(Avatar) Amdirlain’s PoV - Yorubi

  Amdirlain’s contemplation of the Life Affinity stirred a rush of interlocking insights through the connection she held to Bakari and Imani. Filtered through her awareness, it didn’t crush the pair; her mind automatically sheltered them in a dream-like trance that enfolded their meditative state. The cycle of life and death rose from the foundation of Primordial and Destruction held in her nature. Connected to Amdirlain, fleeting images of their own past lives gave the pair a scope of insights beyond what Amdirlain had intended. Loath to steal what she’d given in error, she only walled off further branching and supported their exploration of the four affinities she’d touched in the first instant.

  While Bakari instinctively drew back from Destruction and Death, Imani sought to follow the twin cycles. The understanding that Death wasn’t the end but a time of transition brought a comforting reassurance to his Soul. Contact with her revealed the interlocking layers involved in their chosen affinities. Insights leapt forth, reinforced by her Muse’s Embrace, allowing all three of them to delve deep into the affinities before the mortals' minds grew fatigued and their meditation wavered.

  She carefully drew back, allowing them to ease from the trance at their own pace. As their minds surfaced, the Class visions hit, and Amdirlain carefully detached herself rather than accompany either as an observer. Three Class selections rang through Bakari, while a surprised Imani gained two. When they started blinking at her owlishly, Amdirlain held back a grimace, glad their minds assumed it resulted from her extensive experience. A notification after she’d declared the brief session complete announced her own changes.

  [Refined Shards

  - Creation: +5

  - Transformation: +3

  Paragon Affinities Unlocked

  - Life

  - Death

  - Primordial

  - Destruction

  Muse’s Embrace [G] (84->85)]

  “It’s been a while since I’ve tried to share my understanding of those affinities with someone. I’ll have to take a different approach to avoid overwhelming the youngsters.”

  Being here in Avatar form is part of the problem. I drew on the knowledge yet didn’t have the local capacity to buffer it properly. Should I get one of my daughters to help with affinities? Or do I create one of those attunement spires like I did while rescuing people from the Matriarch? Perhaps it would be better to use the spire approach. I remember the song, but it doesn't guarantee an Affinity, so they’re going to have to work harder.

  “That might be for the best. I’ve got a substantial headache, though at the same time I feel exhilarated,” Bakari observed.

  “There are meditation crystals that some use. While I have one with me, it is only helpful for the first tier of affinities.”

  Bakari cupped his hands across his eyes to block the light. “Whereas you hoped to deepen my understanding of Life.”

  “Stretch out on a couch for a bit,” Amdirlain suggested.

  “I feel tired but fine,” Imani remarked.

  “As you opened yourself up to explore all the energies, there was less impact for you. While I tried to support Bakari’s preference for Primordial and Life, it took more personal effort from him.” Amdirlain fetched them both cups enchanted to provide whatever drink the holder desired. “Think of whatever beverage you’d like, and the cup will provide it.”

  While the steam and aromas from each differed, they both had an undertone of bitterness that matched concentrated lemon juice. Bakari’s drink had something akin to ghost pepper juice blended in, while Imani’s was a milder brew.

  “I think I’ll call it a night after this,” Bakari murmured. “I hope I didn’t offend you.”

  “Everyone needs to find the truths in life that their Soul needs for their journey,” Amdirlain replied. “I have a friend who also prefers healing and alchemy over nearly everything else.”

  After relaxing long enough to finish their drinks, they both gave their excuses and rose.

  Is my understanding of energy now too vast to help mortals gain lesser insights? How would teaching the space dragons go now?

  She felt the momentary rush of Precognition and Gideon’s distant laughter. The thrum of hoarded points being invested accompanied the background hum of millions of plans and possibilities being developed in the Outlands.

  Bakari now has four Wizard classes, so that’s going to make a difference to his growth. Does what happened show how closely I see creation and life going hand in hand? Should I see if I can do the same with Destruction to match? Yet, is that enough? I need to balance transformation in more complex matters than raw energy.

