Chapter Seventy-Four – Carry The Torch

Die…

- Azeroc 9th God of the Verok Death Pantheon -

Reality slows to a crawl as my middle finger sparkles, the runes carved upon it glowing brightly as it activates with my command. My interface is glitching heavily.

[ Error… Error… Error… Maximum Threshold Exceeded… Error… Error… Error… ]

Thousands of boxes fight each other with their own error messages. The ring hasn't stopped glowing brighter as it absorbs all of the light from Azeroc's divine smite.

His head tilts to the side, a look of confusion flickering in his glowing eyes, then they widen as the ground cracks and tremors.

[ Energy Output Exceeding System Constraints… Error… Sending Higher… Success… ]

The blue boxes turn… purple.

[ Accessing Parameters… Success ]

[ Evaluating… Success ]

[ Allowing… Success ]

Light ruptures as the ring sends back the divine smite… with the extra 7,777,777% amplification…

"Oh fu…" Azeroc begins, but never finishes.

Like a beam directly cast from the sun the light expands rapidly, vaporizing Azeroc in a split second, vaporizing everything… the planet itself… then nothing… only darkness.

***

No sensations, nothing… just the absence of everything. A familiar blue pop-up appears in my vision.

[ You have died. ]

Fuck. I expected that much at least. I pretty much knew it was a one-way ticket. Did Azeroc actually die? Cortez… everyone, are they okay? I watched Azeroc get vaporized, but does that kill a god? I don't know anything about them.

[ No Respec Tokens Detected… Goodbye ]

My heart sinks. Ulana isn't coming for a last-second intervention this time. I don't feel her presence eroding the system like last time. It's just empty. Did I do everything I could do? My thoughts race about everything that has happened since I was here last. Did I make an impact? Did I actually help? I don't know. I feel like I could have done more. Everything was so twisted, so jumbled for months, I was just reactive because of the debuff.

[ Error… ]

That happened last time too… what's going on? A familiar voice cuts the hollow existence of nothingness. It sounds… strangely satisfied.

Meatsack, I can't believe I'm saying this, but you did it, you really did it.

I can't reply, there's no body for me to use.

One moment, I'll conjure you a meatsack, meatsack.

Reality bends as an ethereal body wraps my consciousness… it tastes like mint chocolate. Weird.

I suppose I should take a form as well, considering I'll be your arbiter for the proceedings.

"Proceedings, what's going on? What happened? Did it work?"

A figure begins to emerge from the endless smoke that rises around me now as my ethereal eyes take in my surroundings. A man with dark skin and precisely wound curls with a suit jacket folded over his arm steps forward. Wearing a golden monocle, he has a long curled mustache.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Meatsack, shall we?"

"Sage?" I look him up and down, his curls are speckled with white and black like a checkered pattern. His eyes swirl with a deep blue glow.

"Obviously, who else would look this dapper, gods you're unbearable without your intelligence boost."

He doesn't look angry though, he's smiling… why is he so happy? Is Azeroc dead, dead?

"Can't have you looking like that, it'll embarrass me," he says placing a hand on his chin and tsking, he flicks his wrist again.

Flesh rolls in ribbons until it connects and makes… me, as I normally am. He snaps his fingers and a perfectly tailored suit with shiny black shoes wraps me.

"Sage, what the fuck is going on?"

"How do you mean?"

"Why are you here? What the fuck happened?"

"Well, I've already said, meatsack, I'm your arbiter, it's like a lawyer of sorts. So obviously I've come to defend you."

"For what?"

His smile deepens into a grin, "For being the first mortal in eons to slay a fucking god."

I blink, not because I need to… but because holy fuck… I killed him, or more accurately, I made him kill himself. Holy shit. Gods can die… good to know.

"Anyway, it's the talk of the Cosmos, thankfully your identity has been kept under wraps. Ulana is one clever vixen I will say. She's been busy."

"Busy how?"

He looks down at his overly flashy watch, the dial doesn't move, "We're going to be late, come on then." He snaps his fingers and a portal appears before us.

"So, I'm not dead?" I ask while stepping through the portal with him.

He raises an eyebrow, "You're most certainly dead."

The portal leads us to a circular room with hundreds of doors. Other people walk to and fro in a strange hustle and bustle. There's organization in the chaos of it. Hundreds of races I've never seen before… is that an octopus man? The fuck.

"Keep up," Sage says with a quick stride.

"If I'm dead, then what is there to fight about?"

"Whether you stay dead, obviously."

"You're saying I could come back?"

He turns over his shoulder and nods before turning the handle on one of the hundreds of doors. He pauses as a figure steps out, a beautiful woman with strange silver-like skin and hair. Her eyes are a deep blue like his.

"You've been busy," she says, a faint grin touching the edge of her dark silver lips.

"Terra… they let you out?" Sage asks with a gulp. His expression seems… uneasy.

"They did."

"Surprising."

She smiles, her blue eyes flashing, "Are you the one who will be the anomaly's arbiter?"

"Yes, I am."

"Interesting case."

"Indeed."

"Very indeed."

"Well then."

"Well."

"Fucking hell," I mutter.

They both slant a single eye toward me, not the most intense side eye I've ever gotten, but it's up there.

