”

  Lerina kissed her cheek. “I’ve told you before, but you’ll have to put up with me repeatedly saying this: I’m so glad you made it back to us.”

  “That too is your choice,” Amdirlain winked. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to move heaven and hell — well, one of each at least.”

  “What are you up to?”

  With a grin, Amdirlain vanished.