  I came here because I was concerned about what tenets the locals might follow in my name, yet if Imani is an example, I was needlessly worried. The only issue is that he’s from one nation, so I should learn more of their customs and send out scouts.

  Amdirlain spent the evening learning about her followers in this and other nations and examining variations in their beliefs. It became apparent that Danu had used the conversations she’d had with Aggie, Eivor, and various members of the Daughters of Hope as material. Lots of the tenets focused on creation and hope, and raising others using prettier words than she’d managed.

  Throughout the night, there had been a steady shift, with thousands of Skill and Knowledge points invested. Their use was to further other plans, but they’d also provided dividends for the avatars. Mana Mastery and her Arcane knowledge had progressed the most. A few hundred points had catalysed her experience controlling energy harvested from the Eldritch, supported by the relived memories of establishing the rules for magic. Arcane Knowledge too extensive to be contained within the Avatar’s mind pressed at the back of her thoughts.

  Though her original fighting style had been distinct from Enfolding Harmony, its incorporation of weaponry enabled her to draw on battle experience gained in that first million years. A few minutes of drills let her feel the millimetre adjustments in precision; even the simplest of her strikes had improved. Blows snapped into place with a force magnified by the combination of corrections. Among those vast gains came a tiny reacquisition of Inscription and Alchemy, so that she could instruct people in at least the basics.

  A tidbit within the preparations for war. I hope those improvements are enough, yet I need to learn more about Tingeth to gauge what growth is required.

  Teleporting out to the tundra beyond the northern mountains, she set about testing herself. After hours of gradually reducing the Mana directed into a Spell, she found herself with a two hundredfold improvement. Lightning Storm, which had once taken hundreds of Mana per casting, now drew a single point from her Avatar’s limited reserves. Lesser spells, she could split and throw multiple evocations at once to avoid wasting mana. The effect allowed her to pepper the landscape with a deluge of fireballs and lightning strikes, among more exotic assaults.

  Back in her new house before dawn, Amdirlain listened in on the dreaming thoughts directed her way. The faith links on Yúla were still too tenuous and on Qil Tris she’d been too new to her state. Here on Yorubi, among millions of faithful, those connections served as a net she carefully explored, finding a similarity to psionic connections. For those frustrated, a light touch through the faith links allowed her to extend Muse’s Embrace, enabling them to find creative solutions for their life’s choices. To her seers and priests, she sent dreams of the same messages that she’d conveyed through her performances on Qil Tris. Startled, some woke after the first dream, eager to record their inspirations, yet many lingered on the edge of sleep. As an Avatar, her presence stabilised the bridge to the world, allowing her primary form in the Outlands a greater awareness of the faithful’s needs and desires.

  The increased connection to the world is why Danu left an Avatar sitting in the Taur? forest. However, I’m not exactly sure why they earned her favour to warrant that effort. Or was it something that Orhêthurin arranged?

  Bakari tapped on her front door shortly after the southern gate opened. He wore a sturdy brown outfit with a lightly packed satchel by his side.

  After they’d exchanged greetings, Bakari waved a right hand towards the town’s core. “Imani is conducting dawn services. That will delay him most mornings,” Bakari offered.

  “That’s alright, you have distinct courses of study to cover,” Amdirlain said, heading to the library nook on the ground floor. “Are you feeling better this morning?”

  “The headache is all gone, and I’ve experienced no lingering aftereffects.”

  “I’m glad to hear it.”

  Bakari shifted awkwardly on the seat as he settled. “Might I ask why you showed us all four energies together?”

  “I’ve been trying to reach a balance in my existence, and so, when I reached for my understanding of Life, more came forth,” Amdirlain admitted. “While I blocked other affinities, I didn’t want to yank what I’d implicitly offered away. The four of them might prove useful.”

  “How can death and destruction help a healer?” Bakari rumbled in disbelief.

  Amdirlain smiled. “The tool doesn’t determine the use you put it to; it’s how you make use of it that’s important. In some situations, both affinities can come in handy for saving lives.”

  “Would you help me understand?” Bakari spread his arms wide. “I felt the energy, and all I experienced was revulsion.”

