Chương 552: BECMI Chapter 551 – On Other Shores

Aelryinth… Wasn't that all kinds of ominous and dreadful, I thought.

"And that's with Avatars around to help?" I had to ask Edge, knowing Helos' Avatar was likely to end up the father.

"If the gods got involved, almost all the escalations involved things of Mythos contacting Evil gods and bringing them in opposite to forcibly form a full Pantheon. One of my sons ends up becoming the God of Death," she informed me. I wanted to vomit at the idea. Death, not the Dead!

"Something does not like you," I had to mutter under my breath, reaching out to put my arm around Edge's shoulders and give her a hug.

"It seems you've done too incredible a job up until now." She laughed softly, able to take the emotional hit.

"I have time," she said, not refusing the closeness, like hugging a sister.

"But time is not what this world has." Okay, that got me head-shaking.

"What's wrong now?"

"As we approach resonance in the time lines here, this timestream is becoming unstable and is looking to fold back into the 'real' one, the Far Shore."

"Whaaat. With Eternal Sources fortifying it?" I had to ask, incredulous.

"Eternal Sources are making us real enough to attempt to circumvent it. The gods are arranging for this world to be transported into the main timeline, on the opposite side of the sun." I ran numbers automatically.

"They're going to use the Pyramids you've got all over the world as anchor points for the temporal shift," I murmured, and she nodded.

"Well, four thousand years of making landmarks, still useful," I judged lightly.

"Multi-purposing to avoid extinction, go!"

"They wanted to just shift a continent and move that across, but Sif and Thor make that nigh-impossible. Their destinies clash with Sama and Briggs over there too much. They need a world of their own."

"Plus having a zillion Immortal-warding Pyramids pop up all around the world might start another something-something, I reckon."

"Also correct. In actuality, if we do this right, we'll remove almost all threat of Immortals, and they won't even know we are there unless one decides to circle the sun on a lark and finds us on the opposite side."

"Which they will eventually, and then get a rude surprise." I thought about it.

"The Nested Worlds?" I asked.

"They lead to Heaven on both sides and can be merged with little to no effort. So, the next couple years are going to be about preparing for Confluence… but the violent sides of things should be minimized," she answered.

"I will be long gone before then, and I doubt I will be back before it happens." I pursed my lips.

"That will utterly bork any return trip that is anchored here. I'll have to go to the Far Shore and modify the Anchor Pyramid there instead of here." She nodded agreement.

"This timeline won't even exist when it comes time for you to return. It will only be a sore memory in Leng."

"Pity the Yellow King if he comes back for a rematch and finds nothing to vent on. I am so sympathetic, I am." She chuckled in a low, appreciative voice.

"So many of the Immortals killed in this timeline will still be alive in the other. The gods will have to start culling them again."

"Alternity counterparts?" I had to ask. That could also get sticky in some places.

"Only one I am aware of, and one is an Eternal, the other an Immortal. Time won't have an issue with them given their metaphysical weight." Good enough for me!

"I have to say that is a very impressive library you've managed to build up. The Eternal Magicks alone…"

"The sub-Eternal spells on the Far Shore are actually more diverse, given the sheer number of cultures and people involved, but are not as directed or powerful. The lack of a mainstream culture of sharing magical knowledge, of course."

"Of course." That wasn't even a question. With Immortals dominating cultures, hoarding knowledge raised one's personal skills and ability, making it easier to stand out and thus draw attention from an Immortal sponsor. The act of sharing spells weakened you by making you less unique and your rivals and peers stronger! Forming a culture of sharing knowledge had to be something done between all relevant parties, and include those who joined later unstintingly, not just the first ones in, as commonly happened.

Elders shared among themselves, then tempted younger folk with dribbles and drabs of the combined knowledge which, while doubtless more than they'd get from any single teacher, was still just a tithe of what was there, forcing them to 'earn the right' to the true stacks of lore, throwing up doors and tests and trials in front of those coming after them, many of which ended up as political maneuverings by the elders to hold onto power. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent.

Report any sightings. It was something we kept a strict eye on back on Terra-Luna, aware of the habits people fell into and the games people played, regardless of intellectual level.

"When are you heading over?" I asked calmly.

"As soon as the celebration is over. There are a lot of evacuees waiting to return, and the world is going to be very different from the one they left… but they were warned about that, and some will actually want to stay and help the Eismark Federation there grow and colonize.

"Thor is figuring at least two years of downtime to recover, readjust, and re-tool to a more peacetime and self-sustaining economy… which should take us right up into Confluence."

"And it's easier moving across worlds than it is Across Time here," I noted, skipping between alternities being as variable in difficulty between multiverses as time-traveling and world-jumping and plane-shifting could be, all dependent on the universal Laws/Rules there.

"I take it most of the Eternals here who were Masters on the Far Shore will just be waiting until Confluence."

"Yes. Less than three months have passed since they left there, but they are too powerful to take the Portal, and why make the trek through Heaven via the Nested Worlds when they can just stay here and help out until then?"