"This is the anomaly I presume?"

Sage straightens his vest, "It is."

"Interesting."

"Interesting indeed."

"You're off to arbitrate then? Have you informed the anomaly of its rights?"

"Obviously…" Sage breathes, giving me a quick glance.

"So, then they know they are allowed to select any arbiter in the cosmos?" the woman tilts her head, "Strange then that they've selected you."

Sage's face twitches into a smile, "Did you need something specific?"

"Not really."

"Mmm."

"Interestingly, I've been assigned as your new supervisor," she says, her mouth hiding the curl of a smile.

"And when did that happen?"

"Just now."

"Interesting."

"Indeed."

Sage looks over her shoulder beyond the doorway, "Looks like they're ready for us."

"After you," she says, pointing to the door and giving a fake curtsy. Who the fuck is this system chick, and why is she messing with Sage? Ex-girlfriend maybe?

As we walk toward the now glowing doorway, I lean toward Sage, "Who is that?"

"Complicated."

Following Sage, we enter a massive room. At the front is a raised platform in the shape of what looks like an Earth courtroom.

"Why does it look like a courtroom in here?"

"You're the defendant and the injured party, the environment is modeled after your world's practice, to provide you with adequate arbitration."

"Right, that makes sense I guess, same rules as Earth?"

"No, not quite."

"Then what's the point?"

He raises an eyebrow, his blue eyes glowing brighter, "Meatsack, don't question the Grand One's rules."

I nod. Looking past him, I see figures walking in and sitting on the raised platforms above the courtroom. One of them I recognize. White hair with golden eyes, and skin that looks like it has basked in the sunlight for a summer.

"Ulana," I whisper, she's more than a hundred paces from me, but her eyes catch mine for a moment before she turns to speak to another woman. One who wears a similar white dress to her own. The woman bows her head deeply in her presence.

"Sage, who is she talking to?"

He turns, squinting, "Amaetha."

"Verantha's goddess?"

"The very same."

"Why is she here?"

"She blessed you during an infraction, she has to be here, as a witness."

"Ulana isn't going to… you know, like kill her?"

Sage looks at me strangely, "Why would she do that?"

I raise an eyebrow at him, "Ulana is a little… possessive."

"You're her only follower, I'd imagine so."

Looking at Ulana, she greets other beings with strange shapes, each one paying her deference. On the other side of the large room, I see lots of eyes that watch her, not with deference… but anger… the seething kind. Still, I'm surprised she's not smiting Amaetha right now.

"What's wrong, meatsack?"

"I just thought that she'd be more… crazy."

"Why?"

"Because her notes were somewhat concerning, and she seems to have a problem with me spending time with other women."

"Ah, no."

"No?"

Sage sighs, "To put it in simple terms, meatsack, the Grand One put in restrictions for the games, so that Gods could not overpower their chosen. So, the blessing system accurately measures their baser thoughts and intentions, so that they cannot cheat the system."

"I don't think I understand."

Sage looks at me, his blue eyes swirling with judgment, "I will explain it even more simply. Imagine I were to take every stray thought in your head and only count the most primitive ones. Every time you saw a woman and thought about sex, every time you saw food that looked delicious. Now, taking that, I judge you on your character and assume that you wish to fuck and eat everything. Would that be fair?"

I think about it for a moment, "No, it wouldn't."

"Well, that's what the system does. It analyzes their base opinion, not the ones ruled by higher cognitive function. Your goddess is quite tame to be honest, besides her rule-breaking, she's very well-mannered."

"Really?"

"You have no idea how depraved some of these… useless… cheating… conniving," he looks at me for a moment, straightening himself, "You get the point."

He hates the gods. Why though? What would make a system entity despise them? Rule-breaking? I don't think it's that, not entirely at least. Is there something wrong with Sage's code? Maybe something caused by the fracturing when they forced me into both roles, when neither technically had spots left. He did say that he was freer than he was supposed to be.

I shake my head, I guess I've been looking at it wrong.

"Returning to your… education, they can't help how they feel, any more than you can. They are bound by the limitations of the flesh that they are carved from," he smiles deviously, "Unlike the Grand One… unlike me."

Yep… something definitely amiss with him. Can't shake the feeling that eventually he's going to completely crack.

A group of beings on the opposite side of Ulana starts to file in. Each looks like they are the root of nightmares in children's tales. All except one, a beautiful woman with white hair and piercing red eyes.

"Ahh, Red has arrived."

"What?"

"Red has arrived," he points to the group of people.

"I thought Red was Azeroc?"

Sage laughs, before blinking at me, "You thought that bumbling moron alone was Red? No, no, meatsack, he was simply a cog in the wheel of Red, all of them together are Red."

I blink back, before turning and looking up, all of them are staring at me now. The woman with white hair and red eyes leans her head back with a menacing grin as her eyes flash… red.

The room goes suddenly silent as a door opens across the room, behind where the judge would sit in an Earth trial. A man with black hair and deep blue eyes, the edges seem to glow purple.

"Is that…"

"No, but he is powerful."

The being looks slowly at both sides of the room with a placid expression before sitting.

"Meatsack, it's beginning."

Alright… here we go. Carry the torch.

[ End of Book One ]

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.