Chapter 104

There was a sense of celebration around the camp as well as one of relief. The Seers stayed for the evening celebration party, but left soon afterwards. Some, like the Veda and Maraú-Uxuí, not even staying for that, despite the obvious bonding between the various gestalts. For those who did stay, a good time was had by all as the various races mixed and enjoyed each other’s company.

“So, Sarkal?” Roxanne stated in the morning meeting to the eclectic group who remained to see if we could find a way to deal with the Power ... permanently.

“He knows. I felt it,” Athena stated.

‘As yet we have detected no new Powers manifesting themselves on Vultoq, ‘ Una sent to the group.

“Well, he won’t find anything there anyway; we have abandoned the place to its natural wildlife and its Powers. They are currently removing all traces of Yr’ch civilisation ... or rather have done now,” Melanie informed us.

“Perhaps one day we’ll return, but it will be with the hand of friendship outstretched,” Brnnt mused. “Whatever arises, if it has intelligence, it will not remember us.”

“Biggest danger seems to me to be Sarkal deciding to attack us here to find out what we did with his Vultoqi,” Roxanne stated. “The danger being we only have the one friendly Power here, rather than the plethora available on most worlds.”

“This is true,” Athena acknowledged.

“Nor do we know what frequency he will resonate at to use one of the orbs to protect this planet,” Hermes added.

“Also true. Though catching him would be very difficult anyway. He will be extremely cautious,” Athena admitted.

“Any progress finding out what Chakra did to the original Powers here?” I asked.

“He formulated a quantum pulse to cast them out. The problem is, we do not know where he cast them out to,” Brnnt replied. “We Theurgists of Ar-Thenna are looking for them, but so far we have not been successful.”

“Not the Outer Realms then?”

“No. One of the Realms Spiritual, I think. But it will be in an extreme form of time dilation, otherwise they’d have returned ... it may be that they are still travelling,” Athena explained.

“Your joining the God squad won’t help, will it?” Marnie asked.

“No, currently I’m not allowed to join until this is sorted ... even then I still have some qualms that it may change me from what I am to something I do not wish to be,” she admitted.

“We like you the way you are, my goddess,” Crnnch replied, getting murmurs of assent from those Yr’ch present, along with Gregorius.

“Looks like we’re dealing with heavenly timing,” Arch chuckled. “Anyone care to lay money on the original Powers returning shortly after this is dealt with ... one way or another?”

“Not a chance,” Roxanne grinned as the rest of us laughed.

“So, what we do know is sooner or later he will come sniffing around cautiously. He’s affected by Null, but, can work around it. Is powerful enough to kill the likes of Beog, but, is currently weakened by the lack of worshippers?” Roxanne posited.

“Yes, that last factor will hamper him, he does not need the Vultoqi, but their lack of presence will weaken him to the point where I may be able to defeat him with the worship of my Yr’ch to back me up,” Athena replied.

“It’s the ‘may’ part of that which has us worried.”

“It is worrying, yes. I simply have not met this Power to judge him. The other problem is that the energy released if we do battle could seriously damage the planet and hurt my people,” she admitted.

“Can you fight him on Vultoq?” I asked,

“Possibly, though I’d need permission from the Powers there and they may say no.”

“I don’t mind asking,” I offered.

“Aye, why not, the worst they can say is no,” Roxanne acquiesced.

“I’ll go now, whilst you try to come up with a Power killing weapon,” I chuckled, getting a nod from Roxanne and a grin from Athena.

Vultoq had returned to a paradise planet. All traces of the Yr’ch and the Vultoqi had vanished and the native life had been restored to what it was (I presume) along with proto-ghosin and eviscerators. Finding a Power was, as usual, quite easy, though as ever I was cautious in my approach, giving it plenty of time to decide what it was it wanted to do with me ... even if the suspicion of most Mages was that they knew stuff well in advance of the timeline ... not that we had any intentions of ever asking one.

“Greetings,” I said once I’d made my approach to the area where I (and it) could see each other clearly.

“Greetings, Journeyman Mage John,” came a deep male voice from the creature.

“We have removed the Vultoqi, but believe Sarkal will attempt to free them at some stage,” I began.

“This is so,” it acknowledged.

“The Power known to us as Athena knows she has to defeat Sarkal. However, she does not wish to do this on Draenoric as it would most likely be catastrophic for her followers.”