  “Take some examples. Say a beetle nipped someone, and gunk gets into the wound, yet they didn’t see you until the flesh showed signs of necrosis. What would you do if you didn’t have spells to treat an infection that severe?”

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Amputate the limb,” Bakari sighed. “I had to do that a few times when I was less advanced.”

  “Yes, you’d be opting to destroy a section of limb to save a life,” Amdirlain said.

  “I hadn’t considered that,” Bakari’s gills flared, and he coughed. “Death?”

  “The fastest way to heal some illnesses is to kill the excessive populations of certain tiny organisms. Some illnesses don’t respond to Life spells because you can’t bolster the body against something it doesn’t recognise as a problem.”

  Amdirlain created detailed illusions of various Ontaritu in her range, in the final stages of illnesses of that nature.

  He looked between them, murmuring the names of various conditions. “I just couldn’t bring myself to embrace the antithesis of Life.”

  “I’m not saying you have to,” Amdirlain reassured, as she dismissed the illusions. “It was to explain why such an Affinity can be useful in healing. No one can learn everything, so learn what you’re comfortable with and enjoy. Might I see the grimoire you brought with you?”

  He brought out a collection of scrolls from his satchel and set them on the table. Though she’d already memorised its song, Amdirlain carefully unrolled the first. The details of the spells were all recorded in their language, though some of the sentence structure matched local elven. The diagrams recorded showed the roughness of natural Mana formations and the innate spells of various monsters in the south.

  There are no dragons upon Yorubi. The Fey bloodline in the local elves gives them an innate mana sense, so they can sense innate spells. The elves taught the dwarves and ontaritus magic, but the elven spells came from the innate spells of monsters. Bakari’s healing spells match those from the queen’s attendants among the giant bees. Is that why he doesn’t have spells to fix bones?

  “There is an elder tongue known among the Fey court that is heavily focused on magic,” Amdirlain advised. “Most of my grimoires are in that tongue, and it can take hundreds of years to master.”

  “Hence your need to translate,” Bakari murmured.

  “Yes. I’ll endeavour to keep my explanations as concise as possible and not waffle on with esoteric details.” Eight bound grimoires with hardwood covers, each coated with thin hide, appeared on the reading table. “These are all the spell lists I used while healing people yesterday.”

  Their sudden appearance caused Bakari to twitch, yet he restrained himself from reaching for them. “Where did they come from?”

  “I created them. Have you heard of spatial storage devices?” Amdirlain asked innocently, well aware there weren’t any among the Ontaritu.

  “No, I haven’t,” Bakari admitted softly. “You have objects that can carry things, the way the inside of this building is larger?”

  “Indeed.” Amdirlain set a steel ring holding a minor storage enchantment on the table next to the books. “This is for you. Run Mana into it until you feel a sense of the space inside its enchantment. It’s yours to keep.”

  “You’re just giving this to me?” Bakari wheezed in surprise.

  “You’re my student now, so you’ll need to carry your study materials with you. Don’t go advertising it, as apparently you’ll draw attention.”

  Bakari looked at it carefully and let Mana trickle into it. As the connection settled into place, Amdirlain noted his mana control and planned some exercises to improve it.

  “What do we start with first?” Bakari asked as he settled the ring around a thumb.

  “We’ll go through Bone Law together. I’ll translate the language of these grimoires into yours as we go.”

  She created eight blank grimoires while setting Bone Law on a reading stand. She opened to the first Spell, and Bakari whistled appreciatively at the clearly scribed diagram.

  “Do the elves have a lexicon of the components within spells? I’ve seen common shapes in various spells, and I wondered if there was a particular effect the shape caused.”

  “We’ll go over that when looking at arcane theory later. For now, I’ll translate the spells while I explain each.”

  Bakari nodded eagerly.

  ? ? ? ? ? ?

  (Avatar) Amdirlain’s PoV - Hades

  Another Avatar stood in Hades, the surrounding air thin and still. After centuries of disruption by the black hole’s consuming presence, Hades was still replenishing its unpleasant atmosphere. Within various domains, the boundary held whatever passed for air in place. The borders of Di Yu shimmered in the stillness. It teased invitingly, as if welcoming travellers into the arms of the trillions of demons that inhabited it. Amdirlain could sense portals and gates to the various layers overseen by its courts, but she also caught layers of concealment that she could peer beneath. Underneath the upper illusions, she saw that a contingent of Abyssal demons had already taken the bait. Millions lay dead beneath the illusions while the inhabitants of Di Yu were stripping the slain of gear and flesh.

  Reappearing in Limbo, a chamber of Adamantine came into existence surrounding her, with a diffuse white light leaking from the ceiling. Using some of her essence reserves caused a mirrored facade of Order to take shape, yet Limbo was a bear trap of Chaos that sat behind its concealment. Behind that, she shifted a massive form from a desolate world where it had remained bound in a prison of True Song Crystal.

  There is nothing like having a pocket nuke in my lap in case the opponent gets too feisty. The Eldritch will go for her excessive order in preference to me.

  “Tingeth, why don’t you come and chat?” Amdirlain asked. The question hung in the air, and suddenly an iron will clamped down, taking in the area.

  The Plane itself fought back against the ordered intensity in the attempt, and wild energy ripped along the Tyrant’s grasp.

  Well, I picked a place almost entirely in opposition to her energies. She’s putting on a show of incompetence and anger. A very calculated move to risk injury to sell the act. Let her think I brought it.

  “Tingeth, tsk, tsk, tsk. How foolish. Didn’t anyone ever teach you to look before you leap?”

  “A pitiful trick.” Tingeth’s sultry voice rumbled in the air.

  “How did it feel to lose so many orcs from one of your worlds?” Amdirlain smiled coldly. “Was that a pitiful trick?”

  “What minor issue are you talking about?” Tingeth yawned.

  “I know you would have felt the impact on your connection to the world. You’re taking quite a risk coming after me. Have you considered the possibility that your father wants you dead?”

  “He has no reason to desire that end. Your feeble attempts to distract me won’t save your Domain,” Tingeth sneered.

  “You’re a deity who exemplifies tyranny. What is the greatest example of that but Hell itself? With that in mind, why would your father tolerate a competitor who might approach his strength? Why don’t you come here to talk to me? If you don’t strike, the Chaos I hold at bay won’t strike at you.”

  A lithe, chain-adorned Succubus appeared before Amdirlain, who found it amusing that the Avatar of Tingeth wouldn’t have appeared out of place within the Abyss. Black hair contrasted with alabaster skin and red lips. The purely decorative chains of her attire comprised thousands of tiny silver links, each resembling a screaming face from a different species. Behind her stood two massive reptilian devils, stronger than any demon lords Amdirlain had faced directly, their wings casting long shadows in the chamber. One lunged past Tingeth to grab at Amdirlain, and a white phoenix of Excising Concerto obliterated him and a section of the Adamantine wall behind. The swirling purplish-black environment of Limbo briefly twisted the room's shadows before the wall reformed. A hellfire blast that Tingeth threw warped into Primordial flame, before it exploded into the other’s face, hurling him into the wall and giving the infernal goddess pause.

  “How did you do that?”

  “I told you that the Chaos would strike at you,” Amdirlain lied. “Are you going to speak peacefully now? Or will you try your strength against the Plane itself?”

  “I’ll hear you out,” Tingeth said begrudgingly.

  “Your other guard can play dead or leave. Your choice,” Amdirlain drawled, as she took in the Avatar’s song, and gained hints of the Goddess through its connection. Aware that Tingeth’s senses examined her, she let the connection to heavenly planes obstruct her.

  Tingeth flicked a finger, and the Devil vanished. “Why should I believe my father is acting against me? He has already given me leave to act against you.”

  “Yes, he has, but he’s given the same leave to everyone else in the hierarchy and dozens of dark powers outside it. How much support have you seen? Of that array of terrifying deities, exactly how many have crawled to you with an offer of allegiance? None? I wonder why he’s setting you up to fall. Would you have even offered your pet divinity without the knowledge your father shared?”

  Tingeth’s gaze turned to ice. “What exactly are you after, little birdie? Are you hoping I’ll cut my pet free so you can destroy him?”

  “It wouldn’t matter whether you do. Every delay adds to the cost I’ll tear from him.”

  “Do you see yourself as a good and shining goddess?” Tingeth sneered. “Righteous fury and vengeance.”

  “That’s hardly me at all. I mean, how many screaming clues do you want to overlook?” A handful of grey ashes from Hades appeared in Amdirlain’s grasp, and she allowed them to trickle between her fingers. “I was the one who turned Hades to ash so that only brambles grow outside the domains. You’d best consider everything else I designed and made before you continue this game.”

  “Once you were powerful, now you’re a wounded animal bluffing for time you don’t have,” Tingeth said coldly. “Danu intervened once, but she won’t always be there to save you. Especially now that we’ve found your Domain. We’ll find the worlds your worshippers are on, then you’ll learn what warfare between deities really looks like. When I’ve crushed millions of your followers within my grasp, we’ll see if you can even maintain your existence.”

  She doesn’t know I’m a Primordial, or doesn’t understand the difference? Now that the petitioners and souls get sent directly to the domains, there is no way to identify their origins without breaching the Domain’s barrier.

  “I suggest a duel of avatars,” Amdirlain blurted, the picture of impulsive desperation.

  “What?” Tingeth spat. “Why would I give you such an opportunity?”

  “To have a bit of fun while you get your devils back in position,” Amdirlain replied. “Also, for a chance to win a prize.”

  Tingeth sneered. “I know my resources, but what sort of prize could you offer me, as crippled as you let yourself become?”

  “Have you considered the kytons’ situation?”

  “What of them?” Tingeth’s presence leaned against the restraining Chaos, causing flares of energy outside the wall. Amdirlain eliminated the roof, and Tingeth eased away from tipping the build-up into an explosion.

  “How easy do you think it would be to recruit them with the Great Mother gone?” Amdirlain asked. “How useful would they be for a tyrant looking to instil fear into a populace? I can unlock her chains.”

  “All that gets me is another fight,” Tingeth snapped. “How would you even get into Hell to do so?”

  “Getting me to her would be your problem,” Amdirlain smiled mockingly. “As for her chains, it seems you’re not as informed as you think you are. You’ve got a year to learn why they’re so important and why my offer is so attractive. Then come up with an equal prize. I’ll be in touch, but any attack on my Domain or followers by Hell and this prize is off the table.”

  The pseudo-order collapsed, and amid the fresh onslaught of opposing forces, Tingeth glimpsed the slumbering Eldritch positioned beneath them. She fled. Amdirlain returned her prisoner to the world it had lain dormant on and waited to see if her enemy would try something else. After half an hour with no attempt, a few hops across various planes obscured her trail before she stood at the rift to another world. It was another one to which Danu had introduced her name.

  Now, if it’s tempting at all to Tingeth, she’ll be lashing out at potential allies who get ahead in their preparations. The only downside is I don’t know who in Hell actually knows that Nüwa would get removed from the realm without the chains. If she takes the bait, it gives Lilith another year to take Tingeth out.

  I hope the training realm works properly to catch her. The rules in it should allow Nüwa to heal herself if she cares.

  A few hours of careful work saw her on an Earth-like world. Analysis reported that it was home to a variety of elven races, all deep in conflict with goblins and other monsters. Without the support of species with greater numbers, the elves had leaned hard into driving up their magical knowledge.

  She sank into the quiet waters of a forest pool and touched the faith links. Though fewer elves followed her here, there were enough to repeat the same experiment as on Yorubi. She carefully touched them through the connections, aiming to provide the faithful with insights into her tenets without direct contact.

  Once I’m certain that weird ideas aren’t being dreamt up on any of the worlds I’m on, I’ll head to Veht?. It will be interesting to explore the changes I heard about when I said goodbye to Verdandi. I even have an Adventurer’s ID card to make use of while I investigate places.