"Makes sense. Not an issue with me. Do I even qualify as a Master?" I had to wonder aloud, amused at the thought.

"In terms of Karma alone you'd qualify as an Overmage," she sniffed.

"I AM aware of your Caster Level, you know. Your base is a 29 regardless, and 25 is the normal requirement for Arcane Casters to be included as Masters."

"High Archmages. Lack of IX's and everything?" I had to jibe. She poked me in the side, finger like a steel pin, and I yelped obligingly in reaction.

"You DID tell me about the Libraim," she reminded me.

"You can get those back any time you like, and immediately progress into the Eternal Valences you have already paid for."

"Well, when I get home, which is a bit different, but sure. My main problem right now is I can only Write VIII's to my Ring, and have to get actual copies of the IX's. Eternal-stuff is right out, and writing that stuff down is nigh impossible. There's only research and testing once you have the outline, although your Sims are being very diligent about it."

"They've been waiting just as long as I to spread the wealth to Terra-Luna, just like I spread ours to here. Are you having any issues with the Seven Schools?" she asked me curiously.

"Ah, that! Well, good place to spend Karma for two months." I popped up a ball of Elemental fire in my off-hand, then alternated it with pale blue iceflame and began to swirl the two.

"Tied Fire to my Void Phoenix Bloodline, and Scion of Ice and Fire kicked in to alternate it." She just stared at the display with her ruby-in-obsidian eyes.

"There is no Ice School. It's not an Element, and there's no Plane of Ice in the Elemental Circle here," she swore, staring at it as if betrayed.

"Indeed. So, I tied Earth to my Binder Levels, pivoting off that relationship, and it worked." Crystals in multiple hues gathered around my hand and spun there.

"There is a relationship of change in between them now, as they represent opposite ends of the Elemental spectrum." And with no further ado I changed the Earth crystal to ice crystals, then to water. Then, as she glared hard enough to make my fingers smoke a bit, I changed them to whorls of misty steam, and then to straight swirls of Air. She looked like I'd suddenly given her a headache.

"The Elemental Schools are basically conjuration and Summons-based. The Binder Class is perfect for wielding them in that way. Earth to ice to Water to steam to Air, then ignite it for Fire… that is so unfair."

"Yeah, but look at it this way: it's all one Elemental School now, not four of them. So I didn't gain any extra uses/day of any of the various powers, just some versatility, depending on what I'm Aligned to. And re-aligning Elemental mana draws is a +0 Meta, even translated to Spell-likes, right?" She could only sigh and nod.

"Your Cryptomancy is tied to Minstrel Levels?" she guessed.

"Because of the Words and how they affect Heartsong. Have you ever tried to write Hope?" I asked her calmly.

"The true Word, Spoken… and now Written!" And I wove it through the air in front of her in gorgeous Golden script in three dimensions. Maybe four. An anthemic tone of rising wonder and awe began to build around us instantly as the Sublime Chord resonated with the Word and pulsed with power. Edge couldn't help but Sing along with me as the Sublime Chord washed out gently, powerfully, and spread throughout all the area of our Magevoice with subtle, profound strength.

Hope for a better tomorrow, the one thing everyone who had just finished with this Eternal War wanted the most! We sat there for a long time, letting the living song of Hope permeate through the hidden cavern so far under the base of Castle Doomrose, the Castle itself still making its slow, steady way back here from the bottom of the world. For a timeless time, there would be celebration. Then the real world would rear its head, and it would be time to win the peace.

Aelryinth... I was gifted a deluge of spellbooks full of IX's I couldn't Write, as well as a considerable number of books to support and reinforce the foundation of true X's and higher spells, a library with a value in excess of a million gold in loreweight. Two million gold, actually. Edge had a lot of books to copy, and her Sims were totally capable of doing it. She basically handed me an Itemized Tapestry full of nothing but books, tomes, and papers for me to go through and set up in my own library.

Well, it was a good thing I'd made up my own Sims and could make a Clone for my Sanctum to start the reading, comprehending, and doing so for me. Some of those books were a very complete collection of Runes. The likelihood they would be as effective back on Terra-Luna as here was minimal, as their very nature would change outside this universe… but at the very least it was a fairly exhaustive guideline for the things that would need researching there, and maybe in the universes in between!

There was going to be more on the Far Shore, too, she assured me. The Portal through Time was unblocked now and free for use, and in fact was firmer and more solid than it had been before, a sign of approaching Confluence. I examined it with great interest, although I didn't have the post-IX Divs I really needed to get into its true structure and form.

"What do you think of it?" Lady Edge asked me as I Looked over it as high as I could.

"It looks like a lucky mess of perfect nonsense, accidental Immortal power, and cross-temporal fluxes coming together and held together with gossamer and moonlight," I replied earnestly. Edge visibly smothered her smile.

"I think that is the best description of it I've yet heard…"