“This also is so.”

“Would it be permissible for her and her allies to fight Sarkal here?”

There was a long, uncomfortable silence and I had the feeling a group consensus was being made, though chose not to add to my question as so far I was still alive.

“She may fight in the area where the echtra was. This is the only place upon the planet where we will permit a foreign Power to set foot. You may inform her of this. We will have it prepared for her and wish you all good fortune,” came an eventual reply.

“Thank you...” I began, but it had already gone.

“So, we can fight him in the old echtra site?” Roxanne acknowledged once I’d returned.

“There and nowhere else. Athena will not be permitted anywhere else on the planet ... same with Sarkal,” I replied.

“I’m surprised they said yes,” Athena mused out loud.

“They appeared to have a long think about it,” I nodded.

“That must have made you uncomfortable,” she giggled.

“Oh, yes indeedy,” I grinned.

“Well, all we have to do now is get Sarkal to turn up at a time of our choosing, not his,” Roxanne added, rubbing her hands together in satisfaction.

“And keep ourselves alive whilst not being a drain on Athena’s resources,” I added.

“Well, as it happens, the Seers have a surprise for you with regards to that, Athena...” Roxanne replied.

“A surprise?”

“The Vultoqi used an object of power that temporarily took out all the wards when John was trapped after our initial probe of the echtra. The Seers found it when they were going through the various weapons held in storage by the patripure and we’re pretty sure it’s the sword of a Power ... Sarkal’s sword.”

“May I see it?” a surprised looking Athena asked.

Roxanne reached into a pocket universe and pulled out one of the biggest swords I’ve ever seen, yet it handled as if it weighed nothing at all.

“Oh my,” Athena swallowed.

“Any thoughts?”

“Definitely the sword of Sarkal. It calls itself the Sword of Tyrsis though, after its first master whom Sarkal killed to possess it,” Athena replied after a few moments.

“Any idea who Tyrsis was?” I asked.

“No, sorry, happened a really, really long time ago, even for me.”

“Can you use it?” Roxanne asked.

“Oh, hell, yes! It can even break a Power’s wards and cut the bonds of quantum,” she enthused.

“How good a swordswoman are you?”

“Ah ... there’s the rub. I’m probably rubbish compare to you ... or possibly Sarkal. It’s not like I ever needed to.”

“Let’s go to the practice ground,” Roxanne sighed. “You may wish to speed up time in it as I can’t teach you that much in a short time.”

“I can do that.”

The Dark god known as Säräquyael pondered his loss. The blow had been staggering; his children were just snuffed out as if they had never been. Nor did he have the means to re-create them. That ability had been lost when the power of the Almighty had been withdrawn after his neutrality during the war against the Enemy. Revenge was called for ... but revenge against whom? The Yr’ch and their puny goddess? They had not the power to come against his patripure and snuff them out as if they were nothing. As for this new enemy ... well, they were mortal and it seemed unlikely, but he was going to have to investigate, carefully. Anything that could wipe out the patripures was a threat to a Power.

It was amazing watching Roxanne and Athena spar in the confines of a time bubble where a single minute of outside time was the equivalent of a day inside it. This was apparently only something a Power could do (though the Seers looked quite cagey about it when I asked them). To a mundane they would have looked like blurs, but to Mages and our finer set of senses it just looked like a fast forwarding movie where Athena was basically getting a pasting from Roxanne, but was clearly learning how to handle herself. Still, it was clear that a Power could learn swordplay a lot better than a mortal and so within a day, real time, Athena was pronounced an equal by Roxanne, but only in standard swordplay, not the dirty tricks Roxanne often used.

“Just remember, there’s only one rule when you go up against an opponent like this ... win,” Roxanne advised.

“Yes, I agree,” Athena nodded. “Fair play is for sport, not survival.”

“Aye, always keep that in mind when facing an opponent. Don’t play with them, despatch them, then move on to the next one.”

“Well, hopefully there will only be one Sarkal.”

“Seems likely, but sooner or later another Power will fancy a go,” Roxanne warned.

“Yes ... I see your point,” she nodded.

Säräquyael phased carefully onto Draenoric. He did not expect trouble as the Powers there had been dispersed by that fool Beog and his dupe, Chakra, centuries ago, but there was the risk of running into this Athena or one of her extensions, so some caution was